Special Forces of the Red Army in World War II. Day of special forces units of the Russian Federation

Probably, their task was to show a simple fighter of the worker-peasant army, cut off from the plow and machine, preferably unsightly. Like, there he is, almost a meter with a cap - and Hitler wins! Such an image perfectly matches the muzzled, exhausting victim of the Stalinist regime. Which, since the late 1980s, post-Soviet historians and filmmakers have put on a cart, given a “three-ruler” without cartridges and sent towards the armored hordes of the Nazis - under the vigilant supervision of detachments.

In reality, of course, the Germans themselves entered the USSR on 300 thousand carts, and as for weapons, fascist Europe was 4 times inferior to us in the number of machine guns produced, and 10 times in self-loading rifles.

AT recent times Of course, the view of the Great Patriotic War became different, society got tired of exaggerating the topic of "senseless victims", and border guards-terminators, ninja scouts, daring crews of armored trains and other characters appeared on the screens - now already exaggerated. As they say, from one extreme to another. Although
it should be noted that real border guards and scouts (as well as paratroopers and marines) really had a good physical form and preparation. In a country where sport was massively obligatory, there were much more "jocks" than now.

And only one type of troops was never noticed by the eye of the screenwriters, although it deserves most attention. Because of all the parts special purpose(special forces) of the Second World War, the most numerous and strongest were the Soviet assault engineer-sapper brigades (ShISBr) of the reserve of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

During the course of the war, most of the belligerents realized that classic infantry could not perform many specific tasks. Therefore, Britain began to create battalions of "commandos", the United States - detachments of army rangers, Germany reformed part of its motorized infantry into "panzergrenadiers". The Red Army, having started in 1943 its great
offensive, faced the problem of heavy losses during the capture of German fortified areas and during street fighting.

In terms of building fortifications, the Germans were big docks. Pillboxes, often made of concrete or steel, covered each other, and behind them were batteries of anti-tank guns or self-propelled guns. All approaches were heavily mined and entangled with barbed wire. In cities, every basement or sewer hatch turned into a pillbox, even ruins became impregnable forts.

It was possible to send fines to storm them - senselessly putting thousands of soldiers and officers to the delight of future accusers of "Stalinism". You could throw yourself at the embrasure with your chest - heroically, but, let's be honest, it's pointless. Therefore, the Headquarters, realizing that it was time to stop fighting with the help of a bayonet and “cheers”, went the other way.

The very idea was taken from the Germans, more precisely, from the Kaiser's army. Back in 1916 in the battle for Verdun german army used special sapper-assault groups with special weapons (light machine guns and knapsack flamethrowers) and passed a specific training course. The Germans themselves forgot about their experience, apparently counting on a "blitzkrieg" - and then they trampled for a long time near Sevastopol and in Stalingrad. But it was adopted by the Red Army.

In the spring of 1943, the formation of the first 15 assault brigades began. The engineering and sapper units of the Red Army served as the basis for them, since the new special forces required, first of all, technically competent specialists. After all, the range of their tasks was quite wide and complex.

To begin with, the engineering reconnaissance company examined the enemy fortifications for their firepower and "architectural strength". Drawing up a detailed plan where pillboxes and other firing points what they are (earthen, concrete or otherwise) and what they are armed with, what kind of cover they have, where minefields and barriers are located. Based on these data, an assault plan was developed.

Such requirements were explained simply: firstly, an attack fighter carried a load several times larger than a simple infantryman. He was wearing a steel breastplate, which protected him from small fragments and pistol (machine gun) bullets, and a heavy bag with an “explosive kit” often hung over his shoulders. The pouches contained an increased ammunition load of grenades, and
also bottles with a "Molotov cocktail", which were thrown into embrasures or window openings. And from the end of 1943, they received knapsack flamethrowers at their disposal.

In addition to traditional assault rifles (PPSh and PPS), assault units were armed to capacity with light machine guns and anti-tank rifles - the latter were used as large-caliber rifles to suppress firing points.

In order to teach the personnel to run nimbly with all this load on their shoulders, as well as to reduce their possible losses, he was given tough training. In addition to the fact that the fighters were driven in full gear on the obstacle course, live ammunition was also poured over their heads with all their hearts - so that the rule “keep your head down” was fixed at the level of instinct even before the first battle. The other half of the day was occupied by training firing and explosions, demining. Plus, hand-to-hand combat, throwing knives, axes and sapper shovels.

It was much more difficult than training, say, scouts. After all, the scout went on a mission light, and for him it was important not to find himself. And the attack fighter did not have the opportunity to hide in the bushes, he could not quietly “flee away”. And his goal was not single drunken "tongues", but the most powerful fortifications of the Eastern Front.

The battle began suddenly, sometimes even without artillery preparation and without any cries of "Hurrah!". Through pre-made passages in the minefields, detachments of machine gunners and submachine gunners quietly passed, which cut off the German pillboxes from infantry support. The enemy bunker itself was dealt with by explosives or flamethrowers.

Even the most powerful fortifications were put out of action with the help of a charge embedded in the vent. Where the path was blocked by a grate, they acted witty and angrily: they poured several cans of kerosene inside and threw a match.

In urban conditions, the fighters of the ShISBr were distinguished by their ability to appear suddenly from the most unexpected side for the Germans. Everything is very simple: they literally passed through the walls, making their way with TNT. For example, the Germans turned the basement of a house into a pillbox. Our fighters came in from behind or from the side, blew up the basement wall (or the floor of the first floor) and immediately
fired flamethrowers into it.

