Reserve of the Supreme High Command

The Reserve of the Supreme High Command (Russian: Резерв Верховного Главнокомандования) (also known as Stavka Reserve or RVGK) comprised formations and units which acted as the principal military reserve of the Soviet Red Army during World War II.

Forces from the Reserve were assigned by the Stavka (Supreme High Command) to individual fronts (army groups) that were conducting major operations. These formations were designed to support any forms of operations but especially penetrations and exploitations in accordance with the Soviet deep battle doctrine.^[1]

Beginning in 1943, the formations and units in the Reserve ranged from battalions to whole armies (eg the Reserve Armies), with an emphasis on artillery and mechanised formations, and were capable of large-scale, independent operations. For example, as of April 1943, an artillery penetration corps contained as many as 1,500 gun tubes and rocket launchers each. Tank armies, which also emerged in 1943, included one or two tank corps and one mechanised corps, plus supporting units. These mechanised formations were capable of conducting operational exploitations of up to 500 kilometers.^[2]

Citations

References

• Glantz, David; House, Jonathan (2015). When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 9780700621217. 

Further reading

• Dunn, Stalin's Keys to Victory