MILITARY THOUGHT No. 8/2004

Technical equipment of road troops: reality and prospects

Head of the Central Automobile and Road Administration of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

lieutenant generalTHEM. TSYGANKOV

CURRENTLY, roads are one of the most important components of the country's transport complex. Being dual-purpose facilities, they are used "both in peacetime and in wartime and provide a solution not only to national and regional socio-economic problems, but also to the tasks of ensuring the national security of Russia. The role of highways is essential but increases due to the great vulnerability of objects of other types of transport, as well as a significant increase in the number and importance of tasks, the solution of which directly depends on the availability, condition and development of the road network. position of Russia.

Today, the total length of motor roads in the Russian Federation is almost two times less than the needs of the state and amounts to 1,140 thousand km. Only 84-85% of the roads have a hard surface that ensures their year-round use. Accordingly, the density of the road network does not exceed 44 km per 1000 sq. km. km of territory. This is significantly lower than in the economically developed countries of the world (in the USA - 600 km, in Canada - 300 km). In relation to the population, the density of paved roads in the Russian Federation is about 5.3 km per 1 thousand inhabitants, while in Finland this figure is about 10 km, in the USA - 13 km , in France - 15.1 km.

Along with ensuring the life of the country, highways ensure the deployment of the Armed Forces, other troops, military formations and bodies in the event of a threat to the security of the state, the regrouping and movement of troops on their own, the supply of materiel and the implementation of evacuation transportation in the required volumes. For the effective use of the roads of the Russian Federation, it is necessary to prepare in advance the management bodies, forces and means intended to perform the tasks of operating, technical cover and restoration of roads, their improvement, consistent development and accumulation, reservation, maintenance road infrastructure facilities.

The solution of the problems of motor transport and road support in the Rear of the Armed Forces is entrusted to the Central Automobile and Road Administration of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, which has automobile and road troops under its command. Today, these formations, equipped with special road service equipment, are able to perform the tasks of the road commandant service on their own, using sets of personnel equipment, to restore, and to build new bridges from the building materials available locally, to repair roads in any conditions. environment.

The modern concept for the development of road troops equipment is built taking into account the state of the country's economy, changes in the set of troops (forces) in the regions (in strategic directions) and the volume of tasks to be solved. At present, the modernization of existing and the development of new models of equipment of the road troops is organized and carried out on the basis of the general principles of the development of rear equipment as a single system, the unification of technical means of the road service, and the development of modular structures.

The average period of storage and operation of automobile and road equipment is 15-20 years. Today, road troops are mainly equipped with samples produced by the industry of the USSR. In this regard, certain difficulties arose in carrying out repair and restoration work on this equipment, since individual components and spare parts are no longer produced on the territory of the Russian Federation. In addition, it is necessary to achieve a reduction in the multi-brand of the technical fleet through the development of promising models of automotive and road equipment, mainly as part of highly unified families of Russian production. To implement the principle of unification of technology, it is planned to carry out research and development work, providing for the replacement of the chassis of pile-driving installations used in the construction of road bridges, the development of universal bridge structures, the modernization of the structures of existing road demountable bridges, the improvement and creation of new floating facilities that allow you to perform the entire range of work on water barriers.

Optimization of the range of equipment is carried out through the development of complex (combined) road machines for summer and winter road maintenance based on a car with interchangeable attachments and trailers of various functions. Renewal of the composition of the fleet of vehicles based on an increase in the productivity of machinery and equipment will dramatically reduce their number for the construction, repair and maintenance of roads, as well as reduce the time for building bridges with minimal use of forces and means.

All this makes it possible to form a technical park that meets the prospective needs of the road troops and prepare them for functioning in a single logistics support system.

To solve the problems of road support, the Logistics of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation has road commandant and bridge formations and units. The existing staffs of these formations and units provide for the availability of various standard road equipment designed to solve emerging problems.

Until the 70s of the 20th century, the road troops were equipped mainly with equipment, which was also equipped with engineering units and units. First of all, these are pontoon-bridge parks, which are in service with the pontoon-bridge battalions of bridge and road commandant brigades, sets of bridge-building equipment available in bridge battalions, and light and heavy pontoon parks.

Until the early 1980s, the creation of road equipment was based on the search for optimal technical solutions, differentiated by technology.

