Soviet Pravda - Red Pravda

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> Soviet Pravda Secondary Internat
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> ### Trad. School Name
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> Советская Правда Средняя Школа-Интернат
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> ### Location
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> Aomori, Japan
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> ### School Theme
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> Soviet Union
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> Demographics and Politics
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> ### Commander
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> Katsuko "Katyusha" Fuyuki
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> ### Vice Commander
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> Kliment Kasparnovich Novikov
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> ### Units Fielded
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> 150+
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> ### Population
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> 150 000 (total)3000 (students)
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> ### Subjects Offered
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> Tankovodstvo, Naval Studies, Flugzeugfligen, Engineering, General Studies, Astronomy, Political Sciences, more to be listed.
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> ***"Glory to the tankers, glory to the students, glory to the brave ones who had fought against the fascist traitors, their steel horses leading us to victory... Slava, slava, slava! Za rodinu, za pobedy, ZA PRAVDA!"***
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> * Vice Commander Kliment Novikov
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## Overview

Pravda is a school based in the Aomori Prefecture, the northernmost prefecture on the island of Honshu.

A well known and highly respected school in the Sensha-dō league, Pravda are amongst the top performers in every competition, and are currently on the stands in the semi-finals of the Winter League.

In contrast to most other schools, Pravda is not run by a student council, and is instead under the rule of the Sensha-dō captain, Katyusha, who exerts her authority in a dictatorship-esque fashion. After the Pravda Revolution, many of Katyusha's policies have been made more lax, under the directive of the new vice commander, Kliment Novikov, and deputy Matvei Kutyakov.

The school environment used to be highly punitive, with persistent references to "purges", "gulags" and "Siberian mines" as forms of punishments for those who upset the commander. The liberal and subjective manner in which these punishments are distributed invokes many taboo actions or opinions, often regarding Katyusha's height. Katyusha's excessive disciplining is now balanced, after influence from her Council of Ministers, who considerately scale down the sentence to more traditional punishments, like forced labor or "extra homework in a classroom without windows".

Pravda also have an underground railway facility to navigate through winter storms in the carrier's lower deck. The railway is connected to everywhere on the school ship and was originally used for mailing purpose. They also had a night train but it was abolished shortly before the war.

### Uniforms

The Pravda uniform consists of a green tunic over a red shirt and either black slacks, or a skirt. Shoe choices often range from a WWII-era sapogi boot, to the traditional slip on loafers used by traditional Japanese high schools. The tunic also offers a red star on the left side, as to emulate the old Soviet symbols. They periodically use a brown coat to note their superiors. They also offer a chestnut ushanka.

In Sensha-Do, Pravda also has a grey protective tunic that goes over the uniform. They also offer Tsh-4 helmets to be used.

### Tactics

Pravda's tactics make use of traps and double envelopment. The school also tries to take advantage of the weather, being better accustomed to fighting in cold environments than many of their peers. Pravda may leave their flag tank in the open or seemingly unprotected to bait their enemies into falling into an ambush. Combine this with the Guardsman artillery tactics, and you have a force stronger than you think.

Katyusha herself loves breaking the morale of her opponents and seeing them grovel before her. She makes it a point to display how awesome she is by formulating plans that are sometimes unnecessarily elaborate. Part of showing her strength is an abject refusal to turn down the challenge of a straight fight - Pravda will ignore the options of flanking or evading combat in favour of pushing straight through enemy strong points with as many tanks as they can muster.

In general, Katyusha doesn't bother to formulate a Plan B, which can become a liability if things go awry. Many of her plans involved predicting how the enemy will react, and do not account for unforeseen situations. Pravda's rank-and-file commanders have recently been working on making plans on their feet, with the help of their new vice commander.

Pravda has a habit of leaving their flag tank in a safe place away from the fighting once the rest of the team is engaged. At this moment, the flag tank is often under light guard, and is relatively vulnerable.

## Background

When the Tsardom of Russia (and later the Russian Empire) was developing the Eastern territories, they needed places to service their ships. Because of their proximity to Japan's northern islands, Russia sent men and resources to the area to build ports and ship yards that became Pravda. The native Russians that were there built a school for their children, and when the trade route with Russia was formally completed in the 1890s, many Russians spent the rest of their lives in Japan. Their children attended a school built from a 2nd hand ship that became modern Pravda.

