Main Directorate of Historical Research of the General Staff

[Der Alte Fritz]

I am looking for the Main Directorate of Historical Research of the General Staff series on the Battles of the GPW.

управление Изучения опыта войны

ГЕНЕРАЛЬНОГО ШТАБА ВООРУЖЕННЫХ СИЛ СОЮЗА ССР

I am looking for a list of the series and also where to find them, particularly No25 Vistula-Oder Operation

Any ideas?

[Art]

There was a topic several years ago, If I understand correctly what you mean:
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 9&t=165005
I've got a complete list of issues somewhere, if you are interested.

[Der Alte Fritz]

A list would be a good start.

Published by Frank Cass in English:
11 Kursk
14 Korsun
18 Belorussian Operation
22 Lvov-Sandomir
25 Vistula-Oder

Battle for Moscow (English):
https://www.worldcat.org/title/battle-f ... ef_results

Stalingrad (English):
https://www.worldcat.org/title/battle-f ... ef_results

Soviet documents on the use of war experience (3 volumes) covers the perios 1941-42
https://www.worldcat.org/title/soviet-d ... ef_results

Eastview Collection (Russian)
https://www.worldcat.org/title/collecti ... ef_results

but no library closer than Munich seems to hold a copy of the Eastview material.

[Art]

A list would be a good start.

Ok, I've got to look for it.

Battle for Moscow (English):
https://www.worldcat.org/title/battle-f ... ef_results

That was not a part of series but rather a separate book. Eastview was selling Sbornik (entire series IIRC) but for space prices.

[Der Alte Fritz]

Does anyone have an idea if these books include the material:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Prelude-Berlin ... 1910777161

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rollback-Offen ... SN5XXFFPYP

[Der Alte Fritz]

There is this English translation of the Stalingrad volume No 6
https://www.worldcat.org/title/battle-o ... ef_results

[Art]

Ok, the index I've found in my records:

No.1 Jul-Aug 1942. Operations to encircle large groups.

No.2 Sept-Oct 42. Misc. articles on winter campaign 1942/43

No.3 Nov-Dec 42.
Some conclusions from winter operations of the Volkhov Front.
Battle formations based on war experience.
Cavalry corps in a breakthrough
Effect of air forces against tanks
Combat employment of armored trains
Operational movements of troops by motor transport

No.4 Jan-Feb 1943
Operations in mountains
Artillery offensive of 31 Army (Jul 1942)
Massed actions of air forces in an operation
Signal communications in an offensive operation of an army
Operational movement of troops by motor transport on the Stalingrad Front
Regulation on front's rear services

No.5 Mar 1943
Operational results of German defeat at Moscow
Belov's group in operational rear of German forces (Jan - Jun 42)
4 Airborne Corps in German rear (Jan - May 42)
Some conclusions from operations of West Front's left wing (Jul 42).
Experience of rear services organization on Crimean Front
Combined operation of river flotillas with land forces

No.6 Apr - May 1943
Defeat of German forces at Stalingrad

No. 7 Jun-Jul 1943
Preparation and execution of breakthrough from experience of Stalingrad operation
Artillery offensive on the Don Front
Topographical support in the battle of Stalingrad
Fortified regions in the battle for Stalingrad
Defense of a river from experience of 21 Army (Jul-Aug 42)
Kestenga operation (Apr-May 42)
Operations of 8 Cavalry Corps on enemy communications (Feb 43)
Rear services in an offensive operation of an army

No. 8 Aug-Oct 43
Offensive operation of the South-West Front in December 1942
Employment of tank and mechanized corps for exploitation of breakthrough
Anti-aircraft artillery group in offensive
Defense operations of cavalry
Crossing of the Don River using improvised facilities

No.9 Nov-Dec 43
South-West Front's breakthrough of defense on the Don River
Air forces in December operations on the Don River
Organization and planning for artillery counter-preparation
Operational marches of tank and mechanized units
Battle for Voroshilovgrad (Feb 43)
Velikiye Luki operation (Nov 42 - Jan 43)
Capture of bridgehead at Tosno (Aug 42)
Engineer support for offesnive operation of an army
Cavalry-mechanized group's entry into a breakthrough
Character of German defense on the Demyansk bridgehead
Engineer support for tank (mechanized) unit entry into a breakthrough
Special features of army's rear organization in an offensive operation

No.10 Jan-Feb 44
Breakthrough on a flank of German Orel grouping (Jul 43)
13 Army's offensive in the Voronezh-Kastornoye operation (Jan 43)
Battle for Krymskaya (spring 43)
6 Guards Cavalry Corps in battle for Valuyki and Urazovo (Jan 43)
Operations of tank forces in pursuit at Kuban and Taman peninsula

