The Soviet T\-34 medium tank needs no introduction, being the most famous tank ever built especially as has seen service across the globe throughout the twentieth century’s most brutal wars. However, despite this fame, little has been written about its design changes. While most tank enthusiasts can differentiate between the ‘T\-34\/76’ and the ‘T\-34\-85’, identifying different factory production batches has proven more elusive. Until now. With nearly six hundred photographs, mostly taken by soldiers who both operated and fought against the T\-34, this book seeks to catalogue and contextualise even the subtlest details to create a true ‘T\-34 continuum’. The book begins with the antecedents of the T\-34, the ill\-fated BT ‘fast tank’ series and the influence of the traumatic Spanish Civil War before moving to an in\-depth look at the T\-34’s prototypes. After this, every factory production change is catalogued and contextualised, with never\-before\-seen photographs and stunning technical drawings. Furthermore, four battle stories are also integrated to explain the changing battle context when major production changes take place. The production story is completed with sections on the T\-34’s post\-war production (and modification) by Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the People’s Republic of China, as well as T\-34 variants.

When the German army launched Operation Barbarossa – the invasion of the Soviet Union – on June 22, 1941, it was expecting to face and easily defeat outdated and obsolete tanks and for the most part it did, but it also received a nasty shock when it came up against the T-34. With its powerful gun and sloped armour, the T-34 was more than a match for the best German tanks at that time and the Germans regarded it with awe. German Field Marshal von Kleist, who commanded the latter stages of Barbarossa, called it ‘the finest tank in the world’. Using original wartime documents author and historian Peter Samsonov, creator of the Tank Archives blog, explains how the Soviets came to develop what was arguably the war’s most revolutionary tank design.

A hotly-debated topic amongst tank buffs is of the relative merits of the Soviet and American tanks of World War II. Using recently revealed documents, Steven Zaloga sheds light on the crucial tank battles of the Korean War as the rival superpowers' finest tanks battled for supremacy. The Soviet-equipped North Korean Peoples Army initially dominated the battlefield with the seemingly unstoppable T34-85. As US tank battalions hastily arrived throughout the late summer and early autumn of 1950, the M26 Pershing took the fight to North Korea with increasing success.

The T-34 was the most influential tank design of World War 2. When first introduced into combat in the summer of 1941, it represented a revolutionary leap forward in tank design. Its firepower, armour protection and mobility were superior to that of any other medium tank of the period. This superiority did not last long. While the T-34 underwent a series of incremental improvements during 1943, it was being surpassed by new German tank designs, most notably the Panther. This title traces the life of the original T-34 through all its difficulties to eventual success.

The T-34 was one of the most remarkable tanks of the Second World War. Although the Red Army suffered continual heavy tank losses, the rugged and reliable T-34 was an immense success story and was ultimately instrumental in turning the tide of the war.This photographic history follows the story of this exceptional armoured vehicle from its disastrous first action during Operation Barbarossa to its miraculous defence of Moscow, its envelopment of the Axis forces at Stalingrad and victory at Kursk, and finally, the advance to the gates of Warsaw then on to Berlin.Packed with a wealth of images, including rare archive photographs and photographs of surviving examples, this is an extraordinary record of both the tank and its personnel. The accompanying text features an in-depth technical evaluation outlining the differences in the myriad of models, including detailed plans of each type, alongside a gripping breakdown of the tank's entire operational history.

For the first time, translated Soviet archival documents, including more than 100 photos and illustrations, are used to present "the Russian view" of the legendary T-34 tank.

This is the fourth title in our new Russian Armour series which has been designed to provide much needed authoritative information on the classic Soviet tank designs of the 20th century. The books are written by Russian experts and the research has been done in Russian archives. The series has already established itself as required reading for all those interested in the development of armored warfare over the past 100 years. The latest title examines in detail the T-34, one of the most famous and successful vehicles in the history of armored warfare. The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank produced from 1940 to 1958. It was widely regarded as the world's best tank when the Soviet Union entered the Second World War, and although its amour and armament were surpassed by later World War II tanks, it is credited as the war's most effective, efficient and influential design. First produced at the KhPZ factory in Kharkov, it was the mainstay of Soviet armored forces throughout World War II, and widely exported afterwards. At least 39 countries are known to have operated T-34s. It was the most-produced tank of the war, and the second most-produced tank of all time, after its successor, the T-54/55 series. The T-34 was still in service with twenty-seven countries as late as 1996. There are hundreds of surviving T-34s. Examples of the type are in the military collections and museums around the globe, and hundreds more serve as war memorials in Russian and former Eastern bloc countries. Aimed at the modeler, military historian and wargamer, we believe that the Russian Armour series provides authoritative information on the classic Soviet tank designs of the 20th century, to a level of detail probablynot previously available in the English language.