A good service in replenishing the arsenal of the ShISBr was provided by ... the Germans themselves. From the summer of 1943 into service Hitler's army faustpatrons (“Panzerfaust”) began to arrive, which the retreating Germans threw at huge quantities. The fighters of the ShISBr immediately found a use for them: after all, the faustpatron pierced not only armor, but also walls. Interestingly, our
the fighters came up with a special portable rack for salvo firing from 6-10 faustpatrons at the same time.

Ingenious portable frames were also used to launch heavy domestic 300-mm M-31 rockets. They were brought to the position, laid down - and hit with direct fire. So, in the battle on Lindenstrasse (Berlin), three such shells were fired at a fortified house. No one survived inside the building's smoking ruins.

In 1944, companies of flamethrower tanks and all kinds of floating transporters came to support the assault battalions. The power and effectiveness of the ShISBr, whose number had already reached 20, increased dramatically.

However, at first, the successes of the assault engineer-sapper brigades made the army command dizzy. There was an erroneous opinion that the ShISBr could do anything - and brigades began to be sent to all sectors of the front, and without the support of other branches of the military. It was a fatal mistake.

If the German positions were actively covered by artillery fire, which was not previously suppressed, the ShISBr was almost powerless. After all, no matter how prepared the fighters were, for German shells they were just as vulnerable targets as recruits in overcoats. Even worse, when the Germans fought back their positions with a tank counterattack - here the special forces suffered heavy losses. Only in December 1943, the Headquarters established strict regulations for the use of ShISBr: now the brigades were necessarily supported by artillery, tanks and auxiliary infantry.

The rearguard of the ShISBr were demining companies, including one company of mine-detecting dogs for each brigade. They followed the assault battalions and cleared the main passages for the advancing army (the rear sapper units were engaged in the final demining of the area). Miners also often used steel bibs - as you know, sappers sometimes make mistakes, and two millimeters of steel could protect them from the explosion of small anti-personnel mines. In any case, it was at least some kind of cover for the chest and abdomen.

The golden pages in the history of the ShISBr were the battles for Koenigsberg and Berlin, as well as the capture of fortifications Kwantung Army. Military analysts confidently believe that without the engineering assault special forces, these battles would have dragged on, and the losses of the Red Army would have been many times greater.

But, alas, already in 1946, the entire main structure of the ShISBr was demobilized, and then, one by one, the brigades were disbanded. At first, this was facilitated by the confidence of the next "Tukhachevsky" that the Third World War would be won by a lightning strike of the Soviet tank armies. With the advent nuclear weapons in the Soviet General Staff began to believe that with
cope well with the enemy atomic bomb. Apparently, it never occurred to the old marshals that if anything survived a nuclear cataclysm, it would be bunkers and underground forts. "Open" which could, perhaps, only ShISBr.

The unique Soviet special forces were simply forgotten - so that the next generations did not even know about its existence. So one of the most interesting and glorious pages of the Great Patriotic War was simply wiped out.

In 1923, the state of the USSR appeared, although its creation was officially announced at the end of December 1922. It replaced the existing during the years of the revolution Soviet Russia and became a new project of V. Lenin as a temporary peaceful state.

All pre-war activities of intelligence agencies and state security in the Secular Union, it is rather interwar, since it developed just between two global cataclysms: the First World War, which escalated into the Civil War in Russia, and the Second World War, which in the USSR was called the Great Patriotic War.

Almost immediately, the creation of special forces military units began in the country. In the 1930s, this process reached its peak: powerful airborne troops and professional sabotage units. But it must also be said that the process of the formation of the Soviet special forces took place in difficult conditions. His units were often disbanded - not only because they were ineffective, but very often at the whim of the command. Thus, before the start of World War II, the Soviet special forces were going through hard times - the units that had been disbanded before had to be recreated, while losing a large number of material and human resources. Moreover, after the end of the war, most of these special forces were again disbanded. That is why the process of creating modern special forces, which began in the second half of the last century, had to be started almost from scratch.

Before talking about special forces Soviet intelligence, it is necessary to debunk the myth about special forces, which has developed thanks to the means mass media. So, at the word special forces, almost every person imagines a group of beefy guys with exotic face paint in camouflage uniforms. But this is not its defining feature.

Spetsnaz of the Main Intelligence Directorate are units regular army who have undergone special training to carry out reconnaissance and sabotage operations behind enemy lines.

Officially, the GRU special forces began in 1951, when the first sabotage and reconnaissance formations appeared in the Soviet army. But in fact, the process of formation began much earlier, at the beginning of the emergence of Soviet power. Therefore, the predecessors of the special forces should include such units as partisan detachments of the Red Army, which operated on enemy territory during the Civil War, special forces of the Western Front during the years of the Soviet-Polish war (illegal military organization), rebel groups that carried out reconnaissance in Eastern Europe in the 1920s, partisan special detachments that were created in the 1930s in the event of the outbreak of hostilities on Soviet territory, special forces in the Spanish Republican army in 1936-1938 (they were created at the initiative of Soviet advisers), as well as intelligence, partisan and sabotage units that operated during the Second World War.

The partisan detachments of the Red Army were, in fact, the prototype of modern special forces. Note that both the Reds and the Whites had such formations, but they largely differed from each other. So, if the Whites used mainly regular units that made raids on the flanks or the near rear of the RCA, then the Reds mainly used those partisans who were already behind enemy lines. These groups of partisans were subordinate to a special unit created as part of the Operod.

