How the tank "Klim Voroshilov" stopped the German army. How the Klim Voroshilov tank stopped the German army

During heavy fighting, the crew of one Soviet KV tank managed not only to hold back the advance of 75 enemy tanks, but also to escape on captured vehicles to their own.

From postmen to tankmen

The Great Patriotic War made commonplace the concept of "mass heroism" in relation to the Soviet people. Decades later, this phrase was considered by many as a cliché, a propaganda exaggeration. Like, there can be no mass heroism.

Perhaps this skepticism was also generated by the fact that the heroes who went through the war never boasted of their exploits. They worked as teachers, engineers, builders, and even relatives sometimes did not know what miracles their husbands, fathers and grandfathers performed.

Documents of the Great Patriotic War However, they testify that Soviet people who did not have superpowers, in reality, did what only superheroes are capable of in Hollywood films.

The peasant son Semyon Konovalov did not dream of exploits. Coming from a Russian family who lived in Tatarstan, in the village of Yambulovo, he graduated from school, worked as a postman, and in 1939 was drafted into the Red Army.

Before the war in the Soviet Union, the military was highly respected, especially pilots and tankers. In 1939, the film "Tractor Drivers" was released, in which the legendary song "Three Tankers" was subsequently sounded. In the same year, Semyon Konovalov was sent to Kuibyshev, to an infantry school, but a year later he became a tank cadet - after the annexation of Lithuania to the USSR, the school was transferred to the city of Raseiniai and made armored.

"My place at the front"

In May 1941, Semyon Konovalov, a graduate of the school, was appointed commander of a tank platoon in a separate tank company of the 125th border guard. rifle division located in the same place in Lithuania.

The company was equipped with BT-7 tanks - fast, but inferior to German vehicles both in terms of security and armament.

Less than a month later, the young lieutenant found himself in the epicenter of the most difficult battles with the rapidly advancing Nazis. In August 1941, Konovalov was seriously wounded and sent to the rear hospital in Vologda.

The guy was eager to go to the front, but the doctors were against it. Only at the end of October, when the enemy was already approaching Moscow, Konovalov was discharged from the hospital, but was sent not to the walls of the capital, but to Arkhangelsk - to the training center, where he served as an instructor for training young soldiers.

Many officers who were in Konovalov's place bombarded the command with reports - they say, I don't belong here, I have to fight the Nazis. Simon did the same. "Good" he received in April 1942 - Lieutenant Konovalov was sent to the front as a platoon commander of heavy tanks "KV" of the 5th separate guards tank brigade. In June 1942, he was transferred to the same position as part of the 15th Tank Brigade of the 9th Army.

The spring and summer of 1942 were a difficult and unsuccessful time for the Red Army. The onslaught of the Nazis became stronger, the enemy rushed to the Volga.

The 15th tank brigade fought heavy defensive battles. By July 13, in the platoon of Lieutenant Konovalov, one tank remained - his own, and even that was pretty battered in battle. In addition to the lieutenant himself, the KV crew included driver Kozyrentsev, gunner Dementiev, loading Gerasimlyuk, junior driver Akinin and gunner-radio operator Chervinsky. By joint efforts, by the morning of July 13, they brought the tank into working condition.

At dawn, the tank brigade received an order to advance to a new line in order to block the path of the advancing enemy.

On the march "KV" Konovalova got up - the fuel supply system failed. The brigade commander Pushkin could not wait - this jeopardized the fulfillment of the combat mission.

To help Konovalov, they gave a technician-lieutenant Serebryakov. Colonel Pushkin gave the order - to make repairs and catch up with the brigade, in the event of the appearance of the enemy, to restrain his advance at this turn. The column of Soviet tanks moved on, leaving a lone KV on the road.

We take the fight!

Konovalov understood perfectly well that without a move and in an open place, his car was an excellent target, and therefore, together with the crew, he was in a hurry to finish the repairs.

To the relief of the tankers, they managed to "revive" the car again. But at that moment, when Konovalov was about to rush after the departed brigade, two German armored vehicles appeared on the hillock, carrying out reconnaissance.

The meeting was unexpected for both sides, but Konovalov got his bearings faster. "KV" opened fire, knocking out one of the armored vehicles. The second managed to get away.

For the lieutenant, the moment of truth had come. He understood perfectly well that the main forces should appear after the scouts. What to do in this situation? Catch up with the brigade or stay at this line in order to prevent the further advance of the Nazis? There was no radio contact with the brigade, it had already gone far.

Lieutenant Konovalov chose the second option. Having chosen a position in the hollow, the slopes of which were covered by the KV, while the enemy was in full view, the tankers began to wait.

The wait was short. Soon a long German military column appeared, moving towards the Nizhnemityakin farm. There were 75 German tanks in the column.

"KV" fought to the last shell

Soviet tankers had strong nerves. Having let the first part of the column to a distance of 500 meters, the KV crew opened fire. 4 were destroyed German tanks. The Germans did not accept the battle and retreated.

Apparently, it simply did not occur to the German command that the ambush was set up by a single Soviet tank.

After some time, 55 tanks, deployed in combat formation, went on the attack, believing that the farm was protecting a large Soviet unit.
Lieutenant Konovalov tried to convince the Germans that this was the case. "KV" put out of action 6 more enemy tanks, as a result of which the attack bogged down.

Regrouping, the Germans launched a new attack. This time, a wave of enemy fire fell on the KV, but the well-armored vehicle remained in service. When repelling this attack, Konovalov's crew knocked out 6 more enemy tanks, 1 armored vehicle and 8 vehicles with soldiers and officers.

But the hits of the Germans did their job - "KV" finally lost its course. The ammunition was running out.

The Nazis managed to pull up a heavy 105-millimeter gun to a distance of 75 meters to the KV. Soviet tank shot at direct fire ...

Awarded posthumously

The next day, July 14, brigade commander Pushkin ordered the scouts to return to the place where Konovalov's KV had stopped due to a breakdown, and to establish the fate of the crew.

The scouts completed the task - they found a burnt "KV", and in it the remains of dead tankers, saw the equipment destroyed by Konovalov's crew, and even talked with local residents who saw some details of the battle.

It was reported to the brigade commander that the crew of Lieutenant Konovalov died heroically, having chalked up 16 destroyed tanks, 2 armored vehicles, 8 vehicles with enemy manpower.

“Lieutenant Konovalov showed courage, unshakable stamina, selfless courage. For the heroism shown in the defense of the Motherland, comrade. Konovalov is worthy of the posthumous award of the title "Hero Soviet Union”with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal,” said the award sheet signed on November 17, 1942 by the command of the 15th tank brigade.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 31, 1943, for exceptional courage and courage, Lieutenant Semyon Vasilyevich Konovalov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.

"Resurrected" with a "trophy"

But the story of Semyon Konovalov does not end there. Already after the representation of the deceased hero went to higher authorities, a letter came to the brigade from ... Semyon Konovalov. The commander of the KV turned out to be alive and told what the scouts did not know.

At that moment, when the Germans rolled out a 105-mm gun to the position, Konovalov warned that as soon as the KV used up the last shell, the crew would leave the car. But when the KV fired its last shot, the Germans had already begun shelling.

Three managed to survive and get out through the lower hatch - Konovalov, technician-lieutenant Serebryakov and gunner Dementyev.

The tankers were lucky - twilight was gathering over the battlefield, smoke from burning tanks blocked the Germans' view, and Soviet soldiers managed to escape unnoticed.

Fearing betrayal and captivity, settlements they tried not to go in, they literally ate pasture - raw grain, grass. On the fourth day of the journey, three tankers found a German tank standing invitingly with open hatches.

Rightly judging that driving is better than walking, the tankers decided to "take" him. Creeping up to the car, Serebryakov beat one of the tankers guarding it with the butt of a machine gun, and Dementiev put the second one down with a pistol. Meanwhile, Konovalov shot the commander and driver of the enemy vehicle. The tankers brought in the captured trophy and moved at full throttle to their own.

