In Combat Mission, they are a critical element in infantry only attacks against mechanized forces. These guns are moved by hand to the front. The AI in Combat Mission takes these guns very seriously, all too often dropping an artillery mission just to destroy these guns.

Four of these jewels we purchased for this attack scenario. One was destroyed along with a 45mmL66 antitank gun in an artillery mission. The other three survived.

We like these guns because they give good support to infantry advances, but we love them when they can target light armor. One gun nailed a German 37mm halftrack at about 500 meters, as well as destroyed two buildings hosting enemy infantry.

These guns can easily break German rifle units even those in foxholes.

It is easy to see why every Soviet rifle regiment, whether Guards or regular infantry units relied on these guns to deal with such long range threats in an infantry fight such as light armor, and crew served automatic weapons, and antitank guns, that regular infantry could not afford to engage at ranges which gave the defending Germans an advantage. Such guns fights could easily drain Soviet units of ammunition before they get a chance to close for close combat.