WW2 Monsters

The're a strange similarity between the two tanks.

The KV-2 was something a failed prototype that was rushed into production. On paper, it seemed fine - mount a 152 millimeter field howitzer on a KV-1, using a modified turret. The issues were numerous: the tank, or SPG, to exact, would topple over if fired on anything but level ground, the new, heavy gun and turret weighed the entire structure down monstrously, constantly overtaxing the already overburdened engine, the suspension couldn't handle the weight or the recoil of the gun, either, and the turret would frequently jam because of said recoil. Reload was slow because of the two-part, immensely heavy ammunition, and the tank's large silhouette made it an ideal target. By the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the entire design has fallen victim to obsolescence. That, of course, wouldn't stop it from having it's moments, most famously, during the Battle of Raseiniai, where a single KV-2 held up the entire 6th Panzer Division for a full day, until it finally ran out of ammunition. Despite it's unsightly appearance and failure-hindered design, it remained one of the most feared armored fighting vehicles of the early years of the World War 2.

The Tiger (later, Tiger I) was another, even more feared vehicle, which gained a greater notoriety among the Allies, and gathered the greatest of awes from the Axis. However, much like the Panther, it was considered to be too overengineered for the battle, with maintenance being both expensive and tedious. It was hard to bring one of these vehicles to it's knees, but when it did fall, it's crew (if they were still alive) had to destroy it, so it wouldn't fall into enemy hands. The engine was underpowered for moving such a heavy weight, the suspension was overburdened by the weight, and, much like the KV-2, the immense weight of the entire vehicle limited it's speed and effective range.

Unlike the KV-2, which was a decent heavy tank (the KV-1) modified to carry the enormous BL-10T howitzer, the Tiger was an entire tank built to be able to carry the infamous Flak 8,8 cm gun, now re-purposed as an anti-tank gun.

In a strange way, both tanks were the answer to the same question: how can we mobilize, and more effectively deploy such and such a gun?

However, the solution to this issue reflected the approach which both sides had:
For the Soviets, the vehicle was under-engineered, more of an impromptu solution, and thus, came with numerous problems that they couldn't iron out before the design had outlived it's usefulness.
For the Germans, the vehicle was over-engineered - instead of building a tank like the Panther, which incorporated the lessons learned from the various fronts, they (supposedly under direct command from the Führer) built an entire tank around a massive gun.