Fire Sword. Flamethrower tanks of World War II

Flamethrower tanks of the Red Army
The first attempts to create a flamethrower tank were made already at the beginning of the development of domestic tank building - on the basis of the first production tank MS-1, the flamethrower OT-1 was developed, which, however, did not go into production. More precisely, work was widely carried out on “chemical” tanks. The USSR, like all other countries, was preparing for a future war with widespread use chemical weapons. And then this included not only chemical warfare agents, but also incendiary weapons and means of setting up smoke screens. According to the views of the military in the 1930s, chemical tanks were intended “both for chemical attack or defense, and to cover the action of linear tanks. These tanks can be used to organize infection, establish a smoke screen or decontaminate the area. Some of these tanks are used for flame-throwing when operating as line tanks against enemy personnel and firing points. Chemical weapons (smoke launcher or flamethrower) can also be installed on some linear tanks. However, in this case it is difficult to deploy sufficiently powerful chemical weapons and the required amount of fuel.” That is, the role of “flamethrowers” was considered only one of the possible for chemical tanks.
Work on chemical tanks began on the basis of the order of the Chief of Armaments of the Red Army “On the system chemical weapons"from August 28, 1931
Dominant in the 1920s - 1030s. views on the nature of management offensive operations required a high rate of advancement into the depths of the enemy’s defense, for which powerful and at the same time sufficiently mobile means were needed to destroy or suppress resistance nodes that hindered the advance. Therefore, by the beginning of the 1930s. Soviet military theorists formulated the idea of the need to create armored vehicles armed with powerful flamethrowers, which could be used to destroy the enemy defending in field fortifications and fortifications, as well as to spray combat agents and set up smoke screens to cover the battle formations of tanks with front or flanks. According to Soviet doctrine, such tanks, although they carried the property of chemical troops, were considered an integral part of armored units.

Chemical modifications with flamethrower equipment were developed for almost all production and most prototype tanks. The first self-propelled flamethrower actually embodied in metal was the HT-27 (OT-27) wedge, built in 1932 and even used by the Red Army.

Flamethrower wedge OT-27 (first version)
Chemical tanks were built on the chassis of amphibious tanks T-37 (ХТ-37 or БХМ-4) and Т-38 (ХТ-38), light tanks for direct infantry support T-26, and high-speed wheeled-tracked BT tanks.
The flamethrower tank project was also created on the basis of the T-29 wheeled-tracked medium tank, and in 1938 SKB-2 of the Leningrad Kirov Plant developed a project for a tracked tank weighing 30 - 32 tons for the mechanized brigades of the Red Army. It was assumed that, in addition to the 76-mm cannon and heavy machine gun, it would also have a flamethrower. True, as in the case of the XT-29, the matter did not go further than the project.
The main developer and supplier of “tank flamethrower devices” since the early 1930s. became the Moscow plant "Compressor", which produced a family of pneumatic flamethrowers of the KS brand. They all had the same principle of operation. Strongly compressed air came from the cylinders through a reducer, which reduced the pressure to working pressure, into a tank with a combustible mixture. The mixture was supplied by air pressure to the fire nozzle, through which it was released onto the target in a concentrated stream, ignited by a gasoline torch at the outlet. The torch, in turn, was ignited by an electric candle. The final adaptation of the equipment for installation on tanks was usually carried out by the design bureaus of tank factories.
LIGHT FLAME-THROWER TANKS
LIGHT CHEMICAL TANK XT-26

Chemical (flame-thrower) tank XT-26 during testing at the NIBT Test Site in Kubinka. 1932
The T-26 light direct infantry support tank, produced in several modifications in Leningrad by the Bolshevik plant and machine-building plant No. 174 named after K.E. Voroshilov, was in the 1930s. the most numerous in the Red Army. Mass release in combination with the relatively simple and reliable design of the chassis led to its widespread use for experimental development and the creation of special machines based on it. It is not surprising that this tank was considered preferable for the production of serial chemical machines. The project of a two-seat chemical tank T-26 with an installation for flamethrowing and contamination of the area was proposed back in June 1932 by G.E. Schmidt. But it turned out to be more successful experienced tank BKhM-3, made on the basis of a two-turret version of the T-26 model 1931. The KS-2 equipment developed at the Kompressor plant allowed the use of the BKhM-3 for flamethrowing, setting up smoke screens and contaminating the area or, conversely, degassing.

This vehicle entered service under the designation "chemical tank" XT-26 (although often referred to as the flamethrower tank OT-26). The left turret was removed and a hatch was made in its place, and in the right turret a fire hose of a KS-24 flamethrower with a flamethrowing range of 35 m (noticeably less in a headwind) and a DT machine gun were installed. The frontal armor of the turret has changed somewhat. In the fighting compartment of the tank, under the hatch, the rest of the chemical equipment was placed, consisting of a reservoir (tank) for a fire mixture (liquid agent, degassing liquid), three 13.5-liter cylinders with compressed air, a gasoline tank with a capacity of 0.7 liters and an ignition system, hoses , pipelines, valves. The pressure in the cylinders is 150 kg/cm2, the working pressure is 12 kg/cm2. Up to 5 liters of fire mixture were thrown out in one shot. To ignite it, a torch of burning gasoline was used, and an electric spark plug was used to ignite the gasoline. The supply of fire mixture (a mixture of fuel oil and kerosene) was enough for 70 shots. The hose was aimed using a shoulder rest similar to a DT machine gun.

The tank was equipped with a smoke exhaust system for setting up smoke screens. The combination of two “chemical” systems (flame thrower and smoke) on one chassis was rational, since the same combustible mixture was used for smoke generation. The smoke outlet nozzle was mounted at the stern. This vehicle became the first mass-produced flamethrower tank, which allowed us to work out a number of design solutions, but overall caused a number of complaints. After 1937, the HT-26 (OT-26) remaining in service were modified by installing flamethrower equipment from the HT-130.
The original version of using a flamethrower on a tank was developed in the Research Department of the Military Academy of Mechanization and Motorization under the leadership of Zh.Ya. Kotin in 1936. A pneumatic flamethrower with a flamethrowing range of 12 - 15 m was installed at the stern of the double-turret T-26 tank to protect the tank from the side stern from enemy infantry. This option remained experimental (interesting fact: almost 70 years later, this idea was uniquely revived in a “flame-thrower device” patented in South Africa to protect a car from an attack by an armed criminal).
LIGHT CHEMICAL TANK XT-130

Based on the T-26 mod. 1933, with one cylindrical tower in KB-2 of plant No. 174, according to the design of SKB of the Kompressor plant, the chemical tank HT-130 was created. The turret was shifted to the right of the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, which freed up space to accommodate the KS-25 flamethrower equipment. The hull contained two tanks for fire mixture with a total capacity of 400 liters (initially a smaller supply of fire mixture was assumed), in the tower there were four cylinders with compressed air of 13.5 liters each and a gasoline tank of the ignition system with a capacity of 0.8 liters. The fire hose with an armored casing was mounted in the same mantlet as the DT machine gun. The flamethrower was aimed using a shoulder rest, and the sight was a periscope TOGI. The elevation angle of the fire hose is up to +10°, the horizontal guidance angle without turning the turret is 20°. The automatic igniter at the end of the fire hose also had an electric spark plug and was protected by an armored casing. To fill the tanks with fire mixture, filler necks in the roof of the turret box to the left of the turret were used. The air pressure in the cylinders is 150 kg/cm2, the working pressure is 18 kg/cm2. In one second shot, the flamethrower threw up to 9 liters of fire mixture (a mixture of fuel oil and kerosene), while the flamethrowing range increased to 45 - 50 m, but the number of shots decreased to 40 (when pouring 360 liters). After the shot, the fire hose was automatically purged of the remaining mixture with compressed air. We simplified the process of cleaning the reservoir (tank) - to drain the remaining mixture; a valve was installed in its bottom instead of a pipe. The same equipment could be used to contaminate the area, while the capture width of one tank was 25 m at a speed of 12 km/h, and the contaminated area was 20,000 m2. There was a smoke exhaust system. XT-130 was equipped with a TPU-3 tank intercom. When modernizing the weapons, the tank was equipped with a second DT machine gun, and the ammunition load was increased to 3,150 rounds.
LIGHT CHEMICAL TANKS XT-131 - XT-133

Installing a flamethrower in the turret instead of a cannon allowed for all-round firing from it. But a flamethrower, a melee weapon with a range of several tens of meters, is powerless against tanks and anti-tank artillery. This limited the actions of flamethrower tanks and made them almost helpless and useless after the consumption of the combustible mixture (machine gun weapons were already considered auxiliary). Such vehicles required the support of line (cannon) tanks to suppress enemy anti-tank fire and were easily knocked out without their cover. Moreover, the flamethrower machines differed in appearance from the linear ones, which allowed the enemy to determine the direction of attack in advance and concentrate the fire on them. Therefore, in 1939 - 1940. flamethrower tanks were created that retained the cannon armament of the base vehicle, although it was necessary to sacrifice the fire mixture supply.
Already in 1939, KB-2 of plant No. 174 developed and manufactured prototypes of chemical tanks XT-131 and XT-132. The HT-131 retained the cannon armament in the turret. But the combined installation of cannon and machine gun weapons with ammunition and KS-25 flamethrower equipment with a tank and cylinders in such a small vehicle simply did not leave the crew any room to work. Therefore, the HT-132 still abandoned cannon armament. A modernized version of this machine in the fall of 1939, i.e. almost immediately after the events on the Khalkhin Gol River and the beginning
World War II, entered service under the designation HT-133. This chemical tank was built on the T-26 mod chassis. 1939 with inclined installation of armor plates of the turret box and a conical turret, carried flamethrower equipment and 2 DT machine guns - coaxial in a single mantlet with a flamethrower and in a ball mount at the rear of the turret. The HT-133 turret was also shifted to the right, and a tank, cylinders and other elements of flamethrower equipment were mounted on the left. Instead of two PTK devices on linear tanks, one was mounted on the XT-133 turret. The chassis has been improved, just like on linear tanks. Serial production, which began in September 1939, proceeded with great difficulties - the XT-133, compared to the T-26, had 370 design changes, some of which reduced the rigidity of the hull and turret elements and complicated the installation of equipment. Like previous flamethrower tanks on the T-26 chassis, the XT-133 tank was not equipped with a radio station, but had a TPU-3. The first XT-133s released went to the troops operating on the Karelian Isthmus, where 17 vehicles received shielding from additional 30-40 mm armor plates to increase protection from enemy anti-tank fire.
LIGHT CHEMICAL TANK XT-134

Flamethrower tank XT-134 during testing at the NIBT Test Site in the summer of 1940. A flamethrower is clearly visible on the upper frontal plate of the hull. The car arrived from the Karelian Isthmus, where it took part in the battles. Additional shielding was preserved only on the turret; it was removed from the hull before testing to reduce weight
In January 1940, Plant No. 174, under the designation HT-134, built on the basis of the T-26 with a conical turret a new version of the chemical (flame-thrower) tank while retaining the cannon armament. The same KS-equipment was used. 25, but now the rotating L-shaped flamethrower was mounted in the upper frontal hull of the standard T-26 model 1939, and one of the two tanks with the fire mixture was located outside on the rear sheet of the turret box. A supply of flammable liquid of 145 liters provided 15 - 18. short shots. The diameter of the flamethrower nozzle exit hole was 14 mm. Total weight flamethrower equipment with filled tanks was 568 kg, the working pressure in the mixture tanks was 25 - 27 atm. In addition, the tank was armed with a 45-mm tank gun mod. 1934/38 and two DT machine guns.
Two samples of HT-134, shielded with 30-mm armor plates, were sent to the 210th separate chemical tank battalion. Despite the success of their use, the XT-134 tank did not go into production. Firstly, flamethrower tanks needed much better armor protection, which required the use of medium or heavy tank chassis. Secondly, the flamethrowing range of 50 m was considered insufficient by that time; it was necessary to replace pneumatic flamethrowers with powder ones. And the production of the base tank was completed.
Note that the chemical tank XT-46 was developed on the basis of the T-46, a wheeled and tracked modification of the same T-26.
The total number of chemical tanks produced was: KhT-26 - 552 in 1932 - 1935, KhT-130 - 401 in 1936 - 1939, KhT-133 - 269 in 1939 - 1940, KhT-134 - 2 in 1940.

