15. Human losses of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War One of the most speculative questions when falsifying the history of the Second World War is the question of the human losses suffered by the USSR during its course. Through the media it is drummed into the people that the USSR won the war by “filling the enemy with corpses.”

Stalin's decisive role in the Great Patriotic War Throughout the war, and especially the most difficult first year, Stalin's courage, determination and competence inspired the entire Soviet people. In hours of despair, Stalin personified faith in final victory. November 7

EXPERIENCE TEACHES ARTILLERISTS

At the beginning of the Civil War, artillery was used in battle in the old way, as they were accustomed to using it at the end of the First World War. In connection with new forms of combat, it was necessary to use artillery in a completely new way. The old artillery tactics were replaced by tactics of flexible maneuver and decisive concentration of artillery in the direction of the main attack of the troops.
The following examples show how old outdated traditions in the combat use of artillery were broken. In October 1918, the seventy-thousand-strong White Guard army of General Krasnov, armed and equipped by the Germans, surrounded Tsaritsyn and pressed the heroic defenders of the city to the banks of the Volga. The number of Soviet troops defending Tsaritsyn did not exceed 50 thousand people. The supply of shells and ammunition among the city’s defenders was coming to an end, and the routes of communication with Moscow and the Caucasus were cut off by the White Guards. The situation was difficult. On October 16, the White Guards occupied the Voroponovo station, located just 10 kilometers west of the city, and continued to advance forward, showering shells on the Red Army units. Due to a lack of shells and rifle cartridges, the heroic defenders of Tsaritsyn increasingly had to fight back with bayonets and swords. By the end of the day on October 16, the front was already 7 kilometers from the city. In the evening, our observers noticed that new military units had arrived to help the White Guards. As it turned out later, a White Guard officer brigade of about a thousand people approached the front.
The critical moment has arrived. Tsaritsyn was in mortal danger.
At this difficult moment, Comrade Stalin, who, on instructions from the Central Committee of the Party, personally led the defense of Tsaritsyn, mobilized all his forces and means to repel the enemy. Almost all artillery pieces and ammunition were concentrated on the central sector of the front opposite the Voroponovo station.
There were about 200 guns on a 40-kilometer front. Almost all of them were now converging on the central section of the front. The batteries stood just a few dozen paces from one another, preparing to repel the attack of the White Guards.
At dawn, the white artillery opened fire, and soon their infantry moved to attack. Officer regiments marched in full dress uniform, chain after chain, column after column. The officer brigade was ahead, and behind it were the regiments of General Krasnov. The White Guards counted on the fact that the Red Army could not stand it, that the mere sight of a steadily moving forward mass of armed people would demoralize them. The artillery of the Red Army was silent: it was waiting for the conditional signal. Now the advanced chains of the Whites are half a kilometer from our infantry... Only 400 meters remain... Every second one could expect that the chains of the White Guards would change their fast step to a swift run and go on the attack. At this moment, a signal was given: 4 high bursts of shrapnel - 4 bright white smoke clouds hanging in the clear morning sky. And after this the whole steppe began to rumble. The sounds of gunfire and shell explosions merged into a continuous roar. Each battery fired at its assigned section of the front, and together they created a continuous wall of fire. The shells exploded in the very thick of the enemy's advancing columns. Having suffered heavy losses, the White Guards lay down. They were stopped, but not yet defeated. At this time, an armored train approached from the north along the ring railway line; on the right and left flanks of the front sector, trucks converted into armored vehicles and armed with machine guns rushed forward; The batteries moved their fire deep into the White Guards' positions in order to cut off the escape routes for their advanced units. The red infantry launched a counterattack. She moved forward quickly. And as the artillery carried the fire further and further, a still smoking battlefield, strewn with the corpses of the White Guards and plowed up by shells, opened up before the eyes of the observers. The half-destroyed White Guard regiments rolled back in disarray to the south and west, scattering across the steppe. The siege ring was broken. Red Tsaritsyn was saved. In 1919, on behalf of the Central Committee of the Party, Comrade Stalin led the defeat of the White Guard troops of General Yudenich, who were rushing to Petrograd. The position of the Soviet troops was complicated by the fact that a counter-revolutionary rebellion was raised in the rear of the Red Army at the forts “Krasnaya Gorka” and “Seraya Loshad”. It was impossible to take well-armed forts by storm, advancing only from land with the support of small artillery. Comrade Stalin proposed attacking the rebel forts with a combined attack from land and sea, using the powerful artillery of the ships of the Baltic Fleet. Comrade Stalin's plan was approved and implemented. The suppression of the rebel forts was carried out brilliantly. The rebel forts, unable to withstand powerful attacks from naval artillery, were taken by Red Army units and detachments of Baltic sailors and St. Petersburg workers. Yudenich's army was defeated and its remnants were thrown back to Estonia. Artillery provided powerful support to the infantry on the Southern Front when troops under the leadership of M.V. Frunze stormed Perekop. The artillery of the First Cavalry Army also acted boldly and decisively, showing examples of skillful interaction with cavalry and high maneuverability on the battlefield. Studying the experience of past wars helped our party and the Soviet Government to correctly outline further steps along the path of development of Soviet artillery and clearly define the tasks that artillery should solve in battle. The re-equipment of artillery with new types of guns that followed in 1937 and 1938 contributed to a significant increase in its power. The power of the crushing blows of Soviet artillery was soon experienced by the enemies of our Motherland, who dared to encroach on the inviolability of the borders of the country of the Soviets. In the battles on the Khalkhin Gol River in 1939 and in the Soviet-Finnish War in 1939/40, our artillery provided powerful support to infantry and tanks, hit enemy personnel, destroyed his military equipment and destroyed his powerful engineering structures.

THE REAR HELPES THE FRONT

In some battles of the Great Patriotic War, our artillery fired more shells in one day of battle than the Russian army used during the entire war with Japan in 1904–1905.
How many defense factories had to be had, how fast they had to work in order to produce such a huge number of guns and ammunition. How skillfully and efficiently transport had to work in order to smoothly transfer countless guns and shells to the battlefields!
And the Soviet people, inspired by love for the Motherland, for the Communist Party, for their Government, coped with all these difficult tasks.
During the war, Soviet factories produced huge quantities of guns and ammunition. Back in 1942, our industry produced much more guns of all calibers in just one month than the Russian army had at the beginning of the First World War.

