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120-468: It mounted a 152 mm gun-howitzer on the chassis of a KV-1S heavy tank. Later production used an IS tank chassis and was re-designated ISU-152 . Because of its adopted role as an impromptu heavy tank destroyer , capable of knocking out heavy German armoured vehicles such as the Tiger and Elefant , it was nicknamed Zveroboy ("Beast Slayer"). The Stalingrad counteroffensive, Operation Uranus , exposed

240-452: A 3-inch anti-aircraft gun . Although a number were ordered and fifty delivered in 1942, they were not put into service as the immediate threat passed. The design was rejected in favor of developing a 17 pounder armed Cromwell tank variant, ultimately leading to the Comet tank . The Tortoise "heavy assault tank", intended for use in breaking through fixed defensive lines, was well armoured and had

360-569: A 90 mm gun. As Soviet designs became more heavily armoured, the 90 mm gun became ineffective and the Kanonenjagdpanzers were retrofitted for different roles or retired. Some provisions were made for the fitting of a 105 mm cannon, and many of the vehicles were modified to fire HOT or TOW missiles in place of a main gun. These upgraded variants remained in service into the 1990s. With the development of flexible anti-tank missiles , which were capable of installation on almost any vehicle in

480-439: A direct fire artillery gun , also known as a self-propelled anti-tank gun , or missile launcher , also called an anti-tank missile carrier . The vehicles are designed specifically to engage and destroy enemy tanks , often with limited operational capacities. While tanks are designed for front-line combat, combining operational mobility and tactical offensive and defensive capabilities and performing all primary tasks of

600-551: A battle, having been immobilized by one or more hits by high explosive (HE) or armour-piercing (AP) shells to the track or front drive sprocket. The most famous Italian tank destroyer of the Second World War was a self-propelled gun. The Semovente da 75/18 , based on the M13/40 frame, was developed to support front-line infantry, and therefore had fixed armament: a 75 mm gun in casemate. However, thanks to its low height (185 cm) and

720-433: A comparatively short-barreled high-velocity anti-tank gun, usually with a muzzle brake , enabling it to function as a tank destroyer. The Sturmgeschütz III from its 1938 origin used a new casemate-style superstructure with an integrated design, similar to the later Jagdpanzer vehicle designs' superstructure, to completely enclose the crew. It was employed in infantry support and offensive armoured operations as well as in

840-559: A few shots were expected to be fired from any firing position . Strong reconnaissance elements were provided so that TDs could use pre-arranged firing positions to best advantage. Flanking fire by TDs was emphasized, both to penetrate thinner enemy side armour, and to reduce the likelihood of accurate enemy return fire. All American tank destroyers were officially known by exactly the same collective term used for American self-propelled artillery ordnance, "gun motor carriage". The designs were intended to be very mobile and heavily armed. Most of

960-621: A lightly armoured Laffly W15T artillery tractor. Other French tank destroyers were being developed, including the SOMUA SAu-40, ARL V39 and various ad hoc conversions of the Lorraine 37L . In the face of the Warsaw Pact, a general need for extra firepower was identified. In the late 1960s, West Germany developed the Kanonenjagdpanzer , essentially a modernized World War II Jagdpanzer mounting

1080-511: A limited traverse in a range of 12 degrees. Three of the crew were to the left of the gun, with the driver to the front, then the gunner and lastly the loader. The vehicle commander and breech mechanism operator were to the right. The suspension consisted of 12 torsion bars for the six road wheels (each 600 mm in diameter) on each side. The drive sprockets were at the back. Each track was made up of 90 stamped links, each link of 608 mm width. The normal distance between two connected links

1200-410: A longer barrel than could be mounted in a turreted tank on the same chassis. The lack of a turret increased the vehicle's internal volume, allowing for increased ammunition stowage and crew comfort. Eliminating the turret let the vehicle carry thicker armour, and also let this armour be concentrated in the hull. Sometimes there was no armoured roof (only a weather cover) to keep the overall weight down to

1320-515: A massive blast that did not rely on velocity for its effectiveness, making it effective against any German tank, including the Tiger and Elefant (although still less effective than penetrating projectiles). It was capable of dislodging the turret of a Tiger tank (at any range), and numerous German armored fighting vehicles were claimed destroyed or damaged by SU-152s during the Battle of Kursk . However, it proved less reliable at permanently destroying

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1440-399: A much slower process than simply rotating a powered turret. If the vehicle became immobilized due to engine failure or track damage, it could not rotate its gun to counter opposing tanks, making it highly vulnerable to counterfire. This vulnerability was later exploited by opposing tank forces. Even the largest and most powerful of German tank destroyers were found abandoned on the field after

1560-513: A range of 18 km, but none reached production. Of other guns with more or less similar characteristics, there were French 155 mm guns model 1917 and 1918 with longer range, but some 3.5 tons heavier (as was the US 155 mm Long Tom ). The Czechoslovakian howitzer K4 (used by Germans as 15 cm sFH 37(t)) was about 2 tons lighter, but with range more than 2 km shorter and only 178 pieces were built. The Italian Cannone da 149/40 modello 35 had

1680-509: A range of 23.7 km but had a weight of 11 tons and less than 100 pieces were built. The British BL 5.5 inch (140 mm) Medium Gun probably had the closest characteristics; weight slightly over six tons and range of 18,100 yd (16,600 m) with an 82 lb (37 kg) shell. The main shortcomings of the ML-20 were its weight and limited mobility. As the experience of the ML-15 project suggests,

1800-676: A shell often resulted in tearing away a turret of a medium tank or jamming it in case of a heavy tank. The first combat use of the ML-20 was in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol , in limited numbers. It also saw combat in the Winter War against the Mannerheim Line fortifications. The gun continued to be used throughout the World War II. Excellent characteristics of the gun, including reliability and ease of maintenance, allowed it to remain in service with

1920-693: A somewhat extemporized nature. Mounting the gun on the Valentine tank chassis in a fixed superstructure gave the Archer , looking somewhat like the light-chassis German Marder III in appearance. The 17 pounder was also used to re-equip the US-supplied M10 tank destroyer , replacing the American 3-inch gun to produce the 17pdr SP Achilles . In 1942 the General Staff agreed on investigating self-propelled mountings of

2040-428: A tank destroyer was used against enemy tanks from a defensive position such as by ambush, the lack of a rotating turret was not particularly critical, while the lower silhouette was highly desirable. The turretless design allowed accommodation of a more powerful gun, typically a dedicated anti-tank gun (in lieu of a regular tank's general-purpose main gun that fired both anti-tank and high explosive ammunition) that had

2160-510: A third type – with loose liner – also existed. Except the basic variant, the only variant to reach mass production was the ML-20S , developed for use in self-propelled guns, with differently placed controls for easier operation in small enclosed compartments. The ML-20 was one of the most successful Soviet artillery pieces of World War II. Its characteristics positioned it between classical short-range howitzers and special long-range guns. Compared to

2280-537: A three-sided gun shield for crew protection. For instance, 202 obsolete Panzer I light tanks were modified by removing the turret and were rebuilt as the Panzerjäger I self-propelled 4.7 cm PaK(t) . Similarly, Panzer II tanks were used on the eastern front. Captured Soviet 76.2 mm anti-tank guns were mounted on modified Panzer II chassis, producing the Marder II self-propelled anti-tank gun. The most common mounting

2400-466: A total capacity of 256 ampere-hours. This electrical equipment was common in contemporary Soviet armoured vehicles. The generator and accumulator batteries fed all other electrical equipment — the ST-700 electric starter motor, a radio set, an intercom, external and internal lights, and illumination of gunsight scales. For observation from the interior, all roof hatches had periscopes along with two gun sights:

2520-622: A very powerful 32-pounder (94 mm) gun, but did not reach service use. By 1944, a number of the Shermans in British use were being converted to Sherman Fireflies by adding the QF 17 pounder gun. Initially this gave each troop (platoon) of Shermans one powerfully armed tank. By war's end—through the production of more Fireflies and the replacement of Shermans by British tanks—about 50% of Shermans in British service were Fireflies. The Sherman Firefly, however,

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2640-566: Is a Soviet heavy gun-howitzer . The gun was developed by the design bureau of the plant no 172, headed by F. F. Petrov , as a deep upgrade of the 152-mm gun M1910/34 , in turn based on the 152-mm siege gun M1910 , a pre- World War I design by Schneider . It was in production from 1937 to 1946. The ML-20 saw action in World War II , mainly as a corps / army level artillery piece of the Soviet Army . Captured guns were employed by Wehrmacht and

2760-597: Is available for export). The PTL02 is built on the 6×6 wheeled chassis of the WZ551 APC. Italy and Spain use the Italian-built B1 Centauro , a wheeled tank destroyer with a 105 mm cannon. Russia, meanwhile, uses the Russian-built 2S25 Sprut-SD , operating as an amphibious light tank/tank destroyer armed with a 125 millimeters (4.9 in) cannon. The Sabrah Pandur II is a wheeled tank destroyer variant of

2880-692: Is displayed at the National Military Museum in Bucharest . Another conversion was the VDC R-35 , Romania's only turreted tank destroyer. Two other proposed tank destroyers existed: the TACAM R-1 and TACAM T-38 . Variants of the Polish TKS and TK-3 tankettes up-armed with 20 mm gun (23–26 vehicles) were operationally deployed in the invasion of Poland . They were used as an anti-tank component of

3000-557: Is not considered a tank destroyer since it could still perform the other duties of the regular M4 Sherman , albeit the Firefly was less capable due to the late development of a HE round for the QF 17 pounder. Until 1942, the Romanian tank force was equipped exclusively with obsolete R-1 , R-2 and R35 tanks. Having faced big problems against Soviet T-34 and KV-1 tanks on the Eastern Front,

3120-497: The 2S25 Sprut-SD , armed with a current-issue 125 mm tank gun that is also capable of launching missiles like the 9M119 Svir , and Israeli-modified Pandur IIs , which is to enter service with the Philippine Army by 2022 armed with an Elbit Turret and a 105 mm gun. Many forces' infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) carry anti-tank missiles in every infantry platoon, and attack helicopters have also added anti-tank capability to

3240-514: The 76 mm gun motor carriage M18 (Hellcat) , based on a unique hull and powertrain design, with a slight visual resemblance to what was used for the later M24 Chaffee light tank. The M18 came closest to the US ideal; the vehicle was very fast, small, and mounted a 76 mm gun in a roofless open turret. The M36 Jackson GMC possessed the only American-origin operational gun that could rival the German 8.8 cm Pak 43 anti-tank gun and its tank mounted variant,

3360-470: The 90 mm M3 gun , and the M36 remained in service well after World War II. The only dedicated American casemate hull design fighting vehicle of any type built during the war, that resembled the German and Soviet tank destroyers in hull and general gun mounting design, was the experimental T28 super-heavy tank , which mounted a 105 mm T5E1 long-barrel cannon. This gun had a maximum firing range of 12 miles (20 km), and

3480-916: The BRDM reconnaissance car, the British FV438 Swingfire and FV102 Striker and the German Raketenjagdpanzer series built on the chassis of the HS 30 and Marder IFV. India fielded NAMIS (Nag Missile System) equipped with Nag Missiles . A US Army combined arms battalion has two infantry companies with TOW missile-armed Bradley IFVs and can bring a large concentration of accurate and lethal fire to bear on an attacking enemy unit that uses AFVs. They can be complemented by mobile units of AH-64 Apache helicopters armed with Hellfire antitank missiles. Missile carrying vehicles are often referred to as anti-tank missile carriers instead of tank destroyers. Despite

