Review Models - 1/72 S&S Kraz Truck

First post for over a year I think, nothing earth shattering, a review of S&S's Kraz 255.  The 7.5 ton Kraz 214 and 255 trucks provided extreme off-road logistic capacity to the Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces from 1959 through to the end of the Cold War.  The Kraz 214 was produced between 1959 - 1963 and the Kraz 255 entered mass production in 1967 and remained in production until 1994. The Trucks are visually similar, so models in 1/72 can be broadly used to represent either. 

The vehicle provided the platform for a range of variants which included; the TMM vehicle launched bridge from 1974, The carriage and launch vehicle for the PMP ribbon bridge, and the carriage vehicle for the BMK-T bridging boat, together with a number of engineering earth moving and construction variants.  I am using them to provide the transport capability in the Headquaters of my MRR Engineering Company.

The S&S Model is a robust but effective war-games model and is cast in resin and white metal. It can be purchased with or with out the canvas tilt and I have both versions, it cost at the time of posting £11.50 which included P&P.  The models I received were cleanly cast with limited holes and flash.

Other manufactures produce versions of this vehicle notably Armory and Armada but both these manufacturers produce for the modelling fraternity with associated complexity and price.  The model whilst cleverly constructed would provide challenging to convert as the chasis is effectively a component of the truck body so would need to be replaced in order to produce either a TMM or PMP variant. 

After some minimal clean up construction was straight forward and completed quickly with no significant issues, the only thing that slows you down is the amount of time it takes for the super glue to set.  Images of the vehicle show little in the way of stowage so I have left the model in its original state.

I have painted the vehicle in line with my other Soviet equipment in green, although I have been working on evolving my style

• The Vehicle underside is sprayed in NATO Black XF- 69 before being fixed to the base
• The vehicle is given an overall coat of Tamiya XF-13 JA Green, and is then oversprayed with NATO Black XF-69 to create an overall dark green colour.
• The panels were then sprayed with JA Green.
• The Tilt was painted with Olive Drab XF-62, the areas between the tilt supports were oversprayed wit Nato Black and the ridge was over sprayed with Olive Drab. The whole activity was a bit iterative until the required effect was achieved.
• The detail was then picked out with a pin wash using Humbrol Black Wash.

• The wheels were painted with Vallejo Black grey 70852 and then washed with a mix of Vallejo Khaki Grey 70880 and Buff 70976, before being dry brushed with Vallejo Black grey
• Windows were painted with Vallejo Black Grey
• The lights front and back were painted with Vallejo Flat Red 70957, Light Orange 70911 and Sky Grey 70989.
• The doors then received a coat of clear before decals were applied with micro sol then the whole vehicle was sealed with a coat of Tamiya Matt clear.
• A small amount of chipping was carried out on selected areas of the vehicle using Vallejo Black Grey, Mahogany sand 70846 and Sky Grey
• The vehicle was then weathered using an overspray of Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow.

The truck has been based on laser cut MDF base supplied by East Riding Miniatures,  being a bit of a beast this is 6 cm x 13 cm in order to accommodate the size of the vehicle. These are covered in a mix of sand and white glue before painting.  The base is painted with Citadel Gorthor Brown and dry brushed with Vallejo Desert Yellow 70977.  Once dry a range of basing materials have been used to create the vegetation on the base.

All up a great little model that provides a useful addition to my Cold War Collection and provides a degree of variety in the truck options otherwise available for a Cold War Soviet Army.

References:

Kraz 255 Walk Around

Kraz 255 Walk Around

Kraz 255B
Mig Jemez's rather handy tyre painting guide.
Scale Modelling -Paint Chipping

ORBAT - 1980's Soviet MRR and TRR, Part 3a Engineer Company

ORBAT - MRR & TRR part 3a, Engineer Company

Soviet Engineer units deployed a range of engineer equipment that provided high levels of automation in support of standard field engineering tasks.  The Regimental Engineer Company included sufficient equipment to replicate the range of engineering support available at higher levels for all engineer tasks less amphibious bridging and river crossing capabilities.  This provided the supported MRR or TRR with significant organic engineer capability in support of the primary mission.  As in all Soviet combat support functions additional resources could be task organised from higher formation for specific missions as required.

