On November 19, 1942 near the city of Stalingrad on the Volga river Soviet artillery began an 80-minute artillery barrage with the previously unheard of concentration of artillery: towed, self-propelled and rocket (MLRS). That was the beginning of the encirclement operation of the German forces in the city of Stalingrad. That operation ended in February 1943 with destruction and partial capture of the German 6th Army including field-marshal Paulus. The day of November 19 became the official Day of the Artillery and Missile Forces in Russia. As an artillery man (by training) myself, this is one of the holidays I am celebrating every year. Using this opportunity, I would like to congratulate and send my best wishes to my colleagues. One of the work horses of the Russian artillery at that time was the 152mm gun-howitzer ML-20. Designed in 1937 as a deep modification of older models, it is still used by some countries today. Just like T-34 and AK, this is one of the icons of Russian military industrial complex. That gun was mounted on two Soviet and one German self-propelled gun. Germans captured a large number of these guns, designated as 15,2 cm KH.433/1(r), in the first days of the war and widely used them on different fronts. They even started production of artillery shells and replacement barrels specifically for these guns. You can see the original ML-20 and a modernized ML-20 towed by a Tatra truck on the first two pictures. The remaining two images pictures lower caliber guns towed by Jeeps or light armored trucks. The first person to correctly identify the tractor on the first picture before the end of the day (US Eastern Standard Time) will get a present from me: 1:43 scale metal GAZ-AA truck with a 76-mm ZIS-6 gun.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 19:52:59 +0000
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