Sau ferdinand on the Kursk Bulge. ACS Ferdinand - the grim brother of the "Beetle" in the service of the Wehrmacht, or the terrible brainchild of Porsche. Combat use of "Ferdinands"
Names:
8.8 cm PaK 43/2 Sfl L / 71 Panzerjäger Tiger (P);
Sturmgeschütz mit 8,8 cm PaK 43/2
(Sd.Kfz. 184).
The "Elephant" fighter tank, also known as "Ferdinand", is designed on the basis of the VK 4501 (P) prototype of the T-VI N "Tiger" tank. This version of the Tiger tank was developed by the Porsche company, however, preference was given to the design of the Henschel company, and it was decided to convert the manufactured 90 copies of the VK 4501 (P) chassis into tank destroyers. Above the control compartment and the fighting compartment, an armored wheelhouse was mounted, in which a powerful 88-mm semi-automatic gun with a barrel length of 71 caliber was installed. The gun was directed towards the rear of the chassis, which has now become the front of the SPG.
In its undercarriage, an electric transmission was used, which worked according to the following scheme: two carburetor engines drove two electric generators, the electric current of which was used to operate the electric motors that drove the drive wheels of the self-propelled unit. Other distinctive features of this installation are very strong armor (the thickness of the front plates of the hull and the casemate was 200 mm) and a large weight - 65 tons. Power plant with a capacity of only 640 hp. could provide the maximum speed of this colossus only 30 km / h. On rough terrain, she did not move much faster than a pedestrian. Tank destroyers "Ferdinand" were first used in July 1943 in the battle at the Kursk Bulge. They were very dangerous when fighting at long distances (a sub-caliber projectile at a distance of 1000 meters was guaranteed to penetrate 200-mm armor) there were cases when the T-34 tank was destroyed from a distance of 3000 meters, but in close combat they were more mobile tanks T-34 destroyed them with shots to the side and stern. Used in heavy anti-tank fighter units.
In 1942, the Wehrmacht adopted the "Tiger" tank, made according to the project of the "Henschel" company. The task to develop the same tank was received earlier by Professor Ferdinand Porsche, who, without waiting for the tests of both samples, launched his tank into production. The Porsche car was equipped with an electric transmission, which used a large amount of scarce copper, which was one of the strong arguments against its adoption. In addition, the undercarriage of the Porsche tank was notable for its low reliability and would require increased attention from the maintenance units of the tank divisions. Therefore, after the preference was given to the Henschel tank, the question arose about the use of ready-made chassis of Porsche tanks, which they managed to produce in an amount of 90 pieces. Five of them were modified into repair and recovery vehicles, and on the basis of the rest, it was decided to build tank destroyers with a powerful 88-mm RAK43 / 1 gun with a barrel length of 71 caliber, installing it in the armored cabin in the rear of the tank. Work on the conversion of Porsche tanks began in September 1942 at the Alquette plant in St. Valentine and was completed by May 8, 1943.
New assault guns were named Panzerjager 8,8 cm Cancer43 / 2 (Sd Kfz. 184)
Professor Ferdinand Porsche inspects one of the prototypes of the VK4501 (P) "Tiger" tank, June 1942.
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From the history During the fighting in the summer and autumn of 1943, some changes took place in the appearance of the Ferdinands. So, grooves for the drainage of rainwater appeared on the frontal sheet of the cabin, on some machines the spare parts box and the jack with a wooden beam for it were moved to the stern of the machine, and spare tracks were attached to the upper frontal sheet of the hull. Between January and April 1944, the Ferdinands that remained in service underwent modernization. First of all, they were equipped with an MG-34 machine gun mounted in the frontal sheet of the hull. Despite the fact that the "Ferdinands" were supposed to be used to combat enemy tanks at long distances, combat experience showed the need for a machine gun to defend self-propelled guns in close combat, especially if the vehicle was hit or exploded by a land mine. For example, during the battles on the Kursk Bulge, some crews practiced firing from the MG-34 light machine gun even through the barrel of the gun. In addition, to improve visibility, a turret with seven observation periscopes was installed in the place of the self-propelled commander's hatch (the turret was completely borrowed from the StuG42 assault gun). In addition, self-propelled guns strengthened the fastening of the wings, welded on-board observation devices of the driver and the radio operator (the real effectiveness of these devices turned out to be close to zero), abolished the headlights, moved the installation of the spare parts box, jack and spare tracks to the rear of the hull, increased the ammunition load for five shots, installed new removable grilles on the engine-transmission compartment (new grilles provided protection from KS bottles, which were actively used by the Red Army infantry to combat enemy tanks and self-propelled guns). In addition, the self-propelled guns received a zimmerite coating that protected the armor of the vehicles from magnetic mines and enemy grenades.
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Hitler constantly rushed production, wanting the new vehicles to be ready for the start of Operation Citadel, the timing of which was repeatedly postponed due to the insufficient number of new Tiger and Panther tanks produced. The Ferdinand assault guns were equipped with two Maybach HL120TRM carburetor engines with a power of 221 kW (300 hp) each. The engines were located in the central part of the hull, in front of the fighting compartment, behind the driver's seat. The thickness of the frontal armor was 200 mm, the side armor was 80 mm, the bottom was 60 mm, the roof of the fighting compartment was 40 mm and 42 mm. The driver and radio operator were located in the front of the hull, and the commander, gunner and two loaders in the stern.
In its design and layout, the Ferdinand assault gun differed from all German tanks and self-propelled guns during the Second World War. In the front of the hull there was a control compartment, which housed control levers and pedals, pneumatic-hydraulic braking system units, track tensioning mechanisms, a switching box with switches and rheostats, an instrument panel, fuel filters, starter batteries, a radio station, driver's and radio operator's seats. The power plant compartment occupied the middle part of the self-propelled gun. It was separated from the control compartment by a metal partition. It housed Maybach engines installed in parallel, coupled with generators, a ventilation and radiator unit, fuel tanks, a compressor, two fans intended for ventilation of the power plant compartment, and traction motors.
Tank destroyer "Elephant" Sd.Kfz.184
In the stern there was a fighting compartment with an 88-mm StuK43 L / 71 gun installed in it (a variant of the 88-mm anti-tank gun Rak43, adapted for installation in an assault gun) and ammunition, four crew members were also located here - the commander, the gunner and two loaders ... In addition, traction motors were located in the lower rear of the fighting compartment. The fighting compartment was separated from the compartment of the power plant by a heat-resistant partition, as well as a floor with felt seals. This was done in order to prevent contaminated air from entering the fighting compartment from the power plant compartment and localizing a possible fire in one or another compartment. The partitions between the compartments and, in general, the location of the equipment in the self-propelled gun body made it impossible for the driver and radio operator to communicate personally with the crew of the fighting compartment. The connection between them was carried out through a tankophone - a flexible metal hose - and a tank intercom.
For the production of "Ferdinands" used the body of not accepted for service "Tigers" design by F. Porsche, made of 80-mm-100-mm armor. At the same time, the side plates with the frontal and stern were connected into a spike, and at the edges of the side plates there were 20-mm grooves, into which the frontal and stern hull plates rested. Outside and inside, all joints were welded with austenitic electrodes. When converting the hulls of tanks into "Ferdinands", the rear beveled side plates were cut from the inside - thus they were facilitated by turning them into additional stiffeners. In their place, small 80-mm armor plates were welded, which are a continuation of the main board, to which the upper stern sheet was attached to the thorn. All these measures were taken in order to bring the upper part of the hull to one level, which was later necessary for the installation of the casemate. The lower edge of the side plates also had 20-mm grooves, which included the bottom plates with subsequent double-sided welding. The front part of the bottom (at a length of 1350 mm) was reinforced with an additional 30 mm sheet, riveted to the main one with 25 rivets arranged in 5 rows. In addition, welding was carried out along the edges without grooving.
| 3/4 top view from the front of the hull and deckhouse | |
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| "Ferdinand" | "Elephant" |
| Click on the picture to enlarge (will open in a new window) | |
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On "Elephanta" there was a course machine-gun mount, covered with additional overhead armor. The jack and the wooden stand for it have been moved to the stern. The front wheel arch liners are reinforced with steel profiles. The spare track links have been removed from the front wheel arch liners. The headlights are dismantled. A sun visor is installed above the driver's viewing devices. A commander's cupola was mounted on the roof of the wheelhouse, similar to the commander's cupola of the StuG III assault gun. On the frontal wall of the cabin there are welded gutters for rainwater drainage. |
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The front and frontal hull plates with a thickness of 100 mm were additionally reinforced with 100 mm screens, which were connected to the main sheet by 12 (front) and 11 (frontal) bolts with a diameter of 38 mm with bulletproof heads. In addition, the top and sides were welded. To prevent the nuts from loosening during shelling, they were also welded to the inside of the main sheets. The holes for the viewing device and the machine-gun mount in the frontal sheet of the hull, inherited from the "Tiger" designed by F. Porsche, were welded from the inside with special armor inserts. The roof sheets of the control compartment and the power plant were placed in 20-mm grooves in the upper edge of the side and frontal sheets, followed by double-sided welding. The roof of the control compartment had two hatches for landing the driver and radio operator. The driver's hatch had three holes for viewing devices, protected from above by an armored visor. To the right of the radio operator's hatch, an armored cylinder was welded to protect the antenna input, and a stopper was attached between the hatches to secure the gun barrel in the stowed position. In the front beveled side plates of the hull there were viewing slots for observing the driver and radio operator.
| 3/4 top view from the rear of the hull and deckhouse | |
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| "Ferdinand" | "Elephant" |
| Click on the picture to enlarge (will open in a new window) | |
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Differences between "Ferdinand" and "Elephant"... The Elephant has a toolbox in the stern. The rear wheel arch liners are reinforced with steel profiles. The sledgehammer has been moved to the stern leaf of the felling. Instead of handrails, on the left side of the aft deckhouse, there are mountings for spare tracks. |
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Ferdinand is a heavy SPG developed by Nazi Germany in 1942.
Tiger from Porsche
In 1941, Porsche provided Hitler with a blueprint for his new Tiger tank, and the vehicle was immediately taken into development. It was assumed that it would be a heavy tank weighing 45 tons with a turret and two engines. The tank was built by the Austrian plant Nibelungenwerk, and in April 1942 it passed its first tests at the Kummersdorf training ground. The tests were personally headed by Hitler.
In these tests, the Tiger competed with the Henschel VK 45.01 (H) tank, and the latter showed itself better than the Tiger, despite the fact that high hopes were initially pinned on the Porsche car.
Breakdowns of the Tiger during test drives led to the fact that the project was canceled in favor of a more promising competitor. However, the Germans were so confident that the Tiger would go into mass production that while the tests were underway, the plant had already produced a hundred tracked chassis for it. Since the project was canceled, this became a problem. The tracked chassis of the Tiger did not fit any of the projected German tanks. Then Porsche was commissioned to develop a new tank for these tracks in order to put them into operation.
Converting Tiger to SPG
Porsche submitted a project for a new ACS on September 22, 1942. It was a heavy anti-tank gun (anti-tank gun) equipped with an 88mm L / 71 cannon, which was also under development at the time. The new ACS was planned to be released to replace the outdated Marder II and III, which were actively used on the Eastern Front. The firing range of the new PT was estimated to be 4500-5000 meters. For that time, these were very impressive figures.
The new tank was designed on the basis of the Tiger, only it had to be even larger. It was a long and wide tank destroyer with a heavy tank armor. The 100 tracked chassis provided by Porsche for development could only be enough for 91 PTs, because the tank gained weight. When the project was completed, Hitler approved it, and on November 30, 1942, development of the prototype began. The first tests of the new PT began on March 19, 1943.
I was impressed with the result and ordered to speed up production. Already in May, the first series of tanks was released, and the tank received its new nickname Ferdinand in honor of its developer Ferdinand Porsche.
Ferdinand's design
Ferdinand was longer and heavier than the Tiger. If the Tiger was supposed to weigh 45 tons, then Ferdinand has already grown to 65. This increase is due to the reinforced armor of the PT hull. The engines were completely redesigned, ventilation and cooling were increased, but there were still two of them. The body was made of metal plates welded at a slight angle. The original Tiger armor (100 mm in front and 60 mm in the rear and sides) was increased to 200 mm in the front by welding additional metal sheets.
Thanks to this decision, Ferdinand received the thickest armor among all existing tanks of that time. The engine was moved to the front of the tank, which provided additional safety for the crew. Ferdinand's circular booking was as follows: 200 mm in front, 80 mm in the rear and sides, 30 mm roof and bottom.
The driver was located in front of the hull on the left side, directly under the hatch. To the right of the driver sat the radio operator, followed by the commander and the loader. 4 periscopes were installed in the roof of the tank - for the driver, loader, gunner and commander. In the rear of the hull there were holes for firing MG 34 or MP 40 machine guns.
Ferdinand was powered by two Maybach HL 120 TRM engines (245 hp at 2600 rpm), which powered two Siemens Schuckert K58-8 generators (230 kW / 1300 rpm). The tank was rear-wheel drive. Ferdinand's top speed was 30 km / h, but on rough terrain did not exceed 10 km / h. The volume of the tank's gas tank was 950 liters, and the fuel consumption coefficient was about 8 l / s.
Ferdinand's main gun was the 88 mm PaK4 / 2L / 71, AA version, with a longer barrel, reduced recoil and an adjusted shutter mechanism. There was no onboard machine gun; instead, there were holes in the hull for manual shooting in case the crew found themselves in close combat.
Ferdinand in battle
The entire batch of 89 vehicles was sent to the Eastern Front between May and June 1943. There they underwent combat training before the operation on the Kursk Bulge. In battles, Ferdinand proved his superiority and power. The platoon was tasked with destroying Soviet T-34 tanks from a distance of 5 km. They coped with this task excellently, but moving deeper into the front line of Ferdinand soon discovered their main disadvantages: a poor viewing angle and the absence of a machine gun.
The Soviet infantrymen quickly recognized Ferdinand's shortcomings and easily destroyed these tanks, simply hiding and waiting for the SPG to travel a little ahead. Then the tank was bombarded with grenades and Molotov cocktails. Ferdinand was a formidable weapon in the battle against tanks, but he was incredibly vulnerable to infantry, as a result of which the tank platoon on the Kursk Bulge was defeated.
The most famous German self-propelled gun of the Second World War "Ferdinand" owes its birth, on the one hand, to the intrigues around the heavy tank \ / K 4501 (P), and on the other, to the appearance of the 88-mm anti-tank gun Cancer 43. Tank \ / K The 4501 (P) - simply put the "Tiger" designed by Dr. Porsche - was shown to Hitler on April 20, 1942, along with his competitor VK 4501 (H), the Henschel Tiger. According to Hitler, both machines were to be launched into mass production, which was opposed in every possible way by the Armaments Directorate, whose workers could not stand the obstinate pet of the Fuhrer - Dr. Porsche.
The tests did not reveal the obvious advantages of one vehicle over another, but Porsche's readiness for production of the Tiger was higher - by June 6, 1942, the first 16 VK 4501 (P) tanks were ready for delivery to the troops, for which Krupp was finishing assembling the turrets. ... Henschel could have delivered only one car by this date, and that one without a turret. The first battalion, equipped with Porsche "tigers", was supposed to be formed by August 1942 and sent to Stalingrad, but suddenly the Armaments Directorate stopped all work on the tank for a month.
The managers took advantage of Hitler's instructions to create an assault gun based on the Pz.IV and VK 4501 tanks, armed with the latest 88-mm Rak 43/2 anti-tank gun with a barrel length of 71 caliber. At the suggestion of the Armaments Directorate, it was decided to convert all 92 ready-made and assembled VK 4501 (P) chassis in the workshops of the Nibelungenwerke plant into assault guns.
In September 1942, work began. The design was carried out by Porsche together with the designers of the Berlin plant Alkett. Since the armored wheelhouse was supposed to be located aft, the chassis layout had to be changed by placing engines and generators in the middle of the hull. Initially, it was planned to assemble new ACS in Berlin, but this had to be abandoned due to the difficulties associated with transportation by rail and due to the reluctance to suspend the production of the StuG III assault guns - the main product of the Alkett plant. As a result, the SPG assembly, which received the official designation 8.8 cm Pak 43/2 Sfl L / 71 Panzerjäger Tiger (P) Sd.Kfz. 184 and the name Ferdinand (personally assigned by Hitler in February 1943 in homage to Dr. Ferdinand Porsche), was produced at the Nibelungenwerke plant.
