70th ARMY (until February 7, 1943 - Separate army NKVD)
formed in October 1942 - February 1943 in the Sverdlovsk region as a Separate Army of the NKVD troops in the reserve of the Supreme Command Headquarters. After being transferred to the Red Army on February 7, she received a combined arms number and on February 15 was included in the Central Front of the 2nd formation. As of March 1, 1943, it included the 102, 106, 140, 162, 175, 181st rifle divisions, the 27th separate guards tank and 378th anti-tank artillery regiments and other units. From February 28, 1943, it took part in defensive and offensive battles in the Sevsk direction, during which the northern front of the Kursk ledge was formed.
During the Kursk strategic defensive operation (July 5-23, 1943), the army, in cooperation with formations of the 13th, 2nd tank armies and 19th tank corps participated in repelling attacks strike force the German 9th Army, which was trying to break through to Kursk from the north.
With the transition of the Red Army troops to the counteroffensive, she participated in Orlovskaya strategic operation(July 12 - August 18), advancing on Trosna south of the city of Kromy. By August 5, its formations reached the area southwest of the city of Kromy, and by August 17, to the German defensive line “Hagen” in the Domakh area.
With the completion of the operation, the field command of the army was transferred to the reserve of the Central Front, and from September 1 to the reserve of the Supreme High Command Headquarters, where new formations and units were subordinated to it. In the second half of February 1944, the army was redeployed to the area north of Kovel, located on the Turya River, where on February 25 it was transferred to the 2nd Belorussian Front.
In March - April 1944, during the Polesskaya offensive operation (March 15 - April 4), it successfully operated north of Kovel. Since April 5, the army was part of the Belorussian troops, and from April 16 - the 1st Belorussian Front of the 2nd formation.
IN Lublin-Brest operation (July 18 - August 2), its formations, advancing bypassing Brest from the southwest, in cooperation with formations of the 61st and 28th armies, defeated up to 4 enemy divisions in the area west of the city.
After a short stay in the front reserve, from August 10 she continued to conduct offensive battles north of Warsaw and by the end of August she reached the Narew River in the Serock region.
From October 29 she was in the reserve of the 1st Belorussian Front, from November 19 - the 2nd Belorussian Front of the 2nd Formation.
During the East Prussian strategic operation (January 13 - April 25, 1945), the army as part of the 2nd Belorussian Front advanced from the Serotsky bridgehead in the direction of Modlin, Plock, Thorn (Torun). During 3-day battles, its formations broke through the enemy’s tactical defense zone, defeated his nearest reserves, and on January 18 took possession of the city and fortress of Modlin.
During the further offensive, by January 25, the army reached the fortress city of Thorn and blocked it, and then took possession of the city. At the same time, its formations reached the Vistula in the area northeast of Bromberg (Bydgoszcz), crossed the river and captured a bridgehead. Subsequently, until February 10, the army fought to destroy the enemy’s Thorn group.
In February - March, the army took part in the East Pomeranian strategic operation (February 10 - April 4, 1945). During the operation, its troops, in cooperation with other front armies and forces Baltic Fleet defeated the enemy's Danzig-Gdynia group and on March 28 captured the city, port and naval base of Gdynia, and on March 30 - the enemy's most important port and naval base of Danzig (Gdansk).
At the beginning of April 1945, the army was withdrawn to the front reserve and by April 15 was redeployed to the area of Wittstock, Naugard (Novogard), Stukhov.
During the Berlin strategic operation (April 16 - May 8), the army advanced as part of the main strike group of the 2nd Belorussian Front in the direction of Neubrandenburg and Wismar. Having crossed the Ost-Oder and West-Oder, its troops, in cooperation with the troops of the 65th and 49th armies, defeated the Stettin enemy group, and on May 1 captured the cities of Rostock and Teterow. By the end of May 3, they reached the coast Baltic Sea in the Wismar area and began to carry out the task of protecting and defending the coast in the Stettin (Szczecin) area.
After the end of the war, the field command of the army was relocated to Chkalov (Orenburg), in October 1945 it was disbanded, and its personnel were sent to supplement the management of the South Ural Military District.
Army commanders: Major General G. F. Tarasov (October 1942 - April 1943); Lieutenant General Galanin I.V. (April - September 1943); Major General Sharapov V.M. (September - October 1943); Lieutenant General Nikolaev I.F. (October 1943 - March 1944); Major General Ryzhov A.I. (March - May 1944); Colonel General Popov V.S. (May 1944 - until the end of the war).