On it, they broke through the front line, surprising both the Germans and the Soviet soldiers, who almost knocked out the "lost" enemy tank.

hero street

The crew of Konovalov went to his own far from the location of the 15th tank brigade. After checking the lieutenant's story, he, along with his comrades, was enrolled in another tank unit - it was too difficult to return them to their old duty station in the current conditions.

By the way, for another three months, Lieutenant Konovalov fought on a “trophy” obtained from the Germans.

The tanker fought near Stalingrad, was repeatedly wounded. He remained in the army until 1946, when he was demobilized. But in 1950, he was back in the ranks, graduated from the Leningrad Higher Armored Officer School, and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Semyon Konovalov finally retired to the reserve in 1956. He lived in Kazan, worked as an engineer at one of the local factories for a quarter of a century. In retirement, he worked community service, was a non-staff lecturer of the Knowledge Society, met with young people ...

Hero of the Soviet Union Semyon Vasilyevich Konovalov died on April 4, 1989 and was buried at the Arsk cemetery in Kazan.

In 2005, the Kazan authorities decided to name one of the streets of the city after the tanker Semyon Konovalov.

The KV-1 tank (Klim Voroshilov) is a Soviet heavy armored tank that took part in the Soviet-Finnish and World War II. At the very beginning of the war, the Germans nicknamed the KV-1 Gespenst, which translates as "ghost".

The launch of the KV-1 tank into mass production took place in early February 1940 at the Kirov Plant. Also in the same year, the assembly of the tank began at the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant. In total, over 2700 tanks were produced during the serial production period (1940-1942).

The hull of the KV-1 tank was welded from rolled armor plates, the maximum thickness of which reached 75 mm. The tower was made in two versions - welded and cast. The maximum armor thickness of welded turrets reached 75 mm, cast - 95 mm. In 1941, the thickness of the armor of the welded turrets was increased to 105 mm by installing 25 mm screens, which were fastened with bolts.

KV-1 weighed 47 tons. On the tanks of the first issues, the L-11 cannon of 76.2 mm caliber was installed with 111 rounds of ammunition. At various stages of the production of the tank, various modifications of the guns (F-32, F-34 and ZIS-5) were used for its armament. In addition to the cannon, the KV-1 tank was armed with three 7.62 mm DT-29 machine guns. Ammunition for DT machine guns consisted of 2772 rounds. The wide caterpillars of the KV made it possible to fight on almost any terrain, in any weather conditions.

In the bow of the hull there was a control compartment, which housed the driver and gunner-radio operator. The tank commander, gunner and loader had jobs in the fighting compartment, which combined the middle part of the armored hull and the turret. In the rear of the hull in the engine compartment was the engine with cooling radiators and part of the fuel tanks.

The KV-1 was equipped with a V-2K V-shaped four-stroke twelve-cylinder liquid-cooled diesel engine, whose power was 600 hp. Such a power unit allowed the tank to develop a maximum speed when driving on a highway of 34 km / h. Fuel tanks with a capacity of 600 to 615 liters were located both in the combat and in the engine compartment. In the second half of 1941, due to a shortage of V-2K diesels, KV-1 tanks were produced with four-stroke V-shaped 12-cylinder M-17T carburetor engines with a power of 500 hp.

KV-1 1942 release. Tank Museum in Parola, Finland

On the KV-1 tank, Senior Lieutenant Zinovy ​​Kolobanov, in a battle near Krasnogvardeysk (Gatchina) in August 1941, shot 22 tanks and two guns from an ambush in one battle. Lieutenant Semyon Konovalov on a damaged KV-1 knocked out 16 German tanks and 2 armored vehicles. On the KV-1 tank, the Soviet ace Pavel Gudz almost single-handedly recaptured the village of Nefedovo from the Nazis, destroying 10 enemy tanks and crushing two batteries of anti-tank guns.

The world's first heavy armored tank

Heavy tank KV-1A, raised from the bottom of the Neva in the spring of 2003

In accordance with the decision of the USSR Defense Committee, at the end of 1938, at SKB-2 of the Kirov Plant in Leningrad (chief designer Zh. Ya. Kotin), the design of a new heavy one with anti-ballistic armor, called the SMK (Sergey Mironovich Kirov), began. The development of another heavy tank, called the T-100, was carried out by the Leningrad Experimental Machine Building Plant. Kirov (plant number 185). In parallel with the QMS, a project was being developed for a single-turret heavy tank KV.

The leading designer of the SMK tank was A.S. Ermolaev. The initial project provided for the creation of a three-tower machine weighing 55 tons. In the process, one turret was abandoned, and the saved weight was used to thicken the armor. In parallel with the QMS, a group of graduates of the Military Academy of Mechanization and Motorization named after. Stalin, who had an internship at the Kirov Plant, under the leadership of L. E. Sychev and A. S. Ermolaev, a project was developed for a single-turret heavy tank KV (“Klim Voroshilov”). In fact, the KV was a reduced in length by two road wheels SMK with one tower and a diesel engine. At the final stage of designing a single-turret tank, N. L. Dukhov was appointed the lead designer of the project.

In August 1939, the KV tank was made in metal, and at the end of September it participated in the demonstration of new models of armored vehicles at the NIBT training ground in Kubinka. Factory testing began in October. In November, the first prototype of the tank was sent to the front on the Karelian Isthmus to participate in hostilities against the Finns. On December 19, 1939, the KV tank was adopted by the Red Army.

Serial production of KV tanks with 76-mm guns ("tanks with a small turret") and hastily developed from the experience of fighting on the Mannerheim line of KV tanks with 152-mm howitzers ("tanks with a large turret") began in February 1940 at the Leningrad Kirov Plant (LKZ). Until the end of the year, the Kirov Plant managed to produce 243 tanks (139 KV-1 and 104 KV-2), having completely fulfilled the plan lowered from above. In accordance with the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of June 19, 1940, the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ) was also to be connected to the production of KV. On December 31, 1940, an experimental assembly of the first Ural-made KV was made. At the same time, the construction of a special building for the assembly of heavy tanks began in Chelyabinsk.

This KV-2 tank was only stopped by a projectile hitting the left track.

The production plan for 1941 provided for the production of 1200 KV tanks. Of these, at the Kirov Plant - 1000, at ChTZ - 200. However, the war made adjustments to this plan. By the beginning of the war, only 25 KV-1s were manufactured in Chelyabinsk, and the production of KV-2s was never mastered. In total, 393 KV tanks were manufactured in the first half of 1941.

The hull of the KV-1 tank was welded from rolled armor plates, the maximum thickness of which reached 75 mm. The tower was made in two versions - welded and cast. The maximum armor thickness of welded turrets reached 75 mm, cast - 95 mm. In 1941, the thickness of the armor of the welded turrets was increased to 105 mm by installing 25 mm screens, which were fastened with bolts.

On tanks of the first releases, a 76-mm L-11 gun was installed, then - F-32 of the same caliber, and from the end of October 1941 - a 76-mm ZIS-5 gun. In addition, the tank was armed with three machine guns - coaxial, course and stern. A DT anti-aircraft machine gun was also installed on some of the machines. Ammunition consisted of 135 cannon shots and 2772 rounds for machine guns.

12-cylinder V-shaped diesel V-2K with a capacity of 600 liters. with. allowed a 47.5-ton combat vehicle to reach a speed of 34 km / h. Cruising on the highway was 250 km. The crew of the tank consisted of five people.

The main difference between the KV-2 tank was the installation of a new large turret. The total height of the machine reached 3240 mm. In the tower, in a mask, closed from the outside with an armor casing, a 152-mm M-10 tank howitzer of the 1938-1940 model and a DT machine gun coaxial with it were installed. There was a door in the stern of the tower, next to which another diesel engine was placed in a ball bearing. The tank also retained a course machine gun in the frontal hull plate. Ammunition consisted of 36 shots of separate loading and 3087 rounds. Power point, power transmission, chassis, electrical and radio equipment remained the same as on the KV-1. The KV-2 tank was produced in limited quantities, and after the start of the Great Patriotic War on July 1, 1941, its production was stopped.

KV-1

As of June 1, 1941, the troops had 504 KV tanks. Of this number, most were in the Kiev Special Military District - 278 vehicles. The Western Special Military District had 116 KV tanks, the Baltic Special - 59, Odessa - 10. In the Leningrad Military District there were 6 KV tanks, in Moscow - 4, in the Volga - 19, in Orlovsky - 8, in Kharkov - 4. Of this number 75 KV-1 and 9 KV-2 were in operation. From June 1 to June 21, another 41 KV tanks were sent to the troops from the factory.

The training of crews for new heavy tanks was often (if at all) carried out on any type of tank. For example, on December 3, 1940, the directive of the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army No. 5/4/370 prescribed "to train personnel and save the material part of combat vehicles, to release, exclusively as training, for each battalion of heavy tanks, 10 tankettes T-27". It remains a mystery how it was possible to learn how to drive and maintain the KV-1 or KV-2 on the T-27. As a result, by June 1941, the number of trained crews for these machines did not exceed 150.

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. So, for example, in the report on the combat operations of the 8th mechanized corps from June 22 to June 26, 1941 (by the beginning of the war, the corps had 71 KB, 49 T-35, 100 T-34, 277 BT, 344 T-26, 17 T-27) the following was reported: “The drivers of the KB and T-34 combat vehicles for the most part had a practical driving experience of 3 to 5 hours. Over the entire period of the existence of the corps, combat materiel and personnel were not fully withdrawn to tactical exercises and were not practically tested both in terms of march training and in actions in the main types of combat. Tactical cohesion was carried out no higher than the scale of a company, battalion and partly a regiment.

From the report of the commander of the 41st Panzer Division of the 22nd Mechanized Corps dated July 25, 1941, on the combat operations of the division (by the beginning of the war it had 312 T-26 and 31 KV-2 tanks), it follows that the 152-mm KV- 2 did not have a single projectile.

According to the memoirs of D. Osadchy, the commander of a company of KV-1 tanks in the 2nd Panzer Division, “On June 23-24, even before entering the battle, many KB tanks, especially KV-2, failed during the marches. Very big problems were with the gearbox and air filters. June was hot, there was a huge amount of dust on the roads of the Baltic States and the filters had to be changed after an hour and a half of engine operation. Before entering the battle, the tanks of my company managed to replace them, but not in the neighboring ones. As a result, by the middle of the day, most of the vehicles in these companies broke down.

Well-trained crews worked miracles on KV tanks. On August 18, 1941, five KV-1 tanks of the company of senior lieutenant Z. G. Kolobanov took up defensive positions on the outskirts of the city of Krasnogvardeysk (Gatchina). By evening, the tanks were covered up to the turrets in caponiers. For his KV, Kolobanov chose a position in the most threatened area - the northern outskirts of Krasnogvardeysk. The units of the 1st German Panzer Division advancing here could strike at the rear of the Soviet troops occupying the defenses on the borders of the Krasnogvardeisky fortified area, and then, having gone through the old Gatchina parks to the Kiev highway, almost unhindered to move towards Leningrad.

On the morning of August 19, on the left flank, one of the company's tanks engaged the enemy. In the second hour of the day, German tanks also appeared in front of Kolobanov's position. 22 enemy vehicles marched along the road in a column at short distances, substituting their left sides almost strictly at right angles to the KV gun. The hatches were open, many Germans were sitting on the armor. Our tankers even distinguished their faces, since the distance to the enemy column was small - only about 150 m. When there were several meters left to landmark No. the fire. With a few shots, Usov set fire to two enemy lead and two trailer tanks. The column was in a bag. Maneuver for the Germans was limited to wetlands on both sides of the road. The enemy did not immediately determine where the fire was coming from, but then brought down a shower of shells on Kolobanov's position. Tankers suffocated from powder gases, from the impact of enemy shells on the armor of the tank, everyone was shell-shocked. Usov, not looking up from the sight, continued to shoot tank after tank. Finally, the last 22nd tank was destroyed. During the battle, which lasted more than an hour, Usov fired 98 shells at the enemy. For this battle, Senior Lieutenant Kolobanov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and Senior Sergeant Usov was awarded the Order of Lenin.

In the same battle, other KV crews from Kolobanov's company also distinguished themselves. In the battle on the Luga road, the crew of Lieutenant Sergeev knocked out 8 German tanks, the crews of Lieutenant Lastochkin and junior lieutenant Degtyar - 4 each, and the crew of junior lieutenant Evdokimenko - 5. At the same time, Evdokimenko died in battle, three members of his crew were wounded, and the fifth tank mechanic - the driver Sidikov destroyed with a ramming blow. In total, on August 19, 1941, Kolobanov's company disabled 43 German tanks.

As for rams, which are quite often described in various publications, in the summer of 1941 they were indeed a frequent occurrence, but sometimes not from a good life. Here is what was reported in the report of the commander of the 43rd Panzer Division of the 19th Mechanized Corps on the battles from June 22 to August 10, 1941: “Chasing the enemy infantry, our tanks were met by enemy tank fire from an ambush from a place, but (the ambush) was attacked KB and T-34 tanks burst forward, and after them the T-26 tanks ... The KB and T-34 tanks, not having enough armor-piercing shells, fired fragmentation shells and crushed and destroyed enemy and anti-tank tanks with their mass guns, moving from one line to another.

However, despite powerful armor, strong weapons and the heroism of individual crews, KB tanks did not play any significant role in the summer battles of 1941. The main part of these machines failed for technical reasons, due to illiterate operation, lack of spare parts, means of evacuation and repair. In addition, the Germans, having found out that it was impossible to fight KB with conventional anti-tank weapons, they successfully used 88-mm Flak 36 anti-aircraft guns and 105-mm (according to the German notation - 10 cm) K18 corps field guns against them.

Nevertheless, in the documents of the autumn of 1941, there are reports of the quite successful use of KV tanks. True, mostly on the defensive. So, for example, on November 8, 1941, the crew of the KV tank, Lieutenant A. Martynov from the 16th Tank Brigade of the Volkhov Front, in a battle near the village of Zhupkino (Leningrad Region), repulsed an attack of 14 German tanks from an ambush, destroying five and capturing three more as trophies German cars. Soon these tanks were repaired and already fought as part of the 16th tank brigade. For this battle, Lieutenant Martynov was introduced to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. On December 5, 1941, the crew of the KV-1 tank, Lieutenant Pavel Gudz from the 89th separate tank battalion, entered the battle with 18 German tanks, knocked out 10 of them, as well as four anti-tank guns. For this fight, Gudz was awarded the Order of Lenin. I must say that this tanker was well acquainted with the KV tank, since he began to fight on it from the first days of World War II. His further combat fate is also associated with combat vehicles of this type.

In July 1942, already in the rank of captain, Pavel Gudz was appointed to the post of commander of the 574th tank battalion of the 212th tank brigade, which was part of the troops of the Don Front. In November of the same year, Captain Gudzyu was promoted to the rank of major and appointed to the post of deputy commander of the 8th Separate Breakthrough Guards Tank Regiment. However, he could not serve in this position for a long time, since he was wounded the next month.

In one of the battles, his tank caught fire. In addition, the caterpillar flew off and fighting machine frozen in place. And on the armor, the flames from the outbreak of diesel fuel were already buzzing, threatening to penetrate inside the car stuffed with ammunition. The tankers arrived in time to save the crew, and their commander with six penetrating wounds was urgently sent to the hospital. After such wounds, they do not return to combat formation. But the major wrote a report personally to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and achieved his goal - he was sent to the front.

The new duty station of Major Gudz was the 5th Separate Guards Tank Regiment of the Breakthrough, which was part of the troops of the Southwestern (later the 3rd Ukrainian) Front, in which he accepted the post of deputy commander in May 1943. When approaching Zaporozhye, in order to ensure the crossing of the Dnieper by infantry units, it was necessary to capture the hydroelectric dam. For two days there was a fierce battle. When our tanks reached the target, a Tiger suddenly jumped out of the ambush. A gun duel ensued. Suddenly, the tank in which Hudz was located was shaken by a blow of enormous force. The loader and gunner were killed. Gudz's left clavicle was damaged and his left hand was shattered: it dangled on one vein. The pain clouded his consciousness, and in the field of view of the sight, the Tigers blurred like iridescent spots of diesel fuel on the water. Overcoming the pain, Lieutenant Colonel Gudz cut his tendon with a Finn. The brush slipped out of the overalls. Now all the attention is "Tiger". Here is one framed board. The descent pedal worked well. The tank shuddered from the shot - and the enemy vehicle, engulfed in flames, froze on a sandbank. The second "Tiger" still managed to deploy its cannon, and Hudz saw the black circle of its barrel. "Tiger" and KB fired at each other almost simultaneously...

Exploded KV-2 with MT-1. In the background is another KV-2

When I woke up, it dawned on my consciousness that it was already evening and the battle was going on in the distance, and he was lying near the tank, in a fresh crater from an air bomb. A driver-mechanic was squatting beside him. Noticing that the commander came to his senses, he happily reported: “And the second you, too ...”

The reader will probably immediately have a question: were there "Tigers"? Indeed, after the Battle of Kursk, the inclusion of almost any German tank in the “tiger” class became a mass phenomenon in the Red Army. Well, we can say firmly - there were "Tigers"! It was at this time and in this place, in the area of ​​the Dneproges dam, that the 506th German heavy tank battalion was fighting. Of course, the KV, frankly, did not "pull" against the "Tiger" in a tank duel, but since the described battle was fought at a short distance, the chances were evened out. Well, for such an experienced tanker as Pavel Gudz, it cost nothing to hit the "Tiger" from the first shot. So it's safe to say that in this battle he really knocked out two "Tigers", moreover, from a broken tank and with a torn off left hand! The fact that we most likely will not find any confirmation of this in the combat log of the 506th German heavy tank battalion means absolutely nothing - the Germans took into account only their irretrievable losses, while knocked out tanks do not appear in their reports at all.

It should be emphasized that the KB tank itself is a machine of a rather contradictory fate. As paradoxical as it sounds, in 1941 this tank was not needed - it simply did not have a worthy opponent. It had no obvious combat advantages over the medium T-34, with the exception of thicker armor. The armament was the same, and the maneuverability was worse than that of the thirty-four. The tankers did not really like this car: the KB could smash any road to pieces (wheeled vehicles could no longer follow it), almost no bridge was able to withstand it, with the exception of capital stone ones. But the most main disadvantage- an extremely unreliable transmission, the failure of which was a mass phenomenon.

Some of the shortcomings of the transmission were eliminated on the KV-1s modification that appeared in 1942 (“s” - high-speed). However, on this modification, in pursuit of maneuverability, the thickness of the armor was reduced, and in terms of its combat properties, the heavy KB even closer to medium tanks.

Thus, the only justification for the release of KB in 1941-1942 in parallel with the T-34 could only be a more powerful gun, for example, an 85 mm. But this was not done for the reason that at that time the 76 mm caliber gun was quite capable of dealing with all enemy armored targets.

Captured by the Germans KV 2. German mechanized division on the march

A tank of a similar class KB - "Tiger" appeared with the Germans only at the end of 1942. And then fate played a second cruel joke with KB - it instantly became outdated. Our tank was simply powerless against the "Tiger" with its " long arm"- 88-mm cannon with a barrel length of 56 calibers. "Tiger" could hit KB at distances beyond the limits for the latter. It didn't take long to show up in battle. So, for example, on February 12, 1943, during the breakthrough of 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.

The appearance of the KV-85 tank allowed the situation to be somewhat smoothed out. But these vehicles were mastered late, there were few of them and they could not make a significant contribution to the fight against German heavy tanks. A more serious opponent for the "Tigers" could be the KV-122 - the serial KV-85, armed in an experimental order with a 122-mm D-25T cannon. But at this time, the ChKZ workshops began to leave the first tanks of the IS series. The latter, at first glance continuing the KB line, were already completely new machines.

KV-85 - Soviet heavy tank of the Great Patriotic War period. The abbreviation KV means "Klim Voroshilov" - the official name of the serial Soviet heavy tanks produced in 1940-1943. Index 85 means the caliber of the main armament of the vehicle.

From 1940 to 1943, 4775 KB tanks of all modifications were produced. They fought on all fronts of the Great Patriotic War, first as part of mixed tank brigades, then as part of separate breakthrough tank guards regiments. Until 1945, very few KB survived, used as battle tanks. Basically, after the dismantling of the tower, they served as evacuation tractors.

KV-1 arr. 1940
Classification:	heavy tank
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Main Operators:	Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
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armor type:	Steel rolled homogeneous
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Forehead of the hull (middle), mm/deg.:
Forehead of the hull (bottom), mm/deg.
Hull board, mm/deg.:
Hull feed (top), mm/deg.:
Hull feed (bottom), mm/deg.:
Bottom, mm:
Hull roof, mm:
Forehead of the tower, mm/deg.:
Gun mantlet, mm/deg.:
Turret side, mm/deg.:
Tower feed, mm/deg.:
Tower roof, mm:
Armament
Gun caliber and make:	76 mm L-11, F-32, F-34, ZIS-5
Gun type:	rifled
Barrel length, calibers:
Gun ammunition:	90 or 114 (depending on modification)
Angles VN, degrees:
	Telescopic TOD-6, periscopic PT-6
Machine guns:
Mobility
Engine's type:	V-shaped 12-cylinder four-stroke liquid-cooled diesel
Engine power, l. with:
Highway speed, km/h:
Range on the highway, km:
Power reserve over rough terrain, km:
Specific power, l. s./t:
suspension type:	Individual torsion bar
Specific ground pressure, kg/cm²:

tank design

Armored corps and turret

Armament

Engine

Transmission

Chassis

electrical equipment

Means of observation 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 of 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 sample retrospectively received a digital index. Produced from March 1940 to August 1942. He took part in the war with Finland and the Great Patriotic War.

The history of the KV-1

The need to create a heavy tank carrying anti-shell armor was understood only in the USSR. According to domestic military theory, such tanks were necessary to break open 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 the practice of overcoming the powerful fortified positions of the enemy. Such fortified lines as, for example, the Maginot Line or the Mannerheim Line were considered even theoretically insurmountable. There is an erroneous opinion that the tank was created during the Finnish campaign to break through the Finnish long-term fortifications (Mannerheim Line). In fact, the design of the tank began as early as 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. And the giant dimensions of the tank only make it heavier and do not allow the use of sufficiently thick armor. The initiator of the creation of the tank was the head of the ABTU of the Red Army commander Pavlov D.G.

At the end of the 1930s, attempts were made to develop a tank of reduced (compared to the T-35) size, 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 fight armored vehicles.

The new tanks created under this concept (SMK and T-100) were double-turreted, 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 machine was reduced (by two road wheels), which had a positive effect on the dynamic characteristics. Unlike its predecessor, KV (so called experimental tank) received a diesel engine. The first copy of the tank was made 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 handed over 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 of the 2nd rank (driver)
• lieutenant Polyakov (gunner)
• K. Bucket (driver, tester of the Kirov plant)
• A. I. Estratov (mechanic / loader, tester of 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 military was upset only by the fact that the 76-mm L-11 gun was not strong enough to deal with pillboxes. For this purpose it was necessary to create new tank KV-2 armed with a 152 mm howitzer.

On the recommendation 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 of December 19, 1939 (already a day after the tests), the KV tank was put into 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 they were not accepted into service, because with higher firepower they carried less thick armor , had a large size and weight, as well as the worst dynamic characteristics.

Serial production of KV tanks began in February 1940 at the Kirov Plant. In accordance with the decree 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 start producing KV. On December 31, 1940, the first KV was assembled at ChTZ. At the same time, the construction of a special building for the assembly of HF began at the plant.

In 1941, it was planned to produce 1200 KV tanks of all modifications. Of these, at the Kirov Plant - 1000 pcs. (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. In total, 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 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 2553 of them were built (including the KV-1s).

