Page 119 - The Chief Culprit

80 y e Chief Culprit

which uncovered the enemy plan, and the Red Army’s superiority in terms of quality and
quantity of technology. But miracles also played a part. e German attack from the north
was met by the 13th Army of the Central front. Among its components appeared the great
18th Guards Rifle Corps, staffed with the best men. And on the southern face of the Kursk
bulge, the unbreakable Guards divisions suddenly appeared, as if from under the ground.
After deflecting the enemy’s attacks, Soviet troops shifted to a decisive offensive. And
once again, miracles occurred. A strategic reserve was introduced into battle on the Steppe
front, in which was included the fully manned 4th Guards Army, staffed with the best sol-
diers and officers, and the top caliber 5th Guards Army fought bravely alongside them. But
the war continued to devour lives. Whenever a crisis would arise a miracle occurred. Stalin
always had some fresh select Guards division, corps, or even entire army in reserve.
e last Guards miracle occurred in March 1945 in Hungary, during the course of the
Battle of Balaton when the Germans mounted their last powerful counterattack.
By the end of the war, Stalin was desperately short of troops. As Joseph Goebbels noted
in his diary on March 3, 1945: “ eir troops are extremely well armed, but they suffer more
and more from lack of people. eir attacking infantry consists mostly of eastern workers and
Poles, taken from our eastern regions.”
In the beginning of 1945 the Red Army captured the last significant source of oil in
Hungary, after which Germany was destined to crumble. Hitler urgently stopped his coun-
teroffensive against American troops in the Ardennes and sent his main attack force, the Sixth
Tank Army of the SS, to Hungary. ere, in the Lake Balaton region, began his desperate last
offensive to regain oil. A critical situation faced the Soviets. At that moment Stalin once again
threw his trump ace on the table: he ordered fresh reserves, the 9th Guards Army, consisting
of the 37th, 38th, and 39th Guards Rifle Corps, into battle. Each corps had three Guards rifle
divisions. e Ninth Guards Army was fully manned by elite soldiers and officers. e Ninth
Guards Army delivered a classic attack to the flank and rear of the SS Sixth Tank Army. en
the Ninth Guards Army continued its advance to Vienna, and through Prague to reach the
Elbe River in Germany, where they joined forces with the Americans.
Where did Stalin get the reserves? Lieutenant General of the KGB V. A. Kirpichenko,
who was a private in the war, recalled: “I served in the air assault troops-elite. We were trained
and then practiced continually, but sent into action only in January 1945, not as airborne
assault troops but as ordinary infantry. We broke the German blockade around Balaton, and
earned Stalin’s praise by stopping the last German offensive during the course of the war. To
achieve this, we lost half of our troops.” 25
Stalin never had the opportunity to use his paratroopers for his planned sudden at-
tