Tank KV. Tank "Clim Voroshilov". The Soviet tank KV-1

By the beginning of the Second World War, not a single army of the world was armed with heavy tanks. With one exception. They had the Red Army.

Why do you need heavy tanks

The war is, first of all, work, heavy, dirty and very dangerous. Most of the time the soldier is busy digging the ground. The more he extracts the soil, the higher his chances of surviving. There are other types of work that are not less labor-intensive, and each of them requires its own tool. To bomb attacks on individual point targets, a heavy bomber does not do - an attack aircraft is needed. To destroy the enemy's industrial potential, the fighter should not be used, strategic bomb-carriers are required here, and there must be a lot of them. Light tanks are necessary for deep and swift raids, bypassing enemy defenses and creating "boilers" in which significant military units, deprived of supplies and communications, will not be able to stand for long. If you draw analogies with a working tool, then they perform the functions of a blade, flexible and convenient. But there are situations when you need something more powerful, and sharpness does not matter much (a cleaver, for example, or an ax). Heavy tanks are needed when a strong attack can not be taken or avoided by fortified positions, and a methodical breach, a strong frontal attack, all-destroying and merciless is required.

In December 1939 there were heavy and bloody battles in Karelia. A terrible, frosty frost, a snow cover to the waist, beneath it swamps, and not freezing. If to add to the weather conditions mines, the detection of which is very problematic; The work of snipers; Unexpectedly arisen secret firing points protected by thick ferro-concrete; Polar night, acting depressingly on the psyche; The inability to build a fire and generally keep warm; Boulders, hidden, again, under the snow, and much, much more, it becomes clear "why so long they were busy with some little Finland there." In the difficult matter of the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line, heavy tanks for the first time played an important role. The USSR, in the person of the Stalinist leadership, decided to create a super-powerful armored fist earlier than other countries. Experimental samples, in particular QMS, took part in the Finnish war. On December 17, trying to overcome the fortified area of Khottinen, one of them at the disposal of the 20th brigade was blown up on an anti-tank mine. The crew did not incur losses, but was forced to leave the car. This was one of the first cases of the use of new weapons.

Heavy tank as a reflection of Soviet military doctrine

In the military industry nothing is done just like that. It is difficult to imagine a situation in which JV Stalin calls the designers of armored vehicles and, puffing up a pipe, says to them: "And make me a heavy tank. I really want this. I have such a whim ... ". In this case, no state has enough money to fulfill the most urgent tasks to protect its borders. No, all the tasks that were put in the Kremlin specialists, were justified.

Design a combat vehicle that meets the modern requirements for assault weapons, began in early 1939, carrying out the decree of the State Committee for Defense, adopted in December 1938. According to the military doctrine of the USSR, military operations in the event of a probable (and expected) war were to be deployed on the enemy's territory in the conditions of its stubborn resistance at the initial stage. This kind of conflict required certain technical means, in connection with which designers were given the appropriate TK. It was understood that through wide breaches in the defensive lines forward will move large units, equipped with lightweight fast tanks of the BT class, capable of moving along roads at high speed. In such a likely scenario, with complete air superiority, victory was guaranteed with minimal losses.

Beginning of design work

Zh. Ya. Kotin, the general designer of the Leningrad plant named after Kirov, supervised the design of the SMK tank. The name commemorates the recently killed leader, the leader of the party organization "cradle of the revolution." Another machine was developed under the leadership of AS Ermolaev at the neighboring plant No. 185, it was called the T-100. The design idea of those years was multidirectional, in particular, one of the main lines was considered a multi-tower scheme, in which the sector of fire could be circular. The QMS weight was too large, and instead of three towers it was decided to install two in order to improve the running characteristics and booking.

However, soon after the start of the design work, a group of graduates-trainees of the VAMM (Military Academy of Mechanization and Motorization) Stalin, led by NF Shashmurin, proposed to go further: remove another tower (which young experts deemed excessive), install a diesel engine instead of a carburetor engine and reduce the chassis to two rollers. In fact, the collective intuitively came to the scheme, which became classical for long decades, ahead of all foreign colleagues who accepted this idea only in the fifties.

