Voennyi Sbornik

74-94

Authors: Aleksandr A. Cherkasov, Michal Šmigeľ

This article presents a historiographic overview of a civil war in the South of Russia, more specifically in the territory of Kuban and the Black Sea region. The authors argue for an expanded periodization of this civil war – from 1917 to 1922, i.e. from the October coup of 1917 to the calling off of the state of siege by the Bolsheviks in December 1922. The authors mark a periodization of research into the civil war starting from 1920 to the present day.

103-125

Authors: Aleksandr V. Glushko, Natal'ya I. Shilo

This article examines the events related to the suppression of an Anti-Soviet peasant rebellion in Tambov Governorate (“Antonovshchina”) in the summer of 1921 in the context of a use of chemical weapons against the rebels. Based on new archive documents and little-known works by Soviet and foreign military chemists, the article examines the process of making decisions on the use of chemical weapons, preparations for a chemic attack, issues related to tactics, and the composition of toxic substances in ammunition. The article concludes that in the course of preparations and the use of chemical weapons all conditions providing for the success of such operations were violated. More specifically, the use of gas cylinders amidst the increased complexity of objectives set proved impossible using the resources on hand due to the unpreparedness of the military personnel and an admittedly insufficient quantity of ammunition. Besides, shelling using chemical shells proved ineffective due to a lack of training with the artillery personnel and insufficient expenditure of ammunition. And finally, shells shipped over to Tambov Governorate were intended for putting the opponent out of action – not for physically destroying the opponent, since their combat effect was intended to be triggered through a lachrymatory effect toxic substance. In the end, the author draws a conclusion about the impossibility of an effective use of chemical weapons and, all the more so, impossibility of having human victims. Its use was of a one-off nature and was not the decisive factor for the elimination of the rebellion.

134-145

Authors: Evgeny F. Krinko

In the summer of 1942, the Wehrmacht took hold of a large share of North Caucasus towns. This article is dedicated to the seizure of the town of Maikop by German troops within two days – August 9 and 10. It is written based on a number of archive documents and publications of recent years, as well as the reminiscences of participants in and witnesses to these events, including testimonies personally recorded by the author. This information made it possible to not just trace the course of events but assess the way they were perceived by the very residents of the area. The reasons behind such a quick seizure of Maikop are in large measure associated with the course of development of events in the southern sector of the Soviet-German front and the military-technical superiority of the advancing Wehrmacht troops in the course of the second summer campaign of the Great Patriotic War. The Red Army’s rifle divisions and brigades weakened in previous battles were unable to withstand the onslaught of the opponent’s tank and mechanized formations. The town’s unpreparedness to mount a serious defense, a lack of coordination in the actions of the army command and local leadership took the toll. No small part in the seizure of Maikop was played by German diversionists from the “Brandenburg” special-purpose regiment, who managed to sow disarray in the actions of the town’s defenders. The sudden occupation of Maikop proved a tragedy for most of its residents.

151-162

Authors: Irina G. Tazhidinova

The article presents the experience of reconstruction relations Red Army soldiers and their relatives on the basis of private correspondence. The documents of private origin, which were published in the last decade, and epistolary sources from Russia Archives are used as a source base. The sources, that contain personal experience of the war, make it possible emotional experience of combatants and their families (parents, wives, children), the basic problems of family relations in wartime (moral, financial, material). This article discusses the nature and content of the written communication with relatives in the Red Army, 1941-1945.

13-17

Authors: Susanna D. Bagdasaryan

The paper is focused on the formation of new leisure activities amidst South-Russian peasants by the establishment of the state system of institutions, preparing population for war, expectation of ‘world revolution’ in 1920s. The mechanism of Soviet ideological system paradigms realization, related to peasantry on the south of Russia is traced back, the first results of peasants’ leisure militarization during New Economic Policy are presented. The paper considers the matters of Soviet person mentality formation in terms of fundamental change of peasants’ leisure activities and the construction of state ideological system of the expected world revolutionary changes.

27-40

Authors: Evgeny F. Krinko, Maxim V. Medvede

The paper is concerned with the Mius-front – German defense line with the total length of 104 km, constructed during the Great Patriotic War. The major part of it ran along the right bank of the Mius River, which gave its name to the defense line. Within the fifteen months, from October, 1941 till June, 1942 and from February till August, 1943 Mius-front was the ground of sanguinary battles between the Red Army and Wehrmacht. Nevertheless, it became the subject of research only in modern historiography. Originally Mius-front was constructed as the system of field fortifications, aimed to deter Soviet winter counterattack in 1941. In 1942 and, especially, in 1943 the enemy upgraded defense fortifications. Permanent defense fortifications were built in Priasov’e and Primius’e in accordance with the military and engineering demands of the time. German Command managed to use the natural features of the site, having tied them to the system of gun, mortar and machine-gun fire. Mius-front deferred the advance of the Soviet troops, which suffered great casualties during its assault, to the west. Soviet-German confrontation in Priasov’e and Primius’e reflects the general battle actions during the Great Patriotic War to the large extent. Having gained the advantage in warfare preparation, conduction, planning and maintenance, the Soviet troops managed to breach the defensive line of the enemy. Declassified archive documents, recalls by the witnesses and field data enabled to reconstruct the history of construction and fortification features of Mius-front, reconsider its role in the Great Patriotic War.

48-60

Authors: Tatyana P. Khlynina

The paper studies the experience of living space development by the participants of the Great Patriotic War, marks the most typical ways of settling into different lodgments, both temporal and permanent. The interior morphology of different types of lodging organization, its length, amount of residents, opportunities for privacy. The article stresses that the living space in recollections by the participants of the Great Patriotic War has two sides – place, where a man used to live before the war and place, which was his/her asylum in wartime. Almost all the analyzed recollections consider war as the defining moment, which worsened housing conditions of the population and significantly increased their pre-war status.