What the NKVD actually did during the war. What did the NKVD do during the war?

Date of: 19.01.2024

Introduction.

More than half a century has passed since the Soviet Union and its armed forces won a historic victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. In the heroic history of our Motherland, it occupies special pages that reveal the struggle of the Soviet peoples for their freedom and independence.

The NKVD troops wrote many heroic pages in the history of the most terrible war of the 20th century.

Many opinions have been expressed about these state structures and their activities have been given different assessments, and, at times, polar to each other. Naturally, the bodies that defend security and law and order do not always evoke sympathy among citizens, and especially when they have to act in special conditions.

In peacetime, many issues that had to be resolved during the war were not provided for for the internal troops, but the structure of these troops showed its ability to quickly adapt to new conditions and to a rapidly changing operational environment.

The war gave rise to the adoption of a number of documents regulating both life in the country as a whole and the actions of the NKVD troops, adopted both at the highest level and at the level of individual fronts.

Employees of the internal affairs bodies were often involved in operations that were not typical for this structure, the workload on their employees increased sharply, the imperfection and even some inconsistency of the legal framework of their activities allowed higher military structures to “load” the NKVD troops with extremely complex additional tasks.

However, through mistakes, losses, difficulties of various kinds, the tasks of the internal troops during the war were still completed, chaos was not allowed in the country, the rear of the operating armies was reliably protected.

And now, in the context of the ever-increasing criminalization of society, the experience of past years is very important, allowing us to find out how law enforcement structures in wartime solved special, specific tasks, characteristic only for a special, extremely difficult period, since in these conditions, along with the number of professional tasks of peaceful Over time, problems arose and were successfully solved only related to the military situation.

1. Internal Affairs bodies at the beginning of the war.

By the time of the Great Patriotic War, the troops of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs numbered 173,924 people (as of June 1, 1941), incl. operational troops - 27.3 thousand people (excluding military schools), for the protection of railways - 63.7 thousand, for the protection of especially important industrial enterprises - 29.3 thousand, escort troops - 38.2 thousand. 1

The commander of all NKVD troops was the Deputy People's Commissar of the NKVD of the USSR, Divisional Commander I.I. Maslennikov. In addition to the troops, the structure of the NKVD - the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR - included: the Main Directorate of State Security (NKGB), the Main Directorate of Police (GUM), the Fire Department (UPO), the Directorate for Prisoners of War and Internees, the Main Directorate of Camps (GULAG), Main Directorate for Highway Construction (GUSHODOR), Department of Cartography and Geodesy. 2

As an example, we can cite the structure of the NKVD Directorate of Leningrad, which reflects all the main functions of the NKVD troops assigned to them at the beginning of the war, shown in Fig. 13

In the conditions of the outbreak of war, in addition to the main tasks of maintaining public order and fighting crime, many new ones appeared: the fight against violators of military registration rules, against deserters and persons evading conscription and military service, against looters, alarmists and distributors of all kinds

1.RGVA. F. 38652. Op.1. D.42. l.92 (page 18)

2. Ibid., F.40. Op.1 l.4 (page 19)

provocative rumors, identifying enemy agents, provocateurs and other criminal elements, combating the theft of military cargo. Law enforcement activities of the authorities, especially in the initial period of the war, took place in conditions of mass evacuation of material assets and movement of the population.

Fig.1

The Great Patriotic War required a change in the nature and content of the work of all government bodies in relation to the specifics of wartime, partial changes in the structure, in the organizational and legal forms of activity. The need arose to establish emergency government bodies for the country.

In order to quickly mobilize all the forces of the peoples of the Soviet Union to organize resistance to the enemy, based on the decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR on June 30, 1941, the State Defense Committee (GKO) was created.

On July 20, 1941, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was adopted on the unification of the People's Commissariat of State Security of the USSR and the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR into a single People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR (NKVD). This made it possible to concentrate all efforts to combat enemy agents and crime in one body, to strengthen the protection of public order, public and state security in the country.

2. The tasks of the internal affairs bodies in relation to

to wartime conditions.

The priority tasks were to ensure the organized evacuation of the population, industrial enterprises and cargo control. By carrying out all these activities, the state sought to establish strong law and order in the country. In the evening and at night, patrols were established on the streets, the security of enterprises and residential buildings was strengthened, and documents were periodically checked. In areas declared under martial law, a curfew was established, the passport regime was strengthened, the free movement of citizens was limited, and strict business travel regulations were introduced.

The responsibilities of the internal affairs troops, in particular the police, have expanded significantly.

She was entrusted with:

* with desertion

* with looting

* with alarmists,

* distributors of provocative rumors and fabrications,

* combating theft of evacuated and military cargo in transport;

2. cleaning cities and military-economic centers from criminal elements

3. operational work to identify enemy agents, provocateurs, etc. on transport.

4. ensuring organized evacuation of the population, industrial enterprises and various household goods.

In addition, the bodies of the NKVD ensured the implementation of orders and instructions of the military authorities that regulated the regime in areas declared under martial law.

In the border areas, the police, together with border guards and units of the Red Army, had to fight the advancing fascist troops. The police fought with enemy saboteurs, paratroopers, and missile signalmen, who, during enemy air raids on cities, gave light signals, directing enemy aircraft to important military targets.

In areas declared under martial law, the police were put on combat readiness and deployed their forces and means according to local air defense plans, taking vital economic facilities under protection. In front-line areas and regions, the police were transferred to a barracks position and operational groups were created to fight enemy agents.

The Main Police Directorate of the NKVD of the USSR carried out a number of organizational measures to restructure the work of the main police units, primarily the external service involved in maintaining public order. During the war, all vacations were canceled, measures were taken to strengthen police assistance brigades, organize groups to assist destruction battalions and groups for the protection of public order.

Criminal investigation apparatuses restructured their operational activities in relation to the wartime situation. The criminal investigation department fought against murders, robberies, robberies, looting, thefts from the apartments of evacuees, seized weapons from criminal elements and deserters, and assisted state security agencies in identifying enemy agents.

The apparatus for combating the theft of socialist property and profiteering focused on strengthening the protection of rationed products used to support the army and population, and suppressing the criminal activities of plunderers, speculators and counterfeiters. The BHSS service took procurement and supply organizations, food industry enterprises and retail chains under special control.

The State Automobile Inspectorate has directed all efforts to mobilize motor vehicles, tractors, and motorcycles for the needs of the Army. Traffic police inspectors inspected and checked the technical condition of cars to be sent to the army.

The main tasks of the passport offices were to assist military commissariats in mobilizing conscripts and pre-conscripts into the active army; maintaining a strict passport regime in the country; organization of reference work - search for persons with whom relatives and friends have lost contact; issuing passes to citizens for travel by rail and waterways.

To keep records of people evacuated to the rear of the country, a Central Information Bureau was formed as part of the passport department of the Main Police Department, at which an information desk was created to search for children who have lost contact with their parents. Children's information desks were available in every police department of republics, territories, regions and large cities.

In the process of transferring the activities of the internal NKVD bodies to a military footing, the issue of personnel became acute. Thousands of women joined the police, quickly mastered complex police duties and performed their official duties flawlessly, replacing men who had gone to the front.

In territories where martial law was not declared, issues of maintaining order were also very acute. The police provided it taking into account wartime requirements. In the capitals of the union republics, regional and regional centers, police patrols were carried out, and passport control was ensured.

Protecting public order, the police assisted citizens in establishing the place of residence of their relatives and friends, especially children evacuated from front-line areas to the deep rear of the country. The Central Information Bureau of the Passport Department of the Main Police Department registered about six million evacuated citizens. During the war years, the bureau received about 3.5 million letters asking for the whereabouts of relatives. The police reported new addresses of 2 million 861 thousand people. in addition, about 20 thousand children were found and returned to their parents. (p. 165)

During the war years, police officers, with the help of the public, identified neglected and street children and took measures to accommodate them. The network of police children's rooms expanded.

A significant amount of tasks fell on the shoulders of those who fought against criminality. In any war, such a struggle becomes of paramount importance. In front-line cities, it was also complicated by the fact that weapons could be obtained relatively easily - there were battles very close by. Since the beginning of the war, the criminal investigation department had to deal with new types of crimes that did not exist in peacetime: desertion, evasion of conscription, looting, spreading false and provocative rumors, etc.

