IS-2 mod. 1944
This page is about the IS-2 mod. 1944 heavy tank with a redesigned front armour, if you are looking for the original variant, see IS-2
Contents
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General info
The IS-2 mod. 1944 is a Rank IV Soviet heavy tank with a battle rating of 6.3. It was introduced during the closed beta testing for Ground Forces before Update 1.41. Aside from the improvement over the original IS-2 with a stronger front sloped armour, the mod. 1944 is largely unchanged from its base version.
The main purpose, usage and tactics recommendations
General play style
Due to the reasonable frontal armour, powerful gun and decent reverse speed, the IS-2 mod. 1944 should be played as a brawling heavy tank, avoiding long-range engagements, and being careful of flankers and fast vehicles that can take advantage of the high reload time of the 122mm gun. It's best to try to find an area in which you can control where and how you engage enemies, as well as some form of cover to take advantage of with the vehicle's reverse speed. On longer-range maps, it's better to try to move up under cover of foliage and hills and avoid engaging at extreme ranges, as the weapon's long-range characteristics are sub-par. For example, on Maginot Line (Domination), a good tactic is to push up and hold either B or C from within the town, taking advantage of the closer-range engagements, as opposed to point A, which is significantly more exposed.
Vehicle characteristics
The IS-2 (mod 1944) is no more than a modification of the standard IS-2. The majority of the changes are to the vehicle's armour, with it recieving a thicker and more sloped upper front plate. Unfortunately, however, the sides of the vehicle are still relatively weak, so angling is not a viable tactic. The IS-2 mod. 1944 is relatively light for a heavy tank, but thanks to its less-than-average engine output, it suffers some serious issues with hull traverse and acceleration. Engine upgrade mods will ease these issues, but not solve them completely. On the positive side, once the vehicle gets up to speed it can move at a respectable 45km/h. The D-25T cannon retains the great characteristics of the original IS-2, albeit of course being prone to the same issues, due to the turret's weak mantlet and the long reload times.
Tactics
As mentioned prior, it's best to play the IS-2 mod. 1944 as a close-range brawler, avoiding opening up the sides and back of the vehicle to shots, and making the most of the weapon's short range killing power. When fighting other heavy tanks, such as Tiger IIs, Caenarvons, T29/T34s, keep in mind that they tend to have better armour than you - take your time aiming for weak spots, as failing to disable them on the first attempt allows them to push up and take you out with ease.
Specific enemies worth noting
The Tiger II (Both Porsche and Henschel models) is a formidable opponent, as the KwK 43 cannon can make quick work of the IS-2 mod. 1944 - able to penetrate in a multitude of places. Try to get a good shot on one of the turret cheeks - usually a shot near the centre of the cheek on both types of turret will penetrate and more often than not, will kill the entire crew once it penetrates.
American T29 and T34 tanks often bounce shots from the IS-2 that you wouldn't expect them to - try to get a shot through the turret ring; if successful, the shot will usually destroy the vehicle immediately.
Additionally, light tanks such as the M41A1 and Ru 251 are more than capable of flanking quickly and getting shots on your weak sides and back before you can react. Always be aware of your surroundings, and keep in mind where enemy light tanks could be coming from.
Counter-tactics
The IS-2 mod. 1944, as with the original IS-2, is quite prone to shots to the mantlet. While it's not a particularly large target, taking the time to disable the gunner and potentially the breech is often more than enough to give you time to finish off the vehicle. Keep in mind that this model has a heavy machine gun, which can deal with some lighter vehicles. As with previous Russian heavy tanks, hull and turret traverse speeds are sub-par, but it does have a very respectable reverse speed which can help it stay out of trouble.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Eliminates the driver's port weak spot from the previous IS-2 model.
- 122mm shells usually completely destroy a vehicle if they penetrate.
- Lower glacis is covered with tracks.
- Sports a spindle-mounted HMG, good for dealing with pesky aircraft and light vehicles.
- Relatively good top speed for a heavy tank.
- Extremely good reverse speed.
- Add-on armour mesh screens on turret can provide protection from HEAT shells in hull-down.
