The Day of Internal Troops was established and celebrated for the first time 20 years ago
In the USSR, almost everyone who wore shoulder straps had their own red days on the calendar: border guards, tankmen, missilemen, sailors, pilots, policemen, security officers … And only the servicemen of the internal troops were deprived. Although the soldiers of law and order with the twin letters "VV" on maroon shoulder straps at all times, regardless of political cataclysms, served the Fatherland faithfully.
It so happened that from the day of their creation, the Soviet border and internal troops were organizationally in one department - the VChK-OGPU-NKVD, had a single command and a common governing body - the Main Directorate of the Border and Internal Troops. Therefore, in the 1920s and 1940s, on the Day of the Border Guard (until 1958, this holiday was celebrated on February 15 at the initiative of Felix Dzerzhinsky), all Chekist soldiers were honored, not dividing shoulder straps and caps by color.
In 1939, a structural division of the NKVD troops took place, each type had independent governing bodies - the main directorates (in one People's Commissariat) of border, operational, escort and others. In the 1950s, the demarcation went even further: the internal troops remained in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, while the border troops were subordinated to the State Security Committee established under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. And the red day of "green caps" was postponed to May 28 - the date of Lenin's signing in 1918 of the Decree on the establishment of border guards as part of the RSFSR People's Commissariat of Finance. So the soldiers in maroon shoulder straps were left without their holiday.
Attempts to establish it have been made several times. True, first at the industry level. The warriors-guards were the first to find their departmental holiday. On July 15, 1939, Divisional Commander Ivan Maslennikov, Lavrenty Beria's deputy for the leadership of all subordinate troops, approved the order: "Establish April 20 as the day of the anniversary of the organization of the NKVD convoy troops." In those days, the Deputy People's Commissar could be accused of Trotskyism, since the basis for the establishment of the solemn date was the order signed by the People's Commissar for Military Affairs of the RSFSR Lev Trotsky of April 20, 1918 on the creation of the convoy guard of the republic, in fact - the reorganization "on new, Soviet principles" the tsarist predecessor, who, by inertia, continued to guard the prisoners under the new government. Three months later, another departmental holiday was established - the Day of the NKVD Troops for the Protection of Railway Structures. The guards of the steel mains celebrated their holiday on December 4 - in 1931, by this number, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a decree on entrusting the protection of strategically important railway facilities to the internal troops. In November of the same year, another order was issued - "On the establishment of the day of the anniversary of the organization of the troops of the NKVD of the USSR for the protection of especially important industrial enterprises." It was prescribed to be celebrated on April 6th.
In the Great Patriotic War there was no time for solemn events. The post-war reorganization, reduction and unification of disparate law enforcement formations into a single internal troops automatically abolished industry holidays. The idea of establishing the Day of Law Enforcement Troops periodically arose, but not finding support at the top, it quietly faded away.
Several unsuccessful attempts to break through the holiday were made in the 70s and 80s. Various dates were suggested by the initiators. Some were considered the most suitable on March 18, 1918, when it was decided to unite the detachments of the local Cheka into the Combat Detachment of the Cheka. Others - May 28, 1919 - the number of the adoption of the resolution of the Council of Workers 'and Peasants' Defense on the concentration of all auxiliary units under the auspices of the NKVD of the RSFSR and their unification into the troops of the internal security of the republic (VOKHR). But the first date seemed unconvincing, and the second was already occupied by the border guards. In the early 90s, it was proposed to celebrate the holiday of the soldiers of law and order on October 20. The reasoning was as follows: it was on this day in 1991 that Boris Yeltsin, then still the president of the RSFSR, signed a decree "On the transfer of the internal troops of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs stationed on the territory of the RSFSR to the jurisdiction of the RSFSR." Fortunately, all inquiries with irrational proposals were shelved in high authorities. At the same time, it was said: there is February 23 - the Day of the Soviet Army and the Navy, the internal troops are an integral part of the Armed Forces of the USSR, so celebrate. Or celebrate November 10 with the police …
On duty, I was fortunate enough to study the history of the internal troops for many years. And back in the late 1980s, I was interested in the question of what happened instead of the internal troops in tsarist Russia. After all, someone provided internal security, except for the then-ineffective police. It turned out that there was a special military formation effective for its time with police functions - the internal guard.
Basic information about the Separate Corps of Internal Guard was found in the Russian State Military Historical Archives. Analysis of the materials made it possible to establish a fairly accurate date. From January to March 1811, Emperor Alexander I, by several decrees, transformed individual formations under the jurisdiction of local civilian authorities into military internal guards. On March 27, "the deployment by the highest order of the internal provincial battalions of three companies" with the task of "maintaining peace and quiet" was officially completed. The guard was headed by the initiator of its establishment, Count Evgraf Komarovsky, a participant in the Italian and Swiss campaigns of the Russian troops under the command of Alexander Suvorov and the first adjutant general of Alexander I.
In 1911, it was on March 27 that the centenary of the internal guards was solemnly celebrated, the successors of which, after the military reform of 1864, were the local troops and the escort guards.
All these calculations made it possible to assume that March 27 should be a holiday for the internal troops. On the advice of his colleagues - military journalists - on the eve of the 185th anniversary of the internal guards, he prepared a corresponding historical essay, which on January 4, 1996, under the catchy heading "Not on the calendar yet" was published by the newspaper "Shield and Sword".
The publication was noticed by the Ministry of the Interior. In an interview, General of the Army Anatoly Kulikov, who was then the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, said that he immediately phoned the command of the troops and instructed to prepare all the necessary documents in which to substantiate the need to establish the Day of Internal Troops on March 27. Draft materials were instructed to prepare me as the author of the essay and the deputy head of the Central Museum of Internal Troops for scientific work.
On March 19, 1996, Boris Yeltsin signed decree No. 394, which reads: “Taking into account the role of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in protecting the interests of the individual, society and the state from criminal and other illegal encroachments, I decide to establish the Day of Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Federation and celebrate it on March 27th”.
