The Stalingrad counteroffensive, Operation Uranus, exposed the Red Army's urgent need for mobile heavy guns to destroy German fortifications. At the time Soviet front-line ground units did not possess sufficient firepower to deal with pillboxes and other fortifications.
Close support of artillery and combat engineers was an important factor in the success of Operation Uranus. However, with rare exceptions, Soviet guns and howitzers at this time were towed rather than self-propelled. This lack of mobility was exacerbated by the absence of roads, the presence of deep snow and a scarcity of artillery tractors.
Towed guns were also vulnerable to counterattack while moving, especially since they were often hauled by horses or their crews. The 152 mm heavy howitzers were particularly difficult to maneuver owing to their great weight. They were incapable of crossing rivers on anything but tank bridges and were prone to being abandoned after becoming mired.
In November 1942, the State Defense Committee therefore ordered the development of a heavy self-propelled gun with a 152.4mm ML-20 howitzer.
The Red Army had dedicated anti-fortification vehicles in the pre-war period, such as the KV-2 heavy tank armed with the 152.4 mm M-10 howitzer. However, mass production of KV-2s ceased in October 1941, when the Kirov Works had to be evacuated from Leningrad to Chelyabinsk. An unknown number were still operating in 1942.
The new anti-fortification vehicle was designed with the same purpose in mind, but with higher mobility, heavier armor, reduced production cost, and the more powerful and accurate ML-20 152mm gun. Mounting the ML-20 in a turret was impossible due to its length and recoil, and it was decided that the new vehicle should have a non-rotating gun mounted in a fixed casemate-style superstructure.
Several other anti-fortification vehicle projects had all been halted. Later in the war these projects were restarted. In December 1942 three different designs of "pillbox killer" vehicles were introduced by engineer groups from the major Soviet artillery and tank factories. All of these designs used the ML-20 gun as a primary armament, with the KV-1S heavy tank chassis. After some discussion, the project of Josef Kotin was chosen for mass production. This design successfully combined the ML-20 and KV-1S chassis with minimal expense.
The project was designated "KV-14" and assembly of the first prototype (called "Object 236") began on December 31, 1942. It was completed after 25 days. Plant trials of "Object 236" began on January 25, 1943. After a number of successful plant tests the more stringent state tests began. "Object 236" succeeded again. On February 14, 1943 the State Defense Committee accepted it for Red Army service and immediately launched it into mass production at the Chelyabinskiy Kirovskiy Zavod (Chelyabinsk Kirov Plant, ChKZ). The designation of the series of self-propelled guns was changed from KV-14 to SU-152. The ML-20 gun was slightly modified for mounting in the SU-152 - some handles were moved for improved gunner comfort. This variant had the designation ML-20S. The muzzle velocity and external ballistics were identical to the original towed ML-20 gun.
Although designed with no consideration for the anti-tank role, the SU-152 proved to have surprisingly good anti-tank capabilities due to the ML-20S's extremely heavy high explosive projectiles.Purpose-built anti-tank guns of the period usually relied on small, high-velocity solid projectiles, optimised for punching through armour. Since the SU-152, like all SU-series self-propelled guns was not designed with tank killing in mind, no AP projectiles were issued to crews and no initial tests against armor were conducted. However, tests performed on captured Tiger tanks in early 1943 showed that the SU-152 was able to destroy them at any range with some reliability (in 1943, this is only vehicle in Russian service capable of doing so) by dislodging the turret through blast effect. This discovery spurred massive SU-152 production and the formation of self-propelled artillery units, which then functioned as heavy tank destroyer battalions.
After the SU-152 began mass production, it was slightly modified to improve reliability and effectiveness. Initially the SU-152 lacked a machine gun, which was a severe weakness in urban warfare and other close combat. To solve this problem the DShK 12.7 mm anti-aircraft gun installation was developed in the summer of 1943. Some SU-152s received it after repair. The SU-152 was the last member of the KV family of tanks in mass production, and was replaced by the ISU-152[11] on the ChKZ production lines in December 1943. The exact number of SU-152s produced differs even in Russian sources, with the most common figures being 670 or 704.
The SU-152s that survived World War II were withdrawn from Soviet Army service in 1958
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