- Yes, as a tech tree vehicle.
- Yes, as an event vehicle.
- Yes, as a squadron vehicle.
- No
- 2.0
- 2.3
- 2.7
- 3.0
- 3.3
- 3.7
- I said no.
The SG-122 was a Soviet SPH built on captured German StuG III and Panzer III chassis. It was the direct predecessor to the SU-76I. Approximately 21 to 26 vehicles were produced.
History:
Spoiler
In late 1941, following the start of Operation Barbarossa, the Red Army was facing a massive shortage of armored vehicles. Factories were still relocating east, and production just couldn’t keep up with combat losses. On the flip side, the Soviets had captured a solid number of German vehicles, especially the StuG III, which Soviet troops nicknamed the “Artshturm” (Artillery Assault Tank). While they liked the chassis, they didn’t have the 75mm ammo or spare parts to keep the original guns firing.
To fix this, the GAU (Main Artillery Directorate) tasked Factory №592 in February 1942 to rearm these captured hulls with domestic Soviet weapons. They chose the 122mm M-30 howitzer simply because there was a huge surplus of them sitting around (thanks to a lack of towing tractors), whereas standard 76.2mm tank guns were desperately needed elsewhere. Work began on March 17th, 1942. By April, the order was official:
Top Secret.
To: Brigade-Engineer Sosenkov (Chief of Repairing Center)
Copy: Director Pankratov (Factory №592)“According to the decision of Lieutenant-General Fedorenko, captured ‘Artshturms’ must be re-armed with the domestic 122 mm Howitzer M-30 Model 1938 at Factory №592… To accelerate the process, the first repaired ‘Artshturm’ must be delivered to the factory before April 25.”
— E. Satel, Chairman of the Tech Council (April 13, 1942)
The first prototype was built on a StuG III Ausf. C or D hull. A new, taller welded casemate was added, pushing the vehicle’s height to 2050 mm. The 122mm gun was mounted on a pedestal, with enough room to store 50 rounds of ammo. Unsurprisingly, fitting a crew of five (driver, commander, gunner, and two loaders) into this setup made things pretty cramped.
During trials in July 1942, the prototype hit 50 km/h on paved roads and fired 234 test shots. The rate of fire was surprisingly decent, ranging from 5 to 12 rounds per minute depending on how high the gun was elevated. Still, a few issues popped up during testing, which led to a redesigned production model.
The Production Model:
To save weight and ease the strain on the front suspension, the production version (designated SG-122A) dropped the front casemate armor from 45mm down to 35mm. It also featured a new hatch for the gunner and external fuel tanks. By this point, they were building these on whatever they had available: either a StuG III or a standard Panzer III chassis.
In October 1942, Stalin ordered 120 of these to be built, but production quickly hit a wall. Factory №592 was set up as a repair facility, not a full scale manufacturing plant, and the supply of captured German hulls was just too inconsistent. In the end, only about 21 units (serial numbers 1001–1021) were finished before the plug was pulled.
However, the project wasn’t a total loss, the lessons learned here paved the way for the much more successful SU-76I. Currently, only a replica exists at the UMMC Museum in Verkhnyaya Pyshma.
Specification:
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Dimensions:
Length: 6900 mm.
Width: 2910 mm.
Height: 2250 mm.
Clearance: 350 mm.
Weight: 23.3 tons.
Crews: 5 (driver, commander, gunner, loader 1/radio operator, loader 2)
Engine: 12-cylinder Maybach HL120 TRM, 296 bhp
Top road speed 50 km/h
Hull Armor Front 30 mm, sides 30 mm, rear 20 mm.
Upper Armor Front 35 mm, rear and sides 25mm and roof 15 mm.
Armaments:
Spoiler
1x 122 mm M-30 howitzer (50 rounds): BP-460A, OF-462, D-462A.
Vertical: N/A
Horizontal: N/A
In game:
In game this would be a nice counterpart to the Su-122 and Su-76i (another shameless plug) as a premium or tech tree vehicle.
Photos:
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Sources: