CREATION AND COMBAT ACTIVITIES OF STRIKING UNITS AND REVOLUTIONARY BATALIONS OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY ON THE MATERIALS OF THE MILITARY PRINT OF 1917

Abstract

The article is devoted to the issue of the coverage in the military periodical press of attack units and revolutionary battalions - special combat formations that arose in the Russian Army in the spring of 1917. The former were recruited exclusively from the active army, while the latter were recruited from both logistic units and civilian volunteers. In the course of the study, the author analyses what information about the attack units and the revolutionary battalions was published in the military newspapers and concludes that its versatility made it possible to cover their establishment, existence and combat activity in sufficient detail. On the one hand, the newspapers provided detailed information on the organization of the revolutionary battalions. In particular, materials were printed about the procedure for joining these groups and support for volunteers. Moreover, letters and telegrams of military personnel were published in which they expressed their desire to join «parts of death». In addition, counter-insurgency telegrams and orders from the High Command were regularly published concerning the emergence of new attack units and the activities of existing ones. On the other hand, attention was paid in the military press to reflecting the controversy over the advisability of the existence of such combat units, which had flared up in the Russian army. In this connection, military newspapers have published collective decisions by groups of soldiers, personal letters from soldiers and officers, and interviews with women‘s death battalion volunteers on their motives for joining the volunteer movement. Finally, a wealth of information was provided in the army press about special combat forces - the women‘s death battalions.