Intelligence for Stalin and automatic for border guards
If we pick up the first volume "Stories Of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941 – 1945 ”, published in 1961 year, even the Non-ferrous metals Commissariat is marked in the subject index, but the NKGB, the NKVD, and the NKVD border troops are not mentioned ...Let me remind you that 3 February 1941 was decreed by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD) a separate State Security Committee (NKGB) under the leadership of Vsevolod Merkulov. By the way, since that moment, foreign intelligence with legal and illegal residencies was under the jurisdiction of the NKGB and Beria did not submit. The border guards remained as before as part of the NKVD.
In the third and fourth volumes of the History of the Second World War. 1939 – 1945 ”, published in 1974 and 1975, there is also no NKVD and NKGB, about the actions of the border troops - three short paragraphs into two volumes with a total volume of 1038 pages. But the border troops played a strategic role in the early days of the war!
"ANT" EXPLORATION POGANVYSK
Actually, already on the eve of the war, the border guards made a huge contribution to the opening of Hitler’s military preparations, since by the year of the Border Guards they had their own border reconnaissance.
Its agents did not include the “cream of society” such as Olga Chekhova or Richard Sorge, but this intelligence was helped by train drivers, lubricators, switchmen, modest villagers and residents of border towns ... Zakordonny assistants of the border guards collected information on crumbs, but, gathered together, she gave the most an objective picture of what is happening, then reflected in the notes of the Commissar of Internal Affairs to Stalin. These notes lay on the table to the leadership from spring 1941 of the year to the last pre-war days.
For example, a note by the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR L.P. Beria I.V. Stalin, V.M. Molotov and the People's Commissar of Defense S.K. Tymoshenko on the transfer of German troops to the Soviet border and the violation of the airspace of the USSR No. 1196 / B from 21 on April 1941:
“From 1 to 19 on April 1941, the border detachments of the NKVD of the USSR at the Soviet-German border produced the following data on the arrival of German troops at points adjacent to the state border in East Prussia and the Governor-General.
Arrived in the border zone of Klaipeda region: two infantry divisions, an infantry regiment, a squadron, an artillery division, tank Battalion and company of scooters.
In the area of Suwalki-Lykk arrived: up to two motorcycle divisions, four infantry and two cavalry regiments, tank and sapper battalions.
Up to four infantry and one artillery regiments, a tank battalion and a motorcycle battalion arrived in the area of Myszyniec – Ostroleka.
One infantry and one cavalry regiments, up to two artillery battalions and a company of tanks arrived in the Isle of Mazovia – Malkinya – Gurna area.
They arrived in the region of Biala – Podlaska: one infantry regiment, two sapper battalions, a squadron, a company of scooters and an artillery battery.
In the area of Wlodawa-Islet arrived: up to three infantry, one cavalry and two artillery regiments.
In the area of the town of Kholm, arrived: up to three infantry, four artillery and one motorized regiments, a cavalry regiment and an engineer battalion. Over five hundred cars are also concentrated there.
In the area of Hrubieszow arrived: up to four infantry, one artillery and one motorized regiments and a squadron.
In the area of Tomash arrived: compound headquarters, up to three infantry divisions and up to three hundred tanks.
They arrived in the Przheorsk-Yaroslav area: before the infantry division, over the artillery regiment and up to two cavalry regiments. The concentration of German troops near the border took place in small units, to the battalion, squadron, battery, and often at night.
In the same areas where troops arrived, a large amount of ammunition, fuel and artificial anti-tank obstacles were delivered.
In April, work on the construction of fortifications intensified. During the period from 1 to 19 on April, German 43 aircraft violated the state border several times, making reconnaissance flights over our territory to a depth of 200 km. Most of the airplanes were fixed over the regions: Riga, Kretinga, Taurogen, Lomza, Rawa-Russkaya, Przemysl, Rovno.
Application: scheme.
People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR Beria ".
