Tank units armed with heavy tanks report instances where the spent brass catcher is removed from the 122 mm D-25 gun because it stops the spent brass from extracting fully.
The incomplete extraction of the brass is intentional and aids in reducing the fumes in the fighting compartment, as a portion of the fumes exit out of the gun barrel before it is removed.
I ask you to instruct tank units to stop removing the brass catcher as its absence results in serious bruising of the loader.
Chief of the Tank Usage Directorate of the GBTU, Major General of the Tank Engineering Service, Pechenikin
Chief of the 1st Department of the Tank Usage Directorate of the GBTU, Engineer-Colonel Oleinikov"
CAMD RF F.38 Op.11362 D.116 L.19
Printed in Glavnoye Bronetankovoye Upravleniye Lyudi, Sobytiya, Fakty v dokumentakh, 1944-1945 p.449