Indestructible

The battle scenes among the tanks kept me watching indeed. Perhaps because of the quality of the sound of my DVD and the lack of soundtracks found in some other films, this film did seem more mediocre o me - although the tank scenes were good and some parts still enticed me to see what would happen next. Not a bad film - but less impressive than many other Russian war films indeed. Definitely, far from the movie "T-34"

Unless you have a thing for Soviet armor, I would say that you should give this movie a miss. It's supposed to be about the second battle of Rostov in July 1942, but it looks like it's been shot in the same muddy field in northern Russia. The makers might have heard about tactics, but if they have, they have promptly forgotten almost everything. Tank vs tank combat is often within spitting distance, and the Germans appear to be dropouts from the Imperial Stormtrooper Academy of Shooting. Meanwhile, the Soviets hit with almost every round, and every hit is a penetrating killshot. The German tanks must have cardboard armor, though, as in one scene, a tank is knocked out by two hand grenades tossed at it. While the "star" is a KV-1 tank (a rare bird in war movies), most other tanks are T-34/85, which weren't used until a year and a half later. All German tanks are supposed to be PzKpfw IV ausf. F2, but that tank was quite rare by that time. It's more likely that the real battle involved short-barreled PzKpfw IV's and IIIs with the 5 cm gun. The German tanks all sport side armor skirts (Schürzen), which were introduced in early 1943. They are probably there to hide the fact that the tanks are converted T-55s. The Soviets are a motley crew of comrades, and only the political commissar is a bit slimy. The acting is OK, but a few actors stand out as pretty wooden. There's never really any real suspense, as the tank crew (while suffering losses) manage to defeat almost every German tank, even when the enemy assault with an entire company. The script has a love story of sorts, which appears to be there just to make girlfriends endure this rather mediocre 90-minute movie.

And, on top of that, VERY bad CGI: tanks always explode in flames. Also, Tigers in Russia? Come on...

Excellent Russian WW2 movie great battle scenes good action and acting. Very good plot. I actually read up on real story and main Russian character and it was very accurate. If you like WW2 movies you'll love this one.

Accuracy 10

The KV-1 was a Heavy Tank and had the same problems as the German Panzer 6 aka Tiger Tank Heavy Tank. Especially, getting stuck in Russia's mud, due to limited improved roads. The U.S. Caterpillar tractor transmission design as the KV-1 transmission was prone to failure. The few Panzer 6s aka Tiger Tanks were sent to the Western Front, not the Eastern Front.

The majority of the German tanks sent to Russia were Panzer III and Panzer IV Medium tanks with guns not capable of penetrating the KV-1 Heavy tank amour. Depicted are Panzer IV Medium Tanks with bolted on additional turret armour.

To defeat the heavy (thick) armour of the KV-1 the Germans created the Sturmgeschütz with the 75 mm Pak 40,

The few Panzer V aka Panther Medium Tank had a gun capable of penetrating the KV-1 tank amour. But because of the Low Ground clearance ended up stuck in Russia's mud, unlike the High Ground clearance of the T-34.

During the Battle of Stalingrad, the workers at the Russian Tank Factories were producing as many tanks as their lives depended on that. Many Men and Women ended up as Tank Crews. All the Russian Factories sent out Repair Teams of Men and Women to Field Units.

The T-34 with an 85mm gun was made starting 1944.