HISTORY & INTRO
The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank which had a profound and lasting effect on the fields of tank tactics and design. First fielded in 1940, it has often been described as the most effective, efficient, and influential tank design of World War II. At its introduction, the T-34 possessed the best balance of firepower, mobility, protection, and ruggedness of any tank. Its 76.2 mm (3 in) high-velocity gun was the best tank gun in the world at that time; its heavy sloped armour was difficult to penetrate by most contemporary anti-tank weapons, and furthermore it was very agile. Though its armour and armament were surpassed later in the war, when they first encountered it in battle in 1941 German tank generals von Kleist and Guderian called it "the deadliest tank in the world".
