107 mm divisional gun M1940 ( M - 60 ) The 107 mm divisional gun M1940 ( M - 60 ) ( ) was a Soviet artillery piece , developed in the late 1930s in order to provide Soviet divisional artillery with a powerful field and anti - tank gun . The weapon entered production in 1940 , but soon after the outbreak of the German - Soviet War , production ceased ; only a limited number of pieces were built . These guns saw service in the Red Army during the war . Development . Background . Until the late 1930s , Soviet divisional artillery consisted of three - inch ( 76 . 2 mm ) guns , designed to use the same model 1900 cartridge case , complemented by 122 mm howitzers . The reason for continued reliance on the 76 mm caliber was that the USSR had a large supply of three - inch ( 76 mm ) ammunition , some delivered during World War I and also possessed suitable manufacturing equipment . Various improvements in metallurgy , chemistry and ordnance design allowed the production of guns such as the USV and the ZiS - 3 , which were superior to the older ones in many respects , being lighter and featuring modern split trail carriages . However , all these improvements could not remedy the inherent weakness of the existing high - explosive shell . The three - inch ( 76 mm ) caliber was chosen by the Russian Imperial Army prior to the trench warfare era for its sufficient shrapnel performance ; but high - explosive shells of the caliber contained a relatively small amount of explosives ( typically some 600 - 700 grams ) that were only moderately effective against field fortifications . Work on 95 mm guns . The decision to initiate development of larger caliber divisional guns was made in the second half of 1937 . Late that year the 95 mm was proposed . On 10 March 1938 the Main Directorate of Artillery ( GAU ) initiated work on a 95 mm divisional gun at the Kirov Plant and the No . 92 Plant . The former quickly abandoned the development , but the UZTM Uralmash production facility swiftly joined the program . Both guns were supposed to have a companion piece in the form of the 122 mm howitzer . The UZTM project , U - 4 , used the same carriage as the 122 mm howitzer U - 2 ; but the development was never completed . At the No . 92 Plant , the team headed by V . G . Grabin developed a gun designated the F - 28 , based on the carriage of the F - 25 122 mm howitzer . The first prototype was ready in December 1938 , even before the project was officially approved by the GAU on 23 March 1939 . The F - 28 reached ground trials on 12 February 1940 . However , in the spring of 1940 all work on the 95 mm pieces was canceled due to a decision to adopt even larger calibers for divisional artillery . Work on 107 mm guns . The GAU decided to start working on a 107 mm divisional gun in the autumn of 1938 . The reason typically cited for this decision was the reluctance to introduce a new caliber , such as 95 mm . The 107 mm was used by both the Russian Imperial Army and the Red Army ; Soviet industry manufactured both guns and ammunition , so the transition from 76 mm guns would be simpler and cheaper . One problem of using such a large caliber was the significant increase in weight . However , it was deemed possible to develop a powerful 107 mm gun in the same weight category as the 4 - ton 152 mm howitzer M1938 ( M - 10 ) , which , when adopted in 1939 , was considered sufficiently mobile for a divisional piece . In 1940 the GAU already had another incentive in the form of intelligence reports ( which were incorrect ) about the " Wehrmacht " adopting new tanks with thicker armor . The head of the GAU , Grigory Kulik , questioned the ability of the existing 45 mm anti - tank and 76 mm divisional artillery to fight these new vehicles . This concern eventually led to the adoption of much more powerful 57 mm anti - tank and 107 mm divisional pieces by the Red Army . These new guns were not designed to fully replace the 45 mm and 76 mm weapons , but to complement them . On 14 October 1938 , the No . 172 Plant received a technical requirement for a 107 mm piece . The gun was developed in three variants , designated M - 25 , M - 45 and M - 60 . The first two utilized the carriage of the M - 10 howitzer ; the prototypes successfully passed trials , but the new M - 60 was preferred . Initially , the M - 60 was also being developed in two variants , which differed in the arrangement for transportation - in one variant , the barrel was pulled back , while in the other the upper carriage was rotated 180 degrees . Of these , the former was selected . On 13 December 1939 the prototypes reached ground trials , which continued until 23 April 1940 . After some improvements , the gun successfully passed army trials between 11 and 25 October 1940 and was adopted as the ' 107 mm universal high power divisional gun M1940 ' . After the cancellation of the F - 28 project , the design bureau of the No . 92 Plant also worked on a 107 mm gun . Late in 1940 the plant produced a ZiS - 24 prototype , featuring a very long 73 . 