Soviet aces artillerymen. List of artillery of the ussr of the second world war Soviet artillery of the second world war

Aspect

So, we will talk about aces-gunners. How they became, we will find out a little later. In the meantime, please read the lines from a letter to the author of one veteran veteran of the Great Patriotic War: "Pilots, with superiority of the enemy, could withdraw from the battle, as well as tankers under certain conditions. Artillerymen did not have such an opportunity. They were destined in every battle - or stop enemy, or perish." Artillerymen often fought to the death, especially in the initial period of German aggression against the USSR, when the tank and motorized columns of the Nazi troops rushed into the depths of our country. It was then that the performance records of the Soviet "gods of war" were set, often in one or two battles.

FIRST - NIKOLAY SIROTININ

On that day, Lieutenant of the Wehrmacht Hensfald, who later died near Stalingrad, wrote in his diary: “July 17, 1941, Sokolnichi, near Krichev. In the evening they buried an unknown Russian soldier. He alone, standing at the cannon, shot a column of our tanks and infantry for a long time And so he died. Everyone marveled at his bravery."

Yes, this Soviet soldier was buried by the enemy. With honours. Much later it turned out that it was the gun commander of the 137th Infantry Division of the 13th Army, Senior Sergeant Nikolai Sirotinin. He accomplished the feat at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War.

Voluntarily volunteering to cover the withdrawal of his unit, Nikolai took up an advantageous firing position, from which the highway, a small river and a bridge across it were clearly visible, opening the way to the east for the enemy. At dawn on July 17, German tanks and armored personnel carriers appeared. When the lead tank reached the bridge, a gunshot rang out. The war machine burst into flames. The second shell hit another, closing the column. There was a traffic jam on the road. The Nazis tried to turn off the highway, but several tanks immediately got stuck in a swamp. And senior sergeant Sirotinin continued to send shells at the target. Black puffs of smoke enveloped the column. The enemy brought down powerful fire on the Soviet gun. A second group of tanks approached from the west and also opened fire. Only after 2.5 hours, the Nazis managed to destroy the cannon, which managed to fire almost 60 shells. At the battlefield, 10 German tanks and armored personnel carriers burned down, many enemy soldiers and officers died.

The soldiers of the 137th Rifle Division, who took up defensive positions on the eastern bank of the river, got the impression that a full-strength battery was firing at the tanks. And only later did they learn that a single gunner was holding back the column of tanks.

BROTHERS LUKANINS

It should be noted that artillerymen, including anti-tankers, fought not only with armored vehicles, they had to destroy pillboxes and other enemy fortifications, support infantry, and conduct street battles. However, today we are talking about those who have destroyed and set fire to tanks, assault guns and armored personnel carriers.

The first in the line of artillery aces are the natives of the Kaluga region, the Lukanin brothers - Dmitry and Yakov. The first was the commander, and the second was the gunner of the 197th Guards Artillery Regiment of the 92nd Guards Rifle Division. During the war they destroyed 37 tanks and assault guns, many other military equipment, about 600 enemy soldiers and officers. And therefore they are contenders for the palm among the Soviet artillery aces. Their 152-mm howitzer-gun of the 1937 model, with which they traveled thousands of front-line kilometers, is installed in St. Petersburg in one of the halls of the Military History Museum of Artillery, Engineering and Signal Corps.

For the first time, having entered into single combat with enemy tanks in the battles on the Kursk Bulge, on July 9, 1943, the brothers hit four enemy vehicles.

The Lukanins glorified their name in the battles for the Right-Bank Ukraine on the Steppe Front. On October 15, 1943, 13 enemy tanks with machine gunners moved to the southwestern outskirts of the village of Kaluzhino, Dnepropetrovsk region. Having let the enemy into close range, the brothers knocked out two cars with their first shots. On the other hand, 8 more tanks advanced. From a distance of 100-200 m, the Lukanins burned four of them. An attempt by the enemy to break into the village was repulsed. For this feat, Dmitry and Yakov are awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