The frontal 100-mm plates of the Tiger (P) tank hull were also reinforced with 100-mm armor plates fixed to the hull with bullet-proof bolts. Thus, the frontal armor of the hull was brought to 200 mm. The frontal felling sheet had a similar thickness. The thickness of the side and stern sheets reached 80 mm (according to other sources, 85 mm). The armored plates of the cabin were connected "into a thorn" and reinforced with dowels, and then scalded. The deckhouse was attached to the hull with brackets and bolts with a bullet-proof head.
In the front of the hull there were seats for the driver and radio operator. Behind them, in the center of the car, parallel to each other were installed two 12-cylinder carburetor V-shaped liquid-cooled Maybach HL 120TRM engines with a capacity of 265 hp. (at 2600 rpm) each. The engines rotated the rotors of two Siemens Typ aGV generators, which, in turn, supplied electricity to two Siemens D1495aAC traction motors with a power of 230 kW each, installed in the rear of the vehicle under the fighting compartment. The torque from the electric motors with the help of electromechanical final drives was transmitted to the driving wheels of the stern arrangement. In emergency mode or in the event of combat damage to one of the power supply branches, its duplication was envisaged.
The Ferdinand's undercarriage in relation to one side consisted of six road wheels with internal shock absorption, interlocked in pairs in three bogies with an original, very complex, but highly efficient Porsche suspension scheme with longitudinal torsion bars, tested on the experimental VK 3001 (P) chassis. The drive wheel had removable toothed rims with 19 teeth each. The idler wheel also had toothed rims, which excluded idle rewinding of the tracks.
Each track consisted of 109 tracks 640 mm wide.
In the wheelhouse, in the trunnions of a special machine, an 88-mm Rak 43/2 cannon (in a self-propelled version - StuK 43) with a barrel length of 71 caliber, developed on the basis of the Flak 41 anti-aircraft gun, was installed. The horizontal guidance angle did not exceed the 28 ° sector. Elevation angle + 14 °, declination -8 °. The mass of the gun is 2200 kg. The embrasure in the frontal leaf of the cabin was covered with a massive molded pear-shaped mask connected to the machine. However, the design of the mask was not very successful and did not provide full protection against bullet lead splashes and small fragments that penetrated into the body through the gaps between the mask and the frontal sheet. Therefore, on the masks of most of the "Ferdinands" armored shields were reinforced. The gun ammunition consisted of 50 unitary rounds placed on the walls of the wheelhouse. In the aft part of the cabin there was a round hatch for dismantling the gun.
According to German data, the PzGr 39/43 armor-piercing projectile with a mass of 10.16 kg and an initial speed of 1000 m / s penetrated 165 mm armor at a distance of 1000 m (at a 90 ° meeting angle), and the PzGr 40/43 subcaliber projectile weighing 7.5 kg and an initial speed of 1130 m / s - 193 mm, which ensured "Ferdinand" unconditional defeat of any of the then existing tanks.
Assembly of the first car began on February 16, and the last - the ninetieth "Ferdinand" left the factory shops on May 8, 1943. In April, the first production vehicle was tested at the Kummersdorf test site.
The baptism of fire of the "Ferdinands" was accepted during Operation Citadel as part of the 656th tank destroyer regiment, which included the 653rd and 654th divisions (schwere Panzerjäger Abteilung - sPz.Jäger Abt.). By the beginning of the battle, the first had 45 and the second 44 Ferdinands. Both divisions were in the operational subordination of the 41st Panzer Corps, took part in heavy battles on the northern face of the Kursk Bulge near the Ponyri station (654th division) and the village of Teploe (653rd division).
The 654th Battalion suffered especially heavy losses, mainly in minefields. Twenty-one Ferdinands remained on the battlefield. The German equipment knocked out and destroyed in the area of the Ponyri station was examined on July 15, 1943 by representatives of the GAU and the NIBT Polygon of the Red Army. Most of the "Ferdinands" were in a minefield filled with land mines from captured large-caliber shells and aerial bombs. More than half of the vehicles had damage to the chassis; broken tracks, destroyed road wheels, etc. In five Ferdinands, the damage to the chassis was caused by shells of 76 mm or more caliber. In two German self-propelled guns, the barrels of the guns were shot through by shells and bullets of anti-tank rifles. One vehicle was destroyed by a direct hit from an aerial bomb, and another was destroyed by a 203-mm howitzer shell hitting the roof of the wheelhouse.
Only one self-propelled gun of this type, which was fired from different directions by seven T-34 tanks and a battery of 76-mm guns, had a hole in the side, in the area of the drive wheel. Another "Ferdinand", which had no damage to the hull and chassis, was set on fire by a Molotov cocktail thrown by our infantrymen.
The only worthy opponent of heavy German self-propelled guns was the Soviet SU-152. The SU-152 regiment fired on the attacking Ferdinands of the 653rd division on July 8, 1943, knocking out four enemy vehicles. In total, in July - August 1943, the Germans lost 39 Ferdinands. The last trophies went to the Red Army on the outskirts of Orel - several damaged assault guns prepared for evacuation were captured at the railway station.
The first battles of the "Ferdinands" on the Kursk Bulge were, in fact, the last, where these self-propelled guns were used in large numbers. From a tactical point of view, their use left much to be desired. Created to destroy Soviet medium and heavy tanks at long distances, they were used as an advanced "armor shield", blindly ramming engineering barriers and anti-tank defenses, while incurring heavy losses. At the same time, the moral effect of the appearance on the Soviet-German front of largely invulnerable German self-propelled guns was very large. "Ferdinandomania" and "Ferdinandphobia" appeared. Judging by the memoir literature, there was no soldier in the Red Army who did not knock out or, in extreme cases, did not participate in the battle with the Ferdinands. They crawled into our positions on all fronts, from 1943 (and sometimes even earlier) until the end of the war. The number of "knocked out" "Ferdinands" is approaching several thousand. This phenomenon can be explained by the fact that most of the Red Army soldiers were poorly versed in all kinds of "marders", "bison" and "naskhorns" and called any German self-propelled gun "Ferdinand", which indicates how great was its "popularity" among our soldiers. And, in addition, for the shot down "Ferdinand" without further ado, they were given an order.
(caterpillar chain is conventionally not shown):
1 - 88 mm cannon; 2 - armor shield on the mask; 3 - periscopic sight; 4 - commander's cupola; 5 - fan; 6 - hatch of the periscopic observation device; 7 - stacking 88-mm rounds on the wall of the fighting compartment; 8 - electric motor; 9 - driving wheel; 10 - suspension trolley; 11 - engine; 12 - generator; 13 - gunner's seat; 14 - driver's seat; 15 - guide wheel; 16 - course machine gun
After the inglorious completion of Operation Citadel, the remaining Ferdinands in the ranks were transferred to Zhitomir and Dnepropetrovsk, where their current repairs and replacement of guns began, caused by a strong explosion of barrels. At the end of August, the personnel of the 654th division were sent to France for reorganization and rearmament. At the same time, he transferred his self-propelled guns to the 653rd division, which in October-November took part in defensive battles in the Nikopol and Dnepropetrovsk areas. In December, the division left the front line and was sent to Austria.
During the period from July 5 (the beginning of Operation Citadel) to November 5, 1943, the Ferdinands of the 656th regiment knocked out 582 Soviet tanks, 344 anti-tank guns, 133 guns, 103 anti-tank guns, three aircraft, three armored vehicles and three self-propelled guns *.
Between January and March 1944, the 47 Ferdinands that remained by that time were modernized at the Nibelungenwerke plant. In the frontal armor of the hull on the right, a ball mount of the MG 34 machine gun was mounted. A commander's cupola, borrowed from the StuG 40 assault gun, appeared on the roof of the wheelhouse. did not have. Ammunition was brought to 55 rounds. The name of the car was changed to Elefant (elephant). However, until the end of the war, the self-propelled gun was often called the familiar name "Ferdinand".
At the end of February 1944, the 1st company of the 653rd division was sent to Italy, where it took part in the battles of Anzio, and in May - June 1944 - near Rome. At the end of June, the company, which had two serviceable "Elephanta", was transferred to Austria.
