The Workers and Farmers of the Red Army (Russia: ?????? - ????????????????? Krishnaya armiya ( RKKA ) , often abbreviated in Russian for ??????? a ???? (??) , Krasnaya armiya ( KA ) , in English: Red Army , also in the critical literature and folklore of the day - Red Horde, the Army of Work) was the army and air force of the Soviet Republican Socialist Federation of Russia, and, after 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The army was formed immediately after the October Revolution of 1917 (Red October or Bolshevik Revolution). The Bolsheviks raised troops to oppose the military confederation (especially the various groups collectively known as the White Army) of their enemies during the Russian Civil War. Beginning in February 1946, the Red Army, together with the Soviet Navy, embodied the main components of the Soviet Armed Forces; took the official name of "Soviet Army", until its dissolution in December 1991.
The Red Army is credited as a decisive land force in the Allied victory in European theater of World War II, and the Manchurian invasion contributed greatly to the unconditional surrender of the Japanese Empire. During operations on the Eastern Front, it accounted for 75-80% of the casualties experienced by the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS during the war and eventually seized the German capital of Nazi, Berlin.
Video Red Army
Origins
In September 1917, Vladimir Lenin wrote: "There is only one way to prevent the restoration of the police, and that is to create the people's militias and unify them with the army (the standing army to be replaced by arming the whole people)." At that time, the Russian Imperial Army began to crumble. About 23% (about 19 million) of the male population of the Russian Empire were mobilized; However, most of them are not equipped with weapons and have supporting roles such as maintaining communication lines and basic areas. General Tsar, Nikolay Dukhonin estimates that there are 2 million defectors, 1.8 million people killed, 5 million injured and 2 million prisoners. He estimates that the remaining troops number 10 million.
While the Russian Imperial Army was separated, "it became clear that the Red Guard units and elements of the imperial army that had passed through the Bolshevik side were not sufficient enough for the task of defending the new government against outsiders, the enemy." Therefore, the People's Command Council decided to form the Army Red on January 28, 1918. They imagined a body "formed from the class-and-best class working elements." All citizens of the Russian republic 18 or older are eligible. Its role is the defense "of Soviet authority, the creation of the basis for the transformation of the army that stands to be a force which gains its power from a state in hand, and further, the creation of the foundation for the support of the coming Socialist Revolution in Europe." Enlistment depends on " military or civilian committees functioning within Soviet territory, or by parties or trade union committees or, in extreme cases, by two persons belonging to one of the above organizations. " If the entire unit wants to join the Red Army, "collective guarantees and affirmative votes from all its members will be necessary." Because the Red Army consists mainly of farmers, the families of those served are guaranteed allotments and assistance with agricultural work. Some farmers who live in homes long to join the Army; men, along with some women, flooded the recruitment center. If they are rejected, they will collect scrap metals and prepare care packages. In some cases, the money they generate will be used for tanks for the Army.
The People's Commissar committee appointed him as the supreme leader of the Red Army, delegated army command and administration to the Commissariat for Military Affairs and the Russian Special College in this commissariat. Nikolai Krylenko is the supreme commander, with Aleksandr Myasnikyan as deputy. Nikolai Podvoisky became war commissioner, Pavel Dybenko, commissioner for the fleet. Proshyan, Samoisky, Steinberg are also designated as commissioners of the people as well as Vladimir Bonch-Bruyevich of the Commissars Bureau. At a joint meeting of the Bolshevik and Socialist-Revolutionary Left, held on February 22, 1918, Krylenko said: "We have no troops, the demoralized soldiers flee, panicked, as soon as they see German helmets appear on the horizon, leaving their artillery, and all the material of war to the adversary advancing triumphantly, the Red Guard units are removed like flies, we have no power to remain enemies, only the signing of a peace treaty will immediately save us from destruction. "
Maps Red Army
History
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War (1917-1923) took place in three periods:
- October 1917 - November 1918, from the Bolshevik Revolution to the First World War Armament, developed from the 1917 November Bolshevik government nationalization of traditional Cossack land. This provoked the rebellion of the Volunteer General Force Alexey Maximovich Kaledin in the Don River area. The Brest-Litovsk treaty (March 1918) exacerbated Russia's internal politics. This situation encouraged direct Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, where twelve foreign countries supported the anti-Bolshevik militia. A series of engagements produced, involving, among other things, the Czechoslovak Legion, the Polish 5th Rifle Division, and the pro-Bolshevik Latvian Red Rifle.
- January 1919 - November 1919 initially saw the White forces advance: from the south, under General Anton Denikin; from the east, under Admiral Aleksandr Vasilevich Kolchak; and from the northwest, under General Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich. The White defeated the Red Army in each front. Leon Trotsky reformed and counterattack: The Reds rejected Admiral Kolchak's forces in June; and the troops of General Denikin and General Yudenich in October. By mid-November, White's forces were almost completely exhausted. In January 1920, the Budenny Cavalry Army first entered Rostov-on-Don.
- 1919 to 1923
At the beginning of the war, the Red Army consisted of 299 infantry regiments. The civil war intensified after Lenin dissolved the Russian Constituent Assembly (5-6 January 1918) and the Soviet government signed the Brest-Litovsk Treaty (March 3, 1918), removing Russia from the Great War. Freed from international war, the Red Army faces an internecine war against loose alliance of anti-Communist forces, composed of Revolutionary Ukrainian Revolutionary Army, "Black Army" led by Nestor Makhno, anti-White and anti-Red Green forces, and others. February 23, 1918, "Red Army Day", has twice the historical significance: the first day of recruitment (in Petrograd and Moscow); and the first day of battle against the occupying Imperial German Army.
On 6 September 1918, the Bolshevik militia were consolidated under the supreme command of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic - Russia: ???????????? ?????? ????? , translit.Ã, Revolyutsionny Voyenny Sovyet (Revvoyensoviet) . The first chairman is Leon Trotsky. The first commander was Jukums V? Cietis from Latvia Riflemen; in July 1919 he was replaced by Sergey Kamenev. Soon afterwards, Trotsky founded the GRU (military intelligence) to provide military and political intelligence to the commander of the Red Army. Trotsky founded the Red Army with an early Red Guard organization, and the core soldiers of the Red Guard and the Chekist secret police. Military service began in June 1918, and resistance against it was severely suppressed. To control multi-ethnic and multi-cultural military personnel, Cheka operates a special punishment brigade that suppresses anti-communism, deserters, and "enemies of the state". Wartime pragmatism enabled the recruitment of former Tsarist officials and sergeant (non-commissioner officer, NCO) into the Red Army. Special Commission Lev Glezarov recruited and screened them. In mid-August 1920, the former Tsarist Army personnel included 48,000 officers, 10,300 administrators, and 214,000 NCO. At the beginning of the civil war, the former Tsar comprised 75% Red Army officer corps, employed as a military specialist ( voenspetsy , ru: ?????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?). The Bolsheviks sometimes impose loyalty to the recruits by holding their families hostage. By the end of the war in 1922, the former Tsar was 83% of the division commander and Red Army corps.
The Red Army used a special regiment for ethnic minorities, such as the Dungan Cavalry Regiment ordered by Dungan Magaza Masanchi. The Red Army also works with volunteer units oriented to the armed Bolshevik Party, which is grounded ????? ??????? ?????????? - ??? (special task unit - chasti osobogo naznacheniya - or Chon) from 1919 to 1925.
The slogan "insistence, organization, and retaliation" states the discipline and motivation that helps ensure the strategic and strategic success of the Red Army. In the campaign, the attached Special Chechen Special Brigade conducted a court-martial-field summary and the execution of deserters and slackers. Under Commissar J? Nis K. B? Rzi ?? The Special Special Brigade takes hostages from desertary villages to force them to surrender; one in ten people returned to execution. The same tactic also suppressed peasant revolts in areas controlled by the Red Army, the largest of which was the Tambov Rebellion. The Soviets imposed loyalty from various political, ethnic, and national groups in the Red Army through political commissars inherent in brigades and regimental levels. The commissars also have the task of spying on commanders for political inaccuracy. The political commissar that his Chekist detachment retreats or breaks before the enemy gets the death penalty. In August 1918, Trotsky authorized General Mikhail Tukhachevsky to place blocking units behind the politically unreliable Red Army units, to shoot anyone who retreated without permission. In 1942, during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) Joseph Stalin reintroduced the policy of blocking. He also introduced a criminal battalion.
