Trophy Soviet anti-tank guns in the German Armed Forces in World War II
Trophy anti-tank artillery in the German Armed Forces. In the course of the hostilities against the USSR, German troops captured several thousand artillery pieces suitable for fighting tanks. Most of the trophies were received in 1941-1942, when the Soviet troops fought heavy defensive battles.
45-mm guns of 1932, 1934 and 1937 samples
At the time of the German attack on the Soviet Union, the main anti-tank weapons of the Red Army were the 45-mm guns of the 1932 year, 1934 year and 1937 year. The 1932 gun of the year (19-K) was created on the basis of the 37-mm anti-tank gun of the 1930 gun of the year (1-K), which, in turn, was designed by the German company Rheinmetall-Borsig AG and had much in common with the 3,7 cm anti-tank gun Pak 35 / 36. At the end of 1931, the designers of Kalinin Plant No. 8 in Mytishchi near Moscow installed a new barrel of 37 mm caliber in the casing of the 1930-mm anti-tank gun of the 45 model of the year and strengthened the carriage. The main reason for increasing the caliber of the gun from 37 to 45 mm was the desire to increase the mass of the fragmentation shell, which made it possible to more effectively deal with enemy manpower and destroy light field fortifications.
During the production, changes were made to the gun design: the bolt and sights were modified, the wooden wheels were replaced by wheels from the GAZ-A car on pneumatic tires and the horizontal aiming mechanism was improved. This transitional modification is known as the 45-mm anti-tank gun of the 1934 model of the year.
The gun of the 1937 model of the year (53-K) had a modified semi-automatic, push-button release, spring suspension was introduced, bulletproof wheels with sponge rubber on stamped steel disks were used, changes were made to the machine manufacturing technology. However, in wartime photographs, one can observe the arr. 1937 g. On wheels with spokes, and with steel wheels. Shortly before the start of the war, the production of 45-mm guns was curtailed, the troops were sufficiently saturated with “forty-fives,” and the military leadership believed that anti-tank guns of greater power would be required in a future war.
For the end of the 1930's, the 45-mm gun 53-K was a completely modern anti-tank gun, with good armor penetration and acceptable weight and size characteristics. With the weight in combat position of 560 kg, a calculation of five people could roll it a short distance to change position. The height of the gun was 1200 mm, which made it possible to mask well. Vertical angles: -8 ° to 25 °. Horizontal: 60 °. With a barrel length of 2070 mm, the initial velocity of an armor-piercing projectile weighing 1,43 kg was 760 m / s. At a distance of 500 m, an armor-piercing projectile pierced 43-mm armor during normal tests. The ammunition also included shots with fragmentation grenades and buckshot. The rate of fire of the 45-mm gun was also at a high - 15-20 rds / min.
The characteristics of the guns made it possible to successfully fight at all ranges of targeted fire with armored vehicles protected by bulletproof armor. However, during the summer battles of 1941 of the year, it turned out that 45-mm armor-piercing shells often did not provide damage to tanks with an armor thickness of 30 mm or more. Due to improper heat treatment, approximately 50% of armor-piercing shells cracked upon encountering armor without breaking through it. During the control firing, it turned out that the actual value of the armor penetration of defective shells was about one and a half times less than declared. Given the fact that by the end of the 1941, the Germans began to massively use tanks and self-propelled artillery systems with a frontal armor thickness of 50 mm, insufficient armor penetration of the 45-mm anti-tank guns often led to heavy losses and undermined the belief in them personnel.
To preserve the declared armor penetration, tough measures were required to observe technological discipline at the enterprises of the People's Commissariat of Ammunition. Based on the model of captured ammunition, the 1943-BR-53P sub-caliber armor-piercing tracer shell of the coil form was developed and put into serial production in 240, which had an armor penetration increase of about 500% compared to a caliber armor-piercing projectile. Sub-caliber shells began to enter the troops in the second half of the 30 year and were issued individually by the personal responsibility of the gun commander. The difficulties in supplying raw materials for the manufacture of sub-caliber ammunition, as well as the effectiveness of their use only when firing at distances up to 1943 m, limited the widespread use of such shells. Mass production of high-speed subcaliber shells was problematic due to the acute shortage of molybdenum, tungsten and cobalt. These metals were used as alloying additives in the manufacture of armor steels and hard tool alloys. Attempts to manufacture subcaliber shells with cores of high-carbon steel alloyed with vanadium were unsuccessful. In tests, such cores left dents on the armor, crumbling into small particles without breaking through.
A number of sources say that as of June 22 of 1941, the Red Army was armed with 16 621 pieces of 45-mm guns of all types. In the border districts (Baltic, West, Southwest, Leningrad and Odessa) there were 7520 of them. The production of these guns was carried out even after the start of World War II until the 1943 year, during which time more than 37000 units were manufactured. According to the pre-war schedule, each rifle battalion should have an anti-tank platoon with two 45-mm guns, and a six-gun battery was supposed to be used for the rifle regiment. The reserve of the commander of the rifle division was a separate anti-tank division - 18 guns. In total, the rifle division was supposed to have 54 anti-tank guns, in the mechanized corps - 36. According to the staff list adopted by 29 on July 1941, the rifle battalion was deprived of anti-tank guns, and they were left only at the regimental level in 6 fighter-anti-tank batteries.
At the battalion and regimental level, 45-mm guns were towed by horse carts. Only in the VET division by states was mechanical traction provided - the 21 light Komsomolets crawler tractor. In most cases, what was at hand was used to transport the guns. Due to the shortage of tracked tractors, GAZ-AA and ZIS-5 trucks were often used, which did not have the necessary cross-country ability when driving on bad roads. An obstacle to the introduction of mechanical traction was also the lack of suspension in the 45-mm guns of early production. About 7000 guns available in the troops remained without suspension and with a gun carriage on wooden wheels.
In the confusion of the first months of the war, the Red Army lost a significant part of its anti-tank artillery. Until December 1941, the German troops had several thousand 45-mm guns and a large number of ammunition at their disposal.
Many guns were captured in artillery parks, or on a march before they could enter the battle. In the Wehrmacht, the Soviet 45-mm guns were assigned the designation 4,5-cm Pak 184 (r).
The network has a significant number of photos in which German soldiers are captured next to captured 45-mm guns. But in preparing this publication, it was not possible to find reliable information that the 4,5-cm Pak 184 (r) entered the tank fighter divisions.
Apparently, most of the captured 45-mm guns were used in excess of the existing staff. Apparently, the Germans in the initial period of the war did not highly appreciate the anti-tank capabilities of the "forty-five" due to the large proportion of defective armor-piercing shells. It is also worthwhile to understand that even air-conditioned 45-mm armor-piercing shells were ineffective against the frontal armor of the T-34, and heavy KV-1 were practically invulnerable from all sides.
In this regard, captured 45-mm guns more often fired with fragmentation shots, providing fire support to the infantry. In the initial period of hostilities in the USSR, captured “forty-five” often clung to trucks as part of transport convoys, in case of repelling the attacks of breaking through surrounded Soviet units and partisans. Many guns 4,5-cm Pak 184 (r) were available in police units, they were also transferred to Finland. In 1944, American soldiers who landed in Normandy discovered dozens of "forty-fifty" mounted in the fortifications of the Atlantic Wall.
45-mm anti-tank gun of the 1942 model of the year (M-42)
In 1942, due to the lack of effectiveness in tanks with anti-ballistic armor, the 45-mm gun of the 1937 model of the year was modernized, after which it received the name "45-mm anti-tank gun of the 1942 model of the year (M-42)." The modernization consisted in lengthening the barrel from 2070 to 3087 mm, with a simultaneous increase in the powder charge, which made it possible to increase the initial velocity of the armor-piercing projectile to 870 m / s. At a range of 500 m, an armor-piercing projectile normally pierced 61 mm armor. With a firing range of 350 m, a sub-caliber projectile could overcome the side armor of a heavy tank Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf.H1 with a thickness of 82 mm. In addition to increasing armor penetration during modernization, a number of technological measures were taken to simplify mass production. To better protect the calculation from rifle armor-piercing bullets and large fragments, the thickness of the shield armor was increased from 4,5 mm to 7 mm. As a result of all the changes, the mass of the upgraded gun in combat position increased to 625 kg. However, the gun could still be rolled by calculation forces.
Although in the second half of the war, due to the increased protection of German tanks, the M-42 anti-tank gun no longer fully met the requirements, due to the relatively low cost of manufacture, good mobility and ease of camouflage at a firing position, its use continued until the end of hostilities . From 1942 to 1946, the People's Commissariat of Arms enterprises delivered 11156 copies.
