On the anniversary of the start of the Great Patriotic War, the Ministry of Defense published on its website more than 100 pages of declassified memoirs of Soviet military leaders. Documents from the declassified funds of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense include answers from commanders of districts, armies, corps and division commanders to five key questions prepared by the Military-Historical Directorate of the General Staff of the Soviet Army.
In 1952, in the Military-Historical Directorate of the General Staff of the Soviet Army, a group was created under the leadership of Colonel-General A.P. Pokrovsky, which began to develop a description of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
The assignments were sent to the commanders of the districts, armies, corps and division commanders who exercised control in the first days of the war.
The materials received by the Military Historical Directorate, authored by famous Soviet military leaders, were carefully studied and analyzed and formed the basis of fundamental scientific works describing the course of the Great Patriotic War from the point of view of military specialists.
DEREVYANKO KUZMA NIKOLAEVICH
lieutenant general
1941 - Deputy Chief of the Intelligence Department of the Headquarters of the Baltic Special Military District (North-Western Front)
“The grouping of German fascist troops on the eve of the war in the Memel region, in East Prussia and in the Suwalki region in the last days before the war was known to the district headquarters in sufficient detail and to a large extent.
The discovered grouping of German fascist troops on the eve of hostilities was regarded by the intelligence department [of the district headquarters] as an offensive group with a significant saturation of tanks and motorized units. "
BAGRAMYAN IVAN KhRISTOFOROVICH
Marshal of the Soviet Union
1941 - Chief of the Operations Department of the Headquarters of the Kiev Special Military District (Southwestern Front)
“The troops directly covering the state border had detailed plans and documentation up to and including the regiment. Field positions were prepared for them along the entire border. These troops were the first operational echelon. "
"The covering troops, the first operational echelon, were stationed directly at the borders and began to deploy under the cover of fortified areas with the outbreak of hostilities."
"Their advance to the prepared positions by the General Staff was prohibited, so as not to give a pretext for provoking a war on the part of fascist Germany."
Declassified documents about the first days of the war: directives of the People's Commissariat of Defense (NPO) of the USSR (including a copy of directive No. 1 of June 22, 1941), orders and reports of commanders of military units and formations, orders for awards, trophy cards and decrees of the country's leadership.
On June 22, 1941, the directive of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR Semyon Timoshenko was sent from Moscow. A few hours earlier, soldiers of the 90th border detachment of the Sokal commandant's office detained a German serviceman of the 221st regiment of the 15th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht, Alfred Liskov, who swam across the border river Bug. He was taken to the city of Vladimir-Volynsky, where, during interrogation, he said that at dawn on June 22, the German army would go on the offensive along the entire Soviet-German border. The information was passed on to the higher command. In the meantime, there is no need to know about it. ”
Directive text:
“To the commander of the 3rd, 4th, 10th armies, I transmit the order of the People's Commissar of Defense for immediate execution:
- During June 22-23, 1941, a sudden attack by the Germans on the fronts of the Leningrad Military District is possible. RBK), PribOVO (Baltic Special Military District, transformed into the North-Western Front. - RBK), ZAPOVO (Western Special Military District, transformed into the Western Front. - RBK), KOVO (Kiev Special Military District, transformed into the South-Western Front - RBK), OdVO (Odessa Military District - RBK). The attack can start with provocative actions.
- The task of our troops is not to succumb to any provocative actions that could cause major complications.
- I order:
- During the night of June 22, 1941, secretly occupy firing points of fortified areas on the state border;
- before dawn on June 22, 1941, to disperse all aviation, including military, to field airfields, carefully disguise it;
- to bring all units to combat readiness without additional raising of the assigned personnel. Prepare all activities to darken cities and objects.
Do not hold any other events without a special order. "
The directive was signed by the commander of the Western Front, Dmitry Pavlov, Chief of Staff of the Western Front, Vladimir Klimovskikh, and a member of the Military Council of the Western Front, Alexander Fominykh.
In July, Pavlov, Klimovskikh, the chief of communications of the Western Front, Major General Andrei Grigoriev, and the commander of the 4th Army, Major General Alexander Korobkov, were accused of inaction and the collapse of command and control, which led to a breakthrough of the front, and sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of the USSR. The verdict was brought into effect in July 1941. After Stalin's death, they were rehabilitated.
Order text:
“Military councils of LVO, PribOVO, ZAPOVO, KOVO, OdVO.
