Russian Scouts?

[Wanderers87]

Happy Holidays, everyone.

I've been trying to run down information and references on the Russian scouts- "Razvedchiki". So far, though, information seems to be pretty elusive! Photos turn up in a few books on Russia in WWII, and they are mentioned in one of the Osprey books, but so far, info still seems to be lacking. Does anyone have any good info or pictures on them? Any clue if they had their own insignia?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Hope everyone has a safe New Year's.
~Gavin

[desantnik]

Happy Holidays, everyone.

I've been trying to run down information and references on the Russian scouts- "Razvedchiki". So far, though, information seems to be pretty elusive! Photos turn up in a few books on Russia in WWII, and they are mentioned in one of the Osprey books, but so far, info still seems to be lacking. Does anyone have any good info or pictures on them? Any clue if they had their own insignia?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Hope everyone has a safe New Year's.
~Gavin

Gavin, razvedchiki were scouts at an organizational level - battalion, brigade, for example and I've only encountered them in infantry or artillery units, but I don't see why they couldn't be in engineer units for example. They weren't grouped in a large unit like the SAS, 82d Airborne, for example. There was a "Excellent Scout" badge, but for all practical purposes, there uniform would be the same as their parent unit. However when they went on a mission they would lose the more formal uniform and could wear camouflage and would often carry German weapons. It's hard to generalize since there were as many scout "traditions" as there were scouts in combat arms small units throughout the Red Army.

[Wanderers87]

Thank you very much!

~Gavin

[Kozlov]

Every Soviet rifles batallion had a scout company. These were better motivated and hand picked men from the unit.

When it came to Afganistan, the scout companies were heavily utilised as the main cutting edge against the rebels.

The term "spetsnaz" (troops of special purpose) gets loosely applied to scout units in a lot of texts and it becomes hard to recognise what is actually a "special forces" unit in the Western sense and what is simply a scout unit!

If you want to read a fictional account of a Soviet scout detachment in the Great Patriotic War, look for the book or film "Star". There is an English translation of the book knocking around and the film has subtitles (quite a good film actually)

[Gaffken]

If it helps, in western military terms, we'd refer to these guys as reconnaissance troops. As Kozlov mentioned, there are many different 'flavors' of razvedchiki, including ones organic to regular ground units (as desantnik mentions; ie, a recon company or platoon) and those of the GRU Spetsnaz forces.

The two aforementioned unit types have similar roles, but different missions, primarily with regard to the ranges in which they operate (ie, tactical and operational, respectively), but still derive from the same basic role of reconnaissance. Indeed, the 'R' in GRU derives from the same root word as razvedchik, with GRU breaking out as 'Main Reconnaissance Directorate' or 'Main Intelligence Directorate' of the General Staff.

Hope this helps... --Gaffken.

[Wanderers87]

Yes, I read "Zvezda". A good read, it's available here: (http://www.adamfive.com/guerrero/zvezda/), albeit a little disorganized. It tells you alot about what the razvedchiki did.

I didn't know that there were different organizational levels of scouts, that's interesting. I assumed the behind-the-lines deep reconaissance and the battlefield-level recon was all done by the same battalion level scouts...

Thank you all very much for the information so far, it's giving me quite the insight here.

~Gavin

[Wild Card]

Hi Gavin,

I thought that you might find this to be of interest - the awards of Gds. Pvt. Timofeevich Melkishev, Scout, 21st Gds. Independent Recon. Co., 33rd Gds. Rifle Div., 2nd Gds. Army.

Best wishes,

Wild Card

[Kozlov]

Ignoring the reference I made to their use in Afganistan for a second, the other thing worth noting is that Soviet concepts of reconsaisance are simply to see and note.

The only form of violence perscribed is possibly taking of "tongues" (prisoners).

They aren't a commando raiding party, simply there to see and note enemy dispositions.

Obviously if discovered they carry weapons to defend themselves...

From the Great Patriotic War the other piece of "scout" equipment you will see is their knives... they were issued with a bowie style knife, the blade of which from memory is about 7" long. Occassionally you see these turn up in a believable condition but they are reproduced en masse for both the reenactment and fake market, so beware!

A repro one (and sold honestly as such!) can be seen here:

http://www.ostfront.com/Merchant2/me...eapons_Related

[Wanderers87]

Nice grouping, Wild Card. Forgive me, but my knowledge on Russian service medals are a tad rusty... what are they each for?

Kozlov- I too have heard about those knives, I assumed they were for quietly dispatching sentries, etc. Not to mention they make a far better knife than those thrice-damned Mosin bayonets I happen to own one, and yes, the blade is a tad shy of 7".

[Kozlov]

Medals left to right:

Order of Glory 3rd class
Combat Bravery
Combat Merit
Defence of Stalingrad
Victory over Germany

Thats a grouping of a Soviet soldier who saw some serious action and fought both bravely and well.

[Albert]

Ignoring the reference I made to their use in Afganistan for a second, the other thing worth noting is that Soviet concepts of reconsaisance are simply to see and note.

The only form of violence perscribed is possibly taking of "tongues" (prisoners).

They aren't a commando raiding party, simply there to see and note enemy dispositions.

Obviously if discovered they carry weapons to defend themselves...
...

Actually, their tasks were / are broader. Besides what you already noted above, to observe, to listen, and of course to search, they also had, and have, clearly offensive tasks such as to raid, to ambush and to forcefully conduct recon (razvedka boem and boevoj razved. dozor).

BR,
Albert