160mm Mortar Battery - SU753

Includes four mortars with crew, four large bases and a base plug sprue.

The 160mm Mortar obr. 1943 was the heaviest mortar used by the Soviets in World War II. It was able to deliver a hefty payload up to 5000 metres and to fire 10 rounds per minute.

It was originally conceived as simply a larger version of the 120-PM-38 mortar. However, with a 160mm bomb weighing 40kg, lifting it up to the muzzle of a 3-metre-long mortar tube was hardly practical! It was redesigned as a breech-loading weapon. A recoil system was added, to prevent the shock of firing a 160mm bomb from driving the baseplate into the ground. Because of the weapon’s weight (more than a metric ton), wheels were added to allow it to be towed behind a vehicle. With all these modifications, it began to resemble a howitzer as much as a traditional mortar. However, it was less costly and resource-intensive to manufacture than similar calibre guns and howitzers.

For Flames of war, soviet Berlin, by Battlefront Miniatures