| Steelback | 20 Mar 2010 6:39 a.m. PST |
Hi Guys
Anybody know if this is right?I am in the middle of reading John Erickson's The Road to Berlin,in which he says that
the KV-85 was used in the Kursk battle,but I have a couple
of books on this battle,and the 85 is not mentioned.
I'v had a search but nothing has come up.So I,m here trying
to pick yer brains…I have a FOW Soviet force for mid '43,and it would be nice to add some KV-85s to it…. By the way if you have not read Erickson's books on the Eastern front,I recommend them,they are epic reads. Regards |
| Tony Aguilar | 20 Mar 2010 6:53 a.m. PST |
No they weren't used in combat until late 1943. According to the reference, Schiffer's "Russian Tanks and Armoured Vehicles", they weren't encountered by the GErmans until December of 1943. |
| aercdr | 20 Mar 2010 9:06 a.m. PST |
Erickson is great for the sweep of the war, but he gets some small details wrong like the KV-85 or stating that the Panther had an 88mm gun |
| Martin Rapier | 20 Mar 2010 10:18 a.m. PST |
Yes, in fact there are three specific mistakes wargamers always notice – 88mm Panthers, KV-85s at Kursk and GD being an SS Division. This does not detract from the overall value of his work, which were truely ground breaking when they were first published. |
| sergeis | 20 Mar 2010 1:00 p.m. PST |
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| Steelback | 20 Mar 2010 3:11 p.m. PST |
Martin
Yes I noticed the SS bit about the Grossdeutschland and the
88mm Panthers but I was not sure about the 85s..Thanks.. Much appreciated guys… Regards |
| WarpSpeed | 20 Mar 2010 10:17 p.m. PST |
Many people confuse the GD as SS because of the arm cuffs. |
| archstanton73 | 20 Mar 2010 10:22 p.m. PST |
Just out of interest the only heavy unit of tanks that was at Kursk was abrigade of Churchills--There were lots of other individual/company sized units of other heavies but they wer just odds and sods kicking about!! |
| Martin Rapier | 21 Mar 2010 4:46 a.m. PST |
I'm not sure about that, there various KV equipped heavy tank regiments (the Guards Tank Regiments had KVs) – or do you just mean at Prochorovoka? |
| donlowry | 21 Mar 2010 3:17 p.m. PST |
This does not detract from the overall value of his work Well, it might make one wonder what else he got wrong! |
| Mobius | 21 Mar 2010 3:34 p.m. PST |
I think the KV-1s made it to Kursk. But they were not a very good tank. About the same armor basis as the T34 but slower and with the same gun. Plus they cost more to build. |
| archstanton73 | 21 Mar 2010 5:08 p.m. PST |
"But they were not a very good tank. About the same armor basis as the T34 but slower and with the same gun."
Much better armour, same gun and worse mobility- In 1941/42 it was pretty immune to almost anything the German Army could throw at it…. |
| Frontovik | 22 Mar 2010 2:41 a.m. PST |
Mobius is talking about the KV1s. The 's' is for skorostnoi IIRC and it's not to be confused with the 'KV1 s ekranami'. It was an attempt to restore some mobility to the tank by reducing its armour basis – after the various increases to the armour basis it had undergone. Development was started in 1942. I've read that the 53rd Guards and 57th Army Heavy Tank Brigades were equipped with them at Kursk Its main interest is being the first Soviet tank to employ a commander's cupola. |
| archstanton73 | 22 Mar 2010 3:05 a.m. PST |
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