WW2 SVT-40 picture
- Thread starter Mobular
- Start date
This looks like one of Stalin's propaganda pictures, lol!
Young peasant recruits were not issued SVT-40's, from what I've been reading.... they were reserved for the "experienced" soldiers (deemed too complicated and too finicky a rifle for greenhorns) and so the noobs were issued Mosins instead, generally speaking.
That medal is a nice touch too... definitely something that'd make you want to join the fight for the motherland if you were young and impressionable, lol! (except that in reality everyone got some sort of medal every week, haha)
Young peasant recruits were not issued SVT-40's, from what I've been reading.... they were reserved for the "experienced" soldiers (deemed too complicated and too finicky a rifle for greenhorns) and so the noobs were issued Mosins instead, generally speaking.
That medal is a nice touch too... definitely something that'd make you want to join the fight for the motherland if you were young and impressionable, lol! (except that in reality everyone got some sort of medal every week, haha)
gewehr76
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
They used that muzzle brake as early as 1940. So saying late production is kinda false. Say 2nd generation muzzle brake maybe?
Yes regular troops didn't like SVT due to complicated mechanisms, however troops that were mechanized and had been trained to fix and maintain equipment had no trouble with SVT.
Medals were never given out every day, they would however posthumously. So any award in soviet army given during service was proudly worn even in areas where cammo is needed and any shining metal will give away your position.
Yes regular troops didn't like SVT due to complicated mechanisms, however troops that were mechanized and had been trained to fix and maintain equipment had no trouble with SVT.
Medals were never given out every day, they would however posthumously. So any award in soviet army given during service was proudly worn even in areas where cammo is needed and any shining metal will give away your position.
This looks like one of Stalin's propaganda pictures, lol
That medal is a nice touch too... definitely something that'd make you want to join the fight for the motherland if you were young and impressionable, lol! (except that in reality everyone got some sort of medal every week, haha)
What the previous poster said and also don't forget that defending the motherland was not optional those days.
Second type of muzzle brake appeared first on Podolsk rifles in the end of production (Aug-Sep 1941) and on the Tula rifles in Dec of 1941 (after factory was evacuated to Mednogorsk, so technically not Tula anymore). Provided SVT-40 was produced 1940-1945 this second type is not really "late", how we got used to call it.
Interesting picture! I have to agree with those who are calling it a propaganda photo, too idealized a view of war: well turned out
young man using binoculars to look for a Nazi to shoot rather than in the mud under fire by the enemy. Still, great to see a rifle
that I have in an old photo!
young man using binoculars to look for a Nazi to shoot rather than in the mud under fire by the enemy. Still, great to see a rifle
that I have in an old photo!
- Location
- On a resonably direct route in NS
Of course it's idealized; very few war photographs of this time were truly candid in the moment. Almost any shot would be posed, maybe based on something the photographer had just seen and then asked the servicemen to repeat, but often going further to stage some things and make it look better/more dramatic/heroic/whatever. It's not really until Vietnam that the journalistic war photographer appeared.
The medal looks like it may be the silver Medal for Courage, a low-level combat award (as these things go), instituted in 1938 and of which probably a million were awarded during the War.* Very little detail in this pic but I think I can make out the angular form of the T-35 tank on it. The early suspension puts it at 1943 or prior. If the photographer wanted to jazz up the picture, he could have pinned the star of the Order of Glory on the kid, that would have been far more impressive.
Yes it's true that if you won a medal during the War, you'd wear the darn thing. It's good for the pride and morale of the recipient and everyone around him; isn't that what medals are for? Whether on retreat at the start, or pushing to Berlin once the tide turned, the war machine was rolling and there was no time to stop. If you think the medal sticks out, what about the photographer standing out in front of the camouflaged observation post, do you think the enemy spotted him? Of course it's posed!
As far as propaganda goes, the USSR were masters, to be sure. However, they had a proud military tradition, and certainly didn't go about inventing heroes for no good merit (they had plenty of actual brave saps to shine up for the masses). Now in the graphic arts, there is a strong showing in poster design. If you're looking for idealized fake heroes made up of composite features, look to the literally millions of posters they plastered all over the land.
