A War By Any Other Name

This year marks the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Великая отечественная война (Great Patriotic War), which continues to be remembered with a plethora of remarkable fiction, nonfiction, and films, both new and old. But before you immerse yourself in reminiscences or celebration this May, it might be helpful to brush up on Russian wartime lingo. Some of it has been forgotten, and some of it has become increasingly charged, both emotionally and politically.

The first tricky issue is what to even call the war. Великая отечественная война – abbreviated as ВОВ – actually only refers to the war that the Soviet Union fought, starting with the Nazi attack on June 22, 1941, and ending on May 9, 1945, when news of German capitulation reached the USSR. It is part of, but not the same as, Вторая мировая война (the Second World War), which began on September 1, 1939, and ended on September 2, 1945, when the Japanese signed the final documents of surrender.

Importantly, these names aren’t just “what each country calls the war,” but rather two almost separate wars. If your Dad or Granddad fought against the Japanese army in the Pacific, you can’t show solidarity with your Russian friends by saying: Он воевал в Великой отечественной (he fought in the Great Patriotic War). They might even take offense, as if you were laying claim to something that wasn’t yours.

The next loaded issue is the date the war ended. Russia has one День Победы (Victory Day) – May 9. Most European allies celebrate VE (Victory in Europe) day on May 8. VJ Day (Victory over Japan), meanwhile is marked in the UK on August 15 and the US on September 2.

War literature is also full of confusing terms. For example, as you read about fronts and battles, you may come across the curious term котёл (cauldron). In military-speak, this is a vast area of fighting in which one army’s forces encircle the others. In English, this is sometimes called a pocket, but in most cases it is simply called a battle or operation. For example, Russian literature refers to the Сталинградский котёл (Stalingrad cauldron), which in English is called the Battle of Stalingrad.

And then there’s the mysterious Катюша, who is a character in a popular wartime song – possibly a real partisan fighter – and also a rocket launcher that may or may not have been named after the song. The катюша rocket launchers fired against ванюши, which sound like little Vanyas, but were actually German Nebelwerfer rocket launchers. Russian soldiers also called them ишаки (donkeys) for the sound they made. Curiously, American soldiers heard the sound differently and called them “Moaning Minnies.”

Flying in the air were куку-рузники (crop duster), an affectionate term used for the У-2 biplane, famously described as consisting of палочек и дырочек – палочки для усиления, дырочки – для облегчения (sticks and holes – sticks to make it strong and holes to make it light). This plane was also called a сова (owl), because it was used for night bombing raids.

Кукурузники should not be confused with кукушки (cuckoos), the Russian slang term for Finnish snipers hiding in the trees during the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940 (Кукушка is also the name of a 2003 Russian film that takes place in this war). Given all the political sensitivities, it is perhaps no surprise that this war is considered part of WWII in Western literature, but is not part of ВОВ in Soviet and Russian literature. It is also called Зимняя война (the Winter War).

This year, given recent events, the seventieth jubilee may prove to be more of a минное поле (minefield) than a no-holds-barred праздник (celebration). And that is sad.