Hi

I´m looking for a reference book covering the JSU-152. Does anybody here have any suggestions? I´m particularly interested in learning more about this JSU:



[:::] Jesper

Hej,

a pic of this vehicle can be found in Issue 171 of Wydawnictwo Militaria from Poland, where the drawing is published, to. Another source may be Armada Vertikal about cammo and marking, where a pic of this one (same as in the first source) and a second one of this unit can be seen.
It's caption says that the vehicles were member of 374. Heavy SPG Regiment (of 4. Tank Army) commanded by N.W.Smirnow. The pic is said to been taken in Juli 44 near Lwow.
#45 (and all the others as well) seems to be in a very pristine condition, as even the fenders are nearly new and not bent and the trackes almost straight. The left side doesn't show any tool attached to the left side (spade) nor their (tool) holders. Even the small plate holder (my suggestion) is missing (Tamiya-part #G24). As a nice addition there is a jerry can leaning in front of the first fuel tank.

Hope this helps?

Best wishes to sweden

Volker

Interestingly, my Cyber Hobby JSU-152 just arrived and #45 is one of the versions you can build, BUT, though it shows the three-tone camo, it differs makedly from the above image. Can someone please post the photo that was mentioned in the above message? Thanks, Danny

Hi, Danny
Here it is:




If you need more reference, such as manuals or books, let me know in PM

Gentlemen,

Emerging pet peeve of mine...the vehicle should correctly be termed ISU, not JSU, since the transliterated acronym stands for "Istrebitelnaja Samokhodnaya Ustanovka" (loosely translated as Bombardment Self-Propelled Mount).

The reason the "plate holder", which is the stowage bracket for the container than held the hydraulic fluid for the recoil/recuperator mechanism, is not present in the photo, is most likely that the vehicle shown in the photo was manufactured prior to the early summer of 1944. Before that time, the can and its bracket were mounted on the lower front hull between the towing shackles. This is borne out by the (apparent) single grab handle on the upper rear sides of the superstructure, which was also a feature of such early production examples.

Cheers,

Neil

Neil, I have a great respect for all the work you are doing, but...
1. The letter "I" in "ISU" has nothing to do with the word "istrebitel'naja" (истребительная). And never had!
2. And the word "истребительная" can never be translated as "Bombardment"! Even loosely.
Just curious, what are your sources for all of this?

Respectfully,
Alex

P.S.


One more correction if I may - that was a bracket for an actual pump (not a container) to pump that hydraulic fluid into the recoil/recuperator mechanism.*
*Source: "Самоходные Артиллерийские установки ИСУ-152М и ИСУ-152К. Техническое описание. Часть 1"

Oh my, I opened a can of worm there By the way, those two photos do not both show Number 45. The first photo, though it shows the number 4, has a different camo pattern then the one in the second photo. Not saying that the photos could not have been taken at different times, after a repaint, but I think they are taken at the same time/location. Matter of fact, the barrel of the very first ISU/JSU somehing SU, looks to have the identical camo as number 45 in the second photo. Danny

Hi Alex,

I'm happy to stand corrected on the 'istrebitel'naja' issue, and I honestly don't remember where I came across that piece of 'information'...I only know it was a long time ago and I scribbled it down in case I ever needed it. It always bugged me because as far as a I know, istrebitel'naja means 'destroyer'.

So if the Cyrillic 'C' doesn't stand for 'istrebitel'naja' do you have any idea what it does stand for? I'm suspicious of the obvious transition (IS to ISU).

The bracket on the hull front (later hull side) stowed a container on the SU-152 (according to the TM) and I made the assumption that it also did so on the ISU. I haven't gotten to the ISU TMs yet so if you have them and the information comes from there, again I stand corrected.

Neil

SU (СУ) - Samokhodnaya Ustanovka (self-propelled gun) - for example, SU-152 on KV tank chassis.

ISU (ИСУ) - we should understand as "IS-U" (not "I-SU"). "IS-U" means "IS-Ustanovka" (self-propelled gun on IS tank chassis) - for example, ISU-152 on IS-1 or IS-2 tank chassis.

This designation was adopted for SPGs on IS tank chassis to avoid mess with similar older SPGs on KV tank chassis.

There is more of a transition from SU to ISU. As Ed pointed out letter "I" was added to show that this SPG was build on the IS chassis.
As far as naming it ISU or JSU everything goes back to the tank itself. If you prefer to call it as Russian language would - Iosif Stalin, then it would be ISU-152. If you prefer western spelling - Joseph - that it would be JSU-152. I think it is more of an issue of a personal preference.



I will try to find more info on that, and maybe even a picture. But it would be strange for the same holder to have different purpose on SU and ISU. Could you post a scan of a page from SU manual where it says that, please?
If you need the ISU manual, I can upload the PDF file for you.

Hi Alex,

Yes, I understand the IS vs JS transliteration issue...if you transliterate directly from Cyrillic to English it becomes IS, but if you go from Russian to German to English, it becomes JS. I was just wary of the 'easy' answer that the 'I' in ISU was to denote that it was based on the IS chassis. If it is so, then it would make sense that vehicles based on the T-34 chassis would be TSU...but the designations tended to indicate usage rather than chassis (eg. ZSU, ASU). Of course, maybe that's just me being paranoid

I'll have to go digging for the SU-152 manual...it's on a CD somewhere in the pile of stuff I accumulated during the KV book research. I'd greatly appreciate a PDF of the ISU manual if you have one.

Cheers,

Neil

With help I was able to find what that pump looked like:



Neil, I sent you the links for ISU manuals in PM