"Teplovskie Heights" - a monument in honor of the defenders of the Motherland, who turned the tide of World War II. Heavy trophy from the Kursk Bulge Southern front of the Kursk Bulge map
(eng. FAS, free sheep alongside - free along the ship) front
one of the basic conditions that determine the procedure for the delivery and payment of goods in international trade. Under this condition, the seller is obliged to deliver the goods to the ship, and the recipient bears the costs of loading the goods onto the ship.
Glossary of financial terms
FAS
commercial conditions that determine the procedure for the delivery and payment of goods in international trade. The term is formed from the initial letters of the English words "Free Along Ship" (free along the ship). The purchase and sale of goods on the terms of the FAS means the obligation of the seller to deliver the goods to the ship's board at the expense of his own forces and means. The buyer is obliged to timely charter the vessel, he bears all the costs of loading the goods on board. The risk of accidental loss or damage passes from the seller to the buyer at the time of the actual delivery of the goods alongside the vessel. When goods are delivered on FAS terms, the selling price includes the price of the goods itself, as well as transportation and other costs.
Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language, Vladimir Dal
Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. D.N. Ushakov
face
face, m. (French face - face).
The front side of something. (book). The front of our corps ... overlooked the Neva. Leskov.
A straight section of a fortress fence or field fortification with a certain direction of fire (military).
Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova.
face
A, m. (special) Front view, from linden, full face. Take a photo in f.iv profile. Turn face.
adj. face, th, th.
New explanatory and derivational dictionary of the Russian language, T. F. Efremova.
Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998
face
FAS (from the French face - face) in fortification - a straight section of a trench, communication, non-explosive anti-tank and anti-personnel barriers.
face
FAS (English fas, abbr. from free alongside ship - freely along the side of the vessel) is a type of foreign trade contract of sale associated with the delivery of goods by water, when the price of the goods includes the cost of delivering it to the ship.
Big Law Dictionary
face
international trade term, one of the free delivery terms in commercial transactions (remained unchanged in the 1990 edition of Incoterms). Literally means "free along the side of the ship". According to this condition, the seller is deemed to have fulfilled his obligations when the goods are placed along the side of the ship on the berth or on lighters. From this point on, all costs and risks of loss of or damage to the goods must be borne by the buyer. As with the ex-factory condition, the buyer clears the goods from export duties and customs formalities - in contrast to the FOB condition, where this operation is entrusted to the seller. The FAS condition is applicable only for transportation by sea or river transport.
Fas (face)
face- the side of something facing the viewer (see full face). In military affairs: the front is the side of the fortification facing the enemy.
Faces are also called straight sections of wire obstacles, trenches and anti-tank ditches.
Fas (disambiguation)
- face- front side.
- face- dog training team.
FAS
FAS (football club)
"FAS"- Salvadoran football club from the city of Santa Ana. Plays in the El Salvador Premiere, the strongest division in El Salvador. The club was founded on February 16, 1947, and plays home matches at the Estadio Oscar Cuiteno, which can accommodate 15,000 spectators. " FAS» The most titled club in El Salvador, and one of the most titled clubs in CONCACAF.
Examples of the use of the word face in the literature.
With such large forces in front of the southern face Barvenkovsky bridgehead, the Nazi command intended them to deliver two strikes - on Barvenkovo and in the direction of Dolgenkaya, where the auxiliary command post of the 9th Army was located.
Most importantly, Bayazet was taken, the Russian flag fluttered over faces ancient fortress.
The height and width of the nose, the length of the back of the nose, the depth of the bridge of the nose, the protrusion of the nose, the contour of the back in profile, the width and shape of the back in face, the position of the base of the nose in profile, the position and shape of the tip of the nose, and the shape of the alae.
Let's try to develop a mysterious phenomenon - domestication, but not in face, but in profile.
Approaching the police station house, which overlooked face out into the street, Turkevich winked merrily at his companions, threw up his cap and announced loudly that it was not the chief who lived here, but his own, Turkevich's father and benefactor.
Push the cigarat to the brim, to the very mouth, opari behold face and send two terns to kill.
From high face the redifs, trained by British instructors, could be seen digging trenches: the earth flew up from their shovels high above the parapet, and the rifle fire threatened to become especially dense and dangerous.
First of all, it represents the reverse side of the large canvas depicted on the left, rather, not even the reverse side, but the front side, since it shows in face what is hidden by the position of this canvas.
This was the southern face Kursk ledge, where the defense was headed by the field administration of the Voronezh Front.
Meanwhile, during November 12 and 13, the front commander, in accordance with the instructions of the Headquarters, assigned the troops the task of defending the southern face bridgehead on the front of Zhytomyr, Fastov, Tripoli.
She occupied part of the western face Kursk ledge - to the junction with the troops of the Central Front.
By this time we had moved our headquarters to the northern outskirts of Oboyan, deep into the southern face arcs.
On the evening of the same day he left for Peterhof, in order to congratulate those lined up at three face midshipmen with the production of midshipmen.
This is confirmed by the fact that in the southern facet On the first day of the Kursk Bulge, the enemy struck with the forces of five corps, and on the northern one - three.
Suddenly the girl turned her head to the window, and Sergei simultaneously saw her profile and face already from the depths of the dark running pool of wagon glass, and her face now looked at Sergei from there attentively and sadly.
These days - 75 years ago - the offensive continued on the northern face of the Kursk Bulge. Ponyri were already coming to their senses, life was returning to the village, which was called "Kursk Stalingrad". But until now, the Battle of Kursk is associated with the battle of Prokhorovka ...
“Both from the point of view of history, and from my own personal point of view: it is wrong to belittle the Northern Front, to downplay its role!”
History teacher Leonid Gladkikh all 60 years of work in his native Ponyry said: the battles on the Northern Face were not given their due. The situation has not changed so far. The Battle of Kursk is associated with Prokhorovka, and 75 years later, all the federal media remember the tank battle on the Southern Front, all social networks are full of reposts. Meanwhile, the fate of the Kursk Bulge - up to 150 kilometers deep and up to 200 tons wide - was not decided in one battle: this battle had a different scale of forces and means. Scientists point to this, veterans participating in the battle spoke about this.
