MiniArt Military Models 1/35 Soviet Divisional Artillery Kit

At the start of WWII (the Great Patriotic War) much of the Soviet “God of War” – its artillery arm – was horse-drawn just like that of the German Wehrmacht. But whereas the Soviets were able to produce a goodly amount of trucks - and receive hundreds of thousands more via Lend-Lease - the Germans were not so fortunate. Still, for the first year or so of the war most lower echelon Soviet artillery had to be horse-drawn.

This generally meant that battalion level guns – 45mm antitank and 76mm howitzers – and division level – 57mm antitank and 76mm guns – were either horse-drawn or used trucks like the GAZ-AA or ZIS-5 for drayage. Since the guns were lightweight, regiments could use two-horse teams and divisions four-horse hitches. (Considering during WW I the heavier light guns took six and eight horse teams, this at least was a blessing.