Battle of Stalingrad: defense of Stalingrad. "the so-called Stalingrad cauldron

For several days in a row the battle raged among the ruins. The streets have long lost their former appearance. It’s not that you can drive through them, but you couldn’t even walk along them. The pavement, pitted by bombs and shells, burnt and charred telegraph poles and trees, piles of bricks - all this impeded movement. At the same time, the ruins of the buildings turned out to be suitable for firing positions and the hidden accumulation of manpower of the parties. The enemy concentrated his forces on one of the streets. He held the intersections of streets on the right and left in his hands and guarded his flanks with machine gun fire. A block away, on another street, our troops were located. There was a rare gun battle. Neither our units nor the enemy launched any attacks. The commander of the mortar platoon, junior lieutenant Kruglov, received an order to knock the Germans out from behind their shelters, force them to go out onto unprotected sections of the streets and thereby make the work of the machine gunners and machine gunners easier. Kruglov placed his three mortars in firing positions behind the destroyed buildings. Together with the commander of the first crew, Sergeant Koreev and the liaison Red Army soldier Velikorodny, he began to make his way towards the enemy to find an observation post. This point turned out to be the roof of the barn. It was supported by only one wall and two or three pillars. One edge of it lay on the ground. The junior lieutenant climbed up it and began to give commands, which were transmitted to the firing positions by Sergeant Koreev and soldier Velikorodny. One mortar opened fire. The Nazis neglected his rare shooting. They remained in their places - among the rubble of buildings. The platoon commander ordered fire from three mortars simultaneously. The effect was different. The mines lay next to each other and began to hit enemy soldiers. The Germans began to jump out from behind cover. Then machine guns and machine guns were used. Our riflemen, machine gunners, machine gunners and mortar men killed up to a hundred Nazis here and took possession of the street. This incident of group mortar fire is not typical of street fighting. In the field, the mortarmen are massaging fire, often covering a group of targets at the same time. In the city they mainly use single mortars and targeted fire. Even, increased shooting across the area in locality does not give desired result. There are too many different shelters here that protect not only from fragments, but also from direct hits. Mortarmen in street battles most often shoot at a specific target that is difficult to reach with other types of weapons. Massive fire over an area, as a rule, is carried out only during enemy attacks in open areas, as well as against enemy concentrations.

The crew commander, Junior Sergeant Bodin, positioned his mortar near the sawmill. There was a gap nearby that served as cover during enemy air attacks and artillery raids. This mortar was of great help to our infantry. The mortar men were required to support the counterattack. Lance Sergeant Bodin knew that the Germans were most firmly entrenched in a small wooden house. It was this house that he decided to break up. The target was 300-400 meters away, but it was completely invisible from the firing position. Bodin could not move forward, since he did not have a telephone connection to transmit commands to the crew. The crew commander decided to find an observation post in the immediate vicinity of the firing position. A few tens of meters ahead were broken stone houses. The wall of one of them survived up to the fourth floor. Bodin climbed to the third floor and positioned himself near the window on iron beams. The visibility from here was excellent. Bodine gave the commands from here. The crew smashed the wooden house in which the Germans were located, and thus disrupted their fire system. Our infantry took advantage of this, attacking and capturing a group of buildings. Positioning observation posts higher and better camouflaging them is what is especially important for mortar men in street battles. Anyone who is afraid to climb onto the roof or attic, or perch somewhere on a beam, on a dilapidated wall of a stone building, will not see the enemy and will not be able to effectively correct the shooting. Example the right choice The observation post was shown by the commander of the heavy mortar division, Captain Sarkisyan. At the most intense and critical moment of the battle, he boldly climbed onto the roof of one house, stood behind a chimney and adjusted the fire from there. This house was clearly visible from the enemy, so well that he did not expect the presence of an observation post here. Sargsyan took a risk, but this risk was justified by the situation. For correct use mortars, it is necessary to establish a supply of mines to the crews various actions. I had to observe cases when our mortars fired at ordinary wooden houses fragmentation mines with instantaneous fuses. The explosion occurred as soon as the mine touched the roof. The fragments sprinkled the house, but almost did not penetrate inside. In the end it was spent a large number of ammunition in order to first destroy the roof and ceiling and only then get to the enemy’s manpower. If these mortarmen had five to ten incendiary or high-explosive fragmentation mines, the result would have been different. After the first hit by an incendiary shell, the enemy would not have stayed in the house. Then he could be hit with a fragmentation mine with an instant fuse. A high-explosive fragmentation mine with a delayed fuse ensures an explosion not on the roof and attic, but in the very center of the building. The defeats in this case are very effective. Fighting on the streets, where every house is used as a defensive fortification, requires, first of all, a high-explosive fragmentation mine and an incendiary one. We cannot, of course, neglect ordinary fragmentation weapons. It may also be needed at any moment, especially when the enemy is attacking or the battle is taking place in a square, wasteland or sparsely developed outskirts. L. Vysokoostrovsky “Red Star”

For many years now I have been collecting interesting and unusual photos The Great Patriotic War and the Second World War. I find them on the Internet and put them in a special folder on my computer.

