10-21-2002, 07:03 AM
Actually, enlisted personnel left units all the time. I don't have all the stats, but based on my experience I would say those who stayed in one unit for the entire war were actually a minority!
A look through soldiers Red Army ID books will show this mobility.
The main reason for this is that the Army level was more important than the Division level for many things.
Medical services of hospital level (thus not simple first aid stations) were run at the Army level or higher. Given that there were more wounds suffered by Red Army personnel in WWII than there were Red Army personnel means most people were wounded during the war. There are stats in Krivosheyev's Grif Sekretnosti Sniat, which I don't have handy right now, showing total number of wounds and it equals either 1.5 or 2.5 times the number of soldiers. Now many soldiers were wounded more than once so many were also never wounded but statitically it was very common to be wounded. The key for this arguement is that after a soldier was wounded, sent to hospital, and rehabilitated they went to an Army manpower pool to be sent to whatever unit the Army needed filled not/not back to their original unit. Of course there were exceptions, maybe the hospital was close and the soldier just returned to their unit or maybe the Army decided to send them back to ther old unit. But, in general it was off to a new unit.
The same was true of many specialty training courses. Off to course at Army level, then back to a new unit. Also, when in breaks from fighting, units often had personel shuffled if they had too many untrained personnel or if they had too many of a certain specialty.
Finally, it was not uncommon for people to get seperated from their unit. As all major rear sevices were likewise Army level or higher, once rounded up the soldiers would be sent whereever needed.
The idea of belongng to a specific unit was much less firm than in the West or the Axis.
Shawn
A look through soldiers Red Army ID books will show this mobility.
The main reason for this is that the Army level was more important than the Division level for many things.
Medical services of hospital level (thus not simple first aid stations) were run at the Army level or higher. Given that there were more wounds suffered by Red Army personnel in WWII than there were Red Army personnel means most people were wounded during the war. There are stats in Krivosheyev's Grif Sekretnosti Sniat, which I don't have handy right now, showing total number of wounds and it equals either 1.5 or 2.5 times the number of soldiers. Now many soldiers were wounded more than once so many were also never wounded but statitically it was very common to be wounded. The key for this arguement is that after a soldier was wounded, sent to hospital, and rehabilitated they went to an Army manpower pool to be sent to whatever unit the Army needed filled not/not back to their original unit. Of course there were exceptions, maybe the hospital was close and the soldier just returned to their unit or maybe the Army decided to send them back to ther old unit. But, in general it was off to a new unit.
The same was true of many specialty training courses. Off to course at Army level, then back to a new unit. Also, when in breaks from fighting, units often had personel shuffled if they had too many untrained personnel or if they had too many of a certain specialty.
Finally, it was not uncommon for people to get seperated from their unit. As all major rear sevices were likewise Army level or higher, once rounded up the soldiers would be sent whereever needed.
The idea of belongng to a specific unit was much less firm than in the West or the Axis.
Shawn
