KV-2

The KV-2, named after the Soviet defense commissar and politician Kliment Voroshilov (KV) (in Cyrillic Климе́нт Вороши́лов "KB") was a Soviet heavy assault tank, armed with a short barreled 152 mm howitzer, intended for bunker busting and short range artillery support. In the anime, it was first seen during Episode 8.

History

In 1939, the KV-2 was developed as a variant to the KV-1 heavy tank after the Red Army found trouble dealing with fortifications in the Winter War. Designed with a massive turret in order to mount the 152 mm M-10 Howitzer on a basic KV chassis and protected by 75 mm frontal armor, it had an identical engine to the T-34. While it had impressive firepower (its howitzer was more than capable of knocking out all German tanks it initially faced, despite being impaired by the long reload time) and was well protected, its tall silhouette made it a conspicuous target. Its large size meant that its mobility was low, being unable to clear most bridges; moreover, its big turret was slow to turn. About 300 KV-2s were built from 1939 - 1941.

Despite shocking the German troops that met it, the KV-2 was regarded as a failure, because it never performed in its intended role of 'bunker-buster', and the highly mobile warfare that followed ill-suited its characteristics. When it was deployed, the lack of close support from other tanks, and the front line fighting role it was deployed in caused heavy losses, as despite the enormous power of its gun, the KV-2 lacked a rate of fire to match German tanks and was easily outmaneuvered. Therefore, its production was quickly discontinued.

Like the Soviet late-war heavy assault guns like the SU-152 and ISU-152, the KV-2 was never designed to be used as tank destroyers but to support infantry. However while having poor penetration, 152mm HE shells were proven to be powerful enough to break the armor of any German tanks and severely wounding the crew with the shockwave.

In Girls Und Panzer

During the semifinals against Ooarai Girls Academy, it was deployed in the village to ambush the Ooarai forces, but this failed when the Ooarai tanks moved into a large building for cover. After the surrender agreement suggested by Katyusha was rejected, the KV-2 was directly ordered by Katyusha again to move behind her flag tank to crush the enemy should they try to rush it. Much to her surprise, Ooarai recognized the danger and instead escaped by breaking through the main defensive line. It was then left behind in the village to protect the flag tank (T-34); however, when it engaged the Anglerfish Team's Panzer IV and Hippo Team's StuG III it missed the first shot and as it was reloading, the two tanks fired at its weak spots and disabled it.

Gallery

Main article: KV-2/Gallery

Trivia

• KV-2 uses HE shells in the anime and the movie, although the effect in the movie is exaggerated for dramatic effect.
• The crew of the KV-2 is made up of Pravda 1st year students.
• KV-2 has 2 loaders, Nina and Alina (The propellant charge and warhead are loaded separately).
• It has the second-largest caliber gun (in a vehicle) in the series (152 mm), after the Karl-Gerät 040.
• In both the anime and movie, despite its powerful gun, it never scored a hit.
• As seen in the movie, the top heavy nature of the KV-2 means that it will tip over if the turret is turned quickly, or if the tank is tilted on an angle when it fires.
• The tank also appeared in another WWII themed anime, Brave Witches.

References

• KV-2 (Wikipedia)
• KV-2 at Military Factory
• KV-2 Specifications (WWIIVehicles)
• KV-2 at Tanks Encyclopedia
• KV-2 Official Anime Web (GirlsUndPanzer)

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