From the first days of the Great Patriotic War our ground forces felt the power of the attacks of German tanks and aircraft. The insufficiency of anti-aircraft defense and anti-aircraft defense equipment in parts of the Red Army immediately manifested itself. The main burden of the fight against the air enemy fell on the military air defense, which consisted of army air defense regiments (three four-gun batteries of 37-mm cannons and two companies of DShK anti-aircraft machine guns) and separate anti-aircraft artillery battalions (twelve 37-mm cannons) rifle divisions, it should be noted that until 1944, understaffing in units was a constant norm. By the beginning of the battle on the Kursk Bulge, according to the state, our tank corps from the funds air defense had only one anti-aircraft artillery regiment (16 DShK and 16 37-mm guns) to cover 180-200 tanks, and brigades of 9-12 DShK for 53-65 combat vehicles. The brigade was supposed to have a company of 9-12 large-caliber anti-aircraft machine guns DShK or quad "Maxim" mounted on trucks. In practice, often the brigade did not have anti-aircraft machine guns at all, or there was a large shortage of them. So, - on June 28, 1943, the 180th brigade had no anti-aircraft weapons at all, and the 192nd brigade had 3 DShKs. http://militera.lib.ru/h/zamulin_vn/02.html

But if for anti-tank weapons we had designs that were quite suitable in terms of efficiency and mastery of production, and the main issue was the resumption of their production (erroneously stopped before the war) in sufficient quantities, then the air defense of the troops was in a more disastrous state. Small-caliber automatic anti-aircraft guns able to effectively deal with a low-altitude air enemy was clearly not enough. There were two reasons - the 37-mm cannon 61-K arr. 1939 was adopted too late, and the 25-mm automatic anti-aircraft gun mod. 1940 appeared even later and until 1943 the production of these guns was extremely small. The second reason was that anti-aircraft guns are the most advanced and complex view artillery, which significantly hampered the development in production.

The situation was aggravated by the problem of mass evacuation of industry, which led to the disruption of supplier ties, the cessation of certain production facilities for a certain period, and, in general, a slow increase in output at new locations of enterprises. Soviet anti-aircraft guns were quite modern and not much inferior to German or British guns, their main drawback was the lack of development in production and the small number of troops.

The shortfall in all air defense systems in the troops was very, very large.

The most likely means of combating attack aircraft and dive bombers in the frontline zone were anti-aircraft machine guns. Designers at this stage could design and manufacture anti-aircraft installations only on the basis of small arms. Moreover, the production of machine guns turned out to be several best position than manufacturers of artillery systems. However, it should be noted that both the availability and release of ZPU at the beginning of the war were clearly not sufficient. The shortage of installations only in the air defense units was estimated at about 3000 units.

Fundamentally suitable for the purposes of military air defense were only two machine guns - "Maxim" and DShK. Aviation ShVAK and ShKAS and later UBS were used only in "handicraft" performance.

For "maxim" there were already anti-aircraft machine gun installations (ZPU), created in versions - single, twin and quadruple installation. The latter - the 1931 model - had a sufficient density of fire in the range of ranges up to 500 m. But the power of the rifle cartridge when operating on modern air targets was clearly. insufficient Already in the middle of the war, it became clear that the growth of speeds, as well as the growth of security and survivability of aviation, did not allow the ZPU, created on the basis of rifle-caliber Maxim machine guns, to effectively deal with enemy combat aircraft. Nevertheless, despite the fact that since February 1943, the 7.62-mm quad ZPU designed by Tokarev was withdrawn as obsolete from the anti-aircraft regiments of the anti-aircraft divisions of the RGK, the installations fought in the army until the very end of the war .. The installation weighed about half a ton and to increase mobility they were mounted on trucks. Self-propelled units with DShK were also used - mainly GAZ-AA or ZiS trucks installed in the back of a DShK anti-aircraft machine.

But even in this form, they were suitable only for air defense of nearby rear stationary objects - airfields, headquarters, transport hubs and storage points. In the advanced battle formations of the troops, due to the limited patency of the base chassis and the absolute insecurity of the calculations, it was impossible to use ZPU

The natural solution was to place the DShK on a protected light tank self-propelled base. At the same time, the possibility of creating multi-barrel installations was facilitated and the problems of increasing the transportable ammunition load were simplified. To implement the project in the second half of 1942, the factories developed and manufactured three samples self-propelled units on the basis of light tanks that were in production. Their competitive bids were presented - plant N 37 NKTP - in two versions - based on the T-60 and T-70 chassis and GAZ - based on the T-70M.http://armor.kiev.ua/Tanks/WWII/T90/t90 .php Upon completion of the tests, the “anti-aircraft” light tanks on the T-60 and T-70 chassis remained experimental, as did the multi-barreled installations (the built-in 12.7-mm anti-aircraft installations found limited use - Moscow's air defense). The failures of the built-in installations were associated, first of all, with the power supply system, which did not allow changing the direction of supply (left-right).

Created samples of mobile anti-aircraft installations were not accepted into service and in mass production didn't go. The only ZSUs in service with the Red Army were the American quad 12.7-mm M2NV Browning installations of the M-17 type, created on the basis of the M3 half-track armored personnel carriers. as armament of American tanks and armored personnel carriers. The characteristics of the weapon were close to the DShK, with the exception of the more powerful shot of the Soviet machine gun.

A serial twin machine-gun ZSU M13 (1942) on the chassis of a half-track armored personnel carrier M3 carried a Maxson turret. In parallel, the installation of the M45 “Maxson” turret with quad machine guns and an electric power drive was carried out on the chassis of half-track armored personnel carriers. These ZSUs were designated M16 and M17 (a total of 1273 pieces were delivered to the Red Army). The accuracy of fire of anti-aircraft machine-gun installations to a very large extent depends on the properties of the platform on which they are installed; from sighting devices and devices for shooting; as well as on the working conditions of the calculation, its training; on target parameters and some other factors.
The highest practical rate of fire in anti-aircraft machine gun installations is provided by belt feed, which makes it possible to conduct continuous accompanying fire for 15 - 20 seconds. Such a duration of firing approximately corresponds to the longest time that an overflying aircraft stays in the zone of actual fire of the installation. bratishka.ru/archiv/2007/11/2007_11_8.php

The M45 "Maxson" mechanized installation in combat position (with a gunner) weighed about 960 kg, provided circular fire, with good hitting accuracy in height up to 1000m and elevation angles up to +90 degrees, declination - up to -10 degrees, stepless guidance with speed up to 60 deg./s in both planes. It consisted of a fixed base and a rotary turret rotating on ball bearings and a gasoline-electric power drive. Sight - collimator Mk-IX with illuminated reticle.

The M3 armored personnel carriers armed with a .12.7mm M2NV “Browning” machine gun, which had good mobility and reliability, were in service with reconnaissance and headquarters units. ZSU based on the M3 armored personnel carrier were also used mainly for the defense of military air defense facilities - headquarters, bridges, transport hubs, etc. Accompanied by supply columns or direct air defense troops, such ZSUs were used sporadically. Nevertheless, the loss of vehicles in the Red Army decreased from 14.1% in 1942 to 3.9% in 1945, of the total number of vehicles received by the troops. Despite shortages and equipment problems modern technology, anti-aircraft artillery of the fronts and the RVGK divisions attached to them made a significant contribution to the overall victory in the Great Patriotic War. During the war, 21645 aircraft were shot down by ground means of military air defense, of which: FOR medium caliber - 4047 aircraft; FOR small caliber - 14657 aircraft; anti-aircraft machine guns- 2401 aircraft; machine-gun fire - 540 aircraft, which accounted for 33% of the total number of Luftwaffe aircraft.

