Heavy tank q. Soviet heavy tanks KV series Armored hull and turret

Thanks to the creation of KV tanks ("Kliment Voroshilov"), the Soviet Union became the only state that had in 1941 mass quantity heavy tanks with anti-ballistic armor. The Germans called the KV a monster.

Searches and experiments

The main drawback of most tanks of the second half of the 30s was their weak armor, which was penetrated by fire from anti-tank guns and heavy machine guns.
The KV-1 was different from them. It was created in 1939 under the leadership of J. Ya. Kotin. The tank had a 76 mm gun and three 7.62 mm. machine gun. The tank crew is 5 people.
The first KVs underwent military tests during the Soviet-Finnish War, which became the first conflict where heavy tanks with shell-resistant armor were used. At that time, Soviet heavy KV tanks and multi-turret SMK and T-100 tanks, operating as part of the 20th Army, were tested at the front. tank brigade.

If in tank battles, which were in the Finnish War a rare occurrence, the newest vehicles did not take part, they turned out to be indispensable in breaking through enemy fortifications. The KV-1 withstood hits from almost any anti-tank gun shell. At the same time, the 76-mm gun turned out to be insufficiently powerful to combat enemy pillboxes. Therefore, already during the war, development of a tank with an enlarged turret and an installed 152 mm began on the basis of the KV-1. howitzer (future KV-2). At the same time, based on the experience of the Soviet-Finnish War, it was decided to abandon the creation of heavy multi-turret tanks, which turned out to be expensive and difficult to operate. The choice was finally made in favor of the KV.

Unmatched

As of June 1941, the KV could be considered one of the strongest heavy tanks in the world. In total, at the beginning of June 1941, there were 412 KV-1s in the Red Army units, very unevenly distributed among the troops.
There is a known case in June 1941 in the Rasseney area, when one KV-1 constrained the actions of a German division for almost two days. This KV was part of the 2nd Panzer Division, which caused a lot of trouble to the German troops in the first days of the war. Apparently having used up its fuel supply, the tank took up a position on the road near a swampy meadow. One German document noted:

“There were practically no means to cope with the monster. The tank cannot be bypassed; the surrounding area is marshy. It was impossible to transport ammunition, the seriously wounded were dying, they could not be taken out. An attempt to destroy the tank with fire from a 50-mm anti-tank battery from a distance of 500 meters led to heavy losses in crews and guns. The tank was not damaged, despite the fact that, as it turned out, it received 14 direct hits. All that remained were dents in the armor. When the 88-mm gun was brought to a distance of 700 meters, the tank calmly waited until it was placed in position and destroyed it. Attempts by sappers to blow up the tank were unsuccessful. The charges were insufficient for the huge tracks. Finally he fell victim to the trick. 50 German tanks feigned an attack from all sides to divert attention. Under cover, they managed to move it forward and camouflage the 88-mm gun from the rear of the tank. Of the 12 direct hits, 3 penetrated the armor and destroyed the tank."

Unfortunately, most of The KV was lost not due to combat reasons, but due to breakdowns and lack of fuel.

KV-1s

In 1942, production began of a modernized version - the KV-1s (high-speed), which was put into service on August 20, 1942. The tank's weight decreased from 47 to 42.5 tons due to a reduction in the thickness of the hull armor plates and the size of the turret. The tower is cast, acquired a slightly different appearance and was equipped with a commander's cupola. The armament remained similar to the KV-1. As a result, speed and maneuverability increased, but the armor protection of the tank decreased. It was planned to install a more powerful 85-mm cannon on the KV-1s (a similar prototype was preserved in Kubinka), but this tank did not go into production. Subsequently, on the basis of the KV-1s with an 85 mm cannon, the KV-85 was created, which, however, did not become widespread due to the switching of production to IS tanks. The soldiers nicknamed the tank "kvasok".

End of the road

In tank battles, at least until mid-1942, German troops could do little to oppose the KV-1. However, during the fighting, the tank's shortcomings also emerged - relatively low speed and maneuverability compared to the T-34. Both tanks were armed with 76 mm guns. True, the KV had more massive armor compared to the “thirty-four”. KV also suffered from frequent breakdowns. When moving, the tank destroyed almost any road, and not every bridge could support a 47-ton tank. The Germans acquired the Tiger heavy tank at the end of 1942, surpassing any heavy tank at that time in the war. And the KV-1 turned out to be practically powerless against the Tiger, armed with a long-barreled 88-mm cannon. The "Tiger" could hit KB at enormous distances, and a direct hit from an 88-mm projectile would disable any tank of that time. So, on February 12, 1943, near Leningrad, three Tigers knocked out 10 KB without damage on their part.

Since mid-1943, the KV-1 has been seen less and less on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War - mainly near Leningrad. However, the KV-1 served as the basis for the creation of a number of Soviet tanks and self-propelled guns. Thus, on the basis of the KV, the SU-152 was created, armed with 152 howitzer guns. To this day, only a few KV-1 units have survived in Russia, which have become museum exhibits.

The Soviet heavy tank KV-1 became a symbol of victory Soviet Union in World War II on par with the T-34. When he first appeared on the battlefield, he perplexed the Germans, turning out to be completely invulnerable to their weapons.

The Achilles heel of the steel monster was its unreliability, caused by rushed production without proper quality control. However, this tank instantly made German technology almost helpless, forced the hasty development of new ones and gave impetus to Soviet tank building.

History of creation

At the end of 1938, the design bureau of the Kirov plant in Leningrad began the development of a heavy tank protected by projectile armor. Initially, it was planned to create a multi-turreted vehicle with three turrets, as was customary in world practice at that time.

The result was a multi-turret QMS, named after Sergei Mironovich Kirov. At its base A.S. Ermolaev and N.L. Spirits were created experimental tank with one tower, less weight and dimensions. It turned out to be cheaper and easier to produce than QMS, while being more secure and fast.

In August 1939, the first tank, named KV in honor of Klim Voroshilov, left the gates of the Leningrad Kirov plant. The name remained that way until the creation of the KV-2, after which the KV was renamed the KV-1.

Design and layout

The classic layout with one turret made the new product lighter and smaller compared to multi-turret heavy tanks from other countries. At the same time, the armor protection was too tough only for the German 8.8 anti-aircraft guns used as anti-tank guns.

The KV became an innovative tank, combining in its design a classic layout, an individual torsion bar suspension, a diesel engine and anti-ballistic armor. Separately, the above solutions were applied to domestic and foreign tanks, but never all came together.

Hull and turret

The hull of the Soviet tank consisted of rolled armor plates connected by welding. Armor sheets with a thickness of 75, 40, 30, 20 millimeters were used. All vertical slabs had a thickness of 75 millimeters, the frontal ones were located at an angle to increase the reduced thickness of the armor.

The tower was also made using welded technology. From the inside, its shoulder straps were marked in thousandths, which made it possible to aim the gun in a horizontal plane for firing from a closed position.

After its appearance, the KV-1 turned out to be invulnerable to everyone German guns with the exception of 8.8 cm anti-aircraft guns. After reports of the first losses caused by penetration of armor in the second half of 1941, engineers decided to experiment and installed screens of 25 mm thick armor on the turrets and sides. Modernization brought the mass to 50 tons, which is why it was abandoned in August 1941.

In the front part of the hull there were a driver and a radio operator gunner. Above the latter there was a round hatch.

Additionally, an emergency hatch for the crew and small hatches for access to ammunition, fuel tanks and some components were located in the bottom of the hull.

The commander, gunner and loader were located inside the turret, and there was a round hatch above the commander.

Armament

Moving away from the concept of a two-turret tank, the developers combined anti-tank and anti-personnel weapons in one turret.

To combat enemy equipment, an L-11 cannon of 76.2 mm caliber was installed. Later it was replaced by the F-32, then by the ZIS-5.

To combat enemy personnel, the KV received a DT-29 machine gun of 7.62 mm caliber. One of them is paired with the gun and is located in the gun mantlet, the other is in the ball mount. They also provided an anti-aircraft machine gun, but most tanks did not receive them.

Engine, transmission, chassis

The tank was powered by a V-2K diesel engine developing 500 hp. Later the power was increased by 100 hp.

The manual transmission has become one of the main disadvantages. Very low reliability; moreover, there are frequent cases when new technology, which had just left the factory, was already found to have defects.

6 road wheels on each side received an individual torsion bar suspension, the travel of which was limited by special limiters acting on the balancers.

From above, each caterpillar rested on three support rollers. Initially they were rubberized, but later, due to a shortage of rubber, they became all-metal.

The KV's mobility turned out to be clearly insufficient, the vehicle developed 34 km/h on the highway, and noticeably less off-road due to the specific power of 11.6 hp/t.

Later, the lightweight KV-1S appeared, designed to correct the shortcomings of the KV-1 in the form of low reliability and poor mobility.

