Rasputitsa

Rasputitsa (Sea of Mud), 1894, Alexei Savrasov

The rasputitsa (Russian: распу́тица, IPA: [rɐsˈputʲɪt͡sə]) refers to the semiannual mud seasons when unpaved roads become difficult to traverse in most of Eastern Europe. The term has been used historically to describe the condition in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. The word may be translated as the "quagmire season," because during this period, the large flatlands become extremely muddy and marshy, as do most unpaved roads. The term applies to both the spring rasputitsa and autumn rasputitsa seasons, and to the condition of the roads during those seasons. The rasputitsa occurs more strongly in the spring due to the melting snow, but it usually recurs in the fall due to frequent heavy rains.

The rasputitsa seasons of Russia are well known as a great defensive advantage in wartime.^[1][2] Common nicknames in such context are General Mud or Marshal Mud. Napoleon found the mud in Russia to be a very great hindrance during his 1812 invasion.^[1][2]

During the Second World War, the month-long muddy period slowed down the German advance during the Battle of Moscow, and may have helped save the Soviet capital.^[3] The "General Winter" that followed the autumn rasputitsa further slowed them down. The Germans then relied greatly on the otherwise innovative Schachtellaufwerk, an overlapped and interleaved road-wheel system for their military half-track and fully tracked armored fighting vehicles, but this system could not manage the conditions during the rasputitsa and winter seasons on the Eastern Front. Mud and snow accumulated between the enmeshed road wheels of such vehicles, often immobilizing them when freezing temperatures set in. These severe problems with German military motor vehicle transport on the Eastern Front partly inspired the development and mass production of the Raupenschlepper, Ost, a fully tracked artillery tractor designed for such conditions, which had its quartet-per-side of roadwheels in a simpler inline configuration to support each track.

The corresponding term in Finnish for the mud season is rospuutto, denoting "roadlessness". Most non-paved roads in Finland turn into mud in this season. In olden days, this would make them virtually unusable; modern paved roads can be used but are dangerously slippery. In the Archipelago, the period is known as kelirikko (literally "weather break"), implying the ice is too thin to bear the weight of people or vehicles. Seagoing vessels that are not equipped with icebreaker bows find it heavy going to get through ice. The only practicable vehicles during the kelirikko are hovercraft, hydrocopters or aircraft such as helicopters. Unlike in Russia, where heavy mud occurs in both the spring and fall seasons, the Finnish rospuutto and kelirikko occur mainly in the spring when the snow melts and the spring rains begin.^{[citation needed]}

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  Eastern Front, Wehrmacht soldiers pushing car out of the mud, October 1941

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  Village street near Moscow, November 1941

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  Wehrmacht soldiers pulling car from the mud, November 1941

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  Wehrmacht horse carriage sunk in deep mud, March-April 1942

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  A German Tiger I heavy tank's Schachtellaufwerk road wheel system, vulnerable to fouling during the rasputitsa and winter conditions.

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  A Raupenschlepper Ost artillery tractor with simpler in-line roadwheels for its tracks.

References