Our winners of flying "dragons" in Vietnam
When I was preparing my previous article “The intertwining of destinies. The one who crashed on the slopes of Tam Dao " about our pilots in Vietnam, he found a lot of memories of former rocket warriors. Paying tribute to them, I decided to write about how they lived and fought on Vietnamese land.
After the 1962 Caribbean crisis, NS Khrushchev, then General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, wanted to improve relations with Washington and was opposed to a new military clash with the United States in Southeast Asia. And only after his removal from power in 1964, serious changes occurred in Soviet-Vietnamese relations, which contributed to the provision of urgent military aid to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). In fact, the American aggression was opposed by the Soviet Union with its scientific and technical potential and new types of weapons.
In 1965, deliveries of all the necessary weapons for the Vietnamese People’s Army (VNA) began, mainly for the air defense forces. The DRV supplied these types of military equipment like anti-aircraft missiles (SAM) SA-75M "Dvina", MiG-17 and MiG-21, bombers IL-28, transporters IL-14 and Li-2, antiaircraft artillery, radar stations, communications equipment, etc. In total, during the Vietnam War, the 82 SA-75M Dvina and 21 TDN CA-75M and 8055 B-750 missiles were sent to them. Together with the supply of equipment in the Soviet military schools began accelerated training of Vietnamese pilots. The future rocket officers of the VNA studied at the Military Academy of Communications named after S.M. Budenny in Leningrad.
Our help to the DRV was to demonstrate the combat use of our equipment in the shortest possible time and to prepare personnel so that it could not only work on it, but also repair it on its own when it failed. So, for the entire period from 1965 to 1974. 6359 generals and officers and more 4500 soldiers and non-commissioned soldiers were sent to the DRV as Soviet military specialists (CBC). On a business trip, they went in civilian clothes and without documents left for storage at the embassy. Sent those who knew this technique and had experience launching missiles at the site. There were even former front-line soldiers among them.
By that time, the main roads throughout Vietnam had already been broken, everywhere there were craters after the bombing. Our specialists had to share with the Vietnamese all the burden and deprivation of a combat situation. We worked together, sparing no effort, and sometimes even our own health. At the very beginning of acclimatization, the heat was especially hard on everyone. But with the lack of heat due to the moisture hanging in the air, everyone walked wet. After a short time, something like malaria or fever began among the new arrivals. Many have suffered from fever and severe headache for 3-4 days. Due to illness, all the work and training were delayed a little, but the doctors were able to quickly put everyone on their feet.
The problem of learning was the lack of educational literature on our technology. In understanding complex terms, the language barrier interfered. Classes were held under canopies covered with palm leaves, built directly on the positions. Instead of desks and chairs, cadets sat on mats, wrote with pencils and pens in their notebooks everything that they were taught by the SVS. They had to be easily controlled with the equipment in the cockpit of the air defense missile system, remember the assignment of all the buttons and tumblers of the control panel, correctly recognize target marks on the locator screen. Round-the-clock, they persistently analyzed technical schemes and mastered complex formulas, although the majority of students did not exceed the level of four or seven grades.
The combat design of the SA-75М SAMs in numerical strength could be divided into 80 Vietnamese and 7 by our specialists. For about a month, Soviet specialists themselves sat at the control panels of anti-aircraft missile technology, while the Vietnamese were near and, recording all our actions, gained their own combat experience. The principle “do as I do” turned out to be the most effective way to learn. Then the Vietnamese transplanted to the consoles, and the task of the SVS was to ensure that, standing behind the backs of comrades from the VNA, to insure all actions. After each battle, all the personnel gathered to conduct a “debriefing” and the corresponding conclusions. Through the 3-4 training month, a group of our specialists moved to the next division, and everything repeated from the beginning. And sometimes I had to teach directly in combat positions, during the constant air strikes of the Americans. Workers of war, ordinary Soviet guys, far from their homeland, fought themselves and taught their Vietnamese comrades the military craft. But the Vietnamese showed perseverance in their studies and were eager to beat the enemy on their own.
A typical Vietnamese village is in the disarray of the peasant huts in the shade of banana trees and palm trees. Several pillars with beams and light walls of woven bamboo, one of which is open during the day. The roof is covered with palm leaves or rice straw. In such huts, which we called "bungalows", lived by 4-5 people. From the furniture - a folding bed and a bedside table, instead of lighting, they used Chinese lanterns. For shelter during the bombing - packaged into the ground container number 2 (pack of wings and rocket stabilizers). It is possible to shove five of us into it to survive the bombardment. From the buried cap from the container number 1 (packaging from the second stage of the rocket), a Vietnamese field bath was built. Muddy water from the rice fields was first defended, then warmed in the boiler, and then in this improvised bath the fighters steamed on arrival from the position. Had to be treated for prickly heat and diaper rash baby powder, mixed in half with streptotsid, and even in the course was the Chinese "tiger ointment for all diseases at once."
