30

"Graffiti" Russian
Russian WIV2 patriotlc slogans on AF\Ps
by Rob RouteA

\lvhsrecan I fnd 2000MilitaryBooks?

ln th

KENTROTMAN Catalogue
of couFel

Someorc nentiotred in a postitrgto an online wargamingchat group that tbey'd like to give their WIV2 Russiantank units nor of an idendry nther thm havine swms of plah greeo tdks all over the tabte. This led to me producing this clumsy collection of Russian gatriti!. The ida of this article really ftough, is to share this informationI collecpd with thoseof you out thercwho alsohaveSoviet WW2 ta* uits, dd give you somewndng to sEwl otr tbem,(ed the udslation!) ratherthd m in-deprhstudl Now the whole Russianlank marking thing to me is a bit of a nightnare ar rhebesrof times.Unlike rheGemans wirh rheirconsisrenr lhe digit identification nunbr, or ft geoneric shapes usedby ft Brilish, tbe tacticalmdking of Russid tarks never$ems to foUow ay sr pattem. Oneofthe morestrikinStypesof |akings mentioned, was the bold use of patriolic or polilical slogos usedby the Rusims, md someone noted that sometims whol urits would be IEked up with the sde son of slogm. So I wenl dd had a nosetbmuShmy b@ks, dd discovercdthe following bit! dd pieces. Frcm the pholos I have in my collecdon of beks (dd thos of my friends I've borowed) it becomes cld thal the f6t exmples of rhese types of markings cone in lery late 1941,following the opening of 'Oper ion Barbarossa . As a rsult the commontypesof Soviet un}.s duing this period,T-26's BT-5 s md BT-7 s do not lend to carry these mdkings. Afler the ldge ercirclmentsud Soviet dfeatsduring the sumer of 1941,moralewas low dd we begin to se the emergence of polilical md patriolic slogds, bul the praclice appem more comon from 1942onwdds. Tbesenarkings f.ll iolo thre distincl catgories, bul we will beSinwith tbe baic slo8tus. tnitially the sloSas re of the patriotic vdiety, m8in8 frcm simple themessuchas"Za Rodinu' (For tte Motherlmd) or "Za Stalina" (For Stalin). Moving all the way up to slogms or phiNes thal were obviously morepolitically motivatdsuchd 'We defendthe conquests of Ocbbef' refening ro lhe Sovie! Revolution of October 1917, and otre of my particutd favountes "Bei fashistskuF gadinul ' (Crush the

Sendlor a ,?ee caanogue now Mailorderis our spciality. KENTROTiIANLTD. UNIT 11,135DTTTON WALK, CAMBRIDGE, CBs8PY VISIT WEBPAGE: hllD//Kenlrolman-lld.uk OUR

Vorcnezhski Kolkhoznik " werenaned afterthe vorcnezhcollective fam. The AIry\ wereoflen thenpresented ro tbe crews,by the workers tbar had nised fte money at official hddinS over ceremonies. The nmes or dedicadons on the ttrftls were often written in chalk for the cercmony. afthougb lmy photos cledly show lhat later painted exmples werc colmon. The fral populd style of mdking on AIry\ was the useof nmesThse could rdge from the nmes of leSendaryCzd dd medieval princes who fotrght the TeDtonicKniShtsdd othe. invade6, down to commemorating the namesof fallen cotrades, alftough tnis doesnot appearb have beetr a very corinon practice. Other popular nams included Napolonic era gneEts such as Suvorov or Red Amy As th wu progEssedthough. oxamptesof sloganswith a wakr generals Aom the RussianCivil war suchas Shcholtz as well a5 the doCnatic fel beganto appearsuchar "vpred na Z:tpad" {Forward to nanes of the nore obvious contenpo,roy polidcal leadeship. Lasily, ihe Weso or "Na Brlin! (On to Berlin) a vicbry b&me moe fte I]mes of towns or regionswerealso used.bu don't apped to have cenain from *ly 1944. (This .nicle fi6t appeaied in 'The Joumal of the S@iety of FoUowinSthe successof 'Openlion Bagntion' in the sumer of politicaypatriotic re1944,espciallyin the Baltic, tbe ovedy slogan Twentieth Century wargamers. Fo. lhose of you interesbd in the with a new twist. As well as thosetypesneniioned abovewe Sociery details cd be obrainedAom Mek Wheelea 25 BDttemerc, emerges begin 1ose sloges in lsguages otherthd Rnssim, fron nalionalities Black Coun, White Nolley, EssexCM7 8AY). in the previouslyGelllm ocupied mas. The Sovieisalnost $emed lo n@dto remird pople of Russid rule over someof the morereluctdt mtuoritieswithtu the SovietUdon. As a result we cm s photostaken SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY duing the last yed of the we with slogus on AIVS appeding mt only in Rusid, but also Ul@inim, Estorid, Latvie dd Arenim Sovid TaLksi4 Conbat, 1941 45, Zalo9a. Concord. 199?ISBN 962"@lebrating' their retuE to Comunist rule, such a'Za radyms|! 361-615-5 tlkrainu! ' aForthe Sovit UkEine!) Sralins Heavy Tonks, Zalo5a,Concord, 1997ISBN 962-361-616-3 The next categorytakesthe fom of dedications. Dedicationslogus me EastemFmt, Za\o9atc@dsetr, Ams & Amouc 1983ISBMlwerc put onto AIry\ b itrdicateir someway who had contributedto 85409213,8 the vehicle s pwhe. Grcupsof SovietworkeE col@ted ud donated Sovi.t Heavy Tanks, Zalogalcrodsen. Ospry vanglard 24, l 9 E l moneyto "buy" tads, much in the sue way that in Britain duing the tsBN 0-85045 422{ wd you could buy 'Wd bords' to nise moiey for the wd etrorl. KVI & 2, Zz\oAalKjred/smon, Ospry New Vmgurd l?, 1995 "Duins thc wa. 5.8 billion rubles was donated ke purchate of LSBN l-85532496-0 for over 30,tXNamorcd yehicles,amunnne tu about one thir.l of total T-34'85, zalogalKiaea Sarlon, OspreyNw Vanguard 20, 195 ISBN production. " Steven Zaloga Thz EastemFtunt p54 I 85532535 7 Thesetankswould then often be nmed h somway after the grcup 1,t 2, Alogar'Sdson, Osprey Nw Vuguard 7, 1994 ISBN 1-85532that had contributedto theii Dmhde. For exmole thoselEked " 39G6

31

Bxamples of dedicafion sloggns

A3IPxHttElrl
A whole companywas named 'Dzerzhinds' afrer lhe facility that raised the money and namedafte.lhe policein l9l7) l%2 (KV-l) I leado f the 'C'rrcla'(Secrct

[,locnoacnuu
0C0 cgilnrrHotElt
dcdicated ancr a Moscow civil defence league the whole unit was named the same 1942 (KV- | )

C00il[l(]lll

NONDIIHil, NANRI|}II{ NHHBIJ

't.D.Papanin lg42/43 namedaftr rhe headof 'Konsonolers + unkown word' dedicatedto the 'Young

[.tt'.

Ho]rcoxe{eu
'eos 0*a

'Fron the So|iet Arctic E plorers' | 942 (KV- I ) dedication liom 'Glavsevnorput' t,|,eRussian

Arctic exprorers' 5'cuards rank Reet'

Examplesofnames:

j$ec:#J?ff'(:;.

lrtH;xffi;"l

blopt 6az?an[vHl{stgl00lues8Epo6
'.t col/z RCW General Bdgza'b, Napoleonic Genenl both6:omthe I l6u Tank Brigade1942(KV- l 's) ](xrEov Napoleonic Genei.l l'd cuards 1942(KV-l) al Sworov Napoleonic General

'Lenbitu 1945(T-34185\ 'AlsanderNevs*ii t943{Churchill) bothof theabovefoughtagains! lhe Teutons in rhe I i' cenrur r.'

ueBcxH]i A/l0xcAuAP "[Er,r6uTs" ;liilt-ifffi

UUUnltU]f ']Htf*
'DavidSasunskiy' (T-34/85t 1944 Armenian National written hero, in Anfienian.

For CenerulBaganian ' 1945(T-34/85) Commander of the 3'dByelorussian Fronl.

rnM4rpHH aoHcKor'l
'DimitriyDoNkoi' 19,t4 (OT-43) lJd century Czarth?ttefeated theTanars.

BnRaHmup

EIIRBAn noAPUrA plonroboHil

'Friend (lS-2) in banle'1945 7'CuardsTankBrieade.

'Vladimir (poet)1945 Mayakovskii' (T-14lE5)

Examples of pafriotic andpolitical slogpns

3e
,,floEE.qA' PoAHllyl EEtl 0nurrctoa
'Fot the Honelond' l 21'r-3414t\ 'crtlth thel.'\cists l94t ('t-34t41) ' Yick'ry' l94l (T -34t4| |

DEl,t+w:r [rnnrun 0auncrH3n

'Ctush thef$cist vipers!'l94l (KV-t) 'A nnihilate thefasc ists 'For Stalin 1942(T-34t4 1)

cAotfit{fil

Mgru-PoRnna
'Mothe and' l9rA (T-34/851

f|i'fitsrse ! a^p"agll
For the Honeland!'1945 (both M4A2 Sherman76mn) .Onwardt to Be in!' ,soviet Diti4ence.tg AlSrJ-BS)

'Forvard to victory! &

aBe^dcua gnrpra!u nalzrnrn!, rnneg!Bnepra ETAPATEA

'Foryard to the West! 1944(T-34185\

3A pn.qcrcurg

UKPNTHY !
'For theS@iet Ulsaine!'in Ukrainian1943 (T-j4/41)

SaC}nETf;Hyro SCT0Hhn
tiulosde IESTP"6t
'For Soviet Esronia' top line in Russain (T-34/4t) t'ottomline in Estonian1944 45d Sep.Tank Regt.8m Estonian Rifle Corps

/'lolAlBtlosr;;;;; /l cobtlcrylo
.For (su-8s, soviet Motdavia. te44

?n

,,

Lniviins

0c!0t0xAEHHAg KhPOE CI(Aff

'Liberuted (lsu-ls2) Kircyskiy 1945

#1,,ff#;,,;ilir..:1"r-i.r.r.,