I must admit, I'm sceptical.
1. For one thing, I've seen this story tell of a KV-1 and of a KV-2. Which one was it?
2. How much ammunition does a KV hold? I've got a couple different numbers from different sources, but most say around 110 rounds for a KV-1, and the KV-2 carried far less ammo. That's more than enough to put up a good fight, but to hold out for days?
3. This took place at the beginning of the war, when the Germans had air superiority. If it was blocking such a critical road intersection, why didn't the Germans have it bombed? They had days to do so. I could believe that they tried to bomb it and failed, but the fact that bombing isn't even mentioned strikes me as strange.
4. The same goes for heavy caliber indirect fire artillery. Hit it with 150mm+ for a while, and you'll certainly at least give the crew concussions...?
5. Tanks are relatively blind, especially at night. Why didn't the Germans try sending in engineers with demolition charges at night?
I'm not going to say it is a fairy tale, but there are a number of reasons why I am suspicious...
[ May 01, 2004, 12:45 PM: Message edited by: Cessna ]