About towers on pedestals, and not only ...
The most frequently encountered tower from a tank on a concrete base is, of course, the tower from the Renault tank R-35.
And it happened that when my magazine "Tankmaster" began to appear and be distributed, many considered it almost a miracle - in the days of the USSR, our people were not spoiled with such information. In the special storage of the library. IN AND. Lenin even kept drawings of the T-27 tankette. The fear was - “no matter how something happened”, and so strong that the very first issue of the magazine was generally handwritten! No one wanted me to recruit him for any money, and my friend, the artist I. Zeynalov, had to write all the text for him by hand! Well, they printed it in some research institute on a hectograph (not a single printing house took it!), Like Bolshevik leaflets in the underground.
And here they are a whole set, and in one fortified area: on the left 38 (t), then either T-I or T-II, then "Renault".
A famous shot in which American soldiers walk past the turret of tank T-II.
Another tower T-II.
Tower T-II in the area of Marseille.
But over time, the magazine got better and better, and then it began to be published in Moscow as an appendix to Technique-Youth. And here it began: both modeling firms and individual citizens "from there" began to overwhelm me with requests for help (and sometimes the most original ones - for example, send good drawings of a Russian hut in 1941 for a diorama with a T-III tank), and offers of cooperation . One came from the USA from St. Louis (that's where my TAM got to!), where its author worked as the chief biologist of the local zoo and part-time owned the Tank Turret company, which was engaged in collecting information about tank turrets used in the war on a stationary basis . The biologist wanted two things from me: first, he needed... a bone from a walrus penis (!). It turns out that walruses have a bone there and this is a rarity. And secondly - information from the photo, where were the towers of German tanks found in Russia and Poland. I never found a bone for him, because there were no "tank masters" among the Chukchi, but with a photo the matter burned out. Moreover, in one of the five companies, and in Penza in the 90s there were as many as five companies that produced models of tanks and podiums for dioramas, they decided to release a podium for a diorama, on which there would be a piece of the German fortified line from one of these photos. It was supposed to have a shaft, a concrete bunker built into it under the turret of the T-II tank, poles, gouges, a couple of “hedgehogs”, several funnels on the ground, but the figures of soldiers would have to be bought on their own. I remember that “grass” was also there, but we made few such podiums - they were expensive and were not in demand.
Tobruk fortress.
But ... about tank turrets installed permanently, in addition to TAM, I also wrote to "Technique-Youth" and "Technology and Armament", so communication with this American was not in vain. What turned out in the end? And here's what: the Germans during the Second World War proved to be highly practical, economical and thrifty people, so that they managed to use the equipment that got to them, both enemies and allies, very rationally.
Another Renault tower.
So, as stationary firing systems, turrets of even our Soviet BT-7s were used (judging by the photo), from which the upper armor plate was cut off and installed on a concrete base dug into the ground. By 1942, the Germans had so many captured tanks that standard drawings were developed for the installation of such Soviet tanks as the T-34 and KV, moreover, there were two options - concrete and log!
The tower from 38 (t) - so where did they all go ?!
At the same time, projects were developed for concrete bases for the German tanks themselves, which were being withdrawn from service: TI, T-II, 38 (t). Surprisingly, T-II turrets were often found, at least in Poland, re-equipped with 37-mm guns from T-III tanks. The ammunition was stored in the underground part of such a bunker, so the tightness in the tower was not an obstacle to such modernization. They were placed on pedestals and towers from the T-III and T-IV themselves, and the latter were already placed at the end of the war in different places, including at street intersections. The second largest were the towers from the French tanks "Hotchkiss", "Renault" AMX, which strengthened the coast of France, Holland and Belgium. Moreover, in France they were placed in the north, in Brittany, and in Normandy, and in the south - in the Marseille region.
The AMC-35 tower is for some reason painted with “bricks”. Belgium.
The most famous, of course, the defensive fortified line of Germany was the Atlantic Wall. On it, the Germans built both very powerful, with walls of many meters thick, pillboxes with 128 and 152-mm caliber guns, and “machine-gun nests” in the form of ... a concrete pipe without a roof! A soldier with an MG-34 machine gun was supposed to sit in this ... "fortification" and ... that's it! Leaned out, set the machine gun and shoot! And they bomb, they shoot - you put your head on the bottom and you sit, trembling with fear, hoping that the bomb will not fall into such a tiny “hole”.
Tower from T-III with 37-mm gun.
And this is a tower from T-III with an 50-mm gun in Russian snow.
But, in addition, the Germans built along the coast a lot of concrete pedestals for two people, on top of which they erected towers from R-35, H-35 / 39, AMS-35 tanks - in a word, they strengthened the defense with everything they had at hand! The distance between the towers was chosen in such a way that the guns of the towers (or machine guns, if guns were not installed in them) covered it with fire. Structurally, it was a concrete parallelepiped with a ladder and a door. Moreover, the internal turret volume made it possible to comfortably stay there for two soldiers, one of whom loaded, aimed the gun at the target, and fired from it, and the second gave him ammunition from below, that is, there was more than one person in the tower, like in a tank, but essentially - two, which made it possible to increase the rate of fire. Double towers AMS-35 were also very actively used. Under them, a slightly different type of base was developed, and there are several photos from different places with the installation of a turret from this tank. But there were very few tanks of this type in the French army, so Renault and Hotchkiss remained the main suppliers of turret installations.
Drawings of concrete bunkers for towers.
The towers of the Czechoslovak tank 38 (t) were also widely used. And where only they were not put: in Italy, and on the border of Germany, and in Czechoslovakia itself. Then, after the cancellation, the towers of Czech tanks produced in Sweden will also be used to strengthen the coastal defenses and will be installed along its eastern coast to counteract the Soviet landing forces.
Panorama of the coast in Normandy with Nazi anti-fortifications and a broken tower from the Renault.
As the Soviet and Allied troops approached Germany, the problem of defense became more and more acute, and the turrets of decommissioned tanks could not solve it. After all, their 37-47-mm guns were powerless against the armor of Soviet and Anglo-American tanks. In North Africa, the Germans also used towers from captured tanks. For example, the fortress of Tobruk was defended by towers from destroyed Matilda tanks.
Stationary installation of the tower tank "Panther".
Tower "Panther" in Italy.
In addition to tanks, the Panther towers were used for installation as long-term firing points (DOT). For this purpose, they were used as regular turrets of Ausf tanks. D and Ausf. A, as well as special towers, which differed reinforced to 56 mm roof and the absence of the commander's turret.
"Panther" PzKpfw V Ausf. A in Munster. Germany.
There were two modifications of bunkers using the Panther turret: Pantherturm I (Stahluntersatz) - the tank turret was mounted on a chase mounted on an armored base welded from 80 mm thick armor sheets, with a turret base thickness of 100 mm. The foundation itself consisted of two sections - residential and combat. The upper one was combat, and a tower was installed on it, where the ammunition was located. The lower compartment was intended for the rest of the bunker team. It had two exits, the first - through a secret door to the outside, the second - to the transitional section to the fighting compartment.
Tower from the "Panther" on the box base. "Line Gotha", September 1944 of the year.
The Pantherturm III (Betonsockel) is a variant of a bunker with a concrete base, which differed from the Pantherturm I only in the increased size of reinforced concrete compartments, but it had no special structural differences.
Simplified modifications of pillboxes with turrets only on the upper fighting compartment were also produced. This project included the installation of a tower on an armored box with access through a hatch, and with four brackets at the corners for crane hooks. The box, along with the turret, was transported in the back of a truck. On the spot, it was removed with a crane and installed in a pre-excavated hole, and covered with excavated soil. The tower, thus, was flush with the ground and became inconspicuous. Very often the Germans put them at the crossroads of streets or somewhere on the side of the lawn. Due to the fact that such towers did not have an engine, the tower turned exclusively by hand, that is, slowly.
The armored box with a turret from the Panther tank, of the Pantherturm I (Stahluntersatz) type.
All types of these firing points were used on the Atlantic Wall, on the Goth Line in Italy, on the Eastern Front, and also on the streets and squares of German cities. Often, damaged Panther tanks buried in the turret were used as pillboxes.
Another armored box with a tower from the "Panther" (simplified version). To make it more even, a log was planted under it.
At the end of March 1945, the 268 Pantherturm-DOTs were produced. But, of course, if there was a tank available with a broken chassis, but the whole tower, it could also be removed and used in such an installation. Inside the concrete casemate even beds were provided for rest. So, theoretically, such a stationary tower could resist long enough.
Very interesting photo. On it, the Alecto self-propelled guns based on the Tetrarch airborne tank pass by the Panther without wheels installed at the side of the road.
Sometimes such “boxes with towers” were mounted on railway platforms, which turned the train with them into a kind of armored train.
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