Leonid Gladkikh, labor veteran, resident of Ponyri village:“They spared neither themselves, nor each other, nor comrade - comrade. One single goal was set: to cause damage, damage and damage to the enemy as much as possible ... "
Margarita Vasilenko, journalist:“I directed 20 years of children's television in Zheleznogorsk. And when I made films about divers, about veterans, you know what they asked for? Remember Ponyri! What do they say about Prokhorovka? No I can not..."
Ponyri village - "Stalingrad of the Kursk Bulge": fighting went on for every house, the station passed from hand to hand. The Germans failed to break through to Kursk in three days - the station building became a mute witness to the "war of attrition". Vasily Pankratov remembers him in the summer of 1943.
Vasily Pankratov, labor veteran, resident of Ponyri village:"Walls! Mangled! Chopped! The bombs were falling. That is, the station was damaged inside and out. Outside - shell holes, and inside - as if torn open by an atomic explosion ... How bursting. Even the walls were tilted to the side, outward, you know? not inside, but outside! That's what struck me."
Fifth - dash - the twelfth of July, when the Red Army went on the offensive on the Northern Face and the active actions of the Nazis in the South were already meaningless - this week turned the tide of the war. It was so hard - remember the veterans - that at times I really wanted to die. Each of these days on the Northern Face is covered with legends. Each is inscribed in a GREAT HISTORY - both as an example of the brilliant intuition and decisions of strategists, and as an example of the personal courage and heroism of soldiers and junior officers. It is no coincidence that the first monuments in the history of the Second World War appeared here, on the Northern Face: to artillerymen and sappers. They were opened - and half a year has not passed - since those battles. Igishev battery cannon, real, installed as a monument. A rare photo from the opening: late autumn of the 43rd. Nearby - still uncleaned fascist equipment. It is not known for certain whether or not the brave anti-tankers went to hand-to-hand combat when the shells ran out. The surviving battery members by that time were already wounded and unconscious. In the 1980s, gunner Puzikov came to Ponyri.
Zoya Babich, an employee of the Museum of the Battle of Kursk in the village of Ponyri (in the 1970s - 2000s):“There, at the monument to the artillerymen, he walked around the cannon in a completely businesslike way, looked at it from all sides ... such a grandfather of small stature ... very simple ... he has awards ... He looked and said: “The wheel was crushed, and the lahvet is that mama ... "Why was the wheel changed? - it was repulsed during the battle, there were boxes from under the shells, he said. The sight is broken - it is difficult to aim ... "
But the fact that the soldiers and officers were ready to die in order to lure the enemy into a fire bag is for sure. They died, as did 15,000 Red Army soldiers who managed to withstand German tank attacks in an open field - an avalanche after an avalanche.
Svetlana Gerasimova, Vesti-Kursk
A small German heavy self-propelled gun Panzerjäger Tiger (P), better known asFerdinand, left a noticeable mark in historical memory and in Soviet tank building. In itself, the word "Ferdinand" became a household word: the Red Army men "noticed" these self-propelled guns in various sectors of the Soviet-German front, and right up to the end of the war. In practice, only 91 such machines were built, but in a truly massiveFerdinand were used only in the summer of 1943 during Operation Citadel on the Kursk Bulge. In this battle, the Germans lost more than a third of all vehicles of this type.
Despite the fact that SAUFerdinand (later known asElefant) were used rather limitedly, they proved to be a very effective anti-tank weapon. The command of the Red Army to the brainchildPorsche K. G. AndAlkett taken very seriously. AppearanceFerdinand at the front directly affected the development of Soviet tanks, tank guns and anti-tank artillery.
Impact force on the northern face
The fact that the German industry created such an impressive combat vehicle was not even suspected in the Main Armored Directorate of the Red Army (GBTU KA) until its appearance at the front. The allies in the anti-Hitler coalition did not know about it either. The explanation is simple: the fact is that the Panzerjäger Tiger (P) were built in the spring of 1943, and went into battle in early July. In the short time that preparations were underway for Operation Citadel, information about Ferdinand did not have time to leak through the front line. At the same time, even about the Panther, for which the battle on the Kursk Bulge also became a combat debut, at least some information was received by the allies, albeit inaccurate.
The study of the German novelty began on July 15, that is, even during the Battle of Kursk. A group of officers from the NIBT Polygon arrived at the Central Front, consisting of engineer-colonel Kalidov, senior technician-lieutenant Kzhak and technician-lieutenant Serov. By that time, the fighting in the area of the Ponyri station and the state farm on May 1 had died down. In addition to a direct inspection of German vehicles, German prisoners of war were interrogated by specialists. Information was also shared by Soviet soldiers and officers who took part in the battles against German combat vehicles. Finally, German instructions for Ferdinand fell into the hands of the Soviet military.
A survey of prisoners made it possible to obtain a large amount of information, including on the organization of anti-tank divisions, which were armed with Ferdinand self-propelled guns. Additionally, specialists from the NIBT Polygon received information on other units that participated in the battles together with the 653rd and 654th divisions, which were armed with heavy tank destroyers.
Ferdinand with tail number 501, which was delivered to the NIBT Polygon in September 1943
The information received made it possible to reconstruct the picture of the combat use of divisions with Ferdinands and their neighbors, who used StuH 42 and Sturmpanzer IV self-propelled guns. The Ferdinands, which had thick armor, acted as a ram, moving at the head of the combat formations of the strike group. According to the information collected, the cars were moving in a line. Thanks to powerful weapons capable of hitting Soviet tanks at long distances, the crews of the Ferdinands could open fire at a distance of up to 3 kilometers. If necessary, German vehicles retreated backwards, leaving thick frontal armor under enemy fire. So they could, retreating, continue to fire on Soviet tanks. Shooting was carried out from short stops.
The shell mark on the left side is clearly visible. The same mark is also on board the car in Patriot Park.
Against well-protected German self-propelled guns, Soviet tank guns were almost useless. Of the 21 vehicles examined by GBTU specialists, only one, with onboard 602, had a hole in the port side. The hit fell on the gas tank area, a fire broke out, and the self-propelled unit burned down. The tactics of the German self-propelled gunners could well have worked if not for one “but”: they had to attack an echeloned defense line, in which there were far from only tanks. The most terrible enemy of the Ferdinand was the Soviet sappers. 10 vehicles were blown up by mines and land mines, including self-propelled guns with tail number 501. This self-propelled gun with serial number 150072 turned out to be the vehicle of Oberleutnant Hans-Joachim Wilde, commander of the 1st battery (5./654) of the 654th heavy division tank destroyers.
5 "Ferdinands" were hit by shells in the undercarriage and were put out of action. 2 more vehicles received hits both in the chassis and in the guns. The car with tail number 701 became a victim of Soviet artillery. The projectile, which hit the roof of the cabin along a hinged trajectory, pierced the hatch and exploded inside the fighting compartment. Another car was hit by an aerial bomb, which completely destroyed the wheelhouse. Finally, the vehicle with tail number II-01 from the headquarters of the 654th division was destroyed by the Soviet infantry. A well-aimed hit with a Molotov cocktail caused a fire, the crew burned inside.
The letter N indicates that it was a vehicle from the 654th Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion, commanded by Major Karl-Hans Noack
In fact, the losses of the divisions that were armed with the Ferdinands turned out to be even higher. In total, during the operation "Citadel" 39 self-propelled units of this type were irretrievably lost. The results of the battle near Ponyry clearly showed that the Red Army had learned to fight with significantly superior enemy forces, because there was an undeniable advantage on the side of the German tank forces in this battle. The Soviet tank industry was able to give a full answer to the new generation of German tanks and self-propelled guns only in the spring of 1944, when the T-34-85 and IS-2 entered the troops. However, the Germans lost the Battle of Kursk. As the Ponyri battles showed, the advantage in tanks was far from always the most important factor. "Ferdinands" could not break through the northern face of the Kursk salient.
To Kubinka for experiments
The first group of specialists from the NIBT Polygon left the combat area on August 4th. On August 24, the second group arrived here, consisting of Major Engineer Khinsky, Senior Technician Lieutenant Ilyin and Lieutenant Burlakov. The task of the group, which operated on the Central Front until September 8, was the selection of the most complete captured German vehicles and their delivery to the NIBT Polygon. Two cars were selected. In addition to the already mentioned self-propelled guns with tail number 501, it was also a self-propelled gun with serial number 15090. It also blew up on a mine. One machine was used for direct study and fire tests, the second was fired from domestic and foreign guns.
On the right side, damage was minimal.
The study of captured vehicles began even before they were at the NIBT Test Site. The first firing tests of the wrecked Ferdinand were carried out on July 20-21, 1943. It turned out that the side of the German vehicle was penetrated by a 45-mm anti-tank gun at a distance of 200 meters. It pierced the German armor at a distance of 400 meters and the 76-mm ZIS-3 cannon with a sub-caliber projectile. For the 85 mm 52-K gun and the 122 mm A-19 hull gun, the side armor of the German self-propelled guns was also not a serious problem. It is worth noting that the armor of the Ferdinands, especially for vehicles with serial numbers up to 150060, was worse than that of the Pz.Kpfw.Tiger Ausf.E. For this reason, in the future, the shelling tests of the vehicle with serial number 150090 differed somewhat in results.
"Ferdinand" with tail number 501 was a victim of Soviet sappers
The trophy documents were also studied. By July 21, the Red Army had accurate data on the performance characteristics of the German self-propelled gun. Moreover, it was known exactly how many Ferdinands were built. The data was gleaned from a summary instruction for the armament of the German army, captured among other documents:
“In terms of its armor and armament, it is an exceptionally strong weapon for fighting tanks and for supporting an offensive in the face of strong enemy resistance. Heavy weight, low speed on the battlefield, low cross-country ability limit the possibilities of combat use and require especially careful reconnaissance before entering into battle.
90 pieces were produced, consolidated into a heavy anti-tank regiment consisting of two divisions of 45 guns each.
Selected by a group of specialists from the NIBT Polygon, self-propelled guns arrived in Kubinka in September 1943. Immediately after arrival, the study of the sample with tail number 501 began. There was no talk of sea trials at that time, there was not enough time. Instead, the testers compiled a brief description of the German self-propelled gun, which they called "Ferdinand (Tiger P)". Thanks to the already available materials, it was possible to accurately indicate the characteristics of the machine.
This self-propelled gun had an escape hatch dropped. On a museum car, it was welded to the roof so that it would not get lost.
The assessment of the German novelty was, to put it mildly, ambiguous. The obvious advantages of the car were armor protection, as well as powerful weapons. At the same time, even the armament of the tank raised questions. A study of the 88 mm Pak 43 gun showed that the aiming speed with the help of its rotary mechanism is low. Conducting aimed fire was possible only from a place or from short stops. The visibility of the car was recognized by Soviet experts as poor. These conclusions were indirectly confirmed by German designers. During the modernization of Ferdinand, which began in the fall of 1943 (at about the same time the vehicle changed its designation to Elefant), the vehicles received a commander's cupola. True, this did not improve the situation much.
Another significant drawback of the German self-propelled guns was a small ammunition load, consisting of only 38 rounds. The crews independently corrected the situation: in self-propelled units they found wooden stacks, handicraft built in the field.
Dismantled installation during the shelling. NIBT Polygon, December 1943
Compiling a description, however, was not the most important task for the specialists of the NIBT Polygon. It was much more important to determine where and how the German novelty could be hit. After the battle of Ponyry, the threat posed by the Ferdinand was taken very seriously. The car made an indelible impression on the Soviet infantry and tankers. The steel colossus, which is almost impossible to penetrate into the frontal projection, seemed to be in different parts of the front. For this reason, it was necessary to know exactly which systems and at what distance were capable of hitting a heavy German tank destroyer.
For a sub-caliber projectile of a 45-mm anti-tank gun, the sides of the German self-propelled gun turned out to be completely pierced
The shelling test program for the Ferdinand hull was signed on September 29, 1943. But it was possible to start the tests themselves only on December 1. During this time, the range of weapons that were planned to fire at the trophy was expanded. In addition to domestic, German artillery systems and allied guns, the NII-6 anti-tank grenade was also used, later adopted as the RPG-6. As tests showed, the cumulative grenade confidently pierced the side of the self-propelled gun, after which the jet pierced the shield of inch boards installed inside the hull.
