Soviet Airborne Forces


The Soviet Airborne Forces, or VDV, was a separate troops branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. First formed before the Second World War, the VDV undertook two significant airborne operations and a number of smaller jumps during the war and for many years after 1945 was the largest airborne force in the world. The force was split after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, with the core becoming the Russian Airborne Forces, losing divisions to Belarus and Ukraine.
Troops of the Soviet Airborne Forces traditionally wore a sky blue beret and blue-striped telnyashka undershirts and they were named desant from the French Descente. The Soviet Airborne Forces were noted for their relatively large number of vehicles, specifically designed for airborne transport. As such, they traditionally had a larger complement of heavy weaponry than most contemporary airborne forces.

Interwar and World War II

The first airborne forces parachute jump is dated to 2 August 1930, taking place in the Moscow Military District. Airborne landing detachments were established after the initial 1930 experimental jump, but creation of larger units had to wait until 1932–33. On 11 December 1932, a Revolutionary Military Council order established an airborne brigade from the existing detachment in the Leningrad Military District. To implement the order, a directive of the Commissariat of Military and Naval Affairs transformed the Leningrad Military District's 3rd Motorised Airborne Landing Detachment into the commanded by M.V. Boytsov. In addition, the 13th and 47th Airborne Brigades plus three airborne regiments were created in 1936. In March and April 1941, five Airborne Corps were established on the basis of the existing 201st, 204th, 211th, 212th, and 214th Airborne Brigades. The number of Airborne Corps rose from five to ten in late 1941, but then all the airborne corps were converted into "Guards" Rifle Divisions in the northern hemisphere summer of 1942.
The Soviet airborne forces were mostly used as 'foot' infantry during the war. Only a few small airborne drops were carried out in the first desperate days of Operation Barbarossa, in the vicinity of Kiev, Odessa, and the Kerch peninsula. The two significant airborne operations of the war were the Vyazma operation of February–March 1942, involving 4th Airborne Corps, and the Dnieper/Kiev operation of September 1943, involving a temporary corps formation consisting of 1st, 3rd, and 5th Airborne Brigades. Glantz wrote:
"After the extensive airborne activity during the winter campaign of 1941–42, airborne forces underwent another major reorganization the following summer. Responding to events in southern Russia, where German troops had opened a major offensive that would culminate in the Stalingrad battles, the ten airborne corps, as part of the Stavka strategic reserves, deployed southward. Furthermore, the Stavka converted all ten airborne corps into guards rifle divisions to bolster Soviet forces in the south. Nine of these divisions participated in the battles around Stalingrad, and one took part in the defense of the northern Caucasus region."

The Stavka still foresaw the necessity of conducting actual airborne operations later during the war. To have such a force, the Stavka created eight new airborne corps |1st], 4th Airborne Corps in the fall of 1942. Beginning in December 1942, these corps became ten guards airborne divisions. The new guards airborne divisions trained in airborne techniques, and all personnel jumped three to ten times during training, though many were from jump towers.
After the defeat of German forces in the [Battle of Kursk, the bulk of the airborne divisions joined in the pursuit of German forces to the Dnieper River which formed part of the German Panther–Wotan line which they defended. Even as ten guards airborne divisions fought at the front, new airborne brigades formed in the rear areas. In April and May 1943, twenty brigades formed and trained for future airborne operations. Most of these brigades had become six new guards airborne divisions by September 1943.

Dnieper

The Stavka earmarked three airborne brigades for use in an airborne operation as part of the crossing of the Dnieper River.
The 1st, 3rd and 5th Guards Airborne Brigades were intended to secure the far side of the Dnieper between Kaniv and Rzhishchev. The drop was poorly executed and instead of the intended area, troops were dispersed over and unable to concentrate their forces. The majority were killed or captured; some survivors joined partisan groups.
David Glantz wrote in 1984:
In August , the Stavka formed the 37th, 38th, and 39th Guards Airborne Corps. By October, the newly formed corps had combined into a separate airborne army under Maj. Gen. I. I. Zatevakhin. However, because of the growing need for well-trained ground units, the new army did not endure long as an airborne unit. In December, the Stavka reorganized the separate airborne army into the 9th Guards Army of Col. Gen. V. V. Glagolev, and all divisions were renumbered as guards rifle divisions. As testimony to the elite nature of airborne-trained units, the Stavka held the 9th Guards Army out of defensive actions, using it only for exploitation during offensives.

