Cossacks in the Great Patriotic War: For Faith and Fatherland! The feat of the Cossacks during the Great Patriotic War

01.10.2019

After the end of the Civil War in the USSR, restrictions were imposed on the Cossacks to perform military service in the Red Army, although many Cossacks served in the command cadres of the Red Army, primarily “Red” participants in the civil war. However, after fascists, militarists and revanchists came to power in a number of countries, there was a strong smell of a new war in the world, and positive developments began to occur in the USSR on the Cossack issue. On April 20, 1936, the Central Executive Committee of the USSR adopted a resolution abolishing restrictions on the service of Cossacks in the Red Army. This decision received great support in Cossack circles. In accordance with the order of the People's Commissar of Defense K.E. Voroshilov N 061 dated April 21, 1936, 5 cavalry divisions (4,6,10,12,13) received Cossack status. Territorial Cossack cavalry divisions were created in the Don and North Caucasus. Among others, in February 1937, a Consolidated Cavalry Division was formed in the North Caucasus Military District, consisting of the Don, Kuban, Terek-Stavropol Cossack regiments and a regiment of highlanders. This division took part in the military parade on Red Square in Moscow on May 1, 1937. A special act restored the wearing of the previously prohibited Cossack uniform in everyday life, and for regular Cossack units, by order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR No. 67 dated April 23, 1936, a special everyday and ceremonial uniform was introduced, which largely coincided with the historical one, but without shoulder straps. The daily uniform for the Don Cossacks consisted of a hat, a cap or cap, an overcoat, a gray cap, a khaki beshmet, dark blue trousers with red stripes, general army boots and general cavalry equipment. The everyday uniform for the Terek and Kuban Cossacks consisted of a kubanka, a cap or cap, an overcoat, a colored cap, a khaki beshmet, blue general army trousers with piping, light blue for the Terek and red for the Kuban. General army boots, general cavalry equipment. The ceremonial uniform of the Don Cossacks consisted of a hat or cap, an overcoat, a gray cap, a Cossack coat, trousers with stripes, general army boots, general cavalry equipment, and a saber. The dress uniform of the Terek and Kuban Cossacks consisted of a kubanka, a colored beshmet (red for the Kuban, light blue for the Tertsy), a cherkeska (dark blue for the Kuban, steel gray for the Tertsy), a burka, Caucasian boots, Caucasian equipment, a colored hood ( the Kuban people have red, the Terets have light blue) and the Caucasian checker. The cap of the Donets had a red band, the crown and bottom were dark blue, the edging along the top of the band and the crown were red. The cap for Terek and Kuban Cossacks had a blue band, khaki crown and bottom, and black piping. The hat for the Donets is black, the bottom is red, black soutache is sewn crosswise in two rows on top, and for the command personnel yellow golden soutache or galloon. The Cossacks wore this ceremonial uniform at the military parade on May 1, 1937, and after the war at the Victory Parade on June 24, 1945 on Red Square. All those present at the parade on May 1, 1937 were amazed by the high skill of the Cossacks, who galloped twice across the wet paving stones of the square. The Cossacks showed that they are ready, as before, to stand up for the defense of their Motherland.

It seemed to the enemies that the de-Cossackization in the Bolshevik style took place abruptly, completely and irrevocably, and the Cossacks would never be able to forget and forgive this. However, they miscalculated. Despite all the grievances and atrocities of the Bolsheviks, the overwhelming majority of the Cossacks during the Great Patriotic War maintained their patriotic positions and in difficult times took part in the war on the side of the Red Army. Millions Soviet people During the Great Patriotic War, they stood up to defend their Motherland and the Cossacks were in the forefront of these patriots. By June 1941, as a result of reforms carried out following the results of the Soviet-Finnish and the first period of the Second World War, the Red Army remained with 4 cavalry corps of 2-3 cavalry divisions each, a total of 13 cavalry divisions (including 4 mountain cavalry ). According to the staff, the corps had over 19 thousand people, 16 thousand horses, 128 light tanks, 44 armored vehicles, 64 field, 32 anti-tank and 40 anti-aircraft guns, 128 mortars, although the actual combat strength was less than the regular one. Most of the personnel of the cavalry formations were recruited from the Cossack regions of the country and the Caucasus republics. In the very first hours of the war, the Don, Kuban and Terek Cossacks of the 6th Cossack Cavalry Corps, the 2nd and 5th Cavalry Corps and a separate cavalry division located in the border districts entered into battle with the enemy. The 6th Cavalry Corps was considered one of the most trained formations of the Red Army. G.K. wrote about the level of training of the corps in his memoirs. Zhukov, who commanded it until 1938: “The 6th Cavalry Corps in its combat readiness was much better than other units. In addition to the 4th Don, the 6th Chongar Kuban-Tersk Cossack Division stood out, which was well prepared, especially in the field of tactics, equestrian and fireworks."

With the declaration of war in the Cossack regions, the formation of new cavalry divisions began at a rapid pace. The main burden of forming cavalry divisions in the North Caucasus Military District fell on Kuban. In July 1941, five Kuban cavalry divisions were formed there from Cossacks of military age, and in August four more Kuban cavalry divisions. The system of training cavalry units in territorial formations in the pre-war period, especially in regions of compact residence of the Cossack population, made it possible without additional training in short terms and, with minimal expenditure of effort and resources, place combat-ready formations at the front. The North Caucasus turned out to be a leader in this matter. In a short period of time (July-August 1941), seventeen cavalry divisions were sent to the active armies, which amounted to more than 60% of the number of cavalry formations formed in the Cossack regions of the entire Soviet Union. However, Kuban's military resources for persons of conscription age suitable for performing combat missions in the cavalry were almost completely exhausted already in the summer of 1941. As part of the cavalry formations, about 27 thousand people were sent to the front, having undergone training in the Cossack territorial cavalry formations in the pre-war period. In the entire North Caucasus, in July-August, seventeen cavalry divisions were formed and sent to the active army, which is more than 50 thousand people of military age. At the same time, Kuban sent more of its sons to the ranks of the defenders of the Fatherland during this period of difficult fighting than all other administrative units of the North Caucasus combined. Since the end of July they fought on the Western and Southern fronts. Since September, in the Krasnodar Territory it has remained possible to form only volunteer divisions, selecting soldiers suitable for service in the cavalry, mainly from those of non-conscription age. Already in October, the formation of three such volunteer Kuban cavalry divisions began, which then formed the basis of the 17th Cavalry Corps. In total, by the end of 1941, about 30 new cavalry divisions were formed on the Don, Kuban, Terek and Stavropol Territory. Also large number Cossacks volunteered to join the national parts of the North Caucasus. Such units were created in the fall of 1941, following the example of the experience of the First World War. These cavalry units were also popularly called "Wild Divisions".

Cossack patrol

More than 10 cavalry divisions were formed in the Ural Military District, the backbone of which was the Ural and Orenburg Cossacks. In the Cossack regions of Siberia, Transbaikalia, Amur and Ussuri, 7 new cavalry divisions were created from local Cossacks. Of these, a cavalry corps was formed (later the 6th Guards Order of Suvorov), which fought over 7 thousand km. Its units and formations were awarded 39 orders and received the honorary names of Rivne and Debrecen. 15 Cossacks and officers of the corps were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The corps has established close patronage ties with workers of the Orenburg and Ural regions, Terek and Kuban, Transbaikalia and Far East. Reinforcements, letters, and gifts came from these Cossack regions. All this allowed corps commander S.V. Sokolov to appeal on May 31, 1943 to Marshal of the Soviet Union S.M. Budyonny with a petition to name the cavalry divisions of the corps Cossacks. In particular, the 8th Far Eastern was supposed to be called the cavalry division of the Ussuri Cossacks. Unfortunately, this petition was not granted, like the petitions of many other corps commanders. Only the 4th Kuban and 5th Don Guards Cavalry Corps received the official name Cossacks. However, the absence of the name “Cossack” does not change the main thing. The Cossacks made their heroic contribution to the glorious victory of the Red Army over fascism.

Thus, already at the beginning of the war, dozens of Cossack cavalry divisions fought on the side of the Red Army, they included 40 Cossack cavalry regiments, 5 tank regiments, 8 mortar regiments and divisions, 2 anti-aircraft regiments and a number of other units, fully staffed by Cossacks from various troops. By February 1, 1942, 17 cavalry corps were operating at the front. However, due to the great vulnerability of cavalry from artillery fire, air strikes and tanks, their number was reduced to 8 by September 1, 1943. The combat strength of the remaining cavalry corps was significantly strengthened, it included: 3 cavalry divisions, self-propelled artillery, anti-tank fighter artillery and anti-aircraft artillery regiments, guards mortar regiment of rocket artillery, mortar and separate anti-tank fighter divisions.

In addition, among famous people During the Great Patriotic War, there were many Cossacks who fought not in the “branded” Cossack cavalry or Plastun units, but in other parts of the Red Army or distinguished themselves in military production. Among them:

Tank ace No. 1, Hero of the Soviet Union D.F. Lavrinenko is a Kuban Cossack, a native of the village of Besstrashnaya;

Lieutenant General of the Engineering Troops, Hero of the Soviet Union D.M. Karbyshev is a natural Cossack-Kryashen, a native of Omsk;

Commander of the Northern Fleet Admiral A.A. Golovko - Terek Cossack, native of the village of Prokhladnaya;

Gunsmith designer F.V. Tokarev is a Don Cossack, a native of the village of Yegorlyk Region of the Don Army;

Commander of the Bryansk and 2nd Baltic Front, Army General, Hero of the Soviet Union M.M. Popov is a Don Cossack, a native of the village of Ust-Medveditsk Region of the Don Army.

On initial stage During the war, Cossack cavalry units took part in difficult border and Smolensk battles, in battles in Ukraine, Crimea and in the Battle of Moscow. In the Battle of Moscow, the 2nd Cavalry (Major General P.A. Belov) and the 3rd Cavalry (Colonel, then Major General L.M. Dovator) corps distinguished themselves. The Cossacks of these formations successfully used traditional Cossack tactics: ambush, entry, raid, bypass, envelopment and infiltration. The 50th and 53rd cavalry divisions, from the 3rd Cavalry Corps of Colonel Dovator, from November 18 to 26, 1941, carried out a raid in the rear of the 9th German Army, covering 300 km in battles. Over the course of a week, the cavalry group destroyed over 2,500 enemy soldiers and officers, knocked out 9 tanks and more than 20 vehicles, and defeated dozens of military garrisons. By order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR dated November 26, 1941, the 3rd Cavalry Corps was transformed into the 2nd Guards, and the 50th and 53rd Cavalry Divisions were among the first to be transformed into the 3rd for their courage and military merits. and the 4th Guards Cavalry Divisions, respectively. The 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps, in which the Cossacks of Kuban and Stavropol fought, fought as part of the 5th Army. This is how the German military historian Paul Karel recalled the actions of this corps: “The Russians acted bravely in this wooded area, with great art and cunning. Which is not surprising: the units were part of the elite Soviet 20th Cavalry Division, the assault formation of the famous Cossack corps of Major General Dovator. Having made a breakthrough, the Cossack regiments concentrated at various key points, formed into battle groups and began to attack headquarters and warehouses in the German rear. They blocked roads, destroyed communication lines, blew up bridges, and every now and then attacked logistics columns, mercilessly destroying them. Thus, on December 13, squadrons of the 22nd Cossack Regiment defeated an artillery group of the 78th Infantry Division 20 kilometers behind the front line. They threatened Lokotna, an important supply base and transport hub. Other squadrons rushed north between the 78th and 87th divisions. As a result, the entire front of the 9th Corps literally hung in the air. The forward positions of the divisions remained untouched, but the lines of communication and communication with the rear were cut. Ammunition and food stopped arriving. There was nowhere to go for several thousand wounded who had accumulated on the front line.”

