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The red armored "fortress"
In recent years, Russia has made rapid progress in the production of war-themed films, and has shot a large number of very good war films. In 2018 alone, three films based on the Soviet tank and Soviet tank soldiers in the Great Patriotic War came out, including the film "Indestructible" with the legendary KV-1 heavy tank as the "protagonist". The film tells the story of Semyon Konovalov's crew driving the KV-1 heavy tank, fighting fiercely with the Germans near the Nizmitiakin farm between Rostov and Tarasovsky. In the end, a major victory was achieved and the story of the captured German tanks returned to their own positions. In order to increase the viewing value of the film, the film also arranges the emotional misunderstanding between Captain Konovalov and his wife and Kolotov, the deputy brigade commander and political commissar of Konovalov's tank brigade. However, in all fairness, from the point of view of a military fan, the overall production level of "Unbreakable" is lower than that of two films of the same type - "T-34" and "Tank", and its equipment and props are less restored. . This article will briefly comment on "Unbreakable" from a military perspective.
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Summary
In 1942, after the Soviet Red Army pushed the Germans away from Moscow, the fighting continued. Captain Konovalov's 15th Tank Brigade confronted the Germans in the area between Rostov and Tarasovsky, ready to launch a new attack.
Konovalov's crew of KV-1 heavy tanks destroyed a German tank while on guard duty, but lost contact with the other tanks under his command. Between the battles, Konovalov stretched out his body to observe the battlefield with a telescope, and found that a T-34 tank , which should have accompanied him, was stuck in the quagmire. After his tank drove past, Konovalov did not tow the T-34 crew because they lost contact with him, but let them find a way to escape. Subsequently, Konovalov commanded his tanks to continue to guard the battlefield. Just as he leaned out and looked through the binoculars again, he suddenly found a German tank at the edge of the woods behind his tank. Konovalov hurriedly issued a warning, but it was too late. His tank was hit and exploded, and the ammunition inside the car exploded and the turret was blown to the sky. Konovalov was fortunately not seriously injured as he leaned out of the turret, but all crew members except the driver were killed. The German tank then drove past the destroyed KV-1 tank to attack the T-34 stuck in the quagmire. At this time, Konovalov had already fainted.
Konovalov, who was rescued to his side, recovered quickly due to his minor injuries. But Kolotov, the deputy commander and political commissar of his superior tank brigade, wanted to hold him accountable. It turned out that Kolotov and Konovalov were classmates in the military academy, and they looked down on each other during their school days. However, the tank brigade commander knew Konovalov very well and considered him to be an excellent tank commander despite his shortcomings, so he rejected Kolotov's proposal. At this time, Pavla, a beautiful engineer from the Kirov factory, came to the front. In addition to sending several new T-34 tanks, her mission is to stay on the front line to help and guide the tank repair work in the brigade. Although Pavla is doing a job that seems to be reserved for men, she is a woman with outstanding temperament, and her appearance suddenly caught Kolotov's attention. Kolotov begins to pursue Pavla, but it seems that Pavla pays attention to Konovalov and deliberately keeps a distance from Kolotov. This situation made Kolotov jealous. On the other hand, Konovalov was lukewarm to Pavla, and even a little indifferent to it. At this time, Konovalov was ordered to continue commanding a new KV-1 tank. He took the time to train the crew members that had been assembled temporarily, and ventured at night to go to the middle of the front line of the confrontation between the two armies to disassemble the parts of the destroyed tanks in order to restore the combat effectiveness of his new tanks.. During this operation, Konovalov and Rykov, a repairman who was incorporated into his own vehicle group, also captured a German prisoner by the way. However, Kolotov punished Konovalov for failing to act according to the order, and sent his crew to carry out reconnaissance missions in tanks that had not fully recovered their combat effectiveness. Pavla objected to this, because Konovalov's tank starter and engine were faulty and could not take part in the battle. Kolotov insisted on his orders, and Konovalov had to carry out the task. Sure enough, during the operation, his KV-1 walking system malfunctioned and he was singled out. As a result, he was besieged by several German tanks. The Konovalov crew relied on the excellent protection of the KV-1 tank to fight calmly, destroyed 3 German tanks in a row, and with the cooperation of the returning Soviet tanks, destroyed all the German tanks in front of them. Finally, the accompanying T-34 tanks dragged Konovalov's tanks back to their positions.
came back, Konovalov got into a fight with Kolotov and didn't stop until the brigade commander arrived. Later, the brigade commander explained to Kolotov that Pavla was actually Konovalov's wife. This made Kolotov feel remorse and sincerely apologized to Konovalov. However, the Soviet army was about to launch a new attack at this time, and Konovalov's tanks were difficult to repair before that. Pavla tried his best to repair his tank, but without success. Konovalov's crew members had to follow the brigade commander's order to divert to infantry and participate in the battle. And this undoubtedly indicates that the possibility of their casualties has greatly increased. At this moment, the translator in the brigade told Pavla that according to the confession of the prisoners captured by Konovalov, the Germans hid a KV-1 tank numbered 10 of the 3rd battalion they captured nearby. And this tank is in better condition, it just lacks the relay. Pavla rushed to repair the tank and asked Kolotov to inform Konovalov.
After the Soviet army launched an attack, Konovalov and his crew fought bravely with the submachine gun , and Rykov died heroically. When Kolotov told him to look for a new tank, Konovalov rushed to find the Panzer 10 with the rest of the crew. When they arrived, Pavla had just repaired the tank. As a result, the Konovalov crew drove this tank into battle. They attacked the German flank and destroyed a large number of German tanks in the battle with the Germans. It was only at night that the German tanks were able to approach from the flanks and destroy Konovalov's tanks. Konovalov and the surviving gunner Sitov rescued Pavla, then raided the last German tank and captured it. After dawn, the three returned to the Soviet positions in German tanks, creating a legendary battle experience.
The weapons and equipment in the film and its details
As mentioned earlier, "Unbreakable" is not as good as the other two Russian films of the same type shot in the same period in terms of props. For example, the appearance of the German tank in this film is basically similar to the later model of the German No. 4 tank, such as the No. 4 H tank, but it is modified with a T-54/55 tank. In this regard, the film is similar to Soviet-era films such as " Moscow " and " Stalingrad ". Although it was shot in a real car, the effect it showed was greatly discounted in the eyes of audiences, especially military fans.
▲KV tanks and T-34 tanks often drag their feet when they act together. There are a lot of Soviet T-34 tanks in this film. Although most of them are real vehicles, there are many mistakes. At the beginning of the film, when Konovalov led his team to perform a security mission, his T-34 tank got stuck. Judging from the picture in the film, the T-34 tank is a T-34/76 1943 tank (however, the first appearance in Konovalov's telescope view in the film is more like a T-34/85 tank, it becomes T-34/7 after being pulled to close-up6 Model 1943 tanks). In terms of time, the possibility of such a tank appearing does not exist. As we all know, when the Great Patriotic War broke out, the T-34 tanks equipped by the Soviet Army were mainly of the 1940 and 1941 models. Even in 1942, these two models will account for a large proportion in quantity.
▲ The T-34-76 tank model 1943 and the T-34-85 tank model 1944 appearing in the film
The background of the story in the film should be at the turn of the spring and summer of 1942, when the Soviet army owned The latest tank can only be the T-34/76 Type 1942 tank at most, and the Type 1943 tank will not appear. Due to the unique hexagonal turret of the T-34/76 1943 tank and the addition of the commander's tower later, it is not difficult to distinguish from the shape. The Type 1942 tank had little difference in appearance from its predecessor, the Type 1941, mainly because the production process was improved to meet the requirements of mass production in wartime. At that time, the T-34 tank still stably occupied the performance advantage over the German tank, and there was no urgent need to improve its three major performances, but to focus on improving production efficiency. Under the leadership of Morozov , the design of the F-34 artillery used by the T-34 tank was greatly simplified. Its parts were reduced from 861 in the 1941 model to 614 in the 1942 model, and the production time was shortened. half. Other parts of the improvement ideas are similar. All this makes the production of the T-34 not only saves material, but also reduces the cost. The cost of producing a T-34 in 1941 was 269,500 , which dropped to 193,000 the following year. The simplification of the structure also greatly improved the production efficiency, and the production man-hours decreased from 8,000 man-hours in 1941 to 3,700 man-hours in 1942, saving more than half. But at the same time, the level of craftsmanship of the 1942 tank has also dropped significantly. However, this did not affect the main performance of the T-34 tank. Later Westerners commented on this: "It doesn't matter, because this apparent manufacturing roughness does not seem to affect the armor's protective ability, nor the actual performance of the tank." In fact, later wartime production Soviet tanks have maintained this feature. Therefore, the T-34 shown in the film should be a Model 1942 tank, not a Model 1943 with a hexagonal turret. As for the new tank brought by Pavla, it should also be the 1942 model, and it is impossible for the T-34/85 tank in the film to appear. The reason for this is probably because Russia has retained a large number of World War II equipment, but it is impossible for any crew to find enough props, especially the older models, which can only be used at that time. New models of tanks on the battlefield come to count.
