BOOKS & MORE: Russian close combat weapons

Kalashnikovs, PKMs, and great tanks - man knows them. But what else is common among the Russians? Weapons that give the ordinary soldier more firepower. This book is dedicated to the topic of "Russian close combat weapons." We want to flip through it together with you.

Let's start with the first chapter: Hand grenades. There are plenty of them...

The book is beautifully illustrated. Both old drawings and modern photos are shown. A variety of different hand grenades are presented. The cute little one in the top right is an RGN with a practice variant.

In Chapter 2, it's about rifle grenades and machine grenade launchers.

The Russian basic program ranges from GP25 to GP30. The Russian likes a smaller caliber than the 40mm commonly used in the West for underbarrel grenade launchers. Here, too, weapons and ammunition are presented.

But the book also presents more unusual solutions, like this weapon seen with Russian combat swimmers.

A separate subsection on machine grenade weapons.

Here, too, the equipment is presented with detailed photos.

Chapter 3 is about rocket-propelled grenades. There is always a model in mind:

The classic RPG-7. A worldwide standard for shoulder artillery. Also presented are modern munitions for this classic.

But the range of weapons and models is much larger. The PG-27 is clearly reminiscent of the western LAW model and is a disposable weapon.

In addition, there is a chapter on heavy rocket launchers (you can see clear inspirations taken from German weapons from World War II in the first models, such as "Püppchen").

A separate chapter for a specific problem: how to crack bunkers? The Russians also offer special solutions here - equivalents to weapons found in the West, such as those from DN Defence. And the full range of flamethrowers is also represented. Only the oldest ones have shoulder tanks and flame tubes.

Modern flamethrowers look like this. Also here: well illustrated, with tables and meaningful photos.

Rocket launchers for flames. You will discover some really exciting things in the book.

So you know everything that is there: the first page of the table of contents ...

... and the second page.

And the text on the back.

CONCLUSION: An extremely exciting book for anyone interested in either weapon technology or Russian weapon systems, all from the time before the Ukraine war (as of 2017). Very informative and well-illustrated. SPARTANAT reading recommendation!

“Russische Nahkampfmittel: Typen, Technik, Daten” by Ilya Shaydurov, Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2017, 256 pages, Euro 39.90