By the way, I would like to take this opportunity to recommend to all lovers of our history a resource called "War Album" . It contains a huge number of photographs, including quite rare ones, previously unknown and nowhere not yet published . It is noteworthy that this collection is constantly updated with new unique photographs.

Another good thing about this site is the detailed accompanying information about who is shown in the photograph and when. The names, surnames, ranks and positions of long-dead soldiers and officers are often published. It becomes clear to the reader what exactly military unit appears in the frame and on which front (or other theater of military operations) the event takes place.

Also (which is very important) the exact name of the military equipment is often indicated. That is, complete historical accuracy is guaranteed. So the resource "War Album" you can (and even need) to trust!

Sometimes during World Wide Web There are such shots... that break your soul and make your heart bleed...

One day I discovered this photo...

After I saw the photo, I froze in a daze... and looked at it for a very long time.

This is the outskirts of Stalingrad, August 1942. A group of German soldiers stands above a trench and examines the dead Soviet machine gunners. On the ground next to the Maxim heavy machine gun lies a bunch of spent cartridges. An empty ribbon hangs. At the fighting position there is an empty wooden ammunition box. That is, our soldiers stood until their last bullet, until their last breath, and did not surrender.

On many Internet resources, this stunning photo is accompanied by the memoirs of former Wehrmacht private Eduard Koch. Let me quote them to you. It’s very interesting, and most importantly, it’s written instructively. But I warn you right away that the events described may not have anything to do with real photo direct relationship. She is simply a vivid illustration of the heroism of our people. There were thousands of similar feats at the front.

So, the words of the German soldier Eduard Koch.

“I ended up on the Eastern Front with reinforcements, after the successful counter-offensive of our troops near Kharkov in the spring of 1942. Then this endless march to the Volga began... We hardly saw any Russians, there were only isolated skirmishes, there were very few prisoners, the Russians quickly retreated, almost fled, but without panic, in a fairly organized manner. We, young soldiers, rejoiced at this, because then it seemed to us that the enemy was completely broken and the end of the war was near. My friend and fellow countryman Heinz was worried that the war would end like this, but he had not even been in a serious battle.

But our old platoon sergeant-major did not share our enthusiasm; he was gloomy and constantly told us: “What are you idiots happy about? Since the Russians could not be surrounded and destroyed in this devilish steppe, then they will all go to Stalingrad and build a new Verdun for all of us there.” But we made fun of the old grump among ourselves.

However, he was right - all hell broke loose on the distant approaches to Stalingrad.

I remember some village and a small height in front of it, on the right there was a swampy river, on the left there was an open field that was stuffed with mines, we tried to get around it, but came under fire from camouflaged Russian tanks. This means there is only one way out - through this village, but Russians were holed up in houses there, and a Russian heavy machine gun was firing at us from a height,and we had losses. The heights were bombarded with mines, but as soon as the explosions subsided, the machine gun came to life and put us on the ground again. An hour later, the Russians left the village, the fire from there stopped, but the damn machine gun did not stop. Our mortar men could not silence him.

And then, finally, the machine gun fell silent. We climbed to this high-rise building and what we saw there shocked us. In a half-filled trench, next to a broken machine gun, two Russians lay. One, apparently, had been killed earlier and his comrade put him at the bottom of the trench, covering him with his overcoat, while he continued to shoot. The worst thing is that his legs were severely wounded, but the Russian tied the stumps with some pieces of fabric to stop the bleeding, and continued to shoot until he was finished off by fragments of a mine that exploded nearby...

Everyone fell silent. Our old sergeant major lit his pipe and asked us: “Well, now do you understand that everything is just beginning?” And if we manage to get away from here, consider ourselves very lucky...

We buried those Russians there, in the trench, installing their broken machine gun instead of a tombstone. Probably, since then, many of us have thought hard about the future...”

These were the memories of the German soldier Eduard Koch about the feat of unknown Soviet soldiers in August 1942 on the outskirts of Stalingrad.

