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Why did you enter Germany alone? Did you meet with any of your compatriots?

Veterans of the 17th Rifle Division on the central square of Chekhov on May 9, 1983. First from the left in the 2nd row I.V. Lush.

Collage by E. Avsharova

BOLD GUESS IS NOT CONFIRMED

In our material
"Waiting for Colonel Kozlov" contained the statement,
that P.S. Kozlov was introduced into the enemy rear as an "illegal agent".
This statement was based on the assumptions made in the article by V.V. Stepanov “Once again about the fate of the soldiers” (“Chekhov Bulletin” dated February 17, 2009, p. 5).
In the latest modern research, the assumptions about the introduction of P.S. Kozlov to the enemy rear as a scout is not confirmed. We apologize for the oversight.
E. Avsharov

Biography of the commander of the 17 SD, Colonel Kozlov P. S.

Museum life

WAITING FOR COLONEL KOZLOV

(Based on the materials of the Chekhov Museum of Memory of 1941-1945)

The museum of memory is working on the scientific description of funds. In its process, it sometimes turns out that a seemingly different topic has been studied up and down, but little-known, unpublished documents often contain additional details that illuminate seemingly well-known events in a new way.
In August 1996, Honored Doctor of the RSFSR, honorary citizen of the city of Maloyaroslavets, veteran of the 48th Army, member of the Council of Veterans of the 17th Infantry Division, participant in the defense of the Stremilovsky line, Ivan Vasilyevich Pyshny, as part of a delegation of veterans of the city of Maloyaroslavets, visited the Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War on Poklonnaya Hill. The honored veteran was then upset that among the listed divisions that participated in the Great Patriotic War, his own 17th Infantry Bobruisk Red Banner Division, with which he went from the Moscow region to Cape Frisch Nerung (East Prussia), was not on the stand among the listed divisions that participated in the Great Patriotic War. He turned to the museum researcher with a request to restore historical justice in the name of the memory of those who gave their lives for the freedom and independence of our Motherland. He wrote down his request and promised to answer. I.V. Lush waited for an answer for four months, but did not wait and decided to write to the newspaper "Arguments and Facts" to once again remind him of the combat path of his division. We do not know if the letter was sent to the address, but its handwritten original, prepared for dispatch, has been preserved. The letter contains a lot of interesting information on the history of the division, especially the divisional medical battalion, which was not reflected in the printed publications, but now we are talking about something else.
In 1966, the Poisk club was organized at school No. 4 in Chekhov, and in 1968, on the basis of materials collected by young pathfinders and exhibits donated by veterans, the Museum of Military Glory of the 17th Infantry Division was opened at the school. Nevertheless, when veterans tried to address the history of their division to higher authorities, they ran into an invisible wall of secrecy and silence over the years. Therefore, the study of her combat path began relatively late. Only in 1974, Lieutenant General V.G. Shchemelev, commander of a machine gun platoon in the 1312th Rifle Regiment in 1941, published a short article in the Military Historical Journal about the first battles of the 17th Rifle Regiment, based on archival documents and personal memories.
A year later, the Council of Veterans, together with the district committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League of the Moskovoretsky district of Moscow, published a brief historical note on her military path, compiled in the Podolsky Archive of the Ministry of Defense, in the form of a small brochure. The brochure was published in a limited edition under the heading "for official use". Her text does not mention the names of the division commanders, does not indicate the armies and fronts in which she fought, but the mass heroism of ordinary soldiers and junior commanders is described in a generic way. In 1984, researcher and journalist from Podolsk V.V. Stepanov prepared for publication a collection of memoirs of veterans of the division. The collection was not published, but a typewritten copy with editorial corrections by V.V. Stepanova. The collection opens with a lengthy article with the memoirs of the same Lieutenant General V.G. Schemelev, covering the period from the formation of the division in July to the exit from the encirclement in mid-October 1941. From the unpublished memoirs of V.G. Shchemelev, it can be concluded that in addition to civilian militias, the division was also equipped with personnel units (artillery, air defense, etc.). The first division commander, Colonel P.S. Kozlov was a parachutist and spoke German. Apparently, he received special training in the conduct of hostilities in the territory captured by the enemy. In the most extreme situations, P.S. Kozlov showed composure and was well versed in the operational environment. It was thanks to his clear and competent actions that the division emerged from the encirclement and survived as a combat unit, although it lost about 80% of its personnel. After 1996, books by A.S. Vishnyakova, V.V. Klimanov, V.V. Stepanova, I.A. Krasilnikov, who made a breakthrough in the study of the events of 1941 in the southern suburbs of Moscow. And then it became obvious that the triumph of historical justice, for which I.V. Lush, interfered with the dark story of the execution of Colonel Kozlov under strange circumstances, presumably on October 22, 1941.
In 2007, Moscow writer and journalist V.V. Klimanov conducted a historical investigation into the fate of Colonel Kozlov. IN historical background, stored in the museum, he wrote that during October 10-12, scattered parts of the 17th Rifle Division left the encirclement in the area of the Ugodsky plant. Colonel Kozlov was called to the special department of the 33rd Army and stayed there from 11 to 13 October. On October 17, a general offensive of German troops began on the left flank of the Western Front in the direction of Podolsk. The 17th SD, included by that time in the 43rd Army, without completing the reorganization, took up defensive positions along the left bank of the river. Protva on the section Belousovo - Vysokinichi. The battle of October 17-22 for the bridgehead between the Protva and Nara rivers ended in the defeat of the Red Army. The 17th Rifle Division withdrew to the Ugodsky plant, covering the withdrawal of units of the 53rd and 312th Rifle Divisions. The Germans, pursuing the remnants of the 53rd and 312th Rifle Divisions, occupied Tarutino. There was a threat of coverage of the 17th Rifle Division from the north, and Colonel Kozlov withdrew the division to the northern hilly coast of Nara, formally violating the order of the command. October 22 at 4:45 p.m. commander of the Western Front, General of the Army G.K. Zhukov gives the order: to appoint Major General D.M. Seleznev, and Kozlov to be arrested and shot in front of the ranks. On the same morning at 9:17 a.m. Lieutenant General S.D. arrives at the 17th Rifle Division. Akimov, commissar of the 1st rank Seryukov and a representative of the headquarters of the 43rd Army, Lieutenant Colonel Balantsev.
Then the incomprehensible begins: Zhukov's order was, but there is no information that the order was executed. According to V.V. Klimanov, the problem of the rehabilitation of Colonel Kozlov rests on the lack of a document certifying his death. V.V. Klimanov requested the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense, but was told that Colonel Kozlov had gone missing in 1941. Researcher and journalist V.V. Stepanov published a memorandum from the Commander of the 43rd Major General K.D. Golubev in the name of G.K. Zhukov dated October 31, 1941, according to which Kozlov was not shot, but fled. According to Stepanov, Lieutenant General S.D. Akimov refused to shoot his old comrade and sent him to the headquarters of the 43rd Army - let him decide his fate there. Major General Golubev categorically demanded that the order of the front commander be carried out and ordered the head of the special department of the army to return Kozlov to the 17th rifle division. From under the escort appointed by a special department, Kozlov fled. V.V. Stepanov also established that the commissar of the 17th SD S.A. Yakovlev was also to be shot for not showing proper vigilance, but he was not shot either. He went through the whole war and lived to the Victory. General Golubev reported to Zhukov that he had ordered an internal investigation, but the results were unknown, and none of those responsible for Kozlov's escape were injured.
On the basis of captured documents stored in the Podolsk archive, V.V. Stepanov established that on October 24, Kozlov was taken prisoner, and the intelligence department of the 4th Army of the German group "Center" was engaged in his case. In 1942-1943. he was an instructor in the intelligence schools of the Abwehr: first in Warsaw, then in Poltava. In 1944, his traces are lost: either he died, or he left with the retreating "owners" and continued his activities behind enemy lines. Based on the information that we have today, it suggests that the whole story of the execution of Colonel Kozlov was a staging related to the “deep penetration” operation, which was carried out by a special department of the 43rd Army. The Germans had to believe that Kozlov had become a defector, because their own people wanted to shoot him. According to V.V. Stepanov, it is possible to finally put an end to his history only on the basis of documents stored in the archives of institutions and organizations that sent Colonel Kozlov to the front line. And yet, remember that December 19 is Counterintelligence Day Russian Federation and honor the memory of Colonel P.S. Kozlov, an illegal intelligence agent ...

E. Avsharov

1.31.2017 | Story

Sergey ARZHANTSEV

The Soviet commander, colonel, participant in several wars Pyotr Kozlov was born in the Klimovichi region. Here he spent his childhood, here he graduated from high school and… entered independent adult life. But today there is no information about this person in the Klimov region, although local historians know well about other military leaders, local natives. Acquaintance with the biography of P.S. Kozlova shows that there were many mysteries and secrets in her that have not been solved so far.

Petr Sergeevich Kozlov was born in 1905 in the village of Domerichi, Klimovichi District. His parents were ordinary peasants, so the son was expected to repeat the fate of his parents. But turning times, revolutions and wars have changed dramatically life path simple country boy.
For the new government, the peasant origin of Peter was a confirmation that he shared the policy of the Bolsheviks. This, no doubt, was the case. In 1924, Pyotr Kozlov became a member of the Komsomol, and for the next few years he received a military education. After graduation, the young officer commands a platoon, company, battalion. In 1936 he was sent to fight in Spain. After returning, becoming a regiment commander, he goes to the Soviet-Finnish war, for which he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. In the summer of 1940, Major Pyotr Kozlov took part in the annexation of Bessarabia. The last months of peace were busy studying at the Air Force Academy.
On July 2, 1941, Colonel Kozlov was instructed to form detachments of the Moskvoretsky district, which became the 17th Moscow rifle division of the people's militia. The division fights heroically, gets surrounded and goes to its own with heavy losses. In October 1941, the commander of the Western Front, Zhukov, ordered P. Kozlov to be shot for withdrawing the division from positions. He was arrested and interrogated, and then a series of events begins, which are being solved to this day. According to one version, Colonel Kozlov was convicted by a tribunal and shot in front of the line. But there is evidence showing that Pyotr Kozlov escaped from arrest and after escaping was captured by the Germans.
The archives contain information about Soviet prisoners sent by the Germans to the Warsaw intelligence school. Among them was an officer who can be considered Colonel Kozlov. This is indicated by the fact that in 1942 a German intelligence officer voluntarily appeared in the NKVD and handed over a letter from Kozlov. The letter proposed to establish cooperation in order to fight the Nazis behind the front line. But the proposal was not accepted, as it was believed that enemy intelligence was using Kozlov in an undercover game. In addition, in response to requests from the NKVD, it was reported that Kozlov had been shot or was missing. Obviously, the Soviet secret services did not want to take risks.
After perestroika, the mysterious disappearance of Pyotr Kozlov again came to the attention of researchers. It is significant that on October 5, 2005, he was posthumously rehabilitated as unreasonably repressed extrajudicially. But four years later, the rehabilitation was canceled on the grounds that Kozlov was not shot, because he escaped from custody and was taken prisoner. This brings certainty to the most confusing episode of his biography, but still does not answer the question of why he ended up in German captivity and how he behaved there. There is information that on January 5, 1943, P.S. Kozlov was executed in the Flossenbürg concentration camp. So, apparently, he became one of the countless victims of that bloody era, whose life was broken and destroyed by the cruel circumstances of wartime.

Raspavestsi:

Comments:

The small village in which he was born, grew up, which Colonel Kozlov always remembered. He must have had a family somewhere. Do his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren know that Klimovichi remember him? Or maybe they erased him from memory as an "enemy of the people." But now we know that there are no enemies of the people.

The family of Colonel Kozlov P.S. not just was, but is ... The youngest daughter is alive (80 years old), there are grandchildren and already great-great-grandchildren ... I am the eldest granddaughter .. My grandmother (Kozlova Valentina Andreevna) all her life hoped to find out about the fate of her husband, but there was one answer to all our numerous requests - went missing in 1941 near Moscow ... At present, the presence of the Colonel from the first days of captivity in the Wehrmacht camps has been documented (he passed three STALAGs and one OFLAG), he did not cooperate with the Germans (there are no marks in the prisoner of war card), he did not teach in intelligence schools of the Abwehr !.. Both the Ministry of Defense and the German Red Cross confirm that he was handed over to the Gestapo and shot along with Generals Shepetov and Presnyakov ... We (grandchildren and great-grandchildren) knew from childhood that our grandfather Peter was a Hero and were always proud that we were his descendants …

Having studied all possible available materials on this case, I affirm with all responsibility: NOT GUILTY. Colonel, commander of the 17th Infantry Division, Kozlov Petr Sergeevich - a victim of the Nazi regime, worthy of a good name and blessed memory, as an honest officer of the Soviet army, who to the end fulfilled his duty to the Motherland.

Candidate of Historical Sciences, Makarova E.A.

Galina Vladimirovna, thank you very much for your comment. The fate and life path of P. S. Kozlov are of interest to everyone who wants to understand our common historical past. And it is important to do this as objectively as possible, even if many decades have passed since then. It seems that now there are conditions and opportunities for this, so that the secret of the life and death of Pyotr Kozlov will finally be revealed.

Galina Vladimirovna. You have someone to be proud of and pass on the good memory of this brave man. Just think at the age of 31 he is fighting in Spain, and by the age of 35 he is already behind both Finnish and Bessarabia. By 36 Colonel. At 38 he was shot….. Eternal memory to this worthy son of the Belarusian land.

