Table of contents:
- The first military New Year's Eve and the turn of the war
- Santa Claus - bearded partisan
- The hopes of the new 1944
- Discipline and holiday responsibilities
Video: As the New Year was celebrated on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, and What was the main thing on New Year's Eve
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
In scale, cruelty and bloodshed, the Great Patriotic War surpassed all previous military conflicts. Shooting even on the biggest holidays did not surprise anyone. It was not uncommon for German bombers to fly out on the night of January 1, hoping to use the festive illumination as a tip. But even this did not deprive the Soviet soldiers of the desire to celebrate the New Year. According to numerous testimonies of veterans, at the front, this holiday remained a long-awaited event, reminiscent of the joys and comfort of a peaceful life. And it also happened that on New Year's Eve, a few minutes before midnight, the command came: "At the Nazis, in honor of the new, the battery fire in one gulp!"
The first military New Year's Eve and the turn of the war
The meeting of the first New Year of the Great Patriotic War was tense. There were battles for Moscow, and the Red Army did not endure this test easily. But no one was going to forget about the holiday. In the rear, at the end of 1941, the situation developed in different ways. What are the terrible winter memories of eyewitnesses from besieged Leningrad. But even there there were glimpses and stories related not only to death walking around people, but also attempts to arrange at least a shadow of triumph. Hunger raged in the besieged city, and the Ladoga "road of life" remained the only saving artery. Having received a minimum of food, the Leningraders listened to the first successes of the Red Army on the radio, exchanged hopeful congratulations and celebrated the New Year as best they could.
The defeat of the Wehrmacht on the outskirts of Moscow gave the Soviet people hope. But after the events of the spring-summer of 1942, the Germans managed to bring down the South-Western Front and, as a result, reach the Volga with the Caucasus. The turning point of the situation was outlined only in late autumn with the victorious Russian counteroffensive during Operation Uranus. This time the Volga steppes became the cemetery for the Wehrmacht aggressors and their destroyed military equipment. At Stalingrad, Soviet troops fought back the German army led by the commander, and by the New Year-1943 the USSR was going with new moods.
Santa Claus - bearded partisan
Most of the front-line New Year's memories of 1941-1945 are reduced to ordinary combat work. Raids, marches, logistic sorties for the enemy "language", serious reconnaissance raids - this rarely depended on the holiday calendar. It happened that on New Year's Eve, the fighters barely managed to exchange verbal congratulations with each other. But an elegant Christmas tree at the front has invariably remained an attribute of the holiday. True, they sometimes decorated it not with sweets and tinsel, but with compositions of shoulder straps, cotton wool, wire, bandages, and even hung with spent cartridges. Yes, and Santa Claus on postcards of that period was depicted as a bearded partisan destroying the hated Fritzes.
The festive table was different. If everything went well for one unit or another, then by the New Year the soldiers even got trophy gifts. So, during the Stalingrad battles, Badanov's tank corps was lucky. Fulfilling the assignment of the command, on December 24, the subordinates of the Major General captured the Nazi rear airfield near the village of Tatsinskaya. In addition to large quantities of equipment, the Red Army tankers also got into the hands of Christmas gifts intended for German soldiers.
Ordinary holiday rations of the Nazis in many ways repeated the Soviet ones - canned food, alcohol, chocolate, cigarettes. The exception was the supply of the Luftwaffe, knocked out thanks to the authoritative army command. The festive table of the pilot officers was supposed to be served with champagne, all kinds of fruits and the best tobacco. Such gifts, exotic for the front-line atmosphere, were sent to General Vatutin to the South-Western Front for the victories in the Stalingrad clashes.
The hopes of the new 1944
By the end of 1943, along with the changes in favor of the Red Army on the fronts, the mood of the people had also changed. This was caught in everything, from the lightness in the ranks of the main forces to the bold orders of the command. As a conscript from Kazakhstan recalled, as New Year's midnight approached, soldiers from his unit were habitually sitting in their trenches, repelling enemy attacks. Exactly at 24 o'clock, colleagues said in an undertone: "Happy New Year!", Reinforcing the famous Stalinist "Our cause is just …" Sergeant of the Kuban Cossack Corps V. Pavlov recalled a little differently about New Year's Eve-1944. According to his stories, 4-5 minutes before midnight the fighters received the command "For battle!" And instead of the chimes, a “salute” began at the enemy in the form of dozens of fired war shells.
By the way, some units at that time had already completed their combat path. So, at the end of 1944, the 776th artillery regiment of the 224th division was in Bulgaria. For this unit, the New Year's holiday was not as harsh as it happened on the front lines. The regiment headquarters sent two hundred congratulatory letters to the families of the most distinguished fighters. In divisions, regimental schools and at every officer's meeting, a Christmas tree was decorated. After the solemn formation of the regiment, amateur concerts and subsequent festivities with fireworks were held. The New Year's Eve continued with a congratulatory radio broadcast from Moscow over a loudspeaker and a festive feast. On the morning of January 1, 1945, the regiment held a rally, ending the festive program with a lunch for all personnel.
Discipline and holiday responsibilities
Despite some festive liberties in the military ranks, discipline and vigilance remained at the forefront. The Soviet command invariably maintained order in the troops both at the front and in the rear. The officers received a demand to prevent drunkenness and debauchery in the ranks of their subordinates, it was forbidden to indulge in festive riots themselves. A lot of New Year's demands fell on the shoulders of political workers. They were obligatory on holiday with the soldiers of their units. The Red Army celebrated the New Year in a difficult military situation four times.
And every time on this special day, great hopes were pinned in the context of the approaching Victory. Soviet troops desperately "congratulated" the Wehrmacht, driving it in the western direction. And if the very first New Year at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army met near Moscow, then New Year's Eve of 1944 was celebrated on the outskirts of German Berlin.
Well, the main symbol of the new year - Santa Claus - had its own history. How the evil Slavic Korochun turned into a New Year's good-natured.
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