WW2 Soviet Soldiers
ESCI 1:72 Scale Figure Review
The Soviet Soldiers, released by ESCI in 1982, are a mixture of advancing and firing riflemen, light and heavy machine gunners, heavy mortars, battalion staff, and Cossack cavalry. So many different subjects are touched upon that there simply aren‘t enough poses in the set to cover them in sufficient detail.
Contents
46 Figures in 13 Poses – 24 mm equal 180 cm Height
- Soviet Officer with Tokarev TT-33 Pistol and Binoculars, advancing (2)
- NCO/Motor Rifleman, with PPSh-41 SMG, gesticulating (5)
- NCO/Motor Rifleman, with PPSh-41 SMG, firing from Hip (5)
- Female Radio Operator, kneeling (3)
- Machine Gun Team – PM M1910 HMG
- Team Leader – missing
- Machine Gunner No. 1, prone, firing (3)
- Machine Gunner No. 2 with Cartridge Box of belted Ammunition, prone (3)
- Pulyemyot Maksima PM1910 Heavy Machine Gun
- Mortar Team – 120 mm Mortar M.1938
- Team Leader – missing
- No. 1 Mortar Leader – missing
- No. 2 Loader with 120 mm Shell at 120-PM-38 (2)
- No. 3–5 Ammunition Numbers – missing
- Machine Gunner No. 1 with Degtyaryov DP-27 LMG, prone (3)
- Soviet Rifleman with Mosin-Nagant 1891/30, prone, firing (3)
- Soviet Rifleman with Mosin-Nagant 1891/30, running (5)
- Soviet Rifleman with Mosin-Nagant 1891/30, kneeling, firing (5)
- Soviet Rifleman with M.1891/30 rifle, throwing RGD-33 Stick Grenade (5)
- Soviet Cossack with PPSh-41 SMG, dismounted, leading Horse (2)
- Budyonny Horse, walking (2)
Evaluation
For decades, the Cultural Appropriation Department at ESCI has labeled these miniatures as (ethnic) “Russian Soldiers”, glossing over the fact that the brunt of German aggression against the USSR was born by the people of Belarus and Ukraine. These miniatures actually represent Armenian, Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Estonian, Georgian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Latvian, Lithuanian, Moldavian, Russian, Tajik, Turkmen, Ukrainian, and Uzbek men recruited into the “Workers‘ and Peasants‘ Red Army”, many of whom were colonial subjects of the “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” dominated by the “Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic”. Ceterum, censeo ESCI hunc gravem errorem corrigendum esse!
The excellent officer figure in this set appears to be based on the famous photo of Soviet lieutenant A. G. Yeremenko, Company political officer of the 220th Rifle Regiment. The gesticulating NCO/Motor Rifleman with PPSh-41 sub-machine gun is a very striking pose, too, but it would look strangely choreographed if this Hero of the Soviet Union were used more than once in any particularly squad or platoon. Please refer to our tutorials “Simple Soft Plastic Figure Conversion – Soviet Infantry” and “Soviet Tank Rider Conversion” to find other, more practical uses for this miniature.
The few riflemen in this set are armed with the Soviet 3-line rifle M1891/30, called Mosin-Nagant Model 1891/30 in the West. The Mosin-Nagant infantry rifle should be just over 17 mm long in this scale, but ESCI made them 18.5 mm long instead. ESCI routinely armed their miniatures with oversized firearms, quite possibly because they are easier to manufacture that way.
The prone machine gunner isn‘t aiming at all, he‘s just looking down at the ground. And, he‘s multi-tasking: firing the light machine gun with just one hand and clutching a spare drum magazine with the other. If he were firing properly, his left hand would support the butt stock. If he were loading the weapon, he would have lowered the butt stock to the ground, freeing both hands to replace the drum magazine. Figure designers and sculptors often seem to shy away from important decisions like that, giving us weird catch-all poses instead.
Ivan, the No. 2 mortar man, is a typical heroic toy soldier pose, too. He‘s so strong, he can handle two 120 mm heavy mortar rounds, one in each hand, and he‘s spiritually awakened enough to be able to drop these shells down the mortar tube without even looking! Judging by his fancy footwork, he‘s dancing the Kozachok between rounds.
The PM M1910 Maxim heavy machine gun is a nice little model, but the loader is incorrectly sculpted to serve the weapon from the left side. When placed on the right side, where he belongs, the cartridges in the ammunition belt are facing backwards, and the loader needs to be placed dangerously close to the muzzle. This is not a good option. We shall have to look into converting this figure, placing the ammunition belt in the loader‘s right hand, in which case the figure may be placed further back, with part of his head behind the gun shield.
It will probably remain a mistery why ESCI allowed a single dismounted Cossack and his Budyonny horse to stroll across a battlefield where everyone else is seriously engaged with the enemy. Perhaps the Cossack was meant to be part of larger Soviet cavalry set which never progressed beyond this one trooper?
ESCI‘s Soviet Soldiers offer a number of interesting poses which may be used to fill existing gaps in other 1:72 scale Soviet infantry sets.