Topic: Russia/Russian, Soviet, and CIS military history
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๐ Vasili Arkhipov โ Soviet Navy Officer Who Prevented Nuclear Strike in 1962
Vasily Arkhipov (Russian: ะะฐัะธะปะธะน ะัั ะธะฟะพะฒ) may refer to:
- Vasily Arkhipov (vice admiral) (1926โ1998), Soviet Navy officer credited with casting the single vote that prevented a Soviet nuclear strike
- Vasily Arkhipov (general) (1906โ1985), Commander of the 53rd Guards Tank Brigade of the Red Army during World War II, twice Hero of the Soviet Union
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- "Vasili Arkhipov โ Soviet Navy Officer Who Prevented Nuclear Strike in 1962" | 2016-12-24 | 92 Upvotes 19 Comments
- "Vasili Arkhipov" | 2013-08-24 | 200 Upvotes 53 Comments
๐ The Dead HandโSoviet semi-autonomous nuclear command and control system
Dead Hand (Russian: ะกะธััะตะผะฐ ยซะะตัะธะผะตััยป, Systema "Perimetr", lit. "Perimeter" System, with the GRAU Index 15E601, Cyrillic: 15ะญ601), also known as Perimeter, is a Cold War-era automatic nuclear weapons-control system (similar in concept to the American AN/DRC-8 Emergency Rocket Communications System) that was used by the Soviet Union. The system remains in use in the post-Soviet Russian Federation. An example of fail-deadly and mutual assured destruction deterrence, it can automatically initiate the launch of the Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) by sending a pre-entered highest-authority order from the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Strategic Missile Force Management to command posts and individual silos if a nuclear strike is detected by seismic, light, radioactivity, and pressure sensors even with the commanding elements fully destroyed. By most accounts, it is normally switched off and is supposed to be activated during times of crisis; however, it is said to remain fully functional and able to serve its purpose whenever it may be needed.
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- "The Dead HandโSoviet semi-autonomous nuclear command and control system" | 2022-04-04 | 73 Upvotes 90 Comments
๐ Closed city
A closed city or closed town is a settlement where travel or residency restrictions are applied so that specific authorization is required to visit or remain overnight. They may be sensitive military establishments or secret research installations that require much more space or freedom than is available in a conventional military base. There may also be a wider variety of permanent residents including close family members of workers or trusted traders who are not directly connected with its clandestine purposes.
Many closed cities existed in the Soviet Union until its collapse in 1991. After 1991, a number of them still existed in the CIS countries, especially Russia. In modern Russia, such places are officially known as "closed administrative-territorial formations" (ะทะฐะบััััะต ะฐะดะผะธะฝะธัััะฐัะธะฒะฝะพ-ัะตััะธัะพัะธะฐะปัะฝัะต ะพะฑัะฐะทะพะฒะฐะฝะธั, zakrytye administrativno-territorial'nye obrazovaniya, or ะะะขะ ZATO for short).
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- "Closed city" | 2016-08-01 | 84 Upvotes 27 Comments
- "Atomgrads" | 2013-06-08 | 31 Upvotes 11 Comments
๐ Night Witches โ all-female Soviet aviator regiment WW2
"Night Witches" was a World War II nickname for the all-female military aviators of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, known later as the 46th "Taman" Guards Night Bomber Aviation Red Banner and Order of Suvorov Regiment, of the Soviet Air Forces.
Major Marina Raskova used her position and personal contacts with the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to obtain permission to form female combat units. Combat facilitated and ushered in a reluctant acceptance of women in military, based more upon practicality and necessity than for equality. On October 8, 1941, an order was issued to deploy three women's air-force units, including the 588th Regiment. The regiment, formed by Raskova and led by Major Yevdokiya Bershanskaya, was composed primarily of female volunteers in their late teens and early twenties.
An attack technique of the night bombers involved idling the engine near the target and gliding to the bomb-release point with only wind noise left to reveal their presence. Allegedly, German soldiers likened the sound to broomsticks and hence named the pilots "Night Witches". Due to the weight of the bombs and the low altitude of flight, the pilots did not carry parachutes until 1944.
When the regiment was deployed on the front line in June 1942, the 588th Night Bomber Regiment became part of the 4th Air Army of the Southern Front. In February 1943 the regiment was honored with the Guards designation and reorganized as the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment in the 325th Night Bomber Aviation Division, 4th Air Army, 2nd Belorussian Front; in October 1943 it became the 46th "Taman" Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, "Taman" referring to the unit's involvement in the Novorossiysk-Taman operations on the Taman Peninsula during 1943.
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- "Night Witches โ all-female Soviet aviator regiment WW2" | 2026-06-30 | 95 Upvotes 26 Comments
๐ Bucha Massacre
In March 2022, a series of war crimes were committed by Russian occupation forces in the Ukrainian city of Bucha during the Battle of Bucha, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities said that more than 300 inhabitants of the town had been killed.
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- "Bucha Massacre" | 2022-04-04 | 57 Upvotes 61 Comments
๐ Soviet Pilot Escapes from POW Camp by Stealing a German Bomber and Flying Home
Mikhail Petrovich Devyatayev (Russian: ะะธั ะฐะธะป ะะตััะพะฒะธั ะะตะฒััะฐะตะฒ; Moksha/Erzya: ะะธั ะฐะธะป ะะตััะพะฒะธั ะะตะฒััะฐะตะฒ; 8 July 1917 โ 24 November 2002) was a Soviet fighter pilot known for his incredible escape from a Nazi concentration camp on the island of Usedom, in the Baltic Sea.