2 June 1941 of the year Beria sent a note No. 1798 / B to Stalin personally, where, in particular, it was noted: “The generals of the German army make reconnaissance near the border: On May 11, General Reichenau - near the town of Ulguvek ... May 18 - General with a group of officers - in the area of Belzhets ... 23 in May, a general with a group of officers ... in the area of Radymno ... "
The same note emphasized that “pontoons, tarpaulin and inflatable boats are concentrated at many points near the border. The largest number of them is noted in the directions to Brest and Lviv. ”
Beria’s accusation that he allegedly misinformed Stalin about the possibility of the war beginning in the summer of 1941, has long become standard. However, as we see, everything was accurate “to the contrary” - it was Beria who gave Stalin objective information in real time, and this possibility was provided by reconnaissance of border districts. It is appropriate to call it "ant" - a separate ant carries a little, but as a result a huge anthill grows!
PREVIOUS YEARS REFORMS
Before the war, the Soviet border forces were a powerful and dynamic structure. And if we talk about this, then it is impossible not to mention the head of the people's commissariat to whom the border guards were subordinated, that is, Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria. For the border troops, Beria, as a people's commissar, did a lot in just three incomplete prewar years. Of course, the best traditions of the Soviet border guards were laid not by Beria, but before him. But he developed them, starting with the fact that the magazine “Pogranichnik” began to be published since 1939, which quickly became popular.
However, the ideological weapon effective when backed by effective organization and appropriate material weapons. Beria was a brilliant manager, and, having headed the NKVD of the USSR since the end of November 1938, he approached the improvement of the organization of the protection of the state border precisely as a competent manager. At the same time, he, the natural security officer, did not forget about reconnaissance work in the border troops.
Here is what retired Major General Sechkin wrote in his book Border and War in 1993: “In February (1939 - BS), a decision was made by the SNK, which was allocated from the Main Directorate of Border and Internal Troops as independent Main Directorate of the Border Troops. The creation of a special body with clearly and clearly defined tasks and district local administrations favorably affected the organizational strengthening of the border troops as special forces designed to guard and protect the state border of the USSR ... A complete reorganization of units of the border troops was carried out; the headquarters of units and formations were reorganized according to a single control scheme from top to bottom, intelligence agencies for units and formations of border troops were also created according to a single scheme; all commandant offices were reorganized according to two main model states (land and coastal units were formed and existing communications units were re-formed motorized transport units were formed ... 7 sea schools, 7 service dog schools and a communication school were reorganized. Technical reconstruction of troops, re-equipment of land border units with modern small arms ... border development aviation, the introduction of engineering and technical means into border protection imposed increased requirements for ... training commanding officers and political personnel ... By the beginning of 1941, commanding and engineering personnel for the border troops were trained in 11 military educational institutions of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs " .
In all this, Beria’s handwriting is visible: a clear structure of the troops, the development of technical means, personnel training, reliable communications, motorization ...
And - let's not forget - intelligence! Intelligence is massive, at the lowest grassroots level; intelligence conducted by ordinary people, by the people themselves, and therefore the most reliable and reliable! Beria perfectly put such intelligence in the GruzchK, and then in the ZakOGPU, so its significance for the effective protection of borders and the security of the state was not known in theory.
The results affected quickly - not only the special, but also purely military training of border guards has grown, although by definition they are not intended to fight like the army team. But here - the border guards fought, and how! By the end of 1939, their fighting capacity was so good that in the Finnish war, which was full of army soldiers' miscalculations, the situation was sometimes semi-aecdotal.
Thus, the joint directive of the People's Commissar of Defense Voroshilov and the Commissar of the Interior Beria No. 16662 still 14 September 1939 of the year, that is, before the outbreak of hostilities, it was stipulated that with their commencement of the border troops they entered the operational subordination of the RKKA command to the 30 – 50 line km deep into Finnish territory.
By mid-December, many units of the 9 Army reached this line, but military commanders still demanded allocation to support the units of the border troops.
And it ended with the 17 of December 1939, the chief of staff of the NKVD border troops of the Karelian district, Colonel Kiselyov sent a report to the 9 Army headquarters, tactfully but firmly reminding the army generals that the cause of the border troops was to protect the state border, and not a breakthrough of strongly fortified defense.
