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Soviet Union [USSR] TERRITORIAL ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMED FORCES
The armed forces had a peacetime territorial organization that
would facilitate a rapid shift to a wartime footing. In 1989 the
Soviet Union was divided into sixteen military districts, four
fleets, and one flotilla
(see
fig. 30). In addition, two naval
squadrons and six major groups of forces were stationed outside the
Soviet Union.
Military Districts
Military districts were the basic units of Soviet military
administration. The system of sixteen military districts had
evolved in response to the Soviet Union's perception of threats to
its security. For example, in 1969 the Turkestan Military District
was divided to create the Central Asian Military District and
enable the Soviet Union to double its military forces and
infrastructure along the border with China. In wartime most
military districts would become
fronts (see Glossary).
Senior Ground Forces officers have always commanded military
districts, and experience in commanding a military district was
apparently a prerequisite for promotion to most of the important
Ministry of Defense positions. Commanders of military districts
have deputy commanders responsible for specific military
activities. Each military district had a military council, which
included the commander of the district, his first deputies--one of
whom was also chief of staff--the chief of the political
directorate for the district, and the first secretary of the party
bureau of the union republic in which the district is located.
Military districts were combined arms formations. A military
district commander controlled not only the Ground Forces in the
district but also the Air Forces and the Air Defense Forces
(see
fig. 31). The commanders of the Air Forces and the Air Defense
Forces reported to the district commander on operational matters as
well as to the main staffs of their services. The military
district's officers worked closely with party and government
officials to plan wartime mobilization and rear services, civil
defense, and military training for civilians. They supervised
military training in both civilian and military education
establishments located in the district. Military districts
coordinated activities with the Border Troops, which had a system
of ten districts organized separately from the military districts.
In 1989 twelve of Frontal Aviation's sixteen air armies were
stationed in the most important military districts. Western experts
disagreed over the system of air defense districts. Some argued
that as many as ten air defense districts, separate from military
districts, still existed. It seemed more likely, however, that when
the National Air Defense Forces became the Air Defense Forces after
1980, all remaining air defense districts were integrated into the
military districts. At that time, commanders of the Air Defense
Forces became deputy commanders of the military districts. Only the
Moscow Air Defense District continued to be mentioned in the press,
possibly because it operated the ABM system that protected the
capital city and the National Command Authority.
In 1989 the Ground Forces had sixty-five divisions, kept at
between 50 and 75 percent of their projected wartime strengths, in
the westernmost military districts of the Soviet Union; fifty-two
divisions at less than half their wartime levels in the Siberian,
Transbaykal, Central Asian, and Far East military districts along
the border with China; and twenty-six low-readiness divisions in
the Transcaucasus, North Caucasus, and Turkestan military
districts.
Data as of May 1989
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