Voennyi Sbornik

4-13

Authors: Aleksandr A. Cherkasov, Michal Šmigeľ, Vladimir G. Ivantsov, Aleksandr A. Ryabtsev, Violetta S. Molchanova

The article uses archival documents found in regional and local archives to examine the internal organisation of Russian forts during the Caucasus War. The authors have also analysed Russian and international historiography on this issue. The article focuses on safety rules, behaviour as well as leisure activities within fortifications.

19-32

Authors: Vladimir I. Afanasenko

Extensive work was carried out in order to train military experts within all combat forces and branches of the armed forces on the eve of and in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War in the North Caucasus military district and in other military districts across the USSR. A unique way of preparing youth for professional military service was developed through specialised artillery, aviation and naval schools within the system of the People’s Commissariat of Education in the USSR, the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, Georgian SSR and Armenian SSR. Due to the beginning of the Second World War, the creation of a significant amount of new units and the deployment of the Peasants’ and Workers’ Red Army in accordance with the war establishment, there was an exponential increase in the need for commanding personnel in the lowest tier at the platoon – battery – flight – naval crew level. The system of training new military personnel that existed during peacetime underwent significant changes, primarily within the timelines afforded to training as well as the share of theory and practice time within the education process. Within the crisis situation of the first part of the war, military students together with their teachers would often be used as “emergency fire brigades” and sent to the most dangerous locations as part of consolidated cadet squadrons. In the southern wing of the Soviet-German front, cadets from military schools were used en masse in October and November of 1941 during the battles for Rostov-on-Don, in July and August of 1942 at the great bend of the Don in the preliminary stages of the Battle of Stalingrad as well as in the defensive period in the battle for the Caucasus.

41-50

Authors: Evgeny F. Krinko

In the middle of October in 1941, the Soviet leadership made a decision to create a system of defensive structures on the Don that were meant to halt the advance of the Wehrmacht to the south. Towards the end of autumn and in the winter of 1941-1942, tens of thousands of deminers and mobilised citizens from the region erected the Don and the Stalingrad defensive lines as well as the Rostov defensive district. However, during the spring flooding of 1942, the Don flooded a significant part of the unfinished Red Army fortifications. In July of 1942, many of the defensive structures were not restored while some still remained flooded. As a result, Soviet troops had to retaliate against the enemy’s oncoming tank and mechanised divisions in unfinished defensive lines without even having enough simple field fortifications. The efforts of tens of thousands of citizens and military construction workers ended up mostly in vain, while the enemy was able to quickly break through the Soviet defences and head for the Caucasus.

57-62

Authors: Nicholas W. Mitiukov

The article examines the history of the creation, the construction, the service as well as the design features of large Swedish and Norwegian monitors, which had independent naval policies even though they were part of a single nation. The key technical innovations that were utilised by the manufacturers are examined from a military and technical standpoint.