Forczyk - Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front 1941-1942: Schwerpunkt

FirstpublishedinGreatBritainin2013by PEN&SWORDMILITARY Animprintof Pen&SwordBooksLtd 47ChurchStreet Barnsley SouthYorkshire S702AS CopyrightRobertA.Forczyk,2013 HARDBACKISBN:978-1-78159-008-9 PDFISBN:978-1-47383-619-8 EPUBISBN:978-1-47383-443-9 PRCISBN:978-1-47383-531-3 TherightofRobertA.Forczyktobeidentifiedastheauthorofthisworkhasbeen assertedbyhiminaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. ACIPcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedortransmittedin anyformorbyanymeans,electronicormechanicalincludingphotocopying, recordingorbyanyinformationstorageandretrievalsystem,without permissionfromthePublisherinwriting. TypesetbyConcept,Huddersfield,WestYorkshire,HD45JL. PrintedandboundinEnglandbyCPIGroup(UK)Ltd,CroydonCR04YY. Pen&SwordBooksLtdincorporatestheimprintsofPen&SwordArchaeology, Atlas,Aviation,Battleground,Discovery,FamilyHistory,History,Maritime, Military,Naval,Politics,Railways,Select,SocialHistory,Transport,TrueCrime, andClaymorePress,FrontlineBooks,LeoCooper,PraetorianPress, RememberWhen,SeaforthPublishingandWharncliffe.

ForacompletelistofPen&Swordtitlespleasecontact PEN&SWORDBOOKSLIMITED 47ChurchStreet,Barnsley,SouthYorkshire,S702AS,England E-mail: Website:www.pen-and-sword.co.uk Contents ListofPlates ListofMaps Glossary ABTU Auto-BronetankovoeUpravlenie(MainTankDirectorate),193440. AFVArmouredFightingVehicle. AOK Armeeoberkommando(Army). APArmourPiercing. APBCArmourPiercingBallisticCap. APHEArmourPiercingHighExplosive.

C2CommandandControl. cbmcubicmeteroffuel,equivalentto5,000litersor739kg. DD Dalnoedeistvie(long-rangetanks). DPP Dalniapodderzhkapekhotny(Distantinfantrysupporttanks). FliegerverbindungsoffizierFlivo,LuftwaffeliaisonofficeratPanzerarmee,createdMay 1942. GefechtstroCombattrains,includingammunitiontrailers. GepcktroBaggagetrain,includingfieldkitchens. GepcktroBaggagetrain,includingfieldkitchens.

GKO GosudarstvennijKomitetOboroniy(StateDefenseCommittee). GrotransportraumLargetransport(GTR). HEATHighExplosiveAnti-Tank. HKL Hauptkampflinie(mainlineofresistance). InstandsetzungsgruppeRepairgroup. KradschtzenMotorcycleinfantry.

LSSAHLeibstandarteSSAdolfHitler. MDMilitaryDistrict. NKO NarodnyiKommisariatOborony(thePeoplesCommissariatofDefense). NKTP NarodnyiKommissariatTankovoyPromyslennosti(thePeoplesCommissariatof theTankIndustry). NKVD NarodnyiKommisariatVneshnykhDel(PeoplesCommissariatofInternal Affairs). NPP Neposredstvennaiapodderzhkapekhoty(directinfantrysupporttank).

OKH OberkommandodesHeeres(German,ArmyHighCommand). OTB(IndependentTankBattalion). OTTPP OtdelniyTyazhelijTankovijPolkProriva(IndependentHeavyTank BreakthroughRegiment). PP podderzhkapekhoty(infantrysupporttanks). Pz.RegtPanzerRegiment. PZAOKPanzerarmee.

RKKA Raboche-KrestyanskayaKrasnayaArmiya(theArmyofWorkersand Peasants/theRedArmy). RVGK RezervVerkhovnogoGlavnokomandovaniya(ReserveofSupremeHigh Command). SAP Samokhodno-ArtillerijskijPolk(Self-PropelledArtilleryRegiment). SRSchtzen-Regiment[MotorizedInfantry]. StZStalingradTankFactory. TSAP TyazhelijSamokhodno-ArtillerijskijPolk(HeavySelf-PropelledArtillery Regiment).

TTPP TyazhelijTankovijPolkProriva(HeavyTankBreakthroughRegiment). UMM UpravlenieMotorizatziiiMekhanizatziiRKKA(DirectorateofMechanization andMotorizationoftheRedArmy),192934.Re-namedABTU. VAMM VoennayaAkademiyaMekhanizatziiiMotorizatziiRKKA(MilitaryAcademyof MechanizationandMotorizationoftheRedArmy). V.S. Verbrauchssatz.Abasicloadoffueloramunition. VorausabteilungVanguardbattalion(abbrev.V.A.).

