http://englishrussia.com/?p=2239

Quite a few really interesting images, here are some that jumped out at me:






Anyone know who this guy is?

I wonder if thats the KV-1 tank that single handedly stalled a German advance.
IIRC the story went that it had a track knocked off in a key area in the German attack. The KV-1 was an extremely hard tank to knock out it had very heavy armor for the time.
Anyways it sat there like a fort and denied the Germans for days. It mounted a 76mm gun at the time that was a rough equivalent to the Sherman's 75mm. Looks like it was pretty shot up in the fight.

Pilot looks like..Alexandr Pokryshkin Soviet ace
he got about 15 kills in P-39 Aircobra's.

quote:

Posted 19 February 2009 04:59 Hide Post
I wonder if thats the KV-1 tank that single handedly stalled a German advance.
IIRC the story went that it had a track knocked off in a key area in the German attack. The KV-1 was an extremely hard tank to knock out it had very heavy armor for the time.
Anyways it sat there like a fort and denied the Germans for days. It mounted a 76mm gun at the time that was a rough equivalent to the Sherman's 75mm. Looks like it was pretty shot up in the fight.

I read about that incident also & was wondering the same thing.

quote:

Alexandr Pokryshkin

I don't think that it is Pokryshkin - doesn't look like him to me.


I'll do some more looking and see if we can come up with an ID.

Its Mikhail Baranov - Names on the side of his A/C - I just wasn't paying attention!

Here's another shot of him and the A/C just has not been colorized.

Trapper
hah.. you sleuth you!
Can't read Russian and they all look alike to me.LOL

I love that tank photo!

Man, those Rooskis took some hits!

It looks to me as though the tail ends of some of the shells are imbedded in some of the impact craters!

The Krauts must have had better AP rounds than that?!

Can you imagine what it must have been like to be inside that tank while it was taking those hits!?

Great photo.

quote:

The Krauts must have had better AP rounds than that?!

No, in fact. In 1940 their standard anti-tank gun the 3.7cm was incapable of knocking out the British Matilda II tank.

It was Rommel that, at the Battle of Arras in 1940, first used the 88mm A/A gun in an anti-tank role.

German anti-tank and tank guns remained very poor until the long 50mm was introduced followed by the L/48 75mm.

However the KV-1 was exceptionally heavily armoured with 90mm in places. About three and a half inches which was quite a lot in 1941.

Krasnogvardeysk

On August 14, 1941, the vanguard of the German 8th Panzer Division approached Krasnogvardeysk (Gatchina) near Leningrad (St Petersburg), and the only Soviet force available at the time to attempt to stop the German advance was five well-disguised KV-1 tanks, dug in within a grove at the edge of a swamp. KV-1 tank no. 864 was commanded by the leader of this small force, Lieutenant Zinoviy Kolobanov.
German tank vanguard attack plan and positions of three soviet KV-1 tanks
Soviet newspaper article of 1941

German forces attacked Krasnogvardeysk from three directions. Near Noviy Uchkhoz settlement the geography favoured the Soviet defenders as the only road in the region passed the swamp, and the defenders commanded this choke point from their hidden position. Lieutenant Kolobanov had carefully studied the situation and readied his detachment the day before. Each KV-1 tank carried twice the normal amount of ammunition, two-thirds being armour-piercing rounds. Kolobanov ordered his other commanders to hold their fire and await orders. He did not want to reveal the total force, so only one exposed tank at a time would engage the enemy.

On August 14, the German 8th Panzer Division's vanguard ventured directly into the well-prepared Soviet ambush, with Kolobanov's tank knocking out the lead German tank with its first shot. The Germans falsely assumed that their lead tank had hit an anti-tank mine, and failed to realize that they had been ambushed. The German column stopped, giving Kolobanov the opportunity to destroy the second tank. Only then did the Germans realize they were under attack, but they failed to find the source of the shots. While the German tanks were firing blindly, Kolobanov knocked out the trailing German tank, thus boxing in the entire column.

Although the Germans correctly guessed the direction of fire, they could only spot Lieutenant Kolobanov's tank, and now attempted to engage an unseen enemy. German tanks moving off the road bogged down in the surrounding soft ground, becoming easy targets. 22 German tanks and 2 towed artillery pieces fell victim to Kolobanov's No. 864 before it ran out of ammunition. Kolobanov ordered in another KV-1, and 21 more German tanks were destroyed before the half-hour battle ended. A total of 43 German tanks were destroyed by just five Soviet KV-1s (two more remained in reserve).

