Author: Melody Lanshan
After the battle with , tank has become more and more advanced with the development of technology. The higher-power internal combustion engine allows the tank to be equipped with thicker armor and a larger caliber main gun while also completing the tasks of deep propulsion and interspersion. In order to deal with these threats, the caliber of the anti-tank gun has become larger and heavier.
At this time, the self-propelled anti-tank gun installed on the vehicle was born. Generally speaking, a self-propelled anti-tank gun in a broad sense is actually an anti-tank gun installed on a mobile vehicle for anti-tank use, and its chassis performance and protection are uneven. Today, we will talk about an important branch of self-propelled anti-tank guns - the tank destroyer with a professional high-performance chassis, strong frontal protection, and equipped with powerful artillery .
Germany invented the tank destroyer
In the mid-to-late 1st 1st and 2nd tank were equipped in the expanded German army. The Germans used the chassis of the No. 1 tank and the Czech on hand to build 47mm anti-tank guns to build the world's first tank destroyer, namely the No. 1 tank killer. During the Battle of France in 1940, the Germans urgently renovated the chassis of hundreds of captured 37L Lorraine crawler artillery tractors and installed 75mm anti-tank guns.
Germany's No. 1 tank destroyer
After the outbreak of the Soviet-German War , the Germans found that their tank and No. 4 tanks were very weak in the tilted armor of the Soviet army's new T34 tank and KV series heavy tanks (mainly KV1 tanks). The 50mm tank gun of the No. 3 tank and the 75mm tank gun of the No. 4 tank were fired on these inclined armor, and most of the cases were jumping. This was the famous "T34 crisis" encountered by the German army at the beginning of the Soviet-German War. The German army's solution is to speed up the launch of the " Leopard Tank " on the one hand, and to develop and modify the tank destroyer.
The original No. 3 assault gun is equipped with 24 times 75mm guns, mainly for supporting infantry. After replacing the 48x 75mm gun, it was transformed into a No. 3 tank destroyer with excellent performance. The chassis of the No. 4 tank was also transformed into a No. 4 tank destroyer with inclined armor and equipped with 48 times 75mm guns.
With the introduction of new " Tiger ", "Leopard" tank and tank destroyer with upgraded artillery on the battlefield, although the Germans successfully offset the armored performance advantages of Soviet tanks, there is still a huge gap in quantity. From 1941 to 1945, Germany built more than 21,000 tanks, of which only 1,519 light tanks were invested, and most of the resources were invested to the medium and heavy tanks , which had the advantage in performance.
However, the Soviet Union produced more than 24,000 medium and heavy tanks in 1942. The huge gap in quantity allowed the Germans to continue to explore the potential of the 56x 88mm gun that had been equipped on the Tiger tank. The "Ferdinand" tank destroyer, which adopts the "Tiger P" tank chassis, has 200mm front armor and is equipped with 71 times 88mm guns, was born.
Ferdinand tank destroyer
On the Kursk battlefield, although this tank destroyer is criticized for its reliability, it is not equipped with anti-infantry machine guns, which forced the German army to have infantry squads specifically protect it in order to prevent it from being bombed by Soviet engineers. However, the powerful 88mm cannon and thick frontal armor still destroyed a large number of Soviet tanks. The excellent performance of the "Ferdinand" tank destroyer still cannot make up for the increasingly large gap in strength between the two sides of the Soviet-German-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong Kong-Hong
In the late period of the war, the German army also used the chassis of the Czech-building 38t tank to create a "Sursuit" tank destroyer. This tank destroyer with a low appearance, a 60mm armor with a 60° inclination angle and a 48-fold 75mm gun has the advantages of low production cost and simple technology, which greatly delayed the Soviet army's counterattack.
Stalker tank destroyer
The German army also used the chassis of the "Leopard" tank to develop the "Cheetah" tank destroyer equipped with 71 times 88mm guns, and used the chassis of the "Tiger King" tank to develop the "Tiger Hunting" tank destroyer equipped with 128mm guns. It’s a pity that although Nazi Germany could gain advantages in local battlefields with its performance advantages, it could no longer offset the strategic defeat.
The Soviet tank destroyer that grew up in the war
In 1942, the Soviet Union developed their own first tank destroyer, the SU-76. This tank destroyer has extended and widened the chassis of the T70 tank, allowing it to accommodate 76mm zis-3 cannons. Although the artillery performance is good, the modification is not satisfactory - the armor is weak and the design of the open roof.
At the beginning of its birth, SU-76 was suffering from the attacks of the air force. In the late Soviet-German War, in the face of street fighting, its open roof was often destroyed by simple combusts thrown by German soldiers hiding on the second floor next to the street. But despite this, the SU-76 equipped with the zis-3 cannon was officially put into production in 1943 until the end of the war.
As the war intensified, the Soviet army developed more tank destroyers with excellent performance. For example, su-85, su-100 tank destroyer . The chassis of the su-85 tank destroyer comes from the T34 tank. The artillery is equipped with the D-5T tank gun on the early T34-85. The front of the vehicle body is covered with 40mm thick armor with a 30° inclination angle. This data was quite reliable in 1943.
