“After the march, you feel like a bag of bones”: the story of the T-34 driver

One of the unspoken disputes that went on during the Great Patriotic War between infantry fighters, motorists and tankers: "Who is easier to fight?" The statement of the question is somewhat primitive, but, nevertheless, it was in this vein that it was often discussed.

The infantry reproached the tankmen with the fact that they carried out marches, as they would say now, “in comfortable conditions”, and did not walk on sticky mud. But what were these “comfortable conditions” like? This can only be told by those who themselves have experienced all their charms - tankers of the Second World War.

On the channel "Memoirs of a Soldier" a video was published in which the memoirs of a veteran who fought during World War II tank T-34.

A veteran (driver) tells that after the march the tankers literally gave way, because sometimes they had to withstand long transitions in the conditions of incredible heat in the tank tower without the special ability to “stretch the limbs”.

From the narrative:

After the march, you feel like a bag of bones, which was beaten against the iron walls.

The legendary "thirty-four" will take part in the parade in honor of the 75th anniversary of the Victory in Red Square. It will pass along the streets of other cities of Russia. This tank has become a real symbol of both the Second World War and the victory won over Nazi Germany.

Comments

[rocket757]

Well, yes, it was a tank soldier, fighter, no "frills". Too all reasonable people had a presentiment of a big trouble and quite imagined what it was POSSIBLE, NECESSARY, to do at that moment in order to overcome this trouble!

[Dr. Frankenstucker]

Quote: rocket757

it was a tank soldier, a fighter, no "frills".

Weren't the Sherman or Panther 'soldiers'? And what do you consider excesses? The relative comfort of the crew?

[Hunter 2]

Quote: Dr. Frankenstucker

Weren't the Sherman or Panther 'soldiers'? And what do you consider excesses? The relative comfort of the crew?

You are comparing what cannot be compared! Sherman Producers - Seen the War on Own Earth? When, Everything - For the Front Everything - For Victory ... believe me, if they experienced what the Soviet People experienced - they would also sacrifice some amenities for the crews for the sake of Simple, Cheap, Mass release.
As for Panthers ... Panthers of the first issues and the last ones - believe me, there are two big differences. The Germans couldn’t even make normal armor, due to the lack of strategic raw materials, and almost ceased to think about the convenience of the crews.

[igor67]

. Here I am in Sherman, my height is 178, at 34 ku I tried to climb into the place of a mechanic through the lower hatch, I could not. In SU100 the same story, I can not imagine how they could fight there.

[igor67]

But Matilda, too, does not shine in size, did not get into the tank

[igor67]

State Duma stuck

[Jarserge]

It’s already surprising that he climbed there .. they are fed well and little lawmaking takes all the time

[Dr. Frankenstucker]

Quote: igor67

my height is 178

not tank growth, frankly)

[Avior]

Comfort in the tank is needed not for the sake of comfort and pleasure, but in order for the crew to operate as efficiently as possible in battle and in other cases, for example, on a march.
And if sweat fills your eyes and smoke eats them away due to an unsuccessful fan, this means that in a real battle, the probability is that you will flaunt the enemy in the bushes, and this may end badly.
Or if you go into battle with a numb body, tired after the march, and you can’t look around again, or miss something from fatigue, then this is also fraught, you don’t admire the scenery there.

[Dr. Frankenstucker]

Quote: Avior

Comfort in the tank is needed not for the sake of comfort and pleasure, but in order for the crew to operate as efficiently as possible in battle

absolutely right.

[Dr. Frankenstucker]

Quote: Hunter 2

what can not be compared!

Yes, why not? It’s possible if you discard all this lyrics about

Quote: Hunter 2

Saw the war on their own land

Quote: Hunter 2

experienced what the Soviet people experienced

etc.

Mass Shermans? Comparably - 50 thousand for three years
Cost? Ok, take 1942 - start mass production of M4 - the average cost of 250 thousand. rubles.
T-34 (1942):
Plant 112 (Krasnoye Sormovo) - 209
Plant 173 (Omsk) - 312
UZTM - 273
Well, yes, Plant 183 collected 34 for 165 rubles in the 000nd year.

That is, on average at five plants the price of T-34 = 240 rubles in 300. Sherman = 1942.

Well, why is there something incomparable?

