The War in View #21: Soviet Ground Power

Standing in the backyard of an abandoned house in the outskirts of the besieged city of Leningrad, a rifleman of the Red Army aims and fires his machine gun at German positions on 16 December 1942.

A scout of the 325th “Dvina” Infantry Division, Guard Sergeant Alexey Frolchenko (1905-1967), who was awarded the Order of the Red Star for his action at the Battle of Kursk.

After having occupied a village on the Leningrad sector in 1942, Soviet forces discovered 38 bodies of Soviet soldiers that had been taken prisoner by the Germans and apparently tortured to death.

Russian trench, Neva River, Leningrad.

Soviet partisans from the Pskov region of Soviet Russia are sent on a combat mission.

12 snipers from the Soviet 3rd Shock Army with a total of 775 kills.

  

Soviet female sniper.

Soviet infantry dog handler.

Red Army machine gunners with a M1910 machine gun at the Battle of Kursk.

Russian cavalry entering a liberated town.

Soviet dog handler.

Soviet infantry in winter uniforms.

Soviet mortar crew.

Soviet soldiers get some rest.

Soviet infantrymen move through a village.

Soviet troops breaking from cover to attack German strongholds. Note the German MG 34 machine gun in the foreground being used by Soviet soldiers.

Soviet ski troops by the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad.

Roza Yegorovna Shanina, the female sniper died in World War II after having 54 confirmed hits, she is still remembered due to her skill as a sniper and her beauty.

Women members of Sydir Kovpak’s partisan formation in Ukraine.

British and Soviet officers inspect tanks of the 8th Hussars in Berlin. At the front, with Montgomery, are Marshals Zhukov and Rokossovsky, whom the British field marshal had just invested with the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, respectively.

Russians driving the Germans out of Rostov.

Three Soviet female guerrilla fighters.

Local militia in the streets of Leningrad during the siege.

Soviet soldiers inside Leningrad unload supplies brought across Lake Ladoga.

Rapidly advancing German forces encountered serious guerrilla resistance behind their front lines. Here, four guerrillas with fixed bayonets and a small machine gun are seen in action, near a small village.

Soviet infantrymen with a variety of weapons, including rifles, a machine gun, PPSh submachine guns, and a German MP 40 submachine gun (used by soldier in foreground).

A female Russian medic renders aid to a soldier in the field.

Another female Russian medic renders aid to a soldier in the field. Note the PPSh submachine gun in the foreground.

Russian troops house fighting, Breslau.

Soviet soldiers are moved up to the front lines prior to the start of the attack on Leningrad.

Mass grave of Soviet POWs, killed by Germans in prisoner-of-war camp in Dęblin, German-occupied Poland.

AVS-36 7.62mm automatic rifle.

“A battalion commander.” Soviet officer (probably A. G. Yeremenko, Company political officer of the 220th Rifle Regiment, 4th Rifle Division, killed in action in 1942) leading his soldiers to the assault. Voroshilovgrad region, Ukraine.

F1 fragmentation grenade.

M1914/39 stick grenade.

PPD-34/38 7.62mm submachine gun with drum magazine.

PPD-34/38 7.62mm submachine gun with 25 round box magazine.

PPD-40 7.62mm submachine gun.

PPS-43 7.62mm submachine gun.

PPSh1941 7.62mm submachine gun.

RG-41 grenade.

RG-42 grenade.

RG-42 Grenade and cutaway.

Fragmentation grenade RG-42.

RGD-33 stick hand grenade with the optional fragmentation jacket in place.

RGD-33 is an anti-personnel fragmentation stick grenade developed in 1933.

A diagram of a RGD-33 grenade (and fragmentation jacket), and a cutaway showing it's workings.

37mm Spade Mortar ready for action.

37mm Spade Mortar ready for use as a spade.

The head of the Central Women’s School of Sniper Training’s political department talks to women snipers before they leave for the front. The school graduated 1,885 snipers and instructors during the war.

Russian prisoners of war. Finland.

Soviet soldier inspects a downed German aircraft.

Soviet soldiers inspect a downed Ju 52.

Soviet aircraft sound detection unit.