T-34 Tank

[Gervasius]

Radish, the Balkans are sacred ground for any armor enthusiast. During my Croatian Army days, I worked in a same base where we stashed some old armor, most notably WWII-vintage M36 Jacksons - we had 4, IIRC. Also, numerous old Shermans, and countless improvised APCs, there were even Serb T-55s with M36 turrets.

I can post some pics, if you like.

[Radish]

Sounds interesting.
I've heard of the T-55s with M-18 Hellcat turret.
A friend or two of mine over here in the UK would be very interested too, as they're real armour guys, but have a slight "growing" tendency to whatiffery too.
 

[NARSES2]

I like Rad's idea of a T-34 in the recce role - no turret but a couple of mg's or light cannon. Aftre all the Ruskie's had some amazing aircraft auto-cannon's you could use. How about mounting one of those very Russian looking MV turrets.

As for a T-34 APC, virtually any user of the T-34 outside the Warsaw Pact would be viable and who on earth could say you were wrong ? Maybe some light overhead roof armour, leaving a gap between hull and roof for the infantry to use their personal weapons ?

Chris

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Something to perk the interests of the armor modelers amongst us.  Here is an image showing a T-34 hull that has been fitted with the turret from another tank.  From the angle that the image was taken it is hard to determine and lacking the other key identification features usually associated with the vehicle type it will take additional research to determine if it is indeed from a T-62. 


This was not an actual working vehicle, it was buried in the ground and used in a static defensive position but as a WHIF to upset the purists it would be a fun project to put on the display table and spin a few of them up... Here is the link to the page that provided the image.

(Link to detektorweb.cz/ main page)

[GTX]

Interesting - what's the story with the other pics?

Regards,

Greg

[jcf]

Looks more like a T-55.





Photos are evidently taken in Bulgaria.

The smaller emplaced turrets appear to be from the Czech LT-35 tank.

Jon

[Geoff]

The USSR did offer the T-34 as the standard allied medium tank in WW2 at one point I believe. I did one with a Firefly turret.
Also in real life the Bulgarians were equiped with ex-German Panthers for a period post WW2 which they got from the Russians.

[Hman]

The Croatians (?) used a T55 hull with an M18 turret the civil war.  During WW2 German tank unit used a Panther Hull with a PZ IV turret welded on top asa command vehicle.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Looks more like a T-55.

I was going to claim at first that it was a turret from a T-54 or T-55.  But after further scrutiny, I feel quite comfortable in saying that the turret in question is from a T-62 based on what identification features are present in that image:

1.  There is no pronounced "peak" down the center of the turret between the two cupolas which is a key identification feature of the T-54 and T-55 turret. 
2.  The small dome for the ventilator is also not present on this turret. 
3.  The T-62 turret is slightly shorter and much more rounded in appearance than the turret fitted to the T-54 and T-55.
4.  This rounded shape is very prominent in the image when compared to your reference image of the T-54/T55 in your own comment. 

It would have been nice to have seen additional images of the subject but based on my own technical knowledge and past experience as an imagery interpreter where identification of a specific vehicle type was done with imagery of even poorer quality I feel comfortable with claiming that it is a T-62 turret until proven otherwise. 

I would also have to rely on what was in the comments on the page which is in Czech language and the text says something to the effect that it is a T-34 with a T-62 turret. 

T-34 korbu a na ní naroubovanou věž T-62

T-34 Tank @ Wikipedia

[Jschmus]

I don't remember the author, but there was a nonfiction book I read in high school that attempted to describe what a land war between the Soviets and anyone else would be like.  The author made reference to the large stockpiles of antiquated tanks sitting in storage depots, ready to be rolled into pre-dug emplacements and used as fixed artillery/tank destroyer positions, sort of like a modern day Maginot Line.

[Nick]

That book sounds very much like Tom Clancy's The Bear and the Dragon which is fiction. Maybe you both got the idea from the same book?

The Israelis did a very similar thing by burying Shermans and captured T-55s as fortifications.

[Geoff]

The Soviets often made use of obsolete tanks by burying them for use as blockhouses from what I have read.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Marcus Schoebel built a WHIF fixed turret based on the E-100 ''Paper Panzer''.  The last image in the gallery shows the turret mounted on a what is supposed to be a prefabricated two-section bunker to create a fixed defensive position that would be buried in the ground up to the roof of the bunker. 

Additional images of the bunker and turret under construction are available at this link

[nev]

Of course, we mustn't forget the British Cornwallis Mk.III Cruiser tank which took the T-34 hull and added a 17 pounder



http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,11233.msg153953/topicseen/highlight,ruperts.html#msg153953

[dy031101]

(Hum...... guess the forum's search function didn't work as well as I would like......)

Recently I went through info on prototypes that led to the T-34: A-20 and A-32.

Although both use Christie suspension, A-20 has convertible drive (removing tracks for roa.d travel on road wheels) while A-32 doesn't, which brings me a few questions......

Other than the ability to conduct road travel on road wheels, what is the difference between convertible drive and track-only drive?  Some described the convertible drive as "adding to unnecessary complications"...... why was that?

And although both are predecessors to the T-34, the A-20 carries only a 45mm main gun while the A-32 carries a 76mm one...... does it have anything to do with any penalty the convertible drive would bring?

Thanks in advance.