The first blow of the Nazi invaders on June 22, 1941 was taken by 85 thousand border guards. There were 660 frontier posts on the western borders of the USSR, and according to the Barbarossa plan, it took from half an hour to 60 minutes to take them. From the first days of the war, the soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht realized that this war would be different from those in which they had previously participated.
So up to 24 hours 250 outposts lasted, more than a day of Nazi attacks withstood 20 strongholds of border guards. Two days defended 16, three - 20, and up to five days - 43 outposts. From one to two weeks, 67 frontier outposts held back the enemy, and more than two weeks 51. Remaining behind enemy lines, almost 50 outposts fought back for two months.
All fighters staunchly and selflessly defended themselves, and some even went over to counterattacks. On the night of June 26, border guards, sailors of the Danube Flotilla with soldiers of the 51st Perekop and 25th Chapaev divisions drove the Romanians out of the city of Kiliya. After they crossed the Danube, where they captured several settlements, 800 prisoners and a 70-kilometer bridgehead. To develop success prevented the order to retreat back.
One detachment managed to hold back the pressure of the enemy. On June 29, the frontier posts of the Reskitentsky border detachment of the Murmansk District entered into battle with the Finnish units, and after 5 days the enemy was driven out of the territory of the USSR. Until the very end of the war, the invader did not cross the border on the site of this unit.
Testimony of the German side
The most famous was the feat of the Soviet border guards in the Brest Fortress. About these events, General Blumentritt, who heads the headquarters of the 4th army advancing in Belarus, said that the border guards and their wives fought to the last, steadfastly enduring the bombing and shelling. German troops have learned what it means to deal with the Russians, who are far superior in training and spirit to other European armies. Soviet soldiers are disciplined and stand to the death, and attempts to defeat them cost a lot of blood.
General Halder wrote in his diary that the Russians everywhere were fighting to the last man. The fighting is stubborn, and there are very few prisoners. The Russians resist until they are killed or try to get out of the encirclement under the guise of civilians.
With the beginning of the border battles, the infantrymen of the 60th motorized division received an order stating that the soldiers and commanders of the enemy were brave and always accepted the battle. Therefore, Wehrmacht soldiers should not show a human attitude towards the enemy, and fanaticism and contempt for death makes its destruction mandatory.
General Erich Rauss came to the conclusion in the summer of 1941 that the Western notion of the immobility of the Russian army, devoid of individuality, was a thing of the past. The ideas of communism caused a spiritual upsurge in Soviet soldiers, which is felt on the battlefields.
First heroes
In the border battles, the people, who faced a 4-year war and millions of victims, received their first heroes. Several dozen border guards under the command of Lieutenant Lopatin resisted the German battalion for 11 days. Until July 2, a red flag flew over the position, and only a sniper's shot knocked down the banner. Before the start of the battle, the soldiers took the civilians out of the outpost, seeking protection there. When people were safe, the border guards returned to their position to take the fight, in which everyone died.
At the 7th outpost of the Volyn detachment on June 22, Private Petrov held back the Germans for 7 hours with machine gun fire. When the cartridges were used up, the border guard blew himself up and the approaching Germans with a grenade. On June 23, five hundred border guards under the command of senior lieutenant Polivoda drove the Germans out of Przemysl as a result of many hours of battle. Until June 27, they held the city, and withdrew only after the order.
After the border guards ran out of ammunition, they rushed at the enemy in a bayonet attack. This happened at the 17th outpost of the Rava-Russian border detachment. The soldiers met the Nazis with bayonets and all died. The eleven-day battle near the Moldavian border village of Stoyanovka was particularly bloody. Soviet soldiers launched counteroffensives and recaptured the railway bridge over the Prut River from the enemy.
The Romanians managed to kill 600 defenders of the outpost, but the victory cost them 12 thousand killed and wounded. For all the time of the border battles, not a single Soviet outpost was left without an order. The fighters who found themselves in the German rear joined the partisan detachments and continued to fight.
The border troops were not designed to repel an attack by regular troops. However, the outposts perished almost at full strength, gaining the time necessary for the deployment of the main forces.
