On March 18, 1915, the firstborn of the Russian air defense was formed - a separate car battery for firing at the air fleet
The phrase "anti-aircraft artillery" seems to us today so well-established that it is not difficult for a non-specialist to make a mistake, believing that this type of cannon has existed for far from the first century. Meanwhile, Russian anti-aircraft guns only last year celebrated their centenary. This is not surprising, considering that the first aircraft - that is, the first target for this type of artillery - took off only on December 17, 1903. And the first specialized anti-aircraft unit in Russia was born on 18 (5 according to the old style) March 1915. It was a separate automobile battery for firing at the air fleet, armed with four anti-aircraft guns of the 1914 model, mounted on the chassis of the Russo-Balt trucks.
Despite the fact that the first aircraft began timid flights only at the very beginning of the twentieth century, the development of aviation proceeded so rapidly that by the beginning of the First World War, it firmly became part of the armed forces of all major belligerent powers. And the first place among them belonged to Russia: it had 263 aircraft in service, including 4 unique multi-engine long-range bombers "Ilya Muromets", and left behind all allies and opponents. With such a large air fleet, the Russian Empire was aware that there was a shield for every weapon, and it was developing it.
The Russian military was well aware that work was underway abroad on antiaircraft artillery. The greatest successes in this area by 1910 were achieved by the Germans and the French, who were able to adapt the medium-caliber cannons in service - 47 mm and 72 mm - for firing at air targets. It was also known in Russia that anti-aircraft artillery from the first days are trying to make it as mobile as possible, for which they place guns on a car chassis, and they try to arm cars in order to protect personnel.
This approach was completely logical, and it is not surprising that Russia followed the same path. Actually, anti-aircraft artillery in our country was engaged in 1901, when Captain Mikhail Rosenberg presented a project of his 57-mm anti-aerial gun. It was rejected, because back in 1890, during the tests, experience was gained in using a standard 76-mm field gun for air targets - and this experience was recognized as successful. But with the development of aircraft construction, it became obvious that the speed of airplanes would be much higher than the speed of balloons and airships, which means that field guns, albeit with specially trained calculations, could not cope with them. And therefore, in 1908, an initiative group of officers - students and teachers of the Officers' Artillery School in Tsarskoye Selo - began to develop the actual anti-aircraft gun.
The soul and center of this group was Staff Captain Vladimir Tarnovsky, a graduate of the Mikhailovsky Artillery School, who a year earlier became a student of the Tsarskoye Selo art school. In 1909, he, who had already managed to prove himself as a competent engineer-rationalizer, graduated from school and remained there as a teacher. And, without interrupting the training of new students, he worked with might and main to create the first Russian anti-aircraft gun. The basis for this gun was taken a light 76, 2 mm field gun of the 1902 model, which was to be equipped with a new semi-automatic bolt and an independent line of sight, as well as a machine that made it possible to raise the barrel almost vertically. The main work on the new cannon was carried out at the Putilov Factories under the guidance of engineer Franz Lender, and the Officers' School was actively involved in the development.
Since the creation of a new type of weapon required a new theory of shooting, and new machine tools, and new structural elements, work on it stretched out over several years. But this allowed Captain Tarnovsky to master the idea of placing anti-aircraft guns on a mobile chassis along the way. In 1912, in the third issue of a magazine published in the Officer Artillery School, he published a technical project of this type of anti-aircraft gun, and then turned with his proposal directly to the Society of Putilov Plants, asking for technical and technological support. In 1913, the project of the first anti-aircraft gun in Russia, and immediately with the possibility of its installation in a stationary position, as well as on a mobile automobile or railway platform, was approved by the Main Artillery Directorate. In June 1914, the Putilov factories received an order for the first 12 guns, which were officially called the “three-inch anti-aerostatic gun mod. 1914 of the Putilov plant on a car installation ", and in everyday life -" Tarnovsky-Lender's cannon of the 1914 model ", and in August their assembly had already begun.
Kirovsky plant (former Putilovsky plant, "Red Putilovets"). Photo: putilov.atwp.ru
While the Putilov workers were assembling the first anti-aircraft guns, and the Russian-Baltic Carriage Works - the cars on which they were to be installed, other batteries were sent to the front, designed to fight airplanes. They were armed with 75-mm naval and 76-mm field guns, hardly adapted for anti-aircraft fire, four in each battery. In total, three such batteries were formed in Kronstadt and sent to Warsaw to defend the Warsaw fortress.
Meanwhile, work on the first Tarnovsky-Lender anti-aircraft guns was coming to an end. The first four guns were assembled at the end of 1914 and installed on five-ton Russo-Balt T 40/65 vehicles, which were partially armored in the body and cab at the Putilov factories. But even before the end of these works, on October 18 (5), 1914, the War Council under the Minister of War approved the staff of the Separate Automobile Battery for firing at the air fleet and determined “to form (according to the mentioned state and the calculation of the number of wartime battery ranks) one automobile battery and contain her for the whole time of a real war. " Quite naturally, the first commander of the first specialized anti-aircraft unit in Russia was appointed the person who made every effort for its appearance: Staff Captain Vladimir Tarnovsky. This decision in the ministry was justified by the need for "further improvement of the system based on combat experience."
On March 19, 1915, in the midst of hostilities, Captain Tarnovsky reported that the battery could be considered formed: “On March 5th, 4 guns installed on cars for firing at the air fleet arrived at the battery from the Putilov factory 4. These guns have already been tested at the main artillery range by shooting and the tests went well. Reporting this, I ask you to issue an order for the school and to report to the Main Directorate of the General Staff that:
1) the battery should be considered formed on the 5th of this March;
2) boarding the railway to perform at the theater of military operations can be made on this 10th of March;
3) that for loading the battery, rolling stock will be required, consisting of: one class car of I or II class, two heating units for the number of 78 lower ranks, 12 platforms for the number of 12 cars and one covered freight car for motorcycles and luggage, a total of 16 cars and platforms …
The composition of the echelon: 3 officers, 1 class rank, 78 lower ranks, 12 cars and 4 motorcycles."
It is necessary to clarify that, in addition to the four artillery vehicles proper, on which Tarnovsky-Lender anti-aircraft guns were installed, the battery received four partially armored vehicles - charging boxes, the role of which was played by three-ton Russo-Balt M 24/40 trucks, as well as three passenger cars for officers and liaison teams; and a kitchen-tseihhaus on a car chassis. Four motorcycles were intended for scouts.
In this composition, the first in Russia Separate automobile batteries for firing at the air fleet on April 2 (March 20) 1915 departed for the North-Western Front. She won her first victory on June 12 (May 30) 1915 in the area of the Polish city of Pultusk, when she managed to knock out a German airplane that fell behind the Russian positions with a shrapnel shell. And the general combat score of the battery, which on November 4 (October 22), 1915 received a new name - the 1st separate automobile battery for firing at the air fleet (due to the fact that the same order of the Chief of Staff of the Commander-in-Chief No. 172 formed a second similar battery; and in total, during the First World War, nine anti-aircraft auto batteries were created and fought), reached a dozen enemy aircraft, and these are only those about the fall of which reliable data were obtained.
