soviet

This crazy Soviet shotgun used rejected aircraft cannon barrels

Soviet weapon designers came up with interesting ideas like the TP-82, a triple-barreled shotgun-pistol-machete carried by cosmonauts. When Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) needed a shotgun to suppress prison riots,…

Comparing the Soviet SKS rifle to the American M1 carbine

Whenever you compare the merits of two firearms against one another, there will be a huge row. Just ask fans of the M1911, designed by John Moses Browning — which served in the American military as the primary sidearm for seven decades — what th…

That time the USAF intercepted a pilotless Soviet fighter

On the morning of July 4, 1989, alarm bells blared at Soesterberg Air Base in the Netherlands, home of the US Air Force’s 32d Tactical Fighter Squadron. Within minutes, a pair of armed F-15 Eagles, manned by Capts. J.D. Martin and Bill …

Today in military history: US tests first hydrogen bomb

On Nov. 1, 1952, the U.S. tested the first hydrogen bomb. After the United States dropped two atomic weapons on Japan in World War II, the government did not pursue…

Why American submarines feared this Russian destroyer

Russian ships are often the butt of a joke. The aircraft carrier Admiral Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza Kuznetsov, for instance, has had a long hi…

The insane way the first cosmonaut got back to Earth

The very first man to go to space was a Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, who rose to the top of his class thanks to his stunning memory, quick reactions, and poise during emergencies. That poise would come in handy since his spacecraft couldn’t surv…

The Gouzenko Affair was the most shocking Soviet defection to the West

Gouzenko and his cipher skills were recalled to Moscow in 1944 and there was nothing his boss could do about it.

Russian tank crews have a history of using this insane tank battle tactic

The Soviet Union was well-known for one insane tank battle tactic in particular, one used countless times to great effect.

Communist countries fought a proxy war against each other in Africa

There’s an old saying that says no two true democracies have ever gone to war with each other – and let’s not pretend Russia is a true democracy. One might…

Walking on the grass and 4 other things that almost made the US lose the Cold War

Government documents have been declassified that reveal these 5 events almost made the U.S. lose the Cold War.

The battle that convinced German leaders they lost World War II

In the minds of many German leaders, World War II was lost much sooner than May 1945. Much of the Third Reich knew its days were numbered almost as soon…

How anti-tank dogs helped advance Soviet forces

The intelligence of dogs has turned the tides for many wars, making way for significant advancements. However, we rarely think about animals as a wielder of weapons, let alone harnessing…

9 infamous KGB assassination attempts straight out of spy novels

It’s well known that the fearsome Soviet spy agency, the KGB, used brutal tactics to eliminate and intimidate rivals. Legend has it that when Soviet diplomats were kidnapped by terrorists in Lebanon in the mid-1980s, KGB officers kidna…

A rogue Soviet submarine might have been destroyed trying to start World War III

In March 1968, one of the Soviet Union’s most powerful vessels, a diesel-electric ballistic missile submarine carrying one megaton nuclear weapons, suddenly sank in the Pacific Ocean. K-129 was on…

Today in military history: Captured U-2 pilot exchanged for Soviet spy

On Feb. 10, 1962, U.S. Spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers was exchanged for a Russian spy during one of a tense period in the Cold War. In the late…

How train cars kept missiles mobile in event of Soviet strike during the ’80s

With the Soviets seemingly on our tail, the U.S. put multiple safeguards into place throughout the Cold War. From missions that were based on information to those that put us…

This Soviet-era Russian war medal is worth $10 million

There are a ton of notable facts about the Soviet Union’s top war medal awarded during the Great Patriotic War – what Russia calls its part of World War II. …

Watch the Air Force launch an ICBM in mid-air from the back of a C-5

During the Cold War, the American nuclear deterrent strategy required coming up with ways to guarantee the survival of nuclear weapons if the Soviets managed a surprise first strike. The surviving devices would then be used to destroy Soviet civiliz…

Iran and the CIA teamed up to test Soviet airspace defenses

Project Dark Gene sounds like an effort to create an unstoppable army of evil super soldiers, but it’s actually much more sensible than something like that. It was a joint…

The real reason North Korea’s capture of the USS Pueblo was a disaster for the US

In January 1968 the USS Pueblo, a research ship being used by U.S. Navy intelligence, was captured off the coast of North Korea by the North Koreans. The North Koreans…

Green Berets and foreign weapons… Like kids in a candy store

One of the perks of having a career in Special Operations units was the chance to be trained…

That time the US Army stole a Soviet helicopter for the CIA

How a single frat-house tourniquet helped the Soviets kill American spies

A bizarrely ironic tale came to light recently in the wake of the publication of an opinion piece written by Doctors Frank K. Butler and John B. Holcomb in the…

‘We would have lost’: Did U.S. lend-lease aid tip the balance in Soviet fight against Nazi Germany?

On February 24, 1943, a Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft with serial number 42-32892 rolled out of a factory in Long Beach, California, and was handed over to the U.S. Air Force. On March 12, 1943, the plane was given to the Soviet Air…

Veterans tell stories of Berlin Airlift for 70th anniversary

The trio shuffled into the small room with canes and walkers to record their testimonies of the first confrontations of the Cold War and how the allies prevailed without firing a shot, saving a former enemy from oppression. The Royal Air Force…