General Dovator and his Cossacks

During the border battles, our troops suffered significant losses. The combat capabilities of rifle divisions decreased by 1.5 times. Due to heavy losses and a lack of tanks, the mechanized corps were disbanded already in July 1941. For the same reason, individual tank divisions were disbanded. Losses in manpower, cavalry and equipment led to the fact that the main tactical formation of the armored forces became a brigade, and the cavalry a division. In this regard, the Headquarters of the High Command on July 5, 1941 approved a resolution on the formation of 100 light cavalry divisions of 3,000 men each. In total, 82 light cavalry divisions were formed in 1941. The combat composition of all light cavalry divisions was the same: three cavalry regiments and a chemical defense squadron. The events of 1941 make it possible to draw a conclusion about the great significance of this decision, since cavalry formations had an active influence on the course and outcome major operations in the first period of the war, if they were given combat missions inherent in cavalry. They were capable of unexpectedly attacking the enemy at a given time and in the right place and, with their quick and accurate attacks on the flanks and rear of the German troops, holding back the advance of their motorized infantry and tank divisions. In conditions of off-road conditions, muddy roads and heavy snow, cavalry remained the most effective mobile combat force, especially when there was a shortage of mechanized all-terrain vehicles. For the right to possess it in 1941 there was, one might say, a struggle between the commanders of the fronts. The place of cavalry assigned by the Supreme High Command Headquarters in the defense of Moscow is evidenced by the recording of negotiations between the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, General A.M. Vasilevsky and the chief of staff of the Southwestern Front, General P.I. Vodin on the night of October 27-28. The first of them outlined the decision of Headquarters to transfer cavalry to the troops defending the capital. The second tried to evade the order and said that Belov’s 2nd Cavalry Corps, which is at the disposal of the Southwestern Front, has been fighting continuously for 17 days and needs to be replenished, that the Commander-in-Chief of the Southwestern Direction, Marshal of the Soviet Union S.K. Tymoshenko does not consider it possible to lose this building. Supreme Commander-in-Chief I.V. Stalin first correctly demanded through A.M. Vasilevsky agreed with the proposal of the Supreme High Command Headquarters, and then simply ordered the front command to be informed that the trains for the transfer of the 2nd Cavalry Corps had already been submitted, and reminded of the need to give the command for its loading. Commander of the 43rd Army, Major General K.D. Golubev in a report to I.V. Stalin on November 8, 1941, among other requests, indicated the following: “... We need cavalry, at least one regiment. We formed only a squadron with our own forces.” The struggle between the commanders for the Cossack cavalry was not in vain. Deployed to Moscow from the Southwestern Front, Belov's 2nd Cavalry Corps, reinforced by other units and the Tula militia, defeated Guderian's tank army near Tula. This phenomenal incident (the defeat of a tank army by a cavalry corps) was the first in history and was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. For this defeat, Hitler wanted to shoot Guderian, but his comrades in arms stood up and saved him from the wall. Thus, not having sufficiently powerful tank and mechanized formations in the Moscow direction, the Supreme High Command Headquarters effectively and successfully used cavalry to repel enemy attacks.

In 1942, Cossack cavalry units fought heroically in the bloody Rzhev-Vyazemsk and Kharkov offensive operations. In the Battle of the Caucasus, during intense defensive battles in the Kuban and Stavropol Territories, the 4th Guards Kuban Cossack Cavalry Corps (Lieutenant General N.Ya. Kirichenko) and the 5th Guards Don Cossack Cavalry Corps (Major General A. .G. Selivanov). These corps were composed mainly of volunteer Cossacks. Back on July 19, 1941, the Krasnodar Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the regional executive committee made a decision to organize Cossack cavalry hundreds in order to assist fighter battalions in combating possible enemy parachute assaults. Collective farmers without age restrictions who knew how to ride a horse and wield firearms and bladed weapons were enrolled in the Cossack cavalry hundreds. They were content with horse equipment at the expense of collective and state farms, Cossack uniform at the expense of each fighter. In agreement with the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, on October 22, the formation of three Cossack cavalry divisions began on a voluntary basis from among Cossacks and Adygeis without age restrictions. Each district of Kuban formed a hundred volunteers, 75% of Cossacks and commanders were participants in the civil war. In November 1941, hundreds were brought into regiments, and from the regiments they formed the Kuban Cossack cavalry divisions, which formed the basis of the 17th Cavalry Corps, which was included in the cadre of the Red Army on January 4, 1942. The newly created formations became known as the 10th, 12th and 13th Cavalry Divisions. On April 30, 1942, the corps came under the command of the Commander of the North Caucasus Front. In May 1942, by order of the Supreme High Command Headquarters, the 15th (Colonel S.I. Gorshkov) and 116th (Y.S. Sharaburno) Don Cossack divisions were merged into the 17th Cavalry Corps. In July 1942, Lieutenant General Nikolai Yakovlevich Kirichenko was appointed commander of the corps. The basis of all cavalry formations of the corps were Cossack volunteers, whose age ranged from fourteen to sixty-four years. Cossacks sometimes came as families with their children.

Kuban Cossack volunteers at the front

In the history of the first period of the Great Patriotic War, the process of forming volunteer Cossack cavalry formations occupies a special place. Tens of thousands of Cossacks, including those who were exempt from service due to age or health reasons, voluntarily joined the newly formed Cossack militia regiments and other units. Thus, the Cossack of the Don village Morozovskaya I.A. Khoshutov, being at a very old age, volunteered to join the Cossack militia regiment along with his two sons - sixteen-year-old Andrei and fourteen-year-old Alexander. There were many such examples. It was from these Cossack volunteers that the 116th Don Cossack Volunteer Division, the 15th Don Volunteer Cavalry Division, the 11th Separate Orenburg Cavalry Division, and the 17th Kuban Cavalry Corps were formed.

From the very first battles in June-July 1942, the press and radio reported on the heroic exploits of the Cossacks of the 17th Cavalry Corps. In reports from the fronts, their actions were set as an example for others. During the battles with the Nazi invaders, the Cossack units of the corps retreated from their positions only upon orders. In August 1942, the German command, in order to break through our defenses in the area of the village of Kushchevskaya, concentrated: one mountain infantry division, two SS groups, a large number of tanks, artillery and mortars. Parts of the corps on horseback attacked the concentration of enemy troops on the approaches and in Kushchevskaya itself. As a result of the swift cavalry attack, up to 1,800 German soldiers and officers were hacked to death, 300 were taken prisoner, and big damage in materiel and military equipment. For this and subsequent active defensive battles in the North Caucasus, the corps was transformed into the 4th Guards Kuban Cossack Cavalry Corps (NKO order No. 259 of 27.8.42). 08/02/42 in the Kushchevskaya area, the Cossacks of the 13th Cavalry Division (2 saber regiments, 1 artillery division) launched an unprecedented psychic attack on horseback for this war, extending up to 2.5 kilometers along the front, against the 101st Infantry Division "Green Rose" and two SS regiments. 08/03/42 The 12th Cavalry Division in the area of the village of Shkurinskaya repeated a similar attack and inflicted heavy damage on the 4th German Mountain Rifle Division and the SS "White Lily" regiment.

Saber attack of the Cossacks near Kushchevskaya

In the battles near Kushchevskaya, the Don Cossack hundred from the village of Berezovskaya under the command of Senior Lieutenant K.I. especially distinguished themselves. Nedorubova. On August 2, 1942, in hand-to-hand combat, a hundred destroyed over 200 enemy soldiers, of which 70 were killed personally by Nedorubov, who received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. During the First World War, the Cossack Nedorubov fought on the Southwestern and Romanian fronts. During the war he became a full Knight of St. George. During the Civil War, he first fought on the side of the whites in the 18th Don Cossack Regiment of the Don Army. In 1918 he was captured and went over to the Red side. On July 7, 1933, he was sentenced under Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to 10 years in a labor camp for “abuse of power or official position” (he allowed collective farmers to use the grain left after sowing for food). He worked for three years in Volgolag on the construction of the Moscow-Volga canal; for shock work he was released early and awarded a Soviet order. During the Great Patriotic War, a 52-year-old Cossack, senior lieutenant K.I., not subject to conscription. Nedorubov, in October 1941, formed a Don Cossack hundred of volunteers in the village of Berezovskaya (now Volgograd region) and became its commander. His son Nikolai served with him in the hundred. At the front since July 1942. His squadron (one hundred) as part of the 41st Guards Cavalry Regiment, during raids on the enemy on July 28 and 29, 1942 in the area of the Pobeda and Biryuchiy farms, on August 2, 1942 near the village of Kushchevskaya, on September 5, 1942 in the area of the village of Kurinskaya and 16 October 1942 near the village of Maratuki, destroyed a large amount of enemy manpower and equipment. Until the end of his life, this unbending warrior openly and proudly wore Soviet orders and the Cross of St. George.

Kazak Nedorubov K.I.

August and September 1942 were spent in heavy defensive battles on the territory of the Krasnodar Territory. In the second half of September, two Kuban divisions of the corps, by order of the higher command, were transferred from the Tuapse region by rail through Georgia and Azerbaijan to the Gudermes-Shelkovskaya region in order to prevent the advance of the Germans in Transcaucasia. As a result of heavy defensive battles, this task was completed. Here, not only the Germans, but also the Arabs got it from the Cossacks. Hoping to break through the Caucasus to the Middle East, the Germans in early October 1942 introduced the Arab Volunteer Corps "F" into Army Group "A" under the command of the 1st Tank Army. Already on October 15, Corps "F" in the area of the village of Achikulak in the Nogai steppe (Stavropol region) attacked the 4th Guards Kuban Cossack Cavalry Corps under the command of Lieutenant General Kirichenko. Until the end of November, the Cossack cavalrymen successfully resisted the Arab Nazi mercenaries. At the end of January 1943, Corps "F" was transferred to the disposal of Army Group "Don" of Field Marshal Manstein. During the fighting in the Caucasus, this German-Arab corps lost more than half of its strength, a significant part of which were Arabs. After this, the Arabs beaten by the Cossacks were transferred to northern Africa and did not appear on the Russian-German front again.

Cossacks from various formations fought heroically in the Battle of Stalingrad. The 3rd Guards (Major General I.A. Pliev, from the end of December 1942 Major General N.S. Oslikovsky), the 8th (from February 1943 7th Guards; Major General M.D.) operated successfully in the battle . Borisov) and 4th (Lieutenant General T.T. Shapkin) cavalry corps. Horses were used in to a greater extent To organize rapid movement, the Cossacks were involved in battle as infantry, although attacks on horseback also took place. In November 1942, during the Battle of Stalingrad, one of the latest cases combat use of cavalry in mounted formation. The 4th Cavalry Corps of the Red Army, formed in Central Asia and until September 1942 carried out occupation service in Iran. The Don Cossack corps was commanded by Lieutenant General Timofey Timofeevich Shapkin.

Lieutenant General Shapkin T.T.

IN civil war Poedesaul Shapkin fought on the side of the whites and, commanding a Cossack hundred, took part in Mamantov’s raid on the Red rear. After the defeat of the Don Army and the conquest of the Don Army region by the Bolsheviks, in March 1920, Shapkin and his hundred Cossacks joined the Red Army to participate in the Soviet-Polish War. During this war, he grew from a hundred commander to a brigade commander and earned two Orders of the Red Banner. In 1921, after the death of the famous division commander of the 14th Cavalry Division, Alexander Parkhomenko, in a battle with the Makhnovists, he took command of his division. Shapkin received the third Order of the Red Banner for fighting the Basmachi. Shapkin, who wore a curled mustache, was mistaken by the ancestors of today's migrant workers for Budyonny, and his mere appearance in some village caused panic among the Basmachi throughout the area. For the liquidation of the last Basmachi gang and the capture of the organizer of the Basmachi movement, Imbrahim-Bek, Shapkin was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor of the Tajik SSR. Despite his white officer background, Shapkin was accepted into the ranks of the CPSU (b) in 1938, and in 1940, commander Shapkin was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. The 4th Cavalry Corps was supposed to participate in the breakthrough of the Romanian defense south of Stalingrad. Initially, it was assumed that the horse handlers, as usual, would take the horses to cover, and the cavalrymen on foot would attack the Romanian trenches. However, the artillery barrage had such an impact on the Romanians that immediately after it ended, the Romanians crawled out of their dugouts and ran to the rear in panic. It was then that it was decided to pursue the fleeing Romanians on horseback. They managed to not only catch up with the Romanians, but also overtake them, capturing a huge number of prisoners. Without encountering resistance, the cavalrymen took the Abganerovo station, where large trophies were captured: more than 100 guns, warehouses with food, fuel and ammunition.

Romanian prisoners at Stalingrad

A very curious incident occurred in August 1943 during the Taganrog operation. The 38th Cavalry Regiment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel I.K. especially distinguished itself there. Minakova. Having rushed forward, he met one-on-one with the German infantry division and, dismounting, entered into battle with it. This division was at one time thoroughly battered in the Caucasus by the 38th Don Cavalry Division, and just before the meeting with Minakov’s regiment it came under heavy attack from our aviation. However, even in this state she represented even greater strength. It is difficult to say how this unequal battle would have ended if Minakov’s regiment had had a different number. Mistaking the 38th Cavalry Regiment for the 38th Don Division, the Germans were horrified. And Minakov, having learned about this, immediately sent envoys to the enemy with a brief but categorical message: “I propose to surrender. Commander of the 38th Cossack Division.” The Nazis deliberated all night and finally decided to accept the ultimatum. In the morning, two German officers arrived at Minakov with an answer. And at about 12 noon the division commander himself arrived, accompanied by 44 officers. And what an embarrassment the Nazi general experienced when he learned that, together with his division, he had surrendered to a Soviet cavalry regiment! In the notebook of the German officer Alfred Kurtz, which was then picked up on the battlefield, the following entry was found: “Everything that I heard about the Cossacks during the 1914 war pales before the horrors that we experience when meeting them now. One memory of the Cossack attack terrifies me, and I tremble... Even at night, in my dreams, the Cossacks are chasing me. It’s some kind of black whirlwind, sweeping away everything in its path. We fear the Cossacks as the retribution of the Almighty... Yesterday my company lost all its officers, 92. -x soldiers, three tanks and all machine guns."