Our directors shoot quite a lot of films about the "War", feature films and documentaries, but unfortunately almost all of them are infected with various "black myths". And there is still little film material that would have an educational effect on young people about the immortal feat of our border troops on the terrible day of June 22, 1941. In Soviet times, they even shot a wonderful multi-part film "The State Border" (1980-1988). But time goes by and few of today's youth watch Soviet masterpieces, it would be time to make new films about the exploits of our border guards, because there is a lot of material. It's one thing if the border guards showed themselves poorly in the first days of the war, then it would be possible to keep silent about it, but on the contrary, they fought heroically, for hours, days, although the enemy took them no more than half an hour in his plans. As a result, Russia has not yet fully appreciated and realized the feat of the Border Troops of the NKVD of the USSR, which, by their actions, laid the foundation for the disruption of the Reich's "blitzkrieg" plan.
What were these troops?
In June 1941, the Border Troops of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR were under the overall command of L.P. Beria. They consisted of 18 border districts, which included 94 border detachments, 8 separate detachments of border ships, 23 separate border commandant's offices, 10 separate aviation squadrons and 2 cavalry regiments. Their total number was 168135 people, the naval units of the Border Troops had 11 patrol ships, 223 patrol boats and 180 raid and auxiliary boats (414 combat units in total), the Border Troops aviation had 129 aircraft.
On the eve of the war, taking general measures to repel possible aggression, the leadership of the USSR increased the density of protection of the western part of the state border of the state: from the Barents to the Black Sea. This section was then guarded by 8 border districts, which included 49 border detachments, 7 detachments of border ships, 10 separate border commandant's offices and 3 separate aviation squadrons. Their total number was 87459 people, of which 80% of the personnel were located directly on the state border, on the Soviet-German border - 40963 people. Of the 1747 frontier posts guarding the state border of the Soviet Union, 715 outposts were on the western border of the country.
Organizationally, each border detachment consisted of 4 border commandant's offices, each had 4 linear outposts and 1 reserve outpost, a maneuver group (a reserve of a border detachment of 4 outposts, with a total number of 200 - 250 border guards), a junior command staff school - 100 people , headquarters, intelligence department, political agency and rear. In total, the detachment had up to 2000 bayonets. Each border detachment guarded the land section of the border with a length of up to 180 kilometers, on the sea coast - up to 450 km.
Border outposts were part of the border commandant's offices - 4 frontier posts each. The border commandant's office, as part of the border detachment, ensured the protection of the border in a section of up to 50 km and was directly in charge of the frontier posts. The commandant of the border commandant's office had a combat reserve - a reserve outpost of 42 border guards, armed with 2 machine guns, 4 light machine guns, 34 rifles. The reserve outpost had increased ammunition, trucks or 2-3 double-horse carts.
The staff strength of the frontier posts in June 1941 was from 42 to 64 people, depending on the specific conditions of the territory and other conditions of the situation. The composition of the outpost numbering 42 border guards: the head of the frontier post and his deputy, the foreman and 4 commanders of departments, the rest are ordinary border guards. It was armed with: 1 Maxim heavy machine gun, 3 Degtyarev light machine guns and 37 five-shot rifles of the 1891/30 model; the ammunition of the frontier post was: 7.62 mm caliber cartridges - 200 pieces for each rifle and 1600 pieces for each Degtyarev light machine gun, 2400 pieces for an easel machine gun, RGD hand grenades - 4 units for each fighter and 10 anti-tank grenades for the entire frontier post .
The composition of the border outpost of 64 border guards: the head of the outpost and two deputies, 1 foreman and 7 squad commanders. The outpost was armed with 2 Maxim heavy machine guns, 4 Degtyarev light machine guns and 56 rifles. Accordingly, the amount of ammunition was greater than in the outpost with 42 fighters. At the direction of the head of the border detachment at the frontier posts, where the most threatened situation developed, the amount of ammunition was increased by one and a half times, but the subsequent development of events showed that this ammunition was only enough for 1-2 days of defense. The technical means of communication of the frontier post was the telephone. The outposts were transported by 2 double-horse carts.
In April 1941, company mortars and submachine guns began to arrive at the border districts on the western border of the Soviet Union: 50 mm mortars - 357 units, 3517 units of Degtyarev submachine guns and 18 first anti-tank rifles.
Each frontier post round the clock guarded a permanent section of the state border with a length of 6-8 km, depending on the specific conditions of the situation and terrain. As a result, it is clear that the composition and armament of the frontier post allowed it to successfully fight against single border violators, sabotage and reconnaissance groups and small detachments of the enemy (from a squad to 2 platoons of an infantry company). Nevertheless, the border troops were able to adequately resist the Wehrmacht troops, which were much larger in number and weapons, making another heroic page in our Motherland.
It should also be noted that the border troops were put on full alert on June 21. They were distinguished by high combat readiness due to their service - danger could threaten every day, in fact they were an elite part of the Armed Forces of the USSR.
Patrol of the Soviet border guards. Last days of peace, June 1941
The beginning of the war
The first who discovered the enemy and joined the battle were the border guards who were in the service. Using pre-prepared firing positions, as well as natural shelters, the squads entered into battle with the enemy and thereby gave a signal of danger to the outposts. Many of the fighters died in the first battle, and the survivors withdrew to the fortifications of the outposts and joined the defensive operations. In the zone where the main strike groups of the Wehrmacht were advancing, their advanced enemy units were mainly tank and motorized units, which, due to their complete superiority in numbers and weapons, could overcome the resistance of the outposts relatively quickly - 1-2 hours. In addition, usually the main units did not stop, but moved on, the outpost, if they could not take it immediately, blocked it with small forces, then suppressed the resistance with fire, and finished off the survivors. Sometimes it was necessary to finish off the last fighters who had settled in the basements, with the help of sappers, undermining land mines.
The outposts, which were not at the forefront of the main blows, held out longer, repelling enemy infantry attacks with machine guns and rifles, withstanding shelling and air raids. The reserves of the commandant's offices and border detachments, almost not participating in the battles of outposts, they usually fought already in the ranks of the Red Army units, participated in the destruction of enemy landings, enemy sabotage and reconnaissance detachments, or died in battle with them. Some were broken while moving to the outposts, running into the advancing columns of the Wehrmacht. But one should not think that all the border guards died in fierce battles, some outposts were ordered to withdraw, the border guards, along with units of the Red Army, continued to fight and participated in the victory over the enemy, in restoring the borders of the USSR.
Among the irretrievable losses of border guards in the battles in June 1941, more than 90% were in the category of the so-called. "Missing" Their death was not in vain, it was justified by the fact that, dying in whole outposts, they gained time to reach the defensive positions of the units covering the border of the Red Army, and the units of the cover, in turn, ensured the deployment of the main forces of the armies and fronts for their further actions. Already at the beginning of the war, the "blitzkrieg" "stumbled" on the Border Troops of the NKVD of the USSR.
Examples of border guard battles
The 12th border detachment of the NKVD troops, at the beginning of the war, consisted of 1190 personnel, and defended the border on the coast of the Baltic Sea from Cape Kolka to Palanga. At 6.25 am on June 22, the 25th frontier post was attacked by advanced units of the 291st Wehrmacht Infantry Division. The frontier posts were also withdrawn from their positions to Rucava, where the headquarters of the 5th commandant's office and the 5th reserve outpost were located. In Rutsava, platoons and companies were formed from them. By 13.30 on June 22, the consolidated border unit took up defensive positions in the Rucava area. At 15.30, reconnaissance of an enemy division of 14 motorcyclists appeared in front of the defense area of the border guards, they let it into the location and destroyed it. At 16.20, the 2nd reconnaissance group of the enemy appeared, which already numbered 30 motorcyclists, it was also destroyed. At 17.30, an enemy column with a strength of up to the 1st infantry battalion approached the border defense area. The border guards also managed to take her by surprise - under fire from the border guards, the enemy did not even turn around in battle formation and immediately ran. A reserve platoon of border guards struck from the rear, as a result, in a fierce battle, which turned into hand-to-hand combat, the enemy forces were destroyed. The losses of the Germans amounted to more than 250 people, 45 motorcycles, 6 easel and 12 light machine guns, and much more were captured. At 20.30, the Wehrmacht took into account the mistakes and threw into battle an infantry battalion, reinforced by a company of armored personnel carriers and the defense of the border guards was broken through, they retreated to the area of the Pape railway station, and then, after 2 hours of battle, to the area of \u200b\u200bthe town of Nica. At 14.30 on June 23, the remnants of the detachment were again attacked and surrounded in the Bernashi area, where everyone lay down in the last battle.
The other, larger part of the detachment, including its headquarters, was surrounded, along with part of the 67th Infantry Division, in Libau. On June 25, the border guards, together with the 114th Infantry Regiment, tried to break out of the encirclement, but failed. As a result, only 165 border guards were able to break through from the Libau encirclement.
On June 22, 1941, after applying artillery strikes, the enemy tried to organize numerous crossings from the territory of Romania through the border rivers, in order to capture bridges and bridgeheads, in order to develop a further offensive. But the enemy was everywhere met by well-organized fire from the border guards. The frontier posts were everywhere supported by artillery fire and the help of the personnel of the companies and battalions of the Red Army covering troops. The advancing advanced units of the German, Romanian and Hungarian troops suffered heavy losses in manpower and they retreated to their original positions. The main battles took place near the railway and highway bridges across the Prut River, as a result, in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy, they were destroyed.
An interesting feature of the situation on this sector of the front of the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War was the conduct of not only defensive, but also successful offensive operations of the Soviet troops with landings on the territory of Romania. On June 23-25, the border guards of the Izmail detachment, together with a detachment of border ships that guarded the state border of the Soviet Union along the Danube River, carried out successful landings on Romanian territory. They were supported by units of the 51st Infantry Division. After the first successful actions, the Military Council and the Commander of the 9th Army Cherevichenko decided to carry out a major landing operation with the capture of the Romanian city of Chilia-Veke. Artillery batteries were located there, which prevented the actions of Soviet ships on the Danube. The command of the landing force was headed by a sailor-border guard captain-lieutenant Kubyshkin I.K.
On the night of June 26, 1941, the border ships of the Black Sea detachment landed troops from the units of the border detachment, together with units of the 23rd Infantry Regiment of the 51st Infantry Division, they attacked the positions of the Romanian army on the move. The Romanians fiercely resisted, but by 10 o'clock in the morning the landing force captured a bridgehead up to 4 km wide and up to 3 km deep, defeating the Romanian infantry battalion, the border outpost and liquidating the artillery battalion. During June 27, the enemy almost continuously attacked our landing, but the Soviet soldiers, supported by the artillery of the border ships, successfully repelled these attacks. This allowed the command to withdraw the Soviet military, transport and passenger ships and vessels located on the Danube from enemy fire, the possibility of their capture by the enemy was excluded. On the night of June 28, by order of the army command, the Soviet landing force was successfully returned to its shore.
On June 25, 1941, a special resolution of the Council of People's Commissars (SNK) of the Soviet Union was issued, according to which the NKVD troops received the task of protecting the rear of the army in the field. On July 2, 1941, all border units, units that were operationally subordinate to the combined arms command throughout the Soviet-German front, switched to performing new combat missions. Having joined the ranks of the Red Army, along with it, the border guards bore the brunt of the fight against the German invaders, their main tasks were: fighting enemy intelligence agents, protecting the rear of the fronts and armies from saboteurs, destroying groups that had broken through, the remnants of encircled enemy groups. Border guards everywhere showed heroism, ingenuity, steadfastness, courage and selfless devotion to their Soviet Motherland. Honor and praise to them!
In the photo, Ivan Alexandrovich Kichigin is sitting to the left of the Maxim machine gun in a cap. Went through the whole war.
My post on the anniversary of the legendary border guard Nikita Karatsupa made me think how many violators of the state border were detained in Soviet times, how many border guards died. When searching for numbers, very interesting materials were found that should be put together.
So, today I am writing about the valiant Soviet border guards (for liberals - bloody Chekists)
May 28, 1918 Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V.I. Lenin signed a decree on the establishment of the border guard of the Republic of Soviets. It was this date that was later chosen for the professional holiday of soldiers in green caps - the Day of the Border Guard. However, the provisions of the rules for the tsarist border guards were almost completely taken as the basis for the text of the Leninist document, albeit with some changes in the spirit of the revolutionary time.
After the end of the Civil War, Felix Dzerzhinsky formulated the basic principle of ensuring the protection of socialist borders: "The border is a political line and a political body must protect it." Therefore, in 1920, it was decided to transfer the protection of all borders to the jurisdiction of the Special Department of the Cheka. Parts of the troops that provided military cover for the borders also passed into the operational subordination of the Dzerzhinsky department. So the border guards for many years became security officers.
