BEGINNING OF THE WAR: THE 1941 NAVIGATION ON THE RIVERS OF THE EUROPEAN PART OF THE USSR

After the war began water ways became one of the most important means of transportation. The goal of the article is to determine the significance of river transportation during the 1941 navigation. The task is to show fulfillment of the target amounts of people and cargo transportation for the Front, as well as transportation of the wounded, civilians and industrial facilities to the rear. The study is based on the objectiveness and historical principles as well as the systematic approach. The general scientific, special historical and quantitative methods were applied. The study uses both published sources and archival ones.

It has been established that after the beginning of the war the significance of river transportation grew dramatically and it came to be of the utmost importance. River cargo traffic and turnover of goods changed, the Volga included. The strategically important goods transportation (oil included) grew. At the same time the amount of ships at river transport organizations (at the Volga organizations particularly) across the country fell sharply due to mobilization for military needs. This greatly affected the amounts of civil cargo and passenger transportation that had to be risen. Besides river transportation suffered from the lack of workforce. Workers were supplied from various sources, the workforce-training system included. Nevertheless this problem had been acute until the war was over.