We continue to debunk the myths about the Second World War that have developed recently, thanks to the efforts of the "liberals":
1 - World War II. A successful business project of the West?
2 - “They filled up the Germans with corpses,” they say? They lie, with … dogs!
3 - Allies, damn it … With such "friends" and enemies are not needed!
How to explain the fact that in most modern films, Soviet soldiers are presented to us as a bunch of worthless, stupid suckers? After watching (reading) such films (books), the question involuntarily arises: how did “THESE” manage to defeat the experienced and disciplined Nazi army? And we are immediately prompted: "Yes, they filled up with corpses, drove the NKVD officers to the slaughter at gunpoint, it was NOT WE HAVE BEATED Germany (united Europe), but THEY LOST because of some of their internal problems …" In this article, I will tell the truth about detachments of the Second World War.
Why they were created
It should be noted that this measure is not at all unique to the Soviet Union. Back in 1915, during the Great Retreat of the Russian Army in the First World War, the order of General Brusilov was published, which read:
Promotional video:
"… Behind you need to have especially reliable people and machine guns in order, if necessary, to force the weak-minded to go forward."
An order of a similar nature was published in his army by General Danilov of the old army: "It is the duty of every soldier loyal to Russia who notices an attempt to fraternize, to immediately shoot at the traitors."
First World War.
After the deafening defeat of the Red Army in the first days of the Second World War, confused soldiers and officers, often deprived of leadership and losing their weapons, walked along the roads to the east. It was in order to collect them and restore control that the first detachments were created. From the randomly retreating soldiers and commanders, battle groups were assembled and sent to the front.
During the Great Patriotic War, the composition, functions, departmental affiliation of the barrage detachments were constantly changing. They had the right to organize a barrage service in order to prevent the flight of deserters, carefully check the documents of all servicemen, arrest deserters and conduct an investigation (within 12 hours) and refer the case to a military tribunal. To send stragglers to their units, in exceptional cases, for the immediate restoration of order at the front, the head of a special department received the right to shoot deserters.
In addition, the barrage detachments were supposed to identify and destroy enemy agents, check those who escaped from German captivity.
Organize and lead the resistance to the enemy.
How it was?
By the beginning of September 1941, the military situation had deteriorated sharply, so the Headquarters, at the request of the commander of the Bryansk Front, General A. I. Eremenko, allowed the creation of detachments in those divisions that proved to be unstable. A week later, this practice was extended to all fronts. They were subordinate to the division commander and had vehicles for movement, several armored cars and tanks. Their task was to help the commanders, maintain discipline and order in the units. They had the right to use weapons to stop the flight and eliminate the initiators of the panic, and not shoot the fleeing.
That is, their difference from the detachments under the special departments of the NKVD, which were created to fight deserters and suspicious elements, is that army detachments were created in order to prevent unauthorized flight of units. They recruited them not from NKVD fighters, but from the Red Army.
Such is the beginning of the war….
The flow of servicemen who had lagged behind their units, leaving numerous encirclements, or even deliberately deserting, was enormous. From the beginning of the war and until October 10, 1941, the operational barriers of special departments and barrage detachments of the NKVD troops detained more than 650 thousand soldiers and commanders. The overwhelming number is more than 632 thousand people, i.e. more than 96% were returned to the front. The German agents also easily dissolved in the mass.
In the summer of 1942, the country came close to a total military catastrophe. One of the measures to restore order in the military rear was the withdrawal of the detachments to a new level of organization. This is how the famous Order No. 227, commonly known as "Not a Step Back", appeared.
Captured Soviet soldiers.
On July 5, 1943, when the Wehrmacht launched a new offensive, some of our units wavered. The detachments have fulfilled their mission here too. From 5 to 10 July, the detachments of the Voronezh Front detained 1,870 people, arrested 74 people, and the rest returned to their units.
As the situation on the fronts changed, with the transition to the Red Army of the strategic initiative, the need for detachments began to decline sharply. The order "Not one step back!" finally lost its former meaning.
On October 29, 1944, Stalin issued an order in which it was recognized that the need for the further maintenance of the barrage detachments was no longer necessary. By November 15, 1944, they were disbanded, and the personnel of the detachments were sent to replenish rifle divisions.
Penalties.
And what wasn't there?
As many participants in the war testify, the detachments did not exist everywhere. According to Marshal of the Soviet Union DT Yazov, they were generally absent on a number of fronts operating in the northern and northwestern directions.
The versions that the barrage detachments were "guarding" the penal units do not stand up to criticism either. The company commander of the 8th separate penal battalion of the 1st Belorussian Front, retired colonel A. V. Pyltsyn, who fought from 1943 until the Victory itself, asserts: frightening measures. It's just that there has never been such a need."
The famous writer Hero of the Soviet Union V. V. Karpov, who fought in the 45th separate penal company on the Kalinin Front, also denies the presence of detachments behind the combat formations of their unit.
In reality, the outposts of the army detachment were located at a distance of 1.5-2 km from the front line, intercepting communications in the immediate rear. They did not specialize in penalty boxes, but checked and detained everyone whose stay outside the military unit aroused suspicion.
Shooting at their soldiers fleeing from the enemy is a horror story, invented with the aim of discrediting and devaluing the Victory and Feat of our grandfathers. It was allowed to shoot only over the heads, and the initiators were shot and started strictly individually, after a short investigation. These are terrible measures, but they look fair in relation to those who did not run and died, fighting to the last - doing their duty ….
Afterword
The detachments performed an important function, they detained deserters, suspicious persons (among whom there were spies, saboteurs, agents of the Nazis). In critical situations, they themselves entered into battle with the enemy. After a change in the situation at the front (after the Battle of Kursk), the barrage detachments actually began to perform the functions of commandant companies. There is not a single fact that the soldiers of the barrage detachments fired to kill at their own. There are no such examples in the memoirs of front-line soldiers. In addition, they could prepare an additional defensive line in the rear to stop retreating and so that they could gain a foothold on it.
Hard, thankless, routine military work: front line, enemy, landing, breakthroughs, bandits, deserters, saboteurs …
The real truth is always more complicated and at the same time simpler than invented myths.
Continuation: "Penalties".