P.S.

A few more lines on the topic. Fragment from the story “Alien Thermopylae” by Gleb Bobrov. Memories of a front-line father

“Don steppes, stuffy summer of '42. The forces of the Steppe and Voronezh fronts roll back to Stalingrad. A complete retreat. Escape. My father is the commander of a sapper platoon, and together with his unit he is at the rear of the troops. Mining the waste. The stragglers, the most exhausted, pass by. He remembered that little guy then, as he said.

A hunted guy is sitting by the rubble, smoking. Look at your feet. There is no cap, no belt either. Near "Maxim". There is no second number either. He smoked, stood up, picked up the machine gun, and drove on. A duffel bag on a white back, reaching to the ground. My father said that even then he thought that the soldier would not make it. The old one is already over forty. The man is broken, he says. It's immediately obvious...

The sappers also retreated. Before they had time to retreat, they heard a battle in the village. Rearguard units stood up. The order is back. The Germans surrender the village without a fight. They come in. On central square lies an infantry battalion. As the Krauts walked in formation, they lay down in a row. A man of one and a half hundred. Something unprecedented. Then, in 1942, there were no weapons yet mass destruction. Many are still showing signs of life. They finished it off right away...

On July 17, 1942, at the turn of the Chir and Tsimla rivers, the forward detachments of the 62nd and 64th armies of the Stalingrad Front met with the vanguards of the 6th German Army. Interacting with the aviation of the 8th Air Army (Major General of Aviation T.T. Khryukin), they put up stubborn resistance to the enemy, who, in order to break their resistance, had to deploy 5 divisions out of 13 and spend 5 days fighting them. In the end, German troops knocked down the advanced detachments from their positions and approached the main defense line of the troops of the Stalingrad Front. Thus began the Battle of Stalingrad.

The resistance of the Soviet troops forced the Nazi command to strengthen the 6th Army. By July 22, it already had 18 divisions, numbering 250 thousand people combat personnel, about 740 tanks, 7.5 thousand guns and mortars. The troops of the 6th Army supported up to 1,200 aircraft. As a result, the balance of forces increased even more in favor of the enemy. For example, in tanks he now had a twofold superiority. By July 22, the troops of the Stalingrad Front had 16 divisions (187 thousand people, 360 tanks, 7.9 thousand guns and mortars, about 340 aircraft).

At dawn on July 23, the enemy’s northern and, on July 25, southern strike groups went on the offensive. Using superiority in forces and air supremacy, the Germans broke through the defenses on the right flank of the 62nd Army and by the end of the day on July 24 reached the Don in the Golubinsky area. As a result, up to three Soviet divisions were surrounded. The enemy also managed to push back the troops of the right flank of the 64th Army. A critical situation developed for the troops of the Stalingrad Front. Both flanks of the 62nd Army were deeply engulfed by the enemy, and its exit to the Don created a real threat of a breakthrough of Nazi troops to Stalingrad.

By the end of July the Germans had pushed back Soviet troops for Don. The defense line stretched for hundreds of kilometers from north to south along the Don. To break through the defenses along the river, the Germans had to use, in addition to their 2nd Army, the armies of their Italian, Hungarian and Romanian allies. The 6th Army was only a few dozen kilometers from Stalingrad, and the 4th Panzer, located south of it, turned north to help take the city. To the south, Army Group South (A) continued to push further into the Caucasus, but its advance slowed. Army Group South A was too far to the south to provide support to Army Group South B in the north.

July 28, 1942 people's commissar defense J.V. Stalin turned to the Red Army with order No. 227, in which he demanded to strengthen resistance and stop the enemy’s advance at all costs. The strictest measures were envisaged against those who showed cowardice and cowardice in battle. Practical measures were outlined to strengthen morale and discipline among the troops. “It’s time to end the retreat,” the order noted. - No step back!" This slogan embodied the essence of order No. 227. Commanders and political workers were given the task of bringing to the consciousness of every soldier the requirements of this order.

The stubborn resistance of the Soviet troops forced the Nazi command on July 31 to turn the 4th Tank Army (Colonel General G. Hoth) from the Caucasus direction to Stalingrad. On August 2, its advanced units approached Kotelnikovsky. In this regard, there was a direct threat of an enemy breakthrough to the city from the southwest. Fighting broke out on the southwestern approaches to it. To strengthen the defense of Stalingrad, by decision of the front commander, the 57th Army was deployed on the southern front of the outer defensive perimeter. The 51st Army was transferred to the Stalingrad Front (Major General T.K. Kolomiets, from October 7 - Major General N.I. Trufanov).

The situation in the 62nd Army zone was difficult. On August 7-9, the enemy pushed her troops beyond the Don River, and encircled four divisions west of Kalach. Soviet soldiers fought in encirclement until August 14, and then in small groups they began to fight their way out of encirclement. Three divisions of the 1st Guards Army (Major General K. S. Moskalenko, from September 28 - Major General I. M. Chistyakov) arrived from the Headquarters Reserve and launched a counterattack on the enemy troops and stopped their further advance.

Thus, the German plan - to break through to Stalingrad with a swift blow on the move - was thwarted by the stubborn resistance of Soviet troops in the large bend of the Don and their active defense on the southwestern approaches to the city. During the three weeks of the offensive, the enemy was able to advance only 60-80 km. Based on an assessment of the situation, the Nazi command made significant adjustments to its plan.

On August 19, Nazi troops resumed their offensive, striking in the general direction of Stalingrad. On August 22, the 6th German Army crossed the Don and captured a 45 km wide bridgehead on its eastern bank, in the Peskovatka area, on which six divisions were concentrated. On August 23, the enemy's 14th Tank Corps broke through to the Volga north of Stalingrad, in the area of ​​the village of Rynok, and cut off the 62nd Army from the rest of the forces of the Stalingrad Front. The day before, enemy aircraft launched a massive air strike on Stalingrad, carrying out about 2 thousand sorties. As a result, the city suffered terrible destruction - entire neighborhoods were turned into ruins or simply wiped off the face of the earth.

On September 13, the enemy went on the offensive along the entire front, trying to capture Stalingrad by storm. Soviet troops failed to contain his powerful onslaught. They were forced to retreat to the city, where fierce fighting broke out on the streets.

At the end of August and September, Soviet troops carried out a series of counterattacks in the southwestern direction to cut off the formations of the enemy's 14th Tank Corps, which had broken through to the Volga. When launching counterattacks, Soviet troops had to close the German breakthrough in the Kotluban and Rossoshka station area and eliminate the so-called “land bridge”. At the cost of enormous losses, Soviet troops managed to advance only a few kilometers.

Soviet machine gunners during street fighting on the outskirts of Stalingrad.

Captured camels are used as draft power by the German army at Stalingrad.

Evacuation of nurseries and kindergartens from Stalingrad.

German dive bomber Junkers Ju-87 Stuka in the sky over Stalingrad.

Romanian prisoners of war captured near the village of Raspopinskaya near the city of Kalach.

Soldiers and commanders of the 298th Infantry Division near Stalingrad.

Women dig trenches in the area of ​​the Don River.

The commander of the 6th Army, Wehrmacht Colonel General F. Paulus, with members of his staff during the battles near Stalingrad.

Oberefreiter of the 578th Wehrmacht Infantry Regiment Hans Eckle in a combat position in a trench between the Don and Volga.

The command staff of the 2nd company of the 178th rifle regiment of the NKVD troops of the USSR for the protection of especially important industrial enterprises on Mamayev Kurgan.

Armor-piercers G.S. Barennik and Ya.V. Sheptytsky with a PTRD-41 in a combat position in a trench during the battle for Stalingrad.

A German soldier writes a letter in the basement of a house in Stalingrad.

Militiaman from among the workers of the Stalingrad Red October plant, sniper Pyotr Alekseevich Goncharov (1903 - 1944), armed with a personal name sniper rifle SVT-40 in a firing position near Stalingrad. In the battles for Stalingrad he destroyed about 50 enemy soldiers.

Armored boats of the Volga Flotilla fire at the positions of German troops in Stalingrad.

Wehrmacht armored personnel carriers in the steppe near Stalingrad.

A convoy of the 2nd Wehrmacht Panzer Division crosses the bridge over the Don.

Wehrmacht infantry and StuG III self-propelled guns advance through a Soviet village shortly after crossing the Don.

Oberefreiter of the 578th Wehrmacht Infantry Regiment Hans Eckle at a combat position between the Don and Volga.

The driver performs work on the engine of a ZIS-5 car near Stalingrad.

German machine gunners change position north of Stalingrad.

German soldiers with an MG-34 machine gun and a 50-mm leGrW36 mortar in a position on the outskirts of Stalingrad.

A Soviet prisoner of war helps soldiers of the 369th Wehrmacht Regiment dismantle a wrecked car in Stalingrad.

Soviet soldiers in positions in the trenches near Stalingrad.