DEAR EGG TO THE CHRIST DAY
The frontier guards knew how to fight, and Beria took care to ensure that they knew how to fight with the best weapons.
One of the unpleasant surprises for us of the Finnish war was the massive use of Suomi machine guns by the Finns. Samples of them in the People's Commissariat of Defense were available before the war, but during the fighting, captured submachine guns appeared, and the war also gave an idea of their effectiveness in battle.
Neither the people's commissar, Marshal Voroshilov, nor the people's commissar who replaced him, Marshal Timoshenko, nor the Red Army chief of armaments Marshal Kulik and other high military ranks, did not draw proper conclusions from the outcome of the war, and even after the Finnish war, the army did not complain about the machines. In 1940, the industry of the USSR produced a total of 81 thous. Submachine guns (machine guns). But the correct conclusions were drawn long before the war by the people's commissar of internal affairs and ordered as many assault rifles for the border guards as the estimated expenditures of the State Unitary Inspection of the NKVD allowed.
By the beginning of the 1941 of the year, only in the Ukrainian border district were armed with 300 machine guns, more than 600 light machine guns and quite a few machine guns. And besides, about 500 cars.
In the same five detachments of the Belarusian Border District there were 200 heavy machine guns, about 400 light machine guns, about 6,5 thousand self-loading rifles and 2,5 thousand automatic rifles.
In 1940, 3515 machine guns, 1200 self-loading rifles and 110 machine guns were additionally allocated in 1941, and in March-April 357 of the year RM-50, 45 machine guns and 18 anti-tank mortars.
The relative saturation of the border troops with automatic weapons before the war many times exceeded the army figures, and with the beginning of the war the NKVD sometimes had to share their reserves with the army, although they were needed by the NKVD troops for fighting!
During 1939 – 1940, Border Guards personnel increased by 50%, and at the beginning of 1941, Beria, allegedly “not preparing for war,” achieved an additional increase in their numbers, bringing it on the western border to 100 thousand people within five border military districts: Leningrad, Baltic Special, Western Special, Kiev Special and Odessa ...
There were eight frontier western districts: Murmansk, Karelo-Finnish, Leningrad, Baltic, Belorussian, Ukrainian, Moldavian and Black Sea. And in the Belarusian and Ukrainian border districts 47% of the number of all western border troops was concentrated.
This already suggests that Beria saw the direction of the possible main attacks of the Germans no worse than Zhukov. And how was it possible not to foresee a possible development of events, passing Stalin the information that Beria passed to him? And if Beria couldn’t see the pre-storm situation, if he knew such statistics ... In the first quarter of 1940, among the very numerous trespassers (and the smugglers and godfathers on opposite sides of the border who decided to visit their relatives violated it) were 28 German agents, in the second quarter - 43, in the third - 64, in the fourth - 99, and in the first quarter of 1941 of the year - already 153.
Of course, the people's commissar understood everything and prepared the border troops for defense.
BORDER PREPARED IN ADVANCE
The border guards were prepared for war better than the army team already the very essence of their service. If the army shoots live ammunition at the enemy only after the start of the war, then the border troops are always at war. And for them, the Great Patriotic War began long before 22 June. For example, in April 1941 of the year, a reconnaissance group crossed the border at the site of the 86 border detachment - 16 people disguised as the engineering troops of the Red Army. After meeting the border guards with them, the battle began. As a result, 11 saboteurs were killed, 5 captured. And this was not an isolated case - from April to November 1940, only in the Ukrainian border area were 38 gangs and armed emigrant groups totaling 486 people eliminated! But in general, on the eve of the war, more than 500 armed incursions into Soviet territory were repelled.
Yes, the border was prepared in advance. In the monograph, published in 1989, A.I. Chugunova “The Frontier Fights” states: “As for border outposts, commandant’s offices and detachments, they managed to equip light-duty defenses: dugouts, trenches, communication lines, bunkers, trenches, which made it possible to create relatively strong resistance points during fighting at the forefront. "
Would all this be possible without the sanction of the People's Commissar Beria, a candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b)? And would he give this sanction if, like his subordinates, he did not see a very high probability of the start of the war already in 1941 year? After all, the message moves and trenches are not equipped long before the start of the war.
