Experienced an acute shortage of heavy guns capable of hitting the armored vehicles of Nazi Germany. The most in demand among the troops were large-caliber guns and heavy tanks. However, those guns that the USSR used in 1941-1942 had a lot of shortcomings.

In January 1943, the Soviet industry began serial production of the SU-152 self-propelled artillery mount based on the KV-1s heavy tank. On the caterpillar platform, engineers installed a 152 mm howitzer-cannon of the 1937 model (ML-20).

The hybrid proved to be very successful. The SU-152 made its debut in (July - August 1943) in battles with heavy German tanks T-5 "Panther", T-6 "Tiger" and Ferdinand self-propelled guns. Later SU-152 took part in offensive operations Red Army in the western regions of the USSR.

However, the launch of the SU-152 into mass production became a necessary measure in the conditions of war, experts say. The self-propelled gun had problems with the reliability of the chassis and transmission. Most of these guns were destroyed or disabled by mid-1944.

In honor of the leader

Significant shortcomings of the SU-152, identified at the testing stage, prompted the designers to start modernizing the self-propelled gun. Work on the creation of an updated version started on May 25, 1943 in the Design Bureau of Experimental Plant No. 100 (now - OJSC VNIITransmash, Chelyabinsk). They were led by talented Soviet designers and Grigory Nikolaevich Moskvin.

The upgraded self-propelled gun was named ISU-152. However, the Red Army soldiers soon nicknamed it "St.

Kotin and Moskvin created the ISU-152 on the platform of the promising heavy tank IS-1 ("Joseph Stalin"), which the Chelyabinsk enterprise had been developing since February 1943.

The tank, named after the Soviet leader, was called to replace in the troops, which demonstrated poor driving performance. Tanks of the IS family turned out to be lighter (41 tons versus 43-47), powerful, protected and reliable.

The IS-1 prototypes were successfully tested in July-August 1943, and in September new tank was adopted by the Red Army. This made it possible to start mass production of the ISU-152 already in November.

The updated self-propelled gun was able to overcome obstacles up to 1.9 m high (against 1.2 m for the SU-152) and a ditch up to 1.5 m deep (against 0.9 m for the SU-152). True, the engineers had to sacrifice speed on the highway (35 km / h versus 43 km / h) and cross-country (15 km / h versus 30 km / h).

In addition to the running platform, the "St. Since October 1944, self-propelled guns were produced with a 12.7-mm anti-aircraft heavy machine gun DShK and radio station 10RK.

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"Really some big differences between the two self-propelled guns was not. At the same time, the ISU-152 had the best security and maneuverability. The enlarged felling made the St. However, the need for the ISU-152 was too great, ”explained Sergey Suvorov, candidate of military sciences, in an interview with RT.

In total, in 1943-1947, the Soviet industry produced 3242 ISU-152, and in the period from November 1943 to May 1945 - 1885 units. In addition to the Red Army, "St. John's wort" was in service with the Armed Forces of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Egypt. Captured ISU-152s were used by soldiers of the Wehrmacht and Finland.

"They pierced the frontal armor"

It is noteworthy that the "specialization" of the ISU-152 was not originally included. According to the generally accepted classification, "St. John's wort" is primarily an assault weapon. On the battlefield, the tank was much faster and more maneuverable than self-propelled guns. However, the Red Army experienced a huge shortage of such large-caliber guns.

A significant problem of the ISU-152, in addition to poor mobility, was the low rate of fire - only 1-3 rounds per minute, while the German "Tiger" could produce up to 5-8 rounds per minute. Ammunition "St. John's wort" was small and amounted to 20 shots. Loading shells took about 40 minutes.

To compensate for the shortcomings of the ISU-152, the Red Army resorted to careful camouflage of combat vehicles. Besides, Deerslayers never acted alone. The Soviet command sought to achieve a numerical advantage of self-propelled guns over German tanks. While one ISU-152 was reloading, the other fired.

The solid armor of the "St.

From a distance of about a kilometer, the ISU-152 could hit absolutely any target. The basis of the St.

These incredibly heavy projectiles were fired from the howitzer at an impressive speed for their mass - about 600 m/s. This made it possible to break through the frontal armor and tear off the towers of the German "Tigers" and "Panthers". The less protected equipment of the Nazis completely irrevocably failed, even if the shells exploded a few meters away.

“ML-20 is not the most ideal weapon to defeat heavy armored vehicles. Loading and loading the BR-540 or OF-540 cost a lot of work. But any indirect hit of these heavy shells was guaranteed to cripple a German tank, ”said Suvorov.

ISU-152 turned out to be an indispensable assistant to the Red Army from the point of view of its direct purpose - assault operations. The self-propelled gun left no chance for enemy firing points in dense urban areas. As historians note, "St. John's wort" distinguished himself during the capture of Königsberg, Berlin, in battles with the Japanese army.

In the Wehrmacht and the troops of the allied countries of the USSR (Great Britain and the USA) there were no analogues of the ISU-152. As a rule, foreign large-caliber artillery systems were lightly armored carriages. The exception was the German assault tank Brummbär with a 150 mm gun. However, it had a low muzzle velocity and an unreliable undercarriage.

“The shortcomings of St. John's wort can be explained by the lack of resources to create a more efficient self-propelled gun. But it is worth noting that the technological breakthrough in the development of artillery systems occurred much later. Given the difficult economic conditions, the ISU-152 was an excellent weapon in terms of ease of production, repair and advantages on the battlefield, ”summed up Suvorov.

Among the samples of the Soviet military equipment Since the Great Patriotic War, there is a place for a relatively small amount (670 copies) of the "St. There were two types of self-propelled guns that can be confused, especially since their names are very similar. The guns installed in the cabins of both machines are the same - this is a wonderful ML-20 gun. But the ISU-152 is much more powerful, it was inherited from the heavy tank IS-2.

The name stuck to both machines, but since there is still a difference between them, you should pay attention to the one with a KV chassis, consider the history of creation and the reasons for its appearance at the front.

Howitzer on a heavy tank chassis

This howitzer was already installed on the undercarriage, however, this was done differently. During the war with Finland, siege guns with KV-2 found combat use. These samples had a number of drawbacks, in particular, a very high profile, which unmasked the equipment and made it easier for enemy weapons to hit it. In order to reduce the weight and height of the self-propelled guns and simplify the technology of its production, in 1943 tank-building engineers from Chelyabinsk decided to install the gun in a fixed wheelhouse. In December of the same year, development work was completed, and ChKZ began mass production.

There is nothing surprising in the name of the installation. SU-152 stands for: self-propelled gun with a 152 mm caliber gun.

Tank Destroyer

In fact, any oncoming battle of tank formations, according to classical tactical science, is the result of a command error. A competent officer or general must take care of the covert concentration of his armored vehicles on that sector of the enemy's defense, where the absence of serious opposition will be ensured. However, World War II broke established stereotypes, and tanks often fought each other. By 1943, the Germans had "Tigers" capable of inflicting significant damage to Soviet armored vehicles from distant positions, so there was a need for a special class of it - a tank destroyer. The "St.

Advantages of the SU-152

It is not known what the German tankers called the SU-152 self-propelled gun, but it caused them a lot of trouble. The Soviet self-propelled gun could fire from hidden positions along a hinged trajectory, however, this required guidelines or adjustments.

The main advantage of the new technology was a heavy-duty caliber and a long range of aimed fire. The mass of the projectile ranged from 40 to 49 kilograms, and when hit, it was guaranteed to destroy any armored target. The real range, allowing reasonable hope for such a result, was a distance of 1800 meters. The chassis and mechanics had design flaws, but there were no more of them than the main enemy, the Tiger T-VI tank.

At first glance, these are very impressive characteristics, but there were also problems that made it possible to doubt that the nickname of the SU-152 self-propelled gun was quite justified.

The main "beast"

In order to objectively assess the chances of our self-propelled guns in an artillery duel with the Tiger, it is necessary to compare the capabilities of these vehicles in such a situation.

So, the first thing you should pay attention to is the range of aimed fire. It is approximately the same for these two samples, but it should be noted that the quality of the German optics of the Carl Zeiss company is higher than ours, although Soviet sights cannot be called bad.

The second important factor is the rate of fire. Our self-propelled gunners could make only two shots in a minute, the large weight of the projectile (up to 60 kg) and the cramped conditions in the wheelhouse interfered. The Germans during the same time could shoot six times.

The subject of the third comparison is the caliber. This is exactly what led to the unofficial name SU-152. Here, the superiority of our self-propelled guns over the enemy "beast" is indisputable. Where are 88 millimeters against our 152's! The trouble was that the German caliber was enough to penetrate the six-centimeter armor of the Soviet self-propelled gun. And the Germans had much more shells in their ammunition load - 90 against our twenty. And yet, at the "Tiger" the tower was rotated by an electric motor, and the ML-20 had a turning angle of only 12 degrees in each direction.

people win

Given all the characteristics, we can conclude that our self-propelled gun in a collision with the "Tiger" was practically doomed, but this is not so. Each time, many factors influenced the outcome of the duel, including the training of the crews, the availability of combat experience, and knowledge of the terrain, and simply courage. It was important to take the best position, and to detect the enemy as early as possible, and to be the first to shoot, and, most importantly, to hit. And often our tank artillerymen succeeded in all this better than the Germans. And then they could praise their car: "St. John's wort!" (as the soldiers of the Red Army called the self-propelled gun SU-152).

The first samples of heavy self-propelled artillery installations were created in the Soviet Union before the start of World War II. However, it did not reach their mass production then. The realities of war, the appearance in the ranks of the Nazi Panzerwaffe of new heavy tanks, forced Soviet designers to return to the development of heavy self-propelled guns.

Armed with powerful 152-mm guns, these combat vehicles became the most formidable anti-tank weapons of the Red Army. A shell weighing half a centner tore off the Tiger's turret from the shoulder strap, broke through the Panther's armor. It was for the success in the fight against the German armored "menagerie" that the Soviet soldiers gave the heavy self-propelled guns the respectful nickname "St. John's wort".

In connection with the adoption in the fall of 1943 of the year by the Red Army of the new heavy tank IS and the removal of the KV-1C from production, it became necessary to create a heavy self-propelled guns already on the basis of a new heavy tank. Decree of the State Defense Committee No. 4043ss of September 4, 1943 ordered Experimental Plant No. 100 in Chelyabinsk, together with the technical department of the Main Armored Directorate of the Red Army, to design, manufacture and test the IS-152 self-propelled gun based on the IS tank until November 1, 1943.


During development, the installation received the factory designation "object 241". G.N. was appointed the lead designer. Moskvin. A prototype was made in October. For several weeks, the self-propelled guns were tested at the NIBTPolygon in Kubinka and the Artillery Scientific Testing Experimental Ground (ANIOP) in Gorokhovets. On November 6, 1943, by a decree of the State Defense Committee, the new machine was put into service under the designation ISU-152, and in December its mass production began.

The layout of the ISU-152 did not differ in fundamental innovations. The conning tower, made of rolled armor plates, was installed in front of the hull, combining the control and combat compartments into one volume. The engine compartment was located in the aft part of the hull. The bow part of the hull on the installations of the first releases was made of cast, on the machines of the latest releases it had a welded structure.




The number and placement of crew members were the same as those of the SU-152. If the crew consisted of four people, then the duties of the loader were performed by the castle. For the landing of the crew in the roof of the cabin, there were two round hatches in the front and one rectangular in the stern. All hatches were closed with double-leaf covers, in the upper wings of which MK-4 observation devices were installed. In the frontal sheet of the cabin there was a driver's inspection hatch, which was closed with an armored plug with a glass block and a viewing slot.

The design of the conning tower itself has not undergone fundamental changes. Due to the smaller width of the IS tank, compared to the KV, it was necessary to reduce the slope of the side plates from 25 ° to 15 ° to the vertical, and completely eliminate the slope of the stern sheet. The thickness of the armor at the same time increased from 75 to 90 mm at the frontal cutting sheet and from 60 to 75 mm at the side.

The gun mask had a thickness of 60 mm, and was later increased to 100 mm. The roof of the cabin consisted of two parts. The front part of the roof was welded to the front, cheekbone and side sheets. In it, in addition to two round hatches, a hole was made for installing a fighting compartment fan (in the middle), which was closed from the outside with an armor cap, and a hatch was also provided for access to the filler neck of the left front fuel tank (left) and an antenna input hole (right). The rear roof sheet was removable and bolted. It should be noted that the installation of an exhaust fan became a significant advantage of the ISU-152, compared to the SU-152, in which there was no forced exhaust ventilation at all, and crew members during the battle sometimes lost consciousness from the accumulated powder gases. However, according to the recollections of self-propelled gunners, the ventilation on the new machine also left much to be desired - when the shutter was opened after a shot, an avalanche of thick powder smoke, similar to sour cream, flowed from the gun barrel and slowly spread over the floor of the fighting compartment.





The roof over the engine compartment consisted of a removable sheet over the engine, grids over the air intake windows to the engine and armored grilles over the blinds. The removable sheet had a hatch for access to the components and assemblies of the engine, which was closed with a hinged lid. In the back of the sheet there were two hatches for access to the filler necks of the fuel and oil tanks. The middle aft hull plate in the combat position was screwed on with bolts; during repairs, it could be hinged. To access the transmission units, it had two round hatches, closed with hinged armored covers. The bottom of the hull was welded from three armor plates and had hatches and openings that were closed with armor caps and plugs.

152-mm howitzer-gun ML-20. C arr. 1937/43 It was mounted in a cast frame, which played the role of the upper machine gun, and was protected by the same cast armor mask, borrowed from the SU-152. The swinging part of the self-propelled howitzer-gun had minor differences compared to the field one: a folding tray was installed to facilitate loading and an additional pull to the trigger mechanism, the handles of the flywheels of the lifting and turning mechanisms were located at the gunner on the left along the vehicle, the trunnions were moved forward for natural balancing .

Vertical pointing angles ranged from -3° to +20°, horizontal - in the 10° sector. The height of the line of fire was 1800 mm. For direct fire, a ST-10 telescopic sight with a semi-independent aiming line was used; for firing from closed firing positions, a Hertz panorama with an extension cord was used, the lens of which exited the cabin through the open left upper hatch.





When shooting at night, the sight and panorama scales, as well as the aiming and gun arrows, were illuminated by electric bulbs of the Luch 5 device. The direct fire range was 3800 m, the maximum was 6200 m. The rate of fire was 2-3 rds / min. The gun had electric and mechanical (manual) descents. The electric trigger was located on the handle of the flywheel of the lifting mechanism. On the guns of the first releases, a mechanical (manual) descent was used. Lifting and turning mechanisms of the sector type, mounted on brackets to the left cheek of the frame.

The ammunition consisted of 21 rounds of separate case loading with armor-piercing tracer sharp-headed shells BR-540, high-explosive fragmentation cannon and steel howitzer grenades OF-540 and OF-530, fragmentation howitzer grenades made of steel cast iron O-5Z0A. Armor-piercing tracer shells were located in the niche of the conning tower on the left side in special frames, high-explosive fragmentation grenades - in the same place, cartridge cases with live charges in the niche of the cabin in special frames and in a collar-type installation.



Part of the cartridge cases with live charges was placed on the bottom under the gun. The initial speed of an armor-piercing projectile with a mass of 48.78 kg was 600 m / s, at a distance of 1000 m it pierced armor 123 mm thick.

