Weapons of the ussr in the second world war. Small arms of the USSR: on the way to automatic weapons. Small arms of the Wehrmacht infantry division
Modern war it will be a war of motors. Motors on the ground, motors in the air, motors on the water and under water. In these conditions, the winner will be the one with more motors and a larger power reserve.
Joseph Stalin
At a meeting of the Main Military Council, January 13, 1941
During the years of the pre-war five-year plans, Soviet designers created new models of small arms, tanks, artillery, mortars and aircraft. The fleet received more and more advanced destroyers, cruisers, patrol ships, and special attention was paid to the development of the submarine fleet.
As a result, before the start of the Great Patriotic War The USSR possessed a fairly modern weapon system and military equipmentand for some tactical and technical characteristics even surpassed the weapon-grade German counterparts. Therefore, the main causes of defeat soviet troops at the initial period of the war cannot be attributed to errors in the technical equipment of the troops.
TANKS
As of June 22, 1941, the Red Army had 25,621 tanks.
The most widespread were light T-26s, of which there were almost 10 thousand vehicles, and representatives of the BT family - there were about 7,5 thousand of them. A significant share were wedges and small amphibious tanks - a total of almost 6 thousand were in service with the Soviet troops. modifications T-27, T-37, T-38 and T-40.
The most modern KV and T-34 tanks at that time numbered about 1.85 thousand units.
Tanks KV-1
Heavy tank KV-1
The KV-1 entered service in 1939 and was serially produced from March 1940 to August 1942. The mass of the tank was up to 47.5 tons, which made it much heavier than the existing German tanks. He was armed with a 76 mm cannon.
Some experts consider the KV-1 a milestone for the world tank building, which had a significant impact on the development heavy tanks in other countries.
The Soviet tank had the so-called classic layout - the division of the armored hull from bow to stern sequentially into a control compartment, a combat compartment and a motor-transmission compartment. He also received an independent torsion bar suspension, anti-shell all-round protection, a diesel engine and one relatively powerful weapon. Previously, these elements were found on other tanks separately, but in the KV-1 they were first brought together.
The first combat use The KV-1 belongs to the Soviet-Finnish war: a prototype tank was deployed on December 17, 1939, during the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line.
In 1940-1942, 2,769 tanks were produced. Until 1943, when the German Tiger appeared, the KV was the most powerful tank of the war. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War he received the nickname "ghost" from the Germans. The standard shells of the Wehrmacht's 37mm anti-tank gun did not penetrate its armor.
Tank T-34
Medium tank T-34
In May 1938, the Red Army's Armored Directorate proposed to plant No. 183 (now the V. Malyshev Kharkov Transport Engineering Plant) to create a new tracked tank. Model A-32 was created under the leadership of Mikhail Koshkin. Work proceeded in parallel with the creation of the BT-20, an improved modification of the already serially produced BT-7 tank.
Prototypes of the A-32 and BT-20 were ready in May 1939, following the results of their tests in December 1939, the A-32 received a new name - T-34 - and was put into service with the condition to modify the tank: bring the main booking to 45 millimeters, improve visibility, install a 76 mm cannon and additional machine guns.
A total of 1,066 T-34s had been manufactured by the beginning of World War II. After June 22, 1941, the production of this type was deployed at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant in Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod), the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, Uralmash in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), plant No. 174 in Omsk and Uralvagonzavod (Nizhny Tagil ).
In 1944, the serial production of the T-34-85 modification began with a new turret, reinforced armor and an 85 mm gun. Also, the tank has proven itself well due to its simplicity in production and maintenance.
More than 84 thousand T-34 tanks were produced in total. This model took part not only in the Great Patriotic War, it visited many armed conflicts in Europe, Asia and Africa in the 1950-1980s. The last documented case of T-34 combat use in Europe was their use during the war in Yugoslavia.
AVIATION
By the beginning of World War II, Soviet aviation was armed with many types of combat aircraft. In 1940 and the first half of 1941, the troops received almost 2.8 thousand modern machines: Yak-1, MiG-3, LaGG-3, Pe-2, Il-2.
There were also fighters I-15 bis, I-16 and I-153, bombers TB-3, DB-3, SB (ANT-40), multipurpose R-5 and U-2 (Po-2).
New aircraft Air force In terms of combat capabilities, the Red Army was not inferior to the aircraft of the Luftwaffe, even surpassed them in a number of indicators.
Il-2 attack aircraft
Il-2 attack aircraft
The Il-2 armored attack aircraft is the most massive combat aircraft in. In total, more than 36 thousand cars were produced. It was called "a flying tank", the leadership of the Wehrmacht - "black death" and "iron Gustav". The German pilots nicknamed the Il-2 "concrete aircraft" for its high combat survivability.
The first combat units that were armed with these machines were created just before the war. Attack aircraft units were successfully used against mechanized and armored enemy units. At the beginning of the war, the Il-2 was practically the only aircraft that, in conditions of the superiority of German aviation, fought the enemy in the air. He played a major role in containing the enemy in 1941.
During the war years, several aircraft modifications were created. The Il-2 and its further development - the Il-10 attack aircraft - were actively used in all major battles of the Great Patriotic War and in the Soviet-Japanese War.
The maximum horizontal speed of the aircraft at the ground was 388 km / h, and at an altitude of 2000 m - 407 km / h. The time for ascent to a height of 1000 m is 2.4 minutes, and the time for turning at this height is 48-49 seconds. At the same time, in one combat turn, the attack aircraft gained an altitude of 400 meters.
Fighter MiG-3
MiG-3 night fighter
The design group, headed by A.I. Mikoyan and M.I. Gurevich, in 1939 worked hard on a fighter for fighting on high altitudes... In the spring of 1940, a prototype was built, which received the MiG-1 brand (Mikoyan and Gurevich, the first). Subsequently, his modernized version received the name MiG-3.
Despite the significant take-off weight (3350 kg), the speed of the serial MiG-3 at the ground exceeded 500 km / h, and at an altitude of 7 thousand meters it reached 640 km / h. This was the highest speed at that time obtained on production aircraft. Due to the high ceiling and high speed at an altitude of over 5 thousand meters, the MiG-3 was effectively used as a reconnaissance aircraft, as well as an air defense fighter. However, poor horizontal maneuverability and relatively weak armament did not allow him to become a full-fledged front-line fighter.
