I would like to know if anyone could help me with a question on the KV-1 series of russian tanks, were they ever in the Barbarossa operation against the germans? Also were they in the battle of Kursk as well? I was thinking of doing a small diorama on one of these two battles with the KV-1 tank.

Yes, the KV were certainly in use during Barbarossa, any of the Trumpeter versions could be used. Barbarossa is actually about the only time you could use a KV-II.
The only heavy tanks the Russian employed during Kursk was the British Churchill, so that would be out. The only exception would be the SU-152, which was a self propelled gun based on a later version KV chassis.
Hope this helps!

As I read the book,"Stalin's Heavy Tanks" by Zaloga and others,I think they saw action in Operation Barbarossa.There were 500 of them deployed by the time the Germans invaded in Jun 1941.A diorama of a scene near Lenningrad would be interesting.

Hi Jody,

There were hundreds (estimated to be 639 in total) of KV-1 tanks in Barbarossa (June, 1941 to September, 1941). The KV's were new and the Germans had a difficult time dealing with them. You could do a dio of one which took a licking and kept on ticking.

Here is an amazing story about one...

"One of the KV's managed to reach the only supply route of the German task force located in the northern bridgehead, and blocked it for several days. The first unsuspecting trucks to arrive with supplies were immediately shot afire by the tank. There were practically no means of eliminating the monster. It was impossible to bypass it because of the swampy surrounding terrain. Neither supplies nor ammunition could be brought up. The severely wounded could not be moved to the hospital for the necessary operations, so they died. The attempt to put the tank out of actions with the 50 mm antitank gun battery, which had just been introduced at the time, at a range of 500 yards ended with heavy losses to crews and equipment of the battery. The tank remained undamaged in spite of the fact that, as was later determined, it got 14 direct hits. These merely produced blue spots on its armor.

When a camouflaged 88 was brought up, the tank calmly permitted it to put into position at a distance of 700 yards, and then smashed it and its crew before it was even ready to fire.

The attempt of engineers to blow it up at night likewise proved abortive. To be sure, the engineers managed to get to the tank after midnight, and laid the prescribed demolition charge under the caterpillar tracks. The charge went off according to plan, but was insufficient for the oversized tracks. Pieces were broken off the tracks, but the tank remained mobile and continued to molest the rear of the front and to block all supplies. At first it received supplies at night from the scattered Russians groups and civilians, but the Germans later prevented this procedure by blocking off the surrounding area. However, even this isolation did not induce it to give up its favorable position.

It finally became the victim of a German ruse. Fifty tanks were ordered to feign an attack from three sides and to fire on it so as to draw all of its attention in those directions. Under the protection of this feint it was possible to set up and camouflage another 88 mm Flak to the rear of the tank, so that this time it actually was able to fire. Of the 12 direct hits scored by this medium gun, 3 pierced the tank and destroyed it."

That is quoted from this page...
http://www.generalissue.com/history/kv1.htm

I believe this is a picture of the KV-1...



It is from this page...
http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/4635/tanks/kv1/kv1.htm

...which has an even more amazing story...

"On 19 August 1941, a platoon of four KV-1s of the 1st Tank Division succesfully ambushed a German tank column advancing near the Voiskovitsy collective farm near Leningrad. The platoon leader, Sr. Lt. Zinoviy Kolobanov, knocked out the two lead tanks in the column. The following tanks apparently did not relize what had happened and continued to move forward. Kolobanov's platoon moved into the midst of German battalion and, in the melee that followed, Kolobanov destroyed 22 German tanks, ramming at least one in the process. His tank was hit 135(!) times during the firefight. The other three KVs destroyed a total of 16 other tanks. Kolobanov's feat made him the second highest ranking Soviet tank ace of the war."

Here is a picture of Sr. Lt. Zinoviy Kolobanov and his crew...


http://wio.ru/tank/ww2aces.htm

As for Kursk (July 4 - July 17, 1943), the KV-1 was outdated, but a handful was involved with the battle.

Let's start with this page. It's about the Battle of Kursk and shows the equipment used....
http://www.kursk1943.mil.ru/kursk/tw/index.html

However, it is in Russian and they used frames to build the site, so it's a bit dificult to explain. First go to that page. It shows the aircraft. The second item on the menu is artillery and the third is for AFVs.

Even better is this archive of images from Kursk. There are 16 pages starting here...
http://www.aeronautics.ru/archive/wwii/photos/gallery_003/page_01.htm

On the first page is a large version of this picture with KV-1 tanks...



Best of luck with it. Sounds like an interesting one.

Karl

It's possible that the first KV mentioned by Colo_artist was a KV-2, depends on which version of the story you read. There are pictures of a KV-2 with the right sort of damage published in various books and also here

As for which Trumpeter KVs are best for Barbarossa, go for the welded turret versions.

Man....I love this forum...tons of info here....

I am also going to Bookmark this page.....

Thanks guys.........

Hi Guys,

I'm designing a scenario on Prochorovka for the Lock n Load module , Not One Step Back. The scenario includes T-34s, against Tiger I, PzIIIs, and a StuGIII of the SS Liebstandarte. I wanted to also give the Soviets a KV-1. I see where KV-1s did participate in Kursk. Does anyone know if any were near Prochorovka?


Finally, I know this mifght be a dumb question, but how do I get an avatar? I don't see how to add one under my profile. Thanks in advance.

Best,

Mark

The KV-1 variants from Trumpeter are all suitable for the eastern front. The box top generally gives you the production year.
Some KV-1S versions (available only from Eastern Express, if you can find one) were in combat at Kursk in July, 1943. Production of the type was winding down, as it was obsolete. A small number of KV-85 tanks with the IS-1 turret were built in late 1943, before the advent of the Stalin series.
Tankograd, a German publisher, has some superb paperback books with photos and 1/35th scale drawings of all KV-1 and 2 variants.