One tank against a tank division. How one Soviet tank fought for two days against a Wehrmacht tank division. Experience in combat use

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

Searches and experiments

The main disadvantage of most tanks of the second half of the 30s was weak armor, which was penetrated by fire 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 HF passed military tests during the Soviet-Finnish War, which became the first conflict where heavy tanks with ballistic 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 in Finnish war were a rare occurrence, newest cars 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 tank 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 of the German documents 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.

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 was cast, acquired a slightly different appearance and was equipped 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 (similar prototype 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.

KV-1 - Soviet heavy tank from the Great Patriotic 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 August 1939 to August 1942. Took part in the war with Finland and the Great Patriotic War. The abbreviation KV stands for Kliment Voroshilov.

Tank KV-1 - video

The need to create a heavy tank carrying projectile-proof armor was well understood 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. Most armies of the developed countries of the world had their own theories and practices of overcoming powerful fortified enemy positions; experience in this was acquired during the First World War. Such modern fortified lines as, for example, the Maginot Line or the Siegfried Line were considered even theoretically insurmountable. There was 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 beginning of V.O.V, not a single German anti-tank gun and not a single German tank could knock out the KV-1,The KV-1 could only be destroyed with the help of 105 mm howitzers and 88 mm anti-aircraft guns.

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, KV (as it was called experimental tank) 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)
- 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 the worst dynamic characteristics.

Production

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 139 KV-1 and 104 KV-2 were built in 1940, and 393 (including 100 KV-2) 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, therefore the production of many components and assemblies for heavy tanks The Leningrad Izhora and Metal plants, as well as other plants, joined. In addition, in October, the military accepted three experimental KVs: 1 T-150 and 2 T-220.

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 and KV-8). In August 1942, the KV-1 was discontinued and replaced by a modernized version, the KV-1s. One of the reasons for modernization was heavy weight tank and the unreliability of its transmission. A total of 1 prototype (U-0) and 3162 were produced. serial tank KV-1, 204 KV-2 and 102 KV-8, as well as 1 T-150 and 2 T-220. Total 3472 KV tanks.

Besides, in besieged Leningrad at plant No. 371 from November 1941 to 1943, at least 67 more KV-1s (No. S-001 - S-067), armed with both F-32 and ZIS guns, were assembled from unused reserves of hulls and turrets and units supplied from ChKZ -5. Since these vehicles were only supplied for the needs of the Leningrad Front, cut off from the “Mainland”, they were not included in the GABTU reports. The total production of KV tanks, therefore, today can be estimated at 3539 tanks.

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 have been repeatedly implemented previously in 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 the world tank building, which has had significant influence for 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 get the most high level 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-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 had jobs in 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 the second half of 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. This was done to enhance protection against German 88 mm anti-aircraft guns. The Germans began to develop heavy tanks only in 1941 (heavy tank in German theory the blitzkrieg was not used), therefore, 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 of the Wehrmacht, but could be penetrated by 88-mm, 105-mm and 150-mm mm guns). 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 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 curtailed because chassis could not withstand the weight of the machine, which increased to 50 tons. This problem was later partially overcome 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 prevent stalling in case of a strong roll or overturning of the tank. Inside, 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.

Shot down near the Venev prison soviet tank KV-1. The tank belonged to the 32nd Tank Brigade and was destroyed on November 27, 1941 during the battle for the city. At least 20 hits of various calibers are visible on the right side of the turret, and the gun barrel is also shot through. The barrel was specially pierced by tanker German Bix, apparently from the 37-mm cannon of the Pz III tank, due to the fact that there was no other way to stop the tank. The fate of the tank crew is unknown.

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 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 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 with similar ballistics, 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.

Attack of Soviet KV-1 tanks of the Stalingrad Front with infantry support

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 general increase the mass of the tank, after installing heavier cast turrets, screens and canceling the planing 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-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 in the military greatest number It was the defects and extremely unreliable operation of the transmission group that caused complaints 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.

A unit of Soviet machine gunners before the battle. Behind the line of soldiers are two Soviet heavy tanks KV-1, project 1942, late production series. Author's title of the photo: “Penal Battalion.”

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 rechargeable batteries grade 6-STE-128 with a total capacity of 256 Ah. Electricity consumers included:

— electric motor for turning the tower;
— external and internal lighting of the vehicle, illumination devices for sights and scales measuring instruments;
— external sound signal and alarm 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.