Modifications

Following the KV, tanks began to appear, created on the basis of solutions developed on it. In addition, the designers tried to reduce the number of critical flaws.

• The KV-2 is a heavy tank from 1940 with a huge turret, memorable only for its appearance. Armed with a 152 mm M-10 howitzer, designed to destroy enemy engineering structures such as bunkers. The howitzer easily broke through the armor of all German tanks.
• T-150 is a prototype from 1940 with armor increased to 90 mm.
• KV-220 - a prototype from 1940 with armor increased to 100 mm.
• KV-8 – flamethrower tank 1941, equipped with an ATO-41 or ATO-42 flamethrower, located in place of the ball mount for the course machine gun. Instead of the usual 76 mm caliber gun, it received a 45 mm caliber gun.
• KV-1S is a 1942 tank weighing 42.5 tons with reduced armor thickness and better mobility.
• KV-1K – tank of 1942 with missile weapons in the form of the KARST-1 system.

Combat use

In 1941 Soviet troops suffered defeat after defeat, suffered huge losses and retreated. However, the Klim Voroshilov tanks came as an unpleasant surprise to German troops, practically unable to hit them.

The invulnerability of Soviet heavy tanks allowed experienced and courageous crews to work miracles. The most famous battle took place on August 19, 1941. Then 5 KV were able to destroy 40 enemy tanks with their fire, and another 3 with a ram. The company was commanded by Z. G. Kolobanov, together with his crew he destroyed 22 tanks, while his tank received 156 hits from enemy guns.

At the same time, extreme unreliability, poor mobility and blindness of the crew caused by poor visibility were noted, which forced Soviet designers create new tanks. With the advent of the German heavy Tiger tanks, the KV armor suddenly lost its indestructibility and the slow, clumsy, half-blind tank turned into an easy target, often unable to even snarl in response.

Epilogue

Not only Russians, but also Germans highly appreciated the characteristics of the KV at the time of its appearance. The tank became the ancestor of single-turret heavy tanks with a classic layout, both well protected and armed.

Obviously, the dominance could not continue throughout the war as more advanced equipment appeared, but the KV-1 made a significant contribution to the victory in the Great Patriotic War and deservedly stands next to the T-34 in the list of legendary equipment.

Soviet heavy tank from World War II. Usually called simply “KV”: the tank was created under this name, and only later, after the appearance of the KV-2 tank, the KV of the first model was retrospectively given a digital index. Produced from August 1939 to August 1942. Participated in the war with Finland and the Great Patriotic War.

History of creation

The need to develop and create a heavy tank carrying projectile-proof armor was well understood in the USSR. Based on Russian military theory, such tanks were simply necessary to break through the enemy’s front and ensure a breakthrough or overcome fortified areas. Most armies of the developed countries of the world had their own theories and practices of overcoming powerful fortified enemy positions; experience in this matter was acquired during the First World War. Such modern fortified lines as, for example, the Maginot Line or the Mannerheim Line were considered even theoretically impregnable. There was even a misconception that the KV tank was created during the Finnish campaign specifically to break through Finnish long-term fortifications (the Mannerheim Line). In fact, the tank began to be created at the end of 1938, when it became finally clear that the concept of a multi-turreted heavy tank like the T-35 was a dead end. It was obvious that having a large number of towers was not an advantage. A gigantic size tank only make it heavier and do not allow the use of thick enough armor. The initiator of the design of the tank was the head of the ABTU of the Red Army, corps commander D. G. Pavlov.

At the end of the 1930s, attempts were made to create a tank of reduced size (compared to the T-35), but with thicker armor. However, the designers did not dare to completely abandon the use of several towers: it was assumed that one gun would fight infantry and suppress firing points, and the second must be anti-tank - to combat armored vehicles.

The new tanks designed within the framework of this concept (SMK and T-100) had two turrets, armed with 76 mm and 45 mm guns. And only as an experiment, they also created a smaller version of the QMS - with one tower. Due to this, the length of the machine was reduced (by two road wheels), which had a positive effect on the dynamic characteristics. Unlike its predecessor, the KV (as the experimental tank was called) was equipped with a diesel engine. The first copy of the tank was built at the Leningrad Kirov Plant (LKZ) in August 1939. Initially, the chief designer of the tank was A. S. Ermolaev, then N. L. Dukhov.

November 30, 1939 began Soviet-Finnish War. The military did not miss the chance to test new heavy tanks. The day before the start of the war (November 29, 1939), the SMK, T-100 and KV were sent to the front. They were transferred to the 20th Heavy Tank Brigade, armed with T-28 medium tanks.

The KV tank took on its first battle on December 17 during the breakthrough of the Khottinensky fortified area of ​​the Mannerheim Line.

KV crew in the first battle:

Lieutenant Kachekhin (commander)
-AND. Golovachev military technician 2nd rank (driver mechanic)
- Lieutenant Polyakov (gunner)
-TO. Ladle (driver mechanic, tester at the Kirov plant)
-A. I. Estratov (motor operator/loader, tester at the Kirov plant)
-P. I. Vasiliev (transmission operator/radio operator, tester at the Kirov plant)
The tank passed the battle test with honor: not a single enemy anti-tank gun could hit it. The only thing that upset the military was that the 76-mm L-11 gun was not strong enough to fight the bunkers. For this purpose it was necessary to design new tank KV-2, armed with a 152 mm howitzer.

According to the proposal of the GABTU, by a joint resolution of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated December 19, 1939 (the very day after the tests), the KV tank was adopted for service. As for the SMK and T-100 tanks, they also performed quite well (however, the SMK was blown up by a mine at the very beginning of hostilities), but were never accepted into service, since they were equipped with higher firepower less thick armor, had significant size and weight, as well as worse dynamic characteristics.

Production

Serial production of KV tanks started in February 1940 at the Kirov plant. In accordance with the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks dated June 19, 1940, the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ) was also ordered to begin production of HF. On December 31, 1940, the first KV was built at ChTZ. At the same time, the plant began construction of a special building for the assembly of HF.

For 1941, it was planned to produce 1,200 KV tanks of all modifications. Of these, 1000 pieces are at the Kirov plant. (400 KV-1, 100 KV-2, 500 KV-3) and another 200 KV-1 at ChTZ. However, only a few tanks were built at ChTZ before the start of the war. A total of 243 KV-1 and KV-2 were produced in 1940 (including 104 KV-2), and in the first half of 1941 - 393 (including 100 KV-2).

After the outbreak of war and the mobilization of industry, tank production at the Kirov plant increased significantly. The production of KV tanks was given priority, so the Leningrad Izhora and Metal plants, as well as other plants, joined the production of many components and assemblies for heavy tanks.

But already starting in July 1941, the evacuation of the LKZ to Chelyabinsk began. The plant is located on the territory of the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant. On October 6, 1941, the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant was renamed Chelyabinsk Kirov plant People's Commissariat of Tank Industry. This plant, which received the unofficial name "Tankograd", became the main manufacturer of heavy tanks and self-propelled guns during the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War.

Despite the difficulties associated with the evacuation and deployment of the plant in a new location, in the second half of 1941 the front received 933 KV tanks; in 1942, 2,553 of them were produced (including the KV-1s and KV-8).

In addition, in besieged Leningrad at plant No. 371 in 1942, at least 67 more KV-1s, armed with both F-32 and ZIS-5 cannons, were built from unused reserves of hulls and turrets and units supplied from ChKZ. Since these vehicles were only supplied for the needs of the Leningrad Front, cut off from the " Mainland", then they were not included in the GABTU reports. The total production of KV tanks, therefore, today can be estimated at 3539 tanks.

Tank design

For 1940, the serial KV-1 was a truly innovative design, embodying the most advanced ideas of the time: an individual torsion bar suspension, reliable ballistic armor, a diesel engine and one powerful universal gun within the framework of a classic layout. Although individual solutions from this set were quite often implemented previously in other foreign and domestic tanks The KV-1 was the first combat vehicle to embody their combination. Some experts consider the KV tank to be a landmark vehicle in world tank construction, which had a significant influence on the design of subsequent heavy tanks in other countries. The classic layout on a serial Soviet heavy tank was used for the first time, which allowed the KV-1 to receive the highest level of security and great modernization potential within this concept compared to the previous one serial model heavy tank T-35 and experimental vehicles SMK and T-100 (all multi-turret type). The basis of the classic layout is the division of the armored hull from bow to stern, successively into a control compartment, a fighting compartment and an engine-transmission compartment. The driver and gunner-radio operator were located in the control compartment, three other crew members were located in fighting compartment, which united middle part armored hull and turret. The gun, its ammunition and part of the fuel tanks were also located there. The engine and transmission were installed in the rear of the vehicle.

