Self-propelled guns (WW 2) - USSR: books - history and construction

Soviet Field Artillery in World War II - Including use by the German Wehrmacht

Covered is the great variety of Soviet field artillery, as well as its use by German forces during World War II.

SU-76 Assault Gun (Osprey)

The SU-76 assault gun was the second most widely manufactured Soviet armoured fighting vehicle of World War II, out-numbered only by the legendary T-34.
Inspired in part by the German Marder series of tank destroyers, Soviet designers realized that the chassis of the obsolete T-70 light tank could be adapted to a much more substantial gun if it was placed in a fixed casemate rather than in a turret. This led to the design of the SU-76, which saw its combat debut at Kursk in the summer of 1943.

The SU-76 was deployed primarily as an infantry direct support weapon, becoming the infantry tank of the Red Infantry, much as the StuG III became the infantry tank of the German infantry.

Featuring full colour artwork and written by an expert on tank warfare during World War II, this fascinating study describes one of the Soviet Union's most important armoured vehicles during its struggle with Nazi Germany.

SU-76 on the Battlefield (World War Two Photobook Series)

Russian tank expert Neil Stokes looks at the SU-76 assault gun in this 112 page, landscape format book with 105 large format period photographs.

SU-85 and SU-100 on the Battlefield (World War Two Photobook Series)

This album from the World War Two Photobook Series contains 98 full-page photos of the SU-85 and SU-100 in Russian and German service.

SU-100 Self-Propelled Gun

The SU-100 was the most powerful Red Army medium tank destroyer of the Second World War. The vehicle was developed to provide powerful anti-tank fire support to the T-34-85 medium tank in the same manner as the SU-85 had complemented the original T-34. And as with the SU-85 before it, the SU-100 endured significant delays both in its design, due to political arguments on the choice of main armament, and in entering service.

Although introduced late in the war, the SU-100 was heavily engaged in the final push into the Axis countries, with major combat engagements in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and in the assault on Berlin.
The SU-100 proved a particularly potent "Zveroboi" or "animal hunter" in that it could easily dispatch Tiger, King Tiger and Panther tanks at medium range. The vehicle had no secondary armament however, and proved vulnerable when engaged in close fighting without infantry support as occurred during some of these late war battles.

This book is part of the Red Machines Series, a series of books entirely devoted to the hardware of the Red Army. Each volume provides in-depth information, much of it entirely new to the western world, as well as a large number of photos, of which many have never been published to date.
Blueprints, drawings, colour profiles and data tables are also provided with each volume, to describe the development and production variants of each vehicle.

Jagdpanther vs SU-100 - Eastern Front, 1945 (Osprey)

As World War II in Europe reached its end, armour development and doctrine had experienced several years of massively accelerated change, especially within the crucible of the Eastern Front. The German Jagdpanther and Soviet SU-100, both turretless tank-destroyer designs based on a 'traditional' turret-tank chassis, were the culminating examples of how the progression of experience, resources and time constraints produced vehicles that were well suited for roles of defence and offence, respectively.
The Jagdpanther represented a well-balanced solution and an excellent use of limited resources, while the SU-100 was a natural progression of the SU-85, where numbers produced compensated for rudimentary construction, poor crew comfort and limited optics.

Contents: Introduction - Chronology - Design and development - Technical specifications - The strategic situation - The combatants - Combat - Statistics and analysis - Aftermath - Bibliography - Index.