Unusual tanks of Russia and the USSR. "The Tsar Tank" of Captain N.N. Lebedenko
As we know, after World War I, the First World War passed into the phase of positional warfare, better known as the “trench warfare”. It was almost impossible to penetrate the enemy’s deeply echeloned enemy defenses using traditional methods massed by artillery preparation followed by the breakthrough of the defense line by infantry and cavalry, which inevitably resulted in huge casualties, with little success. Even after a long artillery preparation, it was not possible to crush all enemy well-fortified and camouflaged gun emplacements. Required new weapon and new ways to use it to solve this problem. This new weapon, according to the engineers of the time, was supposed to be a self-propelled vehicle, with powerful armament, well armored and possessing high maneuverability. The army needed a positional tank capable of breaking defenses with its own power, sowing panic in the ranks of the enemy. One of these "armored monsters" was supposed to be the wheel tank N. Lebedenko, known as the "Mastodon", "Bat", "Tsar - tank".
The combat vehicle of this engineer can rightfully be called the first wheeled in the world a tank. The project of this machine N. Lebedenko hatched since the beginning of the war. During his service in the Caucasus, he had to see how easily the high-wheeled carts of local peasants overcome bumps, probably so the idea of creating a car with giant wheels got into his head. To implement his ambitious and at the same time adventurous project, he attracted the engineers B. Stechkin and later A. Mikulin to his side, convincing him that several such machines could easily break through the German defenses on the whole front within one night and thereby Russia will put an end to this war.
The machine outwardly resembled a huge gun carriage with huge nine-meter wheels. The turn was made with the help of a rear guide trolley, on which there was a roller with a diameter of 1,5 meters. The hull of the tank, when viewed from the front, had the shape of a cross, according to some sources, 37-mm cannons were placed in the side sponsons, according to others - 76.2-mm, and machine-gun turrets were located below and above, in which it was supposed to install 4 - 5 machine guns "Maxim" . According to the original design, the hull armor was supposed to be 7 mm, the towers - 8 mm. Estimated speed - up to 17 km per hour (some sources give an estimated speed of 4 km per hour). Weight - 40 tons. The car was supposed to be driven by two Maybach engines with a capacity of 240 horsepower at 2500 rpm. each taken from a wrecked German Zeppelin. Length - 17800 mm. Width - 12000 mm. Height - 9000 mm. It seemed that, having such technical characteristics, the machine would overcome a vertical obstacle or trench without much effort.Having prepared the scale model of the future car in advance and enlisting the support of influential persons, N. Lebedenko achieved the audience of Nicholas II, the model made an indelible impression on the king, easily overcoming obstacles in the form of books laid out on the floor. The sovereign left the “toy” to himself, and in return ordered to open an account to finance the project. N. Lebedenko immediately began to manufacture the machine. The running wheels were assembled in the Dmitrov area, and parts of the corps were in the arena of the Khamovnichesky barracks in the mode of high secrecy. The assembly of the tank was started in July 1915 of the year in 60 km from Moscow, near the station Orudevo, and already in August in the presence of the highest persons it was put to the test. A. Mikulin, taking the driver's seat, started the engines and set the car in motion. While the tank was going on solid ground, everything was fine, but, once on soft soil, the rear guide car hit the ditch, and the car got up. The power of two 240-strong engines was not enough to pull the cart. The actual weight of the tank exceeded the calculated one and amounted to 60 tons, the specific pressure on the ground turned out to be excessively high, as the supplied sheet metal intended for the hull was thicker than the project had assumed. Thus, N. Lebedenko’s tank was not tested, it was left under the protection of soldiers' guards, and A. Mikulin and B. Stechkin, with the assistance of Ot and Weser, tried to create a more powerful engine to continue working on the project, but in the released time he was not, and soon the commission overseeing the progress of work, stopped allocating funds to support the project. He was declared unpromising. The giant wheeled tank was abandoned in the forest and stood there until 1923, after which it was dismantled for scrap.
The fate of the project was typical for the time when there were no established rules in tank building. However, it was only with the advent of tracked vehicles and with the classic layout that the idea of a wheeled tank was a dead end.
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