Armored hull and turret

The armored body of the tank was welded from rolled armor plates with a thickness of 75, 40, 30 and 20 mm. The armor protection is equally strong (armor plates with a thickness other than 75 mm were used only for horizontal armoring of the vehicle), and is projectile-resistant. The armor plates of the frontal part of the vehicle were mounted at rational angles of inclination. The serial HF turret was produced in three versions: cast, welded with a rectangular niche, and welded with a rounded niche. The thickness of the armor for welded turrets was 75 mm, for cast ones - 95 mm, since cast armor was less durable. In 1941, the welded turrets and side armor plates of some tanks were further strengthened - 25-mm armor screens were bolted onto them, and an air gap remained between the main armor and the screen, that is, this version of the KV-1 in fact received spaced armor. It is not entirely clear why this was done. The Germans began to create heavy tanks only in 1941 (the heavy tank did not find its application in the German blitzkrieg theory), so for 1941 even the standard armor of the KV-1 was, in principle, redundant (the KV armor was not affected by the standard 37-mm and 50-mm anti-tank guns Wehrmacht, but could still be penetrated by 88 mm, 105 mm and 150 mm guns). Some sources erroneously indicate that the tanks were produced with rolled armor 100 mm thick or more - in fact, this figure corresponds to the sum of the thickness of the main armor of the tank and the screens.

The decision to install “screens” was made at the end of June 1941, after the first reports of losses from German anti-aircraft guns, but already in August this program was discontinued, since the chassis could not withstand the weight of the vehicle, which had increased to 50 tons. This problem was later partially solved by installing reinforced cast road wheels. Shielded tanks were used on the North-Western and Leningrad fronts.

The front part of the turret with the embrasure for the gun, formed by the intersection of four spheres, was cast separately and welded with the rest of the armored parts of the turret. The gun mantlet was a cylindrical segment of bent rolled armor plate and had three holes - for a cannon, a coaxial machine gun and a sight. The turret was mounted on a shoulder strap with a diameter of 1535 mm in the armored roof of the fighting compartment and was secured with grips to avoid stalling in the event of a strong roll or overturning of the tank. The turret shoulder straps were marked in thousandths for firing from closed positions.

The driver was located centrally in the front part of the tank's armored hull, and to his left was the radio operator's workplace. Three crew members were located in the turret: to the left of the gun there were workstations for the gunner and loader, and to the right for the tank commander. The crew entered and exited through two round hatches: one in the turret above the commander’s workplace and one on the roof of the hull above the gunner-radio operator’s workplace. The hull was also equipped with a bottom hatch for emergency escape by the crew of the tank and a number of hatches, hatches and technological openings for loading ammunition, access to the necks of fuel tanks, and other components and assemblies of the vehicle.

Armament

The first production tanks were equipped with a 76.2 mm L-11 cannon with 111 rounds of ammunition (according to other information - 135 or 116). It is interesting that the original project also included a coaxial 45-mm 20K cannon, although the armor penetration of the 76-mm L-11 tank gun was practically in no way inferior to the 20K anti-tank gun. Apparently, strong stereotypes about the need to have a 45-mm anti-tank gun along with a 76-mm were explained by its higher rate of fire and larger ammunition load. But already on the prototype aimed at the Karelian Isthmus, the 45-mm cannon was dismantled and a DT-29 machine gun was installed instead. Subsequently, the L-11 gun was replaced by a 76-mm F-32 gun with similar ballistics, and in the fall of 1941 - by a ZIS-5 gun with longer 41.6 caliber barrel.

The ZIS-5 gun was mounted on axles in the turret and was completely balanced. The turret itself with the ZIS-5 gun was also balanced: its center of mass was located on the geometric axis of rotation. The ZIS-5 gun had vertical aiming angles from -5 to +25 degrees; with a fixed turret position, it could be aimed in a small sector of horizontal aiming (the so-called “jewelry” aiming). The shot was carried out using a manual mechanical trigger.

The gun's ammunition capacity was 111 rounds of unitary loading. The shots were placed in the turret and along both sides of the fighting compartment.

The KV-1 tank was equipped with three 7.62-mm DT-29 machine guns: a coaxial one with a gun, as well as a forward and aft one in ball mounts. The ammunition load for all diesel engines was 2772 rounds. These machine guns were installed in such a way that, if necessary, they could be removed from the mounts and used outside the tank. Also, for self-defense, the crew had several hand grenades F-1 and was sometimes equipped with a pistol for firing flares. Every fifth KV was equipped with an anti-aircraft turret for DT, but in practice anti-aircraft machine guns were rarely installed.

Engine

The KV-1 was equipped with a four-stroke V-shaped 12-cylinder diesel engine V-2K with a power of 500 hp. With. (382 kW) at 1800 rpm, subsequently, due to the general increase in the mass of the tank after installing heavier cast turrets, screens and eliminating the shavings of the edges of the armor plates, the engine power was increased to 600 hp. With. (441 kW). The engine was started by an ST-700 starter with a power of 15 hp. With. (11 kW) or compressed air from two 5-liter tanks in the fighting compartment of the vehicle. The KV-1 had a dense layout, in which the main fuel tanks with a volume of 600-615 liters were located in both the combat and engine compartments. In the second half of 1941, due to a shortage of V-2K diesel engines, which at that time were produced only at plant No. 75 in Kharkov (in the autumn of the same year, the process of evacuating the plant to the Urals began), KV-1 tanks were produced with four-stroke V-shaped 12-cylinder carburetor M-17T engines with a power of 500 hp. With. In the spring of 1942, a decree was issued to convert all KV-1 tanks in service with M-17T engines back to V-2K diesel engines - the evacuated plant No. 75 established their production in sufficient quantities at the new location.

Transmission

The KV-1 tank was equipped with a mechanical transmission, which included:

Multi-disc main clutch of dry friction “steel on ferodo”;
-five-speed tractor-type gearbox;
- two multi-disc onboard clutches with “steel on steel” friction;
- two onboard planetary gearboxes;
-band floating brakes.
All transmission control drives are mechanical. When used by troops greatest number It was the defects and extremely unreliable operation of the transmission group that caused criticism and complaints to the manufacturer, especially in overloaded wartime KV tanks. Almost all authoritative printed sources recognize that one of the most significant shortcomings of the KV series tanks and vehicles based on it is the low reliability of the transmission as a whole.

Chassis

The vehicle's suspension is individual torsion bar with internal shock absorption for each of the 6 stamped gable support rollers of small diameter on each side. Opposite each road wheel, travel limiters of the suspension balancers were welded to the armored body. The drive wheels with removable pinion gears were located at the rear, and the sloth wheels were located at the front. The upper branch of the caterpillar was supported by three small rubberized stamped support rollers on each side. In 1941, the technology for the production of support and support rollers was transferred to casting; the latter lost rubber tires due to the general shortage of rubber at that time. The caterpillar tension mechanism is screw; each caterpillar consisted of 86-90 single-ridge tracks with a width of 700 mm and a pitch of 160 mm.

Electrical equipment

The electrical wiring in the KV-1 tank was single-wire, the second wire being the armored hull of the vehicle. The exception was the emergency lighting circuit, which was two-wire. The sources of electricity (operating voltage 24 V) were a GT-4563A generator with a RPA-24 relay-regulator with a power of 1 kW and four series-connected 6-STE-128 batteries with a total capacity of 256 Ah. Electricity consumers included:

Electric motor for turning the turret;
-external and internal lighting of the vehicle, illumination devices for sights and scales of measuring instruments;
-outer sound signal and a signaling chain from the landing force to the vehicle crew;
-control and measuring instruments (ammeter and voltmeter);
-communication means - radio station and tank intercom;
- electrics of the motor group - starter ST-700, starting relay RS-371 or RS-400, etc.

Surveillance equipment and sights

The general visibility of the KV-1 tank back in 1940 was assessed in a memo to L. Mehlis from military engineer Kalivoda as extremely unsatisfactory. The vehicle commander had the only viewing device in the turret - the PTK panorama. The driver-mechanic in combat carried out observation through a viewing device with a triplex, which was equipped with an armored shutter. This viewing device was mounted in an armored hatch on the front armor plate along the longitudinal center line of the vehicle. In a quiet environment, this plug hatch moved forward, providing the driver with a more convenient direct view from his workplace.

For firing, the KV-1 was equipped with two gun sights - the telescopic TOD-6 for direct fire and the periscopic PT-6 for firing from closed positions. The head of the periscope sight was protected by a special armored cap. To ensure the possibility of fire in the dark, the sight scales had illumination devices. The forward and stern DT machine guns could be equipped with a PU sight from sniper rifle with threefold magnification.

Means of communication

Communications included the radio station 71-TK-3, later 10R or 10RK-26. Due to shortages, a number of tanks were equipped with 9P aviation radio stations. The KV-1 tank was equipped with an internal intercom TPU-4-Bis for 4 subscribers.

Radio stations 10Р or 10РК were a set of a transmitter, receiver and umformers (single-armature motor-generators) for their power supply, connected to an on-board 24 V power supply.

10P simplex tube shortwave radio station operating in the frequency range from 3.75 to 6 MHz (wavelengths from 80 to 50 m, respectively). When parked, the communication range in telephone (voice) mode reached 20-25 km, while on the move it decreased somewhat. A greater communication range could be obtained in telegraph mode, when information was transmitted by a telegraph key using Morse code or another discrete coding system. Frequency stabilization was carried out by a removable quartz resonator; there was no smooth frequency adjustment. 10P allowed communication on two fixed frequencies; to change them, another quartz resonator of 15 pairs was used in the radio set.

The 10RK radio station was a technological improvement of the previous 10P model; it became simpler and cheaper to produce. This model now has the ability to smoothly select the operating frequency; the number of quartz resonators has been reduced to 16. The communication range characteristics have not undergone significant changes.

The TPU-4-Bis tank intercom made it possible to negotiate between members of the tank crew even in a very noisy environment and connect a headset (headphones and laryngophones) to a radio station for external communication.

TTX KV-1 arr. 1940

Classification: heavy tank
-Combat weight, t: 47.5
-Layout diagram: classic
-Crew, people: 5

Dimensions:

Case length, mm: 6675
-Case width, mm: 3320
-Height, mm: 2710
-Clearance, mm: 450

Reservations:

Armor type: rolled homogeneous steel
-Body forehead (top), mm/deg.: 75 / 30 deg.
-Body forehead (middle), mm/deg.: 60 / 70 deg.
-Body forehead (bottom), mm/deg.: 75 / 25 deg.
-Hull side, mm/deg.: 75 / 0 deg.
-Hull stern (top), mm/deg.: 60 / 50 deg.
-Hull stern (bottom), mm/deg.: 75 / 0-90 deg.
-Bottom, mm: 30-40
- Housing roof, mm: 30-40
-Tower forehead, mm/deg.: 75 / 20 deg.
-Gun mask, mm/deg.: 90
-Tower side, mm/deg.: 75 / 15 deg.
- Tower feed, mm/deg.: 75 / 15 deg.
-Tower roof, mm: 40

Weapons:

Caliber and brand of gun: 76 mm L-11, F-32, F-34, ZIS-5
-Gun type: rifled
-Barrel length, calibers: 41.6 (for ZIS-5)
-Cannon ammunition: 90 or 114 (depending on modification)
-VN angles, degrees: ?7…+25 degrees.
-Sights: telescopic TOD-6, periscopic PT-6
-Machine guns: 3 x DT

Mobility:

Engine type: V-shaped 12-cylinder four-stroke diesel liquid cooled
-Engine power, l. pp.: 600
-Highway speed, km/h: 34
-Highway range, km: 150-225
- Cruising range over rough terrain, km: 90-180
-Specific power, l. s./t: 11.6
-Suspension type: torsion bar
-Specific pressure on the ground, kg/sq.cm: 0.77

KV-1 arr. 1940
Classification:	heavy tank
Combat weight, t:
Layout diagram:	Classical
Crew, persons:
Years of production:
Years of operation:
Number of issued, pcs.:
Main operators:	Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Case length, mm:
Case width, mm:
Height, mm:
Ground clearance, mm:
Booking
Armor type:	Rolled steel homogeneous
Body forehead (top), mm/deg.:
Body forehead (middle), mm/deg.:
Body forehead (bottom), mm/deg.
Hull side, mm/deg.:
Hull stern (top), mm/deg.:
Hull rear (bottom), mm/deg.:
Bottom, mm:
Housing roof, mm:
Turret front, mm/deg.:
Gun mask, mm/deg.:
Tower side, mm/deg.:
Tower feed, mm/deg.:
Tower roof, mm:
Armament
Caliber and brand of gun:	76 mm L-11, F-32, F-34, ZIS-5
Gun type:	Rifled
Barrel length, calibers:
Gun ammunition:	90 or 114 (depending on version)
Angles VN, degrees:
	Telescopic TOD-6, periscopic PT-6
Machine guns:
Mobility
Engine's type:	V-shaped 12-cylinder four-stroke diesel liquid cooled
Engine power, l. With:
Highway speed, km/h:
Cruising range on the highway, km:
Cruising range over rough terrain, km:
Specific power, l. s./t:
Suspension type:	Individual torsion bar
Specific ground pressure, kg/cm²:

Tank design

Armored hull and turret

Armament

Engine

Transmission

Chassis

Electrical equipment

Surveillance equipment and sights

Means of communication

Modifications of the KV tank

Operating experience

In the service of the Wehrmacht

Interesting Facts

Surviving copies

KV-1 in computer games

KV-1(Klim Voroshilov) - Soviet heavy tank from the Second World War. Usually called simply “KV”: the tank was created under this name and only later, after the appearance of the KV-2 tank, the KV of the first model was retrospectively given a digital index. Produced from March 1940 to August 1942. He took part in the war with Finland and the Great Patriotic War.

History of the KV-1

The need to create a heavy tank carrying projectile-proof armor was understood only in the USSR. According to Russian military theory, such tanks were necessary to break into the enemy’s front and organize a breakthrough or overcome fortified areas. In fact, not a single army in the world (except the USSR) had either the theory or practice of overcoming powerful fortified enemy positions. Such fortified lines as, for example, the Maginot Line or the Mannerheim Line were considered even theoretically insurmountable. There is a misconception that the tank was created during the Finnish campaign to break through Finnish long-term fortifications (the Mannerheim Line). In fact, the tank began to be designed at the end of 1938, when it finally became clear that the concept of a multi-turreted heavy tank like the T-35 was a dead end. It was obvious that having a large number of towers was not an advantage. And the gigantic dimensions of the tank only make it heavier and do not allow the use of thick enough armor. The initiator of the creation of the tank was the head of the ABTU of the Red Army, corps commander D. G. Pavlov.

At the end of the 1930s, attempts were made to develop a tank of reduced size (compared to the T-35), but with thicker armor. However, the designers did not dare to abandon the use of several towers: it was believed that one gun would fight infantry and suppress firing points, and the second must be anti-tank - to combat armored vehicles.

The new tanks created within the framework of this concept (SMK and T-100) had two turrets, armed with 76 mm and 45 mm guns. And only as an experiment, they also developed a smaller version of the QMS - with one tower. Due to this, the length of the vehicle was reduced (by two road wheels), which had a positive effect on the dynamic characteristics. Unlike its predecessor, the KV (as the experimental tank was called) received a diesel engine. The first copy of the tank was manufactured at the Leningrad Kirov Plant (LKZ) in August 1939. Initially, the leading designer of the tank was A. S. Ermolaev, then N. L. Dukhov.

On November 30, 1939, the Soviet-Finnish War began. The military did not miss the opportunity to test new heavy tanks. The day before the start of the war (November 29, 1939), the SMK, T-100 and KV went to the front. They were transferred to the 20th Heavy Tank Brigade, equipped with T-28 medium tanks.

KV crew in the first battle:

• Lieutenant Kachekhin (commander)
• I. Golovachev military technician 2nd rank (driver mechanic)
• Lieutenant Polyakov (gunner)
• K. Kovsh (driver mechanic, tester at the Kirov plant)
• A. I. Estratov (motor operator/loader, tester at the Kirov plant)
• P. I. Vasiliev (transmission operator/radio operator, tester at the Kirov plant)

The tank successfully passed combat tests: not a single enemy anti-tank gun could hit it. The only thing that upset the military was that the 76-mm L-11 gun was not strong enough to fight the bunkers. For this purpose, it was necessary to create a new KV-2 tank, armed with a 152 mm howitzer.

According to the proposal of the GABTU, by a joint resolution of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated December 19, 1939 (the very day after the tests), the KV tank was adopted for service. As for the SMK and T-100 tanks, they also showed themselves in a rather favorable light (however, the SMK was blown up by a mine at the beginning of hostilities), but were not accepted for service, since with higher firepower they carried less thick armor , possessed large sizes and weight, as well as worse dynamic characteristics.

Serial production of KV tanks began in February 1940 at the Kirov plant. In accordance with the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks dated June 19, 1940, the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ) was also ordered to begin production of HF. On December 31, 1940, the first KV was assembled at ChTZ. At the same time, the plant began construction of a special building for the assembly of HF.

For 1941, it was planned to produce 1,200 KV tanks of all modifications. Of these, 1000 pieces are at the Kirov plant. (400 KV-1, 100 KV-2, 500 KV-3) and another 200 KV-1 at ChTZ. However, only a few tanks were assembled at ChTZ before the start of the war. A total of 243 KV-1 and KV-2 were built in 1940, and 393 in the first half of 1941.

