Since June 23, 1941, the battle starts for Dubno-Lutsk-Brody (320 km west of Kiev). The General of the Army G. Zhukov, who came to the scene, rejects the idea of the Chief of Staff of the South-Western Front to withdraw troops and create a solid defense line. The new plan was an immediate strike by five mechanized corps in 2,800 (later 3,100) tanks for four (subsequently five) German tank divisions of 720 tanks and 70 assault guns. Photo German soldiers visiting the abandoned Soviet heavy tank T-35. Weight 50 tons, 11 crew, reservation forehead 30 mm., Board 20 mm., All towers 20 mm. The real speed for rough terrain is 1012 km. h. Armament one 76.2 mm, two 45 mm. guns and six to seven machine guns. Made 59 units. Until June, tanks in military operations do not participate, confining themselves to demonstrating the power of the Soviet Union in military parades
Wehrmacht connections, in addition to combat vehicles, include large units of infantry, artillery, and also highly skilled repair brigades. Bulky (about 400 tanks) mechanized corps of the Red Army make marches of 300 km, losing at least only a mechanical breakdown of at least a third of the machines. The Soviet system of production of military equipment allegedly does not provide for the release, delivery, not even worth a half-word, of small things for repair, for example, gaskets or spare trains. Guidelines for driving and servicing the newest tanks, at this time are classified even from potential mechanics. Sometimes, so carefully stored from the crews of the car, at the decisive moment refuel not with diesel fuel, but with gasoline. Approximately the same situation in the Air Force. In order to avoid any breakdown of equipment, getting accusations of wrecking, the most unfortunate consequences, the lower command is gradually sabotaging real military training. To realize how this or that thing works, one must at least break it down its a simple, but an immutable truth. The fact that in the German educational units is punishable with salty jokes or a reprimand to a newcomer, the Red Army may end in execution. In the photo the Soviet tanks BT-7 damaged and abandoned by crews. Weight 14 tons, crew 3 people, reservation 1520 mm., Gun 45 mm., 13 machine guns. Speed, according to the design of the designers the main advantage of the high-speed tank on the tracks, on the highway 52 km. h, on wheels-72 km. h.
Perhaps, it can be argued that in a society of formal equality and the territorial organization of the community, any sign of distinction is qualified, no less than an accessory to a special caste. The Commander of the Red Army at all costs aspires to secede from the soldiers masses, although of course this does not go as far as in the Tsarist army. These maxims completely agree with the authors observations during his time in the army of the Soviet, and then Russian. The German army from the middle of the nineteenth century implies, with (paradoxically) the strict observance of subordination, the attitude of the officer to the soldier as an equal to himself. Cohesion, a trusting relationship to each other, even, as it is said there, on the basis of blood ties, determines the high level of command and control. The photo shows the T-34-76 tank as part of a broken Soviet convoy. June-July, 1941 Weight 26 tons, crew 4 people, armor anti-ballistic 45 mm, in all directions in the horizontal plane (feed 40 mm.) Gun 76 mm., Course and paired with a gun machine gun. Speed along the highway 54 km. h, cross-country 36 km. h (if you can turn on the desired gear)
So, there are counter tank fights near Kiev, sometimes successful, more often no, massive frontal offensives on the positions of German anti-tank guns, maneuvering without communications and normal maps, separation from supply and repair lines. The result: by 30 June the Red Army loses 2,600 tanks, the Wehrmacht 180 (irretrievably). The entire South-Western Front is crashing down. Stalin realizes the reality of such a picture: he is confronted with a group of German generals, with Hitler, compelled to answer their questions, unimaginably small and pitiful. This Dzhugashvili does not like, and he, even if not immediately, begins to make more or less correct decisions. The principle of eliminating problems, before to see only the good, to discard all that is not part of smart plans. If someone talks about dying of hunger they should be made to confess to espionage to Britain, and the question is solved. Twenty years after the Revolution, the people live worse than in 1914 lets say that this is not true, and the end is the matter. In Moscow (supply in a special category), after the cards have been canceled, thousands of queues are snapping around the stores comrades from the NKGB warn the townsfolk without proper registration, that their next visit to the capital will be punished by article for speculation and the crowds quickly disappear. Why bother with the actual development of the production of this boring consumer goods? The Scout believes that the Finns will not take the bread and salt of the Red Army he should be summoned to Moscow and eliminated. It is the same with reports of the situation with the preparation of troops, or Hitlers plans for an invasion. Those who express unpleasant, should be removed and everything becomes pleasantly quiet.Photo a German soldier examines a damaged tank T-34-76 on the roadside. Probably, the neighborhood of Kiev, July 1941..
But, this time, if we do not see the armored columns of the Wehrmacht, they do not cease to exist, and the mental image: Stalin before the smiling German military is becoming more real. The first orders are to shoot. It does not get better from that. Earlier, it was possible to establish ubiquitous deathly silence. Now the clanking of the caterpillars of German tanks is becoming more and more distinct. The commanders are getting cold hands, blood is pouring from the brain, resentment is rising in the chest nothing more. Stalin must abandon executions, empty slogans, and work with the problem, now delving into the essence of what is happening. The control system is reconstructed into a real solution of the problems. This works from the second half of 1942, to May 45th, and, for two and a half years, allows you to get away from almost complete collapse to victory.Photo burning T-34-76. At this stage of the war, steel monsters still do not impress the higher officers of the Wehrmacht. The Red Army had by this time only 60 trained crews, for these tanks. The Battle of Dubno-Lutsk-Brody, summer 1941
Kiev strategic defensive operation, summer 1941. Retreating and somewhat demoralized Soviet soldiers
German cars and armored vehicles follow the T-38 tank with four towers demolished from the hull (there was only one). Ukraine, August 1941
The Soviet tank KV-1, smashed by dozens of hits. July 1941, the south of the USSR. Armament: 76 mm. gun, 90114 shells, three 7.62 DT machine guns (course, paired with a gun, aft). Booking: the forehead, the side of the hull is 75 mm., The forehead, the side of the tower is 75 mm. (protection from an armor-piercing shell of a 50-mm German cannon further 200 meters). Crew of 5 people. Weight 48 tons. Common problems with the transmission. Speed on the highway 34 km. h, the reserve for cross-country terrain is 120 km. Specific power 11.6 hp, ground pressure 0.77 kg. see From 1939 to 1942 produced 2770 machines.