Why are the Military Commissariat of the Red Army and the General Armament Department not interested in digging deep into the potential of the ZIS-3? It's not complicated at all.

There are many reasons for this, first, the ZIS-3 was originally a temporary replacement for the ZIS-2 when it could not be mass-produced for the time being, and it was a transitional weapon. If it weren't for the difficulties with the production of the ZIS-2, if it weren't for the fact that the Great Patriotic War consumed more than imagined, it would not have appeared at all.

Naturally, the relevant departments of the Red Army were not willing to waste too much energy on a transitional product, as long as this weapon could be used for the time being. Anyway, in the future, there will be mass production of ZIS-2.

In fact, historically, when the German Haw Par appeared on the battlefield, the ZIS-2 quickly took over. More than 20,000 of these 57-mm needles were also produced, and from 1943 onwards they replaced the ZIS-3 as the main anti-tank weapon of the Red Army artillery. With the existence of a better and more professional ZIS-2, why waste too much energy on the ZIS-3, a weapon destined to be a transitioner?

The second reason is that in order to fully exploit the potential of the ZIS-3, it is actually necessary to make significant improvements to the ZIS-3. As can be seen from the aforementioned improvement tactics of the Germans, in order to increase the anti-tank capabilities of the ZIS-3, it was necessary to replace a larger chamber in order to accommodate armor-piercing shells filled with more propellant firing a faster muzzle velocity.

However, such an improvement is very troublesome, at least for those ZIS-3 that have been produced off the production line, it is basically equivalent to returning to the factory for major surgery. This requires a lot of man-hours, and I am afraid that it will not be available in large quantities for the time being.

In other words, this improvement is not as quick as the direct production of a completely new ZIS-2. Think about it. I have to change the cannon again. It is also necessary to develop a new type of high-power armor-piercing bullet with a caliber of 76.2 mm. Can this be done quickly? Instead of tossing an old cannon like this, it is better to directly produce a new one.

The third problem, in fact, is still the problem of high-power armor-piercing shells. As mentioned earlier, there are two factors that limit the effectiveness of the ZIS-2, one is the production capacity, and the other is the armor-piercing bullets issued. Judging from the actual situation of the Red Army, even the tungsten carbide core high-speed armor-piercing projectile (APCR) of the ZIS-2 could not be produced, and another 76.2-mm high-speed armor-piercing projectile was launched at the same time. Is this realistic?

To put it bluntly, the Red Army did not want to issue better armor-piercing shells to the front-line troops, but it really couldn't. Limited resources will certainly only cover higher-priority projects, such as the armor-piercing shells of the D-10, D-5, D-25 and ZIS-2, which are the focus. And the old-fashioned transitional goods ZIS-3 should rest!

The fourth reason, yes, comrade brother, you read that right, there is even a fourth reason. And the reason for this is simpler, that is, thanks to the tank gun contest held by Tukhachevsky last time. There is one more member of the main team to replace the ZIS-3, and that is the D-5 tank gun.

Of course. Certainly not the D-5T on a tank and the D-5S on a tank destroyer, but the towed anti-tank gun D-5 based on the D-44. The reason is very simple, it is nothing more than that the Military Commission discovered that the original D-5 has such a great potential, and it can quickly obtain high-powered armor-piercing shells, not to mention that the NZK-150 is a B cargo NZK-150A can also meet the demand, and it is cheap. So why do you still produce ZIS-2 and ZIS-3?

Well, with the order of the Military Commission, the production of ZIS-3 was immediately suspended, and even the ZIS-2, which was about to be mass-produced, was also a tragedy, and it could only continue to maintain small-scale production until the APCR of the tungsten carbide core was completed, and then it could be re-mass-produced.

Therefore, ZIS-3 is destined to fade out of the first line soon, and its fate in the future is likely to be to withdraw from the first line and serve as a teaching aid in the second line or to provide assistance to other fraternal countries, such as Huaxia.

