February 17th, 1944
Baltic
Operation Beowulf
Headquarters of the Marineoberkommando Ostsee (Kiel) - Around Vice-Admiral Kummetz, the final touch to Operation Beowulf are put. Its objective is to render the two ports of Liepāja (Libau) and Ventspils (Windau), recently captured by the Red Army, unusable.
Gross Admiral Dönitz was clear: there is no question of risking the Tirpitz too far north for a minor objective. The battleship is indeed not at full capacity, because the Caesar turret could not be refurbished during her stay at the Gotenhafen shipyard*.
Two shelling groups are thus organized. The first (Libau group), around the Tirpitz, is to shell Liepāja. The battleship will be accompanied by the light cruiser Leipzig and a strong escort (three destroyers and as many torpedo boats), all preceded by a screen of S-boots. The second group (Windau group), which will pound Ventspils, will be composed of the light cruiser Nürnberg escorted by four torpedo boats.
In order to avoid the enemy air force, which is becoming more and more aggressive, the operation will take place as soon as the Reichsamt für Wetterdienst (Reich Weather Service) forecasts overcast weather, but without too much rain, so as not to handicap the bombing. In addition, the Luftwaffe will intervene from the next morning against the enemy airfields to counteract the inevitable reaction of the VVS. Nevertheless, the intervention of the red star aircraft is not the only source of danger for the Beowulf ships.
Indeed, since the refusal of Helsinki to join the Axis, the Kriegsmarine has all the difficulties in the world to contain the Soviet fleet in the Gulf of Finland, despite an intense campaign of minelaying. A dozen Type-VIIC U-Boots, at the end of their training period in the 8th Training Flotilla, were mobilized. They will be positioned on an archipelago of the Åland Islands, at the exit of the Gulf of Bothnia, to the south of the island of Saareemaa, at the exit of the Gulf of Riga. Their objective is to intercept enemy ships or submarines coming from Riga or Tallinn.
However, Soviet submarines were already operating in the Baltic, although the winter, which was relatively mild, is not yet over. To attack the naval traffic, after having gone along the Finnish coast, they sneak along the southeast coast of the Swedish island of Gotland, and even between the island and the mainland, despite the vigilance of the Stockholm Navy.
For several months, the M-Boats** of the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla have maintained a permanent, exhausting presence, not without losses, to the south and east of the island to counter the incursions of enemy submarines. For the occasion, they were reinforced by the torpedo boats of the 1st Flotilla, which formed the Gotland Group. Their presence will limit the risk of interception of the bombing groups, especially on the way back.
Kummetz would have liked to reinforce the Tirpitz's escort to deal with a bad encounter: he has indeed other destroyers and torpedo boats. But everyone agrees that the time for pitched battles with the Soviet fleet is over. Even if the Kriegsmarine has chances of winning such a confrontation, it is estimated in Kiel, it would not change the outcome of the battle on land. On the other hand, heavy fuel oil is running out and it would be wise to keep a sufficient supply of it. Even if nobody dares to openly mention this hypothesis in the Führer's entourage, one begins to envisage a possible evacuation of East Prussia, which would require a great many ships and a complex organization.
.........
Libau Group (Vizeadmiral Kummetz)
- BB Tirpitz (Kptn z.See Karl Meyer)
- CL Leipzig (Kptn z.See Hulsemann) [maximum speed reduced to 24 knots].
- 7th Destroyer Flotilla (Kapt.z.S. Erdmenger): Z-31, Z-32, Z-33 and Z-37
- 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotilla: T-10, T-17, T-18
- 1st S-boat Flotilla: S-39, S-76, S-79, S-90, S-91, S-97, S-114, S-132, S-135
.........
Windau Group (Kptn z.See Böhmig)
- CL Nürnberg (idem)
- 2nd Torpedo Boat Flotilla: T-3, T-9, T-15, T-16
- 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla: T-2, T-4, T-14
.........
Gotland Group
- 1st Torpedo Boat Flotilla: T-7, T-8, T-11
- 25th Minesweeper Flotilla (M-boot 1940): M-278, M-294, M-295, M-328, M-330, M-341, M-342, M-403, M-423, M-433, M-443, M-453, M-460
- 12th ASW Trawler Flotilla
.........
U-boots: U-276, U-315, U-342, U-347, U-361, U-362, U-766, U-968, U-992
.........
Destroyers and torpedo boats available but not committed
- 4th Destroyer Flotilla (Kapt.z.S. Johannesson): Z-23, Z-29 and Z-30
- 8th Torpedo Boat Flotilla: T-5, T-12, T-13, T-30
Eastern Front
The broken sword of the Ostheer
Wolfsschanze (Rastenburg), 09:00 - The OKH is informed during the night of the defeat of Raus - sorry, of the "tactical redeployment" of the XLVII. PzK following the events of Zaturtsi.
Even if, in his report, Ferdinand Schörner is careful not to speak about disaster, nobody is fooled. This was a new disaster for the Ostheer: after Belarus, it is in the north of Ukraine that its system is pierced, fragmented and threatened with destruction.
A sign of the seriousness of the situation: we dare to wake up Hitler. This one is not going to be pleased by the picture presented to him... The 6. Armee, well and truly beaten, ceases to exist as a coherent force and can only support the right side of the 3. PanzerArmee, itself visibly unable to hold the line. As for the 8. Armee, in the south, it is hardly better - it defends Lutsk only by giving up on its left any ambition of support to its neighbors, and at the cost of an extreme stretching of its forces.
After a (necessarily) righteous anger, each one lowering his head under the salvoes of accusations of incompetence (it is obvious), of cowardice (is it possible?) and even of treason (who knows!), the Führer has to give his orders. Skillfully directed towards Belarus by an anxious Alfred Jodl, he decides incontinently to... relaunch Model as quickly as possible, so that Neptun, this damned sea snake, to finally start up! There are still 250 kilometers to go for the Panzers that left from Kaunas? It is not a problem, the soldier must understand where his duty is. The fatigue is priceless when the survival of the Reich is at stake! When we invaded France, did we all stop every three days? No! Only the unhappy ones would object that the Russian winter is not the French spring, both in terms of infrastructure and terrain, that machines do not know fanaticism but maintenance, and that, even in France, it was necessary to take breaks.
Finally... Obviously, the 6. Armee of Maximilian De Angelis has to move as soon as possible to defend the eastern approaches of Kovel, thus freeing the XXIV. PanzerKorps (Martin Wandel) for more crucial tasks. Refocused, Kempf's 3. PzA could hope to hold. All as Walter Weiß, whose 8. Armee reacted well. They simply had to stop and hold on to the banks of the Bug, without retreating!
Of course, there is still a small problem: the hole that has formed in the middle of the HG NordUkraine, in the region of Volodymyr-Volynskyi... For this one, there is no obvious answer - we hope that Neptun, fatigue, and of course the national-socialist fanaticism of the defenders will force the Russians to delay until the help from the Reich arrives. From the Reich and elsewhere: the Hermann-Göring will soon be on the spot, to push back these dogs of Slavs towards the Dnieper - at least, the Reichsmarschall himself announced this proudly, as if he was going to lead his troops into battle...
Hitler is not fooled: "It will take more than your division and the other reinforcements planned to close the breach, Göring. We need a real strike force in Ukraine, something unstoppable. One that will not shrink from losses. I want us to examine as soon as possible the means to accelerate the redeployment of the Hohenstaufen and Frundsberg divisions [i.e., the II. SS-PanzerKorps] and to withdraw the Wiking and Totenkopf divisions from the eastern front to form the IV. SS-PanzerKorps." Once again, the Schutzstaffel appears as the last resort of the Nazi regime.
