JPRS ID: 10623 USSR REPORT MILITARY AFFAIRS

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• Content Type: REPORTS

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J PRS L/'10623 ~
29 JuN~ 1982 .
- USSR Re ort
p
- MILITARY AFFAIRS
~ CFOUO 8f 82 )
FBIS FOREIGN BROADCAST INFORMATION SERVICE
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_ ?7PRS L/10623
29 June 1982
- USSR REPORT
- MILITARY AFFAIRS
cFOVO s/s2)
CONTENTS
GROUND FORCES
Excerpts From Book on F`~.ring Against Armored Targets
(N. I. Yezhov; BOR~BA S BROI~TIROVANNYMI TSE,LYAMI
(METODICHESKOYE POSOBIYE), 1977�������������������������� 1
LOGISTICAL 5ERVICES AND SPECIAL TROOPS
Book on Wartime Transportation Services
(FSHEI,UN ZA ESHELON~I, 1981) ..........................e 9
~ - a - [III - USSR - 4 FOUO]
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GROUND FORCES
EXCERPTS FROM BOOK ON FIRING AGAINST ARMORID~TARGET~ .
- Moscow BOR'BA S BRONTROVANNYMI TSELYAMT (MEIODICHESKOYE POSOHIYE~ in Russian 1977
(signed to press 18 Oct 76) pp 1, 78, 77, 3-5, 6-7, 32-33, ~0-51, 65-7a.
,
[Title page, annotation, table of contents, imtroduction, cfiapte.r excerpts~
and concluslon from b~ok "Combating Ar+ROred Targets ('Niethods Manual}'~, bg
N. I. Yezhov, Voyenizdat, 25,000 copies, 78 pages]
[Excerpts] Title Page
Title: "Hort~.a s $ronirovannymi Tselyami. (Metodichaskoye PosoTiipe~�
~ [Comb.ating Armored Targets (Metfinds Manua.l) ]
Author: N. I. Yezfiov
Publisher: Order of the Labor Red Sanner Military Publisfiiiig House
of. tTie USSR Ministry of Defense (V~yenizdat)
Place and Year of Publication: Mosr.oGr, 1~77
Signed to Press: 18 October 1976
_ Copies: 25,000
_ Pages: 78
" Annotation
This manual is intended for co~mman~ers o~ subunits in the ground forces.
The manual giVes recommendations on th~e organization and metfiods of conducttng
training periods with person~nel to teach metTiods of combating tanks, anti-
tank weapons, and low-flying fielicopters and airplanes. It also gives recom--
mendations on certain questtons of psp~chologtcal conditioning at tactical
- training periods.
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
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Chapter 1. Comhating Tanks, In~antry Comhat yehicles, and
Armored Personnel Carrier~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ . . . . 6
Tanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ . . . . . . . ~ . . 7
Armored Personnel Carriers~ and Infantrp Combat Vefiicles 15
~ Organization and Conduct of Training Periods To Teacfi.
Personnel MetFi~ds of Com~aating Tanks, In~antrp Comfiat
Vefitcles, and Armored Personnel Carriers . . . . . . . . . ~ . . . 20
Chapter 2. Combating Antitank Weapons ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ . 32
Antitank Guided Missiles Used from Armored Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . 33
Self-Propelled Antitank LaunchQrs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Antitank Rocket Launcfi~rs and Grenade Launchers . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Organization and Conduct of Traintng Pextods To Teacfi.Personnel
Methods of Combating Antitank Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
_ Chapter 3. Combating Helicopters, Airplanes, and Umnanned Air Attack
L'
Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~tl
~ Helicopters (Fire Support and Multi~urpose~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Airplanes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Or~anization and Conduct of Training Periods To Teacfi_Personnel
Metfiods of Combating.Low-Flyiug Aerial Targets . . . . e . . . . . . 62
~ Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Appendix. Outline Plan for Conducting a Tactical Training Period
with the Personnel of a Motorized Rifle Company 72
~ Introduction
In the time that has passed since the end of tfia urar tTie armies of various capi
_ talist countries have been equipped ~rith many different types of weapons, mast
important of which are tanks,self-propelled guns, infantry comliat vehicles, anti-
tank guided missiles launched from armored vefiicles, and low--flying aircraft
~ with armor (fire support airplanes and fielicopters) . Tfiis requires tfiat figTit-
ing men in modern warfare exert greater effort aiid skill to repulse.massed
attacks by armored vehicles, air strikes, and tfie like under conditions where th.e
~ enemy has used weapons of mass destruction and incendiary sub stances.
It is obviou~ tIiat the entire burden of combating tfie enemy~s armored ground 3nd
low-flying aerial weapons whicfi. liave not Fieen destroyed Fay our arttllery and
aviation will fall mainly on tfie forward suFiunits of the ground forces, motor-
- ized rifle, tank, and other sutiuni.ts. Many factors wi11 naturally affect tfie
consciousness and psyct~e of figfiti~g men in conditions wfiere large numbers of
different armored veliicles are used. We must not exclude any possitiility of
temporary stress in the soldiers and tfie appearance of tfie feelings of fear and
dissattsfaction in the struggle against a menacing enemy.
- To avoid szch negative occurrences in b.attle.or at least td minimize tfie~m, dur--
ing the process of comTat and political training each_commander must system--
atically prepare the men to be ali.le to operate and defeat tfie enemy in tfie most
complex situation.
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- For example, take fi~.ld training periods ~Ln com~ating tanks~, wfiicfi. are con~
, templated by tfie Combat Training Program for~motorized rifle and otfier suF-
units in the topics on tactics. Tfie main purpose.~f tfiese training peri.ods ts
not just to teacfi accuracy~and range of grenade tfirowing agatnst moving armored
vehicles, but alsa to give tfie soldiers a str~ng will to vic~orp~ at tTie same time.
Unfortunately, there are ca"s~es wfiere certain commander~ conduct training pericds
- on the same terrain, whtch_has been studted in detail, wi.thout enougfi.simu-
lated ob~ects or target equipr~ent. The men ~olve tactical problems tfiat are
generally the aame and do not carry.out tfie full series of actions necessary to
_ achieve success in battle, but only ~ few of th.e elements. Tn anotfier varia--
tion they will perform all tfie actions, but undex simplified conditions, witfiout
the necessary ~fiysical exertion.
= To avoid all simplification and indulgence in organt.~ing troop training in
met::~3s of comliating armored veTiicles, tfi~ sufiunit commander should strictly fol--
low tfie prinr_iple "Teach tfiat wh~ch is necess~ry tn war.'~
Under the difficult conditioans of contemporary ~aarfare. at:d also in different
weather conditions soidiexs shnuld learn to wipe out various armored ground and
aerial tatgets suddenly and quickly.
Skillful use of. the elemen*_s of danger, risk, and tension during traintng
, periods is very important to tzach the figfi ting men fearlessness, courage,
and confidence in combating armored equipnent. The.most effective way is for
the commander to use automated simulatton equipment, simulators of atomic
blasts, artillery shells, and aerip? Tiomlis, and complex obstacles and fiarriers.
- Then the actions of the s.ubunit are accompanied by tlie relayed noise of con~
temporary warfare during repeated practice of rolling tanks over soldiers, dis-
mounting and assaulting from moving tanks, firing against armored *argets over
the heads of the sutiunit and from the f lanks, throwing live grenades against
tanka, and the like.
When elements of danger and risk are introduced in practical training, safety
precautions should be followed stri:ctly to preclude accidents.
The commander must take the personal characteristics of fiis men into account
when practicing methods of comb.ating a~rmored targets. Tha individual agproacfi
should be used for every trainee, watcfiing for correct performarcce of pro-
cedures in using the weapons and rememfiering tliat certain mistakes can be
- caused by special characteristics of temperament, body fiuild~ and vision~
Thus, ~he soldiers ~,rho are easily distracted sfipuld be given fixed atten--
tion. Tfie co~ander must correct~them more ofte.n~ patiently and persistently
teaching the procedure wfiicfi.they do poorly. It is advisaFle to assfgn~well-
trained fighting men to such soldiers. Support and correction from a com-
rade is sometimes as effective as criticism Fiy the coffinander. Spec~al attention
should lie given to those soldiers wfio are passive, tenrative, and lack.conft--
~ dence in practicing the procedures of comfiating enemy armored equipment.
_ Thanks to corlect comfiat training and party political training among tfie f~gTit-
ing men, during their time in the serviee tFiey do develop tfie necessary practical
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skills and tFie moral-political and ps.ycFi~logt.cal qualities wfiicfi. will fielp
them win vtctory in a faceoff wttii ene,.mp armored equipment.
Cfiapter 1. Cambating Tanks, Tnfantry ComFiat Vefiicles, and Armored PersonneZ
Carriers �

~ The commands of tfie armies of the capitali~t countries conslder tanks~ infantry
combat vefiicles, and armored personnel carriers as the main striking force of
the ground forces when c~aging combat operations ~rfi~re tFiep use eitfi.er conven-
tional weapons or weapons af mass destruction. TFiis is not accidental. Tfi.e
tracked and wfieeled armored veTiicles adopted fip tfi,e armfes of the capitalist
countries have, in the opinion of fo~eign specialists, tfis necessary mo5ilitp~,
armor protection, and firepower. Many vefiicles, especiallp tanks, are equipped
with various mechanisms and device.s whicfi. give them a fiigfi. rate of fire, range,
armor-piercing ca~aTaility, and precision~wfien firfng botfi.from a spot and on
~ :z move.
According to statements fiy foreign military~spec~alists, tfie experience of com--
- bat operations in Southeast Asia and tfie Middle East has sfioran thet close
cooperation between tanks and mechanized i:nfantrp is particularly important
where troops have higfi mo5ility. As a result of tfiis, tfie commands of th.e
capitalist armies are now devoting special attention not only to improving
. tanks, but also to 5uilding infantry co~bat vefiicles and tfie furtfier development
of armored personnel carriers. In their opinion, broad use of modern armored
vehicles increases the tactical mobility of the infantry and enables it to wage
combat operations togeth~r witt~.tanks in conventional battle forrnations. There-
fore, foreign specialists are taking all possible ste~s to imp;.ove tfie figfi.ting
_ and technical characteristics of the armored equipment now av3ilable.. To do
this tfie quality of the armor itself is Fieing improved and refinements are Fieing
made in the shape of the body and tower of tFie armored ob"ject. Special screen-
ing devices and nets are used to protect the body against tTie action of Tiollow
- charge shells. In addition, reducing specific pressure, improving the suspen-
sion system, and increasing engine power make it possible for combat vefiicles
to move across broken terrain at high speed. Mount~ng large-caliber guns wi:tti.
good liallistic characteristics, antitank gui.ded missiles, and otfier powerful
_ weapons on these vehicles, improving the fire control sqstem, and increasing
- the standard ammunition package ena~ile tTiem to wage effecti~e fire against tar-
gets from long range..
Every armored vehicle has its own characteristics and distinguisfiing features.
To combat them one must nave a good kno~rledge of tfieir fighting cTiaracteristics,
tactical-technical specificattc~~, and vulnerafi le points as well as knowing the
combat capabilities and methods of using oneTs own fire weapons.
The combat characteristics make it possifile to de.termine fiow dangerous and fiow-
important an arm~red target is. One can recognize rTie Firand and type of armored
oliject by distinguisfiing features sucfi as tfie sfiape of the ::~uzzle firake of tfie
cannonr the placement of the e~ection device on it~ and the sfiape of tFie Tiody,
tower, and runntng gear. A knowledge of the dimensions of the ~iody (lengtli.,
width, and fieight) makes it possi~ile to determine tFi~ range to tfie target using
,
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standard angle-gage apti.cal instruments pz ava~ZaFi1e-means, and a kno~ledge of
the vulneral~le points enai~les a squad (team~ crear~ leader to cfioose tfiQ correct
type of weapons and ammunitinn to de.stro~r tfie.. target reliafily-~
We give below tfie combat characteristics and di~tinguisfiing features of tFie
principal models of tanks, infantry, vefiicles, and armoxed personnel carriers
of the capitalist armiesm
Chapter 2. Comt~ating Antitank Fleapons
Along witli improving tanlc~, infantry combat vefiicles, and armored personnel
carriers the armies of foreign Countries are devoting cons~derable attention to
the d~velopment of various antitank raeapons. Tfieix tactical-tecTinical cfiarac--
teristics are Being improved continuously and tTi.e principles of using tfiem in
battle are being refined. Tfie number.of antitank weapons, i,z particular self--
propelled weapons based on armored vefiicles, fias begun to increase rapidly in
- recent times in the armies of the countries of tfie ~ggressive NATO bloc. The
greatest development has occurred with tfie most dangerous antitank weapon , tfie
antitank guided missile. In tfie opinion of foreign specialists, it has greater
destructive range, better ar~mor piercing capabilitp, and greater accuracy~tfian .
the other antitank weapons.
It is not accidental that antitank guided missiles occupp tfie leading place ~
among antitank weapons, and to some degree.are.supplanting tFie otTiers. Anti--
tanic guided missile launchers are mounted on various armored vefiicles, persronnel
carriers, and tank.s. Tn the U. S. Army, for exam~le, in additton to tTie Sfieridan
light tank, a tower with a 152 millimeter gun, a launcfi.e~ for tfie Shillelagh
antitank guided missile,ha~ also been mounted on tfie M~60 A2 medium tank.
