How much did the T-34 tank cost during the war, how much did shoes cost, oil - archives reveal war statistics

Production and cost dynamics

The production of the T-34 was organized at 6 factories of the People's Commissariat of Tank Industry (No. 183, 112, 174, STZ, ChKZ, UZTM). Total from 1940 to 1944 35,467 units manufactured.

Since 1944 h. Nos. 183, 112, 174 began to be produced by T-34-85, of which 23,214 units were produced. The values ​​of the production plants and the quantitative data of military representatives on the reception of tanks vary slightly, so it is generally accepted that the total number of products is approximately 60,000 units.

Chelyabinsk Kirov Plant, photo chronicle of the war years

According to pre-war plans (for 1940), the cost of the T-34 was determined at a maximum value of 300 thousand rubles. The price was determined both by technological difficulties (complexity of design, increased tolerance requirements) and by the desire of the contractor (People's Commissariat of the Tank Industry) to increase gross performance. The government took decisive measures to create a unified interpretation of pricing for all people's commissariats (ministries).

“We were and are still proud that Soviet tank builders were the first in the world to learn how to weld armor under flux.
Until the very end of the war, the Germans did not have automatic welding of tank armor, and the Americans only got it in 1944.” From the memoirs of E.O. Paton, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, founder and director of the Institute of Electric Welding of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. Source: Paton E.O. “Memoirs” Goslitizdat Kyiv 1955

The cost of the T-34 during the war shows a steady decline over time:

• 1941 – selling price was 269 thousand rubles. (average value of data Z. No. 112, 183, STZ);
• 1942 – 193 thousand rubles;
• 1943 – around 145 thousand rubles;
• 1944 - the cost of a new, technologically more complex T-34-85 averaged 140 thousand rubles. (Z. No. 183);
• 1945, 1946 – 135 thousand rubles.

Photo: automatic welding of the roof of the T-34–85 tank turret to its cast armor base using Paton automatic welding machines. Plant No. 183, Nizhny Tagil, military chronicle

“We recently discovered this fact and are now analyzing it.
It concerns the financial support of supplies of equipment during the Great Patriotic War. During this period, certain directives froze the prices of weapons and military equipment, and the policy of wholesale prices for the purchase of weapons and military equipment was to constantly reduce them." Evgeny Pronsky, Director of the Financial Support Department of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Source: radio station "Ho Moscow"

For comparison! IL-2 after the war cost 250 thousand rubles.

T-34: when simplicity is worse than theft.

Home » Alternative tank building » T-34: when simplicity is worse than theft.

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Sergey Stalk 03/02/2020 6952

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I love Russia because it is my Motherland, and not because Russia is the homeland of elephants. What I mean is that any author who writes the TRUTH about technology and destroys existing stereotypes and legends is immediately labeled as an enemy of the people by patriots. I believe that our people won the Great Patriotic War, and the technology was what it was. The legend of the T-34 tank originated in the seventieth year of the last century on the pages of the Youth Equipment magazine. Briefly she looked like this. An unrecognized genius, Koshkin created the unique T-34 tank, but the stupid military did not want to accept it. Then he rode it from Kharkov to the Kremlin to visit the Father of Nations. The combat vehicle had unique mobility and indestructible armor. Designers all over the world are designing their models in the likeness of the T-34 tank. The Germans were very afraid of him, but they attacked only because they suddenly attacked, had a tenfold superiority, and the saboteurs and spies cut all the wires. I'll try to tell you how it really happened.

About the design of the T-34 tank.

Koshkin was more likely not a designer but a party functionary. He did a lot in organizational terms, but structurally the T-34 tank looked rather primitive. The spark plug suspension used on the tank was obsolete by that time. The photograph shows that it consists of five cylindrical springs, for each of which a niche had to be made in the body (and now try to prove to me that the T-34 was an easy-to-manufacture product). A control system with onboard clutches is no longer suitable for a car of this weight. The gearbox did not have synchronizers and switching it on the go was a big problem. The mere fact that the machine gunner’s duties included helping the mechanic driver when he did not have enough strength to move the control lever speaks volumes. The caterpillar was of a rather primitive shape; it lacked lugs, which often led to slipping.

Let's start with the fact that sloped armor was not invented by Koshkin. Before it, many models with sloped armor were developed (both here and abroad). And if frontal inclined armor is still used, then side inclined armor was abandoned once and for all. The main disadvantage of side sloping armor is that it does not allow a large turret to be installed on a combat vehicle. What happened in the end? The case is very difficult to manufacture with a small internal volume. To make the hulls of two T-34 tanks, the same ones that made the run to Moscow, EIGHT sets of armor blanks were ruined.

