Spy story

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Spy story


Who gave the Germans the coordinates of the Gorky Automobile Plant during the Great Patriotic War and why only 30 years later found the alleged informant

The city of Gorky during the Second World War suffered greatly because of its openness. In 1930, foreigners worked at its defense enterprises, including those from “friendly” Germany. One of these people during the war years - the Luftwaffe general, probably “handed over” to the Germans the Gorky Automobile Plant, because of which he was almost completely destroyed. Officially it is known: the scouts came to the city after the war, so that 1950's “spying” could be justified here.

German in the city


In 40-ies every second car, every third tank and every fourth artillery installation were made in Gorky.

- The city of Gorky, being one of the most important industrial centers of the country, was also one of the main targets for the fascist aviation, - says RP Vladimir Somov, doctor historical Sci., Professor of the Department of History and Politics of Russia, Lobachevsky NNSU. - During the three war years, from 1941 to 1943, 47 raids were made on the Gorky region, in which 811 aircraft participated.

The first raid occurred on November 4 1941. Then the Germans became the target of the Gorky Automobile Plant. As the factory workers wrote in diaries and their memoirs, the planes flew so low that a swastika could be discerned on their wings. They were separated from them and bombs flew to the ground with a howl.

Vasily Lapshin, who during the war worked at the Gorky Automobile Plant as the chief power engineer, from December 1 1940 and kept his diary throughout the war. After the bombing, he writes: “In the morning we could see the charred corpses, the body parts scattered around. It was terrible to look at this picture. ”

As follows from the diary of Lapshin, the factory workers quickly restructured and became accustomed to air-raids. During the shooting, workers continued to work at the machines. And the factory floor was flooded with water so that the fire did not start from the fall of the burning fragments of the building.

In June, 1943 of the year, in preparation for an offensive near Kursk, the German command decided to deliver a massive blow to the industrial centers of the Volga region. In this regard, it was decided to camouflage the strategically important buildings of the city. In Kstovo District, not far from the modern Fedyakov village, glass and plywood were used to build a so-called “false object” - a huge fake of GAZ to deceive German aviation. But the Germans still bombed a real factory.

As the director of the Museum of GAZ Natalia Kolesnikova, "evening 4 June 45 twin-engine bombers" Heinkel-111 »of squadrons KG-27 and KG-55 rose from airfields near Orel and Bryansk, taking a course at Gorky ... From 45 aircraft to the city broke 20 . They parachuted around 80 lighting flares. It has become lighter than even during the day. Dropped 289 high-explosive bombs, 260 of them - at the car factory. In the first raid, the main assembly line of the automobile plant, the spring shop, and the forge No. 3 were put out. Several houses and a hospital were destroyed in the area. Dozens of fires broke out, the water supply and communication were disrupted. ”

This was followed by two more raids: on the night of June 5-6, in which 80 Heinkels participated, and the next night - 157. On this third, most terrible raid, 12 workshops, warehouses, and depots were destroyed, but suffered the most wheel shop. It was he who was an extremely important object. Here, in particular, wheels for guns, rollers for all were made tanks T-34 shells for Katyusha rocket launchers and much more. It is no accident that Beria, who came to the plant incognito in June 1943, Stalin ordered immediately, at any cost, to restore the wheel shop. Specialists then concluded that it would take several years. However, the heroic efforts of the people restored the plant in 100 days and nights, by the end of October 1943.

But why did the Germans bombed GAZ deliberately instead of camouflage? Later it turned out that a person who previously supplied the enemies with secret information worked here.


Stand dedicated to the participants of the Great Patriotic War Gorky. "Mosaic" is made from pictures of participants of the Eternal Regiment. Photo: Olga Abramova / “Russian Planet”


- Memories of Chinchenko, one of the plant's veterans (Fedor Chianchenko, State Prize winner, five-time winner of VDNH, Honorary Citizen of Nizhny Novgorod. - RP) survived: in 1943, he was Deputy Head of the Wheel Shop. He could not understand why the plant was bombed so fiercely, despite the fact that it was carefully camouflaged, - Marina Marchenko, deputy director of the socio-political archive of the Nizhny Novgorod region, advises the RP. - It was only in September that 1976, when Chinchenko was in Berlin on meeting of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance - RP), he met the former headquarters staff of the German long-range air corps of Germany, Mr. Niderer.

“He showed us a photo in the center of which I saw my former chief at GAZ, Leopold Fink,” Chinchenko later recalled at a meeting of veterans devoted to the 50 anniversary of the restoration of the Gorky automobile plant. - In the picture he was in the form of a general. And at the car factory before the war, he designed all the underground communications, and then he worked as deputy head of the Quality Control Department of the plant (Quality Control Department - Technical Control Department. - RP). So I knew everything about the 1932-1937 car factory. ” This fact is cited in the book of historians Anna Gorevoy and Alexei Vdovin “Everything for Victory”.

Worked Leopold Fink under the contract signed by Molotov. And in 1937, he and his family were expelled from the USSR in 24 hours. About his further fate, little is known. According to Chinchenko, in 1943, he commanded a strategic aviation corps in Germany. Ever since, the tracks of Fink break off. At the meeting of the CMEA, he was not present. Maybe he died during the war, was captured, or, as a representative of the German command, received a long time. Or maybe he lived almost to this day ...

We bought cards and literature


“I think this“ espionage ”story could well have actually happened,” says Vladimir Somov. - And foreign specialists were actually involved in the construction of the automobile plant. Including German. Let me remind you that between the USSR and Germany before the war, there was an agreement on cooperation. It is quite possible that this same Fink did work under our contract for some time, and when the war began, he supplied the Germans with the information he knew. Or this is a huge miscalculation of our intelligence services. By the way, we had similar cases in the region. Therefore, this partly justifies both repression and “espionage” during the war years.

Gorky has always been a tasty morsel for all sorts of "enemy scouts."

- Our city until 1990-x was not accidentally closed, - said Marina Marchenko. - Why we were not allowed to foreigners? Because we had a lot of defense complex enterprises that produced weapons. Foreign experts still came to us to work under the contract. But they stayed here only within certain limits. At the beginning of the 1990's, the status of a “closed city” was removed, and Nizhny became available for visits by foreigners.

As historian Alexander Osipov notes in his book “From the History of Nizhny Novgorod Special Services”, in 1956, Gorky visited 78 foreigners from capitalist countries, among them were 22 installed intelligence officers. And in the 1957 year - already 245 guests from capitalist countries, including 26 official intelligence officers from the diplomatic corps. “Being in the city, foreigners bought various maps, reference books, military, scientific and technical literature, books describing the economy of the USSR and certain regions in stores,” Osipov writes. - Foreign intelligence officers not only studied military facilities from the outside, but also tried to penetrate there. Moving around the city and the region by taxi, foreigners intensively interviewed taxi drivers, asking them, in particular, questions about the population of Gorky, the material situation of citizens, the names of some enterprises, the former street names of the city. ”

As a result, the shameless actions of the visitors forced the country's leadership of 4 August 1959 to issue a decree of the USSR Council of Ministers "On the closure of the city of Gorky for foreigners to visit."
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22 comments
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  1. +1
    15 December 2015 11: 24
    It is strange why this Fink was sent, not exiled.
    1. +1
      15 December 2015 11: 32
      In general, at the start of hostilities and attacks by Germany, all German specialists should not have been deported to Germany, but controlled here.
      Ours did not understand that these specialists are good material for their intelligence?
      And we ourselves released, that is, leaked information to the Germans.
      As a result, many factory workers died and incredible efforts were required to restore the shops and the plant as a whole.
      1. +1
        15 December 2015 13: 29
        Quote: Consul-t
        In general, at the start of hostilities and attacks by Germany, all German specialists should not have been deported to Germany, but controlled here.

        Give a link where you read about it. There is not a single word about this in the article. And more interestingly, but how did specialists transmit across the front line? The first time I hear about this at all.
    2. +1
      15 December 2015 13: 33
      Quote: Al_oriso
      It is strange why this Fink was sent, not exiled.

      The USSR and Germany at that time had agreements on cooperation. Their specialists worked and studied in the USSR, and our specialists in Germany. Stalin did not want to worsen relations between the countries. I wanted to extend the peaceful coexistence of two ideologically polar systems.
      1. The comment was deleted.
      2. 0
        15 December 2015 14: 06
        It is interesting how it was possible to classify the coordinates of a huge factory that was designed and built over the course of a number of years with the direct participation of not only and not so much German specialists, but primarily American firms (Ford).
        There was a whole town for foreign specialists, in which hundreds of foreigners traveled ...
        By the way, American models were the prototypes of the famous fifteen and a half cars and the USA, after the start of production, provided technical support for another 5 years ..
        So the coordinates of the plant could not be a secret, they have long been known to those for whom they were of interest ...
        And the fact that the plant was bombed, not the layout, is a question for those who built the layout and those who were engaged in camouflage issues ..
        In the memoirs of the GSS, Colonel General V.Reshetnikov, an episode is given in WWII when the real airfield on which his regiment was based was disguised, and the same false one was built nearby.
        Nevertheless, the Germans still bombed at the real airfield, and dropped a wooden bomb on a false one ...
        This is the question of real secrets and imaginary and real and imagined spies ...
        1. 0
          16 December 2015 19: 38
          Quote: ranger
          It is interesting how it was possible to classify the coordinates of a huge factory that was designed and built over the course of a number of years with the direct participation of not only and not so much German specialists, but primarily American firms (Ford).

