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Text taken from a website of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
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Marshal of the Soviet Union, Andey Eremenko,from June 30 to July 2, 1941 - commander of the troops of the Western Front
On June 22, suddenly at 12 o’clock Comrade Smirnov (Lieutenant General, Chief of Staff of the Far Eastern Front) called me on the phone and told me an amazing thing. He conveyed the following verbatim: “The Germans began bombing our cities on the morning of June 22.” After that, it became completely clear to me why I was being called to Moscow.
Arriving at the direction of Headquarters in Moscow on June 28, Andrei Eremenko learned that his predecessor, the commander of the Western Front, Army General Dmitry Pavlov, had been removed due to the complete defeat of a very powerful Red Army group and the surrender of Minsk to the enemy. It was necessary to take emergency measures to correct the situation in the central direction.
He (People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, Marshal of the Soviet Union S.K. Timoshenko) acquainted me with the situation, from which I saw that the situation on the Western Front was extremely difficult. At the end of the conversation, while studying the situation, he informed me that by decision of the Government I had been appointed commander of the Western Front, and immediately handed me an order and a certificate.
Before Eremenko’s arrival, everything on the Western Front could not have been worse. The strategic initiative was firmly held by the enemy. The front troops constantly retreated, with significant losses.
From a conversation (with Army General D.G. Pavlov) it became clear to me that the front does not exist. I saw and felt that the department commanders bore the imprint of terrible depression and confusion. The headquarters itself was a completely uncoordinated organism. I told the assembled staff that we would restore the front and fight.
Commanding the front, Lieutenant General Eremenko paid special attention to air combat tactics.
In two days, 120 enemy aircraft were destroyed. This was, in fact, the first defeat inflicted on the enemy. When I reported this to Moscow, they asked me over the phone if I had made a mistake. Zhukov himself spoke about this when he was Chief of the General Staff.
In addition, thanks to the efforts of Andrei Ivanovich Eremenko, work was launched on the territory of Belarus to organize partisan detachments.
I organized 30 partisan detachments. This was the beginning of the partisan movement. He armed everyone, put them in boots, and gave them uniforms. He gave everyone rifles and armed each group with a light machine gun. These were the first partisans.
Having commanded the main front of the war for only four days, Lieutenant General Eremenko managed to somewhat stabilize the situation in the Western direction.
--Excerpts from the manuscript of Colonel General A. I. Eremenko
Colonel General Basil Popov in 1941 - commander of the 28th Rifle Corps
Major General V.S. From the first day of the war, Popov took part in the defensive battle in Western Belarus. With heavy losses, he managed to withdraw the remnants of the corps from encirclement, but already on July 15, after replenishment, the corps again entered the battle near Propoisk. Soon there he was seriously wounded.
At 4.00 on June 22, Brest-Litovsk came under air and artillery attack. The attack was completely unexpected for the troops, since there was no warning. At the time of the attack in the city of Brest-Litovsk, electrical and telephone communications immediately stopped working, since the Shtakor had no field communication with the divisions, and control was disrupted. Communication was maintained by sending messages in officers' vehicles. The air squadron was immediately destroyed by the enemy at the airfield. There was, as far as I remember, up to ammunition capacity. The artillery operated with the troops as long as there was fuel in the tractors; as soon as the fuel was used up, and there was nowhere to refuel along the retreat route, most of the artillery had to be blown up.
After recovery from September 1941, V.S. Popov is deputy commander of the 50th Army on the Bryansk and Western fronts. From January 1942 to April 1944 he commanded the troops of the 10th Army of the Western Front. At the head of the army he took part in the offensive in the battle of Moscow, in the Rzhev-Vyazemsk, Spas-Demensk, and Smolensk offensive operations.In April–May 1944, Lieutenant General V.S. Popov - Deputy Commander of the 1st Belorussian Front. From May 1944 until the end of the war, Colonel General V.S. Popov is the commander of the 70th Army on the 1st Belorussian Front and, from November 19, 1944, on the 2nd Belorussian Front.
For successful actions during the Great Patriotic War, the troops commanded by General Vasily Popov were noted 19 times in the orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Joseph Stalin.
