Modelling - Scratch building AT7 Saxhorn (9K115 Metis)

For the final post of 2012 I thought I'd cover the conversion and scratch building of an AT7 Saxhorn using figures from Elhiems Iraqi AT4.  The AT7 was initially introduced into Motor Rifle and Air Assault units at the end of the 1970s beginning of the 1980s,  The system was man portable and could engage targets out to a range of 1000m.  3 AT7s were issued to the weapons sections of BTR companies and Air Assault Infantry Companies along with 3 PKM GPMGs.  It is unlikely that all units scaled for the equipment had received it by the end of the cold war, I suspect but don't know that priority would be with air assault trained Motor Rifle elements as this was where the most utility was likely to be derived.  By the 1990s the Soviets had started to introduce the AT13 which was heavier and had a longer range, 2000m.

Whilst Underfire Miniatures make a AT14 it is sold as part of a set which includes an 82mm Morter and the figure is more modern than I was after.  I decided to use Elhiems Iraqi AT4 as at the time Matt had not produced a Soviet crewed version, the bonus from this approach is it also provided a "spare" AT4 Launcher which I used to convert ACE BMP 1s to BMP 1Ps.  As supplied the product looks like this.

Figures are in chest webbing with map pockets on pants and M1 Helmets, tripod for AT4 is visually different to AT7 as can be seen in the immage below.

Basic steps for this activity were:

• Figures: Remove Map Pockets, add hood and webbing from green stuff
• Tripod: trim to represent three simple angled legs using Clips.
• Launcher: build from plasticard

The launcher was built from a plastic rod with a larger diameter rod sliced and joined to produce the ends, a piece of plastic strip of appropriate length and with one corner chamfered was stuck below the launch tube and finally a smaller diameter piece of rod was attached under the launch tube to represent the site.  The launcher was then attached to the amended tripod using green stuff.

The crew had their patch pockets removed and were then attached to the bases before being worked on with green stuff, the uniforms were amended first thickening the legs and waist and adding a hood, once this was dry some additional webbing elements were added also fashioned from green stuff.

The Figures were painted in "Sun Bunnies" in line with all my Motor Rifle and Airborn/Air Assault troops.  Vallejo Olive Green 967 for the base colour, with the Camouflage patches in buff 976, the weapons were a mix of black grey and 977 Desert Yellow in an attempt at the mustard colour of the equipment shown in the photos at the top.  Bases are laser cut MDF covered in sand and white glue then painted GW Calthan Brown, highlighted with desert yellow before having a variety of scatter materials added.

References:

AT 13 Metis M @ Warfare.ru

ORBAT - 1980s Soviet MRR and TRR, Part 1 Deployment and Orbat

ORBAT - Soviet Air Assault Capability, Part 2 Army Air Assault Battalion

Review - Book, The Soviet Afghan War

How a Super Power Fought and Lost

A superb book on the Soviet Afghan War up there with the Bear went over The Mountain.  It is also another translation from original works by the Soviet Genreral Staff, this time a collection of papers based on their analysis of the armies performance over its extended deployment in Afghanistan. As such it provides a degree of analysis and overview beyond that provided in the Bear went over the Mountain and the Other Side of the Mountain.

Whilst it covers the General background to the war and the organisation and equipment of the Mujahideen, its real value lies in the Chapters on Operational Art, Combined Arms Tactics, Combat Arms Branch Tactics, Combat Support and Combat Service Support.

My Interest Lies mostly on the Central Front and my main interest sits in what the Soviets learned and started to apply to wider conflicts. Whilst the book can be read cover to cover I have mostly been dipping into selected chapters those on combined arms tactics and combat arms branch tactics offer considerable read across to the central front, particularly with regard to the employment of Air Assault and aviation assets.  In particular the detail on the co-ordination of activities between the different arms in the conduct of a mission along with the general level of task organisation that occurred is illuminating.  The Chapter on Operational Art provides an indication of how the Soviets intended to fight a war in central europe which adds in those components missing from similar expositions that focus on WW2 examples, in short it portrays an approach to war that was never likely to be successful against the Mujahideen but one that may have lead to some interesting outcomes if it had played out on the North German plain.

Lester Grau adds commentary at the end of each chapter which I found very useful often highlighting the issues presented by the differences between the war the Soviet Army was designed to fight rather than the one it was called upon to fight.  If your interested in the Soviet Afghan war its an excellent read, if your interested in the Cold War in general and war on the Central Front it is an extremely useful text on the organisation, operation and thinking that drove the Soviet War Machine.

The Soviet-Afghan War: How a Superpower Fought and Lost (Modern War Studies) @ Amazon

Other Book Reviews


Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army
Soviet Air Land Battle Tactics
The Military Balance
Encyclopaedia of the Modern British Army
The Soviet Conduct of Tactical Manoeuvre
First Clash
The Third World War
The British Army in Germany

The Cold War Bookstore contains links to over 60 Cold War titles covered in my book list

Posted with Blogsy

ORBAT - Soviet Unit Titles and Abbreviations

I got interested in Soviet Military Unit titles and abbreviations when reading the 16 Air Army Web site and whilst extending my research into the evolution of the organisation and structure of Soviet helicopter units.  There are a couple of good aviation sites which have taken Soviet Unit Titles and provided a mapping between the Cyrillic Title & abbreviation to its transliterated latin equivalents and  the translation of the title.  The Dutch Aviation Societies Scramble web site has a particularly useful table which does this for aviation units of all Soviet armed forces.

