D-1 152 mm howitzer
Encyclopedia
The D-1 howitzer M1943 is a Soviet
World War II
-era 152.4 mm howitzer
. The gun was developed by the design bureau headed by F. F. Petrov
in 1942 and 1943, based on the carriage of the 122 mm howitzer M1938 (M-30) and using the barrel of the 152 mm howitzer M1938 (M-10). The powerful and mobile D-1, with its wide range of ammunition
, significantly increased the firepower and breakthrough
abilities of Red Army
tank and motor rifle formations. Several hundred D-1s were manufactured before the end of World War II.
Post World War II, the D-1 saw combat in numerous conflicts during the mid- to late 20th century. The long operational history of D-1 howitzers in national armies of numerous countries is a testimony to its qualities; the gun still remains in service in a number of post-Soviet states
and some other countries. The D-1 is widely considered a valuable element of Soviet artillery.
between August and September 1941 and the consequent removal of the corps artillery. Moreover, all 152 mm howitzers were excluded from divisional artillery. As a result, there was no series production of 152 mm howitzers during 1942.
However, the rifle corps were re-established in late 1942 and the previous organization of artillery at the corps level was reintroduced. As a result of the halting of 152 mm howitzer production, the Red Army
corps artillery lacked a weapon more mobile than the heavy 152 mm howitzer-gun M1937 (ML-20) (typically employed by army-level and Reserve of the Main Command artillery units), but more powerful than the 122 mm howitzer M1938 (M-30).
in order to reduce the recoil and thus prevent damage to the lighter carriage). The approach allowed production to begin on the new howitzer almost immediately from the stockpile of parts for both earlier guns. Given the war situation and shortages of artillery, this solution was both elegant and expedient.
Early in 1943 Petrov notified the People's Commissar of Armaments Dmitriy Ustinov
about the new project. On 13 April Ustinov informed Petrov that the State Committee of Defence had requested for five of the new guns to be sent to the testing grounds on the 1st of May. On May the 5th, two pieces were received for trials; two days later, on May the 7th the gun was recommended for adoption, and on the 8th of August 1943 it was officially adopted as the 152 mm howitzer M1943. One and a half months later, the first series production D-1 howitzers were delivered to the Red Army representatives.
in Sverdlovsk
from late 1943 to 1949. During World War II, the howitzer was only produced in small numbers because Plant No. 9 was also responsible for the mass production of the 122 mm howitzer M-30. This resulted in critical shortages of the 152 mm howitzers in the Red Army corps artillery until the end of the war.
The D-1 howitzer was essentially a combination of the barrel of the 152-mm howitzer model 1938 (M-10) on the carriage of the 122-mm howitzer M1938 (M-30)
. Since the new carriage was lighter than that of the M-10, the barrel was fitted with a massive double-baffle muzzle brake
DT-3 to soften the shock of recoil. The breech block was of interrupted screw
type, the recoil system consisted of a hydraulic
buffer and a hydro-pneumatic recuperator. The separately loaded ammunition included a variety of shells and eight different propellant charges in cartridges.
The carriage was nearly identical to the carriage of the M-30. It had suspension and steel wheels with pneumatic rubber tires. The trail
s were initially of riveted construction, but were eventually replaced in production by welded ones. Late production pieces were equipped with caster wheels to ease manhandling. Time to set up for combat was about two minutes. In an emergency it was possible to fire without splitting trails; however this was at the price of a drastically reduced traverse (1°30'). Since the gun was not equipped with a limber
, it could be towed only by vehicle. The maximum towing speed was 40 km/h on paved roads, 30 km/h on cobbled
roads and 10 km/h off-road. To give the crew some protection from bullets and shell fragments, the gun was fitted with a shield.
