Anti-tank guns of the ussr germany of the war period. Soviet post-war anti-tank artillery

The fighters of these units were envied and - at the same time - sympathized with. “The trunk is long, life is short”, “Double salary - triple death!”, “Farewell, Motherland!” - all these nicknames, hinting at high mortality, went to the soldiers and officers who fought in the anti-tank artillery (IPTA) of the Red Army.

The calculation of the anti-tank guns of senior sergeant A. Golovalov is firing at German tanks. In recent battles, the calculation destroyed 2 enemy tanks and 6 firing points (the battery of Senior Lieutenant A. Medvedev). The explosion on the right is the return shot of a German tank.

All this is true: the salaries increased one and a half to two times for the IPTA units on the staff, and the length of the barrels of many anti-tank guns, and the unusually high mortality among the artillerymen of these units, whose positions were often located near, or even in front of the infantry front ... But the truth and the fact that anti-tank artillery accounted for 70% of the destroyed German tanks; and the fact that among the artillerymen awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War, one in four is a soldier or officer of anti-tank fighter units. In absolute terms, it looks like this: out of 1744 gunners - Heroes of the Soviet Union, whose biographies are presented in the lists of the Heroes of the Country project, 453 people fought in anti-tank units, the main and only task of which was direct fire at German tanks ...
Keep up with the tanks

In itself, the concept of anti-tank artillery as a separate type of this kind of troops appeared shortly before the Second World War. During the First World War, conventional field guns were quite successful in fighting slow-moving tanks, for which armor-piercing shells were quickly developed. In addition, until the beginning of the 1930s, tank reservations remained mainly bulletproof, and only with the approach of a new world war began to intensify. Accordingly, it also required specific means of combating this type of weapon, which became anti-tank artillery.

In the USSR, the first experience of creating special anti-tank guns came at the very beginning of the 1930s. In 1931, a 37 mm anti-tank gun appeared, which was a licensed copy of a German gun designed for the same purpose. A year later, a Soviet semi-automatic 45 mm cannon was installed on the carriage of this gun, and thus a 45 mm anti-tank gun of the 1932 model of the year - 19-K appeared. Five years later, it was modernized, resulting in a 45-mm anti-tank gun of the 1937 model of the year - 53-K. It was she who became the most massive domestic anti-tank gun - the famous "forty-five".

Calculation of the M-42 anti-tank gun in battle. Photo: warphoto.ru

Soviet gunners are preparing to open fire with a 45-mm anti-tank gun. Karelian front.

Alas, by the beginning of World War II, the country did not have time to complete the formation of anti-tank brigades of the RGC. But even unformed, these units, which came at the disposal of the army and front commands, made it possible to maneuver them much more efficiently than anti-tank units in the state of rifle divisions. And although the beginning of the war led to catastrophic losses throughout the Red Army, including in artillery units, due to this, the necessary experience was accumulated, which rather soon led to the emergence of specialized anti-tank units.

Birth of artillery special forces

It quickly became clear that regular divisional anti-tank weapons were not capable of seriously resisting the Wehrmacht’s tank spearheads, and the lack of anti-tank guns of the required caliber forced light field guns to be rolled out for direct fire. At the same time, their calculations, as a rule, did not have the necessary training, which means that they sometimes acted insufficiently efficiently even in favorable conditions for them. In addition, due to the evacuation of artillery factories and the massive losses of the first months of the war, the shortage of main guns in the Red Army became catastrophic, so they had to be disposed of much more carefully.

Soviet artillerymen roll 45-mm M-42 anti-tank guns, following in the ranks of the advancing infantry on the Central Front.

Soviet gunners with a 45 mm anti-tank gun in December 1941. Photo: Museum of Engineering Troops and Artillery, St. Petersburg

The crossing of the artillery crew and the 45-mm anti-tank gun 53-K across the river. The crossing is carried out on a pontoon of landing boats A-3

Pushkar elite

The appearance of the order was preceded by a great deal of preparatory work, concerning not only calculations, but also how many guns and what caliber the new units should have and what advantages their composition would enjoy. It was quite clear that the fighters and commanders of such units, who would have to risk their lives daily in the most dangerous areas of defense, needed a powerful not only material, but also a moral incentive. They did not assign the title of guards to the new units during the formation, as was done with the units of the Katyusha rocket launchers, but decided to leave the well-established word “fighter” and add “anti-tank” to it, emphasizing the special significance and purpose of the new units. For the same effect, as far as can be judged now, the introduction of a special sleeve insignia for all soldiers and officers of anti-tank artillery was calculated - a black rhombus with crossed golden trunks of stylized Shuvalov "unicorns".

All this was spelled out in the order in separate paragraphs. The same separate clauses prescribed special financial conditions for new units, as well as norms for the return of wounded soldiers and commanders to duty. So, the commanding staff of these units and subunits was set one and a half, and the junior and private - a double salary. For each downed tank, the crew of the gun was also entitled to a cash bonus: the commander and gunner - 500 rubles each, the rest of the calculation numbers - 200 rubles each. It is noteworthy that initially other amounts appeared in the text of the document: 1000 and 300 rubles, respectively, but the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Joseph Stalin, who signed the order, personally reduced the prices. As for the norms for returning to duty, the entire commanding staff of the anti-tank destroyer units, up to the division commander, had to be kept on special account, and at the same time, the entire staff after treatment in hospitals had to be returned only to the indicated units. This did not guarantee that the soldier or officer would return to the very battalion or division in which he fought before being wounded, but he could not end up in any other units other than anti-tank destroyers.

The new order instantly turned the anti-tankers into the elite artillery of the Red Army. But this elitism was confirmed by a high price. The level of losses in anti-tank fighter units was noticeably higher than in other artillery units. It is no coincidence that anti-tank units became the only subspecies of artillery, where the same order No. 0528 introduced the position of deputy gunner: in battle, crews that rolled out their guns to unequipped positions in front of the defending infantry and fired at direct fire often died earlier than their equipment.

From battalions to divisions

The new artillery units quickly gained combat experience, which spread just as quickly: the number of anti-tank fighter units grew. On January 1, 1943, the anti-tank artillery of the Red Army consisted of two fighter divisions, 15 fighter brigades, two heavy anti-tank regiments, 168 anti-tank regiments and one anti-tank battalion.

Anti-tank artillery unit on the march.

Guards artillerymen rolling a 45-mm anti-tank gun 53-K (model 1937) into a prepared trench. Kursk direction.

Soviet gunners at the 45 mm M-42 anti-tank gun. In the background is the T-34-85 tank.

Masters of "firebags"

In ambush "forty-five", 45-mm anti-tank gun model 1937 (53-K).

Soviet artillerymen from the units of the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps fire at the enemy from a camouflaged position. In the foreground: 45-mm anti-tank gun 53-K (model 1937), in the background: 76-mm regimental gun (model 1927). Bryansk front.

Unknown Soviet female soldiers from the anti-tank artillery unit (IPTA).

The crew of Soviet artillerymen fires from a 45-mm anti-tank gun of the 1937 model (53-K) at a German tank on a village street. The number of the calculation gives the loader a 45-mm sub-caliber projectile.

Knowing all this, one is no longer surprised at the number of heroes among the fighters and commanders of anti-tank fighter units. Among them were real gunners-snipers. Such as, for example, the gun commander of the 322nd Guards Anti-Tank Regiment of the Guard, Senior Sergeant Zakir Asfandiyarov, who accounted for almost three dozen fascist tanks, and ten of them (including six "Tigers"!) He knocked out in one battle. For this he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Or, say, the gunner of the 493rd anti-tank artillery regiment, Sergeant Stepan Khoptyar. He fought from the very first days of the war, went with battles to the Volga, and then to the Oder, where in one battle he destroyed four German tanks, and in just a few January days of 1945 - nine tanks and several armored personnel carriers. The country appreciated this feat: in April, the victorious forty-fifth, Khoptyar was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Hero of the Soviet Union gunner of the 322nd Guards Fighter Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment of the Guard Senior Sergeant Zakir Lutfurakhmanovich Asfandiyarov (1918-1977) and Hero of the Soviet Union gunner of the 322nd Guards Fighter Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment of the Guard Sergeant Veniamin Mikhailovich Permyakov (1924-1990) are reading the letter. In the background, Soviet gunners at the 76-mm ZiS-3 divisional gun.

Z.L. Asfandiyarov on the front of the Great Patriotic War since September 1941. Particularly distinguished himself during the liberation of Ukraine.
On January 25, 1944, in the battles for the village of Tsibulev (now the village of Monastyrishchensky district of the Cherkasy region), a gun under the command of the guards senior sergeant Zakir Asfandiyarov was attacked by eight tanks and twelve armored personnel carriers with enemy infantry. Having let the enemy attacking column into direct range, the gun crew opened aimed sniper fire and burned all eight enemy tanks, four of which were Tiger-type tanks. The senior sergeant of the guard Asfandiyarov himself destroyed one officer and ten soldiers with fire from personal weapons. When the gun went out of action, the brave guardsman switched to the gun of the neighboring unit, the calculation of which failed and, having repelled a new massive enemy attack, destroyed two tanks of the Tiger type and up to sixty Nazi soldiers and officers. In just one battle, the calculation of the guards of senior sergeant Asfandiyarov destroyed ten enemy tanks, of which six were of the Tiger type and over one hundred and fifty enemy soldiers and officers.
The title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 2386) was awarded to Asfandiyarov Zakir Lutfurakhmanovich by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 1, 1944.

V.M. Permyakov was drafted into the Red Army in August 1942. At the artillery school he received the specialty of a gunner. From July 1943 at the front, he fought in the 322nd Guards Anti-Tank Regiment as a gunner. He received his baptism of fire on the Kursk salient. In the first battle, he burned three German tanks, was wounded, but did not leave his combat post. For courage and steadfastness in battle, accuracy in defeating tanks, Sergeant Permyakov was awarded the Order of Lenin. He especially distinguished himself in the battles for the liberation of Ukraine in January 1944.
On January 25, 1944, in the area at the fork in the road near the villages of Ivakhny and Tsibulev, now the Monastyrishchensky district of the Cherkasy region, the calculation of the guards of senior sergeant Asfandiyarov, in which Sergeant Permyakov was the gunner, was among the first to meet the attack of enemy tanks and armored personnel carriers by infantry. Reflecting the first onslaught, Permyakov destroyed 8 tanks with accurate fire, of which four were tanks of the Tiger type. When the positions of the artillerymen approached the enemy landing, he entered into hand-to-hand combat. He was wounded, but did not leave the battlefield. Having beaten off the attack of machine gunners, he returned to the gun. When the gun failed, the guards switched to the gun of a neighboring unit, the calculation of which failed and, repelling a new massive enemy attack, destroyed two more Tiger-type tanks and up to sixty Nazi soldiers and officers. During a raid by enemy bombers, the gun was broken. Permyakov, wounded and shell-shocked, was sent to the rear unconscious. On July 1, 1944, Sergeant Veniamin Mikhailovich Permyakov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 2385).

Lieutenant General Pavel Ivanovich Batov presents the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal to the commander of an anti-tank gun, Sergeant Ivan Spitsyn. Mozyr direction.

Ivan Yakovlevich Spitsin has been at the front since August 1942. He distinguished himself on October 15, 1943 when crossing the Dnieper. Direct fire, the calculation of Sergeant Spitsin destroyed three enemy machine guns. Having crossed to the bridgehead, the artillerymen fired at the enemy until a direct hit broke the gun. Artillerymen joined the infantry, during the battle they captured enemy positions along with cannons and began to destroy the enemy from his own guns.

On October 30, 1943, for the exemplary performance of the combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders and the courage and heroism shown at the same time, Sergeant Spitsin Ivan Yakovlevich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 1641).

But even against the background of these and hundreds of other heroes from among the soldiers and officers of anti-tank artillery, the feat of Vasily Petrov, the only one among them twice Hero of the Soviet Union, stands out. Drafted into the army in 1939, right on the eve of the war he graduated from the Sumy Artillery School, and met the Great Patriotic War as a lieutenant, platoon commander of the 92nd separate artillery battalion in Novograd-Volynsky in Ukraine.

Captain Vasily Petrov earned his first "Gold Star" of the Hero of the Soviet Union after crossing the Dnieper in September 1943. By that time, he was already deputy commander of the 1850th anti-tank artillery regiment, and on his chest he wore two orders of the Red Star and a medal "For Courage" - and three stripes for wounds. Decree on assignment to Petrov the highest degree distinction was signed on the 24th and published on December 29, 1943. By that time, the thirty-year-old captain was already in the hospital, having lost both hands in one of the last battles. And if not for the legendary Order No. 0528, which ordered the return of the wounded to anti-tank units, the freshly baked Hero would hardly have got a chance to continue fighting. But Petrov, who was always distinguished by firmness and perseverance (sometimes dissatisfied subordinates and superiors said that he was stubborn), achieved his goal. And at the very end of 1944 he returned to his regiment, which by that time had already become known as the 248th Guards Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment.

With this regiment of the guard, Major Vasily Petrov reached the Oder, crossed it and distinguished himself by holding a bridgehead on the western bank, and then participating in the development of the offensive on Dresden. And this did not go unnoticed: by decree of June 27, 1945, for the spring exploits on the Oder, artillery major Vasily Petrov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the second time. By this time, the regiment of the legendary major had already been disbanded, but Vasily Petrov himself remained in the ranks. And he remained in it until his death - and he died in 2003!

After the war, Vasily Petrov managed to graduate from Lviv State University and military academy, received the degree of Candidate of Military Sciences, rose to the rank of Lieutenant General of Artillery, which he received in 1977, and served as Deputy Chief of Missile Forces and Artillery of the Carpathian Military District. As the grandson of one of General Petrov's colleagues recalls, from time to time, going for a walk in the Carpathians, the middle-aged commander managed to literally drive his adjutants who could not keep up with him on the way up ...

Memory is stronger than time

The post-war fate of anti-tank artillery completely repeated the fate of all the Armed Forces of the USSR, which changed in accordance with the changing challenges of the time. Since September 1946, the personnel of anti-tank artillery units and subunits, as well as anti-tank rifle subunits, ceased to receive increased salaries. The right to a special sleeve insignia, which the anti-tankers were so proud of, remained ten years longer. But it also disappeared over time: another order to introduce new form for Soviet army I canceled this badge.

Gradually, the need for specialized anti-tank artillery units also disappeared. Cannons were replaced by anti-tank guided missiles, and units armed with these weapons appeared on the staff of motorized rifle units. In the mid-1970s, the word “fighter” disappeared from the name of the anti-tank units, and twenty years later, the last two dozen anti-tank artillery regiments and brigades disappeared along with the Soviet army. But whatever the post-war history of Soviet anti-tank artillery, it will never cancel the courage and those feats with which the fighters and commanders of the anti-tank artillery of the Red Army glorified their kind of troops during the Great Patriotic War.

After the end of the war, in the USSR, anti-tank artillery was armed with: 37-mm airborne guns of the 1944 model, 45-mm anti-tank guns mod. 1937 and arr. 1942, 57-mm anti-tank guns ZiS-2, divisional 76-mm ZiS-3, 100-mm field model 1944 BS-3. German captured 75-mm Pak 40 anti-tank guns were also used. They were purposefully assembled, stored and repaired if necessary.

In the middle of 1944, it was officially put into service. 37 mm ChK-M1 airborne gun.

It was specially designed to equip parachute battalions and motorcycle regiments. The gun weighing 209 kg in combat position allowed air transportation and parachuting. It had good armor penetration for its caliber, which made it possible to hit the side armor of medium and heavy tanks with a sub-caliber projectile at a short distance. The shells were interchangeable with the 37 mm 61-K anti-aircraft gun. The guns were transported in Willis and GAZ-64 vehicles (one gun per vehicle), as well as in Dodge and GAZ-AA vehicles (two guns per vehicle).

The calculation of the gun consisted of four people - the commander, gunner, loader and carrier. When shooting, the calculation takes a prone position. The technical rate of fire reached 25-30 rounds per minute.
Thanks to the original design of the recoil devices, the 37-mm airborne gun model 1944 combined powerful anti-aircraft gun ballistics for its caliber with small dimensions and weight. With armor penetration values ​​close to those of the 45 mm M-42, the ChK-M1 is three times lighter and much smaller in size (much lower line of fire), which greatly facilitated the movement of the gun by crew forces and its camouflage. At the same time, the M-42 also has a number of advantages - the presence of a full-fledged wheel drive, which allows the gun to be towed by a car, the absence of a muzzle brake that unmasks when firing, a more effective fragmentation projectile and a better armor-piercing effect of armor-piercing shells.
The 37 mm ChK-M1 gun was about 5 years late, was adopted and put into production when the war came to an end. Apparently she did not take part in the hostilities. A total of 472 guns were produced.

45-mm anti-tank guns were hopelessly outdated by the end of hostilities, even the presence in the ammunition 45 mm M-42 guns sub-caliber projectile with normal armor penetration at a distance of 500 meters - 81-mm homogeneous armor could not correct the situation. Modern heavy and medium tanks were struck only when firing into the side, from extremely short distances. The active use of these tools up to the very last days wars can be explained by high maneuverability, ease of transportation and camouflage, huge accumulated stocks of ammunition of this caliber, as well as the inability of Soviet industry to provide the troops in the required quantity with higher-performance anti-tank guns.
One way or another, in the active army, the "forty-five" were very popular, only they could move by calculation forces in the combat formations of the advancing infantry, supporting it with fire.

In the late 40s, "forty-five" began to be actively withdrawn from parts and transferred to storage. However, for quite a long period of time they continued to be in service with the Airborne Forces and used as training tools.
A significant number of 45-mm M-42s were transferred to the then allies.

American soldiers from the 5th Cavalry Regiment study the M-42 captured in Korea

"Forty-five" was actively used in the Korean War. In Albania, these guns were in service until the early 90s.

Mass production 57 mm anti-tank gunZiS-2 became possible in 1943, after the necessary metalworking machines were received from the USA. The restoration of serial production was difficult - again there were technological problems with the manufacture of barrels, in addition, the plant was heavily loaded with a program for the production of 76-mm divisional and tank guns, which had a number of common nodes with the ZIS-2; under these conditions, the increase in the production of ZIS-2 on the existing equipment could be carried out only by reducing the volume of production of these guns, which was unacceptable. As a result, the first batch of ZIS-2 for state and military tests was released in May 1943, and in the production of these guns, the backlog that had been mothballed at the plant since 1941 was widely used. The mass production of the ZIS-2 was organized by October - November 1943, after the commissioning of new production facilities, provided with equipment supplied under Lend-Lease.

The production of the ZiS-2 continued until 1949 inclusive, in the post-war period, about 3,500 guns were produced. From 1950 to 1951, only ZIS-2 barrels were produced. Since 1957, the previously released ZIS-2 was upgraded to the ZIS-2N variant with the ability to conduct combat at night through the use of special night sights
In the 1950s, new sub-caliber shells with increased armor penetration were developed for the gun.

In the post-war period, the ZIS-2 was in service with the Soviet army until at least the 1970s, the last case of combat use was recorded in 1968, during a conflict with the PRC on Damansky Island.
ZIS-2 was supplied to a number of countries and took part in several armed conflicts, the first of which was the Korean War.
There is information about the successful use of the ZIS-2 by Egypt in 1956 in battles with the Israelis. Guns of this type were in service with the Chinese army and were produced under license under the Type 55 index. As of 2007, the ZIS-2 was still in service with the armies of Algeria, Guinea, Cuba and Nicaragua.

In the second half of the war, the fighter-anti-tank units were armed with captured German 75 mm anti-tank guns Pak 40. During the offensive operations of 1943-1944, a large number of guns and ammunition were captured. Our military appreciated the high performance of these anti-tank guns. At a distance of 500 meters, normal sabot projectile pierced - 154-mm armor.

In 1944, firing tables and operating instructions were issued for the Pak 40 in the USSR.
After the war, the guns were transferred to storage, where they were at least until the mid-60s. Subsequently, some of them were "utilized", and some were transferred to the allies.

A photograph of the RaK-40 guns was taken at a parade in Hanoi in 1960.

In fear of an invasion from the South, several anti-tank artillery battalions were formed as part of the army of North Vietnam, armed with German 75 mm RaK-40 anti-tank guns from the Second World War. Such guns were captured in large numbers in 1945 by the Red Army, and now the Soviet Union has provided them to the Vietnamese people to protect them from possible aggression from the South.

Soviet divisional 76-mm guns were intended for solving a wide range of tasks, primarily fire support for infantry units, suppressing firing points, and destroying light field shelters. However, during the war, divisional artillery guns had to fire on enemy tanks, perhaps even more often than specialized anti-tank guns.

Since 1944, due to a slowdown in the production of 45-mm guns and a shortage of 57-mm ZIS-2 guns, despite insufficient armor penetration for that time divisional 76-mm ZiS-3 became the main anti-tank gun of the Red Army.
In many ways, this was a necessary measure. The armor penetration of an armor-piercing projectile, which pierced 75 mm armor at a distance of 300 meters along the normal, was not enough to deal with medium German tanks Pz.IV.
As of 1943, the armor of the heavy tank PzKpfW VI "Tiger" was invulnerable to the ZIS-3 in the frontal projection and weakly vulnerable at distances closer than 300 m in the side projection. Weakly vulnerable in the frontal projection for the ZIS-3 were also the new German tank PzKpfW V "Panther", as well as modernized PzKpfW IV Ausf H and PzKpfW III Ausf M or N; however, all these vehicles were confidently hit from the ZIS-3 to the side.
The introduction of a sub-caliber projectile since 1943 improved the anti-tank capabilities of the ZIS-3, allowing it to confidently hit vertical 80-mm armor at distances closer than 500 m, but 100-mm vertical armor remained unbearable for it.
The relative weakness of the anti-tank capabilities of the ZIS-3 was recognized by the Soviet military leadership, but it was not possible to replace the ZIS-3 in anti-tank units until the end of the war. The situation could be corrected by introducing a cumulative projectile into the ammunition load. But such a projectile was adopted by the ZiS-3 only in the post-war period.

Shortly after the end of the war and the production of over 103,000 guns, the production of the ZiS-3 was discontinued. The gun remained in service for a long time, but by the end of the 40s, it was almost completely withdrawn from anti-tank artillery. This did not prevent the ZiS-3 from spreading very widely around the world and taking part in many local conflicts, including on the territory former USSR.

In modern Russian army the remaining serviceable ZIS-3s are often used as salute guns or in theatrical performances on the theme of the battles of the Great Patriotic War. In particular, these guns are in service with the Separate Fireworks Division under the commandant's office of Moscow, which conducts fireworks on the holidays of February 23 and May 9.

In 1946, the weapon created under the leadership of the chief designer F. F. Petrov was adopted. 85-mm anti-tank gun D-44. This weapon would have been in great demand during the war, but its development was greatly delayed for a number of reasons.
Outwardly, the D-44 strongly resembled the German 75-mm anti-tank Pak 40.

From 1946 to 1954, plant No. 9 (Uralmash) produced 10,918 guns.
D-44s were in service with a separate artillery anti-tank battalion of a motorized rifle or tank regiment (two anti-tank artillery batteries consisting of two fire platoons), 6 pieces per battery (in division 12).

As ammunition, unitary cartridges with high-explosive fragmentation grenades, coil-shaped sub-caliber shells, cumulative and smoke shells are used. The range of a direct shot of the BTS BR-367 at a target with a height of 2 m is 1100 m. At a range of 500 m, this projectile pierces an armor plate 135 mm thick at an angle of 90 °. The initial speed of the BPS BR-365P is 1050 m / s, armor penetration is 110 mm from a distance of 1000 m.

In 1957, night sights were installed on some of the guns, and a self-propelled modification was also developed. SD-44, which could move on the battlefield without a tractor.

The barrel and carriage of the SD-44 were taken from the D-44 with minor changes. So, on one of the frames of the gun, an M-72 engine of the Irbit motorcycle plant with a power of 14 hp was installed, covered with a casing. (4000 rpm) providing a self-propelled speed of up to 25 km / h. Power transmission from the engine was provided through the cardan shaft, differential and axle shafts to both wheels of the gun. The gearbox included in the transmission provided six forward gears and two reverse gears. A seat is also fixed on the bed for one of the numbers of the calculation, which acts as a driver. He has at his disposal a steering mechanism that controls an additional, third, wheel of the gun, mounted at the end of one of the beds. A headlight is installed to illuminate the road at night.

Subsequently, it was decided to use the 85-mm D-44 as a divisional one to replace the ZiS-3, and to assign the fight against tanks to more powerful artillery systems and ATGMs.

In this capacity, the weapon was used in many conflicts, including in the CIS. An extreme case of combat use was noted in the North Caucasus, during the "counter-terrorist operation."

D-44 is still formally in service in the Russian Federation, a number of these guns are in internal troops and in storage.

On the basis of the D-44, under the leadership of the chief designer F. F. Petrov, a anti-tank 85-mm gun D-48. The main feature of the D-48 anti-tank gun was its exceptionally long barrel. To ensure the maximum muzzle velocity of the projectile, the barrel length was increased to 74 calibers (6 m., 29 cm.).
Especially for this gun, new unitary shots were created. An armor-piercing projectile at a distance of 1,000 m pierced armor 150-185 mm thick at an angle of 60 °. A sub-caliber projectile at a distance of 1000 m penetrates homogeneous armor 180-220 mm thick at an angle of 60 °. The maximum firing range of high-explosive fragmentation projectiles weighing 9.66 kg. - 19 km.
From 1955 to 1957, 819 copies of D-48 and D-48N were produced (with night sight APN2-77 or APN3-77).

The guns entered service with individual anti-tank artillery battalions of a tank or motorized rifle regiment. As an anti-tank gun, the D-48 gun quickly became obsolete. In the early 60s of the 20th century, tanks with more powerful armor protection appeared in NATO countries. The negative feature of the D-48 was the "exclusive" ammunition, unsuitable for other 85-mm guns. For firing from the D-48, the use of shots from the D-44, KS-1, 85-mm tank and self-propelled guns is also prohibited, this significantly narrowed the scope of the gun.

