SOVIET ARMY CHEMICAL TRAINING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00046R000300240018-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 22, 2001
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: March 29, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

REPORT NO.
5X1A
25X1A
USSR DATE DISTR. 29 karch 1954
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Soviet Army Chemical Training
DATE OF INFORMATION
NO. OF PAGES 25X1 A
REFERENCES :
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION 25X1 X
CONF IAL
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25
a? ENTIAL
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Chemical X I /A
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which w sa~pu
tective shoes and combination protective suits, chemical agents and the du-
plex cape.
Training included gas mask drill, uee`of smoke pots, drill in donning pro
Gas bask
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It was made of a fabric materiall
that was coated with some type of yellow, greasy substances The battalion
had six pairs of.these overboots for training purpose.;,
Flame Throwers
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Source never saw or heard of a flame throwing tank or of the
portable flame thrower,
d. Individual Deeofltamination Sit
neither handled it nor knew what it
contained. identified Ma being the now as the individual anti?chemi.
cal package IhP.6,'mentioned in "soviet Chemical Warfare Weapons and Equip I
Source never saw 01 heard of white phosphorous shells.
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t recall details of the lectures or the names of-the-gases.
r4 ohloropiorin,
gene :oxiue.
gases resembling phosgene, mustard, lewisits
knew nothing about nerve gases,.blood gases or'phos?.
4e Instructors said that the purpose of amok. munitions was to produce
smoke screens to camoufla trop ui nt during offensive of defen-
cive ,:operations. hrpe types of smoke pots, des..
criptions of whit . a ow
1A
TRAINING AD M11MOFM - CAL INFORMATION
he following information to That
on training and maneuvers,25 1A
10 Source's knowledgeability on chemical training was viers limited.
2:. He gave the following information about chemical equipment.
During chemical agent lectures, he wasltaught only the common gages.
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OEIEI F DSHTIAL
a, Mah Books Fart
8ourr; said it resembled the'irritant smoke candle D1.11 (see
"Soviet Chemical artare Weapons and 34uipeent,a dated I Jun 50). The_:
smoke pot was 16 to 17 cm high and about-20 cre. in diameter, 1+lade of a?
light sheet met,l that was painted green, it weighed about to 4* kg I
top had 10 emission holes andran igniter well which was located in the?cen$s
ter,
Source said a match-bad type of igniter was used to etert the
smoke pot burningl The igniter was six to eight centimeters long and abaat
As thick as a pencil. It was put into the well and was ignited when a
scratcher was drawn across its tip? The igniter and scratcher came in sep-
arate containers,
Burning time of the smoke pot was approximately 10 minutes,
The smoke cloud produced was either black or white and nontoxic, Because it
looked like a fierce fire, the black smoke was particularly effective, in
camouflaging a disabled tank while the crew made repairs or in similar situa:
Lions, The large flame given off
l
o
c
u
d us. seen for acne distance. White
smoke was normally used to camouflage troops. It did not give off a,flame o.
Y size, fain and cold weather did
not affect the operation of the smoke
pot, but high winds did disperse the smoke rar$dly,
number of these smoke pots and watched seven
others fired,, He never saw a misfire or one that failed to burn completely.
He did not know the'contente of the pot and did not remember any marking on
it to distinguish the type of smoke to be produced,, Source also added that
an ignited pot would float on water, coming up to'the surface burning and,
smocking after being thrown in,
cording to source
tal chemical warehouse,
all smoke pots were stores, in the regimen
b. SDsh A%oke Plot
It was about 60 ca1high and 50 cm.,in diameter, Made of 1
sheet metal that was painted light.
green, it xeighed abo" 4$ kg. This
pet bras
similar to =Wks barrel ` DB 4l in the "Soviet Chemical Warfare
Xtguipnent?1 manual Weapons and
except for the absence of the body rings.
Source never saw one of these
it was used pots in use. As was tali!
to camouflage tanks and all kinds of vehicles as well as large
bodies of troops. Color of smoke produced or length of burning time were
unknown to him. The sueoke supposedly was not affected by weather conditions,
.Source said that these large pots were mounted on the rear armez
plates of T-34 tanks and 5P Guns. Only one Amoke container could be mounted
on atank, A. bracket and'two straps held smoke pot in place. The brackets
were a standard modification. The tank driver could either fire a smoke pot
electrically or release it from the task at any time by using a special re
lease lever located in his' compartment, The Bash was never stored on a tatnk
C0117 IAL
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O'MM) RPIA;.
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instead, it was kept in the regimental chemical warehouse. Source also
heard that it coule be used separately in the field and that.. it could be
fired electrical) or manually. He did not know whether'it could float in
water.
See Snc1. A for a sketch of the WG grenade (smoke hand grenade),
It was about 23 to. 25 am. high and had a'diameter of about seven to aig t
centimeters, The body of the grenade was made of a yellow cardboardwlike
material. The.?B had a lid that fitted inside of the body.
Rource said that the grenade was ignited by a pullet igniter
which had to be jerked hard for operation or else the grenade failed to fuAc
tion. He could give no further details about this igniter.
The grenade came in two types, toxic and non-toxic, These were
distinguished by the color of the lid. The lid was I:ellow for non-toxic
smoke, but source did not know the lid color of toxic smoke grenades. He we
told that the toxic type was used to produce casualties. Source also heard
that an unknown number of toxic smoke grenades was stored in the regimental
chemical warehouse and that these grenades were never used in training.
He knew of no other markings on the grenade* He did not know
its chemical contents.
Burning time of the smoke hand grenade was about four minutes.
.It could produce either a black or white smoke cloud.. Though not knowing
the specific uses for the black smoke type, source said the white smoke gre-
nades were used to camouflage ofle or two soldiers while they were digging in
He saw about five of these grenades fired and observed no misfires. No flams
came from them while they were burning.
lXnalz
A. BDG Smoke Sand Grenade
C L
G Grenade
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25) IA
oomm"rTAL
a5..
MR -Swks Sand de
It resembles the unoke candle
shown i.. the OSovist. Chemical Vartare Weapons and aiFment$ manual,
publi. d by the Intelligence Bunch, Chemical Corps, dtd 1 Tun 50,
23-25 em
Date of Info l 25X
Basis of Into: M1 obser-
vation
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