The Oldest IS

It often so happens that a truly unique tank stands in shadow, unknown to those around it. There are many examples. For instance, the T-34 tank "Kantemirovets" on display at the Road of Life exhibit is no simple tank. It turns out that this is the only "general's" T-34 that used to carry an RSB-F radio. Now it needs to be reunited with its former components, but that's a whole separate affair. Secret past lives of tanks that appear to be well known are discovered every so often.

How the hero of this article looks today.

The Kirov Factory in St Petersburg has an IS-2 installed as a monument on its grounds. It was installed here in 1947. This tank is fairly well known. It is often referred to as an IS-2 from the first production batches. However, this tank is even more interesting than this. It is actually one of the progenitors of the whole IS tank series with a very complicated fate.

There are Always Two

The tank was initially conceived as a mobile fortress; huge and slow. However, the army had to rein in their appetites from a 300 ton monster to just 28 tons. This didn’t mean that the idea of a mobile fortress died off. The mass of tanks continued to grow and the development of the K-Wagen clearly suggested that not only Lebedenko was thinking about Tsar-tanks. Only the prompt end of the First World War stopped these giants from reaching the battlefield. Although, the monstrous projects that were built by 1919 were about as useful as the rest of the Tsar family: a tank that doesn’t fight in addition to a bell that doesn’t ring and cannon that doesn’t shoot.

T-39, the first Soviet "large" heavy tank. Thankfully, clearer minds prevailed.

For obvious reasons, Soviet tank designers didn’t even think about a heavy breakthrough tank. Ironically, the most numerous tank in the Red Army at the time was the British Mark V that fit this role perfectly. The USSR began working on its own heavy tank in the early 1930s. It just so happened that they ended up with two designs over and over again for two decades. They choice was always made in favour of the lighter one, but it didn’t prevent work on the heavier one from moving forward.

IS-2 in Combat

 "To the Commander of Artillery of the 5th Guards Tank Army

In carrying out your order, I present materials on experience of using IS-122 heavy tanks.

1. During fording of water obstacles.
2. Use of concentrated volley fire of IS-122 tanks (company and regiment).
3. Examples of use of IS-122 heavy tanks in offensive combat.

1. IS-122 heavy tanks serve as support for medium tanks. During crossings, they support the medium tanks with their fire and cross the water after them.

Video: Can an IS-2 hit a target at long range?

The IS-2's can penetrate the Panther's armour at effectively any range, but can it hit? In my latest video, I take a look at the theoretical and practical precision of the IS-2's 122 mm D-25T gun to see if it could hit a Panther-sized target at long ranges.

Heavies in Action

 "April 9th, 1945
#0417

To the commander of the Armoured and Mechanized Forces of the 2nd Shock Army
RE: #08562 dated March 20th, 1945

Report of the 46th Independent Guards Order of the Red Banner Order of Suvorov Tank Breakthrough Regiment on the study of tactics and combat use of heavy tank regiments in the Red Army as well as enemy tank tactics and use of tanks in combat from January 1st to April 1st, 1945. Map scale 1:50,000

1. Tactics and combat usage of heavy tank regiments

From January 1st to April 1st, 1945, the 46th regiment took part in three operations. From January 15th to January 23rd it penetrated the enemy defenses around the bridgehead on the river Narew jointly with other units of the 2nd Belorussian Front.

From March 2nd to March 5th, 1945, the regiment fought to destroy the enemy garrison in Graudenz and take the city.

From March 17th to March 31st, 1945, the regiment fought to liquidate the encircled Danzig group and capture Danzig.

Baby IS-3

The Second World War was a catalyst for the creation of many armoured vehicles, including heavy tanks. These vehicles were quite rare at the start of the war, but this changed radically in 1941-42. The Red Army was the most heavily invested in heavy tanks. At first, Soviet heavy tanks followed the classic path of gaining more and more weight, as a result of which the KV-1 became overloaded. The need for mobility led to the KV-13 and KV-1S. The result of this new branch of development was the IS-1 (IS-85) tank, which was quickly replaced with the IS-2 (IS-122). The tank combined powerful armament with sufficient mobility and high levels of protection. Nevertheless, work on modernizing the IS-2 began in the spring of 1944.

Kirovets-1 at the NIBT Proving Grounds, December 1944.

