Anti-aircraft defense of the Red Army

15


Understanding the growing role aviation in modern warfare, the leadership of the Red Army was concerned about the creation of modern air defense systems.
The royal inheritance in the form of: 76-mm Lender anti-aircraft guns, a few 40-mm Vickers machines and semi-homemade rifle Maxim did not meet modern requirements.

Anti-aircraft defense of the Red Army


The first Soviet anti-aircraft installation was designed by M.N. Kondakov under the machine gun system Maxim arr. 1910 g. It was made in the form of a tripod and connected to a machine gun with the help of a swivel. Possessing simplicity and reliability, installation arr. 1928 provided circular fire and high elevation angles.



An annular sight was adopted for it, intended for firing at airplanes moving at speeds up to 320 km / h at a distance of up to 1500 m. Later, with an increase in flight speed, the sight was repeatedly upgraded.

The PKB of the Tula Arms Plant in 1930 designed a twin anti-aircraft gun, which turned out to be much more massive. The possibility of firing from each machine gun separately was kept, which reduced the consumption of ammunition during firing.



She also went into service, although for several reasons, not widespread.

In connection with the need to equip air defense forces with more powerful installations capable of providing massive fire, the famous gunsmith N.F. Tokarev was created quadruple anti-aircraft machine gun installation Maxim arr. 1931

She had a high rate of fire, good maneuverability, constant combat readiness. Shooting at aerial targets from it was carried out with the help of the same sights that in single and twin installations.



Due to the presence of a liquid cooling system and large capacity tapes, it was for its time an effective means of dealing with low-flying aircraft. She had a high combat rate of fire and fire density.

The good combat effectiveness of the installation, which was first used in the battle on Hassan, was noted by foreign military observers present in the Japanese army.

The quad installation of the Tokarev system was the first integrated anti-aircraft installation adopted by the Army.
During World War II, a quadruple anti-aircraft gun was successfully used to cover troops, important military facilities and cities, and was used with great efficiency many times to fight enemy manpower.

After adopting the ShKAS aviation rapid-fire machine gun, in 1936. The serial production of the twin anti-aircraft installation began. However, on the ground ShKAS not caught on. For this machine gun, special edition cartridges were required, the use of conventional infantry ammunition led to a large number of delays in shooting. The machine gun was little suited for service on the ground: complex in design and sensitive to pollution.

Most of the existing anti-aircraft guns with ShKAS machine guns were used for air defense of airfields, where they had air-conditioned ammunition and qualified service.

In the initial period of the war, to strengthen the air defense system and compensate for the losses suffered, it was decided to use the aviation machine guns PV-1, YES and YES-2 available in the warehouses.

It was decided to follow the path of maximum simplification, without a significant reduction in combat effectiveness.

On the basis of the PV-1 N.F. Tokarev in August 1941. was built under construction ZPU. In 1941-42. 626 of such installations was manufactured.



A significant part of them was used in the defense of Stalingrad.

The twin and single aircraft machine guns DA designs by V.A. Degtyarev were mounted on the simplest swivel.



Often this happened in the army workshops, in the field. Despite the relatively low rate of fire and the disk magazine with a capacity of the entire 63 cartridge, these installations played a role in the initial period of the war.

During the war, due to increased survivability of airplanes, the value of rifle-caliber installations in the fight against enemy aircraft drops noticeably, and they are inferior to the primacy of the large-bore machine gun DShK, although they continue to play a certain role.

26 February 1939. Resolution of the Defense Committee adopted 12.7-mm. A machine gun DShK (Degtyarev-Shpagin large-caliber) on a universal machine Kolesnikov. For firing at air targets the machine gun was equipped with special anti-aircraft sights. The first machine guns entered the army in 1940g. But by the beginning of the war in the army there were still very few.



DShK has become a powerful means of combating enemy aircraft, possessing high armor penetration, it is significantly superior to ZNU caliber 7,62-mm. in range and altitude of effective fire. Thanks to the positive qualities of DShK machine guns, their number in the army was constantly growing.



In the course of the war, twin-walled and double-walled units were designed and manufactured.

In addition to domestic machine guns for anti-aircraft fire, Lend-Lease was used: 7,62-mm Browning М1919A4 and large-caliber 12,7-mm. Browning М2, as well as captured MG-34 and MG-42.