Thanks to the heroic work of the Soviet people, the Soviet Army received a continuous stream of first-class artillery weapons, which in the capable hands of our artillerymen became the decisive force that ensured the defeat of Nazi Germany and the victorious end of the war. During the war, our domestic industry increased its production from month to month and supplied the Soviet Army with tanks and aircraft, ammunition and equipment in increasing quantities.
The artillery industry annually produced up to 120 thousand guns of all calibers, up to 450 thousand light and heavy machine guns, over 3 million rifles and about 2 million machine guns. In 1944 alone, 7 billion 400 million rounds of ammunition were produced.
Soviet people, working selflessly in the rear, helped the Soviet Army defend the freedom and independence of our Motherland and saved the peoples of Europe from fascist enslavement.
The victory of our country in the Great Patriotic War speaks of the vitality of the Soviet social system, of the invincibility of the cause for which the Soviet people fought under the leadership of our party, carrying out the Great October Socialist Revolution.
The great strength of the leadership of the Communist Party ensured the Soviet people complete victory over a strong and treacherous enemy in the most difficult war that humanity has ever had to fight.
During the Great Patriotic War, the Communist Party appeared before all the peoples of the Soviet Union as the inspirer and organizer of the nationwide struggle against the fascist invaders. The organizational work of the party united and directed all the efforts of the Soviet people towards a common goal, subordinating all forces and means to the cause of defeating the enemy. During the war, the party became even more close to the people, even more closely connected with the broad masses of the working people.

SOVIET ARTILLERY AT THE BEGINNING OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR
We have already said that by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, our army had first-class artillery, which in all respects was superior to the artillery of any foreign army. Soviet artillery personnel were well trained and distinguished by high moral qualities.
In the initial period of the war, our artillery with its fire repelled the attacks of enemy tanks, which were the main striking force of the Nazi army, inflicted heavy losses on the enemy in manpower and equipment, and helped our infantry stop the enemy and gain a foothold on advantageous lines.
How did the artillery solve its combat missions?
When Hitler's armored hordes attacked our Motherland, they met stubborn resistance and well-aimed fire from Soviet artillery, which bore the brunt of the fight against enemy tanks. Our artillery was the force that helped the Soviet Army thwart Hitler’s plans for the “lightning-fast” defeat of our Motherland.

For a more successful fight against Nazi tanks, it was necessary to form new anti-tank artillery units. Special anti-tank artillery units were formed, which played a vital role in the destruction of enemy tanks.
Bravely defending prepared lines, Soviet artillerymen dealt blow after blow to the enemy. Each city that the enemy approached turned into a fortress, on the outskirts of which selected Nazi units perished. The legendary defense of the hero cities: Odessa, Leningrad, Sevastopol, Stalingrad has gone down in history forever.
In all defensive battles, artillery fire ensured the strength of the defense of our troops. During the defense of Leningrad and Sevastopol, along with mercenary artillery, coastal and naval artillery operated successfully, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy.
Soviet artillery became especially famous in the battles on the outskirts of Moscow, to capture which the Nazis sent 51 divisions, including 13 tank and 5 motorized, to defeat the Soviet Army and, having captured Moscow, end the war before the onset of winter 1941.

For twenty days in a row the battle on the outskirts of the capital of our Motherland did not subside for an hour. The artillerymen bravely fought against fascist tanks, setting fire to and knocking out armored vehicles in dozens and hundreds. One of the regiments of anti-tank artillery destroyed 186 enemy tanks on the approaches to Moscow. For the courage shown in battles with the Nazi invaders, for the steadfastness, courage and heroism of the glorious enemy tank destroyers, this regiment was transformed into the 1st Guards Anti-Tank Destroyer Regiment.

Soviet troops, having crushed the enemy’s strike forces, stopped him,” and then, having pulled up and concentrated reserves, launched a counteroffensive on December 6, 1941. Near Moscow and on other sectors of the front, the enemy was defeated and thrown back far to the west. During these battles, the enemy suffered huge losses. In the first 40 days of our offensive, the Nazis lost only 300,000 soldiers and officers killed, hundreds of tanks, guns and mortars, thousands of cars and many other weapons and military equipment.
The defeat of enemy armies near Moscow was of great importance for the further course of the war. For the first time during the Second World War, fascist troops were not only stopped, but suffered a complete defeat. As a result of the defeat of the Nazis near Moscow, the myth of the invincibility of the Nazi army was dispelled.
Assessing the role of artillery in the defensive battles of the Soviet Army near Moscow and Leningrad, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Marshal of the Soviet Union Stalin, in an order dedicated to the celebration of Artillery Day, wrote on November 19, 1944: “As is known, artillery was the force that helped the Red Army stop the enemy’s advance at approaches to Leningrad and Moscow."

SOVIET ARTILLERY IN THE BATTLES NEAR STALINGRAD
At the beginning of the book, we already mentioned the role that Soviet artillery played in the Battle of Stalingrad. The role of our artillery was so great that we need to talk about it in a little more detail.
Having suffered defeat near Moscow and in other sectors of the Soviet-German front, the Nazis hastily began to prepare a new offensive against the Soviet Union. They wanted to break through our defenses, bypass Moscow from the east, cut it off from the Volga and Ural rear and then attack Moscow. This adventuristic plan of the fascists provided for the capture of Stalingrad. To accomplish this task, the Nazi command concentrated huge forces of infantry, tanks, self-propelled artillery, aviation, and many other military equipment in the Stalingrad direction.
The fascist command decided to launch an offensive with the expectation of capturing Stalingrad by July 25, and capturing Kuibyshev by August 15 and ending the war in the east by the winter of 1942. The Nazis began to carefully prepare for the offensive. A front breakthrough was planned in the direction of Voronezh and Stalingrad.
When developing their plans, the Nazis hoped that the American-British imperialists would not come to the aid of the Soviet Union, that they would not land their troops on the coast of France to create a second front against Nazi Germany.
And indeed, the American-British imperialists constantly delayed the opening of a second front in Europe; they wanted to exhaust and weaken the Soviet Union in such a way that after the war our country would become economically dependent on the United States of America and England.
In addition, they hoped that a difficult war with the Soviet Union would weaken Hitler's Germany; which was the most dangerous competitor of the USA and England in the world market.
On July 24, 1941, in the New York Times, American Senator Truman, who later became President of the United States, wrote: “If we see that Germany is winning, then we should help Russia, and if Russia wins, then we should help Germany . And thus, let them kill as many as possible."
Violating their allied obligations, the American and British imperialists secretly from the Soviet Union negotiated peace with Nazi Germany.

During the days of heavy fighting at Stalingrad, the American-British imperialists had about six million inactive soldiers and huge masses of military equipment under arms. These forces and means could have provided significant assistance to the Soviet Army, but in the summer of 1942, American-British reactionaries made a fuss in their newspapers that American and British troops were not prepared to open a second front in Europe.
By this they made it clear to Hitler that he could concentrate all his forces against our army without fear for his rear.
At the same time, the imperialists of the USA and England supplied Nazi Germany with the most important military materials through “neutral” countries.
Thus, the monopolists of the USA and England overtly and secretly helped Nazi Germany in its struggle against the Soviet Union.
Choosing the Stalingrad direction, the Nazis hoped that in the Stalingrad steppes they would be able to make the most extensive use of tank and mechanized troops, quickly complete the capture of Stalingrad and Kuibyshev and finally defeat the Soviet Army.
But they cruelly miscalculated, they did not take into account the ability of our army for long-term resistance; Nor did they foresee the inexhaustible strength of our Soviet people, their unshakable will in striving to destroy the enemy.
The Supreme High Command promptly unraveled the plans of the Hitlerite command and developed a plan for the defeat of the fascist troops at Stalingrad. Soviet troops were given the task of exhausting and bleeding the Nazi troops rushing to Stalingrad in stubborn battles, and then encircling them and destroying them. This plan was successfully implemented.

In the battles that unfolded between the Don bend and the Volga, our army dealt strong blows to the Nazi troops, destroying selected Nazi regiments and divisions and delaying the advance of Hitler’s troops. To cover the distance from the Don to Stalingrad, the Nazis had to fight bloody battles for about two months. Only in mid-September were Nazi troops able to approach the outskirts of the city.

At Stalingrad, the Nazis encountered resistance and tenacity of Soviet troops and workers of Stalingrad enterprises unprecedented in the history of wars.
The enemy threw division after division into battle, but all his attempts to capture the city were defeated by the staunch defense of our troops. The approaches to the city and the ruins of city blocks were littered with corpses of the Nazis. The enemy's forces were melting away. The heroic defenders of Stalingrad crushed Hitler’s elite troops and prepared the conditions for their complete defeat.
Soviet artillery played a particularly large role in this battle; it waged a fierce and prolonged struggle with Nazi tank and mechanized forces on the distant and near approaches to Stalingrad and delayed their advance. The artillerymen blocked the path of the enemy infantry and tanks with the fire of their guns, inflicting enormous damage on them in manpower and equipment. In this way, the artillery made it possible for our troops to prepare the defense of the city.
Artillery of all calibers took part in the heroic defense of Stalingrad, from small-caliber guns to high-power guns. Together with ground artillery, our anti-aircraft artillery destroyed the enemy in the air and on the ground.
The interaction of artillery fire with infantry fire was very well organized. Defensive battles in Stalingrad were very active. Our units continuously counterattacked the enemy and kept him in a tense state, in constant anticipation of an attack.
During September - October and the first half of November 1942, the Nazis launched an average of 10 attacks per day. The fight was for every inch of Soviet land, for every block, for every house, for every floor of the house. Soviet soldiers, including artillerymen, heroically defended the city. They turned every block, street, and house into fortresses that destroyed fresh reserves brought into battle by the Nazi command.
During these same months, the Nazis launched 4 offensive operations that lasted several days; they threw over ten divisions into battle at the same time, supported by 400–500 tanks.
The Nazi invaders managed to break into the city, but they were never able to take control of it completely.
The defenders of Stalingrad remembered the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief - “Stalingrad must not be surrendered to the enemy” - and sought to defend the glorious Soviet stronghold on the Volga at any cost. The soldiers of the Stalingrad Front wrote to Comrade Stalin: “Before our battle banners, before the entire Soviet country, we swear that we will not disgrace the glory of Russian weapons, we will fight to the last opportunity. Under your leadership, our fathers won the Battle of Tsaritsyn, and under your leadership we will win now in the great battle of Stalingrad!” The defenders of Stalingrad kept this oath with honor.
Thousands of Stalingrad residents - city residents - took part in street battles.
Here is one typical case. The Nazis tried to force a Russian woman to help them get around the house, which was defended by our machine gunners. This attempt cost the Nazis dearly. The woman led the enemy soldiers into the yard under the fire of our riflemen and shouted: “Shoot, comrades!” Almost all the fascists were killed. One of the fascists, wounded, shot at the woman. When our shooters ran up to her, she said: “After all, I was not mistaken.” Glory to the nameless heroine!
The defensive battles of the Soviet Army near Stalingrad were only the first stage of the Battle of Stalingrad. Heroically resisting, the defenders of Stalingrad stopped the Nazi advance in the Stalingrad direction.

The destructive fire of Soviet artillery caused enormous devastation in the enemy's disposition.

During the defensive battle, which lasted from mid-July to November 19, Hitler's armies were drained of blood. They lost 182,000 killed and more than 500,000 wounded. In addition, our troops knocked out and destroyed 1,450 enemy tanks, 4,000 machine guns, and over 2,000 guns and mortars. 1,337 aircraft were destroyed by anti-aircraft artillery fire and fighter aircraft. All this affected the morale of the Nazis and made them talk about the “impregnability of the Stalingrad fortress,” the “Volga Verdun,” and the “incomprehensible tenacity of the Russians.”
Corporal Walter wrote in a letter home: “Stalingrad is hell on earth, Verdun, Red Yerden with new weapons. We attack daily. If we manage to occupy 20 meters, then in the evening the Russians will push us back.”
But, despite heavy losses, the Nazis decided to hold their positions near Stalingrad during the winter, and launch an offensive again in the summer in order to achieve their crazy goal - to capture Moscow.
Even while fierce battles were taking place on the streets of the city, our new units and formations, armed with new military equipment, capable of defeating the enemy, were concentrated in the Stalingrad area.
To defeat the enemy it was necessary to concentrate a large number of troops and military equipment. Artillery, the main striking force of the advancing fronts, was especially needed. The artillery was supposed to use its fire to break through the enemy’s defenses and ensure the transition of our troops to a counteroffensive. In the silence of the night, the hum of engines was continuously heard. It was guns, tanks, cars moving towards the front, and there was no end in sight to the long columns of people and equipment. All preparations for the offensive were carried out secretly. The troops approached the front only at night. During the day, they hid in populated areas and in numerous ravines, carefully camouflaging themselves from aerial observers! enemy. Our troops carefully prepared for the upcoming battles. Soviet artillery reconnaissance did a lot of work during the preparatory period. She identified important targets on which the artillery was supposed to bring down its fire. Much attention was paid to organizing interaction between different branches of the military.
Finally, by mid-November, preparations for the offensive were completed. The task was to encircle and completely destroy all enemy divisions that had broken through to Stalingrad.
To do this, our troops, in close cooperation, had to break through the front of the Nazis and defeat them in the middle reaches of the Don and south of Stalingrad, and then, with a swift strike of mobile troops in the direction of the Don, encircle the Nazi hordes at Stalingrad and destroy them.
On November 19, 1942, according to a plan developed by the Supreme High Command, Soviet troops launched a decisive counterattack.

