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TOUR THE MUSEUM

TOUR THE MUSEUM

416 Rifle Regiment headquarters (the typewriter is in Russian)

The is the wall to the left of the desk and is part of the headquarters. The padded jacket is original
post war and highly prized.

This is the newest addition. A semi-auto DPM light machine gun. It mounts on the motorcycle.

This is the main display table.

A manaquinn in a "tanker" uniform. I bought it in Moscow. He is holding a PPSH-41. Behind him is a raindeer hide and a picture of Siberian troops using raindeer to move equipment.

This is the headquarters "kitchen" (must brew tea)

This is the "models wall" just to the right of the kitchen.

This is an enlisted mans great coat made during the war. Very Iconic.

This is the new U.S. Army wall. Most of the items are original including the M1 Garand.
The 1911 is newer issue however. I am still collecting.

Above is a diorama in 1/285th scale depicting the battle for Pavlov's house.
(by the curator)

This style of military bike started as BMW's made for the German military in the 1930's. Some time in
the 1940's The Soviet Union captured some bikes and plans and "reversed engineered" them for the
Soviet military. After the war the factories were moved from Germany to the CCCP. In the 1960's the
Soviets signed a mutual assistance treaty with China. The factories were moved to China and many
many bikes were manufactured for the huge Peoples Liberation Army to help mobilize it. They stopped
making them in the 1970's and many are now available for world wide sale. That is where I purchased
this one. I am told that about 96% of the parts will still interchange with the 1930's BMW's (and the
Soviet bikes as well of course) I have made it into a proper Soviet "R-72" military bike. It is the muse-
um's largest and most expensive holding. DisclaimerYou read and learn some things. You look up references of those you don’t understand. I cannot say that what Ivan has on and the equipment with him is exactly what you would see if you could look back to 1945 around Warsaw. Different units have different equipment: riflemen, sappers, tankers. Different armies within the main army will vary in uniform, insignia and equipment.
Some units had many lend lease items while others did not. Individuals (both Soviet and German) often captured items to replace ones lost, or in some cases liked the enemy equipment better than their own. So the uniform and equipment Ivan has are the best I can do with my present knowledge level.

In addition, many units had to make do because of supply shortages. I have seen pictures of Red Army soldiers on the Streets of Berlin wearing a mixture of uniform types. Some with pre 1943 pattern and some with the 1943 pattern.

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A note on authenticity:

I made every effort to keep items completely authentic. Unfortunately, the funds available to me for this project are limited. (My wonderful wife Susie would say they seem to be unlimited.) So Finances caused things to fall naturally into one of three categories of authenticity:

Authentic: This was often possible because items such as fire arms and small equipment like ammo pouches are available and reasonably priced. These items would be made before or during the war.
For instance, the M44 (model 1944) Mosin Nagant carbine rifle retailed at $100 delivered to my door.

Authentic post war production: Some of the gear was made after the war, but is exactly the same as that issued during the war years. An example would be the Meshok (knapsack) - it is post war and is the same except for some straps and a name tage window. I removed these so is is authentic post war.

Reproductions: I could not afford such things as authentic boots. Finding 70 year old leather in good condition might be possible, but cost is in the hundreds of dollars. Because there are enough collectors around, suppliers actually manufacture hard to find equipment (from all countries) and place it on the internet for sale. This allows people like me to complete a collection. I will refer to these three categories as I describe the equipment in the following paragraphs.

A note on Soviet equipment quality

The quality of Russian equipment seems to have a bad reputation with our general population here in the U.S. I think this may be due to what we heard about the way things were done after the war. Many will be familiar with Stalin’s five year “plans.” Pressure to make “quota” often caused poor workmanship and was widely reported. Remember, the CCCP changed from "uncle Joe" and our allies to the "red Menace" during the cold war. This may have “poisoned the well” on our take of things. In fact, WWll Russian military equip-ent was generally of high quality. Some items, like the T-34 tanks are considered by many as the best ever made for their time. The Mosin rifle usually makes "top ten best" lists.

Don't miss the next page "curator trip to Russia."

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Meet Ivan

TOUR THE MUSEUM

Curator trip to Russia