The victory in the Great Patriotic War went dearly to the Russian people. Millions of people died, millions went missing. Until now, people are looking for their relatives who took part in the battles of the Great Patriotic War: great-grandfathers, grandfathers, fathers. And, if a few years ago, in searching you could only rely on the stories of rare acquaintances of war veterans, today, thanks to modern communications, finding your grandfather and the place where he fought is much easier.
Instruction manual
1
It is best to start the search with the use of new Internet resources: the Generalized Memorial Databank, the Public Electronic Document Bank "The Feat of the People in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945." There is a chance that by entering the name and first name of your grandfather, you will receive the necessary information - you will find out where he fought, in what rank, what awards he was assigned to, in what year, and for what reason he ended his participation in the battles.
2
Data for filling the data banks are taken from official archival documents that are stored in the Russian State Military Archive, the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Central Naval Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, and the Office of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation to perpetuate the memory of those killed in the defense of the Fatherland. The main part of the documents - reports of military units about the losses, archival documents that specify the losses (documents of hospitals and medical battalions, funerals, captured cards of prisoners of war, etc.), passports of burial places of Soviet officers and soldiers.
3
Resources are constantly updated, so if you have not found detailed information about where your grandfather or great-grandfather fought immediately, do not despair - over time, it may appear. At the same time, it’s worthwhile to continue the action and turn to the search engines that are engaged in excavations at the battlefields, the study of burials and the search for any information about the defenders of the Fatherland during the Great Patriotic War. To do this, register in the forums dedicated to this topic and ask a question about your relative there.
4
They will answer you, but be prepared for the fact that you will have to provide some facts about the military personnel: the address of the military registration and enlistment office, to which he was called up, and the year of recruiting, the number of the unit the person was in (to get this information, contact the regional military registration and enlistment office). If your family has letters or a funeral, scan and send to the forum. Any information is useful to help search engines, so interview all family members: grandmothers, parents - maybe someone will remember something.
5
Try also to get acquainted with veterans from the city or village where your grandfather or great-grandfather was called from or with their families. You can find them through friends, if the city is small, or through the above databases by entering a search in the city and year of the call. Perhaps you can find your grandfather’s fellow soldiers who will tell you about where and how your grandfather fought.
6
Write a letter to the Book of Memory Publishing House, make a request to TsAMO or go to the Archive - there is a chance that there you will find the number of the unit in which your relative fought, and you can find out his fate.
7
Show patience and perseverance, carefully analyze all the information available to you, and it is very likely that you will be able to find out where the grandfather fought, even if he was considered missing for a long time.
Useful advice
If you cannot find any information about a relative in electronic databases, try reducing the number of words in the query string or even the number of letters in the last name. It is possible that a typo was made in the name or surname of your relative in one of the military documents.
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