Winter Warfare: Red Army Orders and Experiences

Based on German and Soviet military archival material, this book provides a rare insight into the tactics and planning for combat in a winter climate. It also studies the mechanisms for change in an army during the course of battle. The first part of the book looks at the tactical pamphlet 'People's Commissar for Defence Order No. 109', as passed by Red Army units on 4 March 1941, which provided regulations for combat in Winter. The document came to the West through the German military intelligence files of the High Command of Forces, Foreign Armies East (Fremde Heere Ost) and represents a distillation of lessons learned from Red Army experiences during the Russo-Finnish War. The second part of the book, using material from the Soviet military archives, reveals Red Army General Staff supplements to the winter regulation. Orders and directives alone are insufficient to ensure the passing of tacit knowledge in winter warfare. Within the Red Army, an institutional process existed for thecollection of combat lessons which provided the tactical and operational examples for subordinate commands to emulate in training and battle.