Two months ago, two ИС tanks were delivered to the tank training ground on the outskirts of Mosca, and after demonstrating their excellent performance to Stalin and others, Stalin pointed to the steel behemoth in front of him and said to the people around him: "I will use it to win the war!" ”

The cost of a Stalin tank was staggering, and Stalin, although he said that, did not cut the production of the T34, but only asked several heavy tank factories to start cutting the production of the KV-1 and switch to the ИС type. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

The tank factory in Chelyabinsk is working hard to make the Stalin type - it will be the most important production base of the Stalin tank, and the Type 40 tank gun is already in stock, which is the most important prerequisite for the mass production of the Stalin tank, because the other parts of the Stalin type are manufactured much faster than the artillery parts: the 105-mm tank gun is a combination of high technology, high cost, high consumables and high performance.

The whole vehicle is painted with white paint, and the mud on it is not deliberately removed, so that it can better blend into the ice and snow. Even with the paint, Yefremov could still see the dense sand holes on the surface of the cast steel armor, which was treated like an inferior product - in line with wartime craftsmanship and Soviet characteristics.

It doesn't matter if it's good or not, it just works -- the most advanced tanks in the world are the crystallization of advanced technology in many places, and in some places they are rough representatives, expensive and contradictory products.

In order to protect this expensive war machine, the designers installed a machine gun in the rear of the turret, which was the same as the machine gun and a series, but Yevremov had not seen a tank machine gun of this model.

"Comrade commander, this is the latest general-purpose machine gun of the ПК series (the English name is the PK series). This one in the rear of the turret is ПКMB, and the side-by-side machine gun is of the ПКMT type, which has very good performance and a much more sustained fire than the original tank machine gun. ”

The ПК uses 7.62×54R ammunition with an effective range of 1000 meters, a theoretical rate of fire of 700 rounds per minute, and is fed in a 250-round chain in the tank: in the case of a ПКМС or LMG mounted on a tripod, a 100-round chain magazine can also be used, and a 250-round box can be used, as long as the machine gunner is not aware of its trouble.

Terteny liked the new general-purpose machine gun very much, although the T34 he used did not have such a good auxiliary weapon, and before that the Red Army did not have the concept of a "general-purpose machine gun" - the ПК series was produced on a small scale, in order not to affect the production of turntable machine guns, which was a rule set by the deputy commander-in-chief. Because of the preciousness of the Stalinist type, it had two ПК and one 12.7-mm ДШК anti-aircraft machine gun mounted on a circumferential gun carriage at the loader's hatch.

The ДШК anti-aircraft machine gun was fired manually by the loader, and the ДK parallel machine gun and the machine gun in the rear of the turret were operated by the gun commander and the commander of the vehicle, respectively, giving the tank all-round self-defense machine gun fire. Kokin boldly canceled the design of the front machine gun, because maneuvering this behemoth was enough for the driver to be busy, and without an electromechanical man, the busy and purposeless course machine gun was simply a waste, and it was better to have a spare place to store two more shells.

The ammunition base of the 12.7mm machine gun is 945 rounds, and the 7.62mm machine gun has a total of 3750 rounds.

The ИС tank is equipped with a telescopic sight of the ТШ-15 type, which ensures that the Stalinist 105-mm gun still has a certain hit rate at a distance of 2,000 meters in a straight line of engagement. If you use a cap-piercing shell, you can easily penetrate a 180 mm thick uniform steel armor plate at a distance of 1,000 meters, and a 130 mm thick uniform steel armor plate at a distance of 2,000 meters, with amazing destructive power!

If there is one thing about the Stalin-type tank that Tertney feels slightly lacking, it is that it is not as maneuverable as the T34, but as a heavy tank, it is still able to receive.

The engine of the ИС tank was a B-2-"Stalin" V-shaped 12-cylinder water-cooled diesel engine with a power of 513 hp at 2000 rpm. The transmission device is composed of a mechanical manual operated gearbox, a two-stage planetary steering mechanism and a side reducer. The gearbox is a transverse shaft type, with high and low speed gears. The 2 gears each have 4 forward gears and 1 reverse gear, so this gearbox has a total of 8 forward gears and 2 reverse gears, which has a large range of shifts, which is conducive to increasing the average travel speed of the tank. The driver can operate the planetary steering mechanism on the left and right sides respectively by the joystick according to the road surface and terrain conditions, and obtains the required steering radius, which has two specified steering radii, and when the tank turns with the specified steering radius, the steering power consumption is smaller.

The driver can also make the two-stage planetary steering mechanism on both sides in the same working state at the same time through the joystick, so that the tank can obtain two straight-line travel speeds or stop in each gear of the gearbox, which is conducive to improving the maneuverability of the tank. Compared to the simple T34, the Stalin type is much more demanding of the crew, the training time is longer, and the technical cooperation of the crew is required - operating the 10-speed gearbox is by no means an easy job for the driver!

The ИС heavy tank has four internal fuel tanks with a total volume of 450 liters in the power compartment, and the fuel tanks are arranged in pairs on the sides of the engines. It also comes with four cylindrical external quick-throw fuel tanks, each of which is 90 litres of fuel. Because of the high-pressure air blowing system of the auxiliary fuel tank, the driver can easily press the fuel in the auxiliary fuel tank into the car by using this system in the car: this is a big step forward for the crew of the T34 to go outside the car to transfer the fuel in the auxiliary fuel tank to the car, and it is even more important in combat.

The suspension system of the ИС heavy tank is a torsion bar, which is as advanced as its tank gun, with shock absorbers arranged at the balance elbows of the first, second, fourth and sixth load wheels on each side. The running gear has six all-steel double-rim load wheels with a diameter of 550 mm and three all-steel double-rim towing pulleys with a diameter of 310 mm on each side of the running gear. The inducing wheels are in front and can be interchangeable with the load-bearing wheels, the driving wheels are in the rear, the tracks are all-steel single-pin casting, the track shoes are 650 mm wide, the pitch is 162 mm, and each track is connected by eighty-six track shoes. The tank has a maximum road range of 280 km, a unit pressure of 0.82 kgf/cm², a trench width of 2.5 meters, a vertical wall height of 1 meter, a wading depth of 1.3 meters, a maximum climbing of 36 degrees, and a maximum inclination of 30 degrees - in addition to speed, its other mobility indicators are excellent.

The ИС-3 was equipped with a 10-PK-22 radio operated by the commander, and the internal inter-crew communication equipment was a ТПУ-4 intercom, which worked very well.

The crews and logistics detachments of these heavy tanks came directly with the tanks, and although the personnel belonged to different units, they all participated in this summer's operations, and after receiving new tasks, they went to the eastern part of the Ural Mountains for intensive training, and they were integrated into knights who commanded these steel behemoths - all of them were tank crews with a certain amount of experience before they met ИС.

The ИС type has a combat weight of almost 45 tons, and its maximum road speed in tests is close to 40 kilometers per hour, and the maximum off-road speed is 20 kilometers per hour, which is already quite good as a heavy tank. And its engine and the T34 are equipped with the same series: the classic B-2 diesel engine, although different models, has good versatility in maintenance and repair, which is important for logistics.

The mixed tank regiment was deployed 6 kilometers west of the town of Ostrohitsky, 10 kilometers past the southern bank of the Zaslavl reservoir, and a short distance from the distance between the two sides on the Minsk-Latom road.

Because most of the two infantry divisions of the 33rd Army would pass through the ice after the general offensive was launched, and the coordinated heavy armored group would be on the right flank of the reservoir, it would be necessary for the mixed tank regiment to break through the German lines from the left flank on the south bank of the reservoir and clear the way for the infantry units, which was a very heavy responsibility.

Yefremov laid out the task for the mixed plan by the tank, which was simple and straightforward - cooperate with the 1st Militia Division to capture Latom, clear the German front-line armored forces, and then go straight to Dzerzhinsky. After the capture of Dzerzhinsky, it was accompanied by a follow-up force to attack Stolbchi along the Dzerzhinsky-Stolbchi road.

Stolbutch was the point of junction of the encirclement, and it would also be the most critical part of the German reinforcement and breakthrough - before the armoured troops on both flanks arrived, the mixed tank regiment and the 1st militia division were to stick there like nails!

At a distance of almost 100 kilometers, the direction of the attack was changed twice, and it was necessary to break through the three-layer fortified area of the German army, and at least two lines of defense line garrisoned by German tank units, and the task of forming a mixed tank regiment was arduous.

Aerial reconnaissance will provide the 33rd Army with the latest intelligence, but Colonel Terteny's troops cannot avoid the heavy and light, they must clear the way for the infantry and rise to the occasion!

"I'll transfer you another armored reconnaissance battalion with 22 BT-2s, can you complete the mission?" Yefremov asked the tank commander: The five infantry divisions he had at hand had four armored reconnaissance battalions, but only one battalion was equipped with relatively old BT-5s, and the other three battalions were equipped with outdated BT-2s with radio stations.

"Guaranteed to get the job done, no matter what we're up against! I will lead the charge as the commander of the first echelon command tank. "Terteny has made a military order.

In a short period of contact, Terteny is not yet able to skillfully maneuver the ИС, but he can be an excellent commander - with the unparalleled protection and firepower of the Stalinist type, the comrades are confident that they will lead other tanks to open a passage for the infantry! (To be continued.) )