Before the start of the infantry and tank offensive, an artillery preparation of unprecedented force was carried out. Thousands of guns and mortars rained down a huge number of shells and mines on enemy positions. A sudden powerful fire strike was delivered against enemy resistance units at the front line and in the depths of the defense, against his mortars and artillery batteries, against command posts, and against reserves. The entire area seemed to have been plowed by a giant plow of war. The surface of the earth was pitted with many craters from exploding shells, mines and aerial bombs. Entire enemy units ran out of trenches and dugouts and rushed from side to side in panic, finding no escape. The Nazis' losses in manpower and equipment were enormous. Despite the fog that limited visibility, our artillery coped with its tasks perfectly.
Enemy trenches and fortifications were destroyed by massive artillery fire. On the first day of the offensive, the artillery of only one front destroyed and suppressed 293 heavy machine guns, 100 artillery and 60 mortar batteries, destroyed 196 dugouts, and 126 defensive structures. A lot of enemy soldiers and officers were destroyed by artillery fire.
Having broken through the enemy front, our troops began to quickly move forward. Our artillery advanced along with the troops and did not lag behind them.
During the offensive, Soviet artillerymen showed the high art of controlling massive fire. They destroyed enemy fortifications and accompanied our attacking infantry, cavalry and tanks with fire.
Thus began the defeat of Hitler’s army, a defeat in which Soviet artillery played an outstanding role.
As a result of a well-organized infantry offensive in cooperation with artillery, tanks and cavalry, on November 23, a 330,000-strong group of selected Nazi troops was surrounded. The history of wars does not know an example of the encirclement and complete defeat of such a huge mass of troops armed with the latest technology.
In December 1942, Hitler addressed the encircled troops with a special order - he demanded that they hold their positions near Stalingrad at all costs.
Hitler's command made desperate attempts to save the encircled troops. To assist them in the areas of Tormosino and Kotelnikovo, the Nazis created two strong groupings of troops, 8 divisions each, which were supposed to break through the ring of Soviet troops around Stalingrad.
In December, our troops defeated both of these enemy groups and continued to develop the offensive further and further to the west.

This is how the Nazis’ attempts to liberate their encircled armies ended ingloriously.
Meanwhile, our troops, who surrounded the main group of Nazis at Stalingrad, were preparing for its destruction.
In the last, decisive battle according to our plan Supreme High Command it was necessary to dismember the encircled enemy troops into pieces and then destroy each isolated enemy group separately. The artillery was entrusted with the task of paving the way for infantry and tanks through the enemy’s fortifications, suppressing and destroying its firepower and manpower.
On January 10, at 8:50 a.m., the command to begin the offensive was issued from the front commander’s point. The air trembled with the thunder of artillery cannonade, which began simultaneously along the entire front. Squadrons of our bomber and attack aircraft appeared in the sky.
The advance of our troops was supported by strong artillery fire. The artillery was used in large numbers and provided good fire support for our infantry and tanks.
The sounds of shots and explosions of artillery shells, mines and aerial bombs merged into a continuous roar. Losses inflicted on the enemy

The fire from our artillery, mortars and aircraft was very significant. According to the testimony of prisoners, “entire battalions knelt down and turned to God in prayer, asking to spare them and protect them from Russian artillery fire.”
Our tanks with troops mounted on them rushed towards the enemy; rifle units followed them into the attack. For two weeks, units of the Soviet Army, advancing from the west, advanced east towards Stalingrad with fierce battles, and by the end of January 26, 1943, in the area of ​​Mamayev Kurgan, they united with the troops of General Chuikov, advancing from Stalingrad.
The Nazi troops found themselves cut into two parts: the northern one in the area of ​​the tractor plant and the Barricades plant and the southern one in the northwestern half of the city.
On January 31, the southern group of Nazi troops was finally defeated; On February 1, our troops began an assault on the northern group of enemy forces. After artillery preparation, the enemy’s defenses were broken through, and the next day our troops defeated this last enemy center of resistance. Our artillery carried out the tasks assigned to it with honor. Suffice it to say that in the period from January 10 to February 2, artillery fire

98 tanks were shot down and burned, over 70 batteries were suppressed and destroyed, about 1,000 wood-and-earthen firing points and over 1,500 dugouts were destroyed. Several tens of thousands of fascist invaders died under the explosions of shells and mines.

Our anti-aircraft artillery provided great assistance to the advancing troops. In the battles near Stalingrad, anti-aircraft artillery shot down 223 enemy aircraft and disabled a large number of aircraft.
The front commander reported to the headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief that the destruction of the encircled Stalingrad group of enemy troops ended at 16:00 on February 2, 1943.
The Battle of Stalingrad ended with the complete defeat of the 330,000-strong selected Nazi army, consisting of 22 divisions.

The size of the carnage, unprecedented in history, is indicated by the numbers of enemy losses. At the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, 147,200 corpses of killed Nazis were collected and buried in the ground. Between January 10 and February 2, the front forces destroyed about 120,000 and captured 130,000 Nazi soldiers and officers.

In addition, the following were captured: 5,762 guns, 1,312 mortars, 12,701 machine guns, 1,666 tanks, 216 armored vehicles and much other property.
Thus ended one of the greatest battles in the history of war - the Battle of Stalingrad. In the battles near Stalingrad, the role of artillery in modern warfare as the most formidable weapon, as the main striking force of the Soviet Army, was especially clearly revealed. Using the example of the Battle of Stalingrad, it became clear on what a wide scale artillery must be used to achieve victory in a modern war. The Stalingrad victory showed how the military skill of our soldiers, officers and generals had increased.

The Battle of Stalingrad put an end to the advance of Hitler's troops into the interior of our country. The mass expulsion of invaders from Soviet soil began. The word "Stalingrad" became a symbol of the courage and heroism of the Soviet people. It resonated in the hearts of all honest people in the world and raised them to fight fascism, to fight for their freedom and independence.

The defeat of Hitler's army at Stalingrad forced imperialist Japan and Nazi Germany's secret ally Turkey to refrain from openly opposing the Soviet Union.

