Formations of the Soviet Army

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Formations are those military organisations which are formed from different speciality Arms and Services troop units to create balances combined combat force. The formations only differ in their ability to achieve different scale in application of force to achieve different strategic, operational and tactical goals and mission objectives. Divisions, although nominally formations, are only capable of undertaking tactical missions of operational significance.

Types of formations in the military organization of the Soviet Armed Forces included:

  • Theatre of Military Operations or theatre of war[1] (TV)
  • Theatre of military operations (TVD, teatr voennykh deistvii) — in their most modern form, TVDs were established in February 1979 (the Far Eastern) and September 1984 (Western (HQ Legnica), South-Western (HQ Kishinev), Southern (HQ Baku) TVD).[2] Viktor Suvorov gave the above formations the name 'High Commands in the Strategic directions'. Strategic Directions were created and maintained at the beginning and at the end of the Second World War, and are considered a part of the TVD for the purpose of determining operational directions.[3] During the Second World War six strategic direction commands existed as part of the Stavka[4]:
    • Chief command of the troops of the Western Direction (1941-42) replaced by Stavka representative role
    • Chief command of the troops of the North Western Direction (1941) replaced by Stavka representative role
    • Chief command of the troops of the North Caucasus Direction (1941-42) replaced by Stavka representative role
    • Chief command of the troops of the South Western Direction (1941-42) replaced by Stavka representative role
    • Central Staff of the partisan movement (1942-45)
    • Chief command of the Soviet troops in the Far East (1945)
  • Military district (in the USSR), and group of forces (in Eastern Europe). These peacetime administrative units would provide support to between one and six fronts during wartime
  • Front — the largest wartime field formation, equivalent to an army group in many other forces
  • Army — the largest peacetime field formation. Each is designated a combined arms army or tank army. During WWII the Fortified Region usually corresponded to an Army frontage formation.
  • Corps — Rifle, Cavalry, Artillery, Mechanised, Tank, Aviation and Aviation of PVO, and Airborne Corps.
Rifle Corps was a formation that existed in the pre-Revolution Imperial Russian Army, and was inherited by the Red Army. First suggestions for creation of large mechanised or tank formations in the Soviet Union were suggested based on development of doctrine for publication as PU-36, the field regulations largely authored by Marshal Tukhachevsky, and was created where "In the attack tanks must be employed in mass", envisaged as "Strategic cavalry"[5]. Although the name of "mechanised" may seem to the modern reader as referring to the infantry components of the Corps, in 1936 they referred to armoured vehicles only[6] with the word "motorised" referring to the units equipped with trucks.
Main article: Soviet Army#Organization


[edit] References

  1. ^ Fomin, GSE
  2. ^ http://www8.brinkster.com/vad777/sssr-89-91/sv.htm (Russian)
  3. ^ p.711, Military Encyclopaedic dictionary, Voenizdat, Moscow, 1986
  4. ^ p.208, Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 encyclopaedic dictionary, Soviet Encyclopaedia (publisher), Moscow, 1985
  5. ^ p.179, Simpkin
  6. ^ ibid., p180.

[edit] Sources

  • The Soviet Army: Troops, Organization, and Equipment. FM 100-2-3, June 1991. Washington DC: United States Department of the Army.
  • Fomin, N.N., Great Soviet Encyclopaedia (Russian: Большая Советская Энциклопедия), Moscow, 1978
  • Simpkin, R., Deep battle: The brainchild of Marshal Tukhachevskii, Brassey's, London, 1987

[edit] Further Reading