"Original title: Early Soviet Automatic Grenade Launchers That Failed to Roar"
In the 1920s and 1930s, the Soviet Union's domestic military industry flourished, and many forward-looking weapons appeared. Unfortunately, however, for reasons that are well known, in the late 1930s, many products failed to avoid the dilemma of empty hands due to a series of problems, including the protagonist of this article, the Taubbin automatic grenade launcher.
Newborn calves
Jacob Grigorivich Taubin was born in 1900 to an accounting family in Minsk, and in 1915 Taubin was forced to drop out of school to run the household due to the death of his father. In 1929, Taubin entered the Mechanical Design Department of the Odessa Grain and Flour Processing Technology Research Association. At the end of 1940, Taubin was awarded the Order of Lenin in recognition of his achievements in military-industrial design, and on May 16, 1941 he was arrested for sabotage and participation in a military coup, and now the mainstream in Russia is that he was shot on October 28, 1941.
40 years of Jacob Grigorivich Taubin
At the end of the 1920s, Taubin submitted to the relevant authorities a new infantry curved grenade weapon developed on the basis of the Durkonov rifle grenade installed by the Soviet Army. Taubin wasn't the only researcher of similar weapons at the time, so he wasn't famous at the time. In his research, Taubin gradually shifted his focus to automatic grenade launchers, and found that the current ammunition was difficult to adapt to the automatic launch mechanism only by modifying it, and new munitions had to be developed.
The Delkonov grenade is a cup grenade system developed during the Tsarist period, which supports Soviet infantry squads in groups of two and has been used in every conflict before the 1940s
Soared
At the end of August 1931, Taubin submitted a 40.8 mm automatic grenade launcher to the weapons research and development department led by Tukhachevsky (hereinafter referred to as Tukhachevsky).
Tukhachevsky
Tu Shuai was very interested in this weapon, which made a good start for TaoBin's development (but also doomed to an ending).
The picture shows the AG-2 grenade launcher that was finalized in Taubbin 37-38 years
Get on track
In 1933, after some consultation and formalities, Taobin, who had been insisting on research, was transferred to the "Kokovrov Plant No. 2" in the city of Kokovrov [the predecessor of the Teggarev factory, where Federov, Teggarev, and Vladimirov (designers of KPV machine guns) worked], where the first grenade launcher samples were produced. Because of the different feeding methods, the samples are divided into vertical and horizontal types.
In 1934, the "Taubin Design Bureau" was formally established with 50 of his supporters. In the same year the design office moved to Moscow.
Gradually take shape
In 1935, the Taubin Design Bureau introduced the new improved automatic grenade launcher, a 5-round magazine-loaded, free bolt principle grenade launcher. The introduction of the magazine design increased the rate of fire in actual combat, but the newly designed 40.8 mm grenade was undercooked to ensure the normal movement of the mechanism, and Taobin had to continue to improve.
The picture below shows a prototype of a 35-year grenade launcher
The following four figures show the different states of the 35-year prototype
In order to ensure the smooth progress of research and development, Taobin did his best, the design bureau set up a manufacturing workshop, a design room and an underground shooting range, in 1937 The Taobin Design Bureau was renamed OKB-16 (No. 16 Military Complex, hereinafter referred to as Factory 16), and Taobin's main collaborator and chief designer in the new factory was Bablin.
Bablin
Test
In October-November 1937, Factory 16 organized a test that included firing 50 grenades with a grenade launcher. After testing, the 16th plant believed that the theoretical rate of fire should be controlled at 436 rounds / min, and the actual rate of fire was 57 rounds / min. The maximum range is 1220 meters. However, there were many ammunition failures in the test, one of which was that 79 grenades turned into stink bombs due to fuze problems, so the 16th plant improved the fuze to improve the sensitivity. Overall, the test proved that Plant 16 needed to invest more energy in ammunition research
Pictured is a 40.8 mm fragmented grenade participating in the test
PR & Derivatives
In order to gain the support of the military, in 35 years Taobin mounted two automatic grenade launchers on a motorcycle to show Tu Shuai, who was very interested in this and ordered the Soviet Air Force generals to continue to pay attention to this weapon and study the possibility of expanding this weapon into an aviation weapon. According to current data, in 37-38 years, 16 factories produced an aviation version of the grenade launcher mounted on the wing. Between 15 and 20 rounds of ammunition were prepared, and 16 plants were tested at a test field outside Moscow, but the project was terminated after testing. In 1939, the automatic grenade launcher was tested on the speedboats of the Dnieper Fleet, and in the same year it was tested in the cavalry unit, and Taubin also considered designing a grenade launcher for the border guards.
