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96-666: The Western Group of Forces ( WGF ), previously known as the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany ( GSOFG ) and the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany ( GSFG ), were the troops of the Soviet Army in East Germany . The Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany was formed after the end of World War II in Europe from units of the 1st and 2nd Belorussian Fronts . The group helped suppress

192-889: A Soviet Navy Fleet. From the 1950s to the 1980s the branches ("rods") of the Ground Forces included the Motor Rifle Troops ; the Soviet Airborne Forces , from April 1956 to March 1964; Air Assault Troops ( Airborne Assault Formations of the Ground Forces of the USSR  [ ru ] , from 1968 to August 1990); the Tank Troops ; the Rocket Forces and Artillery  [ ru ] ( Ракетные войска и артиллерия СССР , from 1961); Army Aviation (see ru:Армейская авиация Российской Федерации ), until December 1990; Signals Troops ;

288-466: A high amount of military, economic, and political cost. After Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev realized the economic, diplomatic, and human toll the war was placing on the Soviet Union, he announced the withdrawal of six regiment of troops (about 7,000 men) on 28 July 1986. In January 1988 Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze announced that it was hoped that "1988 would be the last year of

384-706: A military parade of the 6th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade in Berlin. The parting ceremony in Wünsdorf on 11 June 1994 and in the Treptow Park in Berlin on 31 August 1994 marked the end of the Russian military presence on German soil. In addition to German territories, the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany operational territory also included the region of town of Szczecin , part of the territories transferred from Germany to Poland following

480-503: A more offensive force regarding strength, structure and equipment, before a clear reduction of the tank forces in 1989. The GSFG was renamed the Western Group of Forces on 1 June 1989. The withdrawal of the GSFG was one of the largest peacetime troop transfers in military history. Despite the difficulties, which resulted from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the same period, the departure

576-521: A new crossing of the upper Chir at Georgievskii. When the main attack began three days later the division, backed by armor, began pursuing elements of Group Hollidt's XVII Army Corps (what remained of 22nd Panzer, 294th German Infantry and 1st Romanian Armored Divisions) southwest towards the Zherebets region. However, Chernyshkovskii remained in German hands. The failure of 5th Tank Army's attack to progress past

672-683: A new social group known as " Afgantsy ". These men would become influential in popular culture and politics of the time. The extent military districts in 1990 were: From 1985 to 1991, General Secretary Gorbachev attempted to reduce the strain the Soviet Armed Forces placed on the USSR's economy . Gorbachev slowly reduced the size of the Armed Forces, including through a unilateral force reduction announcement of 500,000 in December 1988. A total of 50,000 personnel were to come from Eastern Europe,

768-938: A regional basis, with Soviet soldiers from Russia becoming part of the new Russian Ground Forces , while Soviet soldiers originating from Kazakhstan became part of the new Kazakh Armed Forces . As a result, the bulk of the Soviet Ground Forces, including most of the Scud and Scaleboard surface-to-surface missile (SSM) forces, became incorporated in the Russian Ground Forces . 1992 estimates showed five SSM brigades with 96 missile vehicles in Belarus and 12 SSM brigades with 204 missile vehicles in Ukraine , compared to 24 SSM brigades with over 900 missile vehicles under Russian Ground Forces' control, some in other former Soviet republics. By

864-625: A salute of 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns." In late October, elements of the newly renamed 4th Ukrainian Front reached the three traditional entrances to the Crimea: the Perekop Isthmus , the Chongar Narrows and the Arabat Spit . The German and Romanian forces of German 17th Army scrambled to cover these gateways, and were able to block further Soviet advances. However, in doing so they left

960-426: A series of radical modernization reforms throughout the country. Vigorously suppressing any opposition from among the traditional Muslim Afghans, the government arrested thousands and executed as many as 27,000 political prisoners. By April 1979 large parts of the country were in open rebellion and by December the government had lost control of territory outside of the cities. In response to Afghan government requests,

1056-435: A single military or civilian leader in the headquarters complexes. The Soviet Union supplied North Vietnam with medical supplies, arms, tanks, planes, helicopters, artillery, anti-aircraft missiles and other military equipment. Soviet crews fired Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles at U.S. F-4 Phantoms , which were shot down over Thanh Hóa in 1965. Over a dozen Soviet soldiers lost their lives in this conflict. Following

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1152-696: A strategic dead-end. In a major redeployment, 2nd Guards and 51st Armies were shifted to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command , and were then railed northwards in anticipation of the coming summer offensives. When the 346th returned to the front in 1st Baltic Front in July it was in 54th Rifle Corps of the 2nd Guards Army. As of August 6, the division was organized on a much-reduced establishment, in common with many other rifle divisions at this time. Its infantry units were organized as follows: At around this date,

