The T-34: A True Soviet Icon Trivia Quiz

Answer: John Walter Christie

In 1916, John Walter Christie, an engineer and inventor, had developed a four wheeled gun carriage for the U.S. Army but his design was declined. Over the next few years he had other designs that were deemed not suitable for use in accordance with then current U.S. Army thinking and doctrine. One of the few Army officials who appreciated Christie's ideas was then Lt. Col. Patton, a cavalry officer who understood the need for fast and mobile armored fighting vehicles. Undeterred, Christie turned to Europe and touted his design to the Poles, English and Soviets.

This was technically illegal because no approval was given by the War Department. In 1930 the Soviets obtained plans of a Christie design. Christie agreed to sell them 2 tanks (the M1931) that he had designed.

The Soviets subsequently improved on these and produced the BT series of tanks which were even further refined and developed into the T-34. The Christie suspension was also used on the British Cruiser tanks such as the Crusader, Cromwell and Comet.

The suspension incorporated large road wheels with no return rollers. Each wheel had its own spring loaded assembly, which gave the tank great speed and high mobility. Christie was born in River Edge, New Jersey on 6 May 1865. At the age of sixteen he worked at the Delamater Iron Works while taking classes at the Cooper Union. He became a consulting engineer for a number of steamship lines. In his spare time he worked on early submarine designs. He also developed and patented a turret design for naval artillery. His stubbornness and ability to offend many officials in the U.S. Army and ordinance establishment did not endear his innovations and designs to the fruition they deserved. He died in Falls Church, Virginia on 11 January 1944. Fuller was a British army officer and a foremost theorist of armored warfare. Hart was an English military historian and had a huge influence in the development of armored warfare and strategy. Malyshev was a Soviet politician who had a Soviet tank factory named after him.

Answer: Sloped armor

Sloped armor is an important factor in the survivability of the tank. One of the main features of sloped armor is the more the slope, the more protection is increased on a horizontal plane. This affected incoming projectiles by deflection, ricochet or deforming. The slope on the T-34 was greatest in the front and sides of the tank.

Answer: 1940

The T-34's name was chosen for the year (1934) it first began to be formulated as a design. Two prototypes were completed by January 1940. These two underwent extensive and arduous testing in April and May. Initial resistance by the military command and worries over high cost were overcome by the poor performance of existing Russian tanks in the war with Finland.

The effective German fighting in France also contributed to the decision to go forward with the T-34. The first production tanks rolled off the assembly line in September 1940.

Answer: 76.2mm

The F-34 76.2mm rifled tank gun was designed prior to the onset of WWII. It was a superior design to the L-11 gun, also of the same caliber which had already been approved for the T-34. The initial T-34 model 1940, equipped with the inferior gun was already being produced when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.

The F-34 gun was ready for production by this time but interference by the head of the Red Army's Main Artillery Directorate, Grigory Kulik over tank appropriations scared the relevant bureacrats from approving the superior gun. Even so, Vasiliy Grabin, the designer of the F-34 gun, and the director of the Kharkov Locomotive Factory, the primary center of T-34 production conspired to produce and equip the newer gun anyway. The new T-34 model 1941 had the newer gun installed.

The upgrade proved to be highly popular with the company and platoon commanders and their crews in the field. Positive feedback from these men reached Stalin's State Defence Committee. They in turn gave official approval of the F-34 gun.

Answer: Panther

The Panther was a direct response to the T-34. The German forces first encountered the T-34 on 23 June 1941. The second day of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. It soon became apparent that the T-34 had outclassed the Panzer III and IV.

The backbone of the German armored divisions. After German field assessments of the T-34 were made, the sloping armor, wide tracks, and large road wheels were deemed significant design features that were to be incorporated in the Panther.

The Panther's overall look owed much to the respect the T-34 was given by German designers. The Panther's main gun was the magnificent 7.5 cm Kwk 42 L/70. The long barrel gave it an extremely high muzzle velocity, with excellent armor-piercing capabilities.

The Panther's first action was at Kursk in July 1943. Approximately 6,000 were produced. The Jagdpanther was a tank destroyer based on the Panther chassis. The Sturmtiger was an assault gun built on the Tiger I chassis. The Stug IV was an assault gun built on the Panzer IV chassis.

Answer: All of these

The first T-34s had teething problems that posed new opportunities for the Soviet tank industry. There were many subassemblies built at several production plants that hindered the effectiveness of the initial production of the T-34. The diesel engine that was to be installed in the tank was in short supply. An older gasoline powered engine was used in the initial production. Along with this an inferior transmission and clutch assembly was used, prone to malfunction.

