Another Lend-Lease. War of wires
The Second World War, according to experts, was a war ... a wired connection! According to independent estimates, during the war, wired communication took up to 80% of the total picture with communication in the war. Suddenly? It seems to be the twentieth century, radio and so on ... However, this is so. Not radio, but it was wired was the main in World War II.
Ships, planes, TanksOf course, they had radio stations. But here the question of reliability arose, and the question of range.
And if it was a question of more mundane infantry and artillery, then Comrade (Mister) Field Telephone came to the fore.
Yes, World War II became the war of those very phones, wires, soldiers with coils under artillery fire. This topic is usually paid little attention because of not too heroic pictures. A signalman sits in a dugout, and only does that call someone’s call sign. And the commander occasionally runs up with bulging eyes and yells at the soldier: “Run, re-establish communication!”.
Signalers are not even kinogenic perish. The explosions of shells, and that’s all ... Neither are you "one against hundreds of Fritz" (although something like this has happened, and not once). Not to you "For the Motherland! For Stalin!" A splinter or burst of machine gun, and ... The next soldier with a coil on the same field. For your splinter or bullet.
The heroes of our story are not signalmen, but field telephones of the Red Army. Including lend-lease.
Lend-Lease for most of the participants of the Great Patriotic War and us, their descendants, is associated with airplanes, tanks, cars, canned meat. It is clear that such a narrow understanding of the essence of this phenomenon is not developed by knowledge, but by the approach of our ideologues and propagandists to the very supplies of allies. The majority of Soviet, including the authors of this series, from childhood laid down "left views" on this phenomenon.
Even now, when information about Lend-Lease can be drawn not only from Soviet sources, but also from foreign archives, the stereotype of perception is preserved. It sounds ridiculous, probably, but the radicals still exist and even flourish in this matter. Moreover, the radicals on both sides. But to read the source, the law on Lend-Lease, laziness opposing the parties.
On the one hand, we hear about the insignificant role of these supplies in achieving victory over fascist Germany. What is true in some way. Purely mathematical truth. If you look at the total costs of the USSR for the war, then, according to most historians, the cost of Lend-Lease is really not impressive. Total 4% of the total costs of the Soviet Union!
But there is another side. Readers who are closely watching our series "The Other Lend-Lease" have already made an impression about the products that were supplied to the USSR. And first of all, the most urgently needed materials and high-tech equipment were supplied, the value of which is difficult to overestimate. Moreover, high-tech products are often not produced at all in the USSR, or produced in small quantities and obviously obsolete samples.
That is why the authors considered it necessary to give their own understanding of the supply of Lend-Lease. Understanding, based on familiarity with the documents of the time, and, most importantly, technology.
So, the essence of Lend-Lease, if we discard the ideology, is quite simple. And it is strange that this is still not clear to some of the readers. According to the Lend-Lease Act, the United States could supply equipment, weapons, ammunition, equipment and other goods and products to those countries whose defense was vital to the United States.
Notice the wording? Vital to the USA! Not to defeat fascism, not from ideological or political ambitions, but from the ability to wage war with someone else’s hands and thus save your own country and the lives of your own soldiers. Why fight if you do not know how? Why fight if you can buy a fighter? And then you get fame anyway. And money too ...
The Americans simply bought one of the parties (and in fact, given the actions of some American companies, both sides) in order not to get involved in an expensive conflict themselves. Agree, the war on the islands and the war on the European theater of war are two different wars ...
All deliveries were free! All equipment, equipment and materials spent, consumed and destroyed during the war were not subject to payment. But the property remaining after the war and suitable for civilian purposes, must be paid at the prices that were determined at the time of delivery.
This, by the way, is the answer to those who did not understand why cars and other working equipment were “destroyed” in the USSR, and what remained was used “in espionage” in Siberia and the Far East. How it happened with trucks and car tractors, for example. And to those who still consider the dollars that we allegedly “did not pay the United States” for Lend-Lease.
Field telephone. How can he compare with a tank, an airplane or a Katyusha? A plain phone in a wooden box. And meanwhile, any fighter who has been under real fire will confirm this, sometimes a stable connection is more important than even one, but several tanks at once!
To understand the situation at the initial stage of the war, we need to go back a little in time.
The command of the Red Army rather seriously engaged in the development of new types of weapons and military equipment. Tanks, aircraft, guns, small weapon. All this is absolutely necessary. However, in pursuit of the best tanks or aircraft, we didn’t “forget” about some things, but simply could not. Subsequently, these things cost our army many soldiers' lives.
At the beginning of the war, the Red Army had several types of field telephones at once. By the principle of calling all the phones were divided into induction and phonic. According to their characteristics, they are already outdated by June 1941.
