Reply To: Data gobbets on Russian APCR

[John D Salt]

More evidence against there being more than a very few 57mm-armed tanks to see service comes from the Russian-language wikipedia entry on the ZiS-2 and 4 gun, again translated with the assistance of Google Translate (which did a really good job, needing only a tweak here and there):

Tank gun ZiS-4 and ZiS-4M

At the end of 1940, the design bureau of Plant No. 92 on its own initative designed the 57-mm tank gun ZiS-4, a 76-mm tank gun F-34, the barrel of which was replaced by a barrel ZiS-2. As the new barrel was longer, counterbalance weights were added to the lower part of the gun’s cradle to restore balance; In addition, instead of the TOP sight, the TMFD sight was installed. The gun was installed on the T-34 tank and tested in April – May 1941, following which it was recommended for production, provided that the identified deficiencies were eliminated. Repeated tests of the modified version of the gun were successfully carried out in July 1941, and the gun was put into production. The exact number of ZiS-4 guns produced is unknown, but does not exceed 30, of which 10 were installed on T-34 tanks in September 1941. These tanks entered service with the 21st Tank Brigade, which participated in battles in the Kalinin area from October 15, 1941. By the end of this month, all 57-mm armed tanks of the T-34 brigade were knocked out [5]. By the end of 1941, series production of the ZiS-4 was discontinued, and the existing stock at the factory was mothballed.

In spring 1943, as part of the continuing campaign to develop means of combating new, well-armoured German tanks and self-propelled guns (primarily the Tiger heavy tank), production of the ZiS-4 was restored. Already in May, Plant No. 92, using the reserve of 1941, shipped 5 guns, 4 of which were installed on T-34 tanks in July 1943. After conducting field tests, three tanks from August 21 to September 5, 1943 were tested at the front, which passed satisfactorily. Plant No. 92 produced an installation batch of 170 new guns (in a slightly modernized version under the designation ZiS-4M), but by September 1943 it was decided to abandon the production of T-34s with 57-mm guns in view of the successful progress of work on 85-mm tank guns D-5T and ZIS-S-53, which had a much more powerful high-explosive fragmentation shell, extremely important for Red Army’s forthcoming offensive operations, and the guns produced were not installed in tanks [5].

[5] Kolomiets M.V. T-34. The first complete encyclopedia. – M .: Yauza, Eksmo, 2009 .– 496 p. – ISBN 978-5-699-30569-8.

All the best,

John.