Because of the unbearable heat and very high humidity, all our specialists were in positions in only shorts, only a cork helmet on the head, and an unchanged flask of tea in hand. Helmets were left on the bus in which they were brought to the position. At night, the wailing frogs did not allow to fall asleep. They all slept under improvised gauze curtains, which protected them from numerous mosquitoes. Different tropical animals, poisonous centipedes, snakes, etc. also pestered me. There were cases when especially seriously ill patients were taken to the Union for treatment.
Depending on the season, the diet consisted of vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, peppers) and fruits (bananas, tangerines, grapefruits, oranges, pineapples, lemons). Sometimes fighters spoiled the breadfruit or mango. The main product was rice (with pebbles). Sometimes potatoes and cabbage. Canned food, meat of aged hens, rarely pork and various fish dishes went to the side dish. Black bread and herring had only to dream. The peasants came, and with the words “Mai Bai Mi Get!” (“The end of the American plane!”) They gave their best food.
Often, combat positions for ZRDn did not have time to properly prepare, and had to turn around in small fields among rice fields, on the outskirts of villages, on mountainous rocky slopes, and sometimes right at the base of the homestead of broken bombs. Positions are mostly masked by lush tropical vegetation. If possible, a dumping earth embankment was built around the PU, temporary shelters were dug near the cabins. Residents of nearby villages assisted in equipping positions. The peasants were digging trenches right on the field for themselves and their children to hide from cluster bombs. Even all women working in the fields with them had weapon. We had to work at night too, so that the position would remain unnoticed by the enemy’s intelligence. It often happened that the division was not fully deployed, but only three or four out of six installations. This made it possible for the calculations to curtail faster than the standard time and in a short time to change the place of deployment. ZRDn was constantly in motion. On the move, they were engaged in repair, set up equipment and checked the systems. It was dangerous to remain in the “illuminated” position, since the enemy had launched missile and bomb strikes on all the positions discovered. The fact that it quickly darkened at sunset, it was only on hand rocket men. They transferred the vehicle to the marching position, and under the cover of night hurried to change their place of deployment.
Bamboo "rocket"
And on the left positions immediately the Vietnamese skillfully organized their false “rocket positions”. On conventional wagons, they put models of cabins and rockets, the frames were made of split bamboo, covered with rice straw mats and painted with lime. The “operator” in the shelter could set all this props in motion with the help of ropes. Bamboo "rocket" turned, imitating the command "Synchronization". Nearby were the false “anti-aircraft batteries”, the trunks of which were replaced with thick bamboo poles painted with black paint. The illusion was complete. Weakly disguised, from a height they were very similar to the real ones and served as an excellent bait for the enemy. Usually the very next day, a raid was made on the “position”, but the enemy again lost airplanes, since the false positions were always covered with real anti-aircraft batteries.
At night, a powerful rumble from the eight engines of the strategic bomber B-52 fills the entire space, goes from all sides, even through the ground. Suddenly, a firestorm and crash arises from the ground - it burns for two and a half seconds six hundred kilograms of the powder charge of the missile launch missile, with a 50 ton load, tearing the missile from the launcher. The roar of the explosion bends to the ground. You feel that the whole head is trembling, like an aspen leaf in the wind. Rockets fire arrows pierce the night sky. Rejection of the send and red points of the missiles are rapidly removed. Our CA-75M Dvina complexes were able to shoot down targets at altitudes up to 25 kilometers. Already forty minutes after the command “Go-off campaign!” The division managed to turn off the equipment and go into the jungle.
The anti-aircraft missile forces of the DRV, prepared by the efforts of the SVS, shot down about 1300 aircraft of the US Air Force, among which were the 54 B-52 bomber. They bombed the cities of North Vietnam and the “Ho Chi Minh Trail,” which was used to supply troops in the south of the country. From 1964 to 1965, the US Air Force struck with impunity from a great height that was inaccessible to fire anti-aircraft batteries. Inflicting terrible destruction, they wanted to "bomb the Vietnamese people in the Stone Age." But after the first successful firing of the Soviet missile, American pilots were forced to descend from a height of 3-5 km to a lower altitude of several hundred meters, where they immediately came under fire from the barrel-mounted anti-aircraft artillery. I must say that small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery batteries reliably covered ZRDn, and the rocket men, even after having shot the entire ammunition load, remained under their protection. American pilots were so afraid of Soviet missiles that they refused to fly over North Vietnam, despite the double fee for each sortie. The area where our air defense system operated, they called the “Zone-7”, which meant “seven boards for the coffin”.
During combat use, various deficiencies in military equipment were also revealed. Separate blocks, and more often other transformers of power supply units of PU amplifiers, burned out from overheating and high humidity. Identified deficiencies were recorded and sent to the Union of developers for revision. Continued constant confrontation with the enemy and rapid response to any innovations from each side. It was then that significant changes occurred in the military industry. So there were modern air defense systems, control systems and major changes in the methods of combat.
