16th Lithuanian division 249th infantry regiment The name "lithuania" in the history of the great victory over fascism
After the formation of the Latvian division, convinced of its stamina and reliability in the battles near Moscow, the authorities gave the green light to the creation of both the Lithuanian and Estonian divisions. On December 18, 1941, the State Defense Committee decided to form the 7th Estonian and 16th Lithuanian rifle divisions.
What are the reasons for the creation of the Lithuanian division? The historian of the University of Jerusalem Dov Levin believes that this decision primarily pursued political goals, the main of which was the liberation of Lithuania and the establishment of the Soviet regime.
In the second part of his thesis, the Israeli scientist is clearly mistaken. The national divisions could not liberate Lithuania, however, both Latvia and Estonia, and establish the “Soviet regime” there on their own without the help of other units of the Red Army, but the Red Army would have completely managed without these units. Military necessity also did not require the creation of separate national formations. All those who fought as part of these units could be distributed among various units of the Red Army, while maintaining the total number of soldiers and officers.
However, the formation of the Baltic national units really had an important political and symbolic meaning.
The main reason for the creation of the national divisions of the Baltic States was the need to refute the claims of Nazi propaganda that all residents of the Baltic Republics supported fascism and "welcome" their liberation from Soviet power, another reason – show the unity of the Soviet people and prove that the Lithuanians are fighting with weapons in their hands against the Nazis. The practical goals of creating a division had the least military value. One of them was the education of proven party and administrative personnel for the future post-war Soviet Lithuania. Indeed, after the liberation of Lithuania, the division was the most important source state and party cadres.
The Lithuanian division was formed in the Moscow military district in the city of Balakhna, Gorky region. The formation was mainly due to refugees from Lithuania, the total number of which was about 25 thousand people.
Soldiers and officers of the former 29th Rifle Territorial Lithuanian Corps were also sent to the division, part of which at the beginning of the war fled at best, and most – went over to the side of the Germans. Therefore, in August 1941, the remnants of the corps, or rather the 184th division, which was part of the corps, were distributed among various parts of the Red Army. Now they were again gathered together, looking for individual fighters and commanders in various military units of different fronts.
The main officer corps of the division was made up of graduates of the Vilnius Infantry School who completed a shortened course of study in Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo Oblast.
Among the political workers of the division were many former underground workers, party and Soviet workers who had experience revolutionary struggle and propaganda, but most often did not have military knowledge.
However, there were not enough fighters to form a division. The number of Lithuanian military personnel and civilians of Lithuanian nationality evacuated or fled from Lithuania was small: only seven thousand. They turned out to be sufficient only to partially staff the artillery and mortar regiment, as well as the middle and junior command staff. Even fewer were in the division of Lithuanians who lived for some time in Russia.
Among the refugees from Lithuania were Jews who were placed in the Gorky region, in the Tatar Autonomous Republic and other places. Many of them spoke Hebrew, because before the establishment of Soviet power in Lithuania in 1940, they were members of Zionist movements, student Zionist organizations, and studied in Jewish schools.
Having arrived deep into the Soviet territory, some of them tried to join the Red Army, but, as in the case of the Latvian volunteers, most were refused. “We don’t call for the army from the Baltic states”, – responded to the requests of volunteers in the military registration and enlistment offices. This was due to the suspicion of the Soviet authorities towards the "Westerners" - citizens of the western regions of the Soviet Union, which became Soviet in 1939. – 1940s
When the mobilization of immigrants from Lithuania began in early 1942, the Jews responded with enthusiasm. Although, in general, the number of volunteers of different nationalities from Lithuania was less than during the formation of the Latvian division. The difficulties in the formation of the Lithuanian division are evidenced by the fact that if the creation of the Latvian division and sending it to the front took 4 months, then the Lithuanian division took more than a year.
According to data as of January 1, 1943, there were 10,250 soldiers and officers in the division. Including 7 thousand Lithuanians and residents of Lithuania. The national composition of the division looked like this: 36.3% Lithuanians, 29% – Russians, 29% – Jews and 4.8% other nationalities. This means that in the division there were 3720 Lithuanians, 3064 Russians, 2973 Jews, 492 representatives of other nationalities. According to other sources, 23.2% of Jewish soldiers fought in the 16th Lithuanian division, which is 2378 fighters. In any case, this is the highest figure for the number of Jews fighting in one military unit of the Red Army.
Jews constituted the largest national group - 34.2% in infantry combat units. This is explained by the fact that in the army of the Lithuanian bourgeois republic, Jews were discriminated against and could not be officers, but served in the Lithuanian army only as ordinary soldiers. Many Jews served in the medical battalion of the division, they also stood out in sapper units.
When forming the division, it was envisaged that the Lithuanians would make up the majority of the command staff. However, since there were not enough Lithuanian officers, a significant part of the officers and sergeants of the division consisted of Russians. Basically, these were front-line soldiers sent to the division to transfer combat experience. In total, there were 1046 officers in the division, of which Jewish officers – 136 people, which was 13% of all officers of the division.
However, over time, especially after the first battles in February 1943, when many Jewish fighters distinguished themselves, the latter began to seriously compete with non-Jews in the junior and middle command staff. It can be assumed that for the entire time of the combat activity of the division - two years and two months – over 5,000 Jewish soldiers served in it.
Of the 989 dead, missing Jewish soldiers of the 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division, 95.7% were privates, sergeants, foremen, and 4.3% were junior officers.
The multinational composition at the first stage of the formation of the division caused difficulties in communication. Many refugees from Lithuania knew almost no Russian. Jews spoke Yiddish, Lithuanians – in Lithuanian, Russian – in Russian. This led to a division on ethnic grounds, especially since all military personnel differed in their upbringing in the family, in relation to the Soviet system, in nationality and religious beliefs. Particularly noticeable was the alienation of the Jews, their isolation in platoons, mortar and artillery crews, which were multinational. Political workers repeatedly talked with Jews and urged them to refuse to speak Yiddish.
Hero of the Soviet Union G. Ushpolis in his memoirs is self-critical in his assessment of the behavior of the Jewish soldiers of the division, especially in the early stages of its formation. He writes: “We Jewish guys felt that we should change our isolation in relation to mutual friendship and stop talking to each other in Yiddish. After all, other members of the calculation began to move away from us. They did not know Yiddish and thought that we were slandering them. We listened to the advice and stopped isolating ourselves from the Lithuanian guys. They also refused to use the Yiddish language, they tried to speak in national language divisions - Lithuanian ".
At first, in the division, all commands and orders were given in Lithuanian. However, soon the political department demanded a transition to Russian. This requirement was justified not only because a significant part of the soldiers of other nationalities, about 35 percent, did not speak Lithuanian, but also because in a front-line situation, other formations that were nearby could mistake Lithuanian soldiers for the Germans and open fire. Political workers regularly held conversations, explaining the need to switch to Russian, and soon, according to G. Ushpolis, "Lithuanian soldiers began to communicate with us in Russian."
Gradually, Russian became the main language in the division, although this caused discontent especially among soldiers and officers from the former Lithuanian territorial corps. But still, in everyday communication between Jewish soldiers, of course, Yiddish was the main spoken language. Sometimes, if both the commander and subordinates were Jews, communication in Yiddish between them was of an ordinary nature.
Therefore, despite the desire of political workers to make the Russian language the main means of interethnic communication, all three languages: Lithuanian, Russian and Yiddish – co-existed as equals in everyday life. Even at the height of the battle, along with calls in Russian and Lithuanian, there were also exclamations in Yiddish: “Briders, far unzers tates un mamees!” (“Brothers, for our fathers and mothers!”)
Relations between fellow soldiers Jews and Lithuanians were warm and friendly. Lithuanians especially valued the fact that the majority of Jews spoke Lithuanian. This proximity was also facilitated by the fact that both Lithuanians and Jews saw each other as their fellow countrymen. And in the army, the feeling of fellowship usually arose and was felt especially acutely among those soldiers whose relatives remained in the territory occupied by the Germans.
