Ptr of the Second World War. Simonov anti-tank rifle (ptrs): design, characteristics, application features. History of creation and production

The Second World War, which became the finest hour of tanks, sharply posed the problem of effective anti-tank defense (AT) for the armies. Anti-tank guns - towed or self-propelled, as well as anti-tank (PT) melee weapons were assigned a special role during this period. Before the outbreak of hostilities, the infantry had anti-tank rifles, bundles of grenades and heavy explosive grenades. However, the tanks became more and more "strong" and "thick-skinned", and in order to cope with them, the infantry needed new, more powerful anti-tank weapons.

An attempt at improvisation

Disputes about the importance of anti-tank rifles (ATRs) largely delayed their development, but nevertheless, by the beginning of World War II, this type of weapon was nevertheless presented and even entered service with a number of armies. The common features of the PTR were a long barrel and a powerful cartridge, which provided high initial velocities for armor-piercing and armor-piercing incendiary bullets. However, the views on the purpose of the PTR, their place in the battle formation and the requirements imposed on them varied widely. For example, Polish designers were among the first in 1935 to adopt the PTR of the so-called "normal" rifle caliber, but with a cartridge much more powerful than the rifle one, and made the PTR UR wz.35 according to the scheme of a magazine rifle with a rotary bolt. The Germans preferred a single-shot version with automatic unlocking of the wedge bolt after firing (by analogy with an anti-tank gun), and for a powerful 7.92-mm cartridge they used the sleeve of a 15-mm aircraft machine gun. The German 7.92-mm PTR single-shot Pz.B.38 (Panzerbuhse 1938), developed by Bauer on the Gustlov-Werka, was quite compact, but heavy. And then the designer eased his MTP. For simplicity, he introduced manual control of the bolt, installing a more effective muzzle brake to reduce recoil - this is how the Pz.B.39 appeared.

In 1941, Czech designers also created the 7.92-mm MSS-41 PTR, which differed in the layout with the location of the store itself behind the pistol grip. Reloading in it was done by moving the barrel back and forth.

In addition, there were models whose caliber was directly adjacent to the cannons. These were the self-loading MTRs for various types of 20-mm cartridges - the Japanese Type 97, the Finnish L-39 Lahti system (it is characteristic that both of these MTRs were created on the basis of aircraft cannons) and others. Faced in 1940-1941, first with British tanks Mk II "Matilda" with armor thickness of up to 78 mm, then with Soviet T-34 and KV with armor up to 45 and up to 75 mm, the Germans realized the futility of the 7.92-mm PTR Pz.B.39 and converted it into a Gr.B.39 grenade launcher with a 30mm rifled muzzle mortar. By the end of 1941, the "heavy MFR" 2,8 / 2 cm s.Pz.B.41 with tapered bore drilling appeared. The idea of ​​"tapered" barrels was also developed for a long time, in the previous decade the German engineer Hermann Gerlich was actively involved in them, who managed to attract wide attention. By gradually decreasing the diameter of the bore from the breech to the muzzle, he tried to increase the level of average pressure in the bore and thus more efficiently use powder gases to accelerate the bullet, without significantly increasing the maximum pressure. A bullet of a special design was crimped, passing the tapered section of the barrel, increasing the mass per unit area and acquiring a high muzzle velocity. The result is a significant increase in the flatness of the trajectory and the penetrating action of the bullet. The s.Pz.B.41 barrel had a caliber of 28 mm in the breech and 20 mm in the muzzle, two conical transitions were made in the barrel bore, that is, the projectile was crimped twice. The "heavy PTR" itself looked more like a reduced cannon (a fragmentation projectile was even introduced into the ammunition load), besides, the production of conical rifled barrels and shells for them was quite expensive, so this tool was used, like heavier anti-tank guns with a conical barrel, limited. A much more popular technique for achieving high initial velocities has become sub-caliber projectiles, the impact core of which is much smaller in diameter than the barrel caliber.

In the USSR, work on the PTR caliber from 20 to 25 mm was carried out since 1936, until a decision was made to revise the requirements for the PTR, which were finally formulated in November 1938 by the Artillery Directorate and provided for a large, but still "small" caliber. Since 1940, the serial production of a 14.5-mm cartridge with an armor-piercing incendiary bullet began. Under this cartridge, Nikolai Rukavishnikov developed a self-loading anti-tank rifle, which was put into service as the PTR-39. But by the beginning of the war, the troops did not receive serial PTRs.

A subjective factor intervened, often determining the fate of military weapons. In early 1940, intelligence reported on "the latest types of German tanks" with significantly increased armor and armament. The head of GAU, Marshal Grigory Kulik, who was poorly versed in the military industry of the Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, apparently expecting the imminent appearance of a large number of such tanks on the German side, ordered the removal of Rukavishnikov's PTR from service (serial production never began), as well as to stop production mm anti-tank guns. As a result, the infantry of the Red Army was deprived of an effective melee anti-tank weapon, with only high-explosive hand grenades. Yes, and they were not enough - anti-tank grenades were considered a special tool. The harmfulness of such decisions was confirmed in the very first weeks of the war. The hastily formed infantry units - "tank destroyers" usually had only bundles of hand grenades and incendiary bottles, and to use both, the tanks had to be allowed 20 meters in front of them. Losses grew.

And then the improvisation began. An attempt at own production of the German 7.92 mm Pz.B.39 did not yield results - in addition to technological problems, insufficient armor penetration also affected. Although the German army still used light tanks, medium vehicles with an armor thickness of up to 30 mm began to play the main role.

At the suggestion of engineer V.N. Sholokhov as a temporary measure in July 1941 in the workshops of the Moscow State Technical University. Bauman and other engineering and technical universities in Moscow have set up the assembly of a single-shot PTR for a 12.7-mm DShK cartridge. A simple design with some improvements was copied from the old German Mauser PTR and did not provide the required parameters, although a 12.7-mm cartridge with BS-41 armor-piercing bullet was produced specifically for these PTRs.

The same Kulik demanded the earliest start of production of Rukavishnikov's PTR, but its setting and fine-tuning required a lot of time. According to the recollections of Marshal Dmitry Ustinov, at one of the GKO meetings, Stalin proposed to entrust the development of the PTR "to one more, and for reliability - to two designers." Vasily Degtyarev and Sergei Simonov received the assignment in early July 1941, and a month later they submitted samples.

The finalization of the cartridge also continued. On August 15, a version of the 14.5-mm cartridge with a BS-41 bullet was adopted, containing a hard-alloy core made by powder technology. And two weeks later, without waiting for the end of the tests (the question was of particular urgency), the single-shot version of the Degtyarev PTR and the self-loading PTR Simonov were adopted. Both types were named "14.5-mm anti-tank rifle arr. 1941" - respectively, PTRD and PTRS.

PTRD, developed by Degtyarev and his KB-2 at the plant number 2 named. Kirkizha was one example of combining maximum simplicity - to speed up and reduce the cost of production - with efficiency. To increase the rate of fire, the rotary bolt is made “quarter-automatic”. When the barrel was displaced with the receiver under the action of recoil relative to the butt, the bolt handle ran over the copier and unlocked the bolt. When the system returned forward, the spent cartridge case was removed and thrown out, the bolt stood up to stop, opening the receiver window to insert the next cartridge.

On an industrial scale

PTRD production began at the plant. Kirkizha, later Izhmash and part of TOZ production evacuated to Saratov joined in.

The first combat use of the PTRD was received near Moscow in the 16th Army of Rokossovsky. The most famous then was the battle of a group of tank destroyers from the 1075th regiment of the 316th Panfilov rifle division at the Dubosekovo junction on November 16, 1941. Of the 30 attacking tanks, 18 were destroyed, but the losses were also great: a fourth of the entire company survived. This battle showed not only the effectiveness of the anti-tank missile system, but also the need to cover their positions with arrows, support at least with light artillery. The complex use of anti-tank weapons with the use of anti-tank artillery, armor-piercers (as they called the ATR calculations), tank destroyers with grenades and bottles, machine gunners, riflemen, and, if possible, sappers, in anti-tank strongholds not only strengthened the anti-tank defense, but also reduced losses. Already by December 30, 1941, 17,688 ATGMs were produced, and over the next year - 184,800. The self-loading ATGM, created on the basis of an experienced Simonov self-loading rifle with a gas engine of automation, received a permanent batch loading store (among the creators of the ATGM, except for Simonov himself, also Vasily Volkhin). Despite the novelty, the PTRS on tests showed fewer delays than the PTR of Rukavishnikov, with the same ballistics, mass and magazine capacity. For ease of transportation, the gun was disassembled into two parts. The PTRS was 1.5-2 times higher than the PTRD in terms of combat rate of fire, which greatly increased the likelihood of hitting the tank. In terms of the complexity of production, it was between the PTRD and the PTR of Rukavishnikov: in 1941, only 77 PTRS were produced, and a year later, already 63,308 (production was delivered in Saratov and Izhevsk). In terms of the combination of combat and operational qualities, the PTRS can be considered the best PTR of the Second World War.

At the position, the PTR calculation, consisting of a gunner and his assistant, in addition to a gun, was preparing grenades and incendiary bottles for battle. PTRD and PTRS, capable of fighting enemy medium tanks at ranges up to 300 m, played an important role in the anti-tank defense system in 1941-1942. German tank crews recalled the Soviet anti-tank missile systems as "worthy of respect" weapons, paying tribute to their calculations. And General Friedrich Wilhelm von Mellenthin wrote: “It seemed that every infantryman had an anti-tank gun or anti-tank gun. The Russians are very adept at disposing of these funds, and there seems to be no place where they are not. "

With all the manufacturability, the deployment of mass production of PTR in wartime conditions required a certain period. And the shortcomings of the hastily created systems - tight extraction of the cartridge case from the PTRD, double shots from the PTRS - had to be corrected during production. The needs of the troops began to be satisfied sufficiently only from November 1942. But already at the beginning of next year, the effectiveness of the anti-tank missile system decreased due to the increase in the armor of German tanks and assault guns over 40 mm. The new "panthers" and "tigers" were simply too tough for the "armor-piercing".

The tension in the use of anti-tank systems in the Red Army is evidenced by the following figures: in the defensive operation near Kursk, the Central Front spent 387,000 cartridges for anti-tank guns and anti-tank guided missile systems (or 48,370 on the day of the battle), Voronezh - 754,000 (68,250 per day), and for the entire spent 3.6 million such cartridges.

And yet the PTRD and PTRS did not leave the scene. But now their targets were light armored vehicles, lightly armored self-propelled guns, firing points - especially in urban battles, embrasures of bunkers and bunkers at ranges of up to 800 m, as well as aircraft at ranges of up to 500 m.

The troops even made homemade anti-aircraft guns for the PTR, the anti-aircraft tripod created in Kovrov for the PTR was not allowed into the series. PTR was often used by snipers to engage remote targets or shooters behind armor shields - in forty years this experience will revive in the form of large-caliber sniper rifles. The production of 14.5-mm PTR lasted until January 1945 of the year, in total during the war they were released about 471,500 pieces.

But the service life of the 14.5-mm cartridge turned out to be much longer.

The proliferation of light armored vehicles and an increase in the protection of aviation operating at low altitudes required a machine gun capable of hitting lightly armored targets at ranges of up to 1,000 m, accumulation of manpower and equipment, firing points up to 1,500 m, as well as the fight against air targets. Such a machine gun was developed in Kovrov by a group of designers headed by Semyon Vladimirov. The design was based on the V-20 20-mm aircraft cannon. Already in 1944, the "Vladimirov heavy machine gun arr. 1944" (KPV-44) got into small-scale production, and after the war gave birth to a family of infantry, tank and anti-aircraft 14.5-mm machine guns.

Of course, they tried to create more powerful PTR. For example, Mikhail Blum's 14.5-mm PTR under a reinforced cartridge (based on a 23-mm cartridge case) and with an initial bullet speed of 1,500 m / s, 20-mm PTR "RES" by Rashkov, Ermolaev, Slukhotskiy, and other developments. But in 1945, Anatoly Blagonravov stated: "In its current form, this weapon (PTR) has exhausted its capabilities."

Reactive systems

The new stage of anti-tank weapons was associated with a combination of a reactive or recoilless principle of throwing a projectile with a cumulative warhead. Jet weapons have been around for almost as long as firearms: powder firecrackers and rockets appeared in China and India between the 10th and 13th centuries. Another revival of interest in combat missiles occurred at the end of the First World War. At the same time, work began on recoilless, or "dynamo-reactive", as they were called then, guns (although their schemes were proposed back in the 1860s). The greatest attention in artillery was attracted by powder rockets and dynamo-reactive systems with recoil energy damping by the reactive force of a part of the propellant gases of the propellant charge, discharged through the breech cut. The work was carried out in a number of countries and most intensively in the USSR, Germany and the USA. Among other areas were light anti-tank weapons. In the USSR, for example, in 1931 they tested the 65-mm "jet gun" of Petropavlovsky. And two years later, they adopted the 37-mm "dynamo-rocket anti-tank rifles" by Leonid Kurchevsky. True, two years later they were abandoned due to unsatisfactory armor penetration and poor maneuverability. Kondakov, Rashkov, Trofimov, Berkalov were also involved in recoilless systems. But the de facto failure of Kurchevsky's most loudly touted work undermined credibility on the topic. In addition, the armor-piercing action of the projectiles was based on kinetic energy and at low speeds provided by recoilless and reactive systems, it was insufficient.

The cumulative effect of "hollow charges" has also been known for a long time - Mikhail Boreskov began his research back in 1865 in Russia. Abroad, this effect is better known as the "Munroe effect". A study of the practical application of shaped charges in the construction business in the USSR was carried out in the 1920s by M.Ya. Sukharevsky. By the beginning of the war in the USSR and Germany, there were samples of engineering shaped charges to destroy concrete and armored caps. In short, the principle of operation of a shaped charge looks like this. A funnel with a thin metal lining is made in the front hollow part of the charge. When explosives are detonated, shock waves seem to be focused and a "pest" is formed from the outer layers of the lining, and a "needle" is squeezed out from the inner layers in the form of a narrow stream of gases and molten metal with a high temperature and a speed of up to 10,000 - 15,000 m / s. Under the action of such a jet at a pressure of more than 100,000 kg / cm2, the armor, like a liquid, "spreads" to the sides and after the "needle" a "pestle" bursts into the hole. Armor-piercing ("armor-piercing", as it was not quite rightly called then), the effect of a shaped charge does not depend on the speed of the projectile, and therefore on the firing range and initial speed. The high temperature and pressure of gases give a strong "armor-plating" destructive effect. The practical implementation of the effect requires not only the accuracy of the warhead, but also special fuses - it was their development that delayed the creation of artillery and shaped-charge rocket projectiles. The detonation of such charges was calculated so that the cumulative jet had time to form before the warhead touches the armor.

In arming the armies with a new type of weapon - a hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher (RPG) with a feathered cumulative grenade - Great Britain was ahead of all. However, the grenade launcher, developed under the leadership of Colonel Blacker according to the schemes of engineers Jeffrey and Wells and put into service in 1942 under the designation PIAT Mk I (Projectile Infantry Anti-Tank Mark I - "infantry anti-tank projectile, brand one"), did not use either a rocket. no dynamo-reactive circuit. The propellant charge burned out before the grenade left the grenade launcher tray, and the recoil was extinguished by the massive bolt-striker, its spring and the butt damper. Under the action of recoil, the bolt-striker rolled back and got up to the combat platoon and the grenade launcher was ready to load and fire. This weighted the weapon up to 15.75 kg with an aiming range of only 100 yards (91 m). The only advantage of the PIAT was the absence of a jet of gases behind the RPG and the possibility of firing from tight spaces.

Legendary Faust Cartridges

By the middle of the war, the German infantry was practically as helpless in front of the new Soviet tanks as the Soviet one was in front of the German ones at the beginning of the war. It is not surprising that the Infantry Armament Program, adopted in 1943, attached particular importance to anti-tank weapons. Chief among them were the reusable rocket-propelled grenade launcher and the single-use dynamo-jet (recoilless) one. The first was created on the basis of the Schulder 75 experimental jet device to combat all types of tanks. A grenade with a rigid tail was inserted into the launch tube by an assistant grenade launcher from a breech cut, firing was carried out from the shoulder of the grenade launcher, the grenade engine was ignited from a pulsed electric generator. In addition to the official designation 8,8cm R.Pz.B.54 ("Raketenpanzerbuchse 54"), the RPG received the "nickname" "Ofenror". Otherwise - "chimney", so powerfully flames and smoke burst from its official cut. To protect the grenade launcher from the engine flame of a fired grenade, he wore a gas mask and a steel helmet. Therefore, the modification R.Pz.B.54 / 1 "Panzershrek" ("thunderstorm of tanks") was equipped with a shield. It is characteristic that the "arctic" - for the Eastern Front and "tropical" - for North Africa - modifications of the grenade were created. "Ofenror" and "Panzershrek" were powerful enough weapons, but rather bulky to carry and difficult to manufacture.

Disposable "Panzerfaust" were more mobile and cheaper (they are "faustpatrons", the name Panzerfaust, "armored fist", is associated with the German legend of the 16th century about a knight with a "steel hand"). The Panzerfaust models F-1 and F-2 (System 43), F-3 (System 44) and F-4 turned out to be the simplest recoilless devices with an over-caliber grenade and a simple trigger mechanism. A charge of smoky gunpowder threw a grenade from the launch tube, the plumage of which was revealed in flight. The sighting range of the F-1 and F-2 reached 30 m. The flight path of the grenade was quite steep, so when firing, the Panzerfaust was often taken under the arm, aiming at the hole of the sighting bar and the rim of the grenade.

Model F-3 (or "Panzerfaust-60") had a 150-mm grenade, an increased propellant charge and an effective range of up to 75 m. Samples with a longer range were developed, but did not have time to launch into series. When fired behind the RPG, a jet of hot gases and a cloud of smoke escaped, making it difficult to fire from shelters and premises and unmasking the shooter. But "Panzerfaust" were very easy to handle and manufacture. In addition to the troops, they were given out in large numbers to the Volkssturm and the boys from the Hitler Youth. The standardization traditional for German industry made it possible to quickly connect several companies to production. And from July 1944 to April 1945, more than 7.1 million Panzerfausts were produced. They turned out to be especially effective in urban battles - during the East Pomeranian operation, for example, in the 2nd mechanized corps of the 2nd Guards Tank Army, 60% of the lost tanks were hit by "panzerfaust". To fight the "faustics", it was necessary to allocate special groups of machine gunners and snipers (the war generally exacerbated the problem of interaction between tanks and infantry and their mutual cover for each other). Soviet soldiers, not having their own such means, willingly used the captured "Panzerfaust" for firing not only at armored vehicles, but also at bunkers, fortified buildings. Colonel-General Vasily Chuikov even suggested introducing them into the troops under the playful name "Ivan-patron".

According to a number of experts, "Panzerfaust" was "the best hand-held infantry anti-tank weapon of the war." True, immediately after the war, this type attracted less attention than reusable grenade launchers and recoilless guns.

The American reusable 60-mm RPG M1 "Bazooka", developed under the leadership of Colonel Skinner, received combat experience earlier than the German "Ofenror", was lighter and more mobile, but inferior to him in armor penetration and reliability. Nevertheless, "Bazookas" (this nickname, which has become a household name, is associated with the external similarity of the RPG with the wind musical instrument of the same name) became the main PT means of small divisions, and their production was diligently increased. At the end of the war, the 88.9-mm RPG M20 "Bazooka" was created with a firing range of up to 150-200 m and armor penetration of 280 mm. But it entered service only during the Korean War in the early 1950s.

Infantry anti-tank weapons, in fact, included the American 57-mm M18 recoilless gun weighing only 20 kg, which entered the front in March 1945, firing from the shoulder or from a support at a distance of up to 400 m.However, the armor penetration of its shell was already insufficient.

The Germans used a heavier version of the "easel grenade launcher" - the 88-mm "Puphen" (otherwise - "chrysalis", so nicknamed for the similarity to a toy gun) of 1943 was active-reactive. The bore was locked with a bolt, the grenade was thrown out like a regular projectile, and in flight it was accelerated by a jet engine. With armor penetration up to 160 mm, "Puphen" had an effective firing range of no more than 200 m, weighed 152 kg and required 4-6 people. On March 1, 1945, the Wehrmacht had 139,700 Panzershrek and 1,649 Pupchen.

Original grenades

The low effectiveness of high-explosive anti-tank grenades against the rapidly growing armor protection of tanks became clear already at the beginning of the war. For example, a Soviet RPG-40 grenade with a mass of 1.2 kg (it is clear that its accurate throw required considerable skill) "broke through" armor no thicker than 20 mm. Heavy grenades (nicknamed "Tanyusha") and bundles of conventional hand grenades were usually thrown under the tracks, under the bottom or at the rear of the tank in order to immobilize the vehicle. From the middle of the war, high-explosive grenades were replaced by cumulative grenades. In 1943, the PWM1 (L) appeared in the German army, and the RPG-43, developed by N.P. Belyakov at KB-20. After the appearance of German heavy tanks on the Kursk Bulge, the more powerful RPG-6, developed at NII-6 M.Z., began to be used. Polevikov, L.B. Ioffe and N.S. Zhitkikh. The tape stabilizer ensured the approach of the grenade to the target with the head part forward, and the shock inertial fuse - detonation immediately upon meeting the target. The armor penetration of the RPG-43 was 75 mm, the RPG-6 - 100 mm, PWM - up to 150 mm.

The original combination of a grenade and a mine was the German magnetic grenade HN.3. It was "placed" on the enemy's tank when it passed over the trench. Akin to it was a sticky grenade with a sticky layer on the bottom of the case. During the war, by the way, the infantry began to be taught how to handle anti-tank mines - the Soviet Infantry Regulations of 1942 introduced anti-tank landmines and mines among the "infantry fighting means".

Cumulative grenades also came in rifle grenade launchers. For the German rifled 30-mm rifle grenade launcher, for example, they adopted the caliber "small" (G.Pz.gr.) and over-caliber "large" (Gr.G.Pz.gr.) cumulative grenades with armor penetration of 25 and 40 mm, respectively. The Germans generally tried to adapt any means to anti-tank equipment - a cumulative grenade was created even for firing from a rifled signal pistol.

A VKG-40 grenade with armor penetration up to 50 mm, fired with a special blank cartridge, was also developed for the Soviet Dyakonov rifle grenade launcher. However, both in the Red Army and in the Wehrmacht, anti-tank rifle grenades were used to a limited extent. Serdyuk's anti-tank rifle grenade VPGS41, ordered by the Red Army at first in large quantities, was already withdrawn from production and armament in 1942.

Work on a special light grenade launcher for firing an RPG-6 grenade was never completed. Deployed in the middle of the war, under the impression of the appearance of German models, work on rocket-propelled grenade launchers gave results only after the war. In 1949, the RPG-2, created in GSKB-30, entered service, and a year later - the easel SG-82, developed in SKB No. 36. As a result, in the last period of the war, hand grenades again turned out to be the only effective AT means of close combat for Soviet infantry.

Of the various rifle grenades used during World War II, perhaps the most promising were the American ones (anti-tank M9-A1, fragmentation M17, smoke M19-A1WP), equipped with plumage and fired with a blank (throwing) cartridge from a small muzzle attachment. After the war, feathered rifle grenades proved to be quite popular. NATO has even established a standard for the outer diameter of a muzzle attachment or rifle flame arrester - 22 mm. True, France, Belgium and Israel have already become leaders in the creation of new rifle grenades.

Bottles for battle!

The idea of ​​using incendiary weapons against tanks originated in the First World War, and after that this idea was developed and refined. The fire mixture, of course, cannot burn through the armor, but, flowing into the cracks and blinds, it can cause a fire inside the tank (especially in the engine compartment), the flame and smoke blind the tankers, forcing them to stop and leave the car. Generally speaking, incendiary weapons are within the competence of the chemical forces. Molotov cocktails were the incendiary weapon widely used by the infantry. With a shortage or complete absence of close combat anti-tank weapons in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War, the production and supply of incendiary bottles was expanded widely. The simplest incendiary bottles were used against tanks back in Spain; Soviet tankers had to face them during the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940.

In the first months of the Great Patriotic War, this simple weapon went through a peculiar development path. At first, the bottles had a fuse in the form of a match or a rag soaked in gasoline, but preparing such a bottle for throwing took a long time and was dangerous. Then chemical fuses appeared in ampoules: breaking together with the bottle, they gave a "ray" of flame. Fuses from hand grenades were also used. The top was the bottles with self-igniting liquid "KS" or "BGS" - they ignited upon contact with air, burned for 2-3 minutes, giving a temperature of 800-1000 ° C and abundant white smoke. It was these liquids that received the well-known nickname "Molotov cocktail" from the enemy. The bottle only had to be removed from the cork and thrown at the target. Fighting against tanks with only incendiary bottles, the infantry usually suffered heavy losses, but in combination with other anti-tank weapons, the “bottles” gave a good effect. On their account during the war there are 2,429 destroyed tanks, self-propelled guns and armored vehicles, 1,189 bunkers and bunkers, 2,547 other fortifications, 738 vehicles and 65 military depots. The Molotov Cocktail has remained a unique Russian recipe.

New experience - new requirements

The Second World War gave a bloody, but rich experience in the use and development of weapons and military equipment, forced a significant revision of various types of weapons. All this formed the basis for a new generation of weapons, including infantry weapons.

AT weapons have become an integral part of armament at the squad-platoon-company level. At the same time, it was supposed to hit all types of tanks at ranges of up to 500 m (and according to other experts, up to 1,000 m).

The new complex of anti-tank weapons for the infantry, as well as the armament system of the infantry as a whole, basically took shape by the spring of 1945. In the opinion of many researchers, they were most fully developed by German specialists. Fortunately, the swift actions of the Red Army and the rapidly depleting resources of German industry did not allow German designers to "bring" a number of samples.

In World War II, guided rocket weapons were used for the first time. In the field of AT, the matter was limited to the experienced German X-7 Rotkaphen (Little Red Riding Hood) missile with manual control by wires. A decade and a half later, a whole series of various first-generation anti-tank missile systems appeared.

In terms of small arms, the experience of the war revealed the need to solve many problems: improving the maneuverability of weapons in connection with the increased mobility of the infantry on the battlefield; increasing the efficiency of fire by optimizing the ratio of density, accuracy of fire and the damaging effect of a bullet; choice of cartridge power; unification of weapons by cartridge and system, full automation of weapons, etc.

The need for new light and mobile means of short-range air defense stimulated the development of large-caliber machine-gun installations. In Germany, by the end of the war, they managed to release an experimental batch of the first portable anti-aircraft missile system, which, however, was not yet classified as a "high-precision weapon": "Fligerfaust" was a kind of multiple launch rocket system for launching from the shoulder nine unguided 20-mm missiles with an effective range no more than 500 m.

In the course of the war, the range of infantry weapons increased significantly. The complex use of various means with the increased dynamism of combat required better training of commanders and fighters. And this, in turn, required the ease of mastering and operating each type of weapon separately.

To be continued

Hand weapon

Recoilless guns

There is no clear boundary between rocket-propelled grenade launchers and recoilless guns. English term recoilless rifle(recoilless gun) denotes both the L6 WOMBAT weighing 295 kg on a wheeled carriage, and the M67 weighing 17 kg for shooting from the shoulder or bipod. In Russia (USSR), the SPG-9 with a mass of 64.5 kg on a wheeled carriage and an RPG-7 with a mass of 6.3 kg for shoulder firing was considered a grenade launcher. In Italy, the Folgore system weighing 18.9 kg is considered a grenade launcher, and the same system on a tripod and with a ballistic computer (weight 25.6 kg) is a recoilless gun. The advent of HEAT shells made smooth-bore recoilless guns promising as light anti-tank guns. Such weapons were used by the United States at the end of World War II, and in the postwar years, recoilless anti-tank guns were adopted by a number of countries, including the USSR, were actively used (and continue to be used) in a number of armed conflicts. The most widely used recoilless weapons are in the armies of developing countries. In the armies of developed countries, BOs as an anti-tank weapon are mainly replaced by anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM). Some exceptions are the Scandinavian countries, for example, Sweden, where BOs continue to develop, and, by improving ammunition using the latest technological advances, they have reached 800 mm armor penetration (with a caliber of 90 mm, that is, almost 9kb)

ATGM

The main advantage of tank anti-tank guided missiles is the greater, in comparison with any type of tank armament, the accuracy of hitting targets, as well as the long range of aimed fire. This allows the tank to fire at the enemy's tank, remaining out of the reach of its weapons, with a probability of defeat exceeding that of modern tank guns at such a distance. The significant disadvantages of the KUV include 1) lower than that of a tank gun projectile, the average flight speed of the rocket and 2) the extremely high cost of a shot.

Artillery installations

An anti-tank gun (PTO) is a specialized artillery weapon for fighting enemy armored vehicles by direct fire. In the overwhelming majority of cases, it is a long-barreled cannon with a high initial projectile velocity and a small elevation angle. Other characteristic features of the anti-tank gun include unitary loading and a wedge-shaped semi-automatic bolt, which contribute to the maximum rate of fire. When designing a PTO, special attention is paid to minimizing its weight and dimensions in order to facilitate transportation and camouflage on the ground. A self-propelled artillery mount can be very similar to a tank in design, but it is designed to solve other problems: the destruction of enemy tanks from ambushes or fire support of troops from a closed firing position, and therefore has a different balance of armor and weapons. A tank destroyer is a fully and well-armored self-propelled artillery unit (ACS) specialized for combating enemy armored vehicles. It is in its armor that the tank destroyer differs from the anti-tank SPG, which has light and partial armor protection.

Tactical missiles

Tactical missiles, depending on the type, can be equipped with all kinds of anti-tank submunitions and mines.

Aircrafts

Attack aircraft A-10 Thunderbolt (USA)

Attack is called the defeat of land and sea targets using small arms (cannons and machine guns), as well as missiles. Attack aircraft - a combat aircraft (airplane or helicopter) designed for attack aircraft. Non-specialized aircraft types, such as conventional fighters, as well as light and dive bombers, can be used for ground attack. However, in the 1930s, a specialized class of aircraft for assault operations was allocated. The reason for this is that, unlike an attack aircraft, a dive bomber only hits point targets; a heavy bomber operates from a great height over areas and large stationary targets - it is not suitable for hitting a target directly on the battlefield, since there is a great risk of missing and hitting your own; The fighter (like the dive bomber) does not have strong armor, while at low altitudes the aircraft is exposed to targeted fire from all types of weapons, as well as to stray fragments, stones and other dangerous objects flying over the battlefield. The role of ground attack decreased after the appearance of cluster bombs (with the help of which it is more effective to hit elongated targets than from small arms), as well as during the development of air-to-surface missiles (accuracy and range increased, guided missiles appeared). The speed of combat aircraft increased, and it became problematic for them to hit targets while at low altitude. On the other hand, attack helicopters appeared, almost completely displacing the aircraft from low altitudes.

Unmanned aircraft

Most often, UAVs are understood as remotely controlled aircraft used for aerial reconnaissance and strike. The most famous example of a UAV is the American MQ-1 Predator. In February 2001, at Nellis Air Force Base, the first test launches of AGM-114 Hellfire anti-tank missiles (ATGM) were performed from the Predator UAV. The Predator can be armed with two ATGMs (one under each wing). Targeting is carried out using a standard laser designator

Anti-tank mines

Anti-tank mines are anti-bottom, anti-track mines, anti-board mines. They are designed to disable tanks and other equipment, but do not work when a person or animal steps on it.

Anti-tank nadolby

Refers to non-explosive anti-tank obstacles. They are usually part of a defensive line and are combined with minefields and barbed wire.

see also

Links

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See what "Anti-tank weapons" are in other dictionaries:

Anti-tank rifle Simonov PTRS 41 Tankgewehr M1918 Lahti L 39 ... Wikipedia

In the fall of the 41st, a new soldier's specialty appeared in the Red Army - an armor-piercer. So they began to call the fighters with anti-tank rifles (PTR). the creation and use of the PTR is worthy of a separate and fairly detailed story.

For the first time, anti-tank rifles - single-shot 13.37-mm "Mauser Tankgever" were used by the German Reichswehr in 1918, at the final stage of the First World War. This experience turned out to be rather negative, therefore, in subsequent years, the armies of the leading states of the world intended to hit the enemy with the help of light cannons and "universal" large-caliber machine guns. However, the scale of mechanization of troops made the idea of ​​light infantry anti-tank weapons with a range of several hundred meters all the more tempting. In the 30s, work on the PTR intensified, including in our country. By the way, the term "anti-tank gun" is apparently borrowed from the German Panzerbüchse - after all, in fact, we are talking about a rifled weapon.

In 1936-1938, 15 different PTR systems of 12.7 to 25 mm caliber were tested, until it became clear that the requirements for an anti-tank rifle were initially overestimated. On November 9, 1938, the Artillery Directorate of the Red Army formulated a new task, which provided for the development of a 14.5-mm self-loading anti-tank rifle, which could constantly be with units of a rifle company on any terrain and in any battle conditions. Work on a new cartridge of 14.5 mm caliber began at the Scientific Testing Range of Small Arms (NIPSVO) and continued at one of the Moscow factories.

With the expectation of this ammunition, an employee of the same test site N.V. Rukavishnikov designed the PTR, which was put into service on October 7, 1939. And yet, by June 22, 1941, the troops did not have serial anti-tank guns. This dramatic situation is often explained by the position of Marshal GI Kulik, who headed the Main Artillery Directorate before the war and declared in the spring of 1940 about the ineffectiveness of light anti-tank weapons in the fight against "the latest German tanks." The opinion of the marshal probably contributed to the delay in work on the anti-tank missile system (as, by the way, to the withdrawal from production of 45-mm anti-tank guns), but did not stop them. A far greater role was played by technical reasons - plant No. 2, which was entrusted with the production of the first batch, in the winter of 1939-1940 used its main capacities for the production of PPD. In addition, repeated tests of Rukavishnikov's PTR showed its high sensitivity to pollution, unmasking the position with dust raised by gases from the muzzle brake. The gun needed further development and was removed from service on July 26, 1940. Tests of the converted PTR took place in June 1941, and the NIPSVO report on the results is dated the 23rd, the second day of the Great Patriotic War.

BULK SAMPLES

The urgent establishment of the production of anti-tank rifles in the conditions of the outbreak of war, when all the capacities of the existing enterprises of the People's Commissariat of Armaments were charged, required the solution of many organizational and technological problems. In the meantime, in July 1941, temporary measures are being taken to provide the army with PTR as soon as possible.

One of them is an attempt to urgently organize the production of 7.92-mm rifles at the Tula Machine-Tool Plant (plant No. 66), modeled on the captured German Pz.B.39. Its armor penetration (at a distance of 300 m, the bullet pierced armor up to 23 mm thick) was sufficient to fight against the light tanks of the Wehrmacht. Yes, and medium tanks of the enemy, it could hit when firing at the side. Plant No. 66 was supposed to produce 5 thousand of these PTRs. But in September, there were still problems with the operation of the mechanisms of the gun. In October, the machine-tool plant was evacuated. According to some sources - up to 1,000, according to others - only 426 of these PTRs. In any case, 7.92-mm guns were used in the defense of Tula (the Tula Workers' Regiment received several of them).

They also remembered at that time about 12.7-mm single-shot guns, similar in type to the German "Mauser Tankgever" - in the 30s they were made in small quantities in Tula to develop a 12.7-mm cartridge, and NIPSVO in 1938 -m proposed to develop on this basis a store PTR. Now a proposal has arisen for the production of a single-shot anti-tank rifle for a 12.7-mm DShK cartridge by small workshops (engineer V.N.Sholokhov is called the initiator). Semi-handicraft production began in Moscow in the workshops of the Mechanical Engineering Institute. Bauman, then - in OKB-16. The simple design of the German Mauser PTR was supplemented with a muzzle brake, a stock damper and a folding bipod. Especially for these guns, 12.7-mm cartridges with an armor-piercing bullet were produced, which made it possible to penetrate 20 mm thick armor at a distance of 400 m.

The development of the 14.5-mm cartridge continued: in August, its version with a BS-41 bullet with a solid core was adopted. This core is often referred to as sintered metal, although we are not talking about ceramics, but about the use of powder metallurgy. If the 14.5-mm B-32 bullet at a distance of 300 m pierced armor with a thickness of 21 mm, then the BS-41 - 35 mm.

The launch of Rukavishnikov's PTR was still a problem. To speed up work on a more technologically advanced 14.5-mm PTR, according to the memoirs of D.F. Ustinov, Stalin at one of the GKO meetings proposed to entrust the development of one more, and for reliability - two designers. V. A. Degtyarev and S. G. Simonov received the assignment in early July. Soon there were samples ready for testing - only 22 days passed from the formulation of the problem to the first test shots. The new anti-tank missile systems were supposed to fight medium and light tanks and armored vehicles at ranges of up to 500 m.

Degtyarev with the employees of his KB-2 at the tool plant No. 2 in Kovrov developed two options with varying degrees of automation. Already on July 14, working drawings were transferred to production. On July 28, the Degtyarev PTR project was considered at a meeting at the Small Arms Directorate. On July 30, to speed up the organization of mass production, Degtyarev was offered to simplify one of the samples, turning it into a single-shot one, because it is the power system that usually gives the greatest number of problems when fine-tuning weapons. A few days later, this option was presented.

On August 28-29, Degtyarev's PTR was tested at the NIPSVO. And on August 6-12, a joint test of Simonov's self-loading PTR (created on the basis of his own experimental self-loading rifle of 1938) and a modified Rukavishnikov's PTR took place here. Simonov's sample showed the best results.

On August 29, 1941, Degtyarev's single-shot rifle and Simonov's self-loading rifle were put into service under the designations of PTRD and PTRS, respectively. This was done even before the end of the PTR tests (survivability tests took place on September 12-13, and the final ones on September 24).

The rotary longitudinally sliding bolt of the Degtyarev rifle had two lugs in the front and a straight handle in the rear. The percussion mechanism is of a striker type with a helical mainspring, the tail of the striker came out behind the bolt and looked like a hook. The striker was cocked when the bolt was unlocked. The PTRD barrel was equipped with an active muzzle brake that absorbed up to 2/3 of the recoil energy. The tubular butt contained the shock absorber spring. An ingenious feature of the design was the principle of automatic unlocking of the bolt on rollback, creatively borrowed from artillery. After the shot, the barrel with the receiver retreated, the bolt handle ran over the copy profile, mounted on the butt, and turned, unlocking the bolt. After stopping the barrel, the bolt retreated by inertia and stood on the bolt delay, the bolt reflector pushed the spent cartridge case into the lower window of the receiver. The moving system was returned to the forward position by a shock absorber spring. The bolt remained open, and in order to prepare for the next shot, it was necessary to insert a new cartridge into the upper window of the receiver, send and lock the bolt. This made it possible to increase the combat rate of fire with the well-coordinated work of the calculation of two people. The sighting device was carried out to the left on the brackets and included a front sight and a crossover rear sight at a distance of up to 600 m and above (in the PTR of the first releases, the rear sight moved in a vertical groove).

The stock had a soft cushion, a wooden support for holding the weapon with the left hand, a wooden pistol grip, a support for the shooter's cheek. A folding stamped bipod and a carrying handle were attached to the barrel. The accessory included two canvas bags for 20 rounds each. The total weight of the PTRD with ammunition was about 26 kg. In battle, the gun carried one or both of the crew numbers. Imagine the load on the crew on the march and in battle.

A minimum of parts, the use of a butt tube instead of a frame simplified the production of PTR, and this was of decisive importance in those conditions. The production of anti-tank guns began at the Kovrov plant number 2: in early October, the first batch of 50 rifles was put into assembly here, on October 28, a specialized production was created - the task for anti-tank weapons was a priority. The first batch of 300 ATRMs was produced in October and at the beginning of November was sent to the 16th Army of Lieutenant General K. K. Rokossovsky. Later, plant number 74 (Izhevsk machine-building plant) was connected to the production of the PTRD. By December 30, 1941, 17,688 anti-tank guns were manufactured, and for the whole of 1942 - 184,800. The main production of anti-tank guns was carried out in Kovrov until November 1943, when plant No. 2 stopped production. But in October 1943, the PTRD began to be assembled in Zlatoust at the plant number 385.

Self-loading PTRS had automation based on the removal of powder gases through a transverse hole in the wall of the barrel. The barrel bore was locked by tilting the bolt skeleton downward. The percussion mechanism is a hammer, with a helical mainspring. A two-row magazine with a lever feed was pivotally attached to the receiver, equipped with a clip (pack) with 5 cartridges with the lid folded down. The accessory included 6 clips. When the cartridges were used up, the bolt got up for a delay. The sighting device included a front sight with a fuse and a sector sight, notched from 100 to 1500 m. The PTR had a wooden buttstock with a soft pad and shoulder pad, and a pistol grip. The neck of the butt was used for holding with the left hand. The barrel was equipped with a muzzle brake, a folding bipod and a carrying handle were attached to it.

