Article The cold war - Soviet Army

[11E]

Old Soviet / Russian monument with a T-34 turret at an old German bunker at the Hillersleben / Altmark training area

Difficult to see on the picture below, but the arour was all cut out and the turret roof and sides were nothing more than sheet metal.

 

[Connaught Ranger]

Nice T - 34/85 turret.

 

[BravoZulu]

 

[Иван Феоктистов]

Old Soviet / Russian monument with a T-34 turret at an old German bunker at the Hillersleben / Altmark training area

View attachment 353942

View attachment 353943

View attachment 353944

Difficult to see on the picture below, but the arour was all cut out and the turret roof and sides were nothing more than sheet metal.
View attachment 353945

View attachment 353946

Desolation. It looks like something from the post-apocalyptic world... Thanks for the photo.

 

[SamWell]

Yes, late eigthies, ('88)

So,maybe you could tell us about your service?What it was like?What branche did you serve in?Some interesting stories?

 

[11E]

Conscripted in the air force when I was 17. Normally it was 18 but I volunteered to go earlier (I didn't like school...). During basic training they asked if people had moral issues with nuclear weapons. I didn't, so I ended up on the air force base of which the government neither confirms of denies the presence of such weapons. Was at the security / base guard for 16 months which was a nice time. Young, got some money and with other young people. to go to disco's, pubs and swimming in a local lake during the summer. Back then there were always exercises in which the WarPac attacked, the aircraft of our base did their conventional missions above Germany and we on the ground did our thing with guarding and securing the base and weapons againsts ground attacks/infiltration. The first couple of days were always conventional and at the end of second day the base was always hit by a WarPac nuclear weapon and we did all the work in simulated fall out conditions. I believe in 1989 an unmanned Soviet MiG-23 flew from Poland over the Netherlands and crashed in Belgium. When it happened it was not clear at our base were or when the pilot ejected. Due to the special nature of our base we had alarm and all the platoons went on alert and had to sweep the complete base (including woods, shelter areas, everything) to check the pilot was not on our base. Later in turned out the pilot ejected shortly after take off in Poland.

After that I volunteered for another years and was transferred to the only USAFE/RNLAF base and worked a radar operator together with the HAWK SAM system and 40L70 guns. Here the same until the Berlin wall fell. Exercises in which we had to defend the base against WarPac air attacks with the HAWK and 40L70 . Nice place to be, the base was like little America with all the typical American cars, BBQ, flags, and a PX store were you could find food items and soft drinks which were rare in the Netherlands during that time. Also, we could go to the 4th of July celebration at the base which was also for us as Dutch guys great fun. Then I got the opportunity to transfer to the army and go to the Leopard MBT, which was great! A 55.000 kg tank with a 120mm gun., so a nice ''toy'' to play with. Did two deployments to Bosnia, one with the Leopard 2A4 and one with the Leopard 2A5. Later on when working on the staff I went to Afghanistan and Mali. I try to post some photos in the various forums with some background info and I hope someone likes them?

Regards

 

[Иван Феоктистов]

Everyday life of Soviet officers. The pilot "drinks" from a canister with a technical fluid, the canister reads "POISON".

 

[Иван Феоктистов]

New Year in the camp of Soviet soldiers. Ded Moroz (an analogue of Santa) carries the "Company Duty" bandage on his arm.

 

[Иван Феоктистов]

 

[Иван Феоктистов]

 

[uktabber]

Great photos.....thanks!!

 

[Иван Феоктистов]

Angolan, Soviet and Cuban soldiers, Angola in April 1988.

 

[Bob_Mackenzie]

I just wanted to say how much I have enjoyed this thread - all 33 pages of it. Cold War period pictures of the Soviet Army are hard to find.

Thanks

Bob

 

[Иван Феоктистов]

 

[droopy]

Soviet "Top Gun" program:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Hiryu2.0]

Map of military bases with nuclear weapons in Hungary in 1977. Red symbolises Soviet units, green Hungarian army units. Courtesy László Becz.

SS-1C Scud-B missile with Soviet 22 Brigade, stationed at Dombovar, south-west Hungary c 1975-76. (Soviet designation 9P117M (MAZ-543) launcher with 8K14 rocket as part of a 9K72 missile complex "Elbrus".) Photo: Stanislas Karpenko

 

[Hiryu2.0]

The French connection in the early seventies

 

[F.L.]

A nice thread, I hope there will be more about the Soviet air force.

 

[Hiryu2.0]

Scavenging for Intelligence: The U.S. Government’s Secret Search for Foreign Objects during the Cold War | National Security Archive

Washington, D.C., January 31, 2018 – Like so many treasure hunters, beachcombers, and curio shoppers, U.S. military and intelligence operatives have for decades scoured the planet for access to everything from captured surface-to-air missiles to medicines to bits and pieces of spacecraft that...

nsarchive.gwu.edu