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Quality and Quantity.
This was shown on television in 2003. It occurred to me, while watching it, that its production would have been highly improbably forty or fifty years earlier. During the Cold War, not many in the West knew about the war on the eastern front, in which cities were destroyed wholesale and about 27 million Russians, soldiers and civilians, lost their lives.
With some exceptions, like the undeniable (and helpful) victory at Stalingrad, the battles in Russia were more or less treated as non-events. It's understandable, though it reflect limited understanding, because Josef Stalin was a treacherous monster who killed more Russians than Hitler did. The designer responsible for the T-34 was sent to Siberia, where he died.
The invention and development of the T-34 medium tank is the focus of the film but it's embedded in the general picture of the war between the Germans and the Russian Army. The T-34 was uncomfortable and crudely made but it was a splendid medium tank, superior to anything the Germans or the Allies had in that class. Illiterate peasants could grind them out like hamburgers and man them with little training. It was equipped with a powerful 76 mm. main gun, wide treads with gave traction over slippery or marshy ground, and much of its armor was sloped.
That sloping armor had always seemed like a simple defensive feature. It still does, and it's hard to imagine why it wasn't developed in Allied tanks. I'd always thought, "Sloped? Sure, because the angle of impact will cause enemy shells to bounce off." But that's too simple. Even a round that DOESN'T bound off has to penetrate to a greater depth through sloped armor than through a flat plate. The first American GIs in Korea were surprised to see their bazooka round bounce harmlessly off the hulls and turrets of the T-34, which they'd never before encountered.
Russia, with its vast plains, is tank territory. In the battle for Berlin at the close of the war, the T-34 was hampered by city streets, which limited mobility and exposed them to the very effective, hand-held anti-tank weapons that were wielded by what was left of the German combatants. Taking Berlin cost them three quarters of a million men. No mention is made of the revenge the Russian soldiers took on German civilians.
Much detail is missing, naturally, given the time limits, but there's a good deal of combat footage, talking heads from both sides, and a limited number of reenactments. Nicely done.
With some exceptions, like the undeniable (and helpful) victory at Stalingrad, the battles in Russia were more or less treated as non-events. It's understandable, though it reflect limited understanding, because Josef Stalin was a treacherous monster who killed more Russians than Hitler did. The designer responsible for the T-34 was sent to Siberia, where he died.
The invention and development of the T-34 medium tank is the focus of the film but it's embedded in the general picture of the war between the Germans and the Russian Army. The T-34 was uncomfortable and crudely made but it was a splendid medium tank, superior to anything the Germans or the Allies had in that class. Illiterate peasants could grind them out like hamburgers and man them with little training. It was equipped with a powerful 76 mm. main gun, wide treads with gave traction over slippery or marshy ground, and much of its armor was sloped.
That sloping armor had always seemed like a simple defensive feature. It still does, and it's hard to imagine why it wasn't developed in Allied tanks. I'd always thought, "Sloped? Sure, because the angle of impact will cause enemy shells to bounce off." But that's too simple. Even a round that DOESN'T bound off has to penetrate to a greater depth through sloped armor than through a flat plate. The first American GIs in Korea were surprised to see their bazooka round bounce harmlessly off the hulls and turrets of the T-34, which they'd never before encountered.
Russia, with its vast plains, is tank territory. In the battle for Berlin at the close of the war, the T-34 was hampered by city streets, which limited mobility and exposed them to the very effective, hand-held anti-tank weapons that were wielded by what was left of the German combatants. Taking Berlin cost them three quarters of a million men. No mention is made of the revenge the Russian soldiers took on German civilians.
Much detail is missing, naturally, given the time limits, but there's a good deal of combat footage, talking heads from both sides, and a limited number of reenactments. Nicely done.
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- rmax304823
- Aug 27, 2014
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