Does anyone know whether it's been ascertained with 100% certainty whether or not any early JS-3s saw action against the Japanese in Manchuria at the fag-end of World War 2?

- Steve

That is a very good question, I have been trying to ascertain the same solid answer for myself. My only information sources have simply suggested that they were present in Manchuria very late in WWII.

It would be very funny to se a BT 7 and da IS 3 near each other in Manchuria

Rumors....rumors.....but no hard evidence (photos) have surfaced.

One fact I do know: JS-3 turrets were mounted on concrete gun emplacements along the Sino-Soviet border. The turrets came from scrapped/retired JS-1/2/3 tanks.

The JS seriers of tanks were very expensive to manufacture and maintain. The cost of ownership of this series was very high leading to a short or limited service life with the Soviet army.
Rob

Wow! Wouldn't that be a sight!! Add a few knocked out Type 94 and 95 tankettes and we'd have one very interesting scene

20 years after the time frame he's asking about.




Where did you get that information? Mechanically, they were much the same as a JS2, a very robust vehicle. It was the heavy tank concept that fell out of favor.

The "expensive to produce and maintain" comes from the Osprey Scud Missiles book by Steven Zaloga. The Original Scud TELs were on JS chassis and it was determined too expensive to produce and maintain. That's one of the reasons Scud TELs were changed to wheeled vehicles (MAZ).

The other reason for the Scud move was the tracked vehicle's ride was too rough and often damaged the delicate missiles.

I do agree with you on the heavy tank falling out of favor but the above mentioned factors played a role, along with the fact that the Soviets wanted to concentrate production on T-55 due to cost issues.

Rob

There was also issues with the welds on the JS-3....they would break open....there was also issues with the bottom of the hull twisting and racking. The JS-3 was an interesting desing, but it had it's problems.

JS-3's were good vehicles but never really met expectations over thier lifetime. This was due to many factors including engine and post war in-fighting/tank design philosophy.

The Osprey book deals with the SCUD-A, not the JS-3. The quote does not refer to the JS-3.

JS-3's in Manchuria are rumor. They show up in the Russian Far East in, I believe 1946, for sure. They could have been there earlier, but no pics so far. Although...no pictures of a KV-II interior but we believe it had one and not a lot of Russia vs. Japan pics out there, but we all believe the Russians fought them.