[烛光生存狂]-二战苏联空降兵编制

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=61112

This is what I have from a book I have been working on for 20 some years. The info is gathered from a wide variety of sources over the years. David Glantz's book, A History of Soviet Airborne Forces is a good single volume work.

9th Guards Army (1944 organization) commander in 1944 was Major-General I.I. Zatevakhin, replaced by Colonel-General V.V. Glagolev in 1945.

The independent Airborne Army was formed in October 1944 to organize and control the newly created Airborne formations. In December 1944 the independent Airborne Army became the 9th Guards Army with the 37th, 38th and 39th Guards Rifle Corps. The bulk of the front line troops where Russian Airborne units. However, only a percentage of the troops had ever received any formal parachute or other Airborne training, most of the units being Airborne in name only. The Army fought in Hungary, Austria and Czechoslovakia. Parts of both the 7th and 4th Guards Armies were also composed of former Airborne units. Note that a Russian "Army" was about the size of a western Corps.

37th Guards Rifle Corps: originally contained the 13th, 98th and 99th Guards Airborne divisions. In December 1944 many of the Guards Airborne divisions were renamed. The division numbers in December were - 98th, 99th, and 103rd Guards Rifle Divisions. Commander in 1944-45: General P.V. Mironov.

38th Guards Rifle Corps: 11th, 12th, and 16th Guards Airborne divisions (January 1944). Division numbers in late 1944 were - 104th, 105th and 106th Guards Rifle Divisions. commander in 1944-45: General A.I. Utvenko.

39th Guards Rifle Corps: 8th, 14th, 100th Guards Airborne divisions (January 1944). Division numbers in December 1944 - 100th, 107th and 114th Guards Rifle Divisions. Commander in 1944-45: General M.F. Tikhonov.

Below is my list of Guards Airborne Corps and Divisons, i.e., division size units - don't have time to seperate them out, and they are a little confusing, so I post them for what they are worth. All the divisions mentioned above are in the list.

1st Airborne Corps

In June 1941 the 1st was stationed in the Kiev Military District and contained the 1st, 204th and 211th Airborne Brigades under M.A. Usenko. After losing heavily in the initial battle around Kiev, the Corps was reformed near Saratov in August-September 1941 with the 1st, 3rd and 204th Airborne Brigades. For operations around Demiansk in February-March 1942, the 1st consisted of the 1st, 2nd and 204th Airborne Brigades. The 1st Airborne Corps was practically destroyed at Demiansk fighting in the ground role, losing over 7000 men, over 70 percent of those who took part in the battle. Part of the 204th Brigade jumped behind German lines in mid-February. In June 1942 the 1st Corps comprised the 1st, 2nd and 5th Airborne Brigades. The 1st was reconstituted as the 37th Guards Rifle Division in July 1942. Some records indicate that the Corps Headquarters became the cadre for the 4th Guards Airborne Division. Another cadre helped form the 9th Guards Airborne Division.

2nd Airborne Corps

Formed in 1941 from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Airborne Brigades in the Kharkov Military District, its station at the time of the German invasion in June 1941. The first commander was F.M. Kaharitonov. The 2nd fought at Kiev in July 1941 and then fought with the 40th Army on the Bryansk front in August 1941. The Corps became the 32nd Guards Rifle Division in May 1942.

3rd Airborne Corps

Created in the Kiev Military District in June 1941 with the 5th, 6th and 212th Airborne Corps in June 1941 under V.A. Glazunov. The Corps fought around Kiev as ground infantry in early July 1941 and by August 1941 was fighting at Kon Top as part of the 40th Army. The 3rd was transformed into the 87th rifle Division in November 1941 and then granted Guards status and renamed the 13th Guards Rifle Division in June 1942. At Kiev, the commander of the 5th Airborne Brigade was Colonel A.I. Rodimstev, later commander of 13th Guards Rifle Division at Stalingrad. (51) the Corps was later reraised and became the 33rd Guards Rifle Division in June 1942. The 3rd was yet again reformed and apparently helped formed one of the Guards Rifle Divisions. In 1941 the 5th Brigade had a strength of approximately 1,700 men.

4th Airborne Corps

In June 1941 the Corps was composed of the 7th, 8th and 214th Airborne Brigades under the command of A.S. Zhadnov in the Western Special Military District. The 4th fought as elite ground infantry on the Berezina river in June 1941 and in Belorussia in July 1941. Portions of the Corps dropped behind German lines at Vyazma early in 1942 and fought until June of the same year. In July 1942 the Corps became the 38th Guards Rifle Division. The Corps was reformed and became the 1st Guards Airborne Division in December 1942.

In June 1941 only half of the 8th Brigade's men had completed a single training jump. In the 214th Brigade, more than 50 percent of the men had never performed a jump. In July 1941 the 7th and 8th Brigades each had a personnel strength of about 1000 men. In February 1942 the strength of the Corps was some 7000 men. Commander in June/July 1941 was Major-General A.S. Zhadov. Zhadov was later promoted to commander of 66th Army. Commander in January 1942 at Vyazma was Major-General A.F. Levashov (KIA), replaced by Major-General A.F. Kazankin.

5th Airborne Corps

The 5th contained the 9th, 10th and 201st Airborne Brigades in June 1941 and was commanded by I.S. Bezugly. The 5th fought in the initial frontier battles and at Orel in August 1941. It became the 39th Guards Rifle Division in August 1942. At the start of the Russo-German war, the 9th Brigade's personnel were almost entirely parachute qualified. The 5th Corps' personnel were on maneuvers at the time of the German invasion and were the first Soviet Airborne personnel to engage the invaders.

6th Airborne Corps

Details of composition and service not known. Became the 40th Guards Rifle Division in July 1942.

7th Airborne Corps

Details of composition and service not known. Became the 34th Guards Rifle Division in 1942.

8th Airborne Corps

Details of composition and service not known. Became the 35th Guards Rifle Division in 1943.

9th Airborne Corps

Details of composition and service not known. Became the 36th Guards Rifle Division in July 1942.

10th Airborne Corps

Exact details of composition are unknown but included the 23rd Airborne Brigade in 1942. Became the 41st Guards Rifle Division in June 1942.

10th Guards Airborne Rifle Corps

The Corps was formed in the Moscow area in the fall of 1942 from previously existing Guards Airborne Brigades. composed of 4th Guards Airborne Brigade, 5th Guards Airborne Brigade, 6th Guards Airborne Brigade, and 7th Guards Airborne Brigade. No service details are available but the 10th ceased to contain Airborne units circa late 1943.

18th Guards independent Rifle Corps

Operated in the Kursk area in the spring of 1943 with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Guards Airborne divisions. In the last two years of the war the 18th Corps did not contain any Airborne units.

20th Guards Airborne Rifle Corps

The Corps was established circa May 1943 and assigned to 4th Guards Army. The 8th Guards Airborne rifle Division was apparently part of the 20th Corps until October 1944 when it was re-assigned to the 39th Guards Rifle Corps. The 20th Corps, with the 5th, 6th and 7th Guards Airborne rifle divisions, fought with the 4th Guards Army until the German surrender in 1945 - ending the war near Berlin.

13th Guards Rifle Division

34th Guards Rifle Regiment

39th Guards Rifle Regiment

42nd Guards Rifle Regiment

32nd Guards Artillery Regiment

The original 87th rifle Division (not an Airborne unit) was destroyed in the initial fighting in the summer of 1941. The division was reformed from

The Soviet Union formed the first parachute units in the early 1930s. As with many aspects of modern military technology, the Soviets took the lead and the rest of the world followed. But the Soviets lacked the ability to make airborne forces work effectively, something Germany and the Western Allies were only marginally better at. Moreover, although in the 1930s new military technologies (tanks, aircraft carriers, dive-bombers) abounded, no one knew who would, or could, make what work.

By 1932, after several years of planning, the Soviets had a thousand paratroopers and were enthusiastically working out the technical details of airborne operations. After that, the strength of Russian paratroop forces took off.

By 1934 the Soviets had standardized their paratrooper organization. The basic unit was a brigade, which contained 3,000 to 3,500 men (four 450- to 550-man infantry battalions, a recon company, artillery battalion; and support units). The Soviets pioneered the use of gliders, and the airborne brigades had combinations of parachute and glider battalions (usually two of each). Gliders allowed the landing of light tanks and artillery. Such a “two and two” brigade would have eleven light tanks, seventeen pieces of artillery (four 75mm guns, the rest being combinations of mortars and antiaircraft and antitank guns). The brigade would have sixty to seventy trucks.

While Russian paratroopers had trained hard and performed well in manoeuvres, they had yet to enter combat as paratroopers. In 1939, one brigade fought (as ground troops) against the Japanese in Mongolia. In 1940, two brigades fought (again, as ground troops) against the Finns.

Year Number of Paratroopers

1932 1,000

1933 8,000

1934 10,000

1935 10,000

1936 10,000

1937 12,000

1938 18,000

1939 30,000

1940 50,000

1941 55,000

The closest the paratroopers came to an airborne combat operation was in 1940, when three brigades were dropped ahead of ground troops during the Russian reoccupation of the Romanian province of Bessarabia. There was no opposition during this operation, so it was basically another training exercise.