The next on the list was the 45-mm gun installed in the T-70 tank. Her armor-piercing projectile did not penetrate the German car at a distance of 100 meters, which turned out to be quite expected. But the sub-caliber projectile at the same distance coped with both the side of the hull and the side of the wheelhouse. At a distance of 200 meters, a sub-caliber projectile managed to break through the side, the cabin turned out to be stronger.
The results of shelling a car from a 6-pounder tank gun
The 57-mm tank gun installed in the Churchill tank turned out to be able to break through the side of the German self-propelled gun. From a distance of 500 meters, armor 80 (85) mm thick made its way confidently. Fire was fired from the 43-caliber version of the gun, the Valentine XI/X and Churchill III/IV of the 1943 supply had longer guns.
For tank guns of 75 and 76 mm caliber, the side of the German vehicle turned out to be a difficult obstacle
Things were worse with the shelling of a German self-propelled gun from a 75-mm M3 cannon mounted in an American M4A2 medium tank. The M61 armor-piercing projectile could not penetrate the side of the cabin even from a distance of 100 meters. True, two hits on the weld connecting the frontal and left side cutting sheet led to its cracking. However, the same projectile pierced the side of the Ferdinand hull already at a distance of 500 meters. The armor-piercing projectile of the Soviet 76-mm F-34 tank gun behaved even worse, which, however, was not news.
D-5S board "Ferdinand" broke through at a distance of almost a kilometer
The results of firing at the side of the German self-propelled gun from the D-5S gun installed in the SU-85 were not surprised either. At a distance of 900 meters, she confidently pierced both the side of the hull and the side of the wheelhouse. When a shell hit from the inside of the sheet, the armor broke off, the fragments did not leave the calculation of the fighting compartment a chance of survival. However, by the time the SU-85 appeared on the front, and then other Soviet combat vehicles equipped with 85-mm guns, the chances of meeting the Ferdinand on the battlefield had noticeably decreased.
This penetration from the D-25T was not counted. But if it happened in a real situation, the Ferdinand calculation would not care
All of the systems listed above were not used to shell a self-propelled gun from the frontal part, which is understandable: it would hardly have been possible to break through 200 mm armor with their help. The first gun that was used to fire at the front of the hull was the 122-mm D-25 gun installed in the prototype of the IS-2 tank. The first projectile, fired from a distance of 1400 meters on the frontal hull plate, pierced the screen and ricocheted. The second projectile, fired at the same distance into the cabin, left a dent 100 mm deep and 210 × 200 mm in size. The third shell was stuck in the armor, but still partially entered it. The penetration was not counted, but in practice such a defeat would have put the gun's crew out of action. At shorter distances, shooting was not carried out this time, but, as subsequent events showed, hits at a distance of 1200 meters or less ended in penetration. The testers considered the distance of 1000 meters as the maximum distance for penetration.
The Panther's cannon pierced the self-propelled unit in the forehead of the hull from 100 meters
This was followed by shelling from the 75-mm KwK 42 L / 71 cannon mounted on the German tank Pz.Kpfw.Panther Ausf.D. At a distance of 100 meters, the forehead of the hull was pierced. But the cabin from 200 meters failed to break through.
These results were affected by damage from previous hits. But the meeting with the ML-20 did not bode well for Ferdinand
The most terrible test was the shelling from the 152-mm howitzer-gun ML-20, installed in the prototype ISU-152. The second hit in the frontal part of the hull led to the fact that both the screen and the sheet were broken in half. Last but not least, this result was obtained due to the unwelded embrasure of the course machine gun, which was again installed on the Elefant.
A clear demonstration of why another car was sent to the trophy exhibition in Moscow
At this test shelling, it was decided to stop. ML-20 turned the Ferdinand into a pile of rubble. It was supposed to send the shot car to a trophy exhibition in Moscow, but later the decision was changed. Another car was taken for the demonstration, which was also fired upon (it was most likely the Ferdinand, which was fired upon in the summer of 1943). Together with her, a whole self-propelled unit went to the exhibition. The car with tail number 501 remained at the NIBT Polygon.
Catalyst for an arms race
The appearance of a new German self-propelled gun on the Kursk Bulge was taken very seriously by the Main Armored Directorate of the Red Army (GBTU KA). In part, the start of new developments provoked the combat debut of the Panthers. Of course, with the activity that began after the appearance of the "Tiger", what happened cannot be compared. Nevertheless, already at the beginning of September 1943, a letter was sent to Stalin signed by the head of the GBTU KA, Lieutenant General Fedorenko. In connection with the appearance of new models of German armored vehicles, he proposed to begin the development of promising tanks and self-propelled guns.
A direct consequence of the appearance of the Ferdinand was the start of the development of the Object 701 heavy tank, the future IS-4. In addition, work on the 122-mm D-25T gun, which had begun as early as May 1943, accelerated. Moreover, it was supposed to replace it with an even more powerful gun with an initial projectile velocity of up to 1000 m/s. Work began on the creation of more powerful 85 and 152 mm caliber guns. Finally, the issue of developing a 100-mm gun with naval gun ballistics appeared again on the agenda. Thus began the history of the D-10S, the main armament of the SU-100 self-propelled gun.
Schematic of the cooling system prepared by NIBT Polygon
All this is just a part of the activities that were launched or restarted in connection with the appearance of the Ferdinand. Thanks to the German heavy self-propelled guns, the Soviet program to create an electric transmission was also "resurrected". They have been engaged in it in the USSR since the beginning of the 30s, it was supposed to use such a transmission on the KV-3. A serial German heavy machine with electric transmission forced Soviet specialists to return to this work again. However, our engineers did not copy German developments. The program, which was related to the famous science fiction writer Kazantsev (and part-time military engineer of the 3rd rank and chief engineer of plant No. 627), developed independently.
Specification for the armor plates of the Ferdinand chassis, prepared by NII-48 in 1944
The design of the German car aroused great interest in the USSR. The hull and cabin were studied at NII-48, the leading enterprise dealing with armor issues. As a result of the study, several reports were prepared. NII-48 engineers created the armor and hull of the optimal shape - with good protection and relatively low weight. The result of these works was a more rational form of hulls and turrets, which began to be introduced from the second half of 1944, first on heavy, and later on medium tanks.
