A nickname for an adversary in a war cannot be neutral. Propaganda and rumor always shape the image of the enemy. And if it seems that the word is completely innocent, the background can be unpleasant.
Bad kind
The method of influencing propaganda with the help of ethnophilisms on the army has been known for a long time. Ethnophilism - "bad, unfit kind" - an offensive nickname, with a negative evaluative, emotional or stylistic connotation. Ethnophilism can be compound, come from the name, some natural characteristics of a person and from the name of an animal or other creature.
So, during the Northern War of 1700-1721. Swedish propaganda unleashed a stream of publications and newsletters about the horrific Russian actions. The enemy always took the form of a monster (Tsar Peter), who was helped by Cossacks and soldiers. "Russian", "enemy" and "devil" have actually become synonyms.
Describing the situation of the inhabitants of Finland, propagandists associated them with the biblical story about the suffering of the people of Israel in Egyptian slavery, while the Russians were called "Assyrians", their king - "the bastard of the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar."
The Patriotic War with Napoleon in 1812 enriched both languages - Russian and French - with terms such as "trash" - from the Chevalier, "chantrap" - chantra pas ("cannot sing, cannot"), "ball skier" - cher ami ("Dear friend"). In the French language, the word "bistro" from the Russian "quickly" has taken root. Until now, in France you can hear "berezina", which in Russian means "everything is very bad" ("full arctic fox" - jarg.).
As for the fighters of the Russian army, according to the recollections of the Napoleonic general de Marbeau, the Bashkir soldiers made a great impression on the French. For their mastery of bows, the French called them "cupids".
In the Crimean War of 1853-1856. between the Russian Empire and the coalition of the British, French, Ottoman empires and the Sardinian kingdom, the French were not so delicate. This is what Leo Tolstoy writes in Sevastopol Stories about a captured soldier: “They are not beautiful, these Russian brutes,” says one Zouave from the crowd of French. However, the Russian officers themselves, according to Tolstoy, “half-contemptuously, half-affectionately call the soldier“ Moscow ”or else“ oath ”.
Beastly nicknames
Bestial nicknames also form the image of the enemy. As a rule, these are compound ethnophilisms. So, in English language appear: сhinese pig - "Chinese pig", Russian pig - "Russian pig", varying with the words dog - "dog", dirty - "dirty", filthy - "disgusting", etc.
In the Great Patriotic War soldiers of different armies were given short nicknames - Ivan, Tommy, Hans - that most fully reflect their inner essence, at the same time being an identifier of the expectations of their behavior. This neutral nickname was due to a kind of recognition of the enemy as a strong warrior.
But on the civilian population, the Nazis won back in full: Schwein - "pig" - otherwise the Russians were not called.
From the memoirs of Tamara Grigorieva, whom her stepmother handed over to work in Germany in 1942: “There were 40 of us in the forest, they gave slippers and picks to chop stones. I didn’t put on slippers, didn’t take a pick in my hands and said loudly to everyone: "Ours will come - they will give them." The policeman grabbed me by the scythes and threw me into a pit, where my arms and legs were immediately broken. The whole night in the barracks it was bleeding. And in the morning they took me to the doctor. I would recognize his face even now. He looked, the blood was coming, I was all bloody, my hands were covered in blood, he said: Weck, Schwein (Go away, pig) ”.
Eastern passions
"Blue Eyes" - what's wrong with that nickname? But it frightened a native of Central Asia. In 1914, Turkey joined the First world war on the side of Germany. Turkish subjects were obliged to fight against Russia, but the Assyrians refused to participate in hostilities. Assyrian Christians helped Russia and her allies England and France. Turkey in response immediately launched a war of extermination against the Assyrian civilian population. A small part survived from the massacres and pogroms. About 60 thousand Assyrians left for Russia along with the retreating Russian soldiers. They said: we will go after the "blue-eyed" - as they called the Russians in Turkey.
You have to understand that “blue-eyed” is not a neutral concept at all. According to the beliefs of the Eastern peoples, the genies often took on a human appearance, and they could be distinguished from people by the color of their eyes - blue - and their hair - light. “We will leave with the demons” - this is what the Assyrians had in mind when they left inhospitable Turkey.
Decades have passed, and now in a peaceful life, the Turks call Russian girls a nickname similar to the name. "Natasha" is a compound nickname.
In the war in Afghanistan (1979-1989), Russian soldiers were called "shuravi", from the Arabic "council". This word takes its origin from the Afghan name of Soviet specialists - military advisers - and has a neutral connotation. But for a Russian special forces soldier, "dushman" has an exclusively negative connotation and means "enemy" in translation.
The nickname of Russians “ak-kulak”, “ash-kulokh” - “white ears” - a nickname of Russians widespread in Central Asia, carries a negative connotation. The fact is that, according to the customs of these peoples, all women must wear headscarves, and girls must wear hats. Therefore, Russian girls, shamelessly exposing their ears to the public, deserve, from their point of view, condemnation.
How else was the Russians called contemptuously:
In Central Asia - "burla" (burlak), as well as "shoshka" (pig-eater);
In Estonia - "tibla";
In the USA - "Raski";
In Finland - "russya":
"Laomaozi" ("maozi"), "hairy" is a colloquial designation by the Chinese for Russians.
Or here's another technician, a big man and an athlete, it was for the eyes that they called "Oculist", since not a single booze in which he took part ended without him knocking out someone's eye. Behind the eyes, I mean the object of influence, not talking behind the back.
A senior lieutenant served in one regiment. He appeared to be about sixty years old, although in reality he was not even forty-five. And he had a nickname - "Colonel". And that's why they named it.
It is known that in the officer's identity card, which was issued only one and for the entire period of service there is a column: military rank.
It provides space for recording military ranks from lieutenant to major general. So he had all these places filled: lieutenant - senior lieutenant - lieutenant - senior lieutenant-lieutenant ... and so on until the penultimate line. A careerist, however.
One navigator with a simple surname Golovnya was called the noble surname Balkonsky. Once on a weekend, having taken a hefty dose, he smoked on the second-floor balcony, from where he successfully got drunk and lay without the slightest sign of consciousness until he was escorted to the infirmary, accompanied by the frightened regiment commander, lieutenant colonel. There, regaining consciousness, he saw his own commander and, focusing on the two stars in pursuit, he said with understanding:
- I saw this lieutenant somewhere.
Then, taking advantage of the momentary lack of attention to his person, he fled. And they found him sitting with a glass and a cigarette on the same balcony from which he fell out so safely half an hour ago.
Each pilot who tore more than two wheels on landing was given the honorary nickname Pokryshkin until the end of his service in this regiment. Any parachutist who landed unsuccessfully was awarded a title reflecting the place of landing. If he landed on country cottage area- Summer resident, vegetable garden - Gardener, in the forest - Arborist, in the midst of the herd - Shepherd or Cattleman.
I had a second navigator, whose name was Kazachok or the Headless Horseman. Before serving in the naval aviation, he was a jockey in Rostov-on-Don, hence the Kazachok, and the Headless Horseman characterizes his behavior and career growth well.
In one auto platoon there was a fighter known by his pseudonym - Trolleybus. They somehow lost electricity in the barracks in the basement. This soldier was sent there to find and fix the malfunction. The fighter, having estimated with his brains how much, decided to follow the path of least resistance - he clung to the wire on the ceiling with both hands (the ceiling in the basement is low) and began to move with small steps in the dark, feeling for the place of the cliff.
I eventually found it. Well at least it didn’t kill it, but it was pumped out.
Regiments, divisions and, in rare cases, squadrons had nicknames. So, one regiment was called Romanian only because during a football match between the regiments of the division someone, encouraging their own, shouted a phrase from the movie: "Forward, dead Romanians!" And it stuck.
