Much has been said and written regarding the role that was
played by NKVD in the politically motivated purges that decimated Red Army in
the late 30s, as well as much talk arose around NKVD activities in the World
War II—anti-guerrilla operations, behind-the enemy-lines terror squads,
blocking detachments that executed on spot the retreating regular troops and so
on, but too little information appeared concerning the NKVD troops actually
fighting as combat units on the front. Partly this is due to the fact that the
main bulk of NKVD archives is kept secret even now, eleven years after the collapse
of the USSR. We hope that this essay might shed some light on the subject.
The origin of NKVD troops can be traced back to October
1925, when the first two divisions of Escort Troops were formed to ensure the
necessary security regime for gigantic Soviet prison and concentration camp
system. With the emergence of NKVD these two divisions grew and changed both in
size and in strength—as the political repressions, collectivisation, purges and
forced labour industrialisation projects had been carried out. In course of
1939-1940, in the Winter War with Finland, NKVD troops alongside with the NKVD
Border Guards assisted Red Army to breach the enemy defences. In order to
assure rapid advance of main forces and make captured Finnish ground in Soviet
rear areas a secure place, a joint order of the People’s Commissariats of
Defence and Internal Affairs ordered to raise 7 NKVD operative regiments and 1
reserve regiment, 1500 men in each, giving birth to the frontline NKVD troops
as such.
It is evident that an intensive project of raising and
enlarging NKVD divisions was well underway before the “Great Patriotic War”
started on June 22, 1941, with 21st, 22nd and 23rd NKVD Motorised Rifle
divisions being raised in Baltic, Western and Kiev Special Military Districts.
There was a total of 6 NKVD divisions formed and being in combat-redy shape,
with 9 divisions being raised. Basically, these divisions were created with the
same TO&E as regular Red Army divisions, apart from strong armoured fists
and motorization that enabled their impressive performance in the early days of
the war. We also encounter queer formations like NKVD Railway Guarding Troops
divisions, whose primary goal was to establish a firm control of the railway
network during the mobilisation period, secure effective shipment of military
materials to the frontline troops and eventually provide the maintenance of the
railways on the occupied territories; their TO&E included four Rifle
regiments, as a rule each possessing an armoured train for mobile artillery and
anti-aircraft support. As of June 22, 1941, they were deployed as follows:
2nd NKVD Railway Guarding Troops division: Karelia and
Estonia
3rd NKVD Railway Guarding Troops division: Byelorussia
4th NKVD Railway Guarding Troops division: Kiev-Chernihiv-Zhitomyr-Vinnytsia-Odessa
railway
5th NKVD Railway Guarding Troops division: Eastern Ukraine
9th NKVD Railway Guarding Troops division: Brest-Vilnius
railway
10th NKVD Railway Guarding Troops division: Western Ukraine
13th NKVD Railway Guarding Troops division:
Bielcy-Bendery-Uman railway
24th NKVD Railway Guarding Troops division: Minsk-Smolensk
railway
27th NKVD Railway Guarding Troops division: Far East
28th NKVD Railway Guarding Troops division: Far East
29th NKVD Railway Guarding Troops division: Transbaikal
railway
Therefore, it is obvious that the main bulk of these NKVD
troops was engaged in the activities concerned with the future war, a war that
was relentlessly approaching, either as a planned Soviet scheme, or an imminent
German invasion prospect.
Curiously, in many cases it were exactly NKVD troops
subunits that first came under devastating German fire in the early hours of
“Barbarossa”, as in case with the 132nd Separate Escort Troops NKVD battalion
stationed in the notorious Brest citadel. All in all, there were also 53 units
of NKVD border guards, 9 NKVD border commands, 30 engineer NKVD battalions
working on construction sites in the border Military Districts and entering
combat almost instantly.
But we must remember that while certain NKVD units fought
staunchly during the first days of the war, other committed mass atrocities and
war crimes. For instance, it is known that the 5th Motorised Rifle regiment of
the 22nd NKVD division was attacked by Luftwaffe aircraft at 10.00 in the
morning of June 22, in the vicinity of Shauljaj, while marching along the
Baranovichi-Riga line, coming back from the operation in Byelorussia, whose
primary goal was to ensure the forced deportation of the civilians from the
areas close to the borders. The scale of the similar operations before June 22
is still obscure, and yet it is known that in many cases massacres took place,
often following the news of the German attack. It should be also stressed that
the elements of the 22nd NKVD Motorised Rifle division participated in the
defence of Riga, suppressing the rebellion instigated by Latvian nationalists
on June 28, followed by massacres of Latvian civilians by NKVD troopers after
the nest of resistance were destroyed on the following day. Similar actions were
undertaken in Ukrainian SSR by the notorious 13th Escort Troops NKVD
division(with headquarters in Kiev, later in Brovary and Kharkiv), consisting
of the 233rd Regiment(Lviv), 227th Regiment(Kiev), 249th Regiment(Odessa),
228th Regiment(Kharkiv), 229th Regiment(Lviv, responsible for the maintenance
of Polish POWs since 1939), 237th Regiment(Kishinev) and 154th separate
battalion(Chernivtsi). Aware of the imminent advance of the German spearheads
in the Western Ukraine, the units of Ukrainian nationalist paramilitaries began
to concentrate in the vicinity of the major cities, to prevent the massacres of
the prisoners guarded by the 13th Escort Troops NKVD division. However, NKVD
assassins were supported by the regular Red Army units in their endeavours to avoid
the liberation of the prisoners, who were considered “the fifth column” and
“counter-revolutionary scum”—for instance, in Lviv the Red Army command was
forced to designate the units of the 4th Mechanised Corp(32nd Motorised Rifle
regiment of the 32nd Tank division, 202nd Motorised Rifle regiment of the 81st
Motorised division) to withstand the pressure of paramilitary units trying to
break to the city prisons. The butchers of the 13th Escort Troops NKVD division
massacred up to 20,000 of imprisoned civilians in the prisons of Lviv,
Ternopil, Lutsk, Peremyshl, Volodymyr-Volynskyj, Rivne, Dubno, Kolomyja and
Stanislav. However, in some cases(for instance, the city of Sarny) the units of
Ukrainian nationalists managed to demolish NKVD garrisons and hold the towns up
to the arrival of German vanguards.
Conducting a fighting withdrawal, NKVD troops were
subordinated to the Red Army formations and formed their operative reserves,
owing this role to their mobility, political reliability, ruthless leadership
and armament. The a fore-mentioned 22nd NKVD Motorised Rifle division defended
Riga, then, being pressed by the German troops, withdrew to Estonia, secured
the retreat of regular Red Army formations, got encircled and was evacuated to
Leningrad by sea—to be disbanded due to heavy losses. In order to raise more
reserves for the frontline service, achieve better performance of NKVD troops
and to widen the sphere of their employment, the Soviet Stavka of High Command
issued the following order.
Concerning the formation
of Rifle and Motorised divisions of the NKVD troops personnel
00100
29th of June 1941
Immediately proceed to the formation of 15 divisions, of
which 10 Rifle and 5 Motorised. For the formation of these divisions a
proportion of NKVD border guards and internal security troops personnel should
be employed, including privates, NCOs and commissioned officers. The remaining
strength should be drafter from reserve.
The People’s Commissar of Internal Affairs L.P. Berija
should be charged with the responsibility of raising these divisions; Red Army
Chief of Staff should provide the divisions being raised with the necessary
personnel, material resources and weapons according to the application of NKVD.
Stavka of High Command
Timoshenko
Stalin
Zhukov
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