The Presidential Library will get the “Krasnoarmeyets” magazine of the Chief Political Directorate of Red Army digitized

Handed for digitization September’s 1945 issue of “Krasnoarmeyets” (Red Army soldier) № 17 magazine of the Chief Political Directorate of the Red Army Red Army will add to the Presidential Library stock. This Order of the Red Star literary and art publication will tell readers about the events and the atmosphere of its period of time.

1945 was a turning point in the history of XX century: the end of World War II marked the beginning of a political, strategic, economic and ideological changes that led to a new post-war world order. The editorial column of the “Krasnoarmeyets” magazine is entirely reserved for an appeal of comrade I. V. Stalin to the people: “Fellows countrymen and countrywomen! Today, September 2, Japanese government and military authorities have signed an unconditional surrender. Utterly defeated on the seas and on the land and surrounded from all sides by the armed forces of the United Nations, Japan has acknowledged its defeat and grounded its arms. This means the ending of the Second World War.”

The following stated in the appeal of Supreme Commander Generalissimo of the Soviet Union is the unjustified claim of Japan to the southern part of Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands Chain, which had previously been taken from Russia during the unjust wars of conquest.

Next after the appeal in the magazine is the page spread entirely taken by twelve portraits of the Heroes of the Soviet Union: Guard Colonel-General I. Fedyuninsky, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Guard Major Musa Gareyev, Guard Staff Sergeant S. Chirkov and others.

The country is rejoicing, and those unique moments in the life of the victorious powers are embodied in the “Krasnoarmeyets” magazine. On the “Events and people” column in the short reportage entitled “Battle-seasoned warriors” is expressed how is happy Moscow residents meeting soldiers on a platform of the Rzhevsky Railway Station. And another reportage describes how Sergeant Baranov, marked by three government awards, returned back home, in the streets of his native Ivanov town. “Seeing the familiar houses, streets and alleys, meeting relatives and fellows townsmen after so many years of separation, Baranov could not resist. Something tightened in his chest, tickled in the throat, and temperate manly tear rolled down the soldier’s face.”

An article entitled “The Battle of Kulikovo” under the “From the Past” heading portrays an unprecedented encounter in the River Don, where the 150,000 Russian Army wiped the ground with the 250,000 army of the Golden Horde under the command of Tatar Khan Mamai. It was taken as a rule that in the years of great trials for the purpose of strengthening of the martial spirit of the troops different editions, including periodical, release biographies of the great Russian military leaders, analyze major battles of different periods, the outcome of which was nothing else but fate of the country.

That’s what in this issue of “Krasnoarmeyets,” where a lot of space is reserved to military tactics and strategies of Kutuzov, whose portrait adorns the cover. In the center spread of the issue its creators placed a layout devoted to “The military engagements under the command of Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov in the visual arts.” Among illustrations, in particular, a siege of the Turkish fortress named Izmail with a footnote: “Suvorov rendered an account of Kutuzov in the report on capture of the fortress: “He was on my left flank, being my right hand.” And there are two copies from the paintings by Vereshchagin - “The End of the Battle of Borodino” and “The retreat of the great army” - below.

From an article of professor N. Korobkov entitled “Kutuzov in the War of 1812” could be learned: “Kutuzov's personal courage was boundless. He received three wounds in battles - all three in the head; the first two doctors considered fatal and were amazed at his recovery.”

In the same issue of “Krasnoarmeyets” there are the excerpts from the play entitled “The Commander” of the Stalin Prize laureate K. Trenev. Dramatic military council in Fili is shown with full artistic expression: Kutuzov alone was forced to take a difficult decision to leave Moscow to the French: Bennigsen, Rayewski, and Yermolov – they all were against the surrender. After their statements, according to the remark, “heavy silence” hanged in the scene. Then the arguments of Kutuzov follow: “I take it all upon myself alone… There was more told about Moscow than about Russia, but Russia is greater then Moscow. There is no loss of Russia with the loss of Moscow. I’m not sure whether people will forgive us the loss of the capital. But they will never forgive it the enemy. I know that, and with that we will win.”

The high ideological and artistic level of the magazine is largely due to the high level of the editorial board, which included V. Lebedev-Kumach, M. Mironov, V. Panov (editor), S. Stepan Shchipachov. This edition, like hundreds of other military media, fought for the victory too – using a pen, which, to paraphrase the poet, can be rightly equated to bayonet.

Currently, the collection of the National Periodicals in the Presidential Library stock features more than 138,000 electronic copies of periodicals, among them - more than 36,000 issues of 642 magazines and more than 101,000 issues of the newspapers of 232 titles. Among these are military publications, for example, complete filing of the “Na Strazhe Rodiny” (Defending the Motherland) newspaper for the 1941-1945 years. Separate collection entitled 1945: from the war to the post-war world of sufficiently rare materials relates to the final period of the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War.