the Ministry of defence continues to acquaint us with the historical documents that were previously out of reach for most of the special funds. On the eve of the anniversary of the great Patriotic war on the website of the Russian defense Ministry has a new public multimedia section “In the first days of the great war”.
the section contains dozens of unique archival documents of direct relevance to the beginning of the German invasion of the USSR – operational and intelligence reports from the front, the cryptogram, the diaries of the combatants.
From the information prepared by the Intelligence Directorate of the General staff of the red Army, it follows that by the morning of 22 June 1941, the Nazi command concentrated on the border with the Soviet Union, 114 infantry, 11 motorized divisions and 15 armored divisions.
But perswade No. 1, the General staff of the red Army on June 22, 10.00, signed by the chief of General staff G. K. Zhukov.
“4.00 June 22 the Germans without provocation has attacked our airfields and cities and crossed the border by ground troops.
the Enemy element of the aircraft such as the bomber crossed the border and reached the area of Leningrad and Kronstadt. In aerial combat shot down by our istrebitelej two aircraft…
Protivnik opened artillery fire and at the same time began to bomb airfields and the town of Vindava, the Libau, Kovno, Vilnius and Siauliai… Losses – destroyed on the airfield Vindava three of our aircraft, injuring 3 of the red army and ignited a fuel dump”.
In this text clearly show the desire to “mix” the tragic situation, present it in a more optimistic. In the future, operative reports showed a much more cruel reality.
Here, for example, it was reported in persuade of 24 June on the situation in the 4th army of the Western front: “All parts, except the 55th and 75th infantry divisions is not efficient and in need of urgent resupply of personnel and material part.
the Main losses in materiel from air and artillery raids and sudden attacks on the first day. From the constant and violent bombardments infantry is demoralized and perseverance in the defense does not show. Randomly outgoing units, and sometimes parts have to stop and deploy”.
that was the last peaceful hours at the beginning of hostilities on the Western border of the Soviet Union can learn from the entries in the personal diary of the chief of staff of the 3rd army, Belorussian special military district A. C. Kondratieff. The earliest record made on 20 June 1941: “Every day for the last time over Grodno the German planes. Why not give the orders to meet the “guests” of our active funds?”
June 21: “Today, once again PLlovely German “guests” over the city… Why, however, there is no indication of the line of command?
More recently, in my report to General Pavlov I asked him what to do with families early. the staff in the event of any complications? Oh, that I had for this question! “You drift, think and look in the rear instead of forward? Yes, do you know that I have 6 armored corps are ready?! I forbid you not only to speak but also to think about the evacuation!”
June 23: “(a Forest in a 25-30 km South-East of Grodno). So… the war Grodno was bombed. Our headquarters all day stayed in Grodno, and in the evening went to the forest near the village of Gnojnice.
Communication with the troops continually breaks. Keep in touch mainly via radio and in person. 56th infantry division worn tightly, massaging very thoroughly and Germans. The division commander was supposedly killed.
German aircraft owners in the air our not, whether they destroyed or did not dare to join battle with such a mass of enemy force. Military Council of the army continually on foot. No one is sleeping, although everyone was tired capital. Operations chief Colonel Peshkov confused – not know what to take.
the Intelligence necessary to put together again, for the acting head of the Department major Kochetkov he went to war in the lead so far and never came back.”
In the cryptogram sent to the military councils of the fronts, districts and naval fleets on June 23 reported that the immediate direction of the army, Navy and air force established the Supreme command, which included Stalin, Molotov, chief of staff Zhukov, Marshal Timoshenko, Voroshilov and Budenny, the Admiral Kuznetsov. Also created a group of permanent advisers at the Rate of: Mikoyan, Kaganovich, Beria, Zhdanov, Voznesensky, Malenkov, Mehlis, besides several influential warlords.
Interested in reading the materials of the report on the survey of commanders of the red army, participated in the first battles with the Nazis and taken to the rear after being wounded. The aim of the survey was to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy, noticed the direct participants of the clashes. Among the obvious strengths of many commanders noted, in particular, effective use of German mortars and the good cooperation of infantry with aviation using flares.
With the first hours of the war, the Wehrmacht showed a lot of weaknesses. I noticed that our commanders: “at night the Germans, as a rule, do not keep fighting, begin your actions at dawn”, “show carelessness in the arrangement of tank units on a rest”, “artillery of the enemy fire without regard to its effectiveness, however, just to show the power of your fire”, “the Germans are very afraid of the bayonet, and, after shouting “cheers” start to run”, “��ri the appearance of our fighters, even one of the German bombers leave”.
the Survey, was also identified in a combat situation weaknesses of our troops. Among the major downsides I found quite poor marksmanship of our tanks, no neighbors in the rear of the auto repair shops.
there were other complaints: “the Rear is not organized. There was a time when the mortar was only three mines, and the other where we were in the rear of the wagon and at the right time there was nothing to shoot.”
Curious and “little things” that have complicated the conduct of hostilities and the commanders of the red army. Of the expressed wishes of the participants of the first battles: “is mandatory to provide maps of the entire command structure, to the platoon commander included,” “to summer time to give the men instead of overcoats marching tent”. And still – to replace the bulky soldier’s backpack to a duffel bag. This last was soon made; the Soviet command took note of this and many other observations.
As emphasized by the creators of a new public information resource, publication of documents on the beginning of the great Patriotic war, stored in the collections of the Central archive of the Ministry of defense of Russia, is a continuation of the defence Ministry aimed at the preservation and protection of historical truth, the counter attempts to falsify history and revise the outcome of world war II.
