The trailer summoned by Karamov's radio call arrived quickly, but this trailer was not a common large wheeled truck, it was actually a little special.
The turret was removed, leaving only the chassis. A crane moved from a wheeled crane was attached to the original turret seat ring. In order to ensure a good operating view, the crane's operating room was also specially changed to
It is open-air and placed directly above the car body on one side of the crane and outside the car.
In addition to this rotatable and telescopic crane with a huge boom, a large number of external storage boxes and grilles are also welded in the free area directly above the chassis of the car body, and a large number of maintenance items are scattered here and there.
Tools, towing cables, etc., and even a set of special tools for disassembling the road wheels are pinned to the skirt on the side of the vehicle body: a thick steel crowbar and an oversized wrench.
That's right, this is a "Stalin recovery vehicle" that has removed the original turret and modified it using the is2 heavy tank body and chassis. Its main purpose is to repair and tow the Red Army's heavy tanks on the battlefield.
Once the is6 heavy tank, which is indestructible and invincible on the frontal battlefield, is damaged and breaks down, how to get it back and repair it is a very troublesome problem.
If you use an ordinary T43 medium tank to pull it, you won't be able to pull this wide and fat behemoth at all.
The only way is to find an equally powerful is6 that can barely drag it. It is as slow as an old man crossing the road, which seriously affects the efficiency of emergency repairs.
Karamov mentioned the matter in a written report to Malashenko, explaining the difficulties and details encountered in reality, and soon received a formal reply from the division commander.
"Pull out the IS2s that were previously eliminated and kept them as spares, and modify them. Remove the turrets and make them special emergency repair trailers. If they are left behind in your logistics, they will gather dust and rust, or they will be given to the brother troops and become other people's possessions.
.Instead of doing this, it is better for us to recycle the waste and modify it ourselves. Anyway, there is a practical demand. It should be good to use it as a trailer after removing the turret to reduce the weight. Let’s give it a try.”
The valuable IS2 heavy tank that other fraternal forces were eager to get rid of was turned into a "waste utilization" transformation experiment here by Malashenko.
But Karamov doesn't care how valuable these things are in the eyes of other brother troops, anyway, they are already here to the extent that no one cares about them.
I followed the logistics support troops all day long to carry supplies outside the vehicle and use them as mules and horses to run around. Even the ammunition racks in the vehicle were emptied to store more things. Maybe it was really not that easy to use and there wasn’t much in it, but
This is really the only logistical use of these big guys.
Then again, these retired IS2 heavy tanks are said to be temporarily kept by the logistics support troops, and will be requisitioned at any time when the combat troops have equipment gaps.
But anyone with a discerning eye can see clearly that as far as the equipment guarantee rate of Stalin's First Guards Tank Division is concerned, the is6 heavy tank is sufficient for all kinds of management. If necessary, call your superiors at any time to apply for rapid deployment. Even those tanks that are smaller than the is6
We also need to update the T43 medium tanks, but now they are all in full supply.
Given this situation, it is estimated that it will not be the turn of these IS2s to be deployed on the battlefield again in the next life, at least not in Stalin's 1st Guards Tank Division.
Therefore, it is inappropriate to use these is2s as mules and horses in logistics, and the suggestions given by Malashenko really made Karamov's eyes shine and brought a lot of inspiration.
The relevant transformation work was immediately started within Stalin's 1st Guards Tank Division. Strictly speaking, this field modification project did not even have a serious project chief engineer, let alone a professional military industry team. It was purely Karamov.
With the soldiers under his command, he rolled up his sleeves and fiddled around to get the result.
Precisely because it was a self-modification using spare time, there was no unified modification template and project plan. From the beginning to the end, I had to fumble by myself, relying on the skills and experience of a group of old tank repairmen.
Unified standard equipment.
Therefore, almost all of the 13 Stalin recovery vehicles are different, especially in details and appearance.
The summed up experience gained during the modification process of the previous car will be applied to the next one. At the same time, based on the final modification results of the next car, the previously modified previous car will be reworked and perfected for a second modification.
It's not that troublesome at all. The entire regiment has 1,800 skilled mechanics who know how to repair cars and ordinary repairmen. It's more than enough to work on these 13 vehicles. Plus the First Tank of Stalin's Guards
The division is proud of itself. Not only combat equipment, but also all kinds of logistics, maintenance and support equipment are supplied in sufficient quantities, with complete types and various styles.
A large number of skilled and experienced front-line old tank repairmen, coupled with an excess material and equipment supply support base.
With such sufficient and excellent conditions, if Karamov can't even get the job of modifying these 13 vehicles, he will really be ashamed of his several years of professional training in tank repair technology at the Kirov Factory. Such a job
For Karamov, the child was simply a piece of cake.
Looking at the headless is2 heavy tank in front of me, the maintenance crew fixed the tow cable. After a burst of black smoke erupted from the engine exhaust port, the is6 heavy tank began to move slowly.
Although this speed is still not much faster, compared with the ridiculously slow speed of is6 dragging is6 before, it is already much better.
The is2 heavy tank with the turret removed has greatly reduced its weight. Even if it is attached with a crane head, the power-to-weight ratio is still high enough, and there is still plenty of power. It is really not a big deal to tow an is6 forward at low speed.
Something that takes too much effort.
"This thing looks very useful, but haven't you thought about writing a report to your superiors to recommend mass production? If every army can be equipped with this thing, I bet that the combat effectiveness of the front-line troops can at least be improved.
Half, if the quantity is sufficient, it is not impossible to double the combat effectiveness. The efficiency of repairing damaged tanks is too important."
Kulbalov, who was not sure of the specific situation, expressed his true thoughts, but Karamov beside him slowly shook his head.
"I have had this thought before, because our division's field modifications are quite effective. If we let the rear military industry people do the modifications, it will definitely be better and more professional. I also made special suggestions to the division commander, just like you just said
That’s what it said.”
"How do you think Comrade Commander answered me?"
"Comrade Division Commander said, you are the only one who dares to think of such a wild thing. If you can think of something, wouldn't the people in the rear military industry think of it? It's not that I don't want to change it. I have already mentioned similar things to Ke Jing.
However, the answer is that the current production plan and mission indicators simply do not allow precious heavy tank chassis to be used to modify this thing."
"There are a lot of equipment gaps in the combat units on the front line that need to be filled. Not to mention the cutting-edge is6, many heavy tank units are not even able to make do with the is2."
"Only our division in the entire Red Army can do the modification and repair of IS2 chassis, regardless of the actual conditions or objective circumstances. This is a special case that cannot be replicated, let alone reported to superiors for mass production.
.If the newspaper really spreads, you might even get scolded, and someone will say that you are wasting the resources of the motherland. Do you believe it?"