Iósif Stalin tank-series...

Some interesting parts from sites here, not all on IS-2 though:

At the end of 1943, a new assault gun, the ISU-152, based on IS-2 heavy tank was produced. It was armed with a very powerful 152mm howitzer. The shell of this gun could penetrate any part of the Tiger's armor and even cut the turret from the hull. This assault gun was nicknamed "Animal Hunter". The weight of the AP shell was 48kg, while HE shell was 41kg.

Otto Carius: "The shell cut the right part of the commander's cupola. I was not beheaded because I had bent down to light my cigarette. Suddenly the Russian assault gun appeared and I gave an order to the gunner to open fire. Kramer shot, and a second shell, from another assault gun, hit in the turret. I can not remember which way I left the Tiger. The head phones-the only thing I have from my destroyed Tiger.

On JS-2:

More then 3,000 IS-2 tanks were built up to the end of the war. In the opinion of Hasso von Manteuffel, it was the best tank of WW2.

From:

http://www.achtungpanzer.com/newgen.htm

Also it seems that the armor of Panthers got weaker with loss of resources and 122mm could splinter the front hull even if not destroy the tank, so the crew had to leave the tank if did not want to die for sure in a matter of seconds. I don´t know if this happened to Tigers as well but Panthers seem to have lost their invulnerability by autumn 1944.That probably was one of the reasons Russians did not need to change the 122 mm to 100 mm gun in order to speed up the shooting, as they found out this "miracle".

PICS and more info sites:

http://www.weapon.df.ru/tanks/sovtanks/war/heavytank-e.html

http://home.swbell.net/rkltd/Belarus/Stalin/Stalin.htm

http://www.wozy-bojowe.wroc.eu.org/czolgi/IS-2.htm

http://www.waffenhq.de/panzer/stalinpanzer-bilder.html

http://www.missing-lynx.com/articles/russia/amtis/amtis.htm

http://www.tersis.ru/dish/afv-is-2-lat.htm

http://www.achtungpanzer.de/rkpanz

 

"However, in the summer of 1944, the problem of the poor AP performance disappeared. The performance of the D-25T gun of JS-2 against the German tanks improved dramatically.The reports from the front described cases where the BR-471 APHE round 122 mm projectile fired from 2500 metres ricocheted off the front armour of a PAnther leaving huge holes and cracks in it.

This was explained by an interesting change of circumstances in the summer of 1944.The Germans experienced a shortage of manganese and had to switch to using high-carbon steel alloyed with nickel, which made the armour very brittle, especially at the seam welds.the first encounters of JS-2 tanks with the Germans also showed thet the front protection of its hull was not impenetrable."

From:

http://www.battlefield.ru/is2_1.html

The three letters in autumn 1944 on 100 mm vs 122 mm gun for JS-2

http://www.battlefield.ru/library/archives/weapons/weapons4_01.html

And the last site on previous letter:

http://www.achtungpanzer.de/rkpanzer

 

Jumbo,

I agree with you. The IS tanks did lead to several good designs after WWII. The T55 and its' later bothers all dominated the Western tank designs up until the 1980s. I just don't feel that they were very good tanks for WWII era. The T34 was much better in every aspect.

One of the funny ironic senarios of tank design is now, many tanks use a smaller diameter shell, and have a smooth bore barrel! How times change!

I do love the American M1A1 as well as the German Leopard II! Both these tanks use the same smooth bore 120mm gun designed by none other than Reinmetall! Guess who made the Tigers' guns during WWII? Yup thats' right! Ironic isn't it? Krupp steel, and Rienmetall guns. You just can't go wrong! I believe even the engine in the Leopard II is made by Maybach?! Am I right?
Just look at the evolution of German tanks Tiger, Panther, Leopard. All big cats! I suppose thier next design will be the Lion, Cougar, or Cheatah!?

Enough of that, back to the Russian IS tanks. I think mainly the Russians wanted a big heavy tank to better protect thier crews, and with the IS tanks they had that. Stalin (like Hitler) was somewhat obsessed with "bigger is better" theory.

Kai, every great German panzer ace has had a tank shot out from under him. Otto Carius was wounded over 5 times! Yet he survived the war! And if you ever talked to him, he will tell you the one reason why? Because of his Tiger tank!

Matt

 

Ha! An American criticising Stalin and Hitler for liking: "Bigger is better"? I did laugh this time. Americans are the kings in "Bigger is better"... (If you don't believe me, watch the horrible model in the thread "Member 400"...)

 

If you are referring to WWII, then I'm going to have to dis-agree with you on that one!

Just answer these questions-

1.What country in WWII had the biggest gun?
2. What country in WWII had the biggest tank?
3. What country in WWII had the biggest tank destroyer?
4. What country in WWII had the biggest aircraft?
5. What country in WWII had the biggest motar?
6. What country in WWII had the largest rocket?
7. What country in WWII had the biggest ship?

If you answered these all corrctly, numbers 1-6 would be "Germany". Number 7 would be, of course "Japan". How did everyone do?
Here are what the answers all are:
1. The German railway guns. We discussed these in another thread, but they had several of different sizes, but nobody else had anything close!
2. The Tiger II, or King Tiger tank weighed in at just over 69 tons, making it by far the largest tank of WWII.
3. The JagTiger, or Hunting tiger, wieght in at over 71 tons, making it the largest armored tank destroyer of WWII.
4. The ME323 was fitting to its' name "Gigant" or giant! It had 6 captured French engines, and could carry troops and weapons as large as a small tank, like a Pzkfw 38t. It was the largest aircraft (not counting airships of course!) of WWII.
5. The German Siege motor "Thor" was by far the largest in the world. Nothing else came close. The Americans did make a simular weapon to use on Okinawa, but I don't think it ever entered combat?
6. The V2 rocket of course was the largest, and considered the first ICBM.
7. The Japanese had a fancy for large ships, this was seen with thier two giant battleships: the Yamato, and Musashi. However these two were not the largest ships of WWII! That honor goes to the Japanese aircraft carrier, Shinano. Unfortunately this carrier never fired a shot in anger, since it was sunk by US submariners during its' sea trials .

All of the American equiptment of WWII was niether bigger or better. If you look at the American weapons, they were all simple, cheap, rugged, reliable, and they made tons of them! The only exception that I can see is the American bombers. These were of course bigger, and better! . The B29 being the highlight! I can't understand why the Germans (who thought everything should be bigger), never persude a bigger and better bomber aircraft? . The He177 just didn't cut it!

Matt

[ 27 September 2002, 04:03 PM: Message edited by: mp38 ]

 

Well, we had to leave you something to get into the competition of the best !