3600-574: The Chelyabinskiy Kirovskiy Zavod ( Chelyabinsk Kirov Plant, ChKZ). The designation of the series of self-propelled guns was changed from KV-14 to SU-152. The ML-20 gun was slightly modified for mounting in the SU-152 — some handles were moved for improved gunner comfort. This variant had the designation ML-20S. The muzzle velocity and external ballistics were identical to the original towed ML-20 gun. Although designed with no consideration for

3720-564: The Crimea . Due to combat losses and mass production ceasing in December 1943, the number of SU-152s in the Soviet Army decreased. Eventually SU-152s were replaced by the more reliable and better-armored ISU-152 , which used the same armament and ammunition in the same dual-purpose role. Despite this, the SU-152 remained in Soviet Army service throughout World War II and post-war until 1958. The SU-152

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3840-523: The Deacon (6pdr on an armoured wheeled truck chassis) and Archer (17pdr on tracked chassis) and US-supplied vehicles, were their preserve rather than the Royal Armoured Corps . The self-propelled guns that were built in the "tank destroyer" mould came about through the desire to field the QF 17 pounder anti-tank gun and simultaneous lack of suitable standard tanks to carry it. As a result, they were of

3960-518: The Finnish Army . Post World War II, the ML-20 saw combat in numerous conflicts during the mid to late twentieth century. The ML-20 was officially classified as howitzer-gun, i.e. an artillery system which combines characteristics of a howitzer and (to lesser extent) of a gun and therefore can be used in both roles. This universality was achieved by wide range of elevation angles and by using separate loading with 13 different propellant loads. The gun

4080-575: The Philippines Campaign in the last year of World War II . Remaining units were deployed to Okinawa in ones and twos for island defense during the Battle of Okinawa , but were severely outnumbered by American artillery. As with the Germans of 1943, most of the Soviet designs mounted anti-tank guns, with limited traverse in casemate-style turretless hulls, in a general design format looking much like

4200-504: The Red Army's urgent need for mobile heavy guns to destroy German fortifications. At the time Soviet front-line ground units did not possess sufficient firepower to deal with pillboxes and other fortifications. Close support of artillery and combat engineers was an important factor in the success of Operation Uranus. However, with rare exceptions, Soviet guns and howitzers at this time were towed rather than self-propelled. This lack of mobility

4320-648: The SU-152 and ISU-152 . Among other artillery pieces the Red Army (RKKA) inherited from the Imperial Russian Army a 152-mm siege gun M1910 , developed by Schneider . The gun was modernized twice in 1930s, resulting in the 152-mm gun M1910/30 and the 152-mm gun M1910/34 . However, its mobility, maximum elevation and speed of traverse still needed improvement. In 1935–36 the No. 172 Plant in Motovilikha tried to continue

4440-695: The StuG III G , against which it competed. Those facts suggest that the Mareșal would have been an effective tank destroyer, had it been deployed into combat. There were, however, also critics of the vehicle, especially among high-ranking Romanian officials. It never saw action because the invading Soviet army had stopped its production. Other Romanian tank destroyers include the TACAM R-2 and TACAM T-60 , which were converted from R-2 and T-60 light tanks respectively. Both of them saw action. One TACAM R-2 survives today and

4560-485: The Tiger and Ferdinand/Elefant at long range and the 7.5 cm KwK 40 high-velocity gun of the Panzer IV and StuG III/IV at medium and short ranges (and from any range from the flanks or rear). The 152 mm gun, while having a maximum range far superior to the 88 mm, was still essentially a heavy howitzer with a shorter accurate range than the 88 mm and 7.5 cm guns while being vulnerable to return fire at

4680-511: The gun turret with a Type 90 75 mm field gun mounted in an open casemate with frontal and side armour only. They entered service in 1942 and were first deployed in combat at the Battle of Luzon in the Philippines in 1945. Some were used in static entrenched positions. A variant, known as the Type 1 Ho-Ni II mounted a Type 91 105 mm howitzer and had a slightly changed superstructure as far as

4800-659: The 105/25 was used by German forces. A further development was the Semovente da 75/46 , which had a longer gun than the 75/18 and inclined armour 100 mm thick, making it similar to Sturmgeschütz III . Only 11 of these were manufactured. Before the Semovente da 75/18, the L40 , built on an L6/40 light tank chassis, saw action in Africa and in Russia, but with disappointing results. The Type 1 Ho-Ni I

4920-521: The 1960s, the concept of the tank destroyer has morphed into light vehicles with missiles. With the weight of main battle tanks growing to the forty to seventy-tonne range, airborne forces were unable to deploy reasonable anti-tank forces. The result was a number of attempts to make a light vehicle, including the conventional ASU-85 , M56 Scorpion , the recoilless rifle-armed Ontos , and missile-armed Humber Hornet armoured truck and Sheridan light assault vehicle. The recent entries into that category are

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5040-454: The 37 mm gun was ineffective against most enemy tanks by the time it entered service. By far the most common US design, and the first that was fully tracked and turreted (which became the American hallmark of World War II "tank destroyer" design) was the 3-inch gun motor carriage M10 , later supplemented by the 90 mm gun motor carriage M36 —both based on the M4 Sherman hull and powertrain—and

5160-460: The 57 mm Ordnance QF 6 pounder when that became available. There was extra impetus given to the development of anti-tank weaponry, which culminated in the 76mm Ordnance QF 17 pounder , widely considered one of the best anti-tank guns of the war. Towed anti-tank guns were the domain of the Royal Artillery and vehicles adapted to mount artillery, including anti-tank self-propelled guns such as

5280-506: The 6-pounder, 17-pounder, 3-inch 20cwt guns and the 25-pounder field gun/howitzer on the Matilda II , Valentine , Crusader and Cavalier (Cruiser Mark VII) tank chassis. In October 1942 it was decided to progress using the Valentine chassis with a 17-pdr (which would become Archer) and 25-pdr (which entered service as Bishop ). While there was a general move to a general purpose gun that

