The status of "shock" formations will be assigned by a special order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation in relation to the most efficient motorized rifle, tank, marines, airborne and airborne assault subunits. They will be awarded a distinctive heraldic insignia.
This initiative of the defense department became known from the head of the Main Directorate of Combat Training of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Ivan Buvaltsev.
Summing up the results of the winter training period, he noted that Russian divisions, brigades and regiments have recently begun to compete for the right to receive the name "shock". The Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper reported that a special Regulation has already been put into effect, according to which the Russian Defense Ministry commission will assign the "shock" status to the most combat-ready units.
According to the results of the winter period of training in the troops, 78 formations, military units and subunits have already been assigned to this status.
Units "in good shape"
TASS military observer Viktor Litovkin believes that the appearance of the "shock" rank is connected with the desire of the leadership of the Russian army to improve the quality of combat training. And what is especially important, this title will need to be confirmed annually.
Like Litovkin, Viktor Murakhovsky, editor-in-chief of the Arsenal Otechestva magazine, believes that the creation of "shock" units is of a competitive nature.
The military expert also says that in Soviet times this status was not assigned, but there was, for example, the rolling pennant of the Minister of Defense. It was awarded to formations and units that achieved the best results in combat training, and was awarded not forever, but for a year.
Litovkin recalls that the Soviet army also had "guards" units, but they had a rank following the results of the Great Patriotic War. Today - "drums". They should become the face of the modern Russian army and navy, regularly confirming their high military skill and mission.
Death squads
Speaking about the first official "shock" units, Murakhovsky says that they appeared during the First World War. These selected units of the Russian Imperial Army were necessary to break through the enemy's defenses in a trench war. It was at the cost of the lives of their soldiers that they made gaps in the enemy's defenses and ensured the possibility of an offensive for the main units. Then they were called "death battalions".
During the Civil War, many "shock workers" joined the White movement, but the Red Army did not begin to develop this topic. The glory of the shock units was again revived by the history of the Great Patriotic War.
Cherry on the cake
Today, the title "shock" does not in any way negate the high titles for military units, says Litovkin.
It is already known that following the results of the winter training period during the inspection of the RF Ministry of Defense commission, the name "shock" will be given to three units in the Far East, including a machine-gun and artillery formation in the Kuril Islands. The Western Military District submitted 14 divisions to the rank.
In the south of the country, 16 motorized rifle, tank and marine units passed tests. During the summer training period, the commander of the Southern Military District, Colonel-General Alexander Dvornikov, set the task of increasing the number of units that meet the "shock" criteria, providing such an opportunity not only to formations manned by contract servicemen, but also to those companies, divisions and ships in whose staff ordinary conscripts.
Reference units with the "shock" status appeared in the Airborne Forces (Airborne Forces). According to the commander of the Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrei Serdyukov, one regimental tactical and one battalion tactical group in the Pskov formation, as well as several more battalion and several company groups and reconnaissance units correspond to this status.
During the summer period of training, military units will continue to fight for the right to receive the name "shock".
