Br-2 - 152 mm cannon model 1935

2024 Author: Matthew Elmers | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:49

At the end of the Civil War, the Red Army had a small number of special and high-powered guns. The main mass was made up of foreign-made guns. Most of them are morally and technically outdated, the ability to maintain these weapons in a combat-ready state was limited. Therefore, in the 26th year, the Revolutionary Military Council of the Soviet Union recognized the need to replace foreign-made weapons of mat. part of domestic production, determined the calibers of special and high power guns. The GAU artillery committee outlined a program for the development of projects, drawings and orders for experimental guns. The 152-mm cannon of the 1935 model was developed in accordance with this program, in addition, the requirements of the Artistic Armament System for the 33-37 years were taken into account. The main purpose of the gun was to combat enemy artillery, as well as the destruction of its defensive areas. Many design details of this gun are unified with the 1931 model 203 mm howitzer. From the howitzer, with minor changes, a carriage was borrowed, which had a tracked course and allowed firing directly from the ground, eliminating the need to use special. platforms. The new element of the system was a 152-mm barrel with a piston bolt and a plastic obturator. For firing, they used shots of the cap separate loading with shells having various purposes. The firing range of a high-explosive fragmentation projectile (mass 48, 77 kg) was equal to 25,750 meters, which fully corresponded to the requirements for this weapon.

For a gun of this class, the 152-mm cannon of the 1935 model was quite mobile, since in the stowed position it could be disassembled into two carts transported by tracked tractors at a speed of up to 15 kilometers per hour. The tracked undercarriage of the carriage provided a fairly high cross-country ability of the system. Before the war, 152-mm cannons of the 1935 model of the year were adopted by a separate high-power artillery regiment of the RGK (according to the state - 36 guns of the 1935 model, personnel of 1,579 people). In wartime, this regiment was supposed to become the basis for the deployment of another of the same unit. Since the course of hostilities for the Red Army at the initial stage of the Second World War was unfavorable, 152-mm guns, like almost all high-power artillery, were withdrawn to the rear. High-power guns came into operation only at the end of 1942.

The br-2 was designed to destroy objects in the near rear of the enemy - warehouses, high-level command posts, railway stations, field airfields, long-range batteries, troop concentrations, as well as the destruction of vertical fortifications with direct fire. Br-2 (B-30) were used during the Soviet-Finnish war, one gun was lost. In the Red Army in June 1941, there were 37 Br-2 (according to other sources - 38), while the troops had 28 guns, which were part of the heavy cannon regiment of the RVGK and 2 separate batteries, which were located in the Arkhangelsk military district and used for coastal defense. The rest were in landfills and warehouses. These were mainly experimental guns and cannons with fine rifling. Little is known about the combat use of the Br-2, in particular, there is information about their use during the Battle of Kursk. Also, these guns in April 1945were in service with the artillery group of the Eighth Guards Army, the guns were used during the Berlin offensive to defeat targets located on the Seelow Heights. During 1944, 9,900 shots were spent for the Br-2 cannon (on the Leningrad (7,100 shots), the First Baltic and Second Belorussian fronts), in the 45th year - 3036 shots, the consumption of shells for these guns in the 42-43rd years was not was recorded. Probably, during the Second World War, guns of this type did not suffer losses, since as of May 1, 1945, the RVGK units had the same number of guns as at the beginning of the war, that is, 28 guns. This fact is primarily associated with the careful use of weapons of this type, as well as the timely evacuation from the western regions of the USSR to the rear in 1941.

