tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030145265861917845.post8711831751454238060..comments2024-03-28T14:35:30.147-04:00Comments on Tank Archives: Long Living ISPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09622237223229485503noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030145265861917845.post-84834103413688653062021-09-22T11:03:30.953-04:002021-09-22T11:03:30.953-04:00There were also issues with cracks on turrets to t...<i> There were also issues with cracks on turrets to the point where factory #200 produced new turrets for repair factories to install. </i><br /><br />Wikipedia has the IS-2's armor being high-hardness and often brittle. The article quotes David Higgin's book "King Tiger vs IS-2: Operation Solstice" which is filled with many other factual errors (provable things like incorrect armor thicknesses, etc).<br /><br />I remember a Quora thread which (I think) had Higgins reply pointed to an often-reposted photo of an IS-2 model 1943 that had suffered an internal explosion and the upper glacis (120 mm @ 30 degrees) had a chunk of said plate missing as evidence for the brittle armor:<br /><br />https://i.redd.it/8y4y68tc44z31.jpg<br /><br />However, I think instead if you look the lower plate has a penetration. That makes more sense, as that would have set the fuel tanks on fire and caused the tank to burn-out and suffer an internal ammo explosion. Then the missing chunk from the upper plate is the result of the explosion and is not the penetration.<br /><br />The reason I say this, is that I've seen a number of KO'ed IS-2s, most don't show any obvious cracking or shattering of the armor plate, even after suffering numerous hits. This one may have some cracking due to an edge effect hit near the gun point, but most are just round pock-marks.<br /><br />https://www.worldwarphotos.info/wp-content/gallery/ussr/tanks/is-2/destroyed_IS-2.jpg<br /><br />So, given the dearth of IS-2s that ended up in Western hands, I can't see how authors like Higgins down-rate the armor quality, in particular, because Western tests of the T-34 and T-34/85 showed Soviet armor quality to be at least as good, if not better, than their own domestic steel.<br />Stewart Millenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01261690405884935161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030145265861917845.post-44801358566156392152021-09-21T00:52:53.842-04:002021-09-21T00:52:53.842-04:00I was lucky enough to be at the exchange of the IS...I was lucky enough to be at the exchange of the IS-2M for a Conqueror in 1988.<br />The tank appeared to be from war reserve stock, if it had ammunition and crew it would have been ready for action.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01219216372136826332noreply@blogger.com