152 mm howitzer M1943 ( D - 1 ) The D - 1 howitzer M1943 ( ) is a Soviet World War II - era 152 . 4 mm howitzer . The gun was developed by the design bureau headed by F . F . Petrov in 1942 and 1943 , based on the carriage of the 122 mm howitzer M1938 ( M - 30 ) and using the barrel of the 152 mm howitzer M1938 ( M - 10 ) . The powerful and mobile D - 1 , with its wide range of ammunition , significantly increased the firepower and breakthrough abilities of Red Army tank and motor rifle formations . Several hundred D - 1s were manufactured before the end of World War II . Post World War II , the D - 1 saw combat in numerous conflicts during the mid - to late 20th century . The long operational history of D - 1 howitzers in national armies of numerous countries is a testimony to its qualities ; the gun still remains in service in a number of post - Soviet states and some other countries . The D - 1 is widely considered a valuable element of Soviet artillery . Development and production . Background . In 1941 the Soviet Union decided to cease production of the 152 mm howitzer M1938 ( M - 10 ) . One of the reasons was the disbanding of the Rifle Corps between August and September 1941 and the consequent removal of the corps artillery . Moreover , all 152 mm howitzers were excluded from divisional artillery . As a result , there was no series production of 152 mm howitzers during 1942 . However , the rifle corps were re - established in late 1942 and the previous organization of artillery at the corps level was reintroduced . As a result of the halting of 152 mm howitzer production , the Red Army corps artillery lacked a weapon more mobile than the heavy 152 mm howitzer - gun M1937 ( ML - 20 ) ( typically employed by army - level and Reserve of the Main Command artillery units ) , but more powerful than the 122 mm howitzer M1938 ( M - 30 ) . Response to the challenge . In 1942 , trying to solve the problem of lack of a suitable mobile 152 mm howitzer , the design bureau headed by F . F . Petrov started to work privately on a new howitzer , based on the carriage of the M - 30 and the barrel of the M - 10 ( which was fitted with a muzzle brake in order to reduce the recoil and thus prevent damage to the lighter carriage ) . The approach allowed production to begin on the new howitzer almost immediately from the stockpile of parts for both earlier guns . Given the war situation and shortages of artillery , this solution was both elegant and expedient . Early in 1943 Petrov notified the People ' s Commissar of Armaments Dmitriy Ustinov about the new project . On 13 April Ustinov informed Petrov that the State Committee of Defence had requested for five of the new guns to be sent to the testing grounds on 1 May . On 5 May , two pieces were received for trials ; two days later , on 7 May the gun was recommended for adoption , and on 8 August 1943 it was officially adopted as the 152 mm howitzer M1943 . One and a half months later , the first series production D - 1 howitzers were delivered to the Red Army representatives . Production . The D - 1 was manufactured solely at No . 9 Plant ( UZTM ) in Sverdlovsk from late 1943 to 1949 . During World War II , the howitzer was only produced in small numbers because Plant No . 9 was also responsible for the mass production of the 122 mm howitzer M - 30 . This resulted in critical shortages of the 152 mm howitzers in the Red Army corps artillery until the end of the war . Description . The D - 1 howitzer was essentially a combination of the barrel of the 152 - mm howitzer model 1938 ( M - 10 ) on the carriage of the 122 - mm howitzer M1938 ( M - 30 ) . Since the new carriage was lighter than that of the M - 10 , the barrel was fitted with a massive double - baffle muzzle brake DT - 3 to soften the shock of recoil . The breech block was of interrupted screw type , the recoil system consisted of a hydraulic buffer and a hydro - pneumatic recuperator . The separately loaded ammunition included a variety of shells and eight different propellant charges in cartridges . The carriage was nearly identical to the carriage of the M - 30 . It had suspension and steel wheels with pneumatic rubber tires . The trail s were initially of riveted construction , but were eventually replaced in production by welded ones . Late production pieces were equipped with caster wheels to ease manhandling . Time to set up for combat was about two minutes . In an emergency it was possible to fire without splitting trails ; however this was at the price of a drastically reduced traverse ( 1°30 ' ) . Since the gun was not equipped with a limber , it could be towed only by vehicle . The maximum towing speed was 40 km / h on paved roads , 30 km / h on cobbled roads and 10 km / h off - road . To give the crew some protection from bullets and shell fragments , the gun was fitted with a shield . Comparison with contemporary howitzers . From a technical and tactical point of view , the D - 1 project provided the Red Army ( RKKA ) corps artillery with a modern 152 mm howitzer , which combined both good mobility and firepower . When compared with a typical contemporary howitzer of similar caliber , the D - 1 had shorter range , but was much lighter . For example , the German 15 cm sFH 18 had a range of 13 , 325 meters - about one kilometer longer than that of the D - 1 - but also weighed almost two tons more ( 5 , 510 kilograms in traveling position ) . The same can be said of the US 155 - mm howitzer M1 ( 14 , 600 meters , 5 , 800 kilograms ) or the 149 mm howitzer manufactured by the Italian Ansaldo ( 14 , 250 meters , 5 , 500 kilograms ) . A German howitzer with characteristics similar to those of the D - 1 — the 15 cm sFH 36 — did not reach mass production . Compared with older pieces such as the French Schneider model 1917 ( 11 , 200 meters , 4 , 300 kg ) , the D - 1 had the advantage in both weight and range . Organization and employment . The D - 1 was employed by corps artillery and the reserve of the main command