How bad was the IS-2? My answer: it was reliable Spooks answer: it was reliable My reaction: a suprise to be sure but a welcome one

"If it managed to score a hit, chances were it didn't need another." That is a great quote

It's such an underrated tank tbh, for roughly the same weight as the panther you get a bigger gun, thicker armor, and decent mobility. Great content as always, The Chieftain and Sofilein actually did a good video on this tank as well 😊

This is a godsend. There isn’t a ton of talk of the IS-2 out there so this was needed imo

You make very good content, more educational than most history channels while still focusing on games and other stuff.

Most underrated thing about the IS2 is the independent gunners periscope which is a vast improvement over basically any German tank

The IS-2 is my favorite tank of all time. I don't think it would be wrong to call it the best heavy tank of the war (from most tank experts and historians I've heard, Churchill is an Infantry tank, not a heavy). Reliable, well liked, and was used until the 50's. Also, dear god it's beautiful.

If my memory serves me right, the IS-2/JS-2/whatever was more than capable of knocking out any tank in service beside the king tigers with the HE shells alone. Even then I read a document from Bundesarchiv which was a damage report from an Oberleutnant commanding a king tiger who claimed his gunner killed from spall as a Soviet 122mm HE shell struck the front of the turret and caused total separation of the welds but failed to physically penetrate the turret.

“How bad was the IS-2” *Proceeds to destroy every wheraboo in a Tiger*

imo the IS-2 is one of the best tanks in the whole of war thunder, if you have decent aim nothing you can face can really resist the gun, and if they can, the insane reverse speed can get you out of trouble in a hurry

Just coming to say hope your doing well Spook, have a nice week!

Playing steel division 2 in any of the bagration campaigns, it really puts into perspective how good is2s were. They were very effective at being multipurpose and hard to kill when all you got is pak 40s half the battles

The last phrase is kind of hitting the spot. Y'know, living in the post-USSR, our armor have quite clear stereotypes: Early T-34 and KVs, bouncing billions of German inferior 37mm T-34-85, tank so successful and mass-produced that it is rightfully synonymous to "victory", even called "Victory tank" sometimes in official media. Then for fortification and tank busting with heavy shells you got SU/ISU-152. And so, there is little notable left to IS-1 and IS-2, even though how much importance they had and in fact stayed most massively produced soviet heavy tank, staying in service and reserve until 1990s. Of course, later designs like Object 730 aka IS-5 and its later renditions named IS-8/T-10 surpassed the IS-2, but they did never outphase it completely, until the era of heavy tanks was completely over. That's a big credit this tank sometimes doesn't receive.

I really don’t get why people praise the big cats so much and ignore the IS2, for a couple more tons than the panther it had better armour everywhere, enough to stop 88 from a tiger reliably past 500 meters and it’s gun would usually disable any tank it shot with or without penetration while also being great at dealing with infantry and basically anything other than planes. Low production cost with good reliability and it had a good acceleration and top speed on top

"Bagration, one of the more effective Soviet operations of the war" Cries in Army Group Center and North

Based on Panter being medium tank while being 44,8 metric ton, and IS-2 being 46 metric ton, I would call it the best medium tank of WW2 /s.

i understand now why IS-2s are actually good tanks; before i was not a fan of long reload guns but ever since i got the hang with the T-10A, ive started to like the "fire, wait for a while then repeat" strategy, so i started to use vehicles with longer reload and i actually enjoy them (i might get hate on this one but i still dont get the hang with KV-2s so im not a big fan of them :>)

Interesting that you bring up how the IS-3 was a rather poor tank, even though it scared the allied powers shitless at the time. You should definitely cover it next. This video also reminds me of that image of an IS-1 crew playing a piano next to their tank, markings clearly visible, and looking really chill and happy, then another image emerged of the same tank with the same markings engulfed in flames :(

My favorite tank in game and in WW2 second to the T-34-85, thanks Spookston!

Literally the first time I've ever seen anyone play the IS-2 Revenge

That's very interesting. All we hear about is how tanks like the Sherman Jumbo, Tiger, Tiger 2, M8, Maus, KV-1, etc. suffer from being overweight. Interesting that the IS-2 can be heavy and reliable.

Yet again an excellent video spooks! keep up the good work, i honestly look forward to seeing you pop up on my notifications :)

"It not only went through the Panther's upper front plate, but the rest of the tank too." *Nails Sturmpanzer with primary cannon*

The reason it isn’t talked about that much is because the IS-3 has that gourgeous pike.

