Stories about weapons. SAU SU-76M
As soon as they did not call this car, as they did not criticize. Nevertheless, released in quantities second only to the T-34, the SU-76 became a reliable infantry companion both in defense and in the offensive.
SU-76 was created on the basis of the light tank T-70, primarily as a mobile means of infantry escort. That's right, and nothing else. It was the irrational use of self-propelled guns that entailed large and unjustified losses at first and criticism of self-propelled guns.
Light self-propelled gunnery SU-76 (SU-76М).
This vehicle was used as an infantry escort weapon (cavalry), as well as an anti-tank weapon to fight light and medium tanks and enemy self-propelled guns. To combat the heavy machines SU-76M was ineffective due to the weak armor protection of the hull and the lack of power guns. With reservations, really.
The conning tower open at the top caused great criticism. By the way, according to the original plan, the combat compartment was completely covered with armor, but during the modernization work they refused to armor the roof.
Despite the fact that bulletproof booking was a weakness of ACS, this type of machine was widely used in combat operations. Having different types of ammunition in ammunition, SU-76М could hit enemy manpower, artillery and armored targets.
Suffice it to say that the piercing projectile, which appeared in 1943, pierced with armor 500-mm thick from the 100 distance of meters. But at such a distance of the shot to the "Tigers" it was not easy to approach.
During the Great Patriotic War, light self-propelled artillery mounts were built on the basis of the light tanks T-60 and T-70 with the installation of XIS-Z mm-guns ZIS-Z in the armored cabin of the plants:
Plant No.38 (Chief Designer M.N. Schukin)
Plant №40 (chief designer LF Popov)
Gorky Automobile Plant (deputy chief designer N.A. Astrov).
Total was released 14 280 SAU SU-76 and SU-76M.
The commander of the car and the loader were at the starboard side of the armor cabin, the gunner - to the left of the gun.
The workplace of the ACS mechanic was equipped in the center of the control compartment in the forward part of the hull. The driver had his own access hatch located in the upper front hull sheet, in the lid of which a periscopic mirror device was installed. Landing and exit of the crew, as well as loading of ammunition was made through a double-wing armored door, located in the upper aft sheet of the conning tower.
As the main weapons The 76,2-mm ZIS-Z gun of the 1942 model with a wedge gate and semi-automatic mechanical (copier) type was installed on the machine in the fighting compartment.
The horizontal trunnions of the gun were mounted in bearings mounted on the front cutting sheet. Two side struts of the machine gun were connected to the sides of the machine body.
When firing direct fire, a standard ZIS-3 gun was used, when firing from closed firing positions - a panoramic sight. To monitor the battlefield in the cabin of the cabin was installed periscope reconnaissance, which had scales measuring angles to adjust the shooting. In the stowed position, this device fit inside the car.
In addition, an 7,62-mm DT machine gun was installed in the combat cabin sheet to the left of the gun.
The crew’s personal armament consisted of a PPSh or PPS submachine gun and a dozen F-1 grenades.
The power plant consisted of two four-stroke six-cylinder carbureted gas-cooled GAZ-202 engines installed in parallel along the hull sides. The total power of the power plant was 140 HP (103 kW). ACS engines were started using two electric starters or manually using the crank. The inclusion of starters is separate - for each engine. The capacity of the fuel tanks was 320 l, the power reserve of the car on the highway reached 250 km.
The mechanical transmission of the ACS consisted of two four-speed gearboxes. As the turning mechanism used side clutches. The control drives were mechanical. The maximum speed on the highway was 45 km / h.
For external radio communications, the installation of the 9P radio station was envisaged, for the internal - tank intercom TPU-ZR. For communication of the commander with the driver was used light signaling (signal colored lights).
As soon as they did not call this self-propelled gun ... "Bitch", "Kolombina" and "Gol ... m Ferdinand", "mass grave of the crew". SU-76 taken to blame for the weak booking and open the conning tower. However, an objective comparison with the same type of Western samples convinces us that the SU-76 is not inferior in any way to the German “marders”, not to mention the British “Bishops”.
Nevertheless, the presence of this ACS in the first rows in the attack was perceived with a little less enthusiasm than the work of "Katyush", but still. Light and nimble, and the bunker is shut up, and the machine gun is wound onto the tracks. In a word, it is better with columbins than without them.
And the open wheelhouse did not allow the crew to get poisoned with gunpowder gases. Let me remind you that the Su-76 was used precisely as a weapon to support the infantry. The ZIS-5 gun had an 15 fire rate of fires per minute, and one can only imagine in what hell self-propelled guns had to act in firing to suppress.
Marshal of the Soviet Union K. K. Rokossovsky recalled:
"... The SU-76 self-propelled artillery mounts were especially loved by the soldiers. These lightweight mobile vehicles ripen everywhere to support and help the infantry with their fire and tracks, and the infantrymen, in turn, were ready to deflect them from the fire of enemy armor-piercing fighters. .. "
When used correctly, and it didn’t come right away, SU-76М showed itself well both in defense - in repelling infantry attacks and both mobile, well-defended anti-tank reserves, and in offensive - in suppressing machine-gun nests, destruction of pillboxes and bunkers, and in the fight against counterattacking tanks.
SU-76 was sometimes used to fire from closed positions. The angle of elevation of its guns was the highest among all Soviet serial self-propelled guns, and the firing range could reach the limits of the ZIS-3 gun mounted on it, that is, 13 km.
The low ground pressure allowed the self-propelled gun to move normally in the marshland, where other types of tanks and self-propelled guns would inevitably be stuck. This circumstance played a large positive role in the battles of 1944 in Belarus, where the swamps played the role of natural barriers for the advancing Soviet troops.
SU-76M could pass along the hastily erected gatim with the infantry and attack the enemy where he least expected the attacks of the Soviet self-propelled guns.
Not bad, SU-76M also showed in city battles - its open wheelhouse, despite the possibility of hitting the crew with small arms fire, provided a better overview and allowed us to work very closely with the soldiers of the infantry assault detachments.
Finally, the SU-76M could hit with its fire all light and medium tanks and the Wehrmacht self-propelled guns equivalent to it.
With the end of the Second World War, the service SU-76M did not end. In the Soviet Army, they were exploited until the beginning of the 50s, 130 machines transferred to the Polish Army during the war were also written off by the middle of the 50s, a few dozen of the DPRK inherited took an active part in the Korean War, but most of them were not survived.
What is the result? And the result is as simple as an armor-piercing projectile. Created around the excellent ZIS-3 cannon based on a decent lightweight T-70 tank, produced in large series, the SU-76 made the Red Army self-propelled artillery really massive.
SU-76 has become a reliable means of infantry fire support and the same symbol of victory, though not as explicit as the Thirty-Four and the hunters. But the mass of SU-76 was inferior only to T-34.
Sources:
Museum of the military stories with. Padikovo Moscow region
Igor Shmelev. "Self-propelled artillery"
G.L. Holyavsky "The Complete Encyclopedia of World Tanks 1915 - 2000"
http://pro-tank.ru/bronetehnika-sssr/samohodnie-ustanovki/101-su-76m
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