Therefore, after receiving Rokossovsky's request for help, the Military Commission did not reinforce more T-54 and T-35A for the Second Belorussian Front, because these two are really too scarce, and they are in short supply everywhere, and there are really not so many. Of course, the Military Commission did not refuse to save it, but urgently allocated a batch of SU-85 and SU-85A to Rokossovsky.

The SU-85 is familiar to everyone, and it is nothing more than the chassis of the T-34 plus the D-5S tank gun. As the first tank killer of the Soviet Union, after the continuous improvement of the Panther and the appearance of the King Tiger, its performance also lagged behind, and by 1944, only the SU-100 could meet the needs.

Of course, because of the appearance of a certain immortal, the NZK-150 series of armor-piercing shells was developed, and the effectiveness of the SU-85 may be able to meet the needs in the long run, unless the Germans let the E-50 and E-100 series appear in advance.

Of course, the reason why we have to spend a little more ink on this SU-85 is very simple, in this time and space, because of the appearance of a certain immortal, there is one more platform suitable for carrying D-5S, that is, MT-LB36 crawler conveyor.

In order to meet the needs of the Red Army, NORINCO urgently studied the scheme of installing the D-5S and D-25S on the MT-LB36 chassis. After more than half a year of testing, the D-5S was successfully installed with the MT-LB36, which is also known as the SU-85A.

The difference between the SU-85A and the SU-85 is actually the different chassis, which leads to the two tank destroyers, one with a front turret and the other with a rear turret (SU-85A). EXTERNALLY, THE SU-85A IS CLOSER TO THE SELF-PROPELLED HOWITZERS OF LATER GENERATIONS, WITH THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BEING THAT IT STILL USES A FIXED TURRET.

From the point of view of the use of the Red Army, the SU-85 and SU-85A have their own advantages, the former is lower in shape and better concealed. In the latter, because of the rear of the turret, the long barrel does not protrude forward abruptly and occupies a lot of space, which also makes the SU-85A's maneuverability more ideal. Moreover, the chassis of the MT-LB36 has more space because of the large crew compartment in the rear, and for the Red Army anti-tank artillery artillery, the SU-85A has better ergonomics, and it is loaded with more shells and has stronger sustained combat capabilities.

And NORINCO also developed the first self-propelled gun with a rotating turret for the Red Army on the basis of the SU-85A, which was later designated the SU-122A. It was a standard support firepower for the mechanized army at the end of the war. The SU-122A performance was quite outstanding in those days.

Straight to the point. When Rokossovsky received this batch of SU-85 and SU-85A. Actually, I was a little disappointed. He understood the performance of the D-5 and believed that this anti-tank gun might not be able to deal with the most advanced tanks of the German army. In fact, what Rokossovsky wanted most was the SU-100.

In fact, the Germans also thought so, and by the battle capture, they received the main anti-tank guns and tank guns of the Red Army. After live-fire tests, the Germans complained about the performance of the anti-tank guns of the Red Army.

"The ZIS-3 and F34 are only a little stronger than the 50-mm tank guns equipped with our army, and the ZIS-2 has good performance, but the armor-piercing shells it is equipped with are really not able to give full play to the excellent performance of this gun. As for the D-5 tank gun, it is only equivalent to the KWK40L48 of our army. As for the Russian army's armament of that 100mm smoothbore gun. The cannon fires armor-piercing shells with great power, but the accuracy is too poor...... Based on the above, we can believe that the continuous improvement of the Panthers and the development of a new generation of heavy tanks will help our army completely gain armor superiority on the battlefield......"

Not only did the German technical experts think so, but in fact, after the battle with the Red Army's Klinzi armored units, the German heavy tank units were full of confidence, and the troops generally demanded more Tiger tanks.

Anyway, the German tank crews were a little confident, and they drove the Tiger tank, rushed to the anti-tank positions of the Red Army with a big grin, and then crashed headlong into the SU-85 in ambush.

