Heavy Tank Destroyer

The ISU-152 is the best known Soviet heavy SPG. This was the most numerous heavy SPG in history and its career lasted for many decades, overshadowing its "little sister", the ISU-122. The vehicles had the same chassis and differed only in the gun (or rather just the barrel) and ammunition racks. It was the ISU-122 and not the ISU-152 that was the main product of the Chelyabinsk Kirov Factory. This was because the vehicles with 122 mm guns were meant to be heavy tank destroyers. Tank regiments that fought in IS-2 tanks were even reformed as artillery regiments with ISU-122 tank destroyers.

Field Artillery Penetration

"USSR NKO

Artillery HQ of the 22nd Army

Pestovo

September 7th, 1941

To chiefs of artillery of infantry divisions

To the commander of the 56th Corps Artillery Regiment

Personal copy for:_________

On orders of the Chief of Artillery of the 22nd Army I send you information regarding penetration of 76 mm and 107 mm HE and 122 mm and 203 mm concrete piercing shells.

The data was obtained at the ANIOP firing at plates angled at 30 degrees from normal.

When firing at plates at normal the penetration is 15-20% higher.

Have all commanders of artillery regiments familiarize themselves with this data.

Attachment: table of penetration on one page.

Chief of Staff of Artillery of the 22nd Army, Colonel Chudin

Chief of the 2nd Department, Captain Matyunenko"

Thermite Shells

"Report on new armour piercing shells used by the German army

1. The use of so called "thermite" armour piercing shells by the German army has not yet been confirmed.
   German press made a mention of an alleged patent for an incendiary thermite shell, but such a shell should be made with an Elektron alloy hull, which is completely unsuitable for armour penetrating shells. The objective of this message was disinformation.
2. The presence of subcaliber armour piercing shot (similar to those made by the French Komissan factory) was discovered during combat.
   The shot consists of a body, a tungsten core, and a ballistic cap. The cap can be made from either plastic or from a light metal.
   Captured documents show that when an armour piercing shot with a cap made from a light metal (Elektron) hits a target, a flash of light can be seen.
   This message was not checked or verified.

Assistant Chief of the 1st Department, 2nd Directorate, Military Engineer 3rd Class, Krutik

_ April 1942

Via Andrei Ulanov.

Mine Roller Trials

"Report on the use of PT-3 mine rollers in combat from July 12th to 16th, 1943

29th Guards Independent Tank Brigade

The use of two mine rollers was planned during the penetration of enemy defenses near the eastern forest clearing 1.5 km east of Dudino to the southeast outskirts of Seraya. As of July 11th the brigade only had one roller.

A roller was towed via tractor to initial positions before the operation.

Christie Negotiations

"Discussion between comrade Khalepskiy and Mr. Christie in comrade Petrov's office on April 18th, 1930 at 3 pm.

Christie: We had a board of directors meeting and the following proposal was arrived at: $15,000 monthly over the course of 4 months for the sale of 2 tractors worth $60,000

Khalepskiy: I consider that the price of $60,000 is high. I propose $50,000 with the following conditions of payment: 10% on signing, 15% after the materials are produced, 25% after assembly is finished, and 50% after trials and acceptance.

An IS in the Hand

An experimental prototype of the IS-1 tank, formerly called KV-13, was sent to factory trials on March 9th, 1943. This was a fully fledged heavy tank, a little lighter than the KV-1S, but much more mobile and protected. However, during the government trials in the spring of 1943, it became clear that it needs a number of improvements, some of them quite serious. The German Tiger tank was the last nail in the coffin of the IS-1. It turned out that an 85 mm gun was necessary to combat this tank, which would not fit into the turret of the experimental Soviet vehicle. This was the start of the story of the Object 237, the last step towards the creation of the heavy IS tank.

Soviet Panzer '46

"Plans for experimental design and scientific research work of the Ministry of Transport Machinebuilding of the USSR for 1946

Item	Description of work	Factory	Cost
Heavy tank (Object 701)	Finishing technical documentation for mass production	Chelyabinsk Kirov factory	100
IS-6 heavy tank with an electric transmission	Trials and  finishing of the experimental prototype	Factory #100 branch	1500
New heavy tank with improved armour (IS-7)	Technical project development, prototype production, conducting trials	Ditto	7000
Artillery SPG on the chassis of the new heavy tank (IS-7) with a fully rotating turret	Development of a technical project	Ditto	150
New heavy tank with a mechanical transmission	Development of a technical project	Chelyabinsk Kirov factory

Approved by the board January 22nd, 1946."

RGAE F.8734 Op.6 D.125 L.1

New Turret

"November 15th, 1942

#SO4899

To the chief of the BTU, Colonel comrade Afonin

Moscow, Red Square, 2nd NKO house

People's Commissar of Tank Production, comrade I.M. Zaltasmann

Moscow, 11 Sadovo-Sukharevskaya street

Director of factory #183, comrade Yu.Ye. Maksarev

RE: review of T-43 and T-44 tank projects 

In addition to my letter #SO-4698 from November 2nd, 1942, sent to you and copied to the Deputy People's Commissar Zh.Ya. Kotin, the following must be said about the results of review of T-43 and T-44 tank projects.

Video: Why did the USSR not develop an RPG during WWII?

Today's video is based on a question I answered on r/AskHistorians. This question was asked by user EhCanadianZebra, who wanted to know why the USSR never developed an anti-tank rocket launcher during WWII even though many other nations had such a weapon.

Captured Tank Observation

Continued from part 2.

"T-1 tank

The driver's observation devices are located in the turret platform. There are two slits in the observation hatch in front of the driver. For observation hatches are located in the corners of the turret platform. The slits in the hatches on the left side are covered with two layer protective glass. There are no slots in the right side. The driver observes through the front slits and the left slit.

The commander observes through the machine gun sight. Outside of battle, he can use the observation ports above the machine guns. Observation ports without slits are located on the sides of the turret. Two observation ports with slits are located in the back of the turret. The location and range of the devices is shown in figure 15. The observation devices do not protect the observer. It is impossible to observe to the right during battle.