Russian WW2 interesting stats and facts

The Order of Victory




The Order of Victory was established by a Decree of the Presidium of the (Former) USSR Supreme Soviet on November 8, 1943. The Order of Vicory is the highest military order and is one of the rarest Orders in the world today having been awarded only 19 times during WWII and only once since then. The Order of Victory is made of silver (19 grams) and gold (2 grams) on a platinum frame (47 grams) and encrusted with diamonds (16 carats) and rubies (25 carats). This order was given to top-ranking commanders of the Red Army for a successful operation within the framework of one or several fronts resulting in a radical change of the situation in favour of the Soviet Armed Forces. It was also awarded to a select few commanders of the Alied forces.

The order was originally proposed by Colonel N. S. Neyelov, who served in the headquarters of the Rear of the Soviet Army in July 1943. Initially to be called the Order for Faithfulness to the Homeland but in October this was changed to Victory. The badge's principle designer was Kuznetsov and went through 15 drafts until a final design was selected by Stalin on 25 October. The badge is a 72mm five-pointed ruby star on a platinum frame. The star being bordered by 16 carats of diamonds. In the centre is a blue enamel circle with portrayals of the wall of the Kremlin, the Mausoleum of Lenin and the Spasskaya tower. Above this is the inscription "USSR" in white enamel and the word "Victory" below. It is to be worn on the left side of the tunic 12 -14 cm above the belt. In 1945 it had an estimated value of £3,750.

http://www.russian-medals.net/chkord3.htm





The recipiants;


Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov #1, 10 1944


Alexander M. Vasilievsky #2, 10 April 1944


Joseph (Iosif) Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili Stalin #3, 28 July 1944 ( Surprise...?)


Konstantin Konstaninovich Rokossovlky, 19 March 1945


Ivan Stepanovich Konev, 19 March 1945


Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov, 2nd award 30 March 1945


Alexander M. Vasilievsky, 2nd award 19 April 1945


Rodion Yakavlevich Malinovsky, 26 April 1945


Fyodor Ivanovich Tolbukhin, 26 April 1945


Leonid A. Govorov, 31 May1945


Alexei Innokentyevich Antonov, 4 June 1945


Semyon Konstaninovich Timoshenko, 4 June 1945


Joseph (Iosif) Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili Stalin, 2nd award 26 June 1945 ( Heh-heh...)


Kirill Afanasyevich Meretskov, 8 September 1945


Dwight David Eisenhower, 5 June 1945 (General of the Army)


Bernard Law Montgomery, 5 June 1945 (British Field Marshal)


Mikai Michael Hohenzollern, 6 July 1945 (King Michael I of Romania)


Michal Rolja-Zymersky, 9 August 1945 (Marshal of Poland)


Josip Broz Tito, 9 September 1945 (Marshal of Yugoslavia)


Leonid Iilich Brezhnev, 20 February 1978 (Rescinded 21 September 1989 because "it was noncorresponding to the statute of the Order".

http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/riley/787/Soviet/Orders/Victory/Victory.html

[ 23. May 2003, 06:29 AM: Message edited by: Kai-Petri ]

 

*BUMP*

If you didn´t see The Order of Victory check it above...

 

WAR MEMORIALS OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR ACROSS EUROPE

http://www.vor.ru/55/Monument/Mon_eng.html

 

Order concerning the purveyance of front-line Red Army servicemen with vodka in the quantity of 100g per day
N 0320 25th of August 1941


According to the State Committee of Defense Decree of the 22nd of August 1941 (¹ 562 cc), I hereby order that:
1. Since the 1st of September 1941 the front-line servicemen and commanders of the Field Forces should receive 100 g of 40-degree vodka each per day.


The Red Airforce airmen, that fulfil combat duties, and the technical personnel, that maintains the field airstrips of the Field Forces, should receive vodka just as the combat front-line troops do.


2. The Military Councils of the Fronts and Armies should take the measures to:

a. Organize the vodka distribution exclusively for the contingents that are defined by the State Committee of Defense Decree and most strictly supervise the exact observance of it.
b. Ensure the timely delivery of vodka on the frontline of the Field Force and organize a reliable guarding service of vodka in the field conditions.
c. At the expense of the purveyance administration of the units and formations, provide the selection of special personnel that should be held responsible for the correct distribution of vodka portions, accounting of the vodka expenditure and conduct the balance sheets.
d. Order the intendants of the Fronts to deliver once in every ten days to the Main Intendant Board the information concerning the remains of vodka and to compose applications for the necessary quantity of vodka every month before the 25th. As a basis for such application the exact number of front-line troops should be taken into account and be ensured by the Military Councils of the Fronts and Armies.