WHEEL-TRACKED FLAME-THROWER TANK XT-7 (OT-8)

High-speed wheeled-tracked BT tanks in the USSR were given great attention, but the chemical (flame-thrower) tanks based on them remained prototypes. Already in 1935, three prototypes of the BKhM-2 with KS-23 flamethrower equipment instead of cannon weapons were built on the BT-5 chassis; in 1937, the KhBT-5 with KS-34 equipment was built at the Kompressor plant. In 1936, the design bureau of the Kompressor plant, on the BT-7 chassis, created a prototype of the KhBT-7 (KhBT-III) tank with KS-40 equipment, capable of throwing a jet up to 70 m.
In 1940, when the XT-134 was built at plant No. 174, Kharkov plant No. 183 named after. The Comintern built several OT-7 flamethrower tanks with a 45-mm cannon and a DT machine gun in the “native” conical turret on the BT-7 chassis model 1937. The KS-63 pneumatic flamethrower from the Kompressor plant was installed in the frontal part of the hull to the right of the driver. Two tanks for the combustible mixture with a capacity of 85 liters each were removed from the tank hull onto the fenders and protected with 10 mm armor. The pneumatic system of the flamethrower consisted of three compressed air cylinders with a capacity of 13 liters; two gearboxes, a pipeline and a control valve. One reducer reduced the pressure to 8 - 10 atm (for supplying gasoline to the torch nozzle), the other (for firing the fire mixture) created a working pressure in the tanks of 20 - 25 atm. The jet throwing range reached 60 - 70 m (in favorable conditions- up to 90 m). The installation of a flamethrower in the body resulted in a dead zone of fire from it of 5.5 m. A supply of flammable liquid of 170 liters was enough for 11 - 17 (according to other sources 10 - 15) short shots, the practical rate of fire was 10 - 12 rounds/min. In this case, the horizontal firing angle was 55°, the elevation angle was +12°, and the declination angle was -9°. The flamethrower was controlled by the driver. His observation device had a built-in device for aiming a flamethrower with aiming marks and an arrow connected to the flamethrower. But they simply did not find an appropriate enterprise for the production of KS-63.
WHEEL-TRACKED FLAME-THROWER TANK OP-7
In 1941, the KS-63 flamethrower equipment was installed on the BT-7M wheeled-tracked tank (model 1940) with a V-2 diesel engine. This flamethrower tank was designated OP-7. The total weight of the KS-63 with filled tanks was 711 kg. Tanks with a fire mixture of 85 liters each were installed on fenders and protected by 10-mm armor plates. The fire mixture consisted of a mixture of fuel oil MZ (90%) and kerosene (10%), its reserve was enough for 10 - 15 short shots. The fire hose was placed in a ball joint in the frontal plate of the hull; the diameter of the outlet hole of its nozzle was 19 mm. The fire hose was controlled by two handles. The mixture was ignited using an electric candle connected to a tank battery. Working pressure 25 - 27 atm. The range is up to 70 m. Like the OT-7, the OP-7 tank remained a prototype. It is, however, interesting as an example of a change in approach to the creation of flamethrower tanks on the eve of the war.
TACTICAL AND TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TANK OT-7 (OP-8)
Crew, people 3
Combat weight, t 14.3 (14.65)
Tank length, m 5.6 (5.66)
Width, m 2.29
Height, m 2.4 (2.5)
Ground clearance, m 0.35
Armor thickness, mm:
building 22
tower 15
Engine power, hp 400 (500)
Maximum speed, km/h:
on tracks 51(62)
on wheels 72 (86)
Power reserve, km:
on tracks 510(620)
on wheels 500 (1070)
Armament
Gun 45 mm mod. 1934/38
2x7.62 mm DT machine gun
Ammunition:
188 shots
cartridges 1827
Flamethrower KS-63
fire mixture reserve, l 170
flamethrowing range, m 54 - 60 (70)
FLAMETHROWS ON TELETANKS

A remote-controlled tank (apparently LT1-26), equipped with a flamethrower for testing at the NIBT Test Site. 1936 (left). The same vehicle with dismantled weapons is on display at the tank museum in Kubinka. 2001 (center). Refilling the remote-controlled tank TT-BT-7 with special fluid. 1940 (right)
Flamethrower weapons were considered the main weapon for most experimental and production models of radio-remotely controlled tanks (teletanks) built in the USSR in the 1930s. - TT-26, teletractor T-20, TT-38, BT-TT. They were planned to be used for reconnaissance of minefields and anti-tank obstacles and making passages through them, destroying pillboxes, throwing flames with short range, setting up smoke screens. Thus, a 1935 teletank with TOZ-IV telemechanical equipment carried flamethrower and machine gun weapons of the XT-130 type. Plant No. 174 built 37 telemechanical groups “teletank - control tank”. In 1938, 28 teletanks were also built with TOZ-VI equipment and a KS-25 chemical device for flame throwing or setting up smoke screens. In total, 1933 - 1938 162 TT-26 teletank and TU-26 control tank were produced in several batches.
To the beginning of the Great Patriotic War On most of the teletanks, the telemechanical equipment was out of order, and the teletanks available in the border districts were lost in the first weeks, apparently without having time to take part in the battles.
Flamethrowers were later considered among the weapons of remotely controlled ground vehicles (in particular, the Radio-Craft magazine already in 1945, immediately after the end of the war, published a project for a radio-controlled wedge - a development of the German B-IV - equipped with a pneumatic flamethrower with a flamethrowing range of up to 40 m and a powerful explosive charge).
CHEMICAL TRAILER
To defeat enemy manpower by flamethrowing, produce smoke and contaminate the area with military agents, as well as degass it in 1939 - 1940. At the Vyksinsky DRO plant, the leading designer M.V. Sukhov, under the leadership of the head of the SKV M.U. Miroshin, developed special chemical trailers (CP). The HP-2 trailer was a single-axle trailer on wheels with special equipment, instrumentation and a tank with a capacity of 600 liters, which were protected by armor 6, 9 and 10 mm thick. The special liquid was released using compressed air. A device was installed on the trailer that ensured its coupling to the tank, and, if necessary, uncoupling without the crew leaving the tank. Not mass produced.

COMBAT USE OF CHEMICAL TANKS ON THE T-26 BASE

An XT-130 tank from the 210th separate chemical tank battalion fires at a Finnish pillbox. 1940
Chemical tanks entered service with the company combat support tank brigades (9 units - three platoons of three vehicles), and since 1935 - separate chemical tank battalions, consolidated into chemical tank brigades of 150 tanks each. By 1939, the Red Army had three such brigades - in the Moscow Military District, in the Volga region and in Far East.
Back in 1938, 9 HT-26s were used in battles against Japanese troops in the area of Lake Khasan. And in 1939 - 1940. Soviet troops gained very valuable experience combat use flamethrower tanks both against field (on the Khalkhin-Gol River) and against long-term (on the Karelian Isthmus) fortifications. In the battles on the Khalkhin Gol River in May - August 1939, 10 XT-26 tanks from the combat support company of the 11th Tank Brigade and 9 XT-26 from the 6th Tank Brigade, as well as 18 XT-130 from the 2nd Tank Brigade, operated 1st chemical tank brigade. These tanks were used as flamethrowers to support infantry and destroy the enemy during the assault on fortified positions. Typically, a flamethrower tank was sent to a long-term enemy fire installation, which was key in this sector of defense, and after it was suppressed, it turned around and moved along the trench, burning out manpower from it. At the same time, to cover the flamethrower tanks, linear cannon tanks or armored vehicles were allocated - as a rule, a platoon of tanks or BA-10s per platoon (3 vehicles) of flamethrower tanks. The “Report on the actions of chemical troops during the battles near the Khalkhin Gol River” stated: “Chemical tanks were widely used and fully justified themselves, gaining a strong reputation among rifle units.”
During the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939 - 1940. Chemical tanks of the 201st, 204th, 210th and 218th separate chemical tank battalions, as well as combat support companies for tank brigades, took part in the operations on the Karelian Isthmus. By the beginning of the war, the troops that took part in the battles had 208 XT-26 and XT-130 tanks (the latter made up the majority), subsequently their number was constantly increased, including the supply of XT-133 tanks. Tanks were very effective in burning out enemy infantry both in the pillboxes and dugouts of the Mannerheim line, and in open areas. K.G. Mannerheim himself, recalling the assault by Soviet troops on Finnish fortifications, noted: “What was new was that in many places the infantry was transported on armored sleighs attached to tanks, or on the armor of tanks. Self-propelled flamethrowers that spew burning oil were also new.” The uniqueness of the theater of military operations and the specifics of the attack on the enemy’s fortified area determined the features of the use of flamethrower tanks in their close cooperation with linear tanks, infantry and artillery. Flamethrower tanks operated most successfully against individual fortifications as part of assault (blocking) groups, into which they were introduced along with linear tanks, infantry and sappers, with artillery support. Tanks, under enemy fire, approached the pillbox within the range of a flamethrower shot and hit the embrasure with a stream of fire mixture, destroying or suppressing the garrison of the structure. However, despite all the effectiveness of flamethrower tanks, they turned out to be more vulnerable - due to the increased fire hazard - and their percentage of losses was almost 2.5 times higher than that of linear T-26s. Of the 446 chemical tanks that took part in the battles on the Karelian Isthmus, 124 were lost. War experience showed that flamethrower tanks become the first target for anti-tank artillery.

Flamethrower teletank TT-26 from the 217th separate chemical tank battalion, knocked out in the area of height 65.5. Karelian Isthmus, February 1940
Combat operations 1939 - 1940 made it possible to clarify the role of chemical tanks, the tactics of their use and the requirements for them. Flame throwing became their main purpose. The use of flamethrower tanks in breaking through enemy defenses was considered among other important issues. At a meeting of the senior leadership of the Red Army on December 23 - 31, 1940, this was reported by the commander of the Western Special Military District, Colonel General tank troops D.G. Pavlov and the commander of the 5th mechanized corps of the Transbaikal Military District, Lieutenant General M.F. Terekhin. In the “Manual for a Tank Soldier,” published in 1941 on the eve of the war, the action of flamethrowing tanks was briefly discussed: “Flamethrowing is applicable in any situation: by advancing troops, flamethrowing is used against manpower located openly and in shelters, against enemy tanks, rear columns, to set fire to warehouses and structures.”
Thus, by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army had well-established views on the use of flamethrower weapons in battle. It was believed that flamethrowers did not solve independent combat missions, and therefore should only be used in close cooperation with infantry and tanks, artillery and sappers. Flame throwing had to be combined with rifle and machine gun fire and a bayonet strike. The task of flamethrowers in an offensive was to burn out the defending enemy from cover. The practice of using them in battles has shown that after flame-throwing, unaffected manpower, as a rule, left cover and came under fire small arms and artillery. In defense, flamethrowers were supposed to be used suddenly and en masse at the moment when the attacking enemy approached within the range of a flamethrower shot.
In 1940, in our country they revised organizational structure tank troops. The chemical tank brigades were disbanded, and their materiel was transferred from the summer to the tank divisions of the newly created mechanized corps. Each tank division introduced two battalions of chemical tanks with 54 vehicles each, directly subordinate to the division commander. But, according to the 1st Department of the GABTU of the Red Army, on June 22, 1941, the mechanized corps had chemical tanks on the T-26 chassis: in the 1st - 104, in the 2nd - 6, in the 3rd - 12 , 4th - 23, in the 5th - 59, in the 6th - 44, in the 7th - 68, in the 8th - 50, in the 9th - 4, in the 10th - 38, in 11th - 20, 13th - 20, 14th - 25, 15th - 9, 16th - 32, 17th - 2, 18th - 12, 19th -m - 47, in the 20th - 3, in the 21st - 30, in the 22nd - 49, in the 24th - 4, in the 27th - 4, in the 28th - 131, in the 30th m - 108. The 57th Tank Division had 42, and the 59th - 48 chemical tanks. As you can see, the staffing level was very uneven and differed greatly from the standard requirements. Thus, in the mechanized corps of the 5th Army of the Kyiv Special Military District, the shortage of chemical tanks was 84%. In total, the mechanized corps of the Red Army had 994 chemical tanks on the T-26 chassis.
Most of the light chemical tanks were lost in the battles of the summer of 1941, with many breaking down due to technical reasons. Very typical for the beginning of the war, for example, a report on the combat operations of the flamethrower battalions of the 3rd tank division of the 1st mechanized corps: “By the beginning of hostilities, the 5th and 6th tank regiments each had one battalion (24 XT and 8 cannon T -26). The battalions fought their first battle outside the city of Ostrov on July 5, 1941.
The flamethrower battalion of the 6th Tank Regiment operated in the second echelon. At the moment of attack, collected from various parts the infantry fell behind and did not attack, so the tanks acted alone. The battalion was advanced after the heavy tanks, destroying the German infantry fleeing in panic with fire and successfully setting fire to the buildings where they were installed anti-tank guns and machine guns. Due to the fact that during the battle the flamethrower tanks lagged behind their heavy tanks and did not have infantry support, 10 flamethrower vehicles and six T-26s were lost.
On July 7, 1941, a flamethrower tank battalion took part in a battle to destroy German landing forces in the area of the village of Chisre. Due to the burning of the forest and moral impact, the enemy motorized infantry was scattered. Due to the fact that the flamethrower tanks were withdrawing from the battle through swampy terrain, five tanks got stuck in the swamp and were blown up by their crews.
In the area of the villages of Brovino, Udokha, Sitnya on July 9 - 10, three flamethrower tanks of the 6th Tank Regiment acted from ambushes, destroying up to 30 motorcyclists and three trucks with infantry. IN last battles flamethrower tanks acted like line tanks.
On July 5, in the battle for the city of Ostrov, the commander of the 5th Tank Regiment used the battalion criminally. He placed one company in the first echelon with the task of destroying anti-tank guns. This company was completely destroyed within 30 - 40 minutes of battle. The remaining companies, due to the impossibility of flame-throwing, were used as line companies (they fired machine guns).
On the night of July 15, during a joint attack by heavy and light tanks, a flamethrower tank battalion consisting of 10 tanks acted to destroy enemy rear lines in the area of the village of Strokino. Flamethrower tanks were used for flamethrowing, destroying enemy vehicles with ammunition and fuel. The enemy was put into panic flight, leaving 240 vehicles with fuel and ammunition on the battlefield. Among the trophies, a car with secret documents from the 52nd Chemical Mortar Regiment was taken.”

The HT-26 flamethrower tank moves into a combat position. Summer 1941
12th mechanized corps from June 22 to July 7, 1941, he lost all seven chemical tanks withdrawn on alert, three of which were combat losses, and four were left on the battlefield for technical reasons.
And here is an excerpt from the “Report on the actions of the 116th separate tank battalion”: “The 116th separate tank battalion, arriving at the front on September 11, consisted of: a) personnel - 440 people; b) tanks - 31, of which T-34 - 9, T-26 - 4, HT-26 - 18... On September 12, 1941, the battalion... first entered into battle with the German fascists... As a result of the first battles with the enemy, the battalion did not complete the assigned task, suffering losses: a) in personnel: 10 killed, 10 wounded, 47 missing, for a total of 67; b) in material and weapons: remained on the battlefield and in areas occupied by the enemy: T-34 tanks - 8, of which ran into their own minefield - 2, got stuck in a swamp and on a bridge - 2, fell into an anti-tank ditch - 1, knocked out by enemy anti-tank artillery - 3, T-26 tanks - 3, XT-26 tanks - 15, total - 26. XT-26 tanks burned out from their own combustible mixture due to shells and armor-piercing bullets hitting them...
The reasons for the large losses of the battalion: a) due to repeatedly changing tasks and starting positions for the offensive, as well as a frivolous attitude towards this most important element of the combat activity of tank crews. The crew personnel did not know their tasks well, and the crews of the 3rd company did not know it at all. The tanks of the 3rd company were not prepared for flamethrowing (pressure was not created)...
b) ... no reconnaissance of enemy firing points was organized...
d) HT-26 flamethrower tanks were used incorrectly, like artillery tanks...”
Soviet flamethrower tanks captured by the German army were designated Flam.Pz.Kpfw. T-26 739 ®, although their combat use by the Germans is unknown. Flamethrower tanks captured by the Finns during the Soviet-Finnish war and at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War were restored and used in Finnish army.

Left: A Soviet tank XT-26 captured by the Finns at a repair plant in Varkaus. Spring 1940. A hole from an anti-tank shell is visible in the front plate of the turret.
Right: Captured Soviet flamethrower tank XT-133 at an exhibition in Helsinki. Spring 1942
As of May 31, 1941, the Finns had 4 KhT-26 and 2 KhT-130 in service; by the fall of 1941, 3 more KhT-133 were added to them. But by the autumn of 1942, the Finns converted these tanks into cannon tanks.

The idea of installing a flamethrower on a tank appeared almost immediately after the appearance of tanks on the battlefield. The Germans carried out their first flamethrower attack on July 30 (according to other sources, July 29, 1915) against British troops, so that by September 15, 1916, when the first British tanks, flamethrowers have already proven themselves sufficiently effective means in the fight against enemy positional defenses. However, they were still quite cumbersome for manual use. The range of action of the flamethrower was relatively small, and in order to get closer to the enemy at firing range. protection of weapons and crew was required. An all-terrain armored vehicle seemed to be an excellent means of delivering a flamethrower to an effective targeted flamethrowing range. It is no coincidence that German prisoners reported that the soldiers in the trenches “were especially afraid that they (the tanks) were armed with flamethrowers.” Projects for flamethrower tanks were being developed - one can recall plans to include a flamethrower in the German armament heavy tank A7V and super-heavy K-Wagen or American project Johnson, Rachetsky and Stern of a 50-ton tank armed with a machine gun and a flamethrower - but even the development work was not completed. That. that the idea remained unrealized then and flamethrower tanks did not appear on the battlefields can be attributed to the imperfections of both the first tanks and the existing flamethrowers, which would rather have turned into a tank and a crematorium for the crew.

During the interwar period, the creation of flamethrower tanks received a lot of attention in a number of industries. developed countries. However, the first real examples of flamethrower tanks appeared only in the early 1930s... a decade and a half after the end of the First World War. All this time, intensive research and development work was underway to improve existing and develop new types of flamethrower-incendiary weapons.

Regardless of the type and design of flamethrowers, the principle of their operation is the same. Flamethrowers are devices that emit jets of highly flammable liquid at a distance of 15 to 200 m. It is ejected from a tank through a special fire hose by the force of gases - compressed air, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, powder gases. The liquid is ignited when it exits the fire nozzle (the metal tip of the ejection arm or hose) by an automatically operating igniter. The working action is determined by the range of ejection of the hot jet and its burning time. The range of the jet is determined initial speed flowing liquid and the angle of the tip.

Tank flamethrowers were not fundamentally different in design from backpack and trench flamethrowers, but within the framework of the flamethrower tank, the poor maneuverability and bulkiness of flamethrowers were eliminated - one of the biggest disadvantages. preventing the flamethrower from being used as an offensive weapon. Thus, a flamethrower tank is essentially an improved portable flamethrower and, in terms of its design, is not much different from infantry flamethrowers. Initially, designers used the system. based on the displacement of the fire mixture by compressed gas. But then preference was given to high-explosive flamethrowers. They do not contain a cylinder with compressed gas, and the fire mixture is ejected from the tank by the pressure of gases formed during the combustion of the powder charge. Two types of high-explosive flamethrowers were developed - piston and pistonless.

1930s They also gave valuable combat experience - flamethrowers and incendiaries were widely used by Italian troops in the war in Abyssinia. Japanese - in China, Germans and Italians - in Spain, Soviet troops on the river. Khalkhin Gol, as well as in other “small wars” of that time.