Plans coiitemplate arming several other prospective tanks in tfie armies of the
United States, West Germany, and other capitalist countri.e~ with antitank guided
missles.
Certain classes of helicopters are also heing e.quipped with these weapons be-
cause, foreign specialists believe, they can fire at an armored target from a
more advantageous angle and destroy it even wfien it is in a trencfi and not
visible to ground observers.
Rntitank guided missiles, self-propelled antitank guns, and otfier antitank
weapons are being supplied not only to motorized infantry, tank, and artille.ry~
- subunits, but also support~.and even rear sutiunits. Tfisy enable the enemp to
create a deeply ecfi~loned antitank zone with mutuallp~overlapping sectors of
antitank fire botfi on the for~ratd edge and taitfiin tfie deptfi. of tfie Fiattle for-
- mations. Combating antitanli weapons, especially antitank guided missiles, will
be difficult and tense. This is one of tFie most-important missions~ of a11 sub-
units which support the combat actions of tanks, infantrq combat vehicles,
armnred personnel carriers, and other com~at e.quipment.
To master the methods. of protecting comhat equipment against fire Fiy antitank
weapons and to comliat tfiem successfullp, one must have a good knowledge o.~ tfieir
combat characteristics, tactical--technical specif ications, strong and weak points,
and identif ication signs, and also know the comTiat capabilities and metfiods of
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. use of one~s oam T/0 weap~ns on o~fense and de.~ense. Tn contemporary~fiattle witfi.
highly effective means of destructi.on, tfie wixuier ih a duel witFi anti~tank weapons
will be tfi.e one who detects. the target and executes aimed fire first. Tfierefore,
eki11fu1 reconnaissance by ofiservation and rapid preparat~.on of initi,al firing
data are crucial conditions for successfully~ accomplisTiing tiiis mission. TFiere
can T~e no question of effec~ively combating antitank meapons if tFue figTiting men
are not a~le to detect them quickly Fiy identification s~gns, give correct target
indications, and beat tlie enemy in openiazg fire~
We give below the b.asic models of antitank ~eapons of the capitalist armies.
Chapter 3. Combating Heli.coptere, Airplanes~ and Unmanned Air Attack Vefiicle.s
Antiaircraft artillery is effect~ve and tfle most active ground weapon in combating
means of aerial attack. It is able to hit airplanes and fielicoptexs at varfous
- altitudes. But it is much more difficult for this art~llery to combat aircraft
operating at low altitudes because of tI~ir fiigfi.angular velocities.
In view of this, during the war in SoutIieast Asia U. S. aviation mastered tfis.pro-
cedures for flight by comTiat aircraft and un~anned scout planes at low altitudes.
TYte military command of Israel also used airplanes operating at alti.tudes of 30~
100 meters for reconnaissance and destroytng targets in Egyptian territory.
According to the conclusions of foreign sp~cialists, I# an a~rplane f lies to the
target at an altitude of 50 meters or le~s this ~ven mintmizes tfie effectiveness
~ of antiaircraft missiles used against it.
Rifles can be used extensively to combat enemy aircraft operating at low altttudes.
The experience of the Great Patriotic War, as azell as war experience from Korea
and Vietnam, testifies to t-his. During t~e Great Patriotic War some 500 atrcraft
were shot down with rifles. During th.e wars in Korea and Vietnam fire from
rifles, machine guns, and antitank guns made i.t difficult for American pilots ta
operate at low altitudes without punishment.
Because evQn with the availability of contemporary antiaircraft weapons anti-
aircraft missiles, rapid-firing antiaircraft cannons, and machin.e guns tfiE
role of the rifle in combating low--flying targets fias not diminislied~ commanders
at all levels should devote considerable attention to training men in combating
aerial attack weapons wi.th fire from T/0 rifle weaponrp~.
Special emphasis sfiould Be put on the exceptional importance of psychologically
preparing personnel to comfiat low--tlping targets wlien tfiey carry out massed at-
tacks. Of course, every fighting man understands that massed aerial attack
weapons operating at low altitudes or tree--top level represent the greatest dan-
ger on the field of battle. Therefore, wiien training in comFating aerial attack
weapons the principal attention must Ue focused on eliminating th3:s so--called
fear of aircraf t in the men.
To combat airplanes, hel~copters, and unmanned enemy weapons successfully, one
must have a good knowledge of tfie nature and procedures of tfi.eir acttons agains~t
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ground targets, tacti.cal-technical specifications, and vulnerafile points to tlie
fire of rifle~, large-caliber wacfiihe guns, and otfisr weapons, as well as a
knowledge of tfi~ combat capaFiili.ties and metfi~ds of using onets own T/0 weapons.
to combat aerial targets. Only witfi a knowledge of all tfiis ~-i:ll soldiers,
crews, teams, and suTiunit commanders destroy tfi,e aerial enemy~ confidentlp and
reliatily.
We give below ;.fie basic characteristics of different means of ae.rial attack of
the armies of certatn capitalist countries.
Conclusions
Learning metfiods of combating tanks, antitank weapons, and low-fly3ng fielicopters:
and airplanes is just part of tfie large set of troop combat training questions
- which are inseparable from the entire process cf training, indoctrination, and
military service.
It can be seen from the examples of training peri.ods considered above that train--
ing the men in these important matters begins witfi individual training. Then
the methods and procedures of comhating armored targets are refined as tfie squad,
platoon, and company work together during tactical training periods and exer-
cises, as well as in training periods on otfier combat training subjects. Let us
- consider fire training. One of its most important missions along witfi tactics is
instilling in the men those qualities wfiic~i insure stability of professional
skill as military specialists on tha field of battle and allow tfiem to carry
out the comliat mission successfully in their designated roles. For example, it
- is important for automatic riflemen, machine gunners, ard gun layers to develop
the ability to preserve in a complex situation of contemporary warfare the habi.ts
acquired during tfie process of peacetime training: firing t~ie regular weapon
accurately, the ability to drive back attacks by tanks and infantry combat vehicles,
and the ability to combat antitank guided missiles, including those ~mounted on
_ helicopters, low-flying airplanes, and unmanned enemy weapons.
For this purpose, fire training periods should be us.ed to demonstrate corivinctngly
the capabilities of the standard weapons and combat equipment in com~ating ground
and aerial armored targets. There should be numerous drills that develop tfie
men's actions to the point of automatism, and a situation similar to actual
battle must be created for training fi.re. To do this firing .ranges are usually
rigged up with two variations of targets ins.talled at different distances and in
different directions and dispersed along the tront and ~n depth. Targets tliat
represent armored vehicles, both.painted and camouflaged as an actual combat
situation requires, are installed. Tfie target f ield is prepared in secret from
_ the trainees, and during firing tfie targets are parttally or completely rearranged.
Changes are made in tfie method of simulation or ligiiting of tfie targets, tfie posi--
tion for firing, and so on.
To develop psychological stability in tfiQ men, inert grenades are fired at tfie
tanks of the comiaat training group ~ahich.is moving toward tfis trainee~grenade
throwers.
In addition, systematic work should b.e done to develop tfie menrs sktlls in iden-
tifying dangerous arm~red targets during rifle drills, ftring, and tactical and
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other fieid training periods. All thsse ~npoxtant questions of training fi.gfiting
men in the metfiods~ and procedures of comfiating armored targets can only- fie
solved tIirough the joint efforts of commander~, political workers, pa:ty and
Komsomol organizations, and teacfiers at militarp s~cfiools.
One of the conditions of success in tfiis ~rork i~s raising tfie level of com6at
training of subunit commanders, wlin are obliged to constantly refine tfis
methods and procedures by wfiicn.figfi.ting men oppose. enemy armored equipment.
When or.ganizing training periods one must fiegin from real conditions and con~
struct them with. due regard for the ti~me allocated, tfie availaFiili:ty of pfiysical
facilities for training, and tlzs group of trainees. In some cases training
periods at the training site are done fiy squads, c,rTiile in others it ortll be the
platoon. Where there is additional time it is useful to conduct a second
training period in tfie sub~ect as a practice drill.
- Work to develop the necessary practical skills in tfi,e men and to instill tfinm
= with strong psychological qualities during the process of teaching metFiods of
combating armored targets must be combined with purposeful party political work
to indoctrinate tfiem in loyalty to tfie militarp oatti and regulations, love of
their homeland, and hatred for its enemies.
Propaganda for the glorious combat traditions of our Armed Forces and instilling
the feeling of civil and military duty greatly facilitates the formation of tfie
necessary qualities in the men. Pas.sing on stories of the fieroic deeds ~f
Soviet fighting men during the Great Patriotic War should play an important part
in this work.
' COPYRIGHT: Voyenizdat, 1977
11,176
CSO: 1801/200
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LOGISTICAL SERVICES AND SPECIAL TROOPS
UDC 355.415.2
BOOK ON WARTTME TR~INSPORTATION SERVTCES
Moscow ESHELON ZA ESHELONOM ~n Russian 1981( signed to press 11 Jun 81)pp l, 2, 248
- 3-4, 5-12, 13-17, 73-75; 76--77; 124; 125-~128, 162; 163-164; 208-209; 210-211,
_ 233-239; 240-241
[Title page., authors' collective, annotation, table of contents, foreword, intro-
ductton and selected excerpts from fiook "Train after Zrain", edited by Lt Gen .
Tech Trps A. S. Klemin, Tzdatel*stvo "Voye.nizdat", 30,000 copies, 248 pages]
[Excerpts] Title Page jp 1]
Title: E~ch~lon za Esfie'lonom jTrain after Train]
Signed to nress: 11 Jun 81
Copies: 30,000
Pages: 248
Authors' collective [p 2]
" A. V. Dobx.yakov (head), N. V. fiorisov, V. T. Dmitriyev, A. P. Zavadskiy,
- M. P. Zaglyadimov, Ye: I. Zimin, A. Z. Kl.imovitskiy, L. A. Korzun (deputy head),
Ye. M. Kul~kov, G. G. Moldavanov, K. T. Pavlovich, V. P. Paslikovskiy, N. A.
Pozmogov, S. N. RyaBokob.ylko, M. P, ~akovich., N. L. Sokolov, and S. V.
Khvos.hchev
Annotation [p 2]
This book is dedicated to the fieroi.c labor of the personnel of military com-
munications agencies, tfie railroad troops, railroad work~rs, and water
transportation workers during the Great Patriotic War. Tfie authors here pre-
sent in popular form the complex and multifaceted work of the military commu-
nicattons agenctes. an3 railroad tronps and sfiow~tTietr working experience in
solving military transportation proFilems of planning and carrying out military
- shipments by rail and water transportat~on during the war years.
The book is tntended for a 6road range of readers.
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Table of Cor:tents [p 248] ~
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Introducticn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Military Shipping fi.y Itail Durtng th.e Wzr Y'ears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Railroad and Mil~tary Communi.cattons Troops Engaged in $uiiding and
Rebuildin~; Rai;lroad Faciliti.es tn tfie Front Region . . . . . . . . . . . 76
The Operation of Railroads in tfi~ Front znd Near Front Zones 125
Military S~iipment T~.y Tnlater~ray~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Air Defense of Railroads and Combat Support for Military Shipping 210
Party Political Work in Tnstitutions and Un~ts of Military Communtcations
and Railroad Troops . . . . . . . . . . � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � . 240
Foreword [pp 3-4]
- The Soviet Armed Forces, formed lay tfie Communist Party under the direction of
Vladimir Ilttcfi.Lenin, have traveled a legendargr patfi.and covered their bat*_le
colors with unfading glory.
- During the Ctvtl War the young army of the Republic.of Soviets smashed the uni-
fied forces of internal counterrevolution and tfie armed intervention of the
imperialists. In tfie following years~ tfie Red Arm}p fiad to defend tfie inviola-
bility of Soviet border~ more tTian once.
The most severe tes�t of our entire people and ou~c Armed Forces was the Great
Patriotic War of tlie 3oviet Union against fascist Germa.ny.
Responding to the call of tfie Communist Party, tlie Soviet people and the fight-
ing men of the army and navy rose up to defend tfieir native land and by their
- heroism and selfless: labor secured victory over the liated enemy.
= Transportation workers and personnel of th.e military communications servi.ce ax~d
railroad troops made a wortfiy contribution to tfie common victory over the
enemy.
All the operations of the Great Patriotic War o~ere inseparably linked to broad
use of all forms of transportatton, witfi movement of enormous masses of per-
sonnel and materiel. Tfie organization of mil3:tary shipptng, metfiods of re-
_ buildtng communications routes, and tfie organizational structure of military
transportation services and troops were steadily improved, from operation to
operation.
- The further the events of tfiose heroic years are from us in time, the more ap-
parent the full significance of tti~.wealtfi of experience accumulated during
the Great Patriotic War is to us. Tfiis experience, gatfiered by small pieces,
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is teaching new generations the difficult art of defeating a po~erful enemy.
It serves as an example of courage and lieroism, of aTsolute devotion to our
= native land and to military duty.
Books that tell about ths combat experience of the Great Patriotic Ldar have both
histurical and practical value.
- This tiook, "Tr.ain after Train," is dedicated to the work of transportation work-
ers and the personnel of mili.tary communications and railroad troops during the
- war. It deals wit~i the questions of prepar~tians for and the work of transpor-
tation under wartime condi.tions, organizing and carrying out mass troop trans-
fers, liloclcading and reT uilding communications routes, technical coverage for
them, and improving the military commun~cations service. The tiook reviews one
of tfie k.ey prolilems, insuring continuity of ~militarq siiipping.
