View allAll Photos Tagged soviet
Looks very much like my father's Argus C3, which he must have gotten in the 50s & used until the late 70s. This one was carried by a Latvian boy who was sent with his mother to Siberia as part of Stalin's mass deportations (we met a survivor of those in Lithuania). Mother and son were held there from 1949 to 1957. The lens reads "Industar-22"; I looked that up & found that this lens was produced for 35 mm cameras made by KMZ in the Soviet Union from 1948 into the 1950s. But the body appears to be a Zorki-1 type C (a Leica II clone). It's got the bead around the leatherette & the rangefinder marked 1.2 & 1.7 instead of 1.25 and 1.75 (see www.sovietcams.com/index.php?-737528618). That means the camera must have been acquired in Sibera, since those were only made in 1951–1953 (probably towards the beginning of that time, since they switched to a different lens later).
I am wearing Yuri Gagarin’s personal wristwatch today, and so it seemed like a good photo opp for another other cool artifact from the Russian space program.
The black ceramic tile that the watch rests on was part of the thermal protection system of the Soviet Union’s space shuttle Buran, which made one flight on Nov. 15, 1988.
The Buran flew only one two-orbit mission, and because it was just as dangerous as the Shuttle it imitated, it flew and landed autonomously, with no humans on board. Five tiles were lost during the flight. More photos below.
This tile was removed after the orbiter was destroyed in a hangar collapse at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in 2002.
The watch looks to be a 1960's-era solid gold Russian watch, but I suspected it might be a forgery before I bought it. The auction house failed to notice that a letter was missing from the last name!
I got them to correct the listing, and the bidding did not go high, so I figured it was worth it to have an old Russian watch, perhaps circa 1967, that just might really have belonged to the first man in space (despite the typo in the engraving; perhaps that's why he got rid of it =). Maybe someone in flickrland can help shed light on this.
Here is what the auction house provided (as well as originals of the documents referenced): “Attractive 23 jewel, man's 10K gold wrist watch owned by Yuri Gagarin. Made by Russian watch maker and in working order. Back of watch engraved and has been translated as "YURI GAGARIN MAY 1, 1967". Watch accompanied by a note translated as "The watch was bought by Gagarin in 1967. It was in [his] personal use. Gagarina." Original translation report by Igor Moiseyev of ATLANTIC CROSSROAD, INC included. Watch face in fair condition with sweep wear on center of face patina due to age.”
Bratislava, Slovakia, 2024.
This is an image from the past. The Nová tržnica market was built during the socialist era, in the former Czechoslovakia, and looks the same as it did then. Workers and retirees continue to have lunch there as they did 40 years ago, eating the same menu and drinking Kofola (the socialist Coca-Cola, very popular in the former Czechoslovakia).
Brighton Beach in Brooklyn is known as Little Odessa, due to the volume of Russian immigrants. On the boardwalk, in the shops, in the restaurant and on the street, it was rare to hear a language I recognised. Sitting in chairs outside their apartment blocks or on the boardwalk were groups of pensioners, passing the time of day talking and listening to crackly Russian radio. Unsmiling and unfriendly, they exuded a terrible sense of sadness, of wishing they were elsewhere. They were like ghosts of their former selves.
Another legendary soviet car - Moskvitch 2140 ("moscovite" in Russian). Produced since 1976 up to 1988 by now defunct AZLK manufacturer that was based in Moscow. It is a small family car, many generations of Soviet people dreamed about it. You can still see few of them on streets of the Russian cities.
Photo #2 - flic.kr/p/21UDtob
Did a few modifications to that T-34 I had recently gotten and decided to put together a group shot of all my Soviet forces.
On the T-34, I'd added bedspring armour to the turret and the top of the engine compartment on the back, changed the main cannon to look more accurate as well as a few other details on the turret, added a flag pot on the back, and added a few other small bits of detail along the sides and on the front.
I started, as usual, with the chassis. The front now has a drive, the engine is moved to the interior. With the wheels from the Mustang, it was possible to make a front-wheel drive with a very small running-in shoulder.
In the sunroof at the back, you can put a figure, a handle for rotating the platform with an arrow is thought out. As for the "machine gun", this design is not completely mine, I just modified the original LEGO rubber band and added details.
Thresholds were made, a blade against zombies, a spare tire, Windows closed with plates and bars. The doors on the right are "welded", on the left everything opens.
The interior is almost unchanged, only the Central tunnel has changed (due to the change of the steering wheel and the transfer of the engine to the interior)
After withdrawing from Bessarabia, VII Corps was responsible for holding a 150 km stretch of the Prut River that ran between Lunca Banului and Galați. However, with the 14th Division still besieged at Cetatea Albă, the VII Corps was especially weak, and, when the 26th Army crossed the Prut near Murgeni, containing them seemed to be an impossible task. After they communicated their situation to 3rd Army’s headquarters at the end of the first day of battle, the Royal War Council urged that this now vital sector needed to be reinforced. However, with no more ground forces in reserve, it was decided that this sector would be supported by the 1st Bomber Group.
The 1st Bomber Group consisted of four, 12-plane squadrons, flying IAR 82 "Şoim" medium bombers. At the time, it was the largest active bomber formation, with half of the 2nd Bomber Group’s men still being trained and a 3rd Bomber Group still being organized. As such, the Royal War Council was hesitant to field the bombers during the Battle of Bessarabia, but decided to now that the war was coming further into Romania.
