Nikolai Kirillovich Popel (1901-1980), lieutenant general of tank forces (since 1944), was a very outstanding personality. Member of the Civil War and the Soviet-Finnish War, political worker. At the beginning of World War II, brigade commissar, political commissar of the 8th mechanized corps under the command of DI Ryabyshev. Popel ended the war as a member of the military council of the 1st Tank Army (reorganized into the 1st Guards Tank Army).
During the war years, he became the inventor of "operational" printing in the army. Popel formed his network of army correspondents and increased the staff of typesetters in the field printing house. As a result, the time from the conception of the leaflet to its delivery to a specific soldier at the front was three and a half hours. Great speed for wartime and with those technologies. Popel became the author of vivid memoirs about the war, where journalism is interspersed with the artistic reality of wartime. Such works of a tanker as "In a difficult time", "Tanks turned to the west", "Ahead - Berlin!" favorably differ from the memories of other military leaders in the artistic imagery of their heroes and the author's vivid personal attitude to events. True, after the release of his memoirs, Popel was subjected to a wave of criticism from military historians, writers and ordinary readers. The general tanker was accused of "falsifying the facts", his own glorification, and a biased attitude to events.
Apparently, this was largely due to the fact that Popel's memories became one of the first memoirs about the Great War. The passions had not yet subsided, the memories were "living". The fundamental volumes of Zhukov, Rokossovsky, Konev, Baghramyan, Chuikov and other great commanders have not yet been published, historical studies and encyclopedias have not been published that would have approved a unified view of the course of events of the Great Patriotic War. It is always difficult for pioneers. Popel had to take the emotional blows from readers who disagreed with his point of view.
Popel was born on December 19, 1900 on January 2, 1901 (according to the new style) in the village of Epiphany in the Nikolaevsky district of the Kherson province. His parents were a Magyar (Hungarian) blacksmith Kirdat Popel and a peasant woman Svetlana. The boy graduated from a two-year parish school at a rural parish. He studied well, so he was enrolled in a veterinary class at the Kherson agricultural school. In the summer of 1917, he finished his studies, receiving a veterinarian diploma in the II category.
I must say that Popel's biography is full of "white spots". So, it is not known what the young veterinarian did during the Revolution and most of the Civil War. According to the testimony of Evgenia Yakovlevna - the wife of the future tank general - Nikolai Popel at the beginning of 1920 voluntarily appeared to the military commissar of the city of Nikolaev and asked to enroll him in the Red Army. The army needed veterinarians. He was enlisted as the "chief horseman" (veterinarian) of the 3rd Cavalry Corps under the command of Nikolai Kashirin. Popel took part in the battles for Melitopol, Kerch, fought with the Wrangel and Makhnovists. At the same time, he began his career as a military political worker. In April 1921, Nikolai joined the RCP (b) and he was immediately appointed assistant to the chairman of the special military tribunal of the Aleksandrovsk group of forces in southern Ukraine. A veterinarian by profession has to sign execution lists for "enemies of the people" like anarchists and personally participate in punitive expeditions against the remnants of the Makhnovist gangs.
In 1923-1925. Popel is studying at the Odessa Infantry School. After that, he was transferred to the political department of the 4th Cavalry Division of the Ukrainian Military District. Two years later, Popel is studying at the Advanced Courses for Command Personnel (KUKS) in the capital, then at the Military-Political Institute. Tolmachev. The "chief horseman" has been studying for almost eight years and in 1932 he was appointed head of the disciplinary crimes department of the military tribunal of the Moscow district. For six years in this post, according to researchers, Popel prepared about 120 compromising characteristics of the former commanders of the Red Army who were under investigation.
In 1938, Popel was appointed military commissar of the 11th mechanized (tank) brigade. During the Soviet-Finnish war, Popel was appointed head of the political department of the 106th mountain rifle division (Ingermanlandia) of the Finnish People's Army. This "army" was created with the expectation of the establishment of Soviet power in Finland after the victory in the war, it was formed from ethnic Finns and Karelians. However, this plan was never implemented. The war turned out to be more severe than expected, and Finland retained its government. Popel was transferred to the post of military commissar of the 1st Leningrad artillery school, and then political officer of the 8th mechanized corps in the Kiev Special Military District.
Breakthrough behind enemy lines
The first month of the war was the political worker's finest hour. While some commanders succumbed to panic, dropped their hands, Popel showed steadfastness, composure and was able to maintain a high moral spirit in the surrounding soldiers and commanders.
Popel became an active participant in the Battle of Dubno-Lutsk-Brody (June 23 - June 30, 1941). About 3200 - 3300 tanks took part in this battle on both sides: the 8th, 9th, 15th, 19th, 22nd Soviet mechanized corps and the 9th, 11th, 13th, 14th I, the 16th German Panzer Division. The command of the Southwestern Front and the representative of the Headquarters of the Civil Code, G. K. Zhukov, decided to launch a counterattack on the German grouping with the forces of all mechanized corps and three rifle corps of front-line subordination (31st, 36th and 37th). The purpose of the counter-offensive of the mechanized corps of the South-Western Front was to defeat the 1st Panzer Group of Ewald von Kleist. As a result, a fierce oncoming tank battle took place. However, the lack of proper coordination of actions, the inability to immediately throw all the formations into battle (many units were in the process of advancing to the front and entered the battle as they arrived), the lack of air support, did not allow the Red Army to win this border battle. At the same time, this battle gained time, delayed the advance of the 1st German tank group for a week, thwarted the enemy's plans to break through to Kiev and encircle a number of Soviet armies. It was such fierce battles, unexpected for the enemy, that ultimately thwarted the idea of a "lightning war" and allowed the USSR to withstand the Great War.
One of the most striking events in this battle was the strike of the 24th Panzer Regiment of Lieutenant Colonel Volkov (from the 12th Panzer Division), the motorcycle regiment and the 34th Panzer Division of Colonel Vasiliev under the general command of Brigade Commissioner Nikolai Popel. The 8th and 15th mechanized corps with the 8th tank division of the 4th mechanized corps were supposed to strike Dubno from the southern direction. But at 2 pm on June 27, 1941, only the Volkov-Popel group was able to go on the offensive. The rest of the troops were only transferred to this direction.
According to Popel, the strike by our troops on the busy highway in the Verba area was unexpected. The first enemy screen - an infantry battalion and a company of tanks were shot down on the move, the Germans were not ready for defense. Here, on the highway, Popel's strike group overtook the rear of the 11th German Panzer Division. The Nazis calmly marched, strictly observing the prescribed intervals. Everything was measured, thorough and decorous, before the appearance of Soviet soldiers. Even when our motorcyclists overtook the enemy, the German soldiers did not even think that they were Russians. When the machine guns sounded and the guns hit, it was too late. “So the enemy had a chance to find out what panic is,” writes the commissar. Vasiliev, Volkov and Popel took a high rate of advance, trying not to linger at the nodes of resistance.
The battle took place on a wide field 10 km south-west of Dubno. During a fierce battle, Popel's group destroyed part of the 11th Panzer Division. In this battle, the commander of the 67th Tank Regiment (34th TD), Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Dmitrievich Bolkhovitin, fell. Soviet troops entered Dubno in the dark. General Halder wrote in his diary: "On the right flank of the first tank group, the 8th Russian tank corps penetrated deeply into our location and went into the rear of the 11th Panzer Division …". After the capture of Dubno, Popel's group began to wait for the arrival of the rest of the 8th mechanized corps, which were to follow them.
Defense of Dubno
The situation for Popel's group in Dubno was very alarming. There are no neighbors, no communication or information, no reinforcements are visible. There is no contact with the enemy either. The group began to prepare for defense. Popel explained the principle of tough defense very figuratively and succinctly: "to fight to the death." “You are bombarded with bombs - high-explosive, fragmentation, incendiary. And you are standing. They hit you with guns, machine guns, machine guns and rifles. And you are standing. You have been flanked, they are already targeting you from the rear. And you are standing. Your comrades have died, the commander is no longer alive. You stand. Don't just stand there. You hit the enemy. You shoot from a machine gun, rifle, pistol, throw grenades, go into a bayonet attack. You can fight with anything - with a butt, a stone, a boot, a Finn. Only you have no right to leave. Take a step back!.. "(Popel N. K. In a difficult time). A new battalion was formed from 30 captured German tanks under the command of Captain Mikhalchuk. There were enough "machineless" crews for these tanks. In addition, the defense was strengthened by fifty guns abandoned by the Germans and a volunteer battalion was formed from local citizens, mainly from party and Soviet workers who did not have time to evacuate.