Especially in the army, the powerful quad member 12.7-mm were valued. American-made M17 units mounted on the M3 semi-tracked armored personnel carrier chassis.



These self-propelled guns proved to be very effective means of protection. tank units and formations on the march from an air attack.
In addition, M17 was successfully used during the battles in cities, firing densely on the upper floors of buildings.



The pre-war industry of the USSR was not able to fully equip the troops with the necessary anti-aircraft armament, the air defense of the USSR for the 22.06.1941 year was equipped with anti-aircraft machine-gun installations of only 61%.

No less difficult was the situation with large-caliber machine guns. 1 of January 1942. in the army they were only-720 pieces. However, with the transition to war, industry in ever-increasing volumes of troops saturated with weapons.

Six months later, in the army already -1947 pcs. DShK, and by 1 January 1944 g.-8442 pcs. In two years, the number has increased almost 12 times.

The importance of machine-gun fire in the military air defense and air defense of the country remained throughout the war. From 3837 enemy aircraft, shot down by front forces from 22 June 1941 to 22 June 1942, 295 accounted for anti-aircraft machine gun installations, 268 - for rifle-and-machine-gun fire of troops. From June 1942 the army of the army anti-aircraft artillery regiment consisted of a company of DShK, which had 8 machine guns, and since February 1943 - 16 machine guns.

The anti-aircraft artillery divisions (zenad) of the RVGK, which had been formed since November 1942, had one of the same companies in each regiment of small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery. A sharp increase in the number of large-caliber machine guns in the troops in 1943 — 1944 is quite typical. Only in preparation for the Battle of Kursk, 520 12,7-mm machine guns were sent to the fronts. However, since 1943 spring, the number of DShKs in the zenad decreased from 80 to 52 while simultaneously increasing the number of guns from 48 to 64, and according to the updated 1944 spring state, the zenad had 88 anti-aircraft guns and 48 DShK machine guns. But at the same time, by order of the People's Commissar of Defense against 31 March 1943, from April 5, an anti-aircraft artillery regiment was injected into the staff of tank and mechanized corps (16 mm 37 anti-aircraft guns and 16 heavy-caliber machine guns, the same regiment also included cavalry corps). The staff of tank, mechanized and motorized brigades is an anti-aircraft machine-gun company with 9 heavy-caliber machine guns. At the beginning of 1944, the 18 DShK anti-aircraft gun companies entered some rifle divisions in the state.

DShK machine guns are usually used platoon. Thus, the division's anti-aircraft gun company is usually four platoons (12 machine guns) covered the area of ​​artillery firing positions, two platoons (6 machine guns) - the command center of the division.

Anti-aircraft machine guns were also introduced into anti-aircraft batteries of medium caliber to protect them from enemy attacks from low altitudes. Machine gunners often successfully interacted with air defense fighters - cutting off enemy fighters with fire, they provided their pilots with escape from pursuit. Anti-aircraft guns are usually located no further than 300— 500 m from the front edge of the defense. They covered the advanced units, command posts, front-line railways and highways.

The situation with anti-aircraft artillery was very difficult by the beginning of the war.

As of 22 June 1941, there were:
-1370 pcs 37-mm. automatic anti-aircraft guns rev.xnumx (1939-K)
-805 pcs 76-mm. field guns obr.1900 g. on the anti-aircraft installations of the system Ivanova
-539 pcs 76-mm. anti-aircraft guns arr. 1914 / 15 of the Lender system
-19 pcs 76-mm. anti-aircraft guns arr. 1915 / 28
-3821 pcs.76-mm. anti-aircraft guns arr. 1931 (3-K)
-750 pcs.76-mm. anti-aircraft guns arr. 1938
-2630 pcs 85-mm. arr. 1939 (52-K)

A significant part of them were hopelessly outdated systems, with weak ballistics, not having anti-aircraft fire control devices (PUAZO).

Let us dwell on guns that had real combat value.

37-mm. The 1939 automatic anti-aircraft gun, the only small-caliber machine gun adopted before the war, is based on the Swedish Bofors 40-mm gun.



The 37-mm automatic anti-aircraft gun of the 1939 model of the year is a single-barreled small-caliber automatic anti-aircraft gun on a four-carriage with a non-detachable four-wheel drive.

