New Model Soviet Boats

[Mk 1]

Much to my surprise (and delight) there is now another BKA-1125! This time with a T-34 turret. Good thinking GHQ!

The PG-117 motorboats are up too (although no pics yet). Yow, gotta get moving on some big-river and coastal scenarios!

OK, now someone has to buy them and post some pics for us!

[Luca]

I like them too. This 'naval chase' made me remember about the LCVP and such models already on sale. Now I'm painting some Italians for north africa, but they can also fight on the shores of Sicily against american troops. Soon or later I'll buy some landing craft.

Now that GHQ has shown us a so nice boat model, what about doing a bigger one, maybe an LST? It would look nice. And, but this is mere speculation, what about doing some german landing craft for operation 'sea lion'. Maybe it will come to be usefull for some '47 scenario. It's just a suggestion.

[piersyf]

Actually I read somewhere that the Soviets mounted more amphibious operations in the Baltic that the US Marines did in the Pacific. Not in scale, of course, just frequency. If I remember correctly, about 50 landings made, nothing larger than a regiment, all short hops to turn the German flanks on the Baltic coast.

The Germans had landing craft (Marinefährprahm) that operated in the Med and the Baltic, about the size of an LCT4. Some were converted to Flak boats, many had 88's and multiple 20mm.

I'd love to see models of Marinefährprahm, LCT4 and LCT5, Rhino ferries, Soviet and Japanese landing craft, LVT4's... I have LCA's and LCM's from H&R that look OK. I have considered scratch building a few landing craft (gone so far as to collect drawings and photos).

You can buy a plastic kit of an LST in 1:350 scale, and it's huge on table.

[HKurban]

This thread got me thinking about modern naval/amphibious support in micro scale. Did some digging and made a few nice finds including a fully stocked USS Wasp for about 150-250 dollars (comes with LCACs, LCUs, and a number of land and aircraft as well as deck service vehicles.)

[TAMMY]

Waiting for GHQ as a source of large landing crafts, I suggest Scotia Grendel. In their series "Ship to ahore" they have about 50 models including some modern and large boats like LCI (small and large) and LSM.

[Mk 1]

Actually I read somewhere that the Soviets mounted more amphibious
operations in the Baltic that the US Marines did in the Pacific. Not in scale, of course, just
frequency. If I remember correctly, about 50 landings made, nothing larger than a
regiment, all short hops to turn the German flanks on the Baltic coast.

More than the Marines? Could well be. Remember also that the US Army also made a
series of landings along the coast of New Guinea.

I guess the point isn't really who made more -- but that the Soviets conducted a LOT of
amphibious operations, a fact which is often under-appreciated in the west. Both in the
Baltic and in the Black Sea, the Soviets conducted more than 50 battalion-sized or larger
amphibious landings. Multiple regimental+ sized operations were landed on the Black
Sea (including some notable failures.) The Soviets also conducted many river
crossings, and some of those rivers were wide enough that they might well be
considered in the same realm as coastal amphibious operations.

In particular the Soviets developed the tactic of using river networks rather than just
river banks, assembling their forces and boarding riverine watercraft on an un-
contested river (both banks in friendly hands), and then transiting down to that river's
confluence with a contested river (enemy holding the far bank) to effect a landing. In
this way they could assemble flotillas of watercraft that were too large to be
transported overland and launched within site of the enemy (river barges, armored
boats like the BKA-1125s, etc.). They also were masters at improvising, constructing
improvised watercraft from available materials in rapid order to cross rivers which Axis
forces left under-defended.

You can buy a plastic kit of an LST in 1:350 scale, and it's huge on table.

There is a two-model kit of LSM and LST (earlier open-decked model) made by Heller in
1/400 scale. Small enough to be visibly out-of-scale if getting to shore is the central
issue of your game, but close enough to be background units if your game is focussed
on the action on shore. (LSTs should not really be in the assault wave anyways.)

I'd love to see models of ... Soviet ... landing craft ...

