Soviet infantry forces in June 1941: strong or weak?

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Kelvin
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Re: Soviet infantry forces in June 1941: strong or weak?

#46

Post by Kelvin » 19 Jul 2014, 20:29

Some sources said Soviet Rifle division in 1941 was authorized to have a dozen T-26 tanks, and did it really equipped in most of Rifle divisions in 1941 ?

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Jeff Leach
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Re: Soviet infantry forces in June 1941: strong or weak?

#47

Post by Jeff Leach » 20 Jul 2014, 09:13

Kelvin wrote:Some sources said Soviet Rifle division in 1941 was authorized to have a dozen T-26 tanks, and did it really equipped in most of Rifle divisions in 1941 ?
Some did but probably not many, don't know if there is list of those that did. The cavalry division were to have BT regiment but only some did.

When it comes to dates you need to be carefully because the official bookeeping laged behind events, especially during Operation Barbarossa. Many of the units that had been destroyed early in the war were not stricken from the books until September or even December 1941.


Art
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Re: Soviet infantry forces in June 1941: strong or weak?

#48

Post by Art » 20 Jul 2014, 15:20

Kelvin wrote:Some sources said Soviet Rifle division in 1941 was authorized to have a dozen T-26 tanks
No, not in usual tables of organizations. That is probably a confusion with earlier period. Several divisions in the Far East had extra tank battalions. I don't know any additional details on this.

olia
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Re: Soviet infantry forces in June 1941: strong or weak?

#49

Post by olia » 27 Jul 2014, 12:05

In 1941, Soviet RD had a detached reconnaissance battalion, which had a tank company (10-12 tanks BT-5, BT-7, T-26)

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Re: Soviet infantry forces in June 1941: strong or weak?

#50

Post by Kelvin » 27 Jul 2014, 18:41

Hi, olia, thank for your data.

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Re: Soviet infantry forces in June 1941: strong or weak?

#51

Post by Art » 27 Jul 2014, 20:53

olia wrote:In 1941, Soviet RD had a detached reconnaissance battalion, which had a tank company (10-12 tanks BT-5, BT-7, T-26)
According to tables of organizations one company with 16 T-37/38/light tanks. No BTs or T-26s. Check it here:
http://www.rkka.ru/org/str/rd2.html

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Re: Soviet infantry forces in June 1941: strong or weak?

#52

Post by steverodgers801 » 27 Jul 2014, 22:45

The Soviets were in the midst of a massive reorganization and few units had their full TOE. The units in the Ukraine received first priority and were in slightly better shape, but most in the Western and Baltic area were way below.

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Re: Soviet infantry forces in June 1941: strong or weak?

#53

Post by Kelvin » 28 Jul 2014, 16:18

Hi, on June 1 1941, Soviet army had 132 T-40, 1,129 T-38 and 2,331 T-37 reconnaissance tanks on hand, it would be enough to equip all Rifle Divisions in the west, albeit low combat ready status. And she also had 2,558 T-27 tankettes on hand on the same day.

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Re: Soviet infantry forces in June 1941: strong or weak?

#54

Post by steverodgers801 » 28 Jul 2014, 20:04

The production of spare parts for the older tanks had stopped and about half of all tanks in the Soviet OOB were broken down and not fixable due to the shortage of parts and trained personel.

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Re: Soviet infantry forces in June 1941: strong or weak?

#55

Post by Art » 29 Jul 2014, 21:23

I believe weapons were available in requisite numbers to arm all rifle divisions according to TO&Es. The notable exception were antiaircraft weapons namely 12,7-mm machineguns and 37-mm automatic guns.

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