These were mainly phones of the following brands: UNA-I-28, UNA-I-31, UNA-F-28 and UNA-F-31. These are quite heavy devices weighing 3,5 kilograms, and UNA-F-28 and UNA-I-28 are generally 5,8 kilograms. Add to this a rather large wooden box in which all these phones were located (for example, the UNA-F-28 was 277x100X273 in size, and the UNA-I-28 was 300X115X235 mm in general).
There was a truth and another phone - a powerful phone (TAM). True TAM was even larger in size. 360x135x270 mm. This model could be used both in the local network and in the central PBX network.
Here a little clarification is needed for non-specialists. What is the difference of networks? Local network is powered by the power of the device. Simply put, the work of this network requires the presence of batteries in the phone itself. Power phones in the central network is carried out by wire from the PBX. In this case, your own batteries are not needed.
Soviet phones were equipped with the same Soviet-manganese-zinc batteries Leclanche. The weight of one such battery was 690 grams. Usually in telephone sets installed on the 2 element. By the way, this weight was not considered the weight of the apparatus. Those. the weight of the elements was added to the weight of the apparatus itself. The batteries had dimensions 55x55x125 mm, which were rather serious for the elements.
And again, a retreat from the narrative. The Leclanchet element is named after the creator, J. Lankanshe, who assembled this primary source of current in the 1865 year. Most of the readers repeatedly held this element in their hands in the form of an ordinary household battery.
The cathode in this element is a mixture of manganese dioxide (MnO2-pyrolusite) and graphite (approximately 9,5%). Further electrolyte solution of ammonium chloride (NH4Cl). Initially, the electrolyte was liquid, but later it began to be thickened with starchy substances (the so-called dry element). Well, the anode is a zinc cup (metallic zinc Zn).
In addition to the listed phones in the Red Army there were such rarities as TABIP-1.
Just say that this phone is quite modern for its time. And we called it a rarity simply because it was a rarity. Although this device was intended for a battalion company link. The apparatus was not suitable for a higher level (battalion-regiment) because the signal with the increase in distance was simply gloh.
This phone was distinguished not only by much smaller dimensions (the reason for the phone’s name itself), but also by its usability. And TABIP is just a “telephone set without power sources”. It had a sealed steel case and was almost the same size in 2 times smaller than the others (235x160x90 mm).
In general, in the Red Army, just as in other armies, there was no order to use only their own telephones. So, in real life in military units, you could meet the phones of absolutely incredible brands and years of release. Even the joke was among the telephonists. "Tell me what devices in your unit, and I will tell her military way."
It would be particularly interesting to look at the warehouses of the Red Army. As they would say today, it was a treasure trove for collectors. Retro devices from the First World War, not only Russian but also of foreign production! By the way, it was these devices that were transferred to educational organizations that were engaged in training civilians in military specialties (such as OSAVIAHIM).
And the saying about the “combat path of the unit” was easily proved, for example, in those units that fought on Khalkhin Gol or on the Finnish war. Phones of the Finnish and Japanese army there were almost the norm. True, they were also a headache commanders. Spare parts were not attached to them, and the fighting - not the most humane way to extend the life of technology.
Here it is appropriate to cite as an example exactly the events at Khalkhin Gol. From 30 August to 19 September 1939, the Soviet troops captured the 71 field telephone, 6 switches, about 200 coils for the telephone cable and 104 kilometer of the cable itself as trophies (in varying degrees of health).
True, there was a positive experience with the use of imported phones. The Finns used Estonian-made field telephones in their army (factory in Tartu). And after we stuffed the 1940 in the summer of the Baltics into the USSR, we received not only Estonian and other armies, but also spare parts for Finnish trophies.
Here is the state of communication of the Red Army was on 22 June 1941 of the year. Not to say that it is hopeless, but it is difficult to call him good. Let's say that - the connection was. Let the C grade, but it was. And then there was the autumn of 1941 ...
Already at the end of 1941, the telephone position in the Red Army became critical. This was understood in the first months of the war by our commanders and commanders, including Stalin and his entourage. Therefore, the question of communication, including wired, was raised at the first supply negotiations.
And again it is necessary to move away from the topic. Now in the field of business. Many people know that the USSR, more precisely still earlier, Soviet Russia, successfully conducted business in some Western countries. It is business. Although this was often explained by the need to finance foreign communist parties, supply the necessary goods to the USSR, earn money for the government.
By the beginning of World War II in the United States successfully operated a company created by Soviet money and also managed by our people. Amtorg Trading Corporation ("Amtorg").
The company was established in 1924 in New York and became a truly successful commercial project. It was registered under American law, most of the Americans worked there, it did not violate US law. And the attention of US counterintelligence was only a “appendage” for a successful business.
