One of the most famous “black myths” of the Great Patriotic War”is a tale about“bloody”security officers (special officers, NKVEDs, Smershevites). They are especially honored by filmmakers. Few were subjected to such large-scale criticism and humiliation as the Chekists. The bulk of the population receives information about them only through "pop culture", works of art, and primarily through cinema. Few film "about the war" is complete without the image of a cowardly and cruel special security officer, knocking out the teeth of honest officers (Red Army men).
This is practically a mandatory program number - to show some scoundrel from the NKVD, who sits in the rear (guarding prisoners - completely innocently convicted) and in a barrage detachment, shooting unarmed with machine guns and machine guns (or with "one rifle for three" Red Army men). Here are just a few such "masterpieces": "Penal Battalion", "Saboteur", "Moscow Saga", "Children of the Arbat", "Cadets", "Bless the Woman", etc., their number is multiplying every year. Moreover, these films are shown at the best time, they collect a significant audience. This is generally a feature of Russian TV - at the best time to show the dregs and even outright abomination, and analytical programs, documentaries that carry information for the mind, are broadcast at night, when most of the working people are asleep. Practically the only normal film about the role of "Smersh" in the war is Mikhail Ptashuk's film "In August 44th …", based on the novel by Vladimir Bogomolov "The Moment of Truth (In August 44th)".
What are the Chekists usually doing in the cinema? Yes, in fact, they prevent normal officers and soldiers from fighting! As a result of watching such films, the younger generation, which does not read books (especially of a scientific nature), has a feeling that the people (the army) won in spite of the country's top leadership and "punitive" bodies. You look, if the representatives of the NKVD and SMERSH had not been confused under their feet, they could have won earlier. In addition, the "bloody Chekists" in 1937-1939. destroyed the "color of the army" led by Tukhachevsky. Don't feed the Chekist with bread - let someone be shot under a far-fetched pretext. In this case, as a rule, a standard special officer is a sadist, a complete scoundrel, a drunkard, a coward, etc. Another favorite move of filmmakers is to show the Chekist in contrast. To do this, the film introduces the image of a valiantly fighting commander (soldier), who is hindered in every possible way by a representative of the NKVD. Often this hero is from among previously convicted officers, or even "political" ones. It is difficult to imagine such an attitude towards tankmen or pilots. Although the fighters and commanders of the NKVD, military counterintelligence is a military craft, without which no army in the world can do. It is obvious that the ratio of "scoundrels" and ordinary, normal people in these structures is at least not less than in tank, infantry, artillery and other units. And it is possible that even the best, since a more rigorous selection is being carried out.
A collective photo of the operating saboteurs of the 88th fighter battalion of the NKVD of the city of Moscow and the Moscow region - the special school of the NKVD demolitionists of the city of Moscow and the Moscow region. In the fall of 1943, all of them were transferred to the special companies of the NKVD Troops Directorate for the protection of the rear of the Western Front, and on March 6, 1944, most of them joined the ranks of secret officers of the Intelligence Department of the Western Front (from April 24, 1944 - the 3rd Belorussian) Front. Many did not return from a post-front trip to East Prussia.
Defenders of the Armed Forces
In times of war, information takes on special significance. The more you know about the enemy and the less he is about your Armed Forces, economy, population, science and technology, depends on whether you win or fail. Counterintelligence deals with information protection. It happens that a single enemy intelligence officer or saboteur can cause much more damage than an entire division or army. Just one enemy agent missed by counterintelligence can make the work of a significant number of people meaningless, lead to huge human and material losses.
If the army protects the people and the country, then counterintelligence itself and the rear. Moreover, not only protects the army from enemy agents, but also maintains its combat effectiveness. Unfortunately, there is no escaping the fact that there are weak people, morally unstable, this leads to desertion, betrayal, and the appearance of panic. These phenomena are especially manifested in critical conditions. Someone must conduct systematic work to suppress such phenomena and act very harshly, this is a war, not a resort. This kind of work is a vital necessity. One unidentified traitor, or a coward, can destroy an entire unit, disrupt the execution of a combat operation. So, by October 10, 1941, the operational barriers of special departments and barrage detachments of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (there were also army detachments created after order No. 227 of July 28, 1942) detained 657,364 soldiers and commanders of the Red Army who had lagged behind their units or those who fled from the front. Of this number, the overwhelming mass was sent back to the front line (according to the liberal propagandists, they were all waiting for death). 25878 people were arrested: of them spies - 1505, saboteurs - 308, deserters - 8772, self-gunners - 1671, etc., 10201 people were shot.
Counterintelligence officers also performed a lot of other important functions: they identified enemy saboteurs and agents in the frontline zone, prepared and thrown into the rear of the task force, conducted radio games with the enemy, transmitting misinformation to them. The NKVD played a key role in organizing the partisan movement. Hundreds of partisan detachments were created on the basis of operational groups abandoned behind enemy lines. The Smershevites carried out special operations during the offensive of the Soviet troops. So, on October 13, 1944, the operational group of the UKR "Smersh" of the 2nd Baltic Front, consisting of 5 security officers under the command of Captain Pospelov, penetrated into Riga, still held by the Nazis. The task force had the task of seizing the archive and filing cabinets of German intelligence and counterintelligence in Riga, which the Hitlerite command was going to evacuate during the retreat. The Smershovites eliminated the Abwehr employees and were able to hold out until the advanced units of the Red Army entered the city.
Sergeant of the NKVD Maria Semyonovna Rukhlina (1921-1981) with a PPSh-41 submachine gun. Served from 1941 to 1945.
Repression
Archival data and facts refute the widely used "black myth" that the NKVD and SMERSH indiscriminately recorded all former prisoners as "enemies of the people", and then shot them or sent them to the GULAG. So, AV Mezhenko gave interesting data in the article "Prisoners of war were returning to duty …" (Voenno-istoricheskiy zhurnal. 1997, No. 5). In the period from October 1941 to March 1944, 317,594 people were taken to special camps for former prisoners of war. Of these: 223281 (70, 3%) were checked and sent to the Red Army; 4337 (1, 4%) - in the convoy troops of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs; 5716 (1.8%) - in the defense industry; 1529 (0.5%) left in hospitals, 1799 (0.6%) died. 8255 (2, 6%) were sent to assault (penalty) units. It should be noted that, contrary to the speculations of the forgers, the level of losses in penal units was quite comparable with ordinary units. 11283 (3.5%) were arrested. With regard to the remaining 61,394 (19.3%), the check continued.
After the war, the situation did not fundamentally change. According to the data of the State Archives of the Russian Federation (GARF), which is cited by I. Pykhalov in the study "Truth and lies about Soviet prisoners of war" (Igor Pykhalov. The Great Slandered War. Moscow, 2006), by March 1, 1946, 4,199,488 Soviet citizens were repatriated (2,660013 civilians and 1,539,475 prisoners of war). As a result of the check, from civilians: 2,146,126 (80, 68%) were sent to their place of residence; 263647 (9, 91%) were enrolled in workers' battalions; 141,962 (5.34%) were drafted into the Red Army and 61538 (2.31%) were located at collection points and were used in work at Soviet military units and institutions abroad. Transferred to the disposal of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs - only 46,740 (1.76%). From among the former prisoners of war: 659,190 (42, 82%) were re-conscripted into the Red Army; 344,448 people (22, 37%) were enrolled in workers' battalions; 281,780 (18, 31%) were sent to the place of residence; 27930 (1.81%) were used at work at military units and institutions abroad. The order of the NKVD was passed - 226127 (14, 69%). As a rule, the NKVD transferred the Vlasovites and other collaborators. So, according to the instructions that were available to the heads of the inspection bodies, from among the repatriates were subject to arrest and trial: the leading, command staff of the police, ROA, national legions and other similar organizations, formations; ordinary members of the listed organizations who took part in punitive operations; former Red Army soldiers who voluntarily went over to the side of the enemy; burgomasters, senior officials of the occupation administration, employees of the Gestapo and other punitive and intelligence agencies, etc.
It is clear that most of these people deserved the most severe punishment, up to and including the death penalty. However, the "bloody" Stalinist regime in connection with the Victory over the Third Reich showed condescension to them. Collaborators, punishers and traitors were exempted from criminal liability for treason, and the case was limited to sending them to a special settlement for a period of 6 years. In 1952, a significant part of them were released, and their profiles did not contain any convictions, and the time of work during exile was recorded in seniority. Only those accomplices of the occupiers who were identified with serious specific crimes were sent to the Gulag.
Reconnaissance platoon of the 338th NKVD regiment. Photo from the family archive of Nikolai Ivanovich Lobakhin. Nikolai Ivanovich was at the front from the first days of the war, was in a penal battalion 2 times, had several wounds. After the war, as part of the NKVD troops, he eliminated bandits in the Baltic States and Ukraine.
On the front lines
The role of the NKVD units in the war was not limited to the performance of purely special, narrowly professional tasks. Thousands of Chekists honestly fulfilled their duty to the end and died in a battle with the enemy (in total, about 100 thousand NKVD fighters died during the war). The first to take the blow of the Wehrmacht in the early morning of June 22, 1941 were the border units of the NKVD. In total, 47 land and 6 naval border detachments, 9 separate border commandant's offices of the NKVD entered the battle that day. The German command allocated half an hour to overcome their resistance. And the Soviet border guards fought for hours, days, weeks, often completely surrounded. So, the Lopatin outpost (Vladimir-Volynsky frontier detachment) for 11 days repelled the attacks of the many times superior enemy forces. In addition to border guards on the western border of the USSR, formations of 4 divisions, 2 brigades and a number of separate operational regiments of the NKVD served. Most of these units entered the battle from the very first hours of the Great Patriotic War. In particular, the personnel of the garrisons who guarded bridges, objects of special state importance, etc. Border guards who defended the famous Brest Fortress, including the 132nd separate battalion of the NKVD troops, fought heroically.