According to the famous ace Alexander Pokryshkin, inferior in the horizontal direction, the MiG-3 was significantly superior to the German Me109 in vertical maneuver, which could serve as the key to victory in a clash with Nazi fighters. However, only top-class pilots could successfully fly the MiG-3 in vertical turns and at maximum overloads.
FLEET
By the beginning of World War II, the Soviet fleet had a total of 3 battleships and 7 cruisers, 54 leaders and destroyers, 212 submarines, 287 torpedo boats and many other ships.
The pre-war shipbuilding program provided for the creation of a "large fleet", the basis of which would be large surface ships - battleships and cruisers. In accordance with it in 1939-1940, battleships of the " Soviet Union"and the heavy cruisers" Kronstadt "and" Sevastopol ", in Germany they acquired the unfinished cruiser" Petropavlovsk ", but the plans for a radical renewal of the fleet were not destined to come true.
In the prewar years, Soviet sailors received new light cruisers of the Kirov type, leaders of destroyers of projects 1 and 38, destroyers of project 7 and other ships. The construction of submarines and torpedo boats was booming.
Many ships were completed during the war, some of them never took part in the battles. These include, for example, the cruisers of the project 68 "Chapaev" and the destroyers of the project 30 "Ognevoy".
The main types of surface ships of the pre-war period:
light cruisers like "Kirov",
leaders of the types "Leningrad" and "Minsk",
destroyers of the "Wrathful" and "Savvy" types,
minesweepers of the "Fugas" type,
torpedo boats "G-5",
sea \u200b\u200bhunters "MO-4".
The main types of submarines of the pre-war period:
small submarines of the "M" ("Baby") type,
medium-sized submarines of the "Sh" ("Pike") and "C" ("Medium") types,
underwater minelayers of type "L" ("Leninist"),
large submarines of types "K" ("Cruising") and "D" ("Decembrist").
Cruisers of the "Kirov" class
Cruisers of the "Kirov" class
Light cruisers of the Kirov class became the first Soviet surface ships of this class, not counting the three Svetlana cruisers laid down under Nicholas II. Project 26, according to which Kirov was built, was finally approved in the fall of 1934 and developed the ideas of the Italian light cruisers of the Condottieri family.
The first pair of cruisers, Kirov and Voroshilov, was laid down in 1935. They entered service in 1938 and 1940. The second pair, "Maxim Gorky" and "Molotov", was built according to a modified project and joined the Soviet fleet in 1940-1941. Two more cruisers were laid down in the Far East, before the end of the Great Patriotic War only one of them, Kalinin, was put into operation. Far Eastern cruisers also differed from their predecessors.
The total displacement of the Kirov-class cruisers ranged from about 9450-9550 tons for the first pair to almost 10,000 tons for the latter. These ships could reach speeds of 35 knots or more. Their main armament was nine 180-mm B-1-P guns housed in three-gun turrets. On the first four cruisers, anti-aircraft weapons were represented by six B-34 installations of 100 mm caliber, 45 mm 21-K and 12.7 mm machine guns. In addition, the Kirovs carried torpedoes, mines and depth charges, and seaplanes.
"Kirov" and "Maxim Gorky" spent almost the entire war supporting the defenders of Leningrad with gunfire. Voroshilov and Molotov, built in Nikolaev, took part in fleet operations in the Black Sea. All of them survived the Great Patriotic War - they were destined for a long service. The last composition of the fleet in 1974 left "Kirov".
Submarine "Pike"
Submarines of the "Pike" type
"Pike" became the most massive Soviet submarines of the Great Patriotic War, not counting the "Baby".
Construction of the first series of four submarines began in the Baltic in 1930, and the Shchuks entered service in 1933-1934.
These were submarines of the middle class, the underwater displacement of which was about 700 tons, and the armament consisted of six torpedo tubes of 533 mm caliber and a 45 mm 21-K cannon.
The project turned out to be successful, and by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War more than 70 Shchuk were in service (a total of 86 submarines were built in six series).
Submarines of the "Sh" type were actively used in all naval theaters of war. Of the 44 who fought, "Shchuk" died 31. The enemy lost almost 30 ships from their actions.
Despite a number of shortcomings, the "Pike" were distinguished by their comparative cheapness, maneuverability and survivability. From series to series - a total of six series of these submarines were created - they improved their seaworthiness and other parameters. In 1940, two submarines of the "Sh" type were the first in the Soviet fleet to receive equipment that allowed torpedo firing without air leakage (which often unmasked the attacking submarine).
Although only two Pikes of the last X-bis series entered service after the war, these submarines remained in the fleet for a long time and were decommissioned in the late 1950s.
ARTILLERY
According to Soviet data, on the eve of World War II, the army had almost 67.5 thousand guns and mortars.
It is believed that the combat qualities of the Soviet field artillery were even superior to the German ones. However, it was poorly provided with mechanized traction: agricultural tractors were used as tractors, up to half of the implements were transported with the help of horses.
The army was armed with many types artillery pieces and mortars. Anti-aircraft artillery was represented by guns of calibers 25, 37, 76 and 85 millimeters; howitzer - modifications of caliber 122, 152, 203 and 305 mm. The main anti-tank gun was the 45mm 1937 model, the regimental gun was the 76mm 1927 model, and the divisional one was the 76mm 1939 model.
Anti-tank gun firing at the enemy in the battles for Vitebsk
45 mm anti-tank gun model 1937
This gun became one of the most famous representatives of the Soviet artillery of the Great Patriotic War. It was developed under the leadership of Mikhail Loginov based on the 1932 45mm cannon.
The main combat qualities of the 45-millimeter paper were maneuverability, rate of fire (15 rounds per minute) and armor penetration.
By the beginning of the war, the army had more than 16.6 thousand guns of the 1937 model. In total, over 37.3 thousand of such guns were produced, and production was curtailed only by 1944, despite the presence of more modern models of the ZiS-2 and a similar caliber M-42.
