From the memoirs of Andrei Mikhailovich Martynov
I don’t believe in horoscopes - it’s not the heavenly bodies that control the fate of a person, and I only laugh when my dear Nadia, remembering in the morning what she dreamed, thinks aloud: “What would it be for?” But March, the month of my birth, always brings historical events for me: in March 1917 I met Nadia, in March 1918 I began working in the Cheka, in March 1919 at the VIII Party Congress I spoke for the first time with Vladimir Ilyich, in March 1921 received the Order of the Red Banner… In short, March is a special month for me. Excitedly, I went up to the third floor of building two on Dzerzhinsky Square - the pass read: "To Comrade Malgin." I found the right room, told the secretary my last name, and he said: “Come in, please.” Comrade Malgin is waiting for you. Yes, he was sitting at the desk, Alyosha Malgin! He was talking on the phone and therefore, happily getting up, pointed to the chair: “Sit down!” We had not seen each other for many years, but Alyosha had hardly changed - he was still the same thin, only his hair had thinned a little and two deep wrinkles cut through his forehead. But the eyes remained the same - the intelligent, attentive eyes of a friend of my youth. Alyosha hung up and, as if we had only met yesterday, said: - Hello ... - Then he got up, laughed: - I'm an idiot ... I was completely shaken. Hello! We hugged. Sat nearby. Smiling, they looked at each other. Alyosha asked me about Nadya, the guys, asked how his health was, and suddenly said: “Have you heard about the traitor Vlasov?” “There is a rumor that he went with his army to the Germans. Malgin frowned: - A provocative rumor, which, unfortunately, has spread! How could the whole army go to the Germans? The 2nd shock fought heroically. Vlasov left alone. You will learn everything in detail. — What did you think, Alyosha? Move on to the main thing. - The most important thing is that you, Andrey, will have to part with civilian life. They decided you to the Germans in the rear, to the headquarters of the traitor Vlasov. Do you think I can handle it? - You are a Chekist. You have a school - God forbid everyone. The teachers were good. But in recent years I have been far from the Cheka. - And this was taken into account: more guarantees to save life, Unless, of course, you meet one of your old acquaintances. And this, Andrei, is not excluded! Another thing worries me - lagged behind. And we will organize short-term courses for you, individual ones. You know German - it's not a trifle.

The narrow gauge railway was laid under constant shelling and bombing. On May 25, the Headquarters ordered to withdraw through the corridor. The new commander of the 2nd shock arrived - Vlasov. On June 2, the Germans closed the corridor for the second time. Twenty days later, the bloodless troops of the 2nd shock in a narrow area one, and in some places two kilometers wide, broke through the German defenses and began to retreat. Four days passed, four days of uninterrupted fighting, the enemy closed the corridor for the third time. And yet, the exit of the surrounded units of the 2nd shock continued - by the first of July, about twenty thousand soldiers and commanders broke through with battles. I was looking for an answer to the most important question for me: why didn’t Vlasov leave the encirclement? Maybe he proceeded from the rule - the captain is the last to leave the dying ship? Maybe he hoped to collect the remnants of the army and fight the enemy to the last bullet? All these "maybe" disappeared when I read dozens of documents testifying to what was happening these days in the 2nd shock. The first such document was the report of the Special Department of the Volkhov Front. It said: “Information was received from the employees of the Special Department and the commanders of the 2nd shock who left the encirclement that the Military Council of the Army, having completely lost control of the southern and western group of troops, decided on June 23 to withdraw the headquarters of the 2nd shock to location 59 th Army". It was further reported: "On this day, by order of Vlasov, all radio stations were destroyed, as a result of which communication with the northern group of troops was lost." I have been looking for an explanation for a long time why this ridiculous and terrible order was given. I wanted to find some kind of necessity, operational meaning, justification. And he did not find anything - the order was given without any need and caused irreparable damage. I read further: “At 11 p.m. on June 23, the Military Council and the headquarters of the 2nd shock from the command post in the Drovyanoe Pole area moved to the command post of the 59th rifle brigade on the eastern bank of the Glushitsa River. The next day, all the employees of the Military Council, the army headquarters lined up in a column and headed for the exit from the encirclement. Before reaching the Polnet River, the column went astray and ran into enemy bunkers, which opened machine-gun, artillery and mortar fire ... ”I got a report from Senior Lieutenant Domrachev, which he made to the commander of the 59th Army, Major General Korovnikov. General Korovnikov sent a detachment under the command of senior lieutenant Domrachev and political instructor Snegirev to help the Military Council and the headquarters of the 2nd strike force get out of the encirclement. Sending people on a difficult and dangerous journey, the general punished: “First of all, take Vlasov out. If you're wounded, take it out on your hands." General Korovnikov, of course, did not know that Vlasov was a traitor, just as the commander of the Volkhov Front, General Meretskov, did not know about this, did not know the officers and soldiers sent by him to the forests to look for and save Vlasov; the commanders of the partisan detachments Dmitriev and Sazonov, who sent fighters to comb the forests in search of the lost commander of the 2nd shock, did not know about the betrayal.

: “Fulfilling the order, our group left on June 21 at 23:40, capturing food for the headquarters of the 2nd strike. At 6:00 a.m., we arrived safely.” There are no details about how they crawled across the front line with a heavy load, how they cut the “thorn” under fire. "Safely arrived" - and all. “On the 23rd, we led the Military Council and the headquarters of the 2nd strike from the encirclement,” Domrachev said. - It was necessary to walk one and a half kilometers from the village of Glushitsy along the pole flooring. We walked like this: in front of Snegirev, I, then two platoons of a special-purpose company under the command of captain Ekzemplyarsky's company commander, with them 12 light machine guns, a platoon under the command of Lieutenant Sorokin - all with machine guns. We were followed by Vlasov, the chief of staff of the 2nd shock colonel Vinogradov, employees of the Military Council, departments of the headquarters of the 2nd shock. Cover - a platoon of a special purpose company. I followed the compass. When they reached the Polist River, a small group - about eight people headed by Vlasov - turned south. I shouted: “Where are you? Don't come here, follow me!" The group was leaving. Snegirev ran to return. They didn’t obey, they left ... ”It turns out that they didn’t go astray, they didn’t get lost, but they didn’t obey, they left! I read further: “We walked, trying to be closer to the narrow gauge railway. With a large group of soldiers and commanders of the 2nd shock who joined us, we left the encirclement on June 25 at 3 o'clock in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe command post of the 546th rifle regiment of the 191st division. At 4 o'clock in the morning they reported to the Chief of Staff of the 191st Arzumanov and Commissar Yakovlev. Others left the encirclement. In just one day on June 22, more than six thousand soldiers and commanders of the 46th and 57th rifle divisions and the 25th rifle brigade entered the location of the 59th Army. Colonel Korkin commanded the exit. I found a report from Senior Lieutenant Gorbov: “On June 29, a group of servicemen from the 2nd shock troops entered the 59th Army sector in the Mikhalevo region, having absolutely no losses. Those who came out claimed that in this area the enemy forces were few in number. (It was this place that was indicated by the Headquarters for the exit.) Many left later. “On July 14, the commanders and soldiers of the 19th Guards Division of the 2nd Shock Army arrived at the evacuation hospital located in the club of the ceramic factory in the city of Borovichi. They reported that the division commander Bulanov and commissar Manevich had been killed. The head of the Special Department, Butylkin, led him out of the encirclement. Those who came out look bad, broke off, but everyone is in a fighting mood. Commissioner of the hospital senior political instructor Panov.

» Afanasyev went alone. A little to the south of the Veretinsky moss swamp, near the trigonometric tower, he was stopped by a barrier of partisans of the Lugansk detachment, commanded by the secretary of the district committee, Dmitriev. The partisans transported the general to the Oredezh detachment, headed by Sazonov. This unit had an active walkie-talkie. Afanasiev showed Sazonov on the map where he saw the commander of the 2nd shock for the last time: “He is somewhere nearby. Search, comrades, search. It is necessary to save Andrei Andreyevich ... "Sazonov's soldiers split into three groups and set off: one on the road Vydritsa - Lisino - Corps - Tosno, others to the village of Ostrov, and others to Pechnov - to save Vlasov. Sazonov did not know that he was sending partisans to look for a traitor. A plane flew for Afanasyev. At night, the head of communications of the 2nd shock flew to the mainland. At the airport he was met by General of the Army Meretskov and Army Commissar of the First Rank Zaporozhets. They told the shocked Afanasiev that the German radio had reported: “During the cleaning of the recent Volkhov ring, the commander of the 2nd shock army, Lieutenant General Vlasov, was found and captured in his shelter.” Oh, Andrey Andreevich! It seems that pride prevented you from taking my good advice. We would be together now, Afanasiev thought aloud. No one yet knew that Vlasov surrendered voluntarily. I have read hundreds of documents. I can't forget the pages from the diary of junior lieutenant Nikolai Tkachev. Tkachev was killed near Myasny Bor, when he, with the remnants of his company of the 1238th regiment of the 382nd rifle division, left the encirclement with a fight. His friend, Lieutenant Pyotr Voronkov, kept the diary. “I am standing on the banks of the Glushitsa. Once, quite recently, just before the war, we wandered here from Panea. My God, how good we were! And now the mouse will not slip through here - the Germans are shooting through every centimeter. How I hate war! But all the same, I will fight to the last, and if I die, then with the consciousness of a fulfilled duty. Some scoundrel started a rumor that we had been betrayed. I allow everything: mistakes, mistakes, stupidity, finally, but betrayal! .. ”Nikolai Tkachev did not allow the thought that Vlasov was a traitor. I now knew it. I understood: Vlasov could get out of the encirclement. I could get out and I didn't. Didn't want to. Went to the enemy. And he became a personal enemy for me, because he betrayed my Motherland, my people, including me, Andrei Martynov, my wife, my children. I asked Malgin: — When? When you're ready. — I'm ready. I'm ready to pass judgment on this bastard. "We don't charge you with that." He will be judged... Continue to prepare.

German boots .. The commander of the 2nd shock army of the Volkhov Front, Vlasov, surrendered on July 13, 1942.
At the edge of the forest, where the Germans took Vlasov, Ober-Lieutenant Schubert, who commanded the company, unscrewed the lid of the flask, filled it and handed it to Vlasov. The Oberleutnant spoke Russian poorly, trying to explain his speech with gestures: "Camus." Gut cognac ... Returns strength ... In the first hours of communication with the Germans, especially when they walked through the forest, Vlasov was on his guard all the time: he often looked around, tried to stay closer to the chief lieutenant - no matter what happened. “Damn them! They will kill you inadvertently." Here, on the edge, under the bright sun, Vlasov felt that he was calming down. He liked that the chief lieutenant, having offered cognac, clicked his heels and retreated two steps. I also liked the fact that, turning to him, the officer trumpeted all the time: “Ger General ...” Vlasov did not want cognac - the sun was already scorching with might and main, it was much more pleasant, a mug of cold water would be needed, but Vlasov drank cognac, like a connoisseur, in small sips - was afraid to offend the officer's refusal. Handing the empty lid to the German, Vlasov bowed, wanted to thank him in German, and suddenly said: "Merci." The chief lieutenant deftly accepted the lid, put it on his palm, and inquired in the same respectful tone: "Eshcho, Herr General?" "Merci, chief lieutenant." Vlasov was embarrassed only by a young, about twenty-two, chief corporal. Vlasov drew attention to him even in the forest, in the first minutes of communication with the Germans. When, at the request of Vlasov, the Germans shot machine gunners from his guard, the chief corporal looked at him with obvious contempt. The Germans dragged Zina, a military saleswoman, out of the hut. Vlasov slept with her that night under one overcoat, tormented her all, bit her chest and lips. At first, Zina did not understand what the Germans wanted to do with her. She hastily fastened the buttons on her tunic. In a matter of seconds, her face drooped, her large black eyes grew even larger. When a tall soldier with shaggy eyebrows dragged her to a tree, under which lay dead submachine gunners, Zina fell to the ground, wept, shouted: "Andrei Andreevich!" Dear! Comrade General, don't kill! Take pity on me!..

The chief lieutenant again held out the filled lid and said out of place: "Repetition is a mother's consolation." Vlasov drank it in one gulp this time. "Merci." The soldiers laughed. The Oberleutnant frowned, and the laughter stopped. Vlasov nevertheless managed to notice: the soldier made the chief corporal laugh - he showed how the general deftly knocked over the lid. A black Opel Admiral rolled up. The captain got out of the car and saluted Vlasov. The chief lieutenant invited: - Please, Herr General. He opened the door, carefully supported Vlasov by the elbow and, making sure that the general sat down, slammed the door hard.

- It is important to understand that this is not about the "Russian Liberation Army", commanded by Vlasov, having committed a betrayal, going over to the German side, but about the Second Shock Army, which fought under the leadership of Vlasov even before the general was captured by the Germans. These are completely different stories. The black injustice is precisely in the fact that the fighters of the Second Shock were then also called "Vlasovites", they were automatically labeled traitors, although they never surrendered and fulfilled their duty to the end. We did not review the acts of Vlasov himself in the film. For us, he was a traitor, so he remained a traitor. Just because of the betrayal of General Vlasov, the people he commanded in the last two months before the German captivity fell into the category of unreliable. They were repressed, many of them were branded until the end of their lives that they had once acted under the command of Vlasov, although in reality, when Vlasov got into the Second Shock, the army had long been surrounded, was practically defeated, and it was not in his power to correct the situation . Our film is the story of this particular army, and by no means Vlasov himself. For me, this is a story of desperate heroism, devotion to duty and mass self-sacrifice, which were never appreciated by the Motherland.
http://www.rg.ru/2011/02/25/vlasov.html

3) Izolda Ivanova was eight years old when the war began. She remembers well how, together with her mother at the Moscow railway station in Leningrad, she saw off her beloved stepfather, geologist Uncle Naum, to the war.

Izolda Ivanova, consultant for the film “The Second Shock. The devoted army of Vlasov ":" He stroked my head, and with the other hand he half hugged his mother. She cried, and he said that everything would be fine.

At first he wrote from the front, he even handed over his diary. Then the letters stopped, and the family, without explanation, was no longer given an officer's ration. No funeral, not even a missing person's notice. They were not told anything until 1985, when Izolda Anatolyevna, at the request of her mother, again, almost without hope, wrote to the archive.

Izolda Ivanova, consultant for the film “The Second Shock. The devoted army of Vlasov":

“Mom is sitting on the couch, and I am at the table, I can’t even read it aloud to her, because the field mail number is written there. For the first time in 40 years, a secret has been revealed to us. The field mail number belongs to the headquarters of the second shock army.

She recalls how everything inside froze, because the second shock is the army commanded before the surrender by the defector general Vlasov. Well, her uncle Nahum is also a traitor? She could not put up with it and began a search, did not leave the archives for weeks, interviewed dozens of veterans, and, together with the search engines, went through more than one hundred decayed bones. A terrible secret was hidden on the border of the Novgorod and Leningrad regions.

5) We did not study the image of Vlasov very closely. And they weren't going to review it. It was obvious to us from the very beginning that he was a traitor. We talked about those people who were the last two months of the life of the Second Shock Army under his command. Because of his betrayal, they also ended up on the unreliable list, they also began to be called Vlasovites, like those who fought in the Russian Liberation Army, which is completely unfair. Because those who fought in the Second Shock Force did not betray, they accomplished a feat and fulfilled their duty to the end. It's just that the Motherland did not notice this and preferred to forget about them. We were interested in the story of a simple, small man who got into a big war. We were interested in the laws according to which this war developed. And Vlasov does not cause any sympathy from any side, of course.
http://www.nsk.kp.ru/daily/25643.4/806941/

6) The journalist recalled that the general did not really do anything to withdraw his army from the encirclement, and his betrayal "had the most detrimental effect on the surviving soldiers: someone was repressed, someone remained unreliable for the rest of his life, others had to hide it."
“This private story was completely forgotten, although it is very revealing in general for the entire Great Patriotic War. It very clearly demonstrates the inhumanity of both regimes, indifferent to human lives, and the tragic fate of ordinary people who found themselves in a meat grinder, caught in a millstone. Me, like in previous films, ordinary people were interested. I in no way wanted to rethink the role of Vlasov, and everything that happened to him after surrendering to the Germans did not interest me, "the author of the picture explained.
http://www.rian.ru/culture/20110221/336865787.html

7)There is no serious talk about General Vlasov in the film, and the famous blogger Rustem Adagamov, who plays Andrei Andreevich, is only trying to present him as some kind of infernal creature. Regarding Vlasov, the film contains a number of false statements. It is said, in particular, that he did not actually direct the actions of the 20th Army near Moscow. In fact, he led, and much more competently than, for example, the commander of the neighboring 10th Army, Filipp Golikov, who ruined the entire army in just three weeks of the offensive, which did not prevent him from becoming a marshal of the Soviet Union after the war.