5 caliber barrel placed on the carriage of a 152 mm howitzer - gun M1937 ( ML - 20 ) . While very powerful , the gun was also very heavy and expensive , and the project was abandoned . Later the same design bureau worked on another 107 mm gun , which combined the carriage of a M - 60 and a barrel with identical ballistics to the ZiS - 6 anti - tank gun . After the outbreak of the German - Soviet War the project was canceled . There was also an attempt to develop a casemate gun based on the M - 60 . The technical requirements were approved on 27 July 1940 . The design bureau of the " No . 352 Plant " worked on the project from 22 September . This project , too , was canceled due to the outbreak of the war . Production . The gun entered production at the No . 352 Plant in Novocherkassk and at the No . 172 Plant . The former contributed 25 pieces in 1940 and a further 101 in 1941 . Soon after the outbreak of the German - Soviet War , production ceased for the following reasons : Description . The barrel consisted of a loose liner and jacket which was screwed into the breech ; the breechblock was of the interrupted screw type , borrowed from the 122 mm howitzer M1910 / 30 . The variable length recoil system consisted of a hydraulic recoil buffer and hydropneumatic recuperator . The gun was fitted with segment - type elevation gear and screw - type traverse gear . The carriage was of the split trail type , with trolleybus - type wheels and rubber tires . To protect the crew from small arms fire and shell fragments , a shield was fitted . In the traveling position , the barrel was pulled back . Short - distance movement with the barrel in the original position was permitted , as long as the speed did not exceed 6 – 7 km / h . Organization and service . Despite being developed as a divisional gun , the M - 60 was never used by Red Army rifle divisions . In 1941 , M - 60s served in anti - tank artillery brigade s ; according to the official organization , these consisted of two regiment s , each with a battalion of M - 60s , ( 12 pieces ) and two battalions of 85 mm anti - aircraft guns , with both types of weapons employed as heavy anti - tank guns . In practice , most of the brigades never received their 107 mm guns . These brigades were disbanded in late 1941 and the surviving M - 60s were used in independent 12 - gun battalions . In 1943 rifle corps were reintroduced . Corps artillery regiments received most of the surviving 107 mm guns , along with 122 mm guns and 152 mm howitzers ; in total , each regiment had 16 - 20 pieces . Since the M - 60 was a limited production weapon , reports about its actual use in combat are rare . Some saw action at the Battle of Kursk , with Central Front forces . Six M - 60s were used during the liberation of Sevastopol in 1944 . A few pieces were captured by the " Wehrmacht " ; they were designated " 10 . 7 cm K 353 ( r ) " by the Germans . A surviving piece can be seen in the Artillery Museum in Saint Petersburg . Summary . The German attack in 1941 led to a situation in which the Soviet Union had neither the requirement for a weapon like the M - 60 nor the industrial capacity for its production . As a result , only a limited number of pieces were supplied to the Red Army . The M - 60 was the last 107 mm piece adopted by the Red Army . Although in 1943 another 107 mm gun , the 9S - 1 , was developed , it never reached production . Until the end of the war , the divisional artillery continued to rely on 76 mm guns ( in conjunction with 122 mm howitzers ) , while larger formations employed heavier , more powerful weapons such as the 122 mm A - 19 . When a need for a very powerful anti - tank gun was identified later in the war , the 100 mm BS - 3 was developed . Unlike the M - 60 , the BS - 3 used fixed ammunition , resulting in a better rate of fire ; the BS - 3 was also lighter ( 3 . 6 tons ) and had a shorter deployment time because its barrel was not pulled back for transportation . However , the use of fixed rounds - and a limited assortment of 100 mm ammunition - made it less useful as a field gun . In 1945 another weapon intended for a similar role was adopted , in the form of the 85 mm gun D - 44 . For the sake of comparison , the standard German 105 mm gun , the 10 . 5 cm sK 18 , had similar characteristics . It somewhat surpassed the M - 60 in range ( 19 km , or 21 km for a modernized K 18 / 40 ) , but was much heavier at about six tons . The German gun also fired a somewhat lighter ( 15 kg ) shell . Another comparable weapon was the British BL 4 . 5 inch Medium Field Gun . Although much heavier than the M - 60 , it fired a 25 kg projectile to nearly 19 km . Ammunition . The M - 60 fired separately loaded ammunition , with the propellant charge in the cartridge . Projectiles used by the older M1910 / 30 could be utilized , but with a different cartridge case and propellant charge . Three different charges - full , first and second - were used . The explosion of the OF - 420 shell , with the fuse set to the fragmentation action , resulted in damage to 90 % of targets in the 6 to 14 meters area and to 50 % of targets in a 20 to 42 meter area . When the fuse was set to high explosive action , the shell created a hole 1 - 1 . 5 m in diameter and 40 – 60 cm deep in average soil . The shrapnel shell contained more than 600 bullets , and covered an area about 800 m long and 45 – 50 m wide .