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2S3M

2023-11-30T01:18:53Z

U92800958: /* Ammo racks */ Projectile info

{{Specs-Card
|code=ussr_2s3m
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg}}
}}

== Description ==

The '''{{Specs|name}}''' ("Akatsiya") was a modernized version of the 2S3 self-propelled artillery. As the first of three modernization attempts, it featured a new 2A33 howitzer capable of loading more advanced ammunition, increasing its effective range, reliability, and accuracy. The {{Specs|name}} also incorporated a single mechanized ammunition rack, as opposed to the 2S3's two. This change allowed for an increase in the maximum ammunition capacity from 40 to 46 rounds. Even though the changes weren't significant, they were seen as a step in the right direction toward bringing Soviet artillery efficiency more in line with that of western nations. The {{Specs|name}} served as the main production model of the series and was widely deployed in the Soviet Union and its allies. Further efforts to extend the service life of the series were undertaken in the mid-1980s and early 2000s, resulting in the 2S3M1 and 2SM2 variants, respectively.

The {{Specs|name}} was introduced in [[Update "Winged Lions"]]. In comparison to the SU tank destroyer series, it offers significantly different gameplay. Other than the obvious difference of not being a "casemate", it is very lightly armoured but highly mobile. Its cannon relies on the use of HE and HE-VT shells capable of disintegrating even the most heavily armoured tanks at its battle rating. The proxy shells are also sufficient against low flying aircraft, as they have a very capable fuse and a high explosive effect that can cause significant damage.

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Tank-Armour}}

The survivability of the 2S3M is extremely situational. Due to having absolutely no effective armour to stop any munition but small firearms such as 7.62 mm machine guns, it is very vulnerable to all damage. However, solid shots such as APCR, AP or APDS have a chance to go right through the armour without causing any damage whatsoever. The armour of the 2S3M can also partially stop artillery strikes fragmentation depending on the distance between the explosion and the platform. The best armour of the 2S3M is not to be seen. As a howitzer with a very potent weapon, it should be never stay stationary after firing, as this can disclose the location of the platform and be killed. The engine in the front of the hull can occasionally absorb some shots, allowing the 2S3M to fire back and disable the enemy.

'''Armour type:''' 


{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Armour !! Front (Slope angle) !! Sides !! Rear !! Roof
|-
| Hull || 15 mm (74°) || 15 mm ''Top'' 15 mm ''Bottom'' || 15 mm || 10 - 15 mm
|-
| Turret || 10 - 30 mm ''Turret front'' 20 mm ''Gun mantlet'' || 15 mm || 15 mm || 10 - 15 mm
|-
| Cupola || 10 mm || 10 mm || 10 mm || 5 mm
|-
|}

'''Notes:''' 


=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Tank-Mobility}}

The 2S3M, while not the fastest tank at its BR, is quite speedy and able to get to key positions before most of the enemy. It takes time to accelerate and brake due to the heavy weight of the main gun, but it reaches the top speed fairly easily. It holds a max speed of 60 km/h, which is fast for a tank at this battle rating, and it often reaches its top speed. As it is based on the SU-100P hull, it has a very decent turn rate and reverse speed, being able to reach up to -14 km/h while on reverse. It has a very capable cross-country capability and when track module is researched, along with a much better turn radius.

{{tankMobility|abMinHp=739|rbMinHp=460}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armaments ==
{{Specs-Tank-Armaments}}
=== Main armament ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|1}}

{{main|2A33 (152 mm)}}

The 2S3M has access to the 152 mm 2A33 howitzer, a very potent gun with a significant firepower at the cost of a long reload time. The performance of the gun is excellent, with a shell that has one of the highest amount of explosives at its rank. While it is slower in performance compared to the Type 75 SPH or the Bkan 1C, only going 655 m/s compared to the Bandkanon's 850 m/s and the Type 75's 750 m/s , it holds one of the most devastating rounds in game: the 3OF25. Holding more than 10 kg of TNT equivalent explosive mass, it is able to annihilate any lightly armoured ground vehicle with a direct hit anywhere and even the most protected vehicles can still be destroyed in one shot if aimed properly.

Additionally, the 2S3M also has the 3OF25 (PF) shell. This is a proximity-fused high-explosive shell which detonates automatically when it gets close to a tank or plane, which allows it to explode above the roof of an enemy vehicle, destroying it in a similar fashion to a top attack missile. However, it will detonate on any features of the map, be that a rock, a mound of dirt, or even the ground. This, combined with its trigger radius (from 1 to 3 m) makes it little effective for shooting down vehicles hiding just behind ridge lines or obstacles, but effective against planes. The proximity fuse arms past 300 m, against closer targets the fuse doesn't work and the shell will perform just like the standard 3OF25 shell.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[2A33 (152 mm)|152 mm 2A33]] || colspan="5" | Turret rotation speed (°/s) || colspan="4" | Reloading rate (seconds)
|-
! Mode !! Capacity !! Vertical !! Horizontal !! Stabilizer
! Stock !! Upgraded !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
! Stock !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
|-
! ''Arcade''
| rowspan="2" | 46 || rowspan="2" | -4°/+60° || rowspan="2" | ±180° || rowspan="2" | N/A || 8.8 || 12.2 || 14.8 || 16.4 || 17.4 || rowspan="2" | 17.29 || rowspan="2" | 15.30 || rowspan="2" | 14.10 || rowspan="2" | 13.30
|-
! ''Realistic''
| 6.0 || 7.0 || 8.5 || 9.4 || 10.0
|-
|}

==== Ammunition ====
{{:2A33 (152 mm)/Ammunition|OF-540, BP-540, BR-540B, 3OF25, 3OF25 (PF)}}

==== [[Ammo racks]] ====


{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Full ammo
!Ammo
part
! 1st rack empty
! 2nd rack empty
! 3rd rack empty
! 4th rack empty
! 5th rack empty
! 6th rack empty
! Visual discrepancy
|-
| '''46'''
|''Projectiles''
''Propellants''
| ''13(+33)''
__ ''(+__)''
| 1(+45)
__ ''(+__)''
| N/A
__ ''(+__)''
| N/A
__ ''(+__)''
| N/A
__ ''(+__)''
| N/A
__ ''(+__)''
| __
|-
|}
'''Notes''':

* The {{PAGENAME}} uses two-piece ammunition, composed of projectiles (yellow) and propellant charges (orange). Both have separate racks.
* Projectiles and propellant charges are modeled individually and disappear after having been shot or loaded.
* Hull empty: 13 ''(+33)'' shells.

=== Machine guns ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|2}}

{{main|PKT (7.62 mm)}}
The 2S3M is also equipped with a 7.62 mm machine gun, which is useful for clearing bushes and fences in the path of this tank's high explosive shell. The PKT machine gun is not very effective against any planes directly. It serves more to attract a plane's attention and secure an easy destruction with the proximity shell, rather than being used as a weapon itself.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="50%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[PKT (7.62 mm)|7.62 mm PKT]]
|-
! Mount !! Capacity (Belt) !! Fire rate !! Vertical !! Horizontal
|-
| Pintle || 1,500 (250) || 700 || -6°/+15° || -160°/+155°
|-
|}

== Usage in battles ==


The 2S3M should be used as a support gun, able to take down even the heaviest of targets with a single shot. Teammates should be supported with the power of this weapon as well as the variety of projectiles available to it. It is not to be played as a frontline vehicle due to the immense reload time and aiming of the weapon. However it is a very good guerilla combatant and skirmisher if used as a backup for frontline vehicles.

=== Pros and cons ===


'''Pros:'''

* Powerful HE shells can finish off anything with overpressure, like [[Panther II]], [[Tiger II (H)]], [[M4A3E2 (76) W]], etc.
* HEAT with a penetration of 250 mm is able to penetrate most tanks at the rank
* Has a variety of shell types to suit different preferences and situations: HE, HEAT, HE-VT, APHEBC
* HE-VT shell lets it take an anti-aircraft role and potentially harm lightly-armoured enemies behind cover
* Is turreted, allowing more flexible tactics
* -14 km/h reverse speed is good enough to retreat into cover
* Has a dozer blade to build a dirt cover

'''Cons:'''

* Thin armour, any weapon larger than a MG is threatening
* Poor -4° gun depression limits its ability in hilly terrains
* Long reload time
* Turret is huge with ready rack at the back, easy to get spotted and destroy with ammo rack detonation
* Slow turret steering speed

== History ==

By 1964, NATO was equipped with the M109 self-propelled artillery. However, the Soviet army were still using artillery developed during WWII. During an exercise at Yavoriv military base, senior officials determined that the various types of artillery developed during World War II were not suitable for the war at that time. In order to make up for the technological gap with NATO countries, Resolution No. 609-201, issued by the Central Committee of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union on July 4, 1965, was finalized, starting the development plan for the new 152 mm self-propelled gun. In 1971, the Soviet Union passed the acceptance of the 2S3 self-propelled gun and began mass production.

== Media ==


;Skins

* [https://live.warthunder.com/feed/camouflages/?vehicle=ussr_2s3m Skins and camouflages for the {{PAGENAME}} from live.warthunder.com.]

;Videos
{{Youtube-gallery|Yr8N-qXDGjM|'''The Shooting Range #287''' - ''Metal Beasts'' section at 01:04 discusses the {{PAGENAME}}.}}

== See also ==


* [[Type 75 SPH]]
* [[Bkan 1C]]

== External links ==


* [[wt:en/news/7460-development-2s3m-hammer-of-the-war-god-en|[Devblog] 2S3M : Hammer of the war god]]

{{USSR tank destroyers}}

T-34-85

2023-10-27T23:25:05Z

U92800958: reeditting

{{About
| about = Soviet medium tank '''{{PAGENAME}}'''
| usage = other versions
| link = T-34 (Family)
}}
{{Specs-Card
|code=ussr_t_34_85_zis_53
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg|ArtImage_{{PAGENAME}}.png|ArtImage2_{{PAGENAME}}.png}}
}}

== Description ==

The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a rank {{Specs|rank}} Soviet medium tank {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced during the Closed Beta Test for Ground Forces before [[Update 1.41]]. Though similar to the [[T-34-85 (D-5T)]], it has an improved gun and a full crew for combat efficiency.

The T-34-85 is an improvement over its predecessor, the T-34-85 (D-5T) with a better armament, a shorter reload time, APCR ammo, and an additional crew member. Aside from that, both tanks share the same technical specification.

The front hull armour is only 45 mm thick, even when sloped this is a pitiful amount of armour to fight with against the other vehicles at the same BR as every other tank gun can penetrate that armour. Thus if possible, do not prolong the exposure of the hull armour towards the enemy.

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Tank-Armour}}

Any enemy vehicle around the T-34-85's BR can destroy it if it can get a solid shot on the hull armour. Beware when exposing hull when coming out to take a shot on an enemy, someone is bound to be watching for the T-34-85 and they won't be afraid to plant a shell into the 45 mm hull armour.

'''Armour type:'''

* Rolled homogeneous armour (Hull, Turret roof, Mantlet face around the gun)
* Cast homogeneous armour (Turret, Cupola, Driver's hatch, Machine gun port)

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Armour !! Front (Slope angle) !! Sides !! Rear !! Roof
|-
| Hull || 45 mm (60°) ''Front glacis'' 45 mm (60°) ''Lower glacis'' 75 mm (60°) ''Driver's hatch'' 65 mm (30°) ''Machine gun port'' || 45 mm (39-40°) ''Top'' 45 mm ''Bottom'' || 45 mm (47-49°) ''Top'' 45 mm (46°) ''Bottom'' || 20 mm
|-
| Turret || 90 mm (1-69°) ''Turret front'' 90 + 40 mm (8-38°) ''Gun mantlet''
60 + mm (37-62°, 52°)

200mm (0°) Mantlet face around the gun
| 90 mm (1619°) ''Front 1/4th''
75 mm (19-22°) ''Middle 1/2'' 52 mm (13-19°) ''Rear 1/4th''
| 52 mm (9°) || 20 mm
|-
| Cupola || 90 mm || 90 mm || 90 mm || 20 mm
|}
'''Notes:'''

* The gun mantlet has 90 mm in front with additional small and thin 40 mm plates on the sides of the gun.
* Suspensions wheels are 20 mm thick and tracks are 18 mm thick

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Tank-Mobility}}


{{tankMobility|abMinHp= 775|rbMinHp= 442|AoAweight= 0.2}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armaments ==
{{Specs-Tank-Armaments}}
=== Main armament ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|1}}

{{main|ZIS-S-53 (85 mm)}}

The {{PAGENAME}} is equipped with the fantastic ZiS-S-53 cannon, with penetrates about 145 mm on the close range with the stock BR-365K round. This might not be enough to fight Tiger IIs frontally, but it works perfectly with other tanks, which are less armoured or you can engage them from the side.

