THE RUD ARMY.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 50, 2 March 1943, Page 1

THE RUD ARMY.

ITS HIDDEN STRENGTH FRUITS OF 1937 PURGE The Red Army, as the military forces of Soviet Russia are universally known, has reached the 25th anniversary of its formation. It has had its organisation, strength and equipment and ermament so successfully wrapped in mystery that its achievements in its great offensive against the Germans are frequently termed “amazing" and “miraculous.” So complete has been the secrecy maintained by the Soviet Government, even back to pre-war days, that in recent broadcasts German official spokesmen have virtually accused the Russians of “not playing the game" and concealing the real mirht and resources of the Red Army. Ever since the institution of the Soviet system in Russia the Soviec Government has kept an almost impenetrable veil over defence organsation in the country. From time to time it was given out from Soviet Congresses tha: the personnel of the Red Army was so-and-so, and its armament of certain calibre, but events and history have proved that those were obviously under-state-ments. Estimates of Strength. Ac the Seventh Soviet Congress in 1935 it was officially stated tnat the army’s strength for many years had been below 600,00 U, and that it was planned by the end of that, year to raise it to 940,000. In 1939,* Marshal Voroshilov seated that the strength had been more than doubled in five years. This was computed to bring the Red Army up to over 1,900,000 men. No reliable figures have been published as to the actual numbers of the Red Army, but it was estimated that at the time Germany invaded Russia about 2,500,000 men were mobilised and 165 divisions were in the field, exclusive of those in the Far East. They included some 34 cavalry .divisions and over 20 motorised divisions. There were estimated to be something like 48 brigades of tanks, and plans had been made to raise them to 64. The Air Force. The first-line strength of the Russian Air Force was estimated at over 4000 machines, including some 1200 fighters, 700 bombers and 800 aircraft for low-level attacks on ground forces. Prior to its clash with the German armies there was much doubt and speculation regarding the qualities and strength of the Red Army. Its achievements in the first Finnish campaign in 1940 apparently gave doubting critics corroboration of ieir beliefs, although it was subsequently given out tnat nothing like the first-line strength of the Soviet Army was disclosed in those operations. In the initial stages Stalin used inferior troops. Observers who confessed their inability to assess the potential forces of the Red Army did not overlook the face that it was its air force which conceived and developed the use of paratroops, later adopted by the Germans with deadly effect in the invasion of Holland; nor omitted to note the achievements of Russian airmen in long-distance flights in prewar days. • Prediction Fulfilled. The reorganisation of the army followed the purge of 1937, when generals and officers were ruthlessly dispensed with. Some observers claimed that the loss of those leaders weakened the capacity and morale of the Red Army and was a direct cause of the defeats of 1941. On the other hand, the well-known American writer Ralph Ingersoll has recently written that the history of the war had shown that the purge was not injurious to the Red Army. “What the Red Army was purged of was Fift Columnists,” he wrote. The same writer, in recording his impressions in a visit to the Smolensk front in 1941, said the morale of the Soviet Army was high all through the summer and autumn of that ”<>ar even when on retreat in face of the huge German attacks. He also predicted that the Russians would never collapse as did France. “There will b? a Russian army intact and under present managemc.it in the field a years from to-day," he wrote. The magnificent achievements of the Red Armies in the past two months have more than vindicated that prediction.