Su-85 tank destroyer
Another su-100 tank destroyer has a chassis of part of the T34 tank and part of the su-85 tank destroyer chassis. Its biggest highlight is that it is equipped with a 100mm D-10T tank gun. This tank gun equipped BR-412B armor-piercing projectile can penetrate 120mm vertical armor at a distance of 2000m. In the face of a medium and heavy tank with excellent protection in Germany, the su-100 has truly achieved ease. Later, this tank gun was also equipped on the T-54 medium tank.
is different from other assault guns in the Soviet army, such as su-122 and su-152, the Soviet army's tank destroyer has been a full-time anti-tank since its birth. The excellent artillery and low body of the equipment are all designed for anti-tanks. Although the su-76 considered factors such as process, time, and cost to design the car body as an open car body, the Soviets quickly learned the lesson and designed a fully enclosed tank destroyer with excellent protection performance to put it on the battlefield.
SU-100
Anglish and American alternative tank destroyer
1940 German Armored Forces swept across Europe, and people all over the world fell into tank phobia. The US military is also debating how to face the powerful armored forces. After establishing the combat idea of "finding and annihilation of enemy tanks in offense and defense", the US military immediately began to develop its own tank destroyer. However, due to the chassis problem, the progress has been not going well.
With the successful development of Sherman tank , a tank destroyer equipped with a 76mm cannon and an open turret was also developed. This tank destroyer is named the M10 "Wolverine" tank destroyer. The 76mm cannon can easily penetrate the armor of German tanks No. 3 and No. 4 within a distance of 1,000m.
M10 tank destroyer
However, on North African battlefield , the problem faced by the M10 tank destroyer is the insufficient artillery armor-piercing capabilities. So based on the chassis of M10, the United States replaced the main gun with a 50-fold 90mm cannon. The M36 "Jackson" tank destroyer with enhanced body protection came into being. The M36 equipped with a 90mm cannon can penetrate 120mm thick armor at 1000m, posing a great threat to German tanks.
Another tank destroyer of the US military is the M18 "Hellcat". The M18 tank destroyer weighs no more than 20t. It is equipped with a 400-horsepower engine to make its maximum road speed reach 80km/h. However, the consequence is that the armor is extremely weak. The thickest part of its armor is only 20mm and it also uses an open turret. Even an heavy machine gun can penetrate it.
However, M18 is extremely in line with the US military's guidelines for using tank destroyers. The M18 equipped with a 76mm gun has always played the role of a firefighter on the US military's front with its excellent artillery performance and extremely high maneuverability.
M18 Tanks Judge
For the British army, the development path of Tanks Judge can only be said to be full of strange flavors. After the Dunkirk retreat, the British Army lost a large amount of heavy equipment, and the domestic economy was not optimistic, and the Germans must always prevent the landing of the British Isles. The pressure faced by the British Army is far less than that of the Air Force and the Navy, so the Army's resources are also compressed.
In North African , when facing the German tank No. 3 and 4, the British 6-pound cannon is still useful, but when facing the "Tiger" tank, a ticket of British infantry tanks and cruise tanks equipped with 6-pound cannons would be unable to support it. Faced with the dilemma, the British discovered the 17-pound cannon, a killer weapon. However, the high penetration depth of the 17-pound gun comes from the high chamber pressure, and the shells are loaded with large amounts, so the rear tail of the gun is huge. This led to a problem: the current British tanks could not accommodate 17-pound guns.
Archer Tank Killing
So the British modified some infantry tanks that were already behind the "Valentine" and adopted an open design to enable it to accommodate 17-pound cannons. The British named it the "Arcerer" tank destroyer. However, since the Valentine tank combat chamber is too small, the muzzle can only be turned backwards and towards the power chamber. This also caused the "Archer" tank destroyer to advance in reverse gear most of the time.
Later, the British also installed a 17-pound gun with the chassis of the M10 Wolverine tank destroyer. This type of equipment is called the "Achilles" tank destroyer. However, for the British Army, the threat it faces is far smaller than that of the Soviet Army, so it has not vigorously developed tank destroyers.
Achillestan Killing
Downfall of tank destroyer
WWII , equipment such as the Italian "Centaur" tank destroyer also appeared, but the tank destroyer still declined. The reason may be seen from its birth. In the Soviet, Germany and the United States, which are most used in tank destroyers, tank destroyers all use mature chassis of active tanks. When the tank chassis output far exceeds other important components, the army with anti-tank needs will modify these chassis. After the war, the development of anti-tank missile technology can destroy enemy tanks at long distances. The new high-performance multi-purpose artillery can not only undertake anti-tank tasks, not only has long range and great power, but also can support infantry and attack tough.
Italian Centaur
Tank destroyer was accompanied by tanks and infantry in World War II to undertake anti-tank tasks. With the development of technology after World War II, a large number of high-performance tanks have been developed, and other anti-tank equipment has made great progress. It is only a matter of time before the tank destroyer dedicated to anti-tank declines.