Reconstitution

From 1944 the airborne divisions were reconstituted as Guards Rifle Divisions.
Lieutenant General Pavel Mironov
During the invasion of Manchuria and the South Sakhalin Operation, airborne units were used to seize airfields and city centers in advance of the land forces, and to ferry fuel to those units that had outrun their supply lines.

Postwar

The HQ 9th Guards Army was redesignated Headquarters Airborne Forces in June 1946 after the war ended. The units of the army were removed from the order of battle of the Air Forces of the USSR and assigned directly to the Ministry of the Armed Forces of the USSR.
In 1946 the force consisted of five corps and ten divisions:
In the summer of 1948, five more Guards Airborne Divisions were created. The 7th, the 11th, the 13th Guards, the 21st Guards, and the 31st Guards. At the end of 1955 and the beginning of 1956 the 11th Guards, 21st, 100th and 114th Guards Airborne Divisions were disbanded as well as all the airborne corps headquarters. The number of divisions, thus, decreased to 11. In April 1955 the transport aircraft were separated from the VDV and the Air Force Military Transport Aviation was created. In 1959 the 31st and 107th Guards Airborne Divisions were disbanded, but in October 1960 the 44th Training Airborne Division was formed. In 1964 the Soviet Airborne Forces were directly subordinated to the Ministry of Defence.
The creation of the post-war Soviet Airborne Forces owe much to the efforts of one man, Army General Vasily Margelov, so much so that the abbreviation of VDV in the Airborne Forces is sometimes waggishly interpreted as Войска дяди Васи or "Uncle Vasya's Forces".
Airborne units of two divisions were used during Soviet operations in Hungary during 1956, and the 7th Guards division was used again during the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia.
File:Уніформа ПДВ СРСР.jpg|120px|left|thumb|Parade tunic of a private of the Soviet Airborne Forces
The first experimental air assault brigade – the 1st Airborne Brigade – was apparently activated in 1967/1968 from parts of the 51st Guards Parachute Landing Regiment , after the Soviets had been impressed by the American experiences in Vietnam War. In 1973 the 13th and 99th Airborne Divisions were reorganised as air assault brigades, and thus the number of divisions dropped to eight. There were also independent regiments and battalions. However, even by the 1980s only two divisions were capable of being deployed for combat operations in the first wave against NATO using Air Force Military Transport Aviation and Aeroflot aircraft.
Airborne Forces Commander-in-Chief Vasily Margelov had the idea to introduce the Telnyashka blue-and-white striped shirt as a sign of elite status of the airborne troops. In 1970, the telnyashka became an official part of the uniform.
In accordance with a directive of the General Staff, from August 3, 1979, to December 1, 1979, the 105th Guards Vienna Airborne Division was disbanded. From the division remained in the city of Fergana the 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment with the separate 115th military-transport aviation squadron. The rest of the personnel of the division were reassigned to fill out other incomplete airborne units and formations and to the newly formed air assault brigades. Based on the division's 351st Guards Parachute Regiment, the 56th Guards Separate Air Assault Brigade was formed in Azadbash, Tashkent Oblast, Uzbek SSR. Meanwhile, the 111th Guards Parachute Regiment became the 35th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade.
However, there was also a mistaken Western belief, either intentional Soviet deception or stemming from confusion in the West, that an Airborne Division, reported as the 6th, was being maintained at Belogorsk in the Far East in the 1980s. This maskirovka division was then 'disbanded' later in the 1980s, causing comment within Western professional journals that another division was likely to be reformed so that the Far East had an airborne presence. The division was not listed in V.I. Feskov et al.'s The Soviet Army during the period of the Cold War, and the division at Belogorsk, the 98th Guards Airborne Svirskaya Red Banner Order of Kutuzov Division moved to Bolgrad in Ukraine in late 1969.
The 103rd Guards Airborne Division, 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment and the 56th Air Assault Brigade fought in the Soviet–Afghan War.

