January 29 – February 4, 1944. 31 weeks before Liberation

A new project of the National Library of Belarus is dedicated to the Great Patriotic War – "Reading newspaper lines with your heart. On the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from the Nazi invaders."
Every week from January to August 2024, the portal of the National Library publishes materials from newspapers of Soviet Belarus in 1944, reflecting the chronicle of news and events of that time.

The blocade of Leningrad has been lifted. The rally in Mozyr. The Kirov plant in Gomel. Newsreel in the partisan forest.

Among the main news of this week is the liberation of Leningrad from the days-long blockade. Intense fighting took place for 20 days (“Savetskaya Belarus”, No. 11).

The end of the blockade! Photos from the "Images of War" resource.

As a result, about 700 settlements were liberated, the enemy was pushed back from Leningrad along the front by 65-100 km, and enemy shelling of the city stopped.

Fireworks in honour of the lifting of the siege of Leningrad. Photos from the "Images of War" resource.

The newspaper's readers were waiting for news about the state of the infrastructure of the liberated cities, about the success of restoring the activities of enterprises and institutions, as correspondents reported from different places.

After the liberation, a rally was held in Mozyr, where it was stated that the power plant, water supply, House of Soviets, schools and other buildings, industrial enterprises were destroyed in the city (“Savetskaya Belarus”, No. 11). The Kirov factory was destroyed by the Germans in Gomel, and the equipment was removed. Now the plant began to revive: even highly qualified turners, locksmiths, mechanics, not sparing their "golden" hands, participated in clearing factory workshops, collecting scrap iron for restoration work, manufacturing window frames and doors (“Savetskaya Belarus”, No. 12).

Gomel Machine Tool Plant named after S. M. Kirov was founded in 1885 on the outskirts of the city. During the Civil War, the factory produced ammunition for the front, repaired the vessels of the river flotilla. In the 1930s, the plant began to manufacture machine tools. Today, this modern machine tool company continues its working life.

Among other news this week: the A. Herzen library was the first to open in the Gomel region; the Belarusian railway received equipment from Perm (“Savetskaya Belarus”, No. 12, pp. 3, 4); orphanages were organized in Rechitsa; the post office sent and received thousands of letters (“Savetskaya Belarus”, No. 11); the theatre was opened (“Savetskaya Belarus”, No. 12). In No. 14 of the newspaper Savetskaya Belarus there is a report by the People's Commissar of Finance of the USSR, Comrade A. G. Zverev, “On the State budget of the USSR for 1944 and the execution of the State budget of the USSR for 1940, 1941 and 1942." The authorities of the Zhlobinsky district committee appealed to residents to surrender the captured property of enterprises and weapons left by the Germans during the retreat (“Shlyakh satsyalizmu”, No. 6).

News about our allies and opponents was published. British and American pilots continued to bomb German military facilities (“Savetskaya Belarus”, No. 13); American troops landed on the Marshall Islands (“Savetskaya Belarus”, No. 14) – their military confrontation with Japanese troops in the Pacific continued; Yugoslav partisans liberated 7 more cities (“Za Radzimy”, No. 25).

In Germany, disbelief in the victory of the Reich is spreading among the population in the rear – this mood has caused alarm among the authorities (“Savetskaya Belarus”, No. 13). Another note says that the authorities were forced to take the unpopular step of confiscating all household items made of copper and other non–ferrous metals from the population (“Savetskaya Belarus”, No. 14). Probably, the non-ferrous metals needed to create weapons for the German army and imported from other countries became catastrophically insufficient for the needs of their own military industry.

And while we are outside Belarus, important events related to science and culture have been held.

The anniversary session of the Academy of Sciences of the Belarusian SSR (“Savetskaya Belarus”, No. 11, p. 2) was held in Moscow. It was opened by the President of the Academy K. V. Gorev, who welcomed the great research work of the Academy's scientists on the study of the history of the Belarusian people, their literature, language, art, and topical issues of the national economy. He stressed that during the days of the war, scientists in the rear continue their fruitful work in the interests of the front, participating in solving the tasks of defeating the enemy as soon as possible.

By the beginning of 1942, the employees of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR were evacuated, mostly to the Uzbek SSR; they also worked in scientific institutions in Russia, fought against the Nazi invaders at the front, in partisan detachments and underground.

An evening of Belarusian literature was also held in Moscow (“Savetskaya Belarus”, No. 12).

Next is an interesting article about the state and plans of film distribution in Belarus (“Savetskaya Belarus”, No. 14) There were 6 mobile film installations in the partisan detachments, they watched feature films and documentaries ("Chapaev", "Lenin in October", "Stalingrad", "The Defeat of the Germans near Moscow") and the military newsreel of the Soyuzkinojournal. There were 8 stationary film installations and several more mobile ones in the liberated territory; two cinemas opened in Gomel – for 450 and 300 seats. 150 copies of Soviet films are being prepared for screening in Belarus.