To carry out the assigned tasks, the partisans were supplied with explosives, ammunition, experienced personnel and money. It should also be noted that by a special decree of V. Lenin, a special school of demolitionists was created. A. Kovrigin became its leader, who very quickly established the effective work of the school.

Partisans were specially selected for training in the school of demolition. The course of study highlighted special, military and political training. The theory was taught at the school established in the Operod building, and for practice they went out of town. For practical exercises, students could use pistols, rifles, special equipment, field guns.

The work of this intelligence department was controlled by V. Lenin himself.

The losses suffered by the enemy as a result of the activities of the partisan detachments were enormous.

Until the beginning of 1920, the most powerful enemy Soviet Union became Poland. The Polish army until that time occupied most Belarusian territory. To carry out sabotage behind enemy lines, an illegal military organization was formed at the end of 1919, initiated by Iosif Unshkhtit (recall, he oversaw intelligence).

We also note that the role of this person in the activities of the Soviet special services is practically unknown to anyone. He was eclipsed by Dzerzhinsky, whose deputy was Unshkhtit at one time. Despite this, it was he who was to lead Poland in the event of the victory of the Soviet Army. And it was he who, until 1930, oversaw the activities of Soviet intelligence abroad, and also led the illegal apparatus of the Comintern.

Creation of illegal military organization was the result of agreements reached between the command of the Western Front and the Belarusian Social Revolutionaries. In December 1919, a meeting was held in Smolensk, during which the parties signed an agreement on holding joint action against Poland. At that time, the Belarusian Revolutionary Socialist Party had about 20 thousand members. In addition, the party kept under control the trade unions of telegraph employees, railway workers and teachers. There were also partisan detachments. The Communist Party on Belarusian territory had only 2 thousand people, and most of them were not indigenous. However, in fairness, it should be noted that already in 1920 another pro-Soviet organization was formed in Belarus, which was called the “Belarusian Communist Organization”.

The unification of all these forces made it possible in a short time to form the People's Military Self-Defense, which in essence was a rebel army operating behind enemy lines. Later, it was she who became the basis for the creation of the Illegal Military Organization.

The main purpose of the organization was to carry out terrorist acts, sabotage in the rear of the Polish army. But the organization itself and its activities were kept secret to such an extent that the front commander did not even know about it. The NVO served several divisions of the Western Front - the 8th, 56th and 17th. 4 HBO participants were sent to each of them, each of which had one assistant and 20 couriers.

At the end of its activity, the organization included 10 thousand partisans.

Since the spring of 1920, graduates of the Kraskoms acted as leaders of partisan detachments. The detachments were tasked with directing their activities to damage the telegraph and telephone communications, railways and derailment of trains, explosions of bridges, roads and warehouses. In addition, they were supposed to be engaged in undercover activities.

The leaders of the NVO were the same people who controlled the intelligence of the front - B. Bortnovsky, A. Stashevsky, S. Firin. The responsible head of the organization was A. Stashevsky, who three years later, under the name Stepanov, organized a similar structure to German territory, in which there were about 300 groups of partisans.

In general, the activities of the Illegal Military Organization were so effective that even after the end of the Soviet-Polish war, it did not cease to exist, but became the basis for the creation of active intelligence.

After the conclusion of a peace treaty with Poland in 1921, the Intelligence Directorate began organizing and transferring to Western Ukraine and Western Belarus detachments of specially trained soldiers to resist the Polish authorities. All this was done so that a nationwide partisan movement broke out in these territories, which would subsequently lead to the reunification of these lands with the USSR. This activity is called "active intelligence". And, just like the HBO, its activities were kept in the strictest secrecy.

In Belarus, a partisan, or rather, sabotage movement, arose in the summer of 1921. In 1922-1923 alone, two such detachments carried out a number of operations, among which one can distinguish the defeat of a police station in the area Belovezhskaya Pushcha, the capture and burning of the estates "Good Tree" and "Struga", the destruction of three landowners' estates, the burning of the palace of Prince Drutsko-Lubetsky, the blowing up of two steam locomotives, a railway bridge and a railway track on the Lida-Vilna line.

In 1924, partisan detachments carried out more than 80 operations, among which the most famous is the operation in the city of Stolbtsy. During its implementation, more than 50 partisans defeated the garrison, the starostvo, the railway station, the police station and the police department, as well as seized the prison and freed S. Skulsky (head of the military organization Communist Party Poland) and P. Korchik (head of the Communist Party of Western Belarus).

In the activities of "active intelligence" there were mistakes. So, in November 1924, 25 partisans made an attempt to seize a train on the Brest-Baranovichi line, killing one policeman in the process. They were chased by 2,000 people. As a result, 16 partisans were arrested, 4 were shot, and another 4 were sentenced to life imprisonment.

As a result of the activities of partisan detachments, the situation on the Polish border became very tense. However, despite all the successful operations, their activities were curtailed in 1925, and the detachments themselves were disbanded.

After the disbandment of the partisan detachments, the leadership of the Intelligence Directorate did not leave the thought of having specially trained saboteurs who could operate behind enemy lines in the event of war. The Soviet command thought about this back in the late 1920s. Therefore, it is not surprising that in 1928-1929 preparations began in the western military districts for a guerrilla war in the event of an attack on the Soviet Union. The same commanders who acted in active intelligence were involved in it.

