“A dying breed, rearmed for one last battle.”

The summer of 1943 was the crucible. At Kursk, the largest tank battle in history unfolded under skies blackened with smoke and thunder. The Germans had unveiled their beast: the Tiger I, prowling with deadly precision, shrugging off shells that once shattered Panzers. The Red Army needed something more. The T-34 was fast, but undergunned. The KV-1 was strong, but tired.

In the shadow of the future IS (Iosif Stalin) series, the Soviets forged an interim answer: the KV-85.

It was not born of ambition—but of necessity. Time was short. The IS-85 was still in development, its teething issues unresolved. But the 85mm D-5T gun, recently proven on anti-aircraft platforms, was ready. And it needed a platform.

So the KV series was dragged back to the frontlines, one last time.

Engineers took the hull of the KV-1S, a lighter, slightly faster version of the original KV-1 and grafted on a new turret, one designed for the future IS series. In it sat the 85mm D-5T cannon, capable of punching through the frontal armor of a Tiger at close to medium ranges. It was a tight fit. The crew was cramped. But it worked.

The KV-85 was born as a stopgap, a bridge between what had been and what was coming.

Not much were made, yet they saw fire. Kursk may have been over, but the battles ahead were just as brutal: the grinding push westward, city by city, river by river. The KV-85 was there, firing from rubble, spearheading counterattacks, sometimes holding the line alone when lighter vehicles scattered.

Tank crews respected it. It had flaws… slow traverse, sluggish engine but it had bite. In forests and ambush points, it could still surprise. It couldn’t match a Panther in speed or a Tiger in precision, but it didn’t have to. It fought dirty, like a veteran brawler too stubborn to lie down.

By early 1944, the IS-2 began rolling off the lines, bigger, meaner, and purpose-built for the new war. The KV-85, its job complete, slipped into the background.

Some were scrapped. Others sent to training units. A few kept fighting in isolated fronts, their once-proud hulls patched with scavenged armor, still barking their 85mm defiance.

But their legacy? Eternal.

The KV-85 marked the moment the Soviet armored doctrine pivoted from brute-force relics to calculated heavy hitters. It wasn’t a hero. It wasn’t glamorous. It was the last roar of the KV line, a symbol of adaptation, of holding the line just long enough for the future to arrive.

Produced: 1943–1944
Commisioned: 1943
Number built: 148 (And one prototype with 122mm gun: KV-122)
Manufacturer: Leningradskiy Kirovskiy Zavod
Nation: Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Soviet Union)

Controls:
- AG1 - Lights
- AG7 - Enables ammo (rockets)
- VTOL - Gun elevation
- YAW - Turret rotation

Interior based on War Thunder KV-85

Kinda repurposed the hull of my KV-1 model, it was made better.