On June 22, 1941, at 4 o'clock in the morning, German aviation, without any reason, raided our airfields along the western border and bombarded them. At the same time, German troops opened artillery fire in different places and crossed our border.
In connection with an unheard-of insolent attack from Germany on the Soviet Union, I order ... "<...>
<...> “Troops with all their forces and means to attack the enemy forces and destroy them in the areas where they violated the Soviet border.
Until further notice, the ground troops will not cross the border.
Reconnaissance and combat aviation to establish the places of concentration of enemy aviation and the grouping of his ground forces. "<...>
<...> “Destroy aircraft at enemy airfields with powerful blows from bomber and ground attack aircraft and bomb the main groupings of its ground forces. Air strikes to be delivered to a depth of German territory up to 100-150 km.
Bomb Konigsberg (today Kaliningrad. - RBK) and Memel (a naval base and port on the territory of Lithuania. - RBK).
Do not air raids on the territory of Finland and Romania until special instructions. "
Signatures: Tymoshenko, Malenkov (Georgy Malenkov - member of the Main Military Council of the Red Army. - RBK), Zhukov (Georgy Zhukov - Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, Deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR. - RBK).
"Comrade. Vatutin (Nikolai Vatutin - Zhukov's first deputy - RBK). Bomb Romania. "
Plan of Barbarossa Trophy Card
In 1940-1941. Germany has developed a plan of attack on the USSR, involving "lightning war". The plan and the operation were named after the King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I "Barbarossa".
From a brief combat history of the 158th Fighter Aviation Regiment with a description of the exploits of junior lieutenants Kharitonov and Zdorovtsev
The first soldiers who were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the war were pilots Pyotr Kharitonov and Stepan Zdorovtsev. On June 28, on their I-16 fighters, for the first time during the defense of Leningrad, they used ram attacks against German aircraft. On July 8 they were awarded titles.
Kharitonov's schemes
After the war, Pyotr Kharitonov continued to serve in the Air Force. In 1953 he graduated from the Air Force Academy, from 1955 he went into the reserve. He lived in Donetsk, where he worked at the headquarters of the city's Civil Defense.
Scheme of Zdorovtsev's action
After receiving the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on July 8, 1941, Zdorovtsev flew out on July 9 for reconnaissance. On the way back in the Pskov region, he entered into battle with German fighters. His plane was shot down, Zdorovtsev was killed.
Western Special Military District. Intelligence report number 2
On June 22, 1941, the 99th Infantry Division was stationed in the Polish city of Przemysl, which was one of the first to be captured by German troops. On June 23, units of the division managed to recapture part of the city and restore the border.
"Reconnaissance report number 2 shtadiv (division headquarters. - RBK) 99 Boratyche forest (a village in the Lviv region. - RBK) 19:30 June 22, 1941
The enemy crosses the San River (a tributary of the Vistula, flows through the territory of Ukraine and Poland. - RBK) in the Barich region, took Stubenko (a settlement in Poland. - RBK) to an infantry battalion. Before the infantry battalion is occupied by Gurechko (a village on the territory of Ukraine. - RBK), small horse groups at 16:00 appeared in Kruvniki (a settlement on the territory of Poland. - RBK). At 13:20 the enemy occupied the Przemysl hospital of an unknown number.
An accumulation of up to an infantry regiment on the opposite bank of the San River in the Vyshatse area. Accumulation of infantry / small groups / 1 km south of Gurechko.
16:00 to the artillery battalion fired from the Dusovce region (a village in Poland. - RBK). Up to three battalions of large-caliber artillery at 19:30 fired at Cape Medyka (a village in Poland. - RBK) from the districts of Maikovets, Dunkovichky, Vypatse.
Conclusions: on the Grabovets-Przemysl front, more than one AP (infantry division. - RBK), reinforced by artillery / unknown number.
Presumably the main enemy grouping on the right flank of the division.
It is necessary to establish: the action of the enemy in front of the right [inaudible] division.
Printed in 5 copies. "
Signatures: Chief of Staff of the 99th Infantry Division Colonel Gorokhov, Chief of the Intelligence Department Captain Didkovsky.
The Ministry of Defense has declassified unique documents describing the events of the eve and the initial period of World War II, which, in particular, speak of the threat from Poland. The materials were published in the new multimedia section "A fragile peace on the brink of war".
As noted in the military department, the declassified documents give an idea of \u200b\u200bwhy in such a difficult military-political situation certain decisions were made. The new section is also intended to fight against attempts to falsify history and revise the results of the Great Patriotic War and World War II.
Among the declassified documents - memo Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army Boris Shaposhnikov; People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR Kliment Voroshilov. It contains military threat assessment, which can be represented by various states both independently and as part of military alliances and blocs.
The degree of importance and secrecy of the document is emphasized by the fact that Shaposhnikov did not resort to the help of a typist secretary, but wrote the 31-page memo on his own. In the opinion of Soviet military experts, the most likely threat to the USSR during this period was not only the military alliance between Germany and Italy, but also Poland, which is "in the orbit" of the fascist bloc.
As Shaposhnikov noted, "the Soviet Union needs to be ready to fight on two fronts: in the west against Germany-Poland and partially against Italy with the possible joining of the limitrophes, and in the east against Japan."
It follows from the document that Germany and Poland on the eve of the war could together expose more than 160 infantry divisions, more than 7 thousand tanks and 4.5 thousand aircraft. For comparison, the People's Commissar of Defense Voroshilov, in negotiations with the British and French military delegations in May 1939, said that Moscow was capable of deploying 136 divisions and 5 thousand aircraft.
The materials also describe the combat operations of the 2nd German Army Corps during the offensive on Poland in 1939, drawn up in 1949 by a prisoner of war Lieutenant-General of the former German army Hermann Boehme, who during the period of the described hostilities held the post of chief of the unit's operations department. In them, he describes in detail how secretly, under the guise of exercises, the German troops were preparing for an attack, and also reveals the sequence of actions of the corps troops during the offensive. The testimony of the German general testifies to the fierce resistance of the Poles, describes the intense course of the battles for Warsaw and the Modlin fortress.
World War II lasted six years from September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945. Her last battles were fought on Far East... On September 2, 1945, the act of unconditional surrender of Japan, an ally of Germany, was signed aboard the American battleship Missouri.
61 states with a population of 1.7 billion people were involved in the war, military operations were conducted on the territory of 40 states, as well as in maritime and ocean theaters. World War II was the most destructive and bloody of all wars. Over 55 million people died in it. The greatest casualties were suffered by the Soviet Union, which lost 27 million people.
The Ministry of Defense has declassified unique documents describing the events of the eve and the initial period of World War II, which, in particular, speak of the threat from Poland. The materials were published in the new multimedia section "A fragile peace on the brink of war".
As noted in the military department, the declassified documents give an idea of \u200b\u200bwhy in such a difficult military-political situation certain decisions were made. The new section, timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the signing of the non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union (the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact), is also intended to combat attempts to falsify history and revise the results of the Great Patriotic War and World War II.
Among the declassified documents is a memo from the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army Boris Shaposhnikov to the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR Kliment Voroshilov. It contains an assessment of the military threat that various states can pose, both independently and as part of military alliances and blocs.
The degree of importance and secrecy of the document is emphasized by the fact that Shaposhnikov did not resort to the help of a typist secretary, but wrote the 31-page memo on his own. In the opinion of Soviet military experts, the most likely threat to the USSR during this period was not only the military alliance between Germany and Italy, but also Poland, which is "in the orbit" of the fascist bloc.
As Shaposhnikov noted, "the Soviet Union needs to be ready to fight on two fronts: in the west against Germany-Poland and partially against Italy with the possible joining of the limitrophes, and in the east against Japan."
It follows from the document that Germany and Poland on the eve of the war could put together more than 160 infantry divisions, more than 7 thousand tanks and 4.5 thousand aircraft. For comparison, the People's Commissar of Defense Voroshilov, in negotiations with the British and French military delegations in May 1939, said that Moscow was capable of deploying 136 divisions and 5 thousand aircraft.
The materials also describe the combat operations of the 2nd German Army Corps during the offensive on Poland in 1939, drawn up in 1949 by a prisoner of war Lieutenant General of the former German army Hermann Boehme, who during the period of the described hostilities held the post of chief of the unit's operations department. In them, he describes in detail how secretly, under the guise of exercises, the German troops were preparing for an attack, and also reveals the sequence of actions of the corps troops during the offensive. The testimony of the German general testifies to the fierce resistance of the Poles, describes the intense course of the battles for Warsaw and the Modlin fortress.
