Soviet Army 1930-1937

The first Five Year Plan brought massive industrialization to many parts of the Soviet Union in the late 20's and early 1930's. This brought greater economic stability and allowed Stalin to focus on building the Red Army which was sorely lacking in almost every respect.

In many ways the army of 1930 was not very different from that of the Revolution. It had no rank structure, no large standing formations, and little mechanization. This was something that Stalin intended to change. His desire was for a large army equipped with the most modern vehicles that Soviet industry could manufacture. Soviet designers had no idea of where to begin, so they began to travel abroad in search of new designs. In England and the United States they found tank development to be especially interesting. A number of tanks were purchased and sent back to the Soviet Union for study. These new machines influenced a whole generation of Soviet designers.

The military collaboration with Germany that had begun in the late 1920's also continued for several years. During this time the Soviets learned many things from the Germans, and even attended some of their staff courses. Annual visits by the German general staff were also common. The Germans even came to like some of the Russian military leaders like Blucher and Tukachevsky. Others like Budenney and Voroshilov were seen by the simply as unimaginative political men. All Russo-German cooperation would come to an end in 1933 with Hitler's rise to power in Germany.

Nevertheless the Red Army began a variety of modernization programs. These began to show promise by the middle of the decade as the army could then boast of having the largest mechanized force in the world. Tactical doctrine was also becoming more advanced as the leaders of the Red Army began to find new and innovative ways to use their new army. It seemed like a good time for the Red Army, but in 1937 came Stalin's purge of the military and nothing would be the same again.

At the beginning of the 1930's the highest military body was the Defense Commission headed by Molotov. Subordinate to it was the Revolutionary Military Council (RVS) which led at the time by Stalin's other associate Voroshilov. It was these two governing councils that made every major decision affecting the Red Army.

The defense structure was reorganized in 1934. The Commissariat for Defense (NKO) was formed under the leadership of Voroshilov, while the old Revolutionary Military Council was disbanded in June of that year. This was done so that Stalin could consolidate his power base. By 1937 a separate Commissariat for the Navy had been created, but it was subordinate to the army. The old military councils were also reinstated that year.

Russian cavalry had played a crucial role in the revolution and was still seen as an important arm of the Red Army. Its mobility was still unrivalled, and many wondered if the supporting early MS-1 tanks would be able to keep up with it. The MS-1 tanks had been developed during the late 1920's and were seen as being insufficient for future needs. A new tank would be needed, and like the MS-1, its mission would be to support the infantry in the assault. Even so the first operational Soviet tank brigade was created using MS-1 tanks in 1930. It was greatly expanded the following year.

As early as the late 1920's the Soviets had sought to purchase foreign tanks to study. The first of these were a batch of 45 Vickers/Carden Lloyd tanks from Britain, the first of which were approved for export to the Soviet Union on 21 March. They also attempted to buy a copy of the British 'Independent' heavy tank, but it was denied by the British government.

The Red Army began license production of the Vickers tank for a time. They found it to be too problematic and began work on their own tank design. Within a few years they had stopped buying foreign tanks altogether in favor of Soviet built tanks of many different types (amphibious, reconnaissance, heavy, and fast). Most of the tanks were light and fast. Heavy and medium tank development was very slow until the Soviets obtained a copy of the powerful BMW M-6 engine.

Initially these tanks were ordered in unbelievable quantities. In 1932 the Soviet military called for the production of 10,000 tanks, when they had only manufactured 960 MS-1 light tanks the year before. It was estimated that they only completed 3,000 tanks by the end of the year. While far short of their production target, it made the Red Army the largest mechanized army in the world at the time. By 1934 the army was operating 20 cavalry divisions and one mechanized division.

Tank doctrine did not take long to catch up to the variety of new vehicles. The Red Army developed the 'deep battle' doctrine in which tanks would be used to breakthrough the enemy line and wreak havoc on the poorly defended units in the enemy rear areas. This later evolved into the 'deep operations' doctrine where long range tanks would conduct prolonged operations in enemy rear areas. These concepts were shelved in 1937, but would be used again during the Great Patriotic War.

Despite poor reviews by the British and German observers, Russian tanks were actually very good machines for their day. They had some of the most powerful armament of any tanks in the world at the time, and the heavy tanks were all equipped with radios. Their main flaw was in their light armor and relatively poor maintenance record. Even so the tank arm of the Red Army would remain the largest armored force in the world until the massive defeats of 1941.

The Red Army also began investing in large numbers of trucks to transport and re-supply their army. Most of these would be copies of foreign designs (usually Ford trucks) but a few indigenous designs like the Komsomolets tractor emerged. Unfortunately, the army grew faster than the number of trucks in its inventory. This would become a serious limitation in future wars.

New types of armored cars also came into service during this time to replace the older cars of Great War vintage. The BA series was the most prominent of these designs, 100 of which were produced alongside the MS-1 tanks in 1931. These vehicles were usually used in the reconnaissance role where their speed and mobility could be put to good use.