1248-400: The 3rd Shock Army became the 3rd Red Banner Combined Arms Army ( Russian : 3-я краснознаменная общевойсковая армия ). The 3rd Guards Mechanized Army became the 18th Guards Army on 29 April 1957. On the same day, the 4th Guards Mechanized Army became the 20th Guards Army. After the abolition of the occupation functions in 1954, the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany became known as

1344-825: The Air Forces , fourth, and the Soviet Navy , fifth, among the branches of the Soviet Armed Forces as a whole. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under the command of the Commonwealth of Independent States until it was formally abolished on 14 February 1992. The Soviet Ground Forces were principally succeeded by the Ground Forces of the Russian Federation in Russian territory; beyond, many units and formations were taken over by

1440-482: The Central Office for South Vietnam , North Vietnam's southern headquarters. Using airspeed and direction, COSVN analysts would calculate the bombing target and tell any assets to move "perpendicularly to the attack trajectory." These advance warnings gave them time to move out of the way of the bombers, and, while the bombing runs caused extensive damage, because of the early warnings from 1968 to 1970 they did not kill

1536-609: The East German uprising of 1953 . After the end of occupation functions in 1954 the group was renamed the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. The group represented Soviet interests in East Germany during the Cold War . Before changes in Soviet foreign policy during the early 1990s, the group shifted to a more offensive role and in 1989 became the Western Group of Forces. Russian forces remained in

1632-736: The Engineer Troops ; the Air Defence Troops of the Ground Forces ; the Chemical Troops; and the Rear of the Ground Forces. In 1955, the Soviet Union established the Warsaw Pact with its Eastern European socialist allies, solidifying military coordination between Soviet forces and their socialist counterparts. The Ground Forces created and directed the Eastern European armies in its image for

1728-483: The Forest Brothers in the three Baltic states . Soviet troops, including the 39th Army , remained at Port Arthur and Dalian on the northeast Chinese coast until 1955. Control was then handed over to the new Chinese communist government. Within the Soviet Union, the troops and formations of the Ground Forces were divided among the military districts. There were 32 of them in 1945. Sixteen districts remained from

1824-706: The Ministry of Public Security recruit foreigners within high-level diplomatic circles among the Western-allies of the US, under a clandestine program known as "B12,MM" which produced thousands of high-level documents for nearly a decade, including targets of B-52 strikes. In 1975, the SIGINT services had broken information from Western US-allies in Saigon, determining that the US would not intervene to save South Vietnam from collapse. In 1979,

1920-493: The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russian Federation officials acknowledged that the Soviet Union had stationed up to 3,000 troops in Vietnam during the war. Some Russian sources give more specific numbers: Between 1953 and 1991, the hardware donated by the Soviet Union included 2,000 tanks, 1,700 APCs , 7,000 artillery guns, over 5,000 anti-aircraft guns, 158 surface-to-air missile launchers, and 120 helicopters. During

2016-452: The eastern part of Germany after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and German reunification until 1994. The Group of Soviet Occupation Forces, Germany was formed after the end of World War II in Europe from formations of the 1st and 2nd Belorussian Fronts , commanded by Georgy Zhukov . On its creation on 9 June 1945 it included: The 4th Artillery Corps also became part of the GSFG in 1945. An order of 29 May 1945 had ordered

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2112-556: The post-Soviet states ; some were withdrawn to Russia, and some dissolved amid conflict, notably in the Caucasus . At the end of World War II the Red Army had over 500 rifle divisions and about a tenth that number of tank formations. Their war experience gave the Soviets such faith in tank forces that the infantry force was cut significantly. A total of 130 rifle divisions were disbanded in

2208-544: The signals intelligence (SIGINT) capabilities of the North Vietnamese, through an operation known as Vostok (also known as Phương Đông, meaning "Orient" and named after the Vostok 1 ). The Vostok program was a counterintelligence and espionage program. These programs were pivotal in detecting and defeating CIA and South Vietnamese commando teams sent into North Vietnam, as they were detected and captured. The Soviets helped

2304-502: The 19–21 August 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt to depose President Gorbachev. Commanders despatched tanks into Moscow, yet the coup failed. On 8 December 1991, the presidents of Russia , Belarus , and Ukraine formally dissolved the USSR, and then constituted the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Soviet President Gorbachev resigned on 25 December 1991; the next day, the Supreme Soviet dissolved itself, officially dissolving

2400-513: The 346th Rifle Division) conducted prolonged offensive fighting and, after destroying up to two companies of enemy infantry, advanced and captured Khartsizskaia, Karakash Shakhtaia, and Piatikhatka." In April the division was transferred again, this time to 51st Army in Southern Front , where it would remain until May, 1944, when the liberation of the Crimea was completed. On September 3, 1943,

2496-455: The 346th was well into the "Baltic Gap" between German army groups North and what remained of Centre , and was fighting in the vicinity of Radviliškis in Lithuania. By the middle of September the division was back in 51st Army and had entered Latvia in the area around Eleja . On December 30, General Stankevskii was replaced as commander by Maj. Gen. Nikolai Mikhailovich Mishchenko; Mishchenko

2592-623: The Defence Minister, Pavel Grachev , had their involvement exposed. They were also accused of ordering the murder of reporter Dmitry Kholodov , who had been investigating the scandals. The Soviet troops occupied 777 barracks at 276 locations on the territory of the German Democratic Republic. This also included 47 airfields and 116 exercise areas. At the beginning of 1991 there were still about 338,000 soldiers in 24 divisions, distributed among five land armies and an air army in what

2688-461: The GDR, as they had done during the East German uprising of 1953 . Following a resolution of the government of the Soviet Union in 1979 and 1980, 20,000 army personnel, 1,000 tanks and much equipment were withdrawn from the territory of the GDR, among them the 6th Guards Tank Division , with headquarters at Wittenberg. Until the last years of Perestroika the GSFG was in the process of realignment as

2784-402: The Ground Forces had two million men. To maintain those numbers, Soviet law required a three-year military service obligation from every able man of military age, until 1967, when the Ground Forces reduced it to a two-year draft obligation. By the 1970s, the change to a two-year system seems to have created the hazing practice known as dedovshchina , "rule of the grandfathers", which destroyed

2880-612: The Ground Forces was reduced from 9.8 million to 2.4 million. To establish and secure the USSR's eastern European geopolitical interests, Red Army troops who liberated eastern Europe from Nazi rule in 1945 remained in place to secure pro-Soviet régimes in Eastern Europe and to protect against attack from Europe. Elsewhere, they may have assisted the NKVD in suppressing anti-Soviet resistance in Western Ukraine (1941–1955) and

2976-535: The Ground Forces. Nonetheless, Soviet forces possessed too few theater-level nuclear weapons to fulfill war-plan requirements until the mid-1980s. The General Staff maintained plans to invade Western Europe whose massive scale was only made publicly available after German researchers gained access to files of the East German National People's Army following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The Red Army advanced into northern Korea in 1945 after

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3072-598: The Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSVG) on 24 March. The legal basis for the GSVG's stay in East Germany was the Treaty on Relations between the USSR and the GDR of 1955. Withdrawals from East Germany in 1956 and 1957/58 comprised more than 70,000 Soviet army personnel, including 18th Guards Army Staff. The GSFG had the task to ensure for the adherence to the regulations of the Potsdam Agreement . Furthermore, they represented

3168-453: The Groups of Forces in Eastern Europe in summer 1945, as well as 2nd Guards Airborne Division , and by the end of 1946, another 193 rifle divisions ceased to exist. Five or more rifle divisions disbanded contributed to the formation of NKVD convoy divisions, some used for escorting Japanese prisoners of war . The Tank Corps of the late war period were converted to tank divisions, and from 1957

3264-578: The Kurtlak River, as well as elements of the tattered Romanian 1st Armored Division in the same area. On the 23rd, the bulk of the 346th was released from reserve and directed south against the Axis tank forces, along with 55th Cavalry Division , reinforced by 8th Guards Tank Brigade from another sector. However, according to the General Staff, the afternoon attack failed due to: "...inadequate time to prepare

3360-519: The Oka River. However the offensive on this sector had by now run out of steam, and the division was now fighting defensively on this line. Over the next 10 days it renewed its activity and on the night of January 29–30 was fighting for the villages of Serdichi and Sigolaevo against stubborn German resistance, but this was as much as it could do. The 346th remained in 61st Army until September, 1942, serving under command of either Bryansk or Western Front in

3456-704: The Soviet Ground Forces were estimated to possess the following equipment. The 1991 estimates are drawn from the IISS Military Balance and follow the Conventional Forces in Europe data exchange which revealed figures of November 1990. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported in 1992 that the USSR had previously had over 20,000 tanks, 30,000 armoured combat vehicles, at least 13,000 artillery pieces, and just under 1,500 helicopters. 346th Rifle Division (Soviet Union) The division officially formed on August 20, 1941, at Volsk in

3552-572: The Soviet Union in 1991, a considerable number of weapons were transferred to the national forces of emerging states on the periphery of the former Soviet Union, such as Armenia , Azerbaijan and Tajikistan . Similarly, weapons and other military equipment were also left behind in the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989. Some of these items were sold on the black market or through weapons merchants, whereof, in turn, some ended up in terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda . A 1999 book argued that

3648-407: The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to prop up its puppet government, provoking a 10-year Afghan mujahideen guerrilla resistance. Between 850,000 and 1.5 million civilians were killed and millions of Afghans fled the country as refugees, mostly to Pakistan and Iran . Prior to the arrival of Soviet troops, the pro-Soviet Nur Mohammad Taraki government took power in a 1978 coup and initiated

3744-624: The Soviet Union decided to disband the Ground Forces Main Command, with almost the same wording as in 1950 (the corresponding order of the USSR Minister of Defense on disbandment was signed on March 7, 1964). Its functions were transferred to the General Staff, while the chiefs of the combat arms and specialised forces came under the direct command of the Minister of Defence . The Main Command

3840-664: The Soviet Union to support Korea's growth directly. When northern Korea eventually wished to invade South Korea in 1950, Kim Il Sung traveled to Moscow to gain approval from Stalin. It was granted with full support, leading to the full-scale invasion of South Korea on June 25. Soviet ships in the South China Sea gave vital early warnings to PAVN/VC forces in South Vietnam. The Soviet intelligence ships would pick up American B-52 bombers flying from Okinawa and Guam . Their airspeed and direction would be noted and then relayed to

3936-463: The Soviet government under leader Leonid Brezhnev first sent covert troops to advise and support the Afghan government, but, on December 24, 1979, began the first deployment of the 40th Army . Arriving in the capital Kabul on December 27, they staged a coup , killing the president Hafizullah Amin , and installing a rival socialist Babrak Karmal , who was viewed as more moderate and fit to lead

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4032-538: The Soviet official newspaper of record . First, the combined arms formations, divisions and armies, would be reorganised, and as a result division numbers would be reduced almost by half; second, tank regiments would be removed from all the motor rifle (mechanised infantry) divisions in East Germany and Czechoslovakia, and tank divisions would also lose a tank regiment; air assault and river crossing units would be removed from both Eastern Germany and Czechoslovakia; fourth, defensive systems and units would rise in number under

4128-407: The Soviet troops stay"; the forces pulled out in the bitter winter cold of January–February 1989. The cost for the military due to the war is estimated to have been roughly 15 billion rubles in 1989. The combat casualties estimates at 30,000–35,000. During 1984–1985, more than 300 aircraft were lost, and thus a significant military cost of the war is attributed to air operations. Since the first year,

4224-527: The Tsaritsa River valley on November 19, but they were halted by the firm defenses of the Romanian 5th and 6th Infantry Divisions . Despite this, much of the rest of Romanian Third Army was crumbling under the weight of the Soviet assault, and the next day its remnants were redesignated as Group Lascar. At 2000 hrs on the 21st, elements of 5th Tank and 21st Army completed the encirclement of Group Lascar, with

4320-585: The USSR on 26 December 1991. During the next 18 months, inter-republican political efforts to transform the Army of the Soviet Union into the CIS Armed Forces failed; eventually, the forces stationed in the republics formally became the militaries of the respective republican governments. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union , the Ground Forces dissolved and the fifteen Soviet successor states divided their assets among themselves. The divide mostly occurred along

4416-494: The Volga Military District. Its primary order of battle was as follows: Komdiv Ivan Elizarovich Davidovskii was assigned to command of the division on the day it began forming, and he continued in command until June 6, 1942; his rank was "modernized" as Major General on May 13 of that year. As of November 1, the division was still unassigned in the Volga Military District, but by one month later it had been assigned to

4512-414: The area between Tula and Kursk . On June 7, the division came under the command of Col. Maksim Andreevich Sushchenko. In the same month, the 346th was transferred to the 5th Tank Army , which was being formed for the second time in the reserves of Bryansk Front. At this stage of the war, Soviet tank armies usually included one or more rifle divisions. On September 26, Col. A. I. Tolstov took command of

4608-525: The arriving elements of Army Detachment Hollidt. On the 25th, the 346th received orders to leave its second-echelon regiment and reserves in the Medvezhyi and Malaia Donshchinka regions and march southward to Petrovo and Kalach Kurtlak in the Kurtlak River valley. There, it was to relieve 47th Guards Rifle Division's regiments at and south of Chernyshevskaia and assist and then relieve 112th Cavalry Division in its bridgehead west of Osinovskii. The following day,

4704-424: The attack, poor reconnaissance of the enemy's defenses, inadequate artillery support, and the piecemeal commitment of [the] tank brigade's battalions into combat." This failure permitted 22nd Panzer to withdraw southward into the Kurtlak River valley, relatively intact, but still partly encircled by two Soviet cavalry divisions. Col. Tolstov was also personally reprimanded for his division's poor performance, and this

4800-461: The best prospects for a breakout across the Chir. In fighting from November 29 through to December 1, the several Soviet bridgeheads were consolidated, but no breakthrough occurred. At this time, the division likely numbered fewer than 6,000 men. In the first weeks of December the division persisted in minor assaults along the same lines; some of these efforts were diversionary in nature to keep enemy forces tied down away from more critical sectors. In

4896-409: The cavalry expanded its bridgehead and there was a chance that Chernyshevskaia could be enveloped if 50th Guards could arrive to the north and the 346th arrive to the south of the village quickly enough. In the event, no envelopment took place, but the 50th captured the village from 22nd Panzer in a frontal attack, while the 346th made gains to the south on November 27, although the village was lost again

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4992-444: The changes implicit in the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty began to create more disruption. The withdrawals became extremely chaotic; there was significant hardship for officers and their families, and "large numbers of weapons and vast stocks of equipment simply disappeared through theft, misappropriation and the black market." In February 1989, Defence Minister Dmitri Yazov outlined five major planned changes in Izvestiya ,

5088-580: The disestablishment of the 47th , 77th, 80th, 89th , 25th , 61st , 91st, 16th, 38th, 62nd, 70th, 121st, and 114th Rifle Corps , and of the 71st , 136th , 162nd , 76th , 82nd , 212th , 356th , 234th , 23rd , 397th , 311th , 415th , 328th , 274th , 370th , 41st , 134th , 312th , 4th , 117th , 247th , 89th , 95th , 64th , 323rd , 362nd , 222nd , 49th , 339th , 383rd , 191st , 380th , 42nd , 139th , 238th , 385th , 200th , 330th , 199th , 1st , 369th , 165th , 169th , 158th , and 346th Rifle Divisions . The 89th Rifle Division

5184-401: The division was recognized for its role in the liberation of the Ukrainian city of Debaltsevo , and received its name as an honorific: "DEBALTSEVO - ...346th Rifle Division (Major General Stankevskii, Dmitrii Ivanovich)... By order of the Supreme High Command of 8 September 1943 and a commendation in Moscow, the troops who participated in the battles for the liberation of Debaltsevo are given

5280-452: The division. By November 1, 5th Tank Army was assigned to Southwestern Front and formed its main mobile force. In the first days of Operation Uranus, the offensive that would encircle the German forces at Stalingrad, the division was mostly held in reserve, in the Kalmykovskii region to protect the Army's rear west of Raspopinskaia. One rifle regiment attempted to advance alongside 50th Guards Rifle Division on its Army's east flank astride

5376-481: The encirclement of Group Lascar, to fend for itself. Group Sion was soon pocketed again; Colonel Sion was killed in a breakout attempt, and only about 800 men managed to escape to the new German lines. Overnight, the remnants of the two Axis armored divisions managed to reach the west bank of the Chir River at Rusakov. Through the rest of the month 5th Tank Army would spar along the Chir River line with scratch forces of Romanian and German rear-area security troops plus

5472-430: The end of World War II , with the intention of aiding in the process of rebuilding the country. Marshals Kirill Meretskov and Terentii Shtykov explained to Joseph Stalin the necessity of Soviet help in building infrastructure and industry in northern Korea. Additionally, the Soviets aided in the creation of the North Korean People's Army and Korean People's Air Force . The Soviets believed it would be strategic to

5568-405: The end of 1992, most remnants of the Soviet Army in former Soviet Republics had disbanded or dispersed. Forces garrisoned in Eastern Europe (including the Baltic states ) gradually returned home between 1992 and 1994. This list of Soviet Army divisions sketches some of the fates of the individual parts of the Ground Forces. In mid-March 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin appointed himself as

5664-407: The end of the 1980s, the primary Soviet formations included: Other Group-level formations included: The first three commanders-in-chief were also chiefs of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany . Members (June 1993): Soviet Army The Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union (Russian: сухопутные войска , romanized : Sovetskiye sukhoputnye voyska )