1. The necessary quantity of vodka for the month of September should be established by the Chief Intendant of the Red Army without submissions of applications from the Fronts and Armies.
The order should be made valid via telegraph.




Deputy of People's Commissar of Defense Lieutenant General of Intendance Service Khruljev.
State Committee of Defense Decree
N GOKO-1227 of the 11th of May 1942
Moscow, Kremlin
Concerning the purveyance of Field Force of the Red Army with vodka


1. Since the 15th of May 1942 the mass everyday distribution of vodka among the personnel of the Field Force should be abolished.


2. The existing distribution of vodka should be maintained only among the front-line troops that have exhibited successful conduct of operations against the German invaders; moreover, the portion of vodka from now on should be increased to the 200 g to each serviceman per day.
To achieve this, every month vodka should be delivered to the disposal of the Front Commands in the quantity of 20% of total strength of Front or Army depolyed on the front-line.


3. The remaining personnel of the front-line troops should receive vodka in the quantity of 100 g to each serviceman exclusively on the following revolutionary and social holidays: Great October Socialist Revolution anniversary (7th and 8th of November), the Constitution Day (5th of December), New Year Day (1st of January), Red Army Day (23rd of February), International Labor Days (1st and 2nd of May), All-union Athlete's Day (19th of July), All-union Aviation Day (16th of August) and International Youth Day (6th of September), also on the day of Unit Holiday (unit's formation date).


4. State Committee of Defense Decree N 562 cc of the 22nd of August 1941 should be abrogated.


State Committee of Defense Chairman I. Stalin
Order concerning the rules of vodka mainteinance and distribuition among Field Force troops
N 0470 of the 12th of June 1942


Despite the repeated directions and explicit demands concerning the distribution of vodka among the Field Force troops strictly and purposefully, according to the established portions, up to this time the cases of unlawful vodka distribution take place.
Thus vodka is given to staff personnel, commanders and units that do not have any rights to claim it. Some commanders of units and formations, as well as staff officers, exploiting their ranks and positions, receive vodka from the warehouses, ignoring the orders and established rules.
The control of the vodka expenditure is performed badly by the Military Councils of the Fronts and Armies; accounting of vodka quantities in the units and warehouses is in the unsatisfactory condition.


According to the State Committee of Defense Decree of the 6th of June of this year ¹ GOKO-1889c, I hereby order:
1. The distribution of vodka in the quantity of 100g to each serviceman per day should be performed only in relation to the personnel of the frontline units that conduct offensive operations.


2. The remaining personnel of the front-line troops should receive vodka in the quantity of 100 g to each serviceman exclusively on the following revolutionary and social holidays: Great October Socialist Revolution anniversary (7th and 8th of November), the Constitution Day (5th of December), New Year Day (1st of January), Red Army Day (23rd of February), International Labor Days (1st and 2nd of May), All-union Athlete's Day (19th of July), All-union Aviation Day (16th of August) and International Youth Day (6th of September), also on the day of Unit Holiday (unit's formation date).


3. The distribution of vodka among the personnel of Armies and other formations should be co-ordinated with the Chief Purveyance Officer of the Red Army according to the directions of General Staff and the applications of Military Councils of Fronts and Armies.


4. For the maintenance of vodka special warehouses should be created within Front and Army food stores. The manager of the warehouse and one storekeeper should be chosen out of the specially selected honest, reliable personnel, able to secure total security and safety of the vodka stocks.
The warehouses should be sealed up after the distribution procedures, and guards should be kept at the doors, chosen out of the reliable soldiers.


5. The Chiefs of Purveyance boards of the Fronts and Chiefs of Purveyance departments of the Armies should register all available vodka stocks as of 15th of June and transfer them for the maintenance to the Front and Army warehouses.


6. The registration of the vodka distribution should be performed by the Chief of Red Army's Main Board of Purveyance involving the Chiefs of boards and departments of the Purveyance of the Fronts and Armies according to the directions of the Chief Purveyance Officer of the Red Army concerning the terms of vodka distribution and numerical composition of units liable to it.


7. Military Councils of the Fronts and Armies should be held responsible for the correct maintenance, expenditure and accounting of vodka, vodka bottles and packing.


