"Pravda" about the "grenade scam". Continuation of the case
Carry on a lawsuit with your rival, but do not reveal the secrets of another.
Proverbs of Solomon 25:9
Proverbs of Solomon 25:9
Reichswehr soldiers at the parade. Something, but the Germans loved to parade ...
History Fatherland.
The effect of the publications in the Manchester Guardian and especially the exposure from the Forverts newspaper in Germany itself was like a bomb explosion. The topic of "Soviet grenades" has been incessantly discussed in the press for more than two weeks. At the same time, the articles in the Social Democratic press attracted special attention primarily because the newspaper of German communists "Rote Fahne" did not write anything about it. Well, Soviet newspapers even contested the existence of any relations in the military field between the USSR and Germany.
But the technique of Germany after the war went to a very poor one. In the photo of 1921 BA "Erhardt"
It all ended with the fact that on December 6, the leadership of the SPD party turned to Minister of War Gessler with an official request, in which three points directly related to his relations with the Red Army. It was about the Junkers company, the Bersol chemical plant and the transportation of shells from Leningrad to Stettin in the summer of 1926. Information on the first issue was received from the Junkers company, on the second - from unknown persons and again from Junkers. But on the third issue, information was given to the SPD by none other than the chief of police of the city of Stettin and the Social Democrat Fenner, who was instructed to conduct an official investigation into the delivery of shells from the USSR to Germany. The fact is that the steamship Rastenburg, chartered by the Reichswehr, sank along with the shells while sailing from Sweden to Stettin. This incident had to be investigated by the police, and it was then that it became clear what kind of cargo he had on board.
As a result, in December 1926 it was announced that all the issues that became known to the SPD, “belong to the past", And that this will not happen again. However, the SPD leadership was dissatisfied with the activities of the War Minister Gessler (from the Democratic Party), and they demanded the immediate resignation of the government.
But the army was well fed, which was very important for Germany in the 20s.
In the USSR, the Izvestia newspaper wrote the following in an article dated December 17, 1926:
“The decision to involve the Social Democrats in the government was made under the influence of Stresemann. <...> Changes in the government will most likely affect the post of Minister of War. Stresemann insists on Gessler's resignation. "
German machine gunners learn to fire at planes
But then a day earlier, on December 16, 1926, the former Prime Minister and Reichstag deputy from the SPD F. Scheidemann made a revelatory speech in the Reichstag. He said that “the Reichswehr is becoming more and more a state within a state”, But in a democratic country this should not be allowed. He cited the facts of illegal activities of "Junkers", "Stolzenberg", transporting ammunition by sea from Leningrad to Stettin in September-October 1926, that is, he simply poured full tubs of mud on the army. The SPD, he said, was behind the creation of a well-armed army, but a democratic-republican army.
Maneuvers near Hamburg 1927. Soldiers with a 150mm mortar during the First World War
As for relations with the USSR, he said:
“We wish good relations with Russia, but they must be honest and clean. This is a dishonest and unclean relationship, when Russia preaches a world revolution and arms the Reichswehr, when they exchange fraternal kisses with both the Communists and the Reichswehr officers at the same time. Whoever does this is suspicious in that he is deceiving at least one of the two ... We want to be friends of Moscow, but we do not want to be Moscow's jokes: No Soviet Union in exchange for German guns! "
In conclusion, Scheidemann made a proposal to express no confidence in the government. On the other hand, the communist W. Könen, speaking after Scheidemann, accused the Social Democrats of having fraudulently transferred to the English liberal newspaper Manchester Guardian information about the alleged connection between the Reichswehr and the Soviet government. And that all this is a lie! And so he stated:
"The story of the grenades published in Forverts is a complete lie."
As a result, on December 17, 1926, the Reichstag voted for a vote of no confidence in the cabinet of Marx, and he had to resign. Moreover, the parties of the Social Democrats, Communists, Nationalists and Teutons (the party of German fascists at that time) voted for the approval of the cabinet's policy.
Reichswehr maneuvers of 1930
As for the USSR, its diplomatic representatives who were in Germany insisted on a complete refutation of the very fact of military cooperation between our countries. Although even Pravda in its article "Catch a Thief" of December 16, 1926, in fact, was forced to actually confirm the undoubted correctness of the messages published in the English newspaper "Manchester Guardian". She reported:
“It turns out that within our Union, by agreement between our and the German military departments, some German firms built three factories a few years ago that produced items needed for our defense. These items included airplanes, gases, shells, etc. If we give foreigners concessions to build factories and plants for the production of items needed by our consumer market, then why should we forbid them or even encourage them to open factories and factories in our country that are necessary for our defense? As far as we know and as far as we can see from a study of the Versailles Treaty, Germany is prohibited from producing or importing or exporting equipment, but its firms are not at all forbidden to open any factories and plants abroad, including those that manufacture airplanes or even cannons and shells ... The obliging Forverts is using a fake (and perhaps a number of them) to prove that the peace breaker is the Soviet Union, which has concluded an almost secret military alliance with the German government. "
The English newspaper says that there is a secret military convention between our government and the German military department, and
"Berliner Tageblatt", which undertook to refute all these fabrications, could not find anything better to say to shield their government than the same untruth that a few years ago the Soviet government allegedly proposed a military alliance. Of course, neither in theory nor in nature such a military alliance does not exist and did not exist, but it had to be invented in order to lay the foundation for another invention about the mutual services of our and the German military departments. "
1935 maneuvers in the Luneburg Heath area
The most interesting thing is that the actual position of the USSR in this case was not particularly condemned by anyone. The country strengthened its defenses and did it as it saw fit and in accordance with its capabilities. And it would be enough to say so directly about it so that ... there would be no rumors about this. But - “his example, other science”, this was prevented, apparently, by fears that we would then be “offended” and no longer build factories, and if they do, then at a higher price.
In any case, the new government proposed to the leadership of the German Foreign Ministry to reduce cooperation with the USSR to “reasonable scale". But there could be no question of its complete elimination.
A very interesting photo with the study of the machine-gun crew of the Red Army. Like the machine gunner closest to us in a Reichswehr cap?
The complete elimination of partnership in the military field was presented:
1) impossible;
2) unnecessary;
3) impracticable.
At the same time, under the new conditions, it followed:
1) renounce all unacceptable and clearly compromising forms of cooperation with the USSR and eliminate them as soon as possible by paying the Soviet side a debt in the amount of 10 million;
2) "permissible", permissible relations between the military of the USSR and Germany must be preserved.
On December 31, 1926, Comrade Unshlikht sent a letter to Litvinov (copies to Stalin and Voroshilov) that intelligence reports suggest that this entire exposure campaign was inspired by none other than Stresemann, who handed compromising materials to the Social Democrats through his secretary. The goal is to raise your authority in military circles and show your strength in the political arena.
Joseph Unshlikht. At that time, from February 1925 to June 1930, he was deputy chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR and at the same time deputy people's commissar for military and naval affairs of the USSR. In 1937 he was arrested for belonging to "sabotage and spy network of Polish intelligence”And was convicted for 20 minutes, after which, of course, he was shot along with his sister. The wife ended up in the camp ...
Further Unshlicht wrote that Germany's interest in the USSR had greatly diminished, since Germany, for the development of its aviation began to use France, England in relation fleet, artillery is being developed in Sweden. Germany has bases in Finland, as well as in Spain, Holland and Argentina; cooperation with Chile has sharply increased, and relations with Turkey have also intensified. There is a clear tendency for the reduction of cooperation between the Reichswehr and the Red Army and Germany with the USSR as a whole.
Already in the last days of December 1926, an interesting article was published in the Leipziger Volkszeitung newspaper, which discussed the choice of “in favor of an alliance with the USSR against British imperialism"With the aim of creating"front Paris-Berlin-Moscow". The article spoke about military cooperation between Germany and the USSR in a calm tone and without any innuendo or negativity.
Soldiers of the Red Army are studying the Maxim machine gun with an optical sight for firing at a long distance
Well, our side would simply remain silent. You never know what they write "there"? All this is not interesting to the Soviet workers and peasants. But no, Pravda immediately hastened to comment on this article, if only the last word would remain with it. And this is what she wrote:
"The newspaper's judgments testify to the final failure of the" grenade "persecution of the USSR, raised by the Social Democrats in the face of the growing sympathy of the Social Democratic masses towards the USSR."
Well, how could one do without mentioning the growth of sympathies? This was directly related to the coming world revolution! And she, as you know, was just around the corner. And again - they wrote it once and that's enough. They spoke out, so to speak.
But no, the next day Pravda prints this: material titled From Ruth Fischer to Chamberlain. And in it this is:
“The joint campaign continues. The Berlin Social-Judas are directly straining themselves in the disgusting persecution of the country of the Soviets. They string together legend after legend, send one, more disgusting, more absurd than the other. Intrigues of the "red Satan" - the USSR, Moscow "military secrets", "Soviet grenades", "mysterious connections with the Reichswehr!" "Aus-gerechnet? Granaten, Granaten, Granaten ". "Excellent grenades, Soviet grenades," yell the sycophants of British imperialism. To give weight to the "pomegranate" nonsense, the social democratic gop-company uses with might and main the method of "circumstantial evidence", mysterious hints, references to some alleged "semi-recognition" on our part, in particular on the part of our newspaper. "
Red Army soldiers in helmets and gas masks during exercises in the 30s
And here's why again: well, why and what was it necessary to once again pedal this topic, return to it for the umpteenth time, and even more so in such expressions? Politics is a delicate matter and you shouldn't have trusted her newspapermen, even Soviet ones, at all. Because such statements can always be very badly interpreted. And if there are no messages, then there is nothing to interpret!