Automatic guns based on the use of recoil force according to the scheme with a short recoil of the barrel. All actions necessary for firing a shot (opening the bolt after the shot, extracting the liner, cocking the drummer, feeding the cartridges into the chamber, closing the bolt and lowering the hammer) are performed automatically. Manually carried out the aiming, pointing guns and feed clips with ammunition in the store.

According to the leadership of the gun service, his main task was to fight against air targets at distances up to 4 km and at altitudes up to 3 km. If necessary, the gun can be successfully used for firing at ground targets, including tanks and armored vehicles.

During the 1941 battle of the year, anti-aircraft guns suffered significant losses - until 1 September 1941, the 841 gun was lost, and in just 1941 a year - 1204 guns. Huge losses were hardly compensated for by production - on 1 January 1942, there was about 1600 37-mm anti-aircraft guns available. On 1, January 1945, there were about 19 800 guns. However, this number includes 40-mm. Bofors guns supplied by Lend-Lease.

61-K during the Great Patriotic War were the main means of air defense of the Soviet troops in the front line.

Shortly before the war, an 25-mm automatic anti-aircraft gun 1940 model of the year (72-K) was created, borrowing a number of design solutions from 37-mm. 61-K. But by the beginning of hostilities she did not get to the troops.



The 72-K anti-aircraft guns were designed for anti-aircraft defense of a rifle regiment level and in the Red Army occupied an intermediate position between large-bore DShK heavy anti-aircraft machine guns and more powerful 37-K anti-aircraft guns. However, the use of a charger for a small caliber anti-aircraft machine gun greatly reduced the practical rate of fire.

Because of the difficulties in mastering their mass production, a significant number of 25-mm anti-aircraft guns appeared in the Red Army only in the second half of the war. Anti-aircraft guns 72-K and twin installations 94-KM based on them were successfully used against low-flying and diving targets. By the number of copies issued, they are far behind 37-mm. automatons.

The most numerous at the time of the outbreak of war 76-mm. anti-aircraft gun arr. 1931 (3-K) was created on the basis of the German 7,5-cm anti-aircraft 7,5 cm Flak L / 59 from Rheinmetall in the framework of military cooperation with Germany. Original samples made in Germany, in February-April 1932, were tested at the Scientific Research Antiaircraft Range. In the same year, the gun was put into service under the name "76-mm anti-aircraft gun mod. 1931.



For her, a new projectile was developed, with a bottle-shaped liner, which was used only in anti-aircraft guns.

76-mm anti-aircraft gun arr. The 1931 of the year is a semi-automatic cannon, since the opening of the shutter, the extraction of spent cartridges and the closing of the shutter during firing are done automatically, and the feeding of the cartridges into the chamber and the shot is done manually. The presence of semiautomatic mechanisms provides a high combat rate of fire of the gun - up to 20 rounds per minute. The lifting mechanism allows fire in the vertical angle range from -3 ° to + 82 °. In the horizontal plane shooting can be conducted in any direction.

Gun arr. The 1931 of the Year was quite a modern weapon with good ballistic characteristics. Its carriage with four folding beds provided circular fire, and with a weight of 6,5 kg, the vertical firing range was 9 km. A significant drawback of the gun was that its transfer from the traveling position to the combat position took a relatively long time (more than 5 minutes) and was a rather laborious operation.

Several dozen guns were installed on the YG-10 trucks. SAU received index 29K.

For her, a new projectile was developed, with a bottle-shaped liner, which was used only in anti-aircraft guns.

76-mm anti-aircraft gun arr. The 1931 of the year is a semi-automatic cannon, since the opening of the shutter, the extraction of spent cartridges and the closing of the shutter during firing are done automatically, and the feeding of the cartridges into the chamber and the shot is done manually. The presence of semiautomatic mechanisms provides a high combat rate of fire of the gun - up to 20 rounds per minute. The lifting mechanism allows fire in the vertical angle range from -3 ° to + 82 °. In the horizontal plane shooting can be conducted in any direction.

Gun arr. The 1931 of the Year was quite a modern weapon with good ballistic characteristics. Its carriage with four folding beds provided circular fire, and with a weight of 6,5 kg, the vertical firing range was 9 km. A significant drawback of the gun was that its transfer from the traveling position to the combat position took a relatively long time (more than 5 minutes) and was a rather laborious operation.

Several dozen guns were installed on the YG-10 trucks. SAU received index 29K.



