Translated and edited by COL David M. Glantz Foreign Military Studies Office, Fort Leavenworth, KS.
The heroic and, at the same time, completely tragic two-week raid in February 1943 by the Southwestern Front's cavalry, which began the liberation of the Ukraine, remains essentially obscure to this very day. Soviet historiography of the 1941-1945 war says little about the organization and course of the raid, and it has not paid fitting attention to the losses suffered by the cavalrymen. I have touched upon this and related issues through the prism of studying about general officer losses in the war, in general, and during the raid, in particular.1
The raid was carried out by forces of the 8th Cavalry Corps, which consisted of the 21st, 35th, and 112th Cavalry Divisions.2 The corps commander, Major General M. D. Borisov, was an experienced military leader who had participated in the Great Patriotic War from its very beginning and was instrumented in the Soviet victory at Stallingrad.3 Thereafter, the cavalry corps operated under Southwestern Front control as Soviet forces drove the Germans westward from the Stalingrad region and the great bend on the Don River. Then, in February 1943, the corps was designated to lead the Soviet assault south of Voroshilovgrad into the Donets Basin region. In accordance with the Soviet command's offensive concept, the employment of the cavalry as a deep raiding force was to have facilitated and accelorated the advance of the Southwestern Front's main forces into the Donbas region.
Having discovered a weak link in the enemy's defenses southeast of Voroshilovgrad [Lugansk], on the night of 8 February, the cavalry penetrated the front lines, entered the operational depths, and began a deep raid against the enemy rear area in the region of the large rail center at Debaltsevo. Debaltsevo was an important communications center for the entire enemy Donbas grouping. At first, the cavalry force was successful. It reached the Debaltsevo region and inflicted great losses in personnel and equipment on the enemy. According to archival documents preserved by the corps, the raid into the rear area of the German Voroshilovgrad grouping cost the enemy a total of more than 12,000 soldiers and officers lost and 28 tanks, 70 motorcycles, 50 guns, 35 mortars, 54 machine guns, 2 armored trains, 1 fuel train, 20 locomotives, 1 train with tanks, 3 trains with vehicles, and 1 train with aircraft destroyed. In addition, 6 communications centers were destroyed, 3 railroad bridges were blown up, up to 30 warehouses with ammunition and foodstuffs were burned, and the main rail lines leading to Debaltsevo were blown up in 56 places.4 Furthermore, during the raid, on 14 February the raid, the corps was transformed into the 7th Guards Cavalry Corps, and its 21st, 35th, and 112th Cavalry Divisons became the 14th, 15th, and 16th Guards Cavalry Divisions, respectively.5 The order doing so was transmitted to the corps headquarters by radio.
Perhaps, there is no tribal group forming Bashkir ethnos was that honored with so plentiful mentions in Eastern sources as the kin Burzan (Burjan). To interpretation of origin of this word (toponym, ethnicon and political term) devoted extensive literature. The fact is that acquaintance of European people with Arabian historiography let them know that Arabian authors called Danube Bulgaria as Burdgan.
P.Shafaric was one of the first who sought for an explanation of the fact. He derived the Arabian term Burdgan from a number of names, known for antique and medieval authors of the west ‘Bulgari, Bulgares, Bulgarkh, Burgari, Burgian, Borgian, Burgan, Borgan, Borgal, Borgar, Burugundi, Wurugundi, Wurgari, Vulgari, Volgares…’. And V.V.Polosin transferred the problem to another plane by supposing that ‘bulgar’, ‘burgar’, ‘burgaz’and ‘burdgan’ represent four different spelling of the ethnonim bulgar in Arabic literature where the third consonant ‘dg’ in ‘burdgan’ gives consonant ‘g’. It is quite probable assumption – in Arabic dialects sounds ‘dg’ and ‘g’ often alternate each other. Thereby, it is correct to read ‘burgan’ but not ‘burdgan’. In shortly speaking V.V.Polosin reduced historical bulgar-burdgan problem to philology issues.
O. Frolova expressed similar idea. Based on data of al-Kazvini about wild and savage kin Burdgan of the Extreme north where reigns either the polar night or the polar day she supposed that Arab author in the result of misprint called Burdgans Normans, in Spain known as ‘lurmans’ or ‘lormanes’. As for O.Frolova an Arab inscription of this term ‘lurman’ can easily transformed into ‘Burdgan’. Actually the fact of existence of living carrier of the ethnonim Burdgan forming a part of the Bashkir nation disproves their opinion. Therefore to find a historical explanation of the problem is reasonable.
