In the previous parts, intelligence materials were considered (RM) on the enemy groupings located against the troops of the PribOVO (part 1, part 2) and KOVO. In accordance with the RM and with the presented maps with the plotted situation about the enemy, as of June 21, near the PribOVO border, it was deployed up to 8, 5 divisions out of 29discovered by intelligence. Not far from the border there were a small number of tanks in the composition of one tank regiment (Suwalki) and three battalions near Memel. In the Lublin-Krakow region near the KOVO border, there were slightly more troops: up to 14-15 divisions out of 35-36 discovered by intelligence. There were also more tanks here: a tank division and two tank regiments.
Most of the enemy troops were located at a distance from the border, and some of them even for many tens of kilometers. When making decisions in Moscow on the eve of the war, they were supposed to be guided by the RM, coming from the intelligence services. Moscow could not help but believe the detailed reports of the scouts, which were repeatedly duplicated and rechecked …
The main problem of our intelligence was that there were no scouts and informers at the headquarters of the ground forces of all levels and near the command staff from the indicated headquarters. There were no sources of information in circles that had any weight. There were no informants near the leaders who might have known about the planned events at the border. Most of the RMs were based on personal observations and rumors.
Without a detailed analysis of the RM, it is impossible to understand the events in Moscow on the evening of June 21. Indeed, at that time, no one in the world knew that it was possible to prepare a huge enemy army for an attack in just 1, 5-2 days!
At that time, Moscow did not know that, for various reasons, reconnaissance had not found strike groups, which included large formations of tank and motorized formations.
In Moscow, they believed that they were in control of the situation, and intelligence was working well …
For the two considered military districts, the data of the RM did not contradict the situation plotted on the maps at the headquarters of the districts. The situation on the maps and the pre-war RM are in good agreement with each other and with the operational reports of the first day of the war, with the actions of the SC command and with intelligence report No. 1, issued on the evening of June 22 by the Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the SC.
In two parts, we will consider the RM on the enemy grouping concentrated against the Western Military District. Let's figure out why in this group there are units that are fighting in Libya, and there are many exact numbers of non-existent units and divisions.
Intelligence data on German troops against ZAPOVO
In accordance with the Intelligence Report on the grouping of German troops on 1.6.41, it was noted:
On the Warsaw direction (against ZAPOVO) 30 divisions, including: twenty-four infantry, one motorized, one tank and six tank regiments (total four tank divisions), one cavalry division and eight cavalry regiments …
During the observation of the enemy troops until May 31, only one full-fledged tank division was discovered! True, there are six more tank regiments that can be attached to army corps. There was similar information about the enemy troops concentrated against the PribOVO. There, too, only one full-fledged tank division was found.
Based on the information of the General Staff Intelligence Directorate, the figure shows the dependence of the change in the number of German divisions at the border. The words do not need to be understood literally, since most of the enemy troops were located tens and even hundreds of kilometers from the state border.
In accordance with the RM, from May 15 to June 20-21, the enemy grouping against the ZAPOVO troops did not increase.
In summary No. 1 of the General Staff Intelligence Directorate as of 22-00 on June 22 it was said:
… The total number of the grouping in front of the Western Front in the Warsaw region 31 division, of which 21 infantry, 1 motorized, 4 tank and 1 cavalry division …
At the end of the day on June 22, intelligence recorded an increase in the German grouping against the troops of the Western Front (ZAPOVO) by only one division. Part of the troops is not identified by belonging to the type of divisions. Therefore, in the summary, the list of the number of divisions does not coincide with the total number. In fact, on June 22, in the zone of responsibility of the ZAPOVO (taking into account the reserves of the armies and the army group) there were up to 40 divisions enemy, but not all of them were discovered by our intelligence.
The figure shows a diagram with the deployment of enemy troops on the eve of the war, close to the actual one. The figure shows the detected advancing enemy groupings in accordance with the information from the report No. 1 of the Intelligence Directorate.
The Intelligence Directorate and the General Staff of the spacecraft still do not know about the presence of a strike group in the area of the city of Brest by 22-00 on June 22. According to pre-war data and information received on June 22 about the situation in the Brest region, the summary indicates a grouping consisting of three infantry divisions and one tank division.
