Self-propelled installation ZIS-30
The very first weeks of the war revealed the enormous need of the Red Army for mobile anti-tank and anti-aircraft self-propelled guns. Therefore, on July 1 1941, the People’s Commissar of Arms Vannikov signed the following order:“In view of the urgent need for anti-tank and anti-aircraft self-propelled artillery, and due to the lack of a special base for them, I order:
1. Plant No.4 develop and manufacture an 37-mm anti-aircraft gun on a self-propelled chassis;
2. Plant No.8 develop and manufacture 85-mm anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns on self-propelled chassis;
3. Plant No.92 develop and manufacture an 57-mm anti-tank gun on a self-propelled chassis.
When designing equipment, focus on the industrial trucks used by artillery and all-terrain or tracked tractors. Anti-tank guns must also have an armored cockpit. Projects of self-propelled installations must be submitted to 15 July 1941 for review. "
In accordance with this order, a special group of designers was created at the plant No. 92 under the leadership of P.F. Muravyov. As a result of its intensive work at the end of July, two self-propelled guns left the factory gates: ZiS-30 and ZiS-31. The first was a rotating part of the 57 mm ZiS-2 anti-tank gun mounted on the A-20 Komsomolets artillery tractor, and the second was the same ZiS-2 cannon, but on a specially booked GAZ-AAA three-axle truck. Comparative tests of the two machines, conducted in July-August, showed that the ZiS-31 is more stable during firing and has a greater accuracy compared to the ZiS-30. However, due to the fact that the passability of the ZiS-31 was significantly lower than the ZiS-30, the latter was preferred. According to Vannikov’s order, Plant No. 92 was to start mass production of the ZiS-1 from September 1941, 30, but difficulties arose where no one was waiting for them. It turned out that Plant No. 37 in Moscow, the only manufacturer of Komsomolets tractors, stopped their mass production in August and switched to production entirely. tanks. Therefore, for the manufacture of ZiS-30, plant No. 92 had to seize the Komsomol members from military units and repair machines that came from the front. As a result of these delays, mass production of self-propelled guns began only on September 21. In total, by October 15, 1941, the plant manufactured 101 ZiS-30 vehicles with a 57-mm ZiS-2 gun (taking into account the first prototype machine) and one ZiS-30 with a 45-mm anti-tank gun.
Further production of machines was restrained by the absence of Komsomolets tractors. In order to somehow get out of this situation, the Muravyev group, at its own initiative, designed the ZiS-41 self-propelled gun in early October. It was a rotating part of the gun ZiS-2, mounted on a specially booked half-track all-terrain vehicle ZiS-22 (the latter was mass-produced by the ZiS plant in Moscow). Tested in November 1941. ZIS-41 showed good results. However, by this time the gun ZIS-2 was removed from mass production due to the complexity of manufacturing the barrel pipe and high cost. In addition, the Moscow ZiS plant evacuated and could not provide a sufficient number of ZiS-22 all-terrain vehicles. Therefore, at the end of November 1941, all work on ZIS-41 was stopped. The last attempt to "reanimate" ZiS-30 was made in January 1942. Muravyev's group equipped the first prototype ZIS-30 76-mm ZIS-3 cannon at the factory (despite numerous publications, this tool was put on mass production only at the end of December 1941 of the year instead of the 57-mm ZIS-2 cannon). However, the factory test of this sample did not go further.
The ZiS-30 self-propelled guns began to enter the army at the end of September 1941. All of them went to the staffing of PTO batteries in tank brigades of the West and South-West gables (in all, they were equipped with about 20 tank brigades). By the way, in documents of that time it is quite difficult to distinguish the ZIS-30 car from the 57-mm ZIS-2 gun. The fact is that the factory index ZiS-30 was not known among the troops, and therefore in military reports these vehicles passed as “57-mm PTO cannons” - just like the 57-mm ZiS-2 guns. Only in separate documents they are referred to as “self-propelled 57-mm VET guns”. However, in the very first battles ZiS-30 proved to be very good. So, October 1 is already at the plenum of the Artillery Committee of the Main Artillery Directorate (GAU), chaired by E.Satel. It was reported "about the successful combat use of machines ZIS-30. However, with longer operation of self-propelled guns revealed many shortcomings. So, by 15 on April 1942 of the year, the state committee GAU received feedback from military units on 57-mm anti-tank guns ZiS-2 and ZiS-30. Regarding the latter, in particular, the following was said: “The machine is unstable, the chassis is overloaded, especially the rear bogies, the range is small and the ammunition load is low, the dimensions are large, the motor group is poorly protected, and the driver is not connected. Shooting is often done with raised coulters, as there is no time to deploy, while there have been cases of overturning machines. ”However, with all the shortcomings of the ZIS-30 they fought and successfully fought with enemy tanks. However, by the summer of 1942, there were practically no such vehicles left in the army. Some of them were lost in the battles, and some were out of order due to breakdowns.
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