1.SOVIET OB, LABOR UNITS, ENGINEER UNITS 2. SOVIET OFFICER ASSIGNMENTS 3. SECURITY OF SOVIET NATIONALITIES 4. OFFICER AND EM EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS AND TRAINING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00046R000300020013-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 28, 2013
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: November 16, 1963
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/09/20: CIA-RDP82-00046R000300020013-2
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COUNTRY -1;ksi'A4ruitS5)1
1. Soviet OB, Labor Units, Engineer Units
2. Soviet Orficer Assignments
3. Security of Soviet Nationalities
4. Officer and EM Educational Standards
and Training
SUIDECT
PLACE
ACQUIRED
? DATE
ACQUIRED
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DATE OF INFORMATION
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
REPORT
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DATE DISTR. 16 Nov.
NO. OF PAGES 5
NO.OFENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMEls1110
REPORT
1953
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Additional OB Information
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1. The 4th Gds. Mecz. Army had, besides the 108th Sep. Sig. Bn., stationed
in Finow, an unidentified Signal Regiment in the Panzer Caserne
50:00 Eberswalde, and another unidentified Sep. Sig. Bn., location
unknown,
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Unidentified Motorcycle Bn., subordinate to 4th Gds. Mecz. Army,
stationed in the Panzer Caserne, Eberswalde, CO were unknown.
This unit had US-made Harley-Davidson and Soviet- a e M-72 motorcycles
with sidecars,
3. Located directly behind headquarters of 4th Gds. Mecz. Army in Panzer
Caserhe4 Eberswalde, was a unit of about company size, called "Maj.
YANVAREVIs unit",
This unit occupied a fenced-off area to which only officers and EM of
the unit were admitted. There was much gossip and speculation among
the officers of 4th Gds, Mecz. Army concerning this unit, because it
had to supply it with spare auto parts and
borne or tankborne) troops were trained there.
to return to USSR in 1953.
Desan y a r
MaJ YANVAREV was due
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(Pontonno-Mostoviiy).
Labor Battalions
13. labor battalions
in the Caucasus,
in
regular engineer uniforms (black shoulder boards
working on reconstruction of the Sochi railroad
with biacic piping)
station_._
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4. Unidentified Bakery Unit, subordinate to 4th Gds. Mecz. Army, stationed
in Finowfurtff 52-51, E 13-kg, FPN and CO unknown, See Encl. A for
exact location. The Soviet term Tor the Bakery Unit was Pakh-Polevoi
Armeyskiy Khlebnyy Zavod (Field Army bread factory).
5. Soviet officers in Finow had their laundry done by German women,
50X1 even though this practice was strictly prohibited. EM laundry was
sent out each Monday from the Finow units in bales to a German laundry
50X1 in Finow and was picked up on Saturdays. EM took showers
each Saturday, and at that time, they were given clean underwear -
not their own, but the next handy shirt and drawers in the bundle.
On Saturdays, EM turned in two shirts, two pillowcases, one towel,
50X1 one undershirt, one pair of drawers and one pair of footwraps
(portyanki). There were no unit designations or FPN on laundry bun-
dles or on correspondence bills pertaining to the laundry,
the German laundry owner knew exactly how many Soviet EM
50X1 were in Finow,
6. A medical platoon (Sanvzod) was subordinate to 4th Gds. Mecz. Army.
It was located at the 4th Gds. Mecz. Army hospital in Eberswalde and
50X1 was administered by the hospital, the platoon
consisted of three or four officers and 30 to 35 EM, the latter being
drivers and medical orderlies. They had 17 vehicles, open trucks
(not ambulances), ZIS-5 or 0A8-51. They also had three trucks
50X1 equipped as "mobile bath units". However, these were never used.
these
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vehicles and equipment in an unserviceable state.
7. 1563rd Auto Parts Depot, located at Lvov, subordinate to Carpathian
50X1 Mil, Dist, Lt. Col, Aleksander Nikolayevich YAMPOLSKIY was the CO.
The office phone of Col. YAMPOLSKIY was Lvov
28231 and his home phone was LVOV 11115.
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8 63rd Auto Repair Plant in Stanislavov. 48-56, E 24-1774, subordinate
to Carpath ? ian Mile Dist., deactivated n 1949. (Worked only on
engines for jeeps and trucks.)
28th Auto Repair Shop,
Carpathian Mil. Dist,
(fnu) .TRUSHKOVSKIY was
military trucks of the
located on Lenin Street, Lvov, subordinate to
Up to reassignment to Austria in 1951, Col.
the CO. This Auto Repair Shop repaired all
Carpathian Mil, Dist.
10, 128th Stationary Auto Repair Shop, stationed in Lvov. This repair
shop, subordinate to Carpathian Mil, Dist., repaired all military
50X1 sedans of the Carpathian Mil. Dist.
11. Maj. Gen. (fnu) PETROVSKIY was chief of the Auto-Tractor
50X1 tion of the Carpathian Mil. Dist. in January 1953.
50X1 Engineer yroops
12. The
the Soviet Army by functions
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Administra-
engineer troops were classified in
given the 1712th Sep. Sapper En. (Otdelnyy Sapernyy), a unit which
50X1 laid mines during World War II, and the 3rd Pontoon-Bridge En.
(Pontonno-Mostovoy).
