During WW2 did Ukraine have a separate army or did they belong to only certain Russian units?
Google only wants to talk about today it seems.
Ukraine was one of the peoples republics joined together in the USSR (CCCP) and ruled
from Moscow. They would have used the same equipment as the rest of the USSR.
Itās like writing that there is a separate Texas army.
The name āUkrainian Frontā misleads you. Itās just a geographical feature. There were even several. In the photo, the third pennant is just ā4 Ukrainian Frontā. There were also the Belorussian Front, the Baltic Front, the Karelian Front, etc. It had nothing to do with nationality.
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Technically there is but I understand your point.
Would Ukrainians and other republics have been intermixed within Russian units mostly or would same units be mostly one republic like the 19th Guards Mechanized Brigade is listed as Belarus. Just couldnāt find one for Ukraine but I donāt understand the Russian unit organization.
I think you need to think about size of population.
Just before 1940 the Ukraine SSR had close to 40 million inhabitants
(the US of A was 130 million at that time, Germany before Anschluss and other land grabs was at 69 million).
Whole regiments could be raised from one town, why mix and mingle only for the purpose of transporting people hundreds of miles. Ukraine is a big country.
Edit: See Yuriās post below. Mixing for political or perceived security reasons overrides all other considerations ā¦
Military units in the USSR were never formed on a national basis. On the contrary, they tried to mix it up a lot. If you lived in the south, then you will be sent to the north to serve. And the other way around. The only restriction on nationality is that for several years no Chechens were drafted into the army.
There were restrictions on the natives of the republics of Central Asia - because of their poor knowledge of the Russian language, they tried to send them to construction units.
And it is absolutely certain that no distinction was made between Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians.
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You see, you donāt even close to understand what the USSR / Russia is. On the contrary, they mixed regardless of spending and distance. I have already written about the army. It was the same with institutions, jobs, and so on.
In the USSR, you simply could not hope to serve close to home. It was a great privilege that was not given for free.
Thanks for the information.