Reds With Rockets: Difference between revisions

{{Useful Notes}}

[[File:Party-Tank.jpg|frame|T-34, one tank to rule them all.]]

 

Largely a conscript force, unlike the USA's more volunteer force (at least after the [[Vietnam War]]). Pretty much everything about Soviet armed forces was designed around reliability, from durable-but-simple vehicles, to every distinct form of weapon having a distinctly named ammo (even if two different weapons had, say, rounds 40mm in diameter, the Soviets would call one of them a 38mm round, just so idiots in the supply chain would be less likely to make mistakes). The durable-but-simple philosophy also made it possible for the Soviets to have a remarkably successful foreign arms trade, even with lower productivity in their electronics sector; versions of vehicles made for export simply left out the bits that were tricky to manufacture. Thus, say, the BMP-2 that Egypt operated was a ''much'' different beast than the BMP-2 that the Soviets themselves had.

 

 

It is generally accepted that from c.1972 to end of the '80s, NATO would not have been able to defend Western Europe militarily from a Soviet assault without using [[Superior Firepower]]...although Soviet documents from the time seem to disagree. What's more, for much of this period tensions between the two powers were at a low, with the situation only escalating in the "Second Cold War", post-1979. By the post-Cold War era, conventional high technology weapons and equipment were being deployed which worked against the Soviets' large mechanized forces to the point that they were becoming a decided vulnerability.

'''Battle Balalaikas: Their Notable Hand Weapons'''

 

** "The one with the rifle shoots. The one without the rifle follows. When the one with the rifle is killed, the one that follows picks up the rifle and fires.". Yep, it's in ''[[Enemy at the Gates]]''. Zaytsev and Pavlichenko (a female Soviet sniper with a similar number of kills to Zaytsev) both used this.

*** Slightly misleading, while it was a major problem in WW1 the Soviet Union in WW2 generally had enough rifles. Now ammunition on the other hand...

** Ths Mosin-Nagant was in production until 1956(in China). Because they're available for around $79 at most stores in the US compared to several hundred dollars for a typical bolt-action rifle or shotgun, the Mosin is often a first purchase or hobby gun for those who don't feel like dumping money into the shooting hobby. Ammunition can be bought in "spam cans" by the hundreds of rounds, too.

** If you're played a [[World War Two]] game involving the Red Army (but '''not''' ''[[Battlefield 1942]]''), you will almost certainly have "fired" this at some point.

** Notable for having ''too much'' [[More Dakka|dakka]]. For an army that had a lot more trouble sourcing ammunition than weapons, a cyclic rate of fire of 900 rounds per minute was very wasteful.

** Don't forget its brother the AK-74. Better accuracy, <s>[[Nerf|better]]</s> lighter ammo but only about half famous.

** Even today Russian army uses the [[wikipedia:AK-103|AK-103]], a descendant firing the same 7.62 round.

** Since the SKS is basically a normal rifle, it is allowed practically in any country where a semi-automatic rifle is legal - it's possible to convert it to bolt action too. It is not uncommon to see the SKS used as a deer rifle, and like the Mosin, they are available for pretty cheap.

** Like the AK-47, the SKS has an unbelievable market for customization. You can add detachable magazines, rifle grenade launchers, folder "pig-sticker" bayonets, enhanced sights, even convert them to futuristic bullpups.

* Strela-2 ("arrow")/SA-7 "Grail"- the first Soviet man-portable SAM. Terrorists like the thing. Wasn't very powerful (it got better in the Strela-2M/SA-7B version) and loved the Sun too much.

 

 

** In contrast to the overengineered German tanks, the T-34 was designed so that it could be maintained and repaired by a conscript soldier with minimal training and equipment. This proved something of an advantage on the Eastern Front.

* T-55: The most produced tank in history, with up to 100,000 built and many still in use.

* T-64: The first Soviet tank to use a 125mm main gun in the T-64A variant and nearly every tank from the former USSR has followed its basic design concept of a low profile hull, small turret and carousel autoloader. It was never exported outside of the Soviet Union. This tank, along with the later T-80 were the main tanks of the high-category groups of forces stationed outside of the Soviet Union.

* T-72: The main tank up from the 1970s up to the collapse of the [[Soviet Union]] in their western military districts. The poor performance of export versions against tanks of the M1 Abrams generation has damaged its reputation, but Iraq proved its superiority over a comparable force of exported M60 Pattons in the Iran-Iraq War.

In [[World War II]] and the [[Cold War]], the cornerstone of the Soviet design for the offensive was the concept of deep battle and deep operations. Tactical forward and raiding detachments and subsequently operational maneuver groups would be inserted into the enemy's rear at the earliest possible moment. These were to undermine fatally the stability of the defense by seizing depth defense lines before they could be occupied by the enemy, by combating enemy reserves in meeting battles, by destroying the command structure and logistic support on which the front line formations depended to halt the attacker's main forces, and by encircling the enemy's defending groupings. In this way the enemy would be defeated more or less simultaneously in front and rear, and his defense would be collapsed and destroyed rather than merely pushed back to fight again once reinforced from the depth or passive sectors.

 

 

Some words must be said about Soviet nuclear strategy and escalation: Contrary to popular belief, the Soviets would ''never'' initiate the use of nuclear weapons in a war. In the context of a conventional war, the Soviets would use nuclear weapons if NATO decided on their ''mass'' use first, or if the Soviet homeland was being threatened with a strategic offensive. The Soviets never planned on nuking to "recharge" a bogged-down offensive. The Soviet leadership claimed that NATO use of any nuclear weapon would be responded with all-out nuclear war, but the General Staff considered the possibility of proportionate responses to a limited U.S. attack, although they "doubted that nuclear war could remain limited for long."

During the [[Red October]] era they coexisted (and fought) with [[Russians With Rifles]]. They won: rocket beats rifle, doesn't it? With the collapse of the USSR we now have [[Tricolours With Rusting Rockets]].

 

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Forces With Firepower]]

[[Category:Dirty Communists]]

[[Category:Useful Notes/Russia]]