Stories about weapons. Wolverine Achilles
War often violates our notions of formal logic. Agree, even the most incredible things that simply can not be, in war is quite an ordinary thing.
Artillery a crew that held the road with one gun all day long and didn't let anyone through tank enemy column. A pilot who, in the very first sortie, crashes an enemy plane. A group of snipers who do not allow the enemy battalion to rise. There are many examples.
Something like this is the case with our heroine today. This car for us is a famous stranger. On the one hand, our army had two regiments of similar ACS (1239 and 1223), and on the other hand, they were similar, but still other machines. So it turns out, we know this self-propelled gun or do not know? Which series of materials should I include?
We felt that since the heroine is still different from the machines that we received under the Lend-Lease, then the place to her is in this series. Our heroine today is the light anti-tank SAU Mk IC "Achilles" (Achilles).
Typically, this ACS does not cause interest among the inhabitants. Another modification of the tank "Sherman" for the majority. English modification of the American ACS M10 "Wolverine" (Wolverine) for connoisseurs. What could be interesting in the modification?
Meanwhile, the car should be "felt" more carefully. At least in order to understand that this is still a self-propelled artillery gun, and an anti-tank artillery self-propelled gun, a tank destroyer, and not a tank.
Let's start with the first American anti-tank self-propelled gun using the tank chassis of the M10 ACS. More precisely, the 3 3 gun carriage (10-inch Gun Motor Carriadge) МХNUMX. It was so (literally) that the anti-tank SAX М10 was standardized in the US Army in June 1942.
The machine is really created on the basis of the chassis "Sherman". Moreover, it really resembles this tank. But if you put "Sherman" and "Wolverine" next, the differences become noticeable even to a non-specialist.
First of all, we note: "Wolverine" less "growth". As befits the person "female" sex. And from here a few other "figure." Unlike the male squareness of the Sherman, the Wolverine has sloping sides, allowing to reduce the thickness of the reservation while maintaining the necessary protective properties of armor. The body is welded.
In addition, the "Wolverine" has a different head-tower. This is not a rounded cast Sherman, but a welded pentahedral tower with an open top. Such towers are more suitable for anti-aircraft installations. By the way, it is based on them.
The gun mounted in the turret, standard 76,2-mm M7. With a barrel length 50 calibers. Armor-piercing shells, with an initial speed of 793 m / s. Ammunition 54 projectile. In addition, the anti-aircraft machine gun 12,7-mm Browning M2HB is located on the stern of the turret. Ammunition 1000 machine gun ammunition.
Many amateurs and experts in military technology during the Second World War doubt the need for such weapons for self-propelled guns. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine the number of the calculation in a tank battle, which waters the enemy’s positions with a machine gun when the rest of the crew smashes tanks.
We consider it necessary to answer this question. We will not answer the arguments, logic or reasoning. We did not begin to talk in vain with arguments about the war. The best answer is just one episode of the war. An episode in which the Soviet soldiers participated.
So, the 1 th Belarusian Front. 30 July 1944 of the year. Already mentioned above, the 1239 th self-propelled artillery regiment from the 16 th tank corps of the 2 th Panzer Army is being advanced in the direction of Aleksandruva from Deblin. The task is to help tankers in the attack on Aleksandrov. To reinforce the regiment, they gave Su-85 from the adjacent 1441 regiment.
Hide the movement of a sufficiently large number of self-propelled guns from the enemy aviation failed. The German reconnaissance aircraft saw the pillars of dust and even the machines themselves in motion. Naturally, the regiment underwent several raids by German aircraft. As a result, several cars were disabled.
But characteristically, the German pilots damaged and destroyed the Soviet Su-85! And not a single "Wolverine"! Moreover, during one of the raids, gunner M10, foreman Lendovsky from a Browning M2HB machine gun shot down a Ju-88 bomber. I cooled the zeal of the Germans in the performance of the task.
Probably, this is enough (well, we think so) to ensure that questions about the need for an anti-aircraft machine gun on an ACS no longer arise. The ability of the machine to conduct battle with enemy aircraft is not a whim of designers, but the harsh necessity of that war. However, as well as the conduct of the battle with the weapons of the enemy infantry in cases where the withdrawal of the machine from the position is impossible for some reason.
But back to the M10. The M10 tower is very similar to the tower of another American ACS - Hellcat (М18 Hellcat). The answer is simple. The Wolverine Tower was simply used to create the Kota.
