Editing Soviet Air Defence Forces (section)

===Service during Second World War===
Preparations for creation of the air defence forces started in 1932, and by the beginning of [[Operation Barbarossa]], June 1941, there were 13 PVO zones within the [[military district]]s. At the outbreak of war, air defence forces were in the midst of rearmament. Anti-aircraft artillery teams had few of the latest 37&nbsp;mm automatic and 85&nbsp;mm guns. Moreover, the troops were deficient in Yak-1s and MiG-3s; 46 percent of the fleet were obsolete aircraft. Increased rates of production were initiated to provide the troops with new equipment. In July 1941, the National Defence Committee took several measures to strengthen the forces guarding Moscow and Leningrad, Yaroslavl and Gorky industrial areas, and strategic bridges across the Volga. To this end, the formation of parts of the IA, IN, anti-aircraft machine gun and searchlight units were accelerated.

A classic example of a major political organization of defence and industrial center was the defence of Moscow. It was carried out by the [[1st Air Defence Corps]] and the [[6th Fighter Aviation Corps PVO]]. As part of these formations at the beginning of German air raids had more than 600 fighters; more than 1,000 guns of small and medium calibers; 350 machine guns; 124 fixed anti-aircraft barrage balloons; 612 stations and 600 anti-aircraft searchlights.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} The presence of such large forces and their skilful management foiled enemy attempts to inflict massive air strikes. Only 2.6 percent of the total number of Axis aircraft flew in the outskirts of Moscow as a result of their efforts. Air defence forces defending Moscow destroyed 738 enemy aircraft.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} Assaults by the 6th Fighter Aviation Corps inflicted heavy blows, destroying 567 enemy aircraft on the ground. The Air Defence Forces destroyed 1,305 aircraft and in combat with the armies of Nazi Germany and its allies, alongside the Air Force, destroyed 450 tanks and 5,000 military vehicles.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}}

On November&nbsp;9, 1941, the post of the Commander of the Air Defence Forces was created and [[Major General]] [[:ru:Громадин, Михаил Степанович|Mikhail Gromadin]] was appointed.<ref>[http://www.onairpower.org/docs/Gromadin%2C_Mikhail_Stepanovich] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521172537/http://www.onairpower.org/docs/Gromadin%2C_Mikhail_Stepanovich|date=May 21, 2013}}</ref> In January 1942, to improve the interaction of forces and air defence systems, the fighter aircraft and crews manning them were ordered to be subordinated to the Air Defence Command. In April 1942, the [[Moscow Air Defense Front|Moscow Air Defence Front]] was founded, and the [[Leningrad Air Defence Army|Leningrad]] and [[Baku Air Defence Army|Baku Air Defence Armies]] were later raised. These were the first operational formations of the Air Defence Forces.

In June 1943, the Office of the Commander of Air Defence Forces of the country was disbanded. Following the reorganization in April 1944 that created the [[Western Air Defense Front|Western]] and [[Eastern Air Defence Front]]s, and caused the division of the Transcaucasian Air Defence Area, which this year have been reorganized as the North, the South and the Transcaucasian Air Defence Fronts, air defence forces in the vicinity of Moscow were renamed the [[Special Moscow Air Defense Army|Moscow Air Defence Army]]. In the Far East in March 1945, three air defence armies were established: Maritime, Amur and Baikal.

During the Second World War, the Air Defence Forces provided defensive cover to defense industry complexes and vital communication elements, and successfully minimized aerial damage to Soviet industrial and transportation capacity. In the course of the war, the PVO destroyed 7,313 German aircraft, of which 4,168 and 3,145 were targeted by the IA antiaircraft artillery, machine guns and barrage balloons.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} More than 80,000 soldiers, sergeants, officers and generals of the Country Air Defence Forces were awarded state orders and medals, and 92 soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and one was twice awarded the Gold Star Medal in service with the PVO.