IS-3

The IS-3 is the best meat shield type tank the Russians have. Its 122mm gun is powerful, but it can't take out a King Tiger's armour effectively head on, and its reload time is painfully slow. Although effective against the Tiger I and Panther, this tank is really only good at being a meat shield against the King Tiger (unless you are on its flank and/or really close to it). This is not all bad because while distracting the King Tiger with your IS-3, you can easily destroy the King Tiger by flanking it with an Su-100 (using direct control to get a good, accurate shot is highly recommended).

History
The Soviet heavy tank IS-3 is one of the strongest tanks of WWII. The first machines in this series went into production in May 1945 and received a baptism by fire during the defeat of the Kwantung Army. When the IS-3 was designed, all the drawbacks of its predecessors were analysed in detail. The layout of the turret and the hull was upgraded and the position of the armor plates at the front was changed eventually making the machine almost invulnerable. Its 122mm gun destroyed the equipment and field fortifications of the enemy with the same effectiveness; however its seperate loading system (As with the IS-2) made reloading very slow. A DShK heavy anti-aircraft machinegun is mounted on the turret.