Russian tanks from an alternative reality
Who said this, and most importantly, proved that the first Russian tank could not resemble this one from the movie "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"?
Genesis 1: 31
Tanks alternative stories. Of course, history does not know the subjunctive mood. But why not dream a little sometimes? Well, let's say, you can't imagine that instead of a completely stupid "Tsar-tank" Russian engineers managed to create their own steam tank, and most importantly - to seduce it with the current model of the "Tsar-Father" himself ?!
Birth of an idea
The news of the new armored vehicle, created in England, did not go unnoticed in Russia. Analysis of the information received showed that the British "tanks" really surpass all existing land vehicles. Even the Austin-Kegresse half-tracked armored vehicles, the pride of the Russian army, cannot so successfully overcome trenches and craters, and break barbed wire obstacles.
In 1914, British magazines, one after another, posted images of such strange large-wheeled combat vehicles. Three wheels freely breaking brick fences, three two-gun turrets, two machine-gun turrets for self-defense, a wheelhouse like a ship's ... This is how one English author saw a promising land battle "ship"
The officers of the General Staff analyzed the options for using such machines and came to the conclusion that the tanks are capable of providing a quick breakthrough of the enemy's first line of defense with minimal losses. According to calculations, it turned out that even a few dozen machines, concentrated at the forefront of the main attack, would guarantee the success of the operation. According to these calculations, it turned out that the "tank" should have a gun with a caliber of at least three inches, with a high rate of fire and good ballistics, as well as several machine guns. The frontal armor was supposed to withstand the German 75-mm grenade delivered "on strike" from a distance of half a mile, and the side projections - the burst of a 105-mm grenade at a distance of three sazhens. Due to the frequent defeat of the crews of armored vehicles by spray of lead through the viewing slots, it was decided to use periscopic devices for observation and sights.
But such armored vehicles during the First World War were deservedly called the "Russian type of tank"
From idea to metal
Having estimated this and that, the military decided that 50 copies of "Russian tanks" would be enough to break through the front. For the design and construction, a working group was organized from specialists from the Izhora, Putilov and Kolomna steam locomotive plants, who had extensive experience in creating armored vehicles and armored trains. The money, having chipped off, was given by industrialists and the "bread kings" of the Volga region.
The English Mk I was taken as a basis. True, the Russian Empire did not produce gasoline engines of the required characteristics. However, the Putilovites, using the project of a steam engine for a crew boat, with the help of engineers from the Kolomna steam locomotive plant, turned it into a compact high-speed steam engine with a capacity of 60 l / s. True, his water-tube steam boiler with a kerosene nozzle and forced blast had almost a kilometer of copper pipes. But it warmed up in just 15 minutes, after which it gave out high-temperature steam with a pressure of 12 atm.
It was decided to install two such steam engines and one boiler on the tank. This scheme made it possible to get rid of the gearbox, the turning mechanism and gave the tank the ability to turn in place, letting one track forward and the other back. The boiler was placed at the rear of the machine, and the steam engines were placed in caterpillar tracks, directly next to the drive wheels. The engineers had to tinker a lot with the steam condensers. As a result, they were placed in caterpillar tracks to the left and right of the boiler. To increase efficiency, they were equipped with fans driven by two steam turbines running on waste steam. However, this turned out to be insufficient, and when the boiler was operating at more than 60% of its capacity, the steam did not have time to condense. We solved the problem in a head-on way, placing two tanks for feed water in the front part, with a total volume of about 500 liters, where the residual steam was discharged!
"Cannon cart"
Many military experts considered the "tank" as a "carriage for machine guns" and suggested equipping it with a whole battery of machine guns. However, the opinion prevailed that the main weapons The "tenka" should be cannons. And not two, like the British, but three! Two in sponsons, like on Mk I, and the third one is upstairs in a rotating turret! True, the three-inch field gun did not fit because of the long recoil length and the piston lock, which reduced the rate of fire, and the mountain gun had low ballistics, so for the tower they took a shortened Lender anti-aircraft gun with a semi-automatic wedge breech, which had both good ballistics and a high rate of fire, and in sponsors supplied 47-mm Hotchkiss cannons taken from old destroyers.
