Sengii Oyun: Reconstructing the Battle Route of a Tuvan Volunteer

Abstract

This article restores the battle route of the Tuvan volunteer Sengii Oyun who was listed as missing in action for 78 years, based on archival materials. In 1943, the Tuvan People’s Republic sent its volunteers to the Soviet-German front. Among those volunteers, who had to pass a rigorous selection to earn the right to fight on the side of the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany, was Sengii Chymchak oglu Oyun. In November 1943, after combat training in replacement troops, the volunteers joined the 4th squadron of the 31st Guards Cavalry Regiment of the 8th Guards Cavalry Division. S.C. Oyun participated in the battles of Derazhno, Rovno, Dubno in Ukraine, especially distinguishing himself in the battle near Dubno. In June 1944, Tuvan volunteers returned to their homeland, but Sengii Oyun was not among them. He had been listed as missing in action until 2022, and it is not until after the request of his relatives, owing to painstaking work of the employees of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, that his battle route was restored. Sengii Oyun and some of his fellow soldiers had got behind their troops’ train, following which he was appointed a machine gunner of the 95th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 31st Guards Rifle Division. In the summer of 1944, he took part in the battles for the liberation of Belorussia and Lithuania. Sengii Chymchak oglu Oyun died on October 21, 1944 in a battle in Eastern Prussia.