In April 1944, the 653rd division, consisting of two companies, was sent to the Eastern Front, in the Ternopil region. There, during the fighting, the division lost 14 vehicles, but 11 of them were repaired and put back into operation. In July, the division, which was already retreating through Poland, had 33 serviceable self-propelled guns. However, on July 18, the 653rd division, without reconnaissance and preparation, was thrown into battle to the rescue of the 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen, and within a day the number of combat vehicles in its ranks was more than halved. Soviet troops very successfully used their heavy self-propelled guns and 57-mm anti-tank guns against the "elephant". Some of the German vehicles were only damaged and completely subject to restoration, but due to the impossibility of evacuation, they were blown up or set on fire by their own crews. The remnants of the battalion-12 combat-ready vehicles were taken to Krakow on August 3. In October 1944, the Jagdtiger self-propelled guns began to enter the battalion, and the "elephants" remaining in the ranks were reduced to the 614th heavy anti-tank company.
Until the beginning of 1945, the company was in the reserve of the 4th Panzer Army, and on February 25 it was transferred to the Wünsdorf area to strengthen the anti-tank defense. At the end of April, the Elephanta fought their last battles in Wünsdorf and Zossen as part of the so-called Ritter group (Captain Ritter was the commander of the 614th battery).
In surrounded Berlin, the last two self-propelled guns "Elephant" were knocked out in the area of Karl-August Square and the Church of the Holy Trinity.
Two self-propelled guns of this type have survived to this day. The Museum of Armored Weapons and Equipment in Kubinka exhibits "Ferdinand", captured by the Red Army during the Battle of Kursk, and the Museum of the Aberdeen Proving Ground in the United States - "Elephant", which the Americans got in Italy, near Anzio.
TACTICAL AND TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS SAU "FERDINAND"
Combat weight, t ……………………… .65
Crew, people ……………………………… 6
Overall dimensions, mm:
length ……………………………… .8140
width …………………………… .3380
height …………………………… ..2970
ground clearance ……………………………. 480
Armor thickness, mm:
the forehead of the hull and the casemate …………… .200
board and feed ……………………… ..80
roof ………………………………… .30
bottom ………………………………… .20
Maximum speed, km / h:
on the highway …………………………… ..20
on the terrain ……………………… ..11
Cruising range, km:
on the highway …………………………… 150
on the terrain ……………………… ..90
Overcoming obstacles:
ascent angle, degrees ……………… ..22
ditch width, m …………………… 2.64
wall height, m ………………. 0.78
ford depth, m …………………… .1
Support length
surface, mm ……………… ..4175
Specific pressure, kg / cm 2 …… .1,23
Specific power, hp / t… .about 8
M. BARYATINSKY
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The heroes of the popular book and film "The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed", employees of the legendary Moscow Criminal Investigation Department use a bus nicknamed "Ferdinand" as transport. From the driver's mouth, the protagonist learns that the car is named for the similarity of the silhouette to a German self-propelled gun.
From this small episode, you can find out how well-known among the front-line soldiers was the self-propelled artillery unit made by Ferdinand Porsche. Despite the small number of vehicles produced, these installations have sunk into the memory of everyone who has seen them in battle.
History of creation
The self-propelled breakthrough unit "Ferdinand" owes its birth to another, no less epic example of the German tank genius. The beginning of 1941 was marked by a personal order from Hitler to the two largest design bureaus in Germany on May 26 at a meeting in the presence of senior officials of the engineering department related to the armored forces.
In the presence of KB representatives, the battles in France were analyzed, and the shortcomings of German combat vehicles were revealed. Ferdinand Porsche and Steier Hacker, director of Henschel, have been formally awarded special orders. They were supposed to create a heavy tank designed to break through the defense lines of Germany's opponents.
Another reason for the order is the ineffectiveness of most German tanks in the fight against the thick-skinned English "Matilda" Mk.II. If the planned operation "Sea Lion" was successful, the panzerwaffe had to face, according to various estimates, 5,000 of these machines. At the same meeting, the Fuhrer was presented with models of Porsche and Henschel tanks.
The summer of 1941 had a twofold impact on the development of new tanks.
On the one hand, the designers were busy refining the cars in the series. On the other hand, the Wehrmacht got acquainted with the KV tanks, which made a huge impression on both generals and ordinary tankers. In the fall of 1941, work on the development of a heavy tank was continued in a forced mode.
The armament department, which oversaw the creation of the machine, was on the side of the Henschel firm. At their request, the development was headed by Erwin Aders, who went down in history as the chief designer of the Wehrmacht's symbol tank.
During this period, Ferdinand Porsche enters into a serious conflict with the Armaments Directorate due to technical inconsistencies with the turret of the tank being designed and ordered by officials. Subsequently, this will play a role in the fate of both prototypes.
Dr. Todt, Porsche's only ally in promoting his model, dies in a plane crash. However, Ferdinand himself was confident of the success of his development. Enjoying unlimited success with Hitler, he placed at his own peril and risk in the Nibelungenwerk firm an order for the manufacture of bodies for his machines.
During the tests, the enmity of the Fuhrer's pet and the officials of the Office played a role.
Despite the superiority of the Porsche model, recorded during the tests, it was recommended to adopt the Henschel model, to the horror of the technicians of the German army. Hitler's proposal to produce two vehicles was met with a restrained refusal, motivated by the impossibility of producing two expensive but equivalent tanks in wartime.
Failure turned to face Porsche, after in March 1942 it became clear that the new powerful assault weapons required by Hitler, equipped with an 88-mm gun, could not be created on the basis of the PzKpfw. IV as originally planned.
This is where the 92 chassis units built by the Nibelungenwerk came in handy, for the Porsche designs that never made it to the Tigers series. The creator himself plunged into a new project. Carried away by calculations, he worked out a scheme with the location of the crew in the spacious conning tower located behind.
After agreeing with the Armaments Directorate and improvements, the Nibelungenwerk plant began assembling the hulls of new self-propelled guns based on the long-suffering chassis. During this period, it is unclear by whom, the course machine gun laid down by Porsche was removed. This "revision" will then play a role in the fate of the ACS.
The beginning of 1943 was marked by the emergence of the first self-propelled guns from the gates and sending them to the front. In February, the Fuehrer's gift to the creator of the self-propelled guns comes - the car is officially named "Vater", "Ferdinand". By order of the same "possessed" self-propelled guns go to the East without acceptance. A rather surprised Porsche recalled that he had waited for complaints from the front about his cars that were not completed in a hurry, but did not receive a single one.
Combat use
The baptism of the Ferdinands was the Battle of the Kursk Bulge. Soviet intelligence, however, already on April 11 had information about new equipment being brought to the front line. An approximate drawing of the car was attached to the information, quite similar to the original. A requirement was drawn up for the design of 85-100-mm guns to combat the armor of self-propelled guns, but before the summer offensive of the Wehrmacht, of course, the troops did not receive these guns.
Already on July 8, the USSR Main Armored Directorate received a radiogram about the Ferdinand stuck in a minefield, which immediately attracted attention with its unique silhouette. The officers who flew in for inspection did not have a chance to see this car, since the Germans advanced in two days.
The Ferdinands went into battle at the Ponyri station. The Germans did not succeed in taking the position of the Soviet troops head on, so on July 9 a powerful assault group was formed, in the head of which were the Ferdinands. In vain they fired shell after shell at the self-propelled guns, the Soviet artillerymen, as a result, left their positions near the village of Goreloe.
With this maneuver, they lured the advancing group into minefields, and then destroyed a large number of armored vehicles with attacks from the flanks. On July 11, the bulk of the advancing equipment was transferred to another sector of the front, the remaining units of the Ferdinand battalion tried to organize the evacuation of the destroyed equipment.
This was fraught with many difficulties. The main one was the lack of sufficiently powerful tractors capable of dragging self-propelled guns to their own.
A powerful counterattack by the Soviet infantry on July 14 finally thwarted the plans for the removal of this equipment.
Another sector of the front, near the village of Teploe, attacked by a battalion of "Ferdinands", was subjected to no less pressure. Due to the more deliberate actions of the enemy, here the losses of self-propelled guns were much less. But here the first case of the capture of a combat vehicle along with the crew took place. During the attack, having undergone massive fire from heavy artillery, the self-propelled guns began to maneuver.
As a result, the car hit the sand and "dug" into the ground. At first, the crew tried to dig out the self-propelled guns on their own, but the Soviet infantry that arrived in time quickly convinced the German self-propelled guns. A fully functional machine was pulled out of the trap only at the beginning of August with the help of two Stalinets tractors.
After the end of the fighting, a comprehensive analysis was carried out of the use of the new self-propelled gun by the Germans, as well as the methods of effectively dealing with it. The lion's share of the vehicles were disabled due to the explosion on mines and damage to the chassis. Several SPGs were hit by heavy corps artillery and SU-152 fire. One car was destroyed by a bomb from, one was burned by bottles from a COP by infantrymen.
And only one car received a hole with a 76-mm projectile, in the T-34-76 defense zone from 76-mm divisional guns, the fire was fired at a distance of only 200-400 meters. Soviet soldiers were greatly impressed by the new German vehicles. The command, assessing the complexity of the fight against "Ferdinand", gave the order to award orders to those who were able to destroy this machine in battle.
Among the tankers and artillerymen, legends spread about a huge number of these self-propelled guns, since they took any German self-propelled gun with a muzzle brake and a stern warhead for "Ferdinand".
The Germans made their own disappointing conclusions. 39 of the 90 available vehicles were lost near Kursk, 4 more vehicles were burned during the retreat in Ukraine in 1943. The remaining self-propelled guns, in full force, except for a few samples, were taken to Porsche for revision. Some parts were replaced, a course machine gun was installed, and the car went to help in the fight against the Allies in Italy.
There is a widespread myth that this movement was caused by the heaviness of the system and the greater suitability of the Italian rocky roads for them. In fact, about 30 cars were sent to the Eastern Front, where, in the course of repelling the "10 Stalinist strikes" in 1944, Ferdinands, one by one, were sent into oblivion.
The last battle involving this machine was the Battle of Berlin. No matter how wonderful the gun and armor were, it could not hold back the Red Army in the spring of 1945.
The self-propelled guns, which were delivered to the Soviet Union as trophies, were used as targets for testing new anti-tank weapons, dismantled to a screw for study, and then were sent for scrap. The only Soviet car that has survived to our time is in the famous Kubinka.
Comparative characteristics with the enemy
Like a strong wild beast, "Ferdinand" had few enemies capable of fighting him on equal terms. If we take machines of a similar class, the closest in terms of efficiency will be the Soviet self-propelled guns SU-152 and ISU-152, nicknamed for the effectiveness of shooting at "Tigers", "Panthers" and other Hitler's zoo, "St. John's wort".
You can also consider the specialized SU-100 tank destroyer, which was tested on captured Porsche self-propelled guns.
- armoring, the weakest part of Soviet self-propelled guns in comparison with "Ferdinand", 200 mm of frontal armor against 60 ... 75 for Soviet models;
- gun, 88-mm for the Germans against 152-mm ML-20 and 100-mm guns, all three guns effectively coped with suppressing the resistance of almost any vehicles, but the Porsche self-propelled guns did not succumb, their (self-propelled) armor could penetrate even 152-mm shells with great work;
- ammunition load, 55 rounds for the Porsche ACS, against 21 for the ISU-152 and 33 for the SU-100;
- cruising range, 150 km for "Ferdinand" and twice as great for domestic self-propelled guns;
- the number of produced models: 91 units from the Germans, several hundred SU-152s, 3200 ISU units, slightly less than 5000 SU-100.
As a result, the German design is still slightly superior in combat qualities to the Soviet models. However, problems with the undercarriage, as well as scanty output, did not allow full use of the potential of these machines.
In addition, Soviet tankers and self-propelled guns, having received new powerful 85 and 122-mm cannons on T-34 and IS tanks, were able to fight on equal terms with Porsche's creations, it was worth entering from the flank or rear. As often happens, everything in the end was decided by the decisiveness and ingenuity of the crew.
Ferdinands device
Hitler did not spare any materials for his beloved designer, so the Porsche cars got the best. The sailors handed over part of the cemented armor reserves, designed for huge naval calibers. The mass and thickness were forced to connect the armor plates "in a thorn", additionally using dowels for reinforcement. It was impossible to disassemble this structure.
Further body welding was carried out, rather, for sealing, and not for articulation. The armor plates of the side and stern were placed at a slight slope, increasing the projectile resistance. There were also embrasures for firing from the crew's weapons. The small size of these holes, however, did not allow for targeted shooting, since the front sight was not visible.
The stern of the cabin had an armored hatch. Shells were loaded into it, the weapon was changed through it. In case of damage, the crew escaped through the same door. There were 6 people inside, the layout provided for a driver-mechanic and a radio operator in the frontal part, then the engine compartment in the middle, and in the stern the gun commander, gunner and two loaders.
The movement of the car was carried out by 2x Maybach engines running on gasoline.
In general, Ferdinand's engines were something fantastic by the standards of tank building in the 1940s. Carbureted 12-cylinder HL 120TRM in 265 hp were located not one after the other, but in parallel. The crankshaft of the internal combustion engine had a flange, to which a 385-volt DC Typ aGV generator from Siemens-Schuckert was attached.
Electricity from the generators was transmitted to 2 Siemens-Schuckert D149aAC traction motors with a capacity of 230 kW each. The electric motor rotated a planetary reduction gear, which, respectively, its own traction sprocket of the caterpillar.
The low-voltage circuit is made in a single-wire circuit. Some devices (radio station, lighting, fan) were powered from 12V, some (starters, independent field windings of electric machines) from 24V. Four batteries were charged from 24-volt generators located on each engine. All electrics were produced by Bosch.
The problem was created by the exhaust system. At the 5th road roller there was an exhaust pipe, everything around was heated, grease evaporated from the bearings, and the rubber band quickly failed.
Porsche took the chassis of the self-propelled unit from his own tank "Leopard", invented in 1940. A feature in it was the presence of a trolley for torsion bars, 3 per board, and not installing them inside the hull. This won Ferdinand the love of German technicians who turned gray only at the mention of the Henschel Tiger chassis.
To change the roller for Dr. Porsche took about 4 hours, the same operation on the "Tiger" took about a day.
The rollers themselves were also successful due to the tires inside the wheel. This required 4 times less rubber. The principle of shear operation increased the service threshold of the bandage.
A recognition of the success of the experience can be called the introduction of rollers of a similar design on heavy tanks at the end of the war. One side took 108-110 tracks with a width of 64 centimeters.
The armament of the SPG was an 88 mm gun with a barrel length of 71 caliber (about 7 meters). The gun was installed in a ball mask, in the frontal part of the cabin.
This design turned out to be unsuccessful, as fragments and lead splashes from bullets fell into the slots in a multitude. In the future, to correct this defect, special protective shields were installed. The Ferdinand's gun, one of the most powerful developments in the German army, was originally an anti-aircraft gun. After finishing it was put on a self-propelled gun.
Its shells effectively hit almost any Soviet or allied armored vehicle from a long distance. Ammunition included armor-piercing and subcaliber shells, as well as high-explosive fragmentation, separate loading.
The lack of a machine gun noted above on early machines can be explained as follows. According to German tactics, assault self-propelled guns should move in the second line of the offensive, behind tanks and infantry, covering them with gun fire. Near Kursk, the high concentration, and, most importantly, the effectiveness of artillery fire forced the self-propelled guns to be thrown forward, with minimal cover.
The optics were represented by a monocular sight, providing gun guidance at a distance of 2 km.
Internal communication was supported by an intercom, external communication was the responsibility of the radio operator (he was also the shooter in the modernized Elephant).
Contribution to culture and history
The Porsche car, despite the small circulation, left a bright mark in the history of the Second World War. Along with the Tiger and Messerschmitt, this self-propelled gun is the symbol of the Wehrmacht. Coming to the glory of the German self-propelled systems, it was a real horror for the enemy.
Of course, you can learn to fight against any enemy, but in 1943 a real "ferdinandophobia" began in the troops. The cunning Germans used this by putting buckets on the barrels of other self-propelled guns, imitating a muzzle brake.
Judging by the memoirs, only the Soviet troops destroyed about 600 "Ferdinands" during the fighting, with a total release of 91 units.
The Germans did not lag behind. The more difficult and unsuccessful the war was for them, the more was the number of destroyed Soviet tanks. Often in their memoirs, tankers and self-propelled gunners name the numbers of wrecked vehicles, twice the number of armored vehicles in the front sector. In both cases, the SPGs in question played a huge role.
