Articoli di riviste sul tema "Division Artillery"

Besides the combat-arms assets, the rapid troops of the Royal Hungarian Defence Forces also had field artillery (light howitzers), air defence artillery and anti-tank guns. The order of battle of the motorised units required the existence of one (after the autumn of 1941, two) artillery battalion(s) with vehicle-drawn assets for providing combat support. The motorised artillery battalions initially had four batteries with light howitzers, while the armoured divisions had two motorised artillery battalions. There were two artillery battalions with four (six) batteries in the mobilised organisation of the cavalry brigades (division). For ensuring defence against air attacks, vehicle-drawn air defence artillery battalions were introduced in the armoured divisions and the 1st Cavalry Division with one light and one heavy battery. Against tank attacks, there were 4–6 anti-tank guns in service used by each of the anti-tank companies of the infantry and reconnaissance battalions (in the motorised rifle brigades and hussar regiments of the armoured divisions) and the 1st Cavalry Division.

The article deals with the survivability of the artillery unit during the combat operation. The brutality of the artillery unit is regarded as a random process. In our view, this random process is a Markov process that depends on time. Mathematical model of survivability of artillery unit based on non-stationary Markov process described by Kolmogorov equation was developed. The mathematical model allows to change probability of impressions of the artillery unit, time of their presence in combat positions and time of determination of positions of the enemy, which allows to determine vitality of the artillery unit in time during combat operations. The article considers two cases of survivability of an artillery unit during hostilities. In the first case, the entire artillery unit begins to fight on the uncertain positions of the enemy's artillery unit. The latter for some time determines the exact position of the attackers and, despite the fact that they entered the battle later, inflicts significant losses on the former. In the second case, the artillery unit is divided into two parts. The first part also begins the battle on the uncertain positions of the enemy's artillery unit. The second part enters the battle after determining the positions of the enemy artillery unit. In this case, the overall survivability of the first unit will be greater than the enemy's artillery unit. Ways to increase the survivability of the artillery unit during combat operations were shown. In our view, this approach can be used to create an interactive simulation of the artillery unit’s command. Such a complex is applicable in the training of commanders of artillery units.

The article describes the experience of creating automated control systems by foreign countries. Experience in controlling fire weapons and reconnaissance assets. The analysis of their interaction. Considered in detail the automated control system of field artillery of the United States of America Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFTDS). This is an experience of creating a system of foreign countries. Experience in controlling fire weapons and reconnaissance assets. The analysis of their interaction. Considered in detail is the United States of America Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFTDS). This is a multipurpose tactical information system of field artillery using mobile technology. It provides automated decision making for the functional subsystem, support for the ground forces and marines, as well as integrated operational units and united types of troops. The article describes the entire sector of the capabilities of this automated combat control system. The article also discusses ADLER (Artillerie Daten Lage and Einsatz Rechnerverbund) Germany’s automated field artillery control system. This automated field artillery control system provides all the field artillery control capabilities from the division to the gun (mortar, MLRS, reconnaissance equipment). The unified information network unites target detection facilities, combat (fire) and fire weapons control centers (points). it makes it possible not only to process the data, but also to control the detection mode and hit targets, including the evaluation of intermediate results. Integrated systems of reconnaissance, surveillance, target definitions and their destruction are considered by military experts of the leading, militarily, countries of the world as a critical element for achieving information superiority over the enemy. Analysis of the interaction of artillery reconnaissance forces and weapons and armaments of the leading military countries of the world provides an opportunity to study the development of weapons and military equipment to ensure the creation of an intelligence-information subsystem of artillery.

Motives: In recent years, the popularity of military tourism has increased considerably in Central and Eastern European countries, especially among tourists who have an interest in military history and technology. Due to the general scarcity of methods and studies examining alternative uses of former military bases, including coastal artillery bases, a reliable method for assessing the value of such sites for military tourism should be developed. The study presents the history of the analysed military bases, and it examines the extent to which the existing facilities could be converted into tourist attractions. An innovative method for evaluating the tourism potential of defunct military bases was proposed and verified, and the required changes for improving the accessibility and applicability of military facilities for educational and tourism purposes were described. Two former military sites in Koszalin coastal region were selected for the study. Aim: The main aim of the study was to propose an original method for assessing alternative uses of former coastal military bases, and to evaluate the educational and tourism potential of former military bases on the Koszalin Coast (a subregion of the South Baltic Coast) on the example of two former military facilities: Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division No. 68 in Łeba and Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division No. 66 in Naćmierz. Results: The results of the study indicate that the evaluated military sites have considerable tourism potential, in particular for tourists who have an interest in military history. An analysis of exogenous as well as endogenous (architectural and historical features) factors revealed that both sites could attract tourists, including visitors who are not strictly interested in military facilities. The assessment conducted using the proposed method demonstrated that the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division No. 68 in Łeba is characterised by high tourist attractiveness, whereas the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division No. 66 in Naćmierz is characterised by moderate tourist attractiveness.

This article provides an analysis of modern high-precision armament (artillery), is standing in service with Ukraine and USA. The main specifications of high-precision munitions, the principle of their action and application are given. Modern barrel artillery, with high firepower, rate of fire, maneuverability and the ability to solve a wide range of combat tasks, retains a leading position in the armament system of militarily advanced countries. High fire properties of barrel artillery are provided by constant improvement of all components of its subsystems. In terms of combat potential, the most modern artillery systems 2C19 (Ukraine), CAESAR (France), and PzH2000 (Germany) are 4-5 times higher than the artillery systems developed in the 1960s and 1980s. And yet, despite the obvious improvement in artillery, the number of guns involved, the consumption of shells and the time of the main combat missions still remain significant. Thus, to defeat the enemy’s battery at ranges from 15 to 20 km, you need to involve an artillery division (18 guns), and the cost will be 600-800 shells.The firing time is 6-8 minutes. Widespread introduction of the latest scientific and technical achievements in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation has led to the emergence of qualitatively new means of armed strugg. First of all, we are talking about high-precision weapons, the mass use of which allows you to solve problems of operational and sometimes strategic nature. Keywords: high-precision armament, high0precision munitions, artillery systems, specifications, possibilities.

An analysis of military conflicts indicates a sharp increase in maneuvering capabilities, the number of armored targets and anti-weapon capabilities. This makes us look for the possibility of increasing the effectiveness of fire weapons. The existing means of destruction in the Armed Forces of Ukraine require a significant expenditure of ammunition and the use of a large number of fire weapons, for example, to suppress a platoon stronghold, which, as a rule, will include 3-4 infantry fighting vehicles and 1 tank must involve at least artillery division of 152 mm howitzers, with a consumption of 1,440 high-explosive fragmentation shells. In addition, in the course of the gradual transition of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the standards of NATO member countries, bringing artillery caliber standards to these standards, the development (modernization) of artillery systems, there is a need to revise combat kits, which will be used to equip promising artillery systems (complexes). When substantiating the need for the formation of new combat kits for artillery systems that are being developed (modernized), their military-economic effectiveness is assessed. In connection with the foregoing, there is a need to develop a scientific and methodological apparatus, which will assess the feasibility of making changes to the combat kits of artillery systems. The article discusses a universal methodology for assessing the military-economic effectiveness of combat systems of promising artillery systems that are being developed (modernized). The developed methodology of military-economic evaluation of the effectiveness of combat kits allows you to take into account the economic component in the development (modernization) of artillery systems (complexes). Keywords: combat set, artillery system, military-economic efficiency.

The paper considers the list of functions to be implemented in the special software of the artillery control automation control system of the self-propelled artillery division of the airborne forces to ensure the reliability of operation. The principles implemented in the control subsystem for the control of the operation of the artillery control automation control system developed by the Rubin research and production enterprise are described. They make it possible to significantly reduce the load on network and computing resources by eliminating parallel streams of requests for duplicate data from simultaneously performed special software tasks. Solutions are proposed for automating the operation of the communication and data transmission subsystem, providing reliable data transmission, automatic selection of the communication channel having the highest throughput, automatic retransmission route construction, providing the maximum capacity with the minimum number of relay nodes during the movement of control machines and self-propelled artillery pieces. The analysis of the transport level protocols is carried out and the choice of the optimal protocol - SCTP is proved. The analysis of routing protocols is made and the choice of the optimal protocol - AODV is justified.

