Mandatory conscription of young people for urgent military service has been in effect throughout the history of the Soviet Union. Only an army based on military service could provide security for a huge continental power. Service in the army was mandatory, and for draft evasion a person could face criminal liability. However, for three years in Soviet history, young people were not drafted into the troops at all. It happened after the war. Why?
1. Reason one: too big an army
The first important reason was that at the time of 1945 the Soviet Union had the largest army in the world - 11.5 million people. It was much more than the country needed by the standards of the new peacetime. So the demobilization began. However, for a number of reasons, it did not happen immediately. The return of conscripts home stretched out in time from 1945 to 1948 by decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. As a result, if in 1947 the number of troops was 8.6 million people, by 1948 it had fallen to 2.8 million people. Extended demobilization in turn was directly related to the second important reason.
2. Reason two: the decline in the male population
This should be more than obvious to anyone who has any idea about the human losses of the Soviet Union. According to the most conservative estimates, more than 27 million people died at the front, in the rear and in the occupied territory during 1941-1945. Thus, in 1945, there was virtually no one to call for urgent military service. No, of course, young people of 18 years of age in the country were in large numbers, but the USSR for the first time in its history fell into a demographic hole. The former Soviet republics did not see anything like this, not before the war, not after it until the 1990s. For this reason, when at least someone began to be called up for military service, the units in most formations had only 50-80% of their regular strength.
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In addition, for the young and strong in the country in 1945, another form of compulsory service was found. The entire European part of the USSR, as of May 9, 1945, lay in ruins. The country needed to be restored. The war brought numerous disasters: without the urgent restoration of collective farms and arable land, the Union was threatened by famine and outbreaks of hungry epidemics, plants and factories had to be rebuilt, throughout the European part of the country hundreds of thousands of kilometers were rendered unusable communications. Finally, someone needed to work in those same collective farms, in factories and factories. Therefore, young people were drafted into labor armies and factory-produced schools. This service was considered an alternative military service, and therefore it was mandatory, and criminal liability was also provided for evading it without good reason. This situation persisted for the first three years after the war, until the country was finally able to return to peaceful life.
In continuation of the topic, read about why did Russian soldiers wrap strange bandages on their feet during the First World War.
Source: https://novate.ru/blogs/150522/62992/