For some reason, the second regiment was called Zyabrovsky, although the squadron transferred from Zyabrovka was part of the Romanian regiment.
The third, separate regiment of this garrison was called Hunghuz or Chinese for two reasons. First, it originated near the Chinese border. And secondly, because of the large number of personnel. The crew of one aircraft could include from 9 to 14 people. And a whole bunch of technicians served him.
And the divisions were usually named after the nearest settlement. Ours was initially located in the Sov Havansky region, and then, as a result of territorial delimitation, ended up in the Vaninsky region. This made it possible for the fleet aviation commander to show his wit and joke about our divisional commander:
- You used to be a sovnian, and now you're just a stinker.
An offensive hint at the similarity of our compound to excrement, in its fighting qualities, from the point of view of the commander.
Nicknames in the army
- Without five, two, one called, he was 195 cm tall.
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- We had Vovka "Eggplant" because of his complexion.
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- Khrapovetsky due to the fact that he snored heavily
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- Was drove "Vitamin", a kilogram of 160-170 weighed
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- There was "Kranyusha", a crane. The guy sometimes slowed down, and that was the name of Ilyusha-kranyusha.
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- Mehan on my BMP was called "Battle android", a splinter in his back hit him on the battlefield, but he still did not want to go to the medical unit! He said: "We will return home - they will be cured." It still walks!
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- The soldier's name was "Tankman". Nothing special, it seems. However, he got chased after he fell into the open sewer hatch... And, crawling out to the waist, he continued to rub in the theme, begun before the fall.
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- Zigag or Zigi. He was a jock, a figure like a Zigzag from the movie "Duck Tales".
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- Populizer, from the words to lick the ass.
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- Was Blockade (because from St. Petersburg)
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- We had two friends, snipers: "Blind 1" and "Blind 2" chased them. It was fun to listen to them when they talked over the radio.
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In my company in Chechnya there was "Godzilla" - the guy had a heavy, "dropping steps" gait and the name Gazzalov. "Kid" - a good-natured fellow weighing no less than a hundred pounds. "Mafia" - served a youngster for participating in the murder of a policeman. "Svyyuk" is our eternal carrier of the 159th radio station.
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NAME IN THE ARMY
The stories of their origin are interesting.
For example, one commander of the aviation of the fleet was called “Photographer” behind his back. He had not the slightest relation to the high art of photography, but, making a round of the officer's work, he always ended it with the word "taking pictures." This did not refer to the appearance of a photo-portrait of the scolded person, but meant his removal from his post.
Or here's another technician, a big man and an athlete, it was for the eyes that they called "Oculist", since not a single booze in which he took part ended without him knocking out someone's eye. Behind the eyes, I mean the object of influence, not talking behind the back.
A senior lieutenant served in one regiment. He appeared to be about sixty years old, although in reality he was not even forty-five. And he had a nickname - "Colonel". And that's why they named it.
It is known that in the officer's identity card, which was issued only one and for the entire period of service there is a column: military rank. It provides space for recording military ranks from lieutenant to major general. So he had all these places filled: lieutenant - senior lieutenant - lieutenant - senior lieutenant-lieutenant ... and so on until the penultimate line. A careerist, however.
One navigator with a simple surname Golovnya was called the noble surname Balkonsky. Once on a weekend, having taken a hefty dose, he smoked on the second-floor balcony, from where he successfully got drunk and lay without the slightest sign of consciousness until he was escorted to the infirmary, accompanied by the frightened regiment commander, lieutenant colonel. There, regaining consciousness, he saw his own commander and, focusing on the two stars in pursuit, he said with understanding:
- I saw this lieutenant somewhere.
Then, taking advantage of the momentary lack of attention to his person, he fled. And they found him sitting with a glass and a cigarette on the same balcony from which he fell out so safely half an hour ago.
