Foreign intelligence officers, especially illegal intelligence officers, have never been deprived of state and departmental awards. In the showcases of the Hall of History of Foreign Intelligence, military and labor awards of our state, as well as honorary state and departmental badges, which marked the activities of the best representatives of the service, are widely presented and which were transferred for eternal storage to the Museum of the History of Intelligence by the closest relatives of these scouts.
AWARDS SAY A LOT
There are quite a few foreign awards among the awards on display. Among them, in particular, one can note: the Maltese Cross and the Venezuelan Order of Francisco de Miranda with the star of the illegal scout Joseph Grigulevich; three highest orders of the Mongolian People's Republic of the commander of the Separate motorized rifle brigade for special purposes Vyacheslav Gridnev; the Czechoslovakian Military Cross of 1939 and the Military Order of the White Lion "For Victory" with the Star of the I degree of the head of Soviet foreign intelligence during the Great Patriotic War Pavel Fitin; the Bulgarian Order "September 9, 1944" with the swords of the prominent Soviet intelligence officer Boris Batraev, who worked behind the cordon for more than a quarter of a century; the Order of Merit to the Fatherland in gold of the German Democratic Republic, which was awarded to one of the leaders of the Soviet illegal intelligence service, Alexander Korotkov, and many others.
In the section of the exposition devoted to the activities of foreign intelligence on the eve of the Great Patriotic War, the attention of visitors to the Hall of History is certainly attracted by an unusual and rather rare award that belonged to one of the veteran intelligence officers of Kh. - the breastplate of the Mongolian People's Republic "Participant in the battles at Khalkhin Gol." It is a circle covered with blue enamel, in the center of which there is a golden horseman with a saber in his hand. Above the rider, a red banner with the inscription "August 1939" develops, and on the red ribbon below there is an inscription in golden letters "Khalkhin-Gol" (the inscriptions are made in the Latin alphabet).
The history of this award, established in connection with the events that took place more than 75 years ago on the territory of Mongolia in the region of the Khalkhin-Gol River, is interesting (“Khalkha” is the name of the nationality that is the core of the modern population of Mongolia, “gol” in Mongolian means “river ). They are symbolic and instructive, as they were a kind of prologue to the world bloody massacre - World War II, which broke out on September 1, 1939.
The feat of the Soviet people and their army at the Mongolian river Khalkhin-Gol is significant. And memories of him are not only a tribute to the memory, but also an occasion to once again turn to the past in order to better understand today's realities.
IN THE KHALKHIN-GOL RIVER AREA
However, before talking about the events near the Khalkhin-Gol River, we would like to remind readers that a year before them there had been a treacherous armed attack by Japanese militarists on the territory of the USSR in the area of Lake Khasan. The Soviet border guards and soldiers of the Red Army then succeeded in winning a convincing victory and throwing the aggressors out of the sacred land of our Motherland. Fierce battles on our Far Eastern border took place from July 29 to August 11, 1938.
It should be especially noted that during the Khasan events, none of the world powers came out with a strong condemnation of the Japanese military action, trying to channel the spread of Japanese expansion in the direction of the Soviet Union. Ultimately, this position of the West led to a larger than the Khasan aggression against the USSR and the Mongolian People's Republic in May – September 1939 near the Khalkhin-Gol River.
So, almost a year after the armed clash at Lake Khasan, Japanese militarists in the Khalkhin-Gol River region launched a much larger-scale armed attack on our brotherly Mongolian People's Republic.
The official Japanese version of the beginning of the conflict consisted in the demand of the Japanese side to recognize the Khalkhin-Gol River as the border between Manchukuo and Mongolia (the former border ran 20-25 km to the east). In fact, the persistent intentions of the Japanese to streamline the border between Manchukuo and Mongolia pursued the goal of pushing it westward to a natural obstacle - the Khalkhin Gol River, and the main task of the aggressive actions of the Japanese military was to seize part of Mongolian territory in order to create a convenient springboard for repeating hostilities against Soviet Union.
