Mikhail Ilyich Koshkin ( Russian: Михаи́л Ильи́ч Ко́шкин; 3 December 1898, Brynchagi,

Yaroslavl Oblast Yaroslavl Oblast (russian: Яросла́вская о́бласть, ''Yaroslavskaya oblast'') is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), which is located in the Central Federal District, surrounded by Tver, Moscow, Ivanovo, Vladimir, Kostr ...

– 26 September 1940) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful ...

designer, chief designer of the famous

T-34 The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank introduced in 1940. When introduced its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was less powerful than its contemporaries while its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against anti-tank weapons. The C ...

medium tank. The T-34 was the most produced tank of World War II. He started out in life as a confectioner, but then studied engineering.Panther Vs T-34: Ukraine 1943 By Robert Forczyk, Osprey Publishing, 2007, ,
on Google Books
/ref> In 1937, the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

assigned him to lead design bureau KB-190 to design a replacement for the BT tanks at the Kharkiv Komintern Locomotive Plant (KhPZ) in

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.

. Koshkin imagined the T-34 tank after BT tanks tested during the Spanish Civil War proved to be under-armored and prone to catching fire. Koshkin claimed that he named the tank “T-34” because he began to imagine designs for the tank in 1934. After the Soviet Army rejected his prototype, Koshkin began privately assembling a testable prototype that he would work on in the evening, after long days designing BT tank improvements. He died from pneumonia he contracted during T-34 winter tests on September 26, 1940. Mikhail Koshkin was posthumously awarded the State Stalin Prize in 1942 and the Order of the Red Star. In 1990, shortly before the final collapse of the USSR, he was posthumously decorated with the highest civilian honor, Hero of Socialist Labour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koshkin, Mikhail 1898 births 1940 deaths People from Yaroslavl Oblast people from Uglichsky Uyezd Soviet military engineers Soviet inventors Tank designers Weapon designers Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University alumni Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Soviet military personnel of the Polish–Soviet War Stalin Prize winners Heroes of Socialist Labour Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Star Deaths from pneumonia in the Soviet Union

See also

References