Preface InFebruary1986,amidstwhite-outconditionsandsub-zerotemperaturesnearthetownof YangpyeonginSouthKorea,IopenedawoodenboxthatIwasonlysupposedtoopenin the event of an emergency. Since my tank was alone on an independent reconnaissance missionwithnoothervehiclestoassist,thatemergencyseemedtobeathand.Inorderto reachourbattalionsassemblyareaattherailhead,wehadtoclimbamountainroadwitha 30slope,buteveryattempthadfailedbecauseourtracksslidonthesnowandice.The boxcamefromGermanyanditcontainedsnowcleatsthatcouldbeattachedtothetanks tracks for added traction on snow and ice. They were built by Rheinmetall, the same companywhichhadrushedtankcleatstotheRussianFrontduringthewinterof194142. Forty years later, the US Army bought a few sets for trials and I had been fortunate to receive one, but was instructed to use them only if absolutely necessary. My crew and I mountedthecleatsonourtracksinlessthananhourandstartedupthehill.Thecleatsdug intothesnowandiceliketeethandwestartedtomakeprogressuptheslope.However, thetemperaturewasaround23C(10F)andthemetalinthecleatsgrewincreasingly fragileandstartedtoshatter.Every2030meters,anothercleatwouldshatter,withpieces fallingoffthetrack.Eventually,ourtankmadeituptheslopeandbacktotheassembly area, but every tank cleat was broken by that point and the US Army decided not to purchase more sets of what appeared to be a one-time use item. Nevertheless, I was thankfulthatmoderntankerscouldbenefitfromtechnologythathadbeendevelopedasa result of the brutal experiences in armoured combat on the Eastern Front decades prior.

Indeed,Icametoappreciatethattherearemanylessonstobelearnedfromthearmoured operationsofthatconflict,whichwillbeusefulforsometimetocome. Thisisnotintendedtobeaday-by-daycampaignnarrative,althoughitmayseemthat wayattimes.Norisitintendedtobeagutsandglorycompilationoftacticalvignettes, although it will have some elements of that as well. Rather, this book will focus on the operationalandtacticallevelsofcombatinordertoanswerhowandwhytheRedArmys tankunitsmanagedtodefeattheheretoforeundefeatedpanzerarmiesoftheThirdReich. Issues that are tangential to armoured operations will only be addressed in passing or omittedaltogether,butIdointendtotouchuponmanytopicsrelatedtotanktechnology, productionandmaintenancethatareusuallyleftoutofotherhistories.Ialsointendtotell thisstory,asmuchasthereferencematerialsallow,frombothsidespointsofviewrather than just one, which has unfortunately been the case in so many previous Eastern Front histories. Introduction Wearefiftyorahundredyearsbehindtheadvancedcountries.Wemustmakegoodthisdistanceintenyears.Eitherwedoit,ortheywillcrushus. JosefStalin,4February1931 PopularMythology The Russo-German War in general, and armoured combat on the Eastern Front in particular, have remained popular subjects in English-language historiography of the Second World War for the past six decades.

However, much of what Anglo-American readersknoworthinktheyknowaboutarmouredwarfareontheEasternFronthasbeen shaped by self-serving memoirs such as Guderians Panzer Leader or von Mellenthins Panzer Battles, or popular wargames such as SPIs Panzerblitz (1970) and a new generationofcomputerwargames.AcultofGermantank-worshippershasarisenandits members are now firmly entrenched in their belief that all German tanks (meaning their beloved Tiger and Panther series) were better than any Soviet tanks and that the Red Armys tank forces only prevailed because of numerical superiority. There is a grain of truthinthisargument,whichwasfosteredbyGermanveteransseekingtoperpetuatethe ThirdReichspropaganda-linethatthevictoryoftheRedArmysbarbarianhordeswas due to mass, not skill. However, the quantity over quality argument ignores a variety of critical factors encompassing the opposing war-fighting doctrines, strategic miscalculationsandterrain/weatherthatsignificantlyinfluencedtheoutcomeofarmoured operationsintheEast.Keyfacts,suchastheGermaninabilitytodevelopareliablediesel tankenginewhiletheSovietshadoneinproductionbeforeOperationBarbarossabegan, are often just ignored even though it had a significant impact on the outcome of mechanized operations on the Eastern Front. Yet material factors were not the only influencesuponarmouredwarfareontheEasternFront.Napoleonsdictumthat,inwar, the moral is to the material as three is to one, proved quite apt on the Eastern Front of 194145,withahostofmoralandnon-materialfactorsinfluencingtheoutcomeofbattles andcampaigns. Looking across a hexagonal grid super-imposed over a two-dimensional map sheet, cardboardcountersorplasticminiaturesrepresentingGermanPanthersorTigerslookso much more impressive than the opposing Soviet T-34s. The German tanks strengths long-range firepower and armoured protection carry great weight in these kinds of simulations,whiletheirmainweaknessespoormobilityandpoormechanicalreliability areonlyminorinconveniences,ifdepictedatall.Forexample,theoft-repeatedcanards about the Panthers teething problems at Kursk are fobbed off as a temporary issue, costing a wargamer a few movement points, without realizing that the Panther had persistentmobilityissuesthroughoutitscareerthatpreventeditfromconductingthekind of wide-ranging mobile operations required by German maneuver warfare doctrine.