From October 1944, an anti-aircraft turret with a 12.7-mm DShK machine gun mod. Ammunition for the machine gun was 250 rounds. In addition, two PPSh submachine guns (later PPS) with 1491 rounds of ammunition and 20 F-1 hand grenades were placed in the fighting compartment.

The power plant and transmission were borrowed from the IS-1 (IS-2) tank. The ISU-152 was equipped with a 12-cylinder four-stroke diesel V-2IS (V-2-10) with a power of 520 hp. at 2000 rpm. The cylinders were arranged in a V-shape at an angle of 60°. The compression ratio is 14–15. Engine weight 1000 kg.



The engine was started by an inertial starter, which had manual and electric drives, or using compressed air cylinders.

The total capacity of the three fuel tanks was 520 liters. Another 300 liters were transported in three external tanks not connected to the power system. Fuel supply is forced, using a twelve-plunger fuel pump high pressure NK-1.

Lubrication system - circulating, under pressure. A circulation tank was built into the tank of the lubrication system, which provided a quick warm-up of the oil and the ability to use the method of diluting the oil with gasoline.










The cooling system is liquid, closed, with forced circulation. Radiators - two, plate-tubular, horseshoe-shaped, installed above the centrifugal fan.

To clean the air entering the engine cylinders, two air cleaners of the VT-5 brand of the “multicyclone” type were installed on the ACS. Injectors and glow plugs were built into the air cleaner heads to heat the intake air in winter. In addition, wick heaters powered by diesel fuel were used to heat the coolant in the engine cooling system. The same heaters also provided heating for the fighting compartment of the vehicle during long-term parking.

The ACS transmission included a multi-plate dry friction main clutch (ferrodo steel), a four-speed eight-speed gearbox with a demultiplier, two-stage planetary turning mechanisms with a multi-plate locking clutch and two-stage final drives with a planetary gear set.





The undercarriage of the self-propelled guns in relation to one side consisted of six double cast road wheels with a diameter of 550 mm and three support rollers. The rear drive wheels had two removable gear rims with 14 teeth each. The guide wheels are cast, with a crank mechanism for tensioning the tracks, interchangeable with the track rollers. Suspension - individual torsion. Caterpillars are steel, small-linked, of 86 single-ridge tracks each. The tracks are stamped, 650 mm wide and 162 mm pitch. Pin engagement.







For external radio communications, radio stations 10R or 10RK were installed on the machines, for internal radio communication, the TPU-4-BIS-F intercom was installed. To communicate with the landing force, there was an audible alarm button at the stern.

Already at the beginning of 1944, the release of the ISU-152 began to be constrained by the lack of ML-20 guns. Anticipating such a situation, at the artillery plant No. 9 in Sverdlovsk, they put the barrel of the 122-mm A-19 corps gun on the cradle of the ML-20C gun and as a result received a heavy self-propelled gun ISU-122 (“object 242”). A prototype installation in December 1943 was tested at the Gorohovets training ground. By a GKO decree of March 12, 1944, the ISU-122 was adopted by the Red Army. Serial production of the machine began at ChKZ in April 1944 and continued until September 1945.

The ISU-122 was a variant of the ISU-152 self-propelled guns, in which the 152-mm ML-20C howitzer-gun was replaced by a 122-mm A-19 gun mod. 1931/37 At the same time, the movable armor of the gun had to be somewhat changed. The height of the line of fire was 1790 mm. In May 1944, changes were made to the design of the A-19 gun barrel, which violated the interchangeability of new barrels with previously issued ones.


The upgraded gun was named "122-mm self-propelled gun arr. 1931/44". Both guns had a piston valve. The barrel length was 46.3 calibers. The device of the A-19 gun was in many ways the same as the ML-20C. It differed from the last barrel of a smaller caliber with a length increased by 730 mm, the absence of a muzzle brake and fewer rifling. To aim the gun, a sector-type lifting mechanism and a screw-type rotary mechanism were used. The vertical aiming angles ranged from -3 ° to + 22 °, horizontally - in the 10 ° sector. To protect the lifting mechanism from inertial loads, a transfer link was introduced into its design in the form of a conical friction clutch placed between the worm wheel and the gear of the lifting mechanism. When firing, the ST-18 telescopic sight was used, which differed from the ST-10 sight only by cutting scales, and a panoramic sight with a semi-independent or independent line of sight (Hertz's panorama). The direct fire range was 5000 m, the maximum - 14 300 m. Rate of fire - 2-3 rds / min.

The ammunition load of the installation included 30 rounds of separate-sleeve loading with an armor-piercing tracer sharp-headed projectile BR-471 and an armor-piercing tracer with a ballistic tip BR-471B, as well as high-explosive fragmentation cannon grenades: one-piece short OF-471N, with a screw head and a long - OF-471. The initial speed of an armor-piercing projectile with a mass of 25 kg was 800 m / s. Additionally, two PPSh (PPS) submachine guns with 1491 rounds of ammunition (21 disks) and 25 F-1 hand grenades were placed in the fighting compartment.

Since October 1944, a DShK anti-aircraft machine gun with 250 rounds of ammunition was installed on some vehicles.

In April 1944, the ISU-122S self-propelled artillery mount (ISU-122-2, “object 249”) was created in the design bureau of plant No. 100, which was a modernized version of the ISU-122. In June, the installation was tested at the ANIOP in Gorokhovets, and on August 22, 1944, it was put into service. In the same month, its mass production at ChKZ began in parallel with the ISU-122 and ISU-152, which continued until September 1945.





The ISU-122S was created on the basis of the ISU-122 and differed from it by installing the D-25S gun mod. 1944 with a horizontal wedge semi-automatic breech and muzzle brake. The height of the line of fire was 1795 mm. Barrel length - 48 calibers. Due to more compact recoil devices and the breech of the gun, it was possible to increase the rate of fire to 6 rds / min. The vertical aiming angles ranged from -3 ° to + 20 °, horizontally - in the 10 ° sector (7 ° to the right and 3 ° to the left). Gun sights - telescopic TSh-17 and Hertz's panorama. Direct fire range - 5000 m, maximum - up to 15,000 m. Ammunition - the same as that of the A-19 gun. Externally, the SU-122S differed from the SU-122 in the gun barrel and a new cast mantlet 120–150 mm thick.

From 1944 to 1947, 2790 self-propelled units ISU-152, 1735 - ISU-122 and 675 - ISU-122S were manufactured. Thus, the total production of heavy artillery self-propelled guns - 5200 units - exceeded the number of manufactured heavy IS tanks - 4499 units. It should be noted that, as in the case of the IS-2, to release self-propelled guns at its base, the Leningrad Kirov Plant was to be connected. Until May 9, 1945, the first five ISU-152s were assembled there, and by the end of the year, another hundred. In 1946 and 1947, the production of the ISU-152 was carried out only at the LKZ.

Since the spring of 1944, heavy self-propelled artillery regiments SU-152 were re-equipped with ISU-152 and ISU-122 installations. They were transferred to new states and all were given the title of guards. In total, 56 such regiments were formed before the end of the war, each with 21 ISU-152 or ISU-122 vehicles (some of these regiments were of mixed composition). On March 1, 1945, the 143rd separate tank Nevel brigade in the Belarusian-Lithuanian military district was reorganized into the 66th guards Nevel heavy self-propelled artillery brigade of the RVGK of three regiments (1804 people, 65 ISU-122 and three SU-76).



Heavy self-propelled artillery regiments attached to tank and rifle units and formations were primarily used to support infantry and tanks in the offensive. Following in their battle formations, the self-propelled guns destroyed the enemy's firing points and provided the infantry and tanks with a successful advance. In this phase of the offensive, self-propelled guns became one of the main means of repelling tank counterattacks. In a number of cases, they had to move ahead of the battle formations of their troops and take a hit on themselves, thereby ensuring freedom of maneuver for the supported tanks.

So, for example, on January 15, 1945 in East Prussia, in the Borovoe area, the Germans, with the strength of up to one regiment of motorized infantry, supported by tanks and self-propelled guns, counterattacked the battle formations of our advancing infantry, along with which the 390th Guards Heavy Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment operated. The infantry, under pressure from superior enemy forces, withdrew behind the combat formations of self-propelled gunners, who met the German strike with concentrated fire and covered the supported units. The counterattack was repulsed, and the infantry again got the opportunity to continue their offensive.

Heavy self-propelled guns were sometimes involved in artillery preparation. At the same time, the fire was conducted both by direct fire and from closed positions. In particular, on January 12, 1945, during the Sandomierz-Silesian operation, the 368th ISU-152 Guards Regiment of the 1st Ukrainian Front fired at a strong point and four enemy artillery and mortar batteries for 107 minutes. Having fired 980 shells, the regiment suppressed two mortar batteries, destroyed eight guns and up to one battalion of enemy soldiers and officers. It is interesting to note that additional ammunition was laid out in advance at firing positions, but first of all, the shells that were in combat vehicles were spent, otherwise the rate of fire would have been significantly reduced. For the subsequent replenishment of heavy self-propelled guns with shells, it took up to 40 minutes, so they stopped firing well in advance of the attack.









Very efficient heavy self-propelled guns used in the fight against enemy tanks. For example, in the Berlin operation on April 19, the 360th Guards Heavy Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment supported the advance of the 388th Rifle Division. Parts of the division took possession of one of the groves east of Lichtenberg, where they entrenched themselves. The next day, the enemy, with a strength of up to one infantry regiment, supported by 15 tanks, began to counterattack. When repelling attacks during the day, heavy self-propelled guns destroyed 10 German tanks and up to 300 soldiers and officers.

In the battles on the Zemland Peninsula during the East Prussian operation, the 378th Guards Heavy Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment, when repelling counterattacks, successfully used formation order of battle fan shelf. This provided the regiment with shelling in the 180 ° sector, which made it easier to fight enemy tanks attacking from different directions.











One of the ISU-152 batteries, having built its battle formation like a fan on a front with a length of 250 m, successfully repelled a counterattack of 30 enemy tanks on April 7, 1945, knocking out six of them. The battery has not suffered any losses. Only two cars received minor damage to the chassis.

At the final stage of the Great Patriotic War, battles in large settlements, including well-fortified ones, became a characteristic feature of the use of self-propelled artillery. As you know, an attack on a major locality is a very complex form of combat and in its nature differs in many respects from offensive combat under normal conditions.

fighting in the city they were almost always divided into a number of separate local battles for separate objects and centers of resistance.







This forced the advancing troops to create special assault detachments and groups with great independence to conduct battle in the city. Assault detachments and assault groups were the basis of the battle formations of formations and units fighting for the city.

Self-propelled artillery regiments and brigades were attached to rifle divisions and corps, in the latter they were completely or partially attached to rifle regiments, in which they were used to reinforce assault squads and groups. The assault groups included self-propelled artillery batteries and separate installations (usually two). The self-propelled guns, which were part of the assault groups, had the tasks of directly escorting infantry and tanks, repelling counterattacks by enemy tanks and self-propelled guns, and securing them on occupied targets. Accompanying infantry, self-propelled guns with direct fire from a place, less often from short stops, destroyed firing points and anti-tank guns of the enemy, his tanks and self-propelled guns, destroyed blockages, barricades and houses adapted for defense, and thereby ensured the advance of troops. To destroy buildings, salvo fire was sometimes used, which gave very good results. In the combat formations of assault groups, self-propelled artillery installations usually moved together with tanks under the cover of infantry, but if there were no tanks, then they moved along with the infantry.







The advancement of self-propelled artillery installations for operations ahead of the infantry turned out to be unjustified, since they suffered heavy losses from enemy fire.

In the 8th Guards Army of the 1st Belorussian Front, in the battles for the Polish city of Poznan, two or three ISU-152s of the 394th Guards Heavy Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment were included in the assault groups of the 74th Guards Rifle Division. On February 20, 1945, in the battles for the 8th, 9th and 10th quarters of the city, directly adjacent to the southern part of the fortress citadel, an assault group consisting of an infantry platoon, three ISU-152 and two T-34 tanks cleared the quarter from the enemy No. 10. Another group consisting of an infantry platoon, two ISU-152 self-propelled artillery mounts and three TO-34 flamethrowers stormed the 8th and 9th quarters. In these battles, the self-propelled guns acted quickly and decisively. They approached houses and point-blank destroyed German firing points placed in windows, basements and other places of buildings, and also made holes in the walls of buildings for the passage of their infantry. When operating along the streets, self-propelled guns moved, clinging to the walls of houses and destroying enemy fire weapons located in buildings on the opposite side. With their fire, the installations mutually covered each other and ensured the advancement of infantry and tanks. Forward, self-propelled artillery mounts moved alternately in rolls, as the infantry and tanks advanced. As a result, the quarters were quickly occupied by our infantry and the Germans with heavy losses went to the citadel.



Experienced heavy self-propelled guns in the courtyard of the plant number 100 in Chelyabinsk, 1944 Above - ISU-122-1 (object 243), below - ISU-122-3 (object 251).

Back in December 1943, given that in the future the enemy might have new tanks with more powerful armor, the State Defense Committee issued a special decree to design and manufacture self-propelled artillery mounts with increased power guns by April 1944:

With a 122-mm cannon, having an initial speed of 1000 m / s with a projectile mass of 25 kg;

With a 130-mm cannon, having an initial speed of 900 m / s with a projectile mass of 33.4 kg;

With a 152 mm cannon having an initial velocity of 880 m/s with a projectile mass of 43.5 kg.

All these guns penetrated 200 mm thick armor at a distance of 1500–2000 m.

In the course of implementing this decree, artillery self-propelled guns were created and tested in 1944-1945: ISU-122-1 (“object 243”) with a 122-mm gun BL-9, ISU-122-3 (“object 251”) with 122- mm cannon S-26-1, ISU-130 ("object 250") with a 130-mm cannon S-26; ISU-152-1 ("object 246") with a 152 mm BL-8 gun and PSU-152-2 ("object 247") with a 152 mm BL-10 gun.









The BL-8, BL-9 and BL-10 guns were developed by OKB-172 (not to be confused with Factory No. 172), all of whose designers were prisoners. Hence the decoding of the letter abbreviation in the indices of installations: "BL" - "Beria Lavrenty".

The BL-9 gun (OBM-50) was designed under the guidance of I.I. Ivanov. It had a piston valve and was equipped with a system for purging the bore with compressed air. The vertical guidance angles ranged from -2° to +18°30?, horizontally - in the sector 9°30? (right 7°, left 2°30?). When firing, the ST-18 telescopic sight and the Hertz panorama were used.

Gun guidance drives are the same as those of the ISU-122 self-propelled gun. The balancing of the swinging part relative to the axis of the trunnions was carried out with the help of weights attached to the fixed part of the gun guard. The ammunition of the installation included 21 shots of separate-sleeve loading with armor-piercing shells. The initial speed of an armor-piercing projectile with a mass of 11.9 kg was 1007 m / s and 200 m / s higher than that of the 122-mm D-25 gun. The design of the hull and armored cabin, power plant, transmission, chassis and electrical equipment of the vehicle were borrowed from the ISU-122 self-propelled gun. The 10-RK-26 radio station was used for external communications, and the TPU-4BIS-F tank intercom was used for internal communications.

The first prototype of the BL-9 cannon was manufactured in May 1944 at factory No. 172, and in June it was installed on the ISU-122-1.









This car was presented for field testing on July 7th, 1944. The installation did not pass the preliminary tests in Gorokhovets in August 1944 due to the low survivability of the barrel. The new barrel was made by the beginning of February 1945, and after its installation, the self-propelled gun again entered the tests, which took place in May 1945. On the latter, the barrel ruptured during firing due to metal defects. After that, further work on ISU-122-1 was stopped.

