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112-703: The district was originally established by the Soviet Armed Forces , and then was inherited by Ukraine. As the Soviet Union dissolved, the district's 14th Guards Army was split three ways. The army headquarters and some of its forces, stationed in Transnistria, as well as the 59th Guards Motor Rifle Division, came under the jurisdiction of Russia - the rest were divided between Ukraine and the Armed Forces of Moldova . An earlier district of

224-563: A German withdrawal, and a joint parade was held . Just three days earlier, however, the parties had a more damaging encounter near Lviv , when the German 137th Gebirgsjägerregimenter (mountain infantry regiment) attacked a Soviet reconnaissance detachment. ; After a few casualties on both sides, the parties negotiated, the German troops left the area, and the Red Army troops entered L'viv on 22 September. According to post-1991 Russian sources,

336-558: A Soviet-friendly communist government threatened by multinational, mainly Afghan, insurgent groups called the mujahideen. The insurgents received military training in neighboring Pakistan, China, and billions of dollars from the United States, Saudi Arabia, and other countries. Technically superior, the Soviets did not have enough troops to establish control over the countryside and to secure the border. This resulted from hesitancy in

448-585: A further 1,836,000 returned from German captivity. Thus the grand total of losses amounted to 8,668,400. The majority of the losses were ethnic Russians (5,756,000), followed by ethnic Ukrainians (1,377,400). The German losses on the Eastern Front consisted of an estimated 3,604,800 KIA/MIA (most killed) and 3,576,300 captured (total 7,181,100). In the first part of the war, the Red Army fielded weaponry of mixed quality. It had excellent artillery, but it did not have enough trucks to manoeuvre and supply it; as

560-463: A million Afghan civilians were killed in addition to the rebels in the war. From 1985 to 1991, the new leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, attempted to reduce the strain the Army placed on economic demands. His government slowly reduced the size of the army. By 1989 Soviet troops were leaving their Warsaw Pact neighbors to fend for themselves. That same year Soviet forces left Afghanistan. By

672-467: A notable reach across the world and particularly inside Europe . The analysis explicitly concluded that "Soviet armies have always been massive" while "they are also highly modernized, well-equipped, and have great firepower... [as well as] mobility", which meant that "manpower and materiel combined make the present Soviet ground forces a very formidable land army." Although Soviet military strategy in general merited comment, "the ground forces constituted

784-542: A quick campaign before the end of the war against England". Even before the issuing of the directive, the German General Staff had developed detailed plans for a Soviet campaign. On February 3, 1941, the final plan of Operation Barbarossa gained approval, and the attack was scheduled for the middle of May, 1941. However, the events in Greece and Yugoslavia necessitated a delay—to the second half of June. At

896-769: A rebellion in the Danubian Principalities . Though the Wallachian uprising ultimately failed — due especially to irreconcilable differences between Ypsilantis and his Wallachian ally Tudor Vladimirescu — it did touch off the Greek War of Independence , leading to the Kingdom of Greece gaining independence ten years later. In the Principalities it led to the end of Greek Phanariote rule, and indirectly to increasing self-government and eventually to

1008-471: A regional basis, with Soviet soldiers from Russia becoming part of the new Russian Army, while Soviet soldiers originating from Kazakhstan became part of the new Kazakh Army . In mid-March 1992, Yeltsin appointed himself as the new Russian Minister of Defence, marking a crucial step in the creation of the new Armed Forces of the Russian Federation , comprising the bulk of what was still left of

1120-584: A result the Wehrmacht (which rated it highly) captured much of it. Red Army T-34 tanks outclassed any other tanks the Germans had when they appeared in 1941, yet most of the Soviet armoured units were less advanced models; likewise, the same supply problem handicapped even the formations equipped with the most modern tanks. The Soviet Air Force initially performed poorly against the Germans. The quick advance of

1232-630: A second front for the Poles and forced them to abandon plans for defence in the Romanian bridgehead area, thus hastening the Polish defeat. The Soviet and German advance halted roughly at the Curzon Line . The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , which had included a secret protocol delimiting the "spheres of interest" of each party, set the scene for the remarkably smooth partition of Poland between Germany and

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1344-576: A situation to strike Southward along the Prut river towards Iaşi , while Soviet 9th Army was supposed to strike East-to-West south of Chişinău towards Huşi . The target of this plan was to surround the Romanian troops in the Bălţi -Iaşi area. The second plan took into consideration the case that Romania would succumb to Soviet demands and would evacuate its military. In such a situation, Soviet troops were given

1456-664: A state of war existed between them; the Germans had an extensive land border with the Soviet Union, but the latter remained neutral, adhering to a non-aggression pact and by numerous trade agreements . For Adolf Hitler , no dilemma ever existed in this situation. Drang nach Osten (German for "Drive towards the East") remained the order of the day. This culminated, on December 18, in the issuing of 'Directive No. 21 – Case Barbarossa ', which opened by saying "the German Armed Forces must be prepared to crush Soviet Russia in

1568-538: Is Chernivtsi , Ukraine . The Stânca-Costești Dam , operated jointly by Moldova and Romania, is built on the Prut. There is also a Hydro-Electric Station in Sniatyn ( Ukraine ). Ships travel from the river's mouth to the port city of Leova (southern Moldova ). The lowermost part of the basin is strongly marshy. The average discharge at its mouth is 110 m /s (3,900 cu ft/s). The average discharge at

