Most of the enemy troops were located at a distance from the border, and some of them even over many tens of kilometers. When making decisions in Moscow on the eve of the war, they should be guided by the RM coming from intelligence. In Moscow, they could not but believe the most detailed reports of scouts, which were repeatedly duplicated and double-checked ...
The main problem of our intelligence was that there were no scouts and informants in the headquarters of the ground forces at all levels and around the command staff from these headquarters. There were no sources of information in circles that had at least some weight. There were no informants near the leaders who could know about planned events at the border. Most RMs were based on personal observations and rumors.
Without a detailed analysis of the Republic of Moldova, one cannot understand the events in Moscow in the evening of June 21. Indeed, at that time no one in the world knew that it was possible to prepare a huge enemy army for an attack in just 1,5-2 days!
At that time, Moscow did not know that, for various reasons, reconnaissance groups were not found by the intelligence, which included large associations of tank and motorized formations.
Moscow believed that they were in control, and intelligence was working well ...
For the two military districts examined, the RM data did not contradict the situation on the maps at the district headquarters. The situation on the maps and the pre-war RMs are in good agreement with each other and with the operational reports of the first day of the war, with the actions of the spacecraft command and with the intelligence number 1, released on the evening of 22 on June reconnaissance by the General Staff of the spacecraft.
In two parts, we will consider the RM on the enemy grouping, concentrated against the ZAPOV. We will understand why in this group there are units that are fighting in Libya, and there are many exact numbers of non-existent units and divisions.
Intelligence data on German troops against ZAPOVO
In accordance with the Intelligence on the grouping of German troops at 1.6.41, it was noted:
In the Warsaw direction (against ZAPOVO) 30 divisionsincluding: twenty-four infantry, one motorized, one tank and six tank regiments (total four tank divisions), one cavalry division and eight cavalry regiments ...
During the observation by the reconnaissance of enemy troops until May 31, only one full-fledged tank division was discovered! True, there are six more tank regiments that can be given to army corps. Similar information was also about enemy troops concentrated against PribOVO. Only one full-fledged tank division was also found there.
Based on the information of the General Staff Intelligence Directorate, the figure shows the dependence of the change in the number of German divisions at the border. The words “Near the border” no need to take it verbatim, since most of the enemy’s troops were located tens or even hundreds of kilometers from the state border.
In accordance with the Republic of Moldova, from May 15 to June 20-21 against the Zapovo troops, the enemy group did not increase.
In the report No.1 of the General Staff Intelligence as of 22-00 on 22 on June it was said:
... The total number of groups in front of the Western Front in the Warsaw region 31 Division, of which 21 infantry, 1 motorized, 4 tank and 1 cavalry division ...
At the end of the day on June 22, reconnaissance recorded an increase of the German group against the forces of the Western Front (ZAPOVO) by only one division. Some troops are not identified by affiliation by type of divisions. Therefore, in the summary, the list of the number of divisions does not coincide with the total number. In fact, on June 22 in the zone of responsibility of the ZAPOVO (taking into account the reserves of the armies and the army group) was until 40 divisions enemy, but not all of them were discovered by our intelligence.
The figure shows a diagram with the deployment of enemy troops on the eve of the war, close to the actual. The figure shows the detected advancing enemy groupings in accordance with the information from the report No.1 of the Intelligence Directorate.
The SC still does not know about the presence of a strike force in the Brest area by 22-00 on 22 in June at the Intelligence Directorate and at the General Staff. According to pre-war data and information received on June 22 about the situation in the Brest area, the summary indicates the grouping of three infantry divisions and one tank.
On the Bialystok two strikes are carried out by an enemy grouping with a total number of 11 infantry divisions and one motorized one.
On the Grodno there comes a group of three infantry divisions and one tank.
Grouping from the area Suwalki - Augustow - Sejny strikes in two directions: towards Pribovo and towards ZAPOVO.
According to report No.1, the Germans on June 22 threw only two tank divisions against the ZAPOVO troops! New in the summary is the mention of two SS armored divisions with a total number of 500 tanks. Since before the war, intelligence could not find full-fledged tank divisions, it was necessary to somehow explain the unexpected appearance of new tank formations. In this situation, the rumors quickly turned into two SS armored divisions ...
About SS armored divisions
To understand one of the ways to obtain intelligence information, let us consider the RM on the appearance of two armored divisions in more detail. The first mention of these divisions appears in intelligence Arnold November 30.5.41, XNUMX
Special message to the intelligence department of the headquarters of ZapOVO:
On the basis of information obtained from two sources: 1) an employee of the county government (landrat) in Mlawa, who is constantly in the midst of the German military; 2) former officer The Polish army, having relations with the Germans, the Germans concentrated in the vicinity of Suwalki 2 selected armored divisions of SS units, which should strike at Kovno, Vilnius and Grodno, as well as 2 armored divisions of the same units in the vicinity of Przemysl, and their direction to Lviv, Kiev ...
None of the reconnaissance personnel and equipment of these divisions saw and no other sources confirmed the presence of SS divisions in the specified area before the outbreak of war. In fact, the report only speaks of rumors.
At present, we know that the SS Panzer Divisions in Germany did not exist before the war, much less “Selected armored divisions from SS units”. On the Suvalkinsky ledge there were not even motorized SS divisions. On 22 June, only the only part of the SS connection is noted - “SS Verb.”.
In the area of Przemysl also there were neither SS divisions nor tank divisions. The information in the Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the spacecraft could only say: “This is misinformation!” The information from the above special message was included in the Summary of the intelligence department of the ZapOVO headquarters from 4.6.41 (registered and sent out on June 6):
... Based on a number of verified intelligence data, the recent military training of Germany against the USSR, especially since May 25, has been carried out more intensively and is characterized by the following data: During the second half of May, the Germans increased their troop groupings by 2-3, two SS armored divisions, mainly in the area of Ostroleka, Prasnysh, Mlava, Tsekhanov. SS Division - in Suwalki (data needs verification) ...
The report was also sent to the General Staff Reconnaissance and information on SS armored divisions ended up in Reconnaissance No. 5 (released on June 15): “In the Suwalki region, there are allegedly two SS armored divisions (data needs verification) ... " However, in the summary, these divisions were not included in the total number of enemy units concentrated against the ZAPOV. The information was not verified and could be misinformation ...
A report from the ZAPOVO from June 4 and a report from the Intelligence Agency from June 15 were also received at the headquarters of PribOVO. However, in the intelligence report of the headquarters of Pribovo from June 18, there is no mention of these SS armored divisions. The summary refers only to the only tank division that has long been featured against the district troops - the 20-th Armored Division:
On 17.6.41, against Pribovo, in the strip: on the left - Suwalki, Likk, Allenstein and in depth - Koenigsberg, Allenstein: army headquarters - 2, army corps headquarters - 6, infantry divisions - 12, motorized divisions - 5, Armored Divisions - 1, tank regiments - 5, and up to nine separate tank battalions - no less than a tank division ...
They did not find in the intelligence department of the headquarters of PribOVO and in the Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff information about the arrival of two SS tank divisions plausible. No new information was received about the arrival of these divisions until the outbreak of war. On June 21, information on armored divisions is no longer included in the prepared summary of the reconnaissance department of the ZapOVO headquarters “On the Grouping of German Forces in 20.6.41,” since this information could not be confirmed or disproved.
On the evening of June 21, in the intelligence department of the ZAPOVO headquarters, a new report was prepared on the grouping of German troops on the 21.6.41. Since the intelligence of the ZNOVO 21 on June detected a massive movement of German troops to the border, and in the evening it found them returning to their original positions near the border, they again noted the presence of SS divisions:
... presumably two SS divisions ...
In Moscow, this information, which did not state anything new, became a lifesaver. In June 22 Intelligence, they tried to somehow explain the unexpected appearance of armored divisions on all fronts. Therefore, the phrase appeared in Intelligence No. 1:
