Soviet Army (Winter) Weapons Teams

Infantry weapons teams are a key component of any Bolt Action army, providing as they do great tactical flexibility for your force. Sniper teams, flamethrower teams and light mortar teams are among the most prevalent, presenting your opponent with multiple challenges to overcome.

The sniper became synonymous with the Red Army, particularly during the grim sieges of Stalingrad and Leningrad. ‘Sniper schools’ were established in bombed-out buildings and cellars, where successful snipers passed down their skills to ever-growing numbers of students – many of them women. Soviet propaganda lavished attention on successful snipers and encouraged a doctrine of ‘sniperism’ among the troops. Snipers used telescopic sights on either a bolt action Moisin-Nagant 1891/30, or, more rarely, a Tokarev SVT-40 smi-automatic rifle. A variety of ammunition was used, including tracer and armour-piercing rounds. Soviet snipers were available at company level working as teams or sometimes on their own. Individual Red Army squads would often have a designated marksman with a scoped rifle to help compensate for the lack of long-range firepower due to the large numbers of submachine guns in use. Soviet snipers became renowned for their fieldcraft, stealth and patience. The most successful snipers each accounted for hundreds of the enemy – around 500 being the greatest tally recorded by a single sniper.

The standard light mortar used by Russian infantry during World War II was the 50mm Infantry Mortar Model 1940 (50-PM 40), a cheaper version of the earlier model 1938, In addition, the Soviet army received considerable numbers of 2-inch mortars from Britain via Lend-Lease. The 50mm was deemed a ‘company’ mortar as opposed to the heavier 82mm battalion and 120mm regimental mortars. The allocation of 50mm mortars was initially to individual teams at platoon level, but later they were more often concentrated together at company level for use en masse. The weapon was easily man-portable and could lay down a high explosive or smoke bombs at a range of over 800 yards.