Soviet tank KV-1 moves in the forest

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 commander of the vehicle had a viewing device in the turret - a PTK panorama, which had a 2.5-fold magnification and a field of view of 26 degrees, an onboard periscope and a viewing slit.

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, as well as a periscope. 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 dark time days, the scales of the sights 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 radios. 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 manufacture. 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 installed in high tower. The 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 was not pierced by shells from any German tank, but by the KV-2 shell , as soon as it hit any German tank, it 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 they produced one KV (T-150) with 90 mm armor (with a 76 mm F-32 cannon) and two more (T-220) with 100 mm armor (one with a 76 mm F-32 cannon , the other with an 85-mm F-30 cannon). But things did not go further than the production of prototypes. In October 1941, all of them were equipped with standard KV-1 turrets with an F-32 cannon and departed for the front.

In September 1941, 4 KV-1 tanks (including one after repair) were equipped with a flamethrower. It was placed in the frontal part of the hull in a small annex instead of a front-facing machine gun. The rest of the weapons remained unchanged. 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 and rear of the hull were thinned to 60 mm, the front of the cast turret was thinned to 82 mm). It 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.

In 1941-1942, a missile modification of the tank was developed - the KV-1K, equipped with the KARST-1 system (short artillery missile system tank).

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.

German sappers are building a bridge over a failed Soviet KV-1 tank. Vehicle manufactured in May 1941 from the 27th Tank Regiment of the 14th Tank Division of the 7th Mechanized Corps of the Western Front. Initially, this tank in May 1941 he was sent to the Kharkov Armored School, and with the outbreak of war, as part of the tank battalion of the Kharkov BTU, he arrived in the 14th Tank Division. According to the “Report on the movement of the material part of the 27th TP of the 14th TD” on July 15, 1941, “ KV-M tank the first tank battalion, en route from repairs to the Vitebsk area along the Vitebsk highway, failed with the bridge.”

Combat use experience

Apart from the essentially experimental use of the KV in the Finnish campaign, the tank went into battle for the first time after the German attack on the USSR. The very first meetings German tank crews with KV they were put into 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 vertical side of the KV from a distance of 300 m, and the inclined forehead only from a distance of 40 m). Anti-tank artillery was also ineffective: for example, armor-piercing projectile 50 mm anti-tank Pak guns 38 made it possible to hit KVs in favorable conditions at a distance of 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 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. On the other hand, the tank performed excellently on the battlefield, when organizing tank ambushes and counterattacks of German mechanized columns.

In general, according to some 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.

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 difficult 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 didn’t go further than experiments, since the usual 76-mm tank guns in 1941-1942 they easily fought against any German armored vehicles, and there was no reason to strengthen their 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, the last operation in which HFs were used in large numbers was 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.

Thanks to the creation of the KV tanks ("Kliment Voroshilov"), the Soviet Union became the only state that in 1941 had large quantities of heavy tanks with shell-resistant armor. The Germans called the KV a monster. Searches and experiments The main disadvantage of most tanks in the second half of the 30s was 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 Tank Brigade, were tested at the front. While the latest vehicles did not take part in tank battles, which were a rare occurrence in the Finnish War, 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. Unrivaled 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 of a modernized version began - KV-1s (high-speed) , put into service on August 20, 1942. The weight of the tank decreased from 47 to 42.5 tons due to a decrease in the thickness of the hull armor plates and the size of the turret. The turret was 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.

This episode is described in detail in the memoirs of Colonel Erhard Routh, whose group tried to destroy a Soviet tank! The 6th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht fought for 48 hours with a single Soviet KV-1 tank (Klim Voroshilov). First, the fifty-ton KV-1 shot and crushed with its tracks a convoy of 12 supply trucks that was heading towards the Germans from the captured city of Raiseniai. After aimed shots destroyed an artillery battery!

The Germans, of course, returned fire, but to no avail. The anti-tank gun shells did not even leave a dent on its armor - the Germans, amazed by this, later gave the KV-1 tanks the nickname “Ghost”! Even 150-mm howitzers could not penetrate the KV-1’s armor. True, Routh's soldiers managed to immobilize the tank by exploding a shell under its track. But “Klim Voroshilov” had no intention of leaving anywhere.

He took up a strategic position on the only road leading to Raiseniai, and delayed the division’s advance for two days (the Germans could not bypass him, because the road passed through swamps where army trucks and light tanks got stuck).

Finally, by the end of the second day of the battle, Routh managed to shoot the tank with anti-aircraft guns. But, when his soldiers cautiously approached the steel monster, the tank’s turret suddenly turned in their direction - apparently, the crew was still alive. Only a grenade thrown into the tank hatch put an end to this incredible battle...

Erhard Routh fought on the Eastern Front, passing through Moscow, Stalingrad and Kursk, and ended the war as commander of the 3rd Panzer Army and with the rank of colonel general. Of the 427 pages of his memoirs, directly describing fighting, 12 are dedicated to a two-day battle with a single Russian tank at Raseiniai. Routh was clearly shocked by this tank.

Erhard Routh: “Although the tank had not moved since the battle with the anti-tank battery, it turned out that its crew and commander had nerves of iron. They calmly watched the approach of the anti-aircraft gun, without interfering with it, since while the gun was moving, it did not pose any threat to the tank. In addition, the closer the anti-aircraft gun is, the easier it will be to destroy it.

A critical moment came in the duel of nerves when the crew began to prepare the anti-aircraft gun to fire. It was time for the tank crew to act. While the gunners, terribly nervous, were aiming and loading the gun, the tank turned the turret and fired first! Every projectile hit its target. The heavily damaged anti-aircraft gun fell into a ditch, several crew members died, and the rest were forced to flee. Machine-gun fire from the tank prevented the removal of the gun and the collection of the dead. The failure of this attempt, on which great hopes were pinned, was very unpleasant news for us. The optimism of the soldiers died along with the 88 mm gun. Our soldiers did not have the best day, chewing canned food, since it was impossible to bring hot food.”

The most amazing thing in this battle is the behavior of four tankers, whose names we do not know and will never know. They created the Germans more problems, than the entire 2nd Panzer Division, to which, apparently, the KV belonged. If the division delayed the German offensive for one day, then the only tank delayed it for two. And all this time the crew waited.

All five combat episodes - defeating a convoy of trucks, destroying an anti-tank battery, destroying an anti-aircraft gun, shooting at sappers, last Stand with tanks - in total it hardly took even an hour. The rest of the time (48 hours!) the KV crew wondered from which side and in what form they would be destroyed next time. Try to at least roughly imagine such an expectation.

Moreover, if on the first day the KV crew could still hope for the arrival of their own, then on the second, when their own did not come and even the noise of the battle at Raseinaya died down, it became clearer than clear: the iron box in which they had been roasting for the second day would soon enough turn into their common coffin. They took it for granted and continued to fight!

Erhard Routh: “Witnesses to this deadly duel wanted to get closer to check the results of their shooting. To their great amazement, they discovered that only 2 shells penetrated the armor, while the remaining 5 88-mm shells only made deep gouges in it. We also found 8 blue circles marking where 50mm shells hit. The result of the sappers' sortie was serious damage to the track and a shallow gouge on the gun barrel. But we did not find any traces of hits from shells from 37-mm cannons and PzKW-35t tanks.

Driven by curiosity, our "Davids" climbed onto the defeated "Goliath" in a vain attempt to open the tower hatch. Despite all efforts, its lid did not budge. Suddenly the barrel of the gun began to move, and our soldiers ran away in horror. Only one of the sappers retained his composure and quickly shoved hand grenade into the hole made by the shell in the lower part of the turret. There was a dull explosion and the hatch cover flew off to the side. Inside the tank lay the bodies of the brave crew, who had previously only received injuries. Deeply shocked by this heroism, we buried them with full military honors. They fought until their last breath, but it was just one small drama of the great war!

And here is another feat of the tanker:

Destroy 22 tanks in 30 minutes. The feat of tanker Kolobanov.

It all went like this:
In the harsh silence
There is a heavy tank,
Disguised in the fishing line,
Enemies are coming in droves
Iron idols,
But he takes the fight
Zinoviy Kolobanov.

These poems are just a small excerpt from a poem that was written in September 1941 by the poet Alexander Gitovich in honor of the commander of the 3rd tank company of the 1st tank battalion of the 1st tank division, senior lieutenant Zinoviy Kolobanov. A month before this, on August 20, 1941, the tank crew, commanded by 30-year-old Kolobanov, destroyed 22 German tank. In total, during this day, 5 tanks of Kolobanov’s company knocked out 43 enemy tanks. In addition, they were destroyed artillery battery, a passenger car and up to two companies of Nazi infantry.

