List of Soviet Union military equipment of World War II
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (March 2014)
The following is a list of Soviet military equipment of World War II which includes firearms, artillery, vehicles, aircraft and warships. World War II was the deadliest war in history which started in 1939 and ended in 1945. Following political instability built-up in Europe from 1930, Nazi Germany, which aimed to dominate Europe, attacked Poland on 1 September 1939 marking the official start of World War II. The USSR (Soviet Union) used Poland as a buffer from Germany from 17 September 1939, when the Polish state and its government actually ceased to exist. Germany with its allies attacked the USSR on 22 June 1941, and the country lost 26.6 million people during four years of the Great Patriotic war. The war in Europe ended on 7 May 1945 with the capitulation of Germany to the allied (including Soviet) forces. About 80-90% of losses during the entire war the German armed forces suffered on the Soviet (Eastern) front, whose contribution to the victory was decisive. By the end of the war, the Soviet Union produced 30.3 million rifles; 1.476 million machine guns; 516,648 artillery guns; 347,900 mortars; 119,769 tanks and self-propelled guns; 265,600 army trucks; 213,742 military aircraft; 2 cruisers; 25 destroyers; 52 submarines.[1]
Helmets
Name
Type
Origin
Photo
Notes
SSh-36
Combat helmet
Soviet Union
It was designed by Aleksandr A. Shvartz, and began production in 1936 to 1941
SSh-39
Combat helmet
Soviet Union
The SSh-39 was of simple, more modern design, and was much easier to manufacture than the SSh-36. The SSh-39 would be the standard design for Soviet helmets for the next 29 years, with only minor changes occurring during that time.
SSh-40
Combat helmet
Soviet Union
The SSh-40 was most commonly seen in-service helmet used by the Soviet Union during World War II
Body Armour
Name
Type
Origin
Photo
Notes
Steel Bib
Body Armour
Soviet Union
Steel breastplate, or Stalnoi Nagrudnik (Russian: Стальной нагрудник) is a type of body armor similar to a cuirass developed by the Red Army in World War II.
Knives
Name
Type
Origin
Photo
Notes
NR-40
Combat knife
Soviet Union
Soviet combat knife that was produced after the Winter War in 1940.
Soviet bayonet knife issued with the AVS-36 automatic rifle. The fact that the AVS-36 was used in very limited numbers; most without the bayonet; made it very rare.
10-round magazine. Modified SVT-40 with a different firing selector. Produced from May 1942 until halted in the summer of 1943 due to mostly uncontrollable automatic fire and breakage.
Used during the Winter War. It was designed by L.V. Kurchevsky in 1930 and entered service in 1932. It was able to be mounted on GAZ-A trucks, becoming SU-4 self-propelled guns.[6]
Improvised incendiary bottles that were thrown at armoured vehicles. Invented by the Spanish Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. First widely used by Finnish troops against the Soviets during the Winter War.
Attachment for Mosin-Nagant rifles. Special bottles with incendiary mixtures were used. The bottles were produced in 1942, but became obsolete once Red Army troops were equipped with more anti-tank guns and rifles.
The 76-mm regimental guns model 1927 together with the Soviet infantry passed the Battle of Lake Khasan and the Battles of Khalkhin Gol, the Winter War and the Great Patriotic War. During offensives, such regimental guns, which were respected by soldiers, had to follow by their crews directly in infantry combat formations in order to quickly suppress the enemy firepower, interfering with the advance of troops. Until 1941, the guns were produced at Kirov Plant in Leningrad, and in 1942–1943 - at Plant No. 172 in Perm.
It was used by the Soviet Navy for most of their ships from 1934 as its primary light anti-aircraft gun until replaced by the fully automatic 37 mm 70-K gun from 1942 to 1943.
Jan. 1944 – Dec. 1946: 25,914 (also under license - 2,736 in Czechoslovakia in 1951 – 1956 & 1,380 in Poland in 1952 – 1956)[8]
A development of a deep modernization of the T-34 medium tank (especially its armament) began in summer 1943. To combat new German Tiger I and Panther tanks, a powerful 85-mm ZIS-S-53 tank gun was mounted within a new larger turret for T-34. T-34-85 medium tanks were produced at Plants No. 112 (in Gorky), No. 183 (in Nizhny Tagil) and No. 174 (in Omsk).
A self-propelled gun that was on the T-26 light tank chassis. SU-5-1 was armed with the 76.2mm divisional gun mod. 1902/30. SU-5-2 was armed with the 122mm howitzer mod. 1910/30.
