Not so long ago, TOPWAR published material about the KV-1 tank. I read it and remembered that long before I started publishing my magazine "Tankomaster" and, accordingly, writing about tanks, I had the opportunity to read an interesting book by engineers of the famous Kirov plant, which was called "Designer of Combat Vehicles", about designer J. I AM. Kotine. It was published under the editorship of the chief designer of the plant N. S. Popov and … she told a lot of interesting things. I wrote a review on it, which I sent to its authors and received a letter in response, in which they offered me … participation in the work on another book about Kirov tanks as an editor. The text was written by different authors, there were many inconsistencies in it, there was a different style, so editorial work was indispensable. I also worked on the text by N. S. Popov approved it, but because of the difficulties of that time, that book did not see the light. The book "Without secrets and secrets" written on its basis, in the work on which I no longer took part, saw the light of day. Nevertheless, cooperation with the designers and veterans of the Kirov plant was not in vain. Thanks to this, I learned a lot of interesting things, which can be, to a certain extent, an informational addition to the article about KV tanks.
First of all, it should be noted that Leningrad was not only the cradle of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, but also the forge of Soviet armored vehicles, and not just any, but, first of all, the most difficult. And the most interesting thing is that no one then, at the dawn of the beginning of tank building in the USSR, was not at all shy about tanks with a large weight. For example, in parallel with the development of domestic designers, a project was considered for a 100-ton TG-6 tank (designed by the German engineer Edward Grotte, who worked at the invitation of the USSR) and a 70-ton tank of the Italian company Ansaldo. The Grotte tank was a real "cruiser" with five turrets, of which the main one was armed with a 107-mm gun, while the others were supposed to have 37- and 45-mm guns and machine guns.
KV-1 tanks were produced with turrets of different types: cast and welded, from rolled armor plates. The armor of the cast towers was distinguished by high viscosity, because, unlike the Germans, we had no problems with alloying additives. The rolled armor plates for the welded turrets were stronger, but very difficult to bend. The technology that combined bending with hardening was also difficult.
As for our domestic projects, developed by engineers N. Barykov and S. Ginzburg from the Leningrad Bolshevik plant, they were 90-ton vehicles with 50-75 mm armor. The first tank according to the project was armed with two 107-mm, two 45-mm guns and five machine guns. The second differed only in armament - one 152-mm, three 45-mm guns and four machine guns, and even a flamethrower in the rear tower! The military recognized the options as successful (that's even how!), Gave the go-ahead to build them in the form of wooden models in 1/10 life size. And then it turned out that the production of one experimental single tank, which received the designation T-39, would require about three million rubles and a period of about one year, which is why this project was mainly rejected [4, 146].
In April 1938, it was decided to connect the Leningrad Kirovsky plant, which had a powerful production base and experience in the serial production of the T-28 tank, as well as plant No. 185 named after. Kirov, whose personnel, in turn, had extensive experience in the development of new types of combat vehicles. The first one designed the SMK tank ("Sergey Mironovich Kirov"), the leading engineer of the machine A. Ermolaev; the second - product 100 (or T-100), the leading engineer of the machine E. Paley. The Kirovites already had experience in creating a thick-armored tank: under the leadership of engineer M. Siegel, a T-III tank with 50-60 mm armor was manufactured there, but it was not in demand by the military then [4, 148]. But work on the SMK and T-100 tanks was carried out very quickly: the first was ready by May 1, 1939, the second by June 1.
Tank SMK
Tank T-100
Externally, the tanks were very similar, had approximately the same weight and armament. On the basis of the T-100, its designers proposed to make an even more powerful vehicle armed with a 152-mm howitzer and an ACS with a 130-mm naval gun. In addition to the QMS, the Kirov plant also offered the government the KV tank ("Klim Voroshilov"). All three tanks, as you know, were tested on the Mannerheim Line, after which the KV tank under the KV-1 brand was adopted, and immediately began to develop the KV-2 model, armed with a 152-mm howitzer and capable of firing concrete-piercing shells.
Experienced tanks KV-1 and KV-2. Note the presence of two cannons in the KV-1 turret and the shape of the experienced KV-2 turret.
We often use the word "innovative" in relation to the KV, but in many ways the design of the tank was quite traditional. So, for example, there were two cannons on it - 45 and 76 mm. On the other hand, the designers did not come up with it themselves. What they were told they did. These were just the views on a heavy tank at that time and, by the way, the Germans had their heavy tank "Rheinmetall" too, after all, had two guns! The good news is that the two-gun model was abandoned in time.
KV-2 is a serial sample.