The gun depression is like on many other Soviet vehicles quite poor, with only 5° there are no hull-down manoeuvres possible.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[ZIS-S-53 (85 mm)|85 mm ZIS-S-53]] || colspan="5" | Turret rotation speed (°/s) || colspan="4" | Reloading rate (seconds)
|-
! Mode !! Capacity !! Vertical !! Horizontal !! Stabilizer
! Stock !! Upgraded !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
! Stock !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
|-
! ''Arcade''
| rowspan="2" | 60 || rowspan="2" | -5°/+22° || rowspan="2" | ±180° || rowspan="2" | N/A || 23.80 || 32.94 || 40.00 || 44.24 || 47.06 || rowspan="2" | 9.62 || rowspan="2" | 8.51 || rowspan="2" | 7.84 || rowspan="2" | 7.40
|-
! ''Realistic''
| 14.88 || 17.50 || 21.25 || 23.50 || 25.00
|-
|}

==== Ammunition ====
The stock round is the BR-365K APHE shell which has 148 mm of penetration at close range. It has a very good potential to take out enemies in a single shot with 48 g of A-IX-2 as explosive filler (74 g of TNT equivalent).

The second round, the BR-365A APHEBC shell, only has 135 mm penetration at close range. But instead of having 74 g TNT for explosive filler inside the shell, it has 164 g. This increases considerably the post-penetration damage. It also has a better penetration from 550 m and above than the BR-365K round.

The BR-365P APCR shot is also available, but keep in mind that it performs poorly against sloped armour and it has very poor post-penetration damage. It penetrates about 195 mm of RHA on close range.

The HE shell is called O-365K. With 660 g of TNT inside it performs pretty well against trucks and halftracks.

{{:ZIS-S-53 (85 mm)/Ammunition|BR-365K, BR-365A, BR-365P, O-365K}}

==== [[Ammo racks]] ====
[[File:Ammoracks_{{PAGENAME}}.png|right|thumb|x250px|[[Ammo racks]] of the {{PAGENAME}}]]

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Full ammo
! 1st rack empty
! 2nd rack empty
! 3rd rack empty
! 4th rack empty
! 5th rack empty
! 6th rack empty
|-
| '''60''' || 57 ''(+3)'' || 55 ''(+5)'' || 54 ''(+6)'' || 48 ''(+12)'' || 43 ''(+17)'' || 37 ''(+23)''
|-
! 7th rack empty
! 8th rack empty
! 9th rack empty
! 10th rack empty
! 11th rack empty
! Visual discrepancy
!
|-
| 31 ''(+29)'' || 25 ''(+35)'' || 19 ''(+41)'' || 17 ''(+43)'' || 1 ''(+59)'' || No
!
|-
|}
'''Notes''':

* Shells are modeled individually and disappear after having been shot or loaded.
* Rack 11 is a first stage ammo rack. It totals 16 shells and gets filled first when loading up the tank.
* This rack is also emptied early: the rack depletion order at full capacity is: 11 - 1 - 2 - etc. until 10.
* If you pack 17 ''(+43)'' shells, it will keep the hull empty of ammo.
* Simply not firing when the gun is loaded will move ammo from racks 1 to 10 into rack 11. Firing will interrupt the restocking of the ready racks.

=== Machine guns ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|2}}

{{main|DT (7.62 mm)}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="50%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[DT (7.62 mm)|7.62 mm DT]]
|-
! Mount !! Capacity (Belt) !! Fire rate !! Vertical !! Horizontal
|-
| Coaxial || 1,890 (63) || 600 || N/A || N/A
|-
|}

== Usage in battles ==

The T-34-85's best playstyle is that of a flanker. Due to its high mobility, fast turret traverse, and a capable cannon with excellent post-penetration damage, the T-34-85 fills this role perfectly. Since the turret is so tall, it makes combat behind low obstacles difficult, as the turret segment above the main gun is visible. The T-34-85's other playstyle can be as a support tank, by keeping up with more protected vehicles like the [[IS-2]] and supplement firepower while their heavy armament reloads.

The T-34-85 would not make a very suitable short-range brawler though even with the 85 mm gun as the gun has a rather tedious reload for the specific playstyle and the [[T-34-57]]'s armour is very poor at its BR. With that, the T-34-85 would tend to be able to fire one shot at a close enemy before it gets taken out by other enemies nearby. However, it is understandable that the situation is unavoidable, so it is recommended to stay steady by firing one shot at an unsuspecting enemy at close range before retreating to reload, evading enemy shots.

If one decides to use the T-34 as a main battle tank, it's advisable to hide the hull as well as possible which has the weakest armour. Unfortunately, most heavy tanks like the Tiger II are nearly invulnerable from the front, but many mediums and even Cold War MBTs can still be destroyed. At this rank bracket, however, its speed, turret location, and poor armour push it towards a flanking role, away from the 1940-43 main battle comfort zone. The gun is still very potent, and the ammunition often knocks out nearly the entire crew, but the increases in armour of enemy vehicles necessitate learning their weak spots. The gun is generally accurate and most shells retain their velocity even into far ranges.

'''Enemies worth noting:'''

[[Panther A]]/[[Panther D|D]], [[Tiger II (P)|Tiger II P]] - The Panthers are one of the most common tanks around BR 5.7, and they pose a great threat with their deadly long 75 mm cannon, thick frontal armour and adequate speed. You want to avoid engaging them at long range as the T-34 has only x3.5 scope magnification, making long range shooting super hard. Engage the Panthers within 500 m and avoid shooting their frontal hull. Their biggest weak spot is the gun mantlet, which is only 100 mm thick and has a flat part in the middle. That is where you want to aim at, the T-34's APHE has sufficient damage to instantly destroy the Panther even from its turret. The second weak spot is of course the sides, guaranteeing an instant kill. Generally APHE is enough to deal with the Panthers, and no APCR is needed.

For the Tiger II P, aim at the vertical area of the frontal turret which is also 100 mm. The best tactic is still to flank it however.

[[Tiger H1]]/[[Tiger E|E]] - The Tiger's weak spots are the opposite with the Panthers. Their hull are unsloped and rather thin, while the gun mantlet is weirdly shaped and can absorb quite some shells. The best engaging range remains the same, within 500 m. If the Tiger is angling, aim at the turret ring to disable the gunner and destroy the turret traverse, or aim at the hull side below the side skirt, which is only 60 mm. If it is not angling, aim between the driver's vision port and the MG for an instant kill. Avoid shooting at these two parts as they tend to bounce/absorb shells. For the Tiger E, don't shoot at the lower glacis as there will be add-on tracks installed there, making it harder to penetrate.

[[Ho-Ri Production|Ho-Ri]] - In a frontal engagement, APCR is required as the APHE shells don't have enough penetration. With APCR loaded, aim at the further sides of the fighting compartment, away from the gun, because the further from the gun, the thinner the armour gets, with the thinnest part being around 160 mm unsloped. Penetrating there will knock out its loader, gunner or commander, or detonate the ammo. Of course, the best way is still side-shooting with APHE.

[[Panzer IV/70(V)|Panzer IV/70]], [[Jagdpanzer 38(t)]] - These small tank destroyers with their well angled frontal armour can be quite a problem from a distance. With APHE, you can disable their transmission by shooting at their lower glacis. Now if you can, flank them. The 85 mm APHE does a great job at penetrating sloped, thin armour, so you don't have to get to their absolute sides. For the Pz IV/70, you can also aim at the downward part of the gun mantlet since the shell might ricochet downwards into the hull, knocking out every crew member. The Jagdpanzer 38(t) doesn't have this problem, so side-shooting is required to destroy it effectively.

[[M4A3E2]] Jumbo - This is another common enemy. It is recommended to use the BR-365A, the one with less penetration but more explosive filler. The reason is that it is better at penetrating sloped armour, which the Jumbo has. With that shell you can easily destroy a M4A3E2 who's not angling. If it is, aim at the hull side just above the tracks, or load APCR and shoot straight at its gun mantlet. Against a 75 mm M4A3E2 you can relax a bit as it will struggle to penetrate your armour, but your cupola is a rather large weak spot and a shot through there can knock out the T-34. Be more careful with the M4A3E2 76 W, as they can easily pierce through your armour.

=== Pros and cons ===


'''Pros:'''

* Excellent firepower: adequate penetration, destructive damage and good reload rate
* Has two types of APHE for players to choose from: BR-365K with higher penetration but less TNT, and BR-365A with less penetration but plenty of TNT, either of which are enough to knock out most tanks with a single shot
* 56 km/h top speed and great manoeuvrability allows it to reposition or flank easily
* 5-man crew improves survivability against solid shells
* Similar playstyle with the previous T-34s which is beginner-friendly
* Fast turret traverse to easily deal with targets from multiple directions
* Sloped hull and round frontal turret might bounce low-penetrating guns like the 75 mm M3 on early [[M4]] Shermans

'''Cons:'''

* Armour is extremely thin, providing very limited protection against common guns (American 76 mm, British 17-pdr, German 75 mm & 88 mm, etc)
* Crew members are closely packed, a well-aimed shot tends to knock them all out
* 5 degrees gun depression is below average, limiting its capability in hilly maps
* Poor reverse speed
* Large turret profile makes it easier to get spotted and shot
* Awkward to place bushes on upper front hull due to the obstruction of MG port and driver's optics

== History ==

===Development===
The T-34, in its introduction, was a huge shock to the German army when they invaded as they did not have the adequate anti-tank weaponry to defeat the T-34 and its heavier companion [[KV-1 (L-11)|KV-1]] tank. However, by 1943, the Germans began introducing newer tanks or upgrading their current tanks. They upgraded their [[Pz.IV G|Panzer IVs]] with the 75 mm KwK 40 gun, which could penetrate the T-34, and introduced the [[Tiger H1|Tiger I]] and [[Panther D|Panther]] tanks into their forces, which could not only destroy the T-34s easily, but can also take in the 76.2 mm shells the T-34 fires. The inferior firepower the T-34 forced the T-34 forces to close into a very close distance during the Battle of Kursk with the Tigers and Panthers in order to get to the sides and fire at the weaker armour. While the Soviets were victorious against the German offensive, the T-34s suffered high losses with this strategy.

The T-34's slow improvement from the [[T-34 (1941)|1941 model]] was due to the decision to keep changes to the model low to keep costs low and productivity high. This worked well in the first two years against the Germans, but the Battle of Kursk showed that the newer German tanks now outgun the T-34s. Soviet High Command, once conservative on the T-34's upgrades, now opted for an increase in the T-34 armament to be able to counter the German tanks. During the development, an interim solution for the problem was the equipping of the 57 mm ZiS-4M gun onto the T-34, which has better penetration capabilities compared to the 76.2 F-34 guns. This tank, the [[T-34-57]], performed as an adequate "tank-hunter", but the small HE shell on the 57 mm gun made it a poor tank armament so this was only an interim solution until a better design is made.<ref name="ZalogaM26vsT-34">Zaloga Steven. ''T-34-85 vs M26 Pershing: Korea 1950'' Great Britain: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2010</ref>

Testings with various guns in Soviet inventory against captured German tanks showed that the most capable gun was the 85 mm 52-K anti-aircraft gun. With this discovery, the 52-K underwent development to make derivatives able to be mounted onto a tank. The cannon was able to penetrate the front of the Tiger from 500 m out, the turret side from 600 m away, and the hull side from 800 m away. The 85 mm was first mounted onto the [[SU-85]]s, but the need for an upgraded tank had the Soviets find a way to fit the gun in the T-34. The cannon was much larger than the F-34 gun and so a much larger turret was necessary to house the gun. The solution to this was to transfer the turret from the cancelled T-43 tank program onto the T-34, this increased the turret ring diameter from the original 1,425 mm into 1,600 mm, which required a retooling in the manufacturing plants. While this delayed T-34 production, the 85 mm was finally able to be mounted onto the T-34 as the '''T-34-85'''.<ref name="ZalogaM26vsT-34">Zaloga Steven. ''T-34-85 vs M26 Pershing: Korea 1950'' Great Britain: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2010</ref>

===Design===
The T-34-85, aside from the enlarged turret ring for the new turret, uses the same T-34 hull design. Armour was still about 45 mm thick, sloped at 60 degrees for a 90 mm effective thickness. The Christie suspension was retained, as well as the diesel engine. However, the biggest difference in the tank design is the three-man turret, though a turret basket is still exempt from the design. Before, the two-man turret on the older [[T-34 (1942)|T-34]] had the commander forced to do his job and the gunner's, the three-man turret on the T-34-85 separated the commander's duty by having a separate gunner to fire the gun, leaving the commander to do his job commanding the tank as a whole. The larger turret also has space for a radio (previously in the hull by the assistant driver), allowing the commander to effectively communicate between tank units. Aside from the enlarged turret ring, new turret, and the 85 mm gun, the internal specifications of the T-34 and its pros and cons were nearly identical to the older variants.

The 85 mm gun on the T-34-85 was able to penetrate 125 mm of armour at 500 m away at a 90 degree meet angle with normal AP rounds. The 85 mm gun was derived from the 52-K anti-aircraft gun, which was developed from Vasilliy Grabin and Fyodor Petrov's design bureaus. Petrov's bureaus produced the 85 mm D-5T gun while Grabin's design, after being taken over by A. Savin, produced the 85 mm ZiS-53 gun. During trials in the Gorokhoviesky Proving Grounds, it was found that the ZiS-53 gun was much better than the D-5T and was much simpler, which was redesignated as the ZiS-S-53 after Savin's initials. However, as the new turret was optimized with the D-5T gun, the T-34-85 started with the D-5T as the [[T-34-85 (D-5T)|T-34-85 Model 1943]], which ran on from February to March 1944. After March 1944, the 85 mm ZiS-5 was used as the armament of the [[T-34-85|T-34-85 Model 1944]]. During its production life from 1943 to 1958, up to 48,950 T-34-85s were created (22,559 of which during World War II), consisting of more than half of the total 84,070 T-34 units created in its entire production life since 1940.

===Combat usage===
From its introduction in March 1944 and onwards, the T-34-85s were the main tank in Soviet service.<ref name="ZalogaM26vsT-34">Zaloga Steven. ''T-34-85 vs M26 Pershing: Korea 1950'' Great Britain: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2010</ref> The older [[T-34 (1942)|T-34s]] were still being used in the theatre as they are lost from combat and retribution and replaced. The T-34-85's 85 mm gun armour penetration and front turret armour nearly doubled compared to the older T-34, yet retain the same speed, mobility, and hull armour. The T-34-85 was vastly superior to the German's [[Pz.IV H|Panzer IVs]] and [[StuG III G|StuG IIIs]], and though it was still inferior against the [[Panther A|Panther]] and the [[Tiger E|Tiger I]], it had a better chance than the older T-34 models. The T-34-85s maintain numerical superiority throughout the entire war due to the Soviet's industrial base and design concept of mass producing single designs, while the Germans focus on newer, better tanks such as the heavier [[Tiger II (H)|Tiger II]], which restricted productivity and made logistics a hard job to maintain. The T-34-85s were the main Soviet spearhead weapon during Operation Bagration and its future offensives up until the Battle of Berlin. After the fall of Nazi Germany, the Soviets use the T-34-85s again in their invasion of Manchuria to fulfil their promise to invade Japan after the fall of Germany. The combined-arms forces of their armoured units overran the Japanese positions in Manchuria and were pushed all the way to a distance from the Yalu River. The Japanese surrender order was given out by the emperor on August 14, which was not carried out as a cease-fire until August 17.

After the end of World War II, the T-34-85s were given out in massive quantities to Soviet-occupied territories and their allies. The next action the T-34-85s faced was in the Korean War, in the hands of the North Koreans. The North Korean armoured forces are able to assault deep into South Korea with these tanks as South Koreans were severely under-equipped in anti-tank weaponry, only armed with US-supplied [[M24|M24 Chaffees]] and regular bazookas, which were useless against the T-34s. It wasn't until the deployment of US troops into the Korean peninsula that the tide turned against the North Koreans and their tanks. The US sent their [[M4A3 (76) W|M4A3E8 Shermans]], [[M26|M26 Pershings]], and "Super Bazookas" to arm the troops there. All these weapons are able to destroy the T-34-85s, with the M26 Pershing being able to penetrate straight through the front and back of the T-34-85 armour with HVAP rounds. The Shermans are nearly equal to the T-34-85s, but the better optic quality and crew training gave them an edge against the T-34-85s. These anti-tank weapons supplied by the coalition caused the North Koreans to suffer major tank losses and after their supply lines were cut by the US landings at Inchon, the armoured vehicles were abandoned as the North Koreans retreated. Pure tank-to-tank battles between the two sides were scarce after 1950 due to a heavy decline in armoured forces in the North Korean side.<ref name="ZalogaM26vsT-34">Zaloga Steven. ''T-34-85 vs M26 Pershing: Korea 1950'' Great Britain: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2010</ref>

Past the Korean War, the T-34-85s were clearly obsolete with the development of newer tanks being developed worldwide. Despite that, many countries still use T-34-85s as their main tank or as reserves, even the Soviets and Finnish continue using them until the late 1960s. Warsaw Pact countries used them in large quantities and were involved in many conflicts within these countries, such as the East German uprising in June 1953, Hungarian revolution in 1956, Coup by Greek junta in July 1974, and the Turkish invasion in July-August 1974. The T-34-85s also saw conflicts in the Middle East in the hands of Syrians, Egyptians, Jordanians, and Iraq; Vietnam with the North Vietnamese, and in the Bosnian War in the Bosnian Serb Army. African countries such as Somalia and Angola still use T-34-85s in their armies, and they could even be seen in the recent conflicts in Yemen and in Ukraine. Despite their age, it seems that the T-34-85 was to become a tank that will persist in the hands of smaller countries for years to come.

During late 1944, the Soviets were already searching for a successor to the T-34s that use most of the newest tank technology found in recent years. The result was the [[T-44]] medium tank, which did not enter service in time to see widespread usage and even combat during World War II. The T-44 underwent further development and redesigning to become a tank that would surpass the T-34 in the most produced tank in existence, the [[T-54 (1949)|T-54 tank]].

{{break}}
{{Navigation-Start|{{Annotation|Archive of the in-game description|An archive of the historical description of the vehicle that was presented in-game prior to Update 1.55 'Royal Armour'}}}}
{{Navigation-First-Simple-Line}}
This model of tanks received the new S-53 cannon with a 54.6 calibre barrel length mounted on a turret with an expanded traverse circle. Its armour-piercing 9.2 kg shell penetrated 111 mm and 102 mm thick armour at ranges of 500 and 1,000 metres respectively, while its subcalibre round penetrated 138 mm thick armour at a range of 500 metres. Tanks with this cannon used the improved TS-16 telescopic sight. To allow firing from cover, it had an elevation level and a turreted rangefinder. The turret's roof featured two MK-4 observation instruments which provided noticeably improved vision over the PTK-5 panoramic telescope. Another ventilator was also added and the command cupola was moved back. The turret's frontal armour was increased to 90 mm, and the sides to 60 mm.

The 9RC radio set was installed on all the vehicles, and late production tanks received electric drive for turning the turret and the means to set up smokescreens. Combined manual and electric drives meant that the turret could be fully turned in 12-15 seconds, and its turning motion became steadier. Although the tank's weight was somewhat increased by the installation of its more powerful cannon and stronger armour, thanks to its powerful diesel engine, its mobility did not suffer.

Tanks of this model went into mass production in February 1944. By the end of the Second World War, around 20,500 of them were made in total. The tank was widely used in all conflicts in the war's final stage.

In spite of the very significant upgrades present on the T-34-85, its battle characteristics could not be considered entirely satisfactory for the second half of the war in the context of improved German tanks and anti-tank weapons.

Captured tanks of this type were used by the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS until the end of the war.

The tank underwent several modernisations after the war, the last of which took place in 1969. In the 50s, it was mass-produced in Poland and Czechoslovakia.
{{Navigation-End}}

== Media ==


;Skins

* [https://live.warthunder.com/feed/camouflages/?vehicle=ussr_t_34_85_zis_53 Skins and camouflages for the {{PAGENAME}} from live.warthunder.com.]

;Videos
{{Youtube-gallery|oa26g25qqP4|'''Best medium tanks''' discusses the {{PAGENAME}} at 5:46 - ''War Thunder Official Channel''|yHuUGzezChI|'''Best after-party picks''' discusses the {{PAGENAME}} at 6:43 - ''War Thunder Official Channel''}}

== See also ==


;Other T-34-85 variants

* [[T-34-85 (D-5T)]]
* [[T-34-85 No.215]]
* [[T-34-85E]]
* [[Т-34-85 (S-53) (China)]]
* [[Т-34-85 Gai]]
* [[T-34-85 (Sweden)]]

== External links ==


* [[wikipedia:T-34|[Wikipedia] T-34]]
* [https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/soviet/soviet_T34-85 <nowiki>[Tanks Encyclopedia]</nowiki> T-34-85]

===References===
<references />

{{TankManufacturer Morozov}}
{{USSR medium tanks}}

T-34-85

2023-10-27T23:24:13Z

U92800958: Changes to turret face/mantlet composition

{{About
| about = Soviet medium tank '''{{PAGENAME}}'''
| usage = other versions
| link = T-34 (Family)
}}
{{Specs-Card
|code=ussr_t_34_85_zis_53
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg|ArtImage_{{PAGENAME}}.png|ArtImage2_{{PAGENAME}}.png}}
}}

== Description ==

The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a rank {{Specs|rank}} Soviet medium tank {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced during the Closed Beta Test for Ground Forces before [[Update 1.41]]. Though similar to the [[T-34-85 (D-5T)]], it has an improved gun and a full crew for combat efficiency.

The T-34-85 is an improvement over its predecessor, the T-34-85 (D-5T) with a better armament, a shorter reload time, APCR ammo, and an additional crew member. Aside from that, both tanks share the same technical specification.

The front hull armour is only 45 mm thick, even when sloped this is a pitiful amount of armour to fight with against the other vehicles at the same BR as every other tank gun can penetrate that armour. Thus if possible, do not prolong the exposure of the hull armour towards the enemy.

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Tank-Armour}}

Any enemy vehicle around the T-34-85's BR can destroy it if it can get a solid shot on the hull armour. Beware when exposing hull when coming out to take a shot on an enemy, someone is bound to be watching for the T-34-85 and they won't be afraid to plant a shell into the 45 mm hull armour.

'''Armour type:'''

* Rolled homogeneous armour (Hull, Turret roof, Mantlet face around the gun)
* Cast homogeneous armour (Turret, Cupola, Driver's hatch, Machine gun port)

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Armour !! Front (Slope angle) !! Sides !! Rear !! Roof
|-
| Hull || 45 mm (60°) ''Front glacis'' 45 mm (60°) ''Lower glacis'' 75 mm (60°) ''Driver's hatch'' 65 mm (30°) ''Machine gun port'' || 45 mm (39-40°) ''Top'' 45 mm ''Bottom'' || 45 mm (47-49°) ''Top'' 45 mm (46°) ''Bottom'' || 20 mm
|-
| Turret || 90 mm (1-69°) ''Turret front'' 90 + 40 mm (8-38°) ''Gun mantlet''
60 + mm (37-62°, 52°) 200mm (0°) Mantlet face around the gun
| 90 mm (1619°) ''Front 1/4th''
75 mm (19-22°) ''Middle 1/2'' 52 mm (13-19°) ''Rear 1/4th''
| 52 mm (9°) || 20 mm
|-
| Cupola || 90 mm || 90 mm || 90 mm || 20 mm
|}
'''Notes:'''

* The gun mantlet has 90 mm in front with additional small and thin 40 mm plates on the sides of the gun.
* Suspensions wheels are 20 mm thick and tracks are 18 mm thick

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Tank-Mobility}}


{{tankMobility|abMinHp= 775|rbMinHp= 442|AoAweight= 0.2}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armaments ==
{{Specs-Tank-Armaments}}
=== Main armament ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|1}}

{{main|ZIS-S-53 (85 mm)}}

The {{PAGENAME}} is equipped with the fantastic ZiS-S-53 cannon, with penetrates about 145 mm on the close range with the stock BR-365K round. This might not be enough to fight Tiger IIs frontally, but it works perfectly with other tanks, which are less armoured or you can engage them from the side.

