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Who are the special officers during the war? The life of a special sergeant is hard and unprepossessing

The first day of my army life.
We new arrivals were just fed, washed in the bathhouse and changed into clothes. After all, we, 40 people, ended up in Lenin’s room. We sit, silently look at the boa constrictor with the epaulets of a major, who slowly eyes each of us in turn.
After about five minutes he began:
- Congratulations, comrades, on your arrival in our illustrious blah, blah, blah, you have to overcome difficulties blah, blah, boundaries, blah, blah, blah. Now let's get down to business. You will have a bath once a week. After the bath, the soldier is given his choice of either a bottle of beer - 500 ml, or a chocolate bar - 100 grams. at the choice of military personnel.
The bald audience perked up noticeably.
- Stop talking! Stand up, stand still! sit down at ease. So I'll continue. Here in front of me is the certificate of sale of your third company, on beer and chocolate. Sergeant Vatrushkin!
The sergeant entered the room.

Bring the post-bath allowance from the storeroom.
A minute later, the sergeant locked a box of beer, on it was a cardboard box of Alenka chocolate. We all shouted joyfully with our eyes.
- So, I will say your last name, you say “I” and name what you want to receive on bath day: beer or chocolate.
While the line was going to my name, I thought about what to choose: On the one hand, I had never drank alcohol in my life, neither before nor after, so I didn’t need beer for nothing, but on the other hand, I can, from the master’s shoulder, give your bottle to your comrades for the same chocolate from the tea shop. You can’t buy beer in a tea shop... And on the third hand, today they will buy me a chocolate bar, but tomorrow they won’t have time, I won’t be a goon and will still give them my beer, but I will be left without “Alenka”. But on the fourth side... The major said my last name.
- I! I choose Chocolate!
The room became quiet, as if I had said something indecent.
- Comrade soldier, if you choose a chocolate bar, you won’t get beer, is that clear to you?
- Yes sir.
At the end of the list, the major came close to me, looked carefully, walked away and shouted: You are all brutes, lazy people and, as it turned out, alcoholics! I'll beat the crap out of you! They wanted beer! Or maybe you should bring the women after the bath!!! ? Everyone, stand up, come out and line up! Sergeant Vatrushkin, command according to the daily routine. And you Stirlitz, I’ll ask you to stay. Sit down. (I sat down)
The major looked at me point blank.
- I am the head of the special department. (Later, I learned to accurately identify special officers by their fishy eyes.) During the three years of my service in this training unit, I showed this box with beer bottles and chocolates from the tea shop to tens of thousands of soldiers. But none of them, NO ONE, chose the chocolate bar. While you are a mystery to me, it’s my job to solve riddles. Here's a paper, write your autobiography. Very detailed, ten pages long.
He asked for a long time about his parents, foreign acquaintances, did his friends serve in our unit? For some reason he even scared me with prison, etc. (Devil knows why he needed these tricks with beer, most likely he was just a sadist).
Our company began the educational process, and I was the only one who did not have access, and instead of studying in a secret class, I sat quietly in the barracks and wrote letters to my mother. For two whole months, while the major’s secret requests about me were flying to secret addresses, I was enjoying myself, and the service was going on. A sober lifestyle is sometimes not so bad...

Under the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR. Subsequently, with the formation of special departments of fronts, military districts, fleets, armies, flotillas and special departments under the provincial Chekas, a unified centralized system of security agencies in the troops was created. In 1934-38 military counterintelligence, as the Special, then the 5th Department, is part of the Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB) of the NKVD of the USSR. In March 1938, with the abolition of the GUGB, the 2nd Directorate (special departments) of the NKVD of the USSR was created on the basis of the 5th Department. Already in September 1938, the Special Department was recreated as the 4th Department of the GUGB. Subordinate to special departments (DS) in the Red Army, the Red Army, and the NKVD troops.

