The famous self-propelled gun SU-26 played a key role in the initial stage of the war, at the same time managing to become a prototype for all subsequent models of the family of self-propelled guns. Appearing on the battlefield almost immediately after the outbreak of war, the self-propelled gun helped stop actively advancing enemy troops in many strategically important sectors of the front, turning the tide of military operations in favor of the Soviet Union.
Installation
Self-propelled artillery SU-26 is one of the brightest representatives of Soviet light armored vehicles of the early forties. Having managed to enter the initial phase, the Great Patriotic War has already shown all the power of a sharply advancing Nazi Germany. Wehrmacht soldiers were actively expanding the front lines, increasingly breaking through the weak defense of Soviet soldiers, poorly equipped with ammunition, the SS tank divisions easily destroyed the domestic light and medium tanks.
Soviet designers had to urgently invent an alternative to German tracked vehicles. Moreover, in the absence of a new type of tank, all the drawings of the self-propelled gun were made on the basis of the schemes of the light Soviet T-26 tank. For the construction of "domestic response to fascism," the legendary Leningrad plant named after. Kirov, famous for the quality and innovation of manufactured equipment.
The designers were waiting for long and hard work on fitting, fitting and testing a large number of experimental models assembled from different parts of damaged tanks. Also, Soviet scientists conducted experiments with various weapon sets, alternately installing different types of small arms on a tracked chassis.
In the end, the first experimental artillery mount of the Soviet Union saw the light, which became the basis for all subsequent developments in the field of this class of military equipment.
Background
As mentioned above, the Soviet army suffered huge losses. First of all, due to the lack of equipment that can quickly move from one place to another and destroy enemy tanks, supporting the infantry. Ordinary guns were badly suited for such a thing, since an artillery crew of five could only rotate the gun, but did not carry it over large distances. Of course, a standard regimental gun could penetrate the armor of the first models of the famous Tiger or Panther from the first shot, but a completely different type of equipment was required — something like a “gun on a tank chassis” so that it could keep up with infantry, maneuver and hold the blow.
The fact is that German tanks could crush or destroy an ordinary cannon with an aimed shot, since it simply stood still, and the difference in the distance by which calculation could move it was insignificant for German tankers.
The armored vehicle on the tracked chassis radically changed the situation. Now the enemy was much more difficult both to get into a moving cannon and to destroy it the first time with a shell.
History
Almost throughout the summer of 1941, broken T-26 tanks were brought from all parts of the front to the Kirov Plant, and with various injuries of varying severity. The light Soviet machine simply could not withstand the onslaught of German medium tanks. The weight category of enemy vehicles, the power of guns, rate of fire and speed of movement did not leave the Soviet tank a chance to survive in a field battle.
At first, the members of the design bureau proposed to install various light and medium artillery pieces on Soviet vehicles, but this attempt was unsuccessful, because the light guns could not penetrate the armor of enemy tanks, and the medium guns created a roll of the machine’s tower or deformed it.
On the orders of the Military Council of the Leningrad Front, another attempt was made to modernize the long-suffering Soviet T-26 light tank, only this time another type of armored vehicle, the BT, was paired with the machine. Various artillery pieces, including the famous CT cannon with a barrel diameter of 76.2 mm, were alternately mounted on models chosen by the government. All these manipulations were unsuccessful, since the guns chosen for installation were either too light or very overall, and simply did not leave a place in the conning tower of the vehicle for the tank crew.
Creature
Having realized that experiments on combining regimental guns and tracked chassis from different weight categories are hardly worth continuing, the commission of the plant’s design bureau decided to develop a separate self-propelled gun, the main task of which would be quick but short-term direct support of infantry, as well as the destruction of enemy light and medium vehicles .
In August 1941, two months after the outbreak of the war, the world-famous factory of lifting and transportation facilities named after Kirova in the city on the Neva presented the project of self-propelled guns self-propelled guns SU-26, which later received a slightly different designation - SU-76. The machine was created on the basis of a light tank of domestic production. The designers nevertheless decided to give another chance to the T-26, but this time they didn’t just put the cannon in the machine’s tower, but completely removed all the military equipment from the machine, leaving only the chassis and upper frontal armor plates. Side protective sheets changed to thicker ones. The cabin acquired a more elongated rectangular shape, and its front side became a kind of shield, like the shield of a field artillery gun.
Modification of the original machine
The process of changing the original version of the T-26 was quite painstaking. Firstly, the tower, as well as the turret box, were completely removed from the tank. The uneven edges of the cuts were cleaned so that the hole was flush with the rear upper armored car. This was done so that one of the crew members, namely, the loader, could stand at full height, without experiencing difficulties when placing a heavy shell in the gun barrel.
Secondly, a special support-and-rotary structure was placed at the place of cutting, thanks to which the gun mounted on the self-propelled machine could rotate in all directions. Under the load-bearing edges of the structure, special shock absorbers were put in place, designed to smooth the recoil from the shots.
The 76 mm regimental gun of the 1927 model was installed on the above-described rotary structure. Of course, in the conditions of modern warfare, this weapon was not very effective, but even such a weapon could provide very worthy resistance in close combat with German tanks. The gun was obscured by a special shield cover, partially reworked from the design shield of the gun.
Under this whole system, two wide hatches were cut, which opened up access to the charging storage, from where the loader and his assistant took ammunition.
In general, the emergence of self-propelled guns SU-26 was dictated not so much by the need for hasty progress in domestic tank building as by the urgent need for the appearance of this type of military equipment at the front. The soldiers desperately needed fire support and means to destroy enemy tanks. However, despite the catastrophic losses of the Soviet army in the first months of the war, by August 1941, only three prototypes were manufactured, one of which was called the SU-76P, and was equipped with a 37-mm 61-K anti-aircraft gun.
Later, in 1942, five more prototypes of the self-propelled machine were built.
Test
By the way, the first training grounds of the newly created installation took place only a few months later. In them, the SU-26 tank proved to be an excellent fighting vehicle. At first, the designers were worried about whether the machine, assembled from spare parts of other armored vehicles, crumpled parts of the tanks, could function properly. However, it soon became clear that even having already used and repaired parts in its composition, the installation brilliantly coped with all types of tests.
October 1941 was successful for the new machine, because after the training sessions at the secret “Plant No. 174”, the Military Council of the Leningrad Front instructed the representatives of the concern to urgently launch the SU-26 self-propelled guns into serial production.
Using
The tank building concern managed to produce a considerable number of vehicles by the end of 1941. And all of them were immediately sent to the front after a short preliminary test. Of course, not all military units had enough self-propelled guns. But those brigades that stood in the first echelon of the front received four cars each. These were mainly divisions that held defenses in different sections of the Leningrad Front.
After all the machines released were again in the repair shops of the plant, they, like the T-26 tank at one time, themselves became spare parts and consumables. By that time, the government had already realized the inefficiency of this type of equipment and instructed the members of the design bureau to develop a radically new type of self-propelled machine.
Subsequent modifications
Despite the rather high efficiency that the machine demonstrated in battles, its production was nevertheless curtailed, as well as the entire SU line as a whole. Later this designation will again be used by design bureaus, however, it will carry information about a radically new type of military equipment.
Parameters
The combat characteristics of the SU-26 were very, very impressive, given the state of Russian military equipment at the very beginning of the war. Self-propelled guns successfully resisted light and medium tanks, had a unique system of aiming guns at a target without turning the entire tower and with the engine turned off. Due to its relatively small size, the machine could fit even in small groves, which gave it an additional advantage on the battlefield.
However, the self-propelled guns were not deprived of the shortcomings. The design description of the SU-26 contains a lot of information about the shortcomings of the machine. The low speed of movement was the main reason why the production of the model was still turned off and went on to develop a self-propelled installation "from scratch", without using any tank as the basis of the chassis.
Engine
The motor from the original T-26 machine was used as the driving force of the self-propelled gun, which was replaced after a year by the more advanced T-26F. An interesting fact was that both engines were copied from the English Armstrong-Sidley motor. It was heavy, bulky and had a capacity of only 91 liters. from. Even the installation of the installation of a forced version of the motor did not change the situation. This did not add strength to the engine, but the weight of the general design of the self-propelled gun increased significantly, which negatively affected its already small maneuverability.
Tower
The cabin for the crew of the self-propelled gun had a special shield shape and was located on a special design that allowed it to rotate 360 ​​degrees. Similar projects already existed in the UK. France and the Axis, however, for a number of reasons, did not receive further development and remained only in the design drawings.
As a main weapon, a 76-mm cannon was installed in the wheelhouse of the Soviet self-propelled artillery system SU-26, which was usually used as a separate type of firearm and was fired from a regiment carriage.