Heavy Without Alternatives

One can often encounter brainstorms about how individual vehicles or even entire tank building schools ought to have evolved. Most of these brainstorms are done by people that are far removed from the field of history, but sometimes even notorious historians take part in this exercise. Among Soviet tanks, the T-28 is a popular character in alternative history. Modern improvements to this tank know no bounds, but the fact that the T-28 was replaced by the KV-1 and not the T-34 is often ignored, as is the fact that a replacement for the T-28 by the name of T-29 already existed. 

Object 237 accepted into service with the Red Army as the IS-85 (IS-1).

The IS-85 heavy tank was accepted into service with the Red Army on September 4th, 1943. This was the finale of the program aimed at developing a successor to the KV. One can often hear claims that if the KV remained in production and was modernized then it could be made into a heavy tank that was no worse than the IS-85. You may laugh, but these claims were not just made by alternative historians. Attempts to preserve the KV-85 were made at the highest levels, even in 1944. Nevertheless, the KV had to make room on the assembly line for its successor. Read on to find out why this happened and why there was no alternative to the IS tank.

Video: IS-2 vs Panther, Math and Reality

I've frequently seen the claim that the front of the Panther tank was nearly invulnerable to the IS-2's 122 mm D-25T gun if correctly angled. Indeed, penetration equations suggest that would be the case, but reality is a lot more complicated than that. In this video I go into detail about how line-of-sight armour thickness doesn't tell the whole story.

IS-2 AMA

As usual, I did an AMA on the Ask Historians subreddit to promote my newest book. This was the most popular one yet with over 1000 upvotes and over 20 top level questions answered. Check it out!

Stream with The Chieftain

Yesterday I participated in my first Q&A stream! The Chieftain asked me about how Tank Archives got started, whether or not the Sherman was better than the T-34, and of course about my new IS-2 book. We also took questions from the audience, so there's all sorts of interesting tank trivia to be learned. Check it out!

Note that due to technical difficulties the stream starts at about 4 minutes into the clip.

Book Announcement: Designing the IS-2

I'm delighted to announce that my third book is now available! This is the first title released by the Military History Group, a new publisher created by notable historians Bernhard Kast (Military History Visualized) and Chris Bergs (Military Aviation History). 

This book briefly covers the birth of the Soviet heavy tank from captured British Mark V tanks to the KV-1S before describing how the IS-1 came to be, why the IS-2 replaced it in production so quickly, and why the IS-2 itself managed to hold on to its spot on the assembly line for much longer than its predecessor. Like my previous books, this one is extensively based on primary documents that have never before been available in the English language. 

The book can be purchased at http://is-2-tank.com/ or from Amazon.

Engagement Ranges

 "Conclusions

As a result of examination of materials covering tanks and SPGs knocked out in battle in 1942, 1943, and 1944, one can consider the following assertions to hold firmly:

1. German tanks and anti-tank artillery currently consists almost exclusively of 75 and 88 mm guns. The enemy uses 88 mm guns predominately against our heavy tanks and SPGs and 75 mm guns against medium tanks and SPGs.
2. The main type of shell used by German artillery against our tanks and SPGs is an armour piercing sharp tipped shell with a powerful cap and small HE effect. More than 90% of all hits in July of 1944 were delivered by these types of shells.
   The use of subcaliber shot and Faust or Ofenrohr type shells against our tanks and SPGs is negligible.
3. German 75 mm guns typically fire at ranges from 100 to 700 meters and rarely exceed 1000-1100 meters.
4. German 88 mm guns typically fire at ranges from 600 to 1300 meters and rarely exceed 1600-1700 meters.
5. 75 mm guns mostly fire at T-34 tanks at ranges from 100 to 600 meters and 88 mm guns fire from 400 to 1100 meters.
6. 88 mm guns mostly fire on IS tanks from 600 to 1300 meters.
7. When firing at SPGs, ranges increase by about 200-300 meters compared to tanks of the same type.

[...]

