Cossack units during the Great Patriotic War. The feat of the Cossacks during the Great Patriotic War

9th Plastun Krasnodar Red Banner Order of the Red Star Division

1943 was the year of a turning point in the Second World War, a turning point not only military-technical, but also psychological. During this period, both warring sides began to form elite formations, the high morale of which was based on individual moments of national history and culture. In the German motorized and tank divisions of the SS, they “exploited” the epic of the ancient German tribes with their harsh rituals of conquerors. In the USSR, the “proletarian” divisions were replaced by guards and Cossack units, the very name of which was associated with the defense of the Motherland from foreign invaders and was a model of service to military duty. Already in 1942, there were several Guards Cossack formations in the active army, however, none of them were Plastun.

Plastun is a Cossack infantryman. Initially, plastuns were called the best Cossacks from those who carried out border guards on the outskirts of the Russian state, and also performed a number of specific functions in battle (reconnaissance, sniper fire, assault operations), which were not typical for use in equestrian formations. Plastun Cossacks, as a rule, were transported to the battlefield in two-horse britzkas, 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.
Personally, on the initiative of I.V. Stalin, who finally realized that the Cossacks were currently more useful for the Motherland than the Comintern, the formation of the Plastun Cossack division began. The 9th Mountain Rifle Division, previously formed from Kuban Cossacks, was transformed into a Cossack division.

On September 3, having handed over its defense sector to the 89th Infantry Division, the 9th Mountain Rifle Division was transferred first to the army reserve, then to the front-line reserve, and by September 11 it was concentrated in the Krasnodar region, having already transferred to the reserve of the Supreme High Command Headquarters. Its four regiments (five mountain rifle companies in each) were consolidated into three (36, 121, 193) regiments of three battalions. All the artillery of the 256th regiment, hitherto transported on packs, was transferred to mechanized traction. In addition, the division received an additional 1448th self-propelled artillery regiment - forty combat vehicles. The air defense division was re-equipped with the latest 85 mm guns.

The division was now so equipped with means of propulsion that it could independently carry out combined marches along
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: 9th Plastun Krasnodar Red Banner Order of the Red Star Division.

Kuban took upon itself the responsibility for supplying the division with food and uniforms. Everywhere in Krasnodar and surrounding villages, workshops were urgently created in which Cossack women sewed thousands of sets of Plastun uniforms - kubankas, Circassians, beshmets, bashlyks. They sewed for their husbands, fathers, sons.

In mid-March 1944, the division was transferred to the Kamenets-Podolsk area, where it became part of the 95th Rifle Corps of the 18th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front. But instead of fighting the fascists, the Cossacks were involved in activities of a slightly different kind - the fight against the OUN and Bandera. According to the recollections of many war veterans, the combat effectiveness of the reinforcements that joined the Red Army in 1944 from the occupied regions of the USSR, and especially from Western Ukraine, was low. They fought the Germans at the very least, but using such units against Ukrainian nationalists was simply dangerous. Cossacks are a completely different matter. They treated the Bandera and OUN ideas “like sailors to the Provisional Government” and crushed the enemies of the Russian state “with a bayonet and a butt.” Therefore, in the rear of the 18th Army, the active activities of the nationalists were promptly curtailed.
In August 1944, the division, together with Soviet troops, entered Poland.

On August 21, the division as part of the 33rd Guards Rifle Corps of the 5th Guards Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front began combat operations in the Krakow direction.
On August 21, on the approach to the combat area, the division received an order to secure a sector from the 14th Guards and 78th Rifle Divisions and, together with the 4th Tank Corps, advancing in the direction of Dembitst, capture the city by the end of the day.
The division had 5-6 hours to prepare for the offensive. Its 256th artillery regiment had not yet returned from the location of the 14th Guards Rifle Division, to which it was temporarily subordinated; the 1448th self-propelled artillery regiment, due to lack of gasoline, remained in the forest east of Trzesnia. Thus, by the beginning of the offensive, the division had actually lost its artillery, and due to limited time, it was not possible to study the terrain and the grouping of enemy troops.

At two o'clock in the afternoon the 9th Division went on the offensive. To the right the 14th Guards Rifle Division was advancing.
The area was a plain covered with bushes, with groves and rare settlements. Despite weak artillery support in the first days of the offensive, the division advanced quite successfully. The enemy retreated from one strong point to another, often launching counterattacks.
By the end of August 22, division units, together with units of the 15th Rifle Corps, stormed the city of Dsmbitsa.
Directly against the Cossack formation were units of the 371st Infantry and 18th Tank Divisions of the Germans, which launched a powerful counterattack on the Soviet troops on August 23. However, despite the fact that up to 60 enemy tanks, supported by an infantry battalion, took part in it, the attack was stopped. Having lost 9 tanks and 200 personnel, the enemy rolled back.
On August 23, having obtained fuel somewhere, the 1448th self-propelled artillery regiment unexpectedly appeared at the positions. This allowed the division command to put together a task force from the 36th Plastun, 256th artillery and 1448th self-propelled artillery regiments under the command of the commander of the 36th regiment, Lieutenant Colonel A.K. Orlov. Cutting off the group of Germans defending on the left bank of the Wisłoka River and in the Dębica area, the 36th Regiment broke far ahead, penetrated 30 km into the German defense and was surrounded along with fire support units.
The night passed relatively calmly. At 8 o'clock in the morning the enemy opened heavy artillery and mortar fire and attacked the plastuns from three directions at once: in the center - towards Borowa, through the right flank of the regiment - towards Vevyurk, on the left flank - towards the Charny station. This and subsequent attacks were repulsed by plastuns with the support of artillerymen and self-propelled guns.
All the next night, German loudspeakers blared in front of the front line, promising “one hundred thousand marks, one’s own stone house and three hectares of land” to anyone who would go over to the Germans and deliver regiment commander Orlov “dead or alive.”
The Nazis began artillery preparation for the attack only at three o'clock in the afternoon. Then dozens of tanks and motorized infantry were thrown into the center of the regiment's defense. The fierce battle lasted for more than eleven hours straight. The first wave of attackers was stopped by plastuns in front of the front line. Of the 12 light tanks, eight were on fire, and the infantry, clinging to the ground, began to retreat. However, through the smoke of burning vehicles there was already a second wave of attackers - 12 medium tanks. They managed to break into the defenses of the 36th regiment at the junction of the 1st and 3rd battalions. Artillerymen and self-propelled gunners fired direct fire, soldiers crawled towards the tanks with grenades in their hands.