September 3, 2016 - From the answer of the head of the archival service armed forces of the Russian Federation: “In the incomplete card file of officers of prisoners of war, Pyotr Sergeevich Kozlov, born in 1905, does not appear. In the alphabetical card file on those convicted by military tribunals, in the card file, criminal cases that have not been terminated, supervisory and supervisory proceedings of the military prosecutor's offices Kozlov Pyotr Sergeevich, born in 1905, do not appear. Information about who seized P.S. Kozlov's awards, the order book and the place of their storage in the archives of the Russian Ministry of Defense are not available. October 7, 2016 - From the response of the Central Administration of the FSB: "in accordance with the provisions of the Law of the Russian Federation "On State Secrets", the issue of the possibility of declassifying archival materials with testimony about the service of PS Kozlov in the Abwehr was considered. Based on the results of the consideration, a decision was made to leave specified materials in secret storage. December 26, 2016 - from the response of the Representation of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for the organization and conduct of military memorial work in Germany: “It is reported that the representative office received a response from the German Red Cross, which indicates that Colonel Kozlov Pyotr Sergeevich, born in 1905, December 18, 1942 was transferred to the Gestapo. Later he was transferred to the Flossenbürg concentration camp. Where he died on January 5, 1943. His name is included in the Book of Memory of the memorial center of the Flossenbürg concentration camp.

Pyotr Sergeevich KozloV- Colonel, participant in the Finnish and Great Patriotic War, commander of the 17th Infantry Division of the second formation. He was arrested, sentenced to death for leaving the line of defense, escaped from arrest. Was in German captivity. July 21, 1943 by order of the GUK NKO No. 0627 Kozlov P. S. was excluded from the lists of the Red Army with the wording "missing." In 1943 he was shot in the Flossenbürg concentration camp.

Service in the pre-war period

Born in 1905 in the Klimovichi district Byelorussian SSR. In the Red Army since 1926. Since 1928 - a member of the CPSU (b). He participated as a pilot in the Finnish War and received the Order of the Red Banner. He graduated from the Frunze Military Academy (1938), the Air Force Academy in Monino (1941). He was a skydiving instructor, fluent in German.

The Great Patriotic War

On July 2, 1941, he headed the 17th Moscow Rifle Division of the people's militia, aimed at building the Mozhaisk line of defense, in the Ilyinsky area. On September 19, 1941, Kozlov's division was transformed into a personnel division with the same number retained. Since October 3, 1941, the 17th division has been defending in the area of the city of Spas-Demensk, since the 5th it has been surrounded. While Kozlov was surrounded, Colonel M.P. Sanfir took over the actual leadership of the division.

10/14/1941 Kozlov with the remnants of the division goes to the Ugodsky plant and again takes command of the division.

On October 17, near the city of Ugodsky Zavod, the 17th division, as part of the 43rd Army, received the task of blowing up bridges on the Protva River and organizing anti-tank defense. However, it was unrealistic for the small units of the division to defend the assigned line (25-28 km).

10/22/1941 for the withdrawal from the occupied line, the Commander of the Western Front, Zhukov orders the commander of the 43rd Army, General Golubev:

"2. Send Seleznev, commander of the 17th Rifle Division, immediately to the 17th Rifle Division arrest and shoot before formation»

However, as it turned out in our time, Kozlov was not shot, but escaped from arrest.

General Golubev reports this as follows: “To General of the Army Zhukov. 10/31/41. 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 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".

Family

wife, Valentina Andreevna Solovieva-Kozlova, after the evacuation lived in the Ivanteevsky district. Repeatedly tried to find information about the fate of her husband.

Military ranks

1940: colonel

Literature

Serpukhov. The Last Frontier. 49th Army in the battle for Moscow. 1941 Mikheenkov S. E. Serpukhov. The Last Frontier. 49th Army in the Battle of Moscow. - M.: Tsentrpoligraf, 2011. 254 p. ISBN 978-5-227-02802-0.
Great Patriotic War: Divisional Commanders. Military biographical dictionary. Volume 4. - Moscow: Kuchkovo field, 2015.

Archival research

Unknown division commander-17

It so happened that the name of Colonel Mikhail Pavlovich Safir, commander of the 17th Infantry Division, an outstanding commander of the Great Patriotic War and a remarkable person, did not appear in the combat history of this formation, which defended the approaches to Lopasna and Moscow in 1941.

Mikhail Pavlovich Safir

The years of the people's tragedy - the Great Patriotic War - are leaving us farther and farther into the past. Millions of books have been published about this time, and it seems that there are no already unknown pages of military hard times that could change our ideas about certain events. But in fact, it turns out that they are, just not visible for the time being, and are waiting for their time. Why is this happening?