The book will undoubtedly beinteresting not onlyfor specialists working in organ-
ization and support of military shipping, tiut for all officer's and genesals of
the Soviet Armed Forces and a firoad range of readers who liave. an interest in
questions of preparing and using transportation for military purposes.
General of tfie Arury S. Kurkotkin
Introduction [pp 5-12]
The term "military communi.cations" refers to land, water, and air communica-
tions routes that liave heen prepared and equ~pp~d with necessary means for
moving troops and performing all types of inilitary shipping in peacetime and
war, as well as the military r_�ommunications agencies working on them.
The military communications service in Russia or3:ginated in tfie early 17th
century. According to the '~Military Charter" of 1716, which was developed by
Peter I, tfie job of organizing tfie sfiipment of military cargo for the army and
road repair and maintenance was assigned to a military communications service.
With the appearance of railroads and tiie electric telegraph, tlie military com-
munications service was given tfie ~ob of operating, destroying, and rebuilding
railroads and dirt roads and operating waterways and pos~t and telegraph lines.
Railroads were used for military purposes in Russia much earlier tlian in the
United States and Prussia. Tfie first military shipment was carried out in 1851,
when the railroad between Moscow and Saint Peterstiurg was built.
- In the spring of 1852 the first statute on Transport of a Military Unit was pub-
lished. No other country whicfi fiad railroads had such a statute at that time.
The development of railroad Building in Russia in the late 19th Century cre-
ated new condittons for moti.ilization and concentration of an army in theaters
of military operations. Tfiis was reflected in the 1890 Statute on Field Troop
Control, which devoted constderable attention to the mtlitary ~ommunications
service.
At the start of World War I Russian rail transportation and the military commu-
nications service carried out ma~or shipments to mobilize and concentrate troops.
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But failures at the front and enormous devastation in tfie Russian economy
- created an exceptionally difficult situation tn transportation. In September
1917 V. I. Lenin wrote as follows: "Russia is tlireatened by an inevitable
disaster. Ra.tlroad transportation is�disrupted ~beyond belief and the situa-
tion is becoming worse. Tfie railroads will rise up, and shipment of raw
materials and coal to tTie factortes will stop. TFie shipment of grain will
- stop."1 The campaign to rebuild tfie transportation system began immediately
after tlie victory of tfie Great October Socialist Revolution. It took gi-
gantic efforts from the Communist Party and tfie young Soviet State to overcome
- the paralysis in transportation.
V. I. Lenin devoted enormous attention to transportation, emphasizing the spe-
cial role of tfie military communications service. He called railroad trans-
portation "the key material factor in tfie war.r2 Witfiout railroad transpor-
tation, he wrote, ~'Modern warfare is an empty phrase.r3
History has~ demonstrated that tfiQ teachings of the revolutionary leader were
entirely correct and timely. ~
The party and the country took all possib.le steps to build up tfieir defense
capabilities, increased tfie figfiting strengtfi of tTie Red Army, and improved
the work of railroads and waterwaps. On 30 November 1918 tTie Soviet Government
instituted martial law in railroad transportation.
- A special co~nission of tfie Soviet for Defense of the Republi.c was formed to
work out measures related to plann~ng transportation woric. TTie decree of the
Soviet for Defense on 11 De.cember 1918 entitled "Putting tfie Work of Railroad
Transportation in Order," tfie May 1919 directive of the Central Committee on
military unity, and tfie decision:: of tfie 9th Party Congress with respect to
- transportation (April 1q20) p1apE:d a large part in this.
During the years of Civil War V. I. Lenin worked constantly to improve the
work of transportation and support militarq shipping.
Speaking at the Plenum of tfie Moscow Soviet on 3 April 1919, V. I. Lenin said:
- "We say once again to all comrades more people must be enlisted for work
or food and transportation. Transportation work demands tfie greatest intensity.
We have to see tfiat workers at every meeting ask tFiemselves how tliey can help
transportation.r4
During the process of building tfie Red Armp and Navy tiie military communica-
tions service was also formed. Tts jobs were to support military sfiipping,
rebuild railroads, and improve transportation work. ~
On 5 March 1918 t~ie Directorate of Military Cotmnunications of tfie f. ormer Head-
quarters of the Supreme Command was transferred to the newly--formed Supreme
Military Council of tfie Republic, and on 8 May I918 tfie People~s Commissar
of Military Affairs by order No 339 estalilistied the all-Russian Main Head-
quarters, which also liad a Directorate of Military Communications. These two
supreme agencies for management of military communicati.ons in the republic
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existed in parallel until 2 Septemfier 1418 mfien tfiey were merged into the
Central Directorate of Military Cornmunications under tfie Revolutionary
Military Council of the Republic.
Di.rectorates of military communications wer~ set up in tfie fieadquarters of
fronts, armies, and military distri_cts; the line military communications
agenc;: ~s - directorates of tTis cfiiefs of troop movement anci military com-
mandants - were set up on the railraods.
During tfie Civil TrIar the militarj~ communications service was given the mission
of rebuilding and developing railroads, waterways, fiigfiways, and dirt roads,
organizing troop movemerts and freigfit sbipment~ operating the postal and tele-
graph servicea (until 10 September 1919), operating motor vehicle columns,
managing troop and worker trains, securitp and defense of railroads, and tfie
like. .
Thousanus of railroad Gzorkers and emploqees, Red Guardsmen~ soldiers, and also
former officers in the ~~sarist army who voluntarily ~oined tfie side of the
revolution and put tfieir knowledge and experience to work for it became the
cadres for the military communications agencies.
The party organizatiQns did a great deal of worTc in tfie army and navy military
communications units and institutions. They exercised a major influence to
indoctrinate personnel in a spi.rit of fioundless devotion to tli` Soviet State,
� the Communist Party, and tfie people.. Tfie commissars of tfie military communica-
tions units and ins.titutions were old Solsfieviks sucTi as Z. Ya. Litvin-Sedoy,
an active participant in tTie revolution of I905 at Krasnaya Presna in Moscow,
as well as P. V. Rifie, V. V. Fomin, Ya. A. Remtir, S. Ye. Shchukin, A. F.
_ Shishov, L. V. Lemberg, A. Kfi.. Gruzdup, N. P. Sokalov, and others. Many of
them were later transferred to command positions in military communications.
During the Civil GFar years the volume of military sfiipping by rail was more
than 33,000 opera.tional trains and almost 7,000 trains witTi supply cargoes.
_ About 25 million men with weapons and equipment were moved by rail. Many units
were moved from one front to another between two and itve times in this period.5
All these tfiings made it pos.sible to regroup personnel and equipment in time to
deliver devastating blows against the enemy.
During the Civil War railr~ad troops rebuilt more than 22,000 kilometers of
track and more than 3,000 bridges and repaired 16,500 railroad cars.6
Taking note of the heroic work of the railroad troops, order No 258 of the
Revolutionary Military Council of tfi.e Repvblic on 31 January 1921 pointed out
that the victoriou:; advance of tTie Red Army was made significantly easier by
- the conscious and unselfisfi activity of railroad units to rebu~ld the rail-
roads, the vltal arteries of tfie active army.~
_ During the Civil War and suT~sequent years consideraTile attention was devoted
to training command personnel for military communications agencies. Special
- schools were set up to train ~unior and senior comma~d personnel for the mili-
- tary communications service. Special schools to train ~unior and middle-level
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command personnel for the military communications service and courses for
instructors to train Red commanders of mflitarp co~unicatidns~ anc~ railroad
- troops were set up in TorzTiok in 1918. In 1920 tfieq were reorganized into a
~ single school, whicfi in 1922 was transferred to Petrograd. In 1937 the
school was renamed the Leningrad Militarp Communications School imeni M. V.
= Frunze.
For training senior command personnel in military communications tne Military
Engineering Academy in late 1918 se~ up a military roads division, which
later became the department of military communtcations and existed until 1925.
In 1925 the training of senior personnel began to be done in the military di-
vision of the Leningrad Institute of Engineers of Co*nmunications Routes, and
after 1932 was trans.ferred to tfie Mtlitary Transportation Academ}~. The first
head of this academy was corps commander S. A. Pugacfiev, deputy cfitef of staff
of the Worker-Peasant Red Army.
After bringing the Civil War to a victorious, conclusion our country tiegan peace-
_ ful building. V. I. Lenin and tfi~ Communist Partp considered res.toration and
development of transportation to be of paramount importance~
Industriali.zation of tfie country supported teclinical reconstruction of trans-
portation, wfiicfi.tn turn promoted accelerated development of industry and
agriculture and ar~ increase in tfie country~s defense capability.
Between 1921 and 1927 more tfian 6,000 kilometers of new railroads were built,
the fleet of steam locomotives and cars was augmented, and ttie average daily ~
load on the rail system increased.
The country's transportation s.ystem continued to develop rapidly in the 1930's.
- The traffic capacity of tfie most important rail sectors increased and new lines
were laid witfi due regard for economic and defens~e needs.
It was during these years that K. Ye. Vorsfiilov, speaking from tlie podlum of
the 17th party congress in 1934, called railroad transportation the blood
brother of the Red Army.
Railroad troops and military communi.cations personnel took an active part in
liuilding and reconstructing the railroads and performing ma~or overhaul work.
- The military communications service continued its development during the years
of peaceful tiuilding. In August 1921 a statute was publistied which concen-
trated the questions of preparing communications routes, military roads, and
the organization of military shipping at tfie Central Directorate of Military
Communications of the Headquarters of tfie Worker-Peasant Red Army.
~ In 1925 tfie first Statute on Troop Movements of tfie Worker-Peasant Red Army
was publislied, and in 1929 a manual on troop movement by water came out.
- Consideratile attention was devoted to the questions of combat and special train-
ing for the units and agencies of mis.itary co~nunications. Beginning in 1931
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major military transportation exerci~es ~aere field at tfie Central Zone training
area and district training areas almost every year. T~se exercises also in-
- volved units of military aviation and, tn some cases, airborne units as well.
Among those partici:pating in tfiese exercises were K. Ye. Voros~iilov, M. N.
Tukhachevskiy, S. S. Kamenev, S. M. Sude~nnyy, ttie chiefs of tfie main and central
- directorates of tfie People's Commissariat of Defense, and management personnel
of the military communications agencies.
The head of the Central Directorate of I~Iil~tary Co~nunications during the Civil
War was M. M. Arzfianov, a strong--~rilled and decisive military engineer witfi a
great deal of experience working in tr~~nsportation.
The heads af military communications of tfie Red Army in tfie 1920~s and 1930's
were, in order, V. I. Sergeyev, H. Ye. Barskiy, M. M. O1~sTianskiy, E. F. Agpoga,
A. Ye. Kryukov, and N. I. Trubetskoy.
Corps commander E. F. Appoga made a particularly important contribution to the
development of thQ m~:litary communi.cations serv~ce in tfie 1930`s. He devoted a
great deal of effort to improving tfie service and preparing for large-scale
military shipping. Under fiis. direction a theoretical investigation of the most
important proFilems of preparing and using transportation for military purposes
was begun.
A number of steps were taken in th~ second fialf of 1940 and until the start of
the Great Patriotic War to prepare communications routes and military commu-
nications units and agencies for wvrk in wartime. But many of tfi.e planned
projects had not been completed fiy June 1941.
The Great Patrioti.c War changed txansportation work greatly. The system was
transferred to a military footing very~quicklp.
Transportation work reached its fiighsst intensity during the battles of Moscow,
Stalingrad, and Kursk, during preparation for and conduct of tlie offensive oper-
ations in 1944-1945 (Beloruss.ian, East Prussian, Wisla--Oder, and Berlin), and
during the operation to crusfi tfie troops of imperialist Japan in 1945.
In the course of maneuvering operations transportation moved not only large
units, but entire army and front formations.
This demonstrates the high level of organization in the work of railroad workers
and military communications offi.cer under wartime conditions on rail sectors
that had ~just been reTiuilt.
In his tiook "Small Land" where he describes tfie events during the transfer of
the 18th Army to the Zhitomi.r axis in November 1943, Comrade L. T. Brezhnev
remarks on tfie rapid advance of the trains: "Tfie train c,rhich carried the Mili-
tary Council, army Iieadquarters, and political department left first. The
- trains carrying army units followed after it. Tfiey traveled quickly, stopping
only to cliange locomotives."8
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The Central Committee o~ tfie All Union Communist Party (Hols:fievik~, tfie State
Committee on Defense, and the mtlitarp command devoted e~ept~onally great at-
tention to transportation and military communications. In the first days of
the war A. A.Andreyev, secretary of tfie party Central Committee, provided
a great deal of fielp ir: tfie military communications work of the General Staff.
He solved complex problems and h,elped work out co~neration between the
Directorate of Military Communications a.nd governmental bodies in transporta-
tion commissariats. Tfie co~ittee fieaded by T. V. Stalin, formed in 1942 under
the State Committee for Defen~~ plap~ed a large role in organizing shipping.
The service was h.2aded by generals T. V. Koval~ev and V. I. Dmitriyev in 1941-
. 1945. Tfie following generals and officers worked knowledgeably in important
sectors: S. A. Andreyev, P. A. Sakulin, K. V. Vastl`yev, A. V. Vlasov, S. A.