Cons:
- Long reload time, dead loader impacts reload time significantly.
- Very vulnerable between reloads, good enemies will just charge you when they know that you're reloading.
- Accuracy is bad at long range.
- Angling the hull exposes the curved cheek armour.
- Lower glacis remains a juicy weak spot, penetration there will have a chance of detonating the fuel tanks.
- Bad gun depression, like all Russian tanks.
- Loses a lot of speed when turning.
- Abysmal hull traverse rate from standstill.
- Bad turret traverse rate.
- Penetration through the front hull and turret is usually catastrophic.
- Always has ammo in the rear of the turret.
Specifications
Armaments
1 x 122 mm D-25T cannon (28 Rounds)
1 x 12.7 mm DShK machine gun (250 Rounds)
1 x 7.62 mm DT machine gun (1,890 Rounds)
Main armament
- Ammunition Capacity: 28 Shells
- Gun Depression: -3°
- Gun Elevation: 20°
- Turret Rotation Speed: 8.3°/s (Stock), __._°/s (Upgraded), __._°/s (Prior + Full Crew), __._°/s (Prior + Expert Qualif.), __._°/s (Prior + Ace Qualif.)
- Rate of Fire: 27.1s (Stock), __._s (Full Crew), __._s (Prior + Expert Qualif.), __._s (Prior + Ace Qualif.)
Ammunition
| Ammunition | Penetration in mm @ 90° | Type of warhead |
Velocity in m/s |
Projectile Mass in kg |
Fuse delay in m: |
Fuse sensitivity in mm: |
Explosive Mass in TNT equivalent in g: |
Normalization At 30° from horizontal: |
Ricochet: | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10m | 100m | 500m | 1000m | 1500m | 2000m | 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||
| BR-471 | 200 | 196 | 179 | 158 | 141 | 125 | APHE | 795 | 25 | 1.2 | 15 | 272 | -1° | 43° | 30° | 25° |
| BR-471B | 207 | 201 | 183 | 162 | 144 | 129 | APHEBC | 800 | 25 | 1.2 | 15 | 272 | +4° | 42° | 27° | 19° |
| OF-471 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | HE | 800 | 25 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 3,600 | +0° | 11° | 10° | 9° |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
Ammo Part |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
Recommendations | Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | Projectiles Propellants |
19 (+9) 18 (+10) |
14 (+14) 13 (+15) |
9 (+19) 9 (+19) |
6 (+22) 6 (+22) |
3 (+25) 1 (+27) |
1 (+27) 1 (+27) |
Center ammo removed: 18 (+10) | no |
Secondary armaments
1 x 12.7 mm DShK machine gun (pintle-mount)
1 x 7.62 mm DT machine gun (coaxial)
Crew
- Commander
- Gunner
- Loader
- Driver
Total: 4 Crew members
Armour
Armour type:
- Cast homogeneous armour (Turret, Hull front, Hull side)
- Rolled homogeneous armour (Hull roof, Engine deck side & rear, Turret roof, Gun mantlet)
| Armour | Front | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 120 mm (60-61°) Front glacis 100 mm (29°) Lower glacis 120 mm (25-70°) Driver's port |
90 - 130 mm (9-25°) Top 90 mm Bottom |
60 mm (49-50°) Top 60 mm (38°) Bottom |
30 mm |
| Turret | 100 mm (7-72°) Turret front 100 mm (5-60°) Gun mantlet |
100 mm (12-22°) | 100 mm (5-35°) | 30 mm |
| Armour | Sides | Roof | ||
| Cupola | 90 mm | 30 mm |
Notes:
- Suspension wheels are 20 mm thick while tracks are 30 mm thick.
- The side hull is stronger towards the front of the tank, with armour ranging 115 mm to 130 mm, while towards the rear is only 90 mm thick.
- A 200 mm thick ring surrounds round the cannon barrel on the gun mantlet.
- A 60 mm turret ring plate is present.
