Invading Russian never goes well, for any of the parties involved. These two certainly don’t look they’re having such a good time.
Vintage Saturday: Shivering with an AVS-36
Lever Action Rifles
Vintage Saturday: Lever Actions in the Trenches
Russian soldiers in World War One armed with Winchester 1895 lever action rifles chambered for 7.62x54R. In addition to the gas masks and long bayonets, note the fellow at the back left reloading with a […]
Handgun
Mauser Volkspistole
We have another experimental German WWII piece for you today, Mauser’s last-ditch “Volkspistole”. It was developed at the end of the war as an extremely inexpensive home guard weapon, although how much use a pistol […]
Bolt Action Rifles
Spoils of War: French Occupation-Production Mauser K98k svwMB
Allied troops occupied the Mauser factory complex in Oberndorf in April of 1945, right at the end of the war. The factory was put under French administration and by May that same year production lines […]
Looks like it could’ve been shot during the Winter War with Finland…not one of the Red Army’s shining moments…Great picture!
The cap (worn over what seems to be a balaclava)of the guy holding the AVS-36 doesn’t look Soviet to me. Looks like a Finnish M36 peaked cap, complete with the national blue&white cockade.
Hello,
You meant “invading Russian” or “invading Russia” never goes well? Anyway, these guys are defending their land, not invading anyone, including Russians – they are Finns during the Winter War of 1939-40, armed with a captured AVS. BTW – any chance to get a larger copy of that picture?
The Finns captured an epic amount of the brand new AVS-36 rifle from the Soviets during the initial months of the horribly botched invasion. Apparently a lot of these excellent rifles were still covered in grease from the factory which inconveniently turned to ice in Finland. The Finns, of course, were happy to take the frozen guns from the dead/surrendered Russians, melt the grease off them, and then enjoy the fruits of the enemy’s labor.