Rare photo of SU-100 self-propelled gun protecting the northern border
The SU-100 self-propelled anti-tank gun of the Vietnam People's Army was used quite limitedly on the battlefield, so images of it are very rare.
The SU-100 is a self-propelled tank destroyer that was born in the late stages of World War II. It is essentially an upgraded version of the previous generation SU-85, which used the chassis of the T-34-85 medium tank.
The SU-100's weapon consists solely of a 100 mm D-10S twisted barrel gun (similar to the type mounted on the T-54/55 tank), which can penetrate 125 mm thick armor perpendicular to the ground at a distance of 2 km, and penetrate the 85 mm sloped armor of a Panther tank (Germany) at a distance of 1.5 km.
Vietnam received an unspecified number of SU-100s from the Soviet Union in the mid-1960s.
However, the SU-100's combat record is extremely poor. Its disadvantage is that it does not have a turret, so shooting at flank targets requires rotating the entire vehicle.
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| Vietnam's SU-100 self-propelled tank destroyer in the combat component of the Marine Corps. |
Today, the SU-100 self-propelled artillery is still in service with the Armored Corps, but most of it is in storage and ready for combat.
Others are part of the Marine Corps' combat component, tasked with coastal defense.
Although the D-10S gun is not very effective against modern tanks, it can still penetrate the armor of light tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers and other vehicles.
With the ready-made firing element, the SU-100 will overcome the disadvantage of not having a turret. Moreover, when defending the coast, its combat targets all have very fragile armor, unable to withstand the destructive power of 100mm bullets, so it is predicted that it will be a long time before the SU-100 officially receives its retirement book.
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| SU-100 self-propelled tank destroyer in a joint military exercise. |
However, very few people know that in the 1980s, when the situation at the northern border was still very tense, the SU-100 self-propelled gun was also one of the vehicles brought to the front line for defense missions.
The photo above shows the SU-100 self-propelled gun of the 203rd Armored Brigade - 2nd Corps during a joint military exercise in the 1980s.
Similar to its current role in the Marine Corps, this vehicle is well suited to defensive operations in mountainous terrain with pre-positioned firing elements.
The SU-100's main target at the northern border at that time was the Type 62 light tank, which also had very weak armor and the D-10S cannon was completely capable of penetrating it.