World War II Soviet Armed Forces (2): 1942-43 (Men-at-Arms) Paperback – July 19, 2011

Nigel Thomas produced a short but interesting book titled WORLD WAR II SOVIET ARMED FORCES(2) with photos and text about Soviet combat and preparations during WW II. The book gives readers an understanding the complexity of the Russian Front. The book presents Soviet troops as people rather the "Asian hordes" via Cold War propaganda. The book provides some insight into Soviet military preparations.Thomas explained the organization and reorganization of Soviet forces. After the initial German invasion of the Soviet Union, the Soviets revised their armed forces to more easily coordinate war against the Germans. In such dire circumstances, the Soviets conscripted people between the ages of 18-50. What may surprise readers is that Soviet women volunteered in large numbers and probably did not need to be conscripted.The Soviets had their forces carefully organized. Rifle units, tank forces, air forces, and technical/engineer troops were effectively arranged to defeat the Germans. The technical troops included chemists who serviced flame throwers and the military equipment. Sapper units were carefully placed to mute German advances and eventually drive the Germans from Soviet land. A rude shock to Germans was the use of Katyusha rockets which, while not always accurate, were deadly.Another part of Soviet forces were the partisans whose numbers increased from 91,000 in 1941 to approximately 550,000 by the end of the war. German propaganda and reprisals only bred more partisans including large numbers of women. When the Germans first invaded the Soviet Union, they were welcomed. However, when the Germans looted these people and stole food and occupied homes, the Germans became hated. German propaganda about sub human Slavs the the statements that the sub human Slavs would be driven into Siberia to starve and freeze to death did not exactly endear the Germans An amusing anecdote was the attempt to provide apparel for women who were not impressed with the style of combat gear.As deadly as the German invasion and Soviet counter offensive were, the Soviet troops were almost nonchalant facing death. Yet, they were well equipped with winter gear and most exuded confidence in facing the German invaders. Some Soviets, including women, literally committed suicide attacks against the Germans.Another interesting aspect was the Soviet attention to detail. The photos and text explain the complexity of weapons and support vehicles Spotters used very sophisticated equipment as spotters to direct Soviet fire a the enemy. Careful attention was given to maintenance of weapons and vehicles.A friend told the undersigned that the German invasion of the USSR was akin to an elephant attacking a huge ant hill. The elephant would kill tons of ants, but eventually the ants would devour the elephant to the bones. This book gives some insight to this analogy and makes the book worth reading.James E. EgolfJune 26, 2016

Another in the comprehensive line of military topics by Osprey. Excellent for an introduction to the subject or for the reader just interested in a quick look at the subject. The art of the color plates is excellent.

I gave it three stars as the likely buyer is a model builder or interested deeply in the subject. As such, it is good but nothing deep or new. These books are of great quality and no exception here, but the varied shades of the combat troops uniforms should have been emphasized as well as the many officers uniforms.

If one is beginning to study the uniforms of the Red Army during the 1941-45 era, this book is a good starting point.

Am WW II re-enactor and this book was great help in putting together an accurate uniform.

