purges in the red army the late s saw the so called purges of the red army cadres occurring against the historical background of the great purge the purges had the objective of cleansing the red army of the politically unreliable element mainly among the higher ranking officers this inevitably provided a convenient pretext for settling personal vendettas and eventually resulted in a witch hunt some observers believe that the purges weakened the red army considerably but this remains a hotly debated subject many commentators overlook the fact that the red army grew significantly in numbers during the peak of the purges in the red army numbered around million and it grew to almost three times that number by june this necessitated quick promotion of junior officers often despite their lack of experience or training with obvious grave implications in another important consideration by the end of the purges the pendulum swung back restoring and promoting many of the purged officers recently declassified data indicate that in during the culmination of the purges the red army had officers of whom suffered repression and did not gain rehabilitation until yet in the red army had officers more compared to of whom a further suffered repression and did not gain rehabilitation until in the highest echelons of the red army the purges removed of marshals of army generals of admirals of army corps generals out of division generals of army commissars and of army corps commissars