War of engines: weapons of the Red Army before the start of the Great Patriotic War. Small arms of the Wehrmacht of the Second World War - Schmeisser and others

The Second World War significantly influenced the development of small arms, which remained the most popular type of weapon. The share of combat losses from it was 28-30%, which is quite an impressive figure considering the massive use of aviation, artillery and tanks...

The war showed that with the creation of the most modern means armed struggle, the role of small arms did not decrease, and the attention that was paid to them in the warring states during these years increased significantly. The experience gained in the use of weapons during the war is not outdated today, having become the basis for the development and improvement of small arms.

7.62 mm rifle model 1891 Mosin system
The rifle was developed by Russian army captain S.I. Mosin and in 1891 adopted by the Russian army under the designation “7.62 mm rifle model 1891”. After modernization in 1930, it was put into mass production and was in service with the Red Army before World War II and during the war. Rifle mod. 1891/1930 was distinguished by high reliability, accuracy, simplicity and ease of use. In total, more than 12 million model rifles were manufactured during the war years. 1891/1930 and carbines created on its basis.

7.62 mm sniper rifle of the Mosin system
The sniper rifle differed from a conventional rifle in the presence optical sight, a bolt handle bent to the bottom and improved processing of the barrel bore.

7.62 mm rifle of the 1940 model of the Tokarev system
The rifle was developed by F.V. Tokarev in accordance with the desire of the military command and the highest political leadership countries to have a self-loading rifle in service with the Red Army, which would allow for efficient use of ammunition and provide a greater target range of fire. Mass production of SVT-38 rifles began in the second half of 1939. The first batches of rifles were sent to the Red Army units involved in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939–1940. IN extreme conditions This “winter” war revealed such shortcomings of the rifle as bulkiness, heavy weight, inconvenience of gas adjustment, sensitivity to pollution and low temperature. To eliminate these shortcomings, the rifle was modernized, and production of its modernized version, SVT-40, began on June 1, 1940.

7.62 mm sniper rifle of the Tokarev system
The sniper version of the SVT-40 differed from serial samples in a more careful adjustment of trigger elements, qualitatively better processing the barrel bore and a special boss on the receiver for installing a bracket with an optical sight on it. The SVT-40 sniper rifle was equipped with a specially created PU sight (universal sight) with 3.5x magnification. It allowed firing at a range of up to 1300 meters. The weight of the rifle with the sight was 4.5 kg. Sight weight - 270 g.

14.5 mm anti-tank rifle PTRD-41
This gun was developed by V.A. Degtyarev in 1941 to fight enemy tanks. The PTRD was a powerful weapon - at a distance of up to 300 m, its bullet penetrated armor 35-40 mm thick. The incendiary effect of the bullets was also high. Thanks to this, the gun was successfully used throughout the Second World War. Its production was discontinued only in January 1945.

7.62 mm DP light machine gun
A light machine gun created by designer V.A. Degtyarev in 1926, became the most powerful automatic weapon of the rifle departments of the Red Army. The machine gun was put into service in February 1927 under the name "7.62-mm light machine gun DP" (DP meant Degtyarev - infantry). The low weight (for a machine gun) was achieved thanks to the use of an automation scheme based on the principle of removal of powder gases through a hole in a fixed barrel, a rational design and arrangement of parts of the moving system, as well as the use of air cooling of the barrel. The target firing range of a machine gun is 1500 m, the maximum flight range of a bullet is 3000 m. Of the 1515.9 thousand machine guns fired during the Great Patriotic War, the vast majority were Degtyarev light machine guns.

7.62 mm submachine gun of the Degtyarev system
The PPD was adopted for service in 1935, becoming the first submachine gun to become widespread in the Red Army. The PPD was designed for a modified 7.62 Mauser pistol cartridge. The firing range of the PPD reached 500 meters. The trigger mechanism of the weapon made it possible to fire both single shots and bursts. There were a number of modifications of the PPD with improved magazine mounting and modified production technology.

7.62 mm submachine gun of the Shpagin system mod. 1941
The PPSh (Shpagin submachine gun) was adopted by the Red Army in December 1940 under the name “7.62 mm Shpagin system submachine gun model 1941 (PPSh-41).” The main advantage of the PPSh-41 was that only its barrel required careful machining. All other metal parts were made mainly by cold stamping from sheet metal. The parts were connected using spot and arc electric welding and rivets. You can disassemble and reassemble the submachine gun without a screwdriver - there is not a single screw connection in it. From the first quarter of 1944, submachine guns began to be equipped with sector magazines with a capacity of 35 rounds, which were more convenient and cheaper to produce. In total, more than six million PPSh were produced.

7.62 mm pistol of the Tokarev system mod. 1933
The development of pistols in the USSR practically began from scratch. However, already at the beginning of 1931, the Tokarev system pistol, recognized as the most reliable, light and compact, was adopted for service. In mass production of the TT (Tula, Tokarev), which began in 1933, the details of the trigger mechanism, barrel and frame were changed. The target firing range of the TT is 50 meters, the bullet flight range is from 800 meters to 1 kilometer. Capacity – 8 rounds of 7.62 mm caliber. The total production of TT pistols for the period from 1933 to the end of their production in the mid-50s is estimated at 1,740,000 units.

PPS-42(43)
The PPSh-41, which was in service with the Red Army, turned out to be - mainly due to its too large size and weight - not convenient enough when conducting combat in populated areas, indoors, for reconnaissance officers, paratroopers and crews of combat vehicles. In addition, in wartime conditions it was necessary to reduce the costs of mass production of submachine guns. In this regard, a competition was announced to develop a new submachine gun for the army. The Sudayev submachine gun, developed in 1942, won this competition and was put into service at the end of 1942 under the name PPS-42. Modified in next year a design called PPS-43 (the barrel and butt were shortened, the cocking handle, the safety catch and the shoulder rest latch were changed, the barrel casing and receiver were combined into one part) was also adopted. The PPS is often called the best submachine gun of World War II. It is distinguished by its convenience, sufficiently high combat capabilities for a submachine gun, high reliability, and compactness. At the same time, the PPS is very technologically advanced, simple and cheap to produce, which was especially important in conditions of a difficult, protracted war, with a constant lack of material and labor resources. The PPS was developed in besieged Leningrad, based on a compilation of its own project and the project of Lieutenant Technician I.K. Bezruchko-Vysotsky (design of the shutter and return system). Its production was launched there, at the Sestroretsk Arms Plant, initially for the needs of the Leningrad Front. While food for Leningraders was coming to the besieged city along the road of life, not only refugees, but also new weapons were being taken back from the city.

In total, about 500,000 units of PPS of both modifications were produced during the war.

In response to justified criticism expressed in the comments to the article “Sniper business in the troops of the anti-Hitler coalition,” we decided to write an article dedicated to sniper business and sniper work in the USSR in the pre-war and war periods. So, let's begin.

According to GOST 28653-90, a sniper rifle is a combat rifle, the design of which ensures increased shooting accuracy. Three generations of sniper rifles can be distinguished. The first generation appeared at the beginning of the 20th century during the First World War. What was a sniper rifle like at that time? From a batch of gross rifles, rifles were selected that showed the best shooting results. Then commercial optical sights, which at that time existed on the market mainly for hunters, were adapted to them. This was essentially the first generation of sniper rifles.

