The ZIS-3 is a Soviet 76.2mm cannon known under the designation "76.2mm gun wz.1942". Although the gun entered service in 1941, it was officially entered in the Red Army in February 1942, hence the designation. Over 50,000 jobs were created in the course of serial production. pieces of this weapon, widely considered to be one of the best cannons in its class during the Second World War. The ZIS-3 served multiple functions: from supporting infantry operations, through counter-batter fire, to the role of an anti-tank gun. She did very well in all of them. For the first time on a large scale, the ZIS-3 was used in the Battle of Stalingrad (1942/1943). In 1942, a very effective sub-caliber ammunition was introduced, which was used on a mass scale near Kursk in 1943. The ZIS-3 was also used as a capture weapon by the Third Reich and Romania, which even launched the production of this gun after it had been recalibrated! The ZIS-3 was also the primary weapon of the SU-76 and SU-76M vehicles. Technical data: barrel length: 3169 mm, range: 13290 m, caliber: 76.2 mm, combat weight: 1200 kg, initial velocity: 680 m / s, rate of fire: 25 spins / min.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the Red Army underwent intensive development, both in terms of increasing its number of jobs and saturation with technical weapons. One of the most dynamically developed types of weapons was artillery (both barrel and missile), which was considered to be one of the basic, if not crucial, types of weapons on the battlefield. At that time (i.e. in the 1930s) several successful types of guns were introduced into the service of the Red Army, and the 76.2 mm F-22 division cannon, the 122 mm M1931 / 37 corpse cannon or the 122 mm cannon deserve special attention. -haubica M1937 (MŁ-20) cal. 152 mm. They were weapons that were developed and modernized during World War II and which did not differ significantly from their counterparts in the German army. It is also worth mentioning that the Red Army was also developing very heavy artillery, as exemplified by the introduction to the armament of the 203 mm Br-4 howitzer, the production of which started in 1932. It is worth adding that in 1941, the Soviet rifle division had a total of 144 guns of various calibers and various purposes, and the division included an artillery regiment consisting of five cannon and howitzer squadrons. On the other hand, in 1945, 130 guns of various calibers and various purposes, as well as 12 self-propelled guns (very often SU-76), were in the reduced position compared to 1941 in the infantry division. In addition, Soviet infantry divisions were often supported in battle with separate artillery regiments.