Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Pablum. The Army actually
tested a T-34 (the later 34/85 version), and "underwhelmed" was an understatement.
Even in 1945, the Soviets lost more tanks than the Germans.
Many T-34s left the factory with serious problems: bad welds, bad electrics, flawed castings, etc. Offhand, this was done by a 50mm shot that should have bounced off:
You're nitpicking and any of that could apply to some version of just about any tank!
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Directly from a New Zealader who fought them in Korea:
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‘And now, Sir, a few words for your private ear on the T 34. I assume that the tks given by Joe to Mr. Wu are old models. Even so they were grossly overrated in press reports in the early days of the KOREAN Camaign. (A well placed HE shell from a 20 pr will lift the turret off). Only about 4 per Sqn have wrls and their armour is of poor quality. The whole tk is of the crudest workmanship, and breaks down with the greatest ease. (In fairness I must add that this may be due to inexperienced CHINESE crew). They would have to be used in mass, RUSSIAN fashion, to be any treat to a well trained, well equipped Army, as they have been proved somewhat inferior to the SHERMAN. A CENTURION will do to them what a TIGER did to the SHERMAN. They got their initial build up as a scapegoat to cover the natural and understandable, fact that the first American tps over here were raw, frightened boys who were also soft from occupational duties in JAPAN. The T 34, I am convinced, should be de-bunked. It is a workable tk, but NOT a wonder tk’.
This is sort of like saying, "my 2016 Corvette Stingray will smoke your 2004 'Vette!" It's supposed too!!!
The Centurion was a seminal Cold War tank and the Brit MBT counter to our Pattons. The true Soviet match-up would have been the T-44/T-54/55 series, which was also quite a good tank still in service. Not the T-34,which was already old hat but 1950. The Cents were a generation ahead of the T-34 and may or may not have seen some combat at the end of WWII. Yes they very successful against North Korean or Chinese manned T-34/85's but really they should have been! He's also making a wider point about how many were panicky over how the T-34 rolled over our initial M-24 Chaffee (light, recon) tanks in the early part of the conflict in some sort of reassurance propaganda and yes, that wasn't a fair fight either...
I already mentioned they were "somewhat inferior" to the Shermans...
Here's what the German commanders said about initially encountering the T-34/76:
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"Very worrying", Colonel-General Heinz Guderian, Commander of Second Panzer Army.
"We had nothing comparable", Major-General F.W. Mellenthin, Chief of Staff of XLVIII Panzer Corps.
"The finest tank in the world", Field-Marshal Ewald von Kleist, First Panzer Army.
"This tank (T-34) adversely affected the morale of the German infantry", General G. Blumentritt.