...concept developed the RKKA General Staff, the department was to become leading unit at the Academy. Its curriculum included the study of the theory and practice of army operations, the fundamental principles of front operations, military strategy, air operations, and interaction between combined arms and naval formations. After its reorganization, in 1937, the department's efforts were focused on the development of the theory of army and front operations, as well as on training cadre for the top level for command.

Brigade Commander G. S. Isserson, a well known military expert and head of the department (1936-1937), as well as the department faculty, understood that history had allotted too little time for the development of even the most basic matters of the operational art. Therefore, the main priority in the 1930s was given to further development of the theory of in-depth operations, the employment of large motorized and tank formations in army and front offensive and defensive operations, breakthrough of the enemy's position defense under various circumstances of the situation, exploitation of success in an offensive operation, crossing water obstacles, etc.

It would be no exaggeration to say that not a single army in the world at the time had such a thoroughly developed and well substantiated theory as the in-depth operation theory. Developed at the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff by V.K. Triandafillov, G.S. Isserson, and others, and expanded and elaborated at the Academy's Operational Art Department, it showed a way out of the "position deadlock" that the military art had reached during World War I. The basic principles of front operations, which were developed at the Operational Art Department in such a timely manner, served as a good foundation for building, at the start of the Great Patriotic War, [1941-1945] of a coherent theory for the employment of operational-strategic formations and strategic groupings of forces (in operations by groups of fronts).

The most innovative studies at the time include works by G.S. Isserson, The Evolution of the Operational Art [Evolyutsiya operativnogo iskusstva], Fundamental Principles of an In-depth Operation [Osnovy glubokoy operatsii], and The Initial War Period [Nachalnyy period voyny]; E.A. Shilovsky, The Operation [Operatsiya], Breakthrough and Exploitation [Proryv i yego razvitiye], and Fundamental Principles of an Offensive Army Operation [Osnovy nastupatelnoy armeyskoy operatsii]; A.V. Kirpichnikov, Operations by Modern Mobile Armies [Operatsii sovremennykh podvizhnykh armiy], which became required reading for top and medium level commanders. At the same time, the department administration and faculty were aware that future military confrontations with a strong and experienced adversary would require the preparation of troops for action in most unfavorable conditions. Therefore, under the supervision of department head E. A. Shilovskiy (1938-1941), theoretical propositions were developed for the conduct of meeting engagements, army retreat, and army actions in encirclement and in breaking out of encirclement. Subsequently, in August 1941, they were incorporated into student training curricula.

One of the most effective forms of training used at the department was the students 'yearly participation in field training exercises: in 1937, in the Kiev Military District (near the town of Korosten); in 1938, in the Belorussian Special Military District (near the town of Rogachev); in 1939, in the Kiev Special Military District (near the town of Vinnitsa); and in 1940, in the Kiev Special Military District (near the town of Zlochev). Those and other activities largely contributed to the successful performance of the department's main missions--i.e., the preparation and training of highly efficient top level command officers, able to ensure effective command of large strategic formations in a forthcoming war. Not surprisingly, the Academy's first graduates who had completed a course of the operational art included such senior officers as Brigade Commanders L.A. Govorov, P.A. Kurochkin, and G.K. Malandin; Colonels A.I. Antonov, I.Kh. Bagramyan, A.M. Vasilevskiy, N.F. Vatutin, M.V. Zakharov, K.F. Skorobogatkin, and a number of other officers who subsequently [during World War II] became prominent military leaders and commanders.

During the years of the Great Patriotic War, as well as during the campaign in the Far East (1945), the Operational Art Department made a significant contribution to the development of the military theory and training operational level command cadre for the active army and the General Staff. Developed in peace time, the system of transferring the Academy to student training amid an ongoing war fully justified itself: The work at the Academy's leading department had not stopped for a single day. Meanwhile, depending on the complexity of the situation then prevailing on the fronts, training was packaged in two-, six- or nine-month courses. The transition to new training schedules was accomplished in a well organized and timely manner.

[Academy] professors, lecturers and researchers were closely studying the war experience, identifying new trends and patterns in the evolution of the military art, and developing recommendations on matters pertaining to the preparation and conduct of military operations, battles, and engagements. To a very large degree, success in achieving those goals was predetermined by the fact that only those generals and officers were assigned to work at the K.E. Voroshilov Higher Military Academy's main department who had acquired extensive experience in commanding large strategic formations or had worked at front (army) headquarters staffs. Their lists were approved by the USSR People's Commissar for Defense in person.

From the very first months of military operations, the military-theoretical work on evaluation and summarizing the war experience got under way. In early 1942, a special collection of works was published,...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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