This content details the historical journey and combat performance of three pivotal "workhorse" tanks of World War II – the M4 Sherman (USA), Panzer IV (Germany), and T-34 (Soviet Union) – highlighting their design philosophies, battlefield effectiveness, crew experiences, and enduring legacies.
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After being introduced in World War I by
the British as a secretive new
technology to break the stalemate of
trench warfare, tanks began their
turbulent journey through history, a
journey that's still ongoing today. As
World War II approached, tanks were no
longer a secret, and all major nations
were building them according to their
own theories of armored warfare. When
the war broke out, the race to create
the best tank began, shifting between
absurdly heavy and extremely light
designs with everything in between. But
a few of them would be remembered not
because they were invincible or
overwhelmingly powerful, but because
they were what we call workh horses,
mass-roduced machines meant to defeat
the enemy through sheer numbers. This is
the story of the three main workhorse
tanks that carried World War II. You'll
see everything you didn't know about
them and hear the unique but dark
stories of the people who had to fight inside
them. Number one, the M4 Sherman, USA.
Before World War II, the United States
thought that tanks wouldn't play a major
role on the battlefield. They were
quickly proven wrong by the Germans, who
used them to great effect in their
Blitzkrieg tactics, shocking the world
with their rapid advance. When it became
clear that the United States would enter
the war, the best, let's say, tank they
could send to the front lines was the M1
combat car and the M2 light tank. Both
of which were severely outdated compared
to what the Germans had. To make matters
worse, the United States had only ever
built 300 tanks up to that point with no
large-scale production facilities,
experience, or even proper equipment for
tank manufacturing. So, they scrambled
and came up with an often overlooked
stop gap solution, the M3 Lee tank. They
had already outdated 37 mm gun with a
turret as well as a 75 mm field gun, but
they still lacked the technology to
mount that 75 mm gun in a rotating
turret. So, they did the best they could
to field something in North Africa where
the Allies were sustaining heavy tank
losses against the Germans. The 75mm gun
was modified and crammed into the hull
in a fixed casemate. On top of that,
they slapped on the already familiar 37
mm gun and its turret, packed six people
inside, and sent them off to battle. It
needed to plug the gap and buy time
until something better could be
developed. US engineers working on the
Sherman were closely observing European
tanks, trying to learn from their
advantages and shortcomings. They needed
to come up with a new tank as soon as
possible. And it had to be agile,
wellarmed, wellarmored, reliable, and
most importantly, cheap and quick to
produce in huge numbers. It also had to
be light and compact enough to be lifted
by cranes and loaded onto ships. So
through various ideas, errors and
trials, the M4 Sherman was born. They
had what they thought ticked all these
boxes and it was ready for deployment in
October 1942, just before the Battle of
Elmagne. Around 300 Shermans were
delivered to the British 8th Army, which
urgently needed tanks to replace its
horrific losses and support its
remaining tanks already outgunned by the
Panza 3 and four. And so the Sherman saw
combat for the first time in the hands
of the British. Alongside other tanks,
they were immediately thrust into heavy
assaults against Ruml's Africa Corps.
And although they were not invincible,
the Sherman was a huge improvement over
the Crusaders and M3 Lees. It had
greater firepower and better armor
protection, and even came with an early
version of a stabilization system,
allowing it to fire on the move with
some accuracy. But the most important
thing was its reliability in the harsh
desert terrain where other tanks
struggled to work. The Sherman was far
more reliable and easier to repair and
put back into action. The Americans
applied their automotive industry
experience, ensuring that all parts were
standardized and available in great
supply, which was extremely important in
the field. The Sherman's 75mm gun was
much better than the 50mm gun on the
Panza 3 and the shortbarreled 75mm on
the Panza 4. It also had solid
protection against them, at least until
the Panza 4 was upgraded with a high
velocity 75 mm longbarreled gun.