At the height of the battle, when Lieutenant Colonel A.K. Orlov, having collected everything that was at hand, tried to restore the regiment’s defenses dismembered by the enemy, a third wave of fascist tanks appeared. Four of them were knocked out, but the enemy managed to set fire to several of our self-propelled guns and break through to the firing positions of one of the divisions of the 256th artillery regiment. Self-propelled gunners under the command of Major V.Ya. Gumenchuk and artillerymen led by Major D.I. Teplov fought courageously and stubbornly, but the forces were too unequal.
It was dusk. Burning vehicles illuminated the battlefield. Communication with the battalions was interrupted. The 2nd and 3rd battalions continued to fight steadfastly on the previous line of defense, but the 1st battalion, having suffered very heavy losses, retreated south to Charny station. Eight German tanks broke through to the command post of Lieutenant Colonel A.K. Orlov. The regiment commander called fire on himself, and thereby forced the German tankers to retreat. By two o'clock in the morning the battle had subsided, and Lieutenant Colonel Orlov managed to restore control of the 2nd and 3rd battalions. However, the 1st battalion was surrounded by the Nazis at the Charny station.

At the end of the offensive, in the Krakow direction near the city of Tarnów, units of the 371st Infantry, 18th Tanschwa Division, as well as a number of individual battalions and subunits, acted against the 9th Plastun Cossack Division. None of the formations of the 5th Guards Army of Lieutenant General A.S. Zhadov had such a numerous enemy at that moment!
In January 1945, Soviet troops again went on the offensive. During the offensive period from January 12 to 19, 1945, the 9th Plastun in stubborn battles defeated the 304th Infantry Division and inflicted significant losses on the enemy's 359th and 344th Infantry Divisions. The successful operations of the division in the Krakow direction are noteworthy in that it had to conduct a rapid offensive with a virtually open left flank. The offensive under these conditions required great flexibility and frequent regroupings from the command.

On January 23, units of the division as part of the 5th Guards Army again went on the offensive and, overcoming stubborn resistance and enemy counterattacks, approached the center of the Dąbrowski coal basin - the city of Chrzanów, and on January 25 - to the Przemsha River.
On January 29, after a five-minute artillery raid on the front line of the enemy’s defense, the Plastuns quickly captured a number of settlements, including the Osvn-Tsim concentration camp. Tens of thousands of barely alive prisoners from all over Europe languished in the camp. When the Plastuns, having broken the gate, told the people that they were free, they cried with joy. None of them expected to survive. The mountains of ashes and clothes left in the camp spoke without words about the fate that awaited them.
At the beginning of February 1945, the division entered Germany. On February 9, the Cossack formation received the task of reaching the highway connecting the large industrial cities of Rybnik and Ratibor, and thereby cutting off the path of enemy troops retreating to the Oder. And the enemy in this case was completely special. Unlike the battered German 712th Infantry and 97th Mountain Infantry Divisions, as well as the remnants of the 2nd Panzer Division (almost without tanks), which they had to deal with in the last stage of the battles in Poland, the Plastuns were opposed by fully equipped 1 and the 2nd ski regiments, reinforced with mortars and even tanks. The skiers were well equipped, had white insulated suits, snowshoes and other equipment that allowed them to be active in winter conditions.

According to the recollections of participants in the battles, including the division commander P.I. Metalnikov, to this day it is believed that the division never fought such bloody battles as on the Oder bridgeheads either in Poland or in the Kuban. For example, the village of Neudorf changed hands several times - either the militants threw the Germans out of the town with grenades and machine gun fire, or the German skiers, having recovered from the blow, returned the city under their control. In these battles there were so many mutual wedges that it was difficult to make out who surrounded whom. The Plastun division consisted of only 4,148 people and everyone who could bear arms was thrown into battle. People acted to the limit of their strength. There was a case when artillerymen of the 121st regiment, having burst into a German town and checked the lower floors and basement of a house suitable for spending the night, immediately went to bed. At this time, German soldiers were sleeping on the upper floors. In the morning the “tenants” met, and the battle began to boil with renewed vigor. At the end of February, the division was withdrawn to rest, but on March 12 it moved to the front again.
On the night of March 13, the division took its initial position on a bridgehead in the area of ​​​​the settlements of Paul-Gross-Neukirch, Gräfenstein, Oderwilde and received the task, in cooperation with the 31st Panzer Corps, to break through the enemy defenses north of Paul-Gross-Neukirch and together with units of the 302nd 1st Infantry Division to capture the city of Leob-Schütz. The front of the division was defended by the 67th Infantry Regiment of the 371st German Infantry Division, the 39th Motorized Regiment, the sapper battalion of the 18th Motorized Division, the penal battalion and the battalion of the 1st Ski Regiment. The enemy's defense consisted of several continuous trenches and resistance centers, covered by wire fences, anti-personnel and anti-tank minefields.

The German resistance was very stubborn, and in addition, enemy units were seen on the front line in front of the division: the 14th Assault Regiment, the battalion of the 17th Panzer Division, the reserve regiment of the SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler". In the sector of the 36th regiment, the enemy repelled four attacks. For the fifth time, the regiment commander himself, Colonel Orlov, led the Plastuns. With the exclamation “For the Motherland!” soldiers and officers quickly rushed to storm the fortified settlement and occupied it. Orlov was wounded by an enemy bullet. The commander of the 1st battalion, Major Nosayev, and the commander of the 3rd battalion, Major Pronkin, were killed. The assistant chief of staff of the regiment, Captain Gutman, was mortally wounded.

Both sides suffered heavy losses in these battles, but they were especially great among the enemy, who often acted recklessly, trying to stop our further advance. The prisoners showed that everywhere on the walls of houses you can find slogans with the following content: “This is our last industrial area. If you give it away, you will give away Germany."
But nevertheless, the SS men were driven back, and at the end of April 1945, by order of the commander of the 60th Army, the 9th Plastun Division as part of the 28th Rifle Corps entered Czechoslovakia, where until the end of hostilities it participated in the liberation of the cities of Moravska Ostrava and the suburbs capital of the country - Prague.
In September 1945, the 9th Cossack Plastun Division returned to its homeland in the Krasnodar region.

