Page 66 - The Chief Culprit

Stalin’s Preparations for War: Tanks y 43

Infantry General Blumentritt agreed with his colleagues: “In 1941, the T-34 was the
most powerful of all existing tanks. . . . In the vicinity of Verei, the T-34 without any hesita-
tion penetrated the positions of the 7th Infantry Division, reached the artillery positions and
literally squashed the guns. One can imagine what kind of impact it had on the morale of the
infantry. e so-called ‘tank phobia’ started.” 10
I could endlessly quote German soldiers, officers, generals, and even field marshals;
entire volumes of rave reviews of the T-34 have been published. Its debut caused a sensation
at the beginning of the war. Sixty years after the T-34 first appeared, British professor Richard
Ogarkovets, world famous as the leading authority in the field of designing armored technol-
ogy, believes that the world tank-building industry still remains fully under the influence of
ideas incorporated into the design of this remarkable tank. e T-34 was the only tank in
the world created before the beginning of World War II that was not obsolete by its end. e
T-34 fought for decades after Word War II. Not a single other tank in the world had such a
long lifespan.
e arrival of the T-34 surprised both Stalin’s enemies and his allies. Leading British
historian and military theorist B. H. Liddell Hart said: “None of our tanks could compare
with the T-34.” French General G. Bouche recounted: “ e arrival of the T-34 tank, signifi-
cantly superior to German tanks, greatly surprised the Germans.” German officers demanded
the production of exactly the same tank. However, as Guderian explained, Germany, the
homeland of Rudolph Diesel, could not design a sufficiently powerful diesel engine for tanks.
Moreover, it was impossible to deliver the needed raw materials for the steel-casting industry
to Germany and, as a result, during the war Germany was incapable of producing alloyed
steel of the same quality as the Soviets. e lack of alloy compounds in Germany resulted
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from the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Stalin knew what he was doing on August 23, 1939. By
supporting German aggression in Poland, Stalin made Germany the enemy of Britain and
France. e blockade of Germany by the British fleet and the resulting shortages of many raw
materials was an inevitable consequence.
e T-34 was armed with a 76-mm long-barrel gun, designed by Vasily Grabin (the
barrel was 41 calibers). It was the most powerful tank gun of its time. If the T-34 had had
no distinctions aside from this gun, it would still have been considered the best tank in the
world, because it could destroy the most tanks of its kind. But the T-34 had other distinc-
tions. In 1942, American experts conducted full technical tests and analyses of a T-34 given
by Stalin, and concluded: “ e distinguishing characteristics of the T-34 were: a low, flowing
silhouette, simplicity of design, low specific pressure on the ground. e angles of the armor
create brilliant possibilities for its protection.” e experts thought and continue to think
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that the shape of the T-34’s body was ideal. e T-34 also had a powerful diesel engine, spe-
cifically designed for it. In the armies of other countries, such engines did not exist either at
the beginning of the war or at the end. Just for that engine alone the T-34 could be considered
the best tank in the world.
If the T-34 had neither a powerful gun, nor an ideal body shape, nor a diesel engine,
it still could be considered the best tank in the world because of its wide caterpillar tracks,
which allowed it to act on any terrain and in any weather. e T-34 surpassed any German
tank in all parameters: speed, acceleration ability, cross-country ability, especially when mov-
ing on sand, mud, and snow.