After the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943, panic began to spread in the ranks of Soviet tank units. They had met the German Panther for the first time on the field of battle, and the mighty Tiger I was being encountered in increasing numbers. The Soviets desperately needed a tank with a longer arm so-to-speak, and the solution offered up by a crash development program was a T-34 with a larger turret and a larger gun. This new tank was known as the T-34/85, which featured an 85mm anti-tank gun (derived from an anti-aircraft gun of the same caliber) mounted in a larger three-man turret. This more powerful tank entered service from March 1944 onwards and it was an immediate hit since it could now stand toe-to-toe with the more powerful tanks being fielded by the Wehrmacht.

There were two main production families of the T-34, each with sub variants. The identification of T-34 variants can be complicated. Turret castings, superficial details, and equipment differed between factories; new features were added in the middle of production runs, or retrofitted to older tanks; damaged tanks were rebuilt, sometimes with the addition of newer-model equipment and even new turrets.

The Red Army never had a consistent policy for naming the T-34. Since at least the 1980s, however, many academic sources (notably, AFV expert Steven Zaloga) have used Soviet-style nomenclature: T-34 for the models armed with 76.2 mm guns, and T-34-85 for models armed with 85 mm guns, with minor models distinguished by year, as T-34 Model 1940. Some Russian historians use different names: they refer to the first T-34 as the T-34 Model 1939 instead of 1940, all T-34s with the original turret and F-34 gun as Model 1941 instead of Models 1941 and 1942, and the hexagonal-turret T-34 as Model 1942 instead of 1943.

German military intelligence in World War II referred to the two main production families as T-34/76 and T-34/85, with subvariants receiving letter designations such as T-34/76A - this nomenclature has been widely used in the West, especially in popular literature. When the German Wehrmacht used captured T-34s, it designated them Panzerkampfwagen T-34(r), where the "r" stood for russisch ("Russian"). The Finns referred to the T-34 as the Sotka after the common goldeneye, because the side silhouette of the tank resembled a swimming waterfowl. The T-34-85 was called pitkaputkinen Sotka ("long-barreled Sotka")

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a Soviet late production T-34/85 medium tank with bedspring armor bracketing the turret and sides of the chassis and painted in a winter white camouflage scheme. Now in stock!

Dimensions:
Length: 3-1/2-inches
Width: 1-1/2-inches

Release Date: December 2023

Historical Account: "Bed Head" - Slat armor, also known as bar armor, cage armor, and standoff armor, is a type of vehicle armor designed to protect against high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) attacks, as used by anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs).

Slat armor takes the form of a rigid slatted metal grid fitted around key sections of the vehicle, which disrupts the shaped charge of the warhead by either crushing it, preventing optimal detonation from occurring, or by damaging the fuzing mechanism, preventing detonation outright. Although slat armor is effective against incoming missiles, it does not offer complete protection - as many as 50% of missile impacts are unimpeded by the slat design. Slat armor is more likely to be effective if the cage spacing is less than the diameter of the incoming RPG round, which is commonly 85 mm.

The German Wehrmacht was the first employer of cage armor during World War II, using Drahtgeflecht-Schurzen (English: "wire mesh skirts") to fortify its tanks against shell fire. It was found to be just as effective as the steel plate Schurzen also being utilized. In March 1943, Adolf Hitler ordered all new Sturmgeschutz, Panzer III, IV, and Panthers be outfitted with Schurzen of either the wire mesh or steel plate type. However, the wire mesh was not as easy to mass-produce as steel plate Schurzen or armored skirts. Soviet Red Army tanks, faced with the new and highly effective German Panzerfaust, were similarly outfitted with "bed spring" armor made from expanded metal mesh grating panels.

However, Schurzen were designed to stop Soviet PTRD-41 anti-tank rifles, and proved ineffective against Bazooka and Panzerschreck anti-tank rockets in US and German tests.