Osprey Pub.

Soviet Artillery Tractors Of World War II

The author of this title is James Kinnear, who has written many well regarded books and articles on Soviet vehicle subjects for a variety of publishers. Mr. Kinnear speaks Russian, and has spent decades in Russia, enabling good access to research the subjects of his many works. He’s also collaborated with other notable authors on books for several publishers. I have several of Mr. Kinnear’s previous works on my book shelves and find them to be of a very high standard.

The subject of this work is the Soviet artillery tractors of WWII, but a quick examination of the contents reveals that a bit more than traditional tractors are also covered by the author. Soviet artillery was sometimes called “The God of War” due to increasingly heavy use of artillery during WWII. Heavy concentrations of artillery demanded lots of equipment to haul and position those guns, with Lend Lease arty haulers supplementing Soviet made equipment. This volume focuses on the wide range of domestic Soviet artillery tractors.

Vital Statistics

Format - hardcover, portrait format

Page Count - 352 heavyweight, glossy pages

Size - 8.75” x 11.5”

Photos - hundreds of black & white period images, contemporary full color images

Tables / drawings / diagrams - technical / performance data and production tables, period drawings, artwork showing vehicle colors

All text and photograph captions are in English

What’s between the covers?

Above - the book’s table of contents, showing the logically laid out progression from WWI through WWII, to post war service.

Above - The volume opens with descriptions of early Russian / Soviet artillery haulers, and includes some interesting photos.

Above - everyone likes something in particular, me, I appreciate period factory images for some unknown reason. The above image treats the reader to a nice two page photo of Stalinets tractors on the assembly line at the ChTZ plant.

The author does a masterful job of integrating text, tables, drawings and photographs. Above is a really nice mix of period images along with contemporary full color images for comparison. Photos throughout the book are frequently numbered so that the appropriate caption can easily be found.

Above - some interesting images of STZ-5 artillery tractors from the Stalingrad tractor factory, alongside other products from the same factory, T-34 tanks. This factory was the scene of some of the most bitter combat during the fight for Stalingrad, falling into German hands in October of 1942.

The author does a thorough job of describing the major manufacturers of the various Soviet artillery tractors, including Komintern, as seen above. He has selected a wonderful array of mixed photos to accompany his text. He describes the advantages and limitations of the various models of Soviet tractors very completely in the accompanying text and photo captions.

Above - the author includes very nice contemporary images of selected tractors which have been restored for museums.

Above - another really nice spread of images, featuring the Voroshilovets tractors towing the big guns of the Red Army in Moscow’s Red Square, and some interesting images of the tractor pressed into German service. A nice full color frontal image is seen lower left.

Above - this book is absolutely crammed full of eye candy type images. The above image of a Voroshilovets tractor towing a captured German vehicle would be an eye catching subject for a diorama.

The author does a great job of integrating his crisp, readable text with a great many images and informative tables, as seen above. The author provides a great deal of information on the development and use of the many tractors used by the Red Army, including changes dictated by field experience. He manages to accomplish this without making the text too dry and tough to follow.

Among all the various tractors covered in the book, the little Komsomolets tractor is covered in great detail The author provides much interesting detail on the pros and many cons of this tiny vehicle, including the fact that it was woefully underpowered. A nice selection of photos are provided for examination.

A General Comment regarding photos in this book - photograph sizes vary widely in this volume, from rather small to full page sized. I suspect that many of the smaller images were necessary to keep the book’s page count reasonable. While I’d have liked to see many of the smaller images larger for better examination of them, space is limited in any physical publication. The photos themselves are generally fairly crisp and clear, but one does need to consider that some images were taken under trying conditions.

Above - the author provides some interesting period builder’s drawings, such as the ones on the right side above of the A-34 (prototype of the T-34 tank) chassis as an artillery tractor. 

This volume includes good looks at lesser known vehicles that the Soviets attempted to develop for artillery hauling, including wheeled vehicles such as the GAZ line of car types (seen above), ZiS trucks, tracked vehicles, and just about everything in between.

Above - I’d consider Chapter 8 as sort of a bonus, with it’s examination of self propelled artillery using tracked chassis.

Above - some gorgeous walk around type images of an STZ-5 chassis with rocket racks, a fully restored museum piece.

The book closes with several very useful appendices, including looks at color and camo schemes, lots of various informational tables, period drawings from operations manuals (seen below), and other items. All good stuff!

Above - wonderful period drawings of various tractors, great reference material!

Above - a hugely informative data table listing production, technical and performance data for Soviet artillery tractors.

Above - and finally….a full color (as long as it’s 4BO green, that is…) look at selected artillery tractors paint schemes.

Conclusions

This is simply a massive volume, and the more you page through it, the bigger it seems, it’s that complete.

The author does a terrific job of conveying a lot of facts, figures, dates, anecdotes and examples pertaining to the wide range of Soviet artillery tractors without this huge amount of information being too much to digest. His photo captions are equally as informative and useful.

The wide selection of photographs used to illustrate this volume are quite varied, being a mix of factory posed images, training ground images, period action photos, and great images of restored vehicles in museums. The book also contains a great many informational tables, as well as period drawings and diagrams. All add reference value to this volume.

This book is a terrific look at the Soviet artillery tractors of WWII, and would serve as a reference source. It is well deserving of a place on your book shelf if you have interest in the Red Army artillery of WWII.

Highly Recommended! 

Thanks to Osprey Publishing for the review copy

Reviewed by Chuck Aleshire, AMPS Chicagoland

AMPS 2nd Vice President, Midwest Region

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