Once these instructions are given, the Guide undertakes to review what is known about the battle of Zaturtsi, in order to understand where his soldiers broke down - no, where his generals failed!
"Obviously, the 5. Panzer here! And attack with the infantry... there! What failures, what stupidity!" This is followed by very long tactical considerations often detached from reality. Hitler locked himself in the certainty of his infallibility and his genius, thinking to compensate the defeat of his forces by the only force of his will...
Rattles
Tauragė (occupied Lithuania) - "Die Fahne hoch! Die Reihen fest geschlossen! SA marschiert mit ruhig festem Schritt." On the parade ground of the new barracks of the 19. Waffen-GrenadierBrigade of the SS (lettische) of Brigadeführer Karl Freiherr von Fischer-Treuenfeld, the Horst-Wessel-Lied is sung, in the absence of any Latvian national anthem - for example, Dievs, svētī Latviju (God, bless Latvia). But it is true that we are no longer in Latvia anymore...
No matter. The Black Order notes with pleasure the excellent performance of this unit during the hard fighting for Degučiai. And this morning, SS-Obergruppenführer Maximilian Karl Otto von Herff - chief of Himmler's personal staff please! - brings very good news.
First, the 43. and 44. Waffen-Grenadier Rgt der SS are going to take the name of the valiant heroes killed at the front - Voldermars Veiss and Hinrich Schuldt - in a moving symbol of gratitude. Then, a third regiment will be formed soon, with the help of the Latvian Legion - a clear sign of the confidence that the SS had in these Balts. So much so that the SS-Oberführer Nikolaus Heilmann - a former member of the Latvian police, like all these brave grenadiers, so he is perhaps a little more conciliatory than his predecessor - replaces Fischer-Treuenfeld at the head of the unit, destined to become a division!
Finally, as is only natural, the decorations rain down. There are 12 Iron Crosses of all classes awarded today.
This is all very nice... But still, with the loss of Latvia because of this incompetent Heer, the Schutzstaffel might have a hard time recruiting. In a corner of his black soul, while listening to the Latvians singing, von Herff notes to go and make the rounds of the Lithuanian collaborators - if there were any left, since the arrest of the native pseudo-president! - in order to see what can be recovered for his Order.
Witch hunts
Tempelhof Airport, Berlin - General Johannes Friessner arrives in the capital of the Greater Reich... only to find that there is no time to deal with him. It must be said that with all that is happening in Ukraine, traitors are swarming! Moreover, they have just arrested General Eberhard von Schuckmann, of the 385. ID. He would be accused of insubordination, in particular for having withdrawn his unit without orders.
All this does not bode well. But the Saxon had seen it all before! Besides, he has no choice. So he takes a hotel in the capital, while waiting for his summons to an imminent hearing...
Lvov-Kovel Offensive
The spear of Wotan
Rovne region (northern Ukraine) - Return of unstable but cold weather over Ukraine - which obviously has an impact on the current fighting... but hardly influences the sectors which are no longer defended!
In the north, the 1st Ukrainian Front already starts to feel the defenses of the Styr. From Chudlya, the 61st Army seizes Varash - a small village abandoned by the enemy*** - and already launches some vanguards to Kolodii and Tsminy, held respectively by the 389. ID (Walter Hahm) and the 218. ID (Viktor Lang). The scouts all come back to Pavel Belov with the same feeling: the ground is dangerous (2 kilometers at least in the open in the ferns...), but the opposition in itself is not formidable. In fact, the XVII. ArmeeKorps (Wilhelm Schneckenburger) suffered much more than its opponents in the fighting for the Sarny peninsula.
Without wasting too much time, and taking advantage of the fact that the rains further south gives him priority over his comrades for air support, Belov strikes hard and drives a wedge with great artillery support to the village of Kolodii. It must be done quickly, with the 7th Mechanized Corps behind! On the other side, things are even worse because Schneckenburger, on his way to the front to get direct information, fell victim to a strafing attack on his convoy! His death plunges the Axis defense into a state of confusion, and the ensuing confusion allows the Red Army to advance 5 kilometers to Kostyukhnivka. More than enough time to begin to break through...