          The toothlessness of our air defense is also striking, when several dozen bombers compare a defenseless plant to the ground, compare up to a thousand aircraft with allied raids at the same time and have huge losses at the same time, and there is practically no effect. How can people be left to their own devices, forced to work under bombs? People’s power, damn it!
  2. 0
    15 December 2015 11: 27
    Reading about the events of the past I project on today's realities. NGO collects information. Aviation bombs a private enterprise. Deripaska says: Shops are ruined. There is no money to restore. AND? Hello white and fluffy scribe?
    1. bad
      +3
      15 December 2015 11: 38
      Quote: 34 region
      Reading about the events of the past I project on today's realities. NGO collects information. Aviation bombs a private enterprise. Deripaska says: Shops are ruined. There is no money to restore. AND? Hello white and fluffy scribe?
      ..if you project for today .. if you smell fried those stocks will not be here for a long time .. they’ll be washing a champagne point in some London and Courchevels .. and we’ll be fighting and working ..
      1. Riv
        +1
        15 December 2015 12: 34
        There is a nuance: Deripaska will be nobody and nothing in London. Of course, he has enough money for a bun with caviar, but no more. When they say: "Your elite keeps money in our banks" - I have a counter offer: "Try to take this money from her. Then you will find out whose elite it is."
        1. +1
          15 December 2015 12: 56
          Despite the weaning money, our (not ours) elite stubbornly removes money. And why did Europe fall so quickly before Hitler? Maybe the business realized that resistance is a loss of money. After all, France lived well under occupation. Why did the Union survive? There was no private business. The broken plant could not complain about the lack of funds for restoration. Today? I am a bankrupt. I have no money. Do you think it will be different in case of war? Then even a house will be bombed and you stupidly will not restore it. No money. Or, again, the state will help the oligarchs, and they stupidly pump loot in your pocket? Who has bomb shelters in business today? What for? Friends around! And the costs of maintaining a bomb shelter. What if tomorrow bankruptcy or crisis? And indeed the bomb shelter is a non-core asset.
          1. Riv
            +2
            15 December 2015 13: 39
            How would you explain more simply ...
            You see, the Great Patriotic War is not the first and not the last war that Russia waged. Alexander Vasilievich in the era of dense serfdom, with soldiers recruited from the same serfs and Europe and Turkey, put all sorts into the poses he wanted. Did he have any special technologies?
            In World War I, Russia was constantly losing territory, but at the same time the entire war showed an increase in production.
            On the other hand, the Afghan war did not produce noticeable results, although the USSR obviously had technical superiority.

            That is, not everything depends on the mode of production.

            And by the way: bomb shelters in cities and enterprises have not gone away. Yes, they are partly transferred to the balances of local municipalities, and partly used as utility rooms, but they are not destroyed. Only they are registered in the Ministry of Emergencies, and not in the Civil Defense. In an emergency, preparing them is a matter of a couple of days.
  3. +1
    15 December 2015 11: 31
    But now freedom! Around the brothers, partners!
  4. -1
    15 December 2015 11: 46
    So, their disadvantages are already in a new generation hissing at Russia, both inside and outside, led by the United States.
  5. -6
    15 December 2015 12: 36
    questions about Gorky’s population, the financial situation of citizens, the name of some enterprises, the old names of the city’s streets. ”

    The article is a very vivid example of Soviet suspicion and insanity, when a malicious spy and enemy is suspected of any curious tourist
    1. +1
      15 December 2015 12: 58
      And what insanity if there were acts of sabotage and sabotage?
    2. 0
      15 December 2015 23: 11
      Quote: Logos
      questions about Gorky’s population, the financial situation of citizens, the name of some enterprises, the old names of the city’s streets. ”

      The article is a very vivid example of Soviet suspicion and insanity, when a malicious spy and enemy is suspected of any curious tourist
      Ukrainian spy received 11 years. http://uralpolit.ru/news/urfo/01-12-2015/69861
  6. 0
    15 December 2015 17: 16
    And that the Rama reconnaissance plane could not fly and just take pictures of the plants?

