T34 was a great tank, almost the best in WW2(the best was IS2 ). But there were other Russian(soviet) tanks, like KV-1,2 which were replaced by IS-1(wasnt that of a sucess in tank battles) and IS-2(in my opinion, the best tank of WW2).
Actually, it is not right to compare T34(which was developed before the war began) with later german tanks like PzKpfw V "Panther" modifications, not because Panhter was developed later, but simply beacause Panther was a DIFFERENT CLASS OF TANK. T-34 was a medium tank, Panther was a heavy tank. So, it would be right to compare Panther with an IS-2 tank. And panther is clearly loosing to the IS-2, both in armor terms and in arnament. For example, Panther Ausf G(latest mod of Panther) had 75mm KwK gun, and IS2 had 122!mm gun. Also, Panther had gaseline engine, while IS2 had diesel. Only real advantage panther had was greater speed(because of more powerful enginge).

If anybody wants, I can translate detailed charts of both Panther and IS2.

All data was taken from http://armor.kiev.ua/

Yeah,light fast and with late 120 m gun SUPERIOR

Are you talking about panther?
If so:
When did panther had 120mm gun? The biggest gun ever used on panther was famous 88mm, which had nice range, but still wasnt match for IS2.And speed was gained by using gaseline engine, which was flamable like hell.

no no,I was talking about T34

oh, sorry bout that
Anyway, my point was not in tank comparsion(and starting another flame war), my point was that there are other great tanks besides t-34-85 or t-34-100

B.T.W
T-34 never had a mod(at least none of the original versions) with 120mm gun. T-34-100 had 100mm gun, but it was never videly used.

Panther wasnt a tank but a tank chaser(?),later used as a self moving canon..

No, the Panther was a Tank, not a Tank Destoryer. Anyways, I think the T34 witha 100mm gun was called T44, no?

PzKpfw V "Panther" Ausf A/G was a tank. There was also "Jagdpanther" which was tank killer, armed with 88mm (version of famous Pak 43/3 flakk cannon)

T-44 was in fact based on T-34, but it had very serious problems(it malfunctioned after 3000km). T-44 had very distinct feature by having it's engine installed crosswise to the chassis, and not parallel. So, i wouldnt call T-44 a version of T-34 coz they had quite a different design.

This picture is a comparsion of silhuettes of T-34-85 and T-44:

Originally Posted by rovai

T34 was a great tank, almost the best in WW2(the best was IS2 ). But there were other Russian(soviet) tanks, like KV-1,2 which were replaced by IS-1(wasnt that of a sucess in tank battles) and IS-2(in my opinion, the best tank of WW2).
Actually, it is not right to compare T34(which was developed before the war began) with later german tanks like PzKpfw V "Panther" modifications, not because Panhter was developed later, but simply beacause Panther was a DIFFERENT CLASS OF TANK. T-34 was a medium tank, Panther was a heavy tank. So, it would be right to compare Panther with an IS-2 tank. And panther is clearly loosing to the IS-2, both in armor terms and in arnament. For example, Panther Ausf G(latest mod of Panther) had 75mm KwK gun, and IS2 had 122!mm gun. Also, Panther had gaseline engine, while IS2 had diesel. Only real advantage panther had was greater speed(because of more powerful enginge).

If anybody wants, I can translate detailed charts of both Panther and IS2.

All data was taken from http://armor.kiev.ua/

Hi there.

I don't think it's fair to compare the Panther with the IS-2. I think you're in the minority when calling the Panther a heavy tank because although fairly heavy at 45 tons or so, it's armor protection and gun clearly put it in the medium class tank category. Plus the Wehrmacht already had the Tiger 1 in service that was heavier and had better armor protection and obviously the 88mm gun. If you really want to compare the IS-2 with a german tank it would be the Tiger 1.

I think the IS-2 is one of the unsung tank designs of WW2 - IMO it was a very good tank and a better tank than the Koenigstiger but inferior to the Tiger 1. It was never the best tank of WW2, that honour still going to the Panther G with the Tiger 1 second and the T34/85 third.

http://members.aol.com/xbutchx/soviet.html

heres the pictures of some of the tanks mentioned in the string..enjoy