Flamethrower (chemical) tank OT-26

USSR

Work on flamethrower tanks was carried out very actively in the USSR. Attempts to create flamethrower tanks were made already at the beginning of serial tank construction - on the basis of the first serial tank MS-1, the flamethrower tank OT-1 was developed. However, it did not go into production. Flamethrower modifications were developed for almost all tanks produced in large series - T-27 wedges (OT-27, built in 1932 and became the first self-propelled flamethrower actually implemented “in hardware”), T-37 amphibious tanks (OT-37 or BKhM -4) and T-38 (OT-38), light tanks for direct support of infantry T-26, high-speed wheeled-tracked tanks BT (see below). The main developer and supplier of flamethrower equipment for them since the early 1930s. the Moscow Kompressor plant, which produced a family of pneumatic tank flamethrowers of the KS brand. They all had the same principle of operation: compressed air was supplied from cylinders through a reducer, which reduced the pressure to the working pressure, into a tank with a fire mixture. Air pressure supplied the fire mixture to a fire hose, through which it was a concentrated jet. was fired at the target, and at the exit it was ignited by a gasoline torch, which in turn was triggered by an electric candle. This approach facilitated the supply and maintenance of flamethrower equipment. The equipment was already adapted for installation on tanks by the design bureau of tank factories.

Layout of flamethrower equipment in the XT-26 tank (prototype)

General diagram of a high-explosive flamethrower with electrical control

Captured flamethrower tanks OT-130 in the Finnish army, 1941.

Diagram of flamethrower equipment KS-63:

1 - tanks for fire mixture, 2.4 - ball joint and nozzle opening device, 3 - air reducer low pressure, 5 - gasoline injector, 6.8 - spark plug and ignition coil. 7 - pipelines, 9 - gasoline tank, 10 - electric valve! II - flamethrower activation button, 12 - battery, 13 - tap 14 - high pressure reducer. 15 compressed air cylinders. 16-air valve.

Light flamethrower tanks
Light flamethrower tank OT-26(ХТ-26)

Light tank T-26, produced in several modifications in Leningrad by machine-building plant No. 174 named after K.E. Voroshilov, was in the 1930s. most mass tank Red Army. Mass production, combined with a relatively simple and reliable chassis design, led to its widespread use for experimental development and the creation of special vehicles. Based on the two-turret version of the T-26 mod. 1931 in

In 1933, the “chemical tank” HT-26, also known as the flamethrower OT-26, was created. The left turret was removed and a hatch was made in its place, and in the right turret a fire hose of the KS-24 flamethrower with a flamethrowing range of 35 m was installed (at noticeably less in the headwind) and a DT machine gun. The frontal armor of the turret has changed somewhat. fire hose guidance drive - from a DT machine gun. In the fighting compartment of the tank, the rest of the flamethrower equipment, consisting of a tank for fire mixture with a capacity of 360 liters, was placed through a hatch. three 13.5-liter compressed air cylinders, a 0.7-liter gasoline tank and an ignition system. The supply of fire mixture (fuel oil mixed with kerosene) was enough for 70 shots. The pressure in the cylinders is 150 atm, the working pressure is 12 atm (12 kg/cm-’). The flamethrower was aimed using a shoulder rest; up to 5 liters of fire mixture were thrown out in one shot. To ignite the fire mixture, a torch of burning gasoline was used (an electric spark plug was used to ignite the gasoline). The tank was equipped with a smoke exhaust system for setting up smoke screens - the combination of two “chemical” systems (flame thrower and smoke) on one chassis was natural, especially since the same fire mixture was used for smoke generation. The smoke outlet nozzle was mounted at the stern. It was also planned to install equipment for contaminating the area with OM or degassing. This vehicle was produced in a small series in 1933–1934... becoming the first mass-produced flamethrower tank, which made it possible to work out a number of design solutions, but overall it was not successful. After 1937, the OT-26 (HT-26) remaining in service were modified by installing flamethrower equipment from the OT-130.

Light flamethrower tanks OT-130-133

In 1938, based on the T-26 mod. In 1933, the OT-130 tank was released with one cylindrical turret. The turret, as on the base vehicle, was shifted to the right of the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. Instead of a 45-mm cannon, a KS-25 flamethrower was installed in the turret. The flamethrower equipment was located in the fighting compartment: in the hull there were two tanks for the fire mixture with a total capacity of 400 liters. in the tower there are four compressed air cylinders of 13.5 liters each and a gasoline tank of the ignition system with a capacity of 0.8 liters. The fire hose with an armored casing was mounted in the same mantlet as the D1 machine gun. The igniter here also had an electric spark plug. The flamethrower was aimed using a shoulder rest, and the sight was periscopic. To fill the tanks with fire mixture, filler necks in the roof of the turret box to the left of the turret were used. The air pressure in the cylinders is 150 atm. working pressure - 18 atm. In one shot, the flamethrower threw out up to 9 liters of fire mixture. due to which the flamethrowing range increased to 45–50 m, but the number of shots decreased to 40 (with a fill of 360 l). The design provided for the flamethrower's fire hose to be purged after the shot. There was a smoke exhaust system. Created in 1938–1939 modifications of the OT-131 flamethrower tank. OT-132 and OT-133 differed slightly from OT-130 (turret shape, DT machine guns as auxiliary weapons). OT-133 had two rear and anti-aircraft machine guns. OT-131 and - 132 were released in small batches. OT-133 was built serially. In 1938–1939 built 393 tanks OT-130-133. Like most linear tanks, the OT-130 flamethrowers. 131, 132, 133 did not have a radio station. In total, 1336 flamethrower tanks were produced on the T-26 basis from 1933 to 1939. They were organized into combat support companies for tank brigades (9 chemical tanks - three platoons of three vehicles each). OT-130 tanks as part of the 6th and 11th Tank Brigades were used in battles against Japanese troops in the Khalkhin Gol River area in August 1939. During the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939–1940, several battalions participated in operations on the Karelian Isthmus and separate mouths. equipped with OT-130 and OT-133 (there were also several OT-26). Tanks were very effective in burning out enemy infantry both in the pillboxes and dugouts of the Mannerheim line, and in open areas. Tanks, under enemy fire, approached the bunker within the range of a flamethrower shot and hit the embrasure with a jet of fire mixture. Several tanks were captured by the Finns, who eventually re-equipped them with 45 mm cannons.

Layout of flamethrower equipment in the OT-130 tank

Destroyed OT-133 tanks of one tank flamethrower (chemical) platoon, 1941. The OT-133 weapon system is visible.

Captured flamethrower tank OT-133 in the Finnish army.

According to pre-war views, the role of “flamethrowers” was not considered the main one for chemical tanks - it was believed that they were intended mainly to organize a chemical (gas) barrier (for this purpose, separate chemical tank brigades were even formed). setting up a smoke screen, degassing the area, and only “some of these tanks are used for flame-throwing during operations of linear tanks against enemy personnel and firing points.” At the same time, “the installation of special chemical equipment in the tank does not allow the placement of artillery weapons.” unless a smoke exhaust device or flamethrower was installed as an auxiliary one. OT-26 and OT-130-133 carried a flamethrower as their main armament and only had machine guns for self-defense. The role of chemical tanks remained insufficiently defined - for example, in the 1940 works on the tactics of breaking through fortified zones, “sweeper tanks” were mentioned. engineer tanks,” but no mention was made of the location of “chemical tanks.”

Installing a flamethrower in the turret instead of a cannon allowed all-round fire, but already the experience of battles on Khalkhin Gol and the Karelian Isthmus showed the low effectiveness of such tanks in battle: after all, a flamethrower is a melee weapon (range of action is several tens of meters), it is powerless against tanks and anti-tank weapons artillery. This limited the actions of the tanks and made them helpless and useless after using up the flamethrower mixture. Such vehicles required the support of linear (cannon) tanks to suppress enemy anti-tank fire; when separated from them, they were easily knocked out. Moreover, flamethrower vehicles differed in appearance from linear ones. which allowed the enemy to determine the direction of attack in advance and concentrate fire on them. At Khalkhin Gol, to support and cover a platoon of flamethrower tanks, it was necessary to allocate a platoon of linear tanks or BA-10 cannon armored vehicles. Therefore, in 1940, flamethrower tanks were created. retaining the cannon armament of the base vehicle, although this meant sacrificing the fire mixture supply.

Tank model	OT-26	OT-130 (0T-131.0T-132)	OT-133	T-134
Crew, people	2	3	3	3
Combat weight, t	9.0	10,0	10,5	10.73
Tank length. mm	4620	4650	4650	4650
Width, mm	2440	2440	2440	2440
Height, mm	2150	2240	2330	23&
Armor thickness, mm:
frame	15	15	15	15
tower	15	15	15	15
Weapons:
cannon (ammunition)	*	*	*	45 mm mod. 1932/1938(145)
flamethrower	KS-24	KS-25	KS	KS-25
fire mixture reserve, l	360	360	145
Auxiliary weapons:
7.62 mm machine gun	1xDT	1xDT	2хDT	2хDT
Engine power, hp	90	95	95	95
Maximum speed, km/h	30	30	30	30
Cruising range, km	150-200	130-170	150-200	150-200

T-134 flamethrower tank with a shielded turret

Diagram of ATO-41 flamethrower equipment:

1 - flamethrowing control release lever, 2 - gas valve with switch, 3 - battery, 4 - gearboxes. 5 - control pressure gauge, 6 - pressure release valve, 7 - reservoir, 8 - shut-off valve check valve, 9 - air cylinder, 10 - reels, 11 - aiming angle lever. 12 - igniter.

Diagram of ATO-42 flamethrower equipment

Light flamethrower tank T-134 (OT-134)

It was created on the basis of the T-26 with a conical turret, retaining the 45-mm cannon, coaxial and DT anti-aircraft machine guns. The KS-25 flamethrower was mounted in a ball joint in the inclined frontal plate to the left of the driver. The supply of fire mixture was 145 liters (15–18 short shots), let’s say one of the two tanks with fire mixture had to be located outside the hull. The flamethrower's fire nozzle was mounted in a ball mount, which made it possible to change the direction of the shot; a handle was used for control. The diameter of the flamethrower nozzle outlet was 14 mm. The total weight of the flamethrower equipment with filled fire mixture tanks was 568 kg, the operating pressure in the fire mixture tanks was 25–27 atm. The flamethrowing range of 50 m was considered insufficient by that time, and production of the base tank was nearing completion. All this determined the fate of the car - it did not go into production.

OT-130 tanks also found use in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War. In 1940, the organizational structure of tank forces in our country was revised; as part of this reorganization, flamethrower tanks were reduced to separate battalions of 54 cars. They were part of tank divisions with direct subordination to the division commander. That is, by the beginning of the war, a tank division with a staff of 375 tanks should have had 54 flamethrower (chemical) tanks, but the incompleteness of the reorganization took its toll. An example of this is the mechanized corps of the 5th Army of the Kyiv Special Military District: on June 22, 1941, the 41st tank division of the 22nd mechanized corps had 41 OT-130 tanks, the 20th tank division of the 9th mechanized corps had 3, and in the 35th division - one. The shortage of flamethrower tanks was 84%.