Ranks, uniforms and insignia

The Regulations on Special Bodies of the GUGB NKVD of the USSR, announced on May 23, 1936 by joint order of the NKO/NKVD of the USSR No. 91/183, and which established, including insignia and uniforms for military counterintelligence officers, stipulated that in the case of joint permission of the chiefs OO GUGB NKVD USSR and the Directorate of Command Staff of the Red Army, employees of special agencies who had a military or special military-technical education or army command experience were granted the right to wear uniforms and insignia of the command or military-technical personnel of the units they serve.

At the same time, the personnel of the central apparatus of the GUGB NKVD of the USSR and the apparatus of special departments of the UGB of territorial internal affairs bodies, as well as persons working outside the Red Army and the Navy and their subordinate institutions, are given the uniform of the NKVD state security command staff. Both before the formation of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, and after July 1934, operational workers of special bodies used uniforms and buttonholes (in the ground forces) or sleeve patches (in the navy) of those military units or institutions to which they were assigned for service.

Insignia

For employees of special departments, insignia were established by category in accordance with their position:

11th category (2 diamonds): - heads of department, part of the OGPU Center; - Secretary of the OGPU Center; - deputies and assistants to the heads of the regional PO OGPU/GPU; - heads of the OGPU corps, the regional navy, groups of troops and their deputies.

10th category (1 diamond): - employees for special assignments, detective officers of the OGPU Center; - heads of the branch of the OO regional PP OGPU/GPU, OO NKVD VO, army, navy, regional navy, group of troops; - heads of the OGPU division, separate brigade, flotilla.

9th category (3 rectangles): - authorized PA of the OGPU Center; - assistant department heads and detective officers of the regional PO OGPU/GPU; - detective officers of the OO OGPU VO, army, navy, group of troops, division, brigade, flotilla.

8th category (2 rectangles): - assistants to the commissioner, assistant secretary of the OGPU Center; - authorized representatives, secretaries of PA regional PP OGPU/GPU; - authorized OO OGPU VO, army, navy, group of forces, division, brigade, flotilla and regiment.

Form

After the introduction of personal ranks for the GUGB in the fall of 1935, the question of uniforms arose among the leaders of the NKVD. The regulatory documents clearly noted that the employees of the special bodies of the GUGB NKVD “were assigned the uniform of the units they served,” and it also contained a somewhat strange condition: “... and with the insignia of the GUGB.” A lively correspondence began between the People's Commissariat and the Authorities. The NKVD's reasoning was quite understandable. Finally, on May 23, 1936, the Regulations on the special bodies of the GUGB NKVD of the USSR were announced, according to which uniforms and uniforms were established for employees of OO corps, fleets, special sections of divisions, brigades, fortified areas, flotillas, as well as individual operatives attached to units and institutions of the Red Army. insignia of the military-political composition of the relevant branches of the military according to the special ranks assigned to them by the state security agencies: - 2 diamonds - senior major of the State Security Service; - 1 diamond - major GB; - 3 rectangles - captain GB; - 2 rectangles - senior lieutenant of the State Security Service; - 1 rectangle - GB lieutenant; - 3 squares - junior lieutenant and sergeant of the State Security Service. Thus, the special officers, in the form of the political composition of the branch of the military to which the unit they served belonged, began to have, as it were, two ranks - the actual assigned special GB rank and the rank by which they were known in the unit (for example, GB major - brigade commissar). The personnel of the central apparatus of the GUGB NKVD of the USSR and the apparatus of special departments of the UGB of territorial internal affairs bodies, as well as persons working outside the Red Army and the Navy and their subordinate institutions, were assigned uniforms of state security command personnel. This situation remained until 1941, when military counterintelligence for a short time came under the jurisdiction of the People's Commissariat of Defense (On the basis of the GUGB NKVD, the 3rd NPO Directorate was formed). In May-July 1941, employees of the PA (now 3 Directorates/departments) began to be certified in the ranks of political personnel. After the return of military counterintelligence to the NKVD (since August 1941 - the Directorate of Special Departments of the NKVD of the USSR), special officers again began to be recertified for special GB ranks. However, these re-certifications had no effect on the uniform.

