KV-2 Tank: The Soviet Giant with the 152 mm Howitzer

The KV-2 was one of the most extraordinary tanks of the Second World War: a Soviet heavy tank that mounted a 152 mm howitzer in a huge, boxy turret, giving it the firepower of a self-propelled artillery piece and a silhouette that towered over every other tank on the battlefield. Designed in 1940 to destroy Finnish concrete bunkers during the Winter War, the KV-2 entered service just in time for the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, when its thick armour made it almost immune to German anti-tank guns. Approximately 334 KV-2 tanks were built between 1940 and 1941, and the type served for only a short time, but it left a lasting impression on friend and foe alike. The most famous KV-2 was the single tank that held up the German 6th Panzer Division at Raseiniai in Lithuania for a full day in June 1941, a story that has become one of the legends of armoured warfare.

The KV-2 was a development of the KV-1 heavy tank, which had entered service in 1939. The KV-1’s 76.2 mm gun was adequate against tanks, but the Red Army needed a weapon that could destroy concrete fortifications, and the 152 mm M-10T howitzer, mounted in an enlarged turret, was the answer. The result was a tank that weighed about 52 tons, stood 3.24 metres tall, and carried a gun that could demolish a bunker with a single high-explosive shell. But the huge turret made the KV-2 slow, top-heavy and mechanically unreliable, and its traverse was so slow that the turret could only be turned on level ground. The KV-2 was a specialised weapon, built for a specific purpose, and it was never intended to be a general-purpose battle tank.

The KV-2 is remembered today as a symbol of Soviet wartime improvisation and of the sheer scale of the Eastern Front. It appears in museums in Russia and Finland, in countless photographs and models, and in the story of Raseiniai, which has been told and retold in histories of the war. The KV-2’s short service life belies its importance: it showed the Red Army what a heavy tank could do, and it pointed the way to the IS-2 and the ISU-152, the heavy tanks and assault guns that would carry the Soviet Union to victory in 1945.

1. Key Facts

Field	Value
Type	Heavy tank
Origin	Soviet Union
Designed	1940 (Object 150)
In service	1940-1941 (Red Army)
Produced	Approximately 334
Manufacturer	Kirov Plant, Leningrad
Crew	6 (commander, gunner, loader, driver, hull gunner, radio operator)
Weight	Approximately 52 tons
Length	Approximately 6.80 m (hull); 7.30 m with gun
Width	Approximately 3.32 m
Height	Approximately 3.24 m
Armour	Up to 110 mm (hull front); turret front up to 110 mm
Main armament	152 mm M-10T howitzer (36 rounds)
Secondary armament	7.62 mm DT machine guns (2-3)
Engine	V-2K V-12 diesel engine, approximately 500 hp
Speed	Approximately 26 km/h (16 mph) maximum on roads
Range	Approximately 200 km (125 miles) on roads
Notable variants	KV-2 (1940 model), KV-2 (1941 model)

2. Background and Development

The Winter War and the Bunker Problem

The origins of the KV-2 lay in the Winter War of 1939-1940, when the Soviet Union invaded Finland and its troops ran into the Mannerheim Line, a belt of concrete bunkers and fortifications on the Karelian Isthmus. Soviet tanks, armed with 45 mm and 76.2 mm guns, could not destroy the Finnish bunkers, and the Red Army suffered heavy losses in frontal assaults. The Soviet high command demanded a tank that could demolish concrete fortifications, and the Kirov Plant in Leningrad was ordered to mount a 152 mm howitzer on the KV-1 heavy tank chassis. The result was the KV-2, a tank that was essentially a mobile bunker-buster, designed to advance to within a few hundred metres of a fortification and destroy it with high-explosive shells. The KV-2 was rushed into production in early 1940, and the first vehicles were sent to Finland, where the war ended before they could see combat.

The Kirov Plant and the Object 150

The KV-2 was developed by the design bureau of the Kirov Plant under the direction of Zhosef Kotin, the chief designer of Soviet heavy tanks. The project was designated Object 150, and it used the chassis of the KV-1 with a new, much larger turret that housed the 152 mm M-10T howitzer. The turret was so large that it dominated the tank: it was a boxy, vertical-sided structure that rose more than a metre above the hull, and it required a six-man crew to operate. The gun was mounted in a ball mounting, and the turret was traversed by an electric motor, although the traverse was so slow that it could take minutes to turn the turret through a full circle. The KV-2’s first prototypes were tested in early 1940, and the tank was accepted for service in February 1940. Production began at the Kirov Plant and continued until the German invasion forced the evacuation of the plant to Chelyabinsk in late 1941.

A Tank Built for One Task

The KV-2 was designed for a single task, the destruction of fortifications, and every aspect of its design reflected that purpose. The 152 mm howitzer fired a high-explosive shell weighing about 40 kilograms, which could demolish a concrete bunker or destroy a building in a single hit. The tank’s armour was thick enough to resist Finnish anti-tank guns at the ranges at which it would operate, and its weight of 52 tons gave it the stability to fire the huge gun. But the KV-2 was not designed for tank-versus-tank combat, and it was not designed for rapid movement: its top speed was only about 26 kilometres per hour, and its fuel consumption was high. The KV-2 was a specialised weapon, and its designers accepted its limitations because they believed that the destruction of fortifications was worth the cost.

3. Design

Hull, Armour and Mobility

The KV-2 used the hull of the KV-1, with its thick armour and its V-2K diesel engine, but the addition of the huge turret made the tank heavier and taller than its predecessor. The hull front was protected by up to 110 mm of armour, and the turret front by the same thickness, which made the KV-2 almost immune to the German 37 mm and 50 mm anti-tank guns in 1941. The tank weighed about 52 tons, and its V-2K engine produced about 500 horsepower, giving a top speed of about 26 kilometres per hour on roads and less cross-country. The suspension used torsion bars, and the tank’s ground pressure was high, which made it prone to bogging down in soft ground. The KV-2’s mobility was its greatest weakness: it was slow, it consumed fuel rapidly, and its transmission was prone to failure under the weight of the turret.

The 152 mm M-10T Howitzer

The heart of the KV-2 was its 152 mm M-10T howitzer, a short-barrelled gun adapted from the M-10 field howitzer. It fired a high-explosive shell weighing about 40 kilograms and an armour-piercing shell that could defeat any German tank of 1941, although the gun’s low muzzle velocity made it inaccurate at long range. The tank carried only 36 rounds of ammunition, and the shells were so large and heavy that the loader’s job was exhausting. The gun’s rate of fire was slow, about one round per minute, and the turret traverse was so slow that the gunner had to rely on the driver to aim the tank at the target. The howitzer’s blast was enormous, and firing it produced a cloud of dust and smoke that could obscure the tank’s vision. Despite these limitations, the 152 mm gun was the most powerful tank weapon in service in 1941, and its effect on targets was devastating.

Crew, Vision and Ergonomics

The KV-2 carried a crew of six, the largest of any Soviet tank of the war: a commander, a gunner, a loader, a driver, a hull gunner and a radio operator. The commander and gunner worked in the huge turret, which was spacious by the standards of the time, but the turret’s height made the tank conspicuous and its vertical sides were vulnerable to German anti-tank guns at close range. The driver’s position was in the front of the hull, and the tank had a radio for communication. The interior was cramped in the hull but relatively roomy in the turret, and the crew appreciated the space, although they complained about the turret’s slow traverse and the difficulty of loading the huge shells. The KV-2 was a demanding tank to fight, but its crews had confidence in its armour and its gun, and the heavy tank regiments that operated it were regarded as elite formations.

4. Variants

The 1940 and 1941 Models

The KV-2 was built in two main production models, the 1940 model and the 1941 model, and the differences between them were mainly in the turret. The 1940 model had a turret with a sloped rear and a distinctive shape, while the 1941 model had a simplified, boxier turret with vertical sides and a flat rear, which was easier to manufacture. The 1941 model also had a redesigned mantlet and a different gun mounting, and later production vehicles received improved engine and transmission components. The 1941 model was the version that fought in the summer of 1941, and it is the version most often seen in photographs and museum displays. The total production of about 334 vehicles was split between the two models, with the 1941 model accounting for the majority.

