Quote:
Originally Posted by Lieste
Those numbers sound pretty wrong...
While the 76mm APCBC round was not spectacular, it was potent enough to damage the 80mm front hull at ~1000m, but the 50mm turret front was vulnerable at ~2000m range, accuracy being more limiting than penetration.
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That is not true - Soviet 76 mm APBC rounds fired from T-34/76 gun had penetration less than 50 mm at ranges over 600 meters. So they could not pierce through 80 mm frontal armor maybe except well below 100 m range. Only APCR round issued in October 1943 could penetrate 80 mm thick armor at 300-400 meters but due to larger speed drop it had worse penetration than APBC rounds over 500 meters. That's why T-34/76 became obsolete very quickly!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lieste
The 75mm PzGr39 fired from an L43 or L48 gun would struggle to deal with the hull-front of a T34 (all marks have same protection) beyond 500m, and only the turret front was more vulnerable. This vulnerability was reduced with successive designs of turret, with the vulnerability range reducing from 2000m for the thinner 1940 model to ~1000m for the 1943 turret. The T34 85 was heavier, with turret front armor approaching that of the hull.
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T-34/76 had 90 mm frontal hull armor and 52-60 mm frontal turret armor in successive sub-variants. So German 75 mm L/43 & L/48 tank guns could destroy it from 1000 meters hitting hull or from over 1500 meters hitting turret.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lieste
The 85mm gun was introduced to deal with the 100-110mm turret front armour of the Panther, and the 110mm frontal armour of the Tiger I, not to deal with the relatively weak PzIV.
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Most probably T-34/85 was introduced mainly because T-34/76 could not kill Tigers even from sides!
