KW-2
| KW-2 | |
|---|---|
KW-2 in the Central Museum of the Armed Forces Moscow |
|
| General properties | |
| crew | 6th |
| length | 7.00 m |
| width | 3.32 m |
| height | 3.20 m |
| Dimensions | 57 t |
| Armor and armament | |
| Armor | steel
|
| Main armament | 152-mm M10 SL / 24
|
| Secondary armament | 2 × DT machine gun |
| agility | |
| drive | V12 diesel engine W-2 K 600 HP |
| suspension | Torsion bar |
| Top speed | 25 km / h |
| Power / weight | 10.52 hp / t |
| Range | 250 km |
The KW-2 ( Russian КВ-2 ), named after the defense minister at the time the KW series was launched , Marshal Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov , was a heavy Soviet tank that was used in World War II from 1941 to 1942.
development
The KW-2 was developed on the chassis of the KW-1 when the Soviet General Staff requested a tank with heavy armament to fight fortified positions and bunkers. In order to be able to meet this requirement, the turret was enlarged to accommodate a shortened 152 mm artillery gun . The high silhouette of the vehicle now required reinforced armor on the turret in order to be able to withstand the heavy fire that was to be expected. The combat weight of the KW-2 increased to 57 tons and its top speed fell to below 30 km / h. The only Soviet variant of the KW-2 was the KW-2b, which was not based on the chassis of the KW-1, but on the chassis of the improved KW-1A.
commitment
The tank was mass-produced after the design was approved in 1940. The Soviet Union produced about 330 vehicles of the versions KW-2 and KW-2b. Both variants of the KW-2 turned out to be too heavy to be used in difficult terrain according to modern principles. The fast-moving battles around 1941 in particular demanded high mobility with moderate fuel consumption from the tanks involved on the German and Soviet sides. The KW-2 did not meet any of these requirements and was also very susceptible to repairs. As a result of these problems, most KW-2s were lost due to technical defects or lack of fuel or got stuck in difficult terrain and were abandoned. The tower could only be turned when the vehicle was in a horizontal position.
The low rate of fire, the slow turret pivot mechanism and the slow-flying 152 mm artillery projectile made the KW-2 unsuitable for fighting its smaller and more agile opponents. Although the core armor could not be penetrated by the German combat vehicle cannons at the beginning of the German-Soviet War , the KW was unable to move and the crew could be forced to surrender. Most of the time, however, their destruction was left to the Air Force. A few cases are known in which a single KW-2 stopped entire German tank companies by blocking the passage at a terrain bottleneck. The KW-2 was called "52-tonner" by the German soldiers and was the terror of the tank troops at the beginning of the war. After German troops overran the production sites, the production of the tank ended and was not resumed elsewhere, as the whole construction had turned out to be a failure anyway.
Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS deployed captured KW-2 tanks under the designation Panzerkampfwagen (Pzkpfw) KW-2 754 (r). As a booty tank , it was used as an artillery observation tank , among other things because of its size, which was ideal for it. According to the files, individual KW-2s can be found in the 5th SS Panzer Division "Wiking" , the 269th Infantry Division and the Panzer Division zbV 66.
Technical specifications
| Panzerkampfwagen KW-II | |
| 0 General characteristics | |
| crew | six soldiers |
| Combat weight | 52 t |
| Specific ground pressure | 0.84 kg / cm 2 |
| length | 7.10 m (series vehicle / tube 12h) |
| width | 3.35 m |
| height | 3.28 m |
| Ground clearance | 43 cm |
| Chain width | 70 cm |
| 0 armament | |
| Main armament | 152.4 mm howitzer M-10 SL / 24 |
| Secondary armament | 3–4 DT-MG (cal. 7.62 mm ) (serial vehicle) |
| Combat load HW | 36 floors |
| Combat load MG | 3055 rounds |
| 0 mileage | |
| engine | Twelve-cylinder - diesel engine W-2K |
| cooling | water |
| Displacement | 38.88 l |
| Bore / stroke | 150 mm × 180 ( connecting rod 186.7) mm |
| Max. rotational speed | 2000 min -1 |
| Max. power | 600 hp (550 hp at 1900 min -1 ) |
| Liter output | 14.5 hp / l |
| Power / weight | 10.6 hp / t |
| transmission | five forward gears, one reverse gear |
| Speed limit road | 35 km / h |
| Fuel supply | 650 l |
| Range road | 220 km |
| Range terrain | 130 km |
| steering | Steering brakes |
| Rollers | 6th |
| suspension | Torsion bars |
| Fording depth | 145 cm |
| 0 armor | |
| Tub bow | 75 mm |
| Tub side | 75 mm |
| Tub rear | 75 mm |
| Tub roof | 40 mm |
| Tub bottom | 35 mm |
| Tower cover | 90 mm |
| Tower front | 110 mm |
| Tower side | 75 mm |
| Turret stern | 75 mm |
| Tower roof | 35 mm |
literature
- Jochen Vollert: KV-2 / KW-2. Verlag Jochen Vollert Tankograd, Erlangen 2004, pp. 6, 18.
- Alexander Lüdeke : captured tanks of the Wehrmacht - Great Britain, Italy, Soviet Union and USA 1939–45. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-613-03359-7 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lüdeke: captured armor of the Wehrmacht. 2011, pp. 72-73.
- ↑ Thomas L. Jentz : The German Armored Troop 1933-42. Podzun-Pallas-Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-7909-0623-9 , p. 282.