FAI had recorded sixty-three world records in parachute jumping, of which
forty-eight are held by Soviet sportsmen (which means the Soviet Army). The
Soviet military athlete Yuri Baranov was the first man in the world to
exceed 13,000 jumps. Among Soviet women the champion in the number of jumps
is Aleksandra Shvachko -- she has made 8,200 jumps. The parachute psychosis
continues.
___
In peacetime military transport planes are used for making parachute
drops. But this is done largely to prevent the fact of the existence of
spetsnaz from spreading. In wartime military transports would be used for
dropping spetsnaz groups only in exceptional circumstances. There are two
reasons for this. In the first place, the whole fleet of military transport
planes would be taken up with transporting the airborne forces (VDV), of
which there are an enormous number. Apart from which, military aviation
would have other difficult missions to perform, such as the transport of
troops within the country from passive, less important sectors to the areas
where the main fighting was taking place. Secondly, the majority of military
transports are enormous aircraft, built for moving people and equipment on a
large scale, which do not suit the purposes of spetsnaz. It needs small
planes that do not present large targets and carry no more than twenty or
thirty people. They must also be able to fly at very low level without much
noise. In some cases even smaller aircraft that take eight to ten, or down
to three or four parachutists, are needed.
However, the official term `civil aviation', which is the source of
most spetsnaz transport in wartime, is a substantial misnomer. The minister
for civil aviation bears, quite officially, the rank of air chief marshal in
the Air Force. His deputies bear the rank of generals. The whole of
Aeroflot's flying personnel have the ranks of officers of the reserve. In
the event of war Aeroflot simply merges with the Soviet Air Force, and the
reserve officers then become regular officers with the same rank.
It has more than enough small aircraft for the business of transporting
and supplying spetsnaz units. The best of them are the Yakovlev-42 and the
Yakovlev-40, very manoeuvrable, reliable, low-noise planes capable of flying
at very low altitudes. They have one very important construction feature --
passengers embark and disembark through a hatch at the bottom and rear of
the aircraft. If need be, the hatch cover can be removed altogether, giving
the parachutists an exit as on a military transport plane, which makes it
possible to drop them in complete safety. Another plane that has great
possibilities for spetsnaz is the Antonov-72 -- an exact copy of the
American YC-14 of which the plans were stolen by GRU spies.
But how can spetsnaz parachutists use ordinary civil jet-propelled
aircraft, which passengers enter and leave by side doors? The doors cannot
be opened in flight. And if they were made to open inwards instead of
outwards, it would be exceptionally dangerous for a parachutist to leave the
plane, because the force of the current of air would press the man back
against the body of the plane. He might be killed either from the force with
which he bounced back against the plane, or through interference with the
opening of his parachute.
The problem has been solved by a very simple device. The door is
arranged to open inwards, and a wide tube made of strong, flexible,
synthetic material is allowed to hang out. As he leaves the door the
parachutist finds himself in a sort of three-metre long corridor which he
slides down so that he comes away from the aircraft when he is slightly to
one side and below the fuselage.
Variations on this device were first used on Ilyushin-76 military
transport planes. The heavy equipment of the airborne troops was dropped out
of the huge rear freight hatch, while at the same time the men were leaving
the plane through flexible `sleeves' at the side. The West has not given
this simple but very clever invention its due. Its importance lies not only
in the fact that the time taken to drop Soviet parachutists from transport
planes has been substantially reduced, with the result that every drop is
safer and that forces are much better concentrated on landing. What it also
means is that practically any jet-propelled civil aircraft can now be used
for dropping parachute troops.
___
The dropping of a spetsnaz unit can be carried out at any time of the
day or night. Every time has its advantages and its problems. Night-time is
the spetsnaz soldier's ally, when the appearance of a group of spetsnaz deep
in the enemy's rear may not be noticed at all. Even if the enemy were aware
of the group's arrival, it is never easy to organise a full-scale search at
night, especially if the exact landing place is not known and may be
somewhere inaccessible where there are forests and hills or mountains with
few roads and no troops on the spot. But at night there are likely to be
casualties among the parachutists as they land. The same problems of
assembly and orientation which face the pursuit troops face the spetsnaz
unit too.
During the day, obviously, there are fewer accidents on landing; but
the landing will be seen. Deliberate daytime landings may sometimes be
carried out for the simple reason that the enemy does not expect such brazen
behaviour at such a time.
