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SECRET
ECONOMIC INTELLIGENCE REPORT
CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE USSR
CIA/RR 84
30 November 1956
N?
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND REPORTS
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a
WARNING
This material contains information affecting
the National Defense of the United States
within the meaning of the espionage laws,
Title 18, USC, Secs. 793 and 794, the trans-
mission or revelation of which in any manner
to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
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ECONOMIC INTELLIGENCE REPORT
CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE USSR
CIA/RR 84
(ORR Project ).1.1627)
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Office of Research and Reports
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FOREWORD
Section VI of this report, on the medical aspects of civil
defense in the USSR, was contributed by the Medicine Division
of the Office of Scientific Intelligence. The information in
Section VIII, on civil defense against nuclear weapons, was co-
ordinated with the Nuclear Energy Division of the Office of
Scientific Intelligence.
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Summary
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CONTENTS
Page
1
I. Organization 5
A. Air Defense 5
B. Liability for Civil Defense Service 5
C. MPVO Service of the MVD 6
D. Cities or Rayons 7
1. Fire Defense Service . 8
2. Emergency Engineering Service 8
3. Medical Service 9
4. Service for Sanitary Processing of Personnel
and Decontamination of Clothing 9
5. Service for Decontamination of Areas
and Structures 9
6. Service for Maintenance of Order
and Security 10
7. Warning and Communications Service 10
8. Shelter and Cover Service 10
9. Blackout Service 10
10. Veterinary Service 11
11. Evacuation Service 11
12. Transport Service 11
E. MPV0 Rayons
F. Industrial Targets (Obuyekty)
G. Self-Defense Groups
II. Voluntary Society for Cooperation with the Army,
Air Force, and Navy (DOSAAF)
12
12
13
13
A. Aims 13
B. History of Paramilitary Societies 14
C. Current Pressure on DOSAAF 15
D. Membership 17
E. Organization 17
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III.
F. Financing and Supply
Plans and Training
Page
19
20
A. Security
20
B. Personnel
20
C. Plans
21
D. Training
21
1. Technical Facilities Identified
with the MPVO
22
2. PVKhO Schools
22
3. Factory Training
23
4. Training in Schools and Universities
. ?
?
?
23
5. DOSAAF Training Program
24
6. Drills
25
7. Training of MPVO Formations
25
E. Behavior Instructions
26
1. "Threatening Situation"
26
2. Air Alarm
26
3. Gas Alarm
27
it. All Clear
27
IV.
Air-Raid Shelters
27
V.
Other Related Activities
35
A. Police
35
B. Fire Defense
35
1. Organization
35
2. Civil Defense and Fire Fighting
36
3. Auxiliary Water Supplies
37
4. Fire Prevention
38
5. Development of Reinforced Concrete
Construction
39
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C. Supplies
Page
39
1. In Ob"yekty and Institutions
39
2. MPVO and MVD
4o
3. DOSAAF
40
4. In Apartment Dwellings
40
5. Stockpiling
41
D. Communications
41
E. Motor Transport
42
F. Chemical Defense
42
G. Blackout
44
VI.
Medical Aspects of Civil Defense
44
A. Resources
44
B. Organization and Functions of MPVO Medical
and Veterinary Services
45
1. Medical Service
45
a. Missions and Functions
47
b. Use of Facilities
51
2. Veterinary Service
56
C. Defense Against Special Weapons
57
1. Chemical Warfare
57
a. Nerve Gases
57
b. MSS MPVO Decontamination Measures .
. 4
?
58
2. Biological Warfare
59
a. Detection and Identification
60
b. Decontamination
61
c. Prevention and Therapy
61
3. Nuclear Warfare
62
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VII.
Chronology of Civil Defense in the USSR
Page
62
A.
1948
63
b.
1949-50
63
C.
1951-52
63
D.
1953-54
64
E.
1955-56
65
VIII.
Civil Defense Against Nuclear Weapons
65
IX.
Civil Defense in the European Satellites
69
A.
Albania
69
B.
Bulgaria
69
C.
Czechoslovakia
70
D.
East Germany
72
E.
Hungary
74
F.
Poland
75
G.
Rumania
77
X.
Possible Action to Retain Control Under Air Attack .
79
A.
Suggested Modified Plan
80
1. Before D Day (Possibly Two Weeks)
80
2. Shortly Before Attack (H Hour Minus 8) . .
80
3. Upon Release of Soviet Attack (D Day,
H Hour)
81
4. At Time of "Air Alert" (H Plus 2?)
81
B.
Composition of Civil Defense Units
82
1. Order Crews
82
2. Communications Crews
82
3. Repair Crews
82
4. Fire-Fighting Crews
83
5. Medical and Veterinary Crews
83
6. Antichemical and Antiatomic Crews
83
7. Plant Disaster Crews
83
C.
Advantages of the Suggested Plan
84
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Appendixes
Appendix A. Chronology of Some Civil Defense
Developments in the USSR, 1948-56 . .
Page
87
Illustrations
Figure 1. Organization of Civil Defense
in the USSR (Chart)
Figure 2. Organization of the Voluntary Society
for Cooperation with the Army, Air
Force, and Navy (DOSAAF) in the USSR
(Chart)
Figure 3. Sketches of Apartment Air-Raid Shelters
in the USSR
Figure L. Sketches of Soviet Gas Filters
Figure 5. Sketch of an Apartment Air-Raid Shelter
near Kiev, USSR
Following Page
6
28
30
30
Figure 6. Steel Bulkhead Doors for Basement Air-
Raid Shelters, Prague, Czechoslovakia
(Photograph) 30
Figure 7. Sketches of Apartment Air-Raid Shelters,
Stalingrad and Stalino, USSR 30
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Figure 8.
Sketch of a Detached Air-Raid Shelter,
Following Page
Stalino, USSR
32
Figure 9.
Sketch of a Soviet Detached Air-Raid
Shelter
32
Figure 10.
Sketches of Soviet Heavy Air-Raid
Shelters
34
Figure 11.
Sketch of a Filter Ventilating System
for a Soviet Air-Raid Shelter . . .
.
34
Figure 12.
Compartmentized Basement Air-Raid
Shelter, Kiev, USSR (Photograph) . ?
?
34
Figure 13.
Sketch of a Soviet Portable M-600
Fire Pump
38
Figure 14.
Sketch of a Supposed Air-Raid Siren,
Moscow, USSR
42
Figure 15.
Sketches of Soviet Decontamination
Equipment
44
Figure 16.
Sketch of a Soviet Chamber Flame
and Spark Arrester
14.14.
Figure 17.
Organization of Medical _Civil Defense
in the USSR (Chart)
46
Figure 18.
Organization of MPVO Emergency Medical
Treatment of Mass Casualties
in the USSR (Chart)
48
Figure 19.
Operation of Soviet Blood Transfusion
Services in Disaster and Wartime
Situations (Chart)
52
Figure 20.
Operational Chain of Command of Soviet
Medical Civil Defense at a Target
(Chart)
54.
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Following Page
Figure
Figure
22. Basement Air-Raid Shelter under Con-
struction, Czechoslovakia
(Photograph)
23. Entrance to a Reported Air-Raid Shelter,
Brno, Czechoslovakia (Photograph) . .
Figure 24. Bunker-Type Air-Raid Shelter, Constanta,
Rumania (Photograph)
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72
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(ORB Project 41.1627)
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CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE USSR*
Summary
The USSR has an extensive, widely organized civil defense system.
Since 1949, increased pressure has been evident to improve its
organization, to undertake defensive construction, and to increase
training. An integral part of over-all Soviet Anti-Air Defense (WO),
civil defense is the responsibility of the Main Administration of Local
Anti-Air Defense (GUMPV0), an arm of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
(MVD). Under GUMFVO is a body of civil defense staff officers who are
assigned to posts at all levels of government. Local Anti-Air Defense
(MFVO) officers are also present in many major enterprises, supervising
civil defense preparations in factories, ports, railroad centers, and
other economic installations.
The Soviet system provides for both specialized training for civil
defense personnel and personal training for the average citizen.
GUMFVO maintains a Central Scientific Laboratory and a medical experi-
mental installation. Undoubtedly, these installations develop tech-
niques and materials for civil defense.
The Voluntary Society for Cooperation with the Army, Air Force,
and Navy (DOSAAF) is the organization charged with giving Anti-Air
and Chemical Defense (PVKhO) training to its members and to the
general population. Its membership may be over 20 million at the
present time. Most of its members are probably under compulsory
enrollment in the PVKhO training course, which embraces general
knowledge of civil defense, including alarm signals, types of attack,
gas defense and decontamination, first aid, atomic and biological
defense instruction, and fire-control measures. DOSAAF organizations
are formed in factories, institutions, collective and state farms,
machine tractor stations, schools, and dwelling units.
* The estimates and conclusions contained in this report represent,
the best judgment of ORB as of 1 September 1956.
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First-aid training is conducted by the Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies. Persons who complete the course and pass an examination
are awarded the badge "Ready for Sanitary Defense" (GSO). Members
of these societies would be extensively used as auxiliary personnel
for medical organizations which have civil defense roles.
By 1949 the USSR had initiated a program of shelter construction
which probably was set up to include air-raid shelters and other
civil defense measures in the initial construction of public buildings,
factories, schools, and apartment dwellings. Reports of returning
prisoners of war who worked on such construction indicate that the
inclusion of air-raid shelters in new buildings is standard practice
in such widely scattered areas as Khabarovsk, the central Urals,
Stalingrad, and several cities in the Ukraine. Most of these reports
describe shelters as having sufficient strength to withstand the com-
plete collapse of buildings. The shelters, designed to be gasproof,
are fitted with double, hermetically sealed doors. Provision was
made for filter ventilating systems, but most reports do not reflect
installation of these systems, either because such systems were to be
installed later by Soviet workers or because installation has been
deferred to a later date. The construction of such shelters is con-
tinuing at the present time, and the population has been advised that
they are satisfactory protection against atomic weapons. A 1956 pub-
lication and the available information on shelter-building activities
in the European Satellites show that heavier underground shelters and
hillside galleries have been designed, and it must be presumed that
some have been constructed for the use of various headquarters and
government officials.
The fact that urban and industrial fire-fighting forces are sub-
ordinate to the MVD should facilitate their integration into the MPVO
system. Fire prevention has been stressed in the USSR, and the new
emphasis on concrete construction should gradually reduce vulner-
ability to fire. The prevalence of wooden construction, however, is
still a menace in urban areas..
Civil defense preparation in the USSR has increased since 1948.
Basic radiofication of the country, which is useful in disseminating
air alarms, was ordered in 1949. Training for civil defense began
in 1949-50, with emphasis on the preparation of instructors. The years
from 1950 to 1952 were marked by construction of basement-type air-
raid shelters, by the publication of at least three civil defense man-
uals, and by the formation of DOSAAF from existing paramilitary
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.societies. Some civil defense training was already carried
DOSAAF, and in 1952 PVKhO study circles were made mandatory
primary units. In 1953 a new chairman was put in charge of
and a heavy recruiting drive began, amounting to compulsion
Komsomol members to join. PVKhO training became compulsory
DOSAAF members. In 1954 the guarded release of information
out by
in all
DOSAAF,
for
for all
on atomic
warfare to troops in open publications was begun. According to an
announcement issued after an unusual plenary session of DOSAAF, the
provision of modern air defense training for the whole population
was made a high-priority goal of DOSAAF. Civil defense activity
reached a high level in 1955 and 1956, when the need for improved
civil defense was stressed publicly by Soviet leaders, a concerted
drive was begun for modification of the civil defense organization,
and training was instituted for defense against atomic and bacterio-
logical weapons.
Some firm conclusions and others which border on speculation
may be drawn from Soviet preparations for civil defense. Foremost
among the firm conclusions is that the leaders of the USSR have
initiated a widespread and presumably costly effort to develop civil
defense in the Soviet Bloc. Whether the initiation of this effort
is inspired by actual fear of attack from the West or by a Soviet
intention to initiate war cannot be determined at present. In either
event, the widespread and developing civil defense system improves
the defensive attitude of the USSR and the European Satellites, even
though it may be not entirely adequate against the larger nuclear
weapons. The Soviet willingness to devote great effort and consider-
able sums of money to civil defense is shown by the training of
millions of people and by a widespread program of shelter construction.
The development of civil defense in this relationship is facilitated
by central direction and planning, by financing of construction which
must be supplied or ordered by the central government, and by com-
pulsory enrollment and training of personnel. The dictatorial con-
trol structure of the USSR would probably be an advantage in emergency
situations when the habit of unquestioning obedience to authority may
insure the maintenance of discipline.
The second firm conclusion about Soviet civil defense is that until
1954 it was directed against attack with high explosives rather than
with atomic weapons. Also, chemical defense instructions did not mention
nerve gases, and defense against biological warfare agents was not pub-
licized. At the present time, both antiatomic and biological aspects
of civil defense are being accented, and retraining and reorganization
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are apparently going on. The general population, however, still must
rely on relatively inadequate local shelters for protection from aerial
weapons. Some heavy and suburban shelters have undoubtedly been pre-
pared, but these are not believed to be adequate for more than selected
control elements of the government. The fact that evacuation or dis-
persal of the general population has not been publicly mentioned in the
USSR is not conclusive evidence that no plans along this line are being
prepared. If the USSR adopted a policy of evacuation, the civil
defense staff, closely allied with the extensive nationwide police
structure, would greatly facilitate its execution. The millions of
DOSAAF members, who have had military and civil defense training, would
be available for duty as auxiliary control personnel.
It seems possible to conclude also that Soviet military planners
have recognized that heavy aerial attack is the most serious military
threat to the continuation of the Communist regime. This is shown by
the simultaneous pursuit of the civil defense program, the development
of nuclear weapons, and the improvement of aerial offensive and defen-
sive capabilities.
The structure of civil defense in the European Satellites as well
as their civil defense training and related measures indicates that the
Soviet pattern is being closely followed. Substantial progress has
been made since 1950, particularly in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Czecho-
slovakia, and recently increased civil defense activity has become
apparent in Poland, Rumania, and East Germany.
The comparatively recent initiation of civil defense measures in
East Germany, including a defensive construction program, could be
interpreted as reflecting the intention to keep Germany divided. This
conclusion is reinforced by other steps which have been taken to rearm
East Germany and establish it as a separate national entity.
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I. Organization.*
A. Air Defense.
Air defense -- or, more precisely, anti-air defense (Protivo-
vozdushnaya Oborona PVO) -- is the name given in the USSR to all
measures for combating air attack, for denying the enemy opportunity
to attack, and for diminishing the consequences of air attack. 1/**
It includes the Air Warning and Observation Service (Vozdushnoye
Nablyudeniye Opoveshcheniye i Svyaz' VNOS); antiaircraft artillery
(zenitnaya artilleriya ZA); antiaircraft machineguns (zenitnyy
pulemet ZP1) and small arms; combat by fighter aviation istrebitel'-
naya aviatsiya IA); use of barrage balloons (aerostat zagrazhdeniya --
AZ) and antiaircraft searchlights (zenitnyy prozhektor ZPr); engi-
neering measures (shelter), camouflage, and the dispersal and maneuver
of troops and ships; and the disorientation and deception of the enemy.
Local Anti-Air Defense (Mestnaya Protivovozdushnaya Oborona MPVO)
organizations also participate in the PVO of the country. Active air
defense is the responsibility of the Anti-Air Defense of the Country
Strany), a separate organization under the Ministry of Defense. E/
The Commander-in-Chief for PVO Strany is probably a deputy minister.
Civil defense is coordinated with or monitored by PVO Strany, and when
a city or region is under attack, the PVO commander, if one is present,
takes over the operational control of civil defense. 1.il
Published objectives of the MPV0 include the timely warning
of the population of the danger of air attack, the maximum possible
protection of the population and physical assets from the effects of
any weapon, the assurance of timely medical assistance for casualties,
and the prompt reduction of damage resulting from attack.
B. Liability for Civil Defense Service.
The defense of the homeland is the responsibility of all
citizens of the USSR. Soviet propaganda has referred to "every Soviet
citizen's sacred dutyto defend the socialist motherland." It has
been indicated that this duty includes not only support of the armed
forces but also participation in paramilitary activities, sports, and
civil defense. 2/ During World War II the "sacred duty" of the Soviet
* For the organization of civil defense in the USSR, see Figure 1,
following p. 6.
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citizen was reinforced by a law making able-bodied citizens aged 16 to
60 liable to serve in civil defense assignments. L3../ The repeal of this
law has not been reported.
C. MPVO Service of the MVD.
The central body of the Soviet civil defense system is a staff
corps of specialized personnel known as the MPVO. This body is under
the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Ministerstvo Vnutrennykh Del -- MVD),
USSR, and is administered from Moscow by the MVD Main Administration of
Local Anti-Air Defense (Glavnoye Upravleniye Mestnoy Protivovozdushnoy
Oborony GUMPV0).
GUMPVO supervises civil defense plans and assists the Council
of Ministers, USSR, in developing civil defense policy, cooperating
closely with PVO Strany. Its functions include the design and
development of civil defense installations and equipment and the
development of civil defense techniques. For the latter functions it
maintains a Central Scientific Research Laboratory and probably other
institutions in various regions. 2/ A medical experimental plant for
civil defense is known to be located in Odessa. EV GUMPVO also -
establishes Tables of Organization and Equipment for all civil defense
organizations. 11/
Subordinate to GUMPVO are the republic Administrations of Local
Anti-Air Defense (UpraVleniye Mestnoy Protivovozdushnoy Oborony --
UMPVO). 12/ Subordinate MPVO offices are located in ?blasts, rayons,
and cities. Republic and rayon MEW organizations proviae some
specialized training but have limited supervisorY functions, at least
.in peacetime. Under the headquarters for MPVO in a city (Shtab MPVO)
are the regional MPVO offices if the city is divided into rayons. 1.V
In addition to the national and local offices of the MPVO,
there are NOM inspectors assigned to important industrial plants
and transportation installations./ These inspectors or chief
inspectors must assure that civil defense is properly prepared. MPVO
inspectors in an enterprise are subordinate to the military mobili-
zation office in the plant and ultimately to the Mobilization Depart-
ment of the ministry concerned. 1
Both the PVO authorities and the MPVO have roles in the
approval of new construction. It is known that the MPVO takes part
in the peacetime function of town planning. 1_61 PVO has been reported
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ORGANIZATION OF CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE USSR
Figure 1
CIVIL
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COMMUNIST PARTY ?
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
DEFENSE TRAINING
OPERATION
CIVIL DEFENS
Red Cross and
Red Cresent
Societies
Society for the
Dissemination of
Political and Scientific
Knowledge
Trade Unions
Komsomol
All-Union
DOSAAF
Ministry of
Internal Affairs
MVD
Ministry of
Defense
Service Ministries
with important
Defense roles
Industrial
Ministries
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?..
Main Administration
of Local
Air Defense
GUMPVO
Commander of
Air Defense
K P VO
Health,
Transportation,
Communications,
and others
Military
Mobilization
Departments
PV KhO
Schools
Central Scientific
Research
Laboratory
Intermediate
Local Air Defense
Administration
PVO Point
Commander
MPVO Service
(SLU ZHBA)
Fire Defense
Emergency Engineering
Medical
Sanitary Processing
Personnel and Clothing
Decontamination of Area
and Structures
Maintenance of Order
and Security
Warning and Communica-
tions
Shelter and Cover
Blackout
Veterinary
Evacuation
Transport
Other
Intermediate
DOSAAF
Headquarters
PVKhO
Schools
Local Air Defense
of City or Region
MPVO GOR ODA
MPVO RAYON A
Chief Super-
visor of MPVO
Education
Local Red Cross
and Red
Cresent Units
Local DOSAAF
Units
PVKhO
Study Groups
General Population?
Instruction and Training in First Aid, Air and Chemical Defense
Subordination
Support
Command in active situation
14744 (First Revision 10-56)
11'
Rayon MPVO Crews
(within cities)
Some as City Services
I
Dwelling Self-
Defense Groups
Teams:
Fire Medical
Order Shelter
Decontamination
Emergency Rescue
It
Target MPVO Crews
(Chiefly Plants)
Order Anti-chemical
Fire Shelter
Medical Blackout
Emergency ?Technical
Warning and Communications
I. I
Shop MPVO Sections
(Otdeleniye)
Fire, Order,
and First Aid
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to be the organization which issues permits for new industrial sites,
with MPVO having the power to review plans. 12/ These functions are
probably closely coordinated. Reportedly, each architectural planning
trust employs an air defense specialist, 1..q/ and MVD officers (prob-
ably of the MPVO) have been observed inspecting basement air-raid
shelters in new buildings. 12/ These measures enable air defense and
civil defense authorities to influence the dispersion of' plants and
the provision of air-raid facilities in new construction.
The MITO corps thus, appears to be composed of staff and
planning personnel at all levels of government, a research staff,
inspectors for local air defense in important enterprises, and moni-
tors for construction.
D. Cities or Rayons.*
The basic operational unit of civil defense is the city or
rayon organization. All departments of the city or rayon must be
integrated into local air defense. Technical facilities of public
property and industry must be widely used, and air defense is to be
carried out by local governmental and Party bodies, enterprises,
public organizations, and large numbers of workers.
