Chapter 26: The Cult of Gods Goes Out

This heavy howitzer on the KV2 is designed to cause devastating damage to the enemy's permanent fortifications and break through the enemy's front line. Its power can be said to be unusually powerful.

The high-explosive shell fired by this M-10T 152mm howitzer weighs an astonishing 40 kilograms. Its warhead contains 8 kilograms of TNT charge, and it can fire at the enemy's fortifications at a muzzle velocity of 530 meters per second.

In terms of shell weight and explosive power alone, the high-explosive shells fired by the KV2 heavy tank at this time can be said to be not much different from the modern mainstream 155mm self-propelled howitzers. In the early days of World War II when the mainstream tanks of various countries in the world were still using 75 and 76 caliber small water tube tank guns, the KV2's 152mm cannon was absolutely an extremely "just" existence.

In addition, considering that the enemy's permanent fortifications may be protected by thick concrete and armor plates, and the individual situations when the KV2 heavy tank may encounter enemy heavy armored units.

At this time, if you use a simple high-explosive bomb to attack the enemy's heavily protected targets, it is likely to be embarrassing that the effect is not ideal. In order to solve this problem, the design team of KV2 also specially invited two other shells for this 152mm heavy howitzer to choose from - G-530 concrete-destroying shells and PB-35 capped armor-piercing shells.

The former can be known from its name. This is a shell specially designed to break through the heavy concrete layer protection on the enemy's fortifications.

According to a series of data from the artillery direct shooting test, the G-530 concrete-destroying shell has extremely excellent destructive power against military-grade concrete fortifications.

The huge caliber of up to 152mm brings this special concrete-destroying shell an outrageous high kinetic energy. The warhead of the penetrating warhead weighing 40kg contains 5kg of TNT charge. It can penetrate up to 7 meters of military-grade concrete fortifications and secondary damage 3 meters of concrete fortifications by the explosion of the warhead charge, and can effectively damage a total of one meter of military-grade concrete fortifications.

The latter is the PB-35 152mm capped armor-piercing projectile. This large-caliber armor-piercing projectile with a capped normalizing effect is not actually a product of the Soviet Army, but a product of the Red Navy's 152mm naval gun armor-piercing projectile.

So although the M-10T heavy howitzer of the KV2 heavy tank was not originally manufactured for the purpose of firing armor-piercing projectiles and has a short barrel, it is theoretically not suitable for use as an anti-tank gun to fire armor-piercing projectiles, but thanks to the huge caliber of 152mm and the amazing amount of propellant in the chamber.

This PB-35 naval gun armor-piercing projectile originally used by the Soviet Navy can still penetrate 120mm homogeneous steel armor at a vertical angle of 90 degrees at a distance of 500 meters, even if it is fired by the short-barreled howitzer of the KV2 heavy tank. This is definitely a killer in the early days of World War II when heavy tanks were not yet developed.

It is worth mentioning that although the KV2 heavy tank was produced in small quantities due to its inherent design deficiencies, with only more than 500 units produced, a small number of KV2 heavy tanks that survived the early stage of the Great Patriotic War survived until the mid-term stage after 1943 when the German army successively deployed Tiger and Panther tanks.

But even the upper front area of ​​the Tiger tank with a thickness of 100 mm homogeneous steel armor is equivalent to the upper front area of ​​the Panther tank with a thickness of 80 mm and a horizontal ballistic angle of 55 degrees, which is equivalent to 130 mm.

When facing these new German tanks with strong defensive power, KV2 still accepted them all. As long as the 152 mm capped armor-piercing bullet hits accurately, it will definitely hit one by one without bargaining.

The Soviet Army, which was greatly inspired by the 152 God, subsequently developed and manufactured the SU-152 and ISU-152 heavy tank destroyers. The powerful 152 heavy anti-tank gun blasted the German Tiger and Panther tanks to pieces, bringing great spiritual and morale encouragement to the Red Army soldiers on the front line, and was affectionately called the "Zoo Killer" by the Red Army soldiers.

In terms of protection, the Soviet tank design before the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War has always followed the design concept of comprehensive protection. That is, the side armor protection of the tank should not be lower than the front armor protection effect, and the side armor defense weight of the tank is directly equated with the front armor defense weight.

Under the influence of this design concept, the powerful KV2 heavy tank, whether it is a tall turret or a low body, has a physical thickness of 75 mm in the front, back, left and right directions.

The armor in the upper front area of ​​the body also has a 31-degree inclination, which can provide 85 mm equivalent armor defense on the horizontal ballistic attack route. The tall turret also has a gun shield with a thickness of 90 mm homogeneous steel armor, which can provide sufficient additional defense capabilities on the turret with the highest probability of being hit.

The mobility is the only shortcoming of the KV2 tank, which pursues all-round and powerful defense.

Although the KV2 heavy tank is equipped with a 12-cylinder V-2 diesel engine that was quite powerful at that time, with a maximum power output of 520 horsepower.

However, the heavy weight of 52 tons brought at the cost of pursuing comprehensive defense makes the diesel engine mounted on the KV2 overwhelmed. Its theoretical maximum speed is only 26 kilometers per hour, making it a veritable "iron cuckold" in the entire Soviet Red Army.

In addition, the KV2 heavy tank's overly heavy weight and tall turret not only make it difficult to turn and slow to react in battle, but the high turret center of gravity also makes the center of gravity of the entire tank unstable. It is very easy to roll over when going up and down slopes and on rough roads, so many Soviet tank crews driving KV2 heavy tanks have to be cautious and take detours even when there are small gullies.

Although the performance of the KV2 heavy tank in all aspects can be said to be mixed, its reliable protection performance and powerful main gun firepower can undoubtedly bring extremely powerful offensive assistance to Malashenko's assault company.

Therefore, Malashenko, who can't wait to see the performance of the 152 cult in actual combat, is naturally happy to see these big guys added to his armored company.

After sitting quietly in the gunner and commander's position in the turret of his vehicle and waiting for half an hour, the thunderous artillery fire from behind gradually subsided. Malashenko realized that he had finally waited for that moment, and then he heard the familiar voice of the division commander Chernyaev on the radio beside his ear.

"Captain Malashenko, the time has come to serve the motherland! Start the attack! Tear up those fierce invaders and win honor for our 20th Tank Division!"