The most popular military profession during the Second World War remained the traditional infantry specialty shooter. The Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army was no exception. The shooter with a conventional rifle pulled out the main burden of the battlefield. And because the fate of his weapons is particularly interesting.
According to its nomenclature, the pre-war system of small arms of the Red Army was modern and fairly balanced. But since it was formed mainly in 1939-1941, this led to the emergence of numerous samples in the redistribution of one type. So, in the role of individual weapons, the shooter turned out to be a magazine rifle arr. 1891 / 30 g., And self-loading rifle arr. 1940 g. (SVT-40), made under one 7,62-mm rifle cartridge. In addition, each of them had a sniper version, and for ordinary soldiers of special forces - telecom operators, sappers, etc. - a carbine mod. 1938
MILLIONS AND MILLIONS
Rifle arr. 1891 / 30 g. And carbine arr. 1938 were the direct descendants of the Russian "trilinea" or, more precisely, "3-linear rifle arr. 1891, created by S. I. Mosin, an officer of the Tula Arms Plant (although elements designed by the Belgian gunsmith L. Nagan and members of the Commission Major-General N. I. Chagin were also used in its design). The definition of “trilinear” simply meant the caliber measured in the inch system: the 3 lines corresponded to the 0,3 inch, that is, the 7,62 mm. The Russian army then received three variants of the rifle - infantry, dragoon and Cossack. Since 1907, the serial production of carbines for gunners and special forces began. And in the 1908-m was adopted 7,62-mm rifle cartridge with a pointed bullet.
The modernization of the 1930 of the year included the installation of a new aiming device on the dragoon rifle (infantry and Cossack by that time) and introduction of some other changes to the design. Rifle arr. 1891 / 30 with a needle four-sided bayonet (rifles even led to normal combat with a bayonet in a combat position) was considered a temporary solution - the main weapon of the Red Army was to be a self-loading rifle.
Order Plan The People's Commissariat of Weapons for the 1940 year provided for the release of 1 222 820 rifles mod. 1891 / 30 g., 163 000 carbines arr. 1938 g. And 600 000 self-loading rifles arr. 1938 (SVT-38). At 1941, in connection with the production of the modification SVT-40, the order for self-loading rifles was reduced. But already at the start of the 1941, the People's Commissariat of Defense substantially adjusted its requests, deciding to increase the number of self-loading rifles from the 200 000 to a million, even if it was completely denied access to magazine rifles.
The question was considered by a special commission, and in order to understand its importance, it’s enough to look at its composition: Chairman - V. M. Molotov, members - G. M. Malenkov, N. A. Voznesensky, People's Commissar of Internal Affairs L. P. Beria, People's Commissar of Defense S. K. Tymoshenko, Chief of General Staff G. K. Zhukov. They spoke in favor of an urgent increase in the issue of LTS The then People's Commissar of Weapons B. L. Vannikov recalled later that he had to personally contact JV Stalin. He took into account the objections Commissariat and reversed the decision of the commission. The February 7 1941 1 800 000 1 100 000 700 000 314 74 XNUMX XNUMX XNUMX XNUMX XNUMX XNUMX XNUMX XNUMX XNUMX XNUMX XNUMX XNUMX XNUMX rifles. Production of “trehlineek” at the Tula Arms (No. XNUMX) and Izhevsk (No. XNUMX) plants remained.
Shop rifles and carbines belonged to those types of small arms, which the Red Army by June 1941 of the year was provided even above the staff. But the difficult events of the initial period of the war: retreat, heavy combat losses, the loss of weapons depots sharply raised the question of the urgent increase in the production of rifles. The good old “trilinea” in production was cheaper in 2,5 than the new and still insufficiently mastered SVT, besides it was quickly and easily comprehended by the soldiers. It is not surprising that the rifle arr. 1891 / 30 became the main weapon of the Red Army in battles with the Germans and their allies. It is worth noting that the magazine rifles and carbines throughout the Second World War were the most popular weapons in other armies.
