Evening star., 1943-02-23
Red Army Duy


five years old, 1t crystallized, more
or less spontaneously, in the tu-
multuous period following the coup
OF November, 1917, when the extreme
revolutionary faction headed by
Lenin and Trotsky, and known as
Bolsheviki, overthreW the moderate
socialist government headed by
kerenski and established a Commu-
mist regime, This bold coup was re-
sisted by many elements in Russia
and bitter civil war became
inevitable. To enforce it's will over
the vast expanse of Russia, the new
regime needed a much larger and
more coherent military arm than the
scratch bodies of radical workingmen
and mutinous soldiers who put Boil
shevism in power. Owing largely to
the dynamic genius of Leon Trotsky,
a genuine army was forged into an
instrument of victory.
BY 1921 the civil war was prac-
tically over and the triumphant
Bolshevik regime was able to lay the
foundations of a permanent military
establishment. The most pressing
task was the creation of competent
officers corps, nearly all of the
officers of the former Czarist army
having fought in the White opposi-
ton and having been killed or exiled.
Alongside this went the development
Of heavy industry capable of equip
ping the Red Army with homemade
munitions of every kind. Much Of
Russia's economic evolution under the
Soviet regime has been directed to-
ward the goal Of making the Soviet
Union one Of the most powerfully
armed nations in the world. Colos-
sal sacrifices have been demanded
of the population to attain this goal,
and in the main they have been
cheerfully borne. In the process,
Russia has been transformed from
the economically backward, agricul-
tural land of the Cars into the
extensively mechanical Soviet Union
OF today.
One of rhe most surprising aspects
OF this industrial militarization was
the secrecy with which it was ac-
complished. Even Germany, which
was on very friendly terms with
Soviet Russia until Adolf Hitler came
to power decade ago, did not real
tza tho eporroo,,S uyor ~ cl,ipo ,rb ;oL
was being built up by its giant neigh
Dor. Soviet military efficiency re-
vealed itself slightly in the clashes
with Japan over Mongolia shortly
before the present war, but this
revelation was dimmed in the eyes
of foreign observers by the poor
showing made in the first war with
Finland. That episode, which has
never been adequately explained,
n1isled most military experts to dis
count the strength Of the Red Army
and probably played an important
part In deciding Hitler to attack the
Soviet Union in the summer of 1941.
Only in that supreme test did the
Red Army disclose its spirit, its lead
ership, and the prodigious reserves
of equipment amassed for just such
an emergency.
During nearly two years of warfare
on gargantuan scale, the Red Army
has survived defeats and losses which
might have been fatal to country
less vast and determined On it's
twenty-fifth anniversary, the Soviet
war machine is rolling forward from
victory to victory, with the possibility
Of decisively defeating Hitler's Wehr-
macht. Whatever the future may
bring, the evolution of the Red Army
In a quarter century from improvised
beginnings to its present pitch of
power and efficiency will rank high
In military history.