The answer is perhaps simple. Let us recall what Mark Tullius Cicero, an ancient Roman politician and philosopher, a brilliant orator who lived before our era, said on this subject: “The first law of history is not to dare any lie, then not to be afraid of any truth, and to write in such a way as not to let yourself be suspected of either sympathy or hostility”(highlighted - V.S.). If you think about it, and why hide it, and not according to opposite laws, were created in our country after the war " scientific works» and historical literature about the war? Unfortunately, this is still common today.

But, as folk wisdom says: “You can’t hide an awl in a bag!”. And therefore, all the post-war years, along with the “official truth”, the people lived on the rights of legends, stories of front-line soldiers and simply participants in the events of another truth and the history of the Great Patriotic War. Not sugary, and often even spicy, but which we all believed more than official myths.

Today, in order to objectively assess the past, it is very important to clean it from the tares. But it would hardly be right to enter into polemics with this or that author or researcher and prove to the reader who and what is mistaken. Wouldn't it be better to give him the opportunity to reflect on the facts of history on his own? Everyone has the right to seek the truth. In this article, the task was to show several everyday days of the war in seemingly already known events in the combat history of the well-known 17th Infantry Division, which defended the approaches to Lopasna and Moscow in 1941. And to remind the reader that the front is not only a bloody duel of opposing sides, the minds of military leaders and the excitement of attacks. That this is the hard everyday work of many services, including the rear, on whose efficiency and coordination of actions our common victory over the enemy ultimately depended.

For many years, due to limited access to the documents of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense (TsAMO RF) on the history of the Moscow militia divisions, researchers used the books of the historian A.D. Kolesnik (Moscow militia. M., 1966.; Militia of hero cities. M., 1974.) as well as a collection of documents by a group of authors - compilers called "The militia in defense of Moscow" (M., 1978.). Despite the fact that these books carried the features of the "ideological" approaches that took place at that time, they still played a significant role in our understanding of the tragic events of 1941. But, alas, with solid circulation, the serious shortcomings contained in them showed their enviable vitality, which led to the rooting of fundamental errors in subsequent studies of historians. So, for example, it was believed that the 17th Rifle Division became part of the 43rd Army of the Western Front only with access to the eastern bank of the Nara River, in the area of the village. Stremilovo, Begichevo, Vysokovo, namely, October 22, 1941. And the period of reorganization of the division in the area of Ugodsky Zavod after the release of its units and subunits from the encirclement near Spas-Demensk was generally characterized only by the numbers of a rapid, as if by magic, growth in the size of the division without disclosing this complex process, as well as the names of commanders who were engaged in understaffing the division. It was understood that all this time the division was commanded by Colonel P.S. Kozlov. The situation has not changed even now, when access to archives is greatly simplified, and many documents can be accessed by users. And these documents allow us to take a different look at the situation that developed at that time.

Immediately before the start of the operation of the German troops under the code name "Typhoon" as part of the 33rd Army brigade commander D.P. Onuprienko, which was part of the Reserve Front, there were 3 Moscow militia divisions: 17 sd colonel P.S. Kozlova (in the center of the operational formation of the army, covered the approaches to the city of Spas-Demensk and Warsaw highway - V.S.), 60th division of Major General L.I. Kotelnikov (right) and 173rd Rifle Division Colonel A.V. Bogdanov (left). The fighters and commanders of these divisions at the beginning of October 1941 had a severe test. The divisions, having suffered heavy losses in the first battles, were forced to retreat in scattered groups to the Mozhaisk line of defense in the area of the city of Maloyaroslavets. This process was extremely difficult. The 33rd Army was drained of blood, which forced the command of the Reserve, and later the united Western Front, to take emergency measures to organize defense at this line of retreat, and the 33rd Army, as incapable of combat, was transferred to the front reserve for reorganization. It is enough to note that in the lists of personnel of the headquarters of this army at 22.00. October 9, 1941, located at the assembly point in the village. Kind, even the chief of the operational department of the headquarters of the 33rd Army, Colonel Safonov, and the chief of artillery of the army, Major General Ofrosimov, were reported missing.

And here is what the extraction from the operational summary of the army says - 33 to 12.00. 10/11/41.

"Parts 33A produce contraction individual groups, units and units of the army sent by 12 command groups in different directions of the possible movement of groups and units 33A

17 sd - collection point - Mashkovo. By 24.00 10.10.41. 203 registered. Division commander and commissar, chief of staff and NO - 1 appointed(highlighted - V.S.). Part of the rear organs of the 17th Rifle Division was sent to Mashkovo. Formation, accurate accounting of personnel, materiel and horses is carried out on the spot.

On October 11, 1941, on the basis of the order of the Military Council of the 33rd Army, Colonel M.P. Safir, who appointed by order No. 1 dated 10/11/41. Acting Chief of Staff of the Division Captain Ya.A. Gritsman, and the battalion commissar V.V. Kilosanidze.

Order No. 1 dated 10/11/41.

From that moment began hard work on the formation of units and units of the 17th Rifle Division, and the new command of the division was energetically included in it. Already in report No. 2 (village Mashkovo) to the commander of the 33rd Army, brigade commander D.P. Onuprenko Colonel M.P. Safir, as well as Brigadier Commissar S.I. Yakovlev at 14.00. 10/12/41. reported: “... Over the past day, 94 fighters and 17 commanders arrived ... Provision of weapons - 123 rifles, light machine guns - 1, PPD - 2 (automatic machines - V.S.). "Beacons" were sent to Borovsk, Vereya and Podolsk (to collect division groups - V.S.). By the middle of the day 10/12/41. the influx of fighters stopped. Individuals who do not belong to the 33rd Army come up. Trucks 9, they are not provided with fuel and lubricants. There is no quartermaster supply. The means of communication can be obtained after the arrival of personnel, which is not present at the moment. You need to get underwear, shoes and camp kitchens.

By 19.00. 10/13/41. according to the order of the command of the 33rd Army, the 17th Rifle Division was relocated to the area of the Ugodsky Plant and already had 558 people, 141 rifles, 57 light machine guns, 12 trucks and 2 walkie-talkies.

Commenting on these documents and the figures given in them is not required. They speak eloquently for themselves. The personnel that was currently in the units in the absence of materiel could not be called a division under any circumstances. Its formation was carried out practically from scratch. Solutions to existing problems were needed, which were soon found. And this, above all, is the replenishment of the division due to the marching companies arriving from the reserve, as well as the merger with parts of other formations that find themselves in an equally desperate situation. But again, there were difficulties here too.

Here is an extract from the report to the brigade commander D.P. Onuprienko, signed by M.P. Safir, S.I. Yakovlev and Ya.A. Gritsman:
“I am reporting the formation of the 17th Rifle Division. The command staff and fighters of the former 17th rifle division (highlighted - V.S.) as of 10.00. 10/14/41. only about 500 people arrived. The flow continues, but on a small scale.(highlighted - V.S.).

a) a group of commanders and fighters of the 8th division in the amount of 80 people.

b) parts of 211 sd in the number of command staff 241 people, junior beginning. composition of 215 people. and privates - 951 people(highlighted - V.S.).

c) 4 marching companies of political fighters in the amount of 397 people.

Total in the division at 12.00. 10/14/41. consists of 2423 people, 617 horses, 29 trucks, 717 rifles, 58 light machine guns, PPD - 2, PPSh - 2.

... From the command staff of the 211th Rifle Division, Lieutenant Colonel Alekseenko was admitted to the post of regimental commander 1316, and thus now the commanders and commissars of the regiments have been appointed to all three joint ventures. From the composition of the 211th division, the remnants of the OBS (divisional communications - V.S.) arrived in the amount of 38 people. with very little property. The replenishment of the OBS is expected by order of the chief of communications of the front. The head of communications of the division was appointed by the front and arrived. The former sapper company of the 17th Rifle Division arrived with 90 people, while from the 211th Rifle Division - 33 people.

For the production of urgent engineering work, the division was assigned Motoinzhbat.

... The material part of the artillery of the 17th division did not arrive. 211 sd gave for staffing 122 mm guns - 4 pcs., 76 mm - 5 pcs., 120 mm mortars - 2. All of the above is aimed at forming 980 ap(artillery regiment, highlighted - V.S.).

The motor transport company is formed by the headquarters of the front at the expense of the 7th auto regiment.

... All the replenishment that arrived was not provided with rifles, namely: fighters of the 17th rifle division by 75%, soldiers of the 211th rifle division - by 50%.

In order to bring the units being formed into a combat-ready state, I ask you to urgently allocate divisions of rifles, machine guns, machine guns, the missing artillery materiel and ammunition, especially rifle cartridges and hand grenades.

I also ask for instructions to the head of logistics on providing the division with food, especially baked bread, clothing supplies, forging and fuel and lubricants.

Order No. 4 signed by P.S. Kozlova

Having received such a report, the command of the 33rd Army immediately responded to it, as evidenced by the resolution on this document marked “Urgently ensure ...” signed by Brigadier Commissar Shlyakhtin, a member of the military council of the 33rd Army. As a result, by the end of the day, the division received additional materiel, ammunition, food, weapons (in particular, a significant number of PPSh assault rifles), and two marching companies from Novosibirsk consisting of 286 people arrived.

