Sapper engineer of the Second World War
In 1943, the Red Army began the process of forming special amphibious assault engineer and sapper brigades. Among the main tasks of these formations were storming actions in cities and breaking through strongly fortified enemy defenses. A distinctive feature of the amphibious assault brigades was the equipping of soldiers with special steel breastplates, which protected the soldiers from the fire of small arms and automatic weapons, as well as from small projectile fragments.
The most experienced and physically stronger fighters were selected for the airborne assault units. The personnel of the airborne assault units underwent special training, which included hand-to-hand combat and the ability to use explosives. In addition, stormtroopers used flamethrowers, which were particularly effective in close combat. Also, these formations were distinguished by a high degree of saturation with automatic weapons - PPSh and PPS automatic weapons, hand machine guns.
