Tank Chats #62 KV-1 | The Tank Museum 

KV-1 always looks small from pictures, I think it's the turret or something but when you see him next it you can see it is actually quite large.

David Fletcher is a treasure! This man can make a video about paint drying and I would still watch every second of it!

Only David Fletcher has the authority to refer to Joseph Stalin as Joe Stalin - only he has the facial folicular fortitude for such a right.

I didnt realize how big this tank is holy crap...

David fletcher could sell ice to the eskimos. . i'd listen to him talk about torsion bar suspension and drive sprockets 'til the cows come home.

I don't suppose he's popular with lip readers...

Dear "Tank Museum" as a russian i can understand how an english speaking can make a mistake. The "3a" its not a number of some division or brigade. "3" is a russian letter "Z" and it should be written "За Ленинград!" this means "For Leningrad!" Maybe sometimes its helpful to ask some russian tourists for help with translations or writings. Sory for my english.

The only thing they get wrong about Davids videos is, they're just too damn short

Poor KV-1, always overshadowed by the T-34. But it was a great tank in its own right.

"at least we hope its in Russian"

I never realised how enormous these things are! Impressive beast. It's funny how the T34 gun looks so puny on the KV compared to how it looked on the T34. Looks like a toothpick on the KV! Lol

''The KV1 is a very heavy tank ... that means it weighs a lot ...'' This is the sort of information u just can't get anywhere else ...

KV-1 is the most tanky looking tank. Period. That thing just screams tank.

Heavy is good - heavy is reliable; ...if it doesn't work, you can always hit 'em on the head with it!

He's back. He's the man behind the 'tache. And he's after your soul!

ah one of my favorites... "it is a a heavy tank even by Soviet standards" :) at 1:20 is that Roz in the background?

I wish my college professors were this good. I could listen to this man forever.

The torsion bar suspension in KV-1 tank.: in fact, according to the report of the military commission, the Torsion bar suspension was supposed to replace the Christie suspension on the the T34-76 medium tank after the winter tests of 1940, but the Russians did not have time to change the production technology of the t-34 tank, therefore the entire war the t-34 tank was with the Christie suspension (Russian engineers returned to the torsion bar suspension in the next generation of the T-44 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-44 )

The russian is right for the most part, except for the word order in the first sentence: "Ленинград! За" ("Leningrad! For) instead of "За Ленинград!" ("For Leningrad").

Any tank chat or history chat with this gentleman is awesome. He is very entertaining as well as full of the best stories connected to the topics.

3:25 - When there was no shortage of tankisti, the usual crew was made up of 5. The fifth crewman fired the rear facing, turret MG and relieved the driver or helped him to engage the gears!!!

David Fletcher is an absolute legend. Love listening to this man speak. My favorite historian.

"It is a heavy tank... and that means it weighs a good deal." You can tell he's the expert. 😉

Love the KV-1, Probably the first truly successful heavy tank of the war.

as far as early WW2 tanks go, it is impressive. The closest Western comparison of that time would be French Char B1

I love all of these, but i really love the David Fletcher ones the most. The mans brittishness and humor is my high point of the day.

It would be cool to see the interior of the tanks in the museum, even if they are incomplete! Its a part of the tank that the average person does not usually get to see!

Fun fact: commander in reality never was supposed to serve as a loader, but Birtish experts who were studying this tank in 1942 decided for some reason that commander is a loader and the third crew member, who was actually intended to be a loader, is a "second driver/mechanic and also the rear gunner" (that's how it was stated in report). How they even came to this conclusion is beyond my understanding.

Dear Tank Santa, All I want for Christmas is...

The KV-1 is a personal favorite of mine. It looks very menacing. And when you get the KV-2, you lose a city block.

seeing Mr. Fletcher next to the KV is reminding me to the first moment when I actually saw a tank, it was a Hungarian T72 and the first thing that came into my mind is: 'Jeez, that f*cking tank is huge'

Just saw the tank in the museum last weekend. Totally worth the visit and recommended!

I've made arrangements to go to Europe. First stop , the British Tank Museum !!! I visited the U.S. Army Training Grounds at Eastern Washington...great demonstrations and enjoyed that too. It's Europe next year , yea :) Thanks Tank Chats . Your services are wonderfully appreciated

That beast is huge !!!!

This guy is a legend. His humour, his moustache !! Could listen to him all day long with a pint of bitter with twigs and mud in it. Like real men !

I did not knew that the KV1 was such a massive tank... I thought it was a little smaller but that thing is just enormous

Get it while its hot!

Always made sense to me having the drive sprockets at the rear, that's how I'd design a tank, transmission close to the engine.

Thank you, Mr. Fletcher and also Bovington tank museum.