I don't think the Soviets made any purpose-built landing craft. They modified barges for
their larger attempts in the Black Sea. But for the most part they conducted their
landings with watercraft that had been built for other purposes. The Soviet Union had
an enormous number of craft for riverine commerce. There were fleets of Soviet river
warships too (up to and including monitors and even an aircraft carrier barge with no
engines!), but not many of these were to be found as the Germans retreated.

The most important watercraft for coastal operations would probably be the various
submarine chasers, which in the Soviet navy was a sort of "catch-all" class of light
ships and boats, some purpose-built, others reclassified after failing at other purposes
(ie: MTBs that did not meet specified speed requirements were re-classed as sub-
chasers).

There are a couple vendors making these craft in our scale -- river commercial lighters
and barges, and BMO class sub chasers. The BMO class was reasonably popular for
coastal raiding parties.

[Mk 1]

And now just for fun ...

Here's an example of the kind of river craft the Soviets were able to deploy from time-to-
time. Not exactly the kind of thing that you bring on the back of a flat-bed truck, and
launch under enemy observation...


The Soviet river monitor Udarnyi, as it appeared during the Barbarossa campaign. Two
130mm guns in turrets, two dual 45mm in turrets and four quad-Maxim AA MG mounts.

Wouldn't you just love to float that puppy out onto a wargaming table?!?! Yeah c'mon
you fascist viper, just try to drive those Pz 38t's up to the river bank, I dare ya!

This is a scratch-build by my gaming buddy Vladimir. Yep, fully from scratch. He
starts with scaled blue-prints, and styrene sheet plastic. It is 1/700 scale!

I keep telling him he really needs to move up to 1/300 for his scratch building, but he
says that "the larger scales lack subtlety and nuance".

[groundlber]

MK1 - Awesome work on the monitor. Several years ago I read a translation of the memoirs of a WW 2 Soviet Naval Infantry officer. He spent most of the war in the Murmansk-Archangel area. Most of the operations he described were small unit raids, with the Soviets using a variety of small ships as the transport. I don't recall any mention of purpose designed landing craft. The actions he described would make interesting one to one scenarios: mostly infantry actions, with the occaisonal coastal gun or vehicle.
The book was "Blood on the Shore" by Victor I. Leonov. The Russian title was 'Face to Face" . My copy has disappeared into that black hole were several of my older historical reference books are hiding.
Groundlber

[DAK]

Well done MK 1.

[Mk 1]

Well done MK 1.

I take no credit, other than the careful selection of friends and gaming buddies.

But in keeping with my prior posting ... just for fun (and perhaps to stir up some creative
juices regarding wargaming scenarios), I might offer these small tidbits on the boats that
GHQ has newly begun to offer:


This is a wartime photo of PG-117 boats of the Dniepr Flotilla. Note the MGs on pedestal
mounts.


This picture is purported to show a PG-117 landing party in Berlin, May of 1945. I say
purported because to my eye it is quite obviously a posed propoganda photo. As such,
one doesn't really know where or when it was staged, only how it was captioned.

This might be the most interesting photo for wargaming purposes. Note how many
soldiers are crammed aboard that boat. It is a full squad ... an indication of how heavily
the boat could be loaded. It also is an assertion that the boats travelled with advancing
Soviet forces. Clearly they did not just happen to find one in Berlin floating down the
Spree.



This one might be the most interesting for modelling purposes. I found this drawing on
juniorgeneral.org (credit where it is due). This is the only information I have found (that I
could read ... hard to say what I found in Russian) on how PG-117s were carried as
the Soviet forces advanced. Looks like an easy enough scratchbuilt solution. Better
yet, maybe GHQ will make one!?!

Yeah baby! Gitcherself some!

[BattlerBritain]

Mk1,

That Udarnyi looks amazing. I had to look hard to try and find the points where I could tell it was a model.

Even the river surface looks realistic, bow waves and prop wash as well.

Quite amazing.

Tell your friend he does great work.