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the "three-line" was modernized, primarily to simplify production. The receiver was made without top edges, the brass parts of the device were replaced with steel ones, the finishing was simplified, the box was not polished. Since the First World War, the rifle belt, to simplify, was fastened to the slot in the butt and the forearm of the rifle that served as the slingings (hence, by the way, the well-known joke: “How much does the rifle's anti-arm weigh?”). But now I had to simplify the design of these slots. The Artillery Museum in St. Petersburg, for example, holds a rifle, made in Izhevsk in the 1942 year. Its metal parts are roughly treated outside, the birch bed is impregnated, but without varnishing, the slots in the belt box do not have reinforcing eyes.
By the way, after the evacuation of Tula Plant No. 314, the main burden of supplying the army with magazine rifles fell on Izhevsk Plant No. 74. He received the task to bring the release of "trehlineyk" to 12 thousands of pieces per day! The implementation of the plan was facilitated by the transition to the execution of rifling in the barrel bore, begun on the eve of the war, by drowning (punching) instead of cutting and organizing production, taking into account the inevitable decline in the average qualifications of workers. So, not only the manufacture of parts and the assembly of rifles, but also the acceptance was broken down into separate, easier to master operations.
Had to resort to old stocks. V.N. Novikov, who was the Deputy Commissar of Arms at that time, said that when a critical situation with receiver boxes arose at the Izhevsk enterprise, the head of the technical control department recalled that since pre-revolutionary times "at least sixty thousand ready-made receiver boxes lie in the old basements of the plant ", Rejected in due time because of deviations in sizes. After testing and fixing these boxes went to the new rifles. Is that the military acceptance requested to grind the stamp with the royal eagle.
For the 1941-1945 years, the Red Army and other military units of the USSR received 12 139 300 magazine rifles and carbines (for comparison: in Germany they made 1939 1945 10 in Germany from 327 to 800). The maximum of production and supplies was already reached in 1942, and in 1943, due to the gradual saturation of troops with weapons, the supply of rifles began to decrease. But it was then that the last combat model appeared in the family of the "trilinea".
WITH ACCOUNT OF COMBAT EXPERIENCE
Preference for close combat, the need to act in dugouts, communications, buildings, forest, overcoming obstacles and barriers, the participation of shooters in tank assault forces and assault groups demanded a lighter and more compact weapon than the three-line. They could be the same carbine arr. 1938, because the intermediate-power cartridge has so far only been developed and automatic weapons for it have not yet been designed.
But the carbine did not provide for the attachment of the bayonet. And he gave the soldier greater confidence in the melee, and were not going to abandon him.
In May, 1943 conducted tests on eight bayonets (at the same time carbines with a detachable bayonet were tested). By decree of the State Defense Committee of January 17, 1944 of the year was adopted 7,62-mm carbine mod. 1944 g. With an integral folding bayonet Semin. He became the last mass military weapons in the family of "trilinek". The same decree was removed from production rifle arr. 1891 / 30 d. Major General Rozhkov from the 2 of August 7 said in a report from the Chief of the Artillery Supply Department of the 1944 of the Ukrainian Front: “The accuracy and accuracy of the carbines with integral bayonet fully correspond to the tactical and combat requirements of modern combat ... carbine with integral bayonet arr. 1944 g. At a distance of 300-400 m is the same as that of a rifle mod. 1891 / 30. A few words about why such short distances were mentioned.
The experience of the war forced a substantial revision of the requirements for small arms. The trend of conducting targeted firing at long ranges was replaced by a reverse installation. The infantry combat charter of 1942, which systematized the experience of the first period of the Great Patriotic War, stated: “A rifle is the main weapon of a shooter to hit an enemy with a bullet, bayonet and butt ... Focused aimed fire from a rifle is used to hit group targets up to 1000 m. Fire on planes and parachutists are guided up to 500 m along viewing gaps tanks and armored vehicles - up to 200 m. "
The most favorable distance of opening fire according to the charter was equal to 600 m for excellent shooters, and for all others - 400 m, that is, within the range of a direct shot. The definition of these values has contributed to the development of the intermediate power cartridge and weapons for it. And when formulating the requirements for a new cartridge, the indicators of the range of a direct shot of a carbine mod. 1944 g. So the "three-line" contributed to the formation of a new generation of small arms.