The Br-2 cannon, however, like other high-power weapons, is quite difficult to recognize as a successful model. This is largely due to the lack of experience in the young design school of the USSR, which took one of the leading positions only in the late 30s - early 40s. During the long path of development, not the most successful samples were created, and the borrowing of foreign experience was widely used. The design of high-power guns, due to the great complexity, presented particular difficulty in comparison with other classes of artillery systems. The lack of experience in this area, as well as the weak use of developments from other countries, created significant obstacles for Soviet designers. The main problem of the Br-2 was the tracked carriage. The design of the gun carriage was conceived as providing cross-country ability while driving on arable land or virgin land, which in theory increased the survivability of the gun due to the quick change of the gun's firing position without disassembling it. In reality, the use of a tracked carriage became the reason for the cumbersomeness and low mobility of the system, not only not disassembled, but also disassembled. The ability to maneuver fire was severely limited by the horizontal aiming angle, which was only 8 °. It took more than 25 minutes to turn the gun beyond the horizontal aiming angle by the crew. The survivability and mobility of the system was not facilitated by the need to disassemble the gun on the campaign, as well as a separate barrel vehicle. The gun moved with difficulty even when using the most powerful domestic tractors. In conditions of poor cross-country ability (ice or muddy roads), this system almost completely lost its mobility. Thus, the Br-2 had poor maneuverability in all respects.

Among other disadvantages, it should be noted the low rate of fire. Despite the upgrades, barrel survivability also remained low. The haste to launch serial production of an insufficiently tested system was the reason that the small artillery system was divided into two series, which differed in the ammunition used and the rifling of the barrel.

Problems with domestically produced guns with high power became the reason that the country's leadership decided to go the tried and tested path - the use of advanced foreign experience. In 1938, we signed an agreement with the Skoda company for the supply of prototypes and those. documentation for two powerful artillery systems - a 210-millimeter cannon and a 305-millimeter howitzer, which in production were designated Br-17 and Br-18. The main problem of the Soviet cannon heavy artillery was the small number of guns fired. As of June 1941, the Red Army had only 37-38 Br-2 cannons, including poorly combat-ready guns with fine rifling and range samples, as well as 9 Br-17 cannons, which did not have ammunition at the beginning of the war.

For comparison, the Wehrmacht had several types of 150mm high-power cannons - 28 K.16 guns, more than 45 SKC / 28 guns, more than 101 K.18 guns and 53 K.39 guns. All of them were highly mobile wheeled artillery systems with powerful ballistics. For example, the 150mm K.18 cannon had the following tactical and technical characteristics: travel weight - 18310 kg, combat weight - 12,930 kg, horizontal guidance angle on the platform - 360 °, with extended frames - 11 °, rate of fire - 2 rounds per minute, the maximum firing range is 24,740 m. This shows that the German K.18, with the same firing range as the Soviet Br-2, significantly exceeded it in other parameters. In addition, the German guns had a significantly larger assortment of ammunition, which included three types of high-explosive fragmentation shells: armor-piercing, semi-armor-piercing and concrete-piercing shells. The only advantage of the Br-2 is a more powerful high-explosive fragmentation projectile, which contained 1 kilogram more explosive than its foreign counterparts. Even the heavier 170mm cannons on the K.18 Mrs. Laf. (in 41-45, 338 units were fired), firing a 68-kg projectile at a distance of 29,500 m, surpassed the Br-2 in mobility.

It is also interesting to compare the characteristics of the Br-2 cannon with the heavy 155mm M1 Long Tom gun (USA). This gun, like the Br-2, was developed in the mid-30s. Barrel length - 45 calibers, muzzle velocity - 853 m / s. Despite the fact that the American M1 was inferior to the Br-2 in maximum firing range by 1800 m (23200 m versus 25000 m), its mass in the stowed position was 13.9 tons, which is almost 4.5 tons less than the combat mass of the Br gun -2. In addition, the "Long Tom" was mounted on a wheeled carriage, which has a special design with sliding beds. The wheels of the gun carriage rose when firing, while a special support served as a support. platform that was lowered to the ground. Compared to the tracked carriage of the Br-2 cannon, which rolled back when fired, this made it possible to significantly gain in fire accuracy. The M1 horizontal guidance sector was 60 °, which also provided an advantage. The mobility of the American 155-mm gun, which cannot be disassembled, together with high firing accuracy and the presence of powerful tractors, puts the Br-2 at a disadvantage, even in spite of the Long Tom's shorter firing range.