The power plant consisted of two six-cylinder in-line diesel engines, liquid-cooled GMC 6046 G71 manufactured by General Motors, arranged in parallel and connected in one unit: torque was transmitted from both to one drive shaft. Each of the diesel engines developed power 375 l. with. at 2100 rpm
The difference of cars, "Sherman" and "Wolverine" is visible in the "muscle mass" - booking. As befits a "girl", "Wolverine" has a significantly smaller booking. The thickness of the armor on the forehead is 50,8 mm, on the sides and stern - 25,4 mm, the bottom - 12,7 mm, the top of the case - from 9,5 to 19 mm.
Such characteristics were quite normal, if we take into account the American concept of combat SAU, "hit and run". Leap-and-go, or, if you really go into the translation, "hit-and-run." Such tactics implied for SAU high speed of movement on the battlefield. Reducing the reservation "Wolverine" was made precisely in order to accelerate the machine. However, for some reason this did not bring the desired result. The speeds of Sherman and Wolverine turned out to be almost equal - 48 km / h.
There are two important points for any ACS. Crew and power reserve. It's simple. The crew of the machine is traditional for American SAU - 5 people. Power reserve is slightly larger than the "Sherman". But he achieved a simple increase in the capacity of fuel tanks. And is 320 km versus tank 290.
We, in order to understand the further narrative, are interested only in two versions of the M10. Actually, the M10 itself, based on the M4-2 and M10-1 tank on the M4-3 chassis. They are interested because stories "Achilles" they are labeled differently. On the basis of the M10 "Achilles" was called Mk IC, and on the basis of the M10А1 - Mk IIC.
As you understood, we got to Britain. It was there that the main stream "Wolverine" was sent. Lend-Lease acted for Britain. The M10 was a machine with a fairly satisfactory ballistic profile and a relatively low silhouette. The British took it with pleasure.
However, it was clear that in the modern war archaic, created back in 1918, the M7 cannon is completely useless as an anti-tank weapon. And the British had created a beautiful 17-pound (76,2 mm) anti-tank gun (Ordnance QF 17-pounde) by that time.
The decision was made and from February 1944 of the Year “Wolverines” began to equip the Mark V versions with these very tools. And the car began to play with new facets.
It was the installation of the new instrument that turned the dangerous animal into an ancient hero, "the lord of the land of the Scythian," as the ancient poet said. Now the "Achilles" could cope with any German tank. If we compare the effectiveness of М10 and Мk-IC, then “Achilles” exceeds “Wolverine” in all respects.
17-pound was well balanced. It had a light barrel and a heavy, but compact breech, which allowed it to be installed in the trunnions of the old gun practically without rework.
Two types of armor-piercing shells were used for shooting. One of which was an armor-piercing with a ballistic tip and an initial velocity of 908 m / s. This ensured the penetrability of the armor plate with a thickness of 130 mm at an angle of 30 degrees over a distance of 900 meters.
The appearance in August of the 1944 of the sub-caliber SVDS or APDS shells in general made the Achilles gun the most powerful self-propelled anti-tank weapons. 3,5 kg and 2,5-kilogram tungsten core projectiles with an initial speed of 1200 m / s on the same 900 meters of distance were already pierced with 193-mm armored plates!
The only tank that could boast a more powerful gun was the German "Royal Tiger". Its 88-mm KwK 43 gun was significantly superior to the British 17-gun.
"Achilles" were actively used by the British and were even offered to the Americans. But American snobbery defeated American practicality. The United States refused to install the “Ordnance QF 17-pounde” on machines intended for itself. Although later used the British developments in their own guns.
Paradoxically, but not М10, namely “Achilles” were actively used in Europe. So during the landing in Normandy, as many as 11 regiments of Achilles participated. Moreover, under the leadership of Marshal Montgomery were part of not only the British army (8 regiments Mk-I (II) C), but also the Canadian army (2 regiment) and the Polish army (1 regiment).
The best machine from the "Achilles" is the Mk-IIC. ACS based on the tank M4А3. This is what led to the preservation of just such machines in service for quite a long time. The Achilles, on the basis of М4А2, were disarmed immediately after the war, deprived of towers and turned into artillery tractors. One machine was even used as a self-propelled plow mine trawl.
Well, the traditional tactical and technical data of the hero:
Mass: 29,5 t.
Dimensions:
- length 6,828 m;
- width 3,05 m;
- height 2,896 m.
Crew: 5 people.
Reservations: from 19 to 57 mm.
Armament:
- 76,2-mm rifled gun Ordnance QF 17-pounde Mark V;
- 12,7-mm machine gun.
Ammunition: 50 shells, 1000 ammunition.
Engine: two-row 12 cylinder diesel liquid cooling hp power 375
Maximum speed: on the highway - 48 km / h
Power reserve: on the highway - 320 km.