Member of the Army Military Council - Colonel, from March 1943 - Major General N. N. Savkov (October 1942 - until the end of the war).
Chiefs of Army Staff: Major General Sharapov V.M. (October 1942 - November 1943); Colonel Abaev G.M. (November 1943 - February 1944); Major General Lyapin P.I. (February 1944 - March 1945), Colonel Penchevsky A.P. (March - April 1945), Major General Teteshkin S.I. (April - until the end of the war).
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 border troops, control of convoy troops, other units 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. German command allocated half an hour to suppress their resistance... But the result 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 posthumously awarded the title of Hero 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 will forever remain in history Brest Fortress. 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 NKVD escort 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 throughout Eastern Front. Some defenders of the fortress managed to fight their way out of encirclement and continued the fight as part of partisan detachments V 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 in the area state border served as a unit of 4 divisions, 2 brigades and a number of separate operational regiments of the NKVD. In general, by the beginning of the war, the NKVD troops consisted of 14 divisions, 18 brigades and 21 separate regiment for various purposes, of which in 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 began in the Baltic, Western and Kiev special districts before the war motorized rifle divisions NKVD. 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 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” ...
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 German troops long time They continued to defend the facilities until the last moment. 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 heroic defense 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 Ladoga sailors military flotilla crossed the Neva and secured a foothold on its left bank, on a small bridgehead, the so-called “Neva 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 they received wide use the famous sniper movement.
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 fight enemy saboteurs and paratroopers in Moscow and the Moscow region in central office The NKGB formed a special operational detachment of 216 people. In addition, 35 fighter battalions. Special security detachments were sent to the most difficult sectors 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 damage on the enemy huge losses. 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 best army Wehrmacht - 6th. Under pressure from superior enemy forces, the Red Army was forced to retreat to Stalingrad and North Caucasus. The existence of the USSR was under threat. On the square 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 further move 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- th regiment for the protection of especially important industrial enterprises, 249th convoy regiment and the 73rd separate armored train, which distinguished itself in the battles near Moscow, and others military formations 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 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:
Warriors 10th Stalingrad division The internal troops of Colonel A. A. Saraev had to be the first defenders of Stalingrad, and they withstood this with honor the most difficult test, courageously and selflessly fought against 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, they went into battle ground forces. IN the most difficult situation The 269th Regiment of the 10th Division held the defense, 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 rifle 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 bears the name of the division. Central region city, 8 streets are named after soldiers of the division...
Website of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia:
In addition to the 10th division in Battle of Stalingrad Other units of the NKVD troops also participated, the 91st Railway Protection Regiment steadfastly defended the assigned lines, repeatedly entered into battle, repulsing enemy attacks, giving the Red Army units the opportunity to regroup their forces. Only in battles from September 3 to 6, 1942, 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, captured a large number 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.
Behind successful completion combat missions and the courage of its soldiers, the regiment was awarded the order 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 early stages wars, to be honest, sometimes even surpassing them.
But besides this, the forces of the NKVD and NKGB carried out many other most important tasks- on intelligence and counterintelligence, the fight against saboteurs and spies, the leadership of partisans and, since 1944, the fight against the collaborationist bandit underground in the territories 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. June 24, 1945 at historical parade 8 battalions of the NKVD division named after Dzerzhinsky took part in the victory.
Legkoshkur Fedor Antonovich.
It was the combined battalion of the NKVD of the USSR, commanded by senior lieutenant Dmitry Vovk, who threw the banners of the units 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 onto the Kremlin paving stones tank division SS "Adolf Hitler". As we can see, they deserved this great honor!
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the leading authorities of the NKVD bodies and troops found themselves inundated with reports demanding assignment to the Active Army. People were eager to fight the Nazis at the fronts, and not to serve in the rear structures.
In June 1942, the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs allocated personnel to form ten rifle divisions. Each formation was provided with 500 commanding officers and up to 1000 junior commanders and rank-and-file personnel. However, the flow of reports from law enforcement officers and NKVD soldiers did not subside. AND top management The People's Commissariat sent a proposal to the Kremlin to form an "army of troops of the NKVD of the USSR consisting of six rifle divisions total number 70 thousand people.”
The State Defense Committee of the USSR immediately responded to this patriotic initiative and on October 14, 1942, issued a top secret Resolution No. 2411ss “On the formation of an army of NKVD troops.” In that historical document Stalin's signature indicated that the proposal was accepted. Army composition: 6 rifle divisions with a total strength of 70,000 people. It was stipulated that the NKVD would allocate only 55,000 personnel: 29,750 - border and 25,250 - internal troops (operational, escort, protecting railways and important industrial enterprises). The remaining 15,000 soldiers - to staff artillery, engineering units, communications, etc. - are sent by the People's Commissariat of Defense from the relevant units of the Red Army.
The last paragraph of the GKO Resolution is the most remarkable: “The army is to be included in the reserve of the High Command and equated in all respects to the guards units.” At the formation stage, it was headed by Major General G.F. Tarasov is a former border guard who graduated with honors in 1937 Military Academy them. Frunze and in 1941–1942. successfully commanded a rifle formation and the 41st Army at the front. The army headquarters was located in Sverdlovsk at the address: st. Malysheva, house 22. Nowadays, the facade of the pre-revolutionary building in memory of this remarkable event is decorated with a marble memorial plaque.
Rifle divisions were formed in Khabarovsk, Chita, Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk and Tashkent. That’s why they were originally called Far Eastern, Transbaikal, Siberian, Ural, Central Asian. In January 1943, all five formations were concentrated in the Sverdlovsk region.
On February 5, 1943, Headquarters issues directive No. 46052 “On the inclusion of the 70th Army in the Red Army forces.” In accordance with this document, the Separate Army of the NKVD troops from February 1 is called the 70th (combined arms) Army, and the rifle divisions are numbered - 102nd Far Eastern, 106th Transbaikal, 140th Siberian, 162nd Central Asian and 175th Ural. At the last stage, the army included the sixth formation - the 181st Stalingrad Rifle Division (the former 10th division of the NKVD troops, which participated in the heroic defense of the city on the Volga). By mid-February 1943, the 70th Army under the command of Major General Tarasov was deployed across railway on Central Front Colonel General K.K. Rokossovsky.
At the end of February the army takes baptism of fire in the Sevsk offensive operation of the front forces, which ended in failure. On April 2, the army was led by Lieutenant General I.V. Galanin is a professional military leader. Under his command, the army successfully participated in the spring offensive battles against the enemy’s Oryol group, and in the summer it differed in Kursk Bulge. Marshal of the Soviet Union Rokossovsky recalled years later: “On the Kursk Bulge, together with our other armies, she successfully led fighting 70th Army, formed from personnel of the border and internal troops of the NKVD. In the defense zone of this army from July 5 to July 12, 1943, the enemy lost up to 20,000 soldiers and officers, 572 enemy tanks were shot down and burned, including 60 “tigers,” and 70 aircraft were shot down. These facts speak eloquently about the courage and courage of the border guards and NKVD soldiers.”
After the defeat of the Nazis on the Kursk Bulge, the divisions of the 70th Army continued victory path to the west. And at the end of August 1943, the army was withdrawn from the Central Front and transferred to the reserve of the Supreme Command Headquarters. By this time, many officers of the NKVD troops were being recalled from the front, and the losses were being replaced by trained army personnel. As part of the association are formed rifle corps, V different time included – artillery division, several separate tank regiments, guards mortar divisions, self-propelled artillery and other units.
Subsequently, the 70th Army in the battle formations of the 2nd and 1st Belorussian Fronts successfully crushed the enemy in the Lublin-Brest, East Pomeranian and Berlin offensive operations. Victory was met in central Germany at the Rostock-Schwerin-Wittenberg line, which it reached by May 8, 1945.
Interesting fact: Among the army commanders were two former staff captains - Lieutenant General A.A. Grechkin and I.F. Nikolaev, as well as ensign - Hero of the Soviet Union of the Guard, Lieutenant General A.I. Ryzhov.By the end of the war, all six rifle formations initial formation were awarded orders and honorary titles. Thus, the 102nd Far Eastern becomes the Novgorod-Severskaya Order of Lenin Red Banner Order of Suvorov division; 106th – Transbaikal-Dnieper Red Banner Order of Suvorov; 140th Siberian - Novgorod-Severskaya Order of Lenin, twice Red Banner, Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov; 162nd Central Asian - also Novgorod-Severskaya Red Banner Order of Suvorov; 175th Ural - Ural-Kovel Red Banner Order of Kutuzov; The 181st Stalingrad received four orders - Lenin, Red Banner, Suvorov and Kutuzov.
At least seventy-eight soldiers of the 70th Army were awarded high rank Hero of the Soviet Union.
All these divisions, covered in military glory, were disbanded in 1945–1946. The field command of the 70th Army itself was relocated to Chkalov (now Orenburg) by October 1945, where it was also disbanded...
Nikolay Sysoev, military historian, colonel
The longer you defend your rights, the more unpleasant the aftertaste.
By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, many NKVD divisions were located in the center and east of the USSR. Although most of the military personnel did not stay in the rear for long. Already on June 29, 1941, the Headquarters of the High Command made a decision to send them to the front:
“Proceed immediately with the formation of 15 divisions, of which 10 are rifle and 5 motorized. To form divisions, use part of the personnel of the commanding and rank and file of the border and internal troops of the NKVD.
The missing personnel will be covered from reserves.
The formation of divisions is entrusted to people's commissar internal affairs comrade Beria L.P.
The Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army must ensure the formation of divisions with manpower and material resources and weapons at the request of the NKVD".
(shooter and sniper of the NKVD troops 1943)
On the same day, Order No. 00 837 of the NKVD of the USSR was issued on the formation of fifteen rifle divisions of the NKVD troops for transfer to the active army. Here is a quote from this document: “...3. Start forming divisions immediately and deploy: 243rd Infantry Division, 244th Infantry Division, 246th Infantry Division, 247th Infantry Division, 249th Infantry Division, 250th Infantry Division, 251st Infantry Division, 252nd Rifle Division, 254th Rifle Division, 256th Rifle Division, 15th Mountain Rifle Division, 16th Mountain Rifle Division, 17th Mountain Rifle Division, 26th Mountain Rifle Division, 12th Mountain Rifle Division. (Instead of mountain rifle divisions On the territory of the Moscow Military District, the 257th, 262nd, 265th, 266th and 268th rifle divisions were formed. - Author)
To form the above divisions, allocate 1000 privates and juniors from the personnel of the NKVD troops commanding staff and 500 command and control personnel for each division. For the rest of the composition, submit applications in General base of the Red Army for conscription from the reserves of all categories of military personnel.
The concentration of personnel allocated from the NKVD troops to formation points should be completed by July 17, 1941.” .
(Army Commander, Major General German Fedorovich TARASOV)
Divisions were formed from border and internal troops. For example, from the border troops, more than 15 thousand border guards were included in the six formed formations intended for the front of the reserve armies. Upon completion of formation and short-term combat training, all divisions were sent to the Reserve, Northern and Western fronts. The divisions took an active part in the defense of Leningrad, the Battle of Moscow, and many defensive and offensive operations of the Great Patriotic War.
For example, three divisions (254th, 257th, 262nd) as part of the 34th Army participated in a counterattack in the area Staraya Russa in August 1941; three divisions (252, 254, 256th) became part of the 29th Army, which operated on the Western and Kalinin fronts; The 256th Rifle Division, operating as part of the 31st Army, was the first to break into the city of Kalinin after a fierce battle, clearing it of enemy troops on December 16, 1941; 249th Division, operating as part of the 4th Shock Army, liberated the city of Penno during the counter-offensive in January 1942 and approached Vitebsk. Many divisions that proved themselves in subsequent battles were awarded and given honorary titles, two divisions became guards.
In June 1942, the NKVD of the USSR allocated personnel to form ten rifle divisions. For each of them it was allocated " 500 command and control personnel and 1,000 junior commanders and rank-and-file personnel". In addition, the General Staff of the Red Army and the State Defense Committee was presented with “a nominal list of the command and control personnel of the NKVD troops, who ... can be appointed to the positions of division commanders, division chiefs of staff, deputy division commanders for political affairs, as well as assistant division commanders for supply.”
In accordance with the resolution State Committee Defense on July 26, 1942, 75 thousand military personnel were sent from the NKVD troops to the front, including from the internal troops - 51,593, border troops - 7,000, troops to protect railway structures - 6,673, to protect industrial enterprises - 5,414 and from convoy troops troops - 4320.
In the winter of 1942/43, the NKVD formed the Separate NKVD Army consisting of six divisions, which at the beginning of February 1943 was transferred to the active army, received the name 70th Army and became part of the Central Front. During the Battle of Kursk, she stubbornly resisted the strike force of the 9th German army, trying to break through to Kursk, and with the transition Soviet troops participated in the Oryol operation in the counteroffensive.
