In what year were the first tanks made? The very first tanks
Late XIX— the beginning of the 20th century is characterized by rapid scientific progress of mankind. They are actively using steam locomotives and cars, they have invented the internal combustion engine and are actively trying to take to the skies. Sooner or later, the military becomes interested in all such inventions.
History of the development of armored vehicles by country
| China |
History of tanks from other countries
Stages of tank building development
The steam locomotive was the first to be used. First, to transport troops, and later, a cannon was installed on the railway platform, and armored shields were installed for protection. This is how the first armored train turned out, which was used by the Americans in 1862 during civil war V North America. The use of armored trains imposes its own limitations - railway tracks are needed. The military began to think about combining high firepower and mobility in a vehicle.
The next stage was the reservation of ordinary passenger cars with the installation of machine gun or light cannon weapons on them. They were to be used to break through the front line of enemy defenses and deliver manpower.
The main problem in the history of the development of tank building was the lack of motivation and lack of understanding of the possibilities of using armored vehicles. About the basics of using an armored cart back in the 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci wrote: “We will build closed chariots that will penetrate enemy lines and cannot be destroyed by a crowd of armed men, and infantry can follow behind them without much risk or any baggage.” In practice, no one took seriously “expensive iron toys,” as the British Minister of War once called tank prototypes.
The reasons for the creation of the first tank and its purpose
Tanks received real recognition during the First World War.
The First World War was a positional war, characterized by a multi-echelon continuous line of defense with machine guns and architectural structures. Artillery preparation was used for the breakthrough, but due to short range it could suppress fire, and then quite conditionally, only from the firing points of the front line. When capturing the first line, the invaders inevitably encountered the next, to suppress which it was necessary to bring up artillery. While the attackers were engaged in artillery, the defending troops mobilized reserves and recaptured the occupied line and began to go on the attack themselves. Such fruitless movement could continue for quite a long time. For example. In February 1916, more than one thousand guns took part in the Battle of Verdun, for which the Germans had been preparing for almost two months. Over ten months of confrontation, more than 14 million shells were spent, and the death toll on both sides exceeded one million. With all this, the Germans advanced as much as 3 kilometers into the depths of the French defense.
The military clearly faced the question of the need vehicle, which could break through enemy defense lines with complete suppression of firing points, or at least quickly deliver artillery to the next lines.
For obvious reasons, armored trains could not be used, and armored cars quickly showed their inadequacy - weak armor and ineffective weapons. Strengthening the armor and armament significantly increased the weight of the vehicle, which, along with wheel suspension and weak engines, reduced the cross-country ability of armored vehicles to zero. The use of a tracked loader (caterpillars) helped improve the situation somewhat. The track rollers evenly distributed the pressure on the soil, which significantly increased maneuverability on soft ground.
To increase firepower and maneuverability, military engineers began experimenting with the size and weight of the new combat vehicle. We tried combining tracks with wheels. There were also several rather controversial projects among them. For example. In Russia, designer Lebedenko, and independently of him in England, Major Hetherington, designed a tank on three huge wheels for greater maneuverability. The idea of both designers was to simply move a ditch with a combat vehicle, so Lebedenko proposed creating a tank with wheels with a diameter of 9 meters, and Hetherington, respectively, 12 meters. Lebedenko even created a prototype, but during testing it... got stuck in the first hole.
Due to the imperfections of the armored vehicles presented, debates about the need for their development and reconciliation among the military continued until September 15, 1916. This day became a turning point in the history of tank building and warfare in general. During the Battle of the Somme, the British used their new tanks for the first time. Of the 42 two that were available, 32 took part in the battle. During the battle, 17 of them various reasons were out of action, but the remaining tanks were also able to help the infantry advance 5 kilometers deep into the defense along the entire width of the offensive, while the losses in manpower amounted to 20 times! less than calculated. For comparison, we can recall the battle of Verbena.
The world's first Mark I tank
This tank was named after one of the creators, “Big Willie”, being, in some way, the progenitor of all tanks, it also received the nickname: “Mother”. The tank was a huge diamond-shaped box with tracks around the perimeter. To conduct directional shooting, machine guns or cannons were installed on the sides of the tank, in the sponsons, depending on the modification. The tank's crew consisted of 8 people, it weighed 27-28 tons, and the speed was 4.5 km/h (over rough terrain 2 km/h).
Such a tank, imperfect in all respects, marked the beginning of mass tank construction throughout the world; no one doubted the need for such combat vehicles. Later A.P. Rotmistrov wrote that the British were unable to develop tactical success into operational success only because of the small number of tanks.
The term "tank" is translated from English as "tank" or "tank". This is how combat vehicles began to be called when they were delivered to the front lines. For purposes of secrecy, the tanks were transported under the guise of “self-propelled water tanks for Petrograd.” On railway platforms they really did resemble large tanks. It’s interesting, but in Russia, before the English “tank” took root, it was translated and called “tank”. In other armies, their names stuck - “panzerkampfwagen” PzKpfw (armored combat wagon) among the Germans, “char de comba” (combat wagon) among the French, “stridvagn” (combat wagon) among the Swedes, the Italians called it “carro d'armato” (armed cart).