In recent years, for a number of reasons, military bridge building has been significantly weakened. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, seven large steel structures plants operated in the interests of the Department, such as Dnepropetrovsk, Toytepinsky, Mariupol, Borisovsky, Kashirsky, Kulebaksky; two experimental mechanical - Artemovsky and Kazansky; Zolotonosha repair and machine-building plant; Ashinsky plant of lighting products; Riga plant "Straume"; Jelgava Experimental Enterprise; Vakhtansky timber industry enterprise. Placement of orders for road-technical equipment at these enterprises in the interests of the Department, their stable financing made it possible to annually replenish stocks and update obsolete samples to the required level. The loss of the main production facilities could not but affect the staffing of the troops with road nomenclature equipment. At the same time, studies conducted in recent years in the rear of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation show that, on average, every five to seven years, the material needs of the troops increase by 20-25%. Significantly increased volumes and tasks solved in the new conditions of the situation lead to the complication of the organization of transport support.

For the development of road maintenance, it is necessary to improve road-technical means. The main directions for solving this problem should be: firstly, a radical improvement in the tactical and technical characteristics and indicators of road equipment; secondly, ensuring the uniformity of bridge structures both in the manufacturing process and in the course of development in a variety of geographical and climatic conditions. Since 2003, work has been resumed on the creation of a unified tool designed for building floating bridges, using collapsible high-water bridges as floating supports and performing the entire range of installation work, as well as universal bridge structures that are intended to replace existing samples of high-water collapsible road bridges . The solution of these complex problems involves research in a very wide range. It is also envisaged to carry out a large complex of research, experimental and design work to create machines, various equipment for the mechanization of manual labor, both during installation work and when laying road surfaces.

The process of creating technical means covers a large complex of interrelated issues, the timely solution of which determines the quality of the samples. Their development is carried out in military educational institutions, in scientific and technical committees, military institutes, in industry, at test sites and, finally, in the troops. However, the terms for coordinating developments in various instances exceed all reasonable limits. The amount of time spent on passing all the links can be judged by the following figures. The average development time for a single-span demountable road bridge is 160 days, and coordination with various authorities is 350 days. When developing a machine such as a pile driving installation, 25 to 35 approvals of component assemblies or parts are required, and the creation of a technical system such as a cable-stayed-beam bridge requires 400-600 approvals, which takes from three to five years.

Under these conditions, in order to ensure the combat readiness of the Armed Forces Logistics, the technical policy for the development of road troops should be aimed at solving a number of problematic issues, primarily: ensuring the mobility and maneuverability of road equipment, unifying means of transportation and chassis for installation, ensuring maximum mechanization of labor-intensive processes.

When creating stocks of road equipment, priority will be given first of all to those that determine the combat readiness of the troops, i.e. collapsible road bridges, pile-loading equipment and pile-driving ferries.

The comparative tactical and technical analysis of domestic vehicles of the road service with analogues of the armies of the developed countries of the world in terms of survivability, reliability, design and technological perfection allows us to conclude that the technical level of existing and promising Russian models basically corresponds to modern requirements and according to the main indicators is not inferior to similar foreign funds.

At present, it is important to correctly adjust the ways of further development and improvement of road service technical means, taking into account domestic and foreign experience, as well as the requirements of the Military Doctrine. To this end, in our opinion, the main efforts in research and development work should be directed to consolidating the results achieved, improving the technical, economic, technological and operational indicators of road equipment, expanding the scope of its application. in various hydrological and soil-geological conditions of the area, as well as the modernization of existing samples.

To comment, you must register on the site.

Plan:

Introduction

• 1. History
  • 1.1 Imperial period
  • 1.2 Soviet period
  • 1.3 Federal period
  • 1.4 Personnel training
• 2 Interesting Facts
Notes
Literature

Introduction

Road Troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (DV RF Armed Forces)- special troops as part of the Russian Armed Forces (Russian Armed Forces), designed to perform road maintenance tasks. They consist of road commandant, road construction, bridge building formations, units and subdivisions.

In peacetime, the Far East is involved in the construction and restoration of highways (AD), bridges across large water barriers, the protection, protection and defense of road facilities, as well as to eliminate the consequences of emergencies.

Professional holiday in Russia - September 23 - Day of military road builders, the day of the creation of five pioneer companies and an equestrian team to carry out military road work in the interests of the army, during the Patriotic War, September 11 (September 23, new style), 1812 (St. ), according to the order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Prince, Field Marshal Kutuzov. This order laid the foundation for the creation of the road service as a separate structure in the Russian Armed Forces.

1. History

Even in ancient campaigns, the troops were forced to carry out road work, build bridges and build crossings (Pushing army). In preparation for the campaign against Novgorod in 1014, Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich ordered to "pull the path and build bridges." For this purpose, prefabricated detachments were specially prepared and sent forward, which included artisans for the construction of roads and bridge work.

1.1. Imperial period

They appeared in the Russian Armed Forces (Russian Imperial Army) at the beginning of the 18th century for road support of troops. In 1724, in St. Petersburg, on the basis of the joint engineering school, the training of specialists in road and bridge work began. Due to the weak development of the AD network, in 1884 the construction of automobile (highway) roads was entrusted to the War Ministry. Thanks to his efforts, from 1885 to 1900, the highways St. Petersburg - Pskov - Warsaw with branches to Riga and Mariupol, Moscow - Brest - Warsaw with branches to Kalisz and Poznan, Kyiv - Brest, the Pskov - Kyiv rocade and some others were built. On March 8, 1915, in order to improve the road support of the troops in defensive operations, the order of the Commander-in-Chief ordered the formation of military road detachments and rear detachments of military road works. Initially, they were formed only for the armies of the Southwestern Front, one military road detachment for each army, and for military road work in the rear of the front - 18 rear military road work detachments. The military road and rear detachments of military road work were led by military engineers and were divided into working companies. Other parts were formed later.

• The 1st military road detachment of the guard troops, the 1st guards corps (until December 1915 - the guards corps) - the corps of the Russian Imperial Army (Land Forces (SV)) of the Russian Armed Forces.
• Military road detachment of the 7th Army (since 1916 - the 4th military road detachment).
• 1st military road detachment.
• 1st military road detachment of the 8th army.
• 1st Military Road Detachment of the Special Army.
• 3rd military road detachment.
• 4th military road detachment.
• 5th military road detachment.
• 6th military road detachment.
• 7th military road detachment.
• 8th military road detachment.
• 9th military road detachment.
• 11th military road detachment.
• 13th military road detachment.
• 14th military road detachment.
• 15th military road detachment.
• 20th military road detachment.
• 21st military road detachment.
• 22nd military road detachment.
• 23rd military road detachment.
• 23rd military road detachment.
• 24th military road detachment.
• 25th military road detachment.
• 26th military road detachment.
• 28th military road detachment.
• 30th military road detachment.
• 31st military road detachment.
• 32nd military road detachment.
• 33rd military road detachment.
• 34th military road detachment.
• 48th military road detachment.
• 55th military road detachment.
• 122nd military road detachment.
• 161st military road detachment.
• 315th military road detachment.
• 1st Caucasian military road detachment.
• 2nd Caucasian military road detachment.
• 3rd Caucasian military road detachment.
• 4th Caucasian military road detachment.
• 6th Caucasian military road detachment.
• 8th Caucasian military road detachment.
• 11th Caucasian military road detachment.
• 1st detachment of military road works of the 5th army.
• 2nd detachment of military road works of the 6th army.
• 2nd detachment of military road works of the 7th army.
• 2nd detachment of military road works of the 8th army.
• 4th detachment of military road works of the 1st Army.
• 4th detachment of military road works of the 5th Army.
• 4th detachment of military road works of the 10th army.
• 4th detachment of military road works of the 12th Army.
• 5th detachment of military road works of the 11th Army.
• 7th detachment of military road works of the 7th army.
• 8th detachment of military road works of the 6th army.
• 11th detachment of military road works of the 9th army.
• 12th detachment of military road works of the 5th army.
• 22nd detachment of military road works of the 5th army.
• 23rd detachment of military road works of the 5th army.
• 25th detachment of military road works of the Northern Front.
• 25th detachment of military road works of the 6th army.
• 27th detachment of military road works of the 1st Army.
• 27th detachment of military road works of the 12th Army.
• 28th detachment of military road works of the Northern Front.
• 28th detachment of military road works of the 12th Army.
• 29th detachment of military road works of the 6th army.
• 41st detachment of military road works of the 12th army.
• 47th rear detachment of military road works of the 1st Army.
• 56th detachment of military road works of the Northern Front.
• 59th detachment of military road works of the Southwestern Front.
• 75th detachment of military road works of the South-Western Front.
• 79th detachment of military road works of the 2nd Army.
• 104th rear road detachment.
• 2nd Caucasian rear road detachment.

At the end of the Great War, the number of road troops amounted to about 240,000 people.

The main machine, during the construction of AD M55 and M58 in 1970-1995, MMZ-555 dump truck (based on ZIL-130)

As part of the Logistics of the Armed Forces of the USSR. In the Soviet Armed Forces appeared during the Civil War.

Starting to get acquainted with the affairs of the front and operational plans, Apanasenko discovered that along most of the Trans-Siberian Railway with its dozens of bridges and tunnels there is no reliable highway (Moskovsky Trakt) that would run parallel to the railway. This circumstance made the troops of the front extremely vulnerable, since the railway line sometimes passed very close to the border. It was enough for the Japanese to blow up several bridges or tunnels to deprive the armies of the front and freedom of maneuver, and reliable supplies. Apanasenko immediately ordered the construction of a reliable road with a length of almost a thousand kilometers, using not only the construction units of the front, but also the population of adjacent areas. The deadline for this huge work was set extremely short - five months. Looking ahead, it must be said that Apanasenko's order was carried out, and the road from Khabarovsk to the Kuibyshevka-Vostochnaya station was built by September 1, 1941.

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 DV consisted of divisions and units.

The difficulties associated with the transport support of hostilities in the initial period of the war required the adoption of emergency measures by the country's leadership. On July 15, 1941, the State Defense Committee (GKO) of the USSR adopts Decree No. 163 "On the organization of a road service on unpaved highways and the formation of motor transport battalions." According to this decree, additional automobile and road units and formations are being formed, ten military highways (VAD) of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command are being deployed. For the management of motor transport and road support, an automobile and road administration of the Red Army is being created, which is transferred from the General Staff (GS) to the Logistics of the Red Army. The further strengthening of the role of motor transport and road support in the offensive operations of the Red Army determined the need for reorganization of the Main Directorate of Motor Transport and Road Service. By GKO Decree No. 3544 of June 9, 1943, the Main Road Directorate of the Red Army was created, and the Motor Transport Directorate was included in the established Main Automobile Directorate of the Logistics of the Red Army with the corresponding structures in the fronts, armies and military districts. Not a single operation during the Great Patriotic War was prepared or carried out without the participation of specialists from the motor transport and road services, soldiers of automobile and road formations and units.

By the middle of 1943 in DV consisted of:

• 294 separate road battalions,
• 22 departments of the VAD with 110 road commandant areas (DKU),
• 7 military road departments (VDU) with 40 road detachments (DO),
• 194th horse-drawn transport companies,
• repair bases,
• bases for the production of bridge and road structures,
• educational and other institutions.

In total, there were 400,000 road warriors at the front.

After the end of the war, it was decided to reduce DV. Of the reduced formations and units in 1945, by the decision of the State Defense Committee, a road-building connection was created - the Special Road-Building Corps of the NKVD of the USSR, consisting of four road-building divisions, for the construction and restoration of the USSR AD network destroyed during the war (trunk highways of national importance, roads of defense importance), the basis of the Corps was the road troops to be disbanded. Two divisions participated in the construction on the territories of the Tsimlyansky hydroelectric complex, the Kuibyshev hydroelectric power station, the oil fields of Tataria and Bashkiria, the mica mines of Transbaikalia, the third in Rostov-on-Don and the fourth in Kharkov, built the main roads of national importance Kharkov - Rostov-on-Don, Kharkov - Simferopol and other AD. Between 1946 and 1956, he built 3,244 kilometers (km) of paved roads, 17 km of bridges, and laid 2.7 km of reinforced concrete pipes.

Decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR of October 23, 1970 No. 878-301 "On the construction and reconstruction of border roads (AD) in the regions of Eastern Siberia, the Far East and Central Asia." road construction brigades were created ((( dsbr) in the Main Military Construction Directorate (GVSU) of the USSR Ministry of Defense (USSR Ministry of Defense) of the USSR Armed Forces (USSR Armed Forces), which were deployed and started in 1970 on the construction and reconstruction sites of the Irkutsk - Chita (M55) road in the regions of Transbaikalia. Financing of construction and reconstruction was carried out at the expense of capital investments allocated centrally, once a year, for these purposes by the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR. The total length of the road from Irkutsk to Chita reached 1,172 km, of which 566 km were existing paved sections, and 606 km were to be rebuilt by three road construction teams. Work began in 1970 at three sites:

• Baikalsk - Posolskoye with a length of 178.5 km;
• Mukhorshibir - Glinka with a length of 178.5 km;
• the river Bludnaya - Cheremkhovo with a length of 178.5 km;

Excavator EOV-4421 ( Cuirassier) on the KrAZ-255 chassis

In total, on the road Irkutsk - Chita, 606 km of the road with asphalt concrete pavement were built and put into operation according to the standards of the 3rd technical category, while 207,000,000 rubles of capital investments were mastered (in estimated prices of 1969).

