The howitzer is an artillery gun that is designed for mounted shooting. The goal may be the accumulation of enemy manpower located behind artificial or natural barriers.
I must say that mounted shooting can be used to destroy bunkers, gouges, dugouts and other types of enemy fortifications. Due to the high mass and power, this type of weapon is very effective even in mountainous areas. As a rule, howitzers are fired exclusively from closed positions, since it takes considerable time to relocate them.
Today we will describe the famous D-30 howitzer, which entered service with the Soviet army at the very beginning of the 60s of the last century.
Background
It is known that the most widespread on the battlefield howitzers were during the First World War. The fact is that at that time tactics of positional combat were widely practiced, which were characterized by well-equipped and strengthened positions of all the warring parties.
So, in the tsarist army were armed with 152 mm howitzers (classic caliber for the Soviet and Russian army, by the way). By the way, this weapon was subsequently used for the defense of Moscow in 1941!
There were many howitzers in the Soviet army. The gauges were also different. Which is especially interesting. Large-caliber guns were used only by selected guards. So, B-4 howitzers, whose caliber was immediately 203 mm, were part of special howitzer artillery regiments. They reported directly to the main command. Their task was the quantitative and qualitative strengthening of artillery units at all the most important defensive and offensive lines.
The corps artillery was content with the 152 mm howitzers standing on its armament. Divisional guns relied on the caliber of 122 mm. The fact is that such weapons were much easier, and therefore had impressive mobility. In many ways, this ensured the popularity of the same D-30. The howitzer, the firing range of which exceeded one and a half dozen kilometers, could be serviced by a relatively small crew, and its transport did not require any special equipment.
The Second World War
At this difficult time, the main divisional howitzer, which was in service with the Red Army, was the famous M-30. Its designer was a famous engineer F.F. Petrov. This weapon was widely used on almost all active fronts of that era. In total, more than 17.5 thousand of these guns, whose caliber was 122 mm, were fired during the war. Why, then, was the caliber 152 mm not used? Howitzer D-30, like its predecessor, was developed as mobile and light as possible. This imposed serious restrictions on the mass of ammunition.
The M-30 was so successful from a technical point of view that it remained in service with the Soviet troops until the 60s of the last century. In general, the D-30 howitzer we were discussing was developed to replace it.
It was created in the design bureau of plant No. 9, with the development being led by the well-known Fedor Petrov. The peculiarity of this weapon also lies in the fact that it was taken into service at the very height of the “rocket boom”, when Khrushchev’s efforts almost completely put a fat cross on standard barrel artillery. In general, the very fact that the D-30 howitzer was adopted precisely at that time proves its highest technical characteristics.
Table
Feature Name | Indicator value |
Muzzle velocity | 740 mm / second |
The maximum angle of the barrel (elevation) | 70 degrees |
Horizontal rotation angle | 360 degrees |
Combat weight | 3.2 tons |
Maximum rate of fire | At least eight rounds per minute |
Maximum target range | 16 kilometers |
Weight of standard (high-explosive / fragmentation) shell | 21 kilograms |
What other shots could the D-30 howitzer use? Shells of armor-piercing and incendiary type. Above are the main technical characteristics of this tool. As you can see, the D-30 howitzer for its time was a very advanced device.
Design
Particularly interesting is the carriage, which has a rather curious and original design. The fact is that most guns of this class have two beds, while the 122-mm howitzer D-30 has three at once. When unfolded, they form an excellent platform on which the gun can easily be rotated by the forces of only three to four people and fire at targets 360 degrees. Of course, such an advanced design of the gun carriage predetermined the method of transporting the gun. Unlike all others, the 122-mm howitzer D-30 is towed forward by the barrel. Specially for towing directly on the trunk mounting devices are provided. It is about pivot beams.
Moving
It was the beams that the tool hooks onto the towbar of the tractor for its subsequent transportation. By the way, both wheeled and tracked vehicles can be used as traction. The operational regulations state that on good roads the gun can be transported at a speed of up to 80 km / h, which is one of the hallmarks of the D-30. The howitzer, the photo of which is repeatedly found in the article, is brought into a fighting position by raising the wheels above ground level.
For this, the combat crew needs to separate two guide beds at an angle of 120 degrees. It should be noted that at this moment the implement must be lifted using a special jack. Then the third bed is also set aside, and the howitzer is gently lowered to the ground.
To ensure the immobility of the gun on a not too stable surface, special openers made of hardened steel are used, which are hammered into the ground through the eyes in the beds. It should be noted that the period of transfer from traveling to combat and vice versa is only two to three minutes.
