The World War II Soviet navy chiefly aided Russia's war effort by staging numerous small scale amphibious transports and landings, conducting lake and river operations with flotillas of specialized watercraft, and most importantly, by contributing almost a half million men to the Soviet ground forces.

Russian naval forces found themselves engaged with fascist invaders from the onset of hostilities. Russian sailors put up a valiant fight at Odessa and the Crimea in the Black Sea. Forward Baltic Sea bases at Riga, Liepaja, and Tallinin (scene of a disastrous evacuation effort) quickly fell before the Blitzkrieg. The Baltic Fleet was soon driven into protected anchorages within the Kronshtadt-Leningrad complex. As Soviet fleets became compromised by Axis attacks or sheer distance, excess navy personnel were reassigned to ground duty. During the war more than 42 naval infantry brigades were formed. The army organized an additional 30 rifle brigades with navy personnel, and used many other sailors as individual replacements for regular army units.

There was only one brigade of Russian naval infantry on the eve of World War II. In early 1941, Soviet naval forces were used in various ad hoc formations for direct defense of naval bases. At first, Russian sailors entered battle largely untrained in infantry tactics, lightly armed, but with high élan. They suffered horrible casualties against the well-trained and equipped Germans willingly. Resolute in their dark pea coats, the sailors earned the nickname "Black Death."

Russian naval infantry battalions were organized along the lines of Soviet army rifle battalions by the end of 1941. Use normal Soviet rifle company/battalion T.O.E. per rules, with perhaps guard level morale for wargaming purposes. These naval infantry battalions would often be part of a naval infantry brigade. If not limited by amphibious transport, brigades would have full compliments of support weapons, and might well include sappers, anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns, tanks, or additional heavy weapons and artillery. Field dress included khaki overalls, navy jumper and cap (or helmet), and field equipment. Although often used as assault infantry, Russian naval infantry lacked the specialized training, weapons, and equipment of U.S. marines, and should not be confused as such.

Besides using these figures in Stalingrad scenarios, consider amphibious assaults, such as the 1942 Kerch peninsula operations, raids along the Artic and Baltic coasts, or 1945 landings on the Japanese Kurile Islands. With imagination and daring you can recreate "Black Death" angst on the World War II Axis foe.