These monsters
“These monsters should serve as a battering ram when breaking through the Russian positions. No T-34 can resist them."
These were the hopes the Fuhrer pinned on the brainchild of Dr. Ferdinand Porsche. In practice, in the very first moments of combat use, two "Ferdinands" were captured together with the crew. It happened at the beginning of the Battle of Kursk. The first vehicle got stuck in soft ground and was captured by the soldiers of the 123rd Infantry Division, and the second became an immobilized trophy after the destruction of the caterpillar. In general, of the 89 self-propelled guns participating in the battle, 39 were irretrievably lost by the Wehrmacht.
On June 20-21, 1943, in the area of the Ponyri station, one "Ferdinand" was shot for scientific purposes. The corresponding order was given by the commander of the 13th Army N. P. Pukhov. Here is a brief summary of the shelling.
The 45-mm anti-tank gun of the 1937 model of the year penetrated the armor from 300 meters only with a sub-caliber projectile with a 33% probability. When firing virtually point-blank, that is, from 150 meters, the gun was guaranteed to hit the Ferdinand in the side. A 76-mm armor-piercing projectile from the ZIS-3 pierced the side from 400 meters, and an 85-mm anti-aircraft gun projectile could hit a self-propelled gun from the side already from 1200 meters. At the same time, the 85-mm blank caused serious damage - it hits the opposite wall of the side, collapses, leaving no chance for the servants of the gun. The forehead of "Ferdinand" did not succumb to this weapon, but with a successful shot it was possible to disable the radio station and control mechanics. The fastening bolts of the frontal armor plates also could not withstand 85 mm.
Analysis of the work of larger calibers on the side armor also cannot be ignored. High-explosive fragmentation shells with a caliber of 122 mm from a cannon of the 1931/37 model did not penetrate the side, but the Ferdinand's armor plates cracked and parted at the seams. But the 122-mm howitzer of the 1938 model did not inflict any special damage to the armor at all - only the tracks and rollers suffered.
The next shelling "Ferdinand" was waiting from 1 to December 14, 1943 at the training ground in Kubinka near Moscow. The first on the armored vehicle was tested the latest at that time cumulative anti-tank grenade RPG-6, which confidently pierced any armor in the side projection. Then there was a 45-mm tank gun 20-K, reliably hitting the side with a sub-caliber projectile from 100-200 meters. The British "Churchill" with a 57-mm QF cannon hit a German self-propelled gun from the side with a sub-caliber projectile at a distance of 0.5 km, and with a conventional armor-piercing one - only from 300 meters. M4A2 "Sherman" armor-piercing shells 75-mm cannon left only dents in the sides and only twice was able to hit the armor from 500 meters. The domestic F-34 with a caliber of 76 mm was never able to cope with the side armor of a German vehicle. They decided to get to the frontal armor of the Hitlerite monster only with the 122-mm D-25 gun, and the fire was fired exclusively from 1400 meters. Bottom line: neither the Fedinand's forehead nor the sides gave in - only minor chips on the inner surface of the armor and bulging. As a result, the side of the Porsche armored vehicle from a distance of 1 km was broken by a concrete-piercing shell of a 152-mm ML-20 howitzer cannon. The hole was rather big - 220x230 mm. An armor-piercing shell from the same gun finally hit the Ferdinand's forehead from a distance of 1200 meters. Domestic testers, obviously, went into a rage and decided to involve the captured "Panther" in the shooting of the self-propelled gun - they were walking it nearby at the range. Although the KwK 42 possessed remarkable ballistics, 75 mm was clearly not enough to hit the Ferdinand's forehead (they managed to penetrate it point-blank from 100 meters). A sub-caliber projectile from the "Panther" confidently hit the side of its heavy counterpart from a distance of 900 meters, but a simple armor-piercing projectile - from only 100-200. Naturally, the Panther returned fire from the Ferdinand 88-mm StuK 43 cannon. As a result, the inclined frontal armor plates of the German tank were reliably hit from 600 meters.
