World War II Database

Country of Origin	Russia
Type	Field Gun
Caliber	76.200 mm
Length	7.120 m
Barrel Length	3.895 m
Weight	1620.000 kg
Ammunition Weight	6.50 kg
Rate of Fire	15 rounds/min
Range	14.000 km

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe 76 mm Divisional Gun M1936 (F-22) semi-universal field guns; "semi" because while they were meant to also be used as anti-aircraft guns, they rarely served in this role due to the ineffectiveness in that capacity. These guns were developed by V. G. Grabin started in 1934. The first three prototypes were ready in Apr 1935, with two of them mounted on split-trail carriages. They were tested starting on 8 May; on 9 Jun they were tested at the Sofrinsky firing ground near Moscow, Russia, and on 14 Jun they were presented to Joseph Stalin and other Russian leaders. They were well received, and went through another round of testing that lasted through 22 Apr 1936. On 11 May 1936, they were accepted into service; the final design differed from the prototypes as the final design lacked muzzle brakes and the final design used the old 76.2-millimeter shells due to availability and logistics. These guns were built at the No. 92 and Kirov Plant. 10 guns were produced in 1936, 417 in 1937, 1,002 in 1938, and 1,503 in 1939 (2,932 total); production ceased in 1939 as they were made obsolete by a new design. The reason for the relatively short production life were their heavy weight, poor anti-aircraft capabilities, complex design (thus increasing production time), and poor reliability. In fact, by 1937, requirements were already given in search for a replacement.

In Russian service, each F-22 gun was typically served by a crew of six men.

The 76-millimeter F-22 guns first saw combat at the Battle of Lake Khasan between 29 Jul and 11 Aug 1938 against Japan, then were used during the Winter War against Finland. As of Jun 1941, the month that Germany invaded the Soviet Union, 2,844 of these guns were in service. Many were lost in the early months of the war, and hundreds were captured by the Germans; the Germans initially retained them in service under the designation FK 296(r), but as they were apparently obsolete by late 1941, they were modernized and re-deployed 7.62 cm PaK 36(r) anti-tank guns. There were 560 of these modernized guns in German service, some mounted on vehicles to form self-propelled guns; German battle reports noted that these modernized guns performed significantly better in anti-tank roles than guns in their original shape. By 1942, under 200 guns were still in Russian service. Finland captured 29 guns in the two wars against Russia, and purchased an additional 47 units from Germany; they were designated 76 K 36 guns, and they remained in active service until the 1960s.

Source: Wikipedia. ww2dbase

Last Major Revision: Oct 2009

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