3:20 you mentioned it only carried 8 AP rounds and that would be bad but... If I'm not mistaken I heard on another documentary that even the HE could severely damage panthers because it had so much explosive filler and german steel was brittle at this point in the war, the steel plates would break and spall everywhere even on HE hits. Great video, made my day better 😊

The IS-2 has honestly become one of my favorite tanks in War Thunder. I've only recently researched the later versions with sloped frontal armor in both Russian and Chinese tech trees, but after spading both early IS-2s, I'm looking forward to playing more of them. It's just so fun to bounce a shot and then stare down a Panther like, "My turn." as you fire straight through their front plate and use that fantastic reverse speed to back off and reload.

Well apart, from the reload speed and traditional problems of any soviet tank, the only other weakness I find in the is2 its name giving a bad reputation. Also mainly from game experience, it's a pleasure to drive a heavy that can actually rush instead of playing the late game, and being able to go in reverse very quickly just to be extra sneaky beaky.

Did they not replace the rear machinegun and make other major improvments to the design post war with the IS-2M? Used till the 80's?

It was like a similar concept to the SU 152 and ISU 152 SPGS. It wasn't intended to fight other tanks just deal with fortifications and defenses. But its Anti Tank capabilities were an added bonus when ever it did come across even small pockets of German armour. I could only imagine how Panzer 4 crews felt if they had an encounter with an IS-2 having to pray to rngesus that their 75mm round got lucky and hit a weakpoint on the IS-2. Because if it didn't and bounced of the angled front armour then IS-2 would just need to look at the panzer 4 and it might cause the crew to wave the white flag lol.

Calling Operation Bagration "one of the more succesfull soviet operations of the war" hurts as bad as the reports from army group center.

I really like these compact videos on tanks and topics surrounding tanks, no matter if I play WT right now or having a break. You do a great job at conveying some neat knowledge without dragging it out unnecessarily.

I really love this series, they way you look at these tanks with impartiality makes them sooo informative! I think a cool tank to do next if you want is the M26 Pershing

Finally, a video acknowledging the true image the IS-2 deserves. To say it was the Soviet King Tiger would mean to not understand the issues of the King Tiger. Unlike it, it was reliable, with its only very major downside being that it used 2 piece ammunition which took more time to reload. Nonetheless, with its HE shells, it could easily knock out tracks or even knock out a King Tiger if it scored a direct hit. Good content, good video, thank you Spookston.

Love your content man!

Keep it up man! I love it when you upload!

"Doesn't get enough praise." Tank ALREADY known as most powerful mass produced Allied heavy tank isn't praised enough? The only downside to IS-2 was that there was no reverse Lend Lease to send first 50-100 to UK for D-Day preparations.

Something of note is that the IS-2 was also considered to have the 100mm D10, which was without a doubt the best AT gun the allies produced during the war. It had superior accuracy, rate of fire, and armor penetration over the 122mm D25. However the 122 was selected for much greater HE performance. This is for fortifications obviously, but there are a lot of reports of the HEs massive energy being able to knock out tigers and panthers by shearing the turret ring off or partially jamming it.

IS-2 be like: “You are the nail, I’m the Sledgehammer”

Nice, i was waiting for your IS-2 video for months

Good Content I love it so much keep up the work also Love the Profile pic so fluffy

I believe they also had problems with early shells for the 122mm. I don't remember where I read it. The early shells were fracturing before penetrating the panthers Armor and quickly fixed it

Despite carrying only 8 ap rounds, HE could still be effective in anti armor roles for at least a mobility kill and at most cracking or extreme spalling after hitting a frontal plate. Although, this was definitely helped by mediocre German armor quality later in the war.

Fun fact; In War Thunder if you drive the IS-2 backwards your survivability will increase. The driver will never be hit by any shell coming from the front (or in this case the back). The Engine and Transmission will almost always eat the shells. Though the engine may catch fire it has less chance to with the transmission in the way. There is also a less chance of a fuel fire/explosion duel to the largest fuel tanks on either side of the driver. Even with the thin back armor it can be angled to deflect (sometimes) 88 mil shells and sometimes larger ones, though I wouldn't place my bets on angling it. Most, not all, enemies when encountering a backwards facing IS-2 will panic fire and either ricochet off the hull, turret or just take out a track. As long as you point your gun mantlet at their barrel, you will be fine. And remember it's best to have at least one or two teammates to help you out if something goes wrong. I've done the Backwards IS-2 in WT before and it works so well. You may get less gun depression than usual and have a risk of engine fires as well as transmission damage but your survivability will increase as long as you keep your eyes peeled and have a squad mate with you. P.S Remember to stay low and get to a sniping position on open maps. You can drive forward faster than you can reverse so facing backwards gives you a tactical advantage in regards to retreat and repair. And don't immediately charge head into the battle backwards, drive normally and when your halfway to where you wanna go (with someone around you) turn around. And take 10-15 shells as to not get easily ammo- wracked. And make sure never to let anyone see your sides our front.