Zinovy Grigoryevich Kolobanov Commander of the KV-1 tank.His crew shot down 22 enemy tanks from ambush.They came out of the battle winners, like all his tank company.The company consisted of 5 tanks, the KV-1.A total of 43 German tanks were shot down.

I'm a simple man, I see David Fletcher, I upvote. David Fletcher needs to come out with merch.

I know nobody cares but I really enjoyed that.

I'm pretty impressed with their engines to be honest, the part they NEVER mention is the torque.. Wich I can tell you is the important number, and probably more than double the horse power rating I'd assume somewhere in the ball park of 1200 ft lbs at the fly wheel. But needless to say, pretty impressive considering it has a gear driven fuel pump and fuel distributor going to fuel injectors, cant tell from the quick look in the video but it seems like it has direct injection back in the 1930's .. Meaning once you set the timing on the fuel pump you forget it, and it will run forever. Wich I saw some Russians in a field pull an old V2 powered machine out after it was sitting for 40 years, changed the fuel filters and it started right up

Excellent video. Thanks for posting.

#TEAMFLETCHER

". ...he was a friend of Stalin's...for a while". Yeah, like most of Stalin's friends

You never realize how big these machines are until you stand next to one. It's mind blowing.

This guy needs his own tv show... he’s fantastic

Tank Santa is HERE!!!!!!!!

Reasons why the british don't used torsion bars: - too lightweight - too easy to build - less parts than spring based systems - no rivets needed - too beautiful so at all a too smart and intelligent design for british standards.

wonderful dissertation, magnificent paint scheme, perfect contrast seen down the lands and groves of a bore sighted pak 40.

When this tank first hit the battlefield, it was literally unstoppable. One crew drove into the middle of a German line and just sat there taking hits and wasnt taken out until foot troops threw grenades into it.

Thank you for the video. Slogan on the turret is on russian, but on bad russian (as my english are). It says "Leningrad! For"(Ленинград! За) insted of "For Leningrad!" (За Ленинград!). Everything else is correct.

I giggled with the "at least we hope it's Russian" and "Joe Stalin" 😂

Fun fact: David Fletcher's mustache can also be used to camouflage a tank in snow. 👍✌️

The difference between rear-wheel drive and front-wheel drive on a tank is enormous. In general, an entertaining review of the KV. The good KV-1 model in the Museum is probably one of the late 1942 modifications.

David Fletcher MBE: the Uncle we all wish Dad would start talking to again.

I am blessed. A sermon from gun Jesus on forgotten weapons then a lesson from tank Einstein. Can it be any more perfect?

Thanks!

I have been really enjoying the tank chats from all the people, producing these from the tank museum. Though for me, the KV1 is one of the most important tanks of WWII! Yes it was totally eclipsed by the T34, & the IS series that were developed from it! However considering the stories that could be told about it! I found this video very dissapointing & very short, considering it's deployment! Although nothing disparaging was said about it, I feel it deserved more! I will quickly add, that I remember the story about, when the Germans 1st met one of these on the battlefield... It deserved a bit more... Thank you in general though for a very appreciated series of video's

Oh boy, some recognition to Soviet tank designers.! :O Thumbs up

It was a great effort to put a Russian phrase on the tank, but it’s backwards. “Leningrad! For”

had no idea about the kv1 until i got the crap beat out of me in war thunder by them, absolute beasts in the field

I had a picture with this tank, very nice.

his mustache is aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawesome haha love it! :'D

May we please have more David Fletcher, please.

These tanks were built in Leningrad. During the siege, finished tanks drove out of the factory and straight to the frontline. Amazingly, even in the worst days of the siege where workers were subsisting off as little as 100 grams of bread a day, and people froze to death in their homes, Leningrad did not stop churning out KV-1s and other tanks for a single day.

I'm not even into this sort of thing, how on Earth did I just watch the entire video with ease? The man is a sorcerer, I swear!

The KV-1 is impressive for it's era it came out pre-war it was easily the most powerful tank out there at the time, but like most Russian vehicles there reliability was not the best, its said driver's had to regularly beat the shifter into place with something just to change gears but thanks to its solid gun and armor the Germans had a hard time with them especially Early on The Germans captured some KV-1 and turn them into KV-1B 756(r) which have the Panzer 4's long 75mm gun it's pretty much to what the Tiger was originally supposed to be a heavy tank with 75mm armor and a 75mm anti-tank gun, but we now know it was turned into even more of a monster before it saw combat

ЗА ЛЕНИНГРАД! Ленинградские Женщины - Фронту!!!

David Fletcher I can listen for hours.. definitely the go to guy in respect to tank history

I've been to this amazing museum twice and missed the KV1 both times! Guess I will have to go again.

Seriously? The Tank Museum couldn't hire a Russian student to spell check before painting wrong grammar on top of the tank? За Ленинград! Ленинградские женщины фронту! For Leningrad! The Women of Leningrad [provided this] to the Front!"

