Red Army artillery units

Does anyone have an idea of or sources for the organisation of higher level Red Army artillery units, especially Corps & Army level artillery regiments and the various types of artillery brigades in the breakthrough artillery divisions (light, howitzer, gun artillery, rocket barrage etc)?

I'm assuming they are similar to the divisional artillery regiments (3 x battalion of 3 x batteries each) with presumably an artillery brigade consisting of three such regiments, however for super heavy guns I would imagine battery sizes would be smaller.

Cheers

In the osprey 'Bagration' there's a picture of 3 203mil howitzers which is referred to as a battery. So maybe the battery sizes were the same but only one battery.

To quote from this book: 'Artillery divisions varied in composition and included specialised types such as gun artillery, breakthrough artillery and guards mortar (multiple rocket launcher) divisions. The basic artillery formation was a formidable force armed with 108 120mil mortars, 72 zis 3 76mil guns, 48 M-30 122 mil howitzers, 12 A-19 122 guns, 24 D-1 152mil gun-howitzers and 24 ML-20 152mil howitzers.'

Essentially, so much firepower I'd wonder whether it was worth worrying about organisation etc for what I imagine would be your purposes.

Andy O'Neill www.l-25.demon.co.uk/index.htm

: and the various types of artillery brigades in the breakthrough artillery : divisions (light, howitzer, gun artillery, rocket barrage etc)?

: I'm assuming they are similar to the divisional artillery regiments (3 x : battalion of 3 x batteries each) with presumably an artillery brigade : consisting of three such regiments, however for super heavy guns I would : imagine battery sizes would be smaller.

You might wish to check out: http://www.wargamer.com/sp/addons/oob.zip

I It has some pretty good Soviet oob data.

I have heavy artillery TO&Es from 1941:

A Gun Artillery Regiment was 4 battalions, 3 122mm battalions (3 batteries of 4 122mm guns each) and 1 152mm battalion (3 batteries of 4 152mm guns each), or 4 122mm battalions (3 batteries of 4 122mm guns each).

A Heavy Gun Artillery Regiment was 2 152mm battalions (3 batteries of 4 152mm guns each).

A Heavy Howitzer Artillery Regiment was 2 203mm battalions (3 batteries of 4 203mm howitzers each)

A Separate Heavy Artillery Battalion was 3 batteries, of 5 210mm guns, 5 280mm mortars, and 5 305mm howitzers.

Artillery Division TO&Es varied, with some being all gun/howitzer, some being all rocket, and most being mixed gun/howitzer/rocket.

The Rifle Division divisional artillery actually varied quite a lot during the war. The prewar division artillery was quite powerful, with a Light Artillery Regiment (1 76mm battalion (16 guns), 1 122mm battalion (8 howitzers)), and a Heavy Artillery Regiment (1 122mm battalion (12 howitzers) and a 152mm battalion (12 howitzers).

This was found to be ineffective, since the division didn't have the communication resources to effectively use all of those guns. So Marshal of Artillery Voronov reorganized the division artillery, removing the Heavy Artillery Regiment and sending those to strengthen the ARVGK (Artilleria Rezerva Verkhovnogo Glavnokommandovania, Artillery Reserve of the Supreme High Command)

Division artillery in December 1941 (after Voronov removed one of the Artillery Regiments from the Rifle Division TO&E) was 1 76mm battalion (4 batteries of 4 guns each) and 1 122mm battalion (2 batteries of 4 howitzers each).

That was the low point for the strength of the division artillery for the Rifle Division. It got better as the war went on.

Division artillery in 1942 was 1 76mm battalion (5 batteries of 4 guns each) and 1 122mm battalion (3 batteries of 4 howitzers each).

Division artillery in 1944 was 2 76mm battalions (3 batteries of 4 guns each) and 2 122mm battalions (2 batteries of 5 howitzers each), and a 120mm mortar regiment (2 battalions of 10 mortars each).

The source of these figures is David Glantz's 'Soviet Military Operational Art' Frank Cass, 1991.

Stuart Wilkes

Way back

{snip excellent info}

Excellent, thats just the sort of thing I was after.

I've got 'The Soviet Conduct of Tactical Manouvre' by Glantz which mainly covers the operations of Forward Detachments but is maddeningly vague about higher level breakthrough operations, albeit with some useful diagrams of Front operational groupings from the relevant manuals. I'll have to look out for the book youu mentioned above.

Thanks

George Nafziger has put out a series of order of battle information, including a multi-volume 'Soviet Order of Battle' series by Charles C. Sharp. Volume VI, 'Red Thunder', has at least much of the information you're looking for. Since the basic unit was the regiment, Sharp lists regimental organization, and also higher levels. The Soviets tailored their artillery divisions to the expected task, so those organizations were always fluid.

A 1942-45 Light Artillery regiment would have five or six batteries of 76.2mm guns (the sixth battery usually being added in 1943).

A 1942-45 Howitzer Regiment would have two battalions of three batteries each, with a fourth battery added to the first battalion in mid-1943. These would be 122mm howitzers.

A 1942-45 Cannon Regiment would have three battalions, each with three battalions of two 107mm, 122mm, or 152mm guns or gun-howitzers each. In 1944, this may have changed to four guns each.

A 1942-45 Army Artillery Regiment would have three battalions, each with three batteries with two pieces. Nominally, two of the battalions should have 152mm gun-howitzers and one should have 122mm guns, but in 1942 they generally had whatever could be found.

A 1942-45 Super Heavy Howitzer Regiment would have two battalions of three batteries each, each battery having two 203mm howitzers.

A 1942-45 Heavy Howitzer Regiment would have three battalions each containing three batteries of two 152mm howitzers.

A light artillery brigade would have three light artillery regiments, a howitzer brigade would have three howitzer regiments. A cannon brigade would have two regiments, a heavy howitzer or super heavy howitzer brigade four. A heavy cannon brigade or army cannon brigade would have two regiments.

Mortars:

March 1942 mortar regiment: five batteries of four 120mm mortars. January 1943 (motorized) mortar regiment: 2 battalions of 3 batteries of 6 120mm mortars each. August 1942 mountain mortar regiment: five batteries of 4 107mm pack mortars. October 1942 mortar brigade: four mortar regiments. February 1943 mortar brigade: three motorized mortar regiments. 1944 heavy mortar brigade: four battalions, each of three batteries of four 160mm mortars.

'Guards Mortar' units (cover name for rockets):

1942-45 GM Regiment: 3 battalions each of 2 batteries of 4 launchers. December 1942 Heavy GM Brigade: 4 battalions of 3 batteries of 6 launch frames of 4 rails each. May 1944 Motorized Heavy GM Brigade: 2 battalions each containing 3 batteries with 6 launch frames of 8 rails each; also, 2 battalions each containing 3 batteries with 4 launch trucks each. November 1942 GM Division: 2 heavy GM brigades, 4 GM regiments.

Vehicle-mounted launchers seem to have had 24, 36, or 48 rails, but used light rockets. The launch frames were apparently used for the heavier rockets.

Hope this helps!