Talk:Russian military deception

Article Image

In the opening of the article, there is an image with the caption: "Secret troop movements: Russian IS-2 heavy tank waiting concealed in forest in the Battle of Kursk, 1943"

The description for this image must be incorrect. You can see that is this an IS-2 tank due to the long barreled 122mm gun. According to all the sources I could find, the IS-2 tank was not deployed until October 1943 at the very earliest. The battle of Kursk was over by August of that year. What should we do about this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:845:C000:1500:28B6:3765:3ABE:EF06 (talk) 09:44, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

Thanks. It certainly seems to be an IS-2 and we know the dates. Either a few were deployed early or the image is wrongly labelled on Commons. I've removed the Kursk claim from the caption and said simply World War II. Chiswick Chap (talk) 10:16, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

This is not battle of Kursk, this is 27th Guards Tank Regiment in Karelia 1, 2, Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive. The regiment had IS-2 tanks since May of 1944 3. The larger image you can see there (just image). It's not an example of "maskirovka", this is a tank on marching through marshy and forested terrain. Please, help me to remove mistakes in picture attribution. --Gintaras8182 (talk) 08:13, 27 September 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for tracking it down. I've edited the caption. The image is a useful depiction of hidden Soviet troop movements from the period. Chiswick Chap (talk) 08:24, 27 September 2016 (UTC)

Karelia was entirely marshy and forested territory during WWII. Any troop movement (Russian, Finnish) was hidden. I think this is incorrect image for the example.--Gintaras8182 (talk) 08:36, 27 September 2016 (UTC)

Well, I see what you mean. The policy certainly applied during that campaign, so the image can be said to be applicable ("incorrect" is overstating the case), but I agree that a more definite example would help for the lead image. I'll see if we have one. Since all Soviet military images of the period will be out of copyright, you might know of a suitable image which we can upload? Chiswick Chap (talk) 08:42, 27 September 2016 (UTC)

I think it will be hard to find an image with anything like the same impact. Some possibilities:

• 
  Artillery in forest, 1943
• 
  Signallers in forest, 1942
• Hiding a tank, 1941
  Hiding a tank, 1941

Yes, it's rather hard to find clearly attributed image. The third is correct image, Siege of Leningrad. Perhaps it could be 4, 5 (SU-152). That photo could be made during Kursk battle. --Gintaras8182 (talk) 09:50, 27 September 2016 (UTC)

Well, I think this image could be a good one for your article 6. This is SU-152 of major Sankovsky, 1st Guards Tank Division, Battle of Kursk, July of 1943. He and his crew destroyed 10 German tanks during one combat, some authors claims that his subunit destroyed 10 tanks. --Gintaras8182 (talk) 10:25, 27 September 2016 (UTC)