Editing Red Army (section)

===Second World War ("The Great Patriotic War")===
{{Details|topic=Great Patriotic War (term)|Great Patriotic War (term)}}
{{Details|topic=Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front (World War II)}}
[[File:Odessa Soviet artilery.JPG|thumb|Soviet gun crew in action during the [[siege of Odessa]], July 1941]]

In accordance with the Soviet-Nazi [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] of 23 August 1939, the [[Soviet invasion of Poland|Red Army invaded Poland]] on 17 September 1939, after the [[Invasion of Poland|Nazi invasion]] on 1 September 1939. On 30 November, the Red Army also attacked Finland, in the [[Winter War]] of 1939–1940. By autumn 1940, after conquering its portion of Poland, [[Nazi Germany]] shared an [[German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty|extensive border]] with the USSR, with whom it remained neutrally bound by their [[non-aggression pact]] and [[German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement|trade agreement]]s. Another consequence of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was the [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina]], carried out by the [[Southern Front (Soviet Union)|Southern Front]] in June–July 1940 and [[Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940)|Soviet occupation of the Baltic states]]. These conquests also added to the border the Soviet Union shared with Nazi-controlled areas. For [[Adolf Hitler]], the circumstance was no dilemma, because<ref>{{Citation | first = Adolf | last = Hitler | author-link = Adolf Hitler | title = Mein Kampf | place = Boston | year = 1943 | page = 654| title-link = Mein Kampf }}, cited in {{Citation | first = William L | last = Shirer | title = The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich | publisher = The Reprint Society | place = London | year = 1962 | page = 796}}.</ref> the ''[[Drang nach Osten]]'' ("Drive towards the East") policy secretly remained in force, culminating on 18 December 1940 with ''Directive No. 21, [[Operation Barbarossa]]'', approved on 3 February 1941, and scheduled for mid-May 1941.

[[File:Salute To the Red Army, Royal Albert Hall, London, 21 February 1943 TR687.jpg|thumb|left|Salute to the Red Army at the [[Royal Albert Hall]], London in February 1943]]
When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, in Operation Barbarossa, the Red Army's ground forces had 303 divisions and 22 separate brigades (5.5 million soldiers) including 166 divisions and brigades (2.6 million) garrisoned in the western military districts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://warontherocks.com/2016/07/was-the-russian-military-a-steamroller-from-world-war-ii-to-today/|title=Was the Russian Military a Steamroller? From World War II to Today|date=2016-07-06|website=War on the Rocks|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-10|archive-date=10 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410205034/https://warontherocks.com/2016/07/was-the-russian-military-a-steamroller-from-world-war-ii-to-today/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler |last1=Glantz |first1=David M. |last2=House |first2=Jonathan M. |publisher=University Press of Kansas|year=1995|isbn=0700608990|pages=[https://archive.org/details/whentitansclashe00glan_0/page/301 301 Table C. Comparative Strengths of Combat Forces, Eastern Front, 1941–1945]|url=https://archive.org/details/whentitansclashe00glan_0/page/301}}</ref> The Axis forces deployed on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] consisted of 181 divisions and 18 brigades (3 million soldiers). Three Fronts, the [[Northwestern Front|Northwestern]], [[Western Front (Soviet Union)|Western]], and [[Southwestern Front (Soviet Union)|Southwestern]] conducted the defense of the western borders of the USSR. In the first weeks of the [[Great Patriotic War (term)|Great Patriotic War]] (as it is known in Russia), the ''Wehrmacht'' defeated many Red Army units. The Red Army lost millions of men as prisoners and lost much of its pre-war matériel. [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] increased mobilization, and by 1 August 1941, despite 46 divisions lost in combat, the Red Army's strength was 401 divisions.{{Sfn | Glantz | 1998 | p = 15}}

