How recidivists fought at the front, and Why the idea of a "criminal army" was abandoned in the USSR

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In the first year of the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, Red Army units were actively replenished with persons with a valid prison term. And although most of them had only one go to the zone, often recidivists also got to the front, for whom the prison became practically their home. Despite the fearlessness of the criminals and their audacity in battle, since 1944 the authorities have ceased to equip military units with "urks" for several reasons.

"Redeem with blood": or how hardened "urks" changed their "deployment: from prison to trenches

The sending of prisoners to the front was a forced measure for the Soviet leadership: due to the catastrophic losses in the first months of the war, an urgent need for manpower arose. It was decided to replenish the Red Army units with criminals, who, in return for a prison sentence, would voluntarily agree to atone for their guilt before the Motherland with blood.

According to the original decision of the Supreme Court of the USSR, issued in January 1942, only those who had a first term of imprisonment of up to 2 years could go to the front. However, due to the deterioration of martial law, by 1943, recidivists, who had several trips behind their shoulders, were allowed to replenish the ranks of the Red Army.

Most of the experienced "urks" were inveterate criminals, distinguished by their audacity and defiant character. They lived exclusively by their own rules, and, despising generally accepted social norms, they tried to follow them not only in prison, but also at large in everyday life. Such inveterate criminals usually did not seek to the front, believing that it is shameful for a “thief in law” to help the state, even protecting it from an external enemy.

Nevertheless, there were also exceptions among them - "urks" who agreed to fight in the hope of reducing the term of punishment, as well as to escape from the meager camp food to more nourishing front-line rations.

How the convicts fought and what military professions they preferred

Especially many volunteer urkagans appeared in the army after the Stalingrad and then Kursk battles - by this time a year at the front for prisoners was equal to three years in prison. Despite, it seemed, the lack of proper patriotism, according to the testimony of many eyewitnesses of that time, the prisoners fought no worse than ordinary volunteer soldiers.

So, in the essay of the writer Varlam Shalamov "The Bitch War" you can read that the urks, having a natural inclination to take risks, as well as decisiveness and arrogance, were considered quite valuable fighters. They turned out to be risky guerrillas, fearless scouts and ruthless soldiers who fought desperately and evil.

Actor Yevgeny Vestnik, who commanded an artillery battalion during the war, recalled: “The prisoners showed themselves excellently in battles, were disciplined and courageous. I presented them for awards for courage, and I was absolutely not interested in what they once received a term for."

Did the war change the personality of the convict?

And yet, despite the fighting qualities and the contribution of criminals to the defeat of the enemy, their deep-rooted craving for a criminal lifestyle often made itself felt. According to the memoirs of officer Ivan Mamaev, whose company was replenished in 1943 with a group of prisoners, thieves were often fond of card games, creating disciplinary problems.

So, having once met repeat offenders from another unit, Mamaev's subordinates started a card "tournament", completely ignoring the orders of their commander. Another time, while accompanying a captured German to the headquarters, a prisoner from the unit of the same Mamaev forced the detainee to take off his boots. While trying on a gratuitous "new thing" Fritz took the opportunity and, having killed the "greedy frayer", safely escaped from captivity.

"Urks" did not miss the opportunity to steal other people's money or things, as well as forge the commander's seal on the card in order to get additional food. Often in the formation, staffed by thieves, disassembly "by concept" began, which often ended with severe wounds or fatal injuries for the participants.

Why the USSR stopped sending repeat offenders to the front

In 1944, persons serving sentences were deprived of the opportunity to go to the Red Army as part of a volunteer conscription. This happened for several reasons.

First, the situation at the front changed: after Stalingrad and the Kursk Bulge, the USSR began to have an unshakable advantage over Germany. In addition, the discipline and combat skills of ordinary front-line soldiers have noticeably increased in the troops. The noticeably reduced losses of manpower made it possible to keep the number of soldiers within 11, 5 million people - that is how many Red Guards were numbered by the end of 1944. The need to replenish the ranks of repeat offenders disappeared - the crisis of 1942 remained in the past and there was no hint of its repetition.

Second, the war-torn country needed workers. Thousands of destroyed cities and villages, tens of thousands of industrial and agricultural enterprises, more than 60,000 km of railroad tracks and hundreds of thousands of roads were in dire need of restoration in order to establish a peaceful life. In 1944, Soviet troops practically liberated the country from the German invaders, and therefore the question of raising the national economy of the USSR began to come to the fore.

In the rear, there were almost no able-bodied men who could cope with current problems, except for prisoners. It was decided to involve them in the restoration work: according to rough estimates, more than 2.5 million people were involved in the process.

Thirdly, the Soviet command, by 1944, was already aware of the positive and negative aspects of the units where there were criminal elements. Therefore, the officers and generals, not without reason, believed that, having entered the territory of European countries with the army, the criminals would begin to loot and plunder the population. Europe, although it was battered by the war, but unlike the Soviet Union, its citizens retained wealth and it was he who could attract the attention of repeat offenders.

In order to avoid rampant crime, as well as to prevent possible damage to the reputation of the USSR, the leadership banned the sending of volunteers from among the prisoners to the front a year before the victory.

The Soviet government has always opposed the thieves' law. There were different things coming out of this, but the struggle was serious. And it was not possible to completely eliminate the thieves' traditions. The Soviet government, one way or another, tried to fight the criminal environment. Don't just use.