Influenced these developments and the study of the guns installed on the Ferdinand. In 1944, the creation of armor protection capable of withstanding this gun became a priority for Soviet designers. And they coped with it much better than their German counterparts. By the end of 1944, the first experimental tanks appeared, the protection of which made it possible to confidently resist the German gun. Tanks IS-3 and T-54 "grew" just from such developments.
Other elements of the Ferdinand were also studied, for example, the suspension. In the Soviet industry, this development did not find application, but aroused some interest. A report on the study of the Porsche suspension was compiled at the request of the British.
Suspension scheme "Ferdinand" from the album of torsion bar suspensions prepared by NIBT Polygon in 1945
The most important result of the study of the German machine was the emergence of means for effectively combating it. The IS-2 heavy tank and the ISU-122 self-propelled gun were adopted by the Red Army. There are at least two cases of collision between the IS-2 and the Elefant in the summer of 1944. In both cases, the crew of the IS-2 under the command of Lieutenant B.N. Slyunyaeva came out the winner. The most remarkable was the battle on July 22, 1944: a column of the 71st Guards Heavy Tank Regiment was moving towards Magerov, when fire was opened on heavy tanks from an ambush. Slyunyaev's tank, under the cover of a second car, advanced to the crossroads. After observing the ambush for 10-15 minutes, the IS-2 approached it at a distance of 1000 meters and returned fire. As a result, the "Elephant", 2 anti-tank guns and an armored personnel carrier were destroyed.
Three weeks later, the same regiment was the first to fight the latest German heavy tanks Pz.Kpfw. Tiger Ausf.B. It was then that it turned out that the measures taken by the Soviet designers turned out to be very helpful. The "Royal Tiger" had more resistant frontal armor than the "Ferdinand", which did not prevent the Soviet tankers from winning a duel with the latest German tanks dry. Preparing to fight the Ferdinands, the Soviet tank industry also prepared for the emergence of a new generation of German heavy tanks. As a result of such a powerful qualitative superiority in tanks, which the Wehrmacht received on the eve of the Battle of Kursk, the summer of 1944 did not happen. And for other serious attempts to change the existing balance of power, the German tank industry did not have time.
It was the second Stalingrad... Veterans of the Great Patriotic War and historians spoke about the Battle of Kursk.
What is seventy years? For space - just a moment, but for a person - a whole life, but what is there - an era. Today, rye is growing peacefully in these places, chamomile and cornflowers are blooming, forest strawberries are raging, or, in a simple way, berries, larks are flooded - beauty! It’s hard to believe that just seven decades ago everything here was dug up by trenches, mangled by exploding shells and bombs, covered with the bodies of the dead and broken abandoned equipment. Ponyrovskaya land - the northern face of the Kursk Bulge - at what a difficult price it went to the fighters of the Red Army! After all, for every piece of it, a small village, station, hill, entire divisions perished. To clearly understand this, you need to visit Ponyri. This is exactly what we did last week as part of the press tour "With a watering can and a notepad" organized by the Information and Press Committee of the Kursk Region.
Awaited my time
The village of Ponyri greeted us with fuss, which is not surprising, because there are only a few days left before the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk, which will take place on July 19. The craftsmen also put in order memorable signs - to the Heroes-sappers, artillerymen on the Teplov Heights and others. The village streets were improved. But the main work was carried out on the central Ponyri Square, where a memorial dedicated to the memory of the heroes of the Northern Front of the Kursk Bulge is being erected. The monument will be installed in the form of a colonnade with arched ceilings. On each of the columns there are granite tables with the numbers of military units and fronts - participants in the Battle of Kursk and the names of the fallen heroes.
As it turned out, this memorial sign is one of the parts of the whole complex that will be based on the Ponyrovskaya land. Its second part will be installed in the year of the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Victory near the village of Olkhovatka - it will be an observation deck at an altitude of 274.5.
By the way, funds for the memorial complex, which is 77 million rubles, were allocated from the federal and regional budgets.
Together with a sense of pride and joy for the Ponyrovka land, the question arose - why the Southern front of the Kursk Bulge - Prokhorovka was so well known for so long, and because of what the Northern front, where no less, and, as history has proven, even more fierce battles, so How long have you been in the shadows?
There are several versions. One of them is connected with Konstantin Rokossovsky, the commander of the Central Front and led the actions of the troops of this front in the great defensive and then counter-offensive battle on the Kursk Bulge. It is no longer a secret that before the start of World War II the commander was arrested and imprisoned in the famous "Crosses", from which he was released in the spring of 1940. How far-sighted and smart was Konstantin Konstantinovich, we realized by visiting the branch of the Kursk Museum of Local Lore in Ponyry, dedicated to the Battle of Kursk.
It was clear from intelligence reports that in the summer of 1943 the Germans were planning a major offensive in the Kursk region. The commanders of some fronts offered to develop the successes of Stalingrad and conduct a large-scale offensive, but Konstantin Rokossovsky had a different opinion. He believed that an offensive needed a double, triple superiority of forces, which the Soviet troops did not have in this direction. To stop the enemy, the commander offered to go on the defensive, literally hiding personnel and military equipment in the ground.
Preparations for the great battle, the most terrible battles of which took place on Ponyrovskaya land from July 5 to 17, 1943, were very serious on both sides.
In the Red Army, every soldier not only knew the weak points of German tanks, he was also taught not to be afraid of these vehicles. As for the gunners, each calculation was interchangeable, it was very useful during the battles.
The Germans did not show the direction of the main attack for a long time, - said Olga Kushner, a senior researcher at the Ponyrov Museum, - it finally became clear that this was the village of Olkhovatka. The location was chosen for three reasons. Firstly, the shortest route to Kursk through the city of Fatezh ran through Olkhovatka. Secondly, to the west of this village stretches a ridge of heights (they are known as Teplovskie), and this is a huge advantage for all branches of the military. Thirdly, between the villages of Podsoborovka, Olkhovatka and Teply there was a huge field, which was very convenient for conducting a tank battle. When Konstantin Rokossovsky realized this, he did everything possible to prevent the plans of the Germans from coming true. On July 6, the commander ordered the left wing of the 13th Army to launch a counterattack and forced the enemy to redirect their forces to the village of Ponyri. The losses were colossal, but Olkhovatka and the famous Teplov Heights remained impregnable.
