latest equipment to sniffer dogs, which are used in enormous numbers.
Apart from operating against real Soviet military targets, spetsnaz
units go through courses at training centres where the conditions and
atmosphere of the areas in which they will be expected to fight are
reproduced with great fidelity. Models of Pluto, Pershing and Lance missiles
and of Mirage-VI, Jaguar and other nuclear-armed aircraft are used to
indicate the `enemy'. There is also artillery capable of firing nuclear
shells, special kinds of vehicles used for transporting missiles, warheads,
and so forth.
The spetsnaz groups have to overcome many lines of defences, and any
group that is caught by the defenders is subject to treatment that is rough
enough to knock out of the men any desire to get caught in the future,
either on manoeuvres or in a real battle. The spetsnaz soldier constantly
has the thought drilled into him that being a prisoner is worse than death.
At the same time he is taught that his aims are noble ones. First he is
captured on manoeuvres and severely beaten, then he is shown archive film
shot in concentration camps in the Second World War (the films are naturally
more frightful than what can be perpetrated on manoeuvres), then he is
released, but may be seized again and subject to a repeat performance. It is
calculated that, in a fairly short time the soldier will develop a very
strong negative reaction to the idea of being a prisoner, and the certainty
that death -- a noble death, in the cause of spetsnaz -- is preferable.
___
One one occasion following my flight to the West I was present at some
large-scale military manoeuvres in which the armies of many Western
countries took part. The standard of battle training made a very favourable
impression on me. I was particularly impressed by the skilful, I would even
say masterly, way the units camouflaged themselves. The battle equipment,
the tanks and other vehicles, and the armoured personnel carriers are
painted with something that does not reflect the sunlight; the colour is
very cleverly chosen; and the camouflaging is painted in such a way that it
is difficult to make out the vehicle even at a short distance and its
outline mixes in with the background. But every army made one enormous
mistake with the camouflaging of some of the vehicles, which had huge white
circles and red crosses painted on their sides. I explained to the Western
officers that the red and white colours were very easily seen at a distance,
and that it would be better to use green paint. I was told that the vehicles
with the red cross were intended for transporting the wounded, which I knew
perfectly well. That was a good reason, I said, why the crosses should be
painted out or made very much smaller. Please be human, I said. You are
transporting a wounded man and you must protect him by every means. Then
protect him. Hide him. Make sure the Communists can't see him.
The argument continued and I did not win the day. Later, other Western
officers tried to explain to me that I was simply ignorant of the
international agreement about these things. You are not allowed to fire on a
vehicle with a red cross. I agreed that I was ignorant and knew nothing
about these agreements. But like me, the Soviet soldier is also unaware of
those agreements. Those big red crosses are painted so that the Soviet
soldier can see them and not fire on them. But the Soviet soldier only knows
that a red cross means something medical. Nobody has ever told him he was
not to shoot at a red cross.
I learnt about this strange rule, that red crosses must not be shot at,
quite by chance. When I was still a Soviet officer, I was reading a book
about Nazi war criminals and amongst the charges made was the assertion that
the Nazis had sometimes fired on cars and trains bearing a red cross. I
found this very interesting, because I could not understand why such an act
was considered a crime. A war was being fought and one side was trying to
destroy the other. In what way did trains and cars with red crosses differ
from the enemy's other vehicles?
I found the answer to the question quite independently, but not in the
Soviet regulations. Perhaps there is an answer to the question there, but,
having served in the Soviet Army for many years and having sat for dozens of
examinations at different levels, I have never once come across any
reference to the rule that a soldier may not fire at a red cross. At
manoeuvres I often asked my commanding officers, some of them very
high-ranking, in a very provocative way what would happen if an enemy
vehicle suddenly appeared with a red cross on it. I was always answered in a
tone of bewilderment. A Soviet officer of very high rank who had graduated
from a couple of academies could not understand what difference it made if
there were a red cross. Soviet officers have never been told its complete
significance. I never bothered to put the question to any of my
subordinates.
I graduated from the Military-Diplomatic Academy, and did not perform
badly there. In the course of my studies I listened attentively to all the
lectures and was always waiting for someone among my teachers (many of them
with general's braid and many years' experience in international affairs) to
say something about the red cross. But I learnt only that the International
Red Cross organisation is located in Geneva, directly opposite the Permanent
Representation of the USSR in United Nations agencies, and that the
organisation, like any other international organisation, can be used by
officers of the Soviet Intelligence services as a cover for their
activities.
