90 years ago, the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) adopted a towed gun 19-K caliber 45 mm.
This weapon marked the beginning of the history of the famous forty-five family - guns that were most actively used by Soviet troops in the Great Patriotic War.
19-K appeared at a difficult time for the USSR.
The defense industry of the young Soviet state suffered from a lack of modern technology and engineering personnel.
In such a situation, the country's leadership tried to send specialists on foreign business trips for subsequent purchases of licenses for the weapons and production lines necessary for the Red Army.
In 1930, the USSR purchased from Berlin an experimental batch of 37-mm 3.7-cm PaK 35/36 anti-tank guns and technical documentation for the production of these guns.
In the USSR, the product received the designation 1-K.
However, soon Soviet experts came to the conclusion that the combat capabilities of the 37-mm gun were insufficient.
In particular, taking into account the development of protective equipment for armored vehicles of the Red Army, it was necessary to increase its armor penetration.
On December 4, 1931, the Artillery and Supply Directorate (AUUS) of the Red Army ordered a deep modernization of the 1-K.
The work was carried out in the Moscow region at the plant number 8 named after Kalinin under the guidance of designer Vladimir Bering.
Soviet engineers improved the carriage and installed a 45 mm barrel on it.
Subsequently, the 19-K received a 45 mm sub-caliber projectile, which, under certain circumstances, was capable of penetrating 66 mm armor at a distance of 500 m and 88 mm armor at a distance of 100 m.
Also, the 19-K ammunition load included a projectile, which, when it burst, released about 100 fragments.
The distance of their expansion along the front with the preservation of lethal force was 15 m and in depth - 5-7 m. Ammunition with buckshot with a sector of destruction 60 m wide and up to 400 m deep had wide damaging capabilities.
“The first forty-five had German roots, but it was very different from the original.
Soviet engineers reworked its design very deeply, ”said Vasily Zabolotny, deputy director of the Museum of National Military History, in a comment to RT.
Armor penetration and rate of fire
Later, on the basis of 19-K, a modification 20-K was developed, which was equipped with tanks BT-7, T-26 and a number of other vehicles.
And for the ships of the Navy, Soviet designers created a variant under the designation 21-K.
The naval gun was a means of destroying both surface and air targets.
By June 22, 1941, there were more than 2.1 thousand of these guns in the Soviet Navy.
The second brainchild of the magpie family was the 53-K gun of the 1937 model.
It was designed by the gunsmith Mikhail Loginov, significantly changing the design of the 19-K.
In particular, the new gun received an improved semi-automatic shutter.
It provided reliable locking of the bore and worked when firing armor-piercing and fragmentation shells (in the previous product, it worked only when using armor-piercing ammunition).
Soviet tank BT-7 with gun 19-K
© Victory Museum
Along with this, the 53-K was equipped with an improved carriage with recoil devices, a new swivel mechanism and automobile wheels with sponge rubber.
In the summer of 1938, the gun was put into mass production.
The weight of the 53-K in combat position was 560 kg, height - 1.2 m, barrel length - 2072 mm, rate of fire - 15-20 rounds per minute, maximum firing range - 4400 m, calculation - 5 people.
53-K turned out to be a fairly mobile weapon.
By mechanical traction on tarmac (a track coated with a mixture of gravel and resin), it could be towed at a speed of 50-60 km / h, on dirt roads - good quality - 40-45 km / h, on cobblestone pavements - 30-35 km/h
The gun ammunition included armor-piercing, armor-piercing tracer, sub-caliber shells, fragmentation grenades and unitary shots with buckshot.
The range of fire on fire and lightly armored targets 53-K reached 1-1.5 km, and on tanks - 500-800 m.
In official documents of the Artillery Directorate of the Red Army, it was reported that the forty-five was distinguished by maneuverability, armor penetration, rate of fire, and flatness of the firing trajectory.
The materials of the Victory Museum say that the gun was characterized by stability when firing, compact design and low shield cover, which made it hardly noticeable on the battlefield.
In total, by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army had over 16 thousand units of “anti-tank guns of the 1932 and 1937 model,” according to the museum’s website.
These guns were equipped with anti-tank formations of the Red Army.
As Zabolotny explained, at the initial stage of the invasion of the Nazi troops in the USSR, there were practically no invulnerable targets for forty-five.
“53-K was a high-tech towed artillery gun with a semi-automatic shutter, good penetration and optics.
Until 1942, until the Germans began to strengthen the armor of their tanks, the forty-five confidently hit any enemy armored vehicles, ”Zabolotny emphasized.
Anti-tank gun model 1937 53-K
RIA News
© Evgeny Odinokov
The website of the Victory Museum reports that in the hands of experienced commanders, the forty-five remained a very formidable weapon even with the appearance of tanks with thicker armor in the Wehrmacht.
The feat of the calculation of 53-K under the command of senior sergeant Alexander Alekantsev is known.
In the summer of 1942, in the battles near Stalingrad, Soviet artillerymen destroyed eight German tanks and knocked out four more such vehicles.
"Mobile weapon"
In order to increase the armor penetration of the forty-five and the effectiveness of the fight against German tanks Pz Kpfw III and Pz Kpfw IV, Soviet engineers led by Mikhail Tsirulnikov developed a more powerful M-42 gun.
Work on it was completed in the spring of 1942.
The improved artillery gun received a structurally new and longer barrel (3087 mm versus 2072 mm for 53-K).
It was an all-metal pipe, on which the breech was screwed and locked (the element where the shutter is located).
Tsirulnikov's group took care of the protection of the calculation from rifle armor-piercing bullets, increasing the thickness of the shield cover from 4.5 mm to 7 mm.
Another direction of modernization was the simplification of mass production.
To this end, a number of new nodes have been created.
The release of the M-42 was deployed at the Motovilikha Artillery Plant No. 172 in Perm.
In total, the enterprise manufactured 10.8 thousand of these guns.
Their production continued until 1946.
The improved gun, like the previous model, could fire a wide range of ammunition.
Under it, Soviet specialists developed a new shot.
Without changing the projectile and cartridge case in it, domestic engineers increased the mass of the powder charge.
Thus, the initial velocity of the ammunition increased from 760 to 870 m/s, which had a positive effect on armor penetration.
Fighter anti-tank artillery regiments and brigades of the Red Army were re-equipped on the M-42.
As candidate of military sciences Sergey Suvorov said in a conversation with RT, despite the modernization, the M-42 could not effectively deal with heavy German tanks such as the Tiger and Panther.
However, there were relatively few such machines in the Wehrmacht and SS units.
The Red Army successfully used the cannon to attack other types of armored vehicles, infantry and to destroy enemy firing points, including in cities, the expert says.
Gun M-42
© Victory Museum
“The M-42, along with the previous 45-caliber gun, was also widely used by the Red Army.
It was impossible to refuse such a weapon, despite the appearance of large-caliber guns and self-propelled guns.
The forty-five was a fairly mobile weapon; on the battlefield, the calculation could quickly maneuver, changing firing positions.
It also came in handy during the storming of cities, including Berlin, ”said Suvorov.
According to Vasily Zabolotny, in skillful hands, the forty-five remained an effective artillery weapon until the very end of World War II.
“Yes, the Germans were constantly working on strengthening the armor of their tanks, but experienced Soviet artillerymen knew about the weak spots of Hitler’s armored vehicles and aimed at them with magpies.
In the memoirs of front-line soldiers, there are episodes when the 45th caliber was successfully disabled, including the heavy equipment of the Wehrmacht, ”summed up Zabolotny.