In August 1942, the KV-1 was taken out of production 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 2769 KV-1 tanks were produced.

tank design

For 1940, the serial KV-1 was a truly innovative design that embodied the most advanced ideas of that time: an individual torsion bar suspension, reliable anti-ballistic armor, a diesel engine and one powerful universal gun in a classic layout. Although individually solutions from this set have been repeatedly implemented earlier in other foreign and domestic tanks, the KV-1 was the first combat vehicle to embody their combination. Some experts regard it as a milestone in world tank building, which had a significant impact 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 a large modernization potential within this concept compared to the previous serial model of the T-35 heavy tank and 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 into the control compartment, the fighting compartment and the 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, ammunition for it and part of the fuel tanks were also located there. The engine and transmission were installed in the stern of the car.

Armored corps and turret

The armored hull of the tank was welded from rolled armor plates 75, 40, 30 and 20 mm thick. Equal-strength armor protection (armor plates with a thickness other than 75 mm were used only for horizontal armor of the vehicle), anti-ballistic. The armor plates of the frontal part of the machine were installed at rational angles of inclination. The serial KV tower 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 additionally reinforced - 25-mm armor screens were bolted to them, and there was an air gap 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 (a heavy tank was not used in the German theory of blitzkrieg), so for 1941 even the standard KV-1 armor was, in principle, redundant. Some sources erroneously indicate that the tanks were produced with rolled armor 100 mm or more thick - in fact, this figure corresponds to the sum of the thickness of the tank's main armor and screens.

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

The driver was located in the center in front of the armored hull of the tank, to the left of him was the workplace of the gunner-radio operator. Three crew members were located in the turret: to the left of the gun were the jobs of the gunner and loader, and to the right - the tank commander. The landing and exit of the crew were carried out through two round hatches: one in the tower above the commander's workplace and one on the roof of the hull above the workplace of the gunner-radio operator. The hull also had a bottom hatch for emergency evacuation by the crew of the tank and a number of hatches, hatches and technological openings for loading ammunition, access to fuel tank fillers, other units and assemblies of the vehicle.

Armament

On the tanks of the first issues, the L-11 cannon of 76.2 mm caliber was installed with an ammunition load of 111 rounds (according to other sources - 135). It is interesting that the original project also provided for a 45 mm 20K cannon paired with it, although the armor penetration of the 76 mm L-11 tank gun was practically not inferior to the anti-tank 20K. 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 large 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 cannon was replaced with a 76-mm F-32 gun, and in the fall of 1941, with a ZIS-5 gun with a longer barrel length of 41.6 calibers.

The ZIS-5 gun was mounted on trunnions in the turret and was fully 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 cannon had vertical aiming angles from −5 to +25 °, with a fixed position of the turret, it could be aimed in a small sector of horizontal aiming (the so-called "jewelry" aiming). The shot was fired by means of a manual mechanical descent.

The ammunition load of the gun was 111 rounds of unitary loading. The shots were stacked in the turret and along both sides of the fighting compartment.

Three 7.62-mm DT-29 machine guns were installed on the KV-1 tank: coaxial with a gun, as well as course and stern in ball mounts. Ammunition 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. On every fifth KV, an anti-aircraft turret for diesel fuel was mounted, however, in practice, anti-aircraft machine guns were rarely installed.

Engine

The KV-1 was equipped with a four-stroke V-shaped 12-cylinder V-2K diesel engine with a capacity of 500 hp. with. (382 kW) at 1800 rpm, subsequently, due to a general increase in the mass of the tank after the installation of heavier cast towers, screens and the elimination of shavings from the edges of the armor plates, the engine power was increased to 600 hp. with. (441 kW). The engine was started by a starter ST-700 with a capacity of 15 liters. with. (11 kW) or compressed air from two tanks with a capacity of 5 liters 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 both in the combat and in the engine compartment. 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 (the process of evacuating the plant to the Urals began in the autumn of that year), the KV-1 tanks were produced with four-stroke V-shaped 12- cylinder carburetor engines M-17T with a capacity of 500 liters. with. In the spring of 1942, a decree was issued on the conversion of all KV-1 tanks with M-17T engines back into service with V-2K diesel engines - the evacuated plant No. 75 set up their production in sufficient quantities at a new location.

Transmission

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

• multi-disc main friction clutch of dry friction "steel according to Ferodo";
• five-speed tractor-type gearbox;
• two multi-plate side clutches with steel-on-steel friction;
• two onboard planetary gears;
• band floating brakes.

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

Chassis

Suspension of the machine - individual torsion bar with internal shock absorption for each of the 6 stamped dual-slope road wheels of small diameter on each side. Opposite each track roller, suspension balancers were welded to the armored hull. Drive wheels with removable lantern gears were located at the rear, and sloths at the front. The upper branch of the caterpillar was supported by three small rubber stamped support rollers on each side. In 1941, the technology for manufacturing track and support rollers was transferred to casting, the latter lost their rubber tires due to the general shortage of rubber at that time. Caterpillar tension mechanism - 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 armored hull of the vehicle served as the second wire. 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 RRA-24 relay-regulator with a power of 1 kW and four 6-STE-128 batteries connected in series with a total capacity of 256 Ah. Electricity consumers included:

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

Means of observation and sights

The general visibility of the KV-1 tank back in 1940 was assessed in a memorandum to L. Mekhlis from military engineer Kalivoda as extremely unsatisfactory. The commander of the machine had the only viewing device in the tower - the PTK panorama. The driver in battle conducted observation through a viewing device with a triplex, which was protected by an armored flap. This viewing device was installed in an armored plug hatch on the frontal armor plate along the longitudinal centerline of the vehicle. In a calm environment, this plug hatch could be pushed forward, providing the driver with a more convenient direct view from his workplace.

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

Means of communication

The means of communication included the radio station 71-TK-3, later 10R or 10RK-26. On a number of tanks, 9R aviation radio stations were installed from a shortage. The KV-1 tank was equipped with an internal intercom TPU-4-Bis for 4 subscribers.

Radio stations 10R or 10RK were a set of transmitter, receiver and umformers (single-arm motor-generators) for their power supply, connected to the on-board electrical network with a voltage of 24 V.

10R was a simplex tube shortwave radio station operating in the frequency range from 3.75 to 6 MHz (respectively, wavelengths from 80 to 50 m). In the parking lot, the communication range in the telephone (voice) mode reached 20-25 km, while in motion it slightly decreased. A longer communication range could be obtained in the telegraph mode, when information was transmitted by a telegraph key in 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 10R model, it became easier and cheaper to manufacture. This model has the ability to smoothly select the operating frequency, the number of quartz resonators has been reduced to 16. The characteristics of the communication range have not undergone significant changes.

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

Modifications of the KV tank

KV became the ancestor 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. The KV-2 tanks were intended to be heavy self-propelled guns, as they were intended to fight pillboxes, but the battles of 1941 showed that they are an excellent tool for fighting German tanks - shells of any German tank did not penetrate their frontal armor, but the KV-2 shell , as soon as he hit any German tank, he was almost guaranteed to destroy it. KV-2 fire could only be fired from a place. 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 into production other tanks of the KV series. As an experiment, by the end of the year, two KVs with 90 mm armor were made (one with a 76 mm F-32 gun, the other with an 85 mm F-30 gun) and two more with 100 mm armor (with similar weapons). These tanks received a single designation KV-3. But things did not go beyond the manufacture 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 gun, a 45 mm gun mod. 1934 with a camouflage casing that reproduces the external outlines of a 76 mm gun (a 76 mm gun, along with a 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 lightened, including by thinning the armor (for example, the sides of the hull were thinned to 40 mm, the forehead of the cast turret was up 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 maneuverability 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, in fact, the experimental use of 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 tankers with HF put them into a state of shock. The tank practically did not make its way from German tank guns (for example, a German sub-caliber projectile of a 50-mm tank gun pierced 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, the armor-piercing projectile of the 50-mm Pak 38 anti-tank gun made it possible to hit the KV in favorable conditions at a distance of only less than 500 m. The fire of 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 introducing it into production affected. The transmission, which could not withstand the loads of a heavy tank, caused especially a lot of trouble - it often failed. And if in open combat the KV really had no equal, then in the conditions of retreat, many KVs, even with minor breakdowns, had to be abandoned or destroyed. There was no way to repair or evacuate them.

