Turns out that the visibility from inside a T-34 is terrible - you can't engage an AT shooting at you until you are on top of it. Its no wonder a 20mm could take it out - probably the crew panicked after getting hit 20 times...
The t34 and general soviet tanks had a qualitiy issue in steel. There are reports that the average steel hardness of an t34 or an KV tank was between 700-900 brinell (allied and german tanks where around 300,350-400 brinell) which means its steel was too hard and would shatter like glass. You didnt needed huge guns to stop these in real life.
Wow! The actual desperation of the Eastern Front Panzer forces in 1941-1942 is clearly brought into view! This presentation marks specific Command Policy with battlefield tactics! The videos released here are also quite unique! Kudos!
When soviet inspectors were invited to see german tank production (when Stalin and Hitler were still "friends") they refused to believe the germans when they told em the Pz IV was their heaviest model
german army doctrine of pre and early war the so called "Bewegungskrieg" movement war)" of german army had no need of heavy tanks which had to break through heavy defended lines. outflank or even better pass by the enemy strongholds and break through ("Verbund der Waffen " combined arms operations especially with air support ... Stuka!)
After the conclusion of the French campaign Hitler had ordered that the pz 3 and the pz 4 be upgunned. But for some reason, unknown to me right now, Hitlers requests were not acted upon. This left the Germans pz 3 pz 4 undergunned for the rest of 1940 and more importantly undergunned for Germany's Operation Barbarossa in 1941.
His own Panzer generals being too proud and confident in their own Panzer tanks that they thought they could win anyway, and these generals actually thought even less of Red Army than their leader and couldnt even think Soviets would had stronger tanks than French ones that they overcame. No wonder two years later the German leader had to call the shot himself.
@@sthrich635 One of the downfalls of nazism was iirc they got high on their self-absorbed hubris/narcissism/arrogance. I swear i remember reading they were shocked that these slavs could piece together such a perfect tank for THEIR given situation. A tank that could be produced in ginormous numbers, by illiterate peasantry in tankograd, that could operate at speed in russian mud/winters, simple to train their crews on, all that stuff. I swear i remember reading the german generals examined the enemy ordinance...they knew this could be a BIG problem because apparently they weren't even really aware of these tanks existence at the outset of barbarossa, and in regards to the KV-1, there was a situation early on barbarossa, where ONE of those at a crucial junction/crossroads, held up an entire SS division for days and days and was extremely hard to knock out, and then in other situation , a KV-1 had set up a perfect ambush and wiped out like 22 german tanks in short order in a morasse and nowhere for them to escape not unlike Villers-Bocage.
At the battle of Arras, France, 1940, there were only 20 A12 Matilda tanks in service, and they raised havoc, many Germans, including SS ran at the sight of them. The Germans were fortunate that most British tanks deployed were the A11 armed only with a maching gun. The attack failed only because the French failed to coordinate. However most British tanks survived the battle, so much for the 88s.
Mister, that's just crazy.... that a man of fighting age in the 1990's, actually fought against some t-34/85 tanks? Sounds like something out of a Back to the Future movie lol
Yep. Some had rolled rubber gym mats as improvised spaced armor (to detonate light shape charge shells like RPGs too far away.) Obviously a 120mm smoothbore round would go through two T-34s and keep going. But against infantry, trenches, defended houses, RPGs, a few inches of steel and an 85mm cannon can do a lot, even today. In Iraq '04 our vehicle armor was two sheets of 3/4" plywood, with maybe some sandbags, old ballistic glass, and cannibalized T-72 track sideskirts. Those were made of 10mm aluminum alloy and could stop some shrapnel and maybe even some 7.62x39 rounds.
That was an ugly affair. I couldn't believe that...well back then, after the holocaust, the world said "NEVER AGAIN", obviously probably didn't apply to other areas of the world, but it was heavily implied that Europe believed in it, and then in the early 90s...they basically just watched a genocide unfold, and for a long time just stoodby and did nothing. "NEVER AGAIN" was just an empty slogan.
man if the soviets had developed a competent tank doctrine that made it a requirement for tanks to be supported by infantry it would have been wraps in 1942 alone
No way, they did come with tanks and infantry waves. Problem was the T34 was actually crappy: sticky gears, 3man crew with overworked commander-gunner, no radio- no coordination, no turret basket - no ergonomics etc. Yes, good mobility and armor for its initial appearance. Soviet records show a loss of 3-4 T34 per German tank of any description (incl Pz 2, 3 and Stug3!). They lost nearly 78000 T34 out of 85,000 built. Some tank!
