No matter how much has been written about the war that ended 65 years ago, and about this tank - you can't tell everything, much less feel it. But it is impossible to get away from this topic either …
The order of the gray-haired, gloomy colonel from the old 1968 film "In war, as in war" for some reason engraved in the memory once and for all: "Support us with fire and maneuver!" …
With difficulty, touching everything that is possible, for everything that is possible, squeezing into the place of the driver, I attach myself to the uncomfortable pedals, trying to cope with the gear lever, as if welded to the floor. I press the button. The starter hummed briefly and dully and the car was filled with the roar of an old, but vigorous 500-horsepower diesel engine. There will be no fire today, but we will try to support the maneuver of those who fought in such machines more than 65 years ago.
Appeal 1940
Now it is difficult to imagine that the car, recognized as outstanding by numerous historians, politicians, and the military - from Churchill to Guderian - got to the conveyor belt and military units not at all easily. The brainchild of the designers of the Kharkov Steam Locomotive Plant, headed by Mikhail Ilyich Koshkin, had many opponents - the tank was very unusual, work on which began in 1938. The vehicle turned out to be unusually heavy, since it had protection not only from small arms, like previous mass Soviet tanks. They treated with distrust both the diesel engine and the absence of… wheels. After all, the USSR will “beat the enemy on its own territory,” which means that the tanks will march along the European highways in a quick march. Did anyone remember these plans in the terrible autumn of 1941 or the difficult summer of 1942? If they remembered, then with bitterness …
In 1938, the future war was seen differently. But the Kharkov designers, fortunately, found supporters in the army. The prototype T-46-5 was followed by the A-20 with the V-2 diesel engine. Then they created prototypes of the A-32, including those with a powerful 76mm cannon, and at the beginning of 1940 - a version with thicker A-34 armor. It was he who, after minor modifications, became the serial T-34.
The final decision to release the car was made in Moscow, in March 1940. From Kharkov, in order to carry out the last stage of testing, the tanks were driven to the capital … under their own power. After being shown to the top management and testing at the test site in Kubinka near Moscow, the cars again independently went to the "steam locomotive". The total mileage was about 2800 km. On this trip, in the dank spring of 1940, Koshkin received pneumonia, which became fatal. In September 1940, the talented designer died, but his car, fortunately, has already become serial.
The T-34 was equipped with a 7.62 mm DT machine gun. There are spare tracks under it.
By June 1941, about 1000 T-34s were made. According to the requirements of the military, a modernized version was being prepared: in particular, they tried to improve the not very comfortable driver's workplace. But on June 24, People's Commissar of Defense S. Timoshenko and Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army G. Zhukov demanded to increase the production of serial vehicles. The time for experiments is inappropriate: after six days the Germans entered Minsk, a little over a month later - to Smolensk …
SIGNAL TO ATTACK
In the films of childhood and adolescence, the work of tankers looked kind of dashing and even romantic. One of the few films that more or less closely conveys the work of four people in a cramped armored box, filled with the roar of an engine, the roar of shots, a red-hot powder smoke - the very work of director Viktor Tregubovich "In war, as in war." There, however, they are fighting in a self-propelled gun, but this does not change the essence. We have here, in 2010 - no shots, no burning, much less the risk of hitting a mine or being a target of the "Tiger" …
Gunner's place. The left wheel is responsible for turning the tower, the right wheel for the movement of the barrel. There were also electric drives, but more often the arrows worked manually - this is more reliable and more accurate.
He squeezed out the tight clutch, with difficulty put the first one, the levers are completely on themselves (drivers who know this car say: the force is up to 70 kg!), Now you can drop the clutch and, adding gas, release the levers forward. Go! Only it should be done much faster! What kind of attack is this? Even with the hatch open, the driver of average height is forced to bend his head in order to see the road in front of the car. And how to go when the hatch is closed? And how long to train until you learn how to properly wield the stubborn "poker" of the box?
True, the levers that brake the clutches are easy to work with. I pulled the left one - the car turned even more obediently than expected. Of course, the T-34 is able to turn on the spot - one of the levers towards itself to the end and add gas. Only it is unusual to realize that the trunk is turning from above somewhere.
The round pedal behind the right lever is gas, the left is the clutch, in the middle is the mountain brake. To the left of the right clutch lever is a knob that sets the minimum engine speed. On the right is the gear lever, even more to the right are the magazines for the machine gun.
