And then it was confirmed? Did Zhukov execute his soldiers and colonels
This year marks the 76th anniversary of the Soviet counter-offensive near Moscow. Over the years, none of the officials and historians dared to inform the relatives of Colonel of the Red Army Kozlov Petr Sergeevich about his fate. Kozlov P.S. before the war with Germany, he had combat experience: among the first volunteers he fought in Spain, was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for battles with the White Finns, and participated in the annexation of Bessarabia in 1940.
Kozlov P.S. from a large peasant family, before the war he graduated from the command faculty of the Air Force Academy in Monino. On July 2, the id of the commander of the 17th division of the people's militia of the Moskvoretsky district was appointed.
In early October 1941, the division under the command of Kozlov P.S. she distinguished herself in the battles near Spas-Demensk - she opposed the many times superior forces of the Nazis, with honor she emerged from the encirclement, retaining her battle banners. In October of the same year, the division was replenished with fresh forces and, not having time to form and rally, was again sent into battle.
With the threat of encirclement, the division, without a written order from the General Staff, retreated and entrenched itself on the banks of the Nara, where it held out until the very counteroffensive near Moscow.
Here are the memoirs of a soldier of the Rodionov S.A. division. about the actions of Colonel Kozlov P.S. : "From our point of view, the comfrey fighters, he saved the division on October 21 - on the gently sloping coast, their armored personnel carriers would have surrounded us and shot like kittens, and on the" left hillocks "we had somewhere to hide and we held these lines."
On October 21, for the withdrawal of the division, Colonel Kozlov P.S. was arrested, according to the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, and on October 22 he escaped from arrest.
On May 10 of this year, I received a copy of the map of the prisoner of war Colonel PS Kozlov. from the German archive.
In the map of the prisoner of war Kozlov P.S. the date of capture by the Germans is indicated - October 20, 1941. It is known from the map that Kozlov P.S. was in the Stalags and flags of the Wehrmacht, and on December 18, 1942 was handed over to the Gestapo. "Transferred to the Gestapo" - sent to death.
July 29, 1943 Kozlov P.S. for some unknown reason, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, he was deprived of the Order of the Red Banner.
After the war, the colonel's family received a pension. His wife before last days wrote to various organizations, trying to find out about the fate of her husband. The answer for her was one - missing.
Close relatives of the colonel were not notified about the testimonies of former Red Army soldiers who had gone over to the side of the enemy that PS Kozlov had allegedly been teaching in German intelligence schools since January 1942.
The description of the appearance of a man whom the Abwehr people call PS Kozlov is alarming. - it differs from the appearance of a real colonel.
Now that a map of the prisoner of war has been found, we can definitely say that either someone in the Abwehr pretended to be Kozlov P.S., or it was beneficial for someone to slander Colonel Kozlov P.S.
According to the answers of official bodies, Kozlov P.S. not recognized as a military or state criminal, a criminal case has never been opened against him.
We ask you to look into the complicated case of Colonel Petr Sergeevich Kozlov, return the state award and conduct a thorough investigation into the circumstances of his capture.
Biography of the commander of the 17th SD, Colonel Kozlov P.S.
(15.09.1905 - 05.01.1943)
From the accounting and party documents it is known:
Kozlov Pyotr Sergeevich, born in 1905, Belarusian.
Mother tongue: Russian.
Social origin: peasant.
Occupation of parents before 1917: poor peasants.
Occupation of parents after 1917: middle peasants (land 16 hectares, horses 2, cows 2, on the collective farm since 1929).
The time of entry into the candidates of the CPSU (b) - October 1925. Kalinin District CP(b)B.
Time of joining the CPSU (b) - January 1928. Regional Party Commission of the BVO.
Stay in the Komsomol from 1924 to 1935.
Education: Graduated from the school of the 1st stage in the village of Domamerichi, Khotovizhsky volost, Klimovichi district, Mogilev province from 1917 to 1922. Graduated from the United Belarusian Military School from 1926 to 1929.
Main profession and specialty:
By education - Commander of the rifle unit.
By work experience - Commander of a rifle unit - 9 years of experience.
Occupation and start of employment:
June 1922 - September 1926) - the village of Domamerichi, Domamerichi village council, Klimovichi district - Father's farm - Agriculture.
September 1926 - September 1929) - Belarusian Military District - Belarusian United Military School - Cadet.
September 1929 - March 1935) - Belarusian Military District - 33 rifle division, 99 joint venture - Platoon commander "2", assistant company commander, deputy company commander 2 (I didn’t understand the word).
March 1935 - October 1937) - Belarusian Military District - 33 rifle division, 98 joint venture - Chief of staff of the battalion, captain.
October 1937 - August 1938) - Belarusian Military District - 33rd Infantry Division, 99th Joint Venture - Wreed of the regiment commander - captain.
August 1938) - Belarusian Military District - Connection 5131, military unit 5146 - Unit commander, major.
Does not have, was not a member, was not involved, did not serve, did not participate.
The party ticket was canceled by the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army on 12/15/1941. - "Died". The registration card was canceled by the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army on March 13, 1942. - "Died".
Autumn 1936 - Kozlov P.S. fighting in Spain. In October of this year, his daughter was born, her grandfather took her from the hospital.
Information from the book “The Great Patriotic War: Divisional Commanders. Military biographical dictionary "(Volume 4) (M .: Kuchkovo field, 2015):
1937 - (summer period) temporarily commanded the parachute battalion of the division (Olsufievo station).
1938 - completed two distance learning courses of the Military Academy of the Red Army. Frunze.
August 1939 - appointed commander of the 574th rifle regiment of the 121st rifle division.
"Major P.S. Kozlov proved to be a brave commander in a combat situation.
In the battles on the Karelian Isthmus in early March 1940, he was twice wounded and once shell-shocked, but remained in service.
05/09/1940 - Colonel P.S. Kozlov was appointed head of the infantry of the 60th Infantry Division of the KOVO.
__________________________________________
04/07/1940 - was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
Summer 1940 - participates in the annexation of Bessarabia (there are family photos).
1940-1941 - studied at the command faculty of the Air Force Academy in Monino.
The study is confirmed by the response of the Central Administration of the FSB and a photo.
June 22, 1941 - "Before the war, my father was recalled to Moscow, and soon my mother packed up lightly with two suitcases and with us to him. When the beginning of the war was announced at a meeting of the command staff, my father held a glass, standing and crushed it." - lines from a letter from Kozlov's daughter P.S.
Here I omit the battles near Spas-Demensk, the exit from the encirclement, the battles at Protva ...
Farewell in Serpukhov, which was not, I also omit for the time being.
I highlight the most important:
October 21, 1941 - the date of the arrest of Kozlov P.S. for the withdrawal of the division without the order of the General Staff, which is given in the response of the GVP dated February 18, 2016 ..
October 22, 1941 - the date of the escape of Kozlov P.S. from the NKVD convoy, which is given in the response of the GVP dated February 18, 2016.