Each pilot who tore more than two wheels on landing was given the honorary nickname Pokryshkin until the end of his service in this regiment. Any parachutist who landed unsuccessfully was awarded a title reflecting the place of landing. If he landed on a summer cottage - a Summer resident, a vegetable garden - a Gardener, in a forest - an Arborist, in the midst of a herd - a Shepherd or a Cattleman.
I had a second navigator, whose name was Kazachok or the Headless Horseman. Before serving in the naval aviation, he was a jockey in Rostov-on-Don, hence the Kazachok, and the Headless Horseman characterizes his behavior and career growth well.
In one auto platoon there was a fighter known by his pseudonym - Trolleybus. They somehow lost electricity in the barracks in the basement. This soldier was sent there to find and fix the malfunction. The fighter, having estimated with his brains how much, decided to follow the path of least resistance - he clung to the wire on the ceiling with both hands (the ceiling in the basement is low) and began to move with small steps in the dark, feeling for the place of the cliff.
I eventually found it. Well at least it didn’t kill it, but it was pumped out.
Regiments, divisions and, in rare cases, squadrons had nicknames. So, one regiment was called Romanian only because during a football match between the regiments of the division someone, encouraging their own, shouted a phrase from the movie: "Forward, dead Romanians!" And it stuck.
For some reason, the second regiment was called Zyabrovsky, although the squadron transferred from Zyabrovka was part of the Romanian regiment.
The third, separate regiment of this garrison was called Hunghuz or Chinese for two reasons. First, it originated near the Chinese border. And secondly, because of the large number of personnel. The crew of one aircraft could include from 9 to 14 people. And a whole bunch of technicians served him.
And the divisions were usually named after the nearest settlement. Ours was initially located in the Sov Havansky region, and then, as a result of territorial delimitation, ended up in the Vaninsky region. This made it possible for the fleet aviation commander to show his wit and joke about our divisional commander:
- You used to be a sovnian, and now you're just a stinker.
An offensive hint at the similarity of our compound to excrement, in its fighting qualities, from the point of view of the commander.
By the way, not only inanimate objects become prototypes for the formation of people's nicknames, but people can also become the source of the names of objects. So, for example, our glorious division commander hated green and yellow... He especially hated dandelions. That is why every single day someone's caring hand put a bunch of dandelions in his mailbox, which made him even more dislike for this innocent flower….
It got to the point that someone put on the steps of the division headquarters, just in time for his arrival, a piece of paper and one dandelion. The sheet read:
Don't touch me Shushpanchik,
After all, I am the last dandelion.
The general's surname was Shushpanov, and dandelions in this division were called nothing but "shushpanchiks".
Nowhere have I met such a craving for the distribution of nicknames as in aviation and the apotheosis of this phenomenon can be considered the name of the monument in front of the House of Officers in Monino.
There they sculpted a strong fellow with an artificial satellite in his hand in a rapid dash forward. The jerk turned out to be so swift that the symbolic clothes slid back, and this gave rise to the name of the monument - "I will let everything down, but I will start it!"
And at our school there was a captain Korolyov. But, as he clearly did not hold out to the king either with his mind or charisma, his name was Jack))
In Mongolia, there was a fighter who, while jumping in the steppe, sat bored on parachutes, unsuccessfully lit a cigarette and burned several hundred hectares of steppe and forest in addition, the extinguishing of which was accompanied by maneuvers of manpower, equipment and helicopters, before demobilization he bore the nickname Laur-Balaur))
The company commander was - Art. l-t Vetrov... Nickname - Draft
There was also a lieutenant, I forgot my last name, but I remember the chase - Murzik. They gave it for giving the command - "Smirrrrrrno!
I knew one warrant officer (company foreman) who, when asked "where to get it," always answered "give birth." Accordingly, the nickname "Stork".
There was a company called "Helicopter" - he was constantly running and waving his arms.
we even came up with an anecdote: the company commander comes to the battalion commander and grit: "my subordinates call me a helicopter"
battalion commander: "ok, I'll figure it out"
comrades: "Well, I flew then?"
