List of author's articles

The history of the Soviet 16th Rifle Division, whose core was made up of Lithuanians, and in which Lithuanian was initially the language of command.

A description of the formation and combat actions of the Soviet 18th Rifle Division, which was the first of the 60 People's Militia divisions formed in the USSR to become a Guards division.

In post-war communist historiography, Lend-Leas aid was downplayed and marginalized. However, contemporary Russian historians already openly admit that it was the Allied material aid that significantly helped the Soviet Union in its fight against Nazism. Members of the Soviet 1st Ferry Aviation Division played a significant role in the distribution of the air part of this assistance.

The history of the division, from its formation in 1918 to its destruction in 1941, was filled with battles. Whether in the Civil War, the "Winter War" against Finland to the heroic defence against the attacking troops of Hitler's coalition.

After the loss of the battle flag, the 24th Rifle Division (1st forming) was disbanded and its number was assigned to a newly formed division with no connection to it. Nevertheless, by the end of the war, this new division bore all the decorations and honorifics of the disbanded division. How did this happen?

Members of the Soviet 2nd Fighter Aviation Regiment were at the invasion of Poland, occupying Bessarabia, so that they could finally feel the blows of a stronger enemy - the German Luftwaffe.

The history of the fighter aviation regiment filled with combat actions.

The 4th Guards Tank Army was formed only in March 1945, but it still managed to make history in a significant way. Its troops played a significant role not only in the fall of Berlin, but also in the liberation of Prague, the capital of Czechoslovakia.

Although the Soviet 5th Tank Army existed for only two months, it made a significant mark in the history of the Second World War.

Chechen terrorist nicknamed One-Eyed (Одноглазый) and Bakar (Бакар); bodyguard and one of Shamil Basayev's closest collaborators.

The life story of a Lithuanian officer who, after Lithuania's "voluntary" entry into the Soviet Union, continued his military career in the Red Army and rose to the rank of major general.

A brief description of the research of the behavior of the Bell P-39 Airacobra fighter aircraft in a fall into a corkscrew and the solution of this undesirable phenomenon, carried out in 1943 by Soviet test pilots. Rare photos are attached.

Soviet airborne troops were deservedly admired around the world in the 1930s. The realities of World War II, however, showed that paratroopers were almost useless in defensive operations, which, combined with the incompetence of the Soviet command, led to the use of elite units as mere foot soldiers.

Combat morale, or willingness to fight and risk injury or death, has been promoted in various ways in the armies involved in World War II battles. The German army doped some of its units with amphetamines, which were able to suppress the feeling of fatigue. He was again issued to English sailors to heat rum. In the Soviet army, according to the command, the army was able to support vodka. But what is the truth about the fact that Red Army soldiers went on the attacks mostly drunk? And how much alcohol was officially dispensed to the Red Army?

The story of the creation of the only armored vehicle mass-produced in the German Democratic Republic.

Under what conditions were the shootings granted in the Soviet Air Force and how were they financially evaluated?

Michal Sirica was a Slovak soldier, corps general, Czechoslovak legionnaire, Czechoslovak officer, officer of the Army of the Slovak Republic. During the Slovak National Uprising he commanded II. Tactical Group "Fatra". After the war he became the commander of Military Area 4. In 1946, he initiated greater activity of the Czechoslovak security authorities against the Banderers. After the communists came to power, he was dismissed from the army, demoted and imprisoned. He was rehabilitated in the 1960s.

On Saturday, February 7, 1981, one of the most serious air disasters in the history of the USSR took place, killing top military leaders. The Pacific Fleet Command ceased to exist virtually overnight. As a terrorist background was also envisaged from the first minutes after the disaster, the fleet was put on full combat alert.

Only seven days were enough for the German troops to destroy the Soviet 5th Panzer Army. Behind its destruction, however, stood not the cowardice of ordinary soldiers, but the mistakes and bad guesses of the Soviet high command.

Former President of the Republic of South Ossetia, unilaterally declared in the northern part of Georgia. He is a strong supporter of South Ossetia's independence from Georgia. Before the 2006 presidential elections, he declared that the Georgian-Ossetian conflict was not inter-ethnic but political, caused by Georgian efforts to place the norms of Western democracy above "traditional Caucasian law".

Grochovsky G-26, the history of the fighter with one landing wheel.

Short description of the rescue of a two-member crew of a shot down aircraft on the wings of a biplane in the crashing Finnish winter

Reichsschatzmeister der NSDAP, Reichsleiter, SS-Oberst-gruppenführer, M.d.R, Leutnant d.R.a.D. Franz Xaver SCHWARZ.

Commander of the German 6th Army, which was surrounded by Soviet troops during the Battle of Stalingrad in late 1942. He was a Soviet prisoner of war from 1943-1953 and spent the rest of his life in the GDR.

A brief biography of a war criminal.

The life story of Nikolai Nikanorovich Belov, a Soviet general who, despite suffering injuries, refused the possibility of air evacuation from the encirclement, where he died a few days later.

Gheorghe Pintilie, real name Timofej Bondarenko, was a Romanian communist of Ukrainian descent and an officer of the Soviet secret service NKVD, the founder and first director of the Romanian secret service Securitate. He organized mass repression, yet he was never punished for his crimes.

Soviet heavy machine gun DS-39, which was to replace the obsolete machine gun Maxim, was withdrawn from production even after a year of use and resumed production of morally obsolete and more complicated machine guns Maxim vz. 1910/30, which also had a lower rate of fire. However, they had one excellent feature for the needs of the army - they were not as pervasive for ammunition as the DS-39.

The story of one of the thousands of soldiers who landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day

In most armies, honors were awarded for destroying an enemy tank or aircraft, or there was an extraordinary promotion to a higher military rank. The Soviet Union went about it differently. Even in the first state of workers and peasants, honors were awarded for the destruction of enemy combat technology, but in addition, the legal rewards were precisely determined by the financial rewards for such an act. So how much was paid in the Red Army for a destroyed tank or plane?

Germany lost World War II. That's a fact. But it was certainly not because they paid little to their soldiers. After all, during World War II, the salary was one of the highest fighting countries in the German army. So how much did German soldiers and officers make? And how much did Göring or Hitler, for example, improve each month?

Description of the origin and use of a little-known Romanian training aircraft, the creator of which was the distinctive face of the Romanian design school - Dipl. Ing. Radu Manicatide.

Although it sounds unbelievable, the pilot replaced the landing gear wheel in flight! The performance worthy of the Guinness Book of Records unfortunately took place in 1936, when this record book did not yet exist. However, this act is written permanently in the annals of the Russian Air Force.

Abdol Hossein Sardari was an Iranian diplomat originally from the royal family who was credited with saving hundreds of Jews. Since then, he has been known as the "Iranian Schindler". Despite his undeniable merits, he died in poverty and oblivion.

The incredible story of Sergeant Joseph Beyrle, the only American soldier who served in both the US and Russian armies during World War II.

Biography of personal pilot of Adolf Hitler.

The story of an immortal pilot who fought on biplanes against the Japanese in the 1930s in China, but also shot down American jets not only in the Korean but also in the Vietnam War. If you are wondering how this is possible, I will reveal at the outset that it is not possible.

Biography of a Red Army general who successfully commanded several rifle divisions during World War II.

A biography of a member of the elite Russian anti-terrorist commando Alpha, who laid down his life in the elimination of the Chechen terrorist Abu Bakar Visimbayev, the right-hand man of Shamil Basayev.

The life story of Dmitri Ivanovich Gudkov, who linked his life with the Red Army, but experienced more failures than successes while commanding troops. He was repeatedly removed from command posts and in one case was even sentenced by a military tribunal to seven years in the correctional camps. He was lucky, however, and unlike other, more famous warlords, he survived the war.

Biography of the commander of three rifle divisions of the Red Army, who ended his career as deputy commander of the Rifle Corps.

The life story of a Soviet general, commander of three rifle divisions, who served in the Red Army for thirty years.

The life story of a Red Army major-general who narrowly escaped the purges of the 1930s that cost the lives of his fellow soldiers. A paradox in his military career is the fact that he fought against Polish troops in the Civil War, and in 1944 was commissioned as an experienced supply officer in the Polish army formed in the Soviet Union.

By his flight to Moscow, the naive man gave Mikhail Gorbachev a reason for an extensive purging under the command of the Soviet army.

One of the most prominent personalities among Czech and Slovak historians in recent decades, author of a large number of books and articles in the field of military history.

The life story of a brave flight attendant who made 980 combat flights on a slow biplane and dropped 147 tons of bombs on the enemy.

Soviet General Ivan Andreevich Laskin, like thousands of others, fell into German captivity in 1941, but managed to escape the same day. However, because he concealed this fact from the SMERSH counter-intelligence authorities, he was arrested several years later and imprisoned for an incredible almost nine years in pre-trial detention. Thanks to his indomitability, however, he eventually won full rehabilitation and a return to the army. Ironically, Field Marshal Paulus, who personally surrendered to him in the siege of Stalingrad, was imprisoned for almost the same length of time as General Laskin.

