Full Description
A compelling account of the heavily armed and highly mobile Soviet river gunboats which took on the Germans during World War II.
Russia's enormous river system has long been its highway and, as early as 1908, the Tsar's armies were developing armoured riverboats that brought tank-like mobility, firepower and survivability to Russian battlefields.
This book, the first history of these vessels in English, explains how this concept led to one of the most remarkable naval weapons of World War II, the Soviet 'river tank', or Armoured Motor Gun Boat (AMGB). Highly mobile, capable of carrying up to 20 infantrymen directly into action and providing immediate firepower from their tank turrets, machine guns or Katyusha rockets, their military value was widely recognized. They were versatile enough to be used in naval landing operations off the Gulf of Finland, the Azov Sea and the Black Sea, and their capabilities were prized by local commanders.
Using meticulously researched new colour profiles, rare photos and spectacular artwork, this book uncovers the history of river warfare on the Eastern Front, and the boats that played such a key part in the fighting.
Contents
INTRODUCTION
The river gunboat in Imperial Russia
DEVELOPMENT
Planning
Project 1124
Organization
Project 1125
RIVER TANKS AT WAR
Shoulder to shoulder with Nazi Germany, 1939-41
The German invasion of 1941
The German advance, 1942
Turning point, 1943
The Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe, 1944-45
The Amur Flotilla, 1945
AFTERMATH
River gunboats in The Cold War
Projects of the 190 series
Project 1204
End of an era
CONCLUSION
FURTHER READING
INDEX
