Ranks for a soldier determine his official position and legal status, that is, his rights, powers and duties. Military ranks provide for the principle of seniority and subordination. Ranks are assigned to the military in accordance with their professional training, position in the service, official law, length of service, as well as merit.
The value of military ranks
Ranks for the military are one of the important motivators for performing military service, staffing and their most effective use. The presence of ranks in the army establishes the relations of seniority and subordination between military personnel. A specific military rank gives a soldier the right to a certain monetary allowance and material support, to receive certain benefits.
You can determine the rank of military by insignia. They are epaulets, buttonholes and chevrons.
The introduction of ranks in the Red Army
Since the creation of the Red Army (decoding of the abbreviation: Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army), the need arose to introduce military ranks. Since 1918, as the Red Army developed and strengthened, the names of military ranks and insignia changed several times in the troops. Only in 1939-1940 they were finally established, and these ranks of the Red Army until 1943 did not change.
The first ranks and signs of their differences in the Red Army
In December 1917, by a decree, the new government abolished military ranks in the army. And it was decided to form a new type of army. A decree on this was adopted in early 1918.
In the initial period in the Red Army, the commanding staff was elected. But in the context of the intensifying Civil War, the formation of the armed forces of the young republic on the principle of conscription began. In this situation, it has become urgently necessary to get away from the principle of elected commanders.
It was decided to restore the principle of unity of command in the army and introduce military ranks in the troops. The first to strengthen discipline in his units, military ranks was established by the head of division No. 18 I. P. Uborevich.
He was warmly supported by the founder of the Red Army, chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic Lev Davidovich Trotsky. It took almost a year to develop and approve a uniform military uniform and decals for the command personnel of the army. The first military ranks and insignia of the Red Army were based on their posts. And so that the position of a serviceman was visible, the signs sewn onto the sleeves (rhombuses, squares and triangles) were approved.
Military posts and signs from 1918 to 1924
Military rank | Category in the Red Army | Signs on the sleeves | Occupied position |
Private | Red Army man | No signs | Private |
Komot | Komot and equated to him | Star and triangle | Commander branches |
Pomkomvzvoda | Pomkomvzvoda and equated to them | Star and two triangles | Assistant Platoon Officer |
Foreman | Foreman and equated to him | Star and three triangles | Foreman of a company |
Komvzvoda | Komvzvoda and equated to it | Star and square | Commander platoon |
Compresses Comesca | Komroty and equated to him | Star and two squares | Company commander Squadron commander |
Kombat | Kombat and equated to him | Star and three squares | Battalion commander |
Kompolka | Kompolka brigade and equated to them | Star and four squares | Regiment commander |
Brigade commander | Brigade Commander, Equivalent and Equated to Them | Star and rhombus | Brigade commander |
Having started | Filling and equated to them | Star and two rhombuses | Division Head |
Commander | Commander, pomkomfronta, pomkomokruga and equated to them | Star and three rhombuses | Army commander |
Comfront | | Star and four rhombuses | Front commander |
All decals in accordance with the order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic No. 116 were sewn onto the left sleeves of clothes. A little later, the RVSR approves a new military uniform, uniform for the entire Red Army: overcoat, tunic and headdress (“budenovka”). In general, the clothes of the rank and file of the Red Army and command personnel did not differ significantly. Only insignia indicated the position held.
Unification of military clothing and signs since 1924
During the Civil War, the established uniform in the Red Army was used along with uniforms of the tsarist army, civilian clothes and other items of clothing stylized as military clothing.
At the end of the Civil War, a gradual transition of the entire army to uniform uniform began. It was decided to reduce the cost of production of military uniforms and eliminate unnecessary elements. In May 1924, summer cotton caps and summer tunic shirts without chest color valves, but with two patch pockets on the chest, went to the military uniforms. Almost all items of military clothing have undergone changes.
It was established that rectangular collar loops are sewn onto the collars of tunics and tunics, corresponding to the color of the combat arms with a fringing of a different shade. The buttonhole size was determined to be 12.5 cm by 5.5 cm. The buttonholes sewn onto the overcoat collar resembled a rhombus with uneven sides of 13 cm by 12.5 cm.
On the buttonholes along with the insignia on the categories affixed emblems in the specialty of the military man. The size of the emblems in size should not be more than 3 x 3cm.
Introduction of service categories to military personnel
Since mid-1924, the Order of the Revolutionary Soviet of the USSR No. 807 canceled sleeve valves with signs indicating a military position, and introduced buttonholes with signs corresponding to the assigned category and corresponding emblems indicating the specialty of the military personnel. Subsequently, with additional orders (No. 850 and No. 862), these innovations were supplemented. Designed and approved categories. All military personnel were divided into four groups:
- junior command and command;
- middle command and command;
- senior command and command;
- supreme command and command.
Categories by posts in the Red Army
Each group, in turn, was divided into categories.
1. Junior commanding and commanding staff:
- squad leader, boatswain - K-1;
- foreman of a company, platoon commander, starbotzman, foreman of warheads, deputy commander of warheads, chief crewman - K-2;
2. The middle command and command staff:
- warhead commander, platoon commander, pomkomandir cor-la 4 ranks - K-3;
- company commander in chief, corps laurel 4 rank - K-4;
- Commander-in-chief of a ship of the third rank, com-cor-la of 4 rank, com-squadron (company) - K-5;
- commander of a separate company, pom-commander of the battalion, commander cor-la of the third rank, head commander of cor-la of the 2nd rank - K-6.
