The Soviet Union

Part Two: National Overviews

In Part Two of this series, we will be taking a look at the symbols, leaders, tactics, and equipment of each of the major powers. This will be a small selection of archetypes, and is in no way comprehensive, nor does it try to be.

The Soviet Red Banner

The coat of arms of the Soviet Union

The ensign of the Soviet Navy

The Red Star roundel of the Soviet Air Force

The early-war Soviet roundel, also used throughout the war on ground vehicles

General Secretary Joseph Stalin

When Vladimir Lenin died in 1922 there was some doubt regarding who would take control of the Soviet Union, and a Troika, essentially a triumvirate of three leaders took control, including Josef Stalin. Within a year Stalin had managed to outmaneuver the other members of the Troika and consolidate complete control of the government, moving to silence and eliminate all opposition to his leadership, even to the extent of having photographs edited and records falsified to erase opponents from history. He tended to replace the older, college educated revolutionaries Lenin had surrounded himself with by appointing peasants and working class people to high ranking positions, ensuring he had a loyal and less educated personal following. His policies had allowed the USSR to rapidly industrialize, although the human cost was enormous due to the resulting famines as well as the horrid work conditions. Stalin was eventually able to begin normalizing international relations and the USSR was able enter the League of Nations, no longer an international pariah. As Hitler and Mussolini rose in Europe Stalin attempted to work with both sides, respecting the authoritarian nature of the Italians and Germans but fearful of their stated opposition to communism, and signed alliances with Czechoslovakia and France in the mid 1930s. Stalin also pushed for a concept he termed “Socialism in One Country”, taking into account that as the communist revolutions that began after the Great War had all failed except in Russia, the USSR should focus now on buildng communism within its own borders rather than spreading it around the world. Some revolutions still received some support, however, as Stalin sent support both to the Spanish Republicans and the Chinese Communists in the immediate lead up to the outbreak of war in 1939. As another conflict loomed, Stalin took the opportunity to sign a secret pact with the Germans, hoping that a European War would pave the way for communist dominance of the continent, as well as allowing him to face the threat of the Japanese Empire, which had been engaged in several small clashes along the Sino-Soviet frontier.

Soviet soldiers in urban combat

The soldier of the Soviet Worker’s and Peasant’s Red Army was equipped with a brown colored uniform that was relatively similar to that worn by the Imperial Russian Army in the Great War. Rank insignia was worn on the collars during the early stages before migrating to the shoulders later on, and badges identifying unit, distinctions or service branch were sometimes worn on the Gymnastyorka, which was a simple pull-over shirt that was a core component of the uniform. Headgear was commonly simple forage cap known as a pilotka, which typically had an enameled Soviet star badge on the front, although the iconic fur ushanka was popular in the winter months. A steel helmet was also available, generally pained in a dark green color. Field gear was a combination of leather and canvas web gear, with canvas becoming more common as the war continued. Winter uniforms were an important component of an army intended to fight in the cold Russian winter, and included quilted jackets, thick woolen trousers and boot liners, and of course the aforementioned ushanka.

The Mosin Nagant M91/30

The standard service rifle of the Soviet Union during the Second World War was the Mosin Nagant M91/30. This short rifle was a long rifle by the standards of most countries, but was indeed three inches shorter than the Mosin Nagant M91 that had been used in the Great War. The M91/30 was the product of an attempt to modernize the rifle in the interwar years, with the decision to upgrade the sights and standardize the barrel length of the M91 Dragoon model, phasing out the M91 rifle. The M91/30 also featured some improvements for ease of manufacture, such as a simplified rounded receiver in place of the older hexagonal shape. Despite this, the older M91 and dragoon models remained in service throughout the conflict as well, along with the M38 carbine, a short weapon intended for use by support troops, and the M44 carbine, which was an M38 with a folding bayonet that came about late in the war as a result of the popularity of the compact carbine in urban combat. A semi-automatic design, the Tokarev SVT40, had been intended to replace the Mosin Nagant system on the eve of war, but the more complicated weapon was not able to do so before the need for production saw the simpler Mosin Nagant remain the standard issue throughout.