5400-573: The A-19 instead of the ML-20. The ML-20 was originally intended for corps artillery. Together with the 122-mm gun A-19 it formed a so-called "corps duplex". In 1940–41 there were three types of corps artillery regiments : Soon after the outbreak of Operation Barbarossa , the corps artillery was eliminated (as rifle corps themselves were eliminated). It was restored later in the war. The new corps artillery regiments were supposed to be armed with 122-mm guns or 152-mm howitzers, but some memoirs mention that

5520-513: The Ferdinand heavy tank destroyer, whose bulkier, simplified design was more resistant to non-penetrating HE blast. While the Russians knocked out at least seven German Ferdinands in SU-152 ambushes at Kursk during one operation, German after-action engineers were able to repair, recrew and return nearly all to battle the next day. This has been attributed to the gun's blast killing the crew and destroying

5640-574: The Germans' own Jagdpanzer vehicles. The results were smaller, lighter, and simpler to build weapons that could carry larger guns than any contemporary tank, including the King Tiger. The Soviets produced high numbers of the 85 mm SU-85 and 100 mm SU-100 self-propelled guns based on the same chassis as the T-34 medium tank; the heavier-duty powertrain and hull of the IS-2 heavy tank were instead used to produce

5760-600: The Ho-Ni series were 111 units. Most of the Ho-Ni units were retained within the Japanese home islands to form part of the defenses against the projected American invasion , and did not see combat before the surrender of Japan . The Type 2 Ho-I Gun tank used the Type 1 Chi-He medium tank chassis. It was designed as a self-propelled howitzer , mounting a short barreled Type 99 75 mm gun to provide close-in fire support. For deployment,

5880-546: The ISU-152. The ISU-152 built as a heavy assault gun, relied on the weight of the shell fired from its M-1937/43 howitzer to defeat tanks. In 1943, the Soviets also shifted all production of light tanks like the T-70 to much simpler and better-armed SU-76 self-propelled guns, which used the same drive train. The SU-76 was originally designed as an anti-tank vehicle, but was soon relegated to

6000-570: The ML-20 and KV-1S chassis with minimal expense. The project was designated "KV-14" and assembly of the first prototype (called "Object 236") began on December 31, 1942. It was completed after 25 days. Plant trials of "Object 236" began on January 25, 1943. After a number of successful plant tests the more stringent state tests began. "Object 236" succeeded again. On February 14, 1943 the State Defense Committee accepted it for Red Army service and immediately launched it into mass production at

6120-504: The ML-20 carriage incorporated some features of the ML-15). Some sources claim that the choice was made because of the economic factor—the ML-20 was more similar to the M1910/34, thus requiring fewer adjustments for production. The gun was in production from 1937–1946. 6,884 guns were manufactured and about 4,000 ML-20S barrels were used in the SU-152 and ISU-152 self-propelled guns . The ML-20

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6240-519: The ML-20 was also used. From 1943 the gun was employed by artillery regiments of armies . Such regiments had 18 ML-20s. Guard armies from early 1945 had artillery brigades with 36 ML-20s. The ML-20 also used by artillery regiments (24 pieces) and brigades (36 pieces) of the Reserve of the Main Command. It was primarily used for indirect fire against enemy personnel, fortifications and key objects in

6360-453: The ML-20 was developed, muzzle brakes were already a common design element in artillery pieces of that class. World War II Post-war Present Day ML-20s are on display in a number of military museums. Among other places, the gun can be seen: Tank destroyer A tank destroyer , tank hunter or tank killer is a type of armoured fighting vehicle , predominantly intended for anti-tank duties. They are typically armed with

6480-517: The Romanian Army leadership sought for ways to improve its anti-tank capabilities. The initial plan was the creation of a tank comparable in characteristics to the T-34 ; instead, Romania went for a number of tank destroyers, since they were more adequate for its industry. The Mareșal is probably the best known Romanian AFV from the war; historians Steven Zaloga and Mark Axworthy state that it inspired

6600-724: The SU-152 lacked a machine gun, which was a severe weakness in urban warfare and other close combat. To solve this problem the DShK 12.7 mm anti-aircraft gun installation was developed in the summer of 1943. Some SU-152s received it after repair. The SU-152 was the last member of the KV family of tanks in mass production, and was replaced by the ISU-152 on the ChKZ production lines in December 1943. The exact number of SU-152s produced differs even in Russian sources, with

6720-469: The SU-152 was able to destroy them at any range with some reliability (in 1943, this is only vehicle in Russian service capable of doing so) by dislodging the turret through blast effect. This discovery spurred massive SU-152 production and the formation of self-propelled artillery units, which then functioned as heavy tank destroyer battalions. After the SU-152 began mass production, it was slightly modified to improve reliability and effectiveness. Initially

6840-424: The Second World War as combatants developed effective armoured vehicles and tactics. Some were little more than stopgap solutions, mounting an anti-tank gun on a tracked vehicle to give mobility, while others were more sophisticated designs. An example of the development of tank destroyer technology throughout the war are the Marder III and Jagdpanzer 38 vehicle, that were very different in spite of being based on

6960-516: The Soviet Army for a long time after the war. In the early stage of the German invasion of the Soviet Union hundreds of ML-20 were captured by the Wehrmacht . The gun was adopted by Germans as 15.2 cm KH.433/1(r) . From February 1943 Germans manufactured ammunition for the gun. The Finnish Army captured 37 guns of the type in 1941–44 and received additional 27 from Germany. These guns were adopted as 152 H 37 . A number of barrels were mated with carriages of A-19 to create 152 H 37-31 . While

7080-502: The State Defense Committee therefore ordered the development of a heavy self-propelled gun with a 152.4mm ML-20 howitzer. The Red Army had dedicated anti-fortification vehicles in the pre-war period, such as the KV-2 heavy tank armed with the 152.4 mm M-10 howitzer. However, mass production of KV-2s ceased in October 1941, when the Kirov Works had to be evacuated from Leningrad to Chelyabinsk . An unknown number were still operating in 1942. The new anti-fortification vehicle

7200-407: The advantage of a reduced silhouette, allowing the crew to more frequently fire from defilade ambush positions. Such designs were also easier and faster to manufacture and offered good crew protection from artillery fire and shell splinters. However, the lack of a rotating turret limited the gun's traverse to a few degrees. This meant that the driver normally had to turn the entire tank onto its target,

7320-558: The anti-tank role, the SU-152 proved to have surprisingly good anti-tank capabilities due to the ML-20S's extremely heavy high explosive projectiles. Purpose-built anti-tank guns of the period usually relied on small, high-velocity solid projectiles, optimised for punching through armour. Since the SU-152, like all SU-series self-propelled guns was not designed with tank killing in mind, no AP projectiles were issued to crews and no initial tests against armor were conducted. However, tests performed on captured Tiger tanks in early 1943 showed that

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7440-515: The armoured troops, the tank destroyer is specifically designed to take on enemy tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles. Many are based on a tracked tank chassis , while others are wheeled. Since World War II , gun-armed powerful tank destroyers have fallen out of favor as armies have favored multirole main battle tanks . However, lightly armoured anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) carriers are commonly used for supplementary long-range anti-tank work. The resurgence of expeditionary warfare in

7560-561: The barrel was set to high elevation angle, the breech was equipped with cartridge holding mechanism. The gun was fired by pulling a trigger-cord. The recoil system consisted of a hydraulic buffer and hydro-pneumatic recuperator. Each held 22 litres of liquid. Pressure in the recuperator reached 45 Bar. The carriage was of split trail type, with shield and balancing mechanism, leaf spring suspension and steel wheels with rubber tires (some early production pieces received spoked wheels with solid tires from M1910/34). During transportation

7680-477: The barrel was usually retracted. The gun could also be towed with the barrel in its normal position, but in this case the transportation speed was limited, about 4–5 km/h (compared to 20 km/h with barrel pulled back). The gun could be set up for combat in 8–10 minutes. The carriage, designated 52-L-504A , was also used in the 122-mm gun model 1931/37 (A-19) . This gun was also mounted in two Soviet assault guns/tank destroyers employed during WWII. These are

7800-406: The caliber of its gun the 75/18 also had good results in anti-tank combat, fighting against British and American (but not Soviet) units. After the Armistice of 1943 , the 75/18 remained in use by German forces. Built on the same frame, the Semovente da 105/25 was equipped with a 105 mm gun and known as " bassotto " (Italian for dachshund ) due to its lower height. As manufacturing began in 1943,

7920-407: The chassis, hulls, and drive systems of ninety-one Porsche VK4501 (P) heavy tanks, mounting a long-barreled 88 mm cannon in an added casemate, more like the earlier Panzerjägers had with their added-on armour shielding for the gun crew, but in the Ferdinand completely enclosing the gun and firing crew in the added casemate, as the later purpose-built Jagdpanzers would. However, the Ferdinand

8040-428: The crew, having thinly armoured open-topped superstructures. The "open-topped" design format of the Panzerjäger vehicles was succeeded by the Jagdpanzer ("hunting tanks"), which mounted the gun in true casemate-style superstructures, completely enclosing the crew compartment in armor that was usually integral to the hull. The first of these Jagdpanzer s was the 70-ton Ferdinand (later renamed Elefant ), based on

8160-471: The decision that the main anti-tank units—the Tank Destroyer (TD) battalions —should be concentrated and very mobile. In practice, such German attacks rarely happened. Throughout the war, only one battalion ever fought in an engagement like that originally envisaged (the 601st , at the Battle of El Guettar ). The Tank Destroyer Command eventually numbered over 100,000 men and 80 battalions each equipped with 36 self-propelled tank destroyers or towed guns. Only

8280-409: The defensive anti-tank role. The StuG III assault gun was Germany's most-produced fully tracked armoured fighting vehicle during World War II, and second-most produced German armoured combat vehicle of any type after the Sd.Kfz. 251 half-track . Although the early German Panzerjäger carried more effective weapons than the tanks on which they were based, they were generally lacking in protection for

8400-408: The deployment of the M56 Scorpion and M50 Ontos . The concept later led to the M551 Sheridan light tank of the mid-1960s. British tanks in the early years of the war, both infantry tanks and cruiser tanks , were (with the exception of the pre-war Matilda I design) equipped with a gun capable of use against contemporary enemy tanks—the 40 mm Ordnance QF 2 pounder . This was replaced with

8520-434: The design of the later German Hetzer . Standing at only around 1.5 m tall, which would have made it very difficult to hit for its enemies, the Mareșal was a lightly armored, but highly mobile vehicle. It was armed with the Romanian 75 mm Reșița M1943 anti-tank gun, which proved to be among the best of its class during World War II, according to Mark Axworthy. During tests, the Mareșal proved to be superior in many aspects to

8640-466: The first two decades of the 21st century has seen the emergence of gun-armed wheeled vehicles, sometimes called "protected gun systems", which may bear a superficial resemblance to tank destroyers, but are employed as direct fire support units typically providing support in low-intensity operations , as was done in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan . Dedicated anti-tank vehicles made their first major appearance in

8760-535: The former, the ML-20 has better range (e.g. the German 15 cm sFH 18 had range of 13.3 km), which often allowed it to shell positions of enemy artillery while remaining immune to enemy fire. Its advantage over the latter was in weight and cost, and therefore in mobility and production rate. For example, the German 15 cm K 39 with range of 24.7 km weighed 12.2 tons had only 61 pieces built. The excellent 17 cm K 18 (23.4 t, 29.6 km) had 338 pieces manufactured. The lighter 10.5 cm sK 18 (5.6 t, 19.1 km)

8880-405: The gun could be made somewhat lighter and more suitable for high-speed transportation. The use of a muzzle brake can be seen as a minor flaw: while softening the recoil and thus allowing the use of a lighter carriage, a muzzle brake has the disadvantage of redirecting some of the gases that escape the barrel toward the ground, where they can raise dust, potentially revealing the gun position. But when

9000-637: The gun still remains in service). It was adopted by Egypt and Syria and saw action in Arab–Israeli conflict . In 2002 a TV documentary featured ML-20 employed by the Afghan Northern Alliance forces against the Taliban fighters; it seems likely that the guns were initially supplied to the Najibullah 's regime. The barrel was manufactured in two variants − monobloc or built-up. Some sources indicate that

9120-482: The gun tank was intended to be used in a fire support company for each of the tank regiments. No Type 2 Ho-I gun tanks are known to have engaged in combat prior to Japan's surrender. The prototype was built in 1942 and 31 units were produced in 1944. The Type 4 Ho-Ro self-propelled artillery used a modified Type 97 chassis. On to this platform, a Type 38 150 mm howitzer was mounted. The main gun could fire Type 88 APHE rounds and HEAT rounds. Given its breech loader,

9240-639: The gun was generally liked, the Finnish Army didn't possess enough prime movers suitable for towing such a massive piece. As a result, some of the guns were assigned to coastal artillery . Two pieces were captured back by the Red Army. A number of these guns were modernized in 1988 and were in reserve until 2007 under the designation 152 H 88-37 . After the war the ML-20 was widely exported to Warsaw Pact allies and to many states in Asia and Africa (in some of those states

9360-560: The gun's low velocity made the AP round no more accurate and only moderately more effective than the standard HE round (which could also be used against infantry). After Kursk, the SU-152 played an important role in destroying German fortifications during the Operation Bagration offensive, this being the vehicle's original design goal..From the second half of 1943 to the end of World War II SU-152s were used on all Soviet fronts, from Finland to

9480-493: The heavier-hitting 122 mm -armed ISU-122 and 152 mm -armed ISU-152 , both of which had impressive anti-tank capabilities earning each of them the Russian nickname Zveroboy ("beast killer") for their ability to destroy German Tigers , Panthers and Elefants . The predecessor of the ISU 152 was the SU-152 , built on the KV-1s chassis and shared many similarities (including its gun) with

9600-406: The infantry-support role. U.S. Army and counterpart British designs were very different in conception. U.S. doctrine was based, in light of the fall of France , on the perceived need to defeat German blitzkrieg tactics, and U.S. units expected to face large numbers of German tanks, attacking on relatively narrow fronts. These were expected to break through a thin screen of anti-tank guns, hence

9720-499: The limit that the chassis could bear. The absence of a turret meant that tank destroyers could be manufactured significantly cheaper, faster, and more easily than the tanks on which they were based, and they found particular favor when production resources were lacking. The first German tank destroyers were the Panzerjäger ("Tank Hunters"), which mounted an existing anti-tank gun on a convenient chassis for mobility, usually with just

9840-454: The maximum rate of fire was only 5 rounds per minute. The gun's elevation was restricted to 30 degrees by the construction of the chassis. Other design issues included the fact that although the gun crew was protected by a gun shield with armour thickness of 25 mm at the front, the shield only extended a very short distance on the sides; leaving the rest of the sides and back exposed. They were rushed into service, deployed and saw combat during

9960-485: The modern battlefield. But there are still dedicated anti-tank vehicles with very heavy long-range missiles, and ones intended for airborne use. There have also been dedicated anti-tank vehicles built on ordinary armoured personnel carrier or armored car chassis. Examples include the U.S. M901 ITV (Improved TOW Vehicle) and the Norwegian NM142 , both on an M113 chassis, several Soviet ATGM launchers based on

10080-478: The modernization works, but the Main Artillery Directorate (GAU) insisted on more significant upgrade. Consequently, the design bureau of the plant developed two guns ML-15 and ML-20. While the former project was initiated by GAU, the latter started as private development; the team working on it was led by F. F. Petrov . Both guns used barrel and recoil system of the M1910/34. The ML-20 also inherited

10200-571: The more successful German tank destroyers was designed as a self-propelled artillery gun, the Sturmgeschütz III . Based on the Panzer III tank chassis, the Sturmgeschütz III was originally fitted with a short barreled low-velocity howitzer-like gun, and was assigned to the artillery arm for infantry fire support as an assault gun . Later, after encountering Soviet tanks, it was refitted with

10320-405: The most common figures being 670 or 704. The SU-152s that survived World War II were withdrawn from Soviet Army service in 1958. The SU-152 followed the same, fully enclosed casemated design as most other Soviet self-propelled guns. The fully armoured hull was divided into two compartments: one for the crew, gun, and ammunition in the front of the hull, and one for the engine and transmission in

10440-468: The near rear. Heavy fragments of the OF-540 HE-Fragmentation shell were capable of piercing armour up to 20–30 mm thick, making a barrage dangerous to thinly armored vehicles and to some extent to heavier armoured ones as the fragments could damage chassis, sights or other elements; sometimes a close explosion caused damage inside a vehicle even though the armour remained intact. Direct hit of

10560-490: The number of German tanks encountered by American forces steadily decreased throughout the war, most battalions were split up and assigned to infantry units as supporting arms, fighting as assault guns or being used essentially as tanks. In this sense they were an alternative to the Independent tank battalions that were attached to various Infantry Divisions. The expectation that German tanks would be engaged in mass formation

10680-497: The proliferation of ATGMs, some gun-armed tank destroyers remain in use. China has developed the tracked PTZ89 and the wheeled PTL02 tank destroyers. The PTZ89 is armed with a 120 mm smoothbore cannon while the PTL02, developed by NORINCO for the PLA's new light (rapid reaction) mechanized infantry divisions, carries a 100 millimeters (3.9 in) one (a version armed with a 105 mm rifled gun

