When you were drafted into the army during WWII. Rough analysis of conscription age in the pre-war years

Subject "Great Training Camp" 1941 illustrates the point well "Half-truths are worse than lies".

Information about the holding of training camps for reservists in the spring-summer of 1941 in the Soviet Union was mentioned on the pages of memoirs and research work Soviet period- however, almost always in the context "due to the growing threat fascist aggression Soviet military and political leadership took measures to increase the combat readiness of troops":

“Along with the movement of troops from the internal districts to the border ones in May - June 1941, other events are being carried out aimed at increasing the combat readiness of the Soviet Armed Forces... According to the mobilization plan approved in February 1941, conscription 793 is carried out in late May - early June ,5 thousand reserve personnel, which made it possible to staff 21 divisions of border districts to full wartime strength, as well as significantly replenish other formations, artillery units, air defense troops and fortified areas."- Zakharov “General Staff in the Pre-War Years” - M.: Voenizdat, 1989.

"Due to the growing threat of aggression from fascist Germany People's Commissariat of Defense and General Staff not only made adjustments to the developed operational and mobilization plans to reflect imminent attack on our country, but according to the instructions of the Central Committee of the party and the government, they carried out a number of very important measures from these plans aimed at strengthening the defense capability of our western borders... In May - early June 1941, about 800 thousand people were called up from the reserves for training camps, and all of them were sent to replenish the troops of the border western military districts and their fortified areas. The Central Committee of the Party and the Soviet government carried out a number of other serious measures in order to further increase the combat readiness and combat effectiveness of the armed forces..."- Vasilevsky “The Work of a Whole Life” - M.: Politizdat, 1978.

“In connection with the aggravation of the situation, the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Soviet government, from the end of April 1941, urgently took measures to increase the combat readiness of the Red Army. In May - June, the People's Commissariat of Defense in accordance with the mobilization plan approved by the Council of People's Commissars back in February 1941. , carried out a number of mobilization measures... From the end of May, the conscription of 793 thousand Soviet citizens from the reserve began to undergo training camps"- "The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941-1945: A Brief History" - M.: Military Publishing House, 1984.

"Due to the aggravation general situation Communist Party and the Soviet government, from the end of April 1941, urgently took measures to increase combat readiness Soviet Army and the Navy. Large mobilization events were carried out secretly from the enemy. In May and early June, about 800 thousand people liable for military service were called up from the reserves. This made it possible to increase the staffing of almost 100 rifle divisions, a number of fortified areas, air force units and other troops."- "History of the Second World War 1939–1945. Volume 3. The beginning of the war. Preparation of aggression against the USSR" - M.: Voenizdat, 1974, pp. 439-440.

The above quotes clearly link the collection of conscripts with the reaction to "growing threat of fascist aggression", on the one hand, and on the mobilization activities- on the other. Against this uniform background, the mention of training camps in Zhukov’s memoirs looks dissonant: “In mid-March 1941, S.K. Timoshenko and I asked I.V. Stalin’s permission to call up the assigned reserve personnel for rifle divisions in order to be able to retrain them in the spirit modern requirements. At first our request was rejected. We were told that calling up assigned reserve personnel in such quantities could give the Germans a reason to provoke a war. However, at the end of March, it was decided to call up five hundred thousand soldiers and sergeants and send them to the border military districts for additional staffing in order to increase the number of rifle divisions to at least 8 thousand people. In order not to return to this issue, I will say that a few days later it was authorized to call up another 300 thousand enlisted personnel to staff fortified areas and other branches and branches of the armed forces, reserve artillery of the High Command, with specialists. engineering troops, signal troops, air defense and rear services air force. So, on the eve of the war, the Red Army received an additional 800 thousand people. The training camp was planned to take place in May-October 1941."- Zhukov “Memories and Reflections. In 2 volumes” - M.: Olma-Press, 2002.

