1943 Ranks
A reform soon followed after the victory at Stalingrad at the end of 1942. In early 1943, for senior officers of the Armed Forces of the USSR were introduced in addition new military ranks: Marshal, Marshal of Artillery, Marshal of Armored Forces, Marshal of Engineering Troops Marshal Signal Corps and the military ranks: Air Chief Marshal, Chief Marshal of Artillery, Chief Marshal of armored troops , chief Marshal of engineering troops, chief Marshal Signal Corps. The title of Marshal of the armed forces was equivalent to the rank of General of the Army. He wore a uniform on a big star type marshal, but without the coat of arms of the Soviet Union. Rank chief marshal of the branch was equivalent to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. With such a system of military ranks, the Red Army ended the war.
The reform of the Red (Soviet) Army continued in wartime. "Already in the autumn of 1942, Stalin, - said V. Sukhodeyev - consulted with the Political Bureau of the Central Committee members, with prominent military leaders about the feasibility of the introduction of the new Red Army uniforms and epaulettes." It should be noted that these problems existed before. So, given the experience of the war in Finland, headgear as "budenovka" was canceled and hats with earflaps were adopted. Much changed in the gear while the fighters.
Budyonny objected: "What does it mean? We are at the time shouted "Doloi zolotopogonnikov!" ["Down with the golden shoulder boards!"]. And now we do wear such epaulettes?". Zhukov also disagreed with epaulets. "Stalin asked," What are you wearing epaulettes? "Vasilevsky has shown epaulettes and called for the introduction of a military uniform."
Meticulously examining samples of the strap, Kalinin said: "Is Comrade Stalin You see, you and I remember the old regime, and its young people do not know, and gold epaulets on their own for it does not mean anything bad. We were with you, this form is reminiscent of the old regime, but it is, I think, like the youth and therefore can benefit in the fight against the Nazis. I think that the new form should be taken ... Not everything is old to forget to throw out, it happens, and sometimes it's the old helps to build a new one."
For some time, Stalin's office turned into an exhibition hall. "What has not been presented: the epaulettes and belt over his shoulder ... Stalin asked:" And what form has been in the imperial army? They brought a jacket with a captain's epaulets. Stalin asked: "How many years there was this form? He said: "For several decades. The only change is the number of buttons on the tunic. It was six, it was five. "What are we going to invent, if the thought of so many years, and only one button cut! Let us introduce this form, and we'll see, "- said Stalin. It introduced a new form of clothing. And in Europe, the army entered in uniform. I was told that one white immigrant, will see the entrance to Prague Soviet soldiers and officers in the TDG 2onah, he exclaimed: "So Russia is alive!".
Of course, the Soviet officer corps during the war suffered losses. IN all of the Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Armed Forces had served about 4,500 generals and admirals. In 1941-1945, Soviet generals losses totaled 440 people. In German captivity, for various reasons, were 72 general. The first Soviet general was captured June 23, 1941, he had been the commander of a tank division of General Hatskilevicha Corps - Major General tank troops Potaturchev. The Red Army during the war captured the 550 German generals, including one of Field Marshal Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst von Paulus.
Another important detail: some Soviet sources claim that not one Soviet general during the war signed a single act of surrender. But Andrei Andreyevich Vlasovand and his army didn't desert; they were captured in 1942 after being encircled by the Nazis. Vlasov was embittered by the experience — he blamed the excesses of Stalin's police state for the inefficiency of the Russian army, and soon came to fault the regime for all the disasters that had befallen the Soviet Union. When his German captors suggested that he urge Soviet troops — POWs and otherwise — to oppose Stalin, he agreed. Following the Nazi collapse in May 1945, Vlasov and his men (as well as the Cossacks) surrendered to western Allied forces in hopes of escaping Stalin's wrath. But in obedience to the Yalta agreement, US and British commanders turned most of their captives over to the Soviets. Some were shot shortly after being taken into Soviet custody, and others (including Vlasov) were executed after perfunctory trials.
By the time of assigning the rank of general, most of the senior commanders of the Red Army was 40-50 years. They had a great experience and the experience of command, have sufficient military education. The youngest commander of the front in the War was the most talented Gen. Chernyakhovsky. A General of the Army, he was 36 years old. He had to submit to the rank of marshal. But he died shortly before the end of the war.
The combat experience of Soviet generals allowed to stand to win many battles and eventually defeat a powerful enemy. This truth is enlightened by the end of the war and himself a powerful enemy. IT is reported that Goebbels, when Soviet troops approached Berlin, wrote "The General Staff gave me a book with biographies and photographs of Soviet generals and marshals. You can subtract from this book much that we missed to do in previous years. Marshals and generals on average were very young. Almost no one older than 50 years. Behind them a rich political and revolutionary activity, they Convinced Communists, very energetic people, and can be seen on their faces that they are cut from the tree of good folk. In most cases we are talking about the sons of workers, cobblers, small farmers and so on. In short, you come to the opponent is convinced that the military elite of the Soviet Union formed the class better than our own ... I told the Fuehrer of the book of the General Staff of the Soviet marshals and generals and added: I have the impression that with the selection of personnel, we can not compete. The Fuhrer completely agreed with me."
This is how even the Nazis were evaluated Stalin's generals. The experience of the War showed that commanders decide which task harder and harder and with greater success than the German generals. "The war has shown" said Stalin in 1946 "that the Red Army is a first-class army of our time, having quite modern weapons, an experienced commanding officers and high moral and fighting qualities."
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