On the right is a radio operator with an emergency evacuation hatch under his feet. But, as a rule, it turned out to be useless, especially if the car got in a rut. They say that the clever radio operator managed to leave the tank through the driver's hatch almost before himself. Behind and above, there are three more (in the T-34-85, the crew was increased, freeing the commander from the functions of the gunner). The commander on the left, above everyone else, on a folding stool - "roost". Under him, in fact, his head between his knees is the gunner, and on the right is the loader. The shell casings pop out just between him and the commander. It's good that the tracked vehicle has a wonderful ride. Otherwise, it would be completely incomprehensible how you can fight here - aim at something and hit something!
A cold wind blows in the face, legs are numb from an uncomfortable landing, overstrained arms, it seems, are already freezing to the levers. But I don’t want to stop - I’m ashamed in front of the car and those who once went into battle on it.
Between the exhaust pipes (they are covered with armored caps) there is a hatch for access to the transmission units.
GUARDS
“On October 6, south of Mtsensk, the 4th Panzer Division was stopped by Russian tanks … For the first time, the superiority of Russian T-34 tanks manifested itself in a sharp form. The division suffered significant losses. The planned attack on Tula had to be postponed. " The intonation of Heinz Guderian's post-war memoirs is extremely dispassionate. According to eyewitnesses, in the fall of 1941, when the first "thirty-fours" were piercing through the towers of German T-IIIs, the shells of which bounced off the powerful inclined armor plates of Soviet vehicles, the general reacted much more emotionally. By the way, he also wrote that after a thorough examination of the captured T-34, the Germans even had an idea to copy the car. But "what was embarrassing, by the way, was not aversion to imitation, but the impossibility of releasing the most important parts of the T-34, especially the diesel engine, with the required speed."
The latest T-34-85, as well as other post-war armored vehicles, were equipped with the R-113 radio station.
Many call the "thirty-four" the best tank of the Second World War. He, indeed, was maneuverable, economical, relatively easy to manufacture. The diesel engine provided better fire safety than German cars. But the T-34 also had enough shortcomings: weak optics, an uncomfortable driver's seat. The B-2 engine was eating a lot of oil. It was he, by the way, in addition to diesel fuel, was transported in barrels fixed on the body. The life of a tank during a war is extremely short, not only because of enemy guns and mines. The engine's warranty life was only about 100 hours, and the first engines took care of a quarter of this period. Still would! The engines, and the tanks themselves, were made mainly by half-starved women and boys from FZU (factory schools). These privates of the Great Patriotic War did not have guards badges on their chests, medals and orders rarely appeared …
The commander was located above all, under the very hatch. He, like the gunner, assessed the combat situation through the periscope.
The Germans did not copy the thirty-four, but of course, they did not refuse to create new machines. In December 1942, near Mgoy, our tankers first met with "panthers", which our 76-millimeter cannons could only hit from 500-600 m. And then "tigers" appeared with powerful frontal armor that resisted the strikes of Soviet shells. Tankers who had gone through the war said that in a battle with one "Tiger" sometimes up to ten "thirty-fours" were killed. And even after the appearance in 1943 of vehicles with a more powerful 85 mm cannon, "tiger fear" pursued our people until the very end of the war. The price of Victory can be judged by dry and terrible frontline statistics. From 5 to 20 July 1943, near Kursk, the 1st Panzer Army of 552 vehicles lost 443, of which 316 were burned! But in each tank there are four or five yesterday's boys … You can measure the war with bridgeheads and arrows on the maps, but it is more correct to use the lives of ordinary people, whom fate and time taught to overcome normal human fear and help those who are near to overcome it. And this, in fact, is - courage.
… So the levers seem to have become lighter. "Thirty-four" roars menacingly with its engine, as if we really have to support with fire and maneuver the guys who went on the attack more than 65 years ago …
VICTORY MACHINE
Serial production of the T-34 with a 76 mm cannon (34-76), a V-2 V12 diesel engine with a capacity of 500 hp. and a four-speed gearbox began in 1940 in Kharkov. Since 1941, cars were also built in Stalingrad and Gorky, since 1942 - in Nizhny Tagil, Omsk, Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk. In 1941-1942. built 1201 tanks with an M-17 gasoline carburetor engine. Since 1942, the T-34 has been equipped with five-speed gearboxes. Since 1943, they have been making the T-34-85 with an 85 mm cannon and a crew of five.
On the basis of the T-34, the OT-34 flamethrower tank, the SU-122, SU-85, and SU-100 self-propelled guns were produced; engineering vehicles. T-34-85 was made before 1950. In 1940-1945. produced 58,681 copies of all T-34s. After the war, they were also produced in Poland and Czechoslovakia, T-34s were in service with a dozen countries for many years.