The turret was small and could only accomodate two crewmembers.

This required the tank commander to double as gunner. This was a hindrance when tanks were engaging the enemy. The lack of radios due to their relatively high expense and shortage relegated them to use only in company commanders tanks. Communication was done primarily with signal flags. Unlike German tank arrangements of the day where every tank had a radio and each turret was manned by three men. Tactical command and control initially suffered due to these drawbacks.

Answer: 1944

After the Soviets encountered the new Tigers tanks in the latter half of 1942 and Panther tanks in the summer of 1943, it became evident that the 76.2 mm gun was no longer adequate in dealing with the threat they posed. The Soviets had been working on a design that year that was to replace the T-34 and the KV-1 heavy tank.

This was the T-43. It shared about 70% of it's parts with the T-34 but about 8 tons heavier. The T-43 still fielded the 76.2 mm gun. After testing against the T-34 in the spring of 1943 it was revealed that the heavier tank offered far less mobility than the T-34.

Although the T-43 had heavier armor, it was still not adequate enough to counter the German 88 mm gun fielded by the Tiger. It was decided to scrap the T-43.

The turret was retained and a modified anti-aircraft gun, the D-5T 85 mm was adapted to fit in it. This larger turret was fitted to the T-34. This finally gave the T-34 a three man turret. Now the firing of the gun was in the hands of the loader and gunner. Freeing the commander to lead his tank without the the additional tasks he was called on to do before.

Although still generally inferior to the Panther, the Soviets fielded so many T-34s that the Panther's technical superiority was negated by sheer numbers. The T-34-85 model 1943 began it's production run in early 1944. The T-34-85 model 1944 followed in the spring of 1944. The main difference between the two was the latter received a ZiS-S-53 85 mm gun. A simpler gun to produce than the D-5T. The Model 1944 also had the radio moved from the hull to the turret. The designations T34/76 and T34/85 were the nomenclatures given to the tanks by the Germans. Minor modifications had the nomenclature followed by letters such as T34/76A. This system was adopted by the West. Soviets used a model year after the main nomenclature such as the T-34-76 model 1940 and so on.

Answer: All of these

Like the Germans, the Soviets used existing tank chasses to field bigger guns, either in assault or anti-tank roles. The T-34 chassis was an excellent choice to field this type of specialized weapon. The SU-122 was armed with a 122 mm M-305 howitzer.

The first were built at the end of 1942 and continued production until the fall of 1943 with approximately 1,150 being built. It was completely replaced in production by the SU-85 because the latter had better anti-tank capabilities. The SU-85 was a modification of the earlier SU-122 replacing the 122 mm howitzer with the D-5T 85 mm gun.

It was designed from the beginning as a dedicated anti-tank gun. The SU-85 first entered combat in late 1943. When the T-34-85 Model 1944 was in full production, it was deemed redundant to field an anti-tank gun that was equipped with the same caliber gun.

The SU-85 ceased production in late 1944 and was withdrawn from the front line in early 1945. The replacement for the SU-85 was the highly successful SU-100 self-propelled anti-tank gun.

After trials of several 100 mm guns, the Soviets decided on the D-10S gun, a modified naval gun. Mass production began in September 1944. Production continued in the Soviet Union until 1947. It continued production in Czechoslovakia into the 1950s. Frontline service ended in the Soviet Union in 1957, though many were were put into reserve holding. It was fielded by most the of Warsaw Pact nations. It was employed by Egypt in 1956, 1967 and 1973 against the Israelis. As late as 2006 it was still in service with Vietnam.

Answer: 84,000+

The production run of the T-34 began in 1940. The Poles and Czechs also built the T-34 under license in the early 1950s. In the late 1960s, T-34s underwent a modernization program. This was done for export and reserve force reasons. Interestingly the T-34s being modernised, were retrofitted with the same drivetrain used in the T-54/55 tank.

The tank that replaced the T-34 as the Soviet's frontline battle tank after WWII. It has been estimated that approximately 84,000+ T-34s were built between 1940 and 1956. Second only to the T54/55 in numbers produced.

Answer: 27

After World War II 40 countries operated the T-34. As of 1996 an incredible 27 countries still used the T-34. These were: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Bulgaria, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Mongolia, Mozambique, North Korea, People's Republic of China, Republic of the Congo, Romania, Somalia, South Yemen, Sudan, Syria, Togo, Vietnam, Yugoslavia, and Zimbabwe.

Although rendered obsolete many years before by newer generations of tanks, the T-34's rugged simplicity ease of maintenance and low cost made it a favorite with the many third world nations it served.