Mal nichts aus dem Weltraum: Ich poste einmal Bilder von einem aktuellen und gerade fertiggestellten What-if-Projekt - ein Kitbashing bzw. ein Wettbewerbsbeitrag zum Thema "Polar Wars" in einem anderen Forum. Das Ergebnis ist ...beängstigend, wenn man sich vorstellt, dass so ein Trumm ohne mechanische Bremsen durch die Landschaft schlittern würde...
Some background:An Aerosan (Russian: aэросани, "Aerosled") is a propeller-driven sledge, sleigh or toboggan which slides on runners or skis. Aerosleds were used for communications, mail deliveries, medical aid, emergency recovery, and patrolling borders in countries such as northern Russia, as well as for recreation. Aerosani were used by the Soviet Red Army during the Winter War and World War II for military purposes, too. The first aerosledges may have been built in 1903–05 by Sergei Nezhdanovsky. In 1909–10, young Igor Sikorsky designed and tested an aerosledge, before going on to build multi-engine airplanes and helicopters. Traditionally they were light plywood vehicles on skis, powered by used vintage aircraft engines and propellers.Military use of the aerosani goes back to at least the 1910s. During World War I, aerosani were used for reconnaissance, communicating, and light raiding in northern areas. During the 1939–40 Winter War against Finland some were equipped with a machine gun ring mount on the roof. They could carry four or five men and tow four more on skis. The aerosani were initially used for transport, liaison, and medical evacuation in deep snow, mostly in open country and on frozen lakes and rivers because of their poor hill-climbing ability and limited maneuverability on winding forest roads.During World War II aerosani were used for reconnaissance, communication, and light raiding in northern areas thanks to their high mobility (25–35 km/h) in deep snow, where many vehicles could not move at all. Responsibility for aerosani was transferred to the Soviet Armored Forces (GABTU) and orders were submitted for design and fabrication of lightly armored versions, protected by ten millimeters of steel plate on the front. They were organized into transport or combat battalions of 45 vehicles, in three companies, often employed in cooperation with ski infantry. Troops were usually carried or towed by transport aerosani, while fire support was provided by the heavier machine gun-armed, armored models. The light aerosani were not used for direct assault because of their vulnerability to explosives such as mortar rounds, though.
However, with the success of these vehicles in the winter of 1943/44 aircraft engineer Andrei Tupolev, who had already built a successful series of aerosani designated ANT-I through ANT-V in the 1920s and ’30s, was requested to construct a heavier vehicle that could add more firepower and protection to the armed troops. This became the ббс-I (or BBS-1, бронированные боевые сани, literally ’Armored Battle Sledge’). Compared with earlier vehicles of this type, the BBS-1 was an all-metal construction and basically a dramatically scaled-up re-interpreration of the original aerosan. The gigantic vehicle – probably inspired by the appearance of new and massive German tanks like Panzer V Panther or Panzer VI Tiger - was rather reminiscent of an armored train or draisine than of a light-footed aerosan. At first glance the new vehicle looked like an outdated box-shaped WWI tank with four skis instead of tracks, even like a mobile bunker made from sheet metal. A KV series tank turret was placed on top of the sloped roof and a radial engine, an air-cooled Shvetzov M-63-S with 1.100 hp/800 kW was mounted on massive struts onto the hull. It was placed directly behind the turret, together with an armored fairing and driving a reversible four-bladed metal pusher propeller. This engine was originally designed for aircraft, but for the use on the aerosan it was optimized for operations at low temperatures and high air density. It also received reinforced elements to reduce overhaul periods. Steering was provided only through the skis, which were held by external suspension arms on all four corners of the box-shaped hull, for a wide stance and to provide the vehicle with stability. The four skis were relatively wide to distribute the aerosan’s weight over a large area to reduce ground pressure and to ensure operations on fragile ground like deep snow or even frozen water. Front and rear pair of skis were connected through rods and the vehicle was directed through mirrored steering angles from front and rear skis, what helped especially at high speed to keep the large and heavy aerosan stable. The BBS-1 was fully protected by armor, its boxy hull was made from riveted rolled steel armor plates of 6-20 mm strength bolted onto a simple but rigid metal chassis. The cast turret at its was armed with a long-barreled 76.2 mm M1941 ZiS-5 gun, and a total of four DT machine guns were mounted in the turret (one co-axial with the gun) and in stations around the hull (front and on each side). The unusual vehicle had a basis crew of seven eight and an operational weight of 38 tons!