The End of Production

KV-2 production ended in late 1941, when the Kirov Plant was evacuated from Leningrad to Chelyabinsk and the Soviet tank industry was reorganised to focus on the T-34 medium tank and the KV-1 heavy tank. The KV-2’s huge turret was difficult to manufacture, and its specialised role was no longer a priority: the Red Army needed tanks that could fight other tanks and support infantry, not bunker-busters. The KV-2’s chassis and engine were used for the KV-1, and the 152 mm howitzer was later mounted in the SU-152 and ISU-152 self-propelled guns, which used a fixed casemate instead of a turret and were much more practical. The KV-2 was thus a dead end in tank design, but its gun and its concept lived on in the assault guns that followed.

The SU-152 Connection

The KV-2’s most important legacy was the SU-152, a self-propelled gun that mounted the 152 mm ML-20 howitzer on a KV-1 chassis in a fixed casemate. The SU-152 was developed in 1942 in response to the German Tiger and Ferdinand, and it used the same 152 mm calibre as the KV-2 but in a much more practical vehicle. The SU-152 and its successor, the ISU-152, became famous as tank destroyers and assault guns, and they served throughout the war. The KV-2’s 152 mm gun thus found its true home in the self-propelled gun, where the fixed casemate avoided the problems of the huge turret and the vehicle’s weight was lower. The KV-2’s concept, a heavy tank with a very large gun, was sound; its execution, in a turreted tank, was not.

5. Operational History

The Winter War and the First Deployments

The KV-2 was rushed into production in early 1940, and the first vehicles were sent to Finland, where the Winter War ended in March 1940 before they could see combat. The KV-2’s first operational deployment was thus a disappointment: the tank that had been designed to destroy the Mannerheim Line never fired a shot in anger against it. The KV-2s that had been sent to Finland were withdrawn, and the type was issued to heavy tank regiments in the western military districts. By June 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union, about 334 KV-2s were in service, distributed among the mechanised corps that were the Red Army’s armoured reserve. The KV-2’s first combat came in the chaotic fighting of the summer of 1941, when Soviet tank units were thrown into battle against the German panzer divisions.

Raseiniai: The Lone KV-2

The most famous action of the KV-2, and one of the most famous tank actions of the war, took place at Raseiniai in Lithuania on 24 June 1941. A single KV-2, supported by a few infantry, blocked the road used by the German 6th Panzer Division’s supply column and held up the division for a full day. German anti-tank guns could not penetrate the KV-2’s armour, and the tank destroyed several German guns and vehicles before it was finally disabled by an 88 mm gun brought up to deal with it. The German account of the action, written by officers of the 6th Panzer Division, describes the KV-2 as a monster that could not be stopped, and the story has become a legend in the history of armoured warfare. The identity of the KV-2’s crew is unknown, and the tank’s fate is uncertain, but the action at Raseiniai remains the KV-2’s most famous moment.

The Summer of 1941 and Withdrawal

After Raseiniai, the KV-2 fought in the battles of the summer of 1941, when the Red Army’s mechanised corps were destroyed in the great encirclements of Minsk, Smolensk and Kyiv. The KV-2’s thick armour made it difficult for the Germans to destroy, but its mechanical unreliability, its slow speed and its high fuel consumption meant that many KV-2s broke down or ran out of fuel and were abandoned by their crews. The Germans captured a number of KV-2s and used them for training and evaluation, and some were sent to Germany for testing. By the end of 1941, most of the KV-2s had been lost, and the type was withdrawn from service. The KV-2’s combat career lasted only a few months, but its impact on German tank design and on Soviet heavy tank development was lasting.

The German Encounter

The German encounter with the KV-2 in 1941 was a shock. German anti-tank guns, which had been effective against Soviet light and medium tanks, could not penetrate the KV-2’s armour, and German tank crews found that their 37 mm and 50 mm guns were useless against it. The Germans were forced to bring up 88 mm anti-aircraft guns to deal with the KV-2, and the experience accelerated the development of more powerful German anti-tank guns and tanks. The KV-2, like the KV-1 and the T-34, showed the Germans that Soviet tank design was more advanced than they had expected, and it contributed to the German decision to develop the Tiger and Panther. The KV-2’s legacy in German tank design is thus indirect but real: it was one of the tanks that forced the Germans to rethink their armoured doctrine.