Was built:

• 103 capital bridges;
• 480 tons of culverts;
• 12 complexes of buildings and structures of the road maintenance service;
• 8 gas stations (gas stations);
• 3 bus stations (bus station);
• 2nd service stations (SRT) for cars and road vehicles;

Upon completion of work on their sites dsbr The GVSU of the USSR Ministry of Defense moved to the construction of the Chita-Khabarovsk AD (M58).

The construction and reconstruction works of AD "Irkutsk - Chita" were basically completed in 1981.

The road construction brigades of the Main Military Construction Directorate (GVSU) of the USSR Ministry of Defense began work on the construction of the Chita-Khabarovsk AD (Amur Wheel) in 1977 at two sites:

• Chita - Nikolaevka - Znamenka in the Chita region;
• Pashkovo - Svobodny - in the Amur region;

Later, it was decided to build, by the forces of three dsbr GVSU MO USSR, from two directions:

• one dsbr The GVSU of the USSR Ministry of Defense launched construction on the Chita - Nikolaevka - Znamenka section from the western direction;
• one dsbr The GVSU of the USSR Ministry of Defense launched construction on the eastern section of the road in the direction of Pashkovo - Arkhara - Zavitinsk;
• one dsbr The GVSU of the USSR Ministry of Defense launched construction on the eastern section of the road in the direction of Zavitinsk - Belogorsk - Svobodny - Sivaki;

The total length of the AD (with entrances) reached 2,283 km, of which the existing paved road was 370 km. It was necessary to build 1,913 km of a new capital road.

From the start of construction until 1992, the forces dsbr 510 km of the road were built, while more than 300,000,000 rubles of capital investments were disbursed (in estimated prices of 1969). From 1984 to 1992, the M58 built:

• more than 30 capital bridges and overpasses (including a large bridge over the Zeya River 750 meters long);
• two complexes of buildings and structures of the road and motor transport services of the road;
• filling stations;
• traffic police posts and other objects;

DV took part in the provision of international assistance in the Republic of Afghanistan (OKSVA), the operational maintenance of the Hairatan - Kabul - Puli-Charkhi AD was organized by the road commandant brigade.

• 58th separate automobile brigade
• 59 separate brigade of material support

In accordance with the directive of the Minister of Defense of the USSR (MO USSR) of June 1, 1988 on the basis of the 29th Panzer Division (29 td) the 307th training road construction brigade was formed (307 uchdsbr) (city of Slutsk).

1.3. Federal period

At present, the Far East consists of road commandant and bridge brigades, separate road commandant, road, bridge, bridge preparation battalions, and other units, institutions and organizations. Training of specialists for road troops is carried out at the Military Academy of Logistics and Transport (St. Petersburg), at military departments (faculties of military training, cycles) at seven civilian higher educational institutions (HEIs) of the Russian Federation.

DV successfully completed the tasks assigned to them in the conditions of resolving local conflicts and counter-terrorist operations. The road troops of the North Caucasian Military District, where the forces and means of the road troops included in the Joint Group for the counter-terrorist operation were very limited (parts of the road commandant brigade, three road depots and road maintenance sections of the Russian Ministry of Defense) on the territory of the Chechen Republic personnel restored bridges across the river (r.) Terek in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe village of Chervlyonnaya, r. Argun and r. Sunzha - in Petropavlovsk.

Actively participated in the elimination of the consequences of floods. In 2002, the forces of road builders quickly restored bridges across the river. Argun in Shatoi and across the river. Kuban on a federal highway in the city of Nevinnomyssk.

From October to December 2006, the 100th separate bridge battalion of the TsADU of the Russian Ministry of Defense Logistics of the Russian Armed Forces restored the transport infrastructure in Lebanon.

1.4. Personnel training

Since 1974, at the Moscow Higher Command School of Road and Engineering Troops (MVKUDIV), specialists have been trained for road troops and civil defense troops (GO).