Let us give an example of the work of Amtorg from the report 1926 of the year by Chairman of the Board A. V. Prigarin:
“So far, all organizations except the State Bank have received loans of about $ 18 000 000, with about $ 13 000 000 of a bank loan and $ 5 of 000 000 of a commodity. The amount is quite significant, but all loans are short-term, and most are secured by goods. ”
Now back to our story. It was Amtorg who joined the solution of the wired communications problem of the Red Army at the initial stage of the war. Therefore, we can not forget the work of these people. A confirmation of this fact can be found in any museum, which has, for example, American field telephones during the war. To the surprise of visitors, the phones are Russified!
American EE-8B and EE-108 have inscriptions in Russian! What we will not see on the equipment and weapons supplied by Lend-Lease. Simply put, part of the telephone sets were supplied to the USSR as commercial ones. And in this case, the product really has to be adapted to the user of the importing country.
And for dessert, we will inform specialists that the truly exotic IAA-44 and 2005W devices were not supplied under Lend-Lease at all. All of them came to the Soviet Union through the line "Amtorg". At least we did not succeed in finding a refutation of this fact in reliable sources.
And what about military supplies? When did they officially start? And what was delivered?
Strangely enough, we do not have clear answers to these questions. First of all, it must be recalled that the Lend-Lease Agreement was concluded on 11 June 1942 of the year! However, it included shipments starting from October 1 1941.
So, those deliveries that were made before October 1, 1941, were not made under Lend-Lease, but on loan from 10 million to the Treasury, 50 million to Defense Supply Corporation and others (totaling $ 1 billion), about which we wrote in the first part of the cycle. Well, the company Amtorg, already mentioned by us.
In addition, it is quite difficult to track these shipments at all. A telephone is not a tank or a plane. He may not "ascend." And considering that deliveries went from four directions: the northern route to Arkhangelsk and Murmansk, through the Persian Gulf and Iran (especially valuable materials and raw materials), to the ports of the Black Sea and to the Far East (Vladivostok, Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky and other ports), the task it becomes just overwhelming.
There is only one document in which there are some figures concerning field phones in the first year of the war. This is a report by Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan (USSR Commissar of Foreign Trade) to I. V. Stalin and V. M. Molotov at the beginning of 1942 of the year.
In the help compiled by 9 on January 1942, it was said that from October to December 1941 5 telephone sets were delivered to the USSR in 506, and 4 416 was also on the way from 12 000 pcs. which the United States pledged to supply on a monthly basis and accordingly 36 000, which were generally expected to be received in 1941.
By the way, we should not forget that the number of phones received by the USSR. Only those devices that are actually delivered are included. Sent, but lost in the delivery process is not counted. Here, you should bring an interesting fact that our colleagues found in the port of Arkhangelsk.
The fact is that the Northern delivery route was the shortest, albeit the most dangerous. And accounting of the delivered property there was conducted with military precision. So, for the entire period of the war, according to the financial statement of the surplus and shortage of imported cargo in the port of Arkhangelsk, the 1 (one!) Telephone set was lost. Its cost is 30 $ US.
What phones came to us on Lend-Lease?
According to experts, the first field telephone model supplied to the USSR from the USA was the army induction telephone ЕЕ-8-А. Compared with the models produced at that time by the Soviet industry, the device was quite advanced. Later, EE-8-A was upgraded to EE-8-B. Manufacturer - Federal Telephone and Radio Corporation of the United States.
Both phones were devices of the MB system - with a local (built-in) 3 V battery, which was intended to power the carbon microphone of the TS-9 type tube. And yet, all the phones of this model are assembled according to the “anti-local” scheme.
The difference between the models A and B is in the batteries. The EE-8-A phone kit included two round dry batteries BA-30, which are known to modern readers as “type-D cells”. They were produced by Ray-O-Vac. The Soviet industry did not release such elements.
EE-8 phones were also produced in non-standard (extended) leather bags. Such bags were made specifically for deliveries to the USSR on the orders of Amtorg with payment in hard currency.
Bags of such phones were being finalized in order to ensure the possibility of using not only American but also Soviet dry type 2C batteries (42 x 92 x 42 mm), which were to be placed inside the same phone bag.
A special wooden block was installed inside the bag, on which Soviet batteries were installed. A fastening provided a special leather cover with a button.
Above, we wrote about the supply of commercial phones by Amtorg. On these models of Americans, it can be seen even visually. Army EE-8 on the bags must have been embossed with the brand of the device- "TELEPHONE EE-8-A". Experts say that on EE-8-B there were such inscriptions.
But on the "Amtorgovskih" devices such stamping was not. But the devices were Russified and had instructions in Russian. The weight of the phone with batteries was only 4,5 kilograms.
Well, the "fly in the ointment." The device was reliable, it easily changed the telephone and microphone in the handset, but it was significantly heavy and could not work with phonic devices and switches, which were widely distributed in the Red Army.
