Building KVs

 "Addendum to agreement #B1-081 signed between the GABTU and Kirov factory for the year 1941

This addendum is signed on [rubbed out] June July 1941 between the GABTU (Customer) represented by Deputy Chief of the GABTU Major General of the Technical Forces I.A. Lebedev and Chelyabinsk factory (Vendor) represented by Deputy Director comrade Obrant and is based on State decree #525-224 issued on March 13th, 1941.

The Vendor accepts the responsibility of producing and delivery of 500 33 KV-3 tanks and increase of monthly delivery of KV-1 tanks by 10 units and the Customer accepts these vehicles and pays the previously agreed price of 740 thousand rubles for each one.

Delivery of KV-3 tanks is conducted in accordance with blueprints and technical requirements developed by the Kirov factory and the tactical-technical requirements approved by the State.
Blueprints and technical requirements are subject to final approval by the GABTU after the prototype is tested.

The agreed upon price of one KV-3 tank with parts and instruments is established at 740,000 rubles and is subject to adjustment according to calculations in reports delivered in October of this year. All calculations to establish the price of the KV-3 are subject to revision based on these reports.

In accordance to State decree #548-232s issued on March 15th, 1941, the amount of KV-1 tanks build according to agreement B1-081 is reduced by 100 units, as a result of which the cost of the contract is reduced by fifty two million three hundred thousand (52,300,000) rubles.

The overall cost of the KV-3 tanks is established by this addendum to equal three hundred and seventy million rubles (370,000,000).

The final cost of contract B1-081 including the addendum is therefore six hundred and thirty five million rubles (635,000,000).

The Vendor accepts the responsibility of producing a manual for the KV-3 vehicle by November 1st, 1941 and a catalog of spare parts by November 1st, 1941.

All other sections of the contract B1-081 remain in force.

[Signatures]
June 5th, 1941"

Item	Amount	Unit cost (thousand)	Total (thousand)
KV-1 tank	400	523	209,200
KV-2 tank	100	558	55,800
KV-3 tank	500	740	370,000
Total	1000	-	635,000

	KV-1		KV-2		KV-3
	Amount	Cost (thousands)	Amount	Cost (thousands)	Amount	Cost (thousands)
January	40	20,920	-	-	-	-
February	45	23,535	-	-	-	-
March	50	26,150	-	-	-	-
Q1 Total	135	70,605	-	-	-	-
April	65	33,995	-	-	-	-
May	-	-	70	39,060	-	-
June	50	26,150	30	16,740	-	-
Q2 Total	115	60,145	100	55,800	-	-
July	100	52,300	-	-	-	-
August	50	26,150	-	-	55	40,700
September	-	-	-	-	105	77,700
Q3 Total	150	78,450	-	-	160	118,400
October	-	-	-	-	110	81,400
November	-	-	-	-	110	81,400
December	-	-	-	-	120	88,800
Q4 Total	-	-	-	-	340	251,600

CAMD RF F.38 Op.11355 D.98 pp 65, 67

German Tank Intel 1944

 "Top Secret

Inspector General of the Tank Forces
#046/44 Top Secret

June 26th, 1944

Copy 1 out of 5

Notes on the report to the Fuhrer

[...]

Based on information received at 2:00 on June 25th from Tank Group West and Colonel Emichen, the following picture is formed on English and American tanks:

1. The new Cromwell tank is armed with one 75 mm L/34 gun. The American Sherman tank used to be armed with a 75 mm L/40 gun and now has a longer 76.2 mm L/52.8 tank gun (previously used on the M10 SPG).

