Red Army Research Articles

Professor Valeriy Ivanovich Kazansky (1894–1978) (on the 130th anniversary of his birth)

A prominent Russian surgeon, talented scientist and teacher, one of the founders of the development of thoracic surgery in the USSR, Honored Scientist of the RSFSR (1965), Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Valery Ivanovich Kazansky was born on October 14, 1894 in the village of Turgenevo, Tula Governorate, into a priest’s family. After graduating from the Tula Gymnasium with a medal, he entered the Imperial Military Medical Academy, which he graduated from in 1919. For two years, he served as a military doctor in the Red Army on the Eastern Front. After demobilization, he worked in the People’s Commissariat of Public Health, from 1925 to 1934, he headed the Surgical Department at the Hospital in Turtkul, and then in Chardzhou (Turkmenistan). In 1935, V. I. Kazansky transferred to work at the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute in the Clinic of Professor S. I. Spasokukotsky and simultaneously headed the Surgical Clinic of the Central Institute of Blood Transfusion (until 1947). In 1938, he defended his doctoral dissertation “Spontaneous non-tuberculous pyopneumothorax and its treatment”. During the Great Patriotic War, V. I. Kazansky was the consultant to the Northwestern and Western Fronts on blood transfusion issues, worked as the Professor-consultant at the Hospital of the Ministry of Railways, which specifically admitted victims with gunshot wounds to the chest. At the same time, from 1943, he served as the chief surgeon of the Moscow Department of Health, and from 1946 to the end of 1952, he held the position of chief oncologist of the USSR Ministry of Health. In 1953, he was elected the head of the Surgery Department of the Central Institute for Advanced Medical Training. For 30 years, V. I. Kazansky studied the problem of treating patients with esophageal cancer and for numerous works, including three monographs, he was awarded the N. N. Burdenko Prize. In 1973, the fundamental monograph “Surgery of Esophageal Cancer” was published. Valery Ivanovich was the author and co-author of about 200 scientific works, including 10 monographs, under his supervision 32 candidate and 8 doctoral dissertations were defended. Professor V. I. Kazansky died on March 30, 1978 and was buried in Moscow at the Nikolo-Arkhangelskoye Cemetery.

The Value of Red Culture: Evidence from Enterprise environmental Performance

As an indispensable part of the red culture, the spirit of Long March has important guiding significance for the current enterprise environmental performance management and the supervision of violations. This paper uses the series of activities marking the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Long March to construct a quasi-natural experiment, and the regression analysis finds that in 2016 and the following years, the level of environmental performance of enterprises located along the Red Army's Long March has significantly improved, indicating that the spirit of Long March can promote the improvement of corporate environmental responsibility awareness. At the same time, from the perspective of entrepreneurial literacy and environmental supervision, this paper explores the mechanism of Long March spirit to improve enterprise environmental performance, so as to provide an example for the development path of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics.

