Interview with 62 kill Russian Ace Marshal Ivan Kozhedub, leading Allied scorer.

[mx22]

Just want to add to -lynx- post,

Komsomol, Pioner (aka Boyscout) and Oktyabrenok (don't ask me about eqevalent of this in US. It's something like Pioner but for younger kids) was mandotory in Soviet school. The only way for one not to get accepted was to commit something very out of ordinary. I have never seen or known any person like that.
Also, noone ever asked if you want to join or no. It was a normal thing to do and you never questioned (at least I didn't) it.

mx22

[leonid]

lynx,
Being a Communist Party member was not so prevalent before the Great Patriotic War.  Only during that war was it encouraged among the masses as a means of identifying the national/historical struggle with the Party.

------------------
leonid, Kompol
5 GIAP VVS-KA, Knights

"Our cause is just.  The enemy will be crushed.  Victory will be ours."

[mx22]

leonid,

Since the revolution in 1917, people were encouraged to join party. It was always the same, you just hear about it more during war time (Btw I don't recall reading or hearing people were pushed into the party membership even then. But newspapers liked the idea of communist heroes and that's why you hear about them so much). As in Germany during Nazis, you were not required to be a member of the party, but you can go so much further in less period of time if you happened to be one.

mx22

[mx22]

For those who interested - Barnesandnoble.com decide to make my day and acctaully delivered book to me.
First thing first, book is huge. I say it's about as thick as Shaw's Fighter Combat, but it's height is much bigger. 308 pages in total. Font is a bit big in my opinion, but it's not that big to make one think that publisher tried to squeeze all the extra pages it could. Almost every page contains a picture, but once again this is not one of those pretty much useless picture-books - there is a lot of text to read.
Book starts with 6 black/white maps - before the outbreak of war with Russia, unit positions on June 22, 1941 (first day of war) and 3 more maps showing combat areas. I would have loved color maps (apperantly originals were colored), but I guess that's one of the things discounted for lower price.
Book starts with 2 forewards - one from each side.
First 6 chapters introduce reader to the topic - situation before the war, aircraft in service and etc. Chapter 7 through 31 cover time span from June 22, 1941 to the end of the year.
Obiously I didn't get to read the book yet , but if the free chapter on book's website (url given in previous posts) is any indication, it should be a fun read.
Btw, did I mention beautiful cover art? It's on par or even better then on Osprey's Aces books.
Overall, $32 (Barnesandnoble.com price) is what seems like a fair price to me.
So there ya go. Hope you find this small review useful.

mx22

[Frodo]

Check out the Blackcross/Redstar site.There are some great reads here.
 http://www.blackcross-redstar.com/

Frodo