Why wasn’t the T-34 adopted by US forces?
1. US Armor Branch was run by horse cavalry & artillery officers who couldn’t agree on tank designs. The cavalry officers (like Patton) favored light, maneuverable designs. The Infantry & Arty officers wanted heavy armor & a bigger gun. The feeling was that the T34’s speed was a waste if marching infantry couldn’t keep up.
2. US doctrine for fighting enemy tanks called for a different armored vehicle... the Tank Destroyer. These heavy, open turret vehicles were designed to lay in ambush to nail an enemy tank freeing US tanks to maneuver (or so the theory went). You’ll notice that nobody really fields Tank Destroyers or Assault Guns anymore. But they were highly popular on all sides in WW2 due to their cheaper construction.
3. It’s doubtful that the Soviets could have shipped meaningful numbers of T34’s to the US. In any case, “Not Invented Here”.
“The feeling was that the T34’s speed was a waste if marching infantry couldn’t keep up.”
And they were RIGHT...
The German’s dealt with t-34’s by peeling off the Infantry support with artillery, then attacking the still-advancing tanks with flanking fire and 88’s.
This worked with great effect, in part because Soviet tanks in the field were rarely allowed to retreat. At Seelow, the Russians lost 600 tanks in 96 hours of fighting, in one area alone.
“You’ll notice that nobody really fields Tank Destroyers or Assault Guns anymore.”
That’s because the TD’s and Assault guns ended up being used in the Tank role anyway. Why do that when you can multi-role a real tank?
The U.S., Russia, and the Brits all ended up using the lesser-armoured TD’s, which were supposed to be used in the Anti-tank role, as tanks, time and time again, and with great loss, to fill gaps when other equipment wasn’t available.
The Germans also ended up using StuG’s and Hetzers as tanks, instead of tank destroyers, a role they were not suited for, when nothing else was available.
The later Jagdpanthers, and Jagdtigers could stand against tanks, but thier limited gun traverse made them vunerable to flanking attacks and Infantry.