I was so sure that someone here mentioned it, but couldn't find the entry.......
This blog claims that the British were at one point actually in discussion on producing an improved T-34 and KV-1 in their factories.
Top: T-34 with 17-pounder gun
Bottom: KV-1 with a 6-inch howitzer
I'd like to believe the top one, but after hearing about the trouble they went through to put a 17-pounder on any other tank...... perhaps T-34-85 type with 77mm HV would have been more workable?
The bottom one is what caught my attention. According to the blog post, the British would have introduced a variety of remedies to the KV-1's established weaknesses, such as transmission, but perhaps the most-visible change is the gun. Wikipedia listed the M-10 howitzer, a derivative of which is used by the KV-2, as having a rate of fire of three to four rounds per minute. The howitzer in the drawing looks like a BL 26 cwt howitzer, with a listed maximum rate of fire of two rounds per minute...... not to mention in this case it would have been a turreted setup, and KV-2 crew at least had a bigger turret to work within. Am I missing something here, or is the notion that British had an indirect-firing capability in mind such that a low-rate of fire wouldn't have been a problem?
How was the utilization of HEAT ammunitions in the Western Allies? The setup would be a bit like the Finnish BT-42 against tanks, and the BT-42 was let down by the fuse used in their HEAT projectiles; would the British have done better (I'm still inclined to see the 114mm howitzer as a better candidate for tank gun modification, provided that they could come up with a better-working HEAT round)?