1680-669: Is a river in Eastern Europe . It is a left tributary of the Danube , and is 953 km (592 mi) long. Part of its course forms Romania 's border with Moldova and Ukraine . The Prut originates on the eastern slope of Mount Hoverla , in the Carpathian Mountains in Ukraine ( Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast ). At first, the river flows to the north. Near Yaremche it turns to the northeast, and near Kolomyia to

1792-557: The 32nd Army Corps (possibly reformed on the basis of the headquarters units of the former Tauric Military District) in 1956, complemented by the 98th Guards Airborne Division as well as seven additional motor rifle divisions. The 5th Air Army of the Soviet Air Forces provided tactical air support for the District's units and the 49th Air Defence Corps , 8th Air Defence Army was tasked with national air defence for

1904-528: The 48th , and 66th Guards Rifle Divisions . In May 1957 the 20th Rifle Division became the 93rd Motor Rifle Division, but the division was disbanded in March 1959. In 1960 the 113th Guards Motor Rifle Division and 95th Motor Rifle Division were disbanded. In April 1960 the Odessa Military District consisted of three oblasts ( Mykolaiv Oblast , Izmail Oblast and Odesa Oblast ) as well as

2016-416: The 5th , 9th and 12th Armies . The Southern Front had 32 infantry divisions, 2 motorized infantry divisions, 6 cavalry divisions, 11 tank brigades, 3 paratrooper brigades, 30 artillery regiments, and smaller auxiliary units. Two action plans were devised. The first plan was prepared for the case that Romania would not accept to evacuate Bessarabia and Bukovina . The Soviet 12th Army was supposed in such

2128-693: The Admiral of the Fleet rank (which, from 1945 was already equivalent to Marshal) was later renamed Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union in 1955. In the 1960s however, it became a rank of its own when new regulations revived the Fleet Admiral rank in the Soviet Navy, thus becoming the naval equivalent to General of the Army. By 1972, the final transformation of military ranks began as the rank of Praporshchik ( Warrant officer ) ranks being added in

2240-838: The Armed Forces of the Soviet Union , the Red Army (1918–1946) and the Soviet Army (1946–1991), were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR (1917–1922) and the Soviet Union (1922–1991) from their beginnings in the Russian Civil War of 1917–1923 to the collapse of the USSR in 1991. In May 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin issued decrees forming the Russian Armed Forces , which subsumed much of

2352-674: The Caucasus but it often proved incapable of restoring peace and order. On April 9, 1989, the army, together with MVD units, massacred about 190 demonstrators in Tbilisi in Georgia. The next major crisis occurred in Azerbaijan , when the Soviet army forcibly entered Baku on January 19–20, 1990, removing the rebellious republic government and allegedly killing hundreds of civilians in the process. On January 13, 1991, Soviet forces stormed

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2464-750: The Chief of the General Staff , who was responsible for operations and planning, and the First Deputy Minister of Defence for General Affairs, who was responsible for administration. From 1955 the Supreme Commander of the Warsaw Pact also held the title of First Deputy Minister of Defence. By the 1980s there was another eleven Deputy Minister of Defence; including the commanders-in-chief of the five service branches. In 1989,

2576-878: The Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Ministry of Defence . At its head was the Minister of Defence , generally a full member of the Politburo (the Politburo, in turn, was chaired by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , generally the de facto leader of the Soviet Union ) and from 1934 onwards, a Marshal of the Soviet Union . Stalin was the last civilian/politician Minister of Defence; from 1947 onwards,

2688-705: The Crimea . On September 10, 1941 the district was abolished as it was overran by the Armed Forces of Nazi Germany and its allies. The District was reformed on April 23, 1944 with its headquarters at Kirovohrad , which in October 1944 relocated to Odesa. In 1948, 4th Guards Army , with 10th Guards Budapest Rifle Corps (33rd Mech, 59, 86) and 24th Guards Rifle Corps (35 Guards Mech, 180th Rifle Division , 51 Ind Rifle Brigade), plus 82nd Rifle Corps (34th Guards Mech, 28th Guards Rifle, 52 Ind Rifle Brigade) were in

2800-879: The Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as part of the Russian SFSR . The Odessa MD was reinforced by several units from the Ukrainian Front that took part in the Soviet invasion of Poland and Romania , previously formed on base of the Odessa Army Group of the Kiev Special Military District (reformed Kiev Military District). By directives OV/583 and OV/584 of the Soviet People's Commissariat of Defense , units of

2912-715: The KGB Border Troops . The early Red Army never adopted the idea of a professional officer corps . It was seen as a "heritage of tsarism.". In particular, the Bolsheviks condemned the use of the word "officer" and used the word " commander " instead. The Red Army never adopted epaulettes and ranks , using purely functional titles such as "Division Commander", "Corps Commander", and similar titles. In 1924 it supplemented this system with "service categories", from K-1 (lowest) to K-14 (highest). The service categories essentially operated as ranks in disguise: they indicated

3024-754: The Kuril Islands and in northern Korea . Japan surrendered unconditionally on 2 September 1945. The Soviet Union only had Ground Forces, Air Forces, and the Navy in 1945. The two ministries ( Narkomats ), one supervising the Ground Forces and Air Forces, and the other directing the Navy , were combined into the Ministry of the Armed Forces in March 1946. A fourth service, the Troops of National Air Defence ,

3136-653: The Moldavian SSR and the three new oblasts from the disbanded Tavria Military District : Zaporizhzhia Oblast , Crimean Oblast , and Kherson Oblast . From September 1984 the District came under command of the South-Western Strategic Direction, with its headquarters at Kishinev . In the Odessa District's territory were additionally deployed the 14th Guards Army (created on the basis of 10th Guards Budapest Rifle Corps ),