In many cases the drop will be carried out early in the morning while
there are still stars in the sky and the sun has not risen. This is a very
good time if large numbers of soldiers are being dropped who are expected to
go straight into battle and carry out their mission by means of a really
sudden attack. In that case the high command does its best to ensure that
the groups have as much daylight as possible for active operations on the
first, most important day of their mission.
But every spetsnaz soldier's favourite time for being dropped is at
sunset. The flight is calculated so that the parachutists' drop is carried
out in the last minutes before the onset of darkness. The landing then takes
place in the twilight when it is still light enough to avoid landing on a
church spire or a telegraph pole. In half an hour at the most darkness will
conceal the men and they will have the whole night ahead of them to leave
the landing area and cover their tracks.
___
On its own territory spetsnaz has a standard military structure:
section, platoon, company, battalion, brigade; or section, platoon, company,
regiment. This organisation simplifies the control, administration and
battle training of spetsnaz. But this structure cannot be used on enemy
territory.
The problem is, firstly, that every spetsnaz operation is individual
and unlike any other; a plan is worked out for each operation, which is
unlike any other. Each operation consequently requires forces organised, not
in a standard fashion, but adapted to the particular plan.
Secondly, when it is on enemy territory, a spetsnaz unit is in direct
>
communication with a major headquarters, at the very least the headquarters
of an all-arm or tank army, and orders are received in many cases directly
from a high-level HQ. A very long chain of command is simply not needed.
On operations a simple and flexible chain of command is used. The
organisational unit on enemy territory is known officially as the
reconnaissance group of spetsnaz (RGSN). A group is formed before the
beginning of an operation and may contain from two to thirty men. It can
operate independently or as part of a detachment (ROSN), which consists of
between thirty and 300 or more men. The detachment contains groups of
various sizes and for various purposes. The names `detachment' and `group'
are used deliberately, to emphasise the temporary nature of the units. In
the course of an operation groups can leave a detachment and join it again,
and each group may in turn break up into several smaller groups or,
conversely, come together with others into one big group. Several large
groups can join up and form a detachment which can at any moment split up
again. The whole process is usually planned before the operation begins. For
example: the drop may take place in small groups, perhaps fifteen of them
altogether. On the second day of the operation (D+1) eight of the groups
will join up into one detachment for a joint raid, while the rest operate
independently. On D+2 two groups are taken out of the detachment to form the
basis of a new detachment and another six groups link up with the second
detachment. On D+5 the first detachment splits up into groups and on D+6 the
second group splits up, and so on. Before the beginning of the operation
each group is informed where and when to meet up with the other groups and
what to do in case the rendezvous is not kept.
___
Having landed in enemy territory spetsnaz may go straight into battle.
Otherwise, it will hide the equipment it no longer needs -- boats,
parachutes, etc -- by either burying them in the ground or sinking them in
water. Very often it will then mine the drop area. The mines are laid where
the unwanted equipment has been buried. The area is also treated with one of
a number of substances which will confuse a dog's sense of smell. After
that, the group (of whatever size) will break up into little sub-groups
which depart quickly in different directions. A meeting of the sub-groups
will take place later at a previously arranged spot or, if this proves
problematic, at one of the several alternative places which have been
agreed.
The drop area is usually the first place where casualties occur.
However good the parachute training is, leg injuries and fractures are a
frequent occurrence, and when the drop takes place in an unfamiliar place,
in complete darkness, perhaps in fog, over a forest or mountains, they are
inevitable. Even built-up areas provide their own hazards. Spetsnaz laws are
simple and easy to understand. In a case of serious injury the commander
cannot take the wounded man with him; doing so would greatly reduce the
group's mobility and might lead to the mission having to be aborted. But the
commander cannot, equally, leave the wounded man alone. Consequently a
simple and logical decision is taken, to kill the wounded man. Spetsnaz has
a very humane means of killing its wounded soldiers -- a powerful drug known
to the men as `Blessed Death'. An injection with the drug stops the pain and
quickly produces a state of blissful drowsiness. In the event that a
commander decides, out of misguided humanity, to take the wounded man with
him, and it looks as if this might jeopardise the mission, the deputy
commander is under orders to dispatch both the wounded man and the
commander. The commander is removed without recourse to drugs. It is
recommended that he be seized from behind with a hand over his mouth and a
knife blow to his throat. If the deputy does not deal with his commander in
this situation, then not just the commander and his deputy, but the entire
group may be regarded as traitors, with all the inevitable consequences.
As they leave the area of the drop the groups and sub-groups cover
their tracks, using methods that have been well known for centuries: walking
through water and over stones, walking in each other's footsteps, and so
forth. The groups lay more mines behind them and spread more powder against
dogs.
After leaving the drop zone and having made sure that they are not
being followed, the commander gives orders for the organisation of a base
and a reserve base, safe places concealed from the view of outsiders. Long
before a war GRU officers, working abroad in the guise of diplomats,
journalists, consuls and other representatives of the USSR, choose places
suitable for establishing bases. The majority of GRU officers have been at
some time very closely familiar with spetsnaz, or are themselves spetsnaz
officers, or have worked in the Intelligence Directorate of a district or
group of forces. They know what is needed for a base to be convenient and
safe.
Bases can be of all sorts and kinds. The ideal base would be a hiding
place beneath ground level, with a drainage system, running water, a supply
of food, a radio set to pick up the local news and some simple means of
transport. I have already described how spetsnaz agents, recruited locally,
can establish the more elaborate bases which are used by the professional
groups of athletes carrying out exceptionally important tasks. In the
majority of cases the base will be somewhere like a cave, or an abandoned
quarry, or an underground passage in a town, or just a secluded place among
the undergrowth in a dense forest.
A spetsnaz group can leave at the base all the heavy equipment it does
not need immediately. The existence of even the most rudimentary base
enables it to operate without having to carry much with it in the way of
equipment or supplies. The approaches to the base are always guarded and the
access paths mined -- the closest with ordinary mines and the more distant
ones with warning mines which explode with much noise and a bright flash,
alerting any people in the base of approaching danger.
When the group moves off to carry out its task, a few men normally
remain behind to guard the base, choosing convenient observation points from
which to keep an eye on it. In the event of its being discovered the guard
leaves the location quietly and makes for the reserve base, leaving warnings
of the danger to the rest of the group in an agreed place. The main group
returning from its mission will visit the reserve base first and only then
go to the main base. There is a double safeguard here: the group may meet
the guards in the reserve base and so avoid falling into a trap; otherwise
the group will see the warning signals left by the guards. The craters from
exploded mines around the base may also serve as warnings of danger. If the
worst comes to the worst, the guards can give warning of danger by radio.
A spetsnaz group may also have a moving base. Then it can operate at
night, unhampered by
heavy burdens, while the guards cart all the group's
heavy equipment along by other routes. Each morning the group meets up with
its mobile base. The group replenishes its supplies and then remains behind
to rest or to set off on another operation, while the base moves to another
place. The most unexpected places can be used by the mobile bases. I once
saw a base which looked simply like a pile of grass that had been thrown
down in the middle of a field. The soldiers' packs and equipment had been
very carefully disguised, and the men guarding the base were a kilometre
away, also in a field and camouflaged with grass. All around there were lots
of convenient ravines overgrown with young trees and bushes. That was where
the KGB and MVD units were looking for the spetsnaz base, and where the
helicopters were circling overhead. It did not occur to anybody that a base
could be right in the middle of an open field.
In some cases a spetsnaz group may capture a vehicle for transporting
its mobile base. It might be an armoured personnel carrier, a truck or an
ordinary car. And if a group is engaged in very intensive fighting involving
frequent changes of location, then no base is organised. In the event of its
being pursued the group can abandon all its heavy equipment, having first
removed the safety pin from the remaining mines.
___
In order to destroy a target it has first to be located. In the
overwhelming majority of cases a spetsnaz operation includes the search for
the target. This is understandable, since targets whose location is known
and which are not movable can be destroyed easily and quickly with missiles
and aircraft. But a great number of targets in present-day fighting are
mobile. On the eve of a war or just after it has broken out, government
offices are moved out of a country's capital for secret command posts whose
location is known to very few people. New communications centres and lines
are brought into operation. Aircraft are removed from stationary aerodromes
and dispersed to airfields established in places unknown to the enemy. Many
missile installations are moved to new concealed, and carefully guarded,
locations. Troops and headquarters are also relocated.
In these circumstances the search for targets acquires paramount
significance for spetsnaz. To be able to find a target of special
Spetsnaz: The Inside Story of the Soviet Special Forces Page 19
