Nikademus -> (11/27/2001 5:30:00 AM)
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quote:
Originally posted by Belisarius: A quick search on the internet suggests that there is a T34/57 -41!!
Can it be that some T34's were equipped with the ZiS 57mm AT gun instead of the standard barrel? If that's the case, then why? Better performance? Shortage of barrels? Was this common practice? (can't have been, seeing as I've never heard of it )
Good observation Redleg. This is interesting. Any Russian Tank buff out there, enlighten us!
The 57mm armed T-34 was a Russian experiment in mating a more effective anti tank gun to the T-34 chasis. While a very good weapon against tanks the 57mm had an inferior HE preformance vs the standard 76.2mm round more familiar to T-34 fans, thus the idea was dropped in favor of the 76er. Remember at the time the Russians needed to maximize tank production to make up for their huge losses and continuing attrition rate. They could'nt afford to build a bunch of varients so the T-34/57, like other experiments became a footnote in the vehicle's long history
As the Russian military zone author has stated in the past, its a common misconception that tanks mostly fight other tanks. That is untrue, more often than not tanks fight against infantry and their supporting artillery thus a good HE capability can be just as important as AP preformance. Just ask the British with the woes they suffered in the desert with their HE'less 2pounder weapons.
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