The crowning achievement of the line response measures to the growing threat of fascist aggression The issue of training camps in 1941 was covered in the collection “1941 - Lessons and Conclusions”: "In mid-May, the deputy chief operational management Major General A. M. Vasilevsky, together with the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General N. F. Vatutin, developed a note indicating that German troops could forestall the Soviets in strategic deployment, and in order not to give such advantages to the enemy, it was proposed to conduct covert mobilization under the guise of “large training camps”, to obtain from national economy the missing number of horses and vehicles in the state and advance troops to the border... In April - May 1941, the People's Commissariat of Defense and the General Staff made a decision on the submitted note and began, with the consent of the government, to secretly mobilize reserve personnel under the guise of “large training camps.” The task was to strengthen military units and formations in 14 military districts. In total, over 802 thousand people were called up for “training camps” before the declaration of war, which amounted to 24% of the assigned personnel according to the MP-41 mob plan. These measures made it possible to strengthen half of all rifle divisions (99 out of 198), intended mainly for operations in the West. At the same time, the composition of the rifle divisions of the border districts, with a staff strength of 14,483 people, was increased: 21 divisions - up to 14 thousand people, 72 divisions - up to 12 thousand people and 6 rifle divisions - up to 11 thousand people. At the same time, units and formations of other branches of the armed forces and branches of the Armed Forces were replenished..."- “1941 - lessons and conclusions” - M.: Military Publishing House, 1992.

The wave of revisionism that swept the history of the Great Patriotic War V Roaring Nineties™, gave the issue of training camps in 1941 a new meaning: now the listed quotes were used to prove secret mobilization of the Red Army on the subject of a sudden unprovoked attack on Germany. The mousetrap, cocked back in the sixties, slammed shut with a death knell: .

However, it should be recognized that both “traditionalists” and revisionists are discussing without citing documents about the training camps of 1941; familiarization with them paints a completely different picture.

For the first time, a reason to think about the validity of the version of the training camps of 1941 as a “mobilization event” was given by the publication of an extract from the protocol of the decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks from March 8, 1941:
"

On conducting training sessions for reservists in 1941
and attracting horses and vehicles from the national economy to collections.

The directives on the conduct of training camps, sent by the General Staff of the Red Army to the military districts in late March - early April 1941, posted in, allow us to give an unequivocal negative answer to the question of whether these training camps were "mobilization activities" or even "hidden mobilization under the guise of "large training camps"" "1941 - lessons and conclusions". To do this, it is enough to familiarize yourself with the monotonously repeated instructions in the directives:

- "The Military Council of the district/front, taking into account the interests of the national economy and local conditions, is allowed, without exceeding total number people involved in the training camps, make their changes to the specified dates for the training camps and the number of people attracted for each connection and individual part".

- "When organizing training camps, require unit commanders to notify leaders in advance industrial enterprises, collective and state farms about the upcoming involvement of those liable for military service from the specified enterprises and farms to training camps".

Yes, "Mobilization is like this, mobilization", the timing of which, the number and composition of those “mobilized” are left to the command of the districts, depending on haymaking and farrowing. "Such a secret, secret mobilization", about which the management of enterprises, collective farms and state farms is notified in advance.

Summary table of the distribution of those called up for training camps by district and category -

This information again correlates well with the memoirs of Zhukov, who mentioned permission "to call up another 300 thousand enlisted personnel".

Returning to the thesis voiced at the beginning of the posting about half-truths that are worse than lies: as is easy to see, the training camps of 1941 had nothing to do with mobilization activities; their holding seems to be a consequence, rather, of a change in the deployment scheme of the Red Army than of any foreign policy events... but memoirists (for the most part) and researchers (especially from the military department) could not resist the temptation to present the Soviet military and political leadership as much more perspicacious and prudent than those - alas! - in fact they were. Accordingly, now revisionists of all stripes are happily waving quotes from memoirs and studies: hidden mobilization was carried out in the USSR! And when soon Soviet intelligence couldn’t reveal the German preparations for war, which means... yes, yes, and from behind the text Vladimir Bogdanich’s long donkey ears protrude from his “mobilization is war, and we cannot imagine any other understanding of it” and subsequent smooth transition to "the war that never happened" .
Five minutes of hatred is over.
Dixi

We have been keeping the memory of the Great War of the 20th century and its heroes for more than 70 years. We pass it on to our children and grandchildren, trying not to lose a single fact or surname. Almost every family was affected by this event; many fathers, brothers, husbands never returned. Today we can find information about them thanks to the painstaking work of military archives staff and volunteers dedicating their free time searching for soldiers' graves. How to do this, how to find a WWII participant by last name, information about his awards, military ranks, place of death? We could not ignore such an important topic, we hope that we can help those who are looking and want to find.