Our political officer was named "The Talking Head" and "The Head of Professor Dowell". As he starts lecturing, he will stand behind the bedside table on the stage, behind which the lecturers are speaking (x..y remember what it is actually called) and because of his small stature, only one head is visible.
At our school there was a physics teacher named "Master". He always dressed in a formal suit with a tie and sandals, as it should be, on bare feet. I still could not understand why he had such a nickname until I heard something like this from him: "Distance - forty-one meters."
Today, when weapons rarely have their own name and more and more often only stingy alphanumeric combinations in the index, "RG" remembered the past, namely the bright and ironic nicknames of weapons given to them by the soldiers.
"Lemon"
Almost 100 years ago, an unknown inventor created the F-1 grenade. Cheap and easy to manufacture, it was extremely useful against advancing infantry. Her final appearance was a symbiosis of the French F-1 grenade and the English armorer Lemon grenade. It is not hard to guess that the first nickname for her at the front of the First World War was precisely lemon or "lemon".
"Limonka" has been in service with dozens of countries for many decades, almost unchanged. At the same time, she still holds the palm among the most dangerous anti-personnel grenades. The body of the grenade consists of "dry cast iron" - a very fragile material, but at the same time hard. At the moment of the explosion, the cast-iron shell shatters into separate fragments that have an irregular shape and sharp edges, hence its other name from the soldiers of the Red Army - "fenyusha". The destructive ability of such a grenade is monstrous, the number of fragments can reach up to 400. By the way, the soldiers of the Red Army had a special tactical scheme for waging a battle with the enemy, where the guarantee of victory was precisely the "lemon", thrown behind the enemy's backs in time: a whirlwind of fragments awaited them behind them, and in front - the muzzle of machine guns.
"Mina-frog"
Mines, like other weapons capable of killing many people at once, became widespread during the First World War. In the clever disguise and sophistication of such a device, Germany has achieved particular success. They created micromines in the form of shiny metal objects (from office pens to watches), which left in places where the enemy might congregate, all kinds of stretch marks, like spider webs, entangling the forest and, finally, the "Sprengmine 35" frog mines.
The principle of operation of such an "amphibian" was that at the slightest contact of its "antennae" sensors, it jumped 25-30 centimeters above the ground and exploded in the air. The use of the mine was not even so much in the physical neutralization of the enemy, most often the soldier only lost a leg, but in its complete demoralization: the soldiers, having heard the slightest click or crack under their feet, were already "morally killed."
"Katyusha"
"Katyusha" is one of the symbols of the victory of the Russian army in the Great Patriotic War, a miracle weapon and another subject of controversy between historians - where does such a sonorous nickname come from? The BM-13 or Katyusha field rocket artillery system was put into service on June 21, 1941. Despite its small numbers in the early stages of the war, this weapon instantly became popular both among ordinary soldiers and among the command. A fundamentally new rocket without recoil could be installed on almost any type of chassis. He was also very mobile, and one volley of the Katyusha, as a rule, was enough for the enemy to run without looking back.
Until now, among military historians, there are several completely different versions of the origin of the popular name BM-13 or "Katyusha". The first is firmly and inextricably linked with the song of the same name by Matvey Blanter to the words of Mikhail Isakovsky. As you know, the baptism of fire was adopted by a new invention in the Smolensk region, having fired a missile salvo at the Market Square in the city of Rudnya. The installations themselves were on a hillock, from where it was more convenient to deliver aimed strikes. The song says:
Apple and pear trees were blooming,
Mists floated over the river.
Katyusha came ashore,
On a high bank, on a steep one.
In one of his interviews, former Red Army soldier and later historian Andrei Sapronov recalled such a dialogue that took place immediately after the memorable first salvo: “This is a song!
Another, more common version, even more romantic, says that one of the soldiers, who missed his beloved greatly, once wrote her name on the side of the car. The sonorous name immediately fell in love with the fellow soldiers, and soon spread along the entire front.