Order No. 5 signed by M.P. Safira

Reading these dry lines, one can only guess what incredible efforts the work of staffing units of the 17th Rifle Division required from its command in conditions when, for example, the 60th Rifle Division of the 33rd Army was in approximately the same state, and the 173rd Rifle Division in general at that time only began to go out in small groups to the designated collection area. All this happened in a situation where bloody battles were going on between formations and units of the 43rd Army of Lieutenant General S.D. . Akimov. And literally every soldier was counted.

In all, this, in fact, a new and far from complete division, to a greater extent could be considered 211 rifle divisions than 17 rifle divisions of the original composition. However, it was decided to leave the previous number for 17 sd, and 211 sd ceased to exist on October 15, 1941.

And where was Colonel P.S. all this time? Kozlov, who commanded the division earlier? In the operational report No. 114 of the army 33 to 14.00. 10/14/41. (Voronovo village) it was recorded: “... 9 people who were absent arrived at the departments of the army, including the chief of artillery of the army, Major General Ofrosimov, the head of the operations department of the army, Colonel Safonov, Commander of the 17th Rifle Division Colonel Kozlov(highlighted - V.S.), the military commissar of the artillery department of the army, senior political instructor Tokarev and a group of commanders and staff members in the amount of 5 people. It can be assumed that all these officers left the encirclement together, since there is no other data on their whereabouts until this date.

On the evening of October 14, 1941, Colonel M.P. Safir handed over command of the 17th Rifle Division to Colonel P.S. Kozlov. So Pyotr Sergeevich Kozlov, after a break, again headed the 17th Rifle Division, the strength of which, in his absence, was increased in just 4 days, from 203 people to 2879, that is, more than 14 times! And this is not a miracle, this is the hard work of many people who, with incredible efforts, restored the defeated division. And among them, of course, the leading role belonged to the commander of the 17th Rifle Division, Colonel M.P. Safira.

Significant touches to the picture of precisely these events are contained in the memoirs of veteran militiaman G.F. PC. Sternberg (GAISh). He was among the first to join the 8th division of the people's militia of the Krasnopresnensky district of Moscow (since September 26, 1941, it became known as the 8th division - V.S.), participated in the battles of this division, left the encirclement, and later his fate was connected with the 17th division . Not so long ago, the memoirs of this front-line soldier were transferred by the author for safekeeping to the Chekhov Museum of Memory of 1941-1945, and the interested reader can familiarize himself with them in full. They are unsophisticated, but they contain the harsh truth of war.

G.F. Sitnik recalled: “17th DNO (it is from 09/26/41 - 17th rifle division - V.S.), occupying the defense, fought defensive battles. I was sent to this division by the political department of the 43rd Army as a military commissar of the mortar battalion of the 1316th Infantry Regiment. But from October 13 to October 22, I served as the military commissar of 980 AP 17 DNO, since no mortar battalion existed yet. In the same regiment there was neither a commander nor a commissar, and all leadership lay with the chief of staff of the regiment, senior lieutenant Nikolsky. Thus began my combat work as part of another formation - 17 DNO of the Moskvoretsky district of Moscow. Today, as the reader is convinced, the memories of the front-line soldier are fully confirmed by the cited documents of TsAMO RF.

On October 16, 1941, Major F.F. Maslennikov arrived at the post of chief of staff of the division. And on October 17, 1941, by order of the command of the Western Front, the 17th Rifle Division was withdrawn from the 33rd Army and included in the 43rd Army, where it received the task of defending the Spas-Zagorye - Vysokinichi line(highlighted - V.S.). Thus began a new stage in the history of the 17th Rifle Division, which subsequently led it to the Stremilovsky line.

Report of M.P. Safira
and S. I. Yakovlev dated 12.10.41.

About the critical situation that arose on the Narsky line in the 20th of October 1941, the author has repeatedly spoken in our newspaper (“Chekhov Vestnik” dated 06/19/07, 07/17/07, 11/13/07, 03/04/08, 02/10/09 . and 17.02.09). Leaving aside the description of the tragic events, we note that on October 22, 1941 at 4.45. In the morning, the commander of the 43rd Army received a formidable order:

"Golubev.

1) Withdraw from the occupied line until 23.10. once again I categorically forbid.

2) Immediately send Seleznev to the 17th division, immediately arrest the commander of the 17th division and shoot him before the formation(highlighted - V.S.).

17 sd, 53 sd to force to return in the morning of 22.10. Tarutino, by all means, up to and including self-sacrifice...

