The Mongolian caravan to help the Soviet army was organized in the fall of 1941 [1] (according to other sources - 1942 [2] ) in the western Mongolian city of Khovd and transported wool and clothing from it, meat, metals and other goods to the USSR on camels and horses [3] . From Khovda, the caravan went to the Soviet-Mongolian border, and from it along the Chuysky tract also under its own power to the nearest railway station in the city of Biysk - only about 1030 kilometers.
According to some reports, others followed after the first caravan [3] . It is reported, in particular, that in the winter of 1943-44, 18 thousand camels were made from Mongolia to Biysk.
Content
Caravan Composition
In August 1941, the aimak leadership of Khovd ordered the assistance of the Red Army to organize the administration of the somon (state farm) Mankhan, whose chairman chose the 19-year-old secretary of the local organization of the Revolutionary Youth Union of the MPR Borondongiyin Luvsan [4] .
“Gifts” for the Soviet army were collected throughout Western Mongolia: dried beef and lamb; meat of deer , gazelles , wild boars and other game; fur coats and boots from sheepskin, boots, hats, mittens. Possibly, the caravan also included 120 tons of non-ferrous metal from highly artistic Buddhist plastic (later it went to remelting and was used for the production of aircraft and tank engines) [3] . Helping the brotherly people was voluntary and free [5] .
The number of camels, according to various estimates, was from several hundred to about 1200, and caravan workers was 108 or 110, which some authors allowed to draw a conclusion about the record size of the caravan [4] .
Way to Biysk
The caravan left Khovd on September 17, 1941 [1] (according to other sources - 1942).
In the conditions of severe frosts of December and January, the caravan workers did not take off their clothes for two months, laying down for the night between two parallel camels. According to the memoirs of the main driver of the caravan Borondogiyin Luvsan, eight Mongols fell ill during the transition, they had to be left in the villages along the way [6] :
| In the winter of 1942, we were warmly welcomed in the Oirot Autonomous Region. They invited them to homes, yurts, fed, poured tea, accompanied them, helped to care for camels, from which the load was not removed even during overnight stays. In the winter of 1942 there were severe frosts. A temperature of minus 30 degrees was considered a thaw. Residents of the Altai Mountains gave us the last, so that we only get to Biysk. I still keep the bell that hung on the neck of a large camel. For me and my family this is a big relic. During the movement of the caravan, we sang the folk song "Silen Boor". She has many verses and was told in her about friendship, about love, loyalty and devotion. |
The greatest difficulty was mountain passes. So, when crossing through Chike-Taman , several camels broke and died. The most hardy, black camel took on the load from the dead animals and had to sleep on its knees, and when it was unloaded, the volume of goods transported by it occupied almost the entire body of the ZIS-5 car [4] .
Altai journalist Anatoly Muravlev in the book “ Unknown Altai. Cross-border route ”describes the difficulties of the route [5] :
| In May 2005, when Luvsan again went to Altai Territory to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Victory over the Nazis, Cheket-Aman was overcome by car in two hours, and in the winter of 1942-1943 it took ten days. In the winter mountains, they managed to walk 25-30 kilometers per day. To do this, it was necessary to rise to dawn and light the evening fire under the cauldron only in the evening twilight. |
Unfit for moving on ice, the soft feet of the camels glided and smashed, leaving red traces of blood behind the caravan; local residents taught carvans to sew special galoshes for animals from hides, tarps and rags. And when crossing rivers on ice and other difficult sections, tree branches, boards or clothes were laid out in front of animals, strewn with ashes and sand [7] . Due to the harsh winter, several camels fell ill from hypothermia, they were left under the supervision of local residents of the Oirot autonomous region of the Altai Territory [6] .
About a week, caravans cleared the way in a two-meter layer of snow at the Seminsky pass . It was not easy to cross the suspension bridge over the Katun River in Ust-Seme : stubborn animals did not want to walk on the swaying flooring [1] .
The caravan arrived in Biysk in early February 1942, and officers of the Red Army met him at the railway station. Caravan men returned to the Mongolian Khovd only on May 5, 1942 with Soviet wheat, flour, sugar, vegetable oil and tissues [4] [6] .
Perpetuation of memory
The name of the caravan is the orchard in the somon Manhan of the Mongolian aimak Khovd [1] .
On September 4, 2007, the main driver of the caravan, a citizen of Mongolia, Borondongiyin Luvsan, was awarded the Altai Territory medal “For Merit in Labor” for “high professional achievements, many years of conscientious work for the benefit of the Altai Territory and in connection with the 70th anniversary of the Altai Territory” [8] .
In 2013, a team of teachers, graduate students and students of the AltSTU Institute of Architecture and Design proposed the installation of Druzhba-Nairamdal memorials in Khovda, on the Chike-Taman pass and in Biysk [2] [9] . The complicity of teachers and students of Khovd University from Mongolia was also supposed [10] . The project was developed with a grant from the governor of Altai Krai [2] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Caravan of Friendship www.ap22.ru. Date of treatment November 5, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 3 THE MONGOLIAN PQ-17 WILL FOREVER ON THE CHUI ROUTE. . File. Date of treatment November 3, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 3 “Chuysky tract” during the war years was of great importance . brl.mk.ru. Date of treatment November 3, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Caravan for the Red Army . www.gornoaltaysk.ru. Date of treatment November 5, 2015. (unavailable link)
- ↑ 1 2 On this day, 70 years ago, a caravan from Mongolia arrived in Altai with humanitarian aid to soldiers of the Red Army . amic.ru. Date of treatment November 5, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Golden Feather of Altai - Mongolia - of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) . pero-altay.ru. Date of treatment November 5, 2015.
- ↑ Caravan of friendship | Altai Star (inaccessible link) . gazetazvezdaaltaya.ru. Date of treatment November 5, 2015. Archived March 4, 2016.
- ↑ Resolution of the Altai Territory Administration of September 4, 2007 N 426 "On awarding the Altai Territory with awards" . www.fpa.su. Date of treatment November 5, 2015.
- ↑ F. S. Pomorov, M. Yu. Shishin. MONGOLIAN PART OF THE PROJECT “TRIPTYCH OF THE RUSSIAN-MONGOLIAN FRIENDSHIP IN THE YEARS OF THE WWII“ FRIENDSHIP-NAYRAMDAL ” . - 2013. - No. 1/2 . - S. 37-38 .
- ↑ Druzhba-Nairamdal (Russian-Mongolian Civil Initiative for the Preservation and Development of Russian-Mongolian Relations) . nko22.ru. Date of treatment November 6, 2015.