Page 118 - The Chief Culprit

Soviet Airborne Assault Troops and eir Mission y 79

soldiers and officers were killed or taken prisoner. e Soviet strategic front in the south was
broken along a vast stretch of territory, and the German troops, not meeting any opposition,
made a gigantic thrust forward with two targets at once: the Caucasus and Stalingrad.
e loss of the Caucasus and its oil would have meant defeat for Stalin. e fall of
Stalingrad would have meant the same thing: oil was transported through the Caspian Sea up
the Volga. e easiest way to cut off the oil artery was to take Stalingrad. All that was needed
was to get to the banks of the Volga, to set up a stronghold there, and to sink all incoming
petroleum barges. Soviet troops were retreating in a disorganized manner. More simply put,
they ran. Stalin issued the threatening order No. 227 that introduced anti-retreat detachments
and penal battalions. e detachments were NKVD squads with machine guns, positioned
behind the troops, and in the event of unauthorized retreat they fired on their own soldiers.
Commanders who did not show enough tenacity in combat had their rank signs torn away
and were sent to penal battalions as regular soldiers to expiate their guilt with their blood.
e demoralized Soviet troops could not be stopped by monstrous orders. Fresh re-
serves were needed. But regular reserves had already been used up during the winter offensive
and in unsuccessful attempts to break through the Leningrad blockade and prevent defeat in
Kharkov and in the Crimea. e focal point of the eastern front, the small town of Rzhev,
was also the scene of heavy casualties.
Stalin could only be saved by a miracle, but a miracle happened. Two fresh and fully
manned Guards corps, the 10th and the 11th, arrived and formed a defense wall before the
German Fourth Tank Army that advanced in the direction of the Caucasus. eir appear-
ance at the most critical moment precisely where they were badly needed saved the day. e
offensive was halted and exhausted troops were able to catch their breath and regroup. Soviet
commanders reinstated order and stability, and turned a rout into an organized retreat that
soon stabilized the front lines for prolonged battles that led to a counteroffensive.
ere were nine Guards rifle corps in the Red Army then, but they had long since
been drawn into battle, exhausted and depleted. It was impossible to take those remaining
24
away from the fronts where they were fighting. So, where did the two new and fresh corps
come from?
Another miracle occurred in the Stalingrad region. At that moment, the Red Army
had the 31st Guards Rifle Division. It was impossible to pull it out of the “slaughterhouses”
in which it was trapped and send it to Stalingrad. Yet suddenly near Stalingrad appeared the
fresh, new 32nd Guards Rifle Division. Immediately, it was followed by similar divisions—
the 33rd, 34th, 35th, and 36th. Both Hitler and Stalin were throwing fresh troops into the
battle for Stalingrad. As the stakes rose, Stalin trumped with an ace: he introduced into the
battle the 1st Guards Army, under Lieutenant General F. I. Golikov, which had five Guards
rifle divisions: the 37th, 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st. Before, there had been Guards regi-
ments and brigades, divisions and corps. is was the entire 1st Guards Army, and not just
any army, but a fresh one, fully staffed and with the best men, and a former GRU chief in
command. Was Stalin a magician? No one knew where they were coming from, these Guards
armies with serial numbers all in a row, just like brand-new money, crisp bills in a pack.
e war followed its course, and the Guards miracles continued. In the summer of
1943, a violent battle began on the Kursk bulge. e enemy carried out two extremely power-
ful attacks in converging directions. ey were not successful in breaking through the Soviet
defenses. ere were many reasons, including the brilliant work done by Soviet intelligence,