Soviet T-35 Heavy Tank: Abandoned Outside of Lwów

 

Francis Pulham's excellent book entitled Fallen Giants: The Combat Debut of the T-35A Tank catalogs the fates of the 61 Soviet T-35 heavy tanks that went into battle in 1941 to repel the German invasion of Mother Russia. A 45-ton monster of a tank that had five turrets and featured heavily in pre-World War Two Soviet military parades, the T-35 rarely engaged German forces and instead, ended up broken down and abandoned due to mechanical problems. Even when they did, the T-35 had a maximum of 30mm of armor, paltry for a tank meant to operate independently as a breakthrough vehicle. Despite their poor combat history, the T-35 enthralled German soldiers who came across one and because of this, photographs taken by German soldiers and kriegsberichter (war correspondents) abound of the T-35 with which Pulham was able to illustrate his book.

While Pulham is able to identify most of the T-35 tanks, this particular tank remains unknown. Pulham believes it to be chassis number 0183-5 which was a T-35A built in 1936, one of sixteen produced that year. The tank was assigned to the 67th. Tank Regiment. Combat records for the regiment only list the tank as lost near Lwów (Lviv), Ukraine but no chassis number was given. Pulham examined known losses in the area and was able to identify the tank was abandoned along what is today the H17 highway, some 20 miles outside Lviv. Still, despite his evidence, Pulham cannot positively state the tank is, indeed, 0183-5.

Pulham's book uses a photograph similar to the one here, perhaps taken by soldiers in the same unit, which shows the T-35 as it was found. As the tank was in the road, a later photograph shows it pushed off into the ditch. The tracks had been removed and white bands were painted on the left rear of the tank as a warning to drivers at night as the left side was still partially in the roadway. The white paint was repeated on the left front as well. A third picture in the book shows the derelict T-35 with some missing components, namely the turret mounted antenna. Following the war, the tank was most likely scrapped.

Primary Source:

Pulham, Francis Fallen Giants: The Combat Debut of the T-35A Tank (Stroud, Gloucestershire: Fonthill Media, 2017)