Tag Archives: self-propelled gun

Peace on Earth

This Christmas will mark the fourth since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour Ukraine. There have been at least 400,000 casualties since then, with Russia continuing to target residential areas (breaking international humanitarian law) and civilian energy infrastructure (also breaking international humanitarian law).

This means millions of Ukrainians are currently without heating in freezing winter conditions. Children. The elderly. Babies.

But there is hope, with various charities risking their own lives to bring heating and supplies to civilians suffering and freezing near the front line. You can find one such charity below, where you can donate to help provide wood-burning stoves that may keep a baby from freezing to death this Christmas.

Dnipro Hope Mission

The excellent models featured in today’s post come from Flickr’s Konstantin, being a Russian 2S43 ‘Malva’ self-propelled gun and 2S40 ‘Floks’ self-propelled mortar respectively. There’s more of these (and lots of other Russian military equipment) to see at their photostream, and you can head to a warehouse near the front line in the East of Ukraine via the link above.

Conscripts & Criminals

Deaths from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine now number several hundred thousand, with many times that number injured. The seemingly random shelling of schools, hospitals, and parks continues, with machines such as this one launching 110kg shells over twenty miles.

Built by Flickr’s Константин Тихомиров, this 2CZM Pion ‘Malka’ self-propelled cannon was introduced in 1975, when Russia and Ukraine formed the two largest republics within the Soviet Union, and stood together against the West.

The machines operated by each now fire upon one another, with this one wearing Russian insignia. This means it’s likely supporting a front-line of conscripts and convicts, disposable to Putin in his bid to return the ‘glory’ days of the Soviet Union.

You can see more of Константин’s creation via the link above. Please note that we’re publishing his creation despite holding views in opposition to his own, as if we were only able to hear the story as told by Russian state-owned media, we might share them also. Fortunately we’re rather freer, and thus – as we often do with creations relating to the Ukraine War – here are some extra links work clicking.

UNHCR | World Vision | Affaires Mondiales Canada

Semovente Self-Propelled Gun

We’ve written about Italy’s disastrous North African campaign during the Second Wold War before, so we’re skipping the history today to get straight to the MOC, a Semovente da 75/18 self-propelled gun (tank?), as built by Rebla of Flickr. Rebla’s mini-figure scale model recreates the Semovente beautifully, and even includes (sort of) working suspension on its tracks. There’s more to see of Rebla’s wonderful World War 2 tank (including a rather debonaire-looking driver) on Flickr – click on the link above to self-propel your way there.