MVD SIGNAL UNITS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00046R000300250002-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 11, 2009
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: March 9, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

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CONFIDENTIAL
COUNTRY USSR
SUB3ECT MVD Signal Units
DATE OF INFORMATION
PLACE ACQUIRED
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
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DATE DISTR. S March 1964
NO. OF PAGES 8
REFERENCES:
MVD in Turkistan
information only on MVD Border Guard Troops Signal Units.
Each MVD border district in
Turkistan had its ow goal battalion. Location of all
such battalions are listed below. 25X1
he sena ate signal battalion 25X1
was part of the border district headquarters, In 25X1
n there was one, separate signal battalion for each of the
following border districts:
Turkmen Border District, Hq, Ashkhabad 5 37-57, E 58-g7
Tadzhik Border District, Hq. Stalinabad 5 38-30, E 68-4]
Kazakh Border District, Hq. Alma-Ata 5 43.-12, E 76-55
ARMY review completed.
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6.
Locations of separate signal battalions subordinate to border
districts were given in Para 1, above.
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Locations of subor-
dinate signal, units in the Turkmen Border District are given in
paragraph below.
Turkmen Border Guard
All communication facilities for Border Guard Troops were fur-
nished by the,Signal Department, Main Administration of Border
Guard Troops, MVD, Moscow.
civil authorities had their'
own telephone, telegraph, radio units, and equipment; likewise,
the military had its own signal units. The MVD had its own
lines, radio stations, etc,, and there was no coordination
(lending or exchange) of signal..units or equipment between the
three separate agencies. Each could communicate with the other
two agencies by telephone.
Border Guard Troops had no direction finding equipment.
Border Guard Troops employed no Jamming operators or equipment
.
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Each detachment of the Turkmen Border District had a signal,
company. This company was subordinate to the Signal Officer on
the detachment staff, and was not considered part of the Separate
about 10 officers and 250
.subordinate to the Chief Signal Officer on the staff. of the'CQ,
Turkmen Border District.; This, battalion had no companies, but
'.consisted of,four platoons: radio platoon, telegraph-telephone
platoon, wire construction platoon, and electric devices platoon.
.The battalion also had a message center., and personnel for
depots, monitoring, repairs, etc. Estimated strength of the
The Turkmen Border District had * Separate Signal Battalign
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Signal Battalion, Turkmen Border District. The estimated
strength of the company was about six to seven officers and 100
EM. The company had a message center and four platoons: radio
platoon, telegraph-telephone platoon, wire construction platoon,
and electric devices platoon. Each platoon had about one offi-
cer and 20 EM.
Each border battalion had a Signal officer on the battalion
staff and a. signal section consisting of three radio operators,
three telephone operators, three electro-mechanics, and three
movie projector operators. The section was subordinate to the
service and supply company of the battalion, and not,to the
signal.company organic to the detachment.
.Each border company had a signal unit of three to four signal
men who monitored and maintained the electric detection devices
and took care of the homing pigeons at the company.
the following list of signal equipment for the.2nd
Bn., 68th Border Gd. Det.: 50 UNAI-~+3 telephones, one teletype
(model unknown), one A-7 transceiver, three RBM transceivers,
one switchboard (model unknown), and about 550 km. of telephone
wire. Also in supply were several pairs of pole climbers,
flashlights, some radio tubes, tools, insulation material,
spare parts, and five kilometers of reserve telephone wire.
]a detachment had one telegraph station
the locations of the following signal units of the
Turkmen Border District (Note: the Turkmen Border District had
seven detachments: 18th, 45th, 46th, 47th, 67th, 68th, and
71st.)
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Sep. Sig. Bn., Turkmen Border District Hq., Ashkhabad
Sig. Co., 18th Border Gd. Det.., Ashkhabad
Sig. Co., 68th Border Gd. Det., Takhta-Bazar 9 35-57, E 62-597
Sig. Co., 71st Border Gd. Det., Bakharden 9 38-29, E 57-29
Sig. Co., 67th Border Gd. Det., Kerki 5 37-52, E 65-1)
Sig. Co.., u/i Border Gd. Det., Seranks fN 36-32, E 61-1.17
Sig. Co., u/i Border Gd. Det., Kyzyl-Atrek ff 37-38, E 54-4
Sig. Co., u/i Border Gd. Det.,
N Si . Sec,, Svc. and Supply Co..,
E 1-437, 68th Border Gd..Det.
Si . Sec., Svc. and Supply Co.,
E 62-27, 68th Border Gd. Det.
Sig. Sea., Svc. and Supply Co.,
E 63-067, 68th Border Gd. Det.
lst Bn.,
Ak-Rabat
!J 35-27,
2nd Bn.,
Kushka
I~1 35-16,
3rd Bn.,
Senn-Ali
9 35-52,
Sig. Sec., Svc. and Supply Co., 4th Bn., southeast of Takhta-
Bazar, 68th Border Gd. Det.
Sig. Unit, 6th Co., Islam-Cheshme ld 35-24, E 62-'1Q, 2nd Bn.,
68th Border Gd. Det.
Sig. Unit, 7th Co.., Kushka, 2nd Bn., 68th Border Gd. Det.
Sig, Unit, 8th Co., Medisan N 35-18, E 62-227, 2nd Bn.,, 68th
Border Gd. Det.
Sig. Unit, 9th Co., Kara Chop fN 35-19, E 62-327, 2nd Bn.,
68th Border Gd. Det.
