Memory. Sanl, Vols. 1 and 2. Fatal Casualties of Soviet Military Servicemen from the Kalmyk ASSR during the Great Patriotic War: A Statistical Analysis by Places of Service and Death

Abstract

Introduction. The article provides a partial statistical analysis of the database of Red Army servicemen conscripted in the Kalmyk ASSR and later identified as KIAs, DOWs and MIAs During the Great Patriotic War. Goals. The article compiles a database of Red Army conscripts from the Kalmyk ASSR further categorized as ‘fatal casualties’ and attempts a statistical analysis by places of service and death. Materials and methods. The paper examines data borrowed from volumes 1 and 2 of the edition titled ‘Memory. Sanl’. The reconstruction of missing materials on places of service and death involved the use of archival documents available at Pamyat Naroda (People’s Memory) and OBD Memorial online databases. The author employs a wide range of scientific methods, both general scientific and historical ones. The need for statistical analysis results in the wide use of statistical and extrapolation methods. Results. The work shows that both the volumes contain quite a number of inaccuracies in names of geographical objects, errors in military unit numbers, clerical errors in actual dates. Nonetheless, the present compiled and corrected database contains a significant portion of statistical data on places of service and death, and further use of the latter will contribute to the research of a collective portrait of Red Army servicemen conscripted in the Kalmyk ASSR during the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945.