(RKKA) corps artillery with a modern 152 mm howitzer, which combined both good mobility and firepower. When compared with a typical contemporary howitzer of similar caliber, the D-1 had shorter range, but was much lighter. For example, the German
15 cm sFH 18
had a range of 13,325 meters - about one kilometer longer than that of the D-1 - but also weighed almost two tons more (5,510 kilograms in traveling position). The same can be said of the US 155-mm howitzer M1 (14,600 meters, 5,800 kilograms) or the 149 mm howitzer manufactured by the Italian Ansaldo (14,250 meters, 5,500 kilograms). A German howitzer with characteristics similar to those of the D-1 — the 15 cm sFH 36 — did not reach mass production. Compared with older pieces such as the French Schneider
model 1917 (11,200 meters, 4,300 kg), the D-1 had the advantage in both weight and range.
artillery and the reserve of the main command units. In 1944, the rifle corps of the Red Army had one artillery regiment
each. Those regiments consisted of five batteries (totaling 20 guns), equipped with the D-1 along with various other 152 mm howitzers, 122 mm gun M1931/37 (A-19), 152 mm howitzer-gun M1937 (ML-20) or 107 mm gun M1910/30
. Reserve of the Main Command included howitzer regiments (48 pieces) and heavy howitzer brigades (32 pieces). Those could be merged to form artillery division
s.
The Red Army employed D-1 howitzers from 1944 onwards, during the final stages of World War II. The D-1 was used primarily used against personnel, fortifications and key structures in the enemy rear. The anti-concrete G-530 shell was also sometimes used against armored vehicles with good results. During its service the gun earned a reputation for being reliable and accurate. The D-1 was finally withdrawn from service in the mid-seventies.
After the war the gun was supplied to many countries around the globe, including former Warsaw Pact
allies, such as Poland. As of the early 2000s it remains in service in Afghanistan
, Albania
, China, Cuba
, Hungary, Iraq
, Mozambique
, Syria
, Vietnam
and other countries. The gun was employed in the Arab-Israeli Conflict and also in some conflicts in former republics of Soviet Union
. The long operational history of D-1 howitzers in the national armies of numerous countries is an additional testimony to its qualities.
Surviving D-1 howitzers can be seen in various military museums and war memorials, e. g. in the Museum of Artillery and Engineering Forces, Saint Petersburg
, Russia; in the Museum of Heroic Defense and Liberation of Sevastopol on Sapun Mountain, Sevastopol
; in the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, Kiev
, Ukraine
; in Poznań
Citadel, Poland and in Polatsk
, Belarus
, as a memorial piece.
medium assault gun
and diversion of SU-152
heavy assault guns for anti-tank actions. The tank variant of the D-1 was originally intended for mounting in a variant of the KV-1s
heavy tank. It utilized the mount of the 85 mm D-5, leading to the unofficial name D-1-5 and eventually to the official designation of D-15. Only one example was built. There is no information about the gun being mounted in the KV tank. By October 1943 Soviet authorities were anticipating the start of mass production of the powerful IS-2 heavy tank; as a result the idea of a specialized artillery tank based on the obsolete KV chassis was dropped.
Another project combining the T-34
tank chassis with the D-15 gun was also considered. Designated SU-D15, the medium assault gun was intended as a replacement for the SU-122
. Although the project received a lot of support from the authorities it never entered production, both because of its shortcomings (the heavy gun put too much strain on the suspension and ammunition stowage was too limited) and because it was made redundant by the ISU-152
. However lessons learned mounting a powerful gun in the T-34 allowed for rapid development of the SU-100
tank destroyer
.
, HEAT, shrapnel, illumination, and chemical.
The D-1 used separate loading ammunition, with eight different charges. The charges included the "full charge" Zh-536 and smaller charges ranging from the "first" to "sixth", which was the smallest. A "special charge" was used with the BP-540 HEAT
projectile. Propellant charges were produced in "full" and "third" variants in munitions factories. All other charges were derived from them by removing small gunpowder bags from the charge cartridge. For flash suppression there was a special chemical mixture which was to be inserted into a cartridge before night firing. 152 mm projectiles for the D-1 weighed about 40 kg; a difficult job for the loaders, who had to carry the projectiles alone.
When set to fragmentation mode, the OF-530 projectile produced fragments which covered an area 70 meters wide and 30 meters deep. When set to high-explosive (HE) action, the exploding shell produced a crater about 3.5 meters in diameter and about 1.2 meters deep. Despite the D-1's withdrawal from service in the mid- 1970s, the OF-530 is still fired from modern 152 mm ordnance pieces of the Russian Army.
The G-530 HEAC anti-concrete shell had a muzzle velocity of 457 m/s when fired with the "first" charge. At a range of one kilometer it had a 358 m/s terminal velocity and was able to punch through up to 80 centimeters of reinforced concrete
before detonating a TNT charge which increased the total penetration to 114 centimeters. The G-530 could not be fired with a "full" charge without putting the crew at risk of having the shell explode in the barrel. A special version of the shell, the G-530Sh, was developed to allow use with the full charge.
The BP-540 HEAT
projectile was not used during World War II. It had an armour penetration of 250 millimeters at an incident angle of 90°, 220 millimeters at 60°, 120 millimeters at 30°.
In the late 1950s old ammunition stocks for the D-1 were removed from the Soviet inventory. The only shells retained were the OF-530, O-530, G-530/G-530Sh, and possibly chemical shells. The Soviet Army also possessed a 152 mm nuclear
shell, but it is not clear whether that shell could be used with the D-1.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
-era 152.4 mm howitzer
Howitzer
A howitzer is a type of artillery piece characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small propellant charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent...
. The gun was developed by the design bureau headed by F. F. Petrov
Fyodor Petrov
Fyodor Fyodorovich Petrov was a Soviet artillery designer....
in 1942 and 1943, based on the carriage of the 122 mm howitzer M1938 (M-30) and using the barrel of the 152 mm howitzer M1938 (M-10). The powerful and mobile D-1, with its wide range of ammunition
Ammunition
Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
, significantly increased the firepower and breakthrough
Breakthrough (military)
A breakthrough occurs when an offensive force has broken the enemy defensive line, and is rapidly exploiting the gap.Usually, large force is employed on a relatively small portion of the front to achieve this...
abilities of Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
tank and motor rifle formations. Several hundred D-1s were manufactured before the end of World War II.
Post World War II, the D-1 saw combat in numerous conflicts during the mid- to late 20th century. The long operational history of D-1 howitzers in national armies of numerous countries is a testimony to its qualities; the gun still remains in service in a number of post-Soviet states
Post-Soviet states
The post-Soviet states, also commonly known as the Former Soviet Union or former Soviet republics, are the 15 independent states that split off from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in its dissolution in December 1991...
and some other countries. The D-1 is widely considered a valuable element of Soviet artillery.
Background
In 1941 the Soviet Union decided to cease production of the 152 mm howitzer M1938 (M-10). One of the reasons was the disbanding of the Rifle CorpsRifle corps (Soviet)
A rifle corps was a Soviet military organization of the mid-twentieth century. Rifle corps were made up of a varying number of rifle divisions, although the allocation of three rifle divisions to a rifle corps was common during the latter part of World War II.Unlike army corps formed by Germany...
between August and September 1941 and the consequent removal of the corps artillery. Moreover, all 152 mm howitzers were excluded from divisional artillery. As a result, there was no series production of 152 mm howitzers during 1942.
However, the rifle corps were re-established in late 1942 and the previous organization of artillery at the corps level was reintroduced. As a result of the halting of 152 mm howitzer production, the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
corps artillery lacked a weapon more mobile than the heavy 152 mm howitzer-gun M1937 (ML-20) (typically employed by army-level and Reserve of the Main Command artillery units), but more powerful than the 122 mm howitzer M1938 (M-30).
Response to the challenge
In 1942, trying to solve the problem of lack of a suitable mobile 152 mm howitzer, the design bureau headed by F. F. Petrov started to work privately on a new howitzer, based on the carriage of the M-30 and the barrel of the M-10 (which was fitted with a muzzle brakeMuzzle brake
Muzzle brakes and recoil compensators are devices that are fitted to the muzzle of a firearm or cannon to redirect propellant gases with the effect of countering both recoil of the gun and unwanted rising of the barrel during rapid fire...
in order to reduce the recoil and thus prevent damage to the lighter carriage). The approach allowed production to begin on the new howitzer almost immediately from the stockpile of parts for both earlier guns. Given the war situation and shortages of artillery, this solution was both elegant and expedient.