6. Performance and Specifications

Strengths on the Battlefield

The KV-2’s greatest strength was its armour. In 1941, no German anti-tank gun in service could penetrate its 110 mm frontal armour at normal combat ranges, and the tank could advance under fire that would have destroyed any other Soviet tank. Its 152 mm howitzer was the most powerful tank gun in service in 1941, and its high-explosive shell could demolish any fortification or building. The KV-2’s psychological impact was also significant: German troops who encountered it were intimidated by its size and its gun, and Soviet troops were encouraged by its presence. In the breakthrough role, the KV-2 was a formidable weapon, and its performance at Raseiniai showed what a single heavy tank could do when it was well handled.

Weaknesses and Trade-offs

The weaknesses were severe. The KV-2’s top speed of about 26 kilometres per hour was slow, and its cross-country speed was lower still. Its fuel consumption was high, and its range of about 200 kilometres was limited. The transmission was prone to failure under the weight of the turret, and the tank’s ground pressure was high, which made it prone to bogging down. The turret traverse was so slow that the gun could only be aimed by turning the whole tank, and the rate of fire was about one round per minute. The KV-2’s height of 3.24 metres made it a conspicuous target, and its vertical turret sides were vulnerable to German anti-tank guns at close range. The KV-2 was a specialised weapon with serious limitations, and its designers accepted those limitations because they believed that the destruction of fortifications was worth the cost.

How the KV-2 Compared with Rivals

Compared with the German Panzer IV, the KV-2 had thicker armour and a far more powerful gun, but it was slower, less reliable and much more expensive to build. Compared with the Soviet T-34, the KV-2 had thicker armour and a larger gun, but it was slower, less mobile and less reliable, and it could not be built in the same numbers. Compared with the British Matilda II, the KV-2 had a larger gun and thicker armour, but it was heavier and less reliable. The KV-2’s combination of very thick armour and a very large gun was unique in 1941, but its mobility and reliability were poor, and it was soon superseded by more practical designs. The KV-2’s legacy is thus not as a successful tank, but as a bold experiment that showed what was possible and what was not.

7. Operators

The Red Army

The sole operator of the KV-2 was the Red Army, which used it in the heavy tank regiments of the mechanised corps. The KV-2 was issued to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th and other mechanised corps in the western military districts, and it served in the fighting of the summer of 1941. The KV-2’s crews were drawn from the Red Army’s tank troops, and the heavy tank regiments were regarded as elite formations. The KV-2’s service was short, but its crews’ accounts of the tank’s armour and gun have become part of the history of the Eastern Front. The KV-2 was never exported, and it was never used by any other country in combat.

Captured Vehicles

The Germans captured a number of KV-2 tanks in 1941 and used them for training and evaluation. Some captured KV-2s were sent to Germany, where they were tested at the Kummersdorf proving ground, and others were used by German units on the Eastern Front for a short time. The Germans designated the captured KV-2 as the Panzerkampfwagen KV-II 754(r), and they used it in the same way as the captured KV-1, as a heavy tank for training and for second-line duties. The Finnish Army captured at least one KV-2 and used it for evaluation, and the tank is now displayed in the Parola Tank Museum in Finland. The captured KV-2s show how much the Germans respected the design, even though they never put it into production themselves.

8. Legacy and Influence

A Bold Experiment

The KV-2’s legacy is that of a bold experiment. It showed that a tank could mount a very large gun and carry very thick armour, but it also showed that a turreted tank with a 152 mm howitzer was impractical. The KV-2’s gun and its concept lived on in the SU-152 and ISU-152 self-propelled guns, which used a fixed casemate and were much more successful. The KV-2 also influenced the design of the IS-2, which used a 122 mm gun in a turret that was large but not as unwieldy as the KV-2’s. The KV-2’s place in tank history is thus as a stepping stone, a design that pointed the way to more successful vehicles even though it was itself a failure as a general-purpose tank.

Cultural Memory and Historical Assessment

The KV-2 is one of the most famous tanks of the Second World War, and its image is closely associated with the story of Raseiniai. It appears in countless photographs, films and models, and it is a popular subject for military historians and enthusiasts. Historians have assessed the KV-2 as a flawed but fascinating design, a tank that was built for a specific purpose and that performed that purpose well, but that was not suited to the general fighting of 1941. The KV-2’s reputation has been enhanced by its appearance in video games and popular culture, where its huge gun and towering silhouette make it instantly recognisable. The KV-2 is remembered as a symbol of Soviet wartime improvisation and of the sheer scale of the Eastern Front.