10800-415: The rear. The hull was welded from rolled armour plates of different thickness — 75, 60, 30 and 20 mm. The front hull and superstructure armour plates were sloped for better vehicle protection, while side armour was vertical. Lower front hull and rear armour plates were cylindrical, and relatively complex in their method of production. The ML-20S gun-howitzer was mounted slightly to the right of centre with

10920-424: The reconnaissance units. There were also 37 mm armed TKS-D (2 experimental vehicles) and 47 mm armed TKD (4 experimental vehicles). It is not certain whether they were used operationally at all. Due to the quick defeat of France, few French vehicles were built. The Laffly W15 TCC ( Chasseur de chars ) was an attempt to quickly build a light tank destroyer by mounting a 47 mm SA37 anti-tank gun onto

11040-610: The role, the SU-152 proved to be a cheap and effective heavy tank killer, second only to the SU-100 as a Soviet antitank vehicle, as well as successful at its original role against infantry and fortifications, serving a similar role to the SU-100Y. The SU-152 was produced in large numbers throughout 1943, with the first SU-152s being issued to new heavy mechanized gun regiments raised in May 1943. The first regiment arrived at Kursk with only 12 guns, and

11160-577: The same chassis: Marder was straightforwardly an anti-tank gun on tracks whereas the Jagdpanzer 38 traded some firepower (its 7.5 cm Pak 39 , designed to operate within the confines of a fully armoured fighting compartment, fires the same projectiles from a reduced propellant charge compared to Marder's 7.5 cm Pak 40 ) for better armour protection and ease of concealment on the battlefield. Except for most American designs, all tank destroyers were turretless vehicles with fixed or casemate superstructures. When

11280-472: The same distance. This made it most effective for use against entrenched enemies, where the German heavy tanks' advantages could be nullified and the SU-152s could utilize their one-shot kill potential. Since it was intended as a self-propelled artillery piece rather than a true tank destroyer, the SU-152 was generally issued with standard HE rounds rather than armor-piercing projectiles. The 152mm HE round produced

11400-451: The side armor with re-positioned observation visors. Production began in 1943, with only 54 completed. The other variant produced was the Type 3 Ho-Ni III , which mounted a Type 3 75 mm tank gun in a completely enclosed armored casemate to address the issue of crew protection in close combat. The welded superstructure had sloped armour and the gun mount had additional stamped armour plate. The total number produced of all three types in

11520-416: The tank-hull based designs used special open-topped turrets of a differing design from the original tank it was based on, which was meant to both save weight and to accommodate a larger gun. The earliest expedient design was mounting a 75 mm M1897 field gun in a limited-traverse mount on an M3 half-track , which was designated 75 mm gun motor carriage M3 . Another, considerably less successful, early design

11640-505: The telescopic ST-10 (СТ-10) and a panoramic sight. For crew communication a TPU-4-BisF intercom was fitted, and for inter-vehicle communication there was a single radio. The first-series SU-152 was equipped with the 9R, then 10R and finally the 10RK-26 radio set. These radios were better than Soviet equipment at the start of the war, but inferior to German equipment. The crew was equipped with two PPSh submachine guns and 25 F1 grenades for short-range self-defence. Although not designed for

11760-554: The unwieldy Elefant , now fitted to the chassis of the medium Panther tank , providing greatly improved armour-penetrating capability in a medium-weight vehicle. Facing an increasingly defensive war, the German Army turned to larger and more powerfully armed Jagdpanzer designs, and in July 1944 the first Jagdtiger rolled off the production line; it was the heaviest German armoured fighting vehicle to go into active service. The Jagdtiger

11880-405: The vehicle was originally designed as a very heavily armoured self-propelled assault gun to breach Germany's Siegfried Line defenses. Of these tank destroyers, only the 90 mm gun of the M36 proved effective against the frontal armour of Germans' larger armored vehicles at long range. The open top and light armour made these tank destroyers vulnerable to anything greater than small-arms fire. As

12000-423: The vehicle's interior via concussion and spalling without harming the ammunition supply or chassis. Soviet SU-152 crews were ordered to continue firing at incapacitated tanks until their turrets were knocked off, but the Ferdinand did not have a turret. After Kursk, the 152 mm BR-540 solid-core AP round was produced in small numbers and issued to heavy tank destroyer battalions as a penetrating projectile, but

12120-460: The war these projects were restarted. In December 1942 three different designs of "pillbox killer" vehicles were introduced by engineer groups from the major Soviet artillery and tank factories. All of these designs used the ML-20 gun as a primary armament, with the KV-1S heavy tank chassis. After some discussion, the project of Josef Kotin was chosen for mass production. This design successfully combined

12240-496: The wheels, suspension and trails from the older gun. The ML-15 reached ground tests in April 1936, was returned for revision and was tested again in March 1937, this time successfully. The ML-20 went through ground tests in December 1936 and through army tests next year. After some defects (mostly in carriage) were eliminated, the ML-20 was recommended for production and on 22 September 1937 it

12360-435: Was 160 mm. There were three internal fuel tanks, two in the crew area and one in the engine compartment, for a total capacity of 600–615 litres. These were usually enhanced by four unconnected external fuel tanks, which could hold an additional 360 litres of fuel. A 24-volt electrical power supply came from a 1 kW GT-4563A generator with a RRA-24 voltage relay regulator unit and four 6STE-128 accumulator batteries with

12480-610: Was a German 75 mm anti-tank gun on the Czech Panzer 38(t) chassis as the Marder III . The Panzer 38(t) chassis was also used to make the Jagdpanzer 38 casemate style tank destroyer. The Panzerjäger series continued up to the 88 mm equipped Nashorn . German tank destroyers based on the Panzer III medium tank and later German tanks had more armour than their tank counterparts. One of

12600-450: Was a failed assumption. In reality, German attacks effectively used combined arms on the ground, fighting cohesively. American tank destroyer battalions comprised three tank destroyer companies supported by nine security sections. The single-purpose tactics of the tank destroyer battalion failed to account for non-tank threats. In the 1950s the goal of providing airborne forces with a parachute-capable self-propelled anti-tank weapon led to

