T34 Model 1941 (Cast Turret)

This model represents the second production version of the T34; Model 1941 which externally only differed from the 1940 pattern by the removal of the commanders hatch periscope and substituting the longer F34 gun and mantlet. This was a significant production type with over 9000 built, the later vehicles having welded turrets although only the command vehicles having radios. The T34 Medium Tank was manufactured from 1940 to 1958 and athough its armour and armament would be surpassed by later tanks of the era, it is still seen as the most influential design of World War II. First produced at the KhPZ factory in Kharkov in the Ukraine, it was the mainstay of Soviet armoured forces throughout WW II, and was widely exported afterward becoming the most produced tank of WWII, and after the T54/55 series, the second most produced tank of all time, In 1996 the T34 was still in service in at least twenty-seven countries. Developed from the BT series of fast tanks, the T34 was intended to replace the BT5, BT7 and T-26 Infantry tanks still in service. With the best balanced attributes of firepower, mobility, protection and ruggedness, they would initially still suffer from the unsatisfactory internal layout of its crew compartment, lack of radios, and poor tactical deployment. With the usual Soviet two-man turret arrangement, it required the commander to also serve as the gunner, so further reducing effectivness. The design and construction of the tank were however continuously refined throughout the war to enhance effectiveness and decrease costs, so allowing steadily greater numbers of T34's to be fielded. In early 1944, the improved T34/85 was introduced with a more powerful 85 mm gun and a three-man turret design and by war's end the versatile and cost-effective T34 had replaced many light and heavy tanks in service and accounted for the majority of Soviet tank production. Its evolutionary development led directly to the T44 and thence the T54/55 series of tanks, built until 1981 and still operational as of 2010 which itself led to the T62, T72, T80 and T90 tanks, which, along with several Chinese tanks based on the T55, form the backbone of much of the world's armies even today.