Oddly enough, engine designers contributed their share of stupidity to the structure of the T-34 tank hull. The photo clearly shows a huge fan mounted on the engine output shaft. This fan protrudes beyond the lower dimensions of the engine housing by three hundred millimeters. Accordingly, the body of the combat vehicle had to be made three hundred millimeters higher. And instead of raising the fan and driving it through a belt or gear, the ingenious Koshkin simply made the combat vehicle heavier by adding thirty centimeters to its body. But it's easier this way.

The part of the legend dedicated to the engine tells how Nikolai Kucherenko, proving the superiority of diesel, extinguished a torch in a bucket of diesel fuel and how German designers were unable to create anything similar. If we remember who the inventor of the diesel engine was by nationality, and that our experimental diesel engines were equipped with BOSCH fuel equipment, then the topic of inept German designers can be closed once and for all. Mikhail Svirin admitted that the installation of diesel engines on the T-34 tank in the forties was a mistake. He motivated this by the higher price of diesel and the difficulty of supplying troops with a separate type of fuel.

But if you think more broadly, you can understand that even a gasoline tank engine runs on a different, higher quality gasoline than an army truck. Therefore, supply problems arose with any engine option. During the war, we could not provide aviation with high-quality gasoline, and then there were tanks. But there was a lot of diesel fuel. It is obtained as “waste” during the distillation of oil immediately after obtaining kerosene - gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel, fuel oil. Despite the diesel engine, the T-34 tank burned well and often. Much more often than German gasoline tanks. And even our light tank T-70 with a gasoline engine caught fire much less often. The thing is that the brilliant Koshkin placed half of the fuel tanks in the fighting compartment. During the war, it was even necessary to create a commission to investigate this phenomenon.

OUR TANKS STARTED EASILY IN WINTER, BUT GERMAN TANKS STARTED POORLY. To say that starting a diesel engine in winter is easier than a gasoline engine can only be a complete idiot, regardless of nationality.

THE GERMANS COULD NOT CREATE THE SUCH ARMOR LIKE WE HAVE OR A DIESEL ENGINE. Do you guys know who Rudolf Diesel was by nationality? Do you know that before the war, German fuel equipment was installed on the V-2 tank diesel? Have you heard anything about German pocket battleships equipped with giant diesel engines? So there is no need to retell to me the magazine of youth technology from the seventieth year of the last century. By the way, machines for the production of our diesel engines were bought from Austria, America and Germany.

Everything seems to be in order with the weapons - a fairly powerful gun for that time. But it’s not enough to install a cannon, you also have to shoot from it. But there were big problems with this. The fact is that it was originally planned to install a forty-five millimeter caliber gun. The tower was designed for it. Then they installed a 76.2 mm gun in it. There was simply no room left for the crew, and the exhaust fan was not above the shutter but above the recoil devices. The crew simply could not breathe.

The armor of the T-34 tank was also not ideal. There were two weak points in the front plate: the ball mount for the machine gun and the driver's hatch. When a shell hit, both of them fell into the fighting compartment. In addition, there is a bow beam. The first, “ostentatious” version of the T-34 tank, which took part in the Kyiv-Moscow run, has the bow of the hull made of a solid armor plate bent on a press.

The very first production T-34 tanks already had a bow beam in the nose of the hull.

A damaged T-34 on the streets of Stalingrad - an accurate hit in the bow beam made of raw iron. The thickness of one hundred and fifty millimeters did not help.

To be completely honest, we must admit that in 1941 the Americans had the best naval armor, and the Germans had the best tank armor. It was a check on a German tank purchased before the war that showed that we were producing defective armor-piercing shells of forty-five millimeter caliber. As for the end of the war, the German designers did not become stupid; the country simply ran out of nickel. And without nickel or vanadium, any armor will be fragile.

To close the topic of the invulnerability of the T-34 tank, we must remember that with the beginning of the war, they almost immediately began to sculpt hinged screens on it and weld additional armor on it. True, Comrade Stalin quickly stopped this initiative, because the transmission of the T-34 tank and the native weight of the combat vehicle were not very strong.