122mm HE shells (at the same time or followed by one after the other) could displace armor plates of tanks like the tiger II according to some sources

I would like this series to go beyond the main iconic designs of WW2, since you had covered most by this point. I would like to see some coverage of light tanks, including mid and post war designs like the M24 Chaffee, M41 Bulldog, PT-76, and the AMX-13.

My great grandfather was a mechanic driver in one of these, from the end of 1944 until Berlin.

Good vid, I remember back when ground forces just released and I rushed for the IS2 as fast as possible. One of my favorite tanks today with the M36 and M103 topping it

Awesome Now I am in the mood to play the IS-2 again. Love the Vids,Short yet full of Interesting History.

The is-2 mod 1944 is actually really good in game. It's very fun.

Very cool and informative Spooks, it was indeed interesting to learn how it was a decent and dependable tank. Since you know, with all your historically accurate videos pretty much all heavy tanks just die when it comes to transmission and engine problems. Also one thing that made me chuckle: "Operation Bagration, one of the more successful soviet operations of the war..." Thats quite the understatement.

The old sound of the IS-2 you brought back in this video, man it gave me nostalgic feelings.

One of my favorite tanks that always gets forgotten, thanks for the great vid.

The reload on this tank is 30 seconds plus because of two part ammo like a ship

I wish you talked a little about the difference between the is-2 and the is-122. But still absolutely great video, i always look forward to your uploads, keep it up!

Interesting comments, but a couple of things you should all remember: first, the British used artillery against tanks in the Western Desert (it was all they had as regards to effective anti-tank weapons at the time) and found that the 25-pdr gun-howitzer was effective in direct fire against the Tiger - a hit of HE on the turret would blow it clean off. The 25-pdr was approx a 93mm gun, so it is not surprising that a 122mm HE round should be able to knock out any tank in 1944; second, research has shown that on average it took about 8 to 12 shots to kill a tank in any combat (one-shot kills were EXTREMELY rare). Computer games have given a very inaccurate impression of how 'clean' tank combat was from the point of view of how quickly and effectively a hit could be both scored and kill an enemy tank. That is not to say it didn't happen on several occasions (when Whittman took out an entire squadron of British tanks in France, for example) but it was very rare and required the right conditions, usually at close range, with highly-experienced crews and with the firing tank stationary. Military History Visualised has a couple of very interesting videos on the subject (plus one on the IS2)

Another lovely spookston video i always enjoy these

IS2: approaches the battlefield Panther's frontal plate: Ah, finally a worthy opponent!

The is2 was so good it was in Soviet/ Russian reserves till the late 80s early 90s as an infantry support vehicle (might be wrong in that, I can’t remember where I read it but I do know I read it somewhere. If I’m wrong correct me pls so I know and will delete the comment)

cool out all of the tanks you've done so far the IS-2 is the one I knew the least about I thought the suspension would've been a big reliability issue thank you for the video

This tank made my weekend hell, good video!

You say that the reload was due to cramped condition. I disagree, the loader had average room compared to other ww2 tanks, the main problem was ammunition placement and the fact they were 2 piece shells. Also, fun fact. The IS-2 had an air suction system that could be activated which would suck in air from the crew compartiment, this could cool down the crew compartment if an hatch was opened to make an air flow (this could also suck up dust in the engine tho. The system could be put in reverse, pulling out air from the engine, which could work as heating in the winter.

Operation Bagration (Багратион) is pronounced like Ba-gra-ty-on in Russian, IMO it was a terrible transliteration choice to not make it "tyon" because English tion is pronounced in a very specific way.

Learning more every time you produce one of these videos

Thx for this video ! You should do a video on the IS3 to continue the series ! I love the chonky style of this tank, but idk a lot about his history :/ Hi from France, and keep continue doing videos ;)

Biggest problem with the IS2 was that they had to elevate the barrel to reload. Germans found that out and used it. And when they had to fire again they need to reaim everything, and back in WW2 it was not uncommen to miss the first shot.

Its my favorate ww2 tank. But im not Dissagreeing with these points

Nice video keeo up the great work

Loved this vid. Thank you for the insight.

