After the collapse of the USSR, our home-grown fans of the West, considering the Union an "evil empire", began to ascribe all conceivable and inconceivable sins to the Soviet power. In particular, a whole layer of myths was created about the fault of Stalin and the Bolsheviks in unleashing the Second World War. Among these "black myths" destroying our historical memory and shrines was the myth that "the fascist sword was forged in the USSR."
Thus, the Stalinist empire was presented as the "forge of the Hitlerite army" when German pilots and tankers were trained in the USSR. Even the big names of German military leaders like Goering and Guderian, who were allegedly trained in Soviet schools, were even named.
At the same time, a number of important facts are omitted. In particular, when Soviet-German military cooperation began, the Third Reich simply did not exist! 1922-1933 was the time of the completely democratic Weimar Republic, with which Moscow collaborated. At the same time, a strong communist party, the socialists, operated in Germany, which gave hope for the future victory of socialism in Berlin. And the Nazis were then a marginal group that did not see a threat.
Motives for cooperation
The point was that Germany and Russia suffered the most from the First World War, they were the losers. At the same time, the Germans in the conditions of the Versailles political system were very limited in the military, military-technical sphere.
The question also arises: who studied with whom? Germany in 1913 was the second industrial power in the world (after the United States), was an industrial, technological giant. And Russia was an agrarian-industrial country dependent on the advanced technologies of the West. Almost all complex machines and mechanisms, such as machine tools and steam locomotives, were imported into the country. The First World War very well showed the full extent of Russia's backwardness from the advanced powers of the West. So, if the Second Reich during the war produced 47, 3 thousand combat aircraft, then Russia - only 3, 5 thousand. The situation was even worse with the production of motors. In peacetime, Russia practically did not produce aircraft engines at all. The war forced the creation of the production of aircraft engines. In 1916, about 1400 aircraft engines were produced, but this was very few. And the allies, busy with the extraordinary strengthening of their air forces, tried not to share engines. Therefore, even aircraft built in Russia could not be lifted into the air, there were no engines. As a result, the Germans dominated the air.
The situation was even worse with the tanks. This type of weapon was never put into production in pre-revolutionary Russia. The first Soviet tank "Freedom fighter comrade. Lenin ", copied from the French Renault tank, would have been produced by the Krasnoye Sormovo plant in Nizhny Novgorod only in 1920 and was put into service in 1921. After that, there was a long pause in the Soviet machine tool industry - until 1927. Germany released in October 1917 the heavy tank A7V, which took part in the battles and several other prototypes.
Also, Russia was far behind Germany in terms of the availability of qualified personnel, scientific and technical personnel. Germany introduced compulsory secondary education as early as 1871. In Russia, on the eve of the 1917 revolution, most of the population was illiterate.
Plus the world war, revolution, the most brutal Civil War and intervention, mass emigration and devastation, the consequences of which Russia overcame for most of the 1920s. Moscow was in international isolation. It is clear that in such conditions we had to learn from the Germans, and only they could teach us something useful. The rest of the Western powers saw Russia as booty, a "pie" that needed to be gutted. The West demanded the payment of the tsarist debts and debts of the Provisional Government, accept responsibility for all losses from the actions of the Soviet and previous governments or local authorities, return all nationalized enterprises to foreigners, and provide access to resources and riches of Russia (concessions).
Only deceived, humiliated and robbed Germans could become our partners. Unlike other Western powers, Germany did not insist on the return of debts. The agreement with Berlin was concluded through a mutual waiver of claims. Germany recognized the nationalization of German state and private property in Soviet Russia. For Soviet Russia, which lagged behind the advanced countries by 50-100 years, cooperation with an industrially and technologically advanced country was vital.
The Germans were also interested in such cooperation. According to the Treaty of Versailles of June 28, 1919, severe military restrictions were imposed on defeated Germany. The German army (Reichswehr) was reduced to 100 thousand people, officers should have been no more than 4 thousand people. The General Staff was dismissed and forbidden to have. General military service was abolished, the army was recruited through voluntary recruitment. It was forbidden to have heavy weapons - artillery over the established caliber, tanks and military aircraft. The fleet was limited to a few old ships, the submarine fleet was banned.