Until February 1941, military counterintelligence officers directly in their units wore the uniform of the service branch with insignia of political personnel (the presence of sleeve stars of political personnel and the absence of sleeve insignia of state security) and were called either special ranks of state security or ranks of political personnel. The personnel of the 4th department of the Main Directorate of State Security of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR (from September 29, 1938 to February 26, 1941 served as military counterintelligence) wore uniforms and state security insignia and had the rank of “GB Sergeant - GB Commissar General” " - special state security ranks. In the period from February 1941 to July-August 1941, military counterintelligence officers also wore the uniform of the service branch of the armed forces with insignia of political personnel and had only political personnel ranks. Employees of the central apparatus (3rd NPO Directorate) during the same period wore GB uniforms and GB special ranks (Head of the 3rd NPO Directorate, GB Major A. N. Mikheev, deputy chief - GB Major N. A. Osetrov, and so on) . On July 17, 1941, with the formation of the Directorate of Special Departments of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR, counterintelligence officers in the troops switched to the special ranks of the GB (but also probably used the ranks of political personnel). The uniform remained the same - political personnel.

On April 19, 1943, on the basis of the Directorate of Special Departments of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR, the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence "Smersh" was created and transferred to the jurisdiction of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR. Former special officers became subordinate to the People's Commissar of Defense. In this regard, almost all of them were awarded general army ranks, that is, without the prefix “state security” in their personal rank. On May 3, 1946, the GUKR "SMERSH" NGOs of the USSR were reorganized again into the MGB OO.

Functions of special departments

The functions of the Special Department of the NKVD (chief, deputy, intelligence officers) included monitoring the political and moral state of the unit, identifying state criminals (traitors, spies, saboteurs, terrorists, counter-revolutionary organizations and groups of people conducting anti-Soviet agitation, and others), conducting investigations into state crimes under the supervision of the prosecutor's office and transfer cases to military tribunals.

From the beginning of the war to October 1941, special departments and detachments of the NKVD troops detained 657,364 military personnel who lagged behind their units and fled from the front. Among this mass, 1,505 spies and 308 saboteurs were identified and exposed. As of December 1941, special departments arrested 4,647 traitors, 3,325 cowards and alarmists, 13,887 deserters, 4,295 distributors of provocative rumors, 2,358 self-shooters, and 4,214 for banditry and looting.

Notes

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Synonyms:

See what “Special Officer” is in other dictionaries:

Employee, individualist Dictionary of Russian synonyms. specialist noun, number of synonyms: 2 individualist (3) ... Synonym dictionary

special officer- SPECIALIST, a, m. Employee of the Special Department (for example, in the army, in security agencies); about any person who behaves in a special way. Why don’t you drink, special officer or something? Give him a penalty as a special officer... Dictionary of Russian argot

special officer- , a, m. An employee of a special department, a special unit. ◘ I order you, the special officer shouted, and no joke to me. He clicked the shutter. Zhitkov, 1989, 188. The special officers and tribunal officers got out of captivity and zealously set about searching for the capture of the rebels: they caught ... Explanatory dictionary of the language of the Council of Deputies

M. coll. An employee of a special department dealing with issues of political reliability and state security (in the USSR). Ephraim's explanatory dictionary. T. F. Efremova. 2000... Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language by Efremova

special officer- especially ist, and... Russian spelling dictionary

A; m. Razg. An employee of a special department in a military unit, at an enterprise, etc., dealing with issues of protecting state secrets... encyclopedic Dictionary

special officer- A; m.; decomposition An employee of a special department in a military unit, at an enterprise, etc., dealing with issues of protecting state secrets... Dictionary of many expressions

special officer- special/ist/ … Morphemic-spelling dictionary

especially- Adj. to special...

special- a, e. What is it about someone’s specialness, individuality; in the language of which there are no special, individual figures, features... Ukrainian Tlumach Dictionary

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In many films about war, the image of a special officer evokes anger, contempt and even hatred. After watching them, many people formed the opinion that special officers are people who can shoot an innocent person with virtually no trial or investigation. That these people are not familiar with the concepts of mercy and compassion, justice and honesty.