Units

The Airborne Forces of the Soviet Union and their present-day Russian Federation successor are a separate combat service directly subordinated to the General Staff. Their combat doctrine establishes their role as a highly mobile operational reserve of the armed forces, the last remaining Reserve of the Supreme High Command.
In 1989 a Soviet Air-Landing Division was organized into a division headquarters, three Parachute Landing Regiments and various combat and service support units. V. I. Shaykin's historic study of the Airborne Forces lists the following force structure in 1989 :
Directorate of the Commander of the Airborne Troops, Moscow, RSFSR
  • units and establishments directly subordinated to the Directorate:
  • * 879th Signals Nod
  • * 196th Signals Regiment of the Airborne Troops, Medvezhie Ozera, Moscow Oblast, RSFSR
  • * 899th Spetsnaz Company
  • * 387th Parachute Regiment ;
  • * 58th Military Transport Aviation Squadron, Ryazan, Dyagilevo Airfield
  • * 78th Military Transport Aviation Squadron, Klin Airfield
  • * Ryazan Higher Air-Landing, twice awarded the [Order of the Red Banner, named after the Lenin Comsomol Command School], Ryazan, RSFSR
  • * 332nd NCO School of the Airborne Troops, Gaižiūnai, Lithuanian SSR
  • * 2356th Central Automobile Storage of the Airborne Troops, Kubinka, Moscow Oblast, RSFSR
  • * 3104th Central Base for Armament and Equipment Reserve of the Airborne Troops, Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Moscow Oblast, RSFSR
  • * 5730th Central Base for Armored Vehicles of the Airborne Troops, Naro-Fominsk, Moscow Oblast, RSFSR
  • * 3370th Central Storage for Air-Landing Equipment of the Airborne Troops, Kolomna, Moscow Oblast, RSFSR
  • * 1029th Central Military Hospital of the Airborne Troops, Tula, RSFSR
  • * 984th Center for Sanitary-Epidemiological Oversight of the Airborne Troops, Ivanovo, RSFSR
  • * 176th Central Sanitary-Epidemiological Detachment
  • * Military Sanatorium "Gudautskiy"
  • * Military Sanatorium "Airborne Trooper"
  • * 47th Singing and Dancing Ensemble of the Airborne Troops
  • * 242nd Training Centre of the Airborne Troops, created from the 44th Training Airborne Division. However, the divisional banner was retained. The division was established in Ostrov, Ostrovsky District, [Pskov Oblast|Ostrov] in September 1960 as the 44th Training Airborne Division. In September 1961 it was transferred to the Lithuanian SSR.
  • ** Center HQ 20192), Gaižiūnai, Lithuanian SSR
  • ** 300th Training Signals Battalion, Gaižiūnai, Lithuanian SSR
  • ** 226th Training Parachute Regiment, Gaižiūnai, Lithuanian SSR
  • ** 285th Training Parachute Regiment, Gaižiūnai, Lithuanian SSR
  • ** 301st Training Parachute Regiment, Gaižiūnai, Lithuanian SSR
  • ** 743rd Training Parachute Battalion, Karmėlava, Lithuanian SSR
  • ** 1120th Training Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment, Prienai, Lithuanian SSR
  • ** 367th Training Air Defence Missile and Artillery Battalion, Gaižiūnai, Lithuanian SSR
  • ** 113th Training Combat Engineer Battalion, Gaižiūnai, Lithuanian SSR
  • ** 340th Military Transport Aviation Squadron, Pociūnai Airfield, Lithuanian SSR
  • ** 148th Training Battalion for Heavy Air Landing Vehicles Familiarization, Gaižiūnai, Lithuanian SSR
  • ** 45th Training Repair and Overhaul Battalion, Gaižiūnai, Lithuanian SSR
  • ** 184th Training Medical Battalion, Gaižiūnai, Lithuanian SSR
  • ** 373rd Training Automobile Battalion, Gaižiūnai, Lithuanian SSR
  • ** 214th Training Range
  • ** 2945th Unified Storage
  • ** 51518th Field Branch of Gosbank
  • 7th Guards Cherkasskaya, awarded the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of Kutuzov Air Assault Division
  • *Division Command and Staff, Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR
  • *743rd Signals Battalion, Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR
  • *97th Guards Parachute Regiment, Alytus, Lithuanian SSR
  • *108th Guards, Kuban Cossack, awarded the Order of the Red Star Parachute-Landing Regiment, Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR
  • *119th Guards Parachute-Landing Regiment, Marijampolė, Lithuanian SSR
  • *1141st Guards Artillery Regiment, Kalvarija, Lithuanian SSR
  • *744th Air Defence Missile and Artillery Battalion, Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR
  • *72nd Reconnaissance Company, Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR
  • *143rd Combat Engineer Battalion Kazlų Rūda, Lithuanian SSR
  • *185th Military Transport Aviation Squadron, Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR
  • *1692nd Air-Landing Equipment Maintenance Battalion, Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR
  • *1681st Supply Battalion, Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR
  • *6th Repair and Overhaul Battalion, Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR
  • *313th Medical Battalion, Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR
  • *286th Station of the Field Courier Service
  • *215th Training Range, Kazlų Rūda, Lithuanian SSR
  • *51502nd Field Branch of Gosbank
  • 76th Guards Chernigovskaya, awarded the Order of the Red Banner Air Assault Division
  • *Division Command and Staff, Pskov, RSFSR
  • *728th Separate Guards Signals Battalion
  • *104th Guards Parachute Regiment, Cheryokha, suburb of Pskov, RSFSR
  • *234th Guards Parachute Regiment, Pskov, RSFSR
  • *237th Guards Parachute Regiment, Pskov, RSFSR
  • *1140th Guards, twice awarded the Order of the Red Banner Artillery Regiment
  • *165th Air Defence Missile and Artillery Battalion
  • *175th Guards Reconnaissance Company
  • *656th Combat Engineer Battalion
  • *242nd Military Transport Aviation Squadron, Cheryokha, suburb of Pskov, RSFSR
  • *608th Airborne Equipment Maintenance Battalion
  • *1682nd Supply Battalion
  • *7th Repair and Overhaul Battalion
  • *586th Medical Battalion
  • 98th Guards Svirskaya, awarded the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of Kutuzov Airborne Division
  • *Division Command and Staff, Bolgrad, Odessa Oblast, Ukrainian SSR
  • *674th Separate Guards Signals Battalion, Bolgrad
  • *217th Guards Parachute Regiment, Bolgrad
  • *299th Guards Parachute Regiment, Bolgrad
  • *300th Guards Parachute Regiment, Kishinev, Moldovan SSR
  • *1065th Guards Artillery Regiment, Vessyolliy Kut, Odessa Oblast, Ukrainian SSR
  • *100th Air Defence Missile and Artillery Battalion, Bolgrad
  • *215th Guards Reconnaissance Company
  • *112th Combat Engineer Battalion
  • *243rd Military Transport Aviation Squadron
  • *613th Air-Landing Equipment Maintenance Battalion
  • *1683rd Supply Battalion
  • *15th Repair and Overhaul Battalion
  • *176th Medical Battalion
  • *728th Station of the Field Courier Service
  • *? Training Range, Tarutino, Odessa Oblast, Ukrainian SSR
  • 103rd Guards, awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Combat Red Banner, the Order of Kutuzov II class Airborne Division "60th Anniversary of the USSR"
  • *Division Command and Staff, Vitebsk, Byelorussian SSR
  • *742nd Signals Battalion
  • *317th Guards Parachute Regiment, Vitebsk, Byelorussian SSR
  • *350th Guards Parachute Regiment, Polotsk, Vitebsk Oblast, Byelorussian SSR
  • *357th Guards Parachute Regiment, Polotsk, Vitebsk Oblast, Byelorussian SSR
  • *62nd Tank Battalion
  • *1179th Artillery Regiment
  • *133th Anti-Tank Artillery Battalion
  • *105th Air Defence Missile and Artillery Battalion
  • *80th Reconnaissance Company
  • *130th Combat Engineer Battalion
  • *210th Military Transport Aviation Squadron
  • *1388th Supply Battalion
  • *20th Repair and Overhaul Battalion
  • *175th Medical Battalion
  • *274th Automobile Company
  • 104th Guards, awarded the Order of the Combat Red Banner and the Order of Kutuzov II class Airborne Division
  • *Division Command and Staff, Kirovabad, Azerbaijan SSR
  • *729th Signals Battalion, Kirovabad, Azerbaijan SSR
  • *328th Guards Parachute Regiment, Kirovabad, Azerbaijan SSR
  • *337th Guards Parachute Regiment, Kirovabad, Azerbaijan SSR
  • *, Şəmkir, Azerbaijan SSR
  • *103rd Air Defence Missile and Artillery Battalion
  • *110th Reconnaissance Company , Kirovabad, Azerbaijan SSR
  • *132nd Combat Engineer Battalion, Kirovabad, Azerbaijan SSR
  • *116th Military Transport Aviation Squadron
  • *611th Air-Landing Equipment Maintenance Battalion
  • *1684th Supply Battalion
  • *24th Repair and Overhaul Battalion
  • *180th Medical Battalion
  • *422nd Station of the Field Courier Service
  • 106th Guards, awarded the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of Kutuzov Airborne Division
  • *Division Command and Staff, Tula, RSFSR
  • *731st Signals Battalion
  • *51st Guards Parachute Regiment, Tula, RSFSR
  • *137th Guards Parachute Regiment, Ryazan, RSFSR
  • *
331st Guards Parachute Regiment, Kostroma, RSFSR
  • *1182nd Guards Artillery Regiment, Efremov, Tula Oblast, RSFSR
  • *107th Air Defence Missile and Artillery Battalion
  • *181st Reconnaissance Company
  • *139th Combat Engineer Battalion
  • *110th Military Transport Aviation Squadron
  • *610th Airborne Equipment Maintenance Battalion
  • *1060th Supply Battalion
  • *43rd Repair and Overhaul Battalion
  • *234th Medical Battalion
  • *1883rd Station of the Field Courier Service
As a high readiness and long range main operational reserve of the General Staff the Airborne Troops could rely on the support of the whole Military Transport Aviation and Aeroflot aircraft mobilized for military service. The Airborne Troops also had their own organic aviation assets, but these had very limited airlift capabilities and were used for parachute training and liaison flights between the various units.