“October 15, at night, at 4 o’clock, we took up a firing position. At that time I was the commander of the gun, and brother Yakov was the gunner,” Dmitry Lukanin recalled that battle. “The enemy was at a distance of 700-800 meters from us, in forest. Our observation post was located on a small hill, 30 meters behind us. The commander of the division, Captain Smorzh, noticed a concentration of German tanks from the NP, warned us and ordered us to prepare armor-piercing shells. We quickly complied with the order. And just a few minutes later, Captain Smorzh transmitted the order: "Lukanins, tanks. Get ready for battle!" Here, 200 meters remain to the front, and I command: "On the head - fire!" A shot - and the head car spun in place. However, others continue to move forward. released within just a few minutes, and 6 fascist tanks remained motionless in front of our position, 200-100 meters away. We destroyed a good third of the attacking tanks. Composure helped us to defeat the enemy, as well as the fact that the enemy did not see us well, because only it was getting lighter. Moving targets were easier to detect. Besides, we were accurate shots..."

With their howitzer-cannon, the Lukanins went through the entire war, and therefore the score (they kept it themselves) grew.

And now briefly about the champions. The twin brothers Yakov and Dmitry Lukanin were born in 1901 in the village of Lyubilovo, Kaluga Region. They lived together, at school they sat at the same desk. In 1920, they were called together to serve in the border troops. After being transferred to the reserve, they worked at various construction sites in the country. In the Urals, in particular, they were known as excellent masons. The war found the brothers at one of the factories in Pervouralsk. From here, on the same day, September 3, 1942, they left for the active army. And at the front, the twins are inseparable. They fought in one regiment from Stalingrad to Vienna. One shell wounded them, they were treated in the same hospital. By one Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 24, 1944, they were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. After the war, the Lukanins lived in the Kaluga region. The village where they were born is renamed Lucanino.

GUARD CORPORAL BISEROV

The second result and record among anti-tank gunners belongs to the anti-tank gunner of the 207th Guards Rifle Regiment (70th Guards Rifle Division, Central Front) Guard Corporal Kuzma Biserov. Near the village of Olkhovatka (Ponyrovsky district of the Kursk region) on July 6, 7 and 8, 1943, he destroyed 22 Nazi tanks. That's how it was.

In the early morning of July 6, German tanks - T-III and T-IV - broke through to the defense sector of the 207th Guards Regiment, which were initially considered to be "Tigers", since they were equipped with hinged screens to protect against cumulative projectiles. Firing on the move, armored vehicles moved to the firing positions of a platoon of 45-mm anti-tank guns of the 2nd rifle battalion. The enemy is within reach. Even black and white crosses are visible at the lead tank. The command sounds, and corporal Kuzma Biserov sends a forty-five shell into the German car. A "Tiger" is not a "Tiger", and you can't immediately take a German tank. And yet the second shot is striking. Suddenly, an enemy truck with infantry appeared from behind a bend in the road. Corporal Biserov hit him with shrapnel. He caught fire. Tanks coming from behind began to bypass him. Kuzma Biserov took aim at one of them. Shot - and the Germans began to jump out of the padded armored monster. The shells began to burst in it.

But now the explosion is already at the position of the gunners. The T-IV on the right almost covered the gun. The calculation was covered with earth, blinded, and the tank confidently moved forward. A little more, and he will crush the calculation. 80 meters, 75. "Fire!" shouts the crew commander. Biserov again at the sight. A shot is fired. The German car stumbled, froze and burst into flames. Command: "Change position!" They picked up the gun and rolled it forward - closer to the enemy. And in the old place, enemy shells were already bursting. Tanks (these were T-IIIs and T-IVs) already in a new place stumbled upon the blows of Soviet anti-tank guns, we emphasize, forty-five. It should be noted that the improved ones - the 1942 model, the armor penetration of which, compared with the 45-mm PT of 1937, increased by almost one and a half times. From a distance of a kilometer, forty-five M-42s pierced armor 51 mm thick, and from a distance of 500 m - 61 mm. And the gunners skillfully used their weapons. Tangible losses in this direction came as a surprise to the German tankers. The first attack failed. However, it was followed by the second, third ... But the crew of the anti-tank gun was at its best.

13 enemy tanks remained in place.

The night from 7 to 8 July passed quietly. Only scouts were active. But at dawn on the 8th it all started again. Again, the bombs of the Junkers that had broken through here flew from the sky, the shells tore at the already wounded ground. The rumble of tanks was approaching, turning into a continuous powerful rumble. The enemy brought new forces into battle - units of the 2nd and 4th tank divisions.