The legend that Vlasov spent most of the Moscow counteroffensive in the Moskva Hotel, since he suffered severely from inflammation of the middle ear, was invented in the 50s of the last century by the former chief of staff of the 20th Army, General Leonid Sandalov. The purpose of this lie was noble - to make it possible to tell in the open press about the exploits of the soldiers and commanders of the 20th Army, without mentioning the name of the damned army commander. The author of the legend, however, did not think about whether Stalin would have tolerated the army commander, who, on the days of decisive battles, sits in the far rear. And the documents that became the property of historians only in the 90s clearly indicate that from the beginning to the end of the Moscow battle, Vlasov was at the headquarters of the 20th Army and successfully led its actions.

In the same way, it is a myth that Vlasov kept a cow for his own needs in the Volkhov cauldron. Pivovarov does not even think about how long such a cow would live in a cauldron, where even the skin of a dead horse was a delicacy. Vlasov was simply credited with the cow kept by the commander of the 43rd Army Konstantin Golubev, about whom the future Marshal Alexander Eremenko wrote in his diary in 1943: “He kept one, and sometimes two cows for personal allowance (for the production of fresh milk and butter ), three to five sheep (for kebabs), a couple of pigs (for sausages and hams) and several chickens... This was done in front of everyone, and the front knew about it ... Can there be a good warrior from such a general? Never! After all he thinks not about the Motherland, not about his subordinates, but about his belly. After all, just think - he weighs 160 kg. "
It is unfoundedly stated that Vlasov deliberately surrendered, deciding to serve the Germans, and the headman who betrayed him was generally a Soviet underground worker. In fact, as follows from German documents, Vlasov and his PJ Maria Voronova were captured on the denunciation of the headman of the village of Tukhovezhi, who was rewarded for this with a cow, 10 packs of makhorka, two bottles of caraway vodka and a certificate of honor. We agree that for a Soviet underground worker, the extradition of a Soviet general to the Germans looks rather strange. In fact, Vlasov tried to the last to get out of the encirclement, and if he succeeded, he would have continued a successful career in the Red Army and, probably, would have ended the war as an army general or marshal in command of the front. After all, Vlasov was one of Stalin's favorite generals, and it was not his fault in the crash of the 2nd strike.
The paradox was precisely that the fight against Stalin was headed by one of the most successful Soviet generals. And Vlasov became a collaborator only because he was captured. And this is his fundamental difference from the ideological collaborators, whether it be Gamal Nasser and other leaders of the anti-British opposition in Egypt, who sought support from Hitler and Mussolini, one of the leaders of the Indian National Congress, Subhas Bose, who formed the pro-Japanese Indian Liberation Army, or the first president of independent Indonesia, Ahmed Sukarno, who was awarded an order from the Emperor of Japan for successful cooperation with the Japanese invaders.
All these people fought for the independence of their countries long before the outbreak of World War II, did not intend to make a career in the service of the colonial powers and considered assistance from the Axis powers only as one of the means of gaining national independence. Vlasov, on the other hand, became a fighter against Stalinist totalitarianism only because he was captured.

By the way, Vlasov was not the first Soviet general to express a desire to cooperate with the Germans. So, the former commander of the 19th Army, Lieutenant General Mikhail Lukin, being captured, back in December 1941, suggested to the commander of Army Group Center, Field Marshal Fyodor von Bock, to form an anti-Bolshevik Russian government and army. Due to Hitler's opposition, this proposal was not accepted, and subsequently Lukin refused to join the ROA, which saved his life. The protocols of his interrogation at von Bock's headquarters were made public only many years after the death of Mikhail Fedorovich. Also, Major General Vasily Malyshkin, the former chief of staff of the 19th Army, who, like Lukin, was captured as a result of the Vyazemsky disaster, began to cooperate with the Germans much earlier than Vlasov. But it was Vlasov, as the most famous in the USSR of all the captured generals, that the Germans preferred to make the head of the ROA.
http://www.grani.ru/Society/History/m.186595.html

8) Yesterday I saw material reprinted by Izrus from LiveJournal The betrayal of General Vlasov is an unwillingness to be a slave ...
With all the condemnation of the Stalinist system (which, IMHO, deserves the most severe condemnation and the Court of History), does anyone think that if the Nazis had won, then the Russian people under their rule would have ceased to be slaves?

The truth about the Second Shock Army The military-historical essay is dedicated to the bright memory of the soldiers and commanders of the 2nd shock army who fell in battles with the Nazi invaders. During the Great Patriotic War, seventy Soviet combined arms armies fought the enemy. In addition, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command formed five more shock troops - intended for operations in offensive operations in the directions of the main attack. At the beginning of 1942 there were four of them. The fate of the 2nd shock army turned out to be tragic ... Historians did not deal with the military way of the 2nd shock army separately. No, of course, in numerous monographs, memoirs, reference books, encyclopedias and other literature devoted to the Second World Army, it is mentioned repeatedly, its combat operations in specific operations are described. But there is no research on the 2nd shock accessible to a wide circle of readers. And the reason here is an ideological taboo. For a short time, the 2nd shock was commanded by Lieutenant General A.A. Vlasov, who later became a traitor to the Motherland. And although the term “Vlasovites”, which is usually used to characterize the fighters of the “Russian Liberation Army” (ROA), cannot in any way refer to veterans of the 2nd shock, they are still (so that the name of the traitor does not pop up once again in memory) from the history of the Great Patriotic War , as far as possible, tried to cross out. There is a clear injustice, since the role of the 2nd shock and the role of Vlasov in the history of the Great Patriotic War are not comparable. To see this, let's look at the facts.

... Army Group North was advancing towards Leningrad. Field Marshal Wilhelm von Leeb led to the city that Hitler so desired to destroy, the 16th and 18th armies of Colonel Generals Bush and von Küchler, the 4th Panzer Group of Colonel General Hoepner. Forty-two divisions in all. From the air, the army group was supported by over a thousand aircraft of the 1st Luftwaffe Fleet. Oh, how the commander of the 18th Army, Colonel-General Karl-Friedrich-Wilhelm von Küchler, rushed forward! With his invincible fellows, he already passed in 1940 Holland, Belgium, marched under the triumphal arch in Paris. And here is Russia! Sixty-year-old Kühler dreamed of a field marshal's baton, which was waiting for him on the very first Leningrad street - it would be enough to bend down and pick it up. He will be the first of the foreign generals to enter this proud city with an army! Let him dream. He will receive a field marshal's baton, but not for long. Kühler's military career would end ingloriously under the walls of Leningrad on January 31, 1944. Enraged by the victories of the soldiers of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, Hitler will throw Kühler, who by that time commanded the entire Army Group North, into retirement. After that, the field marshal will be shown to the world only once - in Nuremberg. To be judged as a war criminal. In the meantime, the 18th Army is advancing. She has already managed to become famous not only for military successes, but also for brutal reprisals against civilians. The soldiers of the “great Fuhrer” did not spare either the inhabitants of the occupied territories or prisoners of war. During the battles for Tallinn, not far from the city, the Germans discovered three reconnaissance sailors from a combined detachment of sailors and Estonian militias. During a short bloody battle, two scouts were killed, and a seriously wounded sailor from the destroyer "Minsk" Yevgeny Nikonov was captured in an unconscious state. Yevgeny refused to answer all questions about the location of the detachment, and torture did not break him. Then the Nazis, angry at the stubbornness of the sailor, gouged out his eyes, tied Nikonov to a tree and burned him alive. Having entered the territory of the Leningrad region after the hardest battles, the wards of von Küchler, whom Leeb called “a respected man, possessing fearlessness and composure,” continued to commit atrocities. I will give just one example. As the documents of the Trial in the case of the Supreme High Command of the Nazi Wehrmacht irrefutably testify, “in the area occupied by the 18th Army ... there was a hospital in which 230 mental patients and women suffering from other diseases were placed. After a discussion in which the opinion was expressed that “according to German concepts” these unfortunates “were not worth living anymore”, a proposal was made to liquidate them, an entry in the combat log of the XXVIII Army Corps for December 25-26, 1941 shows that “ the commander agreed with this decision” and ordered that it be implemented by the SD forces.” The prisoners in the army of the “respectable” and “fearless” Küchler were sent to clear the area, shot at the slightest suspicion of a desire to escape. Finally, simply starved. I will quote only one entry from the combat log of the head of the intelligence department of the headquarters of the 18th Army for November 4, 1941: “Every night 10 prisoners die from exhaustion” ... On September 8, Shlisselburg fell forty-first. Leningrad was cut off from southeastern communications. The blockade has begun. The main forces of the 18th Army came close to the city, but could not take it. The strength clashed with the courage of the defenders. This was forced to admit even the enemy. Infantry General Kurt von Tippelskirch, who at the beginning of the war served as Oberkvartmeister IV (Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate) of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces, wrote irritably: “German troops reached the southern suburbs of the city, but due to the stubborn resistance of the defending troops, reinforced by fanatical Leningrad workers, the expected success was not. Due to the lack of forces, it was also not possible to oust the Russian troops from the mainland ... ”. Continuing the offensive in other sectors of the front, units of the 18th Army came close to Volkhov in early December. ... At this time, in the rear, on the territory of the Volga Military District, the 26th Army was formed anew - for the third time after the battles near Kyiv and in the Oryol-Tula direction. At the end of December, she will be transferred to the Volkhov Front. Here the 26th will receive a new name, with which it will pass from the banks of the Volkhov River to the Elbe, it will forever remain in the history of the Great Patriotic War - the 2nd shock! To wage the campaign of 1942 along the entire front of Germany, there were not enough forces. On December 11, 1941, German losses were estimated at 1 million 300 thousand people. As General Blumentritt recalled, in the autumn "... in the troops of the armies" Center "in most infantry companies, the number of personnel reached only 60-70 people." However, the German command had the ability to transfer troops to the Eastern Front from the territories occupied by the Third Reich in the West (from June to December, outside the Soviet-German front, fascist losses amounted to about 9 thousand people). Thus, divisions from France and Denmark ended up in the location of the 18th Army of the Army Group North. The more cynical Hitler was convinced that there would be no second front. And concentrated the best troops in the East. Our Headquarters was not going to give Leningrad to the enemy. On December 17, 1941, the Volkhov Front was created. It included the 2nd shock, 4th, 52nd and 59th armies. Two of them - the 4th and 52nd - have already distinguished themselves during the counterattack near Tikhvin. The 4th was especially successful, as a result of a decisive attack on December 9, which captured the city and inflicted serious damage on enemy manpower. Nine of its formations and units were awarded the Order of the Red Banner. In total, 1179 people were awarded in the 4th and 52nd armies: 47 - the Order of Lenin, 406 - the Order of the Red Banner, 372 - the Order of the Red Star, 155 - the medal "For Courage" and 188 - the medal "For Military Merit". Eleven soldiers became Heroes of the Soviet Union. The 4th Army was commanded by General of the Army K.A. Meretskov, the 52nd - by Lieutenant General N.K. Klykov. Now one army commander led the front, the other was to command the 2nd shock. The Headquarters set a strategic task for the front: to defeat the Nazi troops, with the help of units of the Leningrad Front, to break through and completely lift the blockade of Leningrad (this operation was called "Lubanskaya"). The Soviet troops did not cope with the task. Let us give the floor to Marshal of the Soviet Union A.M. Vasilevsky, who traveled to the Volkhov Front and is well acquainted with the situation. In the book “The Work of All Life”, the illustrious marshal recalls: “Almost all winter, and then spring, we tried to break through the ring of the Leningrad blockade, striking at it from two sides: from the inside - by the troops of the Leningrad Front, from the outside - by the Volkhov Front in order to unite after an unsuccessful breakthrough this ring in the Lyuban region. The main role in the Luban operation was played by the 2nd shock army of the Volkhovites. She entered the breakthrough of the German defense line on the right bank of the Volkhov River, but failed to reach Lyuban, and got stuck in forests and swamps. The Leningraders, weakened by the blockade, were all the more unable to solve their part of the common task. Things barely moved. At the end of April, the Volkhov and Leningrad Fronts were merged into a single Leningrad Front, consisting of two groups: a group of troops of the Volkhov direction and a group of troops of the Leningrad direction. The first included the troops of the former Volkhov Front, as well as the 8th and 54th Army, formerly part of the Leningrad Front. The commander of the Leningrad Front, Lieutenant-General M.S. Khozin, got the opportunity to unite actions to eliminate the blockade of Leningrad. However, it soon became clear that it was extremely difficult to lead nine armies, three corps, two groups of troops, divided by the zone occupied by the enemy. The decision of the Headquarters to liquidate the Volkhov Front turned out to be erroneous. On June 8, the Volkhov Front was restored; again led by K. A. Meretskov. L.A. Govorov was appointed to command the Leningrad Front. “For failure to comply with the order of the Headquarters on the timely and rapid withdrawal of the troops of the 2nd shock army, for the paper-bureaucratic methods of command and control of the troops,” the order of the Stavka said, for separating from the troops, as a result of which the enemy cut the communications of the 2nd shock army and the latter was put in an exceptionally difficult position, remove Lieutenant General Khozin from the post of commander of the Leningrad Front ”and appoint him commander of the 33rd Army of the Western Front. The situation here was complicated by the fact that the commander of the 2nd Army, Vlasov, turned out to be a vile traitor and went over to the side of the enemy. Vasilevsky writes further: “In the first half of May 1942. Fighting resumed on the western bank of the Volkhov River in the Luban direction. Our attempts to expand the breakthrough in the enemy's defenses in order to develop a subsequent strike on Lyuban were not successful. The fascist German command was able to bring large forces to this sector and, inflicting strong blows on the flanks of the advancing Soviet troops, created a real threat of their destruction. In mid-May 1942, the headquarters of the Supreme High Command ordered the troops of the 2nd shock army to be withdrawn to the eastern bank of the Volkhov River. However, as a result of the treacherous behavior of General Vlasov, who later surrendered, the army found itself in a catastrophic situation, and it had to leave the encirclement with heavy fighting "So, from the above text, it logically follows that the failure of the army is the result of Vlasov's betrayal. And in the book “On the Volkhov Front”, which was published in 1982 (and, by the way, published by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the Institute of Military History), the following is generally stated: “Inaction and treason to the Motherland and military duty of its former commander, Lieutenant General A.A. .Vlasov is one of the most important reasons that the army was surrounded and suffered huge losses.” Well, this is one side of the coin ..., with an impartial consideration of the course of events, the following comes out ... The commander of the Volkhov Front, General of the Army K.A. Meretskov, made a well-founded decision to attack with two fresh armies - the 2nd shock and 59th. The offensive of the strike group had the task of breaking through the front of the German defense in the Spasskaya Polist area, reaching the line of Lyuban, Dubrovnik, Cholovo and, in cooperation with the 54th Army of the Leningrad Front, defeating the Luban-Chudov grouping of the enemy. Then, having developed success, break the blockade of Leningrad. Of course, Meretskov, who held the post of chief of the general staff before the war, was aware that it would be extremely difficult to implement the decision of the Supreme Command Headquarters, but he made every effort for this - an order is an order.

Here is what Pavel Luknitsky, an eyewitness, writes in the “Leningrad Diary”: “In January, in February, the initial success of this operation was achieved under the command of ... G.G. th, who was in the reserve of the High Command of the Army and some parts of the Volkhov ... Front ...) and N.K. Klykov, who led it on the offensive ... The army had many bravest, selflessly devoted to the Motherland soldiers - Russians, Bashkirs , Tatars, Chuvashs (the 26th army was formed in the Chuvash ASSR), Kazakhs and other nationalities. Luknitsky did not sin against the truth. The pressure was really terrible. Reinforced with reserves transferred from other sectors of the front, the second shock troops wedged in a narrow strip into the location of the enemy 18th army. Having broken through the defense in depth in the zone between the villages of Myasnoy Bor - Spasskaya Polist (about 50 kilometers north-west of Novgorod), by the end of January, the advanced units of the army - the 13th Cavalry Corps, the 101st Separate Cavalry Regiment, as well as units of the 327th 1st Infantry Division reached the city of Lyuban and engulfed the enemy grouping from the south. The remaining armies of the front practically remained at their starting lines and, supporting the development of the success of the 2nd shock army, fought heavy defensive battles. Thus, already then Klykov's army was left to itself. But it came! In the diary of the Chief of the General Staff of the German Land Forces, Franz Halder, there were entries one more disturbing than the other: “January 18, 1942. The situation on the Volkhov front is very tense. January 27th. ... On the front of the Army Group "North" the enemy achieved tactical success on the Volkhov. 28 January. ... On the front of Army Group "North" successful enemy operations near Volkhov. January 30. ... Army Group "North": an extremely tense situation on the Volkhov front. January 31st. ... In the North, in the Volkhov region, the situation became even more aggravated. February 6. ... At the front of Army Group North, the situation is still tense.” Feeling a serious threat of joining units of the 2nd shock with units of the 54th Army of the Leningrad Front, General I.I. Fedyuninsky, who was 30 kilometers northeast of Lyuban, the Germans strengthened their 18th Army. In the period from January to June 1942, 15 (!) Full-blooded divisions were transferred to the area of ​​​​operations of the Volkhov Front to eliminate the offensive of the troops of the 2nd shock army. As a result, the command of the Army Group "North" was forced to abandon plans to capture Leningrad forever. But the tragic fate of the 2nd shock was a foregone conclusion. According to the memoirs of veterans, in late 1941-early 1942, in the area of ​​​​the Pogostye station, the 54th Army of the Leningrad Front broke through to join the 2nd Shock Army, which was trying to break through to its own through Myasnaya Bor, and the 54th pierced the German positions with a wedge and stopped, depleted the possibilities. The battles for the station continued for several months: in the morning the divisions stormed the railway line and fell, struck down by machine-gun bursts, in the evening replenishment approached, and in the morning everything was repeated again. This went on day after day. The battlefield was covered with snow. And when it thawed in the spring, heaps of the dead were discovered. Soldiers in summer uniforms were lying near the ground, on them were marines in pea jackets, above - Siberians in sheepskin coats, they went on the attack in January - February 1942. Even higher are the “political fighters” in padded jackets and rag hats issued in besieged Leningrad. On them are bodies in overcoats and camouflage coats. The spectacle of Pogostya in the spring of 1942 was the only one of its kind. As a symbol of the bloody battle, towering over the snow-covered field was a marine who was struck down at the moment of throwing a grenade: he froze in a tense pose. There was also an infantryman who began to bandage his wounded leg and froze forever, struck by a new bullet. The bandage in his hands swayed in the wind all winter ... In essence, the battles for lifting the blockade from the Volkhov front were a continuous chain of battles for German strongholds. The battles were fought in difficult swampy terrain with separate heights. At least seven major attempts to break through the blockade ring amounted to an assault on these heights. Each operation involved several divisions, which, having advanced 300-400 meters, stopped, losing people and equipment. During the fighting to break the blockade and expand the corridor for the withdrawal of the 2nd Shock, our troops lost more than 270 thousand people; the Germans lost about 50 thousand. Describing the battles on the Volkhov front as "exhausting the enemy's forces" or "failing the attempt of the German assault on Leningrad", we must not forget that from St. Petersburg to Novgorod there is a strip of gigantic cemeteries, mass graves. There are 200 thousand people on the Nevsky patch - 17 people per meter! The inscriptions on these graves are amazing. Here are 16 names, and below: "Another 1366 people are buried here." Then the words: “Sapronov A.I., Chernyakov V.I., Osipov D.P., Orlov I.V. ... "There are 29 surnames in total. And then, like a thunderclap: "Here lies another 3,000 people." These three thousand lay down in the Volkhov land nameless. For a soldier in the spring of 1942, victory was still very far away. And he was not thinking about the liberation of European capitals. It was necessary, hungry and almost unarmed, to attack a hill among stinking swamps or stand to death on a patch of earth pitted with shells, where fragments of metal, rags, broken weapons were mixed with corpses, where after the war nothing grew for many years, the earth became so dead. Probably only those who have experienced the need to just get up and go to die can understand this. And if you are lucky today, death has passed by, tomorrow go on the attack again. And to die not heroically, beautifully, in plain sight, but half-starved and often nameless among the stinking swamps. Spring has come. The melted swamps did not allow digging trenches or dugouts. There was still not enough ammunition, and in April-May the army was simply starving. Broken leaves, birch bark, leather parts of ammunition, small animals were used as food. However, even under these conditions, the army continued to fight, deepening into the German rear. From March 1942 until the end of June, the troops of the 2nd shock army, being surrounded and cut off from their communications, fought fierce battles, holding the Germans in the southeast direction. It is enough to look at the map of the Novgorod region to make sure that the battles were fought in the conditions of a wooded and swampy area. In addition, in the summer of forty-second in the Leningrad region, the level of groundwater and rivers sharply increased. All bridges, even on small rivers, were demolished, swamps became impassable. Ammunition and food in extremely limited quantities were delivered by air. The army was starving, but the fighters and commanders honestly performed their duty. Circumstances developed in such a way that in mid-April the commander N.K. became seriously ill. Klykov - he had to be urgently evacuated by plane across the front line. At that time, the deputy commander of the Volkhov Front, Lieutenant-General A.A. Vlasov (who, by the way, arrived at the front on March 9), was at the army’s location.

And it was quite natural that he, who had proven himself well in the battles near Moscow, was appointed to act as commander of the encircled army. Although somewhat different information follows from Meretskov’s memoirs (well, this is HIS opinion): “One of the most vile and black deeds in the history of the Great Patriotic War is connected with the name of Vlasov. received their name from the name of their vile commander, who betrayed his Fatherland. I will only say how he behaved during those one and a half months when he was my deputy. Apparently, Vlasov knew about his upcoming appointment. This adventurer, completely devoid of conscience and honor ", and did not think about improving things at the front. I watched with bewilderment my deputy, who was silent at meetings and did not show any initiative. Vlasov carried out my orders very sluggishly. Irritation and discontent grew in me. What was the matter, I did not know then. But it seemed that Vlasov was burdened by the position of deputy front commander, devoid of a clearly defined range of duties, which he wants to receive " more tangible" post. When Commander-2 General Klykov became seriously ill, Vlasov was appointed commander of the 2nd shock army by order of the Stavka, but this is not so. Vlasov remained at the forefront as a senior commander, temporarily replacing the commander. No appointment order was forthcoming. And the post of deputy front commander soon "disappeared" along with the front itself: on April 23, by decision of the Headquarters, the Volkhov Front was transformed into the Volkhov Special Group of the Leningrad Front under the command of Khozin. Meretskov himself, as unnecessary, is sent to the South-Western Front and appointed - temporarily - deputy commander for logistics. Here are such team games ... "The veteran of the 2nd shock I. Levin testifies to the conditions under which they had to fight in the notes" General Vlasov on this and that side of the front ":" A desperate situation was with ammunition. cars and carts could break through, then the shells - two ropes over their shoulders - the soldiers carried on themselves. "Junkers", "Heinkels", "Messers" literally hung over their heads and in daylight hunted (I'm sure, with passion) for every moving target "whether it was a soldier or a wagon. There was nothing to cover the army from the air... There was nothing to save our native Volkhov forest: it allowed us to play hide and seek with the Luftwaffe." In May, the situation worsened. Here is how the commander of the 327th Infantry Division recalls this Colonel (later Major General) I. M. Antyufeev: “The situation on the line occupied by the division was clearly not in our favor. The forest roads had already dried up, and the enemy brought tanks and self-propelled guns here. He also used massive mortar fire. And yet, for about two weeks, the division fought on this line ... Finev Lug changed hands several times. Where did the physical strength and energy of our soldiers come from! ... In the end, a critical moment came at this turn. To the left of us, between the lakes, a partisan detachment was defending, which was pushed back by the enemy. In order not to be completely surrounded, we were forced to withdraw. This time we had to part with almost all heavy weapons ... In the rifle regiments by that time there were no more than 200-300 people in each. They were no longer capable of any maneuver. On the spot, they were still fighting, literally clinging their teeth to the ground, but the movement was unbearably difficult for them. Meretskov (who again headed the Volkhov Front) sent a U-2 plane to pull Vlasov out, but the latter refused to abandon the remnants of his army. It is difficult to say what is more in his act - heroism and courage or fear of Stalin's reprisal (most likely, Vlasov objectively assessed his prospects after returning). When the order was received from the Headquarters - to break through with manpower, leaving heavy equipment - it was too late. The banner of the army was sent by plane to the rear. From May 12, 1942, the army began to step by step, hiding behind rearguards, withdraw from positions and retreat to the corridor near Myasny Bor. Some units were withdrawn even before the general offensive. Since May 22, 1942, German troops have been increasing pressure on the troops of the 2nd Shock Army and deploying units in the corridor area, where fierce battles did not subside throughout May 1942. On May 30, 1942, with the support of attack aircraft, German troops went on the offensive and on May 31, 1942 tightly closed the corridor, expanding the barrier to 1.5 kilometers. In the boiler were 40,157 people in the ranks (as of June 1, 1942). At the same time, as of June 25, 1942, there were still about 12,000 wounded in the army hospital. Some of them were wounded in June 1942 and are included in the figure of 40,157 people on June 1, some of them were wounded before June 1 and are not included in this figure. The supply of the army, already completely insufficient, ceased altogether, to the point that cases of cannibalism were recorded. After the corridor was closed, the withdrawal of army troops to it did not stop, but continued. With battles, under pressure from the enemy, air raids, the remnants of the army flocked to Myasny Bor from the cauldron, which, accordingly, decreased in size. On June 20, 1942, 23,401 people remained in the ranks - by this time all the remnants of the army had concentrated near Myasny Bor. On June 21, 1942, in the most difficult battles, with huge losses, the troops of the 2nd shock army from the west and the troops of the 59th army managed to break through a corridor 250-400 meters wide and a stream of fleeing soldiers of the 2nd shock poured into the corridor. ... the entire corridor was littered with corpses in several layers. Tanks (Soviet - VP) walked right along them and the caterpillars got stuck in a continuous mess of human bodies. Bloody pieces clogged the tracks, the cars slipped and the tankers cleared the tracks with pre-prepared iron hooks ... The corridor, expanded to a kilometer, held out in fierce battles until June 23, 1942, when it was again blocked. By the morning of June 24, 1942, Soviet troops were again able to break through a corridor 800-1100 meters wide, and again the soldiers of the 2nd shock rushed there. By the evening of the same day, the corridor narrowed to 300 meters, but the Soviet soldiers continued to exit through the through-shooting space, but the corridor was again closed. The last time, late in the evening on June 24, 1942, a corridor 250 meters wide was restored, and during the night of June 25, 1942, a certain number of fighters managed to break through to their own. Simultaneously with the exit along the main corridor, individual units and subunits managed to organize their private breakthroughs, and a certain number of soldiers and officers also came out separately. On the morning of June 25, 1942, the corridor was completely blocked, the remnants of the army, which could not get out, crowded on a patch of 1.5-2 kilometers near the village of Drovyanoe Pole, and were destroyed (captured). On June 8, 1942, the commander of the Volkhov Group of Forces of the Leningrad Front, M. S. Khozin, was removed from his post with the wording: For failure to comply with the order of the Headquarters on the timely and rapid withdrawal of the troops of the 2nd shock army, for paper-bureaucratic methods of command and control of troops, for separation from the troops, as a result of which the enemy cut the communications of the 2nd shock army and the latter was placed in an exceptionally difficult position. On June 27, 1942, the front command made another attempt to break through, which ended unsuccessfully, and by June 28, 1942, the army actually ceased to exist. After that day, not a single person left the encirclement near Myasny Bor. At the same time, in other sectors of the front (including such distant ones as the sector of the 27th Army), soldiers and officers of the 2nd shock went out as early as August 1942. According to various estimates, from 13 to 16 thousand soldiers left the encirclement for the entire period, the rest were captured or killed (according to German data, about 30,000 people were taken prisoner, according to the report of the Special Department of the Volkhov Front, the fate of 27,139 people remained unknown). When leaving the encirclement, the head of the special department, major of state security Shashkov, was seriously wounded and shot himself. Surrounded by the Nazis, Zuev, a member of the Military Council, saved the last bullet for himself, and the head of the political department, Garus, also acted. The chief of communications of the army, Major General Afanasiev, went out to the partisans, who ferried him to the “mainland”. The Germans captured the commander of the 327th division, General Antyufeev (who refused to cooperate with the enemies, the division commander was subsequently sent to a concentration camp). Groups trying to break out of the encirclement were captured and died. In one of them was Vlasov himself, and with him the chief of staff, Colonel Vinogradov. He suffered greatly from malaria and was badly injured. Vlasov covered his comrade with his general's overcoat, and he put on the usual one. Later, the Germans will find the deceased Vinogradov in the Vlasov overcoat. They will immediately report to the command about the death of General Andrei Vlasov. About the capture of Vlasov himself ... - General Vlasov on July 11! ... Surrendered to the patrol of the 28th Infantry Corps in the village of Tukhovezhi (together with the chef of the army military council canteen M.I. Voronova accompanying him). On July 11, 1942, in search of food, Vlasov and the only companion with whom he remained from the entire original group, the cook Voronova, went to the village of Tukhovezhi Old Believers. The house to which they turned turned out to be the house of the local headman. While Vlasov and Voronova were eating, the headman called the local auxiliary police, who surrounded the house and arrested the encircled people, while Vlasov persistently pretended to be a refugee teacher. The police locked them in a barn, and the next day a German patrol arrived in Tukhovezhi and identified Vlasov from a portrait in a newspaper. For the extradition of Vlasov, the village headman received a cow, 10 packs of shag, two bottles of caraway vodka and a certificate of honor from the command of the 18th German army. But their people were looking for him, trying to save the commander! On the morning of June 25, officers who emerged from the encirclement reported: Vlasov and other senior officers were seen in the area of ​​the narrow gauge railway. Meretskov sent his adjutant there - Captain Mikhail Grigorievich Boroda, a tank company with an infantry landing. Of the five tanks in the German rear, four were blown up by mines or were hit. M.G. Boroda on the last tank reached the headquarters of the 2nd shock - there was no one there. By the evening of June 25, several reconnaissance groups were sent to find the Army Military Council and withdraw it. Vlasov was never found. After some time, a message was received from the partisans of the Oredezh detachment of F.I. Sazanov: Vlasov went over to the Nazis. When, after many days, the surviving soldiers of the 2nd shock found out about this, they were simply shocked. “But how they believed this heroic general, scolder, joker, eloquent! The commander of the army turned out to be a contemptible coward, he betrayed everyone who, not sparing his life, went into battle on his orders, ”wrote Pavel Luknitsky. “The question arises: how did it happen that Vlasov turned out to be a traitor?” Marshal Meretskov writes in his book “In the Service of the People”, “It seems to me that only one answer can be given. Vlasov was an unprincipled careerist .. ”During the trial of the ROA command, to the question: why did he give up, Vlasov answered briefly and clearly:“ He was faint-hearted. And you can believe it. Surrendering on July 11, the general, who did not have the courage to shoot himself, was already a coward, but not yet a traitor. Vlasov betrayed his homeland a day later, when he ended up at the headquarters of the commander of the 18th German army, Colonel-General Gerhard Lindemann. It was to him that he described in detail the state of affairs on the Volkhov front. A photograph has been preserved: Vlasov bent over the map with a pointer, Lindemann standing next to him is carefully following his explanations. Here we will leave it. He has nothing to do with the further fate of the 2nd shock. Despite the betrayal of Vlasov, the whole army was not blamed for the failure of the Luban operation. And in those days, only the slightest suspicion of betrayal was enough for the very name “2nd shock” to disappear forever from the lists of the Red Army. In addition, none of the units of the army lost their battle flags. On July 15, 1942, the army was being restored in the Naziia-Putilovo region. The core for the restoration of the army was the 327th Rifle Division, which distinguished itself in battles. This means that the Headquarters correctly assessed its role: despite the tragic outcome of the operation, the army buried the enemy’s hopes of capturing Leningrad. The losses of the Nazi troops were too heavy. Pavel Luknitsky also reports this in the three-volume book “Leningrad is acting ...”: “... she (the 2nd shock) destroyed a lot of enemy forces: six German divisions drawn from Leningrad to Volkhov were bled to death by her, fascist the legions “Netherlands” and “Flanders” were utterly defeated, a lot of enemy artillery, tanks, aircraft, tens of thousands of Nazis remained in the swamps ...”. And here is an excerpt from a leaflet issued by the political department of the Volkhov Front shortly after the soldiers of the 2nd shock army left the encirclement: “Valiant warriors of the 2nd shock army! In the fire and roar of guns, the clanging of tanks, the roar of aircraft, the fierce battles with the Nazi scoundrels, you won the glory of the valiant warriors of the Volkhov frontiers. Courageously and fearlessly, during the harsh winter and spring, you fought against the fascist invaders. The military glory of the soldiers of the 2nd Shock Army is imprinted in golden letters in the history of the Great Patriotic War...” Fully equipped 2nd Shock Army continued its combat path. And he was great! And the Great Patriotic War ended for the 2nd strike with participation in the famous Berlin operation. And our soldiers had their own "meeting on the Elbe" - with the 2nd British Army. Soviet and British fighters celebrated it solemnly: with a football match! During the four years of the war, the troops of the 2nd Shock Army were thanked twenty-four times by the Supreme Commanders, and the sky over Moscow was lit up with victorious volleys of salutes. For heroism, courage and courage, 99 formations and units were given the honorary names of the liberated and captured cities. 101 formations and units attached orders of the Soviet Union to their banners, and 29 formations and units became guards. 103 soldiers of the 2nd shock were awarded the title of Heroes of the Soviet Union. History has given everyone their due. Soldiers, officers and generals of the 2nd Shock Army found themselves on the heroic pages of the annals of the Victory. And General Vlasov - to the gallows. The execution took place on the night of August 1, 1946 in the Taganskaya prison by the verdict of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR. How did the fate of other commanders of the 2nd Shock? Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kuzmich Klykov (1888-1968) after his recovery, from December 1942, was assistant commander of the Volkhov Front, participated in breaking the blockade of Leningrad. In June 1943, he was appointed to the post of deputy commander of the Moscow Military District. In 1944-1945 he commanded the troops of the North Caucasian Military District. Valery Zakharovich Romanovsky (1896-1967), who headed the 2nd shock army before the operation to break the blockade ring, later became deputy commander of the 4th Ukrainian Front, in 1945 he received the rank of colonel general. After the war, he commanded the troops of a number of military districts, worked in military schools. Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant-General Ivan Ivanovich Fedyuninsky (1900-1977), who replaced him as commander in December 1943, also commanded the troops of the districts in 1946-47 and 1954-65. He again had a chance to serve the Motherland on already peaceful German soil: in 1951-54, he was deputy and first deputy commander-in-chief of a group of Soviet troops in Germany. Since 1965, Army General Fedyuninsky worked in a group of inspectors general of the USSR Ministry of Defense. In 1969, as a participant in the battles in Mongolia, a veteran of the famous Khalkhin Gol, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Mongolian People's Republic. Every year on May 9, Moscow salutes the Winners. Alive and dead. Majestic monuments and modest obelisks with red stars remind of their exploits. And in Myasny Bor there is a memorial in memory of the feat of the soldiers of the 2nd shock army, which cannot be deleted from History! P. S. ITS MEAT POR In memory of Vice Admiral N.A. Shashkov, son of the head of the special department, major of state security Shashkov. Many decades later, Vice-Admiral Shashkov wrote: - "In Myasnaya Bor, local people do not go for mushrooms. Yes, and they don’t go at all, somehow it’s not accepted." “I have been there (in the area of ​​Myasnoy Bor) many times ... By the way, 47 people died there - search engines, blown up by mines. During this time, search groups, "memory watches", buried 11 thousand here - by skulls, mainly ... They found 1,700 by medallions ... In total, about 20 thousand were buried. And at least 40 thousand are still there now. There are funnels - with a diameter of 10-15 meters and a depth of 8 meters ... like lakes, there are fish! .. Around the swamp - rotten trees felled ... The rivers Kerest, Polist, flowing into the Volkhov - they turn in the spring ... you won’t get through! .. There is no housing - there were once farms, today, perhaps, separate foundations of houses ... "They say that the war ends only when its last soldier is buried with military honors. Our Patriotic War is not over yet ... "... "I know, for example, that the brother of the famous BDT artist Vladislav Strzhelchik fought in the Second Shock Force.The mother of the writer Boris Almazov, Yevgenia Vissarionovna, was the senior operating nurse of the army field hospital in 1942. In Yakutia - God grant him many years - lives a unique person - sergeant Mikhail Bondarev. From Yakutia was He was called up and went through the whole war as part of the Second Shock Strike! A rare case, she was born again three times. And the son of Eduard Bagritsky - war correspondent Vsevolod - died during the Luban operation. " "It comes to the amazing. The whole world knows the name of the Tatar poet Musa Jalil. Both in literary and in any "general" thick Large and Small encyclopedic dictionaries, you will read that in 1942, being wounded, he was captured. In a fascist prison he wrote the famous "Moabit Notebook" - a hymn to the fearlessness and stamina of man. But nowhere is it noted that Musa Jalil fought in the 2nd shock army. Musa Jalil (senior political instructor Musa Mustafievich Dzhalilov) was executed in the terrible Nazi prison Moabit on August 25, 1944. Shortly before his death, the poet wrote the following lines: I am leaving life, The world can forget me, But I will leave a song that will live. The motherland did not forget Musa Jalil: in 1956 - posthumously - he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and the next year he was awarded the Lenin Prize. And today his poems are widely known in Russia. “What happens: they write about Vlasov, they make films. And they forgot about the army, which, in fact, saved Leningrad! “It is largely thanks to the efforts of Shashkov that a memorial appeared in Myasny Bor in the Novgorod region. Many people wondered why a respected and honored person needs all this trouble. At such a venerable age, with such merits and, let's note in brackets, connections, you can safely rest on your laurels. And sometimes - to decorate the presidium of some important forum with your dress admiral's uniform. He felt personally responsible for bringing back from oblivion the names of his father's comrades-in-arms. With the help of the FSB, he installed a memorial plaque at the memorial. But how many nameless heroes still lie in the land of Novgorod! And Shashkov continued to act.

With some delay, about the impressions of watching Pivovarov's next creation about the 2nd shock army, which Vlasov commanded at the final stage.
Actually, in the course of viewing, I periodically stopped the player and made notes about what I saw and heard.
Of course, there is not everything here that would be worth writing about, but in the end I was already a little tired of digging in rotten stuff, so don’t look for it.

1. The beginning informs us that the film is called The Army Betrayed. Who betrayed the army led by the traitor is not clear from the name, but the name itself sets you in the right mood. Greetings to the "Fortress Heroes".

2. The film begins with a brief digression into the history of the counter-offensive near Moscow and immediately the damned tyrant gets what he deserves, the troops need rest and replenishment, and he is unfit for continuing it. Of course, not a word about the state of the German troops, except for the phrase "the German is still very strong," which in no way reflects the real state of the German infantry, and even more so tank formations, rolling back from Moscow with huge losses in people and equipment. As a result, instead of a serious analysis, the usual liberal mantra comes from the Khrushchev era.

3. Here we see a mournful mantra about discussions about the need for a winter offensive in January-February 1942, which, as usual, results in the cliché "Stalin's delusion was very expensive." Of course, there is no meaningful analysis of the pros and cons of the issue of continuing the offensive in the winter of 1942, which, in addition to Stalin, was advocated by a number of military leaders, should not be. Those who wish can familiarize themselves with the issue, say, from Isaev in "The Offensive of Marshal Shaposhnikov", where this issue is popularly covered, indicating the reasons and motives, the pros and cons of such a decision.

4. Here they describe the causes of problems in military production. The capture of part of the industrial potential by the Germans and the transfer of another part beyond the Urals (nothing was said about the advance preparation of this transfer before the war), the departure of men to the front, the unskilled labor of women and children. It's all like that. But you know what explains the work of women and children - repressive policies and propaganda. The fact that women and children voluntarily went to enterprises, characters like Pivovarov cannot even imagine. As any liberal knows, they fought and worked under Stalin under pressure.

5. Here they describe the difficulties of breaking through the front on the Volkhov. They talk about the failures of the initial stage of the offensive, carefully draw blood on the computer on half the screen. When it comes to a successful breakthrough, what was the reason, although the main factors remained in place - "cheers" and "must". Why the first time "Hurrah" and "should" did not help and why the Germans did not draw blood on the second half of the screen remains a mystery. Whether there were shells of which there were only "a few shots a day" and what happened to the German defense is just as decisively incomprehensible. The work of headquarters or tactical commanders who ensured the overcoming of the 1st and 2nd lanes of German defense simply does not exist for Pivovarov. The main thing is not to break away from the concept - a little failure is to blame for the command and Stalin personally, a little success - the people won, shouting "Hurrah" and "Need".

6. This is followed by a tearing of the covers about the fact that earlier the 26th Army already existed because it was the armies of the second formation. Of course, about the similar practice of the Germans, who, for example, had the famous 6th Army that died in Stalingrad, was recreated from the surviving formations - silence. And how many German divisions died, which then reappeared with the same numbers and there is nothing to say. And all why? It is necessary to emphasize the "inhuman character".

7. Of course, Efremov's 33rd Army did not escape the fate of being mentioned, a plaintive attempt to describe the fate of which could be observed in Pivovarov's opus about the offensive near Rzhev. This is, so to speak, a reminder that the author is still filming something. Although the content of the product in both cases is woefully identical. It goes without saying that the Stavka (Stalin and Voroshilov are shown here) does not draw any conclusions, the idea that the Stavka and Stalin are generally capable of doing at least something, besides sending them to the slaughter, should not closely visit the heads of those watching Pivovarov's opuses.

8. Next comes a simply wonderful fragment about "Frightened Meretskov", "Stalin's fantasies about conspiracies" and "the absence of experienced professionals in the army after all the purges and strikes." As you can see, Khrushchev's myth of 44 thousand. shot "professionals" in individual heads continues to live and live well. Although it is well known that the number of commanders with a higher education even slightly increased after the repressions, and the number of those actually repressed amounted to a meager percentage of the total number of Red Army commanders. It is not clear who only stopped and smashed the Germans in the battles of late autumn and early winter. Apparently unprofessional. In general, the tart smell of perestroika freedom hit the air.

9. Further, an interlude about ski battalions as the main striking force of the 2nd shock army. At the same time, at the beginning, drawing blood on half the screen, the author specifically draws attention to the fact that there are no camouflage suits and the fighters are visible. And then bam, and immediately battalions in camouflage suits. When did the camouflage suits appear, how is it connected with the breakthroughs of the front and other equally obvious questions remain suspended in the air. Actually, this is typical for such films that contradict themselves.

10. Of course, the notorious memoirs of Nikulin did not escape mention, it would be strange if this sample of Kondovo-anti-Soviet literature was not mentioned and not called "one of the most piercing memoirs about the war." They would immediately take Rudel or something ...

11. Then a German veteran appears and talks about the superiority of the Russians by 10-20 times. This is as they say without comment. They immediately tell a story in the spirit of a "mad German machine gunner" who shoot a crowd of stupid Russian barbarians who shout "Hurrah", although a little earlier in the film it was stated that only "Hurrah" won, despite the stupid Stalin.

12. This is followed by a no less "funny" episode with the arrival of Voroshilov (the actor playing Voroshilov is humorous with all his might), who demands to take the village for the holiday on February 23 (one of the liberals' favorite tricks), which, however, does not prevent Voroshilov from going deep into the breakthrough zone on advanced. Having learned about this, the Germans after Voroshilov's departure bombed the village, many people die. What is Voroshilov's fault, even after a few hours !!! after his departure, the army command did not bother with the issue of dispersing people, it is difficult to understand, and then it’s generally wonderful, they show a certificate from the military registration and enlistment office of the deceased Bagritsky, and lo and behold, there is not February 23, by which, according to Voroshilov, success should have been achieved, but already 26. Of course, Voroshilov is to blame and not the Germans.

13. Next comes the episode with the loss of control of the troops, when the command of the army (Voroshilov, as mentioned above, does not command, but coordinates), loses contact with the advancing division, which in turn is divided into groups. The authors do not specify who specifically prepared the offensive, although it was worth bringing the primary documents with the order for the offensive and the general plan of the operation. Instead of these more pressing questions, we are shown a reconstruction from the participant’s memories, which do not tell us anything about who exactly was responsible for the offensive of this division and what tasks it faced. About the collapse of compounds without supply and communication, so it is well known. But we were promised betrayal. Name, sister, name...

14. And the name is called, and where you thought, of course, Nikulin and you know this name, this is, of course, Stalin. Which orders you to think - to crush with a mass of bodies, from which the regular German divisions are melting. The classic mantra about "corpse dumping". Now I hope you understand why a German was needed with a story about 10-20 times superiority.
And all this is done by a German who does not understand chain attacks on machine guns. Although to someone, but the Germans should have remembered the First World War well, when they ran to the French machine guns in the same way, and the French to the German ones. But of course, all this is not true, and Stalin personally invented such attacks in order to shove as much meat as possible into the Meat Forest.
Of course, the German will tell about "one rifle for three" and about the commissars who shot the retreating. Big-eyed German, let's consider all the documents about such commissars were treacherously destroyed and he was the first to tell us the TRUTH.

15. Then Vlasov appears, and the authors of the film destroy the legend about the "savior of Moscow" with their own hands, pointing out that his role was rather inflated by propaganda, while reading a positive characterization of Zhukov, presenting Vlasov as "an exemplary Stalinist general." But a little earlier, in the same film, it was stated that all the "talented" were exhausted in purges and under German blows. And as soon as Vlasov survived, then in this "Stalinist meat grinder."

16. The search for the perpetrators is underway - the staff officers are being removed, which is not surprising in the light of the loss of command and control, and then a wonderful episode follows with the commander of the tyrant, who, without conducting appropriate reconnaissance, actually organizes an unprepared attack on the fortified area. Apparently, Stalin is also to blame for this, or in extreme cases, Voroshilov, who, instead of the division commander, were supposed to conduct reconnaissance for him. Is it any wonder that with this approach to reconnaissance and command and control, the 2nd shock experienced serious problems moving forward. Who is guilty? Of course Stalin.

17. The episode with Lindemann's son smiled with the phrase "imbued with sympathy for the Soviet officers, the captured German advises them to surrender," after which there is a miserable production of how the "Russian barbarians" beat the captured German.

18. Debriefing of Klykov's flights - in the film they "tactfully" avoid assessing the activities of Klykov himself, who actually bore personal responsibility for conducting offensive operations, among other things. Moreover, as follows from the film itself, to say that Klykov did everything he could, and his treacherously set aside, it is not necessary.

19. It remains unclear where, during the period of Klykov's leadership, there was "betrayal", if the struggle for the corridor continued regularly and attempts to organize supplies continued just as regularly, including by means of aircraft, as well as other transport

20. The liquidation of the Volkhov Front is presented as a complete concentration of control in the hands of the Leningrad Front, although this is not so, to put it mildly. As part of the Leningrad Front, the Volkhov direction was formed, which was directly led by the commander of the front, to help which, to control the armies around besieged Leningrad, they gave the future Marshal Govorov.
Khozin himself, shortly after his appointment, began to offer to withdraw the 2nd shock and level the front line. Moreover, he soon managed to convince the Stavka of the need for a withdrawal and permission to withdraw the 2nd shock was received. In view of this, one has only to regret that the transfer of command into the hands of Khozin (with all his further jambs) was even somewhat belated, and in the future it will be seen why. In the film, this point is prudently ignored.

21. They didn’t forget the “horror movie” about the gorging Soviet nomenklatura that set the teeth on edge. It goes without saying that Zhdanov was mentioned.

22. The phrase “Vlasov practically does not direct the military operations, and consider there are no actions themselves” is also indicative, although it was during this period that the withdrawal of troops began, which Khozin achieved. If Vlasov really sits and does not direct anything, then what follows is quite understandable and obvious.

23. A simple quotation of the Directive of the Headquarters of May 14 would dot all the necessary and. But instead, we will listen to the searcher's reasoning about stupid command and wonderful revelations that the order to retreat was given only on May 27, the same day that the German offensive began. The reasons for the collapse of the corridor were prosaic, Khozin, carrying out the withdrawal and regrouping of troops, did not provide cover for the corridor at the expense of the released forces, for which he was subsequently removed from his post with the wording:
"For failure to comply with the order of the Headquarters on the timely and rapid withdrawal of troops of the 2nd shock army, for the paper-bureaucratic methods of command and control of troops, for separating from the troops, as a result of which the enemy cut the communications of the 2nd shock army and the latter was put in an exceptionally difficult situation"
It's about personal responsibility.

24. Regarding tens and hundreds of thousands of those killed, on June 1, there were about 40 thousand people surrounded. people, of which about 6-7 thousand. went out to theirs. The rest either died or were captured. The number of those surrounded is quite comparable with the surrendered British groups in Tobruk and the American in the Philippines.
Regarding the horrors of a breakthrough along a narrow, shootable corridor, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the German experience near Korsun-Shevchenkovsky, Falez and the Halbsky cauldron.