Shrike
The American AGM-45 Shrike rocket represented a particular danger to the RRD. Her passive guidance system was configured to detect the frequencies of the operating radar system of the air defense system. With a rocket length of 3 m, a wingspan of 900 mm and a starting weight of 177 kg, its speed reached 1,5 Mach (1789 km / h). The estimated range of the AGM-45A is 16 km, AGM-45B is 40km, and the launch range to the target 12-18 km. When undermining the warhead was formed around 2200 fragments, in the 15 meter radius of destruction. After launch in the intended area, the rocket activated the homing head to search for a working radar. The pilot required accurate aiming in the direction of the radar, since the Shrike rocket locator had a small scanning angle. It was a sophisticated weapon that brought a lot of trouble to our rocket engineers, forcing them to “puzzle over” in search of protection against it.
Complicated the fight with the "Shraykami" their small reflective surface. When the screen of the SNR operator was simply filled with interference, it was very difficult to detect the signal reflected from the Shrike on it. But rocket men have found a way to deceive this beast. Having found the Shrike, they turned the cockpit “P” antenna to the side or upwards, without turning off the radiation. The rocket, guided by the maximum signal, also turned in that direction. After that, the radiation of the SNR was turned off, and the Shrike, which had lost its goal, continued to fly by inertia until it fell a few kilometers behind the position. Of course, we had to sacrifice our own missiles, which lost control during the flight, but the equipment could be saved.
Major Shelomitov Gennady Yakovlevich, a participant in the hostilities in Vietnam as part of the 260 GRD, recalls:
Effective was the tactic of the action of the ambush division. During the day they hid in the jungle, and at night they left for the prepared position. Only three out of six installations were deployed, which made it possible to launch rockets, quickly roll up and go into the jungle. True, it was not always possible to do this without loss. The American pilots had the right, instead of fulfilling their combat mission, to turn around and strike at the detected divisions. Usually discovered positions of the air defense system were attacked by pairs of F-4 “Phantom II”, F-8, A-4 aircraft. Several US aircraft carriers cruised along the entire coast, and for massive raids, their number increased to 5 units. Ten squadrons of A-4F, A-6А carrier-based attack aircraft and six F-8А carrier-based fighter squadrons took part in the air raids. Airplanes based in Thailand and South Vietnam also joined them. During the raids, reconnaissance aircraft RF-101, RF-4 and jammer RB-66 were actively used. A lot of problems delivered high-altitude reconnaissance SR-71. Flying at an altitude of 20 km at a speed of 3200 km / h, it quickly flew over Vietnamese territory and was the most difficult target for the rocket men.
Ball and magnetic bombs
In Vietnam, the Americans used inhuman means of destruction and ammunition, such as napalm, spraying of herbicides, container ball bombs. The case of such a bomb was a container of two halves, fastened together. The container contained 300-640 garnet balls. Each grenade ball weighed 420 g and contained up to 390 pcs. cartridges about 4 mm in diameter. RDX was used as an explosive. The container itself was equipped with a time-delay fuse from a couple of minutes to several hours, and sometimes even days. With the explosion of a ball bomb, the fragments scattered over a radius of 25 meters. They hit everything that was at the level of human growth and to the surface of the earth.
Magnetic bombs with delayed action were also a great danger. Their Americans dropped from a small height near the road. They could wait for their victim for a long time, having just sunk into the ground, lying on the sides of the road. If a metal object got into the magnetic field of such a bomb: a car, a bicycle, a man with a weapon, or a peasant with a hoe — an explosion occurred.
The enemy regularly used EW equipment. Most of the raids were carried out with the use of powerful radar jamming along the sighting channels of the target. And with the 1967 of the year, they began to add additional interference through the missile control channel. This significantly reduced the effectiveness of the air defense missile system, entailed the loss of missiles launched. They fell where it was necessary, and in the places of the fall the components of rocket fuel were combined and threw out streams of fire in which the warhead exploded.
To prevent loss of control, it was decided to immediately reconfigure the working frequencies in all available missiles. Technicians worked around the clock to achieve the necessary protection against enemy interference.
To create interference on all channels during massive raids, the Americans specially converted the B-47 and B-52 heavy bombers.
Plying along the borders with Laos and Cambodia, these planes, by their interference, prevented the Vietnamese SNR from detecting targets, contributing to the impunity of American aircraft. At night, the rocket battalions had to secretly move forward to the border with Laos to set up an “ambush” where nobody expected them. The rocket men made night marches hundreds of kilometers in length, moving along broken roads at night through the mountains in the jungle. Only after the equipment was reliably disguised, it was possible to take a break and wait. The hot meeting with a volley of three missiles on the far frontier was a fatal surprise for the jammer RB-47, flying under the guise of a dozen F-105 fighter-bomber bombers and A-4D attack aircraft.
Costly and carefully guarded target destroyed. During the attack response, the security guards of the bombers did not manage to detect the exact location of the missile launch and, having bombed the false position, disappeared. At dusk, the rocket men turned down their vehicles and returned to base. At the same time, in the area of Hanoi, the enemy applied a massive air strike at strategic targets. The Americans, who consider themselves to be completely safe, without fear of return fire from the Vietnamese air defense forces, made their flights with impunity. But they miscalculated, and with the loss of their radio frequency cover, they were easy prey for ZRDn VNA, which immediately shot down a dozen aircraft.
