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Marine Corps during World War II

Marine Corps during World War II

Northern Fleet sailors, become infantrymen, land on amphibious craft. A photo 1942 of the year

When assessing amphibious assault, carried out by the Soviet fleet during the Great Patriotic War, there was a statement, that the Navy did not have specialized amphibious assault ships, what, in its turn, very much interfered with this kind of operations. In particular, this opinion was expressed in the report, dedicated to the experience of war, prepared by the Main Staff of the USSR Navy in 1945 year. It has passed since 70 years, however, this statement has not been significantly revised.

SO WHAT'S THE DEAL

Let's try to understand this issue.. Yes, landing ships of special construction – this, certainly, OK. Having them in stock, you can create a threat to the opposing side of landing in areas remote from the front line. The landing ship can carry out the transportation of troops and military equipment according to the principle «shore-shore», avoiding the tedious and dangerous overload on the roads, in the zone of enemy fire. From the landing ship, you can land the Marine Corps directly on the hard shore, excluding such a "pleasant" procedure in all respects, like a full-blown crossing in icy water. AND, finally, the landing ship can transport and land heavy weapons and equipment behind enemy lines, eg, tanks.

We'll see, how the presence or absence of specially built landing ships influenced the success of amphibious operations. In this case, let's go from the opposite and look at the situation in the wrong cases, when there were no landing ships, but on the contrary, when they were.

Before the start of World War II, the shipbuilding industry of the Soviet Union handed over to the fleet only three self-propelled landing barges of the SB type.. However, these ships, included in the Red Banner Baltic Fleet in 1940 year, were not used for their intended purpose.

Four Elpidifora fought as gunboats on the Black Sea, built as landing transports for the Bosphorus landing planned during the First World War. The characteristics of the cargo capacity of these ships were very decent.. They could take on board up 2000 fighters with personal weapons, eight ChTZ tractors or ten STZ, ten "one and a half" or 11 "Emok", four 152 mm, eight 122 mm or 12 smaller caliber guns with limbs. The gunboats could also carry six light tanks. Their only drawback was their low speed., not exceeding ten knots. But the "Elpidifors" could stick to the shore and land infantry and military equipment directly on land. If we compare the characteristics of "Elpidiforov" with the Soviet landing ships of the first post-war projects, even then they look good. Significant improvement in performance was achieved only in the early 60s., in the design and construction of a series of large landing ships of the project 1171 Voronezh Komsomolets.

In its original, "Landing", as gunboats of the "Elpidifor" type were used in all large amphibious operations: near Grigorievka near Odessa in September 1941 of the year, in December in the Kerch-Feodosia operation, in January of the next year in Sudak and in the landing at South Ozereyka in February 1943 of the year. In the first case, the CR "Krasnaya Gruziya" took part of the paratroopers from the cruiser "Krasny Krym", but delivered them ashore by longboats. In the second, probably, gunboats were supposed to land troops in a regular way, but in fact the landing was carried out on the already occupied bridgehead with the help of boats, seiners, as well as to the berths of the Kamysh-Burunsky port. It is curious to see the actual loading of "Elpidiforov" in this operation. so, canboats took: "Red Abkhazia" - 800 fighters, 16 horses, four 76.2-mm mountain guns and two vehicles with a carrying capacity 1,5 t. "Red Georgia" - 756 human, six mountain guns and four "lorries". "Red Adjaristan" - 837 human, four "three", six 120mm mortars, 26 horses, two "lorries" and 230 tons of ammunition and food.

Marine Corps during World War II

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In January 1942 of the year "Red Adjaristan" landed the 226th rifle regiment directly on the Sudak beach, successfully nestled on the shore. This landing was virtually forgotten by the command of all levels in the turmoil of the unexpected loss of Feodosia. When they remembered about him, it was too late - the Germans had pulled up reserves by that time and began an operation to eliminate it.

Near South Ozereyka "Red Abkhazia" and "Red Ajaristan" made the landing of marines on the shore, apparently, also using the nasal gangway. After the failure of the main landing, the gunboats were redirected to Stanichka, where they were unloaded like on a pier, and right to the shore.

Option with unloading directly to an unequipped beach, probably, meant Admiral G.N.. Bachelors, proposed to carry out a massive transfer of reinforcements to the blocked Eltigen bridgehead. But the command of the Black Sea Fleet did not risk the two ships that remained by that time..

BY THE SOUTH LAKE

In the South Ozerey landing operation, the so-called bolinders were used., also built during the First World War for the landing of troops. Initially, these ships were self-propelled barges with a displacement 255 t, sediment nose - 0,99 m. The bow had a sloping flat bottom, allowing you to stick to the coastal shallow. In the bow there was also a gangway wide 3,8 m, extendable forward and lowered by means of load arrows. The maximum capacity of the barge was 796 human, who could have left the ship for 12 minutes. Moving the ship at speed 5,5 the node was carried out using two engines of the Swedish company "Bolinder", which determined the memorable name of the project. true, to top 1943 years former self-propelled barges have already passed into the category of towed. Nevertheless, even in this version, at least one or two Bolinders managed to safely land several light tanks ashore. (Bolinder could take on board up to 14 American-made light tanks "Stuart"). With all the imperfection of the design and technical condition, and also in a very unfavorable situation, the bolinders completed their task - they landed the bulk of the tanks and personnel of the first assault force. the, that they immediately fell under the destructive fire of the enemy, was a consequence of the unsatisfactory organization of their fire support.