Volley "Katyusha"
Fighting machine rocket artillery "Katyusha"
The day before the start of the Great Patriotic War, the BM-13 rocket artillery combat vehicle, later named Katyusha, was adopted by the Red Army. She became one of the world's first multiple launch rocket systems.
The first combat use took place on July 14, 1941 near the railway station in the city of Orsha (Belarus). The battery under the command of Captain Ivan Flerov with volley fire destroyed the accumulation of German military equipment at the Orsha railway junction.
Due to its high efficiency of use and simplicity in production, by the fall of 1941 in the city of BM-13 was widely used at the front, having a significant impact on the course of hostilities.
The system made it possible to carry out a salvo of the entire charge (16 missiles) in 7-10 seconds. There were also modifications with an increased number of guides and other versions of missiles.
During the war, about 4 thousand BM-13s were lost. In total, about 7 thousand units of this type were manufactured, and the Katyusha was taken out of production only after the war - in October 1946.
WEAPON
Despite the widespread introduction of tanks and aircraft, the strengthening of artillery, infantry weapons remained the most massive. According to some estimates, if in the First world war losses from small arms did not exceed 30% of the total, then in World War II they increased to 30-50%.
Before World War II, the supply of rifles, carbines and machine guns to the troops grew, but the Red Army was significantly inferior to the Wehrmacht in terms of the saturation of automatic weapons, such as submachine guns.
Snipers Rosa Shanina, Alexandra Yekimova and Lydia Vdovina (from left to right). 3rd Belorussian Front
Mosin rifle
Adopted in 1891, the Mosin rifle of 7.62 mm caliber remained the main weapon of the Red Army infantryman. In total, about 37 million of these rifles were produced.
Modifications of the 1891/1930 model had to take battle in the most difficult months of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Due to its low cost and reliability, the weapon has bypassed its young self-loading rivals.
The last version of the "three-line" was a carbine of the 1944 model, which was distinguished by the presence of a fixed needle bayonet... The rifle has become even shorter, the technology has been simplified, and the combat maneuverability has increased - a shorter carbine is easier to conduct close combat in thickets, trenches, fortifications.
In addition, it was Mosin's design that formed the basis for the sniper rifle, which was put into service in 1931 and became the first Soviet rifle specially designed for "marksmanship and destruction, first of all, of the enemy's command personnel."
Soviet and American soldiers. Meeting on the Elbe, 1945
PPSh
The Shpagin submachine gun of 7.62 mm caliber was adopted in 1941.
This legendary weapon has become part of the victorious soldier image and can be seen in the most famous monuments. The PPSh-41 fell in love with the fighters, having received their affectionate and respectful nickname "daddy". He fired in almost all weather conditions and was relatively cheap at the same time.
By the end of the war, PPSh were armed with about 55% of the fighters. In total, about 6 million units were produced.
Let's talk about many long-boring myths, about true and fictional facts and about the real state of affairs during the Great Patriotic War.
On the theme of the Great Patriotic War, there are many myths directed against Russia, from "corpses filled up" to "two million raped German women." One of them is the superiority of German weapons over Soviet ones. It is important that this myth spreads even without anti-Soviet (anti-Russian) motivation, "accidentally" - a typical example is the depiction of Germans in films. Often this is highly artistically depicted as a procession of "blond beasts" with rolled-up sleeves, which from the hip poured the Red Army soldiers from "schmeisers" (see below) in long bursts, and those only occasionally snarl with rare rifle shots. Cinematic! This happens even in Soviet films, and in modern films it can go as far as one shovel handle for three against sailing "tigers".
Let's compare the weapons that were at that time. However, this is a very broad topic, so let's take, for example, small arms, moreover, “in a narrow range”, mass for the rank and file. That is, we do not take pistols, machine guns - too (I would like them, but the article has a limited volume). We also do not consider the specific, such as the curved nozzles Vorsatz J / Pz, and we will examine the specified "narrow" nomenclature specifically for mass products, without specifically highlighting the early models (SVT-38 from SVT-40, MP-38 from MP-40, for example) ... I apologize for such superficiality, but you can always read the details on the Internet, and now we only need a comparative review of mass models.
Let's start with the fact that the impression of many by the film "almost all the Germans had automatic weapons, unlike the Red Army soldiers" is false.
In 1940, the German infantry division in the state should have had 12609 rifles and carbines, and only 312 submachine guns, i.e. less than the actual machine guns (425 light and 110 easel), and in the Soviet in 1941 - 10386 rifles and carbines (including sniper), submachine guns - 1623 pieces (and, by the way, 392 light machine guns and 166 easel, and also 9 large-caliber). In 1944, the Germans had 9420 carbines and rifles (including sniper rifles) per division, which accounted for 1595 submachine guns and assault rifles, and in the Red Army - 5357 rifles with carbines, submachine guns - 5557 pieces. (Sergey Metnikov, Confrontation between the Wehrmacht's small arms systems and Soviet army, "Arms" No. 4 for 2000).
It is clearly seen that in the state the share of automatic weapons in the Red Army was greater even at the beginning of the war, and over time the relative number of submachine guns only increased. However, it is worth considering that "it should be according to the state" and "there actually was" did not always coincide. It was at this time that the army was being rearmed, and a new nomenclature of weapons was just being formed: “As of June 1941, in the Kiev Special Military District, rifle formations of light machine guns had from 100 to 128% of the staff, submachine guns - up to 35%, anti-aircraft machine guns - 5-6% of the state ". It should also be taken into account that the greatest losses of weapons occurred at the beginning of the war, 1941.
It was in the Second World War that the role of small arms changed in comparison with the First: long-term positional "trench" confrontations were replaced by operational maneuvering, which made new demands on small arms. By the end of the war, the specializations of weapons were already quite clearly divided: long-range (rifles, machine guns) and for short distances using automatic fire. Moreover, in the second case, a battle at a distance of up to 200 m was first considered, but then an understanding of the need to increase sighting range automatic weapons up to 400-600 m.
But let's get down to specifics. Let's start with German weapons.
First of all, of course, I remember the Mauser 98K carbine.
Caliber 7.92x57 mm, manual reloading, magazine for 5 rounds, sighting range - up to 2000 m, therefore it was widely used with optical sights. The design turned out to be very successful, and after the war "Mauser" became a popular base for hunting and sporting weapons. Although the carbine is a rework of the rifle of the end of the previous century, the Wehrmacht en masse began to arm with these carbines only in 1935.
The first automatic self-loading rifles in the Wehrmacht infantry began to arrive only at the end of 1941, these were the Walther G. 41.
Caliber 7.92x57 mm, gas-operated automatics, magazine for 10 rounds, sighting range - up to 1200 m. The appearance of this weapon was caused by the high assessment of the Soviet SVT-38/40 and ABC-36, to which the G-41 was still inferior. The main disadvantages: poor balance (center of gravity is strongly mixed forward) and demanding maintenance, which is difficult in frontline conditions. In 1943, it was upgraded to G-43, and before that the Wehrmacht often preferred to use captured Soviet-made SVT-40s. However, in the Gewehr 43 variant, the improvement was precisely in the use of a new gas outlet system, borrowed from the Tokarev rifle.
The most famous weapon in appearance is the "Schmeiser" with a characteristic shape.
Which has nothing to do with the designer Schmeisser, the Maschinenpistole MP-40 was developed by Heinrich Volmer.We will not consider the early modifications of the MP-36 and -38 separately, as mentioned.
Caliber: 9x19 mm Parabellum, rate of fire: 400-500 rounds / min, magazine: 32 rounds, effective firing range: 150 m for group targets, for single targets - generally 70 m, since the MP-40 vibrates strongly when firing. This is exactly the question of "cinematography versus realism": if the Wehrmacht attacked "like in a movie", then it would be a shooting range for the Red Army soldiers armed with "mosinka" and "lights": the enemy would be shot another 300-400 meters. Another significant drawback was the lack of a barrel casing during its rapid heating, which often led to burns when firing bursts. The unreliability of the stores should also be noted. However, for close combat, especially urban combat, the MP-40 is a very good weapon.
Initially, only the command staff had the MP-40, then they began to issue it to drivers, tankmen and parachutists. There was never a cinematic mass character: during the whole war 1.2 million MP-40s were produced, all in all, more than 21 million people were drafted into the Wehrmacht, and in 1941 there were only about 250 thousand MP-40s in the troops.
Schmeisser, in 1943, developed the Sturmgewehr StG-44 (originally MP-43) for the Wehrmacht.
By the way, it is worth noting the existence of a myth that the Kalashnikov assault rifle was allegedly copied from the StG-44, which arose due to some external similarity due to ignorance of the device of both products.
Caliber: 7.92x33 mm, rate of fire: 400-500 rds / min, magazine: 30 rounds, sighting range: up to 800 m. It was possible to mount a 30 mm grenade launcher and even use an infrared sight (which, however, required backpack batteries and itself was by no means compact). Quite a worthy weapon for its time, but mass production was mastered only in the fall of 1944, in total, approximately 450 thousand of such assault rifles were produced, which were used by SS units and other elite units.
Let's start, of course, with the glorious Mosin rifle of the 1891-30 model, and, of course, the carbine of the 1938 and 1944 model.
Caliber 7.62x54 mm, manual reloading, magazine for 5 rounds, sighting range - up to 2000 m. The main small arms of the Red Army infantry units of the first period of the war. Durability, reliability and unpretentiousness have entered legends and folklore. The disadvantages include: a bayonet, which, due to an outdated design, had to be worn permanently attached to the rifle, a horizontal bolt handle (that's real - why not bend it down?), The inconvenience of reloading and a fuse.
Soviet designer-gunsmith F.V. Tokarev developed a 10-charge self-loading rifle SVT-38 in the late 30s
Then a modernized version of SVT-40 appeared, weighing 600 g less, and then on this base was created sniper rifle.
Caliber 7.62x54 mm, gas-operated automatics, magazine for 10 rounds, sighting range - up to 1000 m exploitation. In addition, in frontline conditions, there was often a shortage of lubricants, and unsuitable ones could be used. Additionally, it should be noted the low quality of cartridges supplied under Lend-Lease, which gave a large carbon deposit. However, it all comes down to the need to comply with the service regulations.
At the same time, SVT had a large firepower due to automation and twice as many cartridges in the store than the Mosin rifle, so preferences were different.
As mentioned above, the Germans appreciated the captured SVT and even adopted it as a "limited standard".
As for automatic weapons, at the beginning of the war, the troops had a certain number of V.A. Degtyareva PPD-34/38
It was developed back in the 30s. Caliber 7.62x25 mm, rate of fire: 800 rds / min, magazine for 71 rounds (drum) or 25 (horn), effective firing range: 200 meters. It was used mainly by the border units of the NKVD, since, unfortunately, the combined-arms command still thought in the categories of the First World War and did not understand the significance of submachine guns. In 1940, the PPD was structurally modernized, but still remained unsuitable for mass production in war time, and by the end of 1941 it was replaced by a cheaper and more effective Shpagin PPSh-41 submachine gun
PPSh-41, which became widely known thanks to the cinema.
Caliber 7.62x25 mm, rate of fire: 900 rds / min, effective range: 200 meters (sighting range - 300, which is important for single shooting). The PPSh inherited a 71-round drum magazine, and later received a more reliable 35-round horn magazine. The design was based on stamping-welded technology, which made it possible to produce a product on a large scale even in harsh military conditions, and in total during the war years, about 5.5 million PPShs were produced. Main advantages: high effective firing range in its class, simplicity and low cost of manufacturing. The disadvantages include significant weight, as well as a too high rate of fire, which leads to overspending of cartridges.
It is also worth recalling the PPS-42 (then PPS-43) invented in 1942 by Alexei Sudaev.
Caliber: 7.62x25 mm, rate of fire: 700 rds / min, magazine: 35 rounds, effective range: 200 meters. The bullet retains its lethal force up to 800 m.Although the PPS was very technologically advanced in production (stamped parts are assembled by welding and rivets; material costs are half, and labor costs are three times less than that of PPSh), it never became a mass weapon, although during the remaining years of the war there was produced about half a million copies. After the war, PPS was massively exported, and also copied abroad (the Finns made a replica of the M44 under the 9 mm cartridge already in 1944), then gradually replaced in the army with a Kalashnikov assault rifle. Often the PPS-43 is called the best submachine gun of the Second World War.
