61 
Some students of Russian naval history have found that “Tsarist 
Russia conducted a respectable number of assaults and landings from 
the sea against fortified positions. For amphibious operations the 
Tsarist government developed a suitable vehicle, a lead force and 
a functioning doctrine.”’ * 
After the Revolution, a considerable number of rifle units were 
incorporated into shore defense forces. The first unit of naval infantry, 
however, the Independent Special Rifle Brigade, was formed in the 
summer of 1939 on the basis of the Ironstadt Rifle Regiment. In 
june 1940 the brigade was renamed as First Special Brigade of Naval 
Infantry, thus reactivating these special troops in the Soviet Navy.” 
During World War II, the total number of personnel engaged in 
the land fronts was close to half a million, but only a small part 
of this was represented by actual naval infantry. The others were 
units organized from ship’s personnel, coastal defense units, and other 
naval establishments. They were formed into naval infantry brigades, 
special regiments, battalions and detachments, subordinated to the 
respective army commanders in the area of operations. Most of these 
units were called naval rifle units as distinguished from naval infantry 
units, but the term commonly used in reference to them by army 
commanders and the press was “naval infantry.” This fact was 
probably responsible for the widespread belief of the existence of 
a large Soviet naval infantry corps. All these naval units were exten- 
sively used in most critical battles of World War II, and took part 
in the defense of Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad. 
Toward the end of the war, all naval infantry units and most naval 
rifle units were given the guards designation. During the course of 
the war, the Soviet Navy conducted 4 amphibious operations and 
110 tactical landings. The distribution of landings among Soviet fleets 
can be seen from the following table: 
Volga 
Black and 
North Baltic Sea Pacific Dnepr 
Number of landings ______________________ 13 36 38 Pil 6 
Landed troops (thousands) ______________ 16.5 89.5 200 21 3.5 
Number of participating combatant ships __ 196 340 ~=6.1,700 260 70 
Number of participating transports and 
landinvrcraftess. pb tree tagye: pe Ae. 50 300 ~=—:1,000 SOC 2. eee 
Source: Rear Admiral K. A. Stalbo, ‘‘Naval Art in Amphibious Landings of Great Patriotic War,” 
““Morskoy Sbornik” No. 3, 1970, pp. 23-30. 
Close to a quarter of all Soviet amphibious landings were under the 
command of Admiral Gorshkov.*' Soon after World War II, the Soviet 
naval infantry was abolished.°? However, the period of Soviet Navy 
development since the mid-1950’s produced a new interest in the 
naval infantry, which has since been reactivated. 
mee for example, Dr. R. W. Daly, ‘“‘Russian Combat Landings,’ Marine Corp Gazette, June 1969, 
pp. 33-42. 
5°Kh. Kamalov, p. 58. 
*'Rear Admiral K. A. Stalbo, ‘““Naval Art in Amphibious Landings of Great Patriotic War,”’ Mor- 
skoy Sbornik No. 3, 1970, pp. 23-30. 
»2““Morskoy Slovar” (naval dictionary), military P.H., Moscow, 1959, Vol. Il, p. 6. 
