The 76-mm Model 1940 tank gun (F-34) was a Soviet tank gun developed in the design bureau of Artillery Plant No. 92 in Gorky (now the Nizhny Novgorod Machine-Building Plant) under chief designer Vasily Gavrilovich Grabin. Beginning in 1941, it was installed in series production on T-34 tanks (in the T-34-76 variant) and KV-1 tanks, becoming the main tank gun of the Red Army in the first half of the Great Patriotic War.[1]
History of development
The F-34 gun was created in the design bureau of Plant No. 92 in Gorky — the same enterprise that later produced the mass-produced ZIS-3 divisional gun. Grabin headed the plant's design bureau from 1933 to 1942; during this period, several key examples of artillery weaponry were developed under his leadership, including the F-34. The gun belongs to the family of Soviet 76-mm ("three-inch") tank guns, which also included the L-10, the L-11, and the later ZIS-5.
Combat qualities and use
The F-34 offered a high rate of fire and penetrating power, which made it an effective weapon against armored targets in the first period of the war. The gun was installed in the turrets of T-34-76 and KV-1 tanks and remained the Red Army's main tank gun until the transition to 85-mm armament.[2]
The Nizhny Novgorod connection
Production of the F-34 was concentrated at Plant No. 92 in Gorky — an enterprise that became one of the largest producers of artillery systems in the USSR during the Great Patriotic War. The same plant mass-produced the ZIS-3 divisional gun, the first in the world to be put on conveyor-line assembly. Today, Plant No. 92 is known as the Nizhny Novgorod Machine-Building Plant.
Sources
- dic.academic.ru — Book: 76-mm Model 1940 tank gun (F-34)
- bfometr.ru — V. G. Grabin