Memorializing Heroism of the 110th Kalmyk Cavalry Division in July 1942 Battles for the Don: Equestrian Expeditions, May and July 2022

• Published in: Oriental Studies (Ėlista, Russia) Vol. 15; no. 4; pp. 808 - 833
• Main Author: Utash B. Ochirov
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Российской академии наук, Калмыцкий научный центр 01.11.2022
• Subjects: cavalry; commemorative practice; equestrian expedition; ethnic military unit; great patriotic war of 1941–1945; historical memory; kalmyk assr; kalmyks; memorialization; red army
• ISSN: 2619-0990; 2619-1008
• DOI: 10.22162/2619-0990-2022-61-4-808-833

Introduction. The article describes two equestrian expeditions undertaken in May and July 2022 to celebrate the 80th anniversary of earliest battles for the Don attended by the 100th Kalmyk Cavalry Division. The expeditions are viewed as commemorative practices to have facilitated further memorialization of the ethnic military unit’s heroic deeds. Materials and methods. The study employs a variety of general scientific and special research techniques, including the genetic method in history, participant observations, and interviews. The work analyzes monographs and articles dealing with the 110th Cavalry Division, interviews with expedition attendees, and published media materials. Results. The paper begins with a historical review of the 110th Kalmyk Cavalry Division and describes the struggle for its historical memory. This is followed by insights into the two equestrian expeditions to have commemorated the 80th anniversary of the unit’s earliest hostilities attended. The first expedition was held on Malye Derbety – Elista route (over 200 km long), lasted for seven days, and was culminated by a ceremonial march along Elista streets on 9 May. This involved a total of approximately thirty individuals, including one young woman and five children, and was largely a preparatory arrangement to identify and settle some potential logistic and technical problems. The second expedition was organized on route Malye Derbety – Razdorskaya (over 500 km long) in July 2022 and lasted for fourteen days. The group included seventeen male individuals dressed in 1942 uniforms of Red Army cavalrymen and equipped with blank WWII firearms. The expedition was to primarily pass through Rostov Oblast and ended in Razdorskaya on 23 July during an interregional Cossack song contest. Horse riders to have attended both the expeditions would participate in public meetings and concerts to narrate about heroic deeds performed by soldiers of the 110th Kalmyk Cavalry Division. So, the early 3rd millennium equestrian tours have proved an ingenious form of patriotic propaganda and shall be long remembered — like the delivered history of the ethnic military unit proper — by participants of corresponding events. Conclusions. The arranged equestrian expeditions have served an efficient tool to memorialize heroic past of the 110th Kalmyk Cavalry Division both across Kalmykia and Rostov Oblast.