M-30 divisional howitzer

The M-30 is a divisional howitzer of 122 mm calibre, developed to a design by Fyodor Petrov. The Red Army adopted it in 1939. It reached Polish units formed during the war in 1943, and its service did not end with Germany's surrender.

After the war, the M-30 equipped light-artillery regiments. Production of the type also began in Poland at Huta Stalowa Wola. The museum's example dates from 1954: a post-war object representing a pre-war design. The model year, adoption date and year of manufacture of a particular howitzer are three different stages in its history.

Calibre describes the bore diameter, not the size of the whole gun. The M-30 weighed about 2,450 kg in firing position, while a high-explosive fragmentation shell weighed around 21.8 kg. A wartime Polish light-artillery regiment was intended to have 24 ZIS-3 guns and 12 howitzers of this model. The two types were not substitutes: they formed complementary parts of divisional artillery equipment.