Why the soldiers at the front were afraid of holiday dates

History 08/01/20 Why the soldiers at the front were afraid holiday dates

the Soviet era is remembered for the abundance of holidays and anniversaries, accompanied by “shock beginnings” and “early execution of plans.” According to the testimony of veterans of the great Patriotic war orders from the “take the city for the holiday” sometimes turned tragic consequences.

“Festive offensive”

Soviet officers did not spare his subordinates, when the idea was to please the higher command in case of another “red date”.

“at Any price” the Soviet soldier had to take to the holiday heights, village, city, even if half of the “staff” (not people!) remained on the battlefield” – was indignant, for example, writer and documentarian Gerhard Voltaire in the book “the Zone of complete rest.”

Actor and war veteran Anatoly Papanova credited the following testimony about the “criminal orders”: “Of the 40 fighters in an hour battle left three, and died in order to my platoon to get high “the holiday”. It is not surprising that ordinary soldiers had every reason to fear and even hate the holidays of the Soviet calendar.

a Textbook example, widely known for his epic Yuri Ozerov “Liberation”, is considered a Grand offensive on Kiev in 1943. The capital of Ukraine, the red army liberated on 6 November – just before 26-anniversary of the October revolution. The storming of Berlin was dedicated to the first of may 1945, when the USSR celebrated the day of the international (later the celebration of “international solidarity of workers”). A special place a series of events in the war was occupied by the red Army Day. The hero of the novel by Konstantin Simonov, “Soldiers are not born” deprived of the office due to the fact that I was able to take by 23 February the village of Rooks.

“At the time it was not absolutely no sense, says the author, except for one thing: taken the Germans Rooks was bound to make the evening frontsth summary, and then in the morning post news 23 February 1942”.

Oh someone who, as a war correspondent Simon accused of ignorance of the realities is difficult.

Myth or reality?

And yet there are experts who refute the phenomenon of “holiday offensives” – for example, historians Alexander Dyukov Dmitry Makeev. In their view, this “myth” was born from unconditional faith in the memories of veterans, in which “the horrors of war, usually hypertrophied”. The researchers believe that the oral stories of veterans tend to rely on “known names, dates, geographic names”. These “clues” often become festive days when rallies were held, political studies, published the orders of the command was given “Executive summary” lists taken over a period cities.

“If the attack coincides with the anniversary, and the explanation of setbacks and numerous casualties is easy – was in a hurry to take the city for the holiday, the commanders wanted to become famous and drove the soldiers to the slaughter,” write the Dukes and Makeev. They refer to the fact that no documentary indication of “holiday offensive” not – if such orders were, only verbal. As for the liberation of Kiev in the days of the November holidays, it is due to the coincidence in time, which “could not take advantage of the political organs of the 1st Ukrainian front.”

However, as always, lies somewhere in the middle. Consider, for example, a summary, “information Bureau” for the same dates 6-8 November for all years of the war. Little “victory” was the message from November 7, 1941 when the offensive of the red Army and the speech could not be. Scored that day, only partisans of the Oryol region, attacked a detachment of Germans, and killed 18 people. But in 1942, during holidays, soldiers, Marines stormed the height in Tuapse, and the Cossacks-guards captured the enemy’s stores near Nalchik. “Festive offensive” was undertaken in the penultimate year of the war – we are talking about the “sudden attack” ovetsky Marines, accompanied by heavy losses of the Germans in the Czechoslovak Uzhgorod.

Therefore, we can say that the onset of the holidays really took place, although, as a rule, on limited parts of the front.

Timur Sagdiyev

Source:
© Russian Seven

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