“Mal Zolotnik Yes roads” — says a Russian proverb, and this fully can be attributed to the representative of small-artillery — mortar. And roads it is the fact that for over a hundred years a faith and truth serves our artillery. Russian craftsmen have always been famous for their ingenuity, especially in difficult times when we must resist and win. So it was during the Russo-Japanese war 1904 — 1905 years, where it took a simple and effective defensive artillery. Brilliant idea, captain L. N. Kobato realized in the invention “apparatus for artillery fire at close range”. “Apparatus for throwing mines”, including the marine, were designed at that time hastily from scrap materials. They had a small firing range, but strong explosive action. For a century the brainchild of L. N. Kobato has undergone several evolutionary stages and has shown itself in interaction with artillery a formidable weapon, proven in two world and many local wars.
After the Russo-Japanese war of mortar for the decade have been forgotten: artillery of the old army didn’t pay him enough attention, considering it a weapon “surrogate artillery.” And only in 1915 there was a need for the armament of our army mortars: was adopted by the reconstructed captain E. A. by Lihonina 58-mm mortar, and then a 91-mm mortar designs of captain M. F. Rosenberg, firing bombs weighing 3.4 kg.
Special recognition this kind of weapons received shortly before the great Patriotic war, and it is connected with names of outstanding specialists in menometrorrhagia: Nikolai Aleksandrovich Throwlever and Boris Ivanovich by Shavarini. It should be noted that the fate of these talented people is closely intertwined throughout their lives. In Leningrad in 1930-ies N..Borovlev, in fact, was the main scientific mentor B. I. Shavyrin, and after the war, Nikolai worked in Kolomna, a Special design Bureau (SLE), led by more than 20 years, the chief designer by Shavarini.
The scientific authority of N..Borovleva appeared at a time when he as a student of Artillery Academy of the red army them.F.Uh.Dzerzhinsky, drafted the first prototype smoothbore mortar — 76-mm battalion mortar MB. The Leningrad period in the life of H. A. Dorofeeva was very fruitful. It was then in the Artillery Institute under his leadership and with his direct participation was developed and proved slim scientific system of construction and classification of mortar weapons in relation to the needs of the army. There, in 1936, the red Army received the first Russian battalion mortar — 82mm BM-36 construction..Borovleva. Later created N..By golovlevy 82-mm mortar rounds found a new interpretation in the development of B. I. Shavyrin, which reduced its weight and provide a unique new mounting plate. Deliberately chosen the caliber mortars 82 mm gave the opportunity to use captured mines.
Minoriteterna took quite a significant period in the life of B. I. Shavyrin. Showing enviable technical acumen, he is perhaps one of the first in the world evaluated the effectiveness, high combat and operational capabilities of these weapons in the shortest possible time, in practice, embodies the Main system Borovleva quality and fighting properties of mortars that are highly rated in the army, is primarily a steep trajectory, high rate of fire, greater durability (up to 10 thousand shots and more).
Table 1
The most valuable quality of any mortar — low weight with a large power of action of the mines. For example, with the same caliber he is 9 times lighter than howitzers and 23 times guns. The steep trajectory of mines and relatively small overall dimensions in firing position ensures the possibility of detachment in deep cover, hard hit by enemy fire. At the same time, mortars and ammunition structurally simple, convenient in fabrication and does not require a long training detachment in the army.
Leading in 1936 the Leningrad SKB, B. I. Shavyrin created to be extremely creative and productive team, which for two years has developed, passed to the red Army and put into mass production a number of the first Russian mortars of various calibres and military facilities. This number included 50-mm company (1938), 82 mm battalion (1937), 107-mm mountain-beasts of burden (1938) and 120-mm regimental (1938) mortars — at that time a powerful and reliable models of weapons of the infantry, much superior in its combat operational characteristics of the German mortars Schneider. Range, for example, then the most powerful in the world 120-mm mortar rounds have hit a 5 — 6 km of New Soviet mortars before the war were widely used in combat operations and reaffirmed their firepower in armed conflict at lake Khasan (1938), on the river Khalkhin-Gol (1939) and with Finland (1939 — 1940). The beginning of the great Patriotic war was created under the leadership of B. I. Shavyrina mortars mortar became the main armament of the red Army. Table 1 shows the main performance characteristics of mortars.
With the beginning of the war and the ensuing siege of Leningrad, the team of CSC was divided into a number of independent organizations, evacuated to safe areas of the country — in the Urals and in Siberia. At the head of them have become designers V. N. Shamarin, I. G. Teverovsky — students Shavyrina B. I., A. A. Dmitrievsky, famous chess player A. A. Kotov and others by Decree of the State defense Committee of April 2, 1942 B. I. Shavyrin approved by the head and chief designer of the newly created SKB “for the development and prototyping of mortar weapons and mines:” making a major bet. And I was right.
