Soviet military periodical press during the Red Army's campaign in Europe, March 1944 - May 1945: structure, norms, and personnel

The case of the Soviet military periodicals during the Red Army's campaign in Europe (March 1944 - May 1945) is analyzed in the paper based on the materials from the Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (TsAMO RF) and the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI). The author analyzes the structure of military periodicals, characterizes the norms established by the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army (GlavPURKKA) regulating the work of military periodicals, and traces the relationship between editorial boards and war correspondents. It is stated that the editorial boards of military periodicals consisted, as a rule, of 27 employees: 19 military personnel and 8 civilian employees. GlavPURKKA controlled the military periodical press. The circulation of military newspapers was determined by the orders of the chief of GlavPURKKA and was repeatedly increased or reduced. The content was controlled by the political administrations of the fronts. Glav-PURKKA regulated the main directions of newspapers’ development and revealed shortcomings in the work of editorial boards. Constant supervision by GlavPURKKA and political administrations of the fronts protruded “relations” between editorial boards and war correspondents. The political administrations urged the editorial boards to establish a comprehensive contact with war correspondents and to eliminate the existing shortcomings in working with them. On the whole, the institute of military periodicals was a rather complex “organism” that underwent various changes and improvements throughout the period.