The attacks on Hanoi were made using the most powerful interference by large groups of 12, 16, 28, 32 and even 60 aircraft. But the enemy also suffered significant losses in technology and manpower. In just a week, 4 Colonel, 9 Lieutenant Colonels were shot down near Hanoi. One of the shot down was a young lieutenant John McCain, who later became a senator. McCain's father and grandfather were famous admirals of the US Navy. His plane, taking off from the aircraft carrier "Enterprise", shot down the calculation under the command of Yu.P. Trushechkin, near which position he fell.
The pilot managed to eject, but his parachute-wing landed in the lake, he broke his leg and arms. He was also lucky that the capture group arrived on time, as the peasants could usually score American pilots with American hoes.
For this victory, Trushechkin was awarded the Order of the Red Star. In memory, he left himself a flight book with records of parachute checking, where the cover pen was written with the marker "John Sidney McCain." “Fortunately, he did not become president. He hated the Russians. He knew that his plane hit our rocket, "- said the former missile.
Approximate statistics for downed enemy aircraft:
Fighter aviation shot down - 300 pcs.
SA-75М - 1100 pcs.
Anti-aircraft artillery - 2100 pcs.
In December of the 1972 of the year, while repelling a massive raid on Hanoi, the missile divisions managed to shoot down the X-NUMX bomber B-31. This was a blow to the Americans, after which they decided to sign an agreement in Paris to stop the bombing of Vietnam and the withdrawal of their troops on the terms of the Vietnamese side.
Protecting a peaceful people from the arriving bloodthirsty and fire-breathing dragon apparently absorbed into our consciousness from Russian folk tales. Seeing the Phantom decorated for dragon, spewing fire and bringing death to peaceful Vietnamese villages, I realized that half-literate Vietnamese peasants probably considered our warriors to be dragon-oppressors and called "lilen-tench" (Soviet soldier).
Among the Soviet soldiers who died in Vietnam, along with pilots, were rocket engineers, technicians, and cameramen. They died, despite the fact that the Vietnamese tried to protect them at any cost, often covering their bodies from fragments. The Vietnamese loved these open and brave warriors who could, after hard work, arrange concerts and sing their soulful songs about a distant country.
The leaders of the 7-th VNA anti-aircraft missile regiment, 1967
SVS group 238-th SFD VNA, 1967g.
Soviet military and Vietnamese children
Soviet military experts 236-th GRP, Vietnam
Attack Riders: F-105F with AGM-45 Shrike and F-105D missiles with bombs
The defeat of the F-105 anti-aircraft missile
List of used literature:
Demchenko Yu.A., article "Vietnam has experienced so much ..."
G. Shelomytov, article "Everyone believed that this could never happen"
Yurin VA, article "The hot land of Vietnam"
Bataev S.G., article "In zone" b "and further ..."
Belov A.M., article "Notes of the SVS Senior Group in 278 Zrp of the Vietnamese People’s Army"
Kolesnik N.N., article "Teaching, fought and won"
Bondarenko I.V., article "Ambush in the mountains of Tamdao"
Kanaev V.M., article "Our combat crew"
After the 1962 Caribbean crisis, NS Khrushchev, then General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, wanted to improve relations with Washington and was opposed to a new military clash with the United States in Southeast Asia. And only after his removal from power in 1964, serious changes occurred in Soviet-Vietnamese relations, which contributed to the provision of urgent military aid to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). In fact, the American aggression was opposed by the Soviet Union with its scientific and technical potential and new types of weapons.
In 1965, deliveries of all the necessary weapons for the Vietnamese People’s Army (VNA) began, mainly for the air defense forces. The DRV supplied these types of military equipment like anti-aircraft missiles (SAM) SA-75M "Dvina", MiG-17 and MiG-21, bombers IL-28, transporters IL-14 and Li-2, antiaircraft artillery, radar stations, communications equipment, etc. In total, during the Vietnam War, the 82 SA-75M Dvina and 21 TDN CA-75M and 8055 B-750 missiles were sent to them. Together with the supply of equipment in the Soviet military schools began accelerated training of Vietnamese pilots. The future rocket officers of the VNA studied at the Military Academy of Communications named after S.M. Budenny in Leningrad.
Our help to the DRV was to demonstrate the combat use of our equipment in the shortest possible time and to prepare personnel so that it could not only work on it, but also repair it on its own when it failed. So, for the entire period from 1965 to 1974. 6359 generals and officers and more 4500 soldiers and non-commissioned soldiers were sent to the DRV as Soviet military specialists (CBC). On a business trip, they went in civilian clothes and without documents left for storage at the embassy. Sent those who knew this technique and had experience launching missiles at the site. There were even former front-line soldiers among them.
By that time, the main roads throughout Vietnam had already been broken, everywhere there were craters after the bombing. Our specialists had to share with the Vietnamese all the burden and deprivation of a combat situation. We worked together, sparing no effort, and sometimes even our own health. At the very beginning of acclimatization, the heat was especially hard on everyone. But with the lack of heat due to the moisture hanging in the air, everyone walked wet. After a short time, something like malaria or fever began among the new arrivals. Many have suffered from fever and severe headache for 3-4 days. Due to illness, all the work and training were delayed a little, but the doctors were able to quickly put everyone on their feet.