The general increase in the density of direct concentration of German troops in front of the front is emphasized. Specifically, additional data for June 20 and 21 established: a) the strengthening of the Suvalka group into two SS tank divisions...
As shown above, these divisions did not exist on the Suvalka ledge ...Conflicting information in RM
At our headquarters, it was difficult to isolate important and truthful information from the flow of incoming RMs, many of which were clear misinformation.
Special message 9.6.41 of the chief of the Belsky operational point as of 25.5.41:
In Warsaw, the headquarters of the 4 army continues to be deployed in the palace of Bril, the headquarters of the 9 AK, headed by General Donensmark and the headquarters of the 4 tank division bearing the army number, continue to be deployed. The commander of the 4 Panzer Division is General Raucher Oscar, and his chief of staff is Major Fritz. 4 Panzer Division includes up to 6000 various vehicles, of which up to 2000 light and heavy tanks, up to 2000 motorcycles and up to 2000 other vehicles like armored vehicles, trucks and others ...
The ZapOVO headquarters intelligence department “knew for sure” that only one headquarters of the tank division was stationed in Warsaw and its number was not 4. The ZAPOVO intelligence department and the Intelligence Directorate knew that in the Wehrmacht’s tank divisions there couldn’t be such a huge number of tanks - 2000 units. On May 28, in the intelligence report of the chief of the Brest Operational Point as of 24.5.41, it was indicated:
... Recently, the arrival of tank units in the eastern garrisons of the Governor General has been noted. Arrival tank corps commander in Radia, characterizes that in this area there is a grouping of up to one tank corps ... It is required to establish the location of the headquarters of the corps ...
Before the war, it was not possible to establish the presence of the indicated headquarters of the tank corps and formations from its composition using all the intelligence services of the Soviet Union. In general, it was not possible to find a single headquarters of motorized corps and most of the divisions from their composition ...
В Special messages intelligence department of the headquarters ZAPOVO according to 20.6.1941 data slips information:
During 1-8.6.41, through Warsaw in the direction of Terespol, the movement of the 18 tank division was noted, at the forefront was the 11 tank regiment ... 4-10.6. in the Warsaw district, Prague focused 38 tank divisions ...
In fact, the 18th Panzer Division was concentrated near Brest, but the 11th Panzer Regiment was not in its composition. Also, there was no 22.6.41th Panzer Division in the Wehrmacht on 38. It is interesting that the German military drove around in equipment and in the shoulder straps of a non-existent unit and division ... In the following parts, we will take a closer look at how the RM for our intelligence was prepared by the German military command. These facts are practically not considered in all memoirs, books about the war and historical research ...
Map with the deployment of German troops
In the memoirs of the chief of staff of the 4 Army General L.M. Sandalova says:
... At the end of the first week of June, the headquarters of our 4 Army, located in Kobrin, received information from the district headquarters that by 5 of June more than 40 German divisions had concentrated on the border of Belarus and that 15 infantry, 5 tank, 2 motorized and 2 cavalry divisions focused on the Brest direction ...
According to the intelligence report of ZAPOVO headquarters, on 20-00 on 21 in June against the district, up to 49 divisions are concentrated.
On the official website "Electronic Exhibitions of the Ministry of Defense" posted map “Position of the troops of the Western Front on the first day of the war. Script". In accordance with the annotation posted to this document, the map shows the position of the troops of the Western Front and German units on the first day of World War II. The blue color indicates the locations of the German units.
On the map, the author on RM additionally indicates the areas of responsibility of PribOVO and ZAPOVO. Due to the intersection of the zones, the data on enemy troops in the intelligence reports of the ZAPOVO headquarters headquarters are inflated with respect to information in the Republic of Moldova Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the spacecraft.
On the map there is an inscription with a list of troops on 5.6.41: “29-30 infantry divisions, 2-4 motor divisions, armored division, tank brigade and above the mtp, cavalry division, two cavalry brigades, 4 anti-aircraft artillery regiments, three auto regiments, presumably two SS armored divisions. Total up to 36,5 ... 39,5 divisions, of which no one saw two SS tank divisions from sources, but someone heard about it ...

The inscription refers to all connections on the card. Among the troops listed there are compounds that the Intelligence Directorate attributed to the troops concentrated against PribOVO.
On the map in the area of responsibility of PribOVO (with the exception of the disputed zone) only the headquarters of associations are indicated. AT Tilsit the headquarters of the 7 Army Corps (AK) is indicated, and in Insterburg - headquarters of the 12 AK.

The intelligence report of the headquarters of PribOVO as of 20-00 21.6.41 says:
To Tilsit: headquarters of the 7 AK, headquarters of the 1 infantry division, 216, 43, 45 infantry regiments, ... 202, 204, 227 motorized regiments, 505 motorized heavy artillery regiment ...
The situation is the same with other cities: Koenigsberg, Insterburg and Lublin (in the KOVO area of responsibility): there are troops there, but only headquarters are shown on the map.

В Königsberg marked: headquarters of the 18 Army, headquarters of the 8 Army, headquarters of the 1 Military District (according to the PribOVO report of the 1 Air District). The indicated data are also given in the summary of the headquarters of PribOVO from 18.6.41. The summary of the headquarters of PribOVO from 21.6.41 refers to the headquarters of the 3 AK (the data need verification). Therefore, an empty rectangle on the map is an unknown headquarters. In this case, the AK icon and a question mark behind it were indicated on the KOVO map.

В Lublin marked: headquarters of the 3 Army, headquarters of the 32 Army and headquarters of the 14 Army Infantry Division.
Consider a German group in the area of Allenstein.

В Allenstein (to the Soviet-German border 119 km) marked: headquarters of the 9 Army, the headquarters of the AK, the headquarters of the 7 and 251 infantry divisions, 301 and 413 infantry regiments, 206 artillery regiment, anti-tank regiment. On the map there is a mark near the city of Allenstein: "over the infantry division, anti-tank regiment". AT Ortelsburg marked the headquarters of AK.
Grouping in the Warsaw area.

Warsaw (145 km): headquarters of the 8 Army, headquarters of the 9 Army, headquarters of the 509 and 525 Infantry Divisions, headquarters of the 1 Army, headquarters of the 8 Army Division, 1 and 14 Army Regiments, 1th and 8th tank regiments, 28th and 531th infantry regiments, 8th, 105th and 106th artillery regiments, heavy artillery regiment, 1th and 3th anti-aircraft artillery regiments, 25th chemical regiment , 28-th communication regiment, railway regiment.
Otwock (133 km): large headquarters, artillery regiment.
Rembertov (138 km): parachute regiment.
Minsk-Mozovetsky (115 km): artillery regiment, 28-th railway regiment, infantry regiment, armored train.
Maslenitsa (123 km): Headquarters of the 215th Infantry Division.
Grouping in the area of Suwalki, Sejny, Lucc, Aris.


A tank battalion was marked at the border.
Seyns (to the border about 9 km): 70 infantry and 480 motorized regiments, artillery battery.
Suwalki (to the north-east to the border - 26 km, to the east - 37 km): supposedly two SS armored divisions, headquarters of the 34 and 37 motorized divisions, headquarters of the motorized division, 94th artillery regiment, 70 motorized regiment and 84 th regiment.
Letzen (58 km): 35-th AK, 2-th tank and 115-th infantry regiments, cavalry regiment, artillery regiment.
Aris (30 km): headquarters of the infantry division, 143 and 151 regiments, 14 artillery regiment.
Lykk (19 km): headquarters of the 39-th Infantry Division, 215-th Infantry Regiment, 37-th Artillery Regiment, tank regiment, anti-aircraft regiment, armored train.
In the area of the grouping there is a note: “Over 4's infantry divisions, three tank companies, two motorized divisions, an anti-aircraft artillery regiment, two SS armored divisions”.
Grouping in the area of Myshynets, Ostroy-Mazowiecki, Mlawa.