Really great documentary Factbytes, on a very interesting topic too. I would also like to see a documentary, on how troops of the Red army, and the western allies after them, reacted once they finally found that by 1944, the Germans were fielding a weapon like the MP44 Sturmgewehr against their Enfields, Garands and PPsh sub guns!
The Czech tank had a 45mm cannon and panzer 3’s had 2 versions of the 50 mm cannons one a longer caliber then the other with different penetration values at the start of operation Barbarossa. In late 1942 the panzer 4’s started to appear with the long barrel 75 which evened the playing field when they began to appear in numbers. Just sayin.
Little known fact, the Germans captured a Russian 76mm cannon factory earlier in the war. They found 2500 already made cannons same as the t34s. They placed these guns on mark 4 tanks with armored plating, because they didn’t fit in the turrets. Obviously they were fixed into position. You can call them an early stug I suppose. They said, they were very effective. I don’t remember the source of this story. I read it somewhere over 30 years ago.
Don't matter the tank type the side of all tanks are vulnerable too 75mm or larger shells, but I believe the newer American round in ww2 I believe the the tungen tip could penetrate almost any armor.
Yes of course, and so could the German 88 from the war's beginning to its end. But exactly how it was with radar technology, nobody could really leap-frog ahead for very long. In 1941 the Germans had succeeded in conquering western Europe with their heaviest tank gun being the 50mm on a Panzer III. Meanwhile though the 75 mm main gun upgrade for the Panzer IV was still on the drawing board, as was the Tiger 1 and the Panther. The Soviets did such a good job with keeping it secret, the first indication the Germans knew of the T-34 was when a bunch came rumbling up on the battlefield! And the Germans had almost nothing (except the scarce and precious 88's) to counter the T-34 for a long, long time. Of course the Tiger and Panther were supposed to be the T-34 killers, and they were; but the problems the Germans always had with logistics, repair, and production, meant that after Kursk in July 1943 they were more-or-less permanently on the defensive everywhere they fought.
german army doctrine of pre and early war the so called "Bewegungskrieg" movement war)" had no need of heavy tanks which had to break through heavy defended lines. outflank or even better pass by the enemy strongholds and break through in the backyard of the enemy to cut off troops and supply using doctrine of "Verbund der Waffen " - combined arms operations especially with air support ... (Stuka!).
The arrogance of the Naiz's would not let them learn from their encounter with unstoppable tanks, when they invaded France a year BEFORE Barbarossa. The English Matilda and the French Somme would not be stopped but for Gen Guderian's master stroke to turn the '88 anti-aircraft gun into an anti-tank gun.
Really? The unstoppable T34? Is it a joke? The T34 and the Sherman are well known as the MOST stoppable tanks of WWII. They are "soft" targets, anything and everything would blow them away, the only reason why we talk about them both is they were the most constructed but at the same the ones that killed most of the tank crews during that war.
But the Germans can't stop all 50,000 T34, and 45,000 Sherman tanks. T34 went all from Moscow to Berlin and Sherman from North Africa to Ruhr Valley, and with all the Panzer IV, Panther and Tigers wrecks behind
The Russian T-34 looks like it was pretty much unstoppable against any Army that was not as disciplined as the German's - after watching this - I think had the Soviet's invaded Europe first - with these Tanks - they would have not been stopped - but oddly somehow they were not used in defense at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa ?
This is not correct. The Pak 38 is a 50mm AT gun, and while better than the 37mm "door knocker", could not penetrate a T-34's frontal armor. It could penetrate the side armor at around 700 meters. There were no guns in WW II that would take out another tank at 5 kilometers. While the 88mm Pak 43 was likely capable of firing that far, optics and she'll drop over that distance made a hit unlikely.
Perhaps "good enough" the US. Army brought a T34 to Aberdeen Proving grounds. They tore the T 34 to the bolts, The US. Engineers made recommend over 300 "improvements". The Soviets said they designed the 34 's to last 6 weeks on the battlefield. So no thanks.
as soon as the germans use the 88 pak the t34 became obsolete the panther and tiger were not ready yet the panther and tiger had NO FEAR of this russian piece of rubbish
But that was the best thing about it - it didn't matter! The Russkies made so many of them that a few T-34's breaking down on the way to the battlefield barely slowed them down. Either the crew's now a stationary pillbox, or else it's an instant promotion to tank rider troops... hop on to a working one and off they go!
Early T-34 had a four man crew, no radio, poor vision, etc. Still a great tank for its time. Replaced by the T-34/85-better gun, 5 man crew, better optics, better vision, etc. Then the IS-2, even bigger gun, better armor, etc.