German self-propelled gun StuG III near the ruins of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant.

Former houses on the outskirts of the town of Serafimovich, destroyed by German troops.

Cinematographer Valentin Orlyankin films a panorama of Stalingrad from the boat.

Red Army soldiers, brought from the other side of the river, walk along the banks of the Volga in Stalingrad.

Soldiers of the 578th Wehrmacht Infantry Regiment at a halt during the attack on Stalingrad.

German officers confer at a crossroads during the attack on Stalingrad.

A German self-propelled gun StuG III with armored soldiers moves along Kurskaya Street in Stalingrad.

A Soviet pillbox on the territory occupied by German troops near Stalingrad.

View of the cemetery destroyed during the fighting in Stalingrad.

A resident of Stalingrad stokes the stove of a destroyed house in the occupied southern part of the city.

A resident of the occupied area of ​​Stalingrad prepares food on the site of a destroyed house.

View from German plane to fires in the destroyed Stalingrad.

German tank Pz.Kpfw. III, knocked out at Stalingrad.

Soviet sappers are building a crossing across the Volga.

Red Army soldiers in battle railway near Stalingrad.

A German soldier walks past a damaged and burning Soviet tank T-60, during the attack on Stalingrad.

Red Army artillerymen at the F-22-USV gun on the street of Stalingrad.

A column of Red Army soldiers passes near the Central Department Store of Stalingrad.

Artillerymen of the Red Army Guards unit are crossing the Volga on A-3 landing boats.

Calculation of the German ZSU Sd.Kfz. 10/4 prepares to open fire at Stalingrad.

Sculptural composition and graves of German soldiers near the building of the 7th hospital in Stalingrad.

Soviet machine gunners of the Stalingrad Front near the river.

Soviet soldiers repulse the attacks of German troops rushing to Stalingrad.

Soviet mortar men change positions near Stalingrad.

Red Army soldiers run near barbed wire barriers during the fighting in Stalingrad.

Soviet infantry in battle on the outskirts of Stalingrad.

A group of Soviet military personnel in the steppe near Stalingrad.

Calculation of the Soviet 45 mm anti-tank gun 53-K changes position during the fighting on the outskirts of Stalingrad.

Soviet units after landing on the banks of the Volga near Stalingrad.

Soviet soldiers fire from the glass roof of one of the factory workshops in Stalingrad.

Soviet machine gunners in battle on the streets of Stalingrad.

Red Army soldiers in battle near a burning house in Stalingrad.

Destroyed Soviet installation volley fire BM-8-24 on the chassis of the T-60 tank near Stalingrad.

Destroyed houses in the part of Stalingrad occupied by German troops.

Soviet soldiers move through the ruins of a destroyed building in Stalingrad.

A woman with a knot on the ashes in Stalingrad.

The crew of a Soviet 50-mm company mortar changes position in a workers' village near Stalingrad.

View from a Soviet hideout in Stalingrad.

A fallen Soviet soldier on the banks of the Volga near Stalingrad.

Canadian mortarmen at work

Bad shovel, useless mortar.

Military history knows many cases when the development of new types of weapons followed a dead-end path. This happened at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, when, in search of strengthening infantry weapons, the 37-mm VM-37 mortar was adopted by the Red Army, which at the same time served as a shovel for the infantryman. Alas, embodied in metal, it performed both of its functions poorly...

When studying archival funds, you can find not only documents, but also books containing very interesting materials. One of these finds is the work “Mortars,” written by Colonel N.N. Nikiforov and published in 1945 by the Gostekhizdat publishing house with a circulation of 25,000 copies. The book describes in popular scientific form the history of the emergence of this weapon, brief information about the design and types of mortars, about sighting devices and methods of firing.

Illustration from the book “Mortars” by N. N. Nikiforov

Among other projects, Nikiforov describes in his book the invention of Soviet designers, in which they “crossed” a mortar and a shovel:

“Shovel mortar. Lightness, portability, and ability to maneuver are very valuable properties of modern mortars. As often happens, there were some hobbies in this matter. If a mortar is so light and portable, why not equip every soldier with it? – thought some designers. And the shovel mortar was born: the handle of the shovel was simultaneously the barrel of a light 37-mm mortar, and the shovel itself served as a base plate when firing from this mortar. This mortar, like an ordinary shovel, was worn by the soldier on the side of his belt.

The mortar turned out to be a heavy, clumsy and awkward shovel to handle, and at the same time a weak mortar. In pursuit of lightness of its weight, it was necessary to make the walls of its trunk thin; this forced us to limit ourselves to a very small charge of gunpowder and made it possible to throw a mine only 200 meters. The effect of the mine itself, with a mortar caliber of 37 millimeters, also turned out to be weak. Military trials The manufactured batch of shovel mortars were carried out at the front. They confirmed the old truth that everything universal is bad. The shovel mortar received the ironic nickname “neither a mortar nor a shovel” from the soldiers and was not adopted by the Red Army.”

Colonel N. N. Nikiforov turned out to be not entirely right: the 37 mm caliber shovel mortar was adopted by the Red Army, was supplied to equip both infantry units and airborne brigades of the Red Army, and even managed to fight.

37-mm mortar-shovel VM-37 (from the collection of the Museum of Russian military history in Padikovo, Istra district, Moscow region)

This type of weapon was developed by Research Institute No. 13 of the People's Commissariat of Armaments in as soon as possible after the start of the Great Patriotic War, in the summer of 1941.
In August, the mortar passed the necessary brief tests, and on September 3, 1941, by a decree of the State Defense Committee (GKO) signed by I.V. Stalin, it was adopted for service under the designation VM-37. Initially it was called a “platoon mortar-shovel of 37 mm caliber,” but later the index was left and the word “platoon” was deleted.

Drawing general view VM-37

The design of the VM-37 was extremely simple and consisted of three parts: a barrel, a base plate-shovel and a bipod.

The barrel was made of a seamless pipe made of ST-45 steel with an internal diameter of 37±0.3 mm and a wall thickness of 2.5 mm, while the thickness tolerance was very large, and it could “float” in the range of 2.25–2.875 mm . In this case, the barrel was not processed either inside or outside, with the exception of the breech seat and the cut of the barrel. A small bell was made on the cut side of the barrel to make it easier to insert the mine when loading. To protect the soldier’s hands from burns during frequent shooting and from freezing in winter, a canvas movable sleeve was placed on the barrel.

The breech was made of more durable steel ST-40. The firing pin was pressed into it, and the breech itself was tightly connected to the barrel. There was no provision for repairing the broken striker.
At the end of the breech, a ball heel was made to articulate the barrel with the shovel. The barrel and shovel were inseparable at the hinge joint.

VM-37 in stowed position. The method of fixing the blade of a shovel is visible (from the collection of the Museum of Russian Military History in Padikovo, Istrinsky district of the Moscow region)

To connect the barrel with the shovel “in a marching manner,” a rotating ring was provided on the breech of the barrel.
The ring had a cutout where the feather of the shovel went, and after turning the ring, the shovel was rigidly fixed in position for carrying or digging.

Base plate-shovel of the VM-37 mortar (from the collection of the Museum of Russian Military History in Padikovo, Istrinsky district of the Moscow region)

The base plate-shovel was made of sheet steel 36SGNA (steel helmets SSh-39 and SSh-40 were made from the same steel) with a thickness of 1.6 mm.

The bipod was intended to support the barrel into the ground when fired, which increased the stability of the barrel and improved shooting accuracy. On one side, the bipod ended with a semicircular lyre spring, which had a movable connection to the bipod with a loop, and on the other, a pointed end with a washer for resting on the ground. On the bipod there was a wooden plug, which, due to its design, always remained on the bipod and could move freely (with slight tension) up and down along it. In the stowed position, the bipod was located in the mortar barrel with the lyre facing towards the breech of the barrel. The barrel was closed from the muzzle with a wooden plug placed on the bipod. The bipod was kept from falling out of the trunk in the stowed position by a lyre. In addition to the main function, the bipod was a cleaning rod, and the lyre was a bathhouse for cleaning the barrel.

Bipod of a mortar-shovel (from the collection of the Museum of Russian Military History in Padikovo, Istrinsky district of the Moscow region)

To bring the VM-37 into a firing position, it was necessary to turn the ring on the breech to bring the blade into a free position on the hinge, rest it in a previously dug ditch in the ground, then remove the plug, take out the bipod, connect it to the barrel using a lyre, point the barrel at the target and rest the bipod on the ground.

Each mortar-shovel was accompanied by a cartridge belt for 15 minutes. Due to the fact that the weight of the ammunition was significant, it was proposed to reduce the number of mines in the cartridge belt to eight, but this proposal was rejected personally by Stalin.

The cartridge belt was a canvas belt with sockets in the form of loops in which iron cases-sleeves for mines were attached. It was fastened around the soldier's body with a metal hook using a special buckle. To prevent the bandoleer from sliding down when running and crawling, a shoulder strap was sewn to the belt.

