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ZiS-30

1941 SELF-PROPELLED ARTILLERY WORLD WAR 2

History

In June 1941, when Hitler conducted Operation Barbarossa, Germany's attention turned to its loose ally the Soviet Union. Although his advisers warned of an imminent invasion, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ignored the signs and was captured as German troops supported by the Luftwaffe crossed the Soviet Union's western border. Behind them they left thousands dead and many more prisoners, as well as captured tanks, artillery and small arms.

The Germans were supported by Axis allies from Romania, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia and Finland.

Initially progressed well until the army was halted by excessively long supply lines, stubborn defenses in several key areas, and the arrival of the Russian winter. This gave the Soviets time to make up for their losses and transfer new troops from Siberia to the Eastern Front.

In addition, Soviet industry was located east of Moscow to continue military construction. The Soviet response would be swift and dire, sabotaging Hitler's grand war plans once and for all and ultimately leading to the downfall of his beloved Reich.

During the Soviet response in 1941, preliminary designs emerged that were rapidly manufactured by Soviet industry to counter Axis gains. Such a development was carried out by the Gorky Plant No.

92, in which the proven ZiS-2 series anti-tank guns were used in conjunction with the chassis of the Komsomol artillery tractor to create a tracked pseudo-self-propelled solution for the Red Army army.

ZiS-2 was not developed until 1940 and was officially adopted the following year. The 57mm gun is operated from a vertical breech block with limited height and lateral movement, but it has strong penetrating characteristics for this type of gun.

A well-trained crew could fire 25 rounds per minute at 5.2 miles, resulting in about 10,016 rounds being produced.

The Komsomol T-20 armored tractor was designed in 1936 and entered production in 1937. A two-person crew manages its operations, mostly centered around "draft animal services," documenting the entry and departure of various artillery vehicles into and out of the field. In military terms, the vehicle is classified as a "prime mover" and is designed to be a compact but powerful system capable of transporting personnel and supplies as needed. Armor protection is expected to be light, with armament concentrated on a 7.62mm DT-series machine gun for suppressing enemy infantry. The top speed is 50 km/h and the range is up to 250 km.

Power was provided by a 50-horsepower 4-cylinder GAZ-M engine, with operators eventually including Finland, Romania, and Nazi Germany itself (captured example).

Gorky Plant 92 combined these two designs to produce the well-known ZiS-30 system from Soviet stocks. Classified as a light tracked battlefield system, it utilizes the lightly armored chassis of the Komsomol vehicle, with the ZiS-2 anti-tank gun mounted on a bracket at the rear of the hull. The operator consisted of four personnel, two managing the hull and two managing the artillery. A driver is in the front left armoured compartment, with the bow gunner on his right, operating the retained 7.62mm machine gun equipment.

Armor protection on various angled panels of the armored cab ranges from 7mm to 10mm. Riflemen sat behind thin shields on either side of the barrel, exposed to the wind and rain.

The tracked nature of the ZiS-30 gives it reasonable off-road capability, while the 57mm anti-tank gun allows it to penetrate the latest German armor from a distance.

Despite a logistically friendly conversion process, the ZiS-30 was produced in relatively small numbers due to the limited remaining availability of Komsomol tractors and the ZiS-2 series guns, both of which were needed for the war. As a result, the ZiS-30 had a short lifespan and was quickly replaced by more powerful guns, which soon began to appear in Soviet factories.

In any case, the ZiS-30 is a laudable design and approach dictated by the needs of warfare, certainly comparable to similar German developments in mating existing artillery with outdated French tractors such as the Marder series.