Tanks are an essential element of armed maneuver warfare. Yet, even this high-value, powerful weapon remains vulnerable to infantry anti-tank tactics especially in urban or confined environments. Hence, infantry accompany tanks to assist in suppressing possible anti-tank action.
During the Second World War, the Soviet tacticians incorporated joint infantry and tank attacks against German forces, both serving in roles to protect the other. Performance was less than desirable as infantry lacked the armored protection and rapid mobility of the tank, and thus unarmoured troops were vulnerable to enemy fire. This led to employment of armoured infantry carriage vehicles known as APCs which overcame these shortcomings.(Perrett 1987:65)
After the war, Soviet military analysed the high infantry casualty rate of combined infantry-tank attacks and concluded the lack of APCs were a major cause. This vulnerability in maneuver warfare was given high priority to remedy. The Soviet military industrial complex had its own designs, Lend-Lease vehicles such as the M3 Half-track and newly acquired German SdKfz 251 to serve as reference. (Perrett 1987:65)
The BTR-152 was one of the first Soviet armoured infantry vehicle after the Second World War. It was developed from November 1946 at ZiS plant by a team (it included K. M. Androsow, A. P. Pietrenko, W. F. Rodionow and P. P. Czerniajew)[1] led by B. M. Fitterman. The first two prototypes were completed in May 1947 and were followed by three experimental series. The vehicle was adopted by the Soviet Army on 24 March 1950.
The vehicle was based on the existing ZiS-151 truck chassis. Despite an improved engine, the addition of 5 tons of armour resulted in the vehicle having insufficient mobility.
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