Bandolier for carrying mines VM-37 (TsAMO)

The cases were made of roofing iron, representing cylinders without a bottom or a lid. “Whiskers” were stamped into the body for fastening to the cartridge belt sockets.
A leaf spring was riveted into the upper part of the case, and a deep seam was made at the bottom.

The mines were inserted into the bandoleer with the fuse facing up and kept in the case from falling out by the annular rolling of the case downwards, and by a spring at the top.
When the mine was correctly positioned in the case, the fuse head should not protrude from the top edge of the case.

Bandolier with cases for VM-37 mines attached to it (TsAMO)

To remove the mine, you had to press your fingers on the wings of the stabilizer through the bottom of the case, while it was strictly forbidden to press the primer of the expelling cartridge.
As soon as the mine passed through the spring and the fuse appeared from the case, it could be grabbed by the fuse and removed.

The head of one of the workshops of the shoe-saddlery factory of the district industrial trust of the Proletarsky district A. I. Talaeva with a bandoleer for mines, January 1942 (RGAKFD)

When approving the VM-37 at the State Defense Committee meeting, it was noted that the production of 37-mm mines by casting, fuses, machining of hulls and stabilizers will reduce the production of 50-mm and 82-mm mines for other mortars, since the same equipment will be used, but this argument was not taken into account by Stalin.

The shovel mortar, according to the instructions for use and the State Defense Committee resolution, had the following characteristics:

• caliber – 37 mm;
• maximum firing range – 250 m;
• minimum firing range – 60 m;
• mortar weight - about 1.5 kg;
• mine weight – 0.4–0.5 kg;
• the horizontal firing angle without changing the position of the plate is about ±12°.

Above is a drawing of a 37-mm mine for VM-37, below is a drawing from the instructions for the design and use of a 37-mm mortar

The VM-37 was intended to destroy enemy personnel located in open positions or behind cover (ravine, trench, building, pit, bushes, etc.), destroying crews of machine guns, mortars and guns.

A mine and a case for it, found at battle sites.

The mortar was aimed at the target without assistance sighting devices, therefore, it should be taken into account that the greatest range was obtained at an elevation angle of 45°. It was not recommended to shoot at smaller angles in order to avoid frequent misfires - the mine was impaled on the firing pin with little effort. As the angle increased beyond 45°, the firing range decreased. Changing the elevation angle was done by rearranging the bipod: to increase the angle, the bipod rested in the ground closer to the mortar, to decrease it, it rested further from the mortar. The aiming was corrected after observing the results of the first shot: during the flight it was necessary to increase the elevation angle; if it is too short, reduce it.

Shovel mortar in combat position (from the collection of the Museum of Russian Military History in Padikovo, Istrinsky district of the Moscow region)

According to the GKO decree, the total number of shovel mortars and cartridge belts produced for them from September 1941 to the end of the year was to be 250,000 pieces with a gradual increase in production each month. In September it was planned to produce 10,000 mortars, in October 50,000, in November 90,000, in December 100,000. Production was distributed among four people's commissariats: the People's Commissariat of Armaments, the People's Commissariat of General Engineering, the People's Commissariat of Medium Engineering and the People's Commissariat of Railways.

At the same time, by the same decree of the State Defense Committee, a 37-mm mine for the VM-37 was adopted. There was only one type of mine.
Along with its adoption almost immediately (within five days), it was planned to develop ways to simplify its production and identify factories for production.
By the end of 1941, 7,520,000 mines were to be produced.

Drawing from the instructions for the design and use of a 37 mm mortar. Firing from VM-37

From October 8 to October 13, 1941, tests of the VM-37 and its mines were carried out at the Artillery Research Site (ANIOP) in Leningrad - the tests were initiated by the Main artillery department(GAU). The mortar showed unsatisfactory performance in terms of firing accuracy - for example, the average spread of mines was seven times greater than that of a 50-mm company mortar. The mine behaved unsteadily in flight and tumbled. Despite the fact that Leningrad was already cut off from " big land", the test site, its infrastructure and employees continued to work in the interests of the country.

Repeated tests on the ANIOP took place in mid-December 1941 on the basis of an order from the deputy chief of artillery of the Leningrad Front. Shovel mortars and mines produced by Leningrad factories were tested. During testing, the base plate bent. In addition, it turned out that the use of VM-37 as an entrenching tool for preparing a position and self-entrenchment in winter conditions almost impossible. Shrapnel action The 37 mm mine was five times worse than the 50 mm mine. The conclusion of the ANIOP was disappointing: the mortar and mine did not withstand the tests, and further use of the shovel mortar by the troops was prohibited.