Bolt mechanism and barrel
What shutter was equipped with the D-30? The howitzer, the photo of which you can see above, has a standard semi-automatic type shutter (wedge). The rifled barrel, a total of 36 rifling is done. To raise or lower it, the flywheels of the lifting and turning mechanisms are used.
To protect the calculation from bullets and fragments, a special shield device is mounted on the gun. In addition, the shield serves as a barrier to a powerful muzzle wave, which appears at the time of firing and can also cause severe injury to the calculation that serves the gun. In 1978, the howitzer was modernized, during which the design of the shield device and the carriage itself was somewhat simplified and improved.
Then the plan to transfer the gun to a caliber of 152 mm was rejected. Howitzer D-30 retained its main technical characteristics.
About the device of the recoil mechanism
Often you can hear the question of what kind of strange outgrowth is located directly on the barrel of the howitzer, in front of the shield. This is a recoil device, which greatly facilitates the combat operation of the gun, whose mass is 3.2 tons. It is covered by a protective casing, structurally consists of two metal cylinders. The first of them is a hydraulic brake, which slows down the rollback moment, the second is a hydropneumatic recuperator.
As can be understood from the name of this mechanism, immediately after the shot, he returns the barrel to its original position. This mechanism not only ensures the stability of the gun when firing, but also significantly extends the life of the entire carriage, which as a result has a much lower mechanical load.
Normal movement in the bowler - from 46 to 48 atmospheres. To make it clearer, we can give an example with the tires of an ordinary passenger car, in which the same figure is only two atmospheres. As for hydraulics, STIOL-M is used as its working fluid. It should be noted that this substance is extremely toxic, which requires accuracy when servicing the mechanism.
Muzzle brake
If you look at any photo in the article, you will immediately notice the element that the gun is equipped with. Howitzer D-30 has a slit-like muzzle brake. He allowed to reduce the force of recoil by approximately two times. The muzzle brake is removable, if necessary, its dismantling is performed by calculation forces in a rather short time. By the way, howitzers without these devices are installed on the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Of these, at 12 pm a blank shot is made daily.
Shooting, shot characteristics
The shooting itself is carried out either by pressing directly on the trigger lever, or by using a cable that hooks onto this device.
Ammunition includes shots of separate loading. Before a salvo is fired, a shell is sent to the barrel. After it, a propellant charge is sent there in a separate sleeve. Varying the powder mount, you can flexibly change the required firing range. As we have already noted, the main projectile in the ammunition is a high-explosive fragmentation round.
In order to act as efficiently as possible against accumulations of enemy manpower, it is mounted on a fragmentation effect. It is simple to do: a protective cap is twisted from the fuse, which is located at the very end of the projectile. If this is not done, then the shell before the explosion will go a little deeper into the ground. This is especially useful in cases where it is necessary to destroy enemy fortified objects or destroy the infantry entrenched in the area.
In addition, there are lighting, smoke, propaganda and other types of shots. As for propaganda shells, then in their warhead is not an explosive substance, but a pack of leaflets. Such an explosion occurs in the air, and a whole rain of leaflets falls on the enemy’s position.
Sights
If you want to hit enemy armored vehicles, cumulative shells are used. Of course, in this case, direct fire is required. To do this as efficiently as possible, the designers provided for the possibility of mounting a special optical sight. For a target two meters high, shooting is possible at a distance of up to 860 meters. The power of the 122-mm shell in this case is enough to confidently defeat almost all modern MBTs (main battle tanks).
For shooting from closed positions, a panoramic sight is used. I must say that in artillery art such shooting is considered the most difficult, since it requires training in calculation. It should be noted that firing in this case is advisable only after preliminary topographic reference to landmarks on the ground.
The highest degree of skill is shooting in mountainous terrain, where orientation on the sun is often required to complete the binding. It is important to note that when firing from closed positions, the correct and timely work of the intelligence services, which are responsible, including the visual monitoring of the effectiveness of volleys, is extremely important. In this case, the firing range of the D-30 howitzer serves the scouts a good service, since they can act covertly, without giving out their location to the enemy.
Airborne Forces
Especially for paratroopers, a technique for throwing howitzers by parachute was developed. It should be noted that for this the tool does not have to be disassembled - the packaging is simple, it can be done by platoon forces in a few minutes.
You should know that the D-30 howitzer, the performance characteristics of which were considered by us in the article, was used to create the self-propelled self-propelled guns Gvozdika. The gun received a slightly modified, fixed muzzle brake. Until now, the old howitzer is in service with the armies of more than 50 countries. It has been used in almost all major military conflicts of recent years. This weapon was noted in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, etc.