T-34-76 3D model

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The T-34, a Soviet medium tank, had a profound effect on the conflict on the Eastern Front in the Second World War, and had a lasting impact on tank design. When introduced in 1940, the T-34 had an unprecedented balance of firepower, mobility, protection and ruggedness. Its 76.2 mm high-velocity tank gun was more powerful than its contemporaries while its 60 degree sloped armour provided good protection against anti-tank weapons. The sloped armor and Christie suspension were inherited from the design of American Walter Christie’s M1928 tank, versions of which were sold turret-less to the Red Army and documented as “farm tractors”, after being rejected by the U.S. Army.[6] After the Germans encountered the tank in 1941, German general Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist called it the finest tank in the world and Heinz Guderian affirmed the T-34's vast superiority over German tanks. "As early as July 1941, OKW chief Alfred Jodl noted in his war diary the surprise at this new and thus unknown wunder-armament being unleashed against the German assault divisions. Although its armour and armament were surpassed later in the war, it has been described as the most influential tank design of the war.