IS-2

The IS-2 is a Soviet heavy tank, the second model of the IS series, whose designation IS is a direct transliteration of the initials of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, after whom the series is named, and it entered service in 1944, remaining in some form of operational use into the 1970s. Weighing 46 tonnes and armed with a powerful 122mm D-25T gun, with armor up to 120mm thick, the IS-2 was designed as a breakthrough tank, issued to elite Guards Heavy Tank Regiments and used to spearhead assaults against fortified German positions during the final years of the war on the Eastern Front. It proved able to defeat the heaviest German tanks of the period, including the Tiger and the Elefant tank destroyer, and Soviet accounts credit IS-2 units with destroying dozens of such vehicles for comparatively few losses of their own during the drive into Germany.