The Soviet forces were apparently unprepared despite numerous warnings from a variety of sources.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13862135|title=Barbarossa Hitler Stalin: War warnings Stalin ignored|first=Patrick|last=Jackson|date=21 June 2011|access-date=27 January 2017|publisher=BBC News}}</ref> They suffered much damage in the field because of mediocre officers, partial mobilization, and an incomplete reorganization.<ref>{{cite book|author=John Hughes-Wilson|title=Military Intelligence Blunders and Cover-Ups |edition=2nd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ZfABAAAQBAJ&pg=PT31|year=2012|publisher=Little, Brown|page=31|isbn=978-1472103840}}</ref> The hasty pre-war forces expansion and the over-promotion of inexperienced officers (owing to the [[Great Purge|purging]] of experienced officers) favored the ''Wehrmacht'' in combat.{{Sfn | Glantz | 1998}}{{Rp | needed = yes | date = September 2013}}  The Axis's numeric superiority rendered the combatants' divisional strength approximately equal.{{Efn | The Axis forces possessed a 1:1.7 superiority in personnel, despite the Red Army's 174 divisions against the Axis's 164 divisions, a 1.1:1 ratio.{{Sfn | Glantz | 1998 | pp = 292–295}}}}  A generation of Soviet commanders (notably [[Georgy Zhukov]]) learned from the defeats,{{Sfn | Glantz | 2005 | pp = 61–62}}  and Soviet victories in the [[Battle of Moscow]], at [[Battle of Stalingrad|Stalingrad]], [[Battle of Kursk|Kursk]] and later in [[Operation Bagration]] proved decisive.

[[File:Prague liberation 1945 konev.jpg|thumb|[[Ivan Konev]] at the [[Prague offensive|capture of Prague]] by the Red Army in May 1945]]

In 1941, the Soviet government raised the bloodied Red Army's ''esprit de corps'' with propaganda stressing the defense of Motherland and nation, employing historic exemplars of Russian courage and bravery against foreign aggressors. The anti-Nazi [[Great Patriotic War (term)|Great Patriotic War]] was conflated with the [[Patriotic War of 1812]] against [[Napoleon]], and historical Russian military heroes, such as [[Alexander Nevsky]] and [[Mikhail Kutuzov]], appeared. Repression of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] temporarily ceased, and priests revived the tradition of blessing arms before battle.

To encourage the initiative of Red Army commanders, the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|CPSU]] temporarily abolished [[political commissar]]s, reintroduced formal military ranks and decorations, and introduced the [[Guards unit (Soviet Union)|Guards unit]] concept. Exceptionally heroic or high-performing units earned the Guards title (for example [[1st Guards Special Rifle Corps]], [[6th Guards Tank Army]]),{{Sfn | Glantz | 2005 | p = 181}} an elite designation denoting superior training, materiel, and pay. Punishment also was used; slackers, malingerers, those avoiding combat with self-inflicted wounds{{Sfn | Merridale | 2007 | p = 157 | ps =: 'Red Army soldiers who shot or injured themselves to avoid combat usually were summarily executed, to save the time and money of medical treatment and a court martial'.}} cowards, thieves, and deserters were disciplined with beatings, demotions, undesirable/dangerous duties, and [[summary execution]] by [[NKVD]] punitive detachments.

[[File:Allies at the Brandenburg Gate, 1945.jpg|thumb|left|Marshals [[Georgy Zhukov|Zhukov]] and [[Konstantin Rokossovsky|Rokossovsky]] with General [[Vasily Sokolovsky|Sokolovsky]] leave the [[Brandenburg Gate]] after being decorated by [[Field Marshal (UK)|Field Marshal]] [[Bernard Montgomery|Montgomery]]]]