Gasparyan, B. N. Goryainov, M. I. Grisfiin, V. F. DikusTiin, A. V. DoTiryakov,
F. I. Zelentsov, I. V. Kargin, T. G. KasFicfieyev-Semin, I. K. Kechedzhi, A. N.
Korolev, S. N. Kresik, A. A. Korsfiunov, S. M. Kostikov, A,> G. Mgvdeladze, V. P.
Medvedev, G. G. Moldavinov, M. V. OFipden, N. P. Pidorenko~ P. I. Pirogov, K. A.
Rassalov, P. I. Rumyantsev, V. V. Stoly~rov, Ye. V. Tulupov, S. V. Khvoshcfiev,
A. G. Chernyakov, Ya. I. Slichepennikov, and many others. Generals A. G
Chernyakov and S. V. Khvosfi.chev later headed the Central Directorate of Military
Communications of the USSR Ministry' of Defense.
Military communications officers frequentlyserved not only as organizers of
shipping but also as. the actual performers of plans under difficult conditions.
More than 7,O~Q persons were awarded arder.s and medals for outstanding per-
formance of mfilitary duty, courage, and valor.
In the work of reb.uilding railroads tiie most outstanding units of railroad
troops were tfiose comrnanded fiy tlie follooring generals and officers: V. A.
Golovko, I. A. Prosvirov, P. A. Kafianov, N. V. Sorisov, A. Ye. Kryukov, I. S. ~
hartenev, V. V. Bezvesil'nyy, A. P. S~mirnov, D. A. Lebedev, F. N. Doronin,
A. S. Dugin, V. P. Tisson, P. I. Bakarev, A. Ya. Kirichenko, P. I. Korshunov,
A. M. I~uznetsov, Sh. N. Zhilzhilasfivtli, D. A. TeryukI~ov, and otfiers.
The party and government valued the military feats and laiior valor of railroad
troop personnel in tiie Great Patriotic War very liighly: 28 servicemen were
given the lofty title of Hero of Socialist Labor and Sgt. V. P. Miroshnichenko
was made a Hero of the Soviet Union. P3ore tlian 35,000 servicemen were given
orders and medals.
The leadership and teachers of the Military Transportation Academy and the
Higher School of Milit~ry Communications, wfio trained Tiiglily skilled cadres,
made a significant contribution to victory over the enemy. .
The State Committee on Defense and tFie Headquarters, Supreme High Command,
devoted great attention to planning and using all types of transportation for
military purposes. Marshals of tfie S~oviet Union B. M. Sfiaporshnikov and A. M.
Vasilevskiy and generals of the army A. T. Antonov, S. M. Shtemenko, A. V.
:~;rulev, and N~ F. Vatutin did especially good work in management of military
sh~opi:ng and restoration of demolished transportation facilities.
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With the development of transportation ~i tl~e postwar period tfie military com-
munications service was also iinproved. Tfie questi:or.s of military transpor-
tation support to operations Tiegan to fie decided in a new way based on tlie
experience of the Great Patriotic War,
Ma.rshals of tfie Soviet Union V. D. Sokolovskip, I~I. V. Zakharov, and I. Kh.
Bagramyan and gener.als of tfie Armp S~. S. MaryakTiin and. S. K. Kurkotin devoted
constant attention to furtfier development and refinement of transportation sup-
port for tfie Soviet Armed Forces in tfie posttvar years.
_ The domestic transportation system overall witfistood serious tests. A high
level of organization and continuity~ of sfiipping was maintained and tlie system
- kept its mob.ility and survtval capaFiility tfirough. tfie joint efforts of. trans-
_ portation and military communications agencies.
It must be emphasized tfiat cooperation between mzlitary communications personnel
and transportacion workers gre~r even stronger durtng the war years.
, During tlie Great Patriotic War mili.tary communications agencies carrying out the
assignments of the General Staff and headquarters of Rear Services of the Red
Army cooperated closely in work ~rith.railroad troops~, the mos:or vehicle
road service, and representatives of tfie supplp directorates at tfie front and in
the Central Zone. Already tfien tlis ~rar experience had demonstrated that the
full volume of military sfiipping can ~e fiandled successfully only with integrated
and rational use of all forms of~transportation.
The idea of comprehensive preparation and use cf various types of transportation
is ncw universally recognized in tfie national economy as well.
During the Great Patrioti.c TnIar, tiie country~s transportation sy:~tem, using all
forms of transportation, pexformed a volume of sfiipping never before known in
history. The railroads alone fiandled 443,213 trains ~about 20 million cars)
carrying troops, weapons, comfiat equipment, and s-upplies. Yet in the first days
of the war tfie average daily load of troop~ and materiel was about 40 percent of
the total load on the entire USSR railroad spstem.
It should li.e noted tfiat 95 percent of shipping from tfie deep interior of the
= country to the rear Fioundary of tlie fronts was carried liy railroad transpor-
tation.
Water transportation delivered more than 4 million troops, more than 785,000
wounded and sick, 4,500 tanks, 10,Q00 field pieces, and 21 million tons of
materiel. Air transportation carried more tfian 2.7 million persons and more
than 300,000 tons of freight.
After the Great Patriotic War tliQ workers in all forms of transportation and the
military communications service tiad to solve the complex proBlems of restoring
_ and tiuilding up tlie capacittes of tTie country's transportation system. By the
heroic eff~rtr of the entire Soviet peaple, tfie prewar level of development of
- transportaiion was not only restored, Tiut al:~o signtficantly exceeded in a
short time.
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The development of military co~unications ~�as al~aps dire.ctly dependent on
the metliods of waging arar, improvements in tfis transportation spstem, and
qualitative and quantitative grov~tfi in transportatton equipment.
The proFalems of transportation support to tTie Armed Forces are much more
complex today. To solve th.em today requires integrated measures to improve
- the~co~tryTs ~et:`S-e transportation spstem, continued development and
rapid introduction of new means of transportation, and de�~eloping more powerful
means for constrsction and reconstruction of transportation facilities and for
the use of automated control sp~tems in transportation. Military communica-
tions personnel are working Iiard on tfiese problems in close cooperation with
transportation workers.
The military communications servi.ce of tfie Armed Forces celebrated its 60th
anniversary on 5 Marcti. 1978. In fiis greeting in fionor of the service's 60th
anniversary, Mar SU D. F. Ustinov, US~R Mintster of Defense, praised tbe ser-
vice highly, pointing out tfiat during ths pears of its existence the military
communications service fias played a s:igntficant part in supporting the life and
activittes of our Armed Forces and raising ~_heir crnnFat readines~. He observed
that the personnel of the service today are successfully performing the stepped-
up socialist otiligations they~adopted for uninterrupted transportation support
to the Sovtet Army and Navy.
FOOTNOTES
1. Lenin, V. I., "Poln. Sob.r. Socfi.." [Complete Works], Vol 34, p 155.
2. Ibid., Vol 38, p 4Q0.
3. Ibid., Vol 35, p 345.
4. Ibid., Vol 38, pp 248, 249.
5. "Ukhodili na Front Eshelony" jTFie Trains Departed for the Front], Moscow,
"Voyeni:zdat", 1974, p 8.
6. "Sovetskaya Voyennaya Entsiklopediya" jSoviet Military Encyclopedia],
Moscow, 1977, Vol 3, p 322.
7. "Zheleznodorozhnyye Voyska s 1851 po 1941 God" [Tfie P.ailroad Troops from
- 1851 to 1941], Mos.cow, "Voyenizdat", 1957, p 150.
8. Brezhnev, L. I., "Malaya Zemlya" [Small Land], Moscow, Politizdat, 1978,
p 41.
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_ Military Shipptng hy Rail Durtng tfie Fiar Years jpp 13-17]
I~uring the prewar five-year plan tFie communist party and Soviet people did a
~ grest deal of work on technical reconstruct~on and development of ratlroad
- transportation, equippi:ng it witfi advanced macfiinery, and introducing pro-
gressive forms of traction.
In a sfiort time a large numher of rail centers and marsfialling yards were fun-
damentally r~aconstructed, new~depots~ and car repatr points were built, the track
in the primary sectors was overhauled and ligfit rails were replaced with lieavier
ones, and new ratlroads were built.
By th~ end of 1940 the total lengtfi of tfie rail network reached 106,100 kilom-
eters. Tfie average daily load grew to 117,OOQ cars and freight turnover on the
railroads~ was 415 billion tons (~85.1 percent of tTie country's total freight
- turnover). Tlie fleet of steam locomotives and cars wa~~ improved. It included
28,000 steam locomot~ves~ and aFaout 878,500 railroad cars. Ttie total freight
capacity of tfie cars reached 19 million tons. The percentage of four-axle
cars increased. Tfie average gross weight of a freigfit train was 1,301 tons,
compared to 578 tons in 1913.1
Planned development and reconstruction of railroad transportation made it pos-
sible to establis~h a network of main sec:ors with uniformly good technical
equipment, figured for a standardized len,Qtfi (120 standard axles) and weight
(900 tons) for military trains (the f~gure was S50 tons in 1913).
The methods of organizing shipping were improved. A systemwide traffic
schedule and unified plan for form~ng tra3:ns were developed. Car flows were or-
ganized on tiie basis of tlirougfi shipping, and tecfini:cal planning and integrated
development of tfie carrying capac~ty of the ratlroads were introduced.
The reconstruction and technical re-eQutpping of railroad transportation fa-
cilitated furtfier consolidation af our country~s defense capability.
With the start of the war the flows of military trains moving toward the western
boundaries of the country and evacuation shipping traveling from threatened re-
gions near the front to tfie east increased sharplq. Tfiis demanded hard, un-
self ish work, flexiliility and resourcefulness in decision-making, and true
labor heroism from railroad workers and the military communications agencies.
- Not just at tlie start of the par but througfiout the entire Great Patriotic War
the employees of the railroads, military communications agencies, and railroad
troops, disregarding ttme and often going witTiout sleep or rest for several days,
insured timely loading of troops� and materiel, rapid travel to the front, and
_ quick clean-up after enemy aviation attacked railroad transportation facilities.
This labor enthusiasm, augmented Fay advances and successes in the development and
fundamental re-equipping of transportation, made it possible to emerge from the
diff iculties with honor and insure performance of the missions that arose from
the demands of tfie Communist Party and S~oviet Government with respect to defense
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of the socialtst fiomeland. This entfiusiasm o�as ~nvaluafile i:n achieving victory
over a powerful and treacfierous enemp.
The Great Patriotic tdar confirmed tliis: in full and sfiowed how important rail-
road transportati:on and military communications were in supporting the combat
operations of the S'oviet Armed Forces, wTio mauled tfie enormous Nazi war
machine. .
"Without good railroads," Mar SU G. R. Zfiukov wrote, "we would not have been
able to carry out the large operational sfiipments tfiat were comparatively fre-
quent during tfie war, or even to S~eep up uninterrupted supply of ma.teriel over
great distances~.i2
Each operation conducted Fy tfie Soviet Army during the last war deman~ed enor-
mous expenditure of personnel and materiel. More tTian 10 million tons of a~u-
nition was used during tTie Great Patriotic War, and 16 million tons of fuel
and lubricants.3 Tfie expenditure of otTier types of troop materiel also increased
imm~asurably. All tTiese tfiings~fiad to fie delivered to the front in a s~eady
supply at ttie rigfit time. No one form of transportation, no matter what its
capacities, could have tiandled tiiis enormous ~oFi of delivering everything that
the troops needed for life and for battle. Tlierefore, all forms of transpor-
tation were enlisted to perform tliis~ vast mission. In the troop and army rear
areas motor vefiicle transportation was most impor.tant, wfiile in the rear area
of the front railroads and motor vefiicle roads were used. Railroad shipping
played the most important and decisive role in sFiipping from the rear of the
country to tfie tfieater of military operations and sTiipping lietween fronts.
During tlie Great Patrioti:c War about 20 million cs,rs (more than 440,000 trains)
carrying troops, weapons, equipment, and mat~ri:el--technical supplies ~aere de-
livered from the rear of tfie country to the front by rai1.4
During World War I. about 6,000 cars (15~-170 trains) a day traveled on the rail-
roads of all the fronts. But during tI~e las-t war up to 6,000 cars were loaded
on front roads on snme days:just in preparation for the Kursk operation;s
this~is as many as were loaded on all front railroads in World War I.
During the Civil War and foreign military intervention between 1918 and 1921,
40,401 troop trains and about 10,000 transports carrying supplies (6,679 trains)
with an average of 40 cars in a train were shipped.6
The experience of the last war showed that in the hands of tlie military command
railroads were a cructal means. of strategtc maneuvering with personnel and
equipment. The transportation link between tfie rear of tlie country and the
theater of milttary operations was~accomplished mainly by rail.
The Soviet Armed Forces carried aut 55 strategic offensive and defensive opera-
tions in the Great Patriottc War. During the period of preparation for each
- strategic operation large shipments were carried out to,concentrate and regroup
troops, replace personnel losses, and restore stocks of comtiat equipment, wea-
pons, ammunttion, and otfier forms of materiel. All ttiis demanded especially
= intense work liy railroad transportation and tfie military communicat~ons service.
