Soviet Forces: Operation Barbarossa, June-July 1941

Basic Red Army Hierarchy: June 1941

The Soviet Army (the Red Army) and Soviet Military Air Force (Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily or VVS) were deployed as follows in the following military districts on 22nd June 1941.

Western Military Districts: 22nd June 1941

Leningrad Military District (Northern Front from 24th June)
Baltic Special Military District (Northwestern Front from 22nd June)
Western Special Military District (Western Front from 22nd June)
Kiev Special Military District (Southwestern Front from 22nd June)
Odessa Military District (incorporated into Southern Front after 22nd June)

Reserves of the STAVKA GK: 22nd June 1941

Pre-war Soviet Forces Available to face Operation Barbarossa in June 1941

Internal Military Districts and Non-active Fronts: 22nd June 1941

Far Eastern Front: 22nd June 1941

Total Personnel and Equipment in the Soviet Army, NKVD, Air Force, PVO and Navy on 22nd June 1941

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Soviet Mobilisation from 23rd June to 31st December 1941

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Selected Soviet Combat Unit TOEs (Tables of Organisation and Equipment)

Basic Red Army Hierarchy: June 1941

Western Military Districts: 22nd June 1941

Note, the following represent the actual personnel and equipment that was present and is not simply a summation of the associated combat unit’s TOEs. If the latter were used the values shown in almost all
categories (below) would be considerably higher.

Leningrad Military District (Northern Front from 24th June)

14th Army (Murmansk area), 7th Army (Karelian area, Finland), 23rd Army (Leningrad area),
with 21 divisions and 404 470 personnel in total.
3 rifle corps HQs, 15 rifle divisions, 2 mechanised corps HQs, 4 tank divisions and
2 mechanised divisions.
1 857 tanks, 2 159 combat aircraft (including 823 VVS-VMF naval aircraft),
2 996 (45-305mm) artillery pieces (excluding coastal and rail guns),
1 228 (25-85mm) AA guns, 3 687 (50-120mm) mortars, and 28 759 motor vehicles of all types (but excluding artillery tractors).
Commander: General-Lieutenant M.M. Popov.

Baltic Special Military District (Northwestern Front from 22nd June)

8th Army (North Lithuania), 11th Army (South Lithuania), 27th Army (Pskov area), with 26 divisions and 369 702 personnel in total.
7 rifle corps HQs, 19 rifle divisions, 2 mechanised corps HQs, 4 tank divisions,
2 mechanised divisions, and 1 NKVD motorised rifle division.
1 551 tanks, 1 262 combat aircraft, 3 607 (45-305mm) artillery pieces, (excluding coastal and rail guns), 504 (25-85mm) AA guns, 2 969 (50-120mm) mortars, and 19 111 motor vehicles of all types (but excluding artillery tractors).
Commander: General-Colonel F.I. Kuznetsov.

Western Special Military District (Western Front from 22nd June)

3rd Army (Grodno area), 10th Army (Bialystok area), 4th Army (Brest area), and 13th Army (HQ only, in Minsk area), with 44 divisions and 671 165 personnel in total.
8 rifle corps HQs, 24 rifle divisions, 6 mechanised corps HQs, 12 tank divisions,
6 mechanised divisions, 1 cavalry corps HQ and 2 cavalry divisions.
2 958 tanks, 1 171 combat aircraft, 6 437 (45-305mm) artillery pieces (excluding coastal and rail guns), 1 124 (25-85mm) AA guns, 6 610 (50-120mm) mortars, and 35 102 motor vehicles of all types (but excluding artillery tractors).
Commander: General-Army D.G. Pavlov.

Kiev Special Military District (Southwestern Front from 22nd June)

5th Army (Kowel-Rovno area), 6th Army (Lvov area), 26th Army (Tarnopol area), and 12th Army (Hungarian and north Rumanian border area), with 58 divisions and 907 046 personnel in total.
11 rifle corps HQs, 26 rifle divisions, 6 mountain rifle divisions, 8 mechanised corps HQs, 16 tank divisions, 8 mechanised divisions, 1 cavalry corps HQ and 2 cavalry divisions.
5 465 tanks, 2 059 combat aircraft, 7 784 (45-305mm) artillery pieces (excluding coastal and rail guns), 2 221 (25-85mm) AA guns, 6 972 (50-120mm) mortars, and 49 030 motor vehicles of all types (but excluding artillery tractors).
Commander: General-Colonel M.P. Kirponos.