Losses in the Great Patriotic War

It is still unknown exactly how many people left us during this great human tragedy. After all, the counting did not begin immediately; only in 1980, with the advent of glasnost in the USSR, historians, politicians, and archive staff were able to begin official work. Until this time, scattered data that were beneficial at that time were received.

• After celebrating Victory Day in 1945, J.V. Stalin said that we had buried 7 million Soviet citizens. He spoke, in his opinion, about everyone, both about those who died during the battle and about those who were taken prisoner by the German occupiers. But he missed a lot, did not say about the rear employees who stood at the machine from morning until night, falling dead from exhaustion. Forgot about the sentenced saboteurs, traitors to the motherland, who died in small villages ordinary residents and the siege of Leningrad; missing persons. Unfortunately, they can be listed for a long time.
• Later L.I. Brezhnev provided different information, he reported 20 million dead.

Today, thanks to decoding secret documents, search work, the numbers become real. Thus, you can see the following picture:

• Combat losses received directly at the front during battles amount to about 8,860,400 people.
• Not combat losses(from illnesses, wounds, accidents) - 6,885,100 people.

However, these figures do not yet correspond to complete reality. A war, and such a one at that, is not only the destruction of the enemy at the cost own life. These are broken families - unborn children. This huge losses the male population, thanks to which the balance necessary for good demography will not soon be restored.

These are diseases, hunger in post-war years and death from it. This is rebuilding the country again, again in many ways, at the cost of people’s lives. All of them also need to be taken into account when doing calculations. All of them are victims of terrible human vanity, whose name is war.

How to find a participant in the Great Patriotic War 1941 - 1945 by last name?

No better memory stars of victory than the desire of the future generation to know how it was. The desire to save information for others, to avoid such repetition. How to find a WWII participant by last name, where to find possible information about grandfathers and great-grandfathers, fathers who took part in battles, knowing their last name? Especially for this purpose, there are now electronic repositories that everyone can access.

1. obd-memorial.ru - here contains official data containing reports of units about losses, funerals, trophy cards, as well as information about rank, status (died, was killed or disappeared, where), scanned documents.
2. moypolk.ru is a unique resource containing information about home front workers. The very ones without whom we would not have heard important word"Victory". Thanks to this site, many have already been able to find or help find lost people.

The work of these resources is not only to search for great people, but also to collect information about them. If you have any, please report it to the administrators of these sites. In this way, we will do a great common cause - we will preserve memory and history.

Archive of the Ministry of Defense: search by last name of WWII participants

Another one - the main, central, most large-scale project- http://archive.mil.ru/. The documents preserved there are mostly isolated and remained intact due to the fact that they were taken to the Orenburg region.

Over the years of work, CA staff have created an excellent reference apparatus showing the contents of archival accumulations and funds. Now its goal is to provide people with access to possible documents through electronic computing technology. Thus, a website has been launched where you can try to find a military man who participated in the Second World War, knowing his last name. How to do this?

• On the left side of the screen, find the “memory of the people” tab.
• Indicate his full name.
• The program will give you the available information: date of birth, awards, scanned documents. Everything that is in the files for a given person.
• You can set a filter on the right, selecting only the sources you want. But it's better to choose everything.
• On this site it is possible to look at the map combat operations, and the path of the unit in which the hero served.

This is a unique project in its essence. Such a volume of data collected and digitized from all existing and available sources: card indexes, e-books memory, medical battalion documents and reference books command staff no more. In truth, as long as such programs and the people who provide them exist, the memory of the people will be eternal.

If you don't find it there the right person, do not despair, there are other sources, they may not be as large-scale, but this does not make them less informative. Who knows in which folder the information you need might be lying around.