5760-427: The end of the Second World War. The rest of Poland fell under the Northern Group of Forces , while the southern regions ( Austria , Czechoslovakia ) were under the Central Group of Forces . Generals directing the withdrawals from Germany diverted arms, equipment, and foreign monies intended to build housing in Russia for the withdrawn troops. Several years later, the last GSFG commander, General Matvey Burlakov , and

5856-432: The first day led to Gen. Romanenko being replaced by Lt. Gen. M.M. Popov on December 28. In February, 1943, during the fighting around Kharkov , the 346th was transferred to the 14th Rifle Corps in 3rd Guards Army. On February 21, the following was included as part of a report to the STAVKA from Southwestern Front headquarters: "The 14th Rifle Corps (the 259th Rifle Division , the 50th Guards Rifle Division, and

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5952-442: The first of the new High Commands, for the Far East, was created at Ulan-Ude in Buryatia under Army General Vasily Petrov . In September 1984, three more were established to control multi-Front operations in Europe (the Western and South-Western Strategic Directions) and at Baku to supervise three southern military districts. Western analysts expected these new headquarters to control multiple Fronts in time of war, and usually

6048-428: The forces in Mongolia (totaling five divisions and 75,000 troops) were to be reduced, but the remainder was to come from units inside the Soviet Union. There were major problems encountered in trying to organise the return of 500,000 personnel into civilian life, including where the returned soldiers were to live, housing, jobs, and training assistance. Then the developing withdrawals from Czechoslovakia and Hungary and

6144-423: The government spend roughly 2.5–3.0% of the yearly military budget on funding the war in Afghanistan, increasing steadily in cost until its peak in 1986. The Soviet Army also suffered from deep losses in morale and public approval due to the conflict and its failure. Many injured and disabled veterans of the war returned to the Soviet Union facing public scrutiny and difficulty re-entering civilian society, creating

6240-399: The greatest opportunity for terrorist organizations to procure weapons was in the former Soviet Union. In 2007, the World Bank estimated that out of the 500 million total firearms available worldwide, 100 million were of the Kalashnikov family , and 75 million were AKMs . However, only about 5 million of these were manufactured in the former USSR. In 1990 and 1991,

6336-453: The men were limited to what they could carry. There were no Axis troops within 5 km of the crossing site, and although it was mostly carried out in broad daylight, it was hours before the enemy was aware of the crossing. Before they could react the bridgehead was expanded to a size they could only hope to contain, but without tanks or heavy weapons 10th Corps could not break through the screening forces rushed in by 17th Army. A pontoon bridge

6432-490: The mid-1970s to the end of the USSR (see table). Yet, the greatest Soviet Army concentration was in the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany , which suppressed the anti-Soviet Uprising of 1953 in East Germany . East European Groups of Forces were the Northern Group of Forces in Poland, and the Southern Group of Forces in Hungary , which put down the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 . In 1958, Soviet troops were withdrawn from Romania . The Central Group of Forces in Czechoslovakia

6528-420: The nation. While the Soviet government initially hoped to secure Afghanistan's towns and road networks, stabilize the communist regime, and withdraw from the region within the span of one year, they experienced major difficulties in the region, due to rough terrain and fierce guerrilla resistance. Soviet presence would reach near 115,000 troops by the mid-1980s, and the complications of the war increased, causing

6624-411: The new 61st Army in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command . In the first days of December 61st Army was assigned to Bryansk Front . When the counteroffensive south of the capital began on December 7, the 346th was on its Army's right flank south of Skopino. Over the following six weeks it advanced well to the west, until by January 20, 1942, it had reached a line from Marovka to Veino near or along

6720-416: The new Russian minister of defence, marking a crucial step in the creation of the new Russian Armed Forces , comprising the bulk of what was left of the Soviet Armed Forces. The last vestiges of the old Soviet command structure were finally dissolved in June 1993, when the paper Commonwealth of Independent States Military Headquarters was reorganized as a staff for facilitating CIS military cooperation. In

6816-461: The new divisional organisation; and finally the troop level in the European part of the USSR would drop by 200,000, and by 60,000 in the southern part of the country. A number of motor-rifle formations would be converted into machine gun and artillery forces intended for defensive purposes only. Three-quarters of the troops in Mongolia would be withdrawn and disbanded, including all the air force units there. The Armed Forces were extensively involved in

6912-550: The next few years, the former Soviet Ground Forces withdrew from central and Eastern Europe (including the Baltic states ), as well as from the newly independent post-Soviet republics of Azerbaijan , Armenia , Uzbekistan , Kazakhstan , Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan . Now- Russian Ground Forces remained in Tajikistan , Georgia and Transnistria (in Moldova ). After the dissolution of

7008-438: The one regiment of the 346th holding a sector on the northeast side of the ring. On the 22nd, the regiment guarded the left flank of the 119th Rifle Division as the liquidation of the surrounded Romanians continued; by the end of the day the pocket had been chopped in two. While this was occurring to the rear, the continued advance of 5th Tank Army was being impeded by resistance from remnants of 22nd Panzer Division north of

7104-480: The planning for Operation Little Saturn , 5th Tank and 5th Shock Armies were to cooperate to smash the defenses of XXXXVIII Panzer Corps along the lower Chir and Don Rivers , then advance westward to seize the towns of Tormosin and Morozovsk and link up with the advancing 3rd Guards Army , encircling the German Corps Mieth. As a preliminary to the main offensive, on December 24 the 346th began forcing

7200-417: The political and military interests of the Soviet Union . In 1957 an agreement between the governments of the USSR and the GDR laid out the arrangements over the temporary stay of Soviet armed forces on the territory of the GDR, the numerical strength of the Soviet troops, and their assigned posts and exercise areas. It was specified that the Soviet armed forces were not to interfere into the internal affairs of

7296-449: The remainder lower strength formations. The Soviet system anticipated a war preparation period which would bring the strength of the Ground Forces up to about three million. Soviet planning for most of the Cold War period would have seen Armies of four to five divisions operating in Fronts made up of around four armies (and roughly equivalent to Western Army Groups ). On 8 February 1979,

7392-725: The remainder of the Cold War, shaping them for a potential confrontation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). After 1956, Nikita Khrushchev , General Secretary of the Communist Party , reduced the Ground Forces to build up the Strategic Rocket Forces , emphasizing the armed forces' nuclear capabilities. He removed Marshal Georgy Zhukov from the Politburo in 1957 for opposing these reductions in

7488-446: The remainder tank divisions. There were also a large number of artillery divisions, separate artillery brigades, engineer formations, and other combat support formations. However, only relatively few formations were fully war ready. By 1983, Soviet divisions were divided into either "Ready" or "Not Ready" categories, each with three subcategories. The internal military districts usually contained only one or two fully Ready divisions, with

7584-545: The rifle divisions were converted to motor rifle divisions (MRDs). MRDs had three motorized rifle regiments and a tank regiment, for a total of ten motor rifle battalions and six tank battalions; tank divisions had the proportions reversed. The Land Forces Main Command was created for the first time in March 1946. Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov became Chief of the Soviet Ground Forces in March 1946, but

7680-533: The same day. It appears that the division's full forces did not advance all the way to the river, which may have been due to the command changing hands. On November 29, Maj. Gen. Dmitrii Ivanovich Stankevskii took command of the division. He would remain in command, apart from one week as acting commander of 58th Rifle Corps , until nearly the end of 1944. The division took over the bridgehead at Varlamov from 122nd Cavalry, while four to five companies of one regiment seized another bridgehead at Siniapkin, 11 km to

7776-465: The south shore of the Sivash unprotected. Lt. Col. P.E. Kuznetsov, chief of intelligence of 10th Rifle Corps, was tasked by his superiors to find usable fords across the shallow sea. Kuznetsov took a scouting party of 30 men, and had the good fortune to find a local fisherman who identified a crossing site from the mainland to Cape Dzhangar. Three of the scouts crossed the 2 km-wide stretch of water, which

7872-510: The south, but this was soon contained. Romanian 1st Armored, at 30 percent strength, moved to block the Varlamov bridgehead, joining the 2nd Battalion of the German 403rd Security Division's 354th Grenadier Regiment. This led the commander of 5th Tank Army, Lt. Gen. P. L. Romanenko , to reinforce the position with the remaining tanks of 8th Guards and 216th Tank Brigades, along with two regiments of 47th Guards Division, as he sensed this sector offered

7968-412: The status of most NCOs. Instead the Soviet system relied very heavily on junior officers. Soviet Armed Forces life could be "grim and dangerous": a Western researcher talking to former Soviet officers was told, in effect that this was because they did not "value human life". By the middle of the 1980s, the Ground Forces contained about 210 divisions . About three-quarters were motor rifle divisions and

8064-482: The war back in 14th Rifle Corps in the reserves of 2nd Belorussian Front in northeastern Germany with the full title of 346th Rifle, Debaltsevo, Order of the Red Banner Division (Russian: 346-я стрелковая Дебальцевская Краснознамённая дивизия). Under the terms of STAVKA Order No. 11095 of May 29, the division was one of those selected to be "disbanded in place" in Germany. It was disbanded in accordance with

