I came across the following data in a British General Staff, War Office Report on the Red Army, Dated 1944 regarding standard ammunition combat loads (apparently translated as “boyevoy komplekt”):

76mm Divisional Artillery...608 Rounds
122mm Divisional Artillery..296 Rounds
152mm Corps Artillery.......120 Rounds

These include battery and group complements, regimental complement, as well as divisional and corps artillery parks. Does this data appear accurate?

The Soviets tracked and reported their ammunition in the unit records by "basic loads". The basic load for some of the Soviet weapons are:

LMG ------------- 800
MMG ----------- 2,500
AAMG ---------- 2,000
SMG ------------- 300
50mm Mortar ----- 120
82mm Mortar ----- 120
76mm Div Gun ---- 140
76mm Rgt Gun ---- 140
122mm Howitzer --- 80
122mm Gun -------- 80

etc. (see pages 48 and 49 of the Final Report for the Kursk project).

Most of the units at Kursk carried around one plus basic loads of ammo with them at the start of the battle. For example, on 4 July, the 72nd Guards Rifle Division reports 1.08 ammo loads of Rifle rounds, 0.74 loads of AT rounds, 1.39 loads of 50mm Mortars, 1.38 loads of 82mm Mortars, 1.32 loads of 76mm Div Guns, 1.2 loads of 122mm guns, etc.

Thanks for the reply. It appears that these were combat loads (battle complement) on a per gun basis.

The break down was as follows:

76mm Divisional Artillery
Battery and Group…212 rounds
Regiment…96 rounds
Divisional Artillery Park…150 rounds
Corps Artillery Park….150 rounds
Total….608

122mm Divisional Artillery
Battery and Group…112 rounds
Regiment…36 rounds
Divisional Artillery Park…74 rounds
Corps Artillery Park….74 rounds
Total….296

152mm Corps Artillery
Battery and Group…40 rounds
Regiment…20 rounds
Divisional Artillery Park…n/a rounds
Corps Artillery Park….60 rounds
Total….120

quote:

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Originally posted by Jeff Duquette:
Chris:

It appears that these were combat loads (battle complement) on a per gun basis.

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Well that is a very detailed breakdown, so it obviously came from somewhere.....but we don't see it at Kursk. At the start of the battle, after the Soviets had been sitting in position for three months preparing....we still only see the units with one or two basic loads of ammo, although they would sometime have up to five loads (for example the 89th Guards Rifle Division reports 5 basic loads of 122mm shells for the 6th of July, but only 2.0 loads for most of its other rounds.

The figures you give are 4 or 5 basic loads. If this is not acheived at Kursk, then it is probably not common elsewhere.

During one of our meetings with our Russian research team, we had a hard time getting them to understand that we really did want "authorized strength" for the units. They could see no point in it, as none of the units were ever built up to authorized strength.