Captured German StuG III Assault Guns Studied and Rebuilt in Moscow, April 1942

November 26, 2025 - Reading time: 4 minutes

Soviet repair crews inspecting captured German StuG III assault guns in Moscow, later converted into SU-76i, April 1942.

This wartime photograph shows a Soviet tank repair brigade examining captured German StuG III Ausf. B assault guns at Repair Base No. 82 in the courtyard of the “Pod’yomnik” factory in Moscow in April 1942.

The vehicles seen in the image belonged to German assault gun units, including the 192nd Sturmgeschütz Battalion of the Wehrmacht and elements associated with the SS “Totenkopf” Division. After being captured on the Eastern Front, these armored vehicles were transported to Moscow not only for technical study, but for full-scale conversion into Soviet combat machines.

Instead of treating them purely as trophies, Soviet engineers turned these German StuG III chassis into a new fighting vehicle — the SU-76i. The rebuilt machine was armed with a 76.2-mm gun (the S-1, based on the ballistics of the famous F-34), giving the Red Army a fast way to replenish its self-propelled artillery units during the most difficult phase of the war.

Roughly two hundred such vehicles were produced from captured German equipment. This photograph captures a rare moment when enemy hardware was being stripped of its original purpose and transformed into a weapon that would soon be used against its former owners.

Technical Photo Data:

📍 Location: Moscow, USSR
📅 Date: April 1942
📝 Subject: Captured German StuG III assault guns being examined and prepared for conversion into SU-76i
📷 Photographer: Unknown

• StuG III Ausf B captured
• Soviet self-propelled gun development
• German assault guns in Soviet service
• Wartime tank rebuilding
• SU-76i production