Calculation of the mortar overcomes a mountain pass
New SKB in Kolomna soon for a long time will become a leading organization in the country in equipping the army with these kinds of weapons. The main objective of SKB Shavyrina was the recovery and rapid deployment of work on designing, manufacturing and providing supervision in industry and the army mortar weapons, including his new species. Under extremely difficult wartime conditions, with acute shortage of manpower, metal, fuel, energy, the designers at SKB have developed a wide range of activities: developed several experimental modifications of special samples of mortars applied to different conditions of combat use of aviation, armored, anti-tank, universal, made further development of 82, 107 and 120-mm mortar shells with their fuses, precluding the possibility of loading the second mine.
Developed a generic means for the transportation of these mortars during the summer and winter conditions have begun work on the creation of a heavy 160 – and 240-mm mortars, prototypes which in the course of the war have passed field tests. It should be emphasized that during the war many KB was able to organize the production of new or radically improving the most effective samples of military equipment and weapons in the shortest possible time. The launch of this technique was carried out as a rule before the end of trials of the sample. It gave a gain in time and ensured quick replenishment of the army a more effective fighting technique.
So, in the beginning of the war design group B. I. Shavyrina receives the personal order of Stalin And on the construction of a 120-mm mortar. And in just two months (August — September 1941), the team developed a simplified version of the mortar, in which the complexity of manufacturing has decreased in 2 times, consumption of materials — 1.4 times, virtually eliminate the use of scarce materials. It is possible to increase the production of mortars of the largest calibre, then by almost 2 times. Serial plant in Krasnoyarsk, which mandated the release of these mortars, in the first months managed to achieve impressive at the time of production volume is 500 units per month, and then the production of the mortar has been brought to several thousand.
107-mm mountain-pack regimental mortar mod. 1938:
1 mortar, 2 — wheel; 3 — rack; 4 — the root of Vaga; 5 — traces; 6 — shaft; 7 — gear; 8 —clamp; 9 — the left radical horse; 10 — Unona Vaga; 11 —left Unona horse; 12 — saddle up 13 — there; 14 — circomedia; 15 — shovel; a 16 — Valek; 17 — swab; 18 — wheel KG (800×150 mm); 19 — clamp; 20 — tray; 21 and 35 of the flanges; 22 chain; 23 — lock wheels; 24 — bolt pipe; 25 — kerchief; 26 — yoke; 27 — coupling; 28 — gon; 29 – axial pipe; 30 — flange of the axial tube 31 and 37 — cap of an axial flange; a 32 — dyshlova pipe; 33 — Bush dishlovoy pipe; 34 — side panel; 36 and 40 of the axial ends; 38 and 45 of the stub; 39 — latch (bolt with nut); 41 — spring; 42 — cotter pin; 43 — stopper; 44 — nut axial end; 46 — green box packaging with mines; 47 — wheel course with mortar; 48 — seat mortar, 49—scrap; 50 — housing of the shock absorber; 51 —the case of a holder; 52 — basting; 53 — bolt clamp; 54 — pen clip; 55 — nut clip; 56 — the trunk; 57 — Dunga – carriage; 58 — support plate; 59 — the transition bracket of the sight; 60 — arm rotating mechanism; 61 —clip rough levelling mechanism; 62 — the left foot of the mast; 63 — mechanism for accurate levelling; 64 — a casing lifting mechanism; 65 — right foot of the mast; 66 — supporting plate; 67 — spring 68 — circuit; 69 — hook; 70 — housing of the lifting mechanism; 71—arm lifting mechanism; 72 — Coulter; 73 — housing of the sight; 74 — lever; 75 — the case of the collimator; 76 — lateral level; 77 — a rough scale of angles of sight; 78 — protractor; 79 — handle screw protractor; 80 — a cross-level; 81 —landing wedge; 82 drum sight; 83—scope MP-82; 84 — handle; 85 — nut; 86 — housing bracket; 87 — hole; 88 — axis; 89 — key; 90 — breech; 91 — clamp; 92 — ring groove, 93 pipe barrel; 94 — pen; 95 — ribs for fuckk, 96 — hook; 97 — lining; 98 — hook for cord; 99 — clip; 100 — socket to ball heel; 101—stabilizer mines; 102—housing; 103—fuse GVM; 104 — shank; 105 — min with blank sleeve; 106 — blank sleeve; 107 — centering thickening; 108 — oneparticle hole; 109— cosina; 110 and 113 brackets scrap; 111—wheel-KG (800 x 150 mm); 112—a box for spare parts and accessories; 114 – front frame; 115 — yoke; 116 — loop under a strap to secure the shovel; 117 and 141 of the pivot legs; 118 — fuse wheels; 119 — brackets for mounting the pick-axes; 120 — mounting bracket shovel; 121 —handrail; 122 — stackable mounting base plates; 123 — upper clip; 124 — clamp; 125—cradle; 126 — lower clip; 127 — rear frame; 128 and 137 of the nut 129 and 136 — retaining bolts; 130 — stopper; 131 –spring; 132 — biscuit; 133 and 135 of the coupling; 134 — connecting pin; 138—lanyard; 139 — 140 stretching — boom
During the battle for Moscow, November 1941 municipal defense Committee instructed one of the main enterprises of the capital equipment which was evacuated to the rear for two weeks to establish production of 82-mm mortars on the model, taken from the front. A graduate of Leningrad military mechanical Institute V. A. Polukhin took the sketches and prepared the working drawings of mortar. The drawings made by hand, a small team of factory experts, not previously associated with arms production made “on the knee” the first mortar within the prescribed period and sent it for tests, staffed with sight glass level vial made by designers who have mastered the profession of a glassblower.
