Kalmucks!

Here is another interesting ethnic group that has a very long and proud military tradition.

The Kalmucks.

"Kalmyk people or Kalmyks (Kalmyk: Хальмгуд; "Kalmyk" is alternatively translated as "Kalmuck," "Kalmuk," or "Kalmyki") is the name given to western Mongolian people . . . who migrated from Central Asia in the seventeenth century. Today they form a majority in the autonomous Republic of Kalmykia on the western shore of the Caspian Sea."

AND HAVE THE DISTINCTION AS WELL OF BEING THE ONLY ORIENTAL RACIAL GROUP SUCCESSFULLY TO SETTLE IN EUROPE!! THE ONLY ETHNIC GROUP PRACTICING BUDDHISM IN EUROPE ALSO!!

[Europe consists in part of the area north of the Caspian Sea?? If this is so, then the Kalmucks settled in Europe!]

A horse-people, natural cavalrymen, proficient in fighting from horseback, having an élan’ second to none! Very similar to the Cossacks. Even - - siding with and fighting with the Cossack "host" during the Russian Civil War. Two ethnic groupings having common concerns and an affinity for one another!!

"The majority of the Don [Don river] Kalmyks also sided with the White Movement to preserve their Cossack lifestyle and proud traditions. As Don Cossacks, the Don Kalmyks first fought under White army General Anton Denikin and then under his successor, General Pyotr Wrangel."

Considered to be “western” Mongols, but NOT related to the Mongols of the “Golden Horde”? Migrated to and established themselves as occupants of the steppe-land in the vicinity of the Caspian Sea around the early 1600’s!

A group, that during World War Two [WW2] ran afoul of the ever-suspicious Stalin. Exiled to Siberia by the paranoid and cruel dictator.

Stalin was of the belief that the Kalmuck were “ripe” for collaboration with the German invader. A “belief” on the part of Stalin that became a self-fulfilling prophecy? In response to the atrocious treatment of their compatriots, large numbers of Kalmucks did side with the German during WW2. Forming distinctive units, retaining an ethnic cohesion. Kalmuck units fighting on the side of Germany, but fighting in large measure for their own reasons and motivations.

According to Lucas:

"Another nation, fiercely independent and associated traditionally with the Russian cavalry, was the Kalmuck . . . German writers, are almost unanimous in their statement sthat the Kalmucks were the most loyal and the most efficient of all the Russian peoples who volunteered to serve with the Germans . . . The Germans serving with the Kalmucks could not give battle orders to the native warriors but had to restrict themselves to instructions . . . The native officers were most proficient for many were graduates of Soviet military academies."

And from Suvorov, we find this description of a fighting technique particular to the Kalmuck:

"Among the various ways of finding leaders a very effective one is the fight with whips. It is an old gypsy way of establishing a relationship . . . if a soldier (usually a Kalmyk, a Mongolian or a gypsy) shows that he can handle the weapon with real skill he is allowed to carry a whip with him as a weapon. When two experts with a whip meet up and each claims to be the better one, the argument is resolved in a frightful contest."

Whips, horses, etc. The Kalmuck is a warrior from a long-forgotten time now. But if the predictions of the British Admiral Parry comes to pass and various military forces again revert to the cavalry, recruit some Kalmucks and you are set!!

coolbert.