Analysis of armed conflicts in recent years shows the widespread use of highly maneuverable firearms, which are characterized by rapid movement during hostilities, frequent changes of position after the fire mission. The effectiveness of defeating a highly maneuverable target and performing a fire task depends on the correct choice and priority in assigning a particular artillery firing task. The main factors influencing the effectiveness of fire damage to highly maneuverable targets are: timeliness, accuracy, suddenness, obtaining complete and accurate data on the position, size and nature of targets, the correct choice of means of hitting the target, the purpose of the fire task and method of firing targets. The primary task of artillery units is to defeat highly maneuverable targets while they are in firing positions. This time is called the effective time to complete the fire task. The timeliness of hitting highly maneuverable targets can be assessed by the ratio of reaction time required to use the artillery unit in combination with additional reconnaissance means allocated for counterbattery combat, to hit the target with the set ammunition consumption and the probable time of target targeting after reconnaissance. The time spent by highly maneuverable targets at the position after their detection by reconnaissance means is random, distributed according to the law of equal probability and depends on the tactical and technical characteristics of weapons, time of fire task, terrain, season, time of day, etc., as well as at what point the target was identified. Fire on the target can be timely only if it is detected and the coordinates are transmitted to the fire units by the time it leaves its positions. When determining the degree of damage to highly maneuverable targets, it is necessary to take into account the probability of timely fire, ie all shells intended to hit the target, spent until the target left the position (out of range). To destroy the battery (platoon) of self-propelled armored guns at the firing position and the platoon of self-propelled armored SAM at the position, the task of firing is to prohibit action, even with the use of two artillery divisions. To defeat the battery (platoon) of MLRS and the battery (platoon) of self-propelled unarmored guns in the firing position, the task of one division is to suppress, and when two divisions are involved in firing on the battery (platoon) of MLRS – destruction. To defeat a platoon of self-propelled armored ATGMs at the deployment line, firing one division, firing task is a ban on action, and if at least two divisions are involved - there may be suppression. Keywords: firing tasks, highly maneuverable targets, effective time, effectiveness of fire damage.

The experience of repelling and deterring the armed aggression of the Russian Federation shows the need to carry out a significant amount of fire support tasks for combined military units (units) and points to the growing requirements for the timeliness and quality of target identification for missile troops and artillery at various stages of preparation and conducting an operation (battle). The conducted analysis of the use of artillery units during the repulse of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation indicates that the issues of increasing the level of implementation of their combat capabilities and bringing them into line with the volume of fire tasks that can rely on artillery in the battle of a mechanized brigade are problematic and relevant today. At present, there is an urgent need for modern methods and approaches that would take into account the changes that have occurred in the tactics of artillery units, their quantitative and qualitative composition, spatial and temporal parameters of the conduct of hostilities, and allow more qualitative justification of the goals for the division of units in order to achieve planned fire support effects. Therefore, a methodical approach to determining the goals of the artillery of the mechanized brigade is an important component of determining the scope of target engagement tasks and firing tasks of artillery in the battle of the mechanized brigade. It is known that the scope of the target engagement task and the number of phases of actions related to their implementation depends on: the composition, state and nature of the enemy's actions; tasks of fire support of mechanized units; designation of artillery units as elements of the battle order of the mechanized brigade; combat properties, state and supply of ammunition of artillery units; the capabilities of intelligence tools and the results of processing intelligence information about enemy objects; planned effects of hitting targets, etc. Therefore, there is an urgent task regarding the development of a methodical approach to determining the goals of the artillery of the mechanized brigade, as the number of objects (personnel, structures, etc.) of the enemy's troops (forces), districts and areas of the terrain that are accepted for destruction in the lane of action of the mechanized brigade for to achieve certain physical, operational and psychological effects in accordance with the intentions (design) of the brigade commander.

This article discusses the characteristics of the Romanian infantry defence during the last part of the Second World War according to the instructions received from the General Staff or various Higher Commands. It presents aspects relating to the role of the defence that regained its specific mission to hold its position to the last man or bullet. This article presents the tactical rules of an infantry division in a position of resistance, the arrangement of the battalions, the role of the heavy artillery units and the course of action when the enemy started the attack. At the same time, it also lists the differences between the instructions and directives relating to defence, given under the German influence between 1941- 1943 and the last ones during the war. Furthermore, it also defines the concept of fire plan with all the necessary firings to be delivered against an enemy, with the assessment of the role of the cooperation between the aviation and the artillery once the preparatory firing is started or its use against tanks.

This article discusses the characteristics of the Romanian infantry defence during the last part of the Second World War according to the instructions received from the General Staff or various Higher Commands. It presents aspects relating to the role of the defence that regained its specific mission to hold its position to the last man or bullet. This article presents the tactical rules of an infantry division in a position of resistance, the arrangement of the battalions, the role of the heavy artillery units and the course of action when the enemy started the attack. At the same time, it also lists the differences between the instructions and directives relating to defence, given under the German influence between 1941- 1943 and the last ones during the war. Furthermore, it also defines the concept of fire plan with all the necessary firings to be delivered against an enemy, with the assessment of the role of the cooperation between the aviation and the artillery once the preparatory firing is started or its use against tanks.

This article presents the developed mobile application "ArtKZ" designed to solve the tasks of compiling meteorological bulletins based on the data of the division weather station, calculating the total corrections for deviations of meteorological and ballistic firing conditions from the tabulated values and determining the settings for firing on the basis of full training. A description and procedure for using the mobile application in solving these tasks is given. According to the presented characteristics of the mobile application "ArtKZ" the relevance of its use in the educational process of educational institutions and in the artillery units of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstanis determined in order to improve the quality of control and determination of settings for firing, when the trainees perform firing tasks with live firing and on simulated means.

The whole period of the Soviet Union’s existence and the first years of independence of Ukraine didnot write and talked about the military conflict in the winter of 1939–1940. The reason for the strategicdefeat of the huge Soviet Union in the war with a small Finland. In the Soviet Union, they tried to createsuch a notion as the «Soviet people,» the relocation and mixing of a large number of people throughout thespace of the USSR. Therefore, no one has ever defined participants in events by nationality or territoriallocation. Ukrainians also did not stand out. It was only when Ukraine became independent that therewas a need to determine the participation of Ukrainians in the Soviet-Finnish war and their role. Duringthe Soviet-Finnish war, the North-West front was commanded by the future Marshal and Hero of theSoviet Union, Ukrainian Timoshenko Semyon Konstantinovich. Future Marshal and Hero of the SovietUnion, Ukrainian Kulik Grigory Ivanovich, as Deputy People’s Commissar for Defense of the USSR,participated in the preparation of Army and Artillery Parts for the Soviet-Finnish War. The commanderof the 70th division was Ukrainian Kirponos Mikhail Petrovich. Participated in the combat operations ofthe pilot-as and Hero of the Soviet Union, Ukrainian Kravchenko Grigory Panteleevich. Future Marshaland Hero of the Soviet Union, Ukrainian, Moskalenko Kirill Semenovich, during the Soviet-FinnishWar, was the head of the artillery 51st Perekopskaya Rifle Division of the Odessa Military District. Thefuture Colonel-General of the Tank Army and Hero of the Soviet Union, Ukrainian Kravchenko AndriyGrigorievich, during the war, was Chief of Staff of the 173th Motorized Infantry Division. In the threemonth conflict, nearly 40,000 Ukrainians died. Among those who fought in this war and received thehighest award – the Order of Lenin – Vasyl Petrenko from Poltava region. On the side of the USSR twodivisions participated in the war, which were completed in Ukraine. These are the 44th and 70th InfantryDivisions. The first of them fell into the environment and almost all died, trying to break away from theFinnish ring. Those who escaped were subjected to a martial law court. Division commander, chief ofstaff, chief of the police department and commissar were shot. In general, several thousand participantsin this war suffered repressions. Instructive that the Finnish side arranged the graves of the dead Sovietsoldiers. The city of Suomussalmi has a monument to the soldiers of the 44th Division, at the time whenthe names of the heroes were for gotten in the homeland.

In 1944, in line with the prepared plans of the extension of the Polish Army, the following military units were formed already in the course of military actions of World War II in the Siedlce area: the 8th Infantry Division, the 4th Anti-aircraft Artillery Division and the 1st Independent Mortar Brigade. Totally, the headcount of the formed tactical detachment was supposed to reach 15 thousand soldiers. Numerous organisational and logistic glitches could be seen in the formation stage of the military units mentioned above. They affected the quality of military service, leading to relaxation in the ranks of the Polish Army. Hostility of many lower rank servicemen (but not only them) towards Soviet officers, who joined the newlyorganised Polish Army, was an additional factor which made this situation even worse. Raising this issue, the Author sets it in the context of political and social changes taking place in Poland after the Polish Committee for National Liberation was established. He also refers to military discipline, which remains one of the key threads of this paper, and which actually posed a serious problem to the General Command of the Polish Army.