Soldiers fire from VM-37

After the appearance of the shovel mortar at the front, reviews began to arrive from the troops with a real assessment of the modest combat capabilities of the new “miracle weapon.” All this together, as well as difficulties in developing production, a shortage of helmet steel and fuses for mines forced the head of the GAU, Colonel General of Artillery N.D. Yakovlev on February 21, 1942 to ask the Chairman of the State Defense Committee I.V. Stalin to remove the 37-mm mortar-shovel VM-37 from production and weapons. The request was granted on February 24, 1942 by a decree of the State Defense Committee.

After a short period of time, the shovel mortar disappeared from combat units. The memoirs contain references to the use of the VM-37 on “Malaya Zemlya” near Novorossiysk and on other sectors of the front, but this was rather an exception. Some military units used the barrels of spade mortars as tent stakes.

However, a number of mines for the VM-37 had accumulated in warehouses, and they had to be used somehow. It was proposed to use shells of mines unclaimed by the army as anti-personnel fragmentation barrage mines, called POMZ-37.

POMZ-37 – modified 37 mm mortar mine to the VM-37 mortar. The modification was that the expelling cartridge with powder charge, and from the bow - a standard fuse. A mastic sleeve with a through hole for a tension-action fuse of the MUV series was screwed into the fuse socket. The mine was installed manually on a wooden peg driven into the ground, which was included in the mine kit. The explosion occurred at the moment when an enemy soldier, catching his foot on a tripwire, pulled out the fuse's combat pin. The effectiveness of such a mine was low, and it was much easier to install the F-1 grenade in a similar way, so the memories of POMZ-37 were not deposited in the memory of the sappers.

Such was the short history of this unusual type of weapon, in which the designers tried to combine a completely harmless piece of equipment and “improvised” artillery for infantry combat at medium distances, the prototype of a modern under-barrel grenade launcher.

When you come to our school Museum of Military Glory, look at old yellowed photographs, when you read meager lines from the letters of these soldiers, hold in your hands documents telling about their life at the front, you do not immediately realize that these are not some mythical heroes. These are your fellow countrymen.

They walked along the same streets as you, swam in the same lake as you, sat with a fishing rod at dawn, waiting for a bite, perhaps in the same place where you sat recently. Maybe this is because a strange idea is ingrained from childhood. A hero for a child is some kind of semi-deity, an extraordinary person who lived and accomplished his feat somewhere in far away which is called the past.

...In the first days of the war, 40 of our fellow villagers were called up to the front at once, 22 of these first front-line soldiers would lay down their lives on the battlefields in the first months of the war. During the entire war, 70 people died.

Our fellow countryman Nikolai Danilovich Rakhvalov was among the defenders of Stalingrad.
He was called up in May 1942 to the Stalingrad Front in the 90th Guards Mortar Regiment of the Order of A. Nevsky. After training, he was assigned to a fire platoon as commander of the BM-13 Katyusha gun. There were seven people in the crew. Everyone became close friends, were resourceful and courageous.

Nikolai Danilovich said that even in the most terrible battles he did not let go of... a box of matches. He had an order: in case of retreat, blow up the Katyusha! The mortar should not have fallen to the enemy! Nikolai Danilovich recalled: there was such a case in their regiment. Once, when the enemy had already captured the territory in the area of ​​the former Kachin school, the soldiers were given the task of destroying the enemy who had broken through. One of the divisions took up positions near Station Square. But at the moment of the salvo, the Nazis who had infiltrated the station territory set fire to three Katyushas. Several people were killed, and it was not possible to remove the crippled vehicles from the battlefield. But it was impossible to leave even broken Katyushas to the enemy. Under the cover of darkness, a group of daredevils made their way to the cars, connected them with a cable and took them away from under the noses of the Germans to the location of their regiment. In the morning they were already taken to the left bank.

The mortars caused significant damage to the enemy. The brave Nikolai Danilovich took part in many military operations. They called him lucky - bullets avoided him. However, he did not escape severe concussion.

For the courage, courage and bravery shown at Stalingrad, the hero was awarded the Order of Glory, III degree, medals “For Military Merit”, “For the Defense of Stalingrad”. When he was alive and his health allowed, he came to school and talked about his military journey. Members of the local history circle “Memory” wrote down his memories, and today they tell their younger comrades about their heroic fellow countryman.