Sig. Unit, .10th Co., Berdy-Klych5T.35-19,' E 62-45x7, 2nd Bn.,,
68th Border Gd. Det..
Border Guard Command
A lieutenant colonel on the staff of the CG of a border
district was the Chief Signal Officer of the district.- He was
subordinate administratively to the CG, but technically to the
Signal Department, Main Administration of Border Guard Troops,
MVD. He had a staff of 10-15 officers under him, including
the officers of the district separate signal battalion, which
was also under his command. He was responsible for:
a. Planning and construction of telephone-telegraph lines.
b. Planning and organization of all communication networks in
the territory of the border district, including radio,
telephone, telegraph, and electrical detection devices,
o. Construction and use of electrical detection devices on
the border.
L
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18.
19.
.20.
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d. Procurement of all technical communications materials and
equipment.
e. Supervision and control of radio and telephone service.
f. Maintenance of all equipment given above.- Construction,
maintenance, and servicing of communications within the
border district'were done by personnel of the border
district separate signal battalion.
A detachment Chief Signal Officer had the same duties and
responsibilities as given above, but limited to the territory
of the detachment. Construction, maintenance, and servicing
were done by the signal company of the detachment.
A battalion Signal Officer was responsible for planning, con-
structing, and maintaining radio, telephone, and electrical
devices in the territory of the battalion. Construction,
maintenance, and servicing were done by the battalion signal
section.
No Border Guard Troops had any jamming functions. Border Guard
Troops signal units, however, monitored telephone conversations
and intercepted radio and telegraph messages of MVD personnel
only, in order to insure compliance with-security and cryptog-
raphy re ulations.
All signal units within a border district were subordinate to
the district Chief Signal Officer. The Chief Signal Officer
was subordinate for administration to the border district CG,
and technically to the Signal Department, Main. Administration
for Border Guard Troops, MVD. '
All signal supply was the responsibility of the Chief Signal
Officer and did not go through the Deputy for Rear Services.
Supplies were requested by the company CO on a survey by his
Signal Officer. The company CO requested the supplies from the
battalion CO or Chief of Staff. The battalion CO or Chief of
Staff requested the desired items from the detachment CO or
Chief of Staff. If unavailable at the detachment depot, the
detachment CO or Chief of Staff requested the items from the
border district CO or.Chief of Staff. If unavailable in the
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depots of the border district headquarters, the items would be
ordered from the Signal Depot, Main Administration of Border
Guard Troops, MVD.
Companies had no signal items in storage, and no repair
facilities. battalion had a small one-story brick
depot, eight by eight meters, containing tools, several pairs
of pole climbers, insulation material, spare parts, flash-'
lights, radio tubes, and five kilometers of telephone wire.
Only the most simple repairs were made on battalion level. If
a radio station or other signal equipment of..the battalion
needed repairs, it was sent to detachment headquarters for
repair. Detachment had a depot with reserve telephones radio
stations, spare parts, etc.
Intelligence Units of the Border Guard
MVD Border Guard Troops had no signal intelligence units, and
had no signal intelligence duties except to monitor Border
Guard Troops radio, telephone, and telegraph messages, and to
check the electrical detection devices.
.Special trip wires and electrical detection devices were used
on the border, namely KLEN-M, 5-2, SV-2, RUBIN, and TANTAL.
These appliances were checked and maintained by the signal men
of the border companies.
On the border, green and red rockets were used to light up areas
at night, and also for signals from the border patrols to their
company headquarters indicating the following:
a. Someone crossed the border
b. Send, help
c. Call out the OD
d. Foreign airplanes crossing the border
e. Send two to three EM to convoy an illegal border crosser.
Red, green, or any combination of red and green rockets were
used for the above signals. No heliographs, microphones, or
recorders were used
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Specially trained dogs were used 24 hours a day by Border Guard 25X1
Troops. The night patrols had two to three dogs with them.
During the daytime, patrols would walk parallel to the 10-15,m.
.wide plowed strip along the border, looking for footprints of
illegal border crossers. Such a patrol would have a search dog
to initiate instant search in case footprints were noticed on
the plowed strip or the dog smelled something suspicious.
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While each company had 10-12 homing pigeons, they Were not used
.at all. In fact, in the 6th and 9th Co's., 2nd Bn., 68th
Border Gd. Det., cats devoured all. the pigeons.. The unit CO's
obtained a few pigeons-as replacements from Co's of other
companies.
Theoretically, if search teams went into desolate areas, far 25X1
away from their unit station, they ons
along for emergency communication. 7r
211..
Border Guard Troops had no signal regiments.
25.
Code intercepts and interrogation procedures on classified
reports were within the functions of the intelligence section,
not the signal section
MVD Signal Units with Army
Tlno Border Guard Troops signal
units were ever attached or subordinate to General Headquarters,
Moscow; military districts; or army units on army group, army,
corps, division, or other levels.
the MVD
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MVD signal units were used
only by the Ministry of Interior
~ communications equipment was adequate for
the MVD signal mission. The over-all efficiency of MVD signal
units was good, and they were capable of
carrying out their mission satisfactorily,
there was a special MVD Signal
School for border officers assigned as Signal Officers. EM
telephone men received a special three-month training course
and radio men a six-month course both given at MVD border
district h d ar rs
29,
30?
training at signal technical training
schools was about 5 technical 25 olitical and 2 general
militar sub ects.
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a comparison between the technical training received versus
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