History 17/01/20 Why German tanks were so afraid of Soviet flame thrower
In the battles of the great Patriotic war, the Red Army has used flamethrowers. With their help, the soldiers held their positions, repulsed the counterattacks of the enemy, covered the tank hazardous areas, cleaned out enemy trenches and bunkers. During the battle, the flamethrower became the first target of a German sniper or machine gunner, but his part in the battle could have been decisive for the victory factor.
ROCKS-3 — the “workhorse” of the Soviet flame thrower
According to researcher Alexei Ardasheva to the beginning of the war the Soviet Union was in 2 times more of gametangia than in the Wehrmacht. Most of these were high explosive flamethrower FOG-1 and a flamethrower backpack design Klyuev and Sergeeva ROX-1, which subsequently had several modifications. The weapon was a tank with a flexible hose connecting the tanks with a gun that produces fire. Flamethrower in battle trying to kill first, so masking the flamethrower looked like a rifle. Some models even were equipped with bayonets.
tank Capacity was enough for 6-8 1-2 short or long shots with a range of 30-45 meters. The ROKS-3, produced in 1942, the developers took into account the shortcomings of previous versions. This model had a shortened starting gun and work equally well in winter and summer and froze, and was insensitive to dirt. The simplicity of the design allows us to quickly train soldiers in its use.
fire as a weapon
the First massive use of knapsack flamethrower of the Soviet soldiers was in the autumn of 1941 in the defense of Kursk, and on 1 December 1941 the same year under Naro-Fominsk flamethrower burned out two companies of German machine gunners. In the spring of 1942 the command proceeded to the formation of the first flame mouth flame throwers for 120 each. A year later the connection re-formed into battalions for 240 flamethrowers.
According to the order to the troops of the Western front No 0181 of 5 October 1943 it was recommended that wide use of flamethrowers defense, attack, ambush, and reconnaissance. When defensive actions infantry regiment was supposed to allocate a platoon of flamethrower. In the onset of one branch in an infantry battalion.
Flamethrower attack
Experience of fighting showed that the effectiveness of all soldiers armed with man-pack flamethrowers are in the offensive and in the context of urban combat. Due to the low maneuverability of large groups of flamethrower was an easy target, so they began to distribute in small units. From November 1942, the flamethrowers was used extensively in the battle of Stalingrad for the victory in which the command sent 12 of 18 flamethrower mouth. While the arrows under the cover of tanks and smoke screens distracted and suppressed German defense units, flamethrower through the rubble and cracks in the walls, came from the rear or flank and poured a fire of the Nazis. Ended attack demoralized the enemy throwing grenades.
flamethrower Successfully proved itself when the Smoking German soldiers, entrenched in Bunkers and Pillboxes, in terms of the offensive of the red Army of 1944-1945. By this time, the command formulated the basic principles of using flamethrower companies and battalions: the massive use on important parts of the front, the obligatory interaction with other branches of the military, separation flame-incendiary means. In the storming of Koenigsberg was attended by 16 Budapest — 14, Berlin -13 flamethrower connections.
the Soviet fire against the German steel
in Addition to the task of burning the enemy garrisons of the long-term firing of structures and fortified buildings, soldiers with flamethrower pack was used to fight tanks and other armored vehicles of the enemy. During urban fighting soldiers with flamethrowers occupied the second floors of buildings and let the tanks on 20-30 meters effective distance for fire streams, released from the Rocks. When the cars took to the stopping distance, the flamethrower is for 3-6 fighters on a tank began to fill them with fire.
According to the book of the researcher Alexey Ardasheva “Incendiary and flame weapons,” the first salvo was made non-flammable mixture which is bathed in the motor part and tower, and the second shot ignited the mixture. Easy prey for flamethrower teams became self-propelled with an open cockpit. To combat tanks in the field the flamethrower was necessary to allow multi-ton machine to a distance of several tens meters, which was no easy task, especially when it has infantry support. Due to the fact that the heavy fraction on the armor, went out, experienced fighters tried to pour fire areas of the body, which was mud or oil spills.
Alexander Brazhnik
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