Soviet special forces: from creation to our time
The state of the USSR appeared in 1923, although its creation was officially announced as early as the end of December 1922. It replaced the Soviet Russia that existed during the revolution and became a new project of V. Lenin as a temporary peaceful state.
All pre-war activities of intelligence agencies and state security in the Secular Union is rather inter-war, because it was developed just between two global cataclysms: the First World War, which on the territory of Russia developed into the Civil War, and the Second World War, which in the USSR was called the Great Patriotic War.
Almost immediately, the creation of special-purpose military units began in the country. In 30, this process reached its peak: powerful airborne troops and professional sabotage units were created in the Soviet Army. But it is necessary to say that the process of the formation of the Soviet special forces took place in difficult conditions. His units were often disbanded - not only because they were ineffective, but very often at the whim of the command. Thus, before the start of the Second World War, the Soviet special forces were not in the best of their times - formerly disbanded units had to be recreated, while losing a large amount of material and human resources. Moreover, after the end of the war, most of these special forces were again dissolved. That is why the process of creating modern special units, which began in the second half of the last century, had to start almost from scratch.
Before we talk about the special forces of the Soviet intelligence service, it is necessary to debunk the myth of the special forces that has developed through the media. So, at the word of special forces, almost every person imagines a group of pumped up guys with an exotic coloring on their face in camouflage uniform. But this is not a sign of it.
Special Forces of the Main Intelligence Directorate are units of the regular army that have undergone special training for conducting reconnaissance and sabotage operations in the enemy rear.
Officially story GRU special forces begin in 1951, when the first sabotage and reconnaissance units appeared in the Soviet army. But in fact, the process of formation began much earlier, at the beginning of the emergence of Soviet power. Therefore, the predecessors of the special forces should also include such units as the partisan detachments of the Red Army that acted on enemy territory during the Civil War, the special formation of the Western Front during the Soviet-Polish war (an illegal military organization), insurgent groups that carried out reconnaissance in Eastern Europe in 1920's, the partisan special detachments that were created in 1930's in case of the outbreak of hostilities on Soviet territory, special formations in the Spanish Republican mission in 1936-1938 years (they were created on the initiative of Soviet advisors), as well as intelligence, sabotage and guerrilla units that operated during the Second World War.
The partisan detachments of the Red Army were, in essence, a prototype of the modern special forces. Note that such formations were both red and white, but they were significantly different from each other. So, if whites used mostly regular units that made raids on the flanks or the near rear of the RCA, the Reds mainly used those partisans who were already in the rear of the enemy. These groups of partisans submitted to a special unit created as part of Operod.
To accomplish the tasks the guerrillas supplied weapons, explosives, ammunition, experienced personnel and money. It should also be noted that by special decree of V. Lenin a special school of demolition men was created. Its leader was A. Kovrigin, who very quickly established the effective work of the school.
Partisans were specially selected for training in the school of bombers. In the course of training, special, military and political training was distinguished. The theory was taught at the school created in the Operod building, and for practice they went out of town. For practical exercises, students could use pistols, rifles, special equipment, field guns.
The work of this intelligence department was kept under control by V. Lenin himself.
The losses that the enemy suffered as a result of the activities of the partisan detachments were enormous.
Before the beginning of 1920, Poland became the strongest opponent of the Soviet Union. The Polish army occupied most of the Belarusian territory until that time. To conduct sabotage in the rear of the enemy at the end of 1919, an illegal military organization was formed, initiated by Joseph Unshhtit (recall, he was in charge of reconnaissance).
We also note that the role of this person in the activities of the Soviet special services is virtually unknown to anyone. He was eclipsed by Dzerzhinsky, whose deputy was Unshhtit at one time. Despite this, it was he who was to lead Poland in the event of the victory of the Soviet Army. And it was he who, until 1930, oversaw the activities of Soviet intelligence abroad, and also led the illegal administration of the Comintern.
The creation of an illegal military organization was the result of agreements reached between the command of the Western Front and the Belarusian Socialist Revolutionaries. In December 1919, a meeting was held in Smolensk, during which the parties signed an agreement on joint action against Poland. At that time, the Belarusian revolutionary socialist party had about 20 thousands of members. In addition, the party held under the control of the trade unions employees of the telegraph, railway workers and teachers. There were guerrilla groups. The Communist Party on the Belarusian territory had only 2 thousand people, and most of them were not indigenous. However, in fairness it should be noted that already in 1920, another pro-Soviet organization was formed in Belarus, which was called the Belarusian Communist Organization.