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- "Soviet Pilot Escapes from POW Camp by Stealing a German Bomber and Flying Home" | 2021-01-18 | 75 Upvotes 33 Comments
๐ Subutai โ Primary military strategist of Genghis Khan
Subutai (Classical Mongolian: Sรผbรผgรคtรคi or Sรผbรผ'รคtรคi; Tuvan: ะกาฏะฑัะดัะน, [sybษหdษj]; Modern Mongolian: ะกาฏะฑััะดัะน, Sรผbeedei. [sสbeหหdษ]; Chinese: ้ไธๅฐ 1175โ1248) was an Uriankhai general, and the primary military strategist of Genghis Khan and รgedei Khan. He directed more than 20 campaigns in which he conquered 32 nations and won 65 pitched battles, during which he conquered or overran more territory than any other commander in history. He gained victory by means of imaginative and sophisticated strategies and routinely coordinated movements of armies that were hundreds of kilometers away from each other. He is also remembered for devising the campaign that destroyed the armies of Hungary and Poland within two days of each other, by forces over 500 kilometers apart.
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- "Subutai โ Primary military strategist of Genghis Khan" | 2017-06-14 | 84 Upvotes 22 Comments
๐ April 12, 1961: First man in space
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarinโ (9 March 1934 โ 27 March 1968) was a Soviet Air Forces pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space, achieving a major milestone in the Space Race; his capsule Vostok 1 completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961. Gagarin became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union, his nation's highest honour.
Born in the village of Klushino near Gzhatsk (a town later renamed after him), in his youth Gagarin was a foundryman at a steel plant in Lyubertsy. He later joined the Soviet Air Forces as a pilot and was stationed at the Luostari Air Base, near the Norwegian border, before his selection for the Soviet space programme with five other cosmonauts. Following his spaceflight, Gagarin became deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was later named after him. He was also elected as a deputy of the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities, respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet.
Vostok 1 was Gagarin's only spaceflight but he served as the backup crew to the Soyuz 1 mission, which ended in a fatal crash, killing his friend and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. Fearing for his life, Soviet officials permanently banned Gagarin from further spaceflights. After completing training at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy on 17 February 1968, he was allowed to fly regular aircraft. Gagarin died five weeks later when the MiG-15 training jet he was piloting with his flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin crashed near the town of Kirzhach.
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- "April 12, 1961: First man in space" | 2010-04-13 | 45 Upvotes 11 Comments
- "12.04.1961 - First human in outer space." | 2009-04-13 | 19 Upvotes 8 Comments
๐ Tsar Bomba
The Soviet RDS-202 hydrogen bomb (code name Ivan or Vanya), known by Western nations as Tsar Bomba (Russian: ะฆะฐัั-ะฑะพฬะผะฑะฐ, tr. Tsar'-bรณmba, IPA:ย [tอกsarสฒ หbombษ], lit. 'Tsar bomb'), was the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created. Tested on 30ย October 1961 as an experimental verification of calculation principles and multi-stage thermonuclear weapon designs, it also remains the most powerful human-made explosive ever detonated.
The bomb was detonated at the Sukhoy Nos ("Dry Nose") cape of Severny Island, Novaya Zemlya, 15ย km (9.3ย mi) from Mityushikha Bay, north of Matochkin Strait. The detonation was secret but was detected by US Intelligence agencies. The US apparently had an instrumented KC-135R aircraft (Operation SpeedLight) in the area of the test โ close enough to have been scorched by the blast.
The bhangmeter results and other data suggested the bomb yielded about 58 megatons of TNT [Mt] (240ย PJ), and that was the accepted yield in technical literature until 1991 when Soviet scientists revealed that their instruments indicated a yield of 50ย Mt (210ย PJ). As they had the instrumental data and access to the test site, their yield figure has been accepted as more accurate. In theory, the bomb would have had a yield in excess of 100ย Mt (420ย PJ) if it had included a uranium-238 tamper but, because only one bomb was built, that capability has never been demonstrated.
The remaining bomb casings are located at the Russian Atomic Weapon Museum in Sarov and the Museum of Nuclear Weapons, All-Russian Research Institute of Technical Physics, at Snezhinsk.
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- "Tsar Bomba" | 2019-08-05 | 17 Upvotes 27 Comments
- "10 times the explosive power of all explosives used in WWII" | 2012-09-23 | 11 Upvotes 13 Comments
๐ Abram Petrovich Gannibal
Abram Petrovich Gannibal, also Hannibal or Ganibal, or Abram Hannibal or Abram Petrov (Russian: ะะฑัะฐฬะผ ะะตััะพฬะฒะธั ะะฐะฝะฝะธะฑะฐฬะป; c. 1696 โ 14 May 1781), was a Russian military engineer, major-general, and nobleman of African origin. Kidnapped as a child, Gannibal was taken to Russia and presented as a gift to Peter the Great, where he was freed, adopted and raised in the Emperor's court household as his godson.
Gannibal eventually rose to become a prominent member of the imperial court in the reign of Peter's daughter Elizabeth. He had 11 children, most of whom became members of the Russian nobility; he was a great-grandfather of the author and poet Alexander Pushkin.
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- "Abram Petrovich Gannibal" | 2021-06-03 | 55 Upvotes 4 Comments