At the beginning of the 20th century, all the leading countries of the world were engaged in the production of optical sights: Germany, England, France, and the USA. Russia was also involved in the production of optical sights the most modern production, which were at the Obukhov plant and which had difficulty coping with military orders. In 1914, the Obukhov plant received an order to produce only 200 optical weapon sights. It took the plant two years to fulfill this order and, nevertheless, the Russian army never received rifles with these sights. As a result, during the First World War there were practically no rifles with optical sights in the Russian army, with the exception of one-off units. For example, officers could equip their own rifles by purchasing commercial optical sights with their own money. But serial sniper rifle there was none in Russia. For comparison, Germany had sniper rifles at the front already in 1915. Moreover, on both fronts in the East and on the West. The experience of the Germans was very quickly adopted by the British, and soon a special sniper school even appeared in England, which gave grounds for the British to consider themselves pioneers of systematic sniper training.

After the First World War, second generation sniper rifles appeared. In the 1920s, intensive work on sniper weapons and sniper work in general began in the USSR. To do this, I had to use the services of a country that had a developed optical industry, namely Germany. As a result, with the help of the Zeiss company, the production of military optics begins. This important point, because it was then that sights began to appear in our country, created according to military requirements, much more stringent compared to the requirements for civilian sights.

As a result, already in 1930, the first sight, known under the abbreviation PT, was put into service. Also in 1930, the USSR adopted a number of modernized weapon systems, ranging from revolvers to howitzers. In particular, the modernized Mosin rifle with the index 91/30 was adopted. Since there were no other rifles in the series yet, the first Soviet sniper rifle was created on the basis of the Mosin 91/30 rifle. As a result, a PT sight was installed on the Mosin 91/30 rifle, and it went to the troops, from where complaints quickly began to arrive. There were complaints about the quality of the optics, the strength of the sight and its tightness, the strength of the handwheels, and the mounting of the optics. The sight was urgently modified, assigning it the PE index. At that moment, installing an optical sight on the Mosinaa91/30 rifle was considered a temporary solution, since it was planned to adopt a sniper automatic rifle. The first Soviet automatic rifle, ABC-36, was put into service in 1936, and a sniper version was developed for it. However, the troops considered the ABC-36 rifle not reliable enough, especially after the Soviet-Finnish war. In 1940, the Tokarev SVT-40 self-loading rifle was adopted for service, on the basis of which a self-loading sniper rifle was also created.

Mosin sniper rifle model 1891/30. with optical sight PE

The main difference between the SVT-40 and Mosin 91/30 sniper rifles from the standard samples, in addition to the presence of sights, was the higher precision of barrel manufacturing, the accuracy of fitting the barrels to the receiver and a number of details. For example, the Mosin 91/30 sniper rifle was equipped with a charging handle curved downwards and could only be loaded with one cartridge at a time. Unfortunately, individual proposals to improve rifles were not implemented. Thus, the Mosin 91/30 sniper rifle was triggered without warning, and the rifle stock was not modified. As a result, by the time the Great Patriotic War began, the USSR came up with two domestic sniper rifles and domestic optics.

Red Army soldier with an ABC-36 sniper rifle. Khalkhin Gol

In parallel with the development of weapons, there was also the training of snipers, which in the USSR can be divided into two areas: military and civilian. So already in 1929, when there was no serial sniper rifle yet, courses for training snipers and leaders (future instructors) of sniper business were organized at the “Vystrel” courses. For training, we used surrogate sniper rifles, sports and German sniper rifles. In the same 1929, sniper courses at Osaviakhim were opened, and within six years, 11 sniper schools appeared in the Osaviakhim system.

It should be noted that along the lines of Osaviakhim there was a movement of the Voroshilov Riflemen, which was a movement for mass training in marksmanship, a skill that is necessary for almost any military personnel. And there was a separate sniper movement along the Osaviakhim line. There was even an Osaviakhim sniper badge. If by 1940 about 6.5 million people passed the Voroshilov shooter standard, then only 6-7 thousand people passed the Osaviakhim sniper standard. The reasons why there was such a difference in the number of shooters and snipers, I think, are understandable and are well explained by the English proverb “every sniper is a good shooter, but not every good shooter is a sniper.”

So, the USSR met the beginning of the war with a Mosin 91/30 repeating rifle with a PE sight and a SVT-40 self-loading rifle with a PU sight. The PE sight had a magnification of 4 (more precisely 3.85), and the PU sight had a magnification of 3.5 and they were designed for firing at ranges of up to 1000-1300 meters. However, the Mosin sniper rifle was discontinued, leaving only the SVT-40 sniper version in the series. And after the start of the war, it turns out that the decision to discontinue production of the Mosin repeating rifle was unjustified, and the reasons were as follows. Firstly, the Mosin rifle was more proven in production, and secondly, as practice shows even today, automatic sniper systems have never been able to surpass non-automatic systems in range and accuracy, the third reason was the poor handling of the SVT-40, which required more careful care.

SVT-40 sniper rifle with PU optical sight

As a result, at the beginning of 1942, the Mosin 91/30 repeating sniper rifle was returned to production in Izhevsk, and although production of the SVT-40 sniper version did not stop (it began to be produced in small batches and was discontinued only in October 1942), it was the repeating rifle The Mosin becomes the main sniper rifle.

As we have already noted, the sniper version of the SVT-40 was adopted with a PU sight, which was put into mass production and which was adapted for the Mosin rifle in 1942. But on Mosin rifles it had to be mounted as far back as possible, while the sight tube was short, and many shooters had to crane their necks forward to work with this sight. Some Soviet snipers noted that they had complaints about the cloudiness of the optics and the lack of an eyecup.

Sniper rifle model 1891/30 with PU optical sight

Also, it was in 1942 that the sniper movement among the troops began. It is believed that it began with the Leningrad Front. In the same year, the honorary badge “Sniper” appeared. In the spring of 1942, an order was issued by the People's Commissariat of Defense to strengthen the rifle unit in the troops. This order stipulates the need to lead an additional 3 snipers to each rifle platoon. In the combat manual of 1942, a special section stipulates who a sniper is and what tasks are assigned to him. Here is an excerpt from this charter...

"... A sniper is a sharp shooter whose main task is to destroy snipers, officers, observers, gun and machine gun crews, especially flanking and dagger machine guns, crews of stopped tanks, low-flying enemy aircraft and in general all important targets that appear for a short time and quickly disappear.
To be successful in combat, a sniper must be able to confidently hit a target with one shot. Maintain weapons and optics in excellent condition at all times. Skillfully use the terrain and means of camouflage. Observe for a long time and persistently, tracking down targets..."

The charter also prescribed the procedure for using a sniper in defense, offensive special types battle, etc.

With the beginning of the sniper movement, sniper courses were opened among students, among whom there were relatively many artillerymen, as people who were more technically literate, who had mastered the sniper specialty as a second one. Later, snipers became a separate caste, and even groups of snipers arose that went out together to hunt.