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Thus, during the period of tlie defensive fiattles: at Moscow in preparation
for tfie counteroffensive, 333,SOQ cars carrying troops and-militarp supplies were
delivered on the railroads runntng taward Moscoar~.~
Delivering the troops, equipment, ammunition, and otTier military supplies for
- the three fronts t~iat participated in the Battle of Stalingrad required about
- 250,877 cars.6
During preparation for tTie defensive operation and offensive at Kursk, more
than 313,000 cars were deltvered and unloaded under tfie centralized plan alone,
while tfie total volume of military sTiipping to support the Battle of Kursk was
467, 255 cars�. 9
The Belorussian operation requ~xed 44C1,000 cars.
To support the L~vov--Sandomiercz and Iassy~-Kishinev operations 240,000 cars
carrying troops and supplies were s~ipped.
During ehe period of preparation for tTie Berlin operation more than 192,000 cars
carrying military supplies were delivered to tfie railroads of Poland.
Major troop regroupings: ~ere carried out by rail during tfie war. For example,
it eook 894 train~ to move the troops of the Don Front from the Stalingrad
region to form the Central and Steppe fronts. In the fall of 1943 730 trains
were used to move the tr~ops of tfie Hrpansk Front to form tfie 2nd Baltic Front,l0
- an3 506 trains werF required to form tFie 2nd Belorussian Front in the spring of
1944. It took 860 trains to move tfie troops of tTie 4tTi Ukrainian Front from the
Crimea in the summer of 1944. Tfie regrouping of troops from tTie west to the Far
East in June August 1945 required about 1,700 trains.ll
Each strategic regrouping of forces by rail required ma3or organizational-
= technical measures to insure continuous performa.nce of these massive troop
transfers.
= During preparation for operations the agencies of military communications and
railroad administration had to cooperate in a precise, operational manner on
planning, organization, and conduct of tfie sliipping. Before the start of
shipping the large and complex joT of regulating rolling stock would be done to
insure an uninterrupted supply of tlie required number of boxcars, flatcars, and
steam locomotives to the loading roads. Loading and unloading areas for the
trains were prepared in advance. Front rail sectors and loading and unload-
ing regions~ had to he gi.ven air cover.
To insure secrecy of shipping train loadtng and travel c~as ordinarily done during
the hours of darkness:, w~iicti made operating conditions for the ratlroads much
more difftcult and requtred s~pecial precision in organtzing train traffic. To
avoid complications in tfie operation of the front railroads rigorous checks
were establtshed on timely loading of trains and removal of empty trains from
the unloading region.
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The times allotted to prepare railroad transportation for strategic troop re-
groupings were generally verp~ limited. Thsrefore everyth~ng possible was done
to see that tfie planning proces~ and ttme reQutred to transmit shipping assign-
ments to performers~ took as little time as possible. The method of planning
shipping estaTilisfied by tfie Central Directorate of I~Iilitary Communications long
before tlie war made it possible to lap out plans for slitpping any volume very
quickly. The operational sfiipping plan written at tfie Central Directoratp of
Military Communications was transmitted personally to the people's commissar
of railroads or G. V. Kovalev, fiis d~puty- in cfiarge of traffic. Before the
shipping plan was given to tfie People~s Commissariat of Railroads approximate
figures- on the planned shipment were communicated (number of rolling stock by
loading roads, tieginning of tfie sfitpment, and its pace). The Central Direc-
torate of Military Communications also gave the preliminary order to the
chiefs of troop movement on the loading roads and to the.cfiiefs of front and
district military communications concerning tfie beginning time and place of
shipping for eacfi particular uni.t.. Ttiis kind of preliminary ortentation of the
_ People's Commissariat of Railroads and military communications agencies in-
sured that shipping would begin at tfie time set Ty the military command.
It was very important to have constant ~nformation on progress in loading, train
travel, and unloading. Tlie military communications dispatcher service, which
was set up during tlie Ci:vil War and later refined, insured precise, operational
monitoring of tlie condition of eacli train at any time of the day or night.
Reports on operational sliipping were.sufimitted to the Central Directorate of
~ Military Communications and the front directorates~ of military communications
twice a day; for especially iinportant trains reports were made four times a day.
The positions of trains at the report hours were entered on a map of the rail
system, wfii:cfi gave a graphic picture of ttie location of the trains and, if
necessary, made it possitile to carry out shipping maneuvers.
Soviet troops moved forward to mezt tfie enemy, train after train.
~PP 73-75]
During the Great Patrioti.c War tlie S~oviet Armed Forces carried out 55 stra-
tegic offensive and defensive operations, each of which required enormous work
by the railroads, military communications agencies, railroad troops and specia~
formations of tlie People's Commissariat of Railroads.
An enormous amount of work was done liy the Headquarters of Rear Services of the
People's Commissariat of Def ense, tlie political agencies, the headquarters of
the arms of troops., the Central Directorate of Military Communications, and the
_ supply directorates to form and give material-teclin~cal support to reserve units
and operational formations. Tliis took place througfiout the war, but especially
in the initial period when 291 divi:stons and 94 brigades were transported to
the front before 1 Decemlier 1941, cfiiefly tiy railroad. Tfie commands of the mil-
itary districts, local party, S~oviet, trade union, and Komsomol organizations,
and the military commiss~ariars did a great deal of work to support these forma-
tions.
The Soviet command used railroad trans~ortation to coacentrate troops during
prepc~tration for and conduct of such operations as the Battle of Moscow, the
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Battle of Stalingrad, the Sattle on tfie Kursic Salient, tfie.operation to break
the Leningrad blockade, th2 Belorussiaa, East Prussian, CZisla-�Oder, B'erltn,
- anct Far Eastern operations, and manp others~..
In addition to moving troop:~ from deep within tTie countrp, tfie Sovi:et command
very often carried out significan~ troop regroupings Tip ratl. For.example,
after the fasctst troops were smasfied at gtalingrad (Februarp 1943), the forces
of the Don Front, some 900 trains, were moved to tfie central axis. The same
year the troops of tfie Hryansk Front mere transferred to the Velikiye Luki
region. Tfie shipment of troops bp rail from East Prussia and the region around
- Prague to tfie Transbaika.l and tfie Ear East, a distance of 4,000~-12,000 kilom-
eters, in tfie summer of 1945 was a verp important and difficult mission. The
pace of this sfiipping on t~i.e Transsiberian railroad reacfied as much as 30 troop
trains� a day. Tfiis ma~or transportation operati.on was carriea out successfully
on the w~iole.
- During the Great Patriot3:.c Flar man~~ sh~pping operattons were carried out by com-
bined rail, motor vehi.cle, and water transportation. Many divisions,corps,
and armies us~ed all forms~ of transportation broadly in different combinations,
whicfi greatly speeded up the concentrati:on of forces tn the chosen axis.
Tfie Soviet command successfullp.maneuvered witFi.troops which were en route in
the trains. ~
_ Operational s:fii:pping was carried out accordi:ng to plans and assignments from
mtlitary communications agencies: ~ollowing decis~ions of tiie General Headquarters,
wfiile shipping withtn fronts was-done according to decisions of the front head-
quarters. Experience with.planning operational sfitpping acquired duxing peace-
time was used extensivelp during tfie war.
The volume of operational shipping was 244,603 trains, wfiich was 55.2 percent of
the total volume.of militarp shipping.
Supply shipping occupi.ed a significant place tn the total volume of military
shipping, 198,610 trains or 44.8 percent.
Military communications personnel Iiad a very active part in organizing the evacu-
~ ation of sick and wounded By rail. A total of 5,338,350 persons (11,863 trains)
were evacuated.
The military communications servtce always took an active part ir~ evacuation
shipping of mili:tary plants~ and storage depots to the rear of the country and
helped railroad workers and ~hippers in tfie evacuation.
The rapid ~mprovement in technical equipment of tfie army and navy was reflected
in support for military shipptng and ~n i.ts volume. Shipments of special and
tecfinical troops increa~ed. Tfie need for open rolling stock, especially large-
capacity flatcars, increased greatlq..
The presence of fieavy combat equ~pment on the mi.lttary trains.forced the mili-
tary communtcat3:ons service and railroad workers to re--equip and prepare the
loading and unloading regions.
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The pers.onnel of front and ax~my~ mi'J.~tary~ communications agencies taok an
- active part in ~zorking out p1an~ to re~tore ~and bloekade~ railroads, provide
them witfi. teclinical eqnipment, and �clean up after enemp air attacks in order to
get trains moving tfirough. t~is ~ demol~sfied facilities Quicklp.
Military communi.cations agenci.es working togetTier with engineering troops did
a great deal of work to conceal troop movements and organize du~y (deceptive)
rail sfiipments.
FOOTNOTE~
1. "SSSR i.Zarufiezfinyye ~tranp posle PoFiedy Velikoy Oktyabr'skoy
Sotsialist~cfies:koy~ Revolyutsii. ~tatisticfieskiy Sfiornik'~ [The USSR and
Foreign Countries after the Victorp of the ~reat October Socialist Revolu-
tion. S~tatistics] , Moscoar, t~Statistika", 197Q, pp 105--104.
2. Antinenko, N. A., '~Na Glavnom Napravleniit~ (Tn tlie Main Axis], 2nd ed.,
Moscow, "Nauka~', 1981, p 1Q.
� 3. "Tyl Sovetskiky Vooruzhennykfi.Sil v Velikoy Otechestvennoy Voyne 1941-
1945 gg." [TFie Rear of Sov~et Armed Forces in tfie Great Patriotic War of
1941-1945], Moscow-, "Voyenizdatt', 1377, p 5.
4. "Voyennyye SooTasi~.cheniya za SQ Let�, j~ifty Years of Military Communica-
tions], Moscour, "Voyenizdat'~~ 1q67~ p 63.
5. "Tyl...~' op. cit., p 235.
6. "Voyennyye. Soobsficheniya..." op. cit., p 23.
7. "Tyl..." op. cit., p 230.
~ 8. Ibid., p 232.
9. Ibid., p 121.
10. "Voyennyye Soofisficheniya. op . ci.t pp 48, 43.
11. Ibid., p 49.
Railroad and Military Communications Troops Engaged in Building and Rebuilding
- Railroad Facilities tn the Front Regton [pp 76-77]
There is no otlier cas:e in world fi3:,storq where a country carried on restoration
and construction of railroads on sucfi. enormous scale concurrently with ma~or
strategic operations,.such as occurred in the USSR during the war. ~
In the prewar period questions of planning and development of the transporta-
- tion system in the tfieater of tnilitary operati.ons and preparation for, organi-
zation, and implementation of restoration and blockading work on railroad lines
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within the People's Commissariat of Defense were dixectly managed t~y the Direc-
torate of Military Communications of tfie General Fteadquarters of the Red Army.
The headquarters~ of the military d~strict and front fiad divisions of military
communications which were directly svbordinate to tlie cfiief of staff. For
- r.estoration, construction, operation, blockading, and technical support of -ai1-
roads used for military sTiipping tfiere were railroad troops subordinate to the
commander of ths dis~trict or front tlirougfi tfie chief of military communications.
In additton, in connection witli the broad scope of railroad construction in the
country, the Special Corps~ of Railroad Troops of tlie Worker-Peasant Red Army was
formed in 1132. Until 1941 3:t worked on reconstruction of existing rail lines
and construction of new ones on assigmnent from tfie People~s Commissariat of
Railroads. Tlie units� of tfie S~pecial Corps fiad 55,000 men at the start of the
war.l The total number of railroad troops at tfie start of the war was 97,100.2
The railroad unit sufiordinate to military dfstricts tiegan to be reorganized in
1941. The districts began forming detactied railroad brigades which included
road maintenance battalions, brtdge ~attalions, work mechanization battalions,
- op erations battalions, and tfie like.
By the start of ttie war 10 of tlie 13 existing railroad brigades were engaged in
building railroads in the western fiorder military districts (three in the Western
district, four in Kiev d3:s.trtct, and three in the~ Odessa district).
To slow down tfie enemy advance, the fighting men of tfie railroad troops and
military communications, wlio were retreating togetfier with combat units of the
Red Army, took steps to blockade the railroads. Tliey removed technical equip-
ment and dug up and mined tracks, bridges, and otfier structures.
There were no railroad units on tfie railroads of the Baltic region and many
~ railroad lines of the western oblasts at tTie start of the war, so blockading
was done cfiiefly by engineer and rifle units in the regions of their combat
operations. Demolition was focal in character and cfiiefly involved blowing up
large tiridges. Wbrking engines and most of tfie railroad cars from these lines
were withdrawn to the rear.
- Planned blockading work began to be done on a line from east of Narva,
Velikiye Luki, Orsha, and Mogilev witfi tfi e arrival of railroad units that had
been mobilized.
- There were many examples. of courage and heroism by personnel of the railroad
- troops and military communications doing blockading work during the Great
- Patrtotic War.
[p 124]
During the Great Patriotic War tfie rai.lroad troops and special formations of
the People's Commissariat of Railroads plus military communications agencies
improved tlie organization of construction and reconstruction work on railroad
lines and technical equipping for them. By tTie end of tfie war the level of
- technical equipment among railroad troops fiad increased substantially compared
= to early 1942: seven times for cranes, eight times for pile drivers, 11 times
for moliile power plants, four times for campressors, and five times for saw
frames.3
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Ry early 1944 the numher of rai~road troops Iiad increased to 253,Q~Q, by war's
- end it was 272,OOQ.~' All this facili.tated an increase.in tiie rate o~ railroad
reconstruction. Tlius, wfiereas tfie pace of reconstruction in tfie winter of 1941~
- 1942 was just 3.6 kilometers, 3:n 1943 it was already five kilometers, in 1944 -
seven kilometers and in 1945 eiglit kilometers a day. Tn certain operations the
rate of reconstruction of railroads reacfied 15-20 kilometers a day and more.
