IS-2: Stalin’s Breakthrough Tank (The World War II Library: Weapons)

By Stephen Carrington

In IS-2: Stalin's Breakthrough Tank, Stephen Carrington tells the story of the Soviet heavy tank that spearheaded the Red Army's final offensives against Nazi Germany during the closing years of the Second World War. Forged in the aftermath of catastrophic losses on the Eastern Front, the IS-2 emerged as far more than a heavily armored vehicle. It became the product of wartime desperation, industrial recovery, evolving armored doctrine, and the immense effort required to rebuild Soviet mechanized power after the disasters of 1941 and 1942.

Drawing on wartime production records, battlefield reports, technical development history, and operational accounts, Carrington follows the IS-2 from the collapse of the early Soviet armored forces and the limitations of the KV series to the emergence of a new generation of heavy breakthrough tanks designed for offensive warfare. He explores the development of the powerful 122 mm gun, the engineering challenges faced at Chelyabinsk's Tankograd factories, and the harsh realities of mass-producing heavy armor under wartime conditions. From the forests of Belarus and the cities of Poland to the streets of Berlin and the final Soviet offensive in Manchuria, the IS-2 became one of the defining armored vehicles of the Red Army's advance westward.

More than the story of a famous tank, this book examines how the IS-2 reflected the transformation of Soviet warfare itself. Built for breakthrough operations, urban assault, and the destruction of fortified defenses, the tank became closely associated with the final collapse of Nazi Germany and the rise of Soviet armored power in the modern age. Thickly armored, heavily armed, and unmistakable in silhouette, the IS-2 remains one of the most iconic heavy tanks ever built and a lasting symbol of the brutal mechanized warfare that reshaped the twentieth century.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0H256BZDH
• ISBN13: 9798197312389
• Release Date: May 2026
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.4" x 5.5"