3248-830: The NKVD in 1934, and thus its Internal Troops were under the joint management of the Defence and Interior Commissariats. In 1989, the Soviet Armed Forces consisted of the Strategic Rocket Forces , the Ground Forces, the Air Defence Forces , the Air Forces, and the Navy, listed in their official order of importance. In the USSR, general conscription applied, which meant that all able-bodied males aged eighteen and older were drafted into

3360-523: The Politburo , which allowed only a "limited contingent", averaging between 80,000 and 100,000 troops. Consequently, local insurgents could effectively employ hit-and-run tactics, using easy escape-routes and good supply-channels. This made the Soviet situation hopeless from the military point of view (short of using " scorched earth " tactics, which the Soviets did not practice except in World War II in their own territory). The understanding of this made

3472-644: The Pyretus ( Ancient Greek : Πυρετός , romanized :  Pyretós ), or Scythian Porata (possibly), Hierasus ( Ἱέρασος , Hiérasos ) or Gerasius . Herodotus lists the Prut, under the name of Porata or Pyretus, as being among the five rivers flowing through the Scythian country which swell the Danube. In the second volume of the Ottoman-Bulgarian chronicles of Iman "Jagfar Tarihi" (1680)

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3584-745: The Russian Airborne Troops . The 5381st Equipment Storage Base with its headquarters at Florești , the former 86th Guards Motor Rifle Division, was taken over by Moldova. The 5th Air Army was later redesignated the 5th Aviation Corps of the Ukrainian Air Force in 1994. Colonel General Volodymyr Shkidchenko commanded the Odessa Military District from December 1993 until it became the Operational Command South in February 1998. Since January 3, 1998

3696-524: The Russian Empire . After World War II , the river once again denoted a border, this time between Romania and the Soviet Union . Nowadays, for a length of 31 km (19 mi), it forms the border between Romania and Ukraine , and for 711 km (442 mi), it forms the border between Romania and Moldova . It has a hydrographic basin of 27,540 km , of which 10,990 km (4,240 sq mi) are in Romania and 7,790 km (3,010 sq mi) in Moldova. The largest city along its banks

3808-426: The Russian Orthodox Church stopped, and priests revived the tradition of blessing arms before battle. The Communist Party abolished the institution of political commissars —although it soon restored them. The Red Army re-introduced military ranks and adopted many additional individual distinctions such as medals and orders. The concept of a Guard re-appeared: units which had shown exceptional heroism in combat gained

3920-509: The Southern Group of Forces in Hungary. In the Soviet Union itself, forces were divided by the 1950s among fifteen military districts, including the Moscow , Leningrad , and Baltic Military Districts . The trauma of the devastating German invasion of 1941 influenced the Soviet Cold War doctrine of fighting enemies on their own territory, or in a buffer zone under Soviet hegemony, but in any case preventing any war from reaching Soviet soil. In order to secure Soviet interests in Eastern Europe,

4032-401: The epaulettes that superseded the previous rank insignia. The ranks and insignia of 1943 did not change much until the last days of the USSR; the contemporary Russian Army uses largely the same system. The old functional ranks of Kombat (Battalion or Battery Commander), Kombrig (Brigade Commander) and Komdiv (Division Commander) continue in informal use. By the end of the Second World War,

4144-416: The rapidly advancing Imperial German Army . February 23 became an important national holiday in the Soviet Union, later celebrated as "Soviet Army Day", and it continues as a celebration day in present-day Russia as Defenders of the Motherland Day . Credit as the founder of the Red Army generally goes to Leon Trotsky , the People's Commissar for War from 1918 to 1924. At the beginning of its existence,

4256-406: The 1870s and 1880s (until August 12, 1889) the Commander of the district served as the interim Governor General of Odesa city (then spelled Odessa ) concurrently. In January 1918 the Odessa Military District headquarters was transformed into the headquarters of the Soviet Romanian Front under the jurisdiction of Rumcherod . With the establishment of the Ukrainian government on its territory, it

4368-609: The Army and Air Force for contract NCOs since the rank of Starshina (Sergeant Major) was from now on for conscripts. But in the Soviet Navy, it meant that the Naval rank of Midshipman became a rank for Naval warrant officers since the Navy created the new rank of Ship Chief Sergeant Major for its NCOs in naval service. The year of 1974 saw the rank insignia changed for Army Generals and Navy Fleet Admirals in their parade dress and working and combat dress uniforms. Prut river The Prut (also spelled in English as Pruth ; Romanian pronunciation: [prut] , Ukrainian : Прут )

4480-408: The Army parallels the American Vietnam Syndrome trauma over their own unsuccessful war in Vietnam . Tactically, both sides concentrated on attacking supply lines, but Afghan mujahideen were well dug-in with tunnels and defensive positions, holding out against artillery and air attacks. The decade long war resulted in millions of Afghans fleeing their country, mostly to Pakistan and Iran. At least half

4592-415: The Axis cannot be underestimated. A generation of brilliant Soviet commanders (most notably Georgy Zhukov ) learned from the defeats, and Soviet victories in the Battle of Moscow , at Stalingrad , Kursk and later in Operation Bagration proved decisive in what became known to the Soviets as the Great Patriotic War . The Soviet government adopted a number of measures to improve the state and morale of

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4704-442: The Commonwealth of Independent States . Steadily, the units stationed in Ukraine and some other breakaway republics swore loyalty to their new national governments, while a series of treaties between the newly independent states divided up the military's assets. Following dissolution of the Soviet Union , the Soviet Army dissolved and the USSR's successor states shared out its assets among themselves. The share out mostly occurred on

