Our directors shoot quite a lot of films about "War", fictional and documentary, but unfortunately almost all of them are infected with various "black myths". And there is still little film material that would have an educational effect on young people about the immortal feat of our border troops on the terrible day of June 22, 1941. In Soviet times, even then they shot a wonderful multi-part film "State Border" (1980-1988). But time passes and few of today's youth watch Soviet masterpieces, it would be time to shoot new films about the exploits of our border guards, because there is a lot of material. It would be one thing if the border guards showed themselves badly in the first days of the war, then yes it would be possible to keep silent about it, but on the contrary, they fought heroically, for hours, for days, although the enemy spent no more than half an hour on them in their plans. As a result, in Russia, the feat of the Border Troops of the NKVD of the USSR, which by their actions initiated the disruption of the Reich's "lightning war" plan, has not yet been fully appreciated and understood.
What kind of troops were they?
In June 1941, the Border Troops of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR were under the general command of L. P. Beria. They consisted of 18 border districts, which included 94 border detachments, 8 separate detachments of border ships, 23 separate border commandant's offices, 10 separate aviation squadrons and 2 cavalry regiments. Their total number was 168,135 people, the naval units of the Border Troops had 11 patrol ships, 223 patrol boats and 180 raid and support boats (414 combat units in total), the aviation of the Border Troops had 129 aircraft.
On the eve of the war, taking general measures to repel possible aggression, the leadership of the USSR increased the density of protection of the western part of the state border of the state: from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea. This area was then guarded by 8 border districts, which included 49 border detachments, 7 detachments of border ships, 10 separate border commandant's offices and 3 separate aviation squadrons. Their total number was 87459 people, of which 80% of the personnel were located directly on the state border, on the Soviet-German border - 40963 people. Out of 1747 frontier posts that guarded the state border of the Soviet Union, 715 outposts were on the western border of the country.
Organizationally, each frontier detachment consisted of 4 border commandant's offices, each had 4 line outposts and 1 reserve outpost, a maneuvering group (a reserve of a border detachment of 4 outposts, totaling 200-250 border guards), a school for junior command staff - 100 people, headquarters, intelligence department, political agency and rear. In total, the detachment had up to 2,000 bayonets. Each frontier detachment guarded the land section of the border with a length of up to 180 km, and on the sea coast - up to 450 km.
Border outposts were part of the border commandant's offices - 4 frontier posts each. The frontier commandant's office, as part of the frontier detachment, ensured the protection of the border in the area up to 50 km and was directly involved in the management of the frontier posts. The commandant of the border commandant's office had a combat reserve - a reserve outpost of 42 border guards, it was armed with 2 heavy machine guns, 4 light machine guns, 34 rifles. The reserve outpost had an increased ammunition reserve, cargo vehicles, or 2 - 3 steam-powered carts.
The staffing of the frontier posts in June 1941 was from 42 to 64 people, depending on the specific conditions of the territory and other conditions of the situation. The composition of the outpost, numbering 42 border guards: the head of the frontier post and his deputy, the foreman and 4 squad leaders, the rest are ordinary border guards. Its armament was: 1 heavy machine gun Maxim, 3 light machine guns Degtyarev and 37 five-shot rifles model 1891/30; the ammunition of the frontier post was: cartridges of caliber 7, 62 mm - 200 pieces for each rifle and 1,600 pieces for each Degtyarev light machine gun, 2,400 pieces for a heavy machine gun, RGD hand grenades - 4 units for each soldier and 10 anti-tank grenades for the entire border post …
The composition of the frontier post numbering 64 frontier guards: the head of the outpost and two deputies, 1 sergeant major and 7 commanders of departments. The outpost is armed with 2 Maxim heavy machine guns, 4 Degtyarev light machine guns and 56 rifles. Accordingly, the amount of ammunition was greater than in the outpost with 42 soldiers. At the direction of the head of the border detachment at the border posts, where the most threatened situation developed, the amount of ammunition was increased by one and a half times, but the subsequent development of events showed that this ammunition was enough for only 1 - 2 days of defense. The technical means of communication of the frontier post was the telephone. The vehicles of the outposts were 2 steam-powered carts.