The self-propelled gun ISU-152-1 (ISU-152BM) was created in April 1944 in the Design Bureau of Plant No. 100, at the initiative of OKB-172, which proposed to place in the SU-152 unit the 152-mm gun BL-7 developed by them, which had ballistics guns Br-2.

Modification of the gun for installation in the ACS received the index BL-8 (OBM-43).









It had a piston lock, a muzzle brake of the original design and a system for purging the bore with compressed air from cylinders. The vertical guidance angles ranged from -3°10? up to +17°45?, horizontal - in the sector 8°30? (right 6°30?, left 2°). The height of the line of fire is 1655 mm. When firing, the ST-10 telescopic sight and the Hertz panorama were used. The firing range was 18,500 m. The guidance drives remained unchanged compared to the ISU-122 installation. Ammunition included 21 rounds of separate-sleeve loading. The initial speed of the armor-piercing projectile reached 850 m/s. In connection with the installation of a new gun, the design of the armored mantlet of the gun was somewhat changed.

When testing the BL-8 gun, "unsatisfactory performance in terms of the action of shells", the unreliability of the muzzle brake and piston valve, as well as poor working conditions for the calculation, were revealed. The large reach of the barrel (the total length of the installation was 12.05 m) limited the maneuverability of the machine.









According to the test results, the BL-8 was replaced by the BL-10 gun with a semi-automatic wedge breech.

In December 1944, the ISU-152-2 self-propelled gun with the BL-10 gun was tested at the Leningrad ANIOP. She could not stand them because of the unsatisfactory survivability of the gun barrel and the small angle of horizontal guidance.

The gun was sent for revision to the factory number 172, however, until the end of the war, its fine-tuning was not completed.

The S-26 and S-26-1 guns were designed at the TsAKB under the direction of V.G. Grabin.









The 130 mm S-26 gun had ballistics and ammunition from the B-13 naval gun, but had a number of fundamental design differences, as it was equipped with a muzzle brake, a horizontal wedge breech, etc. The length of the gun barrel was 54.7 calibers. Direct fire range - 5000 m, rate of fire - 2 rds / min. The gun ammunition consisted of 25 rounds of separate-sleeve loading with armor-piercing shells.

The initial speed of an armor-piercing projectile with a mass of 33.4 kg is 900 m / s. The S-26-1 gun had the same ballistics as the 122-mm BL-9 gun, and differed from it in the presence of a horizontal wedge gate and a modified design of individual components. Barrel length - 59.5 caliber. Direct fire range - 5000 m, maximum - 16,000 m. Rate of fire - 1.5-1.8 rds / min. The initial speed of an armor-piercing projectile weighing 25 kg is 1000 m/s.

The ISU-130 and ISU-122-3 self-propelled guns were manufactured at factory No. 100 in the fall of 1944. The ACS ISU-122S was used as a base for their creation.







In October 1944, the ISU-130 passed factory tests, and in November - December of the same year - field tests. Based on their results, it was decided to send the gun to the TsAKB for revision, which dragged on until the end of the war. Sea and artillery tests of the ISU-130 ended only in June 1945, when the adoption of this self-propelled guns into service lost its meaning. A prototype ACS ISU-122-3 passed field tests in November 1944 and did not pass them due to the unsatisfactory survivability of the barrel. The completion of the barrel was completed only in June 1945.

Self-propelled guns with prototype guns had the same disadvantages as the rest of the self-propelled guns on the chassis of the IS tank: a large forward reach of the barrel, which reduced maneuverability in narrow passages, small angles of horizontal guidance of the gun and the complexity of the guidance itself, which made it difficult to shoot at moving targets; low combat rate of fire due to the relatively small size of the fighting compartment; a large mass of shots; separate-sleeve loading and the presence of a piston breech in a number of guns; poor visibility from cars; small ammunition and the difficulty of replenishing it during the battle.

At the same time, the good projectile resistance of the hull and cabin of these self-propelled guns, achieved by installing powerful armor plates at rational angles of inclination, made it possible to use them at a direct shot distance and quite effectively hit any targets.

Self-propelled guns with more powerful guns were also designed on the basis of the IS. So, at the beginning of 1944, the S-51 self-propelled gun project was transferred to the chassis of the IS tank. However, due to the lack required amount The 203 mm B-4 howitzers, the production of which had already been completed, decided to create a self-propelled version of the high-powered 152 mm Br-2 gun.






By the summer of 1944, the new self-propelled guns, which received the S-59 index, were manufactured and entered for field tests. The design of the S-59 as a whole was similar to the S-51, but was based on the chassis of the IS-85 tank. When testing at the ANIOP, the same shortcomings were revealed as when testing the S-51. And no wonder - despite the already existing negative experience, the installation was again not equipped with a coulter! And this despite the fact that the recoil when firing a full charge from a 152-mm gun was greater than when firing from a 203-mm howitzer. Did the artillery designers really not know this? However, soon work on this type of ACS was stopped.

In July 1944, the head of the Leningrad branch of the TsAKB I.I. Ivanov sent to the technical department of the NKV an advanced project of a special power self-propelled gun - a 210-mm Br-17 gun or a 305-mm Br-18 howitzer on the twin chassis of the T-34 tank. Since the TsAKB branch did not manage to produce the necessary draft design documentation by the required deadline, the project was archived.

At the end of the war, Experimental Plant No. 100, Uralmashzavod and Artillery Plant No. 9, within the framework of the Bear theme, developed a long-range rapid-fire self-propelled guns intended for counter-battery combat and artillery raids. It was supposed to create a double-barreled 122-mm artillery system, in which the loading of one barrel would be carried out due to the energy of a shot from the second. The layout of the installation with 76-mm guns worked fine, but for some reason the artillery designers did not take into account that 122-mm guns have separate loading. As a result, they failed to mechanize this process. In 1945, the self-propelled guns were designed already with guns placed on the sides of the vehicle to facilitate manual loading. A year later, its wooden model was made, but the self-propelled gun was not made in metal.





Self-propelled artillery installations ISU-122 and ISU-152 were in service with the Soviet Army and in post-war years. Both of them have been upgraded. So, for example, since 1958, regular radio stations and TPU on the ISU-122 were replaced by radio stations "Granat" and TPU R-120.

After the ISU-152 was adopted as the standard self-propelled guns in the late 1950s, the ISU-122 self-propelled guns began to be disarmed and converted into tractors. The ISU-T tractor was an ordinary self-propelled gun with a dismantled gun and a welded loophole.













On November 16, 1962, the BTT heavy evacuation tractor was put into service. It existed in two modifications - BTT-1 and BTT-1T. The body of the BTT-1 machine has undergone changes, mainly in the frontal part. Two box-shaped damper stops were welded to the lower front plate for pushing tanks with a log. The roof of the cabin was also changed, to which a beam with struts was welded to increase rigidity. In the engine room, located in the middle part of the hull, a winch (pulling force 25 tf, working cable length 200 m) with a power take-off mechanism from the engine was placed. The winch was controlled by the driver from the engine room, which had a second seat and two control levers for this purpose. In the aft part of the machine there was a coulter device for resting on the ground. A collapsible boom crane with a lifting capacity of 3 tons with a manual drive was installed on the tractor. On the roof of the power compartment was a cargo platform, designed to carry up to 3 tons of cargo. The towing device of the tractor was equipped with suspension with two-way shock absorption and a rigid hitch. The car was equipped with a V-54-IST engine. Its feature was a crankshaft borrowed from the V-12-5 engine. For driving at night, the driver had a BVN night device. The mass of the tractor was 46 tons. The crew included two people. On the BTT-1T tractor, instead of a traction winch, a service or modernized set of rigging equipment was installed, designed for a pulling force of 15 tf.

In addition to the Soviet Army, the BTT-1 tractors were also in service abroad, in particular, in Egypt. Several of these vehicles were captured by Israel during the 1967 and 1973 wars.

As for the ISU-152, these vehicles were in service with the Soviet Army until the 1970s, until the new generation of self-propelled guns began to enter the troops. At the same time, the ISU-152 was modernized twice. The first time was in 1956, when the ACS received the designation ISU-152K. On the roof of the cabin, a commander's cupola with a TPKU device and seven TNP observation blocks was installed; the ammunition load of the ML-20C howitzer gun was increased to 30 rounds, which required a change in location internal equipment fighting compartment and additional ammunition racks; instead of the ST-10 sight, an improved PS-10 telescopic sight was installed.







All vehicles were fitted with a DShKM anti-aircraft machine gun with 300 rounds of ammunition. A B-54K engine with a power of 520 hp was installed on the self-propelled guns. with ejection cooling system. The capacity of the fuel tanks was increased to 1280 liters. The lubrication system was improved, the design of the radiators became different. In connection with the ejection engine cooling system, the fastening of external fuel tanks was also changed. The machines were equipped with radio stations 10-RT and TPU-47. The mass of self-propelled guns increased to 47.2 tons, but the dynamic characteristics remained the same. The power reserve has increased to 360 km.

The second upgrade option was designated ISU-152M. Modified units of the IS-2M tank, a DShKM anti-aircraft machine gun with 250 rounds of ammunition and night vision devices were installed on the vehicle.

During the overhaul, self-propelled guns ISU-122 were also subjected to some alterations. So, since 1958, regular radio stations and TPU were replaced by radio stations "Granat" and TPU R-120.

In addition to the Soviet Army, PSU-152 and ISU-122 were in service with the Polish Army. As part of the 13th and 25th regiments of self-propelled artillery, they took part in the final battles of 1945. Shortly after the war, the PSU-152 was also received by the Czechoslovak People's Army. In the early 1960s, one regiment of the Egyptian army also had a PSU-152 in service. In 1973, they were used as fixed firing points on the banks of the Suez Canal and fired at the positions of Israeli troops.


We can say we finally got there! No, there are still a lot of stories about other tanks, self-propelled guns and SPAAGs, but this is something! ISU-152. "St. John's wort". Although I would say otherwise.

Literally, this is the weapon of Armageddon of that time. The quintessence of death, slow and calm. You can hysteria and try to knock her out. Please, as they say. Good luck. You can try to escape using speed. No problem. The projectile is still faster.

The whole appearance of self-propelled guns speaks of one principle. The same one: “We will slowly go down the hill, slowly crawl across the river, and you will be killed.”

Say - too many emotions. Agree. But even the modern Msta, which will be discussed a little later, does not evoke such feelings. "Msta" is modern, so refined, well, I don't know how to say it. "St. John's wort" is a concentrated brutal, especially when you begin to understand its essence.

And the essence is simple. They took the most powerful 152-mm howitzer-gun (ML-20, why waste time on trifles?) and scalded it with an armored hull. And they put it on the chassis of the tank.

The first swallow was called SU-152. The swallow weighed 45.5 tons and was made on the chassis of the KV-1s tank. Happened. After the KV-1s was taken out of production, 670 of these heavy assault guns were produced, which could (partially) fulfill the role of self-propelled guns.

Swallow successfully swayed the towers "Tigers" and "Panthers" on the Kursk Bulge, and, if it were not for the frankly weak KV chassis, they would probably have been released further.

But intelligence reported on the development of new heavy tanks by the Germans (which was true) and a decision was made in a completely Soviet spirit. Higher, further, stronger or whatever.

ISU-152 is just the same. The base is from IS, and the letter “I” in the name is also from it. Due to the smaller width of the IS tank compared to the KV, it was necessary to reduce the slope of the side plates from 250 to 150 to the vertical, and completely eliminate the slope of the stern sheet.

The thickness of the armor at the same time increased from 75 to 90 mm at the frontal cutting sheet and from 60 to 75 mm at the side. The gun mantlet was increased from 60 mm to 100 mm.


In this picture you can estimate the thickness of the armor. Don't be stingy

A huge advantage of the ISU-152 compared to the SU-152 was the installation of forced exhaust ventilation. When the shutter was opened after a shot, thick powder smoke, similar in consistency to sour cream, slowly spread over the floor of the fighting compartment ... The crew members of the SU-122 often during the battle sometimes lost consciousness from the accumulated powder gases after using up half of the ammunition load.

152-mm howitzer-gun ML-20S model 1937/43 It was mounted in a cast frame, which played the role of the upper machine gun, and was protected by the same cast armor mask, the same as that of the SU-152.

Unlike a field howitzer, a folding tray was installed on the ISU-152 to facilitate loading and an additional pull to the trigger mechanism, the handles of the flywheels of the lifting and turning mechanisms were located at the gunner on the left along the vehicle, the trunnions were moved forward for natural balancing.

For direct fire, the ST-10 telescopic sight was used, for firing from closed firing positions, a Hertz panorama with an extension cord was used, the lens of which came out of the wheelhouse through the open left upper hatch.

The direct fire range was 3,800 m, the maximum was 6,200 m. The rate of fire was 2-3 rounds per minute.

The gun had electric and mechanical (manual) descents. The electric trigger was located on the handle of the flywheel of the lifting mechanism. On the guns of the first releases, only manual descent was used.

The ammunition consisted of 21 rounds of separate case loading with armor-piercing tracer sharp-headed shells BR-540, high-explosive fragmentation cannon and steel howitzer grenades OF-540 and OF-530, fragmentation howitzer grenades made of steel cast iron 0-530A.

Armor-piercing tracer shells were located in the niche of the conning tower on the left side in special frames, high-explosive fragmentation grenades - in the same place, cartridge cases with live charges in the niche of the cabin in special frames and in a collar-type installation. Part of the cartridge cases with live charges was placed on the bottom under the gun.

The initial speed of an armor-piercing projectile with a mass of 48.78 kg was 600 m / s, at a distance of 1000 m it pierced armor 123 mm thick.

From October 1944, an anti-aircraft turret with a 12.7-mm DShK machine gun began to be installed on some vehicles from October 1944 on the rotating chase of the commander's hatch. Ammunition for the machine gun was 250 rounds.

In addition, as a personal crew there were two PPSh submachine guns (later PPS), 20 discs with cartridges and 20 F-1 hand grenades.

Since the spring of 1944, heavy self-propelled artillery regiments armed with SU-152s have been re-equipped with ISU-152 and ISU-122 installations. They were transferred to new states and all were given the title of guards. In total, until the end of the war, 56 such regiments were formed, each with 21 ISU-152 or ISU-122 vehicles (or both, such regiments were called mixed).

What else can be shown?


From my point of view, the most unfortunate person in the crew is the driver. This is the plan for his place. Down there, where the dashboard is... It's very hard to get in, even harder to get out, plus there's not a lot of room.


Devices minimum. There is no speedometer, but there is not much speed here either. Yes, and not much needed, in principle.

Crew hatches are all equipped with periscopes.

There were personal lighting devices for the driver.

Summing up a certain result for the ISU-152, we can say that the self-propelled gun was a successful example of a universal heavy self-propelled artillery mount. The best confirmation of this is its service life, which lasted until the 70s of the last century. And participation in more than one local conflict.

A well-armored monster with a cannon, against which there was no armor at that time, and even reliable and unpretentious - what more could you want?

There were, of course, disadvantages as well. The most significant I would call a small ammunition load. Only 20 shots. Large projectiles, in addition, were the reason for the long loading time of ammunition, about 40 minutes. Well, they didn’t take weaklings into artillerymen, nevertheless, a powerhouse was required.

The second minus is optics. Well, it has become a classic. The ST-10 telescopic sight was calibrated for firing at distances up to 900 m, although the gun allowed direct fire at distances up to 3.5 km. Yes, there was a panoramic sight, but here it is just the opposite, at a long distance a telescopic sight was needed.