However, the plant did not have time to master the new tank in production, as it was given a new task: to develop an even more heavily armored tank, tentatively named T-220, KV-220 or Object 220. L. Sychev was appointed as the leading engineer of the vehicle, later B. Pavlov. … The hulls were supposed to be made at the Izhora plant, the first was planned to be transferred to Kirovsky at the end of October, and the second in November. The tank was completed on December 5, 1940, although according to the plan it was supposed to be completed by December 1, 1940. Compared to the conventional KV, the armor of this tank reached 100 mm. A new turret was developed for him, in which an 85 mm F-30 cannon was installed. This gun was specially designed for this tank in the design bureau of plant number 92 under the leadership of Grabin and in the fall of 1940 it was successfully tested on the T-28 tank. This increased the mass of the tank, which led to the lengthening of the chassis (7 road wheels and 4 rollers per side). As a power plant, instead of the 500-strong V-2K, an experienced four-stroke 12-cylinder V-shaped 700-strong V-5 was used (according to other sources, the V-2F (V-10) with a capacity of 850 hp). The tank's crew and instrumentation have not changed. On January 30, 1941, the prototype KV-220 entered testing, but the next day the tests were terminated due to engine failure.
In March 1941, the leadership of the Red Army received information from the intelligence that tanks with powerful armor had been developed in Germany, which were already entering the Wehrmacht's arsenal. It was decided to retaliate. On March 5, 1941, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, by their decree No. 548-232ss, obliged the Kirov plant to switch to serial production of the T-150 tank, which received the designation KV-3, from June. Its combat weight was to be 51-52 tons, its armor was 90 mm thick, and its armament consisted of one 76-mm F-34 cannon. However, already on April 7, 1941, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) adopted a new decree No. 827-345cc, which determined that the new tank should have 115-120 mm armor, a new turret and a 107-mm ZiS-6 cannon. Now this tank has turned into an "Object 223" or KV-3, and to speed up work on it, it was decided to use the KV-220 base. On April 20, 1941, the KV-220, loaded to 70 tons (the estimated mass of the KV-3), which was even more than the weight of the German Royal Tiger tank in 1944, was put out for testing. But already on May 20 he had to be sent for a major overhaul. In the report of the factory testers it was noted that the tank "has poor gear shifting, the axles of the road wheels and balancers are bent, the suspension torsion bars are twisted, the engine power is not enough for a 70-ton tank."
KV-220.
Therefore, a forced V-2SN engine was installed on the tank, which could develop a maximum power of up to 850 hp. The last stage of testing took place from May 30 to June 22 and was interrupted due to the outbreak of the war. Later he was sent to the front, where he died in battle [3, 17]. As for armament, the new tank was to be armed with a 107-mm cannon in order to hit the new German tanks that were reported by intelligence. Marshal G. Kulik, Deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, especially believed in this message, who considered that the caliber of 107 mm and armor thickness of at least 100 mm in the light of her data could only save the situation. Then a new task came to the plant, this time for the KV-4 tank, moreover, its armament should also consist of a 107-mm gun, a 45-mm tank cannon, a flamethrower and 4-5 machine guns. The thickness of the frontal armor is no less than 125-130 mm. The tank was supposed to be equipped with a fantastic 1200 hp aircraft engine. with. At the same time, the deadline for the delivery of the project was set for July 15, 1941, and the prototype was required by September 1!
Since the task was extremely difficult, the chief designer of the plant, J. Kotin, decided to arrange an open competition, in which everyone at the plant was invited to participate. During May-June 1941, its participants presented more than two dozen projects, of which 21 have survived, 19 of which were fully issued, signed and numbered. Seven projects were carried out according to the SMK scheme: a 107-mm cannon was installed in the main rear turret, while a 45-mm cannon was installed in the front small turret. In six projects, the small tower was located on the roof of the main tower. One of the projects proposed using a ready-made KV-1 turret with a 76, 2-mm gun (!), And installing a 107-mm gun in a hull with limited horizontal guidance angles, as was done on the TG tank. The mass of the KV-4 in all projects was no less than 80-100 tons [4, 153], so it was not the Germans at the end of the war that turned out to be the leaders in creating supertanks that almost no bridge could withstand, but our Soviet designers, who tried to fulfill the orders of their high military commanders to the best of their ability. Moreover, none of them thought about the fact that there are almost no bridges over which they will ride, that there would be a wild problem with their crossing the rivers on pontoon bridges, that it would be very difficult to transport them by rail and even the evacuation of wrecked cars from the battlefield will be almost impossible! But none of this was discussed. Such was the system of management in the USSR in those years: sheer ambitions, and often sheer incompetence! And competent people were simply silent, and … it is clear why.
