Soviet military balloons

When did the German air raids on England in the USSR most carefully studied the experience of the use of barrage balloons. This has resulted in numerous military and scientific works, as well as the formation of new parts AZ. AZ reshape units into separate divisions AZ, which are then transferred to the states regiments AZ. First Soviet AZ in a combat situation have been tried during the Soviet-Finnish howl-HN 1939-40. As part of the 2nd Air Defence Corps (Leningrad Military District) were 3rd and 4th regiments AZ. AZ posts have been exposed, mainly around Leningrad in several rows, and partly in the central part of the city-term staggered. And the greatest density of stations accounted for AZ in the north-west of the city, in the most probable direction of plaque Finnish aviation.




June 22, 1941, in the western part of the SCCR in the compounds of defense had six regiments barrage balloons and 10 separate divisions barrage balloons.
Parts air balloon barrage participated in the battles on all fronts Defense Army and Navy - from the Caspian and Black Sea to the Barents morya.Na 22 June 1941 the number was 850 posts (one third was lost in battle in the first weeks of the war). On July 1, 1943, there were already more than 2500 posts AZ, at the beginning of 1944 - about 2,800 by the end of the war the need to reduce to 1,400 posts AZ. The number of combat-ready positions AZ was not stable, she hesitated because of losses in combat and depended on the supply of hydrogen, which was not udovletvoritelnym.







On all fronts, the air defense forces, there were about 300 thousand.
Industrial enterprises, design bureaus and departments, ensure the development and supply of troops in aeronautic engineering, worked during the war with a lot of stress.
In the period from 1941 to 1944. according to the parts on the fronts of defense were more than 121 of the airplane collision with a rope barrage balloons.

Actively used in the Soviet Union artillery observation balloons. Altogether during the Great Patriotic War, parts of the balloon observations made 19985 climbs a total duration of 20126 hours. At the same time explored artbatarei 4617, 155 armored columns, 506 clusters of infantry. As a result of adjustments in 2696 and suppressed in 1716 destroyed artillery battery, dispersed and partly destroyed 103 clusters of infantry and tanks. The enemy fired in the air 110 of our balloons nablyudeniya.



In April 1942, was formed by the 1st Airborne Division separate aeronautic. Intensity dropping from one balloon reached 2,278 people a day. During the war, according to the Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense, was committed 549,152 jump from a balloon, each of which costs about ten times cheaper. It is difficult to calculate how many transport aircraft was released for combat missions.
In support of combat operations of the Red Army took part in four airship - "In the USSR-1", "USSR-12," "The Kid" and "Victory". All the years of the Second World War Soviet airships performed more than 1,500 poletov.







If you missed: the military balloons 3 Reich and the UK