June 1941 Uprising in Kretinga, Mažeikiai and Telšiai Counties

The topic of the article is the June 1941 Uprising in Kretinga, Mažeikiai and Telšiai counties. The work underlines that the Uprising emerged and the partisan squads were formed not spontaneously, since the underground participants in Kretinga, Mažeikiai and Telšiai counties, as in other localities of Lithuania, prepared for the Uprising and formed the armed partisan fighting forces in advance. It was determined that during the June 1941 Uprising in Kretinga County 16 partisan squads of rebels operated, 23 in Mažeikiai County, 14 in Telšiai County (in total 53 squads). All 16 squads in Kretinga County could have about 1248 partisans rebels, 14 Telšiai County squads about 1330, 23 Mažeikiai County squads about 1380 partisans rebels (in total 53 Kretinga, Mažeikiai and Telšiai squads – about 3958 rebels). The Uprising in those counties had its own specificities. Kretinga County was occupied very quickly by the German army; therefore here the partisans rebels participated in fighting actions against the Red Army and Soviet power activists already in the territory occupied by the Germans. The Germans occupied Telšiai and Mažeikiai counties somewhat later, therefore partisans rebels participated in the actions against Soviet activists and Red Army before the entry of the German Army. The rebels aimed at occupying the centres of the counties and rural districts and proclaiming their power. The rebels became enforced in Kretinga County without much difficulty, since it took place in the rear of the German Army. For the rebels in Mažeikiai and Telšiai counties it was more difficult to do this, since Soviet activists with the support of the Red Army opposed them. During the fights with the Red Army and Soviet activists, Mažeikiai County partisans rebels lost 22, Telšiai County partisans – 8 people (a total of 30 people). Partisans during the Uprising and after it in Kretinga County arrested more than 291, in Telšiai County more than 120, in Mažeikiai County over 67 Soviet power activists (in total over 478 activists). Partisans in Kretinga County arrested over 35, in Mažeikiai County over 180, in Telšiai County over 233 Soviet fighters (in total over 448 persons). In Mažeikiai County, from the hands of rebels fell over 30, in Telšiai County 3 Soviet soldiers (in total over 33 persons). No information exists about the Red Army soldiers that fell from the hands of the Kretinga partisans rebels, but archival data make it possible to presume about their existence here. This work also explores the relationship of the rebels in Kretinga, Mažeikiai and Telšiai counties with the holocaust. It was established that the resistance participants in Palanga and Kuliai rural districts of Kretinga County already during the June 1941 Uprising contributed indirectly to the Jewish genocide. No information exists about the participation of partisans rebels in Mažeikiai and Telšiai counties in the Jewish genocide during the June 1941 Uprising.

Holocaust in the Raseiniai County: Annihilation of the Jewish Communityin the Viduklė Rural District (June–August 1941)

The article continues the holocaust research in the Raseiniai County, which was started with the paper about the massacre of Jews in the Kražiai rural district (see Genocide and Resistance, 2009, No. 2(26). The Viduklė rural district was known for the friendly Jewish and Lithuanian relations. Lithuanian F. Stanevičius around 1870 built a brick synagogue (ruined in 1960) in Viduklė. Here in 1940–1941, the occupant Bolshevists did not succeed in opposing the population on the national grounds; the anti-Soviet underground operated actively. During the anti-Soviet June 1941 Uprising, the squad of the rebels did not manifest itself more prominently, since already on June 23 the German army invaded the rural district territory. On that day, the Red Army and German soldiers massacred a big number of the civilian population, and the shooting of two Jews on the racist grounds may be considered as the beginning of the holocaust in the Raseiniai County. The Nazis did not succeed in involving a squad of rebels into the annihilation of the Jews (as it happened in Kražiai), since it decayed. In Viduklė, there were no Jewish pogroms. The Nazis found few local allies. Just several men entered the auxiliary police. The rural district public police avoided participating in the actions against the Jews. Two Jewish ghettos, separately for men and women (with children), were organized. The men’s ghetto in the Viduklė railway station settlement (here also the Jewish men from the Nemakščiai rural district were imprisoned) was guarded by the German soldiers, and the commandant tortured the prisoners sadistically. The Jewish women with children from the Viduklė rural district were confined in the synagogue. The German “professional” killers at first shot the prisoners in the men’s ghetto (camp) (it is considered that there were 243 people, including, probably, about 80 Jews from Viduklė). The execution was not included into the 1 December 1941 bloody report by 3/A operational squad leader K. Jaeger. After several weeks, on August 22, 1941, Jewish women with children (no less than 81 persons) were shot at the township Jewish cemetery. The execution was carried out by a group of Lithuanian killers who came by lorry from the town of Raseiniai, with the aid of several local helpers. The holocaust in the rural district demanded 160–170 victims. Quite a number of rural district inhabitants participated in rescuing and hiding Jews, mostly brought from other places. The Jews from the Viduklė rural district who experienced resignation did not take advantage of the close relations with Lithuanians, who offered help and possibilities for several tenths of Jews from the rural community to save themselves.

Jonas Ženauskas – Soviet Prisoner of 1940–1941, Member of the July Uprising of 1941, Rescuer of Jews

This article is mostly concerned with the biographical facts of Jonas Ženauskas, a Bolshevik prisoner of 1940-1941, anti-Soviet rebel and Jewish rescuer; these facts were mainly determined by the occupations of 1940-1944 and the Nazi Germany–Bolshevik Soviet Union war. It describes Soviet repressions, Ženauskas’ imprisonment and torture in Kaunas and NKVD prisons, as well as the liberation of prisoners on 23 June 1941. The June uprising of 1941 took place in Kaunas. Freed from prison, Ženauskas joined the uprising, armed about 50 rebels with guns, and guarded Kaunas radiophone. From August 1941 Ženauskas worked in Vilnius Criminal Police, and helped those arrested, including the Jews. He was arrested for this in 1942 by the German security police SD, and was imprisoned for seven days. As he did not regain his full health following his imprisonment in the Soviet prison, he quit the service in 1943 and returned to Kaunas. The Ženauskas family was successfully hiding 4 Jews who had escaped from the Kaunas ghetto until the end of the Nazi occupation. However, on the second day after the Red Army pushed out the German Wehrmacht, Ženauskas was arrested by the Soviet counterintelligence SMERSH. The officers of this service were not interested in the fact that he had rescued Jews, but instead accused him of non-existent crimes, and he was sentenced to death by shooting by the military tribunal (carried out on 2 March 1945). A criminal case was also initiated against his wife Sofija, and she and their two children only escaped exile by a hair’s breadth. Even during the Soviet period (1988), thanks to the efforts of his daughter Virginija Mačiulienė, as well as the two Jewish sisters saved by the Ženauskas family, Chana Lisienė and Merė Pilvinskaitė, the case was renewed. In 1989 he was vindicated. During the tragic turns of history which Lithuania and its people underwent in 1940–1944, Jonas Ženauskas, in spite of the violence inflicted on him by the Soviets, passed the human test and acting on his Christian convictions, humanistic values, assisted those persecuted, and rescued Jews, despite the death threats the Nazis had issued for such activity. Unfortunately on 2 March 2 1945, he was executed by the Bolsheviks who reoccupied Lithuania. The lives of everyone who lived through that period were shaped by the events of 1939–1944. There will never be too much historiography about them. New research, memoirs and publication of sources bring us closer to a more objective understanding of Lithuanian history, as well as an evaluation of its processes and facts both in our own country and abroad.

Forced Mobilization into the Red Army (1944–1945)

Forced Mobilization into the Red Army (1944–1945)

Military doctors: personal tragedies against the background of the Civil War

The factual data on the tragic events of the Civil War, including “red” and “White” terror, are presented. Biographical information about doctors and nurses from White Army military units and Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army who were killed, captured, or shot during the war is provided.

Antonin Frantsevich Lingart and the creation of air ambulance in the USSR

The article presents data on the development and creation of the first air ambulance and the participation of A.F. Lingart, the chief sanitary doctor of the Red Army, in this project.

Research on Interception Model of Surface-to-air Missile Anti-cruise Missile Weapon System

Abstract In air defense operations, resisting cruise missile attacks is a major challenge. Firstly, based on judging the direction and route of the cruise missile weapon system, the paper establishes the radar detection zone algorithm, the killing zone of surface-to-air missile weapon system and the interception model of surface-to-air missile weapon system needed in the process of physical interception. Secondly, according to whether the effective interception condition is satisfied, an algorithm is established to judge the surface-to-air missile weapon system on several fixed positions. Lastly, it gives the maximum interception expectation of the incoming route to achieve effective interception. We set up scenarios through examples to reasonably divide the Red Army’s combat area, analyze quantitatively the effectiveness of blue ground-to-air missiles intercepting red cruise missiles under different terrain conditions, after comprehensively judging the entry situation of detection and killing zones and calculating whether there is an interception arc, the interception efficiency can be calculated. This model incorporates terrain constraints, making the results more reasonable than other models. It provides a scientific basis for command assisted decision-making.

The mayors of communes of Tighina county with the Gagauz population in the period of repressions from 1940–1949: historical and anthropological approaches

The conclusion of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the secret additional protocol on August 23, 1939 contributed to the beginning of the repressions of the 1940s in the MSSR. In 1940, when Soviet power was established in Bessarabia, Red Army troops and NKVD groups were introduced into the territory and began identifying and arresting “anti-Soviet elements”. These arrests continued from 28 June 1940 to 6 July 1949, with a break during the war (1941–1944). In order to analyze the repressions in the Gagauz communes in Tighina county, was selected information regarding 11 mayors who held this position before the establishment of Soviet power in 1940. 10 mayors were convicted, of which 5 people died, the fate of one is unknown and only 4 went through camps and exile and survived. Articles were applied to the mayors that did not correspond to the charges brought against them under the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR and the RSFSR. The violation was also in the fact that they had Romanian citizenship and lived in the territory of the MSSR. The fact that most of the mayors did not emigrate suggests that they did not feel threatened by the Soviet regime and were not initially its opponents. The analysis shows how the Soviet government intentionally destroyed and suppressed the mayors and their family members from the communes with the Gagauz population in Tighina county.

BORDER PROBLEM ON SPISH AND ORAVA IN CZECHOSLOVAK-POLISH RELATIONS IN 1945-1947

The districts of Northern Spiš and Upper Orava in the northwestern part of Slovakia became the object of territorial disputes between the Czechoslovak and Polish republics after the collapse of Austria-Hungary. The essence of the discussions was different approaches to assessing the national composition of the local population. Polish ethnology emphasized their Polish ethnic roots and the uncertain national identity of local “górals” (mountaineers). The counterargument consisted in the Slovak national and cultural movement, which clearly prevailed in the region. In addition, the absolute majority of locals identified themselves as Slovaks. Further the borderline shifted depending on political conditions in favor of one or another side. Under the conditions of Red Army entering the region in 1945, military and political changes intensified the confrontation. The Soviet military administration inclined to resolve the conflict on the basis of national self-determination. However, the principle of returning to the borders as of September 1938 was recognized at the state and international levels. That is to say, a number of settlements with a predominantly Slovak population were returned to Poland. Such a scenario was profitable for the Czechoslovak government. The principle of pre-Munich borders left control of the Czechoslovak Republic over the part of Teschen Silesia (Trans-Olza). It was more economic and strategic important than the sparsely populated mountainous terrain of Northern Spiš and Upper Orava. The local Slovak population resorted to peaceful and sometimes violent forms of protest. The Polish authorities responded with repression and discriminatory measures. Local national leaders and Slovak emigrants in the USА tried to bring the problem to the international area. Appeals, petitions and memoranda to Czechoslovak statesmen, world leaders and international institutions demanded introduction of international control in the region and realization an official plebiscite there. However, only the diplomatic protests of the Prague government against the persecution of Slovaks in the ceded territories led to a certain practical effect. The Czechoslovak-Polish treaty in 1947 cemented the existing situation, but protected the local Slovak population by granting them the rights of a national minority.

‘Hungarian Factor’ in Central and Eastern European Politics of France (Spring — Summer 1920)

This article examines the role and significance of the “Hungarian factor” in the central and eastern European political landscape of France during the period from April to August 1920. The novelty of this research lies in its analysis not only of the bilateral Franco-Hungarian interactions but also of how Paris’s perceptions of Hungary’s place in Europe were intertwined with other vectors of the Third Republic’s foreign policy. The study utilizes published French diplomatic documents, the diary of General Edmond Buat, Chief of Staff of the French Army, and select reports from General Artus de la Panouse, the French military attaché in the United Kingdom. The author concludes that the “Hungarian factor” influenced the central and eastern European policy of the Third Republic in a contradictory manner. It is demonstrated that France’s view of Hungary as a defeated nation served Paris’s objectives of affirming its status as a victorious power, consolidating a belt of friendly states in Central-Eastern Europe, and expanding its financial and economic presence. At the same time, it is emphasized that Hungary was not perceived as a direct threat to the interests of the Third Republic; rather, in the context of the Red Army’s advance westward, it could potentially be integrated into an anti-Soviet coalition.

«Автобиография профессора Николая Иосифовича Воробьева»

The publication is a commentary and the text of the handwritten autobiography of N.I. Vorobyev. The document is introduced into scholarly discourse for the first time. The undertaken analysis of the text allowed us to identify new facts from the life and work of the researcher and to grasp their context. The document is dated March 2, 1947 and was written by the scholar during his work at Kazan State University. N.I. Vorobyev lists in detail the facts about his parents, the process of receiving an education, the beginning of his teaching and research work. He reveals the evolution of his own academic interests, from geography to ethnography, and highlights the author’s scholarly papers that are of significance from his point of view. The document mentions N.I. Vorobyev’s research work in the Far East dedicated to the study of the life of the Nanai (the Golds) and in the Mari ASSR – limnological studies of lakes. The researcher emphasises his work on methodological support of teachers. A separate chapter of the autobiography contains a description of the academic’s participation in the work of various public scholarly organisations. N.I. Vorobyev focuses on the important aspects of his life that correspond to the spirit of those times. This is the recognition of his political unconsciousness in the first years of the Soviet power, service in the Red Army as a private soldier. The autobiography of N.I. Vorobyev is a valuable, informative source. It shows not only the significance of individual milestones in his life and work for the scholar himself, but also reveals the distinctive features of the Soviet era, which formed the conditions for work for the entire academic community.

Situation in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and in Slovakia in summer 1944

Based on various sources of information received by Soviet representatives of the NKID and stored in the Foreign Policy Archive of the Russian Federation, as well as published documents, the author attempts to reconstruct the situation that developed in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and also in Slovakia in summer of 1944, and to analyze the ideas of post-war structure of the Central Europe, that were discussed at the last stage of the war. The chronological choice is not accidental – this is the eve of a powerful national uprising on the territory of Slovakia (part of the former Czechoslovakia), the beginning of armed mass Resistance in the country. Based on the study of sources, it can be concluded that, despite different conditions, both in Protectorate and in Slovakia, by the end of summer of 1944, the Resistance Movement intensified and sympathy for the USSR and the Red Army grew. The ideas of the post-war structure of Europe at this time continued to be actively discussed in various political circles in the West and within the country.

Создание и развитие органов советской военной юстиции (1918-1920 гг.): историко-правовой анализ

The article analyzes the legal regulation of the organization and functioning of military justice bodies in the early years of the state-legal construction of the Soviet government. The authors, based on the study of normative sources, reveal the content of military judicial reform, assess the conditions and factors that influenced its implementation, and also analyze the effectiveness of the activities of military justice bodies to maintain discipline and ensure law and order in the Red Army in 1918-1920.

Soviet border guards against the German “blitzkrieg”

Based on archival materials and memoirs, the author proves that in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War, the border troops of the NKVD of the USSR helped overcome the shock and state of panic of the faltering Soviet military personnel not only by repressive methods, but also by personal example of heroism in battle, which contributed to the collapse of the German concept of “blitzkrieg”. Notably, as especially morally stable troops, the border guards were entrusted with the most important task — organizing and protecting the military rear of the Red Army.

ИЗ ИСТОРИИ СОВЕТСКО-ШВЕДСКИХ ВОЕННЫХ СВЯЗЕЙ В 1920-М – 1930-Е ГГ.

The article is devoted to Soviet-Swedish military relations in the 1920s - 1930s. It is based on sources from the Russian State Archive of Economics and the Archive of Foreign Policy. Most of them are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The relevance of the article is due to its low level of study. As a result of the study, it was found that Soviet-Swedish military ties included transactions for the purchase of weapons, engines for warships, uniforms for military personnel and other goods for the Red Army. Especially impressive was the interaction with the Bofors company, where Soviet representatives ordered light and heavy weapons. Moreover, Turkey assisted in the transportation of goods from this company to the USSR. Some of the transactions with Swedish companies ("Husqvarna " and JSC "Atlas-Diesel") continued the contacts established before the revolution. The article also shows the dynamics of interaction. In 1920, the interest in Moscow and Stockholm in military relations was mutual – the Bolsheviks needed goods for the Red Army, and the Swedes wanted to make money selling them for gold. In subsequent years, the USSR took more initiative in military cooperation. Especially in 1923 and 1927, which was caused in the first case by preparations for the German and, consequently, the world revolution, in the second by the expectation of a military clash with Great Britain and, possibly, with the union of Western countries. Since 1929, the USSR and Sweden have been interested in cooperation to about the same extent. Moscow was interested in the latest weapons, and the Swedes wanted to minimize losses due to the global economic crisis.

Armed resistance of partisans in 1944–1953 and its suppression in Skapiškis rural district

There were similarities and differences between armed resistance activities of partisans that took place in various regions of Lithuania in 1944–1953. Still, irrespective of several regional peculiarities, three main periods of the partisan warfare may be distinguished as characteristic of all Lithuania: 1944–1946 – a period of spontaneous fighting, 1946–1948 – a period of organized fighting and 1949–1953 – the end of partisan warfare. Therefore, if you look closely at armed resistance of partisans and tactics they used in the rural district of Skapiškis, you will see a reduced image of all armed activities against occupants across Lithuania. Like everywhere in Lithuania, in Skapiškis rural district, first platoons featuring great numbers of partisans were formed spontaneously. The partisans here used to apply the tactics of attacking the towns. Therefore, on November the 7th 1944, the town of Skapiškis, the centre of the rural district itself, was assaulted. Like everywhere in Lithuania, in this rural district as well, the very first battles of the partisans brought huge losses – the forces of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD) attacked numerous platoons of partisans and frequently destroyed them immediately. The young people from Skapiškis land boycotted mobilization to the Red Army. After the call for legalization appeared, a lot of fighters left the forests and hid they relationship with the partisans. The partisans used to hinder the occupants’ authorities from organizing the local elections. During the second part of fighting, in 1946–1948, the issues of uniting the partisan units and transition to organized fighting became the focus of attention of partisan commanders. At that time, the county of Kupiškis was established and Skapiškis rural district became a part of this county. On May 1st 1947, Algimantas Military District was established, and all partisans of Kupiškis land became subordinate to Šarūnas Special Team of that Military District. The last period of fighting stood out from those above by completing the formation of centralized structures of partisans as well as by their destruction. Refined combinations of agencies, activity of the agents, treacheries, destruction of headquarters and military structures and greatly reduced numbers of partisans were the main causes of defeat of both Skapiškis land partisans and those operating all over Lithuania. It has been estimated that during entire period of partisan warfare (1944–1953), in Skapiškis rural district, 40 partisans, their liaisons and supporters lost their lives.

Model of activity of Mayor Aleksey Sokolov and agents stormtroopers under his leadership

In the public narrative on partisan warfare, an extremely important role is played by agents stormtroopers under Mayor Aleksey Sokolov leadership. Many have heard that this person was “the leader of all-Ukrainian agents stormtroopers”, who was sent to Lithuania to organize the activity of agents stormtroopers. Yet, the information known about this person has been scarce so far. By this article it is sought to provide some facts on the biography of A. Sokolov and highlight the principles of activity of special groups under his leadership. A. Sokolov was a specialist in the specific agency-operational area. He was a recipient of various insignia and other honorary awards, which demonstrated appreciation of his activity by the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (Cheka) authorities. On the other hand, legality of methods used by A. Sokolov and stormtroopers under his leadership raised doubts. It is likely that namely this problem prevented him from awarding the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union. It took to A. Sokolov less than one year of working with the special group in order to create a model of stormtroopers usage adapted to fighting the Ukrainian partisans. In doing this, A. Sokolov consulted the stormtroopers themselves. While being on secondment in Lithuania, he reformed the special group of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) of Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (LSSR) according to the Ukrainian model. The operation that took place in Grendavė village of Onuškis Rural District in Trakai County was in line with the model of operations carried out in Ukraine: on the basis of operational data, a legend had been created, a list of persons to be detained and interrogated compiled, the stormtroopers, dressed and equipped as the Red Army soldiers, prepared bunkers for future interrogations, wrote minutes containing evidence of the persons detained, etc. A. Sokolov’s expertise and methodical guidance laid the foundation for practical activity of special groups in Lithuania. Further on, the stormtroopers actually employed the tactics, created by A. Sokolov.

Study of the landscape vocabulary of the Baise Uprising under the perspective of vocabulary

The Baise Uprising is an important name card of the red cultural resources in Guangxi. It is taking comrade in Baise and the fighting course of the seventh Red Army as the main line, and plays an important position in the history of the Chinese revolution.In this paper, it expounds the research status and progress of landscape vocabulary, and analyzes the landscape, signs and venues of the old site of Baise uprising from the perspective of vocabulary vocabulary.It aims to boost and strengthen the mass communication of red culture on the basis of comprehensively combing the landscape vocabulary of the old site of Baise Uprising.