Soviet Ground Forces
About the Book and Authors
No book on the Soviet ground forces has been published in any language, including Russian, for many years. This study is the first comprehensive treatment of this central element in the modern Soviet military structure. The dramatically improved Soviet ground forces are the most powerful and dynamic military arm in the world. Highly flexible and easily deployable, they are considered a strategic force in and of themselves.
The book begins with a full-scale historical analysis of the evolution of the forces from World War II to the present. John Erickson, eminent historian of the Soviet military, uses his network of personal contacts within the Soviet military command to present an inside view of the changes in the army and its probable future course.
Colonel William Schneider, a former U.S. Army attach in Moscow, also draws on personal observations and a lifetime of study of Soviet military institutions to describe how the Soviets train for war and how their ground forces would actually fight a war. He contrasts the Soviet method of abstract and objective normative standards for judging military performance with more subjective U.S. criteria, which are based primarily on operational testing.
Since the air component is an integrated element of ground forces operations and a major factor in modernization policies, it receives special treatment. Dr. Lynn Hansen, who has lengthy first-hand experience with Soviet air force troops, analyzes the use of air power in conjunction with land strength. He discusses current techniques, available technology, and the expected evolution of the force through the end of the century.
With their Warsaw Pact allies, Soviet forces are generally considered to be superior to NATO forces in numbers and roughly equal in quality. This equation is further weighted toward the Soviets by their capabilities for rapid reinforcement and the relative lack of political constraints upon the Soviet defense budget. This powerful and destabilizing influence is examined in detail by these three uniquely qualified specialists. Their book provides essential background information for an assessment of Soviet political behavior and explores the heart of Soviet conventional military strength, capabilities, and intentions.
John Erickson, an eminent authority on Soviet military history, is director of defense studies at the University of Edinburgh. Dr. Lynn Hansen is on leave of absence from Texas A&M University as deputy head of the American delegation at the Stockholm Conference on Confidence and Security Building Measures and Disarmament in Europe. Col. William Schneider (ret.) was liaison officer to the Commander-in-Chief, Group of Soviet Forces, Germany, and army attach^ in Moscow. He is now an assistant vice president of the BDM Corporation managing USSR-related studies.
Published in cooperation with the BDM Corporation, McLean, Virginia
Soviet Ground Forces
An Operational Assessment
John Erickson, Lynn Hansen, and William Schneider
First published 1986 by Westview Press, Inc.
Published 2019 by Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Erickson, John.
Soviet ground forces.
Includes index.
1. Soviet Union. Sukhoputnye voiska. 2. Soviet Union.
Voenno-vozdushaia sily. I. Hansen, Lynn M.
II. Schneider, William, 1925 . III. Title.
UA772.E69 1986 355'.00947 86-5583
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Erickson, John.
Soviet ground forces: an operational assessment.
1. Soviet UnionArmed forces.
I. Title. II. Hansen, Lynn. III. Schneider, William.
355'00947 VA770
ISBN 13: 978-0-367-28821-1 (hbk)
The Soviet Ground Forces. An Operational Assessment is an appraisal of the capabilities of the Soviet army as they exist in late 1985. For the past two and a half decades, the Soviet forces have shaped my life and occupied my thoughts during most of my working days. This can also be said of the three authors, whom I have also known for many years. During those years, the Soviet forces have been in a constant state of change, either deteriorating as in the Khrushchev years or improving as in the last twenty or more years. This book does not attempt to count tanks or planes or guns on any given day but rather examines the methods by which the Soviet forces conduct operations and the standards they set for themselves. While I do not mean to imply that these assessments are timeless, force levels change slowly and some aspects of the Soviet forces change hardly at all. The Soviet military mirovozrenie or world outlook has shaped every facet of their activities for decades.
In recent years there have been controversies about deep thrusts, daring raids, second echelons, operational maneuver groups, and other forms of offensive maneuver. It is my belief, based on extensive records and contact with Soviet officers, that these are all reflections of a mindset that is at least as old as the Soviet Union itself and will probably be as enduring. Decisive offensive action is the hallmark of Soviet military doctrine past and present. Soviet strategy, operational art, and tactics support this doctrine.
The 1980s are but another chapter in the evolution of Soviet Ground Forces' tactics and operational art. The Operational Maneuver Group (OMG) is but another evolutionary development in long-held operational (Army and Front/Army group) and tactical (corps/division and lower level) concepts developed in the late 1920s and early 1930s by Tukhachevsky, Triandafillov, Kalinovskiy, Isserson, and others and publicly outlined initially in a Red Star article in 1932. The ability to execute the "deep tactics" ( glubokiy boy ) and the "deep operation" ( glubokaya operatsiya ) has increased over the years as weapons, equipment, and training have progressed.
A former captain in the Czarist army, by the name of Varfolomeyev, and later a Soviet Army and Front Chief of Staff during the Civil War, became Deputy Head of Strategic Studies at the Frunze Military Academy. Varfolomeyev was the author of the books entitled, Shock Army Offensive Operations, The Modern Art Of Operations, and The Academic Approach To Strategy . In November 1932 he wrote an extensive article in Red Star entitled, "The Deep Operation." According to Varfolomeyev's article, the principal task in the organization of an offensive on an operational scale (Army/Front) was to rapidly overcome enemy resistance throughout the depth of the operational (Army/army group) defense by simultaneous attack throughout the entire depth. The operational defense was considered to include the reserves of the high command deployed in the rear and oriented toward potential maneuvers.