SOVIET ARTILLERY IN THE BATTLE OF KURSK
Back in January - February 1943, our troops defeated the Nazis in the Voronezh and Kursk region and threw back the Nazi troops far to the west.
A protrusion formed in the outlines of the front, which protruded deeply into the enemy’s position. At this point, the front stabilized, and both warring sides began to prepare for summer hostilities.

Hitler's army intended to once again break through the front of the Soviet Army. With attacks from the north and south, the Nazis wanted to take the Kursk group of our army into a “pincer” in order to encircle and destroy Soviet troops concentrated in the Kursk area, capture Kursk on the fifth day of the offensive, and then move on Moscow.

To imagine the scale of this battle, it is enough to say that in the Kursk direction, the Nazi command concentrated over 430 thousand soldiers and officers, more than 3 thousand tanks, including new heavy Tiger tanks and Ferdi-Nand self-propelled guns, 6,763 guns, 3,200 mortars and 1,850 aircraft, including about a thousand bombers.
And this enemy plan was promptly guessed by the Soviet command. The necessary measures were taken to prevent Hitler's command from carrying out his plans. The troops defending Kursk were prepared for both defense and attack.
The Soviet Army, taking into account its rich experience in the battles of Moscow and Stalingrad, was preparing for decisive battles with the enemy.
Our troops created powerful defenses in areas of a possible Nazi offensive in order to exhaust and bleed the enemy in defensive battles, and then launch a decisive counter-offensive and defeat the enemy.

The artillerymen carefully prepared for the upcoming battles. They studied the experience of past battles, improved their skills, and learned to beat the enemy for sure.
On the night of July 5, when the Nazis concentrated large forces in the initial areas for the offensive, our artillery launched a powerful fire attack on the enemy 10 minutes before the start of the offensive. Several hundred guns suddenly rained down their shells on the Nazi positions. The artillery smashed the enemy's infantry, his tank and motorized troops, who were preparing for the offensive, as well as the enemy's batteries, observation and command posts.

The crushing fire of artillery and mortars inflicted huge losses on the enemy in manpower and equipment and lowered the morale of the fascist troops. As a result of a powerful artillery fire raid, the Nazis lost 90 artillery and mortar batteries, 10 ammunition and fuel warehouses were blown up, 60 observation posts were destroyed, and many tanks and other military equipment were knocked out.

The sudden attack of our artillery and mortars disrupted the battle formations of enemy infantry and tanks. Having suffered heavy artillery losses, the Nazis were forced to shift some of the artillery tasks to aviation. Only a few hours later the Nazis recovered from the unexpected blow and were able to launch their offensive.
And when the Nazis nevertheless went on the offensive with large forces of tanks and infantry, they met fierce resistance from Soviet troops. The famous battle of Kursk began.
South of Orel and north of Belgorod, battles broke out, unprecedented in ferocity and in the amount of military equipment used in them. In the northern direction, from the Orel area, the Nazis threw 7 tank, 2 motorized and 11 infantry divisions into battle, and from the Belgorod area - 10 tank, one motorized and 7 infantry divisions, the bulk of which operated along the Belgorod-Oboyan highway. Tanks and self-propelled guns were the first to attack. Infantry moved behind the tanks in armored personnel carriers. Enemy bombers in large groups, wave after wave, covered their advancing troops.

Despite their enormous forces, the Nazis were unable to break through our defenses. They were met by strong massive fire from our artillery and the defending troops. Enemy tanks flew into the air, exploding in minefields, and caught fire from well-aimed shots from artillerymen and armor-piercers. Five times the Nazis rushed to attack, but to no avail. Fierce fighting raged throughout the day. The enemy failed to achieve major successes. In the Oryol and Belgorod directions, at the cost of heavy losses, the fascist troops only wedged several kilometers into our position.
On July 11, a fierce tank battle of unprecedented proportions unfolded again, in which over 1,500 tanks and large aviation forces took part on both sides. In one day of battle, the enemy lost over 400 tanks and did not advance a single meter. Already on the seventh day after the start of the offensive, the northern group of troops was stopped, and on the twelfth day, the southern one was stopped. By July 13, the Nazis, as a result of huge losses, were forced to stop the offensive along the entire front. The new campaign against Moscow ended in complete failure for the Nazis.
The plan of Hitler's command collapsed. The stable, pre-prepared defense of the Soviet troops turned out to be truly insurmountable.
Our artillery played an exceptionally large role in the battles near Kursk, which bore the brunt of the fight against the masses of fascist heavy and light tanks trying to make a hole in our defense. The fight between Soviet guns and enemy armored vehicles ended in victory for the Soviet artillerymen. In the first three days of fighting alone, Soviet artillerymen, together with other branches of the military, destroyed 1,539 enemy tanks and self-propelled guns.
The artillerymen steadfastly and courageously fought against enemy tanks and with heroic exploits increased the glory of Russian artillery. In some cases, the artillerymen fired until the last shell, and then began hand-to-hand combat. Here is an example of the courageous struggle of “Soviet artillerymen against enemy tanks.
In the battle near Ponyry, a large group of enemy tanks and infantry moved towards Sergeant Major Sedov’s gun. Sergeant Major Sedov, allowing the enemy to come within 200 meters, opened fire on the tanks. He fired from a gun at the most vulnerable places of the tanks, not allowing the enemy to come to his senses. In a short period of time, Sedov knocked out four “tigers” with his gun and destroyed up to 100 enemy soldiers. And when an enemy shell destroyed the gun, Sedov and his comrades took anti-tank grenades and continued the battle with the fascist tanks.
Anti-aircraft artillery, which operated together with them on the battlefield, provided an invaluable service to ground troops. Anti-aircraft artillery in the battles near Kursk destroyed 660 enemy aircraft.
Having exhausted and bled the selected fascist divisions in the battle of Kursk, our troops broke through the enemy front and themselves launched a counteroffensive, which then unfolded into a powerful offensive on a front stretching over 800 kilometers. The pre-prepared, deeply echeloned, powerful defensive lines and fortified centers of resistance created by the Nazis for almost two years were destroyed by our artillery, operating together with other branches of the military.
As a result of the defeat of Hitler's armies near Kursk, the fascist myth that “the Russians only know how to attack in winter” was dispelled. Soviet troops have proven that in the summer they break through enemy defenses and lead the offensive just as well as in the winter.
On August 5, 1943, the Soviet Army, after intense street fighting, captured Orel and Belgorod. On this day, in the capital of our Motherland - Moscow - the first artillery salute sounded in honor of the victory of our troops, who liberated Orel and Belgorod. Since then, every major victory of the Soviet troops began to be celebrated with an artillery salute.
The Battle of Kursk played an important role during the Great Patriotic War. About the significance of the Battle of Kursk, Chairman of the State Defense Committee J.V. Stalin said: “If the Battle of Stalingrad foreshadowed the decline of the Nazi army, then the Battle of Kursk confronted it with disaster.”
After the defeat at Kursk and Kharkov, all the Nazis’ hopes of holding out in the east collapsed.
A continuous offensive of the Soviet Army to the west began.
1943 was a turning point in the Great Patriotic War. Major victories of the Soviet troops were not only important for the Soviet-German front, but they also influenced the entire course of the Second World War.
In 1944, the Soviet Army delivered ten crushing blows to the enemy, as a result of which up to 120 divisions of Nazi Germany and its allies were defeated and disabled. In these decisive battles, the Soviet artillery, as always, carried out all the tasks assigned to it with honor.
Having expelled Hitler's troops from the borders of our country, the Soviet Army moved its fighting into enemy territory. Soviet troops, moving westward, liberated countries enslaved by Hitler's Germany one after another. And only after it became obvious that the crushing blows of the Soviet Army were inevitably fatal and the Soviet Union alone would put an end to Nazi Germany and its satellites, the American and British generals were forced to rush to open a second front two years late.
However, despite the existence of a second front in Western Europe, the main forces of the Nazi armies were still on the Soviet-German front. Our army continued to bear the brunt of the war on its shoulders.
The offensive of the Soviet Army in the winter of 1944/45 was one of the largest in the entire war. In terms of the number of troops and military equipment participating in it, and the strength of the blows, this was an offensive unprecedented in the history of wars. Suffice it to say that in just 40 days of our offensive, the Nazis lost: over 1,150,000 soldiers and officers captured and killed, about 3,000 aircraft, more than 4,500 tanks and self-propelled guns and at least 12,000 guns. With a mighty blow, the artillery broke through the enemy’s defenses along a 1,200-kilometer front from the Baltic to the Carpathians; By the end of January 1945, the Soviet Army cleared the territory between the Vistula and Oder rivers of enemy troops, thwarted the Nazi offensive on the Western Front in the Ardennes and reached the last fortified lines covering the capital of Nazi Germany - Berlin.