The factors that impact teams' cognitive representations of the systems with which they interact is an area of concentrated research effort. Not surprisingly, research indicates that these cognitive representations impact the team's functioning with the system. Despite the importance of these cognitive representations and their impact on performance, valid and reliable measurement in naturalistic environments remains elusive. Validity and reliability of a measure are especially important to assess the impact of training. The purpose of the current effort is to evaluate the efficacy of a particular knowledge elicitation and representation methodology. A demonstration of this methodology will be presented using data collected from the command and control elements of a Division Artillery (DIVARTY) command staff. Results indicate that this methodology distinguishes differences in team members' mental models as a function of expertise and subteam membership. Implications of these differences for training are discussed, as well as directions for future research.

The formation of Polish armed troops began in summer 1918, during the battles between troops of the Czechoslovak Corps (Radziwiłłowicz 2010, 107–126), “white” Russians and Bolsheviks in the Volga region and in Siberia. Earlier that year, small Polish troops began to form spontaneously, taking their names from the towns of formation; therefore, those were, among others, Omsk, Irkuck, Semipalatynsk “legions”. In October 1918, due to a Bolshevik offensive, Polish forces were stationed in Novonikolayevsk (now Novosibirsk) on the Ob river. A division with three rifle regiments, a light artillery regiment and a lancer regiment was formed in 1918 and 1919. The newly-formed troops made up a tactical unit which drew on the tradition of the 5th Polish Rifle Division of the 2nd Polish Corps, with the same number and name (Radziwiłłowicz 2009). More ambitious organisational plans were developed for a supra-division command structure: the Polish Army Command in Eastern Russia and Siberia. From the end of November 1919 to early January 1920, over a distance of nearly a thousand kilometres, troops of the 5th Polish Rifle Division divided into 57 echelons and evacuated by the decrepit Trans-Siberian Railway as the rearguard of the allied forces, through the area of a civil war, among the hostile population of Siberia. The capitulation of the 5th Polish Rifle Division at the Klukviennaya station came as a surprise, not only to its command. The behaviour of the Czechoslovak commanders blocking the railroad, when troops of the Soviet 5th Army and Bolshevik guerrillas attacked the stretched Polish echelons, was regarded as deliberate and aimed at the liquidation of the Polish division. The commander of the Polish division, Colonel Kazimierz Rumsza with a group of his followers, as well as over a thousand officers and privates, who had no illusions that Bolsheviks would observe certain wartime and moral standards adopted by both parties of the conflict, avoided Bolshevik captivity and its cruelty. This group made their way to Harbin in Manchuria, from where a small number of Polish troops were evacuated by sea to Poland (Radziwiłłowicz 2015). The remainder of the division, after surviving the hell of Soviet POW and labour camps, returned to Poland in 1921 and 1922 by repatriation transports. About 4 thousand soldiers of the 5th Polish Rifle Division did not survive the hardships of the camps and the cruelty of the Cheka.

The “Military Revolution”, which became a concentrated manifestation of Europe’s political leadership during the XVIIth – XVIIIth centuries, produced new realities in the military sphere: regular armies, subordinated and held by centralized states, unified arms and clothing, division into types of military forces, special drill and education for soldiers and officers. Leadership in military technology consisted of fortifications and artillery that developed in the direction of increasing technical capacity, unification and standardization of new weapons. New approaches to the organization of the armed forces changed the character of wars. If in the XVIIth century East and West of Europe had a kind of parity in their military achievements and technologies, then in the XVIIIth century it finally moved to the West. In this context, an important issue is how Western European achievements were spread in Ukraine, in particular the Cossack Hetmanate, whose military-political model was clearly structured for military purposes. The analysis of these influences and borrowings shows that they were heterogeneous in nature. In the Cossack army, elements of the regular troop duty and sentry service and even drill instructions were gradually being appeared. The Cossack starshyna (officials) faced with the practice of the regular army during the Russian imperial wars. However, all these influences were episodic and spontaneous, without changing the essence of the military institutions of the Hetmanate. In artillery, technical innovations were implemented more actively, but were hampered by lack of funding. In the fortification area, the control of which was completely transferred to imperial power, Western technologies and specialists, were used by metropolitan power in their own defensive projects. It is significant that the acquaintance and borrowing of any military innovations in the XVIIIth century occurred almost exclusively through Russian mediation. This tendency was fully in line with the gradual loss of the Hetmanate’s sovereignty, the destruction of its army.

Here is the contribution of K. N. Kostur in the development of national military naval medicine based on documentary data. K. N. Kostur was born on May 6, 1921 in the village of Kuzmin, Gorodok district of the Khmelnitsky region of the Ukrainian SSR. After graduating secondary school with ten years of study, he entered the Naval Medical School (NMS). He passed the first practice in August 1940 on the cruiser «Aurora», which was in Kronstadt. In late October 1941, after an early release from NMS, he was sent to the «Road of Life». The convoy of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet (RBBF), where he served, took the wounded, women and children out of besieged Leningrad. Konstantin Nikolaevich Kostur, being a senior medical assistant, was part of the Railway Artillery Battery of the 263rd Division of Railway Artillery of the 1st Guards Brigade of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. He participated in combat operations to break the blockade of Leningrad, liberate the islands in the Vyborg gulf, and also liberate the Baltic states and East Prussia. Several post-war years participated in the combat demining of the Finland gulf. Then — 5 years of study at the Naval Medical Academy (NMS), service on the cruiser «Maxim Gorky» as the head of the medical service, and also — 22 years of hard work in the 1st order of Lenin Naval Hospital of the Leningrad Naval Base. Here K. N. Kostur went from the young attending doctor to the head of the gastroenterological department and the lead therapist of the hospital. After the release to the reserve, Konstantin Nikolayevich until the last day was actively working as a therapist at the 285th Polyclinic of 1st order of Lenin Naval Hospital of the Leningrad Naval Base, assisting military personnel, members of their families, military retirees and civilians. Despite high positions and great administrative and medical work, K. N. Kostur conducted deep research studies on topical issues of naval therapy and gastroenterology, was actively engaged in inventive and rationalization activities.

Celem niniejszego artykułu jest zaprezentowanie mało znanej historii służby wojskowej Adama Bunscha w armii austro-węgierskiej i polskiej w latach 1915–1920 i 1939–1945. Bunsch, który wywodził się ze znanej krakowskiej rodziny (jego ojciec był rzeźbiarzem, a brat po II wojnie światowej został popularnym polskim pisarzem), był do tej pory szerzej znany przede wszystkim ze swojej pracy artystycznej, jako plastyk i dramaturg. Jednakże wydaje się, że miał istotne dokonania także jako żołnierz służący w jednostkach artylerii podczas wojny polsko-ukraińskiej i polsko-bolszewickiej, a także w latach 1939–1940. Bunsch odegrał również istotną rolę jako oficer oświatowy służąc w 1. Dywizji Pancernej generała Stanisława Maczka w Wielkiej Brytanii.The aim of this article is to present a very little known history of Adam Bunsch’s military service in Austro-Hungarian and Polish armies between 1915–1920 and 1939–1945. Bunsch, who descended from well-known Cracowian family (his father was a sculptor, his brother became a popular Polish writer after the II World War), has been so far widely known mainly for his art work as a visual artist and playwright. It seems however that he had significant achievements as a soldier serving in various artillery units during Polish-Ukrainian and Polish-Bolshevik wars and between 1939–1940. Bunsch also played vital role as educational officer serving in general Stanislaw Maczek’s 1. Armored Division in Great Britain.

The article analyses ordinary life of the Armed Forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the period between the beginning of the rule by the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Stanisław August Poniatowski, and until the reforms by the Four-Year Sejm (1788–1792). In the period of interest it was a small (up to 4,000 soldiers), independent army, made up from national contractors, mostly cavalry detachments, the main unit being a flag of 30–100 soldiers, and the so-called foreign contractors (cavalry, infantry and artillery), the main unit being a company of 60–100 soldiers. In 1775–1777, division by contractors’ ethnicity was replaced with the territorial divisions. The main changes took place in the national cavalry, where two equally sized brigades of hussars and petyhorcy were created, whereas majority of foreign contractors were reorganized into infantry. Peace-time armed forces was an important factor for the Lithuanian public, the ruling elite and the local communities. Army was not a tool for use in large international politics, it was more of a current order preserving instrument. Army supply system was based on the independent economic unit, governed by the unit commander. Attempts by the Lithuanian Military Commission to impose greater control gave insignificant results, although the reforms of 1775–1775 were able to strengthen control of the treasury and procedures, making relationships more visible and transparent, and the actual composition of the armed forces was very close to the theoretical provisions. The economic weakness of the nation after the First Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and lack of correlation between recovery of the treasury and army financing put bridles on the army, preventing it from development and change. In spite of all 1764–1788 reforms, the Lithuanian armed forces remained a stagnating institution, where routine and established traditions dominated over novelty and change. Keywords: Armed Forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, ordinary army life, rule of Stanisław Poniatowski, Military Commission, Military Department of the Permanent Council.

