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Military education in the Soviet Union

There existed an evolved system of military education in the Soviet Union that covered a wide range of ages. The Soviet Armed Forces had many tri-service educational opportunities as well as educational institutions for the Soviet Ground Forces, the Air Forces, and the Navy. The Soviet Border Troops, the KGB and the Internal Troops also maintained service academies.

The Gretchko Naval Academy, led by Captain Anatoliy Karpenko, during a parade on Leningrad's Palace Square in 1983.

Overview

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Commissioned officers training

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Soviet military academies provided higher education to higher officers and officers of specialized kinds of armed force (engineering, medical, etc.). All able-bodied male students of civilian universities and many other institutions of higher education were subject to mandatory training at the military departments (Russian: военная кафедра) within these institutions to become reserve officers (although not all civilian institutions had military departments). Training at military departments of civilian institutions of higher education was mandatory also for all able-bodied female medical students. Soviet professional military education was also available for persons from the Soviet satellite states and from the perceived Soviet sphere of influence among the Third World countries.[1]

Soviet military education was aimed at training of officer-specialists in narrowly-defined military occupational specialties, and it differed greatly from American military education system in which newly-qualified second lieutenants receive particular specialties in the framework of their "career branch" only after graduation from military academy or ROTC.[2] Students of Soviet civilian universities having military departments could not choose military occupational specialty because each civilian specialty taught by university was attached to particular military occupational specialty taught by military department of the same university by the rector's order, and it also differed from American military education system in which student can choose between available types of ROTC.

In addition, there were 2 other ways to receive officer rank in USSR: junior officers courses and special assessment at the conclusion of conscript service. Junior officers courses were open to persons completed secondary school and finished their military service as conscripts. Persons graduated from civilian institutions of higher education without military departments and drafted into military service as soldier/sailor could pass special exams at the end of their conscript service; such persons were demobbed with officer's rank. Unlike graduates of military schools and military departments within civilian universities, persons who used these ways were promoted to junior lieutenant as first officer's rank, but not lieutenant.[3]

After several years service, officer could get into military academy of branch of service to deepen his military occupational specialty knowledges. Graduates of such academies could be promoted to colonel/captain 1st rank and to appointed to a position of the commander of regiment/first-rate warship.

After graduating from a military academy of branch of service and several years service in relevant positions, an officer could be accepted into the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. This academy trained a highest ranking military officers.

Teaching staff of military academies was prepared in adjunctura established in 1938.[4] Adjunctura was a military analogue of graduate school. Officers enrolled in adjunctura were called adjuncts. They wrote theses in the military field and got academic degree of candidate of military sciences after successful defense. Officer with such degree could be appointed to a teaching position in military academy but also he could continue to serve in military units.

Warrant officers training

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Warrant officers schools were established by the Minister of defense Order of 20 December 1980 №365.[5] Only enlisted personnel and non-commissioned officers, finished their military service as conscripts, could be accepted to enter warrant officers schools. The period of training was ten and half months.

Enlisted personnel and non-commissioned officers training

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All able-bodied males obtained basic and specialized military training during obligatory 2-3 year male draft. There also existed schools for non-commissioned officers, often part of the draft service for distinguished soldiers, as a step towards the professional military career. Reservists were subject to periodic training exercises of duration 2–6 weeks once in several years.

Military secondary schools and pre-conscription preparatory courses

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Suvorov Military Schools for boys of 14-17 (established in 1943) delivered education in military subjects. Nakhimov Naval Schools were similar to the Suvorov ones, specializing in Navy subjects. Civilians could receive military-related training in military-support organizations DOSAAF (initial name was OSOAVIAKHIM).

Under the Ministry of Defense

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General Staff of the Armed Forces

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Academies

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Institutes

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  • Military Institute of the Ministry of Defense

Engineering

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Special communications

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  • Shtemenko Krasnodar Military Institute

Specialists

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  • 8th Central Officer Refresher Courses for Officers of Mobilization Bodies of the Armed Forces (Saratov)

Main Directorate of International Military Cooperation

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  • Krasnodar Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots
  • Odessa Higher Military Combined Command Engineering School of Air Defense
  • Odessa Higher United Military School [1]?
  • Simferopol United Military School (Perevalnoye)
  • 5th Central Courses for the Training and Improvement of Aviation Personnel (Kant)

Office of the Chief of Space Facilities

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Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Navy

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Academies

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Military-Political

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Under other departments

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Rear of the Soviet Army

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Academies

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Command

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  • Moscow Higher Command School of Road and Engineering Troops (Balashikha)

Rear

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  • Volsky Higher Military School of Logistics
  • Gorki Higher Military School of Logistics named after Ivan Bagramyan

Engineering

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Under the Soviet Ground Forces

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The Baku Higher Combined Arms Command School during a parade in Baku in 1970.

Combined Arms Institutions

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Academies

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Command

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Tank Forces

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Academies

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Command

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  • Tashkent Higher Tank Command School
  • Blagoveshchenskoye Higher Tank Command School
  • Kazan Higher Tank Command School
  • Ulyanovsk Guards Higher Tank Command School
  • Kharkov Guards Higher Tank Command School
  • Chelyabinsk Higher Tank Command School

Engineering

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  • Kiev Higher Tank Engineering School
  • Omsk Higher Tank Engineering School

Rocket and Artillery Forces (GRAU)

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Academies

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Command

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  • Kolomensky High Artillery Command School
  • Leningrad Higher Artillery Command School
  • Odessa Higher Artillery Command School
  • Sumy Higher Artillery Command School
  • Tbilisi Higher Artillery Command School
  • Khmelnytsky Higher Artillery Command School

Command-Engineering

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  • Kazan Higher Military Command-Engineering School
  • Saratov Higher Military Command-Engineering School

Signal Troops

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Academies

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Command

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Engineering

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  • Kiev Higher Military Engineering School of Communications
  • Leningrad Higher Military Engineering School

Engineering Forces

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Academies

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  • Kuibishev Military Engineering Academy

Command

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  • Kamenets-Podolsk Higher Military Engineering Command School
  • Tyumen Higher Military Engineering Command School

Engineering

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  • Kaliningrad Higher School of Engineering

Chemical Troops

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Academies

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Command

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  • Kostroma Higher Military Command School of Chemical Defense
  • Tambov Higher Military Command School of Chemical Defense

Engineering

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  • Saratov Higher Military Engineering School of Chemical Defense

Air Defence Troops of the Ground Forces

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Academies

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Command

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  • Leningrad Higher Anti-Aircraft Missile Command School
  • Orenburg Higher Anti-Aircraft Missile Command School
  • Poltava Higher Anti-Aircraft Missile Command School

Engineering

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  • Kiev Higher Anti-Aircraft Missile Engineering School
  • Smolensk Higher Anti-Aircraft Missile Engineering School

Soviet Airborne Forces

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Command

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Automotive Troops

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Main article: Automotive Troops

Under the Soviet Air Defence Forces

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Academies

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Command

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Command and engineering

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  • Zhytomir Higher School of Radio Electronics
  • Pushkin Higher School of Air Defense

Engineering

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  • Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-aircraft Missile School
  • Kiev Higher Engineering Radio Engineering School

Pilots

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Under the Soviet Air Force

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Academies

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Flying and Navigator Schools

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Engineering

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Medium Technical Aviation

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Under the Soviet Navy

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Academies

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Command

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Engineering

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  • Dzerzhinsky Higher Naval Engineering School (Leningrad)
  • "V.I. Lenin" Leningrad Higher Naval Engineering School (Pushkin)
  • Sevastopol Higher Naval Engineering School
  • Higher Naval School of Radio Electronics "Alexander Stepanovich Popov" (Petrodvorets)

Secondary and primary vocational education

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  • Auxiliary Fleet (civilian specialists)
  • Lomonosov Naval School[8]

