Military expert Khodarenok said that Shoigu's report on the reserve army indicates preparations for the offensive
By the end of June, a reserve army will be formed in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and an army corps will be formed in the near future. Parts and connections will receive more than 3,700 pieces of equipment. This was announced by Russian Defense Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu.
"We are forming reserves as part of the army corps, the army, plus five regiments of the 20th army. Everything is going as planned there. In fact, by the end of June we will complete the formation of the reserve army and in the near future we will complete the formation of the army corps," the head of the military department said at a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with permanent members of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. According to Sergei Shoigu, now these five regiments are manned by 60 percent both in personnel and equipment.
There is reason to believe that the purpose of the measures currently being carried out by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is to bring the combat strength of the Russian army to the level necessary not only for the successful disruption of the offensive operation of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the expedient distribution of the created reserves in the areas of warfare, but mainly
Most likely, reserve units and formations are completed by military personnel in direct military accounting specialties and direct staff and official purpose. Armament, military and special equipment for the army and corps being formed comes both from the presence of the Armed Forces and from arsenals, district and central bases (warehouses), as well as from receipts from industrial enterprises.
In this regard, a quite natural question arises - is one reserve army and one army corps a lot or a little? To begin with, let's turn to the experience of the Great Patriotic War.
The defeats of the Red Army groups at the beginning of the war forced the Soviet command to bring large military contingents into battle to restore the strategic defense front, which required, first of all, the creation of new armies, corps and divisions. They were formed, as a rule, in a short time.
Only in June-September 1941, 20 new departments of combined arms armies were formed (on January 1, 1942, instead of 20 at the beginning of the war, there were already 71 of them), and if we talk about formations, then from June 22 to December 1, 1941, 97 personnel (pre-war formations) and 194 were sent to the active army again formed divisions, including 35 divisions of the people's militia, as well as 94 brigades.
In those days, reserves were created in different ways. In the first period of the war, this was carried out mainly at the expense of new formations (over 80%).
In the second period, the withdrawal of associations and formations from the active fronts was more often practiced, followed by their staffing and additional provision of weapons and military equipment.
During the third period, this method was already the main one.
In total, during the Great Patriotic War, the Headquarters of the Supreme Command and the General Staff of the Red Army formed (restored) more than 100 departments of combined arms and 17 tank armies, formed (completed) more than 112 tank, mechanized and artillery corps, about 1,000 rifle, cavalry and artillery divisions, almost 2,000 separate brigades and regiments of the armed forces.
Most likely, at present, the formation of the reserve army and the army corps in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is proceeding according to the method that is the main one in the second period of the Great Patriotic War. That is, units and formations are being withdrawn from the United Group of Troops (or their organizational core is being withdrawn to the formation areas). Then the units, formations and associations are completed with personnel, additional provision of weapons, military and special equipment and all the necessary material means is carried out.
At the next stage, tactical (operational-tactical) exercises with live firing are carried out (it is unacceptable to send troops to the combat zone without them), then a series of control checks are carried out, at which the final readiness of the formed organisms for combat use is determined, finally, regiments and divisions are sent to areas of operational purpose.
As for the importance of strategic reserves in the course of armed struggle, in this regard, one should always remember the basic law of war, which is as follows - the dependence of the course and outcome of the armed struggle on the ratio of the combined military power of the opposing sides, as well as the degree of implementation by the state of combat, military-economic, moral-political, scientific-technical and others the potentials that together make up military power. And strategic reserves are one of the most important components of military power.
"God is always on the side of the big battalions," a French marshal of the XVII century once said. Jacques d'estamp de la Ferte. These words were mistakenly attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte, but they were often spoken by another monarch - King Frederick II the Great.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for the newspaper.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy Commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia (1998).
Columnist of "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Military-Industrial Courier" (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok