ACCIDENT. SOVIET & GERMAN MILITARY MEN, SUMMER 1941

Due to the limitations of the Versailles Treaty of 1919, the German army could not develop many means of reconnaissance or communication, and for this reason, among others, in the 1920s, they put emphasis on the development of heavy motorcycles with good or very good road and off-road performance. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, the process did not stop, but it actually accelerated. He led to the introduction in the 1930s and during World War II of such successful designs as the BMW R-12, BMW R75 or Zündapp KS 750. It is worth adding that motorcycles in the German army very often had a sidecar, intended for a soldier with a machine gun. Motorcycles in the German army proved themselves particularly well in the initial period of World War II, especially in the course of fighting in Poland (1939), France (1940), but also in North Africa (1941-1943). They were used primarily for reconnaissance operations, sometimes in the rear of the enemy army, and for liaison tasks. In the 1920s and - especially - in the 1930s, the Red Army underwent a rapid development in terms of increasing its posts, as well as increasing saturation with technical weapons, primarily armored weapons. Still, the infantry was the primary and numerically largest element of the Red Army. The intensive quantitative development of this type of weapon began at the turn of 1929/1930. In 1939, even before the aggression against Poland, the Soviet infantry was formed into 173 divisions (so-called rifle divisions), most of which were grouped in 43 corps. It is worth adding that after the September campaign in 1939, this number increased even more. The Soviet rifle division in 1941 consisted of three rifle regiments (three battalions each), an artillery regiment, after an anti-tank and anti-aircraft artillery division, as well as reconnaissance and communication battalions. In total, it numbered about 14,500 people. However, by 1945 this position underwent significant changes, leading to a division of approximately 11,500-12,000 people, consisting of three infantry regiments, an artillery brigade consisting of three regiments, a self-propelled artillery squadron and many support units, including anti-tank, anti-aircraft weapons or communications. The saturation of infantry units with machine weapons has also increased significantly - for example with the submachine guns APsZ 41, and later APsZ 43.