I first wrote on the Soviet MRR Engineer Company a few years ago at the time I was focused on the task organised groups that the engineers form to support the regiment and did not spend much time trying to unravel the organisational knot caused by disparities in the organisational structure discussed in FM100-2-3 and Isbey's Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Union.  Since then other sources have come to light and in addition a number of new models have been released allowing for better representation of the unit in 1/72 scale. So I thought it would be worth worth revisiting with more focus on the organisation and equipment of the company. 

Like all supporting arms the engineer assets available to a combined arms commander include:

• The organic assets associated with the unit or formations
• Attached assets provided by higher commanders dependent on mission and priority. These can be provided for general support or to achieve specific tasks.

Similar to the allocation of artillery assets the need for centralised or decentralised control depends on the specific operation and phasing:

Centralised control is prefered during

• Preparation of an offensive
• Construction of fortifications and minefields 
• During river crossings operations

Decentralised control is prefered at the start of the offensive or in going over to the defensive. Engineer planning and advice is delivered by the Chief of Engineer Services at each level of command.

The basic goals of Soviet engineer support is to;

• Create conditions for more effective application of the means of attack, 
• Support the unhindered movement of friendly forces in the vicinity of the enemy 
• Affect maneuver on the battlefield 
• Provide defence for friendly forces from the destructive means of the enemy

and the Engineer tasks that derive from these goals are:

• Reconnaissance of the enemy and the terrain
• Preparation and maintenance of routes of movement and maneuver
• Demolitions work and the construction of obstacles
• Fortification and camouflage of positions and areas
• Exploration for sources of water and its supply and purification
• Measures to camouflage troop movements and operations
• Engineer actions to eliminate the effects of nuclear attacks

Engineers are supported in the delivery of these tasks by Motor Rifle and Tank troops as required.   Not surprisingly with the Soviet army the organisation and structure of the organisation directly maps to the doctrinal tasks and goals it is set to deliver.  At Regimental level that leaves us with an Engineer company as outlined below.

This organisation is derived from a review of a number of sources;

• FM 100-2-3 provides the main components of the structure 
• Weapons and tactics of the Soviet Union together with Soviet Combat Engineer Support a research paper by Major J Parr written in 1978 provide the detail of the allocation of equipment to the sections and platoons as well as the view that the technical construction platoon could be replaced by two sapper platoond
• L Graus paper Instant Russian Obstacles, FMSO, 1996 provided the view that the UMZ was deployed at regimental level. Currently I believe the UMZ was deployed in the early 1980s and I have assumed that organisational change was adopted from introduction into service.

There are a variety of conflicts amoungst the sources around the detail of the equipment holdings and the precise structure. This interpretation adapts the FM 100-2-3 view, a number of other interpretations would be equally valid.

The organisational structure shown allows the company to support the standard Soviet Engineer task groupings through which Engineers in the Soviet army delivered support to the Combined Arms Force. Composition of the main groupings are covered in the post MRR & TRR part 3 Engineers.  In outline the groupings and tasks are as follows:

• Inzhenernoe Razvedyvatel'nyi Dozor Engineer Reconnaissance Patrol, this may be grouped with other recce units such as Chemical or Regimental or operate independently, they report on the state of roads bridges and obstacles and can work in coordination with or independently of MSDs.

• Otriad Razvevedki i Razgrazhdeniia Reconnaissance/Obstacle Clearing Detachment, these groupings are used primarily to clear obstacles on route to enemy objectives, I assume these are formed by Combat Troops equipped with Mine ploughs and rollers and potentially supported by Sapper platoons
• Otryad Oberspecheniya Dvizheniya Movement Support Detachments, facilitate the maneuver of the first echelon in attack, withdrawal and advance. They will normally operate in front of the main body clearing obstacles and improving routes.  They may include security elements from combat or recconnaissance units 
• Podvizhnyy Otryad Zagrazhedni Mobile Obstacle Detachments, composed primarily of engineer troops they can be reinforced by other units including mine laying aviation assets.  They are configured to rapidly deploy mines, conduct extensive demolitions and deploy and develop obstacles to movement using construction equipment. 