For whose benefit do the armies of the West paint those huge red
crosses on their ambulances? Try painting a red cross on your back and
chest, and going into the forest in winter. Do you think the red cross will
save you from being attacked by wolves? Of course not. The wolves do not
know your laws and do not understand your symbols. So why do you use a
symbol the meaning of which the enemy has no idea?
In the last war the Communists did not respect international
conventions and treaties, but some of their enemies, with many centuries of
culture and excellent traditions, failed equally to respect international
laws. Since then the Red Army has used the red cross symbol, painted very
small, as a sign to tell its own soldiers where the hospital is. The red
cross needs only to be visible to their own men. The Red Army has no faith
in the goodwill of the enemy.
International treaties and conventions have never saved anybody from
being attacked. The Ribbentrop-Molotov pact is a striking example. It did
not protect the Soviet Union. But if Hitler had managed to invade the
British Isles the pact would not have protected Germany either. Stalin said
quite openly on this point: `War can turn all agreements of any kind upside
down.'^1 <#fn_11_1>
^1 Pravda, 15 September 1927.
The Soviet leadership and the Soviet diplomatic service adopt a
philosophical attitude to all a
greements. If one trusts a friend there is no
need for a treaty; friends do not need to rely on treaties to call for
assistance. If one is weaker than one's enemy a treaty will not be any use
anyway. And if one is stronger than one's enemy, what is the point of
observing a treaty? International treaties are just an instrument of
politics and propaganda. The Soviet leadership and the Soviet Army put no
trust in any treaties, believing only in the force that is behind the
treaties.
Thus the enormous red cross on the side of a military vehicle is just a
symbol of Western naivete and faith in the force of protocols, paragraphs,
signatures and seals. Since Western diplomats have signed these treaties
they ought to insist that the Soviet Union, having also signed them, should
explain to its soldiers, officers and generals what they contain, and should
include in its official regulations special paragraphs forbidding certain
acts in war. Only then would there be any sense in painting on the huge red
crosses.
The red cross is only one example. One needs constantly to keep in mind
what Lenin always emphasised: that a dictatorship relies on force and not on
the law. `The scientific concept of dictatorship means power, limited in no
way, by no laws and restrained by absolutely no rules, and relying directly
on force.'^2 <#fn_11_2>
^2 Lenin, Vol. 25, p. 441.
Spetsnaz is one of the weapons of a dictatorship. Its battle training
is imbued with just one idea: to destroy the enemy. It is an ambition which
is not subject to any diplomatic, juridical, ethical or moral restraints.
--------
Chapter 11. Behind Enemy Lines: Spetsnaz Tactics
Before spetsnaz units can begin active operations behind the enemy's
lines they have to get there. The Soviet high command has the choice of
either sending spetsnaz troops behind the enemy's lines before the outbreak
of war, or sending them there after war has broken out. In the first case
the enemy may discover them, realise that war has already begun and possibly
press the buttons to start a nuclear war -- pre-empting the Soviet Union.
But if spetsnaz troops are sent in after the outbreak of war, it may be too
late. The enemy may already have activated its nuclear capability, and then
there will be nothing to put out of action in the enemy's rear: the missiles
will be on their way to Soviet territory. One potential solution to the
dilemma is that the better, smaller part of spetsnaz -- the professional
athletes -- arrives before all-out war starts, taking extreme measures not
to be discovered, while the standard units penetrate behind enemy lines
after war has started.
___
In every Soviet embassy there are two secret organisations -- the KGB
rezidentura and the GRU rezidentura. The embassy and the KGB rezidentura are
guarded by officers of the KGB frontier troops, but in cases where the GRU
rezidentura has a complement of more than ten officers, it has its own
internal spetsnaz guard. Before the outbreak of a war, in some cases several
months previously, the number of spetsnaz officers in a Soviet embassy may
be substantially increased, to the point where practically all the auxiliary
personnel in the embassy, performing the duties of guards, cleaners,
radio-operators, cooks and mechanics, will be spetsnaz athletes. With them,
as their `wives', women athletes from spetsnaz may turn up in the embassy.
Similar changes of staff may take place in the many other Soviet bodies --
the consulate, the commercial representation, the offices of Aeroflot,
Intourist, TASS, Novosti and so forth.
The advantages of this arrangement are obvious, but it is not without
its dangers. The principal danger lies in the fact that these new terrorist
groups are based right in the centre of the country's capital city,
uncomfortably close to government offices and surveillance. But within days,
possibly within hours, before the outbreak of war they can, with care, make
contact with the spetsnaz agent network and start a real war in the very
centre of the city, using hiding places already prepared.
Part of their support will come from other spetsnaz groups which have
recently arrived in the country in the guise of tourists, teams of sportsmen
and various delegations. And at the very last moment large groups of
fighting men may suddenly appear out of Aeroflot planes, ships in port,
trains and Soviet long-distance road transport (`Sovtransavto').
Simultaneously there may be a secret landing of spetsnaz troops from Soviet
submarines and surface vessels, both naval and merchant. (Small fishing
vessels make an excellent means of transport for spetsnaz. They naturally
spend long periods in the coastal waters of foreign states and do not arouse
suspicion, so spetsnaz groups can spend a long time aboard and can easily
return home if they do not get an order to make a landing). At the critical
moment, on receipt of a signal, they can make a landing on the coast using
aqualungs and small boats. Spetsnaz groups arriving by Aeroflot can adopt
much the same tactics. In a period of tension, a system of regular watches
may be introduced. This means that among the passengers on every plane there
will be a group of commandos. Having arrived at their intended airport and
not having been given a signal, they can remain aboard the aircraft and go
back on the next flight. Next day another group will make the trip, and so
on. One day the signal will come, and the group will leave the plane and
start fighting right in the country's main airport. Their main task is to
capture the airport for the benefit of a fresh wave of spetsnaz troops or
airborne units (VDV).
It is a well-known fact that the `liberation' of Czechoslovakia in
August 1968 began with the arrival at Prague airport of Soviet military
transport planes with VDV troops on board. The airborne troops did not need
parachutes; the planes simply landed at the airport. Before the troops
disembarked there was a moment when both the aircraft and their passengers
were completely defenceless. Was the Soviet high command not taking a risk?
No, because the fact is that by the time the planes landed, Prague airport
had already been largely paralysed by a group of `tourists' who had arrived
earlier.
Spetsnaz groups may turn up in the territory of an enemy from the
territory of neutral states. Before the outbreak of war or during a war
spetsnaz groups may penetrate secretly into the territory of neutral states
and wait there for an agreed signal or until a previously agreed time. One
of the advantages of this is that the enemy does not watch over his
frontiers with neutral countries as carefully as he does over his frontiers
with Communist countries. The arrival of a spetsnaz group from a neutral
state may pass unnoticed both by the enemy and the neutral state.
But what happens if the group is discovered on neutral territory? The
answer is simple: the group will go into action in the same way as in enemy
territory -- avoid being followed, kill any witnesses, use force and cunning
to halt any pursuers. They will make every effort to ensure that nobody from
the group gets into the hands of their pursuers and not to leave any
evidence about to show that the group belongs to the armed forces of the
USSR. If the group should be captured by the authorities of the neutral
state, Soviet diplomacy has enormous experience and some well-tried
counter-moves. It may admit its mistake, make an official apology and offer
compensation for any damage caused; it may declare that the group lost its
way and thought it was already in enemy territory; or it may accuse the
neutral state of having deliberately seized a group of members of the Soviet
armed forces on Soviet territory for provocative purposes, and demand
explanations, apologies and compensation, accompanied by open threats.
Experience has shown that this last plan is the most reliable. The
reader should not dismiss it lightly. Soviet official publications wrote at
the beginning of December 1939 that war was being waged against Finland in
order to establish a Communist regime there, and a Communist government of
`people's Finland' had already been formed. Thirty years later Soviet
marshals were writing that it was not at all like that: the Soviet Union was
simply acting in self-defence. The war against Finland, which was waged from
the first to the last day on Finnish territory, is now described as
`repelling Finnish aggression and even as `fulfilling the plan for
protecting our frontiers.
The Soviet Union is always innocent: it only repels perfidious
aggressors. On other people's territory.
___
The principal way of delivering the main body of spetsnaz to the
enemy's rear after the outbreak of war is to drop them by parachute. In the
course of his two years' service every spetsnaz soldier makes thirty-five to
forty parachute jumps. Spetsnaz professionals and officers have much greater
experience with parachutes; some have thousands of jumps to their credit.
The parachute is not just a weapon and a form of transport. It also
acts as a filter which courageous soldiers will pass through, but weak and
cowardly men will not. The Soviet Government spends enormous sums on the
development of parachute jumping as a sport. This is the main base from
which the airborne troops and spetsnaz are built up. On 1 January 1985 the
Spetsnaz: The Inside Story of the Soviet Special Forces Page 18