In this way, it can be argued, that the Black Sea Fleet had the opportunity until February 1943 of the year (when the "Red Georgia" and Bolinders were lost) land at least a rifle brigade with reinforcement equipment on an unequipped coast.

Both types of specialized landing craft were used in one completely unsuccessful landing - at South Ozereyka. Despite the fact that this was one of three cases during the Great Patriotic War, when tanks were unloaded to reinforce the marines, a chain of mistakes and inconsistencies led to, that almost the entire landing was killed. Among several reasons, leading to a tragic denouement, one of the main ones is the inability of warships and aircraft to suppress anti-amphibious defense. But even in this situation, the infantry, reinforced by several tanks, was able not only to defend for some time, but also conduct offensive actions. Unfortunately, no attempts were made to strengthen the landing or at least to establish its supply.

BOOTS AND TENDERS

During the war years, to perform the tasks of forcing large rivers and guiding lake crossings, a fairly numerous series of landing bots of the project was designed and built 165. The construction was carried out at the shipyard No. 343 in Gorokhovtsy. The bot transported up to 60 paratroopers with personal weapons, had seaworthiness of 4-5 points and could move away from the coast to a distance of up to 20 miles (at range 150 miles). From January 1943 years, these bots began to be used in the Black Sea. Based on the experience of operating in the ship repair shops of the fleet, the project was finalized, and the construction of a wooden motorboat is organized (all built 12 units). Similar project, only in metal version (DMB - landing sea boat), began to build and plant No. 343. in vodoizmeshtenii 20 t DMB took up to 100 Marines. Its speed was 9 knots at cruising range 120 miles. The head landing naval boat was delivered in December 1943 of the year. There were built more than 160 landing bots, quite different from series to series.

Marine Corps during World War II

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Here are excerpts from the report of the commander of the division of amphibious motorbots, Lieutenant-Commander P.I.. Zhukov (August 1943 of the year): «…bots are very convenient when performing landing operations on an unequipped coast in a sea state up to 4 points ... I consider bots of the first series with a ZIS-5 engine and reverse gear to be a good type of bots. Bots without reverse gear with a GAZ-MM engine have little tactical value, and their combat use is limited ".

In relatively large numbers, landing bots were used in the Kerch-Eltigen landing operation, where they became one of the main landing vehicles. Their large losses are not so much associated with enemy countermeasures., how much with unfavorable weather conditions. It would seem, this example should be cited in support of the thesis from the above-mentioned report of the General Staff of the Navy. However, one should not forget, that the disembarkation time was chosen in this way, that even more seaworthy German ships were forced to leave for bases or defend themselves under the cover of the coast. Therefore, this case is rather an indicator of inability or unwillingness to take into account the characteristics of the equipment used when planning operations., than an example of her flaws. But even taking into account the large losses of landing bots, like other boats, in stormy conditions the fleet managed to land troops, sufficient, to create an operational foothold, which has become a constant headache for the enemy.

In 1942-1943 in Leningrad were built 122 tender with a lifting capacity of 12-25 t. These boats were used for a wide variety of purposes., including for the landing. Besides, Leningrad plant No. 5 built a large series of wooden landing boats of the K-ZIS-5 type. Considering, that, with the exception of rare cases, the landing in the Baltic was a kind of sea crossing, the seaworthiness of such a "tyulkin fleet" was quite enough.

Several tenders, deployed in October-November 1943 years from Lake Ladoga to the Black Sea, very positively proved themselves, including in severe autumn weather. In the battles to seize the islands of the Vyborg archipelago, paired tenders even transported T-26 tanks. Regardless of the results of the actions of the tanks, and they are evaluated in different documents in exactly the opposite way, in specific geographic conditions, tenders have proven to be a fully operational landing vehicle.

CAUSES OF FAILURE

Now let's see, how "to blame" the absence of special landing craft for the unsuccessful outcome of some Soviet landings. The only large assault force of the Northern Fleet, who could not solve his problems, - this is the landing in May 1942 years on the coast of Motovsky Bay. The fleet was able to land a marine brigade with standard weapons, and then evacuate its remains. The use of heavy weapons in rough terrain was practically ruled out, and the use of tanks was only possible along the roads. The main reasons for the failure of the landing operation were the failure of the 14th Army's troops to break through the German defenses and the abrupt change in the weather that was not taken into account..

Unsuccessful landings of the Black Sea Fleet were never thwarted at the landing stage. In all cases, their fate was decided by the failure of further actions on the shore.. The fate of the Eltigen landing was decided by the naval blockade of the bridgehead. Several disastrous episodes during the withdrawal of the 17th Army of the Wehrmacht from the Taman Peninsula were initially determined by the choice of the landing site within the dense battle formations of a highly combatant grouping of enemy forces.

Red Banner Baltic Fleet troops in the Neva Bay in October 1941 years at the same level of organization as disembarkation, and further actions of the marines on the shore were initially doomed to defeat, even have the most modern amphibious ships at the disposal of the fleet. Landing on Sommers Island in July 1942 years is difficult to consider as an example, since the small size of the defenders' garrison did not require a large amount of forces, and even more heavy weapons. To create a quantitative and qualitative superiority, the capabilities of the available combat boats were quite enough. Operation in the Merekylä region in February 1944 of the year was carried out practically within the enemy's defensive zone. Under these conditions, the success of the landing was determined by the success of the offensive of the ground forces.. In all cases, the first place in the reasons for success (or will fail) landing was a subjective factor, determined by competent planning and subsequent management of the amphibious operation.

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