"German tanks russian infantry combination" Topic

Hi folks,

since I have some spare German tanks (StuGIII, Panzer IV) and Russian Infantry in Summer Uniforms I wondered, if there is any way to combine them in a historical fighting force. Is there any way to justify the combi? Maybe the Finnish or Hungarians used that odd combo?

Greetings
WCTFreak1

The Russians had specific captured tank units, so just use them as Russians (with captured tanks).

Green, with great big slogans/stars on them.

Yup, use them as Russians with captured tanks.

Soviets used a lot of different captured vehicles, with units equipped with captured equipment only or with a mix of German, Russian, Lend-Lease (and sometimes even Hungarian!) vehicles. You can find some data and photos here: wio.ru/tank/capt/capt.htm

The number of captured Pz IIIs, Pz IVs and StuGs was so big, they would even repair them if they got damaged. On the other hand, Panthers and Tigers (and probably other rarer/more complicated vehicles) would be used until they broke down, and then replaced with other AFVs.

And if you like converting your minis, some Pz IIIs and StuG IIIs were converted to SU-76i (not to be confused with the SU-76 based on the T-60) and SG-122A.
SU-76i:

SG-122A:

Some vehicles were repainted green, other were left in their original colours. As for the markings, white or red stars seem to be the most common, although sometimes the hammer & sickle was used (in addition to the star or on its own). Some vehicles had slogans painted on them, while others still had their original Balkenkreuze.

What the posters above said – use them for vehicles captured by the Soviets.

As for Soviet uniforms, they were not exactly used by many forces other than the Red Army – though there was also the Soviet-equipped Polish People's Army around in the late war.

One other option to consider is Romanians with Soviets.

After the Romanians switched to the Allies, they still had a lot of Stugs (called TAs) and Panzer IVs (called T-4s). It would therefore be quite feasible to show the armoured Romanians with Soviet infantry support as a single force, as this happened from mid 1944 til the end of the war. This would be very historical without having to resort to using them as captured equipment.