The 85 mm air defense gun M1939 (52-K) (russian: 85-мм зенитная пушка обр. 1939 г. (52-К)) was an

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

anti-aircraft gun, developed under guidance of leading Soviet designers M. N. Loginov and G. D. Dorokhin. This gun was successfully used throughout the

German-Soviet War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sout ...

against level bombers and other high- and medium-altitude targets. In emergencies they were utilized as powerful anti-tank weapons. The barrel of the 52-K was the basis for the family of 85-mm Soviet tank guns. After the war some 52-Ks were refitted for peaceful purposes as anti-avalanche guns in mountainous terrain. Virtually every country behind the Iron Curtain received this gun after World War II for their air defense. In the Soviet Union itself, these guns were largely superseded by the

100 100 or one hundred ( Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

and 130 mm guns.

Description

Adopted in 1939, the 85-mm M1939, like its German counterpart the 88-mm Flak 18/36/37, was meant for air defense. Like many anti-aircraft (AA) guns of the era it was also provided with anti-tank ammunition in the event a

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engi ...

should appear.

Organization

85-mm M1939 guns were organized into heavy anti-aircraft regiments of 16 guns. The regiments were organized into divisions of the field anti-aircraft forces.

Tank guns

By 1942, the 76.2mm

F-34 tank gun The 76 mm tank gun M1940 F-34 (''76-мм танковая пушка обр. 1940 г. Ф-34'') was a 76.2 mm Soviet tank gun used on the T-34/76 tank. A modified version of the gun, the 76 mm tank gun M1941 ZiS-5 (''76-мм т� ...

of the

T-34 medium tank The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank introduced in 1940. When introduced its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was less powerful than its contemporaries while its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against anti-tank weapons. The C ...

was found to be lacking in range and penetration compared to the German 75 mm Pak 40 anti-tank gun, new mounted on the Stug III and

Panzer IV The ''Panzerkampfwagen'' IV (Pz.Kpfw. IV), commonly known as the ''Panzer'' IV, was a German medium tank developed in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 161. The Pan ...

, and markedly inferior to the 88-mm gun of the

Tiger I The Tiger I () was a German heavy tank of World War II that operated beginning in 1942 in Africa and in the Soviet Union, usually in independent heavy tank battalions. It gave the German Army its first armoured fighting vehicle that mounted ...

. Military planners directed the design bureaus of both Gen. Vasiliy Grabin and Gen. Fyodor Petrov to modify the 85mm anti-aircraft gun for use as an anti-tank weapon. Petrov's bureau developed the D-5 85mm gun. Though much too large for the T-34 turret, it could be mounted in the chassis of the SU-122 self-propelled gun to create a tank destroyer. This was done, and the SU-85 tank destroyer went into production. Meanwhile, efforts were underway to redesign the T-34 turret to make it large enough to accommodate the newly developed gun. Grabin, who had been working on a second 85mm gun, the ZiS-53, at

Joseph Stalin Factory No. 92 Open joint-stock company (JSC) NMZ or Nizhny Novgorod Machine-building Plant (russian: Нижегородский машиностроительный завод, links=no) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) artillery factory in the Sormovo distr ...

in Gorky near Moscow, was reassigned to the Central Artillery Design Bureau (TsAKB) in Moscow. His project was turned over to 23-year-old A. Savin. A third team led by K. Siderenko was assigned to yet another 85mm gun project, and developed the S-18, to be used in the modified T-34 turret. The resulting guns were tested at Gorokhoviesky Proving Grounds near Gorky, with Grabin's ZiS-53 winning the competition. However, the new T-34/85's turret had been designed to accommodate the already-available D-5 gun, and did not mate properly with Grabin's gun. The T-34/85 tank went into production making use of the D-5 gun (designated D-5T, for "tank"). Savin was put to work modifying Grabin's gun to fit the new turret and incorporate other improvements. His initial was added to his gun's designation in recognition of his contribution: the ZiS-S-53. From T-34/85 Model 1944 onwards, all T-34/85s used Savin's ZiS-S-53. It went into production in the spring of 1944. A new antitank gun was then developed, the 100 mm field gun M1944 (BS-3).

Penetration comparison

References

Bibliography

* Hogg, Ian (2000). ''Twentieth-Century Artillery''. Friedman/Fairfax Publishers. . * ''Jane's Armour and Artillery'' (1982). Jane's Publishing Company, Ltd. .yj * Shunkov V. N. - ''The Weapons of the Red Army'', Mn. Harvest, 1999 (Шунков В. Н. - ''Оружие Красной Армии.'' — Мн.: Харвест, 1999.) . * Zaloga, Steven J., James Grandsen (1984). ''Soviet Tanks and Combat Vehicles of World War Two'', London: Arms and Armour Prembss. .

External links

Soviet 85mm tank guns penetration table
{{SovArtyGPW Anti-aircraft guns of the Soviet Union World War II artillery of the Soviet Union World War II anti-aircraft guns World War II field artillery 85 mm artillery Nizhny Novgorod Machine-building Plant products World War II tank guns Military equipment introduced in the 1930s