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ArcheoBiblioBase: Archives in Russia: C-4

Last update of repository: 14 March 2020

Tsentral'nyi arkhiv Ministerstva oborony RF (TsAMO)


Holdings

Total: 90,000 fonds, 18,600,000 units, 1939–to present

This centralized repository retains all records of the Soviet Army (before 1958, Red Army) and the Ministry of Defense of the USSR–RF that are destined for permanent preservation, dating from the beginning of the Second World War (the Great Patriotic War) and also the postwar period. A few fonds include materials starting in 1939.
        The archive holds the records of central organs of military command, including the Ministry (before 1946 Commissariat) of the Armed Forces (after 1953, of Defense), the General Staff, the chiefs of staff of all branches of the Armed Forces (except for the Navy), the staffs of all branches of the special services (special troops), and also the Chief Intelligence Directorate (Glavnoe razvedyvatel'noe upravlenie—GRU). There are files from the administrations of operational associations, formations, staff units, and military organizations and enterprises (except for the Navy—VMF).
        There are also records of fronts and armies, the administrations of fronts and military regions or districts, lower military units and formations, military-training and scientific-research establishments, and other military organizations and enterprises of the Soviet Army (Red Army, before 1958) as organized after 1941. There are records of battles, reports, and informational documentation, as well as personnel records and CPSU/Komsomol documents. There are records of political organs within the Armed Forces, and CPSU and Komsomol organizations that were active during different periods.
        The organization and arrangement of fonds follows the organization of the Army itself. Hence there are separate fonds for central administrative organs of the Ministry of Defense, administrations of military regions or districts (okruga), fronts, armies, divisions, troop units, and other separate military institutions.
        The archive also retains personal papers of a number of prominent military figures including Marshal S.S. Biriuzov, Marshal K.E. Voroshilov, Army General A.I. Antonov and Army General A.T. Stuchenko, among others, acquired either by gift or purchase.

N.B. Earlier records of the Red Army from 1918 to 1940 are held in RGVA (B–8). Current records of the General Staff from at least the last thirty years are maintained in the special agency archive.
        Records of the State Committee on Defense (Gosudarstvennyi komitet oborony—GKO), and directives of the Supreme Commander in Chief (Verkhovnoe Glavnokomandovanie—VGK) during World War II are held in the Archive of the President (AP RF—see C–1) and RGASPI (B–12). Civil records of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SVAG) during the postwar period are held in GA RF (B–1).


ABB ArcheoBiblioBase Archeo Biblio Base Patricia Kennedy Grimsted