Kalmykia on the Defense of the Fatherland

Owing to patriotism, solidarity of the people, scientific and economic potential, the Soviet Union not only withstood the attack of Nazi Germany but crushed the Nazis seventy years ago. In order to protect the freedom and independence of the country, the multinational Kalmyk ASSR (Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) along with the entire country and the population, rose to the defense of Russia from the earliest days of World War II. In the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War, almost 34.5 million people (including 21.2 million of Russians) put soldiers’ overcoats to fight the enemy. Among them there were 43,210 citizens of Kalmykia. The peoples of the Kalmyk ASSR participated not only in the fighting on the front lines of the war and partisan detachments but also worked selflessly in the rearward, assisting the Red Army. As a result, at the cost of thousands of lives the Soviet people defended their territory and state sovereignty. In July 1942 in conjunction with other compounds of the 51st Army, the 110th Kalmyk Detached Cavalry Division successfully completed its mission on the Don, repulsing an attack of superior enemy forces. According to the manual of the General Staff of the Red Army, Marshal A.I. Yeremenko, the fighting on the Don prepared the ground for a fundamental turning point in the Second World War at Stalingrad.

Great Patriotic War, the Soviet Union, peoples, the Kalmyk ASSR, the Nazis, Germany, rear, construction, military facilities, evacuation, partisan detachments, heroism, victory

1. ГА РФ - Государственный архив Российской Федерации

2. НА РК - Национальный архив Республики Калмыкия

3. РГАСПИ - Российский государственный архив Российской Федерации

4. ЦА МО РФ - Центральный архив Министерства обороны РФ

5. Еременко А. И. Сталинград: Участникам великой битвы под Сталинградом посвящается. М.: АСТ: Хранитель, 2006. 556 с

6. Земке Э. От Сталинграда до Берлина. Операции советских войск и вермахта. 1942-1945 / пер. с англ. М.: Центрполиграф, 2009. 608 с.

7. Калмыкия в Великой Отечественной войне. 1941-1945 гг. 3-е изд. Элиста, 1985.

8. Линец С. И., Януш С. В. Оборона Северного Кавказа в годы Великой Отечественной войны. М.: Илекса, 2010. 640 с.

9. Руббель А. «Тигры» в снегу. Мемуары танкового аса. М.: Яуза-Пресс, 2015. 318 с.