What nickname did the KV 1 tank receive? “Klim Voroshilov” against the tank division. With wife and son

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The KV tank, or, as the Germans called it, “Gespenst” (ghost) is a real metal fortress, but even such a reliable block could not have accomplished the feat at Raseiniai without cold calculation and hatred of the invaders. About seven centimeters of steel and one crew, which for the Germans became the personification of Russian character and unbending will - in this material.

By the evening of June 23, 1941, the 6th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht captured the Lithuanian city of Raseiniai and crossed the Dubissa River. The tasks assigned to the division were completed, but the Germans, who already had experience of campaigns in the west, were unpleasantly surprised by the stubborn resistance Soviet troops. One of the units of Colonel Erhard Routh's group came under fire from snipers who were occupying positions on fruit trees growing in the meadow.

Snipers killed several German officers and delayed the advance of German units for almost an hour, preventing them from quickly encircling Soviet units. The snipers were obviously doomed, since they found themselves inside the location of German troops. But they completed the task to the end. The Germans had never encountered anything like this in the West.

How the only KV-1 ended up in the rear of Routh’s group on the morning of June 24 is unclear. It is possible that he simply got lost. However, in the end, the tank blocked the only road leading from the rear to the group’s positions.

The fact remains: one tank held back the advance of the Raus battle group... Moreover, it was delayed for a whole day by one tank blocking the road to the bridge over the Dubissa River, and thus deprived half of the division of supplies. A combat group is almost half of a division and, in this case, the most powerful.

Look at the composition of the battle group "Raus":

1. II Tank Regiment
2. I/4th Motorized Regiment
3. II/76th Artillery Regiment
4. Company of the 57th Tank Engineer Battalion
5. Company of the 41st Tank Destroyer Battalion
6. Battery II/411th Anti-Aircraft Regiment
7. 6th Motorcycle Battalion

And all this against 4 people!!! The KV-1, whose crew is 4 people, “exchanged” itself for 12 trucks, 4 anti-tank guns, 1 anti-aircraft gun, possibly for several tanks, as well as for several dozen Germans killed and dying from their wounds.

All five combat episodes - the defeat of a column of trucks, the destruction of an anti-tank battery, the destruction of an anti-aircraft gun, shooting at sappers, the last battle with tanks - in total hardly even took an hour. The rest of the time the KV crew wondered from which side and in what form they would be destroyed next time. The battle with anti-aircraft guns is especially indicative. The tankers deliberately delayed until the Germans installed the cannon and began to prepare to fire, so that they could shoot for sure and finish the job with one shell. Try to at least roughly imagine such an expectation.

Moreover, if on the first day the KV crew could still hope for the arrival of their own, then on the second, when their own did not come and even the noise of the battle at Raseinaya died down, it became clearer than clear: the iron box in which they had been roasting for the second day would soon enough turn into their common coffin. They took it for granted and continued to fight.

So, while escorting several of our prisoners in a car to the rear of the Germans, he was discovered right on the road super heavy tank KV-1, which blocked the only supply route for Routh's group. Seeing the tank, our soldiers attacked the guards, a struggle and a shootout ensued - as a result, several Red Army soldiers jumped from the car and disappeared into the forest, and the rest were killed.

The German car quickly turned around and rushed back to the bridgehead to convey this unpleasant news for the Germans. At the same time, it was discovered that the tank crew damaged the telephone connection with the headquarters of the Nazi division and destroyed 12 supply trucks that were coming from Raseiniai.

All attempts to bypass our tank were unsuccessful. The vehicles either got stuck in the mud or collided with scattered Red Army units still wandering through the forest.

Then the Nazis decided to destroy the tank. An anti-tank battery, consisting of four 50 mm cannons, secretly moved towards the tank at a direct shot distance and opened fire. Eight hits were recorded. You should have seen the jubilation and joy of the Germans at this. But at least give the tank a damn... And then, to the surprise of the enemies, the KV-1 turret slowly turns around and fires four shots. As a result, two guns were blown to pieces, and two were damaged beyond repair in the field! The German personnel lost several people killed and wounded.

The Russian tank was still tightly blocking the road, so the Germans were literally paralyzed. Deeply shocked, the German soldiers returned to the bridgehead. The newly acquired weapon, which they trusted unconditionally, turned out to be completely helpless against the monstrous Russian tank.

