![]() The concept of “deep battle”, which contained the doctrinal use of the Soviet heavy tank, was first theorized during the late twenties, then refined and eventually adopted by the Red Army Field Regulations in 1936. So lack of photographic evidence of late war KV2 is telling.Heavy Tank – 5,219 Built Heavy tank and “deep battle” concepts in the USSR It was a very popular trophy photo in 1941, with often multiple images of the same one taken by passing Landsers and propaganda troops. And remember, the KV2 was a huge impressive tank, and a lot of photos were taken by germans when they saw one. I suspect they are mis identifications, but they crop up throughout the late war. But I've read German accounts which mention KV2 all the way upto Berlin and 1945. There is a photo of a KV2 with German Infantry walking past, carrying MG42s (which only appeared in late 1942), which apparently comes from December 43 in Nevel. I thought it was in Zamulins Demolishing the Myth, but Ive just had a quick flick through and can't locate it there. I remember reading a recent book about Citadel which listed an independent tank unit TOE of 10 KV2. There were lots of different versions of the KV1, different armour and guns, and Germans sometimes mis identified these in reports as they didn't know the correct classification of the sub type they had found. They still had T26 and BT7 in 1944! Then in Manchuria 1945, those 2 tanks were still around in a few secondary roles. The few I've seen mentioned were based in Leningrad, which because of the blockade was forced to re use old equipment. There were still a few T28 operational in 1942. Justin Mark is usually VERY reliable.probably the most knowledgeable Western writer on Stalingrad subjects.
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