30

"Graffiti"
Russian \lvhsrecan I fnd 2000MilitaryBooks?
ln th€
Russian WIV2 patriotlc KENTROTMAN
Catalogue
of couFel
slogans on AF\Ps
by Rob RouteA
Someorc nentiotred in a postitrgto an online wargamingchat group
that tbey'd like to give their WIV2 Russiantank units nor€ of an
idendry nther thm havine swms of plah greeo tdks all over the
tabte. This led to me producing this clumsy collection of Russian
gatriti!. The id€a of this article really ftough, is to share this
informationI collecpd with thoseof you out thercwho alsohaveSoviet
WW2 ta* uits, dd give you somewndng to sEwl otr tbem,(ed the
udslation!) ratherthd m in-deprhstudl
Now the whole Russianlank marking thing to me is a bit of a
nightnare ar rhebesrof times.Unlike rheGemans wirh rheirconsisrenr
lhe digit identification nunb€r, or ft€ geoneric shapesusedby ft€
Brilish, tbe tacticalmdking of Russid tarks never$ems to foUow ay
sr pattem. Oneofthe morestrikinStypesof |akings mentioned,was
the bold use of patriolic or polilical slogos usedby the Rusims, md
someonenoted that sometims whol€ urits would be IEked up with
the sde son of slogm. So I wenl dd had a nosetbmuShmy b@ks, Sendlor a ,?eecaanoguenow
dd discovercdthe following bit! dd pieces. Mailorderis our spciality.
Frcm the pholos I have in my collecdon of beks (dd thos of my
friends I've borowed) it becomescld thal the f6t exmples of rhese KENTROTiIANLTD.
types of markings cone in lery late 1941,following the opening of
UNIT11,135DTTTON WALK,CAMBRIDGE, CBs8PY
'Oper ion Barbarossa. As a r€sult the commontypesof Soviet un}.s VISITOURWEBPAGE:hllD//Kenlrolman-lld.uk
duing this period,T-26's BT-5 s md BT-7 s do not lend to carry these
mdkings. Afler the ldge ercircl€mentsud Soviet d€featsduring the Vorcnezhski Kolkhoznik " werenaned afterthe vorcnezhcollective
sumer of 1941,moralewas low dd we begin to se the emergenceof fam. The AIry\ wereoflen thenpresentedro tbe crews,by the workers
polilical md patriolic slogds, bul the praclice appem more comon tbar had nised fte money at official hddinS over ceremonies.The
from 1942onwdds. Tbesenarkings f.ll iolo thre distincl cat€gories, nmes or dedicadonson the ttrftls were often written in chalk for the
bul we will beSinwith tbe baic slo8tus. cercmony. afthougb lmy photos cledly show lhat later painted
tnitially the sloSas re of the patriotic vdiety, m8in8 frcm simple exmples werc colmon.
themessuchas"Za Rodinu' (For tte Motherlmd) or "Za Stalina" (For The fral populd style of mdking on AIry\ was the useof nmes-
Stalin). Moving all the way up to slogms or phiNes thal were Thse could rdge from the nmes of leSendaryCzd dd medieval
obviously morepolitically motivat€dsuchd 'We defendthe conquests princes who fotrght the TeDtonicKniShtsdd othe. invade6, down to
of Ocbbef' refening ro lhe Sovie! Revolution of October 1917, and commemoratingthe namesof fallen cotrades, alftough tnis doesnot
otre of my particutd favountes "Bei fashistskuF gadinul ' (Crush the appearb have beetr a very corinon practice. Other popular nam€s
included Napol€onic era g€neEts such as Suvorov or Red Amy
As th€ wu progEssedthough. oxamptesof sloganswith a w€ak€r generalsAom the RussianCivil war suchas Shcholtz as well a5 the
doCnatic fe€l beganto appearsuchar "vp€red na Z:tpad" {Forward to nanes of the nore obvious contenpo,roy polidcal leadeship. Lasily,
ihe Weso or "Na B€rlin! (On to Berlin) a vicbry b&me moe fte I]mes of towns or regionswerealso used.bu don't apped to have
cenain from *ly 1944.
FoUowinSthe successof 'Openlion Bagntion' in the sumer of (This .nicle fi6t appeaied in 'The Joumal of the S@iety of
1944,esp€ciallyin the Baltic, tbe ovedy politicaypatriotic sloganre- Twentieth Century wargamers. Fo. lhose of you interesbd in the
emergeswith a new twist. As well as thosetypesneniioned abovewe Sociery details cd be obrainedAom Mek Wheelea 25 BDttemerc,
begin 1ose sloges in lsguages otherthd Rnssim, fron nalionalities Black Coun, White Nolley, EssexCM7 8AY).
in the previouslyGelllm ocupied mas. The Sovieisalnost $emed lo
n@dto remird pople of Russid rule over someof the morereluctdt
mtuoritieswithtu the SovietUdon. As a result we cm s photostaken SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
duing the last yed of the we with slogus on AIVS appeding mt
only in Rusid, but also Ul@inim, Estorid, Latvie dd Arenim Sovid TaLksi4 Conbat, 1941 45, Zalo9a. Concord. 199?ISBN 962-
"@lebrating' their retuE to Comunist rule, such a'Za radyms|! 361-615-5
tlkrainu! ' aForthe Sovi€t UkEine!) Sralins Heavy Tonks,Zalo5a,Concord, 1997ISBN 962-361-616-3
The next categorytakesthe fom of dedications.Dedicationslogus me EastemFmt, Za\o9atc@dsetr, Ams & Amouc 1983ISBMl-
werc put onto AIry\ b itrdicateir someway who had contributedto 85409213,8
the vehicle s pwhe. Grcupsof SovietworkeE col@ted ud donated Sovi.t Heavy Tanks, Zalogalcrodsen. Ospr€y vanglard 24, l 9 E l
moneyto "buy" tads, much in the sue way that in Britain duing the tsBN 0-85045 422{
wd you could buy 'Wd bords' to nise moiey for the wd etrorl. KVI & 2, Zz\oAalKjred/smon, Ospr€y New Vmgurd l?, 1995
"Duins thc wa. 5.8 billion rubles was donated ke purchate of LSBN l-85532496-0
for
over 30,tXNamorcd yehicles,amunnne tu about one thir.l of total T-34'85, zalogalKiaea Sarlon, OspreyN€w Vanguard20, 195 ISBN
production. " StevenZaloga Thz EastemFtunt p54 I 85532535 7
Thesetankswould then often be nmed h som€way after the grcup 1,t 2, Alogar'Sdson, Osprey N€w Vuguard 7, 1994 ISBN 1-85532-
that had contributedto theii Dmhde. For exmole thoselEked " 39G6
 31

Bxamples
of dedicafionsloggns
[,locnoacnuu
A3IPxHttElrl 0C0cgilnrrHotElt
A whole companywas named 'Dzerzhinds' afrer dcdicated ancr a Moscow civil defence league
lhe facility that raised the money and namedafte.lhe the whole unit was named the same 1942 (KV- | )
I leado f the 'C'rrcla'(Secrctpolicein l9l7) l%2 (KV-l)

C00il[l(]lll [.tt'. Ho]rcoxe{eu

'Fron the
NONDIIHil, NANRI|}II{ NHHBIJ
So|iet Arctic E plorers' | 942 (KV- I ) 't.D.Papanin 'Konsonolers +
lg42/43 unkown word'
dedication liom 'Glavsevnorput' t,|,eRussian namedaft€r rhe headof dedicatedto the 'Young
Arctic
exprorers'
5'cuards
rankReet' j$ec:#J?ff'(:;. 'eos
0*a
lrtH;xffi;"l
Examplesofnames:

blopt 6az?an[vHl{stgl00lues8Epo6
'.t col/z RCW
General Bdgza'b, Napoleonic Genenl ](xrEov Napoleonic Genei.l Sworov Napoleonic General
both6:omthe I l6u Tank Brigade1942(KV- l 's) l'd cuards 1942(KV-l)

al

"[Er,r6uTs" ueBcxH]i
A/l0xcAuAP ;liilt-ifffi
'Lenbitu 1945(T-34185\ 'AlsanderNevs*ii
t943{Churchill) For CenerulBaganian ' 1945(T-34/85)
bothof theabovefoughtagains!lhe Teutonsin rhe I i' cenrurr.' Commanderof the 3'dByelorussianFronl.

UUUnltU]f rnM4rpHH
']Htf* aoHcKor'l
'DavidSasunskiy'
1944(T-34/85t 'DimitriyDoNkoi' 19,t4(OT-43)
Armenian
National
hero,writtenin Anfienian. lJd centuryCzarth?ttefeated
theTanars.

BnRaHmup
plonroboHilEIIRBAn
noAPUrA
'VladimirMayakovskii'
(poet)1945(T-14lE5) 'Friendin banle'1945(lS-2)
7'CuardsTankBrieade.
 Examplesof pafriotic andpolitical slogpns

3e
,,floEE.qA'
PoAHllyl EEtl 0nurrctoa
'Fot 'crtlth ' Yick'ry'
the Honelond' l 21'r-3414t\ thel.'\cists l94t ('t-34t41) l94l (T -34t4| |

cAotfit{fil
DEl,t+w:r0auncrH3n[rnnrun
'Ctush
thef$cist vipers!'l94l (KV-t) 'A
nnihilate thefasc ists 'For
Stalin 1942(T-34t4 1)

Mgru-PoRnna f|i'fitsrse
! a^p"agll
'Mothe and' l9rA (T-34/851 'Forvard to victory!
& For the Honeland!'1945 (both M4A2 Sherman76mn)

gnrpra!u aBe^dcua
rnneg!Bnepra
nalzrnrn!,ETAPATEA
'Foryard .Onwardt ,soviet
to the West! 1944(T-34185\ to Be in!' Diti4ence.tg AlSrJ-BS)

3A pn.qcrcurg SaC}nETf;Hyro
SCT0Hhn
UKPNTHY
! tiulosde IESTP"6t
'For theS@iet 'For
Ulsaine!'in Ukrainian1943(T-j4/41) Soviet Esronia' top line in Russain
t'ottomline in Estonian1944(T-34/4t)
45d Sep.Tank Regt.8mEstonianRifle Corps

?n ,, Lniviins 0c!0t0xAEHHAg
/l cobtlcrylo
/'lolAlBtlosr;;;;; KhPOECI(Aff
.Forsoviet
Motdavia.
te44(su-8s, 'LiberutedKircyskiy 1945(lsu-ls2)
#1,,ff#;,,;ilir..:1"r-i.r.r.,