How did you manage to explain her arrival to the locals? And all this time you were alone
Studies of the actions of our troops near Lopasnya in 1941, carried out by local historian Vishnyakov in the last century and local historian Stepanov, are now being continued by the work of an employee of the Museum of the Great Patriotic War on Poklonnaya Hill Green G.Ya., her article is cited by http://vk.com/id194144662.
Once again about Colonel P.S. Kozlov The site "Vestnik Chekhovsky" - an independent Internet publication of the city of Chekhov and the Chekhov region, published on its page an article by E. Avsharov "Waiting for Colonel Kozlov" (http://www.muzejpamyati.narod.ru/exibition/t_114.htm), offering to honor the memory of the first commander of the 17th Infantry Division, Colonel Pyotr Sergeevich Kozlov, who was captured by the Germans after escaping from execution on the orders of G.K. Zhukov as an illegal intelligence agent. At the same time, the author bases his conclusions on references to the articles of the untimely departed historian V.V. , 02/10/09, 02/17/09, 05/09/09 Articles by VV Stepanov are also published on the website http://www.muzejpamyati.narod.ru/st/vvst.htm). Moreover, V.V. Stepanov expressed this only as an assumption, for which he did not find evidence.
The author of the online article, E. Avsharov, confidently writes that “... the 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...” At the same time, he rightly notes: “... In the opinion 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 behind the front line .... "
But, nevertheless, not yet having these documents in hand, E. Avsharov already takes the liberty at the end of the article to ask readers to honor the memory of Colonel P.S. Kozlov as an illegal intelligence agent.
We cannot agree with this. We still do not have documents from “institutions and organizations that sent Colonel Kozlov to the front line…”. Therefore, we will try to use those documents that have already been declassified and are available to researchers. These are the documents of TsAMO of the Russian Federation, which are in the funds of the Western Front, 43, 33 armies, parts of these armies, incl. the 17th rifle division itself, as well as the fund of captured documents of TsAMO and the German documents of the Bundesarchive of the 4th Army and the 57th mechanized corps for the period of 1941.
E. Avsharov calls the story of the failed execution of Colonel Kozlov "a dark story under strange circumstances."
The story is not as dark as many would like to believe. Arrested and sent to execution, Colonel Pyotr Sergeevich Kozlov was, indeed, on the orders of G.K. Zhukov, but not because he did not go where he was ordered, as E. Avsharov suggests, but because he left the fortified defensive line on the river on 10/20/41 without a fight. Protva, which back in August 1941 was supposed to be a line of defense, equivalent to the Ilyinsky line of the Mozhaisk line of defense of the Moscow Defense Zone. The fact of leaving the border of the river. The resistance without pressure from the Germans is undeniable, this is confirmed by both our and German documents of any level.
The scheme for the construction of defensive lines of the Mozhaisk defense line, approved on 23.8.41. The red line of the rear line passes through the Ugodsky Zavod, the defense of which from 14 to 10.20.41 was occupied by the 17th Infantry Division under the command of P.S. Kozlov.
The Narsky line of defense is marked only from Naro-Fominsk to the Warsaw highway. South-east of the Warsaw highway (to Lopasnya-Serpukhov) the line of defense was not yet planned in August 1941, but it was precisely this line that became an insurmountable frontier for the German army. The fighting in this area went on for 2 months from the 20th of October 1941, from here on December 25, 1941, the Nazis were irrevocably expelled. It is symbolic that the expulsion of Napoleon's army in 1812 during the battle on the river began from this very same line. Chernishnya, later named by historians as the Battle of Tarutino.
Scheme taken from http://www.wwii-photos-maps.com/defenseofmoscow/slides/Moscow-Defense--23-8-41-1.html
The Germans in the reconnaissance report of the GA "Center" for 10/18/41 expected, after the capture of the Ilyinsky line of the Mozhaisk line of defense, strong resistance from the Red Army units at the turn of the river. Protva and Nara: “Before the right flank of the 4th Army, the enemy retreats to the east, waging stubborn rearguard battles. One should count on the fact that behind the Oka and Protva the enemy will again take up battle formation for defense .... Further stubborn resistance should be expected using various water barriers passing across the direction of attack ... "
But later the Germans noted with surprise that such resistance did not happen on the section south of the Varshavskoe highway - exactly on the very section that Colonel P.S. Kozlov was supposed to defend. At the same time, in the reconnaissance report of the GA "Center" for 10/21/41, fierce resistance was noted in the northern sector, where the battles were fought by 9 and 17 tank brigades, 152 motorized rifle brigade, 201 airborne units, artillery regiments and other units of the 43 army, leaving the encirclement. Moreover, all these units fought fierce battles on the main, and not on the secondary, like the 17th rifle division, sector, being in the same conditions.
“South of the highway in front of 12 AK and the left flank of 13 AK, a weak enemy retreats to the northeast .. As a result of the offensive of our troops across the river. Protva under n. the settlement of Vysokinichi, the enemy retreated to the northeast.
12 AK: Encountering weak resistance, parts of the hull under n. Pafnutovka and Sobakino moved forward.
To the north of the Medyn-Moscow highway, large enemy forces are operating, having received reinforcements (infantry and artillery).
57 AK: 19 TD meets fierce enemy resistance on both sides of the Medyn-Moscow highway west of the river. Nara."
Events preceding the arrest and "execution" of Colonel Kozlov (according to the documents of the TsAMO RF).
On October 3-4, as part of the Typhoon operation that had begun, a spearhead of the advancing units of the German army was sent to the position of the 17th Infantry Division (hereinafter referred to as the 17th Rifle Division) of the 33rd Army, with the aim of encircling and capturing Moscow. The militiamen had a hard time. Having put up fierce resistance for 2-3 days, they were able to slow down the advance of the German troops. The losses of the division in killed, wounded and missing amounted to about 8 thousand people. These battles are described in detail in the book by V.V. Klimanov “They defended Moscow by themselves”. If you carefully consider the dynamics of the beautifully executed illustrations for this book, you can see how after 2 days of fierce fighting, the Germans, having surrounded the division, left it only one exit - to Vyazma, where the division advanced for several days. There, the division would have shared the fate of other militia divisions that fell into the Vyazemsky cauldron, if one of the officers of the division (and it was not P.S. Kozlov. The name of this officer is indicated in the book of V. Klimanov, which I now do not have at hand) , in the area of Spas-Demensk, did not convince the others that it was necessary to break through the line of encirclement, and not go without resistance to Vyazma. This is what saved the remnants of the division. And where was P.S. Kozlov and what he was doing at that time is not specified in detail in the memoirs of veterans and available documents. Once, even before leaving the encirclement, he spoke to the soldiers of the division, for some reason for the first time introducing himself to them as the division commander (it is not clear how they did not know him from July to October). Someone later saw him in the forest with a small group during the withdrawal period from October 4 to 10, and there is no other information about him during the withdrawal period.
On October 10, the 17th Rifle Division began its formation for the second time. It was replenished with the personnel of the disparate units of the 33rd Army leaving the encirclement. Colonel Mikhail Pavlovich Safir, head of the armored armament department of the 33rd Army, was appointed commander of the division. 33 The army did not conduct military operations during this period. P.S. himself Kozlov appeared in the division only on 10/14/41 and, by decision of the Military Council of the 33rd Army, again took command of the division from M.P. Safira. According to E. Avsharov, I personally have not seen any documents that he was in a special department for all 4 days - only assumptions. If any of the researchers have them, I would like to get acquainted with them. Only a report written during this period by P.S. Kozlov about the combat operations of the 17th Rifle Division during the fighting and exit from the encirclement. But it takes hours, not days, to write this report. On the other hand, being in the German rear for 4 days, you could do a lot. There are cases when the Germans recruited agents for themselves and in a few hours ... The further behavior of Colonel P.S. Kozlov, confirmed by many documents of the 43rd Army and the German 57th mechanized corps and the GA "Center", unfortunately, inclines towards this version.
Fighting in the Warsaw direction was conducted from 10/6/41 by units of the Maloyaroslavets combat section of the MZO and units urgently sent from the Stavka reserve, from October 12 they all became part of the 43rd Army, which accepted this combat section. The units of the 43rd and 33rd armies that were leaving the encirclement in the area of the Varshavskoe highway randomly mixed up, which prevented them from exercising a unified command of the fighting in the area of the village. Detchino and the cities of Maloyaroslavets and Borovsk.
Since October 18, 1941, by order of the commander of the Western Front, G.K. Zhukov, the defense lines of the 33rd and 43rd armies were redistributed according to the actual position of the units. Because 17th Rifle Division was in the zone of action of the 43rd Army, then it was included in the latter. The night before P.S. Kozlov was informed about this, about which he wrote in his report to the commander of the 43rd Army, putting his personal signature. In turn, the 110th and 113th rifle divisions, fighting in the Borovsk region, moved from the 43rd Army to the 33rd Army. On the morning of 10/18/41, the 17th tank brigade of the 43rd Army was urgently withdrawn from Borovsk, which was retreating to the 33rd Army zone, to the Ugodsky Zavod area on the morning of 10/18/41 (not to be confused with the 17th rifle division, these are different units!). This tank brigade had to cross the Varshavskoe highway in the Belousovo area with a fight, because. the highway from 10.30 10.18.41 was already occupied by German troops - the 19th Panzer Division of the Germans unexpectedly broke through. Only the headquarters and the command and control company of the brigade were able to break into the Ugodsky Zavod - Tarutino area with heavy fighting, but by that time the 17th Infantry Division was no longer there. The remaining units of the 17th tank brigade fought their way north of the Varshavskoye highway to the river until October 21-26. Nara.
On the night of 10/18/41 Commander of the 43rd Army K.D. Golubev received a telegram of special importance from the General Staff containing an order to alert the 17th Rifle Division and secure the defense of the river. Protva:
"Telegram OV (of particular importance)
Hand over immediately to Commander 43 Golubev. 10/18/41 0.13
Enemy tanks and infantry are advancing from Nedelnoye. The front commander ordered the 17th Infantry Division to be raised on alert and to occupy the defense lines along the river. Against the lawsuit. highway to Maloyaroslavets, Vysokinichi. Bridges across the river Blow up the counter at Sloboda Chernaya Mud and at Trebino. Organize anti-tank defense on possible routes of movement of enemy tanks and prevent the enemy from crossing the river. Protva. Deliver execution.
Sokolovsky."
