RKKA.

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RKKA = Workers and Peasants Red Army. Soviet Union Red Army.

From "The Reader's Companion to MILITARY  HISTORY" as edited by Cowley & Parker extracted from an article by William C. Fuller Jr.

Some STARTLING statistics as gleaned from the Fuller Jr. article:

* By 1922 [end of the Russian Civil War] the RKKA numbering 5. 5 million troops.

* Without hesitation the RKKA employing the services of 75,000 professional officers of the ancien régime [Czarist Imperial Army].

*During 1919 alone: 1.7 million AWOL. Persons either absent without leave or deserters.

* At any given moment only 11 percent [%] of troop strength ever at the front, and less than 5 percent [%] of troop strength ever in action.

* Able to muster only 40,000 personnel for the invasion of Poland [1940].

YET, even with such difficulties the RKKA did prevail in the Russian Civil War.

And have you? "Have You Volunteered for the Red Army?" Well, have you?

coolbert.