A leather bag in the conditions of Russia, where the autumn-spring thaw and rains is a common phenomenon, quickly got wet, the brass cogs of fixation of the device in the bag and the clip of the clasp were oxidized, which somewhat limited the use of such devices at the front.
Late modifications including the EE-8А units for the Red Army were American army field telephones in a canvas box bag. This is how Russian weather modernized American equipment.
The next device, which certainly deserves our attention, is the phone EE-108.
Deserves at least the fact that it was specifically designed for deliveries to the Red Army. This is a classic American with inductor call, without power sources, in a leather bag. He worked at the expense of EMF created in the line of electromagnetic primers of the TS-10 handset.
The TS-10 handset had two electromagnetic primers similar in design to a reversible primer of the Soviet TABIP device. One of the caps had the inscription "Transmitter M", the second - "Receiver T".
The conversational tangent was made in the form of a sunken round brass button. The designation "TS-10" on the tube itself is missing, it can only be seen in the documentation.
EE-108 devices were supplied in hard leather bags, on the front walls of which the inscription "TELEPHONE EE-108" was embossed. A leather shoulder strap was attached to the bag. The size of the bag was 196 x 240 x 90 mm, the weight of the telephone is 3,8 kg.
By the way, there is one surprising fact concerning this particular apparatus. In the TM-11-487 reference manual for communications equipment of the Department of Military Affairs of the USA (October 1944), this device is not available at all. Although according to the memoirs of veterans of the American army, single copies of this phone were used in the US Army. In particular, when laying telephone lines.
Manufactured by 80 771 phones. In the USSR, the 75 261 unit was supplied. To China - 5 500 devices. And 10 sets of Americans gave the army ... Holland. This is according to the documents.
The next device is probably the best known. This is a field telephone with an inductor call, MB system, manufactured by Connecticut Telephone & Electric, IAA-44. End of the war telephone. Produced since 1944.
The description of this device should be started from the fact that ... according to the documents in both the Soviet and American archives, such a phone has never been supplied to the USSR under lend-lease! Although many sources suggest otherwise. Only here are the documents ...
Here we again come to the work of Amtorg. Truly, these guys did their job just great. The envy of bulldogs. IAA-44 - the fruit of their work. We were struck by the "American" letter "I" in the title. With humor, Soviet Americans were all right. Although, according to some sources, there were devices with the name "IAA".
The device IAA-44 according to the scheme is very similar to the American field phones EE-8. As in the ЕЕ-8, two American dry batteries BA-30 with a total voltage of 3 B were used to power the microphone. The initial capacity of the American batteries was 8 ampere-hours.
Inside the device there were compartments for two Soviet-made 3С dry batteries, the initial capacity of which was 30 ampere-hours. In wartime, replacing American batteries with a capacity of 6-8 amps-hours for batteries with a capacity of 30 amperes-hours is great! Terminals for connecting an external battery with 3 V voltage were also provided.
As in the ЕЕ-8 devices, the field telephones IAA-44 used a handset of the type TS-9. There were sockets for connecting an additional handset.
The IAA-44 field phones were shipped in metal cases with 250 x 250 x 100 mm dimensions. The weight of the device with two Soviet batteries 3С - 7,4 kg.
It is clear that now veteran readers are waiting for a story about how we used the American experience to develop the production of something similar in our country. What and when appeared on the basis of. Bearing in mind the Soviet field telephone TAI-43.
Yes, a wonderful designer, holder of several military orders, lieutenant colonel Olga Ivanovna Repina really created a field telephone, which has been in service with the Soviet Army for more than 20 years, which looks like a foreigner. But not on an American, but on a German. And as you already understood, this phone has nothing to do with the US-British supply.
Even those who have not heard this name before have not only seen its inventions in the service in the Soviet army, but also used them. These are the early TA-41 (for completely veterans), TAI-43 (for front-line soldiers of the Great Patriotic and post-war generation) and TA-57 (for today's readers). Thanks to the wisdom of women, stern men communicate qualitatively on the battlefield. Paradox.
The military field phone TAI-43 was created on the basis of captured samples of German field phones FF-33 (Feldfernsprecher 33) of the model 1933 of the year. It is about this phone that our signalers say "Fritz" works even under water. "
More precisely, probably, it will be like this: Repina took the German design and location of controls. But the location of the phone nodes is almost new. In one of the sources, we even found this: "TAI-43 on 90% is ours and only on 10 is German." Leave this opinion without comment. This is really a matter of communicators.
But our devices are worthy of a separate topic (therefore, right after Lend-Lease, we’ll do it).
The second time we repeat a simple and dizzying figure. Almost 80% of all messages in World War II transmitted by wire!
