• I have read that a good many captured T-34 were used by the Germans. I have also read that there was talk in the some German high command circles to adopt the impressive mass produced friendly T-34 for the German Army. This was however quickly rejected because of ideological reasons.

    Here is my question, how would the a German T-34 program have faired? How would a German technology equipped tank done in the War?


  • The Germans would have been well served to outright copy the T34/85 IMO.  Add a dash of German engineering into the mix and you would have had a wonderful machine.  I know that the Panther was their “version” of the T34 but they over complicated the thing.  Just build a T34 and upgrade it a bit was the way to go.

  • '17 '16 '15 '14 '12

    I wonder how many T34-85s the Germans could have built for the price of 1 Panther?


  • The big advantage of Soviet tanks was uniform production and fewer parts to repair. German tanks of the same model required custom parts and often the same part would not fit in different tanks of the same model.  So when it broke down, it was most difficult to repair while the Soviet counterpart was much easier due to the standards of production.


  • I think using the T34 would have been very useful to Germany. I also think it would have been great help if they could have rolled them off the assembly lines directly in Russia into combat, as the Russians often did. I suppose converting or repairing existing factories was not on German minds though.
    Does anyone know if  all the new  German tanks came all the way from Germany? I presumed so.

    The Germans needed a cheap and reliable tank, hence their over reliance on the turretless Stug. I think that by late war, doctrine, or dogma, decided bigger  and better quality was the way to go. It was probably too late to change the mind set and as you said Worsham, use a subhumans’ engineered tank. Ideology did for them in the end.
    I| do love the Tiger and Panther!


  • @Pacific:

    The Germans would have been well served to outright copy the T34/85 IMO.  Add a dash of German engineering into the mix and you would have had a wonderful machine.  I know that the Panther was their “version” of the T34 but they over complicated the thing.  Just build a T34 and upgrade it a bit was the way to go.

    Yes, the T-34 was a classic example of the Soviet deisgn philosophy of “make it simple, make it work, and make more of it.”  It was poorly finished by western standards, but the Russians took the pragmatic view that aesthetics were superfluous in a fighting machine that would probably end up getting destroyed in combat.  The Russians also stuck as much as possible to the principle that the USSR should focus on building just a few basic types of tanks, using standardized parts, with sensible (meaning “not overly ambitious”) upgrades being introduced from time to time – such as when the T-34 was upgraded from a 76mm to an 85mm gun configuration.  Germany, by contrast, went overboard when it copied the T-34, being unable to resist the temptation to produce a more sophisticated machine that they hoped would be the best medium tank in the world.


  • German T-34 construction could have been:

    T-34/76 Medium Tank
    T-34/88 Heavy Tank
    T-34 8.8 AT-Gun carrier
    T-34 7,5cm Self Propelled Art.
    T-34 10.5cm Self Propelled Art.
    T-34 4x2cm AA Gun Carrier
    T-34 Ammo Carrier (Moose)
    T-34 Do Werfer Carrier (Sreaming Mimi)
    T-34 Command Tank w. 2cm Gun
    T-34 Radio Tank

    The Germans would have get the best potencial out for their needs, even this simple and Basic Tank instrument got allready what it needs to become the world best known Tank in History!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T35Cs1l1BE

    And Yes, at 1:30 min. it`s a Stuart.  :-P


  • Under the Versailles Treaty, Germany was not allowed to build tanks. After the Nazis broke free of that treaty in 1933, Germany began engaging in tank design. By 1939, it had a somewhat decent light tank design in deployment. By 1940, it had added a moderate number of medium tanks to its unit mix. (Its quest for a good tank design was aided by the acquisition of Czechoslovakia in 1938.) But in 1941, it became clear that none of Germany’s tanks were the equal of the T-34.

    In response, Germany hastily designed new, heavier tanks; such as the Panther and Tiger. Like many other German tank designs, these were overly complicated and difficult to build. Assuming the ability to reverse engineer the T-34 in the first place, Germany should have used that as its stopgap tank design until it could put better tank designs into production.

    These better tank designs were already in the works.


    The Entwicklung series, more commonly known as the E-series, was a late-World War II attempt by Germany to produce a standardised series of tank designs. There were to be standard designs in six different weight classes, from which several specialised variants were to be developed. This was necessitated by the extremely complex tank designs that had resulted in poor production rates and mechanical unreliability.

    The E-series designs were simpler, cheaper to produce and more efficient than their predecessors. . . .

    The E-50 Standardpanzer was intended as a standard medium tank, replacing the Panther and Tiger I and the conversions based on these tanks. . . . Compared to these earlier designs however, the amount of drilling and machining involved in producing these standardpanzers was reduced drastically, which would have made them quicker, easier and cheaper to produce, as would the proposed conical spring system, replacing their predecessors’ complex and costly dual torsion bar system. . . .


    The E-75 was the intended replacement for the Tiger II. E-75s would have had 185 mm armor in the thickest places; and 85 mm armor where it was thinnest. This compares to 100 mm armor on the front of a T-55; and 60 mm armor in the rear. The E-75 would have used infrared lighting and sights; and a high velocity 105 mm gun.

    However, the war ended before Germany’s E-Series tanks were put into production.


  • Welcome back Kurt Godel7.


  • I read a couple years back they pulled a German T-34 out of a swamp it’s one of the very very few surviving German T-34. I do believe Germany would have been much better off making a T-34/88 than making the Panther and Tiger


  • @Yavid:

    I read a couple years back they pulled a German T-34 out of a swamp it’s one of the very very few surviving German T-34. I do believe Germany would have been much better off making a T-34/88 than making the Panther and Tiger

    How did they figure it was a German T-34??
    By now all the emblems will be propably removed…


  • @aequitas:

    @Yavid:

    I read a couple years back they pulled a German T-34 out of a swamp it’s one of the very very few surviving German T-34. I do believe Germany would have been much better off making a T-34/88 than making the Panther and Tiger

    How did they figure it was a German T-34??
    By now all the emblems will be propably removed…

    I found the article with pics if anyone is interested.
    http://www.rense.com/general75/germ2.htm

    it seems the markings survived you can easily see them in the pics


  • Tight!! thanks for sharing Yavid.


  • did you hear about the P-38 they found in Greenland? it was buried in all the ice.

  • '17 '16 '15

    Yes thank you Yavid

  • 2024 2023 '22

    @abworsham4

    I think there are two possible problems with this strategy:

    Firstly, whilst it would have been indeed much easier to produce, could Germany have produced enough of them to match Soviet production with Western Allied bombing and fighting in North Africa and later in France and Italy? At least Germany would have a qualitative advantage due to crew training.

    Secondly, could Germany hypothetically had enough manpower to equip those tanks? I admit this is a lesser problem, as I would favour having one tank than 3-6 infantrymen.

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