KDF33 wrote: ↑17 Aug 2023 19:18
But another
source gives a total active strength of 10,363,890 men for 1/7/42, a difference of 676,573 men.
That balance of 676,573 almost perfectly matches the aforementioned ration for the People's Commissariat of Defense (664,148), dated 5/7/42.
That's probably a coincidence. The number of rations wasn't equal to the number of men.
Rations were allocated:
1) in the operational army - to all personnel
2) in the rear areas, Caucasus, Central Asia and Far East - to privates and NCOs only. Officers were supposed to dinner at the garrison canteens paying with their own money (yet there were exceptions as described below).
In all cases the number of rations were smaller than the actual number of men.
Then this decree of 5 July 1942 said (paragraph 4) that the ration allocation is not based on the actual strength but is rather the limit to which the personnel strength should be cut.
Does this mean that the personnel of the Commissariat was considered part of the Red Army?
The allocations of additional rations was listed as follows:
1. Polish Army in the USSR - 44,000
2. Czechoslovak brigade - 1,250
3. Civil Air Fleet - 21,760
4. Raiload troops - 182,850
5. Railroad operation units of the People's Commissariat for Transport - 19,820
6. Intelligence Administration of the General Staff - 4,200
7. Officers and enlisted men servicing signal lines between Stavka and Front - 6,640
8. Officer of the newly formed divisions and brigades - 35,000
9. Officers of units quartered in distant areas who couldn't buy food - 176,000
10. Students and tutors of academies and courses, reserve of officers - 60,480
11. Personnel of military post units - 14,647
12. Civil personnel of bath and laundry detachments - 25,680
13. Civil personnel of VVS airfield service - 14,000
14. Aircraft repair teams - 2,500
15. Civil personnel of aircraft repair workshops - 2,850
16. Officers of the State Bank offices - 2,850
17. Personnel in the NKVD special camps - 10,000
18-19. Civil personnel of the ambulance ships - 5,540+1,000
20. Civil personnel of the Karelian Front's hospitals - 4,796
21. Civil personnel of military food procurement points - 980
22. Units of the NKVD GUShosDor transferred to the NKO - 25,750
23. Research Institute for Epidemiology - 155
6,8,9,10 - personnel of the Red Army who were not supposed to receive rations normally (officers outside the front) but were granted exeptions for some reasons.
1-2 were personnel of allied military
4-5 - Personnel of the NKPS (People's Commissariat for Transport) formations attached to the Red Army
3 - Formations of the Civil Air Fleet (transport, liaison, courier, ambulance aircraft) attached to the Red Army
11 - Personnel of the People's Commissariat for Signals' formations attached to the Red Army
16 - Personnel of the State Bank's formations attached to the Red Army
22 - Personnel of the NKVD's road construction units in the process of transfer to the Red Army, hence a separate line in allocation of rations
12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21 - civil personnel attached to the military who were given military rations to simplify supply
7 - Probably formations raised by the People's Commissariat for Signals (not sure)
17 - Unclear legal status, military personnel in the process of filtration after captivity etc.