For what I adore our readers, it is for perseverance. Yes, fortunately, sometimes in the comments you can easily collect one or two articles easily and naturally. But no, you will also shower the whole PM with advice.
So what was arranged for me after this article: "Gasoline and diesel fuel of the Third Reich: legends and myths", just prompted the topic to continue. With which I congratulate everyone, I hope it will be informative.
Especially to our fans and fans of Rudolph's brainchild - a diesel engine.
So, German diesels in the Wehrmacht, Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe.
I apologize for the considerable delay, but I had to shovel through so many rumors and gossip - it was just something. I'll start with an axiom: without exception, all serial German tanks of the Second World War were equipped with ONLY gasoline engines.
This fact, but my God, how much he gave rise to fabrications … Here and the Maybach lobby on gasoline engines, and the fact that the Kriegsmarine ate all the diesel fuel without a trace, and the fact that German designers could not mess with our B-2 (simple as me I don't know what) or build your own tank diesel engine … My head is spinning.
Let's try from the beginning?
What happened in the beginning? And in the beginning there was not a god, but an aviation 6-cylinder engine BMW Va.
Why? Because everyone practiced such a thing. And they put aircraft engines on tanks. The gearbox solved all the torque issues, there was enough power, and the industry did not strain with the nomenclature. Virtually all countries that entered that war did this.
But Germans are Germans. And they were the first to decide to jump off the aircraft motor needle and saw down a specialized motor for tanks.
Why? It's simple. BMW Va produced 290 hp. with. at 1400 rpm and 320 hp with. at 1600 rpm, that is, high torque at relatively low revs. In order for the transmission to withstand it, it was necessary to lay considerable strength in it, that is, to make it heavier. So the Germans decided to develop a tank engine that would produce the same 300 hp. sec., but at twice the speed. This would make the transmission lighter and more reliable.
Say, what is the weight? And he did not decide here, in principle. If you look at history, then the tank idea was led by Heinz Guderian, who put speed and maneuverability at the forefront.
That is why the Germans said goodbye to the multi-turret idea, making their first post-war tanks almost tankettes. Or maybe with tankettes, I still can't decide for myself what a PzKpfw I is, an eaten-up tankette or a tank that was not fed in childhood.
It somehow happened that the Maybach did the best with the task for the new engine, creating the HL 100 engine with a capacity of 300 hp. at 3000 rpm. This was followed by the HL 108 and HL 120, which were installed on many German tanks.
It is worth saying that transmissions were also developed for engines, without which, as you know, there is simply nothing. This is how it happened initially that "Maybach" not only provided the Wehrmacht with a whole line of its carburetor motors, but motors for which boxes with the rest of the economy were created.
In fact, the firms that developed the tanks (Porsche, Daimler-Benz, MAN, Henschel and others) simply assembled products from the proposed parts as a designer. This approach led to the Maybach monopoly, which they could not break until the end of the war.
On the one hand, this was absolutely fine with the German Armaments Directorate. In general, this Directorate was characterized by the approach “we don’t care what schnapps, or a machine gun, as long as it knocks down from our feet”. For which the Germans were really punished.
But, in fact, this alignment caused all the difficulties of the transition to diesel engines. In reality, it was not enough to develop a diesel engine comparable in characteristics with a gasoline engine, so it was also necessary to squeeze from the market not only Maybach with engines, but also to develop new transmissions for these diesel engines, having agreed with manufacturers (the second war with Maybach), so also to convince everyone in the Armaments Directorate, where, I stress, everyone was happy with everything.
Some authors say that the Germans had a special specificity of fuel consumption. All diesel fuel was allegedly consumed by the fleet, and synthetic gasoline was used for land engines. Surprisingly, this opinion can often be heard today, although data on the fuel balance is freely available.
In fact, the Germans synthesized not only gasoline, but also diesel fuel. If we take the peak of production (the first quarter of 1944) as an example, then the German industry produced 315,000 tons of gasoline, 200,000 tons of diesel fuel and 222,000 tons of fuel oil by different methods of synthesis.
We can say that the fleet took both fuel oil and diesel fuel. But do not forget that the strangled private sector has consumed less fuel every year. In 1939, the monthly consumption averaged 192,000 tons of gasoline and 105,000 tons of diesel fuel, and in 1943 - only 25,000 tons of gasoline and 47,000 tons of diesel fuel.
It turns out that the Germans synthesized diesel fuel in quantities to meet all the needs. The point, as you can see, is not about consumption and not about the possibilities of production.
According to many German sources, the turning point in the possibilities of diesel fuel synthesis occurred at the turn of 1942-1943. Yes, up to this point, the Wehrmacht really preferred gasoline engines, but it turns out only because the industry presented it with a fact: producing diesel fuel is both difficult and expensive.
But after 1942, the situation changed: diesel fuel became more affordable than gasoline. This is confirmed by many sources. Naturally, having received such news, the Wehrmacht rushed to promote the development of diesel engines.
However, not everything was so simple, pebbles came across on the way. And one such stone was "Maybach", which sat tightly on the production of tank engines, in fact, crushing the manufacturers of transmissions under their contracts.
It is not surprising that the first "Panzers" (Pz. Kpfw. I, II and III) were produced with a gasoline engine and a Maybach transmission.
But nothing is eternal, back in 1938 the cunning guys from Daimler-Benz decided to move the Maybachs in tank building, offering the Wehrmacht Tank Administration a new ZW.38 chassis for future Pz. Kpfw. III Ausf. E / F / G tanks …
True, the stuffing of the project was all the same gasoline engine and shaftless semi-automatic gearbox from the Maybach company.
It cannot be said that everything worked out, the project turned out to be very so-so, but in 1939 Germany went to war, and the need for a medium tank turned out to be so huge that the Daimlers were allowed to develop a medium tank, using anything from their bins. without permission and coordination with the Armaments Directorate.
And already in November 1939, Daimler-Benz presented its vision of a tank with an MB 809 diesel engine and transmissions of traditional designs. Diesel MB 809 was developed in several versions. The older one with a volume of 21.7 liters produced 400 hp. at 2200 rpm and weighed 1250 kg. The younger one with a volume of 17.5 liters developed 360 hp. at 2400 rpm and weighed only 820 kg - it was he who was ultimately chosen.
The tests of the tank were successful, but by that time they decided to abandon the light 20-ton vehicles in favor of the 30-ton ones. But the Daimlers did not calm down, having designed the MB 507. In general, Daimler-Benz promoted this engine as a universal one, offering it to both tankers and sailors. It so happened (perhaps not without a suggestion from the Maybach) that the tankers did not show much interest in him, and the 507 took root among the sailors.
This diesel engine was created in two versions. The younger MB 507 with a volume of 42, 3 liters produced 700 hp. long time and 850 hp at 2350 rpm at the limit. The older MB 507C with a volume of 44.5 liters developed 800 hp. long time and 1000 hpat 2400 rpm.
In general, the experience of using this motor was. The MB 507C was installed on three Karl-Herat chassis, super-heavy howitzers. In addition to the Karlovs, the MB 507 was considered for use on the super-heavy tanks Loewe, Maus and E-100, and the second prototype of the Maus was equipped with the MB 517 diesel - a supercharged version of the MB 507 that produced 1200 hp. at 2500 rpm.
However, that's all, and throughout the war the Wehrmacht fought on the old, proven, but not very reliable HL 210 and HL 230.
But besides the Daimler-Benz, there was also a Porsche. Which, I note, served as the head of the Tank Commission.
Porsche believed that diesel had a right to life, but diesel was air cooled. And there was a certain logic in this: Germany fought in a very wide temperature range, from Scandinavia and Russia to Africa. And the engine that did not depend on the supply of coolant, which could not "boil" and freeze - it was quite logical.
Naturally, Porsche was pushing its air-cooled diesel engine with all his might. And Hitler supported him, the Fuhrer was quite impressed by the idea of universal machines in terms of temperature.
In July 1942, at a meeting of the Tank Commission, Porsche assembled a working committee for the development, creation and implementation of precisely air-cooled diesel engines. Unlike the Daimlers, who tried to work independently, Porsche gathered many under the diesel banner: Daimler-Benz, Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz, Krupp, Maybach, Tatra, Simmering, Steyr . All of these firms agreed to work together on the diesel.
The engine range announced by Porsche was not very large, which won over the participants. In total, the army required eight engines: from a 30 hp motor. for a Volkswagen passenger car up to a 1200 hp engine (how many do Abrams and T-72 have today?) for super-heavy tanks.
The idea for this line was very good: designed with unitarity in mind, all engines would be built on the basis of standard cylinders, which would simplify their development, production and repair. At first, we considered two standard cylinders with a volume of 1, 1 and 2, 2 liters, but later settled on three:
- volume 0, 80 l, power 13 hp at 2800 rpm;
- volume 1, 25 liters, power 20 hp at 2400 rpm;
- volume 2, 30 liters, power 30-34 hp at 2200 rpm.
However, it turned out that in the conditions of war, it is simply unrealistic to implement such a large-scale project. Therefore, everything fell apart quickly enough, those companies that already had their own diesel engines continued to use them.
Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz produced light artillery tractors RSO / 03 with its F4L 514 4-cylinder air-cooled diesel engine with a power of 70 hp.
"Tatra" supplied the former Czech tanks Pz. Kpfw.38 and armored vehicles "Puma" with a Typ 103 diesel with a power of 220 hp.
Porsche has become the record holder in terms of development. Especially in terms of engines for heavy tanks. Two 16-cylinder Typ 180/1 diesel engines with a total capacity of 740 hp were offered for the Tiger. at 2000 rpm. An X-engine Typ 180/2 with 700 hp could be supplied. at 2000 rpm, assembled from 16 standard cylinders with a volume of 2.3 liters. From the same cylinders recruited V-shaped 16-cylinder and 18-cylinder engines for the early versions of the "Mouse".
By the way, for "Mouse" there were 5 engine options, but only one of them was gasoline. And for the "Lion" they planned either a couple of MV 507, or, again, diesel engines from "Porsche".
The idea was - lick your fingers! By assembling a diesel "Lego" from the same cylinders, it was possible to make motors for completely different engine compartments, both long and narrow, and for short and wide.
But alas, war is war. In reality, it was necessary to drive tanks in sufficient numbers, and it was all the same with what engines.
As part of the diesel program, they also thought about installing diesel engines on the Panther and Royal Tiger. There was a pretty decent Sla 16 diesel, and there were other options.
Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz was working on a 800 hp two-stroke V8 M118 T8 M118 water-cooled diesel engine. MAN and Argus jointly developed an air-cooled, 16-cylinder, H-shaped LD 220 diesel engine with a capacity of 700 hp, which was considered as a backup option in case of a failure with the Sla 16.
If you look closely, then in 1944-45 the Germans were literally one step away from introducing diesel engines into tank (and not only) armies. It is clear that Karl Maybach did not want to lose such a huge piece at all and did his best to oppose the diesel lobby. But the outright failures of the Wehrmacht made it impossible to experiment with diesel engines. The troops demanded tanks, so there was really no time for innovation.
And then that Germany ended. Under the tracks of Soviet tanks, which were powered mainly by diesel engines.
What can be summed up? The fact that the Germans, following other countries, tried to adapt aircraft engines to tanks is normal. The fact that they didn’t like the result was natural, almost everyone didn’t like it.
Another question is that it was somewhat imprudent to monopolize the market of tank engines for the sake of Maybach.
Let's not judge which is better / cooler / more useful, a gasoline or diesel engine in a tank. The essence here is something else. In fact, all the arguments that the Germans did not produce so much diesel fuel to feed both tanks and ships is a myth. They even threw diesel fuel to the allies until 1945, that is, there was plenty of it.
Still, I am more inclined to think that this is an attempt to somehow disguise the fact that Karl Maybach usurped the tank engine market by all means available to him. Yes, in the conditions of war it was not bad. Unification and all that.
But after all, for the needs of the Wehrmacht during the war years, more than 150,000 diesel trucks were built, and repeated attempts to put diesel engines on tanks speak volumes.
The cries that the Germans could not even copy our B-2 do not look very smart either. They didn't have to copy it, the diesel was so-so. And the Germans, as can be seen above, had their motors in development with a shaft. I have not listed everything yet.
Another question is that our use of diesel engines on the T-34 and other tanks and self-propelled guns proved exactly that the engine is very good for this type of equipment. More robust design, lower fuel consumption, less demanding fuel quality, less danger of heavy fuel igniting when it hits the tank.
So the Soviet tank crews very convincingly proved the advisability of using a diesel engine on a tank. We are not talking about quality now, only about the principle. Well, the fact that the Germans, for the sake of the profits of Karl Maybach (died in 1960 as a respected person), did not use diesel engines - well, in the end, these were their difficulties and problems.
So this is how it turns out: the fleet had nothing to do with it, there was enough diesel fuel in Germany, there were diesel engines too. Homeland of this engine, after all. But this is how it happened …