Air Defense Forces during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) Teacher: Sergey Mavrin
Valerievich
Performed by: Vernokhaeva A.N. and
Tkachenko A. Yu.
"A" flow. 12th group of the Faculty of Medicine.
year 2012

Air defense - a set of measures to ensure protection
(defense) from enemy air attack means
April 8 Day of the Air Defense Forces (Day of the Air Defense Forces)
In April 1942, the Moscow Air Defense Front was formed, and in Leningrad and
Baku created air defense armies. The first operational formations appeared
Air defense troops.
In June 1943, the Office of the Commander of the Air Defense Forces of the territory
countries were disbanded. After the reorganizations by April
1944, the Western and Eastern fronts were created, as well as
Transcaucasian air defense zone, which in the same year were reorganized into
Northern, Southern and Transcaucasian air defense fronts.
The air defense forces that defended Moscow were reorganized into a Special
Moscow Air Defense Army. In the Far East in March 1945 there were
three air defense armies were created: Primorskaya, Amurskaya, Zabaikalskaya.

On November 9, 1941, the post of Commander of the Air Defense Forces of the country was introduced and Major General Gromadin was appointed to it.

The war found the air defense forces in the period of their rearmament. In anti-aircraft artillery, there were still few new 37-mm automatic and 85-mm anti-aircraft guns. IN

Yak-1
MIG-3

By the beginning of the massive Nazi air raids, these formations included over 600 fighters, more than 1000 medium guns and few

Transportation of gas for a balloon

The air defense forces defending Moscow destroyed 738 enemy aircraft. In addition, the 6th Fighter Aviation Corps, inflicting assault strikes,

an aerostat is an aircraft lighter than air, using for flight the lift force of a gas (or heated air) enclosed in a shell with

Widely used to protect
cities, industrial areas,
factories, government buildings
naval bases, etc. from
air attacks.
For precision bombing aircraft
compelled to stoop low and
fly directly over
object. It is in such
places, right above the roofs of buildings,
over bridges, over factory
pipes and launched balloons
barriers, preventing enemy
bombers to bring down on
the object is a flurry of fire.

The action of the barrage balloons was designed to damage aircraft in a collision with cables, shells or suspended from tr

Observation balloon

According to the type of filling balloons are divided into:
gas - charliers,
thermal - hot air balloons,
combined - rosiers.
The height of the "hover" of the balloon
calculated very accurately.
The enemy aircraft could not fly up
under the balloon: when bombing with
such a low height car would
just covered with an explosive wave from
own bombs. What if the plane
dropped bombs from above, they
destroyed the balloon (it also absorbed
and splinters) that gently
collapsed on or near an object
him. Even when the balloon hung on
high altitude high, the pilot is not
could fly under it: they interfered
cables that hold the air
giant.

devices for cutting ropes of barrage balloons

The Germans tried very hard to protect their own
aircraft from "attacks" of balloons. On
bombers were installed paravanes.
Paravane is a triangle of cables,
connecting the nose of the aircraft (elongated
a special pole) and the ends of its wings.
The balloon cable just slipped off
aircraft, without clinging to the propellers or
other protruding parts.
There were other solutions as well. On the wings
installed blades for cutting cables
(they helped, frankly, weakly), and
aircraft were equipped with squibs for
burning balloons.

Aerostat ready for launch
barriers in front of the Bolshoi
theater in Moscow

In addition to trucks, Katyushas were also equipped with water transport - armored boats and specialized ships to support the landing of seas.

Katyusha
unofficial Soviet collective name for domestic military
rocket launchers BM-13 (rocket artillery vehicles.)
1941 - the first salvo of the famous Katyushas thundered. In 1921, the developers N.I. Tikhomirov, V.A.
Artemiev
-

Another exotic version. The guides on which the shells were mounted were called ramps. Raise the forty-two-kilogram projectile

Another option is that the name is associated with the “K” index on the mortar body - the installations were produced by the Kalinin plant (according to another source

"Night Witches"

46th Guards Taman Red Banner Order of Suvorov 3rd
degree night bomber aviation regiment (46gv. nbap)
- women's aviation regiment as part of the USSR Air Force during
Great Patriotic War.
During the war years, 23 servicemen of the regiment were awarded the title
hero Soviet Union

Sebrova Irina Fedorovna Guards Senior Lieutenant 1004 sorties.

Guards Senior Lieutenant Meklin Natalya Fedorovna - 980 sorties. Awarded 23 February 1945.

Aronova Raisa Ermolaevna Guards Senior Lieutenant 960 sorties. Awarded 15 May 1946.

During the war, organizationally took shape as a kind of anti-aircraft defense troops
artillery and fighter aircraft.
During the Second World War, the Air Defense Forces successfully coped with their tasks. They
ensured the defense of industry and communications, allowing a breakthrough to
objects only individual aircraft, as a result of which there were
short-term stoppages of enterprises and violations in the movement of trains
on certain sections of the railroads.
In carrying out their tasks, the Air Defense Forces of the country's territory destroyed 7313
aircraft of the German fascist aviation, of which 4168 by the forces of the IA and
3145 anti-aircraft artillery, machine-gun fire and barrage balloons.
Over 80,000 soldiers, sergeants, officers and generals of the Air Defense Forces were
were awarded orders and medals, and 92 soldiers were awarded a high rank
Hero of the Soviet Union and 1 - twice.

And today they rightfully remain at the forefront of the defense of the Fatherland

Every year on the second Sunday of April, the whole country, its Armed Forces, veterans of military service celebrate the Day of Air Defense Troops. This holiday was established by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of February 20, 1975 in honor of the great merits of the Air Defense Forces in the Great Patriotic War and their performance of especially important tasks in peacetime.

Domestic air defense has a long and very difficult story. Its beginning can be considered the decision taken by the military command of Russia in December 1914 to deploy anti-aircraft (then called air) defense of the capital - St. Petersburg and the imperial residence in Tsarskoye Selo. In subsequent years, the air defense of Odessa and a number of other cities was created.

At the same time, even then the basic principles of such defense were formulated, which are still relevant today: the integrated use of various means, including ground (anti-aircraft) and air (aviation); concentration of the main forces on the defense of the most important objects; circular construction of the defense of objects with its strengthening in the most dangerous directions; the creation of a reconnaissance system in the form of a network of observation points (on the defense of St. Petersburg and Odessa, these points were combined into a "radio-telegraphic air defense").

The beginning of the creation of air defense in the USSR should be considered 1924-1925, when, under the leadership of M.V. Frunze, a military reform began to be carried out in the country. In the course of the reform, a strategically absolutely correct understanding of the huge prospects was developed military aviation and the extent of its threat in future wars. And most importantly, it was recognized as important and necessary to organize an active fight against enemy military aircraft.

To do this, it was proposed to create special air defense forces on the basis of anti-aircraft (anti-aircraft) weapons (since August 1924, the term "air defense" began to be used). These troops were to be used in cooperation with the Air Force fighter aircraft.

Here we should pay attention to one more important aspect: already in those years, the authors of the military reform understood that the rapidly developing military aviation would sharply increase the depth of the zone of armed struggle, cover not only the front, but also the rear of the country; accordingly, the air defense troops must solve the tasks of repelling air strikes both on the active troops and on objects and communications in the rear. Thus, for the first time, the need for the creation and development of military air defense and air defense of the country was declared.

After the sudden death of M. V. Frunze, the military reform was essentially curtailed. The development and comprehension of conceptual provisions in the field of building air defense was not completed either. At the same time, part of the developments was put into practice.

In 1925, the Red Army Headquarters developed proposals for organizing the air defense of the USSR and creating bodies to manage it in the center and in the field. In the same year, the directive of the Headquarters of the Red Army announced that the Headquarters of the Red Army was starting to organize the country's air defense. The directive formulated the tasks of the country's air defense in peacetime and wartime, their difference from the tasks in the front line.

With the radar of the P-35/37 family, the creation of the country's radar field began
Photo: Alexey MATVEEV

In 1927, a department was created at the Headquarters of the Red Army, which in 1930 was transformed into the 6th Air Defense Directorate of the Headquarters of the Red Army. Given the ever-increasing importance of air defense, in May 1932 the 6th Directorate was reorganized into the Air Defense Directorate of the Red Army, directly subordinate to the People's Commissar of Defense. At the same time, despite the official division of air defense into military air defense and air defense of the country, all air defense forces on the ground were subordinate to the commanders of the military districts.

The basis of the air defense forces were formations and units of anti-aircraft artillery. They also included units and subunits of anti-aircraft machine guns, anti-aircraft searchlights, air barrage balloons, air surveillance, warning and communications troops (VNOS). Fighter aircraft of the Air Forces of the military districts were not included in the Air Defense Forces and were involved in the fight against an air enemy on the basis of interaction.

From the beginning of the 1930s the process of a significant build-up of air defense forces and assets in the border military districts began. In 1932, the first anti-aircraft artillery divisions were formed. In 1937, for the defense of Moscow, Leningrad and Baku, air defense corps were formed, and for the defense of other large cities (Kyiv, Minsk, Odessa, Batumi, etc.) - divisions and separate air defense brigades.

In February 1941, 4 months before the start of the war, the entire border area of ​​the country was divided into air defense zones, the boundaries of responsibility of which were combined with the boundaries of military districts. In total, 13 air defense zones of the country's territory (air defense of the CU) were created. In 9 air defense zones of the CU with large spatial dimensions, brigade areas of the air defense of the CU were created. There were 36 such districts. In a number of air defense districts, air defense points were allocated - separate objects covered by units and subunits of anti-aircraft artillery.

The commanders of the air defense zones of the CU were the assistants to the commanders of the troops of the military districts. The exceptions were the Central (Moscow) and Northern (Leningrad) zones of the air defense of the CU, where the commanders of the 1st and 2nd air defense corps, respectively, were appointed commanders. The commanders of the air defense zones found themselves in dual subordination - the military districts and the Main Air Defense Directorate of the Red Army (the latter was formed in 1940 on the basis of the Air Defense Directorate of the Red Army). Practice has shown that such dual command is ineffective.

In the last pre-war years, the air defense forces were intensively equipped with new weapons and equipment. The anti-aircraft artillery unit began to receive 37-mm automatic and 85-mm anti-aircraft guns, artillery anti-aircraft fire control devices - PUAZO-2 and PUAZO-3. Since 1939, the VNOS service began to receive the first domestic detection radars RUS-1 and RUS-2.

The industry mass-produced searchlights, sound collectors and air barrage balloons. From 1940, the Yak-1 and MiG-3 fighters began to enter service with fighter aviation, and from 1941 - LaGG-3.

However, there was not enough time for sufficient rearmament of the air defense forces.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, shortcomings in the organization of the country's air defense were sharply revealed, when all air defense forces were subordinated to the fronts. Already in the first months of the war, the five main air defense zones of the TS - Northern, North-Western, Western, Kiev and Southern, which, according to the plan of the military leadership, constituted the first echelon of air defense, actually ceased to exist.


Bolshoe Savino airfield (Perm). Fighter-interceptor MiG-31
Photo: Leonid YAKUTIN

German aviation, bypassing scattered groups of anti-aircraft artillery, penetrated 500-600 kilometers into the interior of the country with virtually impunity and bombarded defenseless industrial and communication facilities.

In this regard, the General Staff of the Red Army even issued a special directive dated July 9, 1941, which ordered "to release the commanders of the air defense zones - assistant commanders of the front troops in air defense from the direct leadership of the air defense of the troops of the fronts and turn them to direct duties in the air defense zones."

The directive could not change the state of affairs, since it did not change anything in the air defense organization itself. And only after the devastating German air raids on defense facilities in the city of Voronezh far beyond the front line in August 1941 did I. V. Stalin intervene in air defense.

As a result, on November 9, 1941, the Decree of the State Defense Committee of the USSR No. 874 “On strengthening and strengthening the air defense of the country's territory” was issued. In this document, modest in name, for the first time, fundamentally new organization Air defense of the vehicle and its structure.

The pre-war organization of the country's air defense, subordinate to the military districts (fronts), was completely rejected. The air defense forces of the country were withdrawn from their subordination and for the first time transformed into an independent branch of the Red Army, subordinate to the people's commissar of defense and headed by the commander of the air defense forces of the Customs Union - deputy people's commissar of defense for air defense. Major General M. S. Gromadin was appointed the first commander of the Air Defense Forces of the Customs Union.

Somewhat later, the TS was transferred from the Air Force to operational subordination to the Air Defense Forces, and in January 1942, 39 fighter aviation regiments were introduced into the state, more than 1,500 aircraft in total. Now, along with the tasks of defending individual objects, the air defense forces of the CU could solve the tasks of covering the country's regions. Operational formation new system The air defense of the vehicle was not tied to the borders of the fronts and military districts, but was determined by the location of the covered objects and communications.

The Moscow air defense system has become a classic example of organizing an effective air defense of a large administrative and industrial center. It included the 1st Air Defense Corps (commander - Major General of Artillery D. A. Zhuravlev) and the 6th Fighter Aviation Corps operationally subordinate to him (commander - Colonel I. D. Klimov).

By the beginning of the massive air raids on Moscow (July 22, 1941), this grouping included more than 600 fighters and 1000 anti-aircraft guns, about 350 anti-aircraft machine guns, over 600 anti-aircraft searchlights, 124 posts of air barrage balloons, 612 VNOS posts. The Moscow air defense system was built on the principle of all-round defense, its depth was 200–250 kilometers.

During the war years, the German Luftwaffe carried out 141 raids on Moscow, a total of about 8,600 sorties. According to official data, 234 aircraft (less than 3%) broke through to the city, almost 1,400 aircraft were shot down. These successes are largely due to the massive use of forces and means of air defense and effective organization defense: no other capital, including London and Berlin, had such a concentration of air defense forces during the Second World War.

Unfortunately history domestic air defense knows less brilliant examples. So, in the course of three massive German air raids on the automobile plant. Molotov in the city of Gorky in June 1943, the plant was huge damage, despite the very strong composition of the grouping of the Gorky air defense divisional area. The most important defense enterprise was actually put out of action, and it took more than three months and almost 35,000 workers to restore it.

Later in the course of the war, the Air Defense Forces of the Customs Union underwent organizational changes, which were objectively dictated by an increase in their combat strength and changes at the front. In April 1942, the Moscow Air Defense Front was formed, and air defense armies were formed in Leningrad and somewhat later in Baku. Thus, the first operational formations of air defense forces appeared. The transition of the Red Army to broad offensive operations significantly changed the nature of the combat use of the air defense forces. In June 1943, the Office of the Commander of the Air Defense Forces of the Customs Union was abolished, and two air defense fronts were created instead: Western and Eastern. The air defense troops on the cover of Moscow were reorganized into the Special Moscow Air Defense Army.


On-load tap-changer S-300PM and NVO at one of the sites of the Ashuluk test site
Photo: Georgy DANILOV

By the end of the war, all formations that carried out air defense in the rear of the country were consolidated into the Central Air Defense Front with headquarters in Moscow. Forward formations and units of the air defense forces formed the Western and Southwestern air defense fronts. In the Far East in March 1945, on the eve of the start of hostilities against Japan, three air defense armies were created: Primorsky, Amur and Transbaikal, which became part of the fronts.

In general, during the Great Patriotic War, the Air Defense Forces solved a number of the most important operational-strategic and operational tasks, saved many large administrative and industrial centers, hundreds of industrial enterprises and groupings of troops from destruction and destruction. Organizationally, anti-aircraft artillery and fighter aircraft took shape as branches of the air defense forces. The VNOS Service has been greatly developed. Operational formations and operational-tactical air defense formations, formations and units of military branches were created. For merits in the performance of military duty, over 80 thousand soldiers and officers of the air defense forces were awarded orders and medals, 92 soldiers became Heroes of the Soviet Union.

With the end of World War II, humanity, alas, did not receive peace and tranquility. Former allies in the anti-Hitler coalition again found themselves on opposite sides of the barricades. A long-term political and military confrontation between the two world systems, called the Cold War, began. Many associate its beginning with the famous speech of W. Churchill on March 5, 1946 in the American city of Fulton (Missouri).

Then British Prime Minister for the first time voiced the term "Iron Curtain", which divided Europe, and called for relations with the USSR to be built exclusively from a position of strength. At the same time, the United States already had nuclear weapons and the means of its delivery - strategic aviation, which created a real air threat not only to the groupings of the Soviet Armed Forces, but also to the economic potential of the country, including the strategic rear.