[Nagaibak]

Dr. Frankenshtutzer "why can't you? It is quite possible, if we discard all this lyrics about Quote: Hunting expert 2
Saw the war on their own land
Quote: Hunter 2
experienced what the Soviet people experienced
etc.
Lying on the couch, you can puff your cheeks by comparing the states untouched by the war and us. We have children at the machine tools half-hungry ... and there are uncleaning ones.))) We have half of the factories in the evacuation from the wheels under the canopy and produce products with associated losses and finishing touches on the go. They have quiet and whim no bombing as in Stalingrad and Leningrad, nor other misfortunes.))) And here so lazily protruding the lip is not .... but why not compare it is quite possible to compare.))) And what is there scoop picking?)))

[Dr. Frankenstucker]

OK OK. But I wrote about dry statistics. And let me remind you that my thesis was that the Sherman who fought in Tunisia, Italy, Normandy, the Pacific Ocean is the same massive tank soldier as the T-34. What are you, dear,

Quote: Nagaibak

lazily protruding lip

decided to refute, arguing about "half-starved children at the machines." In addition, by the beginning of the European war, the United States had practically no tank forces and a tank industry. The fact that they have a main mass battle tank in such a short period of time is also a kind of technological breakthrough that deserves respect.
On top of that, ergonomics has never been a strong point of Soviet engineering, regardless of whether it is war or peacetime. With this, I hope you agree?

[Nagaibak]

Dr. Frankenshtuzer "clear, clear."
Nothing is clear to you.))) I did not argue with you at all about anything. I was seduced by your reasoning about which I wrote. The fact that the largest economic power of that time gave birth you won’t understand which tank it’s understandable.))) How long do you say?))) C'mon.)))) You say engineering top?))) Well, well ...)))) . Ergonomics?)))) A country untouched by war could have imagined something better and better.)))) In Volgograd, the museum has a cone-shaped metal contraption. It was placed next to the machine. And the worker took refuge in it during enemy air raids, and after the raid he went out and continued to work. Where are you from?

Look at the photo and let's talk about ergonomics.)))

[Dr. Frankenstucker]

Quote: Nagaibak

I was seduced by your reasoning

which ones? Are you cringed by numbers? Or what I dared to call Sherman a tank soldier along with the sacred T-34? Or that I do not support the reasoning about children behind the machines?

[Nagaibak]

Dr. Frankenshtuzer "Or that I do not support the discussion of children at the bench?"
But what can you support?)))) You argue like a forelock.))) You probably have it.)))

[Dr. Frankenstucker]

Quote: Nagaibak

you reason like a forelock.

Ah, got it. Expected.
Lord, what narrow-minded xoxlofreniya ....

[Nagaibak]

Dr. Frankenshtuzer "Lord, what a narrow-minded xoxlophrenia ..."
So you have a sovkofreniya.))) And so what?))) Why are you here forgetting the sick?))) Go to the censor and go more comfortable.)))

[Dr. Frankenstucker]

As I understand it, you are among those who see x ... la in anyone who does not share your values ​​or does not agree with your vision of a picture of the world. Why should these cheap attempts give advice to whom where to go and which sites to visit? I did not get personal. Work hard, and you stay within the subject, and not rush with xoxophobic poop.

[rocket757]

Aleksey (Hunting Officer 2) answered everything correctly ... different conditions for the existence of States, at that particular moment in time! With all the ensuing consequences. Add, especially, nothing.

[Jarserge]

Firstly, these are cars of different generations. The T-34 belongs to the tanks of the 30s, when ergonomics was just in its infancy. All the shortcomings of the T-34 are design solutions of the 30s level, well, there were no others then. The main design solutions from there from the 30s and from the capabilities of the newly emerging Soviet industry (and alas, they were not great). And Sherman and Panther is the experience of the "thirty-four" revised by engineers who have more experience behind their backs and not weak industry with skilled workers. Yes, and these are different design schools with their own disadvantages and advantages.
In the 70s, our head of the training department returned from a business trip to Vietnam. At that time, the Vietnamese army was mainly armed with Soviet tanks and captured American ones, so he said that he asked the Vietnamese tankmen to compare the tanks. The answer was simple - in peacetime it is better for the Americans (comfort) and it is better to fight in the Russians (reliability, protection) That's something like this ....

[Dr. Frankenstucker]

Quote: Jarserge

And Sherman .... this is a thirty-four experience reworked by engineers

Controversial statement. I personally do not observe any "T-34 experience" in Sherman.

Quote: Jarserge

T-34 refers to the tanks of the 30s, when ergonomics was just in its infancy.

agree, but what's the point? In Soviet Russia machines design you - that says it all. Although the "generation of the 30s", even though the "40s" and beyond - in the USSR there was a so-called. "machine feudalism" is a human appendage of the machine, and not vice versa. A man is a nut in a car, in the words of F. Taylor.

