Cover Army (source) [1] - an army and historical term denoting the name of an integral part of the state’s armed forces , which was intended, until the middle of the 20th century , to cover its borders from a sudden enemy invasion on land, from the sea and by air, as well as creating a temporary reserve and other conditions to ensure the mobilization , concentration and deployment of the main forces of the state armed forces in the initial period of the war ( military conflict ).
The covering army was deployed in advance at the frontiers prepared for defense , near the state border, to repulse, shackle and block the attacking enemy.
Content
Composition
The composition of the covering army was determined depending on the length of the state’s borders, their accessibility and degree of threat, the possibilities of military development and consisted, as a rule, of associations and formations staffed by wartime states deployed in the border zone. Usually , the covering army relied on a system of border fortifications, fortified areas (UR).
The USSR cover army in 1941 put up stubborn resistance to German troops attacking the USSR .
The most correct, in our opinion, was to have the main forces of the covering army deployed on the old border, and only equestrian , mechanized , motorized and engineering troops to conduct mobile defense with the widespread use of barriers, destruction and mining, especially roads, to extend as a cover and bridges. Small garrisons of rifle troops could be left in ready-made resistance nodes, being built along the new border of the URs, adapted for all- round defense and able to deprive the enemy of the opportunity to use the best crossings and roads. The covering forces of such a composition, holding back the enemy at the barriers, were to gradually move abroad the URs along the old border and join the main forces of the covering army . The enemy, having got involved in battles for fortified areas, could be subjected to strikes by the main forces freshly and systematically prepared for combat operations.
- Retired Lieutenant General B. Kolchigin , “Thoughts on the Use of the Cover Army in the Initial Period of the Great Patriotic War ,” Military History Journal No. 4, 1961 , pp. 35–37.
[2]
In modern conditions, in connection with the threat of a nuclear missile war, the parties in peacetime are constantly in full combat readiness large forces of the 1st strategic echelon . To ensure the actions of these forces, it is planned to advance to the border separate units and units , which are called cover troops.
Cover armies are not used after the middle of the 20th century [3] , and there is no term in modern Russian military affairs .
See also
- Cover troops
- Army and Navy
- Occupation army
- Expeditionary army
- Invasion army
- Siege army
Notes
- ↑ Military Encyclopedic Dictionary. - M.: Military Publishing House, 1984.
- ↑ History site, retired Lieutenant General B. Kolchigin, “Thoughts on the use of the cover army in the initial period of World War II,” Military History Journal No. 4, 1961, pp. 35–37.
- ↑ TSB. - M., "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1969-1978.
Literature
- Great Soviet Encyclopedia (TSB), Third Edition, issued by the Soviet Encyclopedia Publishing House in 1969 - 1978 in 30 volumes;
- A - Bureau of Military Commissars / [under the total. ed. A. A. Grechko ]. - M .: Military Publishing House of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR , 1976. - 637 p. - ( Soviet military encyclopedia : [in 8 vols.]; 1976-1980, vol. 1).
- Dictionary "War and Peace in Terms and Definitions"
Links
- “Army” at TSB
- "Army" in the EC Brockhaus and Efron (inaccessible link)
- “Army” in RES (inaccessible link)
- Site history, retired Lieutenant General B. Kolchigin, "Thoughts on the use of the cover army in the initial period of World War II," Military History Journal No. 4, 1961, pp. 35 - 37.
- Dictionary "War and Peace in Terms and Definitions"