The problem of learning was the lack of educational literature on our technology. In understanding complex terms, the language barrier interfered. Classes were held under canopies covered with palm leaves, built directly on the positions. Instead of desks and chairs, cadets sat on mats, wrote with pencils and pens in their notebooks everything that they were taught by the SVS. They had to be easily controlled with the equipment in the cockpit of the air defense missile system, remember the assignment of all the buttons and tumblers of the control panel, correctly recognize target marks on the locator screen. Round-the-clock, they persistently analyzed technical schemes and mastered complex formulas, although the majority of students did not exceed the level of four or seven grades.
The combat design of the SA-75М SAMs in numerical strength could be divided into 80 Vietnamese and 7 by our specialists. For about a month, Soviet specialists themselves sat at the control panels of anti-aircraft missile technology, while the Vietnamese were near and, recording all our actions, gained their own combat experience. The principle “do as I do” turned out to be the most effective way to learn. Then the Vietnamese transplanted to the consoles, and the task of the SVS was to ensure that, standing behind the backs of comrades from the VNA, to insure all actions. After each battle, all the personnel gathered to conduct a “debriefing” and the corresponding conclusions. Through the 3-4 training month, a group of our specialists moved to the next division, and everything repeated from the beginning. And sometimes I had to teach directly in combat positions, during the constant air strikes of the Americans. Workers of war, ordinary Soviet guys, far from their homeland, fought themselves and taught their Vietnamese comrades the military craft. But the Vietnamese showed perseverance in their studies and were eager to beat the enemy on their own.
A typical Vietnamese village is in the disarray of the peasant huts in the shade of banana trees and palm trees. Several pillars with beams and light walls of woven bamboo, one of which is open during the day. The roof is covered with palm leaves or rice straw. In such huts, which we called "bungalows", lived by 4-5 people. From the furniture - a folding bed and a bedside table, instead of lighting, they used Chinese lanterns. For shelter during the bombing - packaged into the ground container number 2 (pack of wings and rocket stabilizers). It is possible to shove five of us into it to survive the bombardment. From the buried cap from the container number 1 (packaging from the second stage of the rocket), a Vietnamese field bath was built. Muddy water from the rice fields was first defended, then warmed in the boiler, and then in this improvised bath the fighters steamed on arrival from the position. Had to be treated for prickly heat and diaper rash baby powder, mixed in half with streptotsid, and even in the course was the Chinese "tiger ointment for all diseases at once."
Because of the unbearable heat and very high humidity, all our specialists were in positions in only shorts, only a cork helmet on the head, and an unchanged flask of tea in hand. Helmets were left on the bus in which they were brought to the position. At night, the wailing frogs did not allow to fall asleep. They all slept under improvised gauze curtains, which protected them from numerous mosquitoes. Different tropical animals, poisonous centipedes, snakes, etc. also pestered me. There were cases when especially seriously ill patients were taken to the Union for treatment.
Depending on the season, the diet consisted of vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, peppers) and fruits (bananas, tangerines, grapefruits, oranges, pineapples, lemons). Sometimes fighters spoiled the breadfruit or mango. The main product was rice (with pebbles). Sometimes potatoes and cabbage. Canned food, meat of aged hens, rarely pork and various fish dishes went to the side dish. Black bread and herring had only to dream. The peasants came, and with the words “Mai Bai Mi Get!” (“The end of the American plane!”) They gave their best food.
Often, combat positions for ZRDn did not have time to properly prepare, and had to turn around in small fields among rice fields, on the outskirts of villages, on mountainous rocky slopes, and sometimes right at the base of the homestead of broken bombs. Positions are mostly masked by lush tropical vegetation. If possible, a dumping earth embankment was built around the PU, temporary shelters were dug near the cabins. Residents of nearby villages assisted in equipping positions. The peasants were digging trenches right on the field for themselves and their children to hide from cluster bombs. Even all women working in the fields with them had weapon. We had to work at night too, so that the position would remain unnoticed by the enemy’s intelligence. It often happened that the division was not fully deployed, but only three or four out of six installations. This made it possible for the calculations to curtail faster than the standard time and in a short time to change the place of deployment. ZRDn was constantly in motion. On the move, they were engaged in repair, set up equipment and checked the systems. It was dangerous to remain in the “illuminated” position, since the enemy had launched missile and bomb strikes on all the positions discovered. The fact that it quickly darkened at sunset, it was only on hand rocket men. They transferred the vehicle to the marching position, and under the cover of night hurried to change their place of deployment.
