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IS-2 is a Soviet heavy tank.
Description[]
Developed as a successor to KV-1 and its variants, the IS-2 features heavy armour and firepower to counter enemy heavy tanks as well as defensive strongpoints. The history of the tank started in March 1942, when the newly founded Experimental tank factory in Chelyabinsk began to develop the KV-13, a new heavy battle tank. It was based on the KV-1 and experimental subtypes of this model. The aim of the development team was a universal medium weight tank, which should have the armor protection of a heavy battle tank. The engineers agreed that this objective would be possible only by using cast components - not only with the turret, but also the body, although this would limit the space available inside. The appearance of the German Tiger tank accellerated the development, but due to problems with the suspension, the new tank first saw action in September 1943. These early examples were armed with a 85mm gun, and the lessons learned during the Battle of Kursk clearly showed, that a bigger gun was needed for the IS: The 122mm D-25T was choosen and became the largest battle tank gun of WW2. Based on the M1931/37 (A-19) field gun, the D-25T has great firepower, but a low rate of fire because shell and charge have to be loaded independently. Despite this drawback, the combat performance of the now IS-2 called tank proved to be impressive. From January on, it replaced all other IS variants on the production lines.
Although it had a fixed DT machine gun at the right side of the hull, the IS-2 from BG42 does not have a bow machine gun to avoid weak zones in the massive cast frontal armor, which could withstand a German 88mm projectile even at point blank range. The tank retained two DT machine guns, one placed in the coaxial mount and one at the back of the turret for defense against enemy infantry.
The IS-2 is available on maps from early 1944 onwards.
Gallery[]
