Tachanka


Idealized representation of Tatschankas in paintings by Mitrofan Grekov .

A tachanka ( Ukrainian and Russian тачанка ) is a horse-drawn chariot armed with a heavy machine gun (MG) in the rear, usually simple carriages or open wagons. A tachanka could be pulled by two, three or four horses. The crew consisted of two or three soldiers, the machine-gun operator and a coachman (he was also considered a substitute for the operator). The Tachanka was allegedly invented by the Ukrainian anarchist Nestor Makhno .

Naming

One version says that it is the shortened version of the word "Tawritschanka" (таврічанка), which denotes bumpy transport in southern Ukraine and the Crimea . The word refers to the name borrowed from ancient Greek for the region of Tauria , Ukrainian Таврія . Later the word is said to have changed to "Tatschanka", but "Tawritschanka" refers to a large wagon, similar to a cart with a wooden body. The Tatschanka, on the other hand, had a light crew, no body and was sprung. The presence of a suspension was fundamental for the speed when driving on dirt roads or pathless areas as well as for the accuracy when shooting.

The followers of Nestor Machnos referred to the Ukrainian word Netychanka (" нетичанка "), which meant a light, sprung chariot. In their opinion, the name came from the fact that the axles of the chassis did not touch the body ("не тикались" in Ukrainian).

Oleg N. Trubachev and current experts also derive the name from the Ukrainian "netychanka", which comes from the Polish word najtyczanka - a type of vehicle / calash . The Polish word comes from the German name of the Neu-Titschein area in the Czech Republic .

history

During the civil war , the Tatschanka was used on the one hand to deploy troops and to conduct unexpected strikes on the battlefield. The Tachanka received particular popularity among the followers of Nestor Machnos. The latter used the Tatschanka not only in combat, but also to relocate the infantry . The speed of the cavalry troops in trot corresponded . With this, the Machnos departments easily reached up to 100 km per day over several days in a row. After the decisive breakthrough at Perehoniwka , large forces from Machno managed the 600 km distance between Uman to Huljajpole in eleven days and surprisingly captured supply garrisons of the White Army .

The use of the Tachanka peaked in the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1920, partially in the rural regions of southern Russia and the Ukraine, where the fronts were unclear and mobile warfare gained great importance. It was later adopted by other armies, notably the Polish Army during the Polish-Soviet War .

commitment

Russian Tatschanka captured in Berlin during the First World War

The tactics of the Tachanka mission were geared towards the advantage of their speed to the surprise of the enemy. The Tatschankas were before the introduction of tanks or cars the only way a high mobility for common Maxim machine guns on the battlefield in the First World War to achieve. The speed of the horse-drawn wagons was used to bring the machine-gun platform into a favorable firing position, then fire was opened on the enemy before they had a chance to defend themselves. Since the machine-gun was mounted towards the rear of the car, the Tatschankas also made an effective fire to hold down the pursuing enemy cavalry after an attack and the subsequent retreat.

Nestor Machno was the first to use Tatschankas in large numbers. Many of these vehicles were used to storm enemy positions. If it was the opposing cavalry, it was turned in a coordinated maneuver, so that all of the muzzle suddenly pointed in the direction of the enemy. After that, the bursts of fire from the machine-guns were fired in such a way that everyone went to a certain point in the enemy lines. This maneuver required very precise coordination between the crews. Machno was able to perfect this, so he used the maneuver to gain a victory in battle with Anton Denikin's army in 1919.

Armament

Despite a certain standardization, the armament of the Tatschankas was in most cases improvised. In Russia, the PM 1910 machine gun was used by default .

During the Polish-Soviet War, the Polish cavalry used all types of machine guns and heavy machine guns available, such as the Maxim MG, the Schwarzlose MG M.07 / 12 , the Hotchkiss MG or the Browning MG . The last models of standardized Tatschankas of the Polish Army were equipped with the Ckm wz.30, a Polish modification of the Browning MG M1917, which was also suitable for anti-aircraft fire .

variants

For the construction of a heavy machine gun (a Maxim with the Sokolow mount weighed up to 70 kg), the type of chassis described above was best suited.

The construction went through various changes. The steering knuckle was reinforced, seats for the operator were installed (if they weren't available) and a balance beam was attached, which served as a fan or quadriga for tensioning four horses . Phaetons with the top down were also used by the anarchists.

In the 1930s, a typified Tatschanka was developed for the Red Army . There are anecdotes that the quality control of the “Tachanka new type” consisted in the fact that the carriage had to withstand a fall from the third floor of a building of the Moscow factory “Tschesternaya” without damage.

Tachanka model

The Tachanka in the various armies

Russia or the Soviet Union

During the years of the civil war, the Tachanka became the base for breakthroughs, encirclements and reconnaissance missions in the Red Army.

When trucks, tanks and small combat vehicles were introduced into the armament of the Red Army at the beginning of the attack on the Soviet Union , the number of Tachankas rapidly decreased. However, they were only finally removed from the Red Army when the cavalry was reorganized as a branch of service in the mid-1950s.

Poland

Initially often improvised, the Polish army also took over two models of the mass-produced Taczankas, as they were called in Poland. During the invasion of Poland in 1939, they were made available to support cavalry squadrons. So every heavy cavalry squadron and every infantry company received taczankas.

German Empire

The Tachanka was also used by the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War . The infantry vehicle model If.5 was used , armed with a double MG 34 for air defense.

Tatschankas in the film

In two Soviet films Tatschankas play a greater role in Chapayev (1934, German Premiere March 14, 1946) and the American modeled after Western -designed race against death (1957), which in the June 20, 1958 DDR premiered .

Tachanka today

Russia

In the small Russian village of Ivanovskoye in the Chernogolovka district of Moscow region, a small group of enthusiasts brought a "new type of tachanka" back to life using remains found in the forest and based on an original blueprint. All wooden parts were made from scratch in the small workshop. For the most part, originals were used for the metal fittings. After the successful construction of this Tatschanka, a realistic test drive in full covering was carried out. After this Tachanka was even presented in Red Square, it can now be viewed in the State Military-Technical Museum (Russian: Государственный Военно-технический музей ) next to the remains of another Tachanka.