If you've perused the comments on the latest Whatziss, you might think that *somebody* in that talent lineup (Maggie, Will the Sea Scout, AFSis, John) would have nailed it.
Mmmmmmmmmmmm -- no. Several in the "Close, but no cigar" category, though. It's an anti-tank gun, but not a 37mm (?!?) or a 90mm or an 8-incher (!!!). I won't keep you in suspense (hold the applause, please-and-thank-you) any longer -- meet the T-128 75mm anti-tank gun.
Right after the Korean War cranked up, US troops were tossed at the NORK advance as speed bumps. They promptly discovered that the only effect their (very few) anti-tank weapons had on the T-34s rolling their way was to chip the paint.
The home front rolled into action to produce a more effective anti-tank gun
Disregarding the Wehrmacht's seminal "Lessons Learned: The Futility of Engaging the Frontal Portion of a Farkin' T-34 with Anything Smaller than an 8.8cm Dual-Purpose Gun" -- Like, Say, with a 7.5cm Popgun...", Rock Island Arsenal mounted a -- you guessed it, 75mm -- high-velocity gun on a 76mm recoil cradle and carriage.
Initial production for the testbed guns began in late 1950 and halted shortly thereafter because someone figured you could manufacture a hundred 3.5" rocket launchers, train a hundred 3.5" rocket launcher teams and purchase each team a hundred 3.5" rockets for about the same cost as the gun.
Based on the manufacturing date (1950) and the serial number on both the recoil mechanism's cradle
and the gun carriage
I'd hazard the guess that the T-128 is extinct in the wild. 'Specially since neither Google nor the Rock Island Arsenal Museum even refer to it in passing. Hey! I'll betcha we'll be number one in Google for "T-128 Anti-Tank Gun" one of these days...
Sanger figured the gun shield east of the T-128 belonged to a field gun. Okay -- *which* particular field gun izzit?
Yeeee-hah, the Great Rolling Whatziss Contest has commenced...
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