On this date in 1940 the T-34 tank debuted on Red Square

[Larry1]

During the mid to late 1930s a design team headed by Mikhail Koshkin at the Kharkov Tractor Factory created a tank that would be called the T-34. It was introduced at Red Square on this date in 1940.

In the early months of the war German troops were surprised that hits from their tanks' main guns didn't stop the T-34s. The reason for this was the greatest innovation featured in the T-34 - sloped armor. This made the T-34 superior to the Germans' Mark III and Mark IV tanks.

At the insistence of German general Heinz Guderian a group was set up to examine the T-34. It examined a captured T-34 and the Germans put its sloped armor into their new Panther and Tiger tanks. Unfortunately for them, they were unable to produce these new tanks in large numbers. The Soviets were able to produce more than 50,000 T-34s during the war. Initially they were built at the Kharkov Tractor Factory, but before Kharkov fell production equipment was dismantled and sent East, to Chelyabinsk, among other places.

At the close of the war Winston Churchill said that the T-34 was one of the greatest weapons of the war.

[onlyFSU4me]

 Great thread Larry, one thing I found interesting when travelling in the fsu is that they had tanks displayed in many places, even in small towns.
 If you are a war buff one place that is a must see if you are ever in Kiev is the war museum. They have many tanks on display there as well as other military equiptment from WW1 and WW2.

[SANDRO43]

A picture is in order :

A T-34-85 tank on display at Musée des Blindés in April 2007

[Larry1]

Great thread Larry, one thing I found interesting when travelling in the fsu is that they had tanks displayed in many places, even in small towns.

Thanks D.

On my first trip to FSU my girlfriend took me to the small city of Polotsk in Belarus. We drove past a T-34, which she told me was the first tank through to liberate the city from the Nazis.

[jone]

Great thread Larry, one thing I found interesting when travelling in the fsu is that they had tanks displayed in many places, even in small towns.
 If you are a war buff one place that is a must see if you are ever in Kiev is the war museum. They have many tanks on display there as well as other military equiptment from WW1 and WW2.

Too bad most of these tanks were liberated for the present conflict and are now, once again, in service.  I wonder if the WWI tanks have any shells left?

[Anathema]

Great thread Larry, one thing I found interesting when travelling in the fsu is that they had tanks displayed in many places, even in small towns.
 If you are a war buff one place that is a must see if you are ever in Kiev is the war museum. They have many tanks on display there as well as other military equiptment from WW1 and WW2.

I went there during my first trip but the inside was closed.    It was neat to see the pieces sitting around outside though.

[Hammer2722]

Great Thread. When I was in Minsk last July, I posed near a T-34 mounted on a concrete pedestal on the exact spot that 3 Russian Army groups met in the city center during the Liberation of Minsk. Unfortunately, Minsk was pretty much leveled and had to be rebuilt after the war.
 
 The photo below was taken at the Brest Fortress. That's me on top of the T-34

[mendeleyev]

Most, and I do mean most, of the tanks now operating in the Donbas are the newer Russian versions (never in service by the Ukrainians) of the T-90. The T-90 was based on modified T-72 designs with dual reflecting pods, thus making them near impossible to disable by the older anti-tank weapons possessed by the Ukrainian army. They are being given to the separatists as if they were candy since the Russian army will convert to the new "Armata" design that will be rolled out in 2016.

Too complicated for simple coal miners to operate, they're typically operated by Russian contract soldiers.