In this regard, despite the general reduction in the Armed Forces and the most difficult post-war economic situation in the country, the Supreme Military Council in July 1946 takes a strategic decision to deploy air defense of the TS throughout the country, even where it was not in the war. Somewhat earlier, in February 1946, the post of Commander of the Air Defense Forces of the Customs Union was re-introduced, who now reported directly to the Commander of Artillery. The command of the Air Defense Forces of the Customs Union was instructed to develop a plan for strengthening air defense in the Volga region, the Urals and Siberia, as well as its creation in Central Asia.

In terms of organizing the country's air defense, the ambitions of the branches of the Armed Forces again escalated: the air defense forces proposed to increase the number of air defense districts and create the country's air defense by analogy with the military air defense of the vehicle, the Ground Forces proposed to return to the pre-war organization, dividing the country's air defense forces into military districts, the Air Force proposed include air defense forces in their composition.

In 1948, an "intermediate option" was adopted: the country's territory was divided into a border strip and an inland territory; in the border zone, responsibility for air defense was assigned to the military districts, in the interior - to the air defense forces of the country, in which, instead of the four air defense districts that existed in the first post-war years, 12 air defense regions were created.

On April 4, 1949, a military-political union of 11 states of Europe and the USA was created - the NATO bloc (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). With the creation of this structure, the general political and military tension in Europe and in the world as a whole, as well as the intensity and scale of provocative and reconnaissance flights by NATO aircraft in the airspace of the USSR, increased.

At the same time, the reorganized air defense system of the vehicle proved unable to effectively counter air intruders, which had already reached the regions of Leningrad, Minsk, and Kyiv.

A whole series of organizational transformations of the air defense troops of the Customs Union began. In an attempt to introduce an organized principle into the fragmentation of the air defense system, so-called border air defense zones (BCAA) were formed in the border districts and in the fleets. The organization and leadership of the Air Defense Forces were still assigned to the military districts and fleets. Having not received the expected result, the military leadership based on the air defense system created the "air defense of the border line" (BOPL).

At the same time, the leadership of the VOPL was transferred to the commander-in-chief of the Air Force (the first deputy commander-in-chief of the Air Force was also the commander of the VOPL troops). The direct responsibility for air defense in the VOPL areas (that is, in the military districts) was shifted from the commanders of the military districts to the commanders of the air armies of the Air Force.

However, the remaining fragmentation of the air defense essentially did not change anything. Violations of air borders continued to increase, and the depth of incursions by foreign aircraft reached the Moscow region.

It soon became clear that the VOPL, headed by the Air Force, was an unnecessary and essentially useless structure. Therefore, in June 1953, the VOPL command under the Air Force Commander-in-Chief was disbanded. One part of the VOPL forces was transferred to the military districts and fleets, the other to the air defense troops of the Customs Union. At the same time, overall responsibility for the entire air defense of the country, including within the boundaries of military districts, was assigned to the commander of the air defense forces of the Customs Union.

Such a unification of all the air defense forces of the CU was of a very conditional nature, since in the border areas the forces and means were still part of the military districts and fleets. The interaction between them was weak. This was soon confirmed. On April 29, 1954, three American B-47 strategic bombers violated the state border from Baltic Sea, penetrated to Novgorod, Smolensk and Kyiv and went west with impunity. 10 days later, on the eve of Victory Day, a new daring violation of the border followed.

These outrageous pre-holiday incidents did not go unnoticed by the country's top political leadership. In the course of an urgent inspection, serious shortcomings in the organization of the entire air defense of the country were revealed, which were based on the fragmentation of the air defense forces.

On May 27, 1954, a special resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR “On unpunished flights of foreign aircraft over the territory of the USSR” was issued. The same resolution announced a new organization of air defense of the vehicle. Taking into account the rapid development of military aviation, a significant increase in its combat capabilities, as well as the ever-increasing scale of violations of the airspace of the USSR by NATO aircraft, it was considered expedient to deploy the Air Defense Forces of the Customs Union from the armed forces into the form of the Armed Forces - the Air Defense Forces of the country. It included all the main air defense forces and established the boundaries of responsibility along the state border of the country. In the military districts, only parts of the military air defense of land formations remained, and in the fleets - ship assets. In the Air Defense Forces of the country, the generally accepted army military structures created back in 1944 were restored: air defense formations (districts, armies) and air defense formations (corps, divisions). Fighter aviation of the military districts was promptly subordinated to the new structures of the Air Defense Forces of the country.

Simultaneously with the above-mentioned resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR, a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR "On providing the Air Defense Forces of the country with new equipment" was adopted. This decision turned out to be very timely, since in recent years there has been a noticeable lag in the development of air defense weapons from the development of military aviation.

Marshal of the Soviet Union L. A. Govorov was appointed the first Commander-in-Chief of the Air Defense Forces of the country. However, soon after his death, Marshal of the Soviet Union S.S. Biryuzov became the commander-in-chief. An experienced military leader and a thoughtful organizer, he made a great contribution to the formation and development of a new kind of Armed Forces. It was under him that the foundations of the operational art and tactics of the Air Defense Forces were formed and many of the fundamental principles of the integrated organization of the fight against an air enemy, which are still relevant today, were implemented.

On the initiative of S. S. Biryuzov and under his leadership, it was essentially re-created and in 1957 institutionalized military science in the Air Defense Forces by combining disparate scientific units of the armed forces into the first in the Armed Forces of the USSR a single integrated research institute of the type of aircraft NII-2 Air Defense (later - the 2nd Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense, and now - the Air Defense Research Center of the 4th TsNIIMO RF).

In connection with the massive re-equipment of troops with fundamentally new equipment, the need for highly qualified personnel of commanders and military engineers has sharply increased. Therefore, on the initiative of S. S. Biryuzov in the mid-1950s. a number of new higher military air defense educational institutions were created.

Since 1956, the Air Defense Military Academy began training in Kalinin (now Tver). Today it is the Military Academy of Aerospace Defense, which has become a forge of military command and engineering personnel for the Air Defense Forces (VKO) not only of our country, but also of a number of countries near and far abroad.

1950s - truly revolutionary in terms of the development of air defense weapons, the creation of fundamentally new models. It was during this period that the formation of anti-aircraft missile troops, jet fighter aircraft, and radio engineering troops took place.

In August 1950, a decision was made to create an anti-aircraft missile defense system for Moscow. The project was named Berkut. The lead developer of the system was the specially created Design Bureau No. 1 (KB-1) - the future glorified NPO Almaz, known throughout the world for its anti-aircraft guided systems. missile weapons. A. A. Raspletin became the leader of the development. The air defense system consisted of 10 A-100 all-round radars and two rings around Moscow of stationary sectoral multi-channel air defense systems (56 in total), each consisting of a B-200 guidance radar and anti-aircraft guided missiles vertical launch B-300. The air defense system was created in fantastic short term in less than five years. And this despite the fact that all its elements were developed practically from scratch, and the volume of capital construction was truly enormous. Already in May 1955, the Moscow S-25 air defense system was put into service and served for three decades.

In 1957, the first portable (that is, non-stationary) air defense systems began to enter service with the Air Defense Forces of the country medium range S-75. These complexes, like no other, were widely used in real combat operations, including in Vietnam and the Middle East. In Vietnam, in 1972 alone, the last year of the war, 421 American aircraft were destroyed by S-75 systems, including 51 B-52s. Such losses were one of the decisive factors that forced the Americans to withdraw from Vietnam. Upgraded S-75 air defense systems are still in service in a number of countries near and far abroad.

In 1961, the development of the S-125 short-range air defense system was completed, the main specialization of which is the fight against low-altitude targets. For the SAM, the V-600P solid-fuel missile was developed for the first time. The export version of the air defense system ("Pechora") was supplied to 35 countries of the world. The air defense system received its first baptism of fire in 1970 in Egypt. Then there were Syria and Libya. In March 1999, in the skies over Yugoslavia, an American F-117A stealth aircraft was shot down by an S-125 air defense system.

In June 1958, a government decree was adopted on the development of the S-200 long-range air defense system. By January 1960, its draft design was already ready. For the first time in domestic practice, the air defense system implemented the principle of homing missiles at a target. When creating the air defense system, the developers faced a number of technical difficulties, many of which had to be solved during field and state tests. The S-200 air defense system was adopted in February 1967.

Thus, within 10 years, a well-thought-out set of types of anti-aircraft missile weapons was created in the USSR, which made it possible to build effective anti-aircraft missile defense systems for various objects and regions of the country.

The development of fighter aviation proceeded at an impressive pace. The MiG-15 became the first mass domestic jet fighter of the 1st generation. The first air regiments with MiG-15 fighters were formed back in 1949. The debut of the large-scale combat use of these aircraft was the war in the skies of Korea (November 1950 - July 1953), where our MiGs were in no way inferior to the latest American fighters F-86 "Saber": in total, Soviet pilots shot down about 1100 enemy aircraft, their losses amounted to 335 fighters.

To replace the 1st generation fighters MiG-15, MiG-17, Yak-25 in the late 1950s - early 1960s. fighters and aircraft interception missile systems of the 2nd generation came - Su-9 (1959), Su-11-98 (1961), Su-15-98, Tu-128-S4 and Yak-28 (1965). ARCP Su-15-98 for a long time formed the basis of the fighter aviation of the Air Defense Forces of the country.

In June 1954, the formation of the air defense radio engineering troops was completed. By this time, the domestic industry had mastered the production of a fairly wide range of radar equipment. One of the first mass radars of the post-war period was the P-20 Periscope mobile two-coordinate centimeter-range radar, the P-8 Volga early warning m-range radar (1950) and the PRV-10 Konus radio altimeter.

In 1955–1956 the troops began to receive the P-15 "Tropa" meter range radar for detecting low-altitude targets and the P-12 "Yenisei" radar. The P-12 radar was the first to use the SDC coherent-compensation equipment. This radar gradually replaced almost all previously created meter range radars.

A little later, in 1959, the Oborona-14 mobile early warning radar was put into service, and in 1961, the Altai radar, consisting of four radio altimeters and two range finders. In the same year, the PRV-11 "Vershina" radio altimeter of the centimeter range began to enter the troops. The latest modifications of this radio altimeter are still in service with the RTV of the Russian Air Force and a number of CIS countries.

Gradually, automation tools began to be used for combat command and control of troops. The first adopted control automation system (ACS) was the warning, control and guidance system for fighter aircraft Vozdukh-1. The command posts of the operational level began to be equipped with a complex of automation equipment (KSA) "Almaz-2".

Under the conditions of the new organizational structure of the country's Air Defense Forces and equipping them with new weapons with sharply increased combat capabilities, the ideology and principles of organizing air defense have changed. It was considered expedient in a number of regions of the country to switch from the object-based to the zonal (zonal-objective) principle of organizing defense. In the border (coastal) areas, anti-aircraft missile defense zones were advanced to the 1st echelon of defense with the creation of anti-aircraft missile defense lanes. Fighter aviation formed the basis of the 2nd echelon, but with the ability, if necessary, to operate in the ZRV zones.

Created in the 1960s. the air defense system was mainly focused on the Western, Southwestern and Southern strategic directions, where the main US and NATO air attack forces were concentrated. In the future, with the growth of the capabilities of US strategic aviation and equipping it with strategic cruise missiles, the North direction became potentially dangerous. In this regard, work began on the organization of air defense in this area (the "Shield" system) on the basis of the long-range interception ARCP.

changed organizational structure the country's Air Defense Forces themselves. By 1960, the operational link was enlarged. Instead of 20 air defense formations and formations, 13 were left: two air defense districts, five air defense armies and six air defense corps, whose areas of responsibility covered the entire country. Soon, changes were made at the operational-tactical and tactical level. Instead of corps and divisions of the military branches, air defense formations (corps, divisions) of mixed composition were created, in which the types of troops (ZRV, IA, RTV) were represented by regimental structures.

The relatively calm and very productive development of the Air Defense Forces of the country under the leadership of Marshal S. S. Biryuzov, and then Marshal P. F. Batitsky ended in 1978. The Chief of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces N. V. Ogarkov put forward the idea of ​​​​creating the so-called Unified Air Defense System of the country and the Armed Forces. The commander-in-chief of the Air Defense Forces of the country, P.F. Batitsky, sharply opposed, but the top political and military leadership (L.I. Brezhnev and D.F. Ustinov) supported N.V. Ogarkov. As a result, Batitsky resigned as commander-in-chief, and in December 1979 a decision was made by the Defense Council, according to which the air defense system essentially returned to the pre-war organization.

The territory of the country was again divided into border and inland regions. In the border areas, the Baku Air Defense District and five separate air defense armies (Minsk, Leningrad, Kyiv, Arkhangelsk, Khabarovsk) were disbanded. The air defense corps and divisions included in them were again subordinated to the military districts. Fighter aviation regiments from these formations were seized and transferred to the Air Force of the military districts. As a result, the unity of command and control of air defense forces and means was disrupted and the unified air defense system of the country actually ceased to exist.

At the end of 1982, after the death of L. I. Brezhnev, P. F. Batitsky managed to draw the attention of a new Secretary General Yu. V. Andropov on the so-called reform of the Air Defense Forces of the country. As a result, a commission of the Central Committee of the CPSU was created, which, after two years of work, concluded that the reorganization of N.V. Ogarkov was wrong and "The air defense forces of the country should be returned to their previous state."

The corresponding resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR was adopted on January 24, 1986. In the border areas, five former air defense formations were restored, returning them to direct subordination to the commander-in-chief of the Air Defense Forces. Instead of the Baku Air Defense District, a separate air defense army was formed with headquarters in Tbilisi.

At the same time, the dual command over the Air Defense Forces remained: they were operationally subordinate to the commanders-in-chief of the troops of the directions (soon abolished), and in fact - to the military districts.

Despite organizational fluctuations, in the 1970s and 1980s. there was a dynamic process of equipping the Air Defense Forces with new weapons and military equipment.

Since 1979, the Air Defense Forces began to receive fundamentally new S-300P air defense systems (the lead developer was NPO Almaz). At present, modifications of this system (S-300PS, S-300PM) form the basis of the armament of the anti-aircraft missile system. On the basis of this air defense system, the Moscow S-50 air defense system was created, which replaced the previously existing S-25 system.

Fighter aviation continued to develop. In the 1970s the industry has mastered the mass production of 3rd generation fighter-interceptors - MiG-23P and MiG-25PD, and in the early 80s 4th generation fighters - MiG-31 (1981), MiG-29 (1983) and Su-27 (1984).

The MiG-31 long-range fighter was for the first time equipped with a phased array radar and had high detection and destruction capabilities. cruise missiles. It was considered as the main element of the above-mentioned air defense system in the Northern direction "Shield". Aircraft of the 4th generation currently form the basis of the weapons of the Air Force IA.

The radio engineering troops have almost completely updated their fleet of radar equipment. During the period under review, the RTV received radars and radars ST-68U (UM), Casta 2-1 and Casta 2-2, Periscope-VM, Oborona-14S, P-18, P-37 , "Sky" and "Sky-U", "Desna-M", "Opponent-G", "Gamma-S1", K-66 (M).

EW units and subunits were equipped with new equipment.

Given the high dynamics of the combat operations of the air defense forces, the military leadership great attention devoted to the development of means of automation of combat control and equipping the troops with them. At the same time, the process of complex equipment of the KSA of the control points of the operational, operational-tactical and tactical levels of control was underway. The command posts of the operational control level were equipped with Almaz-type KSA. ACS "Luch-1", "Luch-2" were introduced into the operational-tactical level of command. The command posts of formations and units of the military branches were equipped with KSA of the Senezh, Vector-2, Baikal, Rubezh-1, Niva, AKUP-1 types.

In the 1970s the Air Defense Forces of the country included the forces and means of rocket and space defense (RKO). The RKO system combined the missile attack warning system (SPRN), the outer space control system (SKKP), the anti-missile (ABM) and anti-space (PKO) defense systems.

SPRN officially took up combat duty in 1976 as part of command post, six nodes of early detection (radar "Dnepr") and space echelon US-K. In 1978, the modernized Moscow A-135M missile defense system was adopted as part of the Don-2N radar, a command and computer center and two types of anti-missiles. In November 1978, the PKO IS-M complex was put into service. A few years earlier, a space control center began to function.

The further history of the Air Defense Forces of the country is inextricably linked with the history of the formation and development of the Armed Forces Russian Federation. Unfortunately, its beginning was far from joyful. Already in 1992, they announced the reform of the Armed Forces.

The reform was carried out in the absence of a coherent military ideology for ensuring the military security of the state as a whole and a clear understanding of the rational image of the RF Armed Forces (“Concept national security Russian Federation” and the Military Doctrine of the Russian Federation were adopted only at the beginning of 2000).

As a result, the main result of the reform of the Air Defense Forces was a sharp reduction in the combat strength and funding for their maintenance. The troops have practically ceased to receive new weapons, the level of combat training has dropped to a dangerous limit.

In July 1997, a large-scale reorganization of the country's air defense took place. In accordance with the decree of the President of the Russian Federation, the Air Defense Forces were liquidated as a branch of the Armed Forces. The air defense forces from their composition were transferred to the Air Force, and the RKO forces - to the Strategic Missile Forces (later - to the newly formed Space Forces). Among military specialists, disputes about the benefits and harms of these transformations still do not subside.

However, life does not stand still. As it gets stronger economic situation Russia was also strengthening its Armed Forces. Considerable attention was paid to the air defense of the country.

Military science played a significant role in the development and strengthening of air defense. With her active participation in the early 2000s. a draft "Concept of Aerospace Defense of the Russian Federation" was developed, which in November 2002 was approved by the collegium of the Ministry of Defense. Subsequently, the concept was approved by the President of the Russian Federation and became one of the fundamental documents regarding the development of the country's aerospace defense. At the same time, a system project for the aerospace defense of the Russian Federation was developed, and a little later, a draft design for an integrated system of the aerospace defense of Moscow and the Central Industrial Region.

A large amount of research has been carried out to identify and streamline the most important objects of the Armed Forces, the economy and infrastructure in the interests of improving the organization of their air defense. Active Scientific research in the field of development of the unified air defense system of the CIS, formed in 1996.

In 2010–2011 there have been significant changes in the organization of air defense (VKO) of the country. To date, air defense forces and assets in the Air Force are concentrated in four Air Force and Air Defense Commands, each of which is operationally subordinate to the corresponding military district (in accordance with the new military-administrative division of the country, since December 1, 2010, four military districts have been operating in the Russian Federation - Western , Southern, Central and Eastern). The air defense corps and divisions that existed earlier were transformed into aerospace defense brigades. Fighter aviation has been consolidated into air bases.

On the basis of the Space Forces, the Aerospace Defense Troops were formed. They include the Space Command (PRN systems and reconnaissance of the space situation) and the Air Defense-ABM Command, which provides aerospace defense of Moscow and the Central Industrial Region. It includes the Moscow missile defense system and three air defense brigades. On December 1, 2011, the troops of the East Kazakhstan region took up combat duty.

In recent years, the process of re-equipping the Air Defense Forces (VKO) with new equipment has significantly revived. The troops began to receive the latest S-400 air defense systems, Pantsir air defense systems, and 4+ generation fighters. The latest radar equipment is supplied to the radio engineering troops. Control systems are equipped with ever more intelligent and fast automation systems. The country's leadership announced impressive amounts of funding for the Armed Forces, planned for the period up to 2020. The implementation of these plans will significantly increase the rate of rearmament of the troops and ensure a significant increase in their combat capabilities.

The experience of local wars and armed conflicts in recent decades convincingly testifies to the steady growth of the role of aviation in modern warfare. Outer space is also becoming more potentially dangerous. Under these conditions, the issues of improving the means and methods of countering potential threats from the air and space are becoming increasingly important.

The modern system of aerospace defense of the Russian Federation is designed to provide a solution to the entire set of tasks of combat in aerospace:

  • warning of air, missile and space attacks, reconnaissance of the air and space situation and notification of troops about it;
  • security state border RF in the airspace and control of the procedure for using the airspace;
  • reflection of aggression in the aerospace sphere, air and missile defense of the most important objects of state and military administration, key objects of the Armed Forces, economy and infrastructure.

The air defense troops went through a glorious and hard way. There were ups and downs, moments of glory and years of disappointments, high achievements and failures. And today they rightfully remain at the forefront of the defense of the Fatherland, strengthening and increasing the military glory of our grandfathers and fathers.

Boris Leonidovich ZARETSKY
candidate of military sciences, corresponding member of AVN, senior Researcher Air Defense Research Center (Tver)

Yuri Timofeevich ALEKHIN
candidate of technical sciences, professor of AVN, senior researcher at the Air Defense Research Center (Tver)

Sergei Glebovich KUTSENKO
senior researcher at the Air Defense Research Center (Tver)

At the end of 1941, one of those miracles happened, which never ceases to amaze the world. The defeated, bloodless, almost completely destroyed Red Army seemed to have risen from the dead, first throwing the Wehrmacht away from Moscow, then defeating the Paulus army near Stalingrad and finally intercepting strategic initiative in the Battle of Kursk, which predetermined the outcome of the war.

A new book by an authoritative military historian dedicated to these events is no ordinary chronicle of hostilities, more than an ordinary description of the battles of 1941-1943. In his outstanding study, a leading American specialist did what none of his colleagues had dared to do before - he conducted a comprehensive analysis of the Soviet military machine and its work in the first years of the war, revealing the mechanics of the "Russian military miracle".

Encyclopedic in scope of material, unprecedented in accuracy and depth of analysis, this work has already been recognized as a classic.

Having studied a huge amount of archival documents, assessing the combat capabilities and tactics both sides, the balance of power on the Soviet-German front and the style of warfare, David Glantz examines in detail the process of accumulation of combat experience by the Red Army, which allowed it to first catch up with the enemy, and then surpass the Wehrmacht, which was considered invincible.

This fundamental work debunks many myths that exist in both German and American historiography. Glanz irrefutably proves that the decisive victory over Germany was won precisely on the Eastern Front and was by no means accidental, that the outcome of the war was decided not by "Generals Mud and Frost", not by the stupidity and incompetence of Hitler (who in fact was an outstanding strategist), but by increased the skill of the Soviet command and the courage, dedication and stamina of the Russian soldier.

Note 1: Due to the low quality of the original scan, the tables are left as pictures.

Flak

Separate anti-aircraft artillery battalions, which provided the rifle corps with protection from air attacks (one battalion per rifle corps), consisted of three batteries, equipped with four 76-mm or 85-mm guns each, with a total division strength of 12 anti-aircraft guns. However, on June 22, only 40 out of 61 rifle corps of the Red Army had full-time anti-aircraft artillery battalions. Although a typical rifle corps, consisting of three rifle divisions supported by a single separate anti-aircraft artillery battalion, was supposed to have 48 anti-aircraft guns, 72 mm anti-aircraft machine guns and 27 easel 12.7-mm anti-aircraft machine guns, by the beginning of the war, only a few of them were fully equipped with anti-aircraft weapons.

In addition to these anti-aircraft artillery forces, the Red Army also included battalions of armored trains and individual armored trains, which were used throughout the war as platforms for anti-aircraft guns and, as a rule, were subordinate to the country's air defense.

Together with the Red Army as a whole, during Operation Barbarossa, its anti-aircraft troops also suffered heavy losses:

“Due to the large losses of aviation and the impossibility of massing it, the air defense of the troops was carried out mainly by anti-aircraft artillery and small arms adapted for firing at air targets. Air defense troops during operations carried big losses in the material part. In addition, a significant amount of anti-aircraft artillery weapons was used to equip anti-tank units. The production of anti-aircraft artillery weapons, in connection with the evacuation of industrial enterprises that had begun, decreased. All this led to a large shortage of firepower in the air defense units. For example, by the end of the second month of the war, the Southwestern Front had only 232 - 76.2 mm and 176 - 37 mm anti-aircraft guns, which accounted for 70 and 40% of the front's regular needs for this artillery, respectively..