Wheeled-tracked flamethrower tank OT-7

In 1940, the Kharkov Locomotive Plant (plant No. 183 named after the Comintern) based on the BT-7 mod. 1937 built several flamethrower tanks OT-7 with a 45-mm cannon and a DT machine gun in the tank’s “original” conical turret and a flamethrower mounted on the turret box, to the right of the driver, in a ball joint. Flamethrower tanks were also developed on the basis of earlier models of wheeled-tracked BT tanks - KhBT-2 based on BT-2, BKhM based on BT-5, KhBT-7 based on BT-7 with a cylindrical turret - the latter two retaining a 45 mm gun, but they remained experienced. The OT-7 was equipped with a KS-63 pneumatic flamethrower with a flamethrowing range of up to 70 m (in favorable conditions - up to 90 m), installation in the hull resulted in a dead zone of fire from a flamethrower of 5.5 m. To accommodate the flamethrower installation, the design of the front part of the turret box had to be changed . Two fire mixture tanks with a capacity of 85 liters each were removed from the tank hull onto the fenders and protected by 10 mm armor. The pneumatic system of the flamethrower consisted of three compressed air cylinders with a capacity of 13 liters, two reducers that reduce the pressure to 8-10 atm (for supplying gasoline to the torch nozzle), and 20-25 atm (for firing the fire mixture), a pipeline and a control valve. The working pressure in the fire mixture tank was 20–25 atm. A supply of 170 liters of fire mixture was enough for 11–17 (according to other sources - 10–15) short shots, the practical rate of fire was 10–12 rounds/min. The flamethrower was located in the roof of the turret box to the right of the driver's seat. In this case, the horizontal firing angle was 55", the elevation angle was 12°, the declination angle was 9°. The flamethrowing was controlled by a driver, his observation device had a built-in sighting device for aiming the flamethrower with aiming marks and an arrow connected to the flamethrower.

In 1941, flamethrower equipment was installed on a wheeled-tracked tank BT-7M (model 1940) with a V-2 diesel engine - this flamethrower tank received the designation OP-7. The total mass of the flamethrower equipment with filled fire mixture tanks was 711 kg. The tank capacity of 170 liters of fire mixture (the tanks are located outside the body) was enough for 10–15 short shots. The fire mixture consisted of a mixture of M3 fuel oil (90%) and kerosene (10%). The fire nozzle is placed in a ball joint in the frontal plate of the hull, the diameter of the outlet of the flamethrower nozzle is 19 mm. Working pressure - 25–27 atm. The flamethrower was controlled by two handles. The mixture was ignited by a spark from a tank battery. Like OT-7. the OP-7 tank remained experimental. It is, however, interesting as an example of a change in the approach to the creation of flamethrower tanks immediately before the war.

Tactical and technical characteristics of tanks OT-7 (OP-7)

Crew 3 people

Combat weight 14.3(14.65)7

Tank length 5.6 (5.66) m

Height 2.4 (2.45) m

Armament: main 45 mm tank gun ob. 1934/38. flamethrower KS-63

auxiliary two 7.62 mm DT machine guns

Armor thickness up to 22 mm

Engine power 400 (500) hp.

Maximum travel speed

51 (62) km/h on tracks.

72 (86) km/h on wheels

Cruising range 510 (620) km

Wheeled-tracked flamethrower tank OP-7

Note that in 1935–1941. in the USSR, several experimental unmanned remotely controlled radio tanks (“teletanks”) were built, armed with flamethrowers - TT-26, “teletractor” T-20. TT-38. BT-TT. TT-26 teletanks were even produced in a small series in 55 vehicles, but there is no information about their combat use. Flamethrowers were later considered among the weapons of remotely controlled ground vehicles (in particular, the Radio Craft magazine already in 1945, immediately after the end of the war, published a project for a radio-controlled wedge - a German development B-IV - equipped with a pneumatic flamethrower with a flamethrowing range of up to 40 m and a powerful charge B B).

Light flamethrower tank T-40 (T-4 °C)

In 1935–1936 Moscow plant No. 37 built 75 OT-37 (BKhM-4) flamethrower tanks with a KS-23 flamethrower on the chassis of small amphibious tanks, and in 1937 - experimental OT-38s with a KS-40 flamethrower. Machine gun turrets were left on the tanks, and a flamethrower was mounted on the hull. But the machines were not used. Before the war, a floating light tank T-40 from the same plant (chief designer - N.A. Astrov), and in July 1941 its land version T-4 °C was created. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army lost almost all flamethrower tanks. At plant number 37 in urgently based on the T-40 and T-4 °C, a tank with an ATO-41 flamethrower was developed (the tank was not assigned a separate index). The fire hose was mounted in a ball joint on the right side of the front hull plate, a tank with a fire mixture and a compressed air cylinder were installed in a niche in the hull stern in place of the propeller and rudder. The 12.7 mm and 7.62 mm machine guns were retained in the turret. It was reported about the participation of such vehicles and battles in the Naro-Fominsk area on the front of the 1st Guards rifle division.

Performance characteristics of tank flamethrowers ATO-41 and ATO-42

Model	ATO-41	ATO-42
Flamethrower type	Automatic piston
Type of fire	Single or automatic bursts of 3–4 shots
Flame throwing range. m
standard mixture	60-65	60-70
viscous mixture	90-100	100-130
Consumption of fire mixture per shot, l	10
Working pressure, kg/cm²:
in the tank	4,0–4,5	3,540
in a cylinder	25-30	35

Armament of flamethrower tanks

Initial period war confirmed the need for flamethrower tanks. Their absence forced tank units to assign units of backpack or portable high-explosive flamethrowers, whose interaction with tanks in battle was difficult, to attack fortified positions. The fire fighters suffered heavy losses. On the other hand, the flamethrowing range of up to 90 m, achieved in pneumatic flamethrowers by the end of the 1930s... was no longer satisfactory to the military, since it required flamethrower vehicles to approach enemy defensive positions saturated with anti-tank weapons.

An important step in the development of domestic flamethrower weapons was the introduction in 1941 of viscous fire mixtures based on powdered thickeners OP-2 according to the recipe developed in 1938–1940. engineer A.P. Ionov to increase the range of jet flamethrowers from tank, trench, high-explosive and hand-held flamethrowers. When tested with a standard tank flamethrower, the use of viscous fire mixtures almost doubled the flamethrowing range. In 1941, mass production of the OP-2 thickener and viscous mixtures began at the enterprises of the People's Commissariat food industry. Ionov’s viscous fire mixtures were used by the Red Army in flamethrowers of all types.

Another way to increase range was the transition from using compressed air pressure to using powder gas pressure, i.e., replacing pneumatic flamethrowers with high-explosive (powder) ones. GSKB 47 of the People's Commissariat of Ammunition and Leningrad Plant No. 174 worked on the creation of high-explosive tank flamethrowers. The special design group of Plant No. 174, headed by I.A. Aristov and D.P. Elagin developed an automatic tank piston flamethrower, which, after comparative tests carried out in May 1941 with a flamethrower developed by NATI, was - literally on the eve of the war - adopted for service under the designation ATO-41. The production of ATO-41 was carried out by the Lyubertsy Agricultural Machinery Plant. Used powder charges cartridge for a 45 mm cannon. The powder gases of the charge pressed on the piston, which pushed the fire mixture out of the cylinder, which was ignited at the outlet by a gasoline torch, ignited by an electric spark plug (from a tank battery). Gasoline was supplied to the torch nozzle by compressed air pressure supplied from a special cylinder through a reducer. Reloading the flamethrower and supplying the next cartridge was carried out automatically by the hydraulic pressure of the fire mixture. created in the tank using compressed air. When firing a flamethrower, a standard mixture consisting of 60% fuel oil and 40% kerosene was mainly used, but a viscous fire mixture (a solution of OP-2 powder in motor gasoline), crude oil, motor fuel as in pure form, and mixed with kerosene. The tanks were filled with fire mixture using an ARS-6 automatic filling station or manually using buckets. At the end of 1942, a modernized version of the automatic tank flamethrower ATO-41 was adopted for service under the designation ATO-42 with a flamethrowing range of 60–70 m with a standard mixture of fuel oil and kerosene and 100–130 m with a viscous special mixture and a rate of fire of 24–30 rds/min . which was produced virtually unchanged until the end of the war. Since 1943, it was installed on flamethrower tanks. The automatic flamethrower had an increased flamethrowing range compared to the ATO-41.

To be continued

Alexey Stepanov

FIRST SOVIET FLAMETHROWER TANKS
“Flamethrower tank” or “Chemical tank” is fighting machine, which is armed with a flamethrower.
Of course this one special type weapons are not comparable in scale of production and combat use with linear vehicles. However, precisely because of the specific purpose of the device and application, it is interesting to consider this weapon as independent species armored vehicles.
Views on the nature of offensive operations, prevailing in the 20s, required a high rate of advance into the very core of the enemy’s defense, therefore, in the early 30s, Soviet military theorists put forward the idea of the need to create armored vehicles armed with powerful chemical weapons. This marked the beginning of the development of flamethrower tanks.
The main purpose of flamethrower tanks is to support infantry and storm fortified enemy positions. These tanks can be used to organize infection, establish a smoke screen or decontaminate the area. These tanks are also used for flamethrowing against enemy personnel and firing points.
Like linear tanks, flamethrower tanks were equipped with smoke bombs to set up screens. Essentially, these were linear tanks with additional flamethrower weapons.
In preparation for a future war with the widespread use of chemical weapons, the USSR made its first attempts to create chemical tanks. OT-1 is the first flamethrower tank based on the serial MS-1 tank (not mass-produced). Projects for flamethrower tanks were also developed in Germany and the USA, but they were never implemented at that time.
The first use of chemical tanks took place in the mid-1930s. Italy used its flamethrower wedges in 1936-1938. Soviet troops used their flamethrower tanks in 1938.
XT-27

