Men At Arms 546 The Red Army 1922-41 Paperback

Description

This study explores the organization, history and uniforms of the Soviet Red Armyduring the 20 years between its victory in the Civil War and the invasion of the USSRby Germany in 1941.The two decades following the Bolshevik victory over the 'Whites' in the Russian CivilWar saw widespread and fundamental developments for the Red Army. Nevertheless,these still left it largely unready to face the German’s Operation Barbarossa in June1941. Having been reduced in size and planning for modernization, the Red Army of the1920s was employed to ruthlessly crush anti-Bolshevik opposition (real or suspected)in several regions of the USSR, notably Ukraine and Central Asia, and to fight a briefborder war against Chinese Manchuria.During the 1930s, Stalin virtually 'beheaded' the army by a needless series ofmurderous purges of the officer class; despite this, the Red Army was victorious inclashes against Imperial Japan in the Nomonhan region in 1938–39, where GeneralZhukov earned his spurs. Simultaneously, the Soviet Union sent instructors and pilots tofight for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War (1936–39).The non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany allowed Stalin to take over half of Poland inSeptember 1939; but a few months later his 'Winter War' against Finland demonstratedserious inadequacies in the Red Army's readiness for modern warfare, which would beshockingly confirmed in the first days of Operation Barbarossa. This study explores theinterwar history of the Red Army, detailing its campaigns, organization and uniforms,and focusing on the 20 years between its victory in the Civil War and the invasion of theUSSR by Germany in 1941.Sales and Marketing HighlightsExplores the development of the Red Army and several of its campaigns indetail between the Civil War and the 'Great Patriotic War'.It describes in meticulous visual detail the evolution of Red Army uniformsand insignia from 1922-41.Illustrated with rare, unpublished photos and new colour uniform plates.