A little further upstream, the 65th Army does not want to stay on the sidelines ... In a more or less coordinated way with his neighbor, Ivan Boldin also launches his infantry in the direction of Kozlynychi on the direct road to Kovel. As usual, this frontal attack lacks a bit of subtlety - the 78. Sturm-Division (Hans Traut), correctly supported by the 377. ID (Arnold Szelinski) and the debris of the 4. LFD (Hans Sauerbrey), withstand the shock and concede only 2 kilometers. However, the situation on its left already made its position uncertain. It is necessary to hold, at least until the XXIV. PanzerKorps (Martin Wandel) - which had given up defending the Prypiat marshes - to descend towards Kovel. The journey was long, the terrain difficult - it is hardly at Mul'chytsi. It is not sure that the line will resist long enough.
Moreover, in the south, the Heer is already evacuating the Styr for the Stokhid, 20 kilometers further north.
Faced with a few delaying elements that were quickly swept away, the 20th Armored Corps crosses the river at Rojychtche and continues in a hurry towards Perespa, along the railroad. It arrives in Svydnyky after the 9. ID (Siegmund von Schleinitz), which blows up the works. Too bad... with a little more coordination, Pavel Poluboiarov might have been able to flank the retreating Fascists, more to the west. Behind the T-34s, Polish resistance fighters hurriedly raise the red and white flag in Rojychtche, a city of refuge for communists between the two wars, and then for the Poles during the German occupation, at the cost of some minor arrangements with the invaders****. For the time being, the Red Army lets it happen.
The 1st Shock Army and the 37th Army fiercely attack from their bridgeheads at Ivanchytsi, Ulyanyky and Bryshche towards Kvitneve and Nemyr (east of Svydnyky), in pursuit of a retreating enemy. The Stokhid is reached here also in the late afternoon.
In the shelter of this river, the 331. ID (Karl-Ludwig Rhein) and 168. ID (Werner Schmidt-Hammer) - of the 6. Armee - start to move to the southeast, in order to free the 38. ID and 39. ID of the LII. ArmeeKorps (Hans-Karl von Scheele). The latter could thus be expected to defend the Lovyshcha-Malyi Pors'k sector, where the future enemy thrust is expected, while the LV. ArmeeKorps (Horst Grossmann) and XXIX. ArmeeKorps (Erich Brandenberger) would find a beginning of cohesion. Quickly, while there is still time!
Fighting during the day, marching at night, like the French of 40, the Landsers will not have completed this movement before the next dawn.
On the other side, the Frontoviki is preparing and resting (a little). But not enough, obviously, for the normal human being. Disgusted by this killing that has been going on for so long, and discreetly critical of the generosity of the command in matters of human life, Grossman writes: "This is the myth of Kutusov and the strategy of 1812. The myth of the two patriotic wars. The bloody body of the war is dressed with the snow-white ornaments as snow of ideological, strategic and artistic conventions. Then, there are those who saw the retreat and then the victory, and those who dressed them up. Speaking of Kutusov, the writer is probably thinking both of Napoleon's adversary, and of the 1943 operation bearing his name..."
But the Red Army is not the most to be pitied. Since the battle of Zaturtsi, the Heer is still trying to reorganize itself to protect the Kovel road. Leaving only the 25. ID (Kurt Versock) to hold Viinytsya, in the direction of Volodymyr-Volynskyi (which is obviously not the enemy objective), Werner Kempf rallies all his remaining mobile forces (the XLVII. PanzerKorps reinforced by Erhard Raus) to defend the vital crossroads of Kupychiv crossroads (on the rear of Lovyshcha, thus of the LII.AK!) facing the 2nd Tank Army.