Revised and training system shooters. A number of commanders noted the excessive fascination of the best Red Army men on the eve of the war with "accurate" fire on targets, which was more of a sporting interest. When training a mass shooter in the war years, they began to pay attention not only to the basics of accurate firing, but also to the skill of equipping the store and sending the patron to the chamber “blindly” - without looking at the target, at the ability to recognize and eliminate (if possible) the causes delays in shooting, choose a position.
Lieutenant-General N. I. Biryukov wrote in his memoirs “Difficult science to win” in his memoirs about how the shooters had to teach the shooters to conduct aimed fire: “Any front commander knows how much trouble young soldiers bring who are afraid of the sound of a shot. Here is a fighter lying on the firing line. He was well versed in the theory of shooting: it is necessary to combine the sight slot and the front sight, hold your breath, gently pull the trigger. But as soon as he got used to it, a neighbor’s rifle slammed to the right, he started, the target went away. Now imagine the same fighter when artillery shells are whistling and breaking somewhere ahead of him, when tanks, rolling over the trench, rush to the attack ... Nothing brings the soldier closer to the situation at the front like tactical exercises with live firing. I have often seen people in battle who were previously “baptized” in the rear. A huge difference compared with those who did not go through such teachings. "
“Trilinek” became the basis of a sniper rifle, rifle grenade launchers using muzzle or a pistol grenade, as well as one of the first massively used samples of special-purpose weapons. More precisely, "the weapons of silent and flameless shooting." For this purpose, a removable muzzle device “Bramit” was used (MITINA'S BRIATING - on behalf of the developers of the device) in combination with a special cartridge with a reduced powder charge more than five times, which made it possible to reduce the initial velocity of the bullet, which now did not exceed the speed of sound. "Bramit" was a silencer with two expansion chambers, a cut-off valve and openings for the release of gases. It was used by partisans, groups, and special forces of the GRU and the NKVD / NKGB. A carabiner with a “Bramit” device, for example, was considered as an option of eliminating Belarus's Gauleiter Wilhelm Kuba in 1943, although the one with the time mine was implemented.
After the war, the sniper rifle remained in the military service the longest of the “trehliniek” family - up to the appearance of the Dragunov sniper rifle in the army.
NOT ONLY TROPHIES ...
Although the trilinek in various versions was the most massive rifle, it was not the only one left. In the summer and autumn of 1941, a large number of rifles of various calibers and systems turned out, for example, in parts of the people's militia. Sometimes they are classified as captured, which is true if we talk about Austrian 8-mm rifles and Mannicher carbines of the 1895 system of the year, which were really able to beat off the enemy during the First World War, or 7,92-mm Mausers, wz.1929, captured autumn 1939 of the year in Western Ukraine and Western Belarus.
Let me remind you that while Russia participated in the First World War, it bought a large number of different rifles and cartridges from its allies at that time. Russian troops received French rifles Lebel, Gra, Gra-Kropachek, Italian Vetterli-Vitali, Japanese Arisaka. Much of them remained in warehouses and in the summer and autumn 1941 of the year was removed from there.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the departmental formations of the People's Commissariat of the Fuel Industry had rifles of Lee-Enfield 1914 systems, Arisaka 1905 years, Lebel 1907 / 1915 / 1916 years, Mannicher 1893 years, Vetterli-Vitali 1870 / 1884 years, Graf 1874 years, Graf 1885 / 1885, Manliher 1878, 1884 of the year, 1905 / XNUMX of the year. Rifles Arisaka system arr. XNUMX, along with other foreign weapons, was received by fighters of the fighter battalion of the Leningrad Baltic plant, Lebel rifles - the militia of the Krasnogvardeysky district of Moscow.
