Photos WW2 Soviet Forces

Soviet soldier at the early stages of Battle of Caucasus

Comrades. Sorry to be here rarely. Recently I talked with several foreign colleagues about our sniper Vasily Zaitsev. And I am increasingly confronted with the fact that, both in modern Russia and abroad, every year the propaganda war is becoming more and more widespread, the purpose of which is the Soviet Union and the Red Army. Much has already been said about the false film "Enemy at the Gates", but what was my surprise when I saw a direct lie without sources even in the English-language Wikipedia! Wikipedia itself is a rather liberal source, but in Russian Wikipedia they were ashamed to openly lie about the fact that Zaitsev was in prison after the war. But in English...

Dear friends, I ask all of you - please, check all the information that you come across on the Internet. Don't fall prey to deception, lies and falsification. And I would also like to quote from the book of memoirs by Irina Dryagina, who served in the women's regiment of night bombers and flew more than 100 sorties on a U-2 aircraft. Irina Dryagina was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and after the war she began her scientific career and became a professor of agricultural sciences.

“Many years have passed since the end of the Great Patriotic War, but the flurry of fierce attacks on everything sacred that is associated with history does not stop. Modern“ turners ”of the past, under the guise of historians, mock the heroism and dedication of Soviet people as blind fanaticism, the patriotic impulse of millions as slavish obedience to political instructors, and an unprecedented victory for defeat. Mistakes are sought, losses multiply, revelations are "revealed", and more often stories are simply composed that never happened.

Thus, in the recently published book by unknown authors O. Greig "Camping Wives" (2005), false accusations of cowardice were thrown at my combat friends from the 46th Guards Women's Aviation Regiment of Night Bombers. In addition to lies, this book contains stupid incompetent statements about examining a girl, about being sent on a combat mission under the threat of a pistol, and so on. Monstrous nonsense was written about the commissar of our regiment Rachkevich, whom the girls of our air regiment called "our mommy". The whole book is aimed at insulting our people, their commanders, heroes, home front workers. "

Moscow, 2007, "Notes of a pilot U-2. Women aviators during the war"

For the umpteenth time on my own behalf... Friends, remember, any victory is always the result of the most complex interaction between the front and rear, commanders and their troops, any victory is achieved by skill, skill and tactics. You can never win a war by sending soldiers into suicidal attacks, threatening them with a pistol, shooting a machine gun in the back. All false myths about the Red Army are often shattered not only by the force of facts, but also by the force of logic. If you don’t believe me, then pay attention to the Japanese Empire during the war years. See what the suicidal banzai attacks against American troops in the Pacific led to, what naked heroism looks like without tactics and strategy. And then look what happened in Iwo Jima, where the Japanese army fought smartly, where banzai attacks were prohibited.

No, friends, you cannot win a war by filling the enemy's trenches with human meat and giving out one rifle for three. You can't. And the historical truth is always the same.

In the photo: Irina Dryagina

Emerging through a blue haze of exhaust smoke, IS-3 heavy tanks of the Red Army trundle past the saluting-base on the Charlottenberg Chaussee in Berlin during the four-nations Victory Parade on VJ Day, September 7th, 1945.
The emergence of these hitherto unknown heavy tanks with their 122mm guns and radical turret design sent shock-waves through the watching Western military establishment.
(IWM)

Russian soldier sweeping away 25 year faithful service medals from the steps of the Reich Chancellery

Soviet soldier and his samovar near Voronezh
Winter of 1942

Little bit more of Battle of Caucasus

Soviet M-17 vehicles in the streets of Danzig, Germany, late-Mar 1945. Note the US made Browning M2 quad-50 AA mounts sent to the USSR from the US through lend-lease.
Courtesy ww2db website

Soviet Soldier in a parade in Moscow, 1940.

Lend-lease Jeeps used by soviet forces.

Soviet soldiers captured hiding in a barn, Operation Barbarossa, 1941

Also neat pictures, thanks for sharing!

World War II: Women at War
Symbolic of the defense of Sevastopol, Crimea, is this Russian girl sniper, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who, by the end of the war, had killed a confrimed 309 Germans -- the most successful female sniper in history.
AP Photo
Image and caption thanks to theatlantic. com

So,if Jeeps already been mentioned,maybe I should post a most legendary lend-lease item.
soviet bridge-building troops in a summer 1944 campaign

Red army at Balcans

And somewhere after the war


Тhere are no such things wich are more appropriate to describe lend-lease.Studebaker US6 was the biggest united states effort in the eastern front,and thus maybe in the entire WW2.
Вasically,soviet soldiers didnt like most of what came under the lend-lease.Since it was mostly of poor quality(regarding german and soviet military equipment) and did not suit the tasks soviet soldiers performed.Even more,for exemple,to drive british tanks was considered as a punishment.
But US6 became a truly brilliant exception.Soviets absolutely love the car.It was cheap,reliable and comfortable(this is something that а very few soviet trucks can boast of)
Тhe most successful design solution was low compression ratio,compared to most US,german,and even some soviet trucks,wich prove to be a huge advantage in hursh сonditions of WW2 terrain fighting.
According to american manuals US6 officially had a carrying capacity of 2.5 tons.But it was able to carry up to 3.5 tons off-road.Аnd even 5+оn a well-built road.
Believe it or not, the US Army refused to adopt them.Fools.
The rumor sad that even first-build Katyushas were mounted on Studebakers,but thats a mith.
Studebaker-mounted Katyusha at military exhibition in 50s

But of cource a lot of Katyushas was mounted on Studebakers.Especially on those that were produced/delivered in 1943.Since 1944 USSR start to produce their own "Studers"with modified suspension and engine wich some people believe was the best truck around at the time,in terms of price-quality ratio.
By the 50s,USSR has return most of the remaining Studes to USA,but soviet made ones were still in use in army(until no-less legendary GAZ-66 took the niche).And in civil service and land-use activities it was in use up to 70s.
soviet peasants in late 40s

Studers strongly influenced the entire USSRs truck design for a next 15+ years.

british Studebaker in Sicily under new management

Studebakers US6 were also imported in Britain and their colonies(via lend-lease program),China,Portugal,Sweden,this way couple dozens of Studers got to their(and german)finnish friends hands,Spain(another germans friend)and more so,if we count stash-sales from Soviet storage warehouses.
Yeah,engineers of Studebaker automotive plant can truly be proud by their legacy.

Skyline Drive said:

World War II: Women at War
Symbolic of the defense of Sevastopol, Crimea, is this Russian girl sniper, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who, by the end of the war, had killed a confrimed 309 Germans -- the most successful female sniper in history.
AP Photo
Image and caption thanks to theatlantic. com

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1964. Participants in the liberation of Sevastopol Marina Pavlovna Chechneva, Evdokia Davydovna Bocharova and Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko

1967