The latter has dispersed a bit since the day before. The 4th GAC Malin reinforced by the 3rd Mechanized Corps, go to work, and push back the Fascists in the plain at the cost of significant losses on both sides. The Ostheer defends the villages of Nyry and Lityn, preventing the flanking of an already untenable position, but at the cost of dozens of machines. Another mixed success... And the most serious thing is not here ! Alone on the road, the 11th Armored Corps of Vassily Alexeiev is still heading north, like the 4th GAC the day before, and seizes Radovychi, on the road to Turyisk - it is now less than 20 kilometers from Kovel! In fact, Bogdanov is not less shrewd than yesterday, he simply rotates his formations...
In the face of such adversity, however, it can be said that Werner Kempf has so far not done a bad performance. His army, which has caught up with De Angelis' army, near the
the debacle, simply hangs on from wet cut to wet cut, thus escaping from destruction by wearing down his opponent little by little. Of course, this is not as good as what Rommel was able to do last year, but the means are not the same. And tomorrow, when he withdraws to Kovel, it should still be possible to hold on to a good part of the Kuriya, thus slowing the retreat... However, unfortunately for the Prussian, this beautiful scenario does not take into account the ride of the 2nd Tank Army - already close to reach what he hopes will be his line of retreat - nor the push of the 5th Shock Army - which is already attacking the unfortunate 25. ID, well isolated - nor the orders of Rastenburg forbidding any new retreat without validation of the OKH! Not to mention, of course, what the Red Army prepares...
Proletarians aviators of all countries, unite!
"General Kitayev, who commanded the 4th Guards Fighter Division to which the Besançon was attached, immediately called Major Albert to the headquarters, the "KP" as we called him. He shook his hands vigorously, looked at him and then said: "Major Albert, first of all I would like to tell you how much the Soviet command and the entire division regret the loss of Major Tulasne. He will remain for us the symbol and the purest example of French courage and heroism of the pilots of the Besançon Group. We salute with emotion the disappearance of this exemplary and intrepid leader. This loss seals forever the friendship between the Soviet airmen and those of the Franche-Comté Wing. Together we will go to victory. Together we will avenge our dead. Together we will finish liberating our homelands from Hitler's oppression."
Here General Kitayev looked embarrassed. His eyes stopped looking at Major Albert's. He coughed as if to clear his throat. He coughed, as if to clear his throat, and in a tone of voice that was meant to be stern but did not patronize.
- However, Major Albert, don't forget that the road ahead of us is still long and cruel. That is why I ask you to carry out war missions only after having orders or authorization from the division.
- It is understood, general," answered Albert, visibly annoyed and who promised himself to never take this restriction into account.
Three hours later, he was taking a six-strong covering device over the front.
MiGs. Oh! Great happiness! - he thus surprised two anti-tank Super-Stuka [NDE - Probably Me 410B-2] which had the imprudence and the impudence to walk without fighter protection. A brief shout on the radio and the classic pincer attack is launched immediately by de Forges, Léon, Albert and Risso. Ultra-fast engagement. A few passes bring the MiGs behind the Super-Stuka. One of the engines of the first one is on fire, it dives towards the ground in a cascade. Its tail gunner does not respond anymore. It must have received the first bursts of fire. A thick black smoke bubbles up along the fuselage. It looks like it's going to impale itself in a birch wood. But not at all. In a supreme effort, its pilot has righted himself. Like a great wounded bird, we see the twin-engine plane, rolling and pitching at the same time, sliding parallel to the ground, then rising towards the sky. It disappears in a cloud. A quarter of an hour later, on the way back, its fall was however confirmed by the infantry. Albert, introducing himself to General Kitayev, could say to him: "Comrade general, today, February 17th, we offer you our twentieth victory."
The general laughed: "Ah, those French! Discipline is not their strong point, but that won't stop them from counting the heroes of the Soviet Union among their number."