After a few hours of battle, the Nazis broke into our advanced trenches. Now only grenade explosions, rifle and pistol shots, short automatic bursts were heard. And artillery hit enemy vehicles - one tank caught fire after another. It was very difficult for the anti-tankers. The sun was scorching, but the red-hot gun breathed even hotter, the tunics had long since withered - the salt from the soldiers' backs came out onto the fabric.

Armor-piercing, charge! shouted Kuzma.

A shot followed, and the tank stopped, engulfed in flames.

However, in the gun crew for a long time no one heard the command: everyone acted as best he could and could. Again there were tanks, infantry.

A dozen armored vehicles burned in front of Biserov's cannon.

By the end of July 8, Corporal Biserov already had 22 wrecked Wehrmacht tanks on his account. The commander of the Guards Rifle Division thanked Kuzma Biserov.

The fighting did not end there, the Battle of Kursk continued. On July 25, the 207th Guards Rifle Regiment again held the line. The tanks were moving again, followed by the infantry.

Biserov did not have time to deploy the gun. There was a deafening explosion. The weapon is out of order. There was a rifle and grenades. Kuzma grabbed his rifle and, clinging to the ground, opened fire on the advancing infantry. Here one infantryman fell, the second ... And then ...

And then a self-propelled gun came at him. Biserov took aim, wanted to get into the viewing slot. But the gunshot rang out earlier.

Here is such a simple feat. It would be possible to find other words for this, perhaps stronger, more capacious, more colorful. But would it be true? The truth here, I think, is one. There were tanks, and Biserov repulsed their attacks with the calculation. Reflected firmly. This guy, apparently, had innate resilience, then he defended his land, but otherwise, I repeat, he was lucky. There were tanks and there were a lot of them ...

How did he, Kuzma Biserov, become the anti-tank champion? An ordinary rural guy, the majority of whom were at the front, and suddenly... You get closer to his biography, his short life, and you come to the conclusion that he became a record holder because he was an ordinary guy. Because he was born in the village of Kvalyashur, in Udmurtia, in 1925. Because he graduated from the seven-year school in the village of Kuliga, the FZO school in Votkinsk. Because he worked at the Kez station of the Perm railway. And because, finally, in 1942 he studied at a tank school, and became a forty-five gunner. It happened.

What is his high achievement?

In the Olkhovatka area, the blow was delivered by selected units of the Nazi Panzerwaffe. And he stood.

The superiority of the enemy was enormous. But Biserov held on.

The enemy is stronger. And Biserov died. But 22 German armored vehicles made of Krupp steel remained on Kursk soil. Since July 1943, the enemy had to retrain 22 tank crews.

This is a great achievement. The plot of a feat must be written in gold on marble. However, this has been partially done. Kuzma Biserov became a Hero - Hero of the Soviet Union. Such a high rank was awarded posthumously to the gunner of an anti-tank gun on September 8, 1943. For unparalleled courage and heroism shown in the battles on the Kursk Bulge, near the village of Olkhovatka.

ALEXANDER SEROV AND OTHERS

The third result among gunners was for the gunner of the 8th battery of the 636th anti-tank artillery regiment of the 9th anti-tank artillery brigade, Private Alexander Serov (he accounted for 18 destroyed tanks and 1 assault gun) and the gun commander of the 122nd Guards Artillery Regiment (51- I am a Guards Rifle Division, Voronezh Front) of the Guards foreman Alexei Vlasov (19 enemy tanks).

The fateful lot decreed that Alexander Serov had to engage in a fierce battle with the enemy in the first days of the war in the Baltic states, southwest of Siauliai. The anti-tankers of the regiment saddled the highway leading to the city on June 19, having left for the exercise. On June 22, at their positions, they received news of the beginning of the war, and on the 23rd, in the afternoon, the 636th regiment attacked 50 enemy armored vehicles with motorized infantry. The regiment commander Boris Prokudin, a participant in the fighting on the Khalkhin Gol River, competently organized the defense. That is why the first few shots stopped the attackers.

