f2k
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2011
- Messages
- 301
Beute-what-did-he-say?
As the grey tide swept over Europe, the Germans looted a lot of different equipment from the occupied countries. This included the Panzer 35(t) and the superb Panzer 38(t), which would go on to serve the Wehrmacht though the entire war as self-propelled anti-tank and artillery guns, tank destroyers, scout-, and anti-air vehicle, French light and heavy tanks like the Char B1 Bis, a smattering of British and American tanks, and a variety of Russian tanks, mostly T-34's but also several KV-1's.
These were claimed by the advancing Germans as Beutepanzer – price (or looted) tanks.
These tanks were taken back to Germany where they would be upgraded to German standards with extra armour, radios, weapons (a number of French Char B1 Bis, for example, were equipped with flamethrowers), and even extra crew-members.
So, when it comes to modelling Beutepanzers, you’re really spoiled for choice. So why the KV-2?
Well, I’ve always had an interest in the more exotic tanks that were developed throughout the war. I find it interesting to note that while the Russians were experimenting with all manner of strange multi-turreted tanks before the war, only to streamline their tanks designs and producing, towards the end of the war, some excellent tanks and tank destroyers, German design went the other way, from excellent, if slightly under-gunned, tanks to a whole string of weird (though not particular wonderful) designs towards the end of the war.
The KV-2 was one of those strange vehicles that were designed in Russia during the early phase of the war. In an effort to up-gun the early versions of the KV-1, a huge turret with a 152 mm. howitzer installed was mounted on a basic KV-1 chassis. This pushed the weight of the vehicle to a staggering 52 tons – ten tons more than the KV-1, twice the weight of a Panzer IV and only ten tons less than the Tiger. In fact, the turret was so heavy that it could not be traversed when the tank was on a slope as the gear-train would jam – or so the story goes...
At least three of these tanks were captured by the Germans. Two were used by the Überschwere Pz.Kw.Zug 269 and one by the Panzer-Abteilung z.b.V.66 unit. Rumours has it, that KV-2’s might also have been used in the defence of Normandy and that one was encountered near the Krupp factory when it was captured by the Allies. But, as far as I know, this hasn’t been confirmed.
This is a 1/35 scale model from Trumpeter. Even though neither the box, nor the manual, mentions where this particular tanks is from (this is something I like with the Tamiya kits – they usually include a short description of the vehicle in the box) it can still be identified as it has some peculiar modifications.
The addition of an ammo-rack hanging off the rear of the tank and the Panzer III cupola marks this as the KV-2 used by the Panzer-Abteilung z.b.V.66 unit. How, and when, it was captured is sadly not known, but records show that it was in German service in May 1943. It seems to have been captured before mid 1942 as a KV-2 is mentioned as having been part of Operation Herkules – the aborted invasion of Malta. In any case, it remained in service until August 1943 where it was blown up when it failed to start during a withdrawal.
I’m planning to build this pretty much straight out of the box. My Jagdpanzer E-100 project is at the stage where I’m green- and brown-stuffing it, so I have a lot of breaks where I’m simply waiting for the putty to harden. A simple build’n’paint project seems like a good thing to keep me occupied in the meantime...
As the grey tide swept over Europe, the Germans looted a lot of different equipment from the occupied countries. This included the Panzer 35(t) and the superb Panzer 38(t), which would go on to serve the Wehrmacht though the entire war as self-propelled anti-tank and artillery guns, tank destroyers, scout-, and anti-air vehicle, French light and heavy tanks like the Char B1 Bis, a smattering of British and American tanks, and a variety of Russian tanks, mostly T-34's but also several KV-1's.
These were claimed by the advancing Germans as Beutepanzer – price (or looted) tanks.
These tanks were taken back to Germany where they would be upgraded to German standards with extra armour, radios, weapons (a number of French Char B1 Bis, for example, were equipped with flamethrowers), and even extra crew-members.
So, when it comes to modelling Beutepanzers, you’re really spoiled for choice. So why the KV-2?
Well, I’ve always had an interest in the more exotic tanks that were developed throughout the war. I find it interesting to note that while the Russians were experimenting with all manner of strange multi-turreted tanks before the war, only to streamline their tanks designs and producing, towards the end of the war, some excellent tanks and tank destroyers, German design went the other way, from excellent, if slightly under-gunned, tanks to a whole string of weird (though not particular wonderful) designs towards the end of the war.
The KV-2 was one of those strange vehicles that were designed in Russia during the early phase of the war. In an effort to up-gun the early versions of the KV-1, a huge turret with a 152 mm. howitzer installed was mounted on a basic KV-1 chassis. This pushed the weight of the vehicle to a staggering 52 tons – ten tons more than the KV-1, twice the weight of a Panzer IV and only ten tons less than the Tiger. In fact, the turret was so heavy that it could not be traversed when the tank was on a slope as the gear-train would jam – or so the story goes...
At least three of these tanks were captured by the Germans. Two were used by the Überschwere Pz.Kw.Zug 269 and one by the Panzer-Abteilung z.b.V.66 unit. Rumours has it, that KV-2’s might also have been used in the defence of Normandy and that one was encountered near the Krupp factory when it was captured by the Allies. But, as far as I know, this hasn’t been confirmed.
This is a 1/35 scale model from Trumpeter. Even though neither the box, nor the manual, mentions where this particular tanks is from (this is something I like with the Tamiya kits – they usually include a short description of the vehicle in the box) it can still be identified as it has some peculiar modifications.
The addition of an ammo-rack hanging off the rear of the tank and the Panzer III cupola marks this as the KV-2 used by the Panzer-Abteilung z.b.V.66 unit. How, and when, it was captured is sadly not known, but records show that it was in German service in May 1943. It seems to have been captured before mid 1942 as a KV-2 is mentioned as having been part of Operation Herkules – the aborted invasion of Malta. In any case, it remained in service until August 1943 where it was blown up when it failed to start during a withdrawal.
I’m planning to build this pretty much straight out of the box. My Jagdpanzer E-100 project is at the stage where I’m green- and brown-stuffing it, so I have a lot of breaks where I’m simply waiting for the putty to harden. A simple build’n’paint project seems like a good thing to keep me occupied in the meantime...