Re: 50 years ago today - 22 Aug 1950

[<AMPSOne@aol.com>]

The SU-76/SU-76M, better known to the Russians as the "Suka" or "Suchka" 
(both of which mean "bitch") was an interim weapon designed in 1942 to get 
the one successful antitank gun they had -- the 76mm ZIS-3 -- mobile enough 
to deal with German heavy armor. It was mounted in an open casemate on the 
rear of an extended hull of a T-70 light tank.

The SU-76 SP Arty units were fielded in battalions of 12 guns and regiments 
of 36. They were used for the entire course of the war as fast support 
artillery for infantry units. They were one of the first weapons exported by 
the Soviets after the war, and the DPRK got a large number of them when it 
mechanized in 1949-50. 

It had a gun capable of knocking out the M4A3 Sherman, but most of them were 
ill served and taken out before they could become a major nuisance.

Cookie Sewell
AMPS