In April 1941, company mortars and submachine guns began to arrive in the border districts on the western border of the Soviet Union: 50 mm mortars arrived - 357 units, 3517 Degtyarev submachine guns and 18 first anti-tank rifles.
Each frontier post guarded around the clock a permanent section of the state border with a length of 6 - 8 km, depending on the specific conditions of the situation and terrain. As a result, it is clear that the composition and armament of the frontier post allowed it to successfully fight single border violators, sabotage and reconnaissance groups and small enemy detachments (from a detachment to 2 platoons of an infantry company). And nevertheless, the border troops were able to adequately resist the Wehrmacht troops, which were much larger in number and armament, making another heroic page in the history of our Motherland.
It should also be noted that the border troops were brought to full combat readiness on June 21. They were distinguished by high combat effectiveness due to their service - the danger could threaten every day, in fact, they were an elite part of the Armed Forces of the USSR.
Watch of Soviet border guards. Last days of peace, June 1941
The beginning of the war
The first who discovered the enemy and entered the battle were the border guards who were on duty. Using previously prepared firing positions, as well as natural shelters, the detachments entered into battle with the enemy and thereby gave a signal of danger to the outposts. Many of the soldiers died in the first battle, and the survivors retreated to the fortifications of the outposts and joined in defensive actions. In the zone where the main attack groups of the Wehrmacht were advancing, their advanced enemy units were mainly tank and motorized units, which, due to their complete superiority in numbers and weapons, could overcome the resistance of the outposts relatively quickly - 1-2 hours. In addition, usually the main units did not stop, but moved on, the outpost, if it was not possible to take it outright, was blocked by small forces, then they suppressed the resistance with fire, and finished off the survivors. Sometimes it was necessary to finish off the last soldiers who had settled in the basements, with the help of sappers, undermining the land mines.
The outposts, which were not at the forefront of the main attack, held out longer, repelling enemy infantry attacks with machine guns and rifles, withstanding shelling and air raids. The reserves of commandant's offices and border detachments, almost not participating in the battles of the outposts, they usually fought already in the ranks of the Red Army units, participated in the destruction of enemy landings, sabotage and reconnaissance detachments of the enemy, or died in a battle with them. Some were defeated while moving to the outposts, bumping into the advancing columns of the Wehrmacht. But one should not think that all the border guards were killed in fierce battles, some outposts were ordered to withdraw, the border guards, together with units of the Red Army, continued to fight and participated in the victory over the enemy, in the restoration of the borders of the USSR.
Among the irrecoverable losses of border guards in battles in June 1941, more than 90% were in the category of the so-called. “Missing”. Their death was not in vain, it was justified by the fact that, dying as whole outposts, they gained time to enter the defensive positions of the units covering the border of the Red Army, and the units of the cover, in turn, ensured the deployment of the main forces of the armies and fronts for their further actions. Already at the beginning of the war, the "blitzkrieg" "stumbled" over the Border Troops of the NKVD of the USSR.
Examples of border guards fighting
- The 12th border detachment of the NKVD troops, at the beginning of the war, numbered 1190 personnel, and defended the border on the coast of the Baltic Sea from Cape Kolka to Palanga. At 6.25 am on June 22, the 25th frontier post was attacked by the advance units of the 291st Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht. The border posts were withdrawn from their positions to Rucava, where the headquarters of the 5th commandant's office and the 5th reserve outpost were located. In Rucava, platoons and companies were formed from them. By 13.30 on June 22, the consolidated border unit took up defensive positions in the Rucava region. At 15.30, reconnaissance of an enemy division of 14 motorcyclists appeared in front of the border guards' defense area, they were allowed to enter the location and destroyed. At 16.20, the 2nd enemy reconnaissance group appeared, which already consisted of 30 motorcyclists, it was also destroyed. At 17.30, an enemy column up to the 1st Infantry Battalion approached the border defense area. The border guards also managed to take her by surprise - under the fire of the border guards, the enemy did not even turn around in battle formation and immediately ran. A reserve platoon of border guards hit from the rear, as a result, in a fierce battle, which grew into hand-to-hand combat, the enemy forces were destroyed. The losses of the Germans amounted to more than 250 people, 45 motorcycles, 6 easel and 12 light machine guns, and many other weapons were captured. At 20.30, the Wehrmacht took into account the mistakes and threw an infantry battalion into battle, reinforced by a company of armored personnel carriers and the border guards' defense was broken, they retreated to the area of the Pape railway station, and then, after 2 hours of battle, to the area of the town of Nice. At 14.30 on June 23, the remnants of the detachment were again attacked and surrounded in the Bernachey area, where they all lay down in the last battle.
Another, large part of the detachment, including its headquarters, was surrounded, along with part of the 67th Infantry Division, in Libau. On June 25, the border guards, together with the 114th Rifle Regiment, tried to break out of the encirclement, but failed. As a result, only 165 border guards were able to break through from the Libau encirclement.
- On June 22, 1941, after inflicting artillery strikes, the enemy tried to organize numerous crossings from the territory of Romania through border rivers, in order to capture bridges and bridgeheads, for the development of a further offensive. But the enemy was met everywhere by the well-organized fire of the border guards. The frontier posts were everywhere supported by artillery fire and the help of the personnel of the companies and battalions of the covering forces of the Red Army. The advancing advance units of the German, Romanian and Hungarian troops suffered heavy losses in manpower and they retreated to their original positions. The main battles took place near railway and highway bridges across the Prut River, as a result, in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy, they were destroyed.
An interesting feature of the situation in this sector of the front of the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War was the conduct of not only defensive, but also successful offensive operations of Soviet troops with the landing of troops on the territory of Romania. On June 23-25, the border guards of the Izmail detachment, together with a detachment of border ships that guarded the state border of the Soviet Union along the Danube River, conducted successful landings on Romanian territory. They were supported by units of the 51st Infantry Division. After the first successful actions, the Military Council and the Commander of the 9th Army Cherevichenko decided to carry out a major landing operation with the capture of the Romanian city of Kilia-Veche. Artillery batteries were located there, which prevented the actions of Soviet ships on the Danube. The command of the landing was headed by a sailor-border guard Lieutenant-Commander Kubyshkin I. K.
On the night of June 26, 1941, the border ships of the Black Sea detachment landed troops from the units of the border detachment, together with units of the 23rd rifle regiment of the 51st rifle division, they attacked the positions of the Romanian army on the move. The Romanians fiercely resisted, but by 10 o'clock in the morning the landing force seized a bridgehead up to 4 km wide and up to 3 km deep, defeating the Romanian infantry battalion, the border outpost and eliminating the artillery battalion. During June 27, the enemy almost continuously attacked our landing, but the Soviet fighters, supported by the artillery of border ships, successfully repelled these attacks. This allowed the command to withdraw the Soviet military, transport and passenger ships and vessels on the Danube from under enemy fire, the possibility of their capture by the enemy was excluded. On the night of June 28, by order of the army command, the Soviet landing was successfully returned to its shore.
On June 25, 1941, a special decree was issued by the Council of People's Commissars (SNK) of the Soviet Union, according to which the NKVD troops received the task of protecting the rear of the active army. On July 2, 1941, all border units, subunits that were under the operational subordination of the combined-arms command along the entire length of the Soviet-German front, switched to performing new combat missions. Having joined the ranks of the Red Army, together with it, the border guards bore the whole brunt of the struggle against the German invaders, their main tasks were: the fight against the enemy intelligence agents, the protection of the rear of the fronts and armies from saboteurs, the destruction of the breakthrough groups, the remnants of the encircled enemy groups. Border guards everywhere showed heroism, ingenuity, perseverance, courage and selfless devotion to their Soviet Motherland. Honor and praise to them!
In the photo, Ivan Aleksandrovich Kichigin is sitting to the left of the Maxim machine gun in a cap. Went through the whole war.