Odessa Military District (incorporated into Southern Front after 22nd June)

9th Separate Army (Bessarabia), and Odessa Military District (East of Dnestr), with 22 divisions and 339 291 personnel in total.
5 rifle corps HQs, 12 rifle divisions, 1 mountain rifle division, 2 mechanised corps HQs, 4 tank divisions, 2 mechanised divisions, 1 cavalry corps HQ and 3 cavalry divisions.
1 011 tanks, 1 685 combat aircraft (including 644 VVS-VMF naval aircraft), 2 809 (45-305mm) artillery pieces (excluding coastal and rail guns), 429 (25-85mm) AA guns, 3 360 (50-120mm) mortars, and 15 041 motor vehicles of all types (but excluding artillery tractors).
Commander: General-Colonel Ya.T. Cherevichenko.

Reserves of the STAVKA GK: 22nd June 1941

16th Army (from Transbaikal, south of Kiev), 19th Army (from North Caucasus, Cherkassy area), 20th Army (from Orel MD, Moscow area), 21st Army (from Volga MD, Gomel area), 22nd Army (from Urals MD, Velikiye Luki-Vitebsk area), 24th Army (from Siberia MD, moving from Siberia MD to Western Special MD), with 57 divisions and 618 745 personnel in total.
14 rifle corps HQs, 42 rifle divisions, 5 mechanised corps HQs, 10 tank divisions, and 5 mechanised divisions.
2 628 tanks, 6 042 (45-305mm) artillery pieces (excluding coastal and rail guns), 327 (25-85mm) AA guns, 5 465 (50-120mm) mortars, and 26 094 motor vehicles of all types (but excluding artillery tractors).
Reserves of the STAVKA GK also had 2 311 combat aircraft available in the Long Range Bomber Aviation (DBA). Of this number, 1 839 combat aircraft were deployed in the Western Military Districts and 472 were deployed with the Far East Front.

Pre-war Soviet Forces Available to face Operation Barbarossa in June 1941*

21 army HQs, 48 rifle corps HQs, 25 mechanised corps HQs, and 3 cavalry corps HQs.
228 divisions: made up of 138 rifle divisions, 7 mountain rifle divisions, 50 tank divisions, 25 mechanised divisions, 7 cavalry divisions, and 1 NKVD motorised rifle division.
3 310 419 personnel.
15 470 tanks, 10 775 combat aircraft (including 1 467 VVS-VMF naval aircraft), 29 675 (45-305mm) artillery pieces (excluding coastal and rail guns), 5 833 (25-85mm) AA guns, 29 063 (50-120mm) mortars, and 173 137 motor vehicles of all types (but excluding artillery tractors).
Additional forces (not listed for each military district above, but included in all personnel and equipment figures) included: 42 fortified sectors, 10 RVGK anti-tank brigades, 68 corps artillery regiments, 10 RVGK cannon regiments, 14 RVGK howitzer regiments, 19 RVGK super heavy howitzer regiments, 6 RVGK high power artillery battalions, 4 airborne corps HQs, 12 airborne brigades, 50 NKVD border guard units, 3 NKVD border regiments, and 7 NKVD security/rail divisions. Many other unit types were also present.

* Excludes additional forces mobilised after 22nd June 1941, and forces immediately transferred from the Internal Military Districts and Non-active Fronts (eg 18th Army HQ to Southern Front) between 22nd and 30th June 1941.

Internal Military Districts and Non-active Fronts: 22nd June 1941

These military districts include,

The Moscow Military District.
The Orel Military District.
The Kharkov Military District.
The Volga Military District.
The North Caucasus Military District.
The Transcaucasus Military District.
The Archangel’sk Military District.
The Urals Military District.
The Central Asia Military District.
The Siberia Military District.
Transbaikal Military District.