October 26, 1941 - the date of the special message of the head of the NKVD PA 43A Vasilkov P.P. about the colonel's escape from arrest, which is given in the response of the GVP dated February 18, 2016.
December 15, 1941 - party card of Kozlov P.S. repaid by the Main Political Directorate - "Died".
January 1942 - under the pseudonym "Bulls", a teacher at the Warsaw Intelligence School (Response of the Central Administration of the FSB dated 10.06.15).
March 13, 1942 - P.S. Kozlov's party registration card. repaid by the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army - "Died".
May 1942 - under the pseudonym "Bulls" the head of the camp of scouts (the answer of the Central Administration of the FSB of 10.06.15).
June 1942 - “transferred to the Poltava school to prepare for the transfer to the rear of the Red Army in the form of a major general. Other information regarding Kozlov P.S. The CA of the FSB of Russia does not have it, ”the answer of the CA of the FSB dated 10.06.15.
September 22, 1942 - a German intelligence officer, who voluntarily appeared in the NKVD, brings a letter signed "former. room 17 SD Moskvoretsk. rn colonel Kozlov. “The author of the letter indicates that in October 1941 he made a mistake, but not treason, he wants to benefit the Motherland. He gives in detail the composition of his family, which completely coincides with the data of the personal file of P.S. Kozlov. In a letter to Kozlov P.S. reports that “the first day of arrest was indifferent, but since there was no execution, the temporary apathy passed,” - from the response of the GVP dated 29.09.15.
Also in this response, the GVP reported that the intelligence agencies came to the conclusion that Kozlov was being used in an undercover game, therefore, cooperation with him was not carried out. The note was not reviewed.
May 1943 - the date of issue of the certificate by Colonel SMERSH Vasilkov P.P. (Vasilkov P.P. served as head of the NKVD 43A NGO, sent a special message about the escape of Kozlov P.S. from arrest in October 1941): us, not in the personnel department of the headquarters of the Western Front” (GA RF. F.R-7523.Op.60.D.3672).
On July 21, 1943, by order of the GUK NKO No. 0627 Kozlov P.S. excluded from the lists of the Red Army, as missing.
July 29, 1943 Kozlov P.S. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, he was deprived of the Order of the Red Banner.
2003 - in the book "State Security Organs of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War" (Volume 3), a description of the teacher of the Warsaw and Poltava intelligence schools Bykov appears. The footnote indicates that Bykov - Kozlov P.S. “He tells about himself that he used to serve in the Red Army at the intelligence headquarters. At the beginning of the war with Germany, he was in the academy in Moscow, he was taken prisoner in October - November 1941. Russian, over 40 years old, full build, bald. He teaches reconnaissance, topography and drill."
October 5, 2005 - posthumous rehabilitation of PS Kozlov, as unreasonably repressed on 10/22/41 out of court.
On June 18, 2009, the rehabilitation of the GWP was canceled - “an additional check established that Kozlov P.S. he was not shot at the indicated time, because he escaped from custody and subsequently went over to the side of the enemy.
February 4, 2016 - "The CA FSB of Russia does not have information about the existence of court decisions on the conviction of the specified person for committing state or war crimes."
February 18, 2016 - “Data on excitation in relation to Kozlov P.S. there is no criminal case and no conviction. His search by the security agencies of the USSR in the post-war period did not give positive results and was discontinued, ”from the response of the GVP.
April 2016 - A map of POW Kozlov Pyotr Sergeevich was discovered.
According to the records in the prisoner of war map, Colonel Kozlov Pyotr Sergeevich was captured on 10/20/1941, after which he was in the camp Stalag 367 Czestochau.
11/05/1942 - was in the camp of flag 13 B Nuremberg-Langwasser.
11/07/1942 - was in the camp Stalag 13 A.
12/04/1942 - was transferred to camp offlag 13 D (62) Nuremberg-Langwasser.
12/18/1942 - was transferred to the SS.
12/19/1942 to 01/05/1943 - was in the prison of Nuremberg.
A description of the personality of Petr Sergeevich Kozlov for the working team of Nuremberg 10.217 has been preserved:
physique - average
gait is normal
complexion - pale
scars - none
hair (color) - light sand
baldness - absent
special signs - none
mustache (color) - absent
eyes (color) - gray
And this description differs from the description of the person who was passed off as Petr Sergeevich Kozlov in the Abwehr schools.
May 2016 - the place of death of Colonel Petr Sergeevich Kozlov was found - the Flossenbürg concentration camp.
In the book of the prisoners of the Nuremberg prison, the signature of P.S. Kozlov was found. - from December 19, 1942 to January 05, 1943 he was in the Gestapo prison.
Kozlov Pyotr Sergeevich was shot on January 5, 1943, burned in the Flossenbürg crematorium. The ashes were scattered around the camp.
About the colonel's family here.
1.31.2017 | Story
Sergey ARZHANTSEV
The Soviet commander, colonel, participant in several wars Pyotr Kozlov was born in the Klimovichi region. Here he spent his childhood, here he graduated from high school and… entered independent adult life. But today there is no information about this person in the Klimov region, although local historians know well about other military leaders, local natives. Acquaintance with the biography of P.S. Kozlova shows that there were many mysteries and secrets in her that have not been solved so far.
Petr Sergeevich Kozlov was born in 1905 in the village of Domerichi, Klimovichi District. His parents were ordinary peasants, so the son was expected to repeat the fate of his parents. But turning times, revolutions and wars have changed dramatically life path simple country boy.
For the new government, the peasant origin of Peter was a confirmation that he shared the policy of the Bolsheviks. This, no doubt, was the case. In 1924, Pyotr Kozlov became a member of the Komsomol, and for the next few years he received a military education. After graduation, the young officer commands a platoon, company, battalion. In 1936 he was sent to fight in Spain. After returning, becoming a regiment commander, he goes to the Soviet-Finnish war, for which he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. In the summer of 1940, Major Pyotr Kozlov took part in the annexation of Bessarabia. The last months of peace were busy studying at the Air Force Academy.
On July 2, 1941, Colonel Kozlov was instructed to form detachments of the Moskvoretsky district, which became the 17th Moscow rifle division of the people's militia. The division fights heroically, gets surrounded and goes to its own with heavy losses. In October 1941, the commander of the Western Front, Zhukov, ordered P. Kozlov to be shot for withdrawing the division from positions. He was arrested and interrogated, and then a series of events begins, which are being solved to this day. According to one version, Colonel Kozlov was convicted by a tribunal and shot in front of the line. But there is evidence showing that Pyotr Kozlov escaped from arrest and after escaping was captured by the Germans.
The archives contain information about Soviet prisoners sent by the Germans to the Warsaw intelligence school. Among them was an officer who can be considered Colonel Kozlov. This is indicated by the fact that in 1942 a German intelligence officer voluntarily appeared in the NKVD and handed over a letter from Kozlov. The letter proposed to establish cooperation in order to fight the Nazis behind the front line. But the proposal was not accepted, as it was believed that enemy intelligence was using Kozlov in an undercover game. In addition, in response to requests from the NKVD, it was reported that Kozlov had been shot or was missing. Obviously, the Soviet secret services did not want to take risks.