After the battle, the crew of No. 864 counted a total of 135 hits on their tank, none of which had penetrated the KV-1's armour. Lieutenant Kolobanov was awarded the Order of Lenin, while his driver Usov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Later on, former Captain Zinoviy Kolobanov was again decorated by Soviet authorities, despite having been been convicted and downgraded after the Winter War for "fraternizing with the enemy." After the end of World War II, Lieutenant Kolobanov served in the Soviet occupation zone in Eastern Germany, where he was convicted again when a subordinate escaped to the British occupation zone, and was transferred to the reserves.

The battle for Krasnogvardeysk was covered up by Soviet propaganda. A monument dedicated to this battle was installed in the village of Noviy Uchkhoz in 1980, at the place where Kolobanov's KV-1 was dug in, due solely to the demands of the villagers. Unfortunately it was impossible to find a KV-1 tank, so an IS-2 heavy tank was installed there instead.

The Soviet victory was the result of a well-planned ambush in advantageous ground and of technical superiority. Most of the German tanks in this battle were Panzer IIs, armed with 20 mm guns, and a few Panzer IIIs armed with 37 mm KwK 36 L/46.5 guns. The German tank guns had neither the range nor the power of the 76 mm main gun of a KV-1, and the narrower track width of the German tanks caused them to become trapped in the swampy ground.

Thanks for that very interesting post Mr. Enfield.

One hears so often about the big, fearsome German Panzers . . . yet these were not the big ones, or so it seems.

Lucky for the Rooskis!

Enfield
Nice story thanx for postin it up.
Germans at the time were still a bit behind in tank development. But that soon ended when they got the up gunned PZ-Mk-IV (75mm/43-48).
Shortly after that the famous Panthers with the 75mm/70 showed up but they never had the numbers or reliability needed by the Wehrmacht at the time.
Tigers were in short supply as well, they mounted the famous 88mm/56 later versions King Tigers 88mm/71.
Because of the heavy bombing that Germany was undergoing they were never able to field very many tanks as compared to the forces opposing them.
That was why commanders like Rommel had to turn to the 88mm Flakguns and anti tank guns in general to give them an equalizer.
The various tank destroyers like the Sturmgeschütz III and IV's were very important to the Germans to help fill the tank gap as well. They were actually very successful.

re the photo:

I guess it really depends on whose version of the narrative one chooses to belive. This tank was lost by the Russians in a battle dating of 23 June 1941. Same tank, diiferent story or different tank, different story - you decide. Read this version of the story - little different from the Russian version but interesting, none the less, n'est ce pas?

