194044 insurgency in Chechnya

The 194044 insurgency in Chechnya was an audestroy them group by group: rst the kulaks,
tonomous revolt against the Soviet authorities in the
then the mullahs and the 'bandits, then the
Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
bourgeois-nationalists. I am sure now that the
Beginning as early as in June 1941 under Khasan Israilov,
real object of this war is the annihilation of our
it peaked in 1942 during the German invasion of North
nation as a whole. That is why I have decided
to assume the leadership of my people in their
Caucasus and ended in the beginning of 1944 with the
struggle for liberation.[7][8]
wholesale concentration and deportation of the Vainakh
peoples (Chechens and Ingushes) from their native lands
as well as from the locations across the USSR, resulting in After the German invasion in the USSR in June 1941,
the death of at least 144,000 civilians. However, a scat- the brothers convened 41 dierent meetings in summer
tered resistance in the mountains continued for years.
1941 to recruit local supporters under the name Provisional Popular Revolutionary Government of ChechenIngushetia, and by the end of midsummer of that year
1 Beginning
they had over 5,000 guerrillas and at least 25,000 sympathizers organized into ve military districts encompassIn the late 1939, encouraged by the Soviet failures in the ing Grozny, Gudermes and Malgobek. In some areas, up
Winter War against Finland, Chechen ex-communist in- to 80% of men were involved in the insurrection. It is
tellectual Khasan Israilov and his brother Hussein had known that the Soviet Union used carpet bombing tactics
established a guerrilla base in the mountains of south- against the rebels, causing losses primarily to the civil[3]
eastern Chechnya, where they worked to organize a uni- ian population. Massive Soviet bombing air raids twice
ed guerrilla movement to prepare an armed insurrection targeted Chechen-Ingush mountain villages in the spring
against the Soviets. By early February 1940, Israilovs of 1942, completely devastating several auls and killing
rebels took over several auls in Shatoysky District. The most of their inhabitants, including large numbers of el[5]
rebel government was established in Israilovs native vil- derly and children.
[3]
lage of Galanchozh. They then defeated the NKVDs By January 28, 1942, Israilov had decided to extend
punitive detachments sent against them, capturing mod- the uprising from Chechens and Ingush to eleven of the
ern weapons.[5]
dominant ethnic groups in the Caucasus by forming the
Israilov described his position on why they were ghting Special Party of Caucasus Brothers (OKPB), with the
aim of an 'armed struggle with Bolshevik barbarism and
numerous times:
Russian despotism'. Khasan also developed a code among
the guerrilla ghters to maintain order and discipline,
I have decided to become the leader of a
which stated:
war of liberation of my own people. I understand all too well that not only in ChechenoBrutally avenge the enemies for the blood
Ingushetia, but in all nations of the Caucasus it
of our native brothers, the best sons of the
will be dicult to win freedom from the heavy
Caucasus; Mercilessly annihilate seksoty [seyoke of Red imperialism. But our fervent becret agents], agents and other informants of
lief in justice and our faith in the support of the
the NKVD; Categorically forbid [guerrillas] to
freedom-loving peoples of the Caucasus and of
spend the night in homes or villages without the
the entire world inspire me toward this deed, in
security of reliable guards.[6]
your eyes impertinent and pointless, but in my
conviction, the sole correct historical step. The
valiant Finns are now proving that the Great
In February 1942, another Chechen ex-communist,
Enslaver Empire is powerless against a small
Mairbek Sheripov, organized a rebellion in Shatoi and
but freedom-loving people. In the Caucasus
tried to take Itum-Kale. His forces united with Israilovs
you will nd your second Finland, and after us
army relying on the expected arrival of the German
will follow other oppressed peoples.[6]
Wehrmacht. In neighbouring Dagestan rebels also took
the neighbourhoods of Novolakskaya and Dylym. The
insurrection provoked many Chechen and Ingush soldiers
of the Red Army to desert. Some sources claim that to-

For twenty years now, the Soviet authorities have been ghting my people, aiming to
1