4816-409: The Fanar Quarter of Istanbul ( Phanariotes ). During the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-74 , on 1 August 1700, Russian forces led by Field Marshal Pyotr Rumyantsev defeated a larger Ottoman army led by Grand Vizier Ivazzade Halil Pasha in the Battle of Kagul on the Prut. In 1821, the Greek Nationalist leader Alexander Ypsilantis crossed the Prut river at Sculeni , with the intention of touching off

4928-471: The Germans into the Soviet territory made reinforcement difficult, if not impossible, since much of the Soviet Union's military industry lay in the west of the country. After the end of the war in Europe, the Red Army attacked Japan and Manchukuo (Japan's puppet state in Manchuria ) on 9 August 1945, and in combination with Mongolian and Chinese Communist forces rapidly overwhelmed the outnumbered Kwantung Army . Soviet forces also attacked in Sakhalin , in

5040-447: The Kirov (Murmansk) Railway, a transit route for Soviet lend-lease equipment. The conflict stabilised with only minor skirmishes until the tide of the war turned against the Germans and the Soviet strategic Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive occurred in June 1944. The attack drove the Finns from most of the territories that they had gained during the war, but the Finnish Army halted the offensive in August 1944. Hostilities between Finland and

5152-431: The Minister of Defence was a serving general (though the last was an airman). Between 1934 and 1946, 1950 and 1953, a separate Ministry of the Navy existed and the Ministry of Defence was responsible only for land and air forces. In practice, the Navy Minister was a far more junior official and the Defence Ministry continued to dominate policymaking. Beneath the Minister of Defence were two First Deputy Ministers of Defence;

5264-446: The Mongolians over the river. The Soviet troops quartered there in accordance with the mutual defence protocol intervened and obliterated the detachment. Escalation of the conflict appeared imminent, and both sides spent June amassing forces. On July 1 the Japanese force numbered 38,000 troops. The combined Soviet-Mongol force had 12,500 troops. The Japanese crossed the river, but after a three-day battle their opponents threw them back over

5376-447: The Odessa Military District was transformed into the Southern Operational Command of the Ukrainian Ground Forces according to the Decree of Ministry of Defense of Ukraine from July 1, 1997. The command encompasses nine oblasts : Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kirovohrad, Kharkiv, and the autonomous republic of Crimea. Soviet Armed Forces The Soviet Armed Forces , also known as

5488-451: The Odessa Military District, currently commanded by Mjr. Gen. I.V. Boldin , were ordered into battle ready state in the spring of 1940. Soviet troop concentrations along the Romanian border took place between April 15 and June 10, 1940. In order to coordinate the efforts of the Kiev and Odessa Military districts in the preparation of action against Romania, the Soviet Army created the Southern Front under General Georgy Zhukov , composed of

5600-520: The Ottoman army of Suleiman the Magnificent crossed the Prut during the campaign of Karaboğdan. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1710–1711 , on 19 July 1711 Russian forces initially divided among Peter the Great 's army on the west bank and Boris Sheremetev 's army on the east bank of the Pruth and allied with Dimitrie Cantemir , the ruler of Moldova, met with the Ottoman army led by Grand Vizier Baltaci Mehmed Pasha . The Turks and Crimean Tatars attacked first against Sheremetev, who then retreated to

5712-537: The Prut River is referred to as Burat. And in the Byzantine treatise of Constantine Porphyrogennetos " On the management of the empire " it is mentioned as the Brut river (Chap. 38) or as Burat (Chapter 42). The following towns are situated along the river Prut, from source to mouth: Vorokhta , Yaremche , Deliatyn , Lanchyn , Kolomyia , Zabolotiv , Sniatyn , Nepolokivtsi , Luzhany , Chernivtsi , Novoselytsia , Darabani , Lipcani , Ungheni , Leova , Cantemir and Cahul The following rivers are tributaries to

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5824-472: The Red Army a political commissar, or politruk , who had the authority to override unit commanders' decisions if they ran counter to the principles of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union . Although this sometimes resulted in inefficient command, the Party leadership considered political control over the military necessary, as the Army relied more and more on experienced officers from the pre-revolutionary Tsarist period. The Polish–Soviet War represented

5936-554: The Red Army abandoned service categories and introduced personal ranks. These ranks, however, used a unique mix of functional titles and traditional ranks. For example, the ranks included " Lieutenant " and " Komdiv " (Комдив, Division Commander). Further complications ensued from the functional and categorical ranks for political officers (e.g., "Brigade Commissar", "Army Commissar 2nd Rank"), for technical corps (e.g., "Engineer 3rd Rank", "Division Engineer"), for administrative, medical and other non-combatant branches. The year before (1934),

6048-421: The Red Army force in Poland numbered 466,516. The Red Army troops faced little resistance, mainly due to the entanglement of the majority of the Polish forces in fighting Germans along the Western border, but partly due to an official order by the Polish Supreme Command not to engage in combat with the Soviet troops, and also partly because many Polish citizens in the Kresy region—Ukrainians and Belarusians—viewed

6160-462: The Red Army functioned as a voluntary formation, without ranks or insignia. Democratic elections selected the officers. However, a decree of May 29, 1918, imposed obligatory military service for men of ages 18 to 40. To service the massive draft, the Bolsheviks formed regional Military commissariats (voenkomats), which still carry out this function in Russia. They should not be confused with military political commissars . Democratic election of officers

6272-448: The Red Army to switch a large number of its Far Eastern troops into the European Theatre in the desperate autumn of 1941. On September 17, 1939, the Red Army marched its troops into the eastern territories of Poland (now part of Belarus and Ukraine ), using the official pretext of coming to the aid of the Ukrainians and the Belarusians threatened by Germany, which had attacked Poland on September 1, 1939. The Soviet invasion opened

6384-439: The Russian Federation . Around 1988, the District contained the following forces: Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union the 14th Guards Army became entangled in the later War of Transnistria . The 98th Guards Airborne Division was split between Russia and Ukraine; the Ukrainian half became the 1st Airmobile Division and the Russian part was withdrawn to Ivanovo in the Moscow Military District and became part of

6496-429: The Russian parliament) immediately after the events of August 1991 , the Army did not play a significant role in what some describe as coup d'état of old-guard communists. Commanders sent tanks into the streets of Moscow, but (according to all the commanders and soldiers) only with orders to ensure the safety of the people. It remains unclear why exactly the military forces entered the city, but they clearly did not have

6608-462: The Soviet Armed Forces consisted of the Strategic Rocket Forces , the Ground Forces, Air Defence Forces , the Air Forces, and the Navy, listed in their official order of importance. The Rear services , "Tyl", had their own deputy minister of defence. In 1970 the troops of the All-Union National Civil Defence Forces were added. There were also a number of armed organisations beyond the Ministry of Defence; in 1989 these included Internal Troops and

6720-402: The Soviet Armed Forces dropped from around 11.3 million to approximately 2.8 million in 1948. In order to control this demobilisation process, the number of military districts was temporarily increased to thirty-three, dropping to twenty-one in 1946. The size of the Ground Forces during most of the Cold War remained between 4 million and 5 million, according to Western estimates. However, there

6832-444: The Soviet Armed Forces. Multiple sections of the former Soviet Armed Forces in the other, smaller Soviet republics gradually came under those republics' control. According to the all-union military service law of September 1925, the Soviet Armed Forces consisted of the Ground Forces , the Air Forces , the Navy , the State Political Directorate (OGPU), and the convoy guards . The OGPU was later made independent and amalgamated with

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6944-445: The Soviet Army moved in to quell anti-Soviet uprisings in the German Democratic Republic (1953), Hungary (1956) and Czechoslovakia (1968). As a result of the Sino-Soviet border conflict , a sixteenth military district was created in 1969, the Central Asian Military District, with headquarters at Alma-Ata . To improve capabilities for war at a theatre level, in the late 1970s and early 1980s four high commands were established, grouping

7056-425: The Soviet Union dissolved and signed the document setting up the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Gorbachev finally resigned on December 25, 1991, and the following day the Supreme Soviet, the highest governmental body, dissolved itself, officially ending the Soviet Union's existence. For the next year and a half various attempts were made to keep the Soviet military in existence as the United Armed Forces of

7168-477: The Soviet Union: the Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia . However, the Finnish Army continued the offensive past the 1939 border during the conquest of East Karelia , including Petrozavodsk , and halted only around 30–32 km (19–20 mi) from the centre of Leningrad . It participated in besieging the city by cutting the northern supply routes and by digging in until 1944. In Lapland , joint German-Finnish forces failed to capture Murmansk or to cut

7280-436: The State Radio and Television Building and the television retranslation tower in Vilnius , Lithuania , both under opposition control, killing 14 people and injuring 700. This action was perceived by many as heavy-handed and achieved little. By mid-1991, the Soviet Union had reached a state of emergency. According to the official commission (the Soviet Academy of Sciences) appointed by the Supreme Soviet (the higher chamber of

7392-405: The USSR ended with a ceasefire, which was called on 5 September 1944, formalised by the signing of the Moscow Armistice on 19 September 1944. By the autumn of 1940, Nazi Germany and its allies dominated most of the European continent. Only the United Kingdom (in the West) was actively challenging national socialist and fascist hegemony. Nazi Germany and Britain had no common land border, but

7504-409: The USSR. The defined Soviet sphere of interest matched the territory subsequently captured in the campaign. The Soviet and German troops met each other on a number of occasions. Most remarkably, on 22 September 1939, the German XIX Panzer Corps had occupied Brest-Litovsk, which lay within the Soviet sphere of interest. When the Soviet 29th Tank Brigade approached Brest-Litovsk, the commanders negotiated

7616-468: The United States supported loyal client régimes or rebel movements in Third World countries. During the Korean War , the Soviet Air Forces directly fought against United States and United Nations Command (UNC) forces. Two Soviet air divisions flying MiG-9 and MiG-15 fighter jets were sent against U.S. Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers and their U.S. and allied fighter escorts The Soviet Union invested heavily in nuclear capabilities, especially in

7728-463: The advancing troops as liberators. Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists rose against the Poles, and communist partisans organised local revolts, e.g. in Skidel , robbing and murdering Poles. Nonetheless, the Red Army sustained losses of 1,475 killed and missing and 2,383 wounded. The losses of the opposing Polish troops are estimated at 6,000–7,000. The Winter War began when the Soviet Union attacked Finland on 30 November 1939, two months after

7840-482: The area. On August 23 the entire Japanese force found itself encircled, and on August 31 largely destroyed. Artillery and air attacks wiped out those Japanese who refused to surrender. Japan requested a cease-fire , and the conflict concluded with an agreement between the USSR, Mongolia and Japan signed on September 15 in Moscow. In the conflict, the Red Army losses were 9,703 killed in action (KIA) and missing in action (MIA) and 15,952 wounded. The Japanese lost 25,000 KIA;