Much attention is paid to ACS in the literature. The fictional work "War as in War", describing Soviet self-propelled guns, contains a description of the battlefield after the meeting of a German self-propelled gun with a group of thirty-fours, not in favor of Soviet technology. The fighters themselves speak of him as a worthy and dangerous enemy.
Often found "Ferdinand" in computer games based on the Second World War.
Actually, it's easier to name those games in which there is no SPG. It is worth noting that the characteristics and description in such crafts often do not correspond to reality. For the sake of playability, the developers sacrifice the real characteristics of the car.
You can make your own legendary car and put it on the shelf. Many modeling firms make assembly kits at various scales. You can name the brands Cyber Hobby, Dragon, Italeri. The Zvezda firm produced and put into series ACS twice. The first issue, number 3563, had many inaccuracies.
The patterns copied from Italeri represented the Elephant and had many inaccuracies. The next model, 3653, is the first Ferdinand to be baptized near Kursk.
The Second World War and the Great Patriotic War gave many technical samples that have become legends. Among the German-made self-propelled guns "Ferdinand" takes, of course, the first place.
Video
Whether the Germans had the best self-propelled guns in the world or not is a moot point, but the fact that they managed to create one that left an indelible memory of all Soviet soldiers is for sure. This is a heavy self-propelled gun "Ferdinand". It got to the point that, starting in the second half of 1943, in almost every combat report, Soviet troops destroyed at least one such self-propelled gun. If we sum up the losses of "Ferdinands" according to Soviet reports, then during the war several thousand of them were destroyed. The piquancy of the situation lies in the fact that the Germans produced only 90 of them during the entire war, and another 4 ARVs based on them. It is difficult to find a sample of armored vehicles from the Second World War, produced in such small quantities and at the same time so famous. All German self-propelled guns were recorded in "Ferdinands", but most often - "Marders" and "Stugs". Roughly the same situation was with the German "Tiger": it was often confused with the medium tank Pz-IV with a long cannon. But there was at least a similarity of silhouettes, but what similarities between Ferdinand and, for example, StuG 40 is a big question.
So what was Ferdinand like and why is he so widely known since the Battle of Kursk? We will not go into technical details and design development issues, because this has already been written in dozens of other publications, but we will pay close attention to the battles on the northern face of the Kursk Bulge, where these extremely powerful machines were massively used.
The conning tower of the ACS was assembled from sheets of forged cemented armor transferred from the stocks of the German Navy. The frontal armor of the cabin was 200 mm thick, the side and stern armor was 85 mm. The thickness of even the side armor made the self-propelled guns practically invulnerable to the fire of almost all Soviet artillery of the 1943 model of the year at a distance of over 400 m. barrel length 71 caliber, its muzzle energy one and a half times higher than that of the gun of the heavy tank "Tiger". The Ferdinand's cannon penetrated all Soviet tanks from all angles of attack at all ranges of actual fire. The only reason for non-penetration of armor on impact is ricochet. Any other hit caused the penetration of the armor, which in most cases meant the incapacitation of the Soviet tank and the partial or complete death of its crew. This is what the Germans got serious about shortly before the start of Operation Citadel.
The formation of the units of the self-propelled guns "Ferdinand" began on April 1, 1943. In total, it was decided to form two heavy battalions (divisions).
The first of them, numbered 653 (Schwere PanzerJager Abteilung 653), was formed on the basis of the 197th StuG III assault gun division. According to the new state, the division was supposed to have 45 Ferdinand self-propelled guns. This unit was not chosen by chance: the personnel of the division had extensive combat experience and participated in the battles in the East from the summer of 1941 to January 1943. By May, the 653rd battalion was fully staffed according to the state. However, at the beginning of May 1943, the entire materiel was transferred to the staffing of the 654th battalion, which was being formed in France in the city of Rouen. By mid-May, the 653rd battalion was again staffed almost to the state and had 40 self-propelled guns in its composition, after passing the training course at the Neuseidel training ground, on June 9-12, 1943, the battalion departed in eleven echelons to the Eastern Front.
The 654th heavy tank destroyer battalion was formed on the basis of the 654th anti-tank battalion at the end of April 1943. The combat experience of his personnel, who had fought before with the PaK 35/36 anti-tank equipment, and then with the Marder II self-propelled guns, was much less than that of their colleagues from the 653rd battalion. Until April 28, the battalion was in Austria, from April 30 in Rouen. After the final exercises, in the period from 13 to 15 June, the battalion departed in fourteen echelons to the Eastern Front.
According to the wartime staff (K. St.N.No. 1148c of 03/31/43), a heavy battalion of tank destroyers included: battalion command, headquarters company (platoon: management, sapper, sanitary, anti-aircraft), three companies of "Ferdinands" (in each company 2 vehicles of the company headquarters, and three platoons of 4 vehicles; that is, 14 vehicles in the company), a repair and evacuation company, a motor transport company. In total: 45 self-propelled guns "Ferdinand", 1 sanitary armored personnel carrier Sd.Kfz.251 / 8, 6 anti-aircraft Sd.Kfz 7/1, 15 half-track tractors Sd.Kfz 9 (18 tons), trucks and cars.
The staffing structure of the battalions was slightly different. We must start with the fact that the 653rd battalion included the 1st and 2nd companies, the 654th - the 5.6th and 7th companies. The 4th company "fell out" somewhere. The numbering of vehicles in battalions corresponded to German standards: for example, both vehicles of the headquarters of the 5th company had numbers 501 and 502, numbers of vehicles of the 1st platoon were from 511 to 514 inclusive; 2nd platoon 521 - 524; 3rd 531 - 534 respectively. But if we carefully consider the combat composition of each battalion (division), we will see that in the "combat" number of units there are only 42 self-propelled guns. And the state is 45. Where have three more SPGs from each battalion gone? This is where the difference in the organization of improvised tank destroyer divisions comes into play: if in the 653rd battalion 3 vehicles were brought into the reserve group, then in the 654th battalion 3 "extra" vehicles were organized into a headquarters group that had non-standard tactical numbers: II -01, II-02, II-03.
Both battalions (divisions) became part of the 656th Tank Regiment, the headquarters of which the Germans formed on June 8, 1943. The formation turned out to be very powerful: in addition to 90 self-propelled guns "Ferdinand", it included the 216th assault tank battalion (Sturmpanzer Abteilung 216), and two companies of radio-controlled tankettes ВIV "Bogvard" (313rd and 314th). The regiment was supposed to serve as a battering ram for the German offensive in the direction of Art. Ponyri - Maloarkhangelsk.
On June 25, the Ferdinands began to move towards the front line. By July 4, 1943, the 656th regiment was deployed as follows: to the west of the Orel-Kursk railway, the 654th battalion (Arkhangelskoe district), to the east, the 653rd battalion (Glazunov district), followed by three companies 216th battalion (45 "Brummbars" in total). Each battalion of "Ferdinands" was assigned a company of radio-controlled tankettes B IV.
On July 5, the 656th Panzer Regiment went on the offensive, supporting parts of the 86th and 292nd German Infantry Divisions. However, the ramming attack did not work: the 653rd battalion on the very first day got bogged down in the hardest battles at the height of 257.7, which the Germans called "Tank". Not only were the thirty-fours dug in at the height up to the tower, but the height was also covered with powerful minefields. On the very first day, 10 battalion self-propelled guns were blown up by mines. There were also heavy losses in personnel. Having blown up on an anti-personnel mine, the commander of the 1st company, Hauptmann Spielman, was seriously wounded. Having found out the direction of the strike, the Soviet artillery also opened a hurricane fire. As a result, by 17:00 on July 5, only 12 Ferdinands remained on the move! The rest received injuries of varying severity. The remnants of the battalion over the next two days continued to fight to capture Art. Diving.
The 654th Battalion's attack was even more disastrous. The 6th company of the battalion accidentally ran into its own minefield. Within just a few minutes, most of the "Ferdinands" were blown up by their own mines. Having discovered the monstrous German vehicles, barely creeping into our positions, the Soviet artillery opened concentrated fire on them. The result was that the German infantry, supporting the attack of the 6th company, suffered heavy losses and lay down, leaving the self-propelled guns without cover. Four "Ferdinands" from the 6th company were still able to reach the Soviet positions, and there, according to the memoirs of German self-propelled gunners, they were "attacked by several brave Russian soldiers who remained in the trenches and armed with flamethrowers, and from the right flank, from the line of the railway they opened artillery fire, but seeing that it was ineffective, the Russian soldiers withdrew in an organized manner. "
The 5th and 7th companies also reached the first line of trenches, losing about 30% of their vehicles on mines and coming under heavy shelling. At the same time, Major Noack, the commander of the 654th battalion, was mortally wounded by a shell fragment.
