Verkhnyaya Pyshma (Sverdlovsk Region)
The collection of T-34 tanks in the Museum of Military Equipment was supplemented by a rare specimen manufactured at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant in the city of Gorky. Fighting vehicle on the move: the tank independently drove into the exhibition area with the equipment of the Great Patriotic War.
The new exhibit is easy to spot in the line of eight museum T-34s due to its winter camouflage: in the snowy season, the hulls of the tanks were covered with whitewash.
In commemoration of the tank column, created at the initiative of the Russian Orthodox Church, the inscription “Dimitri Donskoy” is inscribed on the T-34-85 tower.
This column, which received the unofficial name -" Saint ", was formed after the appeal of Metropolitan Sergius of Moscow on December 5, 1943. In a short time for production armored vehicles managed to collect over 8 million rubles, as well as many gold and silver items. With these funds, Soviet factories produced 40 tanks: 19 T-34-85 units and 21 OT-34 flamethrower tanks. The ceremonial transfer of the tanks to the troops took place on March 13, 1944. The inscription “Dimitri Donskoy” was made on the turret of each tank in red paint. So the great warrior and Russian saint became the patron saint of a tank column in the battles of the Uman-Batashevsk operation, when crossing the Dniester, liberating Vienna and Prague.
- From a technical point of view, the new exhibit is a rather rare tank, thanks to a number of details, which seriously distinguish the new "thirty-four" from the classic T-34-85. First of all, this is the gun mask, other welds on the turret, and a number of other minor differences. There are also peculiarities inside the tank: at first, instead of a crew of five, four people fought here in the old fashioned way, there were two in the tower - the loader and the commander (who is also the gunner), - said Alexander Emelyanov, Director of the Museum Complex.
An important distinguishing detail for the T-34-85 of the very first issues is the 85-mm D-5T cannon. Such tanks were produced only at the plant number 112 "Krasnoe Sormovo". In just four months - from January to April 1944, the enterprise produced 255 tanks of this modification; soon its production was curtailed in favor of the new T-34-85 with the ZIS-S-53 cannon, which became one of the most popular vehicles. Almost all tanks of that series were lost on the long journey to Victory, but now visitors to the museum of military equipment can get acquainted with this legendary vehicle, restored in the Moscow region from the original parts of several dead tanks.
