Red Army

This article is about the Soviet Army prior to 1946. For Soviet Army between 1946 and 1991, see Soviet Army. For other uses, see Red Army (disambiguation).

Workers' and Peasants' Red Army
Рабоче-крестьянская Красная армия
Red Army headgear insignia
Active28 January 1918 – 25 February 1946 (1918-01-28 – 1946-02-25)
Country
Allegiance
TypeArmy and Air force
RoleLand warfare
Size
  • 6,437,755 (Russian Civil War)
  • 34,476,700 (World War II)
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The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army,[a] often shortened to the Red Army,[b] was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by Leon Trotsky[1] to oppose the military forces of the new nation's adversaries during the Russian Civil War, especially the various groups collectively known as the White Army. In February 1946, the Red Army (which embodied the main component of the Soviet Armed Forces alongside the Soviet Navy) was renamed the "Soviet Army" – which in turn became the Russian Army on 7 May 1992, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The Red Army provided the largest land force in the Allied victory in the European theatre of World War II, and its invasion of Manchuria assisted the unconditional surrender of Imperial Japan. During its operations on the Eastern Front, it accounted for 75–80% of the casualties that the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS suffered during the war, and ultimately captured the German capital, Berlin.[2]

Up to 34 million soldiers served in the Red Army during World War II, 8 million of which were non-Slavic minorities. Officially, the Red Army lost 6,329,600 killed in action (KIA), 555,400 deaths by disease and 4,559,000 missing in action (MIA) (mostly captured). The majority of the losses, excluding POWs, were ethnic Russians (5,756,000), followed by ethnic Ukrainians (1,377,400).[3] Of the 4.5 million missing, 939,700 rejoined the ranks in liberated Soviet territory, and a further 1,836,000 returned from German captivity. The official grand total of losses amounted to 8,668,400.[3][4] This is the official total dead, but other estimates give the number of total dead up to almost 11 million.[5] Officials at the Russian Central Defense Ministry Archive (CDMA) maintain that their database lists the names of roughly 14 million dead and missing service personnel.[6]


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  1. ^ Renton, Dave (2004). Trotsky. Haus Publishing. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-904341-62-8.
  2. ^ Davies, Norman (5 November 2006), "How we didn't win the war ... but the Russians did", Sunday Times, London, archived from the original on 25 July 2021, retrieved 10 August 2021, Since 75%–80% of all German losses were inflicted on the Eastern Front it follows that the efforts of the western Allies accounted for only 20%–25%.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference ReferenceA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Il'Enkov, S. A. (2001). Pamyat O Millionach Pavshik Zaschitnikov Otechestva Nelzya Predavat Zabveniu Voennno-Istoricheskii Arkhiv No. 7(22) The Memory of those who Fell Defending the Fatherland Cannot be Condemned to Oblivion. Central Military Archives of the Russian Federation. pp. 73–80.