KGB Alpha Team Training Manual : How The Soviets Trained For Personal Combat, Assassination, And Subversion

by K.g.b.

Release Date: January, 1993

Edition: Paperback

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KGB alpha

I was dissapointed by this book, trully it is telling you how to run ove stuff, how to go prone, how to stab someone (duhhhh, could it be just push the knife in someones chest). I thik if you really want good fighting stuff there are better things around. Check out Master of the Blade, excellent book. Also check out some other stuff by that author, a really smart guy, not a fighter not a writer.

Not bad, if kept in historical context.

This book is the translation of a Russian text dating back to 1945, the hayday the Soviet Union. The chapters covering the history of the Spetznaz, past and present, is very interesting, especially the parts detailing the different branches of Special Action teams and how they relate, but the technical portion of the manual tends to be vague and too general to be of use unless you're already a student of Samooborona bez Oruzhia (commonly known by the Russian acronym "Sambo" and translated as "self defense without weapons"). Don't buy this manual if you're looking to study Soviet hand to hand combat. If that's what you're after, go to www.russianmartialart.com or www.amerross.com.

The author/translator, Jim Shortt, retained many of the terms common in the Soviet Union, which may seem odd to Americans (I wouldn't even try to explain "moral-political" to your average American, as I have a hard time grasping it!).

There is also a section on physical fitness and recovery which is interesting, and probably as relavent today as it was in 1945.

This is not a bad book, and I do recommend it, but only if kept in perspective.