And the border troops of the NKVD of the USSR were met with dignity not in certain areas, like the Red Army, but everywhere, along the entire border line, because the entire border was ready to fight back at any moment.
A.I. Chugunov writes: “The last night before the invasion for the frontier troops of the western and north-western sectors was in fact no longer peaceful. On the evening of June 21, many outposts, border commandant's offices and detachments, on the orders of their chiefs, left the barracks and occupied defenses, prepared in case of military actions. ”
But if so, then the question immediately arises: who gave the orders to the bosses in this regard? And what does “many” mean? What - at some outposts, the chiefs said to their subordinates: “And what, guys, the night is warm, starry, will we sit this night in the trenches, eh? The stars are better seen from them! ”, And at other outposts the night was cloudy, and there you could not see the stars in the trenches, did you sit down with stars?
No, thank you! The order to take combat positions from the evening could only come to all outposts, and only from Moscow, from the People's Commissariat. And only such a people's commissar could give such an order. And, of course, for the entire western strip of the border.
But could a people's commissar give such a carte blanche to the border without Stalin’s knowledge and consent? And could Stalin confine himself to the border troops of the NKVD alone and forget about the Red Army and RKKF? After all, the opposing side is visible above all the actions of the border troops. And it proves once again: Stalin knew about the war, and the others knew.
But someone took measures, and for some reason someone did not!
Moreover! General Sechkin, mentioned earlier, reports that on the night of 21 on 22 June 1941 of the year, the head of the Main Directorate of Border Troops of the NKVD was in the area of the 87 border guard detachment of the Belarusian borderland!
So, Lieutenant-General Grigori Grigorievich Sokolov happened to be there - on the direction of the main German strike? No, of course ... The country's main border guard could not be on the border without a direct order from Beria and without Stalin’s sanction. Since it was already clear to both of them that a heavy war would begin from day to day, Sokolov was needed right there, in Belarus, in order to organize the combat work of the border guards immediately in the war.
37-year-old General Grigory Sokolov was quite worthy of such a task. A native of Mytishchi near Moscow, in 16 years he became a fighter of the Red Army on the Southern Front, and after the Civil War, step by step, he went through the whole service border ladder, starting with the assistant commander of the border platoon. He served on the border from Kirkeness to Siberia and Central Asia.
Having met the war on the border, he soon became the head of the rear security service of the Western Front - a difficult position, given the failures of General Pavlov and others. It is indicative that mean biographical information is most often silent about this activity of Sokolov, counting out his combat biography of 1941 from the post of chief of staff of the Central Front, which he held for only three days - from 22 to 25 of August.
They are also silent about the fact that from September to October, General Sokolov was the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, collecting and analyzing data on the situation on the front and preparing conclusions and proposals for the General Headquarters. Since October, he is the chief of staff of the 26 Army, which assumed the main attack of Guderian’s 2 Panzer Group (army) under Tula. At the end of 1941, Sokolov formed a new reserve 26 army and went with her to the Volkhov front.
Talking in detail about General Sokolov, I do not shy away from the main topic. Sokolov, who died in the 1973 year, is one of the iconic figures of the last peaceful and first military days of the 1941 year. Because he is silent. In the one-volume encyclopedia published in 1985, “The Great Patriotic War. 1941 – 1945 »no name for Sokolov. Even the graphic artist Soyfertis included the compilers in the encyclopedia about the war. And Sokolov was "forgotten."
Still would! Indeed, the very fact of sending 22 on June 10, 1941 to Belorussia, the chief of the Chief Administration of the NKVD of the USSR, very convincingly refutes the myth that Stalin and Beria did not believe in the proximity of war! In fact, General Pavlov and Khrushchev (there is evidence of this) did not believe in it. And only for the border troops of the NKVD, the war began in the trenches, and not in the beds - not only for border guards, but for all troops ready to repel Hitler’s aggression on an advance order.
