The automobile troops of Russia are one hundred years old
Truck "Russo-Balt T40 / 65" with antiaircraft gun Tarnovsky / Lender. 1916 year.
FORWARDING STEAM LOCKS
The ancestor of the car, the steam carriage, was first manufactured in 1769 by order of the French military department, Captain Nicolas Joseph Cugno. The army once again acted as the engine of technical progress.
In the middle of the 19th century, steam road locomotives were already produced in several countries. In Russia, the first experiments with a new vehicle took place on the ice of the Gulf of Finland and the Neva in the winter of 1861-1862. On the route Kronstadt-Petersburg, two passenger trains of 15 carriages were running. Instead of the front wheels, the 12-ton locomotives had massive skis. But the unreliable ice and the impossibility of the summer operation of heavy machines brought losses, and the experiments stopped.
The Russian military acquired the first two tractor units in Great Britain in 1876. In the same year, two tractors were supplied by the domestic Maltsovskie Zavody. These machines were called steam locomotives in those days. In total, 12 locomotives for the amount of 74,973 rubles were purchased for the War Ministry in 1876-1877. 38 kopecks By the imperial order of April 5, 1877, the formation of a separate unit, called the "Special Team of Road Steam Locomotives", began.
Steam locomotives took part in the Russian-Turkish war - they towed siege weapons, transported hundreds of thousands of poods of cargo, including steam boats, replacing 12 pairs of bulls at once, worked like locomotives at water pumps … And fully paid for all the costs. In 1880, steam locomotives provided transportation of goods for the Akhal-Teke expedition of General Skobelev. They completed the task, but a year later they were written off. This was the end of the history of the first automotive unit of the Russian army.
FIRST EXPERIENCE
In 1897, a 5, 5-strong six-seater "Delage" car, which, however, belonged to the Ministry of Railways, took part in the maneuvers near Bialystok. In 1899, the engineer of the Ministry of Railways Abram Tannenbaum published a series of articles "The military scooter issue in our army", in which he proposed using cars as reconnaissance vehicles, communications, for placing various weapons on them and transporting goods. And also for the creation of armored combat vehicles on their basis. These proposals found support in the troops and headquarters, however, poorly expressed financially.
The sailors were ahead of the army. In 1901, the Maritime Department received the Lutskiy-Daimler truck. It was recommended to paint it in a bright color. At that time, no one even thought about disguise. The truck worked at the Izhora plant, replacing 10 horses in the transportation of goods to Kolpino. So the car immediately entered the military service and the defense industry.
In the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, there were 20 to 30 vehicles in the active army. For example, in Port Arthur, a small car of the original Starley-Psycho brand was running. But the first truly combat vehicle was tested in the Russian army only in 1906 - the armored "Sharron, Girardot and Voy" with a machine-gun turret, run in by the French army back in 1903. But the tests in Russia somehow faded, and they remembered about armored cars again only in 1914.
The real motorization of the Russian army began with His Majesty's own garage. Soon, these garages appeared at every palace - in St. Petersburg, Novy Peterhof, Gatchina and a summer residence in Livadia. Two Imperial Chauffeur Schools were established, because quite a lot of cars were purchased. Even then, the Russian autocrats fell in love with "Mercedes". There were so many cars that they were rented out. In particular, the courier service, which was the first to assess the economic effect of replacing a horse with a motor.
The emperor's personal chauffeur, a French citizen, Adolphe Kegresse, invented the world's first half-track car. The simple courtier seemed to have no problem implementing his ideas. In 1914, Kegresse patented the invention in Russia and France. It should be noted that in 1918-1919, 12 Austin-Kegress half-track armored cars were built at the Putilov plant.
In the army, as usual, not everyone welcomed the technical innovation. War Minister Vladimir Sukhomlinov recalled: "… Some members of the council spoke in the sense that this" complex and fragile tool "is unacceptable for our army: the army needs simple carts on strong axles!" And General Skugarevsky demanded that "to avoid unnecessary use of cars, they should be kept under lock and key."
Fortunately, such an enthusiast of new technology as the young officer Pyotr Ivanovich Sekretev turned out to be in the army. An aristocrat from the Cossacks, he was born in 1877 and grew up in the village of Nizhne-Chirskaya, 2nd Don District. He graduated from the cadet corps in Novocherkassk and the Nikolaev engineering school. He served in a sapper unit in Brest-Litovsk, Warsaw, Manchuria. In April 1908, he retired with the rank of captain and actually graduated from the engineering department of the Kiev Polytechnic Institute as an external engineer with the rank of engineer-technologist. After that, in October of the same 1908, he was again admitted to military service with the rank of captain in a railway battalion. And in July 1910, as a technically competent, energetic and progressive-minded officer, he was appointed commander of the 1st Training Automobile Company in St. Petersburg. By the way, it was Sekretev who invented the emblem of the automobile troops that still exists today, known in the army as a "butterfly" and "would fly away, but the" wheels "get in the way."
The company has conducted research runs, participating in various military activities. Two truck squads operated during the 1911 campaign in Persia, when civil war broke out there. Experience was gained in operating equipment in mountain winter conditions, in frost and blizzard.
The company was formed by the highest permission of May 16 (May 29, new style) 1910. By that time, the Automobile Department had already existed for a year in the Military Communications Department of the Main Directorate of the General Staff, and the formation of as many as eight automobile companies had begun. But before the highest consent, all this, as it were, did not exist. Therefore, May 29 is considered the Day of the military motorist and the date of the creation of the automobile troops.
A research and training center for the organization and development of the automotive industry in the entire Russian army arose under the name "company". Here they not only trained officers - commanders of automobile divisions and non-commissioned officers - instructors of the automobile business. Here they studied and tested new equipment, developed operating rules.
VERIFICATION BY WAR
The motorization of the Russian army relied on foreign countries, where a lot of money was spent. The First World War has shown all the viciousness of such a policy. But it was only in 1916 that a belated decision was made to build several domestic car factories. But this decision did not solve anything and decidedly did not make sense in the rapidly ruined and decaying country.
In Russia, there were enterprises engaged in the production of screwdriver cars from imported parts, for example, the famous Russian-Baltic Carriage Works (Russo-Balt). But the domestic industry did not have the production of materials needed by the industry. There was a proposal to buy and completely transport the British Austin plant to Russia. Just like a hundred years later, there were enough enthusiasts among the capitalists and officials to buy Russia's dependence on a foreign manufacturer of military equipment. Looks like there is a benefit in this.
By the beginning of the First World War, the Russian army had 711 standard vehicles. Of these, 259 are cars, 418 trucks and 34 are special. And also 104 motorcycles. On July 17, 1914, after four years of red tape, the Law "On automobile military service" was approved, which determined the procedure for mobilization (requisition) of private vehicles with monetary compensation.
With the outbreak of the war, private cars were drafted into the army along with drivers. Compensation was greatly underestimated, but there were few complaints. Cars had to meet certain technical characteristics - in terms of power, number of seats, ground clearance. In Petrograd alone, about 1,500 vehicles were “shaved” into the army. The army, on the other hand, bought back all the cars that came from abroad for previously made orders.
And here there was such a grave phenomenon as "different brands". It was simply not possible to find spare parts for dozens of car brands. It was especially difficult with "Mercedes", "Benz" and other products of "enemy" firms, spare parts for which were manufactured in Germany and Austria-Hungary. Yes, and the equipment had to be placed in the open air - garages and even sheds were not stored in advance. Automobile conscription did not justify itself. Instead of a reserve, it turned out to be a six-month process, burdened with bureaucracy and poor organization.
It is noteworthy that the French army had only 170 cars for the war, but only after mobilization received 6,000 trucks and 1,049 buses in a few weeks, and soon it became mechanized altogether, thanks to the developed industry. The British army, which numbered barely 80 vehicles, did not cost too much mobilization. It was enough for her on her island.
Since 1908, Germany has pursued a policy of partial subsidies for the purchase of trucks by individuals and enterprises, subject to their donation to the army in the event of war. This encouraged the rapid development of the automotive industry in the country, and a year after the start of the war, the army had over 10,000 trucks, 8,600 cars and 1,700 motorcycles. The same policy was pursued by Austria-Hungary. Although she did not have a developed industry, she also motorized her army at a fairly high level.
Most of the book is devoted to the First World War. The automobile formations of the Russian army, materiel and combat use are described in detail. Particular attention is paid to armored vehicles. The statistics of the production of armored vehicles in Russia in 1914-1917 at various enterprises and military workshops with a list of brands of manufacturers and types is presented.
The Russian army was one of the richest in armored vehicles. There were hundreds of them. Some were made directly in the front-line workshops using shields from captured guns. In the German army for the entire war, there are only 40 armored cars, of which only 17 are of their own production, the rest are captured.
During the war, Peter Sekretev rose to the rank of general. He was at the head of a huge organization of the automotive industry, encompassing a large number of automotive specialists and technicians, driver schools, repair and manufacturing enterprises, as well as a number of bureaus for the purchase, acceptance and dispatch of cars to Russia from America, Italy, England, France and other countries.
Immediately after the February Revolution, Sekretev refused to provide a personal car to a member of the Duma's Military Commission, lower rank Kliment Voroshilov. The future "red marshal" immediately exposed the "counter-revolutionary general", and he was arrested. He was arrested by a driving school team, led by the draftsman Mayakovsky, who got there as a volunteer back in 1915 under the patronage of Maxim Gorky. Sekretev was released only after the October Revolution. And he died in exile in 1935.
