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The Structure of the Soviet Ground Forces evolved from the early loose groupings and Red Guards of the Bolsheviks, through an increasingly formalised military system through the Russian Civil War, to a regular army in the 1920s. Not fully prepared for the German onslaught of 1941, due to Stalin's purges of the officer corps and some remaining military conservatism, amongst other factors, by the end of the Second World War (the 'Great Patriotic War' to the Soviet population) the Red Army had become the most formidable land force on Earth.

The Red Army was renamed the Soviet Army just after victory. The 500+ rifle divisions that had shed so much blood on the Eastern Front were quickly reduced in number, and the multibrigade tank corps and mechanised corps that had provided the main striking punch were converted to a divisional structure. Cavalry formations were converted into further mechanised divisions, and additional combat support arms added and expanded. The mass, mobilisable, characteristic remained, with the Soviet Ground Forces developing several different tiers of readiness states (A B V etc). During the Cold War the Ground Forces were X, Y, Z in strucural terms.. incl Khruschev's cutbacks (cite numbers as precisely as possible)- ref needed.

introduction

, giving an overview of the major trials, tribulations and conflicts, followed by the the main body of the article. The main body needs to acknowledge the legacy of the Imperial Russian Army and the First World War experience that created the Soviet Union, the Civil War, and war with Poland of course. These would represent the introduction to why and how the Red Army was created.

Historical Overview

of the development of the Ground Forces through its significant periods: formative (1925 - 1936), combat (1936 - 1946), transformative (1947 - 1961), consolidating (1962 - 1984), and final (1985 - 1993), and explain what happened for them to deserve these appellations (ok, not those actual words - I just used one word for what would be a sentence).

• For Historical section, I'd like to suggest combining the event narrative with doctrinal development, and not just another "List of..." type section. This means actual writing-in of the lessons and mistakes that resulted from, or contributed to development of the Ground Forces

Higher direction - Politburo and MOD

Then go to the Structure and say how decisions were taken at strategic level, including the link to the Politburo,

• An introduction on the relationship between the Party-political policy-setting organs and the General Staff strategic planning roles within the Soviet general strategy and relationship of Ground Forces to other Services

Administrative organisation

Main Staff of the Ground Forces directorates .. technology developmental Directorates, mobilisation, budgets, test centres etc Rifle forces, artillery, tank forces, engineers, signals, support organisations

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Like other armies, the Red Army used administrative departments (called Directorates) to develop, train and equip the many combat Arms of Service troops and their Service Corps support echelons. These were:

airborne troops

anti tank troops

armoured division staff

armoured engineer companies

armoured training regiments

armoured trains

armoured units

army AA units

army map and military survey

army propaganda troops

army dogs units

artillery observation training units

artillery observation units

artillery troops

artillery training units

barrier troops

cavalry units

chemical troops

fortification engineers

fortification signals

Frunze Military Academy

general armoured commands

general command

machine gun troops

medical officers and NCO

medical training units

medical troops

Military District and Front command

military field police

military justice units

mobilisation processing personnel

mortar battalions (MRL)

motor maintenance troops

motorcycle units

motorised troops

mountain troop divisional staff

mounted artillery troops

Officers of the Stavka

railway engineer training companies

railway troops

reconnaissance (mounted)

reconnaissance (motorised)

rifle troops

rifle divisional staff

rifle training regiments

rifle and mountaineering units

rifle unit staff

sapper troops

sapper training battalions

signals training regiment

signals troops

ski troops

smoke training units

smoke troops

specialist officers

supply officers

technical officers

transport supply officer

transport training units

transport troops

veterinary officers and NCOs

veterinary troops

Operational organisation

Formations of the Soviet Army The Soviet division The corps, the Army (Soviet Army) (iv) then the section on the organisation, and how that relates to the operational art as a doctrine. ->links to orders of battle by period ->A full OOB would be several separate articles, listing ~500++ divs in midwar, plus mech/tank corps, ~300(?) odd divs in 1946-7, and 200 odd divs in 1960s-80s. Finally, the OOB and how and why the Ground Forces were organised, stationed and equipped in the way that they were. There are good sources, primarily Simpkin and Glantz again (his job for US Army was in Soviet doctrine, not history).

Do you mean Race to the Swift? And which Glantz books? Buckshot06 (talk) 11:31, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes, the late Brigadier wrote several books on the operational art, and was an expert on the Soviet doctrine bar none in terms of published material.

Glantz wrote Soviet Military Operational Art - In pursuit of deep battle which is not on his article. I would highly recommend it as it recapitulates the Simpkin research, and adds to it in a relatively slim volume. Somewhat more readable also because Simpkin wrote not only in the British style, but one from another era.

• Front — the largest wartime field formation, equivalent to an army group in many other forces
• Army — the largest peacetime field formation. Each is designated a combined arms army or tank army. During WWII the Fortified Region usually corresponded to an Army frontage formation.
• Corps — Rifle, Cavalry, Artillery, Mechanised, Tank, Aviation and Aviation of PVO, and Airborne Corps.
  

Rifle Corps was a formation that existed in the pre-Revolution Imperial Russian Army, and was inherited by the Red Army. First suggestions for creation of large mechanised or tank formations in the Soviet Union were suggested based on development of doctrine for publication as PU-36, the field regulations largely authored by Marshal Tukhachevsky, and was created where "In the attack tanks must be employed in mass", envisaged as "Strategic cavalry". Although the name of "mechanised" may seem to the modern reader as referring to the infantry components of the Corps, in 1936 they referred to armoured vehicles only with the word "motorised" referring to the units equipped with trucks.

• Division — originally rifle or cavalry, later motor-rifle, tank, artillery, aviation, sapper or airborne. See divisions of the Soviet Union 1917-1945, list of Soviet Army divisions 1989-91

Criticisms(?)

(vi) Lastly, you can include a section on "Suvorov" and his views as criticisms, something other articles on Armies lack completely as if no one has ever criticises then.

Sources and References

1. Marshal Grigory Kulik and his horses - need ref
2. This is a judgement which will need sourcing and maybe changing, but will do for now.
3. p.179, Simpkin
4. ibid., p180.

• The Soviet Army: Troops, Organization, and Equipment. FM 100-2-3, June 1991. Washington DC: United States Department of the Army.
• Fomin, N.N., Great Soviet Encyclopaedia (Template:Lang-ru), Moscow, 1978
• Simpkin, R., Deep battle: The brainchild of Marshal Tukhachevskii, Brassey's, London, 1987