“We were trained for five months as artillerymen, so I saw the mortar for the first time” - from the memoirs of the veteran

One of the problems faced by the commanders of the units being formed in the Great Patriotic War is associated with the lack of "technical experience" among young fighters. If some before the war worked in factories, were locomotive drivers, then by definition they had the technical skills to master weapons and military equipment. For natural reasons, those soldiers who "in civilian life" were engaged, for example, in agriculture or the humanities, were far from being able to master the technique on which they were to fight the first time.

In the memories of many veterans, you can find words that weapon, which was in the arsenal of their formations, they saw for the first time, and after a few days, or even earlier, they had to take (give) a battle.

War veteran Sergei Yakovlev says that he first saw a mortar.

Dmitry Puchkov's channel presents the story of a mortar fighter Sergei Yakovlev. From the veteran's narration:

Before that, we had been trained as gunners for five months.

About the combat path of Sergei Yakovlev, about how he participated in breaking the blockade of Leningrad, fought the Nazis in Czechoslovakia - in the video below:

Comments

[tatarin1972]

In war, they learn quickly, a grade in any "subject" is fatal.

[Proton]

Yes, preparing the calculation is a serious matter. I represent the level of formation of calculation numbers, taking into account the fact that work and calculations on mortars are easier than on many artillery systems (for example, MLRS).
Thanks to the authors for the memory of our victory!

[mat-vey]

Quote: Proton

that the work and calculations on mortars are easier than on many artillery systems (for example, MLRS).

So everything is simpler there and the mate part is also ...

[Proton]

About this and speech. In my calculations, the guys with the 9th grade of education for half a year mastered the specialty of a gun commander and gunner.
I wrote in a previous post that most likely the educational level of those who came into the calculation was very low. And in war it is a matter of life and death for calculation.
Happy Holidays, the Day of Missile Forces and Artillery!

[mat-vey]

Quote: Proton

that in all likelihood the educational level of those who came into account was very low.

Like Malezhik's paratrooper in "At war, as at war" - Rumbled from under the Mouse.

[Vladimir Chursin]

What is difficult for MLRS - a correction for the wind !!! Shooting tables - principle one. Knowing the basics, you can shoot from any system. Yes, there is a difference in the mate part, but in the circus bears ride a bicycle and nothing. !!!

[mat-vey]

The mortar is the simplest thing in the artillery. Moreover, the commander of the crew was stuck who gave the tables in his hands. And in some places it sounds that the question arises - who helped edit the memoirs in this way.

[Votterase]

The amendments are not calculated. The only thing that the crew commander thinks is a protractor for his gun (mortar, MLRS - no difference). Everything else - sight, level, charge - is issued by the SOB team. Although SOB can command more or less during shooting, but this is no longer important. Well, they can also install brake rings in BM-21 - but the charge does not change there.

[Votterase]

And what is the simpler calculations on mortars when firing with a closed OP compared, for example, with a howitzer?

[mat-vey]

Quote: Woteraz

And what is the simpler calculations on mortars when firing with a closed OP compared, for example, with a howitzer?

At least there are no corrections for derivation? The minimum sights are already in the design ...

[Votterase]

"Serious" argument, you will not say anything. But I will reveal a secret, even two - in the course of the combat training of ground artillery units, the time for completing a fire mission, for example, 3, is the same for mortars as for howitzers. And the second secret is that the calculation does not consider the derivation amendment at all. Never.

[mat-vey]

Quote: Woteraz

And what is the simpler calculations on mortars when firing with a closed OP compared, for example, with a howitzer?

Let me tell you a secret - where in your question about the calculation?
"Especially since the commander of the crew was butted who gave the tables." - I hope you will read it the second time ...

[Proton]

By the way, all those involved with the upcoming Day of Rocket Forces and Artillery!
Happy Holidays!

[BARKAS]

At school, the math teacher often repeated the guys teach the subject, go to the army, get into the artillery, it will come in handy, and it happened. In general, you need to think with your head in any unit, idiocy as well as betrayal in war are fatal.

[Proton]

I agree with your teacher 100%. Because I was very friendly with mathematics (both with algebra and geometry, trigonometry, etc.), it was very easy for me that all the calculations should be made, that the instrument itself should be guided.

[Konnick]

My grandmother's cousin fought from 1942 to 1945 as a gunsmith, as before the war he worked as an adjuster at the Moscow Electrical Plant. He was awarded two Orders of Glory and many other awards. In his awards it was usually written - during the battle, he repaired machine guns in quantity ... and listed the quantity or repaired a 120mm mortar and opened fire on the enemy. It was a fairly respected military specialty.

[zenion]

Why is there WWII. He began to serve in 1964, studied to be a radio operator-estist in aviation. We sat at tables and knocked on keys from morning until lunch and after dinner until evening. And the radio station was not shown to us. Only when a year passed and I graduated from school did I finally see the radio station. Of course, she could not get into class. But thank goodness there was a Morse key and a start-stop machine. This is nothing after a few months they drove a new radio station and called it ZAS. Completely different and very scary. She worked on all types of waves and accepted as well, but the worst thing was written - the possibility of communication is unlimited. And they didn't say a word about her to us. But again, the beautiful telegraph key table and start-stop machine are completely new, the keyboard is the same, but the setting is different. The telegraph key is absolutely new, but dots and dashes were made according to my knocking. And not a word like what. I had to go to the secret department, where I received instructions on how to use it, how to make it and love it, so that it would work without interruption and signed for receipt. The instrumentation is not very thick, barely with an assistant they learned it in a week and even found places to improve it, but there it was sealed and closed. And such impudence, pure horror, if something goes wrong, the radio station will give a hint, open the necessary block and tell you what to replace. Until the end of the service, I waited for her to squeak to open, did not squeak, probably did not trust. In general, the guys from the Volga mother came to serve. The commander of our special department said - go for a walk, look at the guys, prepare yourself a shift. All guys are checked. I walked around with the deputy, talked to the guys, and found two. They took the radio station inside, told what was happening and the most important thing - if she did not ask, not take the initiative. In, how hard it was, and then a mortar.

[Lelik76]

I quickly learned to be a calculator in the army during exercises. They selected the three of us and showed how to calculate the calculated data for the weapons on the coordinates. Even though I graduated from a technical school and worked at an aircraft plant, I knew how to use the same Vernier scale, but two comrades could not. And the point of a quick study was that you calculate the data incorrectly - 20 push-ups in a gas mask. One time was enough for me, the guys generally fizzled out that day and then went to the charger and shell :-)

[mat-vey]

Quote: Lelik76

showed how to calculate the calculated data on the PUO

Well, and the unreasonable people PUO - They call the Mentally Retarded Device the Device.))))

[Lelik76]

In my KShMke early. the division headquarters still had a computer for calculation, one with lamps instead of a monitor to enter and read data. Once it was launched from to. the headquarters got tired of driving the data into it and then getting the results. Pluulib took PUO and then let's shoot :-)

[Votterase]

The calculator is an important person! A good chief of staff of a division prepares them personally, both his own and those of the battery. So that my calculators dig trenches or do some other nonsense - but not in life! The calculator should be rested and vigorous. My maximum that I did was a samovar to fire a fire. There are positions in the artillery that can screw up the shooting and the computer is one of them.

[Lelik76]

I was still deploying the DMK on MTLBU, the mechanic was a driver - you couldn't trust him with such a "complicated" technique, he was stretching the masseti :-)

[Jager]

I studied at the MIIT on the power supply of the railway, I never got to the substation, everything is in the pictures ... Nothing changes.

[Paul Siebert]

My 18-year-old grandfather was a mortarman during the war.
Fired an 82mm mortar.
At the first retreat, in a panic, his crew threw a mortar into the funnel and ran.
In the rear, the battery commander found them. He built all four and gave time until dawn to return the entrusted weapons.
Otherwise, a tribunal.
Squealing their noses, yesterday's schoolchildren crawled into the territory occupied by the Germans.
Until dark they hid in holes and ravines. Then they dived into each funnel - looking for their own "hardware".
Found it.
They returned not only with the loss. We collected trophies from the killed enemies - an assault rifle and three rifles.
The commander just nodded his head - "let's go ..."
More grandfather did not throw the mortar.
All the way to Prague ...

[ccsr]

Quote: Paul Siebert

At the first retreat, in a panic, his crew threw a mortar into the funnel and ran.

The commander of the mortar crew told me that they were just choosing positions in the craters, and from there they were firing - so there was a better chance of surviving when they were placed right next to the infantry for accuracy. So, most likely, your grandfather's calculation was in the crater from which they fired until they left the position due to panic.

Quote: Paul Siebert

The commander just nodded his head - "let's go ..."

This veteran told me how he had to shoot a cantuzhny soldier who got up after an artillery attack and walked towards the Germans, not understanding anything, or maybe he just went crazy. In the evening, they dragged his corpse, and presented the documents as with honor who died for the Motherland, so that the family would get everything they should ...

[Votterase]

I didn’t shoot at artillery - all calibers passed, from 30 mm to 152, but the 82 mm mortar is my favorite.

[ccsr]

They saw the weapons that were in the arsenal of their formations for the first time, and after a few days, or even earlier, they had to take (give) a battle.

To be honest, I have doubts about the gunners. I knew well the retired colonel, who started the war as an infantryman in the fall of 1941, fought for many months, and only after that he was selected for training courses for mortar commanders, where he studied this weapon for several weeks or months.
Then he was the commander of a mortar crew for many months, successfully fought, and he was sent to training courses for commanders of cannon artillery as an experienced mortar operator. And after their graduation, he became a senior sergeant, and reached Pomerania, where he ended the war, having awards from the government of the country.
So everything was not so simplistic at that time with the preparation, and moreover, there was an order of the Headquarters prohibiting the artillerymen to be transferred to any other units and used not according to their profile.

[mat-vey]

Quote: ccsr

To be honest, I have doubts about the gunners.

To be honest, there are a lot of doubts. Such a feeling that someone has corrected the memories - one fuse is worth something. Although it is instantaneous, the inertial fuse has not been canceled.

[Logic]

I also saw the "Grad" system for the first time after studying howitzer firing at a technical university. A "partisan" exercise with firing on Kordai (1987) was to be expected as a senior officer on a battery. In 15 days I had to reforge myself on the Grad ... When I saw this colossus, I thought: if they teach me to shoot on it in 15 days, then I can learn on the plane in a month ...))) Thank God, we shot normally. Personnel officers and old-timers of the reserve did not disappoint.