-- Memoirs of Colonel General V.S.Popov
Lt. General Gregor Revunenko in 1941 - chief of staff of the 37th Infantry Division
In June 1941, the 37th Infantry Division, whose headquarters was headed by Colonel G.V. Revunenkov, took an active part in the border battle on the Western Front.
On June 22, the division headquarters at 12.00 was at Bogdanow station, near Lida, where on the radio I heard Comrade Molotov’s speech about the war with Germany. On the afternoon of June 23, the division commander ordered me to personally go to the city of Lida to see the corps commander to find out the situation, receive a task and organize communications with corps headquarters. During the day, the city of Lida was heavily bombed by the enemy. I arrived in Lida in the evening, the city was all on fire, the corps headquarters was not there.
In accordance with the decision made by him (the corps commander, General Borisov), the division retreated through the Nalibokskaya Pushcha. Since the fuel reserves ran out, the majority of the horse train was disabled by enemy aircraft, all the material was left in the forests of Nalibokskaya Pushcha and rendered unusable. After this, the division, by decision of the division commander, went out in small groups to the Kalinkovichi area, where the division headquarters and corps headquarters partially reached on June 22–23, the remaining groups continued to go out even later, but the division as such no longer existed.
--Memoirs of Lt. General G.V. Revunenko
Major General Fedor Smegotvorov in 1941 - commander of the 135th Infantry Division
Without accurate information from the troops about the development of events, the commanders and headquarters of the Red Army were unable to assess the seriousness of the situation. The People's Commissar of Defense's directive No. 1 “not to succumb to any provocations that could cause major complications” was still in effect, which limited the decisive actions of the commanders of formations and units of the covering armies.
There were no orders to put units of the 135th Rifle Division on combat readiness before the start of hostilities, and when the division on the march, on the morning of June 22, was subjected to machine-gun fire by German planes, an order was received from the headquarters of the 5th Army not to succumb to provocation and not to shoot at the planes.
The commanders of most formations and units acted similarly in other areas covering the State Border. Orders from above came much later. Thus, the Military Council of the Western Front sent a directive to the commanders of the 3rd, 4th and 10th armies only at 5:25 a.m.: “In view of the massive military actions that have emerged from the Germans, I order: raise troops and act in a combat manner.”
The order to bring the division into combat readiness and to implement the mobilization plan was received only on the morning of June 23, 1941. In the area of \u200b\u200bTorchin, the commander of the 27th infantry regiment took into his reserve the second regiment of the division, which was the most combat-ready. The rest of the forces ordered me to attack the advanced units of the enemy, who occupied the heights in the area of Cape Torchin.I deployed all the remaining units, including the division headquarters, which I personally led into the attack. The height was occupied, the advanced enemy units hastily retreated to the west. In this first battle 24.6. The commander of the third regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Sery, and his chief of staff were killed.
--Memoirs of Major General F. N. Smegotvorov
Major General Mikhail Zashinbalov in 1941 - commander of the 86th Red Banner Rifle Division
Before the start of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet military-political leadership sought to take into account the lessons of the outbreak of World War II. The conclusion previously made by the General Staff that Germany is the main and most dangerous enemy of the USSR was confirmed.
The General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces proceeded from the fact that the war would inevitably become protracted, and that the victory would be won by those who could supply the front with everything necessary for waging war for a long time.
To this end, a year before the start of the war, the troops of the Red Army, in the context of the escalating situation in neighboring countries, began preparing for the impending threat from the West. Thus, the 86th Red Banner Rifle Division under the command of Major General MA. Zashibalova erected fortifications on the State border with neighboring Poland. On June 21, 1941 of the Great Patriotic War, Major General Mikhail Zashibalov personally inspected the progress of the defensive work plan in the area of Smolekha, Khmelevo, Dombrovo by the 330th Infantry Regiment.
At the end of the inspection at 20 o'clock, returning to the location of the division headquarters, he visited the commandant of the border section in Myanovo. The commandant of the border sector believed that, probably, fascist German units located 8–20 km west of our State Border were conducting defensive work and field exercises.
By this time, combat alert plans had been developed for all units of the division in sealed envelopes. Envelopes with top secret data were to be opened only upon the established "Storm" signal.
At 2.00 on June 22, 1941, the chief of staff of the division reported information received from the head of the Nurskaya border outpost that fascist German troops were approaching the Western Bug River and were bringing up crossing facilities. After the report, the chief of staff of the division at 2 hours 10 minutes on June 22, 1941 ordered to give the signal “Storm” and raise the rifle regiments on alert and set out in a forced march to occupy sections of defense areas in a 50% prepared divisional defense zone.
Late at night on June 22, the artillery and rifle regiments of the 86th Infantry Division were alerted and areas of firing positions moved forward. Formation of Major General M.A. Zashibalov quickly entered intense fighting on the border territory of the Soviet Union.
-- Memoirs of Major General Mikhail Zashinbalov
Lt. General Nikoloi Polyansky in 1941 - commander of the 9th Separate Anti-tank Artillery Brigade
From June 22 to June 26, 1941, the 9th Separate Anti-tank Artillery Brigade of the 8th Army of the Baltic Special District under the command of Colonel N.I. Polyansky heroically led the defense in the area of the city of Siauliai (Lithuania).
On June 22 at 4 o'clock the engines of enemy and our planes began to rustle in the air. An air battle began in front of our batteries. Having explained the general situation to the unit commanders, I gave orders to be ready to meet fascist tanks, destroy them and not let them pass through the occupied defense line, and to pay special attention to the Taurage-Siauliai highway.
At 15:00 on June 23, the enemy, with a force of up to a battalion of tanks, approached the third division, commanded by Captain Khakhalev, along the highway from Taurage. During the battle from 15 to 22 hours on June 23, Captain Khakhalev’s division destroyed up to 50 enemy tanks. In the first intense battle, the soldiers and commanders showed exceptional courage, heroism, and ability to wield their weapons.
Since June 29, the 9th separate anti-tank artillery brigade under the command of N.I. Polyansky held the crossing of the Western Dvina for four days. For his skillful leadership of the brigade in November 1941, he was awarded the rank of major general of artillery.
-- Memoirs of Lt. General Nikoloi Polyansky
First Aerial Rams
Despite all the tragedy of the first days of the Great Patriotic War, the soldiers and commanders of the Red Army did not lose their fighting spirit. They en masse showed exceptional courage, perseverance, and dedication. During this difficult time, they, stubbornly resisting the Nazi invaders, accomplished a huge number of outstanding feats, which were forever preserved in reports and award materials. Soviet pilots showed particular heroism in the first days of the Great Patriotic War.On the very first day of the Great Patriotic War, German pilots were faced with such a technique as an air ram. Brave Soviet pilots not only destroyed the most trained Luftwaffe crews with rams, but also knocked down the arrogance of others who witnessed the disasters. Most of the heroes of such battles died along with their planes...
Captain Aleksandr Avdeev, squadron commander, 43rd Short Range Bomber Wing
Deputy squadron commander of the 43rd LBAP, Captain Avdeev A.N. a true Hero of the Socialist Motherland, on June 25, 1941, when destroying the enemy’s motorized mechanized units that had broken through in the Oshmyany area, regardless of his life, he mercilessly crushed the enemy with bomber and machine-gun fire, on this day Comrade. Avdeev A.N. died heroically from enemy anti-aircraft artillery. Being hit by enemy fire and unable to bring the plane to his territory, Captain Avdeev A.N. deliberately hits an enemy tank with his plane and sets it on fire. In total he made 10 combat missions. Worthy of being awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union,- indicated on the award sheet for captain Alexander Avdeev.
--Award sheet for Captain Aleksandr Avdeev
Lieutenant Stepan Gudimov, deputy squadron commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing
On the morning of the first day of the war (at 05:20), the deputy squadron commander of the 33rd Fighter Aviation Regiment (10th Mixed Aviation Division, 4th Army Air Force, Western Special Military District), Lieutenant Stepan Mitrofanovich Gudimov, performed his feat in the sky.
As part of a squadron on an I-16 fighter, he flew to repel a German air raid (20 He-111 bombers, accompanied by a small group of Me-109s) on an airfield near the city of Kobrin, Brest Region. Three more squadrons returning from combat patrols joined the attack.
In an air battle S.M. Gudimov shot down an enemy bomber with accurate shooting, and hit the second one (due to lack of ammunition) with a ramming strike. While trying to escape, the pilot's parachute lines got caught in the wreckage of the plane, which led to his death. Later, for his feat, Lieutenant S.M. Gudimov was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree (posthumously).
--Personal file and service record card of Lieutenant Stepan Gudimov
Battalion Commissar Andrey Danilov, Deputy Commander of the 1st Squadron for Political Affairs of the 127th Fighter Wing
At about 10:00 on June 22, 1941, near the Cherleny airfield (45 km southwest of the city of Lida, Belarus), the feat was accomplished by the deputy commander of the 1st squadron for the political part of the 127th Fighter Aviation Regiment (11th Mixed Aviation Division, Western Special Military district) battalion commissar Andrei Stepanovich Danilov. In the first battle, he managed to shoot down a German plane. Then a series of new air battles followed. When repelling a raid on the airfield of the 16th high-speed bomber aviation regiment of the enemy bomber group A.S. Danilov, who received several bullet wounds, rammed an enemy Me-110 and shot it down. Despite the damaged plane, he managed to land it safely near the village of Cherleny, Skidelsky district. For some time it was believed that senior political instructor Andrei Danilov had died. On July 8, 1941, a Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was issued on awarding him the Order of Lenin (posthumously). After long treatment in the hospital, a well-deserved reward found the hero.
-- Personal file, combat reports and operational reports of the 11th Mixed Air Division, 127th Fighter Aviation Regiment and award material for Battalion Commissar Andrey Danilov
Guard Lieutenant Colonel A.S. Danilov went through the entire war, ending it in defeated Berlin as commander of an aviation regiment. In August 1945, as part of the Transbaikal Front, he participated in the war with Japan. During the war, he made 134 combat missions, in air battles he shot down nine enemy aircraft personally and one as part of a group. He is the only one who lived to see Victory out of all the pilots who carried out an aerial ramming attack on the first day of the Great Patriotic War.
Senior Lieutenant Ivan Ivanov, deputy squadron commander of the 46th Fighter Wing
At dawn (04:25) on June 22, 1941, the deputy squadron commander of the 46th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Senior Lieutenant Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov, took his first and last battle in the skies over the Rivne region. Alerted, he flew at the head of a flight of I-16 fighters to intercept an enemy air group (6 to 9 He-111 bombers) approaching the Mlynov airfield. During a swift attack, our pilots shot down one of the German bomb carriers.
The rest, dropping bombs randomly, turned back. When returning to his airfield, Ivan Ivanov noticed another German bomber directly ahead. Without hesitation, the Soviet pilot approached him. By this time he had run out of ammunition and was running out of fuel.
-- From a political report from the political department of the 14th Air Division, award material conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union:
Despite the dense enemy machine-gun fire, the Soviet pilot managed to overtake the enemy plane and shoot it down with a ramming attack. Eyewitnesses who observed the ram from the ground noted that the German pilot saw a Soviet fighter coming into his tail and, trying to avoid the attack, began to fall onto the wing to go into a dive, but I.I. Ivanov, making a slide, slashed the wine at the tail of the bomber. After the ramming of the I-16, Senior Lieutenant Ivanov took a strong list to the side. Something fell off the car, but it was clear that the pilot was trying to control the heavily damaged fighter and land it in the field. However, a few meters from the ground, the plane began to sway violently, and then fell down almost vertically. The brave pilot died from his injuries and wounds in a hospital in the city of Dubno. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of August 2, 1941, senior lieutenant I.I. Ivanov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He turned out to be the only Soviet pilot who carried out an aerial ramming on June 22 and was awarded a high award from the Motherland for this feat.
Ensign Dmitry Kokorev, flight commander of the 124th Fighter Wing
One of the first to deliberately collide with an enemy aircraft was the flight commander of the 124th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Junior Lieutenant Dmitry Vasilyevich Kokorev. At the beginning of the war, the air regiment was based at the border airfields of Wysoko-Mazowiecki, Lomza, and Bialystok (Western Special Military District). To repel the second air raid (German aviation carried out the first raid between 04:30 and 05:10 on June 22, 1941, without any losses), several groups of MiG-3 fighters were launched into the air. According to an extract from the regiment's combat log, D.V. Kokorev took off with 10 MiG-3s at 05:10 (Moscow time). His target was a Do-17Z from the headquarters squadron of the German bomber squadron KG-2. Having fired all the ammunition (during the shelling the crew received injuries of varying severity), the Soviet pilot decided to finish off the enemy aircraft with a ramming attack. Later, he continued to honorably fulfill his military duty, defending the air approaches to Moscow and besieged Leningrad.
Personal file, registration card for Ensign Dmitry Kokorev.
On October 12, 1941, Dmitry Kokorev did not return from his next combat mission. In total, at that time he made more than 100 combat missions and shot down four enemy aircraft: three personally, one in a group. A few days before the death of the brave pilot, a proposal was signed to award him the Order of the Red Banner, which became, among other things, recognition of his feat in first day of the war.
Testimony of German prisoners of war
Testimony of the General of Artillery of the German Army, Commander of the Defense and the last Commandant of Berlin Helmut Weidling.
The moment of surprise was of decisive importance for the entire strategic concentration and deployment: everything that was connected with the concentration and deployment of German troops was subordinated to it.
To do this, on the border strip 15–20 km deep, no changes should have been made in the deployment of units, the construction of fortifications, etc., so as not to give the enemy the opportunity to suspect preparations for an offensive. The troops that had been guarding the border over the past months were supposed to remain in the same composition, regardless of whether they were infantry divisions, police formations, landwehr units, etc.
The troops intended for the offensive, to make a breakthrough, were pulled closer and closer to the border strip, which I will conditionally call the “first zone.” The offensive troops could carry out the necessary reconnaissance of roads, the area of the starting positions, observation posts of firing positions, etc. in the “first zone”. only in separate groups of the smallest possible composition, while observing the most thorough camouflage. Under no circumstances should the enemy suspect the arrival of any reinforcements in the border zone.
Surveys of captured German generals in 1941:
Only on the night before the offensive did the infantry divisions, which were supposed to march in the first wave of the breakthrough, move from the “second zone” to the previously reconnoitered area of the initial positions of the “first zone.” In the same way, the heavy weapons assigned to the infantry divisions to carry out the breakthrough moved forward. His positions were also scouted out in advance in the most thorough manner, and all the initial data for firing were prepared in advance.
The tank divisions that were concentrated and deployed in the “third zone” were to move forward only upon receiving news that the breakthrough of the infantry divisions through the system of fortified enemy lines was crowned with success. Some of these tank divisions were transferred from the “third zone” to the “second” already in the first half of the first day of the offensive.
-- Testimony of the captured Major General Dietrich von Müller.
The strategic deployment took place at such a distance from the demarcation line that troops could reach it during the night. The distances from the border at which the forces were deployed ranged from 7 to 20 km, depending on the visibility from the Russian side and the type of troops (tank and infantry divisions). The divisions stationed on the border in most cases followed the troops advancing across the border as a reserve.
A breakthrough of the front line was achieved by creating the direction of the main attack in the intended area, while in other sectors of the front the offensive was not carried out or it was carried out only with the aim of diverting enemy forces from the direction of the main attack. The formation of the direction of the main attack was expressed by the concentration of artillery fire and heavy infantry weapons on the intended breakthrough area. This fire was especially intensified by the use of aviation in the breakthrough area, which, in addition, also acted against reserves and rear communications behind the breakthrough area. The attacking troops themselves received only a narrow offensive zone. Depending on the terrain, the first line of attack consisted of tank or infantry divisions, designed to develop success in the depths of the breakthrough.
The publication of declassified documents about the beginning of the Great Patriotic War from the funds of the Central Archive of the Russian Ministry of Defense is aimed at protecting historical truth, countering the falsification of history, and glorifying the heroic feat of the Soviet people.
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