# VOKhR

VOKhR, VeCheka or (Russian: ВОХР, Войска внутренней охраны республики) was a paramilitary organisation that operated with Civilian, Military and Security force troops who worked in a separate section of the military and security forces for the internal security in the Soviet Union. They were designated as a paramilitary force tasked with protecting the internal security, communications, transportation and, guarding of borders and regions.

## History

Following the October Revolution, at the time the Russian Civil War had begun and had already greatly affected the Bolsheviks, they had taken over the government but the White Army and the many minorities and republics declared war in the midst of the chaos. Because of the numerous external and internal security threats that were present during the civil war, the Council of People's Commissars created the Cheka. The VOKhR paramilitary was created and developed from the Departmental armed and unarmed guards along with the larger secret police of the Cheka, internal security was needed but the security of the undeveloped countryside of Russia and many other forms of security were also needed which was the main reason that the VOKhR branch was created. VOKhR was largely designed to be operated by both officials, extensively trained personnel from the Cheka and other internal security branches and civilians who volunteered or were drafted. Civilians were more needed because they could report, guard or operate in smaller communities and roads across the countryside that weren't easily reachable.
The Internal Security Troops of the Republic (VOKhR Troops) (RSFSR) were formally established by the Resolution of the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense of the RSFSR dated May 28, 1919. According to this document, all disparate armed security formations of various departments (protection of communication routes under the People's Commissariat of Railways, protection of waterways under the Supreme Council of the National Economy, requisition and food detachments of the People's Commissariat of Food, troops of the Main Directorate of Sugar, Main Directorate of Oil, Center Textiles and many others) from July 1, 1919 were transferred to the complete subordination of the NKVD through the Headquarters of the Internal Security Troops. On July 21, 1919, the headquarters and structure were approved: all the motley formations were reorganized into battalions, regiments and brigades, and the entire territory of the Republic was divided into 11 sectors of the Voikhr troops. K. M. Volobuyev was approved as the first head of the Voikhr. By the Resolution of the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense of September 1, 1920, the VOKhR Troops were included in the Internal Service Troops (the internal security troops of the republic) (VNUS Troops) as independent escort and guard units. In fact, the VOKhR Troops were part of the VNUS, which was assigned security functions.
The number of troops in mid-1920 exceeded 240,000 people. After the end of the Civil War, the VOKhR troops were mainly assigned security functions. Up until the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, units of the VOKhR troops, which were part of the NKVD troops, guarded places of detention. In January 1921, the VOKhR Troops were disbanded: some of the troops were transferred to the direct control of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission and became known as the VKhK troops (responsible for combating banditry and protecting communication routes), the remaining troops were transferred to the Red Army and, for the most part, were soon disbanded.

## Duties

Initially, the following tasks were assigned to the VOKhR Troops:
* protection of state and industrial facilities, communication routes,
* combating armed counterrevolutionary uprisings and banditry,
* protection of the rear of the active army, including the fight against saboteurs,
* confiscation of grain surpluses.