Echelon (military affairs)

Previously, the "echelon" (French echelon - ledge ), in military affairs, and even now - the combat and marching order of formations , in which the location of its components was made in depth, at some distance from each other, or ledges , and not along the front , that is, in which the second echelon is located in depth or a ledge behind the first , the third - after the second and so on.

In the Russian imperial army, the term “echelon” at first had tactical meaning and denoted a separate part of the moving column of the regiment ( battalion , division ).

During the march of peacetime , as well as during the transport of formations by rail, each military unit was divided into echelons that acted on foot one after another every other day or occupied each individual train . Hence the “ Separation ”, that is, the location (distribution) in depth of the construction of troops and rear institutions during the campaign and when positioned in place in pre-battle and combat formations. Later in aviation (see Echelon (aviation) ), also this term , with the addition of military , switched to military transportation and began to mean every military train . From here came the term military echelon , to refer to a temporary formation (team).

In the tactics of Soviet military art, the echelon is the combat order of a unit or unit of the arms (forces) of the branches of the armed forces and special forces .

3. The battle formations of the brigade should be constructed as follows:
a) the first echelon - 8 - 10 KV tanks , followed by an infantry attack group (it is an assault group ) consisting of: an infantry platoon with machine gunners , an anti-tank gun , an machine gun , one - two light machine guns , grenade launchers , an anti-tank gun , six to ten sappers with explosives and mine detectors ;
b) the second echelon - 15 - 20 T-34 tanks at a distance of 300-400 m behind the first echelon ;
c) the third echelon - 8 T-60 tanks with a motorized rifle battalion at a distance of 100-200 m from the second echelon . It can be strengthened by medium tanks for landing operations of a motorized rifle battalion;
d) the fourth echelon - 8 T-60 tanks operates directly with the combat formation of the rifle regiment of the second echelon of the rifle division .

The total depth of the combat order of the tank brigade is 1,000 - 1,500 m.

- Instructions of the Deputy Commander of the Kalinin Front on Armored Forces of September 22, 1942 on offensive operations on the enemy field defensive strip with overcoming strongholds in cooperation with infantry , artillery and aviation

Later, in the Soviet (Russian) military affairs, the “echelon” became an operational term. The echelon began to denote the operational formation of the troops of the front or the army . It can consist of one or several echelons , which are located one after another and support each other during hostilities .

For example, in the theory of deep operation, the troops of the shock group were supposed to be used in seven echelons :

• 1st tier was bomber aircraft ;
• 2nd echelon - heavy tanks ;
• 3rd echelon - compounds of medium and light tanks ;
• 4th echelon - compounds of motorized and motorcycle infantry;
• 5th echelon - large - caliber escort artillery ;
• 6th echelon - rifle troops with support tanks ;
• A special echelon was the airborne landing .

Cover armies formed the first operational echelon of the western military districts .
150-350 kilometers from the border, the reserves of the districts were deployed , which could include rifle , mechanized and cavalry corps , as well as rifle divisions of district subordination. These troops constituted the second operational echelon of the western districts. With the outbreak of war, they were supposed to advance towards the border and occupy the positions assigned to them by the cover plan 20 to 100 kilometers from the border line , covering, together with the troops of the first echelon, the mobilization and concentration of the remaining troops of the Red Army . To do this, they needed much more time than the first operational echelon - from five to ten days. Therefore, in order to catch up with the enemy’s approach to the indicated line, the order to bring them into combat readiness had to be given much earlier than the troops of the border armies .

The first and second operational echelons of the western districts were simultaneously the first strategic echelon of the Red Army. In other words, the first strategic echelon is the troops of five military districts that have a common border with the countries of the Nazi bloc . These are the Leningrad ( LenVO ), Odessa ( OdVO ) and three military districts with special status - Baltic ( PribOVO ), Western ( ZAPOVO ) and Kiev ( KOVO ).

- On the eve of war ^[1] .

In the strategy, the echelon refers to the part of the state ’s armed forces deployed during the threatened period, immediately with the outbreak of war or during the conduct of hostilities as the mobilization proceeds.

The strategic echelon of the state armed forces includes troops and forces that are designed to repel aggression in the expected theater of war ( TV ), that is, it includes military and border districts (army groups, separate armies ), air defense and internal military districts, and military air and fleet within the theater of operations ( theater of operations ).

The strategic echelon is divided into two to four operational echelons .

In the Armed Forces of the Union, the strategic echelon , depending on the mission and location, was composed of groups of troops ( GSVG , SVG , TsVG , YuGV and so on), military districts and other types of forces of the USSR located both in foreign territories and in the Union.

At the beginning of the XXI century, in the Russian Armed Forces , due to the small number of formations abroad , there is only one strategic echelon .

• tactical
• operational

Example, separation of the forces of the fleet of the Armed Forces of the USSR during the military service . In accordance with the tasks of the military service, all the forces of the Navy were divided into three operational echelons :

• The first operational echelon included ships at sea and naval aircraft in the air;
• The second operational echelon included ships and aircraft capable of immediately going to sea or taking to the air;
• The third operational echelon consisted of ships and aircraft of the Navy undergoing repairs, testing, or in reserve ^[2] . Thus, in the event of a sudden start of the war, the first and second operational echelons could take part in it, with the first playing the main role.

• strategic

• The first strategic echelon of the Red Army
• The second strategic echelon of the Red Army
• Troop separation
• Military train
• Transport level
• Echelon (Aviation)
• Echelon (secret service)

• I. G. Drogovoz, Decree. Op. S. 343—344.

• On the eve of war.