In the back of a YAG-10 truck with a reinforced bottom, the swinging part of the 76,2-mm anti-aircraft gun was stirred. 1931 g. (3K) on a regular cabinet. To increase the stability of the platform when firing, the gun stand was lowered relative to the platform on the 85 mm. The car was complemented by four folding "paws" - lugs "jacking type." The body was supplemented with protective armor shields, which in a combat position reclined horizontally, increasing the service area of ​​the gun. In front of the cabin, there are two charging boxes with ammunition (2x24 cartridge). On the folding sides were places for the four numbers of the calculation "in the campaign."

The 3-mm anti-aircraft gun model 76 of the year was developed on the basis of the 1938-K gun. The same gun was installed on a new, four-wheel carriage. Which significantly reduced the deployment time and increased the speed of transportation of the system. In the same year, the synchronous-tracking drive system of Academician M.P. Kostenko was developed.

However, the growth of speeds and the "ceiling" of the aircraft, increasing their survivability demanded an increase in the height of anti-aircraft guns and an increase in the power of the projectile.

76-mm designed in Germany. anti-aircraft gun had an increased margin of safety. The calculations showed that it is possible to increase the caliber of the gun to 85-mm.

The main advantage of the 85-mm anti-aircraft gun over its predecessor, the 76-mm anti-aircraft gun of the 1938 model, is in the increased power of the projectile, which created a greater amount of damage in the target area.

Due to the extremely tight deadlines set aside for the development of the new system, the leading designer GD Dorokhin decided to impose an 85-mm barrel on the platform 76-mm anti-aircraft gun arr. 1938 of the year, using the shutter and semi-automatic of this weapon.

To reduce recoil was installed muzzle brake. After finishing the anti-aircraft gun launched into mass production on a simplified carriage (with a four-wheeled vehicle) 76,2-mm anti-aircraft gun arr. 1938



Thus, with minimal cost and in a short time, a qualitatively new anti-aircraft gun was created.

In order to improve the accuracy of firing at air targets, the 85-mm anti-aircraft guns were equipped with PUAZO-3 anti-aircraft gun control devices, which allowed to solve the meeting problem and to develop the coordinates of the preempted target point within the range of 700-12000 m, in height to 9600 m at the base to 2000 m. The PUAZO-3 used electrical synchronous transmission of the generated data to the guns, which ensured high rates of firing and its accuracy, as well as the possibility of firing at maneuvering targets.

85-mm. The 52-K anti-aircraft gun was the most sophisticated Soviet anti-aircraft gun of medium caliber during the war. In 1943 in order to improve service performance and reduce production costs, it has been modernized.

Very often, Soviet medium-caliber anti-aircraft guns were used for firing at ground targets, especially in anti-tank defense. Anti-aircraft guns sometimes became the only barrier in the path of German tanks.

Air defense tools played a very important role in the Great Patriotic War. According to official data, during the war, ground-based air defense of ground troops was shot down 21 645 aircraft, including anti-aircraft cannons 76 mm or more - 4047 aircraft, anti-aircraft guns - 14 657 aircraft, anti-aircraft machine guns - 2401 airplane, rifle and machine gun fire - 540 aircraft

But it should be noted a number of blunders in the creation of air defense systems.
In addition to the clearly unsatisfactory quantitative saturation of troops with anti-aircraft weapons, there were serious shortcomings in the design and creation of new models.

In 1930, the USSR and the German firm Rheinmetall in the person of the front-end LLC BYUTAST entered into an agreement to supply a number of artillery armaments, including automatic anti-aircraft guns. According to the terms of the contract, the company Rheinmetall in the USSR supplied two samples of the 20-mm automatic anti-aircraft gun and complete design documentation for this tool. It was taken into service in the Soviet Union under the official name “20-mm automatic anti-aircraft and anti-tank gun mod. 1930. However, in the USSR for production reasons, they were never able to bring to an acceptable level of reliability. In Germany, this machine has received the designation 2 cm Flugabwehrkanone 30 was adopted and massively used until the very end of the war.

At the end of the year 1937 at the plant. Kalinin made the first prototype of the 45-mm automatic anti-aircraft gun, which received the factory ZIK-45 index, later changed to 49-K. After the modifications, it successfully passed the tests, however, the military leadership thought short-sightedly that 45-mm. the projectile has excess capacity, and the designers were asked to develop a similar 37-mm. anti-aircraft gun
Structurally, 49-K and 61-K did not differ much, had a close cost (60 thousand rubles against 55 thousand rubles), but at the same time the reach and destructive effect of 45-mm shells was significantly higher.