The Red Army controlled by the Socialist Republican Soviet Russian Federation invaded and annexed the non-Russian territory that helped create the Soviet Union.
The Polish-Soviet War and the introduction
The Soviet offensive west of 1918-19 took place at the same time as the Soviets in general moved to the areas left by the Ober Ost garrison. It merged into the Soviet-Soviet War of 1919-1921, in which the Red Army reached central Poland in 1920, but then suffered defeat there, which ended the war. During the Polish Campaign, the Red Army numbered some 6.5 million men, many of whom the Army had difficulty supporting, about 581,000 on two operational fronts, west and southwest. About 2.5 million men and women were immobilized in the interior as part of the reserve army.
Reorganize
The XI Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) (RCP (b)) adopted a resolution on the strengthening of the Red Army. They decided to establish a tightly organized military, educational and economic condition in the military. However, it is recognized that 1,600,000 troops will be burdensome. At the end of 1922, after the Congress, the Party Central Committee decided to reduce the Red Army to 800,000. This reduction requires the reorganization of the Red Army structure. The highest military unit became the corps of two or three divisions. Division consists of three regiments. The Brigade as an independent unit was abolished. The establishment of the department's rifle corps begins.
The doctrinal development of the 1920s and 1930s
After four years of war, the defeat of the Red Army from Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel in the south in 1920 allowed the founding of the Soviet Union Socialist Republics in December 1922. Historian John Erickson saw 1 February 1924, when Mikhail Frunze became the chief of the Red Army staff, as a sign of general staff climbing , which dominated Soviet military planning and operations. On October 1, 1924 the strength of the Red Army was reduced to 530,000. The list of the Soviet divisions 1917-1945 details the formation of the Red Army at that time.
In the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s, Soviet military theorists - led by Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky - developed the doctrine in operation, a direct consequence of their experience in the Polish-Soviet War and in the Russian Civil War. To achieve victory, deep operations envision simultaneously uniformed and uniformed servo units of simultaneous parallel attacks along the depths of enemy ground forces, leading to catastrophic defensive failures. The battle doctrine in reliance on aviation and weapon attacks in the hope that battle maneuvers offer a quick, efficient and decisive victory. Marshal Tukhachevsky said that air warfare should be "used against the target beyond the reach of infantry, artillery, and other weapons." For tactical aircraft the maximum effect must be used in bulk, concentrated in space and time, against the most important tactical targets.
The Red Army in operation found their first formal expression in the Field Regulation of 1929, and became codified in the Provisional Field Regulation of 1936 (PU-36). The Great Purge of 1937-1939 and the Cleaning of 1940-1942 removed many of the leading officers of the Red Army, including Tukhachevsky himself and many of his followers, and the doctrine was abandoned. So at the Battle of Lake Khasan in 1938 and in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol in 1939 (the main border clash with the Japanese Imperial Army), the doctrine was not used. Only in the Second World War, a deep operation came into play.
Soviet-Soviet Conflict
The Red Army was involved in armed conflict in the Republic of China during the Soviet-Soviet conflict (1929), Soviet invasion of Xinjiang (1934), assisted by Russian White forces, and Xinjiang rebellion (1937). The Red Army reached its destination; he maintained effective control of the China Manchurian Railway, and successfully installed a pro-Soviet regime in Xinjiang.
Winter War with Finland
Winter War (Finland: talvisota , Sweden: vinterkriget , Russia: ??????????? ) is a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It started with the Soviet attack on November 30, 1939 - three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland, and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Agreement. The League of Nations considered the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union on December 14, 1939.
Soviet troops had three times as many soldiers as Finland, thirty times as many planes, and a hundred times as many tanks. The Red Army, however, was paralyzed by the Great Purge of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1937, reducing the army's spirit and efficiency shortly before the outbreak of battle. With more than 30,000 military officers being executed or imprisoned, most of whom came from the highest ranks, the Red Army in 1939 had many inexperienced senior officers. Because of these factors, and high commitment and morale in the Finnish army, Finland was able to withstand Soviet invasions longer than the Soviets expected. Finnish troops inflicted heavy losses on the Red Army during the first three months of the war, while they suffered very little loss.
