The Russian Monster By KD

 

Although the limelight is often stolen by the more famous T-34 and KV1, a more rare, but no less notable Russian tank should also be given its fair share of time on the stage of history. If not for its performance, then definately for its more unique aspects.

In 1938 the Russian army wanted a tank that could take out bunkers and other strong points. The result was a huge box shaped turret and gun mounted on the KV1 chassis and in only 2 weeks the KV2 was born and prototypes were rolling out of the factory for testing.

In 1940 the fully fledged KV2 was unleashed onto the battlefield and sent straight into the Finnish Winter War with high hopes. It was ostensibly a self-propelled gun, or assault gun, designed as a bunker buster with its 152mm Howitzer, but it was also used as a heavy tank in its own right and this is where it's many failings really became apparent. It had not just one achilles heel, but many.

Although reasonably effective at the start of the Finnish war taking out fixed points, its poor top speed of 28kms (17mph) an hour became an issue, especially when combined with the huge target presented by the overly large turret and slow traverse speed. It suffered a large number of mechanical breakdowns and even though the gun could, at times, be devastating against fixed targets, such as bunkers and static tanks, the turret would often jam, or become totally inoperative due to the turret ring being destroyed simply from the gun recoil.

However, in one rare tank battle, at the Battle of Raseiniai, the gods smiled on a lone KV2. The German army was not only stalled in its advance but suffered serious losses. One KV2 held up the entire 6th Panzer division and by the end of the battle had destroyed 24 tanks. But this alone was not enough to save the mighty KV2.

The failings became too much to bear and the lack of mobility, engine failures, turret seizures and large turret silhouette condemned the KV2 to a limited run of only 334 tanks being built. Compared to the great success of other Russian tanks, it was an utter failure.

As the Germans fought on against Stalin, they siezed any KV2s they found and used them until they broke down, which often didn't take long, before abandoning them. Viewing them just as poorly as their original makers and a waste of resources to repair. In the end, the KV2 looked intimidating and it seemed good on paper, but fell far short when put into the fierce heat of battle.

Specifications
KV2 - Kliment Voroshilov 2 tank
Designer Zh. Kotin, TsKB-2
Crew 6
Weight 52 tonnes
Main armament 152 mm M-10T howitzer (20 rounds)
Armour    60–110 mm (2.4–4.3 in)
Secondary armament 2× DT machine guns (2,079 rounds)
Powerplant  1 x V2-K-12 cylinder diesel 550 hp
Dimensions length overall 6.670 m (21 ft 10.6 in); Width 3.350 m (10 ft 11.9 in); height 3.250 m (10 ft 8.0 in).
Performance maximum speed 28 km/h (17 mph); road range 140 km (87 mi)