In warfare, ramming is a technique that was used in the air, sea and tank combat. The term originated from battering ram, which is a siege weapon used to bring down fortifications by hitting it with force, of which the momentum of the ram being sufficient to damage the target. Thus, in warfare ramming refers to hitting a target by running oneself into the target. Replica battering ram at Ch teau des Baux, France A battering ram is a weapon used from ancient times. ...

History

Already in 750 BCE the main striking force of the Assyrian army was the corps of horse-drawn, two-wheeled chariots. Their mission was to smash their way through the ranks of enemy infantry. As siege weapons they used battering rams. The Chinese had been using the ram for warships since the Spring and Autumn Period (722 BC-481 BC), as recorded in the Yue Jue Shu (Lost Records of the State of Yue), compiled and edited in 52 AD by Yuan Kang during the Han Dynasty. The ancient Greeks used their trireme vessels for ramming as well. “Era Vulgaris” redirects here. ... An Assyrian winged bull, or lamassu. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Spring and Autumn Period (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ) was a period in Chinese history, which roughly corresponds to the first half of the Eastern Zhou dynasty (from the second half of the 8th century BC to the first half of the 5th century). ... Centuries: 9th century BC - 8th century BC - 7th century BC Decades: 770s BC 760s BC 750s BC 740s BC 730s BC - 720s BC - 710s BC 700s BC 690s BC 680s BC 670s BC Events and Trends 728 BC - Piye invades Egypt, conquering Memphis and receives the submission of the rulers... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 530s BC 520s BC 510s BC 500s BC 490s BC - 480s BC - 470s BC 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC Years: 486 BC 485 BC 484 BC 483 BC 482 BC _ 481 BC _ 480 BC... Yue was a state in China which existed during the Spring and Autumn Period. ... Han Dynasty in 87 BC Capital Changan (202 BC–9 AD) Luoyang (25 AD–190 AD) Language(s) Chinese Religion Taoism, Confucianism Government Monarchy History  - Establishment 206 BC  - Battle of Gaixia; Han rule of China begins 202 BC  - Interruption of Han rule 9 AD - 24 AD  - Abdication to Cao... The Temple of Athena, the Parthenon Ancient Greece is a period in Greek history that lasted for around nine hundred years. ... A Greek trireme. ...

Air warfare

In Jules Verne's novel Robur the Conqueror, Robur rams his propeller-powered flying vessel Albatross against the slower blimp Goahead.

Ramming attacks were a tactic in air combat. The goal is to either outright ram the enemy aircraft or to destroy its controls using either the attacker's propeller or wing. It was often practised when a pilot ran out of ammunition and was still eager to destroy an enemy, or his plane had already been damaged. A ramming attack is not the same as kamikaze attack since the pilot stands a fair chance of surviving, though it was very risky. Sometimes even the ramming aircraft could survive. Ramming was used in air warfare in the first half of the 20th century, in both World Wars and in the interwar period. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 402 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (470 × 700 pixel, file size: 86 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Faithful reproductions of two-dimensional original works cannot attract copyright in the U.S. according to the rule in Bridgeman Art Library v. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 402 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (470 × 700 pixel, file size: 86 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Faithful reproductions of two-dimensional original works cannot attract copyright in the U.S. according to the rule in Bridgeman Art Library v. ... Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828–March 24, 1905) was a French author who pioneered the science-fiction genre. ... Robur-the-Conqueror (Robur-le-Conquérant in original French) is a science fiction novel by Jules Verne, published in 1886. ... USS Bunker Hill was hit by Ogawa (see picture left) and another kamikaze near KyÅ«shÅ« on May 11, 1945. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... A world war is a war affecting the majority of the worlds major nations. ...

In Germany a task force known as Sonderkommando Elbe was used to try and restore the luftwaffe to it's former glory.The operation was a failure. Although some pilots succeeded in destroying bombers the skies were now controlled by the allies. Sonderkommando Elbe was the name of the task force assigned to take down Allied Bombers by ramming their aircraft into the bomber planes. ... The Deutsche Luftwaffe or   (German: air force, literally Air Weapon IPA: ) is the commonly used term for the German air force. ...

In Herbert George Wells's novel When the Sleeper Wakes, written in 1899, the main character, Graham, also rams the enemy's aeroplanes with his flying apparatus. H. G. Wells at the door of his house at Sandgate Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 - August 13, 1946) was an English writer best known for his science fiction novels such as The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. ... The Sleeper Awakes is a dystopian novel by H. G. Wells about a man who sleeps for two hundred and three years, waking up in a completely transformed London, where, because of compound interest on his bank accounts, he has become the richest man in the world. ...

Ramming was first used by the Russian pilot, Pyotr Nesterov on September 8, 1914, against an Austrian plane. That incident was fatal to both parties. Pyotr Nesterov (Russian: Пётр Николаевич Нестеров) (27 February (O.S. 15 February) 1887 in Nizhny Novgorod - 8 September (O.S. 26 August) 1914 in Zhovkva, Lviv Oblast) was a Russian pilot and airplane technical designer. ... September 8 is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

Ramming was also used in the Spanish Civil War [1]. It has been suggested that Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War be merged into this article or section. ...

In World War II, ramming (Russian: taran) became a legendary technique of VVS pilots against the Luftwaffe, especially in the early days of the hostilities in the war's Eastern Front. In the first year of the war, Soviet machines were considerably inferior to the German ones and the taran was sometimes perceived as the only way to guarantee the destruction of the enemy. Trading an outdated fighter for a technologically advanced bomber was considered a good trade. In some cases, pilots who were heavily wounded or in damaged aircraft decided to perform a suicidal taran attack against air, ground or naval targets, similar to kamikaze (see Nikolai Gastello). Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The Soviet Air Force, also known under the abbreviation VVS, transliterated from Russian: ВВС, Военно-воздушные силы (Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily), formed the official designation of the air force of the Soviet Union. ... The Deutsche Luftwaffe or   (German: air force, literally Air Weapon IPA: ) is the commonly used term for the German air force. ... Combatants Soviet Union,[1] Poland, Tannu Tuva (until 1944 incorporation with USSR), Mongolia Germany,[2] Italy (to 1943), Romania (to 1944), Finland (to 1944), Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Spain (to 1943, unofficial) Commanders Joseph Stalin, Aleksei Antonov, Ivan Konev, Rodion Malinovsky, Ivan Bagramyan, Kirill Meretskov, Ivan Petrov, Alexander Rodimtsev, Konstantin Rokossovsky... USS Bunker Hill was hit by Ogawa (see picture left) and another kamikaze near KyÅ«shÅ« on May 11, 1945. ... Nikolai Gastello Nikolai Frantsevich Gastello (Russian: , May 6, 1908 - June 26, 1941), Russian aviator, Hero of the Soviet Union. ...

The first taran attack in World War II was carried out by the Polish pilot, Lt. Col. Leopold Pamuła with his damaged PZL P.11c on September 1, 1939, over Łomianki near Warsaw (taran is also a Polish word). Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The PZL P.11 was a Polish fighter aircraft, designed in early-1930s by PZL in Warsaw. ... September 1 is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years). ... Year 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Motto: Contemnit procellas (It defies the storms) Semper invicta (Always invincible) Coordinates: , Country  Poland Voivodeship Masovia Powiat city county Gmina Warszawa Districts 18 boroughs City Rights turn of the 13th century Government  - Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz (PO) Area  - City 516. ...

Nine rammings took place on the very first day of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. About 200 (some estimates give the number closer to 500) taran attacks were made by Soviets between the beginning of Operation Barbarossa and the middle of 1943, when enough modern aircraft had been produced to make the tactic obsolete (even if Russian fighter pilots were still trained to perform it). Lieutenant Boris Kovzan survived the record of four ramming attacks in the war. Alexander Khlobytsev made three. Seventeen other Soviet pilots were credited with two successful ramming attacks. Combatants Germany, Romania, Finland, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia  Soviet Union Commanders Adolf Hitler Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb Fedor von Bock Gerd von Rundstedt C.G.E. Mannerheim Giovanni Messe, CSIR Italo Gariboldi, ARMIR Joseph Stalin Kliment Voroshilov Semyon Timoshenko Fyodor Kuznetsov Dmitry Pavlov Ivan Tyulenev Ivan Konev Semyon Budyonny Georgy Zhukov... Combatants Germany, Romania, Finland, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia  Soviet Union Commanders Adolf Hitler Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb Fedor von Bock Gerd von Rundstedt C.G.E. Mannerheim Giovanni Messe, CSIR Italo Gariboldi, ARMIR Joseph Stalin Kliment Voroshilov Semyon Timoshenko Fyodor Kuznetsov Dmitry Pavlov Ivan Tyulenev Ivan Konev Semyon Budyonny Georgy Zhukov... Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