So the Soviet tank KV-1 was born.

From drawings to metal

Lead single-tower tank instructed the lead designer NL Dukhov. To remind you that it was dangerous to hesitate in the Stalinist years, today no one needs. Any delay could cause a change of work to a less prestigious, in a quilted jacket and with a saw or ax. The chief designer of the KV tank, comrade Dukhov, coped with the assignment. By August heavy tanks KV and SMK were ready and presented to the state commission, and in September the Kubinka test site shook with the roar of engines during the demonstration of new samples. Equally expeditiously, they were accepted for service, a "liberation campaign" was already underway in Finland, and this technique was extremely necessary. The designers were interested in the effectiveness of the development. The tank "Clim Voroshilov" went into battle.

How did KB-2

The Mannerheim Line was strengthened thoroughly. Unlike the French Maginot, it rested on the shores of the coast (in the west to the Gulf of Finland, in the east to Ladoga), and it was impossible to circumvent it. Fortifications were built competently, with a high degree of autonomy and all the necessary infrastructure for defense. Overall, the heavy KV tank proved to be good, but 76mm guns were clearly not enough to destroy reinforced concrete structures covered by a layer of soil. Something more effective was needed, for example, a 152 mm howitzer, which was already in service, although a powerful tractor tractor was needed to transport it. The Leningrad designers were given a new task: to connect two important elements, a huge gun and a caterpillar chassis, and to ensure at the same time a reliable protection of the crew with the gun crew. So there was KV-2, a tank-hammer, designed to crush any fortifications.

In the interwar period

The Finnish war, although bloody, ended quickly, but despite this, the production of heavy machinery, including the siege type, continued. Since February 1940, the Klim Voroshilov tank has been launched in two versions with a series at the LKZ (Leningrad Kirov Plant), and since June and at Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (Chelyabinsk Plant). Enthusiasm in those years was extremely high, the first HFs of the Urals assembly came out of the shop already soon, and to build up the capacity a separate building was built, the dimensions of which assumed very great opportunities. Work and design teams did not stop, continuing to improve technical indicators and eliminate the shortcomings identified in the course of combat operations. In the fall of the fortieth there were to appear two new samples with reinforced to 90 mm armor with more powerful artillery armament (85 mm, caliber, which tankmen of other countries could not even dream of). By the end of the year, another giant was planned, this time with 100 mm protection. These machines were secret developments, they were called objects 220, 221 and 222. That nobody knew ...

Comparison with a probable opponent

In 1941 it was planned to produce 1200 heavy machines, in particular KV-1 - 400, KV-2 - 100 (it had a very specific function, and the need for it was lower), and KV-3 - as many as 500 pieces. And this is only in Leningrad! Another 200 units were to be given by ChTZ. In 1949, the heavy tank KV-1 and the superheavy KV-2 were also produced, and in considerable quantities (243). Total in the arsenal of the Red Army there were 636. Is this a lot or not? Soviet historians, explaining the causes of the disaster in the summer of 1941, expressed the opinion that we did not have modern tanks . At the same time, they forgot to mention that the Wehrmacht crossed the border of the USSR, having at its disposal a little more than three thousand tanks, and all of them, without exception, were light. Moreover, it is extremely difficult to name them new. European blitzkrieg was, of course, a fun walk, but the engine is indifferent, it wears out even when driving on a very good autobahn. Machines captured in France and Czechoslovakia, too, were not compared to even our light BT. Romania, an ally of Nazi Germany, and did have "Renault-17" in service (17 is the year of production, 1917), in the USSR there were 2 such items, they were in museums.

And yet, it's time to remember that not only heavy tanks were produced in the Soviet Union. There were also medium, T-34, the best in the world, and they were built very actively. And the lungs, they produced unprecedented circulation. And in armament, and armored protection, and the characteristics of the engines (mostly by the way, diesel, V-2, which no one else could repeat in the world during the entire war), they outnumbered the Wehrmacht. The Soviet tank KV as of mid-1941 had no analogues at all.