He was not mistaken. Albert and La Poype were to be the first - it is true that with their record in the Mediterranean, they had already earned a lot of credit from the Allies in general. Others would follow, to receive the highest of Russian decorations. And of course, Marseille would not be left out of the rewards."
(Cap. F. de Geoffre, Escadre Franche-Comté/Vistule, Charles Corlet ed. 1952, reed. 1996)
Failure at the pincer
Ternopol area (south of Ukraine) - While the 1st Ukrainian Front is completing the defenses of the Volodymyr-Volynskyï road, the 26th Army reaches the Luha River and crosses it unopposed at Markostav. Lev Skvirsky is now in the lead in the race for the Vistula - however, he will probably have to stop soon, because others will take over.
Too bad... His army is only 25 kilometers from the Molotov-Ribbentrop line!
A little lower, now that the 8. Panzer has withdrawn to the south, the 3rd Army does not really have opposition on the Horokhiv road, taken at nightfall. It therefore continues - not towards the north-west and Novovolynsk, but towards the south-west, Sokal and the Bug.
In this area, it will be well placed to cross the river north of Chervonohrad, before continuing towards Jovkva, thus bordering the right flank of the offensive towards Lvov. Straight ahead, Vladimir Baskakov's 8th Mechanized Corps passes in front of Mikhail Shumilov to advance towards Buzhany and then Radekhiv, in pursuit of the Fascist. The aim is to dismantle Army Group South Ukraine and destroy its ability to regain the initiative...
However, Walter Weiß continues to react as best he can. In Radekhiv, it is the turn of Hermann Balck's III. PanzerKorps to play its card, as does the XLVII. PanzerKorps of Erhard Raus, further north. Theoretically, Balck has all his chances - in any case, much more than Raus. While his colleague is facing a reinforced tank army, he only has to deal with a Soviet army supported by a mechanized corps, without fear of being flanked - the GrossDeutschland is still facing alone the 1st Armored Corps of Chanchibadze, in order to prevent the Red from crossing the Bug. On the contrary, it is the III. PzK which could envelop its opponent from the north: the 8. Panzer (Gottfried Frölich) would already be in Stoyaniv, on the road to Radekhiv!
On the other hand, Balck's formations operate under a complete enemy air superiority and are thus very hampered in their movements and especially unable to surprise the adversary. Moreover, without infantry, they can not claim to occupy the field. It is not the poor 223. ID, holed up in the city of Radekhiv, which will be able to help! If the gods of war are more favorable, they continue to lean on the side of the Reds...
The beginnings are nevertheless promising: the 6. Panzer (Rudolf Freiherr von Waldenfels) charges the rear of the 5th Guards Army at Khmil'no (near Lopatyn), while the duo 7. Panzer (Hasso von Manteuffel) and 311. StuG (Hauptmann Karl-Ludwig von Schönau), leave Vuzlove to hit the opposing head at Kouty. This could be the beginning of a classic pincer attack... However, things go wrong very quickly.
The right pincer, formed by the 6. Panzer, is confronted from Huta-Sklyana to the 3rd Armored Corps of V.M. Badanov - which knows very well, since Bar, what can give the armored raids on the infantry's rear. The Soviets effectively block von Waldenfels, before a deluge of rockets and bombs (the artillery is not far away, neither are the VVS!) forces him to retreat. As for the left pincer (7. Panzer and 311. StuG), whose forces were already worn out, it is difficult terrain north of Kuty: woods and marshes help Vyacheslav Tsvetaev to defend themselves effectively. The 5th Guards stops its advance, gives up a few kilometers, folds...but it does not break.
A very predictable result... That's why Balck had brought down from the north the 8. Panzer, in order to assist his comrades. But this one will never arrive, caught up in the plain towards Stoyaniv by the 8th Mechanized Corps of Vladimir Baskakov, which runs away at the sound of the cannon from the Styr. Gottfried Frölich - still ill - has to face the situation and move towards the west. In the evening, his formation is somewhere towards Torky, around the Spasivska, visibly unable to rally the rest of the III. PzK. Disgusted and exhausted, Gottfried Frölich has to give way to his designated replacement, Oberst Werner Friebe. He had arrived from the rear two days before, at the instigation of Weiß, who could see that Frölich is no longer able to do anything. A wise decision ... But a choice that is perhaps a little less so. Friebe had only ever worked for the general staff, which had forced him into this position. And he arrives at the worst moment of the battle.
Besides, is there still a battle? Indeed, the Red Army has not been stopped or defeated - just slowed down. The III. PanzerKorps is already withdrawing to the south, the 5th Guards is entering Radekhiv, GrossDeutschland barely holds Pobuzhany and can only observe the enemy, downstream, building bridges for the approaching 9th Guards... In truth, the 8. Armee could not even defend the Bug more or less correctly - no more, and hoping that the situation does not continue to deteriorate. For the 3rd Ukrainian Front, on the other hand, it is a success, albeit a partial one - real but not decisive, it confirms a situation that naturally turns to the advantage of the Soviets. It is in any case what Aleksandr Vassilevsky must be thinking, in his GAZ which is driving at high speed towards Lopatyn, on a poorly secured road after hard fights. And at the bend of a curve, his car blows up on a mine!
Arms Vigil
HQ of the 2nd Belarusian Front (Baranavitchy) - At the window of the former Bank of Poland - he was very careful not to settle in the same place as his predecessors, because there are symbols that can be fatal... - Konstantin K. Rokossovsky takes stock. The weather is fine, his forces are rested, alert and fully supplied. The instructions from Moscow have not moved in Ukraine, it is said that Rodion Malinovsky is already moving in the plain east of Lutsk.
Tomorrow, Vistula-Warsaw will start, and the Red Army will go into Poland - to stay there, no doubt, this time. Oh, of course, he was not on the Vistula in 1921 - rather in Mongolia, commanding a Cavalry regiment against Ungern, the mad warrior of the steppe. And in the background, the future capture of Warsaw - which is not within the scope of his front, but he hopes to change that - doesn't make him hot or cold. He is hardly a Pole! Born in Warsaw from a small family of the penniless nobility - an embarrassing past that he very quickly drowned in the darkness - he likes to say that before 1914, he was only a worker with no ties, with ideas close to Marxism*****, entered by chance in the army and converted since then to the ideals of the Revolution.
But all the same - with time and the various accidents of the life (wounds or periods of detention...), general Rokossovsky got used to feed his command with the highest inspirations. For the Revolution, for the USSR and for Stalin, the man to whom he owes everything and who took him out of the Kresty prison******. The same man who had just created a new 1st Polish Army, placed under his orders.
This is an interesting move, as far as he is concerned - it brings back memories.
Of course, since 1938, Rokossovsky has got used to not thinking about Mikhail Tukhachevsky. His late boss - as he himself was once the boss and friend of Zhukov (but that was before). Although he was a Trotskyite, he was no less brilliant - and even if his works are no longer to be found anywhere, he had analyzed particularly well the causes of the defeat of 1921*******. Lenin expected an uprising of the local proletariat, this one had seen the Bolshevik liberation as a foreign invasion, and certainly did not welcome the fighters of the Revolution with bread and salt. Ethnic Poland is not the Baltic States, let alone the Ukraine. It is a traditionally reactionary nation, which requires rigorous preparation. "It was not the Entente that saved Poland, it was the patriotic impulse that saved it, and this is a lesson to be learned!" said Tukhachevsky at the IXth Party Conference on September 22nd, 1920. Since then, the reference has kept all its meaning - even if Poland is occupied by the Reich.
And today, as Tukhachevsky had also foreseen it, the USSR applies the doctrine of continuous offensive by sequential operations that he called for. Of course, it was conceived in detail by the Stavka... but the late Marshal would undoubtedly not disown it!
Except that here, it is not a question of "regenerating" itself by welcoming workers' militias into its ranks but to destroy the Fascists before they can send reinforcements. "With states like Poland or Romania," wrote Tukhachevsky, "there will be no rapid elimination. Their resistance will not be broken by a lightning, destructive and unceasing offensive but by a series of operations carried out in stages. The progressive annihilation of their armed forces, the attrition of their natural and human resources should lead, at some point, to socio-economic shocks within these countries". And what is valid for Poland will be just as valid for the Reich...
However, the shocks in question were slow to manifest themselves on the Warsaw side. It is therefore necessary to stimulate them by politically preparing the entry of the troops of the Workers' Fatherland on the Polish territory. This is the mission of this Berling, to whom Rokossovsky has only limited confidence in, but who nevertheless has a crucial role to play. Thanks to him, his country of birth is from now on regularly recalled on the radio and in the tours of information. And thanks to him, a general reactionary uprising will probably be avoided, a catastrophe that should be avoided at all costs, because it would then require - always according to the late Trotskyist... radical measures. "In the regions where the uprising is solidly anchored, it is not a question of carrying out operations or fighting as in a real war. This struggle will end only with the total occupation of the region, the imposition of Soviet power and the liquidation of any possibility of the formation of new gangs. In short, the war is not being waged against gangs, but against the entire local population"********.
To be more brief - Poland is going to have to be converted, for its own good and not to perish. And he, Rokossovsky, will have to take up this beautiful challenge! Which Stalin reminded him of by telephone, announcing a forthcoming promotion, due to his brilliant success during Bagration... as well as his future and certain triumph during Vistula-Warsaw.
He is the masterpiece of Moscow, the one who will finally make the whole region into a territorial and strategic configuration favorable to the USSR. For once, his origin serves him! At his window, the future marshal - at least he hopes so! - smiles with all his steel teeth*********, sharpens his blade and waits for his time.
* It seems highly unlikely that this will be the case in the future. In fact, the personnel of the yard was at the Schichau plant in Danzig, which has started to produce the Elektro-Boote, a project of high priority.
** The latter are coal-fired, an advantage in these times when fuel oil is becoming scarce.
*** In 1973, this site will be the site of the new city of Kuznetsovsk, built around the Rovne nuclear power plant and named after NKVD agent Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov.
**** Among other things, the city had a specifically Polish self-defense squad and police force, both of which were armed with the consent of the Reich - it should be noted that this generous permission was not so much due to the kindness of the Occupiers as to their desire to aggravate inter-ethnic conflicts! In fact, the arms supplied by the Germans (or Hungarians) were often used for reprisal actions carried out without the agreement of the AK.
***** In fact, Rokossovsky was certainly a worker, but he also possessed a certain education of not necessarily very popular origin and he had volunteered to serve in the tsarist cavalry!
****** In reality, Rokossovsky's survival owes much more to the disappearance of Yezhov, replaced by Beria. At that time, the violence of the purges against the Poles was such that there were NKVD officials who ordered the arrest of all people whose names ended with "sky". As for the plausibility of the accusations...investigators had succeeded in making a certain Yushkevich, who had died in Perekop in 1920, testify against Rokossovsky in 1938! And yet, until the end, the future marshal will remain persuaded that the Vojd had saved his life, and will have towards him an absolute devotion. One would speak today of Stockholm syndrome...
******* In Pokhod za Vislu in 1923 and then in On the Future War in 1928 - while explaining each time that he had nothing to do with it and that Stalin was responsible for the defeat. This would obviously cost him dearly.
******** This radical conception of the anti-insurrection struggle, effective against the peasant insurrection of the Tambov region, will fail (in our time line) in Afghanistan - perhaps because it was conducted with less constancy in violence?
******** Compliments of the NKVD - Rokossovsky had to have his entire set of teeth changed after his stay in prison.