On Bialystok two strikes are made by the enemy grouping with a total strength of 11 infantry divisions and one motorized one.
On Grodno a grouping of three infantry divisions and one tank division is advancing.
Grouping from the area Suwalki - Augustow - Sejny strikes in two directions: towards PribOVO and towards ZAPOVO.
According to report No. 1, on June 22, the Germans threw only two tank divisions against the ZapOVO troops! New in the summary is that there was a mention of two SS armored divisions with a total of 500 tanks. Since before the war, intelligence could not find full-fledged tank divisions, it was necessary to somehow explain the unexpected appearance of new tank formations. In this situation, the rumors quickly turned into two SS armored divisions …
About SS armored divisions
To understand one of the ways to obtain intelligence information, consider the RM on the appearance of two armored divisions in more detail. The first mention of these divisions appears in a reconnaissance report Arnold 30.5.41 g.
Special message to the intelligence department of the headquarters of the ZAPOVO:
Based on information obtained from two sources: 1) workers of the county administration (landrat) in Mlawa, who are constantly among the German military; 2) a former officer. of the Polish army, which has contact with the Germans, the Germans concentrated in the vicinity of Suwalki 2 selected armored divisions of the SS detachments, which should strike at Kovno, Vilno and Grodno, as well as 2 armored divisions of the same units in the vicinity of Przemysl, and their direction to Lvov, Kiev …
None of the intelligence officers of the servicemen and the equipment of the said divisions saw and no other sources confirmed information about the presence of SS divisions in the indicated area before the start of the war. In fact, the message only talks about rumors.
At the present time we know that there were no SS Panzer divisions in Germany before the war, and even less so. There were not even SS motorized divisions on the Suwalki salient. On June 22, only the only part of the SS connection is marked -.
There were also no SS or tank divisions in the Przemysl area. To such information, the Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Spacecraft could only say: "This is disinformation!" Information from the above special message was included in the Summary of the intelligence department of the headquarters of the Western Military District dated 4.6.41 (registered and sent out on June 6):
… Based on a number of verified intelligence data, Germany's military training against the USSR in recent years, especially since May 25, has been carried out more intensively and is characterized by the following data: During the second half of May, the Germans increased their grouping of troops by 2-3 pd, two armored divisions "SS", mainly in the area of Ostrolenka, Prasnysh, Mlava, Tsekhanov. Division "SS" - in Suwalki (data requires verification)…
The report was also sent to the Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff, and information about the SS armored divisions was included in Reconnaissance No.5 (released on June 15): However, in the summary, the indicated divisions were not included in the total number of enemy formations concentrated against the Western Military District. The information has not been verified and could be disinformation …
A summary from the ZAPOVO of June 4 and a summary from the Intelligence Directorate of June 15 were also received at the headquarters of the PribOVO. However, in the intelligence report of the PribOVO headquarters of June 18, there is no mention of these SS armored divisions. The summary says only about the only tank division that has long been featured against the troops of the district - the 20th armored division:
On 17.6.41, against the PribOVO in the strip: on the left - Suwalki, Likk, Allenstein and in depth - Konigsberg, Allenstein it was established: army headquarters - 2, army corps headquarters - 6, infantry divisions - 12, motorized divisions - 5, armored divisions - 1, tank regiments - 5 and up to nine separate tank battalions - just no less than a tank division …
The intelligence department of the PribOVO headquarters and the Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff did not consider the information about the arrival of two SS tank divisions plausible. New information about the arrival of these divisions was not received until the beginning of the war. June 21, in the prepared summary of the intelligence department of the headquarters of the ZapOVO "On the grouping of German troops for 20.6.41" information about armored divisions is no longer included, since this information could not be confirmed or refuted.
