#8061 WWI Russian Infantry

Dated: January 9, 2002, updated 2/1/02.

At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the Imperial Russian Army mobilized millions of men for campaigns across Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. Russian infantry fought on a vast front extending from East Prussia and Poland through Galicia and the Carpathian Mountains to Romania and the Ottoman frontier. Although the Eastern Front was generally more mobile than the trench-bound Western Front, Russian soldiers still faced fortified positions, artillery bombardments, machine-gun fire and severe shortages of weapons, ammunition and supplies.

Box cover


The Russian infantryman normally wore a simple khaki field uniform centred upon the gymnastiorka, a loose shirt-tunic fastened at the neck. This was worn with trousers tucked into knee-high leather boots and a peaked cloth cap. His equipment included cartridge pouches, a haversack, entrenching tool, water bottle and mess tin, while the rolled greatcoat was commonly carried across the body. The standard rifle was the five-shot, bolt-action Mosin-Nagant Model 1891, usually fitted with its long quadrangular bayonet when serving at the front.

Test sprue


Russian infantry entered East Prussia in 1914 and fought in the battles of Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes. Farther south, Russian armies won important early victories against Austria-Hungary in Galicia and occupied much of the province. Heavy losses followed during the German and Austro-Hungarian Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive of 1915, which forced the Russians into the Great Retreat from Poland. In 1916 the Brusilov Offensive achieved another major breakthrough against Austria-Hungary, but the enormous casualties and continuing strain of the war contributed to the collapse of discipline and morale during the revolutionary year of 1917.

Figures below painted by Flavio Rossi (Italy)



This set contains 48 figures in eight poses, including men marching, advancing, firing, preparing a grenade and taking ammunition from a cartridge pouch, together with an officer. The figures wear the characteristic summer field uniform and carry their greatcoats, mess tins, haversacks and entrenching tools, making them suitable for portraying ordinary Russian infantry during most of the war.

Figures below painted by Scott MacPhee (USA)









This set can be combined with our WWI Russian Infantry Heavy Weapons to add Maxim machine guns and trench mortars. Our Russian Artillery Crew and 76mm Putilov M1902 Gun provide field-artillery support, while our Russian Cavalry and Russian Cossacks can represent mounted reconnaissance, raiding and mobile operations across the broad Eastern Front. Together, the sets can be used for campaigns from East Prussia and Galicia in 1914 through the Gorlice-Tarnow and Brusilov offensives, as well as the Russian Revolution and Civil War, when former Imperial soldiers and equipment served with Red, White and other competing armies.

8080 WWI Russian Infantry Heavy Weapons

8173 WWI 76mm Putilov M1902 Gun

8257 WWI Russian Artillery Crew

8314 WWI Russian Cavalry

8315 WWI Russian Cossacks