There is also a legend that after the Battle of Kursk, the head of the "Crosses" sent a telegram to Rokossovsky with congratulations, and the commander seemed to even answer him that he was glad to try. Despite all the merits, Konstantin Konstantinovich after the war still remained "in disgrace."
A confirmed fact is also the story of how, after the battle in the village of Goreloy, where Soviet troops shot down 21 Ferdinands, with the permission of Konstantin Rokossovsky, a panorama of the battlefield was photographed and published in newspapers with the caption that this place was filmed near Prokhorovka. Although later it will become known that there were no Ferdinands at all on the southern face of the Kursk Bulge.
The version that in the nineties our famous fellow countryman Vyacheslav Klykov proposed to the regional authorities to build a belfry on Ponyrovskaya land also fell into the category of unconfirmed facts, to which he received no answer. But the sculptor was supported in Prokhorovka - on the southern front of the Kursk Bulge, and now she flaunts there.
Alas, whether it was or not, now it does not matter. The main thing is that the Northern Front still waited for its happy hour, which would not have happened without the participation of Governor Alexander Mikhailov.
Here a Russian man stood...
Listening to the guide's story, we were more and more imbued with the idea that we were in a truly unique place, otherwise it could not be! Here, not only divisions and brigades - almost every fighter could be awarded the high rank of Hero.
A rather impressive number of tanks took part in the Battle of Kursk. Among the combat units that entered the fight against them was the 1st Guards Special Purpose Engineer Brigade under the command of Mikhail Ioffe. It was a mobile barrier detachment, consisting of fighters hardened in the Battle of Stalingrad. How did they act? When a column of tanks separated, they crawled as close as possible to them and placed a charge under the caterpillar. It seems that everything is simple, but it was necessary to overcome the fear of such a colossus as a tank, in addition, the weight of each mine was 25 kilograms, and the sapper fighter took two on his back. The task was one - by all means to stop the practically "indestructible" car. On the Kursk Bulge, more than one soldier rushed with such mines under the tracks of a tank and, at the cost of his life, complied with the order. After the Battle of Kursk, this brigade was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War for its exploits.
No less impressive was the history of the battery of Captain Georgy Igishev, which was part of the 3rd anti-tank artillery brigade. She took up defense near the village of Samodurovka, Ponyrovsky district, and in just three days destroyed 19 enemy tanks!
On July 8, when the crew died, only gunner Andrey Puzikov survived. The gun sight was shot down, one of the wheels was lost. But this did not frighten the fighter - he replaced the wheel with a box of shells and one continued to load, aim "by eye" and shoot at enemy tanks.
It was believed that all the Igishevites died, their names were even carved on the famous monument to artillerymen, built immediately after the Battle of Kursk - in November 1943. But what was the surprise of the Ponyrovites when, in 1995, Andrei Puzikov himself came to the village as part of the Lipetsk delegation.
For a long time, the veteran stood silently at the monument, looking at gun No. 2242, mounted on a pedestal, and then said: "The carriage is the same, but the wheel has been replaced."
And how not to say about the first guards battalion, which was part of the 9th regiment of the 4th airborne division under the command of the guard captain Alexander Zhukov, who died in full force on July 10, 1943 in Ponyry. It so happened that the Germans surrounded him with a dense ring. At the same time, the paratroopers had only one way out - to fight to the last bullet, which they did. The division destroyed a German artillery battery, capturing its guns, and directed them against enemy vehicles, knocking out seven tanks, almost the same number of armored personnel carriers, while killing about 700 German soldiers and officers.
And the paratroopers also left an inscription made with their own blood: "We die, but we do not give up. Farewell." Not a single person from this battalion surrendered.
When thinking about all this, you understand how true the words from Yevgeny Dolmatovsky's poem "Ponyri" are, by the way, carved on the monument to the Heroes-sappers:
"There were no mountains, no rocks,
There were no ditches, no rivers,
Here a Russian man was standing…"
But the memory was not enough ...
I would like to talk about memorial signs separately. On the territory of the Ponyrovsky district there are 28 mass graves. Those that are located near the village are in good condition, which cannot be said about the distant mass graves. One of the laws is to blame, according to which monuments and burial places were transferred to the balance of municipalities. Alas, some villages are so poor that they don’t even have money for a can of paint, so it turns out that almost no one takes care of the graves.
We encountered a no less sad sight at the monument to the Heroes-sappers. The fact is that the Eternal Flame does not work near it. The reason is banal - there are no gas cylinders "feeding" it.
However, in one of the reports of the commanding subjects of the Ponyrovsky district, it was said that it was 100 percent gasified. But the treasured fuel was not enough for memory ...
And reached the governor
At the same time, there are more positive examples in Ponyri. We were sincerely struck by the story of nine-year-old Davitkhan Belalov. Even before his birth, the boy's family moved to Ponyrovskaya land and fell in love with this place to the core.
The boy was interested in the fate of the divers who received the title of Heroes of the Soviet Union. Among them is Vasily Gorbachev, a native of 2 Ponyri.
Davitkhan was struck by the fact that no one in his native village knows about this Hero! A nine-year-old boy, using social networks, found the relatives of the Hero - a son who lives in Yakutia, and a niece. He learned that Vasily Semenovich was very ill and in the last years of his life, being in a frenzy, which was the result of a front-line concussion, left home and disappeared without a trace.
Davitkhan was so touched by this story that he wrote a letter to Governor Alexander Mikhailov with a request to install a memorial plaque to the Hero in his native village and, possibly, name a street and a school in his honor.
We have Veselaya Street in Ponyri, - the boy wrote, - and what kind of fun can we talk about on earth that does not remember and does not know about its countrymen heroes!
And the boy has already achieved that a memorial plaque in honor of Vasily Gorbachev, Hero of the Soviet Union, appeared in his native village.
