Spetsnaz: The Inside Story of the Soviet Special Forces

This is, frankly, a chilling book. Written a few years before the collapse of the Soviet Union by a Spetsnaz soldier (he does not tell us his rank, but what he knows suggests officer level) who happens to be Ukrainian–Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union at that time. Somehow, and some when, he managed to escape to the west. He does not tell us this story. He is obviously not happy with the Soviet government, but he appears proud, to some extent, to have been a part of Spetsnaz, no matter how brutal it was. Indeed, brutality seems to be the name of the game, whether in the training of their soldiers (“If a man dies in training, he is not suited for Spetsnaz”) or in military doctrine–torture and murder (of civilians and soldiers, even their own men if they are wounded and cannot go on) are policy! Dogs are trained to carry explosives under tanks and blow themselves up.Spetsnaz are not special forces in the same sense as American SEALs or British SAS (I do not mean to ignore other services). Spetsnaz are highly trained elite soldiers who serve alongside the regular army, navy, and air forces. They can be disbursed with the rest of the military or pulled together in any number and configuration for special purposes. While the special forces of Western countries number in the hundreds or perhaps a few thousand, Spetsnaz numbers in the tens of thousands–In appendices, Suvorov lays out their organization charts–still a small number compared to the Soviet Union’s million-man regular forces.Does Spetsnaz still exist post-Soviet collapse? I can find little information on this, but the book's relevancy is not much impacted because it still reflects present Russian military doctrine–witness Ukraine! A very chilling read.

This book as well as "Commandos from the Sea: Soviet Naval Spetsnaz in World War II (Naval Institute Special Warfare Series)" Hardcover – October 1, 1996 by Iurii Strekhnin (Author), James F. Gebhardt (Translator), also available at Amazon.com, as well as others on former Soviet as well as current Russian military doctrine are more than important for those in US Armed services as well as US citizens to read for several reasons.First they provide great insight into Russian mentality when it comes to war fighting and survival of mother Russia. No expense is in fact too great in terms of training, and the human cost of total victory in regards to what they consider the sovereign Russian landmass.Second, the US military used to train extensively US officers and NCO's on basic Russian/Soviet doctrine and array of forces and equipment/ weapons systems, which, per some reviews here would seem has been forgotten- i.e. know your enemy better than yourself- sort of thing.Third, just from a pure historical perspective, one can glean why the Russian might maintain such a "vicious" training system and or forces, given the extensive history of Western and Eastern military incursions into Russia from the "Teutonic Knights," the Moguls, the Japanese, Napoleon, and Germany during two World Wars.... and the massive loss of life suffered during each by the Russian population.Finally, many armed services, around the globe are still equipped with former Soviet arms and weapon systems and their leadership trained in not only Soviet/Russian doctrine, but that of other foreign countries as well....It is ironic, that a US soldier that supposedly during a rotation to one of the US Army's Combat Training Centers, had a female Military Intelligence Lieutenant, whom supposedly graduated the US Army Military Intelligence Officer Basic course knew little to none of the conventional array of Soviet Forces, and left her BN (Battalion) Leadership to do it themselves- in addition everything else MI related-and simply asked why, if the BN Leadership some of this, why she should--- i.e. know and perform her job! If true, this is a sad commentary on the skill, professionalism and basic war-fighting knowledge and mentality of today's US Armed Services.I concur with some of the reviews written here- this is both a very disturbing work, on numerous levels, as well as perhaps a forgotten skill by not only the US military, but perhaps US business, and US universities as well. I give this work 5-Stars, as it should be required reading by not only US military personnel but all those concerned with the common defense of the United States.

Another win for Viktor Suvorov. If you've read Inside the Soviet Army and Inside Soviet Military Intelligence-- and if you're reading this review then odds are you have or should read those two books as well-- then you know what to expect from Suvorov. It's going to be detailed, concise, complete, and almost pedantic in its attention to detail.There's a tendency among westerners -- especially armchair generals with no military experience like me -- to blindly accept our own assumptions founded in western military doctrine and political assumptions. This is a dire mistake. Spetsnaz is an elite force but NOT one founded on the US model, or one that in any way resembles it. Its mission, methods, recruitment, training, tactics, and policies are totally different from that of the American system. Suvorov gives us a good history of both Spetsnaz and the organizational and doctrinal assumptions that shape it.If you're looking for equipment or adventure stories, you'll find that this book is lacking. It's written by a former Spetsnaz officer who became an intelligence officer, and thinks and acts like one. You'll get much more on why and how spetsnaz is deployed, rather than gee-whiz accounts of all the capitalists they've impaled on shovels. You'll also read about the Spetsnaz agent network-- something with no known parallel in the West and IMO worth its own book.With Russia on the march, and stories of Spetsnaz action in Georgia and now Ukraine, this book is more relevant than ever. While Spetsnaz was significantly re-organized in the mid 2000's, it has reportedly reverted to its original, Soviet-era structure and operations. That makes this book timely and important. My only complaint is that it's hard to take western media seriously when you start catching their numerous, obvious mistakes. So thanks for opening my eyes and ruining my sleep, Vladimir Bogdanovich. Highly recommended.

this information is from the 80s but it's still very interesting

A estória da unidade é boa, mas senti falta de fotos coloridas e das ilustrações mas detalhadas, não recomendaria esse livro

One of the most interesting book about Soviet system from an insider.

Victor Suvorov explains the structure, training, tactics, weapons of one of the most mysterious special forces of all time. The GRU Spetsnaz. Eventhough Soviet union split up in 1991, the Russian federation inherited the tactics and hierarchy and most importantly, the secrecy. This book is the only full fledged account of Spetsnaz, written by the Spetsnaz member himself. A must read.

Thanks