Compared to the 45-mm guns of the pre-war production of M-42 guns, the enemy captured much less. The exact number of guns arr. 1942 g., In the hands of the Germans, it is unknown, apparently, we can talk about several hundred units. Although the M-42 received the designation 4,5-cm Pak 186 (r) in the Wehrmacht, information about its use could not be found. But taking into account the fact that the armor penetration of the upgraded 45-mm gun increased significantly, and the German troops on the Eastern Front always lacked anti-tank artillery, with a high degree of probability it can be assumed that the captured 4,5-cm Pak 186 (r) could reinforce infantry units by secondary sections of the front and use them in fortified areas. A number of 45-mm guns were used for their intended purpose by the Romanian troops until the 1944 year. Part of the Romanian guns mounted on tracked chassis.
Together with the 45-mm guns, the enemy captured several hundred T-20 "Komsomolets" light tracked tractors, protected by bulletproof armor. In the Wehrmacht, the Komsomol members received the designation Gepanzerter Artillerie Schlepper 630 (r).
On the basis of Komsomolets, in the German front-line tank repair shops, an improvised tank destroyer 3,7 cm PaK auf gep Artillerie Schlepper 630 (r) with an 37-mm anti-tank gun 3,7 cm Pak 35 / 36 was made. The exact number of self-propelled guns created on the Komsomolets chassis is not known, but it is likely that some of the vehicles were armed with captured 45-mm guns.
57-mm anti-tank gun ZiS-2
The 57-mm ZiS-2 gun quite rightly claims to be the best Soviet artillery anti-tank system used in the Second World War. The creation of this gun was a response to information on the design in Germany of heavy tanks with anti-shell armor. The serial production of the gun under the designation “57-mm anti-tank gun of the 1941 model of the year” was launched in the summer of the 1941 year. A number of sources say that the 57-mm anti-tank gun was removed from the series in December 1941 due to "excessive power." Given that the 45-mm anti-tank guns in the 1941 year could not always penetrate the frontal armor of the German medium tanks Pz.Kpfw.III and PzKpfw IV, this statement looks strange. The main reason for the cessation of production of 57-mm guns was the difficulty of manufacturing long gun barrels. Due to the decline in production culture caused by the difficulties of wartime and the lack of a special machinery, Soviet industry was unable to establish a mass production of 57-mm guns in the initial period of the war. Compared to the previously produced 45-mm guns, the 57-mm gun was distinguished by increased design complexity, and as a result, in November the People’s Commissariat of Arms decided to suspend the production of anti-tank guns with outstanding characteristics in favor of the mass production of well-developed 1941-mm anti-tank and 45 mm division guns.
In different sources, the number of 57-mm guns fired from June to December of the 1941 year ranges from 250 to 370 units. Perhaps the total takes into account the trunks of the ZiS-4 guns designed to arm tanks. Despite their small numbers, long-barreled anti-tank guns showed themselves well. They entered the anti-tank divisions of rifle divisions and brigades, or the anti-tank regiments of the RGK. The division had 3 batteries for 4 guns - total 12 guns. In anti-tank regiments: from 16 to 24 guns.
Using 57-mm guns on the chassis of the T-20 Komsomolets light tractor, 100 light anti-tank self-propelled guns ZiS-30 were manufactured. The developers took the path of maximum simplification by installing the swinging part of the 57-mm anti-tank gun with a standard shield on the roof of the artillery tractor. The upper machine tool was mounted in the middle part on the machine body. The angles of vertical guidance ranged from -5 to + 25 °, horizontally - in the sector 60 °. Shooting was conducted only from a place. The stability of the self-propelled installation when firing was provided with the help of folding coulters located in the aft of the machine body. The combat crew of the installation consisted of five people.
Anti-tank self-propelled guns began to enter the troops at the end of September 1941. All of them went to equip anti-tank batteries in tank brigades of the Western and South-Western fronts. When operating from pre-prepared positions, the 57-mm anti-tank guns confidently hit any enemy armored vehicles at real combat distances. However, with longer use, self-propelled guns revealed many shortcomings. The chassis of the Komsomolets tractor was overloaded and often failed. The calculations complained about a silhouette that was too high, which caused poor stability during shooting and made camouflage difficult. Also, there were complaints: a small power reserve, small portable ammunition and poor security. By the summer of 1942, almost all ZiS-30 were lost in battle or failed due to breakdowns.
Although anti-tank self-propelled guns ZiS-30 quickly left the scene, in the army as of 1 on June 1943, there were still 34 57-mm guns arr. 1941 g., Reduced to anti-tank regiments. The guns continued to be actively used in hostilities, as evidenced by the statements of ammunition consumption. So, over the entire 1942 year, more than 50 000 57-mm shells were fired at the enemy.
After the appearance of the enemy's heavy tanks “Tiger” and “Panther”, as well as strengthening the frontal armor of medium “fours” and self-propelled guns created up to 80 mm on their base, the Red Army sharply raised the question of increasing the armor penetration of anti-tank artillery. In this regard, in May 1943, the production of 57-mm guns was restored. Guns arr. 1943 g. (ZIS-2) differed from arr. 1941 better manufacturability, ballistic characteristics remained unchanged.
Re-launching a series of 57-mm guns was not easy, the first ZiS-2 were made using a year backlog from 1941. The mass production of gun barrels for ZiS-2 was possible to establish only after 6 months - in November 1943 of the year, after the commissioning of new American metal-working machines obtained by Lend-Lease.
The ZiS-2 guns in the 1943 entered the fighter-anti-tank artillery regiments, which were a special anti-tank reserve - according to the 20 guns per regiment. At the end of the 1944, 57-mm guns began to arm the anti-tank divisions of the Guards Rifle Divisions - 12 guns. In most cases, the Dodge WC-51 all-terrain vehicles and Studebaker US6 all-wheel drive vehicles supplied by Lend-Lease were used to tow guns. If necessary, could be used horse traction and six horses. The towing speed on a good road was up to 15 km / h when using horse traction, and up to 60 km / h when using mechanical traction. The mass of the gun in combat position was 1050 kg. Barrel length - 3950 mm. Rate of fire with aim correction - up to 15 rds / min. Vertical angles: from −5 to + 25 °. Horizontal: 57 °. Calculation - 5 people.
After the appearance of the 57-mm ZiS-2 guns in the army, Soviet anti-tank artillery was able to penetrate the frontal armor of German heavy tanks at a distance of up to half a kilometer. According to the armor penetration table, a blunt-headed armor-piercing projectile BR-271, weighing 3,19 kg with an initial speed of 990 m / s at 500 m, normally pierced 114 mm armor. A sub-caliber armor-piercing projectile of a BR-271P reel form, weighing 1,79 kg with an initial speed of 1270 m / s under the same conditions, could penetrate 145 mm armor. The ammunition also had shots with a UO-271 fragmentation grenade weighing 3,68 kg containing 218 g of TNT. At a range of up to 400 m against the enemy infantry, buckshot could be used.
A significant role in the anti-tank defense of the Red Army ZiS-2 began to play with 1944 year. But until the end of the war, despite the high characteristics, the 57-mm guns could not outnumber the 45-mm M-42 and 76-mm ZiS-3. So at the beginning of March of the 1945 year, in the units of the 3-th Ukrainian Front there were 129 57-mm guns, 516 45-mm guns and 1167 76-mm divisional guns. At the same time, taking into account the high armor penetration, the ZiS-2 guns were considered as a special anti-tank reserve and were used very intensively. This is demonstrated by the records of the presence and summary of the losses of artillery in the army. In the 1944 year, anti-tank units had approximately 4000 57-mm guns, while more than 1100 guns were lost during the fighting. Consumption of shells amounted to 460,3 thousand. In January-May of the 1945 year, the troops received about 1000 ZiS-2, the losses amounted to about 500 guns.
Considering that the ZiS-2 anti-tank guns began to enter the army en masse after Germany switched to strategic defense, the enemy managed to capture only a few dozen 57-mm anti-tank guns in good condition.
In contrast to the “forty-five,” the Germans praised the ZiS-2, which posed a mortal threat to all serial tanks used by the parties at the end of World War II. The captured Soviet 57-mm guns in Germany received the name 5,7-cm Pak 208 (r) and were used up to the surrender of German troops. The captured 57-mm anti-tank guns were used both on the Eastern and Western front, but due to their small numbers they did not have a noticeable effect on the course of hostilities. At least one 5,7-cm Pak 208 (r) gun was captured by US forces in May 1945.
Unlike the 45- and 57-mm guns, the captured 76-mm divisional guns mod. 1936 g. (Ф-22), arr. 1939 g. (SPM) and arr. 1942 g. (ZiS-3), but they will be discussed in the next publication devoted to captured Wehrmacht anti-tank artillery.
To be continued ...
- Linnik Sergey
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Trophy Belgian, British and French anti-tank guns in the German Armed Forces in World War II
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