76mm Anti Tank
"I swear if you jinx us Sergei..."
The 76mm Anti-Tank gun, aka the ZIS-3 (stands for "Factory named after Stalin" in Russian), was a ubiquitous AT gun and unit available in Flames of War. It was well regarded for being durable, reliable, and easy to use.
IRL[edit]
Much like modern Hollywood flops, the development of the ZIS-3 was mired in political disputes, secret agendas, and some good old fashioned fail. See, ZIS-3 (and F-22 it replaced) was a divisional gun, and pretty much everyone in the world had a caliber of 100+mm at this level in their armies. Simply put, the bigger the gun, the more effective it is in obliterating field defenses, the primary target of artillery. Some factions in the military pushed the idea of replacing all 76mm like US army had done, but were eventually forced to face reality when USSR was plunged into WW2 for real: Soviet industry was unable to produce not only the guns, but also shells and means of transportation in quantities required.
Knowing all this before the war, V. G. Grabin of factory No. 92 developed ZIS-3 as his own personal pet project. He reduced the amount of machine tooling and streamlined the production process for the gun (F-22-USV, to be precise), and attached it to an existing carriage of ZIS-2, a purebred AT that entered production, but was cancelled in 1941 due to "having excessive AP".
Once Stalin issued an order that essentially can be summed up to "give us more guns, even if quality suffers" in 1941, Grabin went ahead and started producing ZIS-3s instead of F-22-USV even before getting official sanction for it. Army officers were somewhat confused when factory presented them with different artillery pieces, but Grabin took full personal responsibility, and any debate on the issue was settled when Stalin personally witnessed the weapons in trial, and said that anyone opposing the project was an idiot and probably an enemy of the people. The factory workers were even exempt from conscription in order to maximize the creative productive potential of the staff at the factory, which was actually a pretty ingenious idea.
The ZIS-3 was deployed en masse, and earned a reputation for being easy to use, durable, and reliable, particularly important for an army made up of uneducated farmers with limited training. It also proved more effective than heavier pieces against German panzers breaking through the frontline due to high rate of fire and ease of maneuvering. It even saw use on multiple armored vehicles and was exported to foreign allies post war. It was retired after the war due to the obsolescence of 76mm AT guns.
| Soviet Forces in Flames of War | |
|---|---|
| Tanks: | T-70 - Valentine - M5/M3 Stuart - M3 Lee - T-34 - KV - Churchill - IS-2 - Captured Tank Platoon - T-28 - BT-7 - KV-2 - T-26 |
| Transports: | M3 Scout Car - Universal Carrier - SdKfz 251 |
| Infantry: | Rifles - Motor Rifles - Penal Company - Storm Group - SMG Company - Engineer Sapper Company |
| Artillery: | Katyusha - 152mm Artillery - 122mm Artillery - 76mm Artillery - 120mm Mortars - 82mm mortars |
| Tank Destroyers and Assault Guns: | 45mm Anti Tank - 57mm Anti Tank - 76mm Anti Tank - 100mm Anti Tank - SU-76 - SU-85 - SU-100 - SU-122 - SU-152 - ISU-122/ISU-152 |
| Recon: | Scout Platoon - BA-64 Platoon - Armored Reconnaissance Platoon - Reconnaissance Platoon |
| Aircraft: | Il-2 Sturmovik |
| Anti-Aircraft: | ZSU M17 - DShK AA MG Platoon |
| Midwar Monsters: | KV-3 - KV-5 - T-43 |