After perestroika, the mysterious disappearance of Pyotr Kozlov again came to the attention of researchers. It is significant that on October 5, 2005, he was posthumously rehabilitated as unreasonably repressed extrajudicially. But four years later, the rehabilitation was canceled on the grounds that Kozlov was not shot, because he escaped from custody and was taken prisoner. This brings certainty to the most confusing episode of his biography, but still does not answer the question of why he ended up in German captivity and how he behaved there. There is information that on January 5, 1943, P.S. Kozlov was executed in the Flossenbürg concentration camp. So, apparently, he became one of the countless victims of that bloody era, whose life was broken and destroyed by the cruel circumstances of wartime.
Raspavestsi:
Comments:
The small village in which he was born, grew up, which Colonel Kozlov always remembered. He must have had a family somewhere. Do his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren know that Klimovichi remember him? Or maybe they erased him from memory as an "enemy of the people." But now we know that there are no enemies of the people.
The family of Colonel Kozlov P.S. not just was, but is ... The youngest daughter is alive (80 years old), there are grandchildren and already great-great-grandchildren ... I am the eldest granddaughter .. My grandmother (Kozlova Valentina Andreevna) all her life hoped to find out about the fate of her husband, but there was one answer to all our numerous requests - went missing in 1941 near Moscow ... At present, the presence of the Colonel from the first days of captivity in the Wehrmacht camps has been documented (he passed three STALAGs and one OFLAG), he did not cooperate with the Germans (there are no marks in the prisoner of war card), he did not teach in intelligence schools of the Abwehr !.. Both the Ministry of Defense and the German Red Cross confirm that he was handed over to the Gestapo and shot along with Generals Shepetov and Presnyakov ... We (grandchildren and great-grandchildren) knew from childhood that our grandfather Peter was a Hero and were always proud that we were his descendants …
Having studied all possible available materials on this case, I affirm with all responsibility: NOT GUILTY. Colonel, commander of the 17th Infantry Division, Kozlov Petr Sergeevich - a victim of the Nazi regime, worthy of a good name and blessed memory, as an honest officer of the Soviet army, who to the end fulfilled his duty to the Motherland.
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Makarova E.A.
Galina Vladimirovna, thank you very much for your comment. The fate and life path of P. S. Kozlov are of interest to everyone who wants to understand our common historical past. And it is important to do this as objectively as possible, even if many decades have passed since then. It seems that now there are conditions and opportunities for this, so that the secret of the life and death of Pyotr Kozlov will finally be revealed.
Galina Vladimirovna. You have someone to be proud of and pass on the good memory of this brave man. Just think at the age of 31 he is fighting in Spain, and by the age of 35 he is already behind both Finnish and Bessarabia. By 36 Colonel. At 38 he was shot….. Eternal memory to this worthy son of the Belarusian land.
Veterans of the 17th Rifle Division on the central square of Chekhov on May 9, 1983. First from the left in the 2nd row I.V. Lush.
Collage by E. Avsharova
BOLD GUESS IS NOT CONFIRMED
In our material
"Waiting for Colonel Kozlov" contained the statement,
that P.S. Kozlov was introduced into the enemy rear as an "illegal agent".
This statement was based on the assumptions made in the article by V.V. Stepanov “Once again about the fate of the soldiers” (“Chekhov Bulletin” dated February 17, 2009, p. 5).
In the latest modern research, the assumptions about the introduction of P.S. Kozlov to the enemy rear as a scout is not confirmed. We apologize for the oversight.
E. Avsharov
Biography of the commander of the 17 SD, Colonel Kozlov P. S.
Museum life
WAITING FOR COLONEL KOZLOV
(Based on the materials of the Chekhov Museum of Memory of 1941-1945)
The museum of memory is working on the scientific description of funds. In its process, it sometimes turns out that a seemingly different topic has been studied up and down, but little-known, unpublished documents often contain additional details that illuminate seemingly well-known events in a new way.
In August 1996, Honored Doctor of the RSFSR, honorary citizen of the city of Maloyaroslavets, veteran of the 48th Army, member of the Council of Veterans of the 17th Infantry Division, participant in the defense of the Stremilov line Ivan Vasilyevich Pyshny, as part of a delegation of veterans of the city of Maloyaroslavets, visited the Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War on Poklonnaya Hill. The honored veteran was then upset that among the listed divisions that participated in the Great Patriotic War, his own 17th Infantry Bobruisk Red Banner Division, with which he went from the Moscow region to Cape Frisch Nerung (East Prussia), was not on the stand among the listed divisions that participated in the Great Patriotic War. He turned to the museum researcher with a request to restore historical justice in the name of the memory of those who gave their lives for the freedom and independence of our Motherland. He wrote down his request and promised to answer. I.V. Lush waited for an answer for four months, but did not wait and decided to write to the newspaper "Arguments and Facts" to once again remind him of the combat path of his division. We do not know if the letter was sent to the address, but its handwritten original, prepared for dispatch, has been preserved. The letter contains a lot of interesting information on the history of the division, especially the divisional medical battalion, which was not reflected in the printed publications, but now we are talking about something else.
In 1966, the Poisk club was organized at school No. 4 in Chekhov, and in 1968, on the basis of materials collected by young pathfinders and exhibits donated by veterans, the Museum of Military Glory of the 17th Infantry Division was opened at the school. Nevertheless, when veterans tried to address the history of their division to higher authorities, they ran into an invisible wall of secrecy and silence over the years. Therefore, the study of her combat path began relatively late. Only in 1974, Lieutenant General V.G. Shchemelev, commander of a machine gun platoon in the 1312th Rifle Regiment in 1941, published a short article in the Military Historical Journal about the first battles of the 17th Rifle Regiment, based on archival documents and personal memories.
A year later, the Council of Veterans, together with the district committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League of the Moskovoretsky district of Moscow, published a brief historical note on her military path, compiled in the Podolsky Archive of the Ministry of Defense, in the form of a small brochure. The brochure was published in a limited edition under the heading "for official use". Her text does not mention the names of the division commanders, does not indicate the armies and fronts in which she fought, but the mass heroism of ordinary soldiers and junior commanders is described in a generic way. In 1984, researcher and journalist from Podolsk V.V. Stepanov prepared for publication a collection of memoirs of veterans of the division. The collection was not published, but a typewritten copy with editorial corrections by V.V. Stepanova. The collection opens with a lengthy article with the memoirs of the same Lieutenant General V.G. Schemelev, covering the period from the formation of the division in July to the exit from the encirclement in mid-October 1941. From the unpublished memoirs of V.G. Shchemelev, it can be concluded that in addition to civilian militias, the division was also equipped with personnel units (artillery, air defense, etc.). The first division commander, Colonel P.S. Kozlov was a parachutist and spoke German. Apparently, he received special training in the conduct of hostilities in the territory captured by the enemy. In the most extreme situations, P.S. Kozlov showed composure and was well versed in the operational environment. It was thanks to his clear and competent actions that the division emerged from the encirclement and survived as a combat unit, although it lost about 80% of its personnel. After 1996, books by A.S. Vishnyakova, V.V. Klimanov, V.V. Stepanova, I.A. Krasilnikov, who made a breakthrough in the study of the events of 1941 in the southern suburbs of Moscow. And then it became obvious that the triumph of historical justice, for which I.V. Lush, interfered with the dark story of the execution of Colonel Kozlov under strange circumstances, presumably on October 22, 1941.
In 2007, Moscow writer and journalist V.V. Klimanov conducted a historical investigation into the fate of Colonel Kozlov. IN historical reference, stored in the museum, he wrote that during October 10-12, scattered parts of the 17th Rifle Division left the encirclement in the area of the Ugodsky plant. Colonel Kozlov was called to the special department of the 33rd Army and stayed there from 11 to 13 October. On October 17, a general offensive of German troops began on the left flank of the Western Front in the direction of Podolsk. The 17th SD, included by that time in the 43rd Army, without completing the reorganization, took up defensive positions along the left bank of the river. Protva on the section Belousovo - Vysokinichi. The battle of October 17-22 for the bridgehead between the Protva and Nara rivers ended in the defeat of the Red Army. The 17th Rifle Division withdrew to the Ugodsky plant, covering the withdrawal of units of the 53rd and 312th Rifle Divisions. The Germans, pursuing the remnants of the 53rd and 312th Rifle Divisions, occupied Tarutino. There was a threat of coverage of the 17th Rifle Division from the north, and Colonel Kozlov withdrew the division to the northern hilly coast of Nara, formally violating the order of the command. October 22 at 4:45 p.m. commander of the Western Front, General of the Army G.K. Zhukov gives the order: to appoint Major General D.M. Seleznev, and Kozlov to be arrested and shot in front of the ranks. On the same morning at 9:17 a.m. Lieutenant General S.D. arrives at the 17th Rifle Division. Akimov, commissar of the 1st rank Seryukov and a representative of the headquarters of the 43rd Army, Lieutenant Colonel Balantsev.
Then the incomprehensible begins: Zhukov's order was, but there is no information that the order was executed. According to V.V. Klimanov, the problem of the rehabilitation of Colonel Kozlov rests on the lack of a document certifying his death. V.V. Klimanov requested the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense, but was told that Colonel Kozlov had gone missing in 1941. Researcher and journalist V.V. Stepanov published a memorandum from the Commander of the 43rd Major General K.D. Golubev in the name of G.K. Zhukov dated October 31, 1941, according to which Kozlov was not shot, but fled. According to Stepanov, Lieutenant General S.D. Akimov refused to shoot his old comrade and sent him to the headquarters of the 43rd Army - let him decide his fate there. Major General Golubev categorically demanded that the order of the front commander be carried out and ordered the head of the special department of the army to return Kozlov to the 17th rifle division. From under the escort appointed by a special department, Kozlov fled. V.V. Stepanov also established that the commissar of the 17th SD S.A. Yakovlev was also to be shot for not showing proper vigilance, but he was not shot either. He went through the whole war and lived to the Victory. General Golubev reported to Zhukov that he had ordered an internal investigation, but the results were unknown, and none of those responsible for Kozlov's escape were injured.
On the basis of captured documents stored in the Podolsk archive, V.V. Stepanov established that on October 24, Kozlov was taken prisoner, and the intelligence department of the 4th Army of the German group "Center" was engaged in his case. In 1942-1943. he was an instructor in the intelligence schools of the Abwehr: first in Warsaw, then in Poltava. In 1944, his traces are lost: either he died, or he left with the retreating "owners" and continued his activities behind enemy lines. Based on the information that we have today, it suggests that the whole story of the execution of Colonel Kozlov was a staging related to the “deep penetration” operation, which was carried out by a special department of the 43rd Army. The Germans had to believe that Kozlov had become a defector, because their own people wanted to shoot him. According to V.V. Stepanov, it is possible to finally put an end to his history only on the basis of documents stored in the archives of institutions and organizations that sent Colonel Kozlov to the front line. Nevertheless, let us remember that December 19 is the Day of Counterintelligence of the Russian Federation and we will honor the memory of Colonel P.S. Kozlov, an illegal intelligence agent ...
The neighbor on the right is the 43rd Army. The fate of the 17th Rifle. Rehabilitation of the executed. What happened near Tarutino in the twentieth of October 41st? Shot or… hidden? Colonel P.S. Kozlov fled from the convoy. Whose victims are these - General Zhukov or the war? The fate of General S. D. Akimov. Mysterious plane crash. "Military-historical conclusion ..." For whom is it written?
Army General G.K. Zhukov assumed the post of commander of the troops of the Western Front, one might say, in the most difficult period of the entire war. The front, in fact, did not exist, because there were no troops, that is, the armies proper, which make up any front. There were separate divisions, reserve regiments, training teams, garrisons, companies, security teams various objects. There were also army departments, which at the time of the enemy's breakthrough to Tula, Serpukhov and Mozhaisk were out of encirclement or were hastily withdrawn from Vyazma and Bryansk to the east and thus saved for future battles. Let us recall the story: even General K.K. Rokossovsky, who in the decisive days of the Battle of Moscow led the 16th Army and forced its divisions into one of the most dangerous directions - the north, was left at the time of the disaster near Vyazma without an army, with one army command.
General of the Army G.K. Zhukov got an unenviable economy. Moreover, the situation worsened every day and hour. Decisive and sometimes drastic measures were needed to restore the front near Moscow and prevent German armored columns from breaking into the capital in the next day and hour.
Approximately in the same position as G.K. Zhukov, only on the sector of his front, was the commander of the 49th Army, Lieutenant General I.G. Zakharkin. And now it seems to me that Zhukov understood this.
To the right of the 49th, behind Vysokinichi, through the Ugodsky Zavod to the Varshavskoye Highway, the 43rd Army held the defense. Then she moved east, to Podolsk. But soon, too, she stopped dead in her tracks. The junction with the 49th Army was provided, as a right-flank, by the 17th Infantry Division.
In the autumn-winter battles of 1941, very often regiments and separate battalions of the 17th division fought together with units of the 49th army. Together they fought off enemy attacks. Together, acting according to the plan of one operation, they counterattacked. The Germans kept a large group in Vysokinichi, intending to throw it at Serpukhov, and this direction was covered by the 49th Army. And therefore, willy-nilly, the 17th found itself, as it were, in the composition of this army and in its zone of responsibility.
But the fate of the 17th Rifles interests us in connection with other events and reflections.
A few years ago, a folder with documents signed by the head of the Institute of Military History of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation A. Koltyukov and the leading researcher of the Institute of Military History of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, retired colonel B. I. Nevzorov, entered the funds of the Museum of Marshal G.K. Zhukov.
I give fragments of the “Military-historical conclusion on the compliance of the actions of the command of the 17th Infantry Division, Colonel Kozlov P.S. and Brigadier Commissar Yakovlev S.I. with the conditions of the situation in the defense zones of the 33rd and 43rd armies in October 1941.”
