The German general R. von Mellenthin wrote in his memoirs about the Eastern Front: “It seemed that every infantryman had an anti-tank gun or an anti-tank gun. The Russians skillfully disposed of these funds, and it seems that there was no place where they were not."
Tank Fighting Tutorial
Of course, only artillery could fight enemy tanks most effectively. However, in this article we would like to consider simpler, "manual" means of fighting steel monsters, those that were in service with our infantry.
From the beginning of the war, a simple and intelligibly compiled brochure was distributed among the soldiers of the Red Army - a memo to tank destroyers. Here are short excerpts from it: “The source of the movement of the tank is the engine. Disable the engine and the tank will not go further. The engine runs on gasoline. Don't let gasoline get to the tank in time, and the tank will stand motionless. If the tank has not yet used up its gasoline, try to ignite the gasoline - and the tank will burn up.
Try to jam the tank's turret and weapons. The engine of the tank is cooled with air, which flows through special slots. All movable joints and hatches also have slots and leaks. If a flammable liquid is poured through these slots, the tank will catch fire. For observation from the tank, there are viewing slots and instruments with hatches. Cover these cracks with mud, shoot them with any weapon to jam the hatches. Try to kill the tank track. As soon as the servant appears, hit her with something more convenient: a bullet, a grenade, a bayonet. To reduce the mobility of the tank, arrange anti-tank obstacles, place mines, land mines."
What did the infantry have?
Soviet soldiers acted according to the instructions of this small and simple textbook, and achieved notable successes. To destroy the enemy's armored vehicles, our soldiers widely used Molotov cocktails, mines, bundles of hand grenades, anti-tank grenades, anti-tank guns. True, in the first months of the war, the only means of fighting the infantry against enemy tanks were only mines and grenades. With anti-tank rifles - a powerful and reliable weapon in the skillful hands of a tank destroyer, an overlay was originally issued, but more on that below.
Initially, anti-tank grenades were simply issued to those soldiers who were able to accurately and, most importantly, throw them far away, after which the soldiers armed with grenades were evenly distributed along the line of defense. In the future, the actions of the soldiers - tank destroyers became more active and organized. They were united in detachments for which special training was carried out. During the battle, the group of tank destroyers no longer expected a direct attack in their trenches, but moved directly to where there was a danger of a tank breakthrough.
Such actions paid off in the Battle of the Kursk Bulge. When on July 5, 1943, German tanks attacked in an avalanche of steel, they were met by pre-formed tank destroyer squads armed with grenades and anti-tank mines. Sometimes mines were brought under the tanks from the trenches with the help of long poles. On the night after the battle, our sappers blew up the enemy tanks that were not far from the front line of defense with explosives.
Saboteurs
In the winter of 1944, sabotage groups were born, designed specifically to destroy enemy equipment. The most powerful and fearless fighters were selected there. A group of three or four people underwent special training, after which they were sent for several days behind enemy lines to carry out a combat mission.
Armed with machine guns, anti-tank mines and grenades, saboteurs destroyed enemy tanks in the most unexpected places for the Germans: in parking lots, at gas stations, in repair zones. There is a known case when our sappers managed to mine a tank stopped at a German tavern while its crew quenched their thirst with beer. The German tank crews did not notice anything, ten minutes later they started the car, but did not have time to move, a powerful explosion rang out …
This form of fighting tanks was quite effective, but required close contact. To destroy tanks at a distance, in addition to grenades, anti-tank rifles were widely used in the infantry. But, as already mentioned, there was a hitch with anti-tank rifles in the USSR by the beginning of the war.
Pre-war mistake
It turned out that by 1941 there were no anti-tank rifles in the Red Army. There were only developments, in particular, there was an anti-tank gun of 14, 5 mm caliber of the Rukavishnikov system in a prototype. The fact was that Marshal G. I. Kulik, who was at that time the head of the Main Artillery Directorate, was confident that Germany's armament consisted of tanks equipped with powerful anti-cannon armor. As a result, the marshal managed to convince Stalin not to start the production of anti-tank rifles and even to stop the production of light 45-76 mm caliber cannons "as unnecessary." From the very first days of the Great Patriotic War, it became clear that German tanks had rather weak armor, but there was simply nothing to pierce it with.
The anti-tank rifle of the Rukavishnikov system in all respects surpassed the samples that existed in the world at that time, but had one significant drawback - it was extremely difficult to manufacture. Stalin demanded weapons that could be produced in the shortest possible time. As a result, two Soviet gunsmiths V. A. Within a couple of weeks, the anti-tank rifle samples developed and manufactured on sleepless nights began to be tested at the test site, then the engineers received an invitation to the Kremlin. Degtyarev recalled: “On a large table around which members of the government had gathered, Simonov's anti-tank rifle lay next to my gun. Simonov's rifle turned out to be ten kilograms heavier than mine, and this was his drawback, but it also had serious advantages over mine - it was five-round. Both guns showed good fighting qualities and were put into service."
Degtyarev's anti-tank rifle (PTRD) turned out to be easier to manufacture and immediately went into mass production. The situation at the front left much to be desired, and all manufactured guns were sent to the front line near Moscow, directly from the shops. A little later, the production of the Simonov rifle (PTRS) was widely developed. Both of these models have proven themselves in battle.
Armor-piercing
The calculation of the anti-tank rifle (PTR) consisted of two fighters: the shooter and the loader. Both of them had to have good physical training, since the guns were about two meters long, had considerable weight, and it was quite difficult to carry them. And it was not easy to shoot from them: the guns had a very powerful recoil, and a physically weak shooter could easily break his collarbone with a butt.
In addition, after several shots, it became necessary to urgently change position, quickly taking with them both the gun and ammunition, since the German tankers were very afraid of anti-tank rifles, and if they spotted a combat crew armed with an ATGM, then with all their might they tried to destroy it.
With the appearance of enemy tanks at the front, protected by more powerful armor, the importance of anti-tank rifles declined, but they continued to be used until the end of the war, and were successfully used not only against armored vehicles, but also against aircraft. For example, in 1943, an armor-piercing fighter Denisov on July 14 and 15 near Orel shot down two German bombers from an ATR.
Our anti-tank rifles were highly appreciated by the Germans themselves. Neither German nor Hungarian anti-tank rifles, which were in service with Nazi Germany, could not be compared with the creations of Degtyarev and Simonov.
