Стр. 5 - V

Author : I. Bondarenko
Professor, Doctor of Science (Law), President of the European Academy for Security and Conflictology,
Slovakia
ATTEMPTS to falsify the history of the Great Patriotic War in
order to erase the very name of that war and knowledge of its
events and facts from the minds of whole generations, didn't
begin today or even yesterday.
One of the facts that are once again being re-interpreted is the
participation of the Cossacks in the Great Patriotic War. That
war came to Russia less than two decades after the end of the
Civil War. It is no secret that many Cossacks refused to accept
the Bolshevik government and fought against it in the ranks of
the White Army. Serious damage to the country was done by
the "decossackization" policy. But with the increasing likelihood
of a new big war, the Soviet leadership radically changed its at-
titude to the Cossacks. Under Order No. 67 of People's Commissar of Defense Kli-
mentVoroshilov dated April 23, 1936, cavalry divisions were formed from Cossacks that were
called Cossack divisions.
The Soviet Cossacks played a significant role in one of the final events of the Great Patriotic
War, the Bratislava-Brno Operation, which resulted in the liberation of Slovakia, involved the
defeat of nine enemy divisions, and cleared the way for the Red Army's advance toward Prague.
Each day, an average of about 850 Soviet soldiers and officers were killed and twice as many
were wounded in the battle of Brno, one of the bloodiest battles between Soviet and German
forces on the territory of the modern Czech Republic.
The Bratislava-Brno Operation and the Prague Offensive, which began on May 6, 1945, should
not be seen as isolated events.
The core of the Soviet forces that were conducting the Prague Offensive was Lieutenant General
Pliyev's1st Mechanized Cavalry Group reinforced by the 7th Mechanized Corps, whose tanks
were to advance along the Brno-Jihlava-Prague road.
The Red Army forces were opposed by Germany's Army Group Center, which was commanded
by Field Marshal Ferdinand Schoerner and consisted of nearly one million well-armed soldiers
with rich experience of fighting on the Eastern Front. The Soviet forces had the task of de-
stroying that group and help insurgents in Prague.
Fighting began on May 7. By the midday on May 9, the Soviet tanks had entered Prague. How-
ever, the enemy would not surrender. Red Army cavalry divisions passed through Jihlava on the
evening on May 9 and reached the southeastern outskirts of Prague after an all-night march.
Throughout the night, the Cossacks were suppressing various hotbeds of resistance.
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The Great Patriotic War: The Cossacks' Final Attack