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aimed at gaining a flawless proficiency in many types of fire arms and cold steel and traditionally a fighting knife is of particular importance among them.Usually a hero from the Spetsnaz has several knives: knife-bayonet for a Kalashnikov’s submachine-gun (AK-74), combat knife, all-purpose “survival” knife, all-purpose clasp-knife, hidden knife, and (or) fling knife. If necessary, any can get an effective weapon.During the 1970s, when the Cold War was at its height, the West became cognizant of the world of Soviet Spetsnaz troops, which were sorted into what were known as “diversionary brigades.” Today, although the Cold War is long since ended, Spetsnaz units are yet voice of the Russian order-of-battle, although their missions have changed.Spetsnaz (Spetsialnoye nazranie = troops of special purpose) were raised as the troops of the Glavnoe razvedyvatel’noe upravlenie (GRU) ( main intelligence directorate [of the General Staff]) and in the 1980s numbered around 30,000. These were deployed: one Spetsnaz company per Army; one Spetsnaz regiment in apiece of the three “theaters of operations”; one Spetsnaz brigade in apiece of the four Soviet Fleets; and an independent Spetsnaz brigade in most military districts of the USSR. There were also special Spetsnaz intelligence units, one to each Breast and Fleet: total 20.A Spetsnaz company was 135 strong, normally operating in 15 independent teams, although they could also combining for particular missions. A Spetsnaz brigade was 1,000-1,300 strong and consisted of a headquarters, three or four parachute battalions, a communications company, and supporting troops.It too included an anti-VIP company, composed of about 70-80 regular troops (ie, not conscripts) whose commission was to search out, identify and defeat enemy political and military leaders. A naval Spetsnaz brigade had a headquarters, two to three battalions of combat swimmers, a parachute battalion, supporting units, and an anti-VIP company. It too had a grouping of midgetsubmarines designed to deliver combat swimmers to distant targets.The creation of Spetsnaz was a closely guarded secret within the Warsaw Pact and individual troops were not allowed to admit membership, to the extent that army Spetsnaz wore standard airborne uniforms and insignia, while naval Spetsnaz wore naval infantry uniforms and insignia.Spetsnaz in 1999Some of the republics which broke away from the old Soviet Union took over the Spetsnaz units within their borders or have converted parachute units to the Spetsnaz role. Within the Russian Federation Spetsnaz units are less well trained and equipped, at a lower strength, and at a lesser level of readiness than during the seventies and 1980s. Despite that, they proceed to exist, although their numbers are not known for certain.Naval Spetsnaz also extend to help in the Northern, Baltic, Black Sea, and Pacific fleets. Most of these are subsidiary to the Fleet commanders, but some are below the direct control of the Naval Commander-in-Chief in Moscow. Again, their manning levels are not known and it may be that, like other areas in the Russian armed forces, they are seriously under strength.Russian naval special-designation forces, or spetsnaz, have been less visible in the aftermath of the USSR’s dissolution. Recently, however, the Russian navy’s commander in chief, Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, reaffirmed that naval special-operations units – which induce a long, active history in the Soviet armed forces – remain assigned to the Russian Baltic, northern, Pacific and Black Sea fleets. Although the admiral provided few specifics on the sizing and capabilities of the units, he did suggest that they were elite, that they were furnished with special weapons (including small submarines), and that they were like to U.S. Navy SEALS or the Israeli Navy’s 13th Flotilla. Stating that these units have no particular name beyond their “combat swimmer” or “naval spetsnaz” designations, the admiral indicated that most of the units are directly subsidiary to their respective fleet commander. Of special note, Kuroyedov said that he retains naval spetsnaz subunits under his direct control as well, “for resolving fleet tasks and rendering assistance.MissionsAlthough Spetsnaz units may be exploited for other purposes during peacetime, their main use is to carry out strategic missions during the last days prior to war break out and in war itself. These wartime tasks would include: deep reconnaissance of strategic targets; the destruction ofstrategically important command-control-and-communications (C3) facilities; the end of strategic weapons’ delivery systems; demolition of important bridges and and transportation routes; and the snatching or assassination of important military and political leaders. Many of these missions would be carried out before the opposition could react and some even before war had actually crushed out.

The Russian Federation now acknowledges the world of Spetsnaz units and, as a result special badges and berets are now worn, identifying such troops.

On operations the bulk of Spetsnaz soldiers would contain a 5.45mm AKS-74 rifle and a 5.45mm PRI automatic pistol. All would also carry combat knives, which are especially designed for Spetsnaz troops. One such purpose is the NR-2, an ingenious device which in gain to the blade incorporates a short 7.62mm caliber barrel in the care and is dismissed by cutting the scabbard and knife together to have some control. Quite when such a weapon would be used instead of a tongue or a pistol is subject to question. Spetsnaz troops are also trained in all types of foreign weapons.TrainingThose joining Spetsnaz with no previous military experience must be granted the normal recruit’s basic education in discipline, marching, fieldcraft, weapons handling, and range work. Once the recruit moves on to proper Spetsnaz training, however, the pressure intensifies:* weapons handling, including the use of strange weapons and marksmanship; * physical fitness, with an accent on survival and strength; * tracking, patroling, camouflage, and surveillance techniques, including survival in a full diversity of harsh environments; * hand-to-hand combat, both unarmed and with knives (both hand-held and throwing), and assassination of designated targets; * sabotage and demolitions; * language education and prisoner interrogation; * infiltration by air, including parachuting for fixed-wing aircraft, and pass from helicopters by ropes or parachute.Naval Spetsnaz must, in addition, learn combat swimmer techniques, the use of underwater weapons, canoeing, arrival and pass over beaches, exit and introduction to submerged submarines. (Note: this is not all Spetsnaz training, this is merely to make the referee a better discernment of what Spetsnaz training is like)Other Spetsnaz TroopsDuring the seventies and 1980s special operations troops became increasingly the trend in several ministries of the (then) Soviet Union. Further, such was the large and disorganized nature and waste of the Soviet system that similar bodies with similar missions were set up by different parts of the same ministry, particularly within the Committee for State Security (KGB)and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MVD). These extra troops went below the generic title of Spetsgruppe and were paramilitary forces which received special training and indoctrination for a variery of missions. Many of these units served in a sort of roles in the war in Afghanistan but for most of them a defining moment seems to have been reached during the 1991 coup, whenthey were constrained to choose sides, or at least to decline to direct action. After the coup had been defeated President Yeltsin transfered most of them to his personal control but they have since been transfered yet again back to various ministries. Many of the groups have been involved in the recent conflicts in the Russian Federation, including Chech’nya.Spetsgruppa “Al’fa” ( special group A) was set up by the KGB’s Seventh Directorate in 1974 and appears to have been inspired by the British SAS and US 1SFOD-D (Delta) as a c ounter-terrorist and hostage-rescue group. Al’fa is mostly credited with being the whole that attacked the Presidential castle in Kabul, Afghanistan, on December 28 1980 and murdered PresidentHafizullah Amin and his family. Al’fa is now controlled by the FSB (Federal’naia sluzhba bezopasnosti = Federal Security Service) in worldwide terms, equivalent to the USA’s FBI. Current strength is estimated to be about 300, with the independent group in Moscow and three smaller groups elsewhere in the federation.Also elevated by the KGB, but this sentence the First Chief Administration, was Spetsgruppa Vympel whose mission was to fullfil the KGB’s wartime office of assassination and snatching. After the founder of the Soviet Union it was transferred to the MVD but is now with the FSB with a primary responsibility for a hostage rescue.The Ministry of Internal Affairs also has at least two groups of special troops known as the Omon ( black berets), which were originally raised to provide additional security and (if necessary) hostage rescue at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Since then they have been victimized for counter-terrorist activities and defeating armed criminals, and are currently involved in campaigns against drug cultivation.Symbolizing the disorganised nature of contemporary Russia is the GROM Security Company, which is a quasi-private organization working under exclusive contract to the Federal Government. GROM (thr Russian word for “roaring” and with no relationship to the Polish group of the like name) is manned by former troops of the various KGB special forces and provides protection for selected government personnel and buildings, as good as for trains and aircrafts.Speznaz UIN is a radical of special assignment, which submits UIN (management on execution of punishment, UIN submits to the ministry of justice) with tasks: suppression of the mass disorders and revolts in prisons, colonies, rescue of the hostages seized and deducted in prisons and colonies, barricades situation in these establishments, search and detention run made. The employees of speznaz UIN carry berets of dark coloration with general-army cockade and Russian flag on the remaining party of beret.

” CHAPTER 1. SPADES AND MENEvery infantryman in the Soviet Army carries with him a little spade. When he is granted the edict to stay he now lies prostrate and starts to dig a mess in the ground beside him. In 3 minutes he will have dug a little trench 15 centimetres deep, in which he can lie stretched out flat, so that bullets can whistle harmlessly over his head. The earth he has dug out forms a breastwork in movement and at the face to act as an additional cover. If a tank drives over such a ditch the soldier has a 50% chance that it will do him no harm. At any moment the soldier may be logical to rise again and, shouting at the top of his voice, will charge ahead. If he is not logical to advance, he digs in deeper and deeper. At first his trench can be exploited for release in the lying position. Later it becomes a ditch from which to burn in the kneeling position, and after still, when it is 110 centimetres deep, it can be exploited for release in the standing position. The world that has been dug out protects the soldier from bullets and fragments. He makes an embrasure in this breastwork into which he positions the drum of his gun. In the absence of any further commands he continues to run on his trench. He camouflages it. He starts to dig a ditch to join with his comrades to the remaining of him. He always digs from right to left, and in a few hours the whole has a trench linking all the riflemen’s trenches together. The unit’s trenches are joined with the trenches of other units. Dug-outs are reinforced and communication trenches are added at the rear. The trenches are made deeper, covered over, camouflaged and reinforced. Then, suddenly, the place to win comes again. The soldier emerges, shouting and swearing as loud as he can.The infantryman uses the same spade for digging graves for his fallen comrades. If he doesn’t take an axe to give he uses the nigger to chop his bread when it is frozen hard as granite. He uses it as a paddle as he floats across broad rivers on a telegraph pole under enemy fire. And when he gets the ordination to halt, he again builds his impregnable fortress around himself. He knows how to dig the ground efficiently. He builds his fortress exactly as it should be. The coon is not exactly an instrument for digging: it can likewise be exploited for measuring. It is 50 centimetres long. Two spade lengths are a metre. The brand is 15 centimetres wide and 18 centimetres long. With these measurements in beware the soldier can assess anything he wishes.The infantry spade does not receive a folding handle, and this is a really significant feature. It has to be a single monolithic object. All 3 of its edges are as keen as a knife. It is painted with a green matt paint so as not to contemplate the warm sunlight. The coon is not merely a cock and a measure. It is likewise a warrant of the staunchness of the foot in the most difficult situations. If the foot have a few hours to dig themselves in, it could take days to get them out of their holes and trenches, whatever modern weapons are used against them.In this book we are not talk around the foot but about soldiers belonging to other units, known as spetsnaz. These soldiers never dig trenches; in fact they never get up defensive positions. They either launch a sudden attack on an opposition or, if they play with resistance or superior enemy forces, they disappear as rapidly as they appeared and round the opposition again where and when the enemy least expects them to appear.Surprisingly, the spetsnaz soldiers also express the little infantry spades. Why do they take them? It is practically impossible to draw in words how they use their spades. You actually get to see what they do with them. In the men of a spetsnaz soldier the coon is a terrible noiseless weapon and every extremity of spetsnaz gets lots more training in the use of his spade then does the infantryman. The foremost matter he has to instruct himself is precision: to split little slivers of wood with the border of the spade or to cut off the cervix of a bottle so that the bottle remains whole. He has to take to know his spade and receive trust in its accuracy. To do that he places his paw on the rostrum of a corner with the fingers spread out and takes a big swing at the pulpit with his mighty hand using the border of the spade. Once he has learnt to use the spade well and really as an axe he is taught more complicated things. The little spade can be used in hand-to-hand fighting against blows from a bayonet, a knife, a fist or another spade. A soldier armed with naught but the nigger is close in a board without windows along with a mad dog, which makes for an interesting contest. Finally a soldier is taught to have the nigger as accurately as he would use a brand or a battle-axe. It is a marvellous weapon for throwing, a single, well-balanced object, whose 32-centimetre handle acts as a prize for throwing. As it spins in flight it gives the spade accuracy and thrust. It becomes a terrifying weapon. If it lands in a tree it is not so easily to rip out again. Far more grievous is it if it hits someone’s skull, although spetsnaz members usually do not aim at the enemy’s face but at his back. He will rarely see the blade coming, before it lands in the game of his neck or between his shoulder blades, smashing the bones.The spetsnaz soldier loves his spade. He has more trust in its reliability and accuracy than he has in his Kalashnikov automatic. An interesting psychological detail has been discovered in the sort of hand-to-hand confrontations which are the blood in patronage of spetsnaz. If a soldier fires at an enemy armed with an automatic, the opposition also shoots at him. But if he doesn’t fire at the opposition but throws a nigger at him instead, the enemy simply drops his gun and jumps to one side.This is a word some people who throw spades and about soldiers who play with spades more sure and more accurately than they do with spoons at a table. They do, of course, have other weapons besides their spades…………….”

“The primary charge of a Spetsnaz fighter in a Close Combat is to destroy the enemy with any available means as quick as possible despite their arms and superior number.”The hero himself should not be severely affected, otherwise he could threaten the achievement of a combat mission by his reconnaissance/sabotage team. That’s why the combat training of a hero from the Spetsnaz is

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