While the BBS-1 was under hasty development, Wehrmacht planners were convinced that the Red Army would attack again in the south, where the front was 80 km (50 mi) from Lviv and offered the most direct route to Berlin. Accordingly, they stripped troops from Army Group Centre, whose front still protruded deep into the Soviet Union. The Germans had transferred some units to France to counter the invasion of Normandy two weeks before. The Belorussian Offensive (codenamed Operation Bagration), which was agreed upon by Allies at the Tehran Conference in December 1943 and launched on 22 June 1944, was a massive Soviet attack, consisting of four Soviet army groups totaling over 120 divisions that smashed into a thinly held German line.They focused their massive attacks on Army Group Centre, not Army Group North Ukraine as the Germans had originally expected. More than 2.3 million Soviet troops went into action against German Army Group Centre, which had a strength of fewer than 800,000 men. At the points of attack, the numerical and quality advantages of the Soviet forces were overwhelming. The Red Army achieved a ratio of ten to one in tanks and seven to one in aircraft over their enemy. The Germans crumbled. The capital of Belarus, Minsk, was taken on 3 July, trapping some 100,000 Germans. Ten days later the Red Army reached the prewar Polish border. Bagration was, by any measure, one of the largest single operations of the war.
By the end of August 1944, it had cost the Germans ~400,000 dead, wounded, missing and sick, from whom 160,000 were captured, as well as 2,000 tanks and 57,000 other vehicles. In the operation, the Red Army lost ~180,000 dead and missing (765,815 in total, including wounded and sick plus 5,073 Poles), as well as 2,957 tanks and assault guns. The offensive at Estonia claimed another 480,000 Soviet soldiers, 100,000 of them classed as dead.On the Karelian Isthmus, the Red Army launched a Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive against the Finnish lines on 9 June 1944 (coordinated with the Western Allied Invasion of Normandy). Three armies were pitted there against the Finns, among them several experienced guards rifle formations, and the BS-1s (three had been built so far, with low priority due to the fact that they had to be assembled manually in workshops, since there was no factory of production line for these exotic vehicles) were earmarked to be deployed there once enough snow had fallen to make the armored aerosans operational. The attack breached the Finnish front line of defense in Valkeasaari on 10 June and the Finnish forces retreated to their secondary defense line, the VT-line. The Soviet attack was supported by a heavy artillery barrage, air bombardments and armored forces. The VT-line was breached on 14 June and after a failed counterattack in Kuuterselkä by the Finnish armored division, the Finnish defense had to be pulled back to the VKT-line. After heavy fighting in the battles of Tali-Ihantala and Ilomantsi, Finnish troops finally managed to halt the Soviet attack.
The Moscow Armistice ending the war with Finland was already signed on 19 September 1944, though. The entire isthmus became Soviet, although most of it had never been captured by the Soviets in battles. This time the ceded territories of the Karelian Isthmus (including the districts of Jääski, Kexholm and Vyborg) were incorporated into Leningrad Oblast (unlike Ladoga Karelia, which remained within the Karelo-Finnish SSR). Since their transfer and utility in southern regions, where the Soviet Army kept on pressing westward for Warsaw, the BBS-1s remained in the Karelian region, helped to secure the border to Finland, but never became involved in active battles. In fact, they rather had a psychological impact than a truly military use, because their operation turned out to be hazardous. One BBS-1 was quickly lost when it broke into the ice of lake Sokolozero and sank, killing its crew but one member who was able to escape in time, and the heavy vehicles’ handling even on solid ground was, due to the lack of mechanical brakes and the limited effectiveness of the ski steering system especially at higher speed, dangerous. Furthermore, the propeller kicked up lots of snow and the engine noise made the BBS-1 hard to conceal, so that it was rather used for “showing off” along the borderlines – with crews that were happy when they did not end up in a ditch or among trees. Apparently, the BBS-1 was not a success. Plans to upgrade the BBS-1 with a 85 mm DT-5 or an even bigger gun were not executed, and in early 1945, lacking snow and ice to keep the exotic and cumbersome vehicles operational, the remaining armored aerosans were retired and eventually scrapped.Specifications: Crew: seven to nine
Weight: 38 tonnes
Length overall: 12.60 m (41 ft 3 ¼ in)
Width overall: 5.47 m (17 ft 11 in)
Height (incl. propeller disc): 5.61 m (18 ft 4 ¾ in)
Suspension: Coil springs
Fuel capacity: 650 l
Armor: 6–20 mm (0.24 – 0.78 in)
Performance: Maximum speed: 85 km/h (53 mph)
Operational range: 240 km (150 mi)
Power/weight: 29 hp/tonne
Engine: 1x air-cooled Shvetzov M-63-S 9-cylinder radial engine, delivering 1.100 hp/800 kW,
driving a reversible 4-blade pusher metal propeller
Armament: 1× 76.2 mm M1941 ZiS-5 gun with 118 rounds, stored in the turret and the hull
4× 7.62 mm DT machine guns (one mounted co-axially with the main gun,
and the others in the front of the hull and side stations, with a total of 7.250 rounds)
Thema: What if? 1:72 Tupolev BBS-1 - ein fiktives WWII-Panzer-Aerosan (Gelesen 399 mal)