LOGISTICS OF BORDER TROOPS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00046R000300100007-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 31, 2013
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: January 6, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/05/31 : CIA-RDP82-00046R000300100007-0
COUNTRY USSR
SUBJECT
SECRET
50X1
Logistics of Border Troops
DATE OF INFORMATION
PLACE ACQUIRED
50X1
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
50X1
REPORT NO.
50X1
DATE DISTR. 6 Jan. am
NO. OF PAGES 5
REFERENCES:
1. Border Troops in the USSR did not have their own logistic system. The
general rule was that logistic support to border troops was given by
the territorial military districts where border troop units were
stationed. A few exceptions to this rule may have occurred because of
special local conditions jar. kg; e.g., certain border troop units
might have asked for a local alteration in logistics affecting them
which would not be in conflict with the basic rule. I am not able to
remember any exception to this basic policy, which, of course, does not
mean that there were not any.
2. I never served with any administrative headquarters of border troop
units, and therefore my information on border troop logistics does not
go beyond the information available to any komendatura (battalion) ?c(51050
the komendatrra having been a tactical (not administrative) border
troop unit. 50X1
50X1 iogiszics or pc:m(2er -urfaupn W4O uvu ucLught.
From what
describe the general planning of border troop logistics in tne
following way:
a. Border troop detachments, which were the lowest border troop
administrative units, prepared annual logistic plans for the
coming year, stating types and quantities of supplies needed
for all their subordinate units. The preparation of these
plans within border detachment headquarters was the respon-
sibility of the Deputy CO for Supplies, sometimes referred to
as Deputy for Rear Services (Zamestitel, po snabzheniyu), who
had several officers on his staff, each in charge of one of
the following groups of supplies:
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(1) Food and forage (Prodovollstvenno-furazhnaya sluzhba PFS)
(2) Clothing and train equipment (Obozno-veshchevaya sluzhba -
OVS)
(3) Weapons and ammunition (Artilleriysko-tekhnizheskaya sluzhba
-ATS)
(4) motor transport (Avtomobilinyy transport - ABT)
(5) Barracks and furniture (Kvartirno-eksploatatsionnaya chasti
- KECh)
Two more groups of supplies, namely, engineer supplies and signal
equipment supplies, were the responsibility of:
(6) Head of Engineering Service (Nachalinik inzhenernoy sluzhby)
(7) Head of Third or Signal Section (Nachallnik tretlyego
otdeleniya ili otdeleniya sluzhby svyazi)
These last two supply branches were not subordinate to the Deputy
CO for Supplies, but to the Chief of Staff.
b. The logistic plans of border troop detachments were forwarded to
the responsible border district headquarters where they were
checked, revised if necessary, and then compiled into an overall
border district logistic plan. The District Deputy CO for Rear
Services, sometimes referred to as Commander of the Rear
(Zamestitel, nachallnia voysk po tylu iii nachalinik sluzhby tyla)
together with his subordinate section chiefs was responsible for
this work within the border district headquarters. Plans for
engineering and signal supplies were prepared in the border
district headquarters by the Chief of Engineering Section
(Nachalinik inzhenernoy sluzhby) and by the Head of the Third
Department, also referred to as Signal Department (Naohaltnik
trettyego otdela iii otdela svyazi).
o. The overall border district logistic plans were sent to the Chief
Directorate Border Troops (GUPV) in Moscow, where they were
processed by the responsible departments and then forwarded to
the MVD. I do not know which directorate or department of MVD
was responsible for logistic matters. However, there was not
much done on logistics by MVD. I would assume that in this field
MVD actually was limited to the collection of logistic plans
prepared by various MVD troop directorates, including border
troops, interior troops, OsNaz troops, etc., and that it then
forwarded them to the War (now Defense) Ministry (Voyennoye
ministerstvo) for the attention of the Deputy Minister for Logistics
(Zamestitelivoyennogo ministra po tylu). Until 1949 or 1950 the
position of Deputy Minister for Logistics in the War Ministry was
held by Gen. Col. KHRULEV. He may be still holding this position.