The first real embodiment of the USSR chemical tank was the HT-27 (OT-27) tankette, which was put into service in 1932.
Chemical tanks were built on the basis of amphibious tanks, such as the T-37 (chemical modification of the HT-38 or BKhM-4), T-38 (chemical modification of the HT-38), as well as high-speed wheeled and tracked tanks of the BT series. The design of such tanks was created on the basis of the T-29.
In 1938, the Leningrad-Kirov plant developed a design for a tank for mechanized brigades of the RRKA, equipped with a 76-mm cannon, heavy machine gun, and flamethrower equipment was also planned. But this idea remained at the project stage.
In the 40s, the USSR had a significant number of chemical tanks, but in most cases these were outdated vehicles, mainly equipment based on the T-26, etc. At that time, work was already underway on a flamethrower tank based on the A-32, which became the prototype of the T-34, and by the beginning of 1942, serial production of the OT-34, the most popular chemical tank of World War II, was launched.
The tank was put into service in 1942 and entered service with separate flamethrower tank battalions (each with 10 KV-8 tanks and 11 OT-34 tanks) and separate flamethrower tank brigades of the RVGK (59 tanks in each brigade). OT-34 was created on the basis of the T-34 linear tank produced in 1942 with the installation of an ATO-41 or ATO-42 piston flamethrower in the front hull instead of a frontal machine gun. The flamethrowing range with a standard mixture was 60-70 meters, when using a special mixture - 90-100 m.
The rate of fire from the flamethrower was 3 shots per 10 seconds. During an offensive battle, flamethrower tanks usually moved in a line with infantry direct support tanks. When flamethrowing was necessary, they moved forward and, using flamethrowers, suppressed enemy firing points in embrasures, burned out infantry in trenches, and destroyed armored vehicles. A total of 1,170 OT-34 tanks were produced; they were replaced in production by the OT-34-85 tank.
The large-scale use of flamethrower tanks in combat during the Soviet-Finnish War made it possible to identify both positive and negative aspects this type of weapon. Along with the high effectiveness of flamethrower weapons against enemy personnel in trenches and bunkers, it was also noted main drawback- weak reservation. Given the short flamethrowing range, the tanks were forced to approach the target at extremely short distances, which led to large losses. In addition, flamethrower tanks were very different in appearance from linear vehicles, which allowed the enemy to identify them in advance and focus anti-tank fire on them.
To increase the flamethrowing range, a special combustible mixture of high viscosity was developed, and instead of pneumatic flamethrowers, powder (high-explosive) flamethrowers were designed. Powder charges of a cartridge for a 45 mm cannon were used. The powder gases pressed on the piston, which pushed the fire mixture out of the cylinder, which was ignited at the outlet by a gasoline torch, ignited by an electric spark plug (from a tank battery). Reloading the flamethrower and supplying the next cartridge was carried out automatically by the hydraulic pressure of the fire mixture. After comparative tests of several models in May 1941, a powder flamethrower designed by plant No. 174 was adopted for service under the designation ATO-41. The flamethrowing range reached 90 - 100 m (with a special mixture), the rate of fire was 18 rpm, the capacity of the fire mixture per shot was 10 liters. Serial production of ATO-41 was organized at the Lyubertsy Agricultural Machinery Plant named after. Ukhtomsky. With the adoption of the T-34 medium tank, the development of its flamethrower modification began, which was developed at the end of 1940 in the design bureau of plant No. 183 together with the design bureau of plant No. 174. Prototype was manufactured in December 1940 at plant No. 183, and was successfully tested in February 1941.

One of the first two experimental A-34s (No. 311-18-3, which differed from production vehicles) was used as a testing base; the installation on it was of a “temporary nature” and the flamethrower was designated OP-34.
The OP-34 flamethrower consisted of the following parts:
four air cylinders with a capacity of 13 liters and a pressure of 150 atmospheres;

pressure reducing valve for transferring air from cylinders to the device with pressure reduction;

a control cylinder for opening the ball valve, which is located in the mixture tank installed on the floor of the tank on the right;

tank for the mixture with a capacity of 100 l. in addition, another 100 liters were in the left side fuel tank;

fire hose with a nozzle at the end;

a gasoline tank with a capacity of 0.8 liters, installed on a fire nozzle with a pump to create pressure;

gasoline injectors for supplying gasoline to the fire nozzle;

an electric switch for igniting gasoline at the fire nozzle;

air and liquid pipelines with ball valve;

foot pedal.

The tank was put into service, and serial production was planned in June. But the outbreak of war prevented these plans. There was no time to release new models, so in 1941 the production of OT-34 never began. The initial period of the war confirmed the need for flamethrower tanks in the troops. In connection with this, in the spring of 1942, first at plant No. 183, and then No. 112, production of flamethrower modifications of the T-34 tank began. The vehicle differed from the T-34 linear tank by installing an ATO-41 powder flamethrower as an additional weapon, instead of a front-facing machine gun. The flamethrower attachment was completely covered by a movable armored mask. Firing was carried out in single shots or bursts of 3-4 shots at a rate of three shots per 10 s. The flamethrowing range with a standard mixture of fuel oil and kerosene was 60-65 m, the tank capacity (100 l) was enough to fire ten shots. The tank with the fire mixture was mounted in the tank body to the right of the driver’s mechanic.
In connection with the installation of flamethrower equipment, the gunner-radio operator was excluded from the crew of the vehicle, and his functions were transferred to the tank commander. The fire from the flamethrower was fired from his place by the driver, so horizontal guidance was carried out mainly by turning the tank (the flamethrower monitor allowed only small aiming angles both horizontally and vertically). The main armament of the T-34 tank was retained, the cannon's ammunition remained the same as that of the linear tanks, only the machine gun's ammunition was reduced. Since the right side of the control compartment turned out to be completely occupied by flamethrower equipment, the radio station on the radio machines had to be moved to the tower, and accordingly the antenna input moved from the starboard side to the rear wall of the tower. Perhaps this was the only thing external difference flamethrower tanks OT-34 from linear ones. With the introduction of the T-34 modification of 1942 into production, the flamethrower tank began to be built on its basis. At the end of 1942, a modernized version of the ATO-41 automatic tank flamethrower was adopted for service under the designation ATO-42. It differed mainly in the design of individual parts and assemblies. The flamethrowing range with a standard mixture has increased to 70 m (with a viscous special mixture - up to 130 m) and the rate of fire of the flamethrower has increased to 24 - 30 rounds per minute. ATO-42 was produced until the end of the war and from 1943 was installed on flamethrower tanks. Almost all variants and modifications of the T-34 tanks had their own flamethrower twins.
In 1942, 309 OT-34 flamethrower tanks were produced, in 1943 - 478, in 1944 - 383, a total of 1,170 of them were produced. An important feature of the OT-34 and OT-34-85 was their almost complete similarity with linear vehicles while maintaining their combat properties (the presence of full-fledged cannon armament and communications equipment). Essentially, these were linear tanks with additional flamethrower weapons. Organizationally, flamethrower tanks were consolidated into separate flamethrower battalions and brigades. In field conditions, a tank flamethrower was often a weapon more psychological than lethal. The fact is, as noted in the reports, that enemy infantry, as a rule, “... when a tank approaches, they run away to distances that do not allow the use of flamethrowers.” At the same time:
"The effectiveness of the application is good. When flamethrowing, the enemy runs out of the bunkers, abandoning everything. The flamethrower is an excellent means of combating counterattacking infantry. Although when flamethrowing... the mixture does not reach the enemy, but the enemy runs in panic... Practice has shown that in night conditions the use of flamethrowers has a stunning effect on the enemy".
Tanks armed with flamethrowers acquired particular value during battles in populated areas and wooded areas where combat distances were minimal.
At the same time, flamethrower vehicles based on the T-34 tank had a significant disadvantage inherent only to them, due to the location of the flamethrower. According to the same reports, “... flamethrowers on OT-34 tanks, as a rule, are not used, since control of the tank and flamethrower is concentrated on the driver, and on the battlefield all his attention is concentrated on the combat course of the tank and it is difficult for him to break away from the control levers without compromising the performance of the combat mission." However, flamethrower tanks were dangerous not only for the enemy, but also for their own crew - our tank crews had practically no chance of surviving when this tank was hit by an enemy’s armor-piercing incendiary projectile - the tank flared up like a match, “thanks” to its own fire mixture.
Based on the results of the first battles, the head of the combat training department of the GABTU KA, Major General Krivoshein, compiled a “Brief report on the use of TO-34 flamethrower tanks for the period February - July 1942”:
"TO-34 flamethrower tanks were used on the Southwestern Front in the Barvenkovo area in February 1942 as part of the 121st tank brigade, and 2 battalions of 18 tanks each on the Volkhov Front in the areas of Kirishi, Gruzino Park, Dymno in July 1942 in cooperation with 185 and 29 tank brigades. Limited experience with flamethrower tanks has shown:
1. When operating against enemy personnel, both open and in cracks, dugouts, houses, a flamethrower gives a great moral effect and causes great material damage to the enemy. The action of the flamethrower caused panic in the ranks of the enemy, who threw down their weapons and fled from the battlefield, shot by machine guns from tanks. When the burning mixture hit people, they were burned, dugouts and buildings caught fire and forced the enemy’s manpower to leave them and come under machine-gun and artillery fire from tanks. There were no examples of flamethrower tanks operating against enemy tanks, and in this regard their action in combat has not been tested. Taking into account the combat effect on other targets, it must be assumed that a fire jet hitting enemy tanks will cause a fire.
2. The action of flamethrower tanks gives a good effect from a distance of 50-100 meters to the target of attack. Approaching this distance is not always and not possible everywhere. On the Volkhov Front, very often flamethrower tanks had to operate with a machine gun and cannon while they overcame anti-tank obstacles, minefields and water barriers; in a number of cases, tanks did not reach their target because they were hit by anti-tank artillery, blown up by mines and stuck in swamps and anti-tank obstacles. The use of flamethrower tanks is possible only under the condition of thorough reconnaissance of the area and with mandatory interaction with artillery and linear tanks, ensuring the approach of flamethrower tanks to the targets of attack.
3. The lack of T-34 radio tanks among TO-34 company platoon commanders makes it difficult to control in battle.
4. Practice has shown that the placement of the ATO-41 flamethrower in the bow of the tank and, as a result, the limited horizontal sector (15 degrees) of flamethrowing reduces the combat qualities of the TO-34 flamethrower tank (flamethrowing from ambushes and when the tank is forced to stop on the battlefield). Preferably in On the flamethrower tank TO-34, install the flamethrower in the turret.
5. The flamethrower installed on the TO-34 and KV-8 vehicles has a number of design and operational shortcomings that reduce the combat qualities of the TO-34 and KV-8 flamethrower tanks. The main ones:
1). Leakage of fire mixture into the valve and cases of incomplete closing of the valve; 2). Unreliable exhaust system for powder gases, as a result of which the exhaust valve gets stuck and an unburned cartridge is ejected from the chamber during air shots; 3). In the flamethrower installations of TO-34 tanks, the fire mixture leaks in the connection of the liquid pipeline, due to the rigid system, flows into the stuffing box seal of the ball joint and makes it difficult to tighten it.4). To master the ATO-41 flamethrower to perfection, a lot of time and money (cartridges, fire mixture) are required. 5). The large dimensions of the ATO-41 flamethrower do not allow it to be paired with a 76-mm cannon in a tank turret without significant changes in the turret design.6). The complexity of manufacturing ATO-41 is too high.
Conclusion.1. The ATO-41 flamethrower mounted in the TO-34 and KV-8 tanks justifies itself as an additional weapon for tank troops.2. the presence of design and operational shortcomings of the ATO-41 flamethrower reduces the combat qualities of flamethrower tanks.
Offers.
1. Demand that the factories of the People's Commissariat of Tanks Industry produce flamethrower tanks in order to be able to use them widely.2. In order to improve the combat and operational qualities of flamethrower tanks, the People's Commissariat of Tank Industry is required to:
1). IN shortest time eliminate defects and shortcomings of the ATO-41 flamethrower in terms of the valve, the powder gas exhaust system, as well as the shortcomings of flamethrower installations.2). Accelerate the development and testing of the T-34 flamethrower tank, in which compressed air (gas burned from 1-2 diesel cylinders of the tank) is used to eject the fire mixture. The design of such a flamethrower should be much simpler to manufacture, operate and master. 3. Organization of separate flamethrower tanks battalions have the following: one KV-8 company consisting of 5 vehicles and two companies of TO-34 tanks, with each company having 9 TO-34 tanks (3 platoons) and 4 radio tanks for platoon and company commanders. For the command of the battalion - 2 radio tanks. T-34. In total, the battalion has 33 tanks, of which: 5 KV-8 tanks, 18 TO-34 tanks, 10 T-34 radio tanks."
Shortcomings in the design of the ATO-41 were also reported from training units that were preparing to be sent to the front:
“A. Cable control (ignition, magazine feed, sear recess) is unreliable, difficult to adjust and causes frequent operational failures.
B. During flamethrowing, there were cases of arbitrary automatic reloading with the ejection of burning cartridges into the inside of the tank and ignition of the cartridges in the receiver (magazine), which led to the defeat of the crew and a fire in the tank.
B. The exhaust valve is malfunctioning.
D. There are cases of breakdown of the shutter extractors, leakage of fire mixture through the valve, misadjustment of the automation levers and failure of the lighter.
D. The installation of flamethrowers in tanks is carried out poorly, resulting in leakage of the fire mixture at the connection of the front cover with the ATO-41 cylinder, air leakage in the air valves of the air ducts, clogging of gas injectors, and leakage in the VKU ball joint."