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More than 50% of t34s were destroyed by 50mm shells from panzer 3, plus more were disable/destroyed by 20mm than from the 88mm cannon
Turns out that the visibility from inside a T-34 is terrible - you can't engage an AT shooting at you until you are on top of it. Its no wonder a 20mm could take it out - probably the crew panicked after getting hit 20 times...
The t34 and general soviet tanks had a qualitiy issue in steel. There are reports that the average steel hardness of an t34 or an KV tank was between 700-900 brinell (allied and german tanks where around 300,350-400 brinell) which means its steel was too hard and would shatter like glass. You didnt needed huge guns to stop these in real life.
But somehow German, racist, EVIL Nazis lost the war.
The question is: from which side? If you have to circle a tank to destroy it, you’re already at a disadvantage.
@@JanHoellwarth Most hits land on the turret, and there the early T-34 had only 50 mm of armor.
Wow! The actual desperation of the Eastern Front Panzer forces in 1941-1942 is clearly brought into view! This presentation marks specific Command Policy with battlefield tactics! The videos released here are also quite unique! Kudos!
Glad you liked it!
When soviet inspectors were invited to see german tank production (when Stalin and Hitler were still "friends") they refused to believe the germans when they told em the Pz IV was their heaviest model
the germans and soviets were working together before the war to avoid treaty violations...the t34 plans where of german origin
@@donwalsh4445
Besonders die Kanone war eine deutsche Entwicklung. 🎉
Sadly all those inspectors suffered from the purges.
german army doctrine of pre and early war the so called "Bewegungskrieg" movement war)" of german army had no need of heavy tanks which had to break through heavy defended lines. outflank or even better pass by the enemy strongholds and break through ("Verbund der Waffen " combined arms operations especially with air support ... Stuka!)
@donwalsh4445 sorry but you are wrong. A soviet citizen designed the t34 and drove the prototype to Moscow a considerable distance
I guess that's how Germany beat the Soviet Union.
After the conclusion of the French campaign Hitler had ordered that the pz 3 and the pz 4 be upgunned. But for some reason, unknown to me right now, Hitlers requests were not acted upon. This left the Germans pz 3 pz 4 undergunned for the rest of 1940 and more importantly undergunned for Germany's Operation Barbarossa in 1941.
I believe the Paz III had to be re-engineered for the 50mm.
His own Panzer generals being too proud and confident in their own Panzer tanks that they thought they could win anyway, and these generals actually thought even less of Red Army than their leader and couldnt even think Soviets would had stronger tanks than French ones that they overcame.
No wonder two years later the German leader had to call the shot himself.
@@sthrich635 One of the downfalls of nazism was iirc they got high on their self-absorbed hubris/narcissism/arrogance. I swear i remember reading they were shocked that these slavs could piece together such a perfect tank for THEIR given situation. A tank that could be produced in ginormous numbers, by illiterate peasantry in tankograd, that could operate at speed in russian mud/winters, simple to train their crews on, all that stuff. I swear i remember reading the german generals examined the enemy ordinance...they knew this could be a BIG problem because apparently they weren't even really aware of these tanks existence at the outset of barbarossa, and in regards to the KV-1, there was a situation early on barbarossa, where ONE of those at a crucial junction/crossroads, held up an entire SS division for days and days and was extremely hard to knock out, and then in other situation , a KV-1 had set up a perfect ambush and wiped out like 22 german tanks in short order in a morasse and nowhere for them to escape not unlike Villers-Bocage.
At the battle of Arras, France, 1940, there were only 20 A12 Matilda tanks in service, and they raised havoc, many Germans, including SS ran at the sight of them. The Germans were fortunate that most British tanks deployed were the A11 armed only with a maching gun. The attack failed only because the French failed to coordinate. However most British tanks survived the battle, so much for the 88s.
Germans won, Brits evacuated (ran away). Period.
Served in Bosnia 95/96 and saw a couple of T34/85 still in use….can’t remember if Serb or Croat though…
they were on all sides. you use what you got and a 50 year old tank can kill you the same way as a new leo2 can ...
Mister, that's just crazy.... that a man of fighting age in the 1990's, actually fought against some t-34/85 tanks? Sounds like something out of a Back to the Future movie lol
Yep. Some had rolled rubber gym mats as improvised spaced armor (to detonate light shape charge shells like RPGs too far away.)
Obviously a 120mm smoothbore round would go through two T-34s and keep going. But against infantry, trenches, defended houses, RPGs, a few inches of steel and an 85mm cannon can do a lot, even today.