8. This order should be made valid via telegraph.


9. State Committee of Defense Order N 0373 of 1942 should be abolished.


Deputy of People's Commissar of Defense Lieutenant General of Intendance Service Khruljev.
Order concerning distribution of vodka among the troops of Red Army Field Force since 25th of November 1942
N 0883 13th of November 1942


1. In accordance with the State Committee of Defense Decree of the 12th of November 1942 N 2507c, starting from the 25th of November this year vodka should be delivered to the trooops as follows:


a. 100 g to each serviceman per day should be given to the units, whose troops are directly involved into combat actions and are deployed on the frontline in trenches; to the units on reconnaissance missions; also to artillery and mortar units attached to infantry and deployed on the fire positions; aircraft crews after they fulfil combat missions;


b. 50 g to each serviceman per day should be given to: regimental and divisional reserves; technical service units and formations that work on the front-line; units that fulfil important duties in special circumstances (erection and reconstruction of bridges, highways and other) and in special conditions under enemy fire; wounded personnel deployed within field sanitation service, according to the doctors' directions.


1. The remaining personnel of Red Army Field Force should be given 100 g of vodka to each serviceman per day on the occasion of revolutionary and social holidays mwentioned in the Sate Committee of Defense Decree N 1889 of the 6th of June 1942.


2. Concerning the Transcaucasus Front's troops, instead of 100 g of vodka 200 g of strong wine should be given (or 300 g of table wine); instead of 50 g of vodka 100 g of strong wine or 150 g of table wine should be given.


3. The Military Councils of the Fronts and Armies should establish monthly limits of vodka distribution to the Armies by isssuing Army orders and securing the expenditure within the limit, established for every month separately.


4. Upon the expenditure of monthly limit, the Fronts should report to the Red Army's Main Board of Purveyance in order to receive the next month's limit. In case the Fronts do not submit the reports of vodka expenditure before the 10th day of the coming month to the Chief of Red Army's Main Board of Purveyance, the Fronts that have not submitted the reports will receive no vodka portions.


5. The limits of vodka consumption should be established for each Front for the duration of 25th of November-31st of December 1942 according to the Appendix.


6. The Chief of Red Army's Main Board of Purveyance - Brigade Engineer com. Pavlov and Chief of Red Army's Military Communications-Major General com. Kovaljev-should attend to the fact that vodka portions are delivered to the troops of South-Western, Don and Stalingrad Fronts before the 16th of November, and to the remaining Fronts before the 20th of November, according to the limits.


7. The Chief of Red Army's Main Board of Purveyance should establish permanent control of the vodka expenditure in strict accordance with the current Order.


8. The military Councils of the Fronts and Armies should organize the return of used packing and bottles from vodka to the vodka factories and refineries People's Commissariat of Food Industry, attached to the Fronts.
Units that have not returned the packings should receive no vodka portions.


9. This order should be made valid via telegraph.


Deputy of People's Commissar of Defense Lieutenant General of Intendance Service Khruljev.
Appendix
To the People's Commissariat of Defense Order N 0883


Limits of vodka expenditure for the troops of Red Army's Field Force from 25th of November to 31st of December 1942
Fronts and Separate Armies Limits of vodka expenditure (in litres)
Karelian Front 364 000
7th Army 99000
Leningrad Front 533 000
Volkhov Front 407 000
North-Western Front 394 000
Kalinin Front 690 000
Western Front 980 000
Brjansk Front 414 000
Voronezh Front 381 000
South-Western Front 478 000
Don Front 544 000
Stalingrad Front 407 000
Total: 5 691 000
Transcaucasus Frtont 1 200 000 (wine)
Deputy of People's Commissar of Defense Khruljev.
Order concerning the establishment of vodka portions and distribution procedure among the technical personnel of Airforce units of the Red Amy's Field Force
N 0311 of the 13th of January 1943.
In addition to the People's Commissar of Defense Decree N 0883 of the 1942 concerning the procedure of vodka distribution among Red Army's Field Force personnel, I henceforth order that:
1. 1. In the Airforce units of Red Army's Field Force and in the Airforce units deployed within military districts, but with the People's Commissariat of Defense Orders put on the same foot as the former, 50 g of vodka should be given to each serviceman, including technical personnel, only on the days when operational sorties are flown by the aircraft they directly operate and maintain on the airfields.
2. The order of vodka distribution should be established according to the personal lists, compiled by the commanders of airforce units, approved by an air-division commander.
The order should be made valid via telegraph.
Deputy of People's Commissar of Defense Colonel General of Intendance Service Khruljev.

http://www.1jma.dk/articles/1jmaarticlesvodka.htm

 

Greetings to Skorzerny!

 

I loved the Order of Victory post, Kai! Incredibly impressive. I thought that the Germans were the only ones with sumptous diamond awards!

 

Kai, can you see if marshal Zhúkov is wearing both of them in this picture? I think so...

 

Yes, Friedrich,

I think they are on the left breast pocket´s place one over the other.



PS. I think it must have sounded like a tank starting its engine when Zhukov got up from a chair with all these medals on him...