On 15 September 1940, Flight Sergeant Ray Holmes of No. 504 RAF used his Hawker Hurricanes to destroy a Dornier Do-17 bomber over London by ramming but at the loss of his own aircraft (and also almost his own life) in one of the defining moments of the Battle of Britain. Ray Holmes (1915 – 27 June 2005) was a British fighter pilot who was feted as a war hero who saved Buckingham Palace from being severely damaged by German bombing during the Battle of Britain. ...

The Japanese also practiced ramming. An example is the bringing down of a B-17 Flying Fortress on May 8, 1942 — see [2]. {Reference only} The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engine heavy bomber aircraft developed for the US Army Air Corps (USAAC). ... is the 128th day of the year (129th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ...

Several rammings (Bulgarian: Таран taran) were performed by Bulgarian fighter pilots defending Sofia against the Allied bombers in 1943 and 1944. The first one to do so was Senior Lieutenant (posthumously elevated to Captain) Dimitar Spisarevsky on December 20, 1943 (see http://youtube.com/watch?v=ya1PkrgS7Tg). Position of Sofia in Bulgaria Coordinates: , Country Bulgaria Province Sofia-City Government  - Mayor Boyko Borisov Area  - City 1,349 km²  (520. ... Modern Russian military ranks trace their roots to Table of Ranks established by Peter the Great. ... Captain is a rank or title with various meanings. ...

Technique

Three types of taran attacks were made:

• Using the propeller to go in from behind and chop off the controls in the tail of the enemy aircraft. This was the most difficult to perform, but it had the best chance of survival.
• Using the wing to cut off the wing or tail of the enemy aircraft. Some Soviet aircraft like the Polikarpov I-16 had wings strengthened for this purpose.
• Direct ramming was the easiest to perform, but also the most dangerous.

Polikarpov I-16 at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2003 The Polikarpov I-16 was an advanced Soviet fighter aircraft when it was introduced in the mid-1930s, and it formed the backbone of the Soviet Air Force at the beginning of World War II. The diminutive fighter prominently featured in the...

After WWII

During the Vietnam War, Vu Xuan Thieu, a North Vietnam pilot, is said to have rammed his Mig-21 into an American B-52, accounted for the second loss of a B-52 to an enemy interceptor (the first one was shot down by Pham Tuan). However, is it disputed if that was the fireball from the downed B-52 would have resulted in his subsequent crash. [3] Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (NATO reporting name Fishbed) is a fighter aircraft, originally built by the Mikoyan and Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. ... B-52 can refer to the following: The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber aircraft A hairstyle popular in the 1950s and 1960s, named after the aircraft A rock band, The B-52s, named after the hairstyle A cocktail This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which... Tuân Pham Tuân Pham (born February 14, 1947) was the first Vietnamese cosmonaut, and the first Asian in space. ...

In 1981 a Soviet Su-15 fighter jet rammed an Iranian CL-44 reconnaissance plane which intruded USSR airspace, resulting in the crash of both aircraft. There have been at least three other Soviet ramming attacks between the early 1970s and 1988. The Sukhoi Su-15 (NATO reporting name Flagon) was a twin engined interceptor aircraft developed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s to replace the Sukhoi Su-11. ... Demonstration of the loading of the CL-44-D4 with automobiles. ... Mixed reconnaissance patrol of the Polish Home Army and the Soviet Red Army during Operation Tempest, 1944 Reconnaissance is the military term for the active gathering of information about an enemy, or other conditions, by physical observation. ...

Ground warfare

Naval warfare

In 1988 two US naval ships, a destroyer USS Caron and cruiser USS Yorktown were rammed by Soviet naval ships inside Soviet waters in the Black Sea, near the port of Foros. Ships designed for ramming are also called "rams," and have been used for much of history. USS General Price, a Union ram and gunboat, near Baton Rouge, LA, 18 January 1864 A ram was a naval ship class in the 1860s. ...

External Link

• [German World War II ramming]