Report on Russian use of infiltration units againt the Germans in mountainous terrain, from Intelligence Bulletin, June 1945. [Editor's Note: The following article is wartime information on Russian equipment and tactics published for Allied soldiers. More accurate data on Russian weapons and equipment is available in postwar publications.]

 

SOVIET INFILTRATION UNITS IN MOUNTAIN WARFARE For Soviet troops engaged in combat in mountainous and forested areas, the Red Army advocates the use of small units to infiltrate through mountain defenses and harass an enemy's lines of communication. Although this tactic is not new--the Japanese have used it extensively in jungle fighting--the Russians, unlike the Japs, employ infiltration units as carefully coordinated parts of a general offensive operation designed to encircle and destroy mountain strongpoints and their defending troops. No type of terrain is considered an obstacle, and full advantage is taken of routes over cliffs and other terrain features normally impassable. These infiltration units may vary in size, a typical unit being composed of an infantry section or an infantry platoon. Such a unit is heavily armed with submachine guns or automatic rifles, a mortar, and possibly a machine gun or more. It is not unusual for engineers to be attached to a unit, their function being the reduction of obstacles which might impede the advance of the unit. The Red Army conception of mountain warfare envisages the employment of large masses of troops, despite terrain. An enemy line of mountain strongpoints is softened by powerful artillery and air bombardment. Then, under cover of its own mortars and direct fire weapons, an infantry assault is launched in an endeavor to pin down the enemy defenses and perhaps secure a breakthrough. A typical infiltration unit is heavily armed with submachine guns or automatic rifles, a mortar, and possibly a machine gun or more. It is during this assault, when the enemy troops are fully occupied defending their positions, that the infiltration units take advantage of unguarded terrain, or move through the breakthrough to establish themselves deep in the enemy rear area. No type of terrain is considered an obstacle, and full advantage is taken of routes over cliffs and other terrain features normally considered by the enemy to be impassable. Several infiltration units may move independently through the same general area. The mission of these small groups is to emerge eventually in a predesignated sector on the main supply and evacuation route in the enemy rear area. Here they occupy dominating terrain and endeavor to block all movement of supply and evacuation to and from the enemy mountain strongpoints. Small patrols roam over a wide area harassing indiscriminate targets in an effort to create the impression that a much larger force had penetrated to the enemy rear. Vehicles are wrecked and used as road blocks, and main roads are interdicted with small-arms fire until the enemy is forced to use secondary roads for communication, or to cease temporarily all movement to and from his front. Small patrols roam over a wide area, harassing indiscriminate targets in an effort to create the impression that a much larger force has penetrated the enemy rear. However, the Red Army realizes that small units cannot count on remaining unmolested once their harassing tactics become a serious threat. Consequently every effort is made to reinforce the groups with the continual infiltration of other such units until the strength of the Soviet troops behind the enemy lines grows progressively to a company. then a battalion, and finally a regiment. Infiltration units occupy dominating terrain, and main roads are interdicted with small-arms fire until the enemy is forced to use secondary roads or to cease all movement temporarily. The Red Army has discovered that by the time the infiltration has reached this stage, enemy supply operations have been seriously hindered, and resistance to assault upon his strongpoints has declined. It is then that an all-out Soviet assault must be launched, not only from the front and flanks of the positions, but from the rear by the now greatly reinforced infiltrated troops. Often, in such a situation, the enemy abandons his positions under the threat of encirclement. In such a case it is the mission of the infiltrated Soviet troops to attack and destroy retreating enemy groups. If the enemy stays to be encircled, the strongpoints are bypassed by the main strength of the assault, and are left to be liquidated by the encircling troops.

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