The ZiS-3 was a truly multi-purpose weapon that was used as artillery and as an anti-tank gun by the Red Army. The Germans came to know it well and a dubbed it the 'Ratsch-Baum' ('crash-boom') for its distinctive sound.
By the battle of Kursk in 1943, ZiS-3 batteries were routinely dug in to fire initially as howitzers and then switch to an anti-tank role to stop breakthroughs.