The first battles confirmed what was clear even before the war - the T-34 tank is blind and unreliable. I somehow came across an instruction manual for the T-34 tank, model 1941. For normal engine operation, it was necessary to jump out of the combat vehicle almost every five minutes and lubricate various mechanisms with a hand pump. Do you think anyone followed these recommendations during the hostilities? The main drawback was the absence of a commander in the crew, relieved of other duties. His duties were first performed by the loader and then by the gunner. To understand how important this is, you need to remember that the Germans did not adopt French tanks, which had powerful armor, only because they did not have room for a commander. How much did the T-34 tanks hinder the German offensive in the summer of 1941, and how shocked were the Germans by their appearance? Probably no more than the tigers and panthers bothered us in the summer of '43. Was the use of T-34 tanks causing significant damage to the German army? You can assess the damage by looking at the statistics of Wehrmacht losses. In the summer, the German army suffered virtually no artillery losses. The exception is anti-tank guns. Their losses were very great. This directly shows the price the German army paid in repelling the attacks of our combat vehicles. The average mileage of a T-34 tank in the initial period of the war did not exceed sixty kilometers, which greatly hampered their full use. A striking example of this happened in the summer of forty-two. The Germans had just begun their summer offensive (which ended at the walls of Stalingrad) and it was urgent to strike at the base of the breakthrough. Our tank troops were only a hundred kilometers away. But the command did not dare to throw tank troops under their own power even to such a miniscule distance. While they were loading onto the railway platforms and unloading, time was lost. Stalin was very unhappy with this situation. A letter written by Stalin in June of forty-three to Malyshev said the following: “and in conclusion, Comrade Malyshev, I really want to hope that you will finally be able to do something with the “Sormovo monster” on which our tankers are afraid to fight.” We were talking about the T-34 tank, produced in the city of Gorky at the Sormovo shipyards. In 1943, the T-34 tank received a new gearbox and all-round visibility turret. The tower was also a new one with an increased volume and a hexagonal shape, popularly nicknamed the nut. There were two versions of the turret - a cast one, which cracked when hit by a shell, and a stamped one, which was wonderful in terms of the quality of the armor but was only forty millimeters thick.

About the production of the T-34 tank.

THE T-34 TANK WAS SIMPLE SO THEY MADE A LOT OF THEM.

This legend requires a separate chapter. A tank with thick armor, a diesel engine and a weight of thirty tons, by definition, cannot be simple. So why were there so many of them? Because they plowed day and night, and because they did nothing else besides tanks - no rails, no cars, no tractors, no submarines, no steam locomotives. So where were they made? Mainly in two factories. The largest tank plant arose on the basis of the largest car factory in Europe, and perhaps in the world, in Nizhny Tagil. Its territory accommodated several factories from Kharkov and other places.

The second largest tank plant arose on the basis of a submarine production plant in the city of Gorky. These two factories produced approximately two-thirds of the T-34 tanks. What about the Germans? The Germans produced their tanks in workshops. In well-equipped, but still workshops.

Pay attention to the photographs of the tiger being made. In the top photo, there are drilling machines in the assembly shop. I only saw this in a collective farm workshop.

Now compare it with our production: in any photograph the end of the workshop is hidden behind the horizon.

In the photograph of German assembly shops there are six buildings at the end of the workshop, six buildings at the end of the workshop.

Comrade Stalin understood very little about production technology. The concept of PLANT represented for him some kind of universal means of production that could produce EVERYTHING AT ONCE. Therefore, some aircraft were made in furniture and bed workshops, and the Voronezh aviation plant tried to produce three types of aircraft completely different in technological terms. The production of tanks was no better. The T-34 was produced at the steam locomotive plant. Then the tractor plant in Stalingrad was targeted for its production. True, having barely established production, it was destroyed by German aircraft. With the outbreak of war, the evacuation began. The Kharkov plant for the production of steam locomotives and tanks was evacuated to the Urals and placed on the territory of the plant for the production of carriages in Nizhny Tagil. From the point of view of tank production, this plant had only one positive quality - it was the largest wagon production plant in the world. Therefore, its territory accommodated the Kharkov plant for the production of steam locomotives, the Kharkov plant for the production of tank diesel engines and several small Moscow mechanical plants. The result was the LARGEST TANK PLANT IN THE WORLD. He produced approximately a third of all T-34 tanks. The famous URAL HEAVY ENGINEERING PLANT produced hulls and turrets. After the destruction of the Stalingrad tractor plant, the second largest plant was in the city of Gorky. For those who don’t know, this is Nizhny Novgorod now. The Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard was obliged to produce tanks. Naturally, the technology for producing submarines and armored boats is very different from the production of tanks. Therefore, the quality of the products was appropriate. The tank of this plant received an offensive nickname - SORMOVO FREAK. A plant was built specifically for the production of tanks in the city of Omsk. True, it was built for the production of the T-50 tank and the T-34 began to be produced. But full-fledged production began only closer to the forty-third year. All tank production in Leningrad moved to the tractor plant in Chelyabinsk. It was focused on producing heavy tanks, but they were forced to produce medium tanks as well. Two different tanks at one not very large plant, I can imagine how the factory technologists cursed about this.

