The importance of the Russian winter on the Eastern Front in World War II needs no retelling here, although surprisingly in the early years many Russian troops suffered from a lack of good winter clothing, particularly in 1940 and '41. For many the greatcoat was all they had, and while this was a good coat, better padded clothing that was easier to fight in would appear later in the war. However the greatcoat was widely issued and worn throughout the war, although few sets depicted such troops until this one and its sister sets were released by Pegasus.

The coat largely obscures the rest of the uniform, as it should, and it has been modelled properly here, including the square tabs on the collar and the absence of shoulder boards that marks all these coats as mostly belonging to the period before early 1943, when the latter were introduced. Other than that all the men seem to have long boots and the standard steel helmet, making them entirely regulation in appearance if perhaps a bit too neat and well turned out compared to the sometimes ill-supplied historical counterparts. This applies to their kit too, which is fairly minimal but includes the appropriate ammunition pouches as well as some canteens and bread-bags or gas mask carriers, plus several of the fairly rare entrenching tool. One man has this attached to his belt at the front, which would surely get in his way should he wish to run or crouch down. Weaponry includes the usual rifles and a fair number of PPSh submachine guns, plus a DP light machine gun.

20 all-different poses is really good these days, and there are no duds anywhere. The usual firing and advancing poses are joined by some terrific ones of men kneeling down, and the three middle figures in the bottom row join together to make a vignette of two men dragging a wounded third man by the arms. This works very well and makes a cracking little piece. About all we can say by way of criticism is that a couple of poses are standing with a very straight back firing their weapon. This would be very unlikely in open combat, so we must assume that these men are standing behind cover of some sort. However these apart the poses have lots of life and look very realistic.

Most of the figures require some assembly – mainly adding one or both arms (see sprue image). This certainly makes for some great poses, but does mean time is needed to create your soldiers from the basic kit. Generally these arms fitted well, although occasionally not as well as we would have liked. Also there is a little flash, but nothing too obvious, and of course with the separate parts there is no extra plastic anywhere. The figures themselves are exemplary examples of the sculptor's art as usual, with perfectly realistic clothing and very fine details such as on the weapons, which are superb. A couple of the helmets have a slightly odd shape to them, but that is all.

There really is nothing more to say. Lovely sculpting, great poses very well realised and a good range of weaponry, while everything is entirely accurate. The small amount of flash in places spoils a perfect score, but this set is a credit to the brave men that sometimes fought in appalling conditions for their motherland, and of course to Pegasus.