When Sensha-dō reached its prime, Pravda had the advantage of being able to import tanks directly from Russia, via the Moscow Guardsmen, due to their proximity to the Port of Vladivostok. They became really strong after the 1980s when they got themselves T-34s and IS-2s, donated by Russian Sensha-Do teams across the country. The tanks themselves are often modified to suit their needs too, with upgrades to optics and radio, and weight modifications to go faster.

Pravda is the envy of smaller schools, and is one of the few that were able to field 50 tanks at a time for a special exhibition 50 vs. 50 match.

### White Pravda & the Civil War

Soviet Pravda was the victim of an anti-communist revolution prior to the current Winter Tournament, with White Pravda commander Anya Kolchak getting involved with anti-Katyusha movements, planning to take her down as commander. The ex-vice commander, Nonna Borovoy (then Novikov) had made her cowardly escape to Anzio, while Katyusha was whisked away by her boyfriend, Sasha, to St. Petersburg.

It was at this time that the current vice commander, Kliment, and deputy, Matvei, made their entrance on Pravda, taking charge of the international support for the Red Pravda forces against the imperialists. Using their connections, they forced Katyusha back on Pravda, gained the support of the JSDF and Russian Armed Forces, expelling the White forces out of the carrier.

### Against Kuromorimine

Pravda was able to defeat Kuromorimine in the current Winter Tournament. Here is a speech by Vice Commander Kliment Novikov:

> ***"COMRADES, WORKERS, STUDENTS AND PROLETARIAT!"***
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> ***"Our great Tankovodstvo team has brought glory to the school! Slava Pravda!"***
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> ***"Glory to the tankers, glory to the students, glory to the brave ones who had fought against the fascist traitors, their steel horses leading us to victory, as we have defeated the fascisti, doing what they have done to our predecessors, and our forefigures before that! Slava, slava, slava!"***
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> ***"Za rodinu, za pobedy, ZA PRAVDA!"***
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> ***"Let our teams continue to win! Let our victory ring true! Let us finish off the fascist, imperialist scum, and take home the flag! Ura!"***
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## Notable Members

### Katyusha

Main Article: Katyusha Fuyuki

Her hometown is Abashiri city, Hokkaido.The overall commander of Pravda Girls High School's Sensha-dō team. She has often been made fun of because of her small, diminutive size, which gave rise to a Napoleon complex. She is proud and authoritative to the point of arrogance, but is compassionate towards her enemies, especially those she deems worthy, as displayed when she levels herself with Miho after Pravda's defeat in the national tournament. She commands a T-34/85.

### Kliment

Main Article: Kliment Novikov

Vice Commander of Pravda, Kliment is an ex-Guardsman from the St. Petersburg Naval School. He is a strong, compassionate vice commander, who likes to put logic before his emotions. He is often found slaving away, doing paperwork in order to make sure the school is running smoothly throughout the day. He is also the head of the Katyusha Guard Brigade (KGB), which was formulated to replace the Nonna-Katyusha Victory Division (NKVD), after Nonna left Pravda.

He is Russian born and is 1/4th Asian. His grandmother has East Asian origins.

### Matvei

Main Article: Matvei Kutyakov

Matvei is a Guardsman, that is currently serving as one of Katyusha's deputies, and as Minister for Foreign Relations. A representative from Moscow Guards, he is the head of the exchange program, after ex-commander Lt. Rintala stepped down from his position in order to pursue a university education.

Matvei is born in St. Petersburg as well.

### Klara

Main Article: Klara

Klara is Pravda's Minister for Defence. She is one of the original Marshals of Pravda.

### Sasha

Main Article: Sasha Derkevij

Sasha is Pravda's Minister for Reconstruction. He is in charge of the reconstruction and reeducation of Pravda following the Civil War. He holds feelings for Katyusha, though many are unsure if the relationship is meant to last, especially with Katyusha's new duties as commander of the school.

