Organization and Activity of the Soviet Convoy Guard in the Early 1950s
Epifanov A.E. Organization and activity of the Soviet convoy guard in the early 1950s. Penitentiary Science, 2023, vol. 17, no. 2 (62), pp. 118–126. doi: 10.46741/2686-9764.2023.62.2.001
The article is devoted to the analysis of problems related to the organization and activities of the convoy guards of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR in the early 1950s. The chronological framework of the study is determined by the dates of the reorganization of convoy troops into convoy guards, as well as the unification of internal guards and convoy guards into a single military formation – internal and convoy guards of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR. Purpose: summarizing the experience of the convoy guard in the period under study, to supplement and correct the ideas developed in the history of domestic internal affairs bodies and the penitentiary system in particular. Methods: the article is prepared with the help of general scientific and historical research methods. The methods of materialistic dialectics, chronological, comparative, system analysis, statistical, etc. are also used. Archival materials of the Convoy Guard Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, most of which are first introduced into scientific circulation, help generalize the escorting experience. Results: the analysis of the regulation and practice of convoy guards of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR shows that the period under consideration was characterized by further improvement of the organization and activities of its units. In turn, this ensured implementation of crucial tasks to ensure activities of internal affairs bodies, state security and justice. Activities of the convoy guard leadership aimed at strengthening discipline, service and political training of personnel were of great importance. Conclusion: having the purpose of escorting prisoners, the convoy guard focused on servicing the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of State Security, the Ministry of Justice and the Prosecutor’s Office of the USSR. Thus, it ensured their work in matters of state security of the Soviet Union, fight against crime, as well as isolation of persons who violated Soviet laws. The main task of the convoy guard during the study period was to prevent escapes of the escorted contingents and at the same time to ensure the maintenance regime established for them.
Keywords: Convoy guards; Ministry of Internal Affairs; prisoners; escapes
2. Akhmadeev F.Kh., Kataev N.A., Khababulin A.G. Stanovlenie i razvitie organov sovetskoi militsii i ispravitel’no-trudovykh uchrezhdenii [Formation and development of the Soviet police and corrective labor institutions]. Ufa, 1993. 214 p.
3. Beloborodov G.S. Istoriya vnutrennikh voisk. Khronika sobytii (1811–1991 gg.) [History of internal troops. Chronicle of events (1811–1991)]. Moscow, 1995. 155 p.
4. Detkov M.G. Soderzhanie karatel’noi politiki Sovetskogo gosudarstva i ee realizatsiya pri ispolnenii ugolovnogo nakazaniya v vide lisheniya svobody v tridtsatye i pyatidesyatye gody: monogr. [The content of the punitive policy of the Soviet state and its implementation in the execution of criminal punishment in the form of imprisonment in the 1930s and 1950s: monograph]. Domodedovo, 1992. 156 p.
5. Zubkov A.I., Kalinin Yu.I., Sysoev V.D. Penitentsiarnye uchrezhdeniya v sisteme Ministerstva yustitsii Rossii. Istoriya i sovremennost’ [Penitentiary institutions in the system of the Ministry of Justice of Russia. History and modernity]. Ed. by Stepashin S.V., Krashennikov P.V. Moscow, 1998. 172 p.
6. Knyazev V.V. Internal security troops of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs and legal ensuring their employment in Great Patriotic War 1941–1945. Nauchnyi portal MVD Rossii = Scientific Portal of the Russia Ministry of the Interior, 2020, no. 1, pp. 21–28. (In Russ.).
7. Kizilov I.I. NKVD RSFSR (1917 – 1930 gg.) [NKVD RSFSR (1917 – 1930)]. Moscow, 1969. 159 p.
8. Malygin A.Ya., Mulukaev R.S. Apparat sistemy organov vnutrennikh del Sovetskogo gosudarstva po bor’be s prestupnost’yu na razlichnykh istoricheskikh etapakh [The apparatus of the system of internal affairs bodies of the Soviet state for combating crime at various historical stages]. Moscow, 1995. 25 p.
9. Nekrasov V.F. Na strazhe interesov Sovetskogo gosudarstva. Istoriya stroitel’stva voisk VChKOGPU-NKVD-MVD [On guard of the interests of the Soviet state. The history of the construction of the troops of the Cheka-OGPU-NKVD-MVD]. Moscow, 1983. 368 p.
10. Nekrasov V.F., Borisov A.V., Detkov M.G. et al. Organy i voiska MVD Rossii. Kratkii istoricheskii ocherk [Organs and troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. A brief historical essay]. Ed. by Gorlov A.G. Moscow, 1996. 462 p.
11. Vnutrennyaya i konvoinaya strazha Rossii 1811–1917 gg. Dokumenty i materialy [Internal and convoy guards of Russia 1811–1917. Documents and materials]. Ed. by Nekrasov V.F. Moscow, 2015. 573 p.
12. Rasskazov P.P. Karatel’nye organy v protsesse formirovaniya i funktsionirovaniya administrativno-komandnoi sistemy v sovetskom gosudarstve (1917 – 1941 gg.) [Punitive bodies in the process of formation and functioning of the administrative command system in the Soviet state (1917 – 1941)]. Ufa, 1994. 465 p.
13. Smykalin A.S. Kolonii i tyur’my v Sovetskoi Rossii [Colonies and prisons in Soviet Russia]. Ekaterinburg, 1997. 364 p.
14. Tonkonogov V.P. Legal support for the construction and development of internal troops: history, current state and prospects of development (to the 200th anniversary of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia). Voenno-yuridicheskii zhurnal = Military Law Journal, 2017, no. 10, pp. 20–48. (In Russ.).
15. Timofeev V.G. Ugolovno-ispolnitel’naya sistema Rossii: tsifry, fakty i sobytiya. Uchebnoe posobie [Penal system of Russia: figures, facts and events. Study guide]. Cheboksary, 1999. 206 p.
16. Fedorov P.A. Convoy troops of the NKVD USSR in the battles of the initial period of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945. Vestnik Sankt-peterburgskogo universiteta MVD Rossii = Saint Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, 2009, no. 4 (44), 2009, pp. 27–31. (In Russ.).
17. Epifanov A.E. Istoriya i pravovoe polozhenie voennoplennykh vermakhta v Stalingrade. 1942 – 1956 gg. [History and legal status of prisoners of war of the Wehrmacht in Stalingrad. 1942 – 1956]. Volgograd, 2007. 420 p.
18. Epifanov A.E. Exile to hard labor as a measure of punishment for Hitler’s war criminals and their accomplices. Vedomosti ugolovno-ispolnitel’noi sistemy = News of the Penal System, 2010, no. 6 (97), pp. 20–31. (In Russ.).
19. Epifanov A.E., Krasnozhenova E.E., Stepanova M.M. History and legal status of prisoners of war of the Wehrmacht during the Battle of Stalingrad. Voprosy istorii = Questions of History, 2019, no. 12 (3), pp. 144–150. (In Russ.).
20. Epifanov A.E., Krasnozhenova E.E., Kulik S.V. Escapes of prisoners in the history of Russian penitentiary institutions of the late XIX–early XX centuries. Bylye Gody = Bygone Years, 2022, no. 17 (2), pp. 876–889. (In Russ.).