Curious are the memories of one of the veterans of the Great Patriotic War, who began his combat career in the Moscow militia, about issued French rifles: “We almost didn’t cling to the wires”. Indeed, the French needle bayonets-stilettos differed a great length.
Despite the saturation of the troops with weapons, they had to resort to the use of new trophies at the front. Mainly for the armament of parts of the engineering troops, communications troops, that is, “support units”. Thus, in the documents of the 123-th separate motorized pontoon-bridge battalion, it is indicated that in repulsing the enemy 17 raid on July 1943 of the year, “Italian rounds - 1291 units” were spent. The use of Italian rifles (obviously, it concerns the captured Manliher-Carcano) is not surprising - back in March of the 1943, this battalion had about half of the rifles put to it by the 318 staff.
The use of captured weapons in the presence of ammunition was not uncommon. It is not by chance that the Order of the NCO No. 6 of 5 in January 1943 of the year indicated: “... captured weapons and property taken by the troops during the battle and immediately used in battles against the enemy remain in the troops”.
GERR "MAUSER"
This inevitably raises the question of comparing the domestic rifle with the most massive weapon of the enemy. Such, contrary to the stereotype that has taken root in the majority consciousness, were shop rifles and Mauser 1898 carbines of the year, and not the MP38 submachine guns at all.
In most parts of the Wehrmacht, there were rifles (or shortened rifles) Mauser K1935k adopted by the 98, although old infantry rifles and Mausers of Czech, Belgian, Polish, Austrian production were used. According to the combat characteristics of the rifle arr. 1891 / 30 and K98k were equivalent. And yet, each had its own characteristics.
For the Russian “trilinear” remained her remarkable ease of handling and high reliability. But without detracting from the merits of the domestic sample, it must be admitted that it was the 1898 Mauser of the year that is considered a classic of military store rifles.
Its positive qualities include features of the device shutter, trigger, magazine and boxes. In the back of the bolt, a non-automatic safety lever is mounted on three positions: locking the firing pin with the trigger and bolt, locking the trigger with the firing pin (used only when disassembling a rifle) and “fire”. In the "three-line" fuse is missing. True, pulling back the trigger, screwed on the back of the drummer, with a quarter turn, can be considered setting the weapon "on the fuse", but this operation required a lot of effort and contributed to the weakening of the mainspring.
The Mauser trigger provides a “warning” descent, which contributes to more accurate shooting than a three-way descent without warning, although this does not play a significant role for the mass shooter in battle. The advantages of the two-row Mauser store are obvious. Its appearance was facilitated by a German cartridge without a protruding rim and with a sleeve in front of the cartridge in the chamber. The Russian three-line cartridge was fixed with a protruding rim, which determined the use of a single-row magazine and the appearance of a cut-off reflector in the trilinear, one of the key elements of the Mosin system. The K98k box with a semi-pistol projection of the neck of the butt provides a comfortable aiming, the neck of the butt is somewhat stronger than that of the three-lane.
The advantages of the Mauser design K98k - the result is not so much the talent of the creators, as stories development. The Mauser system was formed prior to its adoption for ten years. The three-line system was created earlier and in a shorter time. The end of the 19th century, when both systems appeared, was the beginning of a new era in the history of small arms - an era of cartridges with smokeless powder and new ballistics, an increase in the rate of fire. And even seven years of difference in such turbulent periods mean a lot. The “trilinek” was subsequently modified slightly, mainly in connection with the adoption of a new version of the cartridge or to simplify production. Moreover, on the eve of both world wars in our country, they soon intended to replace it with a self-loading rifle.
German industry during the war also faced the need to reduce the cost of weapons production. In particular, on the K98k, the walnut tree of the lodge was replaced with cheaper wood or plywood, a number of parts were stamped, the shop boxes were made of tin, the box rings were simplified, and ers-bayonets were inserted.