Early in 1943 Petrov notified the People's Commissar of Armaments Dmitriy Ustinov
Dmitriy Ustinov
Dmitriy Feodorovich Ustinov was Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union from 1976 until his death.-Early life:Dimitry Feodorovich Ustinov was born in a working-class family in Samara. During the civil war, when hunger became intolerable, his sick father went to Samarkand, leaving Dimitry as head...
about the new project. On 13 April Ustinov informed Petrov that the State Committee of Defence had requested for five of the new guns to be sent to the testing grounds on the 1st of May. On May the 5th, two pieces were received for trials; two days later, on May the 7th the gun was recommended for adoption, and on the 8th of August 1943 it was officially adopted as the 152 mm howitzer M1943. One and a half months later, the first series production D-1 howitzers were delivered to the Red Army representatives.
Production
The D-1 was manufactured solely at No. 9 Plant (UZTM)Uralmash
Uralmash is a heavy machine production facility of the Russian engineering corporation OMZ. The facility is located in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The surrounding residential area where workers live is also called Uralmash....
in Sverdlovsk
Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg is a major city in the central part of Russia, the administrative center of Sverdlovsk Oblast. Situated on the eastern side of the Ural mountain range, it is the main industrial and cultural center of the Urals Federal District with a population of 1,350,136 , making it Russia's...
from late 1943 to 1949. During World War II, the howitzer was only produced in small numbers because Plant No. 9 was also responsible for the mass production of the 122 mm howitzer M-30. This resulted in critical shortages of the 152 mm howitzers in the Red Army corps artillery until the end of the war.
| Year | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | 1946 | 1947 | 1948 | 1949 | Total |
| Number produced | 84 | 258 | 715 | 1,050 | 240 | 240 | 240 | 2,827 |
Description
M-30 122 mm howitzer
The 122 mm howitzer M1938 was a Soviet 121.92 mm howitzer. The weapon was developed by the design bureau of Motovilikha Plants, headed by F. F. Petrov, in the late 1930s, and was in production from 1939 to 1955. The M-30 saw action in World War II, mainly as a divisional artillery piece...
. Since the new carriage was lighter than that of the M-10, the barrel was fitted with a massive double-baffle muzzle brake
Muzzle brake
Muzzle brakes and recoil compensators are devices that are fitted to the muzzle of a firearm or cannon to redirect propellant gases with the effect of countering both recoil of the gun and unwanted rising of the barrel during rapid fire...
DT-3 to soften the shock of recoil. The breech block was of interrupted screw
Interrupted screw
An interrupted screw or interrupted thread is a mechanical device typically used in the breech of artillery guns. It was invented circa 1845....
type, the recoil system consisted of a hydraulic
Hydraulics
Hydraulics is a topic in applied science and engineering dealing with the mechanical properties of liquids. Fluid mechanics provides the theoretical foundation for hydraulics, which focuses on the engineering uses of fluid properties. In fluid power, hydraulics is used for the generation, control,...
buffer and a hydro-pneumatic recuperator. The separately loaded ammunition included a variety of shells and eight different propellant charges in cartridges.
The carriage was nearly identical to the carriage of the M-30. It had suspension and steel wheels with pneumatic rubber tires. The trail
Trail
A trail is a path with a rough beaten or dirt/stone surface used for travel. Trails may be for use only by walkers and in some places are the main access route to remote settlements...
s were initially of riveted construction, but were eventually replaced in production by welded ones. Late production pieces were equipped with caster wheels to ease manhandling. Time to set up for combat was about two minutes. In an emergency it was possible to fire without splitting trails; however this was at the price of a drastically reduced traverse (1°30'). Since the gun was not equipped with a limber
Caisson (military)
A limber is a two-wheeled cart designed to support the trail of an artillery piece, or the stock of a field carriage such as a caisson or traveling forge, allowing it to be towed. A caisson is a two-wheeled cart designed to carry artillery ammunition...
, it could be towed only by vehicle. The maximum towing speed was 40 km/h on paved roads, 30 km/h on cobbled
Cobblestone
Cobblestones are stones that were frequently used in the pavement of early streets. "Cobblestone" is derived from the very old English word "cob", which had a wide range of meanings, one of which was "rounded lump" with overtones of large size...
roads and 10 km/h off-road. To give the crew some protection from bullets and shell fragments, the gun was fitted with a shield.
Comparison with contemporary howitzers
From a technical and tactical point of view, the D-1 project provided the Red ArmyRed Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
(RKKA) corps artillery with a modern 152 mm howitzer, which combined both good mobility and firepower. When compared with a typical contemporary howitzer of similar caliber, the D-1 had shorter range, but was much lighter. For example, the German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
15 cm sFH 18
15 cm sFH 18
The 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze 18 or sFH 18 , nicknamed Immergrün , was the basic German division-level heavy howitzer during the Second World War, serving alongside the smaller but more numerous 10.5 cm leFH 18...
had a range of 13,325 meters - about one kilometer longer than that of the D-1 - but also weighed almost two tons more (5,510 kilograms in traveling position). The same can be said of the US 155-mm howitzer M1 (14,600 meters, 5,800 kilograms) or the 149 mm howitzer manufactured by the Italian Ansaldo (14,250 meters, 5,500 kilograms). A German howitzer with characteristics similar to those of the D-1 — the 15 cm sFH 36 — did not reach mass production. Compared with older pieces such as the French Schneider
Schneider Electric
Schneider Electric is a French global company. It was founded in 1836 by two brothers, Eugène and Adolphe Schneider.In the first part of the 20th century, Schneider et Cie associated itself with Westinghouse Systems, a major international electrical group at the time. The group began manufacturing...
model 1917 (11,200 meters, 4,300 kg), the D-1 had the advantage in both weight and range.
Organization and employment
The D-1 was employed by corpsCorps
A corps is either a large formation, or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function such as Artillery or Signals representing an arm of service...
artillery and the reserve of the main command units. In 1944, the rifle corps of the Red Army had one artillery regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
each. Those regiments consisted of five batteries (totaling 20 guns), equipped with the D-1 along with various other 152 mm howitzers, 122 mm gun M1931/37 (A-19), 152 mm howitzer-gun M1937 (ML-20) or 107 mm gun M1910/30
107 mm gun M1910/30
107 mm gun M1910/30 was a Soviet 106.7 mm field gun.The gun was based on an artillery piece originally developed by the French arms manufacturer Schneider prior to World War I and used by the Russian Empire as the 107 mm gun M1910...
. Reserve of the Main Command included howitzer regiments (48 pieces) and heavy howitzer brigades (32 pieces). Those could be merged to form artillery division
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
s.
The Red Army employed D-1 howitzers from 1944 onwards, during the final stages of World War II. The D-1 was used primarily used against personnel, fortifications and key structures in the enemy rear. The anti-concrete G-530 shell was also sometimes used against armored vehicles with good results. During its service the gun earned a reputation for being reliable and accurate. The D-1 was finally withdrawn from service in the mid-seventies.
After the war the gun was supplied to many countries around the globe, including former Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
allies, such as Poland. As of the early 2000s it remains in service in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, China, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, Hungary, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
and other countries. The gun was employed in the Arab-Israeli Conflict and also in some conflicts in former republics of Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. The long operational history of D-1 howitzers in the national armies of numerous countries is an additional testimony to its qualities.
Surviving D-1 howitzers can be seen in various military museums and war memorials, e. g. in the Museum of Artillery and Engineering Forces, Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, Russia; in the Museum of Heroic Defense and Liberation of Sevastopol on Sapun Mountain, Sevastopol
Sevastopol
Sevastopol is a city on rights of administrative division of Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea peninsula. It has a population of 342,451 . Sevastopol is the second largest port in Ukraine, after the Port of Odessa....
