T-34-85 tank on display (Millerovo)

 war memorial, tank on display, Great Patriotic War

Soviet medium tank during the Second World War. Adopted by the Workers and Peasants Red Army by Decree of the State Defense Committee No. 5020 cc, dated January 23, 1944.
It was produced in the USSR from January 1944 to 1950.
After improved German Panzer IVs with the high-velocity 75 mm (2.95 in) gun were encountered in combat in 1942, a project to design an entirely new Soviet tank was begun, with the goals of increasing armor protection while adding modern features like a torsion-bar suspension and a three-man turret. This new tank, the T-43, was intended to be a universal tank to replace both the T-34 and the KV-1 heavy tank. However, the T-43 prototype's armor, though heavier, was still not proof against German 88 mm guns, while its mobility was found to be inferior to the T-34. Finally, although the T-43 shared over 70% of its components with the T-34, manufacturing it would still have required a significant slow-down in production. Consequently, the T-43 was cancelled.