M-10 152 mm howitzer
Encyclopedia
152-mm howitzer M1938 was a Soviet
152.4 mm (6 inch) howitzer
of World War II
era. It was developed in 1937-1938 at the Motovilikha Mechanical Plant by a team headed by F. F. Petrov
. Although production of the gun was stopped in 1941, it saw combat with the Red Army
until the end of world war two and remained in service until the 1950s. Captured pieces were used by Wehrmacht
and the Finnish Army
. The latter kept the M-10 in service until 2000.
In a tank-mounted variant, M-10T, the gun was mounted on the KV-2 heavy tank.
(RKKA) started to look for a replacement for the 152-mm howitzer M1909 and the 152-mm howitzer M1910. Those pieces, developed before World War I
, had unsprung fixed trail carriages and short barrels
, which meant poor mobility, insufficient elevation and traverse angles and short range. Although both pieces were eventually modernized, resulting in the 152-mm howitzer M1909/30
and the 152-mm howitzer M1910/37 respectively, these were relatively minor upgrades which brought only limited improvement in some areas and didn't address others. It was clear that a completely new design was needed. However, at that time Soviets had little experience in developing modern artillery pieces.
Soviets initially tried to solve that problem through a collaboration with Germany
. From its part, Germany, constrained by the limitations of the Treaty of Versailles
, looked for a way to proceed with development and joint projects gave them such an opportunity. Among other weapons supplied by Germans was a heavy howitzer, designated in the USSR 152-mm howitzer M1931 (NG). Soon the Motovilikha Mechanical Plant (MMZ) was entrusted with the production of NG. However, only 8 pieces were completed in 1932-1934, and then the production was stopped. The design proved to be too complicated for the Soviet industry of early 1930s (the same fate befell some other designs, e.g. the 122-mm howitzer M1934 or 20-mm and 37-mm autocannon
s) and was considered somewhat heavy (5,445 kg in travelling position). But these early failures it gave Soviet developers some valuable experience.
In 1937, F. F. Petrov
and his design team at the Motovilikha Ordnance Plant started work on a new design, the M-10. Technical papers were submitted to the Artillery Directorate on 1 August 1937 and on 2 November the first prototype was completed. Ground trials (19 October - 25 October 1938) featured two pieces: No. 302 (L/25 barrel with constant rifling
) and No. 303 (L/20 barrel with progressive rifling). The No. 303 was found to be superior. The trials also revealed numerous defects in the gun construction: the howitzer suffered from insufficient upper carriage strength, leaks in recoil
buffer, unreliable suspension etc. For army tests early in 1939 an improved design with lengthened barrel was presented. Another series of army tests followed, from 22 December 1939 to 10 January 1940, but even before it started - on 29 September 1939 - the gun was adopted as 152 mm divisional howitzer model 1938. Later the word divisional was removed from the designation.
Soon after the outbreak of the war mass production of the gun was stopped. The following reasons are typically cited:.
Some found these arguments questionable. Later in the war corps artillery employed the 152-mm howitzer M1943 (D-1) with the same ballistics. Production rates were growing. Even early in the war, the Red Army wasn't passive, but tried to attack at every opportunity; moreover, howitzers are certainly useful in defensive combat too, e.g. for suppressing enemy howitzers. A historian M. Svirin offered the next explanation instead:
truck, meaning higher transportation speed.
The barrel, much longer than that of older designs, was fitted with interrupted screw
breechblock
with recoil
devices consisting of hydraulic recoil buffer and hydropneumatic recuperator. The recoil length was variable. Gun shield provided the crew with limited protection from bullets and shell fragments.
Unlike its eventual successor, the D-1, the M-10 was not equipped with muzzle brake. While softening a recoil and thus allowing lighter carrige, muzzle brake has a disadvantage of redirecting some of the gases that escape the barrel toward the ground where they raise dust, revealing the gun position.
The gun could be towed by an artillery tractor or by a horse team. In the latter case, a 400-kg limber
was used.
had a howitzer regiment
with a 152-mm howitzers battalion
(12 pieces). In July 1941 these regiment were cancelled. Same fate befell 152-mm howitzers battalions of motorized and armored divisions.
In 1944, rifle corps of the Red Army had one artillery regiment each. Those regiment consisted of five batteries (totaling 20 pieces), equipped with 152-mm howitzers, 122-mm or 107-mm guns.
Reserve of the Main Command included howitzer regiments (48 pieces) and heavy howitzer brigade
s (32 pieces). Those could be merged to form artillery division
s.