Unsurprisingly, in such a situation, the two losing powers, rogue states, reached out to each other. In April 1922, at the Genoa Conference, Germany and Russia signed the Rapallo Treaty, which drew sharp disapproval from the "world community."
Thus, the choice in favor of Germany was quite obvious and reasonable. Firstly, the then Germany was a completely democratic state, the Nazis had not yet come to power and had no influence at all on the country's politics. Secondly, Germany was Russia's traditional economic partner. The German state, despite the heavy defeat, remained a powerful industrial power with developed mechanical engineering, energy, chemical industry, etc. Cooperation with the Germans could help us in the restoration and development of the national economy. Thirdly, Berlin, unlike other Western powers, did not insist on the payment of old debts, and recognized the nationalization in Soviet Russia.
Military cooperation. Lipetsk Aviation School
The Rapallo Treaty did not contain military clauses. However, the foundations for mutually beneficial Soviet-German military cooperation were obvious. Berlin needed proving grounds to test tanks and aircraft without the knowledge of the victorious powers. And we needed German advanced experience in the production and use of advanced weapons. As a result, in the mid-1920s, a number of joint facilities were created in the USSR: an aviation school in Lipetsk, a tank school in Kazan, two aerochemical stations (training grounds) - near Moscow (Podosinki) and in the Saratov region near Volsk.
The agreement on the establishment of an aviation school in Lipetsk was signed in Moscow in April 1925. In the summer, the school was opened to train flight personnel. The school was headed by German officers: Major Walter Stahr (1925-1930), Major Maximilian Mar (1930-1931) and Captain Gottlob Müller (1932-1933). Flight science was taught by the Germans. With the development of the educational process, the number of German personnel increased to 140 people. Moscow provided an airfield in Lipetsk and a former plant for storing aircraft and aviation materials. The machines themselves, aircraft parts and materials were provided by the Germans. The core of the aircraft fleet was made up of Fokker D-XIII fighters purchased in the Netherlands. At the time, it was a fairly modern car. Transport planes and bombers were also purchased. Fokker after the Versailles agreement was urgently transferred to Holland. During the Ruhr crisis of 1922-1925, caused by the occupation of the "industrial heart" of Germany by the Franco-Belgian troops, the German military illegally purchased 100 aircraft of various models. Officially for the Argentine Air Force. As a result, some of these aircraft ended up in the USSR.
The creation of the school was beneficial to the USSR. Our pilots and mechanics were trained there, workers improved their qualifications. The pilots got the opportunity to learn various new tactical techniques known in Germany, England, France and the USA. The country received a material base. The main costs were borne by the Germans. Thus, contrary to the myth, it was not we who taught the Germans, but the Germans, at their own expense, trained their own and our pilots with us. At the same time, and our mechanics, introducing them to the advanced technical culture. It is also worth dispelling the myth that a fascist sword was forged in the USSR. The Lipetsk school's contribution to the creation of the German Air Force was small. Over the entire period of its existence, 120 fighter pilots and 100 observer pilots have been trained or retrained in it. For comparison: by 1932 Germany was able to train about 2,000 pilots in its illegal flight schools in Braunschweig and Rechlin. The Lipetsk school was closed in 1933 (like other projects), after Hitler came to power, when the Rapallo Agreement lost its significance for Germany and the USSR. Buildings and a significant part of the equipment were received by the Soviet side. Since January 1934, the Air Force Higher Tactical Flight School (VLTSh) began to operate on the basis of the liquidated facility.
It is worth noting that the future Reichsmarschall Goering did not study in Lipetsk. An active participant in the famous "beer putsch" in 1923, Goering fled abroad. He was convicted in absentia by a German court and declared a state criminal. Therefore, his appearance at the Reichswehr site was a very strange phenomenon. In addition, after the First World War, Goering, as a famous ace, was offered to join the ranks of the Reichswehr, but he refused for ideological reasons, as he was in opposition to the Weimar Republic.
Tank school in Kazan and the Tomka chemical facility
The agreement on its creation was signed in 1926. The school was created on the basis of the Kargopol cavalry barracks. The conditions under which the Kazan school was created were similar to those in Lipetsk. The head and teachers are Germans, they also bore the main material costs. The principals of the school were Lieutenant Colonel Malbrant, von Radlmeier and Colonel Josef Harpe. Training tanks were provided by the Germans. In 1929, 10 tanks arrived from Germany. First, the teaching staff was trained, then the training of German and Soviet cadets began. Before the school was closed in 1933, there were three graduates of German students - a total of 30 people, from our side 65 people passed the training.
Thus, the Germans taught, they also bore the main material costs, prepared the material base. That is, the Germans trained their own and our tankers at their own expense. Guderian, contrary to the myth widespread in the 1990s, did not study at the Kazan school. Heinz Wilhelm Guderian did visit Kazan once (in the summer of 1932), but only as an inspector together with his superior, General Lutz. In a tank school, he could not study in any way, since he had already graduated from the military academy and had a large rank - lieutenant colonel.
An agreement on joint aerochemical tests was signed in 1926. The Soviet side provided the landfill and ensured the conditions for its work. The Germans took over the training of Soviet specialists. They also bore the main material costs, bought all the equipment. Moreover, if in aviation and tank facilities the emphasis was placed on personnel training, then in the field of military chemistry, mainly research tasks were pursued. The initial tests were carried out near Moscow at the Podosinki test site.
In 1927, construction work was carried out at the Tomka chemical test site near the town of Volsk, Saratov region. Joint tests were transferred there. Methods of chemical attack were being worked out, new sights created by the Germans were being tested, and protective equipment was tested. These tests were very useful for the USSR. Indeed, in this area it was necessary to start practically from scratch. As a result, in less than 10 years, the country was able to create its own chemical troops, organize a scientific base, and organize the production of chemical weapons and protective equipment. New ammunition filled with mustard gas, phosgene and diphosgene was adopted, remote chemical projectiles and new fuses, new aerial bombs were tested.
Thanks to Germany, our country, which in the 1920s was a weakened, mainly agrarian country, was able in the shortest possible time to get up in the field of chemical weapons on a par with the armies of the leading world powers. A whole galaxy of talented military chemists appeared in the USSR. Not surprisingly, during the Great Patriotic War, the Third Reich did not dare to use chemical weapons against the USSR.
Germany helped make the USSR a foremost military power
Thus, as a result of the implementation of Soviet-German military projects, the Red Army received qualified personnel of pilots, mechanics, tank crews and chemists. And when, after the Nazis came to power, joint projects were closed, the Germans, leaving, left us a lot of valuable property and equipment (worth millions of German marks). We also received first-class educational institutions. The Higher Tactical Flight School of the Red Army Air Force was opened in Lipetsk, and a tank school in Kazan. There is a chemical training ground in "Tomsk", part of the property went to the development of the Institute of Chemical Defense.
In addition, cooperation with the Germans in the field of creating modern weapons was very important. Germany was the only channel for us through which we could study achievements in military affairs abroad and learn from the experience of German specialists. So, the Germans gave us about a dozen manuals on the conduct of hostilities in the air. German aircraft designer E. Heinkel, commissioned by the Soviet Air Force, developed the HD-37 fighter, which we adopted and produced in 1931-1934. (I-7). Heinkel also built for the USSR the He-55 naval reconnaissance aircraft - KR-1, which was in service until 1938. The Germans built aircraft catapults for ships for us. German experience was used in the construction of tanks: in the T-28 - the suspension of the Krupp tank, in the T-26, BT and T-28 - welded hulls of German tanks, observation devices, electrical equipment, radio equipment, in the T-28 and T-35 - internal placement the crew in the bow, etc. Also, German successes were used in the development of anti-aircraft, anti-tank and tank artillery, the submarine fleet.
As a result, we can safely say that it was Germany that helped us create the advanced Red Army. The Germans taught us, not we taught them. The Germans helped lay the foundations for the USSR for an advanced military-industrial complex: tank, aviation, chemical, and other industries. Moscow wisely and skillfully used the difficulties of Germany in the development of the Union, its defense capability.