The hostilities ceased in March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Accords. Finland handed over 11% of its pre-war territory and 30% of its economic assets to the Soviet Union. Soviet losses on the frontline are heavy, and the country's international reputation suffers. Soviet troops did not achieve their goal of total conquest of Finland, but conquering significant areas along Lake Ladoga, PETSAMO and Salla. Finns defend their sovereignty and enhance their international reputation, which strengthens their spirit in the War Continues.
Second World War (" The Great Patriotic War ")
In accordance with the Soviet-Nazi Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact August 23, 1939, the Red Army invaded Poland on September 17, 1939, after the Nazi invasion on September 1, 1939. On November 30, the Red Army also attacked Finland, during the Winter War of 1939-1940. In the autumn of 1940, after conquering its territory in Poland, the Third Reich shared a vast border with the Soviet Union, with whom they remained neutral ties with their non-aggression treaties and trade agreements. Another consequence of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and North Bukovina, which was carried out by the Southern Front in June-July 1940 and the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940). This conquest was also added to the borders used by the Soviet Union with Nazi-controlled territories. For Adolf Hitler, there was no dilemma, as the policy of Drang nach Osten ("Drive to the East") remained steady, culminating on December 18, 1940 with the Directive No. 21, Operation Barbarossa , was approved on 3 February 1941, and is scheduled for mid-May 1941.
When the Germans attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, in Operation Barbarossa, the Red Army's ground forces had 303 divisions and 22 separate brigades (6.8 million troops), including 166 divisions and 9 brigades (3.2 million soldiers) stationed at western military district. Axis troops stationed on the Eastern Front consisted of 181 divisions and 18 brigades (3 million soldiers). Three Fronts, Northwestern, West and Southwest undertook the western border of the Soviet Union. In the first weeks of the Great Patriotic War the Wehrmacht defeated many units of the Red Army. The Red Army lost millions as a prisoner and lost much of its pre-war war. Stalin increased the mobilization, and on August 1, 1941, although 46 divisions lost the battle, the Red Army's strength was 401 divisions.
Soviet troops appear to be unprepared despite warnings from various sources. They suffered a lot of damage on the ground due to casual attendants, partial mobilization, and incomplete reorganization. The hasty expansion of pre-war troops and the excessive promotion of inexperienced officers (due to the cleaning of experienced officers) favored the Wehrmacht in battle. Axis numerical superiority makes the strength of division fighters more or less the same. Generations of Soviet commanders (mainly Georgy Zhukov) learned of defeat, and Soviet victories in the Battle of Moscow, in Stalingrad, Kursk and later in Baggage Operation proved decisive.
In 1941, the Soviet government lifted the bloody Red Army with propaganda which emphasized the defense of the Motherland and the nation, using historical examples of courage and courage of Russia against foreign aggressors. The Anti-Nazi Great Patriotic War combined with the Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon, and historic Russian military heroes, such as Alexander Nevski and Mikhail Kutuzov, emerged. The oppression of the Russian Orthodox Church temporarily stopped, and the priests revived the tradition of blessing weapons before the battle.
To encourage the Red Army commander's initiative, the CPSU temporarily abolished the political commissar, reintroduced the rank and formal military decoration, and introduced the concept of the Guards unit. Highly heroic or high performing units get the degree of Guards (eg Special Guard 1 Guard Corps, 6th Army Tank Guards), elite designations that demonstrate superior, material, and payment training. Punishment is also used; lazy, malingerers, those who avoid fighting with self-inflicted wounds, thieves, and deserters are disciplined with beatings, demotions, undesirable/dangerous tasks, and summary executions by the NKVD detachment.
