Soviet Army
The Soviet Army, or more accurately the Soviet ground forces, are a conscript based army fielding a total strength of about 1.8 million men. The Soviets divide these forces into Theaters (TVD) and Military Districts (MD). Changes to the Warsaw Pact (WP) structure have meant major displacements of troops. However, the hardline Kremlin did not wish to inundate parts of the Soviet Union with hundreds of thousands of troops to draw upon their local economies or food supplies. To solve this dilemma while still maintaining a similar force structure, they chose to hoist their problem on Czechoslovakia and Hungary, while dispersing those forces they did bring back to the motherland as widely as possible.
The forces which were formerly resident in East Germany have moved, mostly to Czechoslovakia, and to a lesser extent Hungary. The former structures have remained largely intact except that the Western Group of Forces (Western TVD) now includes the former Soviet Central Group of Forces (Central TVD). Forces which were stationed in Poland, the Northern Group of Forces (Northern TVD) have been dispersed into the western Soviet Union (Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltics). Other organizational changes will be discussed in detail in the relevant pages.
In Northern Fury, the Red Army fields 191 maneuver divisions, including 134 motorized rifle divisions (MRD), 50 tank divisions (TD), and 7 airborne divisions (Abn Div). Of these maneuver divisions, 13 are stationed in Czechoslovakia, 8 in Hungary, 82 in the European portion of the USSR, 29 in the Central Asian portion and Afghanistan, and 52 in Siberia, the Far East, and Mongolia.
A more complete understanding of the late Cold War Soviet Ground forces can be obtained by studying these documents:
US Army Field Manual: FM100-2-1 - THE SOVIET ARMY: Operations and Tactics
FM100-2-2 - THE SOVIET ARMY: Specialized Warfare and Rear Area Support FM100-2-3 - The Soviet Army: Troops, Organization, and Equipment
