The result of combat use, for the entire operation – 9 Allied aircraft with the loss of 11 of their own. Me-163 is the clearest example of how a high level of technology, combined with extreme ambitiousness and stubbornness, leads to a dead end.
6. Messershmitt Me-262. The world’s first turbojet production aircraft. The speed is 820 km. h, flight range 1040 km., practical ceiling of 11500 m. Armament – two or four 30 mm. guns with 100 ammunition per barrel, as well as the ability to fire 24 unguided missiles on air targets. The pilots of the Luftwaffe destroyed 150 enemy planes on the Me-262, with a loss of about 100 of their own – which is not a special achievement. In general, jet cars did not show any special advantages over piston ones, at this stage of development, possibly by drawing Germany’s resources away from the more promising guided air defense missiles Wasserfal.
7. V-2 (V-2 – Vergeltungswaffe-2), the so-called. «Weapons of retribution» (whereas Germany needed, rather, in defense). The German ballistic missile, the first in the world. Combat charge – 800 kg. Ammotol, a mixture of ammonium nitrate and TNT. The maximum speed is 1.7 km. from. The range of the flight is 320 km. Weight starting 12 500 kg. Control is an autonomous gyroscopic system. The fuel is 3900 kg. of ethyl alcohol, 5000 kg. liquid oxygen. The running time of the engine is 65 seconds. The diameter of the funnel is 25—30 m., The depth is 15 m. The probability of falling into a circle with a radius of 10 km. – 50%. The height of the rise in the experimental launch is 188 km. The main goals are London, the ports of Belgium and, liberated by the US Army, Paris. Effectiveness: on average on the launch – one or two people, most likely not wanting to hide in the basement, a British pensioner. The cost of the missile – corresponds to the price of the best tank of the Wehrmacht T-5, the «Panther» (can be counted for twice as costly «Tigers»), refueling for 500 kilometers of rough terrain. The number of units produced since 1943 is 5976.
9. Soviet submarine S-13, 9th series-bis. Developed by German and Dutch designers, produced under their supervision at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant in Gorky, now Nizhny Novgorod, was launched in 1939. Index «C» – «Medium» or «Stalin». The home port is Kronstadt. Underwater displacement 1090 tons, weight 837 tons, length 77 m, width 6.4 m, draft 4 m. Surface speed 19.5 knots – 33 km. h, underwater 8.7 knots – 15 km. h. (speed of the bicyclist). The maximum depth of immersion is 100 m., The working depth is 80 m. The autonomy of navigation (fuel reserve, etc.) is 30 days. Crew of 42 people.
The characteristics of Soviet, British, American and German submarines of the Second World War are approximately equal. The German submarines of the XXI series, commissioned by the end of the war, did not participate in combat operations, they represent the modern level of diesel-electric submarines, and they have the following parameters.
The underwater displacement is 2100 tons, the length is 77 meters, the width is 7.7 meters, the draft is 6.8 meters, the surface speed is 15.6 knots, the underwater is 17.2 knots. The ability to go underwater on one battery is two days (the usual submarine of that time is 6 hours). The maximum immersion depth is 220 meters, the working depth is 130 meters. The crew is 58 people (unusually comfortable conditions, shower refrigerators, separate cabins, air conditioning, etc.).
Among the biggest catastrophes caused by hostilities, in addition to the following sinking of the liner «Wilhelm Gustloff» also:
March 18, 1944 – «Junje-Maru», a Japanese vessel. It is submerged by the British submarine Tradewind. 1400 English, Dutch, American prisoners of war, and 4,220 Javanese workers are killed. People are transported to the construction of the Thai-Burmese Iron «Road of Death», where, in the hilly jungle, with high probability, death awaits them too.
June 29, 1944 – Toyama-Maru, sunk by the American submarine Sturgeon, 5,600 dead.
April 16 – the sinking of the German transport «Goya» by the L-3 «Frunzevets» boat, 4,000—7,000 people, 157 people are being saved. Breaks in half after hitting two torpedoes, goes to the bottom within 20 minutes. The current number of victims may be more, and then in the world list of major sea accidents, «Goya» takes first place (then Wilhelm Gustloff).
May 2, 1945 – Re-equipped cruise diner «Cap Arcona». According to the order to «destroy all concentrated enemy vessels in the harbor of Lübeck,» English aircraft bombard ships, including with raised white flags, despite the clearly discernible striped robes of transported prisoners of concentration camps. The liner «Cap Arcona», the cargo ship «Thielbek», the ships «Athen» and «Deutschland» go to the bottom. People who are rescuing people are shot at the same time by SS security guards and British air forces. On the Cap Arkona alone, about 5600 people are killed, 300 are being saved. The next day the Germans surrender to the Montgomery troops.
The liberation of Norway by Soviet troops begins October 7, 1944 (after Finland leaves the war). The good organization of the landing parties and the active assistance of the local population made it possible to achieve a positive result with a relatively small superiority over the enemy in manpower – 1, 8: 1. The northern country is cleared of the 20th Mountain Army of Germans (56,000 men) by November 1. At the same time, the irrevocable losses of the Soviet Army amount to 6,000 fighters (according to other sources 11,000), German – 30,000.
In September 1945, according to the Yalta agreement, the Soviet troops leave the territory of Norway.
Vistula-Oder operation. The most successful series of actions of the Soviet Army. Wehrmacht is forced to transfer troops to the Ardennes and East Prussia, to the defense of Koenigsberg; the front on the Vistula, stabilized from the end of Operation Bagration, from the German side is weakened. However, there are seven defense lines on this section, separated by 300—500 kilometers; anti-tank ditches, barbed wire, solid minefields and trenches of the full profile. The forces of the parties: Poland – the 1st Army of the Polish Army – 52 000 people, the Army Craiova (preserves independence from the Soviet Army and saves forces for the subsequent confrontation of the USSR) 40—50 000. The Soviet Army – 2 million people, 7000 tanks, 5000 aircraft.
January 12 begins the artillery preparation, 300 barrels per kilometer; the blow is successful, since German artillery reserves put forward to the front line are in the artillery zone.
On January 17, German garrisons leave Warsaw, already almost surrounded by Soviet troops. On February 3, having overcome 500 kilometers in 23 days, Soviet troops leave for the Oder, on the territory of Germany; before them, throwing their wounded from trucks, on the corpses of the «genossa», the soldiers of the Wehrmacht retreat. Losses of the parties: the USSR – 43,000 people, SCPO (Polish Committee of National Liberation, uniting Polish military formations loyal to the Soviet Union) – 225 killed. Germany – 480,000 irretrievable losses, 150,000 people were taken prisoner.
On January 19, the troops were acquainted with the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief to prevent rude treatment of the local population. Completely prevent violence is not possible, but it is still restrained, but over time and reduced to a minimum. Same movie on the topic – «Nameless – one woman in Berlin» (2008). Also interesting is the film «Our Fathers, Our Mothers,» (Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter) produced by Germany. Unfortunately, it is necessary to illustrate the text with pictures of foreign production; domestic «masterpieces» – it’s just some kind of children’s, wooden hand-made articles.
On January 26, during the East-Prussian operation that began on January 19, Soviet troops leave for the Baltic Sea in the vicinity of Elbing and cut off the East Prussian group of Germans from the rest of Germany. There is an extrusion of the