Actually, it was not that the Germans did not discover the existence of the SU-85. But because they thought they knew the performance of the D-5 very well, they thought that this kind of artillery could really threaten the Tiger tank, and it was probably within 500 meters. And the Tiger tank is armed with the KWK36 tank gun. But it is possible to destroy the SU-1000 at a distance of 85 meters. So the Germans are really not worried at all.

"Three enemy heavy tanks were found at two o'clock, ready for battle!"

Konstantin discovered the existence of the tiger two thousand meters away, there is no way, who made the Tiger tank unusually tall and mighty? It has to be said that the tank design of the Germans was really quite bad. The Tiger, for example, seemed to be famous in World War II, but it was still an unsuccessful work in nature. The Germans took their talent for wasting weight to the extreme.

The separation of the engine and gearbox meant that the Tiger needed a propeller shaft that ran through the hull, which combined with the presence of the propeller shaft would raise the hull height. And the relationship between the weight of the tank and the hull is 1:3:7, in which the width is one, the length is three, and the height accounts for seven.

Of course, it is not only the tiger that has this shortcoming, the black panther and the tiger king have similar problems. The worse disadvantage of the Tiger is that it does not make good use of the inclined armor at all, both the turret and the front of the hull are vertical armor. So even if the thickness of its frontal armor reaches the level of 100 mm, its overall defense is still not very good. It's even worse than the late improved version of the Panther.

Some comrades may not be convinced, and will say that this data is not correct, and the thickness of the front of the turret of the Tiger tank is 200 mm, saying that its gun shield and turret part overlap, and this part has to be regarded as the thickness of the superposition.

It can only be said that this is really nonsense, in fact, it is clear to look at the cross-sectional view of the turret of the Tiger tank, not to mention the Tiger turret and artillery shield, not to mention 200 mm, and the parts that reach 150 mm are pitiful. For example, the so-called cannon shield and turret superposition, which is actually only 90 mm level, is the weakest part of the Tiger turret. Let's put it this way, the average Tiger turret armor is between 100 and 135. Only a very small part reached the level of 140 to 150 mm.

Moreover, it should be noted that the size of the tiger is very tall, and a considerable part of the hull armor is obviously exposed, and the gunners of the Red Army can even not penetrate the turret, just greet the tiger's hull. Not to mention the fact that the SU-150 and SU-85A, equipped with armor-piercing shells of the new generation NZK-85 family, are capable of penetrating armor from about 120 mm to 130 mm. In particular, it was noted that the armor-piercing ability of the armor-piercing bullet has nothing to do with distance, it is this power at zero distance, and it is still this power at a distance of 3000 meters. Of course, the effective range of the D-5S is not as far as 3,000 meters, and it basically only has the ability to attack targets within 1,500 meters.

But the words can't be said so absolutely. On the battlefield. There are always some people who will explode in character. Take Konstantin, for example. As I said, he spotted a tiger two kilometers away. As instructed in the tactical manual, he immediately ordered the loader to load the chamber with a freshly dispensed NZK-150 armor-piercing round.

Konstantin was not particularly familiar with this kind of armor-piercing bomb that had just been airlifted by plane, and he did not have much confidence in its power. Because the day before, the SU-85 under his command had already encountered a tiger once, and that time he fired ten shots at the tiger, but only destroyed one from the side. The fruits of such a battle were chilling his heart. This time, in particular, the tactical manual that came with the new armor-piercing rounds instructed them to attack from as far away as possible, preferably from 1000 meters away. Such an explanation made him even less confident.

Konstantin sneered to himself: "It's better to fight farther away, at least it will leave us enough time to escape!" ”

"The distance is one thousand eight, one armor-piercing bullet, prepare, release!"

With Konstantin's order, the body of the SU-85 shook slightly, and the cannonball shot at the tiger that was slowly driving like an arrow from Xuan.

