Army oddities with the command. Curious incidents with soldiers in war

Curiosities and interesting facts of the Second World War

War is always scary. A major world war is a million times worse. But even in war there was always a place for laughter, witticisms and oddities. Maybe this is why we listen with such pleasure to tales and mentions of our gray-haired, old women, but such courageous heroes
Probably, the height of anecdotal thought should be considered the explanatory note of the commander of the 13th Panzer Division of Germany regarding the reasons why he did not carry out the order for a timely counterattack on the Soviet troops that surrounded the 6th Army. He stated that his division was unable to complete the night march to its starting positions for the counterattack because mice had "gnawed through the external lighting wires of the tanks."

During World War II, the Germans built a mock-up of an airfield in Holland in great secrecy. Airplanes, hangars, cars, air defense equipment - everything was made of wood. But one day an English bomber arrived and dropped one bomb on the pseudo-airfield, after which construction of the airfield stopped. The bomb was... wooden.

Interestingly, the story with the airfield continued. After the British dropped the wooden bomb, the Germans decided to place real planes on this toy airfield, because the British, knowing about the imitation airfield, would consider them mock-ups. Two days after the relocation of German planes, the British again bombed this airfield, but with real bombs. At the end of the bombing, a pennant was dropped with the words: “But that’s another matter!”

Studying statistics from the Second World War, American military historians discovered a very interesting fact: in a sudden clash with Japanese forces, the Americans usually made a decision much faster, as a result of which they defeated large enemy forces. Scientists have concluded that the average length of a word for Americans is 5.2 characters, while for the Japanese it is 10.8; therefore, giving orders takes 56% less time, which plays an important role in battle.

Having analyzed the Russian language, historians have found that the length of a word in the Russian language is on average 7.2 characters, however, in critical situations, the command staff switches to profanity and the average length of a word is reduced to 3.2 characters (this is due to the fact that some phrases and phrases are replaced by One Word).

They remember another incident. 1941. Our KV-1 tank stopped due to troubles in the engine in a neutral zone. The Germans knocked on the armor for a long time and invited the crew to show themselves, but they refused. Then the Germans hooked the KV with two of their light tanks in order to pull the tank to their location and open it there without obstacles.
The calculation did not work - when they started towing, our tank started up from the "talkochka" and pulled the German tanks towards our location.
The German tank crews were forced to abandon their tanks, and the KV pulled them towards our positions.

The life stories told by participants in the Second World War might seem fantastic, but they are real and supported by documents.

Yes, a resident of northern Germany, a believing Jew, served the war as a captain in the Wehrmacht, secretly adhering to Jewish rituals in the field.

For a long time, the Nazi press printed a photograph of a blue-eyed blond man in a helmet on its covers. Under the photo it said: “The ideal German soldier.” This Aryan ideal was the aforementioned Wehrmacht fighter Werner Goldberg.

A German fighter flew at our small U-2 plane, which the Germans called “Rus-plywood,” and tried to shoot it. Our pilot quickly descended and sat down at the edge of the forest, where there was a lonely house, and drove the plane behind it. The German returned at high speed, firing a machine gun, but our pilot moved the plane to the other side of the house. This went on several times. Ultimately, the German plane had to move away.

Another story. The daring tank commander, apparently drunk, decided to fight on his own. He broke into Kalinin (currently Tver) on his tank and, moving on the tank through the streets, began to fire from a cannon and a machine gun at the houses where the Germans were located.
The enemy was alarmed. They decided that Soviet troops had broken into the city. The panic was so great that the commander of the German troops hastily flew out of the city by plane.
After this raid, the tank was lucky to return back without damage. General Konev (not yet a marshal at that time) called this tanker to his place, scolded him, and then took off the Order of the Red Star and pinned it on the tanker’s chest.

T three unique cases that seem incredible...

1. About Russian ingenuity.
The year was 1941. Our KV-1 tank stopped due to troubles in the engine in a neutral zone. It simply stalled, and the battery was not allowed to start. Unfortunately, the shells and cartridges ran out, and the Germans were still unafraid and arrogant.

The crew decided to play dead... and barricaded themselves inside. Fortunately, German field artillery and tank shells could not penetrate the KV-1’s armor.

The Germans knocked on the armor of the stalled KV-1 for a long time, invited the crew to show themselves, promised to feed them and treat them well, but they were of no use. The crew of our tank in this particular case most likely suspected how it would all end. And he knew that it would not be so easy to smoke them out of the tank.

The Nazis waited for their equipment and tried to tow the tank closer to the repair parts. Apparently they decided that the crew had left the tank, somehow closing the hatches. And the stop occurred because... the tank ran out of fuel (the most common reason for the KV-1 to stop). The Nazis hooked the KV with their tractor, but were unable to move the colossus. Then they hooked it with two of their light tanks in order to tow the KV-1 to their location, even with the crew... and open it there without obstacles.

But their calculation did not work - when they started towing, our tank started up from the “pusher” and famously pulled the German tanks now towards our location...
The German tank crews were forced to leave their tanks and KV-1 without any problems, so it pulled them to our positions...))))) Such an amusing curiosity!

The tank was very successful in terms of combat and not very good performance. It was distinguished by high survivability, especially in the summer. As I already wrote, the armor of these heavy tanks was not penetrated either by German 37-mm anti-tank guns or by the guns of the Pz-III, Pz-IV and Pz-38 tanks that were in service with the Panzerwaffe.

The Germans could only “take off his shoes” - remove the track with a direct hit. But there were cases when the KV-1 could move without one of them.

The big problem with the tank was the engine, which was rather weak for such a colossus. Any pothole forced him to work at maximum speed. The crew needed an experienced mechanic-driver. The batteries were also weak. The tank was put into service with virtually no sea trials, after a couple of successful episodes during the Finnish War, on flat areas with rocky ground. But in everything related to the “combat part” he was very good!

The Germans had to use a method of fighting against the KV that was very similar to how primitive people hunted mammoths. Only German tanks distracted the attention of the KV crew until an 88-mm anti-aircraft gun was installed behind it.

Only by hitting the gap between the hull and the turret with a shell was it possible to jam the turret and thereby finally turn the Soviet tank into a dead block. There is a known case when about ten German tanks were engaged in distracting the KV crew!
At the beginning of the war, one KV-1 tank could make a lot of noise not only behind enemy lines, but also on the front line. There would be fuel and ammunition.

2. Shooting a fascist column without hiding in an ambush.

ABOUT description of the feat from the award sheet (spelling and punctuation preserved):

On July 13, 1942, in the N-MITYAKINSKOE 2nd district, the KV tank of Lt. KONOVALOV was parked due to a malfunction after the battle. The crew restored the tank on their own. At this time, 2 German armored vehicles appeared. Comrade KONOVALOV immediately opened fire and 1 car was set on fire, the second one hastily disappeared. Following the armored vehicles, a moving column of tanks appeared, first 35 vehicles, and then another 40. The tank was moving towards the village. Lt. KONOVALOV, using the advantageous position of his camouflaged tank, decided to take the fight. Having brought the first column of tanks to a distance of 500-600 meters, the KV crew opened fire. 4 tanks were destroyed by direct fire. The column did not accept the battle and returned back. But after some time, the village was attacked by 55 tanks in a deployed formation. Lt. KONOVALOV decided to continue the fight against the armored vehicles of the Nazi invaders, despite such overwhelming superiority. The heroic crew set fire to 6 more tanks and forced it to roll back a second time. The enemy makes a third attack. Hero tankers, led by their Komsomol commander Comrade. KONOVALOV, firing at tanks and vehicles until the last shell. They destroy another 6 enemy tanks, 1 armored vehicle and 8 vehicles with enemy soldiers and officers. The Soviet fortress falls silent. The Nazis open fire from a 105mm gun, which is pulled towards the tank at a distance of 75 meters. The crew of the tank with Hero-Commander Lieutenant KONOVALOV, along with the tank, died in this unequal battle. Defending our Motherland from the German invaders, Lt. KONOVALOV showed courage, unshakable fortitude, and selfless heroism. For heroism shown in defending the Motherland, comrade. KONOVALOV is worthy of posthumously being awarded the title “HERO OF THE SOVIET UNION” with the Order of LENIN and the Medal “GOLD STAR”.Source with documents http://2w.su/memory/970

3rd promised CASE! ABSOLUTELY KILLER
(memoirs of a German Colonel General Erhard Routh)

The 6th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht was part of the 41st Panzer Corps. Together with the 56th Tank Corps, it made up the 4th Tank Group - the main striking force of Army Group North, whose task was to capture the Baltic states, capture Leningrad and link up with the Finns. The 6th Division was commanded by Major General Franz Landgraf. It was armed mainly with Czechoslovak-made PzKw-35t tanks - light, with thin armor, but with high maneuverability and maneuverability. There were a number of more powerful PzKw-III and PzKw-IV. Before the start of the offensive, the division was divided into two tactical groups. The more powerful one was commanded by Colonel Erhard Routh, the weaker one by Lieutenant Colonel Erich von Seckendorff.

In the first two days of the war, the division's offensive was successful. By the evening of June 23, the division captured the Lithuanian city of Raseiniai and crossed the Dubissa River. The tasks assigned to the division were completed, but the Germans, who already had experience of campaigns in the west, were unpleasantly surprised by the stubborn resistance of the Soviet troops. One of the units of Routh's group came under fire from snipers who were occupying positions on fruit trees growing in the meadow. Snipers killed several German officers and delayed the advance of German units for almost an hour, preventing them from quickly encircling Soviet units. The snipers were obviously doomed, since they found themselves inside the location of German troops. But they completed the task to the end. The Germans had never encountered anything like this in the West.

How the only KV-1 ended up in the rear of Routh’s group on the morning of June 24 is unclear. It is possible that he simply got lost. However, in the end, the tank blocked the only road leading from the rear to the group’s positions.

This episode is described not by regular communist propagandists, but by Erhard Routh himself. Routh then fought the entire war on the Eastern Front, passing through Moscow, Stalingrad and Kursk, and ended it as commander of the 3rd Panzer Army and with the rank of colonel general. Of the 427 pages of his memoirs that directly describe the fighting, 12 are devoted to a two-day battle with a single Russian tank at Raseiniai. Routh was clearly shocked by this tank. Therefore, there is no reason for mistrust. Soviet historiography ignored this episode. Moreover, since it was first mentioned in the domestic press by Suvorov-Rezun, some “patriots” began to “expose” the feat. I mean, this is not a feat, but so-so.

The KV, whose crew was 4 people, “exchanged” itself for 12 trucks, 4 anti-tank guns, 1 anti-aircraft gun, possibly several tanks, as well as several dozen Germans killed and dying from wounds. This in itself is an outstanding result, given the fact that until 1945, in the vast majority of even victorious battles, our losses were higher than the German ones. But these are only direct losses of the Germans. Indirect - losses of the Zeckendorf group, which, while repelling the Soviet attack, could not receive help from the Routh group.

Accordingly, for the same reason, the losses of our 2nd Panzer Division were less than if Routh had supported Zeckendorff.

However, perhaps more important than the direct and indirect losses of people and equipment was the loss of time by the Germans. On June 22, 1941, the Wehrmacht had only 17 tank divisions on the entire Eastern Front, including 4 tank divisions in the 4th Panzer Group. KV held one of them alone. Moreover, on June 25, the 6th Division could not advance solely due to the presence of a single tank in its rear. One day of delay for one division is a lot in conditions when German tank groups were advancing at a high pace, tearing apart the defenses of the Red Army and creating many “cauldrons” for it. The Wehrmacht actually completed the task set by Barbarossa, almost completely destroying the Red Army that opposed it in the summer of ’41. But due to such “incidents” as an unexpected tank on the road, it did it much slower and with much greater losses than planned. And in the end he ran into the impassable mud of the Russian autumn, the deadly frosts of the Russian winter and the Siberian divisions near Moscow. After which the war entered a hopeless protracted stage for the Germans.

And yet the most amazing thing in this battle is the behavior of four tankers, whose names we do not know and will never know. They created more problems for the Germans than the entire 2nd Panzer Division, to which, apparently, the KV belonged. If the division delayed the German offensive for one day, then a single tank delayed it for two. It was not for nothing that Routh had to take away the anti-aircraft guns from Zeckendorf, although it would seem that the opposite should have been the case.

It is almost impossible to assume that the tankers had a special task to block the only supply route for Routh’s group. We simply had no intelligence at that moment. This means that the tank ended up on the road by accident. The tank commander himself realized what an important position he had taken. And he deliberately began to hold her back. It is unlikely that the tank standing in one place can be interpreted as a lack of initiative; the crew acted too skillfully. On the contrary, standing was the initiative.

Sitting in a cramped iron box for two days, and in the June heat, is torture in itself. If this box is also surrounded by an enemy whose goal is to destroy the tank along with the crew (in addition, the tank is not one of the enemy’s targets, as in a “normal” battle, but the only goal), this is absolutely incredible physical and psychological stress for the crew. Moreover, the tankers spent almost all of this time not in battle, but in anticipation of battle, which is incomparably harder morally.

All five combat episodes - the defeat of a column of trucks, the destruction of an anti-tank battery, the destruction of an anti-aircraft gun, shooting at sappers, the last battle with tanks - in total hardly even took an hour. The rest of the time the KV crew wondered from which side and in what form they would be destroyed next time. The battle with anti-aircraft guns is especially indicative. The tankers deliberately delayed until the Germans installed the cannon and began to prepare to fire, so that they could shoot for sure and finish the job with one shell. Try to at least roughly imagine such an expectation.

Moreover, if on the first day the KV crew could still hope for the arrival of their own, then on the second, when their own did not come and even the noise of the battle at Raseinaya died down, it became clearer than ever: the iron box in which they had been roasting for the second day would soon enough turn into their common coffin. They took it for granted and continued to fight.

Here is what Erhard Routh himself writes about this: “Nothing important happened in our sector. The troops improved their positions, conducted reconnaissance in the direction of Siluwa and on the eastern bank of Dubissa in both directions, but mainly tried to find out what was happening on the southern bank. We met only small units and individual soldiers. During this time, we established contact with patrols of Kampfgruppe von Seckendorff and the 1st Panzer Division at Lidavenai. While clearing the wooded area to the west of the bridgehead, our infantry encountered larger Russian forces that were still holding out in two places on the west bank of the Dubissa River.

In violation of accepted rules, several prisoners captured in the last battles, including one Red Army lieutenant, were sent to the rear on a truck, guarded by just one non-commissioned officer. Halfway back to Raseinai, the driver suddenly saw an enemy tank on the road and stopped. At this moment, the Russian prisoners (there were about 20 of them) unexpectedly attacked the driver and guard. The non-commissioned officer was sitting next to the driver, facing the prisoners when they tried to snatch the weapons from both of them. The Russian lieutenant had already grabbed the non-commissioned officer's machine gun, but he managed to free one hand and hit the Russian with all his might, throwing him back. The lieutenant collapsed and took several more people with him. Before the prisoners could rush at the non-commissioned officer again, he freed his left hand, although three were holding him. Now he was completely free. With lightning speed, he tore the machine gun from his shoulder and fired a burst at the rioting crowd. The effect was terrible. Only a few prisoners, not counting the wounded officer, managed to jump out of the car to hide in the forest. The car, in which there were no living prisoners, quickly turned around and rushed back to the bridgehead, although the tank fired at it.

This little drama was the first sign that the only road leading to our bridgehead was blocked by a KV-1 super-heavy tank. The Russian tank also managed to destroy the telephone wires connecting us with the division headquarters. Although the enemy's intentions remained unclear, we began to fear an attack from the rear. I immediately ordered Lieutenant Wengenroth's 3rd Battery of the 41st Tank Destroyer Battalion to take up a position in the rear near a flat hilltop close to the command post of the 6th Motorized Brigade, which also served as the command post of the entire battle group. To strengthen our anti-tank defense, I had to turn a nearby battery of 150-mm howitzers 180 degrees. The 3rd company of Lieutenant Gebhardt from the 57th tank engineer battalion was ordered to mine the road and its surroundings. The tanks assigned to us (half of Major Schenk's 65th Tank Battalion) were located in the forest. They were ordered to be ready to counterattack as soon as necessary.
Time passed, but the enemy tank, which blocked the road, did not move, although from time to time it fired in the direction of Raseinaya. At noon on June 24, the scouts whom I sent to clarify the situation returned. They reported that apart from this tank, they found no troops or equipment that could attack us. The officer commanding this unit made the logical conclusion that this was a single tank from the detachment that attacked the von Seckendorff battle group.

Although the danger of attack had dissipated, measures had to be taken to quickly destroy this dangerous obstacle or, at least, drive the Russian tank away. With his fire, he had already set fire to 12 supply trucks that were coming to us from Raseinaya. We were unable to evacuate the wounded in the fighting for the bridgehead, and as a result several people died without receiving medical attention, including a young lieutenant who was shot at point-blank range. If we could get them out, they would be saved. All attempts to bypass this tank were unsuccessful. The vehicles either got stuck in the mud or collided with scattered Russian units still wandering through the forest.

Therefore I ordered Lieutenant Wengenroth's battery. recently received 50-mm anti-tank guns, make your way through the forest, approach the tank within effective shooting range and destroy it. The battery commander and his brave soldiers gladly accepted this dangerous task and set to work with full confidence that it would not drag on too long. From the command post at the top of the hill we watched them as they carefully made their way through the trees from one ravine to another. We weren't alone. Dozens of soldiers climbed onto the roofs and climbed into the trees, waiting with intense attention to see how the undertaking would end. We saw how the first gun approached 1000 meters to the tank, which was sticking out right in the middle of the road. Apparently, the Russians did not notice the threat. The second gun disappeared from sight for some time, and then emerged from the ravine directly in front of the tank and took up a well-camouflaged position. Another 30 minutes passed, and the last two guns also returned to their original positions.

We watched what was happening from the top of the hill. Suddenly, someone suggested that the tank was damaged and abandoned by the crew, since it was standing completely motionless on the road, representing an ideal target. (One can imagine the disappointment of our comrades, who, sweating profusely, dragged the guns to firing positions for several hours, if that were the case.) Suddenly the first of our anti-tank guns fired, a flash flashed, and the silver track ran straight into the tank. The distance did not exceed 600 meters. A ball of fire flashed and a sharp crack was heard. Direct hit! Then came the second and third hits.