However, in the seemingly beautiful situation, but there is a hidden worry, 37 years with the departure of Tu Shuai, Taobin's grenade launcher began to face a lot of doubts, some people in the Soviet army believe that Taobin's automatic grenade launcher and small-caliber mortar overlapping functions and inefficient, should not be developed. Under the idea of "hindering the development of mortars", the Soviet army mistakenly planned to let the Taubin grenade launcher be compared with the 38-year 50 mm mortar, and the merits were selected, and this test was the beginning of Taubin's decline.
AG-2 grenade launcher
In 1937-1938, after continuous improvement, 16 factory introduced a new automatic grenade numbered AG-2, the AG-2 was operated by two people, using a 5-round magazine overhead feed, and the new launcher body had a long closed air piston in the tube to ensure that the automatic mechanism could work properly under small charges. The AG-2 grenade launcher used a tripod or wheel frame and used an optical sight similar to that of the Maxim machine gun. The total weight of the weapon is 40 kg, and the theoretical rate of fire is 200 rounds per minute.
The AG-2 automatic grenade launcher was designed to provide curved grenade support to infantry companies within 2-3 km, ideally reducing the need for regimental and battalion support fire from grass-roots companies.
The AG-2 grenade launcher features a new 40.8 mm grenade with a new fuze developed on the basis of the MG-5 fuze and charged with TNT
"MG-5" label on the fuze
lose
In February 1939, under the watchful eye of a group of senior officers led by Soviet artillery general Govorov, the Taubin grenade launcher was tested against a 50 mm mortar. In the test, the grenade launcher performed well in direct fire, point strike and rapid response, but the maximum range was slightly inferior to that of the 50 mortar, but due to the cheapness of the mortar shell, the 50 mortar was officially installed under the name of "38-year 50 mm mortar", and the Taubin grenade launcher failed.
The picture shows the 38-year-old 50mm mortar, which was later reduced several times, because the effect was average, and it was gradually eliminated after World War II
struggle
In January 1940, Factory 16 sent the AG-2 grenade launcher to the front line of the Winter War for testing (the specific situation is currently lacking in information), and in the test, it was found that the AG-2 had problems such as low life of some parts and poor mechanism operation. Plant 16 immediately improved the AG-2, most of the problems were solved, and Plant 16 also proved that the weapon was cost-effective enough to mass-produce troops based on the performance of automatic grenade launchers on the battlefield. But all the efforts of The 16th Factory were in vain by the obstruction of the Soviet Ordnance Minister Kulik.
Marshal Kulik, who has long been the Minister of Ordnance, has made controversial decisions, and during his tenure, famous weapons such as the T34 and Katyusha have been developed, and many promising weapons have been laid off
All along, the Ordnance Department led by Kulik was not at all interested in Taubin's research, and the Ordnance Department reacted coldly to the report of The 16Thory, making neither recommendations nor requirements for tactical indicators, let alone discussing them at the meeting. Kulik once said to Factory 16 with a sullen face: "We don't need this thing!" ”
A harbinger of danger
Before 1940, Taubin repeatedly proved to the military the value of automatic grenade launchers, and was therefore critical of Kulik's obstruction. The contradictions between the two sides grew, and in 1937 the two attended an academic conference on the development of infantry weapons in the Spanish Civil War. Kulik once said: "Taubin sent me another letter of complaint with my name on it... We don't need a grenade launcher, Taubin must be arrested! ”
A prolific designer, Taubin was also involved in the development of the 23 mm aircraft gun and the 12.7 mm aircraft machine gun. He also designed the 71-round drum of the PPD40 submachine gun based on the Finnish Somi submachine gun drum, which was the predecessor of the Bobosa drum. November 1940. A group of people from 16 factories, including Taubin and Bablin, were awarded the Order of Lenin.
The enigmatic ending
On May 16, 1941, Taubin and Bablin were arrested on charges of sabotage and military coup. The leadership of Plant 16 was reorganized and many projects were abandoned, including automatic grenade launchers. Post-war Soviet official accounts are that Taubin died of pneumonia in 48 years. However, the theory of the 80s and 90s is that a group of designers, including Taubin, were shot somewhere in the Kubyshev region on October 28, 1941, which is also the mainstream version in Russia. But because many of the claims are ambiguous, the declassified data of the 80s and 90s itself has many errors. Therefore, there are also views that TaoBin was arrested because the Soviet military top brass did not like him to continue to serve as the leader of the factory, so he was removed from his position in disguise, and Taobin himself was rehabilitated and released in 56 years.
In any case, the legendary bumps of a genius designer are lamentable, and it's a shame that the forward-looking automatic grenade launcher didn't end up in a hurry. But even more unfortunately, this is just another ordinary story of that era.
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