For Hardcore WWII Buffs ONLY...

[Axxman300]

They've pulled another T34-76 out of a lake to b restored:

http://www.pln-pskov.ru/photo/photoreport/41184.html

It's all in Russian but the pictures speak for themselves.

I love stuf like this.

[Ryerye]

Ah, the T34. Supposedly the best tank of the era.

[MikeL]

Neat, but not a rarity. There are about to be some T34/85s still in service somewhere, and I don't doubt that there are still large numbers of T34s in storage somewhere.

The neatest photos I've seen in a while are the IS-3s and T-10s that were turned into pillboxes along the Chinese border and in the Kuriles. Conversely, there's little more shameful than our inability to put a roof over the collection at Aberdeen.

[ZeoBandit]

That is pretty cool!

[wombattt]

Neat, but not a rarity. There are about to be some T34/85s still in service somewhere, and I don't doubt that there are still large numbers of T34s in storage somewhere.

You got that right...durring the Cold War the Soviet's had alot of surplus WWII equipment in service....they took the waste-not, want-not saying to a whole new level.

[Axxman300]

Neat, but not a rarity. There are about to be some T34/85s still in service somewhere, and I don't doubt that there are still large numbers of T34s in storage somewhere.

The neatest photos I've seen in a while are the IS-3s and T-10s that were turned into pillboxes along the Chinese border and in the Kuriles. Conversely, there's little more shameful than our inability to put a roof over the collection at Aberdeen.

I think North Korea still uses them to train their tank crews with.

I just think it's cool that every once in a while they pull one out of a lake or pond somewhere. Up in Alaska there are a handfull of Shermans that sank into the bogs up there, a few even still have their crews inside.

I've also heard rumors - but never confirmed them - of an entire tank platoon that was swallowed up in a sand storm along the California/Arizona border. These were under the command of General Patton and I've heard it referred to "Patton's Lost Command". Like I said, I've never been able to confirm the existence of these tanks or that tanks were actually lost, but it would be cool to go out and look for them someday.

[Double Down]

I forwarded that link to my father who is virtually a WWII expert because I was curious about these tanks. He emailed me back with this reply about those tanks:

The T34 model won the war against the German Tiger tanks on the Eastern front...This doomed a couple of German army groups. It indirectly helped the U.S. Army in the west (France, Belgium, etc.) in that these were troops that could not be brought back to fight the allies in the west (U.S., British, French, etc.)...




As a side note, my father witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor first hand when he was 9 years old. My grandfather was stationed on Ford Island (Pearl Harbor) and my dad was playing in the back yard as the attack began. He was literally standing in the back yard as the Japs came flying over his house at tree level just after they dropped the first wave of bombs. His house/yard was about 200 yards from Battleship Row and the Arizona. I've been there a couple of times myself, most recently in December, and it's pretty remarkable to see how close he was to one of the most significant days in US history. But I guess that's a story for another day.

[Wruff_ajax]

Really cool. I saw one recently pulled out of a lake that was superbly preserved by the mud which is was sunken in. It had been captured and used by the germans in WWII and still had the german insignias on it.

Neat stuff.

[Ryerye]

My main graduate professor was a Holocaust survivor from Eastern Europe. During his WWII course, which rocked for us history nerds, he told a story of how the Russian troops were ripping faucets out of bathrooms and bringing them home. They thought that water came from faucets, so they brought them back home in the hopes of having running water.
And they built the best tank of the war. ???

[Wruff_ajax]

Though the T34 was the best tank at the time, I would argue that the German Panther was the best tank of the war....
The germans put what they learned from all their previous tanks, and took a lot from the t-34 too (sloped armor for example) and put it all into the Panther. It was too late for germany by that time, but the Panther was the best tank of WWII imo. Particularly after they worked the early bugs out. Awesome.


Here's a cool rare pic of some t34's on the roll in Russia durring WWII.
Thought you guys might like it.

[Nickdfresh]

The T-34 caused the Germans to completely reevaluate their tank corp, and racist notions of the Slavs as their intellectual inferiors. When the the tanks rolled out of the frozen tundras in strength for the vaunted Red Army counteroffensive just outside Moscow, the T-34 flattened anything it came into contact with and all German tanks were essentially rendered obsolete. Although the Germans encountered them piecemeal in the summer of 1941 causing them to up-gun their Panzer Mk IVs with an excellent high velocity 75mm gun and applique armor as a stopgap, the Nazis considered making and direct copy, reverse engineered, version of the T-34 as they indeed had several units equipped with captured examples. But the Germans instead designed the Panther, and pressed into service the Tiger essentially as a T-34-killer. The Panther was designed to the same specifications as the T-34. While the Panther was more sophisticated and crew-friendly, I doubt was any better combat wise than a T-34/85, and it was much harder to produce whereas the T-34 was not only one of the most combat effective tanks of WWII, it was also relatively easy to churn out in huge numbers.

[MikeL]

It was too late for germany by that time, but the Panther was the best tank of WWII imo.

When it was running, or when it was being worked on? A tank is pretty useless if it's unreliable.

The late German tanks were pushing the technological, metallurgical, industrial, and logistical capabilities of Germany beyond its limits. There were never enough of them, never enough fuel, and never enough operational. One to one, the Sherman and T34 weren't a good match for a late-war Panther, but it was a war, not a beauty contest.

[Nickdfresh]

When it was running, or when it was being worked on? A tank is pretty useless if it's unreliable.

The late German tanks were pushing the technological, metallurgical, industrial, and logistical capabilities of Germany beyond its limits. There were never enough of them, never enough fuel, and never enough operational. One to one, the Sherman and T34 weren't a good match for a late-war Panther, but it was a war, not a beauty contest.

I thought the Germans worked out the reliability problems with the Panther. But they never could produce enough of them, even if production increased despite strategic bombing...


I think their numbers are a drop in the bucket compared to Sherman and T-34 production numbers. But then again, the Germans pissed away a lot of their R&D on numerous strands of useless and excessive projects...