Along with increasing the pace of restoration of rail lines the quality of re-
- construction work improved. Thus, tlie proportion of restored rail sectors in
- USSR territory that received "outstanding" evaluations wfien turned over for use
rose from five percent i:n 1943 to 50 percent in 1945.5
During the war years tFie railroad troops and special formations of the People'~
Commissariat of Railroads with.the vigorous Tielp of military communications
agencies and the local population, restored and put back in working condition
~ about 120,000 kilometers of railroad track between Decemtier 1941 and war's end.
In addition they built and reFuilt 2,756 large and medium sized liridges with a
total lengtli of 242q143 running meters, more tfian 13,000 bridges and culverts,
46 tunnels (23,23Q running meters}, 2,348 water supply stations, and more than
729,000 kilometers of railroad communications wire. Railroad units explored and
removed mines from more tlian 18a,000 kilometers of railroad track, 19,947 bridges
and other manmade structures, and more than 13,000 railroad stations and centers.
The combat engineers of the railroad troops disarmed and destroyed more i:han
1,293,600 mines and liigh explos~tve shells, about 60,G00 unexploded aerial bombs,
and almost 1 million artillery s:fiells.6
FOOTNOTE~
1. Kabanov, P. A., "Stal~nyye Peregony" [Steel Runs�], Moscow, "Voyenizdat",
- 1973, p 58.
2. "Tyl Sovetskiky Vooruzfiennykh Sil v Velikoy Otecfiestvennoy Voyne 1941-1945
gg." [The Rear of the S~oviet Ground Forces in the Great Patriotic War of
1941-1945], p 52.
3. Ibid., pp 242, 243.
4. Terekhin, K. P. et al., "Voiny StalTnykh Magistraley" [Fighting Men of the
Steel Roads], p 179.
5. ZHELEZNODOROZHNYY TRANSPORT, 1948, No 7, p 17.
6. "Tyl...," op. cit., p 243.
The Operation of Railroads in the Front and tfie Near-Front Zone [pp 125-128]
With the start of the Great Patriotic War an extremely difficult situation was
_ created in USSR railroad transportation. It was~ a result of the fast-changing
operational situation on the fronts, the tncreased volume of military shipping,
and the vigorous actions of enemy aviation.
- .
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During the prewar period the Communi:st Party and Soviet Govermnent had de~oted
considerable attention to improving tFie. tecTinical level of tfie railroads and
streamlining their work. The fleet of Iocomotives was updated, witfi series E
and SU steam locomotives replaced by series FD and SO steam engines which were
twice as powerful. Ttxe fleet of four-~axle cars was enlarged, and automatic
coupling was~ introduced. Aeavy--duty~ rails were laid on tfie main trunk roads.
Major cfianges took place in tFie organization of railroad operations. There was
a systemwide train traffic scIiedule and a unitarp plan for forming trains.
Cadre training received considerafile attention. Reorganization of the railroad
system was accompanied by the development of socialist competition and intro-
duction of progressive labor metTiods. All tfiese tfiings created tfie foundation
for successful work by the railroads during tfie war pears.
Witfi the start of tfie Great Patriotic CJar railroad operating conditions changed
abruptly. Tfie flow of trains increased steadily and the routes changed. The
volumes and urgency of shipping increased. Tfie administrative boundaries of the
operati:ng section~ were altered. Management of operations work was often done
by agencies operating temporarily in tfie particular section, unlike the peace-
time situatton. Most of tfie railroad workers and mil.itary communications offi-
_ cers, especially those called up from tfie reserves, had not fiad the initial
- period of experience and were inadequately prepared for work under such condi-
tions.
In tfie difficult military s.i..cuation military communications agencies became more
responsilile not only for organizing and carrying out military shipping, but also
for the quality of railroad operations, particularlp in tfie zones of action of
the fronts. Military communications personnel took an active part in organiz-
ing train traffic on retiuilt railroads. Military communications officers had
to be liighly practical, flexible, inventive in decision~making, and firm and
persistent in carrying out decis~ions. Tfiis made heightened demands for the level
of technical training, organizational capabilities, and moral-volitional quali-
ties of military communications~ personnel.
_ The war did not change the hasic principles of organizing railroad operations.
Centralization of the management of operations work, planning, a high level of
labor discipline, and broad initiative fiy railroad workers in local areas to per-
- form their production assignments were effective throughout the entire war, both
in the rear and on front railroads~.
Planning time for railroad techni:cal work changed. Beginning in the second half
of 1941 tfie tecfinical plan was compiled semimonthly and T~y 10--day periods, in-
stead of montfily. The work indicators of the road were reviewed each month and
adjusted depending on tlie situation. Tfie front roads worked on the basis of oper-
ational assignments.l
On the front railroads, unlike tfie situation with roads in the rear~ work plans
began to be compiled at traffic service divisions~ not road administrations.
On the basis of the demands of the military commandants of rail sectors and the
chiefs of directorates of military restoration work, tFie section chiefs would
draw up plans for train and freig~it work over the next 24 hours and give them to
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the road management. The road management and the chief of troop movement wrote
up a systemwide daily plan.2
The temporary loss of tfi~ Donets Fas~n and failure to restore the T4oscow coal
basin completely led to an acute sfiortage of fuel. Fuel pro~lems slowed down the
trains at centers and led to a reduction in switcfiing work. It was necessary to
resort to extreme measures: to sfiut down tfie steam engines.
- The military co~nand helped tfie railroads look for and deliver fuel to coal
storage faciltties. Wfien BakTimacTi.and Prilulci stations ran out of coal reserves
to supply to steam engines in August 1943, tfie coal was found at an inoperative
- sugar plant and delivered to tlie railroad~s storage area by trucks belonging
to the front. In ti:Q fall of 1444, on assignment from tlie command of the lst
Belorussian front, pers~onnel of railroad and veTiicle troops prepared and deliver-
ed 540,000 cubic meters of wood ~or tfie Kovel'skaya and Brest-Litovsk railroads.
By decision of the State Committee on Defense coal train traffic was speeded up
to overcome fuel difficulties on tfie railroads. The roads established minimum
supplies of fuel. S~ome railroads sucFi as the Gor'k.iy, Northern Yaroslavl', and
- Octo6er lines were partially switctied to Fieating the locomotives with wood.4
A movement to conserve coal developed on tfie inttiative of the locomotive �
engineer.s. Coal suhstitutes hegan to be used, in particular a coal mixture.
The normative carrying capacity, esta~lisfied by technical specifications for
the first pfiase of restoration, was 12 pairs of trains per day on a single-track
line. This goal was not always met. Sometimes tfie traffic capacity of road
sectors turned over for operation was just 6-8 pairs of trains.
Some rebuilt sectors were not accepted for use because of nu~erous flaws (ttiie
second track af tfie sector from ~molensk to Krasnyy Bor in the spring of 1144).5
On occasion a sector that fiad already Tieen adopted for use would be shut down
again because of its unsatisf;~.etory condition. For example, two days after com-
pletion of restoration of the Zhitomir Korosten' sector traffic had to be
stopt~ed to take care of flaws.
These cases were minimized where representatives of military communications
agencies exercised high standards in accepting rebuilt facilities for permanent
use. An exceptionally difficult situation developed on the railroads because of
failure to fulfill plans for the regulation of rolling stock. For example, in
January 1944 the working fleet of cars on the Southwestern Railroad was three
times the estatilished norm. As a result, the speed of travel of military trains
declined to 90 kilometers a day, wfiile for supply transports it was much lower.
A group of officials~from the Central Directorate of Military Communications
and the People~s Commissariat of Railroads was sent out to fix up the situation
on the road. Once in the local area tfie commission took steps to speed up train
passage through the Kievi center, to encourage restoration work, to intensify
unloading work, and so on.
The situation was practically identical in April-June 1944 on the Western
Railroad. The pace of unloading transports fell behind the pace of their ar-
rival at the unloading regions, and the difficulty of forming r_rains from
empty cars complying witfi tfie requirements for car selection by type caused
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large numbers of empty cars to accumulate.. At tfiis time.an average of 210--295
trains (8,400-14,800 cars) per 1Q-dap~period were. arriying on the road, wfiile
163-235 trains C8,100--12,70~ cars} were released from tfie road.
The station tracks were overloaded witfi_empty cars. Tfie road~s. dork indt.cato.rs
began declining. Wliile norms. for operating speed ~vere ma~nly fulfilled (the
norm was 24.6 Tcilometers an hour and performance ranged from 22 to 28 kilom-
eters an fiour), sector speeds; were regularly below established norms.6 The
no-m was ~4.4 kilometers an fiour, fint actual performance was 10.4-12.5 kilom-
etrers :~n hour.
Thrc~ugfi constant concern on tfie part of party, state, and economic Tiodies so-
cialist competition was deVeloped and support provided for all progressive
initiatives by railroad workers to overcome tfie problems in work. The Ukase of
the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Sovi:et on 15 April 1943 instituted martial
law on railroads was very important for strengthening discipline in transporta-
tion and raising tfie preciston of railroad work. All tlie workers and employees
of tfie railroa~~ were declared mofiilized for tfie period of the war and assigned
to work in transportation.
On 25 April 1943 thP Sovnarkom ratified a new Statute on Discipline for Workers
and Employees of tTie USSR Railroad Transportation. Extensive party political
work to explain tfie new Statute produced positive results very quickly.~
[p 162)
Experience wi.th the operation of railroads in areas lifierated f rom the enemy,
especially abroad, demonstrated thQ great efficiency of assigning mobile forma-
tions to the fronts: VEO*s [exFansion unknown]~ steam locomotive columns from
the special reserves of the People~s Commissariat of Ra~lroads, and repair
trains. Their composition and equipment made it possitile to organize train
traffic quickly in sectors whicfi did not fiave operations organizations.
The transshipment areas which were organized at points where railroads with dif-
ferent track widths intersected played an important part in using Western
European railron:~s for military sfiipping.
Our allies in the anti-Hitler coalition had high prais.e for our successful use
of railroads during the Great Patriotic War, "We should note the outstanding
use of railroads by the Russians. Using railroads tfie Russians carried out
strategic concentrations and transfers of one or several armies in unbelievably
short periods of time. Using railroad transportation tlie Russians were able to
stun the German command, because sucfi speed of sTiipment by rail was completely
outside their experience.r8
The railroad transportation and military communications agencies successfully
handled tfiei: missions of insuring operation of railroacis in the front zone
and near tfi~a fronts during the.war years.
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FOOTNOTES~
1. Kovalev, I. V,, "Transport v ReshayusFicfiikli_ Operatsipakfi Velikop
Otechestvennoy Voynp" [Transportat~on ~n tfis Decisive Operati.ons of the
Great Patriotic War], p 13.
2. Povorozlienko, V. V., '~Organizats~a Dvizheniya Poyezdov na Prifrontovykh
Dorogakh" [Tfie Organization of Train Traffic on Ratlroads Near the Front],
Moscow, "TranszFieldorizdatH, 1943, pp 2Q, 21.
3. Antinenko, N. A., "Na Glavnom Napravlenii," op. cit., p 201.
4. "Uktiodili na Front Eshelonp", op. cit., p 182.
5. "Arkhiv MO" [Archives of tfi.e Min~stry of Defense], Fund 241~ Inventory 2611,
File 5, Sfieet 5.
- 6. Ibid., File 2Q, Slieet 241.
7. Kuma.nev, G. A., "Na Sluzlib e Fronta i Tyla" [Serving tfie Front and the Rear],
p 223.
8. "Voyennyye S~ootislicfieniya za 50 Let", op. cit., pp 58-59.
Military Sfiipment by Waterway jpp 163-1C4)
Water transportation was used extensiv~ely during the Great Patriotic War for
military transport suppart of comfiat operatioris for tran,sporting troops, march
replaceme�cs, and military~ supplies from tiiP rear of tfie country, and for
medical evacuation. River ship s were used on a firoad scale to organize ferry
and liridge crossings in support of operations ~y Soviet troops. In addition,
water transportation was used to evacuate tfie sick and wounded, storehouses,
industrial enterprises, and population. River and maritime transportation
played an important part in maintaining shipping for the cities of Odessa,
Sevastopol', Leningrad, Stalingrad, Novorossiysk, and Kercti'.
The transportation work of maritime and river transportation workers, navy men,
and personnel of the military and naval communications service was performed in
a difficult operational situation requiring maximum exertion of efforts of will,
initiative, and courage.
The planning, organization, and support of military shipping on sea and river
lanes during the Great Patriotic War fiad its own ciiaracteristic features in each
basin. The maritime and river fleet ~as used most fully tn those cases where
water routes were the only means of communication,
At the start of the GreaL Patriotic Glar the length of usable internal waterways
was 107,300 kilometers. River transportation had 3,494 self-propelled ships
and 5,866 non-self-propelled ships. Maritime transportation had also developed.
Its fleet consisted of 530 s~liips witli a total load capacit}� of 1.47 million tons,
including 89 oil tankers witfi a load capacity of 356,200 tons.
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The Central Commi.ttee of the Communi~t PartZr of thQ S'ovi.et Union and tfie Soviet
Government devoted great attentton to tTie development of marittine and river
- transportation. Despite constderatile. upgrading of tfie flee.t, i.t still had ships
which were 50 years old and more.