When the NPO began to simplify the military structure of the Red Army in the summer of 1941, in addition to abolishing the rifle corps, it also reduced the size of the anti-aircraft forces that were part of the rifle regiments and divisions, shifting responsibility for air defense to separate anti-aircraft artillery battalions. combined arms armies. For example, by December 1941, the NPO converted anti-aircraft companies of rifle regiments into platoons with three 12.7 mm heavy anti-aircraft machine guns, and anti-aircraft divisions of rifle divisions into anti-aircraft batteries equipped with six 37 mm anti-aircraft guns and nine trucks. This reduction process ended at the end of December with the liquidation of anti-aircraft platoons in rifle regiments and anti-aircraft batteries in rifle divisions. This was done mainly in connection with the reduction of the German air threat, as a result of which the 108 separate anti-aircraft artillery battalions available in the RVGK on January 1, 1942, seemed capable of protecting the field forces of the Red Army until it became possible to form larger anti-aircraft forces of the RVGK.

At the beginning of 1942, the NPO began to strengthen the anti-aircraft forces of the RVGK, starting to form for protection field armies small anti-aircraft artillery regiments. These regiments consisted of three batteries with four 37-mm anti-aircraft guns each and two anti-aircraft machine gun companies: one of three platoons of four Maxim machine guns, and one of two platoons of four DShK machine guns, with a total strength of the regiment of 326 people , twelve 37 mm cannons, twelve 7.62 mm and eight 12.7 mm machine guns. In June 1942, the NCO assigned 35 of these regiments to the active fronts, including 18 to the Western, eight each to the Bryansk and South-Western, and one to the North Caucasus. In addition, on June 2, the NPO improved the command and control of the anti-aircraft troops by subordinating all anti-aircraft units, guns and machine guns, as well as all means of air surveillance, target recognition and communications in active fronts and armies, to the chief of artillery of the Red Army and the newly appointed deputy commanders of artillery in active fronts and armies.

To further strengthen the anti-aircraft troops, in early and mid-August 1942, the NPO began to form two new types of anti-aircraft artillery battalions. The first consisted of three batteries with four 76-mm or 85-mm guns and one DShK machine gun in each, the second had the same structure and the same armament, but with a strength of 514 people and was reinforced by a battery of six searchlights. Finally, at the end of August 1942, the NPO formed another, heavier version of the anti-aircraft regiment - from two divisions with 12 guns each. However, by the end of the year, only eight such regiments had been formed.

Despite these attempts to strengthen air defenses, the commanders of the fronts and armies experienced considerable difficulties in concentrating a sufficient number of anti-aircraft weapons to protect their troops during major operations. Therefore, on October 22, 1942, the NPO issued an order signed by Stalin and requiring all air fronts and armies to form anti-aircraft artillery groups, which, together with front-line aviation, were to cover their troops during major operations:

1. To cover strike groups from enemy aircraft in the initial position and during the offensive, except for the use of air cover, create anti-aircraft groups from army air defense regiments and by withdrawing anti-aircraft batteries and anti-aircraft machine-gun companies of rifle and other formations operating on the main and secondary directions.

Assign from 1/2 to 2/3 of all military anti-aircraft weapons of the front (army) to the anti-aircraft group.

Attach the anti-aircraft group to the shock group of the army or front to cover it.

2. Particularly carefully, on the spot and on the move, organize a surveillance and warning service so that the anti-aircraft group has time to prepare in time for opening fire on enemy aircraft and create barrage fire, and the troops have time to take the necessary measures to reduce losses from bombing and machine-gun fire on enemy aircraft .

3. The command of the anti-aircraft group of the advancing army shall be assigned to the deputy chief of artillery of the army for air defense, at whose disposal the army headquarters should allocate the necessary means of communication.

4. All commanders of all branches of the armed forces provide assistance and necessary assistance to anti-aircraft batteries and machine-gun companies of an anti-aircraft group advancing behind the advancing troops: let them out of turn through crossings, allow them to overtake columns of troops on the roads, help anti-aircraft units at exits from roads to occupy them firing positions.

In accordance with this order, already on October 31, 1942, part of the anti-aircraft artillery regiments was reduced to 18 new anti-aircraft artillery divisions RVGK. Such a division consisted of a headquarters, four army-type anti-aircraft artillery regiments with three four-gun batteries each, and a small rear service. It had a total strength of 1,345 personnel, forty-eight 3 7-mm anti-aircraft guns, 48 ​​Maxim machine guns and 32 DShK machine guns.

As a result, the anti-aircraft artillery of the RVGK increased from 108 regiments on January 1, 1942 to 27 anti-aircraft artillery divisions, 123 separate anti-aircraft artillery regiments and 109 separate anti-aircraft artillery battalions by January 1, 1943, and up to 30 divisions, 94 separate regiments and 95 separate divisions, on February 1, 1943.

Such an increase became possible only because the Soviet military industry produced in 1942 3499 anti-aircraft guns of 37 mm caliber and 2761 anti-aircraft guns of 85 mm caliber, and in 1943 another 5472 anti-aircraft guns of 37 mm caliber and 3713 anti-aircraft guns of 85-mm mm caliber. However, despite this increase in production, the continued shortage of medium 85-mm anti-aircraft guns did not allow anti-aircraft troops The Red Army effectively deal with aircraft flying at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters.

In 1943, the NKO significantly strengthened and improved its anti-aircraft artillery troops. In the second half of February, he reorganized the anti-aircraft artillery divisions, adding to each of them a fire control company, eliminating one of the light regiments to reinforce the fourth battery of each of the remaining three, and adding to each division a fourth medium regiment with 85-mm anti-aircraft guns capable of shooting down enemy aircraft at an altitude of more than 3000 meters. Initially, these divisions consisted of three light regiments with four batteries of four 37-mm anti-aircraft guns each, with a total regimental strength of 16 guns, one medium regiment, divided into four 4-gun batteries, with a total regiment strength of sixteen 76-mm or 85 -mm anti-aircraft guns and enhanced rear services. In total, the division had 64 anti-aircraft guns. In addition, the NPO completed the removal of anti-aircraft batteries from rifle divisions, using their materiel to help equip the new artillery divisions of the RVGK subordinate to the RVGK, and included many anti-aircraft artillery regiments and divisions in these new divisions.

In the same period, the formation of two new specialized types of anti-aircraft artillery regiments began. The first, formed in February to protect airfields, had twelve 37-mm guns, 12 Maxim machine guns and eight DShKs, differing from the regiment of the 1942 model only in that it had no vehicles, and the personnel consisted of only 270 fighters. The second type of regiments for the protection of airfields was formed from April, these regiments were similar in structure to the regiments of anti-aircraft artillery divisions and had 420 personnel, twelve 37-mm guns, 12 Maxim machine guns and 12 DShK machine guns - not divided into two, and four platoons. In 1943, the NPO formed 38 airfield defense regiments and 52 new separate anti-aircraft artillery regiments; of the latter, all but four were based on the former 12-gun structure.

Since April 1943, the formation of new separate anti-aircraft artillery divisions began. These divisions consisted of three batteries with four 76-mm or 85-mm anti-aircraft guns and one DShK machine gun each, for a total strength of approximately 380 personnel, twelve 76-mm or 85-mm anti-aircraft guns and three DShK machine guns. However, the lack of 76 mm anti-aircraft guns forced the NPO to form only two such divisions, each of which consisted of two batteries with four 37 mm guns and one battery with 85 mm guns.

Thanks to these reforms, the NPO was able to place almost all of the anti-aircraft artillery forces of the Red Army under the leadership of the RVGK. Regiments and divisions of anti-aircraft artillery defended the active troops of the armies and fronts, medium-caliber anti-aircraft artillery divisions covered key objects in the rear. In addition, the Red Army in 1943 used more than 60 armored trains for air defense - for example, during the Battle of Kursk, Soviet ground forces supported 35 armored trains.

During the Great Patriotic War, designed to protect large administrative and political centers, the most important industrial regions, communications and other strategic objects in the theater of operations and in the rear on the territory of the country from enemy air strikes.

Air defense fronts were created on the basis of GKO resolutions, depending on the operational-strategic tasks to be solved, the prevailing situation, and the available air defense forces and means. The front covered the frontal air defense area from air strikes and was strengthened by forces and means based on the importance of the defended areas and objects, and the actions of the opposing enemy.

