Review by Martin Koenigsberg
Gotta say i really liked this edition of the Casemate Illustrated series. Simon Forty is an author with a lot of Military History experience, and he takes us through the Soviet War effort at the Infantry level. In the Casemate Illustrated style, the book is absolutely littered with Colour Photos of gear- generally a mix of Museum/Private collection artifacts or re-enactors in recreations. The quality of the photos is right there for Gamers/Modelers, and reader will fully understand the Soviet Infantryman and his or her equipment. Even the lay reader will notice the lower production values of Soviet Gear compared to Allied (usually American) or Nazi German accoutrements. Soviet product methods were often crude and simple- but tended to function in a vast range of environments. This book tells that tale effectively. The Germans had seen the incompetence of the Soviets during the early Winter War in Finland and knew they could thump the simpleton Red Army in just a few short months. The Soviets, even as they lost a whole enormous pre-war army in retreat, losing huge battles of envelopement, were learning. And also, they were getting a whole generation of officers out of the NKVD Gulag and back into command of new formations with old weapons. Soviet production focused on a few effective weapons, and Soviet command organisations were streamlined. Once the Allied logistical chains were secured- through Iran in the South and Vladivostok in the North- the Red Army learned to be inventive and more efficient in their pursuit of their “Deep Battle” Operational plans. At the core of all moves , no matter how important Tanks and artillery were in the Soviet war effort, was the Soviet “Ivan” – with his simple yet effective rifle or submachine gun, dressed in his Khaki, fueled with seething hatred of the invader- ready to do whatever it took to remove the Fascist running dogs from the beloved Rodina- the home land… There are a few adult themes, and of course Communism, so this is for the Junior Reader over 12/13 years. For the Gamer/Modeler/Military Enthusiast, the intended audience , this is a nice useful tome. The Gamer gets a whole guide to the Red Army- how to organise it, paint it and fight it, to a certain extent- more books on tactics might be useful too. The Modeler gets all those colour photos- and all the gear, so they can paint it in 1/300 micro-armour tor 54mm diorama work. For the Military Enthusiast, this is a quick guide to a whole Soviet way of war in the Great Patriotic War. The general audience reader will find an easy way to understand mid 20th Century warfare in Russia.
#WhatAreYouReading #BookReviews #20thCenturyHistory #MilitaryHistory #SovietHistory #NaziHistory #RussianHistory #GermanHistory #UkrainianHistory #BelarussianHistory #GreatPatrioticWar #EasternFront #WWIIHistory #SWWHistory #WWII #SWW #WargameResearch #TheSovietInfantrymanOnTheEasternFront #SimonForty #CasemateIllustratedSeries #MenBattlesWeapons #CasematePublishing #Barbarossa #Stalingrad #Kursk #Berlin #FlamesOfWar #BoltAction #WorldWarIIWargaming