Uniform of Plastun units

Due to the fact that the Plastun Cossack division was formed in wartime and existed in the singular, the uniform of its personnel acquired some specific features characteristic of both infantry and cavalry.
The ceremonial uniform of the Kuban Cossacks included a dark blue Circassian coat with black soutache trim (edges and shoulder straps) and a beshmet (red ceremonial and everyday khaki). In reality, in the division, formed on the basis of a mountain formation, and not a cavalry unit, there were Circassian coats that were again sewn at home or at home (Cossack clothing for the division was collected in the Krasnodar region that had just been liberated from the Germans), beshmets and bashlyks. Studying historical photographic materials, we can come to the following conclusion: almost all military personnel had ceremonial clothing, but most likely it was kept in the convoy and was used for parades, photography and propaganda. At the same time, a Circassian coat with shoulder straps at such events was worn directly on a tunic or tunic arr. 1943. Beshmets were worn extremely rarely for these purposes.
The Kuban Cossacks were entitled to trousers of a general army cut - respectively, with a red edging and a red cap. Bashlyks were not often worn in combat conditions (it is less convenient for infantry than for cavalry), however, judging by the photographs, they were either light blue (Terek Cossacks) or gray with black braid (Don Cossacks).

The basis of the field uniform of privates and sergeants was the khaki-colored Cossack with a stand-up collar. Kazakin was fastened end-to-end with hooks. Due to the fact that the division was formed in 1943, shoulder straps were immediately attached to it. Officers, unlike the rank and file, mostly wore a tunic or jacket mod. 1943, practically no different from other rifle formations. In cold weather, they wore army overcoats, as well as cavalry padded jackets.
The edging of the shoulder straps of the division's infantry units (special services were uniformed according to the rules established for these types of troops) was generally accepted - crimson. The shoulder straps did not have emblems of special military branches and services. However, judging by the photographs, some officers still have cavalry emblems on their shoulder straps, but this nonsense, like the blue edging of the shoulder straps for this Cossack unit, is quite understandable.

In addition to the Cossacks, special differences in the uniform of soldiers and officers of the division were determined by wearing kubankas and daggers. Kubankas were both black (the bulk, because the Kuban Cossacks were entitled to hats-kubankas of black fur with a red bottom, trimmed with black soutache for privates and golden soutache for officers), and brown and white astrakhan fur with different colors and bottom trim. All personnel of the division wore kubankas, along with caps and caps of the general army type. Judging by the fact that the stars on many Kubankas are not visible in the photo, the latter were used by personnel as an element of the ceremonial uniform. Although some of the fighters wore this headdress every day. Daggers, or in some cases knives of various types, were homemade and were owned by almost every Plast soldier. In addition to the above differences, one more thing was noticed - there are practically no plastuns in boots and windings, the Cossacks are dressed only in boots. The equipment and weapons of the division's soldiers and officers were fully consistent with the general army standards.

A few words about the uniform of self-propelled gunners of the 1448th self-propelled artillery regiment. In addition to the general army and special uniforms required for tank crews and self-propelled gunners, the regiment's personnel also wore elements of the Cossack uniform. Therefore, crew in tank overalls and kubankas were quite common for this unit.

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.

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 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.”

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. The 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 I heard about the Cossacks during the 1914 war pales in comparison to 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. Cossacks are a kind of whirlwind that sweeps away all obstacles and barriers in its path. We fear the Cossacks as the retribution of 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 Terets and Kuban residents, 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.

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 Don (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.

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 traditionally inhabited by 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 tanker, 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 develop and prosper. 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 a 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 revival. The Cossacks are one of the few traditions of subsistence farming and human universalism that have survived to our time. A Cossack is an example of a holistic person: a warrior, farmer, artisan and merchant in one person, leading a subsistence economy 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...

There is no financial support 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 young people, 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.

The state policy of the Russian Federation towards 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 of socialization, education, and culture, which in their activities must 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 imprinted not only in the names of streets, memorial 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 and preserving the historical memory of the people. State museums of the region 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 the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russian statehood, and the 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 own, aware of responsibility for the present and future of his country, rooted in the spiritual and cultural traditions of the Russian people.

The basic national values, towards the development of which the process of spiritual, moral and patriotic education in general, primary, secondary and higher vocational, as well as additional education is aimed, 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; labor 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 a healthy body, a 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.

For us, residents of Russia, regardless of age, social status and religion, May 9 is a sacred holiday. 70 years ago, the bloodiest war ended, which claimed millions of lives of our compatriots. More than 26 million people inhabiting Russia and the fraternal republics became victims of the war; almost 9 million soldiers and officers of the Red Army and Navy laid down their lives on the battlefields of the Great Patriotic War alone.
On this day we remember the fallen and the living, soldiers and civilians - everyone thanks to whom victory in the Great Patriotic War was won. We are all united by the memory of those who gave us the opportunity to live, work, study, and raise children peacefully.

The Cossacks entered the annals of the Great Patriotic War as a separate heroic page. The successors of the military glory of Matvey Platov during the Great Patriotic War went through a tragic but glorious military path - from the anxious hours of a June night in 1941 to the parade of victorious regiments of the Red Army in 1945.
When we say the words “Don Cossacks,” we immediately see before our eyes wide open spaces of the steppe, silvery waves of feather grass, numerous herds of excellent Don horses, beautiful and proud people.
Yes, this is all true, but in real life everything was not so simple, but much more complex and multifaceted. Before the revolutions of the early twentieth century, there were twelve Cossack troops and the Yakut Cossack Regiment in Russia. The All-Great Don Army was considered the oldest and most revered. February and October 1917, foreign military intervention and civil war, which became an incomparable national tragedy in which there were neither winners nor vanquished; Artillery fire, bullets, cavalry blades, and the glow of fires swept through Cossack territories.
During this period, the split in the Cossacks ended. One part of the Cossacks died on the battlefields, the second emigrated, the third remained in their native land, in Russia. Legislative acts of the Soviet state put an end to the existence of the Cossacks as a special military class. The boundaries of residence of the Don Cossacks also underwent changes. Most of the territory of the former Region of the Don Army remained within the borders of the current Rostov region, some went to Ukraine and the Krasnodar Territory. In September 1918, the Military Council of the North Caucasus Military District created the Tsaritsyn province from the counties: Tsaritsyn, Chernoyarsk, Tsarevsky and Nikolaevsky. In March 1919, by a resolution of the NKVD collegium, this association was formalized legally. In addition to the named districts, the Don District Troops from the Region were included in the province - Khopersky, Ust-Medveditsky and Second Donskoy. The Tsaritsyn province was finally approved by the Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of April 4, 1921.
The treacherous attack of Nazi Germany on our Motherland on June 22, 1941 caused a huge surge of patriotism among the Cossacks, as well as the entire people. A wave of rallies swept through the villages and farmsteads. The Cossacks vowed to crush the enemy until their last breath. On June 24, 1941, in the village of Veshenskaya, seeing off the Cossacks to the active Army, the great writer Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov said: “We will be winners in this Patriotic War. The Don Cossacks have always been in the forefront of defenders of the sacred borders of their native country. We are confident that you will continue the glorious military traditions and will beat the enemy the way your ancestors beat Napoleon, the way your fathers beat the German Kaiser’s troops.”

Cossacks from the Don, Kuban and Terek took part in the formation of cavalry divisions. In 1942, as a result of the unification of two Don and two Kuban divisions, the 17th Cossack Cavalry Corps was formed. The Ural Military District provided over 10 divisions, their core being the Ural and Orenburg Cossacks. 7 cavalry divisions were formed in Transbaikalia and the Far East. Their personnel were largely represented by Transbaikal, Amur and Ussuri Cossacks.
An active partisan movement was launched in the occupied territory of the North Caucasus. 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, since August 1942, 8 partisan detachments and 5 sabotage groups had been operating.
The highest assessment of the tenacity, courage and dedication of the Cossacks during the Great Patriotic War was the awarding of the rank of guards to 7 cavalry corps and 17 cavalry divisions. 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.
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 tanker, Kuban Cossack of the village of Besstrashnaya Dmitry Fedorovich Lavrinenko, fought selflessly, destroying 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, a major military leader, Hero of the Soviet Union, Don Cossack, native of the village of Preobrazhenskaya, Colonel General Vasily Stepanovich Popov, 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. In total, during the war years, 262 Cossacks were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Among all the bright victories of the Red Army in the Great Patriotic War, the victory of our people in the greatest of all battles, of all times and peoples - the Battle of Stalingrad, shines like a dazzling star. During the Battle of Stalingrad, the activities of the then party, state, and military bodies among the Cossacks were comprehensive. Its main directions were: the creation of a people's militia, the formation of fighter battalions, fighting in the ranks of partisans, participation in the construction of defensive structures, the feasible contribution of the Cossack population to the creation of a defense fund, caring for the wounded defenders of Stalingrad, labor contribution to the victory over the enemy.
In July 1942, when the enemy strike group broke through the big bend of the Don, the greatest battle of the Second World War began. For several months, in the vast area where the Don approaches the Volga, the flames of continuous fierce battles raged. During the year of war, the Nazis had already become well acquainted with the courage of the Soviet people. But what they faced in Stalingrad was an unparalleled feat. The Nazis conquered many European countries. Sometimes 2-3 weeks were enough for them to take over the country. In Stalingrad it took months to cross one street, weeks to take one house. The fighting continued for every floor, every room.
Taking into account the patriotic spirit that reigned in cities and villages, farmsteads and villages, in enterprises and institutions, the Stalingrad Regional Party Committee and the Executive Committee of the Regional Council of Workers' Deputies decided to create a people's militia corps.
Chairman of the regional executive committee I.F. was approved as its commander. Zimenkov, commissar - secretary of the regional party committee M.A. Vodolagin. Corps composition: two divisions (rifle and cavalry), a tank brigade, two separate divisions (artillery and mortar), two separate rifle regiments (Astrakhan and Kamyshin), a communications battalion and a medical battalion.

The formation of a cavalry division in the Don regions of the region was a great success. The rumor about the registration of Cossack volunteers in the militia spread with the speed of lightning around the farms and villages of the Don, Khopra, Medveditsa and Chir. Both young and old Cossacks rose up. The old men, when signing up for the militia, said: “We have a special score to settle with the Germans, and this is not the first time we have had to fight with them.” Ordinary collective farmers and foremen, chairmen of collective farms and village councils joined the militia; in many villages and villages they showed up at reception points in full Cossack uniform. The influx of volunteers into hundreds of Cossacks was unusually large.
In the Mikhailovsky district, more than 900 applications were received with a request to be accepted into the ranks of the people's militia. In the Kotelnikovsky district, 1,560 people signed up for the militia, of which 1,100 were men and 460 women. Many elderly Cossacks joined the Cossack division. Approximately two-thirds of the division were Cossacks over 50 years of age. So, a 63-year-old Cossack from the Nizhne-Chirskaya village, a participant in the defense of Tsaritsyn, a holder of the Order of the Red Banner of Battle, Paramon Samsonovich Kurkin, joined the Cossack hundred. They wrote about him: “A participant in three wars, he has now become an excellent educator of young Cossacks.” When the division was at the front, Paramon Kurkin, as the eldest and most honored warrior, sacredly guarded the banner of his regiment. Professor A.P. tells about Paramon Kurkin in the novel “Azure Steppe”. Kokhanov.

Among the Cossack militias of the Berezovsky region were the father and son of the Nedorubovs. Cossack Konstantin Iosifovich Nedorubov, born in 1889, was awarded two medals and four St. George Crosses during the First World War. During the Civil War, he commanded a squadron in the Tamansky regiment of the Blinovsky cavalry division. K.I. Nedorubov wrote in his biography: “In 1941, during the treacherous attack of German bandits on our homeland, I joined the people’s militia. My youngest son Nikolai, who was 17 years old at that time, followed my example. I had to form a squadron of old Cossacks, participants in the past two wars. It was difficult to break old bones, but it was necessary for the benefit of the Motherland. Leaving Berezovskaya, we swore an oath to defend our Motherland to the last drop of blood.” In the heavy summer battles of 1942, father and son Nedorubov showed perseverance and courage: in the battle near the village of Kushchevskaya, the two of them exterminated 120 Nazis. In this battle, the elder Nedorubov received eight bullet wounds. From the hospital he wrote: “The German bastards don’t know that you can’t pierce a Cossack chest.” For this feat, Konstantin Iosifovich Nedorubov, Full Knight of St. George, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, his son was awarded a military order.

Cossack Novoannensky district V.I., who signed up for the militia. Ovchinnikov, born in 1894, had two sons at the front. He performed excellent combat missions at the front. He saved the regimental banner twice and with his squad captured 49 Germans. Seven orders and medals adorned his chest.
The Kalachev Cossack Travyanov, an order bearer and participant in the defense of Tsaritsyn, also joined the militia, who later, during the days of the heroic defense of Stalingrad, was one of the initiators of the letter of appeal from the participants in the defense of Tsaritsyn to the defenders of Stalingrad.
Almost all the collective farms of the Don districts of the Stalingrad region took part in the formation of the Cossack division: they allocated the best Don horses, fodder, made saddles, and sewed uniforms. The collective farms of the Uryupinsk region alone gave the militia 323 horses and over 100 saddles. In total, the collective farms of the Don districts of the region allocated about 1,700 horses and 2,000 saddles to the Cossack division. In addition to the planned supplies, the collective farms handed over to the division over 200 carts, five thousand sheepskins for sewing sheepskin coats, a large amount of leather for harnesses, boots and about three thousand pairs of felt boots. Workers from Stalingrad factories provided great assistance in equipping and arming the division. At the end of September 1941, the division was formed into three regiments. The manager of the Uryupinsk branch of the State Bank, Dumenko, was appointed commander of the Uryupinsk regiment, Kichapov, the secretary of the Novoannensky RK of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, was appointed commander of the Novoannensky regiment and at the same time commissar of the division, and Alifatov, a participant in the Civil War, was appointed commander of the Mikhailovsky regiment. Such a rapid, successful formation and material equipment of the division at the expense of local resources was ensured solely thanks to the participation in this matter of the district committees of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Executive Committees of the district councils of working people's deputies.
Strict discipline was established in the division's units. “The war with the Germans is a serious thing,” the militia said, “and if we ourselves went to war, then our discipline should be indestructible and hard, like the steel of blades.” The high political consciousness and strong cohesion of the Cossacks were explained by the fact that a quarter of the division’s personnel were communists.

The command of the Stalingrad Military District became interested in the Cossack division of the people's militia. Information about the division reached Headquarters and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Joseph Stalin. There was an order to conduct an inspection review of the division. In November, a review was held, the combat training and political and moral state of the Cossacks were highly appreciated. On December 24, 1941, the Stalingrad Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) adopted a resolution: “Agree with the proposal of the command of the Stalingrad Military District to transfer the consolidated Cossack division of the people’s militia to the active Red Army.” The People's Commissar of Defense enrolled the Stalingrad People's Militia Division into the Red Army under the name of the 15th Don Cavalry Cossack Division. The Uryupinsk Cossack Colonel Gorshkov was appointed its commander, and Major Yurchenko as its commissar. In February 1942, when, according to the new staffing schedule, it was necessary to replenish the division, another 500 Cossack volunteers joined the division from the Don regions.

The corps order No. 8 dated March 23, 1942 stated: “The Don Cossack Cavalry Division, formed from Cossack hundreds of people’s militia, will soon go to the front of the Patriotic War. The Cossack fighters of this division, like the fighters of all parts of the people’s militia, are burning with an indomitable desire to meet the enemy as soon as possible, cut down and drive him to the West, out of our country.
Cossack fighters! The Don Cossacks wrote many glorious pages in the history of the Russian land. Foreign invaders more than once experienced the crushing force of the blow of Cossack blades. The dashing Cossack prowess, combat acumen, military cunning, elusiveness, the swiftness of the Cossack raid on dashing Donchak horses - all this leaves the German warriors in awe. Faithful sons of the Soviet Don! Hold high the Red Banner of War, handed to you by the workers of the region. Sacredly carry out the order of the People's Commissar of Defense, Comrade Stalin, and the order of your fathers, wives and children - to expel the enemy."

In July-August 1942, fighter battalions of Perelazovsky, Chernyshkovsky, Verkhne-Kurmoyarsky, Krasnoarmeysky (rural) and other districts of the region also took an active part in the defense of the city.
After regular troops entered the defense of the city, in accordance with the decision of the city defense committee of October 6, 1942, the personnel of the Stalingrad fighter battalions were transferred to replenish the 10th division of the NKVD troops, and the soldiers of the Kirov fighter battalion were transferred to the 64th Army. For their heroism and active participation in the fight against the Nazi occupiers, 35 soldiers and commanders of destruction battalions were awarded the medal “For the Defense of Stalingrad.”
In the region, during the Battle of Stalingrad from July 1942 to January 1943, partisans operated behind enemy lines. But these actions and the struggle against the invaders were carried out in difficult conditions, much different from Ukraine, Belarus, and Central Russia.
Firstly, these were arid steppe regions, with virtually no forests in which to hide.
Secondly, in the occupied territory of the region, the fascist command, trying to capture Stalingrad, concentrated a huge Army with a large amount of equipment. Hitler's army and its equipment (airplanes, tanks and guns of various calibers, trucks and cars).
Thirdly, the summer of 1942 was hot, with little precipitation, the temperature in the shade reached + 35-40 degrees. The winter months were characterized by sharp south-east winds with severe frosts. Weather conditions created additional difficulties for the partisans; it was extremely difficult to operate in large units and formations.
Fourthly, the occupied northwestern regions of the Stalingrad region are in the past three districts (Khopersky, Ust-Medveditsky and Second Donskoy), which were previously part of the All-Great Don Army. The occupiers tried to turn this territory into their “Vendee”.
These features of the Stalingrad theater of military operations must be taken into account when analyzing the partisan movement. In view of the above, the main emphasis in the formation of partisan detachments was placed on the creation of reconnaissance and sabotage groups that used the tactics of special forces units. They obtained intelligence data, destroyed military targets and enemy equipment, disrupted communications, and were engaged in disorganizing the rear of the German troops. A special feature of the partisan movement was that it was less spontaneous than in other occupied regions of the country. Detachments and groups were created on the initiative and under the control of the Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, with the active assistance of the regional administration of the NKVD and the front command.
Consequently, the partisan movement in the region was largely such only in name. In essence, it represented the actions of reconnaissance and sabotage groups formed by local authorities, staffed mainly by party and Komsomol activists, as well as the patriotic population of the occupied areas.

