German anti-aircraft small-caliber anti-Soviet aircraft (part of 1)

29
During the Great Patriotic War, small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery and anti-aircraft machine-gun systems were the main means of enemy air defense in the front-line zone. It was from the MZA and ZPU fire that the main attack aircraft and nearby bombers carried the main losses during the airstrikes against the positions and concentrations of German troops, hubs and columns on the march. Moreover, in the second half of the war, after the Luftwaffe lost its superiority in the air, the role of rapid-fire anti-aircraft guns only increased. Pilots of Soviet attack aircraft and dive-bombers noted that the disastrous fire of German small-caliber anti-aircraft guns remained very dense until the surrender of German troops.

In the first part of the review we will talk about the German anti-aircraft machine gun rifles caliber. Although the Soviet attack aircraft Il-2 was not very vulnerable to bullets light rifle weaponsIn 1941, in the Red Army Air Force assault regiments, there were a significant number of outdated aircraft: the I-15bis, I-153 fighters and the R-5 and R-Z light reconnaissance bomber. On these machines, at best, all reservations were presented only by the pilot’s armored back, and gas tanks were not protected and were not filled with neutral gas. In addition, the fire of German 7,92 mm anti-aircraft installations was a danger not only for improvised attack aircraft, but also for front-line bombers: Su-2, Yak-2, Yak-4, SB-2, Ar-2, Pe-2 - which often acted at low altitude. In the initial period of the war, the Soviet command was compelled to engage a fighter for assault operations against the advancing German troops Aviation. Whereas older fighters with I-15bis, I-16 and I-153 air-cooled engines had good protection in front, the more modern MiG-3, Yak-1 and LaGG-3 with liquid-cooled engines were quite vulnerable even to a single lumbago radiator. In addition, it is reliably known that in 1941, in the daylight, the Red Army command sent long-range bombers DB-3, Il-4 and Er-2 to attack the columns of the Wehrmacht. In order to accurately cover the manpower, vehicles and military equipment of the enemy with bombers, bombers had to drop to a height of several hundred meters, falling into the zone of effective fire of anti-aircraft machine guns. Thus, in the initial period of the war, ZPUs in the German army played an important role in providing protection against low-altitude bombing and assault attacks by Soviet aircraft.



Most often for firing from German rifles and machine guns during the Second World War, an 7,92 × 57 mm cartridge with an Ss bullet (German: Schweres spitzgeschoß - sharp pointed) was used with 12,8 g mass. It left the 700 mm barrel with the 760 speed m / s. For firing from anti-aircraft 7,92-mm machine guns, the Germans very widely used cartridges with SmK armor-piercing bullets (German Spitzgeschoß mit Kern - pointed with a core). At a distance of 100 m, this bullet with a mass of 11,5 g with an initial speed of 785 m / s along the normal could penetrate 12 mm armor. The ammunition of anti-aircraft machine guns could also include cartridges with PmK armor-piercing incendiary bullets - (German. Phosphor mit Kern - phosphoric with a core). The armor-piercing incendiary bullet weighed 10 g and had an initial speed of 800 m / s.

German anti-aircraft small-caliber anti-Soviet aircraft (part of 1)

German 7,92-mm armor-piercing tracer cartridge


To adjust anti-aircraft fire in machine-gun tape, every 3-5 conventional or armor-piercing cartridges were equipped with an SmK L'spur armor-piercing-tracer bullet - (spitzgeschoß mit Kern Leuchtspur - a pointed tracer with a core). An armor-piercing tracer bullet with a mass of 10 g accelerated in the barrel to 800 m / s. Her tracer burned at a distance of up to 1000 m, which exceeded the effective range of fire on air targets for weapons of caliber 7,92-mm. In addition to adjusting and targeting an armor-piercing tracer cartridge, the fuel vapor could be ignited when the gas tank wall was broken through.

