Soviet Motor Gunboats of World War II

Book excerpt: A compelling account of the heavily armed and highly mobile Soviet river gunboats which took on the Germans during World War II. Russia's enormous river system has long been its highway and, as early as 1908, the Tsar's armies were developing armoured riverboats that brought tank-like mobility, firepower and survivability to Russian battlefields. This book, the first history of these vessels in English, explains how this concept led to one of the most remarkable naval weapons of World War II, the Soviet 'river tank', or Armoured Motor Gun Boat (AMGB). Highly mobile, capable of carrying up to 20 infantrymen directly into action and providing immediate firepower from their tank turrets, machine guns or Katyusha rockets, their military value was widely recognized. They were versatile enough to be used in naval landing operations off the Gulf of Finland, the Azov Sea and the Black Sea, and their capabilities were prized by local commanders. Using meticulously researched new colour profiles, rare photos and spectacular artwork, this book uncovers the history of river warfare on the Eastern Front, and the boats that played such a key part in the fighting.