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OSR Contribution to NIE 11-14-68, Soviet and East European General Purpose Forces, CIA/DI/OSR, October 1968.

Central Intelligence Agency · 115 pages · text from the file's own layer

This is an October 1968 contribution by the Central Intelligence Agency's Office of Strategic Research to National Intelligence Estimate 11-14-68 on Soviet and East European general purpose forces. It covers Warsaw Pact war plans for Central Europe, the effects of the Czechoslovak crisis, and the doubling of Soviet forces on the Chinese border since 1965. It also assesses ground, tactical air, naval and coastal defense forces. The text does not mention UFOs or unidentified aerial phenomena.

peace to war would be smoother and more efficient if
changes in organization were minimized during that
initial period.
The numbers and types of support
units found in Soviet and East European armies vary.
However, the typical army support would include a
signal regiment, a Scud brigade of six to nine
launchers, an artillery brigade of two to four
battalions, an SA-2 regiment of 18 launchers (Soviet
armies in Germany each have two SA-2 regiments), an
engineer ponton bridge and assault crossing unit,
and a few service units to provide a minimal level
of transportation, maintenance, and supply support.
Some armies also have a heavy tank unit equipped
with 50 to 100 heavy tanks and assault guns.
Several of the armies in the western
USSR may also have a large antiaircraft artillery
unit in cadre status. At least three armies have
100 or more medium antiaircraft guns, and some
associated equipment, stored near army headquarters
in tactical troop installations. These weapons may
indicate large AAA units in cadre status exist in
some armies. However, these units probably could
not be prepared for early commitment, but they may
be intended for activation and deployment in a
later stage of protracted emergency or war.
East European field armies also
contain from three to five divisions and combat and
service support at levels similar to Soviet armies.
However, the East Europeans do not have tank armies.
Rather, their armies tend to be made up of roughly
equal proportions of tank and motorized rifle (or
mechanized) divisions. East European field army
headquarters do not exist as separate entities in
peacetime but are formed during mobilization by
designated personnel from the territorial military
district commands. This procedure for organizing
field army commands is regularly practiced in
exercises.
c. Fronts
The Front is the highest Soviet
wartime field headquarters for the joint operational
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 115 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.