The TT33 pistol

The standard sidearm of the Red Army was the Tokarev TT33, a simple autoloader chambered in the high velocity 7.62x25mm cartridge. This design from the same designer as the SVT40 rifle was based on the Browning model 1903, but with several simplifications to increase reliability and ease production, and was quite popular. The pistol was a single action only weapon with an exposed hammer, and lacked a manual safety beyond a half-cock notch (the example pictured above features a manual safety added later to comply with US import laws).

Other handguns were also in use, mainly the older Nagant M1895 revolver, a gas seal design chambered in the 7.62x38mm cartridge. This handgun had served the Imperial Russian Army in the Great War, and although reliable had a cumbersome reload procedure and its cartridge was relatively underpowered. The .25 ACP Korovin pistol was also used by some Soviet officers, alongside a smattering of foreign designs still in use since the revolution.

Beyond all powers the Soviets placed an emphasis on submachine guns, and had three primary designs in use during the conflict. The early PPD40 proved to be overly complex, but the improved PPSh41 remains one of the most iconic weapons of the Second World War as well as of the Soviet Army. It chambered the 7.62x25mm cartridge of the TT33, and fed from 35 round stick magazines or 71 round drum magazines, the latter offering exceptional firepower at the cost of reliability and weight. The weapon possessed a very high rate of fire as well as good reliability in adverse conditions, and was very popular with the Soviets as well their enemies, who often used captured examples. The simplified PPS43 appeared in the latter stages of the war, feeding from 35 round magazines and boasting simple stamped construction and a folding stock similar to that used on the German MP40.

The Red Army made use of the DP28 light machine gun, a simple weapon feeding from a distinctive top mounted pan magazine similar to the Great War Lewis Gun. It served alongside the SG43, a belt fed medium machine gun and the water cooled M1910 Maxim heavy machine gun, another leftover from the last war. The Soviets also made use of the DShK 12.7mm heavy machine gun, which was very similar to the US M2 Browning in capabilities.

YAK-9 fighters

The Soviet Air Force of VVS was large but outdated when the war began in 1939. Although some modern types were available such as the MiG-3 and TU-2, most common were older designs like the I-16 fighter, which although sufficient against the Baltic Republics, Poland and Finland were no match for the aircraft used by the other major powers, and the VVS suffered severe losses in the early phases of the war. Another issue was one that plagued the entire Soviet military was a lack of competent leadership, which stemmed from Stalin’s purges and the resulting gutting of the officer corps in the 1930s. Despite all of this, the VVS would by the end of the war be a premier fighting force, with its ground attack and close support aircraft in particular being among the best in the world.

T34 Tanks

Perhaps one of the most iconic symbols of the Red Army in the Second World War is the T34 tank. A simple, easy to produce design that was a good balance of armor, firepower and reliability, the T34 proved to be a match for any contemporary medium tank design, and is often cited as one of the greatest tanks of all time. It served in huge numbers as the backbone of the Soviet armored forces, although it was supplemented by light and heavy designs, as well as by large numbers of American lend-lease types like the M4 Sherman. The IS-2 heavy tank saw service in the latter stages of the war, with a massive 122mm gun that allowed it to compete with even the heaviest of the German panzers.

The Gangut Class battleship Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya

After the end of the Civil War the Soviet Union had initiated an ambitious program to update and modernize the new Soviet Navy, replacing the aging Tsarist ships with a massive fleet of modern warships. The core of this fleet was to be the massive Sovetsky Soyuz class battleships, of which four were laid down before the opening of hostilities, although none were in an advanced state of construction when the conflict began. The modern Kirov Class cruisers were available, as were a collection of modern destroyers and submarines, but the bulk of the Soviet fleet remained fairly obsolete during the conflict. The primary battleship class of the USSR during the conflict was the old Gangut Class, older Tsarist dreadnaught battleships dating from 1909 that had undergone refit and modernization during the interwar years. Also of note are the Soviet river flotillas, which have gunboats capable of operating on inland rivers as needed, which would prove useful against the German invasion.