World War II Soviet Armed Forces (1) 1939–41

(Osprey Men at Arms #464)

Nigel Thomas,

Darko Pavlović (Illustrator)

4.15 · Rating details · 13 ratings · 3 reviews

This title presents a detailed analysis of the Soviet Army at the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945), including the Red Army's campaigns against Japan on the Manchurian plains as well as in Finland. It also covers the Red Army's first operations during Operation Barbarossa when the Red Army was forced to defend Mother Russia against the German onslaught. With a breakdown ...more

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Paperback, 48 pages

Published October 19th 2010 by Osprey Publishing (first published October 9th 2006)

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Sep 04, 2014 Filipe Amaral rated it really liked it

Shelves: osprey-maa

In the first book of this three-part series, Dr. Nigel Thomas brings the reader to the not-so-exciting world of piping and endless detail on uniform belts, buttons and headgear. With 48 pages, many good quality pictures, text giving an overview of the state of the Soviet military, units and organization, brief explanations of the campaigns from 1939-41 and lots and lots of detail on the uniforms, Dr. Nigel Thomas makes a fairly good job in presenting the Soviets and how they dressed. As for othe In the first book of this three-part series, Dr. Nigel Thomas brings the reader to the not-so-exciting world of piping and endless detail on uniform belts, buttons and headgear. With 48 pages, many good quality pictures, text giving an overview of the state of the Soviet military, units and organization, brief explanations of the campaigns from 1939-41 and lots and lots of detail on the uniforms, Dr. Nigel Thomas makes a fairly good job in presenting the Soviets and how they dressed. As for other kinds of information, not so much.

The book starts with the Soviet revolutionary army being modernized by men like Marshal Sovetskogo Soyuza Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky, which molded the Soviet military into a fine instrument - "transformed a mass infantry and cavalry militia into the most modern mechanized army in the world" - just to have it beheaded by the "Purges" of September 1932 and "The Great Purges" of 1936-38; with the yes-men burocrats assuming the head of the military. The narrative of the book demonstrates the scholar stock of the author, focusing too much on names of the schools, pieces of uniforms and the type of buckle for each belt. The campaigns are only briefly mentioned with the dates, places and number of casualties. The author does examine the military formations in detail, but as he spent so much ink in uniform details, he didn't find the space to include tables with organization charts, making the reading of the different Fronts and Armies very difficult and confusing. Instead, he uses four of the five tables to talk about dress and rank insignia. The overfocus of the author is appearent when his only interest while mentioning the soldier's helmet, boots and equipment is the colour, model and type of material while ignoring its functionality. Tactics and doctrine are nowhere to be seen. Training and weapons handling through the period is also missing, but you do get to know tankers used light 'steel grey' uniforms.

The author only mentions that airborne forces belonged to the air force and naval infantry to the navy. The kind of training used and selection in order to belong to this units is ignored. The paratroopers get only one picture to show them using air force overalls and soft headgear - but they do manage to get a plate in volume two of this series. The Naval Infantry is treated just like any other unit of the Red Navy, not as an elite. The author starts his minuscule section on the Naval Infantry by saying that due to massive Red Army losses naval personnel were diverted from sea-going duties to form Naval Infantry units from July 1941, giving the wrong impression that the Naval Infantry was created in 1941 and that they were just sailors second-handed to army service. The Russian Naval Infantry was created by Peter the Great in 1705, to conduct boardings and landings (ie. marine specialized duties) in the Baltic Fleet, and remained part of the Russian navy ever since. During the Civil War, the Naval Infantry was regarded as the best soldiers in the revolutionary military. When the war started, there was a Naval Infantry Brigade in the Baltic Fleet. The massive expansion of the Naval Infantry deserved more coverage than simply pointing to their black uniforms and lack of special badge. The fact that the author buries the reader under a mass of near-useless information about various types of uniforms and service caps, and then neglects to mention how these troops were trained or fought is insulting. To add insult to injury, the author never mentions the telnyashka (sailor striped shirt) either by name or by its importance as an élite status. Even when using Red Army uniforms, the striped shirt was used in a visible way. It was a sign of pride and manhood. There is a Russians saying that goes like this “We are few in numbers, but we are wearing telnyashkas!”; General Margelov (hero of the Soviet Union in 1944) decided the airborne forces would use the telnyashka as an élite garment, because he served with the Naval Infantry in WWII.

All in all, a good book due to its visual appeal, even with the new and awkward faces of the plates (that were discontinued in the third volume). The author could make a better job in terms of tactics and doctrine for the military buffs, instead of only thinking about collectors and model builders. I will give this book four stars because of the amount of useful information in terms of unit organization and rare pictures. ...more

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