Chief Engineer of the NII-48 MF A.F. Stogov

Deputy Chief of the 4th Department and Project Lead, V.V. Larchenko"

RGAE F.8752 Op.7 D.045 L.33-34

A Round Too Long

Attempts to create fixed ammunition for the 122 mm D-25 gun in 1944-45

It is no secret that the firepower of tanks in WW2 increased dramatically. Armies of the world began the war wither with 37-47 mm long barrelled guns or 75-94 mm short ones. Some tanks even had armament composed only of heavy machine guns or small autocannons. Firepower of heavy tanks increased the most noticeably, particularly in 1943. German heavy tanks settled on the 88 mm caliber, the Americans focused on 90 mm guns with ballistics of the M3 AA gun. The USSR also initially chose an AA gun, an 85 mm one. However, there was a huge leap forward in the summer of 1943. The design bureau of factory #9 under the direction of F.F. Petrov developed the 122 mm D-25 gun by combining the D-2 122 mm gun (its ballistics were very close to those of the A-19) and the cradle of the 85 mm D-5T-85 gun. After trials in the Object 240 experimental tank, it was accepted into service as the IS-2 (IS-122) on October 31st 1943.

Object 701 Trials

 "February 8th, 1945

1. The Object 701 tank was designed on the initiative of the Kirov factory with participation of the Bauman Institute transmission design group and TsAKB arms designers, and produced according to GOKO decree #5583 issued on April 8th, 1944.
2. According to order #368/01 of the Commander of Armoured and Mechanized Forces and the People's Commissariat of Tank Production, the commission led by Lieutenant General of the Tank Forces comrade Vershinin conducted proving grounds trials of the Object 701 heavy tank in June-July of 1944.
   The NIBT proving grounds held penetration trials of two variants of the hull and turret in July-August of 1944.

Turn up the Heat

 "April 13th, 1945

Experience gathered as a result of experiments performed at the NIBT Proving Grounds and the front lines of the Patriotic War show that instructions to heat up V-2 family engines at low RPM (600-800) until coolant temperature of 50 degrees and oil temperature of 40 degrees is reached are ineffective, do not result in normal burning of fuel, and result in increased wear on components.

Heating V-2 engines at high RPM (up to 1600 RPM) by combining idling and working under load results in a higher effect and reduces the time required to heat up the engine to working conditions.

Health and Safety

 "#850232

March 26th, 1945

Tank units armed with heavy tanks report instances where the spent brass catcher is removed from the 122 mm D-25 gun because it stops the spent brass from extracting fully.

The incomplete extraction of the brass is intentional and aids in reducing the fumes in the fighting compartment, as a portion of the fumes exit out of the gun barrel before it is removed.

I ask you to instruct tank units to stop removing the brass catcher as its absence results in serious bruising of the loader.

Chief of the Tank Usage Directorate of the GBTU, Major General of the Tank Engineering Service, Pechenikin
Chief of the 1st Department of the Tank Usage Directorate of the GBTU, Engineer-Colonel Oleinikov"

CAMD RF F.38 Op.11362 D.116 L.19
Printed in Glavnoye Bronetankovoye Upravleniye Lyudi, Sobytiya, Fakty v dokumentakh, 1944-1945 p.449

Bigger Guns

"February 5th, 1945

Evaluation of tank armament

In 1944 the Germans accepted the Tiger B tank into service, which is now the main type of enemy heavy tank.

The Tiger B tank has powerful front armour and the 88 mm KWK-43 gun. The AP round of this gun has a muzzle velocity of 1000 m/s with an aimed rate of fire of about 6 RPM.

The second type of main German tank is the Panther medium tank. This tank has a 75 mm gun with a muzzle velocity of 1000 m/s and rate of fire of 7-8 RPM.

The AP shells of these tanks can penetrate our tanks from 1500-2000 meters.

Extra Ammo

 "July 29th, 1944
#522883

Experience in combat showed that the amount of ammunition carried in the T-34-85 (56 rounds) and IS-2 (28 rounds) is insufficient.

The NIBT Proving Grounds determined that it is possible to extend the T-34-85's ammunition racks by 15 rounds and the IS-2's by 3 rounds.

Armoured Confusion: Victorious '45

There are many misconceptions about the use of tanks in 1945, same as any other period of the Great Patriotic War. These myths muddle the characteristics of tanks, their application, and sometimes even introduce tanks that were not there at all. The final chapter in the series dedicated to myths on Soviet armour in the Great Patriotic War is dedicated to this period.

Long Living IS

Production of the IS-2 ended in June of 1945. The IS-3 replaced it in production. The IS-3 was supposed to replace it in service as well, and many considered the IS-3 to be a temporary tank as well. However, plans and reality are often different. Like its successor, the IS-2 stuck around for decades after the end of its production, undergoing two waves of modernization, which will be covered in this article.