In the Baltic states, on the 5th day of the war, the 22nd motorized rifle division of the NKVD was formed, which fought together with the 10th rifle corps of the Red Army near Riga and Tallinn. Seven divisions, three brigades and three armored trains of the NKVD troops took part in the battle for Moscow. In the famous parade on November 7, 1941, the division them. Dzerzhinsky, consolidated regiments of the 2nd division of the NKVD, a separate motorized rifle brigade for special purposes and the 42nd brigade of the NKVD. An important role in the defense of the Soviet capital was played by the Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade for Special Purpose (OMSBON) of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, which created mine-explosive barriers on the outskirts of the city, carried out sabotage behind enemy lines, etc. (they were formed from employees of the NKVD, foreign anti-fascists and volunteer athletes). During the four years of the war, the training center trained 212 groups and detachments with a total of 7,316 fighters according to special programs. These formations conducted 1,084 military operations, liquidated approximately 137 thousand Nazis, killed 87 leaders of the German occupation administration and 2,045 German agents.
The NKVD soldiers also distinguished themselves in the defense of Leningrad. The 1st, 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd divisions of the internal troops fought here. It was the NKVD troops that played an important role in establishing communication between the surrounded Leningrad and the mainland - in the construction of the Road of Life. The forces of the 13th motorized rifle regiment of the NKVD during the months of the first blockade winter along the Road of Life delivered 674 tons of various cargoes to the city and removed from it more than 30 thousand people, mainly children. In December 1941, the 23rd division of the NKVD troops received the task of guarding the delivery of goods along the Road of Life.
The NKVD fighters were also noted during the defense of Stalingrad. Initially, the main fighting force in the city was the 10th NKVD division with a total strength of 7, 9 thousand people. The division commander was Colonel A. Saraev, he was the head of the Stalingrad garrison and fortified area. On August 23, 1942, the regiments of the division held defenses at a front of 35 kilometers. The division repulsed attempts by the advanced units of the 6th German army to take Stalingrad on the move. The most fierce battles were noted on the outskirts of the Mamayev Kurgan, in the area of the tractor plant and in the city center. Before the withdrawal of the bloodied units of the division to the left bank of the Volga (after 56 days of fighting), the NKVD fighters inflicted significant damage on the enemy: 113 tanks were knocked out or burned, more than 15 thousand Wehrmacht soldiers and officers were eliminated. The 10th division received the honorary name "Stalingrad" and was awarded the Order of Lenin. In addition, other parts of the NKVD participated in the defense of Stalingrad: the 2nd, 79th, 9th and 98th border regiments of the rear guard troops.
In the winter of 1942-1943. The People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs formed a separate army consisting of 6 divisions. In early February 1943, a separate NKVD army was transferred to the front, receiving the name of the 70th Army. The army became part of the Central Front, and then the 2nd and 1st Belorussian fronts. The soldiers of the 70th Army showed courage in the Battle of Kursk, among other forces of the Central Front, stopping the shock group of the Nazis, which was trying to break through to Kursk. The NKVD army distinguished itself in the Oryol, Polesskaya, Lublin-Brest, East Prussian, East Pomeranian and Berlin offensive operations. In total, during the Great War, the NKVD troops prepared and transferred 29 divisions from their composition to the Red Army. During the war, 100 thousand soldiers and officers of the NKVD troops were awarded medals and orders. More than two hundred people were awarded the title of Hero of the USSR. In addition, the internal troops of the People's Commissariat for the period of the Great Patriotic War conducted 9,292 operations to combat bandit groups, as a result of which 47,451 bandits were eliminated and 99,732 bandits were captured, and a total of 147,183 criminals were rendered harmless. Border guards in 1944-1945 destroyed 828 gangs, with a total number of about 48 thousand criminals.
Many have heard about the exploits of Soviet snipers during the Great Patriotic War, but few know that most of them were from the ranks of the NKVD. Even before the start of the war, units of the NKVD (units for the protection of important objects and convoy troops) received sniper squads. According to some reports, NKVD snipers killed up to 200 thousand enemy soldiers and officers during the war.
The banner of the 132nd battalion of the NKVD escort troops captured by the Germans. Photo from the personal album of one of the Wehrmacht soldiers. In the Brest Fortress, the border guards and the 132nd separate battalion of the convoy troops of the NKVD of the USSR held the defense for two months. In Soviet times, everyone remembered the inscription of one of the defenders of the Brest Fortress: “I am dying, but I am not giving up! Goodbye Homeland! 20. VII.41 ", but few people knew that it was made on the wall of the barracks of the 132nd separate battalion of the convoy troops of the NKVD of the USSR."
