Soviet paratooper manual

As the protests grew this week, Tokayev removed Nazarbayev from his post and sacked Kazakhstan's cabinet, but vowed that the government would not fall. Authorities have imposed a nationwide state of emergency and a night-time curfew. Virtually all flights, both domestic and international, were canceled in Kazakhstan and train connections were disrupted, officials said.

The CSTO said the Russian paratroopers, who were to be joined soon by forces from other member nations, planned to ensure "security of important government and military sites" and assist Kazakh law enforcement in "stabilizing the situation. Kazakhstan is a close strategic ally of Russia, which is very sensitive to any unrest in the former Soviet Republics. The deteriorating situation in Kazakhstan presents a fresh challenge for President Vladimir Putin, as he has long sought to make his country the primary power in the region.

The violence in Kazakhstan comes amid soaring tension along Russia's western borders, as Moscow presses the West to sign legally binding guarantees that NATO will refrain from any eastward expansion. As early as there were reports of parachute troops being used against bandits in Central Asia. Within the next two to three years Leonid G. Minov began to organize the first military parachute units.

He traveled to the United States to study parachute strategy and techniques employed in air rescue missions. He returned to his country with a supply of American-made Irvin parachutes. In April , Soviet industry produced its first run of domestic parachutes, not surprisingly patterned on the Irvin style.

In a parallel development, General Mikhail Tukhachevski, commander of the Leningrad Military District, began theorizing about and earnestly exploring the plausibility of using airborne troops. Tukhachevski was one of a group of farsighted Soviet military officers who developed the concept of deep battle.

This military concept seemed ready made for the employment of parachute troops. The earliest Soviet involvement with parachute operations went through several phases of development. This was especially true with air delivery techniques. As with many novel developments in military planning, airborne troop theory outpaced the practical aspects of plane design and implementation. The first paratroopers exited their transport plane by climbing through a hole in the top of the fuselage.

They then had to crawl along the spine before making their way out along a wing. From the wing the paratroopers rolled off and deployed their parachutes using a rip-cord system. Later Soviet plane designers added small compartments that were constructed under each wing. Paratroopers were then transported to the target areas and dropped like bombs over their drop zones.

Still later, Minov switched from the ripcord method of opening parachutes to the static line concept. This method consisted of hooking deployment lines attached to the backpack of the parachute to a fixed cable inside the airplane.

The parachute force was especially hard hit and lost virtually all of its leadership down to about the rank of major. Included in the first round of purges was Tukhachevski himself. Despite the severe impact of the purges, experimentation with unit size or mission types continued. Parallel studies were conducted as to methods of transport and coordination with other units in the Army. By June there were five airborne corps in the Red Army, each consisting of about 10, troopers.

These corps had been built from the cadres of the five Airborne Brigades the st, th, th, th, and th. These brigades had been the standard unit until changes were initiated sometime in The corps consisted of three airborne brigades, each composed of four battalions of men each.

The organization of airborne forces looked like this:. The most immediate problem faced by the Soviets, which was problematic to most of the countries that employed parachute forces, was the lack of transport aircraft.

Soviet production of transports had to be cut in order to satisfy a more pressing need for fighters and bombers. Among the few transport crews available most had no experience in formation flying, night navigation, or combat operations. To complicate things even more, the Lutfwaffe had maintained complete dominance in the air since the German invasion in June This air superiority severely restricted the use of Soviet airborne troops in their original capacity.

The Soviets were now confronted with the necessity of employing the deep battle concept. The paratroopers then became responsible for supplying, training, and leading these partisans in combat operations. All these operations were coordinated within the framework of larger army battle strategy or front missions. Soviet airborne forces were first employed on a major scale during the defense of Moscow.

German forward advances were thwarted and the battle lines became stabilized just east of the area that included Vyazma and Yukhnov. The supply trucks, on which the Germans relied heavily, had to pass through these towns.

To arrive at their forward positions, these German convoys had to pass several pockets of partisan activity. These partisan forces began to grow more active. Soon they were conducting raids to interdict supply routes in the areas west and south of Vyazma and in the area of Yukhnov. The goal was to block any further movement of German supplies, equipment, and reserves from reaching the front.

The number of Russian troops was unclear, but it was estimated from several hundred to a few thousand, alongside several hundred from Belarus, Tajikistan and Armenia that were also due to arrive.

Kazakhstani government troops moved to regain control in Almaty on Thursday, with videos published by local media showing them opening fire on protesters. A nationwide state of emergency has been declared and the internet has been repeatedly shut off, according to reports.

Saltanat Azirbek, a police spokeswoman, said dozens of people had been killed, when they allegedly attacked administrative and police buildings Wednesday night. State media reported hundreds of people have been injured in the unrest. President Tokayev has vowed to use force to put an end to the protests, after concessions on Wednesday-- including dismissing his government and reversing the fuel price rise-- failed to calm them.

Tokayev claimed the protests were being led by foreign terrorists groups, using the claim to justify his call for the Russian-led alliance to send troops. The CSTO alliance was created after the fall of the Soviet Union and this was the first time it has acted to send troops to one of its members. The three indictments mark the Justice Department's first Jan. Navient, formerly known as Sally Mae, burdened struggling students with debt, the attorneys general said, by pushing them into subprime, private loans they knew most would be unable to repay.

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