    If there had been sabotage at the plant, sabotage is another matter.
    And so, I think, ordinary aerial reconnaissance.
    1. +2
      15 December 2015 17: 22
      Quote: voyaka uh
      And that the Rama reconnaissance plane could not fly and just take pictures of the plants?

      I agree.
      On the internet you can find maps of aerial photographs of the Luftwaffe of almost all cities in the European part of the USSR.
      www.retromap.ru
  7. 0
    15 December 2015 23: 16
    Since I myself am a Nizhny Novgorod (formerly Gorky) and interested in aviation history, I can say that:

    in the first place - indeed, the nonsense of espionage was terrible - in the USSR both in the pre-war and post-war period, and our city was really similar to a certain gloomy closed metropolis. And the Germans' aerial reconnaissance revealed everything perfectly - I personally saw the photos, everything is visible to the smallest details ...

    in the second, it may sound strange, but the Luftwaffe won an air war, even then when on the land the Wehrmacht began to lose. The summer of 1943 of the year - the North African theater of war ended, the allies opened a second front in Sicily, Germans are smashed at Kursk, driven away from Krasnodar, and Lifts without straining with SINGLE often bombed factories in the depths of the USSR!

    thirdly, the incredible cruelty towards its own citizens of the communist leadership is terrifying - they usually don't write about this, but in general, according to eyewitnesses (my wife's grandfather was among those who were bombed, and one of my grandfathers fought in the Volga military flotilla, in particular, he tried to fight off just air attacks, and his sister was an anti-aircraft gunner in a female air defense company) - people were forced to work until the beginning of direct bomb attacks "so as not to disrupt production" (that is, they were forbidden to evacuate when they received news of the raid) and hence the huge casualties among the workers (for example, the Germans did not do this with their workers when they were bombed by the allies). Further - an air raid on the city was often announced at the very last moment ("so as not to create panic"), already when the planes were on target and hence there were many casualties among the ordinary civilian population.

    in the fourth, the abominable work of all air defense weapons was observed. Until the autumn of 1943, when the Germans simply stopped the raids, neither the regiments of the air defense fighters could properly defend the city, nor the anti-aircraft guns to fire normally (they were not trained, there were no target indicators, nor any technical detection tools) from the air there were a number of anti-aircraft guns on the ships of the Volga flotilla that had passed the crucible of Stalingrad, transferred to Gorky later and had combat experience ...
  8. +2
    16 December 2015 08: 23
    During the Great Patriotic War, a radio station named after the Comintern worked in the city of Gorky, and so the fascist planes flew by radio compasses, heading for the city. So it was in Glazko, for example. Then they began to turn off these stations during the raid of the fascist aviation. I have the honor.
  9. 0
    16 December 2015 21: 58
    But damn it !!!! Restored the workshop in 100 days !!!! Days !!! It’s hard to imagine how much effort was put into doing this.
  10. 0
    17 December 2015 16: 52
    "The experts then concluded that this would take several years." The plant was built from scratch in 1.5 years, and then one workshop was restored.
  11. 0
    22 December 2015 19: 19
    Quote: Drop
    During the Great Patriotic War, a radio station named after the Comintern worked in the city of Gorky, and so the fascist planes flew by radio compasses, heading for the city.
    This in fact did not play any role, the Germans had excellent aerial photographs, and the channels of the Volga and Oka give unrivaled night landmarks, because shine in the light of the moon in absolute darkening.

    What is interesting is that this is why the huge forces of the air defense aviation could not even drive off Fascist airplanes in night raids from Gorky’s factories in 1943 ...

    Quote: Gray 43
    Restored shop for 100 days !!!! Days !!! It’s hard to imagine how much effort they put into it.
    And what is there to think - there was an order to work around the clock; any reason for refusal was not accepted, immediately - execution. Such orders have been preserved in declassified archives. And eyewitnesses very well remembered the execution ditches, where the "deserters" were publicly taken ... These are the humane methods of dealing with their own population ... According to the stories of survivors of the war, the workers were especially outraged by the case of one toolmaker, who was sentenced to death due to absence to work, and at her home two children fell ill. This triggered an uprising (which is essentially classified until now), the workers went like a wall just with shovels and crowbars, the NKVDists fled from the factory, a commission arrived, and after that the draconian methods of "communist construction" were finally, if not canceled, then still softened ...

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