From Vulnerability to Victory: The T-34 Medium Tank

AusArmour Assistant Manager, Jason Belgrave, gives us a tour of our newly arrived T-34!

One of the most produced Soviet Union vehicles being used even to this day! 🇺🇦 ⚔️

Keep up to date with the Museum!⬇️⬇️

[silentotto]

I saw an interview with a guy who owned a T-34.
The interviewer said that he'd heard a story that Russian tank drivers kept a hammer in the driving position because sometimes they'd need it to pound the transmission into gear, and asked the guy who owned the T-34 if it was true.
The guy who owned the tank just smiled, reached down and pulled out a hammer.

[craigmandall]

The truck driver that delivered that tank is a mate of mine and an ex army tank recovery mechanic and a very good one at that

[MGB-learning]

Outstanding vehicle review by Jason. Please continue to make these type of videos.

[ngarewyrd]

There can't be too many of these left in the world, astonishing and awesome that you guys have aquired one

[dougstubbs]

Is rainik, Comrade. A 76 mm model. Sweet. Russia had lent one to The War Memorial, Canberra, some years ago, the Russian Ambassador declared it most rare vehicle, because only 85 mm survive. Even recent Russian Parades feature 85mm. Well done getting this excellent early model, obviously complete, for presentation. The AAAM is quickly becoming an Australian Icon. Respect. Cheers.

[NSYresearch]

Thanks Jason, a great review. Having two versions is a great opportunity to see the progression.

[Trymlokk]

Finally! The first video on youtube that shows the inside of the early T34 turret!

[ianmangham]

So beautiful, one of my all time faves 🇷🇺 along with centurion 🇬🇧 and Sherman /Grant 🇺🇸 🤠🤟 and panther 🇩🇪 ✌🤠🇬🇧🙏🇦🇺 🦘🦘

[alistairwilson]

The 1941 model must be super rare. How much of your vehicle’s history do you know? It looks like it’s been underwater?

[gogelgebenec]

Erstaunlich restaurierte Fahrzeuge Der Zustand des T34 ist hervorragend und der wenige Platz im Innenraum ist sehr gut dargestellt Super Museum

[joshjosh]

Finally finally somebody who goes inside the T-34/76.
Too many T34/85 videos.
I was starting to think it was illegal to go inside the former

[rodhayes]

I love that Russian tank. The T-34/76 B (1941) was awesome. It was the first really dangerous T-34 (the 1940 T-34 wasn't that good) that in my opinion was a game changer. It gave the Wehrrnacht many headaches.

[juvandy]

I visited you all back in 2016 and was impressed by your collection. Really want to get back to see how you've expanded! The old T34-76 is one of my favorite tanks aesthetically despite its major drawbacks, so really excited to see it!

[jaydeister]

Wow, great video! Your T-34 is in great shape for it's 82 years! Very tiny inside spaces! So the story is that every tank plant(T-34) made their tank a little bit different than all the other plants during the war(but they still out produced the enemy forces!). I guess there is a plant stamp/plate on the hull and/or turret somewhere!? Thanks again!

[SteamCrane]

0:36-0:46 - Nice sound sample of the track pin adjusters working.

[willmartin]

With the patriotic Russian music playing as your T-34 cranked-up and clanked into the museum was one of your best video introductions! Well done! 👍😊 It gave me goosebumps and I'm not even Russian.

[akhalif]

The legendary T-34 still paticipates in Red Square Victory Day Parades...The engine itself is a testament to Soviet Era mechanical & materials engineering...

[BobSmith-dknw]

Thanks.

Nice to see those two side by side.

Both were pretty good basic designs for their day but were hurting in a number of areas that made a lot of difference.

The Russians could build things like tanks and planes well - but things like electronics and optics they just weren't that good at.

My understanding - is that they had Radios on the Company Level but these were Receivers only - so the Battalion Commander could issue orders to his Companies - but they could not speak back to him - and he had no way to speak to the tanks in his company (10 tanks in 3, 3 tank platoons plus the CO). They used signal flags and other hand signals. This meant that if a T-34 saw something - it had a good deal of difficulty passing that information on. The Germans with Transceivers in all their tanks could operate much more fluidly and pass information about readily. That made a tremendous difference.

Their optics were really bad - which made it hard for the gunners to sight in on a target - which made it that much harder to get a hit. The Germans had the best optics of the war - so - they had a much better chance of getting a hit at longer ranges.

There were a number of Nations that had 2 man turrets at the beginning of the war. Most if not all the French Turrets were two man Turrets - which left the Tank Commander or gunner doing multiple duties. Having a 3 man turret on the Mark III's and IV's was one of the German tankers main advantages early on.

The German's hull designs weren't that good, their guns weren't that big but they all had radios and 3 man turrets - so they were much more flexible and responsive - while their optics let them be much more accurate with the guns they did have.
.

[Koskinn]

Note, the gun used in 1940 variant was L-11 not F-11. Good video nonetheless. Would be cool to see more of these older variants up and running.

[duffross]

Did you guys know, that there is a 1952 centurion on display, on the Dukes Hwy in the middle of Keith SA .
It is in a fully wired on all sides and with a roof, display type shed . It looks to be totally complete . Hope next time you get down that way you get a chance to take a look for yourselves.