12720-414: Was adopted as 152-mm howitzer-gun model 1937 ( Russian : 152-мм гаубица-пушка образца 1937 года (МЛ-20) ). It is not clear why the ML-20 was preferred. The ML-15 was lighter (about 500 kg less in combat position, 600 kg in traveling position) and more mobile (maximum transportation speed 45 km/h). On the negative side, the ML-15 had a more complicated carriage (however, the final version of

12840-515: Was based on the Tiger II heavy tank featured a very large 128 mm PaK 44 cannon and heavy armour protection. Only 88 Jagdtiger vehicles were produced, barely matching the total number of the earlier Ferdinand / Elefant vehicles. They were first deployed to combat units in September 1944. The decision of German armoured vehicle designers to use a casemate-style superstructure for all tank destroyers had

12960-402: Was brought up to its full strength of 21 guns during the fighting. Disadvantages of the vehicle included a low rate of fire due to the heavy ammunition, low ammunition storage (only 20 rounds), and a cramped and un-ergonomic crew compartment. Its armor protection was only adequate; the 65 mm of 30-degree sloped frontal armor still left it vulnerable frontally to the 88 mm KwK 36/43 guns of

13080-516: Was delayed until post war before entering service. A cut-down 17 pdr, the 77mmHV was used to equip the Comet tank in the last year of the war. The closest the British came to developing an armoured tank destroyer in the vein of the German Jagdpanzers or Soviet ISU series was the Churchill 3-inch gun carrier—a Churchill tank chassis with a boxy superstructure in place of the turret and mounting

13200-442: Was designed with the same purpose in mind, but with higher mobility, heavier armor, reduced production cost, and the more powerful and accurate ML-20 152mm gun. Mounting the ML-20 in a turret was impossible due to its length and recoil, and it was decided that the new vehicle should have a non-rotating gun mounted in a fixed casemate -style superstructure. Several other anti-fortification vehicle projects had all been halted. Later in

13320-428: Was either monobloc or built-up. Some sources indicate that a third type—with loose liner—also existed. To soften recoil , a large slotted muzzle brake was fitted. The breechblock was of interrupted screw type, with forced extraction of cartridge during opening. A safety lock prevented opening of the breechblock before the shot; if there was a need to remove a shell, the lock had to be disabled. To assist loading when

13440-504: Was eventually replaced by the D-20 152 mm gun with identical ballistics, which entered production in 1956. Smaller production rates toward the end of the war were caused by two reasons. First, most of the barrels produced in these years were ML-20S. Second, after the Soviets started to field heavy tanks such as the JS series that used the A-19 122mm gun, the plant was ordered to increase the production of

13560-480: Was exacerbated by the absence of roads, the presence of deep snow and a scarcity of artillery tractors. Towed guns were also vulnerable to counterattack while moving, especially since they were often hauled by horses or their crews. The 152 mm heavy howitzers were particularly difficult to maneuver owing to their great weight. They were incapable of crossing rivers on anything but tank bridges and were prone to being abandoned after becoming mired. In November 1942,

13680-403: Was fitted with both telescopic sight for direct fire and panoramic sight for an indirect one. For ballistic calculations and meteorological corrections a special mechanical device was developed. The device, called meteoballistic summator , consisted of a specialized slide rule and a pre-calculated table. After World War II similar devices were introduced for other types of guns. The barrel

13800-534: Was mechanically unreliable and difficult to maneuver, and once all ninety-one unturreted "Porsche Tiger" hulls/drive systems were converted, no more were built. The German Army had more success with the Jagdpanther . Introduced in mid-1944, the Jagdpanther, of which some 415 examples were produced, was considered the best of the casemate-design Jagdpanzer designs. It featured the same powerful PaK 43 88 mm cannon used on

13920-410: Was more common (2,135 pieces) but its 15 kg shell was much less powerful than a 44 kg shell of ML-20. German attempts to produce an analogue to the ML-20 were unsuccessful. The 15 cm sFH 40 was never produced due to construction defects; the 15 cm sFH 42 had insufficient range and only 46 pieces were built. In 1943 and 1944 Wehrmacht announced requirements for a 15 cm howitzer with

14040-662: Was the M6 gun motor carriage which mounted the US 37 mm anti-tank gun facing to the rear on the bed of a Dodge 3/4-ton light truck. The M3 was first used against the Japanese in the Philippines and then in the Tunisian campaign of the war in North Africa. Some were supplied to British units who used them within armoured car reconnaissance regiments for fire support. The M6 GMC was unarmoured and

14160-468: Was the first self-propelled gun design of the Imperial Japanese Army . They were meant to be self-propelled artillery and tank destroyers for armoured divisions . The plan was for the Type 1 Ho-Ni I gun tank to form part of a fire support company in each of the tank regiments. The Type 1 Ho-Ni I was developed by using the existing Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tank chassis and engine, and replacing

14280-527: Was usable against both tanks and in supporting infantry, there was a need to put the 17 pdr into a tank for use against the enemy's heavy tanks. The Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger was a project to bring a 17 pdr tank into use to support the Cromwell cruiser tank . Delays led to it being outnumbered in use by the Sherman Firefly —but a derivative of Challenger was the more or less open-topped variant Avenger , which

14400-717: Was used by the Independent Heavy Self-propelled Artillery Regiments (OTSAP, ОТСАП, in Russian, from Otdel'niy Tyazheliy Samokhodno-Artilleriyskiy Polk , Отдельный Тяжелый Самоходно-Артиллерийский Полк). Initially each OTSAP had twelve SU-152s, divided into three batteries of four vehicles. One KV-1S tank served as a commander's vehicle. After November 1943 the OTSAP organisation changed to 21 vehicles per regiment. 152 mm howitzer-gun M1937 (ML-20) The 152 mm howitzer-gun M1937 (ML-20) ( Russian : 152-мм гаубица-пушка обр. 1937 г. (МЛ-20) ),

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