 

Red Army tanks

This is one calculation by Pekka Kantakoski, a Finnish expert on "Red tanks":

Between 1941-1945 Russians built 99 395 tanks of various models.

Lend Lease : 12 482 tanks

Destroyed Russian tanks during the WW2:

About 106 000, of which some 20-30% could be repaired and used again.

Some 212 000 Russian soldiers died with their tanks ( 2 per tank crew )

In the front line as WW2 ended: 20 000 tanks

 

Russian general officers
1940-1945


http://houterman.htmlplanet.com/persons_russian.html

 

Amid all of the secrecy, something happened which threatened Operation Blau. Hitler instructed his field commanders to give oral orders only, they were to put nothing of Operation Blau in writing. Hitler did not want anything that could be discovered and read by the Russians. On June 17th, chief of the Sixth Army's XL Panzer Corps, Lieut. General Georg Stumme gave a briefing to his division commanders. Just as Hitler had ordered, Stumme gave oral instructions only. One of the commanders, however, urged Stumme to write down a few points. Stumme yielded and gave half of page of points regarding the first few days of the operation and he sent a typed copy to each division headquarters. On June 19th, operations chief of the 23rd Panzer Division, Major Joachim Reichel flew in an observation plane to explore the area northeast of Kharkov and he carried Stumme's typed notes with him. The plane flew behind enemy lines and was shot down by the Russians. The plane wreckage was found by a German patrol on the following day and nearby two graves were found. The corpses in the graves were in terrible condition and could not be identified, but they were presumed to be Reichel and the pilot. ( One source claims there were two graves but only one body ) The horrified Germans also discovered something else - the papers were gone. Panic set in and the news soon reached Hitler, who was infuriated. Operation Blau was compromised due to the disobedience of his orders. Hitler now had serious questions to consider - Did the Russians find the papers? What did they do with them? Were they taken to Stalin? Did Stalin now know where Hitler was going to attack? Hitler did not want to cancel the operation, he decided to take his chances and go through with it, but he was not going to let Stumme get away with this dangerous gaffe. Stumme and his chief of staff were court-martialed and found guilty of excessive disclosure of orders. Their punishment was imprisonment but Hermann Goering, who was the presiding officer, intervened on their behalf and convinced Hitler to give clemency. As a result, both Stumme and his chief of staff were assigned to North Africa under Erwin Rommel. Stumme would later meet his end on the battlefield at El Alamein.

The fate of the papers that were on Reichel's plane led to a very ironic twist. They were indeed found by the Russians and they ended up on Stalin's desk. Upon reading the German plans, Stalin came to the conclusion that they were phony plans and the Germans wanted the Russians to find them in order to throw them off the trail of the impending Moscow attack. The irony, as we have seen, is that the opposite was true. Hitler was busy throwing Stalin off the trail of Operation Blau with his bogus plans to attack Moscow and Stalin thought that the Moscow attack was real and Blau was fake.

http://www.thirdreichpages.org/blau.htm

 

Operation Fredericus and 1942

The Great Battle South of Kharkov - Operation Fredericus
17th May 1942

Before the Summer Campaign had taken place, 6th Army of Paulus and
1st Panzer Army of Kleist had captured the Sovjet Balakleya-Izyum
salient near Kharkov. 1250 tanks and 2026 gunswere destroyed.
The Soviets losing 239.000 men as prisoner alone and the Germans gaining
a valuable area from which to begin the new offensive. The Soviets launched
an attack towards Kharkov on the 12th May 1942, pre-empting a German
strike code-named 'Fredericus' in the same area by six days. Although the
OKH commanded to start 'Fredericus', one day earlier, as planned
(17th instead of 18th May 1942).
A counter-attack, not defence, was believed to be the best solution.
It was by the 22nd the enemy was encircled between von Kleist's and
Paulus' armies and a great victory was achieved.

After Kerch and Kharkov the German eastern army showed itself to be once
again at the peak of it superior strenght. Within three weeks 409.000 Soviet
soldiers taken prison, 3159 guns and 1508 tanks destroyed or captured.
Victory dominated the minds of the soldiers and the Wehrmacht communiques.
It certainly was amazing. But forgotten was the terrible winter and the
spectre of defeat.



http://216.198.255.120/germanpart/agsouth_part4.html

 

The pic:

http://www.bibl.u-szeged.hu/bibl/mil/ww2/who/berzarin.html


Colonel-General Nikolai Berzarin was the first Soviet commandant of Berlin.

Mr. Barzarin, one of the youngest Generals of the Soviet Army, served as a commandant of the defeated Berlin from April 28th to June 16th, 1945. ( died in a car crash, sniped? I didn´t find the "true story" ).

