Army of the USSR. The size of the army of the former USSR

The army of the USSR is one of the most powerful military enclaves of the 20th century, the creation of which was spent considerable resources, primarily human resources. It should be noted that it was formed relatively quickly and firmly took the place of a leader in world history, primarily thanks to heroism and endurance to the brink of human capabilities that Soviet soldiers displayed in the fight against the fascist invaders. After 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, this unofficial title it retained almost until the end of the last century.

Stages of formation

Throughout its history, since the appearance of a more or less organized form, the Russian army was famous for its incredible courage, strength and faith in the cause for which the soldiers were 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 due to the disastrous zeal to eliminate the majority of the officers. In parallel, throughout the country, red guards were formed from those wishing to serve new ideas and the newborn state. However, the First World War was still going on, in spite of internal events, Russia did not officially leave it, which means that there was a need for regular connections. This marked the beginning of the formation of the Red Army, the name of which was added a year later the phrase "worker-peasant". The official birthday is February 23, 1918. At the time of the start of civil strife in its ranks there were 800 thousand volunteers, a little later - 1.5 million.

At the heart of the creation of an army of a new, not yet fully educated state lay such principles as class, internationalism (citizens from other countries took part in the army ranks), elective leadership, dual-headedness, which required the mandatory presence of military commissars in all divisions, the so-called political workers .

The main components of the armed forces were land and sea. A full-fledged military association the USSR army became only in 1922, that is, when the Soviet Union had already legally begun its existence. Up until the disappearance of this state from the map of the world, the army did not change its external forms. After the formation of the USSR, it was enlarged by the NKVD troops.

Organizational and management structure

In both the RSFSR and later in the USSR, the Council of People's Commissars functioned to carry out managerial functions, as well as control over various structures, including the army. The People's Commissar for Defense was established in 1934. During the Great Patriotic War, the Supreme Headquarters was formed, headed directly by Joseph Stalin. Later, the Ministry of Defense was formed. This same structure has survived 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, the appropriate specialists were involved in the army, who engaged in its structuring. Initially, the rifle and cavalry corps were formed. A powerful technological breakthrough, expressed in the production of aircraft, tanks and armored vehicles, contributed to the fact that the Soviet Army was expanding, mechanized and motorized units appeared, and technical units were strengthened. During the war, regular units are turned into an active army. According to military rules, the entire length of military operations is divided into fronts, which, in turn, include armies.

The number of the army of the USSR since its inception numbered almost two hundred thousand soldiers, at the time of the attack of Hitler's Germany in its ranks there were already more than five million people.

Types of troops

The armies of the USSR included infantry, artillery, cavalry, communications, auto armored, engineering, chemical, automobile, railway, road troops, air forces. In addition, a considerable place was occupied also by horse cavalry, which was formed simultaneously with the Red Army. However, the leadership encountered serious difficulties in the formation of this unit: those regions in which the formations could form were in the power of the White Guards or were occupied by a foreign corps. There was a serious problem with the lack of weapons, professional personnel. As a result, full cavalry units were formed only by the end of 1919. During the civil war, such units reached almost half of the number of infantry in some combat actions. In the first months of the war, with the most powerful German army at that time, the cavalry, I must say, showed itself selflessly and courageously, especially in the battle for Moscow. However, it was too obvious that their fighting might not be compared to modern methods of waging war. Therefore, most of these troops were abolished.

Fire power of iron

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, actively acquired all the new technological capabilities of maximum destruction of the enemy. This task in many ways simplified conveyor production of tanks in the 1920s. When they appeared, military specialists developed a system of productive interaction between new equipment and infantry. It was this aspect that occupied the central place in the combat regulations of the infantry. In particular, the main advantage was the suddenness, and among the possibilities of the new technology there were noted the strengthening with their help of the positions captured by the infantry, the execution of maneuvers to deepen the attacks on the enemy.

In addition, the tank armies of the USSR included paramilitary units equipped with armored cars. The formation of armies began in 1935, when tank brigades appeared, which later became the basis for future mechanized corps. However, at the very beginning of the war, these compounds had to be disbanded due to serious losses of equipment. Once again, separate battalions and brigades were formed. However, by the beginning of the second year of the war, the receipt of equipment was resumed and was established on an ongoing basis, the mechanized forces were restored, they included the whole tank armies of the USSR. This is the largest formation in this kind of troops. As a rule, they were assigned the solution of independent combat missions.

Military aviation

Aviation is another very serious amplifier of the armed forces. Since the first aircraft began to appear in the early 20th century, combat aviation formations began to form in 1918. However, in the 1930s it became obvious that in this type of troops the Soviet army was considerably inferior because of the rapid development of the aviation industry in the West. Attempts to modernize the equipment at the beginning of the Second World War showed all their futility. The Luftwaffe machines, which launched their attacks on the Soviet cities in the June morning, took the military command off guard. It is known that in the early days about two thousand Soviet aircraft were destroyed , most of them on the ground. Six months later, the Soviet aviation lost more than 21,000 aircraft.

Rapid growth in the aviation industry allowed after a short time to achieve parity in the sky with the Luftwaffe fighters. Famous fighters "Yak" in different versions forced the German aces to lose faith in the quick victory. Later, the air fleet was replenished with modernized attack planes, bombers, and fighters.

