Not so long ago, an article about Soviet military aid to republican Spain appeared on the VO website. And, of course, questions arose: why did the nationalists win, and not the Republicans, and how did our tanks fight there? And it just so happened that I also have a story to tell on this topic. Moreover, the information was taken from very interesting sources. It turned out that in 1997 my daughter graduated from the Penza Pedagogical Institute and had to write her thesis. What is the easiest thesis to defend? The one in which from the "teachers" no one understands anything! So she chose the topic … "Historiography of the Spanish Civil War." And in addition to "The Spanish Diary" Koltsova took a book by the English historian Hugh Thomas, and also wrote to Spain to the Ministry of Defense and to England - the Committee of Veterans-Internationalists. Oh, how happy they were both there and there! They sent a bunch of books, photographs, and there were so many of them that later it was enough for a book published by the Polygon publishing house. I especially liked the selection of materials about the tank battle in the Fuentes de Ebro area. Moreover, it was just that rare case when information about the same event came from three different sources, and it could be compared: it was the Soviet newspaper Pravda, the memoirs of the British and Canadians-internationalists, and a book from Spain about the use of combat armored vehicles of the Francoists. And it all poured into the following text:
“After the military setbacks of 1936, the Republican government decided to turn the tide, and for this to carry out a decisive offensive in the area of the Aragonese front in 1937. The belief in success was based on excellence in technology. The fact is that it was then that the Republicans received a new batch of modern BT-5 and T-26 tanks, which were decisively superior to the machine-gun tanks of the rebels. The direction of the main attack was to be the small town of Fuentes de Ebro, through which a strategically important road to Zaragoza ran, and from which it was no more than 50 km across flat terrain.
The operation was to be led by General Karel Sverchevsky, a Pole known in Spain as "Walter". The forces for the offensive were allocated to him as follows: the 15th International Brigade, of four infantry battalions of 600 fighters each, and also a battery of anti-tank guns. Its commander was Croat Vladimir Kopik, who began his military career in the Austro-Hungarian army during the First World War. The British battalion was the most "fired" and combatant in this brigade. It consisted of three infantry companies armed with Mosin rifles and a company equipped with DP-27 light machine guns and also easel Maxims. Half of the battalion was Spanish volunteers. They were followed by the battalion of Americans "Lincoln-Washington" merged from two into one in July 1937, which everyone called "Lincolnians". In the 24th Spanish battalion, in addition to the Spaniards themselves, there were Latin Americans, including even Cubans. "McPaps" - this was the name of the soldiers of another - now the Canadian battalion (the abbreviated name "Mackenzie-Papineau" - the names of two leaders of the uprising in Canada against England in 1837).
Tanks BT-5, knocked out at Fuentes de Ebro.
On August 10, 1937, fifty BT-5 tanks were delivered to Spain, of which a "regiment of heavy tanks" was formed, to which a company of armored cars and another company of anti-tank guns were added. BT-5 was probably the best among the tanks that fought in Spain. And not so much in terms of its weapons and armor as in terms of speed and maneuverability. The "regiment" was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel S. Kondratyev. Many of his assistants were also Soviet military advisers, and his deputy was a Bulgarian. The regiment consisted of three companies, each had three sections, and each section had five tanks. Command vehicles had radios and white square or rectangular markings, but vehicles were usually distinguished by their individual number plates on the towers. The enemy of the Republicans on the Aragonese front was the 5th Nationalist Corps, whose main forces were located in the cities of Belchite and Fuentes, around which a circular defense was arranged. The units that defended Fuentes de Ebro were part of the 52nd Division and included three companies from the 7th Infantry Regiment, a company of militia from the Spanish Phalanx organization (suitable only for the second echelon of defense) and one battery of light weapons 10 th artillery regiment. Then three more divisions and the Italian-Spanish Blue Arrows brigade were sent to their aid. In this brigade there were three "camps" of the Moroccan cavalry; The 225th battalion, four batteries with 65-, 75-, 105- and 155-mm guns, and a battalion of the "Foreign Legion", as well as units of the "Spanish Phalanx" collected from everywhere.
Soviet tank T-26 with an armored landing party in the Belchite area.
In October, a lull was established at the front, which made it possible to develop an operation plan, according to which it was supposed to take the city from the flanks with the help of tanks. But then the nationalist aviation unexpectedly destroyed a convoy of republican trucks with fuel and ammunition, and the commanders decided that since the nationalists knew about the convoy, they also knew about tanks, and if so, then the element of surprise from their use was already lost and with flank attacks is not worth it and get started!
The Iberian Anarchist Federation distributes weapons to the people.
As a result, they decided to attack the city frontally with the support of artillery and aviation. It was supposed to land a tank assault, which was to strike at the nationalists from the rear. But the development of such an unworked idea in practice was treated without special attention - they say, "we will put people on tanks, and then they will do everything themselves." The methods of interaction between tanks and infantry were not worked out until the beginning of the operation, in a word, everything was similar to our fatal "the main thing is to start, maybe we will break through."
Soviet tank T-26, turned into an altar for mass. Since the republicans did not favor "opium for the people", it remains to assume that the car is a trophy, as well as the fact that we have a car in front of us, which fell into the hands of the nationalists.
During the assault on Fuentes de Ebro, they did not pay attention to the positive experience of the joint use of artillery and tanks during the successful capture of the city of Quinto in August 1937. In addition, people were simply tired after the fierce battles for the city of Balchite, and the harsh trench life did little to raise morale soldier of the republican army. In addition, the brigade was international, the moral and political situation within it was complex and contradictory, and it is clear that all this had the most negative effect on its preparedness for the offensive as a whole. There were also disagreements in the headquarters about the offensive, but, nevertheless, it was decided to start it, and on October 11 it began.
The Spaniards had very few of their own tanks, but the Spanish workers riveted such armored cars and used them … according to the circumstances.
At 4 o'clock in the morning, Kondratyev gathered the officers of his regiment for a final briefing, after which the tanks (and they were only five kilometers from the city!) Began to move into the attack area. The landing infantry had to go to the tanks on foot, so it took more time than planned.
Some of the homemade Spanish BAs looked monstrous!
And then at dawn, the Franco artillery, noticing movement in the immediate vicinity of their positions, opened fire. The Republicans began to take casualties without even going into battle! The distance to the Francoist trenches was only 400 to 800 m. The front on which the Republicans were located was as much as four kilometers, but their troops were at different distances from them. The British on the left flank by the river, by the road to the city, stood up "Lincolns", the farthest behind the road were the Canadians "McPaps".
The terrain on which the offensive was to take place was all cut by ravines and irrigation canals. In some places it was covered with vegetation, but in general it was a plain, which was clearly visible from the city. Due to the general confusion, the Republicans managed to start artillery preparation only at 10.00 am, and carried out it with only two batteries. They fired several volleys and ceased fire. The “element of surprise,” if any still existed, was now completely lost, and the nationalists even had time to raise their reserves.
This was the end for most of these homemade BAs!
But even immediately after the artillery barrage, the attack did not start. We waited for the tanks to come up and decided to refuel. Why they had not done this the day before, no one knew. Most likely, they simply did not think about it. By noon, the engines hummed in the sky, and "Natasha" appeared over the city - single-engine light Soviet P-Z bombers in the amount of … 18 machines. They made only one run, dropped bombs from level flight and flew away. It is not surprising that the results of the bombing were similar to those of the artillery barrage. And now all hope was for a swift tank strike with the landing of the 24th Spanish battalion on the armor.
Now let's remember what the BT-5 tank looked like, that it had a high and rather narrow engine section, a muffler protruding behind it, and there were no handrails on it. Therefore, it was hardly suitable for transporting troops; he just had nothing to hold on to. Only the command tanks had an antenna in the form of a handrail on the tower, but it was still inconvenient for all the paratroopers to hold on to it, besides, there were still few such tanks.
Padded BT-5. Fuentes de Ebro.
Only at about two o'clock in the afternoon was the order finally sounded to start the attack, although preparations for it began at four (!) O'clock in the morning. The number of tanks involved in this battle: from 40 to 48, it was, by the standards of that time, unprecedented! On all the tanks standing along the front, the commanders, looking out of the towers, waved flags, transmitting the signal "Do as I do!" And disappeared inside. But again, the BT-5s did not have intercom: to give the order to start moving, the commander pushed the driver in the back with his foot. The engines roared and, firing at the enemy and rumbling with tracks, the tanks rushed towards the city. But it was not without embarrassment: the infantry of the Spaniards, who were sitting along the front in the trenches, as it turned out, no one warned about the tanks, and with fright they began to shoot at the tanks that appeared in its rear from nowhere. The tank landing party answered her immediately, but, fortunately, due to the high speed, neither one nor the other hit each other. As soon as the tanks swept over the trenches, the infantrymen in them immediately understood what was happening, and with shouts of "Hurray!" they ran after the tanks, but they were simply not able to catch up with the BT-5s, which were rushing at full speed.
