Algodoo

instructions :

drive with arrow keys.


Description :

The SU-85 was a modification of the earlier SU-122 self-propelled howitzer, essentially replacing the 122 mm M-30S howitzer of the SU-122 with a D-5T high-velocity 85 mm antitank gun. The vehicle was small with good mobility. The trade-off was its relatively light armor.

Production history

SU-85 production started in mid-1943, with the first vehicles reaching their units by August. When the up-gunned T-34-85 medium tank entered mass production in the spring of 1944, there was no point in continuing production of a tank destroyer without superior firepower, so SU-85 production was stopped in late 1944 after 2,050 vehicles had been produced. It was replaced on the production lines by the SU-100 tank destroyer, armed with the more powerful 100 mm D-10S gun.
There were two versions: the basic SU-85 had a fixed commander's cupola with a rotating periscope and three vision blocks; the improved SU-85M had the same casemate as the SU-100, with a commander's cupola as used on the T-34-85.

Service history

SU-85 tank destroyer of the Polish 13th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment. This vehicle is missing its right first road wheel and its front fenders.
The SU-85 entered combat in August 1943.
It saw active service in Soviet, Polish and Czechoslovak forces on the Eastern Front until the end of the war. It was obsolescent by 1945, and was withdrawn from active service not long after the war, to be exported to many Soviet client states in Europe and elsewhere.
The SU-85 remained in service longer in North Korea and Vietnam.
The similar SU-100 remained in service much longer, and some SU-85 and SU-100 were converted and used as command and recovery vehicles.