Slogan reads:"Leningrad! For"

I can not imagine who would ever dislike this content...

Beautiful paint job on the KV-1.

There is an error in inscription. It should be not Ленинград За but За Ленинград :))))

The KV1 had a very stiff transmission; so stiff that early tanks were issued with a rubber mallet to aid in shifting gears. Unfortunately, this did not work and most KV type tanks burned out their transmissions very quickly as they could not be gotten out of first gear. "The KV-1/KV-2 models of 1940-41 had very poor mobility due to inadequate transmissions and horsepower-weight, which greatly reduced their impact on the battlefield. Faulty clutches also made some KV tanks virtually unsteerable, which even occurred in front of Stalin during the parade in Moscow on November 7, 1941. KV transmissions tended to fail after as little as 800km (500mi) of road marching. Unlike the T-34 tank, which had its mobility well tested by Koshkin during road trials in 1940, the KV entered service after negligible testing and operators soon found out that it could move only short distances without breaking down. In combat, KVs typically advanced at speeds of only 3-4km/h (2-2.5mph), which made them large, slowmoving targets. Their top off-road speed was 16km/h (10mph) and their turning radius was poor. The KV did very poorly on marshy or soft ground, with many lost simply because they became stuck in the mud - no way for a superior weapon to perish. Simply put, the early KV models did not have adequate mobility to conduct their breakthrough role successfully. Retreats were also very hard on KVs, with many being lost or abandoned because of a plethora of mobility issues (such as difficulty in crossing bridges or handling hilly terrain). Eventually, the introduction of the KV-1S model in 1942 and further refinements gradually improved the KV’s mobility to the point where it could accomplish its breakthrough mission, although by then improved German Panzerjäger capabilities made that increasingly problematic. Kapitan Zinoviev K. Slyusarenko, commander of the 1st Battalion/19th Tank Regiment, noted that: “The enemy shells could not penetrate our armor, but damaged treads, knocked off turrets. KV tanks were powerful vehicles, but sorely lacking in speed and maneuverability.”

Thanks I had my first high caliber with KV-1 while grinding, now I've started to grind IS-3. But I still like the KV-1 and intend to hold onto mine.

Wonderfully explained

the commander was also the loader? what did the third man in the turret do then?

I didn't know that the Russians speak like Master Yoda. The British Tank Museum just taught me that with their KV-1 turret inscription.

I love this tank, absolutely one of my favourites. Nice channel, keep up the good work.

A few hints related a torsion bar suspension origin. This suspension was created as the result of secret military cooperation between russians and germans. Germany and USSR had a secret military agreement for cooperation in 30th and by doing this secret military cooperation USSR and Germany broke Treaty of Versailles. Treaty of Versailles was signed as the result of WWI and prohibited Germany to have tanks, military planes and etc. Anyway let's move closer to a torsion bar suspension, so a Leningrad(Saint Petersburg now) tank factory was a place where german and russian engineers secretly developed multiple tanks prototypes in 30th, a lot of russian-german prototypes were related to different types of suspensions, transmissions and engines integration, all these prototypes were secretly tested near a Kazan city by germans and russians, Kazan is deep inside Russia and it is about 750 km northern and eastern to Stalingrad(Volgogrard now). A Leningrad(Saint Petersburg now) tank factory is the place where KV-1 tanks were designed and produced and a very good torsion bar suspension is an obvious choice for KV-1 which was designed at this factory.

wow, 51 views and 51 likes. Good job guys, you deserve it!

The Chieftain’s Hatch need to do this tank next!!

Thank you

This was excellent. The KV is fascinating. Oh and your moustache is EPIC!

At least we hope it’s in Russian....

american tanker when see german tanks : TIGER!!!!!!!!! american tanker when sees italian tank : Shoots* american tanker when sees russian tanks : **CONFUSED SCREAMING**

Tanks a lot!

I think of all the men (and women) that bravely was fighting in ww2, my father was one of them, he often told me about disabling tanks by throwing Molotovs under the tracks, a scary job, they had to crawl pretty near to get a good hit, Levi from Finland

The Russian texts say "help I've been kidnapped!"

“Leningrad! For” is written in Russian. Doesn’t look like a correct words order :) Bottom line is a pretty correct “Leningrad women to the frontline”

Brilliant! I would like to hear more about how the kv1 compared, and was used, with the T34 please.

Here is what the Hitchhiker's Guide has to say about the KV-1. "The KV-1 is big, really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way to the back of a PzIII but that's just peanuts to the KV-1. Listen..." (apologies to, well, just about everyone) But yeah, seen this baby in the flesh. It dominates that part of the hall. Big. Absolutely loved that vehicle.

When you guys suppose you'll get an up-and-working KV6?

Damit its a giant

Thank you very much for all the wonderful info!

Thanks a lot, good Sir.