How the #Nazis called Soviet military equipment during World War II

‘Ghost’
In the early stages of the war, the Germans were powerless against the KV-1 heavy tank. Their artillery shells sometimes failed to leave even a dent in its powerful armor. This inspired such a mystical terror that they nicknamed the Soviet tank ‘Ghost’.

‘Mickey Mouse’
The BT-7 light tank (a ‘fast tank’), specifically the 1937 model, was associated with Mickey Mouse by the Germans. Its two oval turret hatches, when open, reminded them of the ears of the famous mouse. Some versions of the T-34 medium tank also had two hatches and earned this nickname, as well.

‘Black death’
The Red Army nicknamed the Il-12 armored attack aircraft the ‘Flying tank’, while Luftwaffe pilots called it the ‘Concrete plane’. But German soldiers, who came under its devastating fire on the ground, dubbed it the ‘Black death’.

‘Indestructible Locust’
The T-60 light tank had weak armament and armor, but it could easily be produced in large quantities. While factories were ramping up production of the T-34, it was the T-60s that supported the infantry on the battlefield. The Germans called it the ‘Indestructible locust’ – destroy one and another immediately appears in its place.

‘Ratsch-Boom’
One of the best artillery pieces of World War II, the 76mm ZIS-3 divisional gun, was known in the Wehrmacht as the ‘Ratsch-Boom’: the shell hit its target ("ratsch!") faster than the sound of the gunshot ("boom!").

‘Can Opener’
The ISU-152 heavy self-propelled artillery unit "opened up" German Tigers and Panthers so skillfully with its 152mm howitzer-gun that Wehrmacht tankers dubbed it the ‘Can opener’.

Credit: Sovfoto/Universal Images Group/Getty Images; Public domain; Boris Vdovenko/Dmitry Baltermants/МАММ/МDF/Arkady Shaikhet/Private collection/russiainphoto.ru; Alexander Gribovsky/TASS;

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How Viktor Tsoi influenced the author of ‘Johnny Mnemonic’

William Gibson, the “father of cyberpunk” and author of ‘Johnny Mnemonic’, ‘Neuromancer’, and ‘Hotel New Rose’ among others, recently admitted that his work was influenced by… Russian musician Viktor Tsoi!
They met through Rashid Nugmanov's 1988 movie ‘Igla’ (‘The Needle’), in which the frontman for the rock band ‘Kino’ played the lead role. After seeing the movie at a festival in San Francisco, he decided to meet the director. Nugmanov shared his plan to make a sequel, set in a parallel reality of the 1990s: the Soviet Union had collapsed, the borders were closed and Leningrad was the only free territory left. This is precisely where Moreau, the main protagonist in ‘The Needle’, was heading to get to the airport and fly away.

In Spring 1990, work on the ‘Citadel’ project began: Nugmanov's concept was very appealing. Gibson told him he wrote the script. However, a month before production could commence, Viktor Tsoi tragically died. Many years have passed since, but the writer remains a fan of the musician. "Viktor Tsoi is the main musical inspiration in my work, someone most readers have never heard of and certainly haven't listened to," he recently wrote on his social media page.
If you visit his page, you can see not only ‘Kino’ videos, but also Tsoi's paintings and Gibson's thoughts on him.

Credit: Elisabetta A. Villa/WireImage; Global Look Press; Alexander Kostin/Sputnik

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3 facts about the ancient St. George's Cathedral in Yuryev-Polsky
This ancient church is nearly 800 years old. Here's what you need to know about it.

One of the oldest Russian churches
The Church of St. George the Victorious was built in the 1230s by order of Prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich, grandson of Yuri Dolgoruky, Moscow's founder. Very few such ancient churches remain; in central Russia, they’re primarily concentrated in the city of Vladimir and its environs, as well as around Yaroslavl Region.

Adorned with magnificent carvings
Originally, the facades of St. George's Cathedral were decorated with a "carpet" of carved bas-reliefs depicting biblical scenes, saints, prophets, as well as exotic animals.
In the 15th century, the cathedral was partially destroyed and, during its reconstruction, the carved stones were mixed up. Only the lower sections of the walls and part of the northern façade have survived unchanged. But, even today, the cathedral creates an incredible impression of a "book in stone": magical sirens and alkonost birds soar, while a lion, the symbol of the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality, lies propped on its forepaws. And lurking on the northern façade is… an elephant – the first and, apparently, only depiction of one in ancient Russian architecture.

The cathedral's sacred relic – the Svyatoslav Cross
This is the name given to a white-stone crucifix depicting Christ, saints and martyrs. According to one version, it was erected after one of Prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich's battles in 1220. He miraculously survived a storm that broke out on the Volga River and returned home victorious.
*You can learn more about the cathedral in the ‘The White Temple. The History of St. George's Cathedral: ‘And They Built a Marvelous, Carved Stone’’ exhibition, which is on display at the Shchusev Museum of Architecture until October 26, 2025.

Credit: Belliy (CC BY-SA 4.0); Shchusev Museum of Architecture ; Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve

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