So who are they - special officers? those who sought to imprison any person, or the people on whose shoulders a heavy burden fell during the Great Patriotic War? Let's figure it out.

Special department

It was created at the end of 1918 and belonged to the counterintelligence unit that was part of the Soviet army. His most important task was to protect state security and combat espionage.

In April 1943, special departments began to bear a different name - SMERSH bodies (stands for "death to spies"). They created their own network of agents and opened files on all soldiers and officers.

Specialists during the war

We know from films that if a special officer came to a military unit, people could not expect anything good. A natural question arises: what was it really like?

A huge number of military personnel did not have certificates. A huge number of undocumented people were constantly moving across the front line. German spies could carry out their activities without much difficulty. Therefore, it was quite natural for the special officers to have an increased interest in people who were in and out of encirclement. In difficult conditions, they had to establish the identities of people and be able to identify German agents.

For a long time in the Soviet Union it was believed that the special forces created special detachments that were supposed to shoot retreating military units. In fact, everything was different.

Special officers are people who risked their lives no less than the soldiers and commanders of the Red Army. Together with everyone else, they took part in the offensive and retreated, and if the commander died, then they had to take command and raise the soldiers to attack. They showed miracles of selflessness and heroism at the front. At the same time, they had to fight alarmists and cowards, as well as identify enemy infiltrators and spies.

Special officers could not shoot military personnel without trial. In only one case could they use weapons: when someone tried to go over to the side of the enemy. But then each such situation was thoroughly investigated. In other cases, they only transferred information about identified violations to the military prosecutor's office.
At the beginning of the war, a large number of experienced, specially trained and legally educated employees of special departments died. In their place they were forced to take people without training and the necessary knowledge, who often violated the law.
By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, there were a total of about four hundred employees in special departments.

Thus, special officers are, first of all, people who tried to honestly fulfill the mission assigned to them to protect the state.

Everyone had their own war. The pilot sees the war in his own way. A sapper in his own way.

And for a front-line special officer, war means endless looters, deserters, self-shooters, defectors.

Before the war and in the first years of the war, there were no officer ranks in the army. There were division commanders, platoon commanders, and even a deputy commander - deputy commander for naval affairs. There were officer ranks in the NKVD. But very unique. Sergeants were equivalent to today's lieutenants, and major - to today's major general. Then, after the introduction of officer ranks in the army, the ranks in the NKVD and the army were equalized. Sergeants were promoted to lieutenants. And they gave him the right to detain (Only detain!) if there were grounds, an army officer two ranks higher than him. That is, the major could detain the colonel.

The battalion special officer had a plan: each department should have its own informant. Not an easy task at the front! It happened that in a month half of the battalion dropped out. Some go to the hospital, and some go under a rock. So fill it up! There was no time to be very sophisticated and secretive when working with agents. The agent was usually covered up using the simplest method. They called everyone in for questioning one by one. And they hid an agent among everyone. During the day there was a war. It was impossible to tear the soldiers away. Only at night. When the German was sleeping. So they woke us up one by one and interrogated each one for half an hour. Everyone except the agent was asked the same questions for the hundredth time. Can you imagine how the soldiers “loved” the special officer? As soon as I fell asleep (and there was a lot of things at the front. Even sometimes there were women, alcohol and food - you could eat yourself too much. Besides sleep. The most valuable thing at the front is sleep) As soon as I fell asleep, they pushed the special officer away and dragged him into the dugout. Where he asks the same stupid questions that the soldier has already answered twenty times. And not just once a month.