The officers and soldiers shouted joyfully, like spectators at a merry performance. “We got it! Bravo! The tank is finished! The tank did not react at all until our guns scored 8 hits. Then its turret turned around, carefully found the target and began to methodically destroy our guns with single shots from an 80 mm gun. Two of our 50mm cannons were blown to pieces, the other two were seriously damaged. The personnel lost several people killed and wounded. Lieutenant Wengenroth led the survivors back to avoid unnecessary losses. Only after nightfall did he manage to pull out the guns. The Russian tank was still tightly blocking the road, so we were literally paralyzed. Deeply shocked, Lieutenant Wengenroth returned to the bridgehead with his soldiers. The newly acquired weapon, which he trusted unconditionally, turned out to be completely helpless against the monstrous tank. A feeling of deep disappointment swept through our entire battle group.

It was necessary to find some new way to master the situation.

It was clear that of all our weapons, only 88-mm anti-aircraft guns with their heavy armor-piercing shells could cope with the destruction of the steel giant. In the afternoon, one such gun was withdrawn from the battle near Raseinai and began to carefully creep towards the tank from the south. The KV-1 was still turned to the north, since it was from this direction that the previous attack was carried out. The long-barreled anti-aircraft gun approached to a distance of 2000 yards, from which satisfactory results could already be achieved. Unfortunately, the trucks that the monstrous tank had previously destroyed were still burning along the side of the road, and their smoke was making it difficult for the gunners to take aim. But, on the other hand, this same smoke turned into a curtain, under the cover of which the gun could be dragged even closer to the target. Having tied many branches to the gun for better camouflage, the gunners slowly rolled it forward, trying not to disturb the tank.

Finally, the crew reached the edge of the forest, from where visibility was excellent. The distance to the tank now did not exceed 500 meters. We thought that the very first shot would give a direct hit and would certainly destroy the tank that was interfering with us. The crew began to prepare the gun for firing.

Although the tank had not moved since the battle with the anti-tank battery, it turned out that its crew and commander had nerves of iron. They calmly watched the approach of the anti-aircraft gun, without interfering with it, since while the gun was moving, it did not pose any threat to the tank. In addition, the closer the anti-aircraft gun is, the easier it will be to destroy it. A critical moment came in the duel of nerves when the crew began to prepare the anti-aircraft gun to fire. It was time for the tank crew to act. While the gunners, terribly nervous, were aiming and loading the gun, the tank turned the turret and fired first! Every projectile hit its target. The heavily damaged anti-aircraft gun fell into a ditch, several crew members died, and the rest were forced to flee. Machine-gun fire from the tank prevented the removal of the gun and the collection of the dead.

The failure of this attempt, on which great hopes were pinned, was very unpleasant news for us. The optimism of the soldiers died along with the 88 mm gun. Our soldiers did not have the best day, chewing canned food, since it was impossible to bring hot food.

However, the biggest fears have disappeared, at least for a while. The Russian attack on Raseinai was repulsed by the von Seckendorff battle group, which managed to hold Hill 106. Now there was no longer any fear that the Soviet 2nd Panzer Division would break through to our rear and cut us off. All that remained was a painful thorn in the form of a tank, which was blocking our only supply route. We decided that if we couldn’t deal with him during the day, then we’ll do it at night. The brigade headquarters discussed various options for destroying the tank for several hours, and preparations began for several of them at once.

Our sappers suggested simply blowing up the tank on the night of June 24/25. It should be said that the sappers, not without malicious satisfaction, watched the unsuccessful attempts of the artillerymen to destroy the enemy. Now it's their turn to try their luck. When Lieutenant Gebhardt called for 12 volunteers, all 12 people raised their hands in unison. To avoid offending others, every tenth person was selected. These 12 lucky ones waited impatiently for the night to come. Lieutenant Gebhardt, who intended to personally command the operation, familiarized all sappers in detail with the general plan of the operation and the personal task of each of them individually. After dark the lieutenant set out at the head of a small column. The road ran east of Height 123, through a small sandy area to a strip of trees among which the tank was found, and then through sparse forest to the old concentration area.

The pale light of the stars flickering in the sky was quite enough to outline the contours of nearby trees, the road and the tank. Trying not to make any noise so as not to give themselves away, the soldiers who had taken off their shoes climbed to the side of the road and began to examine the tank from a close distance in order to outline the most convenient path. The Russian giant stood in the same place, its tower froze. Silence and peace reigned everywhere, only occasionally there was a flash in the air, followed by a dull rumble. Sometimes an enemy shell would fly past with a hiss and explode near the crossroads north of Raseinaya. These were the last echoes of the heavy battle that had been going on in the south all day. By midnight, artillery fire on both sides finally stopped.

Suddenly, a crash and footsteps were heard in the forest on the other side of the road. Ghost-like figures rushed towards the tank, shouting something as they ran. Is this really the crew? Then there were blows on the tower, the hatch opened with a clang and someone climbed out. Judging by the muffled clinking, food had arrived. The scouts immediately reported this to Lieutenant Gebhardt, who began to be annoyed with questions: “Perhaps we should rush at them and capture them? They appear to be civilians." The temptation was great, since it seemed very easy to do. However, the tank crew remained in the turret and remained awake. Such an attack would alarm the tank crews and could jeopardize the success of the entire operation. Lieutenant Gebhardt reluctantly rejected the offer. As a result, the sappers had to wait another hour until the civilians (or were they partisans?) left.
During this time, a thorough reconnaissance of the area was carried out. At 01.00, sappers began to act, as the tank crew fell asleep in the turret, unaware of the danger. After demolition charges were installed on the track and thick side armor, the sappers set fire to the fuse and ran away. A few seconds later, a loud explosion broke the silence of the night. The task was completed, and the sappers decided that they had achieved decisive success. However, before the echo of the explosion died down among the trees, the tank’s machine gun came to life, and bullets whistled around. The tank itself did not move. Probably its caterpillar was destroyed, but it was not possible to find out, since the machine gun was furiously firing at everything around. Lieutenant Gebhardt and his patrol returned to the beachhead visibly despondent. Now they were no longer confident of success, and it also turned out that one person was missing. Attempts to find him in the dark led to nothing.

Shortly before dawn, we heard a second, weaker explosion somewhere near the tank, the cause of which we could not find. The tank machine gun came to life again and for several minutes poured lead all around. Then there was silence again.

Soon after this it began to get light. The rays of the morning sun painted the forests and fields with gold. Thousands of drops of dew sparkled like diamonds on the grass and flowers, and the early birds began to sing. The soldiers began to stretch and blink sleepily as they rose to their feet. A new day was beginning.

The sun had not yet risen high when the barefoot soldier, hanging his tied boots over his shoulder, walked past the brigade command post. Unfortunately for him, it was I, the brigade commander, who noticed him first and rudely called him over. When the frightened traveler stretched out in front of me, I in clear language demanded an explanation for his morning walk in such a strange way. Is he a follower of Father Kneipp? If yes, then this is not the place to show off your hobbies. (Papa Kneipp in the 19th century created a society under the motto “Back to Nature” and preached physical health, cold baths, sleeping in the open air and the like.)

Greatly frightened, the lone wanderer began to get confused and bleat indistinctly. Every word had to be extracted from this silent intruder literally with pincers. However, with each of his answers my face brightened. Finally, I patted him on the shoulder with a smile and shook his hand in gratitude. To an outside observer who did not hear what was being said, this development of events might seem extremely strange. What could the barefoot guy say to make the attitude towards him change so rapidly? I could not satisfy this curiosity until the order for the brigade for the day was given with a report from a young sapper.

“I listened to the sentries and lay in a ditch next to a Russian tank. When everything was ready, I, together with the company commander, hung a demolition charge, which was twice as heavy as the instructions required, to the tank track and lit the fuse. Since the ditch was deep enough to provide shelter from shrapnel, I awaited the results of the explosion. However, after the explosion, the tank continued to shower the edge of the forest and the ditch with bullets. More than an hour passed before the enemy calmed down. Then I got close to the tank and examined the track in the place where the charge was installed. No more than half of its width was destroyed. I didn't notice any other damage.

When I returned to the meeting point of the sabotage group, she had already left. While searching for my boots, which I had left there, I discovered another forgotten demolition charge. I took it and returned to the tank, climbed onto the hull and hung the charge from the gun muzzle in the hope of damaging it. The charge was too small to cause serious damage to the machine itself. I crawled under the tank and blew it up.

After the explosion, the tank immediately fired at the edge of the forest and the ditch with a machine gun. The shooting did not stop until dawn, only then did I manage to crawl out from under the tank. I was sad to discover that my charge was too low after all. Having reached the collection point, I tried to put on my boots, but found out that they were too small and generally not my pair. One of my comrades put mine on by mistake. As a result, I had to return barefoot and was late.”

This was the true story of a brave man. However, despite his efforts, the tank continued to block the road, firing at any moving object it spotted. The fourth decision, which was born on the morning of June 25, was to call in dive bombers. Ju-87 to destroy a tank. However, we were refused because planes were needed literally everywhere. But even if they were found, it is unlikely that the dive bombers would be able to destroy the tank with a direct hit. We were confident that fragments of nearby explosions would not frighten the crew of the steel giant.

But now this damned tank had to be destroyed at any cost. The combat power of the garrison of our bridgehead will be seriously undermined if the road cannot be unblocked. The division will not be able to complete the task assigned to it. Therefore, I decided to use the last resort we had, although this plan could lead to large losses in people, tanks and equipment, but it did not promise guaranteed success. However, my intentions were to mislead the enemy and help keep our losses to a minimum. Our intention was to divert the KV-1's attention with a feint attack from Major Schenk's tanks and bring the 88mm guns closer to destroy the terrible monster. The terrain around the Russian tank contributed to this. There it was possible to secretly sneak up on the tank and set up observation posts in the wooded area on the eastern road. Since the forest was quite sparse, our nimble PzKw-35t could move freely in all directions.

Soon the 65th Tank Battalion arrived and began firing at the Russian tank from three sides. The KV-1 crew began to become noticeably nervous. The turret was spinning from side to side, trying to catch the impudent German tanks in its sights. The Russians fired at targets flashing among the trees, but were always late. A German tank appeared, but literally disappeared at the same moment. The crew of the KV-1 tank was confident in the strength of its armor, which resembled elephant skin and reflected all shells, but the Russians wanted to destroy the enemies that were harassing them, while at the same time continuing to block the road.

Fortunately for us, the Russians were overcome by excitement, and they stopped watching their rear, from where misfortune was approaching them. The anti-aircraft gun took up a position next to the place where one of the same ones had already been destroyed the day before. Its menacing barrel aimed at the tank, and the first shot rang out. The wounded KV-1 tried to turn the turret back, but the anti-aircraft gunners managed to fire 2 more shots during this time. The turret stopped rotating, but the tank did not catch fire, although we expected it to. Although the enemy no longer responded to our fire, after two days of failure we could not believe our success. Four more shots were fired with armor-piercing shells from an 88-mm anti-aircraft gun, which ripped open the monster’s skin. Its gun rose helplessly, but the tank continued to stand on the road, which was no longer blocked.

Witnesses to this deadly duel wanted to get closer to check the results of their shooting. To their great amazement, they discovered that only 2 shells penetrated the armor, while the remaining 5 88-mm shells only made deep gouges in it. We also found 8 blue circles marking where 50mm shells hit. The result of the sappers' sortie was serious damage to the track and a shallow gouge on the gun barrel. But we did not find any traces of hits from shells from 37-mm cannons and PzKW-35t tanks. Driven by curiosity, our “Davids” climbed onto the defeated “Goliath” in a vain attempt to open the tower hatch. Despite all efforts, its lid did not budge.

Suddenly the barrel of the gun began to move, and our soldiers ran away in horror. Only one of the sappers retained his composure and quickly stuck a hand grenade into the hole made by the shell in the lower part of the tower. There was a dull explosion and the hatch cover flew off to the side. Inside the tank lay the bodies of the brave crew, who had previously only received injuries. Deeply shocked by this heroism, we buried them with full military honors. They fought until their last breath, but this was just one small drama of the great war.

After the only heavy tank blocked the road for 2 days, it began to operate. Our trucks delivered supplies to the bridgehead necessary for the subsequent offensive."

Info and photos (C) various places on the Internet

1. The Scottish regiments of the British Army in 1944 in Normandy went on the attack with bagpipers in front, until heavy losses among the latter forced them to abandon this practice.
2. In 1799, during the siege of the fortress of Saint-Jean d'Acre (Akka) in Palestine, the French did not have enough cannonballs. They sent out mounted patrols, which were fired upon by the English fleet. The cannonballs collected then replenished the French arsenals.
3. In 1744, when the Prussian king Frederick II invaded Bohemia, he was driven out by the Austrian Marshal Trauno without a single battle by mere maneuvers, and the Prussian army reached Silesia in a state of complete disintegration.
4. In the American army in the war with Spain in 1898, losses from disease exceeded combat losses by 5.6 times.
5. During the Battle of Poltava, the Swedish Major General Lagerkruna, seeing a fresh horse led by an orderly, immediately took it for himself. The horse belonged to the captain of the Life Dragoons, Karl Strokirch. 22 years later, Strokirch sued Lagerkrune for horse theft and won it in a Stockholm court, receiving 710 dalers in compensation.
6. After Pskov came under the rule of the Livonian Order without a fight in 1240, a garrison of 2 (two) knights was left in it.
7. The Abkhaz Air Force is armed with two combat hang gliders.
8. "The Sacred Band", an elite unit of the ancient Greek city of Thebes numbering 300 people, which played a decisive role in the victories of Epaminondas at Leuktra and at Mantinea (371 and 362 BC) and died almost entirely in the unsuccessful battle with the Macedonians at Chaeronea (338 BC), consisted of 150 homosexual couples.
9. The famous Malakhov Kurgan in Sevastopol is named after Ivan Malakhov, who ran a cheap tavern at the foot of this hill.
10. “Do not destroy alcoholic beverages, but leave them to the Russians. Practice shows that when they capture such trophies, their advance slows down.” Order of the commander of the 17th German Army dated April 9, 1944.
11. According to the drill regulations in the Uhlan regiments of the Russian army, the first rank attacked with pikes at the ready, and the second held them vertically. During the battle of Balaklava (Crimean War), an officer saw a Russian uhlan who was chasing an Englishman, but did not stab him with a pike, but held it vertically. When the officer asked why he was doing this, the uhlan replied: “And I, Your Honor, am the second rank.”
12. The most famous battle of the American Civil War at Gettysburg began on July 1, 1863 with the attack of the southern division of General Hes on this city in order to capture a large warehouse of army boots.
13. In 1864, during the famous march of Sherman's army to the sea through Georgia, the northerners destroyed the railroad track. The ties were burned in bonfires, and the rails were heated in the fire and wrapped around telegraph poles in fancy squiggles that the soldiers called “Sherman Pins.”
14. The first experience of using tanks on the battlefield belonged to the British. During the development and production of tanks, measures of secrecy and disinformation were actively used, achieving unprecedented success. So, even among the British troops there were rumors about giant mechanical machines that moved in leaps, like kangaroos.
15. In the mid-eighties, all Soviet military transport aviation could lift into the air no more than 70% of one airborne division out of the seven available.
16. On January 21, 1795, a squadron of the French 8th Hussars captured a large Dutch squadron in a frozen port. This is the only case in history of the surrender of battleships to cavalry.
17. During the raids on Belgrade, residents sealed their houses with tape for partial protection from the blast wave and called this method of protection WINDOWS 99
18. The puppet state of Manchukuo included a Russian brigade of 4,000 people. The brigade was commanded by Colonel Gurgen Nagolyan, and his deputy was Japanese Colonel Asano Takashi, after whom the brigade was called the Asano Brigade. In the end, Nagolyan turned out to be an NKVD agent.
19. About 80% of the captains of the Ottoman Navy in the 16th century. were Europeans who converted to Islam. And one was even an American Indian.
20. In the 1960-70s, Syrian tank crews were selling tank sights with might and main, because the Syrian infantry believed that if you attach such a sight to a machine gun (!), shooting accuracy increases immeasurably.
21. During the New Guinea campaign of World War 2, a company camouflage competition was held in one of the Australian infantry brigades. The prize for the winning soldiers was a two-week vacation home. Upon arrival in Australia, the company that won the competition deserted entirely.
22. During World War 2, German submariners returning from a cruise entered the harbor to the sounds of the American song “Stars and Strips forever.”
23. On January 26, 1995, in the Khasavyurt area, 41 servicemen of the 22nd separate GRU special forces brigade were exchanged for detained Chechens. This was the first case of prisoner exchange in the 1st Chechen War.
24. When the 18th anti-aircraft missile division of the USSR Armed Forces, which participated in the fighting in Egypt in 1970, received 20 copies of the newspaper Pravda, which contained an article exposing the “vile slander that there are Soviet troops in Egypt ", the head of the division's political department had to destroy all copies.
25. During a search of German agents in 1942, American counterintelligence discovered secret assignments written in sympathetic ink in journals. The interrogation revealed that the Germans sold unnecessary magazines to second-hand book dealers instead of burning them. This saving turned out to be fatal. American counterintelligence agents rushed to second-hand bookstores, bought thousands of magazines, subjected them to iodine vapor treatment, and restored literally all the assignments given to German spies over the years. This allowed the Americans to subsequently destroy all German espionage and sabotage organizations.
26. The management of the Ladybird Books publishing house, having received an order from the Ministry of Defense for a series of books for its personnel on the principles of computer operation, responded with surprise that these books were intended for children aged 8 years and older. The ministry confirmed the order.
27. The city of Winchester in Virginia changed hands 72 times during the American Civil War.
28. In the 16th century, it was believed that a gunshot wound produced a special poison in the body, which could only be treated with boiling alder resin. As a result of this treatment, many wounded died from painful shock.
29. During a humanitarian operation in Rwanda, three Hercules transport vehicles with 10 tons of cargo missed by almost a kilometer. Mass panic arose in the refugee camp - people decided that they were being bombed. One of the containers hit a school, another narrowly missed a UN helicopter. 5 tons went missing, but overall the action was considered very successful.
30. The Pentagon spends $250 million a year on military bands.

In war, of course, as in war, however, comic situations also happened .

1941 During active preparations for the attack on the USSR, the Germans, as is known, did their best to hide their true plans, flaunting an allegedly impending landing on the British Isles.
One of the means to intimidate the enemy was the placement of several dummy airfields on the French coast, which housed a significant number of wooden copies of German fighters.
The work on creating these same dummies was in full swing when one day in broad daylight a lone British plane appeared in the air and dropped a single bomb on the “airfield”.
It turned out to be wooden. After this incident, the Germans stopped all this kind of work....

The story with the airfield had the following continuation. After the British dropped a wooden bomb, the Germans decided: let's place real planes at this false airfield, because the British, knowing that
This airfield is false, they will be mistaken for mock-ups. Two days after the German planes relocated, the British bombed this airfield again. But with real bombs. At the end of the bombing there was
the pennant was dropped with the words: “But that’s another matter!”

41st year. Our KV-1 tank stalled in the neutral zone. The Germans knocked on the armor for a long time and asked the crew to surrender, but they refused. Then the Germans hooked the KV with two of their light tanks to pull it away.
our tank to its location, and open it there without interference. The calculation turned out to be not entirely correct. When they started towing, our tank started up (apparently there was a “push start”), and dragged the German tanks
to our location. The German tank crews were forced to abandon their tanks, and the KV dragged them to our positions.

During the Polish campaign, during the capture of Vilna, one of our armored vehicles came under fire from Polish anti-tank rifles. He was under this fire for more than an hour, supporting his infantry, until he was finally knocked out.
Inspecting it after the battle, they counted 21 holes in it. Of the bullets that fired through them, only the last one hit the engine and broke it, and another one casually touched the leg of the crew commander. All other hits
did not in any way affect the combat effectiveness of the tank. This and a number of similar cases were the reason for our refusal to produce anti-tank rifles.

In 1939, experiments were carried out in the USSR on landing tanks. We tested dropping the T-38 onto the water. After successful experiments, a “brilliant” idea was born - to reset the T-38 into the water with its crew.
The reset was made, and fortunately, the crew received only minor injuries, after which they were awarded orders. Such experiments were not performed again.

In 1944, the Yak-9K aircraft, armed with a 45-mm cannon (!), went into production. A projectile fired from a 45-mm aircraft cannon penetrated 48-mm tank armor, and there is no need to talk about aircraft.
There was such a case: Four YAK-9K regiments of Major Kleshchev met four Focke-Wulf 190s, who, not realizing our weapons, launched a frontal attack. Ours accepted it. One salvo, and 3 German
the plane was torn to shreds. The last German barely escaped, very surprised at the result of the frontal attack. And this regiment shot down 106 aircraft in 2.5 months.

For a year and a half during the First World War, the Germans could not shoot down the heavy aircraft "Ilya Muromets", which gave rise to the legend about its powerful armor protection. Only at the end of 1916 a whole bunch of German
fighters fell on the lone Ilya Muromets, who was conducting deep reconnaissance. The battle lasted about an hour and the Germans failed to shoot him down. The plane made an emergency landing, shooting all the tapes
onboard machine guns and even cartridges from Mausers, only after 3 out of 4 engines failed. The Germans discovered more than 300 holes, which plunged them into complete despondency.

On June 25, 1941, two batteries of the German infantry division near Melniki (Army Group Center) were completely destroyed in hand-to-hand combat by units of Soviet troops emerging from encirclement.

From the First World War. The UB-17 boat and its captain became famous because the captain, seeing an ordinary English transport through the periscope, decided to attack it with torpedoes. Since there were no guards nearby, he
decided to surface and fired a torpedo at the transport, which, in appearance, was nothing special - it only carried trucks on the deck. It turned out that the transport was camouflaged in this way,
and he was actually transporting ammunition, which, when detonated, sent one of the trucks flying, which fell on the boat, drowning it with its entire crew...

At the very end of the First World War, the famous writer J. Hasek, the author of the unforgettable Schweik, served in the Austro-Hungarian army. One day he came across a group of our soldiers (about ten people). Deciding that he had already
fought back, decided to surrender. And our soldiers were so tired of dying for the capitalists and bloodsuckers of the working people (the agitation also helped quite well), that they forced Hasek to accept
their surrender. And he returned to the unit with them and with a donkey loaded with rifles.

During World War II, a Turkish submarine sank with almost its entire crew because the cook’s cutlets were burnt and he opened the hatch without informing anyone to ventilate the room. Boat
was on the surface, after some time the captain gave the order “urgent dive” and... the boat sank. Only the captain was saved - he was on the bridge and managed to jump.

From the memoirs of the late General Lebed.
“One of the T-62 tanks fired, taking up a position on a small, very flat field under the purely symbolic cover of two or three stunted trees. Before the platoon of Afghans concentrated under cover
tank and fired rather randomly along the slopes. A special feature of the T-62 is that the spent cartridge case is extracted out through a small hatch at the rear of the turret.
The tankman slowly moved the barrel, looking for the target. Found it. Shot. The tower spat out the cartridge case. which hit an Afghan soldier in the face and chest. Two of his comrades, having put the machine guns on safety and switched
they were placed behind their backs and the injured man was dragged somewhere to the rear. The rest huddled even more tightly behind the tank and continued to fire even more energetically. Shot. Another soldier caught a shell casing, and two comrades
they dragged him to the rear. Before my eyes, within one minute the platoon melted by one third. Truly, eccentrics decorate the world."

A long time ago they told about such a case on the Soviet-Chinese border in the 70s or 80s of the last century (when the situation there was on the verge of conflict). Chinese border guards placed a toilet in the immediate vicinity
proximity to the PCB in such a way that, walking out of great need, they showed our Great and Mighty Motherland their skinny butts. Then our border guards, using Russian ingenuity, placed on our side
directly opposite their toilet is a portrait of the then Chinese Secretary General.
The Chinese had to rearrange the toilet...

About the fighters of the invisible front.

Recently there was a program about our today's counterintelligence officers. They told such a case... There was a nimble diplomat in the American embassy, ​​whom the surveillance system could not follow.
He left the embassy in a car and evaded surveillance through Moscow gateways. Our counterintelligence officers were terribly tired of this matter and they perpetrated a trick... Once again, an American diplomat
flies in his car through the Moscow gateways from ours and then CRACK... The car is in a landfill, the diplomat is in intensive care... Ours, in the dark part of the arch, in one of the courtyards, dug a steel pole.

In 1944, the Japanese adopted the Ki-84 Hayate fighter. In terms of performance characteristics, it was a powerful machine: at an altitude of 6000 m it overtook all Allied fighters! But they did not cause much harm to the Americans.
There were many reasons for this, but here is one of them: the engine of this Japanese miracle of technology had to be disassembled and washed AFTER EACH FLIGHT!!!

The teacher said during the class:

He worked as an instructor in Vietnam, teaching the Viet Cong how to use Dvina missiles...

This means that the missiles themselves with launchers, as a rule, were located in fishing lines, so as not to be noticed prematurely from the air. It was then 1968 or 1969... He no longer remembered exactly.
And in the intervals between “firing”, the rocket men lived a normal life: they cleaned and washed the rockets, studied and guarded objects. And then the alarm sounds: “candy wrappers” are coming with “thunders” (F105 - thunderchief -
was then used as an interceptor for guarding candy wrappers with bombs), all the rocket launchers, who is where, and how they are dressed - it doesn’t matter, they roll into bunkers, removing the covers from the rockets as they go, and in the confusion they don’t notice much...
A volley follows, more than one battery fires - there were a lot of them - three candy wrappers and one tander fall, the rest are torn apart... A parachutist flies from one of the candy wrappers. Joyful Vietnamese peasants with AK-47 at the ready,
they rush to the rice field where he should fall... our people follow them, shouting: “We need him alive!” Well, they run up to a silent scene: the pilot falls to the ground, alive, but with a belt dangling from his chest
secret (at that time) Soviet AKM-59 assault rifle! Maybe this is our pilot? no, definitely not ours. Who then sold the machine gun to him?

a showdown begins and it turns out that the machine gun of lieutenant “so-and-so” is not in place, that is, on the lieutenant’s shoulder... And according to the numbers (only Soviet advisers in Vietnam at that time were armed with AKMs, and
they were numbered), this machine is his! Here comes the joy...

The GeBists arrived, took the lieutenant and the pilot with them, then, however, they released the lieutenant, but with the strictest order - not to let him go on any more business trips! Why is that all?

And here's what happened:
They washed the rocket, and the rocket has a PVD sensor on the nose, the machine gun was in the way, and l-he hung it on a belt on this tube... Then there was an alarm, there was no time for machine guns, the order was to fire a salvo and the rocket, “pressing” it to itself
machine gun, went to the enemy plane... Further, more “laughter”... An explosion never occurs from contact - it is non-contact. The missile exploded 6 meters from the aircraft, with destructive elements other than steel
rods, the machine gun also flew... But - it shows more resistance to the air, it was thrown into the air a little... During the explosion, the catapult accidentally went off under Amer’s pilot, he and his seat
was thrown upward, and when the parachute opened, according to the pilot, something hit him in the neck from above, and he lost consciousness, which is why he also could not explain the origin of the appearance of the machine gun
on his chest - because the machine gun fell on him, already falling down - the speeds were high, but the seat, apparently, had not yet come off the pilot, because the machine gun belt did not cut the pilot’s neck...

This is how planes were sometimes shot down with machine guns... :)

I can’t vouch for the veracity, but it went like this:
During Brezhnev's reign, there were constantly small skirmishes on the Soviet-Chinese border. And after the death of Leonid Ilyich, Andropov came to power. He summoned the Chinese ambassador and in an informal meeting
warned that if there is another provocation, let them kick themselves.
The Chinese ignored this, because... Another skirmish occurred, of course with losses on our side. Then Andropov ordered one area, I don’t remember the name, to set 12 degrees and open fire......
In general, the Chinese calmed down after that. And pilots who fly over this area are surprised that grass doesn’t grow on the Chinese side.

Arab-Israeli War, Egypt

The Soviet Air Force squadron was in the center of the desert. The only entertainment is combat missions. Water was strictly limited, they didn’t even wash their hands, but cleaned them with a special paste from a tube. In short, wilderness. During some
On the occasion of the great Arab holiday, they announced that “we are not fighting today.” The pilots finally decided to relax.
But at the end of this celebration of life, an order came from headquarters for an urgent flight to intercept, because... unexpectedly, Jews have a different opinion regarding the schedule for today.
An order is an order, and those pilots who were still standing helped load their friend into the cockpit, because he could no longer do it and... The MiG flew away. About 5-10 minutes later, they suddenly realized what they had done
and... instantly sobered up. The one who flew away was a Hero of the Soviet Union, the best ace of the regiment, and so on and so forth... TRIBUNAL?
But after a while the plane appeared again over the airfield and even... landed. Everyone rushed to the car. The lantern opened and our Hero fell into the arms of his friends with a happy smile... victoriously raising
up 2 (or 3?, I don’t remember: confused:) fingers! He shot down 2 Mirages!

In modern on airplanes, any shaking of the hands leads to the car throwing from side to side. Therefore, the condition of our pilot led to the fact that the MiG behaved in the air in a way that was typical for
an inexperienced Arab pilot. "But under the skin of the lamb there was a lion!" :lol: Which is what the Israelis fell for.

Another case. It was after the war. The Russian officer was driven by a German, since there were not enough of his own.
They drive once and then the car breaks down. The German looked and said he couldn’t fix it. Some part has failed. The narrator did not mention which one specifically. They stand smoking. Another car is coming towards you.
They stop her and ask her to help. The Russian driver took one look, scratched the back of his head, looked around and cut out this detail from the beets that grew nearby in the field. “You’re not far from here, you’ll finish your meal,” he said.
I moved on. The German sat down, started it and drove 5 km. to your destination. Then the German says to the officer: “Now I understand why you won the war!!!”

After the war, a great variety of different warehouses were formed
weapons, captured and our own, in the open air, which, according to army habit, had to be guarded day and night.
And they had a battalion commander there, a very angry one, who also “especially liked to check the posts after...”
and sent a lot of soldiers to camps, to build dams, etc. In those Stalinist times, they gave a lot to an enemy of the people for sleeping on duty...
Everyone was very afraid of him, but physiology took its toll, and the soldiers, no, no, and fell asleep at the post, fortunately, they had to stand with a 3-line rifle, leaning
With your back against the wall and your chin on the rifle, you could stand standing...
But this rifle has one peculiarity: the bolt opens, if slowly, then silently, and in the rear position, when you press the trigger, it falls out completely. (For
purges, etc.) Somehow the battalion commander crept up to one post, and the soldier was sleeping, standing up. He quietly removed the bolt from his rifle and went to check further posts. In a minute
the soldier woke up and realized that it was a skiff... And because... These were front-line soldiers who survived in difficult conditions, and had seen enough death, he quickly realized and ran in the other direction, to
neighboring post, and asked a friend for the shutter. (All parts are interchangeable)
He returned to his post, loaded his rifle and waited for the battalion commander. Because everything happens at night, in conditions of poor visibility, then it is necessary, according to the regulations, to hear steps, shout out to the person walking, stop, and then it begins
procedure for approaching the post. What did the battalion commander give a damn about? he had the shutter in his pocket.
This is what the soldier took advantage of, putting a bullet in the stranger’s post right between the eyes. Then he took his bolt and returned it to his neighbor. And he called the guard to the incident.
So everything was written off... And no one else quietly checked the posts...

Our scouts got into the habit of taking the Germans' language. The Germans are tired of this. We started to be vigilant. There's no way you can get through. Well, ours crawled at night, tied the cable to the barbed wire, on which
Germans had tin cans hanging. And from 8 pm they started tugging at her.
How the Germans began to get nervous. Run, fuss, shoot. Our people are sitting in the trench, laughing, but the German is not sleeping.;) He is nervous. They kept me going until 3 am. They cured the Germans' nervous system. He stopped responding. After
Why did ours crawl and get hold of their tongues?

Cannons from the Russian-Turkish War fought near Moscow.
It would seem that in that grandiose battle that took place on the outskirts of the capital in the winter of 1941, every detail was studied and everything has long been known, however...
Few people know that in one of the sectors of the front, Russian cannons manufactured at the Imperial Gun Factory in Perm back in 1877 played a decisive role. And it was in the Solnechnogorsk region -
Krasnaya Polyana, where the 16th Army, drained of blood by long battles, fought under the command of Konstantin Rokossovsky.
K.K. Rokossovsky turned to G.K. Zhukov with a request for urgent assistance with anti-tank artillery. However, the front commander no longer had it in reserve. The request reached the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
Stalin’s reaction was immediate: “I also do not have anti-tank artillery reserves. But in Moscow there is the Military Artillery Academy named after F. E. Dzerzhinsky. There are many experienced artillerymen there.
Let them think and report back on a possible solution to the problem within 24 hours.”

Indeed, back in 1938, the artillery academy, founded in 1820, was transferred from Leningrad to Moscow. But in October 1941, she was mostly evacuated to Samarkand.
About a hundred officers and employees remained in Moscow. Training artillery was also transported to Samarkand. But the order had to be carried out.
A happy accident helped. An elderly man worked at the academy who knew well the locations of artillery arsenals in Moscow and in the immediate Moscow region, where worn-out and
very old artillery systems, shells and equipment for them. One can only regret that time has not preserved the name of this person and the names of all the other employees of the academy who, during the day
carried out the order and formed several high-power anti-tank defense fire batteries.
To fight German medium tanks, they picked up old 6-inch caliber siege guns, which were used during the liberation of Bulgaria from the Turkish yoke, and later in the Russo-Japanese War
1904-1905 After its completion, due to the severe wear of the barrels, these guns were delivered to the Mytishchi Arsenal, where they were stored in mothballed form. Shooting from them was not safe,
but they could still withstand 5-7 shots.

As for shells, at the Sokolniki artillery depot there were a large number of captured English high-explosive fragmentation shells from Vickers of 6 inches caliber and weighing 100 feet, then
there is a little over 40 kilograms. There were also primers and powder charges captured from the Americans during the Civil War. All this property has been stored so carefully since 1919 that it could well
used for its intended purpose.
Soon several fire batteries of heavy anti-tank artillery were formed. Academy students and officers sent from military registration and enlistment offices became commanders, and Red Army soldiers and students became servants.
8-10th grades of Moscow special artillery schools. The guns did not have sights, so it was decided to fire only direct fire, aiming them at the target through the barrel. For ease of firing the gun
dug into the ground up to the hubs of wooden wheels.

German tanks appeared suddenly. The gun crews fired the first shots from a distance of 500-600 m. German tank crews initially mistook shell explosions for the effects of anti-tank mines. Judging
Apparently, the "mines" were very powerful. If a 40-kilogram shell exploded near a tank, the tank would turn over on its side or stand on its butt. But it soon became clear that they were hitting
from cannons. A shell hit the tower tore it down and threw it tens of meters to the side. And if a 6-inch siege cannon shell hit the forehead of the hull, then it would go right through the tank, destroying everything.
your way.

The German tank crews were horrified - they did not expect this. Having lost a company, the tank battalion retreated. The German command considered the incident an accident and sent another battalion in a different direction,
where he also ran into an anti-tank ambush. The Germans decided that the Russians were using some new anti-tank weapon of unprecedented power. The enemy offensive was probably stopped
to clarify the situation.
Ultimately, Rokossovsky’s army won on this section of the front for several days, during which reinforcements arrived and the front stabilized. On December 5, 1941, our troops moved to
counter-offensive and drove the Nazis to the West. It turns out that the Victory of 1945, at least to a small extent, was forged by Russian gunsmiths back in the 19th century.

Britain, 1940, a Hurricane made an emergency landing near Hull, 2 pilots got out. The farmer who watched the landing gave them tea and then called the nearby airfield.
They sent a car from there.
The pilots spoke impeccable English, but suspicions arose that they were deserters from the RAF. The Air Force leadership decided to put these people on trial, but the pilots said that
they are... German prisoners of war from the camp in Karline. However, the camp leadership reported that all the prisoners were in place.
The Air Force command was determined to prove at all costs that they were deserters and did a great job of searching throughout the country for the unit from which they escaped.
Only on the eve of the trial, the camp commandant reported that an unscheduled inspection revealed the absence of 2 prisoners.
It turns out that 2 Luftwaffe pilots, dressed in work suits, calmly walked out of the camp gates. Then they freely entered the airfield, climbed into the Hurricane, took off and headed for
Germany. However, when they reached the coast, they ran out of fuel.
The prisoners were returned to the camp, heavily laden with gifts from the English pilots, who were amused by the story.

Germany, Plan Gelb has already been developed, final preparations are underway before the offensive... Two officers of the Wehrmacht General Staff are tasked with delivering secret documents regarding the offensive,
in a group of troops located on the border with Belgium. The documents clearly show that Germany will attack France, in short, the Gelb plan in a condensed form.
Well, these officers got on the train and went to the border. We drank and ate. Of course, the Russians drank not like ours - a little schnapps, a little Bavarian sausages. They are going. Here at one of the stations they
they meet either a classmate or an acquaintance, or, in short, a Luftwaffe officer. Well, they sat down, drank to the meeting, remembered their youth and the Luftwaffe officer told them that there would soon be a station there
My unit is located, let's go out, sit, celebrate the meeting, and then I will take you to the train, which leaves in 2-3 hours. The officers agreed. We went out, arrived at the unit’s location, sat down, drank, and had a snack.
It’s already good for them - in a word, they missed the train. They began to tear out their hair, and the Luftwaffe officer told them: calm down, get on the plane right now, we’ll be there in no time. His rank was either major or colonel.
They boarded the plane, as I understood, something like our U-2, that means they were flying. It seemed like they arrived on time, began to descend, the lights of the airfield were already visible - they landed shortly. They come out (they shout “Heil Hitler” (joke), they see
Soldiers are walking towards him; if you look closely, they are Belgians. Well, they’re panicking, they say they’ll figure it all out right now, they’ll look at the documents and there won’t be a war.
The Belgians came up, well, they checked the documents, all that - the Germans - they said they got lost, forgive me, let me go. The Belgians took them to the checkpoint, sit and wait - right now, they say, we’ll find out what to do. They asked for command, and
then he tells them, let them go, fortunately it’s not far from the border, we don’t need complications with Germany and so on and on. While the car was being called, while this and that, the officers at the checkpoint decided to burn secret documents - only in
They put the stove in (well, I won’t say that, as luck would have it, they didn’t have matches, and the gas in the lighter ran out) when the Belgians come in, tell them that’s it, you’ll go home right now, and they see that the Germans are burning something.
They took it away, revered it - oh, the insidious Hitler, he wanted to attack us. Documents to the General Staff, the Germans were also sent somewhere. They're sorting it out. Such documents came into my hands. Back and forth, the Germans were soon transferred
to their own, and those to the Gestapo. As soon as they found out what happened, everyone began to run, jump, what to do, the plans are known to the French. It came to the Fuhrer. “Our” officers, all three, are already in the Gestapo to the fifth generation
They split, they say, enemies and thousands and thousands. Herr Hitler apparently thought - redoing the plan would take time, resources, the moment of surprise of the attack would be lost, redeploying the troops would also break and called Canaris,
They say we need to make sure that the French think that we have slipped them some misinformation, and we will attack according to the old plan. So they decided. “Our” officers from the Gestapo to a hotel, awards for them, promotion in ranks,
in the newspapers, they say how we deceived everyone, and on and on.
The French and allies, meanwhile, read the documents and thought that intelligence had also reported that the officers were really up for awards, the troops were standing on the border just as it was written in the plan - this is not good,
Hitler is clearly cheating. We thought some more and decided that this misinformation was full of water.
And a couple of days later, the Fritz, without redeployment, as written in the Gelb plan, attacked and defeated everyone. As German intelligence later said, the Allies did nothing to prepare for the attack,
relocated, not this, not that.
The entire disinformation operation took the Germans about a week, and then all the officers were sent to the Eastern Front. Awards and titles were retained.

History of the First World War, not a story.
In the Mediterranean Sea, one of the German submarines delivered a cargo of rifles and other weapons to some of the Arab tribes in North Africa, who were spoiling the Italians. In response, the grateful leader of the tribe gave
to the Germans it seems like a white camel. In order not to spoil relations with the allies, the Germans accepted the gift. Since the animal clearly did not pass through the submarine’s hatch, they tied it to the periscope and determined what the
depth when diving, but so that the camel’s head still sticks out above the water. We went back to our base in the Adriatic and were able to deliver the gift. And dive into it several times
had to. One day this happened near some fishing schooners. You can imagine how the fishermen felt when the head of a madly screaming camel swam near them!

1944. Western Ukraine. The T-34 got stuck in a ravine. Naturally, he couldn’t get out. At night, the Germans, estimating that the crew had left, drove up the T-4 and hooked the “thirty-four” with a cable. After a series of selective
German curse words, they pulled out the tank. And he took it and went to his trenches. The Germans, frightened, backed up, and the T-34 contemptuously sneezed its engine, strained and pulled them along. Mortars began firing in tandem, but to no avail. The Panzer commander tried to climb out through the top hatch, but received a shrapnel in the head and calmed down, spreading his brains.
As a result, ours returned on their own, dragging 4 prisoners and a trophy on a rope.

It is known that the German command, just before the start of the offensive against the USSR, sent various kinds of saboteurs into the territory of the Soviet Union - and especially in the uniform of Red Army officers.
When hostilities began in the very first weeks of the war, many saboteurs were discovered and eliminated. The reason for this was documents. No, with seals, signatures and paper - everything was in
in order, but... the metal clips with which the military IDs were stitched were made of stainless metal (while the Soviet originals were covered with
rust). This is how the German quality of its agents ruined it.

In the glorious city of Elektrostal, Moscow region. (former Zatishye station during the Second World War), at the metallurgical plant of the same name named after People's Commissar E. Tevosyan, one grandfather, a hereditary metallurgist, worked in his time
in the Nth generation, Honored Order Bearer, Honorary Citizen, etc. etc. In general, a person with whom not only the director of the plant, but even the secretary of the city party committee was always the first to greet, for a long time
asked about life...
In general, this grandfather knew, as usual, a lot of different interesting stories, one of which concerned the Germans, our ShKAS and whether it was easy to steal something from another.
Grandfather said that the Germans simply loved our ShKAS aircraft machine gun Uddet (their People's Commissar of Military Industry), so he simply went into hysterics and drank miserably
schnapps and only because it was impossible to tear up this ShKAS at German factories.
Allegedly, the meticulous German will take everything into account, and select the necessary German analogues of the steel grade at the Thyssen and Krupp factories, repeat everything micron to micron, but the machine gun just doesn’t work. It seems like everything is all over again
It’s going fine, the German twin, as expected, shows a terrible rate of fire, and then suddenly it cracks and breaks. First one thing, then another.
Meanwhile, the Russian ShKASik keeps shooting and shooting and doesn’t even care, he doesn’t even think about breaking down.

In general, the grandfather told everyone present a terrible secret (which the whole of Elektrostal probably already knew) that it turns out that some springs on the Russian ShKAS were made in a very intricate way. And material
for these springs, a spring tape with wire, just like they did in Zatishye.

The secret was (approximately)
First, several special types of spring steel were welded. Usually this smelting was entrusted to one single team at the plant, which was best able to do it; the metallurgists even took into account
certain weather conditions outside (temperature, humidity, cloudiness), specifically opening the roof of the workshop wide open. Maybe the priests even baptized each of these melts, my grandfather no longer remembered exactly
But, like, it wasn’t that simple from the very beginning.
Then the resulting castings were forged, as usual, and after a long cycle of hot drawing through dies, thin wires were gradually obtained from them.

Next, factory craftswomen (only women were allowed to do this work) used special equipment to weave braids out of wire. Each pigtail, depending on the future purpose of the spring,
had its own special weaving pattern: wires of different types of steel were woven into it in a certain order, the number and diameter of the wires in the “braid” was also different from time to time.
Then these braids were woven together into even larger braids, those into even larger ones, etc. until we received such a “wattle fence” as thick as an arm. Next, this wattle fence was heated in an oven until it became plastic and
they were forged in the forge shop until they formed a single dense piece, forming either a strip or a rod. And only then, from the resulting workpiece, either a tape was rolled for tape springs, or a wire was pulled,
for wire ones, respectively.

The steel was already sent in this form to our arms factories, where ordinary-looking, unremarkable springs were made from it.
And the poor Germans, meanwhile, are simply exhausted because they just didn’t give, but everything is breaking down for them. It seems that the chemical composition is the same, and the X-ray and microscopic analysis of the domains are the same, and
hardness after hardening and the spring is also calibrated after capping in exactly the same way. But no, the machine gun fires a little and the German steel breaks, what are you going to do!

The secret was clear. Roughly speaking, in the memory of the metal of the spring, when it was still the original braid made of different wires. Of course, the equipment of that time had such a small variety of metal structures
I couldn’t figure out why the Germans screwed up with a copy of ShKAS.
That was the story.

Quite recently, I read in the magazine World of Arms that it turns out that in the 20s it was the Russians who held the palm in the use of “braided” springs in automatic weapons. Then they pulled themselves up
Pendos and Germans in the late 30s.

A wooden bomb, an army of retired conquistadors and a white ham flag. We recall the main curiosities of world military history. Anyone who served in the army is unlikely to laugh...

Stop, car

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the heavy KV-1 (this is not the time-worn abbreviation KVN, but the initials of Marshal Klim Voroshilov) was very popular with the Red Army. The tank weighed 47 tons and terrified not only the enemy, but also the tankers themselves, because it was almost impossible to drive it due to problems with the chassis. But even a paralyzed tank is worse than a pile of civilian scrap metal. This story is proof of that. In 1941, another KV-1 stalled in no man's land. The enemies immediately rolled out the harmonicas for a tasty trophy. They knocked on the armor for a long time and asked the crew to surrender. Our people didn’t understand German, so they didn’t give up. There was no ammunition left to smoke them out after the battle, so the Nazis short-sightedly took the KV-1 in tow with two light tanks. They pulled - and they started the Soviet heavyweight, as they say, from the pusher! After which the KV-1 easily, like a couple of tin cans, dragged the enemy vehicles into the location of the Soviet troops.



Turetsky's demarche

In the early 70s, Turkish student pilots gained flying skills at the air base in Pompano Beach (USA). During the next flight, the engine of one of the training aircraft stalled, which the pilot reported to the dispatcher, not without alarm. The answer came immediately: “Base - Turkish board! Eject!" Hearing this, all Turkish pilots pressed the eject seat button. As a result, the United States lost six still fairly new carrier-based attack aircraft A-4 Skyhawk: one with a stalled engine and five absolutely serviceable...

Diamond of his soul

In the 15th century, Duke Charles of Burgundy, nicknamed the Brave, dreamed of conquering Europe and believed in the magical power of the 55-carat Sancy diamond, which he wore in his helmet like a cockade. Once, in a battle with the army of Louis X, a pebble really helped him. That time, the Duke was offered to fight with the strongest enemy warrior and thereby decide the outcome of the battle. Karl accepted the challenge, dashingly drove into the outlined circle and, squinting, stood against the sun - under the stormy ridicule of his enemies. When the knights got closer, Karl behaved even more strangely - he began to furiously twist his head (his own). Of course, these convulsions could not help but cause a new wave of laughter. Imagine the surprise of the fighters when the Duke’s opponent began to blink, and then completely covered his eyes with his hands. The diamond in the Burgundian's helmet simply blinded him! All that remained for Charles the Bold was to pierce the unfortunate warrior with a spear. Which is what he did.

So let's eat!

One day, in 1746, the French stormed the British Fort St. George in East India (the war was fought for trade and colonial primacy). There was no quick victory, and the attackers spent a year and a half in despondency under the walls of the besieged fortress. The French did not receive provisions: in off-road conditions, the pack elephants were stuck up to their ears in mud. The once brave warriors reached extreme exhaustion and fainted from hunger. The garrison of the English fortress uninterruptedly received provisions from the sea (the fort was prudently built on the shore). At the end of the fifteenth month of the siege, an English soldier raised a good piece of ham on his bayonet for a laugh. Two battalions of French, swallowing saliva, completely folded.



Complex Buratino

Imagine: 1943, in the skies over Holland, the pilots of the British Air Force pushed aside the aces of the Luftwaffe. Moreover, they also managed to deliver well-aimed bomb attacks on enemy ground units. To divert attacks from strategically important objects, the Germans built a fake wooden airfield and carefully disguised the real hangars. The project turned out to be large-scale: wooden, hangars, towers with floodlights. Anti-aircraft guns stuck out menacingly from the ground and were ready to meet the enemy with the power of all the trunks cut down in the nearest grove. Fortunately, the plan was unsuccessful. All work had to be stopped after an English bomber flew over the wooden airfield, dropping a single bomb on the fake planes. Donnerwetter! It was also made of wood! This example alone would allow us to appreciate the subtlety of English humor. However, the story is not over. After dropping the wooden bomb, it was decided to urgently replace all the mock-ups with real fighters: the British would decide that the airfield was still not real and would not fly to bomb it again! Alas, a small mistake crept into this excellent plan: the British arrived - and with ordinary bombs they smashed the Nazi planes to pieces. At the end of the operation, a pennant was dropped on the heads of the despondent Hans with the mocking words: “But that’s another matter!”





Only old men go into battle

In the 16th century, the Spanish conquistadors began the non-peaceful development of the virgin lands of America. The decrepit Senor Ponce de Leona also decided to put together his own detachment: his friends told him that in a distant land there were springs that returned youth to a person. Wanting to save on recruits, de Leona recruited the oldest and sickest soldiers into the detachment and with these antiques landed on the peninsula, later called Florida. The senseless water procedures in all the springs continued until the strange group of athletes was killed by the warlike Indians of the surrounding tribes

And they are all Mao

In the relations between the two great neighbors, the USSR and China, things never came to an open war. However, ideological differences and banal suspicion by the 1950s had so heated the situation on the border that a local conflict began there. At first, the Chinese put up posters along the border with the image of Mao Zedong looking down menacingly. In response, Soviet soldiers, in front of each portrait, put together a temporary toilet without a back wall. However, we failed to soak the enemy in the toilet: the Chinese quickly came to their senses and replaced the images of Mao with posters with bare asses. What to do? The Soviet border guards, without hesitation, moved the toilets, and placed their portraits of Mao in front of the Chinese asses. This is where the confrontation ended: not wanting to get involved, the Chinese removed all the posters.

Themselves with stones

In the 15th-16th centuries, the Turks were recognized leaders in the production of gunpowder siege weapons. The caliber of their most powerful guns reached 920 mm (for comparison: the caliber of the Tsar Cannon is 890). But these giants were able to fight even in the First World War. When the Anglo-French squadron successfully stormed the forts in the Dardanelles, the desperate Turks rolled out 20 cannons firing stone cannonballs weighing 400 kg to protect the strait. It is ridiculous to measure the destructive power of such a projectile in TNT equivalent, because it could not penetrate armor. But the fact remains: when the first of the launched cannonballs crashed into the side of the battleship Agamemnon, the captain in horror ordered to leave the battlefield - probably deciding that asteroids had begun to fall into the bay. The battle was won without him, but the poor fellow suffered from ridicule for a long time.



Like plywood over a barn

Our craftsmen also made wooden airplanes, and even managed to fly them. For example, the U-2 celestial slow-moving vehicle, which the Germans contemptuously called “Russ-plywood,” was popular. Due to the low speed characteristics of the U-2, flights were made at night so that the enemy would not see it. During the day, such planes only struck the imagination of German pilots, and even then with their caricatured appearance. History has preserved only one case when a U-2 pilot emerged victorious from a battle with a Fritz fighter. It was like this. Having run into the enemy in the air, the Soviet pilot, without hesitation, landed (the light vehicle could land on any garden bed) and hid the plane behind a nearby barn. The enraged German ace, who did not have enough space to land, shot out the wall of the barn, flew past and began to approach for a second maneuver. Our pilot described an arc and hid behind another wall. Fritz went into a dive again. This cat and mouse continued until the fighter flew away in disgrace, having consumed almost all its fuel.



It's not good to cheat

After the Great Patriotic War, the old minesweeper "Oka" served in the Baltic Fleet for the benefit of the Fatherland. Compared to his peers, he stood out with his striking appearance, because in the time of the ship’s foggy youth, “Oka” was the personal imperial yacht and bore the name “Standart”. The interior of the ship consisted of mahogany furniture in the wardroom, paintings, carpets and vases with the monograms of Nicholas II. Even the shine of the Oka copper coins aroused admiration. But the years took their toll: at the end of the 50s, the ship was withdrawn from the active fleet. In retirement, “Oka” still managed to work part-time in cinema, starring in the film “Midshipman Panin”, after which it was finally written off. It was an exciting moment for the crew, and not only because of the bitterness of saying goodbye to the ship. It’s just that you can always grab something from a decommissioned ship that stirred your soul. In the end everything was taken away. And documents flowed from the Oka to the headquarters of the Baltic Fleet. One of them read: “During a difficult passage through the stormy Indian Ocean, a storm wave, breaking the porthole, burst into the wardroom, tore the Persian carpet from the wall and carried it into the open sea.” The chief of logistics of the Kronstadt naval base, who certified this act, smiled sadly into his mustache and wrote below: “The piano, apparently, too.”

The generals are joking

Great people can also have a sense of humor. One day, the head of the Engineering Department of the Russian Imperial Army, Lieutenant General Tuchkov, began to grumble at Suvorov: they say that he does not bring maps of his campaigns to the department, although he is obliged to! Suvorov admitted his mistake, disappeared for two hours - and brought Tuchkov the largest map of Europe that he could find. No further complaints were made against him.

An experienced officer knows many ways to sabotage what is, from his point of view, a stupid command order without formally violating anything. In such cases, the great Admiral Nelson, with the humor characteristic of the British, raised a telescope to his broken eye, looked for a long time at the signal flags and announced to the entire deck: “I don’t see the order! We will act as God tells us!”