* The Red Army apparently had just under 30 million pass though service in the Great Patriotic War, with 9 million or maybe more dying. If a million Bravery medals are given out, that's like one per platoon, including many posthumous awards. In the heady celebration of victory a couple million more were presented after the close of hostilities, recognizing actions that there wasn't enough time to get around to during the peak of the fighting. And the medal remained up until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in '91, culminating in serial number 4,5 million and something.
I like the picture.
The medal looks like it may be the silver Medal for Courage, a low-level combat award (as these things go), instituted in 1938 and of which probably a million were awarded during the War.* Very little detail in this pic but I think I can make out the angular form of the T-35 tank on it. The early suspension puts it at 1943 or prior. If the photographer wanted to jazz up the picture, he could have pinned the star of the Order of Glory on the kid, that would have been far more impressive.
Yes it's true that if you won a medal during the War, you'd wear the darn thing. It's good for the pride and morale of the recipient and everyone around him; isn't that what medals are for? Whether on retreat at the start, or pushing to Berlin once the tide turned, the war machine was rolling and there was no time to stop. If you think the medal sticks out, what about the photographer standing out in front of the camouflaged observation post, do you think the enemy spotted him? Of course it's posed!
As far as propaganda goes, the USSR were masters, to be sure. However, they had a proud military tradition, and certainly didn't go about inventing heroes for no good merit (they had plenty of actual brave saps to shine up for the masses). Now in the graphic arts, there is a strong showing in poster design. If you're looking for idealized fake heroes made up of composite features, look to the literally millions of posters they plastered all over the land.
* The Red Army apparently had just under 30 million pass though service in the Great Patriotic War, with 9 million or maybe more dying. If a million Bravery medals are given out, that's like one per platoon, including many posthumous awards. In the heady celebration of victory a couple million more were presented after the close of hostilities, recognizing actions that there wasn't enough time to get around to during the peak of the fighting. And the medal remained up until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in '91, culminating in serial number 4,5 million and something.
I like the picture.
The myth that the Mosin was designed for "simple peasants" seems to have it's source in Lapin's not too scholarly work on the subject. The North American equivalent of "peasant" is farmer or more generally a rural resident. As a rule people in the countryside excel at making do, and fixing things themselves. Peasants tend to work with their hands and have a much better understanding of mechanical devices than lawyers and accountants.
The fact that the Mosin was simple to manufacture and easy to maintain in very difficult circumstances are highly desirable traits in their own right.
"Suitable for illiterate peasants" displays unfounded cultural bias. The Master race found out the hard way that you don't need a college degree to shoot straight (and you still don't).
The fact that the Mosin was simple to manufacture and easy to maintain in very difficult circumstances are highly desirable traits in their own right.
"Suitable for illiterate peasants" displays unfounded cultural bias. The Master race found out the hard way that you don't need a college degree to shoot straight (and you still don't).
- Location
- Leduc County, Alberta
Yes regular troops didn't like SVT due to complicated mechanisms, however troops that were mechanized and had been trained to fix and maintain equipment had no trouble with SVT.
I doubt, very much, that what soldiers do, or do no,t like has ever had any bearing on what they got issued. You get what you are given.
I doubt, very much, that what soldiers do, or do no,t like has ever had any bearing on what they got issued. You get what you are given.
gewehr76
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Well absolutely, they say jump soldiers say how high.
Some would be rather dead than say something bad about the best military equipment of red army.
But when reports to high command from Finish front come about malfunctions and casualties due to failures in svt38 then redesign was followed.
And when real shtf in 1941 then there was no time to redesign and reequip. That's why mosin ruled the battlefield since 1942 because it was reliable and simple.
Of course svt is fine and ahead of its counterparts from other countries, but when you had to march 20k and then dig up fox hole after that, there was no time to clean rifles. That's why I say mechanized troops were much more likely to get these rifles.
Of its hard to be Big Mouth on cgn, so much typing.
Some would be rather dead than say something bad about the best military equipment of red army.
But when reports to high command from Finish front come about malfunctions and casualties due to failures in svt38 then redesign was followed.
And when real shtf in 1941 then there was no time to redesign and reequip. That's why mosin ruled the battlefield since 1942 because it was reliable and simple.
Of course svt is fine and ahead of its counterparts from other countries, but when you had to march 20k and then dig up fox hole after that, there was no time to clean rifles. That's why I say mechanized troops were much more likely to get these rifles.
Of its hard to be Big Mouth on cgn, so much typing.
