KV Tanks (Heavy tank series)

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The Kliment Voroshilov (KV) tanks were a series of Soviet heavy tanks, named after the Soviet defense commissar and politician Kliment Voroshilov.

The KV series were known for their extremely heavy armour protection during the early war, especially during the first year of the invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II.

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KV 2

Almost completely immune to the 7.5 cm KwK 37 and 3.7 cm KwK 36 guns mounted on the early Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks, until better guns were developed often the only way to defeat a KV was a point-blank shot to the rear. Prior to the invasion, about 500 of the over 22,000 tanks in Soviet service at the time were of the KV-1 type.

When the KV-1 appeared, it outclassed the french Char B1, the only heavy tank used in the world at that time. Yet in the end it turned out that there was little sense in producing the expensive KV tanks, as the T-34 medium tank performed better (or at least equally) in all practical respects. Later in the war, the KV series became a base of development of the Iosif Stalin tanks.

Specifications (KV-1 model 1941)
Weight 45 tonnes
Length 6.75 m
Width 3.32 m
Height 2.71 m
Crew 5
Armour 90 mm maximum
Main armament 76.2 mm model F-34 gun
Secondary armament 3× or 4× DT machine guns
Engine 12-cylinder diesel model V-2
600 hp (450 kW)
Power/weight 13 hp/tonne
Speed 35 km/h (22 mph)


Specifications KV 2
Weight 53.1 tonnes
Length 6.79 m
Width 3.32 m
Height 3.65 m
Crew 6
Armour 110 mm (4.3 in)
Main armament 152 mm howitzer
Secondary armament 3×DT machine guns
Operational range 140 km
Speed 25.6 km/h (15.9 mph)
 
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There's only one recorded case of Finnish troops coming up against KV-2 during the Continuation War. (KV-2 prototype briefly saw action during Winter War also)
August 1941 in the Salla-front near Alakurtti a lone KV-2 suddenly drove to the Finnish lines guns blazing. AT-guns and rifles engaged the tank to no effect and Finnish troops were near panic when this massive tank through some stroke of luck found a gap in a minefield and drove right in front of their positions firing in all directions.
But then for some reason the tank just left. The situation could have been dire, but for unknown reasons the tank operated completely alone and there was no other troops with it to exploit the fact that Finnish troops were ready to rout.
The tank returned after couple of hours but Finnish combat engineers had went out and plugged the gaps in the minefield. KV-2 rolled over a line of several AT-mines and it's tracks were destroyed. The mines apparently caused some extra damage because the turret seemed to have stuck.
Finns waited for the dark and then closed in to try to set the tank on fire with molotovs with no success. The tank crew still kept fighting from inside the vehicle. One soldier used a large metal digging bar to bash the tank's machine gun's barrels out of shape.
Next smoke bombs and grenades were used to force the crew to leave their vehicle but they stubbornly stayed put.
Then engineers piled some explosives on the ground around the tank and that had the effect of damaging the gun mountings, causing the gun to sag towards the ground. But the crew inside was still alive and continued to fight with their personal weapons.
The pissed off combat engineers decided that play time was over and piled 30kg of explosives on top of the tank. The resulting explosion still didn't completely wreck the tank, but it caught on fire and eventually exploded from the inside.
Remains of the tank:
53079_r500.jpg


In this ridiculous engagement casualties on the Russian side were one KV-2 and it's crew, while Finns suffered a couple of wounded soldiers and one dead combat engineer.
 
Vartuoosi said:
There's only one recorded case of Finnish troops coming up against KV-2 during the Continuation War. (KV-2 prototype briefly saw action during Winter War also)
August 1941 in the Salla-front near Alakurtti a lone KV-2 suddenly drove to the Finnish lines guns blazing. AT-guns and rifles engaged the tank to no effect and Finnish troops were near panic when this massive tank through some stroke of luck found a gap in a minefield and drove right in front of their positions firing in all directions.
But then for some reason the tank just left. The situation could have been dire, but for unknown reasons the tank operated completely alone and there was no other troops with it to exploit the fact that Finnish troops were ready to rout.
The tank returned after couple of hours but Finnish combat engineers had went out and plugged the gaps in the minefield. KV-2 rolled over a line of several AT-mines and it's tracks were destroyed. The mines apparently caused some extra damage because the turret seemed to have stuck.
Finns waited for the dark and then closed in to try to set the tank on fire with molotovs with no success. The tank crew still kept fighting from inside the vehicle. One soldier used a large metal digging bar to bash the tank's machine gun's barrels out of shape.
Next smoke bombs and grenades were used to force the crew to leave their vehicle but they stubbornly stayed put.
Then engineers piled some explosives on the ground around the tank and that had the effect of damaging the gun mountings, causing the gun to sag towards the ground. But the crew inside was still alive and continued to fight with their personal weapons.
The pissed off combat engineers decided that play time was over and piled 30kg of explosives on top of the tank. The resulting explosion still didn't completely wreck the tank, but it caught on fire and eventually exploded from the inside.
Remains of the tank:
53079_r500.jpg


In this ridiculous engagement casualties on the Russian side were one KV-2 and it's crew, while Finns suffered a couple of wounded soldiers and one dead combat engineer.
Click to expand...
Wow, if the Russians supported that attack with infantry and an extra KV they could have broken the line.

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The KV-2 is just a "hoot" to play in WoT. Given a favorable match up it's 150mm gun can one shot many tanks. However, at range it is quite inaccurate and shell penetration is poor. It's armor too, is vulnerable to most German guns starting mid-war. Did I mention it is soo slow? Still, not many tanks that have that "hoot" goin' for them!

 
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A KV-1 model in a historic and cultural complex called the ‘Stalin Line’ near Minsk, restored by the Yakushevs family, the most famous “tank-hunters” in Belarus.
The KV-1 sports the names of Zinoviy Kolobanov’s crew, who held off a German armoured advance in 1941.

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About Zinoviy Kolobanov

Zinoviy Kolobanov

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
That would be like my KV in a CM scenario.
The first shot would take out the gun barrel leaving it helpless while for the next five minutes I watched hit after hit until the crew decided to bail out. :rolleyes:
 
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