So, in 1942, the Central Courses emerged, which then turned into the Central School of Sniper Shooting, and in 1943 the famous women's sniper training school in Podolsk spun off from them. Special sniper courses are emerging in the system of general military training (VSEOBUCH). Moreover, if classes at VSEOBUCHA courses were held on-the-job, then at sniper courses classes were off-the-job according to a special three-month program. Naturally, they then completed their training in the troops, but a person who was already trained came to the troops, not only knowledgeable of weapons which he will use, but also what tactics will be required of him. He knew what camouflage agents were and how to use them, which was also very important. Thus, simultaneously with the increase in the production of sniper weapons, the number of military personnel capable of using them also increases.

In comparison with Nazi Germany, we can say that the Germans are quite long time in terms of infantry support, preference was given to machine guns and mortars. The first special optical sight was adopted in Germany only in 1939, which was immediately criticized. The Germans also gave preference to mass sniping, for which they produced 1.5x scopes that were effective at a range of up to 600 meters. They were mounted on regular Mauser repeating rifles and were less accurate than the special sniper versions of the Mauser repeating rifle.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the use by Soviet snipers of large-caliber PTRS and PTRD rifles, which were individually equipped with optical sights. These rifles were used by Soviet snipers to fight German snipers.

By the end of the 30s, almost all participants in the coming world war had formed common directions in the development of small arms. The range and accuracy of the attack was reduced, which was compensated by the greater density of fire. As a consequence of this, the beginning of mass rearmament of units with automatic small arms - submachine guns, machine guns, assault rifles.

Accuracy of fire began to fade into the background, while the soldiers advancing in a chain began to be taught shooting on the move. With the advent airborne troops There was a need to create special lightweight weapons.

Maneuver warfare also affected machine guns: they became much lighter and more mobile. New types of small arms appeared (which was dictated, first of all, by the need to fight tanks) - rifle grenades, anti-tank rifles and RPGs with cumulative grenades.

Small arms of the USSR World War II

On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, the rifle division of the Red Army was a very formidable force - about 14.5 thousand people. The main type of small arms were rifles and carbines - 10,420 pieces. The share of submachine guns was insignificant - 1204. There were 166, 392 and 33 units of heavy, light and anti-aircraft machine guns, respectively.

The division had its own artillery of 144 guns and 66 mortars. The firepower was supplemented by 16 tanks, 13 armored vehicles and a solid fleet of auxiliary vehicles.

Rifles and carbines

Three-line Mosin
The main small arms of the USSR infantry units of the first period of the war was certainly the famous three-line rifle - the 7.62 mm S.I. Mosin rifle of the 1891 model, modernized in 1930. Its advantages are well known - strength, reliability, ease of maintenance, combined with good ballistics qualities, in particular, with an aiming range of 2 km.

Three-line Mosin

The three-line rifle is an ideal weapon for newly recruited soldiers, and the simplicity of the design created enormous opportunities for its mass production. But like any weapon, the three-line gun had its drawbacks. The permanently attached bayonet in combination with a long barrel (1670 mm) created inconvenience when moving, especially in wooded areas. The bolt handle caused serious complaints when reloading.

After battle

On its basis, a sniper rifle and a series of carbines of the 1938 and 1944 models were created. Fate gave the three-line a long life (the last three-line was released in 1965), participation in many wars and an astronomical “circulation” of 37 million copies.

Sniper with Mosin rifle

SVT-40
At the end of the 30s, the outstanding Soviet weapons designer F.V. Tokarev developed a 10-round self-loading rifle cal. 7.62 mm SVT-38, which after modernization received the name SVT-40. It “lost weight” by 600 g and became shorter due to the introduction of thinner wooden parts, additional holes in the casing and a decrease in the length of the bayonet. A little later, a sniper rifle appeared at its base. Automatic firing was ensured by the removal of powder gases. The ammunition was placed in a box-shaped, detachable magazine.

The target range of the SVT-40 is up to 1 km. The SVT-40 served with honor on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. It was also appreciated by our opponents. Historical fact: Having captured rich trophies at the beginning of the war, among which there were many SVT-40s, the German army... adopted it for service, and the Finns created their own rifle on the basis of the SVT-40 - TaRaKo.

Soviet sniper with SVT-40

The creative development of the ideas implemented in the SVT-40 became the AVT-40 automatic rifle. It differed from its predecessor in its ability to fire automatically at a rate of up to 25 rounds per minute. The disadvantage of the AVT-40 is its low accuracy of fire, strong unmasking flame and loud sound at the moment of firing. Subsequently, as automatic weapons entered the military en masse, they were removed from service.

Submachine guns

PPD-40
The Great Patriotic War was the time of the final transition from rifles to automatic weapons. The Red Army began to fight, armed with a large number of PPD-40 is a submachine gun designed by the outstanding Soviet designer Vasily Alekseevich Degtyarev. At that time, PPD-40 was in no way inferior to its domestic and foreign analogues.

Designed for a pistol cartridge cal. 7.62 x 25 mm, the PPD-40 had an impressive ammunition load of 71 rounds, housed in a drum-type magazine. Weighing about 4 kg, it fired at a rate of 800 rounds per minute with an effective range of up to 200 meters. However, just a few months after the start of the war it was replaced by the legendary PPSh-40 cal. 7.62 x 25 mm.

PPSh-40
The creator of the PPSh-40, designer Georgy Semenovich Shpagin, was faced with the task of developing an extremely easy-to-use, reliable, technologically advanced, cheap to produce mass weapon.

PPSh-40

Fighter with PPSh-40

From its predecessor, the PPD-40, the PPSh inherited a drum magazine with 71 rounds. A little later, a simpler and more reliable sector horn magazine with 35 rounds was developed for it. The weight of the equipped machine guns (both versions) was 5.3 and 4.15 kg, respectively. The rate of fire of the PPSh-40 reached 900 rounds per minute with an aiming range of up to 300 meters and the ability to fire single shots.

PPSh-40 assembly shop

To master the PPSh-40, a few lessons were enough. It could easily be disassembled into 5 parts made using stamping and welding technology, thanks to which during the war years the Soviet defense industry produced about 5.5 million machine guns.

PPS-42
In the summer of 1942, the young designer Alexey Sudaev presented his brainchild - a 7.62 mm submachine gun. It was strikingly different from its “bigger brothers” PPD and PPSh-40 in its rational layout, higher manufacturability and ease of manufacturing parts using arc welding.

PPS-42

Son of the regiment with a Sudaev machine gun

PPS-42 was 3.5 kg lighter and required three times less manufacturing time. However, despite its quite obvious advantages, it never became a mass weapon, leaving the PPSh-40 to take the lead.

DP-27 light machine gun

By the beginning of the war, the DP-27 light machine gun (Degtyarev infantry, 7.62mm caliber) had been in service with the Red Army for almost 15 years, having the status of the main light machine gun of infantry units. Its automation was powered by the energy of powder gases. The gas regulator reliably protected the mechanism from contamination and high temperatures.

The DP-27 could only fire automatically, but even a beginner needed a few days to master shooting in short bursts of 3-5 shots. Ammunition of 47 rounds was placed in a disk magazine with a bullet towards the center in one row. The magazine itself was mounted on top of the receiver. The weight of the unloaded machine gun was 8.5 kg. An equipped magazine increased it by almost another 3 kg.

