Soviet M-72 Motorcycle Column Before Deployment to the Eastern Front

June 9, 2025 - Reading time: 4 minutes

Soviet motorcycle column with M-72s armed with DP-27s and Mosin rifles, preparing for deployment to the Eastern Front. Lead vehicle: FAI-M; rearguard: GAZ-AAA.

Moscow, November 1941. The air bites with frost, and the streets echo with the low growl of engines. A full column of M-72 motorcycles is lined up on Devichye Pole Drive, just hours before heading west — into the fire, into war.

Each bike is manned by Red Army soldiers — motopехота, the mobile infantry that would slash across roads and fields where tanks got bogged and horses fell. The sidecars are bristling with DP-27 light machine guns and Mosin rifles. Their faces are calm, but there's steel in their eyes — they know what's coming.

At the head of the column stands a FAI-M armored car, a modest scout vehicle with thin armor but a brave heart. Behind the motorcycles, the tail is guarded by GAZ-AAA trucks, likely loaded with ammo, supplies, or additional troops. The Soviet military doctrine of the time saw motorcycle units as quick strike forces — fast, brutal, often the first to make contact with the enemy or to hold the line until heavier units arrived.

The architecture of Moscow stands solemn in the background, watching its sons roll out. These soldiers were part of the defense force when Nazi troops were at the gates of the capital, just weeks before the Red Army launched its fierce counteroffensive in December 1941.

This photo was published in Pravda on November 6, 1941, as a message to both allies and enemies: Moscow is not retreating. Moscow fights. Moscow sends steel and men to the front.

📷 Technical photo data:
📸 Photographer: Alexander Ustinov
🌐 Source: Pravda, Issue No. 308 (8716), November 6, 1941
📅 Date: November 1941
📍 Location: Moscow, USSR