12-1961 OPANCERZONY TRANSPORTER BTR-152

The BTR-152 wheeled armored personnel carrier was developed shortly after the end of World War II, in 1946-1947 at the ZIS plants. The vehicle entered service with the Soviet Army in 1950. Serial production of the vehicle took place in 1950-1962, and the total production of the car is estimated at around 12,400 units of all versions. The vehicle was powered by a 110 HP six-cylinder carburettor engine and took up to 17 landing troops. The crew consisted of two people: the commander and the mechanic-driver. The BTR-152 wheeled APC was characterized by very well-shaped armor, which favored the ricochet of small-caliber weapons, as well as the favorable location of manholes for landing troops, which were located at the rear of the vehicle. Another advantage was the mounting of the 10RT-12 radio (on some cars). A major disadvantage turned out to be the exposed landing compartment, which in fact made it impossible for the BTR-152 vehicles to operate in the face of weapons of mass destruction, as well as the completely exposed position of a soldier operating the main armament of the vehicle: a 7.62 mm machine gun. Despite these disadvantages, the BTR-152 was the basic equipment of Soviet mechanized divisions in the 1950s and 1960s. It was also used in interventions in Hungary in 1956 and in Czechoslovakia in the suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968. The BTR-152 was also widely exported to the Warsaw Pact countries (including Poland) and to the Third World countries.