Soviet Logistical Experience

In May 1939, a series of Kwantung Army-instigated skirmishes between Mongolian and Manchukuoan forces escalated into what the Soviets would term the Khalkhin Gol and the Japanese would call the Nomonhan Incident.

General Georgi Zhukov, one of the few general officers to survive Stalin's purges, was entrusted with the command of Soviet and Mongolian troops at Khalkhin Gol. Reflecting the conflict's importance to the Soviet premier, Zhukov was instructed to report directly to Stalin. Upon his arrival, Zhukov thoroughly organized his command facilities and communications networks. Another hallmark of his leadership, discipline, was ruthlessly enforced among the men of his remote army.

Zhukov and others began to focus on overcoming the daunting logistical challenges of maintaining a sizable defensive force in the region. In an impressive effort that would provide valuable lessons for future operations, Russian truck convoys drove day and night over desert tracks, a grueling round trip of 868 miles. The Soviets employed 3,800 trucks and 1,375 fuel tankers in their supply organization. Those trucks transported 18,000 tons of artillery shells, 6,500 tons of bombs and 15,000 tons of liquid fuel, as well as troops and weapons. Much of the credit for that remarkable feat of logistics must go to a veteran Soviet general, Grigori M. Shtern, commander of the Trans-Baikal military district.

Official list of the military vehicles for Soviet Army

Light "vezdekhod" GAZ-61, USSR, 1941

Soviet  "jeep" GAZ-67B, USSR, 1941

Truck GAZ-AA "Polutorka"(1,5 t.), USSR, 1932

Truck GAZ-MM, USSR, 1938

Truck ZIS-5, USSR, 1933

Truck ZIS-5V, USSR, 1942

Truck GAZ-AAA, USSR, 1933

Truck ZIS-6, USSR, 1933

Truck ZIS-32, USSR, 1940

Half-tracked truck ZIS-42, USSR,1942

Truck JaG-6, USSR, 1936

Truck JaG-10, USSR, 1931

Medical bus ZIS-16S, USSR, 1939

Staff bus GAZ-05-193, USSR, 1936

missile launcher BM-13 "Katusha", USSR, 1941

missile launcher BM  -31-12 "Andrusha", USSR, 1944

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