The fact that, fortunately, it did not reach the final version and its manufacture in metal was the result of exceptional circumstances - on June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the USSR. However, even in the face of a catastrophic approach of the front line to the city on the Neva, work on the project of a super-powerful tank (now it was already KV-5), contrary to common sense, continued. With the same engine as the KV-4, the mass of the KV-5 tank now exceeded the 100-ton mark. Outwardly, the tank was supposed to look like an impregnable pillbox. The low hull had a length of 8257 mm and a width of 4 m. The frontal was supposed to have an armor thickness of 180 mm. To accommodate the driver in the bow of the hull, a special turret was provided, and next to it was a turret for a machine gun. The tank's torsion bar suspension was based on an eight-wheel chassis. The gun was already of the traditional 107 mm caliber.
J. Kotin signed the first drawings of this machine at the beginning of 1941, but the developers did not meet the deadline before August 1. The very last day of work on the KV-5 was August 22, after which, apparently, work on it was discontinued. The enemy cut off Leningrad from the "Big Land" and it was necessary, first of all, to think about the mass production of KV-1 tanks instead of indulging oneself (by the way, is it?) With unrealizable illusions regarding the creation of super-powerful supertanks. It is interesting that, as one of the designers of the Kirov plant F. Korobkov wrote, their chief designer Zh. Ya. Kotin "… in addition to the tactical and technical parameters, attached great importance to the aesthetic side of the tank, and this manifested itself in the creation of all subsequent models …" [2, 125].
Surprisingly, how did he not understand that the hypotenuse is shorter than two legs, which means that a straight inclined armor plate, like on the T-34, and not a broken one, welded from two plates, like on his KV, and more technologically advanced, and more reliable. But for some reason he could not apply this obvious solution at home! And then it turned out that the booking of the KV was clearly redundant, which was expressed in a completely ridiculous attempt to create a lightweight KV-13 [4, 69], and just when the calibers and power of the German artillery began to grow literally by leaps and bounds!
"Lightweight" tank KV-13
At the same time, the same KV-2 armored mask with a weight of 636 kg, when it was fired with 76, 2 mm and even 45-mm shells from a distance of 600 m, usually failed! [5, 66] The reason was … the low quality of welded seams - that is, the general backwardness of Soviet technology! Another "Leningrad monster" was the KV-6 self-propelled gun, which was armed with three guns at once: one 76.2-mm and two 45-mm calibers. - Why three cannons? - asked, seeing the model of this "miracle" I. V. Stalin. - Let there be one, but good! " [5, 66]
ACS KV-6 had three guns in one mask. You didn't have to be a gifted engineer, even then, to realize that this design was just … ridiculous. And yet, it was crafted in metal and shot at a shooting range!
The KV-7 already had two 76.2mm guns, but it could have been omitted, since it was almost impossible to mechanically synchronize the two shots, and everyone knew that for a long time. In addition, electric ignition was not used on Soviet tank gun systems at that time. And if so, then a shot from one gun will immediately knock down the aiming of the other! But our designers did not know this, or, on the contrary, they knew, but preferred to try everything, so to speak, "to the teeth." By the way, why did they want to put two guns on the KV-1 tank first? And for the sake of saving! Shoot at an armored target with a 45-mm one, and at infantry and buildings - with a 76.2-mm one! In practice, however, it turned out to be very inconvenient and this arrangement of the guns was abandoned. But what does this mean? About construction "by typing" - the most expensive and ineffective. Yes, those were our designers of that time, diligent in their own way, treated kindly by the regime, and who seemed to serve their socialist homeland conscientiously. But in the end, incompetence and ambition still affected, and ordinary tankers who fought on tanks that were not brought to mind, and the infantry, which very often lacked tanks, paid for them.
There was also the T-100Z project. They say that a 152-mm howitzer in the main tower and a 45-mm cannon in the auxiliary will sweep any enemy out of its path! Now imagine that if the KV-2 was constantly stuck in the mud, then how would these machines behave, with even greater weight and with the same engine power?
References:
1. Without secrets and secrets. SPb.: 1995.
2. Designer of combat vehicles. L.: 1988.
3. TsAMO RF, fund 3674, inventory 47417, case No. 2, p. 17
4. Shpakovsky V. O. Tanks of the era of total wars 1914-1945. SPb.: Polygon, 2003.
5. Shpakovsky V. O. Tanks. Unique and paradoxical. M.: AST; SPb.: Polygon, 2007.
Drawings. A. Shepsa
