Military district
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Military districts are territorial entities used for the purposes of military planning and strategizing.
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[edit] China
The People's Liberation Army uses a system of military regions, of which there used to be eleven, but are now seven. The military regions are divided into military districts, usually continguous with provinces, and military sub-districts.
Dennis Blasko notes that originally thirteen military regions were established in the 1950s, but the number was reduced to eleven in the late 1960s. The resulting eleven military regions - Shenyang, Beijing, Lanzhou, Xinjiang, Jinan, Nanjing, Fuzhou, Guangzhou (including Hainan Island), Wuhan, Chengdu, and Kunming - were reduced to seven by 1985-88. The active ones now include Lanzhou, incorporating the former Urumqi MR, Chengdu Military Region, incorporating the former Kunming MR, Nanjing, which includes the former Fuzhou MR, Beijing, and Shenyang. Finally Guangzhou and Jinan Military Regions both appears to include parts of the former Wuhan MR.
[edit] Germany
Germany used the system of military districts (German: Wehrkreis) with an aim of relieving field commanders of as much purely administrative work as possible, and at providing as regular as possible a flow of trained recruits and of supplies to the Field Army. The method they adopted was to separate the Field Army (Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres) from the Home Command (Heimatkriegsgebiet) and to entrust the whole charge of training, conscription, supply, and equipment to that command.
The Commander of the Infantry Corps with the identical number also commanded the Wehrkreis in peacetime, but the command of the Wehrkreis passed to his Second-in Command upon the start of the war.
Before the start of the war, there were also four Panzer Grenadier Corps (in effect, staffs to control the training of Panzer and Panzer Grenadier formations) which had no corresponding military districts, but were served (as regards conscription, and supplies) by the districts in which Corps headquarters or subordinate formations had their Home Garrison Stations. These Corps were:
- XIV Panzer Genadier Corps
- XV Panzer Grenadier Corps
- XVI Panzer Grenadier Corps
- XIX Panzer Grenadier Corps
These Corps did not survive upon mobilization.
The Districts were organized into a Chain of Command that included Area Headquarters (Wehrersatzbezirk Hauptquartier) and Sub-area headquarters (Wehrbezirk Hauptquartier).
During World War II, Germany was divided into nineteen military districts. At the start of the war, there were only fifteen:
- I - Königsberg
- II - Stettin
- III - Berlin
- (Brandenburg and part of Neumark)
- IV - Dresden
- V - Stuttgart
- (Württemberg; part of Baden; and Alsace)
- VI - Münster
- (Westphalia; Rhineland; and the Eupen-Malmedy district of Belgium)
- VII - Munich
- (Southern Bavaria)
- VIII - Breslau
- IX - Kassel
- X - Hamburg
- (Schleswig-Holstein; part of Hanover; and Danish Slesvig
- XI - Hanover
- (Braunschweig; Anhalt, and Magdeburg)
- XII - Wiesbaden
- (Eifel; Koblenz; Mannheim; Metz; the Palatinate; the Saar; Lorraine; Nancy; and Luxembourg)
- XIII - Nürnberg
- (Northern Bavaria; western Bohemia; Regensburg; and Eger)
- XVII - Vienna
- XVIII - Salzburg
Wehrkreis XX and XXI were established in Poland to control Danzig and Posen, respectively, which were the lands previously under the control of Germany prior to World War I.
- XX - Danzig
- (Danzig Free State; Polish Corridor; Neustadt an der Dosse; Stargard Szczeciński; Marienwerder; Graudenz; Bromberg/Bydgoszcz); and Thorn/Toruń)
- XXI - Posen
- (Poznań; Lissa; Hohensalza; Leslau/Włocławek; Kalisch/Kalisz; and Litzmannstadt/Łódź)
Two additional Wehrkreis were established after the invasion of Poland to control the remainder of that country. These were Wehrkreis "Böhmen-Mähren", which covered the so-called "Protectorate", and Wehrkreis "General-Government", which controlled the remainder of Poland.
It has been speculated that the missing Wehrkreis number—XIX—was intended for use inside Russia if Germany had been successful in completing the invasion, and additional numbers would have been assigned to the named Wehrkreis at the end of the war.
In peace time, the Wehrkreis was the home to the Infantry Corps of the same number, and all subordinate units of that Corps.
Today four military districts - Wehrbereichskommando - remain in Germany, as part of the Streitkräftebasis or Joint Service Support Command.
[edit] Poland
[edit] Current
- Pomeranian Military District (Pomorski Okręg Wojskowy) with HQ in Bydgoszcz
- Silesian Military District (Śląski Okręg Wojskowy) with HQ in Wrocław
[edit] Historical
- Poznań Military District (Poznański Okręg Wojskowy), HQ in Poznań
- Kraków Military District (Krakowski Okręg Wojskowy), HQ in Kraków
- Łódź Military District (Łódzki Okręg Wojskowy), HQ in Łódź
- Warsaw Military District (Warszawski Okręg Wojskowy), HQ in Warszawa
- Lublin Military District (Lubelski Okręg Wojskowy), HQ in Lublin
[edit] Russia
In Russia, a military district (Russian: вое́нный о́круг, voyenny okrug) is a territorial association of military units, formations, military schools, and various local military establishments. This territorial division type was utilized in Imperial Russia, USSR and is currently in use in Russian Federation.
Such territorial division provides convenient management of army units, their training and other activities regarding the country’s readiness to defend itself.
[edit] History
In Imperial Russia, military districts were first formed in 1862-1864. In USSR, the first six military districts (Yaroslavsky, Moskovsky, Orlovsky, Belomorsky, Uralsky, and Privolzhsky) were formed in March of 1918 during the Russian Civil War in 1918-1920 in order to prepare big army reserves for the front.
The number of military districts varied depending on the circumstances and with the evolution of the Soviet Army. For example, before the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 there were 16 military districts and one front. Right after the war, it changed to 33, however, by October of 1946, it had been reduced to 21.
At the end of the 1980s, immediately before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, there were sixteen Military Districts, within three to five main groupings:
- Leningrad Military District
- Western Theatre
- Western Strategic Direction
- South-Western Strategic Direction
- Southern Group of Forces (Hungary)
- Odessa Military District
- Kiev Military District
- Far Eastern Strategic Direction/Theatre
- Siberian Military District
- Trans-Baikal Military District
- Far East Military District
- Southern Theatre
- Transcaucasus Military District
- North Caucasus Military District
- Central Asian Military District
- Turkestan Military District
- Central reserve
- Moscow Military District
- Volga Military District
- Ural Military District
[edit] Russian Federation
A military district operates under the command of the District Headquarters headed by the District Commander subordinated to the Ground Forces Headquarters.
In today's Russia, there are 6 military districts:
- Moscow Military District (Моско́вский, Moskovsky)—Moscow region
- Leningrad Military District (Ленингра́дский, Leningradsky)—St. Petersburg region
- North Caucasus Military District (Се́веро-Кавка́зский, Severo-Kavkazsky)—Northern Caucasus region
- Volga-Ural Military District (Приво́лжско-Ура́льский, Privolzhsko-Uralsky)—Volga region and the Urals
- Siberian Military District (Сиби́рский, Sibirsky)—Siberia region
- Far East Military District (Дальневосто́чный, Dalnevostochny)—Russian Far East
In this classification, Kaliningrad and the surrounding Kaliningrad Oblast are considered to be a special region.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- China:
- International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance, 1979/80, 1981/82, 1988/89
- Chapter 8, PLA Ground Forces, by Dennis J Blasko, in The People's Liberation Army as Organisation, RAND, CF182
- Thomas C. Roberts, The Chinese People's Militia and Doctrine of People's War, National Security Affairs Monograph Series 83-4, 1983, National Defence University Press, Washington DC.
