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KV-8 (Klimenti Voroshilov)

1942 WORLD WAR 2

History

Like the other major armies of World War II (1939-1945), the Soviets developed one of their existing main battle tank systems into a self-propelled flamethrower platform. This came in the form of the KV-1 heavy tank series (described in detail elsewhere on this page), which was modified to "KV-8" in 1942. The tank is largely faithful to the original KV-1 design in form and function, but has an ATO-41 series flamethrower mounted next to the coaxial machine gun port (7.62mm BT).

As this new layout reduced the interior space of the already cramped turret, the original 76.2mm main gun was replaced by a smaller 45mm Type 1932 series anti-tank gun.

To fool the Germans, the 45mm barrel was sleeved with the 76mm barrel, which allowed the KV-8 to retain the look of the real KV-1.

There is still a crew of five agents inside. The vehicle weighs 52.3 tons, is 6.79 meters long, 3.32 meters wide and 3.65 meters high. Power comes from a single V-2K V12 diesel engine, which produces 600 horsepower, enables a travel speed of 35 km/h, and has a range of up to 160 km.

About 42 KV-8 vehicles were produced. 25 came in the form of the KV-8S, based on the production KV-1S model (an upgraded version of the KV-1 with an improved turret, improved transmission and better performance).

These also carried the ATO-42 series of flamethrowers, an improved version of the earlier ATO-41. The KV-8M is a modification of the KV-8S model, designed to carry dual flamethrowers. Only two prototypes of this form were built, and the design was not brought into service.