The story of the German anti-aircraft machine gun rifle caliber begin with MG.08, which was a German version of the system Hiram Maxim. This weapon was actively used by the German army during the First World War, including for firing at air targets. In the first half of the 30-x, as part of the program to improve machine-gun armament initiated by the Armaments Department, the Reichswehr machine gun was upgraded.



As a result of the modernization of MG.08, used for air defense purposes, the anti-aircraft sight, sliding anti-aircraft tripod and shoulder rest, the rate of fire was increased to 650 rds / min. However, the weight of the machine gun in a combat position exceeded 60 kg, which did not contribute to its mobility. For this reason, during the years of the Second World Machine Gun, the MG.08 was mainly used for anti-aircraft cover of the rear units.


Modern reconstruction: shooter with MG.08 machine gun on Dreifuss 16 anti-aircraft tripod


Most often, German anti-aircraft Maxims were installed in fixed positions or various mobile transport platforms: horse-drawn carriages, automobiles and railway wagons. Although by the beginning of World War II, this water-cooled machine gun was considered obsolete, a reliable, although somewhat heavy construction and the ability to fire intensively without the risk of overheating the barrel allowed it to remain in service. MG.08 anti-aircraft machine guns were in reserve and security units, as well as on stationary installations in fortified areas until the end of hostilities. When the calculation did not need to move the weapon on itself, the outdated water-cooled machine gun showed itself very well. The density of fire, he was not inferior to other, more modern machine guns. Moreover, from MG.08 it was possible to conduct a longer fire than from new samples with air cooling without the risk of overheating of the barrel.

Due to the heavy weight, the MG.08 mobility did not meet modern requirements, and at the beginning of the 30-s in Germany several promising infantry machine guns were created more in line with the military’s ideas about weapons of maneuvering war. The first model adopted by the 1931 year, became the MG.13 light machine gun, developed using the MG.08 automatics operating scheme. Specialists of the company Rheinmetall-Borsig AG tried to make the weapon as easy as possible. At the same time there was a refusal from water cooling of the trunk and from tape supply. The trunk on MG.13 has become removable. The machine gun used drums for 75 cartridges, or a box magazine for 25 cartridges. The mass of the unloaded weapon was 13,3 kg, the rate of fire was up to 600 rds / min. To reduce the size of a tubular butt with folding shoulder rest folded to the right. Simultaneously with the sector-based sight on the MG.13, it was possible to install an anti-aircraft ring sight.


The calculation of the machine gun MG.13 prepared for firing at an air target


Despite the advantage of MG.13 over the outdated MG.08 / 15 Reichswehr state-of-the-art machine gun, there were many drawbacks inherent in it: design complexity, long change of barrel, and high production. In addition, the military was not satisfied with the store supply system, which increased the weight of the transferred ammunition and lowered the combat rate of fire, which made the machine gun ineffective when firing intensively from the machine.


MG.13 machine gun with anti-aircraft tripod 75-cartridge drum magazine


Therefore, MG.13 released relatively little, mass production continued until the end of 1934. However, MG.13 machine guns were available in the Wehrmacht during the initial period of the war. For anti-aircraft shooting MG.13 could mount on the machine gun MG.34.

In 1934, the MG.34 machine gun, which is often called the "first single", came into service. He quickly gained popularity in the Wehrmacht and greatly supplanted other designs. MG.34, created by Rheinmetall-Borsig AG, embodied the concept of a universal machine gun developed on the basis of the experience of the First World War, which could be used as a manual machine for firing from bipods, as well as an easel machine gun from an infantry or anti-aircraft machine gun. From the very beginning, it was envisaged that the MG.34 machine gun would also be mounted on armored vehicles and Tanks, both in ball installations, and on various turrets. Such unification simplified the supply and training of troops, and provided high tactical flexibility.

