![]() Initially known as Little Turret and Big turret, the 76-mm-armed tank was designated as the KV-1 Heavy Tank and the 152 mm howitzer one as KV-2 Heavy Artillery Tank. One of the rush projects to meet the request put the howitzer in a new turret on one of the KV tanks. During the War, the Soviets found it difficult to deal with the concrete bunkers used by the Finns and a request was made for a tank with a large howitzer. In 1939, the production of 50 KVs was ordered. The KV's heavy armour proved highly resistant to Finnish anti-tank weapons, making it more difficult to stop. The KV outperformed the SMK and T-100 designs. The smaller hull and single turret enabled the designer to install heavy frontal and turret armour while keeping the weight within manageable limits.Ībandoned KV-2, June 1941When the Soviets entered the Winter War, the SMK, KV and a third design, the T-100, were sent to be tested in combat conditions. Two of these, named after the People's Defence Commissioner were ordered alongside a single SMK. The designers of the SMK independently drew up a single-turreted variant and this received approval at the highest level. One of the main competing designs was the SMK, which in its final form had two turrets, mounting the same combination of 76.2 mm and 45 mm weapons. All had heavy armour, torsion-bar suspension, wide tracks, and were of welded and cast construction. Several competing designs were offered, and even more were drawn up prior to reaching prototype stage. ![]() Thus, the requirements for KV-1 were heavily skewed towards a potentially not-so agile, but heavy tank that was supposed to dominate the field. The doctrine of Soviet deep battle called for the existence of relatively immobile, but heavily fortified, siege tanks that were supposed to keep pressure on enemy troops during the siege phase. The Spanish Civil War demonstrated the need for much heavier armor on tanks, and was the main influence on Soviet tank design just prior to World War II. The T-35 conformed to the 1920s notion of a 'breakthrough tank' with very heavy firepower and armour protection, but suffered from poor mobility. Later in the war, the KV series became a base for the development of the IS (IS - Josif Stalin) series of tanks.Īfter disappointing results with the multi-turreted T-35 heavy tank, Soviet tank designers started drawing up replacements. 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 well) in all practical respects. When the KV-1 appeared, it outclassed the French Char B1, the only other heavy tank in operational service in the world at that time. Prior to Operation Barbarossa (the German invasion of the USSR), about 500 of the over 22,000 tanks then in Soviet service were of the KV-1 type. ![]() Until better guns were developed by the Germans it was often the case that the only way to defeat a KV was with a point-blank shot to the rear. They were almost completely immune to the 3.7 cm KwK 36 and howitzer-like, short barreled 7.5 cm KwK 37 guns mounted respectively on the early Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks fielded by the invading German forces. The KV series were known for their extremely heavy armour protection during the early part of the war, especially during the first year of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The Kliment Voroshilov (KV) tanks were a series of Soviet heavy tanks named after the Soviet defense commissar and politician Kliment Voroshilov and used by the Red Army during World War II.
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