28th of January 1942, 'Vosem', The Red Army's favourite radio station.
The 28th of January 1942, Leningrad, -9,5°C, 10pm Moscow Time,
I recently found out that following the re-organisation of the Red Army's officer corps with personal ranks, in 1940, the ranks looked like this:
Brigade Commander: Colonel
Division Commander: Maj. General
Corps Commander: Lt. General
Army Commander: Col. General
Front Commander: General (of the Army)
Theatre/Service Branch Commander: Marshall/Chief Marshall/Marshall of the Soviet Union
Supreme Commander: Marshall of the Soviet Union
There were, of course exceptions, notable Brigades (especially independent Guards Brigades) were sometimes commanded by Maj. Generals, armies were sometimes commanded by experienced Lt. Generals, and Fronts sometimes by Marshalls etc. I will be following this instead of in-game ranks from now on. It should also be noted that Red Army Fronts were smaller than my 'Army Groups'... I'm sure this will come-up again.
It's quite tough to make a decent-looking black on white map out of HOI3 screenshots... I gave it a try anyways using 'strength' map-mode as a base... The detail in the counters is faded due to the colour and contrast manipulations, but I think it looks ok considering what I had to work with...
Also... top of the page...
Following an week-old invitation from 'Shest', and 'Vosem', I flew with 'Dva' to Leningrad to visit one of the Fourth department's most closely guarded secret. Upon landing, we were driven, in the dark, to a relatively small-looking building some 50m from one of the Radar Arrays who's shadows now dominate the landscape on the edges of Leningrad's largest Air Base. After walking through a narrow doorway, we found ourselves standing on a mezzanine looking out over a large and brightly lit room, with at it's centre a large map of the Soviet Union's Western border, from the Baltic to the Black sea. 'Vosem' and 'Shest' were waiting for us. Using one of his GRU cover identities, 'Shest' had made sure to outrank all the security staff on the site, and he soon ordered NKVD and GRU personnel on the mezzanine outside. This wasn't too hard as he only had to deal with the night shift at this hour. The mezzanine was closed off by thick glass, and was thus soundproof.
Down below, I noted that people were hard at work around the map, on one side was a battery of telephones with several operators working hard to take incoming calls, and transmit the information to colleagues near the map who took notes, and occasionally stood up to move or place counters on the map. On the other side, what looked like headphone-wearing radio-operators were hard at work finetuning what looked like massive radio receivers. On the far end of the room were at least ten desks with men and women hard at work listening to tapes and reading printed messages coming from the radio-operator types. On first sight, the radio-operators and the telephones could be explained as part of a high-level command post plotting the progress and positions of our units, but what were the men and women in the back doing? And why was the facility this secret.
I soon got my answers, when 'Vosem' proudly explained what I was looking at:
" 'Odin', 'Dva', thank you for coming. I know you are both very busy with other matters, but this is important, and revolutionary. Shortly after deploying our first large Radar station in Leningrad, some of the nation's best, and most trusted scientists and electronic Engineers came to visit the facilities, most were from Kharkov. A few months later, one of them wrote a letter to the GRU to explain how radar arrays could be modified and manipulated to eavesdrop on foreign military radio communications. You may have seen requests for Encryption and Decryption research pop up in the Committee research budgets. This research was not only meant to protect and unveil secrets in diplomatic circles, through wire-tapping and other espionage techniques. Maybe more importantly, it has helped us decode some of the codes used in foreign military radio communications within range of our Radar installations.
What you see below is the result, from radar stations, originally built to serve as early warning and guidance for the VVS, and Red Navy, in Leningrad, Smolensk, and Berezan, foreign radio communications are intercepted and partially, or entirely decrypted. The telephones on the right link this site with the two others and with a few cleared officials in the Kremlin who can get their information straight from the source. The radio equipment on the left, using antennas and arrays that are part of, or hard to notice additions to, our radar sites, can tune in to listen to foreign radio signals up to 650km away, or more in some cases. The men and women at the far end, spend their time decoding the messages intercepted by the technicians on the right.
All this information is placed on a map, identifying the type and number of units present and other intelligence gathered through this system. I'll let 'Shest' explain the security implications."
"Shest" was quite brief:
"From the communications we have intercepted, the German codes are the toughest to crack, therefor we have only limited information, we know how many units the have on or near the front lines, but the type and make-up of all of them is not entirely certain. Romanian and Swedish encryption was a piece of cake, and we have exact data on the make-up of their divisions, and Air units, for the Hungarians, it seems they're not consistent, and their use of some German-inspired codes mean that we have a good but incomplete picture of their military units"
We all looked over the intelligence, and 'Dva' soon started thinking out loud:
I hope this new and improved intelligence will help you gauge our chances in case of an Axis invasion of the Soviet Union.
Greetings,
'Odin'
A small announcement that's not immediately relevant:Down below, I noted that people were hard at work around the map, on one side was a battery of telephones with several operators working hard to take incoming calls, and transmit the information to colleagues near the map who took notes, and occasionally stood up to move or place counters on the map. On the other side, what looked like headphone-wearing radio-operators were hard at work finetuning what looked like massive radio receivers. On the far end of the room were at least ten desks with men and women hard at work listening to tapes and reading printed messages coming from the radio-operator types. On first sight, the radio-operators and the telephones could be explained as part of a high-level command post plotting the progress and positions of our units, but what were the men and women in the back doing? And why was the facility this secret.
