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.