Figure 1.--These boys are some of the Soviet child veterans that fought with the Red ary and Navy during World War II. The photograph was probably taken at the end of the War in 1945. Unfortunately we do not have their stories. |
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Officially, children were not allowed to join The Red Army. There were age limitations. With the emergency created by the Germamn invaion, exceptions were made. Soldiers as the Red Army began moving west came across abandoned and orphaned children. They sometimes found children in the villages destoyed by the retreating Germans. These children were supposed to be sent to orphanages set up throughout the Soviet Union. For a variety of reasons, this did not always occur. The girls were sent to the orphanages, but not all of the boys. Red Army soldiers connected wuith the boys and the boys with the children. For some of the boys it was these personal connections that were important. With their parents killed, these were the only people with which they had connections. And many had a powerful desire for revenge and a burning desire to kill Germans. Other children were in partisan groups and incorporated into the regular Red Army as areas of the Soviet Union were liberated. Thus some children were incorporated in combat units. Most were teenagers, but there were some pre-teens as well, a few as young as 9-years old. Another source of child soldiers was the recruitment process. As a resut of the disasters of June-October 1941, much of the Red Army was destroyed. The Red Army was desperate to form new divisions. Some underage Soviet teenagers wanted to join up and fight the Germans. Here patriotism was often afactor. Another factor was that the Red Army soldiers received the best food rations. Here we are not talking about preteens, but many under agetenagers were accepted by recruitent officers not asking a lot of questions. Small uniforms were tailored for these children and they were given guns and used them. Many of these boys stayed with their regiment until the war ended.
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