Soviet artillerymen from Sergeant Bardadymov's crew fire at enemy pillboxes on the outskirts of Stalingrad using a 152-mm ML-20 howitzer-gun, model 1937.

WWII: How Powerful Was the World’s Largest Artillary Gun? Thousands Operated It – Whilst One Shell Weighed Seven-Tonnes! (21.11.2024)

This stemmed from Joseph Stalin advocating that the tactical mode of conventional “artillery attack” could be effective if used in a massive, highly focused, and overwhelming manner. Massed (smaller) Soviet artillery guns had the effect of successfully suppressing the fire-power of the Nazi German Army by peppering its formations in a relentless and destructive manner (massacring the Gustav Ground Crews and destroying the stockpiles of stored ammunition). This increased the survival rate of the numerically superior Soviet Red Army – and quickly defeated the Nazi German enemy. Therefore, the Soviet Military Factories operated at full capacity and manufactured a large number of weapons and ammunition for the Soviet Red Army on the front line, including 90,000 artillery pieces of various types.