The Mind Blowing Statistics of the T-34
In total, its estimated 84,000 T-34 tanks have been built. These astonishing numbers are second only to the T-54/55 tanks, of which an estimated 85,000 – 100,000 were built, but these tanks were built from 1946 to 1981 in the Soviet Union. This is a production run 30 years longer than the T-34 had.
The 84,000 is an estimate due to the inaccuracies caused by tanks built in foreign nations, post war copies, and poor inventory keeping.
For this reason, this list will be using the more accurate amount built by the USSR during World War Two between 1940-45, a still-huge number of 57,300.
In producing 57,300 T-34s, some incredible statistics and numbers are involved. This is 4 incredible statistics about the T-34.
- Components
Making such a vast amount of complex armoured machines means an incredible number of parts are involved. The V12 diesel engine had a double overhead cam arrangement. To provide each T-34 with a fully built engine, the USSR needed 690,000 pistons, 230,000 camshafts, 2.7 million valves, and over 4.3 million head bolts.
All of the engines built had a combined displacement of 4.3 million litres. On top of this, 573,000 road wheels were needed, enough to fit 150,000 cars.
The 57,300 T-34s needed 1.4 million metres (900 miles) of track, which if laid out in a line, would reach from London to Warsaw. These figures are just what tanks needed to leave the factory, and do not account for the huge amounts of replacement engines, parts or tracks that were used.
- Firepower
Almost all T-34s used one of two guns, a 76.2 mm, of which 33,700 tanks carried, or an 85 mm, used in a further 22,700.
Assuming all were fully loaded with ammunition, these vehicles would have required 4 million shells. 2.6 million of these being 76.2 mm shells, as more 76.2 mm T-34s were built, and could carry 17 rounds more than the 85 mm model.
Every tank also had two 7.62 mm DT machine guns, one in the hull and one as a coaxial. Ideally, each T-34 carried 35 magazines for these guns.
To arm every tank, 114,600 of these guns were needed, along with 130 million rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition. This is enough ammunition to fill the 8 round clips of 16.2 million M1 Garand rifles.
- Production Speed
The Russians built 57,300 T-34s between 1940 and 1945. This makes for an average of 795 tanks built per month, for the entirety of the war. This average is misleading however, as the amounts built each year varied dramatically, in 1940, it’s estimated that only 400 T-34s were built. Taking this into account, the average between 1941 and 1945 is more like 950 per month.
Come 1943, 15,700 T-34s were built in just that year, averaging 1300 tanks leaving the production lines each month. That is about 43 tanks per day, or 1.7 tanks an hour, for an entire year. There were more T-34s built in 1943 than the entirety of German tanks produced that year, of all models.
It also must be noted that all of these T-34s were to fight the Germans on the Eastern Front, while Germany had to also send tanks to fight in the west.
- Weight
The most shocking numbers involved with the T-34 production is their total weight. The combined weight of all 57,300 T-34s built equals a staggering 1.75 million tonnes.
This is a quarter of a million tonnes more weight than the entire tonnage of bombs dropped on Germany by allied strategic bombing from 1939-45.
For comparison, this total weight is heavier than every single Pz III, Pz IV, Stug III, Panther, Jagdpanther, Tiger 1, Tiger 2, Jagdtiger, and Bf 109 ever built, the entire fleet of 700 Type VII submarines, the Tirpitz, and the Bismark combined.
This is a simply unbelievable statistic. The total of one single model of Soviet tank was heavier than all of Germany’s tanks, it’s most produced aircraft, its submarine fleet, and two biggest battleships.
This is a direct representation of the impossible odds Germany was against during the war. It’s made worse when factoring in the other 74,000 fully tracked armoured fighting vehicles the Soviets possessed throughout the war, 8,700 of which are heavy tanks.
Another Article From Us: 9 Reasons Why Some Think the T-34 was a Poor Tank
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By the modern era, the T-34 isn’t even the most built tank, a record once again claimed by the Russians with the T-54/55 tank, of which between 80 and 100,000 are estimated to have been produced.