http://komartky.ru/en/ ru Relics of the Bashkir DataLife Engine http://komartky.ru/en/history/36-the-unknown-pages-of-a-heroic-raid-by-aa-maslov.html http://komartky.ru/en/history/36-the-unknown-pages-of-a-heroic-raid-by-aa-maslov.html 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.]]> Ilsur Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:15:43 +0100 http://komartky.ru/en/folk/35-ural-batur-bashkir-folk-epos.html http://komartky.ru/en/folk/35-ural-batur-bashkir-folk-epos.html Ural-batur. Part 1

Ural-batur. Part 2

Ural-batur. Part 3

Ural-batur. Part 4

Ural-batur. Part 5

Ural-batur. Part 6

Ural-batur. Part 7

Ural-batur. Part 8

Ural-batur. Part 9

uralbatur.pdf [505,51 Kb] (cкачиваний: 4)]]> Ilsur Fri, 02 Mar 2012 04:26:29 +0000 http://komartky.ru/en/folk/34-ural-batur-bashkir-folk-epos-part-1.html http://komartky.ru/en/folk/34-ural-batur-bashkir-folk-epos-part-1.html Sagit Shafikov, professor, head of the department of english, Bashkir state university
In the days of old, they say so,
Was a land unseen, unheard-of;
On the four sides by the waters
Was that desert land surrounded.
There the foot of man stepped never
But for Yanbirthe, an old man,
And old Yanbikah, his woman -
In that land the only people.
And all roads were open to them;
They forgot the land they came from,
They forgot where lay their country,
Where they'd left behind their parents,
Strangely that escaped their memory.
And they turned out the first-comers,
The first settlers on that island,
With no living soul around there,
Two of them, until the woman
Bore two sons unto her husband;
Shulgan was the elder son's name
And the younger one was Ural.]]> Ilsur Thu, 01 Mar 2012 10:05:01 +0000 http://komartky.ru/en/folk/33-ural-batur-bashkir-folk-epos-part-2.html http://komartky.ru/en/folk/33-ural-batur-bashkir-folk-epos-part-2.html Sagit Shafikov, professor, head of the department of english, Bashkir state university
So together on their lion,
Counting days and years, the brothers
Over rock and over river,
Thorough brake and thorough forest,
As the story goes, rode forward.
And one day they saw a river,
With a grey-haired old man seated
In the shadow of a lone tree
Growing singly by the river;
In his hand he held a long staff.
First they all exchanged their greetings,
Then the grey-haired elder asked them
Where they headed for and wherefore.
As he learned of their assignment,
Long the old man meditated,
Long his snow-white beard caressing,
Closely stared at them and uttered,
Pointing out toward a crossroad:
"You can see two roads before you.
If you take the left-hand passage,
You shall have but gladsome tidings.]]> Ilsur Thu, 01 Mar 2012 10:02:34 +0000 http://komartky.ru/en/folk/32-ural-batur-bashkir-folk-epos-part-3.html http://komartky.ru/en/folk/32-ural-batur-bashkir-folk-epos-part-3.html Sagit Shafikov, professor, head of the department of english, Bashkir state university
Thus a few days passed by flying,
And, the wedding being over,
Ural went on with his journey.
Many waterways he passed through.
Once alighting from his lion
Ural stopped for recreation
At the foot of a rocky mountain
In the bottom of a hollow,
And he thought he heard a snake hiss.
To his feet he jumped to look round,
And beyond observed a serpent,
At a shrub he lay in hiding,
Thick he was as Ural's lion,
O'er one hundred footsteps longwise.
Ural saw him creeping outward
From the bush to hunt a roe-buck.
Then began a battle between them,
But the buck could not withstand it,
Shortly gave way, fell down gasping,
And the serpent, mouth wide open,
Snapped fast at the roe-buck's backbone.]]> Ilsur Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:59:16 +0000 http://komartky.ru/en/folk/31-ural-batur-bashkir-folk-epos-part-4.html http://komartky.ru/en/folk/31-ural-batur-bashkir-folk-epos-part-4.html Sagit Shafikov, professor, head of the department of english, Bashkir state university
Shulgan took the right-hand pathway
Where he also met an old man,
And he said what he was after,
Adding that he had encountered
On his way the other old man.
Then replied that old man downright,
Straight and square replied in this wise:
"The old man you have encountered
Is my own, my younger brother.
We were born and raised together.
Now he is grey-haired and aged,
Now he's old, and thin, and feeble,
With a long white beard and wrinkles.
Look at me! I'm like a yeget.
When I said he was my brother,
Did you think I was a liar?
But to solve this riddle is easy:
Bear it well in mind, my yeget,
Come to know the local custom
That the old folk and the young folk
Are akin as if they are brothers,
And fraternal blood they spill not,
So there's neither theft nor robbery,