The responsibility for civil defense rests nominally with the
Council of Workers Deputies of the city. The chairman of its Execu-
tive Committee is the Chief of MPVO in the city. He organizes, pre-
pares, and directs the system through an organization known as the
MPVO staff. 22/ Although the Soviet of Workers Deputies still
exercises some control, 21/ it has been confirmed that MPVO officers
of the MVD and their headquarters at the city and rayon (within the
city) levels are actually responsible for civil defense preparations. 22/
It has been reported that the headquarters of an MIN? battalion
were moved in 1952 from Leningrad to Tallinn, 22/ where the battalion
was to be responsible for organizing local air defense measures for the
city. There is nothing, however, to indicate that this battalion is
* Information on this structure is based on World War II instruction
manuals, confirming references in DOSAAF(see II, pp. 13 ff., below) civil
defense manuals published since 1950 and in a few reports. It should
be noted that these are instructions and plans supplemented by little
observation of implementation, possibly because of security restrictions
rather than lack of plans or activity.
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more than a skeleton staff of civil defense specialists whose organi-
zations are made up of men from local groups.
the Tallinn civil defense organization includes a colonel
in charge of the city headquarters and four captains who command
rayon civil defense offices. A central training school for civil
defense in Tallinn is staffed by an MVD captain, another officer
assistant, a storekeeper, and civilian instructors. EL/
The civil defense responsibilities of the Chief of MPVO in the
city and his staff include the following: (1) formulating plans,
(2) training staffs and units, (3) organizing and mobilizing crews and
detachments for local air defense, (4) organizing training programs
for specialized personnel as well as for the general population,
(5) preparing and coordinating a financial and materials procurement
plan, and (6) supervising all these activities through timely controls.
In the event of an air raid, the Chief of MPV0 and his staff are to
direct the forces and facilities of the city in the elimination of the
effects of the attack. 2
In exercising these responsibilities the MPV0 of a city
organizes and controls the following services, whose responsibilities
are as indicated below
1. Fire Defense Service.
The basic forces for the fire defense service include
professional fire companies, volunteer fire brigades, civil defense
fire-fighting organizations in industrial and service installations,
and fire-fighting squads of self-defense groups. This service is
responsible for carrying out fire preventive measures, insuring the
presence of fire-fighting equipment and signals, and supervising
sector and self-defense fire-fighting groups. According to a 1956
manual, instruction includes methods of extinguishing fires under
difficulty (in the presence of obstacles and radioactive contami-
nation and in the absence of normal water supplies).
2. Emergency Engineering Service.
The basic forces for the emergency engineering service
include formations made up of personnel of municipal services and
road construction organizations. This service is charged with taking
preventive measures to avert the interruption of basic services in
the community and with repairing them rapidly in the event of damage.
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(It is assumed that these include electrical, water, gas, and sewer
systems, and the like, as well as the road network and public trans-
portation.). The 1956 manual states in discussing the mission of this
service that all MPVO personnel and able-bodied citizens will assist
in rescue work.
3. Medical Service.
The medical service includes the regular medical organi-
zation and the civil defense auxiliaries organized and trained in large
part through the efforts of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
In time of emergency this service administers all medical establishments
(permanent and temporary) and their adaptation to civil defense, registers
and supplies all medical materials, directs planning and training for
medical personnel, and supervises first-aid training for the general
population. In time of emergency it directs all medical and medical
evacuation measures and carries out observation and quarantine
measures, as well as the sanitary processing of casualties contami-
nated with toxic agents, radioactive substances, or disease-producing
microbes and toxins. 2//
4. Service for Sanitary Processing of Personnel and
Decontamination of Clothing.
The service for sanitary processing of personnel and decon-
tamination of clothing is probably organized chiefly in public baths --
instructions call for the preparation of municipal service enterprises.
This service is charged with acquiring and storing necessary materials,
making ready suitable buildings, and training a cadre of workers. In
time of emergency it is organized to process people and clothing
affected by poison gas, radioactive substances, or bacteriological
agents. This and the following service are closely coordinated with
and probably are supervised by the medical command of the Medical
Service.
5. Service for Decontamination of Areas and Structures.
The service for decontamination of areas and structures
charged with acquiring materials, training a cadre of personnel, and
adapting local equipment for the decontamination of structures and
areas. In emergencies it locates, records, and presumably marks off
areas contaminated with poisonous, radioactive, or biological warfare
agents and performs the necessary decontamination.
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6. Service for Maintenance of Order and Security.
The service for the maintenance of order and security
uses regular militia and auxiliaries. Its responsibilities include
the enforcement of quarantine, the enforcement of public order,
traffic direction, blocking off dangerous areas, and supervision
of blackout. It enforces rules of conduct, fights panic, and
safeguards public property.
7. Warning and Communications Service.
The warning and communications service is responsible for
preparing and keeping in constant readiness the necessary warning
system. It is also responsible for providing the civil defense
system with reliable communications for operational situations. It
trains personnel for operation of the system and organizes crews for
quick repair of communications. In large cities, separate services
for communications and for warning may be organized.
8. Shelter and Cover* Service.
The shelter and cover service is charged with providing
the population with necessary shelters and covers. It prepares plans
for construction and obtains the government authorization necessary
for converting suitable basements and building new air-raid shelters
and covers. It trains civil defense grOups in shelter maintenance.
The service prepares maps of existing shelters so that they can be
quickly located in debris after an attack. Its personnel are to be
trained in rescue work.
9. Blackout Service.
The blackout service is charged with the preparation of a
blackout plan, the accumulation of blackout material, and the accom-
plishment of blackout preparations. Its preparation includes provision
for cutting off street lights centrally and educating the general
population.
* The term shelter includes masonry construction of a permanent type,
equipped with a filter ventilating system. A cover is a protective
structure assembled from prefabricated parts or locally available
materials and without a filter ventilating system. In this report,
slit trenches and other temporary measures are also referred to as
covers.
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10. Veterinary Service.
The veterinary service prepares for the protection of
animals and their treatment in case of injury. Its functions include
the protection and decontamination of food, water, and equipment for
animals from chemical, radioactive, and bacteriological agents.
11. Evacuation Service.
The evacuation service, which is not listed in a 1956
civil defense manual, was formerly responsible for the transportation
of persons and property from the stricken areas and for their quar-
tering. (Mass emergency evacuation has been neither reported nor
mentioned in Soviet civil defense literature.)
12. Transport Service.
The transport service also is not among those listed in a
1956 manual. Its functions were to keep the MPVO advised about traffic
routes and to adapt equipment for civil defense tasks such as trans-
porting casualties and carrying out decontamination, training drivers
for operations under air raid conditions, and controlling all forms
of transportation.
The omission of the latter two services from a 1956 civil
defense manual is not considered evidence that the functions have
ceased to exist. Certainly the use of atomic weapons would produce
homeless persons and would result in heavy demands for emergency
housing aid transportation. It is believed that both the evacuation
and transport functions must still be included in civil defense
planning. The Soviet paramilitary society, which is closely allied
with the civil defense system, is certainly carrying on intensified
'driver training. It seems possible that this society, in cooperation
with the military authorities, may have relieved the MINO structure of
the operation of a transportation-evacuation scheme.
In addition to the services listed above, others may be
added in large cities or under special conditions.
Normally the chief of the city service involved is the
head of the organization forming the nucleus of the comparable civil
defense service. For example, the senior medical officer would head
the medical service, the fire chief the fire-fighting service, and the
militia commander the order and security service.
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E. MPVO Rayons.
Within large city MPVO organizations are found rayon commands
and their crews. 2.,E1/ The crews are similar in mission and title to
the city services and are charged with operations within their area,
subject to the directives of the city or rayon staff. It is possible
that they are the larger operating mats of the civil defense system.
The instructions make the city services "responsible," but the rayon
crews "must" carry out such measures as fire fighting, reporting, and
decontamination. 29/
Operational civil defense
rayon crews would logically be emphasized if drills on a sector basis
were to be realistic. The rayon level of organization is also
mentioned in a 1956 instruction manual for civil defense. 2.1
F. Industrial Targets (0b"yekty).
Production enterprises, ports, railroad junctions and stations,
powerplants, and other establishments of great economic or defense
importance are considered MPVO targets (ob"yekty) and have their own
MPVO organizations. 32/ The mission of the MPVO body within a target
is to assure the uninterrupted production or functioning of the enter-
prise under air attack, including the preservation of the physical
plant, personnel, and stock and the rapid elimination of damage after
the attack.
Although the manager of an enterprise is nominally the Chief
of MPVO, presumably the operative head is a Chief of Staff or Inspector
of MPVO, who must have had special training in civil defense. j3JJ The
MPVO of a plant is subordinate both to the military mobilization
department of the ministry concerned and to the MPV0.of the city or
rayon. .31[/ In tactical matters of civil defense the NINO of a plant is
subordinate to the city or rayon staff of MPVO. 22/ Within the plant,
services are formed with responsibilities for such functions as com-
munications and warning, order and security, fire fighting, decontami-
nation, shelter, medical service, and repairs. Because larger plants
normally have their own guard and fire-fighting forces, the reinforce-
ment and training of the order and security crews and the fire-fighting
crews are simplified. Personnel of the existing plant dispensaries or
hospitals are the nuclei for the medical crews. In addition to the
services, there are shop crews, organized under the shop manager, for
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decontamination, fire fighting, medical service, and order and security.
The repair of damage to plants and the salvaging of materials is a
universal responsibility.
G. Self-Defense Groups.
According to DOSAAF publications, 6 the local air defense of
dwellings, small institutions, schools, and farms is to be accomplished
by the formation of self-defense groups, which are formed in each
dwelling unit housing 300 or more people. Large apartment blocks may
have several groups organized for each 500 to 700 persons. Where
dwellings house less than 300 people, groups are formed cooperatively
with those of other buildings.
Self-defense groups consist of a small staff (chief, assistant
chief for political work, property manager, and messenger) plus six
teams. One team of six men is to maintain order and observation and
is charged with giving warning of an impending air and gas attack,
enforcing blackout regulations, maintaining order, and protecting
property. The fire-fighting tear of seven men is responsible for
fire fighting, looking after its own fire-fighting equipment, and
aiding fire brigades when necessary. A 6-man damage control and res-
cue team does simple repairs to utilities and assists in rescuing
people trapped by collapsed buildings, and a 5-man medical team is
responsible for first aid and for the evacuation of casualties needing
further treatment. The five-man shelter team, organized when the
building has organic shelter, is charged with maintenance of the
shelter and sending residents to it during an alert, and the commander
of the shelter team is the commandant of the shelter. Any citizen over
16 years of age may be required to serve in self-defense groups except
those having civil defense assignments with other MPV0 groups.
II. Voluntary Society for Cooperation with the Army, Air Force, and
Navy (DOSAAF).
A. Aims.
The second important organization concerned with passive air
defense in the USSR is .the Voluntary Society for Cooperation with the
Army, Air Force, and Navy (Dobrovolinoye Obshchestvo Sodeystviya Armii
Aviatsii i Flotu DOSAAF). According to its bylaws, DOSAAF is a
"mass organization of the workers of the USSR, established on a
voluntary basis with the aim of strengthening the Soviet ArmY Air
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Force, and Navy." The tasks of the society are to disseminate military
information among its members as well as to the general population and
to prepare them for all types of air and chemical defense. The
latter mission has been reaffirmed in a front-page editorial in Pravda
which stated that within DOSAAF "priority must be given to the prep-
aration of all the population for modern air and chemical defense:" 3...&
Civil defense training is by no means the entire mission of
DOSAAF. Its members are also encouraged to acquire a military skill
in such fields as skiing, marksmanship, flying, parachute jumping,
gliding, amateur radio technique, automobile driver training, motor-
cycling, horsemanship, the construction of model airplanes and ships,
and the breeding of service dogs.* 22/ These activities are exten-
sively publicized and undoubtedly furnish the major incentive for
youth to join DOSAAF.
B. History of Paramilitary Societies.
Paramilitary effort on the part of the USSR dates back to the
period immediately following the Revolution of 1917. The Society for
the Promotion of Defense and Aero-Chemical Development (Obshchestvo
Sodeystviya Oborone i Aviatsionno-Khimicheskomu Stroitel'stvu --
OSOAVIAKhIM), which was the DOSAAF-type organization during World
War II, had antecedents reaching back to the Military Scientific
Society of 1920. OSOAVIAKhIM, whose main purpose as stated in
Bol'shaya sovetskaya entsiklopediya, 1947, was the preparation of
reserves for the armed forces of the USSR, claimed to have success-
fully trained over 38 million citizens in air and chemical defense
before the outbreak of World War II. This training included anti-
aircraft and antichemical measures, fire fighting, and first aid.
By the end of the war, OSOAVIAKhIM reportedly had trained 98 million
people in civil defense measures. Like its successor, DOSAAF, this
World War II organization also gave paramilitary training -- many
of its members served with distinction in partisan and Soviet Army
units. L12/ After the war, interest in OSOAVIAKhIM apparently
slackened, and it was divided into three societies: the Voluntary
Society for Cooperation with Aviation (Dobravol'noye Obshchestvo
Sodeystviya Aviatsii DOSAV), the Voluntary Society for Coopera-
tion with the Army (Dobravol'noye Obshchestvo Sodeystviya Armii --
DOSARM), and the Voluntary Society for Cooperation with the Navy
(Dobrovol'noye Obshchestvo Sodeystviya Flotu DOSFLOT). These
* DOSAAF has the responsibility for breeding service dogs.
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three societies either failed to improve defense work or were con-
sidered inadequate for some future task, and they were consolidated.
into one organization, DOSAAF, in the fall of 1951. Li/ The work
of DOSAAF was carried on during 1951-53 by an Organizational Com-
mittee under the chairmanship of Colonel General V.I. Kuznetsov,
although the bylaws of DOSAAF provided for the All-Union Conference
to be the highest governing organ. A press recruitment campaign,
the general tenor of which was highly critical, was carried on from
February to May 1953. LE/ Law membership, insufficient guidance,
nonpayment of dues, and the low level of training were criticized.
Following this criticism a new chairman of DOSAAF was appointed. 11.3./
He was Lieutenant General Nikolay F. Gritchin, of whom little is
known except that he served as an antiaircraft artillery officer
during World War II. The appointment of a former air defense com-
mander as the head of DOSAAF could be interpreted as placing an
increased emphasis on air defense.
C. Current Pressure on DOSAAF.
In October and November 1953 the DOSAAF Organizational Com-
mittee published in the society's monthly organ, Voyennyye znaniya,
two extremely critical articles on the state of work. !IL/ The new
administration found that membership had increased "only" 48.3 per-
cent in the 2 years since the beginning of DOSAAF. This figure,
however, was questionable because of neglected records and even
deliberate falsification. An inspection of records was ordered,
and severe punishment was threatened in cases of deceit or falsi-
fication. Additional criticism was aimed at the low level of
participation, the poor recruitment system for instructors, and the
poor state of supply and sports activity. To encourage membership
and participation in DOSAAF activity, an extensive press and radio
campaign was initiated culminating in the first All-Union Conference
of DOSAAF in Moscow, which ended on 29 December 1953. It appears
that DOSAAF was able to enlist increased support from other public
bodies, particularly from the All-Union Lenin's Young Communist
League (Vsesoyuznyy Leninskiy Kommunisticheskiy Soyuz Mblodezhi --
VLKSM, or Komsomol). Although the bylaws of the Komsomol Obligated
its members to devote time to military study, its members had not
been enthusiastic about fulfilling this obligation by entering
DOSAAF activity.112/ Pressure on Komsomol members during 1951-52
had apparently been unable to overcome this inertia. During this
period, phrases in the Soviet press included such statements as
"enlist Komsomol members," they "ought to pioneer in mass military ...
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activities," and the Komsomol was "urged" to participate in active
DOSAAF work.11/ Following the appointment of Gritchin, however,
the tone changed. In January 1954 a Komsomol kray conference
"ordered" its members to improve mass defense work in cooperation
with DOSAAF organizations./11/ Trade unions also were warned
sharply in the newspaper Trud that they were "obliged to achieve
the setting up of primary organizations of DOSAAF in every enter-
prise, in every institution and establishment of learning, in
every state farm and machine tractor station." )11E1,/ In October 1953,
Komsomol committees and committees of DOSAAF began holding joint
meetings. 4
in 1954 urban Komsomols were participating 100 percent in
DOSAAF and that 60 percent of the 1,600 workers in the port of
Tallinn had been enrolled in DOSAAF, the younger ones more or less
by force. In addition, 90 percent of the port workers had been given
short courses in PVKhO measures.
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Tass transmission of 9 October 1954, for example, claimed that 8,000
new primqry DOSAAF organizations were set up in the first 6 months
of 1954. 21/
Another indication of continued pressure on DOSAAF occurred
in July 1954 when a plenary session of the Central Committee of
DOSAAF was called, only 7 months after the first All-Union Confer-
ence. (The DOSAAF'bylaws require only that the plenary session
be held at yearly intervals between conferences.) Chairmen of repub-
lic, kray, and oblast DOSAAF committees were called into the session.
It was announced that the subjects for discussion were as follows:
(1) the state of work and measures for its improvement, (2) an
examination of auditing, and (3) the holding of report and election
meetings near the end of 1954. 2E/ Evidently other things were dis-
cussed and other people were present, because Komsomoliskaya pravda
announced on 7 August 1954 that the Central Committee of the Komsomol
and the Central Committee of DOSAAF had jointly decided to hold a
spartakiada (sports competition), with the first round beginning on
1 August. Compulsory events were to include marksmanship, marching,
grenade throwing, and a PVKhO competition, as well as a fifth optional
event.
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During 1955, pressure to enlarge DOSAAF and improve its activ-
ities continued. Another new commander appeared -- Guards Colonel
General P.A. Belov, a cavalry officer with an impressive combat
record as commander of the 61st Army. Since the war he has served
as a military district commander in the North Caucasus and in the
southern Urals. 22/ Belov has repeatedly stressed the necessity for
DOSAAF to utilize demobilized reserve officers and soldiers for
leadership and instruction.
The DOSAAF activities which were keynoted during 1956 have
been the modification of civil defense training to include measures
against bacteriological and atomic weapons and the assignment of
responsibility to DOSAAF for organizing as well as training the self-
defense groups.
D. Membership.
The size of the membership of DOSAAF has not been announced
and is a subject for speculation. OSOAVIAKh1M, the direct antecedent
of DOSAAF, had an announced membership of 15.5 million on 1 January
1947. Membership in DOSAAF in 1952 is estimated tolave been
16 million. .2.& Membership drives accompanied the election and
accountability campaigns of 1953 and 1954, and there have probably
been substantial gains since then. The new measures to gain recruits
from the Komsomol and trade unions have been noted above -- total
Komsomol membership has been announced as 18,852,327. The low
age limit (14) of DOSAAF makes it probable that some Young Pioneers
(Yunyy Pioner YuP) have also been recruited. On 3 November 1953
it was stated that DOSAAF had a "membership of millions," and
on 2 March 1954 the chairman of DOSAAF used the term "many millions"
and indicated continuing growth. LI On 31 August 1954, Pravda
stated that DOSAAF was one of the largest mass public organizations
in the USSR. In view of the size of the membership of its predecessor;
the manpower resources of the Communist Party, the Komsomol, the trade
unions, and others; the evident pressure for enlistment; and the
guarded satisfaction expressed, DOSAAF membership is probably between
20 million and 25 million at the present time.
E. Organization.*
According to its bylaws, the highest governing organ of DOSAAF
is the All-Union Conference, which meets every it years. The Conference
For the organization of DOSAAF, see Figure 2, following p. 18.
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decides important questions determining the society's course of action
and confirms and makes all necessary changes in the society's bylaws.
The All-Union Conference elects its executive organs, the Central
Committee and the Central Auditing Commission.
The DOSAAF bylaws state that in the period between All-Union
Conferences the Central Committee assumes leadership of the society.
Elected for a 4-year term, the Central Committee holds a plenary
session at least once a year. It represents DOSAAF at all state
and public functions; supervises DOSAAF clubs, schools, technical
laboratories, and other institutions; and establishes particular
work programs. It elects a Presidium, which consists of a chairman,
deputies, and other members and which is responsible for the daily
leadership of the society. Decisions of the Central Committee and
its Presidium are binding on all DOSAAF organizations and members.
The DOSAAF bylaws also provide for the establishment of
DOSAAF organizations and committees on the union and autonomous
republic, kray, okrug, oblast, city, and rayon levels. Autonomous
republic, kray, oblast, city, and rayon conferences are held not
less than once every 2 years, and their respective committees and
auditing commissions are elected for a 2-year term. DOSAAF com-
mittees in the union republics are required to hold a plenary
session at least once a year and to elect a Presidium. L/
Primary organizations of DOSAAF may be set up in all enter-
prises and institutions, kolkhozes, factories, and schools where
there are at least three members of the society. It was announced
by the DOSAAF chairman on 4 November 1953 that "almost every factory,
office, collective or state farm, and school has its own DOSAAF
group." It was also stated that the formation of DOSAAF pri-
mary organizations in dwellings was another principal task. L/ In
large primary organizations of more than 100 members, subordinate
organizations may be formed having the rights of primary organi-
zations.
A meeting of members of a primary organization must be held
at least once every 3 months. In order to conduct the business of
a primary organization with 15 or more members, a committee is
elected at the general meeting for a 1-year term. The number of
members on the committee is determined by the general meeting, and
a chairman, deputy chairman, and treasurer are elected.