I soon got my answers, when 'Vosem' proudly explained what I was looking at:
" 'Odin', 'Dva', thank you for coming. I know you are both very busy with other matters, but this is important, and revolutionary. Shortly after deploying our first large Radar station in Leningrad, some of the nation's best, and most trusted scientists and electronic Engineers came to visit the facilities, most were from Kharkov. A few months later, one of them wrote a letter to the GRU to explain how radar arrays could be modified and manipulated to eavesdrop on foreign military radio communications. You may have seen requests for Encryption and Decryption research pop up in the Committee research budgets. This research was not only meant to protect and unveil secrets in diplomatic circles, through wire-tapping and other espionage techniques. Maybe more importantly, it has helped us decode some of the codes used in foreign military radio communications within range of our Radar installations.
What you see below is the result, from radar stations, originally built to serve as early warning and guidance for the VVS, and Red Navy, in Leningrad, Smolensk, and Berezan, foreign radio communications are intercepted and partially, or entirely decrypted. The telephones on the right link this site with the two others and with a few cleared officials in the Kremlin who can get their information straight from the source. The radio equipment on the left, using antennas and arrays that are part of, or hard to notice additions to, our radar sites, can tune in to listen to foreign radio signals up to 650km away, or more in some cases. The men and women at the far end, spend their time decoding the messages intercepted by the technicians on the right.
All this information is placed on a map, identifying the type and number of units present and other intelligence gathered through this system. I'll let 'Shest' explain the security implications."
"This capability must remain a closely guarded secret, especially for those who's communications we are intercepting. However, the usefulness of the intelligence gathered here cannot be overstated, therefor it must reach all sorts of people, especially Military commanders and intelligence operators, but also diplomats and the like. This duality was solved quite easily by the GRU as all the intelligence gained here is attributed to several made-up espionage networks we're supposedly running in the German territories, Hungary, Romania, and Sweden. They received a series of fun code-names too... Besides leaving potential adversaries and traitors in the dark about our capabilities, it has an added benefit. There is a real chance that some traitor or spy will become aware of the goldmine of information provided by one of these so-called spy networks we supposedly have. A likely consequence would be a colossal waste of foreign manpower and resources as foreign intelligence services look for spies that simply aren't there."
"Vosem" jumped in with a couple of prints of pictures of the large map below, with extra indications typed on the sides to give a more complete picture.
"From the communications we have intercepted, the German codes are the toughest to crack, therefor we have only limited information, we know how many units the have on or near the front lines, but the type and make-up of all of them is not entirely certain. Romanian and Swedish encryption was a piece of cake, and we have exact data on the make-up of their divisions, and Air units, for the Hungarians, it seems they're not consistent, and their use of some German-inspired codes mean that we have a good but incomplete picture of their military units"
"This still leaves a lot of room for interpretation. We know we can take out the Romanians, but the Germans look dangerous. The Division we have accurate intelligence on in Sweden could suggest that many of their Divisions are binary, and thus slightly weaker than our triangular units, on the defensive at least, but the fact remains that they have a lot of tanks, especially Heavy Tanks. In the number of Divisions the Red Army has 55 Divisions and 11 reinforced Corps HQs on the line, that gives us parity, or even superiority in numbers, but, the amount of German Armour could be tough on our Infantry. The lowest estimation of 14 Medium and Heavy Tank Units the Germans puts them even with our tank forces, and that's not even counting the fact that they have at least 4 Heavy Tank Units, and we have only 2, with very probably inferior machines. I'm not saying that they can win, but a war with Germany will really hurt, and it definitely won't be a short affair. It's a good thing that we have so many anti-tank guns, Tank-Destroyers, and Assault Bombers to counter their Panzers.
The Hungarians also seem to have mainly binary Divisions, which means that the 4th Army has similar numbers despite having three corps totalling 15 Divisions and 3 reinforced HQs. This is echoed by the latest report I've seen from Col. General Volskiy.
Thank you 'Vosem' and 'Shest' for inviting us here, this facility is quite impressive, and could give us a significant edge in the war to come. Of course, it is entirely possible German scientists have come up with the same use for radar stations, and are actively decoding our messages, in which case not having this capability would put us at a serious disadvantage. I have to go now, there is still a lot to look over, see you in Vologda."
'Vosem' decided to start telling me intricate technical details, and before my head exploded I headed out as well. Excusing myself, as it was getting lateThe Hungarians also seem to have mainly binary Divisions, which means that the 4th Army has similar numbers despite having three corps totalling 15 Divisions and 3 reinforced HQs. This is echoed by the latest report I've seen from Col. General Volskiy.
Thank you 'Vosem' and 'Shest' for inviting us here, this facility is quite impressive, and could give us a significant edge in the war to come. Of course, it is entirely possible German scientists have come up with the same use for radar stations, and are actively decoding our messages, in which case not having this capability would put us at a serious disadvantage. I have to go now, there is still a lot to look over, see you in Vologda."
I hope this new and improved intelligence will help you gauge our chances in case of an Axis invasion of the Soviet Union.
Greetings,
'Odin'
I recently found out that following the re-organisation of the Red Army's officer corps with personal ranks, in 1940, the ranks looked like this:
Brigade Commander: Colonel
Division Commander: Maj. General
Corps Commander: Lt. General
Army Commander: Col. General
Front Commander: General (of the Army)
Theatre/Service Branch Commander: Marshall/Chief Marshall/Marshall of the Soviet Union
Supreme Commander: Marshall of the Soviet Union
There were, of course exceptions, notable Brigades (especially independent Guards Brigades) were sometimes commanded by Maj. Generals, armies were sometimes commanded by experienced Lt. Generals, and Fronts sometimes by Marshalls etc. I will be following this instead of in-game ranks from now on. It should also be noted that Red Army Fronts were smaller than my 'Army Groups'... I'm sure this will come-up again.
It's quite tough to make a decent-looking black on white map out of HOI3 screenshots... I gave it a try anyways using 'strength' map-mode as a base... The detail in the counters is faded due to the colour and contrast manipulations, but I think it looks ok considering what I had to work with...
Also... top of the page...
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