National military formations of the Red Army explained

A national military formation refers to a regiment/division in the Soviet Red Army of the Soviet Union, formed before and during the Second World War on the basis of nationalities of the personnel in their ranks. In addition to national units, representatives of all nationalities served in ordinary military formations not divided according to national or other grounds.

Historical summary

In its first days of its existence, the Red Army followed the Russian tradition of forming national military units, either openly (a unit with a "national" name was created, staffed mainly by representatives of that nationality), or by the "concentration" method, in which conscripts of the same nationality were sent to one compound. Many similar units in the former Imperial Russian Army had existed for years, and many national Bolshevik military units took part in the October Revolution of 1917.[1] During the Russian Civil War,[2] national units had what was considered to be an impressive battle record. The policy was the brainchild of Mikhail Frunze, who made sure that national formations were of different sizes, ranging from platoons to divisions. For the training of military personnel of these units, special educational institutions were created. As a rule, national formations served in the areas where they were formed.

The existence of units like these were controversial in the Soviet leadership, who believed that they couldn't be able to control them. The proportion of soldiers of the Red Army serving in national military units was always small. At the beginning of 1938, less than 2% of the Red Army served in national formations. In 1934, the Belarusian and Ukrainian national units were disbanded and in 1938, a special decree of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party and the Council of People's Commissars "On National Units and Formations of the Red Army", abolished all national formations and introduced a unified procedure for military service for representatives of the country's ethnic communities.[3]

The outbreak of the Second World War a year later and the Great Patriotic War two years after that forced the Soviet government to reverse this decision. The reformation of national units began in August 1941 by order of the State Defense Committee, two months after the start of Operation Barbarossa. This was meant to be a counter to the collaborationist formations composed of Soviet nationals on in occupied parts of the USSR (such as the Kaminski Brigade, the Armenian Legion, and the Turkestan Legion). The first formation ever raised was the 201st Latvian Rifle Division, with 90% of its personnel being residents of the Latvian SSR and more than half consisting of ethnic Latvians. Many national formations lost their nationality specification after the war, continuing to exist in numbers until the 1950s.[4]

List of units

Azerbaijan SSR[5] [6]

Armenian SSR[8]

Bashkir ASSR

Buryat-Mongolian and Yakut ASSR

Chechen-Ingush ASSR

Estonian SSR

Georgian SSR

Kabardino-Balkarian ASSR

Kalmyk ASSR

Kazakh SSR

Kirghiz SSR

Latvian SSR

See main article: Latvian Riflemen Soviet Divisions.

Lithuanian SSR

Moldovan SSR

Tajik SSR

Turkmen SSR

Uzbek SSR

Formations for nationalities outside the USSR

The 88th Separate Rifle Brigade was unique in that it incorporated the peoples of Korea, China and Soviet Central Asia in its ranks.[18] This unit was founded in July 1942 to accommodate the remaining forces of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, who were exiled to the Soviet Union after being driven by the Imperial Japanese Army to Manchuria during the war. Chinese Major General Zhou Baozhong was commander of the brigade.[19] Notable members have included Kim Il Sung, Lim Chum-chu and Kim Chaek.

Notable commanders and members

Legacy of national formations in the twenty-first century

Gallery

See also

Notes and References

  1. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/reports/2007/R2930.1.pdf
  2. Безугольный А. Ю. Призывное законодательство и комплектование Рабоче-Крестьянской Красной армии представителями нерусских национальностей в 1920-е гг. // Вестник Калмыцкого института гуманитарных исследований РАН. — 2013. — № 3. — С. 102.
  3. Безугольный А. Ю. Национальные формирования РККА в 1930-е гг. // Вестник Калмыцкого института гуманитарных исследований РАН. — 2016. — Т. 27. — No. 5 (27). — С. 67.
  4. Подсчитано по списку соединений ниже
  5. Web site: Web. Komandir RKKA. САВАШ - Военно-исторический сайт. 1 April 2018. savash-az.com.
  6. Web site: Братья и сестры по оружию. Азербайджан в годы Великой Отечественной Войны. 1 April 2018. ww2.kulichki.ru.
  7. Web site: 271 стрелковая дивизия. Вспомним о пехоте (Владимир Пузиков) / Проза.ру. proza.ru.
  8. Web site: Every fifth Armenian left for the frontline... "In the victory over fascism, the Armenians, from private to marshal, immortalized their names with non fading glory of brave warriors.". www.mfa.am.
  9. Web site: САВАШ - Военно-исторический сайт. savash-az.com.
  10. Web site: Голуб Ю., Любин Д. Закавказский фронт Великой Отечественной войны: участие войск фронта в Иранской операции в августе 1941 года. https://web.archive.org/web/20180219073322/http://retrovtap.ru/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/%D0%97%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%A4%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%82-%D0%B2-%D0%98%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9-%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B8-1941%D0%B3.-%D0%93%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%83%D0%B1_%D0%9B%D1%8E%D0%B1%D0%B8%D0%BD.pdf. 2018-02-19. 2018-07-18.
  11. Web site: Башкирские кавалерийские дивизии. https://web.archive.org/web/20080702030623/http://bashforum.net/forums/lofiversion/index.php?t1554.html. 2008-07-02. 2008-06-27.
  12. http://www.ingushetiya.ru/history/sultan_hamchiev_deportation/ Депортация 1944 года. Мифы и реальность
  13. http://www.rkka.ru/handbook/reg/63gsd24.htm 63-я горнострелковая дивизия
  14. Web site: 1 нбап. allaces.ru.
  15. Web site: Новости Минобороны. В Шерпенах стартовала акция "Дороги памяти" к 75-летию Великой Победы. www.patriot-expo.ru.
  16. http://www.rkka.ru/handbook/reg/68gsd.htm 68-я Туркестанская Краснознаменная горнострелковая дивизия
  17. http://www.rkka.ru/handbook/guard/128gvsd.htm 128-я Туркестанская Краснознаменная гвардейская стрелковая дивизия
  18. Легендарная восемьдесят восьмая бригада. Аргументы времени - военно-патриотическое издание. 3.02.2016
  19. Web site: zh-hant. 金日成父子與周保中父女的兩代友誼. 2011-12-23. 2019-06-01. 中国共产党新闻网. 寸麗香.
  20. Web site: Гаврюченков Юрий Фёдорович. Ким Ир Сен. samlib.ru.
  21. Web site: Victory: May 9. www.mil.am.
  22. Web site: Armenia and Artsakh Celebrate Victory Day and Shushi Liberation • MassisPost. May 10, 2020.
  23. Web site: Șeful statului a participat la ceremonia comemorativă de la Complexul Memorial "Capul de Pod Șerpeni". www.presedinte.md.
  24. Web site: Восторг маршала Жукова и флаг над Бранденбургскими воротами. Как воевала легендарная 416 Таганрогская Азербайджанская дивизия Информационный портал moscow-baku.ru. 2020-11-28. moscow-baku.ru.

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