In Iraq '04 our vehicle armor was two sheets of 3/4" plywood, with maybe some sandbags, old ballistic glass, and cannibalized T-72 track sideskirts. Those were made of 10mm aluminum alloy and could stop some shrapnel and maybe even some 7.62x39 rounds.
That was an ugly affair. I couldn't believe that...well back then, after the holocaust, the world said "NEVER AGAIN", obviously probably didn't apply to other areas of the world, but it was heavily implied that Europe believed in it, and then in the early 90s...they basically just watched a genocide unfold, and for a long time just stoodby and did nothing. "NEVER AGAIN" was just an empty slogan.
Not a word about the heavy 'Chars' of the French armored cavalry. They were better than anything the English had.
man if the soviets had developed a competent tank doctrine that made it a requirement for tanks to be supported by infantry it would have been wraps in 1942 alone
No way, they did come with tanks and infantry waves. Problem was the T34 was actually crappy: sticky gears, 3man crew with overworked commander-gunner, no radio- no coordination, no turret basket - no ergonomics etc. Yes, good mobility and armor for its initial appearance. Soviet records show a loss of 3-4 T34 per German tank of any description (incl Pz 2, 3 and Stug3!). They lost nearly 78000 T34 out of 85,000 built. Some tank!
Really great documentary Factbytes, on a very interesting topic too. I would also like to see a documentary, on how troops of the Red army, and the western allies after them, reacted once they finally found that by 1944, the Germans were fielding a weapon like the MP44 Sturmgewehr against their Enfields, Garands and PPsh sub guns!
The Czech tank had a 45mm cannon and panzer 3’s had 2 versions of the 50 mm cannons one a longer caliber then the other with different penetration values at the start of operation Barbarossa. In late 1942 the panzer 4’s started to appear with the long barrel 75 which evened the playing field when they began to appear in numbers. Just sayin.
Little known fact, the Germans captured a Russian 76mm cannon factory earlier in the war. They found 2500 already made cannons same as the t34s. They placed these guns on mark 4 tanks with armored plating, because they didn’t fit in the turrets. Obviously they were fixed into position. You can call them an early stug I suppose. They said, they were very effective. I don’t remember the source of this story. I read it somewhere over 30 years ago.
Did the Germans employ the same tatics to defeat the other Russian tank the KV-1?
Yes. They used the 88s, close-range infantry tactics and concentrated Panzer fire to disable the KVs as well.
Was it tougher
@@RichardHammonds-je4yq yea m8
Don't matter the tank type the side of all tanks are vulnerable too 75mm or larger shells, but I believe the newer American round in ww2 I believe the the tungen tip could penetrate almost any armor.
Yes of course, and so could the German 88 from the war's beginning to its end. But exactly how it was with radar technology, nobody could really leap-frog ahead for very long. In 1941 the Germans had succeeded in conquering western Europe with their heaviest tank gun being the 50mm on a Panzer III. Meanwhile though the 75 mm main gun upgrade for the Panzer IV was still on the drawing board, as was the Tiger 1 and the Panther.
The Soviets did such a good job with keeping it secret, the first indication the Germans knew of the T-34 was when a bunch came rumbling up on the battlefield! And the Germans had almost nothing (except the scarce and precious 88's) to counter the T-34 for a long, long time.
Of course the Tiger and Panther were supposed to be the T-34 killers, and they were; but the problems the Germans always had with logistics, repair, and production, meant that after Kursk in July 1943 they were more-or-less permanently on the defensive everywhere they fought.
It didn't take long for the Germans to find a capable weapon in taking out the T-34 as well as the KV-1 and the KV-2.
Months or years were a long time to come up with solutions in ww2
I enjoyed this informative video.
Great video
Thanks for the visit
That "hard nut" did not exist until 1943. The T-34/76 existed in 1941, but not the T-34/85 pictured.
Please have a closer look. It is indeed a T-34/76 (1941 model) in the picture.
Informative documentary about T-34 Soviet tanks strong points and weaknesses.. how German soldiers exploited its weaknesses to confront T-34 tanks .
Thanks again for your visit!
The T-34 wasn't unstoppable they just had huge numbers
Yadi ya, yadi de, from those battles give battle damage reports
german army doctrine of pre and early war the so called "Bewegungskrieg" movement war)" had no need of heavy tanks which had to break through heavy defended lines. outflank or even better pass by the enemy strongholds and break through in the backyard of the enemy to cut off troops and supply using doctrine of "Verbund der Waffen " - combined arms operations especially with air support ... (Stuka!).