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

HF caused conflicting assessments of the military. On the one hand - invulnerability, on the other - insufficient reliability. And with cross-country ability, not everything is so simple: the tank could hardly overcome steep slopes, many bridges could not withstand it. In addition, he thoroughly destroyed any road - wheeled vehicles could no longer move behind him, which is why 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 invulnerable to anti-tank artillery. At the same time, the T-34 had the best dynamic characteristics, was cheaper and easier to manufacture, which is important in war time.

The disadvantages of the KV also include the unfortunate location of the hatches (for example, there is only one hatch in the turret, in case of fire it was impossible for the 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 of all Soviet tanks start of the war).

In order to eliminate numerous complaints in the summer of 1942, the tank was modernized. By reducing the thickness of the armor, the weight of the vehicle has decreased. Various major and minor flaws were eliminated, including "blindness" (a commander's cupola was installed). The 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. Arming the tank with an 85-mm cannon could be such a step. 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 were no reasons to strengthen weapons.

However, after the appearance in the German army Pz. VI ("Tiger") with an 88-mm cannon, all KVs became outdated 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 KV from a safe distance. The situation in the summer of 1941 was exactly the opposite.

KV 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 - to the place where the career of this machine once began.

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

In the service of the Wehrmacht

Captured KV-1s during the Great Patriotic War 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 (combat group) of the 6th Panzer Division of V. Kempf, equipped mainly with light Czech tanks Pz.35 (t), for a day in June 1941. This battle was described by the commander of the 6th motorized infantry brigade of the division E. Raus. One of the KVs during the battle on June 24 turned left and took up a position on the road parallel to the direction of the Kampfgruppe Seckendorf, being behind the Kampfgruppe Raus. This episode became the basis for the legend about the entire 4th German Panzer Group, Colonel General Gepner, stopped by one KV. The combat log of the 11th Tank Regiment of the 6th Tank Division reads: “The foothold of the Kampfgruppe Raus 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 Raseiniai. Meanwhile, a Russian heavy tank was blocking the communications of the Kampfgruppe Raus. Because of this, communication with the Kampfgruppe Raus was interrupted for the entire afternoon and the following night. Battery 8.8 Flak was sent by the commander to fight this tank. But her actions were as unsuccessful as the 10.5 cm battery, which fired on the instructions of the forward observer. In addition, an attempt by an assault group of sappers to blow up a tank failed. It was impossible to get close to the tank because of the heavy machine-gun fire." The lone KV in question fought with the Seckedorf Kampfgruppen. After a night raid by sappers, which only scratched the tank, they were engaged for the second time with the help of an 88-mm anti-aircraft gun. A group of 35(t) tanks distracted the KV with their movement, and the 8.8 cm FlaK crew scored six hits on the tank.
• Z. K. Slyusarenko describes the KV battle 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 disguised firing point near Staro-Konstantinov (South-Western Front). The tankers fought the enemy for two days. They set fire to two German tanks, three fuel tanks, exterminated many Nazis. The Nazis doused the bodies of the dead tank heroes with gasoline and burned them.
• It was on the KV that Senior Lieutenant Zinovy ​​Kolobanov (1st Panzer Division) fought, in one battle on August 20, 1941 (the date August 19 was erroneously mentioned in post-war journalism) near Gatchina (Krasnogvardeisky), who destroyed 22 German tanks and two anti-tank guns, and Lieutenant Semyon Konovalov (15th tank brigade) - 16 enemy tanks and 2 armored vehicles.
• At the beginning of the war, the Germans prone to mysticism, the KV-1 tank received the nickname "Gespenst" (translated from it. ghost), since the shells of the standard 37-mm Wehrmacht anti-tank gun most often did not even leave dents on its armor.
• In the original version of the text of the famous song "Tanks rumbled on the field ..." there are lines: "Farewell, Marusya dear, And you, KV, my brother ..."

Surviving copies

Total to date in different countries The world has preserved about 10 KV-1 tanks and a number of copies of its various modifications.

In Russia, the KV-1 and KV-2 tanks can be seen in the Central Museum Armed Forces in Moscow, and an experienced KV-1s with an 85-mm gun in the Kubinka tank museum (Moscow region). As monuments, KV-1 are installed in the village of Ropsha (KV-1), at the memorial in the village. Maryino (near the city of 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 st. Metro "Avtovo" The turret of the KV-1 tank, converted into a firing point, was installed in the Sestroretsky Frontier exhibition complex, the city of Sestroretsk (Kurortny district of St. Petersburg).

The Finnish tank museum Parola exhibits two KV-1s captured by the Nazis and handed over to the 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). 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 (Great Britain).

In the spring of 2011, at the bottom of the Neva in the Kirovsky district of the Leningrad region, another Klim Voroshilov was discovered, 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 servicemen of the 90th Separate Special Search Battalion of the Western Military District together with the staff of the Museum of the Battle for 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 versions: 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 game-tank simulator "Steel Fury: Kharkov 1942" (the tank is added by an unofficial developer patch);
• in the wargame "Front Line: Battle for Kharkov" (world title: "Achtung Panzer: Kharkov 1943");
• in Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45
• In the game "Close Combat III: The Russian Front" and its remake "Close Combat: Cross of Iron"

It should be noted that the reflection performance characteristics armored vehicles and the features of their use in combat in many computer games are often far from reality.

In wartime conditions, when it was necessary, first of all, to produce more tanks, all the changes made to the design of the KV-1 affected the reliability of the heavy tank units and assemblies. This primarily concerned the engine, transmission elements and gearboxes. Since the checkpoint and transmission of the KV-1 tank were not brought to normal working condition before the start of World War II, it is not surprising that the reliability of parts and the quality of manufacture of KVs produced in wartime became even worse. In addition, since various changes and simplifications were made to the design of the tank (cast towers, tracks and rollers, additional fuel tanks, and so on), the weight of the tank increased significantly - the mass of the vehicle ranged from 47.5 to 48.2 tons.

Numerous claims and complaints began to come from the troops, stating that "Klim Voroshilov tanks often break down on marches, have low mobility and speed, not a single bridge can withstand them." On February 23, 1942, the State Defense Committee adopted Decree No. 1334ss, according to which ChKZ was obliged to produce Klim Voroshilov tanks weighing less than 45.5 tons and a diesel engine with a capacity of 650 horsepower from April 15. On the basis of this decision, on February 24, an order was signed for NKTP No. 222mss, and on February 26, an order of the People's Commissariat of Defense No. 0039. up to 30 millimeters of the thickness of the turret roof, hull roof, hatches, reduction of the thickness of the stern armor to 60 millimeters, up to 20 millimeters of the rear bottom plates, spare fuel tanks were also removed, the ammunition load was reduced to 90 shells, spare parts were reduced, etc.

But, despite the efforts, the plant could not quickly make changes to the design of a heavy tank. There was a shortage of qualified personnel, equipment and materials. For example, in the first quarter of 1942, the plant's need for workers was 40,000 people, and the plant's staff actually amounted to 27,321 people. You can also note the crisis with equipping the Klim Voroshilov tanks with radio stations, when since March 1942 radio stations were installed only on every fifth tank.

In early March, the plant began testing a tank with a 650-horsepower V-2K engine and new final drives. The engine turned out to be inoperable, but final drives showed good results, so since April they have been put into mass production. Since April 20, ChKZ has been testing two CVs equipped with a 700-horsepower diesel engine and a new 8-speed gearbox. It was not possible to bring the engines "to mind" again, and a new gearbox began to be installed on the KV-1S tank.

In March-April of 1942, the crisis with the quality of the KV-1 reached its peak: about 30% of the tanks traveled only 120-125 kilometers, after which they broke down. The unreliability of heavy tanks "got" everyone so much that on March 21, the NKTP issued order No. 3 285ms in which the leadership of the People's Commissariat reprimanded the design and engineering staff and the leadership of SKB-2 and ChKZ (Makhonin, Saltsman, Kizelstein, Kotin, Arseniev, Marishkin, Holstein, Tsukanov, Shenderov) and ordered "to bring the necessary order into the technical documentation and production technology of V-2 diesel engines and KV tanks."

However, despite the violation of the technological process, shortcomings, failure to comply with various GKO resolutions and orders of the NKTP, the production of KV-1 tanks at ChKZ continued to grow steadily. Engineers and workers, working 11 hours a day (this was the duration of the work shift), and often more, tried to give the front the largest number of combat vehicles. The Red Army received 250 KV-1s in March 1942, 282 in April, and 351 in May. After that, the production of Klim Voroshilov tanks began to decline, and at the beginning of the summer there were many proposals to remove the KV from production. The fact is that by the summer of 1942, due to the rearmament of the Wehrmacht, the KV tanks had lost their advantage in armor protection. This situation called for radical changes.

The history of the creation of the KV-1S (high-speed) tank began with a curious document. June 5, 1942 I.V. Stalin, chairman of the State Defense Committee, decree No. 1878ss was signed which contained the following:
"Experience in the combat use of the KV-1 in military units showed the following shortcomings of the Klim Voroshilov tanks:
- a large mass of the tank (component 47.5 tons), reduces the combat efficiency of the vehicle and complicates the conditions for its combat operation;
- insufficient reliability of the gearbox due to the low strength of the slow and first gears and the crankcase;
- the work of the engine cooling system is not intensive enough. As a result, it is often necessary to switch speeds to lower ones, which causes a reduction in average speeds, and also limits the possibility of full use of motor power;
- all-round visibility of the tank was insufficient due to the lack of a commander's cupola and the inconvenient placement of viewing devices.
In addition to these main shortcomings, information is received from the army about many defects in the assembly and manufacture of some components, especially diesel engine, which indicates insufficient control over the process of manufacturing and assembling tanks, as well as a violation of the technological process.

Tanks KV-1S of the 6th Guards Separate Tank Regiment of a breakthrough in the attack. North Caucasian Front

By the same decree, ChKZ ordered from August 1 to switch to the production of KV tanks, the mass of which would not exceed 42.5 tons. To reduce the weight of the tank, by order of the People's Commissariat of the Tank Industry, factories No. 200 and UZTM were allowed to change the thickness of the armor plates:
-reduce the thickness of the front, side and bottom sheets, as well as sheets of the welded tower from 75 to 60 millimeters;
- remove the screen from the driver - the deadline for completion is June 15;
-reduce the thickness of the bottom sheets to 30 mm;
- to reduce the thickness of the walls of the armor protection of the gun and the cast turret to 80–85 millimeters, and also to reduce its dimensions by retaining the existing shoulder strap of the gun due to casting molds;
-reduce the width of the track to 650 millimeters (deadline before July 1, 1942).

According to this order, new 8-speed gearboxes, new fans and radiators were to be installed on the KV-1 tanks. The same order reduced the production of KV-1 weighing 47.5 tons.

By June 20, at ChKZ and plant No. 100, work was in full swing to develop units and assemblies for a lightweight tank. So, for example, tests of a new 8-speed gearbox were carried out immediately on two KV tanks (Nos. 10279 and 10334), and they began in April. By mid-June, the vehicles had covered only 379 to 590 kilometers (according to the plan, the tanks had to cover 2,000 kilometers). At the same time, on the Klim Voroshilov tanks with numbers 10033, 11021 and 25810, caterpillars of smaller width and without fangs were installed through one track. The mass of the track was less than the old one by 1.2 kilograms, and the entire caterpillar by 262 kilograms. They tested a radiator of a new design, developed a new tower. Three KV tanks were even sent to Tashkent to test the engine cooling system at high temperatures.

In early July, the assembly of the first lightweight HF began, on which new components and assemblies were installed.

At the same time, taking into account the breakthrough of German troops to Stalingrad, the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief decided to increase the production of T-34 medium tanks by reducing the production of Klim Voroshilov tanks. The motives for this decision were justified and simple: the KV had no advantages over the T-34 in armament, was inferior in maneuverability, was less reliable, was more expensive and difficult to manufacture. On July 15, 1942, the State Defense Committee decides to deploy the production of “thirty-fours” at ChKZ within a month. At the same time, the production of heavy tanks was significantly reduced - to 450 units per quarter, that is, about 25% of the plant's capacity was left for the production of heavy tanks.

Simultaneously with the organization of the production of T-34 tanks at plant No. 100 and ChKZ, tests of the new Klim Voroshilov tank, which received the designation KV-1S (high-speed), were in full swing. Two KV-1S in the period from July 28 to August 26, 1942 passed the state. tests. Even before the end of the tests - on August 20, 1942 - the new heavy tank was put into service.

The thickness of the armor plates of the KV-1S tank was reduced to 60 millimeters (only the thickness of the turret box was the same as on the KV-1 - 75 millimeters), the shape of the stern of the hull was changed, a reduced turret of a new design was installed, which was equipped with an all-round commander's turret, equipped with new viewing devices. Significant changes were made to the power transmission of the tank, a new main clutch was installed, an 8-speed gearbox with a silumin crankcase (2 speeds back and 8 forwards). Also, a new fan and radiators were mounted on the KV-1S tank, and the placement of the batteries was changed. Lightweight track rollers and lightweight tracks with reduced width were used in the undercarriage.

As a result of these changes, the mass of the KV-1S decreased to 42.3 tons, the speed increased to 43.3 kilometers per hour on the highway, and the reliability and maneuverability of the tank increased. However, the price paid for this was very high: the armament of the KV-1S tank did not change - the 76.2-mm ZIS-5 gun, however, the reduction in armor thickness with the saved armored hull design reduced the vehicle's projectile resistance. The KV-1S was almost on par with the T-34 tank in terms of its combat qualities.

Tankers of the 6th Guards Tank Regiment of the breakthrough are mastering new KV-1S tanks (2nd Guards Tank Army, commander Colonel General S.I. Bogdanov)

Production of the KV-1S began in August of 1942, before the tank was officially put into service. Since ChKZ was engaged in the production of three types of tanks - T-34, KV-1 and KV-1S - significant problems arose with the production of gearboxes. But, despite this, in September 1942, the plant was able to produce 180 KV-1I, after which the production of these tanks began to decline.

From the first quarter of 1943, it was planned to install a commander's cupola with a new design, Mk-4 periscopes on the KV-1S tank, change the engine cooling and lubrication systems, and increase spare parts. However, by this time it became clear that the KV-1S did not meet the new requirements for heavy breakthrough tanks. In this regard, work on improving the tank was curtailed, and already in August of the 43rd, the production of the KV-1S was finally curtailed. All the forces of plant No. 100 and ChKZ were directed to the creation of a heavy IS tank.

Using the KV-1S as the base, they created another much more famous example of armored vehicles - the SU-152 heavy assault self-propelled gun.

In total, 626 KV-1S heavy tanks were produced at ChKZ in 1942, and 464 in 1943.

The total total production of KV-1S tanks amounted to 1090 units (according to other sources - 1106). In addition, they released 25 KV-8S (flamethrower) having a body from the KV-1s and a KV-8 flamethrower turret and 10 KV-8S proper (flamethrower), where the ATO-42 flamethrower was installed in the standard tank turret.

Design description

At its core, the KV-1S in relation to the KV-1 was an upgrade of medium depth. The main goal of the modernization was to reduce the total weight of the tank, increase operational reliability and speed, and solve the unsatisfactory ergonomics of the workplaces on the KV-1. The "high-speed" modification of the KV-1, compared to the base model, received a smaller overall and weight of the hull (including due to the weakening of the armor), a new turret with radically improved ergonomics, and a new, more reliable gearbox. The motor group and armament remained unchanged. The layout of the KV-1S was classic, as for all other Soviet serial medium and heavy tanks of that time. The hull of the tank from bow to stern was divided into the following sections: control, combat and motor-transmission. The gunner-radio operator and the driver were placed in the control compartment, the other crew members (three) were located in the fighting compartment, which combined the turret and the middle part of the armored hull. A gun, ammunition, as well as part of the fuel tanks were also placed there. The transmission and engine were installed in the rear of the car.

