Report on the restoration of the Red Army Officers' Corps in WWII, from the Intelligence Bulletin, March 1946. [Editor's Note: The following article is wartime or postwar information on foreign militaries published for Allied soldiers. More accurate data on foreign militaries is available in postwar publications.]

 

RED ARMY OFFICERS' CORPS Decrees Revive Once-Hated Traditions The Communist Party and the Soviet Government have recently taken several steps to increase the attractiveness of a postwar career for officers in the Red Army. These innovations, in drastic contrast to the avoidance of special privilege in the Revolutionary period, officially restore the traditional prestige and prerogatives of the Russian officers' corps. The officers' corps, once the symbol of despised Czarist oppression, has been gradually revived until today it is imbued with both old and new Russian fighting tradition, and enjoys a firmly rooted authority based on wartime success and the adulation of the government and the people. In order to "free officers from personal and economic preoccupations," staff orderlies are now provided for all general officers and colonels, even those on the retired list. The new decree likewise authorizes increased rations of free food and exemptions from war taxes for the officers' corps. Previously, it was announced that separate Red Army officers' clubs were being built in military districts and at garrison posts because "under present conditions of cultural enlightenment it is necessary to have sharp differentiation and separation between officers and enlisted men." Last spring, plans to construct special apartment houses for officers and their families were announced. Although uniform regulations kept officers looking pretty much like enlisted men, prior to the war Red Army officers had already gone far in rank differentiation. These prewar uniforms may be cut like those of enlisted men, but the boots are of good soft leather, the breeches of blue surge, and the tunics of quality OD wool. These changes are a far cry from the treatment received by officers in the Red Army during the early days of the Soviet Union. During and after the Revolution in the winter of 1917-18, all ranks and grades were abolished, and there existed only two formal and nonpermanent categories—rank and file, and commanders. The commanders were distinguished from their men by no insignia other than a small mark on their sleeves (later by a collar tab pip), and the differences between their dress, pay, and treatment were correspondingly small. Socially, all Red Army men were on the same level. This entire program reflected the popular revulsion on the part of both the people and the members of the armed forces against the tradition of oppression of the old Czarist officers. In the first days of the Revolution, officers were subject to deposition and arrest at the hands of soldiers' committees formed in their units. Off-duty saluting and standing at attention were abolished by the First Order of the Petrograd soviet on 14 March 1917. Even the election of officers was seriously discussed, and in order to assure the political reliability of the ex-Czarist commanding personnel, a system of political commissars was instituted in 1917. The political commissars exercised stringent control over commanders during the Civil War. (The commissars alternately lost and regained the power of veto of command decisions until 1942, when they were absorbed into the regular officers' corps.) Under the new regulations, officers have really gone to town. This Cossack in field uniform not only wears the re-adopted Czarist-type shoulder boards, but has other traditional gear formerly taboo. Note the beard, the Cossack hat, the Cossack saber and knife. He may wear a Cossack cape and scarf-hood bashlik. So equalitarian was the spirit of the Soviet armed forces that the very word "officer" was abolished from the Soviet vocabulary in 1918 as a hateful reminder of Czarist times. Instead, officers were referred to as company, division, and other unit commanders. External political conditions and the disappearance of pre-revolutionary classes in Russia gradually brought about a change in the position of Red Army officers. During the 1920's unit commanders ate at the same mess as their men and shared the Red Army clubs with them. Pay and living quarters were usually poor. Revival of the officers' corps was started inauspiciously by the Decree of September 1935, at which time it was believed advisable to revive the prestige of the army and the authority of the commanders. Regulations were passed restoring the familiar designations of the lower grades, reviving the rank of marshal, and granting substantial increases in pay. The decree reestablished individual ranks for commanders. This decree was designed to insure the steady growth of the commanders as a group, to improve their relative standing, to give incentive to greater effort, to reward loyal service, and in particular to reinforce their power and authority. The decree established service as an officer in the Red Army as a lifelong profession, and fixed definite terms of service for the various ranks, providing appropriate distinguishing uniforms and insignia. The purge of the Red Army in 1937 indicated that the officer class was not considered completely reliable. By 1940, however, the salute became obligatory on all occasions, and the rank of general was reintroduced. Infantry officers in the field still follow an almost world-wide practice of dressing and appearing pretty much like their men. The officer in this group is the lieutenant with the medals (center). He wears a G.I. cap and enlisted man's pocketless tunic; only his shoulder insignia and Sam Browne belt distinguish him. The outbreak of the war with Germany showed the need for insuring the loyalty of the officer class to the government, as well as for increasing the respect and obedience shown to commanders by their men. Determined efforts were made to increase the number of Party members in the rapidly expanding officers' corps. Distinctions of rank were emphasized progressively. The political commissars again lost their veto power in 1942 and officers received many privileges, such as special discounts in state stores; separate stores were established for those of high rank. Not until the reintroduction of the pre-revolutionary stiff shoulder boards (pognoy) in January 1943 was a separate classification of commanders revived, along with new and more resplendent uniforms and other accouterments reminiscent of the old days. The Decree of July 1943 finally granted the once-despised title of "officer" to Red Army commanders, and officially and for the first time in Soviet history established a distinct "officers' corps." Other steps were taken to increase the distinction between officers and enlisted men. Differences in pay and treatment rapidly increased, and today the annual pay of a private is 600 rubles, while that of a lieutenant is 7,700 rubles, or almost 13 times as much. Since the Decree of July 1943 and subsequent measures, the glamour and prestige of the Soviet officers' corps has been confirmed in practice and by decree. The corps is firmly established, conscious of its dignity and special status, and proud of its traditions. As in the American and other armies, the Red Army officers' corps includes large numbers of men recently risen from the ranks and drawn from civil life. The Soviet press, radio, and movies have popularized and glorified the Soviet officer in the minds of the civilian population. The uniforms decreed in 1943 (of which this is service dress) strongly mark the difference between officers and men, and are quite gaudy. The edges of this coat collar and front are piped in the officer's arm color (here red); his dress epaulets have a gold base with red piping. His dress uniform would be even more colorful. The recent legislation concerning orderlies and officers' clubs has for the most part legalized practices that grew up during the war. In the early days of the war the recognition granted to officers was primarily designed to strengthen their authority. Now, Soviet policy has the avowed purpose of maintaining a strong army and improving the quality of the officers' corps. In this connection the opening of the Suvorov Schools, primarily for the children of Red Army men killed in battle, was a significant development in 1943. These military schools, which are directly comparable to the Czarist Cadet Schools, will graduate each year approximately 5,000 youths whose education since their 10th year has been largely military. Thus, it should be possible to select the majority of career officer candidates from Suvorov School students. The army of the U.S.S.R. dates its origin from 1918, but it is deeply proud and aware of the military laurels which have in the past graced Russian arms. Soviet officers are expected to be familiar not only with World War II triumphs but with the campaigns and strategic principles of pre-Soviet heroes. Marshal Stalin told the Red Army on 7 November 1941: "Let the manly images of our great ancestors—Aleksandr Nevski, Dmitri Donskoi, Kuzma Minin, Dmitri Pozharski, Aleksandr Suvorov, Mikhail Kutyzov—inspire you in this war."

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