After the start of the war and the mobilization of industry, the production of tanks at the Kirov plant increased significantly. The production of KV tanks was given priority, so the Leningrad Izhora and Metal plants, as well as other plants, joined in the production of many components and assemblies for heavy tanks.

However, starting from July 1941, the evacuation of the LKZ to Chelyabinsk began. The plant is located on the territory of the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant. On October 6, 1941, the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant was renamed the Chelyabinsk Kirov Plant of the People's Commissariat of Tank Industry. This plant, which received the unofficial name "Tankograd", became the main manufacturer of heavy tanks and self-propelled guns during the Great Patriotic War.

Despite the difficulties associated with the evacuation and deployment of the plant in a new location, in the second half of 1941 the front received 933 KV tanks; in 1942, 2,553 of them were built (including the KV-1s).

In August 1942, the KV-1 was discontinued and replaced by a modernized version, the KV-1s. One of the reasons for the modernization was, oddly enough, the powerful armor of the tank. A total of 2,769 KV-1 tanks were produced.

Tank design

For 1940, the production KV-1 was a truly innovative design that embodied the most advanced ideas of the time: an individual torsion bar suspension, reliable ballistic armor, a diesel engine and one powerful universal weapon within the framework of a classic layout. Although individual solutions from this set had been repeatedly implemented previously on other foreign and domestic tanks, the KV-1 was the first combat vehicle to embody their combination. Some experts consider it as a landmark vehicle in world tank construction, which had a significant influence on the development of subsequent heavy tanks in other countries. The classic layout on a serial Soviet heavy tank was used for the first time, which allowed the KV-1 to obtain the highest level of security and great modernization potential within the framework of this concept compared to the previous production model of the T-35 heavy tank and the experimental SMK and T-100 vehicles (all - multi-tower type). The basis of the classic layout is the division of the armored hull from bow to stern, successively into a control compartment, a fighting compartment and an engine-transmission compartment. The driver and gunner-radio operator were located in the control compartment, three other crew members had jobs in the fighting compartment, which combined the middle part of the armored hull and the turret. The gun, its ammunition and part of the fuel tanks were also located there. The engine and transmission were installed at the rear of the vehicle.

Armored hull and turret

The armored body of the tank was welded from rolled armor plates with a thickness of 75, 40, 30 and 20 mm. The armor protection is equally strong (armor plates with a thickness other than 75 mm were used only for horizontal armoring of the vehicle), and is projectile-resistant. The armor plates of the frontal part of the vehicle were installed at rational angles of inclination. The serial HF turret was produced in three versions: cast, welded with a rectangular niche, and welded with a rounded niche. The thickness of the armor for welded turrets was 75 mm, for cast ones - 95 mm, since cast armor was less durable. In 1941, the welded turrets and side armor plates of some tanks were further strengthened - 25-mm armor screens were bolted onto them, and an air gap remained between the main armor and the screen, that is, this version of the KV-1 actually received spaced armor. It is not entirely clear why this was done. The Germans began to develop heavy tanks only in 1941 (the heavy tank was not used in the German blitzkrieg theory), so for 1941 even the standard armor of the KV-1 was, in principle, redundant. Some sources erroneously indicate that the tanks were produced with rolled armor with a thickness of 100 mm or more - in fact, this figure corresponds to the sum of the thickness of the main armor of the tank and the screens.

The front part of the turret with the embrasure for the gun, formed by the intersection of four spheres, was cast separately and welded with the rest of the armored parts of the turret. The gun mantlet was a cylindrical segment of bent rolled armor plate and had three holes - for a cannon, a coaxial machine gun and a sight. The turret was mounted on a shoulder strap with a diameter of 1535 mm in the armored roof of the fighting compartment and was secured with grips to prevent stalling in case of a strong roll or overturning of the tank. The turret shoulder straps were marked in thousandths for firing from closed positions.

The driver was located in the center in the front part of the armored hull of the tank, to the left of him was the radio operator's workplace. Three crew members were located in the turret: to the left of the gun were the workstations of the gunner and loader, and to the right was the tank commander. The crew entered and exited through two round hatches: one in the turret above the commander’s workplace and one on the roof of the hull above the gunner-radio operator’s workplace. The hull also had a bottom hatch for emergency escape by the crew of the tank and a number of hatches, hatches and technological openings for loading ammunition, access to the necks of fuel tanks, and other components and assemblies of the vehicle.

Armament

The first production tanks were equipped with a 76.2 mm L-11 cannon with 111 rounds of ammunition (according to other sources - 135). It is interesting that the original project also included a coaxial 45-mm 20K cannon, although the armor penetration of the 76-mm L-11 tank gun was practically not inferior to the 20K anti-tank gun. Apparently, strong stereotypes about the need to have a 45-mm anti-tank gun along with a 76-mm were explained by its higher rate of fire and larger ammunition load. But already on the prototype, aimed at the Karelian Isthmus, the 45-mm cannon was removed and a DT-29 machine gun was installed instead. Subsequently, the L-11 gun was replaced by a 76-mm F-32 gun, and in the fall of 1941 - by a ZIS-5 gun with a longer barrel length of 41.6 calibers.

The ZIS-5 gun was mounted on axles in the turret and was completely balanced. The turret itself with the ZIS-5 gun was also balanced: its center of mass was located on the geometric axis of rotation. The ZIS-5 gun had vertical aiming angles from −5 to +25°; with a fixed turret position, it could be aimed in a small sector of horizontal aiming (the so-called “jewelry” aiming). The shot was fired using a manual mechanical trigger.

The gun's ammunition capacity was 111 rounds of unitary loading. The shots were placed in the turret and along both sides of the fighting compartment.

The KV-1 tank was equipped with three 7.62-mm DT-29 machine guns: coaxial with a gun, as well as a forward and aft one in ball mounts. The ammunition load for all diesel engines was 2772 rounds. These machine guns were mounted in such a way that, if necessary, they could be removed from the mounts and used outside the tank. Also, for self-defense, the crew had several F-1 hand grenades and was sometimes equipped with a pistol for firing flares. Every fifth KV was equipped with an anti-aircraft turret for DT, but in practice anti-aircraft machine guns were rarely installed.

Engine

The KV-1 was equipped with a four-stroke V-shaped 12-cylinder diesel engine V-2K with a power of 500 hp. With. (382 kW) at 1800 rpm, subsequently, due to the general increase in the mass of the tank after installing heavier cast turrets, screens and eliminating the shavings of the edges of the armor plates, the engine power was increased to 600 hp. With. (441 kW). Starting the engine was ensured by an ST-700 starter with a power of 15 hp. With. (11 kW) or compressed air from two 5-liter tanks in the fighting compartment of the vehicle. The KV-1 had a dense layout, in which the main fuel tanks with a volume of 600-615 liters were located in both the combat and engine compartments. In the second half of 1941, due to a shortage of V-2K diesel engines, which were then produced only at plant No. 75 in Kharkov (in the fall of that year, the process of evacuating the plant to the Urals began), KV-1 tanks were produced with four-stroke V-shaped 12- M-17T cylinder carburetor engines with a power of 500 hp. With. In the spring of 1942, a decree was issued to convert all KV-1 tanks in service with M-17T engines back to V-2K diesel engines - the evacuated plant No. 75 established their production in sufficient quantities at the new location.

Transmission

The KV-1s tank was equipped with a mechanical transmission, which included:

• multi-disc main clutch of dry friction “steel on ferodo”;
• five-speed tractor-type gearbox;
• two multi-disc side clutches with steel-on-steel friction;
• two onboard planetary gearboxes;
• band floating brakes.

All transmission control drives are mechanical. When used by the troops, the greatest number of complaints and complaints to the manufacturer were caused by defects and extremely unreliable operation of the transmission group, especially in overloaded wartime KV tanks. Almost all authoritative printed sources recognize that one of the most significant shortcomings of the KV series tanks and vehicles based on it is the low reliability of the transmission as a whole.

Chassis

The vehicle's suspension is individual torsion bar with internal shock absorption for each of the 6 stamped gable support rollers of small diameter on each side. Opposite each road wheel, travel limiters of the suspension balancers were welded to the armored body. The drive wheels with removable pinion gears were located at the rear, and the sloth wheels were located at the front. The upper branch of the caterpillar was supported by three small rubberized stamped support rollers on each side. In 1941, the technology for manufacturing support and support rollers was transferred to casting; the latter lost rubber tires due to the general shortage of rubber at that time. The caterpillar tension mechanism is screw; each caterpillar consisted of 86-90 single-ridge tracks with a width of 700 mm and a pitch of 160 mm.

