Leonid Wassiljewitsch Kurtschewski

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Leonid Wassiljewitsch Kurtschewski ( Russian Леонид Васильевич Курчевский ; born September 22, 1890 in Pereslavl-Zalessky , Russian Empire ; † November 26, 1937 ) was a Soviet engineer . He is known for his recoilless guns .

Live and act

Kurtschewski completed his studies at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of the Lomonosov University in Moscow . In the early 1920s, Kurtschewski headed an institute for technical innovations . There he researched a variety of projects such as silenced weapons , air torpedoes , “ perpetual motion machines ” powered by atmospheric electricity or helicopters . Kurchevsky also wrote science fiction novels .

In 1923, after Kurchevsky sifted through the theoretical foundations of the mathematician Dmitri Pawlowitsch Rjabuschinski , which had arisen before the turmoil of the February Revolution in 1917 , he submitted the invention of a recoilless gun for a patent. He called the invention dynamo-reactive cannon, Russian динамореактивная пушка "dinamoreaktivnaya pushka" (DRP). Kurchevsky suggested cutting off the breech of an ordinary cannon and using a Laval nozzle . A new closure that swings open to the side was built into the nozzle. The case of the ammunition was perforated in the lower area so that the combustion gases could escape there. The gun had hardly any recoil and was significantly lighter than conventional guns of comparable caliber. But before Kurchevski's most promising invention could take off, he was stopped.

Since Kurchevsky's various projects did not deliver the promised results, he was arrested on September 23, 1924 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for wasting state resources. He was interned in the Solovetsky prison camp. Over the next few years he helped build the transport infrastructure and energy supply for the prison camp and the surrounding area. He was allowed to move around freely and enjoyed privileges. On January 3, 1929, he was released early for good conduct.

76mm DRP
T-26 with experimental setup

In the same year Kurtschewski went to Podlipki , where a development office was set up for him in the local gun factory. His prototypes showed great promise in tests. In November 1929, Kurtschewski was able to convince the commander of the Leningrad military district, Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky, of his guns. Other high military officials such as Alexander Ilyich Yegorov or Grigory Ivanovich Kulik were against it. In the spring of 1931 Tukhachevsky was appointed deputy head of the Revolutionary War Council and was thus able to initiate the rearmament of the armed forces of the Soviet Union with recoilless guns. In the years 1932–1933, Kurchevsky also managed to secure the support of important people such as Grigory Konstantinovich Ordzhonikidze , People's Commissar for Heavy Industry, or Grigory Ivanovich Kulik, Head of the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army. Even Josef Stalin personally favored him and provided him with a car. At the end of 1933 the development office for conventional artillery was closed under the direction of Vasily Gavrilowitsch Grabin . The building and equipment were handed over to Kurchevsky. Grabin had to set up a new development office in Nizhny Novgorod .

Kurchevsky kept developing new ideas on how recoilless guns could be used for the army, air force and navy. Many resources were used for development and production start- ups. From 1931 to 1935, almost all Soviet artillery factories worked on Kurchevsky's instructions. During this period, his designs accounted for about 30% to 50% of gun production capacity.

There were basically two types of recoilless guns: with a metal case for manual loading and with a combustible case for automatic firearms . There were variants with calibers from 37 mm to 500 mm. In addition to artillery guns such as the 76 mm dynamo-reactive cannon , there were experiments with warships and light land vehicles as platforms. In late 1933, a 76mm recoilless gun was tentatively installed in a T-26 tank. Tests carried out in March 1934 showed various disadvantages: the structure of the weapon did not fit well in an armored turret, it was awkward to load and accompanying infantry was endangered by the reflection. The project was canceled because of this. Kurchevsky also designed weapons for gun turrets . However, it is not clear how he wanted to protect the operating crews from the retroreflective, because the retroreflective in confined combat areas is still more dangerous than in the open.

Stalin inspects an IZ
SU-4: 76mm DRP on GAZ-A

Kurchevsky had a great influence on the Soviet air force and pushed forward several projects. The most dignified was the aircraft model Grigorowitsch IZ , which carried two single-shot recoilless 76 mm guns and whose prototype flew in 1933. Although deficiencies in the concept as well as quality problems with the guns were obvious, those responsible did not have the courage to report this to Stalin. Up to 1936, 71 units of the IZ had been produced. A parallel design was the Tupolev I-12 , also specially designed to accommodate two 76mm recoilless guns; the first flight took place in August 1931. After the cannon exploded during a shooting attempt, the project was ended. A total of about 5000 recoilless guns were produced, 2000 of which were accepted by the military ; in the end only 1000 of them reached the troops. The major quality problems were often caused by Kurchevski's constant changes to the construction.

The negative reports from various levels such as factory and test managers as well as military units increased, but Kurchevsky was initially able to suppress them. Finally, in January 1936, the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force of the Soviet Union Yakov Ivanovich Alksnis , the chief engineer of the construction department at the Central Aviation Administration Andrei Nikolaevich Tupolev and the Central Control Commission of the CPSU made inquiries. As a result, Kurchevsky's department was closed.

The extent of Kurchevski's overconfidence soon became clear. His anti-tank guns had insufficient penetration power, field guns were imprecise and had too little range. In addition, the weapons were unreliable and dangerous due to bursting pipes. Automatic cannons frequently jammed due to incompletely burned cases and the unreliable pneumatic loading mechanism. Kurchevsky was arrested again for waste, almost simultaneously with Tukhachevsky and many others, when the Great Terror (Soviet Union) reached its climax. Kurchevsky was sentenced to death on November 25, 1937 by the Military College of the Supreme Court of the USSR . The sentence was carried out the next day. But there are also documents that state that Kurchevsky lived in prison at least until January 12, 1939.

Knowing the horrors of his first imprisonment, Kurchevsky supported his friends all his life. When Boris Sergeyevich Stechkin was arrested and sentenced in the fall of 1930 , Kurchevsky helped his family. A year later, when Stechkin was released, Kurchevsky made him a close associate. Stechkin later reciprocated and helped Kurtschewski's wife when he was arrested.

Aftermath

One of the few uses of Kurtchewski's guns was the Winter War (1939–1940). Some specimens were captured by the Finns. By mid-1941, all recoilless guns had been eliminated from the Soviet armed forces and most of them scrapped.

Kurtchewski's excessive overestimation meant a waste of materials and production capacities for the Soviet Union, but above all it discredited the further development of recoilless guns. When functional recoilless guns appeared in World War II , the Soviet Union realized that other states had overtaken them in the field. On February 18, 1956, Kurchevsky was posthumously rehabilitated; while the Soviet Union falsified history by portraying Kurchevsky as a brilliant inventor who was slandered by envious people and therefore perished.

Ultimately, it turned out that recoilless guns have advantages mainly due to their low weight and freedom from recoil, but that they cannot replace all conventional guns by far.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Leonid Kurchevsky - Dynamo-Reactive Gun DRP in: GlobalSecurity.org
  2. ↑ Peter G. Dancey: Soviet Aircraft Industry , Fonthill Media Verlag, 2017, pp. 87-88 [1]
  3. ↑ Paul Duffy, AI Kandalov: Tupolev: The Man and His Aircraft , publishing SAE, 1996, ISBN 978-1-56091-899-8 S. 67 [2]
  4. ↑ Sami HE Korhonen: Soviet artillery pieces used in the Winter War on: winterwar.com
personal data
SURNAME Kurtschewski, Leonid Wassiljewitsch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Курчевский, Леонид Васильевич (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION soviet engineer
DATE OF BIRTH September 22, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Pereslavl-Zalessky , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH November 26, 1937