With smoke flashing from the front of the Tiger turret, Konstantin knew he had hit. However, he didn't get too excited, because he felt that it would be useless to hit. He did not believe that the D-5S could destroy the terrible Tiger.

The actual situation seems to be similar to Konstantin's prediction, and the tiger that has been shot in the head seems to be unscathed, and it is still moving slowly. To this, Constance Dante only shrugged his shoulders, and then continued to order: "At a distance of 1700 meters, the armor-piercing shell is ready...... Put! ”

The SU-85 shuddered again, and soon another armor-piercing bullet hit the tiger's head accurately. Even Konstantin was a little surprised, because today they were so accurate that it was not easy for a top shooter like him to hit the enemy from a distance of 1,500 meters. Usually it's good to succeed once or twice out of ten, but today, it's how to fight.

Of course, the only thing Konstantin regrets was that the SU-85 was so weak that even if it hit the enemy, it could not cause any damage to the enemy. He could only attack again and again in vain, waiting until he was about 1,000 meters away and ordered to retreat.

However, today's situation was somewhat unexpected, just as Konstantin was preparing for the third shot, the tiger, which had been fine just now, suddenly went out of trouble, and smoke came out of the gap between the turret and the chassis, which was small at first and then gradually strengthened. Konstantin was well aware that this was definitely a fire inside the enemy tank, and such smoke was either ignited by the hydraulic oil or the cartridge caught fire, of course, in either case, this was good news.

So, Konstantin temporarily restrained the idea of continuing the attack and began to observe carefully. After all, the NZK-150 armor-piercing bullets distributed by the superiors are limited, and a special shooter like him is only allocated 10 rounds, and a first-class shooter is only allocated 10 ZNK-150A, as for the first-class shooter again, then honestly use the old-fashioned armor-piercing bullets!

While Konstantin was watching, flames erupted from the tiger's car, which was hit by the tiger quickly stopped, and then the commander, gunner, loader, driver, and radioman pushed open the hatch and fled in confusion. Flames and smoke spewed out of the open hatch almost chasing their ass. It was still spectacular!

Speaking from the heart, Konstantin felt incredible, could it be that the newly issued armor-piercing bullets were really so powerful?

The battle continued, and soon Konstantin gave up thinking about this question, which seemed absurd for the time being. Because the enemy's tanks are still slowly moving in.

"10 o'clock direction, 2100 meters away, armor-piercing shells ready!"

This time, it was the tiger that Konstantin was targeting, and it had just crossed a ridge, and the front of the car was raised high into the sky, revealing a small half of its belly. And Konstantin, who has a lot of combat experience, knew very well that this was the best time to shoot, so he did not hesitate to choose to fire.

I have to say that Konstantin's luck today was really explosive, he hit the target again, and the metal jet formed by the armor-piercing bullet tore open the tiger's "tender" little belly effortlessly, and after shooting the driver in the head, he continued to rush forward, drilling a thumb-thick hole in the gun commander's thigh and igniting part of the cartridge.

With a loud bang, the tiger's head separated, and all its members were either blown to pieces or burned to char.

This success gave Konstantin great confidence, and he began to believe the words of his superiors, and the newly issued armor-piercing bullets were indeed capable of hunting tigers at a distance of about 1,500 meters. In fact, on this day, another Red Army gunner set an astonishing record with the NZK-150, after a "missed" NZK-150 flew forward for four thousand meters, the blind cat hit a No. 4 F2 tank like a dead mouse, and after the explosion, it easily tore through the turret armor of the No. 4 F2 tank, and the unlucky commander who did not understand the situation at all was cut in two!

At the end of the day's fighting, Rokossovsky received an unexpected telegram - the artillery units, especially the tank destroyer units armed with SU-85s, strongly demanded that more NZK-150s and NZK-150A be distributed immediately, and that the more the merrier! (To be continued.) )