d. The Chief Directorate for Logistics (Glavnoye upravleniye
snabzheniya 472) of the War Ministry on receipt of logistic plans
from MVD wou d process them territorially, attaching to individual
military districts for logistic support all border troop units
stationed on its territory. Since territories of military districts
and border districts did not coincide, very often two military
districts had to supply one border district or vice versa. In some
instances where local conditions made special arrangements necessary
(because of the location of certain military district warehouses,
availability of community means, etc.) certain border troop units
were given extraterritorial logistic support; i.e., a military
district would supply some border troop units not stationed on its
territory.
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e. The military district headquarters made a detailed breakdown of
the logistic plans received from the War Ministry, assigning
tasks of border troop supply to individual military district
warehouses located on its territory. In this work the paramount
aim was to organize supply service in the simplest way, shortening
communication lines as much as possible, and assigning the task of
supply to warehouses located in the vicinity of border detachment
headquarters; this was because basically the detachment was the
unit drawing supplies and distributing them to subordinate
komendatury.
3. I have no information on how payment for supplies received from military
district warehouses was effected between the GUPV (MVD) and the War
Ministry.
4, The procedure I have described jar. 27 was applicable to the great
majority of supplies received by border troop units. As far as I know
there were only three exceptions to this basic policy of supply system:
a. The supply of automotive vehicles to border troop units was the
responsibility of GUPV in Moscow, i.e., Deputy Director GUPV for
Rear Services through the ABT Division, which was subordinate to:
him. I do not know any details on how this supply was organized;
however, I believe that requests for vehicles were sent by the
GUPV to the MVD, which in turn forwarded them to the ministry
? responsible for motor vehicle production. The ministry then
prepared a breakdown on plants which shipped vehicles directly
to requesting units: border districts and border detachments.
b. POL supplies were drawn by border troop units from local civilian
Oil Distributing Agencies (NefteSbyt). I do not know how payment
was effected for POL supplies; locally it was done by receipts
which were signed whenever POL products were drawn. In all
prObability payment was effected centrally from GUPV to the Main
Administration of the Oil Distributing Agency in Moscow.
c Fresh vegetables, hay, straw, and the like were acquired through
GUPV and then various procurement ministries direct from the -
closest producers (kolkhozy or sovkhozy). These shipments were
usually made by rail or motor vehicles belonging to the producer,
and were always accompanied by a bill of sale. The bill of sale
was signed'by the recipient and forwarded to the responsible
detachment headquarters, which effected payment through the
local office of the State Bank.
The transportation of supplies drawn by border troop units from
military district warehouses was the responsibility of border troop
units; normally this was done by border detachments which were
provided with qualified personnel and transportation means. Wherever
there was a railroad line available, supplies were shipped by rail.
If there was not a railroad line available, border detachment head-
quarters had to dispatch trucks to pick up supplies. Regardless of
whether the goods were shipped by rail or by motor vehicles, the
responsible supply officers (PFS, OVS, ATS, Eng., Sig.-, and KECh)
from border detachment headquarters, accompanied by several sergeants
and a loading crew of soldiers, always went to the warehouse to
receive supplies assigned to the detachment and its subordinate units.
The crews loaded the supplies on trains or trucks and accompanied the
shipment to the detachment warehouses. The transportation of supplies
from detachment warehouses to subordinate komendatury was supposed to
be done by trucks of the detachment;. this, however, was seldom the case,
and komendatury normally had to dispatch their own trucks to pick up
supplies from the detachment warehouses. The delivery of supplies from
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komendatura headquarters to subordinate zastavy was the responsibility
of the komendatura. In exceptional cases when this was impossible,
transportation was effected by the zastava itself, which had one horse-
drawn wagon and two horses.