Shore facilities developed significantly~ along with the fleet~ River transpor-
tation had 5,800 ports and docks:, and new~ ports were Tiuilt. Tlie large ports
were equipped with 1,600 uni.ts of cargo-~iandling macfiinery wTiicTi did 47 percent
of the loadtng and unloading work.l
The port system.of maritime transportation developed significantly. Major
ports sucli as Leningrad, R3:ga, Odess~a, Novorossiysk, Baku, Batumi, Arkhangel'sk,
Murmansk, Vladivos-tok., and others arere equipped wttTi loading-unloading machinery.
But maritime and river transportation Tiad very few ships designed for carryiiig
heavy machinery. Tfiere was a sfiortage of movalile equipment to use to adapt
freighters for carrying personnel, and tfisre were not enough fieavy-duty cranes to
handle tanks at seaports.
The line organizations of military communications in water transportation were
formed by late 1937 b.y tfie People~s Commissari.at of the Navy. Tfiey were direc-
torates of the cfifefs of miliiary transportation service of tfie maritime steam-
ship companies sub.ordinate to tFie chief of naval co~unications.
Directorates of the cFiiefs of troop movements were not formed on internal water-
ways until just before the war, wiien tfiep were established for the following
basins: Volga-Kama, WPstern, Moscow~Volga, Nortfiern, and Northwestern. The
line agencies of military communications on internal waterways, with the excep-
tion of the Nortiiwestern and Amur basins, were included in the composition of
the military communicattons agencies of tfie People's Commissariat of Defense,
while the two exceptions mentioned above were subordinate to the People's
Commissariat of the Navy. The organization of military communications service
in water transportation did not meet defense needs. During the war these
agencies of military communications were not formed until much later than they
were needed (for example on the Dnepr and Don).
The Statute on tfie Chief of Troop Movements in Water Transportation was ratified
on 9 Octolier 1940, and in early 1942 the Statute on Line Military Communications
Agencies and River Trans.portation (for Aartime) was ratified.
With the initiation of military operations all work by river transportation to
~ carry out the orders of the Central Directorate of Military Communicatior.s and
the Main Naval Headquarters was monitored by the dtrectorates of the chiefs of
roop ovements� in the river basins. During the 1942 shipping season there were
_ 13 directorates of military commandants of water regions and ports in the central
river basin.
[pp 208-209]
In a short survey it is difficult to cover the full range of work related to
- planning, organization, and performance of military shipping by water during
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the last war. gut tfie figures tfiat have fieen g~ven sfiow tfiat the river,
lake, and maritime fleets were. verp important in transportation support of
maj or operations (in tlie defense. of Odessa and S~e~astopol tTie Battle of
Stalingrad, tfie defense of Leningrad, and elsew~i~re), in mass troop transfers
- and sliipptng strategic cargo suc~i.as petroleum, and in organizing crossings
over major water ways.
In the preparatton and ~rork.of tfi~ river, ].ake, and maritime fleets under war-
ttme conditions tTiere were Fiatfi.po~itive and negative aspects (lack of pre-
- paredness for tiie war in tfie so-called rear steamsfiip companies, failure to
adapt the fleet - especiallp repair sfiips, to carry heavy militarq equipment,
delay.in deciding tfie question of com~at support for troop shipments by water,
lack of preparedness to comB.at tfie danger of mines, failure to find operational
solutions to organizational questions of military communications in water trans-
portation, failure to develop steps during prewar times for rebuilding trans-
- portation facilities, including tfie organization of sliip fioisting work and so
on). All these shortcomings were.overcome for tfie most part during the war.
The actual work of military sfiipping was done Tiy tTie personnel of the river and
maritime fleets, but siiip personnel fiad a special role. The crews o~ many ships
who performed assignments for tFie command demonstrated exceptional diligence,
courageousness, fieroism, fearlessness, and devotion to their socialist home-
land. The fleet~ and flotillas took on a large sfiare of tfie military labor of
supporting and carrying out military sfiipments by water.
The personnel of military and naval communications agencies did an enormous
amount of work in water trans.portation during tfi.e Great Patriotic War. They
were a fairly s.mall detacFiment, for the most part Tiighly skilled specialists
in preparation and use of water transportation for military purposes. Tfiey
were people who knew mtlttary affatrs, were devoted to tfietr native land, and
performed their duty to tfie end lieroically, sometimes giving their lives. Under
extremely difficult condi:tions they planned and carried out significant m3:litary
shipping by water, participated in restoration of port and dock facilities,
ships, and waterways, and solved many problems tliat arose during the Great
- Patriotic War.
FOOTNOTE~
1. "Transport i Svyazt SSSR" jUSSR Transportation and Communications], Moscow,
"Statizdat", 1957, p 143.
Air Defense of Railroads and Combat ~upport for Military Shipping [pp 210-211]
During preparation for its: attack on tfie Soviet Union, the Nazi command envi-
sioned massed strikes against our country's ~ransportation arteries, especially
trunk railroads, as one of the foremost missions. Tlie Barbarossa plan pointed
out that Russian railroads and communications routes would have to be cut off
or knocked out, dependtng on tfieir significance for tfie operation.
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Railroad transportation found i.tsel~ in a difficult situation as a reault of
- the sudden enemy attack. Taking advantage of temporarp atr supremacy, the
fascist command tried to paralyze tfi~. work of our railroads in the front zone
and near tfie front.
On the first day of tfie war enemy aircraft carried out massed attacks on ttie
border railroads. Strikes were deliver~d chiefly ~gainst major rail centers,
stations, and Fridges.
In the following days tfie intensity~and scale of attacks ~y German fascist
- aviation on Tiorder railroads grear. During 22 and 23 June 1941 more than 100
railroad structures in tfie western part of tfie country were destroyed by enemy
bombing and artillery slielling.l
Enemy aviation operated on a Firoad front from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea
and subjected railroad faciliti.es to a deptTi of 350-400 kilometers to intensive
bomFiing.2 In certain montfis of 1941~more tfian 20 railroads were in the sphere
of enemy air action at one time.
Between June and Decemfier 1441 fascist aviation carried out 5,939 air attacks
against railroads and dropped more tfian 46,OQ0 aerial bom~is.3
_ At the outset of tfie second day of tfie war our country~s air defense was de-
. ployed primarily to repuls~e an ae.rial enemy at a deptii of 500-600 kilometers.`'
- Units of horder zone air defense ware forced, wfiile protecting targets, to wage
battle against advancing enemy ground ~orces at the same time. Antiaircraft
artillery was enlisted to repulse tank attack.s, and antiaircraft machine gun
units were turned against enemy infantry. Nonetheless, it was possible to pro-
- tect most of the important sectors of railroad and fiighway and ma~or bridges
and crossings. Tfiey functioned withDUt prolonged interruptions until the Soviet
forces had withdrawn from the regions tfiey were defending.
The special resolution of tfie State Committee on Defense of 2 September 1941
entitled "Steps Toward Air Defense of Rail Centers, Bridges, and Transports"
played an exceptionally important part in improving tTie defense of communica-
- tions lines. Tfie resolution outlined specific steps to organize the air defense
of key railroad facilities in the Soviet Union.
An extensive air defense system including antiaircraft weapons (artillery,
machine guns, and antiatrcraft armored tra3:ns), fighter aviation, and anti-
aircraft macfiine gun platoons, followed later Tay antiaircraft-mar_hine gun-
cannon platoons~, was created to protect railroad sectors, centers, bridges~
tunnels, front regulting stations, supply stations, troop loading and unloading
regions, and other important rail facilities agatnst enemy aviation from the
first days of tfie war.
[pp 233-239]
Until the Great Patriotic War railroads o~ere guarded by rifle guards of the
People's Commissariats of Railroads and NKVD [People~s Commissariat of Internal
_ Affairs] troops.
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WitTi the start of tha ~rar tTie pxotection of all key~ railroad �acilities. was
- turned over to NKVD troops, w~ich guarded-more.tfian 4,10~ ratlroad trans-
portation sites.s In some cases railroad militta was enlisted for security.
In leading sectors of tFie fronts~ railroad uni.ts guarded important~manmade
atructures until tfie arrivai of NKVD subunits.
Railroad facilities in tfie deep rear were guarded Fip the paramilitary guard
of tfie People~s Commissariat of Railroads.
The number of NKVD units allocated to guard th.e railroads of a front depended
~ on the operational situation, tFie length.of tfie lines, tfie number of sites being
guarded, and the number of units availafile to tfie command.
Tfie average density of guards was 2-3 persons for two kilometers of track (it is
interesting to note tfiat German fascist troops assigned 9-12 persons per one
kilometer of track~.
The number of railroad si.tes to Fie guarded and tlieir names were determined by the
central commission and tfie interdepartmental road commission ~hich included rep-
resentatives of tfi~ Peoplets Commissariat of Railroads, milttary communications
agencies, tfie NKGB jPeople~s Commissariat of State Security], and NKVD troops
assigned to guard tfie particular ob~ects.
In the difficult year of 1941 alone NKVD units and subunits guarding and de-
fending tiridges and rail sectors wiped out more tfian 26,000 enemy soldiers and
officers, 40 aircraft, 150 tanks and armored vefiicles~ and 77 field guns of
various cali6ers.6 The territorial and transportation agencies of tfie NKVD
and NKGB, tfie border troops, and tfie internal troops of the NKVD of the western
districts provided reliable protection and defense for tfie rear of the active
Sqviet Army. Tfiere were especially fiot and bloody battles in the first days of
the war for laridges and crossings and rail centers and lines in the border
regions.
The three squads of tfie 8th Security Detachment, headed Fiy Sr Lt P. K.
Starovoytov held the railroad tiri.dge across tfie Western Bug F3ver in the Brest
region for four fiours. The fascists attacked tlie bridge tfiree times, but each
time were rolled back. Thep poured artillerp fire onto the T~order guards from
two armored trains that were shooting across the river and they fiurled mortars
at them. Then the enemy tanks moved in. Almost all the defenders of the bridge
_ perished.~
The battle for tfie railroad hridge across the San River at Peremyshl' was espe-
cially bitter and stuFib:orn. Ths firidge was attacked by two enemp companies at
the same time, witfi artillery support; the bridge was defended by small groups
of Chekists fro~a the tiridge security garrison and border guards headed by
deputy chief of tlie 14tfi Security Detacfiment Lt P. Necfiayev. The enemy took no
account of losses in fiis attempt to seize the Firidge. The defenders of the
bridge fought witfiout fear for their lives. Wfien new groups of border guards
_ came up fram the reserves the attacks were driven off.8
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The fightin~ for the railroad bridge across tflQ Prut Ri.ver in th~ Kagul axis,
in the sector of tfie 5th ~ecurity Detacfiment of tfiQ 25tfi. Kagul Sorder Detach--
ment of Moldavia, went on for two days.. On 23 ,Tune 1941 tfie detachment re--
ceived an order to blow up tfie firidge.. It was~ s~.ized and Filown up by a 13-~man
~roup led tiy S~r Lt A. K. Konstantinov, assistant cfiief of staff of the ~iorder
comandant~s office. One part of tfiQ group performed tfie ~isston of seizing
- the bridge, while t~ie second did tfie demolition work, and tfie tTiird provided
comtiat security. While an assault group d~stracted tfie eneiuy tfie combat
engineers placed explosives under the ~ridge supports. Tlie explosion rang out.
But the bridge was only damaged. On 24 June tfie operation fiad to be repeated
with a larger group. Tfie 1i.ridge flew into tfie air at 2200.
Our country valued the feat of tfie Kagul soldiers highly. Three of them, in-
cluding A. K. Konstantinov, were given tTie title Aero of tfie ~oviet Union and the
others who fought in the battle received orders and medals. 9
Fortresses on wheels is wTiat armored trains were called c~uring tfie war. The
armored trains of tlie lst Division of NRVD troops assigned to guard especially
important railroad structures took part in the fighting at Novograd Volynskiy,
Zhitomir, in tfie Selotserkov axis, and many otfier trunk lines of tTie South-
western front.
Armored train BP-56 especially distingui.sfied itself. It was covering the with-
drawal of ourunits in the. Novograd--Volynskiy region and found itself cut off
from friendly troops. Fas~cist infantry with artillery and tanks appeared on the
railroad crossings along tfie line from Novograd~Volynskiy to Korosten~ on 6 July
1941 and knocked out tfie train~s patfi of withdra.:~l. Tfiere were or~ly two things
to do: either blow up tfie train or repair the track under constant enemy fire
_ and fight tfirougfi to Kiev. Tfie second plan was adopted. Afte~c repairing the
damage and wiping out tlie guns- and armored vehicles tfiat blocked its gath, the
armored train hroke tfirough tfie enemy battle formations and arrived in Kiev on
11 July 1941.
The armored train was gi.ven the mission of guarding and defending the railroad
line from Kiev to Teterev, preventing the German offensive from enveloping the
Kiev Fortifted Region. The figfiting men of tlie train together with a ground
security detachment discovered and disarmed the fascist spotters who were cor-
recting the actions of the German Bombers and tfien repulsed attac~CS by enemy
aviation with antiaircraft fire. On 12 July 1941 the train was sent to Borodyanka
station (50 kilometers nortliwest of Kiev) with ttie mission of helping our units
stop enemy attempts to Gut tfie trunk line from Kiev to Korosten'. Waging battle
against enemy artillery and tanks, tfie armored train with tt~e cooperation of
infantry and tlie figfiting men of a ra3:lroad battalion thwarted tfie enemy attempt
to cut the rail line.
