Spanish Civil War and World War II
The GRU and NKVD emerged from the Cheka and fought the fascists behind their lines in the Spanish Civil War with guerrillas and terrorist actions. In the “Great Patriotic War” against the Third Reich, Finland and Japan, various units of assault engineers, paratroopers, GRU and NKVD forces were set up. These built on previous experience and combined the elements of the various troop and weapon branches. [3]
At the end of 1941, the 4th Volunteer Sailors’ Division became the 181st Independent Reconnaissance Department (Ossoby Raswjedywatjelny Otrjad). It can be considered the direct ancestor of modern marine Spetsnaz. Their goal was to obtain information about the German fleet. Foreign language training was therefore important. They were trained as combat swimmers. [3]
Until 1942, each front/army had an independent Guards Battalion (Otdelnly Gwardieskij Batalion Minerov), OGBM, or miners, available for long-range reconnaissance and commando tasks. The soldiers were not allowed to be older than 30 years old, were mostly hunters and sportsmen and nothing was allowed to stop them from carrying out their mission. Many exhausted and wounded were left to their own devices, even during exercises. This selection qualified the troops as elite, but also led to high losses. They infiltrated into enemy-controlled territory or parachuted. They cooperated with partisans as needed and also trained them. [3]
For example, before the Soviet major offensive in Smolensk in 1943, 316 OGBMs, in nine groups, were parachuted behind enemy lines. Up to 300 km behind enemy lines, they blew up 700 km of railway tracks with up to 3,500 explosive charges in conjunction with partisans. [3]
Add a `Commando` soldier type
it would be cool to add a proto spetsnaz to are proto ak47’s