Drops of blood on the Teplovsky Heights
The last point of the press tour was height 268.9 - one of the ridges located near the villages of Teploye, Samodurovka and Olkhovatka, on which residents of the neighboring Fatezhsky district erected a bow cross. A stunning view opens from a high hill, and it is all overgrown with meadow strawberries. One of the veterans who visited this place, seeing a raging berry plant, wept and said: "These are drops of soldier's blood shed for every piece of Ponyrovskaya land."
Nadezhda Glazkova
The Kursk Bulge (Battle of Kursk) is a strategic ledge near the city of Kursk. From July 5 to August 23, 1943, one of the most significant battles of the Great Patriotic War (06/22/1941 - 05/09/1945) took place here. After the defeat at Stalingrad, the German army wanted to take revenge and regain the offensive initiative. The General Staff of the Wehrmacht (German armed forces) developed Operation Citadel. Its goal was to encircle a huge grouping of Red Army troops in the area of the city of Kursk. To do this, it was supposed to strike from the north (Army Group Center from Orel) and south (Army Group South from Belgorod) towards each other. Having united, the Germans formed a cauldron for two fronts of the Red Army (Central and Voronezh) at once. After that, the troops of the German army were to send their forces to Moscow.
Army Group Center was led by Field Marshal Hans Günther Adolf Ferdinand von Kluge (1882-1944) and Army Group South by Field Marshal Erich von Manstein (1887-1973). To implement Operation Citadel, the Germans concentrated huge forces. In the north, the organizational strike group was led by the commander of the 9th Army, Colonel-General Otto Moritz Walter Model (1891 - 1945), in the south, Colonel-General Herman Goth (1885 - 1971) coordinated and led the tank units.
Scheme of the Battle of Kursk
The Headquarters of the Supreme High Command (the body of the highest military command that carried out the strategic leadership of the Soviet Armed Forces during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945) decided to first conduct a defensive battle in the Battle of Kursk. Further, having withstood the blows of the enemy and exhausted his forces, at a critical moment, deliver crushing counterattacks on the enemy. Everyone understood that the most difficult thing in this operation would be to withstand the onslaught of the enemy. The Kursk Bulge was divided into two parts - the northern and southern faces. In addition, realizing the scale and significance of the upcoming operation, the reserve Steppe Front under the command of Colonel General Ivan Stepanovich Konev (1897 - 1973) was located behind the ledge.
Northern face of the Kursk Bulge
The northern face is also called the Oryol-Kursk Bulge. The length of the defense line was 308 km. The Central Front was located here under the command of General of the Army Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky (1896 - 1968). The front included five combined arms armies (60, 65, 70, 13 and 48). The reserve of the front was mobile. It included the 2nd Panzer Army, as well as the 9th and 19th Panzer Corps. The headquarters of the front commander was located in the village of Svoboda near Kursk. Currently, this place houses a museum dedicated to the Battle of Kursk. Here they recreated the dugout of Rokossovsky K.K., from where the commander led the battles. The interior is very modest, the most necessary. In the corner, on a bedside table, there is a high-frequency communication device, through which you can contact the General Staff and Headquarters at any time. Adjacent to the main room is a recreation room, where the commander could restore his strength by leaning his head on a camping metal bed. Naturally, there was no electric lighting; simple kerosene lamps burned. At the entrance to the dugout there was a small room for the officer on duty. This is how a man lived in combat conditions, in whose submission there were hundreds of thousands of people and a huge amount of various equipment.
Dugout Rokossovsky K.K.
Based on intelligence data and his combat experience, Rokossovsky K.K. with a high degree of certainty, he determined the direction of the main German attack on the Olkhovatka-Ponyri section. In this place, the 13th Army occupied positions. Its segment of the front was reduced to 32 kilometers and reinforced with additional forces. To its left, covering the Fatezh-Kursk direction, was the 70th Army. Positions on the right flank of the 13th Army, in the area of Maloarkhangelsk, were occupied by the 48th Army.
A certain role at the beginning of the battle was played by the artillery preparation carried out by the troops of the Red Army on the positions of the Wehrmacht on the morning of July 5, 1943. The Germans were simply discouraged by surprise. In the evening, Hitler's parting address was read to them. Full of determination, in the early morning they were going to attack and crush the enemy to smithereens. And now, at the most inopportune moment, thousands of Russian shells fell on the Germans. Having suffered losses and lost its offensive fervor, the Wehrmacht launched an attack only 2 hours after the scheduled time. Despite the artillery preparation, the power of the Germans was very strong. The main blow was inflicted on Olkhovatka and Ponyri by three infantry and four tank divisions. At the junction between the 13th and 48th armies, to the left of Maloarkhangelsk, four more infantry divisions went on the offensive. On the right flank of the 70th Army, in the direction of the Teplovsky Heights, three infantry divisions piled up. There is a large field near the village of Soborovka, along which German tanks marched and marched towards Olkhovatka. Artillerymen played an important role in the battle. At the cost of incredible efforts, they resisted the advancing enemy. To strengthen the defense, the command of the Central Front ordered some of our tanks to be dug into the ground, thus increasing their invulnerability. To protect the Ponyri station, the surrounding area was covered with numerous minefields. In the midst of the battle, this was of great help to our troops.
In addition to the already known tanks, the Germans used their new self-propelled guns (self-propelled artillery) Ferdinand here. They were specially designed to destroy enemy tanks and fortifications. Ferdinand weighed 65 tons and had frontal armor twice that of a heavy Tiger tank. Our guns could not hit self-propelled guns, only if they were the most powerful and from very close range. Ferdinand's gun pierced more than 100 mm of armor. at a distance of 2 km. (armor of the Tiger heavy tank). The transmission of the self-propelled gun was electric. Two engines drove two generators. From them, electric current was transmitted to two electric motors, each rotating its own wheel. At the time, this was a very interesting decision. Self-propelled guns Ferdinand, made with the latest technology, were used only on the northern face of the Kursk Bulge (there were none on the southern face). The Germans formed two heavy anti-tank battalions (653 and 654) with 45 vehicles each. To see in the sight of a gun how this colossus crawls at you, but nothing can be done - the spectacle is not for the faint of heart.