The Raseiniai Legend

The story of the lone KV-2 at Raseiniai has become one of the legends of armoured warfare, and it is told in histories of the war in many languages. The German account, written by officers of the 6th Panzer Division, describes a tank that could not be stopped, and the story has been used to illustrate the power of Soviet heavy tanks and the courage of their crews. The identity of the KV-2’s crew remains unknown, and the tank’s fate is uncertain, but the story has become a symbol of the Soviet resistance in the summer of 1941. The Raseiniai legend ensures that the KV-2 will be remembered long after the last surviving example has gone.

9. Surviving Examples

Museums in Russia and Finland

A small number of KV-2 tanks survive in museums. The Central Armed Forces Museum in Moscow holds a KV-2, and the Kubinka Tank Museum displays an example. The Parola Tank Museum in Finland holds a KV-2 that was captured by the Finnish Army, and it is one of the most popular exhibits in the museum. The large number of surviving KV-2s, relative to the small production run, reflects the type’s fame and the care with which museums have preserved it. The surviving examples are mostly 1941 models, with the boxy turret that is most often seen in photographs.

Survivors Abroad and Running Examples

Other surviving KV-2 tanks include an example in the Military History Museum in St Petersburg and a replica built for film and museum display. No KV-2 is known to be in running condition, and the surviving examples are static displays. The KV-2’s survival in museums ensures that future generations can see the tank that held up a German panzer division at Raseiniai, and that they can appreciate the sheer scale of the vehicle. The KV-2’s towering silhouette, with its huge turret and its 152 mm gun, is one of the most impressive sights in any tank museum, and it is a reminder of the ambition and the audacity of Soviet tank design in 1940.

Frequently Asked Questions

Was the KV-2 a good tank?

The KV-2 was a good tank for its intended role, the destruction of fortifications, but it was a poor general-purpose battle tank. Its armour was thick enough to resist German anti-tank guns in 1941, and its 152 mm howitzer could demolish any bunker. But it was slow, unreliable, top-heavy and difficult to aim, and it was soon withdrawn from service.

How many KV-2 tanks were built?

Approximately 334 KV-2 tanks were built between 1940 and 1941, all at the Kirov Plant in Leningrad. This was a small production run, reflecting the tank’s specialised role and the difficulty of manufacturing its huge turret.

What happened at Raseiniai?

At Raseiniai in Lithuania on 24 June 1941, a single KV-2 blocked the road used by the German 6th Panzer Division and held up the division for a full day. German anti-tank guns could not penetrate its armour, and the tank was finally disabled by an 88 mm gun. The action has become one of the legends of armoured warfare.

Why was the KV-2 so tall?

The KV-2 was 3.24 metres tall because of its huge turret, which housed the 152 mm howitzer and its large ammunition. The turret was a boxy, vertical-sided structure that rose more than a metre above the hull, and it made the tank conspicuous and top-heavy.

Did the KV-2 fight in the Winter War?

The KV-2 was designed for the Winter War, to destroy Finnish bunkers on the Mannerheim Line, but the war ended in March 1940 before the first vehicles could see combat. The KV-2’s first combat was in the summer of 1941, against the German invasion.

How long did the KV-2 remain in service?

The KV-2 served for only a few months, from its introduction in 1940 to its withdrawal in late 1941. Most of the vehicles were lost in the fighting of the summer of 1941, and the type was never put back into production.

Sources

• Steven J. Zaloga, KV-1 and KV-2 Heavy Tanks 1939-45 (Osprey Publishing, New Vanguard series).
• Mikhail Baryatinskiy, The KV-1 and KV-2 Tanks (Russian Armour series).
• David Glantz and Jonathan House, When Titans Clashed (University Press of Kansas).
• The Central Armed Forces Museum, Moscow, KV-2 collection records.
• The Parola Tank Museum, Finland, KV-2 exhibit records.
• Chamberlain, Peter, and Ellis, Chris, British and American Tanks of World War II (Arms and Armour Press).