Sunday 15 March 2015

Overpowered AT

An interrogation of a Soviet artillery sergeant contains an interesting revelation:


"A sergeant from the 1st Battalion, 874th Anti-tank Artillery Regiment, captured on October 2nd north of Makowja was interrogated.

The regiment consists of 5 batteries, specifically 85 mm AA guns, which were converted in July of 1941. The crews were taken from several anti-aircraft regiments. He could not say why Flak guns were used in an anti-tank role. When asked if he thought that his 45 mm gun was not enough for heavy German tanks, he said that all German tanks could be penetrated by the 45 mm gun."

The sergeant was correct: 45 mm guns only had trouble with the newest German tanks that had 50 mm of front armour, and even then could penetrate them with several shots or at close range. An entire year will pass before the use of 85 mm guns in an AT role becomes necessary.

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