The 85-mm divisional gun D-44 (russian: 85-мм дивизионная пушка Д-44) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

divisional 85-mm

calibre In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the finished bore match ...

field artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the early 20t ...

gun used in the last action of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It was designed as the replacement for the

76 mm divisional gun M1942 (ZiS-3) The 76-mm divisional gun M1942 (ZiS-3) (russian: 76-мм дивизионная пушка обр. 1942 г. (ЗиС-3)) ( GRAU index: 52-P-354U) was a Soviet 76.2 mm divisional field gun used during World War II. ''ZiS'' was a factory desi ...

. The gun is no longer in front-line service with the

Russian Ground Forces The Russian Ground Forces (russian: Сухопутные войска �ВSukhoputnyye voyska V}), also known as the Russian Army (, ), are the land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces ...

, although some 200 of the Chinese Type 56 variant are still in service with the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...

. Wartime service included use by

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

forces during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

and by

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

forces during their conflicts with Israel.

Overview

The design of the D-44 started in 1943 at the design bureau of No.9 factory "

Uralmash Uralmash is a heavy machine production business of the Russian engineering corporation OMZ. Its facility is located in Yekaterinburg, Russia, and it is reported to employ around 16,500 people. The surrounding residential area where workers live ...

" and production began in 1944. Its

GRAU The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated Russian acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the ...

code was 52-P-367. The SD-44 was a 1950s variant with an auxiliary propulsion unit and ammunition box for 10 rounds, with 697 issued to the

airborne forces Airborne forces, airborne troops, or airborne infantry are ground combat units carried by aircraft and airdropped into battle zones, typically by parachute drop or air assault. Parachute-qualified infantry and support personnel serving in ai ...

(VDV) from 1954. The D-44N was a 1960s variant with an APN 3-7 infra-red illumination device for night combat. China received D-44s during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

and began manufacturing a copy, the Type 56, in the early 1960s. Finally, the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stret ...

has equipped some of their D-44 guns with electrical subsystems in the early 1980s and designated them D-44M and D-44MN.Janes (2008), p. 899. The barrel was developed from that of the T-34-85 tank and was capable of firing 20–25 high-explosive (HE), armor-piercing, and high-explosive antitank (HEAT) projectiles per minute. Subcaliber BR-365P HVAP-T (high velocity armor-piercing-tracer) projectiles were capable of penetrating 100 mm of armor at 1000 meters at a ninety-degree obliquity, and the BR-367P HVAP-T projectile penetrates 180 mm of armor under the same conditions. The post-war round O-365K HE weighed 9.5 kg and packed 741 grams of

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

as its bursting charge, while the BK-2M HEAT-FS (fin-stabilized) projectile can penetrate 300 mm of armor. The HEAT round for the Type 56 has a maximum range of 970 meters and will penetrate 100 mm of armor at an angle of 65 degrees. The gun uses GAZ-AA tires, and is towed by a 2.5t truck or a Ya-12 tractor with the average speed of 20–25 km/h on surfaced roads, and 11 km/h over open terrain, with a maximum towing speed over asphalt roadway of about 55 km/h. The SD-44's auxiliary propulsion unit M-72 of 14 hp can move the gun at road speeds up to 25 km/h. The gun uses the OP-2-7 sight with 5.5x magnification for day combat. The sight permits target acquisition at 1500 meters.

Production

The D-44 was produced from 1945 until 1953. During the years 1948-1950, over two thousand D-44s were produced per year. The D-44 also served as the basis from which the

85 mm antitank gun D-48 The 85-mm antitank gun D-48 (russian: 85-мм противотанковая пушка Д-48) was a Soviet 85-mm calibre anti-tank gun used after World War II. It was designed as the replacement for the 100 mm field gun M1944 (BS-3). Distinguis ...

was developed and also the RPU-14 multiple rocket launcher uses the D-44's carriage.

Use by other nations

By the 1950s, the D-44 had been exported for use by

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...

nations, with the gun remaining in service with the East German

National People's Army The National People's Army (german: Nationale Volksarmee, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990. The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) an ...

until the fall of the

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. Besides Pakistan and East Germany, other users include(d) Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China (Type 56), Cuba, Egypt, Georgia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Laos, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Poland, Romania, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Vietnam and Zambia

Current Users

* - 80 in service. * - 35 in service. * - 100 in service. * - 150 in storage. * - Unknown number in service. * - 10 Type 56 in service. * - Unknown number in service. **

Tigray Defense Forces The Tigray Defense Forces ( ti, ሓይልታት ምክልኻል ትግራይ, italic=no; TDF: ሓምት), colloquially ''Tigray Army'' () is a paramilitary rebel group in Tigray. It was founded by distant former generals of Ethiopia in 2020 t ...

* - Unknown number of Type 56 service. * - Unknown number in service. * - 6 in service. * - 8 in service. * - Unknown number of D-44 and D-48 in service. * - 12 Type 56 in service. * - 200 in service. * - Unknown number in service. * - 75 Type 56 in service. *

Transnistria Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...

* - Unknown number in service. * - Unknown number in service. *

Former Users

* * * * * * - 1 captured in Syria. * * - Used during

. * - Used by

Polish People's Army The Polish People's Army ( pl, Ludowe Wojsko Polskie , LWP) constituted the second formation of the Polish Armed Forces in the East in 1943–1945, and in 1945–1989 the armed forces of the Polish communist state ( from 1952, the Polish Peo ...

used during World War II and post war. * * - Retired and replaced by 122 mm Type 60 field guns * - Status unknown. *

Citations

References

* Brassey's Encyclopedia of Land Forces and Warfare, Brassey's Inc., Washington D.C., 2000, . * ''Die Landstreitkräfte der NVA'', Wilfried Kopenhagen, Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttart, 2003, . * ''German Artillery of World War Two'', Ian V. Hogg, Greenhill Books, London, 2002. . * Foss, Christopher F. (ed.) ''Jane's Armour and Artillery 1981-1982'', Jane's Publishing Company Ltd, London & New York, 1982. * Foss, Christopher F. (ed.) ''Jane's Armour and Artillery 2007-2008'', Jane's Publishing Company Ltd, Coulsdon, 2007. * Shunkov V. N. ''The Weapons of the Red Army'', Mn. Harvest, 1999 (Шунков В. Н. - ''Оружие Красной Армии.'' — Мн.: Харвест, 1999.) . * ''The American Arsenal'', Ian V. Hogg (introduction), Greenhill Books, London, 2001. .
TRADOC Worldwide Equipment Guide

External links

Ammunition data on BattleField.Ru

More photos of the D-44 at Wikimedia Commons
{{SovArtyGPW 85 mm artillery Artillery of the Soviet Union World War II field artillery World War II anti-tank guns World War II artillery of the Soviet Union Anti-tank guns of the Soviet Union Uralmash products Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1944