### Yaroslav

Main Article: Yaroslav Andreevich

Major General Yaroslav Andreevich is the head tankery instructor at Pravda. He was delegated by the Russian Armed Forces in order to teach Japanese school children the ways of Russian Tankovodstvo. He was instrumental in the Russian and Japanese military intervention on Pravda following the Pravda Civil War. His daughter, Albina, attends Pravda as well.

## Vehicles Operated

### Tanks

* KV-2
* KV-1
* IS-2 obr 44
* T-34/76 obr 1943 (early)
* T-34/85 obr 1944
* T-70
* ISU-152
* BT-5
* T-44

### Non-fighting vehicles

* BA-64
* BTR-70
* NKL-16/42
* RF-8-GAZ-98 Snowmobile
* ZiS-151 Truck
* ZiL 157 w/ BM-13 Katyusha
* Zubr-class air-cushioned landing craft
* MAZ-535 Truck
* Mil Mi-24 Gunship

## Theme Music

* Katyusha (Katyusha's Theme)
	+ Frontline Katyusha
	+ Regular Katyusha
* Polyushko Polye
* Korobeiniki
* We Are the Red Cavalry (Kliment's Theme)

## Trivia

* Their tanks is the only one in the anime that has specific color scheme for each seasons (as of now there are two schemes): white for winter and green for summer/spring.
* The school's battle song is "Katyusha", a popular Soviet song (written in year 1938 by composer M.Blanter and poet M.Isakovsky) sung by Soviet soldiers awaiting their chance to return home from battle.
	+ Because of differences in copyright law between Japan and the US prevented Katyusha from being used in the English localization, it was replaced by another famous Russian song, Korobeiniki, which is more famously known as the Tetris Theme.
	+ Katyusha herself was named after the song, just like Erika Itsumi of Kuromorimine.
* The song of the vice commander, "We Are the Red Cavalry," is a nod to Marshal Budyenny, though because it also name drops the First Marshal, is attributed to Kliment, who had gained his name from the general Kliment Voroshilov.

* The name "Pravda" comes from Pravda, meaning "truth," the newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, later associated with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Joseph Stalin became its editor in its first days after Lenin tasked him to convert it from the Bolshevik weekly newspaper, *Zvezda* ("Star") in February 1912.

* Their insignia consists of two overlapping steel squares crossed with a T-square and small scissors on top, imitating the hammer and sickle design of the flag of the Soviet Union.
	+ They are all engineering tools with the exception of the scissors, unlike the hammer and sickle which represents the workers of the Soviet Union. This may be a nod to the engineering success (and failures) of the Soviet Union when it comes to both miltary and space travel.
	+ Pravda has a very powerful engineering programs, as of after the war. Many White Pravda engineers were rehired in order to take care of the new Soviet Pravda's tanks.

* Their school ship is based on and named after the Kiev, a Soviet aircraft carrier which was sold in 1996 to Binhai Aircraft park, a theme park in Tianjin, China.

* Pravda is famous for its ambush tactics.

* In Girls und Panzer der Film, it is shown that Pravda favors double envelopment tactics and winter attrition. This is a reference USSR counterattacks during the Second World War, specifically in operations around Stalingrad.

* The initials of their Tankathalon Team (KVA) appears to be a reference to be a reference to the Korean Volunteer Army, a unit established in 1939 in Yan'an, China. This unit consisted of Koreans who were trained by Chinese Communist forces and Soviet advisers, and fought alongside ChiCom forces against the Japanese in China. They would later serve as the foundation for the Korean People's Army formed in 1948, who in turn were supplied by the Soviets. They still exist to this day as the armed forces of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
	+ Ironically, the KVA doesn't appear to have ever used T-70s. Usage of SU-76, T-34s and the /85 variant was widespread however.

* In the 3rd CD Drama it is mentioned that the school carrier has a trolley bus. Nonna also reveals there is a railway for use during winter storms, one of the stations is named "Pravda Ueno Station".

* While singing Katyusha in the snow scene, the tanks are in a formation much similar to the Stuka, easily recognizable by it's inverted gull wings (see "Pravda Tanks" for proof).