Such a spirit of mutual understanding, and hence mutual assistance, arose not only due to compatriotism, but also – especially the Jews – as a result of Jewish origin, belonging to various Jewish youth organizations that existed before the Soviet occupation, joint studies, common cultural level.
It should be noted that these phenomena were inherent in all the national Baltic formations of the Red Army, however, as well as for any army team with a predominant number of countrymen.
The special Jewish atmosphere in the 16th Lithuanian division was determined by another feature. Since Lithuania was one of the historically traditional Jewish religious centers, Lithuanian Jews stood out for their religiosity. Veterans recall that many times, when the situation allowed, many fighters prayed, moreover, there are facts of the burial of dead Jews according to a religious rite.
Unfortunately, such a situation in the division existed only until July 1944. There were practically no anti-Semitic manifestations in the division until, after the start of the liberation of Lithuania in July 1944, people who had been under military control for more than three years were called up to the division. German occupation. During 1944 – 1945 13 thousand of these Lithuanians replenished the division, which suffered heavy losses in battles.
As a result of this and the lack of replenishment from among the Jews, their numbers in the division fell rapidly. When the division reached Lithuania and liberated Klaipeda, only 540 Jews (about 10%) remained in it.
A qualitatively new situation arose in the division. Its morale changed: “With the arrival in their native places, in Lithuania, the division began to lose its former patriotism and fighting impulse. We, its indigenous warriors, had our own accounts with the enemy. Most of the veterans had a burning hatred for the Nazi barbarians, and the fight against them was carried out with full dedication of strength. With the advent of the newly mobilized, we, having gone through a long combat path of our unit, found ourselves in very difficult conditions. After all, every veteran is used to fighting, knowing in advance that there is a like-minded person nearby. In this respect, the new reinforcements from the 50th Lithuanian Reserve Division, stationed in the vicinity of Vilnius, differed sharply from us. They did not recognize the Nazis as their enemies. On this basis, cases of desertion became more frequent, especially in rifle regiments.
According to the memoirs of veterans, as Lithuania was liberated, the majority in the division began to be those who were in the occupied territory. These people were hostile to the few Jews and Russians by that time who continued to fight in its composition.
This affected the relationship between the Jewish fighters and the now mobilized Lithuanians. Among them there were also former policemen. G. Ushpolis notes: “Despite the clear difference between the Lithuanians-murderers and the Lithuanians who served in the division, it was difficult to maintain the former harmony and correctness. More than once, Jews committed spontaneous lynching of the murderers of their relatives.
The formation and training of the division was completed by February 1943. The division included: the 156th, 167th, 249th rifle regiments and the 224th artillery regiment, a communications battalion, an engineer battalion, an anti-tank battalion, a mortar battalion, a special training company partisans and intelligence officers for operations in the territory of occupied Lithuania, training battalion, ensemble, orchestra. In May 1942, the 2nd separate Lithuanian reserve battalion was formed in the Gorky region. The first commander of the division was Major General F. Zhemaitis, after the fighting in the winter of 1943, he was replaced by Major General V. Karvyalis, then Major General A. Urbshas. east of Orel. By February 23 - the day of the Red Army, it was necessary to capture the city of Orel. G. Ushpo-lis calls this fight "a shameful baptism of fire."
The division entered the battle straight from the march. Deep snow, enemy fire made it difficult to advance. However, the soldiers went into battle, as if in a psychic attack. The losses of the division were very high. Despite the fact that the offensive of the division was not successful, – only a company under the command of Senior Lieutenant Wolf Vilensky (Vilenskis Volfas Leibovich) from the 156th rifle regiment managed to capture and gain a foothold on one of the heights, – all the fighters of the division showed courage and bravery.
The commander of the 167th regiment, Lithuanian Colonel V. Moteka, after the first battles, remarked: “During the exercises, I could not raise the Jews to their feet, and in battle it was impossible to make them lie down. They went on the attack at full height.
Wulf Vilensky is worth a special mention. He was most famous among the Jewish officers of the 16th Rifle Lithuanian Division. In pre-Soviet Lithuania, V. Vilensky studied at the Jewish gymnasium "Yavne", at the Kaunas ORT school (a handicraft labor society). In 1938 he worked on an agricultural farm, acquiring the skills of rural labor, preparing to leave for Palestine. In 1939 he was drafted into the Lithuanian army. In 1940, after the occupation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union, he continued to serve in the 29th Rifle Territorial Lithuanian Corps, and then became a cadet at the Vilnius Infantry School. From the first days of the war, cadet V. Vilensky took part in the battles. For the first time, his courage was documented on July 2, 1941: “A group under the command of cadet Vilenskis covered the bridges in the Molodechno region, ensuring the withdrawal of the main forces of the school.” In 1942 he – commander of a rifle company in the Lithuanian division. In battles on Kursk Bulge As part of the Ditovskaya division, he already commands a battalion of the 249th Infantry Regiment. Having pushed the July days in 1943, V. Vilensky was awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky and the Order Patriotic Wars s I th degree. For participation in the battles in the summer of 1944, V. Vilensky was awarded the Orders of the Red Banner and the Red Star. For courage shown in the battles on Neman 12 – On October 16, 1944, the battalion under his command repulsed 8 attacks of parts of the Hermann Goering tank division, Major Wolf Vilensky was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
12 soldiers of the division were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, four of them – Jews.
In addition to V. Vilensky, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to: K. Shur (Shuras Kalmanis Maushovich), Ushpolis Grigory Saulevich, Tsindelis Boris Izrailevich.
The Jewish soldiers were distinguished not only by their fighting qualities, but most importantly by their loyalty. Everyone was sure that the Jews, unlike other soldiers, would never defect to the Germans. And the fact that among the Lithuanian soldiers of the division there were also pro-German sentiments is evidenced not only by isolated cases of transition to the Germans, but also by the fact of the transition to the Germans in the spring of 1943 of an entire platoon of infantrymen led by their commander.
The Jewish fighters of the Latvian and Lithuanian divisions, who performed direct military duties, without suspecting it, were involved in the big politics that the Soviet Union was conducting in the West. However, speaking about this, it is necessary to make some clarifications. Israeli historian Dov Levin writes that “the leadership of the division used the traditional connections of the Jews of Lithuania with their relatives around the world. Despite the restrictions imposed on correspondence with foreign countries, correspondence with relatives in America, South Africa and even in Eretz Israel was strongly encouraged. The letters were supposed to serve as a reminder of the need to open a 2nd front. Thus, the Lithuanian division was a kind of communication center between the Jews of the USSR and world Jewry, including Eretz Israel.
In this regard, it should be noted that Dov Levin erroneously attributes such independence to the command of the division, because any amateur activity in the USSR was simply unacceptable. The command carried out the orders of the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army, propaganda agencies, which in turn reflected the policy of Stalin, who even allowed the activities of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. Created on December 15, 1941, the JAC was supposed to mobilize and activate sufficiently influential Jewish forces to put pressure on Western governments in order to provide them with more effective economic and military assistance to the USSR. In particular, propaganda of the idea of opening a second front, fundraising for the Red Army, as well as the formation of public opinion in the West in support of the USSR.
However, the Lithuanian division could not be "the center of communication between the Jews of the USSR and world Jewry." Only a researcher who is not familiar with Soviet realities can wishful thinking. These functions were performed by the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, which repeatedly sent its envoys abroad and conducted an active propaganda campaign in the West.
Unfortunately, further in his work, Dov Levin idealizes and exaggerates the autonomy of the Jews and the independence of the Lithuanian division. He writes that the Lithuanian division not only granted a certain autonomy to the Jewish fighters, but gave them the opportunity to fully demonstrate their military skill and valor. . The obvious question arises, did the Jews who served in other parts of the Red Army not show heroism and valor, or were they prevented from showing these qualities?
Letters in Yiddish that came from the division to relatives and friends were also not a privilege of the Lithuanian and Latvian divisions. Jewish soldiers and other units of the Red Army wrote letters in Yiddish. It was not forbidden
The Lithuanian division, like the Latvian division, was one of the numerous units of the Red Army, in which, only with the permission of Moscow, but not otherwise, some national and political characteristics of the composition were taken into account in its recruitment and all political mass work during the war.
