WHERE THE RED ARMY FINDS ITS LEADERS

Grey River Argus, 18 February 1942, Page 7

WHERE THE RED ARMY FINDS ITS LEADERS

In the Moscow Military School a new class of officers prepares for war. The enemy is batering towards the city. Unhurried, they complete their-four years’ course, and pass out of the school on to the battlefield.

Big difference between the military academy in the Kremlin and its opposite numbers elsewhere, like Sandhurst, West Point, St. Cyr, is that, in Moscow, it is not taken for granted that only the young of the upper ten are fit to be officers. Most Soviet cadet officers are factory workers, trade unionists, some of them peasants. Trainees take pride in the fact that Vroshilov’s father was a casual railway labourer. Timoshenko’s was an illiterate peasant. This pride arises not out of inverted snobbery, but out of the fact that, with these disadvantages, only an abundance of natural talent could have put Voroshilov and Timoshenko where they are.

Every Soviet boy is liable for military service at the age of 19. In peacetime, his service lasts two years. There is no exemption for conscientious objectors. There used to be. But of late years, no youngsters have applied for exemption, so this year, the ruling has been abolished.

In peacetime, about la million youngsters are called up yearly. After a year in the ranks, the best of them become N.C.O.’s. From ,the best N.C.O.’s, the battalion commander asks for volunteers to attend officers’ school. So students are picked on grounds of proficiency, not privilege. Some go into the military schools direct from secondary school.

Secondary education is reckoned essential for an officer. If a soldier or N.C.O. hasn’t got this, he may be sent to secondary school for a year before going on to military school.

Training is very intensive, especially in mechanised units. The Red Army is the most mechanised in the world; as far back as 1936, they had 10,000 tanks, now they have many more. Voroshilov says that the average horse power per Red Army man was 13 in 1939. Resides light and medium tanks on the German i model, thev have many amphibian I tanks and big 70-ton giants with three gun-turrets.

Before Soviet youngsters go for military training, many of them have alreadv picked up the rudiments of their job. Of the 1920-21 class of conscripts, 60 per cent, are said to have passed their tests for the ‘Ready for Labour and Defence’ badge before they were called up. The tests include running, jumping, rowing, skiing, shooting, throwing hand grenades, and even, in the advanced stages, handling a machine-gun and making parachute jumps from high altitudes.

Red Army discipline is strict, but not snobbish. Accent of Red Army training is on initiative, not spit and polish. Out of Moscow’s ' Military Academy and the Military Technical School come young men skilled, capable, with a burning determination to save their country from the Nazi invader. —“Picture Post."