King Tiger Battlefield Penetration Trials

Field penetration trials weren't an unusual phenomenon during WWII. Soldiers often wanted to look with their own eyes at what their own weapons can do against the enemy, plus the sight of blowing holes in enemy tanks is always good for morale. In this case, two rare beasts were captured for trials: a Tiger and a Tiger II. 

"1st Howitzer Artillery Brigade of the Reserve of the Supreme Command
November 9th, 1944
#01909

For your information, I direct to you the results of experimental firing on Tiger and Tiger B tanks.

Forward these results to battalion commanders, and the results on SU-152 shooting to all troops.

Attachment: the aforementioned on 4 pages.

Chief of Staff of the 1st Starokonstantinov Order of the Red Banner Order of Bogdan Khmelintskiy Howitzer Artillery Brigade, Major Vinogradov"

Diagram #1: upper front plate and illustration of the angle and thickness of the upper and lower front plates.

BS-3 Sight Adjustment

"Directorate of Artillery

3rd Guards Tank Army

Department of Artillery Supply

January 31st, 1945

#0170

To the Commander of the 367th Field Artillery Regiment

100 mm model 1944 guns are equipped with drum sights with the following scales: Fragmentation Grenade, Armour Piercing, and mils or Fragmentation Grenade, Armour Piercing, Fragmentation Grenade (reduced charge) and mils. Due to imprecise markings of ranges only use the mils scale with 250K sight tables and the attached labels until drums are replaced.

Present these instructions to the gun crews.

Deputy Commander of Artillery of the 3rd GTA, Guards Lieutenant Colonel Yefimov

Chief of Artillery Supply, Guards Engineer-Major Telnov"

Via Andrey Ulanov.

BS-3 Sights

"1st Ukrainian Front

Directorate of Artillery

December 20th, 1944

#04724

The commander of the 10th Guards Artillery Tank Destroyer Brigade reports that when firing HE grenades from the 100 mm gun at a 1.5 by 1.5 meter target installed at a range of 1200 to 1800 meters using a sight configured as in the manual, the shell passes above the target. A reduction in 2-4 mils gives excellent results (hit on first shot). 

The Commander of Artillery of the Front orders that:

1. Check the correctness of these conclusions by performing practical firing trials with the 100 mm gun. If similar results are achieved, fire at these ranges with the reduced sight setting.
2. Report the results of practical firing trials and deviation from the sight tables when striking a vertical target.

Chief of Staff of Artillery of the 1st Ukrainian Front, Colonel Murzin

Deputy Chief of Staff of Artillery of the 1st Ukrainian Front, Guards Lieutenant Colonel Skrobov"

Via Andrey Ulanov

Christmas Present

"Order of the People's Commissar of Defense #050 

On rearming one regiment in independent anti-tank artillery brigades of the Reserve of the Supreme Command with 100 mm guns

December 25th, 1944

In order to increase the firepower of  independent anti-tank artillery brigades of the Reserve of the Supreme Command, I give the order to:

1. By January 15th, 1945, complete re-arming one regiment in the following  independent anti-tank artillery brigades:
1. 1st Belorussian Front: 3rd Guards, 8th, 20th, and 41st Brigades.
2. 2nd Belorussian Front: 4th, 5th, 14th, and 44th Brigades.
3. 1st Ukrainian Front: 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th Guards Brigades.
2. Cancel NKO order #0046 issued on November 13th, 1944, regarding the rearmament of one battery in each regiment of  independent anti-tank artillery brigades.
3. Send this order to the 1st and 2nd Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts by telegraph.

People's Commissar of Defense

Marshal of the Soviet Union

I. Stalin"

RGVA 4-11-83 p. 128

17-Pounder: Britain's Long Arm

The development of anti-tank artillery followed more or less the same process in many countries. This resulted in the USSR creating a 100 mm BS-3 gun in 1944 and the Germans with the 88 mm Pak 43 gun, a weapon with excellent characteristics that forced Soviet tank designers to rethink their requirements for armour protection. However, the British arrived at the best solution, creating the Ordnance Quick-Firing 17-pounder, which had the most balanced characteristics. You can familiarize yourself with the gun in detail by viewing these photos and read about its creation and trials in the Soviet Union here.

New AT Guns

"State Committee of Defense Decree #3187
April 15th, 1943
Moscow, Kremlin

On measures for reinforcement of anti-tank defenses.

In order to strengthen our anti-tank defenses, the State Committee of Defense decrees that:

1. The People's Commissar of Armament, comrade Ustinov, must replace the production of 45 mm mod. 1937 guns at factory #172 with 45 mm M-42 guns, following this schedule:
1. April: 250 units
2. May: 300
3. June: 400
4. July: 600
5. August: 800
6. September: all production
2. The People's Commissar of Armament, comrade Ustinov, and factory #92 director, comrade Elyan, must organize production of 57 mm ZiS-2 anti-tank guns and ZiS-4 tank guns to replace 76 mm mod. 1942 divisional guns and F-34 tank guns, following this schedule:
1. April: 50 units
2. May: 150 
3. June: 250
4. July: 350
   and 500 units monthly starting in August. Of the units listed, 20% are ZiS-4 tank guns.
   TsAKB must complete blueprints by June 1st, 1943, and provide them to GAU for approval.
   Send four AT guns and four tank guns from the April production batch to GAU (comrade Yakovlev) for trials, issuing a report to GOKO within ten days.
3. The People's Commissar of Armament (comrade Ustinov) and TsAKB chief (comrade Grabin) must provide GAU with ideas regarding a powerful new corps gun with the qualities of an anti-tank gun based on the 107 mm M-60 gun and 100 mm B-34 naval gun. Also provide ideas for a new special tank, AT, and SPG gun that can penetrate 150 mm of armour at 30 degrees at a distance of 750-1000 meters.
   GAU must examine materials provided by NKV in three days and make a decision regarding experimental prototypes, reporting to GOKO along with NKV.
4. People's Commissar of Ammunition, comrade Vannikov, must introduce 57 and 76 mm subcaliber rounds into production, with the following production schedule:

	May	June	July	August
ZiS-2 shell	3000	10000	10000	15000
ZiS-3 shell	15000	30000	35000	40000

By May 1st, design a 122 mm HEAT shell and a simplified 152 mm AP shell. Within 10 days of the designs being ready, GAU must perform trials and create blueprints for mass production.

5. The People's Commissariat of Chemical Production (comrade Pervukhin) must provide the People's Commissariat of Coloured Metals, above current quota and with first priority, the following materials for production of subcaliber armour piercing shell cores, in tons:

	April	May	June	July	August
Sodium Carbonate	15	30	50	55	70
Hydrochloric acid	75	85	180	200	270
Soot	4	6	13	15	18

and shipment of plastic ballistic caps to the People's Commissariat of Ammunition, according to the following schedule:

	May	June	July	August
ZiS-2 shells	6000	15000	15000	20000
ZiS-3 shells	20000	40000	45000	50000

6. The People's Commissariat of Coloured Metals (comrade Lomako) must provide the People's Commissariat of Ammunition with cores made from hard alloys in the following amounts:

	May	June	July	August
For ZiS-2 shells	5000	13000	13000	20000
For ZiS-3 shells	17000	35000	40000	45000

Chairman of the State Committee of Defense, I. Stalin."

RGASPI 644-2-157