Tuesday 31 December 2019

APCR and HEAT Instructions

"Artillery HQ of the 25th Rifle Corps
May 23rd, 1944
#[illegible]378

To artillery commanders of divisions. Copy personally for the 77th Guards Rifle Division

I send out a copy of instructions issued by the GAU KA regarding the use of 76 mm subcaliber ammunition, 76 mm HEAT, and 122 mm HEAT.

The Corps Artillery Commander orders that:
  1. The instructions are to be taught to all artillery personnel of the units (for the appropriate caliber) before May 27th, 1944.
  2. Personally check the knowledge of these instructions by officers on May 27th, 1944, and report on the results of the check.
  3. Subcaliber and HEAT ammunition must always be stored with the guns and kept in reserve against tanks and SPGs. Do not permit firing at other targets.
Chief of the Artillery HQ of the 25th Rifle Corps, Lieutenant Colonel Solodilov"

"To commanders of artillery of Fronts, Regions, and Independent ARmies

As of July 1943, the Red Army received 57 mm and 76 mm APCR ammunition and 122 mm HEAT ammunition. Until tables and rules of firing are developed, these instructions must be followed.

Instructions for use of the 57 mm and 76 mm APCR ammuniton and 122 mm HEAT ammunition.

A. The 57 mm APCR BR-27 shot is designed to be fired from the ZIS-2 57 mm anti-tank gun. 

It is to be fired only at enemy heavy tanks, including the T-6 (Tiger), at ranges of up to 1000 meters. From over 1000 meters it is forbidden to use APCR ammunition. 

Fire using the setting 6 on the armour piercing scale regardless of whether the gun is equipped with the PP-2 or PP-1-2 sight. 

The APCR round fired from the 57 mm ZIS-2 gun penetrates the following amount of armour:

Range in meters
Penetration
At 60 degrees
At 90 degrees
1000
75
95
700
90
120
500
100
140
300
115
160
100
130
175
The casing is labelled UBR-271 P. The ammunition crates are marked "57-ZIS-2 subcaliber AP tracer. Use according to instructions included in the crate."

B. The 76 mm APCR BR-35 shot is designed to be used in 76 mm divisional model 1902/30 guns, both 30 and 40 caliber variants, the USV model 1939 gun, ZIS-3 model 1942 gun, model 1933 gun, and F-22 model 1936 gun, as well as 76 mm tank guns: the model 1940 (T-34) and model 1941 (ZIS-5).

It is to be fired only at enemy heavy tanks, including the T-6 (Tiger), at ranges of up to 500 meters. From over 500 meters it is forbidden to use APCR ammunition. 

When fired from 76 mm guns, the shot penetrates the following amount of armour:

Range
30 caliber gun
40 caliber gun
50 caliber gun
60 deg
90 deg
60 deg
90 deg
60 deg
90 deg
100
95
117
105
128
109
132
300
83
102
89
110
92
114
500
67
83
75
92
79
96

Fire the APCR round at a range of 500 meters with the sights set to the following settings:

Gun
Sight setting
30 caliber 1902/30
3 on the “long range grenade” scale
40 caliber 1902/30
7 on the “long range grenade #1” scale
1939 USV
8 on the “long range grenade full” scale
1942 ZIS-3
6 on the “long range grenade full” scale
1933
7 on the #1 scale
1936 F-22
6 on the “long range grenade full” scale
1940 F-34 and 1941 ZIS-5 tank guns
3 on the “long range grenade” or “armour piercing-long range grenade” scales

The casing is labelled UBR-354 P. The ammunition crates are marked "76 02/30-36 subcaliber AP tracer. Use according to instructions included in the crate."

Notes for sections A and B:

  1. It is prohibited to fire APCR at light or medium tanks while regular AP is still available.
  2. Unlike the ordinary AP shell, the APCR shot has a sharper tip and a body shaped like a spindle.
  3. The APCR round is shorter than the AP round.
C: 122 mm BP-460A HEAT shell for the 122 mm howitzer model 1938. 

Fire the HEAT shell at tanks and other armoured targets with over 100 mm of armour. The best way to use this shell is to fire it directly at a range of under 1000 meters. The casing is marked TG-50 S BP-460A".

Fire the HEAT shell from the 122 mm model 1938 howitzer only with the fourth propellant setting: base charge plus four equal variable charges. HEAT shells are assembled with the fourth propellant charge. On these casings there is a marking "4th charge for HEAT". The crate is marked "122-38g HEAT". There is a notice on the lid that reads "fire according to the memo in the crate". On the rear size there are markings "BP-460A" and "TG-50:. Fire according to table #4.

Range (m)
Sight setting
Trajectory height (m)
Time in flight (s)
Angle of descent (deg, min)
Impact velocity (m/sec)
200
4,7
0.5
0.61
0,31
323
400
8,16
2,0
1.24
1,06
308
600
12,26
4.2
1.89
1,47
297
800
17,36
7.8
2.58
2,30
289
1000
22,47
13
3.50
3,18
278
1200
26,58
20
4.04
4,08
270
1400
32,70
28
4.80
5,01
262
1600
37,82
39
5.97
5,59
254
1800
42,95
52
6.38
7,01
247
2000
47,108
65
7.22
8,08
241
Keep track of the effect of APCR and HEAT ammunition on enemy tanks (especially the T-6) carefully and report the results to the artillery commander and the GAU.

APCR and HEAT ammunition must always be kept in reserve near the guns to destroy enemy heavy tanks."

3 comments:

  1. So the instructions for handling these rounds are being issued May 23, 1944 when the rounds were first issued July, 1943? And only 4 days to distribute the instructions and check on the knowledge.

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    Replies
    1. The instructions were re-issued since the use of these rounds was deemed insufficient. 76 mm HEAT instructions were reissued with a similar notice: it turns out that many gun commanders did not know about these rounds at all since battery commanders did not make an issue of their use. That explains the harsh turnaround time, in order to prevent putting off the distribution of this information.

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  2. The APCR penetration values (128mm @ 100m) come from an early firing table where the MV of the 40 cal. 76.2mm was 1012 m/s. But 1944 and later firing tables have the MV of the same projectile of 950 m/s.
    ZiS-3:
    https://mega.nz/#!GDoG1ILK!n-nyIq1a_NU1Izn1oSAKhvKD44K6Z5bfj3pH3ipe7Gk

    ReplyDelete