However, losses were high from the start
as combat was extremely intense. The
biggest tank killers were actually mines
and 88 mm anti-aircraft guns repurposed
as longrange tank killers which were a
nightmare for the Sherman's high
silhouette and medium-range gun in the
open desert terrain. There were a few
encounters with Tiger ones which first
appeared in Tunisia and they didn't end
well for any Allied tanks. The stories
of Tiger encounters terrified Allied
tank crews so much that they often
mistook Panzer 4s for Tigers in battle.
So all in all, the Sherman was deemed
good enough and pushed into mass
production. And when we say mass
production, we mean that at the height
of production, one Sherman rolled off
the assembly line every 30 minutes with
over 50,000 units produced throughout
the war. However, on the battlefield,
some glaring flaws quickly became
obvious. The Sherman couldn't
effectively destroy a Panzer 4 or
anything heavier unless it was at point
blank range or had a clear sideshot. And
then there was the second, more infamous
issue, its tendency to burst into flames
when hit. This earned the Sherman some
controversial and morbid nicknames that
stuck with it to this day. Tommy Cucker,
Ronson Lighter, etc. Let's first address
the gun issue. You've all heard about
the Sherman being a medium tank with a
medium velocity gun. The Sherman was
designed to support infantry and fire
mostly high explosive shells, which were
quite effective, while towed anti-tank
guns were originally the primary means
of destroying enemy armor before tank
destroyers were introduced. Also, the
Sherman's gun was deliberately shortened
so it wouldn't exceed the length of the
tank's hull, making transportation on
ships and trains easier. So, the Sherman
was never really intended to be a tank
killer. Of course, in practice and
combat, you couldn't always choose your
fights, and it quickly became clear that
the gun needed an upgrade. The British
came up with a stop gap solution, much
like the Americans did with the M3 Lee
by cramming a 17 pounder gun into the
Sherman's turret, creating the Sherman
Firefly. Later, the Americans developed
the 76 mm gun and a new turret for
versions like the E8, somewhat leveling
the playing field in terms of armor
penetration. Nevertheless, the Sherman
compensated for its lack of high
velocity projectiles with the sheer
volume of ordinance it could put down
range. It could fire up to 20 rounds per
minute with a good loader. Even enemy
tanks were sometimes engaged with high
explosive or smoke shells to blind them
and destroy their optics. And a couple
of Shermans firing together at the same
target was nothing to laugh at when you
were on the receiving end. Now, the most
famous issue, the Sherman being a death
trap. While it was far less protected
than German tanks, the Sherman actually
had the highest survivability rate for
its crew with an average of 1.3 tankers
killed per destroyed tank. For
comparison, T34 crews had twice this
number, despite the tank having one
fewer crew member, meaning that 50% of
the crew was killed per knocked out
tank. The biggest problem wasn't its
gasoline engine catching fire after the
first hit, as was often portrayed, but
actually the ammunition storage. In
early versions, shells for the main gun
were stored in the hull sides. also
known as sponssons in unarmored
containers. This was the most likely
place to get hit in the tank. And on top
of that, the shells were completely
exposed to sparks and shrapnel that
would fly through the tank if
penetrated. This earned the Sherman its
grim nicknames. Statistically, seven out
of 10 times a Sherman would immediately
burst into flames after being hit. To
solve this, the ammo rack was moved to
the floor and wet stowage was
introduced. This area was less likely to
get hit, and if it was hit, the ammo
bins were surrounded by a container
filled with a water glycol mixture. If
perforated, this fluid would extinguish
the fire, or at least buy enough time
for the crew to bail out. This
dramatically reduced the Sherman's
tendency to burst into flames from
around 70% down to below 20%, greatly
improving crew survivability. But once
the Sherman entered the war in Europe,
it was vulnerable to almost every
anti-tank weapon the Germans had. And if
it ran into anything heavier than a
Panza 4, it was usually a bad day for a
couple of Shermans. You've seen the
countless photos of additional armor
plates, sandbags, logs, track links, and
even concrete added to Sherman armor in
a desperate attempt to increase
protection. Commanders were furious at
first and ordered tank crews to remove
this improvised armor, but it continued
to be used throughout the war. Crew
survivability was further improved by
adding a hatch for the loader. Yes, the
loader didn't have his own hatch and had
to go through the commander's hatch.
then around or under the gun breach. One
veteran Sherman loader recalled his
horrifying experience from the war when
his tank was hit in the upper right part
of the turret. The shell instantly
killed the gunner and commander,
trapping the loader inside as the tank
quickly filled with smoke. He couldn't
move the two bodies in the tight space
of the turret. But luckily for him, the
turret was traversed in a position that
allowed him to crawl under the gun to
the driver's position where the driver
had already bailed out and from there
escape through the driver's hatch. This
was resolved by simply adding a hatch
for the loader along with springs for
easier and faster opening in an
emergency. The driver and co-driver also
received wider hatches when the frontal
armor plate was sloped 10° less. The
Sherman's armor was softer than armor of
German tanks. And while this made it
easier to penetrate, it had an
unexpected benefit because it created
less shrapnel when hit. German armor was
much harder, at least before shortages
of manganesees made the steel too
brittle. When German tanks were
penetrated, the armor broke apart
violently, sending sharp steel fragments
flying inside the tank and shredding the
crew. And in Sherman, this effect was
significantly less. The Sherman was
chosen as the backbone of the Allied
armored forces and saw combat in all
theaters used by different nations and
converted into numerous variants. In the
European theater, they struggled against
heavy German tanks which executed some
devastating ambushes. But in reality,
tank-on-tank battles were rare. They
were widely talked about because when
they did happen, they were dramatic and
unforgettable. In one of the first
encounters between Shermans and New
German armor in Europe, 17 out of 18
Shermans were knocked out in just 20
minutes. However, the majority of
knocked out tanks weren't total losses
and could be repaired and put back into
action. The mechanics, however, were
often traumatized by what they found
inside penetrated Shermans if a crew
member had been hit. The scenes were
often so gruesome that the entire
interior had to be repainted over the
stains of what was once a tanker. The
swimming duplex drive Shermans led the
way in the invasion of Normandy, while
many others were modified for roles
ranging from laying bridges to clearing
mines and everything in between.
Shermans arrived when and where they
were needed, and most importantly,
always in large numbers. It wasn't a
perfect tank, and the US had already
started looking for a replacement during
World War II to correct the Sherman's
flaws. But bringing a new tank to the
same mass production level as the
Sherman during wartime was impossible.
So the Sherman remained the main
workhorse until the end of the war. It
made up for its flaws through sheer
numbers, ease of production, and
reliability, playing a major role in
bringing World War II to an end and
forever staying in our history. Number
two, the Panza 4, Germany. So where does
the story of the Panzer 4 actually
begin? January 1934. With the Reich
still constrained by the Treaty of
Versailles, German military planners
discreetly issued requirements for a new
medium tractor, their laughably
transparent code for a medium tank.
Under their revolutionary Blitzkrieg
doctrine, the Vermacht needed a support
vehicle that could accompany all their
other vehicles and provide them with
direct high explosive support. The idea
was that the Panza 1 and 2 would engage
infantry. The Panza 3 would serve as the
main anti-tank weapon with its 37mm gun.
And the Panza 4, now called accompanying
vehicle, would work alongside them,
filling the gap in high explosive
firepower with its short-barreled 75mm
howitzerike gun. Due to the limitations
of early industry, a practical design
was chosen and production began. The
initial production model A had just 15
mm of frontal armor and leaf spring
suspension. Far less sophisticated than
the torsion bar systems favored by
German engineers, but significantly
easier to manufacture. Only 35 of these
Model A's were produced before
improvements began rolling in with
additional armor plates, engine and
visibility improvements, etc. Then the
infamous September 1st, 1939 came.
Germans had just a little over 200 Panza
4s among their 2,700 tanks. They were
distributed sparingly with 20 to 30
tanks per division, ready to shock the
world. Panza crews spearheaded the new
Lightning War, pushing through Poland
for 72 hours continuously. Panza 4 did
its job just as intended, supporting
other tanks with a howitzer that
immediately proved effective. Its armor
turned out to be its biggest flaw,
incapable of stopping any anti-tank
weapons. Later in the invasion of
France, in isolated cases where panzas
met French B1 tanks, it was proved that
the 75 mm howitzer was useless against
armor. But as it was never intended to
fight tanks, this wasn't a big deal. But
we said that the Panzer 4 was the main
workhorse. Well, things were about to
take a dramatic turn. Production began
mounting up, reaching over 8,500 Panzer
4s of all models by the end of the war.
The assault gun is actually the only
fully tracked vehicle Germans produced
more than the Panza 4 with around 10,000
units. Panzer 4 crews would find
themselves facing a rude awakening on
the Eastern Front in 1941. The German
high command had expected another swift
victory and initially everything seemed
like one. But soon their tank crews
encountered Soviet T34s and KV tanks
which were virtually immune to almost
everything the Germans had at the time
except for 88mm flack anti-aircraft
cannons. On the other hand, their panzas
were being pierced by Soviet 76 millm
high velocity guns. Hitler reading these
panicked reports made one of his rare
sensible military decisions. At first,
the Panza 3 was upgraded from 37 to 50
mm cannon, but this one also quickly
became obsolete. Because the tank
designed to fight other tanks could no
longer be uparmed due to its smaller
turret ring, which couldn't accommodate
anything larger than a 50mm gun. Hitler
ordered the development of a high
velocity 75mm gun for the Panza 4 which
had a turret ring 12 in larger. The
result was the F2 variant equipped with
the quite formidable version of the
famous 7.5 cm Pac 40 now capable of
penetrating 77 mm of armor at 1,800 m.
Thus, the Panza 4 became something
entirely different than originally
designed with a weapon completely
opposite to the 75mm howitzer. But what
about the crews? They were designed and
trained as essentially artillery support
on tracks. And all of a sudden, they got
a high velocity gun and became a
designated anti-tank weapon and a main
battle tank. Although crews with these
upgraded tanks had some sense of relief
as they finally had a fighting chance
against the Soviet behemoths, they were
about to be pushed into an even more
dangerous position to fight other tanks.
And there would be no shortage of that
on all fronts. The Panther that was from
the ground up made to fight tanks with
sloped armor and arguably one of the
best anti-tank guns of the war was
intended to replace the Panzer 4 for its
medium tank role. However, as the
Panther was rushed into production to be
ready for battle at Kusk, many of its
flaws were overlooked and found out in
the field. So, the Panza 4 had to still
pull most of the weight. Because it was
a well-designed platform from the
beginning, the Panza 4 had enormous room
for improvements, at least when that was
possible. An additional 30 mm armor
plate was bolted directly onto the
original 50mm frontal hull armor. And
the distinctive shirten side skirts were
added along the sides to protect against
anti-tank rifles and even came in handy
for predetonating shaped charges of
American bazookas away from the main
armor. But crews were frustrated by how
those skirts were easily torn off when
driving through dense brush. The frontal
armor in upgraded versions was now
strong enough to deflect Sherman's 75mm
medium velocity shells. By late 1942,
the Panza 4 was facing a new enemy in
North Africa. The F2 and G variants
became known as Panzer 4 specials among
British tankers who quickly learned to
respect their firepower. At Casarine
Pass in February 1943, they destroyed
over 20 M3 Grants and early model
Shermans while suffering minimal losses.
The longer L48 gun could penetrate a
Sherman's frontal armor easily at over
1,000 m, while the Sherman's 75 mm
needed to close to within 500 m to have
any hope of penetrating the Panza 4's
enhanced glacus plate. North African
combat proved unique for all tankers,
and Panzer 4 crews fared no different.
Machines and people were brought to the
breaking point in extreme heat during
the day and cold at night with flies and
sand everywhere. Inside temperatures
easily exceeded 50° C, 122° F. The
fiveman crew fought from basically an
oven surrounded by ammunition,
equipment, and each other's sweat. Metal
surfaces were untouchable by bare skin,
and they could and did literally bake
eggs on their armor. They were fighting
over fuel and water more than anything
else. Sand and dust in the lubricant oil
could turn grease into grinding paste,
causing guns to jam, tracks to
disintegrate, and engines to overheat or
seize up. In the open desert, a broken
down Panza could easily mean death or
capture, so crews were highly motivated
to improvise repairs. By early 1943, the
Africa Corps was cornered in Tunisia.
Outnumbered and cut off from supplies as
the Allies pressed their final offensive
with no route of escape as defeat became
inevitable, orders were given to destroy
any remaining panzas to prevent them
from falling into Allied hands. One
veteran recounted how his crew poured
sand into the fuel tank, ran the engine
until it seized, then hammered rocks
into the barrel, loaded an H shell, and
fired the gun remotely with string. This
left the tank completely wrecked with
dead engine and exploded gun, so it was
useless to the enemy. However, if you
could ask any veteran Panza crewman
about their worst posting, they'd
usually point east. Besides the fact
that 75% of all Panza 4 losses occurred
there, just the nature of the front and
combat were outright horrifying. Mass
waves of Soviet tanks charging in
seemingly endless numbers and extremely
close combat broke tanker's psyche. The
subtle minus40° C temperatures, snow,
and mud wre havoc on machines and people
just like heat and sand in Africa. The
transmission fluid became so viscous
that it had to be heated with torches
for up to an hour before the tank could
move. The Maybach engine starter system
frequently failed, forcing crews to
light small fires under the engine, then
use the inertia handc cranked starter
system. Even fuel and grease could
freeze, making just putting the tank in
working order a nightmare. Crews
improvised to somewhat heat their tank
overnight and slept inside breathing
gasoline fumes to not freeze to death.
While frostbite was a common thing,
ammunition storage was another horror
for its crew. The Panza 4 carried
between 80 to 87 rounds of 75 mm
ammunition depending on the variant, and
it was stored in bins throughout the
fighting compartment, including
vulnerable positions in the hull sides.
Unlike late war American tanks with wet
ammo storage that cleared their lights
every time reputation, a penetrating hit
in Panza 4 often caused catastrophic
secondary explosions. German tankers
called being hit brewing up a darkly
humorous euphemism for the tank erupting
into flames as ammunition cooked off,
giving crews at best mere seconds to
escape. You can find such photos on the
internet where crews didn't manage to
get out in time. Then imagine that
you're looking at this site as a tanker
of the same type of tank, knowing that
same fate might happen to you at any
moment. By 1943, Soviet IS-2 heavy tanks
and improved T-34s with 85mm guns began
emerging on the battlefield. The Model H
tried to address this with additional
armor, but there wasn't really much they
could do as the tank was now weighing
over 25 tons despite being designed as a
16-tonon vehicle. On the Western Front
after the invasion of Normandy, Panzer
4s fought heavily with Allied Shermans
and Churchills. But the tanks were not
such a problem as Allied superior
artillery, handheld anti-tank weapons,
and ground attacking aircraft that
terrorized German armor. As resources
dwindled, quality suffered. The final
variant J introduced in March 1944 was
actually a step backward. The auxiliary
200 L fuel tank was moved into the crew
compartment to extend range, but this
made it more vulnerable to fires. The
power traverse system for the turret was
eliminated entirely, so gunners had to
manually crank the turret. Now a full
360° rotation took at least 60 seconds
compared to just 15 seconds with power
traverse. Because of shortages of
rubber, road wheels were now made all
steel, giving it a funny reputation that
it could be heard miles ahead as tracks
were squeaking. Manganese shortages also
made all German later war tanks suffer
from brittle armor. And even paint was
in scarce supply. They'd paint just the
upper part of the fighting compartment
white for better visibility and leave
the lower part with just anti- rust
protection. Because of bombings taking a
heavy toll on factories, spare parts
became so scarce that maintenance units
regularly cannibalized disabled tanks to
keep others running. At least this was
an advantage, as all Panzer 4s had
standard and interchangeable parts, and
older variants could easily be fit up
with parts of newer models and vice
versa. With factories in ruins and
resources dwindling, the final chapters
of the Panza 4 story would reveal just
how desperate the Reich had become.
Panza crew training had been shortened
from the original 16week program to
barely 4 weeks. Even the intercom
systems were often absent in late
production tanks. The driver training
before combat deployment had been
reduced, resulting in frequent
transmission failures as inexperienced
drivers mishandled the delicate gearbox.
Young crews with barely 3 weeks of
instruction were being thrown into
combat against battleh hardened Allied
and Soviet tankers. The life expectancy
of a Panza 4 crew on the Eastern front
had dropped to roughly 2 weeks. While
the Tiger was an overengineered
primadona that was giving Germans some
desperate hope, the reality was that for
every operational Tiger on the front
lines, there were 20 Panza 4s. And the
average operational readiness rate for
Panzer 4s stood at 62% versus just 37%
for Tigers. So even when Tigers were on
the battlefield, more than half of them
weren't working. As Germany sought to
use everything they had, available Panza
4 hulls were used for the creation of
many other vehicles like the Yagged
Panza 4 or Stomashutz 4 and even Panza 4
with a 150 mm gun. As the war situation
deteriorated, fuel shortages and no
spare parts meant tanks were abandoned
when they stopped. The once proud
spearhead of Blitzkrieg had become
static pill boxes dug into defensive
positions as the Reich collapsed around
them. Yet somehow the Panzer 4's story
didn't end with Germany's surrender.
Over 300 vehicles were supplied to Nazi
allies during the war. Syria even
deployed Panzer against Israel in 1967
in the initial phases of the 6-day war,
ending a remarkable 30-year combat
career for a tank designed as infantry
support in
1936. Number three, the T-34 Soviet
Union. The story of the T-34 begins in
1937 when the highly maneuverable BT
tanks showed their lack of protection
and firepower. A new fast tank was
requested with better specifications and
most importantly sloped armor. After a
couple of prototypes like the BT20, A20,
and playing around with different types
of suspension and track systems, finally
by the beginning of 1940, the first two
T34 prototypes were ready for testing.
They immediately proved to be faster
than the BTS. But the revolutionary
sloped armor, although it increased
protection made the interior of the tank
super cramped, and visibility from
inside the tank was catastrophic.
Prototypes were shot at with 37 and 45
mm anti-tank guns and surprisingly
didn't take any major damage. After a
couple of months of testing, mass
production was ordered. The early models
weighted 27 tons battle ready with four
crew members cramped inside. It was
powered by a V2 400 horsepower engine
giving it a top speed of 30 mph and 460
L of diesel gave it a maximum range of
180 mi. It was shown that mass-roduced
models were not the same quality as
prototypes and the first notable
problems came with the engine and
cannon. The average lifespan of V2
engines was just 100 hours, while the
first 76.2 mm cannon couldn't penetrate
standard armor plates. Luckily, the F34
gun in the same caliber solved this
problem, at least temporarily. With its
500 m/s muzzle velocity at,000 yd, it
could penetrate more than 2 in of armor,
which was more than any German vehicle
had at the time. Another problem came
with the first turret design as it was
small and extremely cramped. Also, it
didn't have a wide field of periscopes
around it for a commander to observe the
battlefield from inside. It had only one
view slit and a single periscope, so you
would be semi- blind from inside the
tank. A good thing was that it had an
electric motor for traversing the turret
and could perform a full circle within
just 10 seconds. However, the gunner had
to constantly switch between powered and
manual operation to precisely guide his
gun to a target because when using the
electrically powered system, the turret
would continue spinning after releasing
the switch. So, for precise aiming, the
manual handle had to be used. Although
it made the interior of the tank
anything but comfortable and pleasant
for the crew, the 60° sloped armor with
a 45 mm front plate was significant
protection against early German tanks
and anti-tank guns. The armor was made
of a special steel alloy designed to be
strong but flexible so it could be bent
without breaking. Also, the angled
design made it easier to deflect
incoming shells. And this way, the 45 mm
angled plate would offer the same
protection as a 90 mm non-angled plate.
When the invasion of the Soviet Union by
the Germans began, it was time for the
T34 to show its capabilities. At that
point in the war, the most advanced
German tanks were the Panza 3 and 4, and
although they had similar thickness of
armor, it wasn't at steep angles. Also,
the German guns were shorter and fired
shells at lower velocity. This made them
both vulnerable to the T34's powerful
cannon, and chances of their guns
penetrating its frontal armor were slim.
The best option against the T34 was the
88 flat cannon, but they were rare and
scarce in this period of the war. The 37
and 50 mm anti-tank guns simply couldn't
do much against the
T34. So, the T34 was better protected
with a more powerful gun and even in
bigger numbers. But the Soviets were
beaten by the Axis battle after battle.
Ever wondered why that was? Well,
firstly, being in a cramped interior
without any effort in making comfort for
the crew made it exhausting. The
commander had to do all his duties while
also being a gunner with poor visibility
from inside. The early forward opening
hatch without a turret cuper forced him
to observe the battlefield through a
single vision slit and traversible
periscope. In the extremely cramped
turret, the loader stood on small metal
boxes of ammunition without a turret
basket. This meant that when the turret
was spinning, the floor stayed in its
place, and if not careful to move with
the turret, it could cause horrific
injuries to the loader. After firing
nine rounds from the racks, the loader
had to pull shells from floor boxes,
which were now covered with spent
casings. The driver's situation was
described as inhumanly harsh. Controls
for driving the tank were incredibly
heavy and unreliable, and he sat behind
sloped frontal armor in anything but a
comfortable position. And to add a
cherry on top of the cream, T34s were
operated by young, inexperienced crews
receiving just 72 hours of specialized
training on top of basic military
training. So the highly organized and
experienced German armored units quickly
surrounded and defeated Soviet armor
time after time, although being almost
always outnumbered by Soviet tanks.
Even Germans reported that Soviet
tankers were disorganized, that they
needed much more time to spot and aim at
the target, and that Germans could put
out three shots in the same time Soviets
could fire one. Instead of engaging
different targets, an entire platoon
would focus on a single one along with
other basic tactical mistakes. Most
T-34s didn't have radios, forcing
platoon leaders to rely on flags and
hand signals to communicate. Mechanical
malfunctions were so frequent that crews
spent more time repairing the tank than
actually operating it. They even carried
a spare transmission because of how
often it failed. The gearbox frequently
got stuck, so drivers kept a
sledgehammer nearby to deal with the
issue. The tracks could also come apart
at any moment, leaving the tank
immobilized in the middle of the
battlefield. Rods connecting the track
links often slid out while the tank was
in motion, so crews welded steel blocks
to the sides of the hull. These blocks
would stop the rods from sliding out
completely by pushing them back into
place. These mechanical issues alone led
to a horrific 50% of tank losses in
battle. Although the T34 was relatively
safe from early tank guns, its armor was
prone to splintering from
non-penetrating hits. This caused metal
fragments to shear off from the inside
and fly at great speed, effectively
becoming shrapnel that severely injured
the crew. And if your tank caught fire,
and by the way, Soviet shells were more
prone to catching fire and were
scattered throughout the tank. Good luck
trying to open a single extremely heavy
hatch on top of the turret. For the
driver, the forward hatch made it even
harder to escape from their awkward
sitting position. To make matters worse,
the fire extinguishers used toxic carbon
tetrachloride, meaning you'd want to
leave the tank whether the fire was
extinguished or not. On average, Soviet
crews suffered two men killed per
destroyed tank, compared to 1.3 crewmen
killed per destroyed US Sherman tank,
despite the Sherman having one
additional crew member. If that wasn't
enough, in 1942, Panzas were upgraded
with long barrel guns, making them
capable of destroying T34s at longer
ranges. Soon, the Tiger 1 and Panthers
entered the battlefield, while the T34
remained mostly unchanged. Although the
T34 saw slight improvements, a
redesigned turret with better hatches,
increased frontal armor to 75 mm, and
external fuel tanks, the situation on
the battlefield was still overwhelmingly
against them. To counter the heavily
armored Panther tank, the T34 was
upgraded with an 85 mm cannon adapted
from an anti-aircraft gun. This new
weapon had a high muzzle velocity and
was capable of penetrating 94 mm of
sloped armor at 1,000 yd. Despite this
improvement, Soviet armored forces
continued to suffer devastating losses
with 15,000 tanks destroyed in 1942
alone. However, the Soviet Union was far
from defeated. They relocated their
armament factories far to the east out
of reach of German bombers. By 1943,
these factories produced an astonishing
15,500 tanks, tripling Germany's
production. Workers lived in freezing
barracks in remote locations, working
long hours with makeshift tools, limited
materials, and under the constant threat
of bombing. These enormous production
numbers, where a single factory could
sometimes produce 1,000 tanks in a
single month, came at a cost to quality,
of course. Many tanks were sent into
battle without paint or even without
optics or machine guns. Engineers were
well aware of these issues, but
understood that addressing them would
slow down the production of desperately
needed tanks. As a result, the only
changes allowed in production were those
that made it faster and cheaper. This
was best shown at the Stalinrad tractor
factory, which continued producing tanks
despite relentless bombing. Even when
German forces reached the facto's yard,
workers kept assembling tanks that went
straight into battle in semi-operational
condition. When the Germans finally
captured the factory after intense
fighting, they found workers still
putting tanks together. After the
Soviets liberated the factory, they
immediately resumed production,
assembling tanks from leftover parts
amid the ruins, demonstrating just how
desperate the situation had become. In
1943, the T34 was about to clash in the
largest tank battle in history against
the superior German Panthers, Tigers,
and improved Panza Force. The crews of
T34s were no longer inexperienced
rookies and now knew how to use the best
of their machine. With meticulously
planned and prepared defenses with
thousands of mines, obstacles, and
anti-tank weapons, around 6,000 tanks
clashed in a horrific battle. Although
winning the battle and completely
changing the tide of the war, Soviets
saw the urgent need for a more powerful
cannon for the T34.
Some German tanks received dozens of
non-penetrating hits, still being in the
fight even after both their tracks were
blown off. T34s could only penetrate the
armor of Tigers or Panthers at point
blank range or by hitting them from the
sides. So in 1944, the T3485 went into
production with the cannon we mentioned
earlier. Also, the bigger and simpler
turret was introduced, moving to a
three-man turret instead of two, giving
the tank commander a slight relief.
Interestingly, Germans employed a lot of
captured T34s on the Eastern front,
which were modified to use German
equipment. They were also painted with
large crosses or swastikas on top of the
turret to prevent friendly fire
incidents. After World War II, the T34
was still widely used around the world
long after the war despite being
technologically long surpassed. The T34
evolved into the
T-5455 series, which became the backbone
of Soviet armored forces and the most
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