Yevgeni Oskarovich Paton

The T-34 medium tank was superior to the German Panzer tanks because it had a more powerful cannon, a higher top speed (32 MPH to 25 for the Panzers), the armour was so superior that German shells bounced off it, superior welded construction invented by Academician Paton, and it had a wider track so it did not get bogged down in mud like the German Panzer. The Germans decided that the Ukrainian T-34 tank was so superior to the Panzer that they would have copied it but "Unfortunately for Germany this was not possible. German engineering technology was not up to it, many of the special alloys used in its construction were not available," states Andrew Kershaw in Weapons & War Machines (New York 1976) p. 192.

Image & text: World War II in Ukraine

Євген Патон