Nikolai Efimovich Varfolomeev (; 29 September 1890 – 8 May 1939) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

military commander and theoretician. He and Vladimir Triandafillov made significant contributions to the use of technology in deep offensive operations. Varfolomeev was one of the foremost military theorists teaching at the RKKA Military Academy. He was executed in 1939 during the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

Deep operation

Varfolomeev, unlike Triandafilov, was less concerned with developing the quantitative indices of deep battle, but rather the mechanics of the shock army's mission. Varfolomeev termed this as "launching an uninterrupted, deep and shattering blow" along the main axis of advance. Varfolomeev believed the shock army needed both firepower and mobility to destroy both enemy tactical defences, operational reserves and seize geographical targets or positions in harmony with other operationally independent, but strategically collaborative, offensives.Harrison 2001, p. 196

References

Bibliography

* Brigade Commander Georgii Samoilovich Isserson. ''The Evolution of Operational Art''. Translator: Bruce W. Menning. Combat Studies Institute Press. . * Harrison, Richard W. ''The Russian Way of War: Operational Art 1904–1940''. Lawrence, Kan.: University Press of Kansas, 2001. Soviet kombrigs Military strategists Military theorists 1890 births 1939 deaths Soviet military writers {{USSR-bio-stub