Machine gun crew DP-27 in battle

It was powerful weapon with an aiming range of 1.5 km and a combat rate of fire of up to 150 rounds per minute. In the firing position, the machine gun rested on a bipod. A flame arrester was screwed onto the end of the barrel, significantly reducing its unmasking effect. The DP-27 was serviced by a gunner and his assistant. In total, about 800 thousand machine guns were produced.

Small arms of the Wehrmacht of World War II

Basic strategy German army- offensive or blitzkrieg (blitzkrieg - lightning war). The decisive role in it was assigned to large tank formations, carrying out deep breakthroughs of the enemy’s defenses in cooperation with artillery and aviation.

Tank units bypassed powerful fortified areas, destroying control centers and rear communications, without which the enemy quickly lost their combat effectiveness. The defeat was completed by motorized units of the ground forces.

Small arms of the Wehrmacht infantry division
The staff of the German infantry division of the 1940 model assumed the presence of 12,609 rifles and carbines, 312 submachine guns (machine guns), light and heavy machine guns - 425 and 110 pieces, respectively, 90 anti-tank rifles and 3,600 pistols.

The Wehrmacht's small arms generally met the high wartime requirements. It was reliable, trouble-free, simple, easy to manufacture and maintain, which contributed to its serial production.

Rifles, carbines, machine guns

Mauser 98K
The Mauser 98K is an improved version of the Mauser 98 rifle, developed at the end of the 19th century by the brothers Paul and Wilhelm Mauser, founders of the world famous arms company. Equipping the German army with it began in 1935.

Mauser 98K

The weapon was loaded with a clip of five 7.92 mm cartridges. A trained soldier could shoot 15 times within a minute at a range of up to 1.5 km. The Mauser 98K was very compact. Its main characteristics: weight, length, barrel length - 4.1 kg x 1250 x 740 mm. The indisputable advantages of the rifle are evidenced by numerous conflicts involving it, longevity and a truly sky-high “circulation” - more than 15 million units.

At the shooting range. Mauser 98K rifle

G-41 rifle
The self-loading ten-shot rifle G-41 became the German response to the massive equipping of the Red Army with rifles - SVT-38, 40 and ABC-36. Its sighting range reached 1200 meters. Only single shooting was allowed. Its significant disadvantages - significant weight, low reliability and increased vulnerability to contamination - were subsequently eliminated. The combat “circulation” amounted to several hundred thousand rifle samples.

G-41 rifle

MP-40 "Schmeisser" assault rifle
Perhaps the most famous Wehrmacht small arms of the Second World War was the famous MP-40 submachine gun, a modification of its predecessor, the MP-36, created by Heinrich Vollmer. However, as fate would have it, he is better known under the name “Schmeisser”, obtained thanks to the stamp on the store - “PATENT SCHMEISSER”. The stigma simply meant that, in addition to G. Vollmer, Hugo Schmeisser also participated in the creation of the MP-40, but only as the creator of the store.

MP-40 "Schmeisser" assault rifle

Initially, the MP-40 was intended for weapons command staff infantry units, but later it was transferred to the disposal of tankers, armored vehicle drivers, paratroopers and special forces soldiers.

A German soldier fires from an MP-40

However, the MP-40 was absolutely unsuitable for infantry units, since it was exclusively a melee weapon. In a fierce battle in open terrain, having a weapon with a firing range of 70 to 150 meters meant for a German soldier to be practically unarmed in front of his enemy, armed with Mosin and Tokarev rifles with a firing range of 400 to 800 meters.

Assault rifle StG-44
Assault rifle StG-44 (sturmgewehr) cal. 7.92mm is another legend of the Third Reich. This is certainly an outstanding creation by Hugo Schmeisser - the prototype of many post-war assault rifles and machine guns, including the famous AK-47.

The StG-44 could conduct single and automatic fire. Its weight with a full magazine was 5.22 kg. IN sighting range- 800 meters - the Sturmgewehr was in no way inferior to its main competitors. There were three versions of the magazine - for 15, 20 and 30 shots with a rate of up to 500 rounds per second. The option of using a rifle with underbarrel grenade launcher and an infrared sight.

Creator of Sturmgever 44 Hugo Schmeisser

Not without its shortcomings. The assault rifle was heavier than the Mauser-98K by a whole kilogram. Its wooden butt sometimes could not withstand hand-to-hand combat and simply broke. The flame escaping from the barrel revealed the location of the shooter, and the long magazine and sighting devices forced him to raise his head high in a prone position.

Sturmgever 44 with IR sight

In total, before the end of the war, German industry produced about 450 thousand StG-44s, which were used mainly by elite SS units.

Machine guns
By the beginning of the 30s, the military leadership of the Wehrmacht came to the need to create a universal machine gun, which, if necessary, could be transformed, for example, from a manual one to an easel one and vice versa. This is how a series of machine guns was born - MG - 34, 42, 45.

German machine gunner with MG-42

The 7.92 mm MG-42 is rightly called one of the best machine guns of World War II. It was developed at Grossfus by engineers Werner Gruner and Kurt Horn. Those who have experienced it firepower, were very frank. Our soldiers called it a “lawn mower,” and the allies called it “Hitler’s circular saw.”

Depending on the type of bolt, the machine gun fired accurately at a speed of up to 1500 rpm at a range of up to 1 km. Ammunition was supplied using a machine gun belt with 50 - 250 rounds of ammunition. The uniqueness of the MG-42 was complemented by a relatively small number of parts - 200 - and the high technology of their production using stamping and spot welding.

The barrel, hot from shooting, was replaced with a spare one in a few seconds using a special clamp. In total, about 450 thousand machine guns were produced. The unique technical developments embodied in the MG-42 were borrowed by gunsmiths from many countries around the world when creating their machine guns.

Content

Based on materials from techcult

Small arms of the Second World War / Photo: baraholka.com.ru

Tanks, planes, and artillery can turn the tide of a battle. However, the battlefield always remains with the soldier, the infantryman, the main worker of the Great Patriotic War with a rifle and a machine gun in his hands, with a heavy machine gun, which he literally has to carry on his shoulders.

Photo: Rostec

During the war years, the oldest weapons factories - Tula and Izhevsk, now part of Rostec - made a huge contribution to the armament of our soldiers. In 1941, Mosin rifles alone were produced in Izhevsk 12 thousand per day! Thus, the plant fully armed one rifle division every day. So, let's talk about the weapon of the victorious soldier.

1. Mosin rifle 7.62 mm rifle model 1891

Adopted into service: 1891.

Total produced: about 37 million pieces.

Let's start with the long-lived Mosin rifle, the absolute champion in terms of the number of units produced. In just four years of war, more than 11 million rifles and carbines based on the three-line series were produced.

Photo: Rostec

Initially, the rifle was produced in four models: infantry, dragoon, Cossack and carbine, which differed in length and the presence of a bayonet. During the battles, the dragoon version proved to be the most optimal and effective in terms of length. Therefore, when in 1924 it was decided to leave the rifle in service, the dragoon rifle was chosen for modernization. This is how a single model appeared - a rifle of the 1891/1930 model. This outdated, despite new modification, rifle and had to fight in the most difficult and decisive months of the beginning of the war. Thanks to its cheapness and reliability, the veteran weapon has outperformed its young self-loading rivals. The latest modification of the three-line series is the 1944 model carbine, which was distinguished by the presence of a permanent needle bayonet. The rifle became even shorter, the technology was simplified, and combat maneuverability increased. A shorter carbine makes it easier to conduct close combat in thickets, trenches, and fortifications.

