I’m stunned! STUNNED I TELL YOU! :?
I can’t believe the KV-1 is beating the IS-2 in this poll! The IS-2 was built in larger numbers, is a closer match to the iconic German Tiger (as well as to the American Pershing which easily COULD HAVE been built in larger numbers if the American planners had been wiser)
The Soviets stopped production on the KV-1 tanks before it had really revved up because it failed to have any better firepower than the T-34 it was supposed to be heavier than!
I don’t think this is even a tough call, actually: IS-2 for the heavy, a T-34/85 for the medium (as it gives FMG an iconic T-34 that is still an upgrade from the WotC model and an IS-2 for an additional upgrade beyond that… the KV-1 isn’t even an upgrade over the T-34/76!)
KV-1 is a real tank that fought. IS-3 was so late in the game it didn’t matter is really is a post war tank.
No need to take the one time it fought in the last weeks of the war and dignify it as the iconic heavy Soviet tank. KV-1 earned this in battle.
What are you talking about? I’m talking about the IS-2, not the IS-3!
The KV-1 had pretty much nothing to bring to the table that the T-34 didn’t have, and was much more expensive, so much so that the Soviets nearly killed their heavy tank program altogether in 1942. The KV-1 had been pretty much relegated to an “infantry-support” role (…like the British Matilda, and the Brits other “infantry tanks” :roll:…) by then. Then the new generation of German heavies and heavy-mediums (i.e., Tigers and Panthers) started to make their presence felt. The IS-2 (AKA JS-2) was basically the Russian answer to the Tiger (while the T-34/85 was basically the Russian answer to the Panther.) The IS-2 was fielded in larger numbers than either its predecessor (the KV-1) or its direct competitor (the Tiger). With perhaps very few exceptions, the last heavy tank units had re-equipped with IS-2 by mid-1944, right about the time that the Americans and Brits were finally encountering Panthers and Tigers for the first time in France.
Please excuse my ignorance, but is there a difference between the IS-2 and the JS-2?
No, sorry, same thing; it’s sometimes spelled one way and sometimes the other. I’m trying to get used to spelling it IS-2, but I’m used to spelling it JS-2.
It stands for “Joseph Stalin 2” (in standard English romanization) which is also spelled Iosef Stalin in a more literal/accurate romanization, I believe. Either way, “ole Joe Stalin” is the same person and the second model of tank named after him is the same tank.