The special officer himself felt somewhat better. But not much. He could sometimes sleep during the day, but not for long. During the day, first of all, there is war. And secondly, the headquarters also work during the day. They're getting sick of visits and calls. And weekly reports on the work done and the situation in the unit entrusted to his care must be written. And then there are monthly summary reports. And do not confuse the data in both. In the higher-level special department, these reports were still (sometimes) read. If at night a soldier can sometimes still catch three hundred to four hundred minutes of sleep, but a special officer cannot. We need to work - plan! It happened that the special officer fell asleep together with the interrogated person at the same table. They slept like that until they woke them up.

The special officer also had a plan to replenish the penal battalions. (Also a lot of paperwork for everyone.) They say that 3% of the personnel. It had to be done. Otherwise they will add it themselves. And there is no need to overdo it. Nobody will appreciate it. (Although our home-grown liberals describe it differently in their opuses. The more you imprison, the higher the rank they will give.) The rank will be raised - the position does not allow it. We need to be promoted to the division. And there are enough of their own there. With higher education! Unless one of them dies. But who has a greater chance of dying: an army officer or a battalion special officer? But the configuration plan can be increased from what has been achieved. To cover the shortcomings of other special officers.

Let me explain:Not all units have an objective opportunity to fulfill the plan for completing the penal battalion. Some suffered heavy losses. Those who survived were nominated for awards. And who will send the heroes to the penal battalion? Those who approved the award lists? And why should we judge them? They have nothing more criminal than drunkenness. A hero for drinking in a penal battalion? Where have you seen this? And who will allow the warhead to be exposed? And so few were left under fire.
New recruits were sent to the unit. Or rather, they haven’t sent it yet. Only the roster was replenished on paper. And the recruits themselves were stuck somewhere in the trains on the tracks. Maybe they won't arrive at all. They will get bombed. And some are listed as fully equipped according to documents. So work here... The higher-level special department is looking for someone to load with work. Redistributes the load. And everyone is whining. We can’t cope, they say! Objective reasons are given. And why the hell should the special officer show off his high performance? So they will load up the upstart. Whoever is lucky is driven...

In our films, the special officer in this case must look for the white guard’s grandfather from the hero. And on this basis and...

Well, our filmmakers are capable of all sorts of nonsense. Think about it: the archives have been evacuated. They lie undisassembled in the evacuation. Some remained or were destroyed under the Germans. Archivists were mobilized into the army. A request, of course, can be sent, but who will answer it? Well, even someone from some Siberian archive will answer. So what? In civilian life, half of the Russians had grandfathers who fought in the wrong place. And after the civil OGPU, for 20 years, they searched the archives to find enemies. If someone was not repressed or rehabilitated, then it’s not your business to cancel it. Since he’s alive and free, that means it’s necessary. Comrades who were more competent than you worked there. And the answer will come no earlier than in a year. A year at the front is an eternity. Either the hero will die, or the special agent will die. Or some will be reorganized and scattered across different fronts. Or to hospitals...

And where do you get the time and energy for this writing? And the authorities will be interested: this special officer apparently doesn’t have enough work. He writes and writes. It's time to inspect. And add more work.

In the newly formed part, there were usually enough clients to fulfill the plan. And if there wasn’t enough, they simply registered, in addition to defectors and deserters, AWOLs and rowdies. For a fight with senior ranks. Letters from the front were rarely processed. Only if the scribblers were really going wild. Or the directive was issued precisely on this occasion. And so they simply crossed out lines of letters from the front. And this was not done by a special department, but by the political department of the unit. Sometimes the entire letter was crossed out. Apart from “alive and well”. If they found fault with the letters, everyone could have been transferred to penal battalions. And who will fight in ordinary units? (Penal units are poorly armed infantry. But in war, other types of troops are needed.) And there are not enough barrier detachments to guard the greatly expanded penal battalions. And then there will be nothing left to scare the military personnel. So at least they were still afraid of the penal battalions. (Someone).

They had to answer for their agents. If an agent was killed, additional interrogation protocols were required. Who did you go with? When was the last time you saw? Etc. And at the same time it was impossible to expose the agent even after death. How can you avoid being exposed when asking such questions? Do you always ask questions like this about every murdered person? They'll definitely put you in a mental hospital. So they messed around. He will compose interrogation reports and say that “that’s how it happened.” There's no one to check anyway. And it was even worse if the agent ran over to the Germans. Then, in addition to all of the above, you had to write your own explanation of how you came to live like this?