units . In 1944 , the rifle corps of the Red Army had one artillery regiment each . Those regiments consisted of five batteries ( totaling 20 guns ) , equipped with the D - 1 along with various other 152 mm howitzers , 122 mm gun M1931 / 37 ( A - 19 ) , 152 mm howitzer - gun M1937 ( ML - 20 ) or 107 mm gun M1910 / 30 . Reserve of the Main Command included howitzer regiments ( 48 pieces ) and heavy howitzer brigades ( 32 pieces ) . Those could be merged to form artillery division s . The Red Army employed D - 1 howitzers from 1944 onwards , during the final stages of World War II . The D - 1 was used primarily used against personnel , fortifications and key structures in the enemy rear . The anti - concrete G - 530 shell was also sometimes used against armored vehicles with good results . During its service the gun earned a reputation for being reliable and accurate . The D - 1 was finally withdrawn from service in the mid - seventies . After the war the gun was supplied to many countries around the globe , including former Warsaw Pact allies , such as Poland . As of the early 2000s it remains in service in Afghanistan , Albania , China , Cuba , Hungary , Iraq , Mozambique , Syria , Vietnam and other countries . The gun was employed in the Arab - Israeli Conflict and also in some conflicts in former republics of Soviet Union . The long operational history of D - 1 howitzers in the national armies of numerous countries is an additional testimony to its qualities . Surviving D - 1 howitzers can be seen in various military museums and war memorials , e . g . in the Museum of Artillery and Engineering Forces , Saint Petersburg , Russia ; in the Museum of Heroic Defense and Liberation of Sevastopol on Sapun Mountain , Sevastopol ; in the Museum of the Great Patriotic War , Kiev , Ukraine ; in Poznań Citadel , Poland and in Polatsk , Belarus , as a memorial piece . Variants . In addition to the towed howitzer , Petrov ' s team developed a vehicle - mounted variant of the D - 1 . Red Army offensive operations in the summer and fall of 1943 reawakened interest in the idea of a heavy " artillery " tank similar to the KV - 2 , that could provide close fire support to rifle and tank units and would be capable of demolishing heavy fortifications . Probable causes for the development of such a vehicle were the cessation of mass production of the SU - 122 medium assault gun and diversion of SU - 152 heavy assault guns for anti - tank actions . The tank variant of the D - 1 was originally intended for mounting in a variant of the KV - 1s heavy tank . It utilized the mount of the 85 mm D - 5 , leading to the unofficial name D - 1 - 5 and eventually to the official designation of D - 15 . Only one example was built . There is no information about the gun being mounted in the KV tank . By October 1943 Soviet authorities were anticipating the start of mass production of the powerful IS - 2 heavy tank ; as a result the idea of a specialized artillery tank based on the obsolete KV chassis was dropped . Another project combining the T - 34 tank chassis with the D - 15 gun was also considered . Designated " SU - D15 " , the medium assault gun was intended as a replacement for the SU - 122 . Although the project received a lot of support from the authorities it never entered production , both because of its shortcomings ( the heavy gun put too much strain on the suspension and ammunition stowage was too limited ) and because it was made redundant by the ISU - 152 . However lessons learned mounting a powerful gun in the T - 34 allowed for rapid development of the SU - 100 tank destroyer . Ammunition . The D - 1 had a large variety of ammunition , including high explosive , armor piercing , HEAT , shrapnel , illumination , and chemical . The D - 1 used separate loading ammunition , with eight different charges . The charges included the " full charge " Zh - 536 and smaller charges ranging from the " first " to " sixth " , which was the smallest . A " special charge " was used with the BP - 540 HEAT projectile . Propellant charges were produced in " full " and " third " variants in munitions factories . All other charges were derived from them by removing small gunpowder bags from the charge cartridge . For flash suppression there was a special chemical mixture which was to be inserted into a cartridge before night firing . 152 mm projectiles for the D - 1 weighed about 40 kg ; a difficult job for the loaders , who had to carry the projectiles alone . When set to fragmentation mode , the OF - 530 projectile produced fragments which covered an area 70 meters wide and 30 meters deep . When set to high - explosive ( HE ) action , the exploding shell produced a crater about 3 . 5 meters in diameter and about 1 . 2 meters deep . Despite the D - 1 ' s withdrawal from service in the mid - 1970s , the OF - 530 is still fired from modern 152 mm ordnance pieces of the Russian Army . The G - 530 HEAC anti - concrete shell had a muzzle velocity of 457 m / s when fired with the " first " charge . At a range of one kilometer it had a 358 m / s terminal velocity and was able to punch through up to 80 centimeters of reinforced concrete before detonating a TNT charge which increased the total penetration to 114 centimeters . The G - 530 could not be fired with a " full " charge without putting the crew at risk of having the shell explode in the barrel . A special version of the shell , the G - 530Sh , was developed to allow use with the full charge . The BP - 540 HEAT projectile was not used during World War II . It had an armour penetration of 250 millimeters at an incident angle of 90° , 220 millimeters at 60° , 120 millimeters at 30° . In the late 1950s old ammunition stocks for the D - 1 were removed from the Soviet inventory . The only shells retained were the OF - 530 , O - 530 , G - 530 / G - 530Sh , and possibly chemical shells . The Soviet Army also possessed a 152 mm nuclear shell , but it is not clear whether that shell could be used with the D - 1 .