; in the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
; in Poznań
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
Citadel, Poland and in Polatsk
Polatsk
Polotsk , is a historical city in Belarus, situated on the Dvina river. It is the center of Polotsk district in Vitsebsk Voblast. Its population is more than 80,000 people...
, Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, as a memorial piece.
Variants
In addition to the towed howitzer, Petrov's team developed a vehicle-mounted variant of the D-1. Red Army offensive operations in the summer and fall of 1943 reawakened interest in the idea of a heavy "artillery" tank similar to the KV-2, that could provide close fire support to rifle and tank units and would be capable of demolishing heavy fortifications. Probable causes for the development of such a vehicle were the cessation of mass production of the SU-122SU-122
The SU-122 was a Soviet self-propelled howitzer used during World War II. The number "122" in the designation represents the caliber of the main armament—a 122 mm M-30S howitzer.-Development history:...
medium assault gun
Assault gun
An assault gun is a gun or howitzer mounted on a motor vehicle or armored chassis, designed for use in the direct fire role in support of infantry when attacking other infantry or fortified positions....
and diversion of SU-152
SU-152
The SU-152 was a Soviet heavy self-propelled heavy howitzer used during World War II.It mounted a 152 mm gun-howitzer on the chassis of a KV-1S heavy tank. Later production used IS tank chassis and was re-designated as ISU-152...
heavy assault guns for anti-tank actions. The tank variant of the D-1 was originally intended for mounting in a variant of the KV-1s
Kliment Voroshilov tank
The Kliment Voroshilov tanks were a series of Soviet heavy tanks, named after the Soviet defense commissar and politician Kliment Voroshilov. The KV series were known for their extremely heavy armour protection during the early war, especially during the first year of the invasion of the Soviet...
heavy tank. It utilized the mount of the 85 mm D-5, leading to the unofficial name D-1-5 and eventually to the official designation of D-15. Only one example was built. There is no information about the gun being mounted in the KV tank. By October 1943 Soviet authorities were anticipating the start of mass production of the powerful IS-2 heavy tank; as a result the idea of a specialized artillery tank based on the obsolete KV chassis was dropped.
Another project combining the T-34
T-34
The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank produced from 1940 to 1958. Although its armour and armament were surpassed by later tanks of the era, it has been often credited as the most effective, efficient and influential design of World War II...
tank chassis with the D-15 gun was also considered. Designated SU-D15, the medium assault gun was intended as a replacement for the SU-122
SU-122
The SU-122 was a Soviet self-propelled howitzer used during World War II. The number "122" in the designation represents the caliber of the main armament—a 122 mm M-30S howitzer.-Development history:...
. Although the project received a lot of support from the authorities it never entered production, both because of its shortcomings (the heavy gun put too much strain on the suspension and ammunition stowage was too limited) and because it was made redundant by the ISU-152
ISU-152
ISU-152 was a Soviet multirole fully enclosed and armored self-propelled gun developed and used during World War II, with a subsequent use, mainly in the Soviet military, till the 1970s.-History:...
. However lessons learned mounting a powerful gun in the T-34 allowed for rapid development of the SU-100
SU-100
The SU-100 was a Soviet tank destroyer. It was used extensively during the last year of World War II and saw service for many years afterwards with the armies of Soviet allies around the world.- Development :...
tank destroyer
Tank destroyer
A tank destroyer is a type of armored fighting vehicle armed with a gun or missile launcher, and is designed specifically to engage enemy armored vehicles...
.
Ammunition
The D-1 had a large variety of ammunition, including high explosive, armor piercingArmor-piercing shot and shell
An armor-piercing shell is a type of ammunition designed to penetrate armor. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armor-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armor carried on many warships. From the 1920s onwards, armor-piercing weapons were required for anti-tank missions...
, HEAT, shrapnel, illumination, and chemical.
The D-1 used separate loading ammunition, with eight different charges. The charges included the "full charge" Zh-536 and smaller charges ranging from the "first" to "sixth", which was the smallest. A "special charge" was used with the BP-540 HEAT
Heat
In physics and thermodynamics, heat is energy transferred from one body, region, or thermodynamic system to another due to thermal contact or thermal radiation when the systems are at different temperatures. It is often described as one of the fundamental processes of energy transfer between...
projectile. Propellant charges were produced in "full" and "third" variants in munitions factories. All other charges were derived from them by removing small gunpowder bags from the charge cartridge. For flash suppression there was a special chemical mixture which was to be inserted into a cartridge before night firing. 152 mm projectiles for the D-1 weighed about 40 kg; a difficult job for the loaders, who had to carry the projectiles alone.
When set to fragmentation mode, the OF-530 projectile produced fragments which covered an area 70 meters wide and 30 meters deep. When set to high-explosive (HE) action, the exploding shell produced a crater about 3.5 meters in diameter and about 1.2 meters deep. Despite the D-1's withdrawal from service in the mid- 1970s, the OF-530 is still fired from modern 152 mm ordnance pieces of the Russian Army.
The G-530 HEAC anti-concrete shell had a muzzle velocity of 457 m/s when fired with the "first" charge. At a range of one kilometer it had a 358 m/s terminal velocity and was able to punch through up to 80 centimeters of reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
before detonating a TNT charge which increased the total penetration to 114 centimeters. The G-530 could not be fired with a "full" charge without putting the crew at risk of having the shell explode in the barrel. A special version of the shell, the G-530Sh, was developed to allow use with the full charge.
The BP-540 HEAT
Heat
In physics and thermodynamics, heat is energy transferred from one body, region, or thermodynamic system to another due to thermal contact or thermal radiation when the systems are at different temperatures. It is often described as one of the fundamental processes of energy transfer between...
projectile was not used during World War II. It had an armour penetration of 250 millimeters at an incident angle of 90°, 220 millimeters at 60°, 120 millimeters at 30°.
In the late 1950s old ammunition stocks for the D-1 were removed from the Soviet inventory. The only shells retained were the OF-530, O-530, G-530/G-530Sh, and possibly chemical shells. The Soviet Army also possessed a 152 mm nuclear
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
shell, but it is not clear whether that shell could be used with the D-1.
| Available ammunition | |||||
| Type | Model | Weight, kg | HE weight, kg | Muzzle velocity, m/s | Range, m |
| Armor piercing shells | |||||
| Naval semi-AP | model 1915/28 | 51.07 | 3.2 | ||
| HEAT | BP-540 | 27.44 | 560 | 3,000 | |
| Anti-concrete shells | |||||
| Anti-concrete shell | G-530 / G-530Sh | 40.0 | 5.1 | 508 | 12,400 |
| High explosive and fragmentation shells | |||||
| HE-Fragmentation, steel | OF-530 | 40.0 | 5.47-6.86 | 508 | 12,400 |
| HE-Fragmentation, steely iron | OF-530A | 40.0 | 5.66 | 508 | 12,400 |
| HE, old | F-533 | 40.41 | 8.0 | ||
| HE, old | F-533K | 40.68 | 7.3 | ||
| HE, old | F-533N | 41.0 | 7.3 | ||
| HE, old | F-533U | 40.8 | 8.8 | ||
| HE, steely iron, old French | F-534F | 41.1 | 3.9 | ||
| HE for 15 | F-521 | 41.7 | 7.7 | ||
| HE, British, for Vickers 152 mm howitzer | F-531 | 44.91 | 5.7 | ||
| Shrapnel shells | |||||
| Shrapnel with 45 sec. tube | Sh-501 | 41.16-41.83 | 0.5 (680-690 bullets) | ||
| Shrapnel with Т-6 tube | Sh-501T | 41.16 | 0.5 (680-690 bullets) | ||
| Illumination shells | |||||
| Illumination, 40 sec. | S 1 | 40.2 | |||
| Chemical shells | |||||
| Chemical howitzer shell | HS-530 | 38.8 | |||
| Chemical howitzer shell | HN-530 | 39.1 | |||
| Chemical (post-war) | ZHZ | ||||