At the beginning of World War II, German intelligence almost completely ignored the existence of the then-newest T-34 tank in the Soviet Union. The enemy was underestimated, which was an unpleasant surprise for the advancing Wehrmacht. The KV and T-34 tanks were noticeably superior in terms of armor and firepower to German armored vehicles. The Germans were saved at the beginning of the war by other factors: the strategic initiative and a number of mistakes made by the Soviet command at the first stage of organizing the defense. However, very soon the German industry was able to noticeably improve the old tanks, and most importantly, to release new ones ...
The appearance of "Tigers" and "Panthers" at the front was extremely unpleasant news for the Red Army. The appearance at the front of improved German "fours" with a new gun and enhanced armor was never pleased. Under these conditions, the T-34 tanks rapidly lost their effectiveness in a collision with enemy armored vehicles. This is how the epic confrontation between the USSR and the Third Reich unfolded not only on the fields of the Eastern Front and in design bureaus.
The Soviet military and political leadership, solving the problem of German tanks, went in several ways at once. The first way is the modernization of anti-tank artillery. This process began even before any new German tanks appeared at the front. In 1941, the development of a new 76-mm anti-tank gun, the ZiS-3, began in Gorky. The gun will appear at the front in 1942. True, as of 1943, it will turn out to be ineffective against the frontal armor of the Panthers, and the Tigers for the ZiS-3 will be almost invulnerable at all. In the summer of 1942, the SU-76 self-propelled gun also appeared, which made it possible to quite effectively deal with enemy light and medium tanks. However, in August 1942, "Tigers" will already appear on the Leningrad front, which will be invulnerable in the SU-76.
Much larger calibers were required to penetrate German armor. It was already 1943 outside. The Germans were preparing an offensive operation "Citadel". One of the brightest events of this epic will be the Battle of Kursk. Back in 1942, tanks of a new type, the Panthers, were being prepared especially for the offensive. During the battle, they surpassed in their characteristics all the armored vehicles of the USSR. The events of the summer of 1943 forced the Soviet designers to move, as a result, in September 1943, a fundamentally new self-propelled gun appeared at the front - the SU-85 with an 85 mm D-5SV5 cannon. The new self-propelled gun could effectively deal with almost all Wehrmacht armored vehicles.
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The second way to counter German tanks is to create new machines of better quality and greater firepower. At the same time, Soviet designers understood that it was impossible to quickly make and introduce into production a fundamentally new machine. Therefore, it was decided to upgrade the T-34 tanks. The highest point in the evolution of medium tanks during the war years was the T-34-85 with a gun from the SU-85. These received a new tower and better armor. At the same time, the updated "thirty-four" not only became much more dangerous for the enemy, but also, thanks to the unification of production, remained as massive as the T-34-76. New tanks began to arrive at the front on January 23, 1985.
Finally, the third way is to create your own new type of heavy tank. True, here the success of the Soviet side was rather achieved "accidentally" (to a certain extent). We are talking about the appearance of tanks of the Joseph Stalin series. The gun, mounted on the IS-2 caliber 122 mm, could effectively fight, including the "Tigers". True, due to the difference in approaches to the use of armored vehicles in the Red Army and the Wehrmacht, the two “heavyweights” almost never met each other during the war years. This is because the German "Tigers" were primarily seen as the main pillars of anti-tank defense. Soviet IS-2 and other heavy vehicles - as an effective means of fire support for the advancing infantry. And where should you hit with your tanks? That's right, where most likely there will be no enemy. The rest is the work of anti-tank artillery.
If you want to know even more interesting things, then you should read about why were the Red Army soldiers forbidden to use trophy weapons.
Source: https://novate.ru/blogs/240222/62249/