Well, in the end, what do we have?
Who "betrayed" the 2nd shock? It is known who is General of the Army Vlasov, for which, among other things, the fighters of the 2nd shock suffered.
Why did the 2nd Shock Troop find itself in such a position - due to the insufficient qualifications of commanders and staff officers, from the command of the front (Volkhov and Leningrad) to the division commanders. Separately, it is worth pointing out the responsibility of the commanders of the 2nd shock army - Klykov and Vlasov, which can be easily seen even in Pivovarov's opus. The consequence of this was both the encirclement of the army in May-June 1942, and significant losses in personnel and materiel during the ongoing offensive operations.
militera.lib.ru/h/isaev_av4/14.html - as a cult-clearance, I recommend reading a chapter from Isaev's old book, work not without flaws, but against the background of Pivovarov's "revelations", this is still a block.

Regarding the film, it is not difficult to notice when watching it, it is a set of conjectures, distortions and other moments characteristic of Pivovarov. Instead of analyzing the real reasons for the death of the 2nd shock, he, as usual, tried to denounce the "bloody tyrant" and the "totalitarian regime", but for obvious reasons - the long-exposed "black mythology", poor familiarity with the material, a purely tendentious presentation taken out of the context of events material, as is usually the case with Pivovarov, it turned out to be something piteously indistinct. If desired, of course, one could stop at other moments from the film, but not in the horse feed.
The facts show that throughout all the months, the command, to the best of its ability and ability, made efforts to supply, maintain the corridor, and, at the end, to deblockade the encircled army.
Regarding the victims and the ability of commanders to manage troops, I send them to the Western Front of the First World War.
. There you will see how real civilized Europeans fight (not like these "Russian barbarians").
PS. Regarding Vlasov, he is clearly and directly not justified in the film, but here is the whole background, this is just the real neo-Vlasovism, trying to show the "objective reasons" for which it was worth betraying the Motherland - stupid and bloody Stalin, stupid and bloody commanders, sympathetic Germans, crazy German machine gunners, detachments, special forces, commissars, repressions, the executed Red Army, "scorched earth", filtering, snickering nomenclature, etc. etc.
The sweet smell of perestroika hit him in the head...
All this is piled up and resembles not the most successful examples of propaganda named after Dr. Goebbels. Read the German leaflets from 1941-1942 and you can easily see where Pivovarov draws inspiration from. But actually, this diagnosis was made back in the days of the opus about Rzhev. So it can be diagnosed that no visible improvement in the patient's condition has been detected over the past time.

Blessed memory of soldiers and commanders

2nd shock army, who fell in battles with the German

dedicated to the fascist invaders.

During the Great Patriotic War, seventy Soviet combined arms armies fought the enemy. In addition, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command formed five more shock troops - intended for operations in offensive operations in the directions of the main attack. At the beginning of 1942 there were four of them. The fate of the 2nd strike turned out to be tragic ...

The year two thousand was coming to an end. The clock impassively counted down the time remaining until the new millennium. TV channels and radio stations, newspapers and magazines squeezed out the theme of the millennium to the fullest. Predictions were made by politicians, scientists, writers, palmists, and sometimes outright charlatans.

The results were summed up. Lists of the "most-most" outstanding people and events of the past century, the millennium were widely circulated. All different. Yes, it could not be otherwise in a world where momentary conjunctures constantly prevail over historical objectivity.

Russia was acutely worried about the Kursk tragedy. The society wanted to receive full information about the tragedy. So far, only versions have been expressed, rumors have multiplied ...

And in this huge stream of messages about past and future disasters, accomplishments and anniversaries, information about the opening on November 17 in the village of Myasnoy Bor, Novgorod Region, a monument-memorial to the soldiers of the 2nd shock army of the Volkhov front, was somehow lost, not being separated from a number of other news. Opened? Well, good. Thanks to the sponsors - they gave money for a holy cause.

Sounds cynical, doesn't it? But, nevertheless, life is life. World War II has long gone down in history. And there are fewer and fewer veterans of the Great Patriotic War on the streets. And more - quite young people with decorations for other wars - Afghan, Chechen. New time. New people. New Veterans.

So, the St. Petersburg authorities did not delegate anyone to the opening of the monument to the fighters of the 2nd shock. And again, from the point of view of modern bureaucratic formalism, it is true: a foreign region. And the fact that the army, by its actions, forced the Germans to finally abandon plans to capture Leningrad, played a crucial role in the operations to break through and completely lift the blockade, knocked out the last German units from the territory of the Leningrad Region in the battles near Narva ... Well, let them do it historians.

And historians did not deal with the combat path of the 2nd shock army separately. No, of course, in numerous monographs, memoirs, reference books, encyclopedias and other literature devoted to the Second World Army, it is mentioned repeatedly, its combat operations in specific operations are described. But there is no research on the 2nd shock accessible to a wide circle of readers. To rummage through a pile of literature in order to get a real idea of ​​\u200b\u200bher combat path will only be graduate students preparing a dissertation on a specialized topic.

It gets amazing. The whole world knows the name of the Tatar poet Musa Jalil. And in literary, and in any "general" thick Big and Small encyclopedic dictionaries, you will read that in 1942, being wounded, he was taken prisoner. In a fascist prison, he wrote the famous "Moabit Notebook" - a hymn to the fearlessness and resilience of man. But nowhere is it noted that Musa Jalil fought in the 2nd shock army.

However, writers still turned out to be more honest and persistent than historians. Pavel Luknitsky, a former special correspondent for TASS on the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, in 1976 published a three-volume book "Leningrad is acting ..." in the Moscow publishing house "Soviet Writer". The author managed to overcome censorship obstacles, and from the pages of his most interesting book openly declared:

"The feats accomplished by the soldiers of the 2nd Shock, can not be counted!"

It would seem that in 1976 the ice broke. The writer, as far as he could, spoke in detail about the soldiers of the army, described their participation in operations. Now historians must pick up the baton! But... they were silent.

And the reason here is an ideological taboo. For a short time, the 2nd shock was commanded by Lieutenant General A.A. Vlasov, who later became a traitor to the Motherland. And although the term "Vlasovites", which is usually used to characterize the fighters of the "Russian Liberation Army" (ROA), can in no way refer to veterans of the 2nd shock, they are still (so that the name of the traitor does not pop up once again in memory) from the history of the Great Patriotic War , as far as possible, tried to cross out. And the collection "2nd Shock in the Battle for Leningrad" published in 1983 in Lenizdat could not fill this gap.

Strange, you will agree, there was a situation. Books have been written about the traitor Vlasov, historical documentary films have been made. A number of authors are seriously trying to present him as a fighter against Stalinism, communism, a bearer of some kind of "high ideas". The traitor has long been condemned and hanged, and the discussions around the personality of Vlasov do not subside. The last (!) veterans of the 2nd shock, thank God, are alive, and if they are remembered, then on Victory Day, along with other participants in the war.

There is a clear injustice, since the role of the 2nd shock and the role of Vlasov in the history of the Great Patriotic War are not comparable.

To see this, let's look at the facts.

... Army Group "North" was advancing towards Leningrad. Field Marshal Wilhelm von Leeb led to the city that Hitler so desired to destroy, the 16th and 18th armies of Colonel Generals Bush and von Küchler, the 4th Panzer Group of Colonel General Hoepner. Forty-two divisions in all. From the air, the army group was supported by over a thousand aircraft of the 1st Luftwaffe Fleet.

Oh, how the commander of the 18th Army, Colonel-General Karl-Friedrich-Wilhelm von Küchler, rushed forward! With his invincible fellows, he already passed in 1940 Holland, Belgium, marched under the triumphal arch in Paris. And now - Russia! Sixty-year-old Kühler dreamed of a field marshal's baton, which was waiting for him on the very first Leningrad street - it would be enough to bend down and pick it up. He will be the first of the foreign generals to enter this proud city with an army!

Let him dream. He will receive a field marshal's baton, but not for long. Kühler's military career would end ingloriously under the walls of Leningrad on January 31, 1944. Enraged by the victories of the soldiers of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, Hitler will throw Kühler, who by that time commanded the entire North army group, into retirement. After that, the field marshal will be shown to the world only once - in Nuremberg. To be judged as a war criminal.

In the meantime, the 18th Army is advancing. She has already managed to become famous not only for military successes, but also for brutal reprisals against civilians. The soldiers of the "great Fuhrer" did not spare either the inhabitants of the occupied territories or the prisoners of war.

During the battles for Tallinn, not far from the city, the Germans discovered three reconnaissance sailors from a combined detachment of sailors and Estonian militias. During a short bloody battle, two scouts died, and a seriously wounded sailor from the destroyer "Minsk" Yevgeny Nikonov was taken prisoner in an unconscious state.

Yevgeny refused to answer all questions about the location of the detachment, and torture did not break him. Then the Nazis, angry at the stubbornness of the sailor, gouged out his eyes, tied Nikonov to a tree and burned him alive.

Having entered the territory of the Leningrad region after the hardest fighting, the wards of von Küchler, whom Leeb called "a respected man, possessing fearlessness and composure," continued to commit atrocities. I will give just one example.

As the documents of the Trial in the case of the High Command of the Nazi Wehrmacht irrefutably testify, “in the area occupied by the 18th Army ... there was a hospital in which 230 mental patients and women suffering from other diseases were placed. After a discussion, during which the opinion was expressed that "according to German concepts" these unfortunates "were not worth living anymore", a proposal was made to liquidate them, an entry in the combat log of the XXVIII Army Corps for December 25-26, 1941 shows that "the commander agreed with such a decision" and ordered its implementation by the forces of the SD.

The prisoners in the army of the "respectable" and "fearless" Küchler were sent to clear the area, shot at the slightest suspicion of a desire to escape. Finally, simply starved. I will quote only one entry from the combat log of the head of the intelligence department of the headquarters of the 18th Army for November 4, 1941: "Every night 10 prisoners die from exhaustion."

On September 8, Shlisselburg fell forty-first. Leningrad was cut off from southeastern communications. The blockade has begun. The main forces of the 18th Army came close to the city, but could not take it. The strength clashed with the courage of the defenders. This was forced to admit even the enemy.

General of the Infantry Kurt von Tippelskirch, who at the beginning of the war served as Oberkvartmeister IV (Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate) of the General Staff of the German Land Forces, wrote angrily:

"German troops reached the southern suburbs of the city, but due to the stubborn resistance of the defending troops, reinforced by fanatical Leningrad workers, the expected success was not. Due to lack of forces, it was also not possible to oust the Russian troops from the mainland ...".

Continuing the offensive in other sectors of the front, units of the 18th Army came close to Volkhov in early December.

At this time, in the rear, on the territory of the Volga Military District, the 26th Army was formed anew - for the third time after the battles near Kyiv and in the Oryol-Tula direction. At the end of December, she will be transferred to the Volkhov Front. Here the 26th will receive a new name, with which it will pass from the banks of the Volkhov River to the Elbe, it will forever remain in the history of the Great Patriotic War - the 2nd shock!

I specifically described the methods of warfare by the 18th Army of the Nazis in such detail so that the reader understands what kind of enemy our 2nd shock army will have to meet. There was very little time left before the start of the most tragic operation in 1942 in the North-West of the country.

In the meantime, the results of the 1941 campaign were being assessed at headquarters on both sides of the front. Tippelskirch noted:

"In the course of heavy fighting, Army Group North, although it inflicted significant losses on the enemy, and partially destroyed its forces ... however, it did not achieve operational success. The planned timely support by strong formations of Army Group Center was not provided."

And in December 1941, Soviet troops launched a strong counterattack near Tikhvin, defeated and put to flight the Germans near Moscow. It was at this time that the defeat of the Nazis in the northwestern and Moscow directions was predetermined.

In military science there is such a concept - analytical strategy. It was developed by the Prussians - great experts in all kinds of teachings on how to kill better, faster and more people. It is no coincidence that all the wars with their participation, starting with the Battle of Grunwald, entered world history as the bloodiest. The essence of the analytical strategy, if we omit all the tricky and lengthy explanations, boils down to the following: get ready - and win.

The most important component of the analytical strategy is the doctrine of the operation. We will dwell on it in more detail, since without it the course of the described operations and battles, the reasons for successes and failures will be difficult to understand.

Do not be too lazy to take a sheet of paper and set aside on it the coordinate system known from school. Now, just below the X axis, start drawing an elongated Latin capital letter S so that its "neck" makes an acute angle with the axis. At the intersection point, put the number 1, and at the top, at the point where the letter starts to bend to the right - 2.

So. Before point 1, the preparatory stage of the military operation is underway. At the very point it “starts” and begins to develop rapidly, at point 2 it loses pace and then fades. The attacking side seeks to go the way from the first to the second point as quickly as possible, attracting maximum forces and means. The defender, on the contrary, tries to stretch it out in time - the resources of any army are not unlimited - and, when the enemy runs out of steam, crushes him, taking advantage of the fact that at point 2 the saturation phase has begun. Looking ahead, I will say that this is exactly what happened during the Luban operation of 1942.

For the German divisions, the "neck" of the letter S on the way to Leningrad and Moscow turned out to be prohibitively long. The troops stopped at both capitals, unable to move on and - were beaten almost simultaneously - near Tikhvin and near Moscow

To wage the campaign of 1942 along the entire front of Germany, there were not enough forces. On December 11, 1941, German losses were estimated at 1 million 300 thousand people. As General Blumentritt recalled, in the autumn "... in the troops of the armies" Center "in most infantry companies, the number of personnel reached only 60-70 people."

However, the German command had the ability to transfer troops to the Eastern Front from the territories occupied by the Third Reich in the West (from June to December, outside the Soviet-German front, fascist losses amounted to about 9 thousand people). Thus, divisions from France and Denmark ended up in the location of the 18th Army of the Army Group "North".

Today it is difficult to say whether Stalin was counting on the opening of a second front in 1942 at a time when the Stavka was planning a number of upcoming operations, including the de-siege of Leningrad. At least the correspondence between the Supreme Commander and the President of the United States and the British Prime Minister about the need to open a second front was fairly lively. And on January 1, 1942, in Washington, representatives of the USSR, the USA, Britain, China and 22 other countries signed a United Nations declaration on an uncompromising struggle against the states of the fascist bloc. The US and British governments officially announced the opening of a second front in Europe in 1942.

Unlike Stalin, the more cynical Hitler was convinced that there would be no second front. And concentrated the best troops in the East.

"Summer is the decisive stage of the military dispute. The Bolsheviks will be driven back so far that they can never touch the cultural soil of Europe ... I will see to it that Moscow and Leningrad are destroyed."

Our Headquarters was not going to give Leningrad to the enemy. On December 17, 1941, the Volkhov Front was created. It included the 2nd shock, 4th, 52nd and 59th armies. Two of them - the 4th and 52nd - have already distinguished themselves during the counterattack near Tikhvin. The 4th was especially successful, as a result of a decisive attack on December 9, which captured the city and inflicted serious damage on enemy manpower. Nine of its formations and units were awarded the Order of the Red Banner. In total, 1179 people were awarded in the 4th and 52nd armies: 47 - the Order of Lenin, 406 - the Order of the Red Banner, 372 - the Order of the Red Star, 155 - the medal "For Courage" and 188 - the medal "For Military Merit". Eleven soldiers became Heroes of the Soviet Union.

The 4th Army was commanded by General of the Army K.A. Meretskov, the 52nd - by Lieutenant General N.K. Klykov. Now one army commander led the front, the other was to command the 2nd shock. The Headquarters set a strategic task for the front: to defeat the Nazi troops, with the help of units of the Leningrad Front, to break through and completely lift the blockade of Leningrad (this operation was called "Lubanskaya"). The Soviet troops did not cope with the task.

Let us give the floor to Marshal of the Soviet Union A.M. Vasilevsky, who traveled to the Volkhov Front and is well acquainted with the situation. In the book "The Work of All Life", the illustrious marshal recalls:

“Almost all winter, and then spring, we tried to break through the ring of the Leningrad blockade, striking at it from two sides: from the inside - by the troops of the Leningrad Front, from the outside - by the Volkhov Front in order to connect after an unsuccessful breakthrough of this ring in the Lyuban region. The main role in the Lyuban operation played the 2nd shock army of the Volkhovites. She entered the breakthrough of the German defense line on the right bank of the Volkhov River, but failed to reach Lyuban, and got stuck in forests and swamps. The Leningraders, weakened by the blockade, were even more unable to solve their part of the common task. At the end of April, the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts were merged into a single Leningrad front, consisting of two groups: a group of troops of the Volkhov direction and a group of troops of the Leningrad direction.The first included the troops of the former Volkhov Front, as well as the 8th and 54th armies , formerly part of the Leningrad Front. The commander of the Leningrad Front, Lieutenant-General M.S. blockade of Leningrad. However, it soon became clear that it was extremely difficult to lead nine armies, three corps, two groups of troops, divided by the zone occupied by the enemy. The decision of the Headquarters to liquidate the Volkhov Front turned out to be erroneous.

