Why did the Soviet Union not have an iron fist ? The early recoilless gun chose the wrong type of a

Mondo Military Updated on 2024-02-12

The RPG-7 missile is now one of the most commonly used and dangerous missiles in the world, and the Israeli military is the most confident in its ability to operate.

The Soviets were holding German "Iron Fist" anti-tank guns.

The Type 7 RG-7 anti-tank gun is very easy to use, and even an illiterate person can accurately hit the target after a short training. Currently, the RPG-7 is armed with bullets of various capabilities and is capable of striking enemies at any range. But in World War II, both Germany and the United States began to use this type of missile on a large scale, but the Soviet Union had not yet developed this type of missile.

This introductory ** written by the Russian blogger "Val Technician", which I have translated and revised, is shared with you.

A multiple rocket launcher, developed by Alexander Zasyad.

In the 19th century, the study of recoilless began in the 19th century, and a variety of new styles appeared**. Alexander Tashi Yadek was an artillery officer and designer of Tsarist Russia, who developed multiple rocket launchers and three different types of bullets. In 1828-1829, live-fire tests were carried out on the battlefields of Russia and Turkey, and good results were obtained.

Kurchevsky and the designer of his "jet cannon".

And MLRS are directly from the point of view of recoillessness. Leonid Kurchevsky is a famous "recoilless cannon" in the former Soviet Union. However, he was also a controversial man, who designed a recoilless gun and built a prototype in 1923. He learned from his colleague Ryabshinsky that the tail nozzle was attached to a self-developed recoilless gun. It is worth mentioning that at that time, its name was not "recoilless", but "jet". The term "jet cannon" later extended a concept similar to "bazooka".

Type 37 anti-tank gun.

Kurchevsky believed that the "jet cannon" would replace everything that was conventional in the army, navy, and air force. He designed different models of artillery and gave them to the Soviet army, and these outstanding designs provided a strong impetus for the development of the Soviet Union.

Leonid Kurchevsky once filled a "jet cannon" with a jug of water and sent a bullet into its interior. The water in the cup didn't even ripple. But the Soviet military review team warned the leaders that a long tail flame ejected from behind the artillery could not be extinguished.

A "jet cannon", which was mounted on a sidecar motorcycle.

Kurchevsky's research team developed a dozen "jet cannons" that were used by the Soviet Army, Air Force and Navy to replace the traditional cannons currently in use. This recoilless ** is also equipped on locomotives and wagons, with diameters ranging from 37 mm to 305 mm. Kurchevsky also invented an automatic loading device, which was also their idea.

Medium "jet guns" were mounted on three-axle wagons.

Although Kurchevsky's "jet cannon" had many advantages, there was a big problem, that is, the engineers frequently revised the design drawings of the product, which led to a very low level of production of the cannon. Maneuvering such a "jet gun" is very dangerous for the gunner, and there have been incidents such as broken barrels and gunners ** during training. Of the more than 5,000 "jet cannons," only 2,000 were accepted by the Soviet army, and only half of them ended up being used by the army. In the mid-thirties of the twentieth century, the Soviets gradually abandoned Kurchevsky's "jet cannon". Leonid Kurchevsky was sentenced to death in 1937.

305-mm "jet guns" were armed on Soviet battleships.

On the Soviet side, due to Kurchevsky, there were certain limitations to the research and development of such **. In 1943, the Soviets captured a large number of Iron Fist anti-tank guns on the battlefield and considered the new German-developed missile to be incredibly powerful. The Soviet army conducted a great deal of research on the "Iron Fist", and their results also answered the key question of why the Soviet army abandoned Kurchevsky's "jet cannon".

A T-4 light combat vehicle armed with an APK-26 recoilless gun.

Among the "jet cannons", there are also some that are specifically designed to deal with the enemy, and they are indeed lighter in weight than the regular **, but the penetration ability is much weaker. Take, for example, the APK-37 type 37 mm anti-tank gun, which has a firing range of only 25-28 mm. The PTRD-41 anti-tank gun was able to penetrate 40 mm of steel at the same range. It should be noted that the former Soviet "jet guns" used kinetic armor-piercing, while Germany did not do this.

RPG-2 type anti-tank gun.

At that time, all anti-tank missiles of German production were armed with hollow armor-piercing shells, and the Soviet "jet guns" did not do this. Armor-piercing missiles destroy armor with a metal jet launched in the form of a blast, regardless of the flight speed of the warhead. The Soviet Union had already developed the RPG-1 anti-tank gun in 1944 to compensate for the gap with Germany, but it was not supplied to the Soviet Union. After the end of World War II, the Soviet Union developed a 40 mm caliber RPG-2 anti-tank missile based on the relevant scientific and technological information provided by Germany, and began to provide ** to the Soviet Union in 1949.

SPG-82 anti-tank gun.

If we talk about some of the developments of Soviet "jet guns" during World War II, there are indeed a few models that reproduce the tragic experience of the RPG-1. The first recoilless gun for infantry was the SPG-82 in 1950, but more people called it an "anti-tank gun". And most of the "anti-tank guns", known as RPG-1, actually belong to the type of "light", "recoilless".

This is a recoilless SPG-9.

At the same time, the USSR also abolished the distinction between recoilless artillery and airborne **. Finally, the recoilless ** in the USSR was replaced by an anti-tank mine gun called "vehicle-mounted". The SPG-9 recoilless gun, which was used in its infantry, is still in service with many units.

Related Pages