Chemical tank (abbr. Khimtank ) - a historical variety of special tanks , equipped with means of chemical contamination of the area, setting smoke screens and flamethrowing [1] .
Due to the practical non-use of chemical tanks for their main purpose (as well as chemical weapons in general) during the military conflicts that took place during the interwar period , and also due to restrictions imposed by international agreements on the laws and customs of war, the use of a number of varieties of chemical weapons was excluded, and other types of tanks began to be equipped with smoke curtains (smoke grenade launchers), the practice of designing and manufacturing chemical tanks came down to the installation of permissible tional military law conventional incendiary weapons (armored flamethrowers), resulting in a more comprehensive term "chemical tank" was the rough equivalent of a highly specialized flame tank . There is no information on the use of chemical tanks for spraying gaseous or other chemical weapons (that is, use in accordance with the main purpose) in a combat situation.
Content
Theory of Combat Use
In theory, a chemical tank was supposed to be used together with a machine to degass the terrain on an all-terrain chassis. A chemical tank with a securely sealed fighting compartment and control compartment processed a given area with a highly toxic gaseous chemical reagent using a spray gun, after which, after the time required to defeat the enemy’s manpower , a degassing machine came into action. The estimated capacity of the designed degassing machine was 2.7 thousand m² of contaminated territory per refueling. Due to the relatively low productivity, land communication lines (for further advance of the advancing troops) —– bridges and roads — were the priority objects of degassing. The applied chemical had to be quickly volatilizing and have an extremely short decay and weathering period for the safety of its own forces operating in the territories subjected to chemical treatment.
Organization
In the USSR, the serial chemical tank was the HT-26 , which was produced by Soviet industry from 1932 to 1936 and was used (as a flamethrower) to a limited extent at the initial stage of World War II . The indicated chemical tanks were equipped with combat support companies as part of mechanized and then tank brigades — the organizational and staff structure of such a company included two platoons of five chemical tanks and a command tank, for a total of 11 vehicles. In addition, since 1935, chemical tanks began to enter the arsenal of individual chemical tank battalions specially created for this purpose.
Feasibility
The development and production of actual chemical tanks and degassing machines in the USSR, on behalf of the Soviet government, were supervised by the head of the Military Chemical Directorate of the Red Army (together with ABTU ) - first, in 1925-1937. Coriner Ya. M. Fishman ( arrested June 5, 1937), who can be considered the main proponent of the introduction of chemical tanks in the Red Army Park, then in 1937-1942. brigade commander P. G. Melnikov , who emphasized that the main purpose of this tank was “infection of the materiel [of the enemy] and smoke fumes, not flamethrowing”. People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR Marshal of the Soviet Union K. Ye. Voroshilov, on the basis of Soviet and foreign experience in the use of chemical tanks, opposed the excessive reinforcement of troops with chemical tanks, considering this an aimless waste of resources: [2]
I believe that having chemical tanks in such numbers is a luxury. We can’t allow inactivity of so many tanks. <...> A flamethrower is not a chemical tank. Any tank can be a flamethrower; we don’t have to have a special chemical tank. <...> Germans and Japanese do not allow such luxury - to keep thousands of chemical tanks. We do not need so many chemical tanks that are scarecrows. <...> Since 1929, we participated in seven wars, but chemistry was not used in any of these wars.
- Protocol record No. 4 of the meeting of the commission of the Main Military Council of the Red Army, May 7, 1940, 12:00, part 2
His deputy for political affairs, the 1st-rank army commissar L.Z. Mehlis generally considered the chemical tanks unnecessary, and in terms of the use of chemical weapons, like Voroshilov, he adhered to the idea of equipping the troops with the required number of towed towed tanks with chemical warfare agents instead of special tanks . Another deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR for armaments Marshal of the Soviet Union G.I. Kulik advocated abandoning the practice of producing chemical tanks in favor of chemical warfare vehicles (BHM): [1]
People, inventing chemical tanks, did not know why they invented. If you take a chemical tank as an infection, then the cubic capacity is small - this is Fishman's venture. We need good BHM. A flamethrower is not a chemical matter. The fact that we have chemical teams is a misunderstanding. It is necessary to disband the brigade and create several battalions with BHM. Must be transferred to the commission.
The deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR for combat training of the 1st rank commander K. A. Meretskov spoke in favor of the presence of chemical tanks: [3]
In tanks, it is impossible to carry OM [poisonous substances], since the fighter will spill everything. The whole feature is that the tank has a tank inside. If they are not in armor, then the explosives and liquid will all burn on the battlefield with fire. Flamethrowers performed well. These tanks are needed. You need to think about how to drive.
The head of the Office of Military-Technical Supply of the Red Army, the engineer I. A. Lebedev, proposed stopping further work in the direction of developing and improving chemical tanks, instead focusing on the mentioned chemical trailers. The head of the ABTU RKKA corps, D. G. Pavlov, also opposed chemical tanks of any kind (both chemical and flamethrower proper), offering to concentrate on developing removable tank flamethrowers suitable for installation on any tanks, and not on one special model: [3]
We already have chemical trailers. <...> I insist on making a removable flamethrower, and not have special chemical tanks. Merchant's luxury to have such a chemical tank. On the T-28 we have a removable device. ABTU takes on this task.
As a result of the controversy in the top military-political leadership, it was decided to abandon further work on the creation of chemical tanks. According to the results of the plenary meeting of the commission of the Main Military Council of the Red Army of April 26, 1940, the already existing fleet of teletanks and chemical tanks was transferred to the ABTU by decision of the military officers present at the meeting [4] .
Prototypes
The experimental design and testing bureau of the Office of Mechanization and Motorization of the Red Army under the leadership of N.I. Dyrenkov in 1931 made a single copy of the chemical tank (chemical attack tank) D-15 , which did not come to testing.
See also
- Flamethrower tank
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 “Winter War”, 2004 , p. 256.
- ↑ The Winter War, 2004 , p. 256-257.
- ↑ 1 2 “Winter War”, 2004 , p. 257.
- ↑ The Winter War, 2004 , p. 211.
Literature
- "Winter War": work on the bugs (April-May 1940) . / Materials of the commissions of the Main Military Council of the Red Army on summarizing the experience of the Finnish campaign. - M .; St. Petersburg: Summer Garden, 2004 .-- 560 p. - ISBN 5-94381-134-6 .