Some will ask: why, since everything was so good, the blitzkrieg was almost a success?
First, do not forget that rearmament was in progress in 1941, and the provision of automatic weapons according to new standards had not yet been carried out.
Secondly, hand-held small arms in the Great Patriotic War are not the main damaging factor, his losses are usually estimated between a quarter and a third of the total.
Thirdly, there are areas where the Wehrmacht had a clear advantage at the beginning of the war: mechanization, transport and communications.
But the main thing is the number and concentration of forces accumulated for a treacherous attack without a declaration of war. In June 1941, the Reich concentrated 2.8 million Wehrmacht for the attack on the USSR, and the total number of troops with the allies was more than 4.3 million. Moreover, in western districts The Red Army numbered only about 3 million people, moreover, it was in the districts, near the border there were less than 40% of the personnel. Combat readiness, alas, was also far from 100%, especially in terms of technology - let's not idealize the past.
Also, one should not forget about the economy: while the USSR was forced to hastily evacuate factories to the Urals, the Reich made full use of the resources of Europe, which gladly fell under the Germans. Czechoslovakia, for example, before the war was the leader of arms production in Europe, and at the beginning of the war every third german tank was produced by the concern "Skoda".
And the glorious traditions of gunsmith designers continue in our time, including in the field of small arms.
Weapon WWII / Photo: baraholka.com.ru
Tanks, aircraft, artillery are capable of turning the tide of a battle. However, the battlefield always remains with a soldier, an infantryman, the main worker of the Great Patriotic War with a rifle and a machine gun in his hands, with a heavy machine gun that you have to carry literally on your shoulders.
Photo: Rostec
During the war, the oldest arms factories - Tula and Izhevsk, now part of Rostec - made a huge contribution to the armament of our soldiers. Mosin rifles alone in 1941 in Izhevsk produced 12 thousand per day! Thus, the plant fully armed one rifle division every day. So, let's talk about the weapon of the victorious soldier.
1. Mosin rifle 7.62 mm rifle model 1891
Introduced into service: 1891
Manufactured in total: about 37 million units.
Let's start with the long-liver - the Mosin rifle, the absolute champion in the number of units produced. In just four years of the war, more than 11 million rifles and carbines, created on the basis of the three-line, were produced.
Photo: Rostec
Initially, the rifle was produced in four models: infantry, dragoon, Cossack and carbine, which differed in length and the presence of a bayonet. During the battles, the dragoon version proved to be the most optimal and effective in length. Therefore, when in 1924 it was decided to leave the rifle in service, it was the dragoon rifle that was chosen for modernization. This is how a single model appeared - a rifle of the 1891/1930 model. This outdated, despite the new modification, the rifle had to take the fight in the most difficult and decisive months of the beginning of the war. Due to its low cost and reliability, the veteran weapon has bypassed its young self-loading rivals. The last modification of the three-ruler is a carbine of the 1944 model, distinguished by the presence of a non-removable needle bayonet. The rifle has become even shorter, technology has been simplified, and combat agility has increased. A shorter carbine makes it easier to engage in close combat in thickets, trenches, fortifications.
The Mosin rifle and the main weapon of the snipers of the Great Patriotic War.
Photo: Rostec
The legendary representatives of this military specialty greatly appreciated the good old three-line system - quite long-range and accurate. And, what is especially important for a sniper, the weapon is not capricious, but reliable. In 1932, mass production of the 1891/1930 sniper rifle began. This modification differed from the main one by the increased quality of processing the bore, the presence optical sight and the bolt handle bent down.
Video of the TV channel "Zvezda"
2. Shpagin submachine gun (PPSh) 7.62-mm submachine gun model 1941
Manufactured in total: about 6 million units.
Photo: Rostec
This legendary weapon has become part of the victorious soldier and is frozen in the most famous monuments. The submachine gun has also become a symbol a new war, when dense automatic fire in close combat is sometimes significantly more important than the range, accuracy and power of rifle fire.
The PPSh-41 fell in love with the fighters, having received an affectionate and respectful nickname "daddy". A reliable submachine gun fired in almost any weather conditions and, which is important for wartime, was relatively cheap.
Initially, the submachine gun was considered as a weapon for artillerymen, tankers and infantrymen who fought in the mountains or forests. Rifles were considered a mass weapon. However, in the midst of hostilities, the leadership appreciated the importance of the PPSh, and by the end of the war, about 55% of the Red Army soldiers were armed with these weapons.
Photo: Rostec
According to the device, the PPSh belongs to the weapon systems with free shutter recoil. The trigger is designed for both single and continuous fire.
The fire mode switch from single to automatic is located inside the trigger guard, in front of the trigger. The fuse is made in the form of a slide on the bolt cocking handle and locks the bolt in the front or rear position. The bolt box and barrel casing were made of steel, and the stock was made of wood, most often of birch.
The first PPShs were equipped with drum magazines for 71 rounds from the PPD-40. But these stores were expensive and difficult to manufacture. In addition, they were very unreliable and inconvenient, because they required an individual fit. So, already in 1942, horn magazines began to be made, which could accommodate 35 cartridges.
Photo: Rostec
The Shpagin submachine gun is capable of hitting a target at a distance of up to 200 m in short bursts and up to 100 m in long bursts. Among the shortcomings, one can note a significant mass, a tendency to involuntary shots when falling on a hard surface, as well as, paradoxically, the rate of fire, due to which the PPSh received the nickname "cartridge eater". However, this disadvantage and the continuation of the dignity, which was the high density of fire, which gave an advantage in close combat.
Video of the TV channel "Zvezda"
3. Pistol TT Tula, Tokareva 7.62 mm self-loading pistol
Entered service: 1941
Total produced: 1 million 740 thousand pieces.
A textbook photograph of Max Alpert's "Combat" - the commander, armed with a TT pistol, raises the fighters into the attack. As the PPSh became part of the image of a soldier, the famous pistol went down in history as a weapon of an officer of the Great Patriotic War.
Photo: Rostec
The history of the pistol itself began in 1927, when a design bureau was organized at an arms factory in Tula, which a year later included a group of gunsmith designers led by Fyodor Tokarev, who began work on a new pistol. The requirements were formulated very simply: remove the famous revolvers and replace imported pistols with Soviet ones, ensuring mass production in their own country.
The reasons for the abandonment of foreign systems were the need to re-equip the weapons industry with new production equipment and the introduction of new standards, which required gigantic costs that were not acceptable at that time for Soviet Russia.
The new weapons of the commanding staff of the Red Army were supposed to have a high firing range, small dimensions, low weight, an open trigger, but, most importantly, be simple in design and adapted to cheap mass production on outdated and primitive equipment.
For use in the new pistol, a 7.62 mm cartridge was chosen - a redesigned 7.63 mm Mauser, which was later designated 7.62 × 25 TT. Its use did not require re-equipment of production, and the warehouses had a large number of these cartridges purchased from the Germans.
Photo: Rostec
The tasks set regarding the qualities of the pistol itself were achieved thanks to a combination of the features of various systems: the design of the FN Browning model 1903, the Colt M1911 locking system, the 7.63 mm Mauser cartridge - and Tokarev's new design solutions: combining the trigger mechanism in a separate unit, which, when disassembling the weapon, freely separates from the frame for cleaning and lubrication; placement of the mainspring in the trigger, which reduced the longitudinal width of the handle; fastening of the grip cheeks with rotary bars fixed to them, which simplified the disassembly of the pistol; lack of a safety mechanism, the function of which was performed only by the safety cocking of the trigger.
On tests in January 1931, Tokarev was able to prove not only that he had created a relatively small and light pistol chambered for a powerful 7.62 mm cartridge, but also that the weapon could be produced with a minimal investment of time and resources. On February 13 of the same year, the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR decided to place an order for the manufacture of 1,000 Tokarev pistols at the Tula Arms Plant.
For simplicity, the pistol was dubbed simply and dryly - a 7.62-mm self-loading pistol of the 1930 model. However, at the beginning of mass production, the weapon was slightly altered and the production process was simplified, which led to a change in the name to a simpler one. As a result, in 1934, production of the 7.62 mm TT pistol of the 1933 model began. And a little later, by the beginning of the 1940s, no one called the legendary pistol anything other than TT. So the short name stuck.
Video of the TV channel "Zvezda"
TT received the baptism of fire in 1938-1939 at Khalkhin-Gol and near Lake Khasan. The pistol demonstrated excellent fighting qualities: high firing accuracy, long range and powerful bullet penetration. During the Great Patriotic War, TTs were most widely used in all branches of the Red Army.
4. Machine gun Maxim 1910 model
Adopted: 1910
This version of the British machine gun, modified and improved by Russian and Soviet gunsmiths, was destined to become the most massive machine gun of the Great Patriotic War.
Photo: Rostec
In August 1910, a modified version was adopted - the 7.62-mm Maxim machine gun of the 1910 model, which was modernized at the Tula arms factory under the leadership of I.A. Pastukhova, I.A. Sudakov and P.P. Tretyakov. The body weight of the machine gun was reduced by 5.2 kg, a number of bronze parts were replaced with steel ones, the receiver and sights were changed for a new cartridge, and the bore of the muzzle sleeve was widened. The English wheeled carriage was replaced by a lightweight A.A. Sokolov, an armor shield of the English standard - for an armor shield of a reduced size. The new machine provided aimed fire at a range of up to 2700 m. Also, one of the innovations of the Tula model was the fastening of the cartridge belt drum on the shield, and not on the body of the machine gun, as was done before. This contributed to the uniform supply of the tape with cartridges to the receiver.
In the interwar years, Soviet designers were finalizing an already proven design. So, in 1924, Fedor Tokarev created a modification of the Maxim machine gun. She was distinguished by less weight while maintaining firepower.
Video of the TV channel "Zvezda"
In June 1941, at the Tula Arms Plant, under the leadership of chief engineer A.A. Tronenkova engineers I.E. Lubenets and Yu.A. Kazarin began the final modernization. As a result, the maxim was equipped with a simplified sighting device.
In 1943, the Goryunov heavy machine gun was adopted by the Red Army. However, the famous maxim continued to be produced until the end of the war at the Tula and Izhevsk factories and until the end was the main heavy machine gun of the Soviet army.
On the basis of the design of the machine gun, single, twin and quadruple anti-aircraft machine guns were developed, with which the air defense forces were armed. They have become their most common weapons.
Photo: Rostec
The quadruple anti-aircraft machine gun mount of the 1931 model was distinguished by the presence of a water circulation device and a larger capacity of machine-gun belts.
5. DP Degtyareva infantry
Entered service: 1928
In total produced: about 800 thousand pieces.
But the Degtyarev light machine gun (DP) became one of the first samples of small arms created in the USSR.
Photo: Rostec
The machine gun was massively used as the main weapon of fire support for the infantry of the platoon-company link until the end of World War II.
At the end of the war, the DP machine gun and its modernized version of the DPM, created based on the experience of hostilities in 1943-1944, were removed from service by the Soviet army and were widely supplied to countries friendly to the USSR.
Video of the TV channel "Zvezda"
The barrel of the DP is quick-change, partially hidden by a protective casing and equipped with a conical removable flame arrester. It sometimes could not withstand intense shooting: since the barrel was thin-walled, it quickly heated up (especially on later releases, in which, for simplicity, the barrel was made without a ribbed radiator). In order not to disable the machine gun, it was necessary to shoot in short bursts (the combat rate of fire of the machine gun is up to 80 rounds per minute). Changing the barrel directly during the battle was difficult: it required a special key to remove its lock and protect the hands from burns.
In the first days of the Great Patriotic War, the fascist troops smashed the Red Army on all fronts. The reason for this was the human factor - the confidence of Stalin and the high command that Hitler would not violate the treaty.
