Maneuvers

MANEUVERS (from the French manoeuvre - action, movement), a special type of practical training for organized groups of the population and, first and foremost, troops in conditions that most closely approximate combat conditions. Maneuvers have the purpose of training commanders in making and implementing the most expedient tactical decisions, training all participants in the matter of interaction between different branches of troops and services, instilling a correct understanding of the essence and significance of individual elements of the operational (combat) situation and of their complex as a whole, as well as verifying readiness for work in wartime. Operational maneuvers of troops are conducted annually, predominantly in the autumn, completing a certain cycle of combat preparation during the winter and summer (camp) periods. Such a cycle of preparation consists of training first the individual soldier, then small units of the military unit, and finally the entire unit. For maneuvers, troops are deployed in the composition of large military formations (divisions, corps), which include infantry, artillery, cavalry, aviation, armored forces, various special units (communications, engineering, chemical), as well as all necessary services (supply, sanitary, veterinary, etc.). The maneuvering troops are distributed between opposing sides on the basis of a certain tactical 'assumption,' developed in advance during the preparatory period for the maneuvers. Each side is designated by its color (red and blue), and the troops of both sides have corresponding distinctions in their uniforms (different headgear, colored badges, etc.). At the start of the maneuvers, the sides gather in different areas (their initial positions), from which they begin their actions against each other precisely at the appointed time, continuing them until the 'recall' (the order to cease maneuver actions). Usually, maneuvers last for a relatively short time - 7-10 days. During this period, all tasks assigned to the maneuvering troops must be resolved, which requires very intense and intensive activity from them. During the same maneuvers, several tactical episodes ('moves') can be played out, pursuing the goal of training in a specific tactical technique (attack on a fortified line, river crossing, etc.). For the direction of the maneuvers, a special apparatus is designated in advance, the so-called headquarters of the main command, which includes highly qualified representatives of the general military command, political organs, individual branches of troops and services. On each side, an 'intermediary' apparatus is created, whose task is continuous observation and study of the activities of individual military subunits, units and formations (military intermediaries) and determination of the results of the collision of the sides on individual combat sectors (sector intermediaries). The intermediaries are subordinate to the main command, to which they immediately report on the results of their work, using for this purpose a specially designated communications network. The personnel of the main command and the intermediaries during maneuvers wear a white armband on their left sleeve. The main command of the maneuvers bears great preparatory work in selecting the maneuver area, drawing up the assignment for the maneuvering troops (the respective sides), and establishing the general order of the maneuvers. The preliminary selection of the maneuver area is made on the map in accordance with the training tasks and the topics of operational issues to be played out on the terrain. No later than 1-1½ months before the start of the maneuvers, this area is thoroughly surveyed (reconned) with the aim of clarifying the assignments for the sides, the plan and order of troop activities, as well as for supplementing and verifying information about the political, economic, and sanitary condition of the area. During the reconnaissance of the maneuver area, appropriate connections are established with local party, Soviet, professional, and other public organizations, which are involved in assisting and preparing the maneuvers. On the basis of data from the reconnaissance of the maneuver area, a detailed plan for the support of the maneuvering troops in all respects is compiled. After playing out individual moves of the maneuvers and at the end of their entire period, a review of the work carried out by the maneuvering troops is held, at which all the senior and higher-ranking personnel of the sides, intermediaries, and command are present. At the review, the most successful actions of the troops, the most important shortcomings and their causes, the degree of successful task fulfillment, as well as the next training tasks arising from the experience of the maneuvers are noted. The results of the maneuvers are often explained by commanders to all participants, after which the troops are sent to their permanent quarters. Sanitary support for the maneuvers has very significant importance; it consists of sanitary study of the maneuver area, a plan for sanitary-prophylactic support of the maneuvering troops, and their therapeutic-prophylactic service. Sanitary reconnaissance (see) of the maneuver area has the purpose of clarifying and supplementing the information available to sanitary commanders about the sanitary condition of this area, obtained by them from previously conducted reconnaissances and from the corresponding civilian (territorial and transport) health authorities; such sanitary reconnaissance is conducted simultaneously with the reconnaissance of the main command and has as its main objectives a) determining the presence and localization of foci of infectious disease; b) determining the condition of water sources, the quantity and quality of water in them; c) the condition and provision of the area with civilian health apparatus and d) establishing appropriate connections with civilian health authorities and local committees of the Red Cross or Red Crescent societies. In addition, sanitary reconnaissance establishes a number of other necessary information for the sanitary commanders of the maneuvering troops under the conditions of these maneuvers, such as the condition of local bathhouses, laundries, and disinfection facilities, the condition of roads and means of transport that could be used for sanitary evacuation purposes in the maneuver situation, the conditions for deploying individual stages of sanitary evacuation, etc. All this data is compiled into one general 'sanitary description of the maneuver area,' copies of which are provided to all sanitary commanders of the maneuvering troops, intermediaries, and the main command before the start of the maneuvers. At the same time, before the start of the maneuvers, a plan for sanitary-prophylactic support of the maneuvering troops is compiled. In this plan, a list of various measures is established, which must be taken by the troops during the maneuvers to avoid their infection, the order and place of sanitary processing, the forms and deadlines for sanitary reporting during the maneuvers. Here, the direction, tasks, and objectives of sanitary-educational (sanitary-agitational) work during the maneuvers should be indicated, both among the troops and among the local population. Therapeutic-prophylactic service of the maneuvering troops is carried out within the military units and formations by their military-sanitary