Military Vehicles - USSR: Books - History, Types and Construction

The Red Army on Parade (1) : 1917-1945

Undoubtedly our most ambitious project to this date, this volume describes the tanks and armoured vehicles paraded by the Red Army on Red Square from the first anniversary of the Russian Revolution in November 1918 until after the end of the war in both Europe and Japan in 1945.

From the first captured French and British origin tanks displayed on Red Square, via the first Soviet KS tank to the wartime T-34, KV and IS tanks, the volume describes the first public appearance of all Red Army tanks and other military vehicles displayed on Red Square and the background philosophy involved in their respective developments.

Red Army Weapons of the Second World War

While the Red Army's arsenal at the start of the Second World War included weapons dating back to the Great War or earlier, the 1930s' modernization programme had introduced the automatic Tokarev pistol and self-loading Tokarev rifle.
Its small arms were soon replaced by mass-produced sub-machine guns, such as the PPSh 1941, nicknamed the 'PePeSha,'. Supplementing the submachine guns, the Degtyarev Light Machine Gun DP-27. Fitted with a circular pan magazine, it received the not-unsurprising nickname 'Record Player.'

New mortars and towed artillery pieces, ranging from 76mm to 203mm, entered service in the pre-war years. In addition to a wide range of towed, self-propelled and anti-tank guns, the Soviets fielded the Katyusha rocket launchers in 1941, nicknamed the 'Stalin's organ' by the Germans.

The 1930s saw the introduction of the BT light tank series. The iconic T-34 medium tank series came into service in late 1940, joined by the IS-2 heavy tank from early 1944, the prefix letters 'IS' translates to Joseph Stalin. These formidable AFVs led the Red Army to victory in May 1945 over Nazi Germany.

All these weapons and more are covered with numerous images in this authoritative overview of the subject.

Die Waffen der Roten Armee - Beutegerät und alliierte Hilfslieferungen 1939-1945

Mit dem Überfall der Wehrmacht auf die Sowjetunion im Jahr 1941 fand das bereits in Kraft gesetzte Leih- und Pachtgesetz auch auf die UdSSR Anwendung. So war es nun möglich, auch die Sowjetunion mit US-Waffen zu beliefern. Diese Lieferungen waren besonders wichtig, um die Zeitlücke zu schließen, bis die eigene russische Kriegswaffenproduktion in vollem Umfang angelaufen war.
Zusätzlich erbeuteten sie auf ihrem späteren Vormarsch auch noch Waffen und Gerät der Wehrmacht.

Victor Schunkow beschreibt in diesem Band alle Waffen, die als Beutegerät oder durch US-Hilfslieferungen die Rote Armee verstärkten.