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mr2mk1g

Spetsnaz - cold war records and jumping

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Randomly found the following excerpts of text in a long article I was reading on line the other day about Spetsnaz units during the cold war. Appeared to have been written by a Russian Spetsnaz Officer who had escaped to the West in about 1985 ish but I couldn't follow up on the source as the pages linking to the English text were all in Russian.

Think it was written sometime in the late 1980's. I copied any sections relating to parachuting records/people etc as I thought you guys might be interested.

Original article, (which is long and overall not really much to do with skydiving), here: http://militera.lib.ru/research/suvorov6/01.html

Text follows:
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To be successful in war you have to have a very good knowledge of the natural conditions in the area in which you are to be operating: the terrain and the climate. You must have a good idea of the habits of the local population, the language and the possibilities of concealment; the forests, undergrowth, mountains, caves, and the obstacles to be overcome; the rivers, ravines and gullies. You must know the whereabouts of the enemy's military units and police, the tactics they employ and so forth.
A private in the average spetsnaz unit cannot, of course, visit the places where he is likely to have to fight in the event of war. But a top-class professional athlete does have the opportunity. The Soviet Army takes advantage of such opportunities.
For example, in 1984 the 12th world parachuting championship took place in France. There were altogether twenty-six gold medals to be competed for, and the Soviet team won twenty-two of them. The 'Soviet team' was in fact a team belonging to the armed forces of the USSR. It consisted of five men and five women: a captain, a senior praporshik, three praporshiki, a senior sergeant and four sergeants. The team's trainer, its doctor and the whole of the technical personnel were Soviet officers. The Soviet reporter accompanying the team was a colonel. This group of 'sportsmen' spent time in Paris and in the south of France. A very interesting and very useful trip, and there were other Soviet officers besides -for example a colonel who was the trainer of the Cuban team.
Now let us suppose a war has broken out. The Soviet Army must neutralise the French nuclear capability. France is the only country in Europe, apart from the Soviet Union itself, that stores strategic nuclear missiles in underground silos. The silos are an extremely important target, possibly the most important in Europe. The force that will put them out of action will be a spetsnaz force. And who will the Soviet high command send to carry out the mission? The answer is that, after the world parachuting championship, they have a tailor-made team.





In my book Aquarium, first published in July 1985, I described the period of my life when I served as an officer of the Intelligence directorate of a military district and often had to act as the personal representative of the district's chief of intelligence with the spetsnaz groups. The period I described was identified: it was after my return from 'liberated' Czechoslovakia and before I entered the Military-Diplomatic Academy in the summer of 1970.
I described the ordinary spetsnaz units that I had to deal with. One group carried out a parachute jump from 100 metres. Each man had just one parachute: in that situation a spare one was pointless. The jump took place over snow. Throughout the book I refer only to one type of parachute: the D-l-8. Four months later, in the magazine Sovetsky Voin for November 1985, a Lieutenant-General Lisov published what might be called the pre-history of group parachute jumps by spetsnaz units from critically low levels. The General describes a group jump from a height of 100 metres in which each man had only one parachute, and he explains that a spare one is not needed. The jump takes place over snow. The article refers to only one type of parachute -the D-l-8.
General Lisov was describing trials which were carried out from October 1967 to March 1968. The General did not, of course, say why the trials were carried out and the word spetsnaz was not, of course, used. But he underlined the fact that the trial was not conducted because it had any connection with sport. On the contrary, according to the rules laid down by the international sports bodies at that time, anyone who during a contest opened his parachute less than 400 metres from the ground was disqualified.
General Lisov conducted the trial contrary to all rules of the sport and not to demonstrate sporting prowess. The military athletes left the aircraft at a height of 100 metres, so their parachutes must have opened even lower down. The group jump took place simultaneously from several aircraft, with the parachutists leaving their plane at about one-second intervals. Each of them was in the air for between 9.5 and 13 seconds. General Lisov summed it up like this: 100 metres, 50 men, 23 seconds. An amazing result by any standards.
The fifty men symbolised the fifty years of the Soviet Army. It was planned to carry out the jump of 23 February, 1968, on the Army's anniversary, but because of the weather it was postponed till 1 March.
I could not have known at that time about General Lisov's trials. But it is now clear to me that the tactic that was being developed in the spetsnaz fighting units in 1969-70 had been initiated by professional military athletes a year before.
This dangerous stunt was carried out in my ordinary spetsnaz unit in rather simpler conditions: we jumped in a group of thirteen men from the wide rear door of an Antonov-12 aircraft. The professionals described by General Lisov jumped from the narrow side doors of an Antonov-2, which is more awkward and dangerous. The professionals made the jump in a much bigger group, more closely together and with greater accuracy.
In spite of the fact that the ordinary spetsnaz units did not succeed and will never succeed in achieving results comparable with those of the professional athletes, nevertheless the idea of the group jump from a height of a hundred metres provided the fighting units with an exceptionally valuable technique. The special troops are on the ground before the planes have vanished over the horizon, and they are ready for action before the enemy has had time to grasp what is happening. They need this technique to be able to attack the enemy without any warning at all. That is the reason for taking such a risk.
During a war the fighting units of spetsnaz will be carrying out missions behind the enemy's lines. Surely the units of professional athletes, which are capable of carrying out extremely dangerous work with even greater precision and speed than the ordinary spetsnaz units, should not be left unemployed in wartime?




The principal way of delivering the main body of spetsnaz to the enemy's rear after the outbreak of war is to drop them by parachute. In the course of his two years' service every spetsnaz soldier makes thirty-five to forty parachute jumps. Spetsnaz professionals and officers have much greater experience with parachutes; some have thousands of jumps to their credit.
The parachute is not just a weapon and a form of transport. It also acts as a filter which courageous soldiers will pass through, but weak and cowardly men will not. The Soviet Government spends enormous sums on the development of parachute jumping as a sport. This is the main base from which the airborne troops and spetsnaz are built up. On 1 January 1985 the 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.



PORFIRI POLOSUKHIN. A RED ARMY OFFICER BEFORE THE WAR [WWII], HE HELD WORLD RECORDS AT PARACHUTE JUMPING. HE HAD BEEN AN INSTRUCTOR TRAINING SPECIAL TROOPS FOR OPERATIONS ON ENEMY TERRITORY. DURING THE WAR HE CONTINUED TO TRAIN PARACHUTISTS FOR SPETSNAZ UNITS OF 'GUARD MINELAYERS'. HE WAS OFTEN BEHIND THE ENEMY'S LINES, AND HE DEVELOPED A METHOD OF CAMOUFLAGING AIRFIELDS AND OF COMMUNICATING WITH SOVIET AIRCRAFT FROM SECRET PARTISAN AIRFIELDS. THIS ORIGINAL SYSTEM OPERATED UNTIL THE END OF THE WAR AND WAS NEVER DETECTED BY THE ENEMY, AS A RESULT OF WHICH CONNECTION BY AIR WITH PARTISAN UNITS, ESPECIALLY WITH SPETSNAZ AND OSNAZ UNITS, WAS EXCEPTIONALLY RELIABLE. AFTER THE WAR MANY A SOLDIER FROM SPECIAL TROOPS TRAINED BY POLOSUKHIN BECAME WORLD AND EUROPEAN PARACHUTE CHAMPIONS. DMITRI KOSITSYN.


