Casemate Publishing

T-34 Medium Tank (1939-1943)

by  Mikhail Baryatinskiy

Reviewed By  Mark Aldrich, IPMS# 39295

MSRP: $24.95 ISBN: 978-0-7110-3265-1 Web Site: www.casematepublishing.com Wow, another T-34 book. Again, we have more photographs of the T-34 that I have never seen. I absolutely love vehicle specific books. Especially when they are of a vehicle I admire. I volunteered to review this book because I love the T-34. Well, actually, I love the T-34/85 but this being its predecessor, it is a welcomed addition to my resource collection. Mikhail Baryatinskiy has done the T-34 justice with this book. Many of the pictures have probably never been previously published. There are numerous black and white combat photographs, and a few color ones as well. The book also contains 5 color plates and several line drawings that are quite nicely done. The 4 color photos are at the end and show two T-34's on maneuvers in 1950, an OT-34 recovered from the Chernoye Lake in 1997 and a fully restored OT-34 leading a parade in Nizhny Tagil in 2000. There is also several color photographs of T-34 museum pieces spread throughout the book. Mr. Baryatinskiy must have had access to private diaries or memos. Some of the stories he tells could only have come from someone who was on the inside. He tells a great story about the way that the T-34 was being welded. How they were trying a new way to weld; and that the powers that be were not impressed, even after being shown that the new way was better and faster and stronger. It is just a typical powers that be nightmare run more amuck than usual. He tells it well and this story alone is worth the read. The book is soft bound and 96 pages long. It is broken down into five chapters. These include tank development history. T-34 production, description. combat and engineering vehicles on T-34 chassis. field operation. combat employment. This series is called the Russian armor series. This is the fourth in the series with the IS tanks, Light tanks, and T-80 tanks being the first three. If you are into Russian armor, I definitely recommend this particular book and probably any of the previous ones as well. Special thanks again to Michael Harter of Casemate Publishing., Casemate Publishing and IPMS/USA for another opportunity to review a great book.

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