The air defense front included: an air defense army (zone), an air defense air fighter army, up to 8 air defense corps (corps areas), 1–2 air defense corps, up to 7 air defense divisions, up to 12 air defense divisions, dep. air defense brigades. When performing their tasks, the formations and formations of the air defense fronts interacted with the air defense forces of the fronts, and in the coastal areas - with the fleets.

During various periods of the war, 8 air defense fronts operated.

Eastern Air Defense Front It was formed on 29/6/1943 by dividing the country's air defense forces into Western and Eastern F. PVO. The front carried out air defense of the most important centers of the Urals, the Middle and Lower Volga, the Caucasus and Transcaucasia. The Eastern Air Defense Front included: the Transcaucasian Air Defense Zone (including 2 brigades of the Baku Air Defense Army), 2 corps, 4 divisional and 1 air defense brigade areas, the 8th Istr. Air Defense Corps, 6 Istr. Aviation Divisions Air defense, training units (447 fighters, 3259 op., 1814 machine guns, 1142 searchlights and 491 barrage balloons).

Active defense of owls. troops in Battle of Kursk 1943 and subsequent offensive operations forced German-fascist. the command to send the main forces of its aviation to support the ground forces, as a result of which, from July 1943, the activity of enemy aviation against deep rear objects sharply decreased, massive raids on industrial and economic centers ceased. This led to a decrease in the tension of the military operations of the formations and units of the Eastern Air Defense Front, and it became, in essence, a strategic reserve of the country's Air Defense Forces. On March 29, 1944, the Directorate of the Eastern Front of Air Defense was reorganized into the Directorate of the Southern Front of Air Defense. Commanded - Gen.-Regiment. artillery G.S. Zashikhin.

Transcaucasian Air Defense Front had 2 formations, formed 5/6/1943. On June 29, 1943, it was included in the Eastern Air Defense Front, with the renaming of the Transcaucasian Air Defense Zone on July 10, 1943. Newly formed on 29.3.1944. The structure included the Baku Air Defense Army, 2 air defense brigades, an Istr.-aviation corps and an air defense division (326 fighters, 1229 anti-aircraft guns, over 350 anti-aircraft machine guns, about 300 searchlights and about 200 barrage balloons). The main task of the Transcaucasian Air Defense Front was air cover for the Baku region and the oil fields of the Apsheron Peninsula. The front was mainly fighting aerial reconnaissance enemy. Was a reserve VGK rates(St. 200 units and formations were transferred to reinforce neighboring air defense fronts). Disbanded in Apr. 1945. Commanded - general lieutenant. artillery P.E. Gudymenko.

Western Air Defense Front had 2 formations, 29/6/1943 was formed by dividing the country's air defense forces into the Western and Eastern air defense fronts. The troops of the front covered Moscow, Murmansk, the Moscow and Yaroslavl industrial regions, etc. The Western Air Defense Front included the Special Moscow Air Defense Army, 3 corps, 8 divisional air defense regions (1012 fighters, 4172 op., 2280 machine guns, 1573 searchlights and 1834 barrage balloons ).

From sept. 1943 to March 1944 the front was transferred from the Eastern Front of the air defense of St. 100 sec. air defense units. IN summer-autumn campaign 1943 and the winter-spring campaign of 1944, the troops of the Western Air Defense Front shot down St. 1200 German s-comrade. On March 29, 1944, by decision of the State Defense Committee, the Northern Air Defense Front was formed on the basis of the Western Air Defense Front. 12/24/1944 The Western Front of Air Defense was restored as part of 5 corps, 4 air defense divisions and 8 air defense air divisions. It operated until the end of the war, covering troops and facilities in the front line from enemy air strikes. The troops of the Western Air Defense Front were also involved in covering the groupings of fronts in the operations of owls. troops (including the Vistula-Oder and Berlin operations of 1945). Commanded: Gen.-Regiment. M.S. Gromadin (June 1943 - March 1944), General-Regiment. artillery D.A. Zhuravlev (Dec. 1944 - May 1945).

Moscow Air Defense Front It was formed on 04/05/1942 on the basis of the Moscow Air Defense Corps District for the purpose of air defense of Moscow and part of the important facilities of the Central Industrial Region from German-fascist attacks. aviation. The Moscow Air Defense Front included the 6th Istr. Air Defense Aviation Corps (23 regiments, 8 aviation-based areas), 19 anti-aircraft regiments (artillery, machine gun and searchlight), 13 det. anti-aircraft artillery divisions, 3 anti-aircraft machine-gun and 3 searchlight regiments, 2 VNOS regiments, 2 barrage balloon regiments, dep. communications battalion, training units (about 500 fighters, 1560 ordnance, 430 machine guns, 1300 searchlights, 1060 barrage balloons).

The troops of the front ensured the repulsion of raids on the capital by enemy aircraft, inflicting significant damage on it. At the same time, parts of the Moscow Air Defense Front covered communications, supply bases and groupings of troops of the North-Western, Kalinin, Western and Bryansk fronts. Significant forces of the front in the spring of 1943 were involved in the air defense of groupings of troops and rear facilities in the Kursk region. On June 29, 1943, the Moscow Air Defense Front was transformed into the Special Moscow Air Defense Army, which became part of the Western Air Defense Front. Commanded - Gen.-Leut. artillery D.A. Zhuravlev.

Northern Air Defense Front Formed on March 29, 1944 on the basis of the Eastern and Western Air Defense Fronts. It included the Special Moscow Air Defense Army, 3 corps, 7 divisions, 12th Det. istr.-aviation division and otd. air defense brigade (1150 fighters, approx. 5600 ord., 2750 machine guns, approx. 1700 searchlights and 1650 barrage balloons). The front acted from Barents Sea to the line Kuibyshev, Kursk, Lutsk, covering Moscow, the Central Industrial Region, Murmansk, communications of front troops and important objects of the front zone in the western and north-western directions from enemy air strikes.

The troops of the Northern Air Defense Front contributed to the successful conduct of the operations of the Red Army in the summer-autumn campaign of 1944, destroyed only during the preparation and conduct Belarusian operation 1944 320 enemy s-comrade. Of the 117 enemy air raids on objects and communications in the frontline zone, only in 7 cases did it manage to break through to the targets and strike at them. 12/24/1944 The Northern Air Defense Front was transformed into the Western Air Defense Front, part of the forces was transferred to the Central Air Defense Front. Commanded - Gen.-Regiment. M.S. Hulk.

Central Air Defense Front It was formed on December 24, 1944 on the basis of the Special Moscow Air Defense Army and part of the forces of the Northern Air Defense Front. The troops of the front were entrusted with the tasks of air defense of Moscow, Leningrad, Murmansk, objects of the Central Industrial Region, the Upper and Middle Volga from enemy air strikes. The front lasted until the end of the war. Commanded - Gen.-Regiment. M.S. Hulk.

Southwestern Air Defense Front Formed 12/24/1944 on the basis of the Southern Air Defense Front. The front included 7 air defense corps and 4 divisions, 2 Istr.-aviation corps and 6 Istr. The troops of the front were entrusted with the tasks of air defense of the most important industrial regions and facilities in the south of the USSR, as well as communications and supply bases. Commanded - Gen.-Regiment. artillery G.S. Zashikhin.

Southern Air Defense Front It was formed on March 29, 1944 on the basis of the Eastern and Western Air Defense Fronts. It was entrusted with air defense of administrative-political, industrial-economic centers and regions of the south of the USSR, covering communications and supply bases for the army in the field, as well as building up the air defense system during the offensive operations of the Red Army in the southwestern direction. The front included 7 air defense corps and 3 divisions, 2 Istr. aviation corps and 7 Istr. aviation divisions (917 fighters, 4346 op., 866 searchlights, 296 barrage balloons). The troops of the Southern Air Defense Front took an active part in the summer-autumn campaign of 1944. On December 24, 1944, the Southern Air Defense Front was transformed into the Southwestern Air Defense Front. Commanded - Gen.-Regiment. artillery G.S. Zashikhin.

In October 1945 they were reorganized into air defense districts.