“1. In order to prevent criminal crime and suppress panic during possible air and chemical alarms, strengthen round-the-clock patrols throughout the city, especially in the evening and at night. ...

2. Intensify the seizure of criminal, socially harmful elements, as well as persons who do not have a specific occupation and place of residence, falling under Art. 38 “Regulations on Passports”, without delay preparing materials on them for sending to a Special Meeting or according to jurisdiction, depending on the nature of the case. ...

4. Immediately arrest and transfer to the NKGB RO persons found in anti-Soviet and counter-revolutionary agitation, distributing leaflets and provocative rumors that contribute to creating panic.

5. Strengthen efforts to search for deserters and identify persons evading military service, making full use of the intelligence network....

7. Immediately implement all intelligence materials about speculators and thefts of socialist property, carefully identifying the connections of buyers with employees of trading enterprises, etc.” 1

3. Security of the rear is one of the most important tasks of the NKVD.

The threat of war required decisive measures to improve the structures of not only the Armed Forces, but also the NKVD bodies, bringing them closer to fulfilling the tasks that inevitably faced them in the event of war.

With the outbreak of hostilities, major changes were made to the legislative framework, and especially in connection with the introduction of martial law in the country and the announcement of mobilization. The functions of the troops and bodies of the NKVD expanded immeasurably. One of the important tasks that faced the troops at the beginning of the war, and then during it, was protecting the rear of the active army. The NKVD troops had practical experience in organizing this service during the Soviet-Finnish campaign of 1939-40. However, the difficulties associated with the scale of the war in the Soviet-German theater of operations revealed many problems, primarily related to the legal status of rear security troops, their subordination and regulation of activities.

The absence of any analogy in previous activities led to the fact that the NKVD troops in the first year of the war performed their functions of protecting the rear without an appropriate legal framework, guided only by the instructions of the military authorities of the active army.

In this regard, frequent misunderstandings occurred between the military command and the rear security of the active army, which sometimes caused serious contradictions regarding the combat and service use of NKVD troops. The higher command often had to resolve these conflicts, and by force

1. OSF and RIC of the Main Department of Internal Affairs of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region. f.1 Op 1. d 87 L.35-37 (page 48)

order to bring it into line with the “Regulations on the use of military structures of the NKVD in war conditions.”

Taking into account the current situation, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, by its resolution of June 25, 1941, entrusted the NKVD troops with the task of protecting the rear of the active Red Army. To protect the rear of each front, NKVD troop directorates were created. On June 26, 1941, by order of the NKVD of the USSR, chiefs of troops for guarding the rear of the fronts were appointed.

The tasks of the rear security troops included: establishing order in the military rear, regulating the movement of refugees on the roads, detaining deserters, identifying saboteurs and spies and fighting them, regulating the supply and evacuation of property, etc.

The legal status of the KNVD troops for rear security was not immediately determined. “Regulations on NKVD troops guarding the rear of the active Red Army” were introduced only on April 28, 1942, i.e. in 10 months.

In this “Regulation...”, signed by the Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, Marshal of the Soviet Union B.M. Shaposhnikov and Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Major General A.N. Appolonov stated:

“ 1. Security of the rear of the fronts is organized by the Military Councils of the fronts and is carried out by military units and rear institutions of the NKVD and units of the NKVD troops of the USSR specially allocated for this purpose.

2. The NKVD troops guarding the rear of the active Red Army are entrusted with: fighting saboteurs, spies and bandit elements in the rear of the front; liquidation of small detachments and groups of the enemy penetrating or being thrown into the rear of the front (submachine gunners, paratroopers, signalmen, etc.), in special cases (by decision of the Military Council of the front) protection of communications in certain areas. " 1

Participating in the implementation of decisions of military and civilian authorities, the NKVD troops directed their main efforts against enemy agents. In some directions, in certain periods of time, the number of neutralized agents was very significant: in September 1941, NKVD troops to protect the rear on the Northern (Leningrad) Front detained 31,287 people, on the North-West - 4,936, Karelian - 16,319, Volkhov - 5,221 people . In November 1941, on the Leningrad Front, the number of detainees was 7,506, and in December - 7,580 people. From June 22, 1941 to April 1, 1842, detachments of the NKVD troops to protect the rear of the Leningrad Front detained 269 enemy agents and saboteurs. 2

Since the beginning of the war on January 1, 1942, the number of violators of the front-line regime detained by rear security troops on all fronts amounted to 78,560 people. Of these, after appropriate verification, 61,694 people were sent to the active army. 1

To solve the problem of ensuring reliable protection of the rear of the active army, the NKVD of the USSR had at its disposal internal security agencies, police, troops for the protection of the rear, fighter battalions, which were formed in pursuance of the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated June 24, 1941 “On measures to combat parachute enemy landings and saboteurs in the front line”, in areas declared under martial law.

In the first month of the war, destroyer battalions were created only from NKVD employees. These were mobile units capable of quickly deploying to the area where an enemy landing party or sabotage group appeared.

1 . “Internal troops in the Great Patriotic War. 1941-1945.” Documents and materials. M., Legal literature, 1975. 561.

2. Alekseenkov A.E. “Internal troops during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).” St. Petersburg, 1995, p. 38

Their main tasks were to fight enemy paratroopers and saboteurs, protect important national economic facilities, and assist the police in maintaining public order.

By August 1, 1941, there were 1,755 fighter battalions with a total number of fighters and commanders of 328 thousand. In addition, there were over 300 thousand workers in the support groups for the destruction battalions.

The fate of destroyer battalions is complex. On December 7, 1941, they were all brought together by the NKVD regiment, which was disbanded in February 1942.

However, the training and involvement of soldiers in performing special tasks did not stop.

With the help of destruction battalions alone, in 1942, over 400 Nazi agents were detained on the territory of the Azerbaijan and Georgian Union Republics, Moscow, Voronezh, Kalinin, Vologda and Yaroslavl regions.

In 1944, the revival of destruction battalions began in the territories liberated from the enemy. This year, in the Leningrad region alone, fighters from these battalions detained 14 bandits, 35 former police officers, more than 500 criminals, and collected more than 700 firearms. 1

4. Other tasks of the NKVD.

The war presented new tasks to the NKVD troops, which required a legal basis for their implementation. One of them was the protection of prisoners of war. In the initial period of the war, these tasks were carried out by the NKVD troops to protect the rear of the active army, but with a sharp increase in the number of prisoners of war, the question arose of creating a special Directorate for the affairs of prisoners of war and internees in the NKVD system of the USSR. Such a department was created on February 24, 1943 by order No. 00367. Major General I. Petrov was appointed head of the department.

In total, there were 24 camps for prisoners of war (including 4 officer camps) and 11 front-line reception and transit camps. 2

As the districts and regions of our Motherland were liberated from the Nazi invaders, the NKVD authorities took all measures to restore public order. National economic facilities and institutions were taken under police protection, enemy collaborators were identified, the passport system was restored, the population was counted, and passports were replaced.

The work of the police to confiscate weapons and explosives from the population that could be used by criminal elements was important for the restoration of public order.

The fight against crime in the territories liberated from the enemy, where criminality was closely intertwined with banditry and the nationalist underground organized by the Nazis, became fierce.

1.RGVA. F. 38880. Op.2. D.389. l. 389 (page 40)

2. Salnikov V.P., Stepashin S.V., Yangol N.G. “Internal Affairs bodies of the North-Western region of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War. 1941-1945.” St. Petersburg, 1996, p. 48

The backbone of the bandit formations were members of various nationalist organizations, fascist intelligence agents, traitors, and criminal elements.

The situation required the most drastic measures. The NKVD of the USSR, understanding the importance of this problem, provided all possible assistance to the liberated areas. The entire graduating class of advanced training courses from the Higher School of the NKVD of the USSR in April 1944 was sent to Ukraine and Moldova, where most of the graduates headed city and regional police forces.