Power MG.34 installed on the machine was carried out with tapes out of the box on 150 cartridges or 300 cartridges. In the manual version, compact cylindrical boxes on 50 cartridges were used. In the 1938, for anti-aircraft installations, they adopted a store-powered modification: for machine guns, the cover of the box with the tape drive mechanism was replaced with a cover with a fastening for the 75-cartridge paired drum magazine, structurally similar to the MG.13 light machine gun and the aviation MG.15. The store consisted of two connected drums, the cartridges of which are fed alternately. The advantage of the store with the alternate supply of cartridges from each drum, except for a relatively large capacity, was considered to be maintaining the balance of the machine gun as the cartridges were consumed. Although the rate of fire when feeding from the drum shop was higher, this option did not take root in anti-aircraft installations. Most often for the firing of the aircraft used machine guns with belt power from a cylindrical 50-cartridge case. Drum shops were not popular due to their high sensitivity to pollution and the complexity of equipment.


The anti-aircraft gunner of the Norwegian SS Legion in the firing position, powered by the MG.34 mounted on a tripod, is carried out from the 50-cartridge case

MG.34 had a length of 1219 mm and, in the manual version without cartridges, weighed just over 12 kg. Machine guns of the first series gave the rate of shooting 800-900 rounds / min. However, based on combat experience, due to the use of a smaller mass gate, the tempo was increased to 1200 rds / min. In case of overheating, the barrel could be quickly replaced. The barrel was supposed to change every 250 shots. For this, the kit had two spare barrel and asbestos mitt.

For shooting at air targets, the MG.34 was mounted on a Dreiben 34 tripod and equipped with anti-aircraft sights. The standard machine also allowed the possibility of anti-aircraft fire using a special anti-aircraft rack Lafettenaufsatzstück, albeit with less convenience.



The advantages of a single ZPU using MG.34 were: simplicity of design, relatively low weight and the possibility of mounting a conventional light machine gun taken from a linear unit. These qualities were especially valued at the forefront, since it was difficult to place more bulky anti-aircraft installations in the trenches.

Shortly after the start of serial production of the MG.34, the German command was puzzled by the need for air defense cover on the march. For this, the MG-Wagen 34 horse-drawn gig was originally used, with a pivot mounted on it and a box for cartridge boxes. The crew of the "anti-aircraft self-propelled gun" consisted of a driver (he is the second number of machine-gun crew) and an arrow. However, this option was not particularly popular, since the calculation was in cramped conditions, and the fire on the move was impossible.


Zwillingssockel 36


In 1936, the MG-Wagen 36 Tachka with tandem Zwillingssockel 36 installations began to arrive in the army. This LSD provided circular firing of air targets with elevation angles from -14 to + 73 °. According to the reference data, the machine gun could fire at air targets at a distance of 1800 m. In fact, the effective firing range at air targets did not exceed 800 m, the ceiling was 500 m. The machine with the shooter’s seat and frame was mounted on a thumbs support, two guns were attached to the frame, cartridge boxes with ribbons for 150 cartridges and control handles. The machine guns had a single descent, on the bracket was located annular anti-aircraft sight. The combat rate of fire in short bursts was 240-300 rds / min, and in long bursts - up to 800 rds / min.



The MG-Wagen 36 carriage itself was a single-axle trailer vehicle specially designed for a mobile LSD. Its main components - the axle with two wheels, the body and the drawbar were made using "automotive" technologies. The open body of the riveted steel sheet is similar to the side platform of a small pickup truck. The axis had no suspension, and rigidly attached to the body. The wheels are automotive, from a light truck. The hubs are equipped with mechanically driven drum brakes.



In the parking lot, the stability of the carriage on two wheels is ensured by two folding stands located at the front and rear of the body. Dyshlo with traction coupling device allowed to catch the wagon for the gun front, in which a pair of horses harnessed.



An important advantage of the MG-Wagen 36 was the constant readiness for combat while on the move. However, it soon became clear that in most cases horses were frightened by flying at low altitude aircraft, and the shelling and air bombing made them uncontrollable at all, which of course greatly reduced the effectiveness of anti-aircraft machine-gun mounted on a horse gear. In this regard, the towed cart with a machine gun Spark often hooked to various vehicles with an internal combustion engine, for example, to the half-tracks Sd.Kfz.2 motorcycle. MG-Wagen 36 towed carts on the Eastern Front met until the middle of the 1942 year. A number of Zwillingssockel 36 ZPUs were installed on trucks, railway platforms and armored vehicles.

In addition to single and twin anti-aircraft machine guns, the Germans built a small number of quadruple ZPU. In the case of the use of MG.34 of later versions, the total rate of fire in this case was 4800 rds / min - twice as much as in the Soviet quadruple 7,62-mm anti-aircraft machine gun М4 mod. 1931., Which used four Maxim machine gun arr. 1910 / 30 d. Since the MG.34 machine guns had air cooling, the mass of the German installation was about 2,5 times smaller.


A Red Army soldier with a 16-barreled trophy-machinegun installation created using MG.34 machine guns

However, in Germany during the war years, attempts were made to create real 16-barreled monsters, which, given the total lack of machine-gun armament in the second half of the war, was unacceptable waste for Germany.

For all its merits, MG.34 was complicated and expensive to manufacture. In addition, during the fighting on the Eastern Front, it became clear that the machine gun is very sensitive to the wear of parts and the condition of the lubricant, and for its competent maintenance highly skilled machine gunners are required. Even before the launch of MG.34 into serial production, the Division of Infantry Weapons of the Army Arms Administration drew attention to its high cost and complex structure. In 1938, the company Metall-und Lackwarenfabrik Johannes Großfuß presented its own version of the machine gun, which, like MG.34, had a short barrel stroke with side-locking rollers. But, unlike MG.34, stamping and spot welding were widely used in the new machine gun. As in the MG.34 machine gun, the problem of overheating the barrel during long shooting was solved by replacing it. Launching the machine gun continued until the 1941 year. After a comparative test with the improved MG.34 / 41, it was adopted in 1942 for the year under the designation MG.42. Compared to MG.34, the cost of MG.42 has decreased by about 30%. Approximately 34 kg of metal and 49 man-hours went to manufacture MG.150, on MG.42 - 27,5 kg and 75 man-hours. MG.42 machine guns were produced until the end of April 1945, the total release at the enterprises of the Third Reich was more than 420 000 units. At the same time, MG.34, despite its shortcomings, was produced in parallel, although in smaller quantities.


American soldier with captured twin anti-aircraft installation MG.42


The MG.42 had the same length as the MG.34 - 1200 mm, but it was a little lighter - without 11,57 kg cartridges. Depending on the mass of the shutter, its rate of fire was 1000-1500 rds / min. Due to the higher rate of fire, MG.42 was even more suitable for anti-aircraft fire than MG.34. However, by the beginning of the mass production of MG.42, it became clear that the role of the rifle caliber of the anti-aircraft gun in the air defense system had sharply decreased due to the increased security and flight speed of combat aircraft. For this reason, the number of specialized anti-aircraft installations in which MG.42 was used was relatively small. At the same time, MG.42 machine guns were widely used in universal turrets on armored personnel carriers and tanks.



MG.34 and especially MG.42 are rightfully considered to be one of the best machine guns used during the Second World War. After the war, these weapons spread widely throughout the world and were actively used in regional conflicts. Modifications of the MG.42 for other cartridges and with bolts of various masses were mass-produced in different countries and, in addition to infantry variants on bipods and machine tools, they can often still be found mounted on anti-aircraft turrets as part of the weapons of various armored vehicles.

At the end of the part devoted to anti-aircraft machine gun rifles caliber, developed and manufactured in Germany, we will try to assess how effective they were. As already mentioned, the Soviet air force used both armored attack planes and fighters and light bombers, which were not covered with armor protection, to inflict bombardment attacks on the positions and transport columns of the Nazis.

