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The gunboats examined in this book were a uniquely Soviet weapon – motor gunboats designed for use on rivers, and armed with a standard tank turret (most often taken from the T-34). It was those tank turrets that make them unique – other powers built larger numbers of similar sized motor boats, but generally armed with either torpedoes or open mounted guns, and normally with use at sea their main role.
The nearest example of a similar vessel in other fleets is probably the American ‘Amtank’, armed versions of the LVT amphibious landing craft, but these were meant for use at sea. Firepower was similar, with later versions using the open topped turret from the 75mm armed M8 HMC. It is also worth noting that these Soviet vessels could operate at sea – some were allocated to the Baltic Fleet, while the survivors of the Danube Flotilla of 1941-42 escaped the advancing Germans by crossing the Black Sea to Odessa. We even see examples of the Soviet gunboats being used to support amphibious assaults in the Black Sea, a similar role to that of the LVT (A).
We follow the development of these boats in the toxic atmosphere of the pre-war Soviet Union, where any failure could see the designers executed or imprisoned. As with other industries, we see how the factories building these boats had to be evacuated east after the German invasion, and how their construction suffered from shortages in the hardest years of the war.
In combat we see them fighting in just about every major river on the Eastern Front, often used as escort vessels, or to provide fire support for amphibious assaults. They emerge as very vunerable to enemy artillery – their main enemy in the absence of similar German boats – but also very flexible, able to be moved overland from river to river during the Soviet advances later in the war.
This is a useful account of a rather unusual weapon, showing how the use of existing tank turrets made them rather more powerful than most river gunboats, as well as much easier to support, as they shared the same supply needs as the vastly superior Soviet tank forces.
Chapters
Development
River Tanks at War
Aftermath
Author: Przemyslaw Budzbon
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 48
Publisher: Osprey
Year: 2023