DURING THE WAR, FIVE THOUSAND PARTS WERE REMOVED OR SIMPLIFIED FROM THE T-34. It would probably be more correct to say that five thousand changes were made to the design. Because the T-34 had nothing to simplify. He did not have a sufficient number of monitoring devices and pumps that were supposed to lubricate the engine and rubbing elements. When performing all the activities to maintain the tank, the tanker simply had no time to fight. Every five minutes he had to jump out of the tank and lubricate something with a syringe or turn the handle of a hand pump. What else could have been simplified? As far as I know, they basically simplified the technological process of heat treatment of armor and replaced high-quality materials with outright crap. The most striking example is the replacement of copper tubes with iron ones in the engine lubrication system. For those who are not aware, copper tubes suffer less from vibration than iron tubes. Have you ever seen a diesel engine without vibration? The second example is the replacement of alloy steels with conventional structural steels. Of course, you can make a gear from structural steel, but the teeth on it will fly off in the second hour of work. And the third example is the use of a very simplified air purification filter. This will pass in winter. But in the summer, on a dusty road, the engine will die in a couple of hours.

I’m not saying that the tiger was a simple tank, but if it had been made in Nizhny Tagil, it would have been released three times as large. But the Germans also had factories for the production of submarines. And they produced about a THOUSAND submarines. And not little ones like in Gorky, but normal ocean-going submarines. What if the Germans started releasing tigers instead of submarines? Imagine another TEN THOUSAND TIGERS. What if the Germans stopped making carriages?

To summarize, I’ll say: no matter how it is, it’s better with the T-34 than without it! With its numbers, the T-34 gave serious superiority to the Soviet infantry. Yes, it was not perfect, but combined with the ease of production and the ability to provide the army with a large number of T-34s, it forced the Germans to create both the Tiger and the Panther. Ease of production, relative low cost of manufacturing one unit, impact in the theater of operations, and so on. Together they made the T-34 a victory tank. The T34-85 was officially withdrawn from service with the Russian army in 1992 and is still in service in some countries, and that says something. In mechanical engineering there is such an expression that the best mechanism is the one that does not exist.

Is it a lot or a little

The cost of the T-34 during the war decreased from 300 thousand rubles. up to 135 thousand rubles. To understand how achievable this amount is in terms of purchase, below are data on prices for high-demand goods from the grocery and industrial groups.

Table 1. Prices in Voentorg stores, 1940

Source: statistical collection “USSR in Five-Year Plans”, M 1980

The lack of goods on sale, the reduction in their production, and the rationing of supplies led to shortages and an unprecedented jump in prices on the market. ON THE. Voznesensky in his book “The Military Economy of the USSR” noted a 12-fold increase in the cost of food:

• a loaf of wheat bread at the market - up to 400 rubles;
• a dozen eggs – 200 rubles;
• men's wool suit – 1,000 rubles. (barter was more often offered);
• rye flour – up to 200 rubles;
• wristwatch – up to 2,000 rubles.

In the active army, a private was paid 17 rubles according to his official salary, a company commander - 800 rubles, a battalion commander - 1,100 rubles, a corps commander - 2,500 rubles, an army commander - 3,200 rubles, a front - 4,000 rubles.

During the entire period of the war, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief issued orders on monetary incentives for military personnel and rear workers. Bonuses were paid or credited to pilots for shot down enemy aircraft, successful assault and bombing strikes, tank crews for destroyed equipment and manpower, infantrymen for a knocked out enemy tank, and artillerymen for hitting targets. Privates and sergeants were paid extra for their class and mastery of new weapons. Much attention was paid to collecting spent cartridges and restoring equipment.

According to Voznesensky, wages in industry: workers - 690 rubles, engineers - 940 rubles, the average payment in the country's economy was 339 rubles at the beginning of the war, in 1945 - 442 rubles.

The transfer of wages to a book, food supplies using ration cards and the inaccessibility of many things due to shortages and high prices in the market led to the actual accumulation of significant amounts in accounts. This served as the basis for the “purchase” of equipment and weapons by labor collectives and public organizations.

However, even using all the income, an ordinary person could not pay for the purchase of a tank on his own. For more than 25 years, one would have to save money from an average salary of 442 rubles.

Interesting fact! For the creation of the T-34 tank, Mikhail Ilyich Koshkin was posthumously (died in 1940) awarded the Stalin Prize (1942), and in 1990 (!) he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.

Pages of history

The T-34 took part in all major battles of the Great Patriotic War and was the first to enter Berlin. The new Soviet tank was an extremely unpleasant surprise for the Germans. It was superior to all German tanks in terms of armament power and armor. Standard German pr

At the end of the 20th century, experts from various countries recognized the Soviet medium tank T-34 as a masterpiece of world tank building.

