Development During
World War II,
Red Army tacticians favored
combined arms offensives, which emphasized the deployment of light infantry in concert with tanks. However, the Soviet infantrymen lacked the armored protection and rapid mobility of the tanks, and remained comparatively vulnerable to enemy fire. By the end of the war, the initial Soviet tactic of
tank desant, in which the infantry rode into battle atop the tanks they were supporting, had been superseded by the introduction of
M3 Half-tracks and
M3 White armored cars. These were widely used for troop transport, giving rise to a new doctrine in which armored vehicles capable of keeping pace with tanks brought infantry to an engagement. The infantrymen would then disembark and enter combat on foot. Wartime experiences demonstrated that the Red Army had an urgent postwar requirement for more wheeled armored vehicles, and the general staff specified a new reconnaissance vehicle and armored personnel carrier (APC). Existing M3 half-tracks and captured German
Sd.Kfz. 251s were studied as potential references for the upcoming design. Soviet BTR-152s were produced between 1950 and 1959, being supplemented by the BTR-60 from 1960 onwards.
Service . BTR-152s first saw combat during the
Hungarian Revolution of 1956, when they were deployed by the 12th Motorized Brigade of the Soviet
Internal Troops to crush Hungary's fledgling uprising. The BTRs were deployed in
Budapest and other settlements, as well as on the Hungarian border with
Austria. Nevertheless, failure to coordinate combined arms maneuvers often left the Syrian motorized infantry separated from their supporting tank formations and vulnerable to Israeli heavy armor. BTR-152s were deployed by the
National Liberation Front of Chad (FROLINAT) during the
First Chadian Civil War, and were instrumental in a motorized assault on
Salal in April 1978. The BTRs were knocked out by
Panhard AML-90 armored cars of the
French Foreign Legion. Libyan mechanized battalions also deployed BTR-152s in Chad during the
Chadian-Libyan conflict, often in concert with tank companies or
EE-9 Cascavels. Several were destroyed after taking direct hits from AML-90 cannon fire or
SS.11 anti-tank missiles. About half of Somalia's BTR-152s appear to have been lost in the Ogaden conflict. Soviet weapons deliveries to
Ethiopia accelerated after the outbreak of war, and starting in March 1977 included 40 BTR-152s appropriated from the Soviet Army's reserve stocks. These vehicles were mostly BTR-152Vs but also included the BTR-152A anti-aircraft variant. The Soviet Union donated at least six BTR-152s to
Mozambique shortly after that country's independence in the mid-1970s. as well as in
search and destroy operations mounted near
Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO) strongholds. It is likely that all Mozambique's BTR-152s were eliminated by land mines or Rhodesian air strikes; A second shipment of BTR-152s was delivered to the
People's Forces of Liberation of Mozambique (FPLM) in 1983, but it remains unclear whether these were deployed in front-line service. ==Description==