Selected Readings in the History of Soviet Operational Art

Harold S. Orenstein

• Publisher: Verdun Press
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781786259455
• Topic: Historia
• Subtopic: Historia europea

Renowned and respected military expert Dr. Harold S Orenstein is well known for his translations and analyses of Soviet military history and doctrine. In this volume he has collected a number of historical papers discussing topics such as Soviet tactics, deep battle, deep operation, successive operations and operational art. These papers were written by leading Soviet military leaders and theoreticians and shine a fascinating light on the tactics and strategy of the Red Army.

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{1} N. Varfolomeyev, “Strategiya v akademicheskoy postanovke,” Voyna i revolyutsiya [War And Revolution], Book 11 (Gosudarstvennoye Izdatel’stvo, 1928), pp. 78-93.

{2} This issue is brought to light in the article by Ye. Shilovsky, Evolyutsiya akademicheskoy podgotovki [Evolution Of Academic Preparation].

{3} A significant part of the work in studying the foundations of materiel support was done in the large departments which existed independently, i.e., not connected with the department of strategy. Now, with the formation of cycles of courses there was the possibility of consolidating all these related disciplines under an overall leadership, having collected them into a single cycle of strategic courses; this, above all, eliminated harmful discord and provided close coordination of the study of the issues of troop leadership and rear operation. The cycle of courses consolidated the following disciplines: strategy, strategic operations of cavalry, feeding of the active army, strategic preparation of communications, engineer preparation of the state, and naval affairs.

{4} Translators note: TVD [teatr voyennykh deystvuy] is sometimes translated as “theater of military operations,” “theater of military activities,” “theater of military actions,” “theater of strategic military actions.” The 1986 Voyennyy entsiklopedicheskiy slovar’ [Military encyclopedic dictionary] gives the following definition:

“...an extensive territory of part of a continent with adjacent seas, or a water area of an ocean (sea) with islands and the adjacent coastal area of continents, and the air and cosmic space above them, within the limits of which strategic groupings of Armed Forces (Ground Forces, aviation, Navy) are deployed and military operations on a strategic scale can be conducted. The boundaries and composition of a TVD are determined by the military-political leadership of states (coalitions of states). Thus, the military-political leadership of the US and NATO divided the territory of Western Europe into 3 ground force TVDs: Northern Europe, Central Europe, and Southern Europe. Historically each of the 4 oceans (Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Northern Arctic) is an oceanic TVD. Each TVD has specific military-political, military, economic, geographic, and ethnographic conditions and engineer preparation of the territory, which affects the preparation and conduct of military operations.”

For the sake of continuity I will use the acronym TVD throughout.

{5} The terminology belongs to Military Academy professor A. A. Svechin (Strategiya [Strategy], second edition, p. 14 and following) who gave the course on strategy in 1923-1924.

{6} At these seminars, the following themes were developed:

1.—Positional strategy (text: Leval, Introduction to the Positive Part of Strategy).

2.—Aims (text: Verdi, On the Object of an Operation).

3.—Overall and operational basis (text: Verdi, Operational Basis).

4.—Flexibility of strategy (von der Holtz, Strategy and Army Leadership).

5.—Basic views of Clausewitz on Strategy (Clausewitz, Foundations of Strategic Decision; Svechin, Istoriya voyennogo iskusstva/History of military art).

6.—Plan of the campaign (Foch, Conduct of War, Svechin, History of military art).

7.—Schlieffen’s plan for Germa...

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• STRATEGY IN AN ACADEMIC FORMULATION
• FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE THEORY OF OPERATIONAL ART (1918-1938)
• TACTICS AND OPERATIONAL ART OF THE WORKERS’ AND PEASANTS’ RED ARMY AT A NEW STAGE
• THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE THEORY OF SOVIET OPERATIONAL ART IN THE 1930s
• WAS OUR MILITARY THEORY IN THE 1920s TURNED TO THE PAST?
• PROBLEMS OF STRATEGY AND OPERATIONAL ART IN SOVIET MILITARY WORKS (1917-1940)
• SOME ISSUES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE THEORY OF STRATEGY IN THE 1920s n
• ON THE THEORY OF DEEP OPERATION
• ON THE ISSUE OF THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE OPERATION
• ON THE ISSUE OF THE ORIGIN OF THE THEORY OF SUCCESSIVE OFFENSIVE OPERATIONS (1921-1929)
• DEEP OPERATION (BATTLE)
• THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE THEORY OF DEEP OFFENSIVE BATTLE IN THE PRE-WAR YEARS
• REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER