I got interested in Soviet Military Unit titles and abbreviations when reading the 16 Air Army Web site and whilst extending my research into the evolution of the organisation and structure of Soviet helicopter units. There are a couple of good aviation sites which have taken Soviet Unit Titles and provided a mapping between the Cyrillic Title & abbreviation to its transliterated latin equivalents and the translation of the title. The Dutch Aviation Societies Scramble web site has a particularly useful table which does this for aviation units of all Soviet armed forces.
Whilst there are Sites for Soviet Army unit titles and abbreviations in Russian I have yet to find anything as useful as Scramble the one I have found has a number of problems:
Whilst there are Sites for Soviet Army unit titles and abbreviations in Russian I have yet to find anything as useful as Scramble the one I have found has a number of problems:
- The focus is WW2 units and terms
- The titles and abbreviations are only in Russian and the translation engines gives some interesting outputs.
The table below is my starter for 10 which I am pretty sure is neither comprehensive or absolutely correct, but its a reasonable start. It covers Tank, Motor Rifle, Engineer, Artillery, Reconnaissance, Anti Aircraft and Anti Tank Units. I'll probably add aviation when I have managed to work out what's relevant.
Abbr
|
Abbr
|
Cyrilic
|
Transliteration
|
Translation
|
||
Tank Units
|
||||||
?
|
?
|
танковая
|
tankovaya
|
Tank
|
||
ta
|
ТА
|
танковая
армия
|
tankovaja armija
|
Tank Army
|
||
td
|
тд
|
танковая
дивизия
|
tankovaja divizija
|
Tank Division
|
||
tp
|
тп
|
танковый
полк
|
tankovyj polk
|
Tank Regiment
|
||
tb
|
тб
|
танковый
батальон
|
tankovyj batal'on
|
Tank Battalion
|
||
tr
|
тр
|
танковая
рота
|
tankovaja rota
|
Tank Company
|
||
tk
|
тк
|
танковый
корпус
|
tankovyj korpus
|
Tank Corps
|
||
tbr
|
тбр
|
танковая
бригада
|
tankovaja brigada
|
Tank Brigade
|
||
Motor Rifle Units
|
||||||
?
|
?
|
мотострелковая
|
motostrelkovaja
|
Motor Rifle
|
||
?
|
?
|
?
|
Obchevoyskovaya Armiya
|
Combined Arms Army
|
||
msd
|
мсд
|
мотострелковая
дивизия
|
motostrelkovaja divizija
|
Motor Rifle Division
|
||
msp
|
мсп
|
мотострелковый
полк
|
motostrelkovyj polk
|
Motor Rifle Regiment
|
||
msb
|
мсб
|
мотострелковый
батальон
|
motostrelkovyj batal'on
|
Motor Rifle Battalion
|
||
msr
|
мср
|
мотострелковая
рота
|
motostrelkovaja rota
|
Motor Rifle Company
|
||
msk
|
мск
|
мотострелковый
корпус
|
motostrelkovyj korpus
|
Motor Rifle Corps
|
||
msbr
|
мсбр
|
мотострелковая
бригада
|
motostrelkovaja brigada
|
Motor Rifle Brigade
|
||
Air Assault Units
|
||||||
DShV
|
дшв
|
десантно-штурмовые
войска
|
desantno-shturmovye vojska
|
Air Assault Troops
|
||
odshbr
|
одшбр
|
отдельную
десантно-штурмовые
бригада
|
otdel'nuju desantno-shturmovye brigada
|
Independent Air Assault Brigade
|
||
odshp
|
одшп
|
отдельную
десантно-штурмовые
полк
|
otdel'nuju desantno-shturmovye polk
|
Independent Air Assault Regiment
|
||
odshb
|
одшб
|
отдельную
десантно-штурмовые
батальон
|
otdel'nuju desantno-shturmovye batal'on
|
Independent Air Assault Battalion
|
||
Other Units
|
||||||
rb
|
рб
|
разведывательный
батальон
|
razvedyvatel'nyj batal'on
|
reconnaissance battalion
|
||
rr
|
рр
|
разведывательная
рота
|
razvedyvatel'naja rota
|
reconnaissance company
|
||
ptb
|
птб
|
противотанковая
батальон
|
protivotankovaja batal'on
|
anti tank battalion
|
||
ptba
|
птба́
|
противотанковая
батареи
|
protivotankovaja batarei
|
anti tank battery
|
||
zrb
|
зрб
|
зенитный
ра́кетный
полк
|
zenitnyj raketnyj polk
|
anti aircraft missile regiment
|
||
zrba
|
зрба́
|
зенитный
ра́кетный
батареи
|
zenitnyj raketnyj batarei
|
anti aircraft missile battery
|
||
ar
|
а́п
|
а́ртиллерия
полк
|
artillerija polk
|
Artilery Regiment
|
||
ab
|
а́б
|
артилерийский
батальон
|
artilerijskij batal'on
|
Artilery Battalion
|
||
aba
|
а́ба́
|
артилерийски
батареи
|
artilerijski batarei
|
Artilery Battery
|
||
sapp
|
сапп
|
саперный полк
|
sapernyj polk
|
Engineer Regiment
|
||
sapb
|
сапб
|
саперный
батальон
|
sapernyj batal'on
|
Engineer Battalion
|
||
sapr
|
сапр
|
саперная
рота
|
sapernaja rota
|
Engineer Company
|
||
Unit Titles
|
||||||
gv
|
гв.
|
гвардейский
|
gvardejskij
|
guards
|
||
o
|
о
|
Отдельна́я
|
Otdel'naja
|
Independent
|
||
Other than including Soviet style names and abbreviations in your blog and scenarios you can also use the Cyrilic words in search terms, this provides access to Russian published sources and theres a lot of good information about the cold war and a lot of images of Soviet equipment that can be accessed in this way.
Updates
- 18/12/12 to include DShV, Air Assault Units, these titles were assembled to equate to the abbreviations, the word endings of the arm of service title may be incorrect for the unit type .
References:
rkka, Russian World War 2 Military Abbreviations, and documents
Transliteration Tool - great for working out the abbreviations
Scramble Dutch Aviation Society Russian Aviation Abreviations, Cold War and Current
Great site Andy. Over half way through my Cold War novel. Always refer to your site for background information. Find it really useful. HB
ReplyDeleteCheers always great to know ones obsession is of use, good luck with the book
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