VILNIUS, May 9 —Sputnik, Alexander Lipovets, Nikolai Zhukov. The history of the creation and the combat path of the 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division are inscribed in a separate line in the historiography of the Great Patriotic War.
"Equal" among equals
After Lithuania was among the 16 union republics of the Soviet Union (in 1940, the Karelian-Finnish SSR was part of the USSR - Sputnik), in 1940 the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR Semyon Timoshenko issued order No. 0191, which stated: "The existing armies in Save the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian SSRs for a period of one year, cleanse them of unreliable elements and transform each army into a rifle territorial corps ... ".
From parts of the former Lithuanian army, the 29th Lithuanian Territorial rifle corps. The number of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) at the expense of soldiers and officers - immigrants from Lithuania increased by more than 16 thousand people.
It is noteworthy that the uniform of the pre-war Lithuanian army was preserved in the 29th Corps of the Red Army. Only instead of shoulder straps, buttonholes, chevrons and other insignia adopted in the Red Army were introduced.
During the first four days of the Great Patriotic War german army ousted Soviet troops from the territory of Lithuania. A mass exodus of officers and soldiers from the Lithuanian corps began. Of the 16,000 servicemen with units of the Red Army, only 2,000 retreated.
By July 17, the remnants of the 29th Corps retreated to Velikiye Luki, where in September the Lithuanian Territorial Rifle Corps was disbanded. In December, the formation of the 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division began.
The ranks of the division were replenished mainly by refugees from Lithuania (party workers, police officers, social activists, Lithuanian Jews) and Lithuanians - natives of other republics of the USSR.
The officers were staffed by graduates of the Vilnius Infantry School, which was evacuated to Novokuznetsk at the very beginning of the war.
The division consisted of three rifle and one artillery regiment, one separate anti-aircraft battery, a separate anti-tank fighter battalion and a separate mortar battalion.
Russian became the language of official documentation, commands and orders. Major General Felix Baltrushaitis-Zhemaitis was appointed commander of the division.
By May 1942, there were 12,398 soldiers and officers in four regiments of the division and other auxiliary units: 36.6% were Lithuanians, 29% each were Russians and Jews. On December 27 of the same year, the Lithuanian Rifle Division was transferred to the Bryansk Front.
Thank you sister for life!
From February to March 1943, units of the division as part of the 48th Army took an active part in the battles near the village of Alekseevka, which is 50 kilometers from Orel.
Due to the unsuccessful planning of the offensive, the Lithuanian formation suffered heavy losses, but honorably completed the task assigned to it.
Together with other divisions, the Lithuanians pinned down large enemy forces, preventing the German command from withdrawing a single military unit from this direction to provide assistance near Kharkov.
© Sputnik / Hanonas Levinas
Danute Staniliene (Markauskienė) (in the center) - full cavalier of the Order of Glory, machine gunner of a rifle regiment, distinguished herself in battles in Belarus, Lithuania and East Prussia
More than 4 thousand soldiers of the division died in those battles. There could have been much more victims, but thanks to the heroism of the orderlies and doctors of the compound, many wounded were saved.
In the medical service of the division there were doctors of different nationalities, but the majority, over 80%, were Jews.
The organizer and head of the medical service of the division was Colonel Eduard Kushner. Quite a few human lives rescued by Professor Khatskel Kibarsky, one of the best cardiologists in Lithuania. The surgical department of the medical service was headed by doctors Shalom Ptashek, Solomon Rabinovich and Hana Goldberg. The work of receiving the wounded was headed by an experienced doctor Moshe Sobol.
Ilya Ehrenburg, in the article "The Heart of Lithuania", published in the newspaper "Pravda", wrote about the heroism of the medical officer Sheinel, who in two days on her shoulders pulled more than 60 seriously wounded soldiers and officers from the battlefield. Even wounded in the chest, she continued to save her comrades. Sheinel gave her life for the lives of others.
Battles on the Kursk Bulge
From July to August 1943, the 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division took part in defensive and then offensive battles on the Kursk Bulge.
The offensive operations of the enemy infantry were preceded by intense bombardment, including from the air - 100 aircraft bombed the ground for 45 minutes. Enemy attacks followed one after another and continued in separate areas for days on end until dark.
The division from July 5 to August 12, 1943 lost 3,620 people, of which 811 were killed. During the period of offensive fighting, the division fought about 120 km south of Orel in a westerly direction. She occupied 60 settlements and liberated an area of 400 square kilometers. 13 thousand soldiers and officers of the enemy were destroyed.
Morale and division awards
During the fighting of the division from February to August 1943, 2560 people were awarded orders and medals for military merit. In addition, 136 people were also nominated for government awards.
Then, as part of the 4th shock army of the Kalinin Front, the 16th Lithuanian division was transferred to Belarus. For the heroism and courage of the fighters of the division during the encirclement of the Ezerishchevskaya enemy grouping, as well as for breaking through the German fortified area south of Nevel and liberating the city of Gorodok, the commander of the Kalinin Front declared gratitude to the division.
Then the division participated in the liberation of Polotsk and, having made a 500-kilometer march, deployed its positions near Siauliai, where it distinguished itself in fierce battles, repelling the German counteroffensive.
The division met the victorious 1945 in offensive operation to defeat the enemy grouping in the Klaipeda region. For the liberation of the main port of Lithuania, the division was named "Klaipeda".
Then the division was withdrawn to Courland (the territory of modern Latvia - Sputnik), where it took part in the destruction of the encircled grouping of the German army, and on the morning of May 8 accepted the surrender of the Germans.
The 16th Lithuanian Division completed its combat path with the Victory Parade in Vilnius on July 13, 1945.
The names of the 12 most distinguished soldiers and officers of the division, who were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, were inscribed in gold letters in the history of the unit.
This is Major Volfas Vilenskis, Lieutenant Vaclovas Bernotenas, Senior Sergeant Boleslav Gegzhna, Lance Sergeant Fyodor Zatsepilov, Lieutenant Colonel Fyodor Lysenko (posthumously), Sergeant Grigory Terentiev (posthumously), Corporal Grigory Ushpolis, Senior Sergeant Vasily Fedotov, Red Army soldier Boris Tsindelis, Junior Sergeant Stasis Sheinauskas (posthumously), Sergeant Kalmanas Shuras, Red Army soldier Viktor Yatsenevich.
O. F. ZHEMAITIS
THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE 16th LITHUANIAN FIRE DIVISION IN THE GREAT
PATRIOTIC WAR.
According to the Institute military history through the command of the divisions that participated in the Great Patriotic War, not counting other formations of the Red Army, about 2,500 senior and senior officers passed, which is clearly incommensurable with the total number of divisions at the front, which were 10 times less.
Behind all these movements are millions of fighters and commanders who died on the battlefield, as well as crippled, uncountable common human grief, millions of tons of equipment and other property that have become unusable. And for all these promotions or demotions, you can write the history of the Great Patriotic War.
Here I will try, by virtue of my literary abilities and the amount of material accumulated in my home archive, to show just one episode at the front, characteristic of that harsh wartime, not classified as a heroic or brilliant achievement of military thought. But in terms of the number of victims, it is not inferior to all other tactical operations of the divisional level, which means it is worthy of study in its historical niche of Soviet military art. Let at least as an example of how not to act in a war with ten and a half thousand people.
It will be about the first baptism of fire of the 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division, attached to the 48th Army (Commander - Lieutenant General) of the Bryansk Front (Commander - Lieutenant General) under the command of my father, Major General - Zhemaitis, near Orel in February-March 1943 .
Almost nothing was known about this battle until the mid-80s, and then for the first time in Israel, because one third of the division was made up of persons of Jewish nationality. For in the history of the Soviet period of our country closed from the world, and not only of the Soviet period, there was more politics than common sense with its closed archival revelations and documentary facts. Which, if made public, could be time bombs for the integrity of the country and the well-being of its top. Remembering the words on this subject of the French commander and Cardinal de Retz, that "nothing happens in the world that would not be of decisive importance."
For the most complete disclosure of the topic, the concept of psychology and the fighting spirit of the soldiers of the division, it is necessary to return three years ago, to the origins of the formation of the unit, which, after the first unsuccessful battle in subsequent battles on the fronts of the Second World War with the Nazi invaders, proved its viability, high combat readiness and high condition morale of all personnel.
In 1940, after the annexation of the Baltic states to the Soviet Union and the introduction of Soviet troops immediately the question arose of creating combat-ready units and formations in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. For the old bourgeois military formations on their territory did not meet the spirit of the times and the suddenly changed geopolitical situation in the entire region.
The commander of the Lithuanian People's Army, which existed in Lithuania from the first days of its independence in 1918, was appointed a Lithuanian by nationality, who had a reputation as an active participant civil war in Lithuania, brigade commander Baltushis, with the assignment of the rank of brigadier general to him.
The army had the following structure.
Regiments: 3 infantry, 3 cavalry, 3 artillery.
Separate battalions: communications, armored vehicles, chemical protection, aviation, military police.
At the head of the army was the Minister of War, who was subordinate to the General Staff.
The military ranks in the army were as follows: soldier, corporal, junior non-commissioned officer, senior non-commissioned officer, foreman, lieutenant, captain, major, lieutenant-colonel, colonel, brigadier general, divisional general, full general.
The soldiers served in the army for 18 months.
The situation in Lithuania after the entry of Soviet troops into it was rather complex, contradictory and unpredictable. Many Lithuanian soldiers and officers directly expressed dissatisfaction with the forcible annexation of Lithuania to the Soviet Union, the introduction of new orders in the army and the repression of citizens that had begun. And therefore they refused to take a new military oath, or even simply obey the command. The weapons in the troops were outdated, and the general political and moral state of the personnel left much to be desired.
It is quite obvious that this state of affairs in the LNA, as well as in other foreign formations in the Baltic states, willy-nilly passed on to Soviet soldiers and commanders. Those who saw with their own eyes, far from their homes, the advantages of a market system of management in a bourgeois republic over a distribution system in their homeland. And it couldn't help but worry military leadership of the Soviet Union and not give rise to a xenophobic attitude towards this kind of operational formations in the development of plans for upcoming military operations with the participation of the Baltic states.
Zemaitis was appointed to the post of Commander of the LNA due to his authority in the troops and in Lithuania, where in late 1918 - early 1919 he led the preparation and leadership of the uprising of the Lithuanian communists against the German invaders in Siauliai. Soon he became the first commander of the regiment and the head of the Siauliai group, which successfully held the city in battles with the Kaiserites until the approach of Soviet troops from Russia.
The civil war in the Baltics, including in Finland, ended, as you know, not in favor of Soviet Russia, which after it lost its authority in the international arena, but at the same time part of the territory in Ukraine in Belarus and all of Bessarabia.
Zhemaitis after this war, as well as before it, participates in battles against the White Guards on various fronts, the troops of pan Poland, in the suppression of the Tambov rebellion, while being in positions from regiment commander and above. Studying at the military academy.
He is temporarily sent to the post of Commander of the LNA from the post of teacher of the Military Academy. Frunze, where he worked since 1935 and where he successfully defended his PhD thesis. But the Second World War began and the idea of a doctoral scientific degree had to be abandoned.
For some time in the late 1930s, he was under investigation in the case of the Polish Military Organization, accused of leading a cell of this organization at the academy. He was saved from arrest and repression by the accession of the Baltic States to the USSR and, in connection with this, the sudden need for national personnel to work, at least at first, in Lithuania.
As Commander of the LNA, he was faced with the difficult routine work of building a combat-ready army with Lithuanian generals and officers of the old bourgeois sourdough, who were not eager to serve the new Soviet leadership. In the future, many of them were repressed, for which the NKVD officers had serious reasons in this regard in the spirit of the Stalinist theory of the aggravation of the class struggle as the country developed and guided by the Leninist doctrine of "constant violence against the bourgeoisie as the main method of implementing the dictatorship of the proletariat and the guarantor of the victory of socialism ".
As it later became known, Colonel Masiulis turned out to be an agent of the Abwehr, and Major General Chernius, appointed to the post of chief of staff of the 29th Rifle Corps, converted from the LNA, generally deserted from the army during the first battles with the Germans.
Soon, the LNA is reorganized into the 29th territorial corps, in accordance with the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of 01.01.01, and Lieutenant General Vitkauskas, who was previously the Minister of War of Lithuania, is appointed commander of the corps. Brigadier Commissar Danilov, Russian by nationality, became the political commissar of the corps.
The head of the political department is Regimental Commissar Macijauskas.
The corps had two divisions in its composition - the 184th and 179th, and just before the war, the process of replacing Lithuanian military personnel in it with arriving conscripts and officers of other nationalities had just begun.
According to one list, Zemaitis passes as the deputy commander of this corps, but for some reason the new appointment did not take place, and he returned to Moscow to teach, but already to the Academy of the General Staff, along with the new command of the corps, which was to study with him.
Apparently, such a displacement on the eve of the Great Patriotic War was caused by the distrust of the country's leadership in all Lithuanian generals and senior officers, who did not know where to stick this horde of representatives of the bourgeois-military Lithuanian intelligentsia.
In the corps, after sending officers to study in Moscow, arrests continued until June 22, 1941, when the advanced units of the 3rd Panzer Group Gota, having crossed the Neman River south of Kaunas, advanced 60 km in one day.
The 184th division was surrounded. The battle lasted 5 hours after the exit of its parts from the boiler. Only motorized units escaped, the 619th artillery regiment, anti-aircraft and anti-tank divisions.
Parts of the 179th division were scattered by the enemy.
The outcome of the first battles of the corps was negatively affected, first of all, by the justified, as it later turned out, indecision and unwillingness of the command of the Baltic Military District to use it, along with other formations of the Red Army, in the direction of the main attack of the enemy, fearing betrayal by the Lithuanian military personnel.
Here is what the Commander of the Belarusian (Western) Special Military District, General of the Army, said during the investigation:
“As I have already shown, the main reason for the rapid advance of German troops on our territory was the clear superiority of enemy aircraft and tanks. In addition, the Kuznetsovs (Baltic Military District) placed Lithuanian units on the left flank, which did not want to fight. After the first pressure on the left wing of the Balts, the Lithuanian units shot their commanders and fled. This made it possible for the German tank units to strike me from Vilnius ... ”(Trud newspaper of September 6, 1994).
Thus, in the very first hours of the battle with the Germans, the 29th Rifle Corps ceased to exist, opening the way for them to Vilnius. And only some of its units and units were able to break out of the encirclement, in order to later become the basis for the formation of the 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division, the Decree on which was adopted by the State Defense Committee of the USSR on December 18, 1941.
Connection formation has begun. The division began to be sent fit for military service residents of Lithuania (not only Lithuanians) who evacuated into the interior of the country, as well as Lithuanians - natives of the villages: Baisogala, Sheduva, Romuva of the Novosibirsk region; Lithuanians of the village of Chernaya Padina, Saratov Region (descendants of Lithuanians exiled to the Volga region after the uprising of 1863 in Poland and Lithuania); settlements of the Rudnyansky district of the Smolensk region and a number of other localities of the Soviet Union.
During the formation of the division, the backbone was made up of corps officers who honestly fulfilled their military duty and were evacuated into the interior of the country along with the remnants of Lithuanian units and formations. These are Karvelis, Urbshas, Petronis, Motieka, Shchurkus, Simonaitis, Kirsinas, Bitinaitis, Stanislavicius, Rudzhenis and others.
The formation of units and divisions began on December 28, 1941 and ended by June 1942. Colonel Chesnokov was appointed interim commander of the division at the first stage of its formation. And on January 15, 1942, he was replaced by a brigade commander, who in May of the same year was awarded the rank of major general.
The formation took place in the village of Gidrotorf, Gorky Region, and from March 13, 1942, parts of the division were also relocated to the cities of Balakhna and Pravdinsk in the same region.
“... In accordance with the order, all formations of the 48th Army were to go on the offensive at the same time ...
And then aviation appeared in the sky, but it was enemy aircraft. In a dive flight, 19 German aircraft bombed and shot our people, who pressed to the ground and awaited the order to attack. Corpses remained in the snow - the result of the criminal irresponsibility of the command - both the leadership of the Lithuanian division and the command of the 48th Army, which blindly believed the assurances of Zemaitis and Macijauskas that the division was ready for immediate military operations.
Reuter, Susaykov. active army.
For two days of participation in the battles, the 16th Rifle Division showed an extremely low level of combat effectiveness and discipline. Despite the long stay in the rear and the opportunities to organize the training of units in accordance with the instructions of the new Infantry Combat Regulations, the regiments of the division, as shown by their participation in the battles, build battle formations illiterately, which is why they suffer unjustified losses that adversely affect the pace of the offensive and reducing the morale of the units.
The 167th Regiment retreated twice without an order from the occupied line and, in the end, arbitrarily left vil. Nagornaya.
Due to poor camouflage and failure to take measures to open fire from rifles, machine guns and anti-tank rifles, the division suffered significant losses (up to 400 people) from enemy air raids on the very first day of concentration on the battlefield.
Due to the low level of discipline in the regiments, there were cases when the Red Army left the battlefield under the pretext of escorting the wounded, various kinds of escorts, etc.
The roads to the forward units are poorly cleared, which negatively affects the condition of the cavalry and hinders the timely delivery of ammunition and food to the advanced units and extremely hinders the normal evacuation of the wounded.
Unacceptable chaos reigns in places where convoys, sanitary facilities and artillery are concentrated, which, in the event of an air raid, can disrupt the combat stability of the entire division and cause panic, which can then be transmitted to the forward units.
The rear of the division is confused, the products of the division lagged behind. The medical battalion did not arrive. Howitzer artillery has not been brought up to the battlefield, ammunition is still on the way, and there are unacceptably few of them in artillery units.
Measures to restore firm order in the division have not been taken, none of those responsible for the outrages committed have been punished, which cultivates the growth of even greater irresponsibility among many commanders and political workers.
Political work is not aimed at eliminating the enumerated outrages and contains few elements of genuine combat based on the experience of military operations, the education of fighters and commanders.
The military council decides.
1) For the low level of exactingness and for the lack of a firm order in the hours, which could ensure success in battle, the division commander, Major General Zhemaitis, should be warned about incomplete official compliance.
2) Deputy the commander of the division in the rear, Colonel Gudyalis, for the loss of control of the rear and the inadequacy of the division with food and ammunition, to be removed from his post and put on trial.
3) Deputy brigade commissar Macijauskas, the commander of the division for political affairs, was reprimanded for the poor organization of political work in the units and the improper use of Podiva.
4) The prosecutor of the army and the head of the special department should immediately go to the division to investigate the circumstances of the unauthorized abandonment of vil. Nagornaya in order to bring those responsible to justice. Beginning army headquarters immediately send a detachment No. 1 to the concentration zone of the division to detain those who arbitrarily leave the battlefield and shoot the fugitives.
5) The division commander, Major General Zhemaitis, and his deputy for political affairs, brigade commissar Macijauskas, within three days, establish a firm order in the units (pull up units, collect rears, scattered ammunition, etc.), strengthen discipline and organize such political work that would strengthened the combat capability of the division.
Located in the division, deputy. army commander Colonel Kolganov and deputy. the head of the political department of the army, Colonel Yakovlev, to monitor the implementation of this resolution and the forces at their disposal, commanders and political workers to organize the necessary control over the implementation of this resolution. Those who do not comply with the requirements of the Military Council are brought to trial and sent to penal units.
This resolution is to be announced to the commanding and commanding staff up to and including the battalion commander.
Commander of the 48th Army
Lieutenant General Romanenko
Members of the Military Council of the 48th Army
Major General Istomin
Colonel Sobolev.
This resolution is remarkable in that it was already drawn up on the second day of the actual offensive of the division. When the situation was not yet completely clear and the result, it would seem, could not be predetermined. Which testifies to the obviously doomed nature of the battle and the imminent attempt by the officials of the 48th Army by this decision to relieve themselves of responsibility for the result of the entire operation to break through the front as a whole, shifting all responsibility to Zhemaitis, the fighters and division commanders.
"USSR NPO
Headquarters 16 lit. division page Urgently
True rem. head of the military department."
Major General comrade Sviridov
On your personal order, I briefly report on the combat activities of the 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division.
In December 1942, the division, having completed its formation and training, was transferred to the troops of the Bryansk Front.
Within 2 months, the division was transferred from one direction to another, was first subordinate to the 3rd army, then the group of Lieutenant General Novoselsky, then the 2nd tank army and, finally, the 48th army.
During this time, the division was not brought into battle, but only marched from near Tula near the city of Orel, having completed about 400 km within 2 months.
Due to severe winter conditions, extremely disorganized supplies and constant alerts of the division, it was greatly weakened during all these transitions. People did not receive normal food, horses did not receive oats and hay not regularly, they lost a lot of weight and, in the end, dragged equipment and property with difficulty.
In the very first days of arrival at the front line, the headquarters of the Bryansk Front withdrew half of the trucks from the division, which made it even more difficult to supply people and horses.
In early February 1943, the division, being 50 km from the city of Efremov, received an order to be ready for loading onto railway and sent to another front. Fulfilling this order, the division sent a significant part of the property to the loading stations, but a few days later, quite unexpectedly, the division was alerted and after 4 hours advanced in a completely different direction.
In mid-February 43, the division appeared in the combat area of the 48th Army, 50 km from the city of Orel. The situation on the front of the 48th army at the time of its entry into battle was as follows:
The 48th army pursued the retreating enemy and reached the line of the Neruch River. At this line, the enemy stopped the withdrawal and put up stubborn resistance. Only one 6th Guards Rifle Division was able to break through the enemy defenses at this line and reach the Zmiyovka station area, but was soon surrounded and defeated.
By the time the 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division approached, the enemy had finally eliminated the breakthrough of the guards and restored a solid front.
The let down Lithuanian line division was ordered to repeat the maneuver of the 6th Guards line division, i.e., to move into the front breakthrough in the same sector, in the same direction, with approximately the same tasks.
"STATEMENT
former commanders and political workers of the 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division according to the content of the Resolution of the Military Council of the 48th Army of 01.01.01.
We, the undersigned, are former commanders and political workers of the 16 LSD, who directly participated in the first battles of the division from 20.2. on 8.3.1943 learned about the Decree of the Military Council of the 48th Army No. 8 dated 25.2.43. only in 1972, studying the personal file of the former commander of the 16 LSD, Major General Baltushis, in connection with his 75th birthday.
This Decree not only surprised us, but also offended us, especially since it was not brought to us at one time, although in accordance with its last paragraph and, taking into account the service and command posts that we then occupied, it should have been brought to and before us.
The Decree and the submission of the Military Council of the Central Front, signed by the Commander of the 48th Army, Lieutenant General Romanenko, a member of the Military Council of the 48th Army and the Chief of Staff of this army, contain a clear slander against the fighters, commanders and political workers of the 16th LSD. The facts of alleged desertion from the battlefield, the abandonment of positions by units and subunits of the division, etc. are distorted and even invented. For example, the enemy stronghold in vil. Nagornoy was not taken at all then. And the Decree states that he was twice abandoned by the 167th regiment.
The fact of the departure from the front of the 3rd battalion of the 156th division of the regiment and the sentence of the battalion commander to death were completely invented. There was neither a battalion leaving the front, nor a battalion commander sentenced to death in the division.
We all remember very well under what difficult conditions 16 LSD was then thrown into battle, and with what courage and dedication its fighters then fought.
The main part of the division’s fighters, political workers and commanders were communists and Komsomol members - former fighters for the cause of the communist party in bourgeois Lithuania, underground workers, activists of Soviet power in Lithuania in 1940-41 and other persons who voluntarily left with the Red Army during its retreat, so that later protect Soviet Power from the Nazi invaders. Is it their fault that the command of the 48th Army threw them into battle without artillery preparation, without tanks, without anti-aircraft cover, without food and ammunition, and that they, without breaking through the enemy’s prepared defenses, courageously died in the snow at 20-degree frost.
Dealing with the preparation, course and results of this operation, of course, is the business of military historians. But from the Decree of the Command of the 48th Army and its presentation to the Military Council of the Central Front, it is clear that it seeks to shift all the blame for the unsuccessful operation on 16 LSD and, in particular, on its commander, Major General Baltushis-
The injustice of all the accusations against the fighters, commanders and political workers of the 16th LSD is evidenced by the fact that not a single threat of the Military Council of the 48th Army "to prosecute and send to penal units" was carried out. For the prosecutor and other persons who were investigating at that time the "criminal actions" of the fighters and the division commander did not find the perpetrators who could be brought to justice.
In a report addressed to the commander of the 48th Army, Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Lithuania, comrade. Snechkus, as well as in a report to Major General Sviridov, the commander of the 16 LSD, Major General Baltushis, correctly described the situation in the division before the first battles and the reasons for the heavy losses during these battles.
The combat exploits of 16 LSD in subsequent battles proved the groundlessness of the accusations brought by the command of the 48th army against its fighters, political workers and commanders.
During the Great Patriotic War, the division successfully attacked many times and many times fought heavy battles with counterattacking enemy tanks and infantry. But not once did she let the enemy through her battle formations. For military merits, the division was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and it was given the honorary name "Klaipeda".
Major General Baltushis is no longer alive, just as many other participants in those battles are no longer alive. But the memory of the 16 LSD soldiers who heroically died in battles with the Nazi invaders makes us now, 30 years later, declare that the Resolution of the Military Council of the 48th Army of 01.01.01 is distorting reality and creates a false idea of the moral, political and fighting spirit of fighters, political workers and commanders of 16 LSD.
This submission is submitted to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania, sent to the Institute of Party History under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania for archiving and is invested in the personal file of Major General Baltushis-
Former deputy. commander of 16 LSD for political affairs, adviser to the Council of Ministers Lit. SSR,
retired major general N. Macijauskas
Former deputy. commander of 16 LSD, chairman of the committee for cultural relations with
compatriots abroad,
retired Major General Karvelis
Former commander of artillery 16 LSD, chairman of DOSAAF Lit. SSR,
Retired Major General of Artillery I. Ziburkus
Former head of the political department of the 16 LSD, head of the archival department under the Soviet
Ministers Lit. SSR,
Lieutenant Colonel F. Beliauskas
Former assistant to the head of the political department of the 16 LSD for Komsomol, Minister of Justice
Major General A. Rondukevicius
Former commander of 224 art. regiment 16 LSD, military commissar Lit. SSR,
Major General of Artillery P. Petronis
Former commander of the 167th regiment of the 16th LSD regiment, civil defense methodologist
Ministries of Higher and Secondary special education Lit. SSR,
retired colonel V. Moteka
Former battery commander of 120 mm mortars 156 pp. regiment 16 LSD, deputy. chief
Vilnius Production Department of Gasification
reserve colonel V. Pochinaev
Former investigator of the special department of the NKVD 16 LSD, head of the legal
Department of the Presidium of the Supreme Council Lit. SSR
reserve lieutenant colonel E. Yatsovskis.
There is no date on the statement, but judging by the presentation, it was written in 1972 or 73.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, the time is coming, and it has already come, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and having heard, they will live.
For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself... And those who have done good will go out into the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”
(From John, chapter 5, verses: 25, 26, 29).
A few words about the post-war service of his father, which was already associated with his teaching and scientific activities at the Higher Military Academy. Voroshilov (Academy of the General Staff).
Studying documents from his personal file, numerous attestations and characteristics, we can conclude that he was in good standing with the leadership of the academy, in particular with its head, General of the Army Kurasov, who repeatedly encouraged his father with thanks and cash bonuses.
In the personal file there is also a presentation of him for the rank of lieutenant general, “given his very long work experience in the positions of the highest command staff (since 1920) and also work in the rank of major general. In order to encourage and ensure greater confidence, credibility and initiative in further work... ”, signed by General of the Army Kurasov and Head of the Department, Lieutenant General Poznyak.
The assignment of the next military rank did not take place, although for two post-war years my father headed the advanced training courses for senior officers at the academy, and left this position, apparently of his own free will, in order to more fruitfully engage in scientific work.
He writes articles for military journals, publishes, probably the very first of the military historians, the pamphlet "Operations in the Pacific Ocean 1941-45", intended only for students of the academy (Brief operational-strategic essay, Supreme Order Suvorov 1st degree Military Academy them. Voroshilov, 1951).
He speaks on this topic several times in the Polytechnic Museum of Moscow in front of a civilian audience, telling them about the war between the USA and Japan in World War II, which was completely unknown to them.
Even after his father retired in 1954, Kurasov involved him in the great work of preparing a 9-volume edition of 253 p. on the topic "History of military art", for the successful work on which he declares gratitude and awards him a cash prize of 1000 rubles.
Each person carries the burden of the years they have lived, and I now understand that this burden was especially heavy for my father. For he was recruited for wounds, including a severe one in the head near Siauliai in 1919, shell shock, wounds on the fronts of the First World War, the Civil and Great Patriotic Wars, and especially for the unsuccessful command of the 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division in the Second World War, which had a particularly negative impact on his state of mind and health. As well as the post-war Stalin's unforgiving attitude towards all the generals who worked for wear and tear without a normalized working day, almost without days off and holidays.
And my father approached his transfer to the reserve as a completely ill man, who had difficulty walking due to acute heart ischemia and excessive obesity, which was in no way associated with a violation of the diet. He always ate very little and was not known as a great gourmet.
As far as I remember my father, he always left for work early and returned from it no earlier than 10-11 pm tired and sick. It was difficult to climb intermittently up the stairs to the 4th floor, where our apartment was located (there was no elevator in the house at that time). With effort, he sat down on a chair and got up from it. And yet I rarely saw him irritated or irascible. And if he did start up for some reason related for the most part with my annoying harassment to him, he quickly cooled down and was the first to stretch out his hand for reconciliation.
But his salary was decent. According to my mother, my father brought home 9-10 thousand rubles a month (for comparison, the average salary of a skilled worker was then 1,000 rubles), not counting all kinds of additional payments for articles, which allowed the mother not to work, the children to get a decent education, to have a housekeeper in the apartment and father to build a cottage. We always had plenty in the house and on holidays it was full of guests.
In my father's personal file, there are two, in my opinion, curious entries when he was transferred to the reserve. The first one is "In war time be transferred to the post of chief of staff of the cavalry corps. 1954! It is curious how the Department of Defense was going to use a completely sick person with only three years left to live, and even in such a romantic branch of the army as cavalry, and even in the Third thermonuclear world war!
And the second - as it is said in the same place: “Dismissed from the cadres of the Soviet Army to the reserve under article 59 “b” (due to illness) with the right to wear a military uniform with special distinctive signs on shoulder straps (Order of the Ministry of Defense No. 000 of 17.5.1954).
I did not see any "special distinguishing marks" on my father's shoulder straps. And all these conclusions look very much like a joke of personnel officers, at which they laughed for a long time and who for some reason could not or did not want to fire a sick old person due to age and length of service. Indeed, in the army from time immemorial there has been a saying: "The sooner you leave the army, the longer you will live in civilian life."
In June 1957, at the age of 60, his father died from a massive myocardial infarction.
That first battle of the 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division was remembered by all its veterans who survived during the war years as the bloodiest for all the time of their participation in the battles as part of the formation.
NOTES
1. RGVA, Track record of Baltushi-
2. TsAMO, personal file of Major-General Baltushis-, Inv. 0
box B-384.
3. TsAMO, combat journal of the 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division, f.1079, op.1,
box 10675
4. TsAMO, historical formulary, op. box 10671.
5. RGASPI, f.17, op.100, case No. 000.
6. Wulf Vilenskis, "Twists of Fate", Kahol Lavan Publishing House, Jerusalem,
7., “Not subject to oblivion”, Moscow, military publishing house, 1985
8. Newspaper "Evening Moscow", 07/22/1991, art. "Medal pierced by shrapnel."
9. Journal "Questions of History", No. 4, 2003, art. "The uprising in Siauliai at the end of 1918 -
early 1919 and the fate of its leader.
10. S. Koentsedek, art. “On this and that side of the front”, Jerusalem.
11. The newspaper "Trud" for 09/06/1994, art. "The Tragedy of General Pavlov".
12. Aron Schneer, "Captivity (16th Lithuanian Division)".
https://pandia.ru/text/77/496/images/image003_337.jpg" width="143" height="233">
Father, brigade Budyonny in the center, to his right and
general, Kaunas, above father, early. 30s
Jews bravely fought in all the troops of the anti-Hitler coalition.
This is already a well-known fact. But how many people know that no other army, with the exception of the Jewish Brigade in Britain, had such a high percentage of Jews as in the 16th Lithuanian Division. If in 1943 there were 1.6% of Jews in 200 Soviet infantry divisions, then in the 16th Lithuanian they were 34.2%. in Yiddish and Hebrew. There were cases when orders and roll calls were only in Yiddish. Before leaving Yasnaya Polyana in a large club at a meeting of soldiers and officers of the 249th Infantry Regiment, with the exception of the head of the political department, all the speakers spoke Yiddish. In the city of Balakhny, Gorky region, where the division was formed, when the soldiers of the regiment marched, Jewish songs sounded. The Jewish soldiers of this division, refugees from Lithuania, observed religious traditions.
In Tula, where the division was temporarily stationed, on Saturdays a Jewish sergeant led religious soldiers in formation to pray at the local synagogue. When the time came for the fighting, "Kaddish" sounded at the funeral of the fallen soldiers. The 16th Lithuanian division was formed in accordance with the decree of the USSR government of December 18, 1941. It was formed as a counterbalance to the Lithuanian military formations supporting the Nazis. The Lithuanian police and even a significant part of the country's peasants, even before the arrival of the Nazi troops, robbed and shot Jews. With the entry of the Nazi army into the territory of Lithuania, a puppet government was formed, which faithfully served the interests of the Third Reich. The final formation of the 16th Lithuanian was completed by July 7, 1942. It was a full-blooded, well-equipped division, which included more than 10,000 people. According to archival data, as of January 1, 1943, it included not only Jews and Lithuanians, but representatives of another 30 nationalities: Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Georgians, Latvians, Estonians, Poles, Kazakhs, Tatars ... The division had a lot of certified engineers and doctors, mostly Jews. The hard fate of the Jews under Nazi oppression was known to the soldiers of the division. All soldiers and officers, and especially Jews, took revenge on their enemies. When Jewish soldiers went into battle, along with slogans in Lithuanian and Russian, there were also calls in Yiddish: "Forward, attack! We will avenge our fathers and mothers!". Jews -fighters of the 16th Lithuanian division distinguished themselves in battles. This could not but delight even those who traditionally did not like Jews. The commander of the 249th regiment, Fyodor Lysenko, a Cossack officer who did not hide his anti-Semitic views, eventually began to admire the heroism and courage of the Jews. He personally recommended conferring the high title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" to his subordinates - battalion commander Vulf Vilensky and two gunners - Kalman Shur and Girsh Ushpolis. On February 17, 1943, the division was transferred to the Alekseevka region of the Oryol region. This transition was made at the limit of human capabilities. Large-caliber guns, ammunition and food carts lagged behind, the division arrived at the destination area of the Oryol region with exhausted and hungry people. The German army went on the offensive on the morning of July 5, 1943, but met fierce resistance. On July 23, the Lithuanian division also joined the counteroffensive, which managed to break through the Nazi defense line and liberate 56 settlements, including the village of Lithuania. For courage and heroism in these battles, 1817 soldiers and officers of the division were awarded orders and medals. Among them were more than 1,000 Jews. Ilya Erenburg, in the article "The Heart of Lithuania", published in the newspaper "Pravda", wrote about the heroism of the medical officer Sheinel. In two days, she pulled out more than 60 seriously wounded soldiers and officers from the battlefield on her shoulders, and then she herself died under enemy machine-gun fire. Ehrenburg talked about the fact that Sheinel had poor health, they did not want to let her into dangerous operations, but she insisted on her own. Even seriously wounded in the chest, she continued to save her comrades. "Maybe," Ehrenburg's article said, "that the Germans who killed her tortured Sheineli's parents to death in a Jewish Lithuanian town." The division fought heroically. Of the 12 soldiers and officers of the division who were awarded the title "Hero of the Soviet Union", there were 4 Jews: Vulf Vilensky, Kalman Shur, Hirsh Ushpolis, Boris Tsindel. In essence, there was not a single Jewish soldier and a division officer who was not awarded Soviet orders and medals for courage and heroism on the battlefield. Many of them fought with the division for about 400 km, liberated more than 600 cities and villages, destroyed thousands of enemy soldiers and officers, captured 12,000 Nazi vandals. There were many Jewish women in the division who fought on an equal footing with men. These were girls from Lithuanian towns, they were eager to take revenge on the enemy for the death of their parents, for brothers and sisters who remained in Lithuania to be torn apart by the invaders - 86 Jews voluntarily went to the front. The first women's group consisted of radio operators and nurses. In February-March In 1942, a women's company consisting of 150 soldiers was formed in Balakhna - these were Lithuanian, Jewish and Russian girls. Many Jewish soldiers were awarded orders and medals. , many others. They saved dozens of the wounded on the battlefields, but they themselves died. There were doctors of different nationalities in the medical service of the division, but the majority, over 80% were Jews. The head and organizer of the medical service of the division was Colonel EduardKushner. Dr. A. Sheinberg, a former participant in the Spanish Civil War, also distinguished himself in battles. A lot of human lives were also saved by Commander-Professor Khatskel Kibarsky, one of the best cardiologists in Lithuania. The surgical department of the medical service was headed by doctors Shalom Ptashek, Solomon Rabinovich, Hana Goldberg, and the complex work of receiving the wounded was headed by an energetic and experienced doctor Moshe Sobol. Under fire, on the battlefield, orderlies and nurses Sonya Ivenskite-Vilenskaya, Vita Tetra, Khana Moskovich, Shimon Isakov, Bentsion Shlomovich and many others distinguished themselves, and Gurevich, Borok, Magit, Gordon, Glezer-Kerensky and others died a heroic death at rescuing the wounded. Given that the Lithuanian division had the most experienced doctors, many of them, including Jews, were transferred to other military formations. Isabella Feinberg-Pinkus took part in the Battle of Stalingrad, Ihazkiel Saviteg, David Aronin, I. Levin, Hana Toner and others fought on other fronts. On October 6, 1943, the division as part of the 3rd Army fought stubborn battles in the Vitebsk region. In the winter of 1944, she participated in the liberation of Vilnius, as part of the 3rd Belorussian Front, in the summer of 1944, she covered more than 500 km in battles. In the new offensive of the 1st Baltic Front, which began on October 5, 1944, the division was given the task of clearing Northwestern Lithuania of the Nazis. In bloody battles, the division approached East Prussia in the area of the city of Tilsit. For this operation in October 1944, 31 soldiers were awarded the Order of the Red Banner of War, 10 people received the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and among them 4 Jews. At the end of 1944, all of Lithuania, with the exception of the port of Klaipeda, was cleared of the enemy. In the same year, the division was transferred to the north of Courland to complete the liquidation of the encircled German divisions. At the end of January 1945, the division liquidated the encircled German troops in Klaipeda. The fighting went from 27 to 30 January. She was assigned honorary title"Klaipeda". After the capitulation of Nazi Germany, Klaipeda-Lithuanian was instructed to disarm 8 German divisions and transfer the prisoners to their destination. One of the leaders of this operation was Colonel Solomon Cohen Tzadik. After the victory, the division headquarters was deployed to Vilnius. At the end of 1945 and at the beginning of 1946, most of the combatants were demobilized, and only part of the officers remained. Thus ended the brief history of the heroic "Jewish" 16th Lithuanian division, which covered itself with unfading glory.
) .I offer a selection of photographs depicting different stages of the military path and people of the 16th rifle Lithuanian Klaipeda Red Banner Division.
Probably the first known photo of the fighters of the division on the winter march to the place of their first battle - n.p. Alekseevka southeast of Orel, February 21, 1943:
The 76-mm regimental gun fires, covering the first offensive of the division ... Unfortunately, unsuccessful and paid for with considerable blood:
And the command staff at the command post of the division - in the same place:
Those who led the Lithuanian division of the Red Army into battle:
1. Division commander (1942-43), Major General F.R. Baltushis-Zemaitis, Russian second lieutenant of the First World War, Lithuanian revolutionary, military personnel of the Red Army.
2. Division commander (1943-44) Colonel V.A. Karvelis, later Major General... Unfortunately, that's all I know about this officer.
3.
Division commander (1944-45) colonel, since 1944 - major general A.I. Urbshas , former army officer Republic of Lithuania, in the Red Army since 1940
Chief of Staff of the division, practically permanent in this position in 1942-46. lieutenant colonel P.A. Tsyunis, a former major in the army of the Republic of Lithuania, and, in addition, a scientist and teacher. In the photo - in the form of the Lithuanian army.
By the way, in 1919, young Petras Tsyunis fought as part of the Lithuanian troops against the Red Army, whom, more than two decades later, he commanded ...
The unsuccessful "combat debut" near Orel was followed by participation in Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943, the division, then defending itself from the 383rd infantry and the 18th tank divisions Wehrmacht (five consecutive attacks), then enduring massive air strikes (up to 120 Luftwaffe aircraft according to the official data of the historiography of the division, however, most likely, overestimated), then desperately counterattacking in order to regain lost positions, she lost more than 4,000 people in battles, after which the removal of the bloodless formation to the rear for replenishment was appointed.
Memorial to the fallen soldiers of the 13th Army and the 16th Lithuanian Division in the village. Glazunovka, Oryol region:
In the autumn of 1943, the 16th Lithuanian fought again, this time as part of the Kalinin Front. After the initial unsuccessful offensive battles in the Nevel operation (October 1943), in November, her banners were finally crowned with the laurels of the first victory, when south of the city of Nevel, Pskov region. she managed to repel a strong counterattack by units of the 43rd army corps Wehrmacht.
Autumn 1943. Commander of the Karelian Front A.I. Eremenko in the 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division:
Machine-gun crew in positions.
In the subsequent offensive battles, the division took part in the encirclement of the enemy grouping and the liberation of the settlement. The town, having earned its first award - the gratitude of the command. For participation in the Nevelsk offensive operation, the 16th Lithuanian paid with the loss of 3,000 people, as evidenced today by this modest plate on the battlefields:
In November 1943, the Lithuanian division as part of the 4th shock army was attached to the 1st Baltic Front and, so to speak, deployed its battle formations towards home - to Lithuania. However, in fairness, it should be noted that after heavy losses and repeated understaffing, Lithuania remained home to barely half of its fighters. The rest were expected to go home in various parts of the USSR, including even the Central Asian union republics...
But the divisional newspaper, published in Lithuanian and Russian, reminded in its title - "The Motherland Calls!"
The political instructor with a group of fighters read the divisional "multi-circulation":
In April 1944 for distinction in the liberation of Belarus The banner of the division was adorned with the Order of the Red Banner of War.
After the liberation of the Belarusian Polotsk and the 500-km march near Siauliai, in the summer of 1944, the 16th Infantry Division finally entered the territory of Lithuania. Where, right from the march, heavy battles awaited her: the 3rd German Panzer Army counterattacked near Siauliai. Successfully reflecting a counterattack as part of the troops of the 1st Baltic Front, the division again earned the gratitude of the command. Obviously, she now learned to fight, or "native walls helped", and the German in 1944 was objectively already "not the same" ...
A number of photographs of the spring-summer 1944, depicting the fighters of the Lithuanian division in battle and on the march:
(For the last two, I can’t guarantee that it is the fighters of the Lithuanian division that are depicted on them, since it was taken from articles about it available on the net, so, “what I bought for, I sell for that”).
Places of the last resting place for the fighters and officers of the division in the Lithuanian land:
Mass grave of 147 soldiers of the Lithuanian division (including 82 unnamed) in the town of Vainutas:
The grave of the Hero of the Soviet Union artillery sergeant Stasis Sheinauskas, who fell in August 1944 near Siauliai:
Divisional Heroes of the Soviet Union, photos of which were found:
1. Sergeant Stasis Seinauskas (posthumously)
2. Sergeant Grigory Terentiev (posthumously)
3.Red Army soldier Viktor Yatsenevich (posthumously)
4. Red Army soldier Boris (Berel) Tsindelis (posthumously)
4. ml. lieutenant Grigory Ushpolis (the Hero received a corporal)
5. Sergeant Kalmanis (Kalman) Shur
6. ml. Sergeant Fedor Zatsepilov.
In total, in the Lithuanian division during the war, 12 fighters and commanders received the star of the Hero, with the most significant group of them being artillerymen - 5 people, followed by scouts - 3 people. then - regiment commander, battalion commander, telephone operator and machine gunner. The ethnic composition of the Heroes of the Soviet Union is a cast from that of the division: Lithuanians, Russians (from the USSR and one from pre-war Lithuania), Lithuanian Jews, Lithuanian Poles ...
And here are the heroes of the 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division, who did not receive gold stars due to their "petty-bourgeois upbringing."
1. Division celebrity: a brave machine gunner, a sniper, if necessary, a nurse foreman Danute Staniliene. A simple Lithuanian rural girl born in 1922 with a shy smile, "peasant Jeanne" in divisional use - no doubt, in honor of the legendary Joan of Arc. One of the four Soviet women - full cavaliers Order of Glory.
She was the "face" of the division, generously treated by the attention of the Soviet press and the military authorities ... However, despite several performances, Danute stubbornly did not receive the Hero of the Soviet Union ... "machine-gun platoon leader" Even the entry into the CPSU (b) at the very end of the war did not change the situation. There is an opinion that Danuta was somewhat pinched precisely because of her "Joan of Arc syndrome" - only not the ambitions of the savior of the Fatherland, but inappropriate pity for the defeated enemy in the war ... Which, of course, was noted by the "vigilant comrades" and reported " where you need it."
By the way, there were at least 171 female soldiers in the Lithuanian division...
2. And of course, the epic character is the standard-bearer Monya Tsatskis, either divisional Vasily Terkin, or the brave soldier Schweik, an example of military resourcefulness, absolute disregard for discipline and wonderful black Jewish-Lithuanian humor. The hero of the story of the same name by Ephraim Sevel, a Soviet and Israeli writer, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War and the "Doomsday War":
So, the combat path of the 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division of the Red Army to Victory ran through native Lithuania. Obviously, for propaganda purposes: the Soviet Lithuanian formation was supposed to join the forefront in the republic, annexed to the USSR only in 1940 and "lit up" during the years of occupation by a significant level of collaborationism (however, there were quite a few anti-fascist partisans in Lithuania - 92 detachments and more than 10 thousand fighters, not counting the underground, today it is customary to "conveniently" keep silent about this).
On January 28, 1945, for the liberation of Klaipeda, the 16th Lithuanian Red Banner Rifle Division received the honorary title of Klaipeda.
1st Secretary of the Communist Party of Lithuania A. Snechkus among the soldiers of the division in the liberated Klaipeda:
Since January 31, 1945, the Lithuanian division of the Red Army participated in the siege of the units of the Nazi Army Group North surrounded in the Courland Cauldron. There she met the end of the war.
A group of soldiers and officers of the 16th rifle division of the division, spring 1945:
The Victory Parade for the 16th Lithuanian Red Banner Klaipeda Division took place, quite obviously, in Vilnius:
A commemorative badge issued in the Lithuanian SSR in honor of the 30th anniversary of the creation of the division:
________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____Mikhail Kozhemyakin