This happened precisely in those days about which a strong opinion had developed: Soviet troops at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War were only retreating, without offering serious resistance to the enemy. The heroic achievements of Zinovy ​​Kolobanov and his subordinates are designed to dispel this myth - the Red Army fought the Nazi-German invaders with all its might in the summer of 1941.

Divisional commander's order: “Fight to the death!”

At the end of August 1941, Kolobaev’s 3rd tank company defended the approaches to Leningrad in the area of ​​the city of Krasnogvardeysk. Every day, every hour was “worth its weight in gold” - from northern capital Military enterprises and civilians were evacuated. On August 19, Z. Kolobaev received a personal order from the division commander: to block three roads that lead to the city from Luga, Volosovo and Kingisepp. Protecting three roads with five tanks - only he could cope with this. By that time, the tanker had gone through the Finnish war, burned in the tank three times, but each time returned to duty.

Kliment Voroshilov KV-1 tanks against German Pz.Kpfw.35(t)

There is a diagram of that very battle.

The position of Kolobanov's KV-1 heavy tank was at a height with clay soil, at a distance of about 150 m from a fork in the road, near which two birch trees grew, called “Landmark No. 1”, and about 300 m from the intersection marked “Landmark No. 2” " The length of the section of road being viewed is about 1000 m, 22 tanks can easily be placed on it with a traveling distance between tanks of 40 m.

The choice of a place to fire in two opposite directions (this position is called a caponier) is explained as follows. The enemy could have reached the road to Marienburg either along the road from Voyskowits or along the road from Syaskelevo. In the first case, you would have to shoot in the forehead. Therefore, the caponier was dug directly opposite the intersection in such a way that the heading angle was minimal. At the same time, I had to come to terms with the fact that the distance to the fork was reduced to a minimum.

This is the type of vehicle Kolobanov fought in.

At about 14:00 on August 20, after the aerial reconnaissance carried out by the Germans ended in vain, German reconnaissance motorcyclists followed along the seaside road to the Voyskovitsy state farm, whom Kolobanov’s crew let through without hindrance, waiting for the main enemy forces to approach. In one and a half to two minutes, while the lead tank covered the distance to the intersection, Kolobanov became convinced that there were no heavy tanks in the column, finally drew up a battle plan and decided to let the entire column through to the fork (Landmark No. 1). In this case, all the tanks had time to pass the turn at the beginning of the embankment road and be within range of his gun. The Pz.Kpfw.35(t) light tanks of the German 6th Panzer Division (also called the 1st or 8th Panzer Divisions in other sources) were moving in the column.

Having knocked out tanks at the head, middle and end of the column, Kolobanov not only blocked the road at both ends, but also deprived the Germans of the opportunity to drive onto the road leading to Voyskovitsy.
A terrible panic arose in the enemy column. Some tanks, trying to hide from the destructive fire, climbed down the slope and got stuck up to their towers in the swamp. Then they too were burned. Others, trying to turn around, bumped into each other, knocking down tracks and rollers. Frightened crews, jumping out of the burning cars, rushed between them in fear. Most of them came under machine gun fire.

In 30 minutes of battle, Kolobanov’s crew knocked out all 22 tanks in the column. 98 armor-piercing rounds were used from the double ammunition load. After the battle, Zinovy ​​Kolobanov’s KV-1 received more than a hundred hits.

Tank KV-1 with damage.

Submit for a reward!

Immediately after this tank battle, which ended in complete victory Soviet weapons, a note about the feat of tanker Kolobanov appeared in the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.

And preserved in the archives of the Ministry of Defense unique document– award list of Zinovy ​​Kolobanov.

Sheet 1 page.

It confirms information about the number of destroyed tanks, but, perhaps most importantly, Zinovy ​​Kolobanov and all members of his crew were awarded the title of Hero for the courage and heroism shown in the victorious battle Soviet Union. But the high command did not consider that the tank crews’ feat deserved such high praise. Zinovy ​​Kolobanov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, Andrei Usov was awarded the Order of Lenin, Nikolai Nikiforov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and Nikolai Rodnikov and Pavel Kiselkov were awarded the Order of the Red Star.

