A cura di @reislaufer

Christos T. fa un’approfondita analisi sul T34, il più famoso carro armato sovietico, spesso visto come uno dei migliori mezzi del conflitto per la sua affidabilità, economicità e potenza.
Ma i dati sovietici e gli studi tedeschi e alleati smentiscono questa narrazione: il T34 era un mezzo inaffidabile, pericoloso per l’equipaggio e tutt’altro che economico; durante il conflitto soffrì perdite atroci contro i Panzer tedeschi, sulla carta più costosi e meno affidabili.

Soviet tests on newly built T-34’s (15) showed that in April 1943 only 10.1% could complete a 330km trial and in June ’43 this went down to 7.7%. The percentage stayed below 50% till October 1943 when it rose to 78%, in the next month it dropped to 57% and in the period December ’43 – February ’44 the average was 82%.

Preliminary inspection of tanks built at the Ural tank factory No 183 (largest producer of the T-34) showed that in 1942 only 7% were free of defects, in 1943 14% and in 1944 29.4%. In 1943 the main problem was damage to the gear teeth (16)

Regarding the price, the study ‘Engineering analysis of the Russian T34/85 tank’, p5 says that:
‘it is believed, that the cost at the time of manufacture, converted to USA currency, would exceed 50.000 dollars.’

This was the same price as the M4 Sherman, an overall better vehicle, so it is not clear of how the T-34 was ‘cheaper’ than the competition (23).

 

Immagine da Wikimedia Commons.