Deer ski battalions

In November 1941, three army reindeer vehicles (companies) were formed in the 14th Army of the Karelian Front , operating in the Murmansk direction. One of the transports was sent to the 19th army . These companies were formed from reindeer herders of the Murmansk region , who were called along with deer. Since the required number of deer in the Murmansk region was not enough, on November 20, 1941, the State Defense Committee adopted secret resolution No. 930-s signed by I.V. Stalin :

To ensure the formation of the Karelian front of 12 reindeer ski battalions on the territory of the Arkhangelsk Military District, the State Defense Committee decides: to mobilize deer, reindeer teams and sleds (mushers) on the territory of the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Arkhangelsk Region, based on the calculation ^[1] :

	Nenets district	Komi ASSR
deer	6000	4000
sled harness	1200	800
driving (musher)	600	800

Echelons of people and deer were formed in the Kanino-Timan , Bolshezemelsky and Nizhne-Pechora districts of the Nenets National District ; to their destination, the Rikasikha station of the Arkhangelsk region, they went under their own power in the conditions of winter and polar night several hundred kilometers. January 25, 1942 GKO Decree No. GKO-1214ss "On the filing of march replenishment of the fronts in the month of February" to the head of the GAU Yakovlev ND prescribed:

To arm and reinforce 12 reindeer ski battalions, Comrade Frolov, commander of the Karelian Front. ^[2]

In February 1942, at the Rikasikha station, from the above-mentioned echelons, as well as echelons arriving from the Leshukonsky district of the Arkhangelsk region and the Komi Republic , the 1st deer-ski team (deer-ski battalions No. 1-5) were formed in the 295th reserve regiment and the 2nd deer-ski team (deer-ski battalions No. 6-8, and 10), which were sent to the Karelian Front in March 1942. The 9th deer-ski battalion remained in the reserve of the 14th army . On September 25, 1942, on the basis of the 5th and 6th ski brigades, the 31st separate deer-ski brigade of the Karelian Front was formed.

In addition to deer-ski battalions, transport units ^[3] deer transports (companies) were formed as part of the Karelian Front. The most important tasks of deer transports were the sanitary evacuation of the wounded from the battlefield, the delivery of goods, weapons and shells. Altogether, with the help of deer, 10,142 wounded soldiers were taken out from the front line and from the deep rear of the enemy. Deer transported 8 thousand soldiers and 17 thousand tons of ammunition to the front line. For deer, the war ended in 1944 after the liberation of Karelia and the Murmansk region .

Deer-ski battalions and deer transports in some sources are called deer -transport battalions .

• Monument "The feat of the participants of the deer transport battalions during the Great Patriotic War" in Naryan-Mar .
• November 20 in the Nenets Autonomous Area set a memorable date - Memorial Day for participants in the reindeer transport battalions in the Great Patriotic War ^[4] .

• Deer in war - deer army of the Second World War: Monuments to deer transport battalions
• The path of achievement. Film of the Nenets TRC about deer-ski battalions of the Great Patriotic War. Part 1
• The path of achievement. Film of the Nenets TRC about deer-ski battalions of the Great Patriotic War. Part 2
• Everything for the front: Deer transport battalions (inaccessible link)

• Korepanova L. Yu. Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Encyclopedic Dictionary. - M .: H51 House of the Book of Avanta +, 2001. - S. 304. - ISBN 5-8483-0040-2 .
• Kanev Yu. V. Deer Army. - Arkhangelsk: Printing house No. 2, 2010. - S. 263. - ISBN 978-5-903764-26-6 .