Guns of the Russian-Turkish War fought near Moscow
It would seem that in the grand battle that took place on the outskirts of the capital in the winter of 1941, every detail was investigated, and everything has been known for a long time, however ...
Few people know that at one of the sections of the front, Russian cannons, made at the Imperial gunnery in Perm, still played a decisive role in the 1877 year. And it was at the site of the defense of Solnechnogorsk - Krasnaya Polyana, where the 16-I army under the command of Konstantin Rokossovsky, drained of long battles, fought.
K. K. Rokossovsky turned to G. K. Zhukov with a request for urgent assistance with anti-tank artillery. However, it was no longer with the front commander in reserve. The request reached the Supreme Commander. Stalin’s response was immediate: “I also have no reserves of anti-tank artillery. But there is a Dzerzhinsky Military Artillery Academy in Moscow. There are many experienced gunners there. Let them think and report on a possible solution to the problem within a day.”
Indeed, back in 1938, an artillery academy, founded in 1820, was transferred from Leningrad to Moscow. But in October 1941, she was evacuated to Samarkand. In Moscow, there are only about a hundred officers and employees. Training artillery was also taken to Samarkand. But the order was required to perform.
Helped a happy occasion. An elderly man worked in the academy who knew well the locations of artillery arsenals in Moscow and in the near Moscow region, where worn out and very old artillery systems, shells and equipment for them were mothballed. One can only regret that time did not save the name of this person and the names of all the other members of the academy, who fulfilled the order within 24 hours and formed several high-power anti-tank defense batteries.
To fight the German averages tanks picked up old siege weapons of 6-inch caliber, which were used even during the liberation of Bulgaria from the Turkish yoke, and later in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. After its completion, due to the severe deterioration of the gun barrels, these were delivered to the Mytishchi arsenal, where they were stored in a preserved form. Shooting from them was unsafe, but they could still withstand 5-7 shots.
As for the shells, in the Sokolniki artillery depot there were a large number of captured British high-explosive fragmentation shells of the Vickers company in 6 inches and 100 pounds, that is, slightly more than 40 kilograms. There were also primers and powder charges, repulsed in the American Civil War. All this property was kept from 1919 year so carefully that it could well be used for its intended purpose.
Soon, several heavy anti-tank artillery fire batteries were formed. The commanders were students of the academy and officers sent from military registration and enlistment offices, and the servants were the Red Army men and students of 8-10 classes of Moscow special artillery schools. The guns did not have sights, so it was decided to shoot only direct fire, aiming them at the target through the barrel. For the convenience of firing guns dug into the ground on the hub of wooden wheels.
Germanic tanks appeared suddenly. The first artillery shots were fired from the 500-600 distance. The German tankers initially took the explosive shells for the action of anti-tank mines. Apparently, the "mines" had a very large force. In the event of a rupture of an 40-kilogram projectile near the tank, the latter turned over on its side or became pop. But it soon became clear that they were beating out of the cannons. A projectile hit the turret and threw it to tens of meters to the side. And if the 6-inch projectile siege guns hit the front of the hull, then he passed the tank through, destroying everything in its path.
German tankers were horrified - they didn’t expect anything like that. Having lost the company, the tank battalion retreated. The German command considered the incident an accident and sent another battalion in a different way, where it also ran into an anti-tank ambush. The Germans decided that the Russians use some kind of new anti-tank weapon unprecedented power. The offensive of the enemy was suspended, probably, to clarify the situation.
In the end, Rokossovsky's army won several days on this front, during which replenishment arrived, and the front stabilized. 5 December 1941, our troops went on the offensive and drove the Nazis to the West. It turns out that the victory of 45 year, at least to a small extent, but forged by Russian gunsmiths in the XIX century.
Few people know that at one of the sections of the front, Russian cannons, made at the Imperial gunnery in Perm, still played a decisive role in the 1877 year. And it was at the site of the defense of Solnechnogorsk - Krasnaya Polyana, where the 16-I army under the command of Konstantin Rokossovsky, drained of long battles, fought.
K. K. Rokossovsky turned to G. K. Zhukov with a request for urgent assistance with anti-tank artillery. However, it was no longer with the front commander in reserve. The request reached the Supreme Commander. Stalin’s response was immediate: “I also have no reserves of anti-tank artillery. But there is a Dzerzhinsky Military Artillery Academy in Moscow. There are many experienced gunners there. Let them think and report on a possible solution to the problem within a day.”
Indeed, back in 1938, an artillery academy, founded in 1820, was transferred from Leningrad to Moscow. But in October 1941, she was evacuated to Samarkand. In Moscow, there are only about a hundred officers and employees. Training artillery was also taken to Samarkand. But the order was required to perform.
Helped a happy occasion. An elderly man worked in the academy who knew well the locations of artillery arsenals in Moscow and in the near Moscow region, where worn out and very old artillery systems, shells and equipment for them were mothballed. One can only regret that time did not save the name of this person and the names of all the other members of the academy, who fulfilled the order within 24 hours and formed several high-power anti-tank defense batteries.
To fight the German averages tanks picked up old siege weapons of 6-inch caliber, which were used even during the liberation of Bulgaria from the Turkish yoke, and later in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. After its completion, due to the severe deterioration of the gun barrels, these were delivered to the Mytishchi arsenal, where they were stored in a preserved form. Shooting from them was unsafe, but they could still withstand 5-7 shots.
As for the shells, in the Sokolniki artillery depot there were a large number of captured British high-explosive fragmentation shells of the Vickers company in 6 inches and 100 pounds, that is, slightly more than 40 kilograms. There were also primers and powder charges, repulsed in the American Civil War. All this property was kept from 1919 year so carefully that it could well be used for its intended purpose.
Soon, several heavy anti-tank artillery fire batteries were formed. The commanders were students of the academy and officers sent from military registration and enlistment offices, and the servants were the Red Army men and students of 8-10 classes of Moscow special artillery schools. The guns did not have sights, so it was decided to shoot only direct fire, aiming them at the target through the barrel. For the convenience of firing guns dug into the ground on the hub of wooden wheels.
Germanic tanks appeared suddenly. The first artillery shots were fired from the 500-600 distance. The German tankers initially took the explosive shells for the action of anti-tank mines. Apparently, the "mines" had a very large force. In the event of a rupture of an 40-kilogram projectile near the tank, the latter turned over on its side or became pop. But it soon became clear that they were beating out of the cannons. A projectile hit the turret and threw it to tens of meters to the side. And if the 6-inch projectile siege guns hit the front of the hull, then he passed the tank through, destroying everything in its path.
German tankers were horrified - they didn’t expect anything like that. Having lost the company, the tank battalion retreated. The German command considered the incident an accident and sent another battalion in a different way, where it also ran into an anti-tank ambush. The Germans decided that the Russians use some kind of new anti-tank weapon unprecedented power. The offensive of the enemy was suspended, probably, to clarify the situation.
In the end, Rokossovsky's army won several days on this front, during which replenishment arrived, and the front stabilized. 5 December 1941, our troops went on the offensive and drove the Nazis to the West. It turns out that the victory of 45 year, at least to a small extent, but forged by Russian gunsmiths in the XIX century.
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