The unification of all these forces made it possible in a short time to form the People’s Military Self-Defense, which in essence was a rebel army operating in the enemy’s rear. Later, it was she who became the basis for the creation of an Illegal Military Organization.
The main purpose of the organization was to conduct terrorist acts, sabotage in the rear of the Polish army. But the organization itself and its activities were so secret that the front commander did not even know about it. HBO served several divisions of the Western Front - 8, 56, and 17. 4 of the HBO member was sent to each of them, each of which had one assistant and 20 couriers.
At the end of its activities within the organization were 10 thousands of partisans.
Since the spring of 1920, graduates of the Kraskows have acted as leaders of the partisan detachments. The detachments were tasked to direct their activities to damage the telegraph and telephone communications, railways and train derailments, the explosions of bridges, roads and warehouses. In addition, they were supposed to engage in intelligence work.
The NVO leaders were the same people who controlled the intelligence of the front - B. Bortnovsky, A. Stashevsky, S. Firin. The responsible head of the organization was A. Stashevsky, who three years later under the surname Stepanov organized a similar structure on the German territory, in which there were about 300 partisan groups.
In general, the activities of the Illegal Military Organization were so effective that even after the end of the Soviet-Polish war, it did not cease to exist, but became the basis for the creation of active intelligence.
After the conclusion of a peace treaty with Poland in 1921, the Intelligence Agency began organizing and redeploying troops of specially trained soldiers to Western Ukraine and Western Belarus to resist the Polish authorities. All this was undertaken to ensure that in these territories a nationwide partisan movement broke out, which would later lead to the reunification of these lands with the USSR. Such activity was called "active intelligence". And, just like the NVO, its activities were contained in the strictest secrecy.
In Belarus, the partisan, and more precisely, subversive movement emerged in the summer of 1921. In the 1922-1923 year alone, two such detachments carried out a number of operations, among which the destruction of the police station in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha district, the seizure and burning of the Kind Tree and Struga estates, the destruction of the three landed estates, the burning of the palace of Prince Drutsk-Lyubetsky, the undermining of two locomotives, the railway bridge and the railway line on the Lida-Vilna line.
In 1924, the guerrilla units conducted more than 80 operations, among which the most famous is the operation in the city of Stolbtsy. During its conduct, more than 50 guerrillas defeated the garrison, elders, railway station, police station and police department, and also seized the prison and liberated S. Skulsky (leader of the military organization of the Communist Party of Poland) and P. Korchik (leader of the Communist Party of Western Belarus).
In the activity of "active intelligence" there were mistakes. So, in November 1924, the 25 partisans made an attempt to seize the train on the Brest-Baranavichy line, killing one policeman. Behind them was sent a chase of 2 thousands of people. As a result, 16 guerrillas were arrested, 4 was shot, and 4 was sentenced to life imprisonment.
As a result of the activity of partisan detachments, the situation on the Polish border has become very tense. However, despite all the successful operations, their activities in the 1925 year were curtailed, and the troops themselves were disbanded.
After the disbanding of the partisan detachments, the Intelligence Directorate did not abandon the idea of having specially trained saboteurs who could act behind enemy lines in the event of war. The Soviet command thought about this as early as the end of the 1920s. Therefore, it is not surprising that in the 1928-1929 years in the western military districts, preparations began for a guerrilla war in the event of an attack on the Soviet Union. The same commanders who acted in active reconnaissance were involved in it.
On the territory of Belarus, 6 units were trained for 500 people in each. In addition, special sabotage groups were trained at the railway junctions. On the Ukrainian territory - at least 3 thousands of partisan specialists and commanders prepared. Here there were large stocks of weapons and ammunition. In Kharkov, a special school for the preparation of partisans was created, in Kiev - two schools, in Odessa - special courses.
Partisan detachments took part both in combined arms exercises and in special ones. Thus, for the 1933 year, everything was ready for a surprise operation in the event of an attack on the USSR and to paralyze all communications of the western regions of Ukraine, Belarus and Bessarabia.
But, despite such preparations, in the 1938-1939 years, all partisan detachments were disbanded. To a large extent, the reason for this was the new military doctrine, which stipulated that all military operations in the event of war would be conducted on enemy territory. Great damage to the defenses caused the repression of former partisans.