After the Mark I, tanks were constantly given great attention, although the tactics and strategy for their use had not yet been developed, and the capabilities of the tanks themselves were rather mediocre. But in a very short time the tank will become a key item on the battlefield, light and heavy tanks, multi-turreted lumbering giants and high-speed wedges, floating and even flying tanks will appear.
Time is inexorable in everything, erasing memory if people forget about something significant in their history. It’s good that WWII veterans approaching their centenary and the T-34 tank leading the parade remind us of the last terrible war military equipment on Victory Day. Such combat vehicles, which have covered thousands of kilometers of front-line roads in Russia and Europe, stand on pedestals in many cities of the country. Looking at them, questions often arise: is there a tank in the world, who are its creators?
This is how we can briefly characterize the general impression from viewing photographs depicting the first tanks created at the beginning of the 20th century:
If we add to this that the speed of these first combat vehicles ranged from 2 to 8 km/h, and the armament consisted of 1 - 3 machine guns per armored “car”, then the picture will become even more complete. It seems, why were such unsuccessful designs used in combat? The answer to this is simple:
- Even experienced soldiers, seeing the rattling metal boxes for the first time, fell into panic.
- The imperfect armor of the first tanks easily withstood bullets from enemy rifles and machine guns, and the artillery was not ready to fight them due to the lack of skills in direct fire.
- The main obstacles for the infantry, built during the trench war in 1916 - 1917 (barbed wire fences, trenches with machine gun nests), tanks overcame without special labor, breaking through the enemy’s long-term defenses, while the losses of the attacking troops decreased many times over.
The advantages of using new military equipment prevailed, so the opposing countries designed, produced and used the first tanks with varying degrees of success.
Germany, Russia and other Entente
The first two countries suffered huge losses in both the First and Second Great Wars. Dividends were received by others - traders from overseas, gentlemen from Foggy Albion pitting everyone against each other, the French, who were good at staying on the sidelines.
Exhausted in the first years of the war, Germany and Russia could not afford to invest huge amounts of money, the capacity of metallurgical, machine-building, weapons factories, engineering, and labor resources in the production of new military equipment that had not yet been sufficiently tested on the battlefield. Therefore, the matter did not move beyond the development of a set of drawings and the assembly of prototypes:
Things were completely different for Russia’s “faithful” allies in the Entente:
In total, during the First World War, these states produced almost 7 thousand tanks of all types:
- England – 2905 pcs.
- France – 3997 pcs.
Although the very first tank in the world was created in England, the most successfully designed, close to modern concept The combat vehicle turned out to be the French Renault FT-17. This is confirmed by the fact that its modifications were subsequently made in many countries, including the Soviet Union, and the last cases of use in combat dates back to 1945.
About the fact that the first British tanks for the sake of maintaining secrecy, they decided to call it “tank”, today many people know. A much greater veil of secrecy shrouds the tank designs that were invented even before “Little Willie” and “Big Willie” entered testing. Today we will tell you about these once top secret projects.
Boirot's machine
Although the first tanks went into battle in 1916, the idea of using vehicles on the battlefield was born immediately, as soon as the approaches to the enemy trenches were entangled with numerous rows of barbed wire. Of course, shells fired from guns would have torn it apart, but a lot of them were needed for this. And then the French engineer Louis Boirot in December 1914 proposed an unusual vehicle for this purpose, which rightfully lays claim to the title of the very first experimental tank of the First World War. It is enough to look at her photograph to understand that Monsieur Boirot had a rich imagination. It was an eight-meter frame of six support plates connected to each other by hinges. Inside it was a pyramidal structure with an 80 horsepower engine and space for two crew members. Thanks to the wheels, it slowly rolled inside this frame, and its plates pressed against the wire barriers. But its speed was only three kilometers per hour... In addition, it was almost impossible to control. And, of course, it was large in size, which made it a good target for artillery, which is why it was abandoned immediately after the tests carried out in February 1915.
The second model looked more compact, had an armored body, a machine gun, and could climb through trenches six feet (about two meters) wide. However, its speed turned out to be even lower than that of the first one - only one kilometer per hour, and its turning radius was 100 meters, which was completely unacceptable.
Tank "Breton-Pretot"
Having learned about the failure of tests of Boirot's machines, another Frenchman, engineer Jules Louis Breton, proposed cutting the wire with a mechanical cutter in the form of a vertical saw with a mechanical drive. The device was called "Breton-Preto" (named after the author and the manufacturer), and was mounted on a five-ton wheeled tractor, which was armored and equipped with a machine gun in the turret. During testing, this tractor got stuck in a trench from where it was barely pulled out.
Tank Obrio and Gabe
Two more French engineers, Obrio and Gabe, in the same 1915, based on the Filtz agricultural tractor, built a strange combat vehicle that looked like an armored turret with a motor in front and two large-diameter driving wheels. The turret's armament consisted of a 37-mm rapid-fire gun, and the crew consisted of two people: a driver and a commander, who also served as a gunner. The most unusual thing about the car was its propulsion system, which consisted of an electric motor powered by a cable! Yes, yes, there were no batteries or a current generator inside - when moving, the unit pulled a cable that unwound from a special drum. It is clear that a combat vehicle dragging such a “tail” behind it was completely unsuitable for the needs of the army. Why the inventors themselves did not understand this is unclear!
Tank Frota
In March 1915, engineer P. Froth from the Northern Canal company proposed building a symmetrical wheeled combat vehicle weighing 10 tons with two control posts so that it could move back and forth on the battlefield without turning around. The engine with a power of only 20 horsepower was placed in the center of the body. The crew was to consist of nine people, including four machine gunners and three assistants. The speed of the car was 3-5 kilometers per hour, but it actually could not move over rough terrain.
Hetterington's Land Cruiser
The first project for a “land cruiser” was submitted by Captain Thomas Hetterington of the Royal Naval Air Service. The thickness of its armor was 80 millimeters. Each of the three turrets housed two 102-mm guns. But there were only three wheels: two in front, with a diameter of 12 meters - driving and one rear - steering. Two diesel engines were supposed to provide the “cruiser” with a speed of up to 12 kilometers per hour. When the project was reviewed, it turned out that the weight of the vehicle could reach 1000 tons, and in addition, with a height of 14, a length of 30 and a width of 24 meters, it would be an excellent target for German artillery. Therefore, the British built a scaled-down model from... wood, and decided to stop all work on Hetterington’s “cruiser,” which they did in June 1915.
"Field Monitor" and "Trench Destroyer"
In, as you know, the Tsar Tank of Captain Lebedenko was built, which made an impression with its nine-meter-high wheels, but the Americans developed a project for a “150-ton field monitor” on wheels with a diameter of six meters, and also with two (!) steam engines .
According to the designers, it should have been equipped with two 152-mm naval guns, which were usually installed on cruisers! An entire battery of 10 Colt machine guns of the 1885 model served as auxiliary weapons. Four of them in twin installations were located in two towers, and the remaining six were supposed to fire through embrasures in the hull.
However, 150 tons seemed not enough to the Americans, and they developed a project called “Trench Destroyer” weighing already 200 tons, that is, even more solid than the German super heavy tank"Colossal"! It was assumed that this would be an armored “car” on the chassis of the Holt tractor, but longer. The armament was to consist of six 75 mm French guns model 1897, flamethrower, another 20 Browning machine guns with all-round fire; crew - 30 people. It is clear that they did not release it, no matter how pleasing it was to the eye!
"Skeleton Tank" and others
But they built a nine-ton “skeleton tank”, which had large tracked lines connected by pipes. Between them was a small cubic-shaped armored cabin with a turret for a 37-mm gun. The designers considered that enemy shells would fly between the tubular supports and would not hit the hull and turret, but because of large sizes its cross-country ability will be the same as that of the English “diamond” tanks. Then they built a three-wheeled tank with a steam engine, and, most amazingly, the Germans made almost exactly the same machine, similar to a tricycle. But the tank remained a tracked vehicle. The wheels, even big ones, didn’t suit him!
McPhie's Tanks
The projects of Robert Francis McPhie, a talented Canadian engineer who, however, had a grumpy and quarrelsome character, were also not accepted. Already on his first project there was a propeller, that is, the car was conceived as an amphibian! There is also a propeller on his other project, and it was supposed to be raised and lowered in order to protect it from damage when hitting the ground. I wonder what main feature his last two vehicles had a chassis on three tracks.
In this case, the front caterpillar had to play the role of a steering device, that is, turn in different directions, and also change its position relative to the body in the vertical plane. The designer provided a special cutter for barbed wire and a folding “nose” made of armor plates to protect the steering track and its drive wheel.
Another of his projects was a tank with four tracks, but the front two were located one behind the other. The front track had a slope of 35 degrees and was supposed to make it easier to overcome vertical obstacles, and all the rest gave low pressure on the ground of the heavy vehicle.
October 25, 2013
Self-propelled armored van
It is impossible to imagine a modern army without tanks. They are the main ones impact force ground forces. But the history of the use of these combat vehicles has not even reached the century mark.
The idea of protecting a foot soldier from enemy fire has been developed for a long time. Siege towers, used since ancient times, are proof of this. But we needed a vehicle that could move in infantry combat formations and support it with its fire.
One of the ancestors modern tanks can be considered the great Leonardo Da Vinci. His self-propelled armored van, according to calculations, was supposed to be driven by the muscular power of people, through levers and gears. The design involved the placement of light artillery pieces and an observation tower. The wooden and metal lining of the hull was supposed to reliably protect the crew from arrows and firearms. True, the project did not come to practical implementation.
Crawler
The idea of creating armored mechanisms was revived in the 19th century, when engines, first steam, and then internal combustion and electric, became widespread.
The first known project, which combined the current elements of a tank - caterpillar tracks, engine, artillery and machine gun armament and armor protection, was developed by the French engineer Edouard Bouyen in 1874. His car was supposed to weigh about 120 tons and reach speeds of up to 10 km per hour. The planned armament is 12 cannons and 4 mitrailleuses (predecessors of the machine gun). The number of crew was amazing - 200 fighters! This project was patented, but remained on paper.
The impetus for the development of tank forces was given by the battles of the First World War. After a relatively short period of maneuver, a protracted positional period began. There was a crisis of military thought. Saturation of infantry with rapid-fire rifles, machine guns, artillery, engineering equipment defensive lines led to the fact that neither side was able to break through the front. Dense rifle and machine gun fire literally mowed down the advancing troops. At the cost of huge losses, only small tactical successes were achieved. Some completely new methods of breaking into defensive formations were needed. It was then that the first tanks entered the war arena, along with poisonous gases.
The British are considered the founders of tanks. It was they who first put them into mass production and used them on the battlefield. However, the issue of primacy is quite controversial. The fact is that the Russian engineer Porokhovshchikov developed back in 1914 and in 1915 created a model of an “all-terrain vehicle” with caterpillar tracks, weighing 4 tons, with a crew of 2 people. The project was highly approved and tested, but for some unclear bureaucratic reasons it was not brought to mass production. The tests took place in May 1915, that is, several months earlier than the British.
However, England is considered the official birthplace of tanks. This is where the modern name comes from. By the way, there are discrepancies on this matter. According to one version, the tank (in English this means tank, tank) was so named in connection with external resemblance with a metal tank. Another version says that this happened during a secret operation to transport combat vehicles to the theater of military operations, when they were transported under the guise of containers with liquids.
The very first tanks were called Mark I, and were divided into “females” (with machine gun armament) and “males” (with mounted guns). The weight of the combat vehicle reached 8.5 tons. The height of the tank was 2.5 meters, width up to 4.3, length up to 10 meters with a wheeled “tail”. The layout of the tank was carried out according to a diamond-shaped pattern. The 105 horsepower engine could move this armored miracle over rough terrain at speeds of up to 6 km/h. The crew of 8 people was protected by 12 mm frontal armor, which at that time was good cover from small arms and machine gun fire. They were armed with 1 gun and 4 machine guns (“males”) or 5 machine guns (“females”). The series of tanks amounted to 150 units.
First combat use tanks took place on September 15, 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. Although design flaws were immediately identified, the effect was still amazing. The armored monsters terrified the defending German soldiers. During one day of battle, the British managed to achieve tactical success, breaking through the enemy’s defenses to a depth of 5 km, suffering losses 20 times less than what had happened before.
Thus, the combat significance of tanks was proven. The development of armored vehicles continued actively in all major states. Soon it was simply impossible to imagine the armed forces without tanks.
After few years tank forces will celebrate their centenary. The appearance of the armored fighting vehicle has changed beyond recognition. But the main requirements are the same - speed, maneuverability, security and firepower.
: The history of the invention of the tank and the development of tank construction up to and including the outbreak of WWII (World War II) is interesting. The answer is extensive, but at least to illuminate the most relish.)))
Let's start from the very beginning.
When on November 20, 1917, 10 years ago, 350 tanks advanced through the morning darkness to fall on the sleeping Hindenburg positions, a new chapter was opened in history, which we are only now beginning to understand with all clarity. And although the Mark IV tank was new at the Battle of Cambrai, the principle embodied in it - the protection of motive and manpower leading an attack under cover - was fully realized 300 years ago.
The first thought about a tank, or rather a tank-like mechanism, arose in China. From the reports of Sunn-Tse we learn that in the 12th century BC a military cart called “Lu” was used. This cart had 4 wheels and could accommodate 12 people. The historian does not mention horses, and one must think that the cart was driven by people from the inside using special devices. It was protected by the skin and used during attack and defense.
"Tank" from the times of ancient Rome.
The idea of a tank was further developed in countries currently classified as the Middle East. Xenophon, describing the Battle of Timbra (554 BC), says with his characteristic fantasy that Cyrus placed behind the line of his positions a number of carts with towers erected on them, from which shooting was carried out.
In Europe, elephants, as a cavalry vanguard, ceased to be used after the conquest of Greece by the Romans. The chariot was held in the East and in some countries, such as in England. But the idea of the tank did not disappear and was revived again in the armored knights of the crusades. The armored knight on his feet was a “tank” in every way. His motive power, although limited, was completely protected, and he could develop his attack under cover.
At the Battle of Crecy, the British had only a small number of cannons at their disposal, but a hundred years later firearms came into general use, and a new military era began. The old one passed under the sign of steel, in the new one lead began to dominate. Did the bullet bury the idea of the tank? No, on the contrary, she breathed into her new life. The ancient Chinese "Lu" floated onto the scene again. In 1395, a man named Konrad Keyser invented a military cart that was propelled from the inside, and a little later a cart was built that could seat at least 100 people. It was, in all likelihood, a real moving fortress, extremely cumbersome. In Scotland, two Acts of Parliament were passed in 1456 and 1471 regarding the use of these mechanisms.
"Tank" of the seventeenth century.
