5th separate sanitary aviation squadron during the Great Patriotic War

Abstract. Introduction. The problems of the Great Patriotic War, despite the many decades that have passed, still remain an important subject field of historical science. However, some aspects of activity of military units and even armies, specific conditions of their combat activity, character of military everyday life are not always reflected in the works of researchers of this historical period. To a full extent this can be attributed to the institutions of the military sanitary service of the period 1941-1945. Their participation in combat operations has not been investigated deeply enough, some aspects of medical support of the Red Army troops remain outside the scope of scientific interests of most historians. In particular, it concerns the work of sanitary aviation during the Great Patriotic War. In this article the object of research is the 5th separate sanitary aviation squadron (SSAS) as a whole military unit, which was on the fronts from January 1942 to July 1944. It is interesting because the personnel had to carry out combat missions over a fairly long period of time in different operational and tactical situations, in a variety of natural, climatic, geographical and meteorological conditions- on flat and mountainous terrain, over the sea, in frost and blizzard.
Materials and Methods. The study is based on the analysis of several types of sources: award documents of the personnel of the 5th SSAS, combat orders and orders from the funds of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, memoir literature and articles in the press. Scientific materials related to the problem under consideration are also used. Traditional methods of historical research are used in the course of the work.
Analysis. The analysis showed that the squadron took part in the defense and liberation of the Crimea, the battle for the Caucasus, offensive operations to liberate Ukraine and Belarus. The questions of formation, combat path and peculiarities of the front everyday life of the flying and technical staff and medical personnel were subjected to analytical comprehension.
Results. By the example of the 5th SSAS the general picture of the sanitary squadron work, typical for the sanitary aviation in general during the Great Patriotic War, is reconstructed. The organizational structure of the squadron and changes in the chain of command of the unit, staffing of the unit with personnel and materiel are specified, quantitative indicators of the combat work of the squadron are given, feats of flight and technical personnel and medical personnel are described.

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