In this part, we will consider the need to create special military augers and their competition with wheeled and tracked vehicles.
Through the swampy mud
Perhaps, many will disagree with this, but the passability of existing types of wheeled and tracked vehicles is slightly exaggerated and in general is usually given without sufficient reference to the bearing capacity of the soil. Therefore, it becomes rather difficult to assess the practical passability of military equipment.
In logging practice, dealing with various equipment and constantly forced to take into account its passability on various soils, soils are divided into four types according to their bearing capacity:
I dry, with a bearing capacity of 3-4 kg / cm2 (mainly sand).
II low-moisture, with a bearing capacity of 1, 4-2 kg / cm2 (sandy loam and loam).
III wet, with a bearing capacity of 0.5-1.4 kg / cm2 (wet loam and wet clay).
IV excessively moistened, liquid mud, with a bearing capacity of less than 0.5 kg / cm2 (swamps, peatlands, highly waterlogged areas).
In this classification, clay occupies a special place, since, depending on the moisture content, it has a sharply different bearing capacity. Dry and dense clay has a bearing capacity of 6 kg / cm2, dry clay of medium density - 2.5 kg / cm2, and wet and plastic - only 1 kg / cm2. Generally speaking, the passability of clay soils is highly dependent on the weather: the same road can be easily passable in prolonged dry weather, and can become impassable after long rains.
According to loggers' data, dry and low-moisture soils account for 43% of the logging area. The rest is represented by soils either wet or excessively moistened. This is an important factor for forestry, since highly damp and swampy forests require the use of tracked vehicles.
Typical example of a swampy forest
Now, data on the specific ground pressure of various types of military equipment:
T-64 - 0.8 kg / cm2, T-72B - 0.9 kg / cm2, T-80 - 0.9 kg / cm2, T-90 - 0.87 kg / cm2, MT-LB - 0.46 kg / cm2, BMP-2 - 0.63 kg / cm2
BTR-80A - 2-3, 7 kg / cm2.
The MT-LB has the best passability, which will pass on any soil of I-III categories. Next is the BMP-2. For tanks (for which the specific pressure on the ground fluctuates within 0.8-0.9 kg / cm2), soils of I-II categories are passable, but on soils of III categories, one can sit on the belly. Finally, the BTR-80A is intended only for driving on dry soils, that is, on sand, well, you can get out onto dry loam, preferably more densely.
Let's add the all-terrain vehicle DT-30P "Vityaz" - 0.3 kg / cm2. A very good acquisition, with the passability of mostly excessively waterlogged soils. However, its capabilities are not enough for a peat bog, which allows a pressure of no more than 0.25 kg / cm2.
So, for most types of military equipment, wheeled and tracked, wet soils of the III category represent a serious and rather dangerous obstacle. In principle, such soils are passable for both tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, but it is rather difficult to assess their moisture content and bearing capacity by eye. You can be wrong. Dense and hard-looking ground may well be too weak for heavy equipment. A smooth green lawn, which at first glance does not pose any danger, may turn out to be a mud trap. The reasons may be different, for example, in this area close to the surface of the groundwater, and therefore the soil below is waterlogged, and above it is dry and overgrown with grass. Because of this, various incidents constantly occur.
MT-LB is considered to be a technique with high cross-country ability, which does not in the least interfere with putting it in the mud on its belly. This "motorcycle league" settled in the Vsevolozhsk district of the Leningrad region in an old felling.
The same MT-LB, front view. You can appreciate the treachery of the landscape, which at first glance seems to be easily passable. However, less than half a meter from the surface, groundwater and waterlogged soil, in which the all-terrain vehicle sat down.
Further, as already mentioned, weather conditions and prolonged rains can dramatically change the bearing capacity of soils in the direction of its strong decline. Clay saturated with water reduces its bearing capacity by 5-6 times, loam and sandy loam by 2-3 times. This circumstance is already enough to make the road impassable.
But that's not all. When many cars and tanks pass along the road, they inevitably break up and loosen the soil, creating a layer of highly loosened soil on top of the road. The bearing capacity of the soil depends on its density, as already indicated for clay. If we add to this a lingering rain, which will make liquid mud out of clay or loamy dust, and also soak and weaken the underlying layer, compacted by wheels and caterpillars, then we get the famous muddy road, with seas of mud in which tanks sink down the tower.
Polish tank crews from the 9th brigade at a training ground near the town of Ozhisz. Here it is, the insidiousness of the wet ground, on which several tanks have already passed. For the next T-72, the loosened soil was too weak.
