Soviet Army

Soviet Army
Советская армия
Soviet Army cockade
Founded25 February 1946
Disbanded14 February 1992
Country
TypeArmy
RoleLand warfare
Size
  • 3,668,075 active (1991), peak 14,332,483 in 1945
  • 4,129,506 reserve (1991), peak 17,383,291 in 1945
Nickname(s)"Red Army"
Motto(s)За нашу Советскую Родину!
Za nashu Sovetskuyu Rodinu!
"For our Soviet Motherland!"
ColorsRed and yellow
Equipment
  • About 55,000 tanks (1991)[1]
  • Over 70,000 armored personnel carriers[1]
  • 24,000 infantry fighting vehicles
  • 33,000 towed artillery pieces
  • 9,000 self-propelled howitzers
Engagements
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Georgy Zhukov

The Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union (Russian: сухопутные войска, romanized: Sovetskiye sukhoputnye voyska)[2] was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. In English it was often referred to as the Soviet Army.[a]

Until 25 February 1946, it was known as the Red Army.[3] In Russian, the term armiya (army) was often used to cover the Strategic Rocket Forces first in traditional Soviet order of precedence; the Ground Forces, second; the Air Defence Forces, third, the Air Forces, fourth, and the Soviet Navy, fifth, among the branches of the Soviet Armed Forces as a whole.[4]

After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under the command of the Commonwealth of Independent States until it was formally abolished on 14 February 1992. The Soviet Ground Forces were principally succeeded by the Ground Forces of the Russian Federation in Russian territory; beyond, many units and formations were taken over by the post-Soviet states; some were withdrawn to Russia, and some dissolved amid conflict, notably in the Caucasus.

  1. ^ a b International Institute for Strategic Studies 1991, p. 37.
  2. ^ Thomas, Nigel (20 January 2013). World War II Soviet Armed Forces (3): 1944–45. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84908-635-6.
  3. ^ Established by decree on 15 (28) January 1918 "to protect the population, territorial integrity and civil liberties in the territory of the Soviet state."
  4. ^ Suvorov 1982, p. 51.


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