Organization and Employment
The D-1 was employed by corps artillery and the reserve of the main command units. In 1944, the rifle corps of the Red Army had one artillery regiment each. Those regiments consisted of five batteries (totaling 20 guns), equipped with the D-1 along with various other 152 mm howitzers, 122 mm gun M1931/37 (A-19), 152 mm howitzer-gun M1937 (ML-20) or 107 mm gun M1910/30. Reserve of the Main Command included howitzer regiments (48 pieces) and heavy howitzer brigades (32 pieces). Those could be merged to form artillery divisions.
The Red Army employed D-1 howitzers from 1944 onwards, during the final stages of World War II. The D-1 was used primarily used against personnel, fortifications and key structures in the enemy rear. The anti-concrete G-530 shell was also sometimes used against armored vehicles with good results. During its service the gun earned a reputation for being reliable and accurate. The D-1 was finally withdrawn from service in the mid-seventies.
After the war the gun was supplied to many countries around the globe, including former Warsaw Pact allies, such as Poland. As of the early 2000s it remains in service in Afghanistan, Albania, China, Cuba, Hungary, Iraq, Mozambique, Syria, Vietnam and other countries. The gun was employed in the Arab-Israeli Conflict and also in some conflicts in former republics of Soviet Union. The long operational history of D-1 howitzers in the national armies of numerous countries is an additional testimony to its qualities.
Surviving D-1 howitzers can be seen in various military museums and war memorials, e. g. in the Museum of Artillery and Engineering Forces, Saint Petersburg, Russia; in the Museum of Heroic Defense and Liberation of Sevastopol on Sapun Mountain, Sevastopol; in the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, Kiev, Ukraine; in Poznań Citadel, Poland and in Polatsk, Belarus, as a memorial piece.
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D-1 in Polatsk.
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D-1 in Poznań citadel.
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D-1 in the Museum of Artillery, Saint Petersburg.
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D-1 in the Museum on Sapun Mountain, Sevastopol
Read more about this topic: 152 Mm Howitzer M1943 (D-1)
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