No.11 Mar-Apr 44 Defense of the Kursk salient (Jul 43)

[Art]

Continued

No.12 May-Jun 44
Novorossiysk operation (Sept 43)
Novgorod operation (Jan 44)
50 Army in the Bryansk operation (Sept 43)
Offensive with river crossing
Zaporozhie operation (Oct 43)
Medical support for the operation of 30 Army
Military topographical service in GPW

No.13 Jul-Aug 44
Crimean operation of the 4 Ukrainian Front
South Front's offensive at Mius and Molochnaya Rivers (Aug-Oct 43)

No.14 Sept-Oct 44
Korsun operation
Operations of the 5 Guards Cavalry Corps at Korsun
Uman operation of the 2 Ukrainian Front (Mar 44)
Kirovograd operation (Jan 44)
Nevel operation (Oct 43)
Air forces operations at pursuit of enemy
Organization of tank army's rear in offensive

No.15 Nov-Dec 44 Vitebsk operation (Jun 44)

No.16 Jan-Feb 45
Vyborg operation (Jun 44)
28 Army's breakthrough at Zhlobin (Jun 44)
Struggle for bridgeheads (Vistula, Aug 44)
3 Guards Tank Army in the Lvov-Sandomierz operation
Cavalry-Mechanized group of the 3 Belorussian Front in summer operations of 1944
Signal communications in an operation of an army
Crossing of Dniester Liman and capture of Akkerman (Aug 44)

No. 17 Mar-Apr 45
Operational regrouping from experience of 1 Baltic Front
Encirclement and defeat of the Brody grouping (Jul 44)
Liquidation of the enemy bridgehead at Narew
Artillery support of breakthrough at Bogushevo (Jun 44)
Tank and mechanized forces in the Bobrusik operation (Jun 44)
Engineer support for 2 Ukrainian Front in Jassy-Kishinev operation

No. 18 May-Jun 45 Operation Bagration

No. 19 Jul-Aug 45 Jassy-Kishinev operation

No. 20
Commitment of second echelons into breakthrough (11 Guards Army in Prussia Jan 45)
Petsamo-Kirkeness operation
Kerch operation
Aviation support for the Belorussian operation
Rocket units in offensive
Road service and road operations in war

No.21 Budapest operation

No. 22 Lvov-Sandomierz operation
2 Guards Army's offesnive to Darkemen (Jan 45)
Tank Corps of 3 Belorussian Front in the East-Prussian Operation
Combat capabilities of ground-attack and bomber airplanes
Engineer support for crossing of a water obstacle

No. 23
Carpathian operation of the 4 Ukrainan Front
Signal communications and signal troops in GPW
Artillery support for tank corps' entry into breakthrough (from 65 Army's experience)
Operations of the 3 Guards Cavalry Corps at Allenstein (Jan 45)
Employment of railroad engineers in the East-Prussian operation

No. 24 East-Prussian operation

No. 25 Vistula-Oder operation of 1 Belorussian Front

No.26 Topographical support for army's and front's operation

[Der Alte Fritz]

UPOIIOV series:

Collection Of Materials For The Study Of War Experience
Sbornik materialov po izuchenii︠u︡ opyta voĭny
26 volumes 1942-1948 (as listed above)


Sbornik takticheskikh primerov po opytu Otechestestvennoi voiny
Collection of tactical examples of the experience of the GPW
Volumes 1 to 23 1943-47


Sbornik boevykh dokumentov Velikoi Otechestestvennoi voĭny
Collection of combat documents of the GPW
Volumes 1 to 43 1949-1960
(http://www.teatrskazka.com/Raznoe/Sborn ... ssues.html)


Sbornik voenno-istoricheskikh materialov Velikoi Otechestestvennoi voĭny
Collection of military-historical materials of the GPW
Volumes 1 to 19 1949-1960

[Der Alte Fritz]

The first 3 of these , published during wartime, were written on a monthly 'report' basis of what was immediately topical so inevitably, some items had to be dealt with later as individual reports. My understanding is that some operations do not appear in the above document but were published as independent documents or books of the General Staff. The Shapovnikov Moscow book falls into this category.

[Der Alte Fritz]

The series being published by Helion are currently:

The Battle of Moscow 1941 - 1942: The Red Army's Defensive Operations and Counter-Offens​ive Along the Moscow Strategic Direction
by Soviet General Staff, Richard W. Harrison (Hardcover) is a translation of "Razgrom Nemetskikh Voisk pod Moskvoi" by Shaposhnikov

Rollback. The Red Army's Winter Offensive along the Southwestern Strategic Direction, 1942-43. Hardcover – 7 Jan 2016
by Richard Harrison (Author) this is a translation of part of Sbornik No 6 and No 8 and No 9 with articles from Sbornik materialov

The Battle of Kursk: The Red Armys Defensive Operations and Counter-Offensive, July-August 1943 Hardcover – 15 Jul 2016
by Soviet General Staff (Author), Richard W. Harrison (Translator) (Author) - not sure but seems to include various Sbornik volumes since it covers both the defensive and offensive stages.


