T-34 Tank

 

 

These two photographs show the earliest version of the T-34, armed with a 76 mm L-11 gun mounted in a welded two-man turret nicknamed the «pirozhok» («pie»). The only surviving example of such an early tank variant anywhere in the world was reconstructed by the Stalin Line restoration team and transferred to the collection of the Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Minsk.

Just before the war, the T-34 was fitted with the longer-barrelled 76 mm F-34 gun, which remained unrivalled until the end of 1942. In 1943, the most widely produced T-34 variant entered series production, featuring a cast «hex-nut» turret. However, because of the fierce fighting, only a handful of these vehicles have survived to the present day. One of them is on display here.

It was restored by the Stalin Line restoration team using parts from seven tanks! A shell hole made by a German projectile can be seen on the left side of the turret.

An even rarer version of the famous tank in the Stalin Line collection is the T-34 with a pressed-steel turret! At the Ural Heavy Machinery Plant (UZTM), a giant press previously used to manufacture ships' propeller blades was employed to press the turrets. Not only is this a very rare T-34 variant—ten times fewer were produced than those with conventional «hex-nut» turrets—but it is also in running order!

Today, the only places where visitors can ride in such a T-34 are here and the Lešany Museum in the Czech Republic.

The T-34-85, with its three-man turret and more powerful 85 mm gun, became the definitive version of the famous Victory tank. 

This variant was first used on a large scale in the summer of 1944 during Operation «Bagration».
 During this operation, our troops not only defeated Army Group «Centre» in Belarus, but also captured Lithuania and cut off Army Group «North» in the Baltic region.
The T-34-85 «Chervonny» shown here is assigned to the Military Academy and is therefore rarely displayed at Stalin Line. 
The seemingly unusual spelling of the name «Chervonny» has a surprisingly simple explanation. It was the nickname of the tank commander, who was an avid card player. The nickname came not from the Belarusian word «Chyrvony» (red), but from the Russian word for the suit of hearts. 

 

As part of its «Remember Everything» campaign, Wargaming produced the documentary «T-34», which tells the story of the restoration of a T-34-76 tank by specialists from the Stalin Line Historical and Cultural Complex.