YURI BORISOVICH CHESNOKOV. A MAN OF UNUSUAL PHYSICAL STRENGTH AND ENDURANCE, HE TOOK PART IN MANY KINDS OF SPORT. HE WAS PARTICULARLY SUCCESSFUL AT VOLLEYBALL: TWICE WORLD CHAMPION AND OLYMPIC CHAMPION. CHESNOKOV'S PHYSICAL QUALITIES WERE NOTICED VERY EARLY AND AS SOON AS HE FINISHED SCHOOL HE WAS TAKEN INTO THE ACADEMY OF MILITARY ENGINEERING, ALTHOUGH HE WAS NOT AN OFFICER. FROM THAT TIME HE WAS CLOSELY INVOLVED IN THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF USING EXPLOSIVES. APART FROM AN OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL HE HAS ANOTHER GOLD MEDAL FOR HIS WORK ON THE TECHNIQUE OF CAUSING EXPLOSIONS. CHESNOKOV IS NOW A SPETSNAZ COLONEL. VALENTIN YAKOVLEVICH KUDREVATYKH. HE JOINED THE PARA-MILITARY DOSAAF ORGANISATION WHEN HE WAS STILL AT SCHOOL. HE TOOK UP PARACHUTE JUMPING, GLIDING AND RIFLE SHOOTING AT THE SAME TIME. IN MAY 1956 HE MADE HIS FIRST PARACHUTE JUMP. TWO YEARS LATER, AT THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN, HE HAD REACHED A HIGH LEVEL AT PARACHUTE JUMPING AND SHOOTING. IN 1959 HE WAS CALLED INTO THE ARMY, SERVING IN THE AIRBORNE FORCES. IN 1961 HE SET FIVE WORLD RECORDS IN ONE WEEK IN PARACHUTE SPORT, FOR WHICH HE WAS PROMOTED SERGEANT AND SENT TO THE AIRBORNE OFFICERS' SCHOOL IN RYAZAN. AFTER THAT HE WAS SENT TO SPETSNAZ AND PUT IN COMMAND OF SOME SPECIAL WOMEN'S UNITS. HE HAD UNDER HIS COMMAND THE MOST OUTSTANDING WOMEN ATHLETES, INCLUDING ANTONINA KENSITSKAYA, TO WHOM HE IS NOW MARRIED. SHE HAS ESTABLISHED THIRTEEN WORLD RECORDS, HER HUSBAND FIFTEEN. HE MADE PARACHUTE JUMPS (OFTEN WITH A WOMEN'S GROUP) IN THE MOST INCREDIBLE CONDITIONS, LANDING IN THE MOUNTAINS, IN FORESTS, ON THE ROOFS OF HOUSES AND SO FORTH. KUDREVATYKH TOOK PART IN PRACTICALLY ALL THE TESTS OF NEW PARACHUTE EQUIPMENT AND WEAPONS. ALONG WITH A GROUP OF PROFESSIONAL WOMEN PARACHUTISTS HE TOOK PART IN THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP DROP FROM A CRITICALLY LOW HEIGHT ON 1 MARCH 1968. THEN, AS HE WAS COMPLETING HIS 5,555TH JUMP, HE GOT INTO A CRITICAL SITUATION. BLACK HUMOUR AMONG SOVIET AIRBORNE TROOPS SAYS THAT, IF NEITHER THE MAIN NOR THE RESERVE PARACHUTE OPENS, THE PARACHUTIST STILL HAS A WHOLE TWENTY SECONDS TO LEARN TO FLY. KUDREVATYKH DID NOT LEARN TO FLY IN THOSE LAST SECONDS, BUT HE MANAGED WITH HIS BODY AND THE UNOPENED PARACHUTES TO SLOW HIS FALL. HE SPENT MORE THAN TWO YEARS IN HOSPITAL AND WENT THROUGH MORE THAN TEN OPERATIONS. WHEN HE WAS DISCHARGED HE MADE HIS 5,556TH JUMP. MANY SOVIET MILITARY PAPERS PUBLISHED PICTURES OF THAT JUMP. AS USUAL KUDREVATYKH JUMPED IN THE COMPANY OF PROFESSIONAL WOMEN PARACHUTISTS. BUT THERE ARE NO WOMEN IN THE SOVIET AIRBORNE DIVISIONS. ONLY IN SPETSNAZ.
AFTER MAKING THAT JUMP KUDREVATYKH WAS PROMOTED FULL COLONEL.

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During the cold war with the Soviet Union, B.J. Worth, Skratch Garrison, and Hod Sanders made some jumps with the Russians. It was someplace over there. (Maybe Skratch can comment on this, if he sees this)....Hod said they spoke a common language-(Vodkaese).

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BLACK HUMOUR AMONG SOVIET AIRBORNE TROOPS SAYS THAT, IF NEITHER THE MAIN NOR THE RESERVE PARACHUTE OPENS, THE PARACHUTIST STILL HAS A WHOLE TWENTY SECONDS TO LEARN TO FLY.

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Well, ther Russian soul DOES have a sence of humour. :)

Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done.
Louis D Brandeis

Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

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When Ted Webster sponsored the first U.S. Freefall Exibition Team (USFET) in Bled, the US Team Captain, J. Bird, stole the Russian Flag, was captured, imprisioned, and escaped by walking out of the police station to a waiting car headed to the border.
Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

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When Ted Webster sponsored the first U.S. Freefall Exibition Team (USFET) in Bled, the US Team Captain, J. Bird, stole the Russian Flag, was captured, imprisioned, and escaped by walking out of the police station to a waiting car headed to the border.




:)
Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done.
Louis D Brandeis

Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

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I think I met one at a party years ago.

His cover story was a submariner.

He had really large calloused hands and very little sense of humour.
“The only fool bigger than the person who knows it all is the person who argues with him.

Stanislaw Jerzy Lec quotes (Polish writer, poet and satirist 1906-1966)

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