Colorized WW2 Russian Front Photos

T

Thiopento

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
64   0   0
Location
Toronto
Got a kick out of seeing these, makes me think anew all the history my mosin's been through! Enjoy.

http://englishrussia.com/2014/03/18/color-photos-of-the-war-time/2/
 
Thanks for posting

I like their camouflage
redarmycolor001-63.jpg
 
Great photo's, and the coloring adds to the overall effect, but.....

is it just me, or does the green in colorized photos always seem off? There's probably a whole combination of factors involved, but it seems the green looks the worst.

(E) :cool:
 
David1974 said:
In some of those picures. I noticed 3 different Nagant sniper scopes. What are the different types?
Click to expand...

The earliest ones were the PE and it was mounted on the front part of the receiver. The scope were of higher quality then the later ones and they were made in Germany. The PE we to expensive so the Russians made their own simplified version the PEM. It used a similar side mount as the German kar98 snipers. Then there's the PU which is what's currently available.
 
Some observations:

Great most of those photos are staged, made for propaganda and/or Western press(pre,during and post war).

All of them have been "colorized" in the late 40's and 50's.Originals where black&white.I don't know what that process was called but it was done during developing stage.

Picture of PE-8 bomber is rare.Very few of Pe-8 where made and very few pictures survive.

Only one picture from Finnish front-Soviets weren't proud of that?

There is quite few pictures of actual heroes-air aces,tank commanders,AT gun gunners etc.I remember those from old Polish military publications.

I have great respect for Russians,a lot less for the system and the situation they were put in.There was nothing fake about them and Wehrmacht knew that.
RIP (i)
 
Caleb314 said:
The earliest ones were the PE and it was mounted on the front part of the receiver. The scope were of higher quality then the later ones and they were made in Germany. The PE we to expensive so the Russians made their own simplified version the PEM. It used a similar side mount as the German kar98 snipers. Then there's the PU which is what's currently available.
Click to expand...

The PE scope was the first, based on the Zeiss Zeilvier with focus adjustment directly copied from a scope made in the 30s by Emil Busch in Rathenow. I have photos of one on another drive. The Soviets did indeed buy some Zeiss Zeilviers and Carl Zeiss Jena sold a more or less complete manufacturing facility to the Soviets in the late 1920s or early 1930s. Apparently this paid for an updating of the relevant Zeiss facility. The Germans were conducting secret training and experimentation work in Russia from early in the 1920s. What they couldn't conceal from the Allied Control Commission or other prying eyes, they did in Russia. In the process of course they helped the Red Army & Navy develop greatly...they may have regretted that later. The Soviets played around with some fancy two piece mounts similar to some German types, but then went with the PEM in the "long side rail" type mount, followed by the "overhead" mount held on with six screws. They dropped the focus adjustment and it became the PEM. They came out with the PU scope and mount last, and of course there were the Tokarevs as too. It's all spelled out here: http://www.mosinnagant.net/sniper section/sniperphotos1.asp Except for the part about the factory sale and the Busch scope that is.

Anyway, the Soviets fielded more snipers sooner than anyone else, including the Germans and with better equipment. Notice even the 90° boresighter that was issued with the rifles! Somewhere I saw a quote from one German regimental history which said they lost about 75 men in one day to Soviet snipers at some point in the campaign. For propaganda and chauvinist reasons, there was and is an tendency to downplay the Soviet innovations and effectiveness. The memoirs that are coming out now help to redress the balance a bit. Think about how many hardy, close to the soil, keen eyed folk the Soviets had, people to whom fieldcraft would come naturally due to living an outdoor life. Even after killing off 15,000,000 or so of their best from 1918 to 1941, they still had a lot of good material left. And by the way, the best material went into the MVD and NKVD forces and most of them survived the war because it was their job to herd the B and C and D grade recruits to their doom!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom