122 mm howitzer M1938 (M-30)

A. B. Shirokorad, a well-known author of books detailing the history of the Soviet artillery, has claimed that the F-25 could have been developed into a better gun than the M-30.[7] Grabin's design was about 400 kg lighter, had a greater traverse and had better ground clearance – all this was achieved, according to Shirokorad, without sacrificing ballistics (same barrel length, chamber volume and muzzle length). Considering how long it took to finish the development of the M-30, the F-25's schedule possibly did not significantly lag behind.

There is no official document explaining the advantages the M-30 had over the F-25. Factors that could have influenced the GAU decision were:

• Unlike the F-25, the M-30 was not equipped with a muzzle brake. While softening recoil and thus allowing for a lighter carriage, the muzzle brake has a disadvantage of redirecting some of the gases that escape the barrel toward the ground where they raise dust, revealing the gun's position. Another side-effect of a muzzle brake is the increased muzzle blast behind the gun, adversely affecting the working conditions of its crew.
• The M-30 used many elements from existing guns, most notably the interrupted-screw breechblock of the M1910/30. Since at that time Soviet industry had experienced major difficulties with manufacturing sliding breechblocks (as used by the F-25) for large caliber guns, the lowered technical risk can be considered a significant advantage.
• The stronger carriage of the M-30 could be used – and in fact was used – for more powerful artillery pieces (see 152-mm howitzer M1943 (D-1)).

The M-30 was a divisional level howitzer. According to the organization of 1939, each rifle division had two artillery regiments; one light regiment (a battalion of 76 mm guns; two mixed battalions with one battery of 76 mm guns and two batteries of 122 mm howitzers) and one howitzer regiment (a battalion of 122 mm howitzers and a battalion of 152 mm howitzers), giving 28 122 mm howitzers per division. In June 1940 one more battalion of 122 mm howitzers was added to the howitzer regiment, bringing the number of guns in each unit to 32. In June 1941 the howitzer regiment was removed and the number of howitzers dropped to 16. This organization was used throughout the war, except in Russian Guards rifle divisions which from December 1942 had three artillery battalions (two batteries of 76 mm guns and one battery of 122 mm howitzers each), totaling 12 howitzers. From December 1944 they received an extra howitzer regiment (5 batteries, 20 howitzers) and from June 1945 rifle divisions were reorganized identically.

Mountain rifle divisions in 1939–1940 had one battalion of 122 mm howitzers (3 batteries, 9 guns). From 1941 they received instead one artillery regiment (2 battalions, each from 3 four-gun batteries) with 24 howitzers, but in early 1942 only one battalion (2 batteries, 8 howitzers) remained. From 1944 howitzers were removed from mountain rifle divisions.

Motorized divisions had two mixed battalions (a battery of 76 mm guns and two batteries of 122 mm howitzers), totaling 12 howitzers. Tank divisions had one battalion with 12 howitzers. Cavalry divisions until August 1941 had two batteries of 122 mm howitzers, totaling eight, before the divisional artillery was removed.

Until late 1941 rifle brigades had a battery of four 122 mm howitzers. 122 mm howitzers were also used by the howitzer brigades of the Reserve of the Main Command (72–84 pieces).[7]

By 1 June 1941 1,667 M-30s were in service, comprising only a fraction of the RKKA divisional howitzers. As the war progressed, their share grew rapidly due to mass production and because many older guns were lost in combat in 1941–42.

M-30 howitzers were primarily employed for indirect fire against enemy personnel. They were also used against field fortifications, for clearing minefields and for breaching barbed wire. Their HE-fragmentation shells presented a danger to armoured vehicles. Fragments created by the explosion could penetrate up to 20 mm of armour, – enough against thinly armoured vehicles. The shells could also damage chassis, sights or other elements of heavier armoured vehicles.

For self-defense against enemy tanks a HEAT shell was developed in 1943. Before 1943, crews were required to rely on the high-explosive action of their regular ammunition, with some degree of success. According to a German report from 1943, even a Tiger was once heavily damaged by SU-122 assault guns firing high-explosive shells.[12]

M-30 howitzers were towed by a variety of means, from horses, oxen[13] and both Soviet and American-produced Lend-Lease trucks (such as the Dodge WC series and Studebaker US6s) and Stalinets STZ-5 and Ya-12 purpose-built artillery tractors. When necessary, the gun could be manhandled by its artillery crew.

The gun was eventually replaced by the 122-mm howitzer D-30 after the latter was adopted for service in 1960. A small number of operational M-30 howitzers are still present in Russian Army ordnance depots. They are being gradually withdrawn from reserve. M-30s featured in many Soviet movies used for novice artillery crew training. These movies were made in the 1960s when more modern D-30 howitzers were becoming available, however the M-30 was considered by authorities as much more suitable for training purposes. The movies are still in use despite the absence of M-30 howitzers even in practice exercises.

A large number of M-30s fell into the hands of the Wehrmacht in 1941–1942 and were adopted as 12,2 cm s.F.H.396(r) heavy howitzers. Germany began mass production of 122 mm ammunition for these and other captured howitzers, producing 424,000 shells in 1943, 696,700 in 1944 and 133,000 in 1945. Some captured M-30s were used in the Atlantic Wall fortifications.[14]

The Finnish Army captured 41 guns of the type and adopted them as the 122 H 38. These guns fired 13,298 shells in combat; only a few pieces were lost. The gun was well liked; some were used for training or stored in depots until the mid-1980s.[15]

The Kingdom of Romania captured in 1941 a number of 477 various types of 122 mm howitzers and guns including M1931/37 and were used as divisional artillery for units rebuilt in 1943. The M-30 was used on the first four prototypes of the Mareșal tank destroyer, having a muzzle brake attached to it by the Romanians.

After World War II the gun was supplied to many countries around the globe. With the Egyptian and Syrian armies it saw action in the Arab-Israeli Wars. Some of these guns were captured by Israel, although it is unclear whether they were ever employed by the Israeli Defense Forces. The People's Republic of China organized their own production of M-30 howitzers under the Type 54 designation.[16]

According to Ian V. Hogg, the M1938 howitzer "must, surely, be the most prolific piece of artillery in history".[17]

The M-30 and the Type 54 are still being used in several armies.

Current operators

•  Afghanistan – n/a[16]
•  Armenia – n/a[16]
•  Algeria – 60[18][16]
•  Bangladesh – 57 Type 54/Type 54-1[19]
•  Bolivia – 36 Type 54-1[20][21]
•  Cambodia – Type 54[16][22]
•  China – Type 54-1[23]
•  DR Congo – less than 77[24]
•  Cuba[25]
•  Egypt – 324[26]
•  Ethiopia – less than 464[27]
•  Guinea-Bissau – 9[16]–18[28]
•  Indonesia – 28[16]
•  Iran – 100 Type 54[29]
•  Iraq – n/a[16]
  •  Kurdistan – Peshmerga
•  North Korea[16]
•  Kyrgyzstan – 35[30]
•  Laos – less than 20[31]
•  Lebanon – 26[32]
•  Moldova – 17[33]
•  Mongolia[34]
•  Mozambique – less than 24[16]
•  North Macedonia – 56[35]
•  Pakistan – 490 Type 54[36]
•  Romania – 72[37]
•  Russia – 3,750,[38] in reserve[16]
•  Sahrawi Republic – 13 est.
•  Sudan[39] – 24 M-30 and 76 Type 54[16]
•  South Sudan[40]
•  Syria[41]
•  Tanzania – 80 Type 54-1[42]
•  Uganda[43] – 18[16]
•  Uzbekistan – 540
•  Vietnam – Type 54[44]
•  Yemen – 50[16]
•  Zimbabwe – 24 Type 54[16]

Former operators

•  Albania[16]
•  Bosnia and Herzegovina[16]
•  Bulgaria – 108 sold to Macedonia in 1999[16]
•  Republic of the Congo[45]
•  Croatia – 45 in 2002[16]
•  Czech Republic – Vz 38/74[16]
•  Czechoslovakia
•  East Germany
•  Nazi Germany – Captured.
•  Finland
•  Hungary – 230 Tarack 38/68M
•  Israel
•  Islamic State[46]
•  Kazakhstan – 24, sold to Russia[16]
•  Myanmar
•  Poland – Wz.1938/1985, 280 in 2002[16]
•  Liberia – 6 delivered from Romania[47]
•  Slovakia – 46 in 2002[16]
•  Somalia[16]
•  Soviet Union[16]
•  Tajikistan[48]
•  Ukraine[16]
•  Yugoslavia – 240 delivered in 1962–1963[47]
•  Zaire

• M-30S – Slightly modified variant; was used as the main armament of the SU-122 assault gun.
• U-11 – A gun with identical ballistics, but equipped with a more compact recoil mechanism for easier mounting in vehicles. It was tried on the experimental SU-122M and rejected due to insufficient reliability. A variant of the same gun was also mounted on the experimental Obiekt 234 tank, also known as Iosif Stalin no. 2 (not to be confused with the IS-2).
• D-6 – Another vehicle mounted gun with identical ballistics. It was used on the experimental SU-122-III and, like the U-11, proved unreliable.[49]

• Type 54 – Licence version.
• Type 54-1 – Slightly improved version.[20]

• Wz.1938/1985 – Existing Wz.1938 that was fitted with a castor wheel, PGO-9H sight and a second firing mechanism for direct fire.[11]

• M-30M – In the 1980s Romanian Army M-30s were upgraded with new, larger pneumatic wheels, new brakes, a new optical sight for direct fire and a second height sighting mechanism for anti-tank combat. These upgraded howitzers were designated M-30M.[50]

The M-30 was mounted on the following armoured fighting vehicles (AFV):

• SU-122, the Soviet medium assault gun built on a T-34 chassis. The mass production continued from December 1942 until September 1943. In total 638 SU-122s were built.
• SG-122, Soviet self-propelled artillery vehicles based on captured German Pz Kpfw III or StuG III AFVs. About twenty were built in the early months of 1943.[49]
• 12,2-cm Kanone (r) auf Geschützwagen Lorraine-Shlepper (f), the German self-propelled artillery vehicle, based on a captured armoured French artillery tractor (the Lorraine 37L). There was at least one vehicle of this type, which fought in France on a railroad car as part of a German armoured train.[51]

• Type WZ302 – Combination of the Type 54 or Type 54-1 with a tracked vehicle Type B531. The military designator is Type 70 SPH. The initial model had only 4 roadwheels, but the improved Type WZ302A or Type 70-1 has 5. The final production model with new signals equipment is known as Type WZ302B or Type 70-2. All models have a basic load of 40 rounds of 122mm.[16][52]