ZIS-3 field gun

The ZIS-3 is a divisional gun of 76.2 mm calibre. Work on it began in May 1941 in a design bureau headed by Vasily Grabin. The Red Army adopted it on 12 February 1942. Its development combined the need to equip artillery units with efforts to reduce manufacturing costs and labour.

The design used the carriage of the earlier ZIS-2 anti-tank gun. Split trails and a steel protective shield are among its characteristic features. A muzzle brake at the end of the barrel reduced recoil. This was a towed weapon, not a self-propelled one, so moving it required an external means of traction. Both horse teams and trucks were used.

Its sights allowed direct and indirect fire. The gun was used against armoured vehicles, field fortifications and infantry positions, not solely against tanks. Guns of this type had served with Polish forces on the Eastern Front since 1943. The Jelenia Góra example bears the number MWP 288, distinguishing it from other ZIS-3 guns recorded in the same collection.