Russian Tanks of World War II : Stalin's Armoured Might

by Joseph A. Page

At the start of the campaign on the Eastern Front, in the earliest days of Operation Barbarossa, it was the German armour that swept all in front of it as the Wehrmacht drove eastwards in an unrelenting advance on Leningrad, Moscow and Stalingrad. The ill-prepared and under-resourced Russian forces were forced to retreat. Gradually, the balance of the war swung in favour of the Russian forces, whose strength both in numbers and equipment proved decisive in the ultimate defeat of the German forces in the east. Critical in the Soviet victory was its armour; tanks such as the T-34 proving the equal, if not better than, some of the tanks available to the Germans. This authoritative history of the Soviet forces before and during World War 2, reveals the development of their tactics in the early post-revolutionary era right through to the ultimate victory in Berlin in May 1945. The dramatic struggle of the tank crews against the German advance is told through some 200 contemporary photographs, many of which have never been seen before. The photographs include images of tank training in the 1920s and 1930s, on active service, and many compelling pictures from some of the major tank battles of the day. Over the past five years, aided by the opening up of archives in Russia previously closed to western experts, there has been a massive growth in interest in the events that occurred on the Eastern Front. Russian Tanks is an important addition to the literature currently available, exploring as it does, the vitally important Soviet armour of the period.

Genres: History, World War II, Nonfiction

176 pages, Hardcover

First published June 27, 2002

About the author

Joseph A. Page is a professor emeritus at the Georgetown University Law Center. His articles and book reviews focusing on Argentina and Brazil have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic, and the Washington Post.

Reviews

[Heinz Reinhardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

What else would draw anyone to an admiration for the Red Army during World War 2 than tanks? (Ok, possibly artillery...) Like most folks who study military history, of any era, either independently or academically, chances are you have at least a secret fascination with tanks.
And if you like tanks, you cannot fail to admire at least some Soviet models.
This thin book is a very good reference source for the plethora of armored fighting vehicles that served with the Red Army during WW2. More than just a technical and engineering treatise, though that is the meat of the work, the authors (one of whom is a professor at Sandhurst- the British War Academy) do a very good job of detailing the formulation of Soviet armored warfare doctrine in the interwar years.
The chapter devoted to first the development, then abandonment thanks to Stalin paranoid purges, then re-development of the Soviet doctrine of Deep Battle is perhaps the best in the book. It helps explain why Soviet armor evolved as it did, and why an emphasis on speed and mobility (a common joke that used to be bantered about was that the Russians were the first to realize you could have tanks zip around a battlefield like race cars), over armor and firepower was so prevalent in early generation Russian armor.
However, the near total annihilation of the immense Soviet tank park at the hands of the Germans in 1941 (out of over 25,000 vehicles, the Germans would destroy all but a couple thousand of the original build-up) forced a drastic change in armor doctrine.
Although the T-34, an excellent tank, was designed before the German invasion, it was never popular with Soviet bureaucrats, besides Stalin who loved it, until the Germans demonstrated the necessity of it. Even then, German technical improvements beginning in 1942 forced an arms race between the two powers that lead to ever larger, heavier, and deadlier machines. And while the Germans did build some truly exceptional machines, this book helps make clear that, in the end, the king of that tank was clearly the Red Army.
My only complaints are 1: I would have liked more focus and explanation on the SU series of assault guns. Personally, I always thought the SU-85's and SU-100's were truly wicked looking beasts, and the rule of cool with them always gave them a place in my heart. And truth be told, Russian assault guns get short shrift in this little volume.
Secondly, my volume was a recent reprint from the UK publisher Amber Books...and the binding blew out a third of the way through.
I mention that as a warning to others to maybe seek out an older print run.
Overall a very good book. The slimness of the volume, 179 pages, is belied by the smaller font which easily makes this more like a 250 page book. It is also highly illustrated, with many photos being quite rare outside this particular work.
Highly recommended.

[Donald Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good