2000s Gallery - GerardPas | The Three Ts project 2003

T-34/85 Soviet Red Army Tank

2003

Soviet and Polish Soldiers enter Berlin
riding on top of T-34/85

The above model is in 1:35 scale
approximately 20.32 X 9 X 7 cm or 8 X 3.5 X 2.75 inches
plastic and enamel paint

This is the first part of a larger mixed media sculpture I will be dedicating to all the fallen from World War 2 - WWII. I will be adding texts to describe this individual aspect of the sculpture and the general development of the work as it progresses in the studio. For now you are looking at what will be the top section of the sculpture which acts as one separate component of a total of three.
Written on the side of the tank in Crylic Russian is "Hell is War (top)" and "Save us" (bottom). G.Pas

if hell is war — God save us

Red Army T-34/85s pass German prisoners in the final months of the war.


T-34/85 Tank Information
Power plant:	373kW (500hp) V-2-34 V-12 diesel engine
Performance:	The T-34/85 had a maximum road speed of 55km/h (34 mph) and a road range of 300 km (186 miles).
Armament:	one ZIS-S53 dual-pupose 85mm gun (3.34in) and two 7.62mm machine guns
Armour:	18-75mm (0.7 - 2.95in)
Crew:	5
Dimensions:	length: 8.15m (26ft 7in) — width: 3m (9ft 10in) — height: 2.74m (9ft)
Origin:	The Soviet Union

The T-34/85 was an improvement
on the the T-34/76 shown above.

T-34/85 Soviet Red Army Tank

Considered by many as "possibly the best tank of World War 2, the T-34/85 was fast, manoeuvrable and hard-hitting. Appearing in huge numbers from early 1944, it led the assault on Germany until the end of the war; when it was widely exported to many communist nations.

The major change in T-34 production after 1943 was the arrival of the 85mm (3.34in) gun T-34/85, which had a new three-man turret and a larger-diameter turret ring. Both the T-34/76 and /85 were built in parallel until mid-1944, when production of the former stopped after 35,099 had been completed.
The huge losses of T-34s in 1941 and 1943 were due respectively to the speed and surprise of the German advance (Blitzkrieg) and the development of new German heavy tanks, such as the Tiger and Panther. The Panther, in particular, was designed with sloped armour modeled after the T-34 and. with a long-barrelled 75mm (2.95in) gun that matched the Soviet 76.2mm (3in) gun.
Although similar in appearance and using the same automotive components, the T-34/85 was a major redesign, with a new three-man turret, the same as that used on the KV-85. The new gun was the D-5T85 (later replaced by the ZIS-S53) dual-purpose 85mm (3.34in) gun, which could fire shells able to penetrate102mm (4in) of armour at 1000m (3280ft). This was enough to defeat a Panther or Tiger at closer range (image of Tiger 1 tank can be seen below).
The T-34/85 was rolling off the production lines in January 1944, only five months after the design was initiated. That year over 11,000 were produced and these played the major role in pushing the Germans back into Germany in late 1944. The T-34/85 remained the principal Soviet tank until the late 1940s" 1. and was produced for Third Party Nations well into the 1960s (i.e. North Vietnam).

1. Quoted from: Jim Winchester, "Tanks and Armoured Fighting Vehicles of WWII". Pub. Silverdale Books, Leicester, United Kingdom. 2003.

The T-34/85 was the Soviet answer to the German Tiger and Panther Tanks.
A battle-worn German Tiger tank undergoes a paint touch up on the Eastern Front.

T4 File - Tannhauser Str. 4, Munich, Germany	2003



The above drawing represents a sketch for a model which Gerard is currently scratch building. It will become the second element of this sculptural project. Images from this section will be added when completed.

Gerard being handicapped and born in the Netherlands would probably have been killed by the Nazi's should they have won the war and continued in their Race Objectives. Considered a burden to the National German Socialist Worker, millions of the handicapped where simply murdered as an act of euthanasia supported by a program of eugenics towards a pure Aryan Race. The Nazi’s went so far as to say, in their propaganda of the time (i.e. film), that these pathetic individuals had not reached their full capacity in the evolutionary process. Sadly, they were experimented on and most were killed as a precursor in the development of the Gas Chambers, as can be seen in the T4-file: which stands for Tannhauser Str. 4, the location of a hospital for the handicapped in Munich at the time. Ironically they were taken to what were considered sympathy stations in Red Cross like vehicles then euthinized. "I am currently bringing this drawing into a 3D form as a model and hope to use it as the second tier in this larger monument which commemorates all the fallen soldiers and victims of WWII. This entire sculptural work is my way of saying thank you to those that died so that we could live." G.Pas
if you want to know what Hell will be like — think on war

TY = Thank you	2003



This section is still in concept form.

We will update this section when we have something to show you. "This entire sculptural work is my way of saying thank you to those that died so that we could live." G.Pas
least we forget

... click on any of the above images for an enlargement ...





please click any of the above images to advance to that section or gallery