It was then that Alexander Serov opened his account. His 76mm cannon was attacked by a large group of fascist tanks. In order to hit for sure, the gunner let the cars up to a close distance and fired at the nearest one. She puffed. Alexander aimed the gun at another, at the third ... 11 tanks were hit when a fragment of an enemy shell wounded Serov. However, even then he did not leave his place at the gun, continued to fire and destroyed seven more tanks. The mastery of the combat specialty had an effect - Alexander sent each shell to the target, and the enemy did not expect this at all and could not recover from such a meeting for a long time. Only the second wound forced Serov to release the battle cord from his hands. Something like this looks like a picture of that fierce battle, in which the gunner set an absolute record - 18 wrecked enemy vehicles in one battle.

For a long time it was believed that Alexander Serov was mortally wounded. Decades later, this turned out not to be the case. After a long treatment in the hospital, he retired “cleanly”, returned to his homeland in Siberia, to his native village of Baksheevo, where he received a funeral. In the seventies, when employees of one of the Lithuanian museums searched for him, he spoke about his participation in repelling an enemy tank column.

On the first day of the battle, Alexander Serov destroyed up to ten vehicles and was then wounded, but remained in service. On the second day, the Nazi tanks broke through to the battery. “I fired,” recalled Alexander Serov, “the tank turned around and froze. I quickly aimed the cannon at another tank. The gun fired accurately, hitting tank after tank. Serov was dizzy from blood loss - the bandage slipped, the wound opened. However, he still stood at the sight, took the tanks in the crosshairs, and fired. Then - a blow, everything fell into darkness. The last thing he heard was the voice of the shell-carrier: "Serov was killed."

Alexander Serov himself does not name a specific number of destroyed vehicles. Where did she come from? Serov was presented for a state award, and in the presentation, as his colleagues recalled, she figured. But the document was lost, the award - the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree - was received by the anti-tanker only many, many years later and already according to a different idea, but in the memory of the soldiers of the 636th regiment it was imprinted - 18 destroyed tanks in one calculation in one battle.

Guards foreman Alexei Vlasov distinguished himself on July 6, 1943 near the village of Yakovlevo (Belgorod region). Here, his crew, when repulsing an attack by enemy tanks, knocked out 4 heavy and 5 medium combat vehicles. The next day, the enemy threw 23 tanks into battle. In 30 minutes of battle, the calculation knocked out 10 of them, setting a kind of record.

Let's also name Senior Sergeant Sinyavsky and Corporal Mukozobov, commander and gunner of the 542nd Infantry Regiment of the 161st Infantry Division. They became aces in the early days of the war. From June 22 to June 26, in fierce battles on the outskirts of Minsk, their crew destroyed 17 enemy tanks and assault guns. For this feat, the soldiers were awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

The record among self-propelled gunners is held by the commander of the self-propelled guns of the 383rd Guards Heavy Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment (3rd Guards Tank Army, 1st Ukrainian Front) Guards Junior Lieutenant Mikhail Klimov. His calculation in March 1945 in the area of ​​Waldenburg and Naumburg (now Poland) disabled 16 enemy tanks.

Many other Soviet artillerymen also fought bravely. 35 commanders and gunners of effective artillery crews destroyed 432 enemy tanks, assault guns and armored personnel carriers.

SHELVES-RECORDS

The gunners have whole units in the champions. Let's return to the actions of the 636th anti-tank regiment, in which Alexander Serov fought on June 23, 1941. Then the enemy was driven back, the regiment destroyed 59 tanks and assault guns.

Up to 50 German tanks during the fighting from July 12 to August 16 "found their death" under the fire of artillery units under the command of Hero of the Soviet Union Sergei Nilovsky.

During the first months of the war (from June to August 1941), the 462nd Corps Artillery Regiment of the RGC destroyed about 100 enemy tanks, 24 armored vehicles, 33 guns, and destroyed a lot of enemy manpower. Subsequently, he was transformed into a guards.