On the evening of June 21, the intelligence department of the headquarters of the ZAPOVO is preparing a new report on the grouping of German troops for 21.6.41. noted the presence of SS divisions:
… presumably two SS divisions …
In Moscow, this information, which did not confirm anything new, became a “lifesaver”. The Intelligence Directorate on June 22 tried to somehow explain the unexpected appearance of tank divisions on all fronts. Therefore, the phrase appeared in Intelligence Report # 1:
The general increase in the density of the direct concentration of German troops in front of the front is emphasized. Specifically, additional data for June 20 and 21 established: a) the strengthening of the Suvalka group for two SS Panzer Divisions … As shown above, these divisions did not exist on the Suvalki ledge …
Contradictory information in the RM
In our headquarters, it was difficult to isolate important and truthful information from the stream of incoming RMs, many of which were clear disinformation.
Special message 9.6.41, the chief of the Belsky operational point as of 25.5.41:
In Warsaw, in the Bril Palace, the headquarters of the 4th army continues to be deployed, the headquarters of the 9th AK, headed by General Donensmark, and the headquarters of the 4th tank division, bearing the army number, continue to be deployed. The 4th Panzer Division is commanded by General Raucher Oskar, his chief of staff is Major Fritz. 4th Panzer Division has up to 6,000 different vehicles, of which up to 2000 light and heavy tanks, up to 2,000 motorcycles and up to 2,000 other vehicles such as armored vehicles, trucks and others …
The reconnaissance department of the headquarters of the ZAPOVO "knew for sure" that only one headquarters of the tank division was stationed in Warsaw and its number was not 4. The intelligence department of the ZAPOVO and the Intelligence Directorate knew that there could not be such a huge number of tanks in the Wehrmacht's tank divisions - 2000 pieces. On May 28, in the reconnaissance report of the head of the Brest operational point as of 24.5.41, it was indicated:
… Recently, the arrival of tank units to the eastern garrisons of the General Government has been noted. Arrival tank corps commander in Radia characterizes that in this area there is a grouping of up to one tank corps … It is required to establish the locations of the corps headquarters …
Before the start of the war, it was not possible to establish the presence of the indicated headquarters of the tank corps and formations from its composition using all the intelligence services of the Soviet Union. In general, it was not possible to find a single headquarters of the motorized corps and most of the divisions from their composition …
V Special messages of the intelligence department of the headquarters of the Western Military District, according to data as of 1941-06-20, the following information is slipping:
During 1-8.6.41, the movement of the 18th tank division was noted through Warsaw in the direction of Terespol, the 11th tank regiment followed in the vanguard … 4-10.6. 38 tank divisions were concentrated in the Warsaw, Prague area …
In fact, the 18th Panzer Division was concentrated near Brest, but the 11th Panzer Regiment was not in its composition. Also did not exist in the Wehrmacht on 22.6.41, the 38th Panzer Division. It is interesting that the German military drove around in equipment and in the shoulder straps of a non-existent unit and division … In the following parts we will take a closer look at how the RM was prepared for our intelligence by the German military command. These facts are practically not considered in all memoirs, books about the war and historical research …
Map with the deployment of German troops
In the memoirs of the Chief of Staff of the 4th Army, General L. M. Sandalova says:
… At the end of the first week of June, the headquarters of our 4th army, located in Kobrin, received information from the district headquarters that by June 5, over 40 German divisions were concentrated on the border of Belarus and that 15 infantry, 5 tank, 2 motorized and 2 cavalry divisions are concentrated on the Brest direction …
In accordance with the reconnaissance summary of the headquarters of the ZapOVO at 20-00 on June 21, up to 49 divisions were concentrated against the district.
The official website "Electronic Exhibitions of the Ministry of Defense" posted a map "The position of the troops of the Western Front on the first day of the war. Script". In accordance with the annotation posted to this document, the position of the troops of the Western Front and German units on the first day of the Great Patriotic War is marked on the map. The locations of the German units are marked in blue.
On the map, the author of the RM additionally indicates the areas of responsibility of PribOVO and ZAPOVO. Due to the intersection of the zones, the data on the enemy troops in the reports of the intelligence department of the headquarters of the Western Military District are overestimated relative to the information in the RM of the Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Spacecraft.
There is an inscription on the map with a list of troops for 5.6.41:. In total, up to 36, 5 … 39, 5 divisions, of which no one from the sources saw two SS tank divisions, but someone heard about it …
The inscription applies to all compounds plotted on the map. Among the listed troops there are formations that the Intelligence Directorate attributed to the troops concentrated against the PribOVO.
On the map in the PribOVO area of responsibility (with the exception of the disputed area), only the headquarters of the associations are indicated. V Tilsite the headquarters of the 7th Army Corps (AK) is indicated, and in Insterburg - the headquarters of the 12th AK.
The intelligence report of the PribOVO headquarters as of 20-00 on 21.6.41 says:
In Tilsit: headquarters of the 7th AK, headquarters of the 1st infantry division, 216, 43, 45th infantry regiments, … 202, 204, 227th motorized regiments, 505th motorized heavy artillery regiment …
The situation is exactly the same with other cities: Konigsberg, Insterburg and Lublin (in the KOVO area of responsibility): there are troops there, but only the headquarters are shown on the map.
V Koenigsberg marked: the headquarters of the 18th army, the headquarters of the 8th AK, the headquarters of the 1st military district (according to the summary of the PribOVO - the 1st air district). These data are also given in the summary of the headquarters of the PribOVO dated 18.6.41. The summary of the PribOVO dated 21.6.41 refers to the headquarters of the 3rd AK (the data require verification). Therefore, an empty rectangle on the map is an unknown headquarters. On the KOVO map, in this case, the "AK" icon and a question mark behind it were indicated.
V Lublin marked: the headquarters of the 3rd Army, the headquarters of the 32nd AK and the headquarters of the 14th Infantry Division.
Consider a German group in the Allenstein area.
V Allenstein (119 km to the Soviet-German border) marked: the headquarters of the 9th army, the headquarters of the AK, the headquarters of the 7th and 251st infantry divisions, 301st and 413th infantry regiments, 206 artillery regiment, anti-tank regiment. On the map there is a mark near the town of Allenstein: "over an infantry division, a PTO regiment." V Ortelsburg marked the headquarters of the AK.
Grouping in the Warsaw area.
Warsaw (145 km): the headquarters of the 8th army, the headquarters of the 9th AK, the headquarters of the 509th and 525th infantry divisions, the headquarters of the 1st cavalry division, the headquarters of the 8th tank division, the 1st and 14th cavalry regiments, 1st and 8th tank regiments, 28th and 531st infantry regiments, 8th, 105th and 106th artillery regiments, heavy artillery regiment, 1st and 3rd anti-aircraft artillery regiments, 25th chemical regiment, 28th communications regiment, railway regiment.
Otwock (133 km): large headquarters, artillery regiment.
Rembertov (138 km): parachute regiment.
Minsk-Mozovetsky (115 km): artillery regiment, 28th railway regiment, infantry regiment, armored train.
Pancake week (123 km): Headquarters of the 215th Infantry Division.
Grouping in the area of Suwalki, Sejny, Lukk, Aris.
A tank battalion was spotted at the border.
Seyny (about 9 km to the border): 70th infantry and 480th motorized regiments, artillery battery.
Suwalki (to the northeast to the border - 26 km, to the east - 37 km): presumably two armored divisions "SS", headquarters of the 34th and 37th motorized divisions, headquarters of the motorized division, 94th artillery regiment, 70th motorized regiment and 84th cavalry regiment.
Letzen (58 km): 35th AK, 2nd tank and 115th infantry regiments, cavalry regiment, artillery regiment.
Aris (30 km): headquarters of the infantry division, 143rd and 151st regiments, 14th artillery regiment.
Lykk (19 km): headquarters of the 39th infantry division, 215th infantry regiment, 37th artillery regiment, tank regiment, anti-aircraft regiment, armored train.
In the area where the group is located, there is a mark:.
Grouping in the area of Musynets, Ostroy Mazowiecki, Mlawa.
Musinets (21 km): Infantry Division Headquarters, 345th and 365th Infantry Regiments.
Ostroleka (10 km): infantry division headquarters, 108th, 119th, 276th infantry regiments, infantry regiment, 91st and 903rd motorized regiments, artillery regiment, artillery battery, armored train. Note that there are up to two infantry divisions in the Ostrozhenka area.
In accordance with the RM of the headquarters of the ZAPOVO from 30.5.41. It turns out that by the beginning of the war, an infantry division and a tank battalion had disappeared from the Ostrolenka area located near the border.
Ostrow Mazowiecki (12 km): two headquarters of infantry divisions, an artillery regiment, 315th and 478th infantry regiments, 615th motorized regiment, 60 tanks and an artillery battery.
Rojan (35 km): headquarters of the 302nd infantry division, 7th and 10th artillery regiments, 203rd, 474th and 479th infantry regiments.
Mlawa (88 km): 103rd artillery regiment, 4th, 6th, 11th and 13th infantry regiments, cavalry regiment, 19th SS regiment, armored train, two artillery batteries, two tank companies.
Ciechanow (95 km): headquarters of the 6th AK, 239th infantry regiment, 104th artillery regiment, 300 armored vehicles, tank company. There is a note: "before the infantry division."
Prasnysh (56 km): 108th and 109th artillery regiments, a tank company.
Grouping Sedlec, Malkin.
Sedlec (63 km): headquarters of the 22nd and 292nd infantry divisions, the 3rd and 537th cavalry regiments.
Sokolov (up to 70 km): headquarters of the 208th Infantry Division.
Kossov (up to 80 km): headquarters of the motorized division.
Lochów (106 km): infantry division headquarters, artillery regiment, armored train.
Grouping Wlodawa, Terespol, Miedzyrzec, Lukow.
Terespol (1, 5 km): headquarters of the cavalry brigade.
Biala Podlaska (35 km): AK headquarters, headquarters of the 17th Infantry Division.
Lomazy (30 km): 12th cavalry regiment.
Miedzyrzec (59 km): AK headquarters, cavalry brigade headquarters, 27th artillery regiment.
Lukov (88 km): motorized regiment, cavalry regiment, artillery regiment, armored train, 300 vehicles.
Dombrovo (97 km): tank brigade headquarters.
Radzyń (68 km): headquarters of the 40th Infantry Division, 28th Cavalry Regiment, 355th Infantry Regiment.
Infantry division headquarters (probably 161st from Radzyn).
Wlodawa (less than 1 km): infantry regiment, artillery regiment, cavalry regiment, artillery battery.
Mark in the zone of the grouping location:.
In the RM of the headquarters of the ZapOVO on 20.6.41, it was noted that in the Kodeni area there were up to 100 tanks, but these tanks are not on the map. The tanks are probably included in the total number of tank units concentrated in the area.
In total, the map shows: two army headquarters, one large headquarters, seven AK headquarters (not a single motorized one!), 18 infantry division headquarters, one motorized, tank and cavalry division headquarters each. The headquarters of a tank brigade (which did not exist), two headquarters of the cavalry brigades. There are also three motorized divisions, two tank divisions (presumably), 28 infantry regiments, 7 motorized, 4 tank, 11 cavalry regiments. Up to 30 artillery regiments, anti-aircraft and anti-aircraft regiments. One tank brigade, more than a bulk tank regiment and one parachute regiment.
If there are divisional headquarters, then the regiments of these divisions must be located somewhere. By counting the headquarters of divisions, brigades, detected divisions and brigades, the number is about 30 divisions. The author was unable to reach the number of divisions indicated in the inscription on the map … Perhaps some of the divisions were located to the west. On June 7, a message from the Intelligence Directorate said: The distance from Poznan to the border is about 430 km.
In accordance with the map for June 21, at a distance of up to 10-12 km from the Soviet-German border, opposite the ZAPOVO is located up to 6 divisions without taking into account the troops stationed near the city of Sejny, which the Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the spacecraft attributed to the PribOVO area of responsibility. The situation is very similar to the situations in PribOVO and KOVO.
It should be noted that the ZAPOVO reconnaissance is the only one of the reconnaissance of the four western border districts, which discovered and recorded in the reconnaissance report the exit of German troops to the border to their initial positions before the offensive:
Output: According to the available data, which are being verified, the main part of the German army in the zone against the Western Special Military District took its starting position.
In all directions, the pulling up of units and means of strengthening the border is noted …