And to underestimate the contribution of our allies (then real) in the form of thousands of telephone sets and hundreds of kilometers of cable would not be very clever.
Ships, planes, TanksOf course, they had radio stations. But here the question of reliability arose, and the question of range.
And if it was a question of more mundane infantry and artillery, then Comrade (Mister) Field Telephone came to the fore.
Yes, World War II became the war of those very phones, wires, soldiers with coils under artillery fire. This topic is usually paid little attention because of not too heroic pictures. A signalman sits in a dugout, and only does that call someone’s call sign. And the commander occasionally runs up with bulging eyes and yells at the soldier: “Run, re-establish communication!”.
Signalers are not even kinogenic perish. The explosions of shells, and that’s all ... Neither are you "one against hundreds of Fritz" (although something like this has happened, and not once). Not to you "For the Motherland! For Stalin!" A splinter or burst of machine gun, and ... The next soldier with a coil on the same field. For your splinter or bullet.
The heroes of our story are not signalmen, but field telephones of the Red Army. Including lend-lease.
Lend-Lease for most of the participants of the Great Patriotic War and us, their descendants, is associated with airplanes, tanks, cars, canned meat. It is clear that such a narrow understanding of the essence of this phenomenon is not developed by knowledge, but by the approach of our ideologues and propagandists to the very supplies of allies. The majority of Soviet, including the authors of this series, from childhood laid down "left views" on this phenomenon.
Even now, when information about Lend-Lease can be drawn not only from Soviet sources, but also from foreign archives, the stereotype of perception is preserved. It sounds ridiculous, probably, but the radicals still exist and even flourish in this matter. Moreover, the radicals on both sides. But to read the source, the law on Lend-Lease, laziness opposing the parties.
On the one hand, we hear about the insignificant role of these supplies in achieving victory over fascist Germany. What is true in some way. Purely mathematical truth. If you look at the total costs of the USSR for the war, then, according to most historians, the cost of Lend-Lease is really not impressive. Total 4% of the total costs of the Soviet Union!
But there is another side. Readers who are closely watching our series "The Other Lend-Lease" have already made an impression about the products that were supplied to the USSR. And first of all, the most urgently needed materials and high-tech equipment were supplied, the value of which is difficult to overestimate. Moreover, high-tech products are often not produced at all in the USSR, or produced in small quantities and obviously obsolete samples.
That is why the authors considered it necessary to give their own understanding of the supply of Lend-Lease. Understanding, based on familiarity with the documents of the time, and, most importantly, technology.
So, the essence of Lend-Lease, if we discard the ideology, is quite simple. And it is strange that this is still not clear to some of the readers. According to the Lend-Lease Act, the United States could supply equipment, weapons, ammunition, equipment and other goods and products to those countries whose defense was vital to the United States.
Notice the wording? Vital to the USA! Not to defeat fascism, not from ideological or political ambitions, but from the ability to wage war with someone else’s hands and thus save your own country and the lives of your own soldiers. Why fight if you do not know how? Why fight if you can buy a fighter? And then you get fame anyway. And money too ...
The Americans simply bought one of the parties (and in fact, given the actions of some American companies, both sides) in order not to get involved in an expensive conflict themselves. Agree, the war on the islands and the war on the European theater of war are two different wars ...
All deliveries were free! All equipment, equipment and materials spent, consumed and destroyed during the war were not subject to payment. But the property remaining after the war and suitable for civilian purposes, must be paid at the prices that were determined at the time of delivery.
This, by the way, is the answer to those who did not understand why cars and other working equipment were “destroyed” in the USSR, and what remained was used “in espionage” in Siberia and the Far East. How it happened with trucks and car tractors, for example. And to those who still consider the dollars that we allegedly “did not pay the United States” for Lend-Lease.
Field telephone. How can he compare with a tank, an airplane or a Katyusha? A plain phone in a wooden box. And meanwhile, any fighter who has been under real fire will confirm this, sometimes a stable connection is more important than even one, but several tanks at once!
To understand the situation at the initial stage of the war, we need to go back a little in time.
The command of the Red Army rather seriously engaged in the development of new types of weapons and military equipment. Tanks, aircraft, guns, small weapon. All this is absolutely necessary. However, in pursuit of the best tanks or aircraft, we didn’t “forget” about some things, but simply could not. Subsequently, these things cost our army many soldiers' lives.
At the beginning of the war, the Red Army had several types of field telephones at once. By the principle of calling all the phones were divided into induction and phonic. According to their characteristics, they are already outdated by June 1941.
These were mainly phones of the following brands: UNA-I-28, UNA-I-31, UNA-F-28 and UNA-F-31. These are quite heavy devices weighing 3,5 kilograms, and UNA-F-28 and UNA-I-28 are generally 5,8 kilograms. Add to this a rather large wooden box in which all these phones were located (for example, the UNA-F-28 was 277x100X273 in size, and the UNA-I-28 was 300X115X235 mm in general).
