Update On Recovered T-34
Tank With German Markings

A Komatsu D375A-2 pulled an abandoned tank from its archival tomb under the bottom of a lake nearJohvi, Estonia. The Soviet-built T34/76A tank had been resting at the bottom of the lake for 56 years. According to its specifications, it's a 27-tonne machine with a top speed of 53km/h.

From February to September 1944, heavy battles were fought in the narrow, 50 km-wide, Narva front in the north-eastern part of Estonia. Over 100,000 men were killed and 300,000 men were wounded there. During battles in the summer of 1944, the tank was captured from the Soviet army and used by the German army. (This is the reason that there are German markings painted on the tank's exterior.)On 19 September 1944, German troops began an organized retreat along the Narva front. It is suspected that the tank was then purposefully driven into the lake, abandoning it when its captors left the area.

At that time, a local boy walking by the lake Kurtna Matasjarv noticed tank tracks leading into the lake, but not coming out anywhere. For two months he saw air bubbles emerging from the lake. This gave him reason to believe that there must be an armored vehicle at the lake's bottom. A few years ago, he told the story to the leader of the local war history club 'Otsing'. Together with other club members, Mr. Igor Shedunov initiated diving expeditions to the bottom of the lake about a year ago. At the depth of 7 metres they discovered the tank resting under a 3-metre layer of peat.

Enthusiasts from the club, under Mr Shedunov's leadership, decided to pull the tank out. In September 2000 they turned to Mr Aleksander Borovkovthe, manager of the Narva open pit of the stock company AS Eesti Polevkivi, to rent the company's Komatsu D375A-2 bulldozer. Currently used at the pit, the Komatsu dozer was manufactured in 1995, and has 19,000 operating hours without major repairs.

The pulling operation began at 09:00 and was concluded at 15:00, with several technical breaks. The weight of the tank, combined with the travel incline, made a pulling operation that required significant muscle. The D375A-2 handled the operation with power and style. The weight of the fully armed tank was around 30 tons, so the active force required to retrieve it was similar. A main requirement for the 68-tonne dozer was to have enough weight to prevent shoe-slip while moving up the hill.

After the tank surfaced, it turned out to be a trophy tank, that had been captured by the German army in the course of the battle at Sinimaed (Blue Hills) about six weeks before it was sunk in the lake. Altogether, 116 shells were found on board. Remarkably, the tank was in good condition, with no rust, and all systems (except the engine) in working condition. This is a very rare machine, especially considering that it fought both on the Russian and the German sides. Plans are under way to fully restore the tank. It will be displayed at a war history museum, that will be founded at the Gorodenko village on the left bank of the River Narv.
http://rense.com/general75/germ2.htm

The following morning a powerful crane lifted the tank on to a low-loader which then transported it to the recovery group’s base at Gorodenko, where it was temporarily put on a plinth for display. On September 21, Lennart Meri, the President of Estonia, came to admire the historic vehicle. Following the recovery, Igor Sedunov, Mihail Zenov and the other members of Otsing began a thorough cleaning and overhauling of the vehicle. The main gun was removed from the turret, and the turret lifted off the hull. The men found the T-34 in amazingly good condition, with no rust, and all systems except the engine in working condition. The layer of peat and the high acidity of the marshy lake had created a kind of protective cocoon around the tank, sealing it off from corrosion and preserving it through 56 years under water. To the team’s delight, nearly every part and mechanism proved to be in perfect working order after cleaning. The fuel tanks were found to be empty, confirming the assumption that the tank had been abandoned and dumped in the lake due to shortage of fuel. The diesel engine had leaked no oil. Astoundingly, without replacing any spare part, the team managed to start up the Diesel engine. One of the few things that needed replacing were the bearings of the skating rolls.After nearly two years of restoration work, the tank had essentially reached the stage where trial runs could be made.
http://www.diving.ee/articles/art035.html