A dead, scorched strip 200 m long and 30 m wide. There was nothing left - not a blade of grass, not a tree, only charred mounds that had recently been people... Before us are the terrible consequences of a shot from a flamethrower tank. This inhumane weapon was partially prohibited by the UN convention, which came into force in the winter of 1983, but until then it had acquired a whole bunch of legends and misconceptions.

The most common misconception associated with flamethrower tanks is that the maximum damage is dealt to the enemy directly during the shot. This is wrong. The most dangerous thing in this regard is the aftereffect - the flammable mixture, having covered a very large area, continues to burn for a long time after the shot and just then burns out everything it “reaches”. Thus, the flamethrower tank is very effective against armored vehicles. Liquid, easily flowing mixtures penetrate into the smallest cracks and are capable of “burning out” an enemy tank from the inside. Apparently, there is no more terrible death for the crew.

Another popular misconception is that a flamethrower tank most often does not have any other weapons (except for a machine gun). Of course, there are a number of tanks in which the flamethrower is the main weapon. But models in which the flamethrower was only an additional weapon along with the traditional cannon more often entered mass production.

When you press the trigger, the squib is triggered, delivering a small fiery torch just in front of the mouth of the nozzle. After approximately 0.2 s, voltage is supplied to the electric ignition of the powder cartridge. The pressure of the powder gases increases. Upon reaching 15 kgf/cm2, the needle valve begins to move, separating the liquid cavity and the nozzle, and at a pressure of 50 to 75 kgf/cm2, the jet is ejected, igniting from the obviously lit torch of the squib. After the shot, the drum rotates and the piston falls into place - in fact, this is the revolver principle. 1 — flamethrower; 2, 4 — infrared light spotlights; 3 — radio station antenna; 5 — gun barrel; 6 - muzzle brake.

With or without a gun?

A typical example is the Soviet “Object 483”, created under the leadership of Alexander Morozov on the basis of the T-54B. Developed in 1959, this tank was equipped with an OM-250 powder flamethrower and had an insane firing range (up to 270 m) with a jet spread width of 30 m. But such a range entailed a huge consumption of the combustible mixture - about 100 liters per shot. We had to sacrifice the gun, part of the fuel tanks, and the internal space for the crew in order to “fit” a set of tanks with a total volume of 1600 liters into the inside of the tank. Thus, at the very ideal situation the ammunition was enough for 15-16 rounds, after which the “Object 483” turned into an almost unarmed combat vehicle and was forced to “flee” from the battlefield.

Flamethrower: 7 - nozzle; 8 — valve body; 9 - cylinder; 10 - chamber drum; 11 — back cover; 12 - check valve; 13 - supply pipe; 14 - gas valve.

Therefore, from the vehicles developed in the 1950s, those equipped with a flamethrower in addition to the main cannon armament went into series: first OT-54, a little later - TO-55. The latter turned out to be a surprisingly perfect tank - so convenient and irreplaceable that, having entered service in 1961 (by this time it had already been manufactured trial batch), disappeared from the army only in 1993!

If we compare the TO-55 with the Object 483, the advantages of the first are obvious. Firstly, the weapons: despite the installation of the ATO-200 flamethrower, the tank did not lose its classic weapon, the 100-mm D-10T2S cannon. Secondly, the volume of tanks for the combustible mixture was only 460 liters, but at the same time the consumption per shot decreased to 35 liters, that is, the tank could splash out its “flammable character” 12-14 times, not much less than the “Object 483”. Finally, the TO-55 had the ability to fire automatically, that is, in fact, it could supply the combustible mixture continuously, and not in portions. And the firing range was quite decent - 200 m.

Visually, the TO-55 differs from the T-55 only in the flamethrower nozzle protruding to the right of the cannon and a small hatch for refueling fire mixture directly below it.

Thus, having created the “Object 483” after the quite successful “fifty-five”, the designers were convinced in practice that a threefold increase in the mixture consumption per shot is simply not worth the candle: the range does not increase very significantly, and the tank seriously loses in destructive power - due to failure from the cannon as the main weapon. One way or another, it was the TO-55 that turned out to be the ideal flamethrower tank Soviet army and one of the best such machines in the world. And there were quite a lot of them.

Pneumatics or gunpowder?

Despite the fact that there was talk of installing a flamethrower on an armored vehicle during the First World War, it came to practice only in the early 1930s. It was Soviet designers who were the first to create and put into mass production a similar machine (XT-26, 1932), and by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War a dozen and a half had been developed various models, for the most part - on the same base. By 1941, about 1,500 chemical tanks were manufactured in the USSR - although not all of them made it to the war. For example, out of 75 XT-37 tanks, only 10 survived before the start of hostilities - the rest were converted back into the base tank.

OT-130 (1935) - one of the later flamethrower tanks based on the T-26 model of 1933. Photo from the museum in Kubinka. The first production flamethrower tank appeared in 1932 - XT-26 based on a two-turret light tank. The main weapon was the KS-24 pneumatic flamethrower, firing a mixture of fuel oil and kerosene at 35 m, and the auxiliary weapon was the DT machine gun. The two-turret T-26 was taken as the base for a reason: the left turret remained in its place, and the place of the right one was taken by tanks with fire mixture. Subsequently, many modifications of the 26th were developed, the last model based on it appeared in 1940. Interestingly, the famous TT-26 teletanks were also a modification of the HT-26.

The first Soviet tank flamethrowers of the KS series (for example, KS-24 or KS-25), installed on the XT-26 and its modifications, had a very short firing range - at most 30-40 m. First of all, this parameter was determined by the type of flamethrower. The CSs were pneumatic, that is, the incendiary mixture was fired from them under the pressure created by gas from a pneumatic cylinder. Therefore, the entire flamethrower composition of the USSR, albeit huge, was frankly outdated by the beginning of the war.

The new generation of flamethrowers ATO-41 (and the subsequent ATO-42), installed on the OT-34 tank (yes, based on the famous “thirty-four”), belonged to the class of powder piston ones. Such a flamethrower resembles a regular cannon, only instead of a projectile it contains a portion of a flammable mixture. The shot is fired due to the pressure of the powder gases formed as a result of the explosion of the propellant charge - the range in this case compared to pneumatic flamethrowers increases significantly.

This flamethrower tank was nicknamed "Crocodile" due to its inability to move in reverse due to the flamethrower trailer.

The OT-34, which entered service in 1942, became the most popular flamethrower tank of World War II - 1,170 of them were produced. Surprisingly, only two samples have survived to this day: one is stored in Simferopol, the other in Nizhny Tagil. The fate of the latter is interesting: it was raised from the bottom of the Black Lake in 1999, after which political squabbles began over who owned the car: the organization that raised it or the Ministry of Defense. The final decision turned out to be Solomon's: the tank was transferred to the Nizhny Tagil museum at the plant, brilliantly restored, and now it is one of the prides of the exhibition. At the same time, the OT-34 became the first tank of this type to retain its main armament - the 76-mm L-11 gun. Subsequently, it was this arrangement that became the main one for flamethrower vehicles.

The Churchill Crocodile tank trailer contained about 1,800 liters of fire mixture, which was guaranteed to be enough for more than 80 one-second “spit” shots.

Not only in the USSR

The Soviet Union developed twice as many flamethrower tanks (if modifications are taken into account) than all other countries combined. Perhaps the most interesting of the Western designs was the British "kit car" Churchill Crocodile of 1943. Unlike Soviet tanks, which were originally developed as flamethrowers based on serial ones, the Crocodile was a set of equipment that could be installed on any Churchill Mk VII, “converting” it into a flamethrower. The flamethrower itself was installed in place of the machine gun located in the front of the hull; the pipeline was laid under the bottom on brackets and led... to the trailer! Indeed, the “conversion” principle did not allow placing a massive incendiary mixture tank inside the hull, and therefore the 1800-liter tank rode behind the tank on a rigid coupling. The “Crocodile” hit approximately 110 m with a continuous stream and consumed about 15 l/s. On the one hand, the Churchill Crocodile would be cheap and would not require significant labor costs (that’s why it was produced in 800 copies), but, on the other hand, it turned out to be extremely clumsy; the trailer did not allow reversing and seriously slowed down the tank. In addition to the Churchill, the British developed flamethrower tanks based on the Matilda II and the Universal Carrier small armored personnel carrier.

The Churchill Crocodile flamethrower was located in place of the machine gun, a 7.62 mm BESA. The flamethrower hit a little more than 100 meters (in different sources from 110 to 130 m), approximately 15-20 liters of fire mixture were consumed per shot.