7952-404: The armed forces. International observers regarded the armed organizations as collectively one of the strongest such forces in world history . The relative advancement and development of the government's militaries was a key part of the history of the USSR . In the context of the Cold War , an academic study by the rival U.S. Department of Defense in 1984 found that the Soviets maintained

8064-474: The army. Equally important was a general tactical superiority of the German army, which was conducting the kind of warfare that it had been combat-testing and fine-tuning for two years. The hasty pre-war growth and over-promotion of the Red Army cadres as well as the removal of experienced officers caused by the Purges offset the balance even more favourably for the Germans. Finally, the sheer numeric superiority of

8176-567: The authorities abolished the system of military commissars, together with the commissar ranks. The functional ranks remained only in medical, veterinary and legislative corps. By then the Naval rank of Midshipman was revived in the Soviet Navy as an NCO rank, a role lasting until the 1970s. In early 1943 a unification of the system saw the abolition of all the remaining functional ranks. The word "officer" became officially endorsed, together with

8288-553: The authorities acquitted the tank crew of all charges. Nobody issued orders to shoot at anyone. Following the coup attempt of August 1991, the leadership of the Soviet Union retained practically no authority over the component republics. Nearly every Soviet Republic declared its intention to secede and began passing laws defying the Supreme Soviet. On December 8, 1991, the Presidents of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine declared

8400-474: The city of Leova is 69.2 m /s (2,440 cu ft/s). The slope of the river varies from 100 m/km (near the source) to 0.05 m/km (near the mouth). In the upper reaches (to Delyatyn) it has a mountainous character, with a steep right bank, sometimes the cross-sectional profile of the channel has the form of a ridge. Near the city of Yaremche is the waterfall of Probiy. The Prut was known in Antiquity as

8512-659: The district. Marshal of the Soviet Union , Giorgi Zhukov was assigned command of the Odessa Military District after the war, far from Moscow and lacking in strategic significance and troops. He arrived there on 13 June 1945. Zhukov suffered a heart attack in January 1948, spending a month in hospital. In February 1948, Zhukov was moved to another secondary posting, this time command of the Urals Military District . General Colonel Nikolay Pukhov took command. 82nd Rifle Corps existed until 13 June 1955, when it

8624-499: The end of 1990, the entire Eastern Bloc had collapsed in the wake of democratic revolutions. As a result, Soviet citizens quickly began to turn against the Soviet government as well. As the Soviet Union moved towards disintegration, the reduced military was rendered feeble and ineffective and could no longer prop up the ailing Soviet government. The military got involved in trying to suppress conflicts and unrest in Central Asia and

8736-506: The entire Soviet Air Force on the ground, the loss of major equipment, tanks, artillery, and major Soviet defeats as German forces trapped hundreds of thousands of Red Army soldiers in vast pockets. Soviet forces suffered heavy damage in the field as a result of poor levels of preparedness, which was primarily caused by a reluctant, half-hearted and ultimately belated decision by the Soviet Government and High Command to mobilize

8848-418: The experience and qualifications of a commander. The insignia now denoted the category, not the position of a commander. However, one still had to use functional titles to address commanders, which could become as awkward as "comrade deputy head-of-staff of corps". If one did not know a commander's position, one used one of the possible positions—for example: "Regiment Commander" for K-9. On September 22, 1935,

8960-574: The field of defence. On March 12, 1936, the co-operation increased with the ten-year Mongolian-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, which included a mutual defence protocol. In May 1939, a Mongolian cavalry unit clashed with Manchukuoan cavalry in the disputed territory east of the Halha River (also known in Russian as Халхин-Гол, Halhin Gol). There followed a clash with a Japanese detachment , which drove

9072-411: The firing of the three military district commanders (..). On 7–8 January each were removed, none resisting because within their headquarters Kravchuk's people had quietly created a network of officers loyal to his government.' Its units were split between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and some units, mostly from the 14th Guards Army , in the former Moldovian SSR that became part of the Armed Forces of

9184-525: The first foreign campaign of the Red Army. The Soviet counter-offensive following the 1920 Polish invasion of Ukraine at first met with success, but Polish forces halted it at the disastrous (for the Soviets) Battle of Warsaw (1920) . In 1934, Mongolia and the USSR, recognising the threat from the mounting Japanese military presence in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia , agreed to co-operate in

9296-484: The goal of overthrowing Gorbachev (absent on the Black Sea coast at the time) or the government. The coup failed primarily because the participants did not take any decisive action, and after several days of their inaction the coup simply stopped. Only one confrontation took place between civilians and the tank crews during the coup, which led to the deaths of three civilians. Although the victims became proclaimed heroes,

9408-496: The grand total was 61,000 killed, missing, wounded and taken prisoner. Shortly after the cease-fire, the Japanese negotiated access to the battlefields to collect their dead. Finding thousands upon thousands of dead bodies came as a further shock to the already shaken morale of the Japanese soldiers. The scale of the defeat probably became a major factor in discouraging a Japanese attack on the USSR during World War II, which allowed

9520-401: The independence of Romania several decades later. In Greek history, Ypsilantis' crossing of the Prut is an important historical event, commemorated in a famous painting displayed at Athens . Sydir Vorobkevych : Within that Prut Valley (Над Прутом у лузі). Within that Prut Valley a cabin rests close In which lives a lassie—a beautiful rose: Her eyes like the bright stars that lighten

9632-687: The invasion of Poland by Germany that started World War II. Because the attack was judged as illegal, the Soviet Union was expelled from the League of Nations on 14 December. The war ended on 13 March 1940. The Continuation War was the second of two wars fought between Finland and the Soviet Union during World War II. On 25 June 1941 the Soviet Union conducted an air raid on Finnish cities, prompting Finland to declare war and to allow German troops stationed in Finland to begin an offensive. By September 1941, Finland had regained its post–Winter War concessions to

9744-482: The largest of the five Soviet military services" as of the date the research ended. The Council of People's Commissars set up the Red Army by decree on January 15, 1918 ( Old Style ) (January 28, 1918), basing it on the already-existing Red Guard . The official Red Army Day of February 23, 1918, marked the day of the first mass draft of the Red Army in Petrograd and Moscow and the first combat action against

9856-738: The military districts, groups of forces, and fleets. The Far Eastern High Command was established first, followed by the Western and South-Western High Commands towards Europe, and the Southern High Command at Baku, oriented toward the Middle East. Confrontation with the US and NATO during the Cold War mainly took the form of threatened mutual deterrence with nuclear weapons . But a number of proxy wars took place. The Soviet Union and

9968-710: The military. The last vestiges of the old Soviet command structure were finally dissolved in June 1993. In the next few years, the former Soviet forces withdrew from central and Eastern Europe (including the Baltic states ), as well as from the newly independent post-Soviet republics of Azerbaijan , Georgia (partially), Moldova (partially), Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan . In 2020, Russian forces remained in Abkhazia , Armenia , Belarus , Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , South Ossetia , Tajikistan and Transnistria . While in many places

10080-409: The mission to reach quickly the Prut river, and take charge of the evacuation process of the Romanian troops. The first plan was taken as the basis of action. Along the portions where the offensive was supposed to take place, Soviets prepared to have at least a triple superiority of men and means. On June 22, 1941 primary combat formations included: In August 1941 51st Independent Army was formed in

10192-459: The names of "Guards Regiment", "Guards Army", etc. During the German–Soviet War , the Red Army drafted a staggering 29,574,900 in addition to the 4,826,907 in service at the beginning of the war. Of these it lost 6,329,600 KIA, 555,400 deaths by disease and 4,559,000 MIA (most captured). Of these 11,444,100, however, 939,700 re-joined the ranks in the subsequently re-took Soviet territory, and

10304-650: The other side to join Peter the Great. Afterwards the Russian army set up a defensive camp between Stănilești and the river, which was then completely surrounded by the Ottoman army. Negotiations started on 21 July 1711 and the Treaty of the Prut was signed on 23 July 1711. After this treaty, Dimitrie Cantemir had to go in exile at Moscow. This treaty led to the end of local dynasties of kings and inauguration of Greek rulers from

10416-568: The political and 'military-technical' sides of military doctrine, while from the Soviet point of view, Westerners ignored the political side. According to Harriet F Scott and William Scott, the political parts of Soviet military doctrine best explained the international moves that the Soviet Union undertook during the Cold War. In 1979, however, the Soviet Army intervened in a civil war raging in Afghanistan . The Soviet Army came to back

10528-521: The position of military advisor ( voyenspets : "военспец" an abbreviation of "военный специалист", i.e., " military specialist "). A number of prominent Red Army commanders had previously served as Imperial Russian generals. In fact, a number of former Imperial military men, notably a member of the Supreme Military Council , Mikhail Bonch-Bruevich , had joined the Bolsheviks earlier. The Bolshevik authorities assigned to every unit of

10640-468: The production of ballistic missiles and of nuclear submarines to deliver them. The Soviet meaning of military doctrine was much different from U.S. military usage of the term. Soviet Minister of Defence Marshal Andrei Grechko defined it in 1975 as 'a system of views on the nature of war and methods of waging it, and on the preparation of the country and army for war, officially adopted in a given state and its armed forces.' Soviet theorists emphasised both

10752-609: The retreating Red Army in 1941. Soviet propaganda turned away from political notions of class struggle , and instead invoked the deeper-rooted patriotic feelings of the population, embracing Tsarist Russian history. Propagandists proclaimed the War against the German aggressors as the "Great Patriotic War", in allusion to the Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon . References to ancient Russian military heroes such as Alexander Nevski and Mikhail Kutuzov appeared. Repressions against

10864-629: The revival of personal ranks began with the Marshal of the Soviet Union rank bestowed upon 5 Army Commanders. There were further modifications to the system. 1937 saw the Junior Lieutenant and Junior Military Technician ranks being added. On May 7, 1940, the ranks of " General " or " Admiral " replaced the senior functional ranks of Kombrig , Komdiv, Komkor , Komandarm ; the other senior functional ranks ("Division Commissar", "Division Engineer", etc.) remained unaffected. On November 2, 1940,

10976-591: The river Prut (source to mouth): Left: Turka , Chorniava , Sovytsia , Rokytna , Rynhach , Cherlena , Larga (Briceni) , Vilia , Lopatnic , Racovăț , Ciuhur , Camenca , Delia , Nârnova , Lăpușna , Sărata , Larga (Cantemir) Right: Pistynka , Rybnytsia , Cheremosh , Derelui , Hertsa , Poiana, Cornești, Isnovăț , Rădăuți, Ghireni , Volovăț , Badu, Bașeu , Corogea , Berza Veche, Râioasa, Soloneț , Cerchezoaia , Jijia , Bohotin , Moșna , Pruteț , Gârla Boul Bătrân, Copăceana, Belciug, Elan , Horincea , Oancea, Stoeneșa, Brănești, Chineja In 1538,