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1
ORGANIZATION OF THE VOLUNTARY SOCIETY FOR COOPERATION
WITH THE ARMY, AIR FORCE, AND NAVY (DOSAAF) IN THE USSR
Central Auditing Commission
FDOSAAF Publishing Houses
Schools
Figure 2
DOSAAF
ALL-UNION CONFERENCE
(Meets Every Four Years)
DOSAAF
Sections
inw
Central Committee
Organizational-auditing
(Plenary Session Yearly
Propagation of Military
Information
Air Chemical Defense
Presidium
and
Military Training and Sports
Napa! Training and Sports
Automotive Training and Sports
Service Dog
Radio
Parachute Training and Sports
Republic Auditing Commission
DOSAAF Clubs*
Auditing Commission
PVKhO Schools
DOSAAF Clubs*
Auditing
Commission
Union Republic
DOSAAF
(Conference Every
Four Years)
Union Republic
Committee
Presidium
Mi=
Autonomous Republic, Kray,
Oblast, Rayon and City
DOSAAF
(Conference Every
Two Years)
Committee
Sections
Organizational-auditing
Propagation of Military
Information
Air and Chemical Defense
Military Training and Sports
Naval Training and Sports
Automotive Training and Sports
Service Dog
Radio
Parachute Training and Sports
Sections
Organizational-auditing
Propagation of Military
Information
Air and Chemical Defense
Military Training and Sports
Naval Training and Sports
Automotive Training and Sports
Service Dog
Radio
Parachute Training and Sports
Primary Organizations
Institutions
Cooperative
Machine
Factories
(Medical
and Others)
and
State Farms
Tractor
Stations
Enterprises
Schools
Dwelling
Committees
Study Circles and Sport Groups
Anti-Air**
andAutomobile
Chemical
Defense
Air
Radio
Rifle
Cavalry
Naval
Motorcycle
Dog
Training
Others
* Advanced activities for those who have exhausted facilities of groups and circles of primary organizations.
*
Compulsory in all primary organizations.
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Primary organizations with 15 or more members also elect an
auditing commission for a 1-year term. This commission is respon-
sible for the inspection of expenditures and the collection of dues,
for the maintenance of training appliances and premises, and for the
recording of membership and the minutes of meetings. In primary
organizations with less than 15 members, an inspector is elected.
The DOSAAF bylaws provide for the creation of sections
under committees of the All-Union, union republic, kray, okrug,
oblast, city, rayon, and other large primary organizations. These
sections help the committees work out questions pertaining to
training, military-sport, and propaganda work and are useful in
helping to review and correct activities of primary organizations
and to eliminate equipment shortages. Recommended and announced
sections include the following: organizational-auditing; propagation
of military, military-technical, air, and naval information; PVKh0;
military training and sports; naval training and sports; air training
and sports; automotive training and sports; service dog; parachute;
and radio. .5_/
DOSAAF clubs are formed at city, rayon, oblast, and republic
levels to provide advanced activities for those who have exhausted
the facilities of primary organizations.
DOSAAF membership is open to all citizens of the USSR,
women as well as men, who have reached the age of 14. Members are
accepted into the society on written application, and the question
of admission is decided either by the committee of the primary
organization or by a general meeting of the primary organization
where there is no such committee-. Only members who have reached the
age of 18 may be elected to leadership positions, except in primary
organizations of secondary schools, factory and plant schools
(shkoly fabrichno-zavodskogo obucheniya FZO), and the like, where
members under 18 years of age may be elected.
F. Financing and Supply.
The financing of DOSAAF is complex, and many of its aspects
are unknown. The monetary funds of the organization consist of
initiation fees, membership dues, funds allocated by public organi-
zations and institutions concerned with the development of the
society's activity, and "other" receipts. Funds are spent by the
primary organization committee for training needs in accordance with
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estimates made by the general meeting. DOSAAF members pay a member-
ship fee of 3 rubles a year, either in 1 or 2 installments. Members
of secondary, trade, railroad, and FZO schools as well as housewives
pay dues of 1 ruble a year. There is an initiation fee of 1 ruble
plus a fee for the cost of the application blank.
Other sources of financial aid: as well as contributions of
material resources have been reported or discovered. Factories and
institutions, in which many DOSAAF units are found, furnish quarters
for study groups. Li Regular military units give material aid,
including the use of military equipment, ranges, and instructors
of the regular military establishment. DOSAAF primary units,
with permission from higher headquarters, may operate various sporting
activities such as shooting galleries, parachute towers, and driver
training courses on a cost accountability basis. ,21,/ Municipal
executive committees have been ordered tb furnish DOSAAF with aid and
appropriate quarters. /2/
III. Plans and Training..
A. Security.
Civil defense information in the USSR is strictly controlled
for security reasons. /1/ Indications of this control are the rel-
atively few published instructions for civil defense outside the
popular level, unpublished postwar legislation, and the use of cover
words. 12/
B. Personnel.
Personnel appointed to MPVO positions are probably screened
for political dependability as well as for technical qualifications.
Personnel for DOSAAF, the largest civil defense training
organization, may be less closely controlled. Membership require-
ments are, however, similar to those for the Komsomol and preclude
the admission of anyone not supporting the regime or whose family
is suspect. U/ there are no
Latvian DOSAAF instructors in Latvia -- only "Soviets." /1-1-/ Presum-
ably other personnel used in the civil defense structure are selected
on the basis of loyalty as well as ability and are informed on a
"need to know" basis. 75/
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C. Plans.
Civil defense, like other aspects of the Soviet system, is
prepared according to plan. Plans are probably prepared in detail
at the operating level -- in rayons, cities, and important enter-
prises. For example, planning missions of the city MPVO staff
include the preparation of the action plan, plans for financing,
plans for civil defense education, /W and probably procurement plans.
World War II instructions required that operational plans for
enterprises be drawn up by the MPVO staff in accordance with instruc-
tions from the ministry concerned and the Chief of MPVO (then the
manager) of the enterprise and in accordance with the city's MPVO
requirements. It is probable that over-all civil defense preparation
is accomplished on the basis of the five-year and yearly plans.
It was reported in 1950 that the USSR planned to train 5 mil-
lion citizens a year in civil defense, I.& and a Soviet publication
referring to the 1950 Plan called for enlistment of "tens of thousands"
of instructors for the development of air defense study groups. A
"special plan" for air-raid shelter construction, probably based on
particular legislation, /2/ was mentioned in a Soviet manual of 1952. L32/
Developed plans for specific city, sector, and enterprise civil defense
groups (such as for groups for Moscow city or the Tushino area) have
not been uncovered, probably because they are classified "Secret" or
above. Plans at the time of World War II called for a great deal of
initiative at the city level, using local functionaries and organi-
zations to form civil defense services, crews, and the like. Direc-
tives included the use of groups such as the police, the fire guard,
local medical personnel, local communications personnel, area trans-
port, communal services, and repair crews as the nuclei of civil
defense forces. Auxiliaries were provided by OSOAVIAKhIM and by the
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.* Detailed planning as well as
recruitment, training, financing, and supervision was the function of
the Chief of MPVO of the city. LI
D. Training.
It seems probable that the MVD officers of the MO receive
special training before taking over duties as chiefs of staff in cities,
rayons, and important enterprises. Such training might take the form
* See VI, B, 1, a, (3), p. 49, below.
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of special courses for already commissioned MVD officers or the officer-
candidate type of schooling. MVD schools have been reported in Lenin-
grad, .?.2./ and MVD officers were detailed from Leningrad to Tallinn in
1952, where they were to supervise civil defense preparations. L/
According to Soviet publications, the Chief of MPVO of a city
is responsible for the training of the command and administrative
staff of the MPVO. Li To help him in this function, a Chief Super-
visor of Education is appointed. Tasks entrusted to the Chief Super-
visor are planning and implementing local air defense training,
supervising instructors, and reporting on completed drills and
instruction with a complete analysis of work, including recommended
measures to eliminate shortcomings.
1. Technical Facilities Identified with the MPVO.
The MPVO maintains a Central Scientific Research Laboratory,
which conducts research in development and design aimed at improving
techniques and materials for civil defense.41352 A medical experimental
plant for MTVO is located at Odessa. L/ It seems probable that
research personnel of GUMPV0 have taken part in nuclear tests. It was
announced in the fall of 1955 that a Soviet hydrogen bomb test had
included "wide-scale research ... on questions of protedting human
beings." Ed/ A returning German prisoner of war reported that in
Sverdlovsk he saw apartment air-raid shelter plans which originated
from the "Planning Institute," Leningrad. ?.?./
2. PVKhO Schools.
PVKhO and atomic defense training has received steadily
increasing attention in the DOSAAF program. It has become compul-
sory for every DOSAAF primary organization to set up study circles
for PVKhO. To train instructors, DOSAAF operates a network of schools
and training courses. Mention has been made in DOSAAF publications of
factories sending workers to the oblast or local PVKhO school for
training, and these workers, on their return, are utilized as civil
defense instructors. Graduates of these schools are also utilized
to teach leaders of self-defense groups from offices, homes, and schools.
These PVKhO schools probably are supervised by the MPVO, because PTV?
officials have participated in examinations of graduates. 0
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3. Factory Training.
During the last several years, emphasis has been placed
on the formation of DOSAAF primary units in plants, 21/ a practice
which is undoubtedly aimed in part at providing civil defense training
for the target crews and shop sections as well as for the general body
of workers. Major plants probably have the advantage of the presence
of a trained Chief of Staff of MPVO. The guard force, firemen,
maintenance personnel, and medical personnel of the individual plants
are sources of instructors and also form the nuclei for the various
civil defense groups. Reports on civil defense drills in obuyekty are
meager. practice alerts were
held once a month in a confectionery plant in Kiev, 22/ twice a month
in a hospital.in,Baku, 2.a/ and every 6 months at a scientific research
institute near Leningrad.2/1/ A prisoner of war reports that smoke
camouflage exercises were carried out at a chemical plant about every
2 months. 22/ It is probable that drills are held periodically in
most major plants. Training at this level is feasible because DOSAAF
organizations are widespread in economic installations 2?./ and because
the majority of workers in these plants must be presumed to have had
basic PVKhO instruction. It has been noted in a DOSAAF publication
that citizens who passed the PVKhO requirements should be given the
course again in 2 years, 21/ indicating that in some areas, at least,
the first cycle of training had been largely completed.
4. Training in Schools and Universities.
As noted above, instructors for PVKhO in schools have
been trained by DOSAAF. DOSAAF units present in higher schools aim
at preparing students as potential leaders for civil defense activ-
ities by giving them thorough theoretical and practical training in
the organization of passive defense for factories and other economic
installations. 221 Children in lower schools also are trained in
civil defense in accordance with a special plan. 22/ In the autumn
of 1953, for example, it was reported that all Estonian school
children were to get 8 hours of training in behavior and in air,
fire, and chemical defense. Some gas masks and protective clothing
were issued for training. 122/
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5. DOSAAF Training Program.
DOSAAF is responsible for civil defense training for the
general population. Within each DOSAAF primary unit there must be
study groups for PVKhO. 101/ An article in Pravda in 1954 redefined
the priority goal of DOSAAF as the giving of "modern" PVKhO training
to "all" the population. 1E/ It was reported in 1952 that civil
defense instruction was to be given in three phases, as follows 103/:
(a) to members of the Communist Party and its affiliates, (b) to
industrial workers, and (c) to all civilians. The insertion of the
word "all" in the Pravda article implied that air defense training
had entered the third phase. The training given under the PVKhO pro-
gram includes instruction on air-raid shelters, construction of
trench shelters, first aid, fire fighting and fire-fighting equip-
ment, types of gas and gas detection, and gas defense measures
(including gas masks, shelter measures, decontamination, and care of
water and food)- 12/1/ Other subjects are the recognition of types of
bombs and warning signals and general familiarization with the MPV0
system. On completion of the course those who successfully pass a
practical examination are awarded the title of "Ready for Air and
Chemical Defense" (Gotov k PVKhO). 122/ In view of the past emphasis
on introducing DOSAAF and its activities into schools, factories,
institutions, state and collective farms, and machine tractor stations,
and in view of the call for the training of "all" the population, it
is possible that most DOSAAF members and workers and students in the
above-listed points have been given basic instruction in civil defense.
The next goal then logically would be to reach the remainder of the
population. During 1952-53, house managers in the Estonian SSR were
put through special MPVO courses by DOSAAF 22.6./ which would also be
timely for the current organization and instruction of the self-
defense groups in dwellings.
one aim of the instructional
program is to give all civilians a 20-hour course in civil defense
instruction. 12// Instructions published in 1956 disclose that the
course now includes antiatomic measures. 108/ Completion of the
course is to be entered on DOSAAF membership cards, and citizens who
are not members will be issued appropriate certificates if they
change residence or place of employment. Trainees who receive unsatis-
factory grades must repeat the course. 109/
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6. Drills.
Reports of air-raid drills have been few, but the training
carried out in DOSAAF units, institutions, plants, and schools could
easily be carried on internally. Blackout driving exercises were
reported in Mogilev in 1952. 110/ German prisoners reported periodic
sounding of air-raid sirens in Sverdlovsk before they returned to
Germany in 1953, 111/ and one stated that the population had to
"disappear" from the streets. 112/ From Stalingrad comes the only
description of an air-raid drill in a sector of a city. As described
by a German prisoner of war, it included a blackout, movement of
people to shelters, and a stoppage of traffic. The only vehicles on
the street were police jeeps, ambulances, and fire trucks. Auxiliary
civilian firemen were noted. All personnel (presumably in the ser-
vices) wore gas masks, and simulated "hits" and casualties were part
of the exercise. 113/ With the current priority for giving civil
defense training to the general public, sector and citywide drills
will steadily become more feasible and would be a logical development
at the present time.
7. Training of MFVO Formations.
A recent civil defense manual stresses the necessity for
group training and practical exercises for MPTO personnel. Training
in three steps is recommended, as follows: (a) the leader provides a
demonstration and explanation, (b) the trainees perform the maneuver
under supervision, and (c) the trainees are drilled to acquire skill
in performance. 114/ It has been reported that trainees must devote
75 hours initially to such training, that they are to repeat the
course every 2 years, and that the individual is trained in a variety
of tasks so that personnel may be interchangeable. 115/
The staff and leaders of MPVO are to be trained through
a variety of methods including lectures, seminars, independent
studies, map and sand table exercises, staff training (similar to
command post exercises in the US), demonstrations, and conferences on
methods.
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E. Behavior Instructions. 117/
1. "Threatening Situation."
Announcement of a "threatening situation" indicating that
an air attack is possible is made by radio broadcast (probably over
wired speakers only) and by publication of the regulation by the
Executive Committee of the local Soviet, presumably in newspapers and
on wall posters.
Decrees of the executive committees of the various Soviets
(at republic, oblast, and local level) must be obeyed by all, at least
in civil defense matters. Local decrees, issued initially, establish
leadership duties, state the order in which shelters are to be made
ready, and give the behavior rules for the general population. Civil
defense chiefs at all levels are responsible for notifying workers and
residents of the threatening situation and seeing that behavior
instructions are given to everyone. Civil defense organizations are
to be assembled and made "combat ready." This includes the establish-
ment of round-the-clock duty posts. Shelters, which have been used
for economic purposes (probably for storage, residential, or shop
space), are to be cleared immediately and made completely ready.
Shelter signs are to be posted -- this apparently explains the
absence of shelter signs which has been noted by foreign observers.
Simple covers such as dugouts and trenches are prepared wherever air-
raid shelters are lacking. Means for individual chemical defense
(gas masks) are probably issued and are to be carried at this time.
Fire precautions are thoroughly checked, and blackout is instituted
by nightfall. Loudspeakers (probably of the wired network) are to
be turned on to receive civil defense announcements.
2. Air Alarm.
Announcement of an air attack is made by a 3-minute
sounding of whistles, sirens, and the like and by radio announcement.
Citizens on the street put gas masks in the "ready" position and take
shelter as directed. People in dwellings send children and infirm
persons to the shelters, cover food and drinking water, and turn off
utilities. If they have no other duties, they then take shelter.
Self-defense teams, except those charged with blackout and movement,
report to their place of assembly, check or receive equipment, and
take shelter. All teams report "ready," if possible, to the house
chief. Personnel of other civil defense formations assemble and act
as instructed by their commanders.
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3. Gas Alarm.
A gas alarm is signaled by striking a metallic object and
by radio. All those not in a shelter put on gas masks, and in shelters
the gas-filtering mechanism is started. The explosion of an atomic
weapon is automatically the signal for a gas alarm.
4. All Clear.
When the "all clear" is announced, personnel may leave
shelters and resume their normal routine. However, if a gas alarm
has been announced or a nuclear weapon exploded, the population is to
remain in shelter until special instructions have been received from
civil defense officials.
IV. Air-Raid Shelters.
The use of air-raid shelters is being emphasized in passive air
defense preparations in the USSR. Noting World War II experience,
the newspaper Krasnaya zvezda has said that troops in town under air
attack should make use of cellar shelters. 118/ This presupposes the
existence of numbers of such structures, but the failure to mention
massive, deep-level shelters may indicate a security restriction
rather than a deficiency in this respect.
During World War II the Moscow subway was used as a mass air-
raid shelter -- it has been reported that the subway was in part
designed as such. 119/ The subway is also reported to have been the
location of a key power switchboard and some federal offices. 1221
At the height of the German air raids it was estimated that 750,000
people were sleeping in the subway. 121/ The subway system has been
expanded since the war, and plans for further expansion have been
announced. 122/ A US correspondent returned from Moscow felt that
the expansion of the subway was unwarranted by transportation demands
and described it as "the world's largest and safest air-raid shelter,"
noting its great depth and central location. 1231 DOSAAF exhibits
related to air defense have included pictures of a subway station,
indicating that the USSR is well aware of the possible use of the sub-
way as a bomb shelter. 124/ An underground railroad is also under
construction in Leningrad; one section, 10.8 kilometers long, was
opened in late 1955. 125/ It is reported that the tunnels will "lie
deeper than Lin]. Moscow." 126/ This must present interesting problems
of construction in a city built on a swamp. Work on a subway in Kiev
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has also been periodically reported; a station under construction was
reported by a Western observer in 1954. 122/ Aside from these presum-
ably adaptable subways, massive urban shelters specifically for the
civilian population of the USSR have not been reported.
It is, however, becoming apparent that the USSR is spending con-
siderable time, money, and materials on a construction program for
other types of shelters. These are the basement-type shelters which
reportedly are built into new masonry structures -- public buildings,
apartment houses, stores, clubs, and the like. Khrushchev was
interested in shelter construction before World War II, when he gave
instructions that this type of shelter was to be included in new
buildings along the route customarily used by government officials
when commuting from the western suburbs of Moscow. 128/ Such shelters,
ordered in 1938, were to be gasproof and filter-ventilated and were to
have ceilings at least 10 inches thick, made of reinforced concrete.
The source of this information stated that Moscow schools built in the
late 1930's included similar protective measures and also that govern-
ment office buildings were modified to include shelter during the same
period. 12 Some reports on the construction of air-raid shelters
were received between 1949 and 1953, but they hardly make it possible
to form any firm conclusions as to the size of the shelter-building
program in progress. In 1951 and 1952 the DOSAAF publishing house in
Moscow published manuals giving schematic diagrams of cellar shelters
for masonry apartment buildings.* 130/ These manuals, by 1.1. Savitskiy
and P.M. Kirillov, are basically civil defense training manuals for the
general population. In addition to shelters constructed according to
a "special plan," Kirillov mentions the conversion of existing cellars,
and he states that cellar shelters give protection to the population
against shock wave and splinters from demolition bombs alongside the
building and also against a cave-in of the upper part of the building.
These cellar shelters probably are similar to "Category 2"** shelters
of World War II, which were designed to withstand collapse of the
buildings. 1.31/ In describing a shelter, note was made of smoothly
plastered airtight walls to prevent gas leakage, double airtight doors,
and a filter ventilating installation which would furnish air directly
or through filters. The air was to be drawn in by an electrically
* For sketches of apartment air-raid shelters in the USSR, see
Figure 3, following p. 28.
** Air-raid shelters in the USSR are divided into categories according
to their strength.
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Figure 3
SKETCHES
OF APARTMENT AIR-RAID SHELTERS IN THE USSR 132
Entrance
Filter?Ventilating
Chamber
Air Lock Air Lock Toilets Entrance
421V AY A
I I
-,?/)# 25 A 25
i eel
/,
persons persons % ?-?/=4==
lie ME/
z/M7I/z ?No7 AM' /
.110
50 persons
? 50 persons e
IZI Ca
AFIM:
Hermetically
Sealed Doors
FLOOR PLAN
Valve
-4--Air Intake
Pipes for Air
to Shelter
Ventilator
14747 (First Revision 10-56)
Valve
VENTILATING SYSTEM
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powered fan which could be manually operated in an emergency. A
shelter, according to the manuals, should have water, sewerage, heat,
light, and hand tools for emergencies. A manual
describes similar plans for a civilian-type shelter and
a so ?escribes in some detail the filtering system. The fan is
ideally connected to two intakes on opposite sides of the building,
and the filters are in the form of metal canisters, mountable in
series to attain the required volume of filtered air.*
Many repatriated German prisoners, who were interrogated between
1953 and 1956, had worked on masonry construction in the USSR. They
described cellar shelters in masonry apartments at such varying
locations as Sverdlovsk, Asbest, Pervoural'sk, and Revda in the Urals;
Stalingrad on the Volga; and Kiev, Krasnopol'ye, Kadiyevka, and Stalino
in the Ukraine. iy2/ cellar shelters in
Rustavi 135/ and in Khabarovsk in East Siberia. 136/ It thus appears
likely that extensive shelter construction has been going forward in
implementation of the plan referred to in the manuals of 1951 and 1952.
The descriptions of apartment shelters given by the returned
prisoners of war were remarkably consistent with the plans in the
publications mentioned above and with one another.** Among the items
mentioned were housing built according to "type" and "series" plans
and "shelters built in accordance with new air-raid precaution legis-
lation." 138/
Although these prisoner-of-war reports (numbering around 100) have
some variations, a more or less standard pattern is evident. The
typical report estimates the cellar depth to be 2 to 2-1/2 meters (m),
with walls 40 to 85 centimeters (cm) thick. The estimates of ceiling
thickness vary considerably from 15 to 60 am, including reinforced
concrete plates. The difference in thickness may be caused by varia-
tions in the span width or by the inclusion of a finished flooring in
some estimates. The doors to the shelters -- of steel or metal-clad
wood -- are double, hermetically sealed with rubber gaskets, and have a
gas lock between them.*** Specified in some descriptions are escape
* For sketches of Soviet gas filters and a schematic diagram of the
interior of one filter, see Figure 4, following p. 30.
** For a sketch of an apartment air-raid shelter near Kiev, see
Figure 5, following p. 30.
*** For a photograph of a Soviet shelter door, see Figure 6, following
p. 30.
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passages which are essentially concrete-lined tunnels with covered man-
holes at some distance from the dwellings. In apartments where a
tunnel is not provided, escape hatches are built into the upper cellar
wall. Two toilet rooms are customarily installed, and first-aid
stations 11E/ and showers have been identified in some shelters.
inspecting officers insisted
on extremely smooth plaster-coated walls. 1L2/ These probably are
measures to guard against gas leakage. Other antigas measures
described include the hermetically sealed doors (common to all reports)
and ventilator ducts for the air-purifying unit.
A prisoner of war observed a stainless
steel gas-detection pipe (three-fourths of an inch in diameter) through
a shelter wall connected to the filter ventilating apparatus,
pipelines in cellars were splinter-
proof. 1.1.1.W
The walls of the shelters are built of brick, concrete, or stone,
with the floor and ceiling of concrete.* Concrete mixtures used in
air-raid shelters are reported in two instances.
a mixture of 1 part of "500" cement to 5 parts of sand.1111/ (This
does not seem probable,
A more plausible mixture
reported was 1 part of "400" cement, 2 parts of sand, and 2 parts of
gravel.1/13./ Cement of good quality ("14-oo" and "500") evidently was
not always available, and the substitution of "250" has been noted.
There is only one description of steel reinforcement in ceilings,
which said that the ceiling contained 12-millimeter (mm) steel wire
mesh and 5 to 6 metric tons of iron per 100 square meters (sq. m). 1L9./
This seems high unless the steel used in structurals was included in
the estimate.
The construction of shelters was inspected by military officers. 150/
In view of the known role of the MPV0 in monitoring civil defense con-
struction, it is likely that these were MPVO officers or engineer per-
sonnel loaned to the MPVO for inspection purposes.
* For sketches of apartment air-raid shelters in Stalingrad and
Stalino, see Figure 7, following p. 30.
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SKETCHES OF SOVIET GAS FILTERSI51
Air Inlet
\\\'L'\ \\
\-\
To Blower
\\\? -\\
II/I/IIi/////////////////////
Rubber Union
Mechanical Filter
Chemical Absorbent
Activated Charcoal
FILTER?SORBENT F PU ? 100
Central Tube
420
mm.
?-1004-
TT.
500 mm
SCHEMATIC CONSTRUCTION OF FPU-350
111,0 SCI
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V//A
SKETCH OF AN APARTMENT AIR-RAID SHELTER NEAR KIEV, USSR 152
Walls of Basement
Walls of Shelter
Steel Cover Plate
Emergency
Hatch Exit
Steel
Rubber-sealed
Doors
Passageway
(1 m. high)
Steel
Rubber-sealed
Doors
(
4/
Iron Ladder
5 m.
Steel
Rubber
-sea led
Doors
4.5 m.
(?)
10.5 m.
Shelter Room
3.5 m.
Toilet
Rooms
Shelter Room
3.5 m.
Shelter Room
I? ?
?
?
F? ? ?
1? ? ?
1? ?
Steel
Rubber
-sea led
Doors
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Figure 5
14749 (First Revision 10-56)
FLOOR PLAN
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Figure 6
STEEL BULKHEAD DOORS FOR BASEMENT AIR-RAID SHELTERS
Prague, Czechoslovakia
24360a
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Concrete \ CUT C
SKETCHES OF APARTMENT AIR-RAID SHELTERS/53
Stalingrad and Stalino, USSR
380 cm
? ? ? ? --
Steel Rods, 18 mm dia.
CUT C?D
15 cm.
Reinforced Concrete
10 cm.
U-Plate
20 cm.
U-Plate
Figure 7
/Concrete
77
cm.
Brick,.....?,...
Rod Bondage--....
2 l-Beams
--
t
32
cm.
.....________---
51
cm.
-
Brick ...,....._?,
77
cm.
51
cm.
77
Concrete
Brick
64
cm.
200
12 cm.
cm.
. 100 cm.
340 cm.
340 cm.
100 cm.
,.._,...--
CROSS SECTION SECTION OF AN APARTMENT SHELTER
STALINGRAD
MEMORY SKETCH
14750 (First Revision 10.56)
Meters
Emergency Exit
and
Ventilator Shaft
ESCAPE HATCH OF AN APARTMENT SHELTER
STALINO
MEMORY SKETCH
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Steel Door
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The above descriptions of air-raid shelter construction cover only
about a dozen important industrial locations, cities which happen to
have been visited by German prisoners of war. There is every reason
to assume that similar construction also has been going on in other
areas, although fewer reports on them are available.
Air-raid shelter construction dates at least from 1949. Returning
prisoners of war are substantially in agreement that all new masonry
construction which they saw or heard of in 1952 and 1953 included
cellar shelters. apartment
shelter construction started as early as 1947. 122
shelters were started in 1949, 122/ and that in 1950 shelters were
generally included in new apartments in KrasnopolLye, Sverdlovsk, and
Stalingrad. 1 6 "all Lpew buildings since
1951" included cellar shelters in Stalingrad and Stalino. 157
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there are practically no cellar shelters 50X1
for civilians in the Estonian SSR, but shelters are reported completely
ready in buildings used by the armed forces, the militia, and the state
security forces. In May 1953, work was in progress to construct air-
raid shelters in all government buildings in the Estonian SSR. 158/
Completion of some of these was reported in 1955, and construction was
continuing. 1
Some priority as to personnel evidently has been used in allocating
new apartments and, therefore, air-raid shelters. The earlier construc-
tion during 1948-51 probably was largely allocated to Party and govern-
ment personnel. 160/ Some of the German prisoners of war who worked on
apartments in 1953 reported that there was grumbling about the alloca-
tion of apartments to these more privileged groups, but several stated
that apartments were also occupied by workers in an armaments plant, 161/
employees of a copper combine, 1L6E/ postal telegraph employees, 16
coal mine laborers, 164/ and others who could be grouped under the
heading of workers in essential industry. 165/ The logical system of
priorities which seemingly has been followed in the provision of
improved housing is as follows: first, government, Party, military,
and supervisory personnel; second, workers in essential industry with
higher paid technicians having first call; and, third, the general
population as housing becomes available. The lack of apartment shelters
reported in the Estonian SSR may only reflect limited housing construc-
tion in that area.
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A quantitative estimate of the number of apartment shelters avail-
able in the USSR is difficult.
prisoners .of war did not have too much opportunity to observe out-
side the areas in which they worked. It is possible to cite some
interesting generalities. In Revda, prisoners of war built about 150
apartment houses with cellar shelters from 1951 to 1953, and they
reported that "huge" numbers of apartments were being built concur-
rently by Soviet labor. One prisoner of war returned from Revda
estimated that two-fifths of the population lived in postwar structures
in the new residential district. 1L/ A returned German doctor, who
was released in 1953, reported that in Voroshilovgradskaya Oblast
(Ukrainian SSR) "most of the buildings were equipped with air-raid
shelters." 1613./ Another returned prisoner reported that many of the
wooden buildings in Sverdlovsk had been replaced and that 90 percent
of the town was composed of brick residences. Heavy construction was
going on in all sections of the city from 1950 to 1953. 169/ Although
not conclusive, these few statements added to other prisoner-of-war
reports on various Soviet cities give the impression that cellar
shelters are available to a large segment of the population in impor-
tant target areas.
The shelter program is not limited to the "luxury" apartments.
Returning Germans have reported detached shelters, shelters in indus-
trial construction, and shelters in public buildings. Detached
shelters were built in Stalino in 1952.* 1/2/ Although details in the
reports vary, such shelters are below ground level and have an earth
cover 1 to 2 in thick. Masonry walls and reinforced concrete ceilings
about 20 cm thick make them somewhat similar to the apartment shelters.
Toilet rooms, first-aid areas, gas-filtering apparatus, and double
airtight doors are included in these shelters.
A
prisoner of war was informed that a change in plan made in 1953 called
for the omission of the customary cellar shelters in one residential
area. His fellows had prepared two large excavations in the center of
the area, and it was rumored that central shelters were to be con-
structed. Possibly this method has been found to be more economical
or practical in some cases than the inclusion of shelters in each
apartment building.
* For a sketch of a Soviet detached air-raid shelter in Stalino,
see Figure 8, following p. 32. For a sketch of a detached shelter
from a 1956 Soviet manual, see Figure 9, following p. 32.
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Figure 8
SKETCH OF A DETACHED AIR-RAID SHELTER/72
Stalino, USSR
?
?
?
?
?
FLOOR PLAN
A. Engine Room 9 x 3.5 m.
B. Room, 9 x 8 m.
C. Room, 9 x 8 m.
D. Gas Trap, Steel Doors
E. Room, 9 x 16 m.
F. Toilets
G. Same as D.
H. Ventilating System, 150 mm. dia.
I. Ventilating Shaft, 300-400 mm. dia
Sheet Metal Tubes
14751 (First Revision 10-56)
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Figure 9
SKETCH OF A SOVIET DETACHED AIR-RAID SHELTER'"
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Concurrent with the program for apartment shelters, shelters also
have been included in military barracks, government and Party head-
quarters, .clubhouses, 174/ schools, 175/ hospitals, 176/ and depart-
ment stores. in/ Some of these were installed as early as 1948,
according to reports on the Baku area. In Baku a new Party building
with a strong reinforced concrete cellar was completed in 1948. 1/L3/
A building rumored to be the new Government House was reported in
1949 to have reinforced cellar rooms with steel doors. 179/ A mili-
tary headquarters building in Baku likewise has 6 heavily constructed
cellar rooms which are 5 by 6 by 3 m in size, with rubber-lined iron
doors. 1L/ In the MVD building in Kiev and in the Clubhouse of the
Red Army, large air-raid bunkers with gas locks were reported in
1951. L3.1/ Two other official buildings in Kiev were reported in
1948 to have basements two stories deep. 1L/
Plant shelters are also included in new industrial buildings. These
have been reported in factories in Sverdlovsk, 183/ Kramatorsk, 184/
Moscow, 185/ Khabarovsk, 186/ Stalingrad, IL/ and Odessa. 188/ There is
no reason to believe that these are isolated occurrences. Considering
the Soviet concern for developing and protecting an industrial economy,
it cannot be supposed that bomb shelters are not being included in new
factory installations. The construction of enterprise shelters has
been ordered in several Satellites -- in at least one by 1952. 189/
It seems probable that such measures would not be taken in subject
states until Soviet industry was well protected.
In areas where formal shelter is not available, the populace is
advised to dig dugouts or slit trenches. 122/ The areas for these are
preselected by order of MPVO officials, but construction is not started
until express orders are received. These covers as designed are wood-
lined and may be progressively improved by various measures such as the
addition of doors, gasproofing, heat, and light.
Speculation on the number of air-raid shelters possibly available
can be based on the number of housing units in masonry apartment
buildings. An article in the Soviet Weekly, published in London, gives
statistics which differentiate between "flats" and individual houses
and countryside dwellings. 191/ Flats, as implied by several pictures
in the article, are located in masonry apartment dwellings. Construc-
tion figures for flats in the USSR are given as follows: 1951-53,
2,050,000 units; 1954, 600,000.
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The 1955 rate of flat construction is given in the same article as
600,000 flats per year. Figures for 1951 through 1955 total 3,250,000
units. Inasmuch as reports indicate that shelters have generally been
included since about 1951, only the figures after this date are con-
sidered.
If air-raid shelters have been provided during the course of new
construction, the number of Soviet citizens having apartment shelters
or adaptable basements available may possibly be 16,250,000, a sizable
proportion of the 80 million people living in urban areas. Apartment
construction is planned to provide housing for 25 million persons 1 2
during the current Five Year Plan. Thus the total shelter capacity
in apartment dwellings may be adequate to accomodate 41,250,000 people
by the end of 1960. This theoretical figure would by no means indi-
cate the total shelter available, because it would be supplemented by
bomb shelters in official buildings, industrial installations, stores,
schools, Party and club buildings, hospitals, and subways and prob-
ably by separate mass shelters. No quantitative figure is available
for these, but the number must be substantial, particularly in
essential industry and important target areas.
A 1956 Soviet civil defense manual supports the impression that
heavier shelters have been or are being prepared in the USSR. Although
emphasizing the alleged value of basement shelters, the manual briefly
mentions and diagrams bunker and heavy underground shelter construc-
tion.* It also indicates a modification in the filter ventilating
systems** of shelters to include an antiblast device and an oil-screen,
antidust filter. 193/ Both of these devices are probably designed to
counter blast and "fallout" effects of nuclear attack. Air-raid shelter
construction was not concealed from competent Western observers in 1956,
and pictures of apartment shelters under construction in the USSR were
obtained.***
* For sketches of Soviet heavy air-raid shelters, see Figure 10,
following p. 34.
** For a sketch of a filter ventilating system for a Soviet air-
raid shelter, see Figure 11, following p. 34.
*** For a photograph of a compartmentized basement air-raid shelter
in Kiev, see Figure 12, following p. 3)-I-.-
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Figure 10
SKETCHES OF SOVIET HEAVY AIR-RAID SHELTERSI94
Solid-type Shelter
24360 c
Layer-type Shelter
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Figure 11
SKETCH OF A FILTER VENTILATING SYSTEM
FOR A SOVIET AIR-RAID SHELTER 195
Air intake
24360d
Antiblast device
Antidust filter
Filter absorbents
Air to shelter
compartments \
Hermetic (air)
valves
Electric/ hand
operated fan
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0
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Figure 12
COMPART MENTIZED BASEMENT AIR-RAID SHELTER
Kiev, USSR
24360 e
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V. Other Related Activities.
A. Police.
Control functions for civil defense will in most cases be the
responsibility of the head of the police in a city or rayon. The
reinforcement of the militia by auxiliaries has been linked specif-
ically to civil defense in a 1956 Soviet manual. 1 6
police auxiliaries have been recruited,
as members of the Communist Party, the
Komsomol, and trade unions. 1 The laxity of militia auxiliary
brigades was the subject of criticism in Leningrad in June 1954 --
criticism which probably indicated increasing interest. 122/ Broad-
casts of 1956 indicate that Komsomol members particularly are recruited
for auxiliary militia. 122/ The regular militia and its auxiliaries
undoubtedly form the nuclei of order and security services and crews in
the city and sectors. The subordination of the MPVO, police, and fire-
fighting bodies to the MVD facilitates their integration into the civil
defense system and insures strong legal authority as well as a high
degree of control.
B. Fire Defense.
Experience during World War II showed that one of the more
dangerous effects of air attack is the igniting of large fires which
may unite into conflagrations or develop into fire-storms. 222/ It is
therefore important for civil defense purposes to prepare carefully for
the possibility of fire through the development of both fire-fighting
and fire-prevention measures.
1. Organization.
The fire defense forces of the USSR are under the MVD. The
Chief Directorate of the Fire Guard (Glavnoye Upravleniye Pozharnoy
Okhrany GUPO) in Moscow is the controlling body. At intermediate
levels are found Directorates of the Fire Guard (Upravleniye Pozharnoy
Okhrany UPO). City fire departments form the lowest echelon in the
formal fire-fighting structure.
The MVD operates the Leningrad Fire-Fighting Technical
School, which conducts a 3-year course for officer candidates between
18 and 23 years of age. Students are maintained at government expense
and receive officer rank when graduated. 29.01/ Instruction for lower
ranks probably is given in regional or city fire-fighting schools. 222/
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The efficiency of the fire guard probably is good. The
Soviet Weekly in an article on Moscow lauds the new fire department
for its streamlined fire engines, radio communications, mobile
power stations with searchlights, electric saws, and huge emergency
water tankers. 22.1/ It is stated that 48 seconds after an alarm
the unit goes through the station gates with personnel in fire-
proof suits and steel helmets. Prisoners of war from Stalingrad
and Sverdlovsk describe fire forces there as quickly available and
efficient Zpjli and state that personnel were equipped with asbestos
overalls and helmets. 222/ The fire defense forces seem to be
adequate for peacetime purposes because no reports are known of
-excessive incidence of fire in the USSR.
2. Civil Defense and Fire Fighting.
Most large factories in the USSR are reported to have
their own fire departments, including trucks and uniformed person-
nel. 2,02W Volunteer fire departments exist in some areas. 2E/ The
civil defense training program includes fire-fighting training in
DOSAAF units, in self-defense groups of dwellings, and in target
crews and shop sections of industrial installations.
Under combat conditions it is necessary to have addi-
tional fire-fighting forces to send to the aid of stricken areas.
These can be provided by an interchange system between areas or by
the formation of additional mobile fire-fighting units. No reports
have been received of Soviet drills involving the interchange of
fire-fighting forces, but this does not indicate that plans for such
action are nonexistent.
A recently published Soviet newspaper article on atomic
defense states that fire-fighting crews of civil defense forces will
be removed to the outskirts of populated areas and located on main
highways, where crews and equipment will be placed in shelter. 208/
A 1956 Soviet civil defense manual indicates that it is preferable
to disperse the emergency engineering services as well as the fire-
fighting forces of civil defense. 2
New items of equipment for fire-fighting as well as
modified tactics have been publicized. One of these is a new fire
truck which is said to be used for combating fires in large "indus-
trial centers" and also for civil defense organizations. This truck
is probably mounted on a 6-wheel chassis with a 4-wheel drive, which
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should result in a moderate capability for off-road operation. It
has an announced pumping capacity of 6,000 liters (1,582 gallons) per
minute. 210/ A new hand-carried fire pump* has been designed. It has
a capacity of 600 liters (158.5 gallons) per minute and weighs about
176 pounds. Ell/ The need for light and portable fire equipment was
demonstrated by Japanese and Western experience in World War II, when
large vehicles were frequently immobilized by damaged and rubble-strewn
streets.
3. Auxiliary Water Supplies.
The problem of nearly simultaneous heat and blast is acute
in fire defense -- the shock that ruptures water mains, reducing or
cutting off the normal supply, is accompanied by large water require-
ments for fire defense. 212/ Supplementary water supplies may be
obtained from natural water bodies and from wells or storage tanks.
It is axiomatic that provision of auxiliary water supplies must be
accomplished before attack.
Auxiliary water sources -- cisterns and the like -- have
been reported in Soviet industrial enterprises. 213../
They are described as 9 m in diameter
and 5 m deep with the upper edge flush with the ground level. 2.11V
The preparation of static water supplies is probably quite wide-
spread; certainly some of the European Satellites have been actively
making such preparations for the last 3 or 4 years.
Tank trucks have been mentioned as normal equipment for
fire-fighting forces in Moscow and probably are also used to augment
water supplies by hauling water from natural ?1,2/ or artificial
water sources to the scene of a fire where a water shortage has
occurred.
The USSR is well aware of the danger of disrupted water
systems, and an article published in 1948 described methods of con-
trolling breaks in water mains by emergency repair crews of the NINO.
The means discussed are regional shutdowns and repair by the use of
temporary pipe laid on the surface and by fire hoses connected to
* For a sketch of a Soviet portable fire pump, see Figure 13,
following p. 38.
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hydrants across the break. 22.61 These instructions presuppose or
specify provision for extra pipe and hose to be used in an emergency.
Tower observation posts are used in Soviet cities for
fire-watching posts. 217/ According to a police official who served
during most of World War II in the German Air-Raid Protection Police,
tower observation posts are valuable for civil defense, not only for
the detection and description of enemy plane activity but also for
the location and assessment of damage, particularly that resulting
from fire. Frequent reports from a network of capable tower obser-
vers can keep defense command posts informed of the fire and damage
situation and can facilitate the direction of movement of fire-
fighting, repair, and medical forces.
4. Fire Prevention.
Soviet fire-
prevention measures before World War II included rigid building code
requirements for wiring, fire escapes, fireproofing, and roof con-
struction. 218/ Fire-prevention meaSures observed by German
prisoners of war who worked on apartment construction in 1953
included asbestos-cement ("Eternite 2120 roofing slabs attic
rafters painted with fire-proof paint, 220/ 50)(1
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Precautionary fire regulations are strict. 22 This is
indicated in open publications by advertisements originated by the
fire guard. Prison terms have been imposed on persons charged with
permitting fires to develop through neglect of the proper precau-
tions. 224/ Publicity is also given to fire-prevention measures
through the use of posters 2E2/ and newspaper notices.
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Figure 13
SKETCH OF A SOVIET PORTABLE M-600 FIRE PUMP"'
24360 f
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5. Development of Reinforced Concrete Construction.
