Cavalry Company (EW)
(SBX94)
THE REGULAR CAVALRY
When people conjure up images of Soviet cavalry during World War II that often think of the Cossacks, but the Cavalry of the Red Army was initially made up of regular cavalry recruited from all walks of Soviet society. Many of the regular Cavalry divisions and corps were first formed in the 1920s during the formative years of the Soviet Union and saw extensive service in Poland and Bessarabia in 1939.
The cavalry corps represented the foundation of large mobile formations in the Red Army, and most were converted to mechanised and motorised corps during the 1930s. However, due to severe losses in vehicles following the German invasion of the Soviet Union, many more cavalry corps were raised. The Red Army’s cavalry were organised into cavalry corps of two cavalry divisions, two self-propelled artillery regiments, a signals battalion, and a tank battalion of 31 tanks. Medium tanks were often replaced with light tanks, tankettes, orarmoured cars.
Between July and December 1941, the cavalry arm expended from thirteen to eighty-two divisions.
THE COSSACKS
After the Russian Civil War, those Cossack communities that remained in Russia (now the Union Soviet Socialist Republics) took time to recover from the ravages of the Civil War, plus they now had to adapt to a society where their traditional privileges no longer held sway. Cossack farms were collectivised in the early 1930, further reducing their independence. Some resistance to change flared up, but was mercilessly crushed by the Soviet authorities.
Along with the military and dissidents, the Cossacks were also victims of Stalin’s purges as he blamed their leaders for the failure of collective farms. By 1937 Stalin had relented in his persecution of the Cossacks, he reinstated the Cossack Regiment names in the army, and re-opened recruitment on the Don, Terek and Kuban. 100,000 Cossacks were serving in the Red Army by 1941.
With the disaster of 1941 the Cossacks were once again used to harry and delay the enemy as infantry retreated and re-grouped. Some Cossacks went over to the Germans and their allies, but many more stayed loyal to the Soviet cause.
THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS:
3x metal Mounted Command Teams
1x metal Mounted Komissar Team
8x metal Mounted Rifle/MG Teams
2x metal Tchanka (HMG) Teams
These miniatures are supplied unassembled and unpainted
15mm, metal
Battlefront Miniatures
Product safety information
Manufacturer information:
Battlefront Miniatures Europe Ltd
Tissington Close Unit 4C
Nottingham, Vereinigtes Königreich, NG9 6QG
customerservicerow@battlefront.co.nz
https://www.flamesofwar.com/
Responsible person:
Frontline Games
Faerbereiweg 3A
Schleswig-Holstein
Huetten, Deutschland, 24358
info@frontlinegames.de
https://www.frontlinegames.de/