Bamboo "rocket"
And on the left positions immediately the Vietnamese skillfully organized their false “rocket positions”. On conventional wagons, they put models of cabins and rockets, the frames were made of split bamboo, covered with rice straw mats and painted with lime. The “operator” in the shelter could set all this props in motion with the help of ropes. Bamboo "rocket" turned, imitating the command "Synchronization". Nearby were the false “anti-aircraft batteries”, the trunks of which were replaced with thick bamboo poles painted with black paint. The illusion was complete. Weakly disguised, from a height they were very similar to the real ones and served as an excellent bait for the enemy. Usually the very next day, a raid was made on the “position”, but the enemy again lost airplanes, since the false positions were always covered with real anti-aircraft batteries.
Heavy strategic bomber "Boeing B-52" "Stratofortress"
At night, a powerful rumble from the eight engines of the strategic bomber B-52 fills the entire space, goes from all sides, even through the ground. Suddenly, a firestorm and crash arises from the ground - it burns for two and a half seconds six hundred kilograms of the powder charge of the missile launch missile, with a 50 ton load, tearing the missile from the launcher. The roar of the explosion bends to the ground. You feel that the whole head is trembling, like an aspen leaf in the wind. Rockets fire arrows pierce the night sky. Rejection of the send and red points of the missiles are rapidly removed. Our CA-75M Dvina complexes were able to shoot down targets at altitudes up to 25 kilometers. Already forty minutes after the command “Go-off campaign!” The division managed to turn off the equipment and go into the jungle.
The anti-aircraft missile forces of the DRV, prepared by the efforts of the SVS, shot down about 1300 aircraft of the US Air Force, among which were the 54 B-52 bomber. They bombed the cities of North Vietnam and the “Ho Chi Minh Trail,” which was used to supply troops in the south of the country. From 1964 to 1965, the US Air Force struck with impunity from a great height that was inaccessible to fire anti-aircraft batteries. Inflicting terrible destruction, they wanted to "bomb the Vietnamese people in the Stone Age." But after the first successful firing of the Soviet missile, American pilots were forced to descend from a height of 3-5 km to a lower altitude of several hundred meters, where they immediately came under fire from the barrel-mounted anti-aircraft artillery. I must say that small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery batteries reliably covered ZRDn, and the rocket men, even after having shot the entire ammunition load, remained under their protection. American pilots were so afraid of Soviet missiles that they refused to fly over North Vietnam, despite the double fee for each sortie. The area where our air defense system operated, they called the “Zone-7”, which meant “seven boards for the coffin”.
During combat use, various deficiencies in military equipment were also revealed. Separate blocks, and more often other transformers of power supply units of PU amplifiers, burned out from overheating and high humidity. Identified deficiencies were recorded and sent to the Union of developers for revision. Continued constant confrontation with the enemy and rapid response to any innovations from each side. It was then that significant changes occurred in the military industry. So there were modern air defense systems, control systems and major changes in the methods of combat.
Shrike
The American AGM-45 Shrike rocket represented a particular danger to the RRD. Her passive guidance system was configured to detect the frequencies of the operating radar system of the air defense system. With a rocket length of 3 m, a wingspan of 900 mm and a starting weight of 177 kg, its speed reached 1,5 Mach (1789 km / h). The estimated range of the AGM-45A is 16 km, AGM-45B is 40km, and the launch range to the target 12-18 km. When undermining the warhead was formed around 2200 fragments, in the 15 meter radius of destruction. After launch in the intended area, the rocket activated the homing head to search for a working radar. The pilot required accurate aiming in the direction of the radar, since the Shrike rocket locator had a small scanning angle. It was a sophisticated weapon that brought a lot of trouble to our rocket engineers, forcing them to “puzzle over” in search of protection against it.
Complicated the fight with the "Shraykami" their small reflective surface. When the screen of the SNR operator was simply filled with interference, it was very difficult to detect the signal reflected from the Shrike on it. But rocket men have found a way to deceive this beast. Having found the Shrike, they turned the cockpit “P” antenna to the side or upwards, without turning off the radiation. The rocket, guided by the maximum signal, also turned in that direction. After that, the radiation of the SNR was turned off, and the Shrike, which had lost its goal, continued to fly by inertia until it fell a few kilometers behind the position. Of course, we had to sacrifice our own missiles, which lost control during the flight, but the equipment could be saved.
Light deck attack aircraft Douglas A-4 "Skyhawks" launches Shrike rocket
Major Shelomitov Gennady Yakovlevich, a participant in the hostilities in Vietnam as part of the 260 GRD, recalls:
“After the launch of the rocket on the target, the manual escort operator V.К. Melnichuk saw on the screen a “splash” of the target and a moving mark separated from it. He immediately reported to the commander:
- I see "Shrike"! Going on course for us!
While deciding on the removal of radiation from the antenna with the Vietnamese command through an interpreter, the Shrike had already flown to the SNR. Then the guidance officer, Lieutenant Vadim Shcherbakov himself made the decision and switched the radiation from the antenna to the equivalent. After 5 seconds there was an explosion. In the cockpit "P", on which the transmitting antenna is located, a door was knocked out by an explosion, and a Vietnamese operator was killed by a fragment. The trees near the cabin were cut off by shrimps like a saw, and from the tent, in which before the shooting was the personnel of the battery, there were flaps the size of a handkerchief. Our military was lucky - all survived.
