Soviet object mines F-10 and their use during the war

17
After the start of World War II, Soviet mines F-10 increasingly began to cause damage to the enemy. This object radio-controlled mine was intended to undermine particularly important objects, the decision to destroy and liquidate which could not be taken in the usual manner, as well as when the Red Army left the area, but which were subject to destruction only under special circumstances. Many details on the mining of various objects and administrative buildings remain unknown to this day.

During the retreat of Soviet troops from various cities, special teams of sappers prepared to demolish the building, which most likely could accommodate the headquarters of large German army units, dormitories, officer hotels and canteens, cinemas or warehouses. In the major cities of the country, NKVD experts secretly conducted the mining of administrative buildings. Soviet miners began to use these "surprises" from the very beginning of the war. High-explosive charges were blown up with the help of F-10 mines using radio signals, such mines led to major damage in the deep rear of the German troops. The most famous were the explosions of such mines in Kiev and Kharkov, abandoned by Soviet troops in 1941 year.

Radio-controlled object mine F-10

According to the German descriptions, which were compiled after a meeting with the Soviet F-10 radiominoes, this mine was an 8-tube radio receiver equipped with an 30-meter wire antenna, which was packaged in a metal casing. Initially, the Germans believed that these mines were delivered to the Soviet Union from the United States, but this was erroneous information, the mines were indeed Soviet. The 12-volt battery, which was connected to the receiver with a cable, was located close to the receiver of the object radiomina. In terms of appearance and size, the battery and receiver were similar, but the receiver on the top panel had not one, but two connectors. The battery and the receiver together fit into a rubberized sealed bag, from which 5 lines came out (4 for attaching explosive charges to the electric detonators, one for the antenna). In addition to the control unit and the battery, a special mine-trap of tension action could be installed in the bag, which should have worked when trying to untie it.

The control unit object mines F-10 without housing


The eight-lamp control unit mines could receive and decode a special radio signal. After the signal was received, an electrical impulse was generated, which activated the detonators. When used with a special splitter mine, the number of explosive detonators could be significantly increased. In fact, such a mine could have been used to undermine any amount of explosives at a distance, and the mine could not be located near the explosive charge, but at a distance of 50 meters from it.

The control unit mine with a splitter or without it, along with the battery was stored in a rubberized bag. With constant operation of the device, the battery would be enough for 4 of the day to keep the F-10 mine in the cocked state. The lamps that were used in the mine consumed a significant amount of electricity, so there was a shortage of used batteries for a longer period. However, Soviet engineers were able to solve this problem, significantly extending the life of mines. For this, a clock relay was connected to the radio tubes, which periodically turned them off. Thanks to this solution, the active time of the radio mine was able to increase 5-10 times, now everything depended on the specified on / off periods of the radio tubes. At the same time, the radio signal that was supposed to cause an explosion should not have been interrupted for a long time, in order for the objective mine to be able to catch it.

At a distance from 0 to 40 meters, an 30-meter wire antenna was connected to the mine using a cable, which was placed under a sufficiently small (up to half a meter) layer of soil, stone, brick or water. In this case, the wire antenna should have been laid in a horizontal or close to horizontal position and always directed in the direction from which the mine activation signal was supposed to come. It is easy to guess that in all cases the wire mines of the F-10 mines looked approximately eastward.

It should be noted that Roman numerals were inscribed on the case of the lamp receiver. This marking indicated the wavelength at which the control unit operated. For example, the receiver, on which the number XXXIV was applied, worked at frequencies 413,8 — 428,6 kHz. Receivers, on which numbers greater than XVIII were deposited, were intended for the implementation of especially remote controlled explosions, possessing an increased level of sensitivity.

The control unit object mines F-10 (left), on the right - the battery connected by a power cable.


As a radio transmitter to initiate a controlled explosion, military radio stations of the divisional, corps or army level could be used. According to official Soviet data, on the 22 of June 1941 of the year, the Red Army had operational radio stations of the PAT, which had an output power of 1 kW and a communication range of the order of 600 km; radio stations RAO-KV, which had an output power of 400-500 W and a communication range of up to 300 km; RSB-F radio stations with 40-50 W output power and communication range up to 30 km. All three of the listed radio stations operated in the wavelength range from 25 to 120 meters, that is, short and medium waves were used.

It is worth noting that the idea of ​​organizing controlled explosions with the help of special radiomin proved to be effective and was realized in practice. At the same time, the experience of the 1941 fall guided explosions of the year showed the most significant drawback of these mines - the simplicity and reliability of their blocking, and also showed a limited period of combat service. These mines were of limited use and were effective due to the suddenness and ignorance of the Germans about the technical features and capabilities of Soviet radio-controlled mines. Over time, the Germans were able to identify their main drawback, the most vulnerable point was the broadcast of the detonation team, and they also learned a list of possible radio frequencies. As a result, special units were formed quite quickly, which were responsible for setting up radio interference in the cities captured by the Nazis. The second important drawback was the limited period of use of object radiominas - no more than 40 days, which significantly limited the use of such mines in time.

History use of radiomin during the Great Patriotic War

For the first time in world military history, radio-controlled mines were used already on July 12, 1941, on the Northern Front. On this day, three radio-controlled land mines with a capacity of 250 kg of trotyl each, in the village of Strugi Krasnye in the Pskov Region, were blown up. The mines were installed by a special mining company in the three basements of the large buildings of the village even before the departure of the Soviet troops. On July 12, encrypted radio signals for disrupting the radiomin were sent from a distance of 150 km on the orders of Lieutenant Colonel B. Bychevsky, who was the head of the front engineering troops. The signal was sent from a remote corner of the Gatchina forest park. Undermining of the laid mines was timed to the day when the mined buildings and yards were already occupied by the Germans. Two days after the explosions, the pilots photographed from the air Strugi the Reds. Bychevsky wrote that in the pictures you can see the huge craters and the ruins on the site of houses, which were laid radio-controlled land mines.

The control unit and the battery mines F-10 next to the rubberized bag


On the Western front, at the beginning of the war, 4 operated separate platoon of special mining. For example, a platoon of Lieutenant Nikolayev installed guided mines in the city of Rzhev. The platoon of Lieutenant N. Baturin went from the Dnieper in the Rogachev region to the Moscow region. On the highway between the cities of White and Nelidovo, at the abutments of bridges, as well as on sections of roads passing through the marshes, he installed 10 radio-controlled mines with powerful high-explosive charges — less than 3 tons of explosives were laid. As a result of their detonation, the Germans suffered losses, and the large craters formed at the site of the explosions made it difficult for troops and cargo to be transported in the area. The platoon of Baturin also laid two radiofugs in the building of a two-story school in the village of Dorokhov in the Moscow region. A simultaneous demolition destroyed the building and buried under it the order of 100 German soldiers. Three more platoons of special mining operated as part of the South-Western Front. A special-purpose engineering battalion was formed in the capital of the Soviet state.

One of the most famous controlled explosions were the explosions on Khreshchatyk and adjacent streets of the Ukrainian capital. Buildings located on the main street of Kiev, began to explode around noon 24 September 1941 of the year (German troops entered the city 19 September). Mines detonated not all at once, but in turn, with a certain frequency. Because of the many incendiary bottles that were stored in attics and roofs of buildings (they were there during the preparation of Kiev for street fighting), there were strong fires in the city that continued to blaze until September September. The gendarmerie, the field commandant's office, the officer hotel, the cinema, the warehouse of radio receivers and many other city buildings were destroyed by explosions. The exact number of German soldiers and officers who were victims of this diversion is unknown to this day.

October 22 1941, a similar sabotage was a success in Odessa occupied by the Romanian troops. In 17: 45 the building of the NKVD, located on Marazlievskaya Street (then Engels), was blown up here. This building had the headquarters of the 10 Infantry Division of the 4 of the Romanian Army, as well as the Romanian military commander's office. The building was thoroughly inspected by both German and Romanian sappers many times, as the occupation authorities of Odessa were warned several times by traitors that it was mined by Soviet troops. However, the sappers could not find the left “surprises”, as a result of October 22, the building flew into the air along with the Romanian officers who were there. Under the ruins of the former NKVD building in Odessa, many officers of the headquarters of the 10 Romanian infantry division, as well as the military commandant of the city, the commander of this division, General Ion Glogogine, remained forever.