UNA-AND-28
UNA-AND-31
There was a truth and another phone - a powerful phone (TAM). True TAM was even larger in size. 360x135x270 mm. This model could be used both in the local network and in the central PBX network.
Here a little clarification is needed for non-specialists. What is the difference of networks? Local network is powered by the power of the device. Simply put, the work of this network requires the presence of batteries in the phone itself. Power phones in the central network is carried out by wire from the PBX. In this case, your own batteries are not needed.
Soviet phones were equipped with the same Soviet-manganese-zinc batteries Leclanche. The weight of one such battery was 690 grams. Usually in telephone sets installed on the 2 element. By the way, this weight was not considered the weight of the apparatus. Those. the weight of the elements was added to the weight of the apparatus itself. The batteries had dimensions 55x55x125 mm, which were rather serious for the elements.
And again, a retreat from the narrative. The Leclanchet element is named after the creator, J. Lankanshe, who assembled this primary source of current in the 1865 year. Most of the readers repeatedly held this element in their hands in the form of an ordinary household battery.
The cathode in this element is a mixture of manganese dioxide (MnO2-pyrolusite) and graphite (approximately 9,5%). Further electrolyte solution of ammonium chloride (NH4Cl). Initially, the electrolyte was liquid, but later it began to be thickened with starchy substances (the so-called dry element). Well, the anode is a zinc cup (metallic zinc Zn).
In addition to the listed phones in the Red Army there were such rarities as TABIP-1.
Just say that this phone is quite modern for its time. And we called it a rarity simply because it was a rarity. Although this device was intended for a battalion company link. The apparatus was not suitable for a higher level (battalion-regiment) because the signal with the increase in distance was simply gloh.
This phone was distinguished not only by much smaller dimensions (the reason for the phone’s name itself), but also by its usability. And TABIP is just a “telephone set without power sources”. It had a sealed steel case and was almost the same size in 2 times smaller than the others (235x160x90 mm).
In general, in the Red Army, just as in other armies, there was no order to use only their own telephones. So, in real life in military units, you could meet the phones of absolutely incredible brands and years of release. Even the joke was among the telephonists. "Tell me what devices in your unit, and I will tell her military way."
It would be particularly interesting to look at the warehouses of the Red Army. As they would say today, it was a treasure trove for collectors. Retro devices from the First World War, not only Russian but also of foreign production! By the way, it was these devices that were transferred to educational organizations that were engaged in training civilians in military specialties (such as OSAVIAHIM).
And the saying about the “combat path of the unit” was easily proved, for example, in those units that fought on Khalkhin Gol or on the Finnish war. Phones of the Finnish and Japanese army there were almost the norm. True, they were also a headache commanders. Spare parts were not attached to them, and the fighting - not the most humane way to extend the life of technology.
Here it is appropriate to cite as an example exactly the events at Khalkhin Gol. From 30 August to 19 September 1939, the Soviet troops captured the 71 field telephone, 6 switches, about 200 coils for the telephone cable and 104 kilometer of the cable itself as trophies (in varying degrees of health).
True, there was a positive experience with the use of imported phones. The Finns used Estonian-made field telephones in their army (factory in Tartu). And after we stuffed the 1940 in the summer of the Baltics into the USSR, we received not only Estonian and other armies, but also spare parts for Finnish trophies.
Here is the state of communication of the Red Army was on 22 June 1941 of the year. Not to say that it is hopeless, but it is difficult to call him good. Let's say that - the connection was. Let the C grade, but it was. And then there was the autumn of 1941 ...
Already at the end of 1941, the telephone position in the Red Army became critical. This was understood in the first months of the war by our commanders and commanders, including Stalin and his entourage. Therefore, the question of communication, including wired, was raised at the first supply negotiations.
And again it is necessary to move away from the topic. Now in the field of business. Many people know that the USSR, more precisely still earlier, Soviet Russia, successfully conducted business in some Western countries. It is business. Although this was often explained by the need to finance foreign communist parties, supply the necessary goods to the USSR, earn money for the government.
By the beginning of World War II in the United States successfully operated a company created by Soviet money and also managed by our people. Amtorg Trading Corporation ("Amtorg").
The company was established in 1924 in New York and became a truly successful commercial project. It was registered under American law, most of the Americans worked there, it did not violate US law. And the attention of US counterintelligence was only a “appendage” for a successful business.
Let us give an example of the work of Amtorg from the report 1926 of the year by Chairman of the Board A. V. Prigarin:
“So far, all organizations except the State Bank have received loans of about $ 18 000 000, with about $ 13 000 000 of a bank loan and $ 5 of 000 000 of a commodity. The amount is quite significant, but all loans are short-term, and most are secured by goods. ”
Now back to our story. It was Amtorg who joined the solution of the wired communications problem of the Red Army at the initial stage of the war. Therefore, we can not forget the work of these people. A confirmation of this fact can be found in any museum, which has, for example, American field telephones during the war. To the surprise of visitors, the phones are Russified!
American EE-8B and EE-108 have inscriptions in Russian! What we will not see on the equipment and weapons supplied by Lend-Lease. Simply put, part of the telephone sets were supplied to the USSR as commercial ones. And in this case, the product really has to be adapted to the user of the importing country.
And for dessert, we will inform specialists that the truly exotic IAA-44 and 2005W devices were not supplied under Lend-Lease at all. All of them came to the Soviet Union through the line "Amtorg". At least we did not succeed in finding a refutation of this fact in reliable sources.
And what about military supplies? When did they officially start? And what was delivered?
Strangely enough, we do not have clear answers to these questions. First of all, it must be recalled that the Lend-Lease Agreement was concluded on 11 June 1942 of the year! However, it included shipments starting from October 1 1941.
So, those deliveries that were made before October 1, 1941, were not made under Lend-Lease, but on loan from 10 million to the Treasury, 50 million to Defense Supply Corporation and others (totaling $ 1 billion), about which we wrote in the first part of the cycle. Well, the company Amtorg, already mentioned by us.
In addition, it is quite difficult to track these shipments at all. A telephone is not a tank or a plane. He may not "ascend." And considering that deliveries went from four directions: the northern route to Arkhangelsk and Murmansk, through the Persian Gulf and Iran (especially valuable materials and raw materials), to the ports of the Black Sea and to the Far East (Vladivostok, Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky and other ports), the task it becomes just overwhelming.
There is only one document in which there are some figures concerning field phones in the first year of the war. This is a report by Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan (USSR Commissar of Foreign Trade) to I. V. Stalin and V. M. Molotov at the beginning of 1942 of the year.
In the help compiled by 9 on January 1942, it was said that from October to December 1941 5 telephone sets were delivered to the USSR in 506, and 4 416 was also on the way from 12 000 pcs. which the United States pledged to supply on a monthly basis and accordingly 36 000, which were generally expected to be received in 1941.
By the way, we should not forget that the number of phones received by the USSR. Only those devices that are actually delivered are included. Sent, but lost in the delivery process is not counted. Here, you should bring an interesting fact that our colleagues found in the port of Arkhangelsk.
The fact is that the Northern delivery route was the shortest, albeit the most dangerous. And accounting of the delivered property there was conducted with military precision. So, for the entire period of the war, according to the financial statement of the surplus and shortage of imported cargo in the port of Arkhangelsk, the 1 (one!) Telephone set was lost. Its cost is 30 $ US.
What phones came to us on Lend-Lease?
According to experts, the first field telephone model supplied to the USSR from the USA was the army induction telephone ЕЕ-8-А. Compared with the models produced at that time by the Soviet industry, the device was quite advanced. Later, EE-8-A was upgraded to EE-8-B. Manufacturer - Federal Telephone and Radio Corporation of the United States.
Both phones were devices of the MB system - with a local (built-in) 3 V battery, which was intended to power the carbon microphone of the TS-9 type tube. And yet, all the phones of this model are assembled according to the “anti-local” scheme.
The difference between the models A and B is in the batteries. The EE-8-A phone kit included two round dry batteries BA-30, which are known to modern readers as “type-D cells”. They were produced by Ray-O-Vac. The Soviet industry did not release such elements.
EE-8 phones were also produced in non-standard (extended) leather bags. Such bags were made specifically for deliveries to the USSR on the orders of Amtorg with payment in hard currency.
Bags of such phones were being finalized in order to ensure the possibility of using not only American but also Soviet dry type 2C batteries (42 x 92 x 42 mm), which were to be placed inside the same phone bag.
A special wooden block was installed inside the bag, on which Soviet batteries were installed. A fastening provided a special leather cover with a button.
Above, we wrote about the supply of commercial phones by Amtorg. On these models of Americans, it can be seen even visually. Army EE-8 on the bags must have been embossed with the brand of the device- "TELEPHONE EE-8-A". Experts say that on EE-8-B there were such inscriptions.
But on the "Amtorgovskih" devices such stamping was not. But the devices were Russified and had instructions in Russian. The weight of the phone with batteries was only 4,5 kilograms.
Well, the "fly in the ointment." The device was reliable, it easily changed the telephone and microphone in the handset, but it was significantly heavy and could not work with phonic devices and switches, which were widely distributed in the Red Army.
