Soviet medium tank of the period The Great Patriotic War, was mass-produced since 1940. During 1942-1947 — the main tank of the Red Army and The USSR Armed Forces. It was the main tank of the Red Army until the first half of 1944, before its T-34-85 modification entered the army. The most massive tank World War II and post-war time.Developed by the design bureau of the tank department of Kharkov Plant No. 183 under the leadership of Mikhail Ilyich Koshkin. The success of the project was predetermined by the use of the latest highly economical diesel engine V-2, thanks to which the medium thick-armored T-34 inherited from the light thin-armored BT a high specific power (the ratio of engine power to combat weight). The high modernization potential of the design turned out to be very important, this made it possible to effectively improve the combat qualities of the tank simultaneously with the increase in its industrial production throughout the war. From 1942 to 1945, the main large-scale production of the T-34 was deployed at machine-building plants in the Urals and Siberia, and continued in the post-war years. The leading plant for the modification of the T-34 was Ural Tank Factory No. 183.