At the same time, the osobist (NKVD military counter-intelligence officer) became a key Red Army figure with the power to execute and to save the lives of soldiers and (almost all) officers from the units he attached. In 1942, Stalin established a battalion of punishment consisting of prisoners of gulag, the Soviet PoW, disgraced soldiers, and defectors, for the dangerous front-line task of trampling the minefield Nazis, and others.. Given the danger, the maximum penalty is three months. Likewise, Soviet treatment of Red Army personnel captured by the Wehrmacht is very harsh. A Stalin directive 1941 ordered the suicide of every Red Army officer and soldier rather than surrender; Soviet law considers all Red Army soldiers arrested as traitors. The Soviet PoW that the Red Army released from enemy prisoners was usually sentenced to battalion. Since April 1943, the osobis belonged to Smersh. Order no. 270 was also passed, urging the army to "fight to the end."
During the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army assigned 29,574,900 people in addition to 4,826,907 in service at the beginning of the war. Of the total 34,401,807 lost 6,329,600 were killed in action (KIA), 555,400 deaths from illness and 4,559,000 lost in action (MIA) (most caught). Of these 11,444,000, however, 939,700 rejoined the ranks in the liberated Soviet territory, and another 1,836,000 returned from German captivity. Thus a total loss of 8,668,400. This is the number of official deaths, but other estimates provide a total death to nearly 11 million people, including 7.7 million people dead or missing in action and 2.6 million prisoners of war died (out of 5.2 million total prisoners), plus 400,000 paramilitary and Soviet partisan losses. The majority of losses, excluding POWs, are ethnic Russians (5,756,000), followed by ethnic Ukrainians (1,377,400). However, as many as 8 million of the 34 million mobilized are non-Slavic minority troops, and about 45 divisions are formed from national minorities served from 1941 to 1943.
The German loss on the Eastern Front comprised about 3,604,800 KIA/MIA within 1937 limits plus 900,000 ethnic Germans and Austrians beyond the 1937 borders (included in this number were those listed as missing in action or unknown after the war) and 3,576,300 men reportedly caught (total 8,081,100); German satellite losses on the Eastern Front are estimated at 668,163 KIA/MIA and 799,982 arrested (total 1,468,145). From 9,549,245, the Soviets released 3,572,600 from captivity after the war, bringing the total Axis loss to 5,796,645. Regarding prisoners of war, both sides arrested many and many died in captivity - a British figure recently said 3.6 of the 6 million Soviet prisoners of war were killed in German camps, while 300,000 of the three million German prisoners of war were killed in Soviet hands. Since the fall of East Prussia, Soviet troops committed massive rape in Germany, notably in Berlin until early May 1945.
Disadvantages
In 1941, the rapid advances of German air and ground attacks into the Soviet Union made the Red Army's logistical support difficult, as many depots, and most of the Soviet manufacturing industrial base, located in the western region of the attacked country, required their re-establishment. east of the Ural Mountains. Until then the Red Army was often asked to improvise or to go without weapons, vehicles, and other equipment. The 1941 decision to physically move their production capacity in the eastern Ural mountains maintains a major Soviet support system out of reach of Germany. In the final stages of the war, the Red Army fielded some excellent armaments, especially artillery and tanks. The Red Army's KV-1 and T-34 tanks defeated most of the Wehrmacht armor, but in 1941 most Soviet tank units used both old and inferior models.
Administration
Military rule after the October Revolution was taken over by the People's Commissariat of war and marine affairs led by the collective committees Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko, Pavel Dybenko, and Nikolai Krylenko. At the same time, Nikolay Dukhonin acted as Commander-in-Chief after Alexander Kerensky fled Russia. On 12 November 1917 the Soviet government appointed Krylenko as Commander-in-Chief, and because of "accidents" during the forced displacement of the supreme commander, Dukhonin was assassinated on November 20, 1917. Nikolai Podvoisky was appointed Narkom of War Affairs, leaving Dybenko in charge of Narkom of Marine Affairs and Ovseyenko - an expeditionary force to Southern Russia on November 28, 1917. The Bolsheviks also sent their own representatives to replace the front commander of the Russian Imperial Army.