At 16.37, another order was received from the General Staff: “... the Komfront ordered: to firmly cover this direction and in no case prevent the enemy from advancing beyond the line of the river. Protva.
At the turn of the river Protva put the newly formed 17 SD from the village of Ugodsky Zavod, raising it on alarm. Immediately accelerate the advance of the 17th tank brigade to your left flank in this direction, in accordance with the previously given command of the order ... "
In pursuance of these orders, Army Commander Golubev, in turn, ordered the commander of the 17th Infantry Division Kozlov to go over to the defense of the river. Protva.
On October 18-19, 1941, officers from the headquarters of the 43rd Army, Colonels Fursin and Balantsev, visited the 17th Rifle Division in Ugodsky Zavod. Both, independently of each other, noted the inaction or weak actions of the 17th sd. (hereinafter, the emphasis is mine - G.G.). Moreover, on 10/19/41 P.S. Kozlov stated that he considers himself subordinate not to the 43rd, but to the 33rd army, and therefore the orders of the commander of the 43rd army allegedly do not apply to him. He did not know, or forgot, that these orders had the level of the General Staff and the commander of the front, to which both of these armies belonged, so it was useless to dissuade.
"To the Chief of Staff of the 43rd Army
Having handed in at 19.35 on 10/18/41 an order for the 17th rifle division to occupy the line of defense along the river. Protva, I went to the headquarters of the division at the Ugodsky Zavod. Due to the lack of roads and the oncoming flow of movement of some units and rears of 113 SD and a significant number of military units and rears of 53 SD, I managed to arrive in Tarutino by 0600 on 10/19/41.
In order to expedite the transfer of the order from Tarutino, I contacted the division chief of staff by telephone and, to the extent possible, conveyed the essence of the matter, which was quite clear to him.
He arrived at the Ugodsky Zavod at 9.45, handed the order to the commander of the 17th Infantry Division, in the presence of the commissar. I was told that the division practically does not carry out this order.
Right there in the 17th Rifle Division, I found the commander and chief of staff of the 53rd Rifle Division, whom I acquainted with the order, where the task was set and the 53rd Rifle Division ... "
p \ n regiment. Fursin
"To the Chief of Staff (43rd Army)
1. We sit in the mud in Boevo in the forest. The 17th SD considers itself the 33rd Army. No fuel, ammunition, food.
2. 17 SD retreated to Tarutino without an order. It is difficult to restrain the enemy. Where is your CP?
3. Part of the units are assembled north of Semkino. The rear of Kollontaevo are going to Agafino. 517 AP abandoned materiel.
NO-1 Balantsev 18.00 10.19.41 "
When leaving the Ugodsky Zavod, the 17th Rifle Division, Colonel P.S. Kozlova, on the orders of the General Staff, was to blow up the bridges across the Protva in front of the advancing German troops. And the sappers of the division blew them up right in front of the vanguard of our 312th rifle division, leaving the Detchino area after fierce fighting, at a moment when the Germans were not around yet. As a result, 312 RD crossed the river. You can swim against it, and in those days the air temperature dropped below zero degrees, especially at night. The width of the river reached 40-60 m. Many soldiers of the 312th Rifle Division caught a bad cold. I had to leave all the artillery and wheeled vehicles of the 312th Rifle Division on the right bank, because. there was no way to send them. Because of this, Colonel A.F. Naumov, an experienced commander of this very combat-ready division of the 43rd Army, was almost court martialed, although he somehow left the encirclement on orders and should not, unlike P.S. Kozlov, to defend the line of the river. Protva. Also, the 517 artillery regiment was completely without materiel.
The fact of leaving the border of the river. The resistance without pressure from the Germans is undeniable, this is confirmed by our and German documents of any level, regardless of the degree of trust in the memos of the checking officers from the headquarters of the 43rd Army - Fursin and Balantsev, who are now trying to be called petty and slanderous in various sources. Colonel Fursin was not an outsider - at the time of taking command of P.S. Kozlov on 10/14/41, most of the soldiers of the newly formed 10/10/41 17th rifle division (2nd formation) were not fighters of the 17th rifle division (1st formation) (there were less than 600 people), but soldiers of the 211th rifle division, the commander of which was up to 3 On October 4, Fursin himself was there (there were about 1,400 of them).
"Operative report No. 115 STARM 33 Voronovo by 10/14/41 by 24.00
1. Parts 33 A continue to be completed:
a) 17 SD - district Ugodsky plant. The division has a total of: personnel belonging to its division - 584 people, out of 8 SD-commands and fighters - 80 people, out of 211 SD-commands 241 people, ml. early composition - 215 people, fighters 951 people. Of the four arrived marching companies - 397 people. Total in the division 2507 people ... "
In the book of orders of the 17th Rifle Division for 10/18/41 (on the day of the surrender of the city of Maloyaroslavets!) Only personnel orders were found, in particular, on the appointment of employees of the divisional club and the postal station, but combat orders on occupying defense or on urgent replenishment of fuel and ammunition for the upcoming fights - there is none. A request from Colonel Kozlov to the headquarters of the 43rd Army for the replenishment of the 17th Rifle Division with fuel, ammunition and food was written in the operational report of the 17th Rifle Division only on 10/19/41, when the Germans had already come close. What did he hope for and what did he expect on 15-18.10.41?
He was probably busy with more important things for himself - for example, he went to his wife in Serpukhov, located 1.5 hours drive along a straight road from Ugodsky Zavod. During the meeting, he strongly advised his wife and children to urgently evacuate from Serpukhov to the rear, i.e. even then he was sure of the surrender of this defensive line. But neither Serpukhov nor the Narsky line of defense were surrendered to the Germans. When all the cowards fled, the fighters and commanders of the same divisions who remained in the ranks, taking on the whole burden for those who had left the battlefield, stopped the enemy precisely at this line. But it happened a week after the events described.
Information about visiting P.S. Kozlov's wives in Serpukhov were repeatedly published in various sources from the words of veterans of the 17th rifle division, to whom P.S.'s wife addressed. Kozlova Valentina Andreevna Kozlova. Chekhov researcher A.S. Vishnyakov quoted from a letter from P.S. Kozlov’s wife: “In the terrible year of 1941, in October, with two small children, I left Serpukhov on a barge along the Oka to the Saratov region. His last words at parting were: "You will live among Soviet people will help you." The exact date of the visit to P.S. Kozlov's wife is unknown, V.V. Stepanov suggested that this could only be after the escape. But, in my opinion, most likely it could be from October 14 to 18, when he was in the Ugodsky Zavod, connected by a good road with the city of Serpukhov, and had a motor vehicle at his disposal. From the border of the river Nara to Serpukhov could only be reached by forests or by the road through Podolsk, passing all the cordons, which is problematic for those who escaped from execution. From the moment of his arrest until the moment of captivity by the Germans from October 22 to October 24, in conditions of severe mudslide, he would hardly have been able to get to Serpukhov, and also move around the city, openly meeting with his wife and children. Yes, and the wife in this case would have known that he was on the run and during and after the war would not have looked for information about him in the personnel department of the Red Army and among the veterans of the division.
At 01.00 20.10.41 of the 17th Rifle Division, on the orders of his commander P.S. Kozlov left the Ugodsky Zavod.
By 15:00 on 10/20/41, they reached Tarutino (i.e., they retreated without a fight from the Protva River to the Nara River, leaving a convenient line of defense and more than 25 km of territory without a fight). Days passed. Only then, by 13:00 on 10/21/41, did the Germans approach and begin shelling. But even in Tarutino, the 17th Rifle Division did not take up the defense.
“... Tarutino is under fire, tanks are coming, the infantry of the 17th and 53rd rifle divisions are fleeing from the first shots. Tarutino is on fire. The radio got stuck in the mud. The enemy can be expected soon to the highway.
Balantsev 13.25. 21.10.41"
In the German "Combat Diary" of the 57th mechanized corps on 10/21/41 it was noted:
"Neighbor on the right - 12 AK overcame the weak resistance of the enemy and captured the pillars of the bridge across the Nara in Tarutino ...".
On October 21, fierce battles were fought between the 43rd Army and the 57th German mechanized corps in the main direction - on the Varshavskoye highway in the area of the village of Sparrows, by the artillery forces of the 43rd Army, 9th brigade and 152nd motorized brigade. On a secondary direction along the Old Kaluga Road, the forces of the 17th Rifle Division against the 12th Mechanized Corps planned an offensive from Tarutino back to the Ugodsky Plant, but it was suspended until the situation in Sparrows was clarified by order of the Chief of Staff of the 43rd Army Bogolyubov. It was ordered “... by 19.00 on 10.21.41 17th SD to concentrate in the area of Bogorodskoye, Rozhdestveno, south of Spas-Kupl. Get yourself in order and be ready for a counterattack on Sparrows. Continuously conduct combat reconnaissance on Sparrows, Sobakino. In the area of concentration be in constant combat readiness. Fighting under any conditions and without an order from the Military Council of the Army is prohibited. Those guilty of unauthorized withdrawal will be shot. Report on performance.
Nashtarm 43 Colonel Bogolyubov 21.10.41 15.15 "
It is not known at what exact time this order was received in the 17th Rifle Division, but it is clear that Colonel Kozlov was notified in advance of the degree of responsibility for the withdrawal from the assigned positions.
The commander of the southern group of the 43rd Army, Lieutenant General Akimov, on the same day, 10/21/41, reported, pointing out the lack of actions to control the 17th rifle division by its command:
“To the Commander of the 43rd Army, Major General Golubev.
Combat report No. 1 Korsakovo 10/21/41 17.30
1. The enemy in groups - a company, a battalion, occupied the Podolsk-Maloyaroslavets Orekhovo, Borisovo, Makarovo highway from the direction; and on the way to the southwest he captured Tarutino with tanks up to an infantry regiment with mortars and artillery.
2. The 17th Rifle Division, withdrawing essentially without enemy pressure from the Ugodsky Zavod area, blew up the bridge and thereby made it difficult for the 312th Rifle Division to withdraw. The division itself withdrew in disarray, not controlled by the division command.
3. The 312th Rifle Division with reinforcement units withdrew to the Korsakovo area, leaving almost all materiel on enemy territory. Ugodsky Zavod from the border of the river. Protva left without the onslaught of the enemy. The division commander motivates this by the ambiguity of the situation and (by the fact that there was) shooting from the right and left.
4. 53rd Rifle Division, consisting of 2 incomplete battalions at 15.30 on the way to Tarutino. In essence, they are not controlled by anyone and the order of the Army has not been carried out. The division headquarters was in Kresty, the division commander with the commissar was in the Tarutino area, but I can’t find it.
5. The 17th Rifle Division, which was in Tarutino, did not occupy the defense, the Ugodsky Zavod did not fulfill the order to attack. As a result, the approach of the enemy to Tarutino was unexpected and, when the enemy opened fire from machine guns, mortars and tanks, everyone in Tarutino fled in panic. Difficult to hold when using force of arms.
The Member of the Military Council and I have taken the following measures:
1) All runners are delayed, starting from Kresty and formed into companies sent to Tarutino.
2) I ordered 312 SD to take possession of Orekhovo, Borisovo. Machine gun battalion (8 heavy machine guns) - Makarovo
3) 17 rifle divisions to capture ... Tarutino, Agafino, Dubrovka
Group Commander Member of the Military. Council
Major General Akimov Brigadier Commissar Seryukov"
Thus, in the documents of the 43rd Army, not a single document was found that objectively testifies to the adequate actions of the commander of the 17th Rifle Division, Colonel P.S. Kozlov during the period of leaving the territory from the river. Protva to the river. Nara, from 18 to 21 October. On the contrary, absolutely all the senior officers of the 43rd Army Fursin, Balantsev and the commander of the southern group of the 43rd Army - Akimov (he was the commander of the 43rd Army until October 16, and was not officially removed from this position, even after the appointment of K.D. Golubev) pointed to the bad command of a division and disobeying orders.
The position of P.S. Kozlov was aggravated by the fact that G.K. himself was born in the Ugodsko-Zavodsky district in the village of Strelkovka. Zhukov. There, until the occupation, his mother and sister lived with their family. At the last moment, they were nevertheless taken out of Strelkovka to Moscow. Perhaps it was from his relatives that he learned in detail about the situation in the Ugodsky Zavod area and became convinced of the inaction of the military who were here. Nowadays, this regional center was renamed and now in honor of Marshal G.K. Zhukov is called Zhukov. Fellow villagers, even after the Victory, could reproach G.K. Zhukov in that, they saw with their own eyes how he in October 1941, being the commander of the front, did not defend his small homeland at all. He owed this shame to his fellow countrymen precisely to the inaction of the commander of the 17th Rifle Division, which occupied the defense here - Colonel P.S. Kozlov.
The cup of patience with the commander of the Western Front G.K. Zhukova was full. At dawn on 10/22/41, an order was written for the execution of P.S. Kozlov.
“Order of the commander of the Western Front to the commander of the 43rd Army of October 22, 1941 on the prohibition of withdrawal and measures to prevent it
GOLUBEV
1) I categorically forbid leaving the occupied line before 23.10.
2) Immediately send Seleznev to the 17th division, immediately arrest the commander of the 17th division and shoot him before the formation.
The 17th division, the 53rd division must be forced to return on the morning of 10/22/41 Tarutino 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 both fighters and weapons. …
Zhukov Bulganin
Submitted 4.45 10.22.41"
Indeed, in Podolsk, the rear area of the 43rd Army, more than 7 thousand soldiers and commanders from the 17th and 53rd rifle divisions were detained that day ... How useful they would be on that day at the front!
About the execution of the commissioner of the 17th SD S.I. Yakovlev in Zhukov's order is out of the question, but from that day on, the battalion commissar Kudrya became the commissar of the division. Nevertheless, in an order for the 43rd Army, Army Commander Golubev informed all parts of the army that both the commander and the commissar of the 17th Rifle Division had been shot. From the service record of S.I. Yakovlev, it turned out that he was transferred to the Volkhov Front with a big demotion. He was demoted to an instructor in the political department of the division, although until he left the encirclement in early October 1941, he served as a Member of the Military Council of the 43rd Army, then until 21.10.41 - Commissar of the 17th Rifle Division. Despite this, and perhaps because of this, S.I. Yakovlev survived and lived to see the Victory. As commander of the 17th rifle division instead of P.S. Kozlov was temporarily joined by the head of the operations department of the 43rd Army, brigade commander Lyubarsky, who reported on the failed military operations the next day:
“On 10/22/41 from 12.00, on the orders of Lieutenant General Akimov, the 17th Infantry Division advanced with the aim of capturing Tarutino. 1312 SP with a force of up to 350 fighters led an offensive on the eastern outskirts of Tarutino Bolshak south of Tarutino.
At about 15.30 on 10.22.41, the enemy launched an offensive from Tarutino, along the highway to Karsakovo, with a strength of up to a regiment and a company of tanks, supported by mortars, artillery and aviation. The units of the 53rd Rifle Division and the 17th Tank Brigade advancing on Tarutino along the highway were crushed by the enemy, and the advancing units of the 17th Rifle Division, bypassing Tarutino, came under flanking fire and a strike from a rifle company with 3 tanks on Agafyino. Having suffered losses, the units began to retreat to Dednya, Tunaevo.
Around 16.30 on 22.10.41, 19 dive bombers raided parts of the 53rd and 17th SDs, aviation delivered a particularly strong blow to the Korsakovo area, keeping our troops under machine-gun fire for 40 minutes, making up to 15 flights.
My attempt with a group of headquarters commanders to delay the retreating units from Korsakovo village was successful until the appearance of enemy tanks. As soon as the tanks approached with the advancing infantry, the units faltered and ran into the forest, to the north and Korsakovo village. I, with the division commissar, battalion commissar Kudrya, and with a group of headquarters commanders, began to make our way to our units, which were retreating in a northeasterly direction to Stremilovo, Vysokoye. Arriving on the morning of 23.10 in Stremilovo, they began to collect units and set combat missions for them.
By 16.00 23.10.41, the 17th Infantry Division occupies the following position:
1312 SP takes up defense in the Belyaevo, Bulgakovo, Kormashovka sector. The combat strength of the regiment is about 350 people. Fighters and commanders and rear. Absolutely no artillery.
1316 SP continues to collect and takes up defense at a height of 195, 3 plateau south. High and organizes all-round defense. The composition of the regiment up to 200 people. The fighters and commanders and the rear of our 1314 joint venture after the battle at Baevo with a force of up to 250 people, 5 mortars, 12 heavy machine guns, 51 light machine guns, according to a report at 14.00 by the commander of the regiment, Colonel Bekashev, left the battle having lost all materiel, the remnants of the regiment commander and commissar, 30 commanders and fighters.
980 AP - 106 people in Stremilovo, 30 people in Yasenki.
Approximately 1/3 are armed with rifles, and the rest are unarmed. There are absolutely no weapons.
Communication battalion - 60 people, 3 km of cable, 2 radio stations, one of them, working with the Army headquarters, is out of order.
Now, in the Dmitrovka, Stremilovo, Kormashovka sector, the defense is engaged in the following way:
- battalion of the 2nd Lyubertsy regiment, consisting of 250 people. with 5 light machine guns without heavy machine guns and guns - Dmitrovka.
- Battalion 10 VDB - Stremilovo with one company in Pershino.
Battalion 616 SP 194 SD - 11 shooters. And only 217 people occupy Chubarovo.
1312 joint ventures up to 300 fighters without artillery occupy the defense of the Begichevo, Bulatnikovo, Karmashovka line.
-1316 joint venture - about 200 people without artillery occupy the s-western outskirts of Vysokoye.
The enemy occupies Dednya, Tunaevo, Markovo. German intelligence appeared in Begichevo at 15.00 on 23.10.41.
According to the report of the headquarters commanders who passed through Teterinki, Kolontaevo, these points are not dealt with by anyone.
The headquarters of the SD and the rear of the division are completely preserved. DOP is located in Peshkovo. Parts of the division are completely small, 1314 joint ventures are essentially non-existent. The division does not have a single weapon. Parts of the previous actions 22.10 are demoralized, discipline is low, not fully assembled and put in order.
From General Akimov he received an order: to attack Zhukovo, Marfino, which are engaged in the enemy. I report that in this state the remaining units of the division are completely incapable of conducting offensive operations.
I continue to collect people, put the remaining parts in order.
I ask for your instructions - to replenish the division with personnel and materiel and, mainly, artillery
Commander of the 17th SD Military Commissar of the 17th SD
Kombrig Lyubarsky Battalion. Commissioner A. Kudrya
By a strange coincidence, the commander of the 53rd Infantry Division, with whom P.S. Kozlov left the Ugodsky Zavod in Tarutino, was killed on this very day - 10/22/41 near the village of Korsakovo (although nothing was written about his execution in the order of G.K. Zhukov). Perhaps this happened during the air raid and the German offensive from 15.30.
On the night of the same day, the commander of the group, Lieutenant General Akimov, reported:
Combat report D. Chernishnya 24.00 22.10.41
The enemy with tanks, supported by aviation up to 40 aircraft, at 16.30 went on the offensive and captured Karsakovo.
Our units of the 53rd Rifle Division, 17th Rifle Division and 312th Rifle Division, having suffered heavy losses in killed and wounded, could not withstand the onslaught and fled in panic. All control of the commanders of divisions and units was lost. This was aggravated by the ensuing darkness.
... divisional commanders do not know where their troops are. Sent by me to find them and take up defenses according to the order. I have no connection with the 17th SD.
The commander of the 53rd SD, Colonel Krasnoretsky, was killed.
Conclusion.
1. The remnants of these units are demoralized and it is impossible to count on a strong defense.
2. In this regard, a threat is created for the army even to the front when the enemy enters the Podolsk highway. I ask you to move a fresh unit, reinforced by artillery, in the direction of vil. Chernishnya, Tarutino in order to restore the situation. Actions need to be supported by strong aircraft
Lieutenant General Akimov 24.00 10.22.41.
On October 24, the brigade commander Lyubarsky handed over command to his successor, already a permanent commander, Major General Seleznev, who previously held the post of chief of logistics of the 43rd Army headquarters. Under his command, combat sectors were identified and occupied, now called the Stremilov boundary, which the 17th Rifle Division (2nd Formation) defended until December 25, 1941.