Electrical equipment

The electrical wiring in the KV-1 tank was single-wire, the second wire being the armored hull of the vehicle. The exception was the emergency lighting circuit, which was two-wire. The sources of electricity (operating voltage 24 V) were a GT-4563A generator with a RPA-24 relay-regulator with a power of 1 kW and four series-connected 6-STE-128 batteries with a total capacity of 256 Ah. Electricity consumers included:

• turret rotation electric motor;
• external and internal lighting of the vehicle, illumination devices for sights and scales of measuring instruments;
• external sound signal and signaling circuit from the landing force to the vehicle crew;
• instrumentation (ammeter and voltmeter);
• means of communication - radio station and tank intercom;
• electrician of the motor group - starter ST-700, starting relay RS-371 or RS-400, etc.

Surveillance equipment and sights

The general visibility of the KV-1 tank back in 1940 was assessed in a memo to L. Mehlis from military engineer Kalivoda as extremely unsatisfactory. The vehicle commander had the only viewing device in the turret - the PTK panorama. In combat, the driver conducted observation through a viewing device with a triplex, which was protected by an armored flap. This viewing device was installed in an armored hatch on the front armor plate along the longitudinal center line of the vehicle. In a quiet environment, this plug hatch could be pulled forward, providing the driver with a more convenient direct view from his workplace.

For firing, the KV-1 was equipped with two gun sights - the telescopic TOD-6 for direct fire and the periscopic PT-6 for firing from closed positions. The head of the periscope sight was protected by a special armored cap. To ensure the possibility of fire in the dark, the sight scales had illumination devices. The forward and stern DT machine guns could be equipped with a PU sight from a sniper rifle with a threefold magnification.

Means of communication

Communications included the radio station 71-TK-3, later 10R or 10RK-26. A number of tanks were equipped with 9P aviation radios due to shortages. The KV-1 tank was equipped with an internal intercom TPU-4-Bis for 4 subscribers.

Radio stations 10Р or 10РК were a set of a transmitter, receiver and umformers (single-armature motor-generators) for their power supply, connected to an on-board 24 V power supply.

10P was a simplex tube shortwave radio station operating in the frequency range from 3.75 to 6 MHz (wavelengths from 80 to 50 m, respectively). When parked, the communication range in telephone (voice) mode reached 20-25 km, while on the move it decreased somewhat. A greater communication range could be obtained in telegraph mode, when information was transmitted by a telegraph key using Morse code or another discrete coding system. Frequency stabilization was carried out by a removable quartz resonator; there was no smooth frequency adjustment. 10P allowed communication on two fixed frequencies; to change them, another quartz resonator of 15 pairs included in the radio set was used.

The 10RK radio station was a technological improvement of the previous 10P model; it became simpler and cheaper to produce. This model now has the ability to smoothly select the operating frequency; the number of quartz resonators has been reduced to 16. The communication range characteristics have not undergone significant changes.

The TPU-4-Bis tank intercom made it possible to negotiate between members of the tank crew even in a very noisy environment and connect a headset (headphones and laryngophones) to a radio station for external communication.

Modifications of the KV tank

The KV became the founder of a whole series of heavy tanks.

The first “descendant” of the KV was the KV-2 tank, armed with a 152-mm M-10 howitzer mounted in a high turret. KV-2 tanks were intended to be heavy self-propelled guns, as they were intended to fight bunkers, but the battles of 1941 showed that they were an excellent means of fighting German tanks - their frontal armor the shells of any German tank did not penetrate, and the KV-2 shell, as soon as it hit any German tank, was almost guaranteed to destroy it. The KV-2 could only fire from a standing position. They began to be produced in 1940, and soon after the start of the Great Patriotic War their production was curtailed.

In 1940, it was planned to put other KV series tanks into production. As an experiment, by the end of the year, two KVs with 90 mm armor were produced (one with a 76 mm F-32 cannon, the other with an 85 mm F-30 cannon) and two more with 100 mm armor (with similar weapons). These tanks received the common designation KV-3. But things did not go further than the production of prototypes.

In April 1942, the KV-8 flamethrower tank was created on the basis of the KV. The hull remained unchanged; a flamethrower (ATO-41 or ATO-42) was installed in the turret. Instead of a 76-mm cannon, it was necessary to install a 45-mm cannon mod. 1934 with a camouflage casing that reproduces the external contours of a 76-mm cannon (the 76-mm cannon and flamethrower did not fit in the turret).

In August 1942, it was decided to begin production of the KV-1s (“s” means “high-speed”). The leading designer of the new tank is N. F. Shamshurin.

The tank was made lighter, including by thinning the armor (for example, the sides of the hull were thinned to 40 mm, the front of the cast turret was thinned to 82 mm). She still remained impenetrable to German guns. But on the other hand, the mass of the tank decreased to 42.5 tons, and the speed and cross-country ability increased significantly.

The KV series also includes the KV-85 tank and the SU-152 (KV-14) self-propelled gun, however, they were created on the basis of the KV-1s and therefore are not considered here.

Operating experience

Apart from the essentially experimental use of the KV in the Finnish campaign, the tank went into battle for the first time after Germany’s attack on the USSR. The very first meetings of German tank crews with the KV put them in a state of shock. The tank was practically not penetrated by German tank guns (for example, a German sub-caliber projectile from a 50-mm tank gun penetrated the side of the KV from a distance of 300 m, and the forehead only from a distance of 40 m). Anti-tank artillery was also ineffective: for example, armor-piercing projectile 50 mm anti-tank gun The Pak 38 made it possible to hit KVs in favorable conditions at a distance only less than 500 m. Fire from 105 mm howitzers and 88 mm anti-aircraft guns was more effective.

However, the tank was “raw”: the novelty of the design and the haste of introduction into production affected it. The transmission, which could not withstand the loads of a heavy tank, caused a lot of trouble - it often broke down. And if in open battle the KV really had no equal, then in conditions of retreat many KVs, even with minor damage, had to be abandoned or destroyed. There was no way to repair or evacuate them.

Several KVs - abandoned or damaged - were recovered by the Germans. However, captured HFs were used for a short time - the lack of spare parts affected them and the same frequent breakdowns occurred.

The HF caused conflicting assessments by the military. On the one hand - invulnerability, on the other - insufficient reliability. And with cross-country ability, not everything is so simple: the tank had difficulty negotiating steep slopes, and many bridges could not support it. In addition, it completely destroyed any road - wheeled vehicles could no longer move behind it, which is why the KV was always placed at the end of the column.

In general, according to contemporaries, the KV did not have any special advantages over the T-34. The tanks were equal in firepower, both were slightly vulnerable to anti-tank artillery. At the same time, the T-34 had better dynamic characteristics, was cheaper and easier to produce, which is important in wartime.

The disadvantages of the KV also include the poor location of the hatches (for example, there is only one hatch in the turret, in case of a fire it was impossible for three of us to quickly get out through it), as well as “blindness”: the tankers had an unsatisfactory view of the battlefield (however, this was typical for all Soviet tanks the beginning of the war).

In order to eliminate numerous complaints, the tank was modernized in the summer of 1942. By reducing the thickness of the armor, the weight of the vehicle was reduced. Various major and minor deficiencies were eliminated, including “blindness” (a commander’s cupola was installed). A new version was named KV-1s.

The creation of the KV-1s was a justified step in the conditions of the unsuccessful first stage of the war. However, this step only brought the KV closer to medium tanks. The army never received a full-fledged (by later standards) heavy tank, which would differ sharply from the average in terms of combat power. Such a step could be arming the tank with an 85 mm cannon. But things did not go further than experiments, since ordinary 76-mm tank guns in 1941-1942 easily fought with any German armored vehicles, and there was no reason to strengthen weapons.

However, after the appearance of the Pz. in the German army. VI (“Tiger”) with an 88-mm cannon, all KVs became obsolete overnight: they were unable to fight German heavy tanks on equal terms. So, for example, on February 12, 1943, during one of the battles to break the blockade of Leningrad, three Tigers of the 1st company of the 502nd heavy tank battalion destroyed 10 KV. At the same time, the Germans had no losses - they could shoot the KV from a safe distance. The situation in the summer of 1941 was repeated exactly the opposite.

KVs of all modifications were used until the very end of the war. But they were gradually replaced by more advanced heavy IS tanks. Ironically, last operation, in which HF were used in large quantities, became the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line in 1944. The commander of the Karelian Front, K. A. Meretskov, personally insisted that his front receive the KV (Meretskov commanded the army in the Winter War and then literally fell in love with this tank). The surviving KVs were collected literally one at a time and sent to Karelia - where the career of this machine once began.

By that time, a small number of KVs were still used as tanks. Basically, after the turret was dismantled, they served as recovery vehicles in units equipped with the new heavy IS tanks.

In the service of the Wehrmacht

During the Great Patriotic War, captured KV-1s were in the service of the Wehrmacht under the designations:

• Panzerkampfwagen KV-IA 753(r) - KV-1,
• (Sturm)Panzerkampfwagen KV-II 754(r) - KV-2,
• Panzerkampfwagen KV-IB 755(r) - KV-1s.

• The crew of the KV tank near the city of Raseiniai (in Lithuania) in June 1941 held back the Kampfgruppe for 24 hours ( battle group) 6th Panzer Division of W. Kempff, equipped mainly with light Czech tanks Pz.35(t). This battle was described by the commander of the 6th motorized infantry brigade of the division, E. Rous. During the battle on June 24, one of the KVs turned left and took a position on the road parallel to the direction of advance of Kampfgruppe Seckendorf, finding itself behind Kampfgruppe Routh. This episode became the basis for the legend about the entire 4th German Panzer Group of Colonel General Gepner being stopped by one KV. War log of the 11th tank regiment The 6th TD reads: “The Kampfgruppe Routh bridgehead was held. Before noon, as a reserve, the reinforced company and the headquarters of the 65th tank battalion were pulled back along the left route to the crossroads northeast of Raseiny. Meanwhile, a Russian heavy tank blocked the communications of Kampfgruppe Routh. Because of this, communication with Kampfgruppe Routh was interrupted for the entire afternoon and subsequent night. The 8.8 Flac battery was sent by the commander to fight this tank. But her actions were as unsuccessful as the 10.5 cm batteries, which fired according to the instructions of the forward observer. In addition, the attempt of the assault group of sappers to blow up the tank failed. It was impossible to approach the tank due to heavy machine gun fire." The lone KV in question fought against Kampfgruppe Seckedorf. After a night raid by sappers, which only scratched the tank, they attacked it a second time with the help of an 88-mm anti-aircraft gun. A group of 35(t) tanks distracted the KV with its movement, and the 8.8 cm FlaK crew scored six hits on the tank.
• Z. K. Slyusarenko describes the battle of the KV under the command of Lieutenant Kakhkhar Khushvakov from the 1st heavy tank battalion of the 19th tank regiment of the 10th tank division. Since the checkpoint failed, the tank, at the request of the crew, was left as a camouflaged firing point near Staro-Konstantinov (Southwestern Front). The tankers fought the enemy for two days. They set fire to two German tank, three tanks with fuel, destroyed many Nazis. The Nazis doused the bodies of the dead hero tankers with gasoline and burned them.
• It was on the KV that senior lieutenant Zinoviy Kolobanov (1st tank division), in one battle on August 20, 1941 (post-war journalism erroneously mentioned the date August 19) near Gatchina (Krasnogvardeysk) who destroyed 22 German tanks and two anti-tank guns, and Lieutenant Semyon Konovalov (15th Tank Brigade) - 16 tanks and 2 armored vehicles enemy.
• At the beginning of the war, the KV-1 tank received the nickname “Gespenst” among the Germans prone to mysticism (translated from German). ghost), since the shells of the standard 37-mm Wehrmacht anti-tank gun most often did not even leave dents on its armor.
• IN original version text famous song“The tanks rumbled on the field...” there are the lines: “Farewell, dear Marusya, And you, KV, my brother...”

Surviving copies

Total k today V different countries About 10 KV-1 tanks and a number of copies of its various modifications have survived in the world.

In Russia, KV-1 and KV-2 tanks can be seen in the Central Museum of the Armed Forces in Moscow, and an experienced KV-1s with an 85-mm gun can be seen in the Kubinka Tank Museum (Moscow region). As monuments, KV-1 was installed in the village of Ropsha (KV-1), at the memorial in the village. Maryino (near Kirovsk Leningrad region, 2 KV-1 tanks and 1 KV-1s tank) and the village of Parfino, Novgorod region (KV-1 with a KV-1s turret). The KV-85 tank (a further development of the KV-1s) was installed in St. Petersburg near the station. metro station "Avtovo". The turret of the KV-1 tank, converted into a firing point, is installed in the Sestroretsky Frontier exhibition complex, the city of Sestroretsk (Resort district of St. Petersburg).

The Finnish Tank Museum Parola displays two KV-1s captured by the Nazis and handed over to their Finnish ally - a shielded tank with an F-32 cannon and a tank with a ZIS-5 cannon and a cast turret (both with Finnish markings and swastikas). The KV-1 with the F-32 cannon is in the tank museum in Saumur (France). The KV-1 with a cast turret is located at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in the USA. And another KV-1 with a cast turret is on display at the Bovington Tank Museum (UK).

In the spring of 2011, another “Klim Voroshilov” was discovered at the bottom of the Neva in the Kirov district of the Leningrad region, which drowned during the battle for the “Nevsky Piglet” in 1941, and on November 16, 2011 it was raised to the surface. The operation was carried out by soldiers of the 90th separate special search battalion of the Western Military District together with employees of the Museum of the Battle of Leningrad. KV-1 near Nevsky Piglet.

KV-1 in computer games

The KV-1 can be seen in the following games:

• "World of Tanks";
• "R.U.S.E.";
• "Panzer General";
• "Panzer Front";
• domestic game " Sudden Strike 3: Arms for Victory" (in two modifications: KV-1 and KV-1 "Shielded");
• domestic game “Behind Enemy Lines”; “Behind Enemy Lines 2: Brothers in Arms”; “Behind Enemy Lines 2: Desert Fox”; Behind Enemy Lines 2: Assault;
• domestic game "Blitzkrieg";
• in the modification “Liberation 1941-45” (Liberation mod) for Operation Flashpoint: Resistance;
• in the tank simulator game “Steel Fury: Kharkov 1942” (the tank is added by an unofficial developer patch);
• in the wargame “Front Line: Battle for Kharkov” ( world name: "Achtung Panzer: Kharkov 1943");
• in the game "Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45"
• In the game "Close Combat III: The Russian Front" and its remake "Close Combat: Cross of Iron"

It is worth noting that the reflection tactical and technical characteristics armored vehicles and the features of their use in battle in many computer games are often far from reality.

Serial heavy tank KV-1 with a welded turret and L-11 cannon. 1940

Breakthrough tank. Developed in 1939 at SKB-2 of the Kirov plant (Leningrad) as a single-turret version experienced tank QMS. Adopted by the Red Army by Decree of the KO at the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR No. 443ss dated December 19, 1939. Produced at the Kirov Plant, Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant and Chelyabinsk Kirov Plant. From February 1940 to October 1943, 4771 units were manufactured.

DESIGN AND MODIFICATIONS KV-1 arr. 1940 – first production version. The hull and turret are welded. box-shaped Cast turrets were installed on parts of the tanks. Combat weight 47 tons. Dimensions 6675x3320x2710 mm. V-2K engine. Armament: 76 mm L-11 cannon and 4 DT machine guns (1 spare). Ammunition 111 rounds. 3024 rounds. Armor 30…75 mm. Some of the tanks had shielded armor. Crew 5 people 142 units produced.

Serial tank KV-1 produced in 1941 with an F-32 cannon. Judging by the rectangular additional fuel tanks on the fender, this vehicle was manufactured after the start of the war

A column of repaired KV-1 tanks on the way to the front. Leningrad, spring 1942

KV-1 arr. 1941 - 76-mm F-32 cannon with a barrel length of 31.5 calibers, Since October 1941. – 76-mm ZIS-5 gun with a barrel length of 41.5 caliber. Additional fuel tanks on the fenders. Some tanks have turrets of a simplified design, shielded armor, and M-17 carburetor engines.

KV-2 – welded box tower big size. The first 46 cars had a different shape from the subsequent ones. Combat weight 52 tons. Dimensions 6950x3320x3250 mm Armament: 152 mm M-10 howitzer and three DT machine guns. Ammunition 36 rounds of separate loading and 3087 rounds of ammunition Crew 6 people. 213 units produced.

KV-1S is a streamlined cast turret with a commander's cupola. The weight of the power transmission and chassis units has been reduced. Reduced armor thickness. New gearbox introduced. 1048 units produced.

KV-1 tank with a simplified turret, manufactured at the Kirov plant in Leningrad in the fall of 1941.

The crew of the shielded KV-1 tank receives a combat mission, Northwestern Front, 1941.

KB-8S (object 239) – KV-1S with a new turret and 85 mm D-5T cannon. The turret is cast, streamlined, with a commander's cupola. Ammunition 70 rounds and 3276 rounds. The ball mounting of the forward machine gun was eliminated. Combat weight 46 tons. Dimensions: 3493x3250x2800 mm. Crew 4 people 148 units produced.

As of June 1, 1941, the troops had 504 KV tanks. Of this amount, most were in the Kiev Special Military District - 278 vehicles. The Western Special Military District had 116 KV tanks, the Baltic Special - 59, the Odessa - 10. The Leningrad Military District had 6 KV tanks, the Moscow - 4, the Volga - 19, the Oryol - 8, the Kharkov - 4. Of this number 75 KV-1 and 9 KV-2 were in operation (of which 2 and 1, respectively, required medium repairs). From June 1 to June 21, another 41 KV tanks were sent to the troops from the plant.