World War II lasted six years from September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945. Her last battles were fought in the Far East. On September 2, 1945, the act of unconditional surrender of Japan, an ally of Germany, was signed aboard the American battleship Missouri.
61 states with a population of 1.7 billion people were involved in the war, military operations were conducted on the territory of 40 states, as well as in maritime and ocean theaters. World War II was the most destructive and bloody of all wars. Over 55 million people died in it. The greatest casualties were suffered by the Soviet Union, which lost 27 million people.
During the Army-2019 forum, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for the first time presented archival documents from the Great Patriotic War, which were previously kept under the heading "Top secret". They flatly refute the theory, which has recently become popular in the West, that the Soviet Union allegedly "occupied" the countries of Europe at the end of World War II.
Viktoria Kayaeva, deputy head of the research department of the Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense, brought literally several suitcases of papers to the Zvezda studio, from which it was time to remove the secrecy label, and now they are a real sensation. They documented that the Soviet Union, even at the time of the Great Patriotic War, helped the inhabitants of Poland and Budapest with food.
“If we open this volume, we will see that there is a certificate on the progress of the implementation of the decision of the State Defense Committee of February 9, 1945 on sending grain products to the disposal of the provisional government of the Polish Republic. I will note that the hostilities are still underway. Here, in tons, it is indicated how much and what kind of material - cereals, flour, rye, that is, food - was sent to the Polish population. In March - 20 thousand tons, in April the same amount. There is an indication of the stations from which it was sent. These are all stations in the depths of the Soviet Union, ”says Victoria Kayaeva.
That is, even in those conditions when there was famine in the Soviet Union, grain reserves and fields were destroyed, the country found funds to send food to Poland, which also survived the occupation.
Another document is dated May 29, 1945. It orders the provision of assistance to the Polish state in organizing sowing operations. It is documented that the population of Poland was supplied with seeds so that the Poles could sow their fields and get a harvest, which they themselves will then dispose of.
“Are there any other documents somewhere that testify that the“ occupants ”bring sowing material with them, provide food for the local population, and help children. Do the "occupants" act like that? ”Asks a representative of the Defense Ministry's archive.
The famous footage of Russian soldiers in Berlin giving milk to German children can now also be verified by documentary evidence. At the Zvezda studio, Victoria Kayaeva presented a resolution of the military council of the 1st Belorussian Front, which was fighting in Berlin, on organizing the distribution of milk to children in Berlin.
“At that time in Berlin in 1945 there were about a million children. And our servicemen provided children under 8 with milk. That is, in this way our military took care of the health and future of the nation of Germany. Ordinance "On the supply of milk to the children of the city of Berlin". Further there is a reference to the decree of the State Defense Committee of May 8, 1945. That is, the act of surrender has not yet been signed. And it is said that the supply of milk to children up to 8 years of age should be organized at the expense of: and then there is an indication of how this is all organized. Districts that will be responsible for the supply of milk have been attached, ”said Victoria Kayaeva.
Another archive volume declassified by the Ministry of Defense contains information on the Soviet Union's assistance to virtually all liberated countries: Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Germany. So, on April 23, 1945, it was documented that Poland should be provided assistance in the form of: cattle - 150 thousand heads, cotton - 20 thousand tons, unwashed wool - 2 thousand tons, large leather - 100 thousand to ensure the Polish industry and organization jobs in the country.
Other documents already refer to the provision of assistance by the Soviet Union to the countries of Eastern Europe. They, in particular, contain a certificate from the headquarters of the rear services of the Red Army and correspondence with the department of rear services of the fronts about the shipment of food to Budapest.
“It says that grain, sugar and meat were allocated in tons: grain - 15 tons, sugar - 2 tons, meat - 3 tons. At the same time, the strictest control was carried out over everything that was transferred and shipped. This program could not have failed. Responsible for its implementation were appointed, and literally every transferred kilogram went under the personal responsibility of the persons who were responsible for it, ”the archive specialist explains.
All these documents, according to Victoria Kayaeva, will now be available to every interested citizen of the Russian Federation or foreigner. This can be done upon request by visiting the reading room of the RF Ministry of Defense archive. According to the specialist, permission to declassify documents of the Second World War is given on a planned basis, as certain periods of time pass. So any attempts by the West to falsify the history of the War time and again will suffer a crushing defeat, and all accusations against Russia and doubts about its role in the Great Patriotic War will remain groundless.