On the 22nd, the men of the 1st Bomber Group took off from the airfield at Braşov and headed for the Soviet bridgehead. Despite their inexperience and the Şoim’s crude bombsights, the bombers successfully destroyed the two pontoon bridges that had been built, along with other high priority targets like the 173rd Rifle Division’s headquarters and an oil depot, all without losing a single plane. The Soviet response was that of pure shock. Up until that point, they were under the impression that Romania had no dedicated bombers, only fighter-bombers.
The squadrons of the 1st Bomber Group would fly a total of 17 sorties over the next two days, eventually leading to the destruction of a third pontoon bridge, 27 tanks and 39 trucks in exchange for 3 bombers downed and 7 heavily damaged. This continued bombing, combined with artillery from VII Corps, inflicted heavy casualties against the 8th Rifle Corps, as well as destroying most of the equipment of the 17th Pontoon Bridge Regiment. By the time the Red Army Air Force allocated fighter cover to the bridgehead on the 23rd, the 26th Army’s hopes of getting their heavy equipment across the Prut in time to encircle the Romanian 3rd Army had effectively gone up in smoke. As the 8th Rifle Corps stayed in their bridgehead, the rest of the 26th Army was withdrawn and forced to consider an alternative solution for crossing the Prut.
-Side Note-
I wrote this back in August, but was so daunted by how to arrange the scene that I just... didn't make it. Hopefully, there won't be any more delays with the alt history timeline.
Quick test of a re-purposed tool,in the garden. Not SOOC this one,as i had to heal some of the circle of leds in a quick pp fix as i knocked them during spinning.....oh well Sh*t happens i guess !! (thought the colour scheme reminded me of the old soviet posters hence the title)
Here is the same TT scale locomotive as in 'Soviet steam I', just seen from the other side. The environment was made by Midjourney version 4.
As the Romanians began falling back from northern Moldavia, the 2nd Army consolidated their forces around the town of Târgu Frumos, less than 50km west of Iași. As the Soviets moved closer, it was decided that the 1st Tank Destroyer Battalion and the remainder of V Corps’ cavalry would be sent south to the crossroads at Săbăoani to secure their escape route. Shortly after giving the order to evacuate the wounded, elements of the Soviet 12th Army had begun probing attacks against the Romanian western flank.
The Stavka had ordered the 12th and 9th Armies to complete the encirclement of the Romanian force by linking up just south of Târgu Frumos. However, coordination and communication between the two armies was poor. 12th Army’s 17th Rifle Corps briefly succeeded in taking the road leading south from the town early on the 26th, but were forced back before they were able to dig in. 9th Army, which was only just finishing up the siege of Iași, wouldn’t join the attack until the next day. These scattered, uncoordinated attacks meant that the Romanians could focus their full strength on these attacks one at a time, and were able to calmly organize their evacuation.
After realizing that coordinating the two armies was proving to be nearly impossible, the Soviets decided to turn their attention towards inflicting casualties on the retreating forces before they got away completely unscathed. The Romanians anticipated this, and did their best to organize defensive strongholds along the route. Any available high ground was occupied by artillery batteries, and any wooded area along the road concealed a machine gun nest. Unfortunately, more than half of the 80km road from Târgu Frumos to Bacău was on flat, open terrain, which would only be loosely screened by the few remaining cavalry units. Despite the cavalry’s best efforts, Soviet forces frequently broke through this screen, wreaking havoc on the Romanian columns. One of these attacks routed most of the 10th Infantry Division, who then abandoned most of their heavy equipment and retreated due west to Piatra Neamț. However, all of these attacks would eventually outrun their supply lines and be pushed back by the next Romanian unit that came upon them, keeping the road open.
Still unsatisfied, the Stavka ordered one last assault on Târgu Frumos itself, where an estimated one-third of 2nd Army’s forces were still located, on the 28th. By that point, the Romanian rearguard was significantly weaker, and it did not take much for the Soviets to break through and enter the town itself, engaging the defenders in bitter street fighting. By the end of the day, Târgu Frumos had been almost completely surrounded, but a breakout spearheaded by the remnants of 2nd Tank Division led the surviving Romanians to safety.
Aside from the occasional strafing run or failed attack on Săbăoani, the march to Bacău from there on was fairly uneventful for the Romanians. By the end of the 29th, the last units had successfully reached the foothills of the Carpathians, from which the 2nd Army would make their last stand.
Over the course of the Prut-Siret Operations, 2nd Army had suffered 6,000 killed or captured (although they gained about 3,000 men who broke out from Iași), with another 3,600 wounded who were safely evacuated, while inflicting similar losses on the Soviets. The Royal War Council would later look back in highsight and debate whether or not the situation would have played out more favorably if 2nd Army had tried to hold out longer before retreating or even attempt to counterattack, as the Soviets were vulnerable from overextending their supply lines. While 2nd Army’s command was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing, it was clear that their habit of putting up token resistance before retreating en masse, regardless of how well it preserved Romania’s precious manpower, was having a demoralizing effect on the troops. Shortly after 2nd Army began digging in around Bacău, its Chief of Staff remarked, “Hopefully, the men will prove they can fight as well as they can run.”
-Side Note-
Has anyone noticed that I've used the same dark tan layered plate set up for the past 5 scenes?