Well, here are the soviet “rigid airframe airships” or blimps for short (even though blimps don’t really have a rigid airframe). Anyway, if you ignore these formalities, you can see that Soviets were actively developing and using their blimps…
The interesting story behind a blimp your looking at right now, was that on September 6th 1935, due to a strong wind gust this blimp was blown off the airbase even though it had 60 anchored cables tying it to the ground. Long story short, a captain of the ship (N.S. Gudovancev) that at the time was on the ground, was able to catch one of the supporting cables and climb on to the ship, when it was already 120 meters up in the air. In the cabin , there were 4 adults and 11 children. When the height was 800 meters, he was able to start the engines and 5 hours and 45 minutes he safely landed the blimp after the bad weather had passed. The captain who had saved the ship (as well as people) received an Order of Red Star.
The Battle of Stalingrad was a battle between Germany and its allies (Italy, Romania, Hungary) and the Soviet Union for the Soviet city of Stalingrad (today known as Volgograd). The battle took place between July 17, 1942 and February 2, 1943 as part of World War II. It is often considered the turning point of World War II in the European Theater and was arguably the bloodiest battle in human history, with combined casualties estimated above 1.5 million. The battle was marked by brutality and disregard for military and civilian casualties on both sides. The battle is taken to include the German siege of Stalingrad, the battle inside the city, and the Soviet counter-offensive which eventually trapped and destroyed the German Sixth Army and other Axis forces around the city.
It has been the 65th anniversary since the battle took place three days ago, here is the gallery dedicated to all of those who participated and in many cases gave up their lives defending and fighting for Stalingrad building by building, this is as real as it gets… (I didn’t include pictures of hundreds of fallen soldiers on the streets of Stalingrad on purpose, i hope you understand why)
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info via wikipedia.org
Here is a gallery of Soviet soldiers and all of those who worked on the factories and in hospitals, helping bring about victory and defeat NAZI Germany 63 years ago…
These pictures depict the fall of Berlin and the final days of WW2. The NAZI regime had been defeated by the Allies, which ultimately ended the war in Europe 63 years ago…
Here is the gallery of pictures from the WW2. It depicts Soviet soldiers and civilians all working towards the same cause…
Professor of Counterintelligence and former head of KGB operations in America, Oleg Kalugin discusses the nature of Cold War espionage for the USSR and the rise of corruption within the USSR…
Did you ever hear of Stanislav Petrov? I’m sure you haven’t, but i think you should read what this humble man had done for all of us and the price he paid for his caurage…
Stanislav Petrov born 1939 is a retired Russian Strategic Rocket Forces lieutenant colonel who, on September 26th, 1983, allegedly deviated from standard Soviet doctrine by positively identifying a missile attack warning as a false alarm.
This decision, according to several sources, was a major factor in preventing an accidental retaliatory nuclear attack on the United States. Investigation of the satellite warning system later confirmed that the system had been malfunctioning.
Stanislav Petrov, was the officer on duty at the Serpukhov-15 bunker near Moscow on September 26, 1983. Petrov’s responsibilities included observing the satellite early warning network and notifying his superiors of any impending nuclear missile attack against the Soviet Union. If notification was received from the early-warning systems that inbound missiles had been detected, the Soviet Union’s strategy was an immediate nuclear counter-attack against the United States, specified in the doctrine of mutual assured destruction.
Though there continue to be varying reports as to whether Petrov actually reported the alert to his superiors, or what part his decision ultimately played in preventing a nuclear war, his willingness to risk punishment in order to possibly prevent a catastrophe exposed a critical flaw in the Soviet missile warning system and deeply embarrassed the upper echelons of the Soviet Army. In retaliation, he was branded as an “unreliable” officer, transferred to non-command duty, and eventually forced to retire. Because of Soviet military secrecy and international political concerns, Petrov’s actions were kept secret until 1998 when a Russian officer present at the bunker wrote a book detailing the incident.
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March 6th, 2008 was the 95th aniversary since the birthday of the legendary WW2 ace Aleksandr Pokryshkin, we already have a big entry about him here. Now here are couple of pictures of his memorial in his home city of Novosibirks where citizens laid flowers to his memorial, it’s nice to see that people remember…
The Battle of Stalingrad was a battle between Germany and its allies (Italy, Romania, Hungary) and the Soviet Union for the Soviet city of Stalingrad (today known as Volgograd) that took place between July 17, 1942 and February 2, 1943 as part of World War II. It is often considered the turning point of World War II in the European Theater and was arguably the bloodiest battle in human history, with combined casualties estimated above 1.5 million. The battle was marked by brutality and disregard for military and civilian casualties on both sides. The battle is taken to include the German siege of Stalingrad, the battle inside the city, and the Soviet counter-offensive which eventually trapped and destroyed the German Sixth Army and other Axis forces around the city.
It has been the 65th anniversary since the battle took place three days ago, here is the gallery dedicated to all of those who participated and in many cases gave up their lives defending and fighting for Stalingrad building by building, this is as real as it gets… (I didn’t include pictures of hundreds of fallen soldiers on the streets of Stalingrad on purpose, i hope you understand why)
Garry Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster. Kasparov became the youngest ever World Chess Champion in 1985. He formed the “United Civil Front” movement, and joined as a member of “The Other Russia”, a coalition opposing the administration of Vladimir Putin. On September 30th, 2007, Kasparov entered the Russian Presidential race, receiving 379 of 498 votes at a congress held in Moscow by “Other Russia”. I came across this video a few days ago which i think is a very good summary of this man’s life and struggle…
Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov is a famous Russian gun designer. He created one of the most popular assault rifles in the world - AK47. Here are his pictures and watch the video for the complete biography of Kalashnikov.
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Here is the 588th night mission light bomber regiment.
This all female unit got a nickname “Night Witches” by the Germans. And these brave girls were actually proud of their earned nickname.
Germans used to say about them: “We simply couldn’t understand that the Soviet airmen that caused us the greatest trouble were in fact WOMEN. These women feared nothing. They came night after night in their very slow biplanes, and for some periods they wouldn’t give us any sleep at all.”
Ilushin Il-2 Sturmovik was a ground attack aircraft in the Second World War. This aircraft played a crucial role on the Eastern Front, and in Soviet opinion it was the most decisive aircraft in the history of modern land warfare. IL-2 was heavily armored, and proved that it could take a great deal of punishment which made it a difficult target for both ground and aircraft fire to shut down. German troops called IL-2 the “Black Death” while German fighter pilots called it the “Concrete Bomber”.
It was produced by the Soviet Union in large numbers, a total of 36,163 Sturmoviks were built, making it the single most produced military aircraft design in all of aviation history, as well as the third most produced aircraft in history of aviation. . .
