“T-34’s Role in the Eastern Front: How the most versatile tank in WWII defeated the Nazis in Operation Barbarossa”
Shubir Shaikh
For: Dr. Aaron Plamondon
History 485
August 8th, 2015
During the 1930’s, the Soviet Union was a massive country that stretched from Asia pacific to edge of Europe. The country’s land bordered stretched for 12,000 miles, which was not defensively ready to protect her borders. Tanks were the perfect weapon for Soviet Union because of the wide open spaces and vast distances between cities. One of Soviet’s war theorists named Mikhail Tukhachevsky, who had extensive knowledge about tanks messaged to Kremlin during the inter-war period, that the Kremlin needs to invest in 40,000 aircraft and 50,000 tanks the Kremlin wanted a chance at defending her borders. T-34 medium tank was a major, technological advancement that shaped the Eastern Front politically. The T-34 drastically shifted the war on the Eastern Front, it shocked the invading German army and prevented Germany from seizing Moscow, Germany was only roughly 20 miles away from Moscow. T-34 was designed mostly by Russian engineers, built in Soviet and used all over the world. J. Walter Christie was an American who was a pioneer in designing tanks. Mikhail Koshkin got a idea of fast tank from Christie’s BT tanks. Koshkin used Christie’s suspension design for tanks. The American tank had to be secretly shipped to Russia; the BT tanks were shipped as tractor trailers to bypass the
Both the Battle of Stalingrad and the Russian campaign are commonly considered ‘turning points’ when it comes to the Allied victory in the European War. However, before proceeding further in this report it is important to acknowledge the fact that the Battle of Stalingrad and the Russian campaign alone did not lead to the Allied victory. But, nonetheless, they were both incredibly significant contributors.
The historical site of the Western front that house the trenches and memorials attributing to the battles fought between the two opposing forces in WWI, is significant in aiding our understanding of the past. The memorials of some of the battles that happened on the Western front such as the Gallipoli battle, the Battle of Somme at Beaumont Hamel and the Battle at Vimy ridge, establishes a sense of national identity for the countries that fought, along with expressing their achievements, sacrifice and history for the modern generations to contemplate on.
During World War I, trench warfare was very common. It was a newer technique in battles as in wars prior to the Great World War, fighting was less invasive and men merely marched at each other from opposite ends of fields and fought until only one side remained standing or a white flag was hung high in surrender. In fact in older wars, the fighting was far less dangerous to the point where battles were often times viewed by locals who watched from side lines with really no threat of getting hurt. In World War I however, the fighting had upscaled to the most sadistic type the world had ever experienced. With the industrialist wave that had overcome us in the late 1800s into
There is a new kind of tank called DUKW. So what is DUKW? The DUKW was designed by General Motors Corporation during World War II for transporting goods and troops over land and water and for use approaching and crossing beaches. And during the WWI, DUWK help United State a lot. It helped United State to supply the US Army, US Marine Corps and Allied forces. “The United States produced 20,000 DUKWs during World War II. Through lend-lease the British were provided with 2,000 of the trucks” (Encyclopædia Britannica). We can find that DUKW helped US a lot. 20,000 is not a small number, and those 20,000 DUKW supplied, can transport countless resource for their supplied, and what DUKW did in WWII was impossible to ignore, it become one reason that allies can win the WWII.
Doomsday is defined as the day where the world will come to an end and people will face God on Judgment Day. Many people are fascinated by the notion that Doomsday will eventually happen soon, but there’s always a miscalculation when it comes to predicting as when the world will end. World War II is the most significant period in the twentieth century because technology, civil rights movement in the U.S, and the ability to explore outer space took a huge leap of fascination around the world. The two powerful allies emerged during World War II as to begin a Cold War with each other that defined the twentieth century. The idea that the world will come to an end by a nuclear war based on previous events from World War II that can potentially one day happen again because of historic evidence from the Cold War that wiped out two major cities in Japan, scientific evidence of a secret nuclear weapon written in India’s ancient epics, and the production of radiation smoke that builds up overtime can slowly kill humans. Zombies are dead corpse that is revived by a virus. The myth of zombies originated from Haiti in 1626 to 1800s, as an image of inhumanity where slaves were treated ruthlessly. In the Haitian religion, slaves believed that dying was a way for them to return to Guinea, where they are free from torture in the afterlife. Under the ruled by Saint-Domingue in France when African slaves to work for the sugar plantation. Slaves who worked under the French were treated
These machines we're made because trench warfare was slow and unpredictable, because of sneak attacks, just waiting for time to shoot seemed very slow too them. Tanks we're able to drag barbed wire away with an grappling hook or also to flatten barbed wire so that the soldiers couldn't cross it. The first tanks we're difficult to maneuver mostly because of thick mud and uneven grounds of the Western Front. The tanks we're also hot and very small as well as cramped. The idea for the tanks came from studying farm
World War II World War II was a pivotal event of the 20th century and a defining
There is no doubt that when war occurs, every single human being is affected by it even if it is just a little. In the novel, “All Quiet on the Western Front” written by Erich Maria Remarque, a group of teenage men, who also appear to by classmates, are in the German army of World War I because they have chosen to leave their adolescence at home and school for grown up work at the army. Throughout this fictional novel, they face many challenges that result in them not seeing each other ever again because of death. War affects individuals by leaving behind necessities such as education or jobs, not being able to watch over others such as their health, and injuries that soldiers receive while they are at war.
In chapter one Bartov tackles the issue of the modernization and structure of the Wehrmacht. Bartov walks the reader through the unsuspected events the Wehrmacht faced when it entered Russia. When the Wehrmacht invaded Russia their tanks were outnumbered five to one. It was hard to understand how the Wehrmacht lost so many men when the Wehrmacht made the French army crumble in six weeks. It seemed that everyone, even the Allied powers, had greatly underestimated the power of
The British adopted the first tank prototype as a design in 1916. The tank was first used in the battle of Flers-Courcelette. The tank changed war wildly just as the machine gun did, the introduction of the tank meant that war had to adapt to the rolling bunkers. This adaption caused warfare to take new face in ways to counter the invention. Tanks are a major part of warfare today, with huge advances being made constantly to the vehicle platform and more and more warfare being seen by the vehicles as time goes on.
The production focuses on the period before and during Koschorrek’s station in Stalingrad and places Hitler’s decision for a two-front war in a historical context. The documentary covers the massive success of ‘Operation Barbarossa’, Hitler’s artillery barrage strategy in 1941 up until the retreat of the German army in 1943. Hitler Turns East tells the audience how the German army ultimately failed despite its initial success. Although the German army quickly and powerfully dissolved Soviet defenses, the Red Army bought the German troops to a standstill. These aspects of the documentary are clearly accounted by Koschorrek in far more, firsthand detail in his memoir. The Soviet Army continually drives the German troops from their positions and this is specifically shown in Koschorrek’s entry of November 20th and December 13th 1942. Stationed along the Don, a river running along Stalingrad, Koschorrek records “the Russians have also broken through,” Romanian lines in the south, “and are coming at us from both sides, trying to take us in a pincer movement”. The documentary specifically remarks on the pincer strategy of the Soviet troops, a method that attempts to encircle and surround troops but cutting off defense lines at both sides. The documentary also remarks on the involvement of Romanian troops while Koschorreck goes into more detail of their social behavior (as soldiers) rather than
In the first phase of World War II in Europe, Germany sought to avoid a long war. Germany's strategy was to defeat its opponents in a series of short campaigns. Germany quickly overran much of Europe and was victorious for more than two years by relying on a new military tactic called the "Blitzkrieg" (lightning war). Blitzkrieg tactics required the concentration of offensive weapons (such as tanks, planes, and artillery) along a narrow front. These forces would drive a breach in enemy defenses, permitting armored tank divisions to penetrate rapidly and roam freely behind enemy lines, causing shock and
“Hitler’s Army,” by Omar Bartov narrows in on the army. Bartov argues that this war was so horrendous because of the technological
The German army lead the offensive into Stalingrad using the German 6th Army and their elite 4th Panzer tank Army. The Luftwaffe, the German
The battle took place within the large industrial city of Stalingrad, creating the largest hand to hand and building to building fighting in the history of modern warfare. The Germans conducted a large bombing campaign that completely destroyed the city, opening attacks from their tanks and Infantry units to complete the destruction of the city. Observation of fields of fire was obscured by ruble, creating small hiding spaces for snipers and opposing forces and obscuring avenues of approach. Old apartments sometimes had to be cleared room by room and floor by floor. Several objectives, such as a sawmill, changed hands 14 times in one day. This availability of cover and concealment gave both sides an advantage. The weather during this battle dropped to negative 22 degrees Fahrenheit. The Germans, not prepared for this temperature as Hitler believed that the battle would be over by the beginning of winter. The German forces consisted of the German Army Group B, 6th Army, and 4th Panzer Army. The Romanian Third Army and Fourth Army. The Italian Eighth Army. The Hungarian Second Army. With support of 3,000 artillery pieces, 500 tanks and a total of 1600 aircraft by mid-September of the battle. By the end of September the Germans had air superiority and controlled all air space. Size and composition of the Germans used the axis forces to cover their flanks during battle, covering the surrounding area of the city. This will later be exploited as the Achilles heel by the Soviets. The Germans technological advantage was a superior tank and air force. Their tanks included better gun turrets, but soon rendered ineffective in the streets of a bombed out city. With the German air force, they gained air superiority by the beginning of winter,