The production of PTRS was simpler than the PTR of Rukavishnikov (a third fewer parts, 60% less machine-tool hours), but much more complicated than the PTRD. It was planned to produce PTRS in Tula, but after the evacuation of part of the production of plant No. 66 to Saratov, the production of PTRS was established there, at factory No. 614 (formerly "Traktorodetal"). Neither equipment nor capacities were sufficient for the rapid organization of production. A way out was found in the cooperation of enterprises: the manufacture of the store box was entrusted to the combine plant, the striker - to the mechanical workshop of the local university. On November 7, the first PTRS was successfully tested, and its serial production began in December in Saratov. Izhevsk plant number 74 was also involved in the production of PTRS: on November 6, he received a task to organize the production of PTRD, and already on November 11 - additionally for the production of PTRS. In November, the residents of Izhevsk manufactured 36 ATGMs, and the first two ATGMs could be delivered only in December. At first, the production of PTR parts was distributed among the workshops of the plant, then separate wooden barracks were built. Used the evacuated production of the Tula arms and Podolsk mechanical factories. On July 1, 1942, on this basis, plant number 622 (later the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant) was allocated from plant number 74, which also produced anti-tank rifles of both systems, and from mid-1943 - only anti-tank guns.

In 1941, only 77 ATGMs were produced, in 1942 - 63,308. The establishment of mass production made it possible to reduce the cost of ATGMs - from the first half of 1942 to the second half of 1943, it almost halved.

Since the PTRs were taken urgently, the shortcomings of the new systems - the tight extraction of the cartridge case from the PTRD, double shots from the PTRS - had to be corrected during production. Due to the tight extraction of the casings, it was recommended to lubricate the PTR chamber before firing and every 10-12 shots. This, as well as the rather sensitive recoil, reduced the real combat rate of fire in comparison with that stated in the manuals. The deployment of mass production in war conditions still required a certain period - the needs of the troops began to be satisfied sufficiently only from November 1942.

Production of anti-tank guns was stopped in Izhevsk at plant number 622 in July, and in Kovrov at plant number 2 in November 1943, in Zlatoust at plant number 385 in December 1944. PTRS were produced in Saratov at the plant number 614 until June 1944, in Izhevsk at the plant number 622 - until December of the same year. In total, these five factories produced 471 726 ATRs - 281 111 ATGMs and 190 615 ATGMs. The troops were supplied with 469,700 anti-tank missiles of both systems. The peak of production - 249 642 units - falls on 1942, when the role of the anti-tank missile system in the anti-tank defense system was most significant. The number of 14.5 mm cartridges produced in 1940-1945 is estimated at 139.8 million, the peak of production is 1942-1943.

COMBAT EXPERIENCE

With sufficiently high ballistic data, the 14.5-mm PTR was distinguished by its maneuverability and manufacturability. They, of course, were not a substitute for even light anti-tank guns, but they bridged the essential gap between the "anti-tank" capabilities of infantry and artillery. Although in 1941 the PTR had to play exactly the role of the latter - back in August, 45-mm guns were withdrawn from the battalion and division level and handed over to the formation of anti-tank regiments and brigades.

The first new anti-tank systems were received by the troops of the Western Front, defending Moscow (here, by the way, a certain number of Rukavishnikov's anti-tank systems were also used). The directive of the front commander, General of the Army G.K. Zhukov of October 26, 1941, referring to the dispatch of 3-4 PTR platoons to the 5th, 33rd and 16th armies, demanded “to take measures for the immediate use of this weapon of exceptional strength and effectiveness. ... giving them to regiments and battalions. " And in his order of December 29, Zhukov pointed out shortcomings in the use of PTRs: the use of their crews as shooters, lack of interaction with groups of tank destroyers and anti-tank artillery, cases of leaving PTRs on the battlefield.

The most famous during the defense of Moscow was the battle at the Dubosekovo crossing on November 16, 1941 of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 1075th regiment of the 316th rifle division of Major General I.V. Panfilov. Of the 30 German tanks that participated in the attacks, 18 were destroyed, but of the entire company on the front of which the attack took place, less than 20% of the Red Army men survived. This battle showed not only the ability of ATR crews (there were only 4 crews in the battalion) to fight tanks, but also the need to cover them with riflemen, machine gunners and support with anti-tank and regimental artillery. Anti-tank strongholds have become a form of organizing close interaction between anti-tank artillery, anti-tank weapons, tank destroyers and automatic infantry weapons.

From December 1941, PTR companies (27, then 54 guns) were introduced into the rifle regiments, and from the fall of 1942, PTR platoons of 18 guns were added to the battalions. In January 1943, the PTR company was included in the motorized rifle and machine gun battalion of the tank brigade, here the PTR companies will exist until March 1944. PTR companies were also introduced into artillery anti-tank fighter battalions, and anti-tank battalions - into anti-tank fighter brigades. Anti-tank rifles, together with light machine guns, provided self-defense of artillery batteries from surprise attacks by the enemy.

It should be noted that the effectiveness of the combat work of the PTR crews is assessed in different ways, in the Russian literature of recent years it is customary to emphasize their shortcomings and assume that they had only "psychological significance" in the face of an obvious lack of anti-tank artillery. However, the former Lieutenant General of the Wehrmacht E. Schneider wrote: "In 1941, the Russians had a 14.5-mm ATR ... which caused a lot of trouble for our tanks and light armored personnel carriers that appeared later." Former Major General F. von Mellenthin noted: “It seemed that every infantryman had an anti-tank gun or anti-tank gun. The Russians were very clever at disposing of these funds and, it seems, there was no place where they would not be. " In general, in a number of German works about World War II and the memoirs of German tank crews, Soviet PTRs are referred to as "worthy of respect" weapons, but the courage of their calculations is also given due. As early as 1942, Soviet commanders noted the new features of the Germans conducting attacks with tanks and assault guns - they sometimes stopped 300-400 m from the forward trenches, supported their infantry with fire from a place. And these are the ranges from which Soviet anti-tank systems opened fire. As you can see, the fire of anti-tank rifles had more than only "psychological significance."

Having played a large role in anti-tank defense in 1941-1942, the anti-tank missile system since the middle of 1943 - with the growth of armor protection for tanks and assault guns over 40 mm - lost their positions. If in January 1942 the number of PTR in the troops was 8116, in January 1944 it was 142 861, that is, it increased 17.6 times in two years, then in 1944 it began to decline and by the end of the war the active army had only about 40,000 PTR.

On October 30, 1944, the chief of staff of the 1st Baltic Front, Colonel-General V. V. Kurasov, reported: “The experience of using anti-tank systems during the Patriotic War shows that they had the greatest effect in the period until July 1943, when the enemy used light and medium tanks , and the battle formations of our troops were comparatively less saturated with anti-tank artillery. Starting in the second half of 1943, when the enemy began to use heavy tanks and self-propelled guns with powerful armor protection, the effectiveness of the anti-tank missile system significantly decreased. The main role in the fight against tanks is currently performed entirely by artillery. PTR, with good accuracy of fire, are now used mainly against firing points, armored vehicles and armored personnel carriers of the enemy. " The unit commanders successfully used the main advantages of the PTR - maneuverability, the ability to constantly be in the combat formations of small units, the simplicity of camouflage - both in 1944 and in 1945. For example, when fighting in encirclement, in settlements, when capturing and securing bridgeheads, when it was not possible to use artillery.

PTR was used to combat not only tanks and armored vehicles. Armor-piercers often silenced enemy bunkers and bunkers. Snipers used the PTR instead of a sniper rifle to defeat the enemy at long ranges or behind closures (attempts to install an optical sight on the PTR were unsuccessful due to too strong recoil of the weapon). Anti-tank guns were also used to combat low-flying aircraft - here the self-loading PTRS had advantages.

The Second World War became the "finest hour" of the tank forces. The massive use of armored vehicles and the improvement of its basic combat characteristics also required the improvement of the means to combat them. One of the simplest, yet effective ways to stop tanks opposing infantry units, is an anti-tank rifle (ATR).

Infantry against tanks

The main burden of the offensive of tank armada fell on the infantry, which did not possess powerful means to resist armored vehicles, especially in the first stages of the Second World War. In the conditions of highly maneuverable combat actions of mobile enemy units, conducted with an unprecedented intensity and scale, the "queen of the fields" badly needed her own simple, affordable, cheap anti-tank weapons that could be used in battle formations, fighting tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment in close combat.

The role of infantry melee anti-tank weapons (MTS) remained significant throughout the course of the war, even when the opposing sides massively introduced more and more armored and protected tank models. The war gave birth to such new specialties of fighters in the infantry as "armor-piercing", "tank destroyer", the main weapon of which was an anti-tank rifle.

Anti-tank weapons

In the arsenal of PTS melee and in the methods of their use during the Second World War, there have been cardinal changes. If at the beginning of the Second World War the main anti-tank weapons of the infantry were simple in design PTR, then by the end of the war prototypes of guided anti-tank weapons appeared.

High-explosive grenades, bundles of hand grenades, and incendiary bottles were also of great help to the soldiers in the trenches. By the middle of the military company, cumulative grenades, easel and hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers of recoilless and reactive schemes were already used.

Appointment of PTR

Anti-tank guns of the Second World War made a very significant role in the victory. Of course, the main burden of anti-tank defense (PTO) fell on cannons (guns) of all kinds. However, when the course of the battle took on a complex, highly maneuverable and "confusing" character with the massive use of armored vehicles, the infantry needed its own armor-piercing means. At the same time, it is important that soldiers are able to use them directly in battle formations and to fight tanks and armored vehicles in close combat. Soviet engineers under the leadership of prominent weapons designers Simonov, Degtyarev, Rukavishnikov presented the soldiers with simple but reliable means against armored vehicles.

The term "anti-tank gun" is not entirely correct. A more accurate designation is "anti-tank rifle". However, it developed historically, apparently as a literal translation of "panzerbuchse" from German.

Ammunition

A few words should be said about the anti-tank rifle cartridge and its striking effect. For the PTR, ammunition of a larger caliber was developed than traditional types of small arms. In domestic samples, armor-piercing bullets of 14.5 mm caliber were used. Its kinetic energy was enough to penetrate 30mm armor or damage weakly protected armored vehicle nodes.

The effect of an armor-piercing bullet (projectile) on a target consists of an armor-piercing (shock) effect and a striking effect behind armor (armor-piercing effect). The action of PTR bullets is based on their kinetic effect on armor and its penetration by a body or a solid core. The thickness of the penetrated protection is the higher, the higher the kinetic energy of the projectile (bullet) at the moment of collision with the armor. Due to this energy, work is done to break through the metal.

Damaging armor action

The WWII anti-tank rifle was very effective. Of course, with its help it was impossible to overcome the armor protection of the turret and hull of medium and heavy tanks, however, any vehicle has vulnerable zones, which were struck by experienced shooters. Armor only protects the engine, fuel tanks, mechanisms, weapons, ammunition and the crew of a combat vehicle, which, in fact, must be hit. In addition, the PTR was used against any equipment, including lightly armored ones.

The action of the striking element and armor on each other is mutual, the same energy is spent on the destruction of the bullet itself. Therefore, the shape and lateral load of the projectile, the strength of its material and the quality of the armor itself are also of decisive importance. Since mass is included in the formula of kinetic energy in the first degree, and velocity in the second, the final velocity of the ammunition is of particular importance.

Actually, it is the speed of the bullet and the angle of its meeting with the armor barrier - the most important factors determining the armor-piercing effect. An increase in speed is preferable before increasing the mass of the projectile also from the point of view of accuracy:

• the flatness of the trajectory increases, and hence the range of a direct shot at a target of the "tank" type, when the shooting is carried out with one sight mount;
• the flight time of the bullet to the target also decreases, along with it the amount of drift by the side wind and the movement of the target during the time from the start of the shot to the expected meeting of the striking element with the target.

On the other hand, mass is directly related to lateral loading, so the armor-piercing core must still have a high density.

Reserve action

It is no less important than armor-piercing. Having penetrated armor, a bullet, solid projectile or armor-piercing core inflict defeat due to fragmentation and incendiary action. Their highly heated fragments, together with fragments of armor, penetrate into the vehicle at high speed, affect the crew, mechanisms, ammunition, tanks, power lines, lubrication systems, and are capable of igniting fuels and lubricants.

To increase efficiency, cartridges with armor-piercing incendiary and armor-piercing tracer bullets were used, which had armor-piercing and armor-piercing actions. High muzzle velocity was achieved by using a powerful cartridge and a large relative barrel length (from 90 to 150 mm).

The history of the creation of domestic anti-tank rifles

In the USSR, back in 1933, the “dynamo-rocket” 37-mm anti-tank rifle of Kurchevsky was adopted, but it lasted about two years in service. Before the war, the PTR did not arouse keen interest among Soviet military leaders, although there was experience in their development and production. Soviet designers S. Korovin, S. Vladimirov, M. Blum, L. Kurchevsky created in the 30s samples that surpassed their foreign counterparts. However, their designs and characteristics were imperfect due to the lack of a clear vision of exactly what they should be.

With the adoption of specific requirements for this type of weapon, the situation has changed. It was then that the caliber of the anti-tank rifle was increased to 14.5 mm, the mass of the bullet was 64 g, and the muzzle velocity of the projectile was 1000 m / s. In 1938, the basic B-32 armor-piercing cartridge was developed, which was later improved. At the beginning of 1941, an ammunition appeared with an armor-piercing incendiary bullet equipped with a steel core, and in August - a cartridge with a metal core.

PTR Rukavishnikov

On October 7, 1939, the USSR Defense Committee approved the adoption of an anti-tank 14.5-mm rifle of the design of comrade V. Rukavishnikov. Kovrov Plant No. 2 has been given a task to manufacture Rukavishnikov's PTR (also known as PTR-39) in the amount of 50 pieces. in 1939 and 15,000 in 1940. The mass production of 14.5-mm cartridges was entrusted to plant No. 3 in Ulyanovsk and No. 46 in Kuntsevo.

However, the work on organizing the serial production of Rukavishnikov's PTR was delayed by a number of circumstances. At the end of 1939, the Kovrov plant was carrying out an urgent task to organize a large-scale production of a PPD submachine gun due to the Soviet-Finnish war, which urgently demanded an increase in the number of individual automatic weapons in the troops. Therefore, before the "big" war, these guns were clearly not enough.

Specifications

The Rukavishnikov anti-tank rifle had an automatic gas engine with a discharge of powder gases through a transverse hole directly in the barrel wall. The gas piston stroke is long. The gas chamber was located at the bottom of the barrel. The channel was closed by the gate of the shutter. On the left of the receiver was a receiver for a clip (pack) for 5 patrons. The PTR had a muzzle brake, a sponge rubber stock with a shock absorber and a folding shoulder pad, a pistol control grip, a folding bipod, and carrying handles.

USM allowed firing only single shots, included a flag non-automatic fuse, the lever of which was located on the right side of the trigger. The percussion mechanism had a striker type, the mainspring was placed inside a massive striker. Combat rate of fire reached 15 rds / min. The sighting device included an open sector sight and a front sight on the bracket. The sight was notched at a distance of up to 1000 m. With a barrel length of 1180 mm, Rukavishnikov's PTR was 1775 mm long and weighed 24 kg (with cartridges).

At the beginning of the war, seeing the lack of anti-tank weapons, the army leadership hastily began to take adequate measures. In July 1941, the most prominent Soviet weapon designers V. Degtyarev and his talented student S. Simonov were involved in the rapid development of anti-tank rifles. At the end of the month, V. Degtyarev proposed 2 versions of the 14.5-mm rifle, which had already passed field tests. The system was named PTRD - Degtyarev anti-tank rifle. Although the gun received general approval at the test site, in trench conditions, with insufficient care, it often jammed.

Greater success was achieved when creating a self-loading magazine-type shotgun of S. Simonov's system. Only the firing device and the mechanics of the batch charging were subjected to changes. On the basis of positive test results, on August 29, 1941, the USSR State Defense Committee decided to adopt Simonov's self-loading anti-tank rifle (PTRS) and a single-shot Degtyarev of 14.5 mm caliber.

Despite a number of "growing pains" - constructive flaws that were corrected throughout the war and after it - guns became a powerful argument against tanks in the hands of Soviet soldiers. As a result, PTRD and PTRS are still being used effectively in regional conflicts.

High efficiency

The demand for this weapon was so high that sometimes guns were sent straight from the factory shop to the front line. The first batch was sent to the 16th Army, to General Rokossovsky, who defended Moscow to the north-west of the Soviet capital, in the Volokolamsk direction. The experience of use was successful: on the morning of November 16, 1941, near the settlements of Shiryaevo and Petelino, the soldiers of the 1075th rifle regiment of the 8th Guards Division, who were holding the front sector, shot from 150-200 m a group of German tanks, 2 of which were completely burned down.

The role played by the anti-tank rifle of Degtyarev (and Simonov) in the defense of the Soviet capital is evidenced by the fact that V. Degtyarev himself and many workers of factories who organized the production of weapons deadly for armored vehicles were awarded the medal "For the Defense of Moscow".

As a result of the combat use of rifle systems, designers have made significant improvements in their mechanics. The production of rifles increased every day. If in 1941 17,688 units of the V. Degtyarev system and only 77 units of the S. Simonov system were manufactured, then in 1942 the number of guns increased to 184,800 and 63,308, respectively.

PTRD device

A single-shot PTRD (Degtyarev anti-tank rifle) consisted of the following units:

• trunk;
• cylindrical receiver;
• longitudinally sliding type butterfly valve;
• butt;
• trigger box;
• sighting device;
• bipod.

Technical characteristics of PTRD

The anti-tank rifle was developed by Degtyarev in a record (unthinkable for many) 22 days. Although the designer took into account the developments of the creators of the previous samples of the 30s, he managed to embody the basic requirements of the military in metal: simplicity, lightness, reliability and low cost of manufacturing.

The barrel is 8-threaded, with a rifling stroke length of 420 mm. The active muzzle brake of the box system is capable of absorbing most of the recoil energy (up to 2/3). The rotary ("piston type") cylindrical shutter in the front part is equipped with two lugs and in the rear - with a straight handle. It housed a percussion mechanism, a reflector and an ejector.

The percussion mechanism activates a striker with a striker, also a mainspring. The drummer could be cocked manually by the protruding tail or put on a safety catch - for this, the tail had to be pulled back and turned to the right by 30 °. In the receiver, the shutter was held by a stop located on the left side of the receiver.

The bolt was unlocked and the spent cartridge case was extracted automatically, the bolt remained open, and to prepare for the next shot, it remained to manually insert a new cartridge into the upper window on the receiver, send and lock the bolt. This made it possible to increase the combat rate of fire with the well-coordinated work of the calculation of two people. The stock is equipped with a soft shock absorber cushion. A folding stamped bipod was attached to the barrel. Degtyarev's anti-tank rifle with ammunition and additional equipment weighed up to 26 kg (17 kg net weight without cartridges). Aimed shooting - 800 m.

PTRS device

The shotgun was equipped with an automatic gas engine with exhaust gases through a transverse hole in the barrel wall, an open-type gas chamber, reinforced at the bottom of the barrel. The gas piston stroke is short. The general design and barrel bore are generally similar to the PTRD, which is logically explained by the unified ammunition.

Simonov's anti-tank rifle had a locking barrel with a swing down the shutter frame. The bolt stem, complemented by a handle, locked and unlocked the channel. The "reloading mechanism" was the name for the automatic parts of the weapon, namely, a gas three-mode regulator, a rod, a piston, a tube and a pusher with a spring. After the shot, the pusher, under the pressure of the powder gases, moved backward, transmitted an impulse to the bolt stem, and itself returned forward. Under the action of the bolt stem moving backward, the skeleton unlocked the barrel bore, after which the entire bolt moved back. The cartridge case was removed with an ejector and was reflected by a special protrusion upward. The bolt, when the cartridges were consumed, stood at a stop, mounted in the receiver.

USM is installed on the trigger guard. A non-automatic flag fuse blocked the trigger when the flag was turned back. A permanent magazine (lever-type feeder) is attached to the bottom of the receiver, the magazine cover latch is located on the trigger guard. The magazine is equipped with a pack (clip) for 5 rounds, placed in a checkerboard pattern.

The 1941 Simonov anti-tank rifle is 4 kg heavier than the Degtyarev model, due to the multi-charge automation (21 kg without cartridges). Aimed shooting - 1500 m.

The barrel length of both PTRs is the same - 1350 mm, as well as the armor penetration (averaged indicators): at a lethal distance of 300 m, the B-32 bullet overcame 21 mm armor, and the BS-41 bullet - 35 mm.

German PTR

German anti-tank guns developed in a slightly different scenario. Back in the mid-20s, the German command abandoned large-caliber anti-tank systems in favor of a 7.92 mm "rifle" caliber. The bet was made not on the size of the bullet, but on the power of the ammunition. The effectiveness of the specialized cartridge P318 was sufficient to combat armored vehicles of potential opponents. However, like the USSR, Germany entered World War II with a small number of anti-tank rifles. Subsequently, their production was increased many times, and the developments of Polish, Czech, Soviet, British, French gunsmiths were used.

