Date

2019-07-01

Author

Dietrich, Richard

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As its title indicates, the subject of Red Assault: Soviet Airborne Forces, 1930-1941 is the history of the development Soviet airborne forces from 1930 to 1941, and that general topic is very satisfactorily covered in this work. However, what the title does not indicate is the extensive number of sub-topics that the author has investigated in the process of writing his comprehensive, chronological history of Soviet airborne forces. Kotelnikov begins by discussing how and why Soviet military planners began to search for ways to utilize aircraft to deliver men and materiel to conflict zones in remote, poorly developed regions of the Soviet Union. He then traces how this relatively basic use of aircraft for supply deliveries evolved into the concept of using aircraft to deliver paratroopers and airdrop equipment for operations behind enemy lines as part of larger Soviet blitzkrieg strategy. What comes next is a number of short chapters, each dedicated to particular sub-topic. Some of these chapters are dedicated to technical issues, such as “What does a Paratrooper Require?”, “Parachutes”, “A Paratrooper’s Weapons”, “Pods, Bags and Cages”, and “Wheels and Tracks”. Other chapters discuss the aircraft that were developed for the delivery of paratroopers and equipment: “The Aviabuses”, “Assault Gliders”, and “Long Tailed Saboteurs”. Much of the information in these chapters comes from previously unpublished Russian sources. In addition to the more technically oriented chapters, there are several chapters that cover the exercises and maneuvers in which Soviet commanders tested their airborne forces and refined the ways in which they would be used. In particular, the author examines the large-scale exercises conducted near Kiev in September 1935 and the impact that the demonstration Soviet airborne capabilities had on foreign military observers. In the latter chapters Kotelnikov examines the actual use of airborne forces in relatively small conflicts in the years prior to the Soviet entry in the Second World War. The book concludes with a brief discussion of why the Germans, British and Americans, inspired by Soviet accomplishments in the development and use of airborne forces, were able to develop their own airborne capabilities that soon surpassed those of the Soviet Union. The writer gathered the material for this book from a number of sources, among them Soviet archives, the published memoirs of some of those who were involved in the development of Soviet airborne force in these years, documents in various museum collections, and other sources published in Russia. In addition, Red Assault has been extensively illustrated with contemporary photographs and drawings related to all of the topics that the author covered in the book’s 42 chapters. The result is the most comprehensive study available on the development and deployment of Soviet airborne forces between 1930 and 1941. This book is clearly of interest to anyone studying Soviet or Russian military history, but its value extends beyond these fields. When one considers the role and importance of airborne forces in German and Allied operations in World War II, as well as in many of the conflicts around the world up to the present day, this translation of Kotelnikov’s account of the Soviet pioneers in this area takes on added significance by making source material from the Soviet era available to researchers who do not know Russian. In conclusion, this eminently readable work is highly recommended to students of military history who have any interest in almost any aspect of the subject of airborne forces.

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https://www.ijors.net/issue8_2_2019/issue8_2.php
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/102455

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Department of History, Article