In the spring of 1943, V.G. Grabin, in his memorandum addressed to Stalin, proposed, along with the resumption of production of the 57-mm ZIS-2, to begin designing a 100-mm cannon with a unitary shot, which was used in naval guns.

A year later, in the spring of 1944 100-mm field gun model 1944 BS-3 was put into production. Due to the presence of a wedge gate with a vertically moving wedge with semi-automatic, the location of vertical and horizontal aiming mechanisms on one side of the gun, as well as the use of unitary shots, the gun's rate of fire is 8-10 rounds per minute. The cannon was fired with unitary cartridges with armor-piercing tracer shells and high-explosive fragmentation grenades. Armor-piercing tracer projectile initial speed 895 m / s at a distance of 500 m at a meeting angle of 90 ° pierced armor 160 mm thick. The range of a direct shot was 1080 m.
However, the role of this gun in the fight against enemy tanks is greatly exaggerated. By the time it appeared, the Germans practically did not use tanks massively.

During the war, the BS-3 was produced in small quantities and could not play a big role. At the final stage of the war, 98 BS-3s were given as a means of reinforcing five tank armies. The gun was in service with the light artillery brigades of the 3rd regiment.

As of January 1, 1945, the RGK artillery had 87 BS-3 guns. At the beginning of 1945, in the 9th Guards Army, as part of three rifle corps, one cannon artillery regiment of 20 BS-3s was formed.

Mainly thanks to long range firing - 20650 m and a fairly effective high-explosive fragmentation grenade weighing 15.6 kg, the gun was used as a hull gun to fight enemy artillery and suppress distant targets.

The BS-3 had a number of shortcomings that made it difficult to use it as an anti-tank weapon. When firing, the gun jumped heavily, which made the gunner’s work unsafe and knocked down aiming mounts, which, in turn, led to a decrease in the practical rate of aimed fire - a very important quality for a field anti-tank gun.

The presence of a powerful muzzle brake with a low line of fire and flat trajectories, typical for firing at armored targets, led to the formation of a significant smoke and dust cloud, which unmasked the position and blinded the crew. The mobility of a gun with a mass of more than 3500 kg left much to be desired, transportation by crew forces on the battlefield was almost impossible.

After the war, the gun was in production until 1951 inclusive, a total of 3816 BS-3 field guns were produced. In the 60s, the guns underwent modernization, this concerned primarily sights and ammunition. Until the early 60s, the BS-3 could penetrate the armor of any Western tank. But with the advent of: M-48A2, Chieftain, M-60 - the situation has changed. New sub-caliber and cumulative projectiles were urgently developed. The next modernization took place in the mid-80s, when the 9M117 Bastion anti-tank guided projectile entered the BS-3 ammunition load.

This weapon was also supplied to other countries, took part in many local conflicts in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, in some of them it is still in service. In Russia, until recently, BS-3 guns were used as coastal defense weapons in service with the 18th machine gun and artillery division stationed on the Kuril Islands, and a fairly significant number of them are also in storage.

Until the late 60s and early 70s of the last century, anti-tank guns were the main means of fighting tanks. However, with the advent of ATGMs with a semi-automatic guidance system, which only requires keeping the target in the field of view of the sight, the situation has changed in many ways. The military leadership of many countries considered metal-intensive, bulky and expensive anti-tank guns an anachronism. But not in the USSR. In our country, the development and production of anti-tank guns continued in significant numbers. And at a qualitatively new level.

Entered service in 1961 100 mm T-12 smoothbore anti-tank gun, developed in the design bureau of the Yurga Machine-Building Plant No. 75 under the direction of V.Ya. Afanasiev and L.V. Korneev.

The decision to make a smoothbore gun at first glance may seem rather strange; the time for such guns ended almost a hundred years ago. But the creators of the T-12 did not think so.

In a smooth channel, it is possible to make the gas pressure much higher than in a rifled one, and accordingly increase the initial velocity of the projectile.
AT rifled barrel the rotation of the projectile reduces the armor-piercing effect of the jet of gases and metal during the explosion of a cumulative projectile.
A smooth-bore gun significantly increases the survivability of the barrel - you can not be afraid of the so-called "washing out" of the rifling fields.

The gun channel consists of a chamber and a cylindrical smooth-walled guide part. The chamber is formed by two long and one short (between them) cones. The transition from the chamber to the cylindrical section is a conical slope. The shutter is vertical wedge with spring semi-automatic. Charging is unitary. The carriage for the T-12 was taken from the 85 mm D-48 anti-tank rifled gun.

In the 60s, a more convenient carriage was designed for the T-12 gun. The new system received an index MT-12 (2A29), and in some sources is called the "Rapier". The mass production of the MT-12 went into 1970. The composition of the anti-tank artillery battalions of the motorized rifle divisions of the USSR Armed Forces included two anti-tank artillery batteries, consisting of six 100-mm anti-tank guns T-12 (MT-12).

Guns T-12 and MT-12 have the same warhead- a long thin barrel with a length of 60 calibers with a muzzle brake - "salt shaker". Sliding beds are equipped with an additional retractable wheel installed at the coulters. The main difference of the modernized MT-12 model is that it is equipped with a torsion bar suspension, which is blocked during firing to ensure stability.

When rolling the gun manually under the trunk part of the frame, a roller is substituted, which is fastened with a stopper on the left frame. Transportation of T-12 and MT-12 guns is carried out by a regular tractor MT-L or MT-LB. For driving on snow, the LO-7 ski mount was used, which made it possible to fire from skis at elevation angles up to +16 ° with a rotation angle of up to 54 °, and at an elevation angle of 20 ° with a rotation angle of up to 40 °.

smooth trunk much more convenient for firing guided projectiles, although in 1961 this was most likely not thought about yet. To combat armored targets, an armor-piercing sub-caliber projectile with a swept warhead with high kinetic energy is used, capable of penetrating armor 215 mm thick at a distance of 1000 meters. The ammunition load includes several types of sub-caliber, cumulative and high-explosive fragmentation shells.

Shot ZUBM-10 with armor-piercing projectile

Shot ZUBK8 with a cumulative projectile

When mounted on a gun special device guidance, you can use shots with an anti-tank missile "Kastet". The missile is controlled by a semi-automatic laser beam, the firing range is from 100 to 4000 m. The missile penetrates armor behind dynamic protection (“reactive armor”) up to 660 mm thick.

Rocket 9M117 and shot ZUBK10-1

For direct fire, the T-12 gun is equipped with a day sight and night sights. With a panoramic sight, it can be used as a field gun from covered positions. There is a modification of the MT-12R gun with a mounted 1A31 "Ruta" guidance radar.

MT-12R with radar 1A31 "Ruta"

The gun was massively in service with the armies of the Warsaw Pact countries, was supplied to Algeria, Iraq and Yugoslavia. They took part in military operations in Afghanistan, in the Iran-Iraq war, in armed conflicts in the territories of the former USSR and Yugoslavia. During these armed conflicts, 100-mm anti-tank guns are mainly used not against tanks, but as conventional divisional or corps guns.

MT-12 anti-tank guns continue to be in service in Russia.
According to the press center of the Ministry of Defense, on August 26, 2013, with the help of an accurate shot with a UBK-8 cumulative projectile from the MT-12 "Rapira" cannon of the Yekaterinburg separate motorized rifle brigade of the Central Military District, a fire was extinguished at well No. P23 ​​U1 near Novy Urengoy.

The fire started on August 19 and quickly turned into an uncontrollable fire breaking through the faulty rebar. natural gas. The artillery crew was transferred to New Urengoy by a military transport aircraft that took off from Orenburg. Equipment and ammunition were loaded at the Shagol airfield, after which the gunners under the command of the officer of the Missile Forces and Artillery Department of the Central Military District, Colonel Gennady Mandrichenko, were taken to the scene. The gun was set for direct fire from a minimum allowable distance of 70 m. The target diameter was 20 cm. The target was successfully hit.

In 1967, Soviet experts came to the conclusion that the T-12 gun “does not provide reliable destruction of the Chieftain tanks and the promising MVT-70. Therefore, in January 1968, OKB-9 (now part of JSC Spetstechnika) was instructed to develop a new, more powerful anti-tank gun with the ballistics of the 125 mm D-81 smoothbore tank gun. The task was difficult to accomplish, since the D-81, having excellent ballistics, gave the strongest return, which was still tolerable for a tank weighing 40 tons. But at field tests, the D-81 fired from a tracked carriage of a 203-mm B-4 howitzer. It is clear that such an anti-tank gun of 17 tons in weight and a maximum speed of 10 km / h was out of the question. Therefore, in the 125-mm gun, the recoil was increased from 340 mm (limited by the dimensions of the tank) to 970 mm and a powerful muzzle brake was introduced. This made it possible to install a 125-mm cannon on a three-bed carriage from a serial 122-mm D-30 howitzer, which allowed circular fire.

The new 125-mm cannon was designed by OKB-9 in two versions: the towed D-13 and the self-propelled SD-13 (“D” is the index of artillery systems designed by V.F. Petrov). The development of the SD-13 was 125-mm smooth-bore anti-tank gun "Sprut-B" (2A-45M). The ballistic data and ammunition of the D-81 tank gun and the 2A-45M anti-tank gun were the same.

Sprut-B is towed by a Ural-4320 vehicle or an MT-LB tractor. In addition, for self-movement on the battlefield, the gun has a special power unit, made on the basis of the MeMZ-967A engine with a hydraulic drive. The engine is located on the right side of the gun under the casing. On the left side of the frame, the driver's seats and the gun control system are installed on self-propelled. The maximum speed at the same time on dry dirt roads is 10 km / h, and the ammunition load is 6 rounds; cruising range for fuel - up to 50 km.

In the presence of special guidance equipment 9S53 "Octopus" can fire ZUB K-14 rounds with 9M119 anti-tank missiles, which are semi-automatically controlled by a laser beam, the firing range is from 100 to 4000 m. The mass of the shot is about 24 kg, missiles - 17.2 kg, it pierces armor behind dynamic protection with a thickness of 700-770 mm.

At present, towed anti-tank guns (100- and 125-mm smoothbore) are in service with the countries - the former republics of the USSR, as well as a number of developing countries. The armies of the leading Western countries have long abandoned special anti-tank guns, both towed and self-propelled. Nevertheless, it can be assumed that towed anti-tank guns have a future. The ballistics and ammunition of the 125-mm Sprut-B cannon, unified with the cannons of modern main tanks, are capable of hitting any serial tanks in the world. An important advantage of anti-tank guns over ATGMs is a wider choice of means of destroying tanks and the possibility of hitting them point-blank. In addition, the Sprut-B can also be used as a non-anti-tank weapon. Its OF-26 high-explosive fragmentation projectile is close in ballistic data and in terms of explosive mass to the OF-471 projectile of the 122-mm A-19 corps gun, which became famous in the Great Patriotic War.

According to materials:
http://gods-of-war.pp.ua
http://russian-power.rf/guide/army/ar/d44.shtml
Shirokorad A. B. Encyclopedia of domestic artillery. - Minsk: Harvest, 2000.
Shunkov V.N. Weapons of the Red Army. - Minsk: Harvest, 1999.

Soviet anti-tank artillery played a crucial role in the Great Patriotic War, accounting for about 70% of all destroyed German tanks. Anti-tank warriors fighting "to the last", often at the cost of own life repulsed the attacks of the Panzerwaffe.

The structure and materiel of anti-tank subunits were continuously improved in the course of hostilities. Until the fall of 1940, anti-tank guns were part of rifle, mountain rifle, motorized rifle, motorized and cavalry battalions, regiments and divisions. Anti-tank batteries, platoons and divisions were thus embedded in the organizational structure of the formations, being an integral part of them. The rifle battalion of the rifle regiment of the pre-war state had a platoon of 45-mm guns (two guns). The rifle regiment and motorized rifle regiment had a battery of 45-mm cannons (six guns). In the first case, horses were the means of traction, in the second case, Komsomolets specialized caterpillar armored tractors. The rifle division and the motorized division included a separate anti-tank division of eighteen 45-mm guns. For the first time, an anti-tank division was introduced into the state of a Soviet rifle division in 1938.
However, maneuvering with anti-tank guns was possible at that time only within a division, and not on a corps or army scale. The command had a very limited opportunities to strengthen anti-tank defense in tank-hazardous areas.

Shortly before the war, the formation of anti-tank artillery brigades of the RGK began. According to the state, each brigade was supposed to have forty-eight 76-mm guns, forty-eight 85-mm anti-aircraft guns, twenty-four 107-mm guns, sixteen 37-mm anti-aircraft guns. The staff strength of the brigade was 5322 people. By the beginning of the war, the formation of brigades had not been completed. Organizational difficulties and the general unfavorable course of hostilities did not allow the first anti-tank brigades to fully realize their potential. However, already in the first battles, the brigades demonstrated the broad capabilities of an independent anti-tank formation.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the anti-tank capabilities of the Soviet troops were severely tested. Firstly, most often rifle divisions had to fight, occupying a front of defense that exceeded the statutory standards. Secondly, Soviet troops had to face German tactics"tank wedge". It consisted in the fact that the tank regiment of the Wehrmacht tank division struck at a very narrow defense sector. At the same time, the density of attacking tanks was 50–60 vehicles per kilometer of front. Such a number of tanks on a narrow sector of the front inevitably saturated the anti-tank defense.

