Exposition on the first floor
Exposition on the first floor is dedicated to the operational record of T-34 tank.
HOT SUMMER OF 1941
Relocation of tank corps armed with Ò-34s. Baptism of fire for the Tank. The new weapon appraised by the enemy.
Hitler’s tank nightmare. Fuhrer received a report on the two captured tanks on the third day of the war with the Soviet Union: KV heavy tank and T-34 medium tank. Hitler was shocked: he knew nothing of their existence.
Hitler did not heed to the persuasions of his generals and in late August of 1941 he ordered the 2nd Tank Group of General Heinz Guderian that was already only 300 kilometers from Moscow to make a turn to Kharkov. Fuhrer wanted to destroy the factory that produced T-34 tanks. Only in autumn he became aware of the mistake he had made and re-directed Guderian’s tanks back to Moscow, but time was lost – the Soviet front-line was better fortified by that time and the break-up season did not favor the Nazi troops.
COLD WINTER IN THE MOSCOW SUBURBS
Heroic Defense of Moscow.
.
.
.
It is notable that the Soviet medal
“For the Defense of Moscow”
has T-34 engraved on it.
The tank played both the tactical
and the strategic role
in the defense of the Soviet capital.
.
Crew of Senior Lieutenant D.F. Lavrinenko
(first on the left)
destroyed 52 tanks of the enemy.
.
.
LOBNYA MILITARY LINE
December 5-6, 1941. Counteroffensive of the Red Army The exposition on the first floor is centered around the diorama called “Attack on Lobnya in 1941”. Its author, is E.A Korneyev, People’s Artist of Russia, Laureate of the State Prize, chose an artistic form to depict the real events of December 6, 1941.
.
ON THE EDGE OF THE MAIN ATTACK
Years of the Great Patriotic War. Operational records of six Soviet tank armies. Ò-34 was in the core of them.
.
.
.
.
IN OUR TREK WE HAVE REACHED THE PACIFIC OCEAN
Military warfare in the Far East. Ò-34’s role in the defeat of the Japanese Army.
.
.
.
.
«STRATAGEM GENERAL»
Mikhail Katukov – Commander of the First Tank Guard Brigade. From Colonel to Marshal of the Armored Forces, holder of two Hero of the Soviet Union titles.
.
Guderian-Katukov duel.
.
Katukov’s guardmen.
.
.
.
.
.
THREE TANKMEN
Three tankmen who had one thing common to all of them: they loved T-34.
Dmitry Kabanov. He was driving a tank since the age of 19. He used to give various names to his favorite machine: Tanya, Tatyana, Colombina… He drove T-34s, repaired them and died in one of them.
.
Sergey Orlov. The famous Soviet poet was a tankman in the War years. He suffered from severe burns when his tank was brewed up. A book can be compiled of his poems about tanks and tankmen. After the war he wrote the script for the well-known feature film called “Skylark” where the protagonist was a T-34 tank.
.
Leonid Kartsev. Fought on T-34 throughout the War. Graduated from the Academy of the Armored Forces. Upon graduation he was assigned to work in the Design Office of the Urals Railcar Factory in Nizhny Tagil. Later he was promoted to the position of Chief Designer. Such tanks as T-55, T-55A and T-62 were created under his guidance.
.
.
.
.
IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES
After WWII Ò-34 was in the operational service in more than forty countries.
Books, audio, video and other materials containing information about Ò-34 tank were released in languages of many countries.
The well-known book “Incredible Cross-Sections” written by Stephen Biesty and published in London, New York, Sydney, New Delhi, Paris, Munich, Moscow and Johannesburg tells about the greatest inventions in the history of mankind. There are only 18 such inventions. T-34 is one of them!
.
.
FOREVER IN THE PEOPLE’S MEMORY
Many weapons of WWII now stand on the roads and in the cities of different countries. Most of them are T-34s. You can see them on the map and on the photographs in "Monument Tanks" showcase.
.
.
Sacred soil from the battlefields