At the beginning of the war, the Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of Special Purpose of the NKVD of the USSR (OMSBON) was formed, which became a training center for training and sending reconnaissance and sabotage groups and detachments behind enemy lines. They were formed from employees of the NKVD, volunteer athletes, working youth and anti-fascist internationalists. Over the four years of the war, the Separate Brigade trained, according to special programs, 212 special detachments and groups with a total number of 7,316 people to carry out missions behind enemy lines. They carried out 1084 combat operations, destroyed about 137 thousand fascist soldiers and officers, eliminated 87 leaders of the German administration, 2045 German agents. (p. 179)

NKVD troops also took part directly in combat operations on the war fronts. Brest Fortress, Mogilev, Kyiv, Smolensk, Moscow, Leningrad - many, many cities were defended and liberated by internal affairs officers shoulder to shoulder with the regular army.
So, in the first days of July 1941, fighter battalions and a police battalion, which included cadets of the Minsk police command school, came out to defend the city of Mogilev together with the soldiers of the 172nd Infantry Division. The battalion was commanded by the head of the combat training department of the police department, Captain K.G. Vladimirov.

Kyiv was defended by the 3rd NKVD Regiment, which consisted mainly of police officers. He was the last to leave the city, blowing up bridges across the Dnieper.

The whole world knows the feat of the defenders of Leningrad, in the battles on the outskirts of which a fighter battalion and a police detachment under the command of the head of the Pushkin police department I.A. Yakovlev took part. The city was also defended by the 20th Infantry Division of the NKVD, commanded by Colonel P.I. Ivanov.

Four divisions, two brigades and several separate units of the NKVD, a fighter regiment, police sabotage groups and fighter battalions took an active part in the great battle for Moscow.

Police officers also made a great contribution to the heroic defense of Stalingrad. In July 1941, all police units were consolidated into a separate battalion, headed by the head of the regional police department N.V. Biryukov. More than 800 police officers of the city and region took part in this heroic epic.

The feat of the soldiers and commanders of the 10th division of the NKVD of the Stalingrad Front, fighters of destruction battalions and police officers is immortalized by obelisks erected in the center of the city.

1. OSF and RIC of the Main Department of Internal Affairs of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region. f.2Op 1. d 52 L.8, 95 (page 43)

Conclusion.

Thus, from the first days of the war, NKVD troops found themselves at the forefront of the fight against the enemy, participating both in the direct defense of cities and in providing the rear of the active army. A special place was given to troops in preventing attempts by fascist agents and saboteurs to penetrate the locations of formations and units, and in preventing enemy sabotage on front-line communications. The activities of the entire system of the state apparatus, troops and NKVD bodies were subordinated to a single goal - to ensure the necessary regime for the active army and the rear.

The legal basis for the actions of the internal troops was the decrees and resolutions of the Presidium of the Supreme Council, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, orders and instructions of the NKVD and the command of the troops, resolutions of the Military Council of the front.

The Great Patriotic War is an unprecedented feat of millions of Soviet people at the front, in the rear and in enemy-occupied territory.

One can have different attitudes towards the functions and activities of the NKVD as a punitive body, but no one can belittle its role in defending the Fatherland and combating the destabilization of public life in these difficult years. Many NKVD soldiers were awarded orders and medals for heroism and courage, many of them became Heroes of the Soviet Union.

The activities of the internal troops during the years of severe trials for the Motherland are a bright and heroic page in their history.

C list of literature.

1. Alekseenkov A.E. “Internal troops during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).” St. Petersburg, 1995, p. 38

2. Beloglazov B.P. “Troops and bodies of the NKVD in the defense of Leningrad.”, St. Petersburg, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, St. Petersburg Military Institute of Internal Troops, 1996.

3. “Internal troops in the Great Patriotic War. 1941-1945.” Documents and materials. M., Legal literature, 1975. 561.

4. Salnikov V.P., Stepashin S.V., Yangol N.G. “Internal Affairs bodies of the North-Western region of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War. 1941-1945.” St. Petersburg, 1996, p.48

5.”Soviet police: history and modernity. 1917-1987.” Collection ed. Kositsyna A.P., M., Legal literature, 1987

It’s a rare film about the war, even today, without negative characters in cornflower blue caps - these “scoundrels who sat in the rear and then tyrannized the heroic Red Army soldiers, either torturing them for no reason or without reason, or shooting them in the back.” All this became an important component of the Russian liberal and Ukrainian nationalist myth about the war.

But what was the real truth?

As of 1941, the NKVD had its own troops: in particular, the Main Directorate of Border Troops, the Directorate of Convoy Troops, and other units of the internal troops. During the Great Patriotic War, the NKVD Troops were created to protect the rear.

The first blow of the Wehrmacht on June 22, 1941 was taken by the NKVD border troops. On this day, 47 land and 6 sea border detachments, 9 separate border commandant's offices of the NKVD entered the battle. The German command allocated half an hour to suppress their resistance... But in the end, everything turned out completely differently.

Some border troops resisted for weeks. The Lopatin outpost, for example, repelled attacks by superior enemy forces for 11 whole days. Lopatin was one of the first to be posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War...

Not a single one of the 435 outposts left their positions without permission. The border guards either fought to the end or retreated solely on command.

The heroic defense of the Brest Fortress will forever remain in history. Along with the Red Army, the fortress was defended by soldiers of the 17th Red Banner Brest Border Detachment and several units of the 132nd separate battalion of NKVD convoy troops. The defense of the Brest Fortress, let me remind you, lasted from June 22 until (in some areas) the end of August 1941!

Under the walls of the fortress, the Germans suffered 5% of all their losses during the first week of the war on the entire Eastern Front. Some defenders of the fortress managed to fight their way out of encirclement and continued the fight as part of partisan detachments in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. The defense of the fortress shocked Hitler. The stone he took from the ruins of the fortress was discovered in his office after the end of the war...

In addition to the border guards, formations of 4 divisions, 2 brigades and a number of separate operational regiments of the NKVD served in the state border area. In general, by the beginning of the war, the NKVD troops consisted of 14 divisions, 18 brigades and 21 separate regiments for various purposes, of which 7 divisions, 2 brigades and 11 operational regiments of internal troops were located in the western districts, on the basis of which in the Baltic, Western and Kiev special districts before the war, the formation of the 21st, 22nd and 23rd motorized rifle divisions of the NKVD began. The personnel of the NKVD border troops amounted to more than 167 thousand people, the personnel of the internal troops - more than 173 thousand.

Despite the fact that the soldiers of the border and internal troops performed functions completely unusual for themselves at the beginning of the war, their personnel, on average, turned out to be better trained than the personnel of the Red Army in the western regions. According to historians, in places of military clashes with border guards, for each killed NKVD soldier there were 5 - 7 (sometimes up to 10) Nazis incapacitated.

On June 29, 15 new rifle divisions were formed from NKVD personnel for transfer to the active army. Looking ahead, I will say that in the summer of 1942 there were 10 more. In total, during the war years, 29 divisions and 5 armies were formed and transferred to the front at the expense of NKVD personnel. Including the unique 70th separate army of the NKVD.

A cruel little remark. In addition to the “uncharacteristic” army functions, some of the internal troops soldiers continued to perform their direct duties - in particular, escort duty. At the beginning of the war, riots began among criminals who tried to escape, and perhaps even go to the Germans. In 1941, 674 prisoners were shot during riots, and 769 during disobedience and attempts to escape.

So, All cases of use of weapons were investigated. 227 NKVD officers were brought to criminal liability for abuse of power. 19 of them were shot by court verdict, the majority went to the front to atone for their guilt. So much for debunking the myth of “unpunished executioners” ...

The garrisons of the 9th and 10th divisions of the NKVD troops for the protection of railway structures, guarding transport communications on the territory of Ukraine, even surrounded, in the deep rear of German troops, continued to defend the facilities for a long time until the last. More than 70% of the soldiers of these formations who died in battle remained formally missing...

The German-Finnish troops in Karelia were met by soldiers of the 14th and 15th NKVD motorized rifle regiments, who showed miracles of heroism. Their fighters resisted to the last, and with the last grenades they blew themselves up along with the enemies...