Participants of the Second World War: search by last name, archive and awards

Where else can you look? There are more narrowly focused repositories, for example:

1. dokst.ru. As we said, the victims of this terrible war, those who were captured also became. Their fate may be displayed on foreign websites like this one. Here in the database there is everything about Russian prisoners of war and the burials of Soviet citizens. You only need to know the last name, you can look at the lists of captured people. The Documentation Research Center is located in the city of Dresden, and it was he who organized this site to help people from all over the world. You can not only search the site, but also send a request through it.
2. Rosarkhiv archives.ru is an agency that is an executive body that keeps records of all state documents. Here you can make a request either online or by telephone. A sample electronic appeal is available on the website in the “appeals” section, left column on the page. Some services here are provided for a fee; a list of them can be found in the “archive activities” section. With this in mind, be sure to ask whether you will need to pay for your request.
3. rgavmf.ru - military directory navy about the destinies and great deeds of our sailors. In the “orders and applications” section there is an address email for processing documents left for storage after 1941. By contacting the archive staff, you can get any information and find out the cost of such a service; most likely it is free.

WWII awards: search by last name

To search for awards and feats, organized open portal, dedicated precisely to this www.podvignaroda.ru. Information is published here about 6 million cases of awards, as well as 500,000 unawarded medals and orders that never reached the recipient. Knowing the name of your hero, you can find a lot of new things about his fate. The posted scanned documents of orders and award sheets, data from registration files, will complement your existing knowledge.

Who else can I contact for information about awards?

• On the website of the Central Election Commission of the Ministry of Defense, in the section “Awards are looking for their heroes”, a list of awarded soldiers who did not receive them was published. Additional names can be obtained by phone.
• rkka.ru/ihandbook.htm - encyclopedia of the Red Army. It published some lists of conferring higher officer ranks, special ranks. The information may not be as extensive, but existing sources should not be neglected.
• http://www.warheroes.ru/ is a project created to popularize the exploits of the defenders of the Fatherland.

Many useful information, which sometimes is not found anywhere, can be found on the forums of the above sites. Here people share valuable experiences and tell their own stories that can help you too. There are many enthusiasts who are ready to help everyone in one way or another. They create their own archives, conduct their own research, and can also be found only on forums. Don't shy away from this type of search.

WWII veterans: search by last name

1. oldgazette.ru - interesting project created by ideological people. A person who wants to find information enters data, it can be anything: full name, name of awards and date of receipt, line from a document, description of an event. This combination of words will be calculated by search engines, but not just on websites, but in old newspapers. Based on the results, you will see everything that was found. Maybe this is where you will be lucky, you will find at least a thread.
2. It happens that we search among the dead and find among the living. After all, many returned home, but due to the circumstances of that difficult time, they changed their place of residence. To find them, use the website pobediteli.ru. Searchers send letters here asking for help in finding their fellow soldiers, random encounters during the war. The project's capabilities allow you to select a person by name and region, even if he lives abroad. If you see it on these lists or similar, you need to contact the administration and discuss this issue. Kind, attentive staff will definitely help and do everything they can. The project does not interact with government organizations and cannot provide personal information: phone number, address. But it is quite possible to publish your search request. More than 1,000 people have already been able to find each other this way.
3. 1941-1945.at Veterans do not abandon their own. Here on the forum you can communicate, make inquiries among the veterans themselves, perhaps they have met and have information about the person you need.

The search for the living is no less relevant than the search for dead heroes. Who else will tell us the truth about those events, about what they experienced and suffered. About how they greeted victory, the very first, the most expensive, sad and happy at the same time.

Additional sources

Regional archives were created throughout the country. Not so large, held up, often on the shoulders ordinary people, they preserved unique single records. Their addresses are on the website of the movement to perpetuate the memory of the victims. And also:

• http://www.1942.ru/ - “Seeker”.
• http://iremember.ru/ - memories, letters, archives.
• http://www.biograph-soldat.ru/ - international biographical center.

A well-organized army still existed in the Moscow state. The nobles performed permanent service, and the rest of the population was called up only in cases of special need. Home military force at the turn XV-XVI centuries there was cavalry, and under Ivan the Terrible infantry began to play a major role in ensuring the country's security. The first permanent foot army consisted of archers.

However, a full-fledged regular army appeared in Russian state already under Peter I on the basis of conscription, which included peasants, townspeople and other tax-paying classes. Military service was communal and lifelong.

Further serious transformations are associated with the reign of Alexander II. In 1862, he exempted nobles from duty, and later representatives of some other classes: merchants and clergy. Thus, the basis of the army were peasants and townspeople.

On January 1, 1874, the Law on General Conscription was approved, which allowed for an increase in the size of the army and the creation of trained reserves.
Everyone was subject to military service male population countries who have reached the age of 21. In addition, from that moment on, the conscription extended to representatives of all nationalities living in Russia. Officers, volunteers and hunters entered military service voluntarily. The opportunity to continue it was also given to the lower ranks of non-commissioned officers who had served their mandatory terms of active service.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the period of active service in the infantry and foot artillery was 3 years, in other branches of the ground forces - 4 years, in the navy - 5 years. Some categories of citizens were provided with benefits. For example, the service life for young people who complete the course educational institution 1st category (as well as 6 classes at the gymnasium) was 2 years. Those who were completely unable to bear arms for health reasons were completely exempt from service. Some church ministers were also exempted from military service.

The conscription conditions were tightened again after the Bolsheviks came to power. The 1918 resolution “On forced recruitment into the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army” was clearly class character and provided for compulsory military service for workers over 18 years of age.
Subsequently, conscription into the USSR Armed Forces was regulated by laws on military duty.

In 1930, the Soviet law “On compulsory military service", - according to which the defense of the USSR with arms in hand was carried out only by the working people. The non-working classes were entrusted with other duties - serving the army. Thus, the class approach to the performance by citizens of the duties of military service. The USSR Constitution of 1936 removed social-class restrictions on the implementation Soviet citizens military duty. The conscription age for private and junior command personnel was determined from 18-19 to 50 years.

During the Great Patriotic War, the procedure for performing military duty changed significantly: it age limits steel from 16-17 to 55 years old. Universal military training. Citizens who, due to their political and moral qualities or health reasons, were not drafted into the ranks of the USSR Armed Forces, performed military duties in a special manner (work at defense enterprises, in military logistics institutions, service in air defense etc.).

Four years after the end of the Great Patriotic War, a law was passed according to which the conscription of male citizens was carried out once a year in November-December. In addition, new terms of service were established in the Armed Forces of the USSR: in the Ground Forces (SV) and Air Force (Air Force) - 3 years, in the Navy (Navy) - 4. Later, in 1968, the term conscript service reduced to 2 years in the Army and to 3 years in the Navy. Graduates of institutes who have not received military training, served for one year. In addition to the autumn conscription, a spring conscription was also introduced.

Last legislative act The USSR adopted the law “On General Military Duty” of October 12, 1967, which remained in effect for some time after the collapse of the USSR, until the adoption of the corresponding legislation of the Russian Federation.

Currently, the main legislative act for conscripts is Federal law dated March 28, 1998 “On military duty and military service.” Male citizens aged 18 to 27 years are subject to conscription for military service. According to the amendments introduced, since 2008, the period for completing conscription military service in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation for Russian citizens male is one year.

(Additional

Number of people exempt from conscription for military service in active army during World War II in the USSR largely depended on the size and strategic importance of a particular settlement. In Moscow, over 40% of men of military age had armor, while in villages this figure did not exceed 5%.

Released bosses

First of all, they were exempt from conscription to the front executives- chairmen of regional committees, regional committees, city committees and district party committees. Often in occupied territory they led partisan detachments operating behind enemy lines. In villages, everyone who was eligible due to health conditions was often called up. Often, during the war, only women, old people and minor children remained in the village. Directors of plants, factories and other enterprises, especially those of strategic importance in wartime conditions, also had armor. As the Nazis approached the city, enterprise managers evacuated equipment to distant regions of the USSR and went there themselves to establish production. Mid-level specialists from plants and factories, many skilled workers at enterprises, and employees of institutions responsible for life support and safety were also not subject to conscription. settlements.

Workers of the ideological front

Artists, painters, composers and musicians, writers and poets, scientists - this is only an incomplete list of professions whose holders had the right to be exempt from conscription to the front. Artists, such as, for example, Arkady Raikin, Vasily Kachalov, Igor Ilyinsky, participated in concert brigades that went to the positions of our troops with concerts. Artists (the famous trio Kukryniksy, Boris Efimov, Irakli Toidze) painted posters and designed leaflets. Writers and poets who had reservations often became war correspondents (Boris Polevoy, Konstantin Simonov).

Why were the Starostin football brothers imprisoned?

