"Crimson okolyshki" in the battles with the Nazis
A “black myth” arose around the troops of the NKVD, painting them with some kind of ghouls, who only knew how to shoot the Red Armymen in the back and be as far as possible from the front line. The reality is much more diverse.
In the trenches - with 22 June
For example, the fact of the defense of the Brest Fortress by the NKVD forces is practically unknown. The inscription known from Soviet school textbooks: “I am dying, but I do not give up. Farewell, Motherland! ”Left in the barracks of the 132-th separate battalion of the NKVD troops.
The NKVD troops defended themselves heavily in the summer and autumn of the 1941 of the year. By that time, they consisted of thirteen divisions and fifteen brigades totaling 65,8 thousands of bayonets. The NKVD - 1805 is the key object of the railway infrastructure of the western part of the USSR. On arms of troops of the NKVD - easy rifle weaponartillery Tanks, aviationarmored trains.
The NKVD fighters defended Minsk and Riga, fought arcade battles when the 37 Army of the Red Army departed from Kiev.
The repulse of the Guderian armored wedges, which sought to join the Kleist group, gave 10 September 1941 of the year 233 th regiment of 13 convoy division of the NKVD. The Chekists for three days held back the Nazi tanks near the town of Romny and on the southern bank of the Sula River, thereby preventing them from surrounding a significant number of units of the South-Western Front. The approaches to Leningrad were defended by five divisions of the NKVD.
Special mention deserve the exploits of the NKVD in the battles for Stalingrad. So, the 10-Infantry Division of the NKVD troops defended the city from the Nazis who were trying to occupy it until the approach of the 62 Army of the Red Army, actually keeping the city on the Volga, although at the cost of terrible losses: more than seven thousand soldiers of the seven and a half who took the first battle 23 died August 1942 of the year. The only military unit - the participant of the Battle of Stalingrad, who received the Order of Lenin - is the 10-Infantry Division of the NKVD. Its most famous division is the 272 th Regiment, which later wore the honorary title "Volzhsky". Volgograd street is named after the gunman of the 272 regiment of Alexei Vashchenko. He accomplished the feat of 5 September of 1942, when he closed the embrasure of the German DOT with his body.
In August 1942, three rifle divisions of the NKVD were formed specifically for the defense of the center of the North Caucasus. Mountain divisions predominate in divisions, but the composition is quite international ... Divisions became the mainstay of special defensive areas. The armored train of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs became a key factor in the protection of the strategically important railway line Rostov-Grozny-Makhachkala.
The troops of the NKVD could leave the position only by personal order of Beria.
The NKVD troops performed well in the battles for both capitals, Oryol, Smolensk, on the Kursk Bulge. They took part in the war with imperial Japan, from deterring the aggressor on the border to victory over the Kwantung Army.
The units of the NKVD were equipped by all-army standards, often field uniforms, especially privates and sergeants, did not differ from the army. Is that the name of the armored trains was added the abbreviation of the NKVD, but it did not affect the design features or weapons. Nutritional standards were like at all on the front line. Questions of subordination and position in the command chain were decided depending on the specific situation.
Specific tasks performed perfectly
Having heard the “protection of the rear”, one can imagine peacefully smoking, and even soldiers dormant in the sun. But it was not sinekura. The troops of the NKVD identified and eliminated saboteurs, reconnaissance aircraft and paratroopers; trapped in the rear of the advancing Red Army soldiers and equipment of the Wehrmacht.
A special theme is the suppression of the nationalist underground in Ukraine and the Baltic states. Now the “Forest Brothers” are usually portrayed as patriots who fought with the Bolsheviks. They just killed and robbed not only the party-Soviet elite, but completely peaceful inhabitants, terrorized the citizens and villagers. And the nationalists were not harsh men with Berdanks, they received plenty of weapons, including automatic, and ammunition from Nazi Germany. There is evidence of the use of "forest brothers" tanks and artillery. So the power of the NKVD troops resisted formidable. With the latest foci of resistance managed to cope only by the mid-fifties.
The victorious march of the Red Army led to hundreds of thousands of captured Nazis, who had to be taken to places of concentration and content, and then guarded. This involved the convoy troops of the NKVD. Relocation of prisoners went on foot, which added complexity for the protection. The real special operation was the passage of a column of captured Germans through the streets of Moscow in 1944. The risks were enormous, but the convoy coped with the task, as did those who planned and carried out the operation. Organizational efforts went unnoticed by Muscovites and those who then watched newsreel footage, but this is for the best.
Structurally NKVD troops
By the beginning of the Nazi invasion, the Main Directorate of the Border and Internal Troops (GUPVV) was reorganized to form the main directorates in the areas of military activity, from border guarding to protecting railway infrastructure, particularly important industrial facilities, convoy service, military construction, and supplies.
There was a reorganization of the structure during the Great Patriotic War, under the emerging tasks and applied to the changing environment.
In particular, the Red Army enters Eastern and Western Europe, and the GKO 29 on July 1944 of the year orders the creation of military commandant's offices in each administrative center and railway stations. The commandant's offices are engaged not only in order in the troops but also in administrative tasks, in particular, in ensuring the vital activity of the civilian population of the liberated lands. The military commandant's offices were subject to the orders of the military councils of the fronts.
The NKVD fighters marched in the columns marching in the Victory Parade.
In the trenches - with 22 June
For example, the fact of the defense of the Brest Fortress by the NKVD forces is practically unknown. The inscription known from Soviet school textbooks: “I am dying, but I do not give up. Farewell, Motherland! ”Left in the barracks of the 132-th separate battalion of the NKVD troops.
The NKVD troops defended themselves heavily in the summer and autumn of the 1941 of the year. By that time, they consisted of thirteen divisions and fifteen brigades totaling 65,8 thousands of bayonets. The NKVD - 1805 is the key object of the railway infrastructure of the western part of the USSR. On arms of troops of the NKVD - easy rifle weaponartillery Tanks, aviationarmored trains.
The NKVD fighters defended Minsk and Riga, fought arcade battles when the 37 Army of the Red Army departed from Kiev.
The repulse of the Guderian armored wedges, which sought to join the Kleist group, gave 10 September 1941 of the year 233 th regiment of 13 convoy division of the NKVD. The Chekists for three days held back the Nazi tanks near the town of Romny and on the southern bank of the Sula River, thereby preventing them from surrounding a significant number of units of the South-Western Front. The approaches to Leningrad were defended by five divisions of the NKVD.
Special mention deserve the exploits of the NKVD in the battles for Stalingrad. So, the 10-Infantry Division of the NKVD troops defended the city from the Nazis who were trying to occupy it until the approach of the 62 Army of the Red Army, actually keeping the city on the Volga, although at the cost of terrible losses: more than seven thousand soldiers of the seven and a half who took the first battle 23 died August 1942 of the year. The only military unit - the participant of the Battle of Stalingrad, who received the Order of Lenin - is the 10-Infantry Division of the NKVD. Its most famous division is the 272 th Regiment, which later wore the honorary title "Volzhsky". Volgograd street is named after the gunman of the 272 regiment of Alexei Vashchenko. He accomplished the feat of 5 September of 1942, when he closed the embrasure of the German DOT with his body.
In August 1942, three rifle divisions of the NKVD were formed specifically for the defense of the center of the North Caucasus. Mountain divisions predominate in divisions, but the composition is quite international ... Divisions became the mainstay of special defensive areas. The armored train of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs became a key factor in the protection of the strategically important railway line Rostov-Grozny-Makhachkala.
The troops of the NKVD could leave the position only by personal order of Beria.
The NKVD troops performed well in the battles for both capitals, Oryol, Smolensk, on the Kursk Bulge. They took part in the war with imperial Japan, from deterring the aggressor on the border to victory over the Kwantung Army.
The units of the NKVD were equipped by all-army standards, often field uniforms, especially privates and sergeants, did not differ from the army. Is that the name of the armored trains was added the abbreviation of the NKVD, but it did not affect the design features or weapons. Nutritional standards were like at all on the front line. Questions of subordination and position in the command chain were decided depending on the specific situation.
Specific tasks performed perfectly
Having heard the “protection of the rear”, one can imagine peacefully smoking, and even soldiers dormant in the sun. But it was not sinekura. The troops of the NKVD identified and eliminated saboteurs, reconnaissance aircraft and paratroopers; trapped in the rear of the advancing Red Army soldiers and equipment of the Wehrmacht.
A special theme is the suppression of the nationalist underground in Ukraine and the Baltic states. Now the “Forest Brothers” are usually portrayed as patriots who fought with the Bolsheviks. They just killed and robbed not only the party-Soviet elite, but completely peaceful inhabitants, terrorized the citizens and villagers. And the nationalists were not harsh men with Berdanks, they received plenty of weapons, including automatic, and ammunition from Nazi Germany. There is evidence of the use of "forest brothers" tanks and artillery. So the power of the NKVD troops resisted formidable. With the latest foci of resistance managed to cope only by the mid-fifties.
The victorious march of the Red Army led to hundreds of thousands of captured Nazis, who had to be taken to places of concentration and content, and then guarded. This involved the convoy troops of the NKVD. Relocation of prisoners went on foot, which added complexity for the protection. The real special operation was the passage of a column of captured Germans through the streets of Moscow in 1944. The risks were enormous, but the convoy coped with the task, as did those who planned and carried out the operation. Organizational efforts went unnoticed by Muscovites and those who then watched newsreel footage, but this is for the best.
Structurally NKVD troops
By the beginning of the Nazi invasion, the Main Directorate of the Border and Internal Troops (GUPVV) was reorganized to form the main directorates in the areas of military activity, from border guarding to protecting railway infrastructure, particularly important industrial facilities, convoy service, military construction, and supplies.
There was a reorganization of the structure during the Great Patriotic War, under the emerging tasks and applied to the changing environment.
In particular, the Red Army enters Eastern and Western Europe, and the GKO 29 on July 1944 of the year orders the creation of military commandant's offices in each administrative center and railway stations. The commandant's offices are engaged not only in order in the troops but also in administrative tasks, in particular, in ensuring the vital activity of the civilian population of the liberated lands. The military commandant's offices were subject to the orders of the military councils of the fronts.
The NKVD fighters marched in the columns marching in the Victory Parade.
Information