The Truth Behind Russian VS Tank Difference At the Start of The War

[Wenin 2,654]

Here are some snipets from historical accouts about reliability and transmission issue that pre 1943 limited speed in most cases to 25 km/h:

[spoiler]

Reliability

 

Interesting information on the T-34’s reliability (or lack thereof) during the Kamenets-Podolsky operation (Hube’s Pocket) of March-April 1944 is available from ‘Tank Rider: Into the Reich with the Red Army’

 

From page 64

‘We were happy when tanks from our Brigade’s tank regiment caught up with our battalion and we moved on as tank riders. We had just one objective — to capture Kamenets-Podolsk. Running a bit ahead, I would say that it took the Brigade two or three days to arrive at the town. Both people and tanks were tired; the vehicles couldn’t take such stress either. Tanks stopped more and more often because of small technical breakdowns, especially broken tracks. Of course we tank riders assisted in tank repairs, so as not to fall behind the battalion.’

 

From page 77

‘We did not have many tanks left, and even those that remained had already used up their engine lifetime and were constantly breaking down. The tank that I was on with my soldiers also broke down. After a day-long stop in a village (we were already in the Western Ukraine), our tank stopped and would not move on. The battalion commander ordered us to stay with the tank and wait for it to be repaired. A day passed by and in the morning the tank crew told us that the breakdown was serious and we were stuck for a long time. I decided not to wait for the completion of the repairs, but to catch up with the battalion on foot.’

 

From page 79

‘After a brief rest the battalion received an order to advance and set up defences on the bank of Strypa river in the village of Dobropolie. Further to the west was the town of Bulach, where German reinforcements were starting to arrive. The Brigade was not capable of executing offensive operations. Its personnel was almost gone, almost all equipment was out of action. Out of 450 to 500 tanks of the 4th Tank Army at the beginning of the operation, the entire army only had around 60 vehicles, all with some kind of breakdown.’

 

The 5-speed gearbox controversy

Initially the T-34 had a 4-speed gearbox. The 4th gear could be used only on a paved road, thus the max cross-country speed was theoretically 25 km/h but in practice it was only 15km/h because changing from 2nd gear to 3rd required superhuman strength.

On later modifications there was a 5-speed gearbox which allowed for a cross country speed of 30 km/h. This equipment supposedly became standard from 1943 onwards.

 

However it seems that the T-34/85 tanks that were given to the Polish forces in late 1944/early 1945 still had the 4-speed gearbox. ‘T-34: Mythical Weapon’ byMichulec and Zientarzewski says in page 349:

‘It was accepted, due to the available information in the subject literature, that the switch to the 5-speed transmission took place in 1943. However, the documents regarding the T- 34-85s delivered during the period end 1944/beginning 1945 (a month after their production) to the Polish forces prove that practically all vehicles had the 4-speed transmission. This applied to tanks produced by the No.183 Factory as much as to the ones produced by the No.112 Factory. The works on the new 5-speed gearbox along with the new main clutch design started in July – August of 1942 and paralleled the development of the T-34S.[/spoiler]

Oh, tanks moving over 1000km without break or repair, and some times without supply, already at the end of the lifetime of the engine and so on the end of the lifetime also of other parts like tracks are more and more breaking down? Who would think about that!

Edited August 20, 2014 by Wenin

[Radom 4,245]

Oh, tanks moving over 1000km without break or repair, and some times without supply, already at the end of the lifetime of the engine and so on the end of the lifetime also of other parts like tracks are more and more breaking down? Who would think about that!

Good point, however the referenced battle of Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket was fought in area roughly 40 x 20 miles so no 1000 km was driven by any tank but they sure ran up some engine hours.  Also it's true that no "shape of vehicles prior to operation" was provided but this were eye witness accounts so I dont believe they knew themselves.

On a bit off topic, I did check the difference between the V-2 and V-2-34 engine and what I found was that they were identical engines and the only difference was the location of the engine mounts. The V-2 was used in BT-7 and V-2-34 in T-34's as you stated before.

 

I did find this T-34 "service manual" but not sure if this is "real" but it describes how the air filter should be cleaned etc...

 

http://www.allworldwars.com/T-34%20Tank%20Service%20Manual.html

Edited August 20, 2014 by Radom

[Wenin 2,654]

Good point, however the referenced battle of Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket was fought in area roughly 40 x 20 miles so no 1000 km was driven by any tank but they sure ran up some engine hours.  Also it's true that no "shape of vehicles prior to operation" was provided but this were eye witness accounts so I dont believe they knew themselves.

Okay, I found my fault, I accidently switched to the wrong map, which was describing the whole Ukraine offensive, not only the Kamenets-Podolsky pocket^^

But considering they used up their whole engine lifetime and in 1944 I guess the lifetime was something over 100hrs, I would say we can guess that they already traveled a bit, only in the pocket operation some hundred kilometres.

[Radom 4,245]

Okay, I found my fault, I accidently switched to the wrong map, which was describing the whole Ukraine offensive, not only the Kamenets-Podolsky pocket^^
But considering they used up their whole engine lifetime and in 1944 I guess the lifetime was something over 100hrs, I would say we can guess that they already traveled a bit, only in the pocket operation some hundred kilometres.

Agree. Its hard to get the real info as well since there was wide "quality" difference based on which factory that particular T-34 came from.