Jump to content

SVT 40 & Changing Red Army Squad Organization


Recommended Posts

Brother George sent me this. It starts out with a look at the whole Soviet concept of land warfare in context, talks about the developments which led first, to the SVT-38, then the SVT-40, including who had the rifle, why, the vision vs actuality, changes in TO&E over time and a highly detailed walkthrough of the weapon as far as operation and field stripping. The squad charts are a bit confusing because a Maxim MMG is shown in the graphics, though he clearly says LMG. Though the title clearly says "tactics", there is little per se on those.
 

Regards,

John Kettler

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the Fire and Rubble module I've notice the availability of the SVT-40 seems to have dropped sharply compared to the basegame. There had been complaints earlier that SVT-40 was too common in the basegame. It wasn't a modern late war weapon but a 1941 weapon that got increasingly rare over time. The German G41 rifle sometimes gets called the 'German Garand' but its more accurate to call it the German SVT-40.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Wasn't it particularly common with naval infantry units, or am I mixing it up with another semi-auto rifle?

Yes. I am a dev for Forgotten Hope 2 and made a map set in May 1942 in the arctic circle that features Soviet Naval Rifle Troops. We found the original strength reports for them and about 2/3rds were equipped with SVT40s. They also had other unusual weapons, for example PPD34 submachine guns and even 3 Thompsons. Note that this was very early in the war though. Later it seems like many SVTs (and starting 1942, AVTs, which replaced them in production) actually went to the troops of nations allied to the Soviet, for example to the Poles and the Czechs. By 1944 and 1945 they are very hard to track, because they were actually deleted from the official strength report forms - there simply is no column left for them, that is how unimportant they were at that point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

MikeyD,

Don't recognize the reference to Fire & Rubble. Is that a CMRT module? If so, I don't own that game, hence, don't recognize it.

Sgt.Squarehead,

Info I have is that you are correct. Suspect the Navy had so many because it was much easier to arm the navy than it was to arm the main ground force. The original intent was to arm that horde with the SVT-40, but war came too soon, and wartime  strategic priorities for hours to build, materials, manufacturing complexity, etc., sank the plan.

Ts4EVER,

Good stuff. Anyone interested in Spec Ops who hasn't read Leonov's Blood on the Shores urgently needs to do so. His unit and similar were the ancestors of naval Spetsnaz, now presumably part of SO. Extremely NSFW short course on Leonov, including some good artwork, illustrations and pics, is at link. Here is a re-enactor with his depiction of Soviet Naval Infantry.
 

Regards,

John Kettler

.  
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...