It became clear that of all the weapons that Routh's group possessed, only 88-mm anti-aircraft guns with their heavy armor-piercing shells could cope with the destruction of the steel giant. In the afternoon, one such gun was withdrawn from the battle near Raseiniai and began to carefully creep towards the tank from the south. The KV-1 was still turned to the north, since it was from this direction that the previous attack was carried out.

Although the tank had not moved since the battle with the anti-tank battery, it turned out that its crew and commander had nerves of iron. They calmly watched the approach of the anti-aircraft gun, without interfering with it, since while the gun was moving, it did not pose any threat to the tank. In addition, the closer the anti-aircraft gun is, the easier it will be to destroy it. A critical moment came in the duel of nerves when the crew began to prepare the anti-aircraft gun to fire. It was time for the tank crew to act. While the gunners, terribly nervous, were aiming and loading the gun, the tank turned the turret and fired first! Every projectile hit its target. The heavily damaged anti-aircraft gun fell into a ditch, several crew members died, and the rest were forced to flee. Machine-gun fire from the tank prevented the removal of the gun and the collection of the dead.

The optimism of the German soldiers died along with the 88 mm gun. They did not have the best day, munching on canned food, since it was impossible to bring hot food.

As night fell, the Germans decided to blow up the tank with explosives. For this purpose, the best sappers of the group were selected. When they approached the tank at a fairly close distance, an amazing thing became clear: several civilians (apparently from the local population or partisans) approached the tank, knocked on the turret, the hatch opened and they were given food. The crew had dinner safely and went to bed inside the tank. At this time, the Germans approached the tank, planted several powerful charges and blew it up. The next rejoicing of the Germans did not last long - the tank machine gun immediately came to life and began pouring lead all around. The Nazis barely escaped!

The next attempt to attack the brave tank was made on the morning of June 25. Now the Germans resorted to a trick - they carried out a false attack with PzKw-35t tanks (they themselves could not do anything to the KV-1 with their 37 mm guns), and under their cover they brought another 88 mm anti-aircraft gun closer. The crew was carried away by the battle with nimble and light tanks the enemy and did not notice the danger. And the terrain contributed to this. The crew of the KV-1 tank was confident in the strength of its armor, which resembled an elephant hide and reflected all shells, continuing to block the road.

The anti-aircraft gun took up a position next to the place where one of the same ones had already been destroyed the day before. Its barrel aimed at the tank and the first shot rang out. The wounded KV-1 tried to turn the turret back, but during this time the German anti-aircraft gunners managed to fire 2 more shots. The turret stopped rotating, but the tank did not catch fire. Four more shots were fired with armor-piercing shells from an 88-mm anti-aircraft gun.

Witnesses to this deadly duel wanted to get closer to check the results of their shooting. To their great amazement, they discovered that only 2 shells penetrated the armor, while the remaining 5 88-mm shells only made deep gouges in it. They also found 8 blue circles marking the impact sites of 50mm shells. The result of the sappers' sortie was serious damage to the track and a shallow gouge on the gun barrel. But they did not find any traces of hits from the 37-mm cannons of the PzKW-35t tanks.

Suddenly the gun barrel began to move and the German soldiers ran away in horror. Only one of the sappers retained his composure and quickly shoved hand grenade into the hole made by the shell in the lower part of the turret. There was a dull explosion and the hatch cover flew off to the side. Inside the tank lay the bodies of the brave crew, who had previously only received injuries. Deeply shocked by this heroism, the Germans decided to bury them with full military honors. They fought until their last breath, but this was just one small drama of the great war.

Today it is difficult to imagine how much courage they showed, how hot the hatred burned in their hearts. After all, a stationary tank is a good target; it is a steel coffin for the entire crew. We will never know what the tankers said then, what they were thinking... But their actions testify that they were people of extraordinary will. The tank commander realized what a critical position he had taken. And he deliberately began to hold her back. It is unlikely that the tank standing in one place can be interpreted as a lack of initiative; the crew acted too skillfully. On the contrary, standing was the initiative. The crew could blow up the tank so that the enemy would not get it and calmly go to their own, to the partisans. But they only accepted the right decision and remained to take their last battle.

The combat episode of the beginning of the war near Raseiniai is just one of the bright moments characterizing mass heroism Soviet soldiers during the Great Patriotic War. Everlasting memory to the fallen heroes!

P.S. The description of this feat of tank crews is given from the memoirs of that same Erhard Routh. Of the 427 pages of his memoirs, directly describing fighting, 12 are dedicated to a two-day battle with a single Russian tank at Raseiniai. Routh was clearly shocked by this tank. Therefore, there is no reason for mistrust.

P.P.S. Unfortunately, not all the names of these brave tankers are known, but most likely they were from the 2nd tank division 3rd Mechanized Corps. It was the 2nd Panzer Division that opposed the 6th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht in the battles of Raseiniai. In 1965, the grave was opened. Based on the found passport surrender receipt, it was possible to restore the name of one of the crew members - Pavel Egorovich Ershov. The surname and initials of another tanker are also known - Smirnov V.A.

Thank you for watching!

Thanks to the creation of KV tanks ("Kliment Voroshilov"), Soviet Union became the only state that in 1941 had large quantities of heavy tanks with shell-proof armor. The Germans called the KV a monster.

Searches and experiments

The main disadvantage of most tanks of the second half of the 30s was weak armor, which could be penetrated by fire. anti-tank guns And heavy machine guns. The KV-1 was different from them. It was created in 1939 under the leadership of J. Ya. Kotin. The tank had a 76 mm gun and three 7.62 mm. machine gun. The crew of the tank is 5 people. The first KVs underwent military tests during the Soviet-Finnish War, which became the first conflict where heavy tanks with shell-resistant armor were used. At that time, Soviet heavy KV tanks and multi-turret SMK and T-100 tanks, operating as part of the 20th Army, were tested at the front. tank brigade. If in tank battles, which in Finnish war were a rare occurrence, newest cars did not take part, they turned out to be indispensable in breaking through enemy fortifications. The KV-1 withstood hits from almost any anti-tank gun shell. At the same time, the 76-mm gun turned out to be insufficiently powerful to combat enemy pillboxes. Therefore, already during the war, development of a tank with an enlarged turret and an installed 152 mm began on the basis of the KV-1. howitzer (future KV-2). At the same time, based on the experience of the Soviet-Finnish War, it was decided to abandon the creation of heavy multi-turret tanks, which turned out to be expensive and difficult to operate. The choice was finally made in favor of the KV.

Unmatched

As of June 1941, the KV could be considered one of the strongest heavy tanks in the world. In total, at the beginning of June 1941, there were 412 KV-1s in the Red Army units, very unevenly distributed among the troops. There is a known case in June 1941 in the Rasseney area, when one KV-1 constrained the actions of a German division for almost two days. This KV was part of the 2nd Panzer Division, which caused a lot of trouble to the German troops in the first days of the war. Apparently having used up its fuel supply, the tank took up a position on the road near a swampy meadow. One German document noted: “There were practically no means to cope with the monster. The tank cannot be bypassed; the surrounding area is marshy. It was impossible to transport ammunition, the seriously wounded were dying, they could not be taken out. An attempt to destroy the tank with fire from a 50-mm anti-tank battery from a distance of 500 meters led to heavy losses in crews and guns. The tank was not damaged, despite the fact that, as it turned out, it received 14 direct hits. All that remained were dents in the armor. When the 88-mm gun was brought to a distance of 700 meters, the tank calmly waited until it was placed in position and destroyed it. Attempts by sappers to blow up the tank were unsuccessful. The charges were insufficient for the huge tracks. Finally he fell victim to the trick. 50 German tanks simulated an attack from all sides to divert attention. Under cover, they managed to move it forward and camouflage the 88-mm gun from the rear of the tank. Of the 12 direct hits, 3 penetrated the armor and destroyed the tank." Unfortunately, most of the KV was lost not due to combat reasons, but due to breakdowns and lack of fuel.

KV-1s

In 1942, production began of a modernized version - the KV-1s (high-speed), which was put into service on August 20, 1942. The tank's weight decreased from 47 to 42.5 tons due to a reduction in the thickness of the hull armor plates and the size of the turret. The tower is cast, acquired a slightly different appearance and was equipped with a commander's cupola. The armament remained similar to the KV-1. As a result, speed and maneuverability increased, but decreased armor protection tank. It was planned to install a more powerful 85-mm cannon on the KV-1s (a similar prototype was preserved in Kubinka), but this tank did not go into production. Subsequently, on the basis of the KV-1s with an 85 mm cannon, the KV-85 was created, which, however, did not become widespread due to the switching of production to IS tanks. The soldiers nicknamed the tank "kvasok".

End of the road

In tank battles, at least until mid-1942, German troops could do little to oppose the KV-1. However, during the combat operations, the tank's shortcomings also emerged - relatively low speed and maneuverability compared to the T-34. Both tanks were armed with 76 mm guns. True, the KV had more massive armor compared to the “thirty-four”. Suffered from HF and frequent breakdowns. When moving, the tank destroyed almost any road, and not every bridge could support a 47-ton tank. Heavy tank The Tiger appeared with the Germans at the end of 1942, surpassing any heavy tank at that time in the war. And the KV-1 turned out to be practically powerless against the Tiger, armed with a long-barreled 88-mm cannon. "Tiger" could hit KB at enormous distances, and direct hit An 88-mm shell disabled any tank of that time. So, on February 12, 1943, near Leningrad, three Tigers knocked out 10 KB without damage on their part. Since mid-1943, the KV-1 has been seen less and less on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War - mainly near Leningrad. However, the KV-1 served as the basis for the creation of a number of Soviet tanks and self-propelled guns. Thus, on the basis of the KV, the SU-152 was created, armed with 152 howitzer guns. To this day, only a few KV-1 units have survived in Russia, which have become museum exhibits.

On the morning of June 24, the 2nd Tank Division of the 3rd Mechanized Corps of the Red Army launched an attack on the positions occupied by Lieutenant Colonel Zeckendorf's group. The goal of the Soviet counterattack was to recapture Raseiniai. Here the Germans first became acquainted with the KV-1 tanks, the armor of which was not penetrated by almost any German shells. Even 150-mm howitzers couldn’t take them. Moreover, the KVs, which weighed almost 50 tons, crushed not only German guns and vehicles with their tracks, but also Czechoslovakian tanks (they weighed less than 10 tons). Only in the evening the Zeckendorf group received from the division command several batteries of 88-mm Flak18 anti-aircraft guns. Almost until the end of the war, these were the only guns that remained for the Germans. effective means fight against Soviet tanks. With their help, the Germans, having suffered significant losses and surrendered some of the positions captured the day before, fought back, holding Raseiniai. The Soviet attack was very poorly prepared, there was no talk of air support, but it created huge problems for the Germans.

Routh's group could not come to the aid of Zeckendorf's group. She fought with one tank. This combat episode is one of the most amazing not only for the first days of the Great Patriotic War, but, perhaps, for the entire war as a whole. True, how many such episodes remained completely unknown?

How the only KV-1 ended up in the rear of Routh’s group on the morning of June 24 is unclear. It is possible that he simply got lost. However, in the end, the tank blocked the only road leading from the rear to the group’s positions. The Baltic wooded and swampy terrain was distinguished by the fact that without roads, only tracked vehicles could move along it, and even then with difficulty. And rear supplies were provided by ordinary vehicles that did not have tracks.

The KV shot and crushed a convoy of 12 supply trucks that was heading towards the Germans from Raseiniai. Now Routh's group could not receive fuel and lubricants, food and ammunition. She could not evacuate the wounded, who began to die. Attempts to drive around the tank over rough terrain were unsuccessful; the trucks got stuck in the swamp. Colonel Routh gave the order to destroy the tank to the commander of a battery of 50-mm Pak38 anti-tank guns.
The artillerymen spent several hours dragging the guns by hand through the forest, getting as close to the HF as possible. The tank stood motionless in the middle of the road; some Germans even thought that the crew had abandoned it. They were wrong.

The battery was finally deployed just 600 meters from the tank and fired the first salvo. The distance was “pistol”, a miss was impossible. All four shells hit the tank, without, however, giving any visible effect. The battery fired a second salvo. Four more hits, again no result.

After this, the KV tower turned towards the battery. Four shots from a 76mm KV cannon destroyed the German guns and most of their crews.

I had to remember the 88-mm anti-aircraft gun. On the evening of June 24, Routh took one such cannon from Seckendorf, who was exhausted from Soviet attacks. The Germans began to carefully drag the anti-aircraft gun towards the tank, masquerading behind their own trucks that it had previously burned. This fascinating process took several more hours. Finally, the crew reached the edge of the forest, just 500 meters from the tank, the turret of which was turned in the opposite direction. The Germans, confident that the tankers could not see them, began to prepare the anti-aircraft guns for firing.

The tankers, it turns out, saw everything. And with amazing composure they let the enemy get as close as possible. When the artillerymen began to aim the gun at the tank, the KV turret turned around and the tank fired. The fragments of the anti-aircraft gun fell into a ditch, most of the crew died. The Germans fell into a trance. The problem turned out to be much more serious than one might initially expect.

At night, 12 German sappers went to battle the tank with the task of quietly getting close to the KV and placing charges under it. They managed to do this because the tank crew apparently fell asleep. The charges were installed on the track and on board the tank and were successfully detonated. They managed to partially destroy the caterpillar, but the tank had no intention of leaving anyway. The Germans' tank armor Once again failed to break through. After detonating the charges, the KV opened machine-gun fire. Having lost one person, the group of sappers returned back. However, the lost sapper was soon found. Showing undoubted heroism, he sat out the explosions next to the tank, made sure that the tank was practically undamaged, hung another charge on the KV cannon and managed to detonate it and leave. However, this didn't help either.

The epic had been going on for 24 hours. Suppressing his tank pride, Colonel Routh turned to the Luftwaffe with a request to send a squadron of Ju-87 dive bombers. Having learned that it was necessary to destroy a single stationary tank in the German rear, while aviation was urgently needed on the front line, the pilots responded to Routh in a not entirely censorious manner.

The situation was becoming extreme. Because of one Russian tank, the entire division could not complete its mission. It was now necessary to destroy the KV at any cost. Apart from 88-mm anti-aircraft guns, there were no means to solve the problem, but it was necessary to provide them with the opportunity to fire. We had to expose an entire battalion of PzKw-35ts to KV fire.
The tanks built by the Slavic brothers had no chance of penetrating the KV armor with their 37-mm cannons, but their maneuverability and speed were excellent. They attacked the Soviet tank from three sides, maneuvering among the trees. Our tankers were filled with excitement. Whether they knocked out German tanks and, if so, how many, history is silent. But the Germans achieved the main thing: they managed to quietly drag Flak18 to the battlefield. The anti-aircraft crew set fire to the KV with the first two shots, and then fired five more shots - they so wanted to destroy the monster that had created such huge problems.

German soldiers surrounded the tank, wanting to make sure that the enemy was finally defeated. They found that only two 88-millimeter shells penetrated the armor, the rest left only dents. Suddenly, the KV turret began to move again (as it turned out, the tankers were wounded, but still alive). The Germans began to run away in horror, but one, jumping onto the armor, threw a grenade into the hole. This grenade put an end to the two-day battle. The shocked Germans buried the crew with due military honors.

This episode is described not by regular communist propagandists, but by Erhard Routh himself. Routh then fought the entire war on the Eastern Front, passing through Moscow, Stalingrad and Kursk, and ended it as commander of the 3rd Panzer Army and with the rank of colonel general. Of the 427 pages of his memoirs that directly describe the fighting, 12 are devoted to a two-day battle with a single Russian tank at Raseiniai. Routh was clearly shocked by this tank. Therefore, there is no reason for mistrust. Soviet historiography ignored this episode. Moreover, since it was first mentioned in the domestic press by Suvorov-Rezun, some “patriots” began to “expose” the feat. I mean, this is not a feat, but so-so.

The KV, whose crew was 4 people, “exchanged” itself for 12 trucks, 4 anti-tank guns, 1 anti-aircraft gun, possibly several tanks, as well as several dozen Germans killed and dying from wounds. This in itself is an outstanding result, given the fact that until 1945, in the vast majority of even victorious battles, our losses were higher than the German ones. But these are only direct losses of the Germans. Indirect - losses of the Zeckendorf group, which, while repelling the Soviet attack, could not receive help from the Routh group. Accordingly, for the same reason, the losses of our 2nd Panzer Division were less than if Routh had supported Zeckendorff.

However, perhaps more important than the direct and indirect losses of people and equipment was the loss of time by the Germans. On June 22, 1941, the Wehrmacht had only 17 tank divisions on the entire Eastern Front, including 4 tank divisions in the 4th Panzer Group. KV held one of them alone. Moreover, on June 25, the 6th Division could not advance solely due to the presence of a single tank in its rear. One day of delay for one division is a lot in conditions when German tank groups were advancing at a high pace, tearing apart the defenses of the Red Army and creating many “cauldrons” for it. After all, the Wehrmacht actually completed the task set by Barbarossa, almost completely destroying the Red Army that opposed it in the summer of ’41. But due to such “incidents” as an unexpected tank on the road, it did it much slower and with much greater losses than planned. And in the end he ran into the impassable mud of the Russian autumn, the deadly frosts of the Russian winter and the Siberian divisions near Moscow. After which the war entered a hopeless protracted stage for the Germans.

And yet the most amazing thing in this battle is the behavior of four tankers, whose names we do not know and will never know. They created the Germans more problems, than the entire 2nd Panzer Division, to which, apparently, the KV belonged. If the division delayed the German offensive for one day, then the only tank delayed it for two. It was not for nothing that Routh had to take away the anti-aircraft guns from Zeckendorf, although it would seem that the opposite should have been the case.

It is almost impossible to assume that the tankers had a special task to block the only supply route for Routh’s group. We simply had no intelligence at that moment. This means that the tank ended up on the road by accident. The tank commander himself realized what an important position he had taken. And he deliberately began to hold her back. It is unlikely that the tank standing in one place can be interpreted as a lack of initiative; the crew acted too skillfully. On the contrary, standing was the initiative.

Sitting in a cramped iron box for two days without getting out, in the June heat, is torture in itself. If this box is also surrounded by an enemy whose goal is to destroy the tank along with the crew (in addition, the tank is not one of the enemy’s targets, as in a “normal” battle, but the only goal), this is absolutely incredible physical and psychological stress for the crew. Moreover, the tankers spent almost all of this time not in battle, but in anticipation of battle, which is incomparably harder morally.

All five combat episodes - the defeat of a column of trucks, the destruction of an anti-tank battery, the destruction of an anti-aircraft gun, shooting at sappers, the last battle with tanks - in total hardly even took an hour. The rest of the time the KV crew wondered from which side and in what form they would be destroyed next time. The battle with anti-aircraft guns is especially indicative. The tankers deliberately delayed until the Germans installed the cannon and began to prepare to fire, so that they could shoot for sure and finish the job with one shell. Try to at least roughly imagine such an expectation.

Moreover, if on the first day the KV crew could still hope for the arrival of their own, then on the second, when their own did not come and even the noise of the battle at Raseinaya died down, it became clearer than clear: the iron box in which they had been roasting for the second day would soon enough turn into their common coffin. They took it for granted and continued to fight.

Back to the past. 1914

Thanks to the creation of the KV tanks ("Kliment Voroshilov"), the Soviet Union became the only state that in 1941 had large quantities of heavy tanks with shell-resistant armor. The Germans called the KV a monster.

Searches and experiments

The main drawback of most tanks of the second half of the 30s was their weak armor, which was penetrated by fire from anti-tank guns and heavy machine guns.
The KV-1 was different from them. It was created in 1939 under the leadership of J. Ya. Kotin. The tank had a 76 mm gun and three 7.62 mm. machine gun. The tank crew is 5 people.
The first KVs underwent military tests during the Soviet-Finnish War, which became the first conflict where heavy tanks with shell-resistant armor were used. At that time, Soviet heavy KV tanks and multi-turret SMK and T-100 tanks, operating as part of the 20th Tank Brigade, were tested at the front.

While the latest vehicles did not take part in tank battles, which were a rare occurrence in the Finnish War, they turned out to be indispensable in breaking through enemy fortifications. The KV-1 withstood hits from almost any anti-tank gun shell. At the same time, the 76-mm gun turned out to be insufficiently powerful to combat enemy pillboxes. Therefore, already during the war, development of a tank with an enlarged turret and an installed 152 mm began on the basis of the KV-1. howitzer (future KV-2). At the same time, based on the experience of the Soviet-Finnish War, it was decided to abandon the creation of heavy multi-turret tanks, which turned out to be expensive and difficult to operate. The choice was finally made in favor of the KV.

Unmatched

As of June 1941, the KV could be considered one of the strongest heavy tanks in the world. In total, at the beginning of June 1941, there were 412 KV-1s in the Red Army units, very unevenly distributed among the troops.
There is a known case in June 1941 in the Rasseney area, when one KV-1 constrained the actions of a German division for almost two days. This KV was part of the 2nd Panzer Division, which caused a lot of trouble to the German troops in the first days of the war. Apparently having used up its fuel supply, the tank took up a position on the road near a swampy meadow. One German document noted:

“There were practically no means to cope with the monster. The tank cannot be bypassed; the surrounding area is marshy. It was impossible to transport ammunition, the seriously wounded were dying, they could not be taken out. An attempt to destroy the tank with fire from a 50-mm anti-tank battery from a distance of 500 meters led to heavy losses in crews and guns. The tank was not damaged, despite the fact that, as it turned out, it received 14 direct hits. All that remained were dents in the armor. When the 88-mm gun was brought to a distance of 700 meters, the tank calmly waited until it was placed in position and destroyed it. Attempts by sappers to blow up the tank were unsuccessful. The charges were insufficient for the huge tracks. Finally he fell victim to the trick. 50 German tanks feigned an attack from all sides to divert attention. Under cover, they managed to move it forward and camouflage the 88-mm gun from the rear of the tank. Of the 12 direct hits, 3 penetrated the armor and destroyed the tank."

Unfortunately, most of the HF were lost not due to combat reasons, but due to breakdowns and lack of fuel.

KV-1s

In 1942, production began of a modernized version - the KV-1s (high-speed), which was put into service on August 20, 1942. The tank's weight decreased from 47 to 42.5 tons due to a reduction in the thickness of the hull armor plates and the size of the turret. The turret was cast, acquired a slightly different appearance and was equipped with a commander's cupola. The armament remained similar to the KV-1. As a result, speed and maneuverability increased, but the armor protection of the tank decreased. It was planned to install a more powerful 85-mm cannon on the KV-1s (a similar prototype was preserved in Kubinka), but this tank did not go into production. Subsequently, on the basis of the KV-1s with an 85 mm cannon, the KV-85 was created, which, however, did not become widespread due to the switching of production to IS tanks. The soldiers nicknamed the tank "kvasok".

End of the road

In tank battles, at least until mid-1942, German troops could do little to oppose the KV-1. However, during the fighting, the tank's shortcomings also emerged - relatively low speed and maneuverability compared to the T-34. Both tanks were armed with 76 mm guns. True, the KV had more massive armor compared to the “thirty-four”. KV also suffered from frequent breakdowns. When moving, the tank destroyed almost any road, and not every bridge could support a 47-ton tank. The Germans acquired the Tiger heavy tank at the end of 1942, surpassing any heavy tank at that time in the war. And the KV-1 turned out to be practically powerless against the Tiger, armed with a long-barreled 88-mm cannon. The "Tiger" could hit KB at enormous distances, and a direct hit from an 88-mm projectile would disable any tank of that time. So, on February 12, 1943, near Leningrad, three Tigers knocked out 10 KB without damage on their part.

Since mid-1943, the KV-1 has been seen less and less on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War - mainly near Leningrad. However, the KV-1 served as the basis for the creation of a number of Soviet tanks and self-propelled guns. Thus, on the basis of the KV, the SU-152 was created, armed with 152 howitzer guns. To this day, only a few KV-1 units have survived in Russia, which have become museum exhibits.

This episode is described in detail in the memoirs of Colonel Erhard Routh, whose group tried to destroy a Soviet tank!
The 6th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht fought for 48 hours with only one Soviet tank KV-1 (“Klim Voroshilov”). First, the fifty-ton KV-1 shot and crushed with its tracks a convoy of 12 supply trucks that was heading towards the Germans from the captured city of Raiseniai. Then he destroyed an artillery battery with targeted shots!
The Germans, of course, returned fire, but to no avail. The anti-tank gun shells did not even leave a dent on its armor - the Germans, amazed by this, later gave the KV-1 tanks the nickname “Ghost”! Even 150-mm howitzers could not penetrate the KV-1’s armor. True, Routh's soldiers managed to immobilize the tank by exploding a shell under its track. But “Klim Voroshilov” had no intention of leaving anywhere.
He took up a strategic position on the only road leading to Raiseniai, and delayed the division’s advance for two days (the Germans could not bypass him, because the road passed through swamps where army trucks and light tanks got stuck).
Finally, by the end of the second day of the battle, Routh managed to shoot the tank with anti-aircraft guns. But, when his soldiers cautiously approached the steel monster, the tank’s turret suddenly turned in their direction - apparently, the crew was still alive. Only a grenade thrown into the tank hatch put an end to this incredible battle...
Erhard Routh fought on the Eastern Front, passing through Moscow, Stalingrad and Kursk, and ended the war as commander of the 3rd Panzer Army and with the rank of colonel general. Of the 427 pages of his memoirs that directly describe the fighting, 12 are devoted to a two-day battle with a single Russian tank at Raseiniai. Routh was clearly shocked by this tank.
Erhard Routh: “Although the tank had not moved since the battle with the anti-tank battery, it turned out that its crew and commander had nerves of iron. They calmly watched the approach of the anti-aircraft gun, without interfering with it, since while the gun was moving, it did not pose any threat to the tank. In addition, the closer the anti-aircraft gun is, the easier it will be to destroy it.
A critical moment came in the duel of nerves when the crew began to prepare the anti-aircraft gun to fire. It was time for the tank crew to act. While the gunners, terribly nervous, were aiming and loading the gun, the tank turned the turret and fired first! Every projectile hit its target. The heavily damaged anti-aircraft gun fell into a ditch, several crew members died, and the rest were forced to flee. Machine-gun fire from the tank prevented the removal of the gun and the collection of the dead. The failure of this attempt, on which great hopes were pinned, was very unpleasant news for us. The optimism of the soldiers died along with the 88 mm gun. Our soldiers did not have the best day, chewing canned food, since it was impossible to bring hot food.”
The most amazing thing in this battle is the behavior of four tankers, whose names we do not know and will never know. They created more problems for the Germans than the entire 2nd Panzer Division, to which, apparently, the KV belonged. If the division delayed the German offensive for one day, then the only tank delayed it for two. And all this time the crew waited.
All five combat episodes - the defeat of a column of trucks, the destruction of an anti-tank battery, the destruction of an anti-aircraft gun, shooting at sappers, the last battle with tanks - in total hardly even took an hour. The rest of the time (48 hours!) the KV crew wondered from which side and in what form they would be destroyed next time. Try to at least roughly imagine such an expectation.
Moreover, if on the first day the KV crew could still hope for the arrival of their own, then on the second, when their own did not come and even the noise of the battle at Raseinaya died down, it became clearer than clear: the iron box in which they had been roasting for the second day would soon enough turn into their common coffin. They took it for granted and continued to fight!
Erhard Routh: “Witnesses to this deadly duel wanted to get closer to check the results of their shooting. To their great amazement, they discovered that only 2 shells penetrated the armor, while the remaining 5 88-mm shells only made deep gouges in it. We also found 8 blue circles marking where 50mm shells hit. The result of the sappers' sortie was serious damage to the track and a shallow gouge on the gun barrel. But we did not find any traces of hits from shells from 37-mm cannons and PzKW-35t tanks.
Driven by curiosity, our "Davids" climbed onto the defeated "Goliath" in a vain attempt to open the tower hatch. Despite all efforts, its lid did not budge. Suddenly the barrel of the gun began to move, and our soldiers ran away in horror. Only one of the sappers retained his composure and quickly thrust a hand grenade into the hole made by the shell in the lower part of the turret. There was a dull explosion and the hatch cover flew off to the side. Inside the tank lay the bodies of the brave crew, who had previously only received injuries. Deeply shocked by this heroism, we buried them with full military honors. They fought until their last breath, but it was just one small drama of the great war!