Trophy Jagdpanzer IV tank destroyer in Red Army, 1945 picture.
Captured Hummel SPGs 53 and 41 in Red Army, 1945 photo.
During the war, the Soviets captured many enemy armored fighting vehicles, and pressed to own service a part of them.
Also, in 1943 it was decided to use big storages of German tanks to convert
them to assault guns designated SU-76i ("inostrannij" = foreign).
SU-76i self-propelled gun
The modifications consisted of the removal of the turret and upper part of the hull in case of PzKpfwIII / PzKpfwIV and the
superstructure in case of StugIII, while all other components remain unchanged. Modified vehicles were mounted with
welded boxy superstructures (forward armor 35mm, side and rear armor 15-25mm)
which housed 76.2mm F-34 or 76.2mm ZIS-5 tank gun and storage space for 98 rounds. SU-76i was operated by the
crew of four, who had a submachineguns and a hand grenades for local defense. A driver used the
unchanged German equipment, while other equipment was of Soviet origin.
SU-76i weighted about 22t; it could travel at the
maximum speed of 40km/h as the base tanks. 201 of such SPGs were built, including 20 command SU-76i.
In Augst 1943, 1902th SAP had 15 SU-76i and five SU-76. Also, 1901st SAP and 1903rd SAP were equipped by SU-76i.