It was during the period of October 22-24, when the threat of the surrender of Moscow was more real than ever, that a wave of orders passed through the armies of the Western Front to shoot unit commanders who had not fulfilled their tasks of defending the lines of Moscow defense. Such orders were in the 43rd, and in the 5th, and in the 33rd Army. But it would be wrong to assume that this was the initiative of G.K. Zhukov. A serious influence was exerted by the NPO and the main political department of the Red Army under the leadership of the notorious L.Z. Mehlis, further down the subordination from the Military Councils of the fronts and armies to the political departments of the units. So, in the documents of the Military Council Zap. front, the original order was discovered, signed by the head of the political department of the Western Front D. Lestev:
“To the commanders and commissars of divisions of the 33rd Army 10/23/41.
Orders of the NPO No. 270 and the Military Council Zap. Front No. 0345 demand that deserters, cowards and alarmists who abandon the battlefield, retreat without permission from their positions, abandon weapons and equipment, be shot on the spot. Many commanders, commissars, heads of units of the 33rd Army do not do this. Do not deal with the guilty.
Commanders themselves are not responsible for non-compliance with combat orders and unauthorized abandonment of positions.
Apparently, the commanders and commissars do not realize that they are fighting the fascist monsters on the outskirts of Moscow, have not understood the full importance of the direction and often sit back and do nothing. Only this can explain the shameful flight from the battlefield of units 110 and 113 SD.
I ORDER:
Resolutely carry out the orders of NPO No. 270 and the Military Council of the Front No. 0345, mercilessly crack down on deserters, cowards, alarmists on the spot.
Leaving positions without the permission of the Senior Chief is a betrayal and treason to the Motherland. To those guilty of withdrawing without permission from their positions, apply capital punishment. Let every commander, chief, fighter understand that in the current situation in the struggle for the Motherland, for Moscow, the death of a brave man is better than contemptible cowardice and alarmism.
Report immediately to the Military Council of the Front and the Army about the measures taken.
To the commanders and commissars of the 110th and 113th SDs no later than 10.00 10.24.41, by any means, report to the Military Council of the Front about the reasons for the withdrawal of units from combat positions, indicate the specific perpetrators and what measures have been taken against them in the spirit of the above orders.
Member of the Military Council of the Western Front
Divisional commissar p\p D. Lestev "
Working in the TsAMO RF since 2006 on the study of the defense of Moscow in the Warsaw direction, I looked through the documents of the headquarters of the Reserve, Western Fronts, the Ministry of Defense, the headquarters of the 33rd and 43rd Army and the units included in them. Once, on the back of one of the typewritten documents of the 43rd Army, I suddenly came across a handwritten postscript of the commander of the 43rd Army Golubev:
“To General of the Army Zhukov 31.10.41 23.40
…5. I am reporting a crime. Today, on the spot, I established that the former commander of the 17th Infantry Division, Kozlov, was not shot in front of the line, but fled. The circumstances of the case are as follows: having received your order to “Arrest and shoot the commander of the 17th SD before the formation,” I instructed Member of the Military Council Seryukov, who was leaving for the division, and Lieutenant General Akimov to do this. For unknown reasons, they did not do this and sent the division commander to me. I sent back under escort, organized by the head of the special department, 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 appoint an investigation
Golubev 31.10.41 23.40"
It should be noted that Seryukov was wounded on the day of the "execution" of P.S. Kozlov on 10/22/41 and 10/23/41 he was replaced by a new Member of the Military Council of the 43rd Army - Kovalkov. And on the afternoon of 10/23/41, Lieutenant General S.D. Akimov was also seriously wounded - his leg was torn off by an exploding shell and he was evacuated to the rear, transferring command of the southern group of the 43rd Army to the commander of the 312th Rifle Division - Colonel A.F. Naumov. But the former commander of the 43rd Army S.D. Akimov was fatally unlucky: the plane in which he flew a few days later with a group of specialists from the aircraft factory crashed on 10/29/41 in the Penza region. All died.
Thus, on October 31, 1941, at the time of writing this report by Army Commander Golubev, none of the participants were around anymore and there was no one to ask, from whom Golubev learned about Kozlov’s escape remained unknown ...
According to the intelligence reports of the GA "Center"
Soon, at the end of 2006, at TsAMO, I met the historian and journalist V.V. Stepanov, who worked at that time as a deputy. head department "Book of Memory" in the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War on Poklonnaya Hill. When I learned that he had been studying the history of the 17th Infantry Division for a long time, meeting with veterans of this division, I immediately asked if Colonel Kozlov had been found. He was very surprised, because for the first time he heard that P.S. Kozlov managed to escape and believed that he was shot along with the commissar of the division, Yakovlev.
We found many common topics for discussion, and after a while he invited me to work with him in the museum. A few more months passed. Studying the documents of the TsAMO trophy fund, in the evening report of the reconnaissance department of the 4th army of the GA "Center" dated 10/24/41, I accidentally found a short phrase at the end of the report: "... The commander of the 17th rifle division was captured ....". There was no doubt - in the 17th Rifle Division on October 24 there were no other commanders, except for P.S. Kozlov, who could have been captured: both Lyubarsky and Seleznev continued to serve in the 43rd Army and signed documents.
At this time, V.V. Stepanov had already finished the article “The Breaks in the Fate of Colonel Kozlov”, which he was already going to take to the editorial office of the magazine “ Military historical archive".
I gave the German intelligence report I found to him and he quickly managed to make changes to the article, which immediately changed its direction. Earlier in the article "brave and experienced" the commander of the division of the people's militia P.S. Kozlov was presented as an innocent victim of the "cruel and unfair" G.K. Zhukov, but after the information of the Germans about his capture, doubts arose whether Zhukov was wrong?
Respecting the veterans of the 17th division, V.V. Stepanov tried to find at least some possible justification for the act of their division commander P.S. Kozlov. He suggested that he may have been deliberately abandoned to the Germans. Who is abandoned? Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army? A special department of the Army or the front? Unfortunately, in March 2012 V.V. Stepanov died without finding an answer ... Let the earth rest in peace to this indifferent active person! But a possible assumption cannot be unequivocally accepted as valid, evidence is needed!
.... Later, in the trophy fund, I found another document of the intelligence chief of the headquarters of the German 9th Army (it is likely that the army number was illegible in the original document, most likely it was a document of the 4th Army - approx. G.G.) GA "Center "for November 28, 1941 - a month after the capture of P.S. Kozlov. This document contains information known to the German intelligence department of the 9th (4th) Army about all units of the Red Army located in front of its front. The list is very large, but there is no such detailed and accurate information about any unit as about the 17th Infantry Division. Information was provided to the Germans by the one who knew about its first and second formations with an exact indication of the number, names of the newly entered units and the number of weapons each soldier had. An ordinary soldier or junior commander could hardly know this. Judging by the fact that this intelligence report accurately indicated the reason for the arrest of division commander Kozlov, this information was provided by Kozlov himself. He gave the latest information known to him:
"Corrections and additions to the list of formations of the Red Army, which in in full force or part of the forces were identified in front of the front of the 9th Army in the period from 22.6.41
... 17 division of the people's militia.
Formed in the Moskvoretsky district of Moscow. Commander Colonel Kozlov, arrested on 24.10.41 by the commander of the 43rd Army because of the division's unauthorized abandonment of positions on Protva, sentenced to death. The current commander is Brigadier General Lyubarsky. Until 10/18/41, the division was subordinate to the 33rd Army, and from 10/18/41 to the 43rd Army. There are no tanks in the division. 15/7/41 the division was in Moscow, 30/7/41 - in Spas-Demensk, 29/8/41 - in Lubun and 1.9. in Vyazma. On 10/04/41, during the battles for Vyazma, she lost 50% of her personnel. The morale of the division is low; - GG / from the remnants of the 221st and 8th rifle divisions, as well as one marching company.
The division included:
49 joint ventures = 1312 joint ventures, personnel 1600 people.
50 joint ventures = 1314 joint ventures, personnel 1800 people.
51 SP=1316 SP; personnel 700 people.
868 artillery regiment
Each rifle regiment has 60 heavy machine guns, 180 light machine guns, 6 107 mm mortars, 4 76 mm guns, 4 37 mm guns, semi-automatic rifles, each soldier has one hand grenade.
Further divisions were attached:
878 artillery regiment,
876 anti-tank division,
704 anti-aircraft artillery division ... "
Pointing out the division commander of the brigade commander Lyubarsky, P.S. Kozlov actually put his signature under the testimony. After all, he could not know about the appointment of Seleznev as division commander on October 24, because. that day was already with the Germans. This document from V.V. Stepanov was not there at the time of writing, so he still hoped to find an excuse for P.S.’s escape. Kozlov from execution.
The lack of more recent intelligence about the 17th Rifle Division among the Germans suggests that none of the captured soldiers of the 17th Infantry Division for a period of more than a month from 24.10. 41 on 11/28/41 did not say anything significant during interrogations, even the changes that had occurred in the number and appointments of the command. And 5 days before the preparation of this document, it was 17 sd from the base - from the village of Mukovnino that 4 partisan groups were thrown into the German rear to carry out the famous Ugodsko-Zavodskaya operation, during which 4 partisans were captured, including who became a posthumous Hero Soviet Union, former chairman of the Ugodsko-Zavodsky district executive committee, Mikhail Guryanov. The Germans also did not add any new information about the 17th Rifle Division after the Ugodsko-Zavodskoy operation.
For comparison, we will give information from the same document about the 17th tank brigade, which was located on 10/24/41 in the same place, on Nara, as part of the 43rd Army: “... 17th tank brigade.
Initially subordinate to the 16th Army, then the 43rd Army, Formed at the end of September in Medyn. The brigade consists of 5 battalions, each battalion has 30 tanks (10 T-34s and 20 T-40s). The brigade also has 3 rifle companies.
Of all this meager information, it is only true that the brigade was subordinate to the 43rd Army (and then only from 10/12/41 to 11/25/41), that there are 30 tanks in the tank battalion and 3 rifle companies in the brigade. But in fact, the 17th brigade got into the 16th Army only from 12/1/41, i.e. after the writing of this German document. The place of formation of the 17th brigade was in Vladimir, and not in Medyn, where the brigade was not formed, but fought on 10-11.10.41 (several tanks with the written brigade number were knocked out and left there). There were not 5 battalions in the brigade, but 3 - two tank and one motorized rifle. The number of tanks in a tank battalion is fairly accurately indicated, but this could be found out from the typical states of any tank brigade of that period. Such incorrect and inaccurate information suggests that out of 388 fighters and commanders of 17 tank brigade who were reported missing for the entire period of October-November 1941, there was not a single one who would give the enemies any important information! There were no traitors in the brigade! And in the 17th rifle division, most likely, there was also no, at least in November 1941, except for one ...
After the publication of the article “The Breaks in the Fate of Colonel Kozlov” in the journal “Military Historical Archive” No. 12 for 2007, Valery Vasilyevich Stepanov studied documents related to P.S. Kozlov in the FSB archive, without the right to make accurate statements. He said that he saw with his own eyes a note secretly planted by Kozlov near Stalingrad (or someone in his place with a similar handwriting, and who knew his story before November 1941) that he repented of his act committed in October 1941 Could a scout - an illegal immigrant - write like that? Never. The same documents contained information that Kozlov, who had the nickname "Bulls" during his service as a teacher or head of the Abwehr intelligence school, was a heavy drinker. It also does not look like an illegal intelligence officer who should not draw attention to himself and should be extremely careful.
At one time (approximately in 2005), at the request of the Council of Veterans of the 17th Rifle Division and the director of the Moscow Defense Museum A.S. Lukicheva, who did not have sufficiently reliable documents, Colonel P.S. Kozlov was rehabilitated. But, after the publication of the above article by V.V. Stepanov and the subsequent check by the FSB services, rehabilitation was removed from him. Be really P.S. Kozlov is an illegal intelligence agent, it is unlikely that the FSB signed the withdrawal of rehabilitation.
“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. ”- E writes in his article. Avsharov.
With regard to the execution of the commissioner of the 17th SD S.I. Yakovlev, as it turned out, there really was a staging. But what kind of information confirms the assumption of “deep penetration” into the enemy’s lair by P.S. Kozlov, it is not yet clear, I would like to see supporting documents or evidence. Too high a price was paid for such an "introduction" - the surrender of the line of defense of the river. Protva, leaving 25 km of territory from the river. Protva to the river. Nara without a fight and the issuance of detailed information about the weapons of the fighters of their own division. For conclusions, you need to have high-level foreign or military intelligence documents, which we currently do not have.
Intelligence documents have now been declassified and memoirs of intelligence officers of a much higher level, such as P. Sudoplatov, Z. Voskresenskaya and others, have been published. Documents relating to the stay of Colonel P.S. Kozlov in the intelligence school of the Abwehr as a teacher or even the head of this school, are unlikely to be able to reveal more important secrets that are essential for our state at the present time. It is time to declassify these documents and put them into circulation, so as not to guess and offend an honest officer in vain, or not to praise and perpetuate a traitor.
In the meantime, ask people through the media to honor the memory of Colonel P.S. Kozlov, as an illegal intelligence officer, is still too early.
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 fairly large number of 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.
"one. 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 line, 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 the 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. AT 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. Perhaps his fate was 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:
"one. 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.
I was born in 1934 in the Kirov region in the village of Oparino, Oparinsky district, - says Alexei Mikhailovich. - True, I don’t remember this village, because at the age of one and a half my grandmother took me from my parents, and since 1936 I lived in Vologda. There he finished tenth grade. It just so happened that I was brought up by my grandparents, because my mother and father were very young and raised three more besides me. Mom worked as an accountant on a collective farm. And my father went into the army in 1941, during the war he was the commissar of a tank battalion in the Fifth Guards Army of General Rotmistrov, and participated in the Battle of Kursk.
Well, I went to school in 1943. I had a wonderful German teacher - Zelman Shmulevich Shchertsovsky. In 1939, when Poland was occupied by Germany, he fled to Soviet Union from the Nazis. Here they sent a young guy to Vologda for a settlement. He graduated from the Pedagogical Institute and taught us German. He knew him perfectly and demanded a lot from us. I have a wonderful relationship with him. It was he who helped me a lot in preparing for the institute.
I finished school with a silver medal and went to the capital. Arrived at the Yaroslavl station with a wooden suitcase with a padlock. I had never been to Moscow before. The first thing I asked at the information desk of the station: “Where is the Institute international relations? They gave me the address: Metrostroevskaya, 53. Now the Diplomatic Academy is in this building. Introductory passed on "excellent".
I studied Danish and German at the institute. And in December 1958 they sent me to practice in Denmark in the consular department of the embassy. When he returned, he was offered to go to work in the state security agencies. Why? You need to ask the personnel department of MGIMO about this. Of course, not all graduates went to the authorities. For example, Julius Kvitsinsky, the future First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, future famous ambassadors, studied with me in the group. But I remember when in 1984, for the first time after many years of working abroad, I got to Yasenevo (the headquarters of the Foreign Intelligence Service. - Ed.), I hugged and greeted almost everyone I met there, because I knew from my studies at the institute.
So, in 1959, for the first and last time, I was called to the Lubyanka - then Dzerzhinsky Street, house 2. They asked: where would I like to work? I answered: only at operational work - so that no scribbles. They offered to become an illegal intelligence officer. Only now I can boast of one bump - on my finger. I have never had to write as much as in this unfortunate operational job.
technical draftsman
- But doesn't the knowledge of a foreign language as a native one be required for illegal work?
By that time my German was good. Danish studied at the institute and during practice. They took me in for training. And it was very short. He came to study on August 1, 1959, and already on October 2, 1962, he left for combat work in a Western country. Pre-prepared in the GDR. Then it helped us a lot. Although not always. Because he picked up the Saxon dialect in Leipzig. And I will never forget how soon, already in West Germany, quite by chance I got into a conversation in a cafe with a criminal police officer. And suddenly he asks me: are you, he says, not from here, not from Braunschweig? No, I answer, I am an Austrian. He shakes his head: strange, he would give his head for cutting off that you are a Saxon. I had to convince him that my mother was a Saxon and my father was an Austrian. Fortunately, my table neighbor, a young guy, at that moment was more interested in the young ladies sitting next to him.
Then there was Denmark.
- And what did you do there, besides your main business, of course?
Every illegal intelligence agent must have some kind of cover profession. Here in Moscow at that moment I could be made a car repairman, a repairman for refrigerators or TVs, and the like. Made by a technical draftsman. I hated this profession with every fiber of my soul, because by nature I am a humanitarian. But I had to agree. Yes, and the profession is clean, even though you don’t need to climb under the car. In Copenhagen, he came to a technical institute, where, among others, draftsmen were trained. I had to study for three years. I told the rector that I wanted to finish in three months. He looked at me dumbfounded, but I calmly explained that I can draw and I only need a diploma. He invited some teacher, talked. And they decided this: I will have to pay for all three years of study, but if I manage to pass all the exams in three months, they will give me a diploma right away. I went to the institute every day and several times. He completed all the tasks and received a Danish diploma.
- What kind of passport did you have?
I was German. And the passport is West German, though fake. I had to run around several countries, choose some state in which I allegedly lived for many years and where, according to legend, I could earn enough money as a foreigner. First, I was offered to go to Lebanon. Sailed there on a boat from Naples. On the way I met a girl who knew English very well. She then taught me for six months, and quite well.
In Lebanon, it turned out that the Lebanese-Arabs are very fond of the Germans. As for Denmark, where I came from, few people knew about the existence of the Kingdom of Denmark there.
Then, on the instructions of the Center, he left for Algeria. We had to settle down for a long time there. French troops were still stationed in Algiers, but Ahmed Ben Bella was already president.
In this country, no one knew either English or German, let alone Danish. Through a familiar Frenchman who spoke German, or rather, through his friends, he got a job as a technical draftsman. All the engineers and architects there were Swiss, and they speak English, German, French and Italian. And in Algeria at that time, even many Arabs spoke only French. It came to curiosities. When Ben Bella decided to rename all the streets and put their names in Arabic script, the mess started amazing. In general, I had to learn French in Algeria, and later, much later, also Italian. I still speak all these languages normally.
My wife came to Algeria.
- How did you manage to explain her arrival to the locals?
We got married in Moscow just before the business trip. In the Union, she was in training. And when she arrived, we found an appropriate legend for her. I had old French acquaintances. Some of them left, some died. But we had an address where my wife supposedly could live at one time. She arrived, of course, as a German, and already learned French in Algeria. In this country, I was lucky: two years after independence, the Algerians began to destroy the documentation of all foreigners who had lived there before. Then I could easily say in other states that I lived in Algeria for 20 years, where I earned a lot of money.
And my wife became pregnant, and we were offered to go to West Germany in order to finally document our marriage there. After all, both of us had fake passports. First we went to Tunisia, then to Holland, then to France. After that I went to the city of Stuttgart. And he left his wife at the border in French Strasbourg.
- Why did you enter Germany alone?
I could not take it, because I did not know how things would turn out for me.
As you remember, I am a technical draftsman, and I had to look for a job in order to settle somewhere in Germany. Stuttgart is a big city, there are dozens of institutions in it. But I got there in August at the height of the summer holidays. I had to get a job as a laborer in a dry-cleaner: they only took it there. Moreover, they promised to pay me as a skilled worker and, if I work conscientiously, in three months I will be transferred to such. And so it happened. There was then a fairly free regime in this city. Therefore, we easily obtained internal identity cards and officially got married. Soon we moved to Munich, where I again got a job in dry cleaning. There we had a son, then a daughter. After the birth of the children, instead of our previous internal certificates, we received real West German passports.
Dry cleaning agent
After some time we were called back to Russia. We spent a couple of months at home. And I got the task to leave for a long settlement in one of the Benelux countries. I settled in the capital. I was looking for a job - both as a draftsman and as a dry-cleaner. It took six months, it was difficult to get settled. In the end, I ended up in a large hotel, in the dry cleaning and laundry department. By the way, I was really a qualified worker, and soon they made me the head of this department. I found an apartment, and my wife came to me with two children.
- And the children did not guess what country they were from?
No. son went to Kindergarten, we arranged a daughter in a nursery. They spoke only French among themselves, and only German with us.
- Did you know Russian?
From where?
- And two months at home in Russia?
They were not allowed to learn Russian. They didn't know him at all.
Upon arrival, my wife got a job in the capital as a German language teacher at a school that was accredited to NATO. The children of NATO employees studied there. At first she studied with them privately, then taught them German at school.
I was offered the position of general manager of a large dry cleaners.
- Benelux, NATO - surely you got information about this military bloc?
There was operational information.
- Did it help that your wife taught at a NATO school?
Naturally. In general, even working in a dry cleaner, you can get up-to-date information.
- Did you have your own agents?
No, I didn't have agents. I was alone there. But in 1970, his wife fell seriously ill, and had to return to their homeland. Then she died. And I was offered to work alone at crisis points.
With two passports
- What it is?
In those countries with which we did not have diplomatic relations and where crisis situations arose. In the 70s, it was mainly the Near and Middle East - Israel and the Arab states. Legalized to live in Italy. I have established good connections with firms that produce materials for dry cleaning - chemicals, machines ... And I was offered to be their representative in all countries of the world, except for Italy itself. It suited me. He was registered in Rome, but he stayed there for two or three months. I had to travel in another region - Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon. Then Saudi Arabia and much more.
- Were you easily allowed into all these places? And what about visas?
Here is such a story. If at that time a person had Israeli marks in his passport, affixed at the checkpoint to enter there, he would not be allowed into any Arab country. I had to go to the West German embassy: "What should I do, friends?" They say get a new passport, a duplicate. And with this duplicate of the West German passport, I traveled around the Arab East. That is, one passport was for Israel, the other - for the Arab world. I had useful contacts in the region - relatives of ministers, including those in Lebanon, officers of the Israeli army, politicians in Israel and Egypt.
Once in Jerusalem there was a curiosity. I go to a cafe in the evening. I take 50 grams of vodka, or rather, 40 - they have such a double portion. And a mug of beer. I looked around, I see three old men are sitting: all the seats are occupied. And they have one free. I approached, in German I asked: can I sit down with you? Jews basically know all German. They say please. They ask me: German? I answer yes. And one of them tells me: you know, during the war I served in the Soviet military intelligence, and I was once thrown into the German rear. And I, he says, gave you bastards a light. And he said it with such pride, with such nostalgia, with such respect for Soviet intelligence...
But an illegal intelligence agent always has to adapt. Once I go to Tel Aviv at five o'clock to have lunch. I ordered goulash and a glass of beer. A guy in jeans and a cowboy sits down next to me, it is clear that they are their client, because they bring him a 200-gram decanter with a light liquid from the refrigerator without order, which immediately begins to fog up. Then they put a plate in front of him with two pieces of black bread and another one with finely chopped herring, and all this under circles of a white onion. And so this bastard began to appetizingly crunch all this over my ear ...
- Was your stay in the Middle East successful?
The stay was not worth it. Much was achieved then, which I still have no right to talk about. I received the Order of the Red Star for this work.
Since 1974 I have been to Iran. I had to go there even under the Shah. Iran was of great interest to us. I traveled quite calmly around this country, and I had a lot of friends there - both among the police and in other circles.
- There was also a terrible security service - SAVAK ...
What to do. By the way, I was in Iran, of course, not on a Soviet passport.
- And how did you forward the information to your homeland?
How how? Mostly through caches in the form of undeveloped film. And the most burning - in letters, in secret writing to certain addresses that were given to me at the Center. Three or four days - and the letter is where I sent it. And then I came up with another thing. Small notebooks, like ceramic tiles - there are up to 50 pages of text, I sent all this perfectly.
- And all this time you were alone?
Naturally. But I had a lot of friends among Arabs and Jews. Moreover, these were real friends who did not know who I was, but who trusted me, and I trusted them ...
I spoke to you about crisis situations. Until 1974, when the revolution took place in Portugal, we had no diplomatic relations with this country. And even under the fascist regime of Cayetano, I had to go there and collect very interesting information. When the red carnation revolution began, I returned and lived there for a couple of months. Traveled all over the country.
- Have you met any of your compatriots?
Once every two years, he came on vacation. My wife was already in the hospital at the time. The children lived in a boarding school. And I spent all my time with them on vacation. Sometimes my wife came from the hospital. And so - no meetings.
As for staying abroad, we very rarely had personal meetings. For example, in Italy for ten years only two. Came from the Center. In general, personal meetings were held, as they say, on neutral ground. One day just under New Year, on the eve of returning to my homeland - my vacation began in January - I flew from Tehran to Copenhagen, I meet with a resident. We exchanged passports. I gave him my “iron”, with which I traveled all the time, he gave me another one, which could then be destroyed. The resident congratulates me on the New Year and on the award of the “Badge of the Honorary Chekist”. And he adds: another mutual friend who is here congratulates you. I ask him, who is this mutual friend? He says: Oleg Gordievsky. I ask him: how does Oleg Gordievsky know that I am here? Did you tell him? Or showed me this new passport of mine? And Gordievsky was then his deputy. This is me to the fact that it is impossible for an illegal immigrant, unless it is absolutely necessary, to communicate with his colleagues from the residency.
- Did you have a radio?
Of course. Ordinary radio. Once a week I listened to messages from the Center. I followed his instructions and then forwarded letters in cryptography to addresses in Europe or transmitted information through caches.
- And your friends never had any suspicions?
What are the suspicions?
- That you are constantly on the road, wandering around the world ...
But I sold cars, dry cleaners. By the way, I had many contacts on the business of the company I represented. And somewhere in Hong Kong or Taiwan, I visited all the dry cleaning establishments.
- But who provided you with money?
Center, of course.
- And your masters from Rome did not goad? Get active, sell more...
Everything is simpler: you sell, you get a commission, if you don’t sell, you get nothing. What hosts? I didn't have them. I was a free agent.
- Did these trips alarm anyone? When one travels so much...
I have never heard in my life that people draw attention to themselves because they drive. I was a European, a German, whose entrance is open everywhere.
However, difficulties have begun...
Bomb from South Africa
In 1977, for the first time, I was assigned to go to South Africa - then the country of apartheid. On all the benches in the parks, on the streets there are inscriptions "only for whites." Shops are for whites only, nothing for blacks. Blacks at 6 pm sit down and leave for their townships. For me it was wild. Then the Soviet Union helped the African national congress. Intelligence was more interested in something else: secret ties between South Africa and the West. When I first visited Namibia, it was German South West Africa, a colony of South Africa. Traveled all over the country. Contacts were needed everywhere.
There, uranium was mined already enriched by 80 percent. And all this uranium went to America. But officially the United States, England and other Western countries by that time declared an economic boycott of South Africa. In Namibia I spoke only German. Because there even the blacks spoke German no worse than the Germans themselves. And there were a lot of Germans there. All hotels are German. The names of the hotels are purely German. And German farmers are everywhere.
In 1978, I myself proposed to make a trip to the border, front-line states - Zambia, Botswana, Malawi. They seemed to be helping the South African Congress, but still the South Africans ran the economy there. In Botswana, for example, the diamond mines were in the hands of De Beers.
- What else was of interest to Soviet intelligence in South Africa?
Is there still an atomic bomb or not. In the research laboratory of Pelendab, research was conducted in the nuclear field. Both we and the Americans had suspicions that an atomic bomb was being created there. Because once in 1978 it was possible to fix a flash similar to an atomic explosion in the southern hemisphere near Cape Town. Then I included Malawi in my trip, because it was the only African state that established diplomatic relations with South Africa. Came to Blantyre. All whites in these states converge very quickly among themselves. A fresh European appears, especially a German, they will accept you with pleasure and absolutely everything will tell you. Somehow we talked about the atomic bomb. I'm saying, wow, they thought that South Africa had it, but it turned out not. And suddenly one elderly woman perks up: how is it not, we washed her production with champagne in December 1976.
- Is it official?
I immediately reported to the Center. As I was later told, at night they even called the heads of departments and departments and discussed my information. But this could not be documented. By the way, this woman introduced herself to me, said that she worked as a secretary to the general director of the Pelendaba base, retired and moved to Malawi.
- And then it was confirmed?
disappearance
In 1980 I was again sent to South Africa. I flew there. Then - to Namibia. And in Windhoek I noticed outside surveillance.
- For the first time ever?
Yes. There is nowhere to go from there. Just fly to South Africa. We land in Johannesburg, I look - a black car is heading towards our plane right to the gangway. They showed me a South African counterintelligence document, handcuffed me, took me to the airport, to a special room, forced me to undress to my underpants. Then they dragged my things, dressed me and took me to Pretoria. I spent a month in the internal prison of the security police - this is counterintelligence of South Africa. Interrogations - day and night. In the first week, they did not let me sleep for a second. He fell asleep standing upright, sometimes even fell. By the way, my investigator had a portrait of Hitler hanging in his office. And he himself was a fan of Ernst Kaltenbrunner. Interrogations were conducted mainly in the basement. In general, it was bad.
- Were you tortured?
Where are you going from this? A week later, suddenly decided to let sleep. However, the cell where I was supposed to sleep was filled with the sounds of human voices. It was like someone was being tortured next to me. People were yelling, gnashing their teeth, crying as if they were being beaten. I knew it was a record. But there was nowhere to escape from this cacophony. Every half an hour security came to me and looked. I had to stand in front of them. One day they brought him in for questioning. Two people are sitting. One from the department for the protection of the constitution of West Germany, the other from the intelligence service - the BND.
- Were you interrogated in German or English?
In English. I remember opening the suitcase. They got my radio receiver, you could buy one in any store. But immediately joyful exclamations - ah! They took out a notebook in which there were copy sheets. But I didn’t say anything, they had to check and, by the way, they found pressure on one. And the pressure was in Russian. But that's not the point. These two from West Germany are sitting and asking: why didn't you demand someone from the West German consulate? I say: I demand all the time and I don’t know why no one invites anyone. They ask me: do you know why you were arrested? Answer: I don't know, I didn't do anything. And they give me a photo of my wife: look, you know this photo, and then my photo. I turned it over, and on the back I see: "A.M. Kozlov." After that he said: yes, I am a Soviet officer, a Soviet intelligence officer. And that's all. I didn't say a damn thing more in two years, no matter what they did to me.
On death row
A month later I was transferred to the central prison in Pretoria. They were put on death row. There were several compartments there, the so-called star type. And each has 13 cameras. But in the place where I was placed, I found myself completely alone. The other chambers are all empty. And next to it is the gallows. On Fridays at five in the morning there were executions. Several times I was specially taken to see how it was done. The gallows was on the second floor. In prison, by the way, there was also apartheid: a prison for blacks, a prison for whites. They just hung both of them together. But even then they made a difference. For the last breakfast before execution, the black was given half a fried chicken, the white - the whole. They executed on the second floor, then the hatch fell, the executed fell there. And below stood the greatest scoundrel Dr. Malheba. He made the last injection in the heart of the hanged man. For a person to die completely. Then he was taken out. Once this doctor examined me.
The worst thing for me was that the Center did not know where I was. It turns out that they sent me radiograms for another three months.