On August 19, 1942, the Stalingrad Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) adopted a resolution on the progress of recruiting partisan detachments and deploying them in the German rear, which significantly accelerated the organizational development of the partisan movement in the region.
An analysis of the practice of forming and the results of combat operations of partisan detachments in the Stalingrad region allows us to identify some miscalculations made in this complex matter. First of all, it should be recognized that the resolution was adopted by the regional party committee late, when some of the regions of the region were already under occupation. The haste in the formation of partisan detachments affected their recruitment with personnel with military training and the provision of military equipment; partisan detachments were sent behind enemy lines practically untrained. Only 3-5 days were allotted for combat training of the partisans who were to fight against the best army of the Wehrmacht. As a result, human losses among the partisans were quite significant. Moreover, they suffered the heaviest losses on the eve of and during the counteroffensive near Stalingrad, when the military command was especially in need of accurate intelligence information about the enemy and the disorganization of his rear.
So, in November 1942, a partisan detachment of 53 people under the command of Pavel Andreevich Lomakin died near the village of Kislovodsk. It consisted of Kotelnikov and Kurmoyar Cossack partisans. Among the Kotelnikovsky partisans was 12-year-old Alyosha Romanov, who joined the detachment with his father.
When the sent punitive German detachment tried to take the boy alive at the end of the battle, he, letting them in, exploded a hand grenade, died himself and destroyed some of the enemies. The fate of the Nizhne-Chirsky partisan detachment (commander - chairman of the district executive committee Voskoboynikov, commissar - secretary of the RK CPSU (b) Chistov) in the amount of 14 people, after several raids carried out by the Germans on November 12-15, 1942, was completely lost. In the temporarily occupied areas of the region, there were 9 combat detachments and over 30 sabotage groups with a total number of 276 people (some of the members of the sabotage groups were specialized in reconnaissance work). The sabotage groups were staffed mainly by individuals who had been trained in a special school.

Despite the unfavorable conditions, we can talk about the effectiveness of the partisan movement in the Stalingrad region. In five months, from August to December 1942, the partisans destroyed over one thousand Nazis, five warehouses, a railway train, two bridges, about seventy vehicles and an ammunition depot.
To summarize, it should be noted that the partisan detachments, interacting with the command of the Red Army, using the support of the local population of the occupied areas, contributed to the liberation of the Stalingrad region from the Nazis, and fulfilled their patriotic duty with honor.
The Cossack population of the region took an active part in the creation of four defensive lines, crossings, and airfields. One of the leaders of this construction between the Don and Volga A.N. Komarovsky. Later he wrote: “It is now difficult to reconstruct in all details the progress of the construction of defensive lines, it is difficult to measure and even imagine all this titanic work...”
Here are some examples. The collective farms of the Kumylzhensky district, whose farmsteads were located along the Don, sent over 3,700 people to build defensive lines. Particularly distinguished were the brigades of Kotovskaya from the Stakhanov collective farm and Stadnikova from the Molotov collective farm. One and a half to two norms were fulfilled daily by Cossack collective farmers Politova and Nikitina from the Krasny Luch collective farm.
In July-August 1942, especially fierce battles with the Nazi invaders took place on the territory of the Kletsky district. The Cossack population of this area helped the Red Army to defeat the hated enemy. The brigade of the Cossack collective farmer Nikolai Zakharovich Makarov from the agricultural cooperative “Zavety Ilyich” daily carried out logging tasks for the construction of defensive structures by 150-200%. The collective farmers of the “Power of Labor” agricultural association, under the leadership of Rodionova, in the immediate vicinity of the front, daily fulfilled the norms by 150-170% on earthworks.

A striking manifestation of the patriotism of the Don Cossacks and evidence of the domestic nature of the war was the nationwide movement to create a national defense fund. The act of our fellow Cossack writer A.S. had enormous moral and political significance. Serafimovich, who donated his Stalin Prize of 100 thousand rubles to the defense fund. A hundred thousandth contribution to defense was made by a 70-year-old collective farmer of the Komsomolsk region, Cossack I.F. Naumov. Collective farmer - Cossack V.V. Konev from the Budarinsky district contributed 200 thousand rubles for the construction of aircraft. On his two planes, pilot Ivan Kozhedub shot down 47 fascist hawks and was twice awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In total, the population of the city and region contributed 80 million rubles to the defense fund. Subscriptions for war loan bonds took place, and tickets for money and clothing lotteries were issued. The region's workers purchased more than one billion 175 million rubles in loan bonds and lottery tickets.
One of the important forms of assistance to the front was the nationwide concern for the wounded defenders of Stalingrad who were recovering. Front-line hospitals were served exclusively by local residents. They also took upon themselves the provision of food to hospitals. Collective farmers of the Kumylzhensky district alone donated about 18,000 kg of vegetables, 1,260 kg of flour, 1,330 kg of meat, 800 kg of butter, 5,400 liters of milk, 50 kg of lard, 320 kg of honey, dried fruits and many other foodstuffs to hospitals. Women of the collective farm named after. Kalinin, Kletsky district, being directly in the front zone, every day they brought milk and eggs to the wounded soldiers to the field medical posts of military units, and cared for the wounded soldiers.