A typical example of 1939-1942. there was a 1938 Panzerbuchse model of the year - an anti-tank rifle, a photo of which can often be seen in archived military photographs. Pz.B 38 (abbreviated name), and then Pz.B 39, Pz.B 41 were developed in the city of gunsmiths Sule by designer B. Bauer.

The bore of the Pz.B 38 was locked with a vertical wedge gate. To soften the recoil, the barrel-bolt clutch was shifted back in the box. Rollback was used to unlock the bolt, similar to how it is done in semi-automatic artillery guns. The use of such a scheme made it possible to limit the length of the barrel stroke to 90 mm and to reduce the total length of the weapon. The great flatness of the trajectory of bullets at a distance of up to 400 m made it possible to install a permanent sighting device.

The design of the weapon manifested a desire for the transition to mass production technologies, which was common for the late 1930s - the box, in particular, was assembled from two stamped halves, equipped with stiffening ribs and connected by spot welding. The system was further refined by Bauer several times.

Output

The first anti-tank guns appeared along with the tanks themselves - in the First World War. Before the beginning of the Second World War, both Germany and the USSR did not realize their obvious importance, giving priority to other types of weapons. However, the very first months of the collision of infantry units with the Wehrmacht's tank armada showed how erroneous the underestimation of mobile, cheap, effective anti-tank systems was.

In the 21st century, the "good old" anti-tank rifle is still in demand, the modern purpose of which is fundamentally different from that for the samples of the Great Patriotic War. Considering that the tanks can withstand several RPG hits, the classic anti-tank missile system is unlikely to hit an armored vehicle. In fact, anti-tank rifles have evolved into the class of "heavy" universal sniper rifles, in the form of which the outlines of the PTR are guessed. They are designed to destroy "drones", manpower at a considerable distance, radars, rocket launchers, protected firing points, communications and control equipment, unarmored and lightly armored mobile equipment and even hovering helicopters.

At first, they were carried out mainly for 12.7-mm ammunition from large-caliber machine guns. For example, American М82А1 "Barrett", М87 and М93 "McMillan", British AW50, French "Hecate II", Russian ASVK and OSV-96. But in the 2000s, within the framework of the families of large-caliber cartridges 12.7x99 (.50 Browning) and 12.7x108, special "sniper" cartridges appeared. Such cartridges were included, for example, in the same Russian 12.7-mm sniper complexes OSV-96 and ASVK (6S8), the American M107. Rifles for more powerful ammunition are also presented: Hungarian "Cheetah" (14.5 mm), South African NTW (20 mm), American M-109 (25 mm) and others. The start taken at the beginning of the 20th century continues!

(anti-tank melee weapons in 1939-45)

The main means of fighting tanks - "anti-tank defense" (PTO) - during the Second World War was an anti-tank gun: towed, placed on a self-propelled chassis with light cover or in the well-armored wheelhouse of a "fighter tank". However, in conditions of highly maneuverable combat operations with the massive use of armored vehicles "queen of the fields", the infantry needed its own anti-tank (PT) melee weapons capable of operating directly in all battle formations. Such anti-tank weapons were supposed to combine "anti-tank" capabilities with the ease and maneuverability of infantry weapons. In the third period of the war, for example, German melee vehicles accounted for about 12.5% ​​of the losses of Soviet tanks - a very high figure.

Let us consider the types and samples of AT melee weapons, which were at the disposal of the infantry of the belligerent armies in 1939-45. Three large groups of such weapons can be distinguished: anti-tank guns, grenades and grenade launchers, incendiary weapons.

Anti-tank rifles

By the beginning of World War II, the main anti-tank weapons of the infantry were anti-tank rifles and high-explosive hand grenades, i.e. funds that originated at the end of the First World War. In the interwar period, anti-tank rifles received serious attention - especially after unsuccessful attempts to create "anti-tank machine guns" - and by the beginning of the war, many armies had this weapon in service.

The term "anti-tank rifle" (ATR) is not entirely accurate - it would be more correct to speak of an "anti-tank rifle". However, it has developed historically (apparently, as a direct translation of the German "panzerbuhse") and has become a part of our vocabulary. The armor-piercing action of an anti-tank rifle is based on the kinetic energy of a bullet, and therefore depends on its speed at the moment of impact, the quality of the armor and the material of the bullet (especially its core), the shape and design of the bullet, and the angle of the bullet meeting the surface of the armor. Having penetrated the armor, the bullet inflicts damage due to fragmentation and incendiary action. Note that the lack of an armored action was the main reason for the low efficiency of the first anti-tank gun - the 13.37-mm Mauser model 1918. The PTR used during the Second World War differed in caliber - from 7.92 to 20 mm; type - single-shot, store, self-loading; layout, weight and dimensions. However, their design had a number of common features:

- high muzzle velocity was achieved using a powerful cartridge and a large barrel length (from 90 to 150 calibers);

- cartridges with armor-piercing incendiary and armor-piercing tracer bullets were used, which had both armor-piercing and sufficient armor-piercing effect;

- muzzle brakes, soft butt pads, spring shock absorbers were introduced to reduce recoil;

- to increase maneuverability, the weight of the PTR and cm dimensions was reduced as much as possible, carrying handles were introduced, heavy guns ("Oerlikon", "s.Pz.B-41") were made quickly dismountable;

- for quick transfer of fire, the bipod was attached closer to the middle of the weapon, the uniformity of aiming in many samples was ensured by the shoulder pad of the butt, "cheek", it was envisaged to hold it when firing with both the right and left hand;

- maximum reliability of operation of mechanisms was achieved, first of all, extraction (taper of the sleeve, purity of processing of the chamber);

- great importance was attached to simplicity of manufacture and development.

The problem of rate of fire was solved in combination with the requirement of maneuverability and simplicity. Single-shot ATGMs had a combat rate of fire of 6-8, magazine-type ones - 10-12, self-loading ones -20-30 rds / min.

In the Soviet Union, after a series of experimental work in 1938. a powerful 14.5-mm cartridge with an armor-piercing incendiary bullet B-32 with a hardened steel core and an incendiary composition was created. Cartridge weight - 198 g, bullets - 51 g, cartridge length - 155.5 mm, cartridge cases - 114 mm. Under this cartridge, N.V. Rukavishnikov developed a rather successful self-loading rifle, adopted in October 1939. for service (PTR-39). But in the spring of 1940. The head of GAU, Marshal G.I. Kulik raised the question of the ineffectiveness of existing anti-tank weapons against the "newest German tanks", which were reported by intelligence. In July 1940. production of the PTR-39 was suspended. Erroneous views on the prospects for the growth of armor protection of tanks led to a number of consequences: the exclusion of anti-tank weapons from the weapon system (order on August 26, 1940), the termination of the production of 45-mm anti-tank guns, and the assignment for urgent design of 107-mm tank and anti-tank guns. As a result, the Soviet infantry was deprived of an effective anti-tank weapon. The very first weeks of the war showed the tragic consequences of this mistake. However, tests of Rukavishnikov's PTR on June 23 showed a still significant percentage of delays. Finishing and putting it into production would take a lot of time. As a temporary measure, in July 1941, in the workshops of Moscow universities, the assembly of a single-shot PTR under the 12.7-mm DShK cartridge was established (at the suggestion of V.N.Sholokhov). The simple design was copied from the old German 13.37-mm PTR and Mauser "(with the addition of a muzzle brake and the installation of light bipods) and did not provide the required parameters.

Anti-tank rifle PTRD mod. 1941 (!) And anti-tank rifle PTRS arr. 1941 (2)

To speed up work on an efficient and technologically advanced 14.5-mm anti-tank missile system, according to D.F. Ustinov, Stalin at one of the GKO meetings proposed to entrust the development "to one more, and for reliability - to two designers." The task was issued in July to V.A. Degtyarev and S.G. Simonov. A month later, ready-to-test designs appeared - only 22 days passed from the moment the task was received to the first test shots. On August 29, 1941, after a demonstration to the members of the State Defense Committee, the single-shot sample of Degtryaev and the self-loading Simonov were put into service under the designations, respectively, ATRM and ATGM. The new anti-tank missile systems were supposed to fight medium and light tanks and armored vehicles at ranges of up to 500 m.

A single-shot PTRD consisted of a barrel with a cylindrical receiver, a butt with a trigger box, percussion and trigger mechanisms, sights and a bipod. In the bore, 8 grooves were made with a stroke length of 420 mm. The box-shaped active muzzle brake absorbed up to 2/3 of the recoil energy. The barrel bore was locked by a longitudinally sliding bolt when turning. The cylindrical breechblock had two lugs in the front and a straight handle in the rear, it housed a percussion mechanism, an ejector and a reflector. The percussion mechanism included a striker with a striker, a mainspring; the tail of the drummer came out and looked like a hook. When the bolt was unlocked, the bevel of its frame took the striker back.

The receiver was connected to the trigger, rigidly connected to the inner tube of the butt. An inner tube with a shock absorber spring was inserted into the butt tube. After the shot, the movable system (barrel, receiver and bolt) retreated back, the bolt handle ran onto the copier profile mounted on the butt, and turned, unlocking the bolt. After stopping the barrel, the bolt retreated by inertia and stood on the bolt lag (on the left side of the receiver), the reflector pushed the sleeve into the lower window of the receiver. The moving system was returned to the forward position by a shock absorber spring. The insertion of a new cartridge into the upper window of the receiver, the ramming and locking of the bolt were done manually. The trigger mechanism included a trigger, a trigger lever with a spring and a sear with a spring. The sighting devices were carried out to the left on the brackets and included a front sight and a reversible rear sight at a distance of up to 600 m and over 600 m (in the PTR of the first releases, the rear sight moved in a vertical groove).

The butt had a soft cushion, a wooden support for holding the weapon with the left hand, a wooden pistol grip, a "cheek". Folding stamped bipods were attached to the barrel with a collar with a lamb. A carrying handle was attached to the barrel with a clip. The accessory included two canvas bags for 20 rounds each. In battle, the gun carried one or both of the crew numbers.

A minimum of parts, the use of a butt tube instead of a frame simplified the production of PTR, and the automatic opening of the bolt increased the rate of fire. PTRD successfully combined simplicity, reliability and efficiency. Ease of production was of great importance in those conditions. The first batch of 300 PTRD was released in October and sent to Rokossovsky's 16th Army. Already in 1941, 17,688 ATGMs were produced, and in 1942 - 184,800.

The self-loading PTRS was created on the basis of an experienced Simonov 1938 self-loading rifle. according to the scheme with the removal of powder gases. It consisted of a barrel with a muzzle brake and a gas chamber, a receiver with a butt, a bolt, a trigger guard, reloading mechanisms and a trigger, sights, a magazine and a bipod. The bore was similar to the PTRD. The open-type gas chamber was fixed with pins at a distance of a third of the barrel length from its muzzle. The barrel was connected to the receiver with a wedge.

The barrel bore was locked by tilting the shutter frame downward. Unlocking and locking was controlled by a bolt stem with a handle. The reloading mechanism included a three-position gas regulator, a piston, a rod, a pusher with a spring, and a tube. The pusher acted on the bolt stem. The return spring of the bolt was located in the stem channel. A striker with a spring was placed in the channel of the gate frame. Having received a movement impulse from the pusher after the shot, the bolt moved back, while the pusher returned forward. In this case, the spent cartridge case was removed by the bolt ejector and was reflected by the protrusion of the receiver upward. When the cartridges were used up, the shutter rose to a stop (slide delay), mounted in the receiver.

The trigger was mounted on the trigger guard. The percussion mechanism is a hammer, with a helical mainspring. The trigger mechanism included a trigger sear, a trigger and a trigger, with the axis of the hook located at the bottom. A magazine with a lever feed was pivotally attached to the receiver, its latch was on the trigger guard. The cartridges were staggered. The magazine was equipped with a clip (pack) with 5 cartridges with the lid folded down. The accessory included 6 clips. Sights included a front sight with a guard and a sector sight, notched from 100 to 1500 m through 50. The PTR had a wooden buttstock with a soft pad and shoulder pad, and a pistol grip. The narrow neck of the butt was used for holding with the left hand. The folding bipod was attached to the barrel with a clip (swivel). There was a carrying handle. In battle, the PTR transferred one or both of the crew numbers. On the campaign, the disassembled gun - the barrel and receiver with a butt - was carried in two canvas covers.

The production of PTRS was simpler than the PTR of Rukavishnikov (a third fewer parts, 60% less mill-hours, 30% less time), but much more complicated PTRD. In 1941. only 77 PTRS were produced, in 1942 - 63,308. Since PTRs were taken urgently, the shortcomings of the new systems - tight extraction of the cartridge case from PTRD, double shots from PTRS - had to be corrected during production or "brought" the guns in the army. At the end of 1941. a new BS-41 cartridge with a powder cermet bullet core (bullet weight -63.6 g) was adopted for the PTR. 14.5 mm cartridges differed in color: the B-32 bullet had a black head with a red belt, the BS-41 bullet was red with a black head, and the primer was black.

Transportation of PTRD on a pack saddle, model 1937,

Shooting from a PTRD from a horse

In addition to tanks (the main target), PTRs could fire at firing points and embrasures of bunkers and bunkers at ranges of up to 800 m, at aircraft - up to 500 m. From December 1941. In the rifle regiments were introduced PTR companies of 54 guns, and from the fall of 1942. in battalions - ATR platoons (18 guns each). PTR companies were also introduced into the anti-tank battalions. Platoons in battle were used as a whole or in groups of 2-4 guns. In defense, "snipers-armored riflemen" were located in an echelon, preparing the main and 2-3 reserve positions. In the offensive, the PTR crews operated in the battle formations of subunits in the tank-hazardous directions, took up positions in front in the intervals between rifle platoons and on the flanks of the companies. In 1944. practiced the staggered arrangement of the anti-tank missile system along the front and in depth at a distance of 50-100 m from each other with mutual shooting of approaches, widespread use of dagger fire. In winter, the calculations set the PTR on a sled or a drag. Former Lieutenant General of the Wehrmacht, an expert in the field of weapons E. Schneider wrote: "In 1941, the Russians had a 14.5-mm anti-tank rifle,., Which caused a lot of trouble for our tanks and light armored personnel carriers that appeared later." With sufficiently high ballistic data, the 14.5-mm PTR was distinguished by its maneuverability and manufacturability. PTRS is considered the best PTR of the Second World War in terms of the combination of combat and operational qualities. Having played a large role in anti-tank defense in 1941-42, the anti-tank missile systems already by the summer of 1943 - with the growth of armor protection of tanks and assault guns over 40 mm - lost their positions. January 1943 - 118 563, 1944 -142 861, ie increased over two years by 17.6 times, then in 1944 it began to decline, and by the end of the war the Red Army had only 40 thousand PTR. The same picture is observed in relation to 12.7- and 14.5-mm cartridges: in 1942, their output was six times higher than the pre-war, but significantly decreased by 1944. Nevertheless, the production of anti-tank rifles continued until January 1945, and in total During the war, about 400 thousand 14.5-mm anti-tank rifles were produced.PTRD and anti-tank systems were used to combat light armored vehicles and firing points.It is curious that they were often used by snipers to defeat enemy shooters behind portable armor shields.

In addition to rifle PTRs, they were also in service with cavalry units. To transport the PTRD, there were used packs for a cavalry saddle and a pack saddle mod. 1937 The gun was attached to a pack over the horse's rump on a metal block with two brackets. The rear bracket could be used as a support - a swivel for shooting from a horse at air and ground targets. At the same time, the shooter stood behind the horse held by the groom. To drop the anti-tank missile system to the landing forces and partisans, an "elongated" UPD-MM parachute bag with a parachute chamber and a shock absorber was used. Cartridges could be dropped without a parachute from a shaving flight in capping, wrapped in sackcloth. Soviet ATRs were transferred to foreign units formed in the USSR: for example, 1283 ATRs were transferred to Czechoslovak units.

Great interest of GAU and GBTU was aroused by the experimental single-shot PTR MN Blume and "RES" (Rashkov ES, Ermolaev SI, Slukhodkiy VE). The first was designed for a specially created 14.5 mm cartridge with an initial bullet velocity increased to 1500 m / s, the second - for a 20 mm cartridge. The shelling at the GBTU training ground of the captured T-VI Tiger tank in April 1943. showed that Blum's anti-tank missile system is capable of hitting the 82-mm side armor of this tank at ranges up to 100 m. and "RES" - 70 mm. Blum's PTR with a sliding butterfly valve was more compact, and the question was raised about its early adoption into service. This, however, did not happen - work on the PTR was actually curtailed.

One of the first before the war, the PTR was adopted by the Polish army. In 1935. under the name "karabin UR wz.35", a 7.92-mm anti-tank rifle was adopted, created by P. Villenevchits, J. Maroschka, E. S "Tetsky, T. Felchin on the basis of a magazine rifle scheme. weight 61.8 g, bullet "SC" - 12.8 g. A cylindrical muzzle brake was attached to the end of the long barrel, absorbing up to 70% of recoil energy. The relatively thin-walled barrel could withstand no more than 200 shots, but in combat conditions this was quite enough - PT means of infantry work-pi not for long. Locking was done by turning a Mauser-type bolt, which had two lugs in front and one behind, a straight handle. Impact mechanism - striker type. The original feature of the trigger was the blocking of the release rocker with a reflector when the shutter was not completely locked: reflector rose and released the rocker only when the bolt was fully turned. The magazine for 3 rounds was attached from the bottom with two latches. The sight was permanent. The PTR had a one-piece rifle stock. The bipod mount made it possible to rotate the rifle from the bottom. about them. Extensive deliveries of PTRs to the troops began in 1938, more than 5,000 of them were produced. Each infantry company was supposed to have 3 PTR, in a cavalry regiment - 13. By September 1939. Polish troops had about 3,500 "kb.UR wz.35", which showed themselves well in the fight against German light tanks.

Before the war, the German army also chose a "rifle" caliber of 7.92 mm for the PTR: the single-shot "Pz.B-38" (Panzerbuhse, 1938) was developed by "Gustlow Werke" in Suhl for a powerful 7.92-mm cartridge of the "318" model ", which had an armor-piercing (with a tungsten carbide core) or armor-piercing incendiary bullet. Cartridge weight 85.5 g, zeros - 14.6 g, charge - 14.8 g, length "318" - 117.95 mm, sleeve - 104.5 mm. The barrel was locked with a vertical wedge gate, could move back. The barrel and the bolt moved in a stamped box, made integral with the barrel casing, with stiffening ribs. A conical flame arrester was put on the barrel. Good flatness of the trajectory of the bullet at ranges up to 4 (H) m made it possible to establish a constant sight. A front sight with a guard and a rear sight were attached to the barrel. There was a handle on the right side of the barrel breech. Above the pistol grip on the left was a safety catch. In the back of the handle there was an automatic safety lever. The recoil spring of the barrel was placed in a tubular folding stock. The stock had a shoulder rest with a rubber buffer, a plastic tube for holding with the left hand, folded to the right. To speed up loading, two "accelerators" were attached to the sides of the receiver - boxes in which 10 rounds were staggered. In front of the casing, a clutch with folding bipods was attached, similar to a single MG-34 machine gun. The folded bipod was fixed on a special pin. A carrying handle was attached above the center of gravity. The PTR was too bulky for its caliber. The design of the Pz.B 38 prompted V.A. Degtyarev to use the movement of the barrel to automatically open the bolt and partially absorb the recoil. We saw that he applied this idea creatively.

The Pz.B-39, which replaced the PTR, was noticeably lightened with the same ballistics and locking system. It consisted of a barrel with a receiver, a bolt, a trigger frame with a pistol grip, a butt, and a bipod. The barrel was stationary, the active muzzle brake at its end absorbed up to 60% of the recoil energy. The wedge breech was controlled by swinging the trigger frame. To extend the service life, the bolt had a front replaceable liner. A hammer percussion mechanism was mounted in the shutter, the hammer was cocked when the shutter was lowered. From above, the shutter was closed by a flap, which was automatically folded back when unlocked. The trigger mechanism included a trigger sear, a trigger, and a safety catch. The fuse box was located on top behind the bolt socket, when it was left in its position (the letter "S" is visible) the sear and the bolt were locked. On the left, in the receiver window, a spent cartridge case extraction mechanism was mounted. The sleeve was thrown out after unlocking (lowering the bolt) with the extractor slider back and down through the window in the butt. The "Pz.B-39" had a forward and downward folding buttstock with a pillow and a tube for the left hand, a wooden forearm, a swivel handle and a carrying strap. Overall length, barrel length, bipod and boosters were similar to those of the Pz.B 38. Note that in September 1939. the Wehrmacht had only 62 ATR, and by June 1941. - already 25 298. PTR were included in almost all units of the ground forces of the Wehrmacht: in 1941. in the infantry, motorized infantry, mountain infantry and sapper companies there was an anti-tank rifle unit with 3 guns each, 1 anti-tank rifle had a motorcycle platoon, 11 - a reconnaissance detachment of a motorized division.