Other armed forces

Among other types of weapons, a significant place during the Second World War was occupied by engineer troops. It was they who were responsible for building fortifications, structures, fences, mining areas, providing technical maneuvers, and they helped in creating corridors in mined fields, overcoming enemy fortifications, obstacles and other things. The chemical armies also significantly expanded the scope of their application precisely in that period, in each military unit there were corresponding branches. In particular, they used flamethrowers and smokescreens.

Ranks in the Army of the USSR

As is known, the first thing that the supporters of the revolution fought for was the destruction of everything that at least briefly resembled class oppression. That is why the first thing was abolished the officers, and along with it - ranks and epaulets. Instead of the imperial table of titles, military posts were established. Subsequently, there were official categories, designated by the letter "K". For the difference in the position, geometric figures were used - a triangle, a rhombus, a rectangle, according to the military equipment - colored buttonholes on the form.

However, some officer ranks in the army of the USSR were still restored, although closer to the Second World War. A year before the German attack, the ranks "general", "admiral" and "lieutenant colonel" were reanimated. Then the service ranks in 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 the ranks that existed in prerevolutionary Russia were restored in the army of the former USSR. This fact had an impact on the composition of the ranks of the Russian army, since it was the system developed in 1943 that is still in use today. Among those not included: non-commissioned officer sergeant-major and sergeant-major, lieutenant-lieutenant-lieutenant, lieutenant, captain-captain, and 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 Army General of the USSR, introduced in 1940, he is ranked by the status of the highest rank in the Soviet Union, which is the rank of marshal. The first new rank was awarded to famous big army leaders Georgy Zhukov, Kirill Meretskov and Ivan Tyulenev. Before the war began, two more were raised to this rank - military commanders Joseph Apanasenko and Dmitry Pavlov. During the war the title of "Army General of the USSR" was not appropriated until 1943. Then the shoulder straps were designed, which housed four stars. The first to receive the rank was Alexander Vasilevsky. As a rule, those who were raised in this rank were led by army fronts.

By the end of the war, the Soviet army of the USSR had already numbered eighteen commanders who had been awarded this title. Ten of them were assigned to the rank of marshal. In the 1970s, the title was conferred not for special merits and exploits before the Fatherland, but on the fact of the post held, which presupposes the appropriation of rank.

A terrible war is a great victory

By the time the Great Patriotic War began, the USSR army was strong enough, perhaps too bureaucratized and somewhat decapitated due to Stalin's repression in the army ranks in 1937-1938, when the commander's staff were very seriously cleaned. This was partly due to the fact that in the first weeks the troops were demoralized, there were a lot of losses of people, both military and civilian, equipment, weapons and other things. Although the army of the USSR and Germany was clearly not in equal positions at the time of the outbreak of the war, the Soviet soldiers defended their homeland at the cost of innumerable sacrifices, and Moscow's defense, of course, was the first such feat, and the city's retention from the enemy forces. The war greatly accelerated the training of new aggressive methods, and the Red Soviet Army rapidly transformed itself into a military professional force, which at first desperately defended the frontiers and yielded to them, only forcing the enemy to lose fairly in their ranks, and after the critical Battle of Stalingrad she furiously attacked and drove the enemy away.

The Soviet Army of 1941 consisted of more than five million fighters. From the shooting technique on June 22, there were about one hundred and twenty thousand guns and mortars. For a year and a half the enemy felt quite free on the Soviet lands and advanced deep into the country quite quickly. Until then, until I came across Stalingrad. Defense and the battle for the city opened a new phase of historical confrontation, which turned into an ignominious flight of the enemy from the Russian territory. The peak number of the army of the USSR was reached at the beginning of 1945 - 11.36 million soldiers.

Military duty

At the beginning of its glorious history, the ranks of the Red Army were replenished on a voluntary basis. But after a while, the leadership found that under such conditions at critical moments the country could be in danger because of the absence of a regular military corps. That is why since 1918, decrees have been issued regularly, calling for compulsory military service. Then the service life was quite loyal, infantrymen and artillerymen served a year, cavalrymen - two years, military aircraft were called for three years, in 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 its civic duty to protect the socialist Fatherland.

As soon as the war was over, the leadership understood that it was impossible to carry out military conscription in the near future. And so, until 1948, nobody was called. Likewise, the military liable for military service was 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, the young men were obliged to serve for three years, the fleet - for four years. The call was made once a year. Service in the army in the USSR fell to one year only in 1968, and the number of appeals was increased to two.

Professional holiday

The modern Russian army has been 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 of 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 for the formation of the fleet is usually considered February 11, when Lenin signed a document on his formation.

It should be noted that even after the Soviet Union ceased to exist, the military holiday remained, and it was still noted. However, it was only in 2008 that the head of the country, Vladimir Putin, through his decree, renamed the national holiday on Defender of the Fatherland Day. The official holiday was 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 leadership of the country, all subordinated institutions, parts and other property came to complete desolation, were plundered and sold out. The military found themselves in the backyard of life, useless to anyone.

In 1979, the Kremlin initiated the last military campaign, which initiated the inglorious end of the great state - the invasion of Afghanistan. The Cold War, which at that time was already the third decade, in order exhausted the reserves of the Soviet treasury. In the ten years of the Afghan conflict, the human losses on the part of the Union have almost reached fifteen thousand fighters. The Afghan campaign, the Cold War, and the rivalry with the United States on the build-up of armaments broke such gaps in the country's budget that it was no longer possible to overcome them. The withdrawal of troops, which began in 1988, finished already in the new state, which had nothing to do with the army or its fighters.