Berzarin, Colonel-General Nikolai E. (1904-1945):
38 : General Officer Commanding 38th Rifle Division
41 : General Officer Commanding 27th Army
41-42: General Officer Commanding 34th Army
42 : Deputy General Officer Commanding 61st Army
43 : General Officer Commanding 20th Army
43-44: General Officer Commanding 39th Army
44-45: General Officer Commanding 5th Shock Army
45 : Commandant Berlin


http://english.pravda.ru/society/2003/02/12/43288.html

 

Ukraine and WW2: the early days of Barbarossa

It should be mentioned that an attempt was made to establish a Ukrainian government. On June 30, 1941 the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) headed by Stepan Bandera took the Germans by surprise by announcing the establishment of a new independent Government of Ukraine with Yaroslav Stetsko as Prime Minister. About one week later the Germans disbanded this government and arrested the members. Bandera and Stetsko were sent to Sachsenhausen Prison in Germany where they spent the war.

The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) supported the idea of an independent Ukraine. During World War II it was split in two factions called Melnykivtsi and Banderivtsi headed by Andrey Melnyk and Stepan Bandera. They both struggled against Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia and sometimes had divergent views with each other but they were united by the idea of indpendence for Ukraine. Moscow saw the Ukrainian nationalists as a dire threat and produced much Soviet propaganda blackening them especially Bandera who was accused of crimes against Ukrainians and Jews. The Kremlin also early in the War started a campaign of promoting patriotism with Russian (not Soviet) nationalism and chauvinism which culminated in the famous toast to the Russian people by Joseph Stalin on May 24, 1945.

http://www.infoukes.com/history/ww2/page-06.html

http://ww.cym.org/archives/bandera99.asp

 

On Seelow heights:

On Chuikov´s book on the last two years to Berlin he claims that at least since 1943 he had developed a strategy through which the Germans could not get away from under the artillery barrage. Instead of making reconnaissance for 2-3 days earlier Chuikov sent his men 2-3 hours before the barrage and Germans could not retreat early enough!

In Seelow the battle tactics were commanded by Zhukov and reconnaissance was ordered a couple of days earlier to the barrage and Germans had time to make their own tactics and make a withdrawal shortly before the Soviet artillery obliterated his first line of trenches.

At least that´s how Chuikov sees things!

 

Major Soviet losses WW2 by Glantz et al

http://www.fireonthevolga.com/Red%20Army%20casualties,%201941-1945.html

 

Kai, nice link. Most of Glantz' casualty info comes from Krivosheev, who he himself (Glantz) acknowledges is to conservative with his estimates on Soviet casualty and loss numbers.

Krivosheev has been shown to be to low in several instances. For more, see Zetterling and Sokolov.

 

This doesn´t change much but as an order it cannot be forgotten either.

You remember the notorius "Commissar order" which was done in 1941. Well, anyway, in 6.5.1942 by General Warlimont´s memoirs there was an order in which " poltiruks and comissars will be saved " if it´s seen suitable i.e. to stop the enemy formation´s fighting. Thus formally the commissar order was cancelled according to Warlimont.

Warlimont himself thinks of this as the HQ had undrstood that the original order had caused often unnecessary losses and wanted to prevent these from happening again.

I can put the order´s final setting here if anyone´s interested.

 

Soviet losses approx during the first six months of operation Barbarossa:

Soviet Weapons Losses in 1941 (The First Six Months Of The War):

http://www.wargamer.com/articles/lldocefx.asp

One of the most compelling reasons for Western Allied assistance to the Soviet Union was the incredible heavy losses of weapons and equipment caused by the German invasion. The following few examples illustrate the severity of the Russian losses. The percentage of Weapons available, lost by Soviet Forces during 1941:

56% of all Small-arms and Machine guns.
69% of all Anti-Tank guns.
59% of all Field guns and Mortars.
72% of all Tanks.
34% of all Combat Aircraft.



Approximately 20,000 Tanks and 10,000 Combat Aircraft were lost by Soviet forces in this period.


The article also includes very interesting data on lend lease.

 

The "Valentine" Medium Tank in the USSR

Soviet Union received 2394 tanks from UK and 1388 from Canada. It was the most popular British tank among Soviet tankers. What concerns its reliability and durability lets refer to one example: at the beginning of Melitopol Operation (October 24, 1943) the 19th Tank Corps had 101 T-34/76 and 63 Valentine tanks. During a battles Corps lost 78 of T-34's and 17 Valentines tanks and all tanks were used with identical intensity.

http://www.battlefield.ru/library/lend/valentine.html