The NKVD troops distinguished themselves during the heroic defense of Leningrad. The 21st Rifle Division held back the enemy in the Ligov direction, stopping him 4 kilometers from the city. On September 20, 1941, units of the 1st division of the NKVD troops, with the support of the Red Army and sailors of the Ladoga military flotilla, crossed the Neva and secured a foothold on its left bank, on a small bridgehead, the so-called “Nevsky patch”. NKVD troops took part in the defense of the Nevsky Piglet for seven and a half months!

It was in the NKVD troops that the famous sniper movement became widespread.

Near Leningrad, NKVD troops were, in principle, used in the most difficult situations. In particular, the security officers eliminated the Nazi breakthrough in the area of the Mga station. NKVD troops also guarded the famous “road of life” across Lake Ladoga.

The role of the NKVD troops and NKGB units in the defense of Moscow was exceptional. The resolution of the State Defense Committee of the NKVD of the USSR instructed to take under special protection the zone adjacent to the territory of Moscow, west and south along the line Kalinin - Rzhev - Mozhaisk - Tula - Kolomna - Kashira. To combat enemy saboteurs and paratroopers in Moscow and the Moscow region, a special operational detachment of 216 people was formed in the central office of the NKGB. In addition, 35 fighter battalions were formed. Special security detachments were sent to the most difficult sections of the front near Moscow.

Such a detachment of senior lieutenant Laznyuk in the area of the village of Gultsevo, having lost only 5 soldiers in battle, destroyed more than a hundred Nazis. His squad took its last battle in the village of Khludnevo, where he attacked about 400 Nazis, who had tanks and artillery at their disposal. In the first two hours of the battle, the detachment destroyed more than 70 Nazis, but then was surrounded, holding out for about a day and a half and inflicting huge losses on the enemy. Of the 27 people in Laznyuk’s detachment, only four survived, three of them were wounded. A soldier of the Papernik detachment, who blew himself up with a grenade along with the Nazis, was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. All other soldiers of the detachment were awarded the Order of Lenin...

The role of the NKVD troops in the defense of Stalingrad turned out to be enormous, and at some moments even key.

In the summer of 1942, Hitler's command tried to rehabilitate itself in the eyes of its Fuhrer. The main forces were concentrated on the southern wing of the Soviet-German front. The goal of the Nazis was to capture Stalingrad, break through to the Volga, and cut off the main part of the USSR from the Baku oil fields.

The basis of the strike group was the best army of the Wehrmacht - the 6th. Under pressure from superior enemy forces, the Red Army was forced to retreat to Stalingrad and the North Caucasus. The existence of the USSR was under threat. On an area of one hundred square kilometers between the Don and the Volga, the great Battle of Stalingrad lasted for six and a half months, which actually determined the further course of the war.

In the defensive operations to protect Stalingrad, together with the Red Army, formations and units of the internal troops took an active part: 10th Infantry Division (269, 270, 271, 272, 282 regiments), 91st Railway Protection Regiment, 178- the 1st regiment for the protection of especially important industrial enterprises, the 249th convoy regiment and the 73rd separate armored train, which distinguished itself in the battles near Moscow, and other military formations that were previously transferred from the NKVD troops to the active army.

Separately, we need to talk about the 10th division, formed in Stalingrad in 1942 from Stalingrad residents, as well as from border troops and arriving Siberians. It consisted of 5 regiments and a number of special forces. It was the 10th Division that was the first to enter the battle with superior enemy forces that broke through to Stalingrad on August 2, 1942.

This is how the commander of the 62nd Army, later Marshal of the Soviet Union and twice Hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov, assessed her actions:

The soldiers of the 10th Stalingrad Division of the Internal Troops, Colonel A. A. Saraev, had to be the first defenders of Stalingrad, and they passed this most difficult test with honor, courageously and selflessly fought with superior enemy forces until the arrival of units and formations of the 62nd Army.

The division's positions stretched over 50 kilometers. Together with the workers, she defended the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, and, despite the Nazis’ advantage in manpower and equipment, they pushed them back several kilometers!

On September 13, 1942, the Nazis planned to capture the city. After a powerful artillery and air strike, ground forces went into battle. In a very difficult situation, the 269th Regiment of the 10th Division held the line, covering the famous Mamayev Kurgan. And the 270th regiment of the 10th division, despite the enemy’s enormous numerical superiority, did not allow him to break through to the city center. The Nazis dealt a new terrible blow on September 14. 8 infantry battalions and 50 tanks were thrown against the 270th regiment. At 14:00, two enemy battalions with tanks broke through to the rear of the regiment and occupied Mamayev Kurgan. However, the forces of the 269th and 416th regiments drove the Nazis back from the heights, taking up defensive positions there.

In two days of fighting, the 269th Infantry Regiment destroyed more than one and a half thousand soldiers and officers, knocked out and burned about 20 enemy tanks!

On September 15, the Nazis further intensified their onslaught. At dawn on September 16, four NKVD soldiers held back a Nazi tank attack for more than an hour. During this time they destroyed more than 20 enemy tanks! All four were posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union...

From August 23 to October 8, the 10th Division in Stalingrad destroyed up to 15 thousand (!) Nazi soldiers and officers, 113 tanks, 8 armored vehicles, 6 guns, 51 mortars, 138 machine guns, 2 aircraft, and captured the banner of the Wehrmacht regiment.

In October, the division was withdrawn beyond the Volga for reorganization. At that moment, out of seven and a half thousand, only about 200 people remained in the ranks... The division was reorganized into the 181st Infantry. She ended the war in Breslau.

268 fighters of the division were awarded the highest government awards. 20 soldiers of the division became Heroes of the Soviet Union, 9 of them did not see Victory... A monument to the soldiers of the 10th division and the policemen of Stalingrad was erected in Volgograd. One of the streets in the Central district of the city bears the name of the division; 8 streets bear the names of the division’s soldiers...

Website of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia:

In addition to the 10th Division, other units of the NKVD troops also took part in the Battle of Stalingrad; the 91st Railway Protection Regiment staunchly defended the assigned lines, repeatedly entered into battle, repulsing enemy attacks, giving the Red Army units the opportunity to regroup their forces. In the battles from September 3 to 6, 1942 alone, the regiment repelled 8 enemy attacks, destroyed more than 2 companies of machine gunners, about two infantry battalions, captured more than 500 soldiers and officers, and captured a large amount of weapons and ammunition. The armored train of this regiment on the outskirts of the city destroyed 5 tanks, more than 3 battalions of German infantry, 2 mortar batteries and many other enemy military equipment.

For the successful completion of combat missions and the courage of its soldiers, the regiment was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Soldiers and commanders of the 249th Convoy Regiment showed examples of heroism and fearlessness during the defense of Stalingrad. Only on August 24 and 25, 1942, they destroyed up to 2 companies of machine gunners, 3 mortar batteries, 2 heavy machine guns. Soldiers of the 178th Regiment for the Protection of Important Industrial Enterprises and the 73rd Separate Armored Train also fought bravely with the enemy. The soldiers of the 8th and 13th motorized rifle divisions of the NKVD troops, transferred to the Red Army in the summer of 1942, also selflessly fought in the battle for Stalingrad. These units were given the title of Guards.

The 70th Army, the former Separate Army of the NKVD troops, took an active part in the battles near Kursk. And it includes the 181st division, formed from the 10th division of the NKVD troops, to which new KGB reinforcements arrived. The 70th Army took part in repelling the Nazi attack on the northern front of the Kursk Bulge, and then the Oryol offensive operation. The war ended in Germany.

Units of the internal troops of the NKVD of the USSR particularly distinguished themselves during the capture of Koenigsberg.

So far we have focused on the participation of NKVD troops only in front-line operations that are not typical for them. It convincingly proves that the Chekist soldiers were not “cowards and executioners hiding behind the backs of the soldiers.” The soldiers of the NKVD troops acted brotherly, shoulder to shoulder with the soldiers of the Red Army, not inferior to them either in courage or in combat training, and in the early stages of the war, to be honest, sometimes even surpassing them.

But besides this, the forces of the NKVD and NKGB carried out many other important tasks - intelligence and counterintelligence, the fight against saboteurs and spies, leadership of partisans and, since 1944, the fight against the collaborationist gangster underground in the territory of the liberated Ukrainian SSR, BSSR and the Baltic states. We will talk about this, as well as about what the barrier detachments, penal battalions, SMERSH actually were, and how children actually participated in the war “without bastards” - we will talk in the following articles of the “Black Myths” series...

