Secret German-Soviet shared Air Force Academy

World War II General WWII Discussion
#1

Hey everybody,

I’ve found an interesting link on the Bundesarchiv, which talks about a secret Air Force Academy in Lipezk, shared by the Weimar Republic and Soviet Russia from July 1925 - September 1933.
While the Germans were glad to have found a place to store and train their (theoretically banned) fighter planes, the Russians hoped for information about the latest technology and tactics from the Germans.

Here’s the link:
http://www.bundesarchiv.de/aktuelles/aus_dem_archiv/galerie/00163/index.html

I’ll read it through more closely later, and maybe I’ll translate it (or at least parts of it).
Right now I’m a bit busy, I just thought it was something interesting to look at and an interesting insight into the Pre-Nazi German-Russian relations. Maybe some other German users will take the time to translate it, right FTG? :wink:

#2

Bleeeh, it’s you who needs practice.:wink:

#3

Interesting, as it seems as they was halted after 33

Nach dem 30. Januar 1933 kam die ideologisch bedingte prinzipielle Ablehnung einer Zusammenarbeit mit der Sowjetunion durch die nationalsozialistische Regierung hinzu. Am 15. September 1933 erfolgte daher die endgültige Auflösung des Stützpunktes Lipezk.

#4

As I said in my first post, too, freyir ^^

#5

I knew about this in 1979 or so. For years I thought it was widely known.
The Germans had air and armour schools in Russian territory. One of the armour schools was in Kazan.

Never researched it much: there wasn’t a lot of data about it back then.
It is good to see some accurate, or at least, more full, data on it these days.
Many Thanks for the link. :slight_smile:

Warm Regards, Schuultz, Uyraell.

#6

Yes , we had a secret mutual military cooperation in 1922-1933.Very profitable i heard:)
Its’ was not just a Air force scholl but tanks school too, as mr Uyraell has added.

#7

I remembered, didn’t Nazis give Stalin some Panzer IIIs when they signed the non aggression pact?

#8

Yes the Soviet-German agreenment implied that the special soviet comission would travel to germany , inspecting(!!) the germans weaponry , choosing the few copy , to send it to the USSR for studying.
The PanzerIII was a shit , compared to newest T-34-76 or KV-1/2, but Bf-109f has seriously impressed the Soviet comission. There has been sold the couple of them to USSR in 1940.
The German electrical/radio equipment also has impressed the soviets.
BTW the USSR in 1940-41 got the special unique german machinery and benchs that has been used later in Soviet industry all the war.

#9

Yes, from 1923-33 the Russians and Germans shared military tactics and technology. The russians allowed the Germans to run a secret air base out of russia for creating new planes and fighter tactics. The germans in return helped shape up the poor quality of russian officers by enrolling them in officer training schools and what not. They also shared in other areas like tanks,infantry tactics etc… They even had full scale training exercises between them both. Then stalin had his great purge and got rid off all the top notch officers that were just trained…On a side note, the german officers and soldiers that trained in russia were expelled from the army and then upon return they were reinstated back in.

#10

Pity Germany didn’t wait a few years and get a T-34, with its aluminum cast engine or a KV-1. Maybe that would have raised an eyebrow as to what Russia was capable of designing and producing.

Germany looked down on Russia, just as we here in the U.S. and England, looked down on Japan. Fortunately for the Allies we were strong enough, and unfortunately for Germany, cause they weren’t.

Deaf