History of Military Logistics

The area of study for the Soviet Union during the 1930s and 40s aims to understand the link between the Armed Forces of the Red Army and how these were supported by the wider Soviet economy as a 'nation in arms'. This centres on the theme of transport, how railways were used to both link the front line with the factories in the Urals and how the small Soviet fleet of 450,000 vehicles in 1944 supported an Armed Forces of 11,000,000 men compared to the British fleet of 1,250,000 vehicles which supported only 5,000,000 men. The Red Army made extensive use of over 1,000,000 horses during the war pulling small wagons in the large number of Soviet Rifle Divisions while modern imported trucks were reserved as gun tractors. Extensive use of Russian websites such as Pamyat Naroda allows research into logistics at Army level to gain a new insight into the close relationship between the front line units, the Centre and the collective farms just behind the front.