There was also a plan to identify and punish special officers. Another reason not to stick your neck out. You never know who at the top will not like your activity. And you can always find a reason to find fault. Yes, here you go: for careerist reasons, he fabricated a case against the hero. And he let a traitor pass through his ranks. One consolation was that they would not send us further than the front. And they were not transferred to the infantry as privates. Unless it's for something really creepy. There were not enough competent special officers. They simply demoted him in rank and sent him back. Sometimes in a year the rank was reduced twice, and then restored again for military merits.

Army officers did not like the special officers, but they appreciated their work. And not because they were afraid. The front-line officer was no longer afraid of anything. It’s just that at the beginning of the war, when not only there were not enough officers in the units, but also special officers (and both of them had not yet learned to do their job), power in the units was often seized by criminal elements. Yes, this happened later too. Especially if a hundred people from one village were sent to the unit. Or even from one zone. The commanders were written off as battle losses, and they themselves began to loot rather than fight. Or the whole unit deserted with weapons.

And experienced warriors learned to use special forces. An experienced soldier sensed it long before the attack (whether ours or the Germans). As soon as he smells it, he begins to talk: “But at lunchtime the German trenches smelled of fried cutlets. My mouth is already watering! They feed the Germans well! Not like us." And so on until they report it to the special officer. According to the instructions, the special officer in this case must arrest the “agitator” and transfer him to a special department of the army for further investigation. Which is what he did. There he was interrogated for two weeks. (The deadline for the inquiry was set this way. There was no point in rushing and shortening the time frame for the inquiry. Other cases would be pinned on the nimble investigator), and then they were returned, but to another unit. (And the offensive had already run out of steam by this time). Again, according to the instructions. So that the military collective does not disintegrate. Where else should I put it? To the rear? Or against the wall? Who will fight? And they weren’t always sent to the penal battalion. There was no configuration plan. Yes, and there were some cunning soldiers. We learned to get out.

After the war, some said this when they met a special officer they knew: “Thank you to the special department. It was only thanks to him that I remained alive!” They were mocking you, you bastards!

During the offensive, the special officer moved forward along with the headquarters. Behind the part. According to the charter. Well, so that your own people don’t get shot. (And the headquarters was guarded by the commandant’s platoon of machine gunners). When retreating too. Contrary to the stupid films of the post-perestroika era, special officers did not leave the unit for the army headquarters to sit out during the battles. Firstly, because they don’t go to higher headquarters without an order. If you leave a unit without an order, the patrols will be intercepted on the way and you yourself may end up in a penal battalion. And secondly, there was no point. Especially in the first years of the war. German aviation and artillery, and especially German intelligence officers and saboteurs, hunted headquarters and staff vehicles even more than tanks and infantry. And even in the conditions of chaos in the front line of the first days of the war, our dear deserters and marauders could have been intercepted along the way. (Companies of machine gunners will not be allowed to cover redeployment to the rear). But these ones will definitely finish you off. It's good if there is no torture or bullying. And later, to avoid chaos in the front line, barrier detachments were set up. And these first shot, and then found out. (If found out). And patrols combed the area. AND SMERSH. And they had their own instructions. They could also lean it against the wall. Or “for insubordination and resistance” we can do without any kind of wall. No person - no problem! If he stays alive, then unsubscribe for him. To prevent something like this from happening, when moving around the rear of your army, you had to pre-order a pass. If the command approves, they will discharge you. Will it approve? You can try and sneak by, but at your own risk. If you get caught, at least you will receive a disciplinary action. If you stay alive. Do you need it?

So it was wiser to stick with our own people. It's safer in a pack. During the war, everyone, including special officers, firmly knew the principle: stay away from the command and closer to the kitchen!

