[chascbv]

Pictures of two new KV-2s have been published in the Hobby Master Collector site. At last we'll get an excellent KV-2 in plain green with no slogans (as virtually all KV-2s were in real life)!! If only some weathering could be added...

The second KV-2 again has a slogan, which reads "For Mat' Rossia". I've never seen such a slogan on a KV-2, in fact I've never seen such a slogan on any vehicle, and - worst of all - it doesn't even look like true Russian to me! Where did HM take this slogan from? Is this "For Mother Russia" slogan written in some Russian dialect (with an English "For") unknown to me?

Please Berkut76, we need your help here!

[Berkut76]

Originally Posted by chascbv

It doesn't even look like true Russian to me! Where did HM take this slogan from? Is this "For Mother Russia" slogan written in some Russian dialect (with an English "For") unknown to me?

Please Berkut76, we need your help here!

You are correct, this is a complete garbage. It's misspelled, there is no word "For" in Russian language, and I highly doubt that the slogan "For Mother Russia" would have been present on the Soviet armor or aircraft during WWII. Hawk, did the head honchos at HM overdose on Zaloga books from the early 1980s again?

The plain green looks good, though

Regards,

Sergey

[hawkonevoodoo]

Originally Posted by Berkut76

You are correct, this is a complete garbage. It's misspelled, there is no word "For" in Russian language, and I highly doubt that the slogan "For Mother Russia" would have been present on the Soviet armor or aircraft during WWII. Hawk, did the head honchos at HM overdose on Zaloga books from the early 1980s again?

The plain green looks good, though

Regards,

Sergey

Forwarded to Hobby Master.

[mbv]

I think I can happily let the plain green one pass me by as it has no weathering and the other one is just too inaccurate with regard to the slogan.

I bought the original Za Stalina KV-2 because at the time I was just desperate to have a good KV-2 in my collection and love the look of that monster. Since then I have bought the winter whitewash camo KV-2 and I think this is my favourite, certainly beats the plain green one as it has a 'weathered' appearance.

I have seen a lot made of the fact that there are no historic KV-2 photos which show a slogan on the side. While this may be so I do wonder why this is the case as the contemporary KV-1 has plenty of photographic evidence for slogans - even the Za Stalina slogan! Anyone know exactly why the KV-2's were never given slogans ?

[Berkut76]

Originally Posted by mbv

IWhile this may be so I do wonder why this is the case as the contemporary KV-1 has plenty of photographic evidence for slogans - even the Za Stalina slogan! Anyone know exactly why the KV-2's were never given slogans ?

Practically all KV-2s were lost in the opening days(!) of Barbarossa way before putting various slogans became the "it" thing to do for the Soviets.

Regards,

Sergey

[mbv]

Just been reading up on them in the new Tankograd volume by Jochen Vollert. It looks like all the early model 1939 U-series (U-1 - U-4) KV-2's were lost by late August 1941. With type production of the model 1940 being stopped in October 1941 this tanks life on the battlefield was truly limited. Some apparently survived to 1942, but there is no mention of how many in Russian records as they tended not to differentiate between the KV's when recording survivors from various actions. It looks like the vast majority had been lost by Autumn 1941. As you say, there was no opportunity for a tradition of slogan painting to evolve on the KV-2's due to their short time in action.

Of the 334 KV-2's only one has survived through to today at Kubinka, now loaned to the Armed Forces Museum in Moscow. Interesting that practically nothing is known of the wartime layout inside these tanks. The survivor cannot be accessed as the hatches are welded shut!