My VDV/DShV battalion is finished

Well, more or less finished. I still need to do an airborne light antiaircraft company, but that will be along soon. 

As Andy mentioned in the comments section of my last VDV post (July 5, 2015), this battalion seems more DShV (air assault) than it does VDV (airborne/paratroops). The reason being that I have simply been lumping the two together. The two types used much the same uniform and they fulfilled a similar, though not identical, role. Much like the very general similarity between the U.S. 82nd Airborne and 101st Air Assault. VDV troops were generally, but not always, more lightly equipped than the DShV. 

In any case, this battalion will do for DShV or for more heavily equipped VDV. At some point in the future, maybe I'll do a more traditional light battalion for my VDV and keep this one for just DShV. 

So, here it is:

Two companies of BTR-Ds:

and one of BMD-1s:

Also three company command stands, each with an SA-14 Gremlin:

and a battalion commander:

Also the direct fire support platoon, armed with AGS-17 Plamyas:

As I've said before, in a shooting war, the VDV/DShV would all, without exception, look like this:

But where's the fun in that? Who can resist having them look like this instead?

I can't, so mine all get the blue beret!

The next Cold War project on my list is an SA-4 Ganef battery, so stand by for that. 

Progress on a Soviet VDV battalion

Both Mrs. History PhD: 

and I:

have been feeling a bit under the weather this holiday weekend, so painting has been at a bare minimum. However, I have managed to complete a second company for my VDV battalion, this one being equipped with BDM-1s:

As I said in my last post on this subject (June 21, 2015), battalions with mixed vehicle types would almost never have happened in reality, so shame on me, but I don't need masses of VDV troops and I do want to use both BMD-1s, and BTR-Ds:

which means that in MY Soviet Army, this battalion will have two companies of BTR-Ds and one of BMD-1s. 

Here's my second company:

There's the extra SA-14 Gremlin launcher kept at company level. 

Stand by for the third and final company (BTR-Ds again). After that, it will be time to do up a few support units and then the battalion will be finished. Finally, something/anything that actually gets finished!!!

Let's start a Soviet airborne battalion

This weekend, I've decided to begin a Soviet VDV (airborne and air-assault) battalion which will, in time, support my East Germans in their drive across the North German Plain and up the Jutland Peninsula. 

In 1981, VDV battalions would have had either the BTR-D:

or the BMD-1:

as their APC/IFV. However, as the BTR-D was significantly cheaper and faster to build, it would have been the more common of the two types. Battalions were always equipped with one vehicle or the other, but never with both.

Being a wargamer, I want to have my cake and eat it too. I'd like both vehicles, but I can't see ever needing two VDV battalions, so I'll tweak reality slightly and do a mixed battalion: two companies of BTR-D and one of BMD-1. Ok, so sue me, but it's MY Soviet Army, not the REAL Soviet Army. If, in future, I find the need for another battalion, I'll just separate this one by vehicle types and then flesh both of them out. 

Here's the company that I finished this weekend:

VDV battalions were often accompanied by a separate light antiaircraft platoon equipped with MANPADS (in 1981, the SA-14 Gremlin), 

but it was quite common to see each company with an additional SAM of its own, which was attached to company command:

The command vehicle would've been a BMD-1K (photos of which seem to be non-existent), which sported two long "clothes rail"-type antennas, but O8 doesn't make them, so I just went with a BTR-D. 

Mrs history PhD has chosen (and I've ordered) her next FOW Vietnam project, so stay tuned for that. More next weekend!