great book

thank you

This is the second book on the three-volume work on the Soviet Armed Forces by Dr. Nigel Thomas and illustrated by Darko Pavlovic, and it deals with the second phase of the war in the Soviet front, when the Red Army slowly recovered after defending Leningrad and Moscow, then fought in Stalingrad and painfully pushed the Germans back, beating the Wermacht in the Battle of Kursk. As with the first volume, this book focus too much in uniform detail at the expense of military information like tactics, doctrine and the actual shape (opposed to the appearence) of the Red Army. The plates also use the same facial system used in the first book.The author likes to describe the command structure of the Red Army written in full, without organization charts, thus making the reading harder than it should. There is a brief sketch on the Soviet High Command, mentioning men like Marshal Zhukov and General Aleksandr Vasilevsky. The author, a scholar, only mentions nomenclature changes in the Stavka, not going in a more detailed account of how it matured and coped with the challenges posed by the fighting. At this stage of the war such information would be paramount. Again, Table 1 was used to say what Army and Front was doing during the studied period while the rest of the tables are used for uniform pipping, buttons and buckles. After explaining the combat formations and briefly mentioning what front fought where, the author goes to in depth and excruciating uniform detailing. One good thing was the mention of the Partisans (with one photograph showing a Partisan kissing his wife goodbye). The author mentions the equipment use, focusing in their aesthetics at the expense of their functionality. There is mention to specialist proficiency shields awarded for excellency, but the author only bothers to mention their colours and dimensions. How were they awarded/earned? Nobody knows...The summary of land campaigns is even shorter, only mentioning what Front fought where and not even mentioning the casualties anymore. More important than that: what's the situation of the Red Army in those occasions? Where the men properly equipped? In the first months of the war, the men didn't have enough weapons. What's the situation in 1942? Again, we only have the description of the uniforms. The photographs are top notch, tough. I personally liked the photograph of an Asian Naval Infantryman. The female "starshiy serzhant" sniper in page 33 is the beautiful Roza Shanina; because of her good looks she always finds a place in publications about the Red Army. The engineer-sappers in urban fighting in page 46 are also very good.The plates have the awkward faces of the new system but the uniforms are expertly done. Plate A shows high ranking men like Konev. Plate B shows an infantry platoon commander in winter clothing, a paratrooper with the famous DP-28 Degytyarov LMG, and the controversial Soviet General Vlasov - labeled as "gifted" by the author. Plate C is very good but could be better. The mountaineer is very well depicted but what makes him unique, his mountain equipment, does not receive the necessary attention with author satisfied to say that they were from civilian stock as these units weren't specialized as they should. The Naval Infantry "michman" is a disappointment. The author could have chosen a better depiction of the marines who defended Sebastopol (or use more than one plate). The NCO is using shoes instead of the long boots, not looking so tactical. The author always mentions the blue coat while forgetting the importance of the striped-shirt ("telnyashka"). Traditionally, when a commander took off his blue coat (thus wearing only the striped shirt), the unit could not retreat or surrender, just to take one example. The author does mention the airborne detachment of the Naval Infantry but ignores their primary mission as amphibious élite units (the Soviet Naval Infantry performed more than 114 amphibious operations, mostly in platoon and company strength), rapid reaction forces (like in the Mamayev Kurgan, in Stalingrad) and élite shock troops. The main problem with the marine in plate C3 is the lack of the famous crossed ammo belts they used. If the NCOs didn't use it, it was mandatory to use an enlisted in this plate or in another (and the marine in plate F3 of the first volume also lacked those distinctive belts), and it is very annoying to not have a single image depicting the famous imponent image of the Soviet marine; the "Black Death" deserved more. Another important point overlooked by the author was the firepower necessity of the naval infantry. Be it as amphibious units or as élite "firemen" (to be used to plug a gap in the line or exploit a breakthrough) the Soviet marines would need extra firepower to compensate for their small numbers, thus the use of the SVT-40 semi-automatic rifle was widespread within the Naval Infantry. On a more brighter note, a good surprise in the plates was the inclusion of a Partisan using a captured German MP-40 submachine gun. Other remarkable plates are the assault engineer in plate G1, and that the sniper using the "amoeba" camouflage is a man (I was already expecting Roza Shanina again).It is a book that packs too much uniform information at the expense of information on the units, tactics, weapons handling, elite units, training and logistics of the Soviet military. There is only a small box in page 37 mentioning some combat jumps made by the VDV and the 1st Naval Special Landing Detachment, with very scant detail. No amphibious operations are mentioned. The tankers received some good coverage in this number, as an important part of the Soviet military machine, they earned their place. Albeit not to my taste, four stars.

Brought this to give me pictorial information to paint my ww2 Bolt action game figures and also learn more about there involvement.Was really healpful

Osprey nous a habitué à des publications de qualité. Comme d'habitude, ce livre a répondu à mes attentes et cerne bien le sujet.

Good book arrived within revised estimate time,*****.