3. Senior commanding and commanding staff:
- Com-Cor-La 2 ranks, Com-battalion - K-7;
- pomkomandir regiment, the head of the com-ra cor-la 1 rank - K-8;
- regiment commander, team brigade commander, commander of the Kor-la 1st rank - K-9;
4. The highest command and command staff:
- brigade commander, division commander, ship brigade commander - K-10;
- division commander, corps commander, squadron commander - K-11;
- corps commander, army commander, flotilla commander - K-12;
- the commander of the army, the commander of the front, the commander of the military district, the commander of the fleet, the commander of the naval forces of the republic - K-13;
- commander of the fronts, commander of the military district - K-14.
Introduction of individual ranks to military personnel
The Council of People's Commissars in 1935 by its decree announces the next reform in the armed forces of the USSR, specifying ranks and signs in the Red Army. Personal ranks are established for military personnel.
The highest rank is being established - Marshal of the Soviet Union. The hallmark for the marshals was the big star on the buttonholes. Simultaneously with the establishment of new military ranks, the command and command staff of the Armed Forces is divided in the following areas of official activity:
1. Command.
2. Military-political.
3. The commander, who, in turn, was divided into:
- economic and administrative;
- technical;
- medical;
- veterinary;
- legal.
Correlation of ranks of command, administrative and political staff
The decals on military uniforms have not been largely altered. Belonging to a particular service or military branch indicated the color of buttonholes and emblems. The command staff of all levels on the sleeves sewed a chevron in the form of a corner. The distinctive signs of the various ranks on the buttonholes were rhombuses for the higher composition, rectangles for the senior composition, squares for the average composition and triangles for the younger composition. The ordinary soldier on the buttonhole had no insignia.
Signs of personal ranks of all military personnel came from previous ranks. So, for example, two lieutenant “kolyars” on their buttonholes had a junior political instructor, a second-level military engineer, a junior military officer, etc. The indicated ranks of the Red Army existed until 1943. In 1943 they moved away from the "bulky" military ranks. So, for example, instead of the title “military paramedic”, the title “lieutenant of the medical service” was introduced.
In 1940, continuing the process of conferring personal military ranks, the USSR government approved the ranks for junior and senior team members. The ranks of sergeants, foremen, lieutenant colonels and generals are legalized.
Insignia on military ranks in 1941
The Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army met the aggression of fascist Germany in 1941, having the following military insignia on a military uniform:
Military ranks of the Red Army | Signs |
On the buttonhole | On the sleeve |
Red Army man | Are absent | Are absent |
Corporal | One yellow gap in the middle of the buttonhole |
Lance Sergeant | 1 triangle | Are absent |
Sergeant | 2 triangles |
Staff Sergeant | 3 triangles |
Foreman | 4 triangles |
Ensign | One square | Top square of red color 10 mm, 1 square of yellow galun 4 mm, three-millimeter red border on the bottom |
Lieutenant | 2 squares | 2 angles of yellow galun 4 mm, red clearance between them of 7 mm, three-millimeter red border on the bottom |
Senior lieutenant | Three squares | 3 squares of yellow galun 4 mm, red gaps between them 5 mm each, three-millimeter red edging below |
Captain | Rectangle | 2 squares of yellow galun 6 mm, red clearance between them of 10 mm, three-millimeter red edging below |
Major | Two rectangle | 2 angles of yellow galun: upper 6 mm, lower 10 mm, red clearance between them of 10 mm, three-millimeter red border on the bottom |
Lieutenant colonel | Three rectangle | 2 angles of yellow galun: upper 6 mm, lower 10 mm, red clearance between them of 10 mm, three-millimeter red border on the bottom |
Colonel | Four rectangle | 3 squares of yellow galun: upper and middle 6 mm, lower 10 mm, red gaps between them 7 mm each, three-millimeter red border on the bottom |
Major general | 2 small yellow stars | Small yellow star, one square of yellow galun 32 mm, three-millimeter edging below |
Lieutenant general | 3 small yellow stars | Small yellow star, one square of yellow galun 32 mm, three-millimeter edging below |
Colonel General | 4 small yellow stars | Small yellow star, one square of yellow galun 32 mm, three-millimeter edging below |
Army General | 5 small yellow stars | Big yellow star, one square of yellow galun 32 mm, above the galoon red square 10 mm |
Marshal of the Soviet Union | Big yellow star over a square of oak leaves | Big yellow star, two squares of yellow galun on a red field. Between the galunas, oak branches. Below is a red edging. |
The above distinguishing marks and ranks of the Red Army until 1943 did not change.
The ratio of the ranks of the NKVD and the Red Army
The NK of internal affairs in the pre-war years consisted of several main departments (GU): GU of state security, GU of internal protection and border troops, Glavk of the workers 'and peasants' militia and others.
In the internal guard units and border troops there were military posts and ranks, as in the Red Army. And in the police, the state security, in connection with the specifics of the tasks performed, there were special ranks. If we correlate, for example, special ranks in the organs of the State Security with army ranks, then the following is obtained: the state security sergeant was equated to the Red Army lieutenant, the state security captain was equated to the colonel and so on.
Conclusion
Thus, from the very formation of the Republic of Soviets, the Red Army troops have always been in the field of special attention of the country's top leadership. Not only improved weapons and equipment, but also improved clothing support of military personnel. The photographs show that the 1941 Red Army is strikingly different in clothes and equipment from the 1918 Red Army. But the military ranks of the Red Army themselves until 1943 repeatedly changed.
And in 1943, as a result of fundamental reforms, the abbreviation RKKA (decoding: Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army) is a thing of the past. The term “Soviet Army” (SA) has come into use.