I spent six months on death row. Parasha, bed and chair. The room is three steps by four. Scratched on the walls with a nail last words farewell to those who sat there and who were hanged before me. The only thing they brought me was food. Breakfast - at 5.30 in the morning: a mug of liquid that resembled either coffee or tea, and more often water in which they washed dishes, two slices of bread and a bowl of porridge. Lunch - at 11 o'clock; dinner - at 3 pm. A total of 4 slices of bread, a slice of margarine, jam and a bowl of soup. The light was turned off at 22. By this time, I was already beginning to have visions from hunger. He remembered about boiled potatoes with steam, about tomatoes, cucumbers. I remember when they released me and weighed me, it turned out to be 59 kilograms or 58. And it was under 90. No newspapers, radio - nothing. I didn't know what was going on in the world. No walks.
- Have you been taken to interrogations?
Sometimes they drove.
What exactly were they accused of?
They said that I was imprisoned under the law on terrorism, article nine. This meant that I was not required to tell the reason for my arrest. I had a direct note that I did not have the right to a lawyer, to communicate with the outside world. Only article nine of the law on terrorism. Nothing else. Although I had no weapons and nothing like that at all. And then, finally, on December 1, 1981, after 6 months, the head of the prison came to me and said that Prime Minister Botha had officially announced on television and radio that I was under arrest.
- And how did they announce you - a Russian intelligence officer?
Yes. Alexey Kozlov. Soviet spy. The head of the prison said that after the official announcement of Botha about my case, I was now entitled to walk for half an hour under guard around the prison yard. Finally allowed to smoke. I didn't smoke at all for two months. And I smoke two and a half packs a day.
- And what about the German consulate? Did they come to you?
At first, the Germans came for interrogations every three months. Then every six months. They will come, mumble, look confused and leave. What else is left for them to do?
And I continued to sit in the same cell. And somewhere towards the end of the 81st year, the skin on my hands began to burst. They called this doctor Malheb. He told me: breathe. I am breathing. So, breathe more deeply. I am breathing. He says your breath is good. I say, how can you tell that my breath is good if you don't listen to me? He had a stethoscope hanging around his neck, he didn't even put it in his ears. And so he roared ... They gave me artificial leather gloves. And my skin still breaks. After all, they called the head of the prison hospital. There was such Major Van Roen. He looked and said it was a lack of chlorophyll. The fact is that I had a single window under the very ceiling. The light never entered there. He says: only if there is sun, chlorophyll will appear and it will pass. And a year and a half after the start of my term, I was settled in the penal department of the Pretoria prison.
- Why in the penalty area?
Because there were planted mainly prisoners who violated the prison regime. Someone stole something from someone, got into a fight, smoked marijuana, which was supplied to them by the same guards. Also solitary cells, but at least I was not alone there. In other cells there were people who cursed, laughed, cursed. I have the same bucket, the same trestle bed, but always the sun. The skin began to pass.
So I sat until May 1982. Once the head of the prison came, brought a suit, quite decent, in my size, and a shirt and tie. And before that they took measurements, I still could not understand why. They took him to the deputy chief of counterintelligence, Major General Broderick. Sitting in front of me was an interesting, imposing man. He told me right away: we are transferring you for an exchange. And he warned: you will be handed over to our national intelligence service. Don't show them you know about the exchange. After that, my investigator, Colonel Gloy, whom I was talking about, shook my hand warmly and said: you're sorry for what happened to you here; now we know that you are a normal man and a real guy. He shook hands, and there was a badge. I saw him on the plane. It was the badge of the South African Security Police with the right of arrest ...
Eleven for one
- And how did the intelligence officers behave?
They brought me to a huge rock, where there is a monument to the pioneers of South Africa - the Boers, next to the site of a bloody battle between the Zulus and the whites. Here, they say, we will shoot you. Well, I stood. Then they stuffed me into a car and took me to the airport. There were eight of us flying in a Boeing 747 Jumbo: myself and my bodyguards. Arrived in Frankfurt am Main.
They transferred me to a helicopter of the West German Border Protection Agency. We landed near the Herleshausen checkpoint. There was an exchange.
First they brought those for whom I was to be exchanged. Eleven people - 10 Germans and one officer of the South African army, who at one time was captured in Angola during a raid there by the South African army. All eleven with suitcases. But they didn’t give me my things: I have a small bag with a piece of green soap. Why I took him out of prison, I don't know. Then another cloth belt from prison trousers. I rolled it up and put it in a bag when they took me out of prison. The only thing of value there for me was a cigarette-rolling machine given to me by South African prisoners.
They took me to some hangar. I look, two figures are looming inside - Viktor Mikhailovich Nagaev, now a retired major general, and Boris Alekseevich Solovov, head of the security department, former. Well, we kissed, of course. They put me in a car and drove to Berlin. Kilometers 30 drove in deathly silence. We drove up to the city of Eisenach. We are silent. I say: Viktor Mikhailovich, I returned to my homeland. He agrees: yes, so what? I told him: “So what? And this thing needs to be noted. He will slap himself on the bald head: “But I can’t understand what is missing and why we are silent.” And to the driver: "Come on, let's go to the first tavern that comes across a hundred grams, a mug of beer." As soon as they shied away, after that they were no longer silent until Berlin.
In Berlin, my comrades prepared a good table for me: caviar, salmon. But I ground all the boiled potatoes and all the herring. Later, our representative, Vasily Timofeevich Shumilov, now deceased, said to me: “You, Leshka, ate our entire representative stock of herring ...”
And the guys also gave me money so that I could buy something for the children. I haven't been home for a long time...
And ten years to boot
- And yet, let's get back to the question of how you were calculated.
For a long time no one could understand why I was arrested. They traded me in 1982. When Oleg Gordievsky fled in 1985, everything became clear. He was acting resident in London. This is a general position, sorry. And with Oleg, I studied together at MGIMO. He was two years younger, they worked together in the Komsomol committee. I finished before him, and he didn't know where I was. But then he worked in our documentary department - that's why it happened. It's all about betrayal.
- And the story with the passport that you changed in Denmark, and greetings from Gordievsky were not accidental ...
Yes, they would have taken me earlier, although it was difficult to take me. By the way, I asked the Germans who interrogated me: did you specifically arrange for me to be arrested here in South Africa? They answered me directly: of course.
- And after returning?
I came home, rested for a couple of months, and got to work. Four years - here in the Center. Then he called Yuri Ivanovich Drozdov (then head of the Department of Illegal Intelligence. - N.D.) and said that I could no longer do this. Drozdov - to me: “And how do you, in fact, imagine this? You are known to everyone. How can I send you somewhere again? Then he thought, and said: “Actually, you are not listed anywhere on the wanted list, because you were given to us. And then, what a fool would think that a person, just taking his head out of the noose, is going to put it back in again. Go." They gave me a passport. It used to be German. This time I received a document from another European country. After that, he worked away from home for another ten years ... And in 1997 he returned for good. But I'm still working. I meet with youth. I visited exactly 30 regions of Russia - Vladivostok and Nakhodka, Murmansk and Omsk, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Blagoveshchensk, Khabarovsk ... I have 5-6 business trips a year.
- And when was the Hero assigned to you?
This is back in 2000.
- And for what, with what wording?
It was written there as follows: for courage and heroism in the performance of special tasks.
Nikolay DOLGOPOLOV, deputy editor-in-chief of the Trud newspaper, author of six books on foreign intelligence
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In 2005, there was a complete posthumous rehabilitation of the commander of the 17th Rifle Division, Colonel P.S. Kozlov and the military commissar of this division, brigade commissar S.I. Yakovlev.
It was believed that in the 20th of October 1941 they were shot, and arbitrariness was committed against them. The act of rehabilitation restored historical justice, and the officers returned their good names. But, as subsequent studies showed, in reality the situation was quite different.
The peak of the most difficult and tragic events in the battles of the autumn of 1941 in the defense zone of the 43rd Army at the turn of the Nara River fell on October 22 and 23.
These days, the commander of the 53rd Infantry Division, Colonel Nikolai Pavlovich Krasnoretsky, died. The commander of the 17th infantry division of the people's militia of the Moskvoretsky district of Moscow, Colonel Pyotr Sergeevich Kozlov, and the commissar of this division, brigade commissar Sergei Ivanovich Yakovlev were arrested.
N.P. Krasnoretsky.
Lieutenant General Stepan Dmitrievich Akimov, who commanded a group of troops of the left wing of the army, was seriously wounded and sent to the rear.
And the commander of the 312th Rifle Division, Colonel Alexander Fedorovich Naumov, on the basis of a cipher telegram from the commander of the Western Front G.K. , 53 and 17 sd.
All these events took place almost simultaneously in the area of the village of Korsakovo, located on the Old Kaluga road.
S.D. Akimov.
Commander of the 43rd Army of the Western Front, General K.D. On November 8, 1941, Golubev was forced to turn to Stalin with a complaint about the commander of the Western Front, Zhukov:
"On the second day after my arrival, they promised to shoot me, on the third day they would put me on trial, on the fourth day they threatened to shoot me in front of the army. It was impossible to work in such an environment."
+++++++++++++++++++
"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.
+++++++++++++++++++
Extracts from the combat log of the Western Front:
23.10.41:
“17th and 53rd Rifle Divisions were attacking Tarutino from the morning of 22.10. At 14.00, 22 enemy planes bombed and shot at units, which caused the divisions to flee in panic.
Member of the Military Council Seryukov and Lieutenant General Akimov personally with weapons in their hands detained the fugitives ... With the help of detachments, part of the fugitives were stopped at the Chernishnya line ..., 53rd RD has 1000 people ..., 53rd and 17th RDs are demoralized and are subject to disbandment , and entire groups of commanding and political personnel - to be brought to justice."
++++++++++++++++++++++++
"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"
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
"To General of the Army Zhukov 31.10.41. 23.40.
I am reporting a crime. Today, on the spot, I established that the former commander of the 17th Infantry Division, Kozlov, was not shot in front of the line, 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 in front of the formation, I instructed Seryukov, a member of the Military Council, and Lieutenant General Akimov, who was leaving for the division, to execute this. For unknown reasons, they did not do this and sent the division commander to me.
I sent him back under escort organized by the head of the Special Department of the Army 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 10/31/41. 23.40."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
"The headquarters of the GA" Center "24.10.41. 18.15
... Evening report of the intelligence department of the headquarters of the 4th army:
... In section 57 of the TC, the enemy is still putting up strong resistance.
