Praised by German generals and feared on the battlefield, the T-34 was the Soviet Union’s armored answer to the Blitzkrieg. It outclassed early German Panzers and shaped tank design for decades—but it ...

Weapons-wise, the T-34 sported a 76.2mm gun, often referred to as the T-34/76. Over the years, a second iteration of the tank entered production featuring a larger 85mm gun that was better suited ...

Russia produced a staggering 84,000 T-34 tanks during World War II. Such was the pace of production, that tanks in Stalingrad were even rolled directly off the factory line straight into battle.

In 1941, only ten T-34 tanks with a 57-mm gun were made. All of them took part in the famous 21st Tank Brigade’s assault on the city of Kalinin [present-day Tver].

The T-34 could reach speeds of more than 50 miles per hour, had a turret diameter of 76.2 millimeters, and could not be destroyed by the Wehrmacht’s traditional anti-tank weapons.

With the crew out of the turret, the main gun functions through an autoloading system. It’s a function of many modern tank designs, and some older ones, such as the Russian T-72 and T-80.