The most famous American chemical tank, the M67, which found use in Vietnam, was created in the mid-1950s on the basis of the third Patton. He did not keep the gun; in its place was an M7-6 pneumatic flamethrower. Despite all the archaic nature of this system high blood pressure air allowed the M67 to hit at 200 m, and a significant supply of combustible mixture (more than 1500 liters) allowed it to conduct continuous fire for 55 s. In principle, in Vietnam War the tank came in handy because the flamethrower is an ideal weapon in the jungle. M67s were used in a number of operations and performed well. But already in the 1970s it turned out that such weapons were simply not needed - a new Vietnam was clearly not foreseen. In addition to the Patton, the Americans converted Sherman and Stuart tanks into flamethrowers.

The tank was attached to the tank using a rigid coupling, which was the only possible option, but at the same time seriously limited the maneuverability of the Crocodile.

Of course, Germany also had flamethrower tanks - based on the PzKpfw II, PzKpfw III, StuG III and even captured French Char B1. All German Flammpanzers were the result of the conversion of tanks that were not originally designed for use as flamethrowers. The conversion sometimes looked strange - for example, Flammpanzer III looked almost no different from its prototype. The flamethrower was installed inside the cannon, and the opponent might not have realized until the last moment that this was not an ordinary PzKpfw III in front of him. Flamethrower tanks different times built in Canada, Australia, Italy and Japan (during World War II) and in Czechoslovakia after the war.

The American military wittily nicknamed the flamethrower tanks Zippo in honor of the manufacturer of lighters. The photographs show flamethrower modifications of the Sherman tank - M4A3R3 Zippo (used at Iwo Jima in 1945) and an earlier M4 Crocodile (1942).

Effective? Partly!

First of all, the flamethrower tank is effective against infantry. Especially in forest conditions, because it burns a significant area and absolutely everything that is in this area at the time of the shot. It would seem that the main problem why flamethrower tanks have not conquered the world's battlefields is their small ammunition capacity and short range. But a more compelling reason is economic. Incendiary bombs and napalm are much more effective, simpler, cheaper and more convenient for clearing territory, especially when using airborne means of their distribution.

A little chemistry

One of the most important components of a flamethrower is its ammunition, the fire mixture. The first Soviet tank flamethrowers used a mixture of fuel oil and kerosene. Subsequently, various fire mixtures were created, which included almost all possible flammable substances. For example, in Korea, Americans mixed crankcase oil with gasoline.
One of the most common Soviet tank fire mixtures was BBC - an analogue of napalm, a mixture of gasoline (70%) with a thickener. It was this that was used in the ATO-200 flamethrower along with another mixture - SKS-0 (where SKS is a thickener, synthetic styrene-butadiene rubber). Interestingly, a flamethrower can, in principle, be filled with more than just a combustible mixture. The same XT-26 were used to spray a degassing liquid, and also created camouflage curtains using a smoke-forming mixture.

That is why a modern “flamethrower tank” is primarily a system volley fire, capable of firing volume-detonating (or, as the Americans say, “fuel”) ammunition. After the explosion, such a rocket or bomb sprays a flammable liquid around, which it itself sets on fire - the system as a whole is called jet flamethrower. The Soviet jet tank flamethrower is the famous TOS-1 "Buratino" (or its modification TOS-1A "Solntsepek"), created in the mid-1980s and used in Afghanistan - we wrote about it in "PM" No. 4 "2006. Although this is a completely different story.

But on December 2, 1983, the “Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Cause Excessive Injury or to Have Indiscriminate Effects” came into force. Her Protocol No. 3 prohibited the use incendiary weapons against, in particular, the civilian population, as well as in forested areas (that is, with the burning of forest areas).

The ban finally put an end to the “career” of flamethrower tanks. Russia and Kazakhstan have a total of about two dozen TOS-1 and TOS-1A in service, but their use is limited local conflicts. And the classic flamethrower tanks are a thing of the past - as a terrifying weapon, but clearly inferior to less extravagant options. And besides, it is recognized by the world community as excessively cruel. Although is there such a weapon that can be called humane?..

Having gained rich experience in using flamethrower tanks on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, the USSR resumed work on creating combat vehicles of this class in the late 1940s.

In July 1948, by decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR, a special design bureau for flamethrowing SKb-1 was formed at plant No. 75 in Kharkov. M. S. Ozersky became his boss. The creation of flamethrower tanks in KB-60 was carried out by an independent “department 62” headed by F. A. Mostov. The result of the work of these two teams was the T-54-ATO tank (“object 481”), two samples of which were manufactured in metal in 1952.

TO-54

The tank's hull remained unchanged. Flamethrower equipment was located in the combat compartment and control compartment. In the bow of the hull, instead of an ammunition rack for 20 rounds and a fuel tank with a capacity of 17 liters, a fire mixture tank with a capacity of 460 liters, an additional temperature sensor and a nozzle for fire-fighting equipment were installed. In the turret plate above the fire mixture tank and in the bottom of the tank under the tank there were hatches for filling and draining the fire mixture.

Flamethrower - automatic, powder action. The flamethrower consisted of a cylinder, breech, automation, valve with nozzle, ignition system and air system. The cylinder served as a reservoir for the fire mixture that entered there before the shot. The piston of the cylinder, under the influence of powder gases, squeezed the fire mixture through the nozzle and threw it out in a ignited state. The flamethrower was fired using an electric or mechanical trigger, which activated the percussion mechanism, which broke the primer of the powder cartridge. When fired, powder gases passed through a pipeline coming from the chamber into the cavity between the rear cover of the cylinder and the piston and moved the latter. At a pressure of 13.5-18.5 kgf/cm², the valve spring compressed and the nozzle moved away from the needle, forming a passage for throwing out the fire mixture. The ignition system serves to ignite the fire mixture at the moment it leaves the nozzle. One of the prototypes of the T-54-ATO tank was equipped with an electric gasoline ignition system, the other with a pyrotechnic ignition system.

Based on the test results at the NIIBT Test Site, a pyrotechnic system was adopted. It consisted of a drum with 20 slots for squibs and an electric fuse. The system operated automatically when the powder cartridge was fired. The air system was intended to supply the fire mixture from the tank to the flamethrower cylinder. It included two cylinders with a capacity of 10 liters, an air reducer that reduced the pressure from 135-150 to 3-5.5 kgf/cm², fittings and pressure gauges.

For flamethrowing, the AP-7 fire mixture was used, which was a mixture of gasoline and kerosene with the addition of OP-2 thickener powder and xylenol. The flame temperature of a flamethrower shot reached 900-1000° C. The flamethrowing range is 160 m, the fire mixture consumption per shot is 20 liters, the practical rate of fire is 7 rounds/min. The flamethrower's ammunition was designed for 20 shots.

Due to the installation of flamethrower equipment, the cannon's ammunition had to be reduced to 19 rounds, the front-mounted machine gun to 1,500 rounds, and the anti-aircraft machine gun to 200 rounds. The placement of shots and cartridges has been changed.

The power plant, transmission and chassis have not undergone any modifications. Changes were made to the electrical system due to the inclusion of flamethrower electrical devices. The placement of the air release cylinders has also changed and the PPO system has been strengthened, which now includes four cylinders with carbon dioxide and an additional nozzle.

TO-55

Tank TO-55 (“object 482”) became further development tank TO-54 and differed from it in the base used and the design of the flamethrower installation.

The TO-55 tank was developed in 1957 in Kharkov at plant No. 75. It was mass-produced at the plant named after. October Revolution"in Omsk (plant No. 174) since 1961. From 1968 to 1973, the production of TO-55 was carried out in Kharkov. A total of 830 TO-55 tanks were produced.

DESIGN

In the turret, instead of a coaxial PKT machine gun, an ATO-200 powder automatic flamethrower was installed, stabilized together with the cannon in two planes. Targeted flamethrowing was possible not only from a standstill, but also on the move with single shots or bursts of three to five shots with a rate of fire of up to 8 rounds/min. Compared to the TO-54, the maximum flamethrowing range has increased to 200 m.

The shot capacity was increased to 35 liters (20 liters on the OT-54), and the flamethrowing process was fully automated. At the same time, to create a continuous zone of fire, the gunner did not need to press the trigger button every time: he simply had to not let go, and then the shooting became continuous. The fire mixture tank with a capacity of 460 liters was located in the bow of the tank in place of the fuel tank racks.

To supply it to the turret, there was a feeding device in the middle part of the hull on the bottom. ATO-200 was a multiple-action powder piston flamethrower with pyrotechnic ignition of the jet. It consisted of a cylinder - a reservoir for the fire mixture that entered there before the shot, a valve with a movable needle, automation, a pyrotechnic ignition system and a safety system.

The ignition of the jet at the moment of its departure from the flamethrower nozzle was carried out by an ignition system using two drums with twelve powder and incendiary cartridges.

SHOOTING ORDER

Firing from a flamethrower was carried out as follows. When the gunner pressed the trigger button, electrical voltage was applied simultaneously to the time relay and to the next incendiary squib, which, in turn, ignited and ejected a torch of flame in front of the nozzle. After 0.1-0.2 seconds, the time relay supplied voltage to the electric capsule sleeve of the powder cartridge, which was instantly activated. The pressure of the powder gases in the cylinder quickly increased, under their action the piston sharply moved forward and pushed the fire mixture out of the cylinder through the nozzle. The jet, accelerated to a speed of 100 m/s, flew through the torch of the incendiary cartridge and ignited.

At the end of the piston stroke, the valve system was activated: the nozzle was purged, the piston returned to its original position under the pressure of the fire mixture in the tank, both drums rotated and “prepared” the next cartridges. The ATO-200 ammunition included 12 fire rounds. At the same time, the ammunition load of the 100-mm cannon had to be reduced to 25 rounds and the ammunition load of the course machine gun to 750 rounds. Other combat and performance characteristics remained the same as that of the T-55 tank.

PRODUCTION

Testing of the Object 482 flamethrower tank began in 1958. By this time, the new flamethrower had been finalized and tested separately, which had a positive effect on the progress of the project. In January 1960, “object 482” was put into service under the name TO-55, but mass production began later. The first batch of 10 production vehicles was assembled only in 1961. By this time, the military began to doubt the feasibility of developing and producing flamethrower tanks. In the armies of potential enemies, hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers became widespread, and the first missile systems, designed to destroy armored vehicles. All of these anti-tank weapons had an effective firing range that was not inferior to or even superior to the capabilities of the ATO-200 flamethrower. The absence of a coaxial machine gun also became a subject of controversy, since it could significantly reduce the effectiveness of the tank when fighting infantry. The TO-55 tank became the last mass-produced Soviet flamethrower tank. Officially, this combat vehicle was withdrawn from service in 1993.

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