Don workers actively helped soldiers of the Stalingrad, Don and Southwestern fronts repair military equipment and weapons. Thus, the skilled workers of the Glazunovskaya, Novoannenskaya and Yarskaya MTS, workers of the Dynamo and Zelenovsky state farms repaired 126 tanks, 17 aircraft, 85 armored vehicles, 94 guns, over 1300 vehicles, as well as a large number of mortars, machine guns, machine guns and other military equipment.
The Great Patriotic War confirmed that the overwhelming majority of the Don population rose to defend their native land, their Fatherland. Over many centuries of the history of Russia and the Russian Cossacks, a foreign invader came to our native Don Cossack land and suffered a crushing defeat here, and the Cossacks played an important role in this. The memory of the contribution of the Cossacks to the Victory over fascism will be carefully preserved by descendants.
Wartime events are not forgotten - they are alive in the memories of veterans, captured on the pages of books. The memory of the tragic days is passed on from generation to generation, and we must preserve it.
Time inexorably separates us from May 1945. But the past seven decades only emphasize the significance of the feat of our people. We must always remember at what cost humanity gained the Victory over the fascist invaders. We must take care of the living participants in these historical events and take care of the symbols of our heroic past - monuments and museums, obelisks and rooms of military glory, memorials and mass graves.

Seleznev V.N., Cossack colonel, ataman of the Volgograd regional public organization "Volgograd District of Don Cossacks"

At first glance, the history of the Great Patriotic War, which has been studied so closely and in detail, no longer contains “blank spots”, and there are not many truly controversial points left in it. However, there is a topic that, despite its scale, scope and drama, remains, as it were, “behind the scenes” to this day - this is the topic of the participation of the Cossacks in the Great Patriotic War on the side of the Red Army.

Previously imposed restrictions on the service of Cossacks in the Red Army detachments related to the Civil War were lifted in 1936 due to the growing danger of aggression from Nazi Germany. This decision received great support in Cossack circles, in particular, the Don Cossacks sent the following letter to the Soviet government, published in the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper on April 24, 1936. “Let only our Marshals Voroshilov and Budyonny call out, we will fly like falcons to protect our Motherland... Cossack horses in a good body, blades are sharp, Don collective farm Cossacks are ready to fight with their breasts for the Soviet Motherland...”

In accordance with the order of the People's Commissar of Defense K.E. Voroshilov No. 67 of April 23, 1936, a number of cavalry divisions received Cossack status. The units and units also included Cossacks who had previously served in the White Army. A special act restored the wearing of the previously prohibited traditional Cossack uniform - Circassian jackets, hoods, burkas, trousers with stripes.. In 1936, a dress uniform for Cossack units was approved. Looking ahead, let's say that the Cossacks marched in this uniform at the Victory Parade on June 24, 1945.

The treacherous attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR caused a huge surge of patriotism among the Cossacks, as well as the entire people. 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 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. And there were many such examples. On July 4, 1941, the Headquarters of the High Command decided to form Cossack light cavalry divisions consisting of three regiments. Also, a large number of Cossacks volunteered in the national parts of the North Caucasus. 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. At the beginning of 1942, 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.

In 1943, the Krasnodar regional committee of the CPSU (b) and the regional executive committee turned to the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) and the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief 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 took part 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.”

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 triumph of the Cossack Guard was the Victory Parade in Moscow on June 24, 1945. 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.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Cossack units, both regular, as part of the Red Army, and volunteers, took an active part in hostilities against the Nazi invaders.

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.

The raids of the Cossacks Dovator and Pliev, the resilience of the Kuban Cossacks in the battle of Moscow, the participation of Cossack units in many operations of the Red Army - a lot can be remembered. But the brightest page of Cossack glory is connected with their native lands.

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 Vesely farm and the railway embankment, where the enemy’s line of defense passed seven kilometers from the Cossacks... Two saber Cossack regiments against the German 101st Mountain Rifle Division “Green Rose” and two SS regiments, one Kuban artillery division against twelve cannon and fifteen enemy mortar batteries... 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 Lavas walked half the distance to the enemy at a walk, covered half of the remaining distance at a trot, and only when the other people's trenches became visible to the naked eye did the Lavas begin to 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. “Everything I heard about the Cossacks during the 1914 war pales in comparison to the horrors that we experience when meeting the Cossacks now. Just the memory of the Cossack attack fills me with horror and makes me tremble. Nightmares haunt me at night. Cossacks are a whirlwind that sweeps away all obstacles and barriers in its path. We are afraid of the Cossacks, as the retribution of the Almighty,” the German soldier Alfred Kurtz, later hacked to death by the Cossacks, wrote home in a letter. “Before 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.

On August 22, 1942, the Krasnaya Zvezd newspaper 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 their Motherland and became a thunderstorm for the German invaders...” In a swift attack, the Cossacks destroyed up to 1,800 enemy soldiers and officers, took 300 prisoners, captured 18 guns and 25 mortars . 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.

Continuers of the military glory of Matvey Platov, during the Great Patriotic War, the Cossacks went through a tragic but glorious military path - from the anxious hours of a June night in 1941 to the parade of victorious regiments of the Red Army in 1945. Well, the Kuban people of Pliev faced another war. They were transferred far to the east and, together with the Mongol cavalry, defeated Japan.

In 1936, restrictions on the service of Cossacks in the Red Army were lifted. This decision received great support in Cossack circles, in particular, the Don Cossacks sent the following letter to the Soviet government, published in the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper on April 24, 1936: “Let only our Marshals Voroshilov and Budyonny call out, we will fly like falcons to defend our Motherland... Cossack horses in a good body, the blades are sharp, the Don Cossacks are ready to fight with their breasts for the Soviet Motherland.”

In accordance with the order of the People's Commissar of Defense K.E. Voroshilov No. 67 of April 23, 1936, a number of cavalry divisions were transformed into Cossack divisions. A special act restored the wearing of the previously prohibited Cossack uniform. On November 7, 1938, Cossacks took part in the parade on Red Square for the first time.

During the Great Patriotic War, 7 Cossack cavalry corps and 17 Cossack cavalry divisions, a number of separate Cossack units were formed. For example:

4th Guards Kuban Cossack Cavalry Corps;
- 5th Guards Don Cossack Cavalry Corps;
- 9th Guards Cossack Cavalry Kuban-Baranovichi Division;
- 9th Plastun Krasnodar Division;
- 3rd Guards Cossack Cavalry Donskoy Regiment;
- 7th Guards Brandenburg Cavalry Corps;
- 1st Guards Cavalry Mechanized Corps;
- 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps;
- 1st Belarusian Special Cossack Partisan Brigade.

These formations were replenished only from their Cossack regions; wounded Cossacks, after treatment, returned to their units.

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-Terek 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 where the Cossack population was densely populated, made it possible to deliver combat-ready formations to the front in a short time without additional training and with minimal expenditure of effort and resources. The North Caucasus turned out to be a leader in this issue. 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.

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".

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 region and the Urals, Terek and Kuban, Transbaikalia and the Far East.

As an example, consider the combat path of the 4th Guards Kuban Cossack Cavalry Corps. The corps participated in the defense of the Black Sea coast and in the Battle of the Caucasus, in the Taganrog offensive operation, in the Melitopol offensive operation, the Bereznegovato-Snigirevskaya offensive operation, in which it participated in the defeat of the 6th German Army of the second formation, in the Odessa offensive operation, in the Belarusian strategic offensive operation , in which the corps fought 1,120 km, destroyed 22,586 German soldiers and officers, captured 1,260, and destroyed 163 tanks. Then the corps marched on horseback across all of Romania, covering 733 km in 22 days. Participation of the corps in the liberation of Hungary, 16,078 German soldiers and officers were destroyed, 4,665 were captured, 95 tanks were destroyed. Participation of the corps in the liberation of Czechoslovakia, 9,473 German soldiers and officers were killed, 1,455 were captured, 82 tanks were destroyed. The corps was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Battle, Lenin, Suvorov 2nd degree, Kutuzov 2nd degree. For excellent military operations on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, the corps received 18 commendations.

Other Cossack formations and units also fought well. 262 Cossack cavalrymen were awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union, all 7 corps and 17 divisions received the title of “Guards”.

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 Cossack hundred, took part in Mamontov’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. =

Many Cossacks served in other branches of the military; there were Cossacks among Soviet military leaders:

D. Lavrinenko, tank ace No. 1, Hero of the Soviet Union - Kuban Cossack;
D. Karbyshev, Colonel General, Hero of the Soviet Union - Ural Cossack;
A. Golovko, admiral, commander of the Northern Fleet - Terek Cossack;
F. Tokarev, gunsmith designer - Don Cossack;
M. Popov, army general, commander of the Bryansk and 2nd Baltic fronts, Hero of the Soviet Union - Don Cossack.

After the Victory over Germany and its allies, the Cossacks took part in the Soviet-Japanese War of 1945 and in the defeat of the Japanese troops.

Cossacks took part in the Victory Parade.
Cossack cavalry units continued to serve after the war, until 1957, when the cavalry was disbanded and ceased to exist as a branch of the military.
* * *
Now about the Cossacks who fought against their homeland in the ranks of the Wehrmacht.

There were, according to various sources, from 15,000 to 20,000 traitors, together with families from 30,000 to 45,000. The large numbers indicated above are given due to the fact that other individuals were included in the Cossacks, increasing the number of Cossacks for propaganda purposes. Of those 15-20 thousand, most of the Cossacks were from among the emigrants. That is, in fact, the Soviet Cossacks did not support the emigrants. During the fighting, traitor Cossacks were mainly used to protect communications and fight against partisans in Italy, Yugoslavia, and France. They were united in the 15th SS Cossack Corps and participated in many war crimes, both during the fight against partisans in Yugoslavia and during the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising. They took part in the battle with Soviet troops on the Drava River. On December 26, 1944, 3 Cossack SS regiments (3rd Kuban, 5th Don, 6th Tersky), together with Ustasha Croats, supported by 6 mortar and 3 artillery batteries, fought against the 703rd Rifle Regiment of the 233rd Soviet Rifle Division and 2 batteries of the 684th artillery regiment. The Cossacks and Croats destroyed the Soviet batteries and drove the Soviet regiment out of position, but reinforcements approached it and the Soviet units, during a counterattack, regained part of the lost territory, after which they went on the defensive, since this direction was considered secondary by the Soviet command.

The traitor Cossacks lost only 1,100 people killed, 40 Cossacks and Croats were captured and shot. The Cossacks announced the destruction of the 133rd Rifle Division, which was in a completely different place.

According to the Tehran and Yalta conferences, the Cossacks were subject to extradition to Soviet troops. And in June 1945, in the Austrian city of Lienz, British troops handed them over to Soviet troops (among those handed over were 37 White Guard generals). A number of authors call the Cossack traitors “victims of Yalta” (A. Solzhenitsyn, N. Tolstoy). But these were war criminals who committed mass murder and rape.

Most of the extradited Cossacks, together with their families, were sent to a special settlement. On September 17, 1955, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a decree “On the amnesty of Soviet citizens who collaborated with the occupation authorities during the Great Patriotic War,” according to which the deported Cossacks were amnestied.

As for the leaders of the “Cossack Stan” and the command of the 15th Cossack SS Corps. By the verdict of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR dated January 16, 1947, General P. N. Krasnov, General A. G. Shkuro, General Sultan-Girey Klych, General T. N. Domanov, SS Gruppenführer G. von Pannwitz were executed.

By determination of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated December 25, 1997 of the year General P. N. Krasnov, General A. G. Shkuro, General Sultan-Girey Klych, General T. N. Domanov, SS Gruppenführer G. von Pannwitz recognized as justifiably convicted and not subject to rehabilitation.

As we see, the overwhelming majority of the Cossacks fought bravely for their Motherland and did not take the path of betrayal. During the Great Patriotic War, the Cossacks wrote many glorious pages both in their history and in the history of Russia.

And now the Cossacks continue the glorious traditions of their ancestors. Cossacks took part in the 1st and 2nd Chechen wars, in the Dagestan and Georgian-Russian wars, in conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, North and South Ossetia, Transnistria, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. A number of units of the North Caucasus Military District are largely staffed by Cossacks, and one formation is entirely Cossack - the 205th separate motorized rifle Cossack brigade (its artillery division participated in the war with Georgia in August 2008). The Don, Kuban, and Terek Cossack troops help guard the state border of Russia in the North Caucasus, the Siberian Cossack Army guards the border with Kazakhstan, and the Transbaikal Cossack Army guards the border with Mongolia.
According to sources.