apparatus; outside the military unit, i.e., in relation to contingents requiring special types of assistance or hospitalization, medical service is entrusted a) to the local military-hospital network, b) to civilian medical institutions, c) to medical posts and infirmaries deployed for this purpose during the maneuvers by the Red Cross or Red Crescent societies. The plan for therapeutic-prophylactic support of the maneuvering troops ('evacuation plan') is calculated based on the loss of patients requiring hospitalization (usually an average of 3% of the personnel per day), by the chief of the sanitary service of the main command, either for the entire period of the maneuvers or for each move separately. The latter has to be done when the military sanitary service during the maneuvers works 'in combat mode,' i.e., the evacuation of patients by the sides is carried out only in the direction of their rear to distances corresponding to the standard scheme of sanitary evacuation from combat units of the active army. The evacuation plan for the maneuvers provides for the total number of hospital beds needed for patients, their distribution among medical institutions, the distribution of sanitary transport means, the procedure for using them, the time for deploying and folding individual stages of sanitary evacuation, and the necessary means for this. As hospital facilities for serving the maneuvering troops, military medical institutions are used first, which are vacated in advance from patients and which increase the number of beds for this purpose. In case of a shortage of military beds for patients from among the maneuvering troops for the period of the maneuvers, beds are allocated by civilian medical institutions. In those points where there are neither military nor civilian medical institutions, but which could become places for the accumulation of patients, medical posts (infirmaries) of the Red Cross (Crescent) are deployed. As sanitary transport in the nearest rear of the maneuvering troops, military sanitary transport (two-wheeled carts, automobiles) operates. In the deeper rear during the maneuvers, sanitary-transport means of the Red Cross, buses of urban municipal services, sanitary cars of health transport organs, and specially equipped trains ('flying units') and individual cars for this purpose work. In recent years, on large maneuvers, sanitary aviation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies participates. For the purposes of water evacuation, the same societies form floating sanitary transport means in the form of steamships and sanitary launches. In naval maneuvers, for sanitary evacuation from warships to port hospitals, hospital ships are used.

The role of the sanitary service in Maneuvers is usually not limited to serving military contingents. Sanitary units of maneuvering troops during Maneuvers carry out extensive sanitary-prophylactic and socio-political work among the local population, while also providing medical assistance to civilian patients in villages and settlements. Sanitary Maneuvers are conducted either independently of operational (troop) maneuvers, when only sanitary service institutions are active, or jointly with troop maneuvers. Sanitary Maneuvers pursue the same objectives as troop maneuvers, but only in the interests of the sanitary service. In a number of foreign armies, sanitary Maneuvers are conducted regularly, contributing to the improvement of the combat readiness of the sanitary service. In tsarist Russia, after the Russo-Japanese War, the issue of sanitary Maneuvers was raised repeatedly, particularly by physicians sent to foreign sanitary Maneuvers (Unterberger), but it did not receive proper approval. In the RKKA (Red Army), sanitary Maneuvers in recent years have usually been combined with troop maneuvers. In such cases, the troop sanitary service operates 'in combat mode', deploying advanced medical aid points as the maneuver operational situation develops, and in the rear area, a sanitary evacuation line is established to the nearest railway station and then to the nearest military hospital, which here serves as a field evacuation point. In addition to evacuating actually sick patients requiring hospitalization, sometimes for training purposes, the evacuation of conditionally wounded and conditionally affected by chemical warfare agents (CW) is carried out, which further brings the work of sanitary evacuation stages closer to combat conditions. The participation of sanitary organs (military, civilian, and Red Cross) in Maneuvers for the air defense (PVO) of large populated areas is particularly instructive. Such Maneuvers have been organized in a number of countries in the last 3-5 years and have also taken place in the USSR. In PVO Maneuvers, on one side there is aviation, and on the other, air defense. In the defending populated area, to provide medical assistance on site, Red Cross or Red Crescent sanitary brigades operate, functioning as flying detachments at first aid points deployed by civilian health authorities. The significance of Maneuvers for the military sanitary service is very great. In addition to educational and training purposes, the military sanitary service during Maneuvers has the opportunity to test and verify in an environment very close to combat a number of its tactical provisions, new models of sanitary equipment, and the military training of its personnel. It is during Maneuvers that appropriate methods of communication between the military sanitary service and political organs, the civilian health apparatus, and public organizations are established. Maneuvers are of no less importance for the entire public health apparatus as a demonstration of the application of the principle of unified Soviet medicine to the defense of the proletarian state. In the Maneuver environment, the civilian health apparatus practically becomes acquainted with its role and methods of work in wartime. The Red Cross and Red Crescent societies of the union republics have the opportunity to check and demonstrate the growth of Soviet public consciousness in assisting the country's defense. The activities of Red Cross organizations during Maneuvers are particularly extensive and diverse; in addition to medical points (lazarets), providing sanitary service to units of the Ossoaviakhim, deploying the work of sanitary brigades, and forming sanitary transport of all kinds, these public organizations during Maneuvers carry out extensive sanitary educational work among the local population and propaganda for joining their ranks. Red Crosses and Crescents issue special posters, slogans, leaflets, and brochures for Maneuvers, distributed among Red Army soldiers and the civilian population. Tea points of the Red Cross with free tea distribution and shower (bath) installations are also very popular during Maneuvers. Since in the wars of tsarist Russia the sanitary service always lagged in meeting the emerging needs, the participation of the RKKA sanitary service, civilian health authorities, and public organizations in Maneuvers has not only significant socio-political importance but also military significance, on the one hand focusing general attention on the role of public health in defense, and on the other hand instilling in each fighter the confidence that in case of temporary loss of health, he will be surrounded by proper care and receive adequate medical assistance.