Of course, with mass production, Ferdinands could become a serious threat to the tanks of the Red Army, and this had to be taken into account when developing the IS-2 and self-propelled guns based on the T-34. However, a circulation of 90 (or 91) copies made the self-propelled gun such a rare technique on the battlefield that the soldiers often confused it with the Marders, Naskhorns and Hummels.
Conclusions of Kubinka engineers
After lengthy tests of the surviving Ferdinand, military engineers at the research and testing site of the Main Armored Directorate of the Red Army in Kubinka spoke of the self-propelled gun as a fairly reliable vehicle. They were echoed by the testers of the experimental plant No. 100 in Chelyabinsk, who were also sent one self-propelled gun. Of particular interest was the original suspension and electric transmission, and the ease of control of the multi-ton machine was generally considered the best.
The weak points of the Ferdinand, which were recommended to be taken into account by the Red Army, were, of course, poor agility, low speed and low cross-country ability. It was proposed to beat with armor-piercing shells along the sides into the boundaries of the tracks - here the armor is only 60 mm, and vital components are located. If the self-propelled gun approached the distance of a dagger strike, then a bottle with a Molotov cocktail could be thrown into the blinds of the upper armor plate. Also, the specialists of the Kubinka test site note that the hatches above the necks of the gas tanks, located along the edges of the upper armor plate at the lower cut of the frontal part of the wheelhouse, when hit by any projectile, break off from weak hinges, and gasoline ignites. The only thing left was to hit such a target with any projectile. If the gunners or tankmen manage to get close to the armored vehicle from behind, then you can shoot at the rear hatch cover of the wheelhouse. It, as it turned out, is not firmly fixed in the closed position, falls out from any projectile, and in the open hatch it is already possible to throw Molotov cocktails and grenades. In general, it was a difficult target - the German self-propelled gun "Ferdinand".
A few words should be said about the suspension of the German assault gun. The balancing rubber-torsion bar suspension surprised the military engineers of Kubinka a lot, and they were looking for the reasons for developing such a tricky scheme for a long time. Engineer P. S. Cherednichenko in the "Bulletin of Tank Industry" extensively reflects on this:
“Apparently, the Germans did not consider it possible to use the well-known and proven suspensions for the suspension of a 70-ton vehicle.”
Particular attention is paid to rubber dampers, which are not designed for large deformation and become limiters on rough terrain. As a result, the self-propelled gun, barely accelerating, received sensitive blows through the suspension, which had become a rigid system. Nevertheless, the engineers believed that such a suspension is still of interest to the domestic tank industry as one of the examples of use on heavy armored vehicles.
Let's move on to the assessment by Soviet engineers of the feasibility of introducing an electric transmission on Ferdinand. It is noted that the control of such an armored vehicle is simpler and less tiring compared to tanks with a traditional mechanical transmission. Among the advantages of the transmission, engineer Lieutenant Colonel IM Malyavin, who studied Ferdinand at the Kubinka training ground in 1943-1944, highlights the high speed of transfer from forward to reverse and vice versa. In the "Bulletin of Tank Industry", the engineer, in particular, writes:
“The transmission scheme allows the driver, with simple manipulations under any driving conditions, to maintain the most rational mode of operation of the prime movers and use all their power, realizing it in one case to increase the speed of movement, in the other to increase the tractive effort on the tracks, due to which the average speed can be kept relatively high."
The author, obviously, from the experience of operating not the most successful gear shifting system on the T-34, appreciates the advantages of the Ferdinand electric transmission, pointing out the impossibility of its breakdown due to incorrect gear shifting alternation. When it comes to the mass of the entire structure, it turns out that the electric transmission is at least 9% of the mass of the entire ACS! As IM Malyavin rightly notes, mechanical transmission is usually 2-3 times lighter. Summing up, the author explains the reasons for the installation of a heavy and complex electric transmission on the Ferdinand. Firstly, this technique makes it possible to solve in a new way a number of complex issues of movement and turn control, and secondly, it attracts resources and experience of the highly developed German electrical industry for tank building.