On the territory of Belarus, 6 detachments of 500 people each were trained. In addition, special sabotage groups were preparing at the railway junctions. On Ukrainian territory, at least 3,000 partisan specialists and commanders were trained. There were also large stocks of weapons and ammunition. A special school for the training of partisans was created in Kharkov, two schools in Kyiv, and special courses in Odessa.
Partisan detachments took part both in combined arms exercises and in special ones. Thus, in 1933, everything was ready to carry out a surprise operation in the event of an attack on the USSR and paralyze all communications. western regions Ukraine, Belarus and Bessarabia.
But, despite such preparations, in 1938-1939 all partisan detachments were disbanded. To a large extent, the reason for this was the new military doctrine, which provided that all fighting in case of war will be conducted in enemy territory. Great damage to the defense was caused by the repression of former partisans.

When the war broke out in Spain in 1936, only the USSR came to the aid of the rebels. In the same year, the first volunteers arrived in the country, followed by Soviet advisers who arrived in Spain to help the IRA in the fight against the Nazis. At the end of 1936, the first special forces detachment was created in the country, the instructor of which was an experienced demolition worker I. Starinov. The Spanish government was very skeptical about the possibility of guerrilla war. Therefore, at first there were only five elderly Spaniards in the detachment, unsuitable for military service. But soon another 12 fighters were sent to the detachment, this time young and experienced. In the suburbs of Valencia, a house was allocated for the detachment, where a school was organized for training fighters.

The detachment carried out its first operation in December 1936, blowing up communication lines and a railway bridge in the Teruel region. After several more successful operations, the size of the detachment increased to 100 people. Soon he was sent to the Southern Front.

The most successful operation of the partisan detachment was the destruction in 1937 of the train in which the headquarters of the Italian air division was located. The train was derailed from a height of 15 meters using a powerful mine. After this operation, the detachment was renamed the Special Forces Battalion.

Later, other equally successful acts of sabotage were carried out, for example, undermining an ammunition train, which picked up a mine and exploded in a tunnel. Such successful activity very soon turned the battalion into a brigade, and then, in 1938, into the 14th partisan corps, which numbered more than 5 thousand people. A special school operated in the corps, in which the fighters were taught the intricacies of reconnaissance, sniper business, and mining. Since the soldiers of the corps had to act in extreme conditions, they were given double rations and the same salary.

It should be noted that during the entire period of its activity, the corps lost only 14 people.

When the Republicans were defeated, part of the corps fighters seized the ship and crossed first to Algeria, and then to the Soviet Union, another part crossed the Franco-Spanish border and was interned. When the French authorities decided to hand them over to the Falangists, they all fled to the mountains.

With the outbreak of World War II, partisan and reconnaissance and sabotage units again became relevant. So, only in June-August 1941, more than 180 sabotage groups were thrown into enemy territory. The activities of such units were very successful, as evidenced, for example, by the raid of the I. Shirinkin sabotage group, which in September-November 1941 traveled more than 700 kilometers through the territories of the Vitebsk, Smolensk, Novgorod and Pskov regions, conducting reconnaissance and sabotage. For the successful completion of the assigned tasks, the commander and commissar were awarded the Order of Lenin.

In the same 1941, Western front military unit 9903 was created to carry out sabotage activities, which, during the battle for Moscow, threw N. Galochkin, Z. Kosmodemyanskaya, P. Kiryanov behind enemy lines. In general, by the end of the year, 71 sabotage groups were thrown into the enemy rear, which included about 1,200 people.

The activities of the partisan detachments were not entirely successful. So, for example, out of 231 detachments with a total number of 12 thousand people, abandoned on Belarusian territory in 1941, only 43 detachments with 2 thousand fighters remained by the end of the year. More worse situation was in Ukraine. In December 1941, 35 thousand partisans were transferred there, of which only 4 thousand remained by the summer of 1942. The result of this state of affairs was mass repression the end of the 30s, when the best personnel and partisan bases were destroyed.

In 1942 the situation improved slightly. After the reorganization of the Intelligence Directorate, a reconnaissance and sabotage department appeared in the GRU. In the same year, special battalions of miners were organized on each front, which carried out sabotage on important ways messages and objects.

In 1943, another reorganization of the intelligence agencies was carried out. As a result, the management of sabotage activities was transferred to the Intelligence Directorate General Staff. This form of leadership continued until the end of the war.

In the post-war period, the main attention of Soviet intelligence was directed to identifying the possible preparation of the enemy for nuclear war. Moreover, it was necessary to prevent even the slightest possibility of using nuclear weapons, as well as to prevent work behind enemy lines.

To this end, in 1951, the first sabotage and reconnaissance units were created as part of the armed forces of the Soviet Union. In the shortest possible time, 40 special forces companies were created, the number of each of which was 120 people.

Temporary reconnaissance detachments of special forces were formed from the composition of regular units. The special forces were armed with such types of weapons as machine guns, pistols, grenade launchers, anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, grenades, knives, parachutes, containers for landing radio stations, as well as landing backpacks.

At the beginning of 1950, the Ministry of Defense, G. Zhukov, proposed the creation of a special-purpose corps, but met with a decisive refusal from the leadership of the state. After that, the marshal was removed from his post.

Nevertheless, separate sabotage detachments were united first into battalions, and later into brigades. This is how the GRU brigades appeared.
In 1957, separate special battalions were created, and in 1962, special forces brigades.

In total, during the heyday of the USSR, 13 brigades of the naval and army special forces. Its total number was approximately 15-20 thousand people.

Since the beginning afghan war for the GRU special forces, a new stage began, which became a serious test of strength. The "Muslim battalion", which later stormed Amin's palace, included mainly representatives of eastern nationalities - Uzbeks, Tajiks, who knew the local language well. The Slavs were present only in the crews of the ZSU-23-4 Shilka.