The construction of masonry buildings with a high degree
of fire resistance within city limits has recently been emphasized
in the USSR -- a campaign for the use of precast reinforced concrete
(ferroconcrete) in building is under way with much publicity and with
the endorsement of top-level officials. Announced aims of the cam-
paign include the growth of socialist production, the conservation of
steel and manpower, and the increased comfort of the population. 227/
Although these may be the primary purposes of the new ferroconcrete
construction program, it is nevertheless true that the program will
reduce fire incidence and reduce the problems of the Soviet civil
defense system. The leaders of the USSR probably are well aware of
these advantages, and at least one newspaper article refers to the
increased fire resistance of ferroconcrete construction. 228/ To
make sure that ferroconcrete construction will replace other types
of construction, the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the
Council of Ministers issued a joint decree in August 1954 222/ which
prohibits the drawing up of plans including wooden floors in dwellings
of six stories or more, beginning in 1955. The number of stories was
to be reduced to four in 1957. Floor limits for cultural and public
buildings were even lower.
C. Supplies.
it is impossible to make any estimate
of the kind and amount of material held by the participating organi-
zations or held in storage.
certain types of supplies applicable
to civil defense are stored or stockpiled in various installations.
1. In Ob"yekty and Institutions.
A World War II manual referred to MPVO supplies kept in
"N2" storage in obnyektz and institutions which were to be issued on
notification of a "threatening situation." 22/ Postwar reports of
civil defense equipment in plants enumerate gas masks, gas-protective
clothing, coverlets, stretchers, 231/ drugs, 222/ and decontamination
materials. Important factories in Riga were reported to have received
gas-protective clothing and boots in 1951. At the same time, the
installation of Sirens and loudspeaker systems was announced. 233/
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2. MPV0 and MVD.
A variety of supplies probably is stored in 11170 and MVD
warehouses. an annex to an 50X1
MVD depot at Viltnyus contained gas defense materials, including gas
masks, curtains, clothing, and chemicals.
individual antichemical packets are stored in MPV0 ware- 50X1
houses in the Estonian SSR. 2.12/ An MVD depot at Kiev reportedly
stores food, clothing, and boots .W in nine concrete buildings.
Although this storage may not be intended for civil defense purposes,
it would no doubt be made available in case of emergency. 50X11
storage of unidentified radio or electrical equipment in 50X1
an MVD basement. 237/
Reserves of fire-fighting equipment are probably being
prepared. These have been reported from the European Satellites,
and again, it seems probable that the USSR would not permit itself to
be outdistanced in civil defense preparatory measures.
an unusual number of
vehicles at the principal Moscow fire station. Part of these,
might represent an emergency reserve. 222j
fire-fighting
3. 'DOSAAF.
In 1940, OSOAVIAKhIM, the predecessor of DOSAAF, was charged
with the issuance and repair of gas-protection devices for the popula-
tion through a chain of depots and shops.2112/ It seems possible that
this arrangement is still substantially the same, because the new
civilian GP-4 gas mask was offered for sale through DOSAAF stores. 241/
in DOSAAF's storage room in a Kiev
plant there were stored gas masks and decontamination materials in
amounts sufficient for one shift. LE/
4. In Apartment Dwellings.
Instructions of 1952 stated that civil defense supplies in
apartment diwelling units would be furnished by the executive committee
of the city Soviet. 243/ Shelter items include crowbars, spades, axes,
and saws. No specific reports as to the equipping of shelters have
been received, but the World War II list of equipment included the same
types of tool plus specialized (such as first-aid, fire-fighting, and
decontamination) equipment for the self-defense teams.
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5. Stockpiling..
Although no stockpiles in the USSR have been connected
directly with the civil defense program, many items are stored which
could be used for civil defense purposes. These items include fuel,
food, clothing, automotive equipment, and engineering and medical
supplies.211/1/
D. Communications.
Instructions indicate that civil defense alarms are to be
given by word of mouth, by radio, and by sirens or whistles. In case
of a localized gas attack, the alarm is to be given by striking a
metal surface.2/12 In some localities, sirens and loudspeakers have
been installed or restored since 1950, and sirens have been period-
ically tested in Sverdlovsk. In In 1955, objects believed to be
air-raid sirens were sighted on the roofs of high buildings in
Moscow.* Some appeared to have been there for years; others had been
freshly painted. They are apparently remotely controlled and spaced
one per square kilometer. In some cases, however, they are only a
few hundred meters apart.211//
In operations during World War II the MVO made use of radio,
telephone, and messenger service. The continued use of parallel com-
munications, stressing the use of telephones, has been recommended.
A telephone setup prescribed in 1945 links the command post of a city
to the air warning service, observation posts, city services of the
MPVO, MPVO sectors, and important industrial targets. Through the
sector command posts, communications are linked to the sector crews,
observation posts, and targets and organizations within the sector.
Telephone wires for the MPVO probably would be underground. Duplicate
channels are recommended for radio, which would also be linked to
mobile units of the MPV0,Zilg/ but there is no firm indication of how
well developed this projected scheme is. Fire and police radio also
probably would be used for civil defense purposes.
Operators and technicians for MPVO communications could be
furnished or augmented by DOSAAF personnel. DOSAAF club activity
includes radio study groups which, according to Soviet publications,
* For a sketch of a supposed air-raid siren in Moscow, see Figure 14,
following p. 42.
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are quite active. Several instances were noted of the stress laid on
radio activity in DOSAAF during 1953 and 1954, 2/.?92 one stating that
it was particularly important "at the present time." 250/
Instructions of 1952 to disseminate air defense information
by radio were anticipated by a 1949 government decision to complete
the "basic radiofication" of the country by 1955. 251/ This radio-
fication effort was carried through with the cooperation of DOSAAF
amateurs.
At present there are more than 19.4 million wired speakers
and 6.15 million radio broadcast receivers in the USSR. 22/ It is
believed that wired speakers would be the preferred medium for the
broadcast of civil defense instructions in case of war and possible
air attack.
E. Motor Transport.
Motor transport has many potential uses in civil defense.
Vehicles are needed for city services and relief columns and for the
use of motor messengers, guides, and'motorized reconnaissance groups.
The use of motOr messengers, particularly motorcycles, was
common in German air defense practice during World War II. They were
used both as messengers when communications failed and for the
guidance of disaster columns (fire, medical, and the like) arriving
from distant localities. Guides were familiar with orders for
deployment and the currently passable routes into the disaster
areas. 253/
Civil defense training for bus and truck drivers was reported
to have taken place in two Belorussian towns in 1952. It included
training in general air defense and in blackout driving. 254/
all trucks of "auto bases" in
the Estonian SSR must have sets of wooden benches and mounting ladders
stored for each truck. 255/ Although these trucks are nominally for
the military forces, their potential civil defense uses include evacua-
tion or the transportation of disaster crews.
F. Chemical Defense.
The Soviet civil defense program stresses chemical defense.
The common instructions for civil defense include identification of
gases, care and wearing of gas masks and protective clothing,
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2' 6"
Sheet Metal Roof
Convex Dishes
Tubulor Body
Thick Cable
-..?Legs Supporting Body of Siren
Triangular Iron Support
ROOF
1F.LI
Figure 14
SKETCH OF A SUPPOSED AIR-RAID SIREN,256
Moscow, USSR
24360g
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decontamination procedures, and care of food and water.
in schools, factories, and other localities,
chemical defense activities noted. 2y2
2
observers stress the
Gas masks of high quality (GP-4) were made available to the
public through DOSAAF stores in 1953. The price of GP-4 gas masks in
the DOSAAF stores is relatively high, however, for the average Soviet
citizen, and sales of the mask are therefore believed to be small.
The design of the GP-4 mask suggests that it was intended for pro-
tection against bacteriological as well as chemical agents, 259/ and
a Soviet publication recently stated that it serves to decontaminate
the air from toxic and radioactive substances and from microbes and
toxins employed in aerosols. 260/
Gas masks and decontamination supplies have been reported to
be stored in factories, DOSAAF units, and MP\TO warehouses. The amount
of such material available is not known, but the present level of
training and statements in DOSAAF manuals suggest that key personnel,
workers in essential industry, and those expected to perform MIN()
duties do have gas masks and protective clothing where required.
but it is made doubtful by a DOSAAF publication in 1951 which listed
one of the duties of the NPV0 chief of a dwelling as checking occupants
for gas mask needs. 2L2./
Soviet civil defense manuals give extensive instructions for
the decontamination of gassed areas. Such areas are reconnoitered and
marked with flags or tapes by antichemical crews or teams. Decontami-
nation of areas and buildings is to be carried out after attack by
using various neutralizing agents, the principal ones being slaked
lime and quicklime. Several types of equipment are used in decon-
tamination,* but the wide availability of such items has not been
reported. It is presumed, however, that these are at least available
for training purposes.
Reports of air-raid shelters frequently state that they are
equipped with filter ventilating mechanisms or are designed for their
installation. As more shelters with such filter mechanisms become
available, the vulnerability of the USSR to chemical warfare will
decline.
* For sketches of Soviet decontamination equipment, see Figure 15,
following p. 44.
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the effects of chemical
attack on an unprepared population could be disastrous from the point
of view of morale as well as numbers of casualties. EL/ If this is
true, the increasing number of gasproof shelters, the availability of
high-quality gas masks, and widespread chemical defense training
should be a psychological advantage in the civil defense of the USSR.
G. Blackout.
Instructions for blackout, published in 1956, are substantially
normal. However, it is noteworthy that blackout materials are pre-
scribed to cover windows and other openings which are not only light-
proof but which should be impermeable to infra-red rays. EL/ The
same instructions describe flame and spark arresters for industrial
furnaces.* 265/
VI. Medical Aspects of Civil Defense.
A. Resources.
The centrally controlled, uniform pattern of the medical
system 266/ of the USSR is well suited to and already integrated with
the civil defense program. 267/ Various opportune arrangements will
help the USSR to mobilize medical resources and manpower during and
after air attack, such as the stress on preventive medicine, the
plans for emergency conversion of schools into hospitals, the well-
developed plan for first-aid posts and personnel, the high-priority
requisitioning powers of medical authorities in a stricken area, the
allocation of convertible resources in target and target border
areas, E.2,/ the rigid system of personal identification, and the
presence of numerous medical facilities in newer key cities in addi-
tion to older cities. 270/ Under the added strain of wartime con-
ditions, however, the Soviet dependence upon inadequate facilities
and many poorly trained personnel probably will limit their ability
to cope with simultaneous and numerous emergency situations.
The Soviet government appears to be taking measures to
strengthen the psychological preparation of the population. A
propaganda campaign against postwar indifference to civil defense
* For a sketch of a Soviet chamber flame and spark arrester, see
Figure 16, following p. 44.
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SKETCHES OF SOVIET DECONTAMINATION EQUIPMENT 2"
Suspended Decontamination Apparatus
Portable Decontamination Apparatus (VDP)
The Handbarrow Sieve in Operation.
24360 h
Figure 15
The Suspended Decontamination Apparatus In-
stalled on a Truck.
Knapsack Decontamination Apparatus (RDP)
Decontam. nation of Walls with the Calcium
Chloride Paste.
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SECTION ON DE
SECTION ON A BC
DIAGRAM OF CHAMBER
FLAME B SPARK ARRESTER
Figure 16
SKETCH OF A SOVIET CHAMBER FLAME AND
SPARK ARRESTER272
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activities is under way, and the masses are apparently becoming more
aware of the need for preparation against air attack by conventional
and special weapons.
B. Organization and Functions of MFVO Medical and Veterinary
Services.
1. Medical Service.
The Medico-Sanitation Service of the MFVO (Mediko-
Sanitarnaya Sluzhba, MFVO -- MSS MPVO) is superimposed on the normal
Soviet public health system.* It utilizes the existing network of
therapeutic and sanitary establishments of local health departments
and auxiliary medical services as a basis for emergency medical
operations under air-raid conditions. As an integral part of the
nationwide MPV0 system, it cooperates with PV0 Strany** and is sub-
ordinate to it in time of war. The vertical organization within the
Ministry of Health includes a top-level MPV0 section at the ministry
level, which channels down by way of the existing internal echelons.
Horizontal organization is achieved by working agreements and coordi-
nated activity of the varinus Ministry of Health echelons with the
other interested government agencies, public organizations (partic-
ularly the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies), and a number of lay
participating elements.
The most important medical defense organizational unit is
at the target level. EU/ The heads of city or rayon health depart-
ments also serve as chiefs of the corresponding MSS MFVO units. These
executive medical officers supervise the pertinent medical civil
defense training and in time of war are charged with reducing the med-
ical effects of air raids to a minimum. Specialized problems related
to epidemic control or chemical, biological, and radiological decon-
tamination under air-raid conditions are the responsibility of the
State Sanitary Inspector (Gosinspektor). Because of his position as
a deputy director of a city or rayon health department, he is also the
assistant chief of that city or rayon emergency medical service.
* For the organization of medical civil defense in the USSR, see
Figure 17, following p. 46.
** See p. 5, above.
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The city organization coordinates all activities performed
by all departments which are operating within city limits, including
services such as those of the Ministry of Communications, water trans-
port, and military garrisons, taking into consideration the possibil-
ity that single establishments and, in most cases, departmental
medical institutions may be knocked out of operation, resulting in a
shortage of departmental resources. Representatives of the medical
services coordinate their plans with the head of the MSS ITV? of the
city and report as to civil defense needs such as extra personnel,
critical materials, and hospital beds. Physicians of the local mili-
tary garrisons coordinate their plans with the MSS MPVO of the city
in effecting evacuation of medical personnel. If needed, a garrison
physician is empowered to support the MISS MPVO of the city, subject
to the permission of the garrison commander..21/1/ MSS MPVO units
are similarly organized in rayons of cities which are divided into
rayons; at the head of the MSS MPVO in the rayon is the person who
holds the position of chief of the rayon health department. The
head of the MSS MPVO of a rayon directs operations through the heads
of the MSS in MPVO districts and has at his disposal (a) rayon
hospitals which render professional medical aid and treatment to the
air-raid victims and (b) reserves for giving assistance to districts.
If a city is simply divided into medical districts, an MSS MPVO
system is organized in each of these districts. 275/
In rural areas, in large industrial establishments, and
in railroad and marine transport the medical civil defense organi-
zation takes the same basic organizational form. The senior rural
district medical officer is the chief of its MSS MPVO system. A
medical civil defense unit is also organized in large industrial
enterprises, which have special out-patient clinics or health
stations, under the leadership of the chief clinic physician or the
director of the health station. The MSS MPVO in the railroad and
marine transport industries are similar, although their emergency
services are adjusted to the peculiarities and activities of the
transportation system.
It should be noted that the whole MSS MPVO structure is
keyed to internal district and establishment needs as well as to
external support for medical sections of the over-all MIN? system
in any given geographic area. To expedite this procedure, the MSS
MPVO can requisition the resources of the railroads, marine trans-
port, military garrisons, and other available services. 276/ In
the event of an actual air raid, the MSS MPVO operates at the MEW
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Other Ministries
(Civil Defense Programs)
Local Civil
Defense Programs
(Factories, transportation
and
communication facilities,
and
combines.
Emergency medical
aid programs)
14754 (First Revision 10-561
ORGANIZATION OF MEDICAL CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE USSR
MVD
(MPVO Corps)
Local
MPVO, MVD Office
Voluntary and
Paramilitary Societies
(DOSAAF, Red Cross,
and Red Crescent)
Ministry of Health
"MSS MPVO"
-.11?
Local Clubs
and
Chapters
(Emergency medical
aid programs)
-.011F
Local Medical Facilities
(Hospitals, clinics, blood
banks, dispensaries,
health stations,
sanitation and epidemic
control facilities,
laboratories, pharmacies,
pharmaceutical houses,
internal civil defense
programs )
Ministry of Defense
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Medical Facilities
of Local Garrison
Figure 17
ALL-UNION LEVEL
Union Republics
(including
Autonomous Republics)
Oblasts
(including larger cities)
Krays and Rayons
(including cities
containing rayons)
Urban and Rural
Distrkts
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medical establishments outside a given area as well as in the area
under attack. This concept of support for target area borders is an
outgrowth of Soviet experience in World War II, when the quick avail-
ability and utilization of transportation and medical resources made
it possible for medical defense units of neighboring cities and rayons
to give timely aid to areas where medical facilities were depleted.
No special instructions or directives from higher authority are
necessary in emergencies such as air raids or states of siege.*
Tactical decisions, based on the favorable results of similar arrange-
ments during World War II, are left to local authorities. 277/
a. Missions and Functions.
The following missions are assigned to the MSS MPVO:
(1) The practical administration of all medical
institutions located within the limits of a city and their adaptation
to the needs of local air defense.
(2) The organization of stationary and mobile facil-
ities for rendering aid to victims, including the following: stationary
and mobile first-aid stations; stationary and mobile dressing stations;
stationary and mobile clearing stations; stationary and mobile decon-
tamination stations for the decontamination of the clothing of victims
of chemical, biological, or radiological warfare; station hospitals;
and medicochemical laboratories for the detection and analysis of
chemical, biological, or radiological substances in such things as
water and foodstuffs.
(3)
medical equipment.
()4) Training and requalifying personnel such as
doctors, laboratory workers, nurses, and corpsmen for work in various
medical institutions and crews of the MPVO.
Furnishing crews and services of the MPVO with
(5) Directing military training of all medical
institutions, and of MPVO crews which are designed for use in case
of enemy air attack.
* For a flow plan of MPVO emergency medical treatment of mass cas-
ualties, see Figure 18, following p. 48.
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(6) Registering all medical property found in homes,
institutions, and business establishments.
(7) Planning and directing the organization and
training of the general population (medical units and militia) for
medical defense, self defense, and mutual aid. Such work includes
the following: first aid and evacuation of the victims of air attack;
organization of sanitation squads for the decontamination of areas,
clothing, water, and food in case of chemical, biological, or radio?
logical attack; aid stations for those suffering as a result of chemical,
biological, or radiological attacks; organization of local defense
against air attack within medicosanitary establishments; sanitary and
epidemic control measures; and the maintenance of all means of pro-
tection and sanitary supervision over collective protection facilities
during air raids. 278/
In carrying out its extensive mission, the MSS MPV0
uses different types of units, which vary as to personnel and assign-
ment as follows:
(1) Medical Self-Defense Groups.
Medical self-defense groups are trained in first-
aid methods and transportation of the injured. They are organized
before the outbreak of hostilities at dwellings, industrial establish-
ments, and other enterprises. Red 'Cross and Red Crescent posts
substitute for these groups where they do not exist. The USSR has
engaged in training large portions of the Soviet population in medical
defense by means of the "Ready for Sanitary Defense" (Gotov k Sanitarnoy
Oborone GSO) norm. Sanitary posts, sanitary self-defense groups,
and sanitary teams at dwellings, enterprises, kolkhozes, and sovkhozes
are formed from groups of people who have completed courses under the
GSO training program. 2
(2) MPVO Medical Brigades (Commands).
The MPVO medical brigades are organized at indus-
trial or other enterprises and are composed of employees at each partic-
ular installation who are equipped according to a "standard table of
equipment." The property of medical MPVO battalions is used only for
the purpose for which it is intended. Detachments are equipped and
trained at the employees' expense. A brigade may include medical MPVO
battalions and companies as well as district and rayon medical druzhiny
(teams) of the Red Cross. 280/
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ORGANIZATION
OF MPVO EMERGENCY MEDICAL TREATMENT OF MASS CASUALTIES
IN THE USSR
First-Aid Posts
Emergency Dispensary
Emergency Surgery
AW Casualities
Emergency Therapy
CEBAR Casualities
I I I
? Surgical Hospitals and Departments ?
Neuro.
Surgery
Ortho.
Surgery
General
Surgery
I L
A
.P
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Figure 18
I I I
?Therapeutic Hospitals and Department ?
GI
RX
Resp.
RX
CNS
RX
TEMPORARY HOLDING HOSPITALS
PERMANENT HOSPITAL
INSTALLATIONS
14752
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(3) Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
The Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies play a
major civil defense role through their sanitary (public health) and
first-aid activities, which affect large masses of the population.
Their functions include not only a well-developed system of training
but also the formation and management of groups which perform particu-
lar tasks connected with public health and with sanitary and first-aid
aspects of military and civil defense operations. 281/
A federation of the republic societies of the Red
Cross (Obshchestvo Krasnogo Kresta ROKK) and the Red Crescent
(Obshchestvo Krasnogo Polumesyatsa OKP), the Union of the Societies
of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent (Soyuz Obshchestv Krasnogo
Kresta i Krasnogo Polumesyatsa SOKKIKP), has operated since 1925 on
an All-Union scale. The general aims of SOKKIKP are to strengthen the
wartime first-aid capabilities of the population and to assist in
improving the hygienic conditions of the civil population. The program
devised to attain these aims includes "wartime cooperation with medical
units of the army and navy and rendering medical aid to soldiers and
civilians injured in military action, peacetime organization of aid to
victims of natural catastrophes, assistance to governmental health
organs in providing public health service, organization of a network of
first aid, training of auxiliary cadres of medical personnel among the
youth, and the outfitting of medical aircraft." 282/
Red Cross civil defense teams, or druzhiny, are
formed within cities, rayons, transport systems, collective farms,
state farms, housing units, factories, and schools. At the present
time there are various types of teams with different functions and
numbers of members, ranging from 3 to 16. The activities of units of
this type are directly related to the needs of the MPVO, where medically
trained personnel and the units to which they belong are further trained
to function efficiently within the civil defense system. A Red Cross or
Red Crescent sanitation team is composed of 3 groups consisting of 5
people each. Each group is provided with equipment similar to that of
a sanitary post. The leader of the team has a satchel of the type
carried by a fel'dsher (doctor's assistant). The sanitary team is a
public organization and is designated by an order number assigned to it.