On June 8, the Volkhov Front was restored; it was again headed by K.A. Meretskov. L.A. Govorov was appointed to command the Leningrad Front. "For failure to comply with the order of the Headquarters on the timely and rapid withdrawal of the troops of the 2nd shock army, for the paper-bureaucratic methods of command and control of the troops," the order of the Headquarters said, for separating from the troops, as a result of which the enemy cut the communications of the 2nd shock army and the latter was put in an exceptionally difficult position, remove Lieutenant General Khozin from the post of commander of the Leningrad Front" and appoint him commander of the 33rd Army of the Western Front. The situation here was complicated by the fact that the commander of the 2nd Army, Vlasov, turned out to be a vile traitor and went over to the side of the enemy.

Marshal Vasilevsky does not disclose the course of the Lyuban operation itself (there was little written about it at all), confining itself to stating the achieved negative result. But, mind you, neither he nor the Headquarters at their disposal make any accusations against the units of the 2nd shock. But the following quote is extremely far from objectivity. Although, to be honest, one cannot blame the authors of the capital work "Battle for Leningrad" for deliberate bias (and in our uncensored era, many people adhere to this point of view). I quote:

"In the first half of May 1942, fighting resumed on the western bank of the Volkhov River in the Luban direction. Our attempts to expand the breakthrough in the enemy's defenses in order to develop a subsequent attack on Lyuban were unsuccessful. The Nazi command managed to pull up large forces to this sector and, inflicting strong blows on the flanks of the advancing Soviet troops, created a real threat of their destruction.In mid-May 1942, the Supreme High Command ordered the troops of the 2nd shock army to be withdrawn to the eastern bank of the Volkhov River.However, as a result of the treacherous behavior of General Vlasov, subsequently who surrendered, the army found itself in a catastrophic situation, and, with heavy fighting, it had to leave the encirclement.

So, from the above text it logically follows that the failure of the army is the result of Vlasov's betrayal. And in the book "On the Volkhov Front", published in 1982 (and, by the way, published by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the Institute of Military History), the following is generally categorically stated:

"Inaction and betrayal of the Motherland and the military duty of its former commander, Lieutenant General A.A. Vlasov, is one of the most important reasons that the army was surrounded and suffered huge losses."

But here is a clear overkill! The army was surrounded by no means through the fault of Vlasov, and the general was not going to surrender it to the enemy. Let's take a quick look at the operation.

The commander of the Volkhov Front, General of the Army K.A. Meretskov, made a well-founded decision to attack with two fresh armies - the 2nd shock and 59th. The offensive of the strike group had the task of breaking through the front of the German defense in the Spasskaya Polist area, reaching the line of Lyuban, Dubrovnik, Cholovo and, in cooperation with the 54th Army of the Leningrad Front, defeating the Luban-Chudov grouping of the enemy. Then, having developed success, break the blockade of Leningrad. Of course, who held the post of chief of the general staff before the war, Meretskov was aware that it would be extremely difficult to implement the decision of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, but he made every effort for this - an order is an order.

The offensive began on 7 January. For three days, our troops tried to break through the German defenses, but did not achieve success. On January 10, the front commander temporarily stopped the attacking actions of the units. On the same day, the 2nd shock received a new commander.

"Although a change of command is not an easy task ... we still dared to ask the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command to replace the commander of the 2nd shock army," recalled K.A. Meretskov. Kirill Afanasyevich spoke about G.G. Sokolov not in the best way:

"He got down to business ardently, made any promises. In practice, he did not succeed. It was clear that his approach to solving problems in a combat situation was based on long-obsolete concepts and dogmas."

It was not easy for Meretskov to apply to the Headquarters with a request to remove the commander. The former chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, who was repressed and only miraculously did not share the fate of many top military leaders, Kirill Afanasyevich proposed (before the start of a strategic operation!) To remove not just General Sokolov from his post, but, in the very recent past, Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR Sokolov.

However, precisely because it was before the offensive, Meretskov asked to replace the commander. And ... a few days later, G.G. Sokolov was recalled to Moscow. Open the latest edition of the Military Encyclopedic Dictionary - there you will find articles about all the commanders of the 2nd shock. Besides Sokolov...

But back to 1942. Forces were regrouped on the Volkhov front, and reserves were concentrated. On January 13, after an hour and a half of artillery preparation, the offensive resumed throughout the entire area of ​​\u200b\u200bdeployment of front troops from the village of Podberezye to the city of Chudovo in a northwestern direction from the starting lines. Unfortunately, only the 2nd Shock Army, commanded by Lieutenant General N.K. Klykov from January 10, had the main and only success in this operation.

Here is what Pavel Luknitsky, an eyewitness, writes in the Leningrad Diary:

“In January, in February, the initial success of this operation was achieved under the command of ... G.G. ... front ...) and N.K. Klykov, who led it on the offensive ... The army had a lot of brave, selflessly devoted to the Motherland soldiers - Russians, Bashkirs, Tatars, Chuvashs (the 26th Army was formed in the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic ), Kazakhs and other nationalities".

The war correspondent did not sin against the truth. The pressure was really terrible. Reinforced with reserves transferred from other sectors of the front, the second shock troops wedged in a narrow strip into the location of the enemy 18th army.

Having broken through the defense in depth in the zone between the villages of Myasnoy Bor - Spasskaya Polist (about 50 kilometers north-west of Novgorod), by the end of January, the advanced units of the army - the 13th cavalry corps, the 101st separate cavalry regiment, as well as units of the 327th The 1st Infantry Division reached the city of Lyuban and engulfed the enemy grouping from the south. The remaining armies of the front practically remained at their starting lines and, supporting the development of the success of the 2nd shock army, fought heavy defensive battles. Thus, already then Klykov's army was left to itself. But it was coming!

In the diary of the Chief of the General Staff of the German Land Forces, Franz Halder, there were entries one more disturbing than the other:

January 27th. ... On the front of the Army Group "North" the enemy achieved tactical success on the Volkhov.

Feeling a serious threat of joining units of the 2nd shock with units of the 54th Army of the Leningrad Front, General I.I. Fedyuninsky, who was 30 kilometers northeast of Lyuban, the Germans strengthened their 18th Army. In the period from January to June 1942, 15 (!) Full-blooded divisions were transferred to the area of ​​​​operations of the Volkhov Front to eliminate the offensive of the troops of the 2nd shock army. As a result, the command of the Army Group "North" was forced to abandon plans to capture Leningrad forever. But the tragic fate of the 2nd shock was a foregone conclusion.

On February 27, the Germans attacked the open flanks of the Soviet troops. Our units, which reached Ryabovo, were cut off from the main forces of the front and only after many days of fighting broke out of the encirclement. Let's take another look at Halder's diary:

2nd of March. ... A meeting with the Fuhrer in the presence of the commander of the Army Group "North", the commanders of the armies and commanders of the corps. Decision: go on the offensive on the Volkhov on March 7 (until 13.03.). The Fuhrer demands a few days before the start of the offensive to carry out aviation training (bombing warehouses in the forests with super-heavy caliber bombs). Having completed the breakthrough on the Volkhov, one should not waste energy on destroying the enemy. If we throw him into the swamp, it will doom him to death."

And so, from March 1942 until the end of June, the troops of the 2nd shock army, being surrounded and cut off from their communications, fought fierce battles, holding the Germans in the southeast direction. It is enough to look at the map of the Novgorod region to make sure that the battles were fought in the conditions of a wooded and swampy area. In addition, in the summer of forty-second in the Leningrad region, the level of groundwater and rivers sharply increased. All bridges, even on small rivers, were demolished, swamps became impassable. Ammunition and food in extremely limited quantities were delivered by air. The army was starving, but the fighters and commanders honestly performed their duty.

Circumstances developed in such a way that in mid-April the commander N.K. became seriously ill. Klykov - he had to be urgently evacuated by plane across the front line. At that time, the deputy commander of the Volkhov Front, Lieutenant-General A.A. Vlasov (who, by the way, arrived at the front on March 9), was at the army’s location. And it was quite natural that he, who had proven himself well in the battles near Moscow, was appointed to act as commander of the encircled army.

The conditions under which they had to fight are evidenced by the veteran of the 2nd shock I. Levin in the notes "General Vlasov on this and that side of the front":

"There was a desperate situation with ammunition. When cars and carts could not get through the neck to us, the shells - two ropes over their shoulders - were carried by the fighters on themselves. "Junkers", "Heinkels", "Messers" literally hung over their heads and in during daylight hours they hunted (I'm sure, with passion) for every moving target - whether it be a soldier or a wagon. There was nothing to cover the army from the air ... There was nothing to save our native Volkhov forest: it allowed us to play hide and seek with the Luftwaffe.

In May, the situation worsened. Here is how the commander of the 327th Infantry Division, Colonel (later Major General) I.M. Antyufeev:

"The situation on the line occupied by the division was clearly not in our favor. The forest roads had already dried up, and the enemy brought tanks and self-propelled guns here. He also used massive mortar fire. And yet, for about two weeks, the division fought on this line ... Finev Lug passed from hand to hand several times. Where did the physical strength and energy of our soldiers come from!... In the end, a critical moment came at this turn. To the left of us, between the lakes, a partisan detachment was defending, which was pushed back by the enemy. to be completely surrounded, we were forced to retreat. This time we had to part with almost all heavy weapons ... In the rifle regiments by that time there were no more than 200-300 people each. They were no longer capable of any maneuver. they were still fighting, literally clutching the ground with their teeth, but the movement was unbearably difficult for them.

In mid-May 1942, the command of the 2nd shock received a directive on the withdrawal of the army across the Volkhov River. This was more than difficult to accomplish. When the enemy closed the only corridor in the Myasny Bor area, the very possibility of an organized breakthrough became unlikely. As of June 1, in 7 divisions and 6 brigades of the army, there were 6777 commanding officers, 6369 junior officers and 22190 privates. A total of 35336 people - about three divisions. At the same time, it should be taken into account that the command lost operational control over the troops, the units were scattered. Nevertheless, the Soviet fighters offered heroic resistance to the enemy. The fighting continued.

On the night of June 24-25, 1942, as a result of the failed operation of the troops of the Volkhov Front and the remaining combat-ready units of the 2nd shock army to break through the encirclement from Myasnoy Bor and the withdrawal of the remaining groups of fighters and commanders, the army command decided to break through to its own, breaking into small groups (soldiers and officers of the army already did this).

When leaving the encirclement, the chief of staff of the 2nd strike colonel Vinogradov died under shelling. The head of the special department, major of state security Shashkov, was seriously wounded and shot himself. Surrounded by the Nazis, Zuev, a member of the Military Council, saved the last bullet for himself, and the head of the political department, Garus, also acted. The chief of communications of the army, Major General Afanasiev, went out to the partisans, who ferried him to the "mainland". The Germans captured the commander of the 327th division, General Antyufeev (who refused to cooperate with the enemies, the division commander was subsequently sent to a concentration camp). And General Vlasov ... surrendered to the patrol of the 28th Infantry Corps in the village of Tukhovezhi (together with the chef of the dining room of the military council of the army, M.I. Voronova, who accompanied him).

But they were looking for him, trying to save the commander! On the morning of June 25, officers who emerged from the encirclement reported: Vlasov and other senior officers were seen in the area of ​​the narrow gauge railway. Meretskov sent his adjutant there - Captain Mikhail Grigoryevich Boroda, a tank company with an infantry landing. Of the five tanks in the German rear, four were blown up by mines or were hit. M.G. Boroda on the last tank reached the headquarters of the 2nd shock - there was no one there. By the evening of June 25, several reconnaissance groups were sent to find the Army Military Council and withdraw it. Vlasov was never found.

After some time, a message was received from the partisans of the Oredezh detachment of F.I. Sazanov: Vlasov went over to the Nazis.

When, after many days, the surviving soldiers of the 2nd shock found out about this, they were simply shocked. “But how they believed this heroic general, scolder, joker, eloquent! The army commander turned out to be a contemptible coward, betrayed everyone who, not sparing his life, went into battle on his orders,” wrote Pavel Luknitsky.

“The question arises: how did it happen that Vlasov turned out to be a traitor?” Marshal Meretskov writes in his book “In the Service of the People”, “It seems to me that only one answer can be given. Vlasov was an unprincipled careerist. His behavior before that may well be considered a disguise behind which hid indifference to the motherland.His membership in the Communist Party is nothing more than a path to high positions.His actions at the front, for example, in 1941 near Kyiv and Moscow, are an attempt to distinguish himself in order to demonstrate professional abilities and quickly move out."

During the trial of the command of the ROA, to the question: why did he surrender, Vlasov answered briefly and clearly: "I was faint-hearted." And you can believe it. Surrendering on July 12, the general, who did not have the courage to shoot himself, was already a coward, but not yet a traitor. Vlasov betrayed his homeland a day later, when he ended up at the headquarters of the commander of the 18th German army, Colonel-General Gerhard Lindemann. It was to him that he described in detail the state of affairs on the Volkhov front. A photograph has been preserved: Vlasov bent over the map with a pointer, Lindemann standing next to him is carefully following his explanations.

Here we leave the traitor. He has nothing to do with the further fate of the 2nd shock.

Despite the betrayal of Vlasov, the whole army was not blamed for the failure of the Luban operation. And in those days, just the slightest suspicion of betrayal was enough for the very name "2nd shock" to disappear forever from the lists of the Red Army. In addition, none of the units of the army lost their battle flags.

This means that the Headquarters correctly assessed its role: despite the tragic outcome of the operation, the army buried the enemy's hopes of capturing Leningrad. The losses of the Nazi troops were too heavy. Pavel Luknitsky also reports this in the three-volume book "Leningrad is acting ...":

"... it destroyed a lot of enemy forces (2nd shock bus): six German divisions pulled from Leningrad to Volkhov were bled to death by it, the fascist legions "Netherlands" and "Flanders" were utterly defeated, many remained in the swamps enemy artillery, tanks, aircraft, tens of thousands of Nazis ... ".

And here is an excerpt from a leaflet issued by the political department of the Volkhov Front shortly after the 2nd shock fighters left the encirclement:

"Valiant warriors of the 2nd Shock Army!

In the fire and roar of guns, the clanging of tanks, the roar of aircraft, the fierce battles with the Nazi scoundrels, you won the glory of the valiant warriors of the Volkhov frontiers.

Courageously and fearlessly, during the harsh winter and spring, you fought against the fascist invaders.

The military glory of the soldiers of the 2nd shock army is imprinted in gold letters in the history of the Great Patriotic War ... "

However, Hitler, unlike his commanders, did not leave an obsession with taking and destroying Leningrad, demanded that the representative of the Wehrmacht at the Finnish headquarters, General Erfurt, achieve an offensive by the ally units from the north. But the Finnish command gave the Hitlerite envoy a turn, declaring: since 1918, our country has been of the opinion that the existence of Finland should not pose a threat to Leningrad. Apparently, the Finns, who carefully assessed both the international and military situation, then groped for grounds for getting out of the war into which Germany had dragged them.

But Hitler did not let up. He took an unprecedented step: from the southern borders he transferred the victorious 11th Army of Field Marshal von Manstein to Leningrad. Manstein took Sevastopol! Manstein "figured out" the Kerch operation of the Russians! Let Manstein take Leningrad!.

Manstein has arrived. Leningrad did not take. In his memoirs he wrote:

"On August 27, the headquarters of the 11th Army arrived at the Leningrad Front, so that here, in the zone of the 18th Army, to find out the possibilities of striking and draw up a plan of attack on Leningrad. It was agreed that then the headquarters of the 11th Army would occupy part of the front of the 18th Army facing north, while the eastern part of the front along the Volkhov remained behind the 18th Army.

And the 11th Army entered into heavy fighting with the Soviet troops, which lasted until the beginning of October. Actually. Manstein had to solve the tasks of the 18th Army, which was badly beaten during the Luban operation by parts of the 2nd shock and already incapable of large-scale operations.

The field marshal managed to destroy a number of our formations, but there was not enough strength to take the city. Manstein later recalled these autumn battles of the forty-second year:

“If the task of restoring the situation on the eastern sector of the front of the 18th Army was completed, then nevertheless the divisions of our army suffered significant losses. At the same time, a significant part of the ammunition intended for the attack on Leningrad was used up. and speeches. Meanwhile, Hitler still did not want to part with the intention to capture Leningrad. True, he was ready to limit the tasks of the offensive, which, naturally, would not lead to the final liquidation of this front, and in the end everything came down to this liquidation (emphasis added by me On the contrary, the headquarters of the 11th Army believed that it was impossible to start an operation against Leningrad without replenishing our forces and generally not having a sufficient number of forces. October passed behind the discussion of these issues and the drawing up of new plans.

In November, the situation developed in such a way that the presence of the 11th Army was required in other sectors of the Eastern Front: the decisive battle for Stalingrad was approaching. Manstein's headquarters was transferred to Army Group Center. In addition to the unsuccessful attempt to take Leningrad, fate dealt the German commander another - terrible - blow. On October 29, the 19-year-old son of a field marshal, infantry lieutenant Gero von Manstein, who fought in the 16th Army, died on the Leningrad Front.

Many years after the events described, while working on his book "Lost Victories", the old field marshal, always stingy with praise to the enemy, will pay tribute to the heroic soldiers of the 2nd shock (the army at that time was only in name, fought with the enemy eight thousandth rifle division and one infantry brigade). He will appreciate their courage in a military way clearly and concisely:

"The losses of the enemy killed many times exceeded the number captured."

And in the forty-second year, another important event took place on the Volkhov Front, which at first glance has no direct relation to the development of hostilities. A song was born, which soon became popularly known and loved. Because it sounded true and, most importantly, already victorious!

Songs that raise the morale of soldiers sometimes mean more than new weapons, plentiful food, warm clothes. The time of their appearance rightly occupies a worthy place in military chronology. In 1941, this became "Get up, the country is huge!", In 1942 - "Volkhov's table" to the words of the front-line poet Pavel Shubin.

They didn't sing then.

Let's drink for the Motherland, let's drink for Stalin,

Let's drink and drink again!

They did not sing, because there were no such lines yet. but, you see, it sounded great:

Let's drink to meet the living!

These words fully applied to all soldiers of the 2nd shock army.

At the end of 1942, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command decided at the beginning of the next year to carry out an operation to de-siege Leningrad, better known in history as Operation Iskra.

From the side of the Leningrad Front, the 67th Army stood out in the shock group. The Volkhov Front again entrusted this task to the 2nd shock. The almost completely renewed army (only about ten thousand people left the encirclement) included: 11 rifle divisions, 1 rifle, 4 tank and 2 engineering brigades, 37 artillery and mortar regiments and other units.

The fully equipped 2nd shock continued its combat path. And he was great!

On January 18, 1943, the 2nd Shock Army of the Volkhov Front, in cooperation with the 67th Army of the Leningrad Front, broke through the blockade of Leningrad. The course of this operation is described in detail both in fiction and in special military literature. Numerous documentaries and feature films have been shot about her. Every year, January 18 was celebrated in Leningrad, is celebrated and will be celebrated in St. Petersburg as one of the main city holidays!

Then, in the cold January days of 1943, the main thing happened: conditions were created for land and transport communications with the whole country.

For courage and bravery shown during the breaking of the blockade, about 22 thousand soldiers of the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts received state awards. The 122nd tank brigade, which interacted with units of the 2nd shock brigade, became Red Banner. And in the army itself, the 327th Rifle Division was transformed into the 64th Guards Rifle Division. The chest of the commander of the newly minted guards, Colonel N.A. Polyakov, was decorated with the Order of Suvorov II degree. The commander of the 2nd shock lieutenant general V.Z. Romanovsky was awarded one of the highest commander's insignia - the Order of Kutuzov, I degree.

Since April 1943, already acting as part of the Leningrad Front, the army participated in the Leningrad-Novgorod offensive operation, and with its active participation from the Oranienbaum bridgehead in January 1944 ensured the final liberation of Leningrad from the blockade.

In February-March, she liberated Lomonosovsky, Volosovsky, Kingiseppsky, Slantsevsky and Gdovsky districts of the Leningrad Region, went to the Narva River and Lake Peipsi. In April-August, she fought with German troops on the Narva Isthmus and successfully carried out an operation to liberate Narva. In September 1944, in the successful Tallinn operation, the territory of Estonia was liberated from the invaders.

And how were things with the no longer victorious 18th German Army? Tippelskirch writes:

"On January 18 (1944 - author), that is, a few days after the start of the Russian offensive on the northern sector of the front of the 18th Army, the troops of the Volkhov Front went on the offensive from a wide bridgehead north of Novgorod in order to strike at the flank of the 18th Army "It was impossible to prevent this breakthrough, and it led to the withdrawal of the entire army group. Novgorod had to be left the very next day."

But, true to its tradition of smashing and destroying everything, the 18th Army continued the practice of "scorched earth"!: only fifty people survived from the almost fifty thousand population of Novgorod, and only forty out of 2500 buildings. Colonel-General Lindemann, already familiar to us, ordered to dismantle and send to Germany the famous monument "Millennium of Russia", which is still located on the territory of the Novgorod Kremlin. They dismantled it, but they didn’t manage to take it out - they had to take their feet away from the rapidly advancing Soviet army.

Under the blows of the Soviet troops, the 18th Army rolled back farther and farther, until, together with the 16th Army, it was blocked as part of the Courland grouping. Together with her, the failed conquerors of Leningrad on the night of May 9 laid down their arms. And then a terrible panic began among the soldiers of the 16th and 18th armies. General Gilpert, who commanded the grouping, was also seriously cowardly. It turns out that the Nazis "miscalculated." Pavel Luknitsky tells in his narration:

"Before accepting the ultimatum, Gilpert did not know that Marshal Govorov was in command of the Leningrad Front, he believed that they would surrender to Marshal Govorov, "commander of the 2nd Baltic Front," - this seemed to the Germans who committed atrocities near Leningrad not so terrible: "Baltic", having not experienced the horror of the blockade, they have no reason to take such "merciless revenge" as the Leningraders allegedly do.

Previously, one had to think when they were butchering at the walls of the Neva stronghold, dying from hunger, but not surrendering!

On September 27, 1944, the Military Council of the Leningrad Front, transferring the 2nd shock to the reserve of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, addressed its troops with the words:

"The 2nd shock army as part of the front troops played a big role in lifting the blockade of Leningrad, winning the Great Victory near Leningrad and in all the battles for the liberation of Soviet Estonia from the Nazi invaders.

The victorious path of the 2nd Shock Army on the Leningrad Front was marked by brilliant successes, and the battle banners of its units were fanned with unfading glory.

The working people of Leningrad and Soviet Estonia will always sacredly cherish in their memory the military merits of the 2nd Shock Army, its heroic soldiers - the faithful sons of the Fatherland.

At the final stage of the war, the 2nd shock as part of the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union K.K. Rokossovsky fought in East Prussia, participated in the East Pomeranian operation. In his memoirs, Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky noted her skillful actions more than once:

"The 2nd shock army with a fight overcame a strong defensive line on the outskirts of Marienburg, which in the old days was a fortress of the crusaders, and on January 25 reached the Vistula and Nogat rivers. Part of its forces crossed these rivers in several places and captured small bridgeheads. Capture Elbing the troops could not move on the move... I.I.

Together with the 65th Army and a separate tank brigade of the Polish Army, the 2nd Shock Brigade played a decisive role in the assault on Danzig - the Polish city of Gdansk.

"On March 26, the troops of the 2nd shock and 65th armies, having broken through the enemy defenses to their entire depth, approached Danzig," wrote K.K. Rokossovsky. if the ultimatum was not accepted, the residents were advised to leave the city.

The Hitlerite command did not respond to our proposal. The command was given to start the assault ... The struggle was for every house. The Nazis fought especially stubbornly in large buildings, factory and factory buildings ... On March 30, Gdansk was completely liberated. The remnants of the enemy troops fled to the swampy mouth of the Vistula, where they were soon taken prisoner. The Polish national flag hoisted over the ancient Polish city, which was hoisted by soldiers - representatives of the Polish Army.

From East Prussia, the path of the army lay in Pomerania. The Germans understood perfectly well that the Soviet soldiers had every right to take revenge. The memories of how the Nazis treated prisoners of war and civilians were too fresh. And in the May days of 1945, living examples almost constantly appeared before my eyes.

On May 7, units of the 46th division of the 2nd shock cleared the island of Rügen from the Germans. Our soldiers discovered a concentration camp in which compatriots languished. In his book "From the Neva to the Elbe", the division commander, General S.N. Borshchev, recalled the incident on the island:

“Our Soviet people, liberated from concentration camps, were walking along the road. Suddenly, a girl ran out of the crowd, rushed to our illustrious intelligence officer Tupkalenko and, embracing him, shouted:

Vasil, you are my brother!

And our courageous, desperate intelligence officer, Vasily Yakovlevich Tupkalenko (full cavalier of the Order of Glory - author), on whose face, as they say, not a single muscle trembled, cried ... ".

But the winners, to the surprise of the local population, did not take revenge. On the contrary, they helped as much as they could. And when a column of young men in fascist soldier's uniforms came across towards the 90th Infantry Division, the divisional commander General N.G. Lyashchenko simply waved his hand to the teenagers:

Go to your mother, go to your mother!

Naturally, they happily ran home.

And the Great Patriotic War ended for the 2nd strike with participation in the famous Berlin operation. And our soldiers had their own "meeting on the Elbe" - with the 2nd British Army. Soviet and British fighters celebrated it solemnly: with a football match!

During the four years of the war, the troops of the 2nd Shock Army were thanked twenty-four times by the Supreme Commanders, and the sky over Moscow was lit up with victorious volleys of salutes. For heroism, courage and courage, 99 formations and units were given the honorary names of the liberated and captured cities. 101 formations and units attached orders of the Soviet Union to their banners, and 29 formations and units became guards. 103 soldiers of the 2nd shock were awarded the title of Heroes of the Soviet Union.

History has given everyone their due. Soldiers, officers and generals of the 2nd Shock Army found themselves on the heroic pages of the annals of the Victory. And General Vlasov - to the gallows. The execution took place on the night of August 1, 1946 in the Taganskaya prison by the verdict of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR. And on this we could part with the traitor, if not for some circumstances.

Our country entered the new millennium without a textbook on the history of Russia. Well - nothing surprising: too many idols in the previous decade were overthrown from their pedestals, not all heroes were taken out of oblivion. And the history of any state is made up of the actions of individuals.

But when scientists thoroughly shook the flask with the historical cocktail of the twentieth century, many strange, and sometimes terrible personalities appeared on the surface, whom, quickly at hand, "independently thinking" pseudo-chroniclers, immediately began to present to us as heroes misunderstood by the people. A sort of Don Quixotes of modern history, not in the least caring that, unlike Mr. La Mancha, the knights are not a sad, but rather a bloody image.

General Vlasov was also included in the category of such "Don Quixotes". His defense is built mainly on two positions (everything else is verbal husk): the general is not a traitor, but a fighter against the regime, which collapsed anyway, and Vlasov is the Soviet analogue of Stauffenberg.

It is dangerous not to notice such statements. Our country is rightly called the most reading in the world. But to this it must be added that for the most part the Russian people are accustomed to believing the printed word: once it is written, so it is. That is why expositions are so popular among us and refutations often go unnoticed.

Not intending to deal with the refutation of the arguments of Vlasov's supporters in this narrative, I suggest that readers consider only the factual side of the matter.

So, Vlasov and Stauffenberg. The German colonel never fought Prussian militarism - the main opponent of Stauffenberg and his associates was the Nazi elite. A competent officer of the general staff could not help but understand that preaching the idea of ​​the superiority of one nation, a "thousand-year Reich" cannot be built. It was planned to replace key figures with less odious ones, abandon the most unacceptable Nazi principles - and that's it. The world is in a certain period of time. More from a pupil of the German military school, initially accustomed to planning wars and offensive actions, could not be expected. Stauffenberg did not consider himself a traitor to Germany, as he ultimately acted in her interests.

Oath to the Fuhrer? But we should not forget: for the hereditary aristocrat Count Klaus Philipp Maria Schenck von Stauffenberg, son of the chief chamberlain of the Württemberg king and court lady of the queen, a descendant of the great Gneisenau, Hitler was a plebeian and an upstart.

Stauffenberg led the conspiracy of the military, being on the territory of his country, knowing full well the inevitability of death in case of failure. Vlasov - simply chickened out when the danger threatened him personally, surrendered. And the next day, he laid out to Colonel-General Gerhard Lindemann not plans to fight the communist regime, but military secrets that he owned as deputy commander of the Volkhov Front.

At the beginning of the war, Stauffenberg actively pushed through the General Staff his ideas for the creation of national volunteer armies. Consequently, Vlasov, who eventually led the ROA, was considered no more than the commander of one of these legions.

For the Germans, Vlasov was not a person; he was not assigned any serious role in military and political plans. Hitler repeated more than once: "The revolution is made only by those people who are inside the state, and not outside it." And at a meeting in the summer of 1943 he said:

"... I absolutely do not need this General Vlasov in our rear areas ... I only need him on the front lines."

Leaders who are heavily staked on for a successful outcome of the war, as you know, are not sent there - it's dangerous. In the order of Field Marshal Keitel dated April 17, 1943, it was said:

"... in operations of a purely propaganda nature, the name of Vlasov may be required, but not his personality."

At the same time, in the order, Keitel calls Vlasov a "prisoner of war Russian general" - and no more. But that's what they called him on paper. In colloquial speech, harsher expressions were chosen, for example: "This Russian pig Vlasov" (Himmler, at a meeting with the Fuhrer).

Finally, Soviet historians, unwittingly, played a significant role in "perpetuating" the memory of A.A. Vlasov, calling all the fighters of the ROA "Vlasovites". In fact, they never were.

The "Russian Liberation Army" was formed from traitors and prisoners of war. But the soldiers surrendered and were captured by the enemy, and the traitors went to the service of the Germans, and not to Vlasov. Before the war, his name was not widely known in the USSR, and after the transition to the Germans, Vlasov was known only as a traitor. They did not go to him, as they went to Denikin or Kolchak, Petliura or Makhno - not the right figure.

Yes, and he did not behave like a leader. The same Denikin, at the end of the civil war, refused the English pension, rightly noting that only the Russian government could pay money to a Russian general. Vlasov - willingly ate in German kitchens, during his arrest in the forty-fifth, thirty thousand Reichsmarks were found hidden in him "for a rainy day." He lived comfortably - he even got a German wife - the widow of an SS officer Adele Billinberg (after the war she will try to get a pension for her husband who was hanged, like a general's widow).

One of the commanders of the White Guard corps, General Slashchev, did not wear shoulder straps during the civil war, believing that the volunteer army had dishonored them with robberies and violence. Vlasov did not wear shoulder straps with the Germans either, but he gladly put on a comfortable overcoat of a Wehrmacht general. "Just in case," he kept a book of the commanding staff of the Red Army and ... a party card.

Well, Vlasov was not a leader. But, perhaps, then a fighter for the happy lot of the people? Many refer to his so-called "Smolensk appeal" to the people, other propaganda speeches. But Vlasov himself subsequently explained that the texts of the appeals were composed by the Germans, and he only slightly edited them. The former general lamented:

"Until 1944, the Germans did everything themselves, and we were used only as an advantageous sign for them."

And, by the way, they did the right thing, because the unedited Vlasov would hardly have been perceived by Russian people as a patriot.

As already mentioned, in the spring of 1943 he made a "tour" in parts of Army Group North. One can judge by the incident at a banquet in Gatchina with what kind of "love for the Motherland" the speeches of the former army commander were imbued.

Believing in his own importance, the dispersed Vlasov assured the German command: if he was given two shock divisions now, he would quickly take Leningrad, as the inhabitants were exhausted by the blockade. And then he, Vlasov the winner, will arrange a luxurious banquet in the city, to which he invites the generals of the Wehrmacht in advance. As you already know, outraged by such impudence, Hitler recalled Vlasov from the front and even threatened him with the death penalty.

As a result, the Fuhrer still had to put the ROA into action - there was not enough "cannon fodder" at the front, and in the Reich they formed units even from teenagers. But the ROA no longer had any "liberating" character. And the German command did not place special hopes on her. The same Tippelskirch after the war will write that the "Vlasov army", despite its large numbers, was a stillborn fetus.

And how the Soviet units perceived it - the memoirs of the veteran of the 2nd shock I. Levin clearly testify:

“On the site of our 2nd shock army, I remember only one battle with the Vlasovites. Somewhere in East Prussia, near Koenigsberg, our tank landing came across a large German unit, which included a Vlasov battalion.

After a fierce battle, the enemy was scattered. According to reports from the front line: they took many prisoners, Germans and Vlasovites. But only the Germans reached the army headquarters. Not a single person with the ROA sign was brought. You can say a lot of words about this ... But no matter what they say, no one has the right to condemn our paratroopers who have not cooled down from the battle, who have just lost their friends at the hands of traitors ... ".

The Vlasov army, in principle, had nothing to count on. In the thirties and forties of the twentieth century in our country, the power of personal example was of great importance for people. Hence - the Stakhanovite movement, the Voroshilov arrows. During the war years, the soldiers deliberately repeated the feat of Matrosov, the pilots - Talalikhin, snipers - the achievements of Smolyachkov. And an example of civic courage for people was the feat of Kosmodemyanskaya, and not the activities of Vlasov. He could not find a place in this row.

At that time, the word "SS man" was the worst curse - where there is sometimes a gentle Russian mat. And Vlasov conducted propaganda with the help of SS Obergruppenführer Goebbels, equipped and armed the ROA under the leadership of the Reichsführer SS Himmler, and chose an SS widow as his life partner. And, finally, the very service certificate of the commander of the "Russian (!) Liberation Army" Vlasov was signed by SS General (!) Kroeger. Isn't the attraction to the security detachments of the Nazi Party too strong for a "bearer of lofty ideas", a fighter for a "free Russia"?

In the historical period described, a person who had anything to do with the SS could at best count on a place in a prison cell. But not on the political Olympus. And this opinion was held not only in the USSR.

After the war, traitors were tried all over Europe. Quisling was shot in Norway, the Belgian king Leopold III, who signed the surrender to Germany, was forced to abdicate. Marshal Petain in France was sentenced to death, then commuted to life imprisonment. According to the verdict of the people's tribunal, Antonescu was executed as a war criminal in Romania. If such a punishment befell traitors of the first magnitude, then what could smaller fry like Vlasov count on? Only on a bullet or a noose.

And to present today an obvious traitor in the role of a martyr and "sufferer for the people" means deliberately engaging in false patriotic propaganda. This is much worse than trading from the stalls of Hitler's Mein Kampf. Because it has long been customary - the sufferers in Russia are loved, pitied. But Vlasov is not a foolish cripple. And the scaffold instead of a tribune was erected for him according to his deserts.

Russia had other generals as well. During the Great Patriotic War, one of the leaders of the White Guard movement and the implacable enemy of the Soviet power, Lieutenant-General A.I. Denikin, urged the White emigrants to fight the Germans in order to support the Red Army. And the Soviet lieutenant general D.M. Karbyshev preferred martyrdom in a concentration camp to treason.

How did the fate of other commanders? Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kuzmich Klykov (1888-1968) after his recovery, from December 1942, was assistant commander of the Volkhov Front, participated in breaking the blockade of Leningrad. In June 1943, he was appointed to the post of deputy commander of the Moscow Military District. In 1944-1945 he commanded the troops of the North Caucasian Military District. Valery Zakharovich Romanovsky (1896-1967), who headed the 2nd shock army before the operation to break the blockade ring, later became deputy commander of the 4th Ukrainian Front, in 1945 he received the rank of colonel general. After the war, he commanded the troops of a number of military districts, worked in military schools.

Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant-General Ivan Ivanovich Fedyuninsky (1900-1977), who replaced him as commander in December 1943, also commanded the troops of the districts in 1946-47 and 1954-65. He again had a chance to serve the Motherland on already peaceful German soil: in 1951-54, he was deputy and first deputy commander-in-chief of a group of Soviet troops in Germany. Since 1965, Army General Fedyuninsky worked in a group of inspectors general of the USSR Ministry of Defense. In 1969, as a participant in the battles in Mongolia, a veteran of the famous Khalkhin Gol, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Mongolian People's Republic.

Colonel General Gerhard Lindemann (1884-1963), who opposed the 2nd shock at the head of the 18th German army - the one who wanted to take the Millennium of Russia monument out of Novgorod - on March 1, 1944, led the North Army Group, but for military setbacks in early July of the same forty-fourth was removed from his post. Commanding the German troops in Denmark at the end of the war, on May 8, 1945, he surrendered to the British.

Field Marshals Wilhelm von Leeb and Karl von Küchler were tried by the Fifth American Military Tribunal in Nuremberg as war criminals. On October 28, 1948, the sentence was pronounced: von Leeb (1876-1956) received an unexpectedly mild sentence - three years in prison. Von Küchler (1881-1969) was treated more severely. No matter how he lied, no matter how he dodged, no matter how he referred to only the exact execution of orders, the "respectable" and "fearless" field marshal, the tribunal turned out to be inexorable: twenty years in prison!

True, in February 1955, Küchler was released. From the beginning of the fifties, they began to release and amnesty many "fuhrer soldiers" - in 1954, the Federal Republic of Germany joined NATO and "experienced specialists" were required to form parts of the Bundeswehr.

Something, but "experience" they were not to occupy! Suffice it to say that soon after the formation of the Bundeswehr, the fascist General Ferch, one of the leaders of the artillery shelling of Leningrad, was appointed its commander. In 1960, Major General of the Wehrmacht, the former head of the department of the General Staff of the Ground Forces, Adolf Heusinger, became chairman of the permanent military committee of NATO. The same Heusinger, who calmly gave orders for punitive expeditions and reprisals against the civilian population of the occupied territories of the Soviet Union.

However, times are different now. But, you see, historical facts are a stubborn thing. And it is necessary to remember them - evidence of the bloodiest war of the twentieth century!

Every year on May 9, Moscow salutes the Winners. Alive and dead. Majestic monuments and modest obelisks with red stars remind of their exploits.

And in Myasny Bor there is a memorial in memory of the feat of the soldiers of the 2nd shock army, which cannot be deleted from History!

2002-2003

P. S. HIS MEAT POR

In memory of N.A. Shashkova

Businessmen are different. Some people love to shine in front of TV cameras, others - to support "high-profile" projects, consecrated by the patronage of statesmen. Still others are engaged in charity, receiving in return laureate signs of various awards - from literary to fence-building (the main thing is to hang a beautiful diploma in the office).

My old friend Leonid Ivanovich Kulikov, general director of the BUR mining company, did not belong to any of the above categories. But if there was a need to support an interesting and necessary undertaking, he helped. True, after first making sure that the money will go to a good cause, and not into the pocket of the initiator.

Therefore, in Kulikov's office one could often meet writers and poets, officials, generals, and scientists. And I was absolutely not surprised when, several years ago, on one of the hot June days, I found a tall, gray-haired old man in the uniform of a vice admiral at Leonid Ivanovich's. He was talking animatedly as he walked around the table. The star of the Hero of the Soviet Union swayed above the medal bars in time with the movements.

Shashkov. Nikolai Alexandrovich, - the admiral held out his hand. - It's good that he came. We are just discussing one important topic, - Leonid Ivanovich explained. - Of course, you have heard about the Second Shock Army?

Luban operation in 1942?

You see!” exclaimed Shashkov. “He knows. And he didn’t tell me how this idiot (the name of one official sounded): the Vlasov army.

Well, Vlasov is Vlasov, and the army is an army. In the end, she then broke through the blockade of Leningrad, participated in the East Prussian operation.

Because of Vlasov, little was written about her, but there was a lot to hear about the heroism of the fighters. Still, he worked as a city reporter for a long time. I met different people.

I know, for example, that the brother of the famous BDT artist Vladislav Strzhelchik fought in the Second Shock. The mother of the writer Boris Almazov, Evgenia Vissarionovna, was in 1942 the senior operating nurse of the army field hospital. In Yakutia - God grant him many years - lives a unique person - Sergeant Mikhail Bondarev. He was called up from Yakutia and went through the whole war as part of the Second Shock! A rare case, she was born again three times. And the son of Eduard Bagritsky - war correspondent Vsevolod - died during the Luban operation.

Just like my father - Alexander Georgievich. He was the head of a special department of the army, - interrupted Shashkov.

We talked for a long time that day. About heroes and traitors. Memory and unconsciousness. The fact that the recently opened memorial to the dead soldiers in Myasnoy Bor needs to be equipped, but there is no money. The surviving veterans are very old people. Businessmen are not interested in them, so they do not seek to help.

We'll help, we'll help," Kulikov reassured Admiral every time.

We also talked about the search engines, which are absolutely disinterestedly engaged in a holy cause - they search for and bury the remains of fighters. About officials giving vague answers to all proposals for perpetuating the memory of the fallen.

They firmly stuck in their heads: the Vlasov army, - Shashkov got excited. - When I was still an assistant to the Minister of Defense of the USSR, I spoke many times to the head of Glavpur (Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Navy - author) - it is necessary to prepare and publish a normal history of the Second Shock. And this capercaillie old answered me: let's see, let's wait. We waited…

Listen. I have read some of your historical essays. Maybe you can take it. You see, it is necessary to briefly and clearly reflect the entire military path. Young people will not read the Talmud. And she definitely needs to know this page of history.

What happens: they write about Vlasov, this bastard, a traitor, they make films. And they forgot about the army, in fact, which saved Leningrad!

Since then, we have been seeing each other quite often.

In Nikolai Alexandrovich, they were struck, first of all, by irrepressible energy, purposefulness. He constantly dangled between St. Petersburg and Moscow. And not in the "SV" car - behind the wheel of your own "nine". He made his way to high offices - he persuaded, argued, signed the necessary papers. It seemed that, apart from perpetuating the memory of the fighters of the Second Shock, he no longer needed anything in this life. It was largely thanks to the efforts of Shashkov that a memorial appeared in Myasny Bor in the Novgorod region.

Many people wondered why a respected and honored person needs all this trouble. At such a venerable age, with such merits and, let's note in brackets, connections, you can safely rest on your laurels. And sometimes - to decorate the presidium of some important forum with your dress admiral's uniform.

But the fact of the matter is that Shashkov was not a "wedding general." In the full sense of the word, the combat commander (this was his submarine during the Arab-Israeli conflict of 1968 was ready to launch missiles at the Promised Land), he felt personally responsible for the return from oblivion of the names of his father's comrades-in-arms. With the help of the FSB, he installed a memorial plaque at the memorial. But how many nameless heroes still lie in the land of Novgorod! And Shashkov continued to act.

In Kulikov's office, which became our headquarters, Nikolai Alexandrovich prepared requests and letters, copied and sent out documents, and met with potential sponsors. Here we have made corrections to the manuscript of the story.

He came to this office on May 8, 2003, after a meeting with Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko, who was then the presidential plenipotentiary in the North-West, joyfully excited:

Valentina Ivanovna took my suggestions more attentively than she expected. Now things are moving forward.

And indeed, it has moved. We were convinced of this a few months later, when we arrived on August 17 - the next anniversary of the opening of the memorial - in Myasnoy Bor.

Nikolai Alexandrovich told me what still needs to be done. And, knowing his ability to achieve his own, both I, and Kulikov, and everyone involved in this work by the admiral had no doubt: so be it.

Throughout the autumn, winter and spring, Shashkov was engaged in routine and, as he put it, bureaucratic work. On May 1, the phone rang in my apartment.

Just arrived from Moscow. Lots of interesting news about the memorial. As I said earlier, a film about the Second Shock will be shot. Vladimir Leonidovich Govorov (General of the Army, Hero of the Soviet Union, Deputy Chairman of the Pobeda Foundation - author) is actively pushing this idea. By the way, I brought you a letter from him thanking you for the story.

Yes. Remember when you scanned my photos? So…

And we delved into the discussion of technical issues. In parting, Nikolai Alexandrovich reminded: we meet on May 9, in Myasny Bor. But fate decreed otherwise.

... On May 7, I stood in the large mourning hall of the crematorium and looked at the portrait of the admiral, exhibited in front of a closed coffin. The artificial light reflected dimly in the decorations resting on scarlet cushions.

The night after our conversation, a fire broke out in the Shashkovs' apartment. Nikolai Aleksandrovich and his wife Valentina Petrovna died in the fire. The apartment itself burned down completely.

... Volleys of farewell fireworks died down. The sailors removed the flag of the Navy from the coffin. Vice Admiral Shashkov has gone to eternity.

A man who fought all his life to preserve the names of fallen heroes in our history has left, leaving only a memory of himself. As about a real Patriot of the Motherland, a man of Honor and Duty.

How much it is, and not everyone is given ...

June 2004

___________________________

Musa Jalil (senior political instructor Musa Mustafievich Dzhalilov) was executed in the terrible Nazi prison Moabit on August 25, 1944. Shortly before his death, the poet wrote the following lines:

I'm leaving life

The world may forget me

But I'll leave the song

Which will live.

The motherland did not forget Musa Jalil: in 1956 - posthumously - he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and the next year he was awarded the Lenin Prize. And today his poems are widely known in Russia.

After the war, one of the streets of Tallinn was named after the Hero of the Soviet Union Yevgeny Alexandrovich Nikonov. Now on the map of the city you will not find a street with this name. In recent years, in Estonia, on the territory of which the Nazis destroyed 125,000 local residents, history has been carefully rewritten...

One of the best commanders of the Great Patriotic War, Kirill Afanasyevich Meretskov (1897-1968) - later Marshal of the Soviet Union, holder of the highest military order "Victory". After the war - Assistant Minister of Defense of the USSR. Since 1964, Marshal K.A. Meretskov, Hero of the Soviet Union, worked in the group of general inspectors of the USSR Ministry of Defense.

As an example of Sokolov's "commander's skill" in his book "In the Service of the People", Marshal Meretskov cites an excerpt from the order of the commander N14 of November 19, 1941:

"1. Walking, like the crawling of flies in autumn, I cancel, and I order henceforth to walk in the army like this: a military step is a arshin, and they walk. Accelerated - one and a half, and press it.

2. Food is out of order. In the midst of the battle, they dine and the march is interrupted for breakfast. In war, the order is this: breakfast is dark, before dawn, and dinner is dark, in the evening. In the afternoon, it will be possible to chew bread or crackers with tea - it’s good, but not - and thanks for that, since the day is not particularly long.

3. Remember to everyone - both the chiefs, and the privates, and the old and the young, that during the day it is impossible to walk in columns more than a company, but in general in a war for a campaign it is night, then march.

4. Do not be afraid of the cold, do not dress up as Ryazan women, be well done and do not succumb to frost. Rub your ears and hands with snow."

“Well, why not Suvorov?” comments K.A. Meretskov. “But it is known that Suvorov, in addition to issuing catchy orders that penetrate into the soldier’s soul, took care of the troops ... Sokolov thought that the whole thing was a dashing piece of paper, and mostly limited to orders.

Of the 2100 people of the legion "Netherlands", 700 survived. As for the legion "Flanders", its strength was reduced by a factor of three in just a few days of fighting.

The war spares no one - neither marshals nor their children. In January 1942, the son of the famous Soviet commander Mikhail Vasilievich Frunze, Air Lieutenant Timur Frunze, died on the Leningrad Front. Pilot T.M. Frunze was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Here is the full text of "Volkhov's Table" written by Pavel Shubin in 1942:

Rarely, friends, we have to meet,

But when it happened

Let's remember what happened, and drink, as usual,

As it happened in Russia!

Let's drink to those who for weeks long

In frozen dugouts lay,

Fought on Ladoga, fought on the Volkhov,

Didn't take a step back.

Let's drink to those who commanded the companies,

Who died in the snow

Who made his way to Leningrad by swamps,

Throat breaking the enemy.

Will forever be glorified in legends

Under a machine-gun blizzard

Our bayonets on the heights of Sinyavin,

Our regiments near Mga.

May the Leningrad family be with us

Sitting next to the table.

Let's remember how the Russian force of the soldiers

German for Tikhvin drove!

Let's get up and clink glasses, we're standing -

Brotherhood of combat friends,

Let's drink to the courage of the fallen heroes,

Let's drink to meet the living!

Around the same time, the traitor Vlasov, traveling around the German headquarters, visited Riga, Pskov, Gatchina. He spoke to the population with "patriotic" speeches. Hitler went berserk and ordered Vitya to be sent under house arrest: the 2nd shock strikes Wehrmacht units, and its former commander carries all sorts of nonsense about victory in the rear of the suffering Army Group North. By the way, the Fuhrer ordered the execution of Vlasov, if he allows anything else like that. It is clear how "highly" he valued the traitor.

By May 14, 1945, 231,611 Germans with all weapons, including 436 tanks, 1,722 guns, and 136 aircraft, surrendered to the troops of the Leningrad Front in Courland.

All those who surrendered were guaranteed life, as well as the preservation of personal property.