Big Gun for a Big KV

ZIS-6 and other 100-107 mm tank guns developed in 1941

Vasiliy Gavrilovich Grabin is one of the best known Soviet gun designers. It just so happened that design bureaus under his direction created the most common tank and divisional guns used by the Red Army in the war. Grabin rose to fame as an artillery designer in the second half of the 1930s. He first created the F-22 and F-22 USV guns, then the F-32 and F-34. Far from all products developed at factory #92 went into mass production, but that was a typical scenario. The most important thing was that Grabin's designs were often better than its competitors. Factory #92's design bureau has no equal in 1940-1942. Their F-34 gun became the T-34's main weapon, and a variant of it called ZIS-5 became the main gun of the KV-1 in the fall of 1941. The Red Army's main towed gun was the ZIS-3, a grassroots initiative that could be used both as field artillery or an anti-tank gun. As an anti-tank gun, it was only beaten by another of Grabin's creations, the ZIS-2. The Central Artillery Design Bureau created on Grabin's initiative began to lose ground to factory #9's design bureau, but nevertheless the S-53/ZIS-S-53 was the T-34-85's main gun. The TsAKB was also responsible for the BS-3, another combination anti-tank and field gun. The BS-3, ZIS-S-53, and ZIS-3 still fight in distant corners of the world.

KV-2 with a ZIS-6 at the Gorohovets ANIOP, June 1941.

Factory #92 was working on a whole family of guns in early 1941, both towed and tank. They included the main character of this article: the 107 mm F-42 gun, later renamed to ZIS-6. Unlike most of factory #92's designs, this one was a grassroots initiative. However, a proposal to develop a 107 mm gun with the ballistics of the M-60 came about in June of 1940, and not from Grabin. In March of 1941 the ZIS-6 became relevant to a tank other than the KV-2. The gun became necessary for a whole number of new tanks that entered development that spring. Rumours and omissions are common when discussing the history of this gun, so let's fill in the gaps.

3.7 cm Pak Penetration

The German 3.7 cm Pak was a iniquitous anti-tank gun in the first half of the war. After the Germans faced the T-34 and KV-1 tanks in the summer of 1941 it was nicknamed Panzeranklopfgerät or Tank Knocking Device due to its inability to penetrate their armour. However, this penetration table shows that the gun was a tad more potent than its reputation suggests.

American Review

 "Materials from the USA War Department describing Soviet T-70, T-34, KV-1, and KV-2 tanks

To the Chief of Staff of the Armoured and Motorized Forces, Major General of the Tank Forces comrade Salminov

I present to you materials received from the USA War Department describing Soviet T-70, T-34, KV-1, and KV-2 tanks.

This material was composed by the training department of the US Army Air Force to familiarize American personnel with identifying foreign tanks.

Attachment: the aforementioned on 5 pages
For your eyes only

Chief of the 2nd Directorate of Red Army Main Intelligence Directorate, Major General Khlopov
October 15th, 1943

New Gun for the KV-2

 "To the Director of the Kirov Factory, comrade Zaltsman
CC: Chief of the GABTU, Lieutenant General of the Tank Forces, comrade Fedorenko
CC: Chief of the GAU, Colonel General of Artillery, comrade Yakovlev

Following government decree, we produced two experimental prototypes of 107 mm ZIS-6 tank guns and began mass production. According to the decree, we installed one of the two prototypes into a KV-2 tank and conducted trials, the second prototype is to be installed in a KV-3 tank.

Due to a delay in the mass production of the KV-3, we propose installing ZIS-6 guns into the KV-2 tank.

In order to reduce the time spent on developing the mount, we send out blueprints for the frame and mantlet developed by our factory for the ZIS-6 prototype.

Attachments: blueprints and specifications on 4 pages (only on the copy sent to the Kirov factory).

Factory Director Elyan
Chief Designer Grabin

July 22nd, 1941"

Via Padikovo Museum.

KV-3 Gun Mount

 "I.V. Stalin factory #92

September 8th, 1941

To the Chief Engineer of the Chelyabinsk Factory, comrade Makhonin

We developed and are currently manufacturing a coaxial 45 mm gun for the 107 mm ZIS-6 gun mount. The DT coaxial machine gun remains in its old place.

