Eastern European Railways in Transition by Henry Jacolin Ralf Roth

Author:Henry Jacolin, Ralf Roth [Henry Jacolin, Ralf Roth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Modern, 19th Century, General
ISBN: 9781409473206
Google: xkGiAgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2013-10-28T01:27:55+00:00

The Ukrainian Railways in the Times of the German–Soviet War (1941–1945)

On 22 June 1941 the German–Soviet War began. At once the Soviet authorities determined the main priorities in railway transport work under the conditions of war. The railways had to change over to a military schedule, discipline had to be strengthened and traffic capacity had to be increased. Since the beginning of the war, the territory of the UkrSSR was a battleground, and the most important task of the railway workers was to provide transportation for the Red Army: 85 per cent of this traffic was directed over the Moskovsko–Kievska, Pivdenno–Zakhidna and Pivdenna Railways. During the first months of the war, 291 divisions, 94 brigades and more than 2 million soldiers were sent to the front, mainly by rail. The percentage of military transportation on the UkrSSR’s railways was 72.6 per cent in the first six weeks of the war.30

Alongside with the manpower to run the trains to the front, fighting battalions and people’s volunteer corps were organised and recruited from the railway personnel, which meant a great help. They guarded railway lines and station buildings and provided security in the rear of the Soviet troops. The people’s volunteer corps even participated in the actual fighting. As a considerable section of railway workers were drafted into the army, it became necessary to replace them with women and young people who had no corresponding qualification and whose training took place at an accelerated pace. Pensioners also returned to their old positions.

Despite all difficulties, in June 1941 almost all the railways of Ukraine exceeded their average daily loading quotas. Along with the increasing transportation needs of the army and the national economy, as the enemy moved deeper into Soviet territory, it became vital to preserve the UkrSSR’s industrial equipment, agricultural produce, cultural treasures and qualified labour force. With almost incredible efforts, the Ukrainian railway staff moved the equipment of 550 large industrial enterprises, part of the local industrial plants, the property of collectives and Soviet farms, the property of scientific institutions, and more than 3.5 million citizens to distant regions of the USSR. The significance of such heroic work in preserving and increasing the USSR’s military production is difficult to overestimate. On the way a lot of difficulties had to be overcome and railway personnel worked under extremely difficult conditions. Some of these industrial enterprises had been involved in supplying the front up to the last possible moment. Orders for their evacuation were given only at the time of the greatest danger. Under such circumstances, the People’s Commissariat of Communication Ways could not fully complete the registration and stock-taking of everything that had been moved. That is why railway workers were additionally able to evacuate a considerable amount of so-called ‘undocumented freight’. This included the production assets of mid-size and small enterprises, the property of the so-called machinery-tractor stations, and collective as well as Soviet farms.31

According to incomplete data, by 1 October 1941 the total number of evacuated workers of the nine railways of the republic was 75,590.

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