The T-34 was created in the late 1930s, was in the armed forces of the USSR - Russia from June 1940 to September 1997. It became the most popular tank in the world, was in service in 46 countries and was successfully used in all time zones and at all latitudes - from the Arctic to South Africa.

In 1942, for the creation of the T-34, a new type of medium tank, the Stalin Prize of the first degree was awarded to Mikhail Koshkin (posthumously), Alexander Morozov and Nikolai Kucherenko. But was it only thanks to these people that the T-34 became a legend of the 20th century?..

The role of the T-34 tank on the battlefields of World War II is undeniable. It is known that in 1941, on the third day of the war with the Soviet Union, the Imperial Chancellor of Germany was reported about two captured tanks: a heavy KV and a medium T-34. Hitler was shocked: no one in the military leadership of the Reich knew about the existence of these tanks. “If I had known about such tanks from the Russians, perhaps I would not have started this war,” the Fuhrer told his generals.

In August 1941, when Moscow was only three hundred kilometers away, Adolf Hitler ordered Colonel General Heinz Guderian's 2nd Panzer Group to turn south to Kharkov to seize the plant that developed and produced the T-34.

By the way, by the summer of 1943, the T-V “Panther” became the main tank of the Wehrmacht, the shape of the armored hull and turret of which were copied from the T-34.

In 1945, summing up the results of World War II, British Prime Minister Lord Winston Churchill, when asked by journalists about the best weapons, answered: “Three. English cannon. German plane "Messerschmitt". Russian tank T-34. However, if in the first two cases it is clear to me how it was done, then I absolutely do not understand how such a tank appeared ... "

After World War II, the T-34 acquired another “specialty” - it became the most widespread monument to military valor. And here’s what’s interesting: as the television chronicle dispassionately testifies, having stood on a pedestal for more than six decades, the “thirty-four” still starts easily and is capable of moving independently!

These and many other unique facts are told in the exhibition of the museum of the history of the T-34 tank.

T-34 tank records

In the field of military strategy

The secrecy of equipping the army with a new model of armored weapons: at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War (June 22, 1941), the Red Army had over a thousand T-34 tanks in service - the German political and military leadership did not have reliable intelligence information about this.

In the field of tactics.

Versatility of use: most successfully used in all types of combat operations.

Uniqueness of application: the only medium tank whose cannon was fired by Hero of Russia A.M. during the Great Patriotic War. Fadin shot down a flying enemy plane.

In the field of combat properties and technical characteristics (among tanks of the same type during the Second World War).

Optimal combination of firepower, protection and mobility

The most powerful cannon armament: 76.2 mm cannon when created and 85 mm cannon after modernization

The most rational form of anti-ballistic armor hull

The fastest tank: Vmax = 55 km/h

Maximum fuel range: 370-420 km

The most economical tank in terms of fuel consumption: thanks to the high-speed tank diesel engine

Best cross-country ability: thanks to wide tracks.

In the field of production and repair

The most popular tank in the world: In the USSR, over 58,000 T-34 tanks were produced in 1940-1946 alone

The most suitable for serial production at various factories, including at enterprises not originally intended for the production of tanks.

The first tank in the world, the mass production of which used automatic submerged arc welding, which made it possible to increase the productivity of welding work by 10 times.

The most suitable for repairs in the field (among tanks of the same type).

In the field of scientific and technical knowledge.

The largest number of publications dedicated to a specific tank model

The most frequently mentioned specific type of armored weapon in scientific and technical literature.

In the field of gerontology.

Was in the armed forces of the USSR - Russia from June 1940 to September 1997.

In the field of geography

Was in the armed forces of 46 states

The first medium tank operated from the Arctic to southern Africa, in all time zones.

In the field of military-patriotic education

The most frequently used type of weapon in stories about unprecedented exploits: during the Great Patriotic War, for example, the crew of the T-34-76 tank, senior lieutenant D.F. Lavrinenko destroyed 52 enemy tanks from October 6 to December 18, 1941; On August 13, 1944, the crew of the T-34-85 tank, junior lieutenant A.P. Oskina destroyed the “Royal Tiger” heavy tank, which was used by the enemy for the first time on that day on the Soviet-German front

The most beloved tank of tank crew veterans of the Great Patriotic War, the pride of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren

The largest number of tanks - symbols of victory and military monuments - T-34

The most exhibited example of weapons and military equipment in museums in the world

The only example of weapons and military equipment in the world, to which a personal museum complex is dedicated

Most often depicted on medals, certificates, commemorative signs, letters of thanks, coins, badges, postcards, envelopes, postage stamps, labels, etc. .

