The army of the USSR is one of the most powerful military enclaves of the 20th century, the creation of which has spent considerable resources, primarily human resources. It is worth noting that it was formed relatively quickly and firmly took the place of a leader in world history, primarily due to the heroism and endurance on the verge of human capabilities that Soviet soldiers showed in the fight against the fascist invaders. After the unconditional surrender, perhaps, few of the world powers could dispute the obvious fact: the USSR army was the strongest in the world at that time. However, she retained this unspoken title almost until the end of the last century.
Stages of formation
During its entire history, since the appearance of a more or less organized uniform, the Russian army has been famous for its incredible courage, strength and faith in the cause for which the blood of soldiers was shed. The fall of the empire, in particular, entailed not only the demoralization of the armed forces, but also their almost complete destruction. This was also explained by the destructive zeal to eliminate most of the officers. In parallel, red guards were formed from those who wanted to serve new ideas and the newborn state throughout the country. However, the Firstworld, despite internal events, Russia did not officially withdraw from it, which means that there was a need for regular connections. This marked the beginning of the formation of the Red Army, in the name of which a year later the phrase "workers' and peasants'" was added. Official birthday - February 23, 1918. At the beginning of the civil strife, there were 800 thousand volunteers in its ranks, a little later - 1.5 million.
commissars, the so-called political workers.
The land and sea have become the basic components of the armed forces. The army of the USSR became a full-fledged military association only in 1922, that is, when the Soviet Union had already legally begun to exist. Until the disappearance of this state from the world map, the army did not change its external forms. After the formation of the USSR, the NKVD troops replenished it.
Organizational and management structure
And in the RSFSR, and later in the USSR, the Council of People's Commissars functioned to perform managerial functions, as well as control various structures, including the army. The People's Commissar of Defense was created in 1934. During the Great Patriotic War, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command was formed, headed directly byJoseph Stalin. Later, the Ministry of Defense was formed. The same structure has been preserved to this day.
Initially, there was no order in the army. Volunteers formed detachments, each of which was a separate and independent military unit. In an effort to cope with this situation, relevant specialists were attracted to the army, who began to structure it. Initially, rifle and cavalry corps were formed. A powerful technological breakthrough, expressed in the mass production of aircraft, tanks, armored vehicles, contributed to the expansion of the USSR army, mechanized and motorized units appeared in it, and technical units were strengthened. During the war, regular units are transformed into an active army. According to military rules, the entire length of hostilities is divided into fronts, which, in turn, include armies.
The number of the USSR army since its inception numbered almost two hundred thousand fighters, by the time of the attack of Nazi Germany, there were already more than five million people in its ranks.
Types of troops
The armies of the USSR included infantry, artillery troops, cavalry, signal troops, armored vehicles, engineering, chemical, automobile, railway, road troops, air forces. In addition, the horse cavalry, which was formed simultaneously with the Red Army, occupied a considerable place. However, the leadership encountered serious difficulties in the formation of this unit: those regions in which formations could be formed,were in the power of the Whites or were occupied by a foreign corps. There was a serious problem with the lack of weapons, professional personnel. As a result, it was possible to form full-fledged cavalry units only by the end of 1919. During the civil war, such units already reached almost half of the number of infantrymen in some combat actions. In the first months of the war with the then most powerful German army, the cavalry, it must be said, showed itself selflessly and courageously, especially in the battle for Moscow. However, it was all too obvious that their combat power was no match for modern warfare. Therefore, most of these troops were abolished.
Iron Firepower
The twentieth century, especially its first half, was marked by rapid military progress. And the Red Army of the USSR, like the military forces of any other country, was actively acquiring new technological capabilities for the maximum destruction of the enemy. This task was greatly simplified by the assembly line production of tanks in the 1920s. When they appeared, military specialists developed a system for the productive interaction of new equipment and infantry. It was this aspect that occupied a central place in the combat charter of the infantry. In particular, surprise was indicated as the main advantage, and among the capabilities of the new equipment, they noted the strengthening of positions captured by infantry with their help, the performance of maneuvers to deepen attacks on the enemy.
In addition, the tank armies of the USSR included paramilitary units equipped witharmored vehicles. The formation of armies began in 1935, when tank brigades appeared, which later became the base of future mechanized corps. However, at the very beginning of the war, these formations had to be disbanded due to serious losses of equipment. Separate battalions and brigades were again formed. However, by the beginning of the second year of the war, the supply of equipment resumed and was established on a permanent basis, the mechanized troops were restored, and entire tank armies of the USSR were already included in their composition. This is the largest formation in this kind of troops. As a rule, they were entrusted with the solution of independent combat missions.
Military aviation
Aviation is another very serious booster of the armed forces. Since the first aircraft began to appear as early as the beginning of the 20th century, combat aviation formations began to form in 1918. However, in the 1930s it became obvious that the Soviet army was considerably inferior in this type of troops due to the rapid development of the aviation industry in the West. Attempts to modernize equipment at the beginning of the Second World War showed all their futility. The Luftwaffe vehicles, which launched their attacks on the Soviet cities on a June morning, took the military command by surprise. It is known that in the first days about two thousand Soviet aircraft were destroyed, most of them on the ground. After six months of the war, the losses of Soviet aviation amounted to more than 21 thousand aircraft.
The rapid growth in the aviation industry made it possible, after a short time, to achieve parity in the sky with the Luftwaffe fighters. The famous Yak fighters in differentmodifications made the German aces lose faith in a quick victory. In the future, the air fleet was replenished with modernized attack aircraft, bombers, fighters.
Other armed forces
Among other types of weapons, a rather significant place during the Second World War was occupied by engineering troops. It was they who were responsible for the construction of fortifications, structures, barriers, mining of territories, technical support for maneuvers, in addition, they helped in creating corridors in mined fields, in overcoming enemy fortifications, barriers and other things. The chemical troops also significantly expanded the scope of their application precisely at that time, in each military unit there were corresponding departments. In particular, it was they who used flamethrowers and arranged smoke screens.
Ranks in the army of the USSR
As you know, the first thing the supporters of the revolution fought for was the destruction of everything that even remotely resembled class oppression. That is why the first thing was that the officers were abolished, and with it the ranks and shoulder straps. Instead of the imperial table of ranks, military positions were established. Later, service categories appeared, denoted by the letter "K". To distinguish by position, geometric shapes were used - a triangle, a rhombus, a rectangle, by military affiliation - colored buttonholes on the uniform.
However, individual officer ranks in the army of the USSR were nevertheless restored, though closer to the Second World War. One year before the German attackreanimated the ranks of "general", "admiral" and "lieutenant colonel". Then the official ranks in the technical and rear services were returned. The officer as a military concept, shoulder straps and other ranks finally settled only in 1943. However, not all ranks that existed in pre-revolutionary Russia were restored in the army of the former USSR. This fact also influenced the composition of the ranks of the Russian army, since it was the system developed in 1943 that is still used today. Among those not included: non-commissioned officer sergeant major and sergeant major, senior officer second lieutenant, lieutenant, staff captain, as well as cavalry cornet, staff captain, captain. The ensign was restored only in 1972. At the same time, the major, who was removed in tsarist Russia in 1881, on the contrary, returned.
The completely new ranks include the general of the army of the USSR introduced in 1940, by status he follows the highest rank in the Soviet Union, which is the rank of marshal. The first to receive a new rank were well-known major army leaders Georgy Zhukov, Kirill Meretskov and Ivan Tyulenev. Before the start of the war, two more were elevated to this rank - military leaders Joseph Apanasenko and Dmitry Pavlov. During the war, the title "Army General of the USSR" was not awarded until 1943. Then shoulder straps were developed, on which four stars were placed. The first to receive the rank was Alexander Vasilevsky. As a rule, those elevated to this rank led the army fronts.
By the end of the war, the Soviet army of the USSR already had eighteen commanders awarded this title. Ten of them were assigned to the rank of marshal. ATIn the 1970s, the title was no longer awarded for special merits and deeds to the Fatherland, but on the basis of the position held, which implies the assignment of a rank.