"Big Bertha"
It is one of the "Wunderwaffe" (German for "wonder weapon") of the German armed forces of the early 20th century. Only the sight of a cannon the size of a two-story house should have horrified people. The projectile weighed 900 kilograms, and the charging process took as much as 8 minutes! "Bertha" was created to fight fortified forts and fortresses, but a much more maneuverable type of war, which appeared in the twentieth century, forced their production to cease. True, one of the cars still survived and even tried to fire at Sevastopol during the Great Patriotic War.
The mocking nickname of the model "L / 14", as its real name sounds, was given by journalists from Belgium and France, as one of the first victims of its monstrous fire. The irony was that Bertha was the name of the beloved granddaughter of Alfred Krupp, the owner of the factory and the inventor of this gun. Later, the name stuck in the German army itself, which annoyed and infuriated the old designer and loving grandfather Alfred, but he could no longer drown out the "voice of the people".
"Goat"
The immediate and charming nickname belonged to the GAZ-67, a Soviet military passenger car that was used by headquarters and reconnaissance companies, as well as transporting the wounded.
Since 1943, the GAZ-67 begins to crowd out its Lend-Lease competitors Willys MB and Ford GPW, largely due to the greater simplicity of the design, which made it possible for ordinary soldiers to repair the car right in the field without resorting to the help of special technicians. There were also disadvantages to this simplicity - the extremely stiff suspension of the car made driving it akin to riding a home artiodactyl. It is curious that further attempts to eliminate this defect were unsuccessful, even with additional hydraulic shock absorbers. But the car became a legend in the military and later in the agricultural park of the USSR. Such is the legendary "goat".
Why are special forces callsigns needed? Who invented them? We will answer these and many other questions in the article. A call sign (PSO, identification call sign) in radio communication is an identifier that identifies a radio transmitter. As a rule, this is a set of numbers, letters, or a meaningful word, sent at the beginning of a communication session and necessary to identify the radio station by the receiving object.
The USAR team is assigned to the transmitter by the communications leadership of the state to which it belongs. Call signs represent for radio stations, and for radio amateurs - specific participants in the negotiations.
Call signs of the military
Have you ever seen the Official Callsign Table? This is a reference document containing a list of communication centers, interaction stations of ships and aircraft, subunits, commanders and other employees, as well as the call signs assigned to them (conditional combinations, numbers, letters) in order to hide their true names from the enemy when transmitting information by technical means of communication ...
Our military has long studied the speech exchange through communication channels. They were able to find the words that are most convenient to use in the radio, taking into account the interference and phonetics of the Russian language.
For many guys, the management did not provide callsigns. Therefore, either they have to invent them on their own, or the commanders give them middle names. Some of the fighters who received their callsigns from the table say that they would gladly have composed them themselves.
Radiocommunication services
What are special forces callsigns? They are created by radio communication. Radio transmitters related to the broadcasting service, in the form of PSO, use the names of the media. If necessary, they sometimes indicate the ratings of the radio frequencies.
In the amateur radiocommunication service, the USAR team is more informative. It is a combination of numbers and letters of the Latin alphabet, which includes from three to six characters. The amateurish callsign is always exceptional. There are directories and databases containing additional information about the USAR team owner. The operator of the amateur radio transmitter is obliged to report his USAR team at the beginning of the session and repeat it systematically during long-term radio communications. Many seek to improve legibility by using the phonetic alphabet. What it is?
This is a standardized way of reading the letters of the alphabet. It is used in radio communication when transmitting words, callsigns, abbreviations, e-mail addresses and the like that are difficult to understand by ear, in order to reduce the number of errors.
Service specifics
What is common between the call sign of a spetsnaz fighter and the nickname of an agent? Both the first and the second are aliases. It is interesting that it is under a fictitious name that a special forces hero very often achieves fame. These are the principles of service.