And what about the auger? The auger with two augers 6 meters long and 1 meter in diameter, with a total weight of 17 tons, the specific ground pressure is only 0.09 kg / cm2. For screws of this size, up to half immersed in the ground, the support area will be 18.8 square meters. meters, which is much more than any tracks or any wheels. Moreover, on solid ground, the specific pressure on the ground at the auger is very high: it rests on it only with narrow ridges. As the density and bearing capacity of the soil decreases, the surface of the support of the augers increases until it reaches its maximum on the weakest soil, in a peat bog.
0.09 kg / cm2 is even less than that of the Gornostay snow and swamp-going vehicle, which has a specific ground pressure of 0.15 kg / cm2.
It seems that this is quite convincing proof of the superiority of the auger in cross-country ability over all types and types of equipment, and even specialized all-terrain vehicles. The auger can walk freely where even the "motorcycle league", which is considered a very passable technique, will sit on its belly.
The Ukrainian auger dredger works on the most anti-tank soil, digging drainage ditches
For this simple reason, the auger can not only compete with wheeled and tracked vehicles, but also be much better than them. Moreover, it is absurd and ridiculous to say that, they say, the auger vehicle has a low speed, since on those soils that the auger vehicle can pass, neither a tank, nor a tracked all-terrain vehicle, nor an armored personnel carrier can show any speed at all. They just sit on their belly, waiting for some kind of tractor.
Space for the auger
In our vast country, there is where to slip and mix the dirt. Out of 1709.8 million hectares of the total territory of Russia (2005 data, excluding Crimea), 1104.8 million hectares were forests, of which 57% were wet and waterlogged forest soils (596 million hectares). Agricultural land, that is, arable land and pastures (which, as a rule, are soils with low bearing capacity, especially after rains) - 401 million hectares. Among this vast area of forests and farmland, 225.2 million hectares are actually water and swamps (110 million hectares).hectares as part of the forest fund and 25 million hectares as part of farmland).
In total, moist soils and bogs in Russia, according to a total estimate, 621 million hectares (36% of the country's territory) and another 376 million hectares (22%) become impassable or impassable after heavy rains or snowmelt. In these 58% of the country's territory, in wartime, the use of augers is very expedient, since even tracked vehicles pass through such soils either with difficulty or not at all.
For comparison, the total area of roads, that is, all land allotted for roads, streets, areas, up to cattle driving roads, amounted to 7, 9 million hectares as of 2005. Not all of this area is occupied by a hard road surface. Another 5, 5 million hectares were under construction. In total, only 0.7% of the country's territory, where the auger, due to its design features, cannot be widely used.
In my opinion, it is enough to compare two figures - 58% and 0.7% to understand that the auger vehicle is absolutely necessary for the defense of the country, since it allows the use of that half of the country's territory for military purposes, which is either completely inaccessible or difficult to access even for a tracked vehicle. military equipment. In my opinion, to reiterate that the auger is unsuitable just because it cannot drive on the roads means to sign a complete, absolute misunderstanding of the geographical realities of your own country, in which there are more than enough swamps and wet soils. And you can also add the density of the river network. On average in Russia, the density of the river network for the forest zone is 0.4-0.6 km / sq. km. That is, for every square kilometer of the area there are 400 to 600 meters of rivers. A significant part of these rivers is an obstacle for tracked and wheeled vehicles.
Demanding that equipment be good on paved roads, this means locking it in an area of no more than 1%, this means depriving it of its maneuverability and making it dependent on the mercies of nature and dry weather.
One must clearly understand a simple thing: the war is waged in the mud. If at first it is assumed that the hostilities will proceed in comfort, along asphalt roads, in conditions as close as possible to the front ones, then the enemy, by his actions, inevitably forces them to get into the mud. The enemy, with his fire and movement, forces him to turn off the road onto a dirt road, arable land or a swamp, in search of a way to bypass, cover, and maneuver. The geographical characteristics of boggy and soil moisture show that this need to get into the mud will be very common.
Therefore, preparation for a real war implies careful preparation to knead the mud better and more efficiently than the enemy can do. Whichever side can put mud and mud on their side will win in the end. It is better to do this not with the help of improvisations, but with the help of a previously developed, tested and manufactured technique - augers.
Auger armored personnel carrier
On the basis of the auger chassis, a wide variety of combat, transport and engineering vehicles are possible. But for now, we will consider a relatively light and small auger machine, with a total weight in the range from 7 to 20 tons, the technical feasibility of which there is no doubt. For heavier machines, research and calculations will obviously be required.
