The operational manoeuvre group (OMG) was a
Soviet Army organisational
manoeuvre warfare concept created during the early 1950s to replace the
cavalry mechanized group which performed the
deep operations on the
Eastern Front during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
The deep operations theory developed in cooperation between the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
and
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
theorists in the 1930s later influenced the
Blitzkrieg operations and echelon-based doctrine.
In the Soviet Army doctrine the Operational Manoeuvre Groups would be inserted to exploit a breakthrough by a
Front during a potential war against
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
in Europe. In the Soviet doctrine, after the
motor-rifle units, heavily supported by artillery, helicopters and
close air support aircraft would have broken NATO front, the operational manoeuvre groups would be inserted to exploit the breakthrough using elements of, or whole
tank armies.
[Simpkin pp.139–186]
At the Front level an Operational Manoeuvre Group could include two
tank divisions and three to five motor-rifle divisions.
Notes
References
*
Simpkin, Richard E.
Race to the Swift: Thoughts on Twenty-First Century Warfare. Brassey's, 2000.
Military doctrines
Soviet Army
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