In the event that a Shrayk filled with balloons exploded, they, flying apart from the starting position, fell into the missiles located on the launching launchers. The warhead of a 200 kg missile exploded along with an oxidizer and fuel. The blast detonated and detonated missiles on other launchers. All metal turned into twisted, holey fur from an accordion. Highly toxic rocket fuel was ignited and burned. ”
- I see "Shrike"! Going on course for us!
While deciding on the removal of radiation from the antenna with the Vietnamese command through an interpreter, the Shrike had already flown to the SNR. Then the guidance officer, Lieutenant Vadim Shcherbakov himself made the decision and switched the radiation from the antenna to the equivalent. After 5 seconds there was an explosion. In the cockpit "P", on which the transmitting antenna is located, a door was knocked out by an explosion, and a Vietnamese operator was killed by a fragment. The trees near the cabin were cut off by shrimps like a saw, and from the tent, in which before the shooting was the personnel of the battery, there were flaps the size of a handkerchief. Our military was lucky - all survived.
In the event that a Shrayk filled with balloons exploded, they, flying apart from the starting position, fell into the missiles located on the launching launchers. The warhead of a 200 kg missile exploded along with an oxidizer and fuel. The blast detonated and detonated missiles on other launchers. All metal turned into twisted, holey fur from an accordion. Highly toxic rocket fuel was ignited and burned. ”
Effective was the tactic of the action of the ambush division. During the day they hid in the jungle, and at night they left for the prepared position. Only three out of six installations were deployed, which made it possible to launch rockets, quickly roll up and go into the jungle. True, it was not always possible to do this without loss. The American pilots had the right, instead of fulfilling their combat mission, to turn around and strike at the detected divisions. Usually discovered positions of the air defense system were attacked by pairs of F-4 “Phantom II”, F-8, A-4 aircraft. Several US aircraft carriers cruised along the entire coast, and for massive raids, their number increased to 5 units. Ten squadrons of A-4F, A-6А carrier-based attack aircraft and six F-8А carrier-based fighter squadrons took part in the air raids. Airplanes based in Thailand and South Vietnam also joined them. During the raids, reconnaissance aircraft RF-101, RF-4 and jammer RB-66 were actively used. A lot of problems delivered high-altitude reconnaissance SR-71. Flying at an altitude of 20 km at a speed of 3200 km / h, it quickly flew over Vietnamese territory and was the most difficult target for the rocket men.
Ball and magnetic bombs
In Vietnam, the Americans used inhuman means of destruction and ammunition, such as napalm, spraying of herbicides, container ball bombs. The case of such a bomb was a container of two halves, fastened together. The container contained 300-640 garnet balls. Each grenade ball weighed 420 g and contained up to 390 pcs. cartridges about 4 mm in diameter. RDX was used as an explosive. The container itself was equipped with a time-delay fuse from a couple of minutes to several hours, and sometimes even days. With the explosion of a ball bomb, the fragments scattered over a radius of 25 meters. They hit everything that was at the level of human growth and to the surface of the earth.
“Once during a raid, a container with ball bombs was dropped on the house where we lived. It exploded at an altitude of 500 meters from the ground. 300 “balls of moms” scattered from it, and they began to fall on the roof of the house and on the ground around it. They were blown up from the impact when they fell, and hundreds of pellet balls with a diameter of 3-4 mm flew in all directions. Everyone who was in the house lay down on the floor. Ball explosions continued for several minutes. Frames flew into the windows, dug into the walls and ceilings. Balls that exploded on the roof of the house, could not hit anyone, because the house was a two-story. Those who were on the street managed to hide behind the columns and the low wall of the gallery. The drinking water tank in front of the column turned into a colander, and clear water flowed from it in all directions. 24-year-old lieutenant Nikolai Bakulin, who happened to be on the street during the bombing, then got a gray strand, ”recalls Major G. Shelomitov.
Container ball bomb in the Hanoi Military Museum
Magnetic bombs with delayed action were also a great danger. Their Americans dropped from a small height near the road. They could wait for their victim for a long time, having just sunk into the ground, lying on the sides of the road. If a metal object got into the magnetic field of such a bomb: a car, a bicycle, a man with a weapon, or a peasant with a hoe — an explosion occurred.
The enemy regularly used EW equipment. Most of the raids were carried out with the use of powerful radar jamming along the sighting channels of the target. And with the 1967 of the year, they began to add additional interference through the missile control channel. This significantly reduced the effectiveness of the air defense missile system, entailed the loss of missiles launched. They fell where it was necessary, and in the places of the fall the components of rocket fuel were combined and threw out streams of fire in which the warhead exploded.
To prevent loss of control, it was decided to immediately reconfigure the working frequencies in all available missiles. Technicians worked around the clock to achieve the necessary protection against enemy interference.
To create interference on all channels during massive raids, the Americans specially converted the B-47 and B-52 heavy bombers.