An interesting design had the Czech store 7.92-mm PTR MSS-41 under the same cartridge, which appeared in 1941. The store was located here behind the pistol grip, and the reloading was done by moving the barrel back and forth. The bolt was part of a fixed butt pad and was coupled to the barrel with a coupling. The clutch was rotated when moving the pistol grip forward and upward. With a further movement of the handle, the barrel moved forward. In the forward position, the barrel hit the reflector slider with a protrusion, and the reflector, turning, threw the spent cartridge case down. During the reverse movement, the barrel "bumped" into the next cartridge. By turning the pistol grip down, the barrel was locked with a bolt. The percussion mechanism is of the striker type. The trigger mechanism was assembled in the handle, and on its left side there was a safety catch that locked the trigger and the clutch latch in the rear position. Sights consisted of folding front sight and sight. An active muzzle brake was attached to the barrel. Shop - replaceable, box-shaped, sector-shaped, for 5 rounds; after feeding the next cartridge, the remaining ones were held by the cutoff lever. The stock with a pillow, a shoulder pad and a "cheek" was folded up on a campaign. The PTR had a folding bipod, a carrying strap. With the same ballistic qualities as the Pz.B-39, the Czech PTR was compact: the length in the firing position was 1360 mm, in the stowed position - 1280 mm; weight - 13 kg. However, the PTR was difficult to manufacture and did not become widespread. It was used at one time by part of the SS troops.

The ineffectiveness of the 7.92-mm anti-tank missile system against the Soviet T-34 and KV tanks became apparent in the very first months of the war. At the end of 1941. the Wehrmacht entered service with the so-called. "heavy PTR" 2,8 / 2 cm s.Pz.B-41 "with a tapered bore. The conical bore tapering to the muzzle makes it possible to use the powder charge more fully, to obtain high initial velocities of the projectile, while simultaneously increasing its lateral load during acceleration. Note that a gun with a tapered barrel bore, special grooves and a bullet of a special shape was proposed by the Russian inventor M. Druganov back in 1905 and was calculated by General N. Rogovtsev, and in 1903 and 1904. a patent for a gun with a tapered barrel was received by the German K. Puff. Extensive experiments with tapered barrels were carried out in the 1920s and 1930s by engineer Gerlich at a test station, solidly called in German "German Testing Institute for Hand Firearms" in Berlin. In Gerlich's design, the tapered section of the bore was combined with short cylindrical sections in the breech and muzzle, and the grooves, the deepest in the breech, gradually came to naught towards the muzzle. This made it possible to more efficiently use the pressure of the powder gases - the experienced 7-mm PTR "Halger-Ultra" of the Gerlich system had an initial bullet velocity of 18 (H) m / s. The projectile (bullet) had crumpled leading belts, which, when moving along the barrel, were pressed into the grooves on the projectile.

The s.Pz.B-41 had a 28 mm barrel in the breech and 20 mm in the muzzle. An armor-piercing bullet with a solid core. An active muzzle brake was attached to the barrel. In a massive breech, a slot for a horizontal wedge gate was cut. The system was installed like a light artillery gun carriage with tubular frames. The barrel with a cradle was attached to trunnions in the slots of the upper machine, connected to the lower vertical axis. The absence of lifting and turning mechanisms simplified and facilitated the design. There was a shield cover, the sight mounted on the left was also protected by a double shield. PTR was used on two types of installations. The single-barrel lower machine of easy installation had skids, small dutik wheels could be installed. The carriage provided circular horizontal guidance, and vertical - from -5 to +45, the height of the line of fire varied from 241 to 280 mm. The weight of the s.Pz.B-41 on a light machine was 118 kg. To carry the s.Pz.B-4) it was disassembled into 5 parts. The heavy installation had a sliding frame and a wheel travel, horizontal guidance was provided in the 60 ° sector, vertical - 30 °. "Heavy PTR" was a purely positional - "trench" - anti-tank weapon. However, his appearance at the front was one of the factors that forced the Soviet tank builders to again turn to the issue of improving armor protection. The production of systems with tapered barrels was technologically difficult and expensive - a property that was inconvenient for AT front-end weapons.

PTR of foreign countries

Polish PTR UR. wz. 35 caliber 7.92 mm

German 7.92-mm anti-tank rifle PzB-39

28/20-mm anti-tank gun mod. 1941 with a tapered barrel, which the Germans called a PT-gun (s.Pz.B-41)

Boyes anti-tank rifle, caliber ".550" (13.37 mm)

Japanese 20 mm anti-tank rifle arr. 97

Finnish 20-mm anti-tank rifle VKT mod. 1939 g.

Before the war, the British Army received the Mkl "Boyes" magazine-type anti-tank rifle (Mkl), developed by Captain Boyes back in 1934, originally chambered for the 12.7-mm Vickers heavy machine gun cartridge. Then the caliber was increased to 13.39 mm (caliber ".550"). The PTR, manufactured by BSA, consisted of a barrel with a receiver, a bolt, a frame (cradle) with a folding bipod, a butt plate, and a store. A box-shaped muzzle brake was attached to the barrel, and the barrel itself could move somewhat along the frame, compressing the shock absorber spring. The barrel bore was locked by turning a longitudinally sliding bolt with 6 lugs and a curved handle. The bolt contained a drummer with a ring on the tail, a mainspring, an ejector and a reflector. The trigger is of the simplest type. On the left side of the receiver there was a safety catch that locked the drummer in the rear position. Sights, placed to the left of the brackets, included a front sight and a diopter sight with a diopter setting at 300 and 500 m, or only at 300 m. A single-row box magazine was mounted on top. The pistol grip was tilted forward. The butt plate had a rubber cushion, a "cheek", a handle for the left hand, and an oiler was placed in it. The bipod was a T-shaped support with openers and a screw pin with an adjusting clutch.

Since 1939. for each infantry platoon relied on one PTR. "Boyes" were also transferred to Polish units as part of the British Army, about 1100 "Boyes" were delivered under the Lend-Lease of the Red Army, where they, however, did not enjoy success. But the German Wehrmacht used the captured "Boyes" very willingly.

In the United States, at the beginning of the war, they tested a 15.2-mm PTR with an initial bullet speed of 1100 m / s. Later, the US Army tried to use a 14.5-mm PTR, it was even proposed to install an optical sight on it. But this gun appeared late and had no success. Already during the Korean War, they tested - and very unsuccessfully - 12.7-mm PTR.

The armies of Germany, Hungary, Japan, Finland used heavy 20-mm self-loading rifles - a kind of branch of the "family" of large-caliber "anti-tank machine guns", which approached artillery systems. The 20-mm Swiss self-loading anti-tank missile system "Oerlikon" used by the Wehrmacht was created on the basis of the "anti-tank machine gun" of the same company, had automatic release of a free bolt, store food. PTR weight - 33 kg (perhaps the lightest in this class), length - 1450 mm, muzzle velocity - 555 m / s, armor penetration - 14 mm at 500 m. Automatic equipment of the Hungarian S-18 "Solothurn" operated according to the scheme barrel recoil with a short em stroke, the magazine was attached to the left side of the receiver.

With the Japanese "97" (model 1937) Soviet tankers met already at Khalkhin-Gol in 1939. The gun consisted of a barrel, a receiver, a movable system (bolt, wedge, bolt carrier), a recoil device, a cradle machine and a store. Automation operated by removing powder gases.

The barrel in the middle part from the bottom had a gas outlet chamber with a 5-position regulator. The chamber was connected with a tube to a gas distributor with two gas pipes. A muzzle brake in the form of a cylindrical box with longitudinal slots was attached to the barrel, the connection of the barrel to the receiver was dry. The barrel was locked with a bolt using a vertically moving wedge. A characteristic feature of "97" is a bolt carrier with two piston rods and two reciprocating main springs. The reloading handle was carried out separately and was located on the top right. In the receiver there was a shutter stop, which was turned off when the magazine was attached. The percussion mechanism is of a hammer type, the striker received an impulse from the bolt carrier through an intermediate piece in the locking wedge. The trigger assembly assembled in the trigger box of the machine included a sear, a trigger, a trigger, a trigger and an uncoupler. Located in the rear of the receiver, the safety catch in the upper position blocked the drummer. The barrel with the receiver could move along the cradle, in the groove of which the recoil device was placed. The latter included a pneumatic recoil brake and two coaxial reel springs. The PTR could fire in bursts (which is why it is sometimes referred to in our press as a "large-caliber machine gun"), but at the same time it gave too low accuracy.

Sights - front sight and a stand with a diopter - were moved to the left on brackets attached to the cradle. A box magazine with a staggered arrangement of cartridges was attached from above. The shop window could be closed with a lid. Attached to the cradle was a butt with a pillow, a shoulder pad and a "cheek", a pistol grip and a grip for the left hand. The support was created by a bipod adjustable in height and a rear lift stand, their position was fixed by locking sleeves. The cradle had sockets for connecting tubular carrying handles - two at the back and one at the front. The bulky "97" was used mainly in defense.

The Finnish anti-tank rifle L-39 of the Lahti system, manufactured by VKT, also had an automation for the removal of powder gases. The PTR consisted of a barrel with a gas chamber, a flat muzzle brake and a perforated wooden casing-forend, a receiver, a trigger frame, a locking, percussion and trigger mechanisms, sighting devices, a butt plate, a magazine and a bipod. The gas chamber is of a closed type, with a 4-position gas regulator and a guide tube. The barrel was connected to the receiver with a nut. The engagement of the bolt with the receiver is a vertically moving wedge. Locking and unlocking was carried out by the projections of the bolt carrier, made separately from the piston rod. A drummer with a mainspring, an ejector and a rammer were mounted in the bolt. The swinging reloading handle was located on the right. A distinctive feature of the Finnish PTR was the presence of two triggers: the rear one to hold the mobile system on the combat platoon, the front one to hold the drummer. In front of the pistol grip, inside the trigger guard there were two triggers: the lower one for the rear trigger mechanism, the upper one for the front trigger. Located on the left side of the receiver, the flag safety catch blocked the trigger of the front trigger when the flag was in the forward position. The sequential descent of the first mobile system, and then the striker reliably prevented an accidental shot and did not allow too fast firing. Sights included a front sight on the barrel and a sector sight on the receiver. A sector store with a large capacity for PTR, with a staggered arrangement of cartridges was attached from above. The shop window on the march was closed by a flap. The butt pad had a height-adjustable rubber shoulder rest and a wooden cheek pad. The bipod bipod was supplied with skis and separated from the gun on the campaign. On the bipod, the stops facing forward could be fastened with screws - with them the PTR rested on the breastwork of the trench, a hillock, etc. In the design of the PTR, a careful consideration of the specific conditions for the use of weapons is visible - a minimum of holes in the receiver, a shop window shield, skis on a bipod.

Note that the USSR also tried to create more powerful anti-tank missile systems of "artillery" calibers. So, in 1942. a successful model of the 20-mm PTR "RES" with a wheeled drive (similar to the "Maxim" machine gun) and a double shield appeared. But the path of "enlarging" the PTR was already unpromising. In 1945. a prominent domestic specialist in gunsmith A.A. Blagonravov wrote: "In its present form, this weapon (PTR) has exhausted its capabilities."

This conclusion, we note, applied to this type of weapon as an anti-tank weapon. However, already in the 80s, a kind of revival of the PTR in the form of large-caliber sniper rifles began - after all, during the Second World War, they tried to use the PTR with optical sights. Large-caliber rifles - American М82 А1 and А2, М 87, 50/12 TSW, Austrian AMR, Hungarian "Cheetah Ml", Russian В-94 - are designed to combat manpower at long ranges, defeat point targets (protected firing points, weapons intelligence, communications and control, radar, satellite antennas, light armored vehicles, vehicles, hovering helicopters, UAVs).

Interesting are the attempts made during the Second World War to use anti-tank guns for arming light armored vehicles. So, in 1942. 14.5-mm PTR was installed instead of machine guns on a batch of light armored vehicles BA-64, the German 28/20-mm "s.Pz.B-41" was installed on a light two-axle armored car SdKfz 221 ("Horch"), 14-mm English " Boyce "- on a small tank Mk VIC, armored car" Morris-1 "and" Humber MkJJJ ", tracked armored personnel carriers" Yu / sh-versal ". "Universal" with PTR "Boyes" were supplied to the USSR under Lend-Lease.

The rifle cartridges of normal caliber with armor-piercing bullets available in the troops had armor penetration no higher than 10 mm at a distance of 150-200 m and could only be used for firing at light armored vehicles or shelters.

Large-caliber machine guns in the pre-war period were considered as one of the anti-tank weapons of the front edge (20mm machine gun "Oerlikon", "Madsen", "Solothurn", 25-mm "Vickers"). Actually, the first large-caliber machine gun, the 13.37-mm German TUF, appeared as a means of fighting tanks and aircraft. However, during the war, large-caliber machine guns were much more used for the needs of air defense or for firing at fortified firing points, therefore they are not considered here. Let's just note that it appeared in 1944. 14.5 mm machine gun S.V. Vladimirova KPV (for standard 14.5-mm cartridges) was created as an "anti-tank" one, but by the time of its appearance it could no longer play such a role. After the war, it became a means of fighting air targets, manpower and light armored vehicles.

Tab. 1 Anti-tank rifles

* - The weight of the PTR with two cartridge boxes - "loading boosters"

**- length in the firing position, in the stowed position - 1255 mm

*** - The first number - the caliber of the barrel from the breech, the second - from the muzzle

Anti-tank hand grenades

To combat tanks, the infantry widely used hand grenades - both special anti-tank and fragmentation grenades. This practice also originated during the First World War: then "bundles" of conventional grenades and heavy grenades for destroying wire obstacles (such as the Russian Novitsky grenade) were considered as anti-tank weapons. Already at the beginning of the 30s, such grenades were considered "an important defensive means ... especially in cases of a surprise attack by armored units in a closed ... area." Fragmentation grenades were fastened with wire or cord. So, in the Soviet "Manual on small arms business" f935 and 1938, it was specifically indicated how to knit hand grenades model 1914/30. and arr. 1933 The grenades were tied with twine or wire in three or five, so that the handle of the central one looked in one direction, and the other in the opposite direction. F-1 or Mils type grenades were tied tightly in a bag. It was recommended to throw the bundles on the tracks and the chassis of the tank. Such bundles, but only equipped with 3-4 strings with weights, were also used to undermine wire barriers. The German infantry used bundles of M-24 hand grenades: grenades were knitted in seven, a wooden handle with a fuse was inserted only into the central one.

Special anti-tank grenades at the beginning of the war were heavy high-explosive shells. The Red Army was armed with an RPG-40 grenade, created by M.I. Puzyrev in GSKB-30 at the plant N 58 named after. KE Voroshilov under the leadership of NP Belyakov and containing an explosive charge in 760 It had a cylindrical thin-walled body, was capable of penetrating armor up to 20 mm thick. An inertial fuse with a safety check was placed in the handle. Before being thrown, a detonator was inserted into the axial channel of the housing through a hole in the cover. Throwing range - 20-25 m. On the case there was an instruction on how to use the grenade. According to the "armor-piercing" effect, the grenade soon ceased to meet the requirements of the anti-tank equipment - when it exploded on the surface of armor with a thickness of over 20 mm, it formed only a dent, without causing dangerous spalling of the armor from the inside. In 1941. On its basis, Puzyrev created an RPG-41 grenade with an explosive charge increased to 1400 g and armor penetration increased to 25 mm. However, the decreased throw range did not contribute to the widespread use of the RPG-41. High-explosive grenades were recommended to be thrown at the tracks, undercarriage, under the turret or on the roof of the tank's engine compartment. The soldiers received the nickname "Tanyusha" with high-explosive anti-tank grenades.

In July 1941. The Military Council of the Northern Front issued a task to develop an AT hand grenade to be put into production at the enterprises of Leninfad. The famous designer M.D. Dyakonov and the inventor A.N. Selyanka, based on the RGD-33 hand fragmentation grenade, created a high-explosive anti-tank grenade with an explosive charge increased to 1 kg, also designated RPG-41. Already in 1941. about 798 thousand of these grenades were fired in Leningrad. High-explosive anti-tank grenades with an increased charge of factory and semi-handicraft production were also used in the defense of Odessa and Sevastopol, various versions of anti-tank grenades were created in partisan workshops.

The British anti-tank grenade "N 73 AT" with a cylindrical body 240 mm long and 80 mm in diameter had an inertial fuse with a safety lever. The weight of the grenade is 1.9 kg, the throwing range is 10-15 m. The hull was painted yellow-brown with a red belt. The grenade was thrown only from behind cover.

From top to bottom: a bunch of M-24 hand grenades; anti-tank hand grenade RPG-6; anti-tank grenade RPG-43.

German hand-held anti-tank grenade of cumulative action PMW-1 - general view and in section (1 - body, 2 - cumulative funnel, 3 - explosive charge, 4 - wooden handle, 5 - detonator, 6 - cloth stabilizer strips, 7 - cap, 8 - fuse).

With a large weight, the effectiveness of such grenades soon ceased to correspond to their purpose. The situation has changed radically due to the use of the cumulative effect. In 1943. almost simultaneously, a hand-held cumulative grenade RG1G-43 appears in service with the Soviet army, and the German one - PWM-1 (L).

The PWM-1 (L) consisted of a teardrop-shaped body and a wooden handle. The body contained a charge made of an alloy of TNT with hexogen. A detonator was placed in the handle, and at the end was an inertial fuse, which was triggered at any angle of encounter. A cloth stabilizer was laid around the handle, opened by four spring plates. In the folded position, the stabilizer held the cap; to remove it, a special tongue had to be pulled back. Opening after the throw, the stabilizer pulled out the pin of a very sensitive fuse. On the head of the grenade there was an eyelet for hanging from a belt. The body was painted gray-beige. Grenade weight - 1.45 kg, charge - 0.525 kg, body diameter - 105 mm, length - 530 mm (handles - 341 mm), normal armor penetration - 150 mm, at an angle of 60 "- up to 130 mm, throwing range - 20 -25 m. The training grenade (without equipment) PWM-1 (L) Ub was distinguished by three rows of holes on the hull and its red color.

RPG-43 was developed by KB-20 designer N.P. Belyakov in late 1942 - early 1943. April 16, 1943 she passed the range, and on April 22-28 - military tests and was soon put into service. Already in the summer of 1943. she began to enter the troops. The body had a flat bottom and a tapered cover. A sting and a fuse spring were placed under the cover. The removable handle accommodated an inertial fuse, a two-band stabilizer and a safety mechanism. The laid stabilizer was covered with a cap. Before the throw, it was necessary to remove the handle and rotate the fuse fuse to compress its spring. The handle was reattached, the safety pin was pulled out by the ring. After the throw, the safety bar flew off, the stabilizer cap slid off the handle, pulling out the stabilizer and at the same time cocking the fuse. The stabilizer ensured the correct flight of the grenade with the head part forward and the minimum angle of encounter. RPG-43 weight - 1.2 kg, charge - 0.65 kg, normal armor penetration - 75 mm.

The appearance in the battles of the Kursk Bulge of the German T-V "Panther", T-VI "Tif" tanks and the heavy fighter tank "Elephant" ("Ferdinand") required an increase in the armor penetration of the grenades to 100-120 mm. In the Moscow branch of the Research Institute-6 of the People's Commissariat of Ammunition, the designers M.Z. Polevikov, L.B. Ioffe, N.S. Zhitkikh developed a cumulative RPG-6 grenade, which passed military tests already in September 1943. and put into service at the end of October. The RPG-6 had a drop-shaped body with a charge (of two checkers) and an additional detonator and a handle with an inertial fuse, a detonator cap and a tape stabilizer. The fuse striker was blocked by a check. The stabilizer tapes (two long and two short) were placed in the handle and held by a safety bar. The safety pin was removed before throwing. After the throw, the safety bar flew off, the stabilizer pulled out, the drummer's check was pulled out - the fuse was cocked. RPG-6 weight - 1.13 kg, charge - 0.6 kg. throw range - 15-20 m, armor penetration - up to 100 mm. In terms of technology, an essential feature of the RPG-6 was the absence of turned and threaded parts, the widespread use of stamping and knurling. Thanks to this, the serial production of the grenade was able to be established even before the end of the year. RPG-43 and -6 tossed about 15-20 m, after throwing it was necessary to take cover.