The gun depression is like on many other Soviet vehicles quite poor, with only 5° there are no hull-down manoeuvres possible.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[ZIS-S-53 (85 mm)|85 mm ZIS-S-53]] || colspan="5" | Turret rotation speed (°/s) || colspan="4" | Reloading rate (seconds)
|-
! Mode !! Capacity !! Vertical !! Horizontal !! Stabilizer
! Stock !! Upgraded !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
! Stock !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
|-
! ''Arcade''
| rowspan="2" | 60 || rowspan="2" | -5°/+22° || rowspan="2" | ±180° || rowspan="2" | N/A || 23.80 || 32.94 || 40.00 || 44.24 || 47.06 || rowspan="2" | 9.62 || rowspan="2" | 8.51 || rowspan="2" | 7.84 || rowspan="2" | 7.40
|-
! ''Realistic''
| 14.88 || 17.50 || 21.25 || 23.50 || 25.00
|-
|}

==== Ammunition ====
The stock round is the BR-365K APHE shell which has 148 mm of penetration at close range. It has a very good potential to take out enemies in a single shot with 48 g of A-IX-2 as explosive filler (74 g of TNT equivalent).

The second round, the BR-365A APHEBC shell, only has 135 mm penetration at close range. But instead of having 74 g TNT for explosive filler inside the shell, it has 164 g. This increases considerably the post-penetration damage. It also has a better penetration from 550 m and above than the BR-365K round.

The BR-365P APCR shot is also available, but keep in mind that it performs poorly against sloped armour and it has very poor post-penetration damage. It penetrates about 195 mm of RHA on close range.

The HE shell is called O-365K. With 660 g of TNT inside it performs pretty well against trucks and halftracks.

{{:ZIS-S-53 (85 mm)/Ammunition|BR-365K, BR-365A, BR-365P, O-365K}}

==== [[Ammo racks]] ====
[[File:Ammoracks_{{PAGENAME}}.png|right|thumb|x250px|[[Ammo racks]] of the {{PAGENAME}}]]

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Full ammo
! 1st rack empty
! 2nd rack empty
! 3rd rack empty
! 4th rack empty
! 5th rack empty
! 6th rack empty
|-
| '''60''' || 57 ''(+3)'' || 55 ''(+5)'' || 54 ''(+6)'' || 48 ''(+12)'' || 43 ''(+17)'' || 37 ''(+23)''
|-
! 7th rack empty
! 8th rack empty
! 9th rack empty
! 10th rack empty
! 11th rack empty
! Visual discrepancy
!
|-
| 31 ''(+29)'' || 25 ''(+35)'' || 19 ''(+41)'' || 17 ''(+43)'' || 1 ''(+59)'' || No
!
|-
|}
'''Notes''':

* Shells are modeled individually and disappear after having been shot or loaded.
* Rack 11 is a first stage ammo rack. It totals 16 shells and gets filled first when loading up the tank.
* This rack is also emptied early: the rack depletion order at full capacity is: 11 - 1 - 2 - etc. until 10.
* If you pack 17 ''(+43)'' shells, it will keep the hull empty of ammo.
* Simply not firing when the gun is loaded will move ammo from racks 1 to 10 into rack 11. Firing will interrupt the restocking of the ready racks.

=== Machine guns ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|2}}

{{main|DT (7.62 mm)}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="50%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[DT (7.62 mm)|7.62 mm DT]]
|-
! Mount !! Capacity (Belt) !! Fire rate !! Vertical !! Horizontal
|-
| Coaxial || 1,890 (63) || 600 || N/A || N/A
|-
|}

== Usage in battles ==

The T-34-85's best playstyle is that of a flanker. Due to its high mobility, fast turret traverse, and a capable cannon with excellent post-penetration damage, the T-34-85 fills this role perfectly. Since the turret is so tall, it makes combat behind low obstacles difficult, as the turret segment above the main gun is visible. The T-34-85's other playstyle can be as a support tank, by keeping up with more protected vehicles like the [[IS-2]] and supplement firepower while their heavy armament reloads.

The T-34-85 would not make a very suitable short-range brawler though even with the 85 mm gun as the gun has a rather tedious reload for the specific playstyle and the [[T-34-57]]'s armour is very poor at its BR. With that, the T-34-85 would tend to be able to fire one shot at a close enemy before it gets taken out by other enemies nearby. However, it is understandable that the situation is unavoidable, so it is recommended to stay steady by firing one shot at an unsuspecting enemy at close range before retreating to reload, evading enemy shots.

If one decides to use the T-34 as a main battle tank, it's advisable to hide the hull as well as possible which has the weakest armour. Unfortunately, most heavy tanks like the Tiger II are nearly invulnerable from the front, but many mediums and even Cold War MBTs can still be destroyed. At this rank bracket, however, its speed, turret location, and poor armour push it towards a flanking role, away from the 1940-43 main battle comfort zone. The gun is still very potent, and the ammunition often knocks out nearly the entire crew, but the increases in armour of enemy vehicles necessitate learning their weak spots. The gun is generally accurate and most shells retain their velocity even into far ranges.

'''Enemies worth noting:'''

[[Panther A]]/[[Panther D|D]], [[Tiger II (P)|Tiger II P]] - The Panthers are one of the most common tanks around BR 5.7, and they pose a great threat with their deadly long 75 mm cannon, thick frontal armour and adequate speed. You want to avoid engaging them at long range as the T-34 has only x3.5 scope magnification, making long range shooting super hard. Engage the Panthers within 500 m and avoid shooting their frontal hull. Their biggest weak spot is the gun mantlet, which is only 100 mm thick and has a flat part in the middle. That is where you want to aim at, the T-34's APHE has sufficient damage to instantly destroy the Panther even from its turret. The second weak spot is of course the sides, guaranteeing an instant kill. Generally APHE is enough to deal with the Panthers, and no APCR is needed.

For the Tiger II P, aim at the vertical area of the frontal turret which is also 100 mm. The best tactic is still to flank it however.

[[Tiger H1]]/[[Tiger E|E]] - The Tiger's weak spots are the opposite with the Panthers. Their hull are unsloped and rather thin, while the gun mantlet is weirdly shaped and can absorb quite some shells. The best engaging range remains the same, within 500 m. If the Tiger is angling, aim at the turret ring to disable the gunner and destroy the turret traverse, or aim at the hull side below the side skirt, which is only 60 mm. If it is not angling, aim between the driver's vision port and the MG for an instant kill. Avoid shooting at these two parts as they tend to bounce/absorb shells. For the Tiger E, don't shoot at the lower glacis as there will be add-on tracks installed there, making it harder to penetrate.

[[Ho-Ri Production|Ho-Ri]] - In a frontal engagement, APCR is required as the APHE shells don't have enough penetration. With APCR loaded, aim at the further sides of the fighting compartment, away from the gun, because the further from the gun, the thinner the armour gets, with the thinnest part being around 160 mm unsloped. Penetrating there will knock out its loader, gunner or commander, or detonate the ammo. Of course, the best way is still side-shooting with APHE.

[[Panzer IV/70(V)|Panzer IV/70]], [[Jagdpanzer 38(t)]] - These small tank destroyers with their well angled frontal armour can be quite a problem from a distance. With APHE, you can disable their transmission by shooting at their lower glacis. Now if you can, flank them. The 85 mm APHE does a great job at penetrating sloped, thin armour, so you don't have to get to their absolute sides. For the Pz IV/70, you can also aim at the downward part of the gun mantlet since the shell might ricochet downwards into the hull, knocking out every crew member. The Jagdpanzer 38(t) doesn't have this problem, so side-shooting is required to destroy it effectively.

[[M4A3E2]] Jumbo - This is another common enemy. It is recommended to use the BR-365A, the one with less penetration but more explosive filler. The reason is that it is better at penetrating sloped armour, which the Jumbo has. With that shell you can easily destroy a M4A3E2 who's not angling. If it is, aim at the hull side just above the tracks, or load APCR and shoot straight at its gun mantlet. Against a 75 mm M4A3E2 you can relax a bit as it will struggle to penetrate your armour, but your cupola is a rather large weak spot and a shot through there can knock out the T-34. Be more careful with the M4A3E2 76 W, as they can easily pierce through your armour.

=== Pros and cons ===


'''Pros:'''

* Excellent firepower: adequate penetration, destructive damage and good reload rate
* Has two types of APHE for players to choose from: BR-365K with higher penetration but less TNT, and BR-365A with less penetration but plenty of TNT, either of which are enough to knock out most tanks with a single shot
* 56 km/h top speed and great manoeuvrability allows it to reposition or flank easily
* 5-man crew improves survivability against solid shells
* Similar playstyle with the previous T-34s which is beginner-friendly
* Fast turret traverse to easily deal with targets from multiple directions
* Sloped hull and round frontal turret might bounce low-penetrating guns like the 75 mm M3 on early [[M4]] Shermans

'''Cons:'''

* Armour is extremely thin, providing very limited protection against common guns (American 76 mm, British 17-pdr, German 75 mm & 88 mm, etc)
* Crew members are closely packed, a well-aimed shot tends to knock them all out
* 5 degrees gun depression is below average, limiting its capability in hilly maps
* Poor reverse speed
* Large turret profile makes it easier to get spotted and shot
* Awkward to place bushes on upper front hull due to the obstruction of MG port and driver's optics

== History ==

===Development===
The T-34, in its introduction, was a huge shock to the German army when they invaded as they did not have the adequate anti-tank weaponry to defeat the T-34 and its heavier companion [[KV-1 (L-11)|KV-1]] tank. However, by 1943, the Germans began introducing newer tanks or upgrading their current tanks. They upgraded their [[Pz.IV G|Panzer IVs]] with the 75 mm KwK 40 gun, which could penetrate the T-34, and introduced the [[Tiger H1|Tiger I]] and [[Panther D|Panther]] tanks into their forces, which could not only destroy the T-34s easily, but can also take in the 76.2 mm shells the T-34 fires. The inferior firepower the T-34 forced the T-34 forces to close into a very close distance during the Battle of Kursk with the Tigers and Panthers in order to get to the sides and fire at the weaker armour. While the Soviets were victorious against the German offensive, the T-34s suffered high losses with this strategy.

The T-34's slow improvement from the [[T-34 (1941)|1941 model]] was due to the decision to keep changes to the model low to keep costs low and productivity high. This worked well in the first two years against the Germans, but the Battle of Kursk showed that the newer German tanks now outgun the T-34s. Soviet High Command, once conservative on the T-34's upgrades, now opted for an increase in the T-34 armament to be able to counter the German tanks. During the development, an interim solution for the problem was the equipping of the 57 mm ZiS-4M gun onto the T-34, which has better penetration capabilities compared to the 76.2 F-34 guns. This tank, the [[T-34-57]], performed as an adequate "tank-hunter", but the small HE shell on the 57 mm gun made it a poor tank armament so this was only an interim solution until a better design is made.<ref name="ZalogaM26vsT-34">Zaloga Steven. ''T-34-85 vs M26 Pershing: Korea 1950'' Great Britain: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2010</ref>

Testings with various guns in Soviet inventory against captured German tanks showed that the most capable gun was the 85 mm 52-K anti-aircraft gun. With this discovery, the 52-K underwent development to make derivatives able to be mounted onto a tank. The cannon was able to penetrate the front of the Tiger from 500 m out, the turret side from 600 m away, and the hull side from 800 m away. The 85 mm was first mounted onto the [[SU-85]]s, but the need for an upgraded tank had the Soviets find a way to fit the gun in the T-34. The cannon was much larger than the F-34 gun and so a much larger turret was necessary to house the gun. The solution to this was to transfer the turret from the cancelled T-43 tank program onto the T-34, this increased the turret ring diameter from the original 1,425 mm into 1,600 mm, which required a retooling in the manufacturing plants. While this delayed T-34 production, the 85 mm was finally able to be mounted onto the T-34 as the '''T-34-85'''.<ref name="ZalogaM26vsT-34">Zaloga Steven. ''T-34-85 vs M26 Pershing: Korea 1950'' Great Britain: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2010</ref>

===Design===
The T-34-85, aside from the enlarged turret ring for the new turret, uses the same T-34 hull design. Armour was still about 45 mm thick, sloped at 60 degrees for a 90 mm effective thickness. The Christie suspension was retained, as well as the diesel engine. However, the biggest difference in the tank design is the three-man turret, though a turret basket is still exempt from the design. Before, the two-man turret on the older [[T-34 (1942)|T-34]] had the commander forced to do his job and the gunner's, the three-man turret on the T-34-85 separated the commander's duty by having a separate gunner to fire the gun, leaving the commander to do his job commanding the tank as a whole. The larger turret also has space for a radio (previously in the hull by the assistant driver), allowing the commander to effectively communicate between tank units. Aside from the enlarged turret ring, new turret, and the 85 mm gun, the internal specifications of the T-34 and its pros and cons were nearly identical to the older variants.

