WW2 Russian War Reenactors

During World War II ordinary Soviet armies initially consisted of a number of Rifle Corps. In the emergency of 1941 it was found that inexperienced commanders were finding difficulty in controlling armies with subordinate corps, and they were abolished, to be recreated later in the war. Thus Stavka Circular 01 of July 15, 1941 directed several changes to Red Army force structure, the elimination of rifle corps headquarters and subordination of rifle divisions directly to rifle army headquarters among them. Following the Second World War, an Army was reorganised with four to five divisions, often equivalent to a corps in most militaries. During a war, an Army of the Soviet military was typically subordinated to a Front. In peace time, an Army is usually subordinated to a Military district.
There were large variations in structure and size. For example, in the October 1944 Battle of Debrecen, the 27th Army was a massive organization with nine rifle divisions, an artillery division, and four attached Romanian infantry divisions. The 40th Army, by comparison, had only five rifle divisions. Both armies were part of the Second Ukrainian Front.

Special titles given to Soviet armies included 'Red Banner', following the award of the Order of the Red Banner and 'Shock'. The famous image of the flag over the Reichstag was of forces from 3rd Shock Army's 150th Rifle Division. The 1st Shock Army was formed, in accordance with pre-war planning that saw Shock Armies as special penetration formations, in November-December 1941 to spearhead the counteroffensive north of Moscow in December. A total of five shock armies were formed, the 2nd (former 26th Army), 3rd, and 4th (the former 27th Army) by the winter campaigns of 1942-3. During the Stalingrad counteroffensive the 5th Shock Army was the last such formation formed. 2nd Shock Army was reformed three times, most famously after being encircled in the Liuban' operation south of Leningrad, after which its commander, General Andrey Vlasov, went over to the German side.

Armies which distinguished themselves in combat during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 often became Guards Armies. These included the 8th Guards Army.
Lenin, Trotsky and soldiers of the Red Army in Petrograd


As World War II went on, the complement of supporting units attached to Soviet armies became more numerous and complex. By 1945, a Soviet army typically had attached mortar, antitank, anti-aircraft, howitzer, gun-howitzer, rocket launcher, independent tank, self-propelled gun, armored train, flamethrower, and engineer-sapper units. In particular, the ratio of artillery pieces to riflemen increased as the war went on, reflecting the Soviet need for increased firepower as manpower reserves began to sag in the face of staggering losses of rifle troops.

From the Soviet Air Force, Air Armies were attached to Fronts. They were made up of two to three Aviation Corps. One of the longest serving, still active today in the Moscow Military District, is the 16th Air Army.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• WW2
• Russian
• War
• Reenactors

[gustaf2adolf]

Oh yes "the russians made them pay" One Panzer 4 against 100 russian infantry. Who makes who pay?

[angelica14709]

Berlin was "Who paid".

[paperbuddha]

not all germans were nazis...

[Rubenskiq]

ppsh 41 = boner

[airsoftriot1]

@AGQfilms3 normaly not u just have to look around and ask

[AGQfilms3]

do you have to know russian to join?

[KoMmIzZaR98]

Greetings from another Soviet reenactor! I'm with the 13th guards rifle division in the UK. Where the "Komizar" in the name comes from.

[aviationdocs]

Fascinating video. Thanks for posting. Interesting what the guy says about the Russian C47s at 0:36.

[DeadlySoviet]

we russians like be called soviets better

[Icanhasoboe]

@normalukrainian soviet russification tried so very hard to replace other slavic cultures into the russian culture

[normalukrainian]

It's Soviets, not russians. USSR had 15 republics in it.

[acr2121]

i remember seeing russians in these tan trenchcoat style jackets, does anyone know what they are because i want to buy one.

[SSAirsoftowns]

What song is playing at 2:04?