The heavy loss of anti-tank guns at the beginning of the war led to a decrease in the number of anti-tank guns in a rifle division. The July 1941 state rifle division had only eighteen 45 mm anti-tank guns instead of fifty-four in the pre-war state. In July, a platoon of 45-mm guns from a rifle battalion and a separate anti-tank battalion were completely excluded. The latter was restored to the state of the rifle division in December 1941. The shortage of anti-tank guns was to some extent made up for by the recently adopted anti-tank guns. In December 1941, an anti-tank rifle platoon was introduced at the regimental level in a rifle division. In total, the state division had 89 anti-tank rifles.

In the field of organizing artillery, the general trend at the end of 1941 was to increase the number of independent anti-tank units. On January 1, 1942, the active army and the reserve of the Headquarters of the High Command had: one artillery brigade (on the Leningrad front), 57 anti-tank artillery regiments and two separate anti-tank artillery battalions. Following the results of the autumn battles, five artillery regiments of the PTO received the title of guards. Two of them received a guard for the battles near Volokolamsk - they supported the 316th Infantry Division of I.V. Panfilov.
1942 was a period of increasing the number and consolidation of independent anti-tank units. April 3, 1942 was followed by a decision of the State Defense Committee on the formation of a fighter brigade. According to the state, the brigade had 1795 people, twelve 45-mm guns, sixteen 76-mm guns, four 37-mm anti-aircraft guns, 144 anti-tank guns. By the next decree of June 8, 1942, the twelve formed fighter brigades were merged into fighter divisions, each with three brigades.

A milestone for the anti-tank artillery of the Red Army was the order of the NPO of the USSR No. 0528 signed by I. V. Stalin, according to which: the status of anti-tank units was raised, a double salary was set for personnel, a cash bonus was established for each tank that was destroyed, all command and personnel destroyer-anti-tank artillery units were placed on a special account and were to be used only in these units.

The distinctive sign of the anti-tankers was a sleeve insignia in the form of a black rhombus with a red border with crossed gun barrels. The rise in the status of anti-tankers was accompanied by the formation in the summer of 1942 of new anti-tank regiments. Thirty light (twenty 76-mm guns each) and twenty anti-tank artillery regiments (twenty 45-mm guns each) were formed.
The regiments were formed in a short time and immediately thrown into battle on the threatened sectors of the front.

In September 1942, ten more anti-tank regiments with twenty 45-mm guns were formed. Also in September 1942, an additional battery of four 76-mm guns was introduced to the most distinguished regiments. In November 1942, part of the anti-tank regiments was merged into fighter divisions. By January 1, 1943, the Red Army anti-tank artillery included 2 fighter divisions, 15 fighter brigades, 2 heavy anti-tank regiments, 168 anti-tank regiments, 1 anti-tank battalion.

The improved anti-tank defense system of the Red Army received the name Pakfront from the Germans. RAK is the German abbreviation for anti-tank gun - Panzerabwehrkannone. Instead of a linear arrangement of guns along the defended front, at the beginning of the war they were united in groups under a single command. This made it possible to concentrate the fire of several guns on one target. Anti-tank areas were the basis of anti-tank defense. Each anti-tank area consisted of separate anti-tank strongholds (PTOPs) in fire communication with each other. "To be in fire communication with each other" - means the possibility of firing by neighboring anti-tank guns on the same target. The PTOP was saturated with all types of fire weapons. The basis of the anti-tank fire system was 45-mm guns, 76-mm regimental guns, partially cannon batteries of divisional artillery and anti-tank artillery units.

The finest hour of anti-tank artillery was the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943. At that time, 76-mm divisional guns were the main means of anti-tank units and formations. "Forty-five" accounted for about a third total number anti-tank guns on the Kursk salient. A long pause in combat operations at the front made it possible to improve the condition of units and formations due to the receipt of equipment from industry and the additional manning of anti-tank regiments.

The last stage in the evolution of the anti-tank artillery of the Red Army was the enlargement of its units and the appearance of self-propelled guns in the anti-tank artillery. By the beginning of 1944, all fighter divisions and individual fighter brigades of the combined arms type were reorganized into anti-tank brigades. On January 1, 1944, the anti-tank artillery included 50 anti-tank brigades and 141 anti-tank regiments. By order of the NPO No. 0032 of August 2, 1944, one SU-85 regiment (21 self-propelled guns) was introduced into the fifteen anti-tank brigades. In reality, only eight brigades received self-propelled guns.

Particular attention was paid to the training of personnel of anti-tank brigades, purposeful combat training of artillerymen was organized to combat new German tanks and assault guns. Special instructions appeared in the anti-tank units: "Memo to the gunner - destroyer of enemy tanks" or "Memo on the fight against Tiger tanks." And in the armies, special rear ranges were equipped, where artillerymen trained in firing at mock-up tanks, including moving ones.

Simultaneously with the increase in the skill of artillerymen, tactics were improved. With the quantitative saturation of the troops with anti-tank weapons, the "fire bag" method began to be used more and more often. The guns were placed in "anti-tank nests" of 6-8 guns within a radius of 50-60 meters and were well camouflaged. The nests were located on the ground to achieve long-range flanking with the possibility of concentrating fire. Passing the tanks moving in the first echelon, the fire opened suddenly, to the flank, at medium and short distances.

In the offensive, anti-tank guns were quickly pulled up after the advancing units in order to support them with fire if necessary.

Anti-tank artillery in our country began in August 1930, when, within the framework of military-technical cooperation with Germany, a secret agreement was signed, according to which the Germans pledged to help the USSR organize the gross production of 6 artillery systems. To implement the agreement in Germany, a dummy company "BYuTAST" was created (limited liability company "Bureau for technical work and studies").

Among other weapons proposed by the USSR was a 37 mm anti-tank gun. The development of this weapon, bypassing the restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, was completed at Rheinmetall Borsig in 1928. The first samples of the gun, which received the name Tak 28 (Tankabwehrkanone, that is, an anti-tank gun - the word Panzer came into use later) were tested in 1930, and from 1932 deliveries to the troops began. The Tak 28 gun had a 45-caliber barrel with a horizontal wedge breech, which provided a fairly high rate of fire - up to 20 rounds per minute. A carriage with sliding tubular beds provided a large horizontal pickup angle - 60 °, but at the same time the undercarriage with wooden wheels was designed only for horse traction.

In the early 1930s, this gun pierced the armor of any tank, and was perhaps the best in its class, far ahead of developments in other countries.

After modernization, having received wheels with pneumatic tires that can be towed by a car, an improved carriage and an improved sight, it was put into service under the designation 3.7 cm Pak 35/36 (Panzerabwehrkanone 35/36).
Remaining until 1942 the main anti-tank gun of the Wehrmacht.

The German gun was put into production at the plant near Moscow. Kalinin (No. 8), where she received the factory index 1-K. The enterprise mastered the production of a new weapon with great difficulty, the guns were made semi-handicraft, with manual fitting of parts. In 1931, the plant presented 255 guns to the customer, but did not hand over any due to poor build quality. In 1932, 404 guns were delivered, and in 1933, another 105.

Despite the problems with the quality of the guns produced, the 1-K was a fairly perfect anti-tank gun for the 1930s. Its ballistics made it possible to hit all the tanks of that time, at a distance of 300 m, an armor-piercing projectile normally pierced 30-mm armor. The gun was very compact, its light weight allowed the crew to easily move it around the battlefield. The disadvantages of the gun, which led to its rapid removal from production, were the weak fragmentation effect of the 37-mm projectile and the lack of suspension. In addition, the guns produced were notable for their low build quality. The adoption of this gun was considered as a temporary measure, since the leadership of the Red Army wanted to have a more versatile gun that combined the functions of an anti-tank and battalion gun, and 1-K was poorly suited for this role due to its small caliber and weak fragmentation projectile.

1-K was the first specialized anti-tank gun of the Red Army and played a big role in the development of this type. Very soon, it began to be replaced by a 45-mm anti-tank gun, becoming almost invisible against its background. In the late 30s, 1-K began to be withdrawn from the troops and transferred to storage, remaining in operation only as training ones.

At the beginning of the war, all the guns available in the warehouses were thrown into battle, since in 1941 there was a shortage of artillery to equip a large number of newly formed formations and make up for huge losses.

Of course, by 1941, the armor penetration characteristics of the 37-mm 1-K anti-tank gun could no longer be considered satisfactory, it could only confidently hit light tanks and armored personnel carriers. Against medium tanks, this gun could only be effective when firing into the side from close (less than 300 m) distances. Moreover, Soviet armor-piercing shells were significantly inferior in armor penetration to German ones of a similar caliber. On the other hand, this gun could use captured 37 mm ammunition, in which case its armor penetration increased significantly, exceeding even the similar characteristics of a 45 mm gun.

It was not possible to establish any details of the combat use of these guns; probably, almost all of them were lost in 1941.

The very great historical significance of the 1-K is that it became the ancestor of the series of the most numerous Soviet 45-mm anti-tank guns and Soviet anti-tank artillery in general.

During the "liberation campaign" in western Ukraine, several hundred Polish 37-mm anti-tank guns and a significant amount of ammunition were captured.

Initially, they were sent to warehouses, and at the end of 1941 they were transferred to the troops, because due to the heavy losses of the first months of the war, there was a large shortage of artillery, especially anti-tank artillery. In 1941, the GAU issued a "Brief Description, Operating Instructions" for this gun.

The 37 mm anti-tank gun developed by Bofors was a very successful weapon capable of successfully fighting armored vehicles protected by bulletproof armor.

The gun had a fairly high muzzle velocity and rate of fire, small dimensions and weight (which made it easier to camouflage the gun on the ground and roll it on the battlefield with crew forces), and was also adapted for rapid transportation by mechanical traction. Compared to the German 37 mm Pak 35/36 anti-tank gun, the Polish gun had better armor penetration, which is explained by the higher muzzle velocity of the projectile.

In the second half of the 30s, there was a tendency to increase the thickness of tank armor, in addition, the Soviet military wanted to get an anti-tank gun capable of fire support infantry. This required an increase in caliber.
A new 45 mm anti-tank gun was created by imposing a 45 mm barrel on the carriage of a 37 mm anti-tank gun mod. 1931. The carriage was also improved - wheel suspension was introduced. The semi-automatic shutter basically repeated the 1-K scheme and allowed 15-20 rds / min.

The 45-mm projectile had a mass of 1.43 kg and was more than 2 times heavier than the 37-mm one. At a distance of 500 m, an armor-piercing projectile pierced 43-mm armor normally. 1937 pierced the armor of any tank that existed then.
A fragmentation 45-mm grenade, when burst, gave about 100 fragments, retaining lethal force when expanding along the front by 15 m and to a depth of 5-7 m. When fired, grapeshot bullets form a striking sector along the front for up to 60 m and in depth up to 400 m .
Thus, the 45 mm anti-tank gun had good anti-personnel capabilities.

From 1937 to 1943, 37354 guns were produced. Shortly before the start of the war, the 45-mm gun was discontinued, as our military leadership believed that the new German tanks would have a frontal armor thickness impenetrable for these guns. Shortly after the start of the war, the gun was put back into production.

The 45-mm guns of the 1937 model of the year relied on the state of the anti-tank platoons of the rifle battalions of the Red Army (2 guns) and the anti-tank divisions of the rifle divisions (12 guns). They were also in service with separate anti-tank regiments, which included 4-5 four-gun batteries.

For its time, in terms of armor penetration, the "forty-five" was quite adequate. Nevertheless, the insufficient penetration of the 50-mm frontal armor of the Pz Kpfw III Ausf H and Pz Kpfw IV Ausf F1 tanks is beyond doubt. Often this was due to the low quality of armor-piercing shells. Many batches of shells had a technological marriage. If the heat treatment regime was violated in production, the shells turned out to be excessively hard and as a result split against the tank's armor, but in August 1941 the problem was solved - technical changes were made to the production process (localizers were introduced).

To improve armor penetration, a 45-mm sub-caliber projectile with a tungsten core was adopted, which pierced 66 mm armor at a distance of 500 m along the normal, and 88 mm armor when fired at a dagger fire distance of 100 m.

With the advent of sub-caliber shells, the later modifications of the Pz Kpfw IV tanks became "too tough" for the "forty-five". The thickness of the frontal armor, which did not exceed 80 mm.

At first, new shells were on special account and were issued individually. For the unjustified consumption of sub-caliber shells, the gun commander and gunner could be court martialed.

In the hands of experienced and tactically skilled commanders and trained crews, the 45-mm anti-tank gun posed a serious threat to enemy armored vehicles. Its positive qualities were high mobility and ease of disguise. However, for better destruction of armored targets, a more powerful gun was urgently required, which was the 45-mm cannon mod. 1942 M-42, developed and put into service in 1942.

The 45 mm M-42 anti-tank gun was obtained by upgrading the 45 mm gun of the 1937 model at factory No. 172 in Motovilikha. The modernization consisted in lengthening the barrel (from 46 to 68 calibers), strengthening the propellant charge (the mass of gunpowder in the sleeve increased from 360 to 390 grams) and a number of technological measures to simplify mass production. Shield cover armor thickness has been increased from 4.5 mm to 7 mm for better protection calculation from rifle armor-piercing bullets.

As a result of the modernization, the muzzle velocity of the projectile increased by almost 15% - from 760 to 870 m/s. At a distance of 500 meters along the normal, an armor-piercing projectile pierced -61mm, and a sub-caliber projectile pierced -81mm armor. According to the memoirs of anti-tank veterans, the M-42 had very high firing accuracy and relatively low recoil when fired. This made it possible to fire at a high rate of fire without correcting the pickup.

Serial production of 45-mm guns mod. 1942 was launched in January 1943 and was carried out only at plant number 172. In the most stressful periods, the plant produced 700 of these guns monthly. In total, in 1943-1945, 10,843 mod. 1942. Their production continued after the war. New guns, as they were produced, were used to re-equip anti-tank artillery regiments and brigades, which had 45-mm anti-tank guns mod. 1937.

As it soon became clear, the armor penetration of the M-42 to fight German heavy tanks with powerful anti-shell armor Pz. Kpfw. V "Panther" and Pz. Kpfw. VI "Tiger" was not enough. More successful was the firing of sub-caliber shells on the sides, stern and undercarriage. Nevertheless, thanks to well-established mass production, mobility, ease of camouflage and low cost, the gun remained in service until the very end of the war.

In the late 30s, the issue of creating anti-tank guns capable of hitting tanks with anti-shell armor became acute. Calculations showed the futility of the 45-mm caliber in terms of a sharp increase in armor penetration. Various research organizations considered calibers 55 and 60 mm, but in the end it was decided to stop at 57 mm. Guns of this caliber were used in the tsarist army and navy (guns of Nordenfeld and Hotchkiss). A new projectile was developed for this caliber - a standard cartridge case from a 76-mm divisional cannon was adopted as its cartridge case with a re-compression of the cartridge case mouth to a 57 mm caliber.

In 1940, to the design of a new anti-tank gun that meets the tactical and technical requirements of the Main Artillery Directorate(GAU), a design team headed by Vasily Gavrilovich Grabin began. Main Feature new gun was the use of a long barrel length of 73 caliber. The gun at a distance of 1000 m pierced armor 90 mm thick with an armor-piercing projectile

A prototype gun was made in October 1940 and passed factory tests. And in March 1941, the gun was put into service under the official name "57-mm anti-tank gun mod. 1941" In total, from June to December 1941, about 250 guns were handed over.

57-mm guns from experimental batches took part in the fighting. Some of them were mounted on the Komsomolets light tracked tractor - this was the first Soviet anti-tank self-propelled gun, which, due to the imperfection of the chassis, was not very successful.

The new anti-tank gun easily pierced the armor of all German tanks that existed at that time. However, due to the position of the GAU, the release of the gun was stopped, and the entire production reserve and equipment were mothballed.

In 1943, with the appearance of heavy tanks among the Germans, the production of guns was restored. The gun of the 1943 model had a number of differences from the guns of the 1941 issue, aimed primarily at improving the manufacturability of the gun. However, the restoration of mass production was difficult - there were technological problems with the manufacture of barrels. Mass production of guns under the name "57-mm anti-tank gun mod. 1943" ZIS-2 was organized by October - November 1943, after the commissioning of new production facilities, provided with equipment supplied under Lend-Lease.

Since the resumption of production, until the end of the war, more than 9,000 guns entered the troops.

With the restoration of production of the ZIS-2 in 1943, the guns entered the anti-tank artillery regiments (iptap), 20 guns per regiment.

From December 1944, the ZIS-2 was introduced into the staff of the guards rifle divisions - into the regimental anti-tank batteries and into the anti-tank battalion (12 guns). In June 1945, ordinary rifle divisions were transferred to a similar state.

The capabilities of the ZIS-2 made it possible at typical combat distances to confidently hit the 80-mm frontal armor of the most common German medium tanks Pz.IV and StuG III assault self-propelled guns, as well as the side armor of the Pz.VI "Tiger" tank; at distances of less than 500 m, the Tiger's frontal armor was also hit.
In terms of the cost and manufacturability of production, combat and service performance, the ZIS-2 became the best Soviet anti-tank gun of the war.

According to materials:
http://knowledgegrid.ru/2e9354f401817ff6.html
Shirokorad A. B. Genii Soviet artillery: The triumph and tragedy of V. Grabin.
A. Ivanov. Artillery of the USSR in the Second World War.

If you believe the statistics, in all the battles of the Great Patriotic War, including the famous Prokhorovka, our tankers suffered the heaviest losses by no means from German panzers - the most dangerous enemy was not the famous "Tigers", "Panthers" and "Ferdinands", not the legendary "Things", not sappers and faustniks, not formidable Akht-Akht anti-aircraft guns, but Panzerabwehrkanonen - German anti-tank artillery. And if at the beginning of the war the Nazis themselves dubbed their 37-mm anti-tank gun Pak 35/36 a “door knocker” (virtually useless against the latest KV and “thirty-four”, it nevertheless burned like BT and T-26 matches), then not 50 -mm Pak 38, neither the 75-mm Pak 40, nor the 88-mm Pak 43, nor the heavy-duty 128-mm Pak 80 deserved any disparaging nicknames, becoming real "tank killers". Unsurpassed armor penetration, the best optics in the world, a low, inconspicuous silhouette, superbly trained crews, competent commanders, excellent communications and artillery reconnaissance - for several years the German anti-tank defense knew no equal, and our anti-tankers surpassed the German ones only at the very end of the war.

In this book you will find comprehensive information about all the anti-tank artillery systems that were in service with the Wehrmacht, including captured ones, about their advantages and disadvantages, organization and combat use, defeats and victories, as well as top-secret reports on their tests at Soviet training grounds. The edition is illustrated with exclusive drawings and photographs.

Sections of this page:

GERMAN-MADE ANTI-TANK GUN

Although according to the classification of the Wehrmacht, this weapon belongs to the class of heavy anti-tank rifles, but in terms of caliber and design, it is more likely an artillery system. Therefore, the author considered it necessary to tell in the work about the anti-tank artillery of the Wehrmacht and about this sample.

The development of an automatic anti-tank gun with a conical bore designed by Gerlich began at Mauser at the end of 1939. Initially, the gun had the index MK8202. In the breech, the barrel of the gun had a caliber of 28 mm, and at the muzzle - 20 mm. For firing from it, specially designed projectiles were used, consisting of a tungsten carbide core, a steel pallet and a ballistic tip. The pallet had two annular protrusions, which, when the projectile moved in the bore, were compressed, crashing into the rifling.

Thus, the most complete use of the pressure of powder gases at the bottom of the projectile was ensured, and, accordingly, a high initial velocity was achieved. However, in the course of design and testing, the MK8202 automatic gun was transformed into a single-shot heavy anti-tank rifle s.Pz.B.41, which, after testing in June - July 1940, was adopted by the Wehrmacht.

The anti-tank rifle had a horizontal wedge semi-automatic shutter (opened manually), which provided a fairly high rate of fire - 12-15 rounds per minute. To reduce the recoil energy, the barrel was equipped with a muzzle brake. s.Pz.B.41 was mounted on a light artillery-type wheeled carriage with sliding beds. To protect the calculation of two people served as a double shield (3 and 3 mm). A design feature of the heavy anti-tank gun was the absence of lifting and turning mechanisms. Aiming at the target in the vertical plane was carried out by swinging the barrel on the trunnions, and in the horizontal plane - by turning the rotating part manually (using two handles) on the lower machine.

A little later, a lightweight version of the gun carriage was developed for a heavy anti-tank rifle, which was put into service with the parachute units of the Luftwaffe. It consisted of a single frame with runners, on which small wheels could be mounted to move around the area. This gun, which received the designation s.Pz.B.41 leFL 41, had a mass of 139 kg (on a conventional carriage 223 kg).

s. The Pz.B.41 had a very high muzzle velocity of the PzGr41 armor-piercing projectile weighing 131 g - 1402 m/s. Due to this, armor penetration (at an angle of 30 degrees) was: at 100 m - 52 mm, at 300 m - 46 mm, at 500 m - 40 mm and at 1000 m - 25 mm, which was one of best performance for this caliber. In 1941, in the s. Pz.B.41 included a fragmentation projectile weighing 85 g, but its effectiveness was very low.

The disadvantages of the s.Pz.B.41 were the high manufacturing cost - 4,500 Reichsmarks and heavy barrel wear. At first, its survivability was only 250 rounds, then this figure was increased to 500. In addition, extremely scarce tungsten was used to produce shells for the s.Pz.B.41.

By the beginning of 1941, the tungsten reserves at the disposal of Germany amounted to 483 tons. Of these, 97 tons were spent on the production of 7.92-mm cartridges with a tungsten core, 2 tons on various other needs, and the remaining 384 tons were spent on the manufacture of sub-caliber shells. In total, more than 68,4600 such shells were manufactured for tank, anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns. In connection with the depletion of tungsten stocks, the release of these shells was stopped in November 1943.

For the same reason, in September 1943, after the production of 2,797 s.Pz.B.41s, its production was stopped.

s. Pz.B.41s mainly entered service with Wehrmacht infantry divisions, Luftwaffe airfield and parachute divisions, which were used until the end of the war. As of March 1, 1945, the units had 775 s.Pz.B.41s, another 78 units were in warehouses.

The development of this anti-tank gun began at the company Rheinmetall-Borsig (Rheinmetall-Borsig) back in 1924, and the design was carried out in circumvention of the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty, according to which Germany was forbidden to have anti-tank artillery. However, at the end of 1928, the first samples of the new gun, which received the designation 3.7-cm Tak 28 L / 45 (Tankabwehrkanone - anti-tank gun, the word Panzer began to be used in Germany later. - Note. author), began to enter the troops.

The 37-mm anti-tank gun Tak 28 L / 45 weighing 435 kg had a light carriage with tubular beds, on which a monoblock barrel with a semi-automatic horizontal wedge breech was mounted, which provided a fairly high rate of fire - up to 20 rounds per minute. The angle of horizontal fire with the extended beds was 60 degrees, but if necessary, it was possible to fire with the shifted beds. The cannon had wooden spoked wheels and was transported by a team of horses. To protect the calculation, a shield from a 5-mm armor plate was used, and its upper part leaned back on hinges.

Without a doubt, by the end of the 1920s, the 37 mm Tak 29 gun was one of the best anti-tank artillery systems. Therefore, it was developed export version- So 29, which was purchased by many countries - Turkey, Holland, Spain, Italy, Japan and. Some of them also acquired a license for the production of weapons (suffice it to recall our famous forty-five - a 45-mm anti-tank gun 19K, the main anti-tank weapon of the Red Army in the 1930s and early 1940s, leading its lineage from the 37-mm Tak 29, purchased in 1930 year).

In 1934, the gun was modernized - it received wheels with pneumatic tires, which made it possible to tow the gun by cars, an improved sight and a slightly modified carriage design. Under the designation 3.7-cm Pak 35/36 (Panzerabwehrkanone 35/36), it entered service with the Reichswehr, and from March 1935 with the Wehrmacht as the main anti-tank weapon. Its price was 5,730 Reichsmarks in 1939 prices. As new 37-mm Pak 35/36 cannons, manufactured before 1934, Tak L / 45 29 with wooden wheels, were removed from the troops.

In 1936-1939, the Pak 35/36 was baptized by fire during the Spanish Civil War - these guns were used by both the Condor Legion and the Spanish Nationalists. The results of combat use turned out to be very good - Pak 35/36 could successfully deal with Soviet tanks T-26 and BT-5, which were in service with the Republicans, at a distance of 700-800 m (it was a collision with a 37-mm anti-tank gun in Spain that forced Soviet tank builders to begin work on creating tanks with anti-cannon armor).

During the French campaign, it turned out that 37-mm anti-tank guns were ineffective against British and French tanks, which had armor up to 70 mm. Therefore, the command of the Wehrmacht decided to accelerate the deployment of more powerful anti-tank artillery systems. The end of the Pak 35/36 career was the campaign against the USSR, during which they were completely powerless against the KV and T-34 tanks. For example, in one of the reports in June 1941, it was said that the calculation of the 37-mm gun achieved 23 hits on the T-34 tank without any result. Therefore, it is not surprising that soon the Rak 35/36 in the army began to be called the "army mallet". In January 1942, the production of these guns was discontinued. In total, since the start of production in 1928, 16,539 Pak 35/36 (including Tak L / 45 29) were manufactured, of which 5,339 guns were made in 1939-1942.

In addition to the usual version of the Pak 35/36, a slightly lighter version was developed for arming the parachute units of the Luftwaffe. He received the designation 3.7-cm Rak auf leihter Feldafette (3.7-cm Rak leFLat). This gun was intended for air transport on the external sling of a Ju 52 transport aircraft. Externally, the 3,7-cm Pak leFLat practically did not differ from the Pak 35/36, very few of them were made.

Initially, two types of unitary cartridges with armor-piercing (PzGr 39) or fragmentation (SprGr) shells were used for firing from Pak 35/36. The first weighing 0.68 kg was a conventional hard alloy blank with a bottom fuse and a tracer. To combat manpower, a fragmentation projectile weighing 0.625 kg with an instant head fuse was used.

In 1940, after a collision with British and French tanks that had thick armor, the PzGr 40 sub-caliber projectile with a tungsten carbide core was introduced into the Pak 35/36 ammunition load. True, due to the small mass - 0.368 g - it was effective at distances up to 400 m.

At the end of 1941, specifically to combat the Soviet T-34 and KV tanks, they developed the Stielgranate 41 cumulative over-caliber grenade. Outwardly, it looked like a mortar mine with a cumulative warhead 740 mm long and weighing 8.51 kg, inserted into the gun barrel from the outside. The Stielgranate 41 was launched by firing a blank round and stabilized in flight by four small wings at the rear. Naturally, the firing range of such a mine left much to be desired: although according to the instructions it was 300 m, in fact it was possible to hit the target only at a distance of up to 100 m, and even then with great difficulty. Therefore, despite the fact that the Stielgranate 41 penetrated 90 mm armor, its effectiveness in combat conditions was very low.

The 37 mm Pak 35/36 anti-tank gun was the main anti-tank weapon of the Wehrmacht at the beginning of World War II. It was in service with all units - infantry, cavalry, tanks. Subsequently, these guns were mainly used as part of infantry divisions, as well as tank destroyer divisions. In 1941, the replacement of the Pak 35/36 with more powerful 50-mm Pak 38 anti-tank guns began, and later with the 75-mm Pak 40. Nevertheless, the 37-mm anti-tank guns remained in service with the Wehrmacht until the end of the war. As of March 1, 1945, the troops still had 216 Pak 35/36, another 670 guns were in warehouses and arsenals.

Pak 35/36 were installed on German armored personnel carriers Sd.Kfz.250/10 and Sd. Kfz.251 / 10, as well as in small quantities for Krupp trucks, one-ton half-track tractors Sd.Kfz. 10, captured French Renault UE wedges, Soviet Komsomolets semi-armored tractors and British Universal armored personnel carriers.

The development of a light anti-tank gun with a tapered bore, designated 4.2-cm Pak 41, began in the autumn of 1941 by Mauser. The new gun, like the s.Pz.B.41, had a barrel of variable caliber from 42 to 28 mm (in fact, the actual caliber of the Pak 41 was 40.3 and 29 mm, but 42 and 28 mm are used in all literature. - Author's note). Due to the tapering bore, the most complete use of the pressure of powder gases on the bottom of the projectile was ensured, and, accordingly, a high initial velocity was achieved. To reduce wear on the Pak 41 barrel, a special steel with a high content of tungsten, molybdenum and vanadium was used in its manufacture. The gun had a horizontal wedge semi-automatic breech, which provided a rate of fire of 10-12 rounds per minute. The barrel was placed on the carriage of a 37 mm Pak 35/36 anti-tank gun. With the beds extended, the angle of horizontal fire was 41 degrees.

The gun ammunition included special unitary shots with high-explosive fragmentation and armor-piercing shells. The design of the latter was the same as that of the heavy anti-tank rifle s.Pz.B.41 caliber 28/20 mm. The shells had a special design of the leading part, which allowed its diameter to decrease as the projectile moved in the conical bore.

Tests of 4.2-cm Pak 41 showed excellent results- at a distance of 1000 m, its shells weighing 336 g confidently pierced a 40-mm armor plate. The production of the new gun was transferred from Mauser to Billerer & Kunz in Aschersleben, where 37 of them were made by the end of 1941. Production of the Pak 41 was discontinued in June 1941 after 313 guns had been built. The price of one sample was 7,800 Reichsmarks. The operation of the 4.2-cm Pak 41 showed a low survivability of its barrel, despite the use of special alloys in its design - only 500 shots (about 10 times less than that of the 37-mm Pak 35/36). In addition, the manufacture of the barrels themselves was a very complex and expensive procedure, and the production of armor-piercing shells required tungsten - a metal that was in great short supply for the Third Reich.

4.2-cm Pak 41 anti-tank guns entered service with tank destroyer divisions of Wehrmacht infantry divisions and Luftwaffe airfield divisions. These guns were in service until mid-1944, and were used on the Soviet-German front and in North Africa. As of 1 March 1945, nine Pak 41s were at the front and 17 more in storage.

In 1935, Rheinmetall-Borsig began developing a more powerful 50 mm anti-tank gun than the Pak 35/36. The first samples of the new artillery system, designated Pak 37, were manufactured and submitted for testing in 1936. With a mass of 585 kg, the gun had a barrel length of 2,280 mm and an initial velocity of an armor-piercing projectile of 685 m/s. However, the military was not satisfied with the test results, in particular the armor penetration and unstable carriage design. Therefore, Rheinmetall-Borsig redesigned the carriage, lengthened the barrel to 3,000 m and developed more powerful ammunition. As a result, the weight of the gun increased to 990 kg, the speed of the armor-piercing projectile - up to 835 m / s, and at a distance of 500 m it pierced armor 60 mm thick. After eliminating a number of minor defects and passing tests, the 50-mm anti-tank gun, which received the designation Pak 38, was adopted by the Wehrmacht.

Like the Pak 35/36, the new gun had a sliding-bed carriage, providing a horizontal firing angle of 65 degrees. Solid wheels with solid rubber tires and coil springs made it possible to transport the Pak 38 at speeds up to 40 km/h. Moreover, when bringing the gun into a combat position and breeding the beds, the suspension of the wheels was automatically turned off, and when they were brought together, it turned on. The gun had a monoblock barrel and a semi-automatic horizontal wedge bolt, which provided a rate of fire of up to 14 rounds per minute.

Pak 38 had two shields - upper and lower. The first consisted of two 4-mm armor plates of complex shape, installed with a gap of 20-25 mm and provided protection for the calculation in front and a little from the sides. The second, 4 mm thick, was hung on hinges under the wheel axle and protected the calculation from being hit by fragments from below. In addition, the gun received a new firing mechanism, an improved sight, and a muzzle brake to reduce muzzle recoil. Despite the fact that, to facilitate the design, a number of carriage parts were made of aluminum (for example, tubular beds), the weight of the Pak 38 more than doubled compared to the Pak 35/36 and amounted to 1000 kg. Therefore, to facilitate the rolling of the gun by the crew, the Pak 38 was manually equipped with a light one-wheeled limber, to which flattened beds could be attached. The result was a three-wheeled structure, which the calculation of seven people could move around the battlefield. Moreover, to facilitate maneuvering, the front wheel could turn.

Serial production of the Pak 38 began at the Rheinmetall-Borsig factories in 1939, but only two guns were made by the end of the year. The new anti-tank guns did not see action in France - the first 17 Pak 38s only entered service in July 1940. However, the past campaign served as an impetus to accelerate the release of the Pak 38, since during the fighting the Wehrmacht encountered thick-armored tanks, against which the Pak 35/36 were practically powerless. As a result, by July 1, 1941, 1047 guns were manufactured, of which there were about 800 in the troops.

By order of the main command of the ground forces of November 19, 1940 as vehicle for towing the Pak 38, a 1-ton Sd.Kfz half-track tractor was identified. 10. However, due to their shortage, on January 16, 1941, a new order appeared, according to which 1.5-ton trucks were to be used to transport 50-mm anti-tank guns. However, during the war, captured French Renault UE tankettes, Krupp trucks and much more were used to tow the Pak 38.

Three types of unitary shots were used for firing from the Pak 38: fragmentation, armor-piercing tracer and sub-caliber. A fragmentation projectile Sprenggranate weighing 1.81 kg was equipped with a charge of cast TNT (0.175 kg). In addition, to improve the visibility of the explosion, a small smoke bomb was placed in the explosive charge.

Armor-piercing tracer shots had two types of projectiles: PzGr 39 and PzGr 40. The first, weighing 2.05 kg, was equipped with a hard steel head welded to the projectile body, a leading iron belt and had a bursting charge of 0.16 kg. At a range of 500 m, the PzGr 39 could penetrate 65 mm armor when fired at the normal.

The PzGr 40 sub-caliber projectile consisted of an armor-piercing tungsten core in a coil-shaped steel shell. To improve aerodynamic properties, a plastic ballistic tip was attached to the top of the projectile. At a range of 500 m, the PzGr 40 could penetrate 75 mm thick armor when fired at the normal.

In 1943, for the Pak 38, they developed the over-caliber Stielgranate 42 cumulative anti-tank grenade (similar to the one for the Pak 35/36) weighing 13.5 kg (including 2.3 kg of explosives). The grenade was inserted into the barrel from the outside and fired using a blank charge. However, although the armor penetration of the Stielgranate 42 was 180 mm, it was effective at a distance of up to 150 meters. A total of 12,500 Stielgranate 42s were made before March 1, 1945 for the Pak 38 guns.

The 50 mm Pak 38 anti-tank guns could fight the Soviet T-34s at medium ranges, and at short ranges with short range. True, they had to pay for this with heavy losses: only in the period from December 1, 1941 to February 2, 1942, the Wehrmacht lost 269 Pak 38 in battles. And this is only irretrievable, not counting the disabled and evacuated (some of them also could not be restored).

The 50 mm Pak 38 anti-tank guns were produced until the fall of 1943, with a total of 9,568 made. For the most part, they entered service with tank destroyer divisions in infantry, panzergrenadier, tank and a number of other divisions. From the second half of 1944, this gun was mainly used in training parts and second line troops.

Unlike other German anti-tank guns, Pak 38 was practically not used for various self-propelled units. This gun was mounted only on the chassis of a semi-armored 1-ton Sd.Kfz. 10 (several of these self-propelled guns were used in the SS troops), on several Sd.Kfz. 250 (one such machine is in the military museum in Belgrade), two VK901 based on the Marder II and one example of the Minitionsschlepper (VK302).

The development of a new 75-mm anti-tank gun, designated Pak 40, began at Rheinmetall-Borsig back in 1938. The very next year, the first prototypes were tested, which initially consisted of a 75-mm Pak 38 gun enlarged to a caliber. However, it soon became clear that many of the technical solutions used for 50-mm guns were not suitable for a 75-mm caliber. For example, this concerned the tubular parts of the carriage, which in the Pak 38 were made of aluminum. When testing Pak 40 prototypes, the aluminum parts quickly failed. This, as well as a number of other problems that emerged during the tests, forced Rheinmetall-Borsig to improve the design of the Pak 40. But due to the fact that the Wehrmacht did not yet feel the need for a gun more powerful than the Pak 38, the design of the Pak 40 went slow enough.

The campaign against the USSR was the impetus for accelerating work on the 75-mm anti-tank gun. Faced with the T-34 tanks and especially the KV, the anti-tank units of the Wehrmacht were unable to deal with them. Therefore, Rheinmetall-Borsig was instructed to urgently complete work on the 75-mm Pak 40 gun.

In December 1941, prototypes of the new anti-tank gun were tested, in January 1942 it was put into production, and in February the first 15 serial Pak 40s entered the army.

The gun had a monoblock barrel with a muzzle brake, which absorbs a significant part of the recoil energy, and a horizontal wedge semi-automatic shutter, providing a rate of fire of up to 14 rounds per minute. A carriage with sliding beds provided a horizontal firing angle of up to 58 degrees. For transportation, the gun had sprung wheels with solid rubber tires, which made it possible to tow it at speeds up to 40 km / h with mechanical traction and 15–20 km / h with horses. The gun was equipped with pneumatic marching brakes, which were controlled from the cab of a tractor or car. In addition, it was possible to brake manually, using two levers located on both sides of the gun carriage.

To protect the calculation, the gun had a shield cover, consisting of upper and lower shields. The upper one, fixed on the upper machine, consisted of two armor plates 4 mm thick, installed at a distance of 25 mm from each other. The lower one was attached to the lower machine, and one half of it could recline on hinges.

The cost of the gun was 12,000 Reichsmarks.

The ammunition load of the Pak 40 gun included unitary shots with fragmentation grenade SprGr weighing 5.74 kg, armor-piercing tracer PzGr 39 (hard alloy blank weighing 6.8 kg with 17 g tracer composition), sub-caliber PzGr 40 (weighing 4.1 kg with a tungsten carbide core) and cumulative HL.Gr ( weighing 4.6 kg) shells.

The gun could successfully fight all types of tanks of the Red Army and its allies at long and medium distances. For example, PzGr 39 pierced 80 mm armor at a distance of 1000 m, and PzGt40-87-mm. The cumulative HL.Gr was used to fight tanks at distances up to 600 m, while it was guaranteed to penetrate 90 mm armor.

Pak 40 was the most successful and most massive anti-tank gun of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War. Its production steadily increased: in 1942 the average monthly output was 176 guns, in 1943 - 728 and in 1944 - 977. The peak of Pak 40 production was in October 1944, when 1050 guns were managed to be manufactured. In the future, in connection with the mass bombing of German industrial enterprises by allied aircraft, the output began to decline. But despite this, from January to April 1945, the Wehrmacht received another 721 75-mm anti-tank guns. A total of 23,303 Pak 40 guns were produced between 1942 and 1945. There were several variants of the Pak 40, differing from each other in the design of wheels (solid and spoked) and muzzle brakes.

75-mm anti-tank guns entered service with tank destroyer divisions of infantry, panzergrenadier, tank and a number of other divisions, as well as, to a lesser extent, in individual tank destroyer divisions. Constantly being at the forefront, these guns suffered huge losses in battles. For example, over the last 4 months of 1944, the Wehrmacht lost 2490 Pak 40s, of which 669 in September, 1020 in October, 494 in November and 307 in December. 17,596 of these guns were lost, 5,228 Pak 40s were at the front (of which 4,695 were on a wheeled carriage) and another 84 were in warehouses and in training units.

The 75-mm Pak 40 anti-tank gun was used in large numbers to arm various self-propelled guns on tank chassis, armored personnel carriers and armored cars. In 1942-1945, it was installed on self-propelled guns Marder II (on the chassis of the Pz.ll tank, 576 units) and Marder II (on the chassis of the Pz. 38(t) tank, 1756 units), armored personnel carriers Sd.Kfz. 251/22 (302 pieces), armored vehicles Sd.Kfz. 234/4 (89 pieces), RSO tracked tractors with an armored cab (60 pieces), based on captured French armored vehicles (Lorraine tractor, H-39 and FCM 36 tanks, armored personnel carrier on a Somua MCG half-track chassis, 220 pieces in total). Thus, for the entire period of mass production of the Pak 40, at least 3,003 pieces were installed on various chassis, not counting those subsequently used for repairs (this is about 13% of all artillery systems produced).

At the end of 1942, the Heller Brothers (Gebr. Heller) in Nurtingen developed and manufactured the 75-mm Pak 42 anti-tank gun, which was a modernized version of the Pak 40 with a barrel length of 71 calibers (the usual Pak 40 has a barrel length of 46 calibers ). According to German data, after testing, 253 such guns were made on a field gun carriage, after which their production was stopped. Subsequently, the Pz.IV (A) Pz.IV (V) tank destroyers began to arm the Pak 42 cannons (with the muzzle brake removed). As for the Pak 42 on the field carriage, their photographs, data on entering the troops or on combat use have not yet been found. The only image of the Pak 42 known to date is of its installation on a 3-ton half-track tractor chassis.

The development of this gun began by Krupp in parallel with the design of the Rheinmetall-Borsig 75-mm Pak 40. However, unlike the latter, the Krupp gun, which received the designation Pak 41, had a variable-caliber barrel like the 42-mm Pak 41. The first prototypes were made at the end of 1941.

The gun had a rather original design. The barrel was mounted in a spherical support of a two-layer shield (two 7-mm armor plates). Beds and a sprung axle with wheels were attached to the shield. Thus, the main load-bearing structure of the Pak 41 was a double shield.

The barrel of the gun had a variable caliber from 75 mm in the breech to 55 mm at the muzzle, but did not taper along the entire length, but consisted of three sections. The first, starting at the breech with a length of 2,950 mm, had a caliber of 75 mm, then there was a 950 mm conical section, tapering from 75 to 55 mm, and finally the last 420 mm long had a caliber of 55 mm. Thanks to this design, the middle conical section, which was subjected to the greatest wear during firing, could be easily replaced even in the field. To reduce the recoil energy, the barrel had a slotted muzzle brake.

The 75-mm anti-tank gun with a conical bore Pak 41 was adopted by the Wehrmacht in the spring of 1942, and in April - May, Krupp manufactured 150 such guns, after which their production was stopped. Pak 41 was quite expensive - the cost of one gun was more than 15,000 Reichsmarks.

The Pak 41 ammunition included unitary shots with armor-piercing shells PzGr 41 NK weighing 2.56 kg (per 1000 m pierced armor 136 mm thick) and PzGr 41 (W) weighing 2.5 kg (145 mm per 1000 m), as well as fragmentation Spr Gr.

Ammunition for Pak 41 had the same arrangement as for 28/20 mm Pz.B.41 and 42 mm Pak 41 with tapered bores. However, initially they were supplied to the front in insufficient quantities, since extremely scarce tungsten was used to make armor-piercing PzGr.

The 75 mm Pak 41 anti-tank guns entered service with the tank destroyer battalions of several infantry divisions. Due to the high muzzle velocity of the projectile, they could successfully fight almost all types of Soviet, British and American tanks. However, due to the rapid wear of the barrel and the shortage of tungsten, from the middle of 1943 they began to be gradually withdrawn from the troops. Nevertheless, as of March 1, 1945, the Wehrmacht still had 11 Pak 41s, although only three of them were at the front.

Faced with Soviet T-34 and KV tanks, the Germans hastily began to develop means to combat them. One of the measures was the use of 75-mm French field gun barrels of the 1897 model of the year for this - several thousand of these guns were captured by the Wehrmacht during campaigns in Poland and France (the Poles bought these guns from the French in the 1920s in quite large quantities). In addition, a large amount of ammunition for these artillery systems fell into the hands of the Germans: there were more than 5.5 million of them in France alone!

The guns entered service with the Wehrmacht as field guns under the designation: for the Polish - 7.5 cm F. K.97 (p), and for the French - 7.5 cm F. K.231 (f). The difference was that the Polish guns had wooden wheels with spokes - guns were produced with them in France during the First World War, for their transportation to Polish army horse carts were used. The guns that were in service with the French army were modernized in the 1930s, having received metal wheels with rubber tires. This made it possible to tow them with the help of tractors at speeds up to 40 km / h. F. K. 97 (p) and F. K. 231 (f) in limited quantities entered service with several second-class divisions, and were also used in coastal defense in France and Norway. For example, as of March 1, 1944, the Wehrmacht included 683 F. K.231 (f) (of which 300 were in France, two in Italy, 340 on the Soviet-German front and 41 in Norway) and 26 Polish F.K.97 (p), which were on the Soviet-German front.

The use of cannons of the 1897 model for fighting tanks was difficult, primarily because of the design of a single-bar carriage, which allowed an angle of fire along the horizon of only 6 degrees. Therefore, the Germans put the barrel of a 75 mm French gun, equipped with a muzzle brake, on a 50 mm Pak 38 carriage and received a new anti-tank gun, which was given the designation 7.5 cm Pak 97/38. True, its price was quite high - 9,000 Reichsmarks. Despite the fact that the gun had a piston breech, its rate of fire was up to 12 rounds per minute. For firing, shots developed by the Germans with an armor-piercing projectile PzGr and a cumulative HL.Gr 38/97 were used. Fragmentation was used only by the French, which received the designation SprGr 230/1 (f) and SprGr 233/1 (f) in the Wehrmacht.

Production of the Pak 97/38 began in early 1942 and ended in July 1943. Moreover, the last 160 guns were made on the carriage of the Pak 40 guns, they received the designation Pak 97/40. Compared to the Pak 97/38, the new artillery system became heavier (1425 vs. 1270 kg), but the ballistic data remained the same. In just a year and a half of mass production, 3712 Pak 97/38 and Pak 97/40 were manufactured. They entered service with tank destroyer divisions in infantry divisions and several others. As of March 1, 1945, the Wehrmacht still had 122 Pak 97/38 and F.K.231 (f) guns, and only 14 of this number were at the front.

Pak 97/38 were mounted on the chassis of the captured Soviet T-26 tank - in 1943 several such units were manufactured.

Due to the large mass of the 75-mm Pak 40 anti-tank gun, which made it difficult to move around the battlefield by the calculation forces, in April 1944 an attempt was made to create its lightweight version. To do this, the barrel was shortened by 1205 mm, equipped with a more powerful three-chamber muzzle brake and mounted on a Pak 38 carriage. For firing from a new gun, designated Pak 50, shells from Pak 40 were used, but the dimensions of the sleeve and the weight of the powder charge were reduced. The test results showed that the mass of the Pak 50 compared to the Pak 40 did not decrease as much as expected - the fact is that when installing a 75 mm barrel on a Pak 38 carriage, all of its aluminum parts had to be replaced with steel ones. In addition, tests showed that the armor penetration of the new gun was significantly reduced.

However, in May 1944, the Pak 50 began to be mass-produced, and by August 358 had been produced, after which production was discontinued.

Pak 50 entered service with infantry and panzergrenadier divisions and were used in combat from September 1944.

Faced with the T-34 and KV tanks, the German 37-mm Pak 35/36 anti-tank guns were practically powerless, the 50-mm Pak 38 was not enough in the troops, and they were not always effective. Therefore, along with the deployment of mass production of a more powerful 75-mm Pak 40 anti-tank gun, which took time, the search for a temporary measure of anti-tank combat began hastily.

A way out was found in the use of captured Soviet 76.2-mm divisional guns of the 1936 model (F-22), which were captured quite a lot by Wehrmacht units in the first months of the war.

The development of the F-22 began in 1934 at the design bureau of V.G. Grabin as part of the creation of the so-called universal artillery system, which could be used as a howitzer, anti-tank and divisional. The first prototypes were tested in June 1935, after which a meeting was held in the presence of the leaders of the Red Army and the government of the USSR.

As a result, it was decided to stop work on a universal gun and create a divisional one on its basis. After a series of improvements, on May 11, 1936, the new artillery system was adopted by the Red Army as a 76.2-mm divisional gun of the 1936 model.

The gun, which received the factory index F-22, was mounted on a gun carriage with two riveted box-section beds, moving apart in the firing position (this was a novelty for guns of this class), which provided a horizontal firing angle of 60 degrees. The use of a semi-automatic wedge shutter made it possible to increase the rate of fire to 15 rounds per minute. Due to the fact that the F-22 was originally designed as a universal one, it had a fairly large elevation angle - 75 degrees, which made it possible to conduct barrage fire on aircraft. The disadvantages of the gun include a rather large mass (1620–1700 kg) and dimensions, as well as the location of the drives of the lifting and turning mechanism on opposite sides of the breech (lifting flywheel on the right, rotary on the left). The latter made it very difficult to fire at moving targets, such as tanks. The production of the F-22 was carried out in 1937-1939, in total 2956 of these guns were made.

According to German data, they got a little more than 1000 F-22s as trophies during the summer-autumn campaign of 1941, more than 150 in the battles near Moscow and more than 100 during Operation Blau in July 1942 (we are talking about serviceable samples) . The 76.2-mm F-22 guns entered service with the Wehrmacht under the designation F. K.296 (r) and were used as a field gun (F. K. (Feldkanone) - field gun), which had an armor-piercing projectile and could quite successfully fight Soviet tanks.

In addition, part of the F-22 was converted into anti-tank guns, which received the designation Panzerabverkanone 36 (russland) or Pak 36 (r) - "anti-tank gun model 1936 (Russian)". At the same time, the Germans developed new, more powerful ammunition for this gun, for which they had to squander the chamber (the new ammunition had a sleeve 716 mm long against the original Soviet 385 mm). Since a large elevation angle was not required for an anti-tank gun, the sector of the lifting mechanism was limited to an angle of 18 degrees, which made it possible to move the flywheel for pointing the gun vertically from the right side to the left side. In addition, the Pak 36(r) received a height-cut shield and a dual-chamber muzzle brake to reduce recoil energy.

As a result of the modernization, the Wehrmacht had a fairly powerful anti-tank gun at its disposal, which could successfully fight the Soviet T-34 and KV tanks at distances up to 1000 m. th (and for self-propelled artillery - until January 1944), in total, the Wehrmacht received 560 such artillery systems on a field machine and 894 for installation on self-propelled guns. But here an explanation must be given. The fact is that the number of manufactured guns in the towed version most likely included the 76.2-mm Pak 39 (r) anti-tank guns (see the next chapter), since the Germans in the documents often did not make a difference between the Pak 36 (r) and Pak 39(r). According to some reports, the latter could be up to 300 pieces.

The ammunition of the Pak 36 (r) gun included unitary shots developed by the Germans with an armor-piercing projectile PzGr 39 weighing 2.5 kg, a sub-caliber PzGr 40 weighing 2.1 kg (with a tungsten core) and a fragmentation SprGr 39 weighing 6.25 kg.

Pak 36(r) were mounted on the chassis of the Pz.II Ausf.D and Pz.38(t) tanks and were used as tank destroyers. On a field carriage, these guns were mainly used by infantry divisions. Pak 36 (r) were used in combat operations in North Africa and on the Soviet-German front. As of March 1, 1945, the Wehrmacht still had 165 Pak 36 (u) and Pak 39 (r), some of which were in warehouses.

It was generally accepted that only the F-22 was converted by the Germans into an anti-tank one, since it had a strong breech. However, the 76.2-mm F-22USV divisional guns of pre-war production were also subjected to similar alterations, since their breech and barrel design almost did not differ from the F-22. In addition, the indicated gun was 220–250 kg lighter than the F-22 and had a 710 mm shorter barrel.

The development of a new 76.2 mm divisional gun for the Red Army began in 1938, as the F-22 produced was too complex, expensive and heavy. The new gun, which received the factory designation F-22USV (F-22 improved), was designed at the design bureau under the leadership of V. Grabin as soon as possible - a prototype was ready in seven months after the start of work. This was achieved by using more than 50% of parts from the F-22 in the new artillery system. Like the base model, the F-22USV received a wedge-shaped semi-automatic breech block, providing a rate of fire of up to 15 rounds per minute, and a riveted carriage, which allowed for horizontal firing up to 60 degrees. The design of the recoil brake, shield, upper and lower machine tools, lifting and turning mechanisms was changed (although, like on the F-22, their drives were on opposite sides of the trunk), suspension systems, tires from the ZIS-5 car were used. After testing in the fall of 1939, the new gun was adopted by the Red Army as the 76.2-mm divisional gun of the 1939 model (USV). In 1939-1940, 1150 F-22USVs were manufactured, in 1941-2661 and in 1942 - 6046. Moreover, in 1941-1942, 6890 units were produced by Plant No. 221 Barricades in Stalingrad under the USV-BR index, and they differed in a number parts from F-22USV guns manufactured at factory No. 92.