When the war broke out in Spain in 1936, only the USSR came to the aid of the rebels. In the same year, the first volunteers arrived in the country, and after them the Soviet advisers, who came to Spain to help the IRA in the fight against the fascists. At the end of 1936, the first special-purpose squad was created in the country, instructed by experienced demolition man I. Starinov. The Spanish government was skeptical about the possibility of guerrilla warfare. Therefore, as a part of the detachment, at first there were only five elderly Spaniards unsuitable for service in the army. But soon 12 fighters were sent to the squadron, this time young and experienced. In the suburbs of Valencia, a detachment was allocated for the detachment, where a school was organized to train the fighters.
The squad carried out the first operation in December 1936 of the year, having blown up the communication lines and the railway bridge in the Teruel region. After several more successful operations, the size of the squad increased to 100 people. Soon he was sent to the southern front.
The most successful operation of the partisan detachment was the destruction of a train in 1937, in which the headquarters of the Italian Air Division was located. The train was derailed from a 15-meter height using a powerful mine. After this operation, the detachment was renamed the special forces battalion.
Later, other equally successful sabotage attacks were carried out, for example, undermining an echelon of ammunition that caught a mine and exploded in a tunnel. Such a successful activity very soon turned the battalion into a brigade, and then, in the 1938 year, into the 14 th partisan corps, which numbered more than 5 thousand people. In the corps there was a special school in which the fighters were taught the intricacies of exploration, sniper, mining. Since the corps fighters had to act in extreme conditions, they were given a double ration and the same salary.
It should be noted that for all the time of its activities the corps has lost just 14 people.
When the Republicans were defeated, part of the corps fighters seized the vessel and crossed over first to Algeria, and then to the Soviet Union, another part crossed the Franco-Spanish border and was interned. When the French authorities decided to give them to the Phalangists, they all fled to the mountains.
With the beginning of the Second World War, the partisan and reconnaissance and sabotage units became relevant again. So, in June-August 1941 alone, more than 180 sabotage groups were abandoned on the territory of the enemy. The activity of such units was very successful, as evidenced, for example, by the raid of the sabotage group of I.Shirinkin, which in September-November 1941 passed more than 700 kilometers through the territories of Vitebsk, Smolensk, Novgorod and Pskov regions, conducting reconnaissance and sabotage. For the successful implementation of the tasks assigned, the commander and commissioner were awarded the Order of Lenin.
In the same year, the 1941 military unit was created on the Western Front to carry out sabotage activities. During the battle for Moscow, N.Galochkina, Z.Kosmodemyanskaya, and P.Kiryanova were thrown into the rear of the enemy. In general, until the end of the year 9903 threw a sabotage group into the enemy rear, which included about 71 people.
The activity of the partisan detachments was not entirely successful. So, for example, from the 231 squad with a total number of 12 thousands of people abandoned on Belarusian territory in 1941, until the end of the year, only the 43 squad with 2 thousands of fighters remained. The situation was even worse in Ukraine. In December, 1941 of the year, 35 thousands of partisans were transferred there, of which only 1942 thousands remained by the summer of 4. The result of this state of affairs was the massive repression of the end of 30-s, when the best personnel and partisan bases were destroyed.
In 1942, the situation improved slightly. After the reorganization of the Intelligence Agency, a reconnaissance and sabotage division appeared in the GRU. In the same year, on each front, special battalions of mine-men were organized, which carried out sabotage on important communication routes and objects.
In 1943, the next reorganization of intelligence agencies was carried out. As a result, the management of sabotage activities was transferred to the General Staff Intelligence Directorate. This form of leadership remained until the end of the war.
In the post-war period, the main attention of Soviet intelligence was directed to identifying the possible preparation of the enemy for a nuclear war. Moreover, it was necessary to prevent even the slightest possibility of using nuclear weapons, as well as to prevent work in the enemy's rear.
To this end, in 1951, the first sabotage and reconnaissance units were created as part of the armed forces of the Soviet Union. In the shortest possible time, special purpose 40 companies were created, the number of each of which was 120 people.
From the regular units formed temporary reconnaissance special forces. The special forces were armed with weapons such as machine guns, pistols, grenade launchers, anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, grenades, knives, parachutes, containers for dropping radio stations, as well as airborne backpacks.
At the beginning of 1950, the Ministry of Defense G.Zhukov made a proposal to create a special purpose corps, but met with a decisive refusal of the leadership of the state. After that, the marshal was removed from his post.
However, separate sabotage detachments were merged first into battalions, and later into brigades. This is how the GRU brigades appeared.
In 1957, separate special battalions were created, and in 1962, special purpose brigades were created.
In total, during the heyday of the USSR, 13 brigades operated on its territory naval and army special forces. Its total number was approximately 15-20 thousand people.
