Tank NI-1, NI (“To Fright”), Yanvarets, Odessa Tank [3] - an impromptu light tank ( armored tractor ), hastily constructed in Odessa during the defense of the city in the summer and fall of 1941, taking into account the capabilities of the besieged city industry. Odessa factories produced about fifty of these tanks, which were used by the Red Army units during the defense of the city.
| NI-1 | |
|---|---|
 Armored tractors NI-1 leave the gates of Odessa plant them. January Uprising (reconstruction [1] ) | |
| NI-1 (“To Fright”) | |
| Classification | Armored Tractor / Erzac Tank |
| Combat weight, t | ~ 7 |
| Layout diagram | front engine |
| Crew | 2-3 |
| Story | |
| Manufacturer |  Plant them. January Uprising , Odessa |
| Years of production | 1941 |
| Years of operation | 1941 |
| The number of issued, pcs. | 69 [2] |
| Key Operators | |
| Dimensions | |
| Body length mm | ~ 4200 |
| Width mm | ~ 1900 |
| Height mm | ~ 2400 |
| Reservation | |
| Type of armor | steel rolled |
| Forehead, mm / city. | 10-20 |
| Board of the case, mm / city. | 10-20 |
| Feed housing, mm / city. | ten |
| Bottom mm | ten |
| Housing roof, mm | ten |
| Tower forehead, mm / city. | 20 |
| Board towers, mm / city. | 20 |
| The feed of the tower, mm / city. | 20 |
| Roof of the tower, mm | ten |
| Armament | |
| Caliber and brand of guns | light gun caliber 37-45 mm (on a number of machines). |
| Barrel length, calibres | 46 (45mm 20K) |
| Machine guns | 1-2 × 7.62 mm DT |
| Mobility | |
| Engine type | 1MA, four-cylinder, carburetor, multi-fuel |
| Engine power, l with. | 52-56 |
| Speed on the highway, km / h | ~ 20 |
| Cruising on the highway , km | 140 |
| Ground pressure, kg / cm² | 0.64 |
| Gradeability, hail. | 40 (on hard ground) |
Content
History
During the defense of Odessa in 1941, the defenders of the city felt a huge need for armored vehicles. In order to somehow alleviate the situation, the chief engineer of the Odessa Engineering Plant. The January Uprising P.K. Romanov proposed to make ersatz tanks, sheathed the existing caterpillar tractors STZ-5 with armor and installed light weapons. The proposal was accepted, and three STZ-NATI tractors, materials and weapons were allocated to the plant [4] .
Details of the towers were made in tram workshops (where there was a carousel), armored hulls were made at the October Revolution factory , and the production of armored tractors was mastered in tank repair shops (created in the shops of the plant named after the January Uprising after the beginning of the siege of the city) [4] , in connection with what, at the production stage and before the first battles, the product was called “Yanvarets” [3] .
The design and manufacture of armored vehicles were led by the chief engineer of the plant named after January uprising P. K. Romanov, military engineer I. A. Obednikov and engineer for artillery equipment from the headquarters of the Odessa Naval Base U. G. Kogan [4] . Also in the production of armored tractors involved workers of the Odessa Shipyard [5]
During the conversion, the upper part of the tractor body was cut off [5] .
In the future, a reservation was made. In conditions of shortage of armor steel, combined armor was used from two spaced steel sheets [6] , between which boards were laid (sheet ship steel was provided by the Odessa naval base) [4] .
In the central part of the body of the armored tractor, a rotating tower with hatches was installed, in which weapons were installed [5] .
- the first two armored tractors initially received towers with a 37-mm gun from the T-26 tanks of the first series that could not be restored, but their center of gravity was too high and after testing at the firing range the guns in the towers were replaced with machine guns [7]
- The following armored tractors were equipped with a home-made rotating turret, in which a light cannon or machine guns were installed (as a rule, the armament of the tank was two 7.62 mm DT machine guns ).
The first three cars (two armed with machine guns and one armed with a 37 mm cannon) were made within ten days, and on August 20, 1941, equipped with crews, they were sent to the Southern Sector [4] .
Under the command of Art. Lieutenant N. I. Yudin, a tank platoon of one real tank and three armored tractors led a counterattack of the 25th Infantry Division , as a result of which the enemy was knocked out of the trenches and retreated, the armored tractors had no losses [8] . Combat tests of equipment were recognized as successful. Inspection of the vehicles that returned from the battle showed that the armor withstands bullets and fragments (although a 45-mm shell hit it pierced right through), after which the Military Council of the Odessa Defense Region ordered the production team to convert 70 more tractors into NI [4] .
The production was complicated by the constant bombardment of the plant, which was bombed every night (in connection with this, machine guns were removed from all tanks and armored tractors at the factory and during the air raids the factory workers fired on air targets). During one bombardment, the instrumental workshop caught fire, however, careful observance of blackouts and anti-aircraft fire did not allow the German pilots to carry out targeted bombing and made it possible to exclude serious damage [9] .
In the second battle in the Vakarzhan region , two out of ten armored tractors participating in the counterattack were lost [8] .
