The Rear of the Red Army during the German-Soviet War 1941-1945

Davie, H.G.W. (2025) The Rear of the Red Army during the German-Soviet War 1941-1945. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

This is an in-depth study of the logistics of the Red Army during the German-Soviet War, as carried out by the Main Directorate of the Rear from 1st August 1941 to 9th May 1945. It examines the processes by which supplies were managed, distributed and delivered at the national, operational and tactical levels and to link this with the output of ‘mobility’, particularly of combat troops and their higher-level formations. Further study of the ‘Staff of the Rear’ reveals its connection with the strategic and national commands and the role the Rear played in ‘resource allocation’ for the national economy and in providing a planned usage of the output of the national industrial base and agriculture.

It is arguable that this factor alone was the most important contribution to the successful prosecution of the war by the Rear, as it allowed the Soviet Union to conduct the war against Germany on a grand scale, across the entire width of the front-line and as a continuous series of linked operations. The most surprising thing is that while the method of fighting the war was created by Soviet military theoreticians in the inter-war period, by contrast, the method of logistics was only created during the war and in the midst of the German invasion of 1941. It drew on the long experience of Tsarist armies and it continued to evolve thereafter during 1942 and 1943.

Keywords: Red Army; Second World War; German-Soviet War 1941-1945; logistics; command and control; resource management; economics; transport; The Rear.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Publication
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of History
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	20 Jul 2026 09:40
Last Modified:	20 Jul 2026 09:40
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/103920
DOI:

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