The T-34 was a shock to the German troops at the start of the Russian campaign. Russia had completely unexpectedly constructed a tank that was superior to every German tank at this time. The 1940 model had a 7.62 cm gun with an ammunition stock of 100 rounds. The shape with a large number of angled edges increased the armour"s protection and showed the way for later designs. The weight came to 31 tonnes and the engine delivered 500 horsepower, allowing a speed of up to 50 kph. Luckily for the German tanks the Russians stuck to an outmoded deployment tactic with the T-34 initially being used only to support infantry. Because of the lack of space in the turret they dispensed with the gunlayer, so the commander had to do this work in addition to his job of steering. This led to a low firing rate and slow reactions and moreover the small number of tanks deployed had no radio contact with each other.