SU76i - The Russian StuG III - Steven's Balagan

Ian Gallery painted two Su76is for me for my WW2 using Crossfire. Very nice too. Only trouble is I had no idea what they were when they arrived.

Main Source: Russian Battlefield – SU-76i Assault Gun.

The SU-76i were converted StuG IIIs equipped with a Russian 76.2 mm gun. They were only in use during 1943. Apparently the Russians preferred their SPG to follow tanks into action. According to the commander of the 1902nd Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment (SAP), a unit equipped with SU-76is in 5th Guards Army, “…if tanks and SP-guns could be used on a more massive scale, losses could be reduced significantly.”. During Aug-Sep 1943 the 1902nd SAP participated in 19 separate battles, typically contributing 2 to 7 self propelled guns in each instance.

The SU-76i was used in the following units:

Unit	When	Vehicles	Comments	Source
13th Army, Central Front	July 1943	16 x SU-76i	During Kursk eight vehicles were lost, three of which were burnt-out	RB
Voronezh Front	July 1943	33 x 76 mm SPG including some SU-76i		RB
Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment (SAP), Central Front	Orel Offensive	16 x SU-76i 1 x PzKpfw III		RB
1902nd SAP, 5th Guards Army	2 Aug 1943	15 x SU-76i		RB
	14 Aug 1943	15 x SU-76i 5 x SU-122		RB
	14-31 Aug 1943		Destroyed two tanks, nine cannons, twelve machine-guns and over 250 men in five battles	RB
	Sep 1943		Participated in 14 battles using 2-7 SPG in each. During 20-23 Sep six SU-76is destroyed three German tanks.	RB
	25 Nov 1943	None	Unit had lost all vehicles.	RB
1901st SAP and 1903rd SAP	Aug – Sep 1943	Some SU-76i	Fought in Belgorod-Khar’kov offensive	RB
1938th SAP, 7th Guards Army	10 Aug 1943	2 x SU-122 2 x SU-76 (SU-12) 2 x SU-75 (StuG III).	The SU-75 were unconverted.	RB
177th Tank Regiment, 64th Mechanised Brigade	Oct 1943	SU-76i		AP
177th Tank Regiment, 64th Mechanised Brigade	Nov 1943	40 x SU-76i		BP
Supporting the 143rd Rifle Division .	11 Jan 1944		During their advance on Sarny	AP
58th Tank Regiment	Jan 1944	33 x SU-76i		BP

Where the abbreviation for the Source means:

Bill Ponder on TreadHeads Yahoo Group also states “The Red Star was rarely used on Soviet vehicles during the war, except for Lend Lease or captured German armour where it was used prominently as recognition symbols.”

Jason Mark also refers to a SU-76i on Axis History Forum: Rare Captured Soviet-modified Pz III … “In early 1944, however, this vehicle was recaptured by the Germans. In fact, it became part of Pz.Jg.Abt.128 and participated in operations near Krivoi-Rog.” Achtung Panzer: Sturmgeschütz III and IV also mentions the Germans reusing SU-76i vehicles.