With the beginning of the Afghan war, a new stage began for the GRU special forces, which became a serious test of strength. The "Muslim battalion", which later stormed the palace of Amin, was composed mainly of representatives of Eastern nationalities - Uzbeks, Tajiks, who knew the local language well. The Slavs were present only in the crews ZSU-23-4 "Shilka".
It is worth noting that this battalion was not the only one. At the end of December, the 1 th Special Forces detachment, the total number of which was 539, was introduced into the territory of Afghanistan. And in January, 1980, the head of the GRU, Ivashutin, announced the need to create two more detachments for 677 each.
In March, the 1985 of the year, with the aggravation of the situation in Afghanistan, it was decided to introduce additional special forces units into Afghan territory, on the basis of which two brigades of 4 battalions of 3 thousands would be formed each.
The activities of special forces alternated victories and defeats. For example, in 1986, special forces captured 14 tons of opium, which was shipped from Pakistan, for which local drug traffickers sentenced the commander of the Gerasimov brigade to death. In October, 1987, one of the groups, performing an operation to intercept weapons, was surrounded and suffered heavy losses, then 14 people from 26 died.
Another type of GRU special forces units were combat swimmers. Their appearance was the result of the successful activities of Italian underwater reconnaissance saboteurs during the Second World War.
Before 1952, such units appeared in almost all NATO member countries; in the USSR, the need to create a special detachment of swimmers began to be thought out only in 1956, after England in the survey of the Soviet cruiser Ordzhonikidze killed L. Krebs.
Nevertheless, consideration of the need to create such a detachment was delayed. Only in 1967, a decree was signed on the creation of a “Training Unit for Light Divers”. During the exercise, combat swimmers not only conducted reconnaissance of the coastal water area, but also came ashore and undermined the communications and warehouses of the conditional enemy. The results so impressed the officers that this squad became the first unit to combat underwater sabotage means and forces.
Combat swimmers almost never left without work. In 1967-1991, they worked in Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Cuba, Korea, Nicaragua.
For military operations often used marine animals. The first, of course, were the Americans, who during the war in Vietnam with the help of dolphins killed more than 50 swimmers-saboteurs. In the USSR, the first special unit for working with animals appeared in the 1967 year in Sevastopol. The experiments involved 70 dolphins, who were taught to detect underwater and surface objects, watch them and give signals in the case of approaching outsiders.
The animals were also used as live torpedoes, which targeted submarines, aircraft carriers and destroyers. Dolphins were at sea with mines attached to them for weeks, and when the enemy approached, they attacked him.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the situation changed for the worse. There was no money for the maintenance of the dolphinarium, so the management was engaged in commerce. As a result, only the 6 trained dolphins remained.
Today, there are only special-purpose 4 brigades in Russia, and 2 of them were transferred to Airborne Forces in 1994 year.
Spetsnaz military intelligence has always stood guard over the interests of the state. Special Forces officers were always the first to join the battle and the last to leave it. Therefore, modern fighters have something to be proud of and what to strive for.
Special Forces. Direction "A"
Direction "A" - so the authorities of the Soviet military intelligence in the twenties of the last century called the organization of intelligence and sabotage activities in the territory of a possible enemy. In fact, in 1919, the GRU command made prototypes of the Fourth Directorate special forces (reconnaissance and sabotage behind enemy lines) of the NKVD-NKGB of the USSR (leader Pavel Sudoplatov) who operated during the Great Patriotic War; divisions of special forces (formed in the mid-fifties of the last century) and special forces of the KGB "Vympel". The GRU made a base and trained cadres for the upcoming special units of the NKVD and the First Directorate (foreign intelligence) of the KGB. True, this fact is diligently silent. The film will first be told about stories the birth of the GRU special forces, on its military affairs in the twenties and forties of the last century.
Direction "A" - so the authorities of the Soviet military intelligence in the twenties of the last century called the organization of intelligence and sabotage activities in the territory of a possible enemy. In fact, in 1919, the GRU command made prototypes of the Fourth Directorate special forces (reconnaissance and sabotage behind enemy lines) of the NKVD-NKGB of the USSR (leader Pavel Sudoplatov) who operated during the Great Patriotic War; divisions of special forces (formed in the mid-fifties of the last century) and special forces of the KGB "Vympel". The GRU made a base and trained cadres for the upcoming special units of the NKVD and the First Directorate (foreign intelligence) of the KGB. True, this fact is diligently silent. The film will first be told about stories the birth of the GRU special forces, on its military affairs in the twenties and forties of the last century.
Information