Artillerymen also showed good results in other periods of the war. 89 tanks, including 35 heavy ones, were destroyed on July 6 and 7, 1943, when repulsing attacks in the Belgorod direction during the Battle of Kursk, by the personnel of the 1177th anti-tank artillery regiment (47th Army, Voronezh Front), commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Alexey Shalimov, posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

For the first time in the days of the war, Soviet artillerymen entered into heated battles with Wehrmacht tank units, armed with a 45-mm anti-tank gun, a divisional 76-mm gun, and a 152-mm howitzer gun. Soviet soldiers beat the enemy with anti-aircraft guns of 37-mm, 76-mm and especially 85-mm calibers, from other artillery systems. In the course of the war, new weapons appear, and their quality is continuously improved. The modernized 45-mm and 57-mm anti-tank guns M-42 model 1942 and ZIS-2 model 1943, the 76-mm regimental gun model 1943 and the new 76-mm divisional gun ZIS-3 model 1942 enter service 100-mm field gun BS-3 model 1944, the mass production of which began at the oldest factories in Leningrad in the fall of 1943 according to the prototype drawings immediately after the breakthrough of the blockade ring.

During the war years, a new type of artillery was created - self-propelled artillery. Soviet soldiers receive the strongest means of fighting with enemy tanks: powerful armored and mobile SU-85 with a D-5S gun (model 1943), SU-100 with a D-10S gun (model 1944), SU-152 with a howitzer- cannon ML-20 (model 1944), ISU-122 with gun D-25S (model 1944), ISU-152 with howitzer-gun ML-20 (model 1943).

Good experience in fighting enemy tanks began to come to them by the middle of 1943 (although the highest results were achieved by individual gunners at the beginning of the war). By that time, the headquarters of the Red Army artillery, the headquarters of the artillery of the fronts and armies had put on a permanent basis the study of the enemy's armored vehicles, his tactics of action, and the issuance of recommendations to the troops. Particular attention was paid to ways to deal with new types of heavy tanks and assault guns, such as the T-VIH "Tiger", T-VG "Panther", "Elephant". Targeted combat training was organized in the anti-tank units. In the armies, special rear ranges were equipped, where anti-tankers trained to shoot at mock-up tanks, including propulsion ones. Teams of tank destroyers were created. The memos "Memo on the fight against tanks "Tiger", "Memo to the artilleryman - destroyer of enemy tanks" were published.

All this made it possible to pacify the Nazi tank menagerie. Of course, our valiant tank crews and anti-tank rifle crews also played an important role in this. But the role of gunners is also great - their duels with "Tigers" and "Panthers", other Wehrmacht tanks gave dozens of aces, dozens of masters of well-aimed gunfire.

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. The light and maneuverable ZIS-3 has found a very wide application for combating 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 minus is the lack of an armor shield, which was not originally intended for an anti-aircraft gun 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 the difficult conditions of transferring industry to a war footing, it was decided to abandon the production of a technologically complex and expensive gun. They remembered the ZIS-2 in 1943, when heavy tanks appeared in the German troops. Again, these guns were at the front in 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 the calculation of senior sergeant G. A. Shadunts is known, who destroyed 8 German tanks in two days of fighting in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe modern city of Lobnya, Moscow Region. 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.

Soviet anti-tank artillery played a crucial role in the Great Patriotic War; it accounted for about 70% of all destroyed German artillery. Anti-tank warriors, fighting "to the last", often at the cost of their own lives 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 very limited opportunities to strengthen anti-tank defense in tank-prone 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, the Soviet troops had to face the German "tank wedge" tactics. 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 of the total number of anti-tank guns on the Kursk Bulge. A long pause in the fighting at the front made it possible to improve the condition of units and formations due to the receipt of equipment from industry and the resupplying of anti-tank regiments with personnel.

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 fight 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 shortcomings 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.

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 providing fire support to 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.

45-mm guns of the 1937 model of the year relied on the state of anti-tank platoons of rifle battalions of the Red Army (2 guns) and anti-tank divisions of 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 serial production. The armor thickness of the shield cover has been increased from 4.5 mm to 7 mm to better protect the crew from armor-piercing rifle 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 of the year was started 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 the 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 (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 the neck of the cartridge case re-compressed to a caliber of 57 mm.

In 1940, a design team led by Vasily Gavrilovich Grabin began to design a new anti-tank gun that meets the tactical and technical requirements of the Main Artillery Directorate (GAU). The main feature of the new gun was the use of a long barrel with a length of 73 calibers. 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 states 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. The Genius of Soviet Artillery: The Triumph and Tragedy of V. Grabin.
A. Ivanov. Artillery of the USSR in the Second World War.