The search for burial places of Soviet soldiers who fell during the Great Patriotic War, as a rule, is fraught with great difficulties. At the beginning of the war, irretrievable losses were recorded on the basis of Order No. 138 of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR dated March 15. 41 years, which was then developed in another document No. 0270 of 04/12/42. However, especially during the retreat of the Soviet troops and during fierce battles, accounting for losses and burial of dead soldiers were a big problem.
Instruction manual
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Until now, search teams have discovered in the battlefield the unburied remains of tens of thousands of Soviet soldiers. This problem was further aggravated by the fact that in November 1942, soldiers' medallions with parchment inserts containing information about military personnel in the event of their death were canceled. Fraternal military burials were carried out in various places depending on the situation. The ideal case was when the funeral team carried out the burial during or immediately after the end of active hostilities. Then, as a rule, there were no problems with establishing the names of the dead. The burial place was also documented. But this was far from always. Often, the dead soldiers were buried by local residents or even Germans. Naturally, there was no question of any normal accounting in this situation. In the best case, an unnamed mass grave remained.
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After the war ended, a large company was enlarged in the territory of the USSR and in the countries of Eastern Europe to enlarge the military graves, which was accompanied by the transfer of the remains from single and small mass graves to large mass graves. Alas, this process was not without confusion, distortion and confusion. But, nevertheless, most of these burials received a serial number, a passport, and with the help of military commissariats and local authorities, lists of dead soldiers were established.
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Currently, the search for servicemen who have died or disappeared as a result of hostilities is carried out by contacting the military commissariats at the place of military service or directly to the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation at TsAMO, 142100, Moscow Region, Podolsk, ul. Kirova 74. Internet address: archives.ru.
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In April 2003, in accordance with the instruction of the President of the Russian Federation, a generalized computer database “Memorial” was created, containing the most complete information about dead, dead from wounds, missing, captured by military personnel, as during the Great Patriotic War, so during conflicts after World War II. OBD "Memorial" (obd-memorial.ru) totals over 13 million sheets of archival documents and 30 thousand passports of military graves.
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If you decide to independently find an unknown burial place, then start the search by working in the archive. Examine the documents on the deployment of military units and on the path of their movement along the front line (offensive, retreat). Find out who and how carried out the burial - whether it was special brigades or local people buried the bodies.
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If the burial of interest to you could be made by special teams, then it makes sense to work with the documents of the military department, although it is still difficult to access them. As a rule, during the Second World War, and even more so during other local wars, records were kept in which the name of the settlement nearest the grave was entered, the volume of the burial, sometimes a list of those buried, and the date of burial.
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Having found out the possible location of the mass grave, go to the place. If there are old residents in the village who have captured the years of the war, ask them. However, do not expect revelations, you can be mistaken for a "black digger" or a hunter for trophies, so you will have to explain why you need wartime information.
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Visit a possible burial site. If possible, take soil samples, a special chemical analysis can show the presence in the earth of compounds testifying to the crypt of human remains. Having obtained a positive test result or having relatively confirmed burial data, you can proceed with excavations, but for this you will have to obtain a significant number of conciliation documents.