Zhukov, Bulganin.

Let us ask ourselves the question: why was General Seleznev, who at that time was the deputy commander of the 43rd Army for rear, urgently sent by the command of the Western Front to command the 17th Rifle Division? Today, given the facts published earlier and the above, the answer to this question seems simple. General D.M. Seleznev, finding himself in a similar situation in early September 1941, knew the 211th Rifle Division well. He had to restore and subsequently command this unit for 2 weeks during the fighting in the Roslavl direction. He was an experienced military leader, who had already proven himself more than once as a strong-willed and competent commander, capable of solving complex issues in the difficult conditions of retreat not only of a separate division, but of the 43rd Army as a whole. And the 17th sd of the new formation, as the reader already knows, absorbed a significant part of the commanding and enlisted personnel of the 211th sd. More about this - in the author's article "Difficult days of Commander Seleznev" ("Chekhov Bulletin" dated 10.02.09.).

But, returning to the indicated topic, it is necessary to tell about who and where Colonel M.P. was from. Saphir.

Mikhail Pavlovich Safir was born in 1895 into an Orthodox family of court counselor Pavel Nikolaevich Safir and a peasant woman in the Novgorod province, Marfa Kuzminichna Koroleva. Major General of Tank Troops. In the rank of lieutenant, he took part in the First World War, for which he was awarded 6 orders. Russian Empire(all with swords and bows). In battles he was wounded twice, shell-shocked, gas attacked by the Germans. In 1918 he voluntarily joined the Red Army. Teacher of the fire cycle at the courses "Shot" (1929-1933) and the Department of "Shooting from a tank" at the Military Academy of Armored Forces (1933-1939). Since 1939 - Deputy Inspector General of the Armored Forces of the Red Army. From July 1941 to March 1943 - commander of the armored forces of the 33rd Army. In 1943-1944. - Deputy, and from 1944 to 1947. - Head of the Department of Combat Training of Tank Forces, and later, until 1954 - Deputy Inspector General of the Armored Forces of the Main Inspectorate of the Soviet Army.

There is such an episode in the biography of this remarkable man and commander. After the fighting near Naro-Fominsk, M.P. Safir was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. In his award list, signed by the commander -33 M.G. Efremov and a member of the military council of the army brigade commissar M.D. Shlyakhtin, in particular, says: “... In the battles with the Nazis from December 2 to December 6, 1941, in the area of \u200b\u200bheight 210.8, the villages of Petrovskoye and Yushkovo, Comrade Safir personally led the actions of the 5th tank brigade, 136th and 140th separate tank battalions . As a result of the skillful management of operations, the enemy was defeated and began to hastily retreat. Parts of the tank group with attached rifle units completely restored the situation.

Signatures. 27. 12. 41.

Son of M.P. Safira, a war veteran and participant in the 1945 Victory Parade, retired colonel Vladimir Mikhailovich Safir, in his wonderful book The Harsh Truth of War, reveals the details of this award in this way: “M.G. Efremov, after the end of the fighting, wanted to introduce M.P. Safira to the Order of Lenin, but a member of the military council of the 33rd Army, Brigadier Commissar M.D. Shlyakhtin said: “He is non-partisan - only over my corpse!”, And was awarded only the Order of the Red Banner.

For impeccable service in the Red Army and the Soviet Army M.P. Safir was awarded 6 orders and many medals. Dismissed in 1954, died in 1981, buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Today we do not know for what reason the name of Colonel M.P. Safira was not included at one time in the historical form of the 17th Rifle Division, which is now stored in the TsAMO RF along with other commanders of the militia division included in it. We also do not know on the basis of what, a laconic entry appeared in this document: “The 17th rifle division was reorganized on the basis of the 17th and 21st rifle divisions (?!!! - V.S.)”. In the end, the historical form, and, in fact, the combat biography of the 17th division, which was compiled much later than the events described, is not a dogma. The same people worked on it, who, like us, could also make mistakes. And now it's not so important.

Today, something else is important. The main, decisive thing for us is what they are talking about, about the forgotten division commander-17, authentic front-line documents that have survived and come down to us by some miracle, sometimes on scraps of paper. And they open to us a previously unknown, albeit bitter, but true page in the history of the 17th Rifle Division, returning from the distant and tragic 1941 the name of a remarkable military leader and man, a patriot of the Fatherland Mikhail Pavlovich Safir, and with him the names of his comrades in arms, whose deeds can one should be proud, paying tribute to their memory.

Indeed, history reveals its secrets not when we wish it, but only when the time comes for it. And it looks like it has already arrived. Happy Victory Day, dear countrymen!

Valery Stepanov.