The Red Cross or Red Crescent sanitary teams represent reserves of the
city or rayon MSS MPVO and are used according to directions given by the
city or rayon staff of the MSS NIVO. In wartime, sanitary teams are used
like sanitary posts for giving first aid at focal areas which have been
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hit and for transporting the injured. In peacetime they may function
in rendering aid at the time of natural disasters or in connection
with public gatherings and public works. A medical nurse, a doctor's
assistant, or an experienced leader of a sanitary post is appointed
as chief of the sanitary team. Although the Soviet press maintained
almost complete silence on Red Cross and Red Crescent first-aid
training classes for several years after World War II, it has given
them considerable attention since 1951. Reports from various republics
indicate that the work of the Societies has been reoriented toward civil
defense training since the outbreak of war in Korea. 28
The wide dispersion of the primary units of the
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies enhances their effectiveness in
many functions concerned with public health and civil defense. The
latest claim of about 20 million or more members is greater than the
World War II registration. EL/ The impetus given to these societies
simultaneously with the stress on paramilitary defense organization and
its prescribed training are indications of the intensified preparation
of the Soviet population for defense. The units of the Soviet Red
Cross, which are partially trained groups, form a convenient and impor-
tant part of the MSS MEM. Although medical and sanitary training is
also conducted by the Ministry of Health and by DOSAAF, the Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies are the most important sources of mass
medical and sanitary assistance in time of emergency. 28
-()4) First-Aid Detachments.
A first-aid detachment consists of 2 medical
nurses; a sanitar (medical assistant); and a physician, who heads the
detachment. These detachments operate in the focal area which has
been affected or in its immediate vicinity. If necessary, they may
engage the help of medical posts and other medical units located at
the focal area. MPVO medical manuals published in the 1951-56
period stress first-aid measures to be taken in contingencies such as
the destruction of buildings by bombing with resulting injuries to
occupants; injuries because of explosion waves; loss of consciousness
from all causes; epileptic attacks; burns; poisoning with various sub-
stances (alcohol; methanol; ethylene glycol used as antifreeze; strong
acids and caustic alkalies; mercuric chloride; morphine; cocaine;
phosphorus; toadstools; spoiled fish and other spoiled foodstuffs;
industrial poisons including lead, mercury, zinc, hydrogen sulfide,
arsenic, benzene, and aniline; and agricultural poisons); and shock
resulting from electric current. The treatment of persons who have been
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injured by incendiary bombs (for example, burning phosphorus) and
chemical, biological, and radiological agents is described in partic-
ular detail. Efi
(5) Medical Transport Teams.
Medical transport teams consist of specially
designated MFVO transportation units that utilize litters, ambulances,
trucks, and reconverted vehicles of various types. ELI/
(6) Epidemiological Control Teams.
Epidemiological control teams are responsible for
supporting wartime cleanup activities in areas where epidemics have
broken out.
(7) Search and Casualty Sorting Teams (RSG).
Search and casualty sorting teams are composed of
nurses with special training in casualty rescue and care services.
(8) Student Teams (ORVP).
Student teams are organized at educational insti-
tutions in support of the adult program. Eft/
b. Use of Facilities.
The plan for medical aid establishments of the MFVO
makes use of existing medical facilities to care for the different
types of air-raid casualties. The medical aid establishments of the
MFVO consist of the following: first-aid stations in out-patient
clinics for out-patient treatment, first-aid stations in hospitals and
in large out-patient clinics where in-patient treatment is given,
bathing stations attached to disinfection units and bath houses,
stations for anhydrous disinfection, and medicochemical laboratories
attached to hygiene and bacteriological laboratories. Schools, club-
houses, motion-picture theaters, institutes, air-raid shelters, cellars,
and the like may also be used. Places at which medical aid is given
before the injured are treated by a physician include first-aid
stations (Punkt Pervoy Meditsinskoy Pomoshchi -- PPM), dispensaries
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(Statsionarnyy Punkt Meditsinskoy Pomoshchi SPM), and hospitals.*
A first-aid station may have only a fel'dsher, who would be located
at a midwife station or an ambulatory polyclinic. It gives medical
aid to persons suffering from light wounds, traumatic injuries or
burns, and exposure to nonpersistent toxic agents. Dispensaries give
medical aid to all classes of injured, including those who have been
exposed to persistent toxic agents, and they also provide temporary
hospitalization inasmuch as they are located at hospitals, sanitariums,
and health resorts. The USSR does not consider it necessary to estab-
lish a first-aid station at every stopping place along the evacuation
route from an area under attack. Air-raid casualties who have been
removed from an area are sent to the nearest hospital in the region
under attack. All complex medical care is given in one place.
Medical aid stations are used mainly as places where rest is given
and where victims are sorted. Because of the lack of qualified
surgeons in medical aid stations, surgery is necessarily limited to
giving first aid and preparing patients for evacuation. If the area
under attack is not far from a hospital, casualties are sent directly
to the hospital. 28
One of the most important duties of the MSS MIN?
service is to supervise the operation of hospitals under air-raid
conditions.** Instructions concerning the training and duties of all
hospital personnel have been issued covering alerts, "air attacks of
any kind," fires, chemical, biological, and radiological attacks.
Hospitals that are situated within the zone of air defense must make
provision for the following: protecting patients from bullets, shells,
and chemical, biological, and radiological agents, mainly by con-
structing shelters as well as by providing individual equipment for
protection against chemical, biological, and radiological aerosols;
providing properly equipped admission wards, where qualified profes-
sional medical aid and treatment can be given to victims; taking such
general measures as are necessary in case of an air raid, such as
blackouts, fire-prevention measures, assignment of duties, and
instruction of personnel; drawing up an internal operating plan; and
preparing to respond properly to air raids and air alarms. In case
of an air attack on the territory served by the hospital, the chief
medical officer of the hospital assumes charge of the previously
* Administration of first aid must be confined mainly to the
nearest available stations. The need for evacuation is determined
later, at stations where more qualified medical service is available.
** For the operation of Soviet blood transfusion services in di-
saster and wartime situations, see Figure 19, following p. 52.
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Figure 19
OPERATION OF SOVIET BLOOD TRANSFUSION SERVICES
IN DISASTER AND WARTIME SITUATIONS
Central Institute
of
Hematology
and
Blood Transfusion,
Moscow
ircfey:Fr6ht:.ai
44
Affiliated Republic Institutes of Hema-
tology and Blood Transfusion, Moscow
Representative example, disaster area
Coordination and support
-40.??? Emergency support
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organized staff of MPVO personnel. If the chief medical officer is
absent when the alarm is sounded, the individual in charge of the MPVO
staff of the hospital takes charge. The medical officer on watch at
the reception ward assumes responsibility in case the above two indi-
viduals are not available. The duties are decentralized and are dis-
tributed among different divisions and buildings of the hospital. In
case of an air raid, duties are performed by available personnel using
all resources at their disposal.* 222/
Specially adapted hospitals and hospital departments
are used for the treatment of the injured. Surgical hospitals or
departments are used for the treatment of people who have been
exposed to vesicants and thus have skin blisters and ulcers, and
also for the neurosurgical treatment of persons suffering from
damage to the central and peripheral nervous system. Therapeutic
hospitals or departments are used for victims suffering from damage
to internal organs caused by exposure to toxic agents which have a
suffocating, generally toxic, or irritating effect. Therapeutic
treatment must also be given to victims who rapidly exhibit patholog-
ical effects in respiratory organs or in the gastrointestinal tract
as a result of exposure to persistent toxic agents. Hospitals and
other medical institutions located in an MPVO zone must comply with
all standard procedures relative to MPVO measures taken at dwellings,
such as blackout procedures, protection against fire and structural
collapse, prevention of panic, first aid to victims at the site of
the institutions, and decontamination of the grounds of the institu-
tion. All patients must be equipped with gas masks, and a shelter
for the patients must be provided.** The receiving room of a hos-
pital functions as a dispensary.
* For the operational chain of command of Soviet medical civil
defense at a target, see Figure 20, following p. 54.
** Under field conditions, MPVO personnel must camouflage carefully
the location of the medical establishments. Collective protection
for patients is carried out according to the following procedures:
(1) dig tents into the ground; (2) construct field-type shelters
(trenches or underground shelters); (3) in populated areas, utilize
the cellars of buildings; and ()4) seal window openings with bricks
and sand bags. Medical establishments are provided with shelters.
These shelters have beds for patients, rooms where operations can
be performed, and apothecary and dressing compartments. Shelters
where out-patient treatment is given are provided with the necessary
furniture for sitting and resting. Shelters for sick and wounded must
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The basic nonmedical manpower pool of a hospital MFVO
is the "unitary detail" which is formed from the hospital personnel
whose work is not directly connected with taking care of patients.
Instructions concerning the training and duties of all hospital per-
sonnel have already been issued. E201/ The unitary MFVO detail,
composed of hospital workers, is used for the prevention of panic
and the repair of damage resulting from an attack. Z22/ The detail
consists of the following sections: decontamination, fire preven-
tion, medical, preservation of order, and repair of structural
damage. It is equipped with all necessary tools and supplies as
enumerated in the standard list, including gas masks and protective
clothing, fire-fighting equipment, stretchers, helmets, belts with
snapping hooks, and building supplies.. 2
Soviet pharmacies and pharmaceutical houses play a
vital role under air-raid conditions. Pharmacies supply goods such
as drugs and bandages to medical institutions,-formations of the
MFVO medical service, and the general population. First aid to
victims must also be given at pharmacies. Every pharmacy and phar-
maceutical enterprise must plan beforehand, and in detail, measures
which are to be taken in an emergency, including the following 294/:
(1) Means for blacking out buildings must be pro-
vided; fire-protection and other defense measures must be taken.
(2) Individual means for protecting employees and
decontamination equipment must be provided.
(3) Arrangements for hermetically sealing the housing
of the establishment (including storerooms for supplies and packaging)
must be made in order to allow work to continue in case of contami-
nation of the area with chemical, biological, and radiological agents.
(4) Special teams (posts) must be organized at every
workshop and department and must be instructed in the duties to be
performed in case of an air alarm.
(5) Preparation must be made for giving first aid
to persons who have been wounded, burned, or exposed to nonpersistent
toxic agents.
have sufficient reserves of food and drink. Because chemical sub-
stances may be used, special hermetic shelters, properly ventilated
with filters and supplied with individual protective equipment, are
provided.
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Figure 20
OPERATIONAL CHAIN OF COMMAND OF SOVIET MEDICAL CIVIL DEFENSE AT A TARGET
Chief Medical Officer
Local Military Garrison
1.
Military Medical
Personnel
Commanding Officer, Military Antiaircrpft Defense (PV0) at Target
Target MPVO Staff, Including Representatives of:
Transportation
Communication
Local Industry
Party
Local Government
Medical
Police, Fire, and Security
Military Garrison
MVD (MPVO)
Chief of Target Department of Health
Directors of
Medical Care Facilities
Directors of
Laboratory Facilities
State Sanitary Inspectors
Chief,
Anti-epidemic Facilities
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Red Cross and Red
Crescent, DOSAAF,
Volunteer Medical
Units
Medical Civil Defense
I/O and E at Facilities
Chemical and
Bacteriological
Identification Personnel
Decontamination, Teams
Preventive Medicine
Personnel
Medical Brigades,
"Druzhinas", Sanitary
Posts, Medical
Self-Defense Groups, etc.
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(6) Personnel must be trained for MPVO work.
(7) Exhibits are arranged, posters are put up, and
literature is distributed in order to familiarize the general popu-
lation with the measures to be taken for self-aid and mutual aid
under conditions requiring the operation of the MPVO.
(8) Political and educational work is carried on
among the populace according to a special plan.
Another extremely important problem of the MSS MPVO
concerns the measures to be taken for sanitary and epidemic control
in work and daily life while expecting an air attack. Crowded con-
ditions in shelters and the possibility of damage to facilities
such as kitchens, dining rooms, sources of water supply, water
supply lines, and sewer systems create adverse conditions which
require special arrangements. The USSR is currently stressing the
need for persistent efforts to maintain cleanliness (particularly
in shelters), for sanitation supervision, for epidemic control, and
for preventive medical measures. These measures are executed by the
existing sanitation establishments under the supervision of state
inspectors. The chief of state inspection in the city or rayon
supervises the activities of the state inspectors and health officers
in rayons and industrial establishments. All medical, sanitary, and
hygienic organizations are charged with the liquidation of "all
sources of infection created by biological warfare, air attack,
sabotage, or any other kind of attack." 2
One of the most complicated problems handled by the
sanitation system is the sanitary-chemical appraisal of food products
and water and the determination of when an area affected by agents
has been completely decontaminated. A network of sanitary-chemical
laboratories has been established for that purpose. All laboratories
that are already in operation, regardless of their implementation,
mist be geared to meet emergency situations. Larger laboratories
must be able to detect new, unknown chemical, biological, and radi-
ological warfare substances which may be utilized by an enemy. They
must ascertain standard methods for identification and decontamina-
tion, explain their toxicological properties, and ascertain methods
for treating victims. 2 6
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2. Veterinary Service.
The Veterinary Service (Veterinarnaya Sluzhba) of the
city or rayon MPVO is designed to render veterinary assistance to
animals under air-raid conditions. The chief of the Veterinary
Service of the city or rayon MPVO may be designated by the director
of veterinary inspection of the city or rayon, and he is subordihate
to the Chief of MPVO.
Recently, civilian veterinary defense activity has been
indicated in agricultural establishments as part of the total medical
civil defense preparation in the USSR. The organization and func-
tions of the civil defense Veterinary Service apparently have varied
very little from similar activities during World War II, 2 except
for a stronger emphasis on defense against special weapons. 2
The Veterinary Service of the city or rayon MEW has the
following missions:
a. The organization of veterinary help for animals which
are the victims of air attack and of their evacuation from stricken
areas into safe zones. This mission is assigned to the veterinary
crew established by the Veterinary Service and is directly respon-
sible to it.*
b. The procurement of expert advice concerning fodder
and other animal food, for which it is necessary to organize enough
chemical laboratories and consultation offices.
c. The organization of a sufficient number of stations
for veterinary aid and the training of qualified crews to serve in
them.
d. The provision of all veterinary stations with equip-
ment and medicine.
e. Training and operational activities relative to
amelioration of attack with chemical, biological, and radiological
weapons.
* Trained veterinarians are also recognized to be of great value
as auxiliary support for the treatment of human casualties.
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C. Defense Against Special Weapons.
The first details relative to the current emphasis on readying
the Soviet population for defense against chemical, biological, nuclear
(and radiological) warfare attack were revealed in 1956. The indoc-
trination for civil defense workers closely resembles that found in
similar military and civil defense manuals recently published in the
US. Chemical, biological, and radiological defense planning in the
USSR apparently is based upon the Soviet assumption that US-developed
chemical, biological, and radiological warfare weapons systems are
operationally feasible. Soviet training instructions take for granted
the possibility of disseminating bacteria, viruses, toxins, and radio-
active materials from planes or by sabotage.
1. Chemical Warfare.
The Soviet population is generally aware of the factors
involved in chemical warfare defense. Procedures for medical defense
against conventional chemical warfare agents are published and well
defined, with specific instructions for the treatment of casualties
and the use of available laboratory facilities for chemical warfare
agent identification and detection.
2
The chemical warfare detachments of the MSS WV? use
existing facilities and personnel at the disposal of the city or
rayon public health organizations. Public baths serve as decontami-
nation stations in the event of an emergency. Specially adapted
dispensary and hospital facilities are used for the treatment of
chemical warfare casualties. 300/ It is not believed that the
necessary equipment and supplies are maintained by individual
stations during peacetime. The extent of implementation of detailed
Soviet plans for the distribution of drugs from pharmacies for civil
defense purposes is not known.
a. Nerve Gases.
An MPITO manual published in 1954 mentioned the need
for protection against nerve gas, specifically Tabun * but it gave
no details on Soviet methods. 301/ Soviet research on the acetyl-
choline-cholinesterase enzyme system indicates, however, that the
* German term for a nerve gas, adopted by the USSR.
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USSR is thoroughly aware of the mechanism of the biochemical and
physiological action of nerve gases. A 1956 manual indicates that
first aid for a Tabun casualty consists of putting the gas mask on
the patient and immediately evacuating him to a hospital; atropine
in liquid or powdered form is to be given "if conditions permit." 302/
It is not known whether the present Soviet antigas medical kit in-
cludes atropine sulfate, but the USSR is reported to have this drug
in quantity. Platyphylline has been developed and manufactured as
an atropine substitute by the USSR. Soviet interest in the thera-
peutic qualities of lobeline hydrochloride has also been shown. 303/
b. MSS MPVO Decontamination Measures.
The following is a list of decontamination measures
utilized by the MSS MPITO 304/:
Yperite
10 to 15 percent solution and dichloramine
Calcium chloride-calcium hypochlorite
moistened with water
Calcium hypochlorite
Trichlorotriethylamine The same as yperite
Lewisite
Phosgene
Iodine infusion
10 percent Lugol's solution
5 percent NaOH solution
10 to 15 percent solution
of chloramine or dichloramine
Calcium chloride-calcium hypochlorite
moistened with water
Alkalis
Urotropin
Soda
Ammonia
Polysulfides
Hyposulfite
Diphosgene The same as phosgene
Chlorpicrin Alcohol solutions of caustic soda
Solutions of sodium sulfide
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Carbon monoxide Airing
Hydrogen cyanide Aqueous solutions of polysulfides
Airing
Chloroacetophenone Strong solutions of sodium carbonate
Alcohol solutions of alkalis
Sulfides of alkali metals
Bromobenzylcyanide Alcohol solutions of NaOH
Concentrated aqueous or alcohol
solutions of alkali metal sulfides
Diphenylchloroarsine Hydrogen peroxide
Ammonia
Adamsite The same as diphenylchloroarsine
A recent Soviet air defense manual adds the following 305/:
Tabun Alkali solutions
Ammonia
Cyanogen chloride Airing
2. Biological Warfare.
At the present time, Soviet plans for civil defense
against biological warfare attack are largely dependent upon the
emergency conversion of public health facilities and upon research
on epidemiological, prophylactic, therapeutic, and environmental
problems related to diseases of biological warfare importance. The
biological warfare defense effort is the responsibility of the
antiepidemic services of military, security, and public health
agencies and is implemented by the planned availability of
pertinent vaccines, antibiotics, and the chemotherapeutics. 306/
The Soviet antiepidemic service has been given a major role in
the pr6tection of the population against biological warfare
attack. 10110 utilizes the antiepidemic service because of its epi-
demic control mission, 307/ its link with local civil defense needs, 308/
MVD police support, 30977:nd the disposition of its facilities.
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A biological warfare identification mission for Soviet public health
bacteriological laboratories is included in the stated functions of
public health and research laboratories within the MSS MPVO system. 310/
For many years the USSR has stressed research on certain infectious
diseases which have biological warfare importance. Soviet medical
research and development resources and activities demonstrate a high
capability for supporting a biological warfare defense program. 11
Top-level biological warfare defense planning appears to have been
under way for at least 4 years.
An MPVO manual published in 1954 gave slight attention to
the need for biological warfare defense, although Soviet epidemiological
literature has stressed the role of public health controls in case of
biological warfare attack. 312/ The most recent MPVO manual (1956),
however, includes discussions of potential enemy biological warfare
agents,* disease symptoms, immunization, and measures for disinfection
and for extermination of insect and animal carriers. The manual also
includes general information on detection methods, prophylactic treat-
ment after identification, and quarantine of epidemic areas. 311/ It
is probable that mass indoctrination of the general population has not
yet gone beyond the establishment of an awareness of the potential
military use of pathogenic microorganisms, but steps are evidently
being taken to give specific training within the PVKhO norm on
biological warfare defense techniques.
a. Detection and Identification.
It is almost certain that Soviet emphasis on the
development of certain bacteriological air-sampling devices and tech-
niques is intended for biological warfare defense as well as for
limited public health purposes. 314/ One recently developed Soviet
device which is useful for military and civil defense purposes has
been recommended for widespread use and is already being "mass pro-
duced." Another is being given "considerable attention." 212 Such
devices are mentioned in a recent civil defense manual as part of the
detection methods needed in case of biological warfare attacks.
* Plague, anthrax, tularemia, brucellosis, glanders, pseudo-glanders,
cholera, Q-fever, psittacosis, encephalitis, and smallpox. The infor-
mation in the manual on biological warfare is admitted to have come
from non-Soviet sources.
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The USSR is aware of the importance of the rapid
isolation and identification of biological warfare pathogens and is
stressing the improvement and standardization of diagnostic prep-
arations, selective media, and clinical bacteriological and viral
laboratory technique. 1__W Soviet investigators are improving
techniques for the rapid isolation and identification of fluid and
airborne pathogens, utilizing air sampling, membrane filtration, 317/
microspectroscopy, 318/ phagolytic phenomena, 319/ new selective
media, 320/ antibiotic sensitivity, 321/ and microphotography. 22/
Soviet literature indicates that the USSR leads the
US in practical exploitation of membrane filtration as an industrial
and public health tool. In the USSR, standardized methods for
assaying microorganism content by mans of membrane filtration
began to replace the conventional public health titer method in 1939,
became an officially adopted procedure in 1950, and are now reported
to be in general use for all types of hydrosol and aerosol assays of
public health importance. Several different types of portable equip-
ment utilizing membrane filtration have been developed in the USSR
for field collecting and processing of samples, based on methods
developed during and after World War II. 323/ Also, it is probable
that truck-mounted, mobile bacteriological laboratories are being
developed for the Soviet Bloc. 324/
b. Decontamination.
The USSR is developing techniques for the effective
decontamination of bacterially contaminated air, vertical and
horizontal surfaces, fluids, and materials. Conventional disinfect-
ants are now recommended for civil defense use, but claims for the
successful use of ultrasonics and ultrahigh frequencies have been
made by certain public health research teams. 325/
c. Prevention and Therapy.
The availability in the USSR of prophylactic vaccines
against tularemia, plague, anthrax, and brucellosis combined with the
civil defense mission of the antiepidemic network which empowers them
to immunize and to impose control measures are important factors in
Soviet ability to defend against biological warfare attack. In
addition, the development and production of antibiotic and chemo-
therapeutic preparations to supplement, or to use in the absence of,
immunization are being expedited for all domestic diseases of bio-
logical warfare importance.
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3. Nuclear Warfare.
Medical civil defense training against nuclear weapons
in the USSR includes preparations for the care of casualties result-
ing from hydrogen bombs and radiological warfare weapons. 327/ The
USSR is undoubtedly aware that leaving any but token medical staffs
and apparatus in the central parts of urban areas is unrealistic,
because their destruction would be almost certain and their utility
lost. It appears that, along with over-all urban civil defense
planning, there is an allocation of medical facilities to target bor-
der areas. ,2./ Medical civil defense instructions show that casualty
care programs are designed to handle mass casualties, 329/ but in the
event of a nuclear attack the existing medical preparations would be
overburdened.
The available information on training of medical civil
defense personnel in the USSR in detection, protection, and care of
nuclear warfare casualties indicates no radical departure from methods
recommended in the US.
The PAZ training norm is specifically designed for nuclear
warfare defense. In addition, the Soviet medical preparations already
outlined for conventional-and chemical warfare attack are stated by the
USSR to be applicable to nuclear warfare problems. The improved phar-
maceutical position of the USSR, its well-developed system for whole-
blood collection and,storage, and research on blood substitutes also
indirectly increase the Soviet capability for handling mass casualties.
Furthermore, the present Soviet research effort on effects of ionizing
radiation (dosimetry, biological mechanisms underlying the radiation
syndrome, methods for restoration of irradiated organisms, and mech-
anisms underlying burn damage) is undoubtedly helping the USSR to
deal with radiation hazards. 122/ At presentIonly well-known detec-
tion and care techniques are recommended for civil defense use in
the USSR. 1
VII. Chronology of Civil Defense in the USSR.*
The USSR has embarked on a serious effort to develop civil defense.
Definite measures to accelerate civil defense preparations were taken
* See Appendix A.
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in 1949, and there has been an increase in emphasis up to the present
time with no evidence of a slackening in preparations for passive air
defense.
A. 1948.
There are some indications that action was taken in the USSR
in 1948 to remedy a postwar slackening in civil defense. It was
reported that plans in 1948 envisioned the training of 4 million to
5 million persons per year in PVKhO. 22/ Open publications announced
that 15-day training courses had been given in one area for leaders of
self-defense groups from factories, schools, dwellings, and the like. 333/
B. 1949-50.
Early in 1949 the sanitary epidemiological service was
reformed. 334/ This service is connected with a chief directorate of
the Ministry of Health, which has been reported to be the highest
organ on all matters of preparations for defense against biological
warfare attack. 335/ It was also in 1949 that the Soviet government
made the decision to complete the basic radiofication of the country
by 1955, 3.1W a decision which may have been related to a civil defense
warning system.
The preparation of air-raid shelters was initiated by 1949, 337/
probably as the result of a governmental decision. An unconfirmed
report fixes the beginning of air?raid defense training for factory
workers in July 1949, 338/ and a small-scale decontamination exercise
was reported to have occurred in Moscow in September 1949. 339/ In
the spring of 1950 it was again reported that the USSR had initiated a
program to give basic civil defense training to 5 million citizens a
year. 3.)E/ Preparatory rather than general training was apparently
the goal at that time because the 1950 plan called for enlistment of
"tens of thousands" of instructors for air defense training. 41
C. 1951-52.
Training in local air defense was stressed during this period.
In September 1951 the three existing paramilitary societies were con-
solidated as DOSAAF, 342/ dues were reduced, and the minimum age
lowered. Shortly thereafter it was announced that civil defense
training was a vital part of the organization's activity, and it was
urged that PVKhO study groups be formed in every enterprise, collective
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farm, machine tractor station, institution, school, and large resi-
dential building. 1).-.Q./ At least three manuals of instruction were
published for the general population 344/ as well as manuals for
internal DOSAAF use. 345/ In March 1952 it was revealed that PVKhO
study groups had become compulsory in all primary organizations of
DOSAAF. A decision was adopted by a plenum of the Komsomol Central
Committee requiring every Komsomol member.to join DOSAAF, 346/ and
an appeal was made for members of trade unions to join. 347/ An
indication of desired DOSAAF activity in plants during this period
was given in the announcement that 4,000 workers of the Elektrosila
Works in Leningrad were DOSAAF members and that 1,500 had passed the
tests "Ready for Air and Chemical Defense." 348/
The Soviet GP-4 gas mask was probably being manufactured in
quantity by 1952. 349/
D. 1953-54.
There is reason to believe that civil defense in the USSR
received an added impetus during 1953. It may have resulted from a
decision made at the XIXth Party Congress in October 1952 to develop
an all-out defense of the USSR against any aggression. 350/
DOSAAF had only limited success in 1951 and 1952, and in the
early months of 1953 it was the object of a critical press cam-
paign. 351/ This criticism ended with the appearance of a new chair-
man of DOSAAF who quickly took measures to enlarge the membership of
DOSAAF and improve PVKhO training. A DOSAAF membership campaign was
instituted which culminated in the first All-Union Conference of
DOSAAF in December 1953. 352/ PVKhO training became compulsory for
all members of the society who had reached the age of 16, with re-
training required every 2 years. 12,/ Komsomol activity in DOSAAF
was again stressed, and joint meetings of Komsomol and DOSAAF groups
were noted. 354/ Training in economic enterprises was still
emphasized, and 60 percent of the
port workers in Tallinn were "more or less forcibly" enrolled in
DOSAAF and that 90 percent of the port workers had taken short
courses in air defense by May 1953. 355/ A plenary session of the
DOSAAF Central Committee was called with attendance of all chairmen
of the republic, kray, and oblast committees for 31 July 1954. 356/
(Bylaws would not have required the meeting before December.)
Meeting at the same time in Bulgaria was an inter-Satellite con-
ference of DOSAAF-type organizations which was attended by DOSAAF
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representatives. The timing of the Bulgarian meeting suggests that
it was for the purpose of issuing coordinated instructions, possibly
on the handling of atomic defense instructions. 357/ On 31 August
1954, Pravda carried a DOSAAF article indicating that the priority
goal of DOSAAF was the training of "all" the population in "modern"
PVKhO.
E. 1955-56.
During 1955, pressure continued on DOSAAF to improve organi-
zation and recruitment. A new DOSAAF chairman appeared -- Guards
Colonel General P.A. Belov, a war hero and former military district
commander. Reserve personnel were extensively enlisted for DOSAAF
work. DOSAAF was made responsible for organizing "self-defense"
groups in addition to training them. Training was modified to
include instruction against biological warfare and atomic weapons.
During 1956 the preparation for atomic defense was stressed,
including reorganization of operative civil defense units and
retraining of operating personnel and the population. 358/ Pro-
tective construction was continued. 59/
VIII. Civil Defense Against Nuclear Weapons.
The USSR refrained from describing the hazards of nuclear warfare
in open publications until 1954. Release of such information occurred
shortly after classified manuals on the subject were disseminated to
Soviet troops in the fall of 1953. 3,L)/
A series of articles in Krasnaya zvezda, which started in January
1954 and ran through most of the year, discussed the physics of nu-
clear forces, dangers from an atomic explosion, atomic defense for
troops, and peaceful uses for atomic energy. 3.L../ Although this
newspaper is published for the military forces, it is an open
publication available to civilians as well. Some of the material
appears to have been copied from US publications. Accompanying the
articles were Soviet broadcasts on the same subject, but these were
also directed principally to the armed forces. 362/
Instructions for atomic defense for civilians were occasionally
reported between 1947 and 1954 but were generally given only to
selected personnel. ..1U./ DOSAAF manuals of 1951 and 1952 on civil
defense omitted mention of nuclear warfare. A manual published in
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1954, 3.L/ however, made note of atomic bombs and their use in World
War II by "American imperialists." On 31 August 1954,a first-page
editorial in Pravda referred to the preparation of the population
for "modern" air defense -- the unusual insertion of "modern" presum-
ably referred to atomic defense. On 17 September 1954, in announcing
new Soviet atomic tests, Tass and Izvestiya stated that the solution
of problems of defense against atomic attack would be solved with
the help of information gained in the tests. Instruction on atomic
defense started on a high level. A lecture for intelli entsia was
given in one region in November 1954 on "Atomic Zoltack and the
Defense Against It." 365/
Soviet civil defense preparations and instructions before 1955
were ostensibly directed against what are usually termed conventional
weapons of air attack.* Beginning in June of that year, however, it
became progressively apparent that civil defense activity was being
intensified and modified to include protective measures against
atomic if not thermonuclear weapons. A DOSAAF publication stated that
the training norm for PVKhO would henceforth include familiarization
with and means of protection against atomic and bacteriological
weapons and incendiaries of the napalm type. Training for instructors
was stressed in the article, giving the impression that this type of
training was in its early staEes. 366/ Komsomol'skaya pravda, in July
1955, contained an article on decontamination procedures to be followed
in a populated area after an atomic explosion. 367/ Similar articles
related to modern weapons have continued to appear in Soviet periodi-
cals, and numbers of training manuals were published during 1955 and
1956. 368/
The year 1956 has been marked by several pronouncements by Soviet
leaders emphasizing the need for improved civil defense. Articles in
a new Soviet newspaper, Sovetskiy patriot, are publicizing Soviet civil
defense to increase public awareness of the threat of modern weapons
and to facilitate recruitment of civil defense workers. In an impor-
tant article for the newspaper, Marshal Semyen Budennyy declared that
the home front defense problem had grown immeasurably and that atomic
and chemical defense training now directly concerned every Soviet
citizen. 6qI
* High explosives, incendiaries of the thermite type, and war gases
generally known before World War II.
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The appearance of this paper followed Marshal Zhukov's call for
increased emphasis on civil defense in his speech to the XXth Party
Congress. E2/ Before this, the commander of the Kiev Military
District had said that assistance should be given to civil defense
units in "reorganizing their activities in accordance with present
day requirements." 21/ At the present time, compulsory civil
defense courses are probably being given to the Soviet population,
accenting defense against atomic weapons. 372/
Soviet civil defense plans for protection against nuclear attack,
aside from matters of public information, are unlikely to become
available outside the USSR. Some of the measures already taken for
civil defense as well as published articles are worthy of examination
for their possible uses in nuclear defense of the general population.
It has already been noted that the USSR has a considerable pro-
gram under way for the inclusion of shelters in all new buildings.*
The Krasnaya zvezda articles on atomic bombs stated that there are
reliable means and methods of defense against them. Repeatedly
mentioning blast effect as the major hazard of nuclear warfare, the
use of ground cover, trenches, and prepared shelters was urged as
the principal means of reducing casualties. Noting World War II
experience, the articles stressed the fact that cellar shelters in
urban areas with reinforced or arched concrete ceilings are pro-
tected from the major blast effect, which dissipated on the
upper stories. This approach is consistent with known shelter
design in the USSR, which includes a cellar ceiling design to with-
stand the complete collapse of the building. al/ DOSAAF instruc-
tions of 1956 as well as published articles reassure the Soviet
citizen that basement-type air-raid shelters provide "safe pro-
tection" against atomic weapons. EL/ Heavier and gallery-type
shelters are also mentioned. Information on massive deep-level
shelters is inconclusive, except for that on subways, but such
shelters probably exist for government installations. No reference
is known to a mass evacuation plan for urban areas, but this lack
of evidence does not prove that none has been prepared. There
have been no evacuation drills reported.
The recommendations for protection against light as given in a
Soviet military handbook are shielding the face, lying down, or
taking cover. 1/2 For defense against fire, the military envisaged
* See IV, p. 27, above.
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organization of fire-fighting details within troop units, provision of
equipment for combating fire, and various fire-prevention measures such
as cutting clearings, plowing, and removing inflammables from troop
areas. 376/ Civil defense instructions suggest improved fire-preven-
tion measures and the preparation of auxiliary water sources for fire
fighting. 377/
For protection against radioactivity, standard gas alarm signals
and reconnaissance to detect and combat radioactive elements are to be
used. 1/2 Markings are to be used for contaminated areas and for
passages through them. Individual protective measures recommended are
the use of gas-protective clothing and gas masks. 379/ Filter venti-
lating systems in Soviet air-raid shelters presumably would be used
with the same effect as gas masks.
According to instructions, decontamination of an area from radio-
active material is to be accomplished by (1) clearing passageways,
(2) decontaminating structures and installations urgently needed, and
(3) decontaminating the remainder of the area and buildings and their
contents. &,./ Physical means of decontamination are used such as
burying or actual removal. Persons leaving areas of radioactivity
are to undergo physical decontamination of themselves and their
clothing, checked by using instruments for measuring radioactivity. 381/
Atomic defense in the USSR is being superimposed on the existing
civil defense structure. The use of cellar shelters, although
admittedly not entirely effective, should reduce casualties in areas
removed from "ground zero." These prepared shelters have the advan-
tages of provision for gas defense and quick accessibility. Head-
quarters, public building, factory, and subway shelters might further
reduce casualties.
Most information published in the USSR regarding nuclear weapons
has emphasized or described only atomic weapons of nominal size. The
public therefore is probably unaware of the magnitude of destruction
possible with the larger thermonuclear weapons and the limited pro-
tection which would be afforded by the basement-type or similar air-
raid shelters. Evacuation or dispersal has not been publicized, and
it appears evident that, at the present time, civil defense for the
general public is committed to the use of locally available shelters.
It is worthy of note, however, that the USSR is well aware of
the power of larger weapons and that theoretical articles have been
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published which would lead to the conclusion that defense would be
improved by. some use of dispersed suburban shelters. 382/ Dispersal
of civil defense units (fire and emergency engineering units) has
been specified as atomic defense policy in Soviet publications. 383/
One article states that civil defense fire-fighting crews and equip-
ment are to be placed in shelters near main roads on the outskirts
of populated areas. 384/ It is highly probable that dispersed
locations for important government offices have already been pre-
pared. 385/
IX. Civil Defense in the European Satellites.
Development of civil defense in the European Satellites has been
especially substantial in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria and
recently in Poland.
civil defense is supervised by Soviet officials
and modeled on the Soviet pattern. 386/
A. Albania.
Little is known of civil defense in Albania. A DOSAAF-type
body, the Society for Aid to the Army and Defense (Shoqeria per
Ndihme Ushtrise. Dhe Mbrojtje SHNUM), reportedly is concerned
with paramilitary, civil defense, radio, and first-aid training. 387/
Units of this organization are reported widely present in state
institutions, enterprises, ministries, and cooperatives. 3E1/ Its
members are trained to fill civil defense assignments in time of
war. 8 the organization has trained
31,000 "civilian specialists," but some of these are probably for
purely military purposes. 222/ The Albanian Red Cross claims to
have trained 44,500 for the award, "Ready for the Protection of
Health," 201/ which is probably similar to civil defense first-aid
courses in other Soviet Bloc countries.
B. Bulgaria.
Bulgaria has been particularly active in civil defense
preparations. Reconditioning of World War II air-raid shelters as
well as new construction started in 1950, .3.92/ and it has been
reported that concrete observation posts are being built on large
new buildings in Sofia. 393/ An organization similar to the Soviet
NPV0 is charged with home defense.2211/ The Voluntary Organization
for Defense Cooperation '(Dobrovolna Organizatsiya za Sudeystviye na
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Otbrana DOSO) has been very active. First formed in January
1951, 395/ its activities and development closely parallel those
of DOSAAF. DOSO membership is estimated at 900,000 396/ and DOSO
clubs have been reported to be present in factories and enter-
prises. 397/ In 1952 the Central Council of DOSO organized
courses for the training of civil defense instructors, who were
to come from factories, enterprises, and collective farms. 398/
Civil defense has been under growing pressure to increase member-
ship. 399/ in June 1954 all
members of the Communist Party and its youth organization also
belonged to DOSO. 400/ Volunteers here, as in the USSR, appear
to have been pressed into service. Air-raid sirens are in place
and have been tested in the capital. 401/ Attendance at civil
defense courses for the general population, which include first-aid
courses given by the Bulgarian Red Cross, 402/ is reported to have
been compulsory in 1953-55. 403/
The most noteworthy aspect of civil defense in Bulgaria has
been various types of shelter construction.
For example, Sofia is reported to have a network of air-raid shelters
prepared both in the city and in the foothills to the north and
south of the city.* 404/ intensive shelter
construction through 1955, including suburban shelters, galleries in
hillsides, and basement shelters. 405/
Atomic defense training was reported in Bulgaria in 1953, 406/
and such training is under way, prob-
ably through the DOSO program. 407/
C. Czechoslovakia.
Civil defense (Civilni Obrana -- CO) in Czechoslovakia is
under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior 408/ and is well
developed according to the Soviet pattern. It includes the organi-
zation of civil defense battalions. 409/ It is not known whether these
battalions are more than skeleton organizations for cities, but
troops of engineers and "chemists." Civil defense
organization and training are well advanced in factories, and com-
manders of civil defense appeared in early 1954. 410/
* For the locations of suburban air-raid shelters reported near
Sofia, see Figure 21, following p. 70.
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Plant defense in Czechoslovakia apparently has received pri-
ority. Increased guard forces, factory fire crews, sirens, and fire
equipment, as well as blackout preparations, date from 1949-51. 411/
a description of the defense organization in a Czechoslovak
textile plant in 1953, in which there were about 200 workers enlisted
for civil defense. A practice drill, started by a blast on the plant
siren, included simulated fire, first-aid teams with litters, and a
group wearing full gas-protective clothing going through what probably
were decontamination procedures. In the spring of 1953, 200 gas masks
were received at the plant, reportedly for civil defense crews. 412/
Plants throughout the country have civil defense bodies organized into
antichemical, fire-fighting, first-aid, and repair teams. 413/ Uniforms
and gas masks have been issued for civil defense personnel:714/
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Air-raid shelters were ordered for Czechoslovak plants in
1949, and implementation starting in 1951. 12L5/50X1
A defector, who was an engineering designer, reported that "Class 2"
shelters were being built in plants in 1953. 416/ "Class 1" shelters
and shelters for the "commander" had special planning groups, but
their locations were not known to the source. Apartment shelters in
new buildings* 417/ and central shelters in urban areas have been
reported.** 418/ The most recent development in shelter construction
has been the initiation of shelters in Danube ports for personnel
connected with river shipping. 419/
The Union for Cooperation with the Army (Svaz pro Spolupraci s
Armadou SVAZARM), the paramilitary body in Czechoslovakia, has been
the object of much attention and publicity since its reorganization
in 1952. 420/ It has been particularly active since 1953 under the
chairmanship of Lieutenant General Cenek Hruska, who is a member of
the Party Central Committee 421/ and a Deputy Minister of Defense. 422/
Bodies allied with SVAZARM in mid-1953 for civil defense training were
the National Front, the firemen, the Youth Union, and the trade unions.
Civil defense was charged at the same time with centralizing and
channeling the activity of the Red Cross, the fire-fighting forces,
and SVAZARM. Local administrations were cautioned in August 1953 to
follow the plans to establish a strong civil defense "even before con-
cluding the harvest." 423/
* For a photograph of a basement air-raid shelter under construc-
tion in Czechoslovakia, see Figure 22, following p. 72.
** For a photograph of the entrance to a reported air-raid shelter
in'Brno, see Figure 23, following p. 72.
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Civil defense training has been widespread in Czechoslovakia.
Probably initiated in 1952, the courses were generally compulsory,
being widely organized by 1953. 424/ Fines were reported for non-
attendance, 425/ and courses included first aid, fire defense, and
defense against air attack. the training of
130,000 instructors in 1953. 426/
In 1953, Czechoslovakia was negotiating the purchase of 300
tons of activated charcoal "for masks," which would be sufficient
for 1 million gas masks on the basis of 200 grams per mask. 122.?1
D. East Germany. 429/
East Germany is the last important European Satellite to take
steps to formalize civil defense organization and training.
the East German govern-
ment plans to train the civilian population in defensive tactics
against aerial, atomic, and chemical attack. A new office in the
Ministry of the Interior has been created for this purpose.
The formation of this administration, a logical step at this
time, follows the organization during 1954 and 1955 of several activ-
ities generally described as "catastrophe" work. There have been
specific references to training for catastrophe work in an enter-
prise, the organization of the Central Catastrophe Aid Service of the
East German Red Cross, and the appearance of Catastrophe Sections in
city fire departments.
The formation of Kampfgruppen (combat groups) among factory
workers is generally well known. These paramilitary groups of trusted
workers are charged with the defense of the installation and are
trained to put down riots. In addition, they are trained for fire
fighting, emergency bridge building, and first aid -- valuable training
for civil defense in case of air attack.
Special steps have been taken to prepare the fire-fighting
services for civil defense.
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Figure 22
BASEMENT AIR-RAID SHELTER UNDER CONSTRUCTION,
Czechoslovakia
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f,81111.0rire 01. lor ? - ?
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Figure 23
ENTRANCE TO A REPORTED AIR-RAID SHELTER
Brno, Czechoslovakia
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the Interior has ordered police units in all cities with more than
10,000 inhabitants to organize a fire-fighting detail for emergency
cases (Katastrophenloeschzug), a construction detail with special
engineering equipment, and a special technical detail (possibly a
bomb disposal unit). These are to be attached to existing fire
departments.
