| Summary: | Background. The political and military events of the Soviet-Finnish war have
recently been well studied, but the military mobilization activities of the military authorities
of that period on the territory of the USSR and in particular in Penza region remain poorly
studied. Faced with a big problem at the front, sometimes military mobilization activities in
the rear were improvised by the military leadership of the country, not planned by the governing
documents, which led to difficulties in their implementation. This also applies to the
formation of volunteer ski battalions, the creation of which is rather poorly studied. The
purpose of the work is to use the example of the formation of the 111th separate ski battalion
to consider the actions of local military authorities and the difficulties they faced in the
process of creating a specialized unit on a voluntary basis. Materials and methods. The research
is based on archival documents and materials that reveal the procedure for recruiting
ski units of the Red Army on a voluntary basis during the Soviet-Finnish war in Penza region.
In the course of writing the work, the basic research methods were used-dialectical,
the method of historicism, objectivity, and consistency, which made it possible to organize
and structure the material taking into account military issues. To determine the degree of
reliability and representativeness of the documentary material, the method of critical analysis
of historical sources was used. Results. On the example of the formation of the 111th separate
ski battalion, the actions of local military authorities and the difficulties they faced
when creating a specialized unit on a voluntary basis are considered. Conclusions. The military
enlistment offices of the country have not been engaged in recruiting the Red Army on
a voluntary basis for more than 20 years. Therefore, the formation of a specialized combat
unit on a voluntary basis during the period of combat operations in a short time was a good
test for the military, party and state bodies in Penza region. Despite the objective and subjective
difficulties, the government task was completed, which proved the effectiveness of
the system of forming new military units in war conditions and served as a good experience
for future mass mobilizations.
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