Plying along the borders with Laos and Cambodia, these planes, by their interference, prevented the Vietnamese SNR from detecting targets, contributing to the impunity of American aircraft. At night, the rocket battalions had to secretly move forward to the border with Laos to set up an “ambush” where nobody expected them. The rocket men made night marches hundreds of kilometers in length, moving along broken roads at night through the mountains in the jungle. Only after the equipment was reliably disguised, it was possible to take a break and wait. The hot meeting with a volley of three missiles on the far frontier was a fatal surprise for the jammer RB-47, flying under the guise of a dozen F-105 fighter-bomber bombers and A-4D attack aircraft.
Costly and carefully guarded target destroyed. During the attack response, the security guards of the bombers did not manage to detect the exact location of the missile launch and, having bombed the false position, disappeared. At dusk, the rocket men turned down their vehicles and returned to base. At the same time, in the area of Hanoi, the enemy applied a massive air strike at strategic targets. The Americans, who consider themselves to be completely safe, without fear of return fire from the Vietnamese air defense forces, made their flights with impunity. But they miscalculated, and with the loss of their radio frequency cover, they were easy prey for ZRDn VNA, which immediately shot down a dozen aircraft.
The attacks on Hanoi were made using the most powerful interference by large groups of 12, 16, 28, 32 and even 60 aircraft. But the enemy also suffered significant losses in technology and manpower. In just a week, 4 Colonel, 9 Lieutenant Colonels were shot down near Hanoi. One of the shot down was a young lieutenant John McCain, who later became a senator. McCain's father and grandfather were famous admirals of the US Navy. His plane, taking off from the aircraft carrier "Enterprise", shot down the calculation under the command of Yu.P. Trushechkin, near which position he fell.
The pilot managed to eject, but his parachute-wing landed in the lake, he broke his leg and arms. He was also lucky that the capture group arrived on time, as the peasants could usually score American pilots with American hoes.For this victory, Trushechkin was awarded the Order of the Red Star. In memory, he left himself a flight book with records of parachute checking, where the cover pen was written with the marker "John Sidney McCain." “Fortunately, he did not become president. He hated the Russians. He knew that his plane hit our rocket, "- said the former missile.
Approximate statistics for downed enemy aircraft:
Fighter aviation shot down - 300 pcs.
SA-75М - 1100 pcs.
Anti-aircraft artillery - 2100 pcs.
Monument composed of fragments of downed American aircraft in the museum of Hanoi
SA-75M Dvina anti-aircraft missile systems at the Museum of Hanoi
In December of the 1972 of the year, while repelling a massive raid on Hanoi, the missile divisions managed to shoot down the X-NUMX bomber B-31. This was a blow to the Americans, after which they decided to sign an agreement in Paris to stop the bombing of Vietnam and the withdrawal of their troops on the terms of the Vietnamese side.
Protecting a peaceful people from the arriving bloodthirsty and fire-breathing dragon apparently absorbed into our consciousness from Russian folk tales. Seeing the Phantom decorated for dragon, spewing fire and bringing death to peaceful Vietnamese villages, I realized that half-literate Vietnamese peasants probably considered our warriors to be dragon-oppressors and called "lilen-tench" (Soviet soldier).
Attacking Dragon - McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom II Tactical Fighter
Among the Soviet soldiers who died in Vietnam, along with pilots, were rocket engineers, technicians, and cameramen. They died, despite the fact that the Vietnamese tried to protect them at any cost, often covering their bodies from fragments. The Vietnamese loved these open and brave warriors who could, after hard work, arrange concerts and sing their soulful songs about a distant country.
We were not servants to some gentlemen
And they served the Motherland in those former years
Do not climb on the top of the first rows,
Everyone did as it should, just like men.
We are so familiar with risk
When some pants fall,
And we were afraid of "Shraykov" and "Phantoms"
Much less than his own wife.
The days have passed, your duty fulfilled,
To family returned and friends,
But we will never forget
You, fighting Vietnam!
And they served the Motherland in those former years
Do not climb on the top of the first rows,
Everyone did as it should, just like men.
We are so familiar with risk
When some pants fall,
And we were afraid of "Shraykov" and "Phantoms"
Much less than his own wife.
The days have passed, your duty fulfilled,
To family returned and friends,
But we will never forget
You, fighting Vietnam!
The leaders of the 7-th VNA anti-aircraft missile regiment, 1967
SVS group 238-th SFD VNA, 1967g.
Soviet military and Vietnamese children
Soviet military experts 236-th GRP, Vietnam
Attack Riders: F-105F with AGM-45 Shrike and F-105D missiles with bombs
The defeat of the F-105 anti-aircraft missile
List of used literature:
Demchenko Yu.A., article "Vietnam has experienced so much ..."
G. Shelomytov, article "Everyone believed that this could never happen"
Yurin VA, article "The hot land of Vietnam"
Bataev S.G., article "In zone" b "and further ..."
Belov A.M., article "Notes of the SVS Senior Group in 278 Zrp of the Vietnamese People’s Army"
Kolesnik N.N., article "Teaching, fought and won"
Bondarenko I.V., article "Ambush in the mountains of Tamdao"
Kanaev V.M., article "Our combat crew"
Information