Even a small collection of World War II sets such as that from Atlantic must include one for the Red Army. They committed more men than any other army in the War, and suffered appalling casualties.However this set, one of the first to depict those brave men, does not do them justice.
The poses chosen are not too bad, but they have been very poorly sculpted. All the figures are a little too thin and do not seem very natural. As is so often the case with Atlantic, most of the figures are looking towards the mould rather than at what they are doing, and in some cases it is far from clear what they are supposed to be doing. The two men leaning with machine guns are presumably meant to be advancing, but the pose is extremely clumsy (the second may be about to throw a grenade). The kneeling figure is almost as tall as the standing ones, and the man lying on the ground is simply looking at the earth beneath him and cannot be doing anything useful.
Uniform is fairly well represented, with the gymnastiorka shirt-tunic and sharovari trousers. Most of the men wear the ushanka hat which was introduced in 1940 and continues to be popular to this day. Usually the infantry would wear a helmet, though supply problems were very acute, particularly early in the war. Those that do wear a helmet wear something that never existed, which is as well since the helmet here only covers the top of the head and leaves the lower head and neck exposed.
The rifles and PPSh machine gun have been reasonably well moulded, but the heavy machine gun is a complete mystery. It is the size of a small artillery piece, and looks like an enormous version of the 1910 Maxim gun. If it is indeed meant to be this weapon then apart from the size it is incorrect in many respects. The gunner has been well done and actually holds the weapon's trigger, but because of its size he cannot possibly see what he is firing at.
This set was designed as a toy and that is all it is. With so many far better alternatives available today there is scant reason to even consider a use for this really poor collection, no matter how nostalgic you may be feeling.