Runyan99 Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 I have been noticing the slogans painted on the sides of Russian tanks. It seems to have been fairly common practice to put something or other on the turret, and as you look at Russian tanks there seems to be a great variety of things painted or scrawled on them. I thought I would try to figure out what their significance was. Here is one I commonly see in pictures and models, particularly on T-34s. It came out of my Free Translation Online as "the native land", and which I take to actually mean - The Motherland! Here was another I found. The best I could get from my online translator was Stalinets (?) Here is a model with two long words I was unable to translate. Can someone help? I wonder - was painting these slogans usually a genuinely patriotic gesture on the part of the tank crews, or were these additions mandated by officers or commissars? Sadly, I do not suppose this is something modders are going to be able to add to their CMBB models. Last I heard, tanks had only one texture for both sides of the turret, so the famous tanks 808 and 101 may still be common sights on the CMBB battlefield. Any slogans added would just come out backwards on the reverse side of the tank. Anyways, anyone else have any interesting examples of turret slogans? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgars Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 Indeed, the first one means "For motherland" The second one is a bit harder to translate, in English it might sound like "Stalin's" or somefink. The third slogan means "Kolhozniks of Chelabinsk" - Chelabinsk is a city in Russia, kolhozniks are, well, workers of "kolhoz" (collective "farm"). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 Originally posted by ciks: Indeed, the first one means "For motherland" Interesting enough that Germans always fight for their FATHERland... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgars Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 Originally posted by Ozzy: </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by ciks: Indeed, the first one means "For motherland" Interesting enough that Germans always fight for their FATHERland...</font> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 Can anyone tell what this says over here? The alphabet on the turret looks more like Tamili than Cyrilic to me... At least this ISU-152 here refers to "the liberators of Kirovograd", Osvobozhdennyi Kirovograd. The SU-76M has two phrases, the one on the gun mantlet means "Brave" (Smelyi) and in the rear "Victory for us!", Pobeda za nami! Finally, this BA-64 suggests to go "Forward to west!" (Vperyod na Zapad!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeT Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 Runyan, I had read that originally Stalin tried to motivate his soldiers with patriotic sayings centered around him, figures doesn't it? Oddly it wasn't that successful. However he changed tactics and started to appeal to their feelings for their country. That seemed to work better and that took off. I have read where slogans were put on at the factory, such as "paid by workers of farm XYZ". MikeT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tools4fools Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 Originally posted by Runyan99: [QB]Any slogans added would just come out backwards on the reverse side of the tank. QB]Indeed, but the modders might put the slogans on the rear side of the turret instead... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgars Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 Originally posted by Sergei: Can anyone tell what this says over here? The alphabet on the turret looks more like Tamili than Cyrilic to me...Looks like Georgian writing, but i can't provide any details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 Actually, there's just ONE tank we might be able to put slogans. I've alrready done a nifty mod of the CMBO Churchill (which has a left side and right side turret bmp) backdating it to lend-lease Mk III standards with a slogan saying "Forward to Berlin!" on each side. Of course, the chances are EXTREMELY slight that it'll fit a CMBB polygon, but damn it was FUN to do! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Weiss Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 I think the last one reads; "Put a Tiger in your tank". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stalingrd Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 At Kubinka, I saw an old armored car that said "Smash Capitalism" on the side... from the revolution/civil war. Not a big theme for tanks by WWII.. Stalin suppressed Trotsky's international world revolution talk (along with Trotsky himself) in favor of patriotic slogans. This was completely out of desperation for Russian unity in a time of grave crisis (Stalin threatened with losing his power of course) I also saw some that would have youth groups (Komsomol) names on the turret, as they would raise funds to pay for a certain tank.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nidan1 Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 I read that a lot of the slogans were put there by the workers in the tank assembly plants. A lot of Russian tanks went straight to the front from the assembly line without paint jobs at all, and I guess the slogans were meant to be morale boosters for the crews. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 Funny thing about that 'paint job' story. I recently read somewhere (a Russian tank website?) that the tales of bare metal tanks leaving the Stalingrad plant were just a myth. I personally don't know what's true and what isn't in that regard. At the same time the German were apparently turning out tanks only half-painted with red primer interiors and the red primer used as a dominant 'camou color'! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breakthrough Posted August 15, 2002 Share Posted August 15, 2002 Cyrillic versions of the English Limerick were to be found as well as patriotic exhortations. The following is one example from the Noodniki Tank Work Museum; "A certain young soldier named Serge" "had trouble controlling his urge" "So he made a pass, at the Comissars wifes a**" "So he was shot!" :eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runyan99 Posted August 15, 2002 Author Share Posted August 15, 2002 Originally posted by Breakthrough: "A certain young soldier named Serge" "had trouble controlling his urge" "So he made a pass, at the Comissars wifes a**" "So he was shot!" :eek: Not very catchy. I guess it loses something in the translation... [ August 14, 2002, 08:18 PM: Message edited by: Runyan99 ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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