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 tasks, but also to the tasks of ensuring national security Russia. The role of roads is increasing significantly due to the high 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. The importance and relevance of the development of the road network is also determined by the special geostrategic 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 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 equipment of the road service, are able to perform the tasks of the road commandant service on their own, using sets of personnel equipment, restore, and from those available locally building materials build new bridges, repair roads in any conditions.

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 currently 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 the 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.

AT last years due to a number of reasons, military bridge building turned out to be 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. Placing 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 on the creation of 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. They are being developed 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 piling 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 Rear of the Armed Forces, 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 automobile and 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 it 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. For this, in our opinion, the main efforts in carrying out 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.

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As part of the Logistics Support of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (until 2010 - as part of the Logistics of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation), including road commandant formations and units, bridge, pontoon-bridge, as well as road units and units designed to perform road maintenance tasks.

In peacetime road troops are 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 emergency situations.

Professional holiday "Day of military road builders" in Russia - September 23. This is the day of the creation of five pioneer companies and a cavalry team to carry out military road work in the interests of the army during the Patriotic War on September 11 (23), 1812, according to the order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Troops, Field Marshal M. I. Kutuzov. This order laid the foundation for the creation of the road service as a separate structure in the Russian armed forces.

Story

Even in ancient campaigns, troops were forced to carry out road work, build bridges and build crossings. In preparation for a 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 works (“trade army”).

Imperial period

By the middle of 1943 in road troops The Armed Forces of the USSR (USSR Armed Forces) consisted of:

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

In total, there were 400,000 road builders at the front. 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 exemplary performance of command assignments 59 units road troops were awarded orders, 27 of them received honorary titles, over 21,000 soldiers were awarded orders and medals.

After the end of the war, it was decided to reduce road troops USSR Armed Forces. 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 (main automobile roads of national importance, roads of defense importance), the basis of the corps was 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 3244 km of paved roads, 17 km of bridges, laid 2.7 km of reinforced concrete pipes.

Work on the construction and reconstruction of AD "Irkutsk - Chita" was basically completed in 1981. 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.

Separate 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:

Later, it was decided to build, by the forces of three Specialized Rifle Brigade of the GVSU of the USSR Ministry of Defense, from two directions:

• one special brigade of the GVSU of the USSR Ministry of Defense launched construction on the Chita - Nikolaevka - Znamenka section from the western direction;
• one special brigade of 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 special brigade of 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 2283 km, of which existing road with a hard surface was 370 km. It was necessary to build 1913 km of a new capital road.

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

All these tasks were performed by the following formations road troops:

• 70th separate road construction brigade;
• 160th separate road construction brigade.

Based on directive General Staff Armed Forces of the USSR, in 1969 under the Ministry of Construction and Maintenance of Roads Ukrainian SSR The 60th separate road construction brigade was formed in the city of Mukachevo. In the period from 1970 to 1980, military road builders built more than 70 kilometers of roads in the Mukachevo-Lviv direction, dozens of bridges in the difficult mountainous conditions of the Carpathians. Having completed the tasks assigned to it, the 60th separate road construction brigade, by decision of the Government of the USSR, at the end of 1980 was redeployed from Transcarpathia to the territory of the Tyumen region for the construction and reconstruction of roads to the oil and gas complex of Western Siberia, the construction of artificial structures on them, as well as for the construction of industrial facilities. Parts of the 60th Specialized Rifle Brigade, deployed in the settlements of Surgut, Noyabrsk, Novy Urengoy, Nadym, Beloyarsky, took part in the construction of roads, the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod gas pipeline, the arrangement of compressor stations, industrial and other facilities, produced industrial products for the needs of the region.

Road Troops took part in the provision of international assistance in the Republic of Afghanistan (OKSVA), first, by the forces and means of a separate road commandant battalion (army) and then by the forces and means of the 278th separate road commandant brigade (278 odkbr), the operational maintenance of the army VAD Hairatan was organized - Kabul - Puli-Charkhi.

Also in the OKSVA, in different time, included:

• 159th separate road construction brigade (159th brigade);
• 58th separate automobile brigade (58th auto brigade);
• 59th brigade of material support (59 brigade).

In accordance with the directive of the Minister of Defense of the USSR of June 1, 1988, on the basis of the 29th tank division(29 TD), Belarusian Military District (BVO), the 307th training road brigade (307 uchdbr) [Slutsk city] was formed.

Federal period

Currently road troops of the Russian Federation consist of separate road commandant and bridge brigades, separate road commandant, road, bridge, bridge preparation battalions, other units, institutions and organizations [ ] . Training of specialists for road troops is carried out at the Military Academy of Logistics named after General of the Army A.V. Khrulev (St. Petersburg), at military departments (faculties of military training, cycles) at seven civilian higher educational institutions (HEI) of the Russian Federation.

Road Troops of the Russian Federation successfully completed the tasks assigned to them in the conditions of resolving local conflicts and counter-terrorist operations. Road Troops North Caucasian Military District, where the forces and means road troops, included in the Joint grouping for the counter-terrorist operation, were very limited: parts of the road commandant brigade, three road depots and road maintenance sections of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (Ministry of Defense of Russia). Within the territory of Chechen Republic personnel bridges across the river (r.) Terek were restored in the area locality 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 was restoring the transport infrastructure in Lebanon [ ] .

Military authorities

In various periods of the history of Russia, for one reason or another, in various government departments (sometimes simultaneously), there were control bodies for road-building military formations:

USSR

• Central Administration of Highways and Dirt Roads, and Road Transport (TSUDORTRANS) under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR;
• Main Directorate of Highways (GUSHOSDOR) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, from 1936 to 1946:
• Central Automobile and Road Administration (TSDA) of the USSR Ministry of Defense, until 1987:
  • Road Administration of the USSR Ministry of Defense,
  • Department of the road service TsUP VOSO MO USSR,
  • Department of the road service of the USSR Ministry of Defense,
  • Road Department of the Logistics Headquarters of the USSR Armed Forces,
  • Main Road Administration of the Red Army,
  • Main Directorate of Motor Transport and Road Service of the Red Army,
  • Road Administration of the Red Army,
  • 6th department (motor transport and road service) of the General Staff of the Red Army;
• Central Road Construction Directorate (TsDSU) of the USSR Ministry of Defense;
• Road construction department of the GVSU of the USSR Ministry of Defense:
  • 1310th building board.

• Central Automobile and Road Administration (TsDA) of the Russian Ministry of Defense (as part of the Logistics of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation);
• Automobile and Road Directorate (ADU) of the Russian Ministry of Defense (as part of the Logistics of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation);
• Automobile and Road Department (presumably transformed into ADU in 2013), then the Automobile and Road Administration (ADU) of the Department of Transport Support of the Russian Ministry of Defense (as part of the MTO of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation);
• Road construction department of the GVSU of the Ministry of Defense of Russia:
  • 1310th construction department (1310 SU);
• Central Road Construction Directorate (TsDSU) of the Russian Ministry of Defense;
• Federal Road Construction Administration (FDSU) under the Russian Ministry of Defense;
• Road Construction Department of Rosspetsstroy:
  • Military road construction department under Rosspetsstroy;
• governing bodies of road-building military formations under Spetsstroy of Russia:
• Main Military Construction Directorate No. 6 (GVSU No. 6) of the Russian Ministry of Defense (as part of the VSK of the Russian Ministry of Defense);
• Main Military Construction Directorate No. 7 (GVSU No. 7) of the Russian Ministry of Defense (as part of the VSK of the Russian Ministry of Defense).

Personnel training

Here are the higher educational institutions that prepared officers only for VUS road troops:

• Military Highway School, city of Rostov-on-Don [ ] ;
• Kamenetz-Podolsky Higher Military Engineering Command School (KPVVIKU), until 1974;
• 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);
• Military Academy of Logistics named after General of the Army A. V. Khrulev (VA MTO)
• military departments (faculties of military training, cycles) at the universities of Russia (USSR);
  • (MADI);

see also

• Federal Road Construction Administration under the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

Notes

1. Logistics of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. About the MTO system. Internet portal of the Ministry of Defense of Russia. - Mil.ru. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
2. Vasily Fatigarov. Roads lead to victory: Colonel Vladimir Buravtsev, head of the road service of the Department of Transport Support of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, answers the questions of the Red Star // Krasnaya Zvezda: gas. - 2013. - August 8.
3. , Road Troops, p. 535.
4. , Road construction parts, p. 535.
5. , Art. 1: "Fundamentals of Defense".
6. Military construction. Military construction complex of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Internet portal of the Ministry of Defense of Russia. - Mil.ru. Retrieved 12 July 2018. Archived from the original on 4 December 2017.
7. , IV. Uniforms and insignia. January 1943 - March 1958, p. 79.
8. , IV. Uniforms and insignia. January 1943 - March 1958, p. 93.
9. , App. No. 10. Tables with drawings of uniform items. 1918-1958 , With. 151 (Table 155).
10. Order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR of March 4, 1988 No. 250
11. Order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR dated July 26, 1969 No. 191. "On the Enactment of the Rules for Wearing Military Uniforms by Servicemen of the Soviet Army and Navy". With appendices No. 1, 2 to the order, and appendices No. 1, 2, 3 to the Rules. Website "Departmental heraldry". Retrieved 27 September 2017.
12. Road troops of Belarus.
13. WES, C. 243.
14. Website of the Council of Veterans of Separate Road Construction Brigades of the GVSU MO.

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 with railway troops At 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. Since the NPO kept the number of these troops in peacetime at the regular level and has not yet decided what exactly their organization will be in war time, Tony had only about 41 percent of the required wartime equipment and an extremely 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 parts, who were supposed to form new automobile battalions with the beginning 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. In 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 chaos 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 chief 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 highway in the depths of the Soviet Union, directly connecting the most important economic areas countries with active theaters of war.

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 manage 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 restructuring, 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 in 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 sluggish road service operational regiments were replaced by numerically larger and better organized road service battalions. In this way, the NPO was able to create, by December 31, 1943, a much more extensive and efficient structure of automobile, road construction and repair troops. The massive expansion of the road service of the Red Army in 1943 and throughout the rest of the war became possible in to a large extent thanks to an increasingly generous flow of trucks supplied Soviet Union under the lend-lease program (see below).

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