Computer games, in which young people and representatives of the older generation like to "play," may not have such patriotic and educational significance as the "Zarnitsa" of past decades, but they carry an important information component. Many combat vehicles, rare and produced in small quantities, are now available for analysis. An example is the light self-propelled gun SU-85B. "World Of Tanks" is a popular game, it presents tanks of all the warring countries. Each gamer can try his hand at controlling this machine and shooting from its guns. In real life, this is no longer possible. What was it like for our warriors who had the lot to fight with these weapons? The question requires a detailed answer.
Ancestor - SU-76
The SU-85B review should begin with a complete analysis of its direct ancestor, SU-76, which appeared in the second half of 1942 in combat units of the Red Army. At this stage of the war, our troops had to use everything that could shoot at the enemy, so the story of creating a self-propelled gun is full of drama. Design Bureau No. 38 was tasked with constructing, on the basis of components and assemblies, produced by the Soviet industry in sufficient quantities, a combat vehicle capable of destroying any German tank. Chief Designer S. A. Ginsburg was put in difficult conditions. There was a regular automobile engine GAZ-202 (70 hp), which was clearly not enough to set in motion a machine weighing, according to conservative estimates, more than a dozen tons. This engine worked, of course, on gasoline, but German armored vehicles used the same type of fuel, so the fire hazard was not taken into account. The necessary torque was achieved by putting two GAZ-22 engines in parallel and installing them in the bow of the car. 320 SU-76 units were produced; at the front (Volkhov, Kursk), design flaws were immediately revealed. The people's commissar of tank industry I. M. Zaltsman, who was biased towards Ginsburg, accused him of failure, as a result of which a talented engineer was sent to the front line, where he soon died.
Summer 1943, SU-76M
Production was suspended, but the idea itself was not abandoned. She was supported by the new People's Commissar of Tank Industry V.A. Malyshev, however, with certain reservations. Firstly, the designers removed the upper armor of the fighting compartment, which reduced the overall weight. Secondly, they installed new GAZ-203 engines, previously used for T-70 tanks, and instead of a parallel circuit they switched them on sequentially on a common shaft.
About fourteen thousand of these machines were built, of which more than 9,100 were made by the Gorky Automobile Plant.
Our response to the appearance of heavy armored vehicles in the Germans
In the second half of the war, the general trend of the development of enemy armored vehicles can be briefly described as "thickening of the shell and stretching of the trunk." The Germans strengthened their defense, despite the fact that the weighting had a detrimental effect on driving performance, and the trunks lengthened to shoot as far as possible. 76-mm guns for the confident defeat of the heavy "Tigers" and "Panthers" began to be missed, the army demanded tower artillery that could hit any German tank. SU-85B has become such a machine.
The answer was asymmetric. The new self-propelled gun remained light, but was armed quite seriously, and under certain conditions it could well defeat a heavy, armored and formidable enemy, just as the horsemen of the Golden Horde defeated the Teutonic knights in armor with maneuver and stealth.
Development and testing
SU-85B appeared at the front late in order to fully demonstrate its merits. The prototype was tested at the Kubinka training ground in January of the victorious 1945, then a number of changes were promptly introduced into the design, which corresponded to the comments of Major General Romanov. Assessing the whole machine positively, the commission noted the lack of protection of the viewing slots of the commander and driver, the strong impact of recoil on the ergonomics of the gun crew’s combat positions (to the gunner, to put it more simply, with each shot he fired a sight on the face of the sight). As a result of eliminating these shortcomings (installation of a muzzle brake and additional rolling reservation), the self-propelled gun SU-85B appeared.
After the war
So, at the end of the war, this self-propelled gun reached the peak of its circuitry. The power of the propulsion system was increased to 160 hp, the speed of the road increased to 40 km / h (along the country road - 19 km / h), the booking was strengthened, and the firing accuracy was increased. All these tactical and technical data made it possible to consider the car as a rather effective means of “finishing off” practically defeated Nazi Germany. The tanks of the Wehrmacht did not have enough fuel, they were few.
Almost immediately after the Victory, the SU-85B was discontinued. Created from what was available, by the end of the great battle, this self-propelled gun looked more than modest against the background of ISs, ISUs and the same “thirty-fours” that the Soviet defense industry, spinning its flywheel to incredible speed, could produce in thousands.
The need for an armed 85-mm gun, but a low-speed, weakly armored vehicle with a low-power twin gasoline engine, disappeared.
Perhaps today, few would have remembered the SU-85B, except for those who are interested in military history, if not for the computer game World of Tanks.