A terrible war is a great victory
By the time the Great Patriotic War began, the USSR army was quite strong, perhaps overly bureaucratized and somewhat decapitated due to the repressions arranged by Stalin in the army ranks in 1937-1938, when the commanders were very seriously purged. This was partly the reason that in the first weeks the troops were demoralized, there were many losses of people, both military and civilian, equipment, weapons and other things. Although the army of the USSR and Germany were clearly not in equal positions at the beginning of the war, at the cost of countless victims, Soviet soldiers defended their homeland, and the first such feat was, of course, the defense of Moscow and keeping the city from the invaders. The war significantly accelerated the training of new aggressive methods, and the Red Soviet Army rapidly transformed into a military professional force, which at first desperately defended the frontiers and conceded them, only forcing the enemy to lose a fair amount in its ranks, and after the turning point of the Battle of Stalingrad, it furiously attacked and drove the enemy away.
The USSR army in 1941 consisted of more than five million soldiers. As of June 22, there were about one hundred and twenty thousand guns and mortars from small arms. For a year and a half, the enemy felt quite at ease on Soviet lands and moved inland enoughfast. Until that moment, until I came across Stalingrad. The defense and the battle for the city opened a new stage in the historical confrontation, which turned into an inglorious flight of the enemy from Russian territory. The peak strength of the USSR army was reached at the beginning of 1945 - 11.36 million fighters.
Military duty
At the beginning of its glorious history, the ranks of the Red Army were replenished on a voluntary basis. But after some time, the leadership discovered that under such conditions, at critical moments, the country could be in danger due to the lack of a regular military corps. That is why, since 1918, decrees calling for compulsory military service began to be issued regularly. Then the terms of service were quite loyal, infantrymen and artillerymen served for a year, cavalrymen for two years, they were called up for military aviation for three years, for the navy for four years. Service in the army in the USSR was regulated both by separate legislative acts and by the Constitution. This duty was seen as the most active form of fulfilling one's civic duty to protect the socialist Fatherland.
As soon as the war ended, the leadership understood that it was impossible to carry out drafts in the army in the near future. And therefore, until 1948, no one was called up. Conscripts instead of military service were sent to construction work, the restoration of the entire western part of the country required a lot of hands. Then the leadership issued a new version of the law on military service, according to which, adult boyswere required to serve for three years, in the Navy - for four years. The call was made once a year. Service in the army in the USSR decreased to one year only in 1968, and the number of conscriptions was increased to two.
Professional holiday
The modern Russian army is counting its years since the formation of the first armed formations in the new post-revolutionary Russia. According to historical data, Vladimir Lenin signed a decree on the formation of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army on January 28, 1918. German troops were actively advancing, and the Russian army needed new forces. Therefore, on February 22, the authorities appealed to the people with a request to save the Fatherland. Large-scale rallies with slogans and appeals had their effect - crowds of volunteers poured in. Thus, the historical date for the celebration of the professional Army Day appeared. On the same day, it is customary to celebrate the holiday of the Navy. Although, strictly speaking, the official date of the formation of the fleet is considered to be February 11, when Lenin signed the document on its formation.
Note that even after the demise of the Soviet Union, the holiday of the military remained, and it was still celebrated. However, only in 2008, the head of the country Vladimir Putin, by his decree, renamed the national holiday the Defender of the Fatherland Day. The holiday became an official day off in 2013.
The demoralization and destruction of the Soviet army began, of course, with the grandiose collapse of the country itself. In the hard times of the 1990s, the army was not a priority for the leadershipcountries, all subordinate institutions, parts and other property fell into complete disrepair, were plundered and sold. The military ended up in the backyard of life, useless.
In 1979, the Kremlin initiated the last military campaign that marked the beginning of the inglorious end of the great state - the invasion of Afghanistan. The Cold War, which at that time was already in its third decade, exhausted the reserves of the Soviet treasury. During the ten years of the Afghan conflict, human losses on the part of the Union almost reached fifteen thousand fighters. The Afghan campaign, the Cold War, and rivalry with the United States in terms of arms buildup made such gaps in the country's budget that it was no longer possible to overcome them. The withdrawal of troops, which began in 1988, ended in a new state that did not care about the army or its fighters.