Soyuzkinojournal is a newsreel of the Central Documentary Film Studio. During the war, he published regular issues of military newsreels and individual stories with front-line reports and essays, portrait sketches; in total, more than 480 issues were published. Film groups conducted filming both at the front and behind enemy lines. For the entire population of the USSR, this film period, in the absence of television, was the only source of audiovisual information.

Photojournalists also conducted a photographic chronicle of the war on the fronts and in the rear.

The significant moment of the return of the inhabitants of the village of Zhuravli in the Cherikovsky district of the Mogilev region home "from the forest where they were hiding from German bandits" was captured by one of them – the famous Soviet TASS photojournalist Isaac Iosifovich Dynin (1923-2012?) (“Savetskaya Belarus”, No. 11).

An interesting photo is also posted in the next issue of the newspaper Savetskaya Belarus (No. 12): photojournalist T. N. Melnik, having visited the location of the Belarusian Front, noted the international composition of one of the artillery batteries – fighters of different nationalities fought side by side, liberating the Belarusian land: Belarusian, Kazakh, Tatar and others.

Timofey Nikolaevich Melnik (1911–1985) was a Soviet photographer, from the first days of the Great Patriotic War he became a front-line correspondent (newspapers "For the Motherland", "Banner of the Soviets", "Stalin's Falcon").

The natives of the Belarusian land fought on other fronts as well. They performed many great and small feats in the Battle for Stalingrad. This week's newspapers celebrated the anniversary of the victory of the Red Army in this city on the Volga ("Savetskaya Belarus", No. 13; "Za Radzimy", No. 25). One of the articles is prophetically called "The Immortal Glory of Stalingrad" ("Za Radzimy", No. 25). Today, when many studies, declassified documents, and memoirs have been published, this battle is getting bigger and bigger, and the victory in it is more grandiose.

This article briefly presents the combat path of the Red Army: from the Volga to the Dnieper and Sozh, from Vyazma and Rzhev to the approaches to Orsha and Vitebsk.

There were 30 weeks left before the liberation of Belarus…

The author of the publication: L. G. Tupchienko-Kadyrova,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, chief bibliographer
of the information and analytical department.

Sources

Newspapers*

Full issues of newspapers are available at the links.

1. Віцебскі рабочы : орган Віцебскага Абласнога і Гарадскога Камітэтаў КП(б)Б, Абласнога і Гарадскога Саветаў Дэпутатаў Працоўных, 1944, № 8.
2. Віцебскі рабочы, 1944, № 9.
3. За Радзіму : орган Магілёўскага абласнога і гарадскога КП Беларусі і абласнога і гарадскога Савета дэпутатаў працоўных, 1944, № 24.
4. За Радзіму, 1944, № 25.
5. Калгаснік Капыльшчыны : орган Капыльскага райкома КП Беларусі і раённага Савета дэпутатаў працоўных, 1944, № 6.
6. Раздавім фашысцкую гадзіну : газета-плакат : выданне ЦК КП(б) Беларусі. – 1944, № 115.
7. Савецкая Беларусь : орган ЦК КП(б) Беларусі, Саўнаркома і Прэзідыума Вярхоўнага Савета БССР, 1944, № 11.
8. Савецкая Беларусь, 1944, № 12.
9. Савецкая Беларусь, 1944, № 13.
10. Савецкая Беларусь, 1944, № 14.
11. Сталінец : орган Грэскага райкома КП Беларусі і раённага Савета дэпутатаў працоўных, 1944, № 7.
12. Шлях сацыялізму : орган Жлобінскага райкома Камуністычнай партыі Беларусі і раённага Савета дэпутатаў працоўных, 1944, № 6.

*The titles of the newspapers are given in accordance with modern spelling.

Book

1418 дней Великой Отечественной войны : хронология событий : хронология событий : [солдату Великой Отечественной посвящается / сост. Е. В. Малашевич ; науч. ред.: Е. И. Барановский, Г. И. Баркун ; фото: В. В. Харченко]. – Минск : Мастац. літ., 2014. – 421, [1] с.

Sources

1. Мозырская бригада им. Александра Невского (Жильский, А.Л.) (Южно-припятская зона) [Электронный ресурс] // Партизаны Беларуси : подвиги и судьбы партизан – в документах. – Режим доступа: https://partizany.by/brigade/170/#:~:text=%D0%A1%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0%2028%20%D1%81%D.... – Дата доступа 11.01.2024.
2. Союзкиножурнал // Центральная студия документальных фильмов: история и люди в документальном кино. – Режим доступа: https://csdfmuseum.ru/magazines/2-%D1%81%D0%BE%D1%8E%D0%B7%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B6%D1%83%D1%80.... – Дата доступа 17.01.2024.