Quote: Jarserge

So he said that he asked the Vietnamese tank crews to compare tanks

I haven’t met anywhere information that the VNA was armed with the M4

Quote: Jarserge

in peacetime it’s better for the Americans (comfort) and it’s better to fight in the Russians (reliability, protection)

This is a commonplace banality. It’s not necessary to go to Vietnam)

[Jarserge]

Sorry, but your comments are sheer banality. Just to say "how smart I am". But if you do not know this does not mean that it does not exist. Just don't be smart in Gorbachev's style.

[Sergey S.]

The topic is dumb.
It was hard for everyone.
Rather, to all those who devoted all their efforts to achieving Victory.

About the shaking.
The boats on the "G-5" shook so much .... Planing boats, jumping along the crests of the waves ...
During a military campaign, several kg of weight were lost in weight.

[The leader of the Redskins]

I studied at the tank school. So one of the teachers gave us this layout:
1) The most difficult service for submariners. Limitations in everything, psychological stress, physical and so on ...
2) Then comes the cavalry - whatever one may say, not only you need to look after yourself, but also about a living comrade, even though he is a horse ....
3) In third place we are tankers. Closely, a limited crew, almost submariners, only to jump out in case of defeat are more likely.

[Dr. Frankenstucker]

Quote: Leader of the Redskins

3) In third place we are tankers. Cramped, limited crew, almost submariners,

photo in the subject)

[businessv]

Quote: Leader of the Redskins

I studied at the tank school.

Hats off, colleague! I was trained in the service to drive all the equipment and it so happened that after the GM (base for ZSU 23-4, with UKM on the levers and a very mild course), I had to sit on the levers of the T-34 .... Fear and horror! At first I thought that there was no control at all, but then I realized that to turn I had to put my foot on the side and pull the lever with both hands! After this, the WWII tankers respected immensely! After all, they recruited guys mostly of small stature.

[The leader of the Redskins]

And as you recommendation MV T-62:
- ... You put the gearshift lever in the groove of the third gear and hold the clutch with one foot, and the second rests on the gear lever until it engages! ...
When I did so, I was scared that I had broken something, so the checkpoint cracked!))))

[gabonskijfront]

As I have in Niva, the children refuse to ride in it, they say that their head is tearing off. Plus, the stove does not overlap, and even in small things, as they say forever wounded but never killed.

[Free wind]

Fill the stove’s intake with rags. On the bugs, Nivkh. if it’s really so bad. Well, the old doors of the cars were more convenient, you open the windows, the air pulled out from the legs. And not noisy.

[Far B]

I would doubt that the infantry reproached the tankers for anything. First, armored infantry constantly drove (in settlements, armor without infantry was a target), and secondly, the infantry saw tanks with crews burning. What to envy ?!

[boris epstein]

In the same way as infantry without tanks is a target for all enemy fire weapons. And many of these weapons suppress tanks with their fire and maneuver.

[Sergey Medvedev]

Quote: Dalny V

pehtura

Mazut, due to its limitations (field of view), it is not visible how the infantry is torn to shreds by shells and mines.

[Avior]

Soviet tanks traditionally have a small armored volume.
On the one hand, the dimensions are smaller, with an allowable tank weight, booking is better, and on the other, the inconvenience and fatigue of the crew.
The crew tired after the march on the go to battle is so simple to send — attention, reaction, coordination of movements is reduced, vision can be dulled. And this means that losses will increase, effective and combat effectiveness will decrease.
This is also important, but we have traditionally underestimated it.
The Germans, due to a longer resource and more comfortable conditions, could transfer equipment along the front, costing less.

[max702]

By the way, pay attention to how Syrian tankers fight, after the battle they don’t do maintenance of the tank, but rest in the shade because they have laid out completely, and other people are serving and refueling the tank .. It’s kind of like in aviation .. It seems that a rested, not driven crew in battle is more important how he will be able to carry out a combat mission .. it’s often shown in the video from those places ..

[indy424]

each has its own view. Of course, the tank can be both hot and uncomfortable. but not on foot, and you don’t drag a whole cloud of everything on you. and when it rains, you are dry, and you will not die in the mud. sometimes you just look at the tankers, or those on other vehicles, and even take hatred. although they certainly are not easy. and it’s better to have a bullet in your chest than to burn in this tin can

[sergo1914]

In my opinion, the loader there was the most miserable. It really needs to be a yogi to put the unitary into the breech. But he still had to be removed from the drawer on the floor.

[zenion]

If you feel, it means alive.