Design

At the time of the creation of the first prototypes, the capabilities of Soviet tank factories were allowed to use the most advanced technologies. Neither about any riveted joints, and even it was not, the body was made by a welded method. The same was true of the gun turret, which was further improved by using the whole-cast method. The thickness of the armor plates was 75 mm. The modification capabilities of the structure allowed further protection to be increased up to 105 mm due to the installation of additional armored screens on the bolts, but in 1941, not a single German side gun could hit the KV-1 tank without it.

The general scheme was classic for the Soviet armored vehicles of the second half of the thirties (later taken as a model by engineers from all over the world): the rear transmission, excluding the propeller shaft, oblique armoring, a powerful diesel and a 76 mm caliber gun (L-11, F-32, and later ZIS -5).

Chassis

The V-2K engine was the heart of this car, its power was 500 horsepower at 1800 rpm. The multi-plate friction transmission had design defects, it often refused because it was not designed for the forces needed to change the speed of such a heavy vehicle as the KV tank (its mass exceeded 47 tons), especially in the first two gears (there were 5 in all).

The basis of the running gear was a torsion bar suspension for relatively small support rollers (there were six on each side). The sagging of caterpillars eliminated additional, supporting rollers-rollers, three for each. Until 1942, they were covered with rubber to reduce noise, but due to a shortage of materials from this "luxury" had to be abandoned. The caterpillars were made wide (700 mm) to reduce the specific load on the ground.

Armament

Experience of action against a desperate adversary, ready to go against the tank with a bottle of Molotov cocktail, set a new demand - the possibility of creating a protective fire curtain. To solve this problem, the machine was equipped with three machine-gun points, one of which was directed back to protect the engine compartment. Another machine gun was turret, it covered from an attack from the air. Free internal space ergonomically filled ammunition, which is quite sufficient for conducting a long and exhausting battle (135 rounds and 2770 rounds). The accuracy of the shooting was provided by optical equipment consisting of sights (TOD-6 telescopic, PT-6 periscopic). The commander's panorama provided an opportunity for a good overview. In the tank on the combat schedule were five people, they could communicate with the help of an intercom, external communication was provided by the radio 71-TK-3 or South Africa.

Almost 48 tons of cars could reach speeds of up to 34 km / h and had a service life of 250 km. This is very much.

At the beginning of the Great War

It is common knowledge that the war began in extremely unfavorable conditions for the USSR. On the one hand, different intelligence sources warned of the Nazi blow, on the other hand, it was extremely illogical. If the rate was known about the concentration of German troops, it was not for her the secret and the Wehrmacht's lack of readiness for military action against the Soviet Union, which consisted in the absence of warm uniforms and frost-resistant fuels. Nevertheless, Hitler ordered the attack on our borders, and a huge number of Soviet military stocks were destroyed or captured by the aggressor. The KV tank caused a real shock, both in the German command and among the soldiers on the Eastern Front. The very presence of such a monster in the enemy, despite the successful advance into the interior of the USSR, caused a vague sense of its own technological backwardness. With amazement, the Germans viewed the huge self-propelled howitzer KV-2 captured by them, and learned that in the neighboring sectors one KV-1 tank was restraining the superior forces of the advancing battalions. Another question was the weak effectiveness of these monsters in defensive battles. If, during the offensive, it is necessary to "smoke" the enemy from the trenches, then the hanging trajectory of the projectile is exactly what is needed. The fire falls on the heads of soldiers sitting in the shelters directly from the sky, and there is nowhere to hide. But when the attack is repelled, a trajectory is needed to mow down the advancing chains and smash the equipment. It turned out to be useless as light, and the heaviest tanks. The USSR was not ready for defense.