In the field of culture, art, creativity (among samples of weapons and military equipment).

Mostly represented in documentaries and feature films.

Most often depicted on paintings.

We most often mention it in prose, the media, and online publications.

Most poems and songs are dedicated to the T-34 tank

The most widespread of the produced scale models of military equipment.

In modern rubles

If you recalculate based on the “golden content” of the ruble at the exchange rate for the war period and the end of 2022, then the minimum cost of the T-34 tank will be approximately 1.8 million rubles. Orientation based on the dollar exchange rate will give a distorted value due to significant and radical changes in this ratio over such a long time.

The modern descendant of the legendary T-34 is the main tank of the Ground Forces of the Russian Armed Forces - T-72 B3M. The cost of purchasing one machine is about 80 million rubles.

Photo: T-72 B3M

According to the Information Support Group of the Ground Forces, as part of the implementation of the state defense order, the delivery of 120 T-72B3M main battle tanks to units is planned by the end of 2022.

The average salary in 2022 was 47,468 rubles, according to Rosstat, therefore, it will take the average citizen of the country more than 140 years to purchase a T-72 B3M.

Interesting statistics! How the number of tanks in Russia has changed.

Table 2. Conversion of the cost of T-34 into average salaries

Source: calculated

Comparing the data, it turns out that to purchase a T-34 tank, a citizen of the USSR would have to work for more than 25 years, and a modern Russian would have to work for more than 140 years to purchase a T-72 B3M.

Author: Andreev Alexander Alekseevich. July 2, 2022.

I dug up millions in the swamp: the World War II tank market was amazed by the prices

This criminal story lasted for 6 years. Back in 2015, former financial broker Klaus-Dieter F. (the name of the person involved in the case was not disclosed), living in the town of Heikendorf, was raided by the police. They were looking for works of art allegedly illegally acquired by an elderly man from the period of the Third Reich, but instead of paintings and sculptures they found a collection of weapons from the 2nd World War, including guns, machine guns, an anti-aircraft gun, a mortar and even a Panther tank. The ex-broker placed this entire arsenal in a specially equipped basement.

The 84-year-old pensioner was accused of illegal possession of weapons, although after examinations it turned out that most of the old army hardware he had collected was demilitarized. Including the tank.

Klaus-Dieter purchased the Panther at one time from some Briton, and he got the retro car for almost the price of scrap metal. True, the enthusiast then spent a lot of time, effort and money on restoring the old tank, eventually returning it to its original appearance and even repairing the engine.

At the final court hearing held a few days ago, the verdict was announced. The unlucky collector was nevertheless found guilty of illegal possession of weapons and sentenced to suspended imprisonment for 14 months, as well as a fine of 250,000 euros. As for the collection, Klaus-Dieter was not deprived of his main treasures - an anti-aircraft gun and a tank. However, the ex-broker is obliged to get rid of these rarities within the next two years.

According to news agencies, buyers have already been found for the Panther. Representatives of one of the American museums became interested in the restored tank (judging by the published photos, it looks like it was just assembled at a factory, only the tracks are missing). They offered the German 2 million for this car.

Panthers are an endangered species

– Where does such an exorbitant amount come from? - I asked the restorer, an expert on old army equipment, who asked to call him Yaroslav Mikhailovich.

“Not at all exorbitant,” the experienced specialist reassured. – Over the entire period of serial production, about 6,000 of these “Panthers” were assembled. However, a large number of them were destroyed during the fighting and captured by units of the Red Army as trophies.

It is known, for example, that in the summer of 1945 there were more than 300 Panthers in our troops. However, this captured “armor” was not taken into service. German tanks were most often used as targets for target practice at firing ranges. Some examples were adapted as tractors, but such equipment worked until the first serious breakdown. After which the Panthers were written off and sent for melting down. A similar situation occurred with captured tanks of other models. According to the information I have, by the beginning of 1947 there were practically no German armored vehicles left in our army.

Shortly after the war, the Soviet government transferred a certain number of tanks captured from the enemy, including Panthers, to the then formed allied “countries of people's democracy” - Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia. There, such combat vehicles served for their intended purpose until the early 1950s, but then they were replaced by more modern models of armored vehicles.

At the end of the war, some of the German tanks went to the Allies. However, they did not provide these machines with a long life.

– What is the current “livestock” of “Panthers”?

– Now there are about 20 copies of them preserved in the world, and the bulk of this number are “dead” “boxes”, and only 6-7 pieces are capable of driving independently. There are 5 “Panthers” in museums in Germany, and 3 in Belgium and the USA. We currently have one such tank in our country; it is on display at the museum in Kubinka.