On May 11, 1939, a detachment of Japanese cavalry numbering up to 300 people attacked the Mongol border outpost at Nomon-Khan-Burd-Obo. On May 14, as a result of a similar attack, but with the support of aviation, the Dungur-Obo height was occupied.
The dangerous aggravation of the situation on its Far Eastern borders forced the Soviet government to make a statement that the Soviet Union would defend the border of the Mongolian People's Republic in accordance with the agreement on mutual assistance between the USSR and the MPR as decisively as it would defend its own. For this, at the initial stage, units of the Soviet troops were involved, which were on Mongolian territory on the basis of a previously concluded bilateral agreement. The armed conflict, later called undeclared war by military historians, lasted from spring to autumn 1939.
Formally, the conflict at the Khalkhin Gol River concerned the relationship between the two states, Mongolia and Manchukuo. But in reality, the Soviet Union and Japan stood behind them, and the units of the Red and Kwantung armies, reinforced, respectively, by the Mongol and Bargut (Barguts are residents of Inner Mongolia, which was part of Manchukuo), became the real participants in the outbreak of hostilities. It must be emphasized that this was no longer a local conflict, but a large-scale military action. The battles were fought with the use of the latest armored vehicles, aviation and artillery for that time.
Events in the area of the Khalkhin-Gol river developed rapidly. At the initial stage of the conflict, the Japanese command pulled up to the borders of the Mongolian People's Republic a large grouping of its troops (one infantry division, two infantry regiments, two tank regiments, three cavalry regiments). The grouping consisted of 38 thousand people, 310 guns, 135 tanks, 225 aircraft. The Japanese troops were tasked with encircling and destroying the Soviet-Mongol troops on the eastern bank of the Khalkhin-Gol River.
After numerous provocations, the Japanese militarists, having created a numerical superiority, with the support of tanks, artillery and aviation, went on the offensive. Heavy fighting ensued, as a result of which the Soviet-Mongolian troops managed to push back the invaders from Mongolian land. But the enemy did not calm down and pulled up fresh forces.
To prepare for a new offensive, the Japanese military command additionally formed a 6th separate army specially designed for conducting hostilities in the conflict area. It numbered over 75 thousand people, 500 guns, about 200 tanks and over 300 aircraft. A new "decisive offensive" was supposed to begin on 24 August.
All this led to the adoption of appropriate measures by the Soviet-Mongolian command. Active information support was provided to him by the residencies of the Soviet military intelligence and foreign intelligence of the state security agencies of our country operating on the territory of Mongolia, China and Japan. On the basis of the Soviet troops already in the Mongolian People's Republic, as well as the new formations that had pulled up, the 1st Army Group was formed, which consisted of 57 thousand people, about 500 tanks, 385 armored vehicles, more than 540 guns and mortars, more than 500 aircraft. The group was headed by Corps Commander Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov. The Mongolian troops were led by Marshal Khorlogiin Choibalsan. The operation to preempt the enemy strike was being prepared covertly. The powerful, well-planned and prepared air-artillery strike of the Soviet-Mongolian troops at dawn on August 20 caught the enemy by surprise.
As a result of fierce four days of fighting, the enemy was surrounded. On August 24, the Soviet-Mongolian troops began to liquidate the grouping of Japanese troops and by August 31, they had completely cleared the territory of the Mongolian People's Republic of the aggressor.
On September 9, 1939, the Japanese ambassador to Moscow, Togo Shigenori, visited the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs and, on behalf of his government, offered to conclude an armistice and turn the Khalkhin Gol region into a demilitarized zone. In this regard, the illegal Soviet military intelligence officer Richard Sorge, who worked in Japan, emphasized in a message to the Center on September 27: “The armistice on the Mongolian border means a radical departure of Japanese policy from adventurism. With regard to military activity against Siberia, actions will be limited to only one expansion in China … There is currently a general agreement of all factions on the issue of ending the policy of adventures against the North."
The armistice between the USSR and Japan was concluded on September 15, 1939. The next day, hostilities in the area were stopped.
