A Berlin Wall Watchtower

The 96 mile long Berlin Wall, which ringed West Berlin for nearly 30 years, was erected in 1961. While initially no more than roadblocks, barbed wire and fences the wall quickly became more elaborate with a tall concrete wall and wire fences enclosing a cleared no man’s land, complete with guard paths, vehicle traps and a ditch.

As the fence was replaced by a 3.6 m (11.8 ft) concrete wall the earlier wooden watchtowers were replaced with concrete ones like the BT-6 type tower, one of which today remains in place just behind Leipziger Platz (on Erna-Berger-Straße) seen in the photographs above. 

The BT stands for ‘B Tower’ or ‘B-Turm’ in German, the number 6, 9 or 11 referred to the height in metres of the tower. These towers were made from prefabricated concrete and typically accessed through a steel door, that was usually hidden from the direction of the border.

The BT-6 tower was introduced in 1966, with the tower on Erna-Berger-Straße being built in 1971. Around 200 BT-6, along with other BT types towers, were erected along the wall. Their simple prefabricated design was based on a number of concrete tubes stacked to make the tower with a single story 2-man tower placed at the top. 

The octagonal observation platform is about 2x2m square and the main observation deck was equipped with seating, rifle racks, an air filter system, communications equipment, a log book, maps and emergency equipment.

While on the accessible roof there was a search light and the walls of the observation deck had windows and rifle slits with vertically sliding covers for guards to fire out of.

Manned at all times by two East German Border Guards (or Grenztruppen der DDR) 24 hours a day, with one watching the West and the other watching the approach from the East. They were authorised to fire on anyone attempting to cross the border without authorisation.

Sadly, the Tower wasn’t open on the day we visited but the photo above shows the two-tier ladder inside the tower and the observation platform itself. 

The BT-6 towers were later superseded by the larger BT-9 type towers which had a square floor plans. The tower on Erna-Berger-Straße is one of the last of its kind and perhaps the best surviving example, having been restored between 2011 and 2014.

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Cutaway of the Day: AKM

The Avtomat Kalashnikova Modernizirovanniy – Automatic Kalashnikov Modernized – was adopted in 1959. It took Mikhail Kalashnikov and his design team to finish their improvement program who optimise the rifle for mass production. They lightened the AK-47 and introduced a new stamped, rather than milled, receiver. 

Production began in 1960 with the first rifles reaching troops in a year later. Between 1960 and 1977 the plants at Tula and Izhevsk produced over 10 million AKMs. They were widely produced under license by Soviet satellite states and allies including East Germany, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria and China. 

Despite being replaced in Soviet frontline service in the mid-1970s the AKM remains in service with dozens of militaries around the world and has been used in countless conflicts around the world. 

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Pistolet Samozaryadny Malogabaritny (PSM)

Pistolet Samozaryadny Malogabaritny, translating to ‘compact self-loading pistol’, the Russian PSM pistol is a small pistol chambered in 5.45×18mm. The Tula Design Bureau designed the PSM in the late 1960s as a compact pistol more suitable for concealed carry than the standard Makarov. 

Developed for use by general officers and intelligence operatives the PSM was accepted by the Soviet government in 1972, with production at Izhevsk beginning a year later. It was often issued to members of the Politburo and KGB. The pistol’s design is simple, utilising a standard blowback action. It’s most interesting features are its thinness and the proprietary 5.45x18mm ammunition it fires. 

The PSM is just 17mm wide and 15.5cm in overall length with an unloaded weight of 460g, thinner but heavier than a modern Glock 42. The slide and frame are milled from steel while early grips used were aluminium, later pistols have plastic grip panels. The frame and slide of the pistol are smooth and flat to minimise its profile and prevent it snagging on clothing. The slide mounted safety/decocker is flat and instead protrudes upwards at the rear of the slide so as not to increase the pistol’s width (see image #3). This, in theory, also allows the operator to take off the safety and cock the hammer in a fluid motion.  

Externally the pistol’s profile is reminiscent of the Walther PPK and the PSM’s disassembly process is also similar to the Walther, however, the PSM is an even more compact weapon. It feeds from a single stack magazine which has open sides, similar to the Makarov’s magazine, to reduce weight. The PSM uses a heel magazine release rather than a push button in the frame to reduce the pistol’s profile. 

The magazine holds eight 5.45x18mm rounds (see image #2). The round itself has a jacketed spitzer style projectile in an interesting necked case. The round is said to be extremely effective against kevlar vests achieving a muzzle velocity of approximately 320 m/s (1,000 ft/s) the 38.6 gr (3 g) projectile is able to penetrate approximately 40 layers of kevlar at close ranges. However, the small 5.45mm round’s ‘stopping power’ is often described as poor.

Izhevsk also manufactured an export version of the pistol, the IZh-75, chambered in .25 ACP. In the 2000s the Ukraine also began manufacturing a non-lethal version, the PSM-R, chambered in the non-lethal 9mm PA (see image #6).

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In Action: PPSh-41

Designed by Georgi Shapagin the PPSh-41 became Soviet Russia’s iconic submachine gun of World War Two. Over six million PPSh-41s were made worldwide between 1941 and 1950 becoming an integral part of the Soviet Union’s small arms doctrine. 

In the photograph above we see five Soviet troops armed with PPSh-41s manning a trench system. The PPSh-41 fed from either a 35-round box magazine or a 71-round drum magazine which along with its aerated barrel shroud, gives the weapon its instantly recognisable appearance. 

Shapagin’s weapon, the Pistolet-pulemyot Shpagina (or Shpagin Machine Pistol), fired from an open bolt and chambered the Soviet Union’s automatic pistol cartridge 7.62x25mm Tokarev and had a very high cyclic rate of up to 900 rounds per minute. This was ideal for suppressive fire and street fighting where suppression and point shooting were common.

The impetus for the PPSh-41′s development was the Soviet Unions lack of a suitable cheap submachine gun following encounters with the Finish Army’s Suomi KP31. The PPD-40 which was hurriedly adopted was too complicated and expensive to manufacture in the desired quantities to equip the Red Army. In response the PPSh-41 was better suited to mass production using metal stamping to allow factories to churn out thousands of guns a day. A finished PPSh-41 could be manufactured in approximately 6-7 hours.

The PPSh-41 proved to be a robust and reliable weapon with a chrome-lined bore to allow less frequent cleaning and the use of corrosive ammunition. Despite its smaller size it was not a light weapon weighing 5.45kgs when loaded with a 71-round drum. The weapon’s high rate of fire caused rapid muzzle climb despite its weight and the addition of a compensator.

Following the war the weapon remained in the Soviet Union’s arsenal for many years and was widely shared with other Communist states with many Soviet satellite states and allies manufacturing copies (such as the Chinese Type 50). They were widely used by North Korean and Chinese forces during the Korean War where they excelled during close-range engagements. 

In 1943, the even simpler submachine gun, the PPS designed by Alexei Sudayev, was introduced alongside the PPSh-41. However, the PPSh-41 dominated Soviet inventories with entire platoons often being equipped with them. The operational use of submachine guns like the PPSh-41 greatly influenced the Red Army’s tactical doctrine with firepower becoming key. 

The PPSh-41s continued to be used in conflicts around the world throughout the 20th century with examples still being seen in conflict zones today. 

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PB - Pistolet Besshumnyj/Silenced Pistol

Developed for Spetsnaz units and the KGB in the mid 1960s, the Soviet PB or 6P9 took the proven Makarov PM  design and incorporated a two-stage integral suppressor. During the Second World War the Soviet NKVD had used suppressed weapons including, M1895 Nagant revolvers outfitted with 'Bramit device' suppressors. As the Cold War continued to escalate the Soviets began the development of a series of new silent firearms.

The Izhevsk Mechanical Plant introduced the PB, designed by A.A. Deryagin in 1967. The PB is basically a heavily adapted Makarov PM with a shortened slide and a repositioned return spring. The design retains the Makarov's exposed hammer, double action trigger and slide mounted decocker. The Chinese encountered a similar problem and positioned the Type 64's return spring above the breech. The Russians, however, placed the return spring in the pistol’s grip and attached it to a swinging lever located beneath the right-hand side grip panel.

The weapon's suppressor is semi-integral with the rear section encompassing the ported barrel wrapped in steel mesh to act as a heat sink. The longer second section contains three steel baffles held in place by the suppressor's frame (see image below). For transport the front section of the suppressor is detachable, this also allows the firing of the weapon with or without its suppressor attached.

The suppressor reduces the pistol's report to approximately 127 decibels. The pistol itself feeds from an 8-round magazine and chambers the standard Soviet 9x18mm cartridge. Fully assembled the weapon is 31cm (12 inches) long and weighs approximately 1kg. Production of the PB was continuous until the mid 1980s, demand saw production resume in the early 2000s. The PB continues to be in service with Russian special forces and intelligence units.

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AS Val & VSS ‘Vintorez’

Developed during the early 1980s by the 1980s by the state-owned TsNIITochMash (Central Institute for Precision Machine Building) the AS Val and VSS were specially designed to fill the Russian special forces and intelligence agencies need for a suppressed assault rifle and marksman’s rifle. The Val has an integral suppressor and spurred development of a family of suppressed weapons. With the increasing use of body armour by NATO forces Russian special forces teams requested a silent weapon which had the capability of also penetrating armour, while offering the firepower needed for covert infiltration operations against NATO command and control centres. The Soviets developed two new 9x39 mm armour piercing rounds: SP-6 for suppressed assault rifles and the more accurate SP-5 for suppressed sniper rifles.

The VSS and AS Val began development in the mid 1980s with the Val adapted into the assault rifle role and officially adopted in 1987. The VSS shares approximately 70-75% parts commonality with the Val with some differences in stock furniture and optics mounts to allow it to fill a designated marksman role. Both are select fire and have integral suppressors which use a conventional ported barrel, expansion chamber and baffle system layout. The AS Val and VSS proved to be very effective and remain in service with elements of the Russian military, special forces, intelligence and security forces. The suppressed rifles were first fielded during the last years of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and were later extensively used during the Chechen Wars and during the conflict in Georgia. Most recently they have seen action during Russia’s interventions in the Crimea and Syria. 

During the early 1990s the VSS and AS Val were also supplemented with the lower cost VSK-94 (see image #3). The VSK-94 is based on the 9A-91 carbine and its suppressor is not integral.

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The APB Suppressed Machine Pistol

The APB (Avtomaticheskij Pistolet Besshumnyj) evolved from Igor Stechkin’s automatic pistol, the APS (Avtomaticheskij Pistolet Stechkina). Stechkin designed the APS in 1948 as a pistol-sized personal defence weapon. Outfitted with a holster stock the APS entered service in 1951 alongside the Makarov PM. The APS is a select fire weapon with a 20-round magazine and a high cyclic rate. Weighing 2.6 lbs loaded the APS proved to be uncontrollable in full auto and was officially phased out of service by the early 1980s.

The APS found a niche in the early 1970s when A.S. Neugodov outfitted it with a suppressor. Adopted in 1972, it issued with a detachable wire stock and a proprietary suppressor. The APB’s official GRAU designation is 6P13. The barrel was lengthened and ported within an integral expansion tube with a quick-detachable interface added to the muzzle. The APB’s suppressor, like the PB’s, has a set of three fixed steel baffles within the housing. The suppressor is offset from the centre to allow use of the pistol's standard sights. The overall length of the weapon in its most usable configuration, with suppressor and stock, is 78cm (31 inches).

The pistol’s reduced muzzle velocity, wire stock and suppressor’s additional weight improved the controllability of the weapon with 2 or 3 round busts accurate out to 20 metres. Spetsnaz teams used the APB during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (see image #3) and it continues to be in use with Spetsnaz units, the new National Guard of Russia and other special police and military units.

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Tokarev's SVT-40

During the late 1930s the Soviet Army began seeking a new self-loading rifle to replace its bolt-action Mosin-Nagant M1891/30.   The first rifle trials ended in 1935 with Sergei Simonov's AVS-36 being adopted.  But problems with Simonov's complex design led to further trials with Simonov's rifle and one designed by one of Russia's leading firearms designers Fedor Vasilievich Tokarev.  Tokarev had previously developed the TT-33 semi-automatic pistol which was widely adopted by the Soviet Army.  

By 1938, a Tokarev's new design the SVT-38 had been selected and plans were made for the new self-loading rifle to become the Soviet Army's new standard service rifle. 

Both the earlier AVS-36 and the SVT both used short stroke gas pistons and tilting blocks however, the SVT had been designed with weight in mind and was a full pound lighter, weighing 8.5 lbs to the AVS-36's 9.5 lbs.  

The SVT-38 first saw combat during the Winter War in 1939 where troops complained that the 48 inch long rifle was too long and its complex action was difficult to clean and maintain in the field.  While it proved effective with better trained troops who could maintain the rifle the reported shortcomings spurred the development of the SVT-40 - a refined version of the SVT-38 introduced in 1940. The SVT-40 or 'Samozaryadnaya Vintovka Tokareva, Obrazets 1940 goda' (translating as Tokarev Self-loading Rifle, Model of 1940) had a number of small alterations.  The rifle's cleaning rod, which was originally stored in a groove on the right-hand side of the stock was relocated to a more secure position running beneath the SVT-40's barrel.  The improved rifle also had a simplification of the forestock with a new sheet metal handguard with drilled cooling apertures rather than the earlier half wood half metal hand guard.  Similarly the number of slots and position of barrel band were altered with four slots rather than five and a single barrel band used instead of two.  

It was intended that the SVT would replace the Mosin-Nagant with the ratio of of semi-automatic rifles projected to steadily increase.  However, the German invasion of Russia in mid 1941 necessitated the rapid production of new rifles and production focused on the simpler and easier to produce Mosin-Nagant M91/30.

The both the SVT-38 and the SVT-40 chambered the Russian Army's 7.62×54mmR service cartridge and fed from a 10-round detachable box magazine.  The rifle's locking block cammed down into the receiver allowing the bolt to unlock.  There was also a fully-automatic variant called the AVT-40, this saw a slightly more robust stock used and the addition of a third selector position but was otherwise identical to the semi-automatic version of the rifle.  Very few AVT-40s were made as the power of the 7.62mm round and the relatively light rifle made them difficult to control during fully automatic fire. While a sniper variant (see photographs above) was produced it was found unsatisfactory in the role with long range accuracy suffering and it was removed from this role in 1943. 

The SVT proved popular with German troops lucky enough to capture one.  Captured examples were given the German designation 'Selbstladegewehr 258 & 259(r)' (translating as automatic rifle) and the influence of Soviet semi-automatic rifle design can certainly be see in German efforts.  Almost two million SVT's were made during the Second World War, however, the rifle was quickly replaced first by the SKS and later the AK-47 with the remaining rifles placed in store.  

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Mikhail Kalashnikov talking about his feelings on the use of his rifle.

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Korobov, the Bullpup Rifle and the TKB-022

By the early 1960s the AK47 and subsequently the AKM had been in Soviet service for nearly 15 years.  Approximately 10 million rifles had been made and the designs had been shared with half a dozen allies including China, the East German Republic, Hungary and Egypt.  

However, during the early 1960s Soviet small arms konstruktors were at work on another rifle which was quite unlike the AK.  The team of konstructors was lead by German A. Korobov (see image one) a designer who had also entered the same contest Mikhail Kalashnikov entered and won with his Avtomat Kalashnikova in the mid-late 1940s.  Korobov, a designer at the Tula arms plant, entered the competition with one of the world's first practical bullpup assault rifle designs, the TKB-408 (see image two), the design lost out to Kalashnikov's and while Korobov was disenchanted with the bullpup configuration he did not fully abandon the concept.

With the development of a new phase of mobile warfare in the 1960s which saw troops travelling less on foot and more onboard helicopters and inside armoured personnel carriers the Red Army decided to look into the development of a shorter rifle. Korobov and his team again entered the state sponsored competition. In 1962 Korobov designed the TKB-022, another bullpup (see image three).  The TKB prefix is an initialism for 'Tulskoe Konstructorskoe Buro' which translates as the 'Tula Design Bureau'. The TKB-022 looked unlike any other contemporary military rifle, its trigger group was located beneath the rifle's barrel and just in front of an integrated magazine/pistol grip - a configuration similar to the Uzi's. It also featured another advanced design feature, a moulded plastic stock which fitted around the receiver.

While Korobov's initial design was rejected he continued developing and between 1962 and 1968 he built several more variants of the TKB-022. The first was the TKB-022P No. 2 (see image four) which featured a standard AK trigger and pistol grip with the magazine no longer integral and set back further along the stock.  The TKB-022PM No.1 (see image five) saw the weapon's configuration alter significantly with the magazine and chamber being moved to the rear of the rifle while the trigger group moved to the front of the weapon (a stock shape not unlike FN's recent P-90 and F-2000). The last variant, the TKB-022PM5 No.1 (see image six) had a more evolved and ergonomic plastic stock and was chambered in the new Soviet 5.6x39mm experimental cartridge.  

The TKB had an overall length of just over 20 inches, significantly shorter than the AKM's 32 inch length.  With the unusual positioning of the rifle's trigger and magazine it had an unconventional vertically moving bolt - rather than the standard horizontal orientation.  This also meant that the bolt could not extract a spent round and instead Korobov designed a U-shaped extractor which pulled with empty casing from the chamber and then pushed forward the next round.

The TKB-022 was never adopted by the Soviet Union, possibly because of the rifle's unconventional configuration (which would not see widespread adoption until the 1980s), possibly because of the untested nature of the plastic stocks it is likely that there were concerns regarding its hardiness in extreme temperatures. It is also possible the TKB's unconventional bolt raised concerns among senior Soviet konstruktors. Regardless of the reason the TKB-022 in all its configurations and variants was undoubtedly a rifle well ahead of its time.  

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Historical Trivia: Breakdown Speeds

By the 1980s Kalashnikov rifles were such a part of Soviet life that school boys were trained to break down and reassemble them as part of their educational curriculum. The simplicity of the rifle and the frequency of practice, often several times a week, meant that when many Soviet boys were tested they could disassemble and reassemble their rifles in between 22 and 75 seconds. This was an important skill as the Soviet Army conscripted and this skill learnt prior to conscription significantly sped up basic infantry training.

In comparison to this rapid speed the US Army timed how fast soldiers could field strip their M14 and M16 rifles in 1966 and they took on average 71 and 80 seconds respectively. This means that the average Soviet school boy could disassemble and reassemble an AK faster than a US soldier could break down and reassemble his own service rifle.

Pictured above in the first image is an AKM and an M16A1 field stripped with their bolts and mainsprings removed. The M16 is split into its upper and lower and the AK has its dust cover removed. Below that are two photographs of the respective rifles fully stripped, it is easy to see just how many more parts the M16 has when compared to the AK (although the AK's trigger assembly has not been disassembled).

Image One Source

Image Two Source

Image Three Source

The Gun, C.J. Chivers, (2010), p.360

Mikhail Kalashnikov Hospitalised 

The 93 year old Small arms designer has reportedly been hospitalized at a military clinic in Moscow.  The designer oversaw development of the world's most recognisable rifle 65 years ago, over 100 million have since been built.   He was airlifted from his home in Izhevsk to a Moscow hospital last week with a suspected blood clot.    

Kalashnikov is reported to be conscious, in a serious but stable condition. 

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