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A Sapper Army ((ロシア語:сапёрная армия)) was a multi-brigade military construction engineer formation organized by the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II. Formed to construct large-scale defensive works, Sapper armies were used from late 1941 until mid-1942 when the Red Army opted to organize smaller and more flexible construction engineer formations. Although the organization of military construction engineers into an army-level echelon was unusual, the use of dedicated troops for military construction was common to many armies of World War II.〔The sapper army troops were in some senses comparable to German ''Baupionier'' units and U.S. Army Engineer General Service regiments of the Second World War.〕 ==History== Reeling from the German invasion of 1941, the Soviets decided to organize large military construction engineer formations to construct defensive works on a massive scale. The Soviets hoped such works would strengthen Red Army defensive operations and buy enough time to rebuild their forces for a counter-offensive. Consequently, the high command ordered the formation of the first sapper armies on October 13, 1941.〔Glantz, p. 336.〕 Originally, six sapper armies were formed, but by December 1941 this was expanded to ten sapper armies, numbered First through Tenth. The sapper armies were not only composed of military personnel; "women, old men, schoolchildren and teenagers under the draft age"〔Glantz, p. 337.〕 were also mobilized to serve in the construction units. The sapper armies worked to construct defensive lines that were made up of battalion and company strong points in the Moscow, Stalingrad, North Caucasus, and Volga military districts. Sapper armies also trained troops for the Red Army's engineers and consequently suffered a steady loss of qualified personnel. Dissatisfied with the relative lack of flexibility of the sapper armies, the high command disbanded five of them in February 1942 and used the released personnel for the formation of new rifle (infantry) units. Confronted with the German summer offensive of 1942, the remaining sapper armies built defensive works around Moscow and Stalingrad, and in the Caucasus. On July 26, 1942, the high command directed the reorganization of the sapper armies, and by October 1942, the remaining five sapper armies had been converted into defensive construction directorates. The troops released by this measure were used to form new rifle and smaller engineer units. Historian David Glantz assessed the effectiveness of the sapper armies as having ". . . contributed significantly to the Red Army's victories at Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalingrad by preparing defensive lines, providing vital engineering support to the Red Army's operating fronts, and serving as a base for the formation of other more specialized engineer forces assigned to operating fronts."〔Glantz, p. 340.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sapper army」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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