The Soviet 85-mm divisional gun D-44 is a universal artillery system designed to destroy military installations and enemy fortifications in the front line, to destroy armored vehicles and support infantry during the offensive.
The history of the creation of the gun D-44 and mass production
Soviet designers of field artillery, at the final stage of the Great Patriotic War, began to develop a fundamentally new division-level artillery system. Despite the fact that the 76-mm gun ZiS-3, which was in service, became the main field weapon of the Red Army during the war years, its tactical-technical characteristics and ballistic properties left much to be desired. The troops needed a powerful, long-range field gun capable of enhancing the firepower of divisions and corps.
The Soviet 85-mm gun D-44, created in the design bureau of plant No. 9, became such a means of reinforcement. Design work, which began in 1944, was headed by the famous Soviet designer FF. Petrov. Six months later, the new gun was ready for testing and brought to the attention of the state commission. In 1946, the new gun, called the 85-mm divisional gun D-44 was adopted by the Soviet artillery units.
Only one enterprise in the USSR was engaged in the manufacture of guns - Plant No. 9, the current Uralmash. From 1946 to 1954, a total of 10,918 guns were manufactured.
Technical parameters and tactical characteristics of the D-44 gun
- Calculation - 6 people.
- Combat weight - 1.72 tons.
- Unitary loading.
- The initial velocity of the armor-piercing tracer is 800 m / s.
- Rate of fire: 20-25 shots / min.
- The maximum firing range - 15820 m.
- The direct shot of an armor-piercing tracer projectile is 1100 m.
- Penetration armor-piercing tracer projectile: at a distance of 1000 m - 100 mm.
- The mass of a shot with an armor-piercing tracer shell is 15.68 kg.
- The main types of ammunition: high-explosive, armor-piercing tracer shells.
- Transfer time from traveling to combat: 40-60 seconds.
- Mode of transportation: transported by I-12, MT-L and MTLB trucks, trucks.
The gun began to enter into service with artillery units of the Soviet Army in the post-war years. The bulk of the new cannons were supplied by artillery units of the Western Group of Forces in Germany, where Soviet troops opposed the tank units of the allied states.
The combat use of the 85-mm D-44 divisional gun of the 1946 type was noted in a number of armed conflicts of the second half of the 20th century. These are participation in the Korean War, the Indo-Pakistan conflict and the Arab-Israeli wars.
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