Paging through the books on World War 2 history, be it great volumes written by professional historians with renowned names, or somewhat smaller ones written by passionate amateurs, general or detailed — it is very hard to find a single bad word written about the T-34. Each and every author who found it necessary to at least list the tank in a footnote, had praised it. This opinion is so widely recognized that it seems to have become etched in stone and is therefore indisputable. That overwhelming praise is so imposing that the T-34 is deemed to be a well-known tank, reviewed so many times that it yields no secrets. No one has even tried to find the other side of it, or for that matter — even to check if there were any dark sides to this wonder of 20th Century warfare. Phrases such as "One of the best tanks of WW2" is what most authors are content with, and deem to be an objective truth. However, the reality was quite far from that glamorous picture. The quality of a weapon system is judged not only by the design features, but also by the ability to use it, and by the quality of its manufacture. All of these are questions carefully avoided by the rank and file praise authors — and not without a reason. It is easier for mainstream historians to depict the colors flowing in the wind over the battlefields than to examine complicated and difficult matters of logistics and technology of warfare — all those minute details that shape the outcome of human conflict.
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