Artillery a crew that held the road with one gun all day long and didn't let anyone through tank enemy column. A pilot who, in the very first sortie, crashes an enemy plane. A group of snipers who do not allow the enemy battalion to rise. There are many examples.
Something like this is the case with our heroine today. This car for us is a famous stranger. On the one hand, our army had two regiments of similar ACS (1239 and 1223), and on the other hand, they were similar, but still other machines. So it turns out, we know this self-propelled gun or do not know? Which series of materials should I include?
We felt that since the heroine is still different from the machines that we received under the Lend-Lease, then the place to her is in this series. Our heroine today is the light anti-tank SAU Mk IC "Achilles" (Achilles).
Typically, this ACS does not cause interest among the inhabitants. Another modification of the tank "Sherman" for the majority. English modification of the American ACS M10 "Wolverine" (Wolverine) for connoisseurs. What could be interesting in the modification?
Meanwhile, the car should be "felt" more carefully. At least in order to understand that this is still a self-propelled artillery gun, and an anti-tank artillery self-propelled gun, a tank destroyer, and not a tank.
Let's start with the first American anti-tank self-propelled gun using the tank chassis of the M10 ACS. More precisely, the 3 3 gun carriage (10-inch Gun Motor Carriadge) МХNUMX. It was so (literally) that the anti-tank SAX М10 was standardized in the US Army in June 1942.
The machine is really created on the basis of the chassis "Sherman". Moreover, it really resembles this tank. But if you put "Sherman" and "Wolverine" next, the differences become noticeable even to a non-specialist.
First of all, we note: "Wolverine" less "growth". As befits the person "female" sex. And from here a few other "figure." Unlike the male squareness of the Sherman, the Wolverine has sloping sides, allowing to reduce the thickness of the reservation while maintaining the necessary protective properties of armor. The body is welded.
In addition, the "Wolverine" has a different head-tower. This is not a rounded cast Sherman, but a welded pentahedral tower with an open top. Such towers are more suitable for anti-aircraft installations. By the way, it is based on them.
The gun mounted in the turret, standard 76,2-mm M7. With a barrel length 50 calibers. Armor-piercing shells, with an initial speed of 793 m / s. Ammunition 54 projectile. In addition, the anti-aircraft machine gun 12,7-mm Browning M2HB is located on the stern of the turret. Ammunition 1000 machine gun ammunition.
Many amateurs and experts in military technology during the Second World War doubt the need for such weapons for self-propelled guns. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine the number of the calculation in a tank battle, which waters the enemy’s positions with a machine gun when the rest of the crew smashes tanks.
We consider it necessary to answer this question. We will not answer the arguments, logic or reasoning. We did not begin to talk in vain with arguments about the war. The best answer is just one episode of the war. An episode in which the Soviet soldiers participated.
So, the 1 th Belarusian Front. 30 July 1944 of the year. Already mentioned above, the 1239 th self-propelled artillery regiment from the 16 th tank corps of the 2 th Panzer Army is being advanced in the direction of Aleksandruva from Deblin. The task is to help tankers in the attack on Aleksandrov. To reinforce the regiment, they gave Su-85 from the adjacent 1441 regiment.
Hide the movement of a sufficiently large number of self-propelled guns from the enemy aviation failed. The German reconnaissance aircraft saw the pillars of dust and even the machines themselves in motion. Naturally, the regiment underwent several raids by German aircraft. As a result, several cars were disabled.
But characteristically, the German pilots damaged and destroyed the Soviet Su-85! And not a single "Wolverine"! Moreover, during one of the raids, gunner M10, foreman Lendovsky from a Browning M2HB machine gun shot down a Ju-88 bomber. I cooled the zeal of the Germans in the performance of the task.
Probably, this is enough (well, we think so) to ensure that questions about the need for an anti-aircraft machine gun on an ACS no longer arise. The ability of the machine to conduct battle with enemy aircraft is not a whim of designers, but the harsh necessity of that war. However, as well as the conduct of the battle with the weapons of the enemy infantry in cases where the withdrawal of the machine from the position is impossible for some reason.
But back to the M10. The M10 tower is very similar to the tower of another American ACS - Hellcat (М18 Hellcat). The answer is simple. The Wolverine Tower was simply used to create the Kota.
The power plant consisted of two six-cylinder in-line diesel engines, liquid-cooled GMC 6046 G71 manufactured by General Motors, arranged in parallel and connected in one unit: torque was transmitted from both to one drive shaft. Each of the diesel engines developed power 375 l. with. at 2100 rpm
The difference of cars, "Sherman" and "Wolverine" is visible in the "muscle mass" - booking. As befits a "girl", "Wolverine" has a significantly smaller booking. The thickness of the armor on the forehead is 50,8 mm, on the sides and stern - 25,4 mm, the bottom - 12,7 mm, the top of the case - from 9,5 to 19 mm.
Such characteristics were quite normal, if we take into account the American concept of combat SAU, "hit and run". Leap-and-go, or, if you really go into the translation, "hit-and-run." Such tactics implied for SAU high speed of movement on the battlefield. Reducing the reservation "Wolverine" was made precisely in order to accelerate the machine. However, for some reason this did not bring the desired result. The speeds of Sherman and Wolverine turned out to be almost equal - 48 km / h.
There are two important points for any ACS. Crew and power reserve. It's simple. The crew of the machine is traditional for American SAU - 5 people. Power reserve is slightly larger than the "Sherman". But he achieved a simple increase in the capacity of fuel tanks. And is 320 km versus tank 290.
We, in order to understand the further narrative, are interested only in two versions of the M10. Actually, the M10 itself, based on the M4-2 and M10-1 tank on the M4-3 chassis. They are interested because stories "Achilles" they are labeled differently. On the basis of the M10 "Achilles" was called Mk IC, and on the basis of the M10А1 - Mk IIC.
As you understood, we got to Britain. It was there that the main stream "Wolverine" was sent. Lend-Lease acted for Britain. The M10 was a machine with a fairly satisfactory ballistic profile and a relatively low silhouette. The British took it with pleasure.
However, it was clear that in the modern war archaic, created back in 1918, the M7 cannon is completely useless as an anti-tank weapon. And the British had created a beautiful 17-pound (76,2 mm) anti-tank gun (Ordnance QF 17-pounde) by that time.
The decision was made and from February 1944 of the Year “Wolverines” began to equip the Mark V versions with these very tools. And the car began to play with new facets.
It was the installation of the new instrument that turned the dangerous animal into an ancient hero, "the lord of the land of the Scythian," as the ancient poet said. Now the "Achilles" could cope with any German tank. If we compare the effectiveness of М10 and Мk-IC, then “Achilles” exceeds “Wolverine” in all respects.
17-pound was well balanced. It had a light barrel and a heavy, but compact breech, which allowed it to be installed in the trunnions of the old gun practically without rework.
Two types of armor-piercing shells were used for shooting. One of which was an armor-piercing with a ballistic tip and an initial velocity of 908 m / s. This ensured the penetrability of the armor plate with a thickness of 130 mm at an angle of 30 degrees over a distance of 900 meters.
The appearance in August of the 1944 of the sub-caliber SVDS or APDS shells in general made the Achilles gun the most powerful self-propelled anti-tank weapons. 3,5 kg and 2,5-kilogram tungsten core projectiles with an initial speed of 1200 m / s on the same 900 meters of distance were already pierced with 193-mm armored plates!
The only tank that could boast a more powerful gun was the German "Royal Tiger". Its 88-mm KwK 43 gun was significantly superior to the British 17-gun.
"Achilles" were actively used by the British and were even offered to the Americans. But American snobbery defeated American practicality. The United States refused to install the “Ordnance QF 17-pounde” on machines intended for itself. Although later used the British developments in their own guns.
Paradoxically, but not М10, namely “Achilles” were actively used in Europe. So during the landing in Normandy, as many as 11 regiments of Achilles participated. Moreover, under the leadership of Marshal Montgomery were part of not only the British army (8 regiments Mk-I (II) C), but also the Canadian army (2 regiment) and the Polish army (1 regiment).
The best machine from the "Achilles" is the Mk-IIC. ACS based on the tank M4А3. This is what led to the preservation of just such machines in service for quite a long time. The Achilles, on the basis of М4А2, were disarmed immediately after the war, deprived of towers and turned into artillery tractors. One machine was even used as a self-propelled plow mine trawl.
Well, the traditional tactical and technical data of the hero:
Mass: 29,5 t.
Dimensions:
- length 6,828 m;
- width 3,05 m;
- height 2,896 m.
Crew: 5 people.
Reservations: from 19 to 57 mm.
Armament:
- 76,2-mm rifled gun Ordnance QF 17-pounde Mark V;
- 12,7-mm machine gun.
Ammunition: 50 shells, 1000 ammunition.
Engine: two-row 12 cylinder diesel liquid cooling hp power 375
Maximum speed: on the highway - 48 km / h
Power reserve: on the highway - 320 km.
Information