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The Russian Red Army, Stalin, and World War II |
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A Brief History |
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Joseph A. Scott 7/24/2013 |
The Russian Red Army AKA the Worker’s and Peasant’s Red Army (RKKA) has a great history. From its foundation in 1918 until the abandonment of its name in 1946, they participated in the Russian Civil War and eventually came to defeat the Nazi Army. In 1946, they were renamed the ‘Soviet Army’ until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991 (Dmitriev).
The Russian Red Army was founded when the Bolshevik Party came into power with the demobilization of the Russian Imperial Army at the beginning of the 1917 Russian Revolution. It wasn’t until February 23rd, 1918 that the Red Army was officially named. That day is still celebrated as ‘Defender of the Motherland Day’ across Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine as the day when the Russians won a victory over the Germans at the end of World War I . On March 13th, 1918, the Commissioner of War, Leon Trotsky, was appointed head of the Red Army. It was decreed by the Council of People’s Commissars that this army was a volunteer army, thus the name ‘Worker’s and Peasant’s Red Army’ (Editors). Leading only 200 thousand troops, Leon Trotsky acted very quickly in the interest of defeating the White Army during the Russian Civil War. In order to do this, much to others dissatisfaction, he had no choice but to recruit army officers from the old Soviet Army. When confronted on this he argued that if he did not hire experienced personnel, the army would be crushed (Simkin). Losses from the civil war forced the government to enact conscription to the army by June of 1918. By 1919, Lenin was impressed by Trotsky’s achievements in the war and remarked, “Show me another man who could have practically created a model army in a year and won respect of the military specialist as well” (Simkin). By 1920, the Red Army had quelled resistance west of the Ural Mountains and moved to the Far East, 5 million strong (Editors).
The structure of the Red Army was unique. Every unit and their commander had a politruk, or a commissar, which was appointed by the Bolshevik Party to observe the troops morale and the officer’s leadership. Basically, any suspicious order that didn’t follow the rule of the Bolshevik Party was reported, and the order was overruled. In other words, the army had another line of leadership connecting directly to the leadership of the country in real time. These measures were to monitor officers of the former Soviet Army. This option was more desirable than letting the officers who switched sides in the Civil War to go unattended. By 1921, young officers whom had graduated from Soviet military academies had replaced most of the previous officers loyal to the previous Soviet regime, so this control was loosened (Editors). They still had the power to elect commanders to lead as well as to strip them of that leadership whenever deemed necessary. The “Joint-Responsibility Clause” was introduced as well which stated that if one soldier was blamed for something, the entire unit was to blame. Despite these measures of control, it was an honor to be on the good side of the Bolsheviks, as they could make sure that their everyday needs were paid for and then some (Dmitriev).
By the end of the Civil War, the Army was demobilized to 600,000 men however when Adolf Hitler began to lead Nazi Germany in 1933, the Russian Red Army had more than doubled their size two years later (Simkin). By this time, Joseph Stalin was in power in Russia.
Stalin was a very different leader for Russia. In Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky’s Memoirs he wrote,
“Stalin was unjustifiably self-confident, headstrong, unwilling to listen to others; he overestimated his own knowledge and ability to guide the conduct of war directly. He relied very little on the General Staff and made no adequate use of the skills and experience of its personnel. Often for no reason at all, he would make hasty changes in the top military leadership. Stalin quite rightly insisted that the military must abandon outdated strategic concepts, but he was unfortunately rather slow to do this himself. He tended to favour head-on confrontations.” (Vasilevsky)
Stalin was convinced that officers in the Red Army were against him, so he had half of them executed along with 30,000 soldiers. This was the Great Purge of 1937. Two years later, the original oath “to fight for international socialism” was changed “to protect with all his strength the property of the Army and the People and to cherish unto death his People, the Soviet homeland and the government of Workers and Peasants, also to respond at the first call from the government of Workers and Peasants to defend the homeland, the USSR” (Simkin). Commissars originally in place to protect Bolshevik ideals were replaced with commissars (who were also members of the MKVD Soviet Secret Police) who were to protect Joseph Stalin’s ideals (PBS, Simkin).
The effects of The Great Purge were evident with great losses at the beginning of World War II. With the invasion of Finland in November, 1939, although victorious, 200,000 men and many war vehicles were lost. Stalin concluded that it was a good idea to avoid confrontation with the Nazi Army for the time being. In only two years, the Red Army had increased to 3 million men. June 22nd, 1941 was the attack of the Nazis on Leningrad, Moscow, and Northern Ukraine. The night before, however, a defected German sergeant had informed Stalin of the upcoming attack. He did not believe him. Minsk was captured quickly and General Dmitry Pavlov was recalled to Moscow and executed for incompetence. Generals in the future second-guessed retreat or surrender. Between the brutality of Stalin and the massacres of the people of Minsk, the Red Army had little choice but to fight until they were killed. The Nazi Army surrounded Leningrad, made their way to Moscow, set up bases in Ukraine, and attacked Kiev. They were devastating the Red Army. Georgi Zhukov, Stalin’s Chief of Staff requested to withdraw from Kiev and regroup for a counterattack. With his request denied, Kiev was taken under a massacre. The progress toward Moscow was greatly delayed, however (Simkin).
A new policy was introduced to Russian soldiers forced to withdraw; the ‘Scorched Earth’ policy. The idea was to destroy anything useful to the enemy during retreat. This proved to be very effective as it made supplying German troops progressively more difficult. In October 1941, a mass evacuation of Moscow was in order and the Germans were close to the city. Stalin stayed within the city, stationed under the Kremlin in a blast-proof bomb shelter. His strategy was to break the illusion that the Nazis and their Blitzkrieg was invincible. Stalin used new, rested troops as much as possible and attacked as much as possible. Being successful at beating the Blitzkrieg, battles across Europe turned tides due to this news. Any command had to be confirmed with him first. One month later, the Nazis attacked. Moscow held out, pushed them back, regrouped, and launched a counterattack in December. Taken by surprise, the Germans were forced to retreat 200 miles by January (Dmitriev, Simkin).
By 1942, with the help of the U.S. and Britain, Russia created a new anti-German tank corps that exploited specific weaknesses and marched towards Kursk. The Red Army attacked in July, 1943, 3000 tanks strong. The tide was turned. The Germans were defeated in Kursk, progress was being made to the east, the Allies landed in Normandy, and finally in 1945 the Red Army was in Germany. Adolf Hitler, afraid of being showcased by the Russians, committed suicide on May 2nd, 1945 (Simkin).
The Red Army peaked at 11,365,000 officers and men and in 1946, the name ‘Red Army’ was removed with demobilization. Within a few years, troops had fallen to 3,000,000 men. The origins and history of the Red Army that turned the tide of the battle against Nazi Germany was crucial to the solution of World War II (Editors). Without them, Russia could have been taken and morale could have dropped entirely around the world. Thus, February 23rd is still celebrated in honor of the Red Army as ‘Defending the Motherland Day’.
Works Cited:
Dmitriev, Oleg. "Of Russian Origin: Red Army." Red Army – Of Russian Origin. N.p., n.d. Web. 24
July 2013. <http://russiapedia.rt.com/of-russian-origin/red-army/>.
Editors of Brittanica Encyclopedia. "Red Army (Soviet History)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 24 July 2013.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/494046/Red-Army>.
PBS. "Biography: Joseph Stalin." PBS. PBS.org, 1999. Web. 24 July 2013.
<http://www.pbs.org/redfiles/bios/all_bio_joseph_stalin.htm>.
Simkin, John. "Spartacus Educational." The Red Army. Spartacus Educational, n.d. Web. 24 July
2013. <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSred.htm>.
Vasilevsky, Aleksandr. Memoirs: The Matter of My Whole Life. N.p.: Aleksandr Vasilevsky, 1973.
Encyclopedia Brittanica. Web. 24 July 2013.