The visibility for the drivers was poor due to the tall grass. For example, tanker Robert Gladnik saw only the spire of the Fuentes Church 90 meters in front of him. His tank jumped on bumps so that it lost almost all of its troops, and then his car fell into a deep ravine. No one answered his calls on the radio, but the engine was running, and he managed to get out of the ravine. After that, he shot all the ammunition in the city and left the battle …
Here is the spire of the church of St. Michael of the city of Fuentes de Ebro, still preserved.
William Kardash in his tank overcame the ravine, but his tank was set on fire with a bottle of combustible mixture near the city itself. The engine stalled, but when the nationalists tried to approach the tank, Kardash opened machine-gun fire on them. Then the fire reached the fighting compartment, and the crew had to leave the car. Fortunately, he was saved by the crew of another car passing by.
“Tanks rushed, raising the wind,” as a result, many of the paratroopers were thrown from the armor, while others fell under heavy enemy fire. The driver-mechanics did not know the area, and several cars got into canals and ravines, and they could not get out of them without outside help. But despite all these difficulties, the attack continued! Escaping the sad fate of their other comrades, several tanks tore apart the barbed wire barriers and entered the city, but it was difficult for them to maneuver in the narrow streets of the medieval Spanish city, and as a result, the tankers lost several tanks already in the city itself and were forced to retreat.
The same BT, filmed from the other side.
As for the internationalist infantry, then … it bravely followed the tanks, but … a person cannot run after a horse (remember the Battle of the Ice, where the infantry was depicted next to the knights on the diagrams!), And even more so for tanks, especially tanks BT.
The commander of the British battalion raised his men to attack, but was immediately killed, and his battalion was forced to lie down under heavy machine-gun fire from the Francoists. The Americans walked almost half the distance to the enemy trenches, but were forced to lie down and dig in "under the very nose" of the nationalists. The situation could be saved only by a desperate jerk! Or the reserves approach! The McPaps were farthest from the enemy. And they managed to advance several hundred meters, but here both the commander and the commissar were killed by enemy bullets. It was not possible to establish the interaction between the units under enemy fire. Return machine-gun fire from the Republicans was ineffective, and then the commander of the Republican battery received a ridiculous order: to move forward with guns and help the infantry! As a result, he lost an advantageous position, but never found a new one, and all this time his weapons were silent.
By the end of the battle, the inter-brigade troops lay down all over the space between the lines of their own and enemy trenches, and the soldiers began to dig single cells. The ground was traditionally Spanish: red earth and stones. The orderlies who carried the wounded were able to finish their work only at night. But even before dark, the brigade was taken to their old positions. Some, not badly damaged, tanks were pulled out.
McPaps lost 60 people killed and over 100 wounded. Of the three company commanders, two were killed, and the third was seriously wounded.
The Lincoln's losses amounted to 18 people killed, including the commander of the machine-gun company and about 50 wounded. The British lost the least of all in killed: only six, but they had a lot of wounded. The Spanish battalion that took part in the tank breakthrough suffered very heavy losses. Well, the landing force, which found itself in the rear without support, was all surrounded by Francoists and completely destroyed. There were several wounded among the gunners.
Kondratyev's tankers lost 16 crews killed, and his deputy was also killed. In just one day, Soviet tank crews suffered the heaviest losses in the entire war! Various sources give different information on the number of destroyed tanks: from 16 to 28, but it is obvious that they accounted for 38% - 40% of the number of vehicles involved.
Republican T-26 with an anti-aircraft machine gun.
It is interesting that the sad experience of the tank landing at Fuentes de Ebro was not taken into account by the Soviet command during the Great Patriotic War. It was widely used until our army commanders were forced to abandon it by heavy losses.
The fate of the corps commander S. Kondratyev was also sad: his unit on the Karelian Isthmus was surrounded during the Finnish war, help did not come, the losses were enormous, and he, leaving the encirclement, decided to commit suicide, as he understood what he was just won't be forgiven. Then General Pavlov was also shot. There was incriminating evidence against him that in Spain he was “morally decayed”, but after his return “from there,” for some reason they turned a blind eye. But then the 41st began, and he was no longer forgiven for new defeats … Well, about, in fact, Spanish tanks, the story will be continued in the next article.
Rice. A. Shepsa
(To be continued)