And finally. On June 24, 1945, 8 battalions of the NKVD division named after Dzerzhinsky took part in the historical Victory Parade.

Legkoshkur Fedor Antonovich.

It was the combined battalion of the NKVD of the USSR, commanded by Senior Lieutenant Dmitry Vovk, that threw the banners of the defeated Third Reich at the foot of the Mausoleum, and one of his subordinates, Fyodor Antonovich Legkoshkur, was the first to throw the standard of the 1st SS Panzer Division "Adolf Hitler" onto the Kremlin paving stones. As we can see, they deserved this great honor!

The NKVD is a government body of the USSR created to fight crime and maintain public order.

During the war, NKVD troops, along with ordinary soldiers, bravely fought the Nazis. The NKVD units had excellent combat, physical and political training. They were well armed and provided with communications equipment. They did not retreat without orders and did not surrender.

So by June 1, 1941, the number of NKVD troops totaled: 14 divisions, 18 brigades, 21 regiments for various purposes. Of which, in the western districts there were: 7 divisions, 2 brigades and 11 operational regiments of internal troops, on the basis of which the formation of the 21st, 22nd and 23rd motorized rifle divisions of the NKVD began before the war in the Baltic, Western and Kiev special districts. In addition, on the western border there were 8 border districts, 49 border detachments and other units. There were 167,600 military personnel in the NKVD border troops. In the internal troops of the NKVD there were 173,900 military personnel, including:

— border troops - 167,600 people;

Border troops were created for the purpose of protecting the state border of the USSR, fighting saboteurs and border violators. mode.

Operational troops (excluding military schools) - 27.3 thousand people;

The main task of these troops was to detect, track down, block and eliminate gang formations, individual criminal elements, as well as the fight against political criminals.

Railway security troops - 63.7 thousand people;

This type of troops had armored trains at their disposal, which allowed them to effectively guard and defend the “steel highways.”

Troops for the protection of particularly important industrial facilities - 29.3 thousand people;

The work here, in fact, did not stand out in any way; it was based on the principles of protecting the state border.

Convoy troops - 38.3 thousand people;

The main task was to escort (escort) prisoners, prisoners of war, and deportees. Also, serving in the convoy troops guarded camps and prisons.

In addition to the functions listed above, during the Great Patriotic War, the NKVD was assigned additional responsibilities, such as: combating looting, desertion, people provoking general panic and spreading rumors that undermine the authority of the state and its leaders. The fight against theft of military cargo also played a special role. As for the main function of the NKVD, namely the protection of law and order among the population, it was retained by this state structure in full, although the primary task of the NKVD during the Second World War was to ensure military goals. For example, during wartime, street patrols and document checks were intensified, especially in the evening and at night; during curfews, the movement of citizens on the streets was often even restricted.

Initially, when planning his attack, Hitler “measured” about half an hour to eliminate the border outposts. This blow was taken by 47 land and 6 sea border detachments, as well as 9 border commandant's offices of the western border of the USSR from the Barents to the Black Sea. In the first hours of the war, Soviet border guards showed unprecedented courage, fortitude and heroism. When the Wehrmacht troops wedged tens of kilometers deep into Soviet territory, in their rear there were still battles with outposts that had taken up all-round defense.

During the two-month defense of the Brest Fortress, NKVD soldiers fought bravely to the last drop of blood. The inscription on the wall: “I’m dying, but I’m not giving up!” Goodbye Motherland! 20.VII.41.” It was made by one of the soldiers of the 132nd separate battalion of NKVD escort troops.

The NKVD units, in fact, turned out to be much more resilient and combat-ready than the Red Army. They were given full-fledged combat missions, sometimes very difficult ones, requiring enormous courage and contempt for death.

(From the diary of NKVD captain I.M. Berezentsev)

The NKVD counterintelligence also acted, as they say, to its fullest. The result of her work was the following calculations: a total of 657,364 military personnel were detained, of which 1,505 were spies; saboteurs - 308; traitors - 2,621; cowards and alarmists - 2,643; distributors of provocative rumors - 3,987; self-shooters - 1,671; others - 4,371."

Admission to the NKVD

Not everyone who wanted could join this organization. According to the instructions “On the main criteria for selecting personnel for service in the NKVD of the USSR,” the candidate had to meet many requirements. For example, in addition to the full name, date of birth and some standard information that is asked when applying for a job to this day, the identities of the candidate’s parents were established, whether they were married or divorced. The divorce of parents could become a hindrance for the candidate, because “...If they are divorced, this usually means that either the father or mother is abnormal. Their children will also have divorces. This is a kind of seal of a curse that is passed down from generation to generation.”

The strict selection of candidates was in many ways similar to the selection of soldiers into the ranks of the SS, which existed in pre-war Germany. So, if the Germans paid primary attention to the racial purity of the applicant, then when selecting for the NKVD, emphasis was placed on the social origin and the absence of degenerative degeneracy of the applicant. For this purpose, a rather long list of degenerative signs that manifested themselves in humans was given.

The main signs of degeneration or so-called degeneration were considered to be nervous facial tics, strabismus, any speech defects, migraines, “horse teeth” (protruding forward), a large head or a small head if it is disproportionate to the body, excessive smallness of the ears, etc. .

In many ways, selection in the SS and NKVD was similar. As in the SS, the NKVD, to put it mildly, did not favor Jews:

“For personnel selection in the NKVD, it is important to cut off, first of all, persons who have Jewish blood. Find out whether there were Jews in the family. Up to the fifth generation, it is necessary to be interested in the nationality of close relatives.”

To join the NKVD, a person had to have a number of moral and volitional qualities and be in good physical condition.

NKVD snipers

Among the NKVD fighters, among other things, there was a special practice for training snipers. After a course of appropriate training, the fighters went for an “internship” in the active army. Sniper teams usually consisted of 20-40 people. Therefore, a fairly significant part of the personnel, in addition to special training, also received practice in real military conditions. An example of this is the fact that in the 23rd division of the NKVD, responsible for the protection of railways, over seven thousand snipers were trained during the war years, who underwent, so to speak, “baptism by fire.”

Fragment from the memo “On the combat activities of snipers of the NKVD troops of the USSR in protecting important industrial enterprises for the period from October 1, 1942 to December 31, 1943.” it says:

“... Over the past period, parts of the troops have undergone training in the combat formations of the active Red Army, some of them 2-3 times. As a result of combat work by troop snipers, 39,745 enemy soldiers and officers were destroyed. In addition, an enemy aircraft was shot down and 10 stereo pipes and periscopes were destroyed. The losses of our snipers: 68 people were killed, 112 people were wounded.”

In October 1941, OMSBON (Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade for Special Purposes of the NKVDSSSR) was created. This brigade was focused mainly on reconnaissance work behind enemy lines. The combat group included a commander, a radio operator, a demolitionist, an assistant demolitionist, two machine gunners and a sniper without fail.

In addition to standard weapons, snipers were given a 1938 model carbine with an optical sight, this was due to the fact that such a weapon (relatively short) was more convenient to work in forests. Rifles with a Bramit silencer were also used.

After the war, Walter Schellenberg, the chief of German intelligence, noted “the difficulty of countering the special forces of the NKVD, whose units are almost 100% staffed by snipers.”

NKVD troops took part directly in the hostilities: Mogilev, Kyiv, Brest (Brest Fortress), Smolensk, Leningrad, Moscow, etc., together with the Red Army.

At the beginning of July 1941, Mogilev was defended by NKVD fighter battalions and a police battalion together with the 172nd Infantry Division.

The 3rd NKVD regiment, consisting mainly of police officers, was sent to defend Kyiv and left the city, blowing up bridges across the Dnieper.

During the defense of Leningrad, a fighter battalion and a police detachment under the command of the head of the Pushkin police department, I.A. Yakovlev, took part.

In addition, the city was defended by the 20th Infantry Division of the NKVD, commanded by Colonel P.I. Ivanov.

In the battle for Moscow, four divisions, two brigades and several units of the NKVD, police sabotage groups, and a fighter regiment fought.

The feat of the soldiers and commanders of the 10th division of the NKVD of the Stalingrad Front, fighters of fighter battalions and police officers is immortalized by an obelisk erected in the center of the city.

Obelisk to the soldiers of the 10th NKVD division on Chekist Square in Volgograd

During the Second World War, NKVD troops carried out 9,292 operations to combat banditry, as a result of which they managed to neutralize about 147,183 criminals.

At the Victory Parade, the NKVD battalion was the first to perform with the banners of the defeated German troops, which is a striking example of recognition of the military exploits of NKVD employees.

Series of messages " ":
Part 1 - NKVD troops during the war

Content:
p.

Introduction.

The NKVD troops wrote many heroic pages in the history of the most terrible war of the 20th century.

1. Internal Affairs bodies at the beginning of the war.

2 As an example, we can cite the structure of the NKVD Directorate of Leningrad, which reflects all the main functions of the NKVD troops assigned to them at the beginning of the war, shown in Fig. 1. 3

1 .RGVA. F. 38652. Op.1. D.42. l.92 (page 18) 2. Ibid., F.40. Op.1 l.4 (page 19) 3 . page

2. The tasks of the internal affairs bodies in relation to

to wartime conditions.

The responsibilities of the internal affairs troops, in particular the police, have expanded significantly.

She was entrusted with:

with desertion

with looting

with alarmists,

distributors of provocative rumors and fabrications,

combating theft of evacuated and military cargo in transport;

cleaning cities and military-economic centers from criminal elements

operational work to identify enemy agents, provocateurs, etc. on transport.

ensuring organized evacuation of the population, industrial enterprises and various household goods.

In addition, the bodies of the NKVD ensured the implementation of orders and instructions of the military authorities that regulated the regime in areas declared under martial law.

In the border areas, police forces, together with border guards and units of the Red Army, had to fight the advancing fascist troops. The police fought with enemy saboteurs, paratroopers, and missile signalmen, who, during enemy air raids on cities, gave light signals, directing enemy aircraft to important military targets.

To keep records of people evacuated to the rear of the country, a Central Information Bureau was formed as part of the passport department of the Main Police Department, at which a help desk was created to search for children who have lost contact with their parents. Children's information desks were available in every police department of republics, territories, regions and large cities.

During the war years, police officers, with the help of the public, identified neglected and street children and took measures to accommodate them. The network of police children's rooms expanded.

In order to prevent criminal crime and suppress panic in the event of possible air and chemical alarms, strengthen round-the-clock patrols throughout the city, especially in the evening and at night. ...

Intensify the seizure of criminal, socially harmful elements, as well as persons who do not have a specific occupation and place of residence, falling under Art. 38 “Regulations on Passports”, without delay preparing materials on them for sending to a Special Meeting or according to jurisdiction, depending on the nature of the case. ...

Immediately arrest and transfer to the NKGB RO those individuals found in anti-Soviet and counter-revolutionary agitation, distributing leaflets and provocative rumors that contribute to creating panic.

Strengthen efforts to search for deserters and identify persons evading military service, making full use of the intelligence network....

Immediately implement all intelligence materials about speculators and thefts of socialist property, carefully identifying the connections of buyers with employees of trading enterprises, etc.”

Rear security is one of the most important tasks of the NKVD.

In connection with this, frequent misunderstandings occurred between the military command and the rear protection of the active army, which sometimes caused serious contradictions regarding the combat and service use of NKVD troops. The higher command often had to resolve these conflicts, and by force

OSF and RIC of the Main Department of Internal Affairs of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region. f.1 Op 1. d 87 L.35-37 (page 48)

order to bring it into line with the “Regulations on the use of military structures of the NKVD in war conditions.”

this “Regulation...”, signed by the Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, Marshal of the Soviet Union B.M. Shaposhnikov and Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Major General A.N. Appolonov stated:

1. Security of the rear of the fronts is organized by the Military Councils of the fronts and is carried out by military units and rear institutions of the NKVD and units of the NKVD troops of the USSR specially allocated for this purpose.

The NKVD troops guarding the rear of the active Red Army are entrusted with: fighting saboteurs, spies and bandit elements in the rear of the front; liquidation of small detachments and groups of the enemy penetrating or being thrown into the rear of the front (submachine gunners, paratroopers, signalmen, etc.), in special cases (by decision of the Military Council of the front) protection of communications in certain areas. “

the beginning of the war, on January 1, 1942, the number of violators of the front-line regime detained by rear security troops on all fronts amounted to 78,560 people. Of these, after appropriate verification, 61,694 people were sent to the active army.

to solve the problem of ensuring reliable protection of the rear of the active army, the NKVD of the USSR had at its disposal internal security agencies, police, troops for the protection of the rear, fighter battalions, which were formed in pursuance of the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of June 24, 1941 “On measures to combat parachute landings and enemy saboteurs in the front line”, in areas declared under martial law.

During the first month of the war, fighter battalions were created only from NKVD employees. These were mobile units capable of quickly deploying to the area where an enemy landing party or sabotage group appeared.

Lekseenkov A.E. “Internal troops during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).” St. Petersburg, 1995, p. 38

The main tasks were to fight enemy paratroopers and saboteurs, protect important national economic facilities, and assist the police in maintaining public order.

On August 1, 1941, there were 1,755 fighter battalions with a total number of fighters and commanders of 328 thousand. In addition, there were over 300 thousand workers in the support groups for the destruction battalions.

The fate of destroyer battalions is complex. On December 7, 1941, they were all brought together by the NKVD regiment, which was disbanded in February 1942.

However, the training and involvement of soldiers in performing special tasks did not stop.

Other tasks of the NKVD.

put forward new tasks for the NKVD troops, which required a legal basis for their implementation. One of them was the protection of prisoners of war. In the initial period of the war, these tasks were carried out by the NKVD troops to protect the rear of the active army, but with a sharp increase in the number of prisoners of war, the question arose of creating a special Directorate for the affairs of prisoners of war and internees in the NKVD system of the USSR. Such a department was created on February 24, 1943 by order No. 00367. Major General I. Petrov was appointed head of the department.

for prisoners of war there were 24 camps (including 4 officers) and 11 front-line reception and transit camps.

The work of the police to confiscate weapons and explosives from the population that could be used by criminal elements was important for the restoration of public order.

The fight against crime in the territories liberated from the enemy, where criminality was closely intertwined with banditry and the nationalist underground organized by the Nazis, became fierce.

GVA. F. 38880. Op.2. D.389. l. 389 (page 40)

Salnikov V.P., Stepashin S.V., Yangol N.G. “Internal Affairs bodies of the North-Western region of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War. 1941-1945.” St. Petersburg, 1996, p. 48

The backbone of the bandit formations were members of various nationalist organizations, fascist intelligence agents, traitors, and criminal elements.

at the beginning of the war, the Separate Special Purpose Motorized Rifle Brigade of the NKVD of the USSR (OMSBON) was formed, which became a training center for training and sending reconnaissance and sabotage groups and detachments behind enemy lines. They were formed from employees of the NKVD, volunteer athletes, working youth and anti-fascist internationalists. Over the four years of the war, the Separate Brigade trained, according to special programs, 212 special detachments and groups with a total number of 7,316 people to carry out missions behind enemy lines. They carried out 1084 combat operations, destroyed about 137 thousand fascist soldiers and officers, eliminated 87 leaders of the German administration, 2045 German agents. (p. 179)

in early July 1941, fighter battalions and a police battalion, which included cadets from the Minsk police command school, came out to defend the city of Mogilev together with soldiers of the 172nd Infantry Division. The battalion was commanded by the head of the combat training department of the police department, Captain K.G. Vladimirov.

defended by the 3rd NKVD Regiment, which consisted mainly of police officers. He was the last to leave the city, blowing up bridges across the Dnieper.

The world knows the feat of the defenders of Leningrad, in the battles on the outskirts of which a fighter battalion and a police detachment under the command of the head of the Pushkin police department I.A. Yakovlev took part. The city was also defended by the 20th Infantry Division of the NKVD, commanded by Colonel P.I. Ivanov.

Four divisions, two brigades and several separate units of the NKVD, a fighter regiment, police sabotage groups and fighter battalions took an active part in the great battle for Moscow.