The 85 mm gun on the T-34-85 was able to penetrate 125 mm of armour at 500 m away at a 90 degree meet angle with normal AP rounds. The 85 mm gun was derived from the 52-K anti-aircraft gun, which was developed from Vasilliy Grabin and Fyodor Petrov's design bureaus. Petrov's bureaus produced the 85 mm D-5T gun while Grabin's design, after being taken over by A. Savin, produced the 85 mm ZiS-53 gun. During trials in the Gorokhoviesky Proving Grounds, it was found that the ZiS-53 gun was much better than the D-5T and was much simpler, which was redesignated as the ZiS-S-53 after Savin's initials. However, as the new turret was optimized with the D-5T gun, the T-34-85 started with the D-5T as the [[T-34-85 (D-5T)|T-34-85 Model 1943]], which ran on from February to March 1944. After March 1944, the 85 mm ZiS-5 was used as the armament of the [[T-34-85|T-34-85 Model 1944]]. During its production life from 1943 to 1958, up to 48,950 T-34-85s were created (22,559 of which during World War II), consisting of more than half of the total 84,070 T-34 units created in its entire production life since 1940.

===Combat usage===
From its introduction in March 1944 and onwards, the T-34-85s were the main tank in Soviet service.<ref name="ZalogaM26vsT-34">Zaloga Steven. ''T-34-85 vs M26 Pershing: Korea 1950'' Great Britain: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2010</ref> The older [[T-34 (1942)|T-34s]] were still being used in the theatre as they are lost from combat and retribution and replaced. The T-34-85's 85 mm gun armour penetration and front turret armour nearly doubled compared to the older T-34, yet retain the same speed, mobility, and hull armour. The T-34-85 was vastly superior to the German's [[Pz.IV H|Panzer IVs]] and [[StuG III G|StuG IIIs]], and though it was still inferior against the [[Panther A|Panther]] and the [[Tiger E|Tiger I]], it had a better chance than the older T-34 models. The T-34-85s maintain numerical superiority throughout the entire war due to the Soviet's industrial base and design concept of mass producing single designs, while the Germans focus on newer, better tanks such as the heavier [[Tiger II (H)|Tiger II]], which restricted productivity and made logistics a hard job to maintain. The T-34-85s were the main Soviet spearhead weapon during Operation Bagration and its future offensives up until the Battle of Berlin. After the fall of Nazi Germany, the Soviets use the T-34-85s again in their invasion of Manchuria to fulfil their promise to invade Japan after the fall of Germany. The combined-arms forces of their armoured units overran the Japanese positions in Manchuria and were pushed all the way to a distance from the Yalu River. The Japanese surrender order was given out by the emperor on August 14, which was not carried out as a cease-fire until August 17.

After the end of World War II, the T-34-85s were given out in massive quantities to Soviet-occupied territories and their allies. The next action the T-34-85s faced was in the Korean War, in the hands of the North Koreans. The North Korean armoured forces are able to assault deep into South Korea with these tanks as South Koreans were severely under-equipped in anti-tank weaponry, only armed with US-supplied [[M24|M24 Chaffees]] and regular bazookas, which were useless against the T-34s. It wasn't until the deployment of US troops into the Korean peninsula that the tide turned against the North Koreans and their tanks. The US sent their [[M4A3 (76) W|M4A3E8 Shermans]], [[M26|M26 Pershings]], and "Super Bazookas" to arm the troops there. All these weapons are able to destroy the T-34-85s, with the M26 Pershing being able to penetrate straight through the front and back of the T-34-85 armour with HVAP rounds. The Shermans are nearly equal to the T-34-85s, but the better optic quality and crew training gave them an edge against the T-34-85s. These anti-tank weapons supplied by the coalition caused the North Koreans to suffer major tank losses and after their supply lines were cut by the US landings at Inchon, the armoured vehicles were abandoned as the North Koreans retreated. Pure tank-to-tank battles between the two sides were scarce after 1950 due to a heavy decline in armoured forces in the North Korean side.<ref name="ZalogaM26vsT-34">Zaloga Steven. ''T-34-85 vs M26 Pershing: Korea 1950'' Great Britain: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2010</ref>

Past the Korean War, the T-34-85s were clearly obsolete with the development of newer tanks being developed worldwide. Despite that, many countries still use T-34-85s as their main tank or as reserves, even the Soviets and Finnish continue using them until the late 1960s. Warsaw Pact countries used them in large quantities and were involved in many conflicts within these countries, such as the East German uprising in June 1953, Hungarian revolution in 1956, Coup by Greek junta in July 1974, and the Turkish invasion in July-August 1974. The T-34-85s also saw conflicts in the Middle East in the hands of Syrians, Egyptians, Jordanians, and Iraq; Vietnam with the North Vietnamese, and in the Bosnian War in the Bosnian Serb Army. African countries such as Somalia and Angola still use T-34-85s in their armies, and they could even be seen in the recent conflicts in Yemen and in Ukraine. Despite their age, it seems that the T-34-85 was to become a tank that will persist in the hands of smaller countries for years to come.

During late 1944, the Soviets were already searching for a successor to the T-34s that use most of the newest tank technology found in recent years. The result was the [[T-44]] medium tank, which did not enter service in time to see widespread usage and even combat during World War II. The T-44 underwent further development and redesigning to become a tank that would surpass the T-34 in the most produced tank in existence, the [[T-54 (1949)|T-54 tank]].

{{break}}
{{Navigation-Start|{{Annotation|Archive of the in-game description|An archive of the historical description of the vehicle that was presented in-game prior to Update 1.55 'Royal Armour'}}}}
{{Navigation-First-Simple-Line}}
This model of tanks received the new S-53 cannon with a 54.6 calibre barrel length mounted on a turret with an expanded traverse circle. Its armour-piercing 9.2 kg shell penetrated 111 mm and 102 mm thick armour at ranges of 500 and 1,000 metres respectively, while its subcalibre round penetrated 138 mm thick armour at a range of 500 metres. Tanks with this cannon used the improved TS-16 telescopic sight. To allow firing from cover, it had an elevation level and a turreted rangefinder. The turret's roof featured two MK-4 observation instruments which provided noticeably improved vision over the PTK-5 panoramic telescope. Another ventilator was also added and the command cupola was moved back. The turret's frontal armour was increased to 90 mm, and the sides to 60 mm.

The 9RC radio set was installed on all the vehicles, and late production tanks received electric drive for turning the turret and the means to set up smokescreens. Combined manual and electric drives meant that the turret could be fully turned in 12-15 seconds, and its turning motion became steadier. Although the tank's weight was somewhat increased by the installation of its more powerful cannon and stronger armour, thanks to its powerful diesel engine, its mobility did not suffer.

Tanks of this model went into mass production in February 1944. By the end of the Second World War, around 20,500 of them were made in total. The tank was widely used in all conflicts in the war's final stage.

In spite of the very significant upgrades present on the T-34-85, its battle characteristics could not be considered entirely satisfactory for the second half of the war in the context of improved German tanks and anti-tank weapons.

Captured tanks of this type were used by the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS until the end of the war.

The tank underwent several modernisations after the war, the last of which took place in 1969. In the 50s, it was mass-produced in Poland and Czechoslovakia.
{{Navigation-End}}

== Media ==


;Skins

* [https://live.warthunder.com/feed/camouflages/?vehicle=ussr_t_34_85_zis_53 Skins and camouflages for the {{PAGENAME}} from live.warthunder.com.]

;Videos
{{Youtube-gallery|oa26g25qqP4|'''Best medium tanks''' discusses the {{PAGENAME}} at 5:46 - ''War Thunder Official Channel''|yHuUGzezChI|'''Best after-party picks''' discusses the {{PAGENAME}} at 6:43 - ''War Thunder Official Channel''}}

== See also ==


;Other T-34-85 variants

* [[T-34-85 (D-5T)]]
* [[T-34-85 No.215]]
* [[T-34-85E]]
* [[Т-34-85 (S-53) (China)]]
* [[Т-34-85 Gai]]
* [[T-34-85 (Sweden)]]

== External links ==


* [[wikipedia:T-34|[Wikipedia] T-34]]
* [https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/soviet/soviet_T34-85 <nowiki>[Tanks Encyclopedia]</nowiki> T-34-85]

===References===
<references />

{{TankManufacturer Morozov}}
{{USSR medium tanks}}

T-34-85 (D-5T)

2023-10-27T22:39:58Z

U92800958: Turret front armor value according to the ingame armor analysis

{{About
| about = Soviet medium tank '''{{PAGENAME}}'''
| usage = other versions
| link = T-34 (Family)
}}
{{Specs-Card
|code=ussr_t_34_85_d_5t
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg|ArtImage {{PAGENAME}}.png}}
}}

== Description ==

The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a rank {{Specs|rank}} Soviet medium tank {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced during the Closed Beta Test for Ground Forces before [[Update 1.41]]. This T-34 model is introduced with the formidable [[D-5T (85 mm)|85 mm gun]] on a tank mount. With a newer, strengthened turret, it can prove to be a menace at its battle rating. Though formidable, the Soviet upgraded the 85 mm gun to the improved ZiS-S-53 variant on the [[T-34-85]] model.

Operational and visual characteristics of the T-34-85(D-5T) are as similar and as common to previous T-34 lineage of tanks as they come, with the exception of a new turret and more powerful cannon. Players experienced in operating previous models of the T-34 in Rank II should have little to no difficulty in adjusting to this vehicle. The same can be said, unfortunately, about opposition forces facing this vehicle. The T-34-85(D-5T) inherits both its predecessors' strengths and weaknesses.

The T-34-85 works very well with other allied tanks (British and American) that it is often paired with in RB and SB. It retains high mobility and an effective main gun, allowing it to quickly get to capture points (usually following M18s, which are often first at the scene). Here the {{PAGENAME}} can capture the points and then hold them until heavier reinforcements arrive. This means that often the team will have early superiority over the capture points.

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Tank-Armour}}


The armour scheme of the T-34 should be familiar enough now to any players researching towards the {{PAGENAME}}. Though there are minor differences in some hull armour thickness compared to previous tanks like the [[T-34 (1942)]] and [[T-34-57]], they are negligible enough that it shouldn't worry any players nor enemies facing the {{PAGENAME}}. However, the consequence is that the overall T-34 armour is now quite inadequate against pretty much any enemy tank weaponry it can face in the battle rating. Any shot to the hull, apart from high oblique angle of attacks, would more likely than not penetrate and destroy the tank's interior.

The biggest difference of the {{PAGENAME}} compared to past variants is the much larger turret housing the 85 mm D-5T gun. However, the armour protection of the turret is also not so changed compared to the 57 mm or 76 mm turrets seen in the preceding T-34s. Though the angles are much sharper, the turret thickness of only 54 mm and of cast construction means that most shots at the turret are likely to penetrate. However, most cannons will not penetrate the frontal part of the turret which sports around 130 mm armour. The number of crew in the turret is also retained, as the commander still acts as the gunner, which lowers survivability overall.

Given the extremely packed nature of the {{PAGENAME}}'s interior with fuel, ammo, and crew; any penetrating shots will more likely than not destroy the entire {{PAGENAME}}. The best survival strategy is to not get hit, using the {{PAGENAME}}'s mobility to evade the enemy's field of fire.

'''Armour type:'''

* Rolled homogeneous armour (hull, turret roof, cupola roof)
* Cast homogeneous armour (turret, cupola, driver's hatch, MG port)

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Armour !! Front (Slope angle) !! Sides !! Rear !! Roof
|-
| Hull || 45 mm (60°) ''Front glacis'' 45 mm (60°) ''Lower glacis'' 75 mm (59-70°) ''Driver's hatch'' 30-65 mm (30-77°) ''Machine gun port'' || 45 mm (39-40°) ''Top'' 45 mm ''Bottom'' || 45 mm (47-49°) ''Top'' 45 mm (46°) ''Bottom'' || 20 mm
|-
| Turret || 123 mm (1-84°) ''Turret front'' 80-213 mm (0-78°) ''Gun mantlet'' || 54 mm (17-22°) || 54 mm (12-13°) || 20 mm
|-
| Cupola || colspan="3" style="text-align:center" | 54 mm || 20 mm
|-
|}
'''Notes:'''

* Suspensions wheels and tracks are 20 mm thick.

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Tank-Mobility}}


The {{PAGENAME}}'s mobility should also be quite familiar to players who have researched through the other T-34s towards this tank. The new 85 mm gun and the associated weight increase did little to affect this performance. Players can still rely on the {{PAGENAME}} to manoeuvre the battlefield easily and swiftly enough to reach our surround decisive areas to respond to enemy presence.

Reverse speed is still lacklustre on the {{PAGENAME}}, so withdrawal tactics after attacking the enemy should be planned with care so the enemy does not get the opportunity to shoot the {{PAGENAME}} before it slides back into cover.

{{tankMobility|abMinHp=775|rbMinHp=442}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armaments ==
{{Specs-Tank-Armaments}}
=== Main armament ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|1}}

{{main|D-5T (85 mm)}}

The new [[D-5T (85 mm)|85 mm D-5T]] cannon is wonders compared to the 76 mm and 57 mm cannons that armed preceding T-34s. Its best trait comes in the large 85 mm shell that contains a massive explosive charge, especially the BR-365A shell that contains more explosive filler. Upon any penetration on an enemy target, the 85 mm can easily cripple the interior upon exploding inside. This often leads to enemy tanks knocked out with a single shot when hit in the sides, easily going in and tearing apart the crew compartments.

Though the penetration values of the 85 mm is an improvement compared to the 76 mm, it is still rather lacklustre compared to the enemies the {{PAGENAME}} will face. Tanks like Panther and Tigers have enough armour that fighting from the front will require very careful aiming. Not to mention the rather long reload makes encounters with multiple enemies at close range impractical, requiring snappy manoeuvres on the T-34's part to avoid getting shot at.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[D-5T (85 mm)|85 mm D-5T]] || colspan="5" | Turret rotation speed (°/s) || colspan="4" | Reloading rate (seconds)
|-
! Mode !! Capacity !! Vertical !! Horizontal !! Stabilizer
! Stock !! Upgraded !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
! Stock !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
|-
! ''Arcade''
| rowspan="2" | 56 || rowspan="2" | -5°/+28° || rowspan="2" | ±180° || rowspan="2" | N/A || 23.8 || 32.9 || 40.0 || 44.2 || 47.1 || rowspan="2" | 10.79 || rowspan="2" | 9.55 || rowspan="2" | 8.80 || rowspan="2" | 8.30
|-
! ''Realistic''
| 14.9 || 17.5 || 21.3 || 23.5 || 25.0
|-
|}

==== Ammunition ====
{{:D-5T (85 mm)/Ammunition|BR-365K, BR-365A, O-365K}}

==== [[Ammo racks]] ====
[[File:Ammoracks_{{PAGENAME}}.png|right|thumb|x250px|[[Ammo racks]] of the {{PAGENAME}}]]

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Full ammo
! 1st rack empty
! 2nd rack empty
! 3rd rack empty
! 4th rack empty
! 5th rack empty
! 6th rack empty
! 7th rack empty
! 8th rack empty
! 9th rack empty
! 10th rack empty
! Visual discrepancy
|-
| '''56''' || 52 ''(+4)'' || 46 ''(+10)'' || 44 ''(+12)'' || 38 ''(+18)'' || 33 ''(+23)'' || 27 ''(+29)'' || 21 ''(+35)'' || 15 ''(+41)'' || 13 ''(+43)'' || 1 ''(+55)'' || No
|-
|}

=== Machine guns ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|2}}

{{main|DT (7.62 mm)}}

The small calibre of the DT machine gun makes it largely ineffective against all armoured vehicles but the ones with an open compartment. It still can be used to ping targets as a rangefinding help or to mow down minor obstacles blocking your line of sight. The clip capacity is quite poor as it relies on a magazine of 63 bullets instead of a belt like similar machine guns from other nations.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="50%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[DT (7.62 mm)|7.62 mm DT]]
|-
! Mount !! Capacity (Belt) !! Fire rate !! Vertical !! Horizontal
|-
| Coaxial || 1,890 (63) || 600 || N/A || N/A
|-
|}

== Usage in battles ==

Although this tank is classified as a medium tank, it should still be handled with care. The vehicle's armour thickness around the hull is inherited from the previous T-34 models and remains unchanged; not considered reliably accurate to resist impacts of any weapon except for smaller calibre cannons (<57 mm). Angling can result in ricochets even from the most powerful armaments, such as the cannon of the Tiger H1 in some conditions. The tank does retain a high top speed and acceleration, allowing it to outmanoeuvre its more common but heavier German counterparts in its rank. The 85 mm D-5T cannon is sufficient when fighting against Tiger tanks from the front (less than 100 m away), but is accosted by a [[Panther D|Panther]] from the front, aiming for the very middle of the left or right side turret mantlet (100 mm), where the T-34's shells are guaranteed to penetrate.

Due to the fact that the only other thing worth noting about this vehicle compared to its predecessors is its upgraded weaponry, the T-34-85 (D-5T)'s armour protection at this battle rating and rank are considered only barely sufficient when countering similar vehicle in its class. Almost all vehicles (excluding some SPAA) such as the common German Tigers, Panthers, USSR KV, IS and even other T-34 tanks will have little difficulty disabling or outright destroying this vehicle with a single shot in most conditions. When engaging the common Tiger tank and Panzer IV models, each of these vehicles retains the design flaw of 90° flat armour plates on the front and sides of each respective vehicle. The T-34-85 (D-5T)'s cannon should have little to no difficulty in penetrating this and destroying the opposition's vehicle in a single shot if this weakness is exploited. The Panther and occasional Tiger II models are considerably more dangerous and difficult to dispatch when encountering them head-on due to the thicker and sloped armour through which the 85 mm cannon of the T-34 cannot penetrate. In head-on engagements, operators of this vehicle should note to precisely target the right and left side turret mantlet of each respective vehicles instead. Time expended in attempting to find a penetration confirmation indication on the cross-hair (AB) when inspecting the sloped front plate is time wasted and instead, should be focused on precise targeting of the mantlet. Of note for the Panther tank is the vehicle's slow turret traverse and as such, if opportunity presents itself, the operator of the T-34-85 (D-5T) should utilize the vehicle's significant manoeuvrability advantage to out-flank and destroy the target in a single shot and prepare to switch and engage the next target, or to retreat. Other more common tanks such as opposition USSR KV, IS and T-34 models are usually less of a concern than the common Panther tank, as most of these respective tanks also inherit the weakness of somewhat slopped frontal chassis and turret armour which can be easily penetrated even from significant distances. Regardless, these vehicle's operation and design strengths and weaknesses are also inherited from vehicles of the previous ranks and battle ratings, only having their turret and weapons differing by being more powerful than their predecessors. All of which can still penetrate to critically disable to destroy the T-34-85 (D-5T) in one or two shots.

One should always consider using the BR-365A shell as it has a huge amount of HE filler and can penetrate most Tanks at its BR, including un-angled Tigers and Panthers. Once the shell has penetrated, the HE filler can easily destroy or disable a huge amount of tank crew or modules. especially in some of the more cramped tank interiors.

'''Enemies worth noting:'''

[[Panther A]]/[[Panther D|D]], [[Tiger II (P)]] - The Panthers are one of the most common tanks around BR 5.7, and they pose a great threat with their deadly long 75 mm cannon, thick frontal armour and adequate speed. You want to avoid engaging them at long range as the T-34 has only x3.5 scope magnification, making long range shooting super hard. Engage the Panthers within 500 m and avoid shooting their frontal hull. Their biggest weak spot is the gun mantlet, which is only 100 mm thick and has a flat part in the middle. That is where you want to aim at, the T-34's APHE has sufficient damage to instantly destroy the Panther even from its turret. The second weak spot is of course the sides, guaranteeing an instant kill. Generally APHE is enough to deal with the Panthers.

For the Tiger II P, aim at the vertical area of the frontal turret which is also 100 mm. The best tactic is still to flank it however.

[[Tiger H1]]/[[Tiger E|E]] - The Tiger's weak spots are the opposite with the Panthers. Their hull are unsloped and rather thin, while the gun mantlet is weirdly shaped and can absorb quite some shells. The best engaging range remains the same, within 500 m. If the Tiger is angling, aim at the turret ring to disable the gunner and destroy the turret traverse, or aim at the hull side below the side skirt, which is only 60 mm. If it is not angling, aim between the driver's vision port and the MG for an instant kill. Avoid shooting at these two parts as they tend to bounce/absorb shells. For the Tiger E, don't shoot at the lower glacis as there will be add-on tracks installed there, making it harder to penetrate.

[[Ho-Ri Production]] - In a frontal engagement, APCR is required as the APHE shells don't have enough penetration. With APCR loaded, aim at the further sides of the fighting compartment, away from the gun, because the further from the gun, the thinner the armour gets, with the thinnest part being around 160 mm unsloped. Penetrating there will knock out its loader, gunner or commander, or detonate the ammo. Of course, the best way is still side-shooting with APHE.

[[Panzer IV/70(V)]], [[Jagdpanzer 38(t)]] - These small tank destroyers with their well angled frontal armour can be quite a problem from a distance. With APHE, you can disable their transmission by shooting at their lower glacis. Now if you can, flank them. The 85 mm APHE does a great job at penetrating sloped, thin armour, so you don't have to get to their absolute sides. For the Pz IV/70, you can also aim at the downward part of the gun mantlet since the shell might ricochet downwards into the hull, knocking out every crew member. The Jagdpanzer 38(t) doesn't have this problem, so side-shooting is required to destroy it effectively.

[[M4A3E2]] Jumbo - This is another common enemy. It is recommended to use the BR-365A, the one with less penetration but more explosive filler. The reason is that it is better at penetrating sloped armour, which the Jumbo has. With that shell you can easily destroy a M4A3E2 who's not angling. If it is, aim at the hull side just above the tracks, or load APCR and shoot straight at its gun mantlet. Against a 75 mm M4A3E2 you can relax a bit as it will struggle to penetrate your armour, but your cupola is a rather large weak spot and a shot through there can knock out the T-34. Be more careful with the M4A3E2 76 W, as they can easily pierce through your armour.

=== Pros and cons ===


'''Pros:'''

* Excellent firepower: adequate penetration, destructive damage and good reload rate
* Has two types of APHE for players to choose from: BR-365K with higher penetration but less TNT, and BR-365A with less penetration but plenty of TNT, either of which are enough to knock out most tanks with a single shot
* 56 km/h top speed and great manoeuvrability allows it to reposition or flank easily
* Similar playstyle with the previous T-34s which is beginner-friendly
* Fast turret traverse to easily deal with targets from multiple directions
* Sloped hull and round frontal turret might bounce low-penetrating guns like the 75 mm M3 on early [[M4]] Shermans

'''Cons:'''

* Armour is extremely thin, providing very limited protection against common guns (American 76 mm, British 17 pdr, German 75 mm & 88 mm, etc)
* Only 4 closely packed crew members, a well-aimed shot tends to kill them all
* 5° gun depression angle is below average, limiting its capability in hilly maps
* Struggles to deal with tough tanks ([[M4A3E2]], [[Tiger I (Family)|Tigers]] & [[Panzer V Panther (Family)|Panthers]]) due to not having APCR
* Poor reverse speed can get the player killed
* Will not reach the 56 km/h in a short period of time, as most of the time you will be at 40-50 km/h
* Large turret profile makes it easier to get spotted and shot
* Awkward to place bushes on upper front hull due to the obstruction of MG port and driver's optics

== History ==

===Development===
The T-34, in its introduction, was a huge shock to the German army when they invaded as they did not have the adequate anti-tank weaponry to defeat the T-34 and its heavier companion [[KV-1 (L-11)|KV-1]] tank. However, by 1943, the Germans began introducing newer tanks or upgrading their current tanks. They upgraded their [[Pz.IV G|Panzer IVs]] with the 75 mm KwK 40 gun, which could penetrate the T-34, and introduced the [[Tiger H1|Tiger I]] and [[Panther D|Panther]] tanks into their forces, which could not only destroy the T-34s easily, but can also take in the 76.2 mm shells the T-34 fires. The inferior firepower the T-34 forced the T-34 forces to close into a very close distance during the Battle of Kursk with the Tigers and Panthers in order to get to the sides and fire at the weaker armour. While the Soviets were victorious against the German offensive, the T-34s suffered high losses with this strategy.