After the outbreak of the Second World War, the USSR accelerated the reorganization and expansion of the armed forces. By the beginning of the Second World War, there were 5.3 million people in the Red Army. On the issue of armaments, the Soviet border districts were distinguished by impressive defensive capabilities, but they were not brought to full combat readiness in time.
The main tactical mistake of our troops was the uncoordinated interaction of different types of troops: infantry, tanks, aviation and artillery. The infantry did not follow the artillery line of fire, and broke away from the tanks. These blunders were the main cause of huge losses in the initial period of the war.
In the first hours of the war, German aircraft destroyed most soviet tanks and aircraft, leaving behind air and ground dominance. The bulk of the work to defend the homeland fell on the shoulders of ordinary infantrymen.
The armament of the USSR before the start of the Great Patriotic War corresponded to the needs of that time. Mosin magazine rifle arr. 1891 caliber 7.62 mm was the only example of a non-automatic weapon. This rifle proved to be excellent in the Second World War and was in service with the SA until the early 60s.
In parallel with the Mosin rifle, the Soviet infantry was equipped with Tokarev self-loading rifles: SVT-38 and in the SVT-40 improved in 1940. Also in the troops were Simonov's automatic rifles () - at the beginning of the war, their number was almost 1.5 million units.
The presence of such a huge number of automatic and self-loading rifles covered the lack of submachine guns (only at the beginning of 1941 production of the Shpagin PP began, which for a long time became the standard of reliability and simplicity).
The best example of submachine guns during the Second World War was recognized (Sudaev submachine gun).
One of the main features of the armament of the infantry of the Soviet army at the beginning of the Second World War was the complete absence of anti-tank guns. And this was reflected already in the first days of hostilities. In July 1941, Simonov and Degtyarev, by order of the high command, designed a five-shot PTRS rifle (Simonov) and a single-shot PTRD (Degtyarev).
For the entire time of the Great Patriotic War, the military industry of the USSR produced 12139.3 thousand carbines and rifles, 1515.9 thousand of all types of machine guns, 6173.9 thousand submachine guns. Since 1942, almost 450,000 heavy and light machine guns, 2 million submachine guns and more than 3 million self-loading and magazine rifles have been produced every year.
The beginning of the Great Patriotic War confirmed the importance of a good supply of the infantry with the latest models of small arms. During the war, many different samples of automatic weapons were developed and supplied to the army, which ultimately played a decisive role in the victory of the USSR over the fascist invaders.
By the end of the 30s, almost all participants in the coming world war had formed common directions in the development of small arms. The range and accuracy of destruction was reduced, which was compensated for by a higher density of fire. As a consequence of this, the beginning of the mass rearmament of units with automatic small arms - submachine guns, machine guns, assault rifles.
Accuracy of shooting began to fade into the background, while the soldiers who were advancing in a chain were taught to shoot on the move. With the advent of the airborne troops, it became necessary to create special lightweight weapons.
Maneuver warfare also affected machine guns: they became much lighter and more mobile. New types of small arms appeared (which was dictated primarily by the need to fight tanks) - rifle grenades, anti-tank guns and RPGs with cumulative grenades.
Small arms of the USSR of World War II
The rifle division of the Red Army on the eve of the Great Patriotic War was a very formidable force - about 14.5 thousand people. The main type of small arms were rifles and carbines - 10,420 pieces. The share of submachine guns was insignificant - 1204. There were 166, 392 and 33 units of easel, light and anti-aircraft machine guns, respectively.
The division had its own artillery of 144 guns and 66 mortars. Firepower was supplemented by 16 tanks, 13 armored vehicles and a solid fleet of auxiliary automotive vehicles.
Rifles and carbines
The main small arms of the infantry units of the USSR in the first period of the war were undoubtedly the famous three-line - 7.62 mm rifle S. I. Mosin, model 1891, modernized in 1930. Its advantages are well known - strength, reliability, unpretentiousness in service in combination with good ballistic qualities, in particular, with an aiming range of 2 km. 
Three-line - perfect weapon for newly recruited soldiers, and the simplicity of the design created huge opportunities for its mass production. But like any weapon, the three-line had flaws. A permanently attached bayonet in combination with a long barrel (1670 mm) created inconvenience when moving, especially in wooded areas. Serious criticism was caused by the shutter handle during reloading.
On its basis, a sniper rifle and a series of carbines of the 1938 and 1944 models were created. Fate measured the three-line for a long century (the last three-line was released in 1965), participation in many wars and an astronomical "circulation" of 37 million copies.
Sighting range SVT-40 - up to 1 km. SVT-40 fought with honor on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. Our opponents also appreciated it. Historical fact: capturing rich trophies at the beginning of the war, among which there were many SVT-40s, the German army ... adopted it, and the Finns created their own rifle - TaRaKo on the basis of SVT-40.
The AVT-40 automatic rifle became the creative development of the ideas implemented in the SVT-40. It differed from its predecessor in its ability to conduct automatic fire at a rate of up to 25 rounds per minute. The disadvantage of AVT-40 is low accuracy of fire, strong unmasking flame and loud sound at the moment of firing. Subsequently, as the troops received massive amounts of automatic weapons, they were removed from service.
Submachine guns
The Great Patriotic War was the time of the final transition from rifles to automatic weapons... The Red Army began to fight, armed with a small number of PPD-40 - a submachine gun designed by the outstanding Soviet designer Vasily Alekseevich Degtyarev. At that time, the PPD-40 was in no way inferior to its domestic and foreign counterparts. 
Designed for a pistol cartridge cal. 7.62 x 25 mm, the PPD-40 had an impressive 71 rounds of ammunition placed in a drum-type magazine. Weighing about 4 kg, it could fire at a speed of 800 rounds per minute with an effective range of up to 200 meters. However, a few months after the start of the war, it was replaced by the legendary PPSh-40 cal. 7.62 x 25 mm.
The creator of the PPSh-40, designer Georgy Semenovich Shpagin, was faced with the task of developing an extremely easy-to-use, reliable, technologically advanced, cheap-to-manufacture mass weapon. 
From its predecessor, the PPD-40, the PPSh inherited a drum magazine for 71 rounds. A little later, a simpler and more reliable sector horn magazine for 35 rounds was developed for it. The mass of the equipped assault rifles (both variants) was, respectively, 5.3 and 4.15 kg. The rate of fire of the PPSh-40 reached 900 rounds per minute with an aiming range of up to 300 meters and with the ability to conduct single fire.
To master the PPSh-40, several classes were enough. It was easily disassembled into 5 parts made by stamping-welded technology, due to which during the war years the Soviet defense industry produced about 5.5 million automatic machines.
In the summer of 1942, the young designer Alexei Sudaev presented his brainchild - a 7.62 mm submachine gun. It was strikingly different from its "older brothers" PPD and PPSh-40 in rational layout, higher manufacturability and ease of manufacture of parts by arc welding. 
PPS-42 was 3.5 kg lighter and required three times less time to manufacture. However, despite the quite obvious advantages, it never became a mass weapon, leaving the PPSh-40 to be the leader.
By the beginning of the war, the DP-27 light machine gun (Degtyarev infantry, cal 7.62mm) had been in service with the Red Army for almost 15 years, having the status of the main light machine gun of infantry units. Its automation was powered by the energy of powder gases. The gas regulator reliably protected the mechanism from dirt and high temperatures.
DP-27 could only conduct automatic fire, but even a beginner needed a few days to master shooting in short bursts of 3-5 rounds. Ammunition of 47 rounds was placed in a disk magazine with a bullet to the center in one row. The store itself was mounted on top of the receiver. The mass of the unloaded machine gun was 8.5 kg. The equipped magazine increased it by almost 3 kg more.
It was powerful weapon with an aiming range of 1.5 km and a combat rate of fire up to 150 rounds per minute. In the combat position, the machine gun rested on the bipod. At the end of the barrel, a flame arrester was screwed on, significantly reducing its unmasking effect. DP-27 was served by the shooter and his assistant. In total, about 800 thousand machine guns were fired.
Small arms of the Wehrmacht of World War II
The main strategy of the German army is offensive or blitzkrieg (blitzkrieg - lightning war). The decisive role in it was assigned to large tank formations, carrying out deep breakthroughs in the enemy's defenses in cooperation with artillery and aviation.
Tank units bypassed powerful fortified areas, destroying command centers and rear communications, without which the enemy would quickly lose combat effectiveness. The defeat was completed by the motorized units of the ground forces.
Small arms of the Wehrmacht infantry division
The staff of the German infantry division of the 1940 model assumed the presence of 12609 rifles and carbines, 312 submachine guns (automatic machines), light and heavy machine guns - respectively 425 and 110 pieces, 90 anti-tank rifles and 3600 pistols.Small arms of the Wehrmacht as a whole met the high requirements of wartime. It was reliable, trouble-free, simple, easy to manufacture and maintain, which contributed to its serial production.
Rifles, carbines, machine guns
Mauser 98K
The Mauser 98K is an improved version of the Mauser 98 rifle developed in late XIX centuries by brothers Paul and Wilhelm Mauser, founders of the world famous arms company. Equipping the German army with it began in 1935. 
Mauser 98K
The weapon was equipped with a clip with five 7.92 mm cartridges. A trained soldier could aim 15 shots within a minute at a distance of up to 1.5 km. The Mauser 98K was very compact. Its main characteristics: weight, length, barrel length - 4.1 kg x 1250 x 740 mm. Numerous conflicts with its participation, longevity and truly transcendental "circulation" - more than 15 million units testify to the indisputable advantages of the rifle.
Automatic MP-40 "Schmeisser"
Perhaps the most famous small arms of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War was the famous MP-40 submachine gun, a modification of its predecessor, the MP-36, created by Heinrich Vollmer. However, by the will of fate, he is better known under the name "Schmeisser", obtained thanks to the stamp on the store - "PATENT SCHMEISSER". The stigma simply meant that in addition to G. Volmer, Hugo Schmeisser also participated in the creation of the MP-40, but only as the creator of the store. 
Automatic MP-40 "Schmeisser"
Initially, the MP-40 was intended to arm the command staff of infantry units, but later it was transferred to the disposal of tankers, drivers of armored vehicles, paratroopers and special forces.
However, the MR-40 was absolutely unsuitable for infantry units, since it was an exclusively close-range weapon. In a fierce battle in open terrain, having weapons with a firing range of 70 to 150 meters meant for a German soldier to be practically unarmed in front of his enemy, armed with Mosin and Tokarev rifles with a firing range of 400 to 800 meters.
Assault rifle StG-44
Assault rifle StG-44 (sturmgewehr) cal. 7.92mm is another legend of the Third Reich. It is undoubtedly an outstanding creation by Hugo Schmeisser and the prototype of many post-war assault rifles and machine guns, including the famous AK-47. 
StG-44 could conduct single and automatic fire. Its weight with a full magazine was 5.22 kg. In the aiming range of 800 meters, the Sturmgever was in no way inferior to its main competitors. There were three versions of the store - for 15, 20 and 30 rounds with a rate of up to 500 rounds per minute. The option of using a rifle with an under-barrel grenade launcher and an infrared sight was considered.
Not without flaws. The assault rifle was a whole kilogram heavier than the Mauser-98K. Its wooden butt could sometimes not withstand hand-to-hand combat and simply broke. The flame escaping from the barrel betrayed the shooter's location, and the long magazine and sighting devices made him raise his head high when lying down.
MG-42 7.92 mm is quite rightly called one of the best machine guns of the Second World War. It was developed at Grossfus by engineers Werner Gruner and Kurt Horn. Those who experienced its firepower were very outspoken. Our soldiers called him the "lawn mower", and the allies - " circular saw Hitler ".
Depending on the type of shutter, the machine gun fired aimed at a speed of up to 1500 rpm at a distance of up to 1 km. The ammunition was supplied using a machine-gun belt for 50 - 250 rounds. The uniqueness of the MG-42 was complemented by a relatively small number of parts - 200 and high manufacturability of their production by stamping and spot welding.
The barrel, red-hot from firing, was replaced with a spare one in a few seconds using a special clamp. In total, about 450 thousand machine guns were fired. The unique technical know-how embodied in the MG-42 was borrowed by gunsmiths around the world when creating their machine guns.
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