SU - 100 The SU - 100 was a Soviet casemate - style tank destroyer . It was used extensively during the last year of World War II and saw service for many years afterwards with the armies of Soviet allies around the world . Development . It was developed in 1944 as an improvement to the SU - 85 , built on the same chassis as the T - 34 - 85 tank . It was designed and built at the UZTM ( Russian abbreviature УЗТМ for Уральский Завод Тяжелого Машиностроения – Ural Heavy Machinery Factory , also called " Uralmash " ) in Yekaterinburg . The SU - 100 quickly proved itself to be among the best self - propelled anti - tank guns of World War II , able to penetrate of vertical armor from a range of and the sloped front armor of the German Panther from . The development was conducted under supervision of L . I . Gorlitskiy , chief designer of all medium Soviet self - propelled guns . The work started in February 1944 and first prototype of SU - 100 , called " Object 138 " , was built in March . After intensive testing with different models of 100 mm gun Soviet engineers approved the D - 10S gun for mass production . This gun was developed in Constructors Bureau of Artillery Factory No . 9 under guidance of F . F . Petrov . After the Second World War it was installed on T - 54 and T - 55 tanks and its derivatives were in service forty years after initial development . The hull of SU - 100 had major improvements over the SU - 85 ; the thickness of the front armour was increased from , and the commander ' s workplace was made in a small sponson on the right side of the hull ; combined with the commander ' s cupola this greatly improved the commander ' s effectiveness . For better ventilation two ventilator units were installed , instead of only one as in the SU - 85 . Mass production began in September 1944 . In service . The SU - 100 saw extensive service during the last year of the war . It was used " en masse " in Hungary in March 1945 , when Soviet forces defeated the German Operation Frühlingserwachen offensive at Lake Balaton . By July 1945 , 2 , 335 SU - 100s had been built . The vehicle remained in service with the Red Army well after the war ; production continued in the Soviet Union until 1947 and into the 1950s in Czechoslovakia . It was withdrawn from Soviet service in 1957 but many vehicles were transferred to reserve stocks . Some exist to this day in the Russian Army holding facilities . Many Warsaw Pact countries also used the SU - 100 , as did Soviet allies such as Egypt , Angola and Cuba . A few SU - 100 were delivered to Yugoslavia after the war , under the designation M - 44 . The SU - 100 saw service in the fighting that accompanied the 1956 Suez Crisis , in which the Egyptians used SU - 100s against Israel ' s M4 Sherman tanks . The vehicle was also utilized in the 1967 Six - Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War . It was modified slightly to adapt it to the sandy conditions of the Middle East , thus creating the SU - 100M variant . Exported SU - 100s continued in service until the 1970s , and in some countries , even later . Yugoslavs used them during the civil war however due to lack of spare parts they were quickly retired , but performed satisfactorily . The SU - 100 remains in use by the Vietnam People ' s Army and the Korean People ' s Army Ground Force despite the age of the design . SU - 100s entered service with the People ' s Liberation Army ( PLA ) of China after 1 December 1950 when Soviet forces left Dalian . The armaments in Dalian were sold to China , including 99 SU - 100s , 18 IS - 2 heavy tanks , 16 T - 54s and 224 T - 34s , with which PLA formed its 1st Mechanised Division . In popular culture . The crew of a World War II SU - 100 and their vehicle are the heroes of the old Soviet film « На войне как на войне » " Na vojne kak na vojne " ( " All ' s fair in love and war " , literally : " In wartime it ' s like wartime " ) , one of several Soviet films made about self - propelled artillery men . Veterans of the German - Soviet War found this picture quite realistic . The movie includes a Soviet tankmen song , which is popular with both Russian armoured soldiers and civilians . A SU - 100 is used by the protagonists in the movie " The Misfit Brigade " , where it is portrayed as a German tank , possibly because it resembles the Jagdpanzer 38 ( t ) tank destroyer and the Jagdpanther . Ironically , the film has a scene where the Germans spot one , supposedly captured by the Russians , and proclaim : " That ' s one of ours ! It sure is , and it ' s a terrible paint job . You can still see the cross ! . . . Ivan ' s pinched my tank ! " The film is also known as Wheels of Terror , based on the book by Sven Hassel .