But it was unthinkable to set such a machine in motion using the muscular power of people or animals, and therefore the inventive genius of the Renaissance took advantage of the mechanical force that existed at that time. In 1472 Valturio proposed wind wheels as a propulsion force, and later Simon Steven spoke of sails, or rather small armored sailing boats on wheels. The great Leonardo da Vinci, one of the most amazing dreamers in the history of mechanical inventions, built closed armored vehicles. This was in 1482, and a little more than 100 years later John Napier develops the same idea.
From then until Watt built the first steam engine. In 1769 the idea of a tank came up from time to time, but always in its early form of the Chinese "Lo". Simultaneously with Watt's invention, a steam locomotive appeared, which had a speed of 2.5 miles per hour. A year later, in 1770, the “shod wheel” was invented, a device that prevented the wheel from sinking into soft soil. In these last two inventions can be found the germs of two essential aspects of the future tank: internal motive power and the ability to drive over uneven terrain and trenches.
Armored cart.
The Crimean War, declared in 1845, was a war of muddy roads and ravines and therefore created a need for shod wheels, with which some of Bodley's road locomobiles were successfully supplied in the Balaklava region, located in marshy terrain. The difficulty of taking Russian trenches prompted James Cowan to propose to Lord Palmerston the use of armored road vehicles equipped with scythes.
The steam locomotive was the first to be used. First, to transport troops, and later, a cannon was installed on the railway platform, and armored shields were installed for protection. This is how the first armored train was created, which was used by the Americans in 1862 during the civil war in North America. The use of armored trains imposes its own limitations - railway tracks are needed. The military began to think about combining high firepower and mobility in a vehicle.
The next stage was the reservation of ordinary passenger cars with the installation of machine gun or light cannon weapons on them. They were to be used to break through the front line of enemy defenses and deliver manpower.
The main problem in the history of the development of tank building before the First World War was the lack of motivation and lack of understanding of the possibilities of using armored vehicles. About the basics of using an armored cart back in the 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci wrote: “We will build closed chariots that will penetrate enemy lines and cannot be destroyed by a crowd of armed men, and infantry can follow behind them without much risk or any baggage.” In practice, no one took seriously “expensive iron toys,” as the British Minister of War once called tank prototypes.
Tanks received real recognition during the First World War.
The First World War was a positional war, characterized by a multi-echelon continuous line of defense with machine guns and architectural structures. For the breakthrough, artillery barrage was used, but due to the short firing range, it could suppress, and then rather conditionally, only the firing points of the front line. When capturing the first line, the invaders inevitably encountered the next, to suppress which it was necessary to bring up artillery. While the attackers were engaged in artillery, the defending troops mobilized reserves and recaptured the occupied line and began to go on the attack themselves. Such fruitless movement could continue for quite a long time. For example. In February 1916, more than one thousand guns took part in the Battle of Verdun, for which the Germans had been preparing for almost two months. Over ten months of confrontation, more than 14 million shells were spent, and the death toll on both sides exceeded one million. With all this, the Germans advanced as much as 3 kilometers into the depths of the French defense.
The military clearly faced the question of the need for a vehicle that could break through enemy defense lines with complete suppression of firing points, or at least quickly deliver artillery to the next lines.
For obvious reasons, armored trains could not be used, and armored cars quickly showed their inadequacy - weak armor and ineffective weapons. Strengthening the armor and armament significantly increased the weight of the vehicle, which, along with wheel suspension and weak engines, reduced the cross-country ability of armored vehicles to zero. The use of a tracked loader (caterpillars) helped improve the situation somewhat. The track rollers evenly distributed the pressure on the soil, which significantly increased maneuverability on soft ground.
To increase firepower and maneuverability, military engineers began experimenting with the size and weight of the new combat vehicle. We tried combining tracks with wheels. There were also several rather controversial projects among them. For example. In Russia, designer Lebedenko, and independently of him in England, Major Hetherington, designed a tank on three huge wheels for greater maneuverability. The idea of both designers was to simply move a ditch with a combat vehicle, so Lebedenko proposed creating a tank with wheels with a diameter of 9 meters, and Hetherington, respectively, 12 meters.
The Tsar Tank was built in 1915. The design of the car was distinguished by great originality and ambition. According to Lebedenko himself, the idea for this car was inspired by Central Asian carts, which, thanks to large diameter wheels, easily overcome potholes and ditches. Therefore, unlike “classic” tanks that use tracked propulsion, the Tsar Tank was a wheeled combat vehicle and in design resembled a greatly enlarged gun carriage. The two huge spoked front wheels had a diameter of approximately 9 m, while the rear roller was noticeably smaller, about 1.5 m. The upper fixed machine-gun house was raised above the ground by approximately 8 m. The T-shaped box-shaped body had a width of 12 m, on the protruding On the plane of the wheels and at the extreme points of the hull, sponsons with machine guns were designed, one on each side (it was also assumed that guns could be installed). It was planned to install an additional machine gun turret under the bottom. The design speed of the vehicle was 17 km/h.
Paradoxical as it may seem, despite all the unusualness, ambition, complexity and enormous size of the machine, Lebedenko managed to “break through” his project. The car received approval from a number of authorities, but the matter was finally decided by an audience with Nicholas II, during which Lebedenko presented the emperor with a winding wooden model of his car with an engine based on a gramophone spring. According to the recollections of the courtiers, the emperor and the engineer crawled on the floor for half an hour, “like little children,” chasing the model around the room. The toy ran briskly across the carpet, easily overcoming stacks of two or three volumes of the Code of Laws Russian Empire" The audience ended with Nicholas II, impressed by the machine, ordering funding for the project.
Work under imperial patronage proceeded quickly - soon the unusual machine was manufactured in metal and, from the end of spring 1915, was secretly assembled in the forest near Dmitrov. On August 27, 1915, the first sea trials of the finished vehicle were carried out. The use of large wheels implied increased maneuverability of the entire device, which was confirmed in tests - the machine broke birch trees like matches. However, the rear steerable roller, due to its small size and incorrect weight distribution of the vehicle as a whole, got stuck in soft ground almost immediately after the start of testing. The large wheels turned out to be unable to pull it out, even despite the use of the most powerful propulsion system at that time, consisting of two captured Maybach engines of 250 hp each. With. each taken from a downed German airship.
The tests revealed what later seemed obvious significant vulnerability of the vehicle - mainly the wheels - during artillery fire, especially high explosive shells. All this led to the fact that already in August the project was curtailed as a result of the negative conclusion of the High Commission, but Stechkin and Zhukovsky still began developing new engines for the car. However, this attempt was not crowned with success, as were attempts to move the Tsar Tank from its place and pull it out of the testing area.
Until 1917, the tank was guarded at the test site, but then, due to the political upheavals that began, the vehicle was forgotten and never remembered again. Design work on it was no longer carried out, and the huge surreal design of the completed combat vehicle rusted in the forest for another seven years, at the testing site, until the tank was dismantled for scrap in 1923.
The only positive effect of this project can be considered the experience gained by the then young Mikulin and Stechkin. When it became clear that the power of the device’s engines was clearly insufficient, they developed their own AMBS-1 engine (short for Alexander Mikulin and Boris Stechkin), which had very advanced characteristics and technical solutions for that time, such as direct fuel injection into the cylinders. This engine, however, only worked for a few minutes, after which its connecting rods bent due to high loads. However, both Stechkin and Mikulin, who, by the way, were nephews of the outstanding aviation theorist Nikolai Egorovich Zhukovsky, later became outstanding Soviet specialists in aircraft engines, academicians of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Despite the failure, Lebedenko’s idea was not flawed in principle. A few years later, engineer Pavesi built a series of high-wheeled military tractors for the Italian army. The inventor also created several models of wheeled tanks, but they were not adopted for service. The tank remained a purely tracked vehicle.
There is also a conspiracy theory regarding the fate of the Tsar Tank project. It suggests that the obviously failed machine project was heavily lobbied in General Staff high-ranking officials acting in the interests of Great Britain. This theory is very similar to the truth, since these same officials buried All-terrain vehicle Porokhovshchikova, the drawings of which were subsequently sold to the French and formed the basis of the French tank Renault-FT-17. Read more about this story.
Due to the imperfections of the armored vehicles presented, debates about the need for their development and reconciliation among the military continued until September 15, 1916. This day became a turning point in the history of tank building and warfare in general. During the Battle of the Somme, the British used their new tanks for the first time. Of the 42 two that were available, 32 took part in the battle. During the battle, 17 of them broke down for various reasons, but the remaining tanks were able to help the infantry advance 5 kilometers deep into the defense along the entire width of the offensive, with losses in manpower amounted to 20 times! less than calculated. For comparison, we can recall the battle of Verbena.
The idea of creating a combat tracked vehicle capable of moving over rough terrain through trenches, ditches and wire fences was first expressed in 1914 by the English Colonel Swinton. After discussion in various authorities, the War Ministry generally accepted his idea and formulated the basic requirements that the combat vehicle had to meet. It had to be small, have caterpillar tracks, bulletproof armor, overcome craters up to 4 m and wire fences, reach a speed of at least 4 km/h, have a cannon and two machine guns. The main purpose of the tank was to destroy barbed wire barriers and suppress enemy machine guns. Soon, Foster’s company, in forty days, created a combat vehicle based on the Holt tracked tractor, called “Little Willie.” Its chief designers were Engineer Tritton and Lieutenant Wilson.
"Little Willie" was tested in 1915 and showed good driving performance. In November, the Holt company began manufacturing a new machine. The designers were faced with the difficult problem of increasing its length by 1 m without making the tank heavier, so that it could overcome four-meter trenches. In the end, this was achieved due to the fact that the outline of the caterpillar was given the shape of a parallelogram. In addition, it turned out that the tank had difficulty taking vertical embankments and steep elevations. To increase the height of the toe, Wilson and Tritton came up with the idea of running a caterpillar on top of the body. This significantly increased the vehicle's cross-country ability, but at the same time gave rise to a number of other difficulties associated, in particular, with the placement of cannons and machine guns. The armament had to be distributed along the sides, and so that the machine guns could fire to the side and backward, they were installed in the side protrusions of the sponsons. In February 1916 new tank, named "Big Willie", successfully passed sea trials. He could overcome wide trenches, move across a plowed field, climb over walls and embankments up to 1.8 m high. Trenches up to 3.6 m did not pose a serious obstacle for him.
The tank's hull was a frame box made of corners to which armored plates were bolted. The chassis, which consisted of small unsprung road wheels (the shaking in the car was terrible), was also covered with armor. Inside, the “land cruiser” resembled the engine room of a small ship, which you could walk around without even bending down. There was a separate cabin in the front for the driver and commander. Most of the rest of the space was occupied by the engine
Daimler, gearbox and transmission. To start the engine, teams of 3-4 people had to rotate a huge starting handle until the engine started with a deafening roar. The first brands of cars also had fuel tanks inside. There were narrow passages left on both sides of the engine. The ammunition was stored on shelves between the top of the engine and the roof. While driving, exhaust gases and gasoline vapors accumulated in the tank. Ventilation was not provided. Meanwhile, the heat from the running engine soon became unbearable; the temperature reached 50 degrees. In addition, with each cannon shot, the tank was filled with caustic powder gases. The crew could not stay in combat positions for a long time, they burned out and suffered from overheating. Even in battle, tankers sometimes jumped out to breathe fresh air, not paying attention to the whistling of bullets and shrapnel. A significant drawback of “Big Willie” was its narrow tracks, which bogged down in soft soil. At the same time, the heavy tank landed on the ground, stumps and stones. It was bad with observation and communication - the viewing slots in the sides did not provide inspection, but the spray from bullets that hit the armor near them hit the tankers in the face and eyes. There was no radio communication. Carrier pigeons were kept for long-distance communication, and special signal flags were used for short-range communication. There was no intercom either.
Controlling the tank required significant effort from the drivers and commander (the latter was responsible for the brakes on the right and left side tracks). The tank had three gearboxes - one main and one on each side (each of them controlled a special transmission). The turn was carried out either by braking one track, or by switching one of the onboard gearboxes to the neutral position, while on the other side they engaged first or second gear. With the track stopped, the tank turned around almost on the spot.
Tanks were first used in battle on September 15, 1916, near the village of Flers-Courses during the great Battle of the Somme. The British offensive, launched in July, produced insignificant results and very significant losses. It was then that the commander-in-chief, General Haig, decided to throw tanks into battle. There were 49 of them in total, but only 32 reached their original positions, the rest remained in the rear due to breakdowns. Only 18 took part in the attack, but in a few hours they advanced along with the infantry into the German positions 5 km on a front of the same width. Haig was pleased - in his opinion, it was the new weapon that reduced infantry losses by 20 times compared to the “norm”. He immediately sent a demand to London for 1000 combat vehicles at once.
In subsequent years, the British released several modifications of the Mk (that was official name"Big Willie") Each subsequent model was more perfect than the previous one. For example, the first serial tank Mk-1 weighed 28 tons, moved at a speed of 4.5 km/h, and was armed with two cannons and three machine guns. Its crew consisted of 8 people. The later MkA tank had a speed of 9.6 km/h, weight -18 tons, crew - 5 people, armament - 6 machine guns. The ISS, weighing 19.5 tons, had a speed of 13 km/h. This tank had a crew of four people and was armed with four machine guns. The last amphibious tank, Mkl, created already in 1918, had a rotating turret, a crew of four and an armament of three machine guns. Weighing 13.5 tons, it reached a speed of 43 km/h on land and 5 km/h on water. In total, the British produced 3,000 tanks of 13 different modifications during the war years.
Tank "Schneider" SA-1, 1916
Gradually, tanks were adopted by other warring armies. The first French tanks were developed and produced by Schneider in October 1916. Outwardly, they bore little resemblance to their English counterparts - the tracks did not cover the hull, but were located along its sides or under it. The chassis was sprung with special springs, which made the work of the crew easier. However, due to the fact that top part The tank hung heavily over the tracks, the Schneiders' cross-country ability was worse, and they could not overcome even minor vertical obstacles.
About a hundred of them came to Russia and they all served in the army of Denikin, a White Guard. After the Civil War, these tanks were installed in various cities as monuments. Today there are 5 of them left. Let's look at the Lugansk specimen from the inside with the help of a blogger dymov
Sandblasted tank on "slipways". Some of the hatches have been removed.
A drawing of a tank with numbered armor plates and a description of the problems for each of the damaged ones.
Also, on the table are pieces of armor and rivets (they checked the type of steel to select the optimal one for a possible future replacement).
Numbered armor plates on the tank itself.
As you can see, there are plenty of cracks and holes from rust.
The bottom was pretty rotten in some places. Standing in the open air, the tank collected water in any rainfall.
It's quite spacious inside (without the engine). It became clear how 7-8 crew members could fit there.
Stak engineering.Co
Wolverhampton
inscription on the gearbox.
The place of the only gunner in this crew. It must be said that in terms of the number of “shots” this tank can give odds to any modern one. More than 40 next to the gun and even more in the stern.
All levers and rods are in place.
Pedals too. I wonder what the letters B and C on them mean?
Convenient glove compartment. The officer could have put down binoculars and a Browning gun.
The “head” of the gearbox is larger.
7 machine guns per tank is very cool, in my opinion.