SOVIET ARTILLERY IN THE BATTLE OF BERLIN
The Battle of Berlin began in the second half of April 1945, when our troops captured bridgeheads on the Oder and Neisse rivers.
Hitler's command understood that the fate of Berlin would be decided on the Oder, therefore, throughout the vast territory from the Oder to Berlin, a system of heavily fortified defensive lines with numerous concreted firing points and other engineering structures was created in advance.
Every inch of land in this area was prepared for defense; the presence of numerous lakes, rivers, canals, a dense network settlements with stone houses further strengthened the defense.
Berlin and its approaches were also turned into a fortified area. On the approaches to Berlin, the Nazis built three additional powerful lines of fortifications. Berlin was divided along its circumference into eight defense sectors; the city center was the most heavily fortified.
Barricades, anti-tank barriers and concrete gun emplacements were built on every street. The Nazis deployed several armies to defend the approaches to Berlin. All special units, military schools and academies were also sent to defend Berlin. Members of the Nazi Party were mobilized to create tank destroyer brigades, which were armed with Faust cartridges (a new jet weapon for fighting tanks). Separate battalions were specially trained for street fighting. In total, in the Berlin direction, the Nazi command concentrated up to half a million troops with a huge amount of military equipment.
Soviet soldiers irrepressibly strove for Berlin in order to quickly put an end to the fascist beast in its lair.
By order of the command, a struggle began in the artillery units for the honor of firing the first shot at Berlin. The units read with enthusiasm the appeal of the Military Council of the front, which said: “Fighting friends! Comrade Stalin, on behalf of the Motherland and the entire Soviet people, ordered the troops of our front to defeat the enemy on the nearest approaches to Berlin, to capture the capital of Germany, Berlin, and to hoist the Victory Banner over it.”
To complete this last battle, such an amount of manpower and military equipment was concentrated that it was possible to break the resistance of the fascist troops and capture Berlin in the shortest possible time. No other operation involved as much artillery as was concentrated for the attack on Berlin.
The preparations for the offensive were carried out very carefully and secretly,
The Nazis did not know when our offensive would begin.
On April 14, 1945, our artillery suddenly opened powerful hurricane fire along the entire front. The enemy took this as the beginning of the offensive of our troops. But there was no offensive from our side, and the Nazis calmed down, believing that the offensive had failed. In fact, the artillery fire was undertaken for reconnaissance purposes.

The offensive was scheduled for another day.
The start of the general offensive on Berlin was announced by a salvo of a huge mass of artillery and mortars. On the night of April 15-16, a blow of unprecedented force was suddenly delivered to the enemy’s defensive lines.
After artillery and air preparation they went on the attack. soviet infantry, tanks and self-propelled guns. The rapid advance of our troops was supported by artillery fire and air bombing strikes.
Our attack turned out to be unexpected and stunning for the enemy. Our tanks quickly crushed the forward positions and broke into the enemy's defense line. Destroying trenches, breaking barriers, destroying the enemy and his firepower, Soviet tanks and infantry rapidly moved forward. The Nazis did not expect such a powerful blow; their resistance was quickly broken. The defeated Nazi divisions began to retreat to Berlin. Units of the Soviet Army followed on the heels of the enemy and on April 20 approached the capital of Germany.
At 11 o'clock on April 20, the division commander, Major Zyukin, was the first to open fire on the lair of the fascist beast - Berlin. Artillery

The fire kept growing - after Major Zyukin’s batteries, other batteries entered the battle. The closer our troops came to Berlin, the more the Nazis' resistance increased.
After five days of fierce fighting, our troops surrounded Berlin, and on April 21 the assault on the city itself began.
Our warriors met with a previously prepared defense. The Nazis blocked the streets with numerous rubble and barricades. Groups of multi-storey buildings were turned into powerful strongholds with many firing points. Soviet troops had to knock out the enemy from every street, from every building. Fierce fights took place on the stairs of multi-story buildings, in basements, and on roofs. From building to building, from block to block, our infantrymen, artillerymen, mortarmen, tank crews, sappers, and signalmen fought forward.
In these difficult conditions, our artillerymen brilliantly coped with the assigned tasks. Rolling out their guns for direct fire, they destroyed enemy firing points, destroyed their defensive structures and cleared the way for infantry and tanks. Brave Soviet artillerymen, under enemy fire, rolled their guns in their hands over dilapidated barricades and rubble.
Our artillery helped the infantry and tanks cross the Spree River and canals, of which there are many in the city. Having suppressed the enemy’s defenses on the opposite bank, the artillery ensured the capture of coastal neighborhoods.
So, clearing block after block, our troops, supported by artillery fire, made their way to the city center, to the Reichstag building.
Before the storming of the Reichstag, a final short artillery preparation was carried out, after which our infantry rushed into the attack and burst inside the building. The battle for the capture of the Reichstag lasted several hours.
At 14:20 on April 30, 1945, the Reichstag was taken. The banner of the Victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany was hoisted over Berlin.
At 3 pm on May 2, 1945, the Berlin garrison unconditionally surrendered to the victorious Soviet troops.
Soviet artillery, with its crushing blows, contributed to the final defeat of the Nazi troops defending Berlin.
The Battle of Berlin involved 41,000 artillery pieces and mortars, firing a huge number of shells and mines weighing over 26,000 tons.
In the bloody battles for Berlin, which lasted sixteen days, about 150,000 Nazi soldiers and officers were killed; over 300,000 Nazis were captured by Soviet troops. (475)
The greatest offensive in history by the heroic Soviet Army ended in the complete defeat of the Nazis and brought liberation to the peoples of Europe from the terrible tyranny of Hitlerism.
* * *
The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people against Nazi Germany ended with the victorious Battle of Berlin. To commemorate the victory over Nazi Germany on May 9, 1945, Victory Day, the capital of our Motherland saluted the valiant troops of the Soviet Army with thirty artillery salvoes from a thousand guns.
However, there was another threat of attack on our Motherland - from imperialist Japan, which for decades provoked military clashes in the Far East.
On the borders with the Soviet Union, Japan concentrated its best, selected troops - the one and a half million Kwantung Army, which relied on numerous field and long-term defensive fortifications.
In order to eliminate this last hotbed of war and secure the Soviet Far East from the threat of military attack, it was necessary to defeat the Japanese Kwantung Army and force Japan to unconditional surrender.
Three months after the end of the war in Europe, the Soviet Army, true to its allied duty, began military operations against the Japanese Kwantung Army.
On the night of August 9, 1945, the Soviet Army, ships of the Pacific Fleet and the Amur Flotilla inflicted crushing blows on the enemy. The defeat of the Japanese army began.
Despite the difficult conditions, the combat operations of our troops were distinguished by great swiftness. The retreating Japanese units did not have time to prepare for battle before they were already overtaken by shells from Soviet artillerymen.
Thanks to such swiftness and high mobility, Soviet artillery, together with infantry and tanks, fought through the whole of Manchuria in a short time and ended their military campaign on the shores of the Yellow Sea.
Through its military operations, Soviet artillery greatly contributed to the defeat of the Japanese army.
On September 2, 1945, militaristic Japan admitted itself defeated and unconditionally surrendered.
The war of the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany in the West and against Japanese militarists in the Far East was victoriously completed.
Having won the Second World War, the Soviet people defended the freedom and independence of our Motherland and saved the peoples of Europe from the threat of fascist enslavement.
The victory of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War was the victory of the new Soviet social and political system, victory of our Armed Forces.
Everything that is described in this book shows how varied and responsible the combat work of artillerymen is, how much knowledge they must have in order to successfully cope with their work.
“To be a good artilleryman,” said Comrade Voroshilov, “especially an artillery commander, means to be a comprehensively educated person. Perhaps no type of weapon requires such discipline of mind, will and knowledge from the commander and fighter as artillery.”
On the battlefield, artillerymen must be proactive, brave and courageous; The fate of the battle very often depends on their courage and heroism.
The Great Patriotic War showed that all these qualities are fully possessed by the artillerymen of our glorious Soviet Army, selflessly devoted to their Motherland.
Having such cadres of artillerymen, our artillery, armed with the most advanced artillery equipment, together with other branches of the military, will ensure the victory of the Soviet Army over any enemy if he dares to interfere with the peaceful and victorious movement of the Soviet people towards their great goal - communism.
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Government have always shown and continue to show tireless concern for the defense capability of our Motherland; the 19th Congress of the Communist Party, having outlined a majestic program for the construction of communism in the USSR, set the Communist Party the task of strengthening in every possible way the active defense of the Soviet Motherland from the aggressive actions of its enemies.
Our people, who defend the cause of peace by all means, can confidently rely on their Soviet Army and its main fire strike force - artillery.

Introduction

Despite the fundamental changes that have taken place in the development of weapons, all types of weapons and military equipment, the progress of modern artillery weapons and the theory of the combat use of missile forces and artillery is unthinkable without a deep study and use of the experience of the Great Patriotic War.

Soviet artillery played an extremely important role in the Great Patriotic War and became the main firepower of the Ground Forces. It was the backbone of the defense of the Soviet Army and was the force that helped stop the enemy. In the battle of Moscow, the myth of the invincibility of the fascist army was dispelled. Soviet artillery demonstrated formidable fighting qualities in the great Battle of the Volga. In the battles near Kursk, artillery with its fire played a decisive role in creating a turning point in the course of hostilities, and then ensured the advance of our troops.

The strategic offensive of the Soviet Army after the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk continued until the very end of the Great Patriotic War. Each operation of our troops began under the thunder of artillery cannonade from hundreds and thousands of guns and developed with continuous artillery support. The main defense was anti-tank artillery. It accounts for over 70% of enemy tanks destroyed. Respect for artillery was so great that since 1940 it was called the “god of war.”

During the years of the Great Patriotic War, our artillery increased quantitatively 5 times. The Soviet Union outsold Germany in the production of guns and mortars by 2 and 5 times, respectively, the USA by 1.3 and 3.2 times, and England by 4.2 and 4 times. During the war, our industry supplied the front with 775.6 million shells and mines, which made it possible to deliver crushing fire strikes against the enemy. The power of artillery, mass heroism and military skill of Soviet artillerymen together ensured victory in this difficult war.

The work examines the development of ground artillery during the Great Patriotic War.

Development of artillery on the eve and during the Great Patriotic War

Development of artillery materiel

During the pre-war five-year plans, various design bureaus carried out work to modernize the existing artillery equipment, which was aimed at increasing the firing range, increasing the rate of fire, increasing the firing angles, increasing the power of ammunition, etc. At the same time, new systems were being developed.

The first new weapon of our Soviet artillery was the 76-mm regimental gun of the 1927 model. And although the gun was heavy and had an insufficient horizontal firing angle, it remained the best regimental gun of that time.