The range of ideas of this Soviet designer and inventor, ranging from the Air Force, airborne units to the ground forces, evokes at first glance the work of Jára Cimrman. Let's just accidentally mention a fraction of his creations or ideas - an aircraft designed primarily for ramming the enemy, inflatable machine gun nests dropped from aircraft, a prototype of a hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher, a tank on skis, a tank on an air cushion, an airborne booth for divers dogs, etc. Unlike the Czech novel genius, however, several inventions and ideas of Pavel Grochovský have found real application. However, it must be admitted that some of his ideas, whose constructions served, as with Cimrman, only to find out that it is a dead end of development. However, it is indisputable that the concept of airborne troops promoted by him significantly influenced the direction of this type of Soviet troops. Boldly, he can be described as the ideological father of airborne forces in the USSR.

A short biography of Colonel Suturin, one of the few Rifle Division commanders who died aboard ship.

NVA-10 - Russian airplane on the basis of the Czechoslovak transport aircraft Let L-410? Fiction or fact?

Biography of the Russian revolutionary and commander of the 16th Rifle Division, who survived multiple wounds to eventually succumb to typhus.

History of the last of the council evolution of the signal pistol, which origins date back to the time of the Second World War

In 1955, the American aircraft designer of Russian origin Igor Sikorski first introduced the public to the concept of a flying crane, which he had been thinking about since the first helicopter was built. Unlike the previously designed machines with a rotating wing, the machine proposed by him was to be lightened by the cargo space, which in the case of loads transported on a rope under the helicopter unnecessarily deprived the machine of its load capacity.

Multi-purpose helicopter.

German single-shot recoil weapon caliber 50 mm developed by Hugo und Alfred Schneider AG (HASAG), which was to be mounted on fighters Focke Wulf Fw-190, Messerschmitt Me-163B-1 and Me-262.

The VSS Vintorez is a marksman rifle featuring an integral suppressor originating from the Soviet Union. The Vintorez was developed alongside the AS Val to replace modified general-purpose firearms, such as the AKS-74UB, BS-1, APB, and PB, for clandestine operations.

History of the development and origin of the largest helicopter ever built

On March 15, 2021, 82 years passed since the entry of German troops into the rest of Czechoslovak territory. What happened that day is now being re-examined by the Municipal Public Prosecutor's Office in Prague. Why?

The development of aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing was not simple and straightforward. One of the types that has entered the history of research into this type of aircraft is the Ryan XV-5 Vertifan.

TB-3 bombers have been involved in many conflicts. They fought against Japanese troops at Khalkhyn Gol, dropped bombs on Finland's defenders and took part in the invasion to Poland.

The little-known event in Brazilian history in our region, when the introduction of compulsory vaccination in 1904 resulted in a bloody conflict.

The only post-war high party and government official of the Soviet Union who went through the war as a first-line soldier. He was wounded three times in the fight and also took part in the liberation of Czechoslovakia. For six years he led the secret service of the Soviet empire to end up as the head of security of a popular singer at the end of his career.

The VYa-23 cannon was mounted on Il-2 and Il-10 ground attack aircraft, on LaGG-3 and Yak-9 fighter aircraft, and on the experimental Mikoyan-Gurevich DIS long range fighter aircraft.
In spite of the large round, the VYa-23 proved to be a disappointment in its intended anti-tank role. Light German tanks could be defeated from the side or rear only, with front armor of all tanks impervious. Medium tanks could be defeated if hit into the top of the turret or the engine compartment from under 400 m (1,300 ft) in a greater than 40-degree dive—a very difficult maneuver in Il-2 even under the most ideal conditions compounded by the difficulty of aiming at a small target.

If you were surprised that I ask the question from the title on the pages of a serious historical website, then you will probably be surprised by the answer to it. Harry Potter fell on Saturday, July 22, 1939, in a shootout with Arab insurgents near the Palestinian city of Hebron. Don't you believe that? This article will explain the circumstances of Harry's short life and his violent death.

The Yakovlev Pchela-1T ("Пчела" meaning bee) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) manufactured by the Russian Yakovlev Design Bureau. Its primary use is for surveillance and observation in battlefield environments with downlinked video. Other implementations and uses include target designation and as a training target.

His voice was stronger than a division, Marshal Rokossovsky told Soviet radio announcer Yuri Levitan. One can only agree with him, because Levitan's words "Attention, this is Moscow speaking!" (Vnimanie, govorit Moskva!), delivered by his deep bass, evoke goosebumps even eighty years later.