After the feat

For three more weeks after the battle near Voyskovitsy, the company of Senior Lieutenant Kolobanov held back the Germans on the approaches to Krasnogvardeysk in the Bolshaya Zagvozdka area. During this time, 5 Kolobanov tanks destroyed three mortar batteries, four anti-tank guns and 250 German soldiers and officers.

On September 13, 1941, Krasnogvardeysk was abandoned by units of the Red Army. Kolobanov’s company was again left at the most important line at that moment - it covered the retreat of the last military column to the city of Pushkin.

Tank KV-1

On September 15, 1941, Senior Lieutenant Kolobanov was seriously wounded. At night, in the cemetery of the city of Pushkin, where the tanks were refueling with fuel and ammunition, next to Zinovy ​​Kolobanov’s KV it exploded German shell. The tanker received a shrapnel wound to the head and spine, and a concussion of the brain and spinal cord.

The war is over for Zinovy ​​Kolobanov.

He was sent for treatment to the Leningrad Trauma Institute, to the very city that the tankman so successfully defended. Before the blockade of the northern capital, the tank hero was evacuated and until March 15, 1945 he was treated in evacuation hospitals No. 3870 and 4007 in Sverdlovsk. But in the summer of 1945, having recovered from injury, Zinoviy Kolobanov returned to duty. He served in the army for another thirteen years, retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel, then lived and worked at a factory in Minsk for many years.

With my wife and son.

In the early 1980s, it was decided to erect a monument at the site of the battle near Voyskovitsy. Zinovy ​​Kolobanov wrote a letter to the USSR Minister of Defense Dmitry Ustinov with a request to allocate a tank for installation on a pedestal, and the tank was allocated, although not the KV-1, but the later IS-2.

However, the very fact that the minister granted Kolobanov’s request suggests that he knew about the tank hero and did not question his feat.
Why not a hero? To the question: “Why was the hero tankman Kolobanov, neither during the Great Patriotic War nor after its end, awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union?” there are two answers. And both of them lie in the biography of tanker Zinovy ​​Grigorievich Kolobanov.

The first reason is that after the war, Red Star journalist A. Pinchuk published information that Z.G. Kolobanov was allegedly responsible for breaking through the Mannerheim Line. became a Hero of the Soviet Union (at the beginning of March 1940 he received the Golden Star and the Order of Lenin) and was awarded the extraordinary rank of captain. But for the fraternization of his subordinates with Finnish military personnel after the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty of March 12, 1940, Kolobov Z.G. was deprived of both the title and the award, documentary information confirming the receipt by Kolobanov Z.G. title of Hero of the Soviet Union for participation in the Finnish War, no.

The second reason is that on December 10, 1951, Kolobov was transferred to the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSVG), where he served until 1955. On July 10, 1952, Z. G. Kolobanov was awarded military rank lieutenant colonel, and on April 30, 1954, by Decree of the Presidium Supreme Council The USSR was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (for 20 years of service in the army).

At this time, a Soviet soldier deserted from a tank battalion into the British occupation zone. Saving the battalion commander from a military tribunal, the army commander announced to Kolobanov Z.G. about incomplete official compliance and transferred him to the Belarusian Military District. In Soviet times, the presence in the biography of even one of the listed reasons was quite enough to refuse to award the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Zinoviy Kolobanov passed away in 1994, but veteran organizations, social activists and historians are still trying to achieve the title of Hero of Russia.

In the Gatchina region Leningrad region, where Zinoviy Kolobanov fought in 1941, a collection of signatures was organized for an appeal with a request to honor the tank hero with the high award he deserved at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War posthumously. In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Victory, according to the public, this would be quite logical and appropriate.

The Soviet heavy tank KV-1 became a symbol of the victory of the Soviet Union in World War II, along 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 in design bureau 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 created an experimental tank with one turret, 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 tough only for anti-aircraft 8.8 German guns, used as anti-tank weapons.

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 used on domestic and foreign tanks, but were never combined 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 plates had a thickness of 75 millimeters, the front plates 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. Provided and 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 mobility of the KV turned out to be clearly insufficient, the car developed 34 km/h on the highway, and noticeably less off-road due to power density at 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 engineering structures enemy like 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 is a flamethrower tank from 1941, equipped with an ATO-41 or ATO-42 flamethrower, located in place of the ball mount for the 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 became an unpleasant surprise for the German troops, who were 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 to 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.