In general, very often any pseudonym or nickname depends on the surname of the person. The middle name can also correspond to the actions or occupation of the fighter. The callsigns of special forces in the radio exchange can be either nicknames, or names invented by the command in advance. Many people say that the choice of a middle name does not always depend on professions and surnames. A battalion can have a single call sign, and its squads and their commanders have serial numbers. For example, the call sign "Agat" can be modified as "Agat-1" (company commander), "Agat-2" (castle companies), "Agat-8" (battalion sanitary instructor). Such a system, in principle, works great in a stationary facility.
What do the special forces call signs look like when the battle is in progress? Here everyone is already called either by nicknames, or by name (if there are no nicknames). Due to habit, many are confused in the call signs: it is not known who is "Amethyst-1" and who is "Amethyst-2". Many call each other by specific nicknames. For example, "Mole", "Karas", "Khmyr" and so on.
What other norms have the military come up with? Spetsnaz call signs are sometimes assigned according to the personal characteristics of a fighter or his specialty, often from the abbreviation of the last name, first name and patronymic. There are different nuances ...
Interception
Many fighters believe that in combat conditions, call signs should be treated carefully. Maybe there should be a little personal in them. For example, intercepting the "Czech" radio, the military even established routes by callsign. What if the enemy is also familiar with a similar system?
And what is this method of identifying "routes of movement" by callsign? They just knew, for example, that "Temuchin" was from Churek-Martan, and "Swimmer" was from Babai-Yurt. By radio communication, the soldier intercepts the message: “First, let's go to the“ Swimmer ”and sit with him for a day. At night we go to Temuchin. At this crossing, they are met.
"Swimmer" was the first guy in the village, and "Temuchin" was known as a music lover, played a disco in the 80s. For which he received his pseudonym.
Online translators worked in real time only when interacting with artillery and aviation. The SPN received transcripts of the interceptions two days ago, but that was enough for the analysts. The operation was carried out in the form of an ambush.
There are no such analysts in the armies of a potential enemy (which is about 98 countries). They think that the call sign "Kuzya" comes from the surname Kuznetsov. The meanings of the words "seeds 7.62", "castle", "hillock", "cucumbers" are indicated in the foreign dictionaries of the Russian army jargon. In general, many soldiers are thinking about how to secure their broadcast.
It is known that Richard Sorge from 1929 to 1944) had the call sign "Ramzai", Lev Borisovich (German communist, GRU employee, agent of the Comintern, was shot) - "Alex", Richard Vennikas (GRU resident in Finland, Estonian) - Bergman.
Of course, when there is powerful shelling, many forget about the nicknames and shout in plain text. It should be added that these middle names are different. One and the same soldier may have a nickname, for example, "Spectacled", but the call sign is completely different.
Description
Many people are interested in knowing what the elite troops are, how the fighters who serve in them, select the call signs, where they use them, the selection rules, the specifics ... interference. The callsigns of officials are three-digit numbers. They are all described in a reference document (TAP).
The middle names of commanders, their deputies and chiefs of subunits, headquarters and units are created from a noun and a number (1-3 digits). They are indicated in the radio data of the division. For example, "Verba-163", "El-4".
The call sign of the control room is a noun. For example, "Focus", "Ash". Two sets of callsigns are always created - main and reserve. The entire procedure for their appointment, as well as the governing documents, are described in the "Manual on the formation of communications in the ground forces".
Battalion units do not have their own means of communication, and even call signs are not assigned to squads. Therefore, they are only appointed by the platoon commanders.
Experts tend to use primitive schemes. For example, the main group is called "Wing", and the main group is "Falcon". It is precisely one-two-syllable words that are used, since it is difficult to pronounce long nicknames in battle.
Some elite troops use American standard callsigns. In this case, the first letter of the surname in the phonetic Latin alphabet is used: B - bravo, H - Charlie, and so on. A digit is then added when the first letters of the surname match. For example, Foxtrot-1, Sierra-2.
