Specification Crew : 5 Engine power : 500 hp Combat weight :approx 32,000 kg (70,560 lb) Max speed : road 55 km/h (34.16 mph) Range : 360 km (223.56 miles) Length : 8.15 m (26.74 ft) Width : 3 M (9.84 ft) Height : 2.60 m (8.53 ft) Main gun : 85 mm (3.35 in) Armour : 20 mm (0.79 in) to 90 mm (3.55 in)

The T34/85 tank was first produced during the winter of 1943-44.It had a new 85 mm (3.35 in) gun mounted in a cast steel turret originally developed for the KV-85 heavy tank.The rest of the tank was virtually unchanged from the original T-34/76.The enlarged turret provided space for three crew so the commander was at last free to fulfill his main function of commanding the tank.The wide tracks enabled the vehicle to traverse all types of ground including soft mud and snow allowing them to operate when German tanks could not travel. By 1944 the T-34/85 was employed as an infantry carrier as well as a tank.Hand rails welded around the hull enabled 'tank descent' infantry to travel into battle.Variants included flame-thrower versions with the flame gun in the bow machine gun position , SU self-propelled guns , mine-roller tanks and bridgelayers.Battle-weary T-34s had their turrets removed and when then employed as recovery vehicles but were actually little more then tractors for disabled tanks. The T-34/85 was regarded by the Germans as 'the best tank in the world'.Widely exported after the war it saw front-line service in Africa as late as the 1980s and some are still in use in the former Yugoslavia and Albania.