The military specialists of the Wehrmacht, of course, understood the purpose of the captured technology. Her study, in addition to understanding the power of the Soviet defense industry, made it possible to draw other conclusions. Confirmed the intention of Stalin to strike at Germany and the KV tank. Photo of damaged armored siege weapons used and Goebbels propaganda as proof of the aggressive intentions of the Bolsheviks. Some captured machines Wehrmacht used for their own needs.

Light BT and other offensive techniques were soon withdrawn from production as unnecessary in the current situation. The same fate befell the armored 152-mm howitzers. It seemed that such a fate would befall all "Voroshilov's Climes". But history ordered differently. Despite the fact that the tanks of the KV series were almost inferior to the T-34 in all respects, their production continued even in the besieged Leningrad. For obvious reasons, it was impossible to carry out the restructuring of the technological cycle, but the front demanded armored vehicles, so that the production of cars not only did not turn off, but even increased, connecting the Metal and Izhora factories. Similarly came in the "Tankograd" of the city of Chelyabinsk. There were difficulties with the V-2 engines: the main production facilities before the war were in Kharkov, and its Nazis occupied. Of this difficulty came out, installing gasoline engines M-17, which, of course, reduced the combat capabilities of technology.

"C" means "high-speed"

Despite the fact that the modern nature of the fighting presupposed the abandonment of slow-moving armored vehicles, the history of the KV-1 tank did not end. With many disadvantages of this machine, it had obvious advantages, such as good protection and high traffic. The low speed, typical for siege technology, made attempts to adapt the characteristics of Klimov to the conditions of modern maneuver combat. Thus, the KV-1C tank appeared, its mass decreased to 42.5 tons. Such "ease" was achieved by thinning armor, narrowing the tracks and reducing the ammunition to 94 shells (later 114). Considered also the claims of the front-line soldiers to the gearbox, it was replaced by a more perfect one. The average tank still did not work out, the T-34 weighed a little over 30 tons, and with the same power plant was much more maneuverable. And the letter "C" added to the name meant "high-speed".

Other Modifications

In August 1942, the unit received a new model of armored vehicles, the KV-85 tank. It was a profound modification of the same KV-1C, the difference consisted in the caliber of the tower gun (the DT-5 cannon, as their names clearly denoted, it was 85 mm), reducing the number of crew to four (it turned out to be unnecessary arrow-operator) Ammunition, while maintaining the same running gear. The tower was made by casting.

There were other attempts to use the successful sides of KV. Self-propelled guns were built on their basis, caterpillar armored trains were built, armed with two or more guns of different calibers (KV-7), 122 mm U-11 howitzers. After the victory near Moscow, it became clear that a counteroffensive was inevitable, and again, samples of offensive weapons were required. The KV-8 tank was externally very similar to the prototype, and even its silhouette was imitated by a special decoration depicting an artillery barrel, but it was flamethrower. The cannon was also installed in the tower, a modest one for those times "sorokapyatku."

And there were other types of auxiliary equipment on the basis of the undercarriage KV: evacuators from the battlefield of damaged vehicles and tractors.

KV and "Tiger"

The fate of the KV tank proved to be historically not very successful. In the first half of the war, it was of little use, a completely different technique was needed, and by the time the Soviet troops moved into a decisive offensive, it had become obsolete. There were new heavy IC tanks, the characteristics of which were also correlated with the qualities of KV, just as the political weight of Joseph Stalin exceeded the influence of the "first red officer" in the Politburo.

At the turn of 1942 and 1943, the Germans appeared "Tiger". This car was extremely slow and heavy, its chassis was even less reliable than the HF, but the 88-mm cannon gave him the ability to hit heavily armored targets at distances that did not allow return fire. In February 1943, for one day, 10 KV-1 were killed near Leningrad, over which three "Tigers" shot with impunity. Since 1943, their production has been curtailed.

Tanks KV still made their contribution to the Victory, and many monuments erected in honor of our tankmen in many cities through which the fiery battlefield swept through serve as confirmation of this. Remind once the formidable machines and the exploit of the workers of the rear, who forged the sword of the victors and selflessly approached our bright holiday.