The devil wears the "Truth." Part of 6
As it often happens, Rezun fired at himself with his “arguments” ... A 105-mm light field howitzer of the 1918 type was created in the Weimar Republic in 1930. Its design and testing were carried out in an atmosphere of strict secrecy, since under the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty the Germans were forbidden, inter alia, to develop their own artillery. In order to disguise the fact of creating a new artillery system, it was given the official name 10,5 cm leichte Feldhaubitze 18, or 10,5 cm leFH 18 for short. The howitzer was adopted by the Nazis in 1935. It was an effective means of fire support for infantry and tanks.
150-mm heavy field howitzer model 1918 of the year (15 cm sFH 18), which was developed in 1926-1929, was also “illegitimate”. Adopted in 1934 year. This gun, which had a range of fire 13325 m, was intended to fire the enemy's depth of defense and the destruction of long-term firing points. On 1 June 1941, the Wehrmacht had 2867 such howitzers.
Both offspring of German military engineering, who fooled the "guarantors" of Versailles (the French and the British), as well as Viktor Suvorov, were, strictly speaking, the basis of the field artillery of the Wehrmacht.
“Armed” with the indices of the German guns, the author of “Suicide” states: “This is another difference: the theory and practice of the Soviet deep operation consisted of two parts - a breakthrough and actions in depth. The German Blitzkrieg are actions in the depths ”; “Soviet theorists and practitioners believed that it was necessary to be able to crack the safe and clean it. And the Germans believed that we must be able to clean. But how to get into it? Answer: impudent, sudden attack when the safe is not locked ”; “Therefore, nothing was done in the field of field artillery. And how to break a defense without howitzers? The answer is standard: maybe she somehow breaks herself ”(all quotes are taken from page 133).
As for the “good-for-nothing” anti-tank artillery of the Wehrmacht, here Rezun is in a better position. Outdated 37-mm gun Pak 35 / 36 was powerless against the "thirty-four" and even more heavy tanks KV-1, for which he was nicknamed by the troops of the aggressor "beater". The Pak 38 anti-tank gun (the fact of its existence in the book is not affected), capable of striking T-34 tanks from medium distances, was not suitable for the fight against Klim. On 1 June 1941, the Wehrmacht had only 1047 such guns at its disposal.
But here we should recall the most famous example of German artillery during the Second World War - the heavy anti-aircraft gun FlaK 18 / 36, which became famous as a means of fighting tanks. During the Allied counterattack near Arras, the British offensive in Africa, repelling Soviet counterstrikes under Dubno, this weapon demonstrated a high effectiveness in a seemingly alien role for it. During one of the British attempts to unlock Tobruk, several FlaK 18 / 36 destroyed 64 from the 100 of the Matilda tanks involved in the operation. But in terms of armor, they were comparable to the Soviet KV-1!
To be continued ...
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