A leather bag in the conditions of Russia, where the autumn-spring thaw and rains is a common phenomenon, quickly got wet, the brass cogs of fixation of the device in the bag and the clip of the clasp were oxidized, which somewhat limited the use of such devices at the front.
Late modifications including the EE-8А units for the Red Army were American army field telephones in a canvas box bag. This is how Russian weather modernized American equipment.
The next device, which certainly deserves our attention, is the phone EE-108.
Deserves at least the fact that it was specifically designed for deliveries to the Red Army. This is a classic American with inductor call, without power sources, in a leather bag. He worked at the expense of EMF created in the line of electromagnetic primers of the TS-10 handset.
The TS-10 handset had two electromagnetic primers similar in design to a reversible primer of the Soviet TABIP device. One of the caps had the inscription "Transmitter M", the second - "Receiver T".
The conversational tangent was made in the form of a sunken round brass button. The designation "TS-10" on the tube itself is missing, it can only be seen in the documentation.
EE-108 devices were supplied in hard leather bags, on the front walls of which the inscription "TELEPHONE EE-108" was embossed. A leather shoulder strap was attached to the bag. The size of the bag was 196 x 240 x 90 mm, the weight of the telephone is 3,8 kg.
By the way, there is one surprising fact concerning this particular apparatus. In the TM-11-487 reference manual for communications equipment of the Department of Military Affairs of the USA (October 1944), this device is not available at all. Although according to the memoirs of veterans of the American army, single copies of this phone were used in the US Army. In particular, when laying telephone lines.
Manufactured by 80 771 phones. In the USSR, the 75 261 unit was supplied. To China - 5 500 devices. And 10 sets of Americans gave the army ... Holland. This is according to the documents.
The next device is probably the best known. This is a field telephone with an inductor call, MB system, manufactured by Connecticut Telephone & Electric, IAA-44. End of the war telephone. Produced since 1944.
The description of this device should be started from the fact that ... according to the documents in both the Soviet and American archives, such a phone has never been supplied to the USSR under lend-lease! Although many sources suggest otherwise. Only here are the documents ...
Here we again come to the work of Amtorg. Truly, these guys did their job just great. The envy of bulldogs. IAA-44 - the fruit of their work. We were struck by the "American" letter "I" in the title. With humor, Soviet Americans were all right. Although, according to some sources, there were devices with the name "IAA".
The device IAA-44 according to the scheme is very similar to the American field phones EE-8. As in the ЕЕ-8, two American dry batteries BA-30 with a total voltage of 3 B were used to power the microphone. The initial capacity of the American batteries was 8 ampere-hours.
Inside the device there were compartments for two Soviet-made 3С dry batteries, the initial capacity of which was 30 ampere-hours. In wartime, replacing American batteries with a capacity of 6-8 amps-hours for batteries with a capacity of 30 amperes-hours is great! Terminals for connecting an external battery with 3 V voltage were also provided.
As in the ЕЕ-8 devices, the field telephones IAA-44 used a handset of the type TS-9. There were sockets for connecting an additional handset.
The IAA-44 field phones were shipped in metal cases with 250 x 250 x 100 mm dimensions. The weight of the device with two Soviet batteries 3С - 7,4 kg.
It is clear that now veteran readers are waiting for a story about how we used the American experience to develop the production of something similar in our country. What and when appeared on the basis of. Bearing in mind the Soviet field telephone TAI-43.
Yes, a wonderful designer, holder of several military orders, lieutenant colonel Olga Ivanovna Repina really created a field telephone, which has been in service with the Soviet Army for more than 20 years, which looks like a foreigner. But not on an American, but on a German. And as you already understood, this phone has nothing to do with the US-British supply.
Even those who have not heard this name before have not only seen its inventions in the service in the Soviet army, but also used them. These are the early TA-41 (for completely veterans), TAI-43 (for front-line soldiers of the Great Patriotic and post-war generation) and TA-57 (for today's readers). Thanks to the wisdom of women, stern men communicate qualitatively on the battlefield. Paradox.
The military field phone TAI-43 was created on the basis of captured samples of German field phones FF-33 (Feldfernsprecher 33) of the model 1933 of the year. It is about this phone that our signalers say "Fritz" works even under water. "
More precisely, probably, it will be like this: Repina took the German design and location of controls. But the location of the phone nodes is almost new. In one of the sources, we even found this: "TAI-43 on 90% is ours and only on 10 is German." Leave this opinion without comment. This is really a matter of communicators.
But our devices are worthy of a separate topic (therefore, right after Lend-Lease, we’ll do it).
The second time we repeat a simple and dizzying figure. Almost 80% of all messages in World War II transmitted by wire!
And to underestimate the contribution of our allies (then real) in the form of thousands of telephone sets and hundreds of kilometers of cable would not be very clever.
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