HANDLING OF AMMUNITIONS/MILITARY RESERVE SUPPLIES AND DEPOTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00047R000400510010-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 2, 2013
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: June 17, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

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Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr2013/05/02 : CIA-RDP82-00047R000400510010-9
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
COUNTRY
SUBJECT
PLACE
ACQUIRED
INFORMATION REPORT
USSR
CD NO. 50X1
ORR.7538
DATE DISTR. /7 Jun 1954
Handling of Ammunition/Military Reserve Supplies NO. OF PAGES 2
and Depots
50X1
NO. OF ENCLS.
lLISTED BELOW)
50X1
DATE SUPPLEMENT Tr`
ACQUIRED BY SOURCE
DATE OF INFORMATION
OHIO SI/COVENT conTalks I ION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL OEtENSE
Of INC ORM* STATES, WITHIN THE MEANING OF TITLE IS, SECTIONS 713
ANA 704, Of THE U.S. COT!, AO ANINDOO. ITS NNNNNN ISSION OR *EVE.
CATION OF ITS CO NNNNNN TO ON RECEIPT OT AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON IS
PROHISITER OV LAW. TOO ****** UCTIO4 Of THIS FORM IS PNOHISITIO.
50X1
REPORT NO
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
SOURCE
IMMIAWOERTASACIOTAMMUICIWAWWW1
All Soviet Army ammunition and weapons, except aerial bombs, were stored in artillery
depots. Explosives and demolition caps were also in these depots. Ammunition for
rifles and machine guns was stored in a live condition. Artillery shells came to the
depots fully assembled from the factories, except for the powder, which was also stored
in the artiller depots. Those artillery depots which stored dangerous ammunition
ie, artillery and mortar shells, poisonous chemical shells, and
explosives, had chemical laboratories and. "pyrotechnichiskii otdeli" (sections staffed
by experts on assembly and disassembly of ammunition). The laboratories tested the
condition of the powder. The above conditions prevailed in peacetime. In time of
war, the "pyrotechnical"sections organized "snariazhatelnii masterskii" (workshops
for assembling ammunition and checking on defective ammunition), which became part
of the artillery shops in the rear (til) of each army.
In Central Asia, all military storage was under the control of the military district.
It is probable that the same held true for all other military districts. Only
storage facilities in ammunition factories were not under the authority of the military
districts; they were under the jurisdiction of Moscow and the factory in question.
upre
50X1
However, the largest depots were in the western USSR and
housed in old fortresses. The forts had become useless as such, but were excellent
CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENTIAL
DISTRIBUTION
11
QRR EV
50X1
50X1
50X1
ARCHIVAL RECORD
PLEASE 11XIITRN TO
:NCY ARCHIVES, BLDG.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr2013/05/02 : CIA-RDP82-00047R000400510010-9
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr2013/05/02 : CIA-RDP82-00047R000400510010-9
OUAl
CONFIDENTIAL/US OFFICIALS ONLY
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from the viewpoint of storage, transportation, and depth of shelter. They were
particularly good when used as artillery depots. In 1940, the fort in Kaunas
(Kovno) was transformed into the largest artillery depot of the Soviet Army.
Important depots were also to be found at Brest-Litovsko,Grodno, Dvinsk,
Peremyshl; and Kaliningrad (Konigsberg). The largest supply depot for food
and clothing, as of 1941, was at Roslavl.
In regard to sources of military reserves stored In Central Asia, many artillery
shells in storage had been manufactured as far back as 1922 and 1923 and there-
fore many of them had deteriorated. The shells were seat from Kazan to Central
Asia when the artillery depot was built near Axis in about 1930. Each of the 25
warehouses in Axis held the equivalent of 30 railway freight cars. The average
car in those days was 16 tons. Now the usual Soviet railway freight car is 48
tons and has two-axles. New artillery rounds in the late 1930's came from Novo-
sibirsk. Other types of supplies arrived from various Soviet factories. Clothing
for troops, as well as equipment for horses, was usually made in Tashkent or else-
where in Central Asia. Mortars first appeared in the Soviet Army in the spring of
1940. Therefore, mortar shells began to be delivered to the Central Asian military
district from the European USSR only after that time.
I have no information on details of military depots or military reserve supply
systems or installations outside the Central Asian area.
Soviet mobilization reserve plans were utopian, based on industrial plans impossible
of realization. There was a wide gap between theory and actual practice in
strategic stockpiling, particularly after 1939 when the Soviet Government began to
double the number of divisions in the Soviet Army. Soviet divisions in' the west
were the only units which had more or less adequate mobilization reserves. In
contrast to what I imagine is US military practice, it must be remembered that
Soviet and European mobilization plans call for greatly expanded units in time of
war. The artillal.V WAR in the best position in regard to strategic stockpiling. I
&Would imagine ;he Soviet Army's general situation in regard to
mobilization reserves is much better.
50X1
. In regard to detailed data, such as name, number, location, capacity, type, layout
50X1
and details of construction, and planning, of military depots -in the Central Asian
military district, 50X1
the artillery depot--military depot number 20.--near Ails,
which was the one which-stored dangerous ammunition, had warehouses which were
constructed in a very primitive manner. The walls were of "glina" (clay), and the
roofs were of wood covered with clay. In 1940 the structures began to deteriorate
and the latest information available to me at that time was that it had not yet
been decided whether to repair them or whether it would be necessary to replace
the warehouses.
50X1
- end. -
255.1
N.
255.1
327N
255.1
45M
255.1
727N
255.1
225N
174.21
N .
255.1
325N
173.72
N
255.1
65M
174.2
N
255.1
35M
CONFIDitNTIAL/US OFFICIALS ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr2013/05/02 : CIA-RDP82-00047R000400510010-9
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr2013/05/02 : CIA-RDP82-00047R000400510010-9
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr2013/05/02 : CIA-RDP82-00047R000400510010-9