At the same time, the ''[[Military counterintelligence of the Soviet Army|osobist]]'' (NKVD military counter-intelligence officers) became a key Red Army figure with the power to condemn to death and to spare the life of any soldier and (almost any) officer of the unit to which he was attached. In 1942, Stalin established the [[Penal military unit|penal battalions]] composed of ''[[gulag]]'' inmates, Soviet PoWs, disgraced soldiers, and deserters, for hazardous front-line duty as ''tramplers'' clearing Nazi minefields, et cetera.<ref>{{Citation | last = Toppe | first = Alfred | title = Night Combat | publisher = Diane | year = 1998 | isbn = 978-0-7881-7080-5 | page = 28 | quote = The Wehrmacht and the Soviet Army documented penal battalions ''tramplers'' clearing minefields; on 28 December 1942, Wehrmacht forces on the [[Strait of Kerch|Kerch]] peninsula observed a Soviet penal battalion running through a minefield, detonating the mines and clearing a path for the Red Army.}}</ref>{{Sfn | Tolstoy | 1981 | ps =: 'Stalin's Directive 227, about the Nazi use of the death penalty and penal units as punishment, ordered Soviet penal battalions established.'}} Given the dangers, the maximum sentence was three months. Likewise, the Soviet treatment of Red Army personnel captured by the ''Wehrmacht'' was especially harsh. Per a [[Order No. 270|1941 Stalin directive]], Red Army officers and soldiers were to "fight to the last" rather than surrender; Stalin stated: "There are no Soviet prisoners of war, only traitors".<ref name="Tolstoy">{{Harvnb | Tolstoy | 1981}}.</ref> During and after World War II [[Soviet repressions against former prisoners of war|freed POWs]] went to special "[[NKVD filtration camps|filtration camps]]". Of these, by 1944, more than 90% were cleared, and about 8% were arrested or condemned to serve in [[Penal military unit#Soviet Union|penal battalions]]. In 1944, they were sent directly to reserve military formations to be cleared by the NKVD. Further, in 1945, about 100 filtration camps were set for repatriated POWs, and other [[Displaced Persons camp|displaced persons]], which processed more than 4,000,000 people. By 1946, 80% civilians and 20% of POWs were freed, 5% of civilians, and 43% of POWs were re-drafted, 10% of civilians and 22% of POWs were sent to labor battalions, and 2% of civilians and 15% of the POWs (226,127 out of 1,539,475 total) were transferred to the [[Gulag]].<ref name="Tolstoy" /><ref>The Lesser Terror: Soviet State Security, 1939–1953</ref>

[[File:Soviet Znamya Pobedy.svg|thumb|Red Army [[victory banner]], raised above the German Reichstag in May 1945]]
[[File:Sowj Ehrenmal Tiergarten Statue.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Soviet War Memorial (Tiergarten)|Monument to the Red Army]], Berlin]]

During the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army [[Conscription|conscripted]] 29,574,900 men in addition to the 4,826,907 in service at the beginning of the war. Of this total of 34,401,807 it lost 6,329,600 [[killed in action]] (KIA), 555,400 deaths by disease and 4,559,000 [[missing in action]] (MIA) (most captured). Of the 4.5 million missing, 939,700 rejoined the ranks in the subsequently liberated Soviet territory, and a further 1,836,000 returned from German captivity. Thus the grand total of losses amounted to 8,668,400.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Citation | first = ГФ [Krivosheev, GF] | last = Кривошеев | title = Россия и СССР в войнах XX века: потери вооруженных сил. Статистическое исследование |trans-title=Russia and the USSR in the wars of the 20th century: losses of the Armed Forces. A Statistical Study | language = ru}}.</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://encyclopedia.mil.ru/encyclopedia/history/more.htm?id=11359251@cmsArticle|title=soviet casualties|website=encyclopedia.mil.ru|access-date=2019-02-21|archive-date=29 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200229060118/http://encyclopedia.mil.ru/encyclopedia/history/more.htm?id=11359251@cmsArticle|url-status=live}}</ref> This is the [[World War II casualties of the Soviet Union|official total dead]], but other estimates give the number of total dead up to almost 11 million men, including 7.7 million killed or missing in action and 2.6 million [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] (POW) dead (out of 5.2 million total POWs), plus 400,000 paramilitary and Soviet partisan losses.<ref name=":1">{{Citation | first = Vadim | last = Erlikman | title = Poteri narodonaseleniia v XX veke: spravochnik | place = Moscow | year = 2004 | isbn = 5-93165-107-1 | language = ru}}.</ref> Officials at the Russian [[Central Archives of the Russian Ministry of Defence|Central Defense Ministry Archive]] (CDMA) maintain that their database lists the names of roughly 14 million dead and missing service personnel.<ref name="Il'Enkov" /> The majority of the losses, excluding POWs, were ethnic [[Russians]] (5,756,000), followed by ethnic [[Ukrainians]] (1,377,400).<ref name="ReferenceA" /> As many as 8 million of the 34 million mobilized were non-Slavic minority soldiers, and around 45 divisions formed from national minorities served from 1941 to 1943.{{Sfn | Glantz | 2005 | pp =600–602}}