The Berlin Operation, 1945
by Soviet General Staff, Richard W. Harrison (translator) (Hardcover) looks like the Sbornik Berlin volume.


Prelude to Berlin. The Red Army's Offensive Operations in Poland and Eastern Germany, 1945.
by Richard Harrison (Hardcover) this is an article from VIZh 1965, an article byb Col Bagreev from 1957, part of Sbornik materialov No 24 and No 1 and Sbornik veonno-istoricheskikhi No 8 with the final part from VOV

[Art]

Actually we've got confused somewhat with all those publication. First, there was a military history department in the General Staff prior to the war start. In April 1942 a new department for use of war experience was established. In March 1944 it was renamed as directorate for studying war experience. See a history of reorganization here:
http://rkka.ru/handbook/high/gsh.htm
Those two were separate sections with different publications.
The war experience section published on a regular basis:
1) Collection of materials for studying war experience (26 volumes)
2) Informational bulletin (70 issues from November 1943 to 1947)
3) Collection of tactical examples (23 issues to 1946)
Post war it started publishing collections of wartime documents (10 issues, the last in 1950). Circa 1949-1950 the directorate for studying the war experience was disbanded.
In its turn military history department published some books on WW2 battles on irregular basis including the one on the Moscow battle mentioned above. In 1945-46 it was renamed military history directorate. In 1945 the Main Military Science Directorate was established which incorporated the military history directorate. In 1953 they were renamed Military Science Directorate and its Military History Department respectively. All historical material from 1949-50 was published by this organization. Hope that clarifies things a little.
The topic title is somehow a misnomer since no organization with such exact name existed.

[Art]

UPOIIOV series:

Sbornik voenno-istoricheskikh materialov Velikoi Otechestestvennoi voĭny
Collection of military-historical materials of the GPW
Volumes 1 to 19 1949-1960

As explained above they were published by the military history directorate (department)
A partial index:

No.4 - Tallin operation (Sept 44). Operations of temporarily motorized rifle divisions.
No.5 - Kharkov operation (May 42). Defense operation of 4 Guards Army (Jan. 45 aka German operation "Konrad")
No.6 - Battles for the Kustrin bridgehead (1 Belorussian Front, Feb-Mar 45). 28 Army's offensive in Est Prussia, January 1945.
No.7 - Operations in Kalinin Area, October 1941-January 1942
No.8 - Upper Silesia operation (Mar 45). 15 Rifle Corps' breakthrough of prepared defense south of Brody in July 1944.
No.9 - Ostrogozhsk-Rossosh operation (Jan 43). Defense of 64 Rifle Corps south of Lake Balaton, March 1945.
No.10-11 Lower-Silseia operation of 1 Ukrainian Front (Feb 45)
No.12 - Crossing of the Dniper River by 37 and 52 Armies (autumn 1943)
No.13 - Voronezh-Kastornoye operation (Jan 43). Operations of 26 Tank Brigade/43 Army in December 1941.
No. 14 - Defense of Odessa in 1941. Defense of 79 Marine Brigade at Sevastopol in June 1942.
No.15 - Uman operation of 2 Ukrainian Front (Mar 44). Operations of Bryansk and Voronezh Front on the Voronezh direction in the summer of 1942.
No.16 - Essey of foreign sources on the Soviet Army
No.17 - Operations of 38 Army in Carpathians, September-October 1944.
No.18 - Pulbication of German documents
No.19 - History of foreign military forces formed in the USSR.

[Paul_Atreides]

No.1 - Prague operation. Battle fighting of 2nd Belorussian Front in East Pomeranian operation. 2nd Belorussian Front's Rear during East Pomeranian operation. 18th Rifle Corps' offensive on self-direction during Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh operation of Voronezh Front. Discussion of the book "The Battle of Kursk".
No.2 - Svir'-Petrozavodsk operation. Nal'chik defensive operation (25 October - 12 November 1942). 54th Rifle Corps' fighting for Melitopol (October 1943).
No.3 - Vienna operation of 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts. An cavalry-tank group's fighting in Jassy-Kishinev operation. 104th Rifle Corps' offensive with breakthrough of prepared enemy's defence to north-west of Jassy.

[Der Alte Fritz]

Thanks to you for such excellent lists and the explanation of the organisational history. It is a shame that many of these sources are not more widely available.