No wonder the Great Patriotic War is called the “war of motors”. The outcome of the largest military operations depended on tanks and self-propelled guns. The Germans became one of the most popular combat transport units self-propelled artillery mount Ferdinand, the USSR - SAU-152.
It is noteworthy that these machines were not mass-produced: the Wehrmacht industry produced 91 units, and the Soviet Union - 670. Information on the history of creation, design, tactical and technical characteristics and combat use of the SAU-152 is presented in this article.
Acquaintance
SAU-152 is a Soviet heavy self-propelled artillery installation of the Great Patriotic War. It was developed from June to October 1943. Due to the fact that the IS tank served as the basis for creating this combat unit, the vehicle is listed as self-propelled guns ISU-152 in the technical documentation. In service with the Red Army since November 1943. Wehrmacht weapons designers created a line of tanks that posed a serious threat to Soviet armored vehicles. German units could be destroyed by armor-piercing caliber shells fired at a minimum distance. The situation improved with the advent of the SAU-152 tank on the battlefield. According to experts, he became a real killer of German armored vehicles, namely the Tigers and Panther. For this reason, the new Soviet combat unit is also called the self-propelled gun ISU-152 "St. John's wort."
With an armor-piercing shell, he smashed any fascist medium tank. When armor-piercing ended, the crew fired with concrete-piercing and even high-explosive, with very high energy. In the battle with the self-propelled guns-152 “St. John's wort” German tanks, if they were not completely destroyed, they lost their sights, guns and other equipment. Due to the high energy of the projectile, even a tower could be torn off the shoulder strap of an enemy combat unit.
About the history of creation
Design work on SAU-152 was started in Chelyabinsk by the designers of the pilot plant No. 100. By this time, it was finally decided to replace the KV-1C heavy tank with a new and promising IS-1. Due to the fact that the workers 'and peasants' Red Army needed a heavy assault gun SU-152, the basis for which was the KV-1C, which was less in demand, the military command decided to adapt the gun to a new fighting vehicle. Thus, on the basis of IS-1, an analogue of ISU-152 was created. The design work was led by J. Kotin, under whose leadership a line of heavy tanks was created in the Soviet Union. Chief Designer - G. Moskvin. Initially, the project was listed as IS-152. Soon, the first prototype “Object No. 241” was ready. After successfully passing factory and state tests, the State Defense Committee issued decree No. 4504, according to which the new combat unit was finally named ISU-152.
About production
SAU-152 (photo of the tank is presented in the article) began to be mass-produced in November 1943 at the Kirov plant in Chelyabinsk (ChKZ). In December, in addition to the new combat unit, old installations were still being made due to the special needs of the front. However, in 1944 - exclusively SAU-152 "St. John's wort".
According to experts, in the production process in order to reduce costs and improve combat and operational qualities, minor changes were made to the design of the machine. For example, in 1944, rolled armored plates were used for the manufacture of the bow of the installation, and not one solid piece. The thickness of the armored car was increased by 4 cm and amounted to 10 cm. In addition, the installation began to be completed with a 12.7 mm anti-aircraft large-caliber machine gun DShK. The 10P radio was replaced with an improved 10RK. Designers also increased the capacity of the outer and inner tanks. For the reason that ChKZ was too busy, the armored vehicles for self-propelled guns were delivered from the Ural Heavy Engineering Plant.
Description
For ISU-152 was provided the same layout as for other Soviet self-propelled artillery installations. The only exception was the SU-76 “St. John's Wort” with a fully armored hull, consisting of two parts. Armored cabin became the location of the crew, guns and ammunition. Thus, the combat and management departments were placed in the wheelhouse. Transmission and engine designers installed aft. The workplace of the driver, gunner and loader is the left half of the wheelhouse from the gun. Mechanic and gunner in front, and loader behind them.
In the right half there is a place for a round landing hatch. The crew could also leave the cabin through a rectangular hatch between the roof and rear sheets of the armored tank. In the left half there is also a third round hatch. However, it is not intended for embarkation and disembarkation of the tank crew. An extension of the panoramic sight is brought out through it. The fourth hatch in the tank bottom was emergency. Also, the combat vehicle was equipped with several additional hatches, which were used when loading the ammunition, during the repair of necks in fuel tanks, units and other units.
About armor protection
For the manufacture of the hull, rolled armored plates were used, the thickness of which was 2.3, 6, 9 and 7.5 cm. The first batches of tanks were produced with cast frontal parts. In subsequent series, more resistant rolled armor was used - the frontal parts in the hulls were already welded. Unlike the previous model (SU-152), in the new self-propelled artillery installation, the hull turned out to be higher, and the armored cabin was larger. The reason for this is the reduced inclined angles of the side armored plates. Since such a constructive solution would significantly reduce the crew’s security, the developers had to compensate for this by thickening the armor in these places.
About the powertrain
The tank is equipped with a four-stroke V-shaped 12-cylinder diesel engine V-2 IS, the power of which is 520 horsepower. To start it, compressed air is provided, which is contained in special tanks of the fighting compartment, an inertial starter having manual and electric drives. As the latter, an auxiliary electric motor of 0.88 kW is used. The diesel unit contains an NK-1 fuel pump, for which an RNK-1 all-mode controller and a fuel feed corrector are provided. The air coming from the tanks into the engine is cleaned by the Multicyclone filter. So that in the cold season with the launch of the power unit there would be no problems, the engine and transmission compartment was equipped with heating devices. They also warmed up the fighting compartment. St. John's wort with three fuel tanks. The location of the two became the fighting compartment, the third - the engine-transmission. In addition, on a self-propelled gun there are four more external additional fuel tanks that are not connected to a common fuel system.
About Transmission
The St. John's Wort installation has a mechanical transmission, which consists of the following components:
- Multi-disc main clutch of dry friction.
- Four-speed gearbox (8 front and 2 rear).
- Two onboard two-stage planetary rotary mechanisms for which multi-plate locking friction clutch and belt brakes are provided.
- Two final drives.
The control of all transmission drives is mechanical. Unlike the previous version, in “St. John's Wort” appeared rotation mechanisms.
About the running gear
Self-propelled guns “St. John's Wort” with an individual torsion bar suspension, presented on each side by six solid cast gable road wheels of small diameter. A travel stop is welded in the housing opposite each roller. The drive wheels are located at the rear. The caterpillar of the tank is represented by single-ridge tracks, in the amount of 86 pieces, with a width of 65 cm. The upper part of the caterpillar at each side, as in the SU-152, was supported by three small solid rollers. Caterpillar tension in the St. John's Wort was carried out by a screw-type mechanism.
About weapons
As the main gun in the ISU-152 was used howitzer gun ML-20C caliber 152 mm sample 1937-1943. Armament was installed on the armor plate in the frontal part of the wheelhouse.
In the vertical plane, gun guidance was carried out at angles from -3 to +20 degrees, in the horizontal - 10 degrees. ML-20 ensured the destruction of the target at a height of 3 m with a direct shot from a distance of 900 m. The highest combat range was 6200 m. The fire was fired mechanically using manual or electric descent. In addition to the main gun 152 mm. Self-propelled guns since 1945 equipped with a large-caliber anti-aircraft machine gun DShK 12.7 mm caliber.
The weapon could have an open or anti-aircraft sight K-8T. A turret was attached to the infantry unit. The location of the machine gun was the right round commander's hatch. In addition to large-caliber guns, the crew of the artillery installation had two machine guns. Mostly these were PPS or PPSh submachine guns. There were also 20 F-1 grenades.
Ammunition
From the main gun, 21 shots could be fired. Compared with the ammunition for the ML-20, the range of shells towed for the ML-20C is more diverse. Shooting from self-propelled guns "St. John's wort" was conducted:
- Armor-piercing tracing sharp-headed projectile 53-BR-540. He weighed almost 49 kg. It had an initial speed of 600 m / s.
- 53-BR-540 high-explosive fragmentation cannon. Weight 43.56 kg. In a second, the projectile covered a distance of 655 m.
Also, instead of an ostrological armor-piercing tracer, a blunt-headed 53-BR-54OB containing a ballistic tip could be used. Reinforced concrete bunkers were destroyed by a concrete-piercing cannon shell 53-G-545. The ammunition of the anti-aircraft machine gun DShK is represented by 250 rounds. For self-defense, the crew of the artillery installation attached disks for PPS and PPSh in the amount of 21 pcs.
TTX
Self-propelled artillery installation has the following parameters:
- Weighs 45.5 tons.
- The length of the self-propelled guns is 675 cm, width - 325 cm, height - 245 cm.
- There are 5 people in the crew.
- A combat vehicle with a cruising range of 165 km moves along a flat surface at a speed of 43 km / h, along a rough one - 20 km / h.
- The specific ground pressure was 0.82 kg / cm2.
- Self-propelled guns are able to overcome meter walls, ditches - up to 2.5 m.
About the combat use of the installation
According to experts, the self-propelled gun-152 mm "St. John's Wort" was successfully used as a heavy assault gun, self-propelled howitzer and fighter of enemy armored vehicles, namely tanks. In addition, with the involvement of the installation in 1956, the Hungarian uprising was suppressed.
In this armed conflict, self-propelled guns were mainly used as a powerful anti-sniper rifle - rebels sniper in the building were destroyed by shells fired from the St. John's Wort. Therefore, when they saw a nearby artillery self-propelled gun, civilians themselves forced the shooters out of their homes. Self-propelled guns were used in the Arab-Israeli war as a firing point for firing on the banks of the Suez Canal. Using self-propelled guns, they cleared the rubble and shot concrete structures when they eliminated the consequences of the Chernobyl accident.