The T-34's slow improvement from the [[T-34 (1941)|1941 model]] was due to the decision to keep changes to the model low to keep costs low and productivity high. This worked well in the first two years against the Germans, but the Battle of Kursk showed that the newer German tanks now outgun the T-34s. Soviet High Command, once conservative on the T-34's upgrades, now opted for an increase in the T-34 armament to be able to counter the German tanks. During the development, an interim solution for the problem was the equipping of the 57 mm ZiS-4M gun onto the T-34, which has better penetration capabilities compared to the 76.2 F-34 guns. This tank, the [[T-34-57]], performed as an adequate "tank-hunter", but the small HE shell on the 57 mm gun made it a poor tank armament so this was only an interim solution until a better design is made.

Testings with various guns in Soviet inventory against captured German tanks showed that the most capable gun was the 85 mm 52-K anti-aircraft gun. With this discovery, the 52-K underwent development to make derivatives able to be mounted onto a tank. The cannon was able to penetrate the front of the Tiger from 500 m out, the turret side from 600 m away, and the hull side from 800 m away. However, the cannon was much larger than the F-34 gun and so a much larger turret was necessary to house the gun. The solution to this was to transfer the turret from the cancelled T-43 tank program onto the T-34, this increased the turret ring diameter from the original 1,425 mm into 1,600 mm, which required a retooling in the manufacturing plants. While this delayed T-34 production, the 85 mm was finally able to be mounted onto the T-34 as the '''T-34-85'''.

===Design===
The T-34-85, aside from the enlarged turret ring for the new turret, uses the same T-34 hull design. Armour was still about 45 mm thick, sloped at 60 degrees for a 90 mm effective thickness. The Christie suspension was retained, as well as the diesel engine. However, the biggest difference in the tank design is the three-man turret, though a turret basket is still exempt from the design. Before, the two-man turret on the older [[T-34 (1942)|T-34]] had the commander forced to do his job and the gunner's, the three-man turret on the T-34-85 separated the commander's duty by having a separate gunner to fire the gun, leaving the commander to do his job commanding the tank as a whole. The larger turret also has space for a radio (previously in the hull by the assistant driver), allowing the commander to effectively communicate between tank units. Aside from the enlarged turret ring, new turret, and the 85 mm gun, the internal specifications of the T-34 and its pros and cons were nearly identical to the older variants.

The 85 mm gun on the T-34-85 was able to penetrate 125 mm of armour at 500 m away at a 90° meet angle with normal AP rounds. The 85 mm gun was derived from the 52-K anti-aircraft gun, which was developed from Vasilliy Grabin and Fyodor Petrov's design bureaus. Petrov's bureaus produced the 85 mm D-5T gun while Grabin's design, after being taken over by A. Savin, produced the 85 mm ZiS-53 gun. During trials in the Gorokhoviesky Proving Grounds, it was found that the ZiS-53 gun was much better than the '''D-5T''' and was much simpler, which was redesignated as the ZiS-S-53 after Savin's initials. However, as the new turret was optimized with the D-5T gun, the T-34-85 started with the D-5T as the '''T-34-85 Model 1943''', which ran on from February to March 1944. After March 1944, the 85 mm ZiS-5 was used as the armament of the [[T-34-85|T-34-85 Model 1944]]. During its production life from 1943 to 1958, up to 48,950 T-34-85s were created (22,559 of which during World War II), consisting of more than half of the total 84,070 T-34 units created in its entire production life since 1940.

===Combat usage===
From its introduction onwards, the T-34-85s were the main tank in Soviet service, with the older T-34s still being used as they are lost from combat and retribution and replaced. The T-34-85's 85 mm gun armour penetration and front turret armour nearly doubled compared to the older T-34, yet retain the same speed, mobility, and armour compared to it. The T-34-85 was vastly superior to the German's [[Pz.IV H|Panzer IVs]] and [[StuG III G|StuG IIIs]], and though it was still ineffective in protection and armour penetration to the [[Panther A|Panther]] and the [[Tiger E|Tiger I]], it gave it a better edge in firepower to compete against them due to the higher armour penetration value on the 85 mm shells. The T-34-85s maintain numerical superiority throughout the entire war due to the Soviet's industrial base and design concept of mass producing single designs, while the Germans focus on newer, better tanks such as the heavier [[Tiger II (H)|Tiger II]], which restricted productivity and made logistics a hard job to maintain. The T-34-85s were the main Soviet spearhead weapon during Operation Bagration and its future offensives up until the Battle of Berlin. After the fall of Nazi Germany, the Soviets use the T-34-85s again in their invasion of Manchuria to fulfil their promise to invade Japan after the fall of Germany. The combined-arms forces of their armoured units overran the Japanese positions in Manchuria and were pushed all the way to a distance from the Yalu River. The Japanese surrender order was given out by the emperor on August 14, which was not carried out as a cease-fire until August 17.

After the end of World War II, the T-34-85s were given out in massive quantities to Soviet-occupied territories and their allies. The next action the T-34-85s faced was in the Korean War, in the hands of the North Koreans. The North Korean armoured forces are able to assault deep into South Korea with these tanks as South Koreans were severely under-equipped in anti-tank weaponry, only armed with US-supplied [[M24|M24 Chaffees]] and regular bazookas, which were useless against the T-34s. It wasn't until the deployment of US troops into the Korean peninsula that the tide turned against the North Koreans and their tanks. The US sent their [[M4A3 (76) W|M4A3E8 Shermans]], [[M26|M26 Pershings]], and "Super Bazookas" to arm the troops there. All these weapons are able to destroy the T-34-85s, with the M26 Pershing being able to penetrate straight through the front and back of the T-34-85 armour with HVAP rounds. The Shermans are able to go on par with the T-34-85s, but the better optic quality and crew training gave them an edge against the T-34-85s. These anti-tank weapons supplied by the coalition caused the North Koreans to suffer major tank losses and after their supply lines were cut by the US landings at Inchon, the armoured vehicles were abandoned as the North Koreans retreated. T-34-85s were still encountered once the Chinese became involved in the war, where they were accompanied with [[IS-2]]s as well. Though pure tank-to-tank battles between the two sides were scarce after 1950 due to combined-arms units used on both sides.

Past the Korean War, the T-34-85s were clearly obsolete with the development of newer tanks being developed worldwide. Despite that, many countries still use T-34-85s as their main tank or as reserves, even the Soviets and Finnish continue using them until the late 1960s. Warsaw Pact countries used them in large quantities and were involved in many conflicts within these countries, such as the East German uprising in June 1953, Hungarian revolution in 1956, Coup by Greek junta in July 1974, and the Turkish invasion in July-August 1974. The T-34-85s also saw conflicts in the Middle East in the hands of Syrians, Egyptians, Jordanians, and Iraq; Vietnam with the North Vietnamese, and in the Bosnian War in the Bosnian Serb Army. African countries such as Somalia and Angola still use T-34-85s in their armies, and they could even be seen in the recent conflicts in Yemen and in Ukraine. Despite their age, it seems that the T-34-85 was to become a tank that will persist in the hands of smaller countries for years to come.

During late 1944, the Soviets were already searching for a successor to the T-34s that use most of the newest tank technology found in recent years. The result was the [[T-44]] medium tank, which did not enter service in time to see widespread usage and even combat during World War II. The T-44 underwent further development and redesigning to become a tank that would surpass the T-34 in the most produced tank in existence, the [[T-54 (1949)|T-54 tank]].

{{break}}
{{Navigation-Start|{{Annotation|Archive of the in-game description|An archive of the historical description of the vehicle that was presented in-game prior to Update 1.55 'Royal Armour'}}}}
{{Navigation-First-Simple-Line}}
This tank was developed based on the T-34 at factory No. 183's design bureau by installing a new three-man cast turret with the 85 mm D-5T cannon. This weapon, with a length of 51.6 calibres, was created based on an artillery cannon with improved ballistics. The cannon's armour-piercing rounds reached a muzzle velocity of 795 m/s and according to standard firing data, it was able to penetrate the Tiger's frontal armour at a range of 500-800 m.

The hexagonal shaped turret had an expanded traverse circle and slightly sloping sides, and its dimensions significantly exceeded those of the mass-produced T-34 turret equipped with a 76.2 mm cannon. The vehicle's commander also fulfilled the role of spotter as before, since the massive size of the weapon's breech prevented a third man from fitting into the turret. The turret's roof featured a cast command cupola with a two-leaved hatch and observation instrument, a ventilation hatch with an armoured hood, the PTK-5 surveillance device and a round loader's hatch.

The turret's armour had been increased, so its sides, front and command cupola walls were 75 mm thick, the turret roof 20 mm thick and the cupola roof 15 mm thick.

Its air filtering system was improved by installing the new Multicyclone air filter. Thanks to this, some motors worked for up to several hundred hours without repair, which was an almost unobtainable figure for T-34 Mod. 1941-1943 tanks.

Production of the tank began in January 1944. In total, 255 of them were made. Of them, 5 were command tank variants and were equipped with the RSB-F radio set, while the others were equipped with the 9RS radio set.

The vehicles began to join battle units (primarily Guards Tank Brigades) in 1944 and were used alongside the old T-34s. Tanks of this model actively participated in the liberation of Right-bank Ukraine in the spring of 1944, and in battles in Finland and Norway in battle units on the Karelian front.
{{Navigation-End}}

== Media ==


;Skins

* [https://live.warthunder.com/feed/camouflages/?vehicle=ussr_t_34_85_d_5t Skins and camouflages for the {{PAGENAME}} from live.warthunder.com.]

;Videos
{{Youtube-gallery|sWpLiNC7Fsg|'''Just another soviet T-34? Disagree, here's why... T-34-85 (D-5T)''' - ''HowToPlay1337''|Epll9sd4zzo|'''T-34-85 (D-5T) - Tank Review - Winning The World''' - ''Napalmratte''|hO2eynCzhVI|'''T-34-85 (D-5T), Russian Tier-3 Medium Tank''' - ''Angry Nerd Gaming''}}

== See also ==
''Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:''

* ''reference to the series of the vehicles;''
* ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.''

== External links ==


* [[wikipedia:T-34_variants|[Wikipedia] T-34 variants]]
* [https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/soviet/soviet_T34-85 <nowiki>[Tanks Encyclopedia]</nowiki> T-34-85]

{{TankManufacturer Morozov}}
{{USSR medium tanks}}

AMD.35 (SA35)

2023-07-29T23:50:32Z

U92800958: turret and reload statts same as AMD.35

{{About
| about = premium French light tank '''{{PAGENAME}}'''
| usage = the regular version
| link = AMD.35
}}
{{Specs-Card
|code=fr_amd_35_sa35
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg}}
|market=id50215_amd_35_sa35_france
}}

== Description ==

The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a premium gift rank {{Specs|rank}} French light tank {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced during [[Update "Sky Guardians"]] as a reward for the [[wt:en/news/8186-event-repair-factory-en|"Repair Factory" event]].

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Tank-Armour}}

''Describe armour protection. Note the most well protected and key weak areas. Appreciate the layout of modules as well as the number and location of crew members. Is the level of armour protection sufficient, is the placement of modules helpful for survival in combat? If necessary use a visual template to indicate the most secure and weak zones of the armour.''

