I always wonder did soviets actually trial or is just a piece of gear to keep the soldiers inside feeling safer ,those hull mounted forward firing MGs or 30mm grenade launchers so common on their armor . It always seemed a bit of a WW2 relic but you can't blame them as they almost single handedlly destroyed the wehrmacht so maybe those hull mounted guns worked.
personally i always considered that a pretty smart addition. traveling along at 30mph and you have your machine guns set for grazing fire without the track commander or driver having to do anything but occasionally reload.
it fits in perfectly with their doctrine of infantry staying mounted while in the attack too. not a good thing for amphibious ops but for everything else???? i like it.
The old WW2 M-3 Stuart light tanks had those features of MG's fixed in the fenders, with the total of five 30.06 mg the tank was a literal bullet spitting machine! I believe the doctrine for Soviet APC/MICV mounted attack was for driving over areas that had been nuked were irradiated and chemical contaminated with the mounted troops protected from it's effects by chem suits masks and speed of transit. You have to admit an assault under armor at speed with each vehicle spitting MG and GL fire would be a shocking event to witness, as well as clearing the roads of refugees who fleeing the battle clogged the roads holding up an advance.
I always wonder did soviets actually trial or is just a piece of gear to keep the soldiers inside feeling safer ,those hull mounted forward firing MGs or 30mm grenade launchers so common on their armor . It always seemed a bit of a WW2 relic but you can't blame them as they almost single handedlly destroyed the wehrmacht so maybe those hull mounted guns worked.
ReplyDeletepersonally i always considered that a pretty smart addition. traveling along at 30mph and you have your machine guns set for grazing fire without the track commander or driver having to do anything but occasionally reload.
Deleteit fits in perfectly with their doctrine of infantry staying mounted while in the attack too. not a good thing for amphibious ops but for everything else???? i like it.
The old WW2 M-3 Stuart light tanks had those features of MG's fixed in the fenders, with the total of five 30.06 mg the tank was a literal bullet spitting machine!
ReplyDeleteI believe the doctrine for Soviet APC/MICV mounted attack was for driving over areas that had been nuked were irradiated and chemical contaminated with the mounted troops protected from it's effects by chem suits masks and speed of transit.
You have to admit an assault under armor at speed with each vehicle spitting MG and GL fire would be a shocking event to witness, as well as clearing the roads of refugees who fleeing the battle clogged the roads holding up an advance.