On the night of September 20, 1941, 20 tanks were used in battle against the Romanian units besieging the city, with the main emphasis on the psychological effect of using tanks. Tanks with headlights and sirens turned on moved to Romanian trenches without artillery support. The enemy was put to flight. After this battle, the name “NI-1” was assigned to the tanks, which stands for “Fright”. A similar name is also explained by the fact that, for lack of large-caliber guns, the trunks of light guns were expanded to give the tanks a more “serious” appearance, and sometimes imitations of guns were simply installed on the tanks. In addition, according to the memoirs of veterans, the tanks made a terrifying thunder during the movement.
Subsequently, with an increase in the number of armored tractors fired, a tank battalion under the command of Art. Lieutenant N. I. Yudin [10] .
On October 2, 1941, the tank battalion of N. I. Yudin participated in the attack on the positions of the 4th Romanian army in the area of the village Lenintal , as a result of which the Romanian units that did not expect an attack were defeated [11] , and the tankers captured 24 artillery pieces, mortars and machine guns. However, during the attack, six or seven armored tractors were lost (knocked out by artillery fire and failed due to a technical malfunction) [10] .
According to the memoirs of the Secretary of the Lenin District Party Committee N. G. Lutsenko, from August 20 to October 15, 55 tractors were re-equipped in this way [12] [13] . According to other sources, a total of 69 Odessa tanks were produced [2] .
On October 15, 1941, the last surviving armored tractors ensured the evacuation of the troops defending Odessa, they covered the retreat of the last units. Several of them were blown up by crews before loading onto the Volga transport [14] , several more were abandoned in the city.
The Romanian troops entering Odessa got a lot of NI-1s, which were subsequently used by them for various, including educational purposes. As of November 1, 1942, in the hands of the Romanians were still in the ranks of 14 vehicles [15] .
Additional Information
NI-1 was not the only armored tractor produced during the Great Patriotic War. Given the lack of armored vehicles in many cities with more or less developed industry, home-made armored vehicles (armored tractors, ersatz tanks, and home-made armored vehicles) were created and manufactured.
Surviving instances
As of 2012, it is known about the safety of several armored tractors, presumably being NI-1.
- Russia - 1 car in the exposition of the Armored Museum in Kubinka (installed on an open area outside the hangars). Although this exhibit is positioned by the museum as a NI-1 tank, as indicated by the information plate in front of it, there is evidence that this armored tractor is a post-war model stylized as an KhTZ-16 armored tractor made as a props for filming [1] .
- Ukraine - at least 2 cars. In Odessa, there is a NI tank mounted on a pedestal at the corner of Razumovskaya and Myasoedovskaya streets. The second copy of the NI tank is part of the Odessa Heroic Defense Memorial . However, these copies are only later copies made specifically for filming in a feature film.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Skorenko T. , 2009 .
- ↑ 1 2 Rear of the Soviet Armed Forces in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945 / call ed., ed. Army General S.K. Kurkotkin. - M .: "Military Publishing", 1977. - C. 438.
- ↑ 1 2 Odessa tank (“To Fright”) // © Website «ODESSA360.NET» (Retrieved January 24, 2018)
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Krylov N.I. , 1984 , S. 107–109.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Buzhor Yu. I., Vereshchagina V.G., Banita L. L. Named after the 50th anniversary of Soviet Ukraine. Odessa ship repair plant. - Odessa: “The Lighthouse”, 1973. - S. 140.
- ↑ Vice Admiral Kulakov N.M. Trusted to the Navy. - M .: "Military Publishing", 1985. - S. 84.
- ↑ “ to accelerate the production of the first two machines, we decided to put towers on them from the old completely broken T-26 with a 37-mm cannon ” - G. Penezhko , 1950 , S. 473–474, 516–517
- ↑ 1 2 Penezhko G.I. , 1950 , 518–519.
- ↑ Penezhko G.I. , 1950 , C. 486.
- ↑ 1 2 Krylov N.I. , 1984 , S. 221.
- ↑ Odessa Red Banner. - 2nd ed., Rev. and add. - Chisinau: “Cartya Moldovenienasca”, 1985. - P. 121.
- ↑ Moshchansky I., Khokhlov I. , 2005 , p. 65.
- ↑ Kolomiyets M. , 1997 .
- ↑ Penezhko G.I. , 1950 , S. 533–534.
- ↑ Mark Axworthy, Cornel I. Scafeș, Cristian Crăciunoiu . Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941-1945 // Arms and Armor - 1995 .-- P. 220.
See also
- HTZ-16
- Tiznaos
Literature
- Kolomiets M. Armored tractors. Part 3 // “M-Hobby”. - 1997. - Vol. 2 .
- Krylov N.I. Will never fade. - M .: "Military Publishing", 1984.
- Moshchansky I., Khokhlov I. Southern direction. The defensive operation of the Southern Front and a separate Primorsky Army June 22 - October 16, 1941 // Military Annals - “Battles and Battles”. - M .: BTV-MN LLC, 2005. - Issue. 3 .
- Penezhko G. I. Notes of a Soviet officer. - M .: "Military Publishing", 1950.
- Skorenko T. A Brief History of the Russian Shushpanzer: Armored Tractors. // Popular mechanics . - 2009. - No. 10 (84) .