While other countries were just beginning to experiment with military parachutists, the Soviets had already established a military parachute school by the mid-1930s. Even more important for training airborne troops, however, had been the absorption of all parachute clubs in 1933 into Osoaviakhim (loosely translated as the Society for the Promotion of Aviation and Chemical Defense), a paramilitary group roughly similar to the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts and geared towards teaching skills applicable to the Soviet armed forces. In addition to parachute training, many young men and women were receiving training in flying both gliders and powered aircraft. By 1936, there were 559 parachute towers in the Soviet Union and 115 parachute training schools. In that same year members of Osoaviakhim and other civilians made 1,600,000 jumps from towers and 30,000 jumps from planes.
As a result of this intensive civilian training program, it is estimated that in 1940, over a million Soviet men and women were trained parachutists. Osoaviakhim had taught many of the most promising parachutists other military skills. Marksmanship, map reading, first aid, and physical training, for example, were included as adjuncts to parachute training. Mass jumps were made by groups who assembled after landing to undertake some mission. Missions included long hikes, attacks on communications objectives or factories, and what would now be called orienteering exercises.
As a result of this intensive preparation, most pre-war recruits into the Soviet airborne forces were already well grounded in basic skills when they commenced their military training. Female involvement in the Osoaviakhim parachute program also was the basis for the Red Armys airborne doctors and nurses who jumped to give medical aid to the partisans during the war.
Since educational standards were higher for airborne recruits they normally picked up skills more quickly. Five years of schooling were required for airborne enlisted personnel and seven years for officers.
Training for enlisted men lasted four months and for officers six months. Most officer candidates had risen through the ranks and after the German invasion were usually proven combat veterans. Although jumps were made in training, and the fledgling paratroopers learned the quirks of the military transport aircraft they would be jumping from, the emphasis was on building toughness and initiative. The Soviet airborne forces were considered elite assault troops, and their training was tough enough to give them a strong esprit de corps.
Just as it is still a key ingredient in jump schools today, physical training took up a great deal of the Soviet airborne trainees time, and forced marches of 50 miles during training were not unheard of. Parachutists received intensive small arms training and learned to use all weapons up to and including heavy artillery and tanks. As the war progressed, Soviet parachutist training incorporated familiarization with German small arms. Since they would often be sent on sabotage missions, much time was spent during training on the use of explosives. Map reading and radio skills were also taught to all trainees. Specialized training was given to those men destined for airborne artillery, engineer, or other specialized formations, and a certain number of parachutists received training as ski troops who could be dropped into mountainous areas.
The extra two months of officers training was devoted to airborne tactics, command skills, and other problems of commanding airborne sections, platoons, companies, or battalions. Officers commanding brigades or corps were normally sent to the Zhukovsky (the Red Army War College) in Moscow.
Up to the beginning of World War II, Soviet military parachutists were probably the best trained in the world. The years of Soviet parachute experience had taught them the most effective training methods, and their huge pool of partially trained manpower allowed them to choose the top recruits.
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"By the eve of Nazi invasion, Soviets had organized five divisional-sized airborne corps."
World War II Airborne Warfare Tactics (Gordon L. Rottman, Peter Dennis)
