Although the Soviet Union had developed parachute troops in advance of most nations before the war, they were little used in the airborne role between 1939 and 1945. Numerous small drops were performed, but the very few large-scale operations were all failures, and the great lack of suitable aircraft to jump from, combined with German air superiority, meant most paratroops spent their time as elite infantry instead. This is why no manufacturer has yet made a full set of such figures.

This product from Zvezda is part of the Art of Tactic game piece range, and consists of four figures which can either be based individually as shown above, or grouped together as shown here to form a game piece. Some of the figures require assembly (see image of the sprue), but as usual they all fit together perfectly, with no need for glue. Paratroops wore the same uniform as the rest of the Red Army, but over it they wore overalls, and on the head they wore the Air Force soft helmet. All these figures wear the overalls, and the two kneeling poses also wear the flying helmet, which is fine. The other two wear the standard pilotka side cap. Three use the ubiquitous PPSh submachine gun while the prone man is firing a DP light machine gun, all of which are perfectly appropriate.

The sculpting is excellent as always, and the poses are very good too. There is not much that modellers can do with just four figures, still less wargamers, but while few in number these are very nice figures nonetheless.