Subsequently, the 70th Army successfully crushed the enemy in the Lublin-Brest, East Pomeranian and Berlin offensive operations. By the end of the war, all six divisions included in the 70th Army during its formation were awarded orders and given honorary titles.
In 1944, to protect the rear of our troops and communications in the territory East Prussia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania, in accordance with the decision of the State Defense Committee, the People's Commissariat of Defense formed 10 rifle divisions of the NKVD troops of five thousand people each. Many units of these divisions took an active part in combat operations at the fronts. So, the 145th Infantry Regiment for military valor, shown during the storming of the city of Poznan, was awarded the honorary name “Poznansky”. And in total, during the war years, the NKVD troops formed and also transferred to the Red Army 29 divisions from their composition (29, 30, 31, 34th and 70th Army).
The last one is worth special mention. If other armies were formed by the command of the Red Army, then the 70th Army was formed by the security officers. Until February 1943 it was officially called Separate army of NKVD troops and almost its entire command staff are representatives of the troops of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs. We can say that at the beginning of 1943, Lavrentiy Beria had his own combat-ready army.
In his memoirs, Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky succinctly wrote: “On the Kursk Bulge, together with our other armies, the 70th Army, formed from the personnel of the border and internal troops, successfully conducted combat operations. In the defense zone of this army from July 5 to July 12, 1943 (in 8 days), the enemy lost up to 20 thousand soldiers and officers, 572 enemy tanks were shot down and burned, including 60 “tigers,” and 70 aircraft were shot down. These facts speak eloquently about the courage and bravery of border guards and soldiers of the internal troops.".
The story about the military affairs of the 70th Army deserves a separate book, so we will only limit ourselves to the official laconic information about its participation in the Great Patriotic War.
"70th ARMY (until February 7, 1943 - Separate Army of the NKVD) formed in October 1942 - February 1943 in the Sverdlovsk region as a Separate Army of the NKVD troops in the reserve of the Supreme Command Headquarters. After being transferred to the Red Army on February 7, she received a combined arms number and on February 15 was included in the Central Front of the 2nd formation. As of March 1, 1943, it included the 102, 106, 140, 162, 175, 181st rifle divisions, the 27th separate guards tank and 378th anti-tank artillery regiments and other units. From February 28, 1943, it took part in defensive and offensive battles in the Sevsk direction, during which the northern front of the Kursk ledge was formed.
During the Kursk strategic defensive operation(July 5–1923, 1943) the army, in cooperation with formations of the 13th and 2nd tank armies and the 19th tank corps, participated in repelling attacks by the strike group of the German 9th Army, which was trying to break through to Kursk from the north.
With the transition of the Red Army troops to the counteroffensive, it participated in the Oryol strategic operation (July 12 - August 18), advancing on Trosna south of the city of Kromy. By August 5, its formations reached the area southwest of the city of Kromy, and by August 17 - to the German defensive line "Hagen" in the Domakh area.
With the completion of the operation, the field command of the army was transferred to the reserve of the Central Front, and from September 1 - to the reserve of the Supreme High Command Headquarters, where new formations and units were subordinated to it. In the second half of February 1944, the army was redeployed to the area north of Kovel, located on the Turya River, where on February 25 it was transferred to the 2nd Belorussian Front.
In March - April 1944, during the Polesie offensive operation (March 15 - April 4), it successfully operated north of Kovel. Since April 5, the army was part of the Belorussian troops, and from April 16 - the 1st Belorussian Front of the 2nd formation.
In the Lublin-Brest operation (July 18 - August 2), its formations, advancing bypassing Brest from the southwest, in cooperation with formations of the 61st and 28th armies, defeated the area west of the city up to 4 enemy divisions.
After a short stay in the front reserve, from August 10 she continued to conduct offensive battles north of Warsaw and by the end of August she reached the Narew River in the Serock region.
From October 29 she was in the reserve of the 1st Belorussian Front, from November 19 - the 2nd Belorussian Front of the 2nd formation.
During the East Prussian strategic operation (January 13 - April 25, 1945), the army as part of the 2nd Belorussian Front advanced from the Serock bridgehead in the direction of Modlin, Plock, Thorn (Torun). During 3-day battles, its formations broke through the enemy’s tactical defense zone, defeated his nearest reserves, and on January 18 captured the city and fortress of Modlin.