On 1 June 1941 the RKKA possessed more than thousand M-10s. Many were lost in the early phase of the war, combined with a decision to stop the production it meant only limited quantity remained in service; these remaining guns in dwindling numbers were used for the remainder of World War II
. The M-10 was used against personnel, fortifications and key objects in the rear.
Many guns were captured by the Wehrmacht
early in the war, and adopted as 15,2 cm sFH 443(r). The Finnish Army
captured 45 pieces and further 57 were purchased from Germany in 1944. In Finland
the howitzer, designated 152 H 38, was issued to five heavy artillery battalions and actively used in battle. Finns rather liked the gun, but considered it somewhat heavy. After the end of the hostilities, the M-10 remained in the Finnish service; in 1980s there were some considerations of modernizing it, but the idea was dropped; the guns were stored in the army depots until 2000 and then they were finally retired.
The surviving M-10 howitzers can be seen in various military museums and war memorials, for example in the Museum of Artillery and Engineering Forces, Saint Petersburg
, Russia, in the Brest Fortress
, in the US Army Ordnance Museum
, in Helsinki
Military Museum and Hämeenlinna
Finnish Artillery Museum.
A single prototype with powder bag loading was built in 1939.
15 cm sFH 18
had a range of 13,325 m - about one kilometer longer than that of the M-10 - but also weighed much more (5,510 kg in traveling position). The same can be said about the US 155-mm howitzer M1 (14,600 m, 5,800 kg) or 149-mm howitzer manufactured by the Italian Ansaldo
(14,250 m, 5,500 kg). A German howitzer with characteristics similar to those of the Soviet one - the 15 cm sFH 36 - didn't reach mass production. Compared to older pieces such as the French Schneider
model 1917 (11,200 m, 4,300 kg), the M-10 had advantage in range and comparable weight.
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 charge cartridge. For flash suppression there was a special chemical mixture which was inserted into cartridges before night firing. 152 mm projectiles for the M-10 weighed about 40 kg, making a difficult job for 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. 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 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°.
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....
152.4 mm (6 inch) 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...
of 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. It was developed in 1937-1938 at the Motovilikha Mechanical Plant by a team headed by F. F. Petrov
Fyodor Petrov
Fyodor Fyodorovich Petrov was a Soviet artillery designer....
. Although production of the gun was stopped in 1941, it saw combat with 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...
until the end of world war two and remained in service until the 1950s. Captured pieces were used by Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
and the Finnish Army
Finnish Army
The Finnish Army is the land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces.Today's Army is divided into six branches: the infantry , field artillery, anti-aircraft artillery, engineers, signals, and materiel troops.-History of the Finnish Army:Between 1809 and 1917 Finland was an autonomous part of...
. The latter kept the M-10 in service until 2000.
In a tank-mounted variant, M-10T, the gun was mounted on the KV-2 heavy tank.
Development history
By early 1930s 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) started to look for a replacement for the 152-mm howitzer M1909 and the 152-mm howitzer M1910. Those pieces, developed before World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, had unsprung fixed trail carriages and short barrels
Gun barrel
A gun barrel is the tube, usually metal, through which a controlled explosion or rapid expansion of gases are released in order to propel a projectile out of the end at a high velocity....
, which meant poor mobility, insufficient elevation and traverse angles and short range. Although both pieces were eventually modernized, resulting in the 152-mm howitzer M1909/30
152-mm howitzer M1909/30
152 mm howitzer M1909/30 was a Soviet 152.4 mm howitzer, a modernization of the 152-mm howitzer model 1909, initially designed by Schneider. It was the most numerous 152 mm howitzer employed by Red Army in World War II....
and the 152-mm howitzer M1910/37 respectively, these were relatively minor upgrades which brought only limited improvement in some areas and didn't address others. It was clear that a completely new design was needed. However, at that time Soviets had little experience in developing modern artillery pieces.
Soviets initially tried to solve that problem through a collaboration with Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. From its part, Germany, constrained by the limitations of the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
, looked for a way to proceed with development and joint projects gave them such an opportunity. Among other weapons supplied by Germans was a heavy howitzer, designated in the USSR 152-mm howitzer M1931 (NG). Soon the Motovilikha Mechanical Plant (MMZ) was entrusted with the production of NG. However, only 8 pieces were completed in 1932-1934, and then the production was stopped. The design proved to be too complicated for the Soviet industry of early 1930s (the same fate befell some other designs, e.g. the 122-mm howitzer M1934 or 20-mm and 37-mm autocannon
Autocannon
An autocannon or automatic cannon is a rapid-fire projectile weapon firing a shell as opposed to the bullet fired by a machine gun. Autocannons often have a larger caliber than a machine gun . Usually, autocannons are smaller than a field gun or other artillery, and are mechanically loaded for a...
s) and was considered somewhat heavy (5,445 kg in travelling position). But these early failures it gave Soviet developers some valuable experience.