The special officers themselves did not judge anyone. They had no right. They drew up documents for the criminal and handed them over to the army special department. And they could hand it over to the tribunal. Or they might not have conveyed it. The authorities know better.

Special officers rarely shot anyone during the war. Only together with army commanders, when they stopped panic. Or according to the verdict of the tribunals. However, the tribunals had their own executors. Although, in some cases they also brought in outsiders. Including special officers. But not regimental ones. Closer was enough. (It was only in our post-perestroika films that the special officers did nothing but torture and shoot military officers. They had no greater pleasure than torturing a hero. And in the end, shoot him if he did not die from torture.)

Although, at the front they were most often shot without any sentences. Or barrage detachments, or commanders. Alarmists and deserters. And sometimes the soldiers themselves. (“Dad! This is what’s going on here, Dad! We killed one of us here... He turned out to be a bastard.”)

And not special departments and tribunals at all.

However, about the tribunals another time.

For those who served in the army, especially in officer positions, it is well known who the “special officers” are. These are representatives of the KGB (and now the FSB) in army units. Their main task at all times was to carry out work to prevent the intelligence activities of the enemy (actual and potential) in the army. Essentially, these are army counterintelligence agents.
Their activities were of a very specific nature; they carried out their work quietly, inconspicuously, using methods only known to them. They were jokingly called “shut up, shut up.”
As a rule, ordinary military officers became “special officers”, as if they were “removed” from the troops and returned back to army units after special training and worked there as “special officers.”
They had fairly large powers, and in matters of their competence they went directly to the commanders of the units to which they were attached. The commanders were obliged to provide them with all possible assistance and assistance in solving special problems.
However, this in no way gave the right to “special officers” to interfere in issues of combat and political training, or to command personnel at any levels and units of the military body.
It must be said that they never did this, they had enough of their own worries, however, in any family there is a black sheep. Unfortunately, even in this environment there were overly ambitious or simply not smart officers who sometimes exceeded their powers.
“Grandfather Zhenya” once told me about one such incident from his life during our next meeting.

It was 1938. The situation in the Far East was extremely tense. The Japanese became completely insolent, provocations on the border became commonplace. In this situation, says Emelyan Filaretovich, the regiment mastered the new I-16 fighters that had just been received under the rearmament program. This car was special, in which aircraft designer Polikarpov tried to combine speed and maneuverability as much as possible, which he succeeded brilliantly, but nothing comes easy without loss. The machine turned out to be quite difficult to operate and required good flight training from the pilots.
The regiment intensively mastered the new aircraft, flights took place every day, with maximum tension, because there was no time for “relaxation”. The command to engage in hostilities could be received at any moment.
Technology always remains technology, especially new, not fully “broken-in”. Problems, naturally, arose, but where could you get away from them? Once during the flight, when landing with me, the general recalls, one of the landing gear wheels on the plane did not come out and I had to land the car on the only other one, but, thank God, everything worked out. However, fortunately, there were no serious accidents, let alone catastrophes.
On this day, one plane crashed during landing, i.e. after touching, he stuck his nose into the ground and damaged the propeller blades. This happens most often when, for one reason or another, the landing gear wheels jam after landing.
The case, of course, is not pleasant, but not from the category of “emergency”. My deputy was in charge of the flights that day. He informed me about the incident and I immediately hurried to the airfield. However, a few minutes earlier, the regimental “special officer”, Senior Lieutenant Krutilin, rode there on a bicycle.
He was a “lad”, I’ll tell you Kostya, not a pleasant one, he always “poked his nose” into things that weren’t his own and tried to command not only the flight and technical personnel, but even, sometimes, squadron commanders. More than once I had to carefully put him in his place, but still smoothing out the “sharp corners”, trying to resolve conflict situations as diplomatically as possible.
However, what happened this time drove me crazy!
I discovered that flights have been stopped. What’s the matter, I asked the deputy, why aren’t we flying?
- Senior Lieutenant Krutilin, the deputy reports, ordered to stop flights due to an accident on the airfield. I didn’t start a conflict and decided to wait for you.
Where is he, I ask?
- Yes, there he is with his bicycle standing to the side.
Send a soldier, tell him that I am calling him here.
Krutilin walked up with an untied gait, without saying a word, showing with all his appearance that he was the real master of the regiment.
Comrade senior lieutenant, weren’t you taught in the army how to approach and report to the senior commander when he calls you?
- And you are not my boss for me to report to you!
Everyone was taken aback, they didn’t even expect such “greyhound” from him, they were looking to see what I would do in response. It was clearly visible that Krutilin was provoking me to an inappropriate act, so that I would break loose and do something that I had no right to do, or give up in front of him in front of my subordinates.
Get out of here, and don't set foot on the airfield without my personal permission!
“Well, you, Major, will bitterly regret this,” Krutilin, who had turned white with anger and frustration, squeezed out, grabbed his bicycle and rode off from the airfield.
I gave the command to continue flying and went to regimental headquarters. No one else saw Krutilin in the regiment's disposition, and a day later I was summoned to the commander.
Blucher had the head of the political department of the Army and the head of the special department.
Reported his arrival as expected. The commander greeted him and, with a gesture of his hand, invited the head of the special department to ask questions.
- Comrade Major, explain why you expelled the representative of the special department from the regiment, or did you yourself decide to catch spies in the regiment?
- No, comrades colonel, no one expelled Krutilin from the regiment, but only from the airfield, where he has no right to enter during flights without the permission of his superior.
- Why didn’t he allow him?
“He didn’t ask permission from the flight director; moreover, he ordered the flights to stop.”
- So did he stop?
- Yes, before my arrival at the airfield.
- Who has the right to stop or continue flights?
- Only the flight director and I personally, the regiment commander.
- And what about Krutilin, how did he explain his actions to you?
- No way, he started to be rude in front of the personnel, so I kicked him out of the airfield and told him to appear at the airfield, if necessary, during flights with my personal permission.
- So you didn’t kick him out of the regiment?
- Of course, what right would I have to do this, and why, I understand that spies will still have to be caught, and that’s his business.
- Yes, that's for sure!
The head of the special department smiled, stood up, and turned to Blucher.
- Comrade commander, I have no more questions for the major.
“And even more so for me,” Vasily Konstantinovich answered. Do you have any questions for us?
“In working order, if you allow me,” I answered.
“Well, we’ve agreed,” Blucher summed up the conversation.
- May I go?
- Yes, of course, go and work.

Krutilin was removed from the regiment and was replaced by a captain, a good, intelligent officer, with whom a common language was immediately found and all issues were resolved without any problems.
And fate brought Krutilin together again, this time during the war. He came to my regiment to ask, he didn’t want to go to the infantry, they say, we are old acquaintances from the Far East. Naturally, I put him out there, I knew what kind of goose he was.
- Emelyan Filaretovich, well, in general, this sore subject, repression, how did you manage to avoid all this?
- This is the year 1937, I fought in Spain then, and when I returned, everything had already passed. As you can see, even conflict situations with the “special officers” were resolved objectively, no one was arrested or brought to trial “for no reason.” And even more so during the war, it was necessary to fight, people died, every pilot, and especially the commander, was specially registered; they did not touch anyone without a serious reason. In my regiment and then in the division, no one was ever arrested through the special department.
What about Stalin, what was he like?
- I saw him quite closely several times at various events. He was a serious man and very authoritative. Something really unusual came from him. Glubokoye was respected. In any case, I personally can’t say anything bad about him. Well, there was no need to communicate; after all, the level is incomparably different. But I met Marshal Zhukov many times. It was he who personally asked me to go to China as the chief military adviser.
- What, you already asked?
- Yes, that’s right, because the work there had to be special. Of course, I perceived his request as an order, I didn’t think twice about it, it’s necessary, it means it’s necessary, but that’s a different story.
Okay, let's go have tea, Nila Pavlovna has already been waiting for us.

Kyiv. December 2011

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