- Private Rezun! I order you to take a seat at the anti-tank gun. You will take the place of the third number.
- What? - Rezun was surprised, peering into the face of the captain standing in front of him, blackened with soot.
He did not immediately understand where he was. Instead of the walls of the London mansion, an aspen grove hummed around, the air was thickly saturated with gunpowder smoke and the sour smell of explosives. "What …" - Rezun thought fearfully, getting to his feet. The response was a heavy explosion from a six-inch shell. A terrible blow tore the earth out from under his feet, shrapnel whistled, and clods of dirt fell from above. Rezun fell on his face, a single thought convulsively pounded in his head: “This is not a dream. This is definitely not a dream. I probably died and went to hell!"
- Eck you were shell-shocked, - the captain grumbled sympathetically, extending his hand to the "rookie" - come on, I'll help him up!
- What is the year now? Where I am? - Rezun babbled, looking around in fright.
- July 8, 1943, Northern face of the Kursk Bulge, Ponyri railway station.
Rezun turned pale. The captain continued his story, looking sternly into the eyes of the "recruit":
“Tigers from the 505th heavy tank battalion are moving here, with the support of the Ferdinands from PanzerJager Abteilung 654 and the Brummbers from the 216th assault gun division. From our 3rd anti-tank fighter brigade, only the first battery and one gun from the fourth remained. We took up defensive positions at 238.1 and intend to hold out here to the last.
- So you are Captain Georgy Igishev? - Panic was felt in Victor Rezun's voice.
- Yes sir. And these are my gunners, who are destined to lay down their heads at this height, but not to retreat a single step. We are running out of shells, there is nowhere to wait for help. Take a grenade, Rezun, German tanks are already close.
The silhouettes of the head Tigers emerged from the dense smokescreen. Growling convulsively, the monsters rolled closer and closer to the battery, predatory wiggling the barrels of their 88-mm guns.
- You see, Rezun, all the "lorries" of our battery are broken, there is nothing to bring the shells. - continued Captain Igishev, trying to shout down the roar of the tank battle.
- But the Germans have special Munition panzer for such cases - armored ammunition carriers on the chassis of serial tanks and armored personnel carriers.
- Of course there is, Rezun. And in your books you scrupulously counted the German "Tigers" and "Panthers", but for some reason forgot to take into account these ammunition carriers, armored medevac trucks, ARVs, anti-aircraft guns and other specialized armored vehicles of the Wehrmacht.
Rezun looked back hopefully. There, where, behind a wide wheat field, the second line of the Soviet anti-tank defense was supposed to be.
- Don't even think about it, - Captain Igishev snapped, - there is a detachment of the NKVD. The deserter will be fed with lead.
- But in reality he was not there! Did not have!
- Of course not. But you wrote in your books about detachments - and now there are Chekists with machine guns. Order 227. Not a step back! So go ahead and grab a bunch of grenades and blow up that little T-II over there.
- No! - Rezun yelled, - I won't even crawl a meter, the "deuce" will riddle me.
- Truth? - the captain was surprised, - you wrote that this is an outdated machine with a funny 20 mm cannon.
- He has an automatic gun KwK 30, 280 rounds per minute.
- I can’t help you, you wrote that this is a weak, useless tank. Forward, Rezun, for the Motherland!
The T-II turn forced everyone to cuddle to the ground, and when the fighters raised their heads again, Viktor Rezun was already running towards the German positions, swinging his white pants and screaming heart-rendingly “I am captured! I am a captive! Nicht Schissen! The KwK 30 cannon chirped briefly, the former traitor stumbled and disappeared under the tracks of a German armored vehicle.
Captain Igishev waved his hand in hearts, and led his fighters into the last battle …
***
***
An amazing story is connected with the armored vehicles of the Wehrmacht - the extraordinary variety of designs, the fantastic efficiency and resourcefulness of the workers of the German industry, the prudent use of all resources that fell into the hands of the Germans, including captured armored vehicles - all this made the calculation of the number of German tanks an almost impossible task.