I remember watching a military history channel show and they stated one of the draw backs of the IS-2 was that it had to elevate the gun after firing to give the loader room to work. Is there any truth to that?

played a shitton of IS2 during the crafting event as i was grinding the Russian tree and this just dropped, amusing coincidence.

I think the fact that a 4 minute video makes everyone so happy is an achievement, well done.

very enjoyable video😁

"So what are your plans for this new IS series?" "T-34, but *B I G* "

Honestly one of the best tanks of the 2nd World War. It had it's issues, but overall it was much better designed than most tanks Germans used, and supremely reliable compared to pretty much anything Germany had.

He really should go to a tank museum and talk about tanks that are in front of him.

I'd find a video on the ISU-152 or just the SU series in general pretty interesting, because in my opinion it was a very unique tank which isn't as well known to most people. It's a cool vid too tho as usual :)

you can make a coffee, chat with friends, have dinner, take a bath and travel from u.s. to india while the is-2 is reloading

In short: not bad.

I have been waiting for this one. Underrated tank.

My favourite tank, good video

My favorite tank, the Iossif Stalin 2, It had everything to be the best tank of the war but the problem its with the ammunition, The Projectile and the gunpowder are separated, it's not like a Capsule with a Projectile as we see in the T-34 and other armored vehicles, they are placed one by one individually like a Howitzer, first comes the projectile and then something like a gunpowder bag

Question : What is truth or myth. I've heard in some document(time ago sadly) that IS-2 actualy had to raise it's barrel fully UP, so the crew could reload the main gun. Because the breech was too long, for the turret. That's why their fire rate was so poor.. Since the gunner had to re-aim on the target again.

Great video, I love the is-2!

Fun fact more JSU-122's was built than IS-2's as it was found out that the extra room in the casemate made servicing and operating the A-19/ D-25S-T a lot more bearable and faster to get the next shot off over the smaller room in the IS-2 turret.

Despite many of its shortcomings, the IS-2 was in some ways superior and technologically ahead of western heavy tank designs of World War II. It had good armor that was well-sloped and its 122MM gun was the most powerful on the battlefield, capable of dealing with any German tank frontally except the Tiger II, and unlike German or western designs, it used a diesel engine, which would not become standard in the west until the early 1960s. It proved to be more than a match for the Tiger I and Panther in most cases and did its job well

Bruhhhhh I miss that 122mm gun sound. Absolutely og and distinct imo.

The 100mm gun was also tested. (the same as the Su-100) They found the gun to be better for AT duty but felt that the HE performance of the 122 was needed for fortifications and shrapnel over the TD duty of the 100

IS-2 is more accurate than JS-2 imo

''RuSaiN BiASs'' this is a joke

Since this video I've unlocked the IS-2 and it's now one of my favourite tanks. Useful mobility, not the best armour at its BR but enough, but the gun ❤️ consistent one shots especially against panthers upper front plates

The video I watched before this one was about an Is2 shell at 1500m vs panther UFP it barley managed to penitrate

The USSR's equivalent of the Tiger 2 wasn't nearly as good as it in a number of departments, but made up for it in firepower and numbers. Had Allied tanks faced the IS-2 it would have ripped them to shreds.

The best tank of WW2 by some distance.

“Do not get involved in a fight with a “Stalin” without overwhelming numerical superiority in the field. I believe that for every “Stalin” we must account for an entire platoon of Tigers.” Any attempts by a single “Tiger” to fight a “Stalin” one-on-one can only result in the loss of a priceless war machine.” -Heinz Guderian

Ah yes the old sledgehammer hitting a anvil sound when the gun fires

I would REALLY love to know which are the best sources to study particular tanks, would really love to know more than I was taught. Great content as always about one of my favourite tanks.

The IS-2 was vunerable during reloading. The big gun had to be elevated in order to be reloaded. Raising the gun took a little time and loading took 30 seconds. Then it had to be depressed so the gunner could aim it at the next target.

Ah starting the video off with the old aluminum baseball bat sound for the IS-2's cannon was a great choice.

Way back in the early 2000s, when playing the strategy game, "Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin" I had no idea what the IS-2 tanks were. I was familiar with the 76mm and 85mm armed variants of the T-34s I encountered through the various eras of the game. But in a late war battle I encountered IS-2s that were simply popping open my Panthers and Tigers like beer cans. I had gotten used to dealing with the upgunned T-34/85s but I later found out the IS-2 had a 122mm gun mounted, huge for WWII standards. I had run into 122mm armed Russian vehicles not that much earlier in the campaign, ISU-122s, and had to give them a healthy amount of respect.

I hope somebody might be able to answer my question, but how did they improve the Armour so much without making it much heavier?