Press service of the 241st Territorial Defense Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces showed some photos taken during the unit's training in the fall of 2023. In these pictures, we can see perhaps the most unusual "gun-truck" ever spotted in the hands of Ukrainians since the beginning of the russian full-scale military invasion of their country.
The vehicle is made of a Tatra truck with a KS-19 anti-aircraft gun of 100mm caliber, which was adopted as early as the late 1940s, it went through the wars in Korea and Vietnam. More photos of this "gun-truck" are available on the Brigade's social page.
Read more: The russian Invaders Showcased Various Designs of Protective Grilles on the T-62 Tanks and BTS-4 Vehicle
Though the unusual thing here is not only the gun or the fact that Tatra trucks are not yet widely used in Ukraine. The most interesting part is where exactly these KS-19s could have come from. In summer 2023, these guns were also seen in the towed version in service with Ukrainian forces.
The first option is that the KS-19s could have been taken from the storage of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The second is that they were seized in battle: at least four of them were abandoned by russians during Ukraine's Kharkiv counteroffensive in fall 2022. Worth noting, there are no indications of how many KS-19 guns are currently in service with the Ukrainian military.
A few words on the specifications of the KS-19: rate of fire 15 rpm, range of fire up to 20 km against ground targets, or 15 km altitude against air targets. The actual performance of this gun in practice is unknown.
Another interesting issue is where Ukrainians take 100mm ammunition for the KS-19. Here we have several possibilities as well: either Ukrainian stocks or supplies from partner countries, be it military aid donations or procured via contracts from manufacturers of Soviet-standard weapons.
Earlier Defense Express highlighted one more unique creation of Ukrainian ingenuity, the improvised hybrid of a D-44 gun combined with an MT-LB vehicle, sort of an armored "cabriolet" with an artillery cannon.
Read more: D-44 Gun Combined With MT-LB in an Improvised Hybrid for Ukrainian Army