Engine & mobility
Max Speed: 45 km/h
Stock
- Engine Power: 671 hp @ 2000 rpm
- Power-to-Weight Ratio: 14.59 hp/ton
- Maximum Inclination: 38°
Upgraded
- Engine Power: 827 hp @ 2000 rpm
- Power-to-Weight Ratio: 17.98 hp/ton
- Maximum Inclination: 43°
Modules and improvements
It should be quite simple at this stage. First the parts then the FPE, anything else should come next.
History of creation and combat usage
Development
Effort began on another heavy tank after the IS-1's 85 mm gun no longer had a firepower advantage after the standard T-34 medium tank was upgraded with the same gun into the T-34-85. Due to that, the IS-1 was discontinued in January 1944 with about 107 units produced.[1] Those in storage still awaited upgrade to become a more powerful heavy tank.
In late 1943, the upgrade of the IS tank began and the choices available were rounded down to two weapons, the 122 mm A-19 gun and the 100 mm D-10 gun. Both guns had their advantages and disadvantages in their specifications, the 100 mm D-10 had a much better armour penetration capabilities and uses a single-piece ammunition, the 122 mm A-19 has a better high-explosive round and used a two-piece ammunition In the end, the 122 mm A-19 (adopted as the D-25T) gun was chosen as the gun of the new IS tank due to larger supply of the gun available for use (the D-10 was a newly produced gun) and the better high-explosive round available. The better high-explosive round is due to the heavy tank's specification as a "breakthrough" tank than a anti-tank role, so it was meant to fight fortifications more than against armour. Nevertheless, against armour, the 122 mm gun proved a very lethal cannon against armour, having the capacity to knock out any German tanks fielded in the war, even the Tiger II, though the ease of knocking them out vary from their armour protection.
The 122 mm gun's two-piece ammunition was perhaps the gun's worst drawback, this along with the heavy shells and charges that it uses causes reloading speed to only be one and a half rounds per minute maximum. Even after some modernization to the gun including a semi-automatic breech, the firing rate only increased to two to three rounds per minute. Another drawback of the gun was the size of the ammunition that the 122 mm gun uses, the IS tank interior could only hold 28 of such ammunition, which restricts the time the IS could last in battle before requiring a resupply. In battle, the usual distribution of the shells is 20 high-explosive and 8 armour-piercing rounds.
The finished IS tank with the 122 mm gun, first called the IS-122, was finally approved and renamed the IS-2 heavy tank, some were rearmed IS-1s from the factory with the 122 mm gun. The IS-2 tank, like the IS-1, was superior to the previous KV-1 tanks used in the Red Army. Production of the IS-2 started in October or November 1943 and by the end of World War II when production ended, a total of 3,854 units were produced.
Design
The IS-2 tank hull was similar to the IS-1 tank, but the turret was modified to accommodate the larger 122 mm D-25T gun. The suspension was a torsion-bar suspension system and the tank was powered by a diesel V2-IC engine. The drivetrain and the engine were taken from the KV-1 tank, yet was considerably more mobile. The armour on the IS-2 was a 120 mm thick front plate sloped at 60 degrees with a small step in the front for the driver's hatch. This "early version", developed from the KV-13 design, was produced from the initial production lines until some time in late 1944, where a IS-2 mod. 1944 version was modified with the front plate now a single sloped 120 mm plate at 60 degrees with no interruptions in order to eliminate shot traps and weaknesses in the armour design. Other design changes when the IS-2 was upgraded to the 1944 model was a stronger gun mount, wider mantlet, and an addition of a Dshk machine gun on the turret. The formidable armour of the IS-2 is able to withstand the 88 mm shells from the Tiger I at 1,000 meters out, yet the whole tank weighs less than the Panther at only 46 tons. Despite its construction, the IS-2 was still quite crude in quality and can have signs of being hastily built from the factories. This did not affect its battlefield performance greatly and the crude construction is merely a side effect of the fast production of the tanks to fill battlefield demands.
Combat usage
The IS-2 first saw action in early 1944. The IS-2 was organized in heavy tank regiments, each with 21 tanks. Their role was to spearhead the offensives launched at each sector, breaking through enemy emplacements and supporting the infantry by destroying enemy fortifications, they were not meant to exploit breakthroughs and this role was given to the lighter T-34 tanks. Their first reported action was in April 1944 in the 11th Special Guards Heavy Tank Regiment near Tarnopol, Ukraine. The IS-2 presented such a surprise to the Germans as no Soviet tanks before could engage with accurate fire from more than 3 kilometers away. A bigger shock was when they found out the 88 mm of the Tiger I couldn't adequately penetrate their armour. The IS-2 initial combat experience was limited due to the inexperienced crew and organization, but more and more IS-2 started to come in to reinforce the Soviet forces.[1]
The IS-2's next great effort was in Operation Bagration in July 1944. By this time period, the heavy tank regiments were allocated to one for each tank corps. During Operation Bagration, the IS-2 combat effort contributed to the decimation of German Army Group Center. The IS-2 was able to deal with the troublesome German Panther and Tiger I tanks with ease. By December 1944, enough IS-2 was produced that the Soviets began outfitting them to Guards heavy tank brigades, consisting of 65 IS-2 tanks with other vehicles for support. Though the number of these brigades were still limited, they proved valuable in breaking through German lines, as used in January 1945 against the German in the Oder Offensive. It should be noted that despite having a role similar to the Tiger heavy tank battalions in the German service, they are produced in far greater numbers to enforce every tank corp with one heavy tank regiment that allowed even the IS-2 to overwhelm German defenses. The IS-2 continued to see combat service for the Red Army all the way to the Battle of Berlin and the end of World War II.[1] T
After World War II, the IS-2 production was replaced by the more heavily armoured IS-3, but the IS-2 stayed in service up until 1982 due to modernization efforts on the IS-2. These modernized IS-2 were named the IS-2M and were done in the mid-1950s. These modernization efforts added external fuel tanks and stowage bins onto the hull, and protective skirts on the edges of the tracks. The IS-2 were finally placed into storage in 1990s and were kept in reserves or sold out as scrap metal.
Like most of Soviet Union's military hardware, the IS-2 was given out to the Warsaw Pact nations as supplies. The IS-2 was thus lent out to Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, China, North Vietnam, and maybe North Korea. Later in 1960, a shipment of IS-2 was also sent to Cuba, these were converted into bunkers and coastal defenses as spare parts for the tank never made it to Cuba due to the US blockade imposed in 1962.
Ingame description
Screenshots and fan art
Skins and camouflages for the IS-2 (mod.1944) from live.warthunder.com. They are filed under the terms #is_2_1944 and #is2_44.
Additional information (links)
Official War Thunder forum article: [Vehicle Profile] IS-2 Mod. 1944
References
- ↑ Jump up to: 1.0 1.1 1.2 Zaloga, Steven J. IS-2 Heavy Tank 1944-73 Great Britain: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 1994
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[expand] Soviet Tanks [expand]
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 IS-2 mod. 1944
|
| Nation | USSR |
| Type | Heavy tank |
| Rank | 4 |
| Battle Rating | 6.3
|
Metric✓ Imperial
| Characteristics | |
| Weight | 46,000 kg
|
| Number of Crew | 4 |
| Hull armour thickness | 120/90/60/30 mm
|
| Statistics | |
| Engine power (stock) | 671 hp
|
| Engine power (upgraded) | 827 hp
|
| HP/ton ratio (stock) | 14.59 |
| HP/ton ratio (Upgraded) | 17.98 |
| Max speed | 45 km/h |
| Main Weapon | |
| 1 x 122 mm D-25T | Cannon |
| Ammo stowage | 28 rounds |
| Vertical guidance | -3°/20° |
| Secondary Weapon | |
| 1 x DShK | Heavy machine gun |
| Ammo stowage | 250 rounds |
| Mount | Pintle mount |
| Vertical guidance | -10°/60° |
| 1 x DT | Machine gun |
| Ammo stowage | 1,890 rounds |
| Mount | Coaxial |
| Economy | |
| Required RP | 78,000 RP |
| Vehicle cost | 230,000 SL |
| Crew training cost | 65,000 SL |
| Max repair cost* | 3,960 SL
|
| Free repair time (Stock) | 4d 12h
|
| Free repair time (Upgraded) | 1d 12h
|
