The Great Patriotic War
Military Life
(1941-1945)

 

Military Life During the Great Patriotic War

This section will feature information and statistics describing what life was like for the average Red Army soldier or sailor.  To his end many field manuals, information documents, and other artifacts from the war will be showcased here.

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Great Patriotic War

   

  

Soviet Military Statistics

The Great Patriotic war saw the Red Army grow from a small self defense force into the largest army on Earth.

After the German invasion all able bodied men who were not employed in critical defense industries found themselves eligible for conscription.  Many young men and women volunteered for service.  The war would prove difficult.  At first units were forbidden to surrender or even withdraw to regroup.  This led to tremendous loss of life. Despite this, there were many heroic defensive actions.

By 1943 new tactics that emphasized large envelopments were used.  Marshal Zhukov executed many such attacks.  This change in doctrine enabled the Red Army to capture large numbers of German forces with fewer losses.  Still, the soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the Red Army would sustain casualties that no other army could endure before victory would be theirs.

Year

Strength of Armed Forces

1941

_,___,___

1942

_,___,___

1943

_,___,___
1944 _,___,___

1945

_,___,___

 

 

An NKVD Identification Document

Here we have an identification document for a woman soldier.  She was issued it in 1941.  To the right you can see a faint impression of the Soviet state seal, and at the bottom you can make out the numbers 1941g.

The picture below shows more details about the identification book, including a photograph of the recipient.

 

 

    

Red Army Document for a Soldier Killed in Action

Here we have a document that states that Regimental Commander Major Mikhail Moissevitch Svinariov was killed in action.  It is dated 1942.  Sadly notices like these would become all too common.

 

  

 

Red Army Soldier-Chemist Manual (1941)

This 238 page manual discusses many aspects of chemical warfare and the tasks of the chemical troops.  It begins by discussing the characteristics and types of chemical weapons.  The book then goes into the various pieces of chemical protective equipment then in use by the Soviet Union.  Later chapters discuss decontamination, and the use of smoke (by aircraft, smoke pots, and artillery).  The final chapters discuss the battlefield aspects of chemical warfare - how to deploy smoke and chemicals on a large scale.

The cover is shown in the photo at right.  Below you can see instructions on how to use the TD-2 Decontamination Kit issued to individual soldiers as a defense against nerve and blister agents.

The markings inside the front cover indicate that the book was approved for continued use in 1948, 1953, and 1961.

 

 

 

The Propaganda War

The war against the forces of Nazi Germany was not fought only with bullets, bayonets, and shells.  It was just as important to break the will of the German solider.  The propaganda flyer below was one way of doing this.  The flyer tells the Germans of failed Nazi offensives and the futility of continuing to fight.  It also encourages them to surrender by using this leaflet as a safe pass that will allow them to reach the safety of Russian lines unharmed.

 

Military Life
of 1938 to 1940

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Great Patriotic War

Military Life
from 1946 to 1959