Bolt Action Project VLOG - Building WWII Armies
What do you know about the Soviet 8th Guard?
Sep 9 2015 @ 09:25
24 Comments
We're trying to get as much cool info on the 8th Guard as we can.
Do you have a cool link, photo or story (or an idea for a cool list) please post a comment on this entry!
I’m really happy to see your Soviets are getting started. I was worried it would never happen. Looking forward to more Bolt Action hobby action!
Which 8th Guards?
8th Guards Army? 8th Guards Tank Corps? 8th Guards Mechanised? 8th Guard Cavalry?
How about you describe each of them and let me pick?
Age old problem of having to be an expert to ask an expert a question eh? 😉
You specified these guys fought at Stalingrad, which would make them formerly the 62nd Army, so later upgraded to 8th Guards Army. More on this below. 🙂
(Too much, actually, could someone please delete the duplicate post?) 🙂
8th Guards Army changes shape many times during the war. Here are hopefully some helpful “beginning and end” order of battle charts that show how this army was comprised.
July, 1943 – shortlyafter they were made “Guards” and right before they participated in the Battle of Kursk as part of Malinovsky’s Southwest Front:
http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/forumfiles/8th-guards-in-july-1943.jpg
Later, as part of Zhukov’s 1st Belorussian Front, they were “intimately” involved in the slaughter that was the Battle of Berlin.
http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/forumfiles/8th-guards-in-april-1945.jpg
Waren you should check out the http://www.nafzigercollection.com/ I think its one of the best sights for information, the books he sells are direct translations from those country’s military collections and hes books on the soviets are really detail on there organization you might want to check them out
A lot of them have been donated to the National Archive s in the US so are free. They are a pain to sort through though
Here’s a link to a page about a general who eventually leads the 8th Guard: ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=9
In case the link doesn’t work, google: Vasily Chuikov
i will happily do the US Airborne for you as i am doing them myself so might as well do yours too if want….just hit me up
Great topic, and a great PLOG! 😀 Sorry, put this on the wrong spot before and the “unit hierarchy” didn’t come out right, so trying again. 8th Guards (technically, Guards, not Guard) Army is indeed a great choice for an infantry-heavy Soviet army. As Warren says, these used to be the 62nd Army, which was the primary defensive army that held the streets, ruins, and sewers of Stalingrad. Absolutely brutal guys, life expectancy less than 24 hours, fighting chest-deep in human sewage with flamethrowers, that kind of thing. They were also at the worst part of Kursk, spearheaded the drive… Read more »
You found these @warren?
http://wio.ru/tank/oz/9tk11tk-en.htm
Holy crap, @yavasa . Awesome site. Bookmarked this, you can believe that. 😀
Yup that’s the site we’ve been looking at 🙂
Found markings for my Soviets – Katukov’s 1st Guards Tank Army. Huge thanks again, @yavasa . I did NOT know about this site and this will be a huge help going forward.
Hey, small request @warzan , and it’s no big deal if you can’t . . . can someone delete the 1st long post of mine above? (yes, the one with the +1). It’s actually not correct, the second one is, and in either case I shouldn’t have posted it twice. 🙁
Not a problem 🙂
awesome site yavasa thanks again 🙂
That’s the only one available guys @warren @oriskany I’ve been into the topic for a while. Sadly, most of my books are at my parent’s house which I will visit in more or less a week I can get in touch then.
ERRATA for my long post above:
1) 8th Guards Army was not at “the worst part” of Kursk. They were involved, just not at the epicenter.
2) At the bottom of long hierarchy list, when you get to the Tank Corps, there should be two Tank Brigades and an SP artillery brigade or regiment . . . not a third tank brigade.
Apologies. Posted too fast and watching to make sure my boss wasn’t looking over my shoulder. Okay, enough from me, I’m back to work! 🙂
The funny feeling when you read your posts and see that you @warren instead of @warzan I need to stop abusing coffee at work.
Glad to see the PVlog on this. I’m about to start my Germans.
Indeed, @yavasa , and edit button would be great. Or maybe I should just slow down and watch what I am typing.
I’ve put together a little .pdf packet for Warren and the guys on the 8th Guards . . . origins, history, campaigns, OOBs, ToEs, etc. We’ll see what they think of it. If they like it, I’ll put it up on the forums in a day or two. 🙂
Yes, @oriskany an edit button would be welcome.
Great timing on this topic as I have recently decided to expand my Soviets in BA for Tank War.