Company HQ & Services

The Company HQ and Services platoon is equipped with 3 Command Vehicles a UAZ 469, BRDM2 and a BTR 60 and a fleet of 8 or 9 trucks for carrying the engineer stores of the regiment, Trucks would either be the 7.5 ton Kraz or the 5 ton Ural and the stores carried were primarily;

• Mine ploughs, 
• Mine rollers, 
• MTU dozer blades
• Water purification kit. 
• Stores for Bridging

It is not clear if mine ploughs could be fitted by the tank crews or would need the support of an engineer section.

I have represented the unit with a BRDM 2 and 3 Kraz Trucks. I decided to use the Kraz trucks primarily to differentiate the engineers from the artillery units in my collection.  The Mine rollers and ploughs are represented as separate models which can be attached to any vehicle and the MTU dozer blades I model as permanent attachments to one tank in the tank battalion.

Sapper Platoons

The sapper platoons each consist of 3 sections with each section mounted in a BTR 60 or a truck. Sections are capable of undertaking a variety of tasks including;

• Demolitions and Cratering
• Mine clearance 
• General pioneer work.  

I will be representing the platoon with a single BTR 60 PB and trailer although I am tempted to use BTR 60 Ps to provide some variety.

Sapper & Mine Platoon

The third Sapper platoon in the company was also the minelaying platoon. Again these could be equipped with APCs or trucks although in this instance the APCs would be BTR 152s as the PMR 3 or PMZ 4 could not be operated from a BTR 60PB due to the rear mounting of the engine. As well as minelaying this platoon could also undertake general pioneer work, demolitions and cratering.  I am representing this platoon with 1 BTR 152, 1 PMR3 and a ZIl 131 with a UMZ scatterable mine system as discussed above.

The platoon is equipped with a first line scale of 600 mines, minefields consist of 3 rows and at a 4m spacing this load can deploy an 800m 3 lane minefield in 20 minutes. Reloading takes 10-12 minutes although exchanging the towing vehicles can speed this up.  A large minefield would comprise of a number of 200 - 300m blocks with varying orientation and arranged in depth. Blocks could be interspersed with dummy minefields which would just be ploughed. A platoon of 3 Vehicles can lay fairly significant minefields in an hour and smaller ones in 20 minutes.

Road & Bridging Platoon

The Road and Bridging platoon comprised of three sections that primarily manned specialist engineer equipment appropriate to the sections primary task, the three sections covered

• Route maintenance and support, 
• Bridging 
• Obstacle and fortification construction

The Platoon deploys 11 vehicles in total so I am representing it with 4 models

Road Section

The Road section consists of two vehicles only a DIM mine clearance vehicle and a BAT-M, I am representing it with a single BAT-M.

The BAT-M can be used to develop routes using its forward blade which can be configured in a number of ways depending on the task and the onboard crane.  tasks include:

• Grading
• Filling Trenches and Craters
• Clearing rubble and Snow
• Breaching Obstacles

Whilst not primarily designed for digging work it could be deployed to develop fortifications and ditches if required, in this it would be less effective than the purpose built machinery described below. The BAT-M started to be replaced by the BAT 2 at the backend of the Cold War

• BAT-M produced 1953 - 1972
• BAT 2 Late 80s entered service 1988 onward, no significant change incapability

Bridge Section

The Bridge section varied between tank and Motor Rifle Regiments, Tank Regiments had 3 AVLBs and a 4 TMM truck launched bridging unit. The MRR had only 1 AVLB and the TMM unit.

The AVLBs that could be deployed included:

• MTU-12. 11m class 50, based on T-54 chassis, production 1955
• MTU-20, 18m class 50, based on T-55 chassis, production
• MT-55, 18m class 50, based on a T-55 chassis, deployed in 3 minutes, production 1969 - 1983
• MTU-72, 18m class 50, based on a T-72 chassis. deployed in 3 minutes, production 1974 - 1992

The TMM bridging sections are 10.5 m in length and together could span a 40m gap over rivers with a depth of up to 1.7m/3m depending on version. The original TMM system was class 50 whilst the later TMM3 was class 60. TMM was originally deployed in 1962 and updated in 1974. A 40m span could be deployed in 90 minutes at night. Multiple TMM sets could be applied to span longer gaps.

Regardless of regiment type I am modelling the bridge section as 1 MT-55 and one TMM.

Fortification Section

The Fortification section could be equipped with a few different vehicles in general there was either an MDK-2  or a BTM. the BTM was primarily a trench digging equipment whilst the MDK - 2 could be used to rapidly develop anti tank ditches vehicle scrapes or bunkers.  The rest of the section comprised 3 PZM trench excavators.

Digging rates were:

• BTM between 250m - 800m per hour depending on trench depth and soil type. Trenches of 1.1/1.5m depth x 1m width could be produced in straight sections, zig zagging or waves.  
• MDK-2 creates a trench 3.5m x 3.5m at around 30m an hour.  This seems low compared to the others. 
• PZM can dig trenches of upto 3.5 m depth x upto 3.5m width at rates between 35m an hour to 200m an hour depending on soil type and trench size

I will be representing the section with a BTM, primarily because I have yet to find an MDK-2 in 1/72, which would be my preference, although scratch building one is looking appealing.

Game Concepts

Usually engineer tasks other than deployment of AVLBs sit outside the scope of most games.  The level of automation deployed by the Soviet Army across all task allow this to be challenged. The obvious candidates are the more rapidly deployed capability options;

• AVLB launched bridge
• Single/duel Span TMM
• Minefield breaching
• Crater filling
• Wire Breaching
• Scatterable minefield deployment

In game completion of tasks;

• AT Ditch deployment
• initial trench system creation
• Surface laid minefields
• closure of gaps in obstacles
• initiation of demolitions

Consideration may be given to an opening move of longer duration enabling the placement of obstacles at the commanders discretion or multiple moves of engineering tasks before the arrival of the enemy force or indeed the sequenced arrival of that force over a number of moves all of which would provide scope for in game Engineer play given the rate of production described above and the Soviet doctrine of deployment of obstacles on identified enemy lines of advance.  Most of these concepts would need axis of advance or points of entry to be identified to the Soviet commander an activity that could be randomised.

The understanding of the production rates also play to the development of obstacle belts within scenarios. An understanding of the wider scheme of maneuver and the associated time and space issues allow for calculation of what could be produced in the time available or allow for a degree of pre game play as part of an encounter battle for instance.

The Soviets doctrine called for the deployment of obstacle belts in front of maneuvering forces in order to achieve surprise and chemical troops smoke units would be deployed to screen the tasks from the advancing enemy forces.

Models

You need of course to build models to represent the engineer assets and for engineering capability that includes both the equipment and the terrain items that indicate that the work has taken place.  So creation of engineer units and their employment is a reasonably labour intensive task.

The good news is that over the last couple of years the range of models to support the use of Soviet Engineers in 20mm / 1/72 has increased dramatically and includes figure as well as equipment from such companies as S&S and W Models.

A combination of relatively inexpensive resins and plastic kits will buy you the bulk of the capability with the odd high cost rein from W Models rounding out the capability along with a small amount of scratch building and a little imagination its fairly straight forward to deploy the equipment and figures. A reasonably comprehensive list of models and suppliers for this project is outlined in the table below;

To represent the impact you will of course need a range of terrain pieces including:

• Deployed equipment bridges
• Minefields, marked and unmarked
• Wire obstacles
• Craters
• AT Ditches
• Trenches
• Trench systems
• Tank scrapes

Whilst engineering activities are seldom a major focus in miniature wargaming, the Soviet doctrine that called for the rapid development of obstacles in the line of an enemy advance and in support of flank protection and the Anti Tank reserve place a different emphasis on them compared to the less dynamic concepts seen within NATO and makes them worthy of consideration for games.

References:

Web:

BTR 60
Pioneer Battalion 11
Soviet Engineer Digging Equipment
Soviet Combat Engineer Support, US Army Institute for Advanced Soviet and East European Studies
Instant Russian Obstacles, FMSO, 1996
Soviet Engineer Equipment
FM100-2-3

Books:

Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army

Soviet Air Land Battle Tactics, WP Baxter

The Soviet Conduct of Tactical Manoeuvre

Other Posts of Interest:

ORBAT - 1980's Soviet MRR and TRR, Part 3 Engineers
TTP - Soviet Advanced Guard and March Security
Wargames Unit - Soviet MRR, Anti Tank Reserve
Review - Model 1/72, S&S MT-55 Bridgelayer

Review - Models 1/72, S&S GSP Ferry

The GSP ferry was first introduced into service in 1959 and used extensively by both the Soviets and a range of client states throughout the cold war.  The equipment was a key component of the Soviet river crossing machine, and was part of the assault river crossing capability held by the divisional engineer regiments, but generally attached out to regiments and forward detachments to aid in the rapid crossing of the many rivers that sat between them and the French border.  Capable of carrying a load of 50 tons it was  assembled from a pair of ferry vehicles and  could be ready for use in 3-5 minutes.

The Kit is very simple and consists of a single piece casting of the GSP in the water and the eight metal parts that make up the ramps., The main casting is well formed with some minor surface bubbles which I have left.  Getting the ramps to stick in the raised position is fun but Shaun tells me this has been addressed for the production versions.

I have painted mine Green, which might come as a bit of a surprise.  If I were doing it again I would represent some ropes on the deck The Trim Vein and maybe add the odd crew figure or two.  

I have two of Shauns PTS-M tracked amphibians which I use to represent the Assault crossing capability when on the move.  I am currently working up a visually appealing river crossing approach based on a number of water line representations of swimming vehicles the ferry, The PTS-Ms and some floating bridging I have yet to buy.

I believe the GSP Ferries are now released and available from S&S.

References:

Prime Portal GSP ferry walk around

Review - Model 1/72, S&S FV180 Combat Engineer Tractor (CET) Model

The Combat Engineer Tractor (CET) was introduced into service with the Royal Engineers in 1976 it sat within the Support Troop of an Engineer Field Squadron. It could be made available as required by tasks to any of the subordinate units in the Brigade.  It was designed as an amphibious earth mover capable of building ditches and scrapes or breaching obsticals.  The Amphibious capability allowed it to conduct far bank preparation in bridging or amphibious crossings where the egress routes or far bank required development.

The capability included a rocket propelled Earth anchor which could allegedly help in extracting the vehicle from a river where the banks were other wise too steep. I am not clear how effective this capability was, vehicles are rarely shown with it fitted except when swimming.  Earth moving could be done on its own or in conjunction with other dozer equipped vehicles including MBTs, and AVREs which were less effective at digging but quite effective at soil movement.

Study of some Imagery is required in order to understand what the various bits are and how they go together. The images above pretty much cover off that requierment.

The model itself is cast in white Resin and Metal with the body of the platform and the bucket being the resin castings and the tracks, earth anchor, track guards and hydraulics rams being cast in white metal.

On my copy the resin had a few minor defects mostly on the raised detail and minor amounts of flash around a requiring little clean up,  I rebuilt the Smoke Grenade Dischargers from the bits box and filled the rest.  Of the metal components the tracks required little attention whilst the Hydraulic parts and earth anchor had small amounts of soft flash and mold lines that required a bit of attention no major issues, excellent casting throughout.

I think this is one of S&S's best offerings that I have seen, with a high level of detail for a cast wargaming  item.  I added a representation of the hydraulic cabling around the bucket using florists wire, some cable routing on the vehicle using fuse wire and green stuff, some Smoke grenade dischargers from the spares box, a light from the spares box and a rolled cam net in hessian made from green stuff.  I was tempted to drill out the front light units but resisted.   I have left the Earth anchor off as I could find few pictures of it mounted.  All up this is a really good little model. Just got to paint it up now.