On the Il-2 attack aircraft, a streamlined armored body and armored bulkheads from 4 to 12 mm thick covered the engine, the cockpit and the fuel tanks. Steel armor, included in the power set of the aircraft, was supplemented with multilayer armored glass. The canopy of the lantern was made of 64-mm glass. The windshield withstood the shelling of 7,92-mm armor-piercing bullets fired at close range. The armor protection of the cab and the engine, in view of the significant angles of meeting with the armor, in most cases, did not penetrate the armor-piercing bullets of rifle caliber. Often, attack aircraft returned from combat sorties that had dozens and sometimes hundreds of holes from bullets and fragments of anti-aircraft missiles. According to the Russian historian O.V. Rastrenin, during the fighting 52% hits IL-2 fell on the wing and the unarmored part behind the cabin, 20% damage related to the fuselage as a whole. The engine and hoods received 4% damage, radiators, cab and rear gas tank received 3% damage each.

However, this statistic has a significant flaw. It is safe to say that the IL-2, shot down due to falling into critical parts: the engine, cab, gas tanks and radiators, was more. The experts who conducted the surveys of aircraft that received combat damage, in most cases, did not have the opportunity to examine attack aircraft struck by anti-aircraft fire in the target area. It is known that during World War, about half of the patients in Soviet hospitals had injuries to their limbs. But this does not mean that the bullets do not fall into the head and chest. This is evidence that those who received bullet wounds to the head and chest, in most cases, die on the spot. Therefore, to draw conclusions only on the basis of damage to the returned aircraft is a mistake. The planes and fuselage riddled with bullets and splinters do not need additional measures of protection. Their strength was enough to continue the flight, even with extensive damage to the skin and power set.

But in any case, it can be argued that the IL-2 was adequately protected from small arms fire. Armor 7,92-mm bullets, as a rule, did not pierce, and their destructive effect on the force elements of the attack aircraft design in single hits turned out to be insignificant. But at the same time, to say that the rifle caliber of the rifle caliber was absolutely powerless against armored attack planes would be wrong. Dense line of rapid-fire machine gun could well cause damage that impede the performance of a combat mission. In addition, on double cars, the cockpit shooter was not at all covered with armor from the bottom and side. Many authors writing about the combat use of the Il-2 overlook the fact that in the depths of the enemy defense Soviet attack aircraft had to fly at low altitudes, bypassing areas with a high concentration of anti-aircraft artillery, evading meetings with enemy fighters. At the same time, a long flight with closed oil grille armored valves was impossible. According to the memories of test pilot and cosmonaut Georgy Timofeevich Beregovoy, who flew during the war on IL-2 and received the first star of the hero in 1944, he made an emergency landing in the forest after he had discharged a machine gun fire to the oil radiator when he left the target. In addition, pilots, especially young ones, often forgot to close the valve of the oil radiator over the target.

As for fighters and non-armored near bombers, their survivability during the shelling of 7,92-mm machine guns was highly dependent on the type of power plant used. Air-cooled engines were much less vulnerable to combat damage than motors with liquid radiators. In addition to better combat survivability, the star engine is much shorter and represents a smaller target. The combat aircraft that entered service on the eve of the war, for the most part, had a tank filling system with neutral gas, which precluded an explosion of fuel vapor when an incendiary bullet hit. In the second half of the war, the gas tanks of the fighters, as a rule, had protection against fuel leakage during the shooting. Since the floor and side walls of the cockpit of Soviet fighters and front-line bombers were not armored, 7,92-mm bullets were a serious danger to the pilots. But much depended on the tactics used by Soviet pilots when attacking ground targets. As you know, most of the aircraft fell off during repeated visits to the target, when the German anti-aircraft calculations had time to react and target. Relatively ineffective ZPU rifle caliber turned out to be against Pe-2 and Tu-2 bombers, which carried out dive-bombing. Entering the aircraft at a peak began from a height inaccessible to the 7,92-mm anti-aircraft fire, and on the combat course until the bombing, due to the high speed and stress experienced by the gunners, it was very difficult to get into the dive bombard. And after the bombs were separated, the anti-aircraft gunners often didn’t get any aiming fire on the aircraft.

Due to the availability of the machine gun rifle caliber and ammunition to them, this weapon until the last hours of the war was used for firing at air targets. Unary and twin 7,92-mm LSD compared with larger anti-aircraft guns had a smaller weight and dimensions. The flip side of the use of relatively low-power and cheap 7,92-mm cartridges was the small effective firing range at air targets and a low striking effect. So, in order to shoot down the Yak-7b fighter, on average 2-3 20-mm projectile or 12-15 7,92-mm bullets had to hit it.

To be continued ...

Based on:
https://coollib.com/b/192106/read
http://forums.airbase.ru/2016/01/t90357--zenitnye-pulemety-germaniya-avstro-vengriya-finlyandiya-i-pr.html
https://www.istmira.ru/istvtmir/pulemyoty-pexotnoe-oruzhie-tretego-rejxa/
http://gvtm.ru/povozka_mg-wagen_s_zenitnoy_ustanov
http://vsevteme.ru/network/1077/2011/07/13/voennaya-istoriya/edinyy-pulemet-mg-34-germaniya
https://iremember.ru/materials/oleg-rastrenin-glavnaya-udarnaya-sila-shturmovik-il-2
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29 comments
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  1. +4
    12 December 2018 15: 33
    I remember there was in the still Soviet "Ogonyok" a picture of a Vietcong man, conducting anti-aircraft fire from the shoulder of his partner from an MG-42 machine gun with a characteristic drum magazine on the side.
    Most of all struck by the predatory squint of the machine gunner's slanted eyes!
    1. +6
      12 December 2018 15: 48
      Quote: andrewkor
      I remember there was in the still Soviet "Ogonyok" a picture of a Vietcong man, conducting anti-aircraft fire from the shoulder of his partner from an MG-42 machine gun with a characteristic drum magazine on the side.
      Most of all struck by the predatory squint of the machine gunner's slanted eyes!

      Relatively recently, the same author had a cycle dedicated to the defense of Vietnam. There are photos of Vietnamese anti-aircraft gunners with German machine guns there.
    2. +3
      12 December 2018 16: 57
      I also remember such a photograph .. Once I asked my father: how does a machine gun shoot? And he took a hammer several times and struck iron Baku. I was even scared when I saw this shot I remembered how my father demonstrated
    3. 0
      13 December 2018 09: 35
      Then the Vietnamese had a good squint. Not to miss them with the current friendship with the hit Yankees.
    4. +2
      14 December 2018 11: 35
      Quote: andrewkor
      a shot of a Vietnamese man firing anti-aircraft fire from the shoulder of his partner precisely from the MG-42 machine gun with a characteristic drum magazine on its side.

      Hmmmm ... if with a "characteristic drum magazine ...", then it's more like MG-34 ...
      1. +2
        14 December 2018 11: 55
        Quote: Nikolaevich I
        Hmmmm ... if with a "characteristic drum magazine ...", then it's more like MG-34 ...


        Definitely ... Yes
    5. 0
      20 December 2018 23: 10
      German anti-aircraft small-caliber anti-Soviet aircraft (part of 1)

      What. Interesting.
      I’m not sure that the bullet of the cartridge with armor-piercing incendiary bullets PmK - (German: Phosphor mit Kern - phosphoric with a core) weighed 10,0 g. But I won’t argue, I don’t remember.
  2. +10
    12 December 2018 15: 41
    Thank you for the article. 16 receiver installation generally soundtravel !!!!!
    1. +3
      12 December 2018 17: 35
      Taking into account the rate of fire of MG (1100 / min) = 16-17000 / min !!!
      1. +2
        14 December 2018 11: 32
        Quote: Zaurbek

        Taking into account the rate of fire of MG (1100 / min) = 16-17000 / min !!!

        Rate of fire MG-34: 800-900 / min.
  3. +2
    12 December 2018 16: 48
    Quote: Conductor
    smaller

    I have not even heard of such options. 16 barrels is cool, but against the infantry in general, it's a complete trinity. I but veterans heard that MG-42 for the rate of fire was called: "Hitler's saw." Often, one zMG machine gun installed in the dugout was capable of disrupting the attack, but 16 barrels ...
    1. +12
      12 December 2018 16: 57
      Quote: vladcub
      I have not even heard of such options. 16 trunks-cool, but against the infantry in general, full trindets.

      It is absolutely pointless and irrational to use this unit against infantry in the field. Svyatoslav, look at the dimensions of this "miracle weapon", how to disguise it on the battlefield and change position? Yes, and against aviation, this unit is not so effective. No. It is difficult to direct it in view of the considerable mass, and the effective range of shooting at aerial targets is not large.
      In the second part of the review we will talk about the 8-m receiver installation based on MG.81. It is a much more viable weapon, but not many have been released. In general, an excessive increase in barrels in the rifle caliber of the rifle caliber is meaningless. Their main advantages: low cost, low weight, compactness and availability of ammunition. hi
    2. The comment was deleted.
  4. +6
    12 December 2018 16: 49
    The first model adopted in 1931 was the MG.13 light machine gun, developed using the MG.08 automation circuitry. Rheinmetall-Borsig AG specialists tried to make the weapon as light as possible. At the same time, there was a refusal from water cooling of the barrel and from tape power. The trunk on MG.13 became removable.
    Hi, hello. This machine gun is generally a revelation for me, the first time I read about it, but about the 16-inch installation, it’s generally no more.
    Now almost all air vents about radial engines are like that, with the exception of the English "Napier Dagger", it was in-line and I do not take it into account. According to pilots and test pilots, I read about this more than once, it was the large forehead of the radial engine that served as protection against the pilot's defeat in the front hemisphere, but at the same time the oil cooler was the most visible part of this type of engine. And a little off topic. Not only Beregovoy but also Akhmet-Khan Sultan and Vasily Emelianenko, all Heroes of the Soviet Union unanimously recall that, to one degree or another, a single IL-2 was hit from all types of weapons into the rear hemisphere, and it was not necessary to defeat the pilot, it was enough to disable controls: elevator and rudder. The rest of the article is interesting, especially the mention of ZPU on horseback. It was believed that the Wehrmacht was completely motorized, but this is not so: "By 1940, the German armed forces had 771 thousand horses and mules. The Wehrmacht began the war with the USSR, having already had about a million of them in its ranks. The horse became" the main driving force of the German troops. ”Apparently, therefore, by 1943 the number of“ units of draft power ”in the troops reached 1380 thousand.

    The Wehrmacht was armed with specially designed standard military horse-drawn carts. The Hf1 type was a parokonny "crew" weighing 650 kg, covered with a "low-profile awning". Its carrying capacity was 750 kg - with one designation. "Site Courage http://otvaga2004.ru/kaleydoskop/kaleydoskop-track/loshadi-i-traktory-v-vermaxte/
    And this is IN The Armed Forces of Germany since Hitler - the Wehrmacht, are very strongly mythologized.

    One of these myths is - the image of a highly maneuverable army, which literally all moved on the BTR, trucks, motorcycles. This is also reflected in feature films: Soviet Red Army men are constantly on foot, at best on carts. The German army, 100%, is motorized and, moving "at lightning speed," bypasses the fortified positions, almost with songs, surrounding our infantry with hundreds of thousands.
    However, this is another myth created by filmmakers who were completely motorized, a very small part of the Wehrmacht. More than 80% divisions - this is infantry divisions, which had at the base, only horse-drawn transport.
    The artillery regiment of the infantry division in the state was: 2696 people and 2249 horses. The entire division was supposed to have more than 6 thousand horses. In the Wehrmacht of the 1941 model, there were more than 1 million horses, almost 90% of which were in infantry divisions. https://topwar.ru/3325-stepen-motorizovannosti-vermaxta.html
    1. +4
      12 December 2018 17: 02
      Quote: Amurets
      Sergey, hello.

      Nikolai, good evening!
      Quote: Amurets
      This machine gun is a revelation for me, I read about it for the first time

      The Germans generally had a lot of different machine guns, I wrote only about anti-aircraft guns.
      Quote: Amurets
      and about 16-ti svolnuyu Installation so it is generally mortality.

      Dead End Branch ...
      Quote: Amurets
      Not only Beregovoy, but also Ahmet-Khan Sultan and Vasily Emelianenko, all the Heroes of the Soviet Union together remember that in one degree or another the single Il-2 was struck from all types of weapons in the rear hemisphere, and it was not necessary to disable the pilot. controls: elevators and directions.

      This is when attacking a fighter.
      Quote: Amurets
      The German armed forces of the time of Hitler - the Wehrmacht, are very strongly mythologized. One of these myths is - the image of a highly maneuverable army

      Totally agree! Yes
    2. 0
      12 December 2018 18: 17
      this is what we know, but still the Wehrmacht is called fascist. Indestructible myth
  5. +1
    12 December 2018 16: 51
    Interesting article.
  6. +3
    12 December 2018 18: 13
    hi Hey. Thank.
    ... Anti-aircraft guns of those times, now a rarity in use ... For some reason MG is enough fellow
    ... For this reason, the number of specialized anti-aircraft installations in which MG.42 was used was relatively small.
    ... MG.08, was a German version of Hiram Maxim's system.
    For firing at air targets, the MG.34 was mounted on a Dreiben 34 tripod and equipped with anti-aircraft sights.
  7. +2
    12 December 2018 19: 03
    Thanks, I learned something new for myself.
  8. +4
    12 December 2018 19: 20
    An interesting magazine on this subject.
    1. +3
      12 December 2018 19: 25
      In the above magazine there is a photo, although the quality is very average.

      Four anti-aircraft mount MG-17 machine guns on the machine Fla L 17V. True, there is no information how many such installations have been released.
      1. +3
        12 December 2018 19: 32
        The installation of anti-aircraft machine guns on tanks was quite common.
      2. +2
        13 December 2018 02: 23
        Quote: Decimam
        The quad-mount anti-aircraft machine gun MG-17 on the machine Fla L 17V.

        About MG.17 will be in the second part of the review. Released quad and twin sets with these machine guns a few hundred units. Mainly used in the air defense of airfields. hi
  9. +4
    12 December 2018 19: 36
    It was not in vain that he lived the day, he waited for reading from the maestro for reason. Thank you Sergey.
  10. +2
    12 December 2018 20: 22
    Good article. One inaccuracy
    and Tu-2, performing dive bombing.

    Tu-2, in principle, could not dive, despite the issued TK during design. In general, the plane is very successful.
  11. +1
    12 December 2018 20: 52
    A Red Army soldier with a 16-barreled trophy-machinegun installation created using MG.34 machine guns

    A small clarification, it is 18-barrel)))) Along the rows from top to bottom: 3 + 3 + 5 + 4 + 3 There was information that this is "folk" creativity of the front-line airfield personnel - just to scare a low-flying attack aircraft
  12. +1
    12 December 2018 22: 38
    About the mistake of a survivor, a direct retelling from Wikipedia wink
    Pawns were mainly used as ordinary front-line bombers, with throwing from the horizon. Carcasses, too, but they only appeared at the end of the war, and there were few of them. Rifle caliber machine guns for pawns are more scary, but not zpu, but mounted on fighters (the same messer up to the 42nd was equipped with a couple of machine guns along with a gun, or two, like Emil)
  13. 0
    13 December 2018 11: 17
    The author of the article mentioned a half-track motorcycle as a tractor. I had never heard of such a thing, I would like a photo of this unit hi
    1. +3
      13 December 2018 14: 09
      SdKfz 2, also known as Kettenkrad HK 101
  14. 0
    14 December 2018 15: 15
    Very interesting topic. Anti-aircraft mounts of all calibres are the main and most effective weapon in the air war not only in World War II, but also in Korea and Vietnam. Then the hobby beat only on ZURS. Now the small-caliber installation is again the main weapon against missiles, drones, and so on.

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