During the first year of the war, the Germans got quite a lot of 76.2-mm F-22USV and USV-BR as trophies. They entered service with the Wehrmacht as field guns under the designation F. K.296 (r). However, tests have shown that these guns can be successfully used as anti-tank guns, significantly increasing their armor penetration.

The Germans squandered the F-22USV charging chamber for the use of a shot developed for the Pak 36 (r), installed a two-chamber muzzle brake on the barrel, and moved the vertical aiming flywheel to the left side. In this form, the gun, which received the designation Panzerabverkanone 39 (russland) or Pak 39 (r) - "anti-tank gun of the 1939 model of the year (Russian)" began to enter service with the anti-tank units of the Wehrmacht. Moreover, only guns produced in 1940-1941 were reworked - the German tests of the USV-BR, 76-mm ZIS-3, and also the F-22USV made after the summer of 1941 showed that their breech was no longer as strong as that of pre-war production guns, and therefore it was not possible to convert them into Pak 39 (r).

Unfortunately, the exact number of Pak 39 (r) produced could not be found - the Germans often did not separate them from Pak 36 (r). According to some sources, up to 300 of these guns were produced in total. Also missing are ballistics and armor penetration data for the Pak 39(r).

The design of a new 88-mm anti-tank gun began by Rheinmetall-Borsig in the fall of 1942, and the ballistics from the Flak 41 anti-aircraft gun of the same caliber was used as the base. Due to the workload of the company with other orders at the end of 1942, the refinement and production of the 88-mm anti-tank gun, which received the designation Pak 43, was transferred to the Weserhutte company.

Pak 43 had a barrel length of almost seven meters with a powerful muzzle brake and a horizontal wedge semi-automatic shutter. As a legacy from the anti-aircraft guns, the gun got a cruciform carriage, which was equipped with two two-wheeled passages for transportation. Although this design made the gun heavier, it provided circular fire along the horizon, which was important when fighting tanks.

The horizontal installation of the gun was carried out by levels with special jacks located at the ends of the longitudinal beam of the gun carriage. To protect the calculation from bullets and shell fragments, a shield of 5 mm armor was used, installed at a large angle to the vertical. The mass of the gun was more than 4.5 tons, so it was planned to use only 8-ton Sd.Kfz half-track tractors for towing it. 7.

The Pak 43 ammunition included unitary shots with armor-piercing (PzGr 39/43 weighing 10.2 kg), sub-caliber tungsten carbide core (PzGr 40/43 weighing 7.3 kg), cumulative (HLGr) and fragmentation (SprGr) shells. The gun had very good data - it could easily hit all types of Soviet, American and British tanks at distances of the order of 2500 m.

Due to the high loads that occur during firing, the Pak 43 had a relatively short barrel life, ranging from 1200 to 2000 rounds.

In addition, the use of early-release projectiles, which had a narrower leading belt than those produced later, led to accelerated barrel wear up to 800-1200 shots.

For a number of reasons, the Weserhutte company was able to master the production of Pak 43 only in December 1943, when the first six serial samples were made. These guns were produced until the end of the war and entered service with individual divisions of tank destroyers. A total of 2,098 Pak 43s were manufactured before April 1, 1945. In addition to the field gun carriage, a small number of Pak 43 barrels (about 100) were installed on Nashorn tank destroyers (based on the Pz.IV) in 1944-1945.

Without a doubt, the Pak 43 was the most powerful anti-tank gun of World War II, not inferior even to the Soviet 100 mm BS-3 (not counting the 128 mm Pak 80, which were made by several dozen). However, for high efficiency in the fight against tanks, one had to pay with a large mass of the gun and its almost zero mobility on the battlefield - it took more than one minute to install the Pak 43 on the move (or remove it from them). And on the battlefield, this often led to losses in materiel and personnel.

Due to the delay in the production of the 88-mm Pak 43 anti-tank gun on a cross-shaped carriage, the Wehrmacht command instructed Rheinmetall-Borsig to urgently take measures to provide the army with these guns, which were required for the upcoming summer campaign of 1943 on the Soviet-German front.

To speed up the work, the company used a carriage from its experimental 105-mm K 41 gun with wheels from a 150-mm FH18 heavy howitzer, superimposing the Pak 43 barrel on it. The result was a new anti-tank gun, which received the designation Pak 43/41.

Due to the presence of sliding frames, the gun had a horizontal firing angle of 56 degrees.

To protect the calculation from bullets and shell fragments, the Pak 43/41 was equipped with a shield mounted on the upper machine. The mass of the gun was, although less than that of the Pak 43 - 4380 kg, but still not so much that it could be moved on the battlefield by calculation forces. The ballistics and ammunition used by the Pak 43/41 were the same as those of the Pak 43.

Production of the new guns began in February 1943, when 23 Pak 43/41s were assembled. However, a few days later they were handed over to equip Hornisse tank destroyers (later renamed Nashorn). Due to the fact that 88-mm anti-tank guns went into service with Hornisse, it was not until April 1943 that the first Pak 43/41 on a field carriage entered the troops. Production of these guns continued until the spring of 1944, with a total of 1,403 Pak 43/41s produced.

Like the Pak 43, these guns entered service with individual tank destroyer battalions. As of March 1, 1945, there were 1,049 88 mm anti-tank guns (Pak 43 and Pak 43/41) at the front, and another 135 were in warehouses and in spare parts. For its large overall dimensions, the Pak 43/41 gun received the army nickname "Scheunentor" (barn gate).

The design of a 128-mm anti-tank gun began in 1943, and the Flak 40 anti-aircraft gun with good ballistic data was used as the base. The first prototypes were manufactured by Krupp and Rheinmetall-Borsig, but after testing, the Krupp gun was accepted for serial production, which in December 1943 began to be produced under the designation Pak 44 and until March 1944 18 such guns were manufactured.

The gun was mounted on a specially designed cruciform carriage, which provided 360-degree horizontal fire. Due to the presence of a semi-automatic shutter, the gun, despite the use of separate loading shots, had a rate of fire of up to five rounds per minute. For transportation, the Pak 44 was equipped with four wheels with rubber tires, which allowed it to be transported at speeds up to 35 km / h. Due to the large mass of the artillery system - more than 10 tons - only 12 or 18-ton half-track tractors could tow it.

The Pak 44 ammunition included separate loading shots with an armor-piercing projectile weighing 28.3 kg and 28 kg fragmentation. The armor penetration of the Pak 44 was 200 mm at a distance of 1.5 kilometers. It could hit any Soviet, American or English tank at distances beyond their reach. In addition, due to the large mass of the projectile, when it hit the tank, even without breaking through the armor, in 90% of cases it still failed.

In February 1944, the production of 128-mm Pak 80 anti-tank guns began. They differed from Pak 44 mainly in the absence of a muzzle brake, and these guns were used by Jagdtiger heavy tank destroyers and Mans tanks. In the spring of 1944, Krupp produced two samples, designated K 81/1 and K 81/2, respectively. The first was a Pak 80 barrel mounted on a captured French 155 mm Canon de 155 mm Grand Puissance Filloux cannon. With a mass of 12197 kg, it had a horizontal shelling of 60 degrees. It used the same ammunition as the Pak 80.

The 128 mm K 81/2 was a Pak 80 barrel equipped with a muzzle brake and mounted on the carriage of a captured Soviet 152 mm ML-20 howitzer-gun. Compared to the K 81/1, this artillery system was lighter -8302 kg and had an angle of fire of 58 degrees along the horizon.

On October 25, 1944, the main decision was made at Hitler's headquarters to install 52 Pak 80 barrels on French and Soviet carriages and use them as anti-tank guns. On November 8, the state of a separate 128-mm battery (12.8-cm Kanonen-Batterie) was approved, which included six K 81/1 and K 81/2 each. By November 22, four such batteries were formed - 1092, 1097, 1124 and 1125th, which included only ten 128-mm guns (7 K 81/2 and 3 K 81/1). Subsequently, the number of guns in the batteries increased, but never reached the regular number.

In total, from April 1944 to January 1945, the Krupp firm in Breslau manufactured 132 Pak 80 guns, of which 80 were used for installation on the Jagdtiger, Maus and for training purposes (training self-propelled gun crews). The remaining 52 were mounted on field carriages and, under the designation K 81/1 and K 81/2, were used as anti-tank guns as part of separate artillery batteries on the western front.

On February 12, 1942, the most massive Soviet gun of the Great Patriotic War ZIS-3 was adopted, which, along with the T-34 and PPSh-41, became one of the symbols of the Victory.

76-mm divisional gun model 1942 (ZIS-3)

ZIS-3 became the most massive weapon of the Great Patriotic War. The divisional cannon, developed under the leadership of Vasily Gavrilovich Grabin, appeared at the front in the second half of 1942. Light and maneuverable ZIS-3 found a very wide application to fight both manpower and equipment of the enemy. The divisional gun turned out to be essentially universal, and most importantly, easy to learn and manufacture, just at the moment when it was necessary to send the maximum possible number of guns to the active army in a short time. In total, more than 100 thousand ZIS-3s were produced - more than all other guns combined during the war.

37 mm anti-aircraft gun model 1939

Designed to destroy low-flying air targets. Power was supplied from a clip for five artillery cartridges. But often in the initial period of the war, these guns were also used as anti-tank guns. A gun with a high muzzle velocity in 1941 pierced the armor of any German tanks. The disadvantage of the gun was that the failure of one of the gunners made firing alone impossible. The second disadvantage is the lack of an armor shield, which initially anti-aircraft gun was not allowed and appeared only in 1944. In total, at least 18 thousand 37-mm automatic anti-aircraft guns were produced

Howitzer-gun ML-20

A unique weapon that combined the firing range of a cannon and the ability of a howitzer to fire flat fire. Not a single battle, including Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk, Berlin, could not do without the participation of these guns. At the same time, not a single army in the world, including the German one, had such systems in service at that time.
It is noteworthy that the ML-20 became the first Soviet gun to open fire on German territory. On the evening of August 2, 1944, about 50 shells were fired from the ML-20 at German positions in East Prussia. And then a report was sent to Moscow that shells were now exploding on German territory. From the middle of the war, the ML-20 was installed on the Soviet self-propelled guns SU-152, and later on the ISU-152. In total, about 6900 ML-20 guns of various modifications were produced.

ZIS-2 (57-mm anti-tank gun model. 1941) is a weapon with a very difficult fate. One of the two anti-tank guns of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War - the second was the "forty-five". It appeared in 1941, but then there were simply no targets for this gun - any German ZIS-2 tank was pierced through and through, and in difficult conditions The decision was made to abandon the transfer of industry to a war footing from the production of technologically complex and expensive weapons. They remembered the ZIS-2 in 1943, when the German troops appeared heavy tanks. Again, these guns were at the front from the summer of 1943 on the Kursk Bulge and in the future they proved themselves well, coping with almost any German tanks. At distances of several hundred meters, the ZIS-2 pierced the 80-mm side armor of the "tigers".

85 mm anti-aircraft gun model 1939

This weapon during the Great Patriotic War was very widely used both at the front and for the protection of rear facilities and large transport hubs. During the Great Patriotic War, 85-mm anti-aircraft guns destroyed up to 4 thousand enemy aircraft. During the fighting, this gun was often used as an anti-tank gun. And before the start of mass production of the ZIS-3, it was practically the only gun capable of fighting "tigers" at long distances. The feat of senior sergeant G.A. The feature film "At Your Doorstep" is dedicated to this episode of the Battle of Moscow.

Universal ship artillery installation. On Soviet ships (for example, cruisers of the Kirov type) it was used as long-range anti-aircraft artillery. The gun was equipped with an armor shield. Firing range 22 km; ceiling - 15 km. Since it was impossible to track the movement of enemy aircraft with heavy guns, firing, as a rule, was carried out by curtains at a certain range. The weapon turned out to be useful for destroying ground targets. In total, 42 guns were fired before the start of World War II. Since production was concentrated in Leningrad, which was under blockade, the ships of the Pacific Fleet under construction were forced to equip not 100-mm, but 85-mm guns as long-range artillery.

"Forty-five"

The 45-mm anti-tank gun of the 1937 model was the main anti-tank gun of the Red Army in the initial period of the war and was capable of hitting almost any German equipment. Since 1942, its new modification (45-mm anti-tank gun of the 1942 model) with an elongated barrel was adopted. From the middle of the war, when the enemy began to use tanks with powerful armor protection, the main targets of the "forty-five" were transporters and self-propelled guns and enemy firing points. On the basis of the 45-mm anti-tank gun, the 45-mm semi-automatic naval gun 21-K was also created, which turned out to be ineffective due to the low rate of fire and the lack of special sights. Therefore, whenever possible, the 21-K was replaced with automatic guns, transferring the removed artillery to reinforce the positions of ground troops as field and anti-tank guns.