The German losses on the Eastern Front consisted of an estimated 3,604,800 KIA/MIA within the 1937 borders plus 900,000 ethnic Germans and Austrians outside the 1937 border (included in these numbers are men listed as missing in action or unaccounted for after the war){{Sfn | Overmans | 2000 | ps =: 'It seems entirely plausible, while not provable, that one half of the missing were killed in action, the other half however in fact died in Soviet custody.'}}{{Rp | needed = yes | date = September 2013}} and 3,576,300 men reported captured (total 8,081,100); the losses of the German satellites on the Eastern Front approximated 668,163 KIA/MIA and 799,982 captured (total 1,468,145). Of these 9,549,245, the Soviets released 3,572,600 from captivity after the war, thus the grand total of the Axis losses came to an estimated 5,976,645.{{Sfn | Overmans | 2000 | ps =: 'It seems entirely plausible, while not provable, that one half of the missing were killed in action, the other half however in fact died in Soviet custody.'}}{{Rp | needed = yes | date = September 2013}} Regarding POWs, both sides captured large numbers and had many die in captivity – one recent{{When|date=February 2025}} British<ref>{{Citation | first = Richard | last = Overy | title = Stalin's Russia, Hitlers Germany}}</ref>{{page needed|date=June 2013}} figure says 3.6 of 6 million Soviet POWs died in German camps, while 300,000 of 3 million German POWs died in Soviet hands.<ref>{{Citation | title = Science | contribution = German-Russian Berlin-Karlhorst museum | url = http://newsfromrussia.com/science/2003/06/13/48180.html | publisher = News from Russia | date = 2003-06-13 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091011120611/http://newsfromrussia.com/science/2003/06/13/48180.html | archive-date = 11 October 2009}}.</ref>

====Shortcomings====
In 1941, the rapid progress of the initial German air and land attacks into the Soviet Union made Red Army logistical support difficult because many depots (and most of the USSR's industrial manufacturing base) lay in the country's invaded western areas, obliging their re-establishment east of the Ural Mountains. [[Lend-Lease]] trucks and jeeps from the United States began appearing in large numbers in 1942. Until then, the Red Army was often required to improvise or go without weapons, vehicles, and other equipment. The 1941 decision to physically move their manufacturing capacity east of the Ural Mountains kept the main Soviet support system out of German reach.<ref>{{cite book| first =G. Don | last = Taylor|title=Introduction to Logistics Engineering|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gqpZDNc5_Y4C&pg=SA1-PA6|year=2010|publisher=CRC Press | pages= 1–6| isbn = 978-1420088571}}</ref> In the later stages of the war, the Red Army fielded some excellent weaponry, especially artillery and tanks. The Red Army's heavy [[Kliment Voroshilov tank|KV-1]] and medium [[T-34]] tanks outclassed most ''Wehrmacht'' armor,<ref>{{cite book|first=Steven|last=Zaloga|title=IS-2 Heavy Tank 1944–73|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qwDI7B_DnlIC&pg=PA3|year=2011|publisher=Osprey Publishing|pages=3–12|isbn=978-1780961392}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> but in 1941 most Soviet tank units used older and inferior models.<ref>{{cite book| first =Russel HS | last = Stolfi |title=Hitler's Panzers East: World War II Reinterpreted|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GlVoAnV5u-0C&pg=PA161|year=1993|publisher=U. of Oklahoma Press|pages=161–162| isbn = 978-0806125817 }}</ref>