The ventilation duct (if that's what it is) is the most rusted of all.
The driver-mechanic has his own stash. And, by the way, the “steering wheel” is right-handed! In English…
….. automobile plant
major renovation
19…
as usual, all the best interesting information erased by time. 
Using this number, as it turned out, it was possible to restore both the data on the tank and its combat path.
For example, both Lugansk were recaptured by the Red Army from Wrangel in the battles for Crimea. Namely - on Perekop.
Items that have been in the tank for many years. The button is of greatest interest.
Once upon a time, these workshops produced other tracked shushiks for military needs - amphibious transport vehicles capable of transporting a truckload of soldiers on board across any river.
LOT recording a stand-up comedy in the bowels of a combat vehicle.
And now about the French
The most best tank The First World War was the Renault FT, produced by the Renault company and weighing only 6 tons, a crew of two, armament - a machine gun (cannon since 1917), maximum speed- 9.6 km/h.
"Renault" FT - 17
Renault FT became the prototype of the tank of the future. On it, for the first time, the layout of the main components was resolved, which still remains classic: engine, transmission, drive wheel - at the rear, control compartment - in front, rotating turret - in the center. For the first time, on-board radio stations began to be installed on Renault tanks, which immediately increased the controllability of tank formations. A large diameter drive wheel helped to overcome vertical obstacles and get out of craters. The tank had good maneuverability and was easy to operate. For 15 years it served as a model for many designers. In France itself, Renault was in service until the end of the 30s, and it was produced under license in another 20 countries.
The Germans also tried to develop new weapons. Since 1917, the Bremerwagen company began production of the A7V tank, but their mass release The Germans were never able to fix it. P1x tanks took part in some operations, but in quantities not exceeding several dozen vehicles.
On the contrary, the Entente countries (that is, England and France themselves) had about 7 thousand tanks by the end of the war. Here armored vehicles gained recognition and became firmly established in the weapon system. Lloyd George, the British Prime Minister during the war, said: “The tank was an outstanding and stunning innovation in the field of mechanical aid to war. This final English response to German machine guns and trenches no doubt played a very important role in hastening the Allied victory." Tanks were widely used by the British in combat. In November 1917, a massive tank attack was carried out for the first time. 476 vehicles took part in it, supported by six infantry divisions. It was a huge success of a new type of weapon. Firing from cannons and machine guns, the tanks demolished the wire fences and overcame the first line of trenches on the move.
In just a few hours, the British advanced 9 km deep into the front, losing only 4 thousand people. (In the previous British offensive near Ypres, which lasted four months, the British lost 400 thousand people and managed to penetrate the German defense by only 6-10 km). The French also used tanks extensively several times. Thus, in July 1918, more than 500 French tanks took part in the battle near Soissons.
From the first Soviet tank “Freedom Fighter Comrade. Lenin", built by the workers of the Sormovsky plant in 1920, to a modern main tank with high firepower, protection from all weapons and high mobility - this is the long and glorious path of Soviet tank building.
In Tsarist Russia, the country where the world's first model of a tank was created (A. A. Porokhovshchikov's tank), there was no tank-building industry and no tanks were built. Only after the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution did the young Red Army begin to be equipped with military equipment. Already in the spring of 1918, speaking at a meeting of military specialists, V.I. Lenin proposed a program for technical equipment of the Red Army, in which a significant role was assigned to armored forces.
August 31, 1920, the first Soviet tank, named “Freedom Fighter Comrade. Lenin,” came out of the gates of the Krasnoe Sormovo plant. The hands of skilled workers, with limited capabilities, produced 15 tanks of the same type. From this period the history of the development of tank building in the USSR begins.
First soviet tanks in terms of combat qualities they were not inferior to the best foreign models, and in some design features and surpassed them. These domestic vehicles and captured ones captured from the interventionists became the basis for the formation of tank detachments. The first such detachments, which included three tanks, appeared in 1920. They took part in battles on various fronts and were used to directly support the infantry, being in their battle formations. It should be noted that the main tanks of the Red Army during the civil war were captured.
In 1924, a technical bureau of the Main Directorate of Military Industry was created, headed by engineer S.P. Shchukalov. This became an important event in the history of Soviet tank building. If earlier the development of tank equipment was carried out by separate factories, which, naturally, did not contribute to the accumulation of the necessary experience, then after the creation of the bureau, all work is concentrated in a single center.
Three years later, in 1927, the first sample was tested light tank, designed by this bureau. Based on the test results and by decision of the USSR Revolutionary Military Council dated July 6, 1927, the model was accepted into service with the Red Army. The modified version of the T-18 tank received the MS-1 brand, which meant “small escort, first sample.”
In the 30s, Soviet tank building began to develop rapidly. During this period, tank design bureaus were created, which in a short time developed a whole generation of tanks of all weight categories. An outstanding role in the creation of the first models of tanks of that period was played by N.V. Barykov, who in 1929 headed the special design and mechanical engineering department (OKMO).
sources
http://dymov.livejournal.com/73878.html
http://www.retrotank.ru/
http://www.iq-coaching.ru/
http://www.opoccuu.com/
