Point of interest
T-34-85 No. 210
A five-man crew and an 85 mm gun distinguish this later version of the T-34.
Content language
The T-34-85 was developed in 1943 as an upgrade of the earlier T-34 armed with a 76 mm gun. In the 1944 version, its main weapon was an 85 mm ZiS-S-53 gun, supplemented by two DTM machine guns. The crew comprised five men: commander, gunner, loader, driver and radio operator, who also served as a machine gunner.
The vehicle weighed 32 tonnes and was powered by a twelve-cylinder W-2-34 diesel engine rated at 500 metric horsepower. Its gearbox had five forward speeds and one reverse gear. The running gear had five pairs of large road wheels, while each track consisted of 72 links, 500 mm wide. Range was approximately 300 km on roads and 230 km across country; the difference shows how driving conditions affected the distance the tank could cover.
For children
This tank had five crew members. The driver drove it, the commander directed the team, and the others aimed and loaded the gun and operated the radio. The T-34-85 was a later version of the earlier T-34. It received a gun with a calibre of 85 millimetres. Calibre measures the diameter inside the barrel, rather than the length of the whole gun.
Look at the large wheels and the tracks around them. Each track consisted of 72 connected links. Because they were joined together, the track was not a rigid hoop: it could move around the wheels. The entire tank weighed 32 tonnes and had a twelve-cylinder engine. Its gearbox provided five forward gears and one reverse gear. On roads, the tank could travel farther without refuelling than across country: about 300 kilometres instead of 230.
Question 1 of 2
How many crew members did the T-34-85 have?
- military technology