The Day of the Russian Ground Forces is celebrated annually on October 1 on the basis of the decree of the President of the Russian Federation "On the establishment of professional holidays and memorable days in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation" dated May 31, 2006.
The history of the Russian Land Forces began on October 1 (October 11, new style), 1550. On this day, Tsar Ivan the Terrible issued a decree "On the attendance of a selected thousand serving people in the Moscow and surrounding counties," according to which Streletsky regiments ("firearm infantry") and a permanent guard service were created, and the "outfit" of artillery was allocated to an independent branch of the armed forces. In addition, Ivan the Terrible streamlined the recruitment system of the local army, established permanent service in peacetime and wartime, organized centralized management of the army and its supply. Thus, the first permanent army of the Russian state was created, which had signs of a regular army.
The next important stage in the development of the land forces was the reign of Peter I. In November 1699, the tsar issued a decree "On the admission of soldiers from free people into the service." Since then, the recruiting principle of army formation began to operate, and after the end of the Northern War of 1700-1721, a regular army appeared in Russia.
However, the Ministry of the Army was created only during the reign of Alexander I. On September 20 (September 8, old style), 1802, the tsar issued a manifesto "On the establishment of ministries", on the basis of which ministries were created instead of colleges, including the Ministry of the Army.
The reform of the army was continued by Alexander II, who reorganized its structure, methods of recruitment, organization and armament of troops, as well as the system of training military personnel. In addition, instead of recruiting into the army, universal military service was introduced.
From the second half of the XIX century, qualitative changes began to occur in the land forces. The technical component has acquired great importance. Engineering, aeronautical and railway units of the ground forces were actively developing. In addition, new special troops have appeared – chemical and biological protection. However, the wars and revolutions of the beginning of the XX century led to the actual destruction of the old Russian army.
After the October Revolution of 1917, a new Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was created in Russia, the basis of which also consisted of ground troops, which included various types of troops (infantry, cavalry, artillery, armored forces) and special troops (engineering, communications, automotive, chemical, etc.). She underwent baptism of fire in the conditions of the Civil War (1917-1922) and military intervention.
The land forces received further development during the military reform of 1924-1925.
The ground forces played a decisive role in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, as the main battles took place on land. During the war, their numbers almost doubled, a flexible and fairly effective structure was formed that met the conditions for conducting an armed struggle against a technically well-equipped enemy army. The ground forces developed mainly in the direction of strengthening shock and firepower, which was provided primarily by the growth of armored and mechanized troops and artillery. The technical equipment of the ground forces changed radically during the war. In general, their weapons have been updated by more than 80%.
After the end of the war, the Land Forces were officially registered as a type of the Armed Forces of the USSR. On March 23, 1946, by order of the Chief of the General Staff of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Marshal of the Soviet Union Alexander Vasilevsky, issued on the basis of a resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated February 25, 1946, a governing body was formed – the Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces. The first commander-in-Chief of the Land Forces was Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov, who was also Deputy People's Commissar of the Armed Forces of the USSR for the Land Forces.
In the future, the Ground Forces developed on the basis of the latest military equipment and achievements of military science. They received tactical and operational-tactical missiles, nuclear weapons, tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, new systems of barrel and rocket artillery, anti-aircraft missile systems and self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery installations, effective controls. A complete motorization of the Ground Forces was carried out.
New large-scale changes took place in the Russian army after the collapse of the Soviet Union (1991). The process of reforming the Ground Forces has begun in order to bring it into line with the changed military-political conditions and economic capabilities of the state. Moreover, at first, the military reform, in fact, was reduced to a simple reduction of the Armed Forces of the USSR and the Ground Forces, including.
Since 2009, as part of giving the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation a new look, significant structural transformations have taken place in the Ground Forces. Permanent readiness brigades formed instead of bulky and difficult-to-control divisions became the main tactical unit of the Ground Forces.
Modern Ground Forces are the most numerous and diverse type of Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in terms of weapons and methods of combat operations, designed to repel enemy aggression in continental theaters of military operations, protect the territorial integrity and national interests of the Russian Federation.
They include motorized rifle troops, tank troops, rocket troops and artillery, air defense troops, reconnaissance formations and military units, engineering troops, radiation, chemical and biological protection troops, communications troops.
Organizationally, the Ground Forces consist of combined arms armies (operational commands), motorized rifle (including mountain), tank, amphibious assault brigades, cover brigades, military bases, machine-gun artillery division, training centers, formations and units of rocket troops and artillery, air defense troops, special troops and some other organizations and institutions.
Associations and formations of the Ground Forces are part of four military districts (joint strategic commands) and form the basis of groupings of troops (forces) in strategic directions.
The Commander-in-chief of the Ground Forces is Army General Oleg Salyukov.
Currently, there is a systematic comprehensive re-equipment of the Ground Forces with modern models of weapons and military equipment.
In 2021, the formations and military units of the Ground Forces received more than 2,500 new basic weapons, military and special equipment. Modern T-72B3M and T-80BVM tanks, BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles and BTR-82A armored personnel carriers were purchased for tank and motorized rifle units.
In 2021, for the first time, the supply of upgraded armored vehicles began: T-90M tanks and upgraded BMP-2 combat vehicles with a combat compartment "Berezhok".
The formations and military units of the missile forces and artillery received modern multiple rocket launchers of medium caliber "Tornado-G", upgraded self-propelled howitzers "Msta-S", self-propelled anti-tank missile systems "Chrysanthemum-S".
The troops are supplied with anti-aircraft missile systems and complexes S-300V4, Buk-M3, Tor-M2 and its modification in the Arctic version Tor-M2DT, portable anti-aircraft missile systems Verba, automation complexes Polyana-D4M1 and Barnaul-T, radar stations "Niobium-SV" and other weapons.
In 2022, the systematic re-equipment of modern equipment and weapons of the Ground Forces continues. In May, Uralvagonzavod sent an echelon of the newest T-90M "Breakthrough" tanks to the troops.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources