Pre-Сonscription and Non-Military Training of Railway Soldiers in the 1920s (on the Example of the Beslan Training Center)

Abstract

The article examines the activities of the Beslan training center for pre-conscription and non-military training of railway personnel on the North Caucasian Railway named after S.D. Markov in the 1920s. The basis of the research is the materials extracted from the Central State Archive of North Ossetia-Alania and introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The author analyzes the features of compulsory military service by pre-conscripts and non-conscripts of railway troops in the conditions of the territorial-militia system of recruitment of the armed forces of the Soviet Union in the interwar period. The article reveals the process of training railway soldiers: training programs and terms, forms and methods of working with personnel. The training programs for pre-conscripts and non-conscripts, which consisted of two main parts: combined arms, mandatory for of the Red Army servicemen and a special railway, are thoroughly investigated. Combined arms training was aimed at the successful acquisition of shooting skills, tactical and drill training, as well as the political education of a fighter, the development of class consciousness and Soviet patriotism. Special railway training included the following sections: track, traction, movement, communications, which corresponded to specific military accounting railway specialties. The author shows that the training of pre-conscripts and non-conscripts had significant differences due to different goals and objectives achieved during the training of these categories of military personnel. Based on the analysis of a large volume of archival material, the author concludes that the Beslan training center, along with personnel railway units, successfully performed the tasks assigned to it for the training of military personnel - pre-conscripts and non-military personnel of railway troops.