TYPES AND TRENDS IN SOVIET OFFICER CLASS

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24152, 11 January 1944, Page 4

TYPES AND TRENDS IN SOVIET OFFICER CLASS

RUSSIA’S ARMY

Much attention is being paid in the Russian military’ press to the building up of a strong traditional sense in the Red Army’s Officer Corps. Soviet officers, as the “Red Star” wrote recently, find a good deal in the old traditions of Russian officers which is making clear to them the origin and development of Russia’s military strength. Emphasis is laid on the fact that Peter the Great, creator of the first regular army in Russia, insisted on a system whereby future officers began their service in the ranks, and founded a tradition of “the officer as the father of his men.” Under Peter, too, the Russians are now being reminded, grew up a comprehension of the officers’ true honour. “He who fights only for his own glory, and not for the defence of the country, is not a great hero,” is a remark attributed to the Russian Tsar, whose influence in contemporary Russia is probably greater than that of any Russian of the past, except Lenin. A true officers’ tradition is considered as having been kept alive successively by Catherine the Great’s military administrator, Rumyantsev, and by Marshal Suvorov, who, we are told, considered it an honour to eat “kagha” with his troops,, by Kutozov, Ermolov (of the Caucasian campaigns), and Brusilov. These commanders always. understood that, although military discipline is the army’s chief strength, as a man the officer is a member of a family, and can hold his men under a double law of love and discipline. . , Perhaps as in no other land to-day, young Russian officers look back for guidance from the past. For Russians brought up during the last quarter of a century, the rediscovery of the national history is a new and exciting experience. In what other land could one find an equivalent of the popular use of the phrase, the “Suvorov type,” to describe men whose slight, wiry figures resemble that of the famous eighteenth century marshal? It is as though Englishmen were to describe each other as being the “Marlborougn type.” The Nelson Touch A similar example is provided by the recent upholding of Nelson as an example to officers of the Red Fleet. It was impossible to be a good naval officer if one did not combine the practical knowledge of the sailor with the honourable habits of a gentleman, the newspaper “Red Fleet" paraphrased the English admiral, and advised future naval officers to take dancing lessons, since, it said, they would be the future representatives of the best stratum of the Soviet intelligentsia and should know how to conduct themselves in society. It is significant in this respect that, since the war, Russian naval men have been keen students of foreign languages. By catching up many strains of the Russian tradition, snapped abruptly by the revolution, a type of regular officer is taking shape again. These men have welcomed the reinlroduction of epaulettes (pogony), of a smarter cut of uniforms, and of divisional names resonant with Russia’s past and still echoing recent victories. They have gladly taken up the fuller authority given to them by the relegation of political officers lo positions subordinate to those of military commanders. Recent regulations tightening up the saluting of officers, dress, and bearing in public places, the reihtroduction of officers’ orderlies and officers’ blubs, have seemed to them quite a natural development. In future the junior officers’ corps will be recruited not only from the officers’ training schools, which the Russian youth normally enters after his secondary education, but also from the newly founded Suvorov schools. These establishments have been organised on the model of the Tsarist cadet schools and are part of a great reconstruction programme announced during the summer. They will be attended principally by the children of officers killed during the war in the first place and are intended in part to solve the orphan problem. At these schools, according to published descriptions, some 4500 boys will receive training for a life profession as officers. They will be thoroughly imbued in the military outlook, and on leaving will be expected to become models of patriotism and culture. They must know one foreign language fluently and will be taught to shoot, fence, ski, and drive a car, as well as military history and tactics. Classes are to be organised as companies, with colonels and majors in

[By a Moscow Correspondent of “The Times."] (Published by Arrangement.)

command, and older pupils as sereean*. During the last four yeawS a 10-year course cadets spend their summer months camp. Each group entering the school will be attached to a military tutor, who will remain with it risht through its education. 601

To-day, when most Russian able bodied men are upder arms, the maioiC ity of the Red Army’s officers do not belong to the regular forces, and anv picture that might be drawn from the - foregoing of a Russian officer insistent I on his prestige and the honour of a j, professional class would be far from accurate. For to-day’s junior officers & are yesterday’s school teachers, factory - inspectors, lawyers, and clerks, and in • the main they have no other desire but $ to return on as early a morrow as pos. $ sible to their peace-time occupations

Return to Civil Life

Little militarism is found among such v men. though there is recognition that*® in disciplinary interests certain reforms -?■' in their status were necessary. Al-. 'i though those who survive the war will | return to civil life necessarily changed nl by the experience, it would, in the lj writer’s opinion, be a mistake to as- 13 sume that the changes will make them J misfits. For one thing, Russian civilian'® life itself has changed in the direction.;* of a keener discipline and a greater re- -4? spect for authority, and brisker effl-m ciency. During the war there has been,® a perceptible raising of the standards ;!*! of alertness throughout,the land, and® this has been associated with a higher jap valuation of those qualities . which,■?;make some men better leaders than K others.

Another factor which should ease the'?* transition from the army back to civil* ian life is the longing of the average Russian fighting man to resume peaceful occupation as near as possible.:® where he left off. For the war is seen W here as an interruption in a forward,process, not, as in some other lands, perhaps, as the cracking-point of an unsatisfactory social system. The greatTmajority of the Red Army’s officers probably slip off their long serge coara d with relief. I have had frequent op* a portunities to meet these young offl. M cers—as aspirants grouped round papier mache models of thej® Russian countryside in training schools; as pilot officers sitting ategt ia the dogskin boots and yellow jackets, among wild snapdragon apO| clover, beneath the wings of aero-clt planes: as Cossack colonels proudly ,l| demonstrating their along the baked mud paths of centrahg Russia, as generals flushed with victory H among the phantom ruins of grad. To talk with these young Russians, who have come to the army from || jobs on farms, in factories, and officM,.:M is to discover men whose real interests.®! are still at home, the interests of the men of all trades and professions from -4 all over the Union. * Love of the Homeland ,

The war, indeed, has taught much. Many young Russian officer* X| have discovered their homeland afresh% as they have seen the enemy’s panzer > units crush the tender young wheaH'| and the shellfire of his guns splinter r the glistening birch trees. Many » Russian has pressed a ragged, dust- ft soiled tunic against the harts-clover of the Kursk meadows or crouched f| tense among the sweetly blossoming lime trees on the outskirts of a-|| Ukrainian village occupied by the j| enemy; or bathed his feet in the.S: Dnieper’s waters —and has found all Russia in those moments. Caucasians, Central Asiatics, Karel-‘ 4 ians, Christian, Moslem, and Free- | thinker have learned through fellowship in the Army more than any schoolbook or political lecture could . teach them of the close-knit character 1 of their land. ■

Though some who see in arrtvy'tecvice a life profession have been pro* j| foundly influenced by their new status, ® the bulk of the Red Army’s officers retain the character of civilians,* in uniform. Their influence out the army restrains any towards exaggerated professionalism. Three-pip Ivan Ivanovitch, a sparserg built, round-handed fellow, still l°okS|| a little uncomfortable in a tight dressj* uniform. Though he smiles readilyfe when off his guard, his broad snubnosed face usually wears the frown ofxj a man trying to master a strange, dif-1;? ficult subject. His response to a salute ■/ shows just a sign of surprise, as if it were a strange thing for him to' be,, greeted in this way.