In late 1940, airborne divisions (called “corps”) were formed, each with three brigades (3,000 men) plus support units (a light tank battalion, artillery battalion, and antitank-battalion). A full-strength airborne corps had 10,500 men. Five existed (although they lacked much equipment) when the Germans invaded Russia in 1941. Since the Germans had quickly attained air superiority, and the situation on the ground was desperate, the five airborne corps were sent into battle as regular infantry. This, in effect, destroyed the airborne force the Russians had so carefully built up over the previous nine years.

After two months of fighting the Germans, only two of the original five Russian airborne corps were still intact. Cadres from these two corps, plus survivors from the three that had all but disappeared, were used to form five more airborne corps. Many of these units subsequently participated in the 1941-1942 Russian winter offensive as ground troops. There were some air drops, but they were small and none had much effect on the ground fighting. Casualties, however, were heavy. During the summer of 1941, the ten airborne corps, and five independent brigades, were reorganized into regular infantry units and sent south to oppose the big German offensive that was approaching the Caucasus Mountains. That campaign resulted in the German defeat at Stalingrad. But even as Russian forces were massing for that battle, many paratroopers were pulled out of their infantry jobs at the end of 1942 and used to organize ten Guards Airborne Divisions (basically the same as the previous Airborne Corps). But the Germans began attacking again in the spring of 1943, and the paratroopers were once more sent in as ground troops, and most of them were lost. Undismayed, the Russians formed another twenty airborne brigades, which they used to form another six airborne corps. Three of these brigades were used for the largest Russian airborne operation to date, and the first deliberate attempt to use parachutists to support a major operation. On September 23, 1943, the three brigades were dropped in the vicinity of Kanev to assist the crossing of the Dnieper River. The airborne assault was a failure. It was too hastily organized and the careful preparation required was simply not there. Moreover, most of the parachutists had never jumped out of an airplane before, although most had at least jumped in a parachute harness from a training tower. There were not enough transport aircraft, the pilots didn’t have much experience, and the German flak was alert and effective. The drop was done at night, to avoid the risk of German fighters, but this just added to the muddle.

Stalin was not happy with this, the first real test of Russian airborne forces in their designed role. But then, their failure was not surprising. After the debacles in 1941, the Russians ruthlessly gathered whatever forces they could to stem the German advance. This meant paratroopers being thrown into ground battles as infantry. The persistent efforts to organize new airborne units represented a desire to maintain an airborne capability as well as the recognition that the paratroopers were more effective infantry. But the Soviet air force was never able to support airborne operations sufficiently to make them work. For the rest of the war, Soviet airborne forces were kept on the back burner. It wasn’t until after the war that the parachute divisions again became well trained and equipped forces.

Ironically, a year after the Kanev operation, the Western Allies had their own airborne failure at Arnhem. Paratroopers were dropped on the flat terrain in the Netherlands, and the Germans responded aggressively. This was yet another airborne failure, and with three divisions and a brigade the largest airborne operation of the war. Learning from their mistakes, the next major Allied airborne operation occurred in March 1945, when an American and a British airborne division dropped in support for the crossing of the Rhine (at Wesel) by Montgomery’s army group. This took place in daylight, with total air supremacy, and within range of 3,000 pieces of artillery. This was the last large paratrooper drop into combat in history. Smaller operations have been carried out, with mixed success. And by the way, the tale that Russian paratroopers jumped without chutes in the winter (to land in the snow) is based on the rare practice of having espionage agents jump from very low-flying and slow aircraft (to land in the snow). It’s amazing how these tall tales change as they get passed around. Jumping without a chute is never practical.

Soviet Airborne Chronology

1933, 18 August: Soviet demonstration, Moscow; 46 paratroops jumped from two large bombers, and also dropped a small combat tank by parachute.

1935, 1 March: During Soviet airborne maneuvers at Kiev, two battalions of infantry were dropped; three 18-passenger gliders were also landed on these maneuvers. Gliders had been towed 1,170 miles—in triple-tow. All pilots involved were women.

1936, September-October: Soviet mass drop of 1,200 paratroops at Minsk, while 5,200 paratroops jumped in maneuvers at Moscow.

1940, 29-30 June: In the first combat use of Soviet airborne forces in an air assault, two airborne brigades parachuted from TB-3 bombers into Rumanian Bessarabia and captured the cities of Bolgrad, Kagul, and Izmail.

1941, July-October: Soviet parachute raids on a small scale near Kiev, in the area near the Black Sea, and on the northwestern edge of the Caucasus.

1942, 3 January-6 March: Airborne troops of the Soviet IV Airborne Corps, totaling approximately 14,000 men, were dropped or airlanded into the rear area of the German forces attacking Moscow in the vicinity of Vyaz’ma, 130 SW of Mosc

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