Introducing the Soviet Cavalry

Many of us think that WWII was a war that was entirely mechanized. While tank units and motorized units did play a key role in the front line and also logistically, the horse was just as important. Germany used them abundantly to pull guns, field kitchens, supply wagons, etc. The Soviet Union however, also used horses for mounted cavalry units. In reality, they were used to provide faster mobility to the troops, and were rarely used to ride into battle. Machine guns made that too costly, or rather suicidal. Occasionally when the enemy had been routed, the cavalry might have pursued and fought on horse, but most of the time, they fought as dismounted cavalry. The Soviet Cavalry Corps during WWII were really a combined arms unit. In addition to the core component of men and horses, they also contained tanks, armored cars, howitzers, anti-tank guns, anti-aircraft guns, mortars, machine guns units, making a mobile force with quite a bit of punch. Having men on horses enabled them to keep up and protect the tanks, and together they were used to exploit gaps in the front line, as was done when the Germans were stopped outside of Moscow, or at the end of the Battle of Stalingrad when the German 6th Army was encircled. The Soviet Union had 13 Cavalry Divisions when Germany invaded in June 1941. By year's end, it had expanded them to 82 divisions, each division consisting of 3000 men. Throughout the war, they ended fielding 26 Corps, with each Corp having a minimum of 2 divisions. Some of these units were made up of Cossacks, which had a tradition of being skilled riders and fierce fighters. By the middle of the war, shortages of horses led to the disbandment of many of these cavalry units, but a few remained in place through the end of the war and even participated in the battle of Berlin. In terms of plastic Toy Soldier figures representing this branch of service, there weren't any until recently. Let's take a look. 

Engineer Bassevich Soviet Cavalry

Finally a Soviet Cavalry set. Unfortunately, we only got 4 figures. Three of them seem to be on the march or on parade. One of them is charging at some imaginary enemy. The level of detail on the figures is nice and the sculpting and detailing is good. For example, the medals on the officers gives them a very nice touch, and I also like the mustaches on them. My main criticism about this set is that the choice of poses doesn't really allow to create a real fighting force. It almost feels like it might have been better to not have the charging man and at least have another man riding in formation. In terms of the horses, they come in two varieties. The two larger horses are galloping. The other two are shorter and trotting. Going back to the poses, I think one galloping horse would have been adequate for the charging man. The other three riders just needed the trotting horse. The second galloping horse ended up getting a rider who seems too relaxed for the situation. Anyhow, It's good to finally have some representation for these figures. Hopefully we'll get some more sets / poses in the future, but I am not very optimistic about that. 

Click here to take a look at WWII Toy Soldiers by Country

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Click here to check out more Soviet Troops

Click here to see the Soviet Infantry in action.

Click here to see a post about the Maxim MG.