Most of the artillery developments of the 1930's were focused on updating the older guns that the army had inherited from the Tsarist army. Many of these improvements were undertaken in 1930, but the guns were still of limited utility. The following year the Red Army introduced the massive 203mm howitzer known as the B-4. It was a new design, but was very heavy and difficult to transport. Efforts then focused on completely replacing the older Imperial vintage guns. The M1936 field gun, M1937 gun-howitzer, and M1938 field howitzer soon emerged to take their place.

In the early 1930's the vast majority of Red Army infantry formations were composed of part time militia troops rather than standing armies. In 1934 a full two thirds of the 82 infantry divisions were composed of such troops. Soviet high command felt that this condition would put them at a severe disadvantage in any future large scale conflict. It was decided that the army would have to be rapidly brought up to full strength. This would be accomplished in several stages by ordering militiamen to full time service and by expanding the numbers of men conscripted. By doing this the generals believed that 71 of the 82 divisions could be filled with regular troops by 1938. The remaining 11 divisions were expected to be filled out by 1940. The plan was soon put into action and the 1936 conscription law was soon amended to include all Soviet male citizens no matter what their race. Even Cossacks and Central Asians who had been exempt for conscription before could be called to serve.

The armament of the infantry had officially been standardized as the M-91/30 infantry rifle. Mass production of the weapon soon commenced. A special sniper variant followed two years later. The 1895 Nagant officers revolvers were soon replaced by the semi-automatic Tokarev TT-30/33 design. In addition to these weapons several new automatic weapons entered service such as the PPD submachine gun and AVS-36 automatic rifle. These would both be found to have many problems, but gave valuable experience to Red Army weapons designers. A further development was the introduction of a purpose built anti-tank land mine in 1935 called the TM-35. This design was later improved two years later and was called the TM-37. Anti-personnel mines still had not been adopted by the Red Army.

Hand grenades were another area of development in the early 30's. The aging M-1914 grenade was fitted with a fragmentation sleeve to make it more effective in 1930. A more significant improvement was the introduction of the RGD-33 hand grenade in 1933. While sharing the limitations of the earlier stick grenade, the RGD-33 was more effective in both the defensive fragmentation and offensive role.

Another major development came in 1935 when new uniform regulations changed the look of the Red Army. Along with the new visor caps and new pattern leather belts were the reintroduction of rank. The title of 'officer' was brought back as well, but the rank of General was still forbidden as it was believed to be too aristocratic in nature.

During the 1930's the Soviets were eager to show off their military might and industrial power to the world. This usually came in the form of the annual May Day parade. During these parades the latest military hardware or technology would be shown for the public (and foreign observers) to see. These parades were large affairs and often involved over flights by the latest Soviet aircraft. In the 1936 parade a flight of bombers carrying T-27 tankettes and T-38 light tanks was one of the feature attractions. Parades of this sort would continue until the end of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Unfortunately, technical standards during the early parades were not very high. This resulted in many vehicles suffering from mechanical breakdowns during parades. To avoid this highly embarrassing situation special parade units were formed. These units were given special attention and extra maintenance.

In 1935 the first large scale war games were held in the Kiev district. Another larger exercise took place the following year the Belorussian district. Foreign observers were invited to both events and witnessed as large tank battles were staged, paratroopers jumped from aircraft, and as tanks were transported in the air by special bombers. As dramatic and innovative as they may have been, they were rather poorly conducted. It seemed to many of the foreign observers that the war game had no point to it. Units simply moved randomly from point to point, and no effort was made to referee the war game. This led both the Germans and the British observers to conclude that the Russian army was still backward and had few ideas to contribute to their own military establishments.

When the Spanish Civil War broke out in the mid-1930's the Soviet Union pledged assistance to the local Communist forces known as the Republicans who had won the recent elections. At first the Soviets only sent advisors who traveled to Spain using false names. As the war progressed the Republican forces asked for more assistance, as their enemies (the Nationalists) had begun receiving military aid from Germany and Italy. The most significant Soviet aid came in the form of tanks and aircraft. The BT-5 and T-26 tanks would see some of their first action in Spain. When the purges began the Soviet advisors soon found that they were not immune. Many were arrested by the NKVD and sent home to be put on trial or simply shot immediately.

Stalin's devastating purge of the military had long lasting effects. The first was to eliminate many of the skilled strategists and experienced officers of the Red Army. In their place were men who had greater political reliability, but little military experience. Another effect of the purge was the reinstating of the 'dual command' structure. This allowed Commissars who knew little about military affairs to meddle in the day to day operations of a combat unit. If the commander objected to the ideas the Commissar proposed then he ran the risk of being denounced and arrested. Leadership and initiative suffered as many unit leaders would not do anything without the approval of their Commissar. Tactical doctrine was yet another casualty of the purges. Before 1937 the Red Army leaders were free to experiment with new concepts and ideas. Many even attended foreign military schools. That ended with the purge, and military thought became stagnant and unimaginative. All of these factors would come back to haunt the Red Army in the wars of the next five years.

The Soviet Army
from 1922 to 1929

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The Spanish Civil War
and Days of Terror

The Soviet Army
from 1938 to 1940