Various types of supplies to border troop units were delivered during
the following periods:
a. ATS supplies (weapons and ammunition) - normally quarterly,
raising stock levels to the prescribed T/E status;
b. Engineer and Signal Supplies - annually, according to the annual
plan of engineer construction and development of signal service;
c. OVS supplies (clothing and train equipment) - annually, normally
in April, with the exception of footwear which was drawn twice
a year. The basic clothing items issued to border troop units
had the following service periods:
(1) Riding boots, leather 8 months
(2) Riding breeches and tunic 12 months
(3) Garrison cap 12 months
(4)
Fur cap
3 years
(5)
Dress uniform (dark blue, double-breasted coat
3 years
(mundir) and dark blue breeches)
(6)
Visor cap
3 years
(7)
Foot wraps
3 months
(8)
Underwear
2- months
(9)
Overcoat
3 years
(10)
Belt
3 years
(11)
Wool blanket
5 years
Bed sheets 4
3 years
Pillow cases 2
3 years
(12)
Rubber boots, several pair per zastava
3 years
Items issued only to border troops stationed on the western,
northern, and Far Eastern USSR frontiers:
Fur coat, short 5 years
Quilted trousers 3 years
Quilted overcoat, short 3 years
Felt boots 3 years
Items issued only to border troop units stationed on the USSR
southern frontier:
Straw hat (sand colored) 12 months
Short-sleeved summer shirt (sand colored) 12 months
Trousers, summer (sand colored) 12 months
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d. - KECh supplies (barracks and office furniture) - according to needs
and availability of supplies.
e. ABT supplies (motor vehicles) - when directed by GUPV.
f. PFS supplies (food and forage):
(1) Meat: the supply of bordet troop units with meat was the
responsibility of the local civilian slaughterhouses, or of
the kolkhozy or sovkhozy when civilian slaughterhouses were
not available. Meat was drawn by the komendatura for its
needs and for the needs of subordinate zastavy. A request
was always forwarded to the local representative of the
Procurement Ministry (UpolMinZag), who in turn advised the
local slaughterhouse or kolkhoz to deliver the meat. When-
ever the komendatura had sufficient transportation means to
insure regular delivery of meat to zastavy, meat was drawn
every three days from the slaughterhouse. Normally this
meat was transported by the komendatura, and only when the
komendatura was unable to do so was it transported by
zastava transportation means. Neither komendatura nor
zastavy had refrigerators, and meat was usually kept in a
primitive, cellar storage. Whenever local and transporta-
tion conditions made it impossible to deliver meat to
zastavy every three, days, deliveries were made weekly; in
these cases zastavy"prepared corned beef and used it through
the week. _Canned meat and pickled fish were widely used as
substitute's to avoid an excessive use of corned beef.
Wherever there were no civilian slaughterhouses; border troop
komendatury had organized their own slaughterhouses and
received meat on the hoof from adjoining kolkhozy or sovkhozy
according to instructions of the local UpolMITIZag. In some
cases this method of meat supply was used even by zastavy.
Canned meat was not used in ordinary circumstances, only in
emergency or as dry rations for duty outside of the zastava.
The border troop food ration called for four meat ration
days, two fish ration days, and one vegetable day
(vegetariyanskiy den') weekly. The daily meat ration was
about 100 to 125 g.
Fish: normally only pickled fish was received once a month
from the military district warehouses for the weekly two-day
fish ration for all personnel. The pickled fish was usually
herring; pike, or cod.
Bread: flour was received once a month from the military
warehouses, and bread was prepared by zastavy bakeries.
Quite often when civilian bakeries were available,,
concessions were given to these bakeries to supply border
troop units with bread. The border troop bread ration
called for 800 g. of bread during the summer months and
900 g. during the winter months.
Fats and grocery supplies: received once a month from
military warehouses.
Vegetables, hay, and straw (fodder): received once a year
from kolkhozy or sovkhozy, normally in the fall. Thebe
supplies were usually stored in primitive silos at the zastavy.
Cabbage was normally put up as sauerkraut for use during the
winter and spring months. The daily ration of vegetables,
regardless of the type, was 820 g. In addition to the vegetables
received from kolkhozy, every border troop unit maintained its
own vegetable garden for the improvement of the soldiers' diet.
Oats for horses were received every three months from military
warehouses.
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