Instead of not too successful 25 mm. a 72-K submachine gun that had manual charge loading, which limited the rate of fire, for the needs of air defense regimental units, a 23-mm Volkova-Yartseva (VYA) design air gun with ribbon power and high rate of fire would be more suitable. During the war, VY were installed on the IL-2 attack aircraft, where they proved themselves to be excellent. Only in navy, for armament of torpedo boats, a certain amount of twin 23 mm was used. anti-aircraft machine guns.
Only in the aftermath of the war, the paired anti-aircraft gun ZU-23 and ZSU “Shilka” were created for the cartridge gun VYa.

The possibility of creating a highly effective anti-aircraft weapon under 14,5-mm during the war was also missed. cartridge MFR. This was done only after the end of hostilities in the Vladimirov Large-Scale Machine Gun (KPV), which is still in service.

The implementation of all these missed opportunities would significantly increase the potential of the Red Army air defense forces and hastened the victory.

Based on:
Shirokorad A. B. Encyclopedia of domestic artillery.
Ivanov A.A. Artillery of the USSR in the Second World War.
http://www.soslugivci-odnopolhane.ru/orugie/5-orugie/94-zenitki.html
http://www.tehnikapobedy.ru/76mm38hist.htm
http://alexandrkandry.narod.ru/html/weapon/sovet/artelery/z/72k.html
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15 comments
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  1. avt
    +8
    12 August 2013 08: 51
    Cognitive - a general educational article, easy and easy smile , and the photos are decent. +
    1. +3
      12 August 2013 10: 33
      we should also recall how the "non-domestic Swiss" sold their anti-aircraft arlicons both to the left and to the right,
      and the Americans were also reselling Lendliz to Stalin
      at an exorbitant price ...
      and the 3rd Reich had more of these oerlikons than ours
      it's a twin
      and nothing personal
      1. 0
        12 August 2013 10: 52
        and how recently in South Africa these robots in Erlikon killed 20 soldiers
      2. aviator46
        +2
        12 August 2013 22: 29
        They sold LendLiz ????
    2. vilenich
      0
      9 December 2013 13: 01
      Absolutely fair!
  2. +5
    12 August 2013 09: 47
    Competent and clear presentation of the material. The article is undoubtedly a plus.
  3. +3
    12 August 2013 10: 19
    So I think. Second photo. What is the effectiveness of such a cart? It somehow doesn’t look very maneuverable
    1. -3
      12 August 2013 13: 06
      We shopped from the heart.
      1. +3
        13 August 2013 06: 00
        What photo photoshop?
    2. +2
      13 August 2013 06: 02
      Virtually none, except I doubt that the horses will calmly react to low-flying attacking attack planes.
  4. The comment was deleted.
  5. +2
    12 August 2013 17: 38
    Many thanks to the anti-aircraft gunners of the Great Patriotic War.
    Monument "Eternal Flame" in Pskov. 17 barrels aimed at the zenith.
    1. +2
      13 August 2013 17: 30
      Considering that the anti-aircraft gunners were anti-aircraft gunners ... "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" was not written out of fear.
  6. bubble82009
    +3
    12 August 2013 23: 25
    all these misses to us during the war and came around.
    1. +4
      13 August 2013 07: 45
      In addition to the article, it is worth adding that, despite all the efforts, it was not possible to bring anti-aircraft 100-mm guns to mass production before and during the war. As a compulsory measure, in the post-war period, before the advent of 100-mm КС-19, captured German 128-mm anti-aircraft guns were widely used.
      1. -1
        13 August 2013 16: 40
        Exactly. The noble government of Stalin did not bother to deal with the problem of anti-aircraft cover.
  7. 0
    13 May 2016 09: 58
    Quote: Aryan
    we should also recall how the "non-domestic Swiss" sold their anti-aircraft arlicons both to the left and to the right,
    and the Americans were also reselling Lendliz to Stalin
    at an exorbitant price ...
    and the 3rd Reich had more of these oerlikons than ours
    it's a twin
    and nothing personal


    Oerlikon was created in Switzerland by the Germans, for German money and was actually a conspiratorial branch under the brand name of which were German developments of small-caliber guns.

    So nefig how much in vain on the Swiss crumb loaf.
  8. The comment was deleted.

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