M-160 mortar

The 160-mm mortar of the 1943 model (factory index MT-13, GRAU index 52-M-852, also known as M-43) was a Soviet 160-mm mortar, the most powerful mortar of the Red Army during World War II.

The development of the 160-mm shell-firing mortar began in early 1942 at the Scientific Research Institute of the People’s Commissariat for Armaments, under the leadership of G.D. Shirenin. From December 31, 1942, I.G. Teverovsky took over the project. In 1943, an experimental model of the 160-mm mortar, which received the MT-13 index, was produced in the Urals, and the chief engineer L.G. Shershenn took part in its production.

The development was approved by I.V. Stalin and was adopted on January 17, 1944, under the name “160-mm mortar of the 1943 model.” On January 22, 1944, by the order of the People's Commissariat for Armaments, production of the mortar began at the Tula Machine-Building Plant (plant No. 535), and by the end of the year, 593 mortars had been produced. In total, from 1944 to August 1947, 1557 MT-13 mortars of three main modifications were produced.