The term ‘non-active fronts’ is used here because although some of the above military districts can be considered ‘purely internal’ to the USSR, others contained borders with potentially hostile neighbours, or neighbours that the USSR may have wished to strongly influence (possibly invade or threaten with invasion). As such the military districts concerned could be rapidly mobilised within a few days and turned into active fronts. The two ‘internal’ military districts most inclined to this state were the Transcaucasus Military District and the Transbaikal Military District. Together these two districts contained close to a half a million personnel with significant air and ground forces, including mechanised forces.

Total forces in the Internal Military Districts and Non-active Fronts included:

18th Army HQ (in the Kharkov Military District ) and 17th Army (in the Transbaikal Military District)
53 divisions and 1 637 526 personnel in total.
9 rifle corps HQs, 25 rifle divisions, 11 mountain rifle divisions, 3 mechanised corps HQs,
8 tank divisions, 4 mechanised divisions, 1 cavalry corps HQ, 1 cavalry division, and 4 mountain cavalry divisions.
3 931 tanks, 4 124 combat aircraft, 13 665 (45-305mm) artillery pieces (excluding coastal and rail guns), 2 258 (25-85mm) AA guns, 15 800 (50-120mm) mortars, and 50 946 motor vehicles of all types (but excluding artillery tractors).
Additional forces (not listed for each military district above, but included in all personnel and equipment figures) included: 3 fortified sectors, 18 corps artillery regiments, 4 RVGK cannon regiments, 8 RVGK howitzer regiments, 9 RVGK super heavy howitzer regiments, 9 RVGK high power artillery battalions, 1 airborne corps HQ, 3 airborne brigades, 7 NKVD border guard units, and 6 NKVD security/rail divisions. Many other unit types were also present.

Note, in general the divisions and other combat units in the Internal Military Districts were in a considerably lower state of readiness than the forces in the Western Military District and Stavka reserves.

Far Eastern Front: 22nd June 1941

The Far Eastern Front in 1941 was similar in many respects to the Transbaikal and Transcaucasus Military Districts, because it was on a border with a dangerous potential enemy or with a country over which the USSR wished to exert a strong influence. The difference was that the Far Eastern Front was at a much higher state of readiness; to a point where it was close to being on a war footing (with Japan). Hence the term ‘front’ was used to denote the Far Eastern ‘military district’ in 1941.

1st Red Banner Army, 2nd Red Banner Army, 15th Army, and 25th Army, with 23 divisions and approximately 500 000 personnel in total.
5 rifle corps HQs, 16 rifle divisions, 1 mountain rifle division, 1 mechanised corps HQ, 3 tank divisions, 2 mechanised divisions, and 1 cavalry division.
3 201 tanks, 4 100 combat aircraft (including 660 VVS-VMF naval aircraft, and 472 Long Range Bomber Aviation (DBA) aircraft), 3 448 (45-305mm) artillery pieces (excluding coastal and rail guns), 509 (25-85mm) AA guns, 4 000 (50-120mm) mortars, and 46 918 motor vehicles of all types (but excluding artillery tractors).
Commander: General-Lieutenant A.I. Eremenko.

Total Personnel and Equipment in the Soviet Army, NKVD, Air Force, PVO and Navy on 22nd June 1941

27 Army HQs, 62 Rifle Corps HQs, 29 Mechanised Corps HQs, 4 Cavalry Corps HQs, and 5 Airborne Corps HQs.
304 divisions, made up of 179 rifle divisions, 19 mountain rifle divisions, 61 tank divisions, 31 mechanised divisions, 9 cavalry divisions, 4 mountain cavalry divisions, and 1 NKVD motorised division.
Approximately 5 448 000 personnel in total. Includes: 4 553 000 in Red Army, NKVD and PVO forces. 476 000 in the Air Force. 344 000 in the Navy. 74 945 servicemen and military construction workers serving in formations which came under civilian departments.
23 295 tanks, 20 474 combat aircraft, 48 247 (45-305mm) artillery pieces (excluding coastal and rail guns), 8 600 (25-85mm) AA guns, 56 100 (50-120mm) mortars, and 272 600 motor vehicles of all types (but excluding artillery tractors).*
Additional forces (not listed for each military district above, but included in all personnel and equipment figures) included: 57 fortified sectors, 10 RVGK anti-tank brigades, 94 corps artillery regiments,14 RVGK cannon regiments, 29 RVGK howitzer regiments, 31 RVGK super heavy howitzer regiments, 15 RVGK high power artillery battalions, 16 airborne brigades, 5 rifle brigades, 57 NKVD border guard units, 3 NKVD border regiments, and 13 NKVD security/rail divisions. Many other unit types were also present.