“... The prologue of the Moscow battle was extremely unsuccessful for the Soviet troops. The German Wehrmacht managed not only to break through our strategic defenses in the western direction, but also to encircle the main forces of the Western, Reserve and Bryansk fronts. 7 out of 15 army field directorates, 64 out of 95 divisions, 11 out of 13 tank brigades fell into enemy pockets near Vyazma and Bryansk. A 500-kilometer gap was formed in the defense, and there were no strategic reserves in the capital area, since they were used to restore defense in the Kiev direction. As a result, almost all routes to Moscow were open. The overall superiority of the enemy in forces and means over the remnants of the troops of the fronts increased from 1.4-2.5 times at the beginning of the battle to 7-9 times by mid-October.
“As the Soviet grouping surrounded near Vyazma was liquidated, the Germans intensified their onslaught in the direction of Moscow every day, delivering the main blows along the Minsk highway, the Kyiv and Warsaw highways. Borovsk fell on October 15. On October 18, the enemy managed to capture Mozhaisk, Vereya, and Maloyaroslavets. On October 22, fierce battles began for Naro-Fominsk. The Germans crossed the river. Nara and went to the Sq. Zosimova Pustyn (3 km east of the city). And this meant that the enemy was already about 50 km southwest of the outskirts of Moscow (less than 70 km from the Kyiv railway station).
In such a difficult and most dangerous situation for the capital, acute problems were solved to save it. There was a regrouping of troops in the western direction. The divisions that had escaped from the boilers of the encirclement were being restored. From neighboring fronts and from the depths of the country, new formations and units were urgently transferred to Moscow. The leadership of the troops was strengthened. The commanders of the fronts, Marshal S. M. Budyonny, generals I. S. Konev, A. I. Eremenko, and the commander of the 33rd Army, brigade commander D. P. Onuprienko, were dismissed from their posts. The Western Front was recreated, and General of the Army G.K. Zhukov, Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, was appointed commander. At the same time, the most severe measures were taken against those commanders and commanders who, in their sectors of the front, could not stop the enemy's advance or made omissions in command and control. So, the following were brought to court by a military tribunal: the commander of the 43rd Army, Major General Sobennikov P.P., the deputy head of the operational department of the headquarters of the Reserve Front, Colonel Novikov I.A., the commander of the 31st Army, Major General Dolmatov V.N., and some of them, such as the commander of the 17th Infantry Division, Colonel Kozlov P. S. and the military commissar of the division, Brigadier Commissar S. I. Yakovlev, were shot in front of the formation of personnel.
“The 17th division of the people’s militia of the Moskvoretsky district was formed on July 3–7, 1941. Colonel P. S. Kozlov was appointed its commander, and Professor I. S. Kuvshinov was appointed commissar (From October 12, brigade commissar Yakovlev S. I.) On the basis of the directive of the Stavka of August 23, 1941, the division was understaffed with personnel, personnel commanders, weapons, military equipment, various property, and from September 26 it was transformed into the 17th Rifle Division of the Red Army with a reduced staff (staff of July 1941) . Having in its composition about 10,500 people, 8341 rifles, 270 machine guns (light and heavy), 52 mortars and 28 guns, the division took its first battle by the end of the day on October 2. (According to other sources, the 17th Rifle Division, by the time it entered the battle on October 2, 1941, had the following strength and armament: with a strength of 11,454 people - 8087 rifles, 60 easel, 148 light and 3 anti-aircraft machine guns, 79 50-mm mortars , 159 PPSh, 27 guns of various calibers.As we can see, these data are somewhat amplify 17th Rifle Division. Particularly noteworthy is the presence of a large number PPSh assault rifles. In fact, two automatic companies. It should be noted that in some divisions of the 49th Army, automatic companies were formed only in November-December 1941, immediately before the counteroffensive, when required amount automatic weapons. In 1941, there were not enough PPSh assault rifles. By 1943, the PPSh had become the most widely used submachine gun of World War II. - CM.)
By this time, the 17th Rifle Division, part of the 33rd Army, was deployed on the southern flank of the Rzhev-Vyazemsky defensive line in the second echelon of the Reserve Front in the Star zone. Blizhevichi - Latvians up to 10 kilometers wide (15 kilometers south of Spas-Demensk, 5-15 kilometers south of Varshavskoe highway).
“2.10.41. Collision with enemy reconnaissance, reinforced by five tanks.
3.10.41. The enemy bypasses the division from the flank through the Latvians and threatens the rear. Tank attack with air support. Fight with tanks that broke through in the Mamonovo and Kovalevka area.
There is no information in the archive for 4 and 5.10.41. 6.10.41. The 33rd Army ceased to exist as an organism.
During the fighting 3 And The 4th of October The division was in operational encirclement. On October 10, she entered the Naro-Fominsk region, covering a distance of 250-300 km and losing all materiel.
"1. Parts of the 33rd Army continue to produce understaffing:
a) 17th Rifle Division - in the Ugodsky Zavod area: personnel 558 people; trucks - 12; horses - 50; rifles - 141; light machine guns - 55; PPD - 2; radio stations of the Republic of Belarus - 2. 876 anti-tank regiment: personnel - 37 people; rifles - 30; machine guns - 5; materiel - no. KP - Ugodsky Plant. (Ugodsky Zavod is the birthplace of G.K. Zhukov, at that time the general of the army, commander of the troops of the Western Front. The village of Strelkovka, from where Zhukov took his mother and sister just a few days ago, is a few kilometers from Ugodka. - CM.)
After reorganization, the 17th Rifle Division is transferred from the 33rd to the operational subordination of the 43rd Army.
“By 11.00 18.10 the enemy captured Maloyaroslavets and individual groups submachine gunners reached the Belousovo area. (Now the village of Belousovo, Zhukovsky district, Kaluga region. Located on the Warsaw highway. - CM.)
The 17th Infantry Division takes up defense along the river. Protva from Belousov to Vysokinichi:
1316 joint venture - (claim.) Highway Maloyaroslavets near the village of Obninsk, claim. Dubrovka and Yerivosheino;
1314 joint venture defends the Dubrovka, Strelkovka, Bol. Roslyakovka;
1312 joint venture - occupies the defense site of Nov. Slobodka, Vysokinichi, Lykovo.
Division headquarters - Ugodsky Zavod ".
The defense section of the 17th Infantry Division was assigned a rather large one, about 30 kilometers. The trenches had already been partially dug by the locals. The line ran along the eastern bank of the river. Against. South of Vysokinichi, the positions of the neighboring, left-flank 5th Guards Rifle Division of the 49th Army begin. The 5th in those days also closed a huge sector of the front. Its length absolutely did not correspond to either the existing standards or the fighting qualities and capabilities of the division. Everything was contrary then. No regulations were in effect. Neither on iron, nor on motors, nor on the degree of strength human body and character.
And one more touch. General Zakharkin knew the 17th division. I knew its commanders and fighters. In August, he briefly commanded the 43rd Army. It was much to the west, near Kirov (Kaluga), when the 43rd was stationed as part of the Reserve Front in the second echelon. The 17th Rifle Division was then part of the 33rd Army and stood in the neighborhood, nearby. Then it was transferred to the 43rd.
According to the operational report of the headquarters of the Western Front, on October 20, 1941, the 43rd, with its divisions and brigades of paratroopers and tankers, repulsed the attacks of the LVII motorized corps in the area of Sparrows - Akatovo - Istya. At the same time, part of the troops tried to return Borovsk, occupied the day before by the enemy. The 17th Infantry Division took up defensive positions at the Spas-Zagorye-Vysokinichi line.
Three days later, on October 23, 1941, in the combat journal of the Western Front, a report was recorded by Commander-43, Lieutenant General Golubev: “The 17th and 53rd rifle divisions were attacking Tarutino from the morning of 22.10. At 1400, 22 enemy planes bombed and shot at units, causing the divisions to flee in panic. Lieutenant-General S. D. Akimov and a member of the Military Council of the Army, Brigadier Commissar A. D. Seryukov, personally with weapons in their hands, detained the fugitives. Seryukov was wounded and evacuated. With the help of detachments, the fleeing managed to be detained at the turn of Cherneshnya. The enemy occupied Korsakovo with a force of up to a battalion and 3 tanks.
53 SD has 1000 people, 17 SD has about 2500 people, 312 SD has only 300 people.
I believe that the 53rd and 17th Rifle Divisions are demoralized and are subject to disbandment, and entire groups of commanding and political personnel are to be brought to justice.
A fresh rifle division should be sent to the Tarutino direction, which, with a blow in the direction of Korsakov - Tarutino, will be able to restore the situation. Golubev".
Please note that the 312th Infantry Division of Colonel A.F. Naumov was the smallest. But it was she who, on the day when the neighbors faltered and ran to the rear, attacked forward and drove the enemy out of Orekhovo and Biriskov near Tarutin.
On the same day, 10/23/41, Zhukov, by cipher telegram No. 6171, will appoint Colonel A.F. Naumov as the commander of the combined 312th rifle division, which will consolidate parts of the 53rd and 17th rifle divisions.
Until now, historians, search engines and local historians cannot fully reconstruct the dramatic chain of events that took place here from October 20 to 22 and which caused severe consequences for the command of the 53rd and 17th rifle divisions. There is indeed a lot of uncertainty here. For example, how did Lieutenant General S. D. Akimov, who by that time had already been removed from his post as commander of the 43rd Army, end up in the battle for Tarutino? Veterans of the 43rd Army testify that General S. D. Akimov was seriously wounded by a mine fragment in a battle near the village of Korsakovo near Tarutin. He died a week later in the hospital.
On 10/22/41 at 4:45 am, the commander of the Western Front, General of the Army G.K. Zhukov, ordered the commander of the 43rd Army:
43rd Army. Golubev.
1. Departure from the occupied line until 23.10. once again I categorically forbid.
2. Send Seleznev immediately on the 17th SD. The commander of the 17th Rifle Division should be immediately arrested and shot before formation.
The 17th division, the 53rd division must be forced to return Tarutino on the morning of 22.10 at all costs, including up to self-sacrifice.
3. You report a small number of fighters in formations and heavy losses, search immediately in the rear, you will find fighters and weapons.
4. In defense, fully use RSs, sparing no shells. Himself to be (KP) in the combat area.
For the defense of the Gornevo-Kamenka region, I am subordinating to you one more airborne brigade and a tank brigade, which you can move closer to Gornev from Kresta. But keep in mind that if you also don’t feel sorry for the tanks, just as you didn’t feel sorry for them today, throwing them head-on at anti-tank guns, there will be nothing left of this brigade, just as there was nothing left of the good 9th tank brigade.
(Zhukov, Bulganin.) (Transmitted at 4.45" .)
This is the first order that G.K. Zhukov gives to General K.D. Golubev as commander of the 43rd Army. And the next morning, General SD Akimov went on a counterattack on Tarutino in the combat formations of the advancing divisions. From this attack, he returns on a bloody stretcher. And perhaps it was this circumstance that saved him from accusations of withdrawing from his positions without an order and leaving weapons to the enemy, of cowardice and desertion to the rear.
Colonel P. S. Kozlov and the commissar of the 17th Infantry Division, Brigadier Commissar S. I. Yakovlev were removed from command and put on trial. Verdict: shooting. At the same time, Colonel N.P. Krasnoretsky was removed from command of the 53rd Infantry Division and also sentenced to death.
But what happens next is incomprehensible. A mixture of Shakespearean tragedy, detective and adventure novel with a blurred ending, which can be taken as a hint for a sequel. But there was no continuation. Or we still don't know about it.
Search engines from the city of Chekhov, Moscow Region, found in the archives a memorandum from the commander of the 43rd Army, Major General K. D. Golubev, to the commander of the Western Front, General of the Army G. K. Zhukov. This note was published in the Chekhov Vestnik newspaper in July 2007. Here are excerpts from the report of General Golubev:
"Army General Zhukov. 10/31/41. 23.40.
…Reporting a criminal fact. Today, on the spot, I established that the former commander of the 17th Infantry Division, Kozlov, was not shot in front of the formation, but fled. The circumstances of the case are as follows. Having received your order to arrest and shoot the commander of the 17th Rifle Division before the formation, I instructed Seryukov, a member of the Military Council, and Lieutenant General Akimov, who was leaving for the division, to do this. For unknown reasons, they did not do this and sent the division commander to me. I, under escort, organized by the head of the Special Department of the Army, sent him back with a categorical instruction that the order of the commander must be carried out. I was informed that he was shot, and today I found out that he was not shot, but fled from the convoy. I order an investigation.
(Golubev.)
A very interesting document. General Golubev is a difficult man, worn out by service and war. Look at how talentedly the memorandum was written: he ordered the execution to his deputies, and the convoy was organized by someone, or rather, “the head of the Special Department of the Army”, and fifth or tenth ... Colonel Kozlov himself did not shoot, which means he understood that there is nothing to kill the commander of the 17th, and even before the ranks. Well, you’ll have to look him in the eye, say something to the fighters and commanders ... Did you want to do the dirtiest job with someone else’s hands? After all, it was General Golubev who, with his reports about the demoralized state of the division and the need to bring the commanders to justice, whipped up the anger of the new front commander. Combat General Stepan Dmitrievich Akimov simply did not shoot his comrade, but sent him to the one who had reported to the headquarters of the Western Front the day before: “I believe that the 53rd and 17th divisions are demoralized and are subject to disbandment, and entire groups of command and political personnel to be brought to justice” . Like, shoot yourself, judge and shoot if you are so cool ...
Not all archives are still open for study, we are not allowed to comprehend and understand everything in that cruel war. Therefore, some ends, causes and effects are not connected in our minds. Here, for example, it is impossible yet to find out who else in the 17th and 53rd rifle divisions was shot after the report of General Golubev and the rage of General Zhukov. The report says: "...whole groups of command and political staff." True, if you understand that Zhukov was not as bloodthirsty as a commander, as he is often portrayed by unpretentious liberal historians and politicians, then the background of the report of General Golubev, who is sincerely upset and frightened by what happened, becomes understandable.
Who is Colonel Kozlov, who was sentenced to death and fled from the convoy to no one knows where? Among the Germans, he also did not surface. But still a colonel. These usually pop up. If they fled there consciously, for ideological reasons, so to speak. Some colonels and even lieutenant colonels in the ROA, for example, rose to the rank of generals.
And if Colonel Kozlov had a completely different goal of escaping from custody? .. Here, as they say, one can endlessly think ...
Here is what Chekhov researchers report about the commander of the 17th Rifle Division:
Kozlov Petr Sergeevich. 1905 year of birth. Originally from the Klimovichi district, at that time Byelorussian SSR. In the Red Army since 1926. Member of the CPSU (b) since 1928. Member of the Soviet-Finnish war. He distinguished himself in battles, for which he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. After graduating from the Military Academy. M. V. Frunze. He was a skydiving instructor. In a short time he studied German, almost perfectly mastered colloquial speech. The rank of colonel was awarded in 1940.
Beautiful achievement list! Young, smart, physically strong. Judging by the energy that he showed in the study of the German language and parachuting, he had a strong-willed character. The combination of two new professions - parachuting and knowledge of the German language - leads to very definite thoughts about what exactly this knowledge and skills are needed for one person. And they are still trying to hammer into our brains that the USSR was preparing for war with England. Unless Marshal Tukhachevsky had such an idea. But Stalin stopped it in the 38th year ...
Almost nothing is known about the military commissar of the 17th Infantry Division, Brigadier Commissar Sergei Ivanovich Yakovlev. No documents about him were found in the Podolsk archive.
Those studies that were carried out by search engines and local historians of Podolsk and Chekhov lead to a paradoxical conclusion, namely: neither Colonel P. S. Kozlov, nor divisional commissar S. I. Yakovlev were shot.
What happened to them? Where did they disappear to?
First, it would be appropriate to briefly tell about two more persons involved in this extremely confusing and vague semi-detective story.
The commander of the 53rd Infantry Division, Colonel Nikolai Pavlovich Krasnoretsky, according to some reports, was also sentenced to death, but with a deferred sentence. And according to the authors of many publications, he "died in battle on October 22" near the village of Chernishnya near the village of Tarutina. There is very little information about him. It is known that from 1.06.39 he commanded the 109th motorized division. He went to war with her. On the fourth day, Colonel N.P. Krasnoretsky was seriously wounded in the battle near Shepetovka. On September 24, 1941, after being treated in the hospital, he received the 53rd Infantry Division. With her comes to Roslavl. The division occupies the line of defense of Kuzminichi - Tserkovshchina to the west of Spas-Demensk, covering the Warsaw highway. A week later, the division enters into battle with the vanguards of the LVII motorized corps of the Germans. She was at the forefront of the strike of the southern grouping of Army Group Center, which in a few days closed the pincers around Vyazma. Already on October 2, on the first day of Typhoon, the 53rd Rifle Division found itself in an operational encirclement. Withdrew along with the remnants of other parts along the Warsaw highway. Together with the cadets of the Podolsk military schools, she soon went to the village of Belousov on the Protva River.
On October 21, the following text was sent by telephone from the headquarters of the Western Front to the headquarters of the 43rd Army:
"To the Military Council 43 A.
In connection with the repeated flight from the battlefield of the 17th and 53rd divisions, I order:
In order to combat desertion, by the morning of October 22, a detachment of obstacles should be allocated, having selected reliable fighters at the expense of the VDK.
Force the 17th and 53rd Rifle Divisions to fight stubbornly and, in the event of a flight, the detached blockade detachment shoot on the spot all those who leave the battlefield.
Report the formation of the detachment.
(Zhukov. Bulganin) (21.X.41).
Colonel N.P. Krasnoretsky died the next day. Or didn't die? Or did someone else die?
So far, neither an act of execution of officers of the 43rd Army, nor evidence of eyewitnesses of a possible execution has been found. Ordinary fighters, veterans of the battles in the Moscow region, say: in front of the formation, they often shot someone ...
Fighter - what? They lined up, read something, took the poor fellow to the pit, the squad fired a volley, buried it. And the fighter, if only to quickly go to his dugout, into warmth, and eat porridge. History was then written in the offices of military tribunals, in headquarters and political departments. The historians who stood in the soldiers' ranks were never allowed to find out the truth or tell about it, even if it was their own, seen from the trench.
But Chekhov's search engines found and even published a curious document that again overturns everything and makes you think that anything could really happen in the war. S. I. Yakovlev's service record contains entries made after October 1941. It turns out that he was not shot. He was deprived of awards, demoted in rank and sent to the Leningrad Front. There he served as a senior instructor in the political department of the 46th Infantry Division of the 52nd Army. Considering that Army General G.K. Zhukov returned to the headquarters of the Western Front from near Leningrad, then again there is something to think about.
And now a few words about General SD Akimov.
Stepan Dmitrievich Akimov was born in the village of Khatsievka, Pskov province. Ensign of the Russian Imperial Army since 1916. In the Red Army since 1918. In 1919 he graduated from command infantry courses in Peterhof, and then led them for some time. IN civil war commanded a platoon, company, battalion on the Western Front. In 1929 he graduated from the Shooting and tactical advanced training courses for the command staff of the Red Army "Shot" them. Comintern. Since 1937 - commander of the 58th Infantry Division. Then - the 23rd Rifle Corps of the ZakVO, with which he took part in the Soviet-Finnish war. Since December 1940 - infantry inspector PribOVO. He received the rank of lieutenant general in July 1940. At the beginning of the war, assistant commander of the North-Western Front, commanded a consolidated group near Daugavpils. From August 1941 - Commander of the 48th Army of the North-Western Front. Since September 1941 - studying in a special group of the Academy of the General Staff. K. E. Voroshilova. In October, he took part in the formation of the 113th Infantry Division, the remnants of which by that time were arriving from Spas-Demensk. On October 10, 1941 he was appointed commander of the 43rd Army. On October 23, 1941, during the battle, he was wounded by a fragment of a mine near the village of Korsakovo. Sent to Moscow, to the hospital. On October 29, 1941, he died during the crash of a plane piloted by the famous test pilot N. B. Fegervari near the village of Golodeevka, Penza Region. He was awarded the Order of Lenin, two Orders of the Red Star, the medal "XX Years of the Red Army". Strange death, strange catastrophe. Together with General Akimov, 17 people on board died, including the famous aircraft designer Vsevolod Konstantinovich Tairov. The fact of the plane crash was classified for many years. Information was leaked that the aircraft was chock-full of secret documentation relating to the development and testing of new aircraft designs. It was a time of mass and often chaotic panic evacuation of Moscow to Kuibyshev.
“Could it not, for example, turn out that Stepan Dmitrievich Akimov, in that difficult situation, refused to fulfill the order of G.K. Zhukov in relation to P.S. Kozlov, for which he was later “demoted” in life and in history? » - writes journalist and historian Valery Stepanov.
It could well.
But if you follow the version of V. Stepanov, then much more becomes incomprehensible. Why, for example, Colonel N.P. Krasnoretsky was not shot - he was given the opportunity to die in battle, which then had a very great importance for relatives deceased. For example, if he were shot for desertion and cowardice, then in accordance with order number 227, his family would also be subjected to severe repressive measures under the laws of wartime. Who took care of it?
Chekhov and Podolsk search engines, as an argument why General S. D. Akimov did not shoot Colonel P. S. Kozlov, cite the assumption that the officers were friends in the Finnish campaign. And they were awarded orders at the same time, by one decree: S. D. Akimov - the Order of Lenin, and P. S. Kozlov - the Order of the Red Banner.
But it could happen that Lieutenant General S. D. Akimov, having personally sorted out the situation in which the divisions left their defensive line under the onslaught of superior enemy forces, simply refused to shoot at his officers. Be that as it may, the result is this: after the harsh orders of the front commander in the 43rd Army, no one was shot. And in the 49th no one was shot. So decided the army commanders Akimov and Zakharkin. Both, by the way, are ensigns of the old Russian army, brought up in a different culture and assimilating a different degree of relationships.
Two facts remain a mystery of history.
First: where did Colonel PS Kozlov go? I was recently shown a photograph of him. The colonel has the face of an adventurer, but not the face of a commander. Maybe, further fate its been amazing. Adventures behind enemy lines, completing a particularly important command task, etc. Just the plot for an adventure novel!
If the Germans had broken through to the right of the defense of the 49th Army, its rear lines would have been immediately attacked and crushed, and the fate of the Serpukhov line would have been decided back then, in October. But the execution orders stopped the fleeing troops. It was the execution orders, and not the demonstration executions themselves, that calmed the defending regiments and instilled in them courage and steadfastness. In any case, to the command staff. Battalion commanders and regimental commanders, as well as commanders of other ranks, suddenly realized: it’s better to die here, on the line, in battle with the enemy, than to be shamefully shot in front of the formation in some nameless forest in the near rear and buried like a dog ...
Studying this period and carefully, as far as possible sorting out private details, you come to the conclusion that the headquarters of the Western Front, as they used to say in the old days, was quite satisfied with the way the question was posed. Otherwise, how to understand, for example, the following document:
“Particularly important.
Hand over immediately.
Commander-43 Golubev.
The Headquarters granted the request to transfer the 93rd Rifle Division to your subordination. (The division was formed in the Trans-Baikal Military District. It had the name East Siberian. Upon arrival at the front, it became part of the 43rd Army. Then it fought as part of the 33rd, 20th, 16th and, from May 1943, the 11th Guards Army. Participated in the Battle near Moscow, in the battles on the Spas-Demensky and Zhizdrinsky directions, in the Oryol-Kursk battle. It was transformed into the 26th Guards and acquired the honorary name Gorodokskaya. During the Battle of Moscow, the division was commanded by Major General K. M. Erastov. - CM.)
The Komfront ordered to accept the 93rd Rifle Division, to organize the movement of the division immediately. Hastily present a plan for the use of the division, based on the following: launch a short counterattack in order to seize an advantageous position, return Sparrows, Tarutino. (The exhausted 17th, 53rd and 312th rifle divisions did their job - they held out. They retreated, sometimes fled. Then they returned again. Or they dug in at a new line. ordinary soldiers in the trenches did not believe in. The fresh, full-blooded Trans-Baikal 93rd was the very strategic reserve of the Headquarters. The crisis was over. - CM.)
Send commanders and political workers to the division with an order for reprisals for leaving their positions without permission, to explain and carry out appropriate work. Unit commanders must sign the orders for reading them.
(Nashtfront Sokolovsky) (Commissar of the headquarters of the Kazbins.) (10/23/41. 24.00 ".)
The Transbaikalians were immediately brought up to date with the situation, familiarized "with the order on repression for leaving their positions without permission", there is no doubt, they also told about shot. The unit commanders signed the orders "for reading them" and then brought their essence to each fighter.
Years passed, and the Institute of Military History in the most detailed way, within the framework of those documents and facts that are publicly available, reconstructed the events of October 1941. The comrades-in-arms of Colonel P.S. Kozlov and S.I. Yakovlev filed a petition with the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office for the rehabilitation of officers. For this, another study was conducted. The position and combat capabilities of the 17th Rifle Division were imposed on the normative documents that existed at that time on the density of rifle battalions per 1 kilometer of the front, guns and mortars, tanks, and so on. The authors of the “Military Historical Conclusion ...” indicate: “17th Rifle Division, having received the task of defending a strip 28 km wide on the eastern bank of the river. Protva, was forced to build its battle formation of divisions and regiments in one echelon, without artillery groups and reserves, and equip only the main line of defense with a depth of 2–2.5 km. In turn, this strip consisted of one (main) position of resistance, which included company defense areas equipped with trenches for the rifle squad and communications. The defense had a focal character. In addition, due to the lack of forces and means, the division was unable to arrange: anti-tank obstacles, anti-tank areas; all types of obstacles, equip the position of combat guards and shelters to protect artillery and aircraft from fire.
The tactical density of the defense of 17 rifle divisions (per 1 km of the front): rifle battalions - 0.3, guns and mortars - 0.39 and tanks - 0. In other words, the density of rifle battalions was 3-5 times, and guns and mortars - in 66–120 times lower than the values that were established normative documents».
All this is so. But after all, the enemy approached the defense of the 17th Infantry Division not in the strength that he had on October 2 near Spas-Demensk. If the "Military Historical Conclusion ..." was written only for the rehabilitation of innocent victims, while not affecting anything else, then one could turn a blind eye to this. But the fact is that, in rehabilitating the honest names of officers, the orders of higher commanders and staffs must be recognized as unfounded. Yes, the orders given during that period were impossible to carry out. But some of them did! And this is what stopped the tank and motorized columns at the turn of Dmitrov, Naro-Fominsk, Serpukhov, Tula.
The conclusions made by military scientists in the "Military Historical Conclusion ..." are as follows:
"1. There is no corpus delicti in the actions of the commander of the 17th Infantry Division, Colonel P.S. Kozlov and the military commissar of the division, Brigadier Commissar S.I. Yakovlev. They were true patriots and gave all their strength, knowledge and experience to the defense of the Motherland. The massacre against them was carried out in a crisis situation on the outskirts of the capital, a certain panic among the country's leadership, the introduction of a state of siege in Moscow, a change in army command, without conducting investigative actions, without a court martial and even without drawing up an act on the execution of the sentence.
2. The Institute of Military History of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation supports the appeal of the Directorate of the State Museum of Defense of Moscow on the rehabilitation and return of a good name to the command of the 17th Infantry Division P. S. Kozlov and S. I. Yakovlev in the absence of corpus delicti.