In 1937, F. F. Petrov
Fyodor Petrov
Fyodor Fyodorovich Petrov was a Soviet artillery designer....
and his design team at the Motovilikha Ordnance Plant started work on a new design, the M-10. Technical papers were submitted to the Artillery Directorate on 1 August 1937 and on 2 November the first prototype was completed. Ground trials (19 October - 25 October 1938) featured two pieces: No. 302 (L/25 barrel with constant rifling
Rifling
Rifling is the process of making helical grooves in the barrel of a gun or firearm, which imparts a spin to a projectile around its long axis...
) and No. 303 (L/20 barrel with progressive rifling). The No. 303 was found to be superior. The trials also revealed numerous defects in the gun construction: the howitzer suffered from insufficient upper carriage strength, leaks in recoil
Recoil
Recoil is the backward momentum of a gun when it is discharged. In technical terms, the recoil caused by the gun exactly balances the forward momentum of the projectile and exhaust gasses, according to Newton's third law...
buffer, unreliable suspension etc. For army tests early in 1939 an improved design with lengthened barrel was presented. Another series of army tests followed, from 22 December 1939 to 10 January 1940, but even before it started - on 29 September 1939 - the gun was adopted as 152 mm divisional howitzer model 1938. Later the word divisional was removed from the designation.
Production history
The M-10 entered production at the Plant No. 172 in 1939. Until the end of the year 4 pieces were manufactured, 685 more in 1940 and 833 in 1941. About 340 barrels for KV-2 heavy tanks were also built (for 334 serial production tanks and a few prototypes and experimental vehicles).Soon after the outbreak of the war mass production of the gun was stopped. The following reasons are typically cited:.
- The M-10 was considered too heavy for divisional artillery and not powerful enough for corps artillery;
- Problems with manufacturing process;
- Lack of requirement for this type of weapon during the defensive phase of the war.
Some found these arguments questionable. Later in the war corps artillery employed the 152-mm howitzer M1943 (D-1) with the same ballistics. Production rates were growing. Even early in the war, the Red Army wasn't passive, but tried to attack at every opportunity; moreover, howitzers are certainly useful in defensive combat too, e.g. for suppressing enemy howitzers. A historian M. Svirin offered the next explanation instead:
- Shortage in powerful artillery tractors;
- Problems with maintenance and repair;
- Complexity and steel intensity of the carriage;
- Soviet ordnance plants either were lost or were busy performing higher-priority tasks.
Description
The M-10 was much more advanced design compared to older Soviet 152 mm howitzers. It had modern split trail carriage, which allowed for much larger traverse. The trails were of riveted construction. The carriage was equipped with suspension and with wheels from the ZiS-5ZIS-5
ZiS-5 may refer to:* F-34 tank gun, used on the T-34 tank* ZiS-5 , produced at Zavod imeni Stalina; see also ZiS-6...
truck, meaning higher transportation speed.
The barrel, much longer than that of older designs, was fitted with 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....
breechblock
Breechblock
A breechblock is the part of the firearm action that closes the breech of a weapon at the moment of firing....
with recoil
Recoil
Recoil is the backward momentum of a gun when it is discharged. In technical terms, the recoil caused by the gun exactly balances the forward momentum of the projectile and exhaust gasses, according to Newton's third law...
devices consisting of hydraulic recoil buffer and hydropneumatic recuperator. The recoil length was variable. Gun shield provided the crew with limited protection from bullets and shell fragments.
Unlike its eventual successor, the D-1, the M-10 was not equipped with muzzle brake. While softening a recoil and thus allowing lighter carrige, muzzle brake has a disadvantage of redirecting some of the gases that escape the barrel toward the ground where they raise dust, revealing the gun position.
The gun could be towed by an artillery tractor or by a horse team. In the latter case, a 400-kg 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...
was used.
Organization and employment
Under the organization of 1939, each rifle divisionDivision (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...
had a howitzer 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...
with a 152-mm howitzers battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
(12 pieces). In July 1941 these regiment were cancelled. Same fate befell 152-mm howitzers battalions of motorized and armored divisions.