Burdgan Kingdom had been known in the territory of the Northern Caucasus since the 3rd century. Ibn Hordadbek narrated that during the reign of Ardashir Papakan (220 – 240s), the founder of Sasanian dynasty, among other frontier to Iran owners was a certain Burdgan-shah.
Among the songs about the colonization of the Bashkir lands we should pick out the song "Taftileu" as the most common song of this theme.
"Rocky are the banks of the Aghidel River Where Tevkelev the colonel raged once, To the flames the Bashkort land he committed, Golden shoulder-straps he’d got for the crime.
No saddle feels a horse underneath, It’s the horse that carries its weight. Nor does colonel Tevkelev know his evil deeds, It’s the people who subsequently bleed.
Where the forest of dark adjoins the rock, And the tree-leaves rustle in the breeze, There lies my curse, inscribed on its top, For all of my descendants to read".
J. V. Stalin, in his denunciation of Sultan Galiev, formerly Stalin's own assistant in Narkomnats, stated:
....I accused him (Sultan Galiev) of creating an organization of the Validov type... despite that, a week later, he sent... a secret letter... to establish contact with the Basmachi and with their leader Validov...1
Ahmet Zeki (Validov) Velidi Togan (1890-1970), a Bashkurt Turk,2 published his own comprehensive account of the Basmachi movement3 on two separate occasions. According to Togan, these were based on the field diaries he kept during his involvement in the movement. The said diary was smuggled out of Turkistan in segments, via various persons and routes, before and after Togan's own departure from Turkistan in 1923.4 Both accounts complement each other and contain ample material to aid the reader in reconstructing the events surrounding Stalin's references and putting all in historical perspective.5
In completing the final versions of these works for publication, Togan indicates, in addition to his own field notes, he had also utilized secondary sources to refresh his memory. These included the materials deposited with the Hoover Institution Library, which he consulted during 1958, as well as the newspaper collections pertaining to the time period which he chronicles. Togan recalled:
"Kerensky (1881-1970) and I sat down at the microfilm machine and together read the newspapers dating back to the times when we knew each other."
Togan also cites various histories written in the Soviet union after his departure, containing references to his own activities. The first section of this study contains Togan's brief biography, educational and personal background. The second, the events leading to his Basmachi period, due to space limitations, in a highly compressed form.6 The last section is largely translated directly from his pen, both from Turkili and Hatiralar.
The sources constituting the basis of these memoires were taken out, prior to our [Togan, along with other prominet leaders of the Turkistan National Liberation Movement] departure at the beginning of 1923 from Turkmenistan to Iran, via the Kabul Embassy of Bukhara and merchants travelling to Muhammedabad. Quite a few valuable documents were taken out to Finland by my compatriot Osman Tokumbet the same year. The notes and documents that had been recorded in a similie of cypher, and taken out via various means, were read and decoded in collaboration with my compatriots who had fallen prisoner to the Germans during 1943, who were aware of the events contained therein. Additional voluminous [updates of] information was also obtained from them. Those materials were brought to the Turkish Republic by the late Saffet Arikan, then the Ambassador to Berlin. During 1957, extensive use has been made of the Russian newspaper colections at the "Hoover War Library," originally collected by F. A. Kerenskii, and by his permission, and with the aid of the library director, a Professor of Polish origin, W. S. Sworokowsky. Use also has been made of the microfilms of the Turkistan newspapers, originals of which were collected with care by Mr. Richard Pierce of Berkeley University during his visit to Russia [Soviet Union], also with his aid. I must here experess my gratitude to these individuals.
To assure the correctness of the information provided herein, I have asked my friends who have participated in the inclosed events, such as Abdulkadir Inan, Kocaoglu Osman, Abdullah Taymas and the combatants Shirmehmet Bek and Kirghiz leader Parpi Haci, to read the manuscript.
The first draft of this work was written in Berlin during 1924, but due to the unavailability of a suitable publisher, it's publication was delayed. Finally, a compatriot of mine, who had saved capital as a high-school student, provided for the eventual printing [of this volume], desiring to aid the national publications. He wishes to remain anonymous. Author and poet Orhan Saik Gokyay undertook the task of revising the original manuscript which had been written under the influence of Eastern Turk dialects, in order to render it readable in modern Turkish. I offer my sincere thanks to both.
A few photographs, though referenced in the text, were unavailable at the time of the printing. I offer my apologies for their omission.
18 February 1967 (Istanbul)
I dedicate these memoires to my beloved wife Nazmiye Ungar Togan, who had aided me in their compilation.
