I've been going to do it for a long time. However, any material must be confirmed by something, and there was no confirmation. And finally they appeared.
At one time, when the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation still existed, there was a very good historical heading on the official website of the troops. There, the participation of the NKVD troops in the Great Patriotic War was described in detail, facts were cited that were not announced anywhere else. In different episodes. For the defense of Leningrad, for the capture of Keniksberg, for the defense of Stalingrad, etc. Even the museum of the Battle of Stalingrad in Volgograd did not have what was on the website of the Interior Ministry of the Russian Federation.
However, suddenly (for me) there was a rebranding of the troops, they were called the Russian Guard, and accordingly, the official website became new. And the old one was gone. Together with the historical heading. I was very worried about this and reproached myself for not making copies of materials from the historical section of the site. He even wrote letters to the Commander-in-Chief of the troops with a request to restore the material. And finally, something began to appear on the website of the Russian National Guard of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. Unfortunately, the format of the material has changed, now it is in the form of an educational film, which means that the content and presentation of the material are limited. But that is what it is, and thanks for that.
With this article, I will slightly change the emphasis and style of presentation of the material, with an emphasis on what is not emphasized. It's about the Battle of Stalingrad. A training video from the official website of the Russian Guard can be viewed here.
So to the point.
I'll start with what is not in the video. Few people know that none other than Comrade N. S. Khrushchev was involved in preparing the defense lines of Stalingrad. With the direct participation of Comrade G. K. Zhukov. Khrushchev was in Stalingrad since the beginning of the summer of 1942, when the Germans were still far beyond the Don. Khrushchev was noted by the fact that he mucked everyone with party meetings and unrestrained drunkenness. About what rumors reached Stalin himself. G. M. Malenkov was instructed to check the information, whom Stalin sent to Stalingrad. Malenkov confirmed. Moreover, he indicated that the defense lines were not properly prepared. And it was, by the way, already the beginning of August and the active phase of hostilities was already underway on the Don. Khrushchev was summoned to Moscow, crawled on his knees in Stalin's office and begged him for mercy. Stalin made it possible for Khrushchev to reform, awarded him only with a reprimand on the party line. In general, this situation with Khrushchev is very interesting to me. Throughout his life, Stalin took care of Khrushchev as a little child and forgave him everything that would make anyone else lose his head a hundred times. And in this case, just a party penalty. By the way, you are also unlikely to find information about this, but at one time it was.
The lines of defense on the approaches to Stalingrad were prepared by the forces of local residents and soldiers of the NKVD units.
Now about Stalingrad itself. Few people know that there were no Red Army units in Stalingrad. From the word at all. None. Only a school that trained political workers. There was also a flotilla of boats on the Volga. The Stalingrad garrison consisted exclusively of parts of the NKVD, at the time of the beginning of the defense it included 5 regiments of the 10th rifle division of the NKVD, one NKVD convoy regiment (protection of prisoners), one guard regiment on the NKVD railway, one regiment for the protection of industrial facilities of the NKVD and one NKVD armored train … And that's all. Moreover, all these parts were far from complete. The commander of the 10th division of the NKVD, Colonel Alexander Andreevich Saraev, commanded the Stalingrad garrison, he was also the commandant of the city.
Promotional video:
The terrible events began on August 23, 1942. On this day, there was a massive enemy air raid on the city. Of the 8 districts of the city, 4 were subjected to massive bombing (according to some sources, 6 out of 8 districts), and industrial areas, residential Germans were not bombed. Historians call different numbers of those killed on this day, and the numbers differ by two orders of magnitude (two zeros). I am inclined towards lower order numbers. But that is not the subject of this article. On the same day, the head units of the Germans approached Stalingrad and the first battles began (in the north of the city). This was a big surprise, because the front on the Don was broken just a day earlier - on August 22. And to the Don, almost 80 km, the city was actually in the deep rear. By the way, Khrushchev did not show much zeal for preparing defensive lines on the approaches to Stalingrad, precisely becausethat he did not believe in the breakthrough of the Germans through the Don. But what happened happened. And the Germans broke through, and the defensive lines were not ready, and there were no Red Army troops in Stalingrad. By the way, after the Germans broke through the Don, G. K. Zhukov collected the scattered units of the Red Army for a month, from the Caucasus to Saratov, where they all fled. You will not read about this anywhere either. Or almost nowhere.
So, already on August 23, 1942, fighting was going on in the north of the city. And already the German tanks approached (the road was clear). The target of the German strike group was the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, which produced tanks. This plant was guarded by only one NKVD regiment, later another NKVD regiment was assigned to help it. In just a day, around Stalingrad, Colonel A. A. Sarayev organized a three-echeloned defense of the city, and the outer contour had a length of 35 km. Fantastic, but still true. Few people know, and there is not a word about this in the training film either, but after the bombing, on August 24, the evacuation of the population through the Volga began. And not only the population. Equipment from factories was also evacuated. Just by the forces of that very river flotilla of boats. In just a week, almost all residents were evacuated. It should be noted the factthat Stalingrad was the center where refugees were taken, including from besieged Leningrad. You are unlikely to read about this anywhere. There were even more refugees than local residents, hundreds of thousands. From memory, there were 90 thousand people from besieged Leningrad alone (if someone has an exact figure, indicate in the comments). There was another massive German raid on the city on September 2, after the Germans realized that they could not take it outright. It was a big surprise for them, because they knew that there was no one in the city except for the NKVD units and they did not expect serious resistance. So, on September 2, the Germans already bombed all 8 districts, that is, including residential areas. But there were a minimum of casualties, we can say that there were no at all (in comparison with August 23), because by that time the whole city had been evacuated across the Volga. Can you imagine the scale? During the week! The whole city!By the way, the tractor plant was producing tanks right up to September 13 !!! And most of the equipment from the plant was successfully evacuated.
By the way, about September 2. On this day, the first units of the Red Army were brought to Stalingrad and they immediately began to pour into the defense, to help the NKVD units. By the same time, the cadets of the political school were taken to positions. It should also be noted that on August 29, mobilization was carried out among the inhabitants of Stalingrad. In general, all who were able to hold a gun in their hands were mobilized into the ranks of the 10th division of the NKVD. There were 1245 such people. Total. The rest are old people, cripples and women with children. By September 2, this mobilized unit (militias) had undergone training and combat coordination and, in fact, became fighters on a par with the rest of the military. Also, by September 2, the Germans approached the city with the main forces and battles were already fought on all defense lines along the entire perimeter around the city.
From September 2, 1942, hell began in Stalingrad. As I wrote above, first a massive raid, then endless waves of attacks by German troops. And this whole armada of Paulus was restrained by Beria's fighters. They were heroically restrained. Street battles began, battles for Mamayev Kurgan and so on.
By September 12, it was possible to organize a supply of already a sufficient number of Red Army units to the city, by decision of the Headquarters it was decided to transfer the defense of Stalingrad to the 62nd operational army of V. I. Chuikov, while the NKVD units, including the 10th NKVD division, promptly entered the subordination of this very 62 army. At the same time, it remains the main force, albeit strongly drained of blood. Who did not understand, from August 23 to September 12, the defense of Stalingrad was led by the NKVD. And only they. And all decisions were made by the command of the NKVD, or more precisely, by the division commander of the 10th division of the NKVD, Colonel A. A. Saraev. 21 day! The very first and most powerful blows were held back only by the soldiers of the internal troops of the NKVD of the USSR. The People's Commissar of the Internal Troops of the NKVD was Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria. The one who is the "enemy of the people."
On September 14, the 13th Guards Division entered Stalingrad and, in fact, from that moment on, we can say that the Red Army already bore the brunt of the defensive battles.
And what about the NKVD troops? And here everything is simple. By the end of September 1942, they almost completely ceased to exist. The personnel were almost completely killed. When about a hundred soldiers remained in the regiments, they were withdrawn from the combat units. On October 1, 1942, only one NKVD regiment (282nd regiment) participated in the defense. By October 18, of the entire personnel of the 10th NKVD division, about 200 people remained alive and they were withdrawn to the left bank of the Volga and did not take part in the battles anymore.
The NKVD troops showed themselves heroically in the defense of Stalingrad. At the most difficult and most crucial moment, when the units of the Red Army were defeated, scattered and disorganized, it was they who played the role of the very magic wand that turned the tide of the war. Unfortunately now only a few people know about it, and those who know for some reason are silent. How many of you have heard of Colonel Sarajevo? Tell yourself honestly, I didn't know. How many of you have heard of the 10th division of the NKVD? Tell yourself honestly, haven't heard anything. How many of you knew that while fighting the hardest battles with the Germans, the NKVD troops were able to evacuate the whole city in just a week? Etc.
By the way, it was the 10th division of the NKVD for the FIRST TIME (!) That the highest state award, the Order of Lenin, was received. Beria's troops were so highly appreciated by the state and personally by Comrade I. V. Stalin, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. And further. Now the idea that the internal troops of the NKVD played the role of blocking detachments is hammered into the heads of the common man in the street. Ask anyone on the street about the NKVD troops, first of all he will start babbling about the detachments. So, the internal troops of the NKVD have nothing to do with the detachments. And they didn't. This is all the patrimony of the Ministry of Defense, then the Red Army.
And further. Recently, I have often come across the thesis that the soldiers going into the attack did not shout the phrase “For Stalin”. Like it was invented by the commies and similar Stalinists after the war. But in fact, the soldiers allegedly shouted anything, but not "for Stalin." Here's a document. This is the award list of the machine gunner of the 272 rifle regiment of the VV NKVD of the USSR A. E. Vaschenko He covered the embrasure of the bunker with his body during the defense of Stalingrad. Read what he shouted.
Author: zodchi1