====Lend-Lease====
{{main|Lend-Lease}}
The Red Army was financially and materially assisted in its wartime effort by the [[United States]]. In total, the U.S. deliveries to the USSR through Lend-Lease amounted to $11 [[1,000,000,000 (number)|billion]] in materials ($180 billion in the 2020 money value):<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ru.usembassy.gov/world-war-ii-allies-u-s-lend-lease-to-the-soviet-union-1941-1945/|title=World War II Allies: U.S. Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union, 1941–1945|date=May 10, 2020|work=[[Embassy of the United States, Moscow|United States Embassy in Russia]]|access-date=13 April 2023|archive-date=8 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408124944/https://ru.usembassy.gov/world-war-ii-allies-u-s-lend-lease-to-the-soviet-union-1941-1945/|url-status=live}}</ref> over 400,000 [[jeep]]s and trucks; 12,000 [[armored vehicle]]s (including 7,000 tanks, about 1,386<ref>Zaloga (Armored Thunderbolt) pp. 28, 30, 31</ref> of which were [[M3 Lee]]s and 4,102 [[Lend-Lease Sherman tanks|M4 Shermans]]);<ref>''Lend-Lease Shipments: World {{nobr|War II}}'', Section IIIB, Published by Office, Chief of Finance, War Department, December 31, 1946, p. 8.</ref> 14,015 aircraft (of which 4,719 were [[Bell P-39 Airacobra]]s, 2,908 were [[Douglas A-20 Havoc]]s and 2,400 were [[Bell P-63 Kingcobra]]s)<ref>{{harvnb|Hardesty|1991|p=[https://archive.org/details/redphoenixriseof0000hard_d8o6/page/253/mode/1up 253]}}</ref> and 1.75&nbsp;million tons of food.<ref>[http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V2/PDF/Chapter05.pdf ''World {{nobr|War II}} The War Against Germany And Italy''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170506174749/http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V2/PDF/Chapter05.pdf |date=6 May 2017 }}, US Army Center of Military History, p. 158.</ref>

====Wartime rape====
{{Main|Rape during the occupation of Germany|Rape during the occupation of Manchuria|Soviet war crimes}}

Soviet soldiers committed mass rapes in occupied territories, especially in [[Soviet occupation zone of Germany|Germany]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Women and War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lyZYS_GxglIC&pg=PA480|year=2006|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-770-8|pages=480–|access-date=13 April 2023|archive-date=4 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240504072253/https://books.google.com/books?id=lyZYS_GxglIC&pg=PA480|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Wartime sexual violence|wartime rapes]] were followed by decades of silence.<ref name="sander">Helke Sander/Barbara Johr: ''Befreier und Befreite'', Fischer, Frankfurt 2005</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/3255081/German-women-break-their-silence-on-horrors-of-Red-Army-rapes.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/3255081/German-women-break-their-silence-on-horrors-of-Red-Army-rapes.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=German women break their silence on horrors of Red Army rapes|author=Allan Hall in Berlin|date=24 October 2008|work=Telegraph.co.uk|access-date=10 December 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="The Independent">{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/raped-by-the-red-army-two-million-german-women-speak-out-1669074.html|title=Raped by the Red Army: Two million German women speak out|work=The Independent|date=15 April 2009|access-date=10 December 2014|archive-date=17 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417003039/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/raped-by-the-red-army-two-million-german-women-speak-out-1669074.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Susanne Beyer">{{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,680354,00.html|title=Harrowing Memoir: German Woman Writes Ground-Breaking Account of WW2 Rape|author=Susanne Beyer|newspaper=Der Spiegel|date=26 February 2010|publisher=Spiegel.de|access-date=10 December 2014|archive-date=1 March 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100301052729/http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,680354,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> According to historian [[Antony Beevor]], whose books were banned in 2015 from some Russian schools and colleges, [[NKVD]] (Soviet secret police) files have revealed that the leadership knew what was happening, but did little to stop it.<ref name=Bird>{{cite journal |last=Bird |first=Nicky |title=Berlin: The Downfall 1945 by Antony Beevor |journal=International Affairs |volume=78 |number=4 |date=October 2002 |pages=914–916 |institution=Royal Institute of International Affairs}}</ref> It was often [[wikt:rear echelon|rear echelon]] units who committed the rapes.<ref name=":1" /> According to professor  Oleg Rzheshevsky, "4,148 Red Army officers and many privates were punished for committing atrocities".<ref name=":0" /> The exact number of German women and girls raped by Soviet troops during the war and occupation is uncertain, but historians estimate their numbers are likely in the hundreds of thousands, and possibly as many as two million.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Norman M.|first=Naimark, Norman M.|title=The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949|publisher=Cambridge: Belknap Press|year=1995|isbn=|location=|pages=70}}</ref>