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IS-2 has arrived at The Parola Armour Museum!
The Soviet tank that was defeated in 1944 and greatly feared in history has arrived at The Parola Armour Museum!
International cooperation between museums made it possible for the IS-2 tank to arrive in Finland.
The Parola Armour Museum is part of the international TankNet network of tank museums, through which cooperation and the idea of exchanging tanks began as early as 2023. As a result of long preparations, the IS-2 arrived in Parola on a transport trailer on Monday. On Tuesday morning, March 24, a heavy truck crane moved the tank to the museum's exhibition yard.
The heavy tank that arrived at The Parola Armour Museum is extremely rare, and its acquisition for the collections is very exceptional. Officially, the exchange of objects took place between The Military Museum and the Czech Institute of Military History. The IS-2 tank will remain on permanent display at The Parola Armour Museum.
The special exhibition "Destroyed Russian Steel - Tank Destroyers at Work in the Summer of 1944" opening at The Parola Armour Museum in May is strongly related to the IS-2. The Parola Armour Museum also has the task of presenting the wartime equipment of our opponents that was used on Finnish soil. These heavy Soviet IS-2 tanks were used by the enemy forces in the major offensive of the summer of 1944, when the Finns destroyed them in the terrain of the Karelia. However, not a single tank was captured as war booty.
This one of the most massive tanks of its time gained a very impressive reputation as being more powerful and heavier than the tanks used in Finland. The 122 mm cannon of the IS-2's main tank was a formidable opponent even for the German King Tiger tank. These Soviet tanks had a combat weight of 46 tons and a top speed of 37 km/h. However, the tank that came to The Parola Armour Museum has become considerably lighter over time, as only the so-called shell remains, from which the engine and transmission have been removed, among other things. Despite this, the tank has a museum value related to cultural heritage that cannot even be measured in money.
Welcome to our new exhibition!
See you at the museum!
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