OSF and RIC of the Main Department of Internal Affairs of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region. f.2Op 1. d 52 L.8, 95 (page 43)

Conclusion.

Thus, from the first days of the war, NKVD troops found themselves at the forefront of the fight against the enemy, participating both in the direct defense of cities and in providing the rear of the army. A special place was given to troops in preventing attempts by fascist agents and saboteurs to penetrate the locations of formations and units, and in preventing enemy sabotage on front-line communications. The activities of the entire system of the state apparatus, troops and NKVD bodies were subordinated to a single goal - to ensure the necessary regime for the active army and the rear.

The Great Patriotic War is an unprecedented feat of millions of Soviet people at the front, in the rear and in enemy-occupied territory.

have different attitudes towards the functions and activities of the NKVD as a punitive body, but no one can belittle its role in defending the Fatherland and combating the destabilization of public life in these difficult years. Many NKVD soldiers were awarded orders and medals for heroism and courage, many of them became Heroes of the Soviet Union.

The activities of the internal troops during the years of severe trials for the Motherland are a bright and heroic page in their history.

References.

Alekseenkov A.E. “Internal troops during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).” St. Petersburg, 1995, p. 38

Beloglazov B.P. “Troops and bodies of the NKVD in the defense of Leningrad.”, St. Petersburg, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, St. Petersburg Military Institute of Internal Troops, 1996.

“Internal troops in the Great Patriotic War. 1941-1945.” Documents and materials. M., Legal literature, 1975. 561.

Salnikov V.P., Stepashin S.V., Yangol N.G. “Internal Affairs bodies of the North-Western region of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War. 1941-1945.” St. Petersburg, 1996, p.48

“Soviet police: history and modernity. 1917-1987.” Collection ed. Kositsyna A.P., M., Legal literature, 1987

“Black myth” about security officers: NKVD troops in the Great Patriotic War

One of the most famous “black myths” of the Great Patriotic War is the tale of the “bloody” security officers (special officers, NKVD, Smershev). They are held in special esteem by filmmakers. Few people have been subjected to such widespread criticism and humiliation as the security officers. The bulk of the population receives information about them only through “pop culture,” works of art, and primarily through cinema. Few films “about war” are complete without the image of a cowardly and cruel special security officer knocking out the teeth of honest officers (Red Army soldiers).

This is practically a mandatory part of the program - to show some scoundrel from the NKVD who sits out in the rear (guarding prisoners - all innocently convicted) and in a barrage detachment, shooting unarmed with machine guns and machine guns (or with “one rifle for three” Red Army soldiers). Here are just a few such “masterpieces”: “ Penal battalion», « Saboteur», « Moscow saga», « Children of Arbat», « Cadets», « Bless the woman", etc., their number increases every year. Moreover, these films are shown at the best time, they gather a significant audience. This is generally a feature of Russian TV - at the best time they show dregs and even outright abomination, and broadcast analytical programs and documentaries that carry information for the mind at night, when the majority of the working people are sleeping. Practically the only normal film about the role of “Smersh” in the war is the film Mikhail Ptashuk « In August '44...", based on the novel by Vladimir Bogomolov " Moment of Truth (August '44)».

What do security officers usually do in movies? In fact, they prevent normal officers and soldiers from fighting! As a result of watching such films among the younger generation, who doesn't read books(especially of a scientific nature), one gets the feeling that the people (the army) won despite the country’s top leadership and the “punitive” authorities. Look, if the representatives of the NKVD and SMERSH had not gotten in the way, we could have won earlier. In addition, the “bloody security officers” in 1937-1939. destroyed the "color of the army" led by Tukhachevsky. Don’t feed the Chekist bread - let him shoot someone under a flimsy pretext. At the same time, as a rule, the standard special officer is a sadist, a complete bastard, a drunkard, a coward, etc. Another favorite move of filmmakers is this show the security officer in contrast. To do this, the film introduces the image of a valiantly fighting commander (soldier), who is hindered in every possible way by a representative of the NKVD. Often this hero is from among previously convicted officers, or even “political” ones. It is difficult to imagine such an attitude towards tank crews or pilots. Although fighters and commanders of the NKVD and military counterintelligence are a military craft, without which not a single army in the world can do. It is obvious that the ratio of “scoundrels” and ordinary, normal people in these structures is at least no less than in tank, infantry, artillery and other units. And it’s possible that it’s even better, because... more stringent selection is carried out.

A collective photo of active saboteur fighters of the 88th fighter battalion of the UNKVD of the city of Moscow and the Moscow region - a special school for demolition workers of the UNKVD of the city of Moscow and the Moscow region. In the fall of 1943, they were all transferred to the special company of the NKVD Troops Directorate for protecting the rear of the Western Front, and on March 6, 1944, most of them joined the ranks of secret employees of the Intelligence Department of the headquarters of the Western (from April 24, 1944 - 3rd Belorussian) Front. Many did not return from a front-line business trip to East Prussia.

Defenders of the armed forces

In war conditions, information takes on special importance. The more you know about the enemy and the less he knows about your armed forces, economy, population, science and technology, depends on whether you win or lose. Counterintelligence is responsible for protecting information. It happens that a single enemy scout or saboteur can cause much more damage than an entire division or army. Just one enemy agent missed by counterintelligence can render the work of a significant number of people meaningless and lead to enormous human and material losses.

If the army protects the people and the country, then counterintelligence protects the army itself and the rear. Moreover, not only protects the army from enemy agents, but also maintains its combat effectiveness. Unfortunately, there is no escape from the fact that there are weak people, morally unstable, this leads to desertion, betrayal, and panic. These phenomena are especially evident in critical conditions. Someone must carry out systematic work to suppress such phenomena and act very harshly; this is a war, not a resort. This kind of work is a vital necessity. One undetected traitor or coward can destroy an entire unit and disrupt a combat operation. Thus, by October 10, 1941, operational barriers of special departments and barrage detachments of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (there were also army barrage detachments created after order No. 227 of July 28, 1942) detained 657,364 soldiers and commanders of the Red Army who had lagged behind their units or those who fled from the front. Of this number, the overwhelming majority was sent back to the front line(according to liberal propagandists, death awaited them all). 25,878 people were arrested: of them spies - 1505, saboteurs - 308, deserters - 8772, self-shooters - 1671 etc., 10201 people were shot.

Counterintelligence officers also performed a host of other important functions: they identified enemy saboteurs and agents in the front-line zone, trained and dispatched task forces to the rear, and played radio games with the enemy, passing on disinformation to them. The NKVD played a key role in organizing the partisan movement. Hundreds of partisan detachments were created on the basis of task forces deployed behind enemy lines. Smershevites carried out special operations during the offensive of Soviet troops. Thus, on October 13, 1944, the operational group of the UKR “Smersh” of the 2nd Baltic Front, consisting of 5 security officers under the command of Captain Pospelov, penetrated Riga, which was still held by the Nazis. The task force had the task of seizing the archives and files of German intelligence and counterintelligence in Riga, which the Nazi command was going to evacuate during the retreat. The Smershovites liquidated the Abwehr employees and were able to hold out until the advanced units of the Red Army entered the city.

NKVD Sergeant Maria Semenovna Rukhlina(1921-1981) with a PPSh-41 submachine gun. Served from 1941 to 1945.

Repression

Archived data and facts refute the widely circulated “black myth” that the NKVD and SMERSH indiscriminately labeled all former prisoners as “enemies of the people” and then shot or sent to the Gulag. So, in A.V.Mezhenko provided interesting data in the article “ Prisoners of war were returning to duty..."(Military History Magazine. 1997, No. 5). Between October 1941 and March 1944, 317,594 people were sent to special camps for former prisoners of war. Of which: 223281 (70,3%) was checked and sent to the Red Army; 4337 (1.4%) - to the convoy troops of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs; 5716 (1.8%) - in the defense industry; 1529 (0.5%) went to hospital, 1799 (0.6%) died. 8255 (2.6%) were sent to assault (penalty) units. It should be noted that, contrary to the speculation of the falsifiers, the level of losses in the penal units was quite comparable with ordinary units. 11,283 (3.5%) were arrested. For the remaining 61,394 (19.3%), verification continued.

