Kv1 Tank Views

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KV1 model 1940 s ekranami (with appliqué), or KV1-EAfter disappointing results with the multi-turreted T-35 heavy tank, Soviet tank designers started drawing up replacements. The T-35 conformed to the 1920s notion of a 'breakthrough tank' with very heavy firepower, but poor mobility and armor protection. The Spanish Civil War demonstrated the need for much heavier armor on tanks, and was the main influence on Soviet tank design just prior to World War II.

About 4,000 KV1 tanks were manufactured between 1939 and 1943, they were very formidable and could match up to any armor that the Germans had, including the infamous Mk1 Tiger. In fact the KV1 would have been the Russians version of the Tiger tank, almost equalling protection and mobility but had less firepower than the Tiger's massive 88mm main gun.

A KV1 was actually discoverd resting at the bottom of the Neva river in Russia. It had been there since Autumn 1941, this tank was one of many that was sent to defend the Nevskij Bridgehead near Leningrad. The Nevskij Bridgehead is a battle ground of about a square mile in size where some 200,000 men died between 1941 and 1943. It was known also as Nevskij Pjatachok (five-copeck coin) because it was so comparatively small to other battlefields in Russia.

The KV1 tank was very heavily armour plated and due to the thickness of the metal very little of the tank had succumbed to any rust whatsoever. Even smaller parts of the tank were made of thick gauge steel, so disintegration and degeneration by rust was naturally kept to an absolute negligible amount. The whole tank is 100% intact, with zero battle damage. The tank even rolled out showing that the wheels, axels and bearings had not seized up. They sure knew how to build em ! In fact the KV1 was in many respects just as tough as the famous German Mk I Tiger tank, and the only way to knock one out was to hit it from behind in the engine compartment. Some slight expected surface rust was noticed but apart from that its condition is sound. It might be worth mentioning here that all vehicles prior to 1945 were made out of metal that is known as 2" pre fallout steel 2" in that there was no radiation in the air before the detonation of atomic bombs in 1945 and onwards.