The Forgotten Soviet Weapon--SUs

[David C. Clarke]

Hey Guys, you know a lot of us were basically weaned on tales of "Sturmgeschutze Vor!" Why is it that there is virtually nothing written about Soviet SU Regiments?
True, they were tasked differently than StuG outfits, but they were very heavily used.
Haven't you ever wondered what it was like to crew one of those thousnds of :
SU-76m
SU-122
SU-85s
SU-100s
ISU-152s
ISU-122s
Does anyone know of any acounts of SUs in operations? Which SU would you rate the best, overall?

Cheers, David

[MadderCat]

you forgot the Su-76i and the SU-152 and the SG-122

have a look at this site : http://www.battlefield.ru/map.html


HTH

MadderCat

[David C. Clarke]

Hi MadderCat! Believe it or not, I post on rare ocassions on Valery's forum. His site is exquisite, packed with information and I envy him.
But, I still don't think there's much on SU use.

Best Regards, David

[Juha Hujanen]

I belive Russians called the SU-76 Sukami (bitch) and ISU-152 Zvierboy (animal hunter).

Does anybody knows another nicknames for SU's?

Cheers/Juha

[Michael Avanzini]

Hi David

There is a Russian book by Frontline Illustrated on the SU formations.
You can find some of the information on structure and weapons from this book translated here

http://www.rkkaww2.narod.ru/structure/strspgun.htm#Comments

A very good site by the way. A bit slow but that may change soon.
I coinsider the site owner a good friend.

And we certainly do need more Russian books translated

Best Regards
Michael

[David C. Clarke]

Excellent site Michael!! I'm having problems loading the main page, but the TO&E charts are great!
Now, somewhere in my house, I have a story about an SU-85 knocking out four or five Panthers in one engagement. I've got to look for that.

Best Regards, David

[Von_Mannteufel]

The SUs were pretty nice armoured vehicles and had the very same problems that the german SP artillery and tank hunters had. I also heard that the SU76 was not liket by the troops.

[Juha Hujanen]

I also heard that the SU76 was not liket by the troops.

You are right on that.It had relatively light armour (20-35mm in hull and turret,10-16mm in sides and 10mm in bottom),so it was easily destroyed by German guns even in great distances.It had no fan,so gunpowder gasses were a problem.It had open top,so gasses could go away but then crew was in mercy of winter and rain.Also driver had to sit next to engines with no bulkhead as cover.

Doesn't sound much comfortiable

Cheers/Juha

[Bair]

Everything is true about Su-76, but if used correctly, it was a good weapon. It's primary role was for direct support of infantry in an offensive - it was much better than pulling a ZIS-3 behind the assaulting infantry. Of course armour was weak and driver was in quite a bad position.

By the way, other nicknames for the SU76 were "naked ass Ferdinand" (due to lack of roof and rear armor), "matchbox" and a "beetle" (these two were due to the fact that it could move quietly, unlike T-34s).

There were no specific names for SU85 or SU100 that I know of. I heard that Zveroboj could be attributed to any heavy SU, be that ISU122, SU152 or ISU152.


regards,

Bair
http://www.mannerheim-line.com