Armored hull and tower

The armored hull of the tank was welded from rolled armor plates with a thickness of 20, 30, 40, 60 and 75 millimeters. Armor protection is anti-ballistic, differentiated. The armor plates of the frontal part of the tank were installed at rational angles of inclination. The streamlined tower was an armor casting of a complex geometric shape. 75-mm sides to increase projectile resistance were located at an angle to the vertical. The frontal part of the turret and the embrasure for the gun, which was formed by the intersection of four spheres, was cast separately and connected to the rest of the armored parts of the turret by welding. The gun mantlet was a cylindrical segment of a bent rolled armor plate. She had three holes - for a gun, a sight and a coaxial machine gun. The thickness of the armor of the forehead of the tower and the mask of the gun reached 82 millimeters. The tower was mounted on a shoulder strap (diameter 1535 mm) in the armored roof of the fighting compartment and was fixed with grips to prevent stalling during a strong roll or capsizing of the tank. The shoulder strap of the tower was marked in thousandths for firing from closed positions.

The driver was located in the front of the armored hull of the vehicle in the center, the place of the gunner-radio operator was to his left. Three crew members were housed in the turret: the commander's and gunner's workplaces were located to the left of the gun, the loader was to the right. The vehicle commander had a cast observation turret with 60 mm vertical armor. The landing / disembarkation of the crew took place through two round hatches: above the workplace of the loader in the tower and above the workplace of the gunner-radio operator on the roof of the hull. The hull also had a bottom hatch designed for emergency evacuation of the tank and several hatches, hatches and those. openings for loading the tank ammunition, access to the fuel tank necks, other units and components of the vehicle.

Armament

The main armament of the KV-1S tank is the 76.2 mm ZiS-5 cannon. The gun was mounted in a turret on trunnions and was fully balanced. The tower itself and the D-5T gun were also balanced: the center of mass of the tower was located on the geometric axis of rotation. The vertical aiming angles of the ZiS-5 gun ranged from -5 to + 25 °. The shot was fired using a manual mechanical trigger.

The ammunition load of the gun included 114 rounds of unitary loading. Shots were laid along the sides of the fighting compartment and in the turret.

Three 7.62 mm DT machine guns were installed on the KV-1S tank: one coaxial with a gun, course and stern machine guns in ball mounts. Ammunition for diesel fuel was 3 thousand rounds. These machine guns were installed in such a way that, if necessary, they were removed from the mounts and used outside the tank. In addition, for self-defense, the crew had several F-1 hand grenades, and sometimes a signal pistol.

Engine

The KV-1S tank was equipped with a 12-cylinder, four-stroke, V-shaped diesel engine, 600 hp (441 kW), V-2K. To start the engine, a 15-horsepower (11 kW) ST-700 starter or compressed air from two 5-liter tanks located in the fighting compartment were used. The KV-1S tank had a fairly dense layout, in which fuel tanks, the volume of which was 600-615 liters, were located in the combat and engine compartments. Also, the tank had four external additional fuel tanks with a total capacity of 360 liters, and which are not connected to the engine fuel system.

Transmission

The mechanical transmission of the KV-1S tank consisted of:
- main friction clutch - multi-disc, dry friction ("steel according to Ferodo");
-four-speed gearbox with a demultiplier (2 gears back and 8 forward);
- a pair of multi-disk side friction clutches of dry friction ("steel on steel");
-two planetary final drives.

Tank transmission control drives are mechanical. Almost all authoritative printed sources note that the most significant drawback of the KV-1 tank and the vehicles created on its basis was the low overall reliability of the transmission, so a new gearbox was installed on the KV-1S, which was later used on the IS-2 tanks.

Chassis

In the chassis of the KV-1C, all those. solutions of a similar KV-1 assembly, but some parts were reduced in size to reduce the total weight of the machine. Suspension of the tank - individual torsion bar for each of the 6 gable solid-cast track rollers (diameter 600 mm) on board. Opposite each of the road wheels, suspension balancers were welded to the armored hull. Crowns - removable, engagement - lantern. To support the upper branch of the caterpillar, there were three supporting rollers on board. A screw mechanism served to tension the caterpillar; the caterpillar consisted of 86-90 single-ridge tracks; track width - 608 millimeters. The width of the caterpillar compared to the KV-1 was reduced by 92 millimeters.

electrical equipment

In the KV-1S, the electrical wiring was single-wire, the armored hull of the vehicle served as a second wire. The exception was the emergency lighting circuit, which was two-wire. The source of electricity (voltage 24 V) was a GT-4563A generator equipped with a RPA-24 relay-regulator (power 1 kW), as well as four 6-STE-128 batteries connected in series (total capacity 256 Ah). The consumers of electricity were:
- turret slewing motor;
- internal and external lighting of the tank, illumination devices for scales of measuring instruments and sights;
- an external sound signal, an alarm circuit to the crew of the vehicle from the landing;
- instrumentation (voltmeter and ammeter);
- gun electric trigger;
- tank intercom and radio station;
- electrics of the motor group - starting relay RS-400 or RS-371, starter ST-700 and so on.

Sights and means of observation

For the first time for a Soviet large-scale tank, a commander's cupola was installed on the KV-1S tank, which has five viewing slots with protective glasses. In battle, the driver watched through a viewing device with a triplex, an armored shutter served as protection. This viewing device was installed on the frontal armor plate in an armored plug hatch along the axial longitudinal line of the tank. In a calm environment, this plug hatch moved forward, providing a direct, more convenient view from the driver's workplace.

For firing, the KV-1S tank was equipped with two gun sights - a periscope PT-6 for firing from closed positions and a telescopic TOD-6 for direct fire. The head of the periscope sight was protected by a special armor cap. To ensure the possibility of firing in the dark, the scales of the sights were equipped with illumination devices. The stern and course DT machine guns were equipped with a PU sight from a sniper rifle with a threefold increase.

Means of communication

Among the means of communication are the radio station 9R (10R, 10RK-26) as well as the intercom TPU-4-Bis, designed for 4 subscribers.

Radio stations 10R (10RK) - a set that includes a transmitter, receiver and umformers (single-arm motor-generators) for their power supply, which are connected to the 24 V on-board electrical network.

10R - simplex tube heterodyne shortwave radio station operating in the range from 3.75 to 6 MHz (wavelengths - 50-80 meters). The communication range in the parking lot in voice (telephone) mode was 20-25 kilometers, while in motion the range was somewhat shorter. A long communication range was obtained in the telegraph mode, when information was transmitted in Morse code or another discrete coding system. A removable quartz resonator was used to stabilize the frequency; there was no smooth frequency adjustment. 10P made it possible to communicate using two fixed frequencies; to change them, another quartz resonator was used, consisting of 15 pairs included in the radio set.

The 10RK radio was a technological improvement on the 10P. The new radio station was cheaper and easier to manufacture. This model already had the possibility of smooth frequency selection, the number of quartz resonators was reduced to 16. In terms of communication range, the characteristics did not change significantly.

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

Combat use

The creation of the KV-1S tank was a justified step, given the unsuccessful first stage of the war. But this step only brought Klim Voroshilov closer to medium tanks. The army never received a full-fledged heavy tank (by later standards), which would sharply differ in combat power from medium tanks. Such a step could be the installation of an 85-mm cannon on the tank. However, further experiments were not carried out, since the usual 76-mm tank guns in the 41-42s easily fought with any German armored vehicles. It seems that there were no obvious reasons to strengthen the armament.

The delegation of collective farmers of the Leninsky district of the Moscow region hands over to the Red Army the tank column "Moscow Collective Farmer", consisting of 21 KV-1S tanks

But after the introduction of the Third Reich Pz. VI ("Tiger"), equipped with an 88-mm cannon, the Klim Voroshilov tanks became obsolete overnight: the KV could not fight the enemy's heavy tanks on an equal footing. In the autumn of 1943, a certain number of KV-85s were produced (developed on the basis of the KV-1S and equipped with an 85-mm cannon), but then the production of KV tanks was curtailed in favor of the IS.

A number of KV-1S tanks continued to be used until 1945; in particular, the 68th tank brigade, which took part in the battles at the Kustrinsky bridgehead, had two tanks of this type in February 1945.

Padded soviet tanks KV-1S and T-34-76