Similar to the British "diamonds", it was tested, demonstrated in parades, it was often photographed, but even after the United States entered the war, it did not participate in hostilities.
“Shaking? Doesn't shake! "
From England it was reported that the British "tanks" because of the rigid attachment of the road wheels shakes violently on the move. However, due to its complexity, they did not dare to make an elastic suspension on the first Russian serial "tank". They converged on locked bogies, united by balancers, like the undercarriage of heavy portal cranes. Taking into account the design maximum speed on the highway, equal to eight miles per hour, such a chassis was considered quite sufficient.
By the way, the three-wheeled scheme at that time was popular not only among those who wrote about three-wheeled tanks in English magazines, but also among German designers who also created the three-wheeled tank "Treffasvagen". But he had a gasoline engine. And ... maybe someone knows where his "front" is?
"Russian rhombus"
Outwardly, the tanks strongly resembled British ones: the same rhombic tracked contour, the location of the weapons in sponsons, and low speed. The combat weight was kept at the level of 25 tons. The hull was made of armor plates with a thickness of 8,3-12,7 mm with additional overlays on the frontal parts, resulting in a total thickness of 33,7 mm. The driver had two periscopes with silvered mirrors. On both sides of it were water tanks. In the fighting compartment, the weapons were placed in two tiers: in the tower at the top and two sponsons at the bottom. An armored door was located on the hull just behind the sponson on the left. The steam boiler with a chimney and the mechanic's place were located behind the fighting compartment, and the mechanic had his own control drives and, if necessary, could take control when reversing. A fuel tank for 110 pounds of kerosene was also installed in the aft part of the hull, and there were also two oil tanks for eight pounds of castor oil each.
An encouraging result!
Already at the first tests of the new vehicles it became clear that the "Russian tanks" are easy to operate, maneuverable enough, have a high tactical speed, and at speeds up to 5 versts per hour they make no more noise than a regular car, which allowed the crew to talk tolerably during the battle. ... The reserves of fuel and water were enough for 30 versts in a straight line. And the well thought-out placement of components and assemblies, a spacious fighting compartment and the presence of a suspension provided the crew with much more comfortable living conditions compared to the English "tanks". The superiority in armament could not be said, as well as its favorable location, which allowed a crew of eight people to easily create a high density of fire in all directions.
Russian tenki start and win!
All 50 "tanks" did not have time to prepare for the offensive - only 32, but they considered that there would be enough of them. We agreed to use them simultaneously with the British, and with God's help they launched an offensive in the direction of Lutsk. Artillery preparation lasted from 3 a.m. on June 3 to 9 a.m. on June 5, which had not yet happened in the practice of the Russian army. The forward fortifications built by the Austrians were destroyed, after which "tanks" were thrown into action to break through the second line of defense. Tilting in craters and trenches, they, nevertheless, uncontrollably moved forward, shooting machine-gun nests from guns and crushing the dugouts with caterpillars. The front was broken through 25 versts in depth with minimal losses. Well, their psychological impact turned out to be so great that many Austrian (not to mention Czech and Slovak units) surrendered to a single "tenk", as soon as he approached their positions. True, it turned out that it was only possible to deliver fuel to the "tanks" by carts, however, during the night, both delivery and refueling of the cars were carried out, and in the morning the offensive resumed, and thanks to the presence of three guns, the "tanks" independently suppressed the German batteries put up against them. literally pelting them with a hail of shells.
Such a "Russian tank" could be quite. And, by the way, it is completely incomprehensible why the first English "tank" did not become just like that. Three cannons - two in sponsons and one in the turret in the front of the hull, because that's what they ask for
On June 24, an artillery preparation of the Anglo-French armies began on the Somme River, which lasted seven days, after which on July 1 the Allies launched an offensive. Now the front was broken not only in the south, but also in the west. Austria-Hungary requested an armistice, then Turkey joined it, and thus the powers of the Triple Alliance were defeated! As a result, revolutions never broke out either in Russia, or in Germany, or in Austria-Hungary, although, yes, over time, the laws of economic development inexorably led them all to integrate into a single economic union - the United States of Europe!
PS Color illustrations by A. Sheps.
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