There was nothing decent about the T-34. It was nothing more than an APC with a larger gun. Sloped armor only worked is there is enough of it to effectively deflect incoming rounds. The Russians learned quickly enough that the only way to defeat German armor was to ram it with their puny tank. Even as much as I hate the Sherman, the T-34 was worse. Only due to the vast numbers did the Russians ever gain superiority. The Soviet philosophy on the T-34 was make it with easily replaceable items such as turret, engine and crew.
I beg to differ: the T-34 was fast, dependable, had a good gun, and was hard to hit. The Germans even tried a prototype turret based on the T-34 size for the Panther. The suspension was based on the US Christie suspension and it was far and away more mobile than any German tank. We would have been far better off - and have saved innumerable tank crews - if we had copied the T-34 instead of sticking to the M-4.
It was simple and basic but it worked when it was needed.
So the only difference between Soviet philosophy / T34 and US philosophy / M4 was that Sov's used diesel rather than gasoline so that their tanks weren't apt to be referred go as "Ronsons".
To freedom; I once knew (served with) a Georgian who had been conscripted into the Red Army, captured and conscripted by SS, and quite happily went about fighting Soviets.
(If he'd written a book it would have been a blockbuster)