The Second World War, which became the first real war of engines, gave the world a huge number of new weapons. Tanks, which began to play an increasingly important role on the battlefield, having become the main striking force of the ground forces, broke through the enemy's field defenses, destroyed the rear, closed the encirclement ring and burst into cities hundreds of kilometers from the front line. The increasing proliferation of armored vehicles required the emergence of adequate countermeasures, one of which was self-propelled anti-tank guns.
In Germany, during the Second World War, a whole galaxy of tank destroyers was created, while the first projects, which included the 10.5cm K18 auf Panzer Selbsfahrlafette IVa self-propelled gun, nicknamed Dicker Max ("Fat Max"), began to be developed in the late 1930s. x years. The self-propelled gun armed with a 105-mm gun was built in the amount of two prototypes at the beginning of 1941, but then it never came to mass production. Today, the most powerful tank destroyer of the initial period of World War II, whose shells pierced all the tanks of the allies of those years at any combat distance, is represented only in computer games: World of Tanks and War Thunder, as well as in bench modeling. To this day, copies of self-propelled guns have not survived.
The history of the emergence of self-propelled guns Dicker Max
The idea of building a powerful self-propelled gun, armed with a large-caliber artillery gun, German designers turned to already at the beginning of World War II. The main purpose of the new combat vehicle was to fight various enemy fortifications, including pillboxes. Such a machine became even more relevant in light of the upcoming campaign against France, which built a powerful line of fortifications along the border with Germany, known as the Maginot Line. To deal with long-term firing points, a serious caliber was required, so the designers opted for the 105 mm sK18 gun.
Although the development of a new self-propelled gun began in 1939, by the beginning of the campaign against France, ready-made models of the combat vehicle had not been built. The process of developing the self-propelled gun, which was originally called the Schartenbrecher (bunker destroyer), lasted about a year and a half. It is worth noting that the designers of the Krupp plant were in no hurry with this project, especially after France surrendered on June 22, 1940. The German troops bypassed the Maginot Line, and in some places managed to break through and suppress the defense of the French troops without the use of various exotic weapons.
The first built prototypes of the new ACS were shown personally to Hitler on March 31, 1941. At the same time, discussion began on the concept of a new use of self-propelled guns. By May, it was finally decided that the main specialization of the machines would be the fight against enemy tanks. At the same time, the Germans already then began to discuss options for building other tank destroyers, armed, among other things, with 128-mm guns. The Germans counted on using new armored vehicles on the Eastern Front, where they planned to use self-propelled guns to combat heavy Soviet tanks.
At the same time, the German army already in 1941 had enough forces and means to fight both the T-34 medium tank and the KV-1 and KV-2 heavy tanks. In the summer of 1941, the Wehrmacht had enough sub-caliber shells, which made it possible to hit the T-34 on board even from 37-mm anti-tank guns. The 50-mm anti-tank guns coped with this task even more confidently. At the same time, in emergency cases, 88-mm anti-aircraft guns and heavy field guns 10 cm schwere Kanone 18 came to the rescue, which the Germans widely used against heavy Soviet KV tanks.
Despite the fact that the Flak 36 anti-aircraft gun became a real lifesaver for the Germans, this gun, like the 105-mm sK18 infantry gun, was bulky, clearly visible on the ground and inactive. That is why work on the creation of self-propelled anti-tank guns was accelerated, and the built two prototypes of 105-mm tank destroyers, designated 10.5cm K18 auf Panzer Selbsfahrlafette IVa, were sent to the front to undergo full-fledged field tests.
Project features 10.5cm K18 auf Panzer Selbsfahrlafette IVa
As a chassis for self-propelled guns, the PzKpfw IV medium tank, well mastered by the German industry, was used, which became the most massive tank in the Wehrmacht and was produced until the end of the war. From the modification of the PzKpfw IV Ausf. E German designers dismantled the tower and installed a spacious open wheelhouse. The implemented layout solution was traditional for a huge number of German self-propelled guns during the Second World War, albeit with some peculiarities. So in the front of the hull of the new self-propelled gun there were two box-shaped wheelhouses with viewing slots. And if one of them was the place of work of the driver-mechanic (left), then the second was false, there was no workplace for a crew member in the right wheelhouse.
The self-propelled cabin was distinguished by a fairly strong armor for German armored vehicles of the initial period of World War II. The gun mask had a thickness of 50 mm, the thickness of the main armor of the frontal part of the wheelhouse was 30 mm, while the armor was installed at an angle of 15 degrees. From the sides, the wheelhouse was armored weaker - 20 mm, the rear armor - 10 mm. From above, the wheelhouse was completely open. In a combat situation, this increased the view from the vehicle, but at the same time made the crew more vulnerable. Fragments of shells and mines could fly into the open wheelhouse, and the car also became vulnerable during air strikes and hostilities in cities. To protect against bad weather, the self-propelled crew could use a tarpaulin canopy.
The main armament of the self-propelled gun was a powerful 105-mm gun. The K18 cannon was created by the designers of Krupp and Rheinmetall on the basis of the sK18 heavy infantry gun. As practice has shown, this weapon made it possible not only to effectively deal with various fortifications and field defense of the enemy, but also with well-armored armored vehicles. True, the gun ammunition was small, only 26 shells could be placed in the self-propelled gun, which were located along the sides of the hull in the aft part of the wheelhouse. The charging system is separate.
The 105 mm K18 gun with a 52 caliber barrel could easily deal with any Soviet heavy tank, as well as with any Allied tank. At a distance of 2000 meters, an armor-piercing projectile fired from this cannon penetrated 132 mm of vertically positioned armor or 111 mm of armor installed at an angle of 30 degrees. The effective direct range of high-explosive fragmentation projectiles was up to 2400 meters, armor-piercing - up to 3400 meters. The advantages of the gun also included good elevation angles - from -15 to +10 degrees, but the horizontal aiming angles let us down - up to 8 degrees in both directions.
There was no defensive armament on the self-propelled gun, since the vehicle had to fight against fortifications and enemy tanks at long distances. At the same time, a single MG34 machine gun could be transported in the packing, which did not have a standard place for installation. At the same time, the main defensive weapons of the crew were pistols and MP-40 submachine guns. The self-propelled gun crew consisted of five people, four of whom, together with the vehicle commander, were located in the open wheelhouse.
The self-propelled gun was equipped with a VK 9.02 transmission, which worked in conjunction with a Maybach HL-66P engine. The engine and transmission were located at the front of the hull. The 6-cylinder water-cooled Maybach HL-66P gasoline engine developed a maximum power of 180 hp. For a vehicle with a combat weight of more than 22 tons, this was not enough, the power density was just over 8 hp. per ton. The maximum speed on the highway did not exceed 27 km / h, on rough terrain - about 10 km / h. The power reserve is 170 km. In the future, it was planned to install a more powerful 12-cylinder Maybach HL-120 engine (300 hp) on production models, but these plans were not destined to come true.
Combat use and the fate of prototypes
Both prototypes built took part in the battles on the Eastern Front, while they were in the army from the very first days of the invasion. Both self-propelled guns were enlisted in the separate 521st tank destroyer battalion (Panzerjager-Abteilung), which also included the lighter Panzerjager I tank destroyers, armed with Czech-made 47-mm anti-tank guns. In the army, self-propelled guns received their nickname Dicker Max ("Fat Max"). The baptism of fire of the self-propelled guns took place already on June 23, 1941, east of the city of Kobrin in Belarus. Self-propelled guns were used to fire at clusters of Soviet infantry and artillery positions.
Dicker Max took part in repelling the unsuccessful counterstrike of the 14th Mechanized Corps. At the same time, the power of their artillery weapons was excessive for the fight against light Soviet tanks, so their main goal these days was the artillery positions of the Soviet troops. Their next major battle 10.5cm K18 auf Panzer Selbsfahrlafette IVa was held on June 30 in the area of the Berezina River, driving off a Soviet armored train with artillery fire, which, however, could not be destroyed. During the battle, one of the installations was out of order. A little later, on the way to Slutsk, a fire broke out in one of the self-propelled guns, the crew managed to evacuate the vehicle, but the tank destroyer was irretrievably lost after the detonation of the ammunition load.
The remaining self-propelled gun fought on the Eastern Front until the fall of 1941, until in October, after the exhaustion of its motor resource, it was returned to Germany for overhaul and modernization. Returning to the 521st separate battalion of tank destroyers in the summer of 1942, the self-propelled gun took part in the offensive of the German troops to Stalingrad, in the battles near the city in the fall-winter of 1942, the car was lost.
Despite the initial plans to release up to 100 such combat vehicles, the Germans limited themselves to building only two prototypes. Despite the excellent firepower and the ability to combat both fortifications and heavy enemy tanks, the vehicle was notable for its low reliability, low mobility and a very problematic chassis. At the same time, the experience gained was most likely generalized and later helped the Germans in the development of the Nashorn tank destroyer, which, like the Hummel self-propelled howitzer, was based on the successful unified Geschützwagen III / IV chassis, built using elements of the chassis of medium tanks Pz III and Pz IV.