Indeed, such a large number of people, both in the USSR and in Germany, knew about cooperation, actively helped him and directly participated in it, that to deny its existence was simply ... "undignified." Well, a great country cannot afford to behave like a naughty boy who denies facts out of stubbornness, but in this case it looked like that. In addition, trying to deny the obvious, responsible comrades in the USSR forgot that Berlin, officially recognizing it, immediately killed two birds with one stone: it demonstrated its loyalty to the West, which in the most objective way inspired confidence and respect for the foreign policy pursued by Germany, and was a warning to him that, they say, in the person of the USSR, Germany has by no means an enemy, but a real ally, with established ties in the military field. So: "And when our tanks will rush ..." - there will be no blow in the back from his side. Rather, echelons with grain and oil tanks will go from there.
T-26 tanks in a two-turret version are the first truly mass vehicles of the Red Army. The Germans, looking at this, could then only silently envy
In Germany, on January 24, 1927, a secret meeting of the military and employees of the Foreign Ministry was held, at which the military identified those areas of relations with the Soviet side where military cooperation continued. Flight and tank "private" schools, which were financed by the Ministry of War, experiments with military equipment, exchange of military experience, including mutual visits of officers of the General Staff of the Reichswehr and the Red Army, participation in maneuvers and exercises. The continuation of the functioning of both schools was considered vital, since it was tanks and aircraft that "will play a decisive role in the future war". The question arose whether the Soviet side could orchestrate the leak of confidential information and thus blackmail Berlin? But the military insisted that Moscow would instantly turn to France for help, as soon as the cooperation between Berlin and Moscow cracked and would not go to blackmail. Well, no one doubted the mutual participation in the maneuvers, and it was confirmed that it would be continued.
Military parade on Red Square in 1925
And the newspaper "Forverts" did not calm down - they, too, obviously had nothing more to write about! In the first quarter of 1927, the newspaper returned to this topic 18 (!) Times. Well, the titles of the articles were also very revealing:
“The poison gas factory in Trotsk. Testimony of two witnesses "; “Soviet grenades. Bukharin declares: we can produce them ”; “Soviet grenades in Stettin. Desperate Efforts of Rote Fane "; “Dollars for Soviet grenades. Neither hide and seek nor denial will help! ”; “Soviet grenades and KKE. Lies"; "The communists keep on lying."
The newspaper Leipziger Volkszeitung also added a word to the portion of the negative:
"The Swastika and the Soviet Star"; "Soviet grenades for Germany"; "There is nothing more to deny," and so on.
On February 12, 1927, the Polish newspaper Kurier Varshavsky reported about the flight abroad of the Soviet pilot Klim, who spoke about the interesting aspects of German-Soviet relations in the military field.
Parade on Red Square in 1931
And it so happened that in February 1927 the commander of the squadron KM Klim, together with the minder Tymoshchuk, boarded the Ansalto plane and ... flew to Poland. Tymoshchuk later returned to the USSR. But Klim remained “beyond the cordon”, and the Soviet side had to declare him “outlawed”. After that, the German side expressed special concern to the Soviet side that, because of such incidents, it is very difficult to keep a secret.
Parade May 1, 1937
Moreover, after this, the German side, despite the resistance of the Soviet ambassador Litvinov, decided to issue a statement that fully revealed the history of Soviet-German relations. And on February 23, 1927, Minister of War Gessler made a statement at a meeting of the Foreign Policy Committee of the Reichstag. He explained the reasons for the military-technical contacts with Moscow, said that 75 million gold marks had been allocated for these purposes, as well as the difficulties that forced to break all contracts that were concluded between German firms and their Soviet counterparties. In the end, he called on all participants in this meeting to observe strict secrecy with respect to the information about which was discussed. It was also emphasized that all these agreements with the USSR were the "backbone" and the basis of German policy. On the same day, the German ambassador in Moscow received an order about all statements made at this meeting to immediately transmit information to the Soviet government.
We in the USSR also loved parades. For example, a parade of athletes in 1939. It, of course, goes beyond the scope of the topic of military cooperation between the USSR and Germany in the 20s, but it is difficult to refrain from demonstrating such a colorful spectacle! By the way, the Germans also held similar parades. But what about: a healthy mind in a healthy body!
However, Germany's entry into the League of Nations and the especially erupted "grenade scandal" clearly marked the line of rapprochement between Berlin and Moscow. And - the main thing is that it gradually began to lose its exceptional importance both for Germany and for the USSR. New partners have appeared, new perspectives and ... a new reality. Only old scandals and insincerity on one side and openness on the other remain in my memory ... "But remember ?!" - any idle journalist could now declare at any moment and once again pull out the "grenade scandal" into the light of day, again influencing the consciousness of the inhabitants in his country with its help.
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