"KV1 Heavy Tank of Russia
This is a story of fighting actually made between the 6th Tank Division of Germany and a KV heavy tank of Russia- On 23rd June, 1941, the 6th Tank Division captured Rosseieni, Lithuania as intended and held two bridges over a river to the northeast of Rosseieni by breaking down the resistance of the enemy- The battle was over and a lorry left a bridgehead for Rosseieni to send back captives- Germans in the lorry found a tank on the road, it was a KV-1 heavy tank. The lorry turned hack to the bridgehead and reported to the cornman der that the only road to Rosseieni was blocked by an enemy tank. The telephone line to the divisional headquarters in Rosseieni was already cut off by enemy tank crew. The divisions was divided into two. The enemy tank stood still for a whole day since it was found. On the early morning of the next day, the divisional headquarters sent 12 lorries carrying supplies to the bridgehead. The lorry column was moved by the KV tank, however, and all 12 lorries were destroyed and burnt. Knowing this monster at last, the divisional headquarters send out scouts. Except for the KV tank, no signs could be found in their report to show that Russian attack was imminent. A German counterattack against the tank was started by the detachment at the bridgehead, for which selected was the 50 mm anti-tank gun company. Making use of shelter to avoid being found by the enemy tank, the company advanced to a point approximately 1,000 m from the tank, and in camouflage they further moved forward to a point about 600 m from the tank. The company opened fire at once. Boom! Boom' Boom' went the guns. All the shots told. Officers and men of the divisional headquarters watching the scene on a hill were delighted, but it was until the eighth shot. The KV tank swivelled its turret silently and directed the 76.2 mm gun against the anti-tank gun company. Three shots roared. Two guns of the company were destroyed in an instant. Killed and wounded men lay among fragments of the broken guns. The Germans could not get back the guns before night came. Thus, they suffered a complete defeat at the first fighting. Seeing the failure of the anti-tank gun company with their own eyes, the divisional headquarters made the second attack on the afternoon of the day with the hope that armour-piercing projectiles of the 88 mm anti-aircraft gun might be able to destroy the enemy tank. An 88 mm gun (Flak, type 36) which was brought from an antiaircraft position in Rosseieni began to move carefully toward the enemy tank. Using the wreck of the lorries scattered on the road for I shelter and wearing camouflage of branches and leaves, the 88 mm gun further advanced to the end of a wood. Just when the gun carriage was being set, the KV tank, whose gun had been lowered and kept silence, suddenly swivelled its turret and the 76.2 mm gun fired. The 88 mm gun was blown away into a nearby ditch by the single blow. It became unusable. Owing to machine-gunning of the tank, the Germans could not even pick up dead men. The Germans sustained a complete defeat again. The crew in the KV tank allowed the anti-aircraft gun to move freely as if they had not been aware of it but at the last moment they outwitted the Germans and' beat the enemy gun by a single blow. We have to say that it was very calm and brave action. On 25th June, the Germans employed combined operations between a tank unit and an 88 mm anti-aircraft gun and used Panzer Kampfwagen m's and lV's as decoys. The decoy tank unit deployed at the end of the wood and opened fire from three directions. The KV tank under fire turned its turret and opened a counterattack against the German tanks at the end of the wood. In the meanwhile, the 88 mm gun which was brought from Rosseieni moved to the rear of the KV tank and set its carriage at the best firing point, watching for a chance. The 88 mm gun gave forth a metallic sound. The first shot told. What a wonder I The turret of the KV tank began to turn backward. A single hit was not enough to inflict a crushing blow. Boom' Boom I went the 88 mm gun again with a metallic sound. Invulnerable though it was, the KV tank suffered a mortal blow at last. Four additional 88 mm projectiles were put into the KV tank, but the tough tank did not catch fire to the last. German soldiers walked up to the tank to see the game they bagged with difficulty and inspected the effect of the fire. They found that among the seven 88 mm projectiles fired only two penetrated the armour. They were all the more surprised at the toughness of the tank. One of the soldiers got on the top of the tank and tried to open the hatch of the turret but could not, when the turret began to swivel all at once. The German soldiers were astonished and ran away. The tank crew were still alive. A number of hand grenades were thrown together into a shot hole beneath the turret. Bang' The hatch was blown off. The Russian tank crew shared the fate of the tank. The KV (KB in Russian) was a heavy tank in World War II that the Russians were proud of. It was named after Marshal Kliment Y. Voroshilov who was an old close friend and comrade of Stalin's. Voroshilov, hero of the Russian Revolution, was nominated as the first marshal of Russia in 1925 and was then war commissar (equivalent to war ministry) of the Soviet Union. "KV" (KB) was his initials. In 1930's, the Russians emerged from the stage of using and imitating tanks of other countries and began to develop tanks based on their own conception. The Russians broadly classified tanks which were to be the main body of their mechanized units into two: hi-speed medium tanks and heavy tanks. The hi-speed medium tanks were designed to have powerful armament and effective armour so that they could support infantry as a matter of course and be used as independent units. The Soviet Union demanded that the medium tanks should have superior mobility in particular. They later developed into the BT and the T34. On the other hand, the heavy tanks were charged with duties of supporting medium tanks and crushing enemy's main fire-power when attacking enemy positions. The heavy tanks, therefore, were required to have great fire-power and strong armour at some cost of speed. They originated in the T1O0 and the SMK (CMK), grew into the KV and the Stalin and have become the main-strength tanks of today. In 1936, a heavy tank design team was formed with Engineer Z. Kotin as a leader at the Kirov tank factory of Leningrad. The team aimed at manufacture of tough thick steel plate for tanks, study of ideal tank body and turret construction, and generous use of welding for heavy tanks in place of conventional riveting to reduce tank weight. In the spring of 1937, the first test tank T.46.5 was completed. It weighed 28 tons and was armed with a 45 mm main gun. The armour was 60 mm in thickness to be proof against 37 mm anti-tank projectiles. Although the production was only a few, it was such an epochal tank that hinted the direction of later Russian tanks. It was the first tank manufactured on the chassis of Russian own design as well. The design team subsequently started designing the heavy tanks SMK (CMK) and T-100 which may be referred to as "successors to the heavy tank T-35". They had two turrets on the body and showed distinct improvements over the T-35. These tanks weighing more than 56 tons employed torsion bar suspension for the first time and mounted both a 45 mm !(un which was used in the T.46-5 and a newly developed 76.2 mm anti-tank gun of model 1938. Except for the size and the double turrets, the body shape of the T-100 and the SMK was inherited by the heavy tank KV-1."
[copied from http://home.planet.nl/~dahme050/kv.htm]

Another nice picture:

OK...where do I sign up?

Westcoaster,

Don't do it, it's a trap!

I know how these things work.

Trapper,

Thanks for that great article!

That is mighty fine bait in that there trap pard!
Yep I'll 2nd that...great article.

Anybody here that is +65 years old?

Remember back in WW2 the only pictures we seen in the States of Russian women were in the 200# range, had no teeth and were otherwise fugly as sin?

Now every Russian woman you see in a picture is knock down drag out dead gorgeous.

Did they put something in the water?

Best wishes, Bill