In early 1970, Vice President Spiro Agnew had this to say about the so-called '60s Generation: "As for these deserters, malcontents, radicals, incendiaries, the civil and the uncivil disobedients among our youth, SDS, PLP, Weathermen I and Weathermen II, the revolutionary action movement, the Black United Front, Yippies, Hippies, Yahoos, Black Panthers, Lions, and Tigers alike—I would swap the whole damn zoo for a single platoon of the kind of young Americans I saw in Vietnam." This is a fascinating statement for multiple reasons and on multiple levels. To begin with, a single platoon of the kind of young Americans he saw in Vietnam went into a village we remember as My Lai and murdered 407 unarmed men, women, and children. On the same day, in the nearby village of My Khe, another unit of the same division murdered an estimated 97 additional Vietnamese civilians. While I personally did not participate in or witness killing on that scale, I and my fellow Marines routinely killed, maimed, and abused Vietnamese on a near-daily basis, destroying homes, fields, crops, and livestock with every weapon available to us, from rifles and grenades to heavy artillery and napalm.… It is no wonder, it turns out, that Agnew should be so fond of "the kind of young Americans" he saw in Vietnam, since he himself turned out to be a criminal who was forced to resign from his office in public disgrace.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

This paper focuses on the role of the Romanian Royal Navy and of the personality of the most capable commander of its maritime forces during the campaign in the East, in the 23 August 1944 decisive moments – Rear Admiral Horia Macellariu. In the context of the country’s exit from the alliance with Germany and of the political-military changes, and under the impact of the proclamation issued by King Mihai I, in Constanța, the problem for the commanders of the Royal Navy was very sensitive: the detachment from the RomanianGerman mixed command. The situation was characterised by uncertainties, the ships of the Maritime Naval Force being interspersed with many more German ships, which had a superior artillery equipment. Rear Admiral Horia Macellariu, the Commander of the Navy and directly responsible for the fate of the crews, was also under the Commander of the 9th Infantry Division. His orders, from the General Staff and the Naval Staff, to disarm or force the German troops to withdraw Southward, in Bulgaria, required special tact and diplomacy. The excellent working relationship between Rear Admiral Macellariu and German Admiral Helmuth Brinkmann helped to avoid a bloody confrontation, which could prove disastrous for the port and the city of Constanța After the withdrawal of the Germans, appointed Superior Commander of the Dobruja territory, Rear Admiral Horia Macellariu had the ungrateful task of receiving the Soviet troops, whose generals and admirals considered the Romanian Armed Forces defeated and treated them as such. A series of pressures followed, doubled by insults and hostile attitude on the part of the Soviet occupant, culminating in the forcible takeover of Royal Navy ships on 5 September 1944.

This paper focuses on the role of the Romanian Royal Navy and of the personality of the most capable commander of its maritime forces during the campaign in the East, in the 23 August 1944 decisive moments – Rear Admiral Horia Macellariu. In the context of the country’s exit from the alliance with Germany and of the political-military changes, and under the impact of the proclamation issued by King Mihai I, in Constanța, the problem for the commanders of the Royal Navy was very sensitive: the detachment from the RomanianGerman mixed command. The situation was characterised by uncertainties, the ships of the Maritime Naval Force being interspersed with many more German ships, which had a superior artillery equipment. Rear Admiral Horia Macellariu, the Commander of the Navy and directly responsible for the fate of the crews, was also under the Commander of the 9th Infantry Division. His orders, from the General Staff and the Naval Staff, to disarm or force the German troops to withdraw Southward, in Bulgaria, required special tact and diplomacy. The excellent working relationship between Rear Admiral Macellariu and German Admiral Helmuth Brinkmann helped to avoid a bloody confrontation, which could prove disastrous for the port and the city of Constanța After the withdrawal of the Germans, appointed Superior Commander of the Dobruja territory, Rear Admiral Horia Macellariu had the ungrateful task of receiving the Soviet troops, whose generals and admirals considered the Romanian Armed Forces defeated and treated them as such. A series of pressures followed, doubled by insults and hostile attitude on the part of the Soviet occupant, culminating in the forcible takeover of Royal Navy ships on 5 September 1944.

One of the most terrible and difficult to understand pages of the Second World War history is the death of the Red Army South-Western Front in the second half of September 1941. An attempt has been made to answer the question why the largest group of Soviet troops (the South-Western Front), not inferior to Army Group “South” in number and having a complete advantage in tanks, aviation and artillery, was defeated in defensive battles and encircled. The largest was the “cauldron” near Kyiv. The Red Army suffered gigantic losses: 665,000 soldiers and officers, the entire material and technical base of the front ended up in the Kiev “cauldron”. After the defeat near Kyiv, the way to Eastern Ukraine, Azov and Donbas was open. Scientific analysis of the events and understanding of the causes of the Kyiv disaster of 1941, their generalized, comprehensive assessment are relevant for the study of modern military history. There were many reasons for the tragedy of the South-Western Front. Among the main ones, the following have been highlighted: incorrect assessment of Germany’s strategic priorities at the initial stage of the war; unpreparedness for a defensive war on one’s own territory; the advantage of the enemy in the tactics of fighting; lack of coordination of actions between military branches; loss of command of troops at all levels, from the General Staff to corps and division commanders; wrong personnel policy, as a result of which unprofessional persons who met the “main” criterion, such as personal loyalty to Stalin, came to the leadership of the Red Army; gross mistakes of the command, incompetence and voluntarism in setting tasks on the part of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command (the highest military leadership of the country), etc.

The article deals with the offensive operations of the 60th Soviet Army during the Sandomir-Silesian operation. On January 27, 1945 the soldiers of this army liberated the Polish city of Auschwitz and the concentration camp "Auschwitz-Birkenau", some sites of which were located in close proximity to the city. A whole direction in historical science is devoted to the study of Hitler's crimes in the concentration camps created by the Nazis. The article develops this direction in the part of analyzing the information about how and as a result of what the largest camp in the system of concentration camps created by Nazis in Europe stopped its functioning. The main goal of the presented work is to reconstruct the chronology of combat operations of the 60th Army units in the second half of January 1945, to determine their specifics and results. The methodological basis of the study was the principle of historical objectivity with reliance on source analysis of the complex of archival materials of the 60th Soviet Army and the units included in it, the level of the army - division - regiment. The involved documents, some of which are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, allowed to restore the course of the offensive operation in the direction of Auschwitz. It is shown that the enemy resisted stubbornly, going into counterattacks, supported by artillery. However, the enemy could not hold the positions and retreated with significant losses. The intensity of the fighting is evidenced by the fact of death on the outskirts of the city of the commander of the 472nd rifle regiment, which was on the edge of the offensive operation of the division. The analysis of the documents allowed us to draw a number of conclusions that develop our knowledge about the role of the Red Army in the liberation of both the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and Poland as a whole. One of these should include an analysis of the combat composition of the 60th Army. Documents record the fact that more than half of the army was represented by new recruits. Among those conscripted in the second half of 1944, a significant percentage were mobilized from the western, recently liberated territories of the Ukrainian SSR, and the number of Ukrainians was almost identical to the number of Russians. The 100th Infantry Division, which took part in the direct fighting for Auschwitz, maintained the rapid pace of the offensive operation, which made it possible to liberate a significant part of the prisoners without giving the Nazis a chance to kill them. The documents of the 60th Army testify that most of the liberated from the total number of the camp contingent awaiting their fate were men of conscription age, citizens of the USSR. These documents record the fact that 3 thousand former prisoners of "Auschwitz-Birkenau" out of the total number of 5 thousand liberated were subsequently conscripted into the Soviet army and participated in the final defeat of Hitler's Germany and its allies.

Carried out the analysis of a current state of the automation means complex for the airborne troops artillery divisions. Considered assignment, structure of the automation means complex of perspective self-propelled artillery gun for the airborne troops, implemented in form of unified complex of program and technical means of control. Provided the basic functions executed by a perspective self-propelled artillery gun for the airborne troops from the point of view of ensuring automation crew commander’s activity by preparation and during the fight, ensuring internal crew communication, ensuring data transmission and radiophone transmission of crew with the control machine of self-propelled artillery battery’s commander. Considered lists of calculation, information and general-system tasks, implemented in software from structure of the unified complex of program and technical control means, for ensuring inclusion gun in the automated control contour of the airborne troops artillery divisions, also software’s visual interface for the perspective self-propelled guns commander.

Introduction. Extending from the walls of the fortress of Tsaritsyn to the Don river, the Tsaritsyn defense line reliably protected this area from the systematic raids of nomads, gave an impetus to the active settlement of the region and its economic development. A number of research papers are devoted to the history of the Tsaritsyn line, but some aspects are still insufficiently studied. This article reveals the features of fortification and military engineering characteristics of the Tsaritsyn defense line defensive structures, its technical condition during the reign of Peter I. Methods and materials. The research is based on both published documents and ones stored in archives, which allow us to understand the principles that formed the fortified Tsaritsyn defense line, which fortifications were part of its complex in the 20s of the 18th century. Methods of the study: the principles of historicism and objectivity, analysis, synthesis, systematic approach. Analysis. The comparison of the evidence of participants in the construction of the Tsaritsyn defense line (1719–1720) and cartographic plans of its fortifications made it possible to determine the main characteristics of military engineering facilities located at it. Additionally, the analysis of cartographic sources, the manuscript division of the Library of the Academy of Sciences and the documents of the Main Office of Artillery and Fortification helped to determine the time frame and the author of the map “of the defensive line between the Volga and the Don” of 1723, which has not previously been used by researchers when working on the issue of fortification of the Tsaritsyn defense line in the first years of its operation. Results. As a result of the conducted research, it was found that since the beginning of commissioning in 1720, the main fortification objects were formed at the Tsaritsyn defense line, which were part of the complex of its defensive structures, which remained the main fortifications during the entire time of its operation until the abolition of service on it.

L’étude aborde tout d’abord l’activité des artilleurs austro-hongrois, subordonnés aux unités allemandes, qui combattirent en Belgique et en France en 1914. Elle présente ensuite la participation aux combats des 1 re , 35 e et 106 e divisions d’infanterie impériales et royales dans les environs de Verdun à l’été et à l’automne 1918, ainsi que l’entraînement dispensé par les Allemands à la 37 e division d’infanterie qui ne sera jamais envoyée au combat et, pour finir, le rapatriement des troupes à la fin de la guerre.

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> In Japan, the political system was changed greatly and new Meiji government under Meiji Emperor was born in 1868. Meiji government made great efforts to modernize Japan to hold its independence, hiring many professionals from the western advanced countries, sending many students to the western advanced countries, establishing obligatory education system, and so on.</p><p>It invited French military mission to modernize its army. The mission arrived in Japan in 1872 and stayed until 1880 changing its members. It included engineer officers as follows: Engineer captain Albert Jourdan (1872&amp;ndash;1878), Engineer captain Ernest Vieillard (1873&amp;ndash;1876), Engineer lieutenant captain Lucian Kreitmann (1876-1888) and two other engineer officers succeed until 1880. They worked fundamentally as the teachers of engineering including survey and mapping. Jourdan had additional works as Coast Defense plan and military construction such as Military School.</p><p> Jourdan participated in the Japan Coast Defense Planning Mission headed by French mission chief and ordered by the Army Minister,Yamagata. Coast Defense Plan maps were drawn for Kagosima Bay, Hakodate Bay, Tsuruga Bay, etc. Japanese officers of the General Staff Bureau engaged in making base maps for planning and supported the Mission in the field. The mapping technology would be transferred to the Japanese officers on the job.</p><p>The French Mission members began various military educations in 1872. TIZU SAISIKI (Map Color Rule) was published in 1873, which was translated book by Tomohiro Kosuge (later, the founder and the first director of Japan Land Survey) and others from a French map book brought by Jourdan. Jourdan and Vieillard taught military engineering, based on the textbooks 1855 for French engineer regimental schools, which were translated by T. Kosuge and others and published as KOUHEI SOUTEN (Manual for Military Engineers) including Survey Division in 1873&amp;ndash;1875.</p><p>In 1875, Grand Military Field Exercise was held in Narashinohara near Tokyo, when the field was surveyed at 1/10,000 scale with six plane table teams including T. Kosuge directed by E. Vieillard and a map was compiled and published next year.</p><p>In 1876, the first three textbooks on mapping of the Military School were printed ; SOKUTI KOUHON (Land Survey Textbook), TIRIZUGAKU KOUHON (Topography Textbook) and SOKUTI KANHOU (Rapid Survey Method in the Military School. The former two were Kreitmann’s lecture records and the last one was translated book of a textbook of French Artillery and Engineering Application School Military Field Exercise was held in Narashinohara, when the field was surveyed with plane table method at 1/20,000 scale by the Military School pupils directed by L. Kreitmann. The compiled map was printed next year in the Military School.</p><p>In 1877, Seinan Civil War occurred in Kyushu Islan. Rapid survey maps were drawn by the members of the Survey Division of the Army Ministry. After the war, military field exercise was held in Shimoshidzu, when the field was surveyed with plane table method at 1/20,000 scale by the Military School pupils directed by L. Kreitmann. The compiled map was printed next year in the Military School.</p><p>In 1879, T. Kosuge was nominated to the head of the Survey Division, General Staff Office. He presented his second opinion, “Rapid Survey Plan of the Whole County “ without triangulation which remained as the object of study to the head of the General Staff Office and this plan was accepted.</p><p>In 1880 following the “Rapid Survey Plan”, the rapid survey began with plane table method at 1/20,000 scale in Kanto metropolitan area on a large scale.</p><p>In 1881, according the comparison of the results of the normal triangulation and the graphical triangulation on the plane table, it was concluded that the former should be adopted for the whole country control point survey and that the survey system and organization should be changed.</p><p>In 1889, Army Land Survey was founded by T. Kosuge following the model of Prussian Land Survey, Germany and the first director was T. Kosuge. However, KOUHEI SOUTEN (Manual for Military Engineers) Second Edition, Survey Division was published, translated from the textbook 1883 for the French Engineer Regimental School.</p>

The revival of the Polish Army 1918–1921The Polish Army began to form before the resurrection of the Polish state. After Józef Piłsudski took over the highest positions in the state and army, the pace of organization in the Polish Army quickened. The Chief of State treated this issue as a priority. He believed the strength of the army to be a decisive factor in the real possibilities of the state, and in Polish conditions necessary to win the righteous and safe borders and defend the independent existence of the Republic of Poland. The inflow of new volunteers meant that at the end of 1918 the number was already around 100,000 soldiers. Until then, 39 infantry regiments, 17 regiments and 3 artillery regiments were successfully formed. In 1919, the intensive development of the Polish Army continued. It was a time of dynamic development of its strength, creation of great units — brigades and divisions, unification of organizational structures of sub-units, units and tactical units. There was also a consolidation of all Polish military formations within the armed forces, and the Polish Army was transformed into a regular army. The highest strength of the Polish Army was reached just after the end of the battle in the outskirts of Warsaw, on 1 September 1920, as it numbered 943,976 soldiers. At that time, its composition included, among others: 22 infantry divisions, 3 independent infantry brigades, 9 motorized brigades, 20 field artillery brigades, a mountain artillery brigade, 20 air squadrons.

"A significant turning point in relations between the Soviet Union and Romania was associated with the incorporation of Bessarabia and northern part of Bukovina into the USSR, which took place in the context of Soviet-German rapprochement. To this end, the Soviet leadership developed a set of preparatory political-diplomatic and military-propaganda measures. Soviet political and diplomatic actions were based on fundamental military preparations. In order to prepare and further joining Bessarabia and the northern part of Bukovina to the USSR, the Southern Front was created on the basis of the Kyiv Special and Odessa military districts. Army General Georgy Zhukov was appointed as a commander. The General Staff of the Red Army developed two variants of actions by Soviet troops. The first one provided for measures in case the Romanian government would not agree to the peaceful transfer of Bessarabia and Bukovina to the USSR. The second variant was an action plan in case of a voluntary retreat of Romanian troops west of the Prut. The first option was taken as the base. As early as June 26, 1940, on the border with Romania, the Soviet command concentrated 32 infantry, 2 motorized infantry, 6 cavalry divisions, 11 tank, 3 airborne brigades, 16 artillery regiments of the commander-in-chief’s reserve, 14 corps artillery regiments and 4 separate artillery divisions. In the main areas of the offensive, more than a triple advantage in manpower and means was provided. At the same time, for the purpose of ideological support, a huge propaganda apparatus was prepared to work with the population. In accordance with the Directive of the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army № 0140 (June 21, 1940), a large number of political workers were sent to the disposal of the Southern Front. One month before the start of the military operation, all employees of party and Soviet organizations were considered as mobilized. After appropriate training, they were ready for further activities as editorial staff, propagandists and agitators. Concert brigades and drama theatre groups were organized for the cultural service of the population. There were selected mobile library, gramophone records, and films. Book-mobile was arranged; everything necessary for the publication in Romanian newspaper was completed and provided with everything necessary. Due to the diligence of all these preparatory acts, the territories of Bessarabia and the northern part of Bukovina were occupied by the Red Army according to all the rules of military art (all elements of military operation were used: military force, local military pressure, military intelligence and counterintelligence, agitation and propaganda), thanks to which the USSR could reach its purpose. "

Ignoring the historical context of the events in a city that had been under siege for nearly a month, the debates surrounding May 2nd and 3rd, 1992, which exclusively focus on the deaths of members of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) at various locations in the city, including Dobrovoljacka Street, continue without interruption. The citizens of Sarajevo killed during those two days are nowhere mentioned, and their memory is not included in the official memorialization of the city's siege. Furthermore, within the interpretation of the events on Dobrovoljacka Street, there is a noticeable continuous strategy aimed at connecting all the deceased JNA members at the end of April and the beginning of May with the events on Dobrovoljacka Street, effectively camouflaging the previous attacks on the city and the involvement of the JNA in them. Therefore, it was important for us in the first part of our work to point to documents from the Command of the 2nd Military District related to the participation of the JNA in digging artillery positions around the city, their role in the division of Sarajevo's districts along national lines, the relocation of weaponry to „safer areas“ where the Serbian population constituted an absolute ethnic majority, the initiation of the attack on the city, the first casualties in April, as well as the shelling and the burning of residential, cultural-historical, religious, economic, and other facilities in the city. All events that preceded the actual siege of Sarajevo, starting from the autumn of 1991, including the war in Croatia and the subsequent occupation of Bosnian cities, contributed to the perception of the JNA as an enemy force by the citizens of Sarajevo and all pro-Bosnian forces. The shelling of Sarajevo with weaponry and armaments previously positioned on the hills and mountains around the city, in particular, intensified the animosity towards the JNA from the citizens of Sarajevo. The main part of the work will address the chronological sequence of events in the city during May 2nd and 3rd, 1992, street battles in multiple locations in the city, including sites such as the JNA House, Marin Dvor, Skenderija, in front of the National Theater, UPI building, Workers' University Djuro Đakovic (now: Bosnian Cultural Center - BKC), Estrada café, in front of the Command of the 2nd Military District, and ultimately Dobrovoljacka Street. This section will also discuss all other locations where battles took place, as well as the shelling, infantry and sniper activities directed towards civilian objects in the city, which resulted in casualties among the civilian population. Numerous internet sources contain information about 42 JNA members who perished on Dobrovoljacka Street, and this number is always mentioned on the anniversary of the event. However, through a comparison with official sources, we have analyzed how many JNA members genuinely died on Dobrovoljacka Street, how many died at other locations where street battles took place during the city's attack, and how many names on the mentioned list have incomplete identities with unknown locations and times of death. Additionally, based on multiple primary historical sources and relying on the previously interpreted context of events in the city, the work will present the locations and identities of the killed members of the Territorial Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as civilians who were killed in the city during May 2nd and 3rd, 1992. Various scientific methods were employed for this purpose, with an emphasis on analytical-documentary and comparative processing of primary and secondary sources of diverse origin, statistical data analysis, interview methods, particularly focusing on several target groups of interviewees crucial for the reconstruction and contextualization of these events. In the final chapter, we will address the (non-)prosecution of crimes, including the most serious crimes committed against the civilian population and civilian facilities in Sarajevo from April 5th to the beginning of May 1992.

Problems of carrying out repair and technical maintenance of the automatic management system (AMS) equipment and communication in service of the rocket and artillery arms (RAA) of Russian Armed Forces divisions are considered. The military repair system of AMS equipment and communication capable to increase efficiency of logistics support service by automating key processes is offered. The composition of the hardware and software complex that ensures the interaction of repair units and higher governing bodies is offered. The software part provides storage and processing of information on status monitoring, functional checks, maintenance, diagnostic results and repair of attached objects and their components. The hardware is represented by a universal built-in set of communication and data transfer means, which allows to provide a unified control loop of repair units of the logistics support service. The main means of technical support for repair operations is a mobile workshop for diagnostics and repair of AMS equipment and communications, which is a universal transport module equipped with special systems and tools that ensure staff activities and equipment operability. It is also proposed the introduction of a specialized workshop based on a container body, which includes a machine with numerical control and a 3D printer in order to save on the manufacture and transportation of some simple details and spare parts.

The author establishes the types of relief created for military purposes (beligerative) and analyzes its morphology. The territory of the Yavoriv military training ground in the Lviv region, the largest in Ukraine training complex of various types and kinds of troops, was chosen as an example. The military training ground was established in the 30s of the twentieth century. In the past, Polish infantry, German tank divisions, Soviet troops, and nowadays Ukrainian and international ground and air forces trained here. The area of the landfill is 361.5 km2. It occupies an advantageous position in the terrain, as it is located on an elevated part of the Roztochchya Upland, where the Main European watershed passes. Loose sediments are widespread in the territory, which contribute to the creation of deep and elongated forms of beligerative relief. These are mainly quaternary alluvial sands and detritus of native rocks, aeolian and diluvial loess and sandy loams, alluvial sediments. We consider the beligerative relief as an integral part of the field military fortification. The research was performed on the base of interpretation of large-scale space images, aerial photographs and field studies. The modern beligerative relief observed at the Yavoriv military training ground was classified into positive and negative forms depending on the method of military activity. Positive forms include: 1) hills of command posts for control and surveillance, 2) hills of tank or cannon fortifications, 3) micro-hills of protection against small arms, 4) bunkers (wooden-earth defense points), 5) high-altitude targets and firing positions. Negative forms are as follows: 1) trenches of the defense line and the course of connections; 2) open structures for the protection of personnel: individual trenches, pairs, for several infantry, as well as for shooting lying down, kneeling, standing; 3) trenches for the protection of equipment and heavy artillery weapons; 4) closed structures for personnel protection: dugouts, bunkers, cracks, dugouts; 5) excavations from ruptures of artillery shells. There are more negative forms in the modern military relief. Analysis of space images from different times (1980–1990, 2000–2005, 2015–2019) and modern field observations allowed us to trace the dynamics of beligerative relief forms. The formation of new and most widespread forms occurs in the mid-80 of the twentieth century. At the end of the XX and at the beginning of the XXI century, the existing forms decline, steamrolled by exogenous processes, and new ones do not appear. New forms have been appeared since 2015, but only in small local areas. The place they appear are characterized by a significant anthropogenic transformation of the terrain, the development of exogenous processes, such as soil dispersal, desertification, erosion, oozing. Key words: beligerative (military) relief; Yavoriv military training ground (Ukraine); morphological classification.

The relevance of the research of the Leningrad city police activities in the local anti- aircraft system during the Great Patriotic War is due to the continuing falsifications of the history of special services in western and domestic publications. Despite a significant amount of researches of the police activities during the war, above-mentioned authors including, the activities of the city police in the system of the local anti- aircraft system are not thoroughly elaborated and are not presented. The aim of the authors’ study was the activity of the Leningrad city police in the local anti-aircraft system as a unit, which was a part of NKVD office in the Leningrad region and a part of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union simultaneously. The task was to determine the structure and responsibility for the anti- aircraft defense at the grassroots level and participation of the city police in this system. Besides, it was necessary to identify the main positions of the Leningrad city police, whose holders directly had to organize and monitor the work in the hotbeds of defeat through the structures of self- defense groups of households and dormitories. The results of the authors’ study revealed that the main work with the grass-roots formations of the local anti- aircraft system in the city blocks was performed by the divisional inspectors, who instructed, supervised and directed the work of self-defense groups of households and dormitories through housemanagement and commandants. Besides, the most capable policemen on duty were involved in this work, most often due to the absence of an officer at the station for any reason. In turn, the head of the territorial police department through his deputy managed the divisional inspectors and police officers. In connection with the work of divisional inspectors and policemen in neighborhoods, streets and squares, they often took a practical part in the elimination of hotbeds of defeat from artillery shelling and bombardment of enemy aircraft. In most cases they coped with this kind of activity with honor, sparing no effort and lives, starting to extinguish fire, without waiting for the arrival of the fire brigades.

Последние несколько лет богаты для нашей страны различными юбилейными датами, в первую очередь связанными с военной историей Отечества, в частности с оказанием военной и экономической помощи республиканцам в годы Гражданской войны в Испании (1936–1939), началом и окончанием Великой Отечественной войны (1941–1945). Цель настоящей статьи — установление личностей и судеб уроженцев Рязанской губернии (в территориальных границах до Октябрьской революции), принимавших участие в обеих войнах. За 2,5 года пребывания в Испании советские военнослужащие и гражданские специалисты способствовали тому, что у республиканцев в кратчайшие сроки появились авиация, полевая и зенитная артиллерия, танковые части, службы их обеспечения. В Испании в качестве общевойсковых советников, зенитчиков, танкистов, летчиков, моряков, работников оборонных предприятий, переводчиков, врачей находились 46 уроженцев земли Рязанской. Почти все они были награждены орденами и медалями за мужество и героизм в этой первой схватке с фашизмом, а затем в Великой Отечественной войне. Судьбы добровольцев сложились по-разному, некоторые из них не вернулись с фронта, разным был и вклад их в общую победу, однако каждый из них защищал от фашизма и свое Отечество, и другие страны. Предлагаемое исследование может быть использовано для патриотического воспитания граждан Российской Федерации как в уважении к Отечеству и его защитникам в целом, так и в воспитании гордости за свою малую Родину — Рязанскую землю. Recent years have seen many important dates closely associated with Russian military history, such as military and economic assistance to Spanish republicans during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945). The aim of the article is to investigate the fates of Ryazan citizens (we take into consideration the territory of the Ryazan province as it was before the Great October Revolution) who took part in both wars. With the help of Soviet militaries and civilians, who spent 2.5 years in Spain, Spanish republicans managed to acquire aviation, field and anti-aircraft artillery, tank divisions, maintenance teams. 46 Ryazan-born citizens worked in Spain as military advisors, antiaircraft gunners, tankmen, pilots, seamen, employees of defense enterprises, translators and interpreters, doctors. Almost all of them were awarded orders and medals for gallantry and bravery in battle against fascism during the Spanish Civil War and later during the Great Patriotic War. The volunteers had different fates. Some of them never returned from the war, they contributed differently to the victory over fascism, yet every one of them defended their motherland and the world against the fascist threat. The present research can be used for patriotic education of citizens of the Russian Federation. It can help teach people to respect their motherland and its defenders and to feel proud of their home region of Ryazan.

In 2022, the Swiss branch of the international publishing house Springer published a book, a collection of papers entitled Military Geoscience: A Multifaceted Approach to the Study of Warfare. It consists of selected contributions by international researchers in the field of military geoscience, presented at the 13th International Conference on Military Geosciences, held in Padua in June 2019. The first paper is by the editors, Aldin Bondesan and Judy Ehlen, and provides a brief overview of understanding the concept of military geoscience as an application of geology and geography to the military domain, and the historical development of the discipline. It should also be pointed out that the International Conferences on Military Geosciences (ICMG), which organises this biennial international conference, has over the past two decades also covered other aspects, such as conflict archaeology. The publication is further divided into three parts. The first part comprises three contributions covering military geoscience up to the 20th century. The first paper, by Chris Fuhriman and Jason Ridgeway, provides an insights into the Battle of Marathon through topography visualisation. The geography of the Marathon field, the valley between Mt. Cotroni and Mt. Agrieliki, allowed the Greek defenders to nullify the advantage of the Persian cavalry and archers, who were unable to develop their full potential. This is followed by a paper by Judy Ehlen, who explores the geological background of the Anglo-British coastal fortification system along the English Channel, focusing on the Portsmouth area of Hampshire. The author thus points out that changes in artillery technology and naval tactics between the 16th and 19th centuries necessitated changes in the construction of coastal fortifications, both in terms of the form of the fortifications and the method of construction, including the choice of basic building materials, as well as the siting of the fortifications in space. The next article is then dedicated to the Monte Baldo Fortress in north-eastern Italy, between Lake Garda and the Adige River. In his article, Francesco Premi analyses the presence of the fortress in the transition area between the Germanic world and the Mediterranean, and the importance of this part of Italy (at the southernmost part of the pre-Alpine mountains) in military history, as reflected in the large number of important military and war relics and monuments. The second part of the book, which is the most comprehensive, focuses on the two World Wars and consists of nine papers. The first paper in this part provides an analysis of the operation of trench warfare training camps in the Aube region of France. The group of authors, Jérôme Brenot, Yves Desfossés, Robin Perarnau, Marc Lozano and Alain Devos, initially note that static warfare training camps have not received much attention so far. Using aerial photography of the region dating from 1948 and surviving World War II photographic material, they identified some 20 sites where soldiers of the Entente forces were trained for front-line service in trenches. Combined archaeological and sociological fieldwork followed, confirming the presence of these camps, both through preserved remains and the collective memory. The second paper in this volume also concerns the survey on trenches, located in northern Italy in the Venezia Tridentina Veneto area in northern Italy. The authors Luigi Magnini, Giulia Rovera, Armando De Guio and Giovanni Azzalin thus use digital classification methods and archaeology to determine how Italian and Austro-Hungarian First World War trenches have been preserved or, in case they have disappeared, why this was the case, both from the point of view of the natural features as well as from the anthropological point of view of the restoration of the pre-war settings. The next paper, by Paolo Macini and Paolo Sammuri, analyses the activities of the miners and pioneers of the Italian Corps of Engineers during the First World War, in particular with regard to innovative approaches to underground mine warfare. In the Dolomites, the Italian engineers, using various listening devices, drilling machinery and geophysical methods, developed a system for drilling underground mine chambers, which they intended to use and actually used to destroy parts of Austro-Hungarian positions. The paper by Elena Dai Prà, Nicola Gabellieri and Matteo Boschian Bailo concerns the Italian Army's operations during the First World War. It focuses on the use of tactical maps with emphasis on typological classification, the use of symbols, and digital cartography. The authors thus analysed the tactical maps of the Italian Third Army, which were being constantly updated by plotting the changes in positions and tactical movements of both sides. These changes were examined both in terms of the use of new symbols and the analysis of the movements. This is followed by a geographical presentation of the Italian Army's activities during the First World War. The authors Paolo Plini, Sabina Di Franco and Rosamaria Salvatori have thus collected 21,856 toponyms by analysing documents and maps. The locations were also geolocated to give an overview of the places where the Italian Army operated during the First World War. The analysis initially revealed the complexity of the events on the battlefields, but also that the sources had misidentified the places of operation, as toponyms were misidentified, especially in the case of homonyms. Consequently, the area of operation was misidentified as well. In this respect, the case of Vipava was highlighted, which can refer to both a river and a settlement. The following paper is the first on the Second World War. It is the article by H. A. P. Smith on Italian prisoners of war in South Africa. The author outlines the circumstances in which Italian soldiers arrived to and lived in the southern African continent, and the contribution they made to the local environment and the society, and the remnants of their presence preserved to the present day. In their article, William W. Doe III and Michael R. Czaja analyse the history, geography and significance of Camp Hale in the state of Colorado. In doing so, they focus on the analysis of the military organization and its impact on the local community. Camp Hale was thus the first military installation of the U.S. Army, designated to test and train U.S. soldiers in mountain and alpine warfare. It was here that the U.S. 10th Mountain Division was formed, which concluded its war path on Slovenian soil. The Division's presence in this former camp, which was in military use also after the war until 1965, and in the surrounding area is still visible through numerous monuments. This is followed by a paper by Hermann Häusler, who deals with German military geography and geology on the Eastern Front of the Second World War. A good year before the German attack on the Soviet Union, German and Austrian military geologists began an analysis of the topography, population and infrastructure of the European part of the Soviet Union, which led to a series of publications, including maps showing the suitability of the terrain for military operations. During the war, military geological teams then followed the frontline units and carried out geotechnical tasks such as water supply, construction of fortifications, supply of building materials for transport infrastructure, and analysis of the suitability of the terrain for all-terrain driving of tracked and other vehicles. The same author also authored a paper in the next chapter, this time focusing on the activities of German military geologists in the Adriatic area. Similarly to his first contribution, the author presents the work of military geologists in northern Italy and north-western Slovenia. He also focuses on the construction of fortification systems in northern Italy and presents the work of karst hunters in the Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral. Part 3 covers the 21st century with five different papers (chapters). The first paper by Alexander K. Stewart deals with the operations of the U.S. Army specialised teams in Afghanistan. These Agribusiness Development Teams (ADTs) carried out a specialised form of counter-guerrilla warfare in which they sought to improve the conditions for the development of local communities through agricultural assistance to the local population. In this way, they were also counteracting support for the Taliban. The author notes that, in the decade after the programme's launch, the project had only a 19% success rate. However, he stresses that such forms of civil-military cooperation should be present in future operations. The next chapter, by Francis A. Galgan, analyses the activities of modern pirates through military-geographical or geological methods. Pirates, who pose a major international security threat, are present in four regions of the world: South and South-East Asia, East Africa and the Gulf of Guinea. Building on the data on pirate attacks between 1997 and 2017, the author shows the temporal and spatial patterns of pirate activities, as well as the influence of the geography of coastal areas on their activities. This is followed by another chapter with a maritime topic. Mark Stephen Blaine discusses the geography of territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Through a presentation of international law, the strategic importance of the sea (sea lanes, natural resources) and the overlapping territorial claims of China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia, the author shows the increasing level of conflict in the area and calls for the utmost efforts to be made to prevent the outbreak of hostilities or war. M. H. Bulmer's paper analyses the Turkish Armed Forces' activities in Syria from the perspective of military geology. The author focuses on the Kurdish forces' defence projects, which mainly involved the construction of gun trenches, observation towers or points, tunnels and underground facilities, as well as on the Turkish armed forces' actions against this military infrastructure. This involved both mountain and underground warfare activities. While these defensive infrastructures proved to be successful during the guerrilla warfare period, direct Turkish attacks on these installations demonstrated their vulnerability. The last chapter deals with the current operational needs and limitations of military geosciences from the perspective of the Austrian Armed Forces. Friedrich Teichmann points out that the global operational interest of states determines the need for accurate geo-data as well as geo-support in case of rapidly evolving requirements. In this context, geoscience must respond to new forms of threats, both asymmetric and cyber, at a time when resources for geospatial services are limited, which also requires greater synergy and an innovative approach to finding solutions among multiple stakeholders. This also includes increased digitisation, including the use of satellite and other space technologies. The number of chapters in the publication illustrates the breadth and depth of military geoscience, as well as the relevance of geoscience to past, present and future conflicts or military operations and missions. The current military operations in Ukraine demonstrate the need to take into account the geo-geological realities of the environment and that terrain remains one of the decisive factors for success on the battlefield, irrespective of the technological developments in military engineering and technology. This can also be an incentive for Slovenian researchers and the Slovenian Armed Forces to increase research activities in the field of military geosciences, especially in view of the rich military and war history in the geographically and geologically diverse territory of Slovenia.

Viennese 13th Landwehr Infantry Division was one of the Austro-Hungarian divisions involved in the battle of Limanowa and Łapanów (December 1914). It consisted mostly of Austrian Germans and soldiers from Moravia. The division operated on the sector of the front, where toughest battles were fought. It attacked on Góra Świętego Jana and took part in the battle on the massif of Kobyła, and one of its regiments was also involved in the unsuccessful attack on Czyżyczka hill. The division was incomplete, with about 25% of its full strength, when it started to participate in the combat. It had not been able to top up the losses suffered in the previous battles.Participation in the victorious 10-day battle, resulted in a loss of 77% of the divisional infantry strenght. It was the highest percentage of losses among the Central Powers’ units in the battle of Limanowa and Łapanów. Despite that, the division retained its structures, technical units, rear and artillery which allowed to rebuild its combat potential in a short time.

This study is interested in the normal calculation of artillery cradle. When the beam axis of ultrasonic phased array probe cannot detect the workpiece surface vertically, the detection result is usually inaccurate. Thus, in order to determine the normal of the surface to be detected, a method based on visual point cloud to calculate the normal of artillery cradle is proposed in this paper. The proposed method solves two key problems. One is to sparse the point cloud while preserving the tiny information on the surface. A mesh division method along the uv direction is proposed. The disordered point cloud data in 3D space are connected into regular polygon meshes. While establishing the local relationship of point cloud data, it also maintains the overall integrity of point cloud data. The other is to calculate the normal vector of the point cloud. The local plane fitting method based on the least square method calculates the normal at a point of the point cloud. At this time, the calculated normal are nondirective. When there is no abrupt curvature change near the calculated point cloud, the direction of the normal is determined based on the same slope at two adjacent points. The calculated point cloud normal vector is compared with the actual normal vector of the mathematical model. The maximum deviation between the theoretical value and the actual value of the normal vector is 0.465°, and the average deviation is 0.302°. The experimental results show that the proposed method can be used to detect the actual normal of artillery cradle.

With only two students in the final year, the class of 1930 was the 2nd smallest in the history of the Onderstepoort Faculty. Noteworthy is that the class photograph is composed of individual shots of the graduates and that 1 photograph was taken several years after qualification. The photograph of the Class of 1931 is the more customary composite one. The Dean, Prof. P J du Toit, does not feature in either. Concise descriptions are given of the life histories of the 8 graduates. Again their careers show considerable variation. Two devoted their entire pre-retirement careers to South Africa's Division of Veterinary Services as state veterinarians, both reaching very senior positions. A third died shortly after leaving government service for private practice. None made a career out of research at Onderstepoort, although 2 had short stints at the Institute. One, said to have been the youngest veterinarian in the British Empire, spent the latter part of his relatively short life in a large Johannesburg practice as a specialist surgeon. Another was in military service for virtually his entire career. One had a very varied career, which included government service, private practice, research, public health and the pharmaceutical industry. One spent most of his impressive career in the Colonial Service in Swaziland and Tanganyika (now Tanzania) but eventually returned to private practice in South Africa, whereas another was similarly, but less conscientiously, involved in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and Swaziland. Two saw military service during World War II, one as Commanding Officer of a Regiment in the South African Artillery and the other in the South African Veterinary Corps.

В статье обсуждаются факты из биографии учителя математики и физики, преподавателя методики физики ТГПИ им. Д. И. Менделеева В. С. Борисова, его детей, продолживших семейную династию. Приведены сведения из истории развития педагогического образования в городе Тобольске. В частности, особое внимание уделяется военному периоду (1941–1945 гг.). За годы Великой Отечественной войны В. С. Борисов получил восемь наград. Представлены документы из рассекреченного архива министерства обороны. Гвардии старший сержант Борисов В. С. приказом по четвертой Гвардейской Зенитной Артиллерийской Киевско‑Лозинской Краснознаменной орденов Кутузова и Богдана Хмельницкого дивизии в октябре 1945 года награжден орденом «Красная Звезда». Об этом ордене его дети узнали в 2015 году. Статья посвящена столетию со дня рождения В. С. Борисова и юбилею Великой Победы. The article discusses facts from the biography of V. S. Borisov, a teacher of mathematics and physics, a teacher of physics methodology at the D. I. Mendeleev TSPI, and his children who continued the family dynasty. Information from the history of teacher education in the city of Tobolsk is given. In particular, special attention is paid to the war period (1941–1945). During the Great Patriotic Wa, V. S. Borisov received eight awards. Documents from the declassified archive of the Ministry of defense are presented. By order of the fourth Guards anti-Aircraft Artillery Kiev-Lozinsky red banner of the order of Kutuzov and Bogdan Khmelnitsky division senior sergeant of guards Borisov V. S. in October 1945 was awarded the order of the Red Star. His children learned about this order in 2015. The article is dedicated to the centenary of V. S. Borisov's birth and the anniversary of the Great Victory.

The extent of manning levels of artillery units (subsystem elements) has a direct influence on the efficiency of their employment. Consequently, one of the ways to increase the effectiveness of combat actions of an artillery regiment (AR) in case of its being undermanned is the appropriate distribution of available personnel among its sub-units. In this regard, a task arises to determine the minimum critical strength of personnel subsystem elements of reconnaissance, control, fire and support for ensuring the maximum possible implementation of their combat capabilities. An approach to solving this task is proposed, based on assessing the extent to which the AR realizes its combat capabilities, and calculations are made to determine the most optimal options for distributing available personnel among the specified sub-units of the AR. Based on the results of the research and calculations carried out by the author, it was concluded that the minimum acceptable level of manning for the bodies belonging to the AR hierarchies is 80 %, and for divisions and batteries – 40-45 %. It follows from this that, in case of the AR being undermanned (casualties), it is incumbent on its commander to first of all ensure minimum manning at the regimental, and then at the divisional and battery levels. In addition, it was ascertained that the AR is capable of successfully performing combat missions in the case when the manning of the elements of the reconnaissance subsystem is at the average regimental level, the control subsystem is 10-20 % above this level, and the fire subsystem is 5-10 % below this level, and it is appropriate to man the elements of the support subsystem to approximately 100 %.