It is worth noting that this battalion was not the only one. At the end of December, the 1st detachment of special forces was introduced into the territory of Afghanistan, the number of which was 539 people. And in January 1980, the head of the GRU, Ivashutin, announced the need to create two more detachments of 677 people each.

In March 1985, with the aggravation of the situation in Afghanistan, it was decided to introduce additional special forces units to Afghan territory, on the basis of which two brigades of 4 battalions of 3 thousand people each would be created.

The activities of the special forces alternated victories and defeats. So, for example, in 1986, special forces seized 14 tons of opium, which was transported from Pakistan, for which local drug dealers sentenced the brigade commander Gerasimov to death. In October 1987, one of the groups, performing an operation to intercept weapons, was surrounded and suffered heavy losses, then 14 out of 26 people died.

Combat swimmers became another type of GRU special forces units. Their appearance was the result of the successful activities of Italian underwater reconnaissance saboteurs during the Second World War.

Until 1952, such detachments appeared in almost all NATO member countries, in the USSR they thought about the need to create a special detachment of swimmers only in 1956, after combat swimmer L. Krabs died in England during an examination of the Soviet cruiser Ordzhonikidze.

Nevertheless, consideration of the need to create such a detachment was delayed. Only in 1967 was a decree signed on the creation of a "Training detachment of light divers." During the exercise, combat swimmers not only reconnoitered the coastal waters, but also went ashore and undermined the communications and warehouses of the imaginary enemy. The results so impressed the officers that this detachment became the first unit to combat underwater sabotage means and forces.

Combat swimmers almost never left without work. In 1967-1991 they worked in Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Cuba, Korea, Nicaragua.

Marine animals were often used for military operations. The first, of course, were the Americans, who during the years of the Vietnam War, with the help of dolphins, destroyed more than 50 saboteur swimmers. In the USSR, the first special unit for working with animals appeared in 1967 in Sevastopol. The experiments involved 70 dolphins, who were taught to detect underwater and surface objects, guard them and give signals if strangers approached.

Animals were also used as live torpedoes, which were aimed at submarines, aircraft carriers and destroyers. Dolphins were at sea with mines attached to them for weeks, and when the enemy approached, they attacked him.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the situation changed for the worse. There was no money for the maintenance of the dolphinarium, so the management went into business. As a result, only 6 trained dolphins remained.

Today in Russia there are only 4 special-purpose brigades, and 2 of them were transferred to the Airborne Forces back in 1994.

The special forces of military intelligence have always stood guard over the protection of the interests of the state. The commandos were always the first to enter the battle and the last to leave it. Therefore, modern fighters have something to be proud of and something to strive for.

Special Forces. Direction "A"

Direction "A" - this is how the authorities of the Soviet military intelligence in the twenties of the last century called the organization of reconnaissance and sabotage activities on the territory of a possible enemy. In fact, in 1919, the GRU leadership made prototypes of the special detachments of the Fourth Directorate (reconnaissance and sabotage behind enemy lines) of the NKVD-NKGB of the USSR (headed by Pavel Sudoplatov), ​​which operated during the Great Patriotic War; special forces divisions (formed in the mid-fifties of the last century) and the Vympel special forces of the KGB. The GRU made a base and trained personnel for the upcoming special forces of the NKVD and the First Directorate (foreign intelligence) of the KGB. True, this fact is diligently hushed up. The film will tell for the first time about the birth of the GRU special forces, about its military affairs in the twenties and forties of the last century.

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On July 5, 1941, by order of the NKVD of the USSR, a Special Group was created under the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria, headed by Senior Major of State Security Pavel Anatolyevich Sudoplatov. The tasks of the group were set quite specific and especially important - "to destroy Nazi German invaders and their henchmen behind enemy lines. "Due to the fact that there was no time to complete and train a huge number of fighters, the idea arose to create a special military unit, which would have to deal exclusively with reconnaissance and sabotage work. Only volunteers were enrolled. In their composition there were over 800 athletes - the whole color of Soviet sports.

After special training, the fighters acted as part of subunits in small groups and individually behind enemy lines. On October 3, 1941, the units formed by the Special Group were consolidated into a Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade for Special Purposes (OMSBON) consisting of two regiments, and on the basis of the Special Group, the 2nd Department was formed, which was then transformed into the 4th Directorate of the NKVD of the USSR, the head of which was also Pavel Sudoplatov. In addition to intelligence activities, OMSBON was intended to become the core of an unfolding partisan movement, provide him with comprehensive assistance, create an underground in the cities.

Among the main tasks: the collection of intelligence data and information of a military, economic and socio-political nature; the destruction of strategic railways and highways and other communications in the frontline zone and deep behind enemy lines, the disabling of important transport hubs; disruption of rail and road transportation of enemy manpower and equipment to the front; destruction of bridges, station structures; any obstacle to the export to Germany of Soviet citizens, equipment and the national property of the Soviet people and the property of citizens stolen by the Germans; the defeat of military, gendarmerie and police garrisons; decommissioning industrial enterprises, power plants, means of communication.

The results of the combat operations of the OMSBON on the fronts boggle any imagination - not a single formation of the Red Army had such success. On the example of the first unit from the OMSBON - the detachment "Mitya", under the command of Dmitry Nikolaevich Medvedev, abandoned in the rear German troops at the beginning of September 1941. The detachment, consisting of 30 fighters, operated until January 1942 on the territory of the Smolensk, Bryansk and Mogilev regions. The detachment spent more than 50 major operations: three railway and seven highway bridges were blown up, nine enemy planes were destroyed, the railway track was badly damaged in 13 places, three enemy military echelons were derailed. The fighters of the detachment defeated several garrisons and police posts, destroyed six telegraph communication points, put out of action six factories fulfilling military orders, destroyed two generals, 17 officers, more than 400 German soldiers. Just retribution befell 45 traitors to the Motherland.

In 1941-1943 alone, the Omsbonovites prepared 128.5 kilometers for destruction railway tracks, highways and highways, dug 11,564 high-explosive craters on them, manufactured and reloaded 8,998 mines, laid 2,057 landmines, blew up a 71.5-kilometer roadbed and highways, laid 49,252 minefields, blew up 350 bridges, laid 94 kilometers of mine blockages, put out of action more than 36 industrial enterprises, trained 2469 demolition workers from among the workers and employees of local enterprises, etc.

Before World War II

After Japan occupied part of the territory of China and created the puppet state of Manchukuo there, the partisan movement intensified in this region. Officially, Moscow had nothing to do with him. In practice, however, Chinese partisans regularly crossed the border rivers Amur and Ussuri to Soviet territory, where they received the necessary health care, they were supplied with weapons and ammunition, radio communications, money. And, no less important, the partisan commanders received instructions on further combat activities.

Such support for the Chinese insurgents acquired a particularly wide scope immediately after the occupation of Manchuria by Japanese troops. Moreover, the command of the Soviet Separate Red Banner Far Eastern Army tried to coordinate the actions of partisan detachments, giving instructions not only on the methods of daily combat work, but also on the deployment of a mass insurgent movement on Manchurian territory in the event of a war between Japan and the Soviet Union, considering Chinese partisans as their saboteurs and scouts abandoned behind enemy lines.

On April 16, 1939, the heads of the NKVD departments of the Khabarovsk and Primorsky territories, the Chita region, as well as the heads of the border troops of the Khabarovsk, Primorsky and Chita districts received an encrypted telegram No. 7770 from Moscow. It said the following:

"In order to more full use Chinese partisan movement in Manchuria and its further organizational strengthening to the Military Councils of the 1st and 2nd OKA (Separate Red Banner Army. - Note. ed.) it is allowed, in cases where the leadership of Chinese partisan detachments apply, to provide assistance to partisans with weapons, ammunition, food and medicine foreign origin or in an impersonal form, as well as manage their work.

From among the interned partisans - verified people in small groups should be transferred back to Manchuria for reconnaissance purposes and in order to assist the partisan movement.

Work with the partisans should be carried out only by the Military Councils.

The heads of the UNKVD of the Khabarovsk and Primorsky Territories and the Chita Region are invited to provide the Military Councils with full assistance in the ongoing work, in particular, in checking and selecting partisans from among those who pass from Manchuria and interned, transfer them to the Military Councils for use in intelligence purposes and transfer them back to Manchuria .

The chiefs of the border troops of these districts are invited to assist the Military Councils both in terms of the free crossing of groups formed by the Soviets being transferred to the territory of Manchuria, and in terms of receiving partisan groups and individual signalmen crossing the Soviet border.

There were also regular meetings between the leaders of the Chinese partisans and the command of the Red Army. One of them took place in Khabarovsk on May 30, 1939. It was attended by: Soviet side- Commander of the 2nd Army, Army Commander 2nd Rank Ivan Konev (future Marshal of the Soviet Union), Corps Commissar Biryukov, member of the Military Council of the 2nd OKA, and Major Aleshin, Head of the Army Intelligence Department; on the Chinese side, the leader of the partisan detachments in Northern Manchuria, Zhao-Shangzhi, and the commanders of the 6th and 11th detachments, Dai-Hongbin and Qi-Jijong.

The purpose of the meeting was to analyze the considerations presented by Zhao-Shangzhi: the resolution of issues of transfer, further work and relations with the USSR. First of all, the leader of the partisan movement was asked to contact the detachments subordinate to him operating in the Sungari River basin, unite their management, create a strong headquarters, clear the ranks of the insurgents from unstable, decayed elements and Japanese agents, and also create a department to combat Japanese espionage among the partisans. .

As a further task, a demand was put forward to strengthen and expand the partisan movement in Manchuria. For which, for example, it was considered useful to organize several large raids on Japanese garrisons in order to raise the morale of the rebels. It was also proposed to organize secret bases partisans in hard-to-reach areas of the Lesser Khingan to accumulate weapons, ammunition and equipment. All this was recommended to be obtained during attacks on Japanese warehouses. The Chinese commanders were advised to contact the local communist organization to launch political agitation among the population and carry out measures to decompose parts of the Manchu army, supply the partisans with everything necessary through the propagandized military personnel.

The issue of supplying the Chinese partisans with radio stations and ciphers, as well as the training of radio operators, was also discussed. It was planned to train at least ten people.

During the conversation, the Soviet military leaders expressed their wishes: “It is desirable for us to receive maps of Manchuria from you, which you will get from the Japanese-Manchurian troops (maps made in Japan), Japanese and other documents - orders, reports, reports, ciphers. It is desirable that you supply us with samples of new Japanese weapons.

Several months have passed. Zhao-Shangzhi, together with his detachment, safely crossed the Amur, established contact with others partisan detachments. Joint operations began against the Japanese-Manchu troops. The battles went on with varying success. There were victories, but there were also defeats. I managed to capture some documents that were very interested in Khabarovsk. Messengers left for Soviet territory, carrying samples of new military equipment and reports on the course of hostilities. In the intelligence department of the 2nd OKA, after a thorough study of all the materials received from beyond the Amur and an analysis of the situation in Northern Manchuria, they drafted a new directive for the partisans.

This document stated that the main task before winter was to strengthen and increase the detachments, to obtain weapons, ammunition and food. On the eve of winter, it was recommended to create secret bases in inaccessible places, to equip them with dwellings, and to accumulate stocks of food and clothing. Bases must be prepared for defense. The partisans were advised for the time being to refrain from destroying mines, railways and bridges, since they still had little strength and means to carry out these tasks.

The rebels were asked to carry out smaller operations to attack railway trains, gold mines, warehouses, mines, police stations. The main purpose of such strikes is to obtain weapons, ammunition, food and equipment. It was also pointed out that these actions must be carefully prepared: reconnaissance of the object of attack, draw up a plan and discuss it with the commanders of the detachments. Otherwise, losses and failures are inevitable.

This directive also contained recommendations for Zhao-Shangzhi: “You yourself should not personally lead the attacks. Do not forget that you are the leader of the partisan movement, not the commander of the detachment. You must organize the defeat of the entire system, not individual units and groups. You cannot take risks on any occasion. You must train commanders."

Unfortunately, nothing is known about the participation of Soviet military instructors in the partisan movement on the territory of Manchuria, although these people were in Chinese detachments. The fact is that in the same directive, Khabarovsk promised to send instructors to train partisans in mine-explosive business. Another important aspect. Most of the partisans were in the Soviet Far East for a long time. Many of them received special military training, so that someone could be recruited by Soviet military intelligence. Therefore, the history of the partisan movement in Manchuria at the end of the thirties of the last century and the participation of Soviet military intelligence in it await their researchers.

Although it is known that two special camps were created on Soviet territory for Chinese partisans: the Northern, or camp "A", near the city of Voroshilov (now the city of Ussuriysk, Primorsky Territory), and the Southern, or camp "B", on the outskirts of the city of Kerki (Turkmenistan ). Behind a short time the capacity of the camps increased from 100 to 300 fighters. Classes with partisans were conducted by regular officers of the Red Army under the leadership of Major V.A. Samarchenko.

Until mid-1942, Chinese partisans regularly crossed the border, rested and were treated on Soviet territory, were checked by the NKVD to identify Japanese intelligence agents, and then returned to Manchuria. The former commander of such a detachment, General Wang Mingui, in his memoirs says:

“Our detachment, operating in the mountains of the Great Khingan, at the end of November 1940, was subjected to a fierce onslaught of the enemy. In two months of fighting, he thinned out by more than 2/3, only 60 people remained in the ranks, and even those were mostly wounded. Under these conditions, the members of the party committee decided to move to the territory of the USSR, and then, after putting the detachment in order, having replenished their ammunition, return to the Greater Khingan again to continue partisan operations.

At the end of December 1940, the partisans crossed the Amur across the ice, and two months later, rested, armed and equipped, on fresh horses they returned across the ice to Manchuria. The military council of the 2nd Separate Red Banner Army set the following combat missions for them: organizing partisan areas in the Khingan, recruiting new fighters of all nationalities into the detachment, organizing support bases for the partisan movement, and conducting anti-Japanese agitation in the occupied territory.

In 1941, on the basis of these camps, the 88th separate rifle brigade was formed, designed for reconnaissance and sabotage activities behind Japanese lines. The commander of the 1st Battalion of the mostly Korean brigade was a captain named Jing Richeng, who later became known to the world as Kim Il Sung, the head of North Korea. His real name was Kim Sung-ju.

The brigade was understaffed with Soviet citizens of Chinese and Korean origin, as well as political emigrants. 70 participants in the military rebellion led by Zhang Weiguo and Wang Wenru joined its ranks. Soon the number of personnel of the brigade exceeded 1.5 thousand people. The brigade was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Zhou Boazhong, the commissar was also a Chinese - Major Zhang Shoutsan (in January 1943 he was replaced by Major V.E. Seregin), Major V.A. Samarchenko, head of intelligence - Feng Zhongyuan. According to its purpose, the 88th brigade was reconnaissance and sabotage and was subordinate to the intelligence department of the headquarters of the Far Eastern Front. Periodically, groups of fighters made raids across the Soviet-Chinese and Soviet-Korean borders, but the main combat work was done by scouts and liaison officers behind enemy lines.

However, the 88th brigade was never involved in the fighting. Throughout the Great Patriotic War, "Stalin's special forces" stayed in the rear, engaged in combat and political training. The superbly equipped and equipped unit (the brigade was armed with: 4312 rifles, 370 machine guns, 48 ​​heavy and 63 light machine guns, 21 guns, 16 anti-tank rifles, 23 vehicles) was in no hurry to throw into battle, despite the ardent desire of the fighters. He had other tasks, more complex than participation in front-line operations of the Red Army.

Chinese patriots were actively and purposefully preparing for the liberation of their homeland from the Japanese occupiers, and such an opportunity appeared in August 1945. Back in July, the command of the 88th brigade developed a plan for conducting combat operations. It was necessary to drop a landing force of 100 people equipped with a walkie-talkie to conduct reconnaissance, as well as participate in the offensive together with the Red Army units in Dongbei. Well-trained fighters and commanders, who knew the area well, enjoyed the trust and support of the local population, could provide significant assistance to the Red Army, but did not have time. The war with Japan was fleeting, and the operational plan of the brigade simply did not have time to be carried out. On this occasion, Lieutenant Colonel Zhou Baozhong sent the Commander-in-Chief Soviet troops in the Far East to Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasilevsky the following memorandum:

I, the commander of the 88th Separate Rifle Brigade, as a subordinate to you and as a member of the fraternal Communist Party of China, have decided to address you directly about the following.