The question of training the commanding staff for the OGPU troops arose sharply. In 1923 the Higher Border School was opened. During these years, the checkpoint service of the border troops was formed.
One of the most important tasks of the Soviet Republic in strengthening the borders and protecting them was the organization of the maritime border guard, which was completed by the end of 1923.
Captain 1st rank M.V. Ivanov became the organizer of the maritime border guard. Under his leadership, the Finnish-Ladoga flotilla was formed in the Baltic, Peipus and Pskov lakes, which marked the beginning of the revival of the naval forces of the border troops. With the end of the civil war, when the external fronts were liquidated, the frontier troops concentrated their efforts on the fight against spies sent into our country by foreign intelligence services. For three years (1922-1925), only in the sector of five border detachments of the western border, 2,742 violators were detained, of which 675 turned out to be agents of foreign intelligence services. The best traditions of the border troops were carefully preserved and passed on and new ones were born.
From the history: We have at our disposal few documents that tell about the formation of border protection in Kamchatka, Chukotka, and Kolyma. But what we have convinces us that time and circumstances demanded amazing heroism and maximum effort from our predecessors. The diary of the commissioner of the gunboat "Red October" Mikhail Domnikovsky has been preserved, which tells about the ship's campaign to high latitudes in the summer and autumn of 1924 to expel American concessionaires from Wrangel Island. It is worth talking about what kind of effort this campaign required. And today, ships almost never enter the northern part of the Long Strait, which separates the island from the mainland. And almost a century ago, such a voyage bordered on a feat. Due to the inaccessibility of the island, although its existence was suspected back in the 18th century, it was discovered, by historical standards, quite recently. On the maps of the late 19th century, you will not yet find the islands.
"Red October" was the first Soviet ship to approach the northeastern shores of Chukotka after November 1917. In Providence, a gunboat, for example, was met by a police officer in full uniform. He even tried to tear the red flag from the ship's gaff. Probably, that police officer was a strong servant, if for many years, having no connection with the mainland, he performed the duties assigned to him.
This police officer reminded me very much of the legend of the permanent sentry
It should be noted that the population, which benefited greatly from the smuggling trade with the Americans, Canadians and Japanese, at first coldly greeted the KGB soldiers. Then, of course, the situation will change. The border guards have always been able to win over the locals, but it will be later ...
From the history: On August 17, 1929, two Chinese battalions - about 1,000 bayonets attacked the Poltavka frontier post, where there were 17 border guards assigned by the state. The border guards met the Chinese with machine-gun fire, the enemy retreated with heavy losses, but only in order to throw new reserves into battle. A fierce battle continued for more than a day, Soviet machine gunners mowed down the advancing Chinese, but the outpost was completely surrounded, many soldiers were wounded. The rest barely had time to fill and feed machine-gun belts. During the battle, along with the chief outpost Ivan Kazak, his wife Tatyana was the second number at the machine gun. For this feat, she was subsequently, the first of the Soviet women, awarded the Order of the Red Star. The Chinese became brutalized and set themselves the goal of taking the outpost at any cost. Suddenly, the next day, they were hit in the rear by our cavalry regiment, which approached from Ussuriysk. Exhausted by the daily battle, the Chinese rushed to flee, but our cavalrymen, destroying the fleeing enemy, crossed the Chinese border, "on the shoulders" of the fleeing Chinese occupied the city of Sanchagou, defeating its garrison and by the end of the day returned back to the territory of the USSR.
In the 20-30s. high standards of performance of military duty were shown by the border guards A.M. Babushkin, N.F. Karatsupa, A.I. Korobitsyn, V.S. Kotelnikov, I.P. Latvian, T.P. Lyukshin, I.G. Poskrebko, P.D. Saikin, G.I. Samokhvalov, P.E. Shchetinkin, D.D. Yaroshevsky and others. To perpetuate the memory of the fallen heroes-border guards, many border outposts and ships are named after them. Over 3 thousand border guards were awarded orders and medals, 18 were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The first to receive it were the participants in the battles near the lake. Hassan (1938) G.A. Batarshin, V.M. Vinevitin, A.E. Makhalin, P.F. Tereshkin, I.D. Chernopyatko.
From the history: In December 1935, a cunning Japanese diplomat tried to smuggle two female spies out of the country through the Negoreloye checkpoint in two suitcases. The border guards received information about the upcoming action in an operational way. But it was forbidden to inspect diplomatic baggage. Then the border guards decided in every possible way to delay the process of paperwork and compliance with customs formalities. During the inspection, the suitcases were rudely tossed, "accidentally" dropped, even imperceptibly pricked with an awl. In the end, the illegals could not stand the lack of fresh air and their literally bent position and found themselves.
The Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940 was a severe test for the Red Army. Several consolidated regiments of the border and internal troops of the NKVD were sent to the Karelian front to help the warring units and formations of the Red Army. One of the units of the border guards was surrounded in a forest. On offers to surrender, the border guards responded with a categorical refusal. So that in the future the enemy would not offer negotiations on surrender, the Chekists hung out between the pines a banner made from soldier's underwear, on which they inscribed in Finnish - "The Bolsheviks do not surrender. Victory is ours!". For 45 days the border guards fought under this banner until help came.
The Memorandum of the head of the NKVD troops of the USSR and the deputy head of the border troops of the NKVD of the USSR No. 18/6474 to the NKVD of the USSR on the results of the combat and operational activities of the border troops of the NKVD to protect the rear of the Active Red Army dated February 27, 1942 says the following: "With the beginning of the Patriotic War all units of the troops of the NKVD of the USSR that found themselves in the zone of hostilities took a direct part in the battles together with the Red Army.The activities of the border troops of the NKVD in the reporting period are divided into two stages.The first is the period of border battles and withdrawal.The second is from the moment of stabilization of the front and subsequent the transition of the Red Army to the counteroffensive.
In these battles, the border guards showed great courage, perseverance and earned high praise from the field command. Particularly distinguished were: the 18th border detachment (the former Belarusian border district), the 91st and 92nd border detachments (the former Ukrainian border district), the 23rd and 25th border detachments (the former Moldavian border district), the 26th border detachment (former Black Sea border district).
From the moment the enemy attacked along the entire western border of the USSR, the border detachments took the first blow and for a long time steadfastly and selflessly held back the onslaught of superior enemy forces until the Red Army units approached. When moving away from the state border, the border units continuously participated in rearguard battles both as part of the Red Army troops and as independent groups.)...
... By the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated June 25, 1941, No. 1756-762ss, the border troops of the NKVD were entrusted with the protection of the military rear of the fronts of the Active Red Army. In accordance with this resolution, the following tasks were assigned to the troops: a) restoring order in the military rear; b) clearing rear roads from refugees; c) detention of deserters; d) fight against saboteurs; e) clearing the rear routes of communication from refugees and regulating the supply and evacuation.
The total number of NKVD troops involved in these tasks was 163 thousand people, of which 58,733 were border guards, consolidated into 36 border detachments, 4 reserve border regiments and 2 border battalions .....
... In battles with the German invaders, the border troops suffered the following losses in personnel:
1. Irretrievable losses (killed, dead from wounds and missing): command staff - 1932; junior command staff - 3192; rank and file - 19,455. Total - 24,579 people.
2. Wounded: command personnel - 569, junior command personnel - 868; rank and file - 4293. Total - 5730 people...
... The results of the service of units for the protection of the military rear of the fronts as of January 1, 1942, according to incomplete data, are expressed in the following figures of detainees: military personnel who fell behind and lost their units - 562,856 people; those who were captured by the enemy - 19,847; those who evaded service in the Red Army - 82,089; marauders - 246; those who fled from the construction of defense structures - 4260; citizens without documents and other citizens - 16,322.
In total, 685,629 people were detained, subject to identification and filtration.
During the same period, search groups of units of the border troops for the protection of the military rear found, collected and handed over to collection points captured weapons: guns of various calibers - 157, various shells - 26,546, mortars - 67, machine guns and light machine guns - 266, rifles - 4218 , rifle cartridges - 13,363,749, anti-tank rifles - 19, a lot of vehicles and other captured and domestic military property ...
During the reporting period, the results of the intelligence and operational work of the intelligence departments are as follows:
1. Identified, detained and exposed spies, terrorists and saboteurs in the rear of the Leningrad Front - 192 people, Kalinin - 32, North-West - 56, West - 89, South-West - 306, South - 326. In total - 1001 people.
In addition, 248 people suspected of espionage were transferred to the rear of the Kalinin, Western and Leningrad fronts....
