|
Spetsnaz
SpetsnazThe term is borrowed from rus, спецназ, p=spʲɪtsˈnas; abbreviation for or 'Special Purpose Military Units'; or () are special forces in many post-Soviet states. Historically, this term referred to the Soviet Union's Spetsnaz GRU, special operations units of the GRU (Soviet Union), Main Intelligence Directorate of the Soviet General Staff (GRU). Today it refers to special forces branches and task forces subordinate to ministries including defence, internal affairs, or emergency situations in countries that have inherited their special purpose units from the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, now-defunct Soviet security agencies. As ''spetsnaz'' is a Russian term, it is typically associated with the special units of Russia, but other post-Soviet states often refer to their special forces units by the term as well, since these nations also inherited their special purpose units from the now-defunct Soviet security agencies. Etymology The Russia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spetsnaz GRU
Spetsnaz GRU, formally known as Special Forces of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, () is the special forces (''spetsnaz'') of the GRU (Russian Federation), GRU, the foreign military intelligence agency of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Origins The Stavka began preparing special-purpose (OSNAZ) groups to serve in the GRU in 1937 - training personnel for special-purpose radio units at the engineering radio-technical department of the Budyonny Military Academy of the Signal Corps, Budyonny Military Electro-Technical Academy in Leningrad. The Spetsnaz GRU, the first ''spetsnaz'' force in the Soviet Union, formed in 1949 as the military force of the Main Intelligence Directorate (Soviet Union), Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), the foreign military-intelligence agency of the Soviet Armed Forces. The force was designed in the context of the Cold War to carry out reconnaissance and sabotage against enemy targets in the form of s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye
The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, formerly the Main Intelligence Directorate,; and still commonly known by its previous abbreviation GRU,; is the foreign military intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The GRU controls the military intelligence service and maintains its own special forces units. Unlike Russia's other security and intelligence agenciessuch as the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the Federal Security Service (FSB), and the Federal Protective Service (FSO)whose heads report directly to the president of Russia (see Intelligence agencies of Russia), the director of the GRU is subordinate to the Russian military command, reporting to the Minister of Defence and the Chief of the General Staff. The directorate is reputedly Russia's largest foreign-intelligence agency, and is distinguished among its counterparts for its willingness to execute riskier "compli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viktor Suvorov
Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun (; ; born 20 April 1947), known by his pseudonym of Viktor Suvorov (), is a former Soviet GRU officer who is the author of non-fiction books about World War II, the GRU and the Soviet Army, as well as fictional books about the same and related subjects. After defecting to the United Kingdom in 1978, Suvorov began his writing career, publishing his first books in the 1980s about his own experiences and the structure of the Soviet military, intelligence, and secret police. He writes in Russian with a number of his books translated into English, including his semi-autobiographical '' The Liberators'' (1981). In the USSR, according to Suvorov and according to an interview with the former head of the GRU, he was sentenced to death in absentia. In his military history books, he offers an alternative view of the role of the USSR in World War II; the first and most well-known book on this topic being '' Icebreaker: Who started the Second World War?''. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GRU (Soviet Union)
Main Intelligence Directorate ( rus, Главное разведывательное управление, Glavnoye razvedyvatel'noye upravleniye, ˈglavnəjə rɐzˈvʲɛdɨvətʲɪlʲnəjə ʊprɐˈvlʲenʲɪjə), abbreviated GRU ( rus, ГРУ, p=ɡɨ̞‿rɨ̞‿ˈu, ), was the foreign military intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces until 1991. For a few months it was also the foreign military intelligence agency of the newly established Russian Federation until 7 May 1992 when it was dissolved and the GRU (Russian Federation), Russian GRU took over its activities. History The GRU's first predecessor in Russia formed on October 21, 1918 by secret order under the sponsorship of Leon Trotsky (then the civilian leader of the Red Army), signed by Jukums Vācietis, the first commander-in-chief of the Red Army (RKKA), and by Ephraim Sklyansky, deputy to Trotsky; it was originally known as the Registration Directorate (''Registrupravlenie'', or RU). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
OMSDON
The Separate Operational Purpose Division (ODON; ), formerly called OMSDON (a.k.a. ''Felix Dzerzhinsky, Dzerzhinsky Division''), is a rapid deployment internal security Division (army), division of the Internal Troops of the Soviet Union, Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Russia), Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR and then the Internal Troops of Russia Russian Federation, currently part of the National Guard Forces Command of the Russian Federation. USSR The precursor to the ODON was the 1st Automobile Fighting Detachment of the VTsIK () which was created in February 1918. The detachment was tasked with guarding the members of the VTsIK and the Sovnarkom and providing them with passenger cars. After the relocation of the government to Moscow in March 1918, it was assigned to guarding the Kremlin, along with the Red Latvian Riflemen and later the "Moscow Higher Military Command School, Kremlin cadets" (). The detachment was renamed 1st Armored Car Deta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cheka
The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), abbreviated as VChK ( rus, ВЧК, p=vɛ tɕe ˈka), and commonly known as the Cheka ( rus, ЧК, p=tɕɪˈka), was the first Soviet secret police organization. It was established on by the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian SFSR, and was led by Felix Dzerzhinsky. By the end of the Russian Civil War in 1921, the Cheka had at least 200,000 personnel. Ostensibly created to protect the October Revolution from "class enemies" such as the bourgeoisie and members of the clergy, the Cheka soon became a tool of repression wielded against all political opponents of the Bolshevik regime. The organization had responsibility for counterintelligence, oversight of the loyalty of the Red Army, and protection of the country's borders, as well ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shock Troops
Shock troops, assault troops, or storm troops are special formations created to lead military attacks. They are often better trained and equipped than other military units and are expected to take heavier casualties even in successful operations. "Shock troop" is a calque, a loose translation of the German word ''Stoßtrupp'' (literally "thrust squad" or "push squad"). Assault troopers are typically organized for mobility with the intention that they will penetrate enemy defenses and attack into the enemy's vulnerable rear areas. Any specialized, elite unit formed to fight an engagement via overwhelming assault (usually) would be considered shock troops, as opposed to "special forces" or commando-style units (intended mostly for covert operations). However, both types of units could fight behind enemy lines, by surprise if required. Before 1914 The Companion cavalry of Alexander the Great (356-326 BC) are described as being the first example of shock cavalry being used in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willy Rohr
Willy Martin Ernst Rohr (19 May 1877 – 8 March 1930) was a German Army officer who was a major contributor to the development of infantry tactics in World War I, particularly for the system of Storm Battalions. Biography Willy Rohr attended a military school in Bensberg and Karlsruhe before he transferred to the Prussian Hauptkadettenanstalt (Central Officer's Training School) in Lichterfelde, Berlin. He joined the 3rd Magdeburg Infantry Regiment No. 66 as a second lieutenant in 1896. From 1899 to 1903, Rohr was assigned to NCO School in Potsdam and became a battalion adjutant and later a regimental adjutant. In 1906, he was promoted as a first lieutenant. After working as a teacher in the infantry shooting school in Wünsdorf from 1911-1912, Rohr was transferred to the 10th Rhineland Infantry Regiment No. 161 in Trier and was promoted as a captain. At his request, in 1913, he was transferred to the Guards Rifle Battalion in Gross-Lichterfelde and served as the command ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stormtroopers (Imperial Germany)
Stormtroopers ( or ''Stoßtruppen'') were the only elite shock troops of the Imperial German Army (Deutsches Heer) that specialized in commando style raids, infiltrating the trenches and wiping out the enemy quickly, maneuver warfare, reconnaissance, and shock tactics. In the last years of World War I, ''Stoßtruppen'' (" shock troopers" or "shove troopers") were trained to use infiltration tactics – part of the Germans' improved method of attack on enemy trench warfare. The German Empire entered the war certain that the conflict would be won in the course of great military campaigns, thus relegating results obtained during individual clashes to the background; consequently the best officers, concentrated in the German General Staff, placed their attention on maneuver warfare and the rational exploitation of railways, rather than concentrating on the conduct of battles. This attitude made a direct contribution to operational victories of Germany in Russia, Romania, Serbia and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aleksei Brusilov
Aleksei Alekseyevich Brusilov (, ; rus, Алексей Алексеевич Брусилов, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej ɐlʲɪkˈsʲejɪvʲɪdʑ brʊˈsʲiɫəf; – 17 March 1926) was a Russian and later Soviet general most noted for the development of new offensive tactics used in the 1916 Brusilov offensive, which was his greatest achievement. Born into an aristocratic military family, Brusilov trained as a cavalry officer, but by 1914 had realized that cavalry was obsolete in an offensive capacity against modern weapons of warfare such as mass adoption of rifled guns, machine guns, and artillery. He is considered a very outstanding general who won many battles against the Austro-Hungarian army. His offensive in 1916 was the final major success of the Tsarist army. In the government, this offensive meant the transfer of the strategic initiative to the Russians and the beginning of preparations for the general offensive of 1917, which, however, was disrupted by the revolution. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. It resulted in the formation of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and later the Soviet Union in most of its territory. Its finale marked the end of the Russian Revolution, which was one of the key events of the 20th century. The List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy ended with the abdication of Nicholas II, Tsar Nicholas II during the February Revolution, and Russia was in a state of political flux. A tense summer culminated in the October Revolution, where the Bolsheviks overthrew the Russian Provisional Government, provisional government of the new Russian Republic. Bolshevik seizure of power was not universally accepted, and the country descended into a conflict which beca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
