Gunner98
Posts: 5508
Joined: 4/29/2005 From: The Great White North! Status: offline
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The exact number of T-34 available early in the war is difficult to pin down and has been argued for decades. The real question is - how do you count - production numbers are reasonably reliable but do not reflect front line strength; casualty figures are unreliable and somewhat awkward to use but are sometimes all there is; German estimates are usually good for the 22nd 41 of June but not beyond. Here are some fairly good sources According to "Russian Tanks of World War II" authors Tim Bean and Will Fowler, (MBI 2002) Soviet Tank Production 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 Totals T-34 3014 12553 15529 2995 34091 T-34/85 283 11778 7230 23661 KV-1 1121 1753 2874 KV-2 232 232 KV-1S 780 452 1232 KV-85 130 130 Although the Total for T-34/85 should read 19,291 I believe. A total wartime production of T34 would be 57,752 which may be a bit high. Kampfpanzer von 1916 bis 1966 by von Senger und Etterlin, as quoted in 'Armour in Profile Number 9, T34/76' J.M Brereton (Profile 1967) places the numbers lower but is probably only counting the T-34 not the T-34/85. Soviet Tank Production 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 Totals All T-34 115 2810 ~5000 ~10000 11758 ~10000 39683 Bryan Fugate has a very good summary in the Annexes to 'Operation Barbarossa - Strategy and Tactics on the Eastern Front, 1941' (Presidio 1984) and places the number of T-34 in the Western Military District at ~2,910. However if you add von Senger's production for 1940 and 41 you get a suspiciously close match. A more telling number is an analysis of the probable tank strength facing Army Group Centre, here he places it at 282 T-34 (mostly in 6 Mech Corps). Perhaps the best source is David M Glantz & Jonathan House ' When Titans Clashed - How the Red Army Stopped Hitler' (U of Kansas, 1995). Glantz states that there were 1,861 T-34 and KV-1 available on 22 June 41 and that they were primarily in five mechanized corps, over half of them were divided between the 4th Mech Corps in Kiev MD and the 6th Mech Corps in the Western Special MD. The 3rd, 8th and 15th had around 100 each. So one could surmise that there were about 1,200 were in the West at the start of Operation Barbarossa. I think that a very important factor in the discussion of the early T-34 is that only 1 in 10 (on a good day) had a radio. Added to lack of proper training or maintenance, the lack of radios had a very serious affect on how they could be used. Enjoy the debate. Bart
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