Soviet object mines F-10 and their use during the war
Consequences of guided explosions on Khreshchatyk 24 September 1941 of the year


The general level of nervousness experienced by the German command in connection with the radio-controlled explosions in the fall of 1941 is also confirmed by the recognition of German Marshal Erich von Manstein, which he cited in his post-war book Lost Victories: “... in general, at that time you had to check everything the buildings, are there any delayed mines laid in them, since in Kiev the German headquarters, and in Odessa the Romanian died from such mines ”.

In this case, one of the most famous episodes of the use of Soviet radio-controlled mines during the Great Patriotic War was the guided explosions, which were produced in Kharkov in November 1941 of the year. Back in mid-October, 1941, when advanced units of the German 6 Army were fighting on the outskirts of the city, in the basement of a large administrative building located on Dzerzhinsky Street, Soviet sappers of senior sergeant N. Sergeev from the operational engineering group of Colonel I.G. Starinova installed a very powerful bomb with the F-10 device, the bulk of the explosives (about 350 kg) was at a depth of 5 meters. In order to mislead the German sappers from above, an ordinary mine was installed at a depth of two meters.

Having taken 25 on October 1941 in Kharkov, the German sappers almost immediately began to mine it. From October 30, they found various mines 37, of which 14 was defused, and 23 was blown up on the spot. 12 November, they discovered a mine, which was located in the basement of the house number 17 on Dzerzhinsky Street. It was the so-called "Khrushchev's house", which was built in the 1930-s for the workers of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine. True, the mine found and neutralized by German sappers was laid only to divert their attention. Having discovered and disarmed it, the nazis calmed down and missed a radio-controlled mine. On November 13, the commander of the 68 Infantry Division, Major General Georg von Braun, drove into the house surveyed by the sappers. Information about this through the partisans and underground fighters was transferred to the command of the South-Western Front.

Around the 4 o'clock in the morning of November 14, Kharkov was awakened by a terrible explosion - it blew up a mansion on Dzerzhinsky Street. The house and its newly-made lodger Georg von Braun were destroyed, along with the German commandant of the city, more than a dozen Nazis from the headquarters of the 68 division died under the ruins of the house. On the same night, the intermediate support of the Kholodnogorsk viaduct was blown up in the city. Radio-controlled mines were activated by a signal from a powerful radio station deployed in Voronezh, more than 500 kilometers away from the epicenter of the explosions.

German soldiers fight for the Big Lopansky Bridge, Kharkov, October 24, 1941


It is worth noting that of the 315 delayed-mine mines that the sapper units from the 5 and 27 railway brigades installed in the city, the enemy was able to detect only 37, 23 of which they had to undermine, resigning themselves to the damage of the railway ways. In addition, many cars and several trains were blown up in Kharkov and its environs. The bombings in the rear of the German troops sowed panic and caused significant damage to the Nazis. The invaders were unable to use the Kharkiv airfields, which had concrete concrete runways at that time. Slow-mine mines exploded at the aircraft stops, as well as powerful fragmentation mines on the airfield and in the hangars brought the Kharkov air hub out of service, the Germans could not use Kharkov airfields until the late spring of 1942.

Some mines that were planted during the war years have been forgotten for decades. So in the 1981 year, before the XXVI Congress of the CPSU, during inspections of Moscow buildings for possible sabotage in the building of the State Planning Committee located on Okhotny Ryad (today it is the State Duma of the Russian Federation), a German-made 1930-40 sample was found under a layer of plaster yo Arrived on the scene, the sappers found that the wire led to several hundred kilograms of explosives, which had once been laid under the foundation of the house as early as 1941 year. Demining the building lasted about 10-12 days.

The second high-profile case with the discovery of powerful charges is also associated with Moscow. In July, 2005 in the Russian capital demolished the Moscow Hotel, a pre-war building. 10 July of the same year, approximately in 14: 30, from World War II, hidden boxes of immured niches located in the basement of the hotel were removed, 1160 kg of TNT were in the boxes. It is possible that the explosions in both of these buildings should have been initiated by a radio-controlled mine F-10. At the same time, it is not possible to answer the question whether the objects mined in 1941, which as a result have not been cleared until today, remained in the Russian capital.

Information sources:
http://www.saper.etel.ru/mines-4/radiomina-f-10-pr-2.html
https://defendingrussia.ru/a/vzorvat_okkupanta_v_kharkove-1072
http://warspot.ru/1009-radioprivety-ot-strany-sovetov
http://trizna.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?p=520956
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17 comments
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  1. +5
    24 May 2016 07: 44
    and in Kiev on Khreshchatyk and in Minsk, these mines to the occupants made a fiery whirlwind ......... Thanks for the article. informative.
    1. +1
      24 May 2016 16: 10
      Quote: Volga Cossack
      and in Kiev on Khreshchatyk and in Minsk, these mines to the occupants made a fiery whirlwind .........

      Alas, ordinary citizens, the same thing affected very much ... There were many dead among them.
  2. +1
    24 May 2016 08: 06
    Thanks, interesting article
  3. 0
    24 May 2016 08: 46
    Able to do. And interestingly, they did it wisely.
    Demining of the building lasted about 10-12 days.
    1. 0
      24 May 2016 15: 10
      I guess everything turned up there.
  4. +2
    24 May 2016 09: 32
    The first photo shows the insides of one of the control units (amplifier) ​​held by a Finnish soldier. It was the Finns who were the first to discover and clear our remote mines, which made it possible to quickly identify the frequency at which the signal was being sent and largely negate the damage from their use.
    1. +2
      24 May 2016 10: 45
      Quote: Monster_Fat
      The first photo shows the insides of one of the control units (amplifier) ​​held by a Finnish soldier. It was the Finns who were the first to discover and clear our remote mines, which made it possible to quickly identify the frequency at which the signal was being sent and largely negate the damage from their use.

      "Polka Säkkijärvi" - 2 months (until the batteries were completely discharged) the Finns jammed the mine control frequencies with this music. And they did it - there were no new explosions.
      1. +1
        24 May 2016 15: 13
        Quote: Alexey RA
        frequency control mines this music.

        Well, music can hardly jam the high-frequency bands. Rather, just a morse code on ordinary transmitters.
        1. +1
          24 May 2016 16: 06
          Quote: Uncle
          Well, music can hardly jam the high-frequency bands. Rather, just a morse code on ordinary transmitters.

          In total, in Vyborg, 25 F-10 radio operators were installed, containing from 120 to 4500 kg of TNT. Of these, 17 exploded, and 8 was able to neutralize and neutralize when it became clear that the mines were driven by a radio signal.
          The works were led by Captain Lauri Sutela. The devices found were sent to Helsinki, analyzed by experts, and by 2 September 1941, the corresponding instructions were issued on the rules for the treatment and neutralization of Soviet radiomin.

          Thus, it was revealed that the pre-war pause music melodies of Kharkov and Minsk broadcast radio stations (melodies that fill the air between two radio programs) are used as radio signals. Finnish experts have picked up a melody that sounded in the same sound frequency range. She was the melody of Karelian folk dance "Saekkijarven polkka". For two months (the limiting time with a one-and-a-half battery life of radiominos) in Vyborg on the radio frequencies of Soviet radiomen this melody transmitted from army radio transmitters continuously distorted possible radio signals of Soviet radio transmitters, since for a mine to be triggered it was necessary for the fuse to receive during 15 4 seconds quality signal in low tones. In addition, the same Finns found two more characteristic flaws of F-10 mines, which allowed them to be detected. This is quite a loud sound of the clockwork, was in the design of such, allowing at regular intervals to turn on the radio, to save electricity and the presence of 30-meter antenna, which was buried to a depth of no more than 80 centimeters to ensure normal reception conditions. As a result, the teams of “hearers” began to be used, which, using simple equipment, listened to the basements of the houses and to dig in the objects under study in a trench about a meter deep. By the way, in order not to risk the lives of their sappers, the process of digging “trusted” to our prisoners of war, which is a violation of the Geneva Convention, but who among the “liberators” drew attention to such “trifles”?

          Finnish officers and foreign military inspect the consequences of the destruction of the radio room in captured Vyborg. On the right the Japanese, in the center - the Swedes, on the left - the lieutenant colonel of the Italian Air Force. September 1941 of the year. Source - waralbum.ru

          A stack of boxes with explosives and three mines F-10, made by German sappers as a result of mine clearance of the Lenin Museum in Kiev. September 1941 of the year. Source - waralbum.ru

          German sappers take out from the basement of the Lenin Museum (now the Teacher's House, Vladimirskaya St., 57) boxes of radio control equipment "F-10"
  5. +7
    24 May 2016 09: 45
    It is a pity the author did not talk about the creation of these mines and its authors .. In fact, this is a very interesting story.
    On July 18 of 1921, by a resolution of the Council of Labor and Defense of the USSR, the Special Technical Bureau for Military Inventions of Special Purpose (abbreviated as “Ostekhbyuro”) was established. It was headed by an outstanding person - engineer-inventor Vladimir Ivanovich Bekauri.

    In the 1905 year, Vladimir Ivanovich graduated from the Mikhailovsky Technical Railway School in Tiflis, and from the 1907 year he lived in St. Petersburg, where he designed and manufactured safes. Before the revolution, he also managed to register several patents for inventions in the field of telegraphy and railway transport.
    At the end of the 1920, Bekauri, together with Academician V.N. Ipatiev, organized the Experimental Workshop on the Latest Inventions (Exmani) at the State Scientific and Technical Institute. In 1921, the document bearing the signature of V.I. Lenin himself was appointed the head of the secret Ostekhbyuro, which was engaged in the development of subversive weapons - explosive devices, vehicles for underwater saboteurs, the creation of the latest communications equipment and even robotics. On March 11, a special The commission signed an acceptance certificate, which confirmed the successful completion of tests of the latest radio-explosive bombs. 1927 high-explosive bombs were sent to the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army in connection with the growing tension at the border, but were not used.
    Bekauri was personally acquainted with Stalin. But alas, this did not save him from the denunciations of "respectable citizens", whose mean actions are now for some reason usually blamed on Stalin and Beria. In a word, Bekauri was arrested (this happened in 1938). A significant part of his inventions, as well as those of Ostechbyuro, were consigned to oblivion. But the BEMI mines, which proved to be good in tests, remained in service with the army saboteurs and saboteurs of the NKVD and soon made a loud statement about themselves. They were only renamed F-10, so that nothing else would remind of the unwanted inventor. This is in brief. In general, I would like to see a more detailed history of Bekauri in the article. The country should remember the names of its heroes, including Georgians. IMHO
    1. 0
      24 May 2016 15: 15
      In those years, talented people were often spread rot in sharashka. As if being free, they would not serve the motherland.
    2. Riv
      0
      2 June 2016 14: 04
      Why did Bekauri become a hero? Radio-controlled mines are the only ones, if my memory serves me, the adopted development of his design bureau. But the money was squandered immeasurably, and this at a time when the country really really needed weapons.
      Find the process materials, see for yourself. Today's analogue is Chubais nanotechnology.
  6. +2
    24 May 2016 11: 04
    Quote: qwert
    alas, this did not save him from denunciations of "respectable citizens", whose mean actions are now for some reason usually blamed on Stalin and Beria

    Comrade leaders were aware and acted as they saw fit.
  7. -3
    24 May 2016 11: 10
    The article is interesting. In those days when our equipment and staffs of different levels were not fully provided with reliable radio communications, mines with radio fuses look a little strange. A conspiratorial sabotage group, evaluating the situation and leading to the action of a pre-prepared charge, would have looked more natural.
  8. +2
    24 May 2016 13: 35
    There is a wonderful book by I. Starinov "Notes of a saboteur". A lot is described there. Including about these explosions.
  9. 0
    31 May 2016 13: 48
    A clockwork with a spring for two months was ??? or did it work on batteries too?
  10. 0
    2 June 2016 23: 28
    Interesting stuff
  11. 0
    6 June 2016 12: 14
    The author is a big plus! Bekauri had read about mines before, but the information was succinct and without illustrations. And now, thanks to the article - thanks!

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