Labor Battalions
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labor battalions
in the Caucasus,
reguiar engineer uniforms (black shoulder boards with black piping)
working on reconstruction of the Sochi railroad station. I
these were labor units
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Additional Information on Assi nt of Officers
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all the officers4 qualifications were entered in
their personal file (Lichnoe Delo) and an officer, on being assigned
to Germany, would only in exceptional circumstances be subject to a
special investigation by the Counterintelligence agencies.
50:00 a. following reasons why an officer would not
be sent to Germany&
(1) Not serving specific time in USSR before starting a
50:00 second tour in Germany. An officer had to serve 2i to 3
years in the USSR before being reassigned to Germany.
He had been previously sent away from Germany at 24 hours
notice. This would either be for political unreliability
or for long and persistent fraternization with a German
woman.
(2)
(3) Low medical category (TB, stomach ulcers).
(4) A very sick member (wife or child) in the officer's
family.
An officer's wife and/Or children had spent more than a
year in territory occupied by the enemy during the war.
If the officer himself was a member of the Communist Party
and of good antecedents and had other guarantees for him
he could, however, be sent to the Soviet Zone of Germany.
(6) Being of Jewish faith.
(7) General moral qualities such as drink, attitude toward
women (divorces).
(8) Officers with large families - four or five children of
school age,
Members of national minorities - not strictly applied.
50X1 only three per cent of all troops in
GOFG belonged to national minorities.
(5)
(9)
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b.
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it was not an easy method to find officer
replacements for Germany. High-ranking officers in Moscow
with "pull" (blat) often arranged to have their friends and/Or
subordinates transferred to Germany on their staffs, regardless
if they were qualified as stated above.
if Soviet officers were
allowed to have their wives and families with them, they would
be pleased to serve in Germany. In Germany they could live on
their East marks allowance and save an appreciable amount in
rubles for their return to the USSR. Food and officer's' quar-
ters were much better than in the Soviet Union.
In reference to the length of service of officers in Germany,
an officer who started a tour in GOFG in
December had to serve until December three years later, or for
exactly 36 months. On the other hand, if he arrived in January,
he had to serve until December four years later, or for 47
months.
an officer who served in Germany for three
or more years would be assigned to European Russia and not to
one of the garrisons in the Far North or Central Asia as he
had had "no life while in Germany",
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Security of Soviet Nationalities
50X1 15. Personnel Administration Armed Forces Ministry,
Moscow, sent only Great Russian officers to the Soviet Zone of
Germany in 1951-1953. During 1952-1953 in the Soviet Zone, he
encountered only one Armenian and one Jewish officer. Officers of
other nationalities - such as Estonian, Ukrainian and Georgian
were assigned to the Soviet Zone of Germany prior to 1951.
a. In conversations among themselves, the officers frequently
commented on the fact that all officer replacements in the fall
of 1951-1952 were only Great Russians, and that no Jewish
50X1 officers were assigned to GOFG. The officers assumed that
Moscow did not trust the Jews due to many desertions in the
50X1 Soviet Zone of Germany by "Cosmopolitan, Israelitic" Jews,
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b.
Asked about the reliability of the Volga Germans,
they have ceased to exist in the USSR.
assigned was a Moslem, an Osetin, who understood
a few words of Russian and so was very inefficient.
many Kalmyks, Tadzhiks, Tatars, etc. serving
Soviet Army in the USSR and GOFG understood only a few
Russian.
Educational Standards
only
in .the
words of
16.0 -Officers, younger officers were much more cul-
tured than the older ones. Most junior officers today could boast
50X1 a 10 class secondary education. It was a different story with the
older officers, political officer (Zampolit), a lieutenant
colonel, had only a wo or three class education, while Lt. Col.
(fnu) PUSHKAREV, CO of the 482nd Army MT Workshops and an officer
with a good combat record., had only finished five classes of his
secondary education.
17.
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EM. Conscripts called up last year were all of low educational
ITandard. The wars and post-war circumstances in the USSR had
forced them to quit school in order to get a job and to work.
an estimate of standards of education amongst conscripts
as follows: three to four classes, 60%; five to six classes, 20%;
seven to eight classes, 15%; nine to 10 classes, five per cent -
if thatt had not come across Russian con-
scripts who could neither read nor writes but many of the minority
races did not understand Russian.
following information on Party and Komsomol member-
ship, about 11% of the EM and about 65% of the offi-
cers of his establishment and that of the 482nd Army MT workshops
were members of the Communist Party. about 60% of
all EM hnd junior officers were members of the Komsomol.
Members were supposed
they were always getting
to set an example for others, but instead
50X1 involved in breaches of discipline.
Foreign Missions in the Soviet Zone of GetEmEly
19.
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"No Entrance" sign in four languages on the
gate. If members of a foreign mission were to be seen on foot in
the vicinity of the barracks they would be detained. If members of
a foreign mission drove past in a car no one would have paid any
attention to them.
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510)(1 "Know Your Enemy" Training
50:00 21 officers attended a lecture at Army headquarters
$ a w c. they were told about the organization, uniform
and insignia and equipment of the American Army up to regimental
level. Drop charts were used during the lecture.
in particular a chart depicting American, British and French uni-
forms and insignia of rank,
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Comment:
was a Radio Interception unit.
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Th
"YANVAREV $ unit"
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