Tanks

T-34/85 Tank

Also known as
  • T-34-85
  • T-34/85
  • T34/85
  • T-34 85
  • T-34-85 Model 1969
  • T-34-85 Obr. 1969
  • ZiS-S-53 T-34

The T-34/85 is the 85 mm-gun version of the Soviet T-34 medium tank, built in large numbers in the Soviet Union and later in Poland and Czechoslovakia. Its modern relevance comes from isolated post-Cold War survival rather than contemporary capability: sources document reactivated Yemeni tanks used as mobile direct-fire support and exceptional 2014 Russia-Ukraine War appearances involving recovered monument vehicles.

T-34/85 Tank, Medium tank, Tanks
Image source: T-34-85 Tank in North Yemen During Civil War Image

Role in Conflicts

Modern Conflict Evidence

Modern T-34/85 evidence is much narrower than the tank's broad historical service. The strongest recent sources show rare survivals and reactivations, not a return to front-line tank parity.

ContextWhat the sources supportReader caveat
YemenReports describe reactivated T-34/85 tanks used as mobile direct-fire support, including a January 2019 anti-tank guided missile strike near Damt.This is the strongest modern direct-fire conflict-use evidence for the tank.
2014 Russia-Ukraine WarTank Encyclopedia describes a Luhansk monument tank returned to active duty in 2014, and Militarnyi describes a Lysychansk pedestal tank likely used as a roadblock in 2022.The sources show exceptional fielding and obstacle use; they do not prove normal gun-tank combat employment.
Earlier warsThe Tank Museum and Tank Encyclopedia support World War II, Korean War, and wider Cold War export-service context.Those older wars remain background context, while the direct modern evidence is limited to the rows above.

Source labels used here: T-34/85 Tank Collection Page; T-34-85 in Luhansk People's Republic Service; Houthi Rebels Destroyed World War II-era T-34 Tank; In the Battles for Lysychansk the T-34-85 Tank from a Pedestal Was Used.

Profile / Specs

Profile

Origin
Soviet Union
Type
Medium tank
Service note
World War II design retained in limited reserve, monument, and reactivated service into 21st-century conflicts
Designer
Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau
Designed
T-34 design work began in the late 1930s; the T-34/85 was accepted for service in late 1943 and entered production in 1944
Unit cost
Not applicable for reactivated legacy stocks
Produced
1944-1946 in the USSR; postwar production in Poland and Czechoslovakia continued into the 1950s
Number built
About 50,000 T-34/85 tanks according to The Tank Museum

Specifications

Crew
5
Main armament
85 mm ZiS-S-53 tank gun
Secondary armament
Two 7.62 mm DT machine guns
Weight
About 32 tonnes
Speed
About 55 km/h
Armor
Up to about 90 mm
Ammunition context
Soviet 85 mm fixed rounds included armor-piercing and high-explosive fragmentation ammunition families
Variants

The T-34/85 designation covers the 85 mm-gun T-34 family, including early D-5T-gun vehicles, standard S-53/ZiS-S-53 production tanks, and later postwar modernization packages.

VariantConfigurationDesignation notes
Early T-34/85 with D-5T gunInitial 85 mm production configuration

Tank Encyclopedia describes early 1944 T-34-85 production with the D-5T gun before the S-53 and then ZiS-S-53 became standard.

Sources: T-34-85 in Luhansk People's Republic Service

T-34/85 with S-53 / ZiS-S-53 gunMain wartime production configuration

The Tank Museum lists the tank's main weapon as an 85 mm ZiS-S-53 gun, while Tank Encyclopedia describes the transition from S-53 to ZiS-S-53 production in 1944.

Sources: T-34/85 Tank Collection Page, T-34-85 in Luhansk People's Republic Service

Ammunition Fired

The T-34/85's useful linked ammunition context is the Soviet 85 mm fixed-round family for the ZiS-S-53 tank gun and related 85 mm weapons.

AmmunitionAmmunition typeFiring evidence
BR-365, 85 mm APBC / APHE-T projectile, MunitionsBR-36585 mm APBC / APHE-T projectile

Tank Archives identifies BR-365 as ammunition for Soviet 85 mm tank and self-propelled guns, and WW2 Equipment Data ties the related UBR-365 and UBR-365K family to the ZiS-S53 tank gun.

Sources: Tank Archives: 85 mm for Dummies, WW2 Equipment Data Soviet Explosive Ordnance - 85mm and 100mm Projectiles

85 mm O-367A high-explosive round, 85 mm HE-frag projectile, Munitions85 mm O-367A high-explosive round85 mm HE-fragmentation round

METIS identifies the 53-UO-367A fixed round as compatible with the ZiS-S-53 tank gun used in the T-34-85.

Sources: Munition, projectile, 53-O-367A | METIS

Why the ammunition link matters

The linked rounds show why the T-34/85 could still appear as direct-fire support: surviving 85 mm ammunition families include anti-armor and high-explosive fragmentation loads, but the modern conflict sources do not show contemporary precision, night-fighting, or protection upgrades comparable to modern tanks.

Sources: Tank Archives: 85 mm for Dummies, Munition, projectile, 53-O-367A | METIS

Timeline

T-34/85 Tank Key Events

  1. 85 mm production begins

    The T-34/85 entered mass production with an enlarged turret and 85 mm gun, giving the T-34 family a more powerful late-war configuration.

    Sources: T-34/85 Tank Collection Page, T-34-85 in Luhansk People's Republic Service

  2. Korean War service documented

    The Tank Museum says one of its late-1944 T-34/85 tanks was supplied to North Korea and used by North Korean forces during the Korean War before capture.

    Sources: T-34/85 Tank Collection Page

  3. Luhansk monument tank reactivated

    Tank Encyclopedia describes LPR soldiers returning a monument T-34/85 to active duty during the early War in the Donbas, with a short service life before it reverted to monument status.

    Sources: T-34-85 in Luhansk People's Republic Service

  4. Yemen loss report

    Defence Blog reported that a pro-Saudi T-34-85 was hit by a Houthi anti-tank guided missile near Damt, Yemen.

    Sources: Houthi Rebels Destroyed World War II-era T-34 Tank

  5. Lysychansk roadblock report

    Militarnyi reported that a T-34/85 removed from a Lysychansk pedestal was likely used by Ukrainian forces to block a road during the battle for the city.

    Sources: In the Battles for Lysychansk the T-34-85 Tank from a Pedestal Was Used

Media

T-34/85 Tank Videos

T-34/85 Tank Images

T-34/85 Tank, Medium tank, Tanks - view 1
Source: T-34-85 in the Kubinka Tank Museum Outside Image
T-34/85 Tank, Medium tank, Tanks - view 2
Source: T-34-85 Tank USSR Image
T-34/85 Tank, Medium tank, Tanks - view 3
Source: T-34-85 BG Image
Related Weapon Systems
T-62, Main battle tank, TanksTanksT-62Main battle tankThe T-62 is a Soviet main battle tank built around a 115 mm U-5TS/2A20 smoothbore gun, a four-person crew, and a conventional tracked armor layout inherited from the T-54/T-55 design line. Produced in large numbers by Uralvagonzavod, it moved from Cold War export and Soviet service into long-tail combat use: Egyptian and Iraqi T-62s appear in 1970s and 1991 conflict records, while upgraded or inherited T-62M/T-62MV stocks reappeared in Syria, Libya, Ukraine, Tigray, and Yemen.
T-54/T-55, Main battle tank / medium tank family, TanksTanksT-54/T-55Main battle tank / medium tank familyThe T-54/T-55 is a Soviet tank family built around a low-profile tracked hull, four-person crew, and 100 mm D-10-series gun. It became one of the most widely produced tank families of the Cold War, with Soviet and licensed production spreading across Warsaw Pact and partner states. Direct conflict sourcing traces the family from North Vietnamese T-54 use in the 1975 fall of Saigon and Iraqi T-55s in the Gulf War to recent secondary fire-support, capture, and loss contexts in Ukraine, Yemen, Libya, Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh, Nigeria, and Sudan.
T-72M1, Main battle tank, TanksTanksT-72M1Main battle tankThe T-72M1 is a T-72A-derived export and licensed-production main battle tank built around a three-person crew, an autoloaded 125 mm gun, improved turret protection, and an added glacis armor plate compared with earlier T-72M export tanks. Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Soviet production made the model common in Warsaw Pact and export inventories, and Polish, Czech, and Bulgarian stocks became part of Ukraine's armored force during the full-scale phase of the Russia-Ukraine War.

Sources

T-34/85 Tank Collection PagePublisher: The Tank Museum | Note: Supports T-34/85 background, manufacturer-country context, production count, service history including Korean War use of a museum vehicle, crew, armament, weight, speed, and armor specifications. | Accessed: 2026-06-29Houthi Rebels Destroyed World War II-era T-34 TankPublisher: Defence Blog | Note: Supports 2014 Yemen Civil War direct use: a T-34-85 used by pro-Saudi/Yemeni-government-aligned forces was reported hit near Damt in January 2019. | Accessed: 2026-06-29Russian World War 2 T-34 Tanks Still Fighting in Yemen WarPublisher: Army Recognition | Note: Supports 2014 Yemen Civil War direct use: T-34/85 tanks were reported used to fight in Yemen, with images described as Yemeni T-34/85 tanks in action. | Accessed: 2026-06-29WWII Weapons in Yemen's Civil WarPublisher: wwiiafterwwii | Note: Supports 2014 Yemen Civil War direct use: reactivated T-34s were described as used by Yemeni national army, anti-Houthi, and Houthi forces as mobile direct-fire support. | Accessed: 2026-06-29In the Battles for Lysychansk the T-34-85 Tank from a Pedestal Was UsedPublisher: Militarnyi | Note: Supports 2014 Russia-Ukraine War direct use: Militarnyi reported a Lysychansk T-34-85 pedestal tank was likely used by Ukrainian forces to block a road during the battle for the city. | Accessed: 2026-06-29T-34-85 in Luhansk People's Republic ServicePublisher: Tank Encyclopedia | Note: Supports 2014 Russia-Ukraine War direct use and background: the article describes LPR soldiers fielding a recovered T-34-85 monument tank during the War in the Donbas, and supports production, variant, modernization, and wider service context. | Accessed: 2026-06-29Tank Archives: 85 mm for DummiesPublisher: Tank Archives | Note: Supports the Soviet 85 mm tank and self-propelled gun ammunition family, including BR-365 armor-piercing ammunition context for 85 mm tank guns. | Accessed: 2026-06-29Munition, projectile, 53-O-367A | METISPublisher: METIS | Note: Supports the 53-UO-367A / 53-O-367A high-explosive fragmentation ammunition context and compatibility with the ZiS-S-53 tank gun used in the T-34-85. | Accessed: 2026-06-29WW2 Equipment Data Soviet Explosive Ordnance - 85mm and 100mm ProjectilesPublisher: WW2 Equipment Data | Note: Supports the UBR-365 and UBR-365K 85 mm complete-round context and lists the ZiS-S53 tank gun among weapons firing the related Soviet 85 mm ammunition family. | Accessed: 2026-06-29T-34-85 Tank in North Yemen During Civil War ImagePublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Supports image provenance and public-domain status for the primary image of a T-34-85 in Yemen. | Accessed: 2026-06-29T-34-85 in the Kubinka Tank Museum Outside ImagePublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Supports image provenance and public-domain status for an exterior T-34-85 reference image. | Accessed: 2026-06-29T-34-85 Tank USSR ImagePublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Supports image provenance and CC0 public-domain dedication for a museum T-34-85 reference image. | Accessed: 2026-06-29T-34-85 BG ImagePublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Supports image provenance and CC BY-SA 4.0 license for a Bulgarian museum T-34-85 reference image. | Accessed: 2026-06-29