TAKING A ROLE OF THE ARMY
The border guards always knew how to fight, and one experienced border soldier in a difficult, dynamic battle without a single front line, without a clear command cost, perhaps, five, or even ten, or even fifty ordinary military servicemen.
They, young and older guys in green caps - almost without exception Komsomol members and communists, had before the war on the western borders about 100 thousands: 47 land and 6 maritime border detachments, 9 separate border commandant regiments and 11 regiments of operational NKVD troops. And in the outbreak of the war, they immediately played a strategic role, without exaggeration, because they were kept for days in an environment in which the army units would roll back within hours. Yes, and they rolled - where the head commanders and even traitors stood at the head of the units and formations. But the border guards met the war with dignity.
In the calculations of the Hitlerite command, 30 minutes were assigned to crush the resistance of the border troops. A certain reason in this calculation was that the task of the border troops included armed guards of the state border in peacetime, but not the protection and defense of the national territory from the invading aggressor. Fighting the aggressor, repelling aggression is a natural prerogative of the army.
In reality, the border guards during the border battle had to take on heavy military work, and their resistance was not just selfless, heroic — it disrupted Hitler’s strategic plans. For the future victory of the 1945 of the year, the delay in the advance of the Germans, even by the clock, was of the utmost importance, and the frontier posts, detachments, border regiments often won, as has been said, more than one day. And often decisively reinforced the efforts of the army.
Thus, in the initial history of the war, an amazing example of the 41 Infantry Division was lost. The oldest commander of the Red Army, General G.N., commanded this personnel division. Mikushev.
The division was part of General I.N.'s 6 Army. Muzychenko and stationed in the Rava-Russian. On the eve of 22 June, General Mikushev brought the division into combat readiness and occupied defensive lines according to the plan to cover the border. He coordinated his actions with the commander of the 91 border detachment, Major Ya.D. Small, and most likely Mikushev only accurately executed the order Muzychenko, who came on command from the headquarters of the Kiev OBO. On their own initiative, in peacetime, division commanders do not imprison personnel in trenches, because they can put them in charge of such things.
But, one way or another, three German infantry divisions and part of the forces of three tank divisions moved into the 41 division and the border guards of the 91 squadron. And Mikushev's division, along with the border guards, stood at its turn for six days! 23 June she counterattacked the enemy and threw him a kilometer 3 into Polish territory. 23 June 1941 of the year! In the direction of the main strike of the Wehrmacht!
Mikushev departed only because his neighbors had very much left the flanks and the threat of encirclement. This was an outstanding episode of the beginning of the war, where a new fighting community of the best forces of the army and border guards was emerging.
TO PROTECT MOSCOW
Already on 29 on June 1941 of the year, an order was issued by the General Command Headquarters on the formation of rifle and mechanized divisions from the personnel of the NKVD troops. Here is his full text: “Proceed immediately to the formation of 15 divisions, of which 10 rifle and 5 motorized. To form divisions, use part of the cadres of the commanding and rank-and-file personnel of the border and internal troops of the NKVD.
The missing personnel to cover from stock.
The formation of divisions entrusted to the Commissar. Beria L.P.
The Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army should provide the emerging divisions with human and material resources and weapons at the request of the NKVD. ”
For the formation of the KGB divisions, Ivan Ivanovich Maslennikov did a lot - Beria's ally in the Transcaucasus. Coming to the leadership of the NKVD, Beria pulled him and him to Moscow, and it was a good choice. 29 June 1941 of the year was issued an order of the NKVD, which said: "... Formation ... select from the personnel of the NKVD troops on 1000 people. Private and junior commanders and 500 people. commanding staff for each division. ... The concentration of personnel allocated from the troops of the NKVD, to finish by July 17 this year. "
Border guards of the border border areas have already fought - who are in the composition of the troops to protect the rear areas of the fronts, who are surrounded or in combat units. And the new KGB divisions were formed at the expense of the better personnel of the border troops of the Georgian, Armenian, Azerbaijan, Kazakh, Central Asian, Turkmen and Trans-Baikal districts. It was a decision, both correct and non-standard, because it was a risky business to expose at least the secondary sections of the border.
But the risk was justified, and from distant border regions to the places of formation, in particular, to Yaroslavl, in a matter of days (for 8-11 days), 3 thousand commanders and 10 thousand sergeants and privates received profits from Transcaucasia and Central Asia. Plus - 500 people from the personnel of the Leningrad, Baltic, Belarusian, Ukrainian and Moldavian border districts, out of the environment.
Total - more than 15 thous. Of the combat core of the 15 divisions. Strong shots were also taken from the reserve. And the border guards played the role of alloying additives in ordinary steel. And the alloy turned out great!
Almost all command positions in the divisions occupied by border guards. Graduates of the Kharkov Cavalry Frontier School became commanders of platoons, students of the Higher Border School were commanders of battalions.
The first year of the war was bitter for the Soviet border guards - after all, tens of thousands of our children died, beautiful, loyal to the Motherland and professionally able to defend it. However, the same year was for the Soviet border guards and "star" year ... Never - neither before nor after - the value of the border troops for the country was not so significant, given that then decided the fate of Russia.
On the Chekist emblem - a shield and a sword. The frontier guards could not be a sword during battles with the enemy - the enemy was covered with too strong armor, and the army sword should have got it through this armor. But the border guards became a shield for the country, restraining and restraining the onslaught, weakening it and winning the most important condition of future victory in those days - time. It was a truly collective feat, accomplished on a scale of war and history almost instantly.
The first division of the six divisions went ahead of schedule, because the front did not wait - in the zone of the former Zapov, the current Western front, a huge gap was formed, through which the German forces went to Russia. And Beria had to close this gap.
Oath taken on the route and in combat positions. So dictated an extremely difficult situation at the front. All 15 divisions went where it was most difficult. Ten divisions (243-I, 244-I, 246-I, 247-I, 249-I, 250-I, 251-I, 252-I, 254-I and 256-I) - on the Western Front, five ( 265-i, 268-i, 262-i, 257-i and 259-i) - to the North-West.
And a new problem had already arisen ... After losing the border battle, it was necessary to think about the advance organization of defense in the Moscow strategic direction.
14 July The Supreme Command (10 July GKO reorganized the GK bid to the BK VK) issues the order No. 00334 on the creation of the reserve armies front at the turn of Staraya Russa, Ostashkov, Bely, Istomino, Yelnya, Bryansk to prepare for a stubborn defense.
The front consisted of six armies (29, 30, 24, 28, 31, and 32), four of which were commanded by border guards: 30, Major General V.A. Khomenko; 31-y - the chief of troops of the Karelo-Finnish software, Major General V.N. Dalmatov; 24-y - Major-General K.I., Head of the Baltic Forces Rakutin. Deputy Commissar, Lieutenant-General Ivan Maslennikov, after forming the KGB divisions, took the 29-th army.
Border Guard was also appointed commander of the reserve armies; former Lieutenant-General I.A. Bogdanov. On July 30, the front of the reserve armies was transformed into the Reserve front under the command of Zhukov (he invited Bogdanov to his office as deputy).
Let's count ...
On the western border, about 100, thousands of border guards, met the war, and almost everyone fought for several soldiers. In fact, border guards became the last reserve of command at all levels, at the disposal of which they turned out to be the will of fate and a military event. By the second half of July, the country received in addition to the already belligerent border guards at least at least 100 thousand border-level soldiers, the backbone of which amounted to 15 thousand best frontier guards. And the fact that, on the one hand, it was they who were thrown to close the breakthrough, and on the other hand, Stalin also entrusted the border guards to occupy a new strategic line, speaks of the outstanding role of the border troops in the initial period of the war.
Alas, this role was already degraded in the first capital research about the Great Patriotic War, because, evaluating the border troops according to merit, you might run into the question: “And who prepared the border troops, who was responsible for the formation of the Chekist 15 divisions?” The inability to answer immediately programmed exclusion of conditions for the question. But at least now the merits of the Soviet border troops to the Motherland and the people in the first military hours, days, weeks and months should be rightfully assessed. This is necessary not only for a correct understanding of the past, but also for our future.
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