German fire fighters have considerable knowledge of large-
scale fire fighting based on World War II experience. There is
mutual assistance between cities for combating large fires. Small
trailer-mounted fire pumps equipped with short ladders and hand
tools are being manufactured. This equipment should be of substan-
tial value in war operations, when larger fire trucks are not easily
maneuverable in operating over rough terrain and through rubble-
strewn streets.
Probably in preparation for medical civil defense, the East
German Red Cross has become more active. It recruits and gives
first-aid training in East German factories. In November 1954 the
East German Red Cross joined the League of Red Cross Societies.
Plans were announced in 1954 for an increased membership drive and
the establishment of 1,000 new first-aid stations. A Red Cross
Central Catastrophe Aid Service has been organized, utilizing the
300 existing first-aid stations and 1,490 ambulances.
Destruction of World War II air-raid shelters has apparently
stopped. Cleaning of old shelters as well as some new construction
has been reported. Since 1953, provision of new shelters has
occurred chiefly in police buildings and factories. It has been
reported, however, that the general inclusion of air-raid shelters
in all new buildings was ordered in May 1955, 430/ and extensive
underground construction has been reported during 1955 and 1956.
Classes in atomic defense training have been held for troop
and police units and party groups. Some of the lecturers for these
classes were Soviet trained. In East Germany, as in other Soviet
Bloc countries, no information is available on defense training or
preparation againS't the larger thermonuclear weapons.
The existence of "alert plans" has been reported for units of
the Society for Sport and Technique,* for motor transport, for plant
* An organization similar to DOSAAF.
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combat groups, and for the Red Cross Central Catastrophe Aid Service,
all of which are expected to take part in civil defense. The first
alert stage probably occurs upon a declaration of martial law or a
state of emergency./13.1/ Preparatory activities carried out during
the last 2 years, together with substantial wartime experience,
should facilitate a rapid rise in civil defense capability in East
Germany.
E. Hungary.
Civil defense in Hungary has been active since 1951,112/
when shelters were ordered to be reconditioned and attics to be
cleared of combustibles.)122/ The civil defense organization is
reported to be subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior. 434/
City headquarters of air defense have subdivisions for financing and
supply, medical defense, rescue, fire fighting, decontamination, and
the like. As in the USSR, major industrial plants are under a
different command, and all are subordinated to the Territorial Air
Defense Headquarters. 435/
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was decided to construct the Budapest subway in 1950. 436/ Con-
struction slowed down in 1954, but at least two stations have been
completed and could probably serve as shelters. An underground com-
munications center exists under Gellert Hill in Budapest. Other
government and headquarters shelters were ordered to be prepared in
1951. 437/ in March 50X1
1952, one factory had an order for 50,000 doors for air-raid shel-
ters. 438/ The building of factory shelters probably has progressed
well in economic installations because these were to be constructed
in accordance with "general regulations." 439/ A survey made in 1952
in one plant led to an order for the construction of a 500-person
shelter. 440/ It has been reported that shelters in railroad station
areas are complete 441/ and that certain communications buildings were
to be made splinterproof during 1955-56. 442/
The paramilitary body in Hungary is the Hungarian Voluntary
National Defense Federation (Magyar Onkentes Honvedelmi Szovetseg --
MOHSZ). 443/
Training in civil defense has been rapid. Starting in 1951,
first aid, fire fighting, and air defense training were emphasized. 444/
In 1952, compulsory courses were given in Budapest with fines for
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nonattendance. In buildings, trustees were appointed, and "air-raid
groups" were formed. 445/ Instructions of this period assume that
cellar shelters would be available. 446/ In 1953, training of instruc-
tors and workers was reported, including the usual basic courses and
final examinations. A semiannual drill, lasting 10 minutes, was
reported in one installation. 447/ At the beginning of 1954, instruc-
tions were issued to resume the courses with increased fines for fail-
ure to appear. 448/
Significant developments in Hungary have included
civil defense schools and the appearance of uniformed civil defense
"troops." An advanced technical course in air defense for selected
government employees is reported to include instruction in city
planning, construction of several types of air-raid shelters, camou-
flage methods, and preventive technical measures. The latter includes
such topics as water reserves and the preparation of alternate power
lines. 449/ Another civil defense school has been publicized in a
Hungarian periodical, with students conducting an exercise in shoring
the wall of a damaged building. 450/ Western embassy personnel have
observed uniformed troops conducting civil defense exercises. 1121/
The Hungarian Red Cross has been connected with first-aid training
for civil defense as well as with a blood-procurement program. 452/
F. Poland.
Poland accelerated preparations for air defense during 1953
and 1954. Although generally considered to be lagging behind
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria, Poland has taken measures to
spur the development of civil defense. It was announced in May 1953
that the League of Soldiers' Friends (Liga Przyjaciol Zolnierza --
LPZ), guided by the Communist Party and profiting from the rich
experience of DOSAAF, would disseminate defense information among
the general population. 453/ In March 1954, LPZ held a national
conference in Kracow at which it claimed substantial gains in mem-
bership. 454/ A central training school of the organization, which
gives 3-month courses for local LPZ secretaries and training inspec-
tors, has been identified. Training of instructors of Local Air Defense
(Terenowa Obrona Przeciwlotnicza TOPL) began as early as September
1953. The instructors in training appear to be largely selected from
factories and institutions and presumably will return to instruct
workers in air defense measures. 455/
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training for air defense in
industrial enterprises is beginning, particularly in the Gdansk ship-
yard. Plans include the training of teams in first aid, rescue work,
and air defense. Factory activities, formerly conducted in part by
Service for Poland (Sluzba Polska -- SP), were absorbed on 1 May 1954
by LPZ in order to avoid duplication of effort. Aid is to be rendered
by the Health Service, presumably in first-aid training./22Y Fac-
tories have been fitting blackout curtains.
Fire services have been very active in Poland. A government
directive dated 15June 1954 has made all men aged 18 to 60 and all
women aged 18 to 50 liable for fire-fighting duty. 11-213/ In early
1954, fire-fighting teams in industrial establishments were more
widely established on a permanent basis, and it appears that training
for fire service by auxiliaries is also compulsory in plants and
buildings. 459/ The week of 7 June 1954 was designated as the All-
Polish Fire Service Week, with the purpose of popularizing the
importance of the fire services and mobilizing all men in town and
country for the prevention of fires.. 460/ It was reported in 1949
that Polish fire services were already efficient and well equipped,
partly with imports. 461/
Medical activity applicable to civil defense in Poland
includes the Red Cross, with a membership of over 2 million per-
sons. 462/ It has been active in disseminating first-aid instruc-
tion. The Ministry of Health maintains a Sanitary Antiepidemic
Service which has been active through its agencies in maintaining
factory first-aid stations, in popularizing hygiene, and in
administering preventive inoculations on a wide scale. 463/
penicillin is being held in the reserve stocks
of hospitals for the Ministry of Defense. 464/
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Air-raid shelters are also receiving attention. World War II
shelters have been ordered cleaned in Warsaw. 465/ 50X1
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to be used as an air-raid shelter as well as a subway. The plans
for the Palace of Culture and Art in Warsaw include massive shel-
ters. 467/ the repair and over- 50X1
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of 1954. 468/
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extensive civil defense
training in 1954 in Lodz, where an air-raid drill is reported to have
taken place in the central section of the city in December 1954. 469/
Conducting an air-raid drill, even on a sector basis, emphasizes the
progress of civil defense in Poland.
G. Rumania.
Rumanian civil defense has received increased attention since
1954, when it became apparent that training, organization, and pro-
tective construction were being accelerated. The paramilitary
counterpart of the Soviet DOSAAF, which plays a leading role in
civil defense of the USSR, was organized at about the same time.
A civil defense decree was issued in 1950 in Rumania mRking
the Ministry of the Interior the responsible body for developing civil
defense. Coordination with the Ministry of Defense and with local
government was provided. Civil defense training and service were made
compulsory for all Rumanians between the ages of 16 and 60. 470/
The civil defense organization is known as Local Anti-Air
Defense (Apararea Locala Antiaeriana -- ALA), which reportedly has a
nucleus of specially trained police officers similar to the MPVO
corps in the USSR. 471/ Headquarters have been established in
Bucharest and its eight subordinate sectors, and it is presumed that
similar civil defense headquarters exist in other principal cities. 472/
It has been reported that civil defense groups have been organized in
residential areas, factories, offices, and schools since mid-1954. 11.73/
Factory civil defense instructors and Communist Party members
apparently were the first to receive training. Civil defense group
instruction is evidently now going on, particularly in factories. 474/
this was seriously initiated in 1954. Subjects
of instruction have included gas and fire defense, first aid, control
and security measures, construction of air-raid shelters, and partic-
ular duties for individual members of civil defense groups. 475/
The paramilitary body, Voluntary Association to Support the
Defense of the Fatherland (Asociatia Voluntara Pentru Sprijinirea
Apararii Patriei AVSAP), was apparently reorganized in mid-1954 476/
and is developing into a counterpart of DOSAAF under Soviet leader-
ship. 477/ Its activities include communications and driver training,
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both of which will be available for participants in the civil defense
program.
Civil defense instructions in Rumania have assumed that gas-
proof air-raid shelters will be available. 478/ Air-raid shelters
have been reported under construction since 1953, particularly in
and near Bucharest/E21/ and in factory areas. 480/* Other construc-
tion measures taken include the installation of sirens and the prep-
aration of wells and static water reservoirs. 481/ Reports have not
been received of the construction of basement-type air-raid shelters
in residential areas, but dwelling unit caretakers are said to have
been asked in 1955 to report on the availability of shelter and
possibility of adapting cellars to air defense needs. 482/
Medical defense will presumably rely for auxiliary personnel
on the efforts of the Rumanian Red Cross, which claims to have trained
600,000 persons in various courses. 483/ First-aid training has been
in progress since 1953, and urban women are now being compelled to
attend first-aid courses. 484/ Blood banks and blood centers have
been established by the Red Cross, 485/ and the supply of blood plasma
has been reported sufficient for peacetime requirements. 486/ Stock-
piles of medical supplies were reportedly held in areas outside cities
under the control of the Commission of Reserves, in 1952.,
high-level bacteriological defense planning was
being carried on, involving the appraisal and evaluation of internal
defense capabilities. 487/
. Fire defense forces are reported to be efficient. 488/ Fire-
fighting instruction is included in the civil defense training of
factory workers and block organizations. 489/ Clearing of attics and
the placement of fire extinguishers, sand, and shovels have been
reported. 490/ Provision for static water supplies, useful in war-
time fire fighting, has already been noted. 491/
Elementary blackout and camouflage instruction is apparently
included in civil defense courses. 492/ Blackout instructions for 1
city and for 1 factory have been reported, 493/ as has one instance
of the appearance of camouflage paint. 494/
* For a photograph of a bunker-type air-raid shelter in Constanta,
see Figure 24, following p. 78.
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Figure 24
BUNKER-TYPE AIR-RAID SHELTER
Constanta, Rumania
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Although the public has been made aware of the possibility of
atomic warfare, 495/ atomic defense training for civilians has been
largely unreported. Troops have been given some atomic defense
training. 496/
It is expected that efforts will be made to continue the
development of civil defense along Soviet lines and that atomic civil
defense instruction will be instituted. Propaganda regarding the war-
like intentions of the West, description of the dangers of atomic
attack, and actual compulsion will probably be used to enforce public
participation in the program.
X. Possible Action to Retain Control Under Air Attack.
It is relevant to examine courses of action which the USSR might
use to minimize casualties and avoid loss of control under nuclear
attack. The USSR exploits at least our open literature on the effects
of nuclear weapons 497/ and, it must be presumed, is familiar with the
published information as to bomb size (up to 15 million tons), radius
of destruction (4 miles), "fallout" danger, and other data regarding
the effects of nuclear weapons. To assume that the USSR has not con-
sidered the advisability of some evacuation in the light of current
civil defense thinking and publicity would be dismissing Soviet
defense officials as totally incompetent.
Soviet military leaders have published articles toying with the
idea that surprise may be the decisive factor in nuclear warfare. 498/
If the USSR reached a decision to commence hostilities against the
US using surprise nuclear attack as the initial weapon, Soviet defense
authorities could modify their civil defense practices using presently
available organizations. Before deliberate attack they would undoubtedly
review all defenses in full expectation of massive retaliation. The
capabilities of Soviet defenses would be reevaluated in the light of
the most recent damage information, and the authorities would attempt
to take measures to insure continuing control while guarding against
loss of the element of surprise. Possible measures would be limited
in part by the present control structure, current practices, and
material on hand. (It may be stated here that the MVD probably has a
mobilization section 499/ for war planning and that GUMPVO is charged
with civil defense planning.)
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In view of the above assumptions and the currently discernible
aspects of control and civil defense, the adoption of a relatively
simple plan might save large elements of the control structure. The
alternatives to such a plan would be attempting total evacuation or
taking no action at all. Total evacuation is not considered prob-
able, because of the lack of observed activity in this field and
the chaos that might result from attempting such a measure without
involved preparations and practice. Absolute inaction would be
unrealistic and is possibly a dangerous underestimation.
A. Suggested Modified Plan.
If a modified plan of civil defense were chosen, the following
course of action might be taken:
1. Before D Day* (Possibly Two Weeks).
Renew or issue sealed mobilization orders to implement
the plan. (These orders would be opened and acted upon when a
"threatening situation" was announced.) Pressure could be increased
on Party, Komsomol, trade union, and government personnel to partic-
ipate actively in the DOSAAF organization and civil defense training.
This has, in fact, been occurring. 500/ Stockpiles of food, construc-
tion material, fuel, and the like in dispersed depots could be slightly
increased by holding urban stocks to a minimum level.
2. Shortly Before Attack (H Hour** Minus 8).
Move some of the following bodies up to 20 miles outside
urban areas under cover of maneuvers, training, or routine checking
exercises:
a. The armed forces.
b. MVD troops not currently engaged in duties necessi-
tating their presence in cities.
C. Reserve hospital units, particularly those having
personnel situated in central urban areas.
* Date of initiation of attack by the USSR.
** Hour of takeoff for Soviet strategic bombers.
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Dispersal of earth-moving and heavy construction equipment
from dangerous target areas might be started at this time.
3. Upon Release of Soviet Attack (D Day, H Hour).
a. Declare a "threatening situation" and mobilization based
on this plan.
b. Dispatch a small portion (about 20 percent) of Party
and government control personnel in each major city to pre-
selected safe locations. There they could set up alternate
government control centers, outside urban areas.
C. Disperse transport (water, rail, and motor) not in use
(or to be used) to a 10- to 20-mile radii's.
d. Disperse some Committee on State Security (KGB), Goskontrol,
and Gosbank personnel with vital records (presumably near alternate
Party-government headquarters).
e. Assemble and remove (by motor) military reserves and
remaining troop units not needed for urban control.
f. Alert civil defense forces. Load civil defense equipment
on trucks and have loaded trucks stand by at assembly points with
additional transport for crews. Set up skeleton civil defense
headquarters in protected locations outside potential target areas.
g. Make ready prepared shelters and order population without
these to dig hasty types of cover.
4. At Time of "Air Alert" (H Plus 2?).
a. Send those people who are not to be evacuated to shelters,
cellars, or prepared trenches. This is in conformance with cur-
rently published instructions for behavior under attack.
b. Assemble and move out, by vehicle, services and crews
of civil defense except a minimum detachment for maintaining order,
and firemen engaged in actual fire fighting. These might move to
a distance of 10 miles or more unless prepared shelter or good
defilade permitted them to be stationed nearer. Although training
for such movement has not yet been reported, the experience of
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Germany Li/ and Japan in World War II, 222/ as well as civil defense
plans of the US, are consistent in showing that disaster crews and
fire equipment should be removed from areas expecting attack in order
to avoid losses. Z)..1/
B. Composition of Civil Defense Units.
In addition to the removal from target areas of certain control
elements included in the armed forces, security troops, and alternate
elements of government, more key personnel might be preserved by
assigning them to the air defense crews and services. These services
are as follows:
1. Order Crews.
Order crews would probably contain elements of the militia,
its auxiliaries, and DOSAAF members. Once the population was placed
in shelters, only a small antilooting and control body would be neces-
sary in a city. Self-defense groups of the population have their own
order and shelter control bodies, reducing the need for police con-
trol.
2. Communications Crews.
Communications crews are organized for operation and repair
of communications facilities and would contain many persons who nor-
mally work in the communications system. There seems to be no good
reason to keep personnel other than a minimum operating group in a
likely target area. Repair personnel particularly should be evacuated
to a safe distance to be available after attack. Some DOSAAF personnel
are trained in telecommunications, 213.112/ and these probably are also
enrolled in communications crews.
3. Repair Crews.
Crews for rescue and repair are probably heavily weighted
with personnel assigned from public utilities and construction organi-
zations. There seems to be no valid reason to leave other than
minimum operating personnel to undergo attack.
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4. Fire-Fighting Crews.
World War II experience proved the advisability of evacu-
ating fire-fighting crews from cities under potential attack, leaving
only those units actually engaged in fire fighting within the city.
5. Medical and Veterinary Crews.
The formation and evacuation of civil defense medical
crews would give a further opportunity to preserve -- for service --
doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel. It would be advisable
to leave in a target area only the minimum number of medical personnel
to care for hospitalized persons and emergency cases.
6. Antichemical and Antiatomic Crews.
Antichemical and antiatonaic crews would probably contain
mostly technicians. Chemists, physicists, and teachers of these
subjects probably would be the leaders of reconnaissance and decon-
tamination crews.
7. Plant Disaster Crews.
There appears to be no compelling reason to keep disaster
crews of plants or economic enterprises-entirely within plants in major
target areas. These crews could be divided so that three-fourths or
half of a crew would be evacuated from the target area in vehicles, to
return immediately after attack or just before the "all clear" announce-
ment. A nucleus of control and maintenance personnel and skilled
workers could be preserved by this measure.
Millions of personnel are being trained for civil defense in
and by the DOSAAF organizations. It is therefore presumed that these
organizations (plus the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for first
aid) will furnish the chief recruiting ground for civil defense crews
and services. DOSAAF members are screened, the entrance requirements
being substantially the same as for the Komsomol. 222/ The Party,
Komsomol, and trade unions have been constantly urged to support and
participate in DOSAAF training. It has been stressed that local air
defense crews and services should be made up, using existing local
organizations wherever possible. These crews, therefore, will consist
of many police, fire-fighting, utility, communications, and medical
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personnel whose loyalty, position in the control structure, or skills
in repair would be valuable both in maintaining control and in
restoring damage.
If this or a similar plan were adopted in the USSR, the
following groups would be left to take their chances in cellars or
other shelters in large cities: (1) the majority of the population,
(2) a minimum level of control personnel, (3) prisoners (in urban
jails), (4) hospital patients, (5) older people and the unfit, and
(6) unreliables.
C. Advantages of the Suggested Plan.
This or some similar plan has obvious advantages which could
lead to its consideration by Soviet defense planners. These advantages
are as follows:
1. There is a minimum chance of loss of the element of sur-
prise, since no substantial action occurs until shortly before an
attack by the USSR is initiated.
2. Armed forces and unassigned MVD troops can be removed
from target areas to a safe place. From there they would be avail-
able for rescue and control if the city were attacked.
3. Establishment of field hospitals could be initiated before
attack by military and reserve units.
4. Some transport would be saved by disper-sal or by use in
moving troops and air defense personnel to peripheral areas.
5. Loss of life, although large, would be selective as to
skills and reliability, ensuring continued control and some
ability in reconstruction and repair.
6. Control needs would be minimized during the air alert
by placing the general population in shelters. The average citi-
zen is instructed and may be convinced that this is the best
defense.
7. The nature of civil defense crews (including medical,
repair, rescue, fire, communications, and the like) can be ration-
alized to the general population. The movement of troops and.
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reserves would be a normal thing in wartime. The holding of
mobile civil defense crews in the area until an actual air alert
and returning them immediately after or even before the "all
clear" would avoid giving the impression that the general popu-
lation was being abandoned.
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APPENDIX A
CHRONOLOGY OF SOME CIVIL DEkENSE DEVELOPMENTS IN THE USSR
1948-56
Activity Detected Year of Detection
Self-defense leaders reported in training 1948
Plan reported to train 4 million to 5 million
persons per year in civil defense 1948
Training initiated in some Ob"yekty 1949
Sanitary epidemiological service reorganized 1949
Decision ordering "basic" radiofication of USSR 1949
Probable initiation of shelter construction
program 1949
Call for "tens of thousands" of instructors 1950
Paramilitary bodies merged into DOSAAF 1951
PVKhO study circles made compulsory in DOSAAF
units 1952
Apartment managers reported in training 1952
XIXth Party Congress calls for "all-out" defense
measures 1952
Civil defense manuals published 1951-52
Civilian gas mask GP-4 probably in production 1952
PVKhO training made mandatory for DOSAAF members 1953
New chairman appointed for DOSAAF (Antiaircraft
General) 1953
Publication of nuclear information begun 1954
New DOSAAF manual mentions nuclear weapons 1954
Priority announced to give PVKhO training to all
the population 1954
Nuclear tests connected with defense research 1954-55
New commander of DOSAAF recruits demobilized
reserves for aid 1955
Soviet leaders call for improved, reorganized
antiatomic civil defense 1956
New manuals include instruction in atomic and
bacteriological defense 1956
Civilian gas mask GP-4u identified 1956
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