In the course of a further offensive, by January 25, the army reached the fortified city of Thorn and blocked it, and then captured the city. At the same time, its formations reached the Vistula in the area northeast of Bromberg (Bydgoszcz), crossed the river and captured a bridgehead. Subsequently, until February 10, the army fought to destroy the enemy’s Thorn group.
In February - March, the army participated in the East Pomeranian strategic operation (February 10 - April 4, 1945). During the operation, its troops, in cooperation with other armies of the front and the forces of the Baltic Fleet, defeated the Danzig-Gdynia enemy group and on March 28 captured the city, port and naval base of Gdynia, and on March 30 - the most important port and naval base of the enemy Danzig (Gdansk ).
At the beginning of April 1945, the army was withdrawn to the front reserve and by April 15 redeployed to the area of Wittstock, Naugard (Novogard), TyxoB.
During the Berlin Strategic Operation (April 16 - May 8), the army advanced as part of the main strike group of the 2nd Belorussian Front in the direction of Neubrandenburg and Wismar. Having crossed the Ost-Oder and West-Oder, its troops, in cooperation with the troops of the 65th and 49th armies, defeated the Stettin enemy group, and on May 1 captured the cities of Rostock and Teterow. By the end of May 3, they reached the Baltic Sea coast in the Wismar region and began to carry out the task of protecting and defending the coast in the Stettin (Szczecin) region. After the end of the war, the field command of the army was redeployed to Chkalov (Orenburg), in October 1945 it was disbanded, and its personnel were sent to supplement the command of the South Ural Military District.”
This is the kind of army created by People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Lavrentiy Beria and handed it over to the command of the Red Army!
70th Army
Formed in October 1942 - February 1943 from the personnel of the border and internal troops of the NKVD with direct subordination to the Supreme Command Headquarters. Three divisions (Far Eastern, Transbaikal and Central Asian) manned the border districts, and three (Siberian, Ural and Stalingrad) - internal troops. Parts and connections were first formed on great distance from each other. Then from picking points in Tashkent, Novosibirsk, Chita, Transbaikalia and Far East The divisions were redeployed to the Urals, where the Ural and Stalingrad divisions were already located. On February 15, 1943 it was included in the Central Front. Rifle divisions (as of March 1) received corresponding numbers:102nd Infantry Division - Far Eastern (formed in Khabarovsk),
106th Infantry Division - Transbaikal (Chita),
140th Infantry Division - Sibirskaya (Novosibirsk),
162nd Infantry Division - Central Asian (Tashkent),
175th Infantry Division - Ural (Sverdlovsk),
181st Infantry Division - Stalingradskaya (Chelyabinsk).
In addition to rifle divisions, the army included artillery, tank and other units.
Artillery regiments divisions, artillery and 120-mm mortar batteries of rifle regiments were formed: Far Eastern Division - in Kungur; Transbaikalskaya - in Shadrinsk; Siberian - in Krasnoufimsk; Central Asian - in Zlatoust.
About 55 thousand personnel from the border and internal troops, including 1,500 various specialists, were allocated to staff the army.
The army was headed by Major General G. F. Tarasov, former boss headquarters of the Transbaikal border district. IN initial period During the war, he commanded the 249th Infantry Division, which was part of the 29th Army. His division distinguished itself in the Battle of Smolensk and in the Battle of Moscow, it was awarded the title of 16th Guards. Tarasov's deputy was Major General A. Ya. Kiselev, who at one time held the position of chief of staff, and with the beginning of the war - chief of troops of the Karelo-Finnish border district, chief of rear security troops Karelian Front. The army headquarters was headed by Major General V.M. Sharapov, who had previously commanded a division and had experience leading troops in the Battle of Smolensk. Major General N. N. Sovkov was appointed a member of the Army Military Council, and Colonel Ya. G. Maslovsky was appointed head of the political department. The division commanders became experienced military leaders border and internal troops who went through combat school in the active army in the first period of the war.
The formation of the army was completed by mid-January 1943. The personnel composition of pre-war conscription was more than 60 percent; those called up from the reserves in 1941 and having served in the border troops for at least a year - more than 30 percent. The same high military training also had internal troops personnel allocated for the formation of the 70th Army. So, one of the divisions, the 181st, went through combat school in the Battle of Stalingrad.
In border divisions, commanders of border detachments were appointed commanders of rifle regiments, and commandants of sections were appointed commanders of battalions. Commanders rifle company became bosses border outposts(naval posts) and their deputies, and commanders rifle platoons- deputy chiefs of outposts (naval posts), foremen and the most capable sergeants. In most cases, the squad commanders were ordinary border guards.
The army headquarters was formed from officers of the Main Directorate of Border Troops and the headquarters of troops of the border districts; division headquarters - at the expense of headquarters officers of border districts and headquarters border detachments, and the regimental headquarters are made up of officers from the headquarters of the border detachments. The heads of communications, engineering, chemical and sanitary services of the Main Directorate of Border Troops, border districts and detachments were appointed to similar positions in the army, rifle divisions and regiments. Political workers of the border troops were sent to staff the political departments of the army and divisions and political apparatus of units and battalions.
Exactly high professional level commanding officers and all personnel of the border and internal troops allocated for the formation of the army, it was explained that already initial stage the army was equated to the guards. “The separate army of the NKVD troops,” said the order on its formation, “will in all respects be equated to the guards units of the Red Army” / TsAPV, f. 6, op. 1, units hr. 669, l. 413-416/
On February 12, the army went to the front with 76 railway echelons. The warriors considered their army to be a shock army, intended for a breakthrough. However, dramatic events soon followed.
The army became part of the Central Front, and from the Yelets area it had to move on foot to the concentration area on the Tagino-Fatezh line. A multi-day march began. The divisions had to travel from 200 to 350 kilometers off-road in a blizzard and blizzard, overcoming two-meter snowdrifts. The infantry carried the artillery. It was impossible to use motor transport and there was no food available. People were exhausted, experiencing incredible fatigue and hunger.
All this could have ended in tragedy, but the commander of the 65th Army, General P.I. Batov, came to the rescue. He ordered to allocate from a three-day food supply daily norm and part of the ammunition for the soldiers of the 70th Army arriving on the front section between the 65th and 13th armies.
At this time, the Central Front received the task of striking the enemy’s Oryol group in order to ease the situation of the Southwestern and Voronezh fronts, against which the enemy’s counteroffensive was developing. On the move, essentially unprepared for immediate combat operations, the formations of the 70th Army went on the offensive. The army, weakened as a result of the grueling march, took part in the fighting, but, naturally, was not successful, although the soldiers fought fearlessly.
Subsequently assessing these events, Marshal of the Soviet Union K.K. Rokossovsky wrote: “... We placed the blame on this army big hopes and sent it to the most critical sector - to the right flank, at the junction with the troops of the Bryansk Front, but the actions of the border guards were unsuccessful. This was explained by the inexperience of senior commanders, who found themselves in such a difficult combat situation for the first time. The formations were brought into battle on the move, unorganized, piecemeal, without the necessary provision of artillery and ammunition."
The front commander achieved through Headquarters the removal of Army Commander G.F. Tarasov from office and replacing him with General I.V. Galanin. It wasn't fair. Tarasov subsequently proved his professional preparedness.
Subsequently, Rokossovsky admitted his guilt in unsuccessful use army: “By placing responsibility for the unsuccessful actions of the army on its command and headquarters, I cannot remove the blame from myself and my headquarters: hastily introducing the army into battle, we set it a task without checking the training of the troops, without familiarizing themselves with their command staff. This served as a lesson for me for the future."
The army's first offensive at the front was unsuccessful, but by the beginning of the Battle of Kursk it had increased its combat readiness, besides, the 132nd, 211th, 280th strengthened rifle divisions, as well as artillery. The army took an active part in the fighting on the northern front of the Kursk Bulge.
On September 1, 1943, the army control was transferred to the reserve of the Supreme Command Headquarters, and new formations and units were subordinated to it. As part of the 2nd Belorussian Front, from April 16, 1944, the 1st Belorussian Front took part in the Polesie and Lublin-Brest offensive operations. In the 2nd half of November transferred to the 2nd Belorussian Front and as part of it participated in the East Prussian, East Pomeranian and Berlin offensive operations.
Commanders:
Tarasov G.F. (December 1942 - April 1943), Major General
Galanin I.V. (April - September 1943), lieutenant general
Sharapov V.M. (September - October 1943), Major General
Grechkin A. A. (October - November 1943), lieutenant general
Nikolaev I.F. (January - March 1944), lieutenant general
Ryzhov A.I. (March - May 1944), Major General
Popov V.S. (May 1944 - May 1945), Colonel General
Literature:
Sharapov V.M., "Heroes of the 70th Army" in the book " Battle of Kursk", 3rd ed., Voronezh, 1982. |