Many athletes were also exempt from conscription. As an example, we can cite the story of the four Starostin brothers, famous Spartak football players. They, who had reservations, according to investigators, for money helped to “keep” dozens of other conscripts away from the front and at the same time spread anti-Soviet propaganda. All four of them and several other people from the Spartak sports society were eventually sent to Gulag camps. By the way, cases of “coaxing out” from the army and issuing fake armor during the Great Patriotic War were not uncommon. Dozens of military commissars and draft board employees were brought to criminal liability in such cases.

National feature of conscription

Representatives of certain nationalities who were citizens of the USSR were not drafted into active military units: Germans, Romanians, Finns, Bulgarians, Greeks, Turks, Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, Hungarians and Austrians. They were supposed to be in the so-called labor columns - labor units of the Red Army, something like construction battalions. Poles, Lithuanians and Latvians, Czechs and Estonians were also initially not subject to conscription. In 1942, a ban was introduced on the conscription of highlanders - natives of Checheno-Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and Dagestan.

Why did the “bitch war” happen?

Those convicted under the political Article 58 were not called up to the front. Until 1943, armor was worn by thieves and bandits and those serving time for domestic crimes. Then, when there was a turning point in the war and the Red Army needed fresh forces, it was their turn. Bandits and thieves in law were not ordered to serve by the thieves' code, but many of them, for patriotic reasons, neglected these conventions. As a result, at the end of the Great Patriotic War, when the thieves who had won back took up their old ways and again found themselves in the zone, the lawyers of the old formation no longer considered them authorities. These disagreements between the “tied up” veteran thieves and the authorities who did not fight resulted in the so-called bitch wars with numerous casualties on both sides.

"Sick" reason

They did not take to the front those who were clearly unfit for military service due to health reasons - people with mental illnesses (for example, schizophrenics), with very poor eyesight, disabled people, patients with tuberculosis. Many of those who were entitled to reservations (and not only due to illness) volunteered to go to the front. In the film “The meeting place cannot be changed,” an example is given with the son of the hero, played by Zinovy ​​Gerdt, who had official permission not to serve - the short-sighted violinist went to fight and died, while the swindler Besyaev (Smoked) simply bought a certificate of a fake hernia. Gerdt himself, as a “reserved” artist, also could not serve, but he went to the front as a volunteer, was seriously wounded and demobilized with the rank of senior lieutenant. He was a Knight of the Order of the Red Star.

From June 23, 1941, those liable for military service from 1905 to 1918 inclusive were conscripted into the army.

The conscription territory is Leningrad, Baltic, Western, Kiev, Odessa, Kharkov, Oryol, Moscow, Arkhangelsk, Ural, Siberian, Volga, North Caucasus and Transcaucasian military districts. There were also territorial nuances. For example, already on the night of June 23 in Siberia, military registration and enlistment offices sent out notices to conscripts, but not everyone received mobilization notices. Due to the threat of a Japanese attack, some of the future soldiers were assigned to the Far Eastern Front and were not called to collection points.

In total, in June and July 1941, a general and complete mobilization of men and partial mobilization of women was carried out. By this time, class restrictions had already been lifted - everyone could defend their homeland. And this is not a mere formality. The fact is that in 1925 the USSR adopted a law on compulsory military service. It was forbidden to conscript “persons of the exploiting classes” into the army, namely: children of former nobles, merchants, officers of the old army, priests, factory owners, as well as Cossacks and kulaks.

In 1935, an exception was made for the Cossacks. A 1939 law abolished restrictions on military conscription by class based, however, only children of workers and peasants are still accepted into military schools. The war corrected this rule too. In fact, everyone who wanted to go to the front and to school could do it one way or another.

In total, 5.3 million people were drafted in the first 8 days of the war. That is, the army doubled: the actual number of the Red Army by June 22, 1941 was 5.4 million people. But the huge irreparable losses of the first months of the war required more and more soldiers. By the beginning of 1942, conscription into the Red Army was already provided by conscripts from 1923-1925. birth. And in total, during the war, 34.5 million people were put under arms.

The conscription took place like this: in cities, a summons from the military registration and enlistment office was brought to the house, in villages - to the village council. It was stated right on the agenda: the enterprise administrations should immediately release the conscript from work and give him money for two weeks in advance. On the back are instructions: shave your head bald, carry documents and food with you, do not take bulky things.

There was no single form; there were many variants of agendas. But the main thing was always indicated: where and when to arrive. They warned you that you will be held accountable for being late or not showing up.