This circumstance is shamelessly used by the authors of the bestsellers "Tank Pogrom of 1941", "Where did 28 thousand Soviet tanks disappear", "Icebreaker", "M Day", "Who fought in numbers, and who - by skill." Each of the "revelatory" books contains a deafening comparison:
PzKpfw VI Ausf. The E, better known as the "Tiger", was produced in an insignificant amount of 1354 cars;
The most massive Panzerwaffe tank - PzKpfw IV, was produced in the amount of 8686 vehicles;
At the same time, the total production of T-34 during the war years is estimated at more than 50,000 tanks!
And it immediately becomes clear who "fought in numbers" and who "fought by skill."
The phenomenon can be easily explained: the authors of the "revelatory" bestsellers are lying. Meticulously counting the number of "Tigers" and "Panthers", and always mentioning the "light and outdated" T-I and T-II, false historians for some reason forget to take into account the "heavy and modern" armored personnel carriers of the Wehrmacht.
For example, Sd. Kfz.251. According to German data, over 15,000 vehicles of this type were produced during the war years. The "most massive tank" PzKpfw IV was not close here.
Of course, false historians will immediately explain that Sd. Kfz.251, like its close analogue Sd. Kfz.250 (4250 built armored personnel carriers), is incorrect to compare with Soviet tanks. A half-tracked German armored personnel carrier has thinner armor and a smaller cannon caliber. All this, of course, is true, but the combat value of a vehicle is often determined by other, more complex factors.
The formidable 9-ton Sonderkraftfahrzeug 251 fully corresponded to the Blitzkrieg strategy: a fast, roomy armored vehicle with high maneuverability. Crew - 2 people. Troopers - 10 people. All-aspect armor 15 mm thick. Highway speed - 50 km / h. With the help of Sd. Kfz.251, the German motorized infantry was able to act on a par with tanks - armored personnel carriers constantly accompanied heavy armored vehicles in battle and on the march.
On the basis of Sd. Kfz.251, a wide range of specialized vehicles was produced: an artillery tractor, an armored ambulance, an ammunition carrier, a self-propelled 80-mm mortar, a self-propelled flamethrower, a command post vehicle, an anti-aircraft gun, a sapper vehicle, a communications vehicle, an ACS with anti-tank 75 mm gun …
There were such "exotic" vehicles based on Sd. Kfz.251, such as a self-propelled infrared searchlight (to ensure the operation of night vision devices for Panther tanks), a Schallaufnahmepanzerwagen for counter-battery warfare, and a 280 mm Wurframen multiple launch rocket system!
Cranes, winches, attachment armor kits, assault bridges, radio stations, various observation devices - any Allied tank could envy the equipment of German armored personnel carriers.
It can be assumed that, despite all the "doubts" of false historians, the command of the Red Army would gladly agree to exchange 15,000 of their light tanks T-60 and T-70 for the same number of Sd. Kfz.251. By the way, the German armored personnel carrier was twice as heavy as the Soviet T-60 tank. At the same time, the Sd. Kfz.251 turned out to be so cool that it was mass-produced in Czechoslovakia until 1962.
Well, Mr. Rezun, where are we going to record 15,000 Sd. Kfz.251 armored personnel carriers - in light tanks or outdated?
Another feature of the "fair count" of German tanks is the authors' obvious reluctance to give figures on the number of chassis produced by each type of tank. For example, all "whistleblowers" and their followers know that during the war the Germans built only 2000 light tanks PzKpfw II (also known as T-II). Sheer nonsense against the background of 5300 Soviet BT-7 tanks!
It is interesting how false historians will explain the fact that the Wehrmacht industry produced … 8500 chassis of the PzKpfw II tank. 2000 of them became PzKpfw II tanks. But what happened to the others? Rotted out of the warehouse? Kidnapped by British Commandos?
A! - false historians will immediately remember - so on the chassis of the T-II tank were built anti-tank self-propelled guns "Marder II", self-propelled field howitzers "Vespe", assault guns with 150 mm howitzers "Sturmpanzer II".
That's literally 1,500 more cars. But where did the rest of the chassis of the PzKpfw II go?
The answer is simple - the rest of the chassis were used as armored ammunition carriers, armored medical evacuators, ARVs, engineering tanks, postal armored vehicles, cable layers, fire spotters, light reconnaissance vehicles, military tractors … And this technique is NEVER taken into account in the calculations of false historians - "whistleblowers" …
The assortment of German armored vehicles has always been amazingly diverse: on the basis of standard chassis, in addition to "linear" tanks, a great many auxiliary highly specialized vehicles were built.
The pedantic Germans quickly realized the value of combat support vehicles. Specialized ammunition carriers radically increased the effectiveness of armored units and artillery batteries. Armored medical evacuators helped save the lives of experienced crews - returning to the front after treatment, they became a "tough nut to crack" for the enemy.
Self-propelled anti-aircraft guns "Möbelvagen" on the chassis of the PzKpfw IV tank, heavy armored vehicles "Bergepanther" - repair and recovery vehicles on the chassis of the "Panther" tank (300 produced armored vehicles, in addition to 5976 serial PzKpfw V) - all these machines were almost of great value, than conventional "line" tanks.
The peculiarities of the German industry played an important role in the diversity of the German "menagerie": the intricate production chains, many contractors and the general scarcity of resources forced them to show imagination and ingenuity. A large number of highly skilled workforce and engineering personnel further contributed to the emergence of many improvisations on the chassis of tanks.
The tower was not delivered to the plant on time? This means that the tanks will turn into ammunition carriers. Found an extra winch? Fine! Now we will mount the crane boom - and we will get an ARV. Often, damaged and outdated cars were converted into specialized equipment right on the knee.
Practice has shown that this was a completely reasonable and justified decision. The lack of specialized vehicles and armored personnel carriers in the Red Army inevitably entailed heavy losses among the personnel.
Even more confusion was caused by the use of samples of foreign technology, for example, the Marder I anti-tank self-propelled guns based on the captured French Lorraine 37L tractor or the already mentioned Marder II self-propelled guns on the chassis of the German PzKpfw II tank with the captured Soviet F-22 gun.
As for self-propelled artillery installations, there is no limit to the joy of false historians: still, in Soviet documents the number of destroyed Ferdinands is overstated 10 times! And this despite the fact that only 90 Ferdinands were produced - just a ridiculous amount.
Heavy anti-tank self-propelled guns "Ferdinand" on the chassis of the "Tiger" tank, produced 90 vehicles.
Heavy anti-tank self-propelled gun "Jagdpanther" on the chassis of the "Panther" tank, produced 400 vehicles.
Assault gun "Sturmgeschütz III" on the chassis of the Pz. Kpfw III tank, 9400 vehicles were produced.
In addition to the aforementioned Stug III, 1200 StuH.42 self-propelled artillery mounts with a 105 mm light howitzer and even a heavy StuIG 33B self-propelled gun with a 150 mm infantry gun were created on the chassis of the trio.
The "four" did not escape this fate - apart from 8686 serial tanks, the following were built on the basis of the PzKpfw IV:
- 1100 assault guns Stug IV;
- 300 "Sturmpanzerov" with 150 mm howitzers, - 500 anti-tank self-propelled guns "Nashorn" - fierce vehicles with an 88 mm cannon;
- 1,500 Yagdpanzer IV tank destroyers.
Yes, the number of German armored vehicles was enormous. Some sources cite figures up to 90,000 units of tanks, self-propelled guns, captured armored vehicles, armored personnel carriers, and specialized armored vehicles. Their number is evidenced by a simple fact - according to the through German classification, the heavy armored personnel carrier bore the index Sd. Kfz.251, i.e. was the 251st model of military equipment of the Wehrmacht.
I wonder what is hiding under the other indices? For example, Sd. Kfz.11 or Sd. Kfz.138 / 2? Try to solve these simple puzzles and you will surely learn a lot of new and interesting things.