Since 1943, the unification of Cossack cavalry divisions with mechanized and tank units began to take place, in connection with which cavalry-mechanized groups and shock armies were formed. The cavalry mechanized group of the 1st Belorussian Front initially consisted of the 4th Guards Cavalry and 1st Mechanized Corps. Subsequently, the 9th Tank Corps was included in the association. The group was assigned to the 299th Assault Aviation Division, and its operations were supported at different times by one to two air corps. In terms of the number of troops, the group was superior to a conventional army, and it had a large striking force. The shock armies, consisting of cavalry, mechanized and tank corps, had a similar structure and tasks. Front commanders used them at the forefront of the attack.

Usually Pliev's cavalry-mechanized group entered the battle after breaking through the enemy defenses. The task of the cavalry-mechanized group was to, after breaking through the enemy defense with combined arms formations, enter the battle through the gap they created. Having entered the breakthrough and burst into operational space, developing a rapid offensive in a large gap from the main forces of the front, with sudden and daring attacks, KMG destroyed the enemy’s manpower and equipment, smashed his deep reserves, and disrupted communications. The Nazis threw operational reserves against KMG from different directions. Fierce fighting ensued. The enemy sometimes managed to encircle our formation of troops, and gradually the encirclement was greatly compressed. Since the main forces of the front were far behind, it was not possible to count on their help before the general offensive of the front began. Nevertheless, KMG managed to form a mobile external front even at a considerable distance from the main forces and bind all the enemy reserves to itself. Such deep raids by KMG and shock armies were usually carried out several days before the general offensive of the front. After the release of the blockade, the front commanders threw the remnants of the cavalry-mechanized group or shock armies from one direction to another. And they succeeded wherever it was hot.

Cossacks at rest

In addition to the cavalry Cossack units During the war, the so-called “Plastun” formations were formed from the Kuban and Terek Cossacks. Plastun is a Cossack infantryman. Initially, plastuns were called the best Cossacks from those who performed a number of specific functions in battle (reconnaissance, sniper fire, assault actions), which were not typical for use in equestrian formation. Plastun Cossacks, as a rule, were transported to the battlefield on two-horse chaises, which ensured high mobility of foot units. In addition, certain military traditions, as well as the cohesion of the Cossack formations, provided the latter with better combat and moral-psychological preparation. On the initiative of I.V. Stalin began the formation of the Plastun Cossack division. The 9th Mountain Rifle Division, previously formed from Kuban Cossacks, was transformed into a Cossack division.

The division was now so equipped with means of propulsion that it could independently carry out combined marches of 100-150 kilometers per day. The number of personnel increased by more than one and a half times and reached 14.5 thousand people. It should be emphasized that the division was reorganized into special states and with a special purpose. This was emphasized by the new name, which, as stated in the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of September 3, it received “for the defeat of the Nazi invaders in Kuban, the liberation of Kuban and its regional center - the city of Krasnodar.” The entire division was now called the following: 9th Plastun Krasnodar Red Banner Order of the Red Star Division. Kuban took upon itself the responsibility of supplying the Cossack divisions with food and uniforms. Everywhere in Krasnodar and surrounding villages, workshops were urgently created in which Cossack women sewed thousands of sets of Cossack and Plastun uniforms - kubankas, cherkeskas, beshmets, bashlyks. They sewed for their husbands, fathers, sons.

Since 1943, the Cossack Cavalry Divisions took part in the liberation of Ukraine. In 1944, they successfully operated in the Korsun-Shevchenko and Iasi-Kishinev offensive operations. Cossacks of the 4th Kuban, 2nd, 3rd and 7th Guards Cavalry Corps liberated Belarus. The Ural, Orenburg and Transbaikal Cossacks of the 6th Guards Cavalry Corps advanced across Right Bank Ukraine and the territory of Poland. The 5th Don Guards Cossack Corps fought successfully in Romania. The 1st Guards Cavalry Corps entered the territory of Czechoslovakia, and the 4th and 6th Guards Cavalry Corps entered Hungary. Later here, in the important Debrecen operation, units of the 5th Don Guards and 4th Kuban Cossack Cavalry Corps particularly distinguished themselves. Then these corps, together with the 6th Guards Cavalry Corps, fought valiantly in the Budapest area and near Lake Balaton.

Cossack unit on the march

In the spring of 1945, the 4th and 6th Guards Cavalry Corps liberated Czechoslovakia and defeated the enemy's Prague group. The 5th Don Cavalry Corps entered Austria and reached Vienna. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 7th Cavalry Corps participated in the Berlin operation. At the end of the war, the Red Army had 7 guards cavalry corps and 1 “simple” cavalry corps. Two of them were purely “Cossack”: the 4th Guards Cavalry Kuban Cossack Corps and the 5th Guards Cavalry Don Cossack Corps. Hundreds of thousands of Cossacks fought heroically not only in the cavalry, but also in many infantry, artillery and tank units, and in partisan detachments. They all contributed to the Victory. During the war, tens of thousands of Cossacks died brave deaths on the battlefields. For the accomplished feats and heroism shown in battles with the enemy, many thousands of Cossacks were awarded military orders and medals, and 262 Cossacks became Heroes of the Soviet Union, 7 cavalry corps and 17 cavalry divisions received guards ranks. In the 5th Don Guards Cavalry Corps alone, more than 32 thousand soldiers and commanders were awarded high government awards.

Meeting of the Cossacks with the allies

The peaceful Cossack population worked selflessly in the rear. Tanks and airplanes were built using the labor savings of the Cossacks, voluntarily donated to the Defense Fund. Several tank columns were built with the money of the Don Cossacks - "Cooperator of the Don", "Don Cossack" and "Osoaviakhimovets Don", and with the money of the Kuban people - the tank column "Soviet Kuban".

In August 1945, Transbaikal Cossacks of the 59th Cavalry Division, operating as part of the Soviet-Mongolian cavalry-mechanized group of General Pliev, participated in the lightning defeat of the Kwantung Japanese Army.

As we see, during the Great Patriotic War, Stalin was forced to remember the Cossacks, their fearlessness, love for the Motherland and ability to fight. In the Red Army there were Cossack cavalry and Plastun units and formations that made a heroic journey from the Volga and the Caucasus to Berlin and Prague, and earned many military awards and names of Heroes. Admittedly, cavalry corps and horse-mechanized groups performed excellently during the war against German fascism, but already on June 24, 1945, immediately after the Victory Parade, I.V. Stalin ordered Marshal S.M. Budyonny to begin disbanding the cavalry formations, because cavalry as a branch of the Armed Forces was abolished.

The main reason This the Supreme Commander-in-Chief called the urgent need of the national economy for draft power. In the summer of 1946, only the best cavalry corps were reorganized into cavalry divisions with the same numbers, and the cavalry remained: 4th Guards Cavalry Kuban Cossack Order of Lenin Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Division (Stavropol) and 5th Guards Cavalry Don Cossack Budapest Red Banner Division (Novocherkassk). But they also did not live long as cavalry. In October 1954, the 5th Guards Cossack Cavalry Division was reorganized into the 18th Guards Heavy Tank Division by Directive of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces. By order of the USSR Minister of Defense of January 11, 1965, the 18th Guards. TTD was renamed the 5th Guards. etc. In September 1955, the 4th Guards. CD SKVO was disbanded. On the territory of the military camps of the disbanded 4th Guards Cavalry Division, the Stavropol Radio Engineering School of the country's Air Defense Forces was formed. Thus, despite the merits, soon after the war the Cossack formations were disbanded. The Cossacks were invited to live out their days in the form of folklore ensembles (with a strictly defined theme), and in films like “Kuban Cossacks”. But that's a completely different story.

Cossacks in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945

Completed:

Levchenko O.V.

Introduction

Until very recently, the problem of the Cossacks during the Great Patriotic War was covered almost one-sidedly. Mostly it was shown - which is quite natural and reasonable - his active and active participation in the heroic struggle Soviet people against fascist Germany. Indeed, most of the Cossacks fought in the ranks of the Soviet army. However, only such an emphasis did not recreate a complete historical picture, because, as it turned out in the post-Soviet period, a certain part of them was, alas, on the other side of the barricades - as part of the Wehrmacht and fought against their own Fatherland. This paper examines the Cossacks in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. on both sides of the front. The purpose of this work is to describe the Cossacks in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. on both sides of the front. The goal of this work is to most reliably and in detail describe the participation of the Cossacks in the Great Patriotic War, their contribution to the victory of our homeland, and also to tell about those participants in the hostilities who went over to the enemy’s side during the war.

The work uses the works of such authors as P. Krikunova, who for the first time made an attempt, using specific historical material, to recreate a full-scale picture of the participation of the Cossacks in World War II on the side of Germany. The book tells about those Cossacks who, for one reason or another, found themselves on the other side of the Soviet people who defended their homeland and the whole world. They all had to pay for their voluntary or involuntary, but still betrayal. Many of them died in Soviet camps, some died from deprivation and humiliation in post-war emigration, some continued their “crusade against Bolshevism”, becoming members of new Cossack parties and groups that were created under the auspices of Western intelligence services. Almost all of them suffered the same and most terrible punishment for any Cossack - for many decades, and some forever lost the opportunity to see their loved one." quiet Don, bright Kuban and stormy Terek."

In the book by Pyatnitsky V.I. Cossacks in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. describes the main operations, the main battles in which the Cossacks took part, little known facts our recent history, described by the author in detail and vividly, reveals the true essence of the feat of the Cossacks in the Great Patriotic War. Agafonov O.V. traces in his work the dramatic path of the Cossacks in the south of Russia, from the moment of their appearance to extinction and rapid revival, describes the Cossack army. The monograph is based on archival documents.

1. Cossacks in the Great Patriotic War: For Faith and Fatherland

Cossacks Great Patriotic War

At the beginning of July 1941, at a meeting of the Rostov Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, a decision was made to create militia units in the cities and villages of the region. The same detachments began to be created in the Stalingrad region, in the Krasnodar region and in the Stavropol region.

In mid-July 1941, the Rostov People's Militia Regiment was created. Whole families of Cossacks joined its ranks. The Rostov regiment showed exceptionally high qualities already in the first battles for hometown, and on December 29, 1941 he was enlisted in the Red Army. The patriotic movement to create voluntary military units from citizens of non-conscription age at the beginning of the war gained wide scope. In the village of Uryupinskaya, 62-year-old Cossack N.F. Koptsov told those present at the rally: “My old wounds are burning, but my heart is burning even more. I cut down the Germans in 1914, cut them down during the civil war, when they, like jackals, attacked our Motherland. Years do not age a Cossack; I can still cut a fascist in half. To arms, villagers! I am the first to join the ranks of the people’s militia.”

At the beginning of 1942, the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief decided to consolidate the cavalry divisions into corps. One of the first to be formed in March was the 17th Cossack Cavalry Corps under Major General N.Ya. Kirichenko. So, on January 4, 1942, the 10th, 12th and 13th Kuban Cossack divisions were merged into the 17th Cossack Cavalry Corps. In March of the same year, the 17th Cossack Cavalry Corps included the 15th and 116th Don Volunteer Divisions. And since the cavalry corps in the Red Army organizationally consisted of four divisions, the 10th Kuban Division was disbanded, and its personnel reinforced other divisions and rear units. At the same time, the corps was noticeably replenished with commanders and political workers. At the same time, anti-tank rifles, machine guns, machine guns, mortars and artillery pieces began to enter service with the corps. On the war fronts, the 17th Cossack Cavalry Corps covered itself with unfading glory, taking an active part in many military operations of the Red Army. The corps' troops distinguished themselves with particular resilience during the Battle of the Caucasus in 1942-1943. For successful battles in the Kuban in August 1942, this corps was awarded the rank of Guards, and it was transformed into the 4th Guards Kuban Cossack Cavalry Corps. All of its units also became guards. Divisions of this corps also distinguished themselves during the liberation of Odessa and Belarus, took part in fierce battles in Hungary, and ended the war in Prague on May 9, 1945. For military services, 22 soldiers of the corps were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. One of the heroes of the corps was a participant in the First World War, full Knight of St. George Konstantin Iosifovich Nedorubov. In the battle near Kushchevskaya on August 2, 1942, the squadron of 52-year-old K.I. Nedorubov (his son fought next to him) destroyed over 200 enemy soldiers, of whom 70 were personally killed by the squadron commander. For the feat near the village of Kushchevskaya, senior lieutenant K.I. Nedorubov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

How this guards corps fought is evidenced by the lines of a letter found in the backpack of the German soldier Alfred Kurtz, who was killed near the village of Shkurinskaya: “Everything that I heard about the Cossacks during the war of the fourteenth year pales before the horrors that we experience when meeting the Cossacks now . Just the memory of the Cossack attack fills you with horror and makes you tremble. At night I hallucinate Cossacks. Cossacks are a kind of whirlwind that sweeps away all obstacles and barriers in its path. We fear the Cossacks as retribution from the Almighty.” All volunteer formations of the Red Army received material support from the working people of the region where the formation of one or another military formation took place. Thus, the cavalry was mobilized in the Cossack villages of the Don, Kuban, Terek and Stavropol. The party bodies of the North Caucasus gave orders that the Cossacks, according to ancient custom, should come to the army fully equipped. In cities and villages, the production of carts, carts, camp kitchens, saddles, and edged weapons began. Tailoring of military uniforms was organized everywhere - tunics, Circassian jackets, beshmets, cloaks, kubankas, boots. The production of checkers took place in collective farm workshops and forges. Hundreds of Caucasian-style checkers, traditional for the Terets and Kubans, not inferior in quality to pre-revolutionary ones, were forged from carriage springs in the railway workshops of Maykop. And in the city of Ordzhonikidze (now Vladikavkaz) they established an industrial production of checkers of the authorized type, in tens of thousands of units. The Cossack cavalry corps played an important role in defensive battles, but were very vulnerable from the air, from tanks and machine guns. In 1943, it was decided to reduce the number of cavalry corps to 8. All remaining corps were enlarged and reinforced with artillery. Now they began to be used as part of cavalry-mechanized groups, adding tank regiments, brigades, and later corps. So, in January 1943, the 4th Kuban and 5th Don Cossack Cavalry Corps (later participants in the Victory Parade on Red Square in Moscow on June 24, 1945), reinforced with tanks and united into a cavalry-mechanized group under the command of N.Ya. Kirichenko, broke through the front on Kuma, liberated Minvody, Stavropol, Kuban, Don.

The revived Cossack Guard fought through the entire territory of the Soviet Union, starting from the North Caucasus to its very western borders. So in the southern steppe strip the 4th Kuban (from the end of 1942 commander I.A. Pliev), 5th Donskoy (commander S.I. Gorshkov), 6th Guards (I.F. Kuts) Cossack cavalry went west housings. Guards corps took part in the Korsun-Shevchenko and Iasi-Kishinev operations, and in heavy battles in Hungary. They crushed a large enemy group near Debrecen. We took Budapest, Prague and Vienna. Contemporaries note the high morale of the Red Cossacks. Thus, the “second after Sholokhov” Don writer Vitaly Zakrutkin, in the book “Caucasian Notes,” wrote that in the Cossack cavalry corps of General Selivanov, numbering tens of thousands of fighters, during the fighting in the Caucasus there was only one (!) case of desertion. As part of the 1st Belorussian Front, the 7th Guards Cavalry Corps of Lieutenant General Mikhail Petrovich Konstantinov and the 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps of Lieutenant General Nikolai Sergeevich Oslikovsky attacked Berlin. They fought heavy battles on the Oder, then were brought into the breakthrough together with the 2nd Guards Tank Army, bypassing Berlin from the north-west. They took Brandenburg, Friesack, Rheinberg and made a dash to the Elbe, where they met with the allies. The 1st Guards Cavalry Corps of Lieutenant General Viktor Kirillovich Baranov and the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps of Lieutenant General Vladimir Viktorovich Kryukov fought as part of the 1st Ukrainian Front. Commander of the 6th Corps S.V. On May 31, 1943, Sokolov turned to Marshal of the Soviet Union S.M. Budyonny with a petition to name the cavalry divisions of the corps Cossack divisions. In particular, the 8th Far Eastern Division was supposed to be called the Ussuri Cossacks cavalry division. Unfortunately, this petition, like the petitions of many other corps commanders, was not satisfied. Only the 4th Kuban and 5th Don Guards Cavalry Corps received the official name Cossacks. However, the absence of the name “Cossack” does not change the main thing. The Cossacks made their heroic contribution to the glorious victory of the Soviet people over fascism. In the occupied territory of the North Caucasus, especially in the areas of traditional residence of the Don, Kuban and Terek Cossacks, a fairly active partisan movement was launched. In Kuban alone, by the beginning of the German occupation, 123 detachments with a total number of 5,491 people had been created, and in the Rostov region by August 24, 1942, 8 partisan detachments and 5 sabotage groups with a total number of 348 people were operating. But of course, the Cossacks fought not only in Cossack formations and partisan detachments. Hundreds of thousands served in the infantry, artillery, tank forces, and aviation. A prominent military engineer, Siberian Cossack, Lieutenant General Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev, was tortured in the Mauthausen death camp, not wanting to serve the enemy. Many Cossacks gained fame in dashing and furious air battles - including Twice Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Nikolaevich Efimov (future Marshal of Aviation), Hero of the Soviet Union Georgy Andreevich Kuznetsov (later commander of Navy aviation), Hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Dmitrievich Konyakhin (first ataman of the revived Terek Cossack army). The tankman, Kuban Cossack of the village of Besstrashnaya Dmitry Fedorovich Lavrinenko, fought selflessly and destroyed 52 enemy tanks. For his feat D.F. Lavrinenko was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. During the years of the Great Patriotic War, Colonel General Vasily Stepanovich Popov, a major military leader, Hero of the Soviet Union, Don Cossack, a native of the village of Preobrazhenskaya, glorified his people. Terek Cossacks made a worthy contribution to the Great Victory over Nazi Germany: Admiral A.G. Golovko, Colonel General of Aviation N.P. Naumenko, Lieutenant General V.G. Terentyev, Rear Admiral P.K. Tsallagov, Major General M.A. Baituganov, N.M. Didenko, P.M. Kozlov and many others.

July 1941, the Headquarters of the High Command decided to form light cavalry divisions consisting of three regiments. 15 cavalry divisions were urgently created in the North Caucasus Military District. By the winter of 1941, about 500 thousand people, mostly Cossacks, were sent to the cavalry; the average number of new cavalry divisions was 3,000 people. The cavalry regiment consisted of 4 saber squadrons and 1 machine gun squadron, a regimental battery consisting of 4 76 mm caliber guns and 2 45 mm caliber guns. The squadrons were armed with checkers, rifles, light and heavy machine guns. In July 1941, Colonel I.A. Pliev formed a separate Kuban Cossack division from the Cossacks of Kuban and Terek, which was assigned No. 50. At the same time, brigade commander K.S. Melnik from the Cossacks of the Stalingrad region formed a separate Don Cossack division, which received No. 53. Somewhat later, Major General V.I. Book formed another Don division in the Stavropol region. In the Kuban, the creation of volunteer cavalry squadrons, regiments and formations also began, such as the 62nd Tikhoretsk, 64th Labinsk, 66th Armavir, 72 Kuban cavalry divisions from militia fighters, those liable for military service over 40 years of age, as well as 1- 1st, 2nd, 3rd Kuban Cavalry Divisions without age limit. In Stavropol, the personnel 11th Cavalry Division and the 47th Separate Cavalry Division were formed, and so on.

In November 1941, the 10th, 12th and 13th Kuban, 15th and 116th Don Cavalry divisions were created. In total, during the war years, more than 70 combat units were formed from the Cossacks.

For the courage shown and the courage and heroism of the entire personnel of the 50th and 53rd cavalry divisions in the fight against German fascism, they were awarded the rank of guards divisions.

By order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR dated November 26, 1941, for their courage and military merits, the 2nd Cavalry Corps of Major General P.A. Belov was reorganized into the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps; the oldest 5th Stavropol named after Blinov Cossack cavalry division, Major General V.K. Baranov - to the 1st Guards Cavalry Division named after. M.F. Blinova; 9th Crimean Cavalry Division Colonel N.S. Oslyakovsky - to the 2nd Guards Cavalry Division; 50th and 53rd Cavalry Divisions, Major General I.A. Pliev and brigade commander K.S. Melnik - to the 3rd and 4th Guards Cavalry, respectively. At the beginning of 1942, the volunteer Cossack divisions were enrolled in the personnel of the Red Army, accepted for full state support, armed and equipped with command and political personnel. At the beginning of 1942, it was decided to consolidate the cavalry divisions into corps. One of the first to be formed in March was the 17th Cossack Cavalry Corps under Major General N.Ya. Kirichenko. For successful battles in the Kuban in August 1942, this corps was awarded the rank of guards, and it was transformed into the 4th Guards Kuban Cossack Corps. In 1943, the Krasnodar regional committee and the regional executive committee turned to the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Headquarters with a request to form a volunteer Plastun division from the Kuban Cossacks. The request was approved, and in the fall the division was completely ready. Before her commander, Colonel P.I., went to the front. Metalnikov was summoned to Headquarters - I.V. himself received him. Stalin. He allowed the division personnel to wear the old Plastun uniform. Immediately in his office, Stalin promoted Metalnikov to major general. Thus, the 9th Krasnodar Plastun Rifle Division was formed. Its private and non-commissioned personnel were mainly composed of Kuban Cossacks. In 1944-1945, the division participated in the Lvov-Sandomierz offensive operation, the liberation of Poland and Czechoslovakia. The division finished its combat path near Prague with two orders on the banner - Kutuzov II degree and the Red Star. About 14 thousand of its soldiers were awarded orders and medals. And although there were many heroic units in the Red Army, even from them the enemy singled out the Cossacks-Plastuns, giving only them the terrible name of “Stalin’s thugs.”

. Cossacks in the Great Patriotic War on the side of Germany

Cossacks patriotic war army

The situation was different for those who believed the promises of the invaders and went into the service of Nazi Germany. The German military command embarked on a grandiose social experiment to grant self-government to Cossack territories. Officially, the German authorities supported the All-Cossack Union, but secret assistance through the Gestapo was provided to the All-Cossack Union, which arose in the spring of 1940, led by P.Kh. Popov, who united the independent Cossacks. In contrast to the first organization, the second also provided financial support. Thus, elderly Cossacks of the All-Cossack Union were given benefits from the German occupation authorities in Czechoslovakia in the amount of 700 crowns. Ultra-separatist and pro-German sentiments were present in the small but politically active “Cossack National Center”, transformed after June 22, 1941 into the “Cossack National Liberation Movement” (KNOD). The head of this organization is V.G. Glazkov distanced himself from the rest of the Cossack structures and, moreover, organized against E.I. Balabina, V.G. Naumenko, P.N. Krasnova, V.G. Vdovenko and M.N. There is real persecution through the magazine “Cossack Herald”. Most of the leaders of the Cossack emigration greeted June 22, 1941 with enthusiasm. An appeal by E.I. was published. Balabin to the Cossack order of the Don Ataman M.N. Grabe about continuing the fight against Bolshevism together with the German army. Many of the Cossacks were in a state of illusion, hoping that the leadership of the Third Reich would call them for help and allow them, after the liberation of the Cossack territories, to establish independent rule there and proclaim a state entity called “Cossackia”.

At the beginning of the victorious offensive, Hitler did not need assistants; moreover, control over Cossack emigration was tightened on the territory of the Reich. The Cossack leaders were made to understand that they must wait until they were called.

The hope for a large-scale uprising in the Cossack regions was also not confirmed, especially after information about Cossack units in the Red Army leaked into the Cossack emigration environment. Thus, on October 1, 1942, the so-called “Cossack District” (1st Uman Demonstrative Department) began to function, which included the territory of six districts north of the lower Kuban with a total population of 160 thousand people. The lowest level of the administrative division of the district was the village, headed by an elected chieftain; the villages were united into districts, which were also headed by elected chieftains, who, in turn, were subordinate to the district chieftain, appointed by the German field command. Unlike other occupied territories, atamans at the stanitsa and district levels were directly subordinate only to the district ataman, but not to the German command. Along with the atamans, councils of elders were also elected in circles. But in general, the population of the Cossack villages was hostile to the Germans. Despite everything they had suffered, the Cossacks in their places of traditional residence became “Soviet people” in spirit. In addition, despite the generous promises, the German authorities really did not give anything good to the people. Collective farms continued to function under a different name; labor on them was forced. For the actions of the partisans, the population, as in other regions, was subjected to cartel actions. Thus, in the village of Proletarskoe in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, about 10 local Terek Cossacks were shot for the death of one German soldier. The Germans widely practiced the forced involvement of the population of Cossack regions in the repair of roads, the construction of fortified areas, etc. True, there were individual cases at the request of the atamans of the release of Cossack prisoners of war by the Germans; previously only Ukrainian prisoners of war had such a “privilege”.

Conclusion

The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 became a severe test of the strength and viability of the union of the peoples of our country. The enemy that the peoples of our country faced turned out to be sophisticated and insidious, especially in the sphere of interethnic relations. Hitler's leadership tried to take full advantage of all the forces interested in the destruction of the USSR. And the enemy had the most favorable opportunities for this: the Soviet state existed for only a quarter of a century, and its transformative activities were carried out under conditions of totalitarianism, mass repression and the difficult socio-economic situation of the working people. This is partly what pushed some of the Cossacks during the Great Patriotic War into the ranks of the enemies of Russia, and this desperate step quite rightly outlawed all those who lived with memories of the past and were ready to achieve revenge at any cost. With the death of their idea, the legal and socio-economic system of the old Cossack community died irrevocably. The page in the history of the Old Cossacks was closed, but, despite the fact that cooperation with the enemy of persons dissatisfied with the existing socio-political system in the country acquired a massive character during the war years, the scale of this phenomenon turned out to be insignificant in comparison with the readiness of the rest of the Soviet population to defend their Motherland from the Nazi invasion.