Along with mobilization to the front, the authorities “booked” specialists to work in military factories. During the 1942 conscription campaign, deferments were granted to combine operators and tractor drivers involved in harvesting. Depending on the region, “reservation” was also given to students of river technical schools and forestry institutes who were in navigation and logging in the taiga. In 1941 and until the first half of 1942, teachers who were not accepted into military service at all before 1940 had the right to deferments.

But the front required replenishment: millions of dead and wounded, prisoners and encirclement. Both 17-year-olds and 50-year-olds have already been taken into the army.

True, the term “mobilization” does not accurately reflect the situation. Yes, there were draft dodgers and deserters, but still, Komsomol volunteers are not an invention of propaganda. Volunteers born in 1922-1924 were selected for units in which service was associated with particular risk. The recruitment of paratroopers, skiers, pilots, and tank destroyers took place through the Komsomol district committees. Required positive characteristics, preference was given to athletes, passing the BGTO standards ("Be ready for labor and defense of the USSR" - for schoolchildren in grades 1-8, GTO (for people over 16 years old) and PVHO ("Ready for the chemical defense of the USSR") was encouraged.

Quite a few types of wartime summons have been preserved: there was no single form. But the document necessarily indicated the main thing: when and where to arrive, what to take with you. The conscript was also reminded of the responsibility for failure to appear on time. In cities, a summons from the military registration and enlistment office was brought to the house, in villages - to the village council. Photo: From the archive

The legendary woman - nun Mother Adriana (Natalya Malysheva) - shortly before her death, spoke in an interview with RG about how young people greeted the news of the start of the war in Moscow. “As soon as Levitan’s voice announced the beginning of the war from the loudspeakers, my student friends and I aviation institute“I ran to military academies,” the nun said. “We demanded and begged to be transferred to them from our institute: in order to quickly receive the specialty the army needed and to the front. But only one of our company succeeded, and only because his father was the commander of the Red Army."

Many were afraid of only one thing: the war would end, and they would not have time to accomplish their feats. That’s why they tried to get into the war “through connections.” “They didn’t take me because I was a girl,” recalled Natalya Malysheva. “It was very disappointing. Well, if that’s the case, I think I’ll volunteer. But the military registration and enlistment office again refused, they said, study. However, by October, when the German approached close to Moscow, at the Komsomol district committee they looked at me strangely and without delay gave me a referral to the Third Communist Division of the People's Militia."

Division - 11 thousand volunteers who were not subject to conscription. They took everyone: the children of the repressed and the priests. Everyday life at the front made adjustments to the youth’s idea of ​​war; in the trenches everything turned out to be more prosaic and more terrible. But the divisions fought to the death. Malysheva asked to become a nurse, but was accepted into divisional intelligence. She went behind the front line 18 times. She ended the war as a lieutenant in army intelligence. “You know, I still ask myself: how was this possible?” the nun reasoned. “There were so many repressed before the war, so many churches were destroyed! I personally knew two guys whose fathers were shot. But no one harbored any grudge. And these people rose above their grievances, abandoned everything and went to defend their homeland.”

Volunteers were selected for the airborne and ski brigades, as well as for the special units of tank destroyers, using Komsomol vouchers. Preference was given to athletes. Photo: Alexander Ustinov

Losses of the Red Army, Navy, border and internal troops during the war amounted to 11.4 million people - including those captured and missing. How many people died in partisan detachments, no one can say for sure.

By the way

After the end of the war, the army numbered 11 million people, which was excessive for peacetime. In July 1945, all soldiers and sergeants over 45 years of age and officers over 50 years of age were dismissed from the army. In September 1945, soldiers and sergeants over 30 years of age began to be transferred to the reserve, as well as soldiers, sergeants, and officers with specialties that were valuable for the restoration of the national economy (builders, miners, metallurgists, machine operators, etc.), regardless of age.
From 1946 to 1948 there was no conscription into the army. Young people were sent to restoration work in mines, heavy engineering enterprises, and construction sites. Military schools for officer training accepted people aged 17-23 with secondary education.
By the beginning of 1948, the size of the army had dropped to 2.8 million people.
After the Great Patriotic War new law on universal conscription was adopted in 1949. Young people aged 18 were subject to conscription: ground forces and to aviation for 3 years, to the navy for 4.