'''Armour type:''' 


* Rolled homogeneous armour (hull, turret)
* Wheel (tires)

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Armour !! Front (Slope angle) !! Sides !! Rear !! Roof
|-
| Hull || 20 mm (22°) ''Upper plate''
15 mm (66°) ''Upper glacis''

26 mm ''Lower plate''

15 mm (38°) ''Lower glacis''
| 15 mm ''Hull side''
20 mm ''Driver viewport''
| 15 mm (23°) ''Crew compartment''
15 mm (2°) ''Rear plate''

15 mm (44°) ''Lower glacis''
| 15 mm (24°) ''Front glacis''
7 mm ''Crew compartment''

7 mm (8°) ''Engine compartment''
|-
| Turret || 26 mm (47°) ''Turret front''
15 mm (21°) Sides part

''Gun mantlet:''

- front 45 mm;

- top 20mm (65°);

- inner 20mm.
| 15 mm (21°,12°,13°) || 15 mm (11°) || 7 mm (7°)
|-
| Cupola || ___ mm || ___ mm || ___ mm || ___ mm
|-
|}

'''Notes:''' 


* Wheels are 10 mm thick.
* Storage boxes and mudguards are 5 mm thick
* Belly armour is 7 mm thick.
* The cupola is just a ventilation cupola and 7 mm thick.
* Internal plates (7 mm thick) separate the crew compartment from the engine compartment, as well as the engine compartment in half and cover the commander from the top and the rear.

The AMD.35's armour thickness is similar to other French rank I armoured cars.

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Tank-Mobility}}

''Write about the mobility of the ground vehicle. Estimate the specific power and manoeuvrability, as well as the maximum speed forwards and backwards.''

{{tankMobility|abMinHp=163|rbMinHp=93}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armaments ==
{{Specs-Tank-Armaments}}
=== Main armament ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|1}}

{{main|SA35 L/32 (47 mm)}}The SA35 gun offers a reasonable penetration power at its battle rating. Its average muzzle velocity allows for a rather flat firing trajectory but the accuracy drop is noticeable from 700 m distance and becomes a handicap over 1,000 m. The rotation speed of the turret is slow compared to other tanks at the same rank or battle rating. Elevation and depression angles of the gun are important, allowing you to fire from unusual positions (behind a ridge, on a slope, etc.). Your recoil is nonexistent. The reload times of the gun are in line with other light tanks at the same BR. The average penetration power and the absence of post-penetration damage from the solid shot are the biggest weaknesses of the armament. This will bring you to have to shoot enemy tanks repeatedly to destroy them entirely, while being in close proximity to maximize your penetration power.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[SA35 L/32 (47 mm)|47 mm SA35 L/32]] || colspan="5" | Turret rotation speed (°/s) || colspan="4" | Reloading rate (seconds)
|-
! Mode !! Capacity !! Vertical !! Horizontal !! Stabilizer
! Stock !! Upgraded !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
! Stock !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
|-
! ''Arcade''
| rowspan="2" | 30 || rowspan="2" | -12°/+20° || rowspan="2" | ±180° || rowspan="2" | - || 23.8 || 32.9 || 40.0 || 44.2 || 47.1 || rowspan="2" | 3.90 || rowspan="2" | 3.45 || rowspan="2" | 3.18 || rowspan="2" | 3.00
|-
! ''Realistic''
| 14.9 || 17.5 || 21.3 || 23.5 || 25.0
|-
|}

==== Ammunition ====
The D2 has a limited choice of ammunition:

* '''Mle1935''': APC; a solid shot with average penetration and no explosive filler. Make sure to target modules and crew positions to maximise the damage. Knowledge of enemy vehicle layouts is essential with this type of ammunition.
* '''Mle1935 HE''': HE; useful for destroying open and very lightly armoured vehicles, pack 3-2 HE shells due to a lack of a coaxial machine gun.
{{:SA35 L/32 (47 mm)/Ammunition|Mle1935, Mle1935 HE}}

==== [[Ammo racks]] ====
[[File:Ammoracks_{{PAGENAME}}.png|right|thumb|x250px|[[Ammo racks]] of the {{PAGENAME}}]]

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Full ammo
! 1st rack empty
! Visual discrepancy
|-
| '''30''' || 1 ''(+29)'' || No
|-
|}
'''Notes''':

* Shells are modeled individually and disappear after having been shot or loaded.
* Recommended ammo load is the full 30 as the ammo capacity is already limited.
{{Clear}}

== Usage in battles ==

''Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but instead give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).''

=== Pros and cons ===

''Summarise and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in a bulleted list. Try not to use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - use substitutions with softer forms such as "inadequate" and "effective".''

'''Pros:'''

* High straight-line top speed on paved surfaces
* Excellent reverse gear
* Great penetration and shell velocity
* Quick reload speed
* High crew count and good survivability

*

'''Cons:'''

* Poor cross-country performance
* Weak brakes
* Slow turret rotation and gun elevation
* Below-average gun depression
* Lightly armoured flanks and rear

*

== History ==

''Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: <nowiki>https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History</nowiki>) and add a link to it here using the <code>main</code> template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <code><nowiki><ref></ref></nowiki></code>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <code><nowiki><references /></nowiki></code>. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under <code><nowiki>=== In-game description ===</nowiki></code>, also if applicable).''

== Media ==


;Skins

* [https://live.warthunder.com/feed/camouflages/?vehicle=fr_amd_35_sa35 Skins and camouflages for the {{PAGENAME}} from live.warthunder.com.]

== See also ==


;Related development

* [[AMD.35]]

== External links ==


* [[wt:en/news/8172-development-repair-factory-amd-35-sa35-en|[Devblog] Repair Factory: AMD 35 SA35]]

{{TankManufacturer Panhard}}
{{France light tanks}}
{{France premium ground vehicles}}
[[Category:Wheeled ground vehicles]]

AMD.35 (SA35)

2023-07-29T23:16:22Z

U92800958: armor statts.

{{About
| about = premium French light tank '''{{PAGENAME}}'''
| usage = the regular version
| link = AMD.35
}}
{{Specs-Card
|code=fr_amd_35_sa35
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg}}
|market=id50215_amd_35_sa35_france
}}

== Description ==

The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a premium gift rank {{Specs|rank}} French light tank {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced during [[Update "Sky Guardians"]] as a reward for the [[wt:en/news/8186-event-repair-factory-en|"Repair Factory" event]].

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Tank-Armour}}

''Describe armour protection. Note the most well protected and key weak areas. Appreciate the layout of modules as well as the number and location of crew members. Is the level of armour protection sufficient, is the placement of modules helpful for survival in combat? If necessary use a visual template to indicate the most secure and weak zones of the armour.''

'''Armour type:''' 


* Rolled homogeneous armour (hull, turret)
* Wheel (tires)

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Armour !! Front (Slope angle) !! Sides !! Rear !! Roof
|-
| Hull || 20 mm (22°) ''Upper plate''
15 mm (66°) ''Upper glacis''

26 mm ''Lower plate''

15 mm (38°) ''Lower glacis''
| 15 mm ''Hull side''
20 mm ''Driver viewport''
| 15 mm (23°) ''Crew compartment''
15 mm (2°) ''Rear plate''

15 mm (44°) ''Lower glacis''
| 15 mm (24°) ''Front glacis''
7 mm ''Crew compartment''

7 mm (8°) ''Engine compartment''
|-
| Turret || 26 mm (47°) ''Turret front''
15 mm (21°) Sides part

''Gun mantlet:''

- front 45 mm;

- top 20mm (65°);

- inner 20mm.
| 15 mm (21°,12°,13°) || 15 mm (11°) || 7 mm (7°)
|-
| Cupola || ___ mm || ___ mm || ___ mm || ___ mm
|-
|}

'''Notes:''' 


* Wheels are 10 mm thick.
* Storage boxes and mudguards are 5 mm thick
* Belly armour is 7 mm thick.
* The cupola is just a ventilation cupola and 7 mm thick.
* Internal plates (7 mm thick) separate the crew compartment from the engine compartment, as well as the engine compartment in half and cover the commander from the top and the rear.

The AMD.35's armour thickness is similar to other French rank I armoured cars.

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Tank-Mobility}}

''Write about the mobility of the ground vehicle. Estimate the specific power and manoeuvrability, as well as the maximum speed forwards and backwards.''

{{tankMobility|abMinHp=163|rbMinHp=93}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armaments ==
{{Specs-Tank-Armaments}}
=== Main armament ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|1}}

{{main|SA35 L/32 (47 mm)}}The SA35 gun offers a reasonable penetration power at its battle rating. Its average muzzle velocity allows for a rather flat firing trajectory but the accuracy drop is noticeable from 700 m distance and becomes a handicap over 1,000 m. The rotation speed of the turret is slow compared to other tanks at the same rank or battle rating. Elevation and depression angles of the gun are important, allowing you to fire from unusual positions (behind a ridge, on a slope, etc.). Your recoil is nonexistent. The reload times of the gun are in line with other light tanks at the same BR. The average penetration power and the absence of post-penetration damage from the solid shot are the biggest weaknesses of the armament. This will bring you to have to shoot enemy tanks repeatedly to destroy them entirely, while being in close proximity to maximize your penetration power.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[SA35 L/32 (47 mm)|47 mm SA35 L/32]] || colspan="5" | Turret rotation speed (°/s) || colspan="4" | Reloading rate (seconds)
|-
! Mode !! Capacity !! Vertical !! Horizontal !! Stabilizer
! Stock !! Upgraded !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
! Stock !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
|-
! ''Arcade''
| rowspan="2" | 30 || rowspan="2" | -12°/+20° || rowspan="2" | ±180° || rowspan="2" | - || __._ || __._ || __._ || __._ || __._ || rowspan="2" | 3.90 || rowspan="2" | _.__ || rowspan="2" | _.__ || rowspan="2" | 3.00
|-
! ''Realistic''
| __._ || __._ || __._ || __._ || __._
|-
|}

==== Ammunition ====
The D2 has a limited choice of ammunition:

* '''Mle1935''': APC; a solid shot with average penetration and no explosive filler. Make sure to target modules and crew positions to maximise the damage. Knowledge of enemy vehicle layouts is essential with this type of ammunition.
* '''Mle1935 HE''': HE; useful for destroying open and very lightly armoured vehicles, pack 3-2 HE shells due to a lack of a coaxial machine gun.
{{:SA35 L/32 (47 mm)/Ammunition|Mle1935, Mle1935 HE}}

==== [[Ammo racks]] ====
[[File:Ammoracks_{{PAGENAME}}.png|right|thumb|x250px|[[Ammo racks]] of the {{PAGENAME}}]]

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Full ammo
! 1st rack empty
! Visual discrepancy
|-
| '''30''' || 1 ''(+29)'' || No
|-
|}
'''Notes''':

* Shells are modeled individually and disappear after having been shot or loaded.
* Recommended ammo load is the full 30 as the ammo capacity is already limited.
{{Clear}}

== Usage in battles ==

''Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but instead give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).''

=== Pros and cons ===

''Summarise and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in a bulleted list. Try not to use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - use substitutions with softer forms such as "inadequate" and "effective".''

'''Pros:'''

* High straight-line top speed on paved surfaces
* Excellent reverse gear
* Great penetration and shell velocity
* Quick reload speed
* High crew count and good survivability

*

'''Cons:'''

* Poor cross-country performance
* Weak brakes
* Slow turret rotation and gun elevation
* Below-average gun depression
* Lightly armoured flanks and rear

*

== History ==

''Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: <nowiki>https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History</nowiki>) and add a link to it here using the <code>main</code> template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <code><nowiki><ref></ref></nowiki></code>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <code><nowiki><references /></nowiki></code>. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under <code><nowiki>=== In-game description ===</nowiki></code>, also if applicable).''

== Media ==


;Skins

* [https://live.warthunder.com/feed/camouflages/?vehicle=fr_amd_35_sa35 Skins and camouflages for the {{PAGENAME}} from live.warthunder.com.]

== See also ==


;Related development

* [[AMD.35]]

== External links ==


* [[wt:en/news/8172-development-repair-factory-amd-35-sa35-en|[Devblog] Repair Factory: AMD 35 SA35]]

{{TankManufacturer Panhard}}
{{France light tanks}}
{{France premium ground vehicles}}
[[Category:Wheeled ground vehicles]]