The Rear in Kyrgyzstan Supports the Front

The Rear in Kyrgyzstan

Industry. A significant part of the European territory of the USSR was at war, and many industrial regions were occupied by the enemy. To ensure victory on the front, it was necessary to urgently transform the republics in the rear into a military arsenal.

All of Kyrgyzstan's industry was converted to produce military orders — weapons, ammunition, food, and clothing. "Everything for the front! Everything for victory!" — under this slogan, workers toiled day and night. They exceeded daily norms by 200-300 percent. Women and children took the places of men who had gone to war.

Factories and plants were evacuated from the frontline zone to Central Asia. Only in 1941-1942, more than 60 large enterprises arrived in Kyrgyzstan. Almost all of them were located in the Chui Valley and quickly began producing goods. This led to unprecedented industrial development in Kyrgyzstan.

Agriculture — for the Front. The war also inflicted enormous damage on the country's agriculture. Bread fields turned into battlefields, livestock complexes and farms that supplied the population with milk, meat, and other products were destroyed or remained in enemy-occupied territories. All hope was on the rear.

Almost all the male population of Kyrgyz villages went to the front, so agricultural work fell on the shoulders of women, children, and the elderly. They performed these tasks with honor. In response to the call "Every ton of grain is a bomb dropped on the fascist army!" thousands of tons of grain were harvested. Everything that the villagers grew and produced: wheat, meat, milk, oil, vegetables — they handed over to the state without exception.

Alongside adults, children worked in the fields and farms after school. The life of Kyrgyz teenagers during the war and their assistance to their elders is vividly and deeply reflected by the national writer Chinghiz Aitmatov in his story "The Early Cranes."

The team of Kerimbubyu Shopokova, the wife of Duishenkul Shopokov (collective farm "Kyzyl Asker" in the Sokuluk district), harvested 684 centners of sugar beets per hectare in 1942 against a plan of 210 centners. For her selfless labor, K. Shopokova was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. Thus, the military feats of husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons continued through their wives, daughters, sisters, and mothers.

Particularly high yields in agriculture were achieved by beet growers Z. Kainazarova, Sh. Tezekbaeva, cotton growers X. Tashirov, U. Atabekov, and others. The Great Victory in the war was largely the result of the extraordinary endurance and hard work of the rural population of the USSR, including Kyrgyzstan.

Nationwide Assistance. The workers of Kyrgyzstan helped the front in every way they could. Workers voluntarily donated part of their salaries to the Defense Fund. The number of people working on weekends and holidays increased.

The population actively participated in the creation of the Defense Fund. People gave up their accumulated personal savings, valuables, gold and silver items, livestock, and food for the sake of victory. Here is what a shepherd from the "Kerege-Tash" collective farm on Issyk-Kul wrote in a letter to the newspaper: "A fierce enemy has attacked our Motherland. The fascists want to turn us into slaves. This will never happen! I donate my 50 rams to the Defense Fund!"

A special account was opened at the State Bank, to which millions of rubles were contributed by the people. During the war, the people of Kyrgyzstan bought government bonds, thus lending money to the state to meet the needs of the front.

Collective farms donated thousands of heads of livestock to the front for free. Collective farmers raised funds to form tank columns. The tank column "Sovettik Kyrgyzstan," built with this money, entered battle with the enemies at the end of 1942. This movement involved mothers of many children and even schoolchildren. In total, the people of Kyrgyzstan raised enough funds to build 93 tanks or 186 military aircraft.

During the war years, Kyrgyzstan sent 195 wagons of food, 550,000 pieces of warm clothing, and more than 38,000 parcels to the front. More than 100 wagons of food were sent from the Kyrgyz people to help besieged Leningrad. In the areas liberated from the fascists, the farms of Kyrgyzstan sent thousands of heads of livestock as aid.

Kyrgyzstan Accepts Evacuees. During the war, more than 200,000 people were evacuated to Kyrgyzstan from frontline areas. Some of them were specialists and workers evacuated along with factories and plants. A larger part consisted of residents of occupied territories, mainly women, children, and the elderly who managed to escape encirclement. The generous Kyrgyz people spared no effort for these individuals, providing them with housing, food, and clothing.

Part of those who arrived in Kyrgyzstan included Chechens, Meskhetian Turks, Ingush, Balkars, Karachays, Germans, and other peoples who were forcibly displaced from their native lands. They were accused of collaborating with the fascists. They were given only a few hours to leave their homeland. Those who resisted were shot. Naked and starving people were shoved into wagons and taken to other lands. For many of them, Kyrgyzstan became a second homeland. The Kyrgyz shared food and clothing, and housing with them. The national composition of Kyrgyzstan became even more diverse than before.

During the war years, about 3,000 orphaned children whose parents died at the front arrived in Kyrgyzstan. All of them found a warm shelter here — they were placed in orphanages, and some were taken in by Kyrgyz families.

The Price of Victory. The victory of the Soviet troops on May 9, 1945, marked the end of the Great Patriotic War. The world was freed from the threat of fascist enslavement. At what cost did the peoples of the USSR pay for this victory in a war that lasted 1,418 days and nights, and what immeasurable disasters and losses did they endure! Where the war passed, thousands of cities and villages were wiped off the face of the earth, tens of thousands of schools, hospitals, and other buildings and structures were destroyed. However, this cannot be compared to the main damage, the irreparable losses and sacrifices. During the war, 27 million Soviet people perished. Millions of children were left orphaned. More than half a century has passed since the end of the war, yet the pain of this war lives on in the hearts of people to this day, as it touched every family, every person.