Soviet Airborne Forces

Soviet Airborne Forces
Vozdushno-desantnye voyska SSSR Воздушно-десантные войска СССР
Shoulder patch of the Soviet Airborne Forces, 1969–1991
Active	4 September 1941 – 14 February 1992
Country	Soviet Union (1941–1991)  Commonwealth of Independent States (1991–1992)
Branch	Soviet Armed Forces
Type	Airborne forces
Role	Light infantry Airborne infantry Airmobile infantry Peacekeeping
Size	January 1990 – 53,874 August 1991 – 77,036
Nickname(s)	Войска дяди Васи (Uncle Vasya's Troops)
Motto(s)	Никто, кроме нас! (Nobody, but us!)
Engagements	Battle of Lake Khasan Battles of Khalkhin Gol World War II First Nagorno-Karabakh War Soviet–Afghan War
Commanders
Notable commanders	Gen. Vasily Margelov
Insignia
Flag of the Airborne Forces

The Soviet Airborne Forces or VDV (from Vozdushno-desantnye voyska SSSR, Russian: Воздушно-десантные войска СССР, ВДВ; Air-landing Forces) was a separate troops branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. First formed before the Second World War, the force undertook two significant airborne operations and a number of smaller jumps during the war and for many years after 1945 was the largest airborne force in the world.^[1] The force was split after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, with the core becoming the Russian Airborne Forces, losing divisions to Belarus and Ukraine.

Troops of the Soviet Airborne Forces traditionally wore a sky blue beret and blue-striped telnyashka and they were named desant (Russian: Десант) from the French Descente.^[2]

The Soviet Airborne Forces were noted for their relatively large number of vehicles, specifically designed for airborne transport, as such, they traditionally had a larger complement of heavy weaponry than most contemporary airborne forces.^[3]

Kyiv== Interwar and World War II ==

The first airborne forces parachute jump is dated to 2 August 1930, taking place in the Moscow Military District. Airborne landing detachments were established after the initial 1930 experimental jump, but creation of larger units had to wait until 1932–33. On 11 December 1932, a Revolutionary Military Council order established an airborne brigade from the existing detachment in the Leningrad Military District.^[4] To implement the order, a directive of the Commissariat of Military and Naval Affairs transformed the Leningrad Military District's 3rd Motorised Airborne Landing Detachment into the 3rd Airborne Brigade (Special Purpose) [ru] commanded by M.V. Boytsov. In addition, the 13th and 47th Airborne Brigades plus three airborne regiments (the 1st, 2nd, and 5th, all in the Far East) were created in 1936.^[5] In March and April 1941, five Airborne Corps (divisions) were established on the basis of the existing 201st, 204th, 211th, 212th, and 214th Airborne Brigades.^[6] The number of Airborne Corps rose from five to ten in late 1941, but then all the airborne corps were converted into "Guards" Rifle Divisions in the northern hemisphere summer of 1942.^[7]

The Soviet airborne forces were mostly used as 'foot' infantry during the war. Only a few small airborne drops were carried out in the first desperate days of Operation Barbarossa, in the vicinity of Kyiv, Odessa, and the Kerch peninsula.^[8] The two significant airborne operations of the war were the Vyazma operation of February–March 1942, involving 4th Airborne Corps, and the Dnepr/Kyiv operation of September 1943, involving a temporary corps formation consisting of 1st, 3rd, and 5th Airborne Brigades.^[9] Glantz wrote:^[10]

"After the extensive airborne activity during the winter campaign of 1941–42, [the] airborne forces underwent another major reorganization the following summer. Responding to events in southern Russia, where German troops had opened a major offensive that would culminate in the Stalingrad battles, the ten airborne corps, as part of the Stavka strategic reserves, deployed southward. Furthermore, the Stavka converted all ten airborne corps into guards rifle divisions to bolster Soviet forces in the south. Nine of these divisions participated in the battles around Stalingrad, and one took part in the defense of the northern Caucasus region."

The Stavka still foresaw the necessity of conducting actual airborne operations later during the war. To have such a force, the Stavka created eight new airborne corps (1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th) in the fall of 1942. Beginning in December 1942, these corps became ten guards airborne divisions (numbered 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th (formed from 9th Airborne Corps (2nd formation)), 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, two formed from the 1st Airborne Corps and the three existing separate maneuver airborne brigades). The new guards airborne divisions trained in airborne techniques, and all personnel jumped three to ten times during training, though many were from jump towers.^[11]

After the defeat of German forces in the Battle of Kursk, the bulk of the airborne divisions joined in the pursuit of German forces to the Dnieper River which formed part of the German Panther–Wotan line which they defended. Even as ten guards airborne divisions fought at the front, new airborne brigades formed in the rear areas. In April and May 1943, twenty brigades formed and trained for future airborne operations. Most of these brigades had become six new guards airborne divisions (11th through 16th) by September 1943.^[12]