This book describes the impact of Soviet air power on the battles in and around the Kursk bulge during the summer and fall of 1943. Soviet fighter, ground-attack and bomber pilots contributed dramatically to the success of both the defensive and offensive phases of the Battle of Kursk and the subsequent drive to the Dnepr. After a slow start against initial Luftwaffe attacks on July 5th, the 16th, 2nd and 17th Air Armies adjusted battlefield tactics to resist German bombers as well as provide increasingly effective support to Soviet infantry and armor units. The summer of 1943 saw the Red Air Force complete its return from near annihilation during the first months of Operation Barbarossa. While Soviet pilots were still dramatically short on training and other resources, they would increase in combat effectiveness for the rest of the Great Patriotic War, while their opponents would continue to lose combat effectiveness. Stalin's Falcon's Resurgent utilizes previously unavailable contemporary Soviet documents to gain a clearer idea of how the Soviet Air Force (or VVS) gained air superiority over the Luftwaffe during the summer offensive of 1943, besides drawing on German unit histories from many of the ground units that participated in the battle.

In this stunning exposé, Dmitry Zubov reveals the dark truth of the terrible losses suffered by Soviet flyers, the inferiority of the Russian aircraft on World War II's Eastern Front, and the almost slave-like conditions in which those aircraft were made. The Soviet history of the Second World War, written under the conditions of a totalitarian regime, reflected all its features, with the result that it includes solid sets of patriotic fables that have no connection with reality. Many of the events of the war were distorted beyond recognition or even made up from beginning to end. Archives containing original documents were available only to selected, specially verified KGB ‘historians’ who presented only the version of the war that was acceptable to the Soviet regime. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the process of declassifying archives and gaining wide access to information gradually began to reveal the terrible truth of the crimes of the Soviet regime. One of which, of course, was the incompetent leadership of the Red Army, which led to massive loss of life across the military and civilians alike. However, the consequences of decades of Soviet propaganda had a strong impact on both Russian and world historical science. Because of this, not only Russian, but, unfortunately, many European and American historians found themselves repeating the Soviet myths they had been fed. The history of Soviet fighter aircraft did not escape this fate. The tale of Stalin’s so-called ‘Falcons’, who allegedly shot down dozens and even hundreds of Luftwaffe aircraft, was persistently drummed into the heads of many generations of Russian people. These heroes, supposedly, flew Soviet fighters whose technical characteristics were many times superior to their German counterparts, with the result that Luftwaffe aces were reportedly afraid of meeting them in the air. These primitive propaganda clichés became a model for describing the actions of Stalin’s fighter aircraft. In this stunning exposé, Stalin’s Falcons reveals the stark and dark truth of the terrible losses suffered by Soviet flyers, the inferiority of the Russian aircraft and the almost slave-like conditions in which those aircraft were made.

Brief biographies of more than 100 Soviet pilots and the regiments in which they served. The Soviet unit structures, decorations and the wartime operation to which they relate are detailed along with maps, and many illustrations of the pilots and their aircraft.

The first supplement for the Konflikt '47 Weird World War II wargames rules, this volume presents a range of new material for the game, including: - New army list: The Japanese make their presence known on the battlefields of Konflikt '47. - New units: Options for troops and technology that can be added to the armies presented in the rulebook. - Special characters: Field the best of the best, elite men and women who may singlehandedly be the crucial element between victory and defeat. - New background: The history of the world of Konflikt '47 is detailed in more depth. - New rules: All-new means of waging war, including material previously published online.

In these pages, Stalin's psychology is fully revealed, every atom of his madness explored, every twist of his homicidal logic followed to its ruthless conclusion.

Drawing on his own incarceration and exile, as well as on evidence from more than 200 fellow prisoners and Soviet archives, Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn reveals the entire apparatus of Soviet repression -- the state within the state that ruled all-powerfully. Through truly Shakespearean portraits of its victims -- men, women, and children -- we encounter secret police operations, labor camps and prisons; the uprooting or extermination of whole populations, the "welcome" that awaited Russian soldiers who had been German prisoners of war. Yet we also witness the astounding moral courage of the incorruptible, who, defenseless, endured great brutality and degradation. The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956 -- a grisly indictment of a regime, fashioned here into a veritable literary miracle -- has now been updated with a new introduction that includes the fall of the Soviet Union and Solzhenitsyn's move back to Russia.