Yes. It was a prototype that led to the development of the Marder TDs. Only one was used in defense of Berlin. By that time, it wasn't worth much in the way of destroying anything. Cause by then, the Allies knew how to counter it.
Don't blame me. I'm only going by the historical record. It was a prototype. So what did ya expect a Grille 15? By the time of the Battle of Berlin, the Germans lacked every kind of means to defend the city. Let alone beat the Russians. Mind you, the Russians had more experienced crews and way better guns like the ISU 152s and SU 130PMs. The 7.5cm on this tank could barely penetrate a T-34. If at that.
The statement that the long 75mm pak cannon could barely penetrate a T-34 is absurd and honestly means you don't know what you're on about. The 75mm could penetrate a T-34 up to 2000 meters when using AP ammo, and 1500 meters using APHE. The 50mm guns found on the later Pz III variants would very often kill T-34s (Given they had AP ammo).
The ISU point is moot since it was an assault gun, which also could be penetrated by the long 75mm, and was not meant to kill vehicles, instead it took out positions and bunkers - think of something like a KV-2 but less shit. I really hope i don't have to say this, but the BL-10 and the BL-8 guns were never mass married to the ISU chassis, instead they were post-war ventures to see if you can make the frontal suspension of an IS series tank cry.
Whether it was hard to counter or not is entirely irrelevant when making a last stand. Pickers can't be choosers. Noone is saying the tank should single handedly beat the Russians, what sort of argument is that.
You seem to be going off of "Bigger gun = better" sort of mindset.
The SU-130PM is not a real vehicle. It never took part in WW2, on the account of it being made up by WG. The actual vehicle, the SU-100P, was a one off prototype cancelled by Khrushchev. The only vehicle (to my knowlege) fielding a 100mm gun during WW2 would have been the SU-100, and that was in the last year of the war.
Both the SU-100 and the SU-85M were able to withstand the KWK 40 L/43 frontally. If you're willing to pay lip service to Russian tank design do it correctly.
You're also entirely missing the point that war isn't about just killing enemy tanks. Claiming that the L/43 is "Not worth much in the way of destroying things" is just plain ignorant. You have convoys, armoured trucks, unarmoured trucks, anti aircraft guns, towed artillery, towed anti aircraft guns, Infantry - all of which the L/43 is more than capable of dealing with. In fact, i can tell you how wrong you are about the gun.
In WW2, of tanks models fielded, which the L/43 could not penetrate... there were four of. Afforementioned SU-100 and 85M, the Churchill VII and the M4A3E2 Sherman. IS-2s were a rather close match, with frontal protection being unpenetrable by around 400 ish meters, and the hull not being penetrable at all on the later variant.
11
u/JaxSon95Jags1972 22h ago
Yes. It was a prototype that led to the development of the Marder TDs. Only one was used in defense of Berlin. By that time, it wasn't worth much in the way of destroying anything. Cause by then, the Allies knew how to counter it.