23 replies to this topic

[rinying]

Crimson_Fart, on Mar 16 2012 - 23:25, said:

On 23-24 June 1941 a single KV-2 of 2nd tank division conducted an armored road block in southern Lithuania (near Rassaynjay town), holding up the German advance. The Germans found themself in a trouble when they lost whole supply truck column. Numerious attacks including a battery of 50mm anti-tank guns (which were destroyed at 500m distance), Flak 88 (the Soviets allowed to mount this gun at 700m distance and then killed it) and an engineer unit attack all failed to silence the Russian tank. Artillery fire of 105mm howitzers achieved a hit to the track and the KV was partially immobilised. This heavy tank held the only road and surrounding swamps, made German troops supply (with ammo, fuel and food) and wounded soldiers evacuation impossible. The Germans were forced to use cheap trick: 50! tanks immitated an attack, so it became possible to set another 88mm flak, which managed to eliminate the tank.

After two days it held up the advance of the entire 6th Panzer Division.
The Stukas were not used because a commander not allowed an operation "against one tank".
By the Germans' accounts, the crew could have escaped easily several times before the final attack, but the heroes always chooses their own fate...

DERP Power!

Moved to historical discussion section of the forums.   ~ Brygin

http://wio.ru/tank/aces/kv2-dead.jpg

i dont doubt it, kvs where one of the toughest tanks at the beginning of the war, nearly impenetrable. i would prefer being stuck in one of those monsters than the tommy cooker......

[Fireguard]

bindybindy, on Mar 17 2012 - 00:05, said:

The bigger issue was the complete lack of independence at any unit level, and inability to fight a modern, mobile war. The purge of the Red Army in the late 30's killed off most of their tactical thinkers and innovators.

I don't know why I got a -1 for that. Save your -1s for Stalin.

[Sealteam6]

Rudkav1tch, on Mar 16 2012 - 23:59, said:

It amazes me how 71 years later it appears on the internet.....so it must be true. Now I am not saying it is or it is not. But think about it....a single tank taking on an armored division for 2 days. And the german airforce refused to attack a single tank.....lol. I suspect if it did happen, itdid not go down quite the way the russian site said it did. If it did happen as they said. No wonder Germany lost the war.

I read about in the early 60's from Military books printed not long after WW2, I've also read about in English translated German Military History books, Wiki gives you the basic outline of what happened but sums it all up.
Wittman was famous for using this same Tactic.

The Hold up was waiting for a Flak 88 to arrive when outside of the major cities there was no sealed rds & at that time, rail was a different Gauge.
Bindy is right, if not for the Purges, a lot more of this kind of leadership would of given the Germans a harder time than they got.

[Fireguard]

I am reading a biography of Stalin at the moment, goes into a lot of detail about the whole leadership of the Soviet Union before, during and after the war. Strange people indeed, those Bolsheviks.