Would anyone know the source of this photo? I am looking to establish copyright so that I can obtain permission for use in a WWII memoir.
It is certainly Russian, and I’d think Russian state Archives would hold the legitimate Copyright.
Looking at the ISU 122 tank on the right of the picture, it has what appears to be a “Guards” marking on the right of the turret (left as you look at the image).
Since it is captioned “Germany, April, 1945” I’d think you’d want to research which Guards Armoured Divisions were in Germany at that time.
I’d suggest the 5th, and 9th, for a start.
Kind Regards, Uyraell.
Thank you so much for your help!I have contacted the Russian State Archives for assistance.
Try “Sovfoto” as well: http://www.sovfoto.com/index.html
Unfortunately their homepage is under construction as we speak.
Thank you for the suggestion. I sent a note to Sovfoto as well. I appreciate all of the research ideas!
You’re most welcome terrilyn, I hope you find the info you need. 
Kind Regards, Uyraell.
Well, since you seem to know a lot about the subject, perhaps you might have some suggestions to help guide my search. I am editing a self-published memoir written by a child holocaust survivor. Her family hid in a barn in the Ukraine for two years until the war’s end, when the Russian army entered the region and they essentially tagged along with them, traveling by foot and by truck from village to village. The author was very young and does not remember anything about the trucks/vehicles that the soldiers drove, and obviously she has no photos from that experience herself, but I am looking to find a very general photo of Russian soldiers in a truck convoy to illustrate the opening of the chapter on this part of her story. Perhaps the trucks she speaks of are similar to the ones in this photo, but perhaps not–if you would have any idea of the types of trucks that might have been used, I’d appreciate the info. Otherwise, I’m just looking to illustrate Russian troops on the move along a road, in a very general sense. Also, because this is self-published, the author is working on the cheap–I’d love to find something that is public-domain or otherwise w/o copyright restrictions. So if anyone had suggestions, I’d be very appreciative, since I am by no means an expert.
In the photo shown here the majority of the trucks are ZIS 4’s, a couple 5’s, and a ZIS 6 (copy of a Studebaker 4X6).
Between approximately December of 1941 and 1946, the majority of Russian army trucks would be those types shown, as noted above.
Forum members Chevan, Egorka, and Librarian will have more, and better information, as will Kovalski, quite likely. These gentlemen will possibly correct the identities of the vehicles I have noted, though I’m reasonably confident in the ID’s I’ve given.
Where it comes to tracked trucks, there are several differences and variations, though again, most of those are ZIS products, or built to designs by ZIS.
However, for simplicity’s sake, I have not gone into those details, as it is unlikely your friend would have often encountered the tracked vehicles.
The above link gives you a good look at a plain ZIS5, the lowermost left image in the palimpsest. As you can see, the design style dates from about 1934, when the Russian factories began building “Licenced” copies of the American vehicles the same machinery had manufactured in the USA. Not surprising, when one considers that most of the Russian factory machinery had initially been imported to Russia from the US by purchasing commissions sent from about 1925 onwards. Those same factory machines were still in use up to the late 1980’s, in some cases.
There are several Eastern European plastic kit modelling sites that have quite good images of the various vehicles, both tracked and wheeled, and there are many good images on the picture side of this site, under Russian Army or similar.
I hope this helps you terrilyn, and wish you every success.
Kind regards, Uyraell.
My goodness! This is excellent information. If nothing else, I know that, should I get permissions to use this image, I am not totally off base in including it, and that the trucks would likely be somewhat consistent with the author’s experience. Thank you for the details!
You are more than welcome, terrilynn, as an amateur historian I’m glad to help history be preserved/recorded. The bare facts and numbers lose meaning without the “voices” of those who were there at the time.
Again, I wish you every success, terrilynn,
Kind Regards, Uyraell.
That’s not a KV1S on the right, it’s an ISU-152 (or ISU-122 possibly). I did a reverse image search with tineye.com to no avail.
You may be correct upon reflection, though looking at the barrel I’d think ISU 122. Nonetheless, it does carry a “Guards” Marking, which was what had my thoughts run to KV1S.
Since both vehicles had the same chassis, I think I can be forgiven a minor identification error.
Post #2 amended accordingly.
Kind Regards, Uyraell.