Japanese losses during the conflict near the Khalkhin Gol River exceeded 61 thousand soldiers and officers, of which approximately 25 thousand people were killed. The Japanese 6th Separate Army ceased to exist.
The combat losses of the Soviet side amounted to 8,931 people killed, and 15,952 soldiers and officers were wounded.
The defeat of the Japanese troops forced to resign not only the command of the Kwantung Army in full force, but also the Japanese cabinet in power, complicated the development of a military alliance between Japan and Germany and questioned the idea of a "blitzkrieg" in the Far East.
The defeat of the Japanese aggressors in the area of the Khalkhin-Gol River seriously affected Japan's foreign policy positions. That is why, when in December 1941 German troops stood near Moscow and Hitler furiously demanded that Tokyo strike at the Soviet Far East, Khalkhin Gol, as many historians believe, played a major role in the fact that Japan did not follow Berlin's lead.
FOR COURAGE AND RESISTANCE
By the decree of the Great People's Khural of the Mongolian People's Republic of August 16, 1940, the badge "To the participant of the battles at Khalkhin-Gol" was established. It was intended to reward the commanders, soldiers and civilians of both Mongolia and the Soviet Union who took a direct part in the battles. The date on the August 1939 sign reminded of a decisive moment in the confrontation.
The further fate of the award is also interesting. By the decree of the Presidium of the Great People's Khural No. 181 of December 29, 1966, the badge "Participant of the battles at Khalkhin Gol" was given the status of a medal.
Unfortunately, this award was extremely rare among Soviet servicemen. It was awarded mainly to those servicemen of the Red Army who, after the end of the events, continued to serve in the Trans-Baikal Military District. A number of residency officers who were directly involved in obtaining information during the conflict were also awarded an honorary award. Those of the servicemen who, after the end of hostilities, left for their permanent duty stations, remained at that time without well-deserved awards. And the Great Patriotic War that broke out soon did not allow to complete the process of awarding all participants in the events near the Khalkhin-Gol River.
It should be added to this story that most of the servicemen of the Red Army, as well as other citizens of the USSR who took part in this armed conflict, received Soviet awards - the Order of the Red Star or the Medal For Courage. A total of 17,121 people were awarded. 70 servicemen were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, three of them were pilots twice.
In modern military literature, it is emphasized that during the military conflict in the Khalkhin-Gol River region, "Soviet troops gained considerable experience, especially in the use of tanks and aircraft and their interaction with rifle units." At the same time, it is noted that "Japan's defeat seriously influenced the foreign policy positions of its government and kept it from opposing the USSR during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."
For its part, it should be added that the events in the Khalkhin-Gol River area allowed a number of residencies, in particular in Harbin, to test themselves and their capabilities to obtain operational information directly during the military conflict in which the Soviet Union was involved.
Referring to this period of activity of the foreign intelligence of our country, the "Essays on the History of Russian Foreign Intelligence" states: "The Harbin residency was the most successful. Harbin, occupied by the Japanese, was then the center of political and military activity in the region. In it the intelligence services of various states scattered their networks. The Harbin station managed to obtain information about preparations for an attack on the Mongolian People's Republic shortly before the battles on the Khalkhin-Gol River, timely inform the Center about the concentration of Kwantung Army units near the borders of the Soviet Union before the battles on Lake Hasan, inform about the Japanese preparations for the seizure of Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai ".
The harsh days of the period of military aggression in 1939 became sacred for the Mongolian people, since then the country's sovereignty was defended. In memory of the heroes of Khalkhin-Gol, monuments were erected in Mongolian cities, streets were named, and a Victory memorial was erected on the site of the battles. In Mongolia, they do not forget the Soviet soldiers-internationalists, who, together with the Mongolian tsirics, performed the feat of arms.
On the monument to the fallen defenders of Khalkhin Gol, at the site of the battles, the words are carved: “Eternal glory to the soldiers-heroes of the Soviet Army and the courageous cirques of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army, who fell in battles for the freedom and independence of the peace-loving Mongolian people, for the peace and security of peoples, against imperialist aggression !"