REFERENCES

tal number of deserted mountaineers reached 62,750, ex- German operatives in Chechnya. After the German receeding the number of mountaineer ghters in the Red treat from the Caucasus, almost 500,000 of Chechen and
Army.[2]
Ingush people from Checheno-Ingushetia as well as other
republics were forcibly resettled to Siberia and Central
Asia (mostly to Kazakhstan SSR) en masse, resulting in
a large number of deaths among the deportees. Many of
2 German support
those who were not deported were simply massacred on
the spot. In mountainous regions of the country, mass
On August 25, 1942, nine German-trained sabo- atrocities such as the Khaibakh massacre took place.
teurs from Abwehr's Nordkaukasisches Sonderkommando
By the next summer, Checheno-Ingushetia was dissolved;
Schamil landed near the village of Berzhki in the area
a number of Chechen and Ingush placenames were reof Galashki, where they recruited 13 local Chechens for
placed with Russian ones; mosques and graveyards were
their cause. Later in August and September, a total of
destroyed, and a massive campaign of burning numer40 German agents were dropped in various locations. All
ous historical Chechen texts was near complete.[13][14]
of these groups received an active assistance from up to
Throughout the North Caucasus, about 700,000 (accord100 Chechens. Their mission was to seize the Grozny
ing to Dalkhat Ediev, 724,297,[15] of which the mapetroleum renery in order to prevent its destruction by
jority, 479,478, were Chechens, along with 96,327 Inthe retreating Soviets, and to hold it until the German
gush, 104,146 Kalmyks, 39,407 Balkars and 71,869
First Panzer Army arrived. However, the German ofKarachays) were deported. Many died along the trip, and
fensive stalled after capturing only the ethnic-Russian
the extremely harsh environment of Siberia (especially
[5]
town of Malgobek in Ingushetia. The Germans made
considering the amount of exposure) killed many more.
concerted eorts to coordinate with Israilov, but his refusal to cede control of his revolutionary movement to The NKVD, supplying the Russian perspective, gives
the Germans, and his continued insistence on German the statistic of 144,704 people killed in 19441948
recognition of Chechen independence, led many Ger- alone (death rate of 23.5% per all groups), though
mans to consider Israilov as unreliable, and his plans un- this is dismissed by many authors such as Tony Wood,
realistic. Although the Germans were able to undertake John Dunlop, Moshe Gammer and others as a far
covert operations in Chechnyasuch as the sabotage of understatement.[16] Estimates for deaths of the Chechens
Grozny oil eldsattempts at a GermanChechen al- alone (excluding the NKVD gures), range from about
170,000 to 200,000,[5][17][18][19] thus ranging from over
liance oundered.[2]
a third of the total Chechen population to nearly half beThat the Chechens actually were allied to the Gering killed in those 4 years alone (rates for other groups
mans is highly questionable and usually dismissed as
for those four years hover around 20%). In 2004, the
false.[9][10][11] They did have contact with the Germans.
European Parliament recognized it as a genocide. [20]
However, there were profound ideological dierences between the Chechens and the Nazis (self-determination However, some rebel groups stayed in the mountains,
versus imperialism), neither trusted the other, and the continuing the resistance. Rebel groups were also formed
German courting of the Cossacks angered the Chechens in Kazakhstan.[2] Israilov was betrayed and killed by two
(their traditional enemies with which they still had numer- of his own men in December 1944. Following his death,
ous land disputes and other conicts). Mairbek Sheripov the resistance was led by Sheikh Qureish Belhorev, who
reportedly gave the Ostministerium a sharp warning that was captured in 1947. Several security divisions were
if the liberation of the Caucasus meant only the ex- sent to suppress the remnants of partisan movement,
change of one colonizer for another, the Caucasians achieving this task only in the mid-1950s.[5]
would consider this [a theoretical ght pitting Chechens
and other Caucasians against Germans] only a new stage
in the national liberation war.[12]
4 References

Deportation

Main article: Operation Lentil (Caucasus)

By 1943, as the Germans began to retreat in the Eastern
Front, the mountain guerrillas saw their fortunes change
as many former rebels defected to the Soviets in exchange of amnesty. On December 6, 1943, German
involvement in Chechnya ended when Soviet counterintelligence agents inltrated and arrested the remaining

[1] (Russian) ""

[2] (Russian) . . .
"", 2006
[3] (Russian) (. ).

-
.

[4] (Russian) .
.
[5] Dunlop. Russia Confronts Chechnya, pp 6270

[6] Burds, Jerey (2007). The Soviet War against Fifth

Columnists": The Case of Chechnya, 19424 (PDF).
Journal of Contemporary History 42 (2): 267314.
doi:10.1177/0022009407075545.
[7] Avtorkhanov. Chechens and Ingush. p. 181-182
[8] Wood, Tony. Chechnya: The Case for Independence.
Page 34
[9] Avtorkhanov. Chechens and Ingush. p183
[10] Wood, Tony. Chechnya: The Case for Independence.p36
[11] Gammer. Lone Wolf and Bear. p. 161-165
[12] Avtorkhanov. Chechens and Ingush. p. 183.
[13] Gammer, The Lone Wolf and the Bear, p182
[14] Jaimoukha. Chechens. p212
[15] Ediev, Dalkhat. Demogracheskie poteri deportirovannykh narodov SSSR, Stavropol 2003, Table 109, p302
[16] Wood, Tony. Chechnya: the Case for Independence. page
37-38
[17] Nekrich, Punished Peoples
[18] Gammer. Lone Wolf and the Bear, pp166-171
[19] Soviet Transit, Camp, and Deportation Death Rates
[20] European Parliament recognizes deportation of
Chechens and Ingushetians ordered by Stalin as genocide. Caucasian Knot. 1 March 2004. Retrieved 10
May 2013.

External links
(Russian) Chechenpress article on the uprising

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