So it’s not at all surprising that this German grandfather’s “Panther” has already found buyers willing to pay a tidy sum for such a rarity. By the way, according to my information, 2 million euros is by no means the maximum price for a well-restored, “living” car. I happened to see higher price tags for similar goods - 2 million 350 thousand, for example.

— Are other examples of armored vehicles from the 2nd World War equally highly rated?

— Mostly Western museum workers and collectors are hunting for German tanks, American and English-made vehicles... For example, the Panther’s “relative” is the heavy German Tiger tank. Only seven of them have survived in complete form (one of these restored, put-to-move “predators” is also located in Kubinka, near Moscow). Therefore, the price of even a battered Tiger starts at 2 million euros, but for such a car in good condition you will have to pay about five million. Our T-34s, compared to this “zoo,” lose in price by more than an order of magnitude. Their mass production is “to blame”: a record number of “thirty-fours” were produced and quite a lot have survived. Although here, of course, in each specific case the technical condition, completeness of the machine and its modification should be taken into account. Early, rarer examples of the T-34 are much more valuable.

It may be interesting for your readers to look at the figures from old price lists and compare them with current prices. Then it will become clear how profitable it is to invest in Wehrmacht armored vehicles.

So, during the 2nd World War, the purchase of one Panther tank - without taking into account the cost of standard weapons and a radio station - cost Germany 130,000 Reichsmarks. And the Tiger cost 260,000 Reichsmarks. Taking into account the exchange rate of the US dollar at that time, this was about 100 thousand “green”. If we recalculate the price today, it turns out that the new “Tiger” would cost the army about one and a half million dollars. As you can see, this is several times lower than current prices on the market for military retro equipment.

Armored Artifact Thieves

Turning to the chronicle of recent decades, the MK correspondent learned about several criminal cases related to attempts to make money from the appropriation and sale of rare old tanks. Including German ones.

One of these stories happened in the summer of 2001 in Belarus. A German T-III tank was stolen from the exposition of the Buinichi Field memorial complex. Although the loss was discovered only a few days later, the thief and his “trophy” were still identified. It turned out that the “special operation” was carried out by a creative loner. A man hired a trailer and a truck crane from one of the transport organizations in Mogilev and drove this equipment to the museum site in broad daylight. He told the security guard that the tank was being taken away for restoration, after which he loaded the multi-ton colossus onto a trailer and was off.

The tank was found a week later, quite far from the place of the abduction. He was “parked” in the courtyard of one of the houses in the village of Belynichi. The owner of the farmstead, with whom the kidnapper had previously agreed, had no idea that the retro car was stolen. As a result, the T-III was returned to its rightful place. And the thief himself, who hid for a while in the territory of neighboring Russia, was arrested only two years later. During interrogation, the 43-year-old man explained that he allegedly did not intend to steal the armored “German” at all, but “borrowed” it for temporary use: they say, he came up with the idea of ​​​​making a video with this tank and selling such material profitably to a film studio. However, the story about such creative projects did not influence the judges: the kidnapper received punishment.

Another “tank” epic took place at the end of the last century near Vyazma. In those places where fierce battles once took place, a group of “black trackers” dug up a German tank stuck in a ravine - also a three-ruble note. The completely intact, well-preserved car was taken out on the sly. Through our channels we found a buyer willing to pay well. True, the lover of military antiquities lived abroad, in the Baltic states, but this did not become an obstacle for the illegal immigrants. They dismantled the tank and placed its fragments in the back of a truck, disguising them as scrap metal. Such a “strategy” did not work. Unfortunately for the thieves at the border, they came across vigilant customs officers who finally figured out what kind of pieces of iron were being taken out of Russia. The tank was eventually confiscated.

But in one of the regions of Ukraine, a “business project” for the implementation of an old “Panther” discovered in these places was discussed at a high representative level. The tank sank during the war while crossing a river due to a bridge that collapsed under excessive weight. Decades later, German specialists learned about the unique object. As a result, the German side agreed with the local authorities on financing the search and rescue operation and, in addition, paid a large sum for the opportunity to take the rarity to Germany. Whether the treasury received any of this money, history is silent.

However, some enterprising, and, most importantly, handy citizens manage to make a business selling German retro tanks even... without having these tanks themselves. At the beginning of 2016, on one of the Internet sites, a resident of Vyazma posted information about the sale of a copy of the German Pz tank he made. IV. The ad says: “The tank is homemade - it shoots! Participated in the reconstruction and filming of war films.” This “Kulibin” further explained that his “tank” was assembled from components and assemblies of two tractors, as well as a ZiL truck, and that firing was possible only with blank charges. The advertisement also states that all the necessary documentation has been prepared for this miracle of technology. The craftsman set an impressive price for such a “toy” - 2,700,000 rubles.

Treasures in the swamp

There is a category of “army antique trackers” who are trying to make money on the “virtual” sale of scarce German tanks. These search engines, having discovered an armored Wehrmacht vehicle lying somewhere at the bottom of a river or in a swamp, are in no hurry to organize a troublesome, costly expedition to lift it out of the quagmire. Instead of pulling the tank out and selling it, they trade information about its location.

Here are a few advertisements from past years found on online forums:

“I know the location of the German tank... I am already negotiating the sale of information about this tank, if you are interested, then reply to my address... The tank is located at the bottom of the river within the boundaries of a small Belarusian city.”

“Gentlemen, I have reliable information about the location of the German Tiger tank and another, unidentified model. They are located at the bottom of the river. I want to sell this information. If you are interested in my offer, write."

“The World War II tank is GERMAN!!!!! Lying in the swamp, the barrel is visible.

Belarus, Minsk region..."

– How much can they pay for such information? And won’t the buyer’s money go down the drain: after all, the informant can simply deceive him by slipping him a “dummy” place?

– As a rule, in such cases, various options for insurance against mutual deception are previously discussed. So that the final payment occurs based on the confirmed presence of the tank at the specified location,” explained Yaroslav Mikhailovich. — As for the price tag... As far as I know, the amounts vary in a very wide range: from several thousand to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But even after paying 100-200 thousand in greenbacks, an underground entrepreneur selling old armored vehicles can ultimately make a lot of money selling such goods. Wehrmacht tanks that fought in World War II are of great interest to German collectors and restorers. And sometimes these gentlemen act as an intermediate link. They buy a tank pulled out of the swamp, transport it to Germany, restore it there and resell it at a profit. The most generous buyers of such artifacts are wealthy American entrepreneurs and sheikhs from Arab “oil” countries.

In general, the underground market for heavy military equipment from the war is a rather dangerous “minefield”. Here participants have to act with constant caution so as not to be deceived or suffer from the machinations of competitors. And the object of sale itself—damaged, sunken tanks and self-propelled guns abandoned in remote places for decades—is very dangerous and unpredictable. After all, inside these armored vehicles there may well be ammunition hidden - shells, grenades, which even 70 years later have not lost their destructive power. Among the “black trackers,” there were cases of severe injuries and even deaths when trying to penetrate the tank and free it from the ground.

There was a story about one such “German” who was stuck in a thicket in the Kaluga region. Allegedly, the crew of this tank, leaving the car, managed to mine all the hatches, placed grenades inside on trip wires... As a result, many years later, several illegal “diggers” were blown up there at different times.

- Still, can I, for example, if I really want to, come to an agreement with the search engines and with their help “pull out of oblivion” some German tank? Then demilitarize it, place it on your own plot, and on holidays take part in military reconstructions that are so fashionable now?

– With a “tank from the swamp” this is unlikely to happen. Indeed, according to existing laws, all discovered old military equipment must be transferred to the Ministry of Defense. And the local authorities are already determining its future: give it to a museum, or, at the request of a local government body, hand it over for installation on a pedestal as a monument...

So a tank pulled out of the quagmire by search engines immediately becomes illegal for you personally. You can, of course, try to secretly transport it to a suburban area and place it there, hiding it from everyone with a high fence. But this pleasure is dubious. Therefore, a much better way is to find, perhaps even abroad, a former combat vehicle that has already been legalized in some way, and is now disarmed, and purchase it. Although you will have to pay a lot of money for this.

There is another – very specific – option to become the owner of a retro tank. You learn through the same search engines that here in the swamp at a depth of several meters rests, for example, the Panther that sank during the war. You go to the relevant government authorities and negotiate the purchase of this territory. From now on, the swamp, along with its “tank filling,” is your property. You can come to this place and mentally admire “your” tank.

- Well, this is some kind of perversion!

– Call it what you want. However, I know of at least one such person. On the territory of his estate there are inconveniences - a heavily swampy lowland, in the swamps of which a tank got stuck “head over heels”. The owner even examined this “treasure” using special equipment, and the devices showed him the outline of an armored vehicle hiding in the bowels of the earth. Now the man is waiting for the conditions to legalize the steel “drowned man”.

- But the tank is rusting and collapsing!

– Actually, everything is not so scary. The swamp environment is an excellent preservative for such equipment. There have been many cases when a tank, pulled out of a peat bog, looked like new.