The D-20 Howitzer is a towed, 152-mm, field artillery piece developed and produced by the Soviet Union right after World War II. Although it entered service with the Red Army in 1953, it was made public to the West in 1955; hence, it is also known as the M1955 gun-howitzer by NATO countries. With the Soviet/Russian inventory identification '52-P-546', this artillery piece was developed by the State-run company Petrov Artillery Design Bureau. It would be massively produced by the Soviet Union during first two decades of the Cold War, with over 11,000 howitzers built. It was used in anger in many armed conflicts around the globe, such as the Vietnam War, Soviet-Afghan War, Six Day War, and the Iraq-Iran War.
When it was introduced in 1953, the D-20 replaced the 152-mm Howitzer M1937, which had been used during World War II. Since it has a muzzle velocity superior to that of a howitzer (650 m/s), its official designation is 'gun-howitzer', even though it is almost always used in the indirect-fire mode. The D-20 howitzer was also widely exported and produced under license in Eastern European countries, China, and North Korea. In Soviet service, it equipped artillery regiments within motor rifle divisions as well as artillery brigades during the Cold War. This gun-howitzer was also used by both Russian and Ukrainian forces fighting in Ukraine, with Russian units deploying pieces from storage.
Technical Characteristics
The D-20 152-mm howitzer is fitted with a semi-automatic vertical sliding-block breech and a hydraulic buffer recoil system, with a hydro-pneumatic recuperator. This artillery piece employs separate-loading ammunition, with the metal cartridge case and the shell, which are loaded into breech first. The howitzer fires a wide range of shells, which include high-explosive fragmentation, smoke, illuminating, and chemical rounds. The D-20 has a split-trail carriage and it is towed by truck. It has an L/34-calibers-long (5.19 m) barrel, which is mounted in a long ring cradle with the trunnions just forward of the breech. The recoil system is set up on the cradle above the barrel. The breech is fitted with a projectile retaining catch to avoid that the shell slides down out of the breech at higher elevations before it is rammed with a manual ram. The box girder section split trail legs are hinged to the cradle support with bolts to lock them into either the open or closed position.
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| Above, an Iranian D-20 howitzer open fires on Iraqi positions in the 1980s. |
Specifications
Type: field howitzer
Caliber: 152-mm
Shell: separate-loading charge
Weight: 5.6 tons
Total Length: 8.69 m
Barrel Length: 5.19 m
Carriage: split trail
Breech Type: vertical sliding wedge block
Elevation: -5° to +45°
Traverse: 58°
Rate of Fire: between 5 and 6 rounds per minute
Muzzle Velocity: 650 m/s
Maximum Range: 24 km (15 miles)
The D-20 howitzer in action (video)
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| The 152-mm gun-howitzer in an open-air museum in Hungary |
