This release sees the introduction of a range of lights vehicles for the Soviets, ranging from motorcycle equipped troops to staff cars to an artillery tractor, and even a motorised tachanka!
As always, here’s a little background on the various new units…..
GAZ-67
The GAZ-67 was a 4×4 jeep built and used by the Soviet Union during WWII. Originally based on the Willys Jeep, the GAZ-67 was just as rugged, reliable and useful as its American counterpart.
Over 92,000 were produced and saw service from 1943 through the war and into the 1950’s.
GAZ M1 car
The GAZ-M1 was a Soviet passenger car of the 1930s that widely saw use as a staff car during WWII. The chassis was also used as the basis for the BA-20 armoured car.
This model is available as an open topped or hardtop variant.
Willys Tachanka
The Tachanka was originally developed during WWI as a mobile machine gun platform. While their use continued through the interwar years and even into WWII, they were also updated to create more of a modern “technical” style vehicle. This included taking the basic concept and replacing the horse drawn cart with a jeep, thus creating a smaller, more survivable vehicle that was faster and less likely to get stuck in rough terrain.
STZ-5
The STZ-5 was an artillery tractor produced and used by the Soviet Union during WWII. Smaller than the Komintern and similar tractors, it was capable of carrying 1.5t on its rear bed, or of towing up to 8t. It has excellent reliability though poor power. Despite narrow tracks and a relatively high ground pressure, it also had good country capabilities.
A few STZ-5 were also adapted to carry the BM-13-16 rocket launcher; a weapon system more commonly associated with the ZIS truck based Katyusha vehicles.
Motorbike troops
During WWII, the Soviet Union used motorcycle troops as forward recon units for armored columns, as well as for capture of strategic points such as bridges. The most common motorbike, the IMZ-Ural M-72, was a direct copy of the German BMW R-71 and was a heavy, but sturdy, machine.
This unit is supplied as 4 riders and 1 NCO.
Motorbike with SMG sidecar
In addition to single mounted troops, sometimes Soviet motorcycle formations were equipped with a sidecar combination, allowing 2 soldiers to be carried more easily by a single bike. Sometimes these were equipped with an MMG, but often were just normal SMG armed soldiers as with the rest of the unit.
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We hope that you found this little bit of background history and that soon our models will be reinforcing your Soviet armies – Ura!