The Vyazma Airborne Operation (Red Army Paratroops)

The Vyazma Airborne Operation (Red Army Paratroops)
With Prit Buttar
Part of Airborne Week on WW2TV
More Airborne Forces content on WW2TV
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The Vyazma Operation was a Red Army airborne landing behind German lines during the Rzhev campaign. Between 27 January and 4 February 1942, three brigades of the Soviet 4th Airborne Corps were dropped piecemeal in the vicinity of Vyazma (150 miles west of Moscow). They landed along the northern supply route with the mission to cut the northern highway that ran from Smolensk through Vyazma.
Our guest is historian Prit Buttar, who has written numerous excellent books on the Eastern Front and we are delighted he is returning to WW2TV for Airborne Week.
His last show on WW2TV • Soviet Tank Developmen...
Buy the books:
The Reckoning: The Defeat of Army Group South, 1944
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On a Knife's Edge: The Ukraine, November 1942-March 1943
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Between Giants: The Battle for the Baltics in World War II
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Retribution: The Soviet Reconquest of Central Ukraine, 1943
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[@WW2TV]

Hi, Paul Woodadge, WW2TV host here. If you have enjoyed this show, please don't forget to click like, leave a comment for other viewers and if you have not done so already please SUSBSCRIBE so you don't miss our next streams. You can also become a member of this channel and support me financially here kzbin.info/door/UC1nmJGHmiKtlkpA6SJMeA. Links to any books discussed, WW2TV merchandise, our social media pages and other WW2TV shows to watch can all be found in the full KZbin description. Lastly, my own book Angels of Mercy is always available online - more info here www.ddayhistorian.com/angels-of-mercy.html

[@CarterWall-ux8vn]

Dude I love your page

[@loreleikomm5802]

you gotta LOVE ww2tv for regularly uncovering parts of ww2 which are absolutely fascinating, yet hardly ever unveiled before!

[@theeducatedgrunt2087]

The soviet Paratroopers were crazier then hell... And i got 58 static line jumps and a combat jump in Afghanistan during Operation Rhino. No way would i wana exit via sliding off the wing lol....

[@pippohispano]

Great show, but then again, it's Prit Buttar! Keep up the good work. Thanks!

[@loreleikomm5802]

very well done presentation: Dr. Buttar is an excellent & knowledgeable presenter and as always, Paul is a superb host. The study of airborne troops is always fascinating & this particular show about the Soviet airborne troops is quite interesting, especially since it discusses an operation that is not, at all, well known. The photos and maps nicely compliment Dr. Buttar's talk & really bring it to life...Thank you ww2tv for a stellar & engaging presentation!

[@jsfbr]

Absolutely educational. 👏👏👏👏👏

[@davidk7324]

Great presentation/discussion Paul and Prit. Thank you for expanding our understanding of Soviet airborne troops and their engagements. Balls of steel to shinny about on on a flying TB1/3.

[@Pam_N]

Enjoyed this vivid recounting by Dr. Buttar about General Belov and this Red Army airborne landing behind German lines. Great respect for Dr. Buttar's medical career and British Army service as a surgeon and medical officer. Glad we get to enjoy his prolific works as a historian and writer.

[@WW2TV]

Yes indeed, Prit is fast becoming a national treasure. Quite why the big TV channels do not use him, I don't know

[@FilipDePreter]

@@WW2TV Probably because he knows his history better then their scriptwriters.

[@Emchisti]

Isn't Prit just a wonderfully engaging speaker? Really, really enjoy the episodes with him.

[@adamwarne1807]

Can't go wrong with an episode involving Dr Buttar! Paul is a superb host who really compliments the main presentation!

[@scottgrimwood8868]

Another hidden piece of World War 2 history brought to light by WW2TV! I knew very little about Soviet airborne troops in World War 2 and now I know a lot more.

[@timsampson7336]

A great episode bringing to light a little understood aspect of WW2 concerning USSR airborne operations.

[@Matias-ub9pz]

Great video. I really enjoyed having a refreshment of this operation, there are a couple of Glantz books I read years ago that go into some details about this operation for anyone who is interested. I think the Soviets did some airborne operations against the Japanese in 45 but I can't find anything detailed.

[@garymiller_85]

I love listening to Prit. His books are just cover to cover brilliant. Tomes of facts, with very little conjecture or padding. Brilliant.

[@matthewmoss1589]

This was another fascinating on, thank you!

[@jimwatts5192]

Outstanding. Did not know any of this.

[@WW2TV]

Thank you for watching - we'll have more Eastern Front content this year

[@deanmurphy5735]

Good episode Paul. Prit is one of my favourite authors. He has many good books on the eastern front, both Ww1 and 2.

[@remittanceman4685]

1500m is very high for an airborne drop, something like 5000 feet! Western airborne forces dropped from around 600 or 700 feet. Later, during the Bush War, Rhodesian forces dropped from only 400 feet and possibly lower. That's how you keep the troops concentrated, make them less vulnerable and limit the exposure of the aircraft to light anti-aircraft fire..

[@davidk7324]

Agree, I wonder if that is a misstatement/quote? That altitude would result in extremely wide dispersal given minimal canopy steering capability. It looks like they did not use static lines (at least early on).

[@michaelmulligan0]

In the current day, their Russian contemporaries (the VDV) seem to have the same issue with regard to lack of airlift. They appear to be mainly shock troops (in comparison with Western forces) with a lot of heavy and light armour, rather than airborne deployed

[@Syrath101]

What I find most interesting here is the positive reference by German Generals and Officers to a Soviet one - which I have practically never seen. I would be fascinated to know if Dr Prit Buttar has any further examples of this kind of thing.

[@joeyj6808]

Great talk! I'm always fascinated by non-biased discussions of the Red Army in WW2, so thank you! Seems to me the Red Army was making great theoretical strides in modern war studies before Stalin slaughtered all the big brains! (My pet theory is that if Trotsky had succeeded Lenin, all our flags would be red by 1968. But hey, I'm no political historian or anything.)

[@drbrainstein1644]

Good stuff!

[@chrisr9380]

Learnt a lot here. Didn't know the Russians even had airborne troops.

[@cheesenoodles8316]

Excellent.... A subject never covered from the Russian perspective.

[@Sam-gz2us]

Landing on top of a sizeable panzer force… Dodgy night drops. Dysfunctional comms. Misguided attempts at seizing bridgeheads on the wrong side of major rivers. It’s funny how these problems rhyme 😂

[@tommckinnell2001]

Prit: Would you be able to give a cite on the story of "What a horrible man" from Belov? I'm in the middle of writing a Chain of Command campaign based on the early part of the cavalry raid, and if there's another source I've missed, that would be great. I've got a part translation (but sadly only a part) of Belov's autobiography, as sadly my Russian is zero.

[@olafjensen4508]

Interesting. Fancy doing one on the Dirlewanger Brigade? Not much out there TBH

[@therealuncleowen2588]

I still can't believe Soviet paratroopers had to cling to the outside of the aircraft!!! No thank you comrade.

[@MegaBloggs1]

Is there any proof Dr Buttar that the T-34 was trialed at makin gol in 1938/ or in the russo-finnish war in 1939-40 -my perception is this is too early-thus preventing german access to the design?

[@olafjensen4508]

I served approx 11 years with 7RHA. Mostly air landed TBH. Not sure the concept works

[@tommckinnell2001]

Would have been polite, I think, to say where the map was from (IIRC, it's from Glantz' book on the soviet airborne experience) (23 minutes)

[@WW2TV]

Prit I'm sure credits David Glantz in his books

[@stewartorr1939]

Pretty sure we US knows what to do with airborne Grenada Panama skilled tough ready around the clock. Wheels up 18hours or less

[@mariaelenasalcedocastro1701]

Cómo hago la traducción en castellano

[@WW2TV]

Sorry, you can try KZbin's automated translation

[@sven5415]

I guess blaming Zhukow is the new blaming MacArthur? 😂