Service History of an NKVD Soldier: Not what you would expect
By Shawn Caza
Article copyright Shawn Caza, 2002
Venyamin (Benjamin) Faivelovich Danishevskiy, a Jew, was born in Regitsa in Gomel Oblast in the Belorussian SSR in 1913. In 1929 Danishevskiy was 16 years old. He had completed six years of formal education and left school. He would have had to continue for two more years to get the valued high school diploma. Instead Danishevskiy volunteered at the Regitsa Regional Military Commissariat (RVK) as a dancer in the military band of the 37th Novocherkask Rifle Division. This young man was performing traditional Russian and Belorussian dances, inlcluding the famous Cossak dances. In 1935 he was transferred to the military band of the 5th Rifle Regiment. From 1937 to 1939 he served in the more prestigious military band of the Minsk Military District. As a volunteer and not a conscript, Danishevskiy was known as an extended-service enlisted man and had greater pay and perks than the regular conscripts.
On March 1, 1940 he joined the Military Ensemble of the Border Guards of the Belorussian NKVD. In this unit he would have had the chance to play patriotic tunes as the NKVD assisted in the "Liberation of Western Belorussia", as the Soviet take-over of eastern Poland was known. In May 1941 he joined the Military Ensemble of the USSR NKVD's Troop Directorate with the "rank" of soloist-dancer. Unfortunately, the war interfered with Danishevskiy's musical career.
On July 27, 1941 Danishevskiy, now 28 years old, became a sergeant in the NKVD operational troops. He took the Soldier's Oath for the first time. He was now simply a rifleman ("strelok" - military training specialty number 1), albeit an NCO. Danishevskiy's brother Pyotr was also fighting in the war, in Military Unit 04669.
On December 10, 1944 Danishevskiy was awarded the Bravery Medal ("za otvagu"). On
July 8, 1944 Danishevskiy was cited for his role in the fighting to liquidate a group of encircled German forces near Minsk. Exactly one month later he was finally awarded his Defense of Moscow medal for his role in defending the capital in late 1941. Such late issue of awards was a very common phenomenon during the war.
By April of 1945, Danishevskiy was serving in the NKVD Directorate for Guarding the Rear Area of the 3rd Belorussian Front. However, with the end of the war looming he moved to the newly formed Red Song and Dance Ensemble - the Front's entertainment was in good Chekist hands! Danishevskiy was a Senior Sergeant and Soloist 1st Class - Dance. On August 20, 1945 he transferred to the Military Ensemble of the USSR NKVD Border Guards which, on October 11, 1946 was renamed the Military Ensemble of the MVD Border Guards. On March 1, 1947 he was transferred to the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Tadzhik MVD Border Guards in Stalinabad, Tadzhikistan.
On July 28, 1948, at the age of 35, Danishevskiy left the MVD and moved to Odessa, Ukraine.
Interestingly, a complete record of Danishevskiy's uniform from near the end of the war exists showing that he had the following:
~ shapka winter hat, size 54, issued on October 20, 1944
~ shinel great coat, size 2, issued on September 25, 1941 (now over 3.5 years old and likely modified to take the M1943 shoulder boards)
~ furazhka peaked hat, size 54, issued on May 10, 1944 (while it was rare for enlisted men to have a peaked hat it was not uncommon for a Senior Sergeant to have one)
~ wool gymnastiorka pull-over, size 1, issued May 10, 1944
~ wool sharovari breeches, size 2, issued May 10, 1944
~ 2 undershirts, size 1, issued September 25, 1942
~ 2 pair underwear, issued September 25, 1942
~ towel, issued September 25, 1942
~ 2 pair summer socks, issued April 26, 1944
~ 2 pair winter socks, issued October 20, 1944
~ sapogi boots, size 39, issued May 10, 1944
~ belt, issued 1937
~ knapsack, issued May 10, 1944
~ PPSh sub-machine gun, #8984, issued December 10, 1944
~ pistol (unknown type), issued June 29, 1944
(both weapons were issued to him by an NKVD decree)
The issue dates above refer to when the actual items he possessed in April 1945, when he ceased being a rifleman, were issued to him. These items were obviously issued to replace earlier items that had worn out.
All of the information about Senior Sergeant V. F. Danishevskiy comes from his soldier's book ("krasnoarmeyets knizhka").
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