203 mm howitzer M1931 (B-4)

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203 mm howitzer M1931 (B-4)
203 mm howitzer M1931 (B-4) in Great Patriotic War museum, Minsk, Belarus.
Type	High-power heavy howitzer
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Service history
In service	Soviet Union
Wars	World War II, Winter War
Production history
Designer	Nikolai Nikititsch Magdesiew
Designed	1931
Produced	1932–1945
No. built	871
Specifications
Mass	Combat: 17,700 kg (39,022 lbs) Travel: 19,000 kg (41,888 lbs)
Length	Travel: 11.15 m (36 ft 7 in)[1]
Barrel length	Bore: 4.894 m (16 ft 1 in) L/24.1 Overall: 5.087 m (16 ft 8 in) L/25
Width	Travel: 2.7 m (8 ft 10 in)[1]
Height	Travel: 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in)[1]
Crew	15[1]
Shell	Separate loading charge and projectile[1] HE: 100 kg (220 lbs)
Caliber	203 mm (8 in)
Breech	Interrupted screw
Recoil	Hydro-pneumatic[1]
Carriage	Box trail[1]
Elevation	0° to 60°
Traverse	8°
Rate of fire	1 round every four minutes[2]
Muzzle velocity	607 m/s (1,990 ft/s)
Maximum firing range	18 km (11 mi)

203 mm howitzer M1931 (B-4) (Russian: 203-мм гаубица обр. 1931 г. (Б-4), GRAU index: 52-G-625) was a 203 mm (8 inch) Soviet high-power heavy howitzer. During the Second World War, it was under the command of the Stavka's strategic reserve. It was nicknamed "Stalin's sledgehammer" by German soldiers. These guns were used with success against Finnish pillboxes at the Mannerheim Line, heavy German fortifications and in urban combat for destroying protected buildings and bunkers. These guns were used until the end of the war in the Battle of Berlin, during which the Red Army used them to smash German fortifications at point blank range with their heavy 203mm shells. In the spring of 1944, a KV-1S tank chassis was used to create a self-propelled variant, the S-51. The heavy recoil from the muzzle blast threw the crew off their seats and damaged the transmission, and so it was cancelled.^[3]

With an elevation angle of up to 60 degrees and 12 propellant loads to choose from, the B-4 virtually met all the expectations it was given, capable of crushing its targets via an optimal projectile trajectory.