Soviet
Aero-Sleighs of World War Two in Service with the Red Army, Finnish Army
and
the German Wehrmacht.
The Aerosan
(Russian for "Aero-Sleigh" or propeller-driven sleigh) is a very specific form
of military vehicle that was used operationally in snowbound winter regions of
northern Europe by the armies of several countries during the first
half of the 20th century. It was, however, the Soviet
Union that made the most extensive military use of these specialised
winter combat vehicles. Aerosans were used by Russian forces during the First
World War, the Civil War following the 1917 Russian Revolution, by the Red Army
during the Russo-Finnish "Winter War" of 1939-1940, and in the winter months of
the Second World War on the Eastern Front. Aerosans proved particularly
effective in the combination of snowbound northern climate and poor road
infrastructure that afflicted the Soviet Union,
where tracked as well as wheeled vehicles were frequently confined to roads by
heavy snowfalls. This publication covers the Soviet development of the aerosans
from the early 20th Century to the end of World War 2. Added are chapters of
aerosans in Finnish Army and German Wehrmacht service, both of Soviet design and
domestic developments. This is the most complete coverage of military aerosans
ever published.
Illustrated with
127 black and white photographs, 57 graphics and two 1/35 scale line
drawings.