The game call of war literally was too demanding imo
You can’t have a life outside of COW if you’re even remotely serious about winning a match 😂
Excellent. Well put together - and true!
The arrogance of the Naiz's would not let them learn from their encounter with unstoppable tanks, when they invaded France a year BEFORE Barbarossa. The English Matilda and the French Somme would not be stopped but for Gen Guderian's master stroke to turn the '88 anti-aircraft gun into an anti-tank gun.
And yet the T34 ended up in Berlin
🎖️⭐🙏🏆❤️🩹🛐
Thank you for sharing this
Thanks for visiting
Really? The unstoppable T34? Is it a joke? The T34 and the Sherman are well known as the MOST stoppable tanks of WWII. They are "soft" targets, anything and everything would blow them away, the only reason why we talk about them both is they were the most constructed but at the same the ones that killed most of the tank crews during that war.
But the Germans can't stop all 50,000 T34, and 45,000 Sherman tanks. T34 went all from Moscow to Berlin and Sherman from North Africa to Ruhr Valley, and with all the Panzer IV, Panther and Tigers wrecks behind
The Russian T-34 looks like it was pretty much unstoppable against any Army that was not as disciplined as the German's - after watching this - I think had the Soviet's invaded Europe first - with these Tanks - they would have not been stopped - but oddly somehow they were not used in defense at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa ?
germans were using the 88 in spain pre ww2 , so they already knew about its tank killing usage
The Soviets were also aware of artillery direct fire capability vs tanks from Spain.
@@MrProsat tbf the power of artillery v tanks was known from ww1
🫳🏻
2:29 except the Abrams and F15
well,they will be defeated eventually
Dont believe the rubbish they tell you in your american schools 😂
The F-15 is already powerless against the F-22 and F-35. The Abrams is just another tank, with its strengths and weaknesses, and can be defeated.
Downvoted bc of AI?
Nazi fanboy celebration
your statement are wrong the pak 38 pak 41 pak 43 pak went trough the t34 from 5000 meter
This is not correct. The Pak 38 is a 50mm AT gun, and while better than the 37mm "door knocker", could not penetrate a T-34's frontal armor. It could penetrate the side armor at around 700 meters. There were no guns in WW II that would take out another tank at 5 kilometers. While the 88mm Pak 43 was likely capable of firing that far, optics and she'll drop over that distance made a hit unlikely.
And I watched more of the video, and the statements made here are correct
too many zeros
The T-34 was a total peice of 💩
Perhaps "good enough" the US. Army brought a T34 to Aberdeen Proving grounds. They tore the T 34 to the bolts, The US. Engineers made recommend over 300 "improvements". The Soviets said they designed the 34 's to last 6 weeks on the battlefield. So no thanks.
as soon as the germans use the 88 pak the t34 became obsolete the panther and tiger were not ready yet the panther and tiger had NO FEAR of this russian piece of rubbish
The 88 crews were very vulnerable to artillery if spotted and often had to wait for mechanised mobility.
T34, when it worked was formidable, no mention of how many never made it to the battles
But that was the best thing about it - it didn't matter! The Russkies made so many of them that a few T-34's breaking down on the way to the battlefield barely slowed them down. Either the crew's now a stationary pillbox, or else it's an instant promotion to tank rider troops... hop on to a working one and off they go!
if the t34 was so good why was it replace
Everything is eventually _replaced_ my friend.....the T-34 was upgraded throughout WWII being the 2nd most produced Tank ever after the T-62.
It was replaced so that the "good" becomes "better"
@@blaze1148 it was also the MOST destroyed in combat
@@donwalsh4445 That was because there were so many of them....quantity has a quality of it's own....they overwhelmed the Germans.
Early T-34 had a four man crew, no radio, poor vision, etc. Still a great tank for its time. Replaced by the T-34/85-better gun, 5 man crew, better optics, better vision, etc. Then the IS-2, even bigger gun, better armor, etc.
how did the germans in summer uniforms in the middle of russian winter against the t34 made it 12 miles from moscow
Yet Russians in Summer UNIFORMS SEIZED THE REICHSTAG! AINT THAT VICTORY ✌
As far as I know they had winter clothes, but they were designed for German winter not Russian winter.
@@GA-br8wj the FACT is they had summer uniform everybody knows this...what about the rest of my facts
did they have no 88s over there? rommel managed against all the british tanks, even the late models and the american ones.
Was ist los ?
you say the t34 was invincable but yet you say it had limted vision(very important in a tank} no radio ,on capola these defect makes it inferior