Why did Soviet soldiers ride tanks and armored personnel carriers sitting on armor?

  • Dec 14, 2020
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Why did Soviet soldiers ride tanks and armored personnel carriers sitting on armor?
Why did Soviet soldiers ride tanks and armored personnel carriers sitting on armor?

The soldiers were always keen on inventions and ingenuity, which helped not only to more easily endure all the hardships of hostilities, but even save their lives and their comrades. And although sometimes solutions of this kind seem rather strange outwardly, they are really effective. It is for this reason that Soviet soldiers ride sitting on armored vehicles from above - not for the sake of bragging, but out of vital necessity.

From above on the armored personnel carrier soldiers go for a reason. / Photo: topast.ru
From above on the armored personnel carrier soldiers go for a reason. / Photo: topast.ru

For the first time, Soviet soldiers went "on armor" back in the early 1940s. The photographs from the period of the Great Patriotic War show the famous T-34 tanks, on which the Red Fighters sit densely. Then the armored personnel carrier did not yet exist, and when it was required to attack in off-road conditions, it was the tanks that were most easily able to transfer the infantry to the front line. Of course, this was very risky, because a fighter sitting on the armor could be shot down by an enemy bullet, but there were no other options then.

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Red Army soldiers on the T-34 during the Great Patriotic War. / Photo: pinterest.com

After the end of the war, the Soviet military-industrial complex began the development and production of the first armored vehicles, which entered service by the beginning of the next decade. Here are just the very first field tests revealed some flaws in their design.

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True, the command did not refuse to continue the operation of armored personnel carriers. Therefore, all the problems were most clearly manifested during the war in Afghanistan. So, it became clear that the high fire hazard of the engine and the insufficient thickness of the armor became the cause of casualties among Soviet soldiers, especially when a land mine hit an armored vehicle. That is why the soldiers preferred to ride on armor - so there was a probability of flying into a ditch, and not burning up inside the car.

The withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, 1989. / Photo: svoboda.org

The same trend continued in the Russian army during the hostilities in Chechnya. At the same time, another reason was especially apparent why the soldiers drove armored vehicles. The fact is that the war in the uncontrolled territory made it difficult to supply ammunition, which the soldiers constantly needed, so they had to carry them with them. That is why the personnel drove while sitting on the armored personnel carrier - most of the space inside the car was simply occupied by weapons and cartridges for it.

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Soldiers on an armored personnel carrier in Grozny. / Photo: pikabu.ru

Soldier life hacks from Afghanistan:

Resourcefulness from Afgan.

Why did Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan put sandbags on the bottom of trucks?
Source:
https://novate.ru/blogs/180520/54569/