In 1944, rifle corps of the Red Army had one artillery regiment each. Those regiment consisted of five batteries (totaling 20 pieces), equipped with 152-mm howitzers, 122-mm or 107-mm guns.
Reserve of the Main Command included howitzer regiments (48 pieces) and heavy howitzer brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
s (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.
On 1 June 1941 the RKKA possessed more than thousand M-10s. Many were lost in the early phase of the war, combined with a decision to stop the production it meant only limited quantity remained in service; these remaining guns in dwindling numbers were used for the remainder of 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...
. The M-10 was used against personnel, fortifications and key objects in the rear.
Many guns were captured by the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
early in the war, and adopted as 15,2 cm sFH 443(r). The Finnish Army
Finnish Army
The Finnish Army is the land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces.Today's Army is divided into six branches: the infantry , field artillery, anti-aircraft artillery, engineers, signals, and materiel troops.-History of the Finnish Army:Between 1809 and 1917 Finland was an autonomous part of...
captured 45 pieces and further 57 were purchased from Germany in 1944. In Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
the howitzer, designated 152 H 38, was issued to five heavy artillery battalions and actively used in battle. Finns rather liked the gun, but considered it somewhat heavy. After the end of the hostilities, the M-10 remained in the Finnish service; in 1980s there were some considerations of modernizing it, but the idea was dropped; the guns were stored in the army depots until 2000 and then they were finally retired.
The surviving M-10 howitzers can be seen in various military museums and war memorials, for example 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 Brest Fortress
Brest Fortress
Brest Fortress , formerly known as Brest-Litovsk Fortress , is a 19th century Russian fortress in Brest, Belarus. It is one of the most important Soviet World War II war monuments commemorating the Soviet resistance against the German invasion on June 22, 1941...
, in the US Army Ordnance Museum
United States Army Ordnance Museum
The U.S. Army Ordnance Museum is a museum that is in the process of being re-located to Fort Lee, in Fort Lee, Virginia. Its previous building—at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Aberdeen, Maryland—was closed in September 2010, although many outdoor exhibits are still accessible to the...
, in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
Military Museum and Hämeenlinna
Hämeenlinna
Hämeenlinna is a city and municipality of about inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Häme in the south of Finland and is the birthplace of composer Jean Sibelius. Today, it belongs to the region of Tavastia Proper, and until 2010 it was the residence city for the Governor of the...
Finnish Artillery Museum.
Variants
In addition to the towed howitzer, a vehicle-mounted variant was developed for use in KV-2 heavy tanks. This variant - 152 mm tank howitzer M1938 (M-10T) - had shorter barrel.A single prototype with powder bag loading was built in 1939.
Summary
The M-10 project provided the RKKA corps artillery with a modern 152-mm howitzer, which combined good firepower with good mobility (although, as the example of the D-1 shows, the latter characteristic could be improved without compromising the former). When compared to a typical contemporary howitzer of similar calibre, the M-10 had shorter range, but was lighter. E.g. the GermanNazi 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 m - about one kilometer longer than that of the M-10 - but also weighed much more (5,510 kg in traveling position). The same can be said about the US 155-mm howitzer M1 (14,600 m, 5,800 kg) or 149-mm howitzer manufactured by the Italian Ansaldo
Gio. Ansaldo & C.
Ansaldo was one of Italy's oldest and most important engineering companies, existing for 140 years from 1853 to 1993.-From foundation to World War I:...
(14,250 m, 5,500 kg). A German howitzer with characteristics similar to those of the Soviet one - the 15 cm sFH 36 - didn't reach mass production. Compared to 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 m, 4,300 kg), the M-10 had advantage in range and comparable weight.
Ammunition
The M-10 used separate-loading ammunition, with eight different charges. The charges ranges from 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 HEATHeat
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 charge cartridge. For flash suppression there was a special chemical mixture which was inserted into cartridges before night firing. 152 mm projectiles for the M-10 weighed about 40 kg, making a difficult job for 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. 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 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 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°.
| 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 | |||
| Anti-concrete shells | |||||
| Anti-concrete shell | G-530 / G-530Sh | 40.0 | 5.1 | ||
| High explosive and fragmentation shells | |||||
| HE-Fragmentation, steel | OF-530 | 40.0 | 5.47-6.86 | ||
| HE-Fragmentation, steely iron | OF-530A | 40.0 | 5.66 | ||
| 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 152-mm mortar model 1931 | 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 | ||||