How did USSR draft 34 million soldiers during WWII?

Hello, everyone. I recently did research on Red Army's manpower during WWII and found some staggering statistics. According to Wikipedia,

That adds up to 34,401,807 Soviets who fought in WWII.
I fully understand how many a million people is. 34 million is just beyond comprehension. That is far more than the entire population of countries like Romania and Holland. I realize the USSR had a population of 200 million at the time. But still, being able to conscript that many men and women into the military service is just unprecedented. At the time, only a handful of nations could dream of drafting barely 3.4 million men for its military. Again, 34 million is just unheard of and incomprehensible.
I have three Qs for you guys.
1. Could anyone give me insights on how this gigantic draft was possible? 2. With such inexhaustible manpower, how did the USSR produce enough uniforms and weapons?
3. How did the Red Army train such vast number of troops?

Thanks in advance for any insights.

 

I think a lot of the confusion with the figures is to do with what actually counts as being drafted. Not every one of these 34 million were fighting troops or support troops, there were a lot of 'military' posts that were essentially civilians in uniform.
Also you have to figure in losses and MIA/POW


"At its peak an estimated 12.5 million men and women fought in the Red Army"

from;
The Red Army

 

You have to remember, Russia was getting desperate. If you've ever seen Enemy At The Gates or have looked up your history its obvious a lot of commisars really didn't give a rip about their soldiers, in the book I'm reading a German soldier gives a first hand account of a lot of times where commisars would just send their men straight forward into machine guns, artillery, tank fire, etc. He even mentions a commisar who kept blowing his whistle in a wheat or corn field and a whole bunch of Russians would run out there just to save himself. They were met by flamethrower tanks and they set the whole wheat/corn field ablaze. I think with the draft it was done because Russia was getting desperate and they would take whoever they could get, I've also heard of German soldiers who shot Russian "soldiers". These "soldiers" were 10-12 year old kids, but the Germans found it hard to shoot them, but they did it because it was kill or be killed, that's how war goes. Along with that, I think if you refused the draft the NKVD probably would've taken you away and killed you. If they shot their own soldiers for retreating, I'm sure they would've done it for anyone who refused the draft. As for weapons and uniforms, you can use the AK-47 for example. The Russians are known for producing cheap weapons, although I'm not so sure how efficient Mosin Nagants are, I don't think they would be very efficient though. Before and during WWII, 14,000,000 Kar98k's were made. According to Wikipedia, from 1891 to 1965, 37,000,000 Mosin Nagants were made in Russia. I've held both rifles and I will say the Mosin Nagant is really heavy and is very cheaply made. As for the Kar98k, I don't think there is a bolt-action rifle that's better than it, they're really some of the nicest bolt-action rifles you can buy. As for training, I think most Russian soldiers had little to no training, just like the Germans towards the end of the war. Hope this answered your questions.

 

I second you watching Enemy at the Gates. You will get some idea of how troops were transported to the front with little to no equipment and training.
Russia won by throwing more bodies and equipment at the Germans than they could ever hope to produce...



A bit of shameless promotion... in my blog, I have a nice list of Russian losses in one of the posts. There's also a really nice chart (not mine) detailing Napoleon's losses in Russia...

 

Gentlemen lets not start throwing around Hollywood when speaking of history shal we? Especially when speaking of fictional Enemy at the Gates vs historical Stalingrad.

The Rusian soldiers who fought for their "motherland" did not have to be locked into box cars like blind cattle. Volunteers for the front were a many just as there had been in the United States when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

Before the war started, Russia had a boot camp of sorts (the name escapes me) in this boot camp 14 million men received at least basic training and would be called up to the front in case of war (similar to Israeal today). The German intel simply could not have picked this up so when war began, even with the horrendous losses which the Soviet Union took, the Red Army began to swell while the German counterpart did the opposite.

Glantz states total Red Army casualties at 29 million (these of course are not just KIA).

 

Just my opinion, with Stalin in control of Russia, the draft was refered to another term..... "Or else"

 

I agree wholeheartedly, that Hollywood film was far from factual and shouldn't be used as a reference point. The lack of Mosin-Nagants during The Great Patriotic War was far less pronounced than it had been during The Great War. That time there really were soldiers sent to the front instructed to gather up their fallen comrade's rifle and continue the fight.

Also, I was also under the impression that the entire male population over age 18 had had at least "basic" training. And while I don't know how true or anecdotal this is, weren't the females also required to train in "war related" occupations as well? As in communications, and production? These two things alone would make it much easier for the USSR to field a massive Red Army in a shorter period of time than others.

While America had instituted its first peace-time draft, after the original training period the men were only supposed to be "in" for a single year. This was extended, but by only a single vote as I recall.

 

before attack only first group of Red Army soldiers had weapon, second groups didn't have. They just had to pick up weapon from killed comrades.It was sure that first files died before reached german lines. it was at the begining of war when russia had lack of any weapon and lost it due to fast german attempts.

 

I heard it many times i I read about it but i don't remember the title of book.

 

You better find out then, since that was true in WW1 to a certain extent that lack of weapons is false in the 1940s.

 

By the time of Stalingrad all soldiers sent to the front had weapons.

During WW2 the penalty for desertion in Russia was the same as in Western democracies. The soldiers would face a tribunal of sorts and if found guilty would either be shot, sent to prison or some sort of penal battalion. Since troops were desperately needed for the front, the convicted would usually find themselves in a penal battalion. Of course once there, chances of survival were quite slim. This does not take into effect the infamous order 227.

 

there are many mentions about picking up weapons from killed comrades. Who say that russia had lack of weapon in 1940 ?

 

You did in this post; before attack only first group of Red Army soldiers had weapon, second groups didn't have. They just had to pick up weapon from killed comrades.It was sure that first files died before reached german lines. it was at the begining of war when russia had lack of any weapon and lost it due to fast german attempts.

This implies that the Red Army lacked the resources to outfit their Red Army with proper gear, or that they were so "heartless" that they sent their men into battle without weapons.

Both positions may be false, and left-over anti-Soviet propaganda. The total length of time which was the "Cold War", allowed the west to demonize the Soviet, and the Soviet to return the favor.

The truth more than likely lies somewhere in the middle, some Red Army troops may have been under supplied, and used as "cannon fodder", most probably weren't viewed in that light by their commanders (Stalin excepted).

 

There were certainly cases of summary executions, but the EATG scenes, though cinematically compelling, are not representative of typical Soviet operations. The Soviet field commanders were unimaginative (according to the German Ninth Army) early on, but learned quickly and became quite proficient in blitzkrieg methods. By Bagration in mid-1944, they were arguably the masters of it. As the tide turned and the effect of German occupation set in, the concept of a totalitarian government forcing large numbers of unwilling conscripts into human wave attacks is not accurate. Glantz has a good bit about this (indirectly) in his one-volume works and trilogy on the Red Army, as does Ericson in his "Road to Stalingrad" and "Road to Berlin" books. Alexander Werth's "Russia at War" is biased but does not paint a picture of mass unwillingness. The Russian concept of patriotism after Barbarossa was not all that different from American patriotism after Pearl Harbor, even taking the tyranny of Stalin into account.

The Moisin-Nagant 1891 was long and IMO unwieldy. I much prefer the Kar.98. That said, both held five rounds, the rounds in both cases were comparable, and both were accurate enough to serve as sniper weapons long after WW2 ended. I regularly fire an iron-sight Kar.98 and a sniper M-N and like both. To me, the Kar.98 is more fun to shoot, but the Moisin groups around 1.5 inches at 100 yards, and that's with an old barrel and a guy who has to work in shots between weekend kids' soccer games.*

As for other infantry weapons, don't forget the Soviets produced the T-35, the Shturmovik, and the PPSh-41. All look ugly, but all were arguably the best in their class made during the war.

Cheers,
Jon

*At a gun range, that is - not on a soccer field.

 

Jon,

I think you mean the T-34. The T-35 was produced in very limited numbers
T-35 Heavy Tank - BATTLEFIELD.RU - everything about the Great Patriotic War

While the armor was almost impervious to German fire, it's mechanical reliability was not the greatest.

 

I know, any war movie like EATG is usually fake, because they have to take something historical and turn it into a love story. I was referring to the beginning scenes(soldiers huddled in cattle cars, death charges, etc.). However I forgot to mention that in the later part of the book he talks of how the Russians wouldn't simply just charge, but rather they would do things in a more coordinated way. I believe Order 227 was pretty much dropped somewhat after Stalingrad. I do not doubt that you had some commisars who would have still followed the order later on throughout the war though.

 

How can you refuse when your alternative is: Life, in front of a firing squad.

 

a good source is :Stalin's keys to victory(in the Stackpole series)
from that source :weapons produced from 1941-1945
Guns :188000
Tanks :87000
SU :22000
Aircraft :108000
Motor vehicles :205000

 

Absolutely - I chalk that error up to the cost of having three kids, two dogs, and one and a half jobs. Thanks for pointing this out!