All mortars developed under the leadership of B. I. Shavyrin, have proven themselves in combat operations of the Soviet troops. The 50-mm company mortars were especially comfortable in defense and street fighting. 82-mm battalion mortars were used most widely, showing himself mighty weapon infantry support. For example, only one in July 1943 the consumption of 82-mm mortar exceeded the consumption of these mines for all the first half of the war. 120-mm regimental mortar as used in the mining and military units 107-mm mountain-pack, thanks to high-power mines, sufficient rate of fire, range and accuracy of the battle. relatively small weight and good maneuverability can provide effective and powerful support to infantry units, not only in defensive but also in offensive operations. As a result, they are widely used in the army until the end of the war.
In the memory of posterity will forever remain the names of the mortar — Heroes of the Soviet Union, awarded this high title for his exploits on the battlefield Lieutenant To Alisultanov, guard Lieutenant G K. Atamanchuk, second Lieutenant N. With.Bevza, Lieutenant A. V. Baranov, guards senior Sergeant V. M. Belyaev, senior Lieutenant I. D. Belyakova, Sergeant B. N. Bochkareva, captain I. A. Korenkova, guard Lieutenant IG Lapina and thousands of soldiers-mortar, defended the freedom and independence of the Motherland. Recalling them, narrowing his eyes looking at us through the mortar sight from the pages of the Marshal’s memoirs and holiday posters the Chairman of the Tambov collective farm mortar Nikolai Polikarpov, war correspondent photographed a few hours before the liberation of Kiev.
In 1943 the red Army received the first domestic heavy 160-mm divisional mortar MT-13 G. I. Neverovskogo, the development of which was started jointly with B. by I. Shavyrina. Work on the creation of heavy mortars, the search for their optimal design and technological forms was intensively conducted in the new SKB B. I. Shavyrina. Despite the large volume of operational work associated with the operation at the front of the existing weapons, its improvement and revision, and deployment, and ensuring mass production of light and medium mortars 50 — 120-mm caliber, and designers at SKB have been able to develop prototypes of the 160-mm and 240-mm mortars, which were held in 1943 and 1944 firing trials. Work on it was completed after the war, but with the new, more stringent requirements
In 1949 — 1950 years, the army has received new mortars SKB Shavyrina — 160-mm divisional field artillery M-160, and 240-mm Reserve Command M-240. Essentially, it was a mortar of a new design, which had a number of completely new technical solutions. For example, M-160 provided a maximum range of up to 8 km when the mass of mines 40 kg, which is 1.6 times the firing range of a staff 160-mm mortar MT-13. The main design feature of the mortar was a new system of obturation using the classic skirt. 240-mm mortar provided the same range, but the bulk of the mines 130 kg the Perfection in the design of mines in combination with high resistance mortars allowed us to obtain accuracy that is not inferior to guns mounted fire.
In the future, for mortar M-240 worked special charge, causing the firing range increased to 9.7 km without significant improvements of the mortar. Updated Park and mortars of smaller caliber. Work on mortar weapons in SCB was completed in mid-1950-ies the creation of a new 107-mm mountain-pack regimental mortar M-107,120-mm regimental mortar increased the firing range of M-120 and a special heavy-duty 420-mm self-propelled mortar setting 2Б1, developed in partnership with OCBC the Kirov plant in Leningrad, led by the famous Soviet designer tankov Joseph Yakovlevich Kotin.
107-mm HITM mod. 1938 in the stowed position on horse goods:
1 – pack No. 1 with base plate and two trays with mine, 2 – pack # 2 with the pipe barrel and the breech ring; 3 – pack No. 3 two-legged, entrenching tools and a box of ZIP gun: 4 and 5 – packs # 4 and 5, each with six trays with mines; 6 – pack No. 6 to the frame to turn the wheel, with the pipe of the drawbar and VAG (native and unosel), 7 – pack number 7 with two wheels from a course of mortar and unonou part of the drawbar; 8 – pack # 8 with box front and two valkami; 9 – pack No. 9 with two wheels of the limber and the root portion of the drawbar
Organizational basis and purpose of all the mortars, set up under the leadership of B. I. Shavyrin, logically fit into the structure of the Soviet Army: “company — battalion — regiment — division — army — front”, i.e. made up of a single complete system equipment of the army mortar weapons from combined arms formations, units and unit to units of the Reserve Command. Mortar weapons is widespread and in the joints of the Navy.
Developed in SKB in the early 1950-ies 433-mm mortars Beschetny BMB-2 (1951) and multilateral bonbonerie installing MBU-200 (1949) and MBU-600 (1953) allowed at that time to solve the problem of equipping the existing fleet of vehicles — from big hunter to cruisers including integrated anti-submarine weaponry.
Many have absorbed from the mortar weapons and such artillery, as recoilless rifles, light and powerful enough weapons support troop army units, able to fight effectively against tanks and other armored vehicles. The use of a cumulative shell opened up new possibilities compared to the classic gun system in the development of anti-tank weapons: in order to reduce the weight of the gun, to ensure its high maneuverability on the battlefield, ease of use, good enough penetration. Recoilless rifles were a particularly effective means of destruction of armored vehicles at distances up to 1 — 2 km.
Team CSC under the leadership of B. I. Shavyrina managed to solve this problem. In 1954 the Soviet Army received the first domestic light anti-tank recoilless rifles, 82 mm battalion B-10 (weight 86 kg, maximum firing range fragmentation mine up to 4.5 km, the penetration normal to 250 mm) and 107-mm gun regiment level B-2 (weight 305 kg, range up to 6.7 km, penetration up to 300 mm). In its combat and operational characteristics, they exceeded all then existing counterparts abroad. Later the guns were mastered by the industry, produced in mass production and for many years was in service with the armies of many countries.
107-mm MOUNTAIN-PACK REGIMENTAL MORTAR
107-mm mortar entered service with the red Army in 1938. Mortar has developed the Leningrad SKB No. 4, with the largest artillery plant No. 7. M. V. Frunze. The head of special design Bureau No. 4 in the 1936 — 1940s was B. I. Shavyrin To transport used wheeled course, and mountain horse packs (13 packs of horse was carrying a disassembled mortar, the wheel speed and the ammo). High-explosive mines weighing 8 kg had a main and four additional charges, which in combination with the change in elevation from 45 to 80 degrees allowed to adjust the firing range from 800 to 6100 m.
In 1944 Kolomna SKB issued tactical and technical requirements for the modernization of 107-mm mortar model 1938 Mission included the simplification of the structure of nodes in a mortar and improve its operational properties. In the process of modernization was also required to provide the ability to transport the rack in a trailer behind a car, esperemos transport speed horse-drawn, reduce the size of the mass of packs and to increase their sustainability in mountain crossings. A leading designer of mortar was appointed As the Sokolov, and the front, the go and the kit packs a leading designer P. V. Goryachev.
Based on the experience of combat operation 107-mm mortar in the army developed the design, produced technical documentation, produced prototypes, conducted their testing, field and combat tests in the Transcaucasian military district. Tests showed that the upgraded mortar simpler in design and manufacturability to manufacture. Disassembly and Assembly of a firing mechanism are possible without screwing the breech ring. The course of the attenuator is increased from 175 to 250 mm. the Mechanism of sight allows laying. The course and the front had a smaller mass and dimensions and ensure the possibility of transportation with maximum speeds in a trailer behind a car and horse-drawn. In the latter case, ensure bespredela transportation. Have been significantly reduced dimensions and weight of the packs with 135 — 199-105 — 130 kg and reduced their number from 13 to 12.
In 1948, the Main artillery Directorate was given the job with the new higher performance characteristics for the modernization of the 107-mm mortar and the necessary vehicles. One of the requirements was the increase in firing range of the mortar to 7,000 metres, equipped with fuse from double charging and others. According to the new tactical and technical requirements SKB has developed and improved the design and produced prototypes 107 mm GITM with vehicles (chief designer P. V. Goryachev).
Upgraded the mortar and the vehicle successfully passed all tests. In 1953 an enhanced 107-mm mountain-pack regimental mortar M-107 was adopted by the Soviet Army Mortar manned guard against double loading, P-107, previously developed and was put into service in 1948.
V. ERMAKOV, G. NIKOLAEV
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