The Soviet Soldier: 1941 - 1945 Hardcover – 1 Jun. 2011

As anyone who looks through my reviews will notice I'm a big fan of H&C titles, so when I saw that one dealing with the Soviet army of WW2 was being released I knew I had to have it. And I can say the book doesn't disappoint!The book is in the usual size of a Histoire and Collection title. It's also the usual format, with lots of colour photographs of uniforms and gear. This time you get detailed information on decorations, documents, arms of service insignia and badges of rank (with a brilliant table showing all the colours of the different arms and services). Both the early war and the late war variants are shown. Next are helmets, hats, coats, breeches, boots etc. Then equipment is dealt with, where you'll get all sorts of belts, pouches, water bottles and entrenching tools. There's a good section on hand weapons, showing rifles and carbines, submachineguns, pistols and revolvers, and light machine guns. And this is only the first part of the book, totalling just under 100 pages.The next part of the book is where the uniforms are depicted. They're shown by live models wearing the uniforms with all equipment and weapons. There'll be the inevitable closeup of interesting details. There's a fair selection of uniforms, both from the early war period and the late war period, to fill another 65+ pages. These include infantrymen, but also fighter pilots, a female medical officer, tank troopers and a despatch rider to name a few.I really think the book succeeds on all levels. The only criticism I can think of is that I would have wanted this book to have twice the pages. Then there could have been a chapter on heavy weapons (like heavy machine guns and mortars, and anti-tank rifles), and off course, more uniform examples. But as it is I'm really satisfied with it. It's a nice addition to the only other title in its sort: Stalin's War. But I do think The Soviet Soldier gives more details and much more information than the earlier one, and as such I think it's a great addition to my WW2 uniform library.

I've been a collector of Soviet gear for about 10 years now, from Great Patriotic war items up to the Georgian war of 2008, though much of that was done with the help of reenactors, collectors and veterans. This was in fact the first book I ever bought on the subject. I thus already had quite some knowledge on Soviet gear when I first opened it.Overall, this is a fairly good source that holds quite a bit of interesting info. Though I should warn that they sometimes get it wrong. To give a good example; on page 86 a pair of pouches (n°6 called; leather and canvas m37) are listed. But these 'kirza' pouches are actually postwar. All original ww2 pouches were made of leather.If you are looking into becoming a reenactor, then this good is a good beginning, but other reenactors and collectors are still the best source if you want to get it right.

As one would expect from this publisher a superb piece of scholarship on a somewhat overlooked subject. A real treat for those of us who are a little 'anally retentive' and love the presentation of materialin ordered, faultless (military) precision. If I have one (petty) criticism it is in the choice of models for the uniforms depicted. I don't mean to be personal - being rather rotund myself - but I find one inparticular somewhat on the anorexic side and therefore a little distracting. Obviously you have to choose someone who will fit the uniforms you have to hand but the impression that the Russian Armywas a fearsome and vengeful force gets a little bit lost. Others ,much slimmer than myself, may well take a different view. Nevertheless highly recommended to all interested parties.

Clear,detailed photographs and illustrations, and useful information. The layout is too busy to look well but the book does good work in the soviet fashion, It is functional. Our thanks to comrade Rio.

Very well researched, full of information briliant book.I would recommend it to anybody who is intertested in this subject.