2023-05-10 12:45:30
Little remains of the glory that the Great Russian Bear exuded during the great wars that rocked the world since the mid-1940s. The armored columns that stood proud in the Victory Day parade, the commemoration of the defeat of Nazism in 1945, have vanished; Today only austerity and modesty remain. The clearest example could be seen on May 9 in front of the Kremlin. There, in the heart of Red Square, there was only one tank that represented the power of Vladimir Putin: a lone T-34/85pride of Iósif Stalin in the Second World War and black beast of the ‘Wehrmacht’ in the battlefields.
For the rest, nothing at all. The modern T-80 and T-90 have been displaced to the Ukraine, where the Russian army is bleeding faster and faster. Nor was the revolutionary T-14 Armata, pride of the army, in sight. Not even an old T-72 or a the old T-55. The reality is that the warehouses have been emptied of everything with armor and cannon. The numbers don’t lie. In 2015, some 16,000 soldiers marched alongside 200 vehicles while 200 planes flew overhead. And last year, despite the conflict, the public was able to enjoy some tank units that formed –and still form– the backbone of the mechanized divisions.
Why Putin has respected the presence of the T-34/85 has its historical logic. To begin with, because this tank was a revolution thanks to its inclined armor and its cannon – 76 mm first and 85 mm on later models. But also because two of them were the first to enter Nazi-dominated Berlin shortly before the Red flag will fly at the Reichstag. For Russia, this vehicle is more than one of the weapons that crushed Hitler; It represents the pride of the old Soviet Union and the victory of a military industry that, despite the Teutonic invasion, remained active after being displaced brick by brick to the north of the country. Not surprisingly, up to 57,000 T-34s came out of the assembly lines.
the nightmare appears
“New enemy tank!” The words of the chief of the German General Staff, Franz Halder, echoed shakily across the Russian countryside. It was 1941 and the ‘Wehrmacht’ felt unbeatable. Its backbone was made up of the Czech-made Panzer III and Panzer 38t; the latter, 25% of the armored units. And none of them was prepared to face the mass that had just emerged before his eyes: the Kliment Voroshilov KV-1. That day, only two 88 mm shells. They managed to break through his armor. The icing on the cake was the arrival of a 26-ton colossus with inclined armor: the mythical T-34. “We were impressed, he was the best of the time!” wrote the ‘ace’ of the ‘Panzerwaffe’ Otto Carius.
The USSR knew how to be at the forefront as far as tanks are concerned since the Civil War itself. Shortly after Hitler invaded the lands of Joseph Stalin on June 22, 1941 in the Operation Barbarossa, the shortcomings of the panzers were in evidence when they came across the first T-34s. «It was the car with the greatest impact. Its revolutionary design made it superior to any other medium tank known at the time in main armament, protection, and mobility. It had sloped 32mm armor. thick, a compact and powerful diesel engine less whimsical than its gasoline predecessors, and a turret cast in one piece instead of made of cold-rolled steel,” says military historian Robert Kershaw in his magna ‘Tank men’.
Rendering of a T34/76
It was also a victory at the industrial level. Over the months, its design was simplified so that it could be assembled more easily, its component parts were reduced from 6,000 to 4,500, and its inventor devised a welding tool for armor plates that could be used by women and children. . All advantages for a country devastated by Nazism and without a coin to lose in minutiae. Although nothing lasts forever. Following the appearance of the new super-heavy models of German tanks, including the Tiger and Panther, the USSR equipped its old trusty with new 85-millimeter guns. It was the only way to deal with the enemy.
testimonials of superiority
The testimonies of the Germans testify to how hard it was to face the T-34, and the less popular KV-1, in 1941 and 1942. Panzer III, of smaller size and worse armor, it suffered an infinity to finish them off. “To have any chance we had to get very close, up to 200 meters, whereas they could knock us out at a distance of 1,000,” explained Rolf Hertenstein of the 13th Panzer Division. Baron von Langermann agreed with him by writing down the “absolute superiority that the Russian 26-ton and 52-ton tanks” had over their armored units. The latter praised the enormous distance at which the Russian guns could inflict casualties thanks to their “great accuracy and enormous piercing force.” Not to mention the “exceptional diesel engine” and its resistance to breakdowns.
German infantry also looked with despair at the T-34s, as a German veteran of Operation Barbarossa after World War II described:
«Use the rifle? It would have the same effect as turning around and farting. Also, it never crosses your mind to shoot; you just have to freeze like a mouse, otherwise you’ll howl in terror. You don’t even move your little finger, for fear of irritating him. Then you tell yourself that maybe you were lucky, that he didn’t see you, maybe something else caught his eye. But on the other hand you think that perhaps your luck has run out and that this thing is coming straight for you, until you stop seeing and hearing in your hole. That’s when you need nerves like steel cables, I assure you.”
The same Otto Carius, who at that time was already in charge of the 21st Panzer Regiment, admitted the superiority of the T-34s in his memoirs, ‘Tigers in the mud’: «Another event that caught us as if we had fallen on top of a ton of bricks was the appearance of the first Russian T-34 tanks. They completely surprised us.” His frustration during the first months of Operation Barbarossa was such that he raised the occasional complaint against his command. “How was it possible that ‘those above’ did not know about the existence of this upper chariot?” He also admitted that it was almost impossible, at least at the time, to stop Stalin’s whirlwind of armor: “What were we supposed to do against such monstrosities that the Russians were throwing at us in huge numbers?” In his words, “the sensation of being practically defenseless spread among us.”
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