Under of the Strategic Missile Forces

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Academies

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Engineering

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  • Serpukhov Higher Military Command and Engineering School of Rocket Forces named after the Lenin Komsomol
  • Krasnodar Higher Military Command and Engineering School of the Missile Forces
  • Perm Higher Military Command and Engineering Red Banner School of Missile Forces
  • Rostov Higher Military Command and Engineering School of Missile Forces
  • Kharkov Higher Military Command and Engineering School of Missile Forces
  • Stavropol Higher Military Engineering School of Communications named after the "60th anniversary of Great October"

Under the Ministry of Internal Affairs

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Internal Troops

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Command

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  • Novosibirsk Higher Military Command School of the Internal
  • Ordzhonikidze Higher Military Command School of the Internal Troops named after S.M. Kirov
  • Perm Higher Military Command School of the Internal Troops
  • Saratov Higher Military Command School of the Internal Troops named after Dzerzhinsky

Rear

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  • Kharkov Higher Military School of Logistics of the Internal Troops

Military-political

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  • Leningrad Higher Political-School of Internal Troops named after the 60th anniversary of the Komsomol

Under the KGB

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Cadets of the Moscow Border Military School of the KGB under the Council of Ministers during the 1972 October Revolution Parade.

First Chief Directorate

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Third Chief Directorate

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Soviet Border Troops

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  • Higher Border Command Courses (Moscow)

Command

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Military-political

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  • Voroshilov Higher Border Military-Political School of the KGB (Golitsyno)

Government Liaison Troops

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Command

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  • Oryol "Mikhail Kalinin" Higher Military Command School of Communications of the KGB

Under the Ministry of Medium Machine Building

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  • Volga Higher Military Construction Command School (Dubna)

Under the Ministry of Construction in the Eastern Regions

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Secondary Schools under the Ministry of Defense

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Secondary schools under the Ministry of Higher Education

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The Moscow Military Music College during the 1977 October Revolution Parade

The task of these schools were to train future officers from among the Soviet nationalities.[9][10]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Warsaw Pact Reserve Systems: A White Paper", by Rudolf Woller (1978) ISBN 3-7637-5205-6
  2. ^ Golts, Alexander (2017). Военная реформа и российский милитаризм [Military reform and Russian militarism] (PDF) (in Russian). Uppsala: Kph Trycksaksbolaget AB. p. 143. ISBN 978-91-554-9936-5.
  3. ^ Об утверждении положения о прохождении воинской службы офицерским составом Вооружённых Сил СССР (Decree 846) (in Russian). Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union. 18 November 1971.
  4. ^ Адъюнктура in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (in Russian) – via Great Scientific Library
  5. ^ О введении в действие Положения о школах прапорщиков и мичманов Советской Армии и Военно-Морского Флота (Order 365) (in Russian). Soviet Union Minister of Defense. 20 December 1980.
  6. ^ "Надпись "УВВАКУ" заменили на имя 70 мотострелковой бригады в Уссурийске" [The inscription "UVVAKU" was replaced with the name of the 70 Motor Rifle Brigade in Ussuriysk]. ussur.net (in Russian). Retrieved 2016-03-19.
  7. ^ "Yeysk Higher Military order of Lenin Aviation School im. twice Hero of the Soviet Union Pilot-Cosmonaut V.M. Komarov (EVVAU)". 2015-01-01. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
  8. ^ "Из истории колледжа". Ломоносовской морской колледж ВМФ России. Archived from the original on 2017-05-28. Retrieved 2017-05-21.
  9. ^ https://xn--2018-43da1a0csli.xn--p1ai/ordena/roo-moskovskie-suvorovcy.html [dead link‍]
  10. ^ https://xn--b1ac1aqnee.xn--p1ai/voennaya-sluzhba/moskovskie-suvorovcy-2.html
  11. ^ "РСШ им.М.В.Фрунзе". YouTube. 4 March 2012. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
  12. ^ Administrator. "Кыргызский государственный национальный военный лицей - ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ КОМИТЕТ ПО ДЕЛАМ ОБОРОНЫ КЫРГЫЗСКОЙ РЕСПУБЛИКИ". www.mil.gov.kg (in Russian). Retrieved 2017-11-22.
  13. ^ "Вооруженные силы Таджикистана - вчера и сегодня".

Further reading

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