After the signing of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty on March 3, 1918, a major revamp took place in the Soviet military government. On March 13, 1918, the Soviet government accepted Krylenko's official resignation and the position of the Supreme Commander had been liquidated. On March 14, 1918 Leon Trotsky replaced Podvoisky as the Narcotics of War Affairs. On March 16, 1918 Pavel Dybenko was released from the office of Narkom of Marine Affairs. On May 8, 1918, the entire Russian Headquarters was formed, led by Nikolai Stogov and later Alexander Svechin.
On September 2, 1918, the Revolutionary Military Council (RMC) was established as a major military administration under Leon Trotsky, Narkom of War Affairs. On September 6, 1918 beside the headquarters, the RMC Field Headquarters was formed, initially led by Nikolai Rattel. On the same day, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces was formed, and was originally assigned to Jukums V? Cietis (and from July 1919 to Sergey Kamenev). Commander of the Armed Forces there until April 1924, the end of the Russian Civil War.
In November 1923, after the formation of the Soviet Union, the Narcotics War of Russian Affairs was converted into Narcotics of War and Soviet Marines Affairs.
Organization
At the beginning of its existence, the Red Army functions as a voluntary formation, without rank or badge. Democratic elections choose officers. However, the May 29, 1918 decree enacted conscription for men aged 18 to 40 years. To serve large-scale designs, the Bolsheviks formed a regional military commissariat (voyennyy komissariat , abbr voyenkomat ), which in 2006 remained in Russia in this function and under this name. However, the military commissariat should not be equated with the institution of military political commissar.
In the mid-1920s, the Red Army's territorial principles were introduced. In every area the able-bodied male is called for a limited period of active duty in the territorial unit, which is about half the army's powers, every year, for five years. The first call period is for three months, with one month a year afterwards. A regular cadre provides a stable core. In 1925 the system provided 46 out of 77 infantry divisions and one of eleven cavalry divisions. The remainder consists of regular officers and enlisted servicemen who are serving a two-year sentence. The territorial system was eventually abolished, with all remaining formations converted to other cadre divisions, in 1937-1938.
Mechanization
The Soviet military received a lot of funding and was innovative in its technology. An American journalist wrote in 1941:
Even in American terms, the Soviet defense budget is enormous. In 1940, it was equivalent to $ 11,000,000,000, and represented a third of national expenditure. Measure this with the fact that a much richer United States will estimate such expenditure annually only in 1942 after two years of our greatest defense effort.
Much of the money spent on the Red Army and Air Force is used for war equipment. Twenty-three years ago when the Bolshevik revolution occurred there were several machines in Russia. Marx said that communism must come in a highly developed society. The Bolsheviks identify their dreams of socialist happiness with machines that will double production and reduce working hours until everyone has everything he needs and will only work as much as he wants. Somehow this has not happened yet, but Russia still worships the machine, and this helps make the most highly mechanized Red Army in the world, except perhaps the German Army now.
Like Americans, Russians admire size, large, large numbers. They are proud to build a huge tank army, some of which are the largest in the world, armored cars, airplanes, motor rifles, and various mechanical weapons.
Under Stalin's campaign for mechanization, the army formed the first mechanical unit in 1930. The 1st Mechanized Brigade consists of tank regiments, motorized infantry regiments, and reconnaissance and artillery battalions. From this humble beginning, the Soviets will continue to create the first operational level armored formations in history, the 11th and 45th Mechanical Corps, in 1932. This is a heavy-tank formation with combat support troops including so they can survive when operating in the enemy's back area without support from the parent front.
Impressed by the 1940 German campaign against France, the Soviet Defense Commissariat (Ministry of Defense, Russian abbreviation NKO) ordered the establishment of nine mechanical corps on July 6, 1940. Between February and March 1941 NKO ordered twenty more to be made. All of these formations are larger than those theorized by Tukhachevsky. Although the mechanical corps of the 29 Red Army had an official power of not less than 29,899 tanks in 1941, they proved to be paper leopards. Actually there were only 17,000 tanks available at the time, which meant some new mechanical corps were very weak. The pressure placed on the mill and the military planners to show the amount of production also leads to a situation where most armored vehicles are outdated models, very short of spare parts and support equipment, and nearly three quarters of it is too late for major maintenance. On June 22, 1941 there were only 1,475 T-34 and modern KV tanks available to the Red Army, and this was too scattered on the front to provide enough mass even for local success. To illustrate this, the 3rd Corps of Mechanics in Lithuania was formed out of a total of 460 tanks; 109 of which are the newer KV-1 and T-34. This corps proved to be one of the few lucky ones with a large number of newer tanks. However, the 4th Army consists of 520 tanks, all of which are outdated T-26s, as opposed to the official power of 1,031 new medium tanks. This problem is universal throughout the Red Army, and will play a significant role in the early defeat of the Red Army in 1941 at the hands of the German armed forces.
Wartime
The war experience drives a change in the way the frontline forces are governed. After six months of fighting against Germany, Stavka abolished the rifle corps which was a mediator between the army and division level because, while useful in theory, in the circumstances of the Red Army in 1941, they proved ineffective in practice. After a decisive victory in the Battle of Moscow in January 1942, the high command began to reintroduce the rifle corps to the more experienced formation. The total number of rifle corps began at 62 on June 22, 1941, dropped to six on January 1, 1942, but later increased to 34 in February 1943, and 161 by New Year's Day 1944. The true strength of the front-line division, which was endorsed to contain 11,000 people in July 1941, most not more than 50% of the establishment's power during 1941, and divisions were often damaged in continuous operations up to hundreds of people or even less.
At the outbreak of the war, the Red Army deployed the mechanical corps and tank divisions whose development has been described above. The early German offensive destroyed many, and in 1941 almost everything, (banning two in the Transbaikal Military District). The remains are dissolved. It was much easier to coordinate smaller troops, and separate the tank and battalion brigades were replaced. It was late 1942 and early 1943 before the larger corps size tank formation was lowered to use mass armor again. By mid-1943, the corps was grouped together into a tank army whose forces at the end of the war could reach 700 tanks and 50,000 people.
Personnel
Bolshevik officials assigned to each Red Army unit were a political commissar, or politician, who had the authority to override the unit commander's decision if they were contrary to the principles of the Communist Party. Although sometimes this leads to an inefficient command according to some American historians, the Party leadership considers political control over the military absolutely necessary, as more troops rely on officers from the pre-revolutionary Imperial period and it is understandable that a military coup is feared. This system was abolished in 1925, because at that time there were quite a lot of Communist officers trained to make counter-signing unnecessary.
Rankings and titles
The early Red Army left the professional officer corps institution as a "tsarist legacy" in the course of the Revolution. In particular, the Bolsheviks condemn the use of the word officer and use the word commander instead. The Red Army left the mark of rank and rank, using pure functional titles such as "Division Commander", "Commander of the Corps" and similar titles. Insignia for these functional titles exist, consisting of triangles, squares and rhombus (so-called "diamonds").
In 1924 (October 2) the category of "personal" or "service" was introduced, starting from K1 (section leader, assistant troop leader, senior helper, etc.) to K14 (field commander, army commander, district military commander, military commander and equal). ). Another service category badge consists of triangles, squares and rhombuses, but also rectangles (1 - 3, for categories from K7 to K9).
On September 22, 1935, the Red Army left the service category and introduced personal rank. But this ranking uses a unique blend of traditional functional positions and ranks. For example, the rank includes "Lieutenant" and "Comdiv" (??????, Division Commander). Further complications occur from functional and categorical ranks to political officials (eg, "commissar brigade", "second commander of military commander"), to technical corps (eg, "3rd rank engineer," "division engineer"), and for administrative, medical and non-combatant branches.
The Soviet Marshal rank was introduced on 22 September 1935. On 7 May 1940 further modifications to the rationalization of the rank system were made on a proposal by Marshal Voroshilov: the "General" and "Admiral" ranks replaced the senior functional ranks of Combrig, Comdiv, Comcor, Comandarm at RKKA and Flagman ranks 1 dll in the Red Navy; other senior functional ranks ("commission division," "division engineer," etc.) remain unaffected. Arms or fixed service differences (eg cavalry generals, armored arm marshal). For most of the newly restored systems used by the Russian Imperial Army at the end of its participation in World War I.