In Dubno, the approach of two divisions of the 8th mechanized corps of Dmitry Ryabyshev was expected. But at night, the German command transferred units of the 16th tank, 75th and 111th infantry divisions to the place of the breakthrough of the Soviet troops and closed the gap. On June 28, only a battalion of the 300th motorized rifle regiment of the 7th motorized division with an artillery battalion managed to connect with the Popel group. The 8th mechanized corps was unable to penetrate the enemy's defenses again and, under the blows of enemy aviation, artillery and superior German forces, went on the defensive. As a result, Popel's group was surrounded. Ryabyshev's corps, under the threat of complete encirclement and destruction, was forced to retreat.
Popel's group clashed with the formations of the 16th Panzer Division. For the Germans, this meeting also came as a surprise; they did not think to meet with the Russians in this area. In a two-hour battle, all German attacks were repelled, and 15 tanks that broke through to the location of the Soviet troops were captured (13 of them are in good condition).
The capture of these tanks pushed Popel and Vasiliev to the idea of organizing sabotage in the enemy's rear. The operation was called a "miracle". It was headed by senior political instructor Ivan Kirillovich Gurov (deputy for political affairs of the commander of the 67th tank regiment) and senior battalion commissar Efim Ivanovich Novikov (deputy head of the political propaganda department in the 34th TD). Trophy T-3 and T-4, one by one, penetrated the enemy's location. They had to one at a time, at intervals, enter the German column, stretched out on the road, and wait for the signal. At the signal of a red rocket, it was given by Gurov at 24.00, the Soviet tankmen were supposed to shoot the German cars in front and leave in the confusion. The "miracle" succeeded. At night, shots rang out, flames raged. An hour and a half later, the first saboteur tank returned, and by dawn 11 more tanks arrived. Only one tank was lost, but its crew also safely got out of the enemy rear and reached their own on foot. The result was quite expected - the 16th German Panzer Division did not go over to the offensive in the morning.
For the defense of Dubno, 3 sectors were created: the northern one, near Mlynov, commanded by the commander of the 67th tank regiment, Major A. P. Sytnik and the political officer IK Gurov; the south-western, in the Podluzhe area, was headed by the chief of artillery of the division, Colonel V. G. Semyonov and battalion commissar Zarubin; the eastern sector, in Dubno, under the command of the commander of the 68th tank regiment M. I. Smirnov and the senior battalion commissar E. I. Novikov. Colonel Volkov's 24th Panzer Regiment constituted a mobile reserve. The fighting almost never stopped. Now in one sector, then in another. Some contractions were fleeting, others - many hours, long.
Volkov recalled that from June 27 to July 2, 1941, Brigadier Commissar Popel practically did not sleep. He constantly dashed on a motorcycle between tank formations, cheering the soldiers and showing an example of personal courage. During one of the trips, a stray shell of a German self-propelled gun threw it over a ravine near Samokhovichi. The sergeant died on the spot, and Popel was shell-shocked. But he managed to get out, dig a motorcycle out of the ground and get to his own.
On June 29, there were fierce battles. The Germans, after a powerful artillery preparation and bombardment, went on the attack. The group was defenseless from air raids, there was no anti-aircraft artillery. Soviet troops suffered significant losses from air strikes. A fierce battle boiled over for Ptich, she passed from hand to hand several times. Almost all of the guns in the southwest sector are out of action. As Popel recalled, tanks went against tanks. The enemy did not have heavy vehicles. But our heavy KV shells were running out. Soviet tankers, having spent ammunition, went to the ram. “Cars were burning, fragments of guns crushed into the ground and overturned transporters were sticking out. And everywhere - near cars, batteries, transporters - the corpses of our and German soldiers."
In a skirmish in the northern sector, Gurov knocked over two enemy infantry battalions with an ambush blow, and the German regimental headquarters was destroyed. In the course of repelling such a German attack, the commander died a heroic death. Vasiliev and Popel removed from command the commander of the 68th tank regiment Smirnov, who showed cowardice. The regiment was received by Captain V. F. Petrov.
On the same day, Popel's group received an order to attack and destroy enemy tanks in the forest near Mala Milch and Belk Milch. There were found about 300 tanks, apparently without ammunition and fuel. The order was transmitted with the help of a pilot who landed the plane in the Dubno area. And this order was received in conditions when Popel's group had nowhere to do with the wounded, ran out of fuel, ammunition, medicines, the units lost most of the command staff. From the north, against the Popel-Vasiliev group, there were two infantry divisions - the 44th and 225th, the 14th tank division approached. From the southwest - 111th infantry and 16th tank. However, an order is an order.
At the council of war, it was decided to divide the group into two parts: to make a breach, send the wounded and rear units to their own, and attack the enemy with a strike fist. At night, they attacked Ptychu and made a breach in the southerly direction. The wounded were taken out into the corridor, the rear and sent to Ternopil, where, according to the latest data, they had their own. At dawn, the main forces attacked the 16th Panzer Division in the general direction of Kozin. It was assumed that the 8th mechanized corps was located at Kozin, Sitno, Brod. The Germans did not expect a night strike. After 40 minutes of the battle, Ptycha was captured. The column with the wounded and the rear was led by the chief of artillery of 34th TD Colonel Semyonov. He was allocated 60 tanks, each with 1-2 rounds for defense. However, at the beginning of the movement, Semenov was wounded and the column was led by Colonel Pleshakov. I must say that he went out to his own.
Breakthrough
Popel had 100 tanks left (80 tanks were the main forces, 20 Petrov's tanks distracted the enemy), each with 20-25 shells, and the tanks were only half filled with fuel. Plus small landings. Tankers broke through the outer ring, destroyed two German batteries, and Petrov's tanks began to await. Already at this stage, the group suffered heavy losses. Another German artillery division hit the flank of Popel's tanks, which were awaiting Petrov's detachment. Popel led the landing to the rear of the German artillerymen. “We go through the swamp, we fall through. Rifles, pistols and grenades are held in outstretched arms above their heads. Some have daggers in their teeth … Terrible and dirty, like swamp devils, - Popel writes, - we broke into the firing positions of the Nazis, decorated with birches and carefully covered from above with variegated camouflage nets. 150mm howitzers cannot be deployed overnight. Grenades are torn, shots are thundering. In some places it came to hand-to-hand combat. We emerge victorious: all three batteries with serviceable cannons and stocks of oily gleaming shells are ours. Fabulous wealth! The howitzer division, led by Novikov, opened fire on the German positions.
The tanks of Vasiliev and Volkov destroyed a significant number of German vehicles, which did not expect the appearance of Russian tanks in this direction. Popel could try to break out of the ring. But waiting for Petrov's group, and they could not leave their own, they lost time. The Germans threw aircraft into battle, pulled up tanks. A new battle ensued. The ammunition ran out, and Soviet tank crews began to ram German vehicles. Major Sytnik on KV rammed several German T-3s. Volkov was wounded. German aviation attacked the artillery division. Several guns were mutilated, others continued to cover their own. Popel ordered Novikov to cover the withdrawal, and then blow up the remaining guns and leave. Novikov stood to the last and died a heroic death. The division commander Vasiliev and the regimental commissar Nemtsev were also killed.
The remnants of the group went into the forest: a handful of tanks, several cars (they had to be abandoned almost immediately), the remnants of the landing party and machineless tank crews. For two days, the remnants of Popel's group rested, gathered the fighters who had fought, and reconnoitred the area. Destroyed several enemy patrols. Then they took out the remaining tanks and set off. This movement in the rear is a whole story, filled with battles with the Germans, overcoming natural obstacles, fighting fear, alarmism.
Having fought about 200 km in the enemy's rear, Popel's detachment and the 124th Infantry Division formations that had joined it reached the location of the 5th Army. In total, Popel brought out 1778 soldiers from the encirclement. The group has lost more than 6 thousand people killed and missing since the beginning of its epic.