The fighting was very fierce. The Wehrmacht rushed forward. It seemed that this German power could not be stopped by anything. Only thanks to the talent of Rokossovsky K.K., who created a defense in depth in the direction of the main attack and concentrated more than half of the personnel and artillery of the front in this sector, was it possible to withstand the onslaught of the enemy. In seven days, the Germans brought almost all their reserves into battle and advanced only 10-12 km. They never managed to break through the tactical defense zone. Soldiers and officers fought heroically for their land. About the defenders of the Oryol-Kursk Bulge, the poet Yevgeny Dolmatovsky wrote the poem "Ponyri". It contains these lines:
There were no mountains, no rocks,
There were no ditches or rivers.
Here the Russian man stood,
Soviet man.
By July 12, the German forces were exhausted, and they stopped the offensive. Rokossovsky K.K. tried to protect the soldiers. Of course, war is war and losses are inevitable. It’s just that Konstantin Konstantinovich always had many times less of these losses. He spared neither mines nor shells. Ammunition can still be made, but it takes a very long time to grow a person and make a good soldier out of him. People felt this and always treated him with respect. Rokossovsky K.K. and earlier he had great fame among the troops, but after the Battle of Kursk his fame soared very high. They talked about him as an outstanding commander. No wonder he commanded the Victory Parade on June 24, 1945, which was received by G.K. Zhukov. The leadership of the country also appreciated him. Even Stalin himself I.V. after the Great Patriotic War, he apologized to him for his arrest in 1937. He invited the marshal to a dacha in Kuntsevo. Passing with him past the flowerbed, Iosif Vissarionovich broke a bouquet of white roses with his bare hands. Handing them to Rokossovsky K.K., he said: “Before the war, we offended you very much. Forgive us…” Konstantin Konstantinovich drew attention to the fact that the thorns of roses had injured the hands of IV Stalin, leaving small drops of blood.
On November 26, 1943, the first monument to military glory during the Great Patriotic War was opened near the village of Teploye. This modest obelisk glorifies the feat of artillerymen. Then many more monuments will be erected along the defense line of the Central Front. Museums and memorials will be opened, but for veterans of the Battle of Kursk, this simple monument to artillerymen will be the most expensive, because it is the first.
Monument to artillerymen near the village. Warm
Southern face of the Kursk Bulge
On the southern front, the defense was held by the Voronezh Front under the command of General of the Army Nikolai Fedorovich Vatutin (1901 - 1944). The length of the defense line was 244 km. The front included five combined arms armies (38th, 40th, 6th Guards and 7th Guards - stood in the first echelon of defense, the 69th Army and the 35th Guards Rifle Corps - in the second echelon of defense). The reserve of the front was mobile. It included the 1st Tank Army, as well as the 2nd and 5th Guards Tank Corps. Before the start of the German offensive, artillery preparation was carried out, slightly weakening their first onslaught. Unfortunately, it was extremely difficult to determine the exact direction of the main attack on the Voronezh Front. It was inflicted by the Wehrmacht in the Oboyan area, along the positions of the 6th Guards Army. The Germans tried to develop success by advancing along the Belgorod-Kursk highway, but they did not succeed. Units of the 1st Panzer Army were sent to help the 6th Army. The Wehrmacht sent a distracting blow to the 7th Guards Army in the Korocha region. Given the current situation, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command ordered Colonel General Konev to transfer two armies from the Steppe Front to the Voronezh Front - the 5th combined arms and 5th tank. Not advancing a sufficient distance near Oboyan, the German command decided to move the main attack to the Prokhorovka area. This direction was covered by the 69th Army. In addition to the "Tigers" on the southern face of the Kursk Bulge, the Wehrmacht used its new tanks Pz. V "Panther" in the amount of 200 pcs.
Tank battle near Prokhorovka
On July 12, southwest of Prokhorovka, the Germans went on the offensive. A little earlier, the command of the Voronezh Front sent the 5th Guards Tank Army here with two attached tank corps and the 33rd Guards Rifle Corps. One of the largest tank battles in the history of World War II (09/01/1939 - 09/02/1945) took place here. To stop the offensive of the 2nd SS Panzer Corps (400 tanks), the corps of the 5th Guards Tank Army (800 tanks) were thrown into a frontal attack. Despite the seemingly large superiority in the number of tanks, the 5th Guards Tank Army was losing in their "quality". It consisted of: 501 T-34 tanks, 264 T-70 light tanks and 35 Churchill III heavy tanks with low speed and insufficient maneuverability. Our tanks could not match the enemy in the range of destructive fire. To knock out the German Pz. VI "Tiger" our T-34 tank had to approach at a distance of 500 meters. The very same "Tiger" with 88 mm. cannon effectively fought a duel at a distance of up to 2000 meters.
Fighting in such conditions was possible only in close combat. But it was necessary to reduce the distance in some incomprehensible way. Against all odds, our simple Soviet tankers held out and stopped the Germans. Honor and praise them for this. The price of such a feat was very high. Losses in the tank corps of the 5th Guards Army reached 70 percent. Currently, the Prokhorovka Field has the status of a museum of federal significance. All these tanks and guns are installed here in memory of the Soviet people who, at the cost of their lives, turned the tide of the war.
Part of the exposition of the memorial "Prokhorovka field"
End of the Battle of Kursk
Having withstood the onslaught of the Germans on the northern face of the Kursk Bulge, on July 12, the troops of the Bryansk Front and the left wing of the Western Front went on the offensive in the Oryol direction. A little later, on July 15, troops of the Central Front attacked in the direction of the village of Kromy. Thanks to the efforts of the attackers, on August 5, 1943, the city of Oryol was liberated. On July 16, the troops of the Voronezh Front and then on July 19, the troops of the Steppe Front also went on the offensive. Developing a counterattack, on August 5, 1943, they liberated the city of Belgorod. On the evening of the same day, salutes were fired in Moscow for the first time in honor of the liberation of Orel and Belgorod. Without losing the initiative, the troops of the Steppe Front (with the support of the Voronezh and Southwestern Fronts) liberated the city of Kharkov on August 23, 1943.
The Battle of Kursk (Kursk Bulge) is one of the largest battles of World War II. More than 4 million people from both sides took part in it. A huge number of tanks, aircraft, guns and other equipment were involved. Here, the initiative finally passed to the Red Army and the whole world realized that Germany had lost the war.