After the war the situation did not change fundamentally. According to data from the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF), which is provided by I. Pykhalov in the study " Truth and lies about Soviet prisoners of war"(Igor Pykhalov. The Great Slandered War. M., 2006), by March 1, 1946, 4,199,488 Soviet citizens were repatriated (2,660,013 civilians and 1,539,475 prisoners of war). As a result of the inspection, of the civilians: 2,146,126 (80.68%) were sent to their place of residence; 263,647 (9.91%) were enrolled in labor battalions; 141,962 (5.34%) were drafted into the Red Army and 61,538 (2.31%) were located at assembly points and were used in work at Soviet military units and institutions abroad. Only 46,740 (1.76%) were transferred to the disposal of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs. Of the former prisoners of war: 659,190 (42.82%) were re-conscripted into the Red Army; 344,448 people (22.37%) were enrolled in labor battalions; 281,780 (18.31%) were sent to their place of residence; 27,930 (1.81%) were used for work at military units and institutions abroad. The order of the NKVD was transmitted - 226,127 (14.69%). As a rule, the NKVD handed over Vlasov and other collaborators. Thus, according to the instructions that were available to the heads of the inspection bodies, from among the repatriates the following were subject to arrest and trial: management, command staff of the police, ROA, national legions and other similar organizations and formations; ordinary members of the listed organizations who took part in punitive operations; former Red Army soldiers who voluntarily went over to the enemy’s side; burgomasters, major officials of the occupation administration, employees of the Gestapo and other punitive and intelligence institutions, etc.

It is clear that most of these people deserved the most severe punishment, even capital punishment. However, the “bloody” Stalinist regime, in connection with the Victory over the Third Reich, showed leniency towards them. Collaborators, punishers and traitors were exempted from criminal liability for treason, and the matter was limited to sending them to a special settlement for a period of 6 years. In 1952, a significant part of them were released, and their questionnaires did not indicate any criminal record, and The time spent working during exile was recorded as work experience. Only those accomplices of the occupiers who were found to have committed serious, specific crimes were sent to the Gulag.

Reconnaissance platoon of the 338th NKVD regiment. Photo from the family archive of Nikolai Ivanovich Lobakhin.

Nikolai Ivanovich was at the front from the first days of the war, was in a penal battalion 2 times, and had several wounds. After the war, as part of the NKVD troops, he eliminated bandits in the Baltic states and Ukraine.

On the front line

The role of NKVD units in the war was not limited to performing purely special, highly professional tasks. Thousands of security officers honestly fulfilled their duty to the end and died in battle with the enemy (in total, about 100 thousand NKVD soldiers died during the war). The first to take the Wehrmacht's blow in the early morning of June 22, 1941 were the border units of the NKVD. In total, 47 land and 6 sea border detachments, 9 separate border commandant's offices of the NKVD entered the battle on this day. The German command allocated half an hour to overcome their resistance. And the Soviet border guards fought for hours, days, weeks, often completely surrounded. So, the Lopatin outpost (Vladimir-Volynsky border detachment) For 11 days she repelled attacks by many times superior enemy forces. In addition to border guards, units of 4 divisions, 2 brigades and a number of separate operational regiments of the NKVD served on the western border of the USSR. Most of these units entered the battle from the very first hours of the Great Patriotic War. In particular, the personnel of the garrisons who guarded bridges, objects of special national importance, etc. The border guards who defended the famous Brest Fortress, including the 132nd separate battalion of the NKVD troops, fought heroically.

In the Baltics, on the 5th day of the war, the 22nd Motorized Rifle Division of the NKVD was formed, which fought together with the 10th Rifle Corps of the Red Army near Riga and Tallinn. Seven divisions, three brigades and three armored trains of the NKVD troops took part in the battle for Moscow. The division named after them took part in the famous parade on November 7, 1941. Dzerzhinsky, combined regiments of the 2nd NKVD division, a separate motorized rifle brigade for special purposes and the 42nd NKVD brigade. An important role in the defense of the Soviet capital was played by the Separate Special Purpose Motorized Rifle Brigade (OMSBON) of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, which created minefields on the approaches to the city, carried out sabotage behind enemy lines, etc. The separate brigade became a training center for the preparation of reconnaissance and sabotage detachments (they were formed from NKVD employees, anti-fascist foreigners and volunteer athletes). Over the four years of war, the training center trained 212 groups and detachments with a total number of 7,316 fighters under special programs. These formations carried out 1084 combat operations, eliminated approximately 137 thousand Nazis, destroyed 87 leaders of the German occupation administration and 2045 German agents.

The NKVD soldiers also distinguished themselves in the defense of Leningrad. The 1st, 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd divisions of the internal troops fought here. It was the NKVD troops that played the most important role in establishing communication between surrounded Leningrad and the mainland - in the construction of the Road of Life. During the months of the first blockade winter, the forces of the 13th Motorized Rifle Regiment of the NKVD delivered 674 tons of various cargo to the city along the Road of Life and took out more than 30 thousand people, mostly children. In December 1941, the 23rd division of the NKVD troops received the task of guarding the delivery of goods along the Road of Life.

NKVD fighters were also present during the defense of Stalingrad. Initially, the main fighting force in the city was the 10th NKVD division with a total strength of 7.9 thousand people. The division commander was Colonel A. Saraev, he was the head of the Stalingrad garrison and fortified area. On August 23, 1942, the division's regiments held defenses on a front of 35 kilometers. The division repulsed attempts by the advanced units of the German 6th Army to take Stalingrad on the move. The most fierce battles were noted on the approaches to Mamayev Kurgan, in the area of the tractor plant and in the city center. Before the withdrawal of the bloodless units of the division to the left bank of the Volga (after 56 days of fighting), the NKVD fighters inflicted significant damage on the enemy: there was 113 tanks were knocked out or burned, more than 15 thousand soldiers were killed and Wehrmacht officers. The 10th Division received the honorary name " Stalingradskaya"and was awarded the Order of Lenin. In addition, other units of the NKVD took part in the defense of Stalingrad: the 2nd, 79th, 9th and 98th border regiments of the rear security forces.

In the winter of 1942-1943. The People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs formed a separate army consisting of 6 divisions. At the beginning of February 1943, the Separate Army of the NKVD was transferred to the front, receiving the name 70th Army. The army became part of the Central Front, and then the 2nd and 1st Belorussian Fronts. The soldiers of the 70th Army showed courage in the Battle of Kursk, along with other forces of the Central Front, stopping the Nazi strike group, which was trying to break through to Kursk. NKVD Army distinguished herself in the Oryol, Polesie, Lublin-Brest, East Prussian, East Pomeranian and Berlin offensive operations. In total, during the Great War, the NKVD troops trained and transferred to the Red Army from their composition 29 divisions. During the war 100 thousand soldiers and officers of the NKVD troops were awarded medals and orders. More than two hundred people were awarded the title of Hero of the USSR. In addition, the internal troops of the People's Commissariat during the Great Patriotic War carried out 9,292 operations to combat bandit groups, as a result of which 47,451 were eliminated and 99,732 bandits were captured, and a total of 147,183 criminals were neutralized. Border guards in 1944-1945. destroyed 828 gangs, with a total number of about 48 thousand criminals.

Many have heard about the exploits of Soviet snipers during the Great Patriotic War, but few know that most of them were from the ranks of the NKVD. Even before the start of the war, NKVD units (units for the protection of important facilities and escort troops) received sniper squads. According to some reports, NKVD snipers destroyed up to 200 thousand enemy soldiers and officers during the war.

The banner of the 132nd battalion of NKVD convoy troops captured by the Germans. Photo from the personal album of one of the Wehrmacht soldiers. Defense in the Brest Fortress two month were held by border guards and the 132nd separate battalion of escort troops of the NKVD of the USSR. In Soviet times, everyone remembered the inscription of one of the defenders of the Brest Fortress: “ I'm dying, but I'm not giving up! Goodbye Motherland! 20.VII.41", but few people knew that it was made on the wall of the barracks of the 132nd separate battalion of escort troops of the NKVD of the USSR."

Dedicated to the defenders of Stalingrad (10th Infantry Division of the NKVD USSR VV)

Theory of misconceptions → NKVD troops in 1941

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