Panzer Group 4: minor fighting...
The commander of the 17th Infantry Division was captured"
(TsAMO RF, f. 500. op. 12462, d. 637. L. 163.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Today about the fate of P.S. Very little is known about Kozlov due to the fact that many documents on him are not available in TsAMO RF. But it is known that Pyotr Sergeyevich Kozlov, born in 1905, originally from the Klimovichi district of the Byelorussian SSR, served in the Red Army since 1926, a member of the CPSU (b) since 1928, participated in the war with the White Finns, where he received the Order of the Red Banner.
Before the Great Patriotic War, he studied in Moscow, at the Military Academy. M. V. Frunze, was a parachuting instructor, in a short time mastered the German language (colloquial speech). The rank of colonel was awarded in 1940.
Colonel Kozlov.
For some time, among the researchers of the battle for Moscow, versions roamed that in this way (by staging the execution), the intelligence department of either the 43rd Army, or the Western Front, carried out an operation to deeply infiltrate its agent into the structure of German intelligence.
Indeed, in one of the intelligence schools of the Abwehr, the former Soviet colonel P.S. Kozlov soon appeared. According to information from the archives of the FSB, by that time he was a heavy drinker, had the nickname "Bulls", but he was not connected with Soviet intelligence in a single thread. Whether this is Kozlov or another is unknown.
The further fate of Brigadier Commissar Yakovlev is as follows. Deprived of awards, demoted and sent to the Leningrad Front. He served as a senior instructor in the political department of the 46th Infantry Division of the 52nd Army. Further fate unknown.
This autumn, the Young Guard publishing house published the book “. Soldier Marshal.
In the book, many pages are devoted to the difficult relationship between the two marshals - I.S. Koneva and. The author of the book, our countryman, writer and historian Sergei Mikheenkov, is currently working on a biography of Marshal Zhukov. In the course of collecting materials and working on the first chapters, curious materials fell into his hands, previously unknown or missed by the biographers of the great commander. These rare and little-studied documents add up to a very curious, almost sensational picture. We hope that the article published today will mark the beginning of a whole cycle that will shed light on the pages of the legendary marshal's biography unknown to the general public.
"... And shoot before the formation"
Did Zhukov execute his soldiers and colonels?
Summer 1939. Desert of Nomongan. Mongolia. Border with Manchuria. The region of the Khalkhin-Gol…
Did he, at that time a cavalry commander, looking at the opposite bank of the river and the Bain-Tsagan hill, occupied by Japanese infantry and Bargut horsemen, that this deserted place would become his Toulon?
Here, Zhukov's gift for military leadership, his character, and assertiveness were truly manifested, sometimes, especially in the eyes of our liberal public, bordering on cruelty.
Well, he was cruel. His predecessor, brigade commander Feklenko, had absolutely no control over the situation, and dissolved discipline in the corps. Corps, in essence, lost combat capability.
From a report to the Political Directorate of the Red Army dated July 16, 1939: “There were cases of extreme indiscipline and criminality in the arrived 82nd Rifle Division. The personnel are exceptionally clogged and have not been studied by anyone, the vanguard regiment, where Major Stepanov, the military commissar of the Musin regiment, was especially clogged. Both are now dead. On the first day, this regiment succumbed to provocative actions and shamefully abandoned firing positions; before this betrayal, the former fighters of this regiment, Oshurkov and Voronkov, tried to shoot down the regiment's political staff. On July 12, the commander of the machine-gun company Potapov was defiantly arrested and shot before the eyes of the fighters, the battalion commander of this regiment Herman personally provoked his battalion to retreat, all of them were put to death ... "
One can imagine the state of Zhukov when he was informed that the regiment, which was holding the defense in the center of the front line along the line of the Khalkhin Gol River, had left its positions, was crushed by the advancing Japanese and was running in disarray, that on its shoulders the Japanese infantry was flowing around the bare flanks 57- corps and threatens not only the bridgeheads on the other side of the river, but the entire army group ...
Exactly two years later, Zhukov more than once had to correct other people's sins, the results of someone else's mediocrity, weak will and outright cowardice. Including the so-called "execution orders". Personally, of course, I did not shoot. It didn't happen. Arrest, investigation, tribunal - how the card of fate will fall ...
On October 22, 1941, at 4:45 am, the commander of the Western Front, General of the Army Zhukov, ordered:
43rd Army. Golubev.
1. I categorically forbid leaving the occupied line until 23.10 again.
2. On the 17th SD, immediately send Seleznev. 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.
Himself to be (KP) in the area of combat operations ... "
The current readers of this and similar documents from the period of the Great Patriotic War will certainly be divided into two categories. Some will see in the order harsh, perhaps on the verge of cruelty, but quite appropriate to the time and circumstances, the requirements of the commander to his subordinates. Others - the unbridled cruelty of the tyrant commander, who orders "to arrest and shoot before the formation", perhaps an innocent commander.
Zhukov took command of the troops of the Western Front on October 10, 1941. There were essentially no troops. All of them remained in the "cauldrons" near Vyazma, Roslavl and Bryansk.
As you know, by mid-October, the situation west of Moscow became so complicated that part of the central institutions, the entire diplomatic corps, and especially important state valuables were evacuated from the capital to Kuibyshev.
“Cowardice and panic in these conditions are tantamount to betrayal and treason. In this regard, I order:
1. Cowards and alarmists who leave the battlefield, retreat without permission from their positions, throw weapons and equipment, to be shot on the spot.
2. The military tribunal and the prosecutor of the front to ensure the implementation of this order. Comrades, Red Army soldiers, commanders and political workers, be courageous and steadfast.
Not one step back! Forward for the Motherland!
Now, with documents in hand, let's see what happened on the site of the 17th Infantry Division.
The 17th Rifle during the autumn offensive of the Germans on Moscow (Operation Typhoon) was almost completely defeated near Spas-Demensk. It was commanded by Colonel P. Kozlov, the military commissar - Brigadier Commissar S. Yakovlev.
In Belousovo on Varshavskoye Highway, a few kilometers from Ugodsky Zavod and Strelkovka, the birthplace of the Zhukov Commander, the division is reorganized, replenished and placed on the defensive at the junction of the 49th and 43rd armies. At the first slight pressure from the Germans, its regiments crumble, run and expose the flanks of neighboring divisions, which stand rooted to the spot. The defense is breaking down, and the armies in the center of the Western Front, covering the axis of the Warsaw Highway, are threatened with encirclement and defeat.
Runners had to be stopped. Bring to life. Return to the trenches. This is how the order of the commander of October 22 appeared - "... and shoot before the formation."
But was Colonel Kozlov shot, who, judging by the documents, clearly deserved a bullet from the commandant's platoon?
Recently, in some liberal publication, I read a passionate article by a certain “military historian”. The article is submitted as a study. And this is what it says: “... were brought to trial by a military tribunal: the commander of the 43rd Army, Major General Sobennikov P.P., deputy. chief of the operational department of the headquarters of the Reserve Front, Colonel Novikov I.A., 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, brigade commissar Yakovlev S.I., were shot in front of the formation of personnel.
Let's check this list with the documents in our hands, this "hidden truth of the war", under which the sinister shadow of the "bloody Zhukov" is clearly visible.
From the report of General Golubev to Zhukov dated 10/31/1941:
“I am 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 from the convoy. I'm ordering an investigation."
The plot for a novel in a series of military adventures, right? But the reader will say: okay, this one fled from execution, but what about the others?
Let's look at the recent all the same 43rd Army. On the very eve of the German offensive against Moscow, for the failure of the operation in the Yelnya region, Major General Seleznev was removed from the post of army commander and put on trial with the threat of execution. But there was no trial. As we already know, in October, Seleznev, who was “shot” by Zhukov, replaced Colonel Kozlov by his own order. The next commander of the 43rd Army was Major General P. Sobennikov.
In early October, the 43rd Army of General Sobennikov was ironed by the tanks of the 4th Panzer Group of General Goepner. The army was defeated in a little over a day.
On October 10, Sobennikov, removed from command of the army, was already interrogated by investigators. Some time later, the Presidium of the Supreme Court, having considered all the materials of the case, issued a decision on his pardon and return to the army with a demotion to the rank of colonel. He ended the war as a lieutenant general in the position of deputy commander of the 3rd Army.
In the same October days, the commander of the 53rd Rifle Division, Colonel N. Krasnoretsky, was removed from office, put on trial and sentenced to death, but with a suspended sentence.
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, 17th and 53rd divisions
I order:
In order to combat desertion, by the morning of October 22, a detachment of barriers 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 barrier detachment should shoot on the spot all those who leave the battlefield.
Report on the formation of the detachment.
This document debunks another lie of the current "military historians": detachments were created in rifle divisions from the best fighters and commanders and reported directly to the division commanders. The detachments were not units of the NKVD.
Colonel Krasnoretsky died the next day in battle during a counterattack near the village of Chernishni, not far from the native village of the commander of the Western Front. The colonel got the opportunity to die in battle.
When it became especially hot at the front, Zhukov, as a rule, "shot" a lot and often.
But back to the mysterious fate of the commander and commissar of the 17th Rifle Division.
Kozlov Pyotr Sergeevich. 1905 year of birth. 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. Graduated from the Military Academy. M.V. Frunze. He was a skydiving instructor. In a short time he studied German, almost perfectly mastered colloquial speech.
Excellent track record! 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.
Until now, among researchers, versions are roaming that in this way (by staging the execution), the intelligence department of the 43rd Army carried out an operation to deeply infiltrate its agent into the structure of German intelligence. And indeed, the former Soviet colonel Kozlov soon appeared in one of the intelligence schools of the Abwehr. According to the information that was obtained from the FSB archives, by that time he was a heavy drinker, had the nickname "Bulls", but he was not connected with the Soviet intelligence by a single thread ...
The further fate of Brigadier Commissar Yakovlev is as follows: he was deprived of awards, demoted and sent to the Leningrad Front, served as a senior instructor in the political department of the 46th Infantry Division of the 52nd Army.
Of course, there were also those who were shot. Because there were traitors and cowards. But the essence of Zhukov is not cruelty and mercy to his subordinates, who sometimes forgot about the charter and military duty.
... Now, thinking about our history during the Great Patriotic War, we must be aware of the following. Those battles are over. Our grandfathers held them brilliantly. The fatherland was defended. But the battle for Marshal Zhukov continues.
Sergey MIKHEENKOV.
city of Tarusa.