The tactical purpose of such a weapon is obvious: to avoid wasting 107 mm ammunition on targets that could be defeated with a 45 mm gun.

As the factory doesn't have a KV-3 tank, the prototype will be installed in a KV-2 tank turret.

Your designer comrade Schneidman informed us that you are making a new turret for the KV-3. Due to the obvious advantage of having a 45 mm gun in the KV-3 and minor changes required to the turret as a result of using this mounting, we ask you to widen the gun port and change the frame and gun mantlet in accordance to the attached blueprints. We don't have blueprints for the new KV-3 turret and are still working with old ones, but that shouldn't matter in this case.

At the same time, we ask you to develop ammunition racks for 107 and 45 mm rounds in the KV-3 turret. For this reason, we attach a dimensional drawing of a 45 mm round.

Attached: draft drawing of the coaxial mounting on two pages, dimensional drawing of the 45 mm round.

Factory director Elyan
Chief designer Grabin"

Via Yuri Pasholok

7.5 cm KwK Firing Tables

KV-3 Delays

"June 2nd, 1941

To the People's Commissar of Heavy Machinebuilding comrade Yefremov

To the Chairman of the Committee of Defense, Marshal of the Soviet Union comrade Voroshilov

To the Chief of the Main Auto-Armour Directorate of the Red Army, General Fedorenko

In accordance with government decrees #525-234s issued on May 13th, 1941, 548-232s on March 15th, 1941, 827-347s on April 7th, 1941, and 1217-503s on May 5th, 1941, the Kirov factory was required to:

1. Present a prototype of the KV-3 tank for trials on by May 25th.
2. Produce KV tanks with applique armour by June 1st.
3. Begin production of the KV tank with a flamethrower in July.

In order to achieve this, the Kirov factory must receive:

1. The hull and turret of the experimental KV-3 tank from the Izhora factory by May 20th.
2. A set of experimental KV-1 and KV-2 turrets with applique armour from the same by May 1st.
3. A ZIS-6 system from factory #92 by May 25th.
4. Blueprints of a flamethrower mount from factory #174 by June 1st.

None of the aforementioned components and blueprints of the flamethrower mount have been received at the Kirov factory. The deadlines for delivery of a flamethrower for the KV-3 vehicle are not known.

I ask you to instruct the necessary People's Commissariats to expedite the delivery of the aforementioned components to the Kirov factory, as the deadlines set by the government are passed and any delay creates a threat to the mass production of the KV-3 tank starting with August of 1941.

Factory director Zaltsman."

Via Yuri Pasholok.

5 cm KwK Penetration Tables

Fuel Capacity

"Table of one full load of fuel per fighting vehicle."

Vehicle	Capacity in kg	Type of fuel	Notes
T-35	637	BK-70, B-70	Aux. tank 360 L
KV-1 and KV-2	834	RB-70 diesel
T-28	462	BK-70, B-70
BT-7M	619	RB-70 diesel
BT-7	547	BK-70, B-70, RB-70
BT-5	263	ditto
T-34	710/628	BK-70 diesel/B-70
T-26	204	RB-70
T-40	154	RB-70
T-50	255	RB-70
T-60	227	RB-70
T-70	321	RB-70
T-38	90	Automotive gasoline
T-37	90	Automotive gasoline
T-27	35	Automotive gasoline
BA-20 light	75	Automotive gasoline
BA-10 medium	88	Automotive gasoline
BA-11 heavy	115	Automotive gasoline
BA-64	68	Automotive gasoline
MK-3 Valentine	145	Gasoil “3”
MK-2	192	Gasoil “3”
American M3 medium	613	3 cubic cm of RD per 1 kg of B-70
American M3 light	146	2 cubic cm of RD per 1 kg of B-70 or B-74
Universal Carrier	45	B-74 2nd grade
Bren Carrier	68	B-74 2nd grade

Via Valeriy Lisyutin