Neither digging out the treasures
That are by their fellow-men gained,
So the mighty of this country
Cannot have all things their own way,
So no orphan is offended,
And no man can hurt a woman
With a daughter, nor disgrace her,
Nor throw both into the water.]]> Ilsur Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:56:54 +0000 http://komartky.ru/en/folk/30-ural-batur-bashkir-folk-epos-part-5.html http://komartky.ru/en/folk/30-ural-batur-bashkir-folk-epos-part-5.html Sagit Shafikov, professor, head of the department of english, Bashkir state university
Suddenly a maid came running
With a message of a new-come,
And that new-come turned out Ural,
Straight identified by Homai,
But she kept her recognition
Back from him, and he recalled not
Homai, daughter of the swan-shah.
Ural cast a look at Homai,
Her long hair as thick as rye-ears
And adorned with plaited gold coins,
Covering her back and lower,
Waving, coiling, falling knee-down.
Through long lashes stared at Ural
Two black fulgent eyes surmounted,
Crowned by arched and mobile eyebrows.
As she spoke uphove her bosom,
And her bee-like small waist quivered.
In a voice as clear as silver,
Playful, in a skittish manner,
She accosted Ural-batur.]]> Ilsur Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:52:05 +0000 http://komartky.ru/en/folk/29-ural-batur-bashkir-folk-epos-part-6.html http://komartky.ru/en/folk/29-ural-batur-bashkir-folk-epos-part-6.html Sagit Shafikov, professor, head of the department of english, Bashkir state university
Shulgan growing gloomy, thoughtful,
All the while continued scheming
One design after another,
Till one day he caught a moment,
By himself to talk with Homai,
Put his hand upon her shoulder,
And thus made a declaration
Of his love of the fair Homai:
"Everybody is requited,
For a good deed good is rendered,
As you put it, as your phrase goes.
In my heart I have no mischief,
In my mind no ill intention
Of blood-spilling, bloody wedding,
And I give my heart to you now,
Saying that it has been tempered
In the battle and in waiting
For your love and for your friendship,
That my heart is faithful to you,
That I, too, am a great batur,
And you'll hear first-hand my story,
Should you bend your ear toward me.
Keep me not long in suspense, though,
For I long to hear your answer,
For your square reply I'm anxious,
And in case I fail to hear it,
My design will I accomplish,
To the end pursue my purpose.]]> Ilsur Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:49:30 +0000 http://komartky.ru/en/folk/28-ural-batur-bashkir-folk-epos-part-7.html http://komartky.ru/en/folk/28-ural-batur-bashkir-folk-epos-part-7.html Sagit Shafikov, professor, head of the department of english, Bashkir state university
Shulgan watched the fairest Homai
Once descending to the dungeon
And grew fearful and suspicious,
Lest the serpent should betray him,
Should impute his fault unto him.
He resolved to get the wise-cane,
To procure the cane by all means,
And to devastate the country
Both by fire and by water,
Mounting Akbuthat, with Homai
To the country of Azraka
To escape, to set out straightway.
In this wise he told his brother:
"I am eager to seek glory,
To the country of Azraka
To this end I'll go to win fame."
And he asked him for the wise-cane.
"We had better go together
To the devs' land," Ural offered.
Shulgan, though, declined the offer
And received the cane of magic.
Before Homai from the dungeon
Came back having talked with Zarkum,
Without saying a word to Aihylyu
Or to Samrau, he departed.]]> Ilsur Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:43:41 +0000 http://komartky.ru/en/folk/27-ural-batur-bashkir-folk-epos-part-8.html http://komartky.ru/en/folk/27-ural-batur-bashkir-folk-epos-part-8.html Sagit Shafikov, professor, head of the department of english, Bashkir state university
Ural, hearing these four baturs,
With his own eyes saw his own sons,
Saw them all matured and grown up,
And to man's estate developed.
And, rejoicing, Ural-batur
Mounted Akbuthat, the white steed,
And his four sons, his four heroes
Straddled their tolpars in the same wise,
And they five of them went fighting,
Having worsted many devils,
Having fought that bloody battle
For a month and for a whole year.
Down they struck the Snake, Kahkhahi,
Down he tumbled into billow,
And amid his floundering, plashing,
There was heard a thunder rolling,
Through his screaming, yelling, howling,
And another mountain uprose,
Separating the whole billow,
Where the war developed raging.
Shulgan happened to be severed
From the most of his companions
By that mountain, dead Kahkhahi.]]> Ilsur Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:40:59 +0000