List of used literature

1. Krikunov P. Cossacks between Hitler and Stalin. Crusade against Bolshevism. - M., 2005. 2. Pyatnitsky V.I. Cossacks in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. - Moscow, 2007.

Agafonov O.V. Cossack troops of Russia in the second millennium. - Moscow, 2002.

Until very recently, the problem of the Cossacks during the Great Patriotic War was covered in very few words. However, his active and active participation in the heroic struggle of the Soviet people against Nazi Germany was clearly shown. In the book by Pyatnitsky V.I. “Cossacks in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.” the main operations are described, the main battles in which the Cossacks took part, little-known facts of our recent history, described by the author in detail and vividly, reveal the true essence of the feat of the Cossacks in the Great Patriotic War.

In mid-July 1941, the Rostov People's Militia Regiment was created. Whole families of Cossacks joined its ranks. The Rostov regiment showed exceptionally high qualities already in the first battles for its native city, and on December 29, 1941 it was enlisted in the ranks of the Red Army. The patriotic movement to create voluntary military units from citizens of non-conscription age at the beginning of the war gained wide scope. In the village of Uryupinskaya, 62-year-old Cossack N.F. Koptsov told those present at the rally: “My old wounds are burning, but my heart is burning even more. I cut down the Germans in 1914, cut them down during the civil war, when they, like jackals, attacked our Motherland. Years do not age a Cossack; I can still cut a fascist in half. To arms, villagers! I am the first to join the ranks of the people’s militia.”

All volunteer formations of the Red Army received material support from the working people of the region where the formation of one or another military formation took place. Thus, the cavalry was mobilized in the Cossack villages of the Don, Kuban, Terek and Stavropol. The party bodies of the North Caucasus gave orders that the Cossacks, according to ancient custom, should come to the army fully equipped. In cities and villages, the production of carts, carts, camp kitchens, saddles, and edged weapons began. Tailoring of military uniforms was organized everywhere - tunics, Circassian jackets, beshmets, cloaks, kubankas, boots. The production of checkers took place in collective farm workshops and forges. Hundreds of Caucasian-style checkers, traditional for the Terets and Kubans, not inferior in quality to pre-revolutionary ones, were forged from carriage springs in the railway workshops of Maykop. And in the city of Ordzhonikidze (now Vladikavkaz) they established an industrial production of checkers of the authorized type, in tens of thousands of units. The Cossack cavalry corps played an important role in defensive battles, but were very vulnerable from the air, from tanks and machine guns. In January 1943, the 4th Kuban and 5th Don Cossack Cavalry Corps (later participants in the Victory Parade on Red Square in Moscow on June 24, 1945), reinforced with tanks and united into a cavalry-mechanized group under the command of N.Ya. Kirichenko, broke through the front on Kuma, liberated Minvody, Stavropol, Kuban, Don.

As part of the 1st Belorussian Front, the 7th Guards Cavalry Corps of Lieutenant General Mikhail Petrovich Konstantinov and the 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps of Lieutenant General Nikolai Sergeevich Oslikovsky attacked Berlin. They fought heavy battles on the Oder, then were brought into the breakthrough together with the 2nd Guards Tank Army, bypassing Berlin from the north-west. They took Brandenburg, Friesack, Rheinberg and made a dash to the Elbe, where they met with the allies. The 1st Guards Cavalry Corps of Lieutenant General Viktor Kirillovich Baranov and the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps of Lieutenant General Vladimir Viktorovich Kryukov fought as part of the 1st Ukrainian Front.

The Cossacks made their heroic contribution to the glorious victory of the Soviet people over fascism. In the occupied territory of the North Caucasus, especially in the areas of traditional residence of the Don, Kuban and Terek Cossacks, a fairly active partisan movement was launched. In Kuban alone, by the beginning of the German occupation, 123 detachments with a total number of 5,491 people had been created, and in the Rostov region by August 24, 1942, 8 partisan detachments and 5 sabotage groups with a total number of 348 people were operating.

But of course, the Cossacks fought not only in Cossack formations and partisan detachments. Hundreds of thousands served in the infantry, artillery, tank forces, and aviation. A prominent military engineer, Siberian Cossack, Lieutenant General Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev, was tortured in the Mauthausen death camp, not wanting to serve the enemy. Many Cossacks gained fame in dashing and furious air battles - including Twice Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Nikolaevich Efimov (future Marshal of Aviation), Hero of the Soviet Union Georgy Andreevich Kuznetsov (later commander of the Navy Aviation), Hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Dmitrievich Konyakhin (first ataman of the revived Terek Cossack army). The tankman, Kuban Cossack of the village of Besstrashnaya Dmitry Fedorovich Lavrinenko, fought selflessly and destroyed 52 enemy tanks. For his feat he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

In 1943, the Krasnodar regional committee and the regional executive committee turned to the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Headquarters with a request to form a volunteer Plastun division from the Kuban Cossacks. The request was approved, and in the fall the division was completely ready. Before her commander, Colonel P.I., went to the front. Metalnikov was summoned to Headquarters - I.V. himself received him. Stalin. He allowed the division personnel to wear the old Plastun uniform. Immediately in his office, Stalin promoted Metalnikov to major general. Thus, the 9th Krasnodar Plastun Rifle Division was formed. Its private and non-commissioned personnel were mainly composed of Kuban Cossacks. The division finished its combat path near Prague with two orders on the banner - Kutuzov II degree and the Red Star. About 14 thousand of its soldiers were awarded orders and medals. And although there were many heroic units in the Red Army, even from them the enemy singled out the Cossacks-Plastuns, giving only them the terrible name of “Stalin’s thugs.”

During the Great Patriotic War, 7 cavalry corps and 17 cavalry divisions received guards ranks. The revived Cossack Guard fought from the North Caucasus through the Donbass, Ukraine, Belarus, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Germany. The Victory Parade in Moscow on June 24, 1945 was a triumph for the Cossack Guard. For the courage and heroism shown in the fight against the Nazi invaders, about 100 thousand Cossack cavalrymen were awarded orders and medals. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to 262 Cossacks, of which 38 were representatives of the Terek Cossacks.

Cossacks today.

Life in its development eliminates everything unnecessary, leaving only what is useful. Human society historically follows this immutable law. Thus, only those social movements that have a clearly defined social role and social functions. What can be verified by simple questions: “What is this for society?”, “What benefits does it bring?”

The glorious past of the Cossacks is largely due to the value of the Cossacks in the face of society as defenders of the borders of the Motherland and guardians of internal law and order, establishing true democracy and people's self-government in their territories.

Today, after almost a century of genocide, the Cossacks are experiencing their rebirth not only as an ethnic community, but also as social movement, represented by a set of public associations.

These are not just “historical reconstruction clubs.” Unfortunately, many see the intrinsic value of the revival of the Cossacks in repeating the traditions of the past, forgetting about the present and future. They are overly pedantic and meticulous in matters of historical costume and uniform. As a rule, having neither horse riding nor flanking skills, they proudly grab both a foot and a saber. It is they who, not bringing benefit to modern society, are called “mummers” in it. Close to this is the “game of Cossacks,” which forces individual would-be Cossacks to hang themselves from head to toe in anniversary medals and attend all public events at their place of residence. This also does not benefit society and only causes sarcasm and smirks.

So, what public benefit can the Cossacks bring in the present and future?

1. Spiritual and patriotic education. Currently, the Cossacks represent a unique fusion of these two most important educational aspects - the key to a happy future for the Orthodox Slavic peoples.

2. Unity of Slavic peoples. The Cossacks are the second national idea, after Orthodoxy, that can resist the foreign strategy of “divide and conquer.” Cossack traditions can be found among most Orthodox Slavic peoples, which will help maintain the borders of a single nation.

3. Democracy and self-government. The Cossacks represent a centuries-old domestic tradition of self-organization and people's self-government. This is the most valuable political experience of a fruitful reform similar to Stolypin’s.

4. Ecological renaissance. The Cossacks are one of the few traditions of subsistence farming and human universalism that have survived to our time. The Cossack is an example of a holistic person: a warrior, a farmer, an artisan and a merchant in one person, a leader subsistence farming on his land and protecting this land. It is not for nothing that the symbol of the Cossacks is the horse - strength, freedom and unity with Nature...

Financial support there is no representation from the state, including the leadership of the Saratov region. Before the revolution, the Cossacks were allocated land, there were tax benefits, and other preferences that supported the Cossacks. Today, Cossacks do everything for their own money, and local officials do not always support the Cossacks, which causes additional difficulties.

Currently, the traditions of the Russian Cossacks are being revived very actively, not only for those citizens of Russia who, on the basis of self-identification, identify themselves as Cossacks, lead a certain way of life, preserve the way of life inherited from their ancestors, and observe a set of strict moral rules.

The Cossacks carried and carry in their character such traits as courage, endurance, good nature and respectful attitude towards other peoples and states.

The Volga Cossack Army pays great attention to working with youth, their spiritual, physical education and development. Cossack cadet corps and classes were created in Samara, Saratov and Penza. Cadets are engaged in military, combat and physical training, study the history of the Cossacks, Cossack dances and songs, and comprehend the traditions, life and culture of their ancestors.

Public Policy Russian Federation regarding the Cossacks today is very positive.

V.V. Putin says this about the Cossacks: “It is important that Cossack society educates a generation in the spirit of patriotism and civic responsibility. This means that he cannot imagine himself without the opportunity to serve the Fatherland honestly, faithfully, and therefore, not only the ancient, but also the modern history of Russia is inconceivable without the Cossacks.”

At the same time, the understanding in the pedagogical community is strengthening and growing that the goals of education are much more significant and include a person’s awareness of the purpose and meaning of life, his purpose in this world and responsibility for his life, the existence of his loved ones, the surrounding community, the country called the Fatherland – Russia.

The educational standard as a social contract sets new requirements for regional social institutions socialization, education, culture, which in their activities should rely not only on the achievements of the past, but also develop methods and technologies necessary for younger generations in the future. Conduct advanced development of a special class of humanitarian technologies aimed at working with a person of the innovative future of Russia, as a person of culture, a citizen and patriot of his Fatherland, a spiritual and moral person, responsible for himself and the fate of the country. The target characteristic of education is the formation of a spiritual heir, a creator of the future, a defender and creator of the foundations of one’s existence in national history.

The integration of younger generations into the sphere of the spiritual heritage of the defenders of the Motherland will allow them to develop their national consciousness through the ideals and values of patriotism, the idea of service to the Fatherland, the idea of duty, which in turn will ensure the activation of the creative forces of children and youth of the Saratov region.

The Saratov region has glorious historical, military and creative traditions. It was and remains one of the regions where patriotism and morality are passed on from generation to generation. One of these traditions is a military feat in defense of the Fatherland. The deep traditions of military feats are captured not only in the names of streets, memorials and museum complexes, but also in the memory of the region's residents. Museums of the Saratov region are a single unique organism that provides the basic foundations for the development of national culture, an important element in ensuring the unity of society, preserving historical memory people. State museums regions carry out serious scientific and educational work, systematically popularizing their collections, emphasizing their historical significance and pricelessness.

Schools that have chosen the Cossack component in their educational system create educational programs of spiritual, moral and patriotic education that determine the main measures for the formation of the spiritual and moral image of the younger generation as a person of culture, a citizen and a patriot based on the Cossack mentality, protecting their mental and moral health . This should contribute to the development of students’ desire to serve the Fatherland, protect sovereignty and territorial integrity Russian statehood, socio-cultural identity of the Cossacks based on domestic ideals, meanings, traditions and values.

In the federal state educational standards of general education, such an ideal is justified, the highest goal of education is formulated - a highly moral, creative, competent citizen of Russia, who accepts the fate of the Fatherland as his personal, aware of responsibility for the present and future of his country, rooted in spiritual and cultural traditions of the Russian people.

The basic national values, the development of which is aimed at the process of spiritual, moral and patriotic education in general, primary, secondary and higher vocational, as well as additional education, are: patriotism as love for Russia, for one’s people, for one’s small homeland, the idea and ideals of serving the Fatherland, activities for the benefit of Russia; social solidarity, based on personal and national freedom, trust in people, institutions of the state and civil society; justice, mercy, honor, dignity; citizenship, which consists of fidelity to constitutional duty, orientation towards building the rule of law and civil society, moral responsibility to the Fatherland, the older generation and family, respect for law and order, preservation of interethnic peace, freedom of conscience and religion; family with its moral attributes - love and loyalty, health, prosperity, respect for parents, care for elders and younger ones, concern for procreation; work and creativity aimed at creation, determination and perseverance, hard work, frugality; science – knowledge, truth, scientific picture of the world, environmental consciousness; values of traditional Russian religions; art and literature, expressed in beauty, harmony of the spiritual world of man, moral choice, search for the meaning of life, aesthetic development; nature with fundamental values - life, native land, protected nature, planet Earth; humanity – world peace, diversity and equality of cultures and peoples, human progress, international cooperation. General physical and special training, including hand-to-hand combat, mastery of traditional types of Cossack weapons, drill training, “in healthy body, healthy mind."

The educational concept of a school with a Cossack component is built in accordance with a document that is directly related to this problem.

Let us declare from the very beginning that the statement about the massive nature of the Cossacks’ transition to the side of the German army in World War II is a lie! In fact, only a few atamans went over to the enemy’s side, and 40 Cossack cavalry regiments, 5 tank regiments, 8 mortar regiments and divisions, 2 anti-aircraft regiments and a number of other units, fully staffed by Cossacks of all troops. With the money of the Cossacks, several tank columns were built - “Cooperator of the Don”, “Don Cossack” and “Osoaviakhimovets of the Don”.

It is worth saying that the fate of the Cossacks after the coups of 1917 and the fratricidal unrest that followed simply could not have developed simply and unambiguously. From time immemorial, Cossacks have been at the forefront of any armed struggle, and their love of freedom and devotion to its ideals, of course, ran counter to the policy of the Soviet state on de-Cossackization and other repressions in relation to the centuries-old opera of the Russian state - the Cossacks. De-Cossackization and theomachism hit these freedom-loving people hard, some of whom chose betrayal over the continuation of their main task - defending the Fatherland from an external enemy. The absolute majority of the Cossacks, despite all the insults that the Soviet government inflicted on them, sacredly remained faithful to their oath and simply defended Russia, its people and the Holy Faith of Christ. The shame of the traitors consigned to oblivion is endless, and there is no justification for it, and the glory of the Victors faithful to the oath and truth will live for centuries!

The Cossacks began to fight the enemy from the first hours of the war. The first Cossacks to enter into battle with German units on the Western Front were the Cossacks of the 94th Beloglinsky Regiment. The soldiers of this unit fought the enemy advancing in the direction of Łomza during the hours of general confusion that reigned around – already in the early morning of June 22, 1941.

On June 24, 1941, a farewell ceremony for a large detachment of Cossacks took place in the village of Veshenskaya. Writer Mikhail Sholokhov addressed the Cossacks with a parting word: “We are confident that you will continue the glorious military traditions and will beat the enemy, as your ancestors beat Napoleon, as your fathers did the German Kaiser’s troops.”

Volunteer hundreds were actively formed in the villages. Cossacks came to assembly points in families with their own uniforms. For example, Cossack P.S. Kurkin led a detachment of Donets of forty people into the militia.

Along with the cavalry, the Kuban and Terets were formed.

In the summer of 1941, the formation of the Don Cossack Cavalry Division under the command of N.V. Mikhailov-Berezovsky began in the Rostov region. The militia formed the Azov Don Cossack Cavalry Regiment (later the 257th Don Cossack Cavalry Regiment). Another 116th Don Cavalry Division, whose commander was a hereditary Don Cossack, veteran of the First Cavalry Army, Colonel Pyotr Yakovlevich Strepukhov, included the 258th and 259th Don Cossack Cavalry Regiments.

By the beginning of autumn 1941, the 89th (later renamed the 11th Cavalry Division named after F. Morozov) and 91st Cavalry Cossack divisions were formed from the Orenburg Cossacks of the Chkalov region. By the beginning of winter 1941, the 15th Special Don Cossack Cavalry Division was formed.

Particularly memorable is the heroism shown by the Cossacks in the battle of Moscow. The squadron of the 37th regiment from the Caucasian group of L. M. Dovator, led by Lieutenant Vladimir Krasilnikov, fought a desperate battle with the advancing infantry and tanks of the Nazis. In two hours, the valiant Cossacks repelled three fierce enemy attacks, destroyed 5 tanks and about 100 fascist infantrymen. Only seven Cossacks survived that battle.

At the beginning of 1942, Cossack volunteer divisions were enlisted in the personnel of the Soviet armed forces and placed under full state support. In March 1942, as a result of the unification of two Don and two Kuban divisions, the 17th Cossack Cavalry Corps was formed, under the command of the most experienced military leader, veteran of the First World War and the Civil War, Major General N. Ya. Kirichenko. On August 2, 1942, near the village of Kushchevskaya, fighters of this Cossack unit, which was part of the 12th Terek-Kuban, 13th Kuban and 116th Don Cossack divisions, stopped the German attack on Krasnodar from Rostov. The Cossacks destroyed about 1,800 Nazis, took 300 prisoners, captured 18 guns and 25 mortars.

In 1943, the formation of horse-mechanized groups began. The groups had excellent mobility, because horses were still used for transitions, and during the battle, so as not to be an easy target for enemy rifle and artillery, the cavalrymen dismounted and acted like ordinary infantry. The Cossacks skillfully used their traditional skills in the changed conditions of combat.
Cossack units played a huge role in the liberation of Europe and in the decisive Berlin operation - this was not the first time the Cossacks liberated Europe.

With the transfer of strategic initiative to the Red Army and the beginning of its offensive to the west, the role of the Cossacks continued to increase. As part of the 1st Belorussian Front, the Cossacks of the 7th Guards Cavalry Corps under Lieutenant General Konstantinov and the 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps under Lieutenant General Oslikovsky drove the enemy to the West. Having fought 250 kilometers, defeating the famous fascist division “Hermann Goering” and three more Nazi divisions and capturing more than 14,000 enemy soldiers and officers, the Cossack 3rd Guards Cossack Corps captured the German city of Wittenberg and the Lenzen region, and was the first to reach the river Elbe, where Soviet troops first established direct contact with the troops of the Anglo-American allies. It is no coincidence that in the famous song by Caesar Solodar “Cossacks in Berlin”, written in May 1945, the following words sound: “... this is not the first time we have watered Cossack horses from a foreign river!”

The 7th Guards Cavalry Corps was tasked with capturing the Sandhausen and Oranienburg area and thereby preparing a Soviet attack on Berlin from the north. By April 22, the combat mission assigned to the corps was completed, and about 35,000 prisoners were released from concentration camps in the occupied territories.

For the accomplished feats and heroism shown in battles with the enemy, thousands of Cossacks were awarded military orders and medals, and 262 Cossacks became Heroes of the Soviet Union.

I would like to believe that the memory of the contribution of the Cossacks to the victory over fascism will be carefully preserved by descendants, and falsifications of history that denigrate the image of the Russian Cossack and call into question the colossal role of the Cossacks in defending the Fatherland will have no place in our information space.

Prepared based on materials from the sites:
http://kazakwow.ru
http://www.kazakirossii.ru/

“My old wounds burn, but my heart burns even more. I cut down the Germans in 1914, cut them down during the civil war, when they, like jackals, attacked our Motherland. Years do not age a Cossack; I can still cut a fascist in half. To arms, villagers! “I am the first to join the ranks of the people’s militia” - 62-year-old Cossack N.F. Koptsov.

BACKGROUND

The Revolution and Civil War cost the Cossacks dearly. During the brutal, fratricidal war, the Cossacks suffered enormous losses: human, material, spiritual and moral. On the Don alone, where by January 1, 1917, 4,428,846 people of different classes lived, as of January 1, 1921, there were 2,252,973 people left. In fact, every second person was “cut out.” Of course, not everyone was “cut out” in the literal sense; many simply left their native Cossack regions, fleeing the terror and tyranny of the local committees of the poor and komjacheki. The same picture was in all other territories of the Cossack troops.

Cossack regions were abolished, their territories were redistributed between provinces, and Cossack villages and farmsteads were part of the provinces in whose territory they were located. The Cossacks of Russia suffered a severe defeat.

In a few years, the Cossack villages will be renamed into volosts, and the word “Cossack” itself will begin to disappear from everyday life. Only in the Don and Kuban did Cossack traditions and customs still exist, and dashing and free, sad and soulful Cossack songs were sung.

Indications of Cossack affiliation disappeared from official documents. IN best case scenario The term “former estate” was used; a prejudiced and wary attitude towards the Cossacks remains everywhere. The Cossacks themselves respond in kind and perceive Soviet power as the power of nonresidents alien to them.

Cossack customs and morals, the religious, military and defense consciousness of the Cossacks, and the traditions of Cossack people's democracy were abused and weakened. The Cossack work ethic was undermined and destroyed by the committees.

The Cossacks also had a hard time experiencing their socio-political lack of rights. They said: “They do what they want with the Cossack.”

As a result of the system of measures in the economic and socio-political spheres, the Cossacks ceased to exist as a socio-economic group. Cultural and ethnic foundations were also greatly shaken.

They hid the remnants of their ethnic culture, dear to every Cossack, deep into their souls. Having thus built socialism, the Bolsheviks, led by Stalin, returned some of the external attributes of Cossack culture, mainly those that could work for sovereignty. A similar reformatting occurred with the church.

BEFORE THE WAR

However, after fascists, militarists and revanchists came to power in a number of countries, there was a strong smell of a new war in the world, and positive developments began to occur in the USSR on the Cossack issue.

On April 20, 1936, the Central Executive Committee of the USSR adopted a resolution abolishing restrictions on the service of Cossacks in the Red Army. This decision received great support in Cossack circles.

In accordance with the order of the People's Commissar of Defense K.E. Voroshilov N 061 dated April 21, 1936, 5 cavalry divisions (4,6,10,12,13) received Cossack status. Territorial Cossack cavalry divisions were created in the Don and North Caucasus. Among others, in February 1937, a Consolidated Cavalry Division was formed in the North Caucasus Military District, consisting of the Don, Kuban, Terek-Stavropol Cossack regiments and a regiment of highlanders. This division took part in the military parade on Red Square in Moscow on May 1, 1937.

A special act restored the wearing of the previously prohibited Cossack uniform in everyday life, and for regular Cossack units, by order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR No. 67 dated April 23, 1936, a special everyday and ceremonial uniform was introduced, which largely coincided with the historical one, but without shoulder straps.

The Cossacks wore this ceremonial uniform at the military parade on May 1, 1937, and after the war at the Victory Parade on June 24, 1945 on Red Square. All those present at the parade on May 1, 1937 were amazed by the high skill of the Cossacks, who galloped twice across the wet paving stones of the square. The Cossacks showed that they are ready, as before, to stand up for the defense of their Motherland.

By June 1941, as a result of reforms carried out following the results of the Soviet-Finnish and the first period of the Second World War, the Red Army remained with 4 cavalry corps of 2-3 cavalry divisions each, a total of 13 cavalry divisions (including 4 mountain cavalry ). According to the staff, the corps had over 19 thousand people, 16 thousand horses, 128 light tanks, 44 armored vehicles, 64 field, 32 anti-tank and 40 anti-aircraft guns, 128 mortars, although the actual combat strength was less than the regular one. Most of the personnel of the cavalry formations were recruited from the Cossack regions of the country and the Caucasus republics.

From the first minutes of the Great Patriotic War, already at 4 o’clock in the morning on June 22, in the direction of Lomza in the terrible Battle of Bialystok, the 94th Beloglinsky Kuban Cossack Regiment of Lieutenant Colonel N.G. fought an unequal bloody battle. Petrosyants, the 48th Belorechensky Kuban and 152nd Terek Cossack regiments of Lieutenant Colonels V.V. soon joined. Rudnitsky and N.I. Alekseeva. The Cossacks dismounted and, taking up defensive positions on a wide front, began a stubborn battle. Despite the superior forces of the enemy, they repelled his furious attacks and drove back the German infantry with fire and bayonet strikes.

In the very first hours of the war, the Don, Kuban and Terek Cossacks of the 6th Cossack Cavalry Corps, the 2nd and 5th Cavalry Corps and a separate cavalry division located in the border districts entered into battle with the enemy.

The North Caucasus turned out to be a leader in this matter. In a short period of time (July-August 1941), seventeen cavalry divisions were sent to the active armies, which amounted to more than 60% of the number of cavalry formations formed in the Cossack regions of the entire Soviet Union.

However, Kuban's military resources for persons of conscription age suitable for performing combat missions in the cavalry were almost completely exhausted already in the summer of 1941. As part of the cavalry formations, about 27 thousand people were sent to the front, having undergone training in the Cossack territorial cavalry formations in the pre-war period. In the entire North Caucasus, in July-August, seventeen cavalry divisions were formed and sent to the active army, which is more than 50 thousand people of military age.

Since the end of July they fought on the Western and Southern fronts. Since September, in the Krasnodar Territory it has remained possible to form only volunteer divisions, selecting soldiers suitable for service in the cavalry, mainly from those of non-conscription age. Already in October, the formation of three such volunteer Kuban cavalry divisions began, which then formed the basis of the 17th Cavalry Corps. In total, by the end of 1941, about 30 new cavalry divisions were formed on the Don, Kuban, Terek and Stavropol Territory.

Also, a large number of Cossacks volunteered in the national parts of the North Caucasus. Such units were created in the fall of 1941, following the example of the experience of the First World War. These cavalry units were also popularly called "Wild Divisions".

All this allowed corps commander S.V. Sokolov to appeal on May 31, 1943 to Marshal of the Soviet Union S.M. Budyonny with a petition to name the cavalry divisions of the corps Cossacks. In particular, the 8th Far Eastern was supposed to be called the cavalry division of the Ussuri Cossacks. Unfortunately, this petition was not granted, like the petitions of many other corps commanders. Only the 4th Kuban and 5th Don Guards Cavalry Corps received the official name Cossacks. However, the absence of the name “Cossack” does not change the main thing. The Cossacks made their heroic contribution to the glorious victory of the Red Army over fascism.

However, due to the great vulnerability of cavalry from artillery fire, air strikes and tanks, their number was reduced to 8 by September 1, 1943. The combat strength of the remaining cavalry corps was significantly strengthened, it included: 3 cavalry divisions, self-propelled artillery, anti-tank fighter artillery and anti-aircraft artillery regiments, guards mortar regiment of rocket artillery, mortar and separate anti-tank fighter divisions.

In addition, among the famous people during the Great Patriotic War there were many Cossacks who fought not in the “branded” Cossack cavalry or Plastun units, but in other parts of the Red Army or distinguished themselves in military production. Among them:

Tank ace No. 1, Hero of the Soviet Union D.F. Lavrinenko is a Kuban Cossack, a native of the village of Besstrashnaya;

Lieutenant General of the Engineering Troops, Hero of the Soviet Union D.M. Karbyshev is a natural Cossack-Kryashen, a native of Omsk;

Commander of the Northern Fleet Admiral A.A. Golovko - Terek Cossack, native of the village of Prokhladnaya;

Gunsmith designer F.V. Tokarev is a Don Cossack, a native of the village of Yegorlyk Region of the Don Army;

Commander of the Bryansk and 2nd Baltic Front, Army General, Hero of the Soviet Union M.M. Popov is a Don Cossack, a native of the village of Ust-Medveditsk Region of the Don Army.

At the initial stage of the war, Cossack cavalry units took part in difficult border and Smolensk battles, in battles in Ukraine, Crimea and in the Battle of Moscow. In the Battle of Moscow, the 2nd Cavalry (Major General P.A. Belov) and the 3rd Cavalry (Colonel, then Major General L.M. Dovator) corps distinguished themselves.

The Cossacks of these formations successfully used traditional Cossack tactics: ambush, entry, raid, bypass, envelopment and infiltration. The 50th and 53rd cavalry divisions, from the 3rd Cavalry Corps of Colonel Dovator, from November 18 to 26, 1941, carried out a raid in the rear of the 9th German Army, covering 300 km in battles. Over the course of a week, the cavalry group destroyed over 2,500 enemy soldiers and officers, knocked out 9 tanks and more than 20 vehicles, and defeated dozens of military garrisons.

By order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR dated November 26, 1941, the 3rd Cavalry Corps was transformed into the 2nd Guards, and the 50th and 53rd Cavalry Divisions were among the first to be transformed into the 3rd for their courage and military merits. and the 4th Guards Cavalry Divisions, respectively. The 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps, in which the Cossacks of Kuban and Stavropol fought, fought as part of the 5th Army.

This is how the German military historian Paul Karel recalled the actions of this corps: “The Russians in this wooded area acted bravely, with great skill and cunning. Which is not surprising: the units were part of the elite Soviet 20th Cavalry Division, the assault formation of the famous Cossack corps, General -Major Dovator. Having made a breakthrough, the Cossack regiments concentrated at various key points, formed into battle groups and began to attack headquarters and warehouses in the German rear. They blocked roads, destroyed communication lines, blew up bridges and continually attacked logistics columns. mercilessly destroying them. So, on December 13, the squadrons of the 22nd Cossack regiment defeated the artillery group of the 78th Infantry Division 20 kilometers behind the front line. They threatened Lokotna, an important supply base and transport hub. Other squadrons rushed north between 78 and 87. 1st divisions. As a result, the entire front of the 9th Corps literally hung in the air. The forward positions of the divisions remained untouched, but the lines of communication with the rear were cut off. Ammunition and food stopped arriving. There was nowhere to go for several thousand wounded who had accumulated on the front line.”

Losses in manpower, cavalry and equipment led to the fact that the main tactical formation of the armored forces became a brigade, and the cavalry a division. In this regard, the Headquarters of the High Command on July 5, 1941 approved a resolution on the formation of 100 light cavalry divisions of 3,000 men each.

In total, 82 light cavalry divisions were formed in 1941. The combat composition of all light cavalry divisions was the same: three cavalry regiments and a chemical defense squadron. The events of 1941 make it possible to draw a conclusion about great importance this decision, since cavalry units had an active influence on the course and outcome of major operations in the first period of the war, if they were given combat missions inherent in cavalry. They were capable of unexpectedly attacking the enemy at a given time and in the right place and, with their quick and accurate attacks on the flanks and rear of the German troops, holding back the advance of their motorized infantry and tank divisions. In conditions of off-road conditions, muddy roads and heavy snow, cavalry remained the most effective mobile combat force, especially when there was a shortage of mechanized all-terrain vehicles.

For the right to possess it in 1941 there was, one might say, a struggle between the commanders of the fronts.

The place of cavalry assigned by the Supreme High Command Headquarters in the defense of Moscow is evidenced by the recording of negotiations between the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, General A.M. Vasilevsky and the chief of staff of the Southwestern Front, General P.I. Vodin on the night of October 27-28. The first of them outlined the decision of Headquarters to transfer cavalry to the troops defending the capital. The second tried to evade the order and said that Belov’s 2nd Cavalry Corps, which is at the disposal of the Southwestern Front, has been fighting continuously for 17 days and needs to be replenished, that the Commander-in-Chief of the Southwestern Direction, Marshal of the Soviet Union S.K. Tymoshenko does not consider it possible to lose this building.

Supreme Commander-in-Chief I.V. Stalin first correctly demanded through A.M. Vasilevsky agreed with the proposal of the Supreme High Command Headquarters, and then simply ordered the front command to be informed that the trains for the transfer of the 2nd Cavalry Corps had already been submitted, and reminded of the need to give the command for its loading. Commander of the 43rd Army, Major General K.D. Golubev in a report to I.V. Stalin on November 8, 1941, among other requests, indicated the following: “... We need cavalry, at least one regiment. We formed only a squadron with our own forces.”

The struggle between the commanders for the Cossack cavalry was not in vain. Deployed to Moscow from the Southwestern Front, Belov's 2nd Cavalry Corps, reinforced by other units and the Tula militia, defeated Guderian's tank army near Tula. This phenomenal incident (the defeat of a tank army by a cavalry corps) was the first in history and was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. For this defeat, Hitler wanted to shoot Guderian, but his comrades in arms stood up and saved him from the wall. Thus, not having sufficiently powerful tank and mechanized formations in the Moscow direction, the Supreme High Command Headquarters effectively and successfully used cavalry to repel enemy attacks.

Back on July 19, 1941, the Krasnodar Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the regional executive committee made a decision to organize Cossack cavalry hundreds in order to assist fighter battalions in combating possible enemy parachute assaults. Collective farmers without age restrictions who knew how to ride a horse and wield firearms and bladed weapons were enrolled in the Cossack cavalry hundreds. They were provided with horse equipment at the expense of collective and state farms, and Cossack uniforms at the expense of each fighter.

In agreement with the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, on October 22, the formation of three Cossack cavalry divisions began on a voluntary basis from among Cossacks and Adygeis without age restrictions. Each district of Kuban formed a hundred volunteers, 75% of Cossacks and commanders were participants in the civil war. In November 1941, hundreds were brought into regiments, and from the regiments they formed the Kuban Cossack cavalry divisions, which formed the basis of the 17th Cavalry Corps, which was included in the cadre of the Red Army on January 4, 1942. The newly created formations became known as the 10th, 12th and 13th Cavalry Divisions. On April 30, 1942, the corps came under the command of the Commander of the North Caucasus Front.

In May 1942, by order of the Supreme High Command Headquarters, the 15th (Colonel S.I. Gorshkov) and 116th (Y.S. Sharaburno) Don Cossack divisions were merged into the 17th Cavalry Corps. In July 1942, Lieutenant General Nikolai Yakovlevich Kirichenko was appointed commander of the corps. The basis of all cavalry formations of the corps were Cossack volunteers, whose age ranged from fourteen to sixty-four years. Cossacks sometimes came as families with their children.

Thus, the Cossack of the Don village Morozovskaya I.A. Khoshutov, being at a very old age, volunteered to join the Cossack militia regiment along with his two sons - sixteen-year-old Andrei and fourteen-year-old Alexander.

In the village of Uryupinskaya, 62-year-old Cossack N.F. Koptsov told those present at the rally: “My old wounds are burning, but my heart is burning even more. I cut down the Germans in 1914, cut them down during the civil war, when they, like jackals, attacked our Motherland. Years do not age a Cossack; I can still cut a fascist in half. To arms, villagers! I am the first to join the ranks of the people’s militia.”

They were formed as in the old days. General S.I. arrived in his native Uryupinsk. Gorshkov - and it went through the villages and farmsteads: “The division commander has arrived, Aksinya Ivanovna’s son, Seryozhka. Kazakov calls.” And bearded men and young people began to arrive, and collective farms provided horses.

52-year-old S.K. Nedorubov from Berezovskaya himself formed a hundred, including his 17-year-old son.

62-year-old P.S. Kurkin brought more than 40 horsemen to his Cossack hundred from the village of Nizhne-Chirskaya.

There were many such examples. It was from these Cossack volunteers that the 116th Don Cossack Volunteer Division, the 15th Don Volunteer Cavalry Division, the 11th Separate Orenburg Cavalry Division, and the 17th Kuban Cavalry Corps were formed.

The end of July 1942, the Germans captured Rostov, the Nazis rushed to Kuban. Units of the Red Army retreating to the south: infantry, artillery, a few tanks. And only long columns of cavalry moved in the opposite direction, to the north: it was the divisions of the 17th Cossack Volunteer Corps that were hurrying to the border of the Don and Kuban. Having taken up defense on the banks of the Eya River in the area of the villages of Kushchevskaya, Shkurinskaya, Kanelovskaya, two Don and two Kuban divisions blocked the path of the fascist avalanche rolling toward the Caucasus.

The Germans failed to break through the corps' defenses on the move, but its commander, Lieutenant General Kirichenko, was dissatisfied. He understood that a Cossack was terrible for the enemy not in a trench, but in a horse formation, that the strength of the Cossack cavalry was not in defense, but in the offensive. He also knew something else: in the wars waged by Russia, the Cossacks gained such loud and formidable military glory that just the word “Cossacks!” horrified enemies. This fear was a weapon in no way inferior to a blade or a bullet. And Kirichenko decided to show the fascists with whom their fate so unsuccessfully brought them together on the banks of the River.

A quiet sunny morning on August 2, the steppe as flat as a table near the village of Kushchevskaya. A forest protection belt and in front of it four two-kilometer long lava fronts of the 13th Kuban Division, lined up for a cavalry attack. The heights near the village of Vesely and the embankment of the railway, where the enemy’s line of defense passed seven kilometers from the Cossacks...

Two Cossack saber regiments against the German 101st Mountain Rifle Division "Green Rose" and two SS regiments, one Kuban artillery division against twelve cannon and fifteen mortar batteries of the enemy... Three red rockets over the Cossack lavas, the division commander and commissar frozen in front of the formation. A swing of the division commander's blade, with which he indicated the direction of movement - attack...

The Lava walked half the distance to the enemy at a walk, covered half the remaining distance at a trot, and only when the other people's trenches became visible to the naked eye did the Lava break into a gallop. Nothing could stop them: neither gun and mortar fire, nor bursts of machine guns and machine guns.

Having opened the gates to the German rear on a two-kilometer stretch, the Cossacks poured into them and advanced twelve kilometers in depth. Three hours later, when they returned to their original positions, about two thousand fascist corpses lay behind them, chopped up, stuffed with lead, trampled into the ground with their hooves.

With these attacks, General Kirichenko achieved his goal: the fascists remembered not only the word “Cossack”, but also everything connected with it.

In the notebook of the German officer Alfred Kurtz, which was then picked up on the battlefield, the following entry was found: “Everything that I heard about the Cossacks during the 1914 war pales before the horrors that we experience when meeting them now. One memory of the Cossack attack terrifies me, and I tremble... Even at night, in my dreams, the Cossacks are chasing me. It’s some kind of black whirlwind, sweeping away everything in its path. We fear the Cossacks as the retribution of the Almighty... Yesterday my company lost all its officers, 92. -x soldiers, three tanks and all machine guns" - from those picked up on the battlefield notebook German officer Alfred Kurtz.

“In front of me are the Cossacks. They have instilled such mortal fear in my soldiers that I cannot advance further,” a fascist colonel, a participant in the battles near the village of Shkurinskaya, reported to his superior.

“Some Cossacks stood in front of us. These are devils, not soldiers. We won’t get out of here alive,” echoed the Italian officer who survived the Cossack attack near Kushchevskaya.

An amazing thing happened: German troops, intoxicated by their successes in the summer of 1942, far superior to the Cossack divisions in numbers and having an overwhelming superiority in equipment, stopped attacks on the defensive positions of the corps and began to flow around them from the flanks.

l On August 22, 1942, the newspaper “Red Star” published an editorial under the heading “Fight as the Cossacks fight under the command of General Kirichenko.”

It contains the following lines: “...The sons of the glorious Don and Kuban selflessly protect every inch of land. This is how all units of the Red Army should wage war against the Germans. It is possible to stop the Germans in the south! They can be hit and broken! This was proven by the Cossacks, who in difficult days covered themselves with the glory of brave, fearless fighters for the Motherland and became a threat to the German invaders...”

In a swift attack by the Cossacks, up to 1,800 enemy soldiers and officers were destroyed, 300 prisoners were taken, 18 guns and 25 mortars were captured. The 5th and 9th Romanian cavalry divisions fled in panic, and the 198th German Infantry Division, suffering heavy losses, hastily retreated to the left bank of the Eya River.

During the First World War, the Cossack Nedorubov fought on the Southwestern and Romanian fronts. During the war he became a full Knight of St. George. During the Civil War, he first fought on the side of the whites in the 18th Don Cossack Regiment of the Don Army. In 1918 he was captured and went over to the Red side. On July 7, 1933, he was sentenced under Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to 10 years in a labor camp for “abuse of power or official position” (he allowed collective farmers to use the grain left after sowing for food). He worked for three years in Volgolag on the construction of the Moscow-Volga canal; for shock work he was released early and awarded a Soviet order.

During the Great Patriotic War, a 52-year-old Cossack, senior lieutenant K.I., not subject to conscription. Nedorubov, in October 1941, formed a Don Cossack hundred of volunteers in the village of Berezovskaya (now Volgograd region) and became its commander. His son Nikolai served with him in the hundred.

At the front since July 1942. His squadron (one hundred) as part of the 41st Guards Cavalry Regiment, during raids on the enemy on July 28 and 29, 1942 in the area of the Pobeda and Biryuchiy farms, on August 2, 1942 near the village of Kushchevskaya, on September 5, 1942 in the area of the village of Kurinskaya and 16 October 1942 near the village of Maratuki, destroyed a large amount of enemy manpower and equipment. Until the end of his life, this unbending warrior openly and proudly wore Soviet orders and the Cross of St. George.

As a result of heavy defensive battles, this task was completed. Here, not only the Germans, but also the Arabs got it from the Cossacks. Hoping to break through the Caucasus to the Middle East, the Germans in early October 1942 introduced the Arab Volunteer Corps "F" into Army Group "A" under the command of the 1st Tank Army. Already on October 15, Corps "F" in the area of the village of Achikulak in the Nogai steppe (Stavropol region) attacked the 4th Guards Kuban Cossack Cavalry Corps under the command of Lieutenant General Kirichenko. Until the end of November, the Cossack cavalrymen successfully resisted the Arab Nazi mercenaries.

At the end of January 1943, Corps "F" was transferred to the disposal of Army Group "Don" of Field Marshal Manstein. During the fighting in the Caucasus, this German-Arab corps lost more than half of its strength, a significant part of which were Arabs. After this, the Arabs beaten by the Cossacks were transferred to northern Africa and did not appear on the Russian-German front again.

In November 1942, during the Battle of Stalingrad, one of the last cases of combat use of cavalry in mounted formation occurred. The 4th Cavalry Corps of the Red Army, formed in Central Asia and until September 1942, carried out occupation service in Iran, took part in this event. The Don Cossack corps was commanded by Lieutenant General Timofey Timofeevich Shapkin.

During the Civil War, Shapkin fought on the side of the whites and, commanding a hundred Cossacks, took part in Mamantov’s raid on the Red rear.

After the defeat of the Don Army and the conquest of the Don Army region by the Bolsheviks, in March 1920, Shapkin and his hundred Cossacks joined the Red Army to participate in the Soviet-Polish War.

During this war, he grew from a hundred commander to a brigade commander and earned two Orders of the Red Banner. In 1921, after the death of the famous division commander of the 14th Cavalry Division, Alexander Parkhomenko, in a battle with the Makhnovists, he took command of his division. Shapkin received the third Order of the Red Banner for fighting the Basmachi.

Shapkin, who wore a curled mustache, was mistaken by the ancestors of today's migrant workers for Budyonny, and his mere appearance in some village caused panic among the Basmachi throughout the area. For the liquidation of the last Basmachi gang and the capture of the organizer of the Basmachi movement, Imbrahim-Bek, Shapkin was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor of the Tajik SSR.

Despite his white officer background, Shapkin was accepted into the ranks of the CPSU (b) in 1938, and in 1940, commander Shapkin was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. The 4th Cavalry Corps was supposed to participate in the breakthrough of the Romanian defense south of Stalingrad.

Initially, it was assumed that the horse handlers, as usual, would take the horses to cover, and the cavalrymen on foot would attack the Romanian trenches. However, the artillery barrage had such an impact on the Romanians that immediately after it ended, the Romanians crawled out of their dugouts and ran to the rear in panic. It was then that it was decided to pursue the fleeing Romanians on horseback. They managed to not only catch up with the Romanians, but also overtake them, capturing a huge number of prisoners. Without encountering resistance, the cavalrymen took the Abganerovo station, where large trophies were captured: more than 100 guns, warehouses with food, fuel and ammunition.

This division was at one time thoroughly battered in the Caucasus by the 38th Don Cavalry Division, and just before the meeting with Minakov’s regiment it came under heavy attack from our aviation. However, even in this state she represented even greater strength.

It is difficult to say how this unequal battle would have ended if Minakov’s regiment had had a different number. Mistaking the 38th Cavalry Regiment for the 38th Don Division, the Germans were horrified. And Minakov, having learned about this, immediately sent envoys to the enemy with a brief but categorical message: “I propose to surrender. Commander of the 38th Cossack Division.”

The Nazis deliberated all night and finally decided to accept the ultimatum. In the morning, two German officers arrived at Minakov with an answer. And at about 12 noon the division commander himself arrived, accompanied by 44 officers. And what an embarrassment the Nazi general experienced when he learned that, together with his division, he had surrendered to a Soviet cavalry regiment!

Since 1943, the unification of Cossack cavalry divisions with mechanized and tank units began to take place, in connection with which cavalry-mechanized groups and shock armies were formed.

The cavalry mechanized group of the 1st Belorussian Front initially consisted of the 4th Guards Cavalry and 1st Mechanized Corps. Subsequently, the 9th Tank Corps was included in the association. The group was assigned to the 299th Assault Aviation Division, and its operations were supported at different times by one to two air corps.

In terms of the number of troops, the group was superior to a conventional army, and it had a large striking force. The shock armies, consisting of cavalry, mechanized and tank corps, had a similar structure and tasks. Front commanders used them at the forefront of the attack.

Having entered the breakthrough and burst into operational space, developing a rapid offensive in a large gap from the main forces of the front, with sudden and daring attacks, KMG destroyed the enemy’s manpower and equipment, smashed his deep reserves, and disrupted communications. The Nazis threw operational reserves against KMG from different directions. Fierce fighting ensued. The enemy sometimes managed to encircle our formation of troops, and gradually the encirclement was greatly compressed. Since the main forces of the front were far behind, it was not possible to count on their help before the general offensive of the front began.

Nevertheless, KMG managed to form a mobile external front even at a considerable distance from the main forces and bind all the enemy reserves to itself. Such deep raids by KMG and shock armies were usually carried out several days before the general offensive of the front. After the release of the blockade, the front commanders threw the remnants of the cavalry-mechanized group or shock armies from one direction to another. And they succeeded wherever it was hot.

In addition to the cavalry Cossack units, during the war the so-called “Plastun” formations were also formed from the Kuban and Terek Cossacks.

Plastun is a Cossack infantryman. Initially, plastuns were called the best Cossacks from those who performed a number of specific functions in battle (reconnaissance, sniper fire, assault actions), which were not typical for use in equestrian formation.

Plastun Cossacks, as a rule, were transported to the battlefield on two-horse chaises, which ensured high mobility of foot units. In addition, certain military traditions, as well as the cohesion of the Cossack formations, provided the latter with better combat and moral-psychological preparation.

On the initiative of I.V. Stalin began the formation of the Plastun Cossack division. The 9th Mountain Rifle Division, previously formed from Kuban Cossacks, was transformed into a Cossack division.

It should be emphasized that the division was reorganized into special states and with a special purpose. This was emphasized by the new name, which, as stated in the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of September 3, it received “for the defeat of the Nazi invaders in Kuban, the liberation of Kuban and its regional center - the city of Krasnodar.”

The entire division was now called the following: 9th Plastun Krasnodar Red Banner Order of the Red Star Division. Kuban took upon itself the responsibility of supplying the Cossack divisions with food and uniforms. Everywhere in Krasnodar and surrounding villages, workshops were urgently created in which Cossack women sewed thousands of sets of Cossack and Plastun uniforms - kubankas, cherkeskas, beshmets, bashlyks. They sewed for their husbands, fathers, sons.

Since 1943, the Cossack Cavalry Divisions took part in the liberation of Ukraine.

In 1944, they successfully operated in the Korsun-Shevchenko and Iasi-Kishinev offensive operations. Cossacks of the 4th Kuban, 2nd, 3rd and 7th Guards Cavalry Corps liberated Belarus.

The Ural, Orenburg and Transbaikal Cossacks of the 6th Guards Cavalry Corps advanced across Right Bank Ukraine and the territory of Poland.

The 5th Don Guards Cossack Corps fought successfully in Romania.

The 1st Guards Cavalry Corps entered the territory of Czechoslovakia, and the 4th and 6th Guards Cavalry Corps entered Hungary.

Later here, in the important Debrecen operation, units of the 5th Don Guards and 4th Kuban Cossack Cavalry Corps particularly distinguished themselves. Then these corps, together with the 6th Guards Cavalry Corps, fought valiantly in the Budapest area and near Lake Balaton.

In the spring of 1945, the 4th and 6th Guards Cavalry Corps liberated Czechoslovakia and defeated the enemy's Prague group.

The 5th Don Cavalry Corps entered Austria and reached Vienna.

The 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 7th Cavalry Corps participated in the Berlin operation.

At the end of the war, the Red Army had 7 guards cavalry corps and 1 “simple” cavalry corps. Two of them were purely (by name) Cossacks: the 4th Guards Cavalry Kuban Cossack Corps and the 5th Guards Cavalry Don Cossack Corps.

Hundreds of thousands of Cossacks fought heroically not only in the cavalry, but also in many infantry, artillery and tank units, and in partisan detachments. They all contributed to the Victory.

During the war, tens of thousands of Cossacks died brave deaths on the battlefields.

During the Great Patriotic War, 7 cavalry corps and 17 cavalry divisions received guards ranks.

The revived Cossack Guard fought from the North Caucasus through the Donbass, Ukraine, Belarus, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Germany.

For the courage and heroism shown in the fight against the Nazi invaders, about 100 thousand Cossack cavalrymen were awarded orders and medals.

262 Cossacks were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. It is symbolic that the Cossacks often wore royal orders and Soviet awards at the same time.

In the 5th Don Guards Cavalry Corps alone, more than 32 thousand soldiers and commanders were awarded high government awards.

The peaceful Cossack population worked selflessly in the rear.

Tanks and airplanes were built using the labor savings of the Cossacks, voluntarily donated to the Defense Fund.

Several tank columns were built with the money of the Don Cossacks - "Cooperator of the Don", "Don Cossack" and "Osoaviakhimovets Don", and with the money of the Kuban people - the tank column "Soviet Kuban".

As we see, during the Great Patriotic War, Stalin was forced to remember the Cossacks, their fearlessness, love for the Motherland and ability to fight.

In the Red Army there were Cossack cavalry and Plastun units and formations that made a heroic journey from the Volga and the Caucasus to Berlin and Prague, and earned many military awards and names of Heroes.

Admittedly, cavalry corps and horse-mechanized groups performed excellently during the war against German fascism, but already on June 24, 1945, immediately after the Victory Parade, I.V. Stalin ordered Marshal S.M. Budyonny to begin disbanding the cavalry formations, because cavalry as a branch of the Armed Forces was abolished.

The main reason for this, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief said, was the urgent need of the national economy for draft power.

In the summer of 1946, only the best cavalry corps were reorganized into cavalry divisions with the same numbers, and the cavalry remained: 4th Guards Cavalry Kuban Cossack Order of Lenin Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Division (Stavropol) and 5th Guards Cavalry Don Cossack Budapest Red Banner Division (Novocherkassk).

But they also did not live long as cavalry.

In October 1954, the 5th Guards Cossack Cavalry Division was reorganized into the 18th Guards Heavy Tank Division by Directive of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces. By order of the USSR Minister of Defense of January 11, 1965, the 18th Guards. TTD was renamed the 5th Guards. etc.

In September 1955, the 4th Guards. CD SKVO was disbanded. On the territory of the military camps of the disbanded 4th Guards Cavalry Division, the Stavropol Radio Engineering School of the country's Air Defense Forces was formed.

Thus, despite the merits, soon after the war the Cossack formations were disbanded.

The Cossacks were invited to live out their days in the form of folklore ensembles (with a strictly defined theme), and in films like “Kuban Cossacks”. But that's a completely different story...

(Materials from Sergei Volgin’s article “Cossacks in the Great Patriotic War” were used).