for a machine that has become nearly as iconic to tank fans as the world famous tiger t-34 or
sherman the history behind the glorious kv-2 has remained out of the direct spotlight
in most history documentaries and books today however we'll finally shine a light onto one of
the most bizarre and beloved tanks to ever exist throughout history there have been countless tanks
all designed to kill but not all have been a success what happened to the ones
that never made it and why did they fail my name is coneofarc join me as we journey through time
uncovering failed projects and forgotten creations in cursed by design
the vehicle that would become known by such names as the king of derp and soviet fridge began its
life thanks largely if not entirely due to the finished defenses during the winter war especially
along the Mannerheim line this conflict between the soviet red army and the Finnish defenders not
only showed the sheer number of soldiers that could be lost due to poor tactics but also the
lack of something capable of smashing through the defenses the kliment vorishlov or KV proved itself
as being up to the task outperforming the competing heavy tank designs and being virtually
immune to anything that was thrown at it but only possessing a relatively small anti-tank armament
it still could not inflict the damage needed to break these defenses quickly to solve this the
soviets began a program to develop a tank to meet these requirements this would eventually lead to a
design originally known simply as the KV “Bolshaya Bashnya” or KV big turret and would begin
production at nearly the same time as the kv small turret as the 76 millimeter version would be known
this designation was of course later simplified further to kv-1 and kv-2
in 1941 and i'll be referring to them by these names for the remainder of the video although
i must point out that these pre-production tanks were never given the designation the
urgency of this design was shown in the extremely short design time given to produce the tank in
just two weeks the designers were able to create the first of the prototype turrets designated mt1
with the millimeter model 1938 howitzer they were then sent for trials near the factory in total
four KV prototypes would get the big turret kv u1 to u4 all had the big turret u0 was also given it
but was given the 76 millimeter turret after factory testing these tanks were then sent to
the front in Finland upon arrival the tanks were given to the 20th heavy tank brigade
for combat trials and showed remarkable results in one instance u0 reportedly received 22 hits
without being knocked out of action according to some sources Finnish anti-tank guns actually stop
firing at the tanks after three non-damaging hits this is quite believable considering at this stage
of the war the Finns were so low on ammo they did everything they could to conserve what they had
the immense size and armor of these tanks earned them the nickname dreadnought by their crews
overall the performance was acceptable to soviet command despite the tank's many faults not just
due to the teething problems of the kv itself but also due to the fact that the bigger gun
and turret increased the weight from around 45 tons on the standard kv to an excess of 53 tons
the turret alone weighing 12 tons this caused immense strain on the turret ring on top of the
stresses the engine and gearbox had already been experiencing following the successes of these
prototypes an order of 100 kv-2s and 130 kv-1s was given although 20 pre-production turrets had
already been produced with some slight alterations the final version of the kv-2 differed from the
pre-series tanks quite significantly to attempt to remedy some of the issues and simplify production
the turret was completely reworked scrapping the previous angled mt1 design for a new rolled plate
which created a six-sided turret with vertical walls called the mt-2 this created two distinctly
different looks to the kv-2s you may know these by their more common western names the kv-2 1939
and kv-2 1940 respectively although these names were never actually used by the soviets themselves
only being given the kv big turret and kv-2 designations the mt2 also featured a new gun the
m10s 152 millimeter and a coaxial machine gun to replace the pistol ports from the mt1 this turret
was then tested on whole u7 and would go on to become the basis of the production version despite
these changes in the two-ton weight reduction of the new design it was still impossible to overcome
the main weaknesses and the turret ring would still be pushed to its limit this caused the tank
to take a full 36 seconds for a full 360 degree turn of the turret using the electric traverse or
with the backup manual system the tank would also need to stop on flat terrain to be able to fire
it since the immense recoil could cause damage if this wasn't done not to mention the tendency
the turret had to traverse on its own towards the vehicle's lowest point making it very unsafe for
the crew and surrounding soldiers should that result in the top heavy machine falling over
following u7 the final production version of the vehicle began to be produced with a ball mount
for an mg added to the front hull and turret rear for further close defense situations along with a
slew of other minor changes although i should note here that the early pre-series versions would also
be pressed into combat along with the final design by the end of its production cycle a total of 204
kv-2s would be built with four pre-production vehicles 20 more with the pre-production turret
80 with the production turret in 1940 and 100 more production tanks in 1941.
