"Viktor Suvorov. Inside soviet military intelligence (англ) " - читать интересную книгу автора

armed forces at least fifty, there is a Spetsnaz company. This company,
which numbers 115 saboteurs and cut-throats, is capable of penetrating into
the enemy's territory to murder and kidnap people, blow up bridges, electric
power stations, dams, oil pipelines and so on. And these Spetsnaz units are
supplemented by the intelligence department's wide choice of electronic, air
and other types of intelligence.
An army in the Soviet Union consists of from four to six divisions. In
peace-time there are in the Soviet armed forces about 180 tank and motorised
divisions. In the interests of simplification we can omit the eight
divisions of airborne forces (VDV), the brigades of marine infantry
belonging to the fleets and still many more branches of the Soviet Army
which have intelligence units subordinated directly to the GRU of the
general staff. On the strength of the staff of each division there is a
chief reconnaissance officer. He has his own troops, a reconnaissance
battalion, and his vassals, the heads of regimental reconnaissance and their
troops. The reconnaissance battalion of each division, apart from tank and
electronic reconnaissance, has a sabotage company which is also staffed with
cut-throats capable of successful operations in the enemy's rear. In the
interests of accuracy it is necessary to add that not all of the 180 tank
and motorised rifle divisions have a full complement of personnel in
peace-time; many of them have a complete technical staff and full officer
strength, but only a partial complement of soldiers and NCOs. However, this
rule does not apply to reconnaissance units. All the Spetsnaz brigades and
companies of the military districts and armies, all the reconnaissance
battalions (180) of the divisions, all the regimental reconnaissance
companies (more than 700), are always kept at full strength and staffed by
elite officers and NCOs.
Everything that we have listed comes under the indivisible control of
the GRU, although none of it is called by this name. The researcher who
studies the GRU but does not take into consideration the GRU's vassals will
have overlooked twenty-four separate espionage organisations, each of which
is as powerful as the intelligence service of one central European country.
He will have overlooked 100,000 elite troops possessing as many fighting
vehicles as a well-equipped Western European country. But even that is not
all. In addition to its official vassals the GRU also has unofficial vassals
who carry out the orders of the GRU as precisely and with as much jealous
zeal as do the intelligence directorates of military districts, the
intelligence departments of armies and the chief reconnaissance officers of
divisions and regiments. These are the military intelligence services of
Cuba, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Mongolia and
a number of other countries. These countries are satellites and in the full
meaning of the word vassals of the Soviet Union. Their secret police forces
are under the complete control of the Soviet KGB and take the form of a
miniature copy of the KGB. Their armies are in thrall to the Soviet Army and
their military intelligence services are full vassals of the GRU, with all
their agents, illegals, military attaches, sabotage agents, diversionary
troops and so on. But of these later.

Chapter Four
The GRU and the Military Industrial Commission (VPK)