Soviet Germans in the Red Army: Participation in Combat Operations of the Great Patriotic War

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of the activities of Soviet citizens of German nationality on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, emphasizing their contribution to the approach of Victory. The author presents the facts reflected in archival documents, on the basis of which an objective picture is formed of the involvement of German servicemen in the common confrontation against fascist aggression. Attention is focused on the behavior of German military personnel - officers, sergeants, and privates at the front: many already in the first months of the war heroically gave their lives for the coming victory. After the deportation of Soviet Germans living in the European territory of the country in the first months of the war to Siberia and Kazakhstan, the socalled “withdrawal” of them from military formations followed. But most of the Soviet Germans were sent to the rear, and workers’ battalions were formed from them, which became the beginning of such a phenomenon of the Soviet military economy as the “Labor Army.” The International Association of Researchers of the History and Culture of Russian Germans has made and continues to make a significant contribution to the study and popularization of the problem under study.