Observations of a Radar Soldier

[Breakerchase]

Originally Posted by daferg

Would the Warsaw Pact be able to adapt and change its doctrine mid-fight? The US Army has proven time and time again we seldom follow the Field Manual. I would like to think we are an adaptive force. I wonder what type of Army we would have today if the "Big War" happened in the mid 80's.

I believe so. (At least for the Soviets, and definitely not all Soviet troops and commanders) I spoke with my history prof a few months back, who was a 2nd Lt in Germany back in the late '80s. He said that he and most of the US Army expected to face the stereotyped Soviet Army; that is the one that follows regulations to the letter, rigid, slow and predictable to be defeated decisively by our "superior free-thinking troops".

Most of our (Western) guides to the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War like the 1984 edition of the FM 100-2 series painted the stereotyped picture that you and I have described. That was dispelled to a degree when the Gorbachev era allowed Soviet military journals to produce more useful bits for organizations like the Soviet Army Studies Office to exploit, but due to the end of the Cold War a more sophisticated understanding of Soviet military art didn't get through to the US Army at large. However, that understanding did live on in the form of the NTC and BCTP OPFOR of the 1990s.

Now, I'm definitely not a subscriber to the 1970s "10 feet tall Russians" crowd, but the best Soviet units which were tasked with operating as a forward detachment or part of an operational maneuver group were expected to show a higher level of flexibility and creativity than that of "regular" motorized rifle or tank regiments. The doctrine was all there to follow, but there were some units and commanders who were able to undertake complicated missions than others.

I also found this monograph an interesting read:
http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc...f&AD=ADA208043