Landing Assault units of the Soviet Ground Forces

Around the time of the strategic Exercise Dnepr-67 came the organization of the first Soviet air assault formation. Shortly before it the 51st Guards Parachute-Landing Regiment was transformed into the 1st Separate Air Assault Brigade and this experimental formation was put under the command of Major General Kobzar', Chief of the Combat Training Department of the Airborne Forces HQ. The task of the brigade in the massive exercise was to land with helicopters on the riverside of the River Dnieper and secure a beachhead for the forcing of the river by the main forces. This was executed successfully and the lessons learned were used for the formation of regular air assault brigades. A General Staff Directive from May 22, 1968, ordered the formation of the first brigades. They were under the Soviet Ground Forces and by August 1970 the first two active brigades were:
These brigades had organic aviation units and had the following structure:
  • Brigade HQ
  • 3x Separate Air Assault Battalions
  • Artillery Battalion
  • Air Defence Artillery Battalion
  • Combat Helicopter Regiment with its own Aviation Base
  • Transport Helicopter Regiment with its own Aviation Base
  • Brigade logistics
Each aviation base consisted of an airfield support battalion and a signals and radio-technical support battalion. The brigade was tasked with executing tactical heliborne landings up to 100 km behind enemy lines. In the beginning of the 1970s the designation was changed from Separate Air Assault Brigade to Separate Landing Assault Brigade. In 1973 a third brigade was formed:
The experimental 1st Separate Air Assault Brigade was fully staffed by Airborne Troops personnel due to its background, but the regular air assault brigades formed afterwards lacked any airborne parachute training and the majority of their officers came from the higher schools of the Ground Forces. The brigades carried the uniform of the motor rifle branch. In 1973 the landing assault brigades received a new table of organization:
  • Brigade HQ of 326 men;
  • 3x Separate Landing Assault Battalions of 349 men each;
  • Separate Artillery Battalion of 171 men;
  • Aviation Group of 805 men;
  • Separate Signals and Radio-technical Support Battalion of 190 men;
  • Separate Airfield Technical Support Battalion of 410 men.
The new air assault brigades were deemed successful and by the end of the 1970s several more brigades were formed under the military districts. In addition several separate landing assault battalions were formed as assets of combined arms and tank armies. In 1983 these forces started receiving parachute training and this put them under the training oversight of the Airborne Troops. The rapid expansion of the landing assault troops led to the disbanding of one airborne division in 1979. This was the 105th Guards Venskaya, awarded the Order of the Red Banner Airborne Landing Division with HQ in Fergana in the Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan SSR and command of the 111th, 345th, 351st and the 383rd Parachute Landing Regiments and additional support units. The division was specialized in warfare in mountain and arid regions and the decision to disband it proved to be a seriously misguided one in the coming Soviet–Afghan War. The division gave birth to the following formations:
  • The 345th Parachute Landing Regiment retained its airborne qualification and remained deployed at the southern border of the USSR, reformed into the 345th Separate Parachute Landing Regiment.
  • The 111th Parachute Landing Regiment based in Osh, Kirgiz SSR was used as the basis for the formation of the 14th Guards Separate Landing Assault Brigade of the Western Group of Forces in Cottbus, GDR. In December 1979 the brigade was re-numbered from the 14th to the 35th Guards Separate Landing Assault Brigade.
  • The 351st Parachute Landing Regiment was used for the formation of the 56th Guards Separate Landing Assault Brigade of the Turkestan Military District with brigade HQ in the village of Azadbash near Chirchik, Uzbek SSR.
  • The 383rd Parachute Landing Regiment based in the village of Aktogay, Taldy-Kurgan Oblast, Kazakh SSR was used for the formation of the 57th Separate Landing Assault Brigade of the Central Asian Military District. The regiment was also used for the formation of the 58th Separate Landing Assault Brigade in Kremenchug of the Kiev Military District, but it was kept as a cadre formation in peacetime.
  • The officers of the division HQ were used as the cadre for the formation of the 38th Separate Guards Venskaya, awarded the Order of the Red Banner Landing Assault Brigade in Brest, subordinated to the Belorussian Military District.
From the late 1970s to the 1980s, 13 separate landing assault brigades were activated. These brigades provided air-mobile capability for military districts and groups of forces. In 1989, these brigades transferred to control of the VDV. During the same period, 19 separate landing assault battalions were activated. These battalions originally provided air-mobile capability to armies and other formations but were mostly disbanded in 1989.
In 1979, the 58th Air Assault Brigade was activated as a mobilization unit in Kremenchug. It was co-located with the 23rd Air Assault Brigade from 1986 and disbanded in 1989. The 128th Air Assault Brigade existed between 1986 and 1989 as a mobilization unit in Stavropol. The 130th Air Assault Brigade existed between 1986 and 1989 as a mobilization unit in Abakan.
In addition to the Landing Assault units of the Ground Forces' military districts and armies, the Soviet General Staff also experimented with the inclusion of landing assault units in experimental combined arms corps. Two such corps were formed in the mid-1980s with the task to exploit and widen the operational breakthrough in offensive operations.
  • In the Belorussian Military District the 120th Guards, Rogachyovskaya, awarded the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov and the Order of Kutuzov Motor Rifle Division was transformed into the 5th Guards Combined Arms Army Corps'"Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR" was transformed into the 48th Guards Combined Arms Army Corps.
Each corps consisted of a corps HQ, two tank brigades, two mechanised brigades, a landing assault regiment of two battalions and support units and a helicopter regiment. The combat and service support units were similar to those found in a tank or motor rifle division. The 5th Corps had the 1318th Separate Landing Assault Regiment and 276th Separate Helicopter Regiment, while the 48th Corps had the 1319th Separate Landing Assault Regiment and 373rd Separate Helicopter Regiment. Around 1987-88 the two corps were disbanded and reverted to divisions, losing their landing troops and helicopters.

Force Structure of the Soviet Airborne Forces in 1989

V. I. Shaykin lists the following force structure of the Soviet airborne forces in 1989 in his study:
note: HH is not an official designation, but denotes Helicopter-Heavy - The original three Air Assault Brigades - the 11th, 13th and 21st had their organic helicopter regiments and they have retained them until 1988~89. The brigades, which were formed later lacked own helicopter assets and relied on the helicopter regiments of their higher echelon commands.
note: The 36th Army with its 906th Separate Assault Landing Battalion and the 86th Army Corps with its 1154th Separate Assault Landing Battalion need further investigation, as the 86th Army Corps was expanded into the 36th Combined Arms Army on June 1, 1976, and could not exist simultaneously around 1989, as the Army was itself reduced into the 55th Army Corps on June 1, 1989.

Training establishments

NameRankPeriod of command
Vasily GlazunovMajor generalSeptember 1941 – June 1943
Alexander KapitokhinLieutenant generalJune 1943 – August 1944
Ivan ZatevakhinLieutenant generalAugust 1944 – January 1946
Vasily GlagolevColonel generalJanuary 1946 – October 1947
Alexander KazankinLieutenant generalOctober 1947 – December 1948
Sergei RudenkoColonel general of the Air ForceDecember 1948 – January 1950
Alexander KazankinLieutenant generalJanuary – March 1950
Alexander GorbatovColonel generalMarch 1950 – May 1954
Vasily MargelovLieutenant generalMay 1954 – March 1959
Ivan TutarinovColonel generalMarch 1959 – July 1961
Vasily MargelovArmy generalJuly 1961 – January 1979
Dmitri SukhorukovArmy generalJanuary 1979 – July 1987
Nikolai KalininColonel generalAugust 1987 – January 1989
Vladislav AchalovColonel generalJanuary 1989 – December 1990
Pavel GrachevMajor generalDecember 1990 – August 1991
Yevgeny PodkolzinColonel generalAugust 1991 – February 1992

Traditions

The service march of the airborne forces is We Need One Victory, also known as Our 10th Parachute Battalion. It was made by poet Bulat Okudzhava, written for the feature film Belorussian Station by Andrei Smirnov. It was later adapted by Alfred Schnittke to be performed as a march to be played at the Moscow Victory Day Parade on Victory Day .

Paratroopers' Day celebrations

On Airborne Forces Day in many Russian cities, it is customary to turn off the fountains and hold veteran reunions near those fountains.

Bands

The Combined Military Band of the Airborne Forces is an integral part of all the solemn events of the Airborne Forces. Every year, the band's personnel take part in the Victory Parade on Red Square, as well as the opening ceremony of the International Army Games. In the ranks of the combined band are musicians of the military bands of the airborne and assault formations of the Airborne Forces. There are six other military bands in the airborne forces. The Song and Dance Ensemble of the Airborne Forces is the theatrical troupe of the VDV. It began its creative activity in 1937, as the Red Army Song and Dance Ensemble of the Kyiv Military District, numbering only 18 people. On 3 May 1945, three days after the signing of the German armistice, the ensemble gave a concert on the steps of the destroyed Reichstag. During the Cold War, the unit was known as the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. During this time, it had participated in concerts in the cities of East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. It gained its current status in 1994. The Song and Dance Ensemble also contains the Blue Berets musical group.