I read in my memoirs that in the 45th year our artillerymen practiced such a method as firing at one point with several self-propelled guns. In this scenario, the lack of accuracy was somewhat compensated.

A high-explosive fragmentation projectile hit close to the target often disabled it even without breaking through the armor. The blast wave and fragments could damage any tank and self-propelled guns, gun, chassis, sights.

Shooting with ISU-152 high-explosive fragmentation shells at armored vehicles was quite common, since 13 out of 20 rounds in the ammunition load were precisely high-explosive fragmentation. The remaining 7 were armor-piercing (or, much less often, concrete-piercing). But I repeat, a 152-mm HE shell was enough to mess things up.

Do you know what is the funniest thing about ours? There is really no one to compare the ISU-152 with. I wanted to draw a couple of analogies, but no way. If we take armament and use as criteria for performance characteristics, then we must admit: there were no analogues.

There were guns of large calibers (150-155 mm) on a self-propelled basis from the Germans and Americans. But that the Germans had the Hummel, that the Americans had the M12 were very lightly armored howitzers based on medium tanks. And in no case were they either anti-tank self-propelled guns or assault guns.



Heavy tank destroyer "Jagdpanther"? Yes, similar in performance characteristics, but a purely anti-tank vehicle.

The Germans had assault guns that could fight tanks. StuG III and StuG IV. But both self-propelled guns were significantly lighter than the ISU-152 in terms of armament and mass, and also weaker armored.

SAU StuPz IV "Brummbär" ... Caliber yes, the rest - no.

The self-propelled gun was also lighter in weight, and its short-barreled 150-mm howitzer gun was more like an overgrown mortar than a full-fledged cannon.

"Jagdtiger". It looks like the truth.

A 128 mm cannon and armor at the ISU-152 level, and in some places even more abruptly. But the weight is almost 2 times more than that of our self-propelled gun. Plus, again, a clear anti-tanker.

And, most importantly. Quantity. That is something that could make a real contribution. 79 "Yagdtigers" and 340 "Brumbars" - in comparison with more than three thousand only ISU-152 ...

The best? The best. Maybe not the most, here it will be necessary to compare with the ISU-122, but nevertheless.

We thank the administration of the Museum of Patriotic military history in Padikovo for providing a copy of the ISU-152.

It is not for nothing that the Great Patriotic War, among other things, is also called the “war of engines”. The outcome of the largest military operations during the war years directly depended on the availability of tanks and self-propelled guns in service with the armies of the warring countries. Many books and films have been written about the combat vehicles used by the parties. The most legendary installations are the German "Ferdinand" and soviet fighter tanks ISU-152 "St. John's wort". The debut of these steel giants took place in the Battle of Kursk.

ISU-152 "St. John's wort" is one of the heaviest Soviet self-propelled artillery mounts. Many people often confuse this combat vehicle with the SU-152, which was created using the rollers of the KV-1S tank. ISU-152 "St. John's wort" designers equipped with rollers from the Soviet heavy tank IS-2. Since a self-propelled gun mount (SU) was designed on its basis, it was decided to add the first letter of the tank's name to it. Index 152 indicates the caliber of ammunition used by the main armament of this combat vehicle. The tank was intended to destroy such German counterparts as the "Tiger" and "Panther".

In historical and many other literary sources the popular slang name of the legendary Soviet combat vehicle - "St. John's wort" is presented. Wehrmacht soldiers called the ISU-152 tank Dosenoffner ("can opener").

The beginning of the creation of ACS

The debut of self-propelled gun mounts took place already in the First World War. But they were not widely used in those years. However, the need for powerful artillery systems was felt by all the warring parties, especially Germany and Soviet Union. For a short period of time between the First and Second World Wars, weapons designers and engineers of these two states intensively developed options for powerful self-propelled artillery guns.

For this purpose, Soviet gunsmiths used the tank basis of such models as the T-28 and T-35. However, these works were never completed. In 1941, design work was again activated. The reason was the numerous requests to the Soviet leadership from the army, which, in order to storm enemy fortifications in the offensive near Stalingrad, especially needed artillery support. The problem was that at that time the Red Army had only towed artillery, which negatively affected its mobility and made it vulnerable.

In 1942, design work began on the SU-152. In 1943, the Soviet troops had already received the first batch - twelve combat vehicles. However, their serial production did not last long.

The production of this tank turned out to be too expensive, and its effectiveness was low. According to eyewitnesses, these combat vehicles were not reliable enough. It was technical malfunctions, and not enemy fire, that were the reason that tanks often had to be left on the battlefield.

In the same year, the model used to create the undercarriage in the self-propelled guns - KV-1S - was removed from service, and it was decided to finalize the installation itself. The SU-152, like the tank, was taken off the assembly line. Its place was taken by the ISU-152 "St. John's wort". The history of the creation of this combat vehicle begins in 1943. Instead of the KV-1S, the IS-2 was now used as a tank base. On its basis, the ISU-152 "St. John's wort" was assembled.

The production of a new self-propelled gun mount was not massive. In total, no more than 670 units were produced. All design and construction work was completed in the shortest possible time. After 25 days, the first ISU-152 "St. John's wort" was ready. A photo of the combat vehicle is presented in the article.

Who designed the tank?

Work on the creation of the ISU-152 "St. John's wort" was carried out by the design bureau of the pilot plant No. 100 in the city of Chelyabinsk. Joseph Yakovlevich Kotin became the leader. Under his leadership, the entire line of Soviet heavy tanks was created. The chief designer of the ISU-152 "St. John's wort" is G. N. Moskvin. The first cars were produced by the Chelyabinsk Kirov Plant (ChKZ) in 1943. Several units were made by workers of the Leningrad Kirov Plant (LKZ). For only three years (from 1943 to 1946) the serial production of the ISU-152 "St. John's wort" was carried out.

Design Description

The layout of this self-propelled gun mount is no different from the rest Soviet self-propelled guns. The combat vehicle is protected by an armored hull. The design of the tank consists of two parts: armored cabin and stern.

The crew consisted of five people. The front part of the hull, being a combat and at the same time a control compartment (armored cabin), became the place of deployment of the driver, gunner and loader, all ammunition and the main gun. The location of the engine and transmission was the aft. The commander and the castle were located to the right of the gun. According to eyewitnesses, the chances of the crew getting out alive when the tank was knocked out were minimal. The reason for this was the presence of a fuel tank in the wheelhouse.

What provided armor protection?

The frontal parts of the first ISU-152s were cast. The armor casting was then replaced with a welded structure. For this, armored rolled plates were used in the production of hulls and cabins, which provided the tank with differentiated anti-projectile protection. Their thickness was 2, 3, 6, 7, 9 cm and 5 mm. When installing them, rational angles of inclination were taken into account. As a result, this was reflected in the height and volume of the armored tube in the ISU-152 "St. John's wort".

The characteristics of the degree of protection of the sides of this tank, in comparison with the SU-152, were somewhat lower. But the designers managed to compensate for this by thickening the armor. To protect the recoil devices, fixed cast armored casings and movable cast spherical armored masks were used, which were also used as a balancing element.

The device of the tank corps

For the landing and exit of the crew, the ISU-152 is equipped with a special rectangular double-leaf hatch located in the upper part of the hull between the roof and rear plate of the armored tube. On the right side of the tank gun there was also a rounded hatch. There was also a hatch to the left of the gun, but it was not intended for the crew. Through these hatches, only extenders of panoramic sights were brought out. If necessary, the crew could leave the ISU-152 using an escape hatch in the bottom of the hull. The combat set was loaded into the tank through small hatches. The combat vehicle was equipped with small repair hatches, which provided quick access to the fuel tank neck, tank assembly, or any other part of it.

What was the war machine armed with?

The 152-mm ML-20S howitzer cannon, which was previously used as a towed version (model 1937), was used as the main tank gun.