Such a relatively small auger vehicle, it seems to me, should be a combination of an armored personnel carrier and a truck capable of carrying weapons (DShK or KPVT, AGS, ATGM, additionally also an 82-mm mortar), as well as transport people and goods. In its layout, it may be similar to the BTR-50.
BTR-50 case. Almost done, all that remains is to add augers.
Due to the fact that weight reduction is very significant for augers, not only to improve cross-country ability and speed, but also for buoyancy, the booking may not be steel sheets, but sheets of armored fiberglass. But on the inside of the hull, fiberglass should be covered with steel sheets in order to protect the crew from fragments of textolite armor.
Why such a car? First, because in swampy areas, it most likely will not have a serious opponent armed with anything heavier than a large-caliber machine gun. Most likely, these will be small enemy units or screens, usually left on the border with swampy, and considered impassable terrain. A large-caliber machine gun in combination with an AGS is quite enough, together with the armament of an infantry assault force, to cope with such an enemy.
Secondly, the task of the auger-armored personnel carrier is more transport than combat: to transport soldiers, ammunition, food through the swamp, swampy or simply soggy from the rains. Therefore, emphasis should be placed on carrying capacity.
The characteristics of any military equipment are determined by the tactics of its use. Sometimes, however, tactics are developed for a specific vehicle and its capabilities. With regard to the auger-armored personnel carrier, you will have to go the second way, that is, to offer certain tactics for its use.
There are several options.
The first and rather typical option. The enemy holds a dry isthmus between swamps or lakes, or rests its flanks on peaty and very swampy swamps that are absolutely inaccessible to technology. In this case, a detachment of auger-armored personnel carriers with a landing force planted on it may try to enter the enemy's flank and rear through the swamp. Enemy defenses along the edges of the wetlands are unlikely to be strong, and such an attempt could be successful.
The second option is forcing a river with a wide and swampy floodplain. Not so rare option, swampy or regularly flooded floodplains of rivers can be up to 2-3 km wide, in combination with dense thickets of shrubs and willows can be almost impassable. In this case, there are many different jobs for the auger-armored personnel carrier. Firstly, participation in the crossing and seizure of a bridgehead on the other side, secondly, transport support of the crossed troops before the guidance of the crossings, first of all, the supply of ammunition and the removal of the wounded, and thirdly, assistance in building pontoons and bridges, protecting them from counterattacks the enemy, fourthly, auxiliary transportation of people and goods through the swampy floodplain to the crossing points.
The importance of auger armored personnel carriers at crossings increases sharply during floods, when rising rivers can flood vast areas in the floodplain and impede the establishment of crossings.
The third option is fighting in a swampy wooded area. While the swampy forests are considered unfit for combat, they nonetheless provide some interesting opportunities. First, you can break away from the enemy; it is enough to go 3-4 km deep into the swampy forest to be relatively safe. Secondly, if the enemy controls the roads and settlements on the edge of a swampy forest, then in the depths of this swampy massif, you can send a detachment on auger armored personnel carriers to strike at the enemy in the "hit-and-go" style. If the enemy wishes to pursue the squad, so much the worse for him. If the enemy has one road going through a large swampy forest, and there are detachments on auger-armored vehicles in it, then this enemy has serious problems.
The fourth option is actions during the thaw period. This is the most favorable time to use auger armored personnel carriers for a variety of tasks. These may include: unloading convoys stuck in the mud and assisting in the evacuation of equipment; transportation of goods and the transfer of troops along the shortest routes off-road; ramming of dirt roads by repeated passage by augers. In combat operations, auger-armored personnel carriers with an assault force on muddy roads can make rounds, as well as through swamps.
As you can see, auger-armored personnel carriers have a lot of opening tactical opportunities. A common feature of the tactics of machines of this type is to use the surprise factor arising from the fact that a detachment on auger armored personnel carriers can cross an area completely impassable for any other equipment and even for foot soldiers. The enemy covered himself with a swamp, considering it impassable - the most convenient place to hit him. Even if the enemy knows, in principle, about the auger-armored personnel carriers, all the same, he will not guess the place of the breakthrough. He will either have to strengthen the barriers at the edges of the wetlands, that is, to scatter his forces, or to keep the swamps under constant surveillance and reconnaissance. And that's good too. The very fact of the appearance of auger-armored personnel carriers already puts the enemy, who does not have the same vehicles, in a cramped position.
The benefits of the auger for war in wetlands or waterlogged soils are quite obvious. There is not even much to prove here. Another thing is that the auger-armored personnel carrier will appear only during the war. It is completely unsuitable for parades, for brutal PR photo sessions, for demonstration performances at training grounds and other similar use of military equipment in peacetime. The time and place for a combat auger is an all-out war in total mud.