to keep this video from getting too long however we'll save some of the stranger variants of the
kv-2 for a future video and now discuss its performance in combat against the germans right
from the start the tanks were plagued by problems the beginning of operation barbarossa would come
right at the end of the production cycle but replacement parts were few and far between
for the new kv-2s meaning that many units were under-equipped with spare parts and ammunition as
well as being untrained with the tanks some units hadn't even received any ammunition for the tank
at all and most crews had less than 10 hours of training due to the soviets clashing the tanks as
secret weapons and keeping them in storage these issues were then mixed with the rapid attack of
the germans which caused the slow lumbering kv-2s to be pushed far beyond their capabilities despite
this however the kv-2 could still cause quite a headache for the advancing germans with their
thick armor being resistant to all but the most powerful anti-tank guns at the time unfortunately
for the kvs their original intended role of slowly advancing to destroy enemy fortifications
which fit the soviet battle doctrine could not be done and instead the tanks were used directly
in defensive combat against advancing enemy units which was yet another thing the crews and army as
a whole were not properly trained for in that role they fared badly being largely abandoned by their
own crews with the soviets occasionally using them as basically mobile bunkers at strategic defense
points in this role the kv-2 could be truly devastating to the attackers the germans at this
time were still mainly using 37 or 50 millimeter anti-tank guns with similar armaments on their
tanks which could barely scratch the armor to knock out these tanks it was often only possible
by closing the range with infantry or by heavy artillery bombardment as only the 88 millimeter
flat gun was truly capable of dealing with the armor although that being said the germans were
quick to learn that by immobilizing the tanks the crew would often bail out rather than trying
to continue fighting despite this both the regular kv and kv-2 were able to help heavily delay german
attacks which in the long term contributed greatly to stalling the blitzkrieg allowing the soviets to
hold back the push and later counter it probably the most famous example of this tank in action
is the story of the lone kv during the battle of Raseiniai during the fighting a single kv-2
positioned itself at a crossroads behind the front line this crossroad was vital due to the fact that
the surrounding area was swampy ground meaning vehicles could not pass through on the 24th
of june as the germans tried to move some of their wounded soldiers as well as captured soviets back
east they spotted the tank i can only imagine the germans on the convoy probably thinking
it was just another knocked out tank that is until it opened fire on them the germans then
pulled their convoy back fearing this was part of an expected soviet counter-attack the kv was then
able to destroy 12 trucks from a supply convoy attempting to move to the troops on the front
clearly this tank needed to be knocked out and the germans threw everything they had at it reports
differ on the exact details of the engagement and it's possible if the tank was in fact a kv-1 and
not a kv-2 although new evidence strongly suggests it was in fact a kv-2 but regardless the results
were the same this one tank and its brave crew were able to stop an entire assault in its tracks
for a full day this incredible story served as the basis for the Raseiniai heroes medal you can earn
in the game world of tanks if you'd like to see me cover this in more detail i'd be happy to but
for sake of time i won't in this video by the end of 1941 nearly all of the kv-2s and soviet
service had been abandoned destroyed or captured with only a few managing to make it into 1942. it
is possible that at least a single kv-2 was still in action as late as 1943 with one photo existing
showing a tank with the number 528 on the side the use of captured kv-2s by the germans in general is
also relatively unknown many were captured during the invasion and they were eventually placed into
service with the designation kv-2 754-r with some receiving a german cupola to improve vision for
the commander some of these modified kvs were to be issued to panzer company 66 which was a special
armor unit with a range of rare vehicles which was planned to be used to invade the island of
Malta in the Mediterranean but this was never done after the disaster of the german invasion of Crete
and the fate of the tanks in this unit is as unknown as the captured kv-2s used by other units
although evidence points to most being lost in battle or abandoned in the winter of 1942
sadly only one of these unique and significant machines survives with a production kv-2 on
display at the russian central armed forces museum in Moscow although there is also one replica in
the battle glory of the euros museum also in russia i'll put the town name on the screen for
those of you who are interested because there is no way i would pronounce that correctly in the end
although this tank contributed to the halting of the blitzkrieg and subsequent soviet victory
it was cursed by a number of design flaws that made it impractical for the type of combat it
was needed for despite these flaws the kv-2 is still beloved by tank fans around the world and
in games like world of tanks it still serves as a source of fear for those facing it just as it did
all those years ago thank you as always to my youtube members who helped me get the
surprisingly expensive source material to allow me to make such a lengthy and detailed video
i also want to give a special thanks to Francis Pulman who helped me ensure this video was as
accurate as possible he is a channel of his own where he detailed the history of the kv family
of tanks as well as other soviet machines and even wrote a book on the soviet t-35
links to both his channel and his book will be in the description please check them out
he really knows his stuff when it comes to soviet tanks as i mentioned earlier if you'd like to see
more videos on other uses of the kv-2 as well as the story of the Raseiniai tank please let me know
in the comments below and consider becoming a youtube member yourself as it's the best way
to directly support these videos don't forget to subscribe and leave a like on this video if you
enjoyed it and check out the other episodes of curse by design in the playlist on your screen