During the First World War, the first tanks appeared on the fields, which at the end of the war were actively used by both sides. At this time, the world's first armored vehicles appeared at the front in Russia, which became the beginning of another branch of modern armored vehicles. Now many who are interested in armored vehicles know such projects of Russian tanks as the Porokhovshchikov all-terrain vehicle and the Tsar Tank, but there were other projects that never saw the light of day. In this article I will try not only to write the history of the creation of tanks, to paint the performance characteristics, but also to consider their place on the battlefield.
Porokhovshchikov's all-terrain vehicle
Alexander Alexandrovich Porokhovshchikov, who was working at that time at the Russo-Balt plant, began work on his all-terrain vehicle in 1914. The project was a high-speed tracked armored vehicle for off-road driving. By January 1915, the documentation was ready; on May 18 of the same year, the car was put into testing. In winter, funding for the project was discontinued due to the fact that the permeability in the snow did not exceed 30 cm (1 ft). Interestingly, the all-terrain vehicle was tested as a non-combat vehicle.
Alexander Porokhovshchikov and engineer-colonel Poklevsky-Kozello overseeing the construction of the machine
The crew consisted of one person in the center. MTO was located in the back. In general, this layout can be called classic, given the size of the crew. The body is welded. The Volt engine, 2-cylinder, carburetor, air-cooled, developed a power of 10 hp, which allowed the 3.5-ton car to reach a speed of 25 km / h during testing. According to some reports, in the winter of 1916, the all-terrain vehicle accelerated to 40 versts / h (≈43 km / h), which is doubtful. The chassis most of all resembled modern snowmobiles - a single tarpaulin caterpillar stretched over the drums, stretched under the bottom. A purely caterpillar track was used for off-road driving. The main course was still wheeled-caterpillar - on two wheels and a rear drum. Such a device made it possible to reduce the pressure on the ground (of the order of 0.05 kg / cm2), but it made turns and the structure too difficult. In the process of testing Porokhovshchikov continuously modified the chassis.
One of the most interesting features of the car was its armor - rounded, ricochet shapes and a multilayer structure made of boiler iron and layers of dried pressed sea grass. According to the inventor, such armor could withstand a machine gun burst. In the experimental version, the air intake was trapped in the frontal plane, sharply reducing the advanced hull design, although in later drawings this vulnerable zone was eliminated. Armament from one machine gun was located in a rotating turret, which did not appear on trials, but was visible on the blueprints.
In 1916, Porokhovshchikov began developing an all-terrain vehicle-2 with a large crew, powerful at that time for a light vehicle, armament of 3 machine guns, one course and two in turrets rotating one above the other. The chassis has been improved - now the basis was 4 wheels. The armor has lost its rounded shape. Before the revolution, the prototype of the car was never released.
All-terrain vehicle-2, or all-terrain vehicle of the 16th year
Let many consider the Porokhovshchikov all-terrain vehicle to be the first Russian tank - this is far from the case. The first vehicle was not adapted to combat - low maneuverability, power density, the impossibility of searching for a target, firing and moving, imperfect armor. Although the design of the armor was half a century ahead of its time, the boiler iron with a layer of sea grass could not give real combat resistance. Although the ricochet form could reflect some hits, it would hardly be difficult for a rifle bullet to penetrate such armor from short distances. The appearance in the 60s and 70s of multilayer armor is due to the opposition to cumulative ammunition, and not to the growth of the power of kinetic projectiles. Among the minuses of the all-terrain vehicle, you can also note the vulnerability of the caterpillar. The vertical wall to be overcome was also low. But despite all these shortcomings, in many ways the car was revolutionary, because the first tank of the classic layout appeared in 1917, rational angles of inclination of the armor were implemented in the 30s, and the single-tracked scheme is still alive on snowmobiles.
Tsar Tank
The project of Captain Nikolai Nikolaevich Lebedenko is still the largest tank in linear size, embodied in metal. Length 17.7 m, width 12 m, height 9 m, which, frankly, is a very controversial achievement. Lebedenko, in his own words, took the idea of the tank from a cart - a cart with two high wheels, which easily overcame the Caucasian off-road with mud, stones, pits. According to the inventor, the scheme of an armored cart would be very useful for breaking through defense lines with its ditches, trenches, craters from shells and the main enemy of infantry and cavalry - a machine gun. Having shown a sense of purpose, worthy of imitation, Lebedenko achieved that he was received by the emperor. The clockwork model of the tank captivated the Tsar very much, and money, funds and labor were allocated immediately. The tsar tank was made in metal by August, and the sea trials began on the 27th. The tests failed miserably, and the car until 1923 stood in the woods near Dmitrov, where it was dismantled for metal.
The tank was an enlarged gun carriage with one frame. The monster was pushed by two captured Maybach aircraft carburetor engines with a capacity of 250 hp each, which allowed it to accelerate to 10 km / h on rough terrain and 17 km / h on the road. The cruising range was about 40-60 km. A tank weighing 60 tons on tests easily broke trees, as the inventor had expected. Reservation was 10 mm in a circle and 8 mm - of the roof and bottom, and in the project these figures were 7 and 5 mm, respectively. A crew of 15 people climbed into the fighting compartment along the bed (may the reader forgive me for such a name of this structural element). The armament consisted of 2 caponier 76-mm cannons and 8-10 machine guns, which was the most powerful weapon by the standards of that time.
Let's move on to the sad. One of the reasons for the refusal of the military from a combat vehicle with high cross-country ability was its … low cross-country ability. Due to the wrong balance of the structure, the wheel of the bed fell into the ground, and 500 hp. there were not enough engines to pull the tank. The huge wheels, according to the commission, were too vulnerable to artillery, in which they were absolutely right - it is difficult to miss a mastodon of this size. The armor has no angles of inclination, so it would hardly be able to reliably protect the crew. The huge number of barrels made it difficult to conduct and adjust fire. Unlike Porokhovshchikov's all-terrain vehicle, the Tsar Tank was adapted for combat, but not enough to become a breakthrough machine.
Mendeleev's tank
Although this tank was not embodied in metal, in many ways its ideas were ahead of their time, making it the prototype of heavy SPGs. The creator of this miracle was the son of our great scientist D. I. Vasily Mendeleev Mendeleev, shipbuilding engineer. The tank has been designed since 1911. And despite the detailed elaboration of the drawings that do honor to the Russian school of engineers, the military did not take the "armored car" (as Mendeleev called his brainchild) seriously.
What was so special about the tank? First, the hardened steel armor, according to calculations, withstands a 6-inch projectile, reached 150 mm in the forehead of the hull, 100 mm each from the sides and stern, 8 mm on the bottom and 76 mm of the roof, however, there were no rational angles of inclination. Thus, only heavy artillery could disable the tank. The armament was not inferior - Kane's 120-mm naval gun (barrel length 45 calibers, 5400 mm) in the frontal plate with 51 rounds of ammunition and a horizontal guidance angle of 32 degrees. Additionally, the tank was equipped with a Maxim machine gun in a rotary turret, which was retracted into the tank. MTO and the entrance to the tank were located in the stern. The crew consisted of 8 people. The length was 13 m, the width was 4.4 m and the height was 4.45 m with a tower. The undercarriage was caterpillar, consisted of 6 rollers, a guide and a sloth. The suspension is pneumatic, allowing you to change the ground clearance (!) And the tank to lie down on the ground, turning into a pillbox. The weak point was the petrol 4-cylinder engine with 250 hp. by 173 tons, which was negligible. The design speed was 25 km / h, which was unlikely with such an engine.
And despite all the prodigality of the "armored car", Mendeleev created the best project of a Russian tank for his time. By simplifying the design of the suspension, cutting off excess armor, weakening the weapons, we could get our solution to the positional deadlock of the First World War, but history does not tolerate the subjunctive mood, so let's leave it to the science fiction writers.
Rybinsk plant tank
This machine was first written about in 1956 in the book by Mostovenko V. D. "Tanks" (there is a second edition, revised and enlarged). The tank outwardly resembled a Mendeleev tank - the same brick on tracks with a cannon, albeit in the stern plate. The engine is in the middle. Reservations are much more modest - presumably 12 mm forehead and stern, 10 mm side. Armament consisted of either a 107mm cannon and a heavy machine gun, or 76mm and 20mm automatic cannons. Suspension similar to French tanks from the Holt tractor. Gasoline engine, 200 hp, looked good for its time on a car weighing 12 or 20 tons. In general, the car turned out to be modern and looked great on the battlefield, but it never entered assembly.
There were other projects of tanks in the Russian Empire, but so little is known about many that it is sometimes unknown whether this or that project was in reality, or it was the fantasies of later authors.
