Pre-Kursk T-34-76 next to T-34-85 in Berlin

[LukeFF]

What are the odds? ?

 

 

[SCG_judgedeath3]

Actually there were a lot of these T-34s together with the newer T-45-85 in Berlin and during whole 1945, afterall over 20 000 of the T-34-76 was produced in ww2 alone. Shall not mention the loss rate of it, leave it for another day.

[LukeFF]

Yes, I realize there were other 76mm T-34s in Berlin in 1945. The thing that makes this photo more "unique" is that it's a 1942 model. Given the nature of the fighting in the east, it's quite remarkable that a tank would last that long. 

[Cybermat47]

Nice to see a fellow r/TankPorn member here

 

Amazing that she lasted so long!

[Finkeren]

It's a cool and interesting photo to be sure, but I don't see it as that unlikely for several reasons. 

 

First there are the sheer numbers. When you build tens of thousands of something, some of those are bound to survive, almost no matter the odds. 

 

Then again, this T-34 might not have survived through 2.5 years of fighting at all, in fact it might have been "killed" several times over, dragged to a repair station, put back into working order and pressed into service again. From what I've read, the tank armies counted pretty much any tank that was out of action and not of immediate use as a "loss", when in fact a large proportion of those were recovered, repaired and put back into service, especially after 1942, where the Red Army was most often the one left in control of the battlefield after an engagement. 

 

Then of course there is the posibility, that this tank just might not have seen that much action. We tend to focus a lot on the major engagements of the war, where most of the action was and where the Soviet tank armies suffered high casualties. Yey we often forget, that at any given time there were huge portions of the front, involving millions of men and thousands of tanks, where nothing much was going on and daily losses were minimal. Maybe this tank was assigned to a second-rate unit that was mostly kept in reserve or put on duty in quiet sectors and thus managed to just not see much combat at all? This fate would seem especially likely after 1943, where the '76 was gradually phased out as the main front line tank. 

[69th_chuter]

It could've lasted that long by being very heavily damaged (but not burned) a few times which would have kept it off the frontline for quite some time for repairs.

 

Edit --->   See above.

Edited September 8, 2019 by chuter
To add: See above.

[SCG_judgedeath3]

Well written Finkeren and all what you said is correct but I would like to add another likely explanation:
This T-34 could likely also be from a training unit and used for training new crews and never seen combat before now, likely the training unit switched to T-34-85s so they sent those older T-34s to the front, to get some use from them.

[-=PHX=-SuperEtendard]

 

On 9/6/2019 at 5:33 PM, Finkeren said:

Then again, this T-34 might not have survived through 2.5 years of fighting at all, in fact it might have been "killed" several times over, dragged to a repair station, put back into working order and pressed into service again. From what I've read, the tank armies counted pretty much any tank that was out of action and not of immediate use as a "loss", when in fact a large proportion of those were recovered, repaired and put back into service, especially after 1942, where the Red Army was most often the one left in control of the battlefield after an engagement.

 

Yeah, I think I read on average each T-34 was sent to the factory and rebuilt around 4 times in it's service life, before being put out of service (or being destroyed so badly it would end up as a total loss). I think I also read in the late war some T-34/76s were sent to light tank units to complement the Stuarts, replacing the older T-70s and T-80s.

[MarcoRossolini]

Not unusual in the least. I've seen dozens of pictures and newsreel snippets of T-34s in Berlin. I've even 2 seconds of footage of a 1941-2 with not hexagonal turret one (whatever the proper term for it is). 

[Splinty]

It's also possible that the tank spent a good part of it's life in a storage yard in the middle of nowhere. Most armies have stories of major amounts of equipment sitting idle somewhere because the paperwork for it was lost or misplaced. The Red Army almost certainly had situations like that. Of course this is pure speculation, but still a real possibility.