- Yes
- No
I was originally going to make this one post for all four Enlisted factions, but I decided to just do the USSR first.
Currently, the USSR has only one ethnic background for its soldiers, well, at least for voices. You can actually enlist soldiers that commonly have Caucasian names that imply that they are of many Adyghe/Circassian tribes, like Abazan, Kabardian, etc. They are, however, Russified, but that is actually historically correct, as a period of Russification began from the beginning of the Circassian Genocide and the mass deportations in the 1860s. The cultural effects of Russification of the Circassian and other Caucasian peoples lasted until the late Soviet era, so it’s historically correct for them to commonly have Christianized first names and surnames ending in Russian suffixes like “-ov” and “-ev.”
Now, it is a bit difficult to pinpoint how many Circassians fought in WW2 because they were actually split up across the 12 Circassian tribes and numbered by tribe instead of simply “Adyghe/Circassian.” In Soviet records and regional history, Circassians are usually separated into categories like Adyghe, Kabardian, Cherkess, Shapsug, etc., rather than counted as one single Circassian people.
However, we can still clearly see Circassian participation through regional numbers. More than 80,000 people from the Adyghe Autonomous Oblast went to the front, with around 33,000 killed or missing. This number is not purely ethnic Adyghe/Circassian, because the region also included Russians, Ukrainians, and others, but it still directly represents the Adyghe/Circassian region. Kabardino-Balkaria also mobilized around 70,000 people during the war, with more than 40,000 not returning home. This also was not purely Kabardian/Circassian because it included Balkars, Russians, and others from the republic, but Kabardians are Circassians, and Kabardino-Balkaria even formed the 115th Kabardino-Balkarian Cavalry Division, which fought during the Battle for the Caucasus.
So while I cannot give one perfect number for every ethnic Circassian who fought in WW2, Circassians absolutely fought in Soviet service in significant numbers. The same applies to other non-Russian peoples of the USSR. For example, over 1.2 million people from the Kazakh SSR were called to the front, including roughly 450,000 ethnic Kazakhs. Uzbekistan sent around 1.9–1.95 million people to the front. Kyrgyzstan sent over 363,000, Tajikistan over 300,000, and Turkmenistan around 200,000. The Chechen-Ingush ASSR had over 50,000 people called up during the war, including more than 30,000 Chechens. Around 600,000 Armenians served in WW2, more than 600,000 Azerbaijanis were mobilized, and around 700,000 Georgians served in Soviet forces.
I’d suggest adding these ethnic groups to the USSR:
Adyghe/Circassian — any tribe works, so if the devs find East Circassian Kabardians easiest to do voice lines in Circassian, then that works.
As well as Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Chechens, Georgians, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Tajiks, Turkmens, and peoples of all other Soviet republics. I’m very tired of only Russians with a stereotypical Moscow accent.
Anyway, I wanted to suggest this because currently, the USSR has only Russians, with a generic Moscow accent, for their soldiers, even though you can enlist soldiers with Russified Caucasian names.
I’ll leave a few images of my squads that have custom names and actual non-Russian names that the game gave.
My Chechen and Circassian Squad
An example of a Russified Abazan Enlisted Soldier
Even America has soldiers of Arab heritage
American Rifleman Squad 1 (it’s not meant to be serious)
American Rifleman Squad 2 (I know how it looks)