To mount the gun on the tank, a frame was used, mounted on the armor plate of the frontal part. Unlike the towed version, howitzers on the ISU-152 are installed in such a way that the flywheels that provide vertical and horizontal guidance are not located on both sides of the gun, but are moved to the left side. This design solution provided comfortable work for the crew. In the ISU-152, the vertical angle ranged from -3 to +20 degrees, horizontal - 10. Firing was carried out at a height of 180 cm. Shooting was carried out using electric or manual mechanical descents.

In 1945, weapons designers decided to equip the tank with a DShK 12.7 mm heavy-caliber anti-aircraft machine gun. It could have an open or anti-aircraft sight K-8T and was designed to fire 250 rounds. The machine gun was attached to the turret on the right commander's hatch.

In addition to a tank gun and a machine gun, the crew was armed with two PPSh or PPS assault rifles for self-defense. Their ammunition load consisted of 1491 cartridges, which were contained in twenty disks. The crew also had 20 F-1 hand grenades at their disposal.

Ammunition

Unlike the ML-20S towed gun, only two types of shells were provided for the tank gun:

  • Armor-piercing tracer. Such ammunition weighed almost fifty kilograms. He was able to develop top speed up to 600 m/s. This type could be replaced by armor-piercing tracer blunt-headed projectiles containing ballistic tips.
  • High-explosive fragmentation. The mass of the projectile was 44 kg. Ammunition possessed initial speed 650 m/s.

In addition to the ammunition, concrete-piercing cannon shells were attached. The tank howitzer was adapted to fire various types of projectiles.

Engine

ISU-152 worked on a four-stroke V-shaped 12-cylinder diesel engine V-2-IS, whose power was 520 liters. With. It was started using an inertial starter using both manual and electric drives, as well as compressed air collected in two tanks. The V-2IS diesel engine was accompanied by an NK-1 fuel pump and a fuel supply corrector. With the help of the "Multicyclone" filter, the air entering the engine was cleaned. The engine compartment was equipped with heating devices that make it easier to start the engine at sub-zero temperatures. In addition, they were used for heating and the combat compartment of the tank. Total fighting machine had three fuel tanks and four additional external ones that were not connected to the entire fuel system.

Transmission

A mechanical transmission was provided for the combat vehicle. It consisted of the following elements:

  • Multi-disc main clutch.
  • Four-speed gearbox.
  • Two onboard two-stage planetary rotation mechanisms.
  • Two combined final drives (two-row).

The tank was equipped with mechanical control drives. The ISU-152 tank differed from the previous model by the presence of planetary turning mechanisms. Due to these nodes, the transmission has become more reliable, which cannot be said about the combat vehicles created on the basis of the KV tank.

Chassis device

ISU-152 was equipped with an individual torsion bar chassis. On each side of the side there were solid-cast dual-slope road wheels (6 pieces). For each of them, a special stroke limiter was provided, which was connected to the armored hull by welding. To support the tank tracks, three small cast support rollers were used. The SU-152 had a similar design. The tension of the caterpillar was carried out using a screw mechanism. The caterpillars were equipped with special single-ridge tracks, 986 pieces), the width of which was 65 cm.

electrical equipment

The power source for single-wire wiring in the ISU-152 was the P-4563A generator, using a 1 kW RRA-24F relay generator. Also, the power supply could be carried out using two 6-STE-128 rechargeable batteries connected in series. Their total capacity was 128 A/h. The energy in the tank was needed to provide:

  • External and internal lighting of the combat vehicle.
  • Illumination of sighting devices.
  • Outdoor sound signal.
  • Operation of instrumentation (ammeter and voltmeter).
  • The functioning of the radio station and tank intercom.
  • The work of the inertial starter electric motor, candle spools used for winter engine start.

The device of sights and means of observation

The crew of the ISU-152 tank could monitor the environment through the landing and disembarkation hatches, which were equipped with special periscope devices. For the driver, a viewing device with a triplex was provided. Protection this device provided armored damper. The place for installing the device was a hatch-plug, arranged on the left side of the tank howitzer. In a non-combat situation, this hatch moved forward, due to which the driver's viewing radius increased.

During direct fire at a distance of 900 meters, telescopic sights ST-10 were developed for guns. When firing from a closed position, as well as with direct fire at a distance exceeding 900 meters, Hertz's panorama was used. For this, special extensions were developed that provided a view through the hatch in the roof of the tank. Due to the presence of special illuminating devices, firing from the ISU-152 was possible even at night.

How was communication with the crew provided?

The 10P radio station was used as a means of communication in the tank. It included a transmitter, a receiver and an umformer (single-anchor motor-generator), with the help of which the radio station was powered in the St. John's wort combat vehicle. The ISU-152 tank, unlike its predecessor, had a technologically improved 10R model: the radio station was equipped with a smooth frequency selection function. Its manufacture was much simpler and less costly. With the help of the TPU-4-BisF tank intercom, high-quality communication was provided between the crew members. Due this device was also supported external communication. To do this, a headset was connected to the radio station.

The use of a combat vehicle

The Battle of Kursk was the baptism of fire for the ISU-152 "St. John's wort". The use of these tanks did not play a decisive role in the outcome of the battle. However, the model went down in history as almost the only armored vehicle capable of hitting German self-propelled guns at any distance. IN Battle of Kursk only 24 "St. John's wort" took part. This tank turned out to be fatal for many types of Wehrmacht armored vehicles. With the help of armor-piercing shells, the armored protection of the German "Tigers" and "Panthers" easily made its way.

If armor-piercing ammunition was not enough, they were replaced with concrete-piercing and high-explosive fragmentation. Although such shells could not penetrate armor, they nevertheless proved to be very effective for disabling sights and guns in enemy tanks. Soviet concrete-piercing shells possessed very high energy, capable of tearing its turret off the shoulder strap with a direct hit on a combat vehicle.

The main task of the ISU-152 was to provide fire support to tanks and infantry during an offensive. This combat vehicle was very effective during the fighting in urban areas. In the Great Patriotic War, Budapest, Berlin and Koenigsberg were stormed using St. John's wort.

After the upgrade, the ISU-152 was used by the Soviet army for some time. It was taken out of service in 1970. For some time, unmodernized St. John's wort units were delivered to Egypt. There they were used in the Middle East armed Arab-Israeli conflict.

In 1956, "St. John's Wort" was used by Soviet troops to suppress the Hungarian uprising. The tank especially distinguished itself in the destruction of snipers who had settled in residential buildings. The mere fact of the participation of the legendary tank in the battle had a strong psychological impact on their residents: fearing that the tank would destroy the facade, the inhabitants of the house forced the Hungarian snipers out of it.

Combined model ISU-152 "St. John's wort"

To the attention of those who are fond of modeling, today there is a children's gift option, created on the basis of the legendary Soviet tank. The ISU-152 "St. John's wort" model is produced by the Zvezda manufacturer specifically for children over eight years old. The product comes with a special step-by-step instruction. The gift set ISU-152 "St. John's wort" ("Star"), in addition to 120 plastic parts, includes glue and paints with a brush. According to consumer reviews, all plastic elements hold up quite well, are made of very high quality and have high detail.

Model ISU-152 "St. The imitation of the DShK anti-aircraft machine gun was highly appreciated. If desired, the ISU-152 "St. John's wort" model can be assembled with both open and closed hatches. The set has a scale: 1:35. Model size: 30 cm (length), 0.88 cm (width) and 0.82 cm (height). The ISU-152 "St.

Conclusion

ISU "St. John's wort" was used by the Soviet army until the very end of the Great Patriotic War. Already towards the end of the war, these tanks became less and less. The reason for this was the deterioration of their engines and running gear. Many "St. John's Wort" were cut into metal.

After the victory, several units survived. Now museums in the cities of Russia and other CIS countries have become their locations.