The SU-76M was the second most produced Soviet AFV of World War II, after the T-34 medium tank. Developed under the leadership of chief designer S.A. Ginzburg (1900–1943). This infantry support SPG was based on the lengthened T-70 light tank chassis and armed with the ZIS-3 76-mm divisional field gun.
First Soviet series-produced armoured car. The main armament was the 37mm Puteaux SA 18. Some were captured during the German invasion of the Soviet Union.
Its main armament was the 37mm 7K gun. The design of the BA-I started a series of heavy armoured cars of Izhorsky plant. These included: BA-3, BA-6, BA-9, and BA-10.
Very similar to the BA-3. Both were used against the Japanese in the Battle of Khalkhyn Gol, in the Finnish Winter War, and against the Germans in the early stages of the Eastern Front.
NI tank was a Soviet improvised fighting vehicle, based on an STZ-3 agricultural tractor, manufactured in Odessa during the Siege of Odessa in World War II
Dodge WC series were one of the most popular vehicles during World War II. These U.S. military four-wheel drive vehicles (weapons carriers) were supplied to USSR under a Lend-Lease program mainly in two variants – with or without front winch (WC52 and WC51). With a payload of 750 kg (3/4 t), these 4 х 4 off-road vehicles with two seater open cab, multipurpose bed and canvas cover were intermediate between jeeps and trucks.
Motorcycle meant to replace the PMZ-A-750 and TIZ-AM-600. In the Eastern Front, motorcycles were produced at both the IMZ and GMZ motorcycle plants. All sidecars for both the M-72 and American Lend-Lease bikes were produced at the GMZ.
These were most often used to haul artillery, carry troops, and unintentionally as a Tankette/Gun Carrier/APC. It was used during the Winter War and the first half of World War 2. They were often captured by the German Army and fitted with Pak guns.
Oct. 1942 – Dec. 1948: 16,769 (14,579 during WWII)[13]
Yak-9 was mass-produced in different variants (front-line fighters mainly, fighter-bomber, high-altitude interceptor etc.) at three Soviet large aircraft plants - in Novosibirsk, Omsk and Moscow. Yak-9 was developed from the earlier Yak-1 and Yak-7 fighters of A.S. Yakovlev Design Bureau. Used in all major World War II operations of the Red Army, starting with the Battle of Stalingrad in autumn 1942.
^Cohen, Eliot A.; Glantz, David M.; House, Jonathan (1995). "When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler". Foreign Affairs. 75 (3): 306. doi:10.2307/20047605. ISSN 0015-7120. JSTOR 20047605.
^Пистолет // Гражданская война и военная интервенция в СССР. Энциклопедия / редколл., гл. ред. С. С. Хромов. — 2-е изд. — М., «Советская энциклопедия», 1987. стр.464
^Thompson, Leroy (20 May 2011). The Colt 1911 Pistol. Weapon 9. Osprey Publishing. p. 47. ISBN 9781849084338.
^Sami Korhonen (1 November 2000). "Soviet artillery used the during Winter War". The Battles of the Winter War. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
^Shirokorad, Alexander (2000). Энциклопедия отечественной артиллерии [Encyclopedia of Russian Artillery] (in Russian). Minsk: Kharvest. p. 1156. ISBN 985-433-703-0.
^Baryatinskii, Mikhail (2007). Т-34. Лучший танк Второй мировой. [T-34. The best tank of the Second World War.] (in Russian). Moscow: Eksmo. p. 144. ISBN 5-699-19080-5.
^Chubachin, Alexander V. (2009). СУ-76. "Братская могила экипажа" или оружие Победы? [SU-76. "Mass Grave of the Crew" or Weapon of Victory?] (in Russian). Moscow: Yauza. BTV-Kniga. Eksmo. p. 112. ISBN 978-5-699-32965-6.
^ abcd"Lend-Lease Armoured Vehicles supplied to the Red Army 1941–1945". WW2 Weapons. 18 December 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
^Lend-Lease Shipments: World War II, Section IIIB, Published by Office, Chief of Finance, War Department, 31 December 1946, p. 8.
^Kochnev, Evgenii (2010). Военные автомобили Союзников [Military Cars of the Allies] (in Russian). Moscow: Yauza. Eksmo. p. 512. ISBN 978-5-699-41199-3.
^Yakubovich, Nikolai V. (2008). Истребитель Як-9. Заслуженный «фронтовик» [Yak-9 Fighter. An Honored “Veteran”] (in Russian). Moscow: Kollektsia. Yauza. Eksmo. p. 112. ISBN 978-5-699-29168-7.