Author: Rainbow Kursk
In World War II, in the face of the menacing German armored groups, the Soviet Red Army not only made every effort to develop tank armored vehicles, but also attached great importance to the construction of anti-tank artillery.
Viktor Suvorov, a Soviet officer who defected to the West, once wrote a pamphlet called "Inside the Soviet Army", which described the Soviet anti-tank artillery and the towed anti-tank guns used:
Towed anti-tank guns are much easier to manufacture and use than self-propelled anti-tank guns. In wartime, the reduction of tank production may be tolerated, the result is only to reduce the intensity of the attack, but if the production of anti-tank weapons is reduced, it will be catastrophic, no matter what the situation must be produced, a sufficient number of anti-tank weapons must be produced, otherwise the breakthrough of enemy tanks may have fatal consequences for the entire military production plan, the national economy and even the Soviet Union itself.
Picture: A soviet anti-tank gun in a hidden ambush, with a small frontal projection, which is difficult to detect by German tanks.
In fact, the front and side projections of the towed guns are very small, at least half as small as the self-propelled guns. It is better protected by a small projection area than armor or mobility in individual battles with tanks, especially when fighting at maximum range.
This is the most important point, anti-tank guns are used in two cases.
Defensively, it is used when the enemy has broken through the defensive line and is advancing rapidly, and we have to stop it at any cost. In terms of offense, it is used when our own troops have broken through the enemy's defensive line and are advancing rapidly, and the opposing flanks are attacking in an attempt to cut off our assault troops from the rear.
In both cases, the anti-tank gun must block the enemy tank on a predetermined line that is resolutely not allowed to pass the enemy. The towed anti-tank gun, due to its heavy structural weight, could not be maneuvered, so it would be forced to fight until it was killed!!!!
Picture: Firing zis-2 type 57 mm anti-tank gun.
The losses of Soviet anti-tank artillery were generally very large.
That's why it's traditionally always written on its guns "Farewell, Motherland!" " slogan.
But since anti-tank forces kept the enemy at a predetermined line, they could save an entire division, an entire army group, and sometimes an entire front — and that was what happened in Kursk.
Photo: Many anti-tank artillerymen died in positions that could not be retreated.
If the anti-tank guns were self-propelled, their commanders, under enemy pressure, would withdraw to safer positions, so that his anti-tank detachment could be saved, but would have disastrous consequences for divisions, groups, fronts, or several fronts.
The commander of the anti-tank artillery unit rarely has the idea of rebellion and disloyalty in his mind, and he does not think of retreating in a critical moment, because his anti-tank gun has no means of its own. Their armored tractors hid behind their positions during the battle, under the deadly enemy fire, and it was difficult to drag the guns away from the battle.
So for the gunner, when they prevent the enemy from crossing their entrenched positions, there are only two choices, either to repel the enemy's attack or to die!
Photo: The brutal Battle of Kursk, where countless Soviet anti-tank artillerymen died in the arc of artillery fire.