... The most common legends covering agents sent by German intelligence to the rear of the Red Army are:
for former servicemen of the Red Army - "exit from the encirclement", "escape from captivity", "lagging behind the unit", "business trip", etc.;
for the civilian population - "search for the family and evacuated relatives", "escape from the territory occupied by the enemy", "return of the riders of evacuated cattle", "beggars" and so on.
In addition to reconnaissance of military facilities, the deployment of Red Army units and weapons, German intelligence sets its agents tasks of a sabotage and terrorist nature (killing commanders and commissars, Soviet and party activists, organizing sabotage at military facilities) and conducting defeatist agitation among our troops and the population, praising fascism , distribution of counter-revolutionary leaflets, inducing our fighters to desert and go over to the side of the enemy, and so on.
For example, on October 21, 1941, German intelligence agent Zhukov (Kalinin Front), a former Red Army soldier, was detained and exposed. Hurry.
On December 1, 1941, Sidorenko, a former Red Army soldier of the 263rd regiment (Southern Front), was detained and exposed, who had the task of reconnaissance of the Red Army units and poisoning the personnel of the 263rd regiment by pouring poison into food, with which he was supplied by enemy intelligence.
On December 5, 1941, German intelligence agent Sukhopenko (Southern Front), who had the task of blowing up railway bridges in the regions of Yuryevsk and Voroshilovgrad, was detained and exposed.
On December 17, 1941, a traitor with a party card of a member of the CPSU (b) Prosoedov2 (Southern Front) was detained and exposed. The latter, being on defense work, was taken prisoner by the Germans, where he was recruited. While in captivity, he handed over to the Germans 28 communists who worked in defense work, who were shot by the Germans. After Prosoedov was transferred to our rear with the task of blowing up gas storage facilities in the Vodyanaya and Krivorozhye regions.
On December 18, 1941, in the 6th Army (Southwestern Front), a group of 7 people was opened and liquidated, knocked together by German intelligence agents, former Red Army soldiers Strekach and Sekirin, who had the task of committing terrorist acts against the commanders and commissars of Red Army units and party Soviet activists, to carry out armed raids on collective farms and to carry out defeatist and provocative work among the population in favor of German fascism.
In a number of cases, German intelligence forces the agents it recruits to pass through special courses before being thrown out.
In this regard, the testimony of the exposed spy Ivanitsky, a Pole by nationality, a former resident of Warsaw, is characteristic, who testified that he “among 45 people was trained in special intelligence courses. The personnel of the courses consisted of Poles, Germans, Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Russians and people of other nationalities who knew Russian. The age structure of the courses was from 18 to 25 years. In the course of training, 1-2 scouts were sent from the courses to the rear of the USSR with a reconnaissance mission.
The intelligence department of the 16th [German] Army, operating against the NWF, selected and trained in special schools and courses about 200 intelligence officers from among people of all nationalities who know the Russian language.
On January 21, 1942, in the Ostashkovsky region (Western Front), a German intelligence agent, Anna Vasilievna Arkhipova, was detained and exposed.
December 28, 1941 at the station. Voroshilovgrad (South-Western Front) detained and exposed German intelligence agent Zheleznyak V.R. After graduating from school, Zheleznyak, along with 4 other scouts from this school, was thrown to our rear to carry out acts of sabotage and defeatist agitation among the population.
There are intelligence schools in Artemovsk, Krasnoarmeysk and Orekhov (Southern Front).
2. Identified, arrested and exposed: henchmen and accomplices of German fascism - 1019 people.
The anti-Soviet element, which carried out defeatist agitation among our troops and the population, praised German fascism and distributed counter-revolutionary leaflets - 935 people.
Those arrested and exposed were handed over to the NKVD by territoriality and special departments.
3. The reconnaissance departments of the border troops of the NKVD for the protection of the rear of the fronts carried out significant work to identify deserters from among the detainees. As a result, it was revealed: in the rear of the Leningrad Front - 3490 people, Kalinin - 1719, North-Western - 64, Western - 5922, South-Western - 11,096, Southern - 573. In total - 27,994 people.
It is noted that deserters unite in groups, engage in looting, robbery of the population and the murder of Soviet party activists.
So, on September 10, 1941, in the Kirishensky district (North-Western Front), a group of deserters of the 237th division of the division in the amount of 5 people, who were engaged in robbing the population, were liquidated. The group seized 3 rifles with cartridges.
A group of deserters from the 24th reserve regiment (South-Western Front), led by Mineev, robbed the population, killed a district policeman and the chairman of the village council. During the arrest, the group showed armed resistance. Mineev and two other bandits were wounded. A rifle, two revolvers and two grenades were seized.
In December 1941, in the rear of the 6th Army (South-Western Front), a bandit group of the deserter Shmigelsky was liquidated in the amount of 15 people.
November 25, 1941 at the station. Kolodeznaya (South-Western Front), a group of 8 people was liquidated, led by lieutenants of the tank troops Kuchumov and Gridnev. The group was engaged in looting and robbery for 2 months. Kuchumov posed as an employee of the special department of the NKVD and this covered the group from failure.
On December 8, 1941, in the Mostovsky District (Southern Front), a bandit group consisting of deserters, consisting of 7 people, was liquidated, which set as its goal the commission of terrorist acts on the instructions of German intelligence.
The exploits of the heroes and the traditions laid down in the first decades of the Soviet period multiplied the subsequent generations of border guards in the battles on Damansky Island in 1969 and in the performance of international duty in Afghanistan
From the history: In 1969, the situation on the Soviet-Chinese border escalated. This is largely associated with the demarcation of the border between the USSR and China. As a result of the demarcation, the Chinese discovered that Damansky Island on the Ussuri River, in their opinion, is Chinese and is illegally patrolled by Soviet border guards.
Directly on Damansky Island, fights often broke out between Soviet and Chinese border guards. Traditionally, the Soviet border guards were always stronger, which made the Chinese very angry.
On March 2, 1969, 700 Chinese soldiers made their way to Damansky Island and entrenched themselves on the island. An infantry battalion of over 700 men, supported by two mortar and one artillery batteries, acted against the Soviet border guards. The Chinese managed to achieve complete surprise. The Soviet outpost Nizhne-Mikhailovka, located opposite the island, was raised in a gun. The outpost commander, 29-year-old Senior Lieutenant Ivan Strelnikov, after kissing his wife and children, ran to expel the "guests" from the island - for the sixth time this winter, but this time he did not return. Both the Soviet border guards and the Chinese were forbidden to open fire on the enemy. But this time someone fired first. Chinese soldiers shot 22 border guards of the 2nd outpost at point-blank range. Lieutenant Strelnikov died. But before entering into negotiations with the Chinese, he asked for help from the head of the Kulebyakiny Sopki outpost, Art. Lieutenant Bubenin. The surviving border guards lay down and took the fight. 15 minutes after that, each of the border guards had from 15 to 20 attackers and almost one gun or mortar (which is documented). Despite such incredible superiority, Bubenin's group managed to drive the aggressors off Damansky using armored vehicles. The Chinese left the island. 31 Soviet border guards were killed, 14 were wounded. About 250 soldiers died on the Chinese side. This fight is still considered unique. Bubenin personally attacked the Chinese units on the flanks while in an armored personnel carrier.
During the 10 years of the war, more than 62,000 border guards passed through Afghanistan. About 22,000 people received state awards for courage and bravery. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to lieutenant colonels V.I. Ukhabov (posthumously) and F.S. Shagaleev, majors A.P. Bogdanov (posthumously) and I.P. Barsukov, captains N.N. Lukashov and V.F. Popkov, foreman V.D. Kapshuk. The losses of the border guards were: irretrievable - 419 people, sanitary - 2540 people. Not a single border guard was captured and did not remain dead in Afghan soil.
For the period 1965-1989. Soviet border guards detained more than 40 thousand violators of the state border of the USSR, of which 71% were violators from neighboring states. The number of border troops in 1989 was about 200 thousand people.
Push: I could not find exact data on the number of state border violators detained in Soviet times, dead border guards, but this is not the point. Already according to the data found, it is clear that the enemy tried to get into the territory of our country massively and not with good goals (for liberals, the border guards did not allow them to carry democracy). And if the enemy tried to get to us, then with certain intentions. And for this, accomplices were needed. And there were spies and Polish, and German, and Japanese, and British intelligence, and all of them were exposed by the Chekists. The year before last, I read that the Security Council of Ukraine exposed 7 (SEVEN) spies that year.
We draw our own conclusions, as always.
