Boats built like a floating tanks, sometimes fitted with T-34 tank turrets, anti-aircraft guns and lots of machine guns, were used in the fight for Stalingrad.

Volgograd, as the city is called today, was called Stalingrad between 1925 to 1961.

Last month the Soviet Armored Patrol Boat BK-31 was recovered from the river of Volga, and a piece of World War II history surfaced after a long time in the mud. The remains of 11 sailors and soldiers were found in or around BK-31.

The Battle of Stalingrad cost more than one million people their lives.

The crew on this boat were probably taking wounded from the west bank of Volga, bringing reinforcements from the east bank back. Most likely they were shelling the German forces with their 76,2 mm T-34 cannon as much as they could.

Below you can see a variety of photos from the salvage and details of the various firearms found on board.

If you want to see what these boats looked like “as new” you can check here.

The Soviet Armored Patrol Boat BK-31 being salvaged from the Volga River.

The BK-31 had at least 11 rifles on board and over 10,000 rounds of ammunition.

The Soviet sailors were using wooden stoppers, to prevent the leakage. You can sense how furious the fighting was. At last they probably got a direct hit and sank.

A total of 8 PPSh submachine guns as well as a Degtyarov machine guns were found on board.

Notice the Mosin in sniper variant with optics. There was also a semi-automatic SVT found.

A Russian revolver, I guess it’s a Nagant M1895.

Russian optics, looks like it’s still in good condition.

You can find more pictures from the salvage here.

There’s also a Video. Thanks to “Made in Russia“.