In the Russian troops, the call signs of the unit group commanders are very often selected according to the personal qualities of the person - "Leshy-1", "Bychok-1", "Kondor-1". If there are few groups, proper names are used. It is very common to use the unit callsign with any additional digit other than one.
Many fighters say that callsigns should not be created by changing the last name and should be easily retained in memory, and also that they should not reflect the external personal characteristics of a person. They argue that most often the second name is the nickname (nickname) of the fighter in everyday life.
Numeric and numeric callsigns are usually found in an exercise when there are many superiors and overseers present. It is known that there was an officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who fought in Chechnya with the call sign "200" (two hundredth).
Many fighters say that their PSO was invented by the command and changed every three months, and they created nicknames on their own in accordance with personal qualities or surnames.
Soldiers also testify that call signs and nicknames are different things. After all, the TPDL (table of callsigns of officials), which was provided to them by communication, was completely digital.
In general, call signs and nicknames are operational pseudonyms. They are formed in completely different ways. But behind every such sign stands real man, whose fate may interest not only historians or specialists, but also anyone who is not indifferent.
"Gyurza"
It is known that the call sign "Gyurza" at one time had Efentiev Alexey Viktorovich. Who is he? This is a Russian and Soviet officer who performed combat missions in Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Kosovo and Chechnya. He successfully performed his work and for personal courage this reserve lieutenant colonel was nominated for the title of Hero of the Russian Federation, but he was never awarded.
His callsign "Gyurza" during the First Chechen War was known to every inhabitant of the republic. Efentiev made dozens of raids on the rear of the Dudayevites, stormed Bamut and unblocked the Coordination Center surrounded in Grozny. During the last operation, Russian journalists and many senior officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the army were rescued.
Special Forces divisions
What are special purpose units (SPN)? These are aviation battalions trained according to a specific program, ground forces and the fleet, as well as the police, internal troops, gendarmerie, necessary to perform special tasks using special means and tactics. It is known that callsigns for special forces girls are begged in the same way as for boys - there are no differences.
"Cobra"
The call sign "Cobra" had Lieutenant Colonel Erkebek Abdulaev (intelligence officer special purpose group "Pennant" of the KGB of the USSR). He published his own autobiography. In the special forces of the KGB of the USSR, such soldiers as he were called "stuntmen".
His biography is similar to the life of most of the Vympel officers, among whom were Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Azerbaijanis and Georgians, Koreans and Karelians. They all defended the interests of their homeland - they performed one task. Each of them was faithful to his duty to the end, although they all had doubts, and experiences, and resentments.
"Yakut"
Volodya-Yakut is a Russian fictional sniper, the hero of the eponymous urban myth of the First Chechen war, which became popular due to its high performance. It is believed that this sniper's name was Maksimovich, although in the legend his name is Volodya. It is known that he was a hunter-fisherman from Yakutia and had the call sign "Yakut".
US Special Forces
The American logical control system of the army is fundamentally different from the Russian one. Not only are the digital call signs inconsistent (the fighters only call the commander between themselves conditionally 01), but the verbal ones do not lend themselves to the corresponding law of thinking (not all “birds” and “trees” are in the battalion). And this is true - without knowing the TPDL (tables of callsigns of officials), you will never understand in an open interception network who Dunduk-29 or Woodpecker-36 is. This is how US special forces work.
In the Special Forces, when conducting a secret operation, it is customary to choose callsigns for yourself (children's nickname, something fashionable, or what came to mind). If a fighter is "spotted" on the air while performing a special mission, he needs to change his PSO. It is reasonable.
US Special Forces can bring trouble to the Russian soldier. America's radio intelligence and electronic warfare know how to break encryption programs. And even if they do not know the code, they can track the intensity of radio traffic between units or disorient the enemy, jam stations, make interference, and so on. They can also take direction finding signal sources, which is also bad.
In addition, the Americans have a separate National Security Agency (NSA), which deals with electronic and electronic intelligence. This is the most secret US institution.