After occupying the first line of trenches, the remnants of the 654th battalion moved in the direction of Ponyri. At the same time, some of the vehicles were again blown up by mines, and Ferdinand No. 531 from the 5th company, being immobilized by flank fire of the Soviet artillery, was finished off and burned down. At dusk, the battalion reached the hills north of the Ponyri, where it stopped for the night and regrouped. There were 20 vehicles left in the battalion on the move.
On 6 July, due to problems with fuel, the 654th battalion launched the attack only at 14:00. However, due to the heavy fire of the Soviet artillery, the German infantry suffered serious losses, retreated and the attack was drowned. On this day, the 654th battalion reported "about a large number of Russian tanks arriving to strengthen the defense." According to the evening report, the crews of the self-propelled guns destroyed 15 Soviet T-34 tanks, and 8 of them were credited to the crew under the command of Hauptmann Luders, and 5 to Lieutenant Peters. There were 17 cars left on the move.
The next day, the remnants of the 653rd and 654th battalions were drawn to Buzuluk, where they made up a corps reserve. Two days were devoted to car repair. On July 8, several Ferdinands and Brummbars participated in the unsuccessful attack on the station. Diving.
At the same time (July 8), the headquarters of the Soviet Central Front receives the first report from the chief of artillery of the 13th Army about the Ferdinand mine blown up. Two days later, a group of five officers of the GAU KA arrived from Moscow to the front headquarters specifically to study this sample. However, they were unlucky, by this moment the area where the damaged self-propelled guns stood was occupied by the Germans.
The main events developed on July 9-10, 1943. After many unsuccessful attacks on st. The diving Germans changed the direction of the strike. From the northeast, through the state farm "May 1", an impromptu battle group under the command of Major Kall struck. The composition of this group is impressive: the 505th battalion of heavy tanks (about 40 Tiger tanks), the 654th and part of the vehicles of the 653rd battalion (44 Ferdinands in total), the 216th assault tank battalion (38 Brummbar "), A division of assault guns (20 StuG 40 and StuH 42), 17 Pz.Kpfw III and Pz.Kpfw IV tanks. Immediately behind this armada, tanks of the 2nd TD and motorized infantry on an armored personnel carrier were supposed to move.
Thus, on a front of 3 km, the Germans concentrated about 150 combat vehicles, not counting the second echelon. More than half of the first-echelon vehicles are heavy. According to the reports of our artillerymen, the Germans used here for the first time a new attacking formation "in line" - with the "Ferdinands" that were going in front. The vehicles of the 654th and 653rd battalions operated in two echelons. In the line of the first echelon, 30 vehicles were advancing, in the second echelon one more company (14 vehicles) moved with an interval of 120-150 m. The company commanders were in the general line on the command vehicles carrying a flag on the antenna.
On the very first day, this group easily managed to break through the state farm "May 1" to the village of Goreloe. Here our artillerymen made a truly ingenious move: seeing the invulnerability of the newest German armored monsters to artillery, they were allowed to enter a huge minefield filled with anti-tank mines and land mines from captured ammunition, and then opened hurricane fire on the medium-sized "retinue" following the Ferdinands. tanks and assault guns. As a result, the entire strike group suffered significant losses and was forced to withdraw.
The next day, July 10, Major Kall's group struck a new powerful blow and individual vehicles broke through to the outskirts of Art. Diving. The vehicles that broke through were the heavy self-propelled guns "Ferdinand".
According to the descriptions of our soldiers, the Ferdinands were advancing, firing from a cannon from short stops from a distance of one to two and a half kilometers: a very long distance for armored vehicles of that time. Having been exposed to concentrated fire, or having found a mined area of the terrain, they retreated in reverse to some shelter, trying to always be facing the Soviet positions with thick frontal armor, absolutely invulnerable to our artillery.
On July 11, Major Kall's strike group was disbanded, the 505th heavy tank battalion and the tanks of the 2nd TD were transferred against our 70th army in the Kutyrka-Teploe region. In the area of art. Only the units of the 654th battalion and the 216th assault tank battalion remained, trying to evacuate the damaged materiel to the rear. But it was not possible to evacuate the 65-ton Ferdinands during July 12-13, and on July 14, Soviet troops launched a massive counteroffensive from the Ponyri station in the direction of the May 1 state farm. By midday the German troops were forced to withdraw. Our tankers supporting the infantry attack suffered heavy losses, mostly not from German fire, but because a company of T-34 and T-70 tanks jumped out onto the same powerful minefield where Ferdinands had blown up four days earlier. 654th battalion.
On July 15 (that is, the very next day), the German equipment knocked out and destroyed at the Ponyri station was inspected and studied by representatives of the GAU KA and the NIBT test site. In total, on the battlefield northeast of st. Ponyri (18 km2) left 21 self-propelled guns "Ferdinand", three assault tanks "Brummbar" (in Soviet documents - "Bear"), eight tanks Pz-III and Pz-IV, two command tanks, and several radio-controlled tankettes B IV "Bogvard ".
Most of the Ferdinands were found in a minefield near the village of Goreloy. More than half of the vehicles examined had damage to the chassis from the impact of anti-tank mines and land mines. 5 vehicles had damage to the chassis from shells of 76-mm and higher caliber. Two "Ferdinands" had bullet holes, one of them received as many as 8 hits in the gun barrel. One car was completely destroyed by an aerial bomb hit from a Soviet Pe-2 bomber, one was destroyed by a 203-mm projectile hitting the roof of the wheelhouse. And only one "Ferdinand" had a shell hole in the left side, made by a 76-mm armor-piercing projectile, 7 T-34 tanks and a ZIS-3 battery fired at it from all sides, from a distance of 200-400 m. And one more "Ferdinand", which had no external damage to the hull, was burned by our infantry with a bottle of KS. Several "Ferdinands", deprived of the ability to move under their own power, were destroyed by their crews.
The main part of the 653rd battalion operated in the defense zone of our 70th army. Irrecoverable losses during the battles from 5 to 15 July amounted to 8 vehicles. And one of our troops captured perfectly serviceable, and even together with the crew. It happened as follows: in the course of repelling one of the German attacks in the area of the village of Teploe on July 11-12, the advancing German troops underwent massive artillery shelling of a corps artillery battalion, batteries of the latest Soviet self-propelled guns SU-152 and two IPTAPs, after which the enemy left on the battlefield 4 "Ferdinand". Despite such a massive shelling, not a single German self-propelled gun had armor penetration: two vehicles had shell damage to the chassis, one was badly destroyed by heavy artillery fire (possibly the SU-152) - its frontal plate was moved from its place. And the fourth (no. 333), trying to get out of the shelling, was moving in reverse and, hitting the sandy area, simply “sat down” on her belly. The crew tried to dig the car, but then attacking Soviet infantrymen of the 129th Infantry Division ran into them and the Germans preferred to surrender. Here ours faced the same problem that has long weighed down the minds of the commanders of the German 654th and 653rd battalions: how to get this colossus out of the battlefield? Pulling the "hippopotamus out of the swamp" dragged on until August 2, when, with the efforts of four C-60 and C-65 tractors, Ferdinand was finally pulled out onto solid ground. But in the course of its further transportation to the railway station, one of the self-propelled guns' gasoline engines failed. The further fate of the car is unknown.
With the beginning of the Soviet counteroffensive, the Ferdinands fell into their element. So, on July 12-14, 24 self-propelled guns of the 653rd battalion supported units of the 53rd Infantry Division in the Berezovets area. At the same time, repulsing the attack of Soviet tanks near the village of Krasnaya Niva, the crew of only one "Ferdinand" Lieutenant Tiret reported on the destruction of 22 T-34 tanks.