In the very first days of the Great Patriotic War, both the obvious advantages and disadvantages of the new heavy tanks, as well as all the shortcomings in combat training and organizational structure tank troops Red Army. In 1941, the KV could hit any tank of Hitler's Wehrmacht, while remaining practically invulnerable. The most effective means of combating it were 88-mm anti-aircraft guns and aircraft. Significant amount These combat vehicles were abandoned on the battlefield due to breakdowns of a technically deficient transmission.

Heavy tank KV-2 (pre-production model of the U-7 with the first MT-2 turret) before testing. September 1940

In July-September 1941 greatest number There were KV tanks on the Leningrad Front, since it then received almost all the KVs produced by the Kirov Plant. Indeed, not a single front could afford to have separate battalions KV tanks. while there were several of them near Leningrad, not counting the KVs as part of other tank units. For example, on September 11, Major Zhitnev’s battalion arrived as part of the 42nd Army, which had 29 KV tanks and the 51st tank battalion (16 KV, 1 T-34, 12 BT, 9 T-26). Nevertheless, they were unable to radically change the situation - at the end of September 1941, Leningrad found itself in a blockade ring. The fighting here took on a positional character.

In other sectors of the Soviet-German front, KV operations were even less active, since the number of tanks lost in battles grew faster than their arrival from industrial plants - the Kirov plant was under blockade and the production of KVs in Chelyabinsk was just beginning.

The first Chelyabinsk KV-1 tanks with ZIS-5 guns took part in the battles near Moscow in the fall of 1941, given the difficult situation on the outskirts of the capital. The Supreme High Command headquarters decided to send most of the new heavy tanks to the defense of Moscow. According to the existing states, the tank brigades had a company of heavy KV tanks - seven or ten vehicles. In addition, the separate tank battalions included a company of KV tanks - ten vehicles.

In addition to tank brigades and battalions, KV tanks were sent directly to the commanders of the armored and mechanized forces of the fronts to replenish units already leading fighting. For example, in May 1942, 128 KV tanks were shipped to replenish the troops - 28 to the Bryansk, 20 to the Kalinin, 30 to the Crimean fronts and 40 to the South-Western direction. At the beginning of July 1942, the formation of separate KV tank battalions of 15 vehicles and separate tank companies 10 cars each.

Tank KV-1 with a cast turret and hull, produced by plant No. 200. Spring 1942

Tank KV-1 with a cast turret manufactured by UZTM. Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow, January 1942

The use of HF in the spring of 1942 on the Crimean Front and near Kharkov was unsuccessful. Heavy tanks in the mud large quantities failed due to gearbox failures. At the same time, as an infantry support tank, the KV had no equal - its thick armor and large silhouette allowed infantrymen to reliably take cover behind the tank during an attack. In addition, when moving in first gear, the speed of the HF was the same as that of the soldiers going on the attack.

By the end of 1942, most of the KV-1 tanks were lost. They remained in units for quite a long time in stable sectors of the Soviet-German front - the Leningrad, Volkhov and Karelian fronts. A small number of KV-1s took part in the battles on the Kursk Bulge in the summer of 1943, and individual tanks fought until the fall of 1944.

TACTICAL AND TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE KV-1 TANK mod. 1941

COMBAT WEIGHT, t: 47.5.

CREW, people: 5.

OVERALL DIMENSIONS, mm: length – 6900, width – 3352, height – 2710, ground clearance – 450.

ARMAMENT: 1 ZIS-5 cannon model 1941, 76 mm caliber, 4 DT machine guns model 1929, 7.62 mm caliber,

AMMUNITION: 114 rounds, 3024 rounds. AIMING DEVICES: telescopic sight TMFD-7, periscopic panoramic sight PT-4-7.

RESERVATION, mm: front and side of the hull – 75, stern – 60..75, roof and bottom – 30,..40, turret – 75.

ENGINE: V-2K, 12-cylinder, four-stroke, diesel, V-shaped, liquid cooling; power 500 hp (368 kW) at 1800 rpm, displacement 38,880 cm3

TRANSMISSION: multi-disc dry friction main clutch, five-speed gearbox, final clutches, planetary final drives.

CHASSIS: six track rollers with internal shock absorption on board, three rubberized support rollers, a guide wheel, a rear drive wheel with a removable ring gear (pinion engagement); individual torsion bar suspension; each caterpillar has 87 - 90 tracks with a width of 700 mm.

MAX. SPEED, km/h: 34.

POWER RESERVE, km: 250.

OBSTACLES TO OVERCOME: ascent angle, degrees. – 36, ditch width, m – 2.7, wall height, m ​​– 0.87, ford depth, m – 1.6.

COMMUNICATIONS: radio station 71-TK-Z, intercom TPU-4 bis.

KV-1 tanks of the 116th Tank Brigade. Western Front, April 1942. The Shchors tank has a cast turret, while the Bagration tank has a welded turret.

Tank KV-1 in Vyborg. Leningrad Front, 26th Guards Breakthrough Tank Regiment, June 23, 1944

KV-1S tanks began to enter service with the troops in November - December 1942. They equipped special tank units - Guards breakthrough tank regiments, which had 214 personnel and 21 KV-1S or Churchill tanks. The title "Guards" was assigned to these regiments immediately, in accordance with the directive of the Supreme High Command Headquarters. These regiments were attached to rifle and tank formations and were intended to break through enemy defenses.

The breakthrough regiments received their baptism of fire on the Don and Voronezh fronts at the end of 1942. KV-1S tanks were also actively used in the summer campaign of 1943. For example, the 6th Guards breakthrough tank regiment in May-June 1943 operated as part of the troops of the North Caucasian Front. Several regiments also took part in the battle of Kursk. Thus, the Central Front had 70 KV tanks, and the Voronezh Front had 105, which was only 5% of the total number of tanks on these two fronts. So a noticeable contribution to the defeat of the enemy in Battle of Kursk KV tanks were not brought in. The 1st Guards Tank Regiment of the breakthrough took part in the breakthrough of the so-called “Mius Front” in July–August 1943, suffering on the first day of the offensive heavy losses, amounting to up to 50% of combat vehicles - two KV tanks burned out, two were shot down and six were blown up by mines.

From September 1943, KV-85 heavy tanks began to enter service with the Guards breakthrough tank regiments.

Heavy tank KV-1S manufactured at the end of 1942 at the Kubinka training ground

The last Guards breakthrough tank regiment was formed in January 1944, and by the fall all these regiments were disbanded or reorganized into Guards heavy tank regiments receiving IS tanks. The KV-1S and KV-85 that remained in service were transferred to other breakthrough regiments and to ordinary tank regiments, in which they took part in the combat operations of the Great Patriotic War until mid-1944, and individual vehicles until May 1945.

In addition, KV-1S were used as command vehicles in heavy self-propelled artillery regiments.

KV tanks served as the basis for the creation of self-propelled artillery mounts and flamethrower tanks. In 1944, some of the vehicles were converted into evacuation tractors.

KV-1 tanks on the attack. Kalinin Front, January 1943

KV-1S from the Soviet Polarnik tank column before the battle. 5th Guards Breakthrough Tank Regiment, Don Front, December 1942.

Heavy tank KV-85. 1943

On the march is a KV-1S of the 6th Guards Breakthrough Tank Regiment. April 1943

TACTICAL AND TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE KV-1 S TANK

COMBAT WEIGHT, t: 42.5.

CREW, people: 5.

OVERALL DIMENSIONS, mm: length – 695Q, width – 3250, height – 2640, ground clearance – 450.

ARMAMENT: 1 ZIS-5 cannon model 1941, 76 mm caliber, 4 DT machine guns model 1929, 7.62 mm caliber

AMMUNITION: 114 rounds, 3087 rounds.

AIMING DEVICES: telescopic sight 10T, periscopic panoramic sight PT-4-7.

RESERVATION, mm: front and side of the hull - 75, stern - 40...75, roof and bottom - 30,..40, turret - 82.

ENGINE: V-2K, 12-cylinder, four-stroke, diesel, V-shaped, liquid cooling; power 500 hp (368 kW) at 1800 rpm, displacement 38,880 cm #179;.

TRANSMISSION: multi-disc main dry friction clutch, eight-speed gearbox with a range multiplier (8+2), side clutches, planetary final drives.

CHASSIS: six track rollers on board, three support rollers, a idler wheel, a rear drive wheel with a removable ring gear (pinion engagement); individual torsion bar suspension; each caterpillar has 88 - 89 tracks with a width of 608 mm,

MAX. SPEED, km/h: 43.

POWER RESERVE, km: 200.

OBSTACLES TO OVERCOME: ascent angle, degrees. – 36, ditch width, m – 2.7, wall height, m ​​– 1, ford depth, m -1.6.

COMMUNICATIONS: radio station 9P or 10P, intercom TPU-4 bis.