2. Interesting facts

• During the Great Patriotic War, they restored, repaired and built about 100,000 kilometers of roads, over 1,000,000 linear meters of bridges, harvested and brought over 20,000,000 cubic meters of sand and stone for road construction. The total length of the military highways maintained by the road troops was 359,000 kilometers. For the exemplary performance of command assignments, 59 units of the road troops were awarded orders, 27 of them received honorary titles, over 21,000 soldiers were awarded orders and medals. (WEC, p. 243)
• During the reconstruction and construction of AD "Irkutsk - Chita" (1970-1981) on the section of the river Bludna - Cheremkhovo, a number of large excavations were developed using powerful directed explosions with the laying of up to 400 tons of explosives (explosives) per explosion.

Notes

1. D.v. Belarus. - www.abw.by/archive/258/v-voisko/
2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 History of road troops., Moscow, Military publishing house, 1995, 432 pages.
3. Background. - amur-trassa.ru/?module=pages&action=view&id=3

Literature

• Military Encyclopedic Dictionary (VES), Moscow (M.), Military Publishing House (VI), 1984, 863 pages with illustrations (ill.), 30 sheets (ill.);
• The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (BSE), Third Edition, published by the Soviet Encyclopedia Publishing House in 1969-1978 in 30 volumes;
• History of road troops., M., VI, 1995, 432 pages;
• Edited by: V.A. Zolotareva, V.V. Marushchenko, S.S. Avtyushin. In the Name of Russia: Russian state, army and military education / textbook on public-state training (OGP) for officers and ensigns of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. - M,

Soviet military miracle 1941-1943 [Revival of the Red Army] Glantz David M

MOTOR TRANSPORT, ROAD CONSTRUCTION AND ROAD REPAIR TROOPS

On the eve of the war, the road network in the Soviet Union was extremely poorly developed, and road transport played a much less significant role in the strategic and operational transfer and deployment of troops, weapons and other heavy equipment than rail transport. Nevertheless, road transport was essential for the tactical movement of men and equipment - especially the few main paved roads that the Russians called highway, and the Germans - rollbans. In addition, other roads leading from the near rear to the front lines, which were usually only unpaved, were of the utmost importance for tactical transfers.

As in the case of the railway troops, by the beginning of the war there was no central authority responsible for the construction, repair and protection of roads or the training and management of road troops. Responsibility for repairing roads and providing transport was shared between the Road Department of the Logistics and Supply Directorate and the Armored Directorate of the Red Army. The People's Commissariat of Defense was in charge of the road construction troops, and the NKVD, the troops responsible for protecting the roads.

On the eve of the war, the road troops of the Red Army included motor transport, road construction, and repair troops. The first consisted of 19 automobile regiments, 38 separate automobile battalions (including four training ones) and two separate automobile companies; 9 of these regiments and 14 battalions were located in the western military districts. Because the NPO had kept these troops at peacetime levels and had not yet decided what their wartime organization would be, they had only about 41 percent of the required wartime equipment and a highly heterogeneous fleet of vehicles and other equipment. For example, in regiments there could be from 180 to 1090 vehicles, in battalions - from 113 to 610 vehicles, companies had an average of 62 vehicles. In addition, under the auspices of the Armored Directorate, 65 automobile training units operated, which were to form new automobile battalions with the start of mobilization.

At the same time, the road construction and repair troops of the army consisted of 43 road maintenance regiments and 8 road maintenance training regiments, 23 of which were located in the western military districts. During peacetime, the NPO maintained the strength of these regiments at peacetime levels, so each regiment had only one active battalion. In the process of mobilization, these regiments were supposed to form new road units - such as road maintenance, road and bridge construction regiments, as well as advanced road bases to fulfill the tasks set by the NPO and the Main Directorate of Main Highways under the NKVD. Upon completion of mobilization, these regiments, battalions and bases were responsible for the construction, repair and maintenance of militarily important roads. However, with the outbreak of the war, the NPO could not decide what exactly the organization of these troops should be in wartime, and as a result, none of the road units received the required amount of equipment.

The partial mobilization of the Red Army, which the State Defense Committee began before June 22, and the Wehrmacht's subsequent rapid offensive during Operation Barbarossa, caused havoc in the Red Army's transport and road construction troops, inflicting heavy losses on many of their units and forcing the rest to fight as infantry.

In an attempt to rectify the situation, on July 16, the GKO reorganized the administration of motor transport and road troops, at the same time ordering the formation of a wide range of new motor transport and road units and subunits. The General Staff created a new Automobile and Road Administration (GADU), headed by Major General 3. I. Kondratiev. At the same time, the GKO formed new automobile and road departments as part of the active fronts of the Red Army under the general leadership of Kondratiez. In addition, six military highways (VAD), and the NPO was ordered to form by July 25 35 automobile battalions, 8 road maintenance regiments and 11 road bridge battalions, as well as four car repair bases for the repair of tractors, tractors and other vehicles attached to other new troops. Finally, Kondratiev was given responsibility for the formation and training of new road units and subunits. Even later, on August 1, the GKO subordinated the GDA to the head of the rear of the Red Army, and soon after that he raised his status to that of main management.

Immediately after the establishment of the GADU, the mobilization of civilian vehicles began. During the summer of 1941, it created 120 motor transport and road construction regiments, battalions and companies, using many of them to form new brigades. It also created - in addition to those created in July - new military highways (VAD) and several new military road directorates (VDU), which were responsible for the maintenance of these roads and the regulation of traffic on them.

Later, the GADU and its subordinate VDUs, together with departments from other commissariats, in an effort to more effectively provide for the active fronts and armies, continued to create a complex network of VADs subordinate to the Headquarters, fronts and armies. In order to link this entire system of military roads into a single network, the GADU also created a central VAD deep in the Soviet Union, directly connecting the most important economic regions of the country with active theaters of military operations.

In order to establish order in this huge road transport system, the GADU at the end of 1941 and in 1942 subdivided the VADs into separate sections of road commandant's offices, each of which consisted of a specific (but different) number of separate road commandant's companies, whose task was to regulate traffic on these military roads. These road commandant companies used to control the flow of two-way traffic personnel from the brigades of traffic controllers and regiments of the road service (operational) of the GADU, deployed mainly at traffic control points.

On May 8, 1942, the GKO, in order to increase the efficiency of its motor transport, road construction and repair troops, ordered the NPO to establish a new Main Directorate of Motor Transport and Road Service of the Red Army (GUADSKA), as well as the relevant motor transport departments and departments of the road service and repair bases as part of the active fronts and armies. The new department was in charge of all the troops and the tasks of the motor transport and road service. On May 12, the GADU and all related departments and departments in the fronts and armies were included in it, as well as a number of NKVD departments that were in charge of road services and bases. As a result of this reorganization, GUADSKA in 1942 and 1943 was able to provide from three to six separate automobile transport battalions for each of the active fronts, as well as one or two battalions for each army.

At the beginning of 1943, the NPO assigned GUADSKA responsibility for the restoration and repair of all military roads, and the GUADSKA Main Road Administration, raised in status, deployed part of its motor transport battalions to full regiments, giving each such regiment a training battalion.

The GKO crowned his efforts to reform the road service on June 9, 1943, when, on his orders, GUADSKA was subordinated to the head of the rear of the Red Army, while the corresponding road administrations and departments were created in the fronts and armies. By order of the NPO dated July 17, GUADSKA was divided into two parts: the Main Automobile Directorate of the Red Army and the Main Road Directorate of the Red Army. Although they performed completely different tasks, both main directorates worked closely together until the very end of the war.

During this June perestroika, the NPO also began to form additional automobile brigades, one for each active front. These brigades consisted of three regiments, each with up to six battalions, and in some cases several separate automobile battalions. At the same time, the NPO raised the status of the automobile training battalions by creating three-battalion training regiments within each front and giving each active front and army a separate automobile repair battalion. By this time, each field army consisted of two to three motor transport battalions.

In 1943, the NCO also improved the military road system. First, he organized the deployment of numerous individual detachments who are required to carry out road work on specific sections of roads. In June, many of the older and clumsier road service operational regiments were replaced by numerically larger and better organized road service battalions. In this way, by December 31, 1943, the NPO was able to create a much more extensive and efficient structure of automobile, road construction and repair troops. The massive expansion of the Red Army's road service in 1943 and throughout the rest of the war was made possible in large part by the increasingly generous flow of trucks supplied to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease program (see below for more on this).

CONSTRUCTION TROOPS On the eve of the war, the Red Army included special construction troops (more correctly, labor armies), which were responsible for the construction and repair of military facilities and civil structures for related purposes. Subordinate to the Main Directorate