On July 15, the 654th battalion repulsed the attack of our tanks from the Maloarkhangelsk - Buzuluk direction, while the 6th company reported the destruction of 13 Soviet combat vehicles. Subsequently, the remnants of the battalions were drawn to Oryol. By July 30, all "Ferdinands" were withdrawn from the front, and by order of the headquarters of the 9th Army were sent to Karachev.
During Operation Citadel, the 656th Panzer Regiment daily reported on the presence of combat-ready Ferdinands by radio. According to these reports, as of July 7, there were 37 Ferdinands in service, July 8 - 26, July 9 - 13, July 10 - 24, July 11 - 12, July 12 - 24, July 13 - 24, July 14 - 13 units. These data do not correlate well with the German data on the combat strength of the strike groups, which included the 653rd and 654th battalions. The Germans recognize 19 "Ferdinands" as irretrievably lost, in addition, another 4 cars were lost "due to a short circuit and the subsequent fire." Consequently, the 656th regiment lost 23 vehicles. In addition, there are inconsistencies with Soviet data, which documentary evidence of the destruction of 21 Ferdinand self-propelled guns.
Perhaps the Germans tried, as was often the case, to write off several vehicles as irrecoverable losses retroactively, because, according to them, since the transition of the Soviet troops to the offensive, 20 Ferdinands have been irrevocably lost (this apparently includes some of the 4 cars burned down for technical reasons). Thus, according to German data, the total irrecoverable losses of the 656th regiment from July 5 to August 1, 1943 amounted to 39 Ferdinands. Be that as it may, this is generally confirmed by documents, and, in general, corresponds to Soviet data.
If the losses of the "Ferdinands" in both German and Soviet ones coincide (the difference is only in dates), then "unscientific fantasy" begins. The command of the 656th regiment declares that during the period from July 5 to July 15, 1943, the regiment disabled 502 enemy tanks and self-propelled guns, 20 anti-tank and about 100 other guns. Particularly distinguished in the field of the destruction of Soviet armored vehicles, the 653rd battalion, which recorded 320 Soviet tanks, as well as a large number of guns and vehicles, in the destroyed ones.
Let's try to deal with the losses of the Soviet artillery. During the period from 5 to 15 July 1943, the Central Front under the command of K. Rokossovsky lost 433 guns of all types. This is data for a whole front, which occupied a very long defense zone, so the data on 120 destroyed guns in one small "patch" seems to be clearly overestimated. In addition, it is very interesting to compare the declared number of destroyed Soviet armored vehicles with their real decline. So: by July 5, the tank units of the 13th Army numbered 215 tanks and 32 self-propelled guns, another 827 armored units were listed in the 2nd TA and the 19th TC, which was in the front reserve. Most of them were brought into battle precisely in the defense zone of the 13th Army, where the Germans inflicted their main blow. The losses of the 2nd TA for the period from 5 to 15 July amounted to 270 T-34 and T-70 tanks burned out and wrecked, the losses of the 19th TK - 115 vehicles, the 13th Army (including all replenishments) - 132 vehicles. Consequently, of the 1129 tanks and self-propelled guns used in the 13th Army's zone, the total losses amounted to 517 vehicles, and more than half of them were recovered already during the battles (irrecoverable losses amounted to 219 vehicles). If we take into account that the 13th Army's defensive zone on different days of the operation ranged from 80 to 160 km, and the Ferdinands operated on the front from 4 to 8 km, it becomes clear that such a number of Soviet armored vehicles could be snapped into place in such a narrow sector. it was simply unrealistic. And if we also take into account the fact that several tank divisions operated against the Central Front, as well as the 505th Tigers heavy tank battalion, assault gun divisions, Marder and Hornisse self-propelled guns, as well as artillery, it is clear that the results 656th regiment shamelessly bloated. However, a similar picture is obtained when checking the effectiveness of the heavy tank battalions "Tigers" and "Royal Tigers", and indeed of all German tank units. For the sake of fairness, it must be said that the combat reports of both Soviet, American and British troops sinned with such "truthfulness".
So what is the reason for such a famous "heavy assault gun", or, if you like, "heavy tank destroyer Ferdinand"?
Undoubtedly, the creation of Ferdinand Porsche was a kind of masterpiece of technical thought. In a huge ACS, many technical solutions were used (a unique chassis, a combined power plant, the location of the BO, etc.) that had no analogues in tank building. At the same time, numerous technical "highlights" of the project were poorly adapted for military operation, and the phenomenal armor protection and powerful weapons were bought due to disgusting mobility, a short power reserve, the complexity of the machine in operation and the lack of a concept for using such technology. This is all true, but this was not the reason for such a "fright" before the creation of Porsche, that the Soviet artillerymen and tankmen in almost every combat report saw crowds of "Ferdinands" even after the Germans took all the surviving self-propelled guns from the eastern front to Italy and until the battles in Poland, they did not participate on the Eastern Front.
Despite all its imperfections and "childhood diseases", the self-propelled gun "Ferdinand" turned out to be a terrible enemy. Her armor did not penetrate. I just didn't get through. At all. Nothing. You can imagine what the Soviet tankmen and artillerymen felt and thought: you hit it, you fire shell after shell, and it looks like a spell, rushing and rushing at you.
Many modern researchers cite the lack of anti-personnel weapons of this ACS as the main reason for the unsuccessful debut of the Ferdinands. Say, the car did not have machine guns and the self-propelled guns were helpless against the Soviet infantry. But if we analyze the reasons for the losses of the Ferdinand self-propelled guns, it becomes clear that the role of the infantry in destroying the Ferdinands was simply insignificant, the vast majority of vehicles were blown up in minefields, and some more were destroyed by artillery.
Thus, contrary to popular belief that V. Model is to blame for the large losses at the Kursk Bulge of the Ferdinand ACS, who allegedly "did not know" how to apply them correctly, we can say that the main reasons for such high losses of these ACS were the tactically competent actions of the Soviet commanders, the fortitude and courage of our soldiers and officers, as well as a little military luck.
Another reader will object, why are we not talking about the battles in Galicia, where from April 1944 slightly modernized "Elephanta" participated (which differed from the previous "Ferdinands" by minor improvements, such as a course machine gun and a commander's cupola)? We answer: because their fate there was no better. Until July, they, brought together in the 653rd battalion, fought local battles. After the start of a major Soviet offensive, the battalion was sent to the aid of the German SS Hohenstaufen division, but ran into an ambush by Soviet tanks and anti-tank artillery and 19 vehicles were immediately destroyed. The remnants of the battalion (12 vehicles) were consolidated into the 614th separate heavy company, which took the battles at Wünsdorf, Zossen and Berlin.
ACS number Nature of damage Cause of damage Note
731 Destroyed caterpillar Blown up by a mine ACS repaired and sent to Moscow for an exhibition of captured property
522 The caterpillar is destroyed, the road wheels are damaged Blown up by a land mine, the fuel is ignited The car burned out
523 The track is destroyed, the road wheels are damaged Blown up by a land mine, set on fire by the crew The car burned down
734 The lower branch of the caterpillar is destroyed.
II-02 The right track is torn off, the road wheels are destroyed.
I-02 Left caterpillar torn off, road roller destroyed Blown up by a mine and set on fire Machine burned down
514 The track is destroyed, the road roller is damaged Blown up by a mine, set on fire The car burned down
502 Torn off a sloth Blown up by a land mine The car was tested by shelling
501 The caterpillar was torn off The mine was blown up The machine was repaired and delivered to the NIBT landfill
712 Right drive wheel destroyed. Shell hit The crew left the car. The fire is extinguished
732 The third carriage is destroyed.
524 Broken caterpillar Blown up on a mine, set on fire Machine burned down
II-03 Caterpillar destroyed Shell hit, set fire to KS bottle Machine burned out
113 or 713 Both sloths destroyed. Projectile hits. Weapon set on fire Machine burned out
601 Right track destroyed Shell hit, gun set on fire from outside Machine burned out
701 The fighting compartment was destroyed. A 203 mm projectile hit the commander's hatch -
602 A hole in the left side of the gas tank 76-mm shell of a tank or divisional gun The vehicle burned out
II-01 The gun burned out Set on fire by the KS bottle The car burned out
150061 A sloth and a caterpillar destroyed, a gun barrel shot through Shell hits on the chassis and a cannon Crew captured
723 The caterpillar is destroyed, the gun is jammed. Projectile hits to the chassis and mask -
? Complete destruction Direct hit from the Petlyakov bomber
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