6 replies to this topic

[Trotsky]

Noticed this does not have a production date listed. I had a look at the books I have and on-line and am getting conflicting information on when it was introduced. the concensus appears to be early 1943, but I will continue to look.

[Sacha]

huh...I get 1945 - 194675 were produced and not used in action during WWII.

[Trotsky]

I posted this on the TMP website and have got the following replies,'None of my books even mention it. It was T-70 based, though, wasn't it? If no one else comes up with something, I will hunt through my old issues of AFV News. SOMEONE has to have talked about it!' Doctor Tom.'So far, best I can find is that the first were produced in 1944. (Russian Tanks and Armoured Vehicles 1946 to the Present by Fred Koch, pg 72)' Tom Dye.I have also seen a couple of references to it not being in use (production?) until after WW2

[Bob Benge]

This is why I have no dates for it. :laugh: If you can come up with a good educated guess, I will use that to update the Databook. Thankls for the great effort, Trotsky! :)

[Trotsky]

Ok, it seems possible a prototype was available in 1943. But limited production began in 1944 or 1945 and this seems to be the most common reference date for this vehicle. I guess we could go with 1944, it was a pretty rare vehicle so will not get much use. It appears that due the decline of the Luftwaffe during '44-'45 the production run of this vehicle was limited. A post on the TMP site brought the following replies that seem to support this date.'Zaloga says it started production in 1944. Says because of a turret traverse problem full scale production was prevented and only a few hundred were produced.''AFAIKT it was an offshoot of the SU-76. As for numbers I think very few were built (75).The ZSU on the Su chassis was prototyped around the same time as the SU 76 (1942) with 12.7mm, 23mm and 57mm models. The Su-76 started production in 1943, but as the Soviets in 1944 onwards were winning the air war, the ZSU became a low priority.Finally in 1945, the ZSU 37 was developed and a small run of vehicles was produced. None saw action in the great patriotic war.'

[Mark 1]

The decline of the Luftwaffe is only one of the reasons for the lack of priority on the ZSU-37 (often also called just the SU-37, depending on the source). The other reason was that by mid-war the Soviets were already in decent shape for anti-air assets. Rear areas were covered by dedicated AA batteries of 37mm auto-cannon, while strategic targets also had 76.2mm and 85mm AA guns. Frontline infantry formations had increasing numbers of 12.7mm HMGs, the mounts of which allowed them to be set up as AA tripods. For protection of mobile columns the Soviets received a fair number of frontline SP AA mounts through lend-lease. In particular the M17 MGMC (four .50cal MGs on an International Harvester halftrack) was supplied in reasonable numbers, and was evidently well thought of in Soviet service. The M15 (one 37mm auto-cannon and two .50cal MGs on a White halftrack) was also provided in some hundreds of units.Or so I've read.-Mark 1

[Trotsky]

Thanks for the response Mark.