In total in the USSR in 1942-45. about 137,924 were produced (NYU anti-personnel and 20,882,800 AT hand grenades. By years: in 1942 - 9232, in 1943 - 8000, in 1944 - 2830 and in 1945 - only 820.8 thousand. You can see a decrease in the share of hand grenades in the PT system of infantry ammunition.

The problem with hand-held anti-tank grenades was the slowing down of the fuse - a grenade that hit the target could explode, already rolling or bouncing off the armor. Therefore, various attempts were made to "attach" grenades to the armor. The British used the so-called. "sticky bomb" - high-explosive grenade "N 74 (ST)". The explosive was placed in a glass sphere with a diameter of 130 mm. A woolen bag covered with a sticky mass was put on the ball. A remote fuse for 5 seconds with a check was placed in a long handle. The weight of the grenade is 1.3 kg, the total length is 260 mm. Before the throw, the tin cover was removed from the ball, the check was pulled out. The grenade did not stick to vertical, wet armor. The British also created a soft grenade "N 82": a knitted pouch served as its body, tied with a braid from below, and tucked into a metal cover on top, onto which a fuse was screwed. The fuse was covered with a cap. The grenade was tossed at close distances and did not "roll" from horizontal surfaces. Due to the characteristic shape of the pomegranate "N 82" it is also known by the nickname "Ham" ("ham" - ham).

The German "sticky" grenade consisted of a body with a shaped charge and a felt cushion at the bottom, a detonator cap "N8" and a grater fuse. The latter were similar to hand fragmentation grenades. The felt pillow was impregnated with glue and covered with a cap, which was removed only before throwing. The grenade had a length of 205, a diameter of 62 mm and was intended to combat light tanks and armored vehicles. More interesting is the "Haft H-3" magnetic grenade for fighting tanks and self-propelled guns of all types. At the bottom of its conical body with a shaped charge (ghzhsogen with TNT) three permanent magnets were attached, which "fixed" the grenade on the armor in the most favorable position. Before being thrown, they were protected from demagnetization by a removable iron reinforcement. Detonator capsule - "N 8" A1. The handle contained a standard grating fuse with a slowdown of 4.5 or 7 seconds. The pomegranate turned green. Total length - 300 mm, bottom diameter - 160 mm. The grenade was usually "planted" on the tank when it passed over the trench (slot), although throwing at a distance of up to 15 m was also allowed. The Germans themselves in 1944-45. they defended their combat vehicles - gankers and assault guns - from magnetic grenades with "zimmerit" coating: a 5-6 mm layer significantly weakened the force of attraction of the magnets. The surface was made wavy. Zimmsrit also protected vehicles from sticky and incendiary grenades.

The magnetic grenade was already close to anti-tank mines. "Grenade-mines" were also used by the infantry of the warring parties. So, the British had a grenade "N 75" ("Hawkins MkG) with a flat body 165 mm long and 91 mm wide. On top of the body there was a pressure bar, under it - two chemical fuse-ampoules. When the ampoules were destroyed by the pressure bar, a flame was formed, causing the capsule to explode -detonator, then an additional detonator was triggered, and from it - an explosive mine. "Hawkins" was thrown under a tank track or a wheel of an armored vehicle, used in minefields. Grenades were laid on a sled tied to cords, thus obtaining a "mobile" mine, " Pull-up "under a moving tank. Flat anti-tank mines on bamboo poles and" mobile "mines were widely and not without success used by groups of infantrymen - tank destroyers in the Japanese army: our tankers had to face this back in Khalkhin Gol in 1939.

Tank "King Tiger" in zimmerite coating, which protected from magnetic mines and grenades

Anti-tank rifle grenades

In World War II, almost all armies used rifle (rifle) grenades. It should be noted that back in 1914. the staff captain of the Russian army V.A. Mgebrov suggested using his rifle grenade against armored vehicles.

In service with the Red Army in the 30s was a muzzle-loading "Dyakonov grenade launcher", created at the end of the First World War and subsequently modernized. It consisted of a mortar, a bipod and a quadrant sight and was used to defeat manpower with a fragmentation grenade. The barrel of the mortar had a caliber of 41 mm, three screw threads, a cup. The cup was screwed onto the neck, which was attached to the barrel of the rifle, fixing on the front sight with a cutout. On the eve of the war, a grenade launcher was available in every rifle and cavalry squad.

Just before the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the question arose of giving the rifle grenade launcher "anti-tank" properties. As a result, the VKG-40 grenade entered service. Its body had a streamlined shape, three leading protrusions on the cylindrical part. A bottom fuse was mounted in the conical tail section, which included an inertial body ("settling cylinder"), a detonator cap, an additional detonator and a wire pin. The bottom part was closed with a cap. The length of the VKG-40 is 144 mm. A grenade was fired with a special blank cartridge with 2.75 g of gunpowder of the VP or P-45 brand. The muzzle of the cartridge case was crimped with an "asterisk" and - like the head of the grenade - was painted black. The mortar has also changed: a special front sight with a guard was attached to the neck, a screw screwed into the barrel limited the movement of the grenade when ramming. The reduced charge of the blank cartridge made it possible to shoot a direct-fire grenade with the butt rest on the shoulder. Shooting was carried out at a distance of up to 150 m, without a bipod, using the rifle sight: the mark "16" corresponded to a range of up to 50, "18" - up to 100 and "20" - up to 150 m. The total weight of the rifle with a mortar was 6 kg, it was serviced such a "grenade launcher" by one person. The VKG-40 was used very limited, which is partly due to the low accuracy of fire, and partly to the underestimation of the rifle grenade launcher in general.

Anti-tank rifle grenade VKG-40

German grenade launcher "Schiessbecher", mounted on the barrel of the carbine "U8k" (above) and a general view of the mortar grenade launcher. I - mortar barrel, 2 - cup, 3 - neck, 4 - carbine front sight, 5 - clamping device, 6 - clamping screw, 7 - clamping screw handle, 8 - carbine barrel.

At the beginning of 1942. The rifle VPGS-41 ("Serdyuk rifle grenade arr. 1941"), created in the Design Bureau of the People's Commissariat of the Coal Industry, led by Serdyuk, entered service. VPGS-41 consisted of a streamlined body with a charge and a fuse and a "ramrod" tail inserted into the rifle barrel bore. A clip with an annular stabilizer was put on a ramrod equipped with an obturating groove. When the ramrod was inserted into the barrel, the stabilizer was pressed against the body, and after the grenade was ejected, it was fixed at the rear end of the ramrod. The shot was fired with a blank cartridge. The firing range is up to 60 m, and against a stationary accumulation of equipment - up to 170 m (at an elevation angle of 40 faduses). The accuracy and effective range were low, and the grenade, ordered at first in large quantities, already in 1942. was discontinued from production and service.

The partisans also had their own grenade launchers: for example, the PRGSH developed a very successful mortar from a 45-mm round case and a high-explosive fragmentation grenade in 1942. T.E. Shavgulidze.

The British army used a 51-mm muzzle-charging smooth-bore rifle grenade launcher to combat armored vehicles. The firing was carried out by the N 68 grenade, which had a cylindrical steel body with a shaped charge (covered with a flat cover), an inertial bottom fuse, a primer-igniter and a detonator cap. A stabilizer with four blades was screwed into the tail of the hull. The hull was painted yellow-brown with red and green belts. The shot was fired with a blank cartridge, from a stop, lying down, the fuse check was taken out before the shot. The firing range is up to 91 m (100 yards), but the most effective is 45-75 m. The grenade could also be fired from a light 51-mm mortar.

In the US Army during the war, a system of rifle grenades was formed, which included anti-personnel, anti-tank, training and smoke samples. There were no mortars - the grenades were supplied with stabilizer tubes. The tube was mounted on a "throwing device" - a muzzle on the barrel of a carbine or rifle. Grenades were fired with the corresponding blank cartridges. The M9-A1 PT grenade had a streamlined body with a shaped-charge warhead, a stabilizer tube and a bottom inertial fuse. The length of the grenade is 284 mm, the diameter of the case is 51 mm. The initial speed when firing from a carbine is 45 m / s, the firing range is up to 175 m, from a rifle - 55 m / s and up to 250 m. The accuracy of firing, however, made it possible to effectively fire at armored targets at much shorter ranges. For training, a training Ml 1-A2 without charge was used, which repeated the M9-A1 in shape, size and weight. Feathered rifle grenades, fired from a small muzzle attachment or from a flash suppressor, turned out to be the most promising direction for the development of this type of ammunition.

German grenade launcher "Schiessbecher" ("shooting cup") was a 30-mm rifled mortar weighing 0.835 kg. The barrel was screwed into the cup, smoothly turning into the neck. The mortar was put on the barrel of a rifle or carbine and was fastened with a clamping device. The sight was attached with a clip with a screw in front of the receiver on the left. Its swinging part had a sighting bar with a front sight and entirely at the ends, a level and a sector rear part with divisions from 0 to 250 m through 50. The weight of the grenade launcher on the "98k" carbine was 5.12 kg, length - 1250 mm. The grenades had ready-made grooves, which, when loaded, were combined with the mortar grooves. Each grenade was sealed with a blank cartridge.

The caliber "small armor-piercing grenade" ("G.Pz.gr.") had an ogive-cylindrical body and rifling on the tail. The shaped charge was covered with a ballistic cap and was detonated by a bottom inertial fuse through a detonator cap and an additional detonator. The length of the grenade is 163 mm, the body was black. A grenade was fired with a cartridge with 1.1 g of gunpowder, a wooden wad and a black ring around the capsule. Initial speed - 50 m / s, firing range - 50-125 m.

With the beginning of the war with the USSR, in order to increase the "armor-piercing" properties of the grenade launcher, it was necessary to introduce into service the "large armor-piercing" grenade "Gr.G.Pz.gr." It was an over-caliber grenade with a thickened front part and a long "stem". The stem had a threaded sleeve at the back (made of plastic or aluminum), which was inserted into the mortar. The bottom inertial fuse was cocked after firing. Length - 185 mm, diameter - 45 mm, penetration - 40 mm - at an angle of meeting up to 60 degrees, body - black. Shot - a cartridge with 1.9 g of gunpowder and a wooden black bullet (wad). The initial speed is 50 m / s. With high armor penetration, the grenade had a low accuracy, therefore, firing at moving targets was carried out at a distance of up to 75 m, at fixed targets - up to 100 m.When firing with an ordinary cartridge from a rifle with a mortar, they took some excess of the sight. Each infantry, tank destroyer and sapper company had 12 mortars, and field batteries had two. For each mortar relied on 30 fragmentation and up to 20 "armor-piercing" grenades. However, as in the Red Army, rifle grenades were used little in the Wehrmacht PT, since "the effect of a rifle grenade on the crew and internal equipment of the tank was very insignificant" (E. Middeldorf).

Large armor-piercing rifle grenade Gz.G.Pz.gr. (capping and general view)

German anti-tank grenade launcher Gz.B.39

Table 2 Anti-tank hand and rifle grenades

By the end of 1941. the inefficiency of the 7.92-mm PTR Pz.B.39 became clear, and in 1942. on its basis the Gr.B.-39 ("Granatenbuche") anti-tank grenade launcher was created. The barrel was shortened to 595-618 mm, the breech was simplified, the forend was removed, and a 30-mm rifled mortar was installed at the end of the barrel. Its cup was already screwed onto the PTR barrel. Mortar length - 130 mm, weight - 0.8 kg. Sights included front and rear sighting devices on the left side of the weapon. The rear sight - a rear sight with a slot - was attached to a bracket in the groove of the receiver. The front one was fastened with a clip on the breech of the barrel and was a grid of six horizontal and one vertical threads: horizontal ones marked distances up to 150 m after 25, vertical ones formed sighting crosshairs. A casing with a shield with three holes was attached to the sighting frame: the middle one served as an auxiliary front sight (range - 75 m) in the dark. Guidance on tanks was carried out along the lower edge of the turret, in the middle, or with an extension of 0.5-1 hull - when the target was moving. Shooting at moving targets was carried out at a range of up to 75 m, at fixed targets up to 150 m. The weight of the grenade launcher is 10.5 kg, the length in the combat position is 1230 mm, in the stowed position - 908 mm, the calculation is 2 people. The shooting was carried out by "Gr.G.Pz.gr." with a reinforced stem and "improved rifling" or a special "large armor-piercing grenade model 1943." The latter was distinguished by a drop-shaped shape, greater strength, a strong charge, and also a fuse that worked at any angle of encounter. The length of the "grenade model 1943" - 195 mm, diameter - 46 mm. The grenade had a light brown stem; it was fired only from the Sg.B-39 with a cartridge with a black wooden bullet (the cartridge case was a cartridge for the Pz.B.-39), the muzzle velocity was 65 m / s. Shooting "small" or unreinforced "large" grenades was not allowed: they could collapse when fired.

The desire to use any means as a combat one led to the creation of grenades for firing from signal pistols. In the late 30s on the basis of "Walter" model 1934 was created "Kampfpistole Z" ("zug" - rifling). The bore had 5 rifling. The weight of the "pistol" is 745 g, the length is 245 mm with a barrel length of 155 mm. He turned into a grenade launcher by attaching a metal butt and a folding sight. The weight of such a grenade launcher was 1960. The PT over-caliber grenade "42 LP" consisted of a drop-shaped body with a charge (hexogen with TNT) and a bottom inertial fuse and a rod with ready-made grooves at the end. A primer-igniter was placed in the rod, an expelling charge of porous pyroxylin powder and a piston, which cut off the connecting pin when fired and ejected a grenade. The length of the grenade is -305 mm, the largest diameter is 61 mm. For firing it from a conventional pistol-rocket launcher, an insert rifled barrel was used.

Anti-tank ^ feathered rifle grenades with a cumulative warhead actively developed in the first two post-war decades (French M.50 and M761, Belgian Energa, American M-31, Spanish G.L.61). However, already in the late 60s, the ineffectiveness of anti-tank rifle grenades against main battle tanks became clear, and further development followed the path of cumulative fragmentation grenades to combat light armored vehicles.

Anti-tank grenade launchers of the second world war

Rocket anti-tank rifle R.Pz.H.54 "Ofenror"

The middle of the Second World War was characterized by qualitative changes in the armament of the ground forces, including infantry weapons against tanks at short and medium ranges. The decline in the role of anti-tank rifles was accompanied by the introduction of a new anti-tank weapon - hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers.

Work on light reactive and recoilless anti-tank weapons was carried out back in the 30s. So, in the USSR in 1931, the 65-mm "jet gun" by B.S. Petropavlovsky for shooting from the shoulder. Its design contained a number of promising elements: an electric igniter for the engine, a shield to protect the shooter from gases. Unfortunately, after the death of Petropavlovsky in 1933, this development was not continued. At the beginning of 1933. The Red Army adopted 37-mm "dynamo-rocket anti-tank guns" L.V. Kurchevsky (325 units were delivered in total), however, they were removed from service two years later as they did not meet the requirements of armor penetration, maneuverability and safety. Note that the actual failure of Kurchevsky's work for some time undermined the credibility of recoilless systems. In the design bureau of P.I. Grokhovsky in 1934, a fairly simple "hand-held dynamo-rocket launcher" was developed for firing at lightly armored targets. The armor-piercing action of the shells was based, like the artillery armor-piercing shells of that time, on their kinetic energy and was, of course, insufficient at low speeds. For a number of reasons - including repression against design personnel - such work was stopped. They returned to them already during the war.

In 1942, ML Mil developed a rocket-propelled gun in a version on a light machine. At the same time, the SKB at the Compressor plant was engaged in "machine tools for 82-mm PT mines" (missiles): a double-barreled launcher was created under the leadership of AN Vasiliev. At the GAU test site, a reusable hand grenade launcher RPG-l with an over-caliber grenade (head of work G.P. Lominsky) was being developed, in GSKB-30 (People's Commissariat of ammunition) under the leadership of A.V. Smolyakov - RPG-2. During the development, the experience of the enemy was naturally used (all captured samples of German RPGs were carefully studied and evaluated), as well as data on the RPGs of the allies.

RPG-1 included: 1) a 30-mm smooth launch tube with a hammer percussion mechanism, a simple trigger, protective pads and a folding sighting bar, 2) a 70-mm cumulative PG-70 grenade with a powder propellant charge of black powder (burned out before the grenade left pipes) and a rigid stabilizer. Aiming, like the German Panzerfaust (see below), was carried out on the rim of the grenade. The aimed firing range reached 50 m, armor penetration - 150 mm. In the spring of 1944. the RPG-1 was tested and the production of the pilot batch was prepared, but the revision of the grenade was delayed, and in 1948 work on this model was stopped. The RPG-2 consisted of a 40 mm pipe and an 80 mm PG-2 cumulative grenade screwed up with a black powder propellant charge. Development lasted about five years, and the RPG-2 entered service only in 1949.

In the special technological bureau NII-6 of the People's Commissariat of Ammunition (NKBP), headed by I.M. Naiman, a group of designers developed the PG-6 hand grenade launcher. With the help of a special blank cartridge (4 g of gunpowder in the case of a rifle cartridge), a cumulative RPG-6 grenade (armor penetration up to 120 mm) was fired in a pallet or a standard 50-mm shrapnel feathered mine. By the beginning of 1945, a batch of PG-6 with reduced recoil was prepared for military tests. The weight of the system was about 18 kg, the firing range at tanks with an RPG-6 grenade was up to 150 m, for manpower with a 50-mm mine - up to 500 m. With the end of the war, work on this system stopped.

Marshal of artillery ND Yakovlev, who was the Chief of GAU during the war years, wrote: "There were no active supporters of such anti-tank warfare means as the faustpatron ... But he proved himself to be excellent ..." During the Great Patriotic War, our army really did not received an RPG, however, the foundation was laid for their post-war development.

The situation was different in Germany, where in the 30s a lot of money was also spent on "jet" and "dynamo-jet" topics. In the middle of the war, Germany adopted the "infantry armament program", where special attention was paid to anti-tank weapons. As part of the program, the infantry received new anti-tank grenade launchers. At the end of 1943. The Wehrmacht received the RPG "8.8 cm R.Pz.B. 54" ("Raketenpanzerbuchse"), created on the basis of the "Schulder 75" rocket device, taking into account the experience of American "bazookas" captured in North Africa, and intended for fighting tanks of all types. "R. Pz.B. 54", better known under the name "Offenrohr" ("offenrohr" - open pipe), consisted of a seamless smooth-walled pipe - barrel, shoulder rest with shoulder pad, handle with trigger mechanism, cocking handle with safety device, staples with a front hold handle, sighting devices, contact (plug) box, latch for holding the grenade in the barrel. A shoulder strap served for carrying.

Three rectangular guides were stamped along the entire length of the barrel, a wire ring was attached to the rear cut, protecting it from contamination and damage and making it easier to insert a grenade from the breech. The electric ignition device was powered by a pulse generator. The rod - the core of the generator - was cocked with a special swinging handle in front of the trigger, while the fuse was recessed. The current was supplied by protected wires to the contact box. Sights were mounted on the left side of the tube and included a front sight - a front sight - and a rear sight - a frame with a slot. The position of the slot was adjusted when zeroing in.

The rocket-propelled grenade "8.8-ssh R.Pz.B.Gr. 4322" consisted of a body with a shaped charge (an alloy of TNT with hexogen) and an AZ 5075 shock head fuse with a safety pin, a powder engine, at the nozzle of which an annular stabilizer was attached, and a wooden block with electric igniter contacts. The body and tail were screwed together. The pomegranate turned dark green. Before loading, the fuse check was removed and the adhesive tape covering the terminal block was removed. The fuse was cocked after firing, three meters from the muzzle. The weight of the grenade is 3.3 kg, the length is 655 m, the armor penetration is 150 mm normal. The grenades with an engine adapted to winter conditions had the inscription "arkt" on the tail. In addition to the "arctic", the "tropical" (for North Africa) pomegranate was also worked out. There were also training grenades "4320 Ub", "4340 Ub" and "4320 Ex".

Weight "Ofenror" without a grenade was about 9 kg, length - 1640 mm, firing range - up to 150 m, crew - 2 people, rate of fire - up to 10 rounds / min. The shooting was carried out from the shoulder. To protect against the engine powder gases, the gunner had to wear gloves, a gas mask (without a filter), a hood and a helmet. In 1944. The RPG received a light cover in the form of a rectangular shield with an aiming window and a box for small parts. A safety guard was installed on the muzzle of the barrel. The new model "R.Pz.B. 54/1" was named "Panzerschreck" ("panzerschreck" - thunderstorm of tanks). Weight "Panzershrek" without a grenade - 9.5 kg.

"Ofenror" and "Panzershrek" were more bulky than the American M1 "Bazooka", but significantly surpassed it in armor penetration. The generator was more reliable in combat conditions than batteries, and a convenient contact box accelerated charging. In 1943-45. about 300,000 RPGs were produced. During the Berlin operation, Soviet troops encountered unusual "self-propelled tank destroyers" - B-IV tankettes armed with several 88-mm Offenror tubes.

R.Pz.B.54II "Panzershrek" - an improved model of a hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher

Rocket-propelled grenade P, - Pz.B.Gr.4322 for the Ofenror grenade launcher. 1 - fuse, 2 - head nozzle, 3 - body, 4 - bursting charge, 5 - tail section with reactive charge, b - nozzle, 7 - electric wire, 8 - wooden block with contact, 9 - cumulative funnel.

Dynamo-rocket anti-tank weapon "Panzerfaust1" (below - "Panzerfaust" -2). I - grenade body, 2 - explosive charge, 3 - cumulative funnel, 4 - detonating device, 5 - fuse, 6 - wooden grenade rod, 7 - barrel , 8 - expelling charge, 9 - trigger

In 1943, the Wehrmacht also received a very effective weapon - the "Panzerfaust" dynamo-rocket device, referred to in the literature as "faustpatrone". The name "panzerfaust" ("armored fist") is associated with the popular German medieval legend of a knight with a "steel hand". Several samples of "panzerfaust" were taken, designated as F-1 and F-2 ("system 43"), F-3 ("44"), F-4, fundamentally the same design.

"Panzerfaust" was a disposable grenade launcher, built according to the scheme of the simplest recoilless gun, developed by G. Langweier. The basis was an open steel pipe-barrel with a propellant charge and a firing mechanism. An over-caliber grenade (mine) was inserted into the pipe in front. The propellant charge of smoky gunpowder was placed in a cardboard case and separated from the grenade with a plastic wad. A tube of the percussion mechanism was welded to the front of the pipe, which included a striker with a mainspring, a trigger button, a retractable stem with a screw, a return spring and a sleeve with a primer-igniter. For cocking the percussion mechanism, the stem was fed forward, bringing the primer to the ignition hole, then pulled back and turned, removing the mechanism from the protection. The descent was carried out by pressing a button. The percussion mechanism could be safely removed from the platoon. A flap with a hole served as a sight, a front sight - the top of a grenade rim. In the stowed position, the strap was attached with a pin for the grenade ear. At the same time, it was impossible to cock the percussion mechanism. For a shot, the weapon was usually taken by the arm, only short-range shots were fired from the shoulder.

The grenade consisted of a body with a shaped charge (TNT / RDX), covered with a ballistic tip, and a tail section. The latter in the equipped form included a metal glass with an inertial fuse and a bottom detonator and a wooden rod with a 4-blade stabilizer. The folded stabilizer blades opened up after flying out of the barrel. The caliber of the F-1 grenade is 100 mm, the F-2 is 150 mm, the weight is 1.65 and 2.8 kg, respectively (the charge is 0.73 and 1.66 kg), the armor penetration along the normal is 140 and 200 mm. The shape of the tip of the F-1 grenade was supposed to improve the formation of a cumulative jet. The total weight of the F-1 is 3.25 kg, the F-2 is 5.35 kg, the length is 1010 and 1048 mm, respectively. The initial speed of the grenade is 40 m / s, the effective range of the F-1 and F-2 is up to 30 m, hence the names of the models "Panzerfaust-30 Klein" and "Panzerfaust-30 gross". The F-3 (Panzerfaust-60) had a firing range of up to 60 m. The F-4 (Panzerfaust-100) model used a two-beam propellant charge with an air gap, which provided a firing range of up to 100 m. The weapon was painted dark green or dirty yellow. When fired, a sheaf of flame 1.5-4 m long burst out behind the pipe, as warned by the inscription "Achtung! Feuerstral!" ("Attention! Beam of fire!"). An incandescent gas jet of long length made it difficult to fire from confined spaces.

The first batch of "Panzerfaust" in 8000 pieces. released in August 1943, their widespread use began in the spring, and the most massive - at the end of 1944. a third model (F-3) appeared with a 150-mm grenade, an increased propellant charge, an elongated barrel-tube and a greater aiming range. The F-3 aiming bar had three holes - at 30, 50 and 75 m.

Anti-tank rifle "Bazooka" and a grenade to it: 1 - ballistic ring of packs, 2 - body, 3 - explosive charge, 4 - fuse, 5 - stabilizer, 6 - electric igniter, 7 - propellant charge, 8 - cumulative funnel, 9 - contact ring.

"Panzerfaust" were easy to manufacture and master. In October 1944. 400,000 of them were produced, in November - 1.1 million, in December - 1.3 million, in 1945. - 2.8 million. Only a short training in aiming, shooting and positioning was required. January 26, 1945 Hitler even gave the order to form a "tank-destroyer division" from the mouths of scooters with "panzerfaust". In addition to the troops, "Panzerfaust" were issued in large numbers to the Volkssturm soldiers and to the boys from the "Hitler Youth". The Faustniki were a dangerous enemy, especially in urban battles, where tanks were widely used by Soviet troops. It was necessary to allocate special groups of riflemen and submachine gunners to fight the "fausts". Trophy "panzerfaust" were willingly used in the Red Army. Colonel-General Chuikov, noting the interest of Soviet soldiers in the "panzerfaust" ("faustpatron"), half-jokingly suggested even introducing them into the troops under the name "Ivan-patron."

"Panzerfaust", according to British experts, was "the best hand-held infantry anti-tank weapon of the war." Former Lieutenant General of the Wehrmacht E. Schneider wrote that "only shaped charges connected to a recoilless system ... or in combination with a rocket engine ... were a fairly successful means of close anti-tank defense." But they, in his opinion, did not solve the problem: "The infantry needs the anti-tank weapon to be serviced by one person and to allow it to hit the tank and disable it from a distance of 150, and, if possible, 400 meters." He was echoed by E. Middeldorf: "The creation of the Ofenror rocket-propelled gun and the Panzerfaust dynamo-rocket launcher can only be viewed as a temporary measure in solving the problem of infantry anti-tank defense." Most experts already saw a "solution to the problem" in light recoilless guns (such as the American 57-mm M18 and 75-mm M20 or the German LG-40) and in guided anti-tank shells. The experience of local wars, however, showed the importance of light RPGs, and recoilless guns gradually faded into the background.

In 1942. The US Army adopted the Ml "Bazooka" rocket-propelled grenade launcher ("bazooka" - a wind musical instrument). According to some reports, the development of the Americans used information about the German jet device "Schulder 75". The RPG consisted of an open smooth-walled pipe, an electric ignition device, a safety box with a contact rod, sighting devices, a pistol grip and a shoulder rest. On the rear section of the pipe, a wire ring was attached to protect the pipe from contamination and to facilitate the insertion of a grenade, on the front section there was a round shield (eccentrically) to protect the shooter from powder gases. On top of the rear cut there was a spring latch to hold the grenade. The electric ignition device included two dry batteries, a warning light, electrical wiring, and a contact closure (trigger in front of the pistol grip). The wiring is done in a single-wire circuit, the second wire is the pipe itself. The red light of the bulb (on the left side of the shoulder rest) when pressed on the contact contactor indicated the health of the batteries and wiring. The safety box was attached from above in front of the latch. To turn on the fuse (before loading), its lever was lowered to "SAFE", to turn it off (before firing) it was raised to "FIRE". Sights were mounted on the left side of the tube and included a rear sight-slot and a front sight - a frame with four fixed-range flies. A shoulder strap served for carrying. The M9 caliber rocket grenade consisted of a streamlined body with a shaped charge, a ballistic tip and a bottom inertial fuse with a safety pin, a powder jet engine with an electric igniter and a 6-blade stabilizer. The contact of the electric igniter of the grenade engine with the RPG electric ignition device was provided by a slip ring on the ballistic tip (from the pipe) and a contact behind the body. The diameter of the grenade body is 60 mm (2.36 inches), weight - 1.54 kg, length - 536 mm, initial speed - 81 m / s, maximum - 90 m / s, armor penetration - 90 mm normal.

Weight Ml "Bazooka" - 5.7 kg, length - 1550 mm, sighting range for tanks - up to 200 m, for defensive structures - up to 365 m (400 yards), rate of fire - 4 rounds / min, crew - 2 people. The shooting was carried out from the shoulder. "Bazooka" Ml was easy to use, but the armor penetration of the grenade was insufficient. The design of the Ml "Bazooka" determined the path of RPG development for a long time, the word "bazooka" became a household word.

For the first time Ml "Bazooka" were used in 1942 in North Africa. RPG "Bazooka" has become the main means of infantry platoon of the American army to fight against tanks and firing points of the enemy. In each company of the infantry battalion, there were 5 RPGs, 6 more were in the company of heavy weapons. In total, about 460,000 of these RPGs were released. At the end of the 40s, they were replaced by the 88.9-mm RPG M20 Bazooka, created at the end of the war, but entered into service during the battles in Korea. During the war, a single-barreled 115-mm rocket launcher M12 "Bazooka" was also used - the launch tube was suspended between the tripod supports. The accuracy of all shooting was extremely low.

In 1943, a 57 mm recoilless gun was successfully tested in the USA. It got to the front only in March 1945. The gun had a weight of 20 kg with a projectile weight of 1.2 kg, firing was carried out from the shoulder or a light tripod using an optical sight. But the 75 mm gun weighing 52 kg turned out to be more successful.

In 1941 in Great Britain, under the leadership of Colonel Blacker, a "semi-automatic" anti-tank grenade launcher was created, adopted in 1942. into service under the designation "PIAT MK.G" ("Projektor Infantry Ami Tank, Mark I"). The design consisted of a steel pipe with a welded tray in front, a massive bolt-striker, a reciprocating mainspring, a trigger mechanism, a bipod, a shoulder rest with a pillow When loading, a grenade (mine) was placed on the tray and closed the pipe.

Anti-tank rifle "РIАТ" Mk.l and a grenade to it

Semi-automatic operated due to the recoil of the bolt-striker: after firing, he rolled back and stood on the sear of the trigger mechanism. When the trigger was pressed, the sear released the bolt-striker, under the action of the reciprocating mainspring, it rushed forward and broke the propellant charge of the grenade, and the shot was fired "from rollout", i.e. before the shutter comes to the extreme forward position. Whispering at this time broke off the trigger and could capture the shutter when rolling back. Before the first shot, the shutter was manually cocked. The trigger mechanism had a safety catch on the right, which locked it when the flag was turned forward. The rod of the shoulder rest, which closed the pipe from behind, served as a guide rod and limiter for the movement of the shutter. Sights were mounted on the left side of the tube and included a front sight and a folding diopter sight with two diopters - at a distance of 70 and 100 yards (64 and 91 m), next to the diopter sight was attached an arc sight with a level - for shooting at long ranges. The bipod was attached to the pipe behind the tray with a clip with a lamb. In front of the shoulder rest there was a casing to hold the grenade launcher when firing with the left hand.

The grenade (mine) consisted of a streamlined body with a cumulative warhead, a head percussion fuse, a bottom detonator cap and a tail tube with an annular stabilizer. The fuse beam was transmitted to the detonator cap through the "fire transfer" tube. A propellant charge with a primer was placed in the tail tube. The diameter of the grenade body is 88 mm, the weight is 1.18 kg, the warhead is 0.34 kg, the muzzle velocity is 77 m / s, and the armor penetration is up to 120 mm. Weight "PIAT" (without a grenade) - 15.75 kg, length - 973 mm, firing range at tanks - up to 91 m, at structures - 200-300 m, rate of fire - 4-5 rds / min, crew - 2 people , standard ammunition - 18 grenades (min). Carried over U PIAT "on the shoulder strap.

The assignment of "PIAT" to reactive or "dynamo-reactive" systems seems to be erroneous: the propellant charge burned out until the grenade was completely off the tray, and the recoil was absorbed not by the reaction of the gas jet, but by a massive bolt with a "rollout", a spring and a shoulder pad. PIAT was more of a transitional model between small arms and rocket launchers. The absence of a gas jet made it possible - unlike jet systems - to fire from enclosed spaces. The drawback of "РIАТ" was its heavy weight. "PIAT" was considered as the main anti-tank weapon of the infantry in areas where the use of anti-tank guns is difficult. Calculations "PIAT" were part of the infantry battalion support company, battalion headquarters company. "PIAT" were supplied to the Resistance units: in particular, the Home Army used them during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. In the summer of 1947, PIAT's own production was established in Israel. In service with the British army "PIAT" was replaced only in 1951. RPG "British Bazooka".

During the war, such "positional" means as heavy easel grenade launchers appeared. So, in 1944. on the Soviet-German front, 88-mm grenade launchers "Puppchen" ("Puppchen" - doll) appeared, which outwardly resembled an artillery piece. "Puphen" operated according to the active-reactive principle: the smooth barrel was locked with a shutter-door, and the powder gases of the grenade engine were used to push it out of the barrel. The grenade differed from the Ofenror by a slightly shorter length and a different engine igniting device.

The trunk was a 1600 mm long pipe with a socket at the end. The counterweight on the breech facilitated aiming. The shutter was locked with a handle and a crank. The ejection, shock and safety mechanisms were assembled in the shutter. The descent was carried out with a special lever. Sights included a front sight and an open sight, notched from 180 to 700 m. The barrel with a breech and a bolt was placed on trunnions in the upper carriage machine, welded from stamped parts. On the upper machine, a 3 mm thick shield with curved edges and a window for aiming was attached. The lower machine consisted of a single-bar bed with a constant opener, a paw and a rule. On the bed, runners or stamped wheels with rubber tires were attached. In a marching manner, the barrel was attached to the frame for a counterweight. There were no lifting and turning mechanisms. Vertical guidance angles - from - 20 to + 25 degrees, horizontally - + -30 on wheels and 360 on skids. The flight speed of the grenade is up to 200 m / s, the armor penetration is up to 150 mm. The most effective fire was at a range of 180-200 m. A plate of firing at tanks was attached to the shield. Weight "Pupyeon"

- 152 kg. It could be disassembled into 6 parts: barrel (19 kg), counterweight (23 kg), upper machine (12 kg), lower machine (43 kg), wheels (22 kg each). Calculation - 4 people. "Puphen" was distinguished by its simplicity of design. The quantitative ratio of hand-held and easel grenade launchers can be judged by the following figures: as of March 1, 1945, the Wehrmacht had 139,700 "Panzershrek" and 1649 "Pupchen". A 105-mm PT rocket launcher was also developed - a tube about 2 m long on a tripod. The firing range was 400 m, the calculation was 2 people.

Easel reusable grenade launchers with caliber and over-caliber grenades were also created in the USSR: in SKB-36 of the People's Commissariat of the Oil Industry under the leadership of A.P. Ostrovsky - SPG-82, in the SKB of the Moscow Mechanical Institute - SPG-122 (headed by A.D. Nadiradze). Ostrovsky presented the prototype SPG-82 in May 1942. The sample of Nadiradze was a continuation of the theme he had begun at TsAGI - a launcher for firing from the shoulder or machine gun (code name "System"). To improve the accuracy, the projectile was given rotation due to tangential nozzles (turbojet projectile). But the accuracy increased slightly, and the armor penetration of the cumulative warhead decreased during rotation. 408 82-mm "jet guns" with 80 mm armor penetration were manufactured in early 1944, but the tests were not successful. Development work on LNG-82 and the same type of LNG-122 was completed only in 1948, and in 1950. The SG-82 was adopted for service.

In 1945. in the region of Budapest, a heavy-duty grenade launcher was seized from the Hungarian units, intended for firing at especially protected targets. It had a single-bar wheeled carriage with a coulter and upward-folding wheels. A light frame with two 60-mm launch tubes and a shield protecting the gunner from the gases of the grenade engines was mounted on the rotary device. The grenades were launched simultaneously. Sighting range - up to 240 m. Rocket-propelled grenade - the so-called. "Sawashi's Needle" - consisted of a streamlined body, a powder jet engine and a turbine that rotated in flight. Two shaped charges were sequentially placed in the body. The first (of a smaller diameter) was triggered by a shock fuse and a detonator and pierced the screen protecting the target, the second detonated with some delay from the explosion of the first. The appearance by the end of the war of weapons to defeat shielded targets is characteristic, although Soviet troops used little shielding of vehicles with additional sheets or mesh.

Left anti-tank grenade launcher "Puphen" on the right - a launcher for a rocket-propelled grenade "Igla Savashi"

Table 3 Anti-tank grenade launchers

* In brackets the data 854 "Ofenror"

Guided weapons work

The Second World War gave impetus to the development of various types of guided (high-precision) weapons. PT guided weapons were not brought to practical use at that time, however, some interesting experiments were made.

The first suitable anti-tank complex appeared in Germany. Here in 1943. under the leadership of Dr. M. Kramer, the X-7 "Rotkaphen" ("Rotk-appchen" - Little Red Riding Hood) guided missile was developed. The projectile was a small cruise missile - hull diameter 140 mm, length 790 mm - weighing 9.2 kg with a forward swept wing. The WASAG powder jet engine developed an effort of 676 N during the first 2.6 s, and then 49 N for 8.5 s, provided the projectile with a speed of up to 98-100 m / s and a flight range of up to 1200 m. Control system, created on the basis of the X-4 aircraft projectile, it included a stabilization unit, a commutator, rudder drives, command and receiving units, and two cable reels. The stabilization of the position in flight was provided by a powder gyroscope, the signals from which were sent through the switch to the control relays. The signals from the control unit were transmitted through two wires with a diameter of 0.18 mm, wound on inertia-free coils ("views") at the ends of the wings. The rudder was mounted eccentrically on an arcuate pivot bar and included a gas flow breaker and stabilizing washers with tiltable trim tabs at the ends. He served as both an elevator and a rudder. The armor penetration of a cumulative warhead with a contact fuse reached 200 mm. The launcher was a tray mounted on a tripod with contacts for the projectile wires. The installation was connected with a cable to a remote command unit. The operator visually accompanied the projectile in flight, controlling it with the handles in height and direction. Thus, the principles of the first generation ATGM were laid in the X-7 "Rotkaphen". By the spring of 1945. the firm "Ruhrstahl Breckwede" fired about 300 X-7 shells, but reports of attempts to use them in combat are very vague.

The groundwork in this area was created on the eve of the war in the USSR and in France. According to some reports, after the war, the French received from the Americans a significant part of the information on German developments. In any case, it is no coincidence that in the 50s it was the French who were in the lead in the development of ATGMs.

Often among the anti-tank vehicles, mention is made of "remotely controlled tankettes" like the wire-guided German "Goliath" (Sd Kfz 302, "device 302" or Motor-E, explosive charge 60 kg) and "Goliath" BV (Sd Kfz 303, "device 671" or Motor-V, explosive charge 75 or 100 kg). Indeed, the fight against tanks was called among the tasks of these machines, but their main purpose (like similar Soviet developments) was considered to undermine fortifications, reconnaissance of the AT fire system and clear minefields. "Goliaths" were in service with special engineering companies in the 600th Typhoon engineering battalion, an assault engineering brigade and cannot be considered among the "infantry AT melee weapons". The chassis of the controlled "heavy charge carriers" B-IV and "Sprninger" were planned to be used for small-sized self-propelled vehicles with launch tubes for anti-tank rocket-propelled grenades or recoilless guns.

From the Soviet developments during the war, we will mention the "electric torpedo-tanket" ET-1-627, developed in August 1941 at the initiative of the 3rd rank military engineer A.P. Kazantsev with the participation of the director of plant N 627 of the People's Commissariat of the Electrotechnical Industry (VNIIEM) A.G. .- Iosifyan. The wedge was assembled on a wooden frame, had elements of the undercarriage of a small tractor, a caterpillar with a rubber-fabric base and wooden track-shoes, an asynchronous electric motor with a drive to the rear drive wheels. Traffic and detonation were controlled by three wires. Already in September 1941. the newly formed plant N 627 received a task to release the first batch of 30 tankettes in a month. According to Kazantsev, ET tankettes were planned to be used on the streets of Moscow, and after the counteroffensive near Moscow, they were used in battles on the Kerch Peninsula, where, in particular, they destroyed 9 enemy tanks. In this case, the supply of power and signals was carried out from a specially converted light tank. Then ETs appeared on the Volkhov front, when the blockade of Leningrad was broken. On the ET chassis, mock-ups of tanks like the MT-34 were built.

Rotkapfchen guided anti-tank projectile

Dogs were also in some way "controlled", or rather "living weapon". The tactics of using demolition dogs were practiced throughout the 1930s and were tested in 1939 at Khalkhin Gol. The formation in the Red Army of the detachments of tank destroyer dogs began in August 1941 at the Central Military School of Service Dog Breeding. The detachment included four companies of 126 dogs each. After the use of the 1st detachment near Moscow in the Klin direction, the commander of the 30th army, Major General D.D. Lelyushenko reported that "anti-tank dogs are needed by the army and it is necessary to train them more." In July 1942, the composition of individual detachments was reduced to two companies, which made it possible to increase their number and facilitate management. In June 1943, the detachments were reorganized into separate battalions of mine detecting dogs and tank destroyers (OBSMIT), consisting of two companies - a mine detector company and a fighter company. Tank destroyer dogs were specially trained to rush under the bottom of tanks, while being taught not to be afraid of explosions and sounds of shots. A pack with 2-4 kg of explosives with a simple sensitive pin fuse was attached to the dog's back. The launch of the dog under the tank was carried out from a distance of 75-100 m. The positions for launching the dogs were prepared next to the riflemen. The dog leaders were armed with machine guns and grenades to destroy enemy tanks and manpower and fought like infantrymen. The divisions of tank destroyer dogs were abolished in the Red Army only in October 1943. In total, over the years of the Great Patriotic War, dogs destroyed more than 300 tanks, self-propelled guns and armored vehicles. Arguments about the "humanity" or "inhumanity" of this method of fighting tanks are hardly appropriate in relation to the difficult conditions of war. Among the disadvantages of this tool can be called the need to shoot "missed" dogs (to which regular snipers were also involved), since they were already a danger to their own troops.

Incendiary means in the VET system

Various incendiary weapons were widely used to combat tanks and armored vehicles during the Second World War. The effectiveness of their use in the anti-tank defense system was explained by the fire hazard of the tanks themselves; especially sensitive in this regard were American and many British vehicles, whose engines ran on high-quality gasoline, as well as Soviet light tanks.

Incendiary weapons are considered the property of the Chemical Troops, but during the war the "chemists" acted in the combat formations of infantry subunits, so we are considering examples of incendiary weapons in the series of "close combat infantry weapons." For the needs of the PTO, the units used incendiary grenades and checkers, portable and stationary (positional) flamethrowers.

For example, the US Army had an ANM-14 incendiary grenade with a metal cylindrical body and a standard M200-A1 remote ignition fuse. Soviet tank destroyers used the so-called. "termite balls" - small balls of termite (iron oxide with aluminum) weighing 300 g, with a grating igniter. The ball ignited almost instantly, the time of grief reached 1 min, the temperature was -2000-3000 fadus C. Without a shell, the ball was wrapped in paper to be carried in a pocket or bag.

Molotov cocktails, a cheap and easy-to-make improvisation that proved effective during the Spanish Civil War, also became widespread. "Incendiary bottles" were widely used by the Soviet troops in the initial period of the war - with an acute shortage of other anti-tank weapons. Already on July 7, 1941. The Oboro State Committee adopted a special resolution "On anti-tank incendiary grenades (bottles)". For their production, beer and vodka bottles filled with self-igniting liquids "KS", "BGS" or combustible mixtures N1 and N3 based on aviation gasoline were used. For the preparation of the latter, they used gasoline, kerosene, naphtha, thickened with oils or a special powder OP-2, developed in 1939 under the leadership of A.P. Ionov. The burning time of such mixtures (usually having a dark brown color) is 40-60 seconds, the developed temperature is 700-800 ° C, the mixtures adhered well to metal surfaces, like napalm that appeared later. The simplest "fire bottles" were plugged with a cork. Before the throw, the fighter had to replace it with a rag plug soaked in gasoline and set fire to the plug - the operation took a lot of time and made the "bottle" ineffective and dangerous. Two matches, fixed on the neck with an elastic band, could also serve as a fuse. They were set on fire with a float or a box. In August 1941, a more reliable chemical fuse of AT Kuchin, MA Shcheglov and PS was adopted for the "bottles". Solodovnik: an ampoule with sulfuric acid, berthollet's salt and powdered sugar was attached to the bottle with an elastic band. The "fuse" ignited as soon as the ampoule broke along with the bottle. Self-igniting liquids "KS" and "BGS" containing phosphorus and sulfur (nicknamed by the Germans "Molotov cocktail") were a yellow-green solution with a burning time of 2-3 minutes, a combustion temperature of 800-1000 ° C. To protect the liquid from contact with air, a layer of water and kerosene was poured on top, the plug was fixed with electrical tape or wire, and in winter a substance was added that was flammable even at -40 ° C. Instructions for use were stuck on the bottle. The bottle should have been thrown onto the roof of the tank's engine compartment. Experienced "fighters" consumed 2-3 bottles to defeat the tank. Throwing range - 15-20 m. Bottles were the usual means of partisans. The "combat score" of the bottles is impressive: according to official data, during the war years they destroyed only 2,429 tanks, self-propelled guns and armored vehicles, 1,189 bunkers and bunkers, 2,547 other fortifications, 738 vehicles and 65 military depots. Since the middle of the war, incendiary bottles have been widely used in the anti-personnel and anti-personnel planting systems to create "fire explosives" - about 20 bottles were placed around the anti-tank mines along the radius.

Incendiary bottles - "beating grenades" - were used by most armies. Thus, the Americans used the "glass grenade" MZ with a breakable fuse on the rim; bottles with a phosphorus-containing mixture were used by the British. Polish Army of Home during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944 used "bottle throwers" in the form of spring catapults and easel crossbows.

At the beginning of the war, a special rifle mortar appeared in the Red Army for shooting (using a wooden wad and a blank cartridge) Molotov cocktails. The bottles were used with thicker and more durable glass. The aiming range of throwing a bottle with such a mortar was 80 m, the maximum - 180 m, the rate of fire when calculating 2 people - 6-8 rds / min. Near Moscow, the rifle squad was usually assigned two such mortars, the platoon had 6-8 mortars. The firing was carried out with the butt stop in the pound. The firing accuracy turned out to be low, and the bottles were often broken, so that the mortar was not widely used. On the fronts, it was adapted for throwing slow-action thermite bombs of the "TZSH" type or smoke bombs - when firing pillboxes or bunkers. During the battles in Stalingrad, the Barrikady plant produced a bottle-thrower designed by the worker I.P. Inochkin.

The original incendiary weapon of the Red Army was the so-called. "amlulomet", used to combat manpower, defeat or blind enemy tanks and armored vehicles, shelling fortified buildings, etc. The ampulomet consisted of a barrel with a chamber, a bolt, a firing device, sighting devices and a gun carriage with a fork. The trunk is a pipe rolled from sheet 2-mm iron. Sights included a front sight and a folding sight rack. The barrel was fastened with trunnions in the fork of a carriage - a tripod, a wooden deck or a ski frame. The shell was a metal ampoule AZ-2 or a glass sphere with 1 liter of the "KS" mixture, fired with a blank hunting cartridge of 12 caliber. The weight of the ampoule gun was 10 kg, the gun carriage was from 5 to 18 kg, the aiming range was 100-120 m, the maximum was 240-250 m, the calculation was 3 people, the rate of fire was 6-8 rds / min, the ammunition load was 10 ampoules and 12 knockout cartridges. Ampulothrowers were very simple and cheap "flamethrower mortars", they were armed with special ampulometric platoons. In battle, the ampulomet often served as the nucleus of a group of tank destroyers. Its use in defense as a whole justified itself, while attempts to use it in the offensive led to large losses of crews due to the short firing range. At the end of 1942. ampoule throwers were removed from service.

Table 4 Flamethrowers

The attempts made in the USSR at the beginning of the war to create "armor-burning" warheads based on a thermite charge accelerated by powder gases turned out to be unsuccessful and stopped with the transition to cumulative warheads.

The possibility of using flamethrowers in the fight against tanks was considered back in the First World War, but only theoretically. It was emphasized in a number of works and manuals on VET in the 1920s, with the proviso that this could be the case "in the event of a lack of other means." But in the Second World War, the armies very widely used flamethrowers as an anti-tank weapon in various conditions.

Soviet troops used knapsack pneumatic and "positional" high-explosive flamethrowers. Flamethrowers were equipped with A.P. Ionov's viscous fire mixtures. Knapsack flamethrowers ROKS-2 had a capacity of 10-11 liters of fire mixture, designed for 6-8 shots, the range of fire - up to 30-35 m. ROKS-3 had a weight of 23 kg, 8.5 liters of fire mixtures were designed for 6-8 short (about 1 s) or 2-3 long shots, the range of flamethrowing with a viscous mixture was up to 40 m. Separate companies (orro) and even battalions were formed (obro) knapsack flamethrowers. Companies were usually attached to a rifle regiment in battle, were introduced into the engineering assault battalions. High-explosive flamethrowers of the FOG type (fire mixture was thrown out by propellant gases of an expelling charge) were less maneuverable, but had a more "powerful jet", the charge was designed for one shot (up to 2 s). FOG-2 (1942), for example, had a weight of 55 kg, a capacity of 25 liters of fire mixture, a viscous mixture flamethrowing range from 25 to 100-110 m. At the position, a high-explosive flamethrower was installed in a hole, fixed with pegs and masked. The flamethrower squad (16 FOG) was located in defense by three "bushes". During the first war winter, the FOG was sometimes mounted on a sled or sled and used as a "mobile" one in offensive battles. In 1943. separate motorized anti-tank flamethrower battalions (OOMTB, armed with -540 FOG) and separate flamethrower battalions (OOB, 576 FOG) were formed, the main task of which in the offensive was to repel counterattacks by enemy tanks and infantry, and in defense - to fight tanks and manpower in the most important tank-hazardous areas.

In defensive battles, improvised flamethrowers were also used to repel enemy tank attacks. In besieged Odessa, for example, at the suggestion of the engineer A.I. Leshchenko, trench flamethrowers based on gas cylinders with a hose-hose and a flamethrowing range of up to 35 m were produced.

The German infantry had light and medium flamethrowers. Lightweight backpack "kl.Fm.W." model 1939. weighed 36 kg, included a bottle for 10 liters of fire mixture and 5 liters of nitrogen, a bottle for 1 liter of hydrogen, a nozzle with a cannon, could fire up to 15 shots at a distance of 25-30 m. landing units. To replace him in 1944. came "F.W.-1" weighing 2 ^> kg, for 7 liters of mixture, with the same range of flamethrowing. Note that in the "infantry armament program" F.W.-1 figured as primarily an anti-tank weapon. Medium flamethrower "m.Fm.W." (1940) weighing 102 kg, with a capacity of 30 liters of fire mixture and 10 liters of nitrogen could produce up to 50 shots at a distance of up to 30 m, was transported by a crew of 2 people on a two-wheeled cart, used in defense.

In Germany, an original thermite mine (land mine) was also designed: due to the shape and uneven strength of its body, a directed jet of high-temperature flame was formed during the explosion. Documentation on these developments was transferred to Japan, where they created a heavy device, supposedly capable of hitting a medium tank at 300 m. Soon, however, the device was converted into a Sakuradan bomb for kamikaze aircraft.

Tank destroyer tactics

Any weapon has an effect only with the appropriate tactics. Naturally, the PTO system developed during the Second World War not only in the "technical" but also in the "tactical" sense. A new specialty was defined in the infantry - "tank destroyer". Tank destroyers were accordingly armed, organized, and determined the order of their combat work within the unit and interaction with other units. Let's take a quick look at some of the tactical points.

In the USSR, on July 6, 1941. The order of the Supreme Command Headquarters demanded the creation of "teams for the destruction of tanks", added to the grenades and bottles "packages with explosives and ... flamethrowers of light tanks", and also recommended "night attacks against tanks." The most experienced "grenade launchers" were assigned to combat tanks in rifle subunits. They were supplied with anti-tank grenades and incendiary bottles and were located in single trenches and crevices in tank-hazardous directions. Interaction with anti-tank artillery, even where it was available, was poorly organized - according to pre-war views, the batteries of anti-tank guns should have been located behind natural obstacles, and not moved to tank-hazardous directions. In combination with the short - no more than 25 m - range of grenades and bottles, this reduced the effectiveness of the "command to destroy tanks" and led to large losses of personnel.

In the fall of 1941. in all rifle companies in the Red Army, groups of tank destroyers began to be created. The group consisted of 9-11 people and, in addition to small arms, was armed with 14-16 AT grenades, 15-20 "incendiary bottles", in battle it acted together with armor-piercing soldiers - it was assigned 1-2 ATM crews. This allowed the infantry "during a tank attack not only to cut off enemy infantry, but also to take an active part in the fight against the tanks themselves." Japanese troops on the islands of the Pacific Ocean and in Manchuria made extensive use of suicide fighters who threw themselves under a tank with a powerful charge. Although there were cases of throwing under a tank with a grenade at especially tense moments of the battle in all armies, perhaps only the Japanese made them a permanent element of anti-tank defense.

Table 4 Development of individual technical characteristics of Soviet and German tanks in the period 1939-1945

Infantry anti-tank weapons worked closely with artillery weapons. In the initial period of the war, the Red Army in the defense practiced "anti-tank units", in which AT guns and anti-tank weapons were located, covering them with rifle or machine-gun subunits. During the battle near Moscow, within the battalion defense areas, PT strong points (PTOP) were created in tank-hazardous areas, which included 2-4 guns and PTS of rifle subunits. In the defense zone of the 316th rifle division from October 12 to October 21, 1941. PTOP destroyed up to 80 tanks. During the Battle of Stalingrad, PTOP already included 4-6 guns, an anti-tank rifle platoon. In 1942, the magazine Voennaya Mysl wrote: "Anti-tank artillery ... it is better to have groups of 2-6 guns in the so-called anti-tank strongholds, reliably covered with anti-tank obstacles ... provided with armor piercers and tank destroyers." The order to all commanders of armies, commanders of divisions and regiments of the Western Front in relation to anti-tank guards stated: “PTRs are also attached to strong points, and it must be borne in mind that the greatest effectiveness of their fire is obtained with group use (3-4 guns) ... Tank destroyers with anti-tank grenades, bundles of conventional grenades and bottles of flammable liquid are an effective means of close combat against tanks. Groups of tank destroyers must be prepared at each strong point ... ". The PTO manual, published by the General Staff in the fall of 1942, identified company PTOP and battalion PT units in the PTO system of regiments and divisions. According to the draft Field Manual of 1943, the PTO was based on PT strong points and areas. The PTOP usually included 4-6 guns, 9-12 anti-tank rifles, 2-4 mortars, 5-7 machine guns, up to a platoon of submachine gunners and a department of sappers, sometimes tanks and self-propelled guns. 2-3 company PTOPs were united in battalion units (4-6 in the division's zone), covered with anti-tank barriers, obstacles. Such a system fully justified itself during the defensive battle of the Battle of Kursk. Groups of sappers-tank destroyers also closely interacted with the rifle subunits, setting up explosive barriers directly in front of the advancing enemy tanks. For this, standard mines TM-41, "mine belts" were used. In defense, sappers-fighters often installed AT mines on sleds or boards pulled up by ropes. Platoons of tank destroyer dogs were also included in the mobile anti-tank reserve of the units - they were located in the tank-hazardous areas not far from the positions of the anti-tank artillery. The composition of such platoons also included the calculations of the PTR and light machine guns.

Infantry and artillery anti-tank weapons were often brought together organizationally. The anti-tank division of the Soviet rifle division, according to the state of 1942, had 18 45-mm anti-tank guns and an anti-tank rifle company (36 rifles). At the end of the war, the US Army Infantry Regiment had a full-time PT battery (company) armed with nine 57-mm anti-tank guns and nine ML Bazooka RPGs.

In the course of the war, the ideas of "enlarging" units of tank destroyers were repeatedly expressed. So, according to the memoirs of N.D. Yakovlev, in March 1943. the commander of the Volkhov front, K.A. Meretskov, suggested introducing special "grenadier" units armed with anti-tank missiles and anti-tank grenades in the infantry troops. On the other hand, G. Guderian recalled that on January 26, 1945, Hitler gave an order to form a "tank destroyer division". With its formidable name, it was supposed to consist only of the mouths of scooters (cyclists) with "panzerfaust", i.e. be another improvisation of the end of the war.

Anti-tank missiles, anti-tank grenades and mines were successfully used by partisans. From June 20, 1942. to February 1, 1944 The Soviet Central Headquarters of the partisan movement handed over 2,556 anti-tank rifles, 75 thousand anti-tank guns and 464,570 fragmentation hand grenades to the partisan detachments. Partisans made extensive use of incendiary bottles and homemade "mobile" mines. The PTR was used by Soviet partisans to fire at enemy echelons: at steam locomotives or fuel tanks.

Some conclusions can be drawn regarding the development and combat use of anti-tank infantry weapons during the Second World War:

1. The experience of hostilities has shown the urgent need to saturate infantry units (squad-platoon-company) with weapons capable of effectively hitting all types of tanks and armored vehicles at ranges up to 400 m.

2. In the course of the war, the "nomenclature" of such means grew - both through the creation and improvement of special anti-tank samples (anti-tank weapons, RPGs), and through the adaptation to the needs of anti-tank equipment of "multi-purpose" weapons (signal pistol, rifle grenade launchers, flamethrowers). At the same time, AT means differed: the principle of the damaging action of the ammunition (kinetic energy of a bullet, cumulative effect, high-explosive or incendiary action), the principle of "propelling" action (small arms and rocket weapons, hand grenades), range (MTR - up to 500, RPG - up to 200 , hand grenades - up to 20 m). Some means were in service at the beginning of the war, others appeared during it and developed rapidly afterwards, while others (incendiary bottles, "sticky bombs", ampulomet) were only "wartime improvisations." In the middle of the war, German specialists developed the new anti-tank weapon system for the infantry most fully, but the rapidly depleting resources and the rapid actions of the Red Army did not give the Wehrmacht the opportunity to fully use this advantage. Regarding the anti-tank weapons system of the Red Army, it is worth noting that by the end of the war, as at the beginning of the war, rifle subunits had hand grenades as their main means, applicable at ranges up to 20-25 m. Until the end of the war, new means with a range did not replace the anti-tank missile system. up to 500 m. The fight against enemy tanks was again completely assigned to the artillery, which received in 1942-43. new anti-tank guns (45-mm M-42 cannon, 57-mm ZIS-2, 76-mm ZIS-3), as well as cumulative shells for regimental guns and divisional howitzers. However, neither the growth of anti-tank artillery, nor its closer interaction with the infantry, did not relieve the latter of the need to fight against enemy tanks in front of their positions with their own means.

3. The complex of anti-tank weapons of the infantry began to change dramatically from the middle of 1943. - the main role has passed to samples with a cumulative warhead, first of all - to RPGs. The reason for this was a change in the armored armament system of armies - the removal of light tanks from combat units, an increase in the thickness of the armor of medium tanks and self-propelled guns to 50-100 m, heavy - up to 80-200 mm. The complex of PT funds, which developed in the post-war period, was formed almost by the spring of 1945. (taking into account experiments with a guided anti-tank projectile).

4. An increase in the saturation of troops with light anti-tank weapons operating in infantry combat formations increased the survivability, independence and maneuverability of subunits and units, and strengthened the general anti-tank defense system.

5. The effectiveness of anti-tank weapons in combat was determined not only by their performance characteristics, but also by the comprehensive use of these weapons, the organization of close interaction of infantry, artillery and sappers both in defensive and offensive combat, and the degree of preparedness of subunit personnel.

14.5-mm anti-tank rifle Degtyarev (PTRD) USSR 1941

14.5-mm automatic anti-tank rifle Simonov (PTRS) 1941 USSR

R inactive disposable anti-tank grenade launcher "Panzerfaust" F-2 Germany 1944

7.92-mm anti-tank rifle PzB 1939 Germany

7.92-mm anti-tank gun "UR" Poland 1935

13.9-mm anti-tank gun "Boyes" Mk I 1936 Great Britain

Reactive disposable anti-tank grenade launcher "Panzerfaust" F-1 Germany 1943

88-mm rocket-propelled anti-tank rifle "Ofenror" 1943 Germany

88 mm round for anti-tank rifles

88-mm anti-tank rocket gun "Panzershrek" 1944 Germany

60-mm rocket-propelled anti-tank gun M1 (Bazooka) USA 1943

88.9-mm rocket-propelled anti-tank grenade launcher M20 (Super Bazooka) USA 1947

German anti-tank towed guns of the period of World War II

50 mm anti-tank gun Rak-38

37-mm anti-tank gun Rak-35/36

75-mm anti-tank gun Rak-40

47-mm anti-tank gun Rak-37 (t)

88-mm anti-tank gun Rak-41/43

ABOUT main battle tank T-72

Main battle tank "Merkava" Mk2 Israel

Main battle tank "Challenger" Mk1 Great Britain

Main battle tank M1A1 "Abrams" USA