In the 1930s, 37 mm and 45 mm anti-tank guns were adopted. The latter was a powerful means of combating all types of tanks of that time.

A major achievement of Soviet scientists and Soviet industry was the creation of a 76-mm cannon mod. 1939 (USV), 122-mm howitzers mod. 1938 (M-30), 152-mm howitzers-guns 1937 (ML-20), 203-mm howitzers mod. 1931 (B-4) (Figures 1, 2).

The main tactical and technical characteristics of the artillery systems of the Red Army at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War are given in Table 1.

In the pre-war years, mortars were re-created. The number of mortars in the Red Army increased sharply after the military conflict with Finland, where military operations showed the high effectiveness of these weapons.

Table 1 - Main tactical and technical characteristics of the artillery systems of the Red Army by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War

So, if throughout 1939 1,678 82-mm battalion mortars were produced, then from January to April 1940, 5,322 of them were fired. At the beginning of the war, mortars of caliber 37 mm, 50 mm, 82 mm, 107 mm were in service and 120 mm.

The first work on the creation of self-propelled artillery began in the 20s at the Commission for Special Artillery Experiments; research and experiments began most fully in the 30s. Some samples were tested in combat on the Karelian Isthmus, but for a number of reasons, not a single self-propelled artillery mount was put into service.

Much attention was paid to the creation and development of jet weapons. By the beginning of 1941, an experimental batch of BM-13 combat installations was manufactured, in February they moved to their factory production, and already on June 21, 1941, a decision was made on the full development jet systems volley fire and the immediate deployment of their mass production.

Thus, thanks to the care of the party and government, the Red Army entered the Great Patriotic War, having mainly modern artillery material. A number of guns fully met wartime requirements, some of them were in service until the end of the war. But combat practice required the presence of new types of artillery, ammunition, instruments and means of propulsion.

By the end of the war, the share of anti-tank guns in ground artillery was 14%, and for firing from indirect firing positions - 86%. In artillery for firing from closed firing positions, guns accounted for 36%, mortars - 61% (excluding 50-mm mortars), RA BM - 3%.

The main anti-tank weapon of the Soviet Army in the first period of the war was the 45-mm cannon mod. 1937 (Figure 3)

The modernization of this gun in 1942 further increased its anti-tank capabilities. In 1943 it entered service new system- 57-mm anti-tank gun model 1942 ZIS-2. During the Second World War, not a single army in the world had an anti-tank weapon whose combat characteristics would exceed those of the ZIS-2.

Soviet designers responded to improving the armor of enemy tanks by creating a 100-mm field gun, model 1944, BS-3. The gun had high ballistic data and combined the qualities of an anti-tank and hull gun (firing range 20 km). The gun was distinguished by the originality of the design of its components and their layout.

In 1943, to replace the regimental 76-mm gun mod. In 1927, a new system was introduced, which was distinguished by ease of production and higher maneuverability. By placing a 76 mm barrel on the carriage of a 45 mm gun mod. In 1942, a regimental 76-mm gun mod. 1943 (ob-25).

Beginning in 1942, it was adopted into divisional artillery, replacing the 76-mm cannon mod. 1939 (USV), a new 76-mm gun mod. 1942 ZIS-3. It became not only the best, but also the most popular gun of the Second World War - the artillery of the Red Army received over 48 thousand of these guns. The rate of fire of the ZIS-3 was 25 rounds per minute, and the firing range was 13 km. If necessary, the gun could be controlled by one person. Many gunners from ZIS-3 crews became Heroes of the Soviet Union for winning single-handed battles with several enemy tanks.

With the restoration of the corps control level in 1943, the need arose to have a corps howitzer. Along with the modernization of the models created in the pre-war period, a hull-mounted 152-mm howitzer of the 1943 model D-1 was developed. This gun was also created by superimposing the barrel of a 152-mm howitzer of the 1938 model (M-10) onto the carriage of a 122-mm howitzer of the 1938 model (M-30) with the introduction of a row constructive changes. The main tactical and technical characteristics of the Red Army artillery systems produced during the Great Patriotic War are shown in Table 2.

Based on pre-war developments and experience in the use of rockets in pre-war conflicts, the development of rocket artillery continued. In the Great Patriotic War, dozens of types of unguided missiles and launchers were used. The most famous are BM-8, BM 13 (Figure 4). In March 1944, a self-propelled launcher for M-31 shells on the Studebaker chassis - BM-31-12 - was put into service.

The main direction of improvement of rocket projectiles during the war was to improve accuracy, as well as to increase the weight of the warhead and the projectile's flight range. The main tactical and technical characteristics of the Red Army's rockets during the Great Patriotic War are given in Table 3.

Table 2 - Main tactical and technical characteristics of the Red Army artillery systems produced during the Great Patriotic War

During the war, the number of mortars increased almost sixfold. This is explained by their high combat qualities and the ability to ensure their mass production at lower costs. The 82-mm battalion and 107-mm mountain-pack mortar (1943) underwent modernization. 37-mm and 50-mm mortars did not receive further development and were withdrawn from service. 120-mm regimental mortar mod. 1938 in 1943 (Figure 5) was also modernized. The result was a system that is still used today with minor improvements in combat formation. In 1944, a 160-mm mortar was adopted. The design feature of the mortar was that it had an inseparable wheeled carriage and was loaded from the breech.

Table 3 - Main tactical and technical characteristics of rockets of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War

Self-propelled artillery received its development, essentially, only during the war years. At the end of 1942, the light self-propelled gun SU-76, based on the T-70 tank, equipped with a 76-mm ZIS-3 cannon, was put into service. The gun was located in an armored cabin open at the top and rear. It was first used in battle in January 1943 and was successfully used until the end of the war.

At the end of 1942, based on the T-34, production of the SU-122 self-propelled gun began; in August 1943, the medium SU-85 entered the fight against enemy tanks, which was replaced by the new SU-100 at the end of 1944.

Heavy installations such as ISU-122 and ISU-152, which were nicknamed “St. John’s worts,” were created in 1944 on the basis of the IS-2 heavy tank. There are known cases when ISU-152 shells tore off the turrets of heavy enemy tanks. These self-propelled guns were used to accompany all types of tanks and infantry in battle, and successfully fought against heavy tanks and self-propelled guns the enemy, and were also used to destroy other defensive structures, demonstrating their combat qualities perfectly during the assault on the forts of Konigsberg and during street battles in Berlin.

Since 1943, self-propelled artillery was removed from the subordination of the Commander of Artillery of the Red Army and subordinated to the Commander of Armored and Mechanized Forces; in combat use it was equated to tanks and is not considered further in this work.