OOB Source Question - B45

[Sgt Barker]

Don't know if this will be seen by anyone who knows, but here goes.

What is the source of the Soviet 86th Guards Rifle Division being in the 10th Guards Rifle Corp (46th Army) in the OOB?

There are a number of gaming and popular sources that place it there, but there are two sources that do not: The Red Army Order of Battle, by Poirier and Connor, and the History of the RKKA site. (Poirier and Connor place it in the 1st Guards Rifle Corps.)

[rzhev42]

The BSSA (Boyevoi Sostav Sovetskoi Armii - [Compostion of the Soviet Army]) which is the Soviet Published OOB for the GPW has listings for the first of each month.

The 86th Gds Rifle Division is listed as being in 46th Army and 10th Gds Rifle Corps for Dec 1 44, Jan 1 45 and also Feb 1 45.

And just for you reference, the Poirier and Conners book has many many errors in it, and is very dated at this point.

Michael Avanzini

[Sgt Barker]

No kidding here - I *just* discovered this a few minutes ago. The question of the placement of the 86th GRD was raised on another board, and I figured asking it here would be a good move given the recent work on B45. SInce then been googling and up it came.

According to a blurb on the site it says command of Russian isn't needed, as "One need not be a skilled Russian linguist to use the documents as the abbreviations are readily deciphered." Is this your experience, or are there Russian speakers doing the research.

Yes, the venerable "Red Army Order of Battle" is ancient, even moreso in political terms. Sigh.., I bought it back in the days of GDW's Fire in the East as a reference. Must retire it now.

Thanks for the info!

[rzhev42]

For a good part of the BSSA you can decipher with some translation of the abbreivations, or at least someone telling you what they mean. But some other parts you will need to translate. All in all it is not that difficult.

It is good that some of it is now posted on the web, I had to buy first microfiche and then PDF versions of them. Although it is very nice having all 5 volumes printed and bound and tabbed by month as a handy reference

Michael