The Mosin rifle and the main weapon of snipers of the Great Patriotic War.

Photo: Rostec

The legendary representatives of this military specialty greatly valued the good old three-line rifle - quite long-range and accurate. And, what is especially important for a sniper, the weapon is not capricious, but reliable. In 1932, mass production of the 1891/1930 model sniper rifle began. This modification differed from the main one in the increased quality of processing of the barrel bore, the presence of an optical sight and the bolt handle bent down.

Video of the TV channel "Zvezda"

2. Shpagin submachine gun (PPSh) 7.62 mm submachine gun model 1941

Total produced: about 6 million pieces.

Photo: Rostec

This legendary weapon became part of the image of the victorious soldier and froze in the most famous monuments. The submachine gun has also become a symbol of the new war, when dense automatic fire in close combat is sometimes significantly more important than the range, accuracy and power of rifle fire.

The PPSh-41 fell in love with the soldiers, receiving the affectionate and respectful nickname “daddy.” The reliable submachine gun fired in almost any weather conditions and, which is important for wartime, was relatively cheap.

Initially, the submachine gun was considered as a weapon for artillerymen, tank crews and infantrymen who fought in the mountains or forests. Rifles were considered a popular weapon. However, at the height of hostilities, the leadership appreciated the importance of the PPSh, and by the end of the war, about 55% of the Red Army soldiers were armed with these weapons.

Photo: Rostec

According to its design, the PPSh belongs to weapon systems with blowback recoil. The trigger mechanism is designed for both single and continuous fire.

The fire mode switch from single to automatic is located inside the trigger guard, in front of the trigger. The safety is made in the form of a slider on the cocking handle and locks the bolt in the forward or rear position. The bolt box and barrel casing were made of steel, and the stock was made of wood, most often birch.

The first PPSh were equipped with drum magazines for 71 rounds from the PPD-40. But such stores were expensive and difficult to manufacture. In addition, they were very unreliable and inconvenient because they required individual adjustment. So, already in 1942 they began to produce carob magazines that could hold 35 rounds.

Photo: Rostec

The Shpagin submachine gun is capable of hitting a target at a distance of up to 200 m with short bursts and up to 100 m with long bursts. Disadvantages include significant weight, a tendency to inadvertently fire when falling on a hard surface, and, paradoxically, the rate of fire, which is why the PPSh received the nickname “ammo eater.” However, this drawback and continuation of the advantage, which was the high density of fire, which gave an advantage in close combat.

Video of the TV channel "Zvezda"

3. Pistol TT Tula, Tokarev 7.62 mm self-loading pistol

Entered into service: 1941.

Total produced: 1 million 740 thousand pieces.

The textbook photograph “Combat” by Max Alpert - the commander, armed with a TT pistol, rouses the soldiers to attack. Just as the PPSh became part of the soldier’s image, the famous pistol went down in history as the weapon of an officer in the Great Patriotic War.

Photo: Rostec

The history of the pistol itself began in 1927, when a design bureau was organized at the Tula arms factory, which a year later included a group of gunsmith designers under the leadership of Fedor Tokarev, which began work on a new pistol. The demands were formulated very simply: remove the famous revolvers and replace imported pistols with Soviet ones, ensuring mass production in our own country.

The reasons for abandoning foreign systems were the need to re-equip the weapons industry with new production equipment and the introduction of new standards, which required enormous expenses that were not acceptable for Soviet Russia at that time.

The new weapon for the command staff of the Red Army was supposed to have a high range of fire, small dimensions, light weight, an open trigger, but, most importantly, be simple in design and adapted for cheap mass production using outdated and primitive equipment.

The 7.62 mm caliber cartridge was chosen for use in the new pistol - a redesigned 7.63 mm Mauser, which was later designated 7.62x25 TT. Its use did not require re-equipment of production, and there were large quantities of these cartridges purchased from the Germans in warehouses.

Photo: Rostec

The assigned tasks regarding the qualities of the pistol itself were achieved thanks to a combination of features of various systems: the FN Browning model 1903 design, the Colt M1911 locking system, the 7.63 mm Mauser cartridge - and Tokarev’s new design solutions: combining the trigger mechanism in a separate block, which, when disassembling the weapon, is freely separated from the frame for cleaning and lubrication; placement of the mainspring in the trigger, which reduced the longitudinal width of the handle; fastening the cheeks of the handle with the help of rotating bars attached to them, which simplified disassembling the pistol; lack of a safety mechanism, the function of which was performed only by the safety cocking of the trigger.

During tests in January 1931, Tokarev managed to prove not only that he had created a relatively small and light pistol chambered for a powerful 7.62 mm cartridge, but also that the weapon could be produced with minimal time and resources. On February 13 of the same year, the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR decided to place an order for the production of 1000 Tokarev pistols at the Tula Arms Plant.

To simplify, the pistol was named simply and dryly - a 7.62-mm self-loading pistol of the 1930 model. However, at the beginning mass production the weapon was slightly redesigned and the production process was simplified, which led to the name being changed to a simpler one. As a result, in 1934, production of the 7.62 mm TT pistol of the 1933 model began. And a little later, by the beginning of the 1940s, no one even called legendary pistol somehow other than TT. So the short name stuck.

Video of the TV channel "Zvezda"

The TT received its baptism of fire in 1938-1939 at Khalkhin Gol and Lake Khasan. The pistol demonstrated excellent fighting qualities: high shooting accuracy, long range and powerful penetrating effect of the bullet. During the Great Patriotic War, TTs became widely used in all branches of the Red Army.

4. Maxim machine gun model 1910

Adopted into service: 1910.

This version of the British machine gun, modified and improved by Russian and Soviet gunsmiths, was destined to become the most popular heavy machine gun of the Great Patriotic War.

Photo: Rostec

In August 1910, a modified version was put into service - the 7.62-mm Maxim machine gun of the 1910 model, which was modernized at the Tula Arms Plant under the guidance of masters I.A. Pastukhova, I.A. Sudakova and P.P. Tretyakov. The weight of the machine gun body was reduced by 5.2 kg, a number of bronze parts were replaced with steel, the receiver and sighting devices were changed for a new cartridge, and the hole in the muzzle sleeve was expanded. The English wheeled carriage was replaced with a lightweight wheeled machine by A.A. Sokolov, armor shield English sample- for an armored shield of reduced size. The new machine provided targeted fire at a range of up to 2700 m. Also, one of the innovations of the Tula model was the mounting of the cartridge belt drum on the shield, and not on the body of the machine gun, as was done before. This contributed to the uniform feeding of the cartridge belt into the receiver.

In the interwar years, Soviet designers refined the already proven design. So, in 1924, Fyodor Tokarev created a modification of the Maxim machine gun. It was lighter in weight while maintaining firepower.

Video of the TV channel "Zvezda"

In June 1941, at the Tula Arms Plant, under the leadership of chief engineer A.A. Tronenkov engineers I.E. Lubenets and Yu.A. Kazarin began the final modernization. As a result, the Maxim was equipped with a simplified sighting device.

In 1943, the Goryunov system heavy machine gun was adopted by the Red Army. However, the famous Maxim continued to be produced until the end of the war at the Tula and Izhevsk factories and until its end was the main heavy machine gun of the Soviet army.

Based on the design of the machine gun, single, coaxial and quadruple anti-aircraft machine guns were developed, which were used to arm the air defense forces. They became their most common weapon.

Photo: Rostec

The quadruple anti-aircraft machine gun mount of the 1931 model was distinguished by the presence of a water circulation device and a larger capacity of machine gun belts.

5. DP Degtyarev infantry

Adopted into service: 1928.

Total produced: about 800 thousand pieces.

But the Degtyarev light machine gun (DP) became one of the first small arms created in the USSR.

Photo: Rostec

The machine gun was widely used as the main fire support weapon for infantry at the platoon-company level until the end of the Great Patriotic War.

At the end of the war, the DP machine gun and its modernized version DPM, created based on the experience of combat operations in 1943-1944, were removed from service with the Soviet army and were widely supplied to countries friendly to the USSR.

Video of the TV channel "Zvezda"

The DP barrel was quick-change, partially hidden by a protective casing and equipped with a conical removable flash suppressor. It sometimes could not withstand intense shooting: since the barrel was thin-walled, it quickly heated up (especially on later releases, in which, for simplicity, the barrel was made without a ribbed radiator). In order not to disable the machine gun, it was necessary to fire in short bursts (the combat rate of fire of the machine gun is up to 80 rounds per minute). Changing the barrel directly during combat was difficult: it required a special key to remove its lock and protect your hands from burns.

MOSCOW, Rostec
1

Everyone is familiar with the popular print image of the Soviet “soldier-liberator.” In the minds of Soviet people, the Red Army soldiers of the Great Patriotic War are emaciated people in dirty greatcoats who run in a crowd to attack after tanks, or tired elderly men smoking rolled-up cigarettes on the parapet of a trench. After all, it was precisely such footage that was mainly captured by military newsreels. At the end of the 1980s, film directors and post-Soviet historians put the “victim of repression” on a cart, handed him a “three-line gun” without cartridges, sending him towards the armored hordes of fascists - under the supervision of barrage detachments.

Now I propose to look at what actually happened. We can responsibly declare that our weapons were in no way inferior to foreign ones, while being more suitable for local conditions of use. For example, a three-line rifle had larger clearances and tolerances than foreign ones, but this “flaw” was a forced feature - the weapon’s lubricant, which thickened in the cold, did not remove the weapon from combat.

So, review.

Nagan- a revolver developed by the Belgian gunsmiths brothers Emil (1830-1902) and Leon (1833-1900) Nagan, which was in service and produced in a number of countries in the late 19th - mid-20th centuries.

TK(Tula, Korovina) - the first Soviet serial self-loading pistol. In 1925, the Dynamo sports society ordered the Tula Arms Plant to develop a compact pistol chambered for 6.35x15 mm Browning for sporting and civilian needs.

Work on creating the pistol took place in the design bureau of the Tula Arms Plant. In the fall of 1926, gunsmith designer S.A. Korovin completed the development of a pistol, which was named the TK pistol (Tula Korovin).

At the end of 1926, TOZ began production of the pistol; the following year the pistol was approved for use, receiving official name“Tula pistol, Korovin, model 1926.”

TK pistols entered service with the NKVD of the USSR, middle and senior command staff of the Red Army, civil servants and party workers.

The TK was also used as a gift or award weapon (for example, there are known cases of awarding Stakhanovites with it). Between the autumn of 1926 and 1935, several tens of thousands of Korovins were produced. In the period after the Great Patriotic War, TK pistols were kept for some time in savings banks as a reserve weapon for employees and collectors.


Pistol arr. 1933 TT(Tula, Tokarev) - the first army self-loading pistol of the USSR, developed in 1930 by Soviet designer Fedor Vasilyevich Tokarev. The TT pistol was developed for the 1929 competition for a new army pistol, announced to replace the Nagan revolver and several models of foreign-made revolvers and pistols that were in service with the Red Army by the mid-1920s. The German 7.63×25 mm Mauser cartridge was adopted as a standard cartridge, which was purchased in significant quantities for the Mauser S-96 pistols in service.

Mosin rifle. 7.62 mm (3-line) rifle of the 1891 model (Mosin rifle, three-line) - a repeating rifle adopted by the Russian Imperial Army in 1891.

It was actively used in the period from 1891 to the end of the Great Patriotic War, and was modernized many times during this period.

The name three-ruler comes from the caliber of the rifle barrel, which is equal to three Russian lines (the old measure of length was equal to one tenth of an inch, or 2.54 mm - respectively, three lines are equal to 7.62 mm).

Based on the 1891 model rifle and its modifications, a number of sporting and hunting weapons, both rifled and smoothbore.

Simonov automatic rifle. The 7.62 mm automatic rifle of the Simonov system, model 1936, ABC-36 is a Soviet automatic rifle developed by gunsmith Sergei Simonov.

It was originally developed as a self-loading rifle, but during improvements an automatic fire mode was added for use in an emergency. The first automatic rifle developed in the USSR and put into service.

Tokarev self-loading rifle. 7.62-mm self-loading rifles of the Tokarev system of the 1938 and 1940 models (SVT-38, SVT-40), as well as the Tokarev automatic rifle of the 1940 model - a modification of the Soviet self-loading rifle developed by F.V. Tokarev.

The SVT-38 was developed as a replacement for the Simonov automatic rifle and was adopted by the Red Army on February 26, 1939. First SVT arr. 1938 was released on July 16, 1939. On October 1, 1939, gross production began at the Tula, and from 1940 - at the Izhevsk arms plant.

Simonov self-loading carbine. 7.62 mm self-loading carbine Simonov (also known abroad as SKS-45) is a Soviet self-loading carbine designed by Sergei Simonov, adopted for service in 1949.

The first copies began to arrive in active units at the beginning of 1945 - this was the only case of the use of the 7.62x39 mm cartridge in World War II

Tokarev submachine gun, or the original name - the Tokarev light carbine - an experimental model of automatic weapon created in 1927 for a modified Nagan revolver cartridge, the first submachine gun developed in the USSR. It was not adopted for service; it was produced in a small experimental batch and was used to a limited extent in the Great Patriotic War.

P Degtyarev submachine gun. 7.62 mm submachine guns of the 1934, 1934/38 and 1940 models of the Degtyarev system are various modifications of the submachine gun developed by the Soviet gunsmith Vasily Degtyarev in the early 1930s. The first submachine gun adopted by the Red Army.

Degtyarev's submachine gun was enough typical representative the first generation of this type of weapon. Used in the Finnish campaign of 1939-40, as well as at the initial stage of the Great Patriotic War.

Shpagin submachine gun. The 7.62-mm submachine gun of the 1941 model of the Shpagin system (PPSh) is a Soviet submachine gun developed in 1940 by designer G. S. Shpagin and adopted by the Red Army on December 21, 1940. PPSh was the main Soviet submachine gun armed forces in the Great Patriotic War.

After the end of the war, in the early 1950s, the PPSh was removed from service with the Soviet Army and gradually replaced by the Kalashnikov assault rifle; for a little longer it remained in service with rear and auxiliary units and units internal troops And railway troops. It was in service with paramilitary security units at least until the mid-1980s.

Also in post-war period PPSh was supplied in significant quantities to countries friendly to the USSR, long time was in service with the armies of various states, was used by irregular forces and was used in armed conflicts around the world throughout the twentieth century.

Sudaev's submachine gun. 7.62 mm submachine guns of the 1942 and 1943 models of the Sudaev system (PPS) are variants of the submachine gun developed by the Soviet designer Alexei Sudaev in 1942. Used by Soviet troops during the Great Patriotic War.

The PPS is often considered the best submachine gun of World War II.

P machine gun "Maxim" model 1910. The Maxim machine gun, model 1910, is a heavy machine gun, a variant of the British Maxim machine gun, widely used by Russian and Soviet armies during the First World War and the Second World War. The Maxim machine gun was used to destroy open group targets and enemy fire weapons at a distance of up to 1000 m.

Anti-aircraft variant
- 7.62-mm quad machine gun "Maxim" on the U-431 anti-aircraft gun
- 7.62-mm coaxial machine gun "Maxim" on the U-432 anti-aircraft gun

P machine gun Maxim-Tokarev- Soviet light machine gun designed by F.V. Tokarev, created in 1924 on the basis of the Maxim machine gun.

DP(Degtyarev Infantry) - a light machine gun developed by V. A. Degtyarev. The first ten serial DP machine guns were manufactured at the Kovrov plant on November 12, 1927, then a batch of 100 machine guns was transferred for military testing, as a result of which on December 21, 1927 the machine gun was adopted by the Red Army. The DP became one of the first small arms created in the USSR. The machine gun was widely used as the main fire support weapon for infantry at the platoon-company level until the end of the Great Patriotic War.

DT(Degtyarev tank) - a tank machine gun developed by V. A. Degtyarev in 1929. Entered service with the Red Army in 1929 under the designation “7.62-mm tank machine gun of the Degtyarev system mod. 1929" (DT-29)

DS-39(7.62 mm Degtyarev heavy machine gun, model 1939).

SG-43. The 7.62 mm Goryunov machine gun (SG-43) is a Soviet heavy machine gun. It was developed by gunsmith P. M. Goryunov with the participation of M. M. Goryunov and V. E. Voronkov at the Kovrov Mechanical Plant. Entered service on May 15, 1943. The SG-43 began to enter service with the troops in the second half of 1943.

DShK And DShKM- large-caliber heavy machine guns chambered for 12.7×108 mm. The result of modernization of the large-caliber heavy machine gun DK (Degtyarev Large-caliber). The DShK was adopted by the Red Army in 1938 under the designation “12.7 mm Degtyarev-Shpagin heavy machine gun model 1938”

In 1946, under the designation DShKM(Degtyarev, Shpagin, large-caliber modernized) machine gun was adopted by the Soviet Army.

PTRD. Anti-tank single-shot rifle mod. 1941 Degtyarev system, adopted for service on August 29, 1941. It was intended to combat medium and light tanks and armored vehicles at distances of up to 500 m. The gun could also fire at pillboxes/bunkers and firing points covered by armor at distances up to 800 m and at aircraft at distances up to 500 m.

PTRS. Anti-tank self-loading rifle mod. 1941 Simonov system) is a Soviet self-loading anti-tank rifle, adopted for service on August 29, 1941. It was intended to combat medium and light tanks and armored vehicles at distances of up to 500 m. The gun could also fire at pillboxes/bunkers and firing points covered by armor at distances up to 800 m and at aircraft at distances up to 500 m. During the war some of the guns were captured and used by the Germans. The guns were named Panzerbüchse 784 (R) or PzB 784 (R).

Dyakonov grenade launcher. The Dyakonov system rifle grenade launcher is designed to use fragmentation grenades to destroy living, mostly hidden, targets that are inaccessible to flat fire weapons.

Widely used in pre-war conflicts, during the Soviet-Finnish War and at the initial stage of the Great Patriotic War. According to the staff of the rifle regiment in 1939, each rifle squad was armed with a rifle grenade launcher of the Dyakonov system. In documents of that time it was called a hand-held mortar for throwing rifle grenades.

125-mm ampoule gun model 1941- the only ampoule gun model mass-produced in the USSR. Widely used with varying success by the Red Army at the initial stage of the Great Patriotic War, it was often made in semi-handicraft conditions.

The projectile most often used was a glass or tin ball filled with flammable liquid "KS", but the range of ammunition included mines, a smoke bomb and even homemade "propaganda shells". Using a blank 12-gauge rifle cartridge, the projectile was fired at a distance of 250-500 meters, thereby being an effective weapon against some fortifications and many types of armored vehicles, including tanks. However, difficulties in use and maintenance led to the ampoule gun being withdrawn from service in 1942.

ROKS-3(Klyuev-Sergeev Backpack Flamethrower) - Soviet infantry backpack flamethrower from the Great Patriotic War. The first model of the ROKS-1 backpack flamethrower was developed in the USSR in the early 1930s. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the rifle regiments of the Red Army had flamethrower teams consisting of two sections, armed with 20 backpack flamethrowers ROKS-2. Based on the experience of using these flamethrowers at the beginning of 1942, the designer of the Chemical Engineering Research Institute M.P. Sergeev and designer of military plant No. 846 V.N. Klyuev developed a more advanced backpack flamethrower ROKS-3, which was in service with individual companies and battalions of backpack flamethrowers of the Red Army throughout the war.

Bottles with a flammable mixture ("Molotov cocktail").

At the beginning of the war, the State Defense Committee decided to use combustible bottles in the fight against tanks. Already on July 7, 1941, the State Defense Committee adopted a special resolution “On anti-tank incendiary grenades (bottles)”, which obliged the People’s Commissariat of the Food Industry to organize, from July 10, 1941, equipping liter glass bottles with a fire mixture according to the recipe of the Research Institute 6 of the People’s Commissariat of Ammunition. And the head of the Military Chemical Defense Directorate of the Red Army (later the Main Military Chemical Directorate) was ordered to begin “supplying military units with hand incendiary grenades” from July 14.

Dozens of distilleries and beer factories throughout the USSR quickly turned into military enterprises. Moreover, the “Molotov Cocktail” (named after the then deputy of I.V. Stalin for the State Committee for Defense) was prepared directly on the old factory lines, where just yesterday they bottled citre, port wines and fizzy “Abrau-Durso”. From the first batches of such bottles, they often did not even have time to remove the “peaceful” alcohol labels. Besides liter bottles specified in the legendary “Molotov” decree, the “cocktail” was also made in beer and wine-cognac containers with a volume of 0.5 and 0.7 liters.