8160-438: The war, the Soviets sent North Vietnam annual arms shipments worth $ 450 million. From July 1965 to the end of 1974, fighting in Vietnam was observed by some 6,500 officers and generals, as well as more than 4,500 soldiers and sergeants of the Soviet Armed Forces. In addition, Soviet military schools and academies began training Vietnamese soldiers—in all more than 10,000 military personnel. The KGB had also helped develop

8256-406: Was by then the Western Group of Forces. In addition, there were about 208,000 relatives of officers as well as civil employees, among them about 90,000 children. Most locations were in the area of today's Brandenburg . In 1991 there were approximately 4,200 tanks, 8,200 armored vehicles, 3,600 artillery pieces, 106,000 other motor vehicles, 690 aircraft, 680 helicopters, and 180 rocket systems. At

8352-544: Was carried out according to plan and punctually until August 1994. Between the years of 1992 and 1993, the Western Group of Forces in Germany (along with the Northern Group of Forces ) halted military exercises. The return of the troops and material took place particularly by the sea route by means of the ports in Rostock and the island of Rügen , as well as via Poland. The Russian Ground Forces left Germany on 25 June 1994 with

8448-637: Was established after Warsaw Pact intervention against the Prague Spring of 1968. In 1969, in the far east of the Soviet Union, the Sino-Soviet border conflict (1969) prompted establishment of a 16th military district, the Central Asian Military District, at Alma-Ata , Kazakhstan. From 1947 to 1989, Western intelligence agencies estimated that the Soviet Ground Forces' strength remained c. 2.8 million to c. 5.3 million men. In 1989

8544-492: Was in turn reassigned to the 267th Rifle Division on February 13, 1945, and Col. K. F. Shein took over. The division remained at the front in the vicinity of Tukums until that month, when it was briefly moved to the reserves of 2nd Baltic Front , then into reserve under the control of the new Belorussian-Litovsk (Lithuanian) Military District in March. On March 20, the division received Maj. Gen. Vladimir Konstantinovich Gorbachev as its final commanding officer. The 346th ended

8640-462: Was likely a factor in his removal from command several days later. The following day, the 346th, supported by 8th Guards and 216th Tank Brigades and 8th Motorcycle Regiment, assaulted the panzer division's positions at Bolshaia Donshchinka from three directions at 0700 hrs. According to Romanian sources, 22nd Panzer withdrew its antitank guns from the village shortly before that time, leaving the 3,500 infantry of Romanian Group Sion, which had escaped from

8736-555: Was not completed until December 9, by which time the Axis line had been reinforced by the German 336th Infantry Division . The position remained in a stalemate until April, 1944. In recognition of its success in the Perekop and Sivash operations the 346th was awarded the Order of the Red Banner on April 24. Following the liberation of the Crimea in early May, 4th Ukrainian Front found itself in

8832-576: Was not disbanded and instead transferred to the Caucasus. In January 1946, the 2nd Shock Army left the Soviet Zone. A month later, the 47th Army was disbanded, with its units withdrawn to the Soviet Union. In October the 5th Shock Army was disbanded. In 1947 the 3rd and 4th Guards Mechanized Divisions (Mobilization), former mechanized armies, arrived in the group from the Central Group of Forces . In 1954

8928-479: Was only ankle-deep. The next morning, November 1, the entire party made its way over, and then signaled to the Corps to begin crossing. Major P.F. Kaymakova led his battalion of the 1168th Rifle Regiment over first, with the rest of the 346th crossing soon after, followed by the 216th and 257th Rifle Divisions . A few heavy weapons, including some 45mm antitank guns , were brought over on shallow-draft pontoons, but mostly

9024-585: Was quickly succeeded by Ivan Konev in July 1946. By September 1946, the army decreased from 5 million soldiers to 2.7 million in the Soviet Union and from 2 million to 1.5 million in Europe. Four years later the Main Command was disbanded, an organisational gap that "probably was associated in some manner with the Korean War ". The Main Command was reformed in 1955. On February 24, 1964, the Defense Council of

9120-577: Was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. In English it was often referred to as the Soviet Army. Until 25 February 1946, it was known as the Red Army . In Russian, the term armiya (army) was often used to cover the Strategic Rocket Forces first in traditional Soviet order of precedence; the Ground Forces, second; the Air Defence Forces , third,

9216-476: Was then recreated again in November 1967. Army General Ivan Pavlovsky was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Ground Forces with effect from 5 November 1967. From 1945 to 1948, the Soviet Armed Forces were reduced from about 11.3 million to about 2.8 million men, a demobilisation controlled first, by increasing the number of military districts to 33, then reduced to 21 in 1946. The personnel strength of

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