Muscle (21 km): headquarters of the infantry division, 345 and 365 infantry regiments.
Ostroleka (10 km): headquarters of the infantry division, 108, 119, 276 infantry regiments, infantry regiment, 91 and 903 motorized regiments, artillery regiment, artillery battery, armored train. Mark that in the Ostrozhenka area there are up to two infantry divisions.
In accordance with the RM Headquarters ZapOVO from 30.5.41 g. “In the Ostroleka area there are about three infantry divisions, a battalion of tanks”. It turns out that by the beginning of the war an infantry division and a tank battalion disappeared from the Ostroleka area, located near the border.
Ostrow Mazowiecki (12 km): two headquarters of infantry divisions, artillery regiment, 315 and 478 infantry regiments, 615 motorized regiment, 60 tanks and artillery battery.
Rojan (35 km): Headquarters of the 302th Infantry Division, 7th and 10th Artillery Regiments, 203th, 474th and 479th Infantry Regiments.
Mlawa (88 km): 103th artillery regiment, 4th, 6th, 11th and 13th infantry regiments, cavalry regiment, 19th SS regiment, armored train, two artillery batteries, two tank companies.
Ciechanow (95 km): headquarters of the 6th AK, 239th infantry regiment, 104th artillery regiment, 300 armored vehicles, tank company. There is a note: "to the infantry division."
Prasnysh (56 km): 108 and 109th artillery regiments, tank company.
Grouping Sedlec, Malkinia.

Sedlec (63 km): headquarters of the 22 and 292 infantry divisions, 3 and 537 cavalry regiments.
Falcons (to 70 km): headquarters of the 208-th Infantry Division.
Kossov (to 80 km): headquarters of the motorized division.
Lochow (106 km): headquarters of the infantry division, artillery regiment, armored train.
Grouping Wlodawa, Terespol, Miedzyrzec, Lukow.

Terespol (1,5 km): headquarters of the cavalry brigade.
Biala Podlaska (35 km): AK headquarters, headquarters of the 17-th Infantry Division.
Lomazy (30 km): 12 th regiment.
Miedzyrzec (59 km): AK headquarters, cavalry brigade headquarters, 27th artillery regiment.
Bows (88 km): motorized regiment, cavalry regiment, artillery regiment, armored train, 300 vehicles.
Dombrowo (97 km): headquarters of the tank brigade.
Radzyn (68 km): Headquarters of the 40th Infantry Division, 28th Regiment, 355th Infantry Regiment.
Headquarters of the infantry division (probably 161 from Radzyn).
Wlodawa (less than 1 km): infantry regiment, artillery regiment, cavalry regiment, artillery battery.
Mark in the area of the grouping: “Up to the 3-x infantry divisions, a tank brigade, two (probably cavalry border brigades), two tank regiments”.
In the RM of the headquarters of ZAPOVO 20.6.41, it was noted that in the Kodeni area there are up to 100 tanks, but these tanks are not on the map. Tanks are probably included in the total number of tank units concentrated in the area.
Total on the map: two army headquarters, one large headquarters, seven AK headquarters (not a single motorized one!), 18 headquarters of infantry divisions, one headquarters of a motorized, tank and cavalry division. The headquarters of the tank brigade (which did not exist), two headquarters of the cavalry brigades. There are also three motorized divisions, two tank divisions (presumably), 28 infantry regiments, 7 motorized, 4 tank, 11 cavalry regiments. To 30 artillery regiments, anti-aircraft regiments and anti-aircraft regiments. One tank brigade, more than a tank regiment in bulk and one parachute regiment.
If there are division headquarters, then somewhere the regiments of these divisions should be located. Counting the headquarters of the divisions, brigades, divisions and brigades discovered, we get the number of about 30 divisions. The author failed to reach the number of divisions indicated in the inscription on the map ... Perhaps some of the divisions were located to the west. On June 7, the Intelligence Agency said: "The Poznan district is literally a military camp ..." The distance from Poznan to the border is about 430 km.
According to the map, on June 21, at a distance of 10-12 km from the Soviet-German border, the ZapOVO is located before 6 divisions excluding troops stationed near the city of Sejny, which the SC General Staff Reconnaissance assigned to the area of responsibility of PribOVO. The situation is very similar to the situations in PribOVO and KOVO.
It should be noted that ZAPOVO intelligence is the only intelligence service of the four western border districts that has detected and recorded in the intelligence report the German troops exit to the border to their original positions before the attack:
Conclusion: According to reports, which are being verified, the main part of the German army in the strip against the Western Special Military District took its original position.
In all directions, there is a pull-up of parts and means of strengthening the border ...
In all directions, there is a pull-up of parts and means of strengthening the border ...
To be continued ...