On 14 July 1941 BP-56 repulsed several attacks liy fascist aviation in the
Borodyanka sector and again fough.t against enemy tanks.l0
At the same time BP-A of the railroad mtlitia in cooperation with fighting men
of the destroyer hattalion of the ICiev railroad region and units of the Kiev
Fortified Region, ~ieat back attacks by tanks attempting to take Vorzel' station
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and damaged the railroad track neax tfiE firi.dge across tfia ~rpen~ River arhere
the line of defense ran.ll
Armored train No 73 distinguisFied itself on tfi.e approacfi.es to Moscow, It entered
the Fiattle against tfie enemy in Helorussia in tfie first days of tfie war, and
then later fougfit at Leningrad. Tn August 1941 it defended a sector of the
October Railroad 5et,ween Gryady and VolkFiovo stations.
On 21 Novemtier 19.41 armored train No 73 arrived to def end the capi.tal. It was
assigned to guard and de.fend tfie rail sector from Yakfiroma to Dmitrov. The
guns of the train Waged fire against eneTny tanks, field guns, and mortars while
its ma.cfiine guns were used against infantry. Dur.ing tfie war armored train
No 73 also fougTit at Stalingrad and in th.e liberation of tfie Western Ukraine.
Througfiout tfie war in many rail centers, stations, and sectors armored trains
were assigned to guard and defend tfiem against ground attacks by the enemy.
In the second fialf of 1944 tFie anti.aircraft~macfiine gun--cannon platoons were
also assigned to defend trains against attack Fy sabotage gangs. These pla-
toons were equipped wi_tfi. macfiine guns. Tnounted on the train for firing at ground
targets, automatic weapons, and grenades for tfie f~gfit against tiandits on the
L'vov, Kovel~, Kisfiinev,Belostok, and Brest--Litovsk railroads.
The personnel of antiaircraft machine gun--cannon platoon No 360, which was es-
corting military fiospital train No 1131 wfi.en it was sub~ected to attack by
enemy automatic riflemen, demon~trated great lieroism and steadfastness.
Despite the fact tFiat the platoon lost almost one-quarter of its personnel, they
drove back the enemy riflemen.
During tlie summer-fall offensive of 1444 guarding and defending the rear of
the active army ~ecame especially important, especially in the western oblasts
of the Ukraine, Beloruss~a, and the Haltic region. Nazi agents organized sub-
versive activity tiy bourgeois-nationalist gangs in an attempt to disrupt the
life that was lieing reorganized in tfie liFerate3 regions. Tlierefore the Soviet
command took steps to T~olster the security of the railroads and motor vehicle
roads, bridges, communications lines, and other facilities~.
The 12th Detached Air Defense Battalion especially distinguished itself in the
fight against bandits. It lieat off 16 attacks by them against trains and trans-
ports it was escorting on the L''vov Railroad. The battalion killed 72 of the
bandits and took 175 prisoner. In the course of tfie entire war the anti-
aircraft-machine gun-cannon plaComn repulsed 63 attacks by enemy saboteurs and
other groups.
With the entry of the Sovi:et Army onto the terrttory of neighboring countries
in the second tialf of 1~44 tTie mission of guarding tfie rear took on new, di�-

~ ferent features. On 18 DecemFier 1944 tfie State Committee on Defense adopted
the decree entitled "Guarding the Rear and Communications Lines of the Active
~ Red A.rmy in tfi~ Territory of East Prussia, Poland, Czecfioslovakia, Hungary, and
~ Romania." This resolution ordered the People`s Commissariat of Defense to form
six divisions of 5,000 men apiece and turn tfiem over to tfie NKVD. Tliree of them
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began performing tlieir missions during tfi~ C~isla--Oder and East Prus~si:an
strategic operations in East Prussia, Poland, and Czeclio~lovakia. In tfie
second half of February 1945 three more divisions hegan combat activi:ties in
Romania and Hungary. Tfiey reliaFily supported the securitp- of tfie front rear
and communications lines of tfie active armX.12
- ConGideralile attention was also given to ground secur~.ty and defense of tt~e
- railroads of the Far East and tfieix principal sites. Armored trains and anti~
- aircraft armored train~ were used in addi.tion to NKVD uni.ts. Tfie security~ and
defense of important sites was assigned to tfie border troops.l3
,
Because the NKVD troops did not fiave a trained reserve~ tfie security of
_ Manchurian railroads lifierated from the enemy was organized by the front com-
mands. To do this eacli army ass.igned rifle uni.ts within its own rear region
and their p erformance was monitored by military communications agencies. Tfie
2nd Red Banner Army of the 2nd Far Eastern Front, for example, assigned 400 men
to guard railroads at tfie disposal of military communications agencies.l4
According to a decision of the Mili.tary Council of the Front, units of the 215th,
68th, and 97tTi rifle divisions of the Sth.Army of the lst Far Eastern Front
were enlisted to guard tfie Kirin Railroad.
' In addition, the cliiefs of army military cornmunications were also given platoons
~ from reserve regiments. They were used to guard and escort trains from army
bases to unloading stations.
The security of stations, bridges, water pumps, and sectors was provided Tay
garrisons. Tfie commanders of large rifle uni.ts distributed units at security
sites according to requests from military communi.cations agencies, whicfi moni~ .
tored the security of the railroads.
- The local populatfon was used to guard little-used railroad sectors in
Manchuria. In this case security was organized and monitored by militarp com-
munications agencies.
Military trains in assemb.ly areas, at loading--unloading stations, and en route
provided air defense and ground securi:ty with tfieir own T/0 means.
In the final stage of the war a significant share.of tfia National Air Defense
Forces, which were deployed in tfie rear of combined arms fronts, were used to
cover communications~ routes, al~ove all railroads, at a depth of 300-500
kilometers from tlie front line. For tT~is purpose they assigned 10--34 percent
of figliter aviation, 13-54 percent of antiai.rcraft artillery, and 27-60 percent
of antiaircraft machine guns.l5
All this led to a decrease in tfie numtier of attacks fiy enemy aviation and a
change tn attack tactics. Wtiereas enemy aviation carried out 5,848 air attacks
on railroad targets in 1942, in 1~43 th~ figure was 6,915, and in 1944 only
1,161 attacks were made.16
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Tn the second ~ialf of tfie war the German ~'ascist aviation azas forced to cfiange ~
from daytime attacks to night attacks, and tfi_ey~ directed their eff~rts pri--
- marily against railroad transportati:on targets. L+dfiereas tlie number of n~gfit
attacks against railroad targe.ts in 1~.41 t~as 9..5 percent of tfie total number
= of attacks, in 1944 tfie proportion of nigfit attacks rose to 85 perce~nt.17
Between 1941 and 19.45 enemy aviatinn made. 14~,863 attacks on USSR railroad
targets, with tfie participati.oz of afiout 6~,~QO:aircraft. They dropg~d more
- than 243,000 higli-explosive and fragmentation b.omfis and more than 12Q,OQQ
incendiary bombs.i$
During the war years: 44 percent of tTie TiomTis dropped on tIie Soviet-German front
were used against railroad targets.19 Despite th:Ls, tfis enemy was not able to
= disrupt the work of the railroad for any extended period.
The average lengtfi of ir~erruptions in train traffic after eacli. �attack. Fiy enemy
aviation was about six fiours, and only in isolated cases dtd tlie interruption
exceed 24 hours.20
Considerable credit for th~ fact tfiat, despite ~urious attacks ~y enemy avia'
tion on the railroads, we did not lose. a single newly formed tank or rifle unit
in the entire war, goes to the personnel of the Air Defense Forces.21
Timely and correct organization of air defense of tfia railroads and comFiat sup-
port for military rail shipping played an important part during the war years in
insuring stable work tiy tfie railroads and uninterrupted performance of large-
_ scale military shipping.
, FOOTNOTES
1. Kumanev, op. cit., p 64.
2. "Tyl", op. cit., p 227.
3. "Istoriya Velikoy Otecliestvennoy Voyny Sovetskogo Soyuza 1941--1945"
- [History of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union of 1941--1945], Vol 2,
p 169.
4. "Istoriya Vtoroy Mi.rovoy Voyny 1939--1945" [History of Wbrld War II of 1939-
1945], Vol 4, p 48.
5. "Voyennyye Soobsficheniya za 50 Let�, op. c~t., p 51.
6. "Biblioteka TsUPVOSO MO" jLibrary of the Central Directorate of Military
Communications of the Mintstry of Def ense], inventory No 6218, sTieet 195.
7. Ibid., sheets 305, 206.
8. Ibid. , slieets 211, 212.
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9. ITiid, , sfieets 214, 215, 216.
10. Ibid., sheets 217, 218, 214.
11. IFiid. , sfieet 21~.
12, KRASNAYA ZVEZDA, 6 Fefiruary 1275.
13. Vasilevskiy, A.. M. ,"Delo Vsep~ Zfiizni`~ jT~tork ~or a Wlinle Life] , p 527 .
14. GrisF?in, M. I. ,"Voyennyye SoofisTi~fiQniya v Kampanii Sovetskiky Vooruzfiennykh
Sil na Dal'nem Vostoke" [Militarp Communications in tfiQ Campaign of the
Soviet Armed Forces in the.Far East], p 45.
15. "Voyska ProtivovozdushnoX Oborony Stranp" jTfiQ National Air Defense Forces.],
p 3280
16. Kumanev, op. cit., pp 25Q~ 3Q1.
17. "Voys.ka Protivovozdushnoy Oborony Strany~', op. cit., p 328.
18. "Voxennyye Soob.shcfisniya za 5Q Let"~ op. cit.~ p 54.
19. "Tyl"..., op. cit., p 227.
20. Ibid.
21. "Sovetskiy ~1 v Velikoy Otecfiestveannop VopneH jTfie Soviet Rear in tfie
Great Patriotic WarJ, Mo~cow, T'Mys1T`~, 1974, Fook 2, p 226.
Pa~ty Political Work in Tnsti.tutions~and Units of Mil.itarp~ Commnunications and
Railroad Troops [pp 24-241]
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union, arming tTie 3oviet people witfi a Firoad
_ program of struggle against the German fascist aggressors, attacfied great tm~
portance to party political work in the army~and tlie navy.
The conditions of the war demanded that party political work be reorgani.zed to
conform to the new situation and subordinated to tFi~ primary~ob~ective of
- smashing the German fascist aggressors.
- The Communist Party attac:hed.enormou~ importance to political and ideologtcal
indoctrination of Soviet figFiting men, Propaganda for the ideas of Marxi.sm--
- Leninism and explaining to personnel tfie policy of tfie Cammunist Party~ and the
just, liberattng character of the Great Patriotic War plaped an tmportant
role in ideological and political indoctrination. Tndoctrinating persannel in
the spirit af Soviet patriotism and boundless love for tfieir socialist home~
land tiecame paramount.
Revealing the li~e tiating, aggressive essence of fascism and insti].ling S~ovie.t
fighting men with burning hatred for the German fascist aggressors glaped a
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large part in the ideologi.cal and poli.tical indoctrination of Soviet Army
fighting men.
One of tFie main areas of party political worF~ ~n tfis S~oviet Army, including
th~ insti.tutions and units of m~litarp co~nunications and railroad troops,
was the campaign for fiigfi troop figFiting effectiveness, comT~at and special
skills, and firm military discipline. Tfiis was ~mportaa.t because~many front
and line military commandants~ offices~ on railroads and waterwaps, air defense
units of military communications, ra~lroad troops, and special formations of
the People's Commissariats of Ratlroads~ ~ere operating under tfie difficult
- conditions of a combat situation.
The new missions of party poli.tical ~zork. and tfie special features of doing it
under wartime conditions demanded tFiat commander~ and party and I~omsomol organt--
zations of military communications agencies and railroad troops search for
more effective forms and methods of personnel indoctrination. Mass agitation
work became the leading form of political indoctrination of f igfiting men.
The principal activities were politi.cal meetings, political information
sessions, discussions, reading of newspapers, reports from tfie Soviet Tnforma--
_ tion Bureau, orders of the Sup~eme Commander, fiulletins, and tfie like. STc~llful
use of all the many different forms of party political work was an important
condition for successful activity fiy party and Romsomol organi.zations on po--
litical and military indoctrination of Botfi the personnel of military commu-
- nications and railroad troops and tfie f~igfiting ~nen being transported Fiy~ rail
and water.
The institution of military commissars in the ~oviet Artuy and Navy~mas very
important. The commi:ssars of the directorate~ of tfi~ chiefs~ of front~milttary
communications, air dE~fense units, railroad troops, and tfie directorates of
chiefs of troop movements on railroads and in river basis did an enormous
_ amount of work on political and military indoctrination of personnel, managed
party and Komsomol organizations of the units and institutions, and monitored
performance of orders from the command. During the war thei.r main efforts
- were concentrated on guaranteeing execution of plans for military sTiipping,
achieving a high rate of restoration of railroads and waterways, reliable
combat and technical cover for tfiem, disseminating tTie work know how of leading
~ fighting men and workers of rai]. and water transportation, and introducing
progressive labor methods in practice.
_ COPYRIGHT: Voyenizdat, 1981
11,176
CSO: 1801/199 END
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