* Includes equipment unallocated to any specific military district. Includes unallocated equipment in one of the following states: in depots, in transit, returns for major factory rebuilds, in Stavka special training units, prototype or research weapons. For tanks this includes those in repair in factories and major shops, and high command depots.

Soviet Mobilisation from 23rd June to 31st December 1941

When discussing Soviet mobilisation, there are two clear distinctions. Mobilised and Deployed, (MD): the unit was mobilised with a TOE after the first day of the campaign, in this case 22nd June 1941, and was allocated (or assigned) to an active front or army HQ. For the Soviets an ‘active front or army HQ’ is any front or army HQ in the west USSR: ‘west’ being defined as west of a theoretical line running north/south 100km west of the Urals. This therefore includes all front or army HQs in the USSR except those in the Urals, Siberia, Central Asia and Transbaikal Military Districts, and the Far Eastern Front.
Mobilised and Not Deployed, (MND): the unit was mobilised with a TOE after the first day of the campaign, in this case 22nd June 1941, and was not allocated (or assigned) to an active front or army HQ. An active front or army HQ is as defined for the MD state. In addition, a unit which was created by a simple name change from an old unit without the addition of any new subunits from reserves (i.e. not even a single newly mobilised regiment or battalion), is considered a Mobilised and Not Deployed (MND) unit.*

* This is because the unit in question was already deployed on the battlefield and simply changed its name. In so doing the ‘old’ unit effectively ceased to exist. In effect the new unit became deployed, but the old unit it was replacing simultaneously became ‘un-deployed’. If there was no additional personnel and equipment added from reserves then the net effect was that the deployment of new reserves was zero. If even one new regiment from reserves was added, then the unit is considered Mobilised and Deployed (MD), but at the correct reduced strength in the FILARM (Fully Integrated Land and Air Resource Model) model used for the Operation Barbarossa Simulation.

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The Soviets ‘Mobilised and Deployed (MD)’ the following (principal) combat units from 23rd June to 31st December 1941:

182 rifle divisions, 43 militia rifle divisions, 8 tank divisions, 3 mechanised divisions, 62 tank brigades, 55 rifle brigades, 50 cavalry divisions, 1 mountain cavalry division, 1 mountain rifle division, 31 airborne brigades, 11 naval infantry brigades, 21 naval rifle brigades, 3 NKVD rifle divisions, 3 NKVD motorised rifle divisions, 20 NKVD border regiments, 2 NKVD security (rifle) brigades, approximately 600 militia fighter battalions, 73 anti-tank regiments, 38 RVGK artillery regiments, 34 RVGK rocket artillery regiments and battalions, 38 engineer and construction battalions, 57 anti-aircraft battalions.
41 new Army HQs and 11 new Front HQs.

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The Soviets ‘Mobilised and Not Deployed (MND)’ the following (principal) combat units from 23rd June to 31st December 1941:

96 rifle divisions, 3 militia rifle divisions, 3 tank divisions, 26 tank brigades, 79 rifle brigades, 35 cavalry divisions, 1 mountain cavalry division, 5 naval infantry brigades, 7 naval rifle brigades, 1 NKVD motorised rifle division, 17 NKVD border regiments, and 1 NKVD security (rifle) brigade.
7 Army HQs and 5 Front HQs.

Selected Soviet Combat Unit TOEs
(Tables of Organisation and Equipment)

(Note, links are table PDF files, Adobe ver 3 or higher required)

TOE Soviet Rifle Division, April 1941

TOE Soviet Rifle Division, July 1941

TOE Soviet Rifle Division, December 1941

TOE Soviet Rifle Brigade, October 1941

TOE Soviet Tank Division, July 1940 to June 1941