![]() ![]() Soviet engineers constantly updated the tank and, between 19, the armor was thickened from 90mm to 200mm in places. The suspension was the first Soviet use of torsion bars, and it consisted of six road wheels, a rear drive wheel, a large front idler wheel and three return rollers. The KV-1 tank weighed 45 tonnes, and was powered by the 660hp V2K engine. Poor crew training, poor logistical support and inept command and control meant that the Soviet tanks, including the mighty KV-1, where deployed in small packets that were easily swallowed and terminated by the better organized German units. ![]() ![]() However, the KV-1s made little impact on the actual fighting during the months of Operation Barbarossa with the exception of a small number of engagements. Many KV-1s returned from combat peppered with dents and gouges from ricochets which had failed to penetrate its armor. The KV-1 quickly gained a fearsome reputation on the battlefield, being able to withstand point-blank shots from the standard 37mm anti tank guns fielded by Germany. The KV-1 was an unpleasant surprise to the advancing Germans in June 1941, due to its excellent armor protection. Immediately prior to the invasion of the USSR in June 1941, roughly 508 KV-1 tanks were in Red Army service. The KV tank beat the SMK and T-100 to make it to mass production. The KV-1 was the unsuspecting winner of a Soviet contract for a new heavy tank to replace the obsolete T-35A Multi Turreted Heavy Tank. The only known image of the modified KV-1. In both of these cases, of course, they were not captured vehicles. Other examples include the Churchill NA 75 which was a British Churchill tank modified to accept the American 75mm Tank Gun and the Matilda II that was modified to accept the 76mm ZiS-5 gun. It is not the only tank of the Second World War that was retrofitted in the field to accept a gun from another nation. Not much is known about the history of this improvisation, and there is only one known photo to prove its existence. This was the KV-1 that was captured and then re-armed with the 7.5cm KwK 40 gun. This process spawned one of the larger armored vehicle enigmas to come out of the War. The Germans frequently made upgrades and modifications to fit their needs. The same was true during the invasion of the Soviet Union. Throughout the Second World War, the German Army captured hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles from countries it invaded. ![]()
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