In early 1943 the unification system saw the removal of all the remaining functional ranks. The word "officer" became officially supported, together with the use of epaulettes, which replaced the previous rank symbol. The rank and emblem of 1943 did not change much until the last days of the Soviet Union; The contemporary Russian Army uses a largely similar system.
Military education
During the Civil War the commanding cadres were trained at the Nicholas General Staff Academy of the Russian Empire, who became the Frunze Military Academy in the 1920s. Senior and supreme commanders were trained in the Higher Military Academic Course, renamed the Advanced Course for Supreme Command in 1925. The formation of the Operations Faculty in 1931 at the Frunze Military Academy completed these courses. The General Staff Academy was restored on 2 April 1936, and became the premier military school for senior commanders and Red Army Reds.
Purges
The late 1930s saw the purge of the Red Army leadership that coincided with Stalin's massive Cleanup of Soviet society. In 1936 and 1937, on the orders of Stalin, thousands of senior Red Army officers were dismissed from their orders. The purge was aimed at ridding the Red Army of "politically unreliable elements", especially among high-ranking officers. This inevitably provides a convenient pretext for resolving a personal grudge or to eliminate competition by officers seeking the same command. Many soldiers, corps, and division commanders were dismissed: most were either imprisoned or sent to forced labor camps; others are executed. Among the victims was the Red Army's main military theorist Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky, whom Stalin considered a potential political rival. Officers who immediately found all their decisions were carefully examined by political officers, even in the usual matters such as field notes and exercises. The atmosphere of fear and reluctance to take immediate initiatives includes the Red Army; suicide rates among young officers rose to record levels. Cleansing significantly interferes with the Red Army's combat capabilities. Hoyt concluded "the Soviet defense system was damaged to the point of incompetence" and emphasized "the fear in which high-ranking officers live." Clark said, "Stalin not only cut the heart of the army, he also gave it brain damage." Lewin identifies three serious results: the loss of experienced and well-trained senior officers; the unbelief it generates among potential allies, especially France; and that encouragement gave Germany.
Data recently declassified indicates that in 1937, at the peak of Purges, the Red Army had 114,300 officers, of whom 11,034 were dismissed. In 1938, the Red Army had 179,000 officers, 56% more than in 1937, of whom 6,742 others were dismissed. In the highest echelons of the Red Army, Purges moved 3 out of 5 marshalals, 13 from 15 military generals, 8 from 9 admirals, 50 from 57 army corps, 154 from 186 divisional generals, 16 army commands, and 25 from 28 army commissioners.
The result was the Red Army officer corps in 1941 had many inexperienced senior officers. While 60% of regimental commanders had two or more years of command experience in June 1941, and nearly 80% of the rifle division commander, only 20% of the corps commanders, and 5% or few military and military district commanders, had the same level. experience.
The significant growth of the Red Army during the high point of cleaning may have exacerbated the problem. In 1937, the Red Army totaled about 1.3 million, increasing to nearly three times that number in June 1941. The rapid growth of troops required the rapid promotion of officials regardless of experience or training. The junior officers are appointed to fill the senior leadership ranks, many of whom do not have extensive experience. This action in turn resulted in many openings at the lower officer corps level, filled by new graduates from the service academy. In 1937, the entire junior class of one academy graduated a year earlier to fill vacancies in the Red Army. Hamstrung because of his inexperience and fear of retaliation, many of these new officers failed to impress a large number of candidates who entered the line; complaints of defiance rising to the top of the offense were punished in 1941, and may have aggravated the example of Red Army soldiers who left their units during the initial phase of the German attack that year.
In 1940, Stalin began to succumb, recovering about a third of the dismissed officers for duty. However, the effects of the cleanup would soon appear in the 1940 Winter War, where the Red Army forces generally performed poorly against the much smaller Finnish Army, and then during the German invasion of 1941, where the Germans were able to expel the Soviet defenders in part due to their lack of experience among Soviet officers.
Weapons and equipment
The Soviet Union expanded the indigenous arms industry as part of Stalin's industrialization program in the 1920s and 1930s.
See also
- Signal Corps Administration (Red Army)
- M School
- Germany's bad treatment of Soviet prisoners of war
Note
References
Bibliography
External links
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments