Chapter 11 War Memoirs of Marshal Baghramyan: Frontier Wars-1. "KOBO-41" plan ① takes effect

-------- ①The code name of the Soviet border protection plan. ——Translator's Note. Our car sped down Broad Street.There was no one around.But the residents were not asleep, and the curtains were drawn.People looked uneasily in the direction of the airport, watching the billowing smoke.They guessed it didn't happen by accident. We were still sixty kilometers from Ternopil, and while we were going this distance, the small formation of fascist planes bombed our column twice more.Fortunately no serious damage was done. We arrived at six o'clock in the morning, earlier than the stipulated deadline.Everyone is waiting for us.As soon as the lead vehicle approached the barracks, the gate was flung open, and the officer on duty gestured silently to me, indicating the direction to go.

There used to be a small army stationed here. After deciding to open the basic command post of the military region in Ternopil, this barracks was used in order to speed up the work.Its original owner has moved to another location.The home has been hastily remodeled, certainly far from complete. I counted about fifteen small houses, most of which were on the first floor.Tents were set up between the small rooms.Newly dug trenches can be seen here and there to provide cover in case of bombing. General Pulkayev ran out on hearing the noise of approaching cars.He had such an expression of impatience and chagrin that one felt that he was about to shout: "Where have you been?!" But the general said nothing: it was evident that he remembered that he himself had ordered us to arrive. deadline.He interrupted my report with a wave of his hand.

"Unload the truck quickly and start working! Immediately notify the commanders of the second echelon through all communication lines to implement the "KOBO-41" combat plan. Ask them to confirm that they have received the order. Report to me after calling back." As soon as Purkayev left, a furious commander appeared at the door.He was extremely indignant at our lateness.It was rare for Kirponos to lose his self-control.That is, if he lost his composure, it would be very serious. I put up with the grievances that we arrived even earlier than the appointed time, despite the poor technical condition of the car.Kirponos restrained himself a little, and said as he walked:

"I'm going to have a map of the boundary conditions on my desk in an hour!" We get to work right away.Everyone spread out maps and documents.The directional staff officers assigned to be in charge of each group army were waiting by the telephone. The main problem for any command post is communications.During the opening of the command post in Ternopil, General Dobekin, Director of Communications of the Military District, and his staff did a lot of work.I remember him proudly reporting to the commander of the military districts that from the new command post he could communicate directly with the army headquarters as well as with Moscow by telephone, cable, and radio.Communication is multiplexed and thus reliable.However, this is only true in peacetime.The problem is that our communication basically depends on the permanent wired communication lines of the People's Commissariat of Posts and Telecommunications.Such lines are of course well known and the Fascists have been sending aviation and sabotage teams against them since the first hours of the war.Timely troubleshooting was also insufficient, as most of the Army and Front communications units were not formed until mobilization was declared in the western Ukrainian oblasts; the sudden enemy invasion disrupted these plans.

And now, when the fighting started, when yesterday's Kyiv Special Military District became the Southwest Front, the head of the Front lost contact with the army from time to time.The line linking the command post of the front army with the headquarters is passable, but it is too difficult to communicate with the headquarters of the various army groups. The directional staff officers in charge of the 12th and 26th armies were lucky: they got through the phone immediately.The 12th Army Headquarters reported that no combat operations had occurred on the Soviet-Hungarian border for the time being.The 26th Army Headquarters could only report that the enemy attacked all our border guards at dawn.After receiving the alarm, the covering troops moved from the station to the border.The border guards and fortified area units are fighting desperately.

But what happened to the 5th and 6th armies has not been clear for a long time.Judging from all indications, the enemy is carrying out the main assault in the areas of operation of these two armies.Telephone and telegraph lines were disrupted from time to time.The efforts of radio operators were also often fruitless. There can be no doubt that under such conditions neither the Minister of Intelligence nor I could furnish the Commander with information to his satisfaction. Colonel Bondarev can only report that the Fascist troops began to forcibly cross the West Bug River in the area of ​​​​the 5th Army as early as dawn, that is, the northernmost part of the Lyubomli and Vladimir-Volynsky areas of our front ; The enemy concentrated the most intense artillery fire and aviation assaults on the Ust-Lug and Vladimir-Volynsky regions; its advance troops carried out a surprise attack and captured the border station Vlodava.In the area of ​​the 6th Army, the enemy captured the border city of Palkhach and several other settlements, including Ljubecha-Krulevskaya, Oreshice, and Starova Sielo.In addition, it also clarified the situation of several small airborne troops dropped by the fascists to the border area.

As for the number, composition and main direction of attack of the enemy troops who have invaded our country, our scout has not yet obtained any specific information.It is therefore impossible to draw reliable conclusions about the enemy's intentions. I can only report that in the area of ​​​​the 5th Army, apart from the troops of the fortification area and the border squads, at present only the units of the 87th Rifle Division have entered the battle in the Vladimir-Volynsky area.The rest of the army was still on the march, and it seemed that they would encounter the invading fascist forces deep in the border region.In the area of ​​the 6th Army, a regiment of the 159th Infantry Division and regiments of the 3rd Cavalry Division are rushing to the city of Palhaci, which was occupied by the enemy.They were entrusted with the task of driving the enemy across the borders with resolute assaults.Finally I add that communications with the various armies were frequently interrupted.It was also difficult for the various army headquarters to maintain communication with the various corps and troops.

After hearing the simple information on the border situation, Kirponos said angrily: "How can we command the army if the communication is so bad in the future?!" General Purkayev, who participated in the conversation, tried to reassure the commander: every effort is being made to restore communications, and at the same time the staff of the Operations Department and the Intelligence Department have been sent to the armies by plane; in two or three hours, the situation will be clear . "Go, colonels," the commander said to Bondarev and me without concealing his anger, "use all means to obtain more detailed and specific information from the army."

The situation is slowly being understood.Information about the situation of the 5th and 6th armies had to be collected bit by bit.It was not until around nine o'clock in the morning that we found out that the fascists had seized many residential areas in the cover area of ​​the two armies and defeated the resistance of the frontier guards, the fortified area garrison and the advance detachments of the cover army rushing to the border . At 10:30, the commander of the 5th Army sent by radio the first A report: "Sokali and Tartakow are under fire. The 124th Infantry Division cannot approach the border and has to take the defense north of the Strumilovsky fortified area."

On the basis of sporadic, intermittent, and sometimes contradictory information from subordinate headquarters, it is still difficult to draw definitive conclusions about the invasion of Soviet Ukraine by enemy groups and about the campaign attempts of the Fascist High Command.Had to use speculation and conjecture as the basis. Soon, after analyzing all the events that took place on the first day of the war, we were finally able to imagine a rough picture of how the battle was going on.Saturday night into the night, there was a suspiciously lively scene across the border.Border guards and army reconnaissance reported hearing tank and tractor motors.In the middle of the night, west of Vladimir-Volynsky in the 5th Army zone, a German chief of staff crossed the border.The defectors said that the fascists had made all preparations for the attack and would start it at four o'clock in the morning.The captain of the frontier guard will report according to the level.The news was so important that General B. A. Homenko, commander of the Ukrainian border guards, was woken from his sleep.He immediately reported to his superiors in Moscow and informed the commander of the military district.

Everyone's first thought was: "Is this a provocation?" So they all waited for Moscow's decision. At 00:25 on June 22, the communications hub of the Ternopil Military District began to receive telegrams from Moscow.This is issued to all commanders of the Western Military Region.The People's Commissar of National Defense and the Chief of the General Staff warned that "the Germans may carry out a surprise attack on June 22-23, 1941", requiring our army not to be affected by any provocative actions, and to make the army "enter full combat readiness to deal with the A sudden attack by the Germans and their allies." The telegram went on to point out the specific measures that should be taken: "(1) On the night of June 21, 1941, covertly occupied the launch points in the border fortification area; (2) Before dawn on June 22, 1941, all aviation units, including military aviation units①, were dispersed to various field airfields and carefully camouflaged; (3) All troops are ready for battle; troops should be dispersed and camouflaged. (4) Air defense units enter combat readiness without supplementary mobilization of conscripted citizens.Cities and targets take all light camouflage measures; (5) No other measures shall be taken without special orders. " -------- ① At that time, the Soviet Army's aviation supporting the Army was divided into front army aviation, group army aviation and military aviation.Military aviation is just some reconnaissance and shooting aircraft detachments and communication aircraft detachments, which belong to the infantry army. In 1942, all three types of aviation were incorporated into the newly created Front Air Force Army. ——Translator's Note. This instruction is very important, but it is a pity that it is extremely lengthy, and it was not received until 2:30 at night.At this time, less than an hour and a half had passed since the fascist attack. The reader may ask, in order to save time, wouldn't it be easier for the General Staff to issue a brief agreed signal?After receiving the agreed signal, the head of the military district can order the army to implement "KOBO-41" (we call it the national border cover plan) in an equally brief manner.All this should take no more than fifteen or twenty minutes. It appears that Moscow does not intend to do so.Because the signal that the cover plan is in effect means not only the emergency mobilization of all troops on combat alert and their transfer to the intended area, but also the mobilization of the entire military region. While we were studying the telegrams and drafting orders for the various armies, the Hitlerites were launching a heavy air and artillery assault on our army. Most of the troops were hit by these raids in their permanent positions, and our troops suffered the first heavy losses. After receiving the order to drive the invading enemy out of the country, the first echelon division of my covering army marched westward under the enemy's non-stop bombing.Although the first assault of the German aviation was unexpected by our army, it by no means caused panic.The situation was difficult: everything that could catch fire was consumed by the flames, barracks, houses, warehouses were seen being blown up, and communications were cut off.But the commander did his best to maintain command of the army.They resolutely carried out combat orders that they did not learn about until they opened the sealed bag in which they were kept. The first to meet the enemy were the 45th, 62nd, 87th, and 124th Infantry Divisions of the Fifth Army; The advance troops of the 99th Division. It will take at least eight to ten hours for these troops to occupy the border fortifications (two to three hours for emergency assembly of battle alerts, five to six hours for marching and organizing defenses).And it will take two days and nights for all the troops of the cover group armies in various countries to enter full combat readiness and deploy, according to the plan! In fact, when Hitler's army suffered the full power of the first assault, it was only a small number of border guards and fortified area garrison troops. The situation was complicated by the fact that, from the first hours of the fascist invasion, German aviation had taken over the skies.The air force of our military region lost 180 aircraft under its bombing.The Soviet troops marching to the border were constantly bombed and strafed from the air.In our army, only a small group of fighter planes broke through the dense sniper net of fascist planes to support our own army. When the Chief of Staff of the Front Army reported the situation before 10:00 am, General Kirponos immediately called the Air Force Commander, General Putukin, and asked him to concentrate the main force of the aviation force, cover the troops marching to the border from the air, and attack the enemy tanks. and motorized groups and their nearest airfields to carry out concentrated assaults. After Putukin left, General Pulkayev put the newly received order of the People's Commissar of National Defense on the desk of the commander of the Front Army.Kirponos turned to Vashugin and read slowly and clearly: "At 4:00 am on June 22, 1941, German aviation attacked and bombed airfields and cities along our border for no reason. At the same time, German bombardment began everywhere and across our border. In view of Germany's unparalleled audacity to invade the Soviet Union, I order: 1.The army mobilized all its forces and weapons to launch a fierce attack on the enemy and wiped them out in areas that violated the Soviet Union's borders.Ground forces are not allowed to cross the border without special orders. 2.Reconnaissance aviation and combat aviation detect the concentration of enemy aviation and the deployment of enemy ground troops.Bomber aviation carries out violent assaults to destroy the aircraft on the enemy's airfield and bomb the basic group of its ground army.The depth of aviation assaults on German territory was from 100 to 150 kilometers.Königsberg and Memel are to be bombed.Air strikes on Finnish and Romanian territory are prohibited without specific instructions. " -------- ①The city of Kaliningrad, the present-day Soviet Union. ——Translator's Note. ②The city of Klaipeda in the present-day Soviet Union. ——Translator's Note. Since the requirements of the instruction were clear, they were immediately communicated to the army without any explanation. We should send the first report to Moscow at 1500 hours.This report was drafted by me.It seems that this is the most difficult report document I have written since I worked in the headquarters.The situation is still unclear: what is the real situation of the various armies?Where is the enemy's main assault?What is its purpose?All of this can only be speculated.Our first combat report to Moscow was clichéd and vague. So my assistants and I couldn't help but feel like innocent sinners. We quickly came up with a more flexible and effective method of collecting and organizing intelligence from subordinate headquarters.The constant interruption of telephone and telegraph lines and the inconsistency of radio stations meant that we had to look first to the liaison officers we sent to the army in cars, motorcycles and airplanes. After analyzing the intelligence received before nightfall on June 22, the situation has become increasingly clear: the enemy is coming from the area of ​​the 5th Army and the areas of Ust-Lug and Sokali at the junction of the 5th and 6th Army. Lutsk and Dubno carry out the main assault.At the same time, the fascist army was still attacking in the area of ​​the 6th and 26th armies.Intense fighting is raging in Russia's Lava and Pelimyshli regions. It was later found out that Hitler's high command deployed thirty-seven divisions (inner infantry division twenty-five tank divisions, five tank divisions, four motorized divisions, and three guard divisions).A basic force of 1,300 aircraft from Fourth Air Force supported the attack. In the face of the 5th Army alone, Marshal Rundstedt, commander of the "South" Army Group, put ten infantry divisions and four tank divisions into battle on the first day of the offensive. He also had at least two infantry divisions here, four Two motorized divisions and one tank division were ready to develop victory.My five divisions near the border faced General Reichenau's 6th Field Army and General Kleist's 1st Tank Group, a total of more than 20 divisions! Stirpnagel, the commander of the 17th Field Army, deployed his divisions from Tomashov to Peremeshli, and carried out major operations in the general direction of Ternopil via Lava, Russia, to Lvov and then to Ternopil. assault.With several raids he diverted my forces defending Peremyshli and the districts south of the city. This is the real deployment of the fascist forces that invaded Ukraine on our front.But of course we did not know all this on the first day of the war. In Ukraine, the war started under conditions that were extremely unfavorable to us.Whether in Belarus or the Baltic coast, the war broke out in the same difficult environment.Hitler's High Command eagerly took advantage of all the enormous advantages that the surprise attack afforded it.