Two types of incendiary bottles were adopted by the Red Army: with self-igniting liquid KS (a mixture of phosphorus and sulfur) and with flammable mixtures No. 1 and No. 3, which are a mixture of aviation gasoline, kerosene, naphtha, thickened with oils or a special hardening powder OP- 2, developed in 1939 under the leadership of A.P. Ionov, - in fact, it was the prototype of modern napalm. The abbreviation “KS” is deciphered in different ways: “Koshkin mixture” - after the name of the inventor N.V. Koshkin, and “Old Cognac”, and “Kachugin-Maltovnik” - after the name of other inventors of liquid grenades.

Bottle with self-igniting liquid COP falling on solid, broke, the liquid spilled and burned with a bright flame for up to 3 minutes, developing a temperature of up to 1000°C. At the same time, being sticky, it stuck to the armor or covered inspection slits, glass, and observation devices, blinded the crew with smoke, smoking them out of the tank and burning everything inside the tank. A drop of burning liquid falling on the body caused severe, difficult to heal burns.

Combustible mixtures No. 1 and No. 3 burned for up to 60 seconds with temperatures up to 800 ° C and emitting a lot of black smoke. Bottles with gasoline were used as a cheaper option, and thin glass tube ampoules with CS liquid, which were attached to the bottle with apothecary rubber bands, served as an incendiary agent. Sometimes ampoules were placed inside bottles before throwing.

Used bulletproof vest PZ-ZIF-20(protective shell, Frunze Plant). It is also CH-38 Cuirass type (CH-1, steel breastplate). It can be called the first mass-produced Soviet body armor, although it was called a steel breastplate, which does not change its purpose.

The body armor provided protection against German submachine guns and pistols. The body armor also provided protection against fragments of grenades and mines. Bulletproof vests were recommended to be worn by assault groups, signalmen (during the laying and repair of cables) and when performing other operations at the discretion of the commander.

Information often comes across that the PZ-ZIF-20 is not the SP-38 (SN-1) body armor, which is incorrect, since the PZ-ZIF-20 was created according to documentation from 1938, and industrial production was established in 1943. The second point is that appearance are 100% similar. Among the military search teams it is called “Volkhovsky”, “Leningradsky”, “five-sectional”.
Photos of reconstruction:

Steel bibs CH-42

Soviet assault engineer-sapper guards brigade wearing SN-42 steel breastplates and DP-27 machine guns. 1st ShISBr. 1st Belorussian Front, summer 1944

ROG-43 hand grenade

Manual fragmentation grenade ROG-43 (index 57-G-722) is a long-range weapon designed to destroy enemy personnel in offensive and defensive combat. The new grenade was developed in the first half of the Great Patriotic War at the plant named after. Kalinin and had the factory designation RGK-42. After being put into service in 1943, the grenade received the designation ROG-43.

RDG hand smoke grenade.

RDG device

Smoke grenades were used to provide screens measuring 8 - 10 m and were used mainly to “blind” the enemy located in shelters, to create local screens to camouflage crews leaving armored vehicles, as well as to simulate the burning of armored vehicles. Under favorable conditions, one RDG grenade created an invisible cloud 25 - 30 m long.

Burning grenades did not sink in water, so they could be used when crossing water barriers. The grenade could smoke from 1 to 1.5 minutes, producing, depending on the composition of the smoke mixture, thick gray-black or white smoke.

RPG-6 grenade.


The RPG-6 exploded instantly upon impact with a hard barrier, destroyed armor, hit the crew of an armored target, its weapons and equipment, and could also ignite fuel and explode ammunition. Military trials The RPG-6 grenade took place in September 1943. The target used was captured assault gun"Ferdinand", which had frontal armor up to 200 mm and side armor up to 85 mm. Tests showed that the RPG-6 grenade, when the head part hit the target, could penetrate armor up to 120 mm.

Manual anti-tank grenade arr. 1943 RPG-43

RPG-41 impact hand anti-tank grenade, model 1941

The RPG-41 was intended to combat armored vehicles and light tanks with armor up to 20 - 25 mm thick, and could also be used to combat bunkers and field-type shelters. The RPG-41 could also be used to destroy medium and heavy tanks when hit vulnerabilities vehicles (roof, tracks, chassis, etc.)

Chemical grenade model 1917


According to the “Temporary Rifle Regulations of the Red Army. Part 1. Small arms. Rifle and hand grenades”, published by the head of the People's Commissariat of Military Commissariat and the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR in 1927, the hand chemical grenade mod. 1917 from the reserve stockpiled during the First World War.

VKG-40 grenade

In the 1920s-1930s, the Red Army was armed with the muzzle-loading “Dyakonov grenade launcher,” created at the end of the First World War and subsequently modernized.

The grenade launcher consisted of a mortar, a bipod and a quadrant sight and was used to destroy manpower with a fragmentation grenade. The mortar barrel had a caliber of 41 mm, three screw grooves, and was rigidly attached to a cup that was screwed onto the neck, which was put on the rifle barrel, fixed on the front sight with a cutout.

RG-42 hand grenade

RG-42 model 1942 with UZRG fuse. After being put into service, the grenade was given the index RG-42 (hand grenade of 1942). The new UZRG fuse used in the grenade has become the same for both the RG-42 and the F-1.

The RG-42 grenade was used both offensively and defensively. In appearance, it resembled an RGD-33 grenade, only without a handle. The RG-42 with a UZRG fuse belonged to the type of remote-action fragmentation offensive grenades. It was intended to defeat enemy personnel.

Rifle anti-tank grenade VPGS-41



VPGS-41 when used

Characteristic distinctive feature ramrod grenades had a “tail” (ramrod), inserted into the bore of the rifle and serving as a stabilizer. The grenade was fired with a blank cartridge.

Soviet hand grenade mod. 1914/30 with protective cover

Soviet hand grenade mod. 1914/30 refers to double-type anti-personnel fragmentation hand grenades. This means that it is designed to destroy enemy personnel with hull fragments when it explodes. Remote action means that the grenade will explode after a certain period of time, regardless of other conditions, after the soldier releases it from his hands.

Double type - means that the grenade can be used as an offensive one, i.e. grenade fragments have a small mass and fly at a distance shorter than the possible throwing range; or as a defensive one, i.e. fragments fly to a distance exceeding the throwing range.

The double action of the grenade is achieved by putting on the grenade a so-called “shirt” - a cover made of thick metal, which ensures that during an explosion, fragments of greater mass fly over a greater distance.

RGD-33 hand grenade

An explosive charge is placed inside the case - up to 140 grams of TNT. A steel tape with a square notch is placed between the explosive charge and the body to produce fragments during an explosion, rolled into three or four layers.


The grenade was equipped with a defensive case, which was used only when throwing a grenade from a trench or shelter. In other cases, the protective cover was removed.

And of course, F-1 grenade

Initially, the F-1 grenade used a fuse designed by F.V. Koveshnikov, which was much more reliable and easier to use than the French fuse. The deceleration time of Koveshnikov's fuse was 3.5-4.5 seconds.

In 1941, designers E.M. Viceni and A.A. Poednyakov developed and put into service to replace Koveshnikov's fuse a new, safer and simpler in design fuse for the F-1 hand grenade.

In 1942, a new fuse became united for hand grenades F-1 and RG-42, it was called UZRG - “unified fuse for hand grenades.”

* * *
After the above, it cannot be said that only rusty three-ruler rifles without cartridges were in service.
About chemical weapon during the Second World War, a separate and special conversation...