11088-428: The river. The Japanese kept probing the Soviet defences throughout July, without success. On August 20 Georgy Zhukov opened a major offensive with heavy air attack and three hours of artillery bombardment , after which three infantry divisions and five armoured brigades , supported by a fighter regiment and masses of artillery (57,000 troops in total), stormed the 75,000 Japanese force deeply entrenched in

11200-813: The régimes in what became satellite states of the Soviet Union and to deter and to fend off pro-independence resistance and later NATO forces. The greatest Soviet military presence was in East Germany , in the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany , but there were also smaller forces elsewhere, including the Northern Group of Forces in Poland, the Central Group of Forces in Czechoslovakia , and

11312-749: The same name was established in 1864 by the Imperial Russian Army . The Odessa Military District was established during the reforms of the Russian military minister Dmitry Milyutin . It was the second of two districts on the territory of the future Ukraine, the other being Kiev Military District . OVO existed from 1862–1918 as part of the Imperial Russian Armed Forces. It encompassed the territories of Kherson , Yekaterinoslav , Tauride , and Bessarabia guberniyas . The district bordered Kingdom of Romania , Kiev Military District , Don Voisko Oblast , and Black Sea . In

11424-522: The south-east. Having reached the border between Moldova and Romania, it turns even more to the south-east, and then to the south. It eventually joins the Danube near Giurgiulești , east of Galați and west of Reni . Between 1918 and 1939, the river was partly in Poland and partly in Greater Romania (Romanian: România Mare ). Prior to World War I , it served as a border between Romania and

11536-530: The system underwent further modification with the abolition of functional ranks for non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and the introduction of the Podpolkovnik ( Lieutenant Colonel ) rank. In early 1942 all the functional ranks in technical and administrative corps became regularised ranks (e.g., "Engineer Major", "Engineer Colonel", "Captain of the Intendant Service", etc.). On October 9, 1942,

11648-525: The territory. The Odessa Military District was transferred to the jurisdiction of Ukraine after the dissolution of the Soviet Union on January 3, 1992 at 18:00. William E. Odom says that 'in accordance with the Minsk agreements [from the CIS summit in Minsk of 30–31 December 1991], Shaposhnikov sent an order on 3 January 1992, formally transferring conventional forces to Ukraine. President Kravchuk then approved

11760-515: The time of the Nazi assault on the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Red Army had 303 divisions and 22 brigades (4.8 million troops), including 166 divisions and 9 brigades (2.9 million troops) stationed in the western military districts. Their Axis opponents deployed on the Eastern Front 181 divisions and 18 brigades (3.8 million troops). The first weeks of the war saw the annihilation of virtually

11872-438: The war highly unpopular within the Army. With the coming of glasnost , Soviet media started to report heavy losses, which made the war very unpopular in the USSR in general, even though actual losses remained modest, averaging 1670 per year. The war also became a sensitive issue internationally, which finally led General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to withdraw the Soviet forces from Afghanistan. The " Afghan Syndrome " suffered by

11984-592: The withdrawal and division took place without any problems, the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet remained in the Crimea , Ukraine, with the fleet division and a Russian leasehold for fleet facilities in Crimea finally achieved in 1997. The Baltic states ( Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania ) became successful members of NATO since 2004. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine maintain cooperation with NATO as well. The Soviet Armed Forces were controlled by

12096-524: Was a large-scale reduction in force size in 1953–56; 1.1 million personnel were released from the armed forces. Two military districts were disestablished in 1956. Soviet law required all able-bodied males of age to serve a minimum of two years. As a result, the Soviet Ground Forces remained the largest active army in the world from 1945 to 1991. Soviet units which had taken over the countries of Eastern Europe from German rule remained to secure

12208-517: Was also abolished by decree, while separate quarters for officers, special forms of address, saluting, and higher pay were all reinstated. After General Aleksei Brusilov offered the Bolsheviks his professional services in 1920, they decided to permit the conscription of former officers of the Imperial Russian Army . The Bolshevik authorities set up a special commission under the chair of Lev Glezarov (Лев Маркович Глезаров), and by August 1920 had drafted about 315,000 ex-officers. Most often they held

12320-521: Was formed in 1948. The Ministry was briefly divided into two again from 1950 to 1953, but then was amalgamated again as the Ministry of Defence . Six years later the Strategic Rocket Forces were formed. The Soviet Airborne Forces , were also active by this time as a Reserve of the Supreme High Command . Also falling within the Soviet Armed Forces were the Tyl, or Rear Services . Men within

12432-525: Was renamed 25th Rifle Corps , and 25.6.57 it was renamed 25th Army Corps . HQ in Nikolayev with the 28th Guards Motor Rifle Division , 34th Guards MRD and 95th MRD in the late 1950s. Disbanded in June 1960. In May 1955 the district's forces included the 10th Guards Budapest Rifle Corps (35th, 59th Guards , 86th Guards Rifle Division ), 25th Rifle Corps (including the 20th Rifle Division ( Zaporozhia ), and 28th Guards RDs) and 32nd Rifle Corps , and

12544-655: Was terminated. OVO was reinstated as the Ukrainian forces were pushed out the area in April to August 1919. The district was reformed by the decision of October 11, 1939 specifically for the occupation of Bessarabia after the Soviet Union signed Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact . At that time its territory included the newly created Moldovian SSR , six oblasts of the Ukrainian SSR ( Izmail , Odesa (then Odessa), Dnipropetrovsk , Zaporizhzhia , Mykolaiv , Kirovohrad ) and also

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