No Marceline in Russia 1940?

[Uriah]

I was flying about looking at the nice villages in BoS and noticed that there seemed to be no 'main street'. What I mean by that is that in the USA all small towns had a 'main' street that the shops like the bars, hotels, hardware store, grocery, horse stable turned auto repair shop/gasoline station and then the train depot and water tower.

Outside of the 'down town' were the churches and schools close by.

 

I don't suspect the Soviets tor down all such store if they existed.

 

Did towns in Russia just not have such distinct down towns? Or is it just not modeled that closely in BoS?

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

I think the strict 'main street-downtown' structure is very strong in the United States but you will not find that outside that often.

 

This may be an uneducated opinion, but I've been to around 20 countries and lived in about 7 for at least half a year (nearly all of them in Europe besides 4 in South America and 1 in N. Africa). I spent some 2 years in Russia and probably over 1 in other ex-Soviet countries and Eastern European countries.

 

Many cities, big ones in particular, may have one (or more) long avenue that cuts it N-S, E-W or in another direction (bonus points if it's called Ulitsa/Prospekt/etc. Lenina, or other ). You will surely have the biggest part of commerce there, peaking at the central part of town - Leningrad's Nevsky Prospekt for example. That being said, train stations, depots, churches and particularly schools can also often be located in the city centre, look at Moscow's centre for example. Also, outside of the main district, with the district meaning much more than which street, you still have a lot of businesses (like the good old Gastronom or a tailor's workshop). They just weren't that discernible from most houses since they were located in similar structures.

 

Estimating the state of the economy down the Volga in the 1930s-1940s, I would assume that villages had two peculiarities. Very small ones may not have a single business there and work on a more self-sufficient basis, having a small school and a few workshops here and there. In a village, most of these businesses would be very small and without more than a sign by the door, window or in front of it identifying it so you wouldn't be able to tell.

 

At wartime, in some cases occupied Stalingradskaya Oblast, with the risk of bombing and whatnot and during an exceptionally cold winter I'm sure many businesses closed down because of lack of supplies, staff who might have gone to the front or the rear to help the war effort or died during bombings, German occupation and lack of demand too for the same reasons. We are talking about a map depicting a region which saw over half a year of hell unfold, things weren't looking good there at all.

 

I am by no means an expert, and I have been to a relatively small number of villages compared to big cities, but that's what I can suggest from my experience. Hope it clears it up somehow

[Finkeren]

I think Lucas has the right of it. Dominant main streets is very much an American phenomenon (at least to the extent that is seen in rural towns in the US)

 

Also keep in mind, that in most of Eurasia a lot of towns and villages kan trace their layout back to at least the Renaissance, often even earlier, at a time when there was little overall planning of the way a town or city expanded and 'streets' weren't as much a well planned grid of routes of transport as it was simply the space left over between the houses.

Other European towns started as military garrisons in the 17th and 18th centuries, and these often follow a very uniform and rigid grid of streets and avenues similar to what you find on Manhattan. But usually they don't have an identifiable 'main street' either.

[Brano]

Most of the villages you fly over Stalingrad are collective farm types (KOLCHOZ) built in 1920-30s to supply the growing industrial city with food.Bigger SOVCHOZ had also their own tractor stations = smtg like a car repair shop for trucks and agricuture tractors maintenance.This area was sparsly populated in 19th-beginning of 20th century.Private enterprises,as you know them from USA or western Europe, were forbidden in USSR.

 

Villages were selfsufficient in terms of basic needs like food etc.You had to go to bigger cities to buy for special goods.Center of the village was not the "main street",but usually small area in front of the local authority building (local soviet) which was in many willages building combined with school and kind of "culture hall" were locals gethered for different sessions of political but also cultural and social events (public holidays,weddings,dancing evenings etc).

 

Layout of the villages with origin reaching far into tzars Russia was interpreted by decades and centuries of inheritance,changing/splitting of property ownership etc. For most part those were in fact separate kulaks (rich peasants) farm households combined with houses of proletariat (poor people without land ownership,serving kulaks as cheap labour force)

Cant be really compared to US of A urbanisation.Those are two completly different worlds 

[Uriah]

Thanks for the info. I will see if I can spot any 'tractor stations' and any 'local authority' building.

Makes me appreciate the small town I grew up in - Torrington Wyoming.

[Finkeren]

The tractor stations, preferably with loads of beat-up wrecks lying about half burried in snow, would be a great adition to the environment.

 

Maybe suggest it as an addition to the Moscow map?

[Brano]

Kolchoz (колхо́з) was a form of collective farming in former USSR.The name comes from the abbreviation коллекти́вное хозя́йство = collective farming.

 

Kolchoz were created in 1920s and 30s by USSR governement.By force and confiscation of the kulaks property/land.People working in KOLCHOZ were not payed for the work.The reward was the crops/cattle they produced in relation to their time spent at work.Beside that they were allowed to own 1 acre of own land and few pieces of domestic animals (cow,goat...)

Sovchoz (совхоз, abb from советское хозяйство = soviet farming ) was state owned agricultural enterprise in former USSR.
After land reform and forced collectivization in 20s and 30s SOVCHOZ became the main/basic farming/agricultural unit in soviet economy.They were created by confiscating larger farming estates from the former privat farmers/kulaks.

 

To sum it up,
KOLCHOZ was a smaller unit of collective farming,where people were allowed to keep some private land/animals,were payed in naturals = what they growed,harvested.

SOVCHOZ was large agricutural enterprise owned by state.

 

Tractor station can be anything large enough to store few trucks and tractors, with "repair shop"  
 

[=EXPEND=Dendro]

Here in South Africa, every small "dorp" (town/village) as well as our cities have a CBD (central business district) with at least one or 2 main roads that intersect the town. These streets are usually called "Main" or "Church" street because there is always a church in the centre of town.

 

Just some useless info for you guys......