Kalmykia’s Red Army Soldiers and Officers Awarded Military Decorations for Participation in the Battle of Stalingrad: a Statistical Study

Russian historiography provides no comprehensive data on the impact of Kalmykia’s Red Army soldiers and officers into a greatest battle of World War II — the Battle of Stalingrad. A major indicator thereof is data on the numbers of our compatriots awarded different military decorations (orders and medals) for participation in the battle. Some deeper understanding of the process requires a statistical analysis that would reveal common and specific features of the examined group of individuals when viewed from different perspectives. Goals. The paper aims to establish a database of Kalmykia’s residents conscripted into the Red Army and awarded military decorations for participation in the Battle of Stalingrad, and to outline a statistical analysis. Materials. The database employs a wide range of sources, such as 1) the digital bank of documents ‘Feat of the People in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945’ (Rus. ОБД «Подвиг народа») containing actualized military awards papers of Red Army servicemen, 2) the annotated Index of names of ethnic Kalmyk soldiers and non-commissioned officers deported to Shirokovsky ITL (forced labor camp), 3) lists of Great Patriotic War veterans who resided in Kalmykia in 1965 and were offered to receive jubilee medals, etc. The term ‘compatriots’ here is used to denote both individuals conscripted in the territory of the Kalmyk ASSR and its native residents conscripted in other regions. The chronological framework of the study covers not only the Battle of Stalingrad as such but also subsequent bestowals given that the latter were at least somewhat related to the battle. Conclusions. The compiled database includes 516 bestowals (11 individuals were awarded two military decorations within the Battle of Stalingrad). And even though the database is not universally complete, it can still be considered essentially representative. The statistical analysis was conducted according to the following parameters: age, place and time of conscription, ethnicity, military rank, title of the awarded military decoration, and time of bestowal. The obtained results make it possible to draw several conclusions regarding the participation of Kalmykia’s residents in the Battle of Stalingrad. For example, the analysis shows the bulk of the awarded were young (aged 30 or below) people brought up by the Soviets to Communist ideals. The work concludes residents of Kalmykia who were conscripted into the Red Army contributed decently to the victory in the Battle of Stalingrad.

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