The 88th brigade entrusted to me was organized in June 1942 on the personal instructions of Comrade Stalin. The brigade has about 400 soldiers and officers and up to 150 people. is outside the brigade (except for the Russian and Nanai staff). Almost all Chinese comrades are members of the Chinese Communist Party and the Communist Youth League, former leaders and participants in the partisan movement in Manchuria against the Japanese invaders. The brigade is directly led by the Military Council of the Far Eastern Front (Far Eastern Front. - Note. auth.). The brigade was given great attention, and it was given special role and political significance as a Chinese national unit (following the example of the Polish, Czechoslovak and other units that were on the territory of the USSR), and it was to become the core of the training of military and political personnel. how military unit, the brigade was preparing to take an active part, together with the Red Army, in the struggle against the Japanese imperialists for the liberation of the Chinese people ...

For three years, all political and educational work with the personnel of the brigade was carried out according to a special program of the Military Council of the Far East Fleet.

In terms of combat training, the task was to prepare an ordinary soldier and a sergeant for war time commander of a platoon, company (detachment) and be able to conduct political work among the Chinese population of Manchuria, and train squad commanders from Nanai privates. By June 1945, this task was completed ...

The political and moral state of the personnel of the brigade is healthy, and the brigade is well prepared in combat terms.

Soldiers, sergeants and officers have been preparing for three years and waiting for the day when they will be able to take an active part in the fight against the Japanese aggressor. This day came on August 9 this year. The Soviet Union declared war on imperialist Japan. The entire personnel of the brigade, inspired by the noble goals of the war, were waiting for a combat order to oppose the Japanese samurai.

However, four days after the outbreak of hostilities, the operational plan of the brigade was canceled, and its redeployment to the territory of Manchuria was delayed, and so far the brigade has not been used.

My repeated requests to Major General Comrade. Sorokin and through him to the commander of the 2nd Far Eastern Fleet, General of the Army Comrade. Purkaev about the use of the brigade before today did not receive a positive decision.

Therefore, I am compelled to turn to you, Comrade Marshal, with a request to resolve the issue of using a brigade and state my considerations:

1. I consider it necessary to redeploy the brigade to central city Manchuria - Changchun, where we could immediately assist the Red Army in establishing and maintaining order. Organize an anti-Japanese democratic organization, which should be the basis for the future democratic people's power in Manchuria.

2. Spend preparatory work to create a people's army in Manchuria, the core of which should be the Chinese brigade.

3. Unite all members of the Chinese Communist Party in Manchuria, start work to attract all progressive democratic groups and create a united front of the peoples of Manchuria against Japanese aggression. To fight against all reactionary elements and currents.

Carry out daily work among the masses and educate the Chinese people in the spirit of friendship and love for the great neighbor - the Soviet Union, for the peoples of the Soviet Union, for Great Stalin.

If you find it impossible to accept my above considerations, then I ask permission to send the Chinese composition of the brigade and individual Russian comrades at the disposal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China or the commander of the 8th NRA comrade. Zhu De.

Commander of the 88th Separate Rifle Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Zhou Baozhong.

However, the appeal was not taken into account. The 88th separate rifle brigade was disbanded on the basis of the order of the commander of the Far Eastern Military District dated October 12, 1945. The Stalinist special forces, which had been preparing for sabotage reconnaissance throughout the war, were not sent into battle. The Chinese comrades found employment in leadership positions in district commandant's offices and police stations in liberated Manchuria. The Korean fighters of the brigade, led by Captain Kim Il Sung, were sent to Korea.

The Korean Peninsula, liberated by units of the 25th Army of the 1st Far Eastern Front, in the forefront of which were the marines V.N. Leonov, who became twice Hero of the Soviet Union, and M.A. Babikov, Hero of the Soviet Union, was waiting for the emergence of a new government. She appeared in the person of the Soviet Civil Administration (SGA). Its leaders served in the headquarters of the 25th Army, and Colonel-General T.F. Shtykov, a member of the Military Council of the 1st Far Eastern Front and the future Soviet ambassador to the DPRK. Politically literate officers of the Red Army, Koreans by nationality, who arrived with the 25th Army, were sent to local governments for leadership positions. At the end of September, Captain Kim Il Sung arrived from Vladivostok to Wonsan on the steamer Pugachev with his 1st battalion of a unique political special forces.

He was immediately appointed assistant to the military commandant of the city of Pyongyang, Colonel General I.M. Chistyakov. And when the question arose about the head of North Korea, General Shtykov, after conferring with Moscow, decided on all kinds of support and the actual nomination of Red Army Captain Kim Il Sung to this position. At a rally on October 14 in honor of the Red Army, General Chistyakov introduced him to the gathering as a "national hero" and "famous partisan leader." Within a week, Kim Il Sung became a member of the bureau of the Communist Party of Korea, and two months later, chairman of the CPC bureau.

In February 1946, Kim Il Sung headed the Provisional People's Committee of North Korea, which included 11 bureau-ministries formed on the basis of the corresponding departments of the SGA. After the committee was created, the Soviet leadership declared that it had fulfilled its task and power in the country was passing into the hands of local administrative bodies. By the end of 1947, an independent state was formed in the northern part of the peninsula with its own government, army, police, economy and finances. The last step towards consolidating the division of the country was the August 1948 elections to the Supreme popular assembly North Korea. On September 9, the first session of the WPC proclaimed the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.