Whilst there are Sites for Soviet Army unit titles and abbreviations in Russian I have yet to find anything as useful as Scramble the one I have found has a number of problems:

• The focus is WW2 units and terms 
• The titles and abbreviations are only in Russian and the translation engines gives some interesting outputs.

The table below is my starter for 10 which I am pretty sure is neither comprehensive or absolutely correct, but its a reasonable start. It covers Tank, Motor Rifle, Engineer, Artillery, Reconnaissance, Anti Aircraft and Anti Tank Units. I'll probably add aviation when I have managed to work out what's relevant.

	Abbr	Abbr	Cyrilic	Transliteration	Translation
	Tank Units
	?	?	танковая	tankovaya	Tank
	ta	ТА	танковая армия	tankovaja armija	Tank Army
	td	тд	танковая дивизия	tankovaja divizija	Tank Division
	tp	тп	танковый полк	tankovyj polk	Tank Regiment
	tb	тб	танковый батальон	tankovyj batal'on	Tank Battalion
	tr	тр	танковая рота	tankovaja rota	Tank Company
	tk	тк	танковый корпус	tankovyj korpus	Tank Corps
	tbr	тбр	танковая бригада	tankovaja brigada	Tank Brigade
	Motor Rifle Units
	?	?	мотострелковая	motostrelkovaja	Motor Rifle
	?	?	?	Obchevoyskovaya Armiya	Combined Arms Army
	msd	мсд	мотострелковая дивизия	motostrelkovaja divizija	Motor Rifle Division
	msp	мсп	мотострелковый полк	motostrelkovyj polk	Motor Rifle Regiment
	msb	мсб	мотострелковый батальон	motostrelkovyj batal'on	Motor Rifle Battalion
	msr	мср	мотострелковая рота	motostrelkovaja rota	Motor Rifle Company
	msk	мск	мотострелковый корпус	motostrelkovyj korpus	Motor Rifle Corps
	msbr	мсбр	мотострелковая бригада	motostrelkovaja brigada	Motor Rifle Brigade
	Air Assault Units
	DShV	дшв	десантно-штурмовые войска	desantno-shturmovye vojska	Air Assault Troops
	odshbr	одшбр	отдельную десантно-штурмовые бригада	otdel'nuju desantno-shturmovye brigada	Independent Air Assault Brigade
	odshp	одшп	отдельную десантно-штурмовые полк	otdel'nuju desantno-shturmovye polk	Independent Air Assault Regiment
	odshb	одшб	отдельную десантно-штурмовые батальон	otdel'nuju desantno-shturmovye batal'on	Independent Air Assault Battalion
	Other Units
	rb	рб	разведывательный батальон	razvedyvatel'nyj batal'on	reconnaissance battalion
	rr	рр	разведывательная рота	razvedyvatel'naja rota	reconnaissance company
	ptb	птб	противотанковая батальон	protivotankovaja batal'on	anti tank battalion
	ptba	птба́	противотанковая батареи	protivotankovaja batarei	anti tank battery
	zrb	зрб	зенитный ра́кетный полк	zenitnyj raketnyj polk	anti aircraft missile regiment
	zrba	зрба́	зенитный ра́кетный батареи	zenitnyj raketnyj batarei	anti aircraft missile battery
	ar	а́п	а́ртиллерия полк	artillerija polk	Artilery Regiment
	ab	а́б	артилерийский батальон	artilerijskij batal'on	Artilery Battalion
	aba	а́ба́	артилерийски батареи	artilerijski batarei	Artilery Battery
	sapp	сапп	саперный полк	sapernyj polk	Engineer Regiment
	sapb	сапб	саперный батальон	sapernyj batal'on	Engineer Battalion
	sapr	сапр	саперная рота	sapernaja rota	Engineer Company
	Unit Titles
	gv	гв.	гвардейский	gvardejskij	guards
	o	о	Отдельна́я	Otdel'naja	Independent

Whilst I have included the battery concept within artillery I have yet to find strong evidence that this is not just a western construct, the other component I am not clear on is the appropriate ending of the Arm of Service title that should precede the different unit size types, I have followed the patterns found on the WW2 listings.

Other than including Soviet style names and abbreviations in your blog and scenarios  you can also use the Cyrilic words in search terms, this provides access to Russian published sources and theres a lot of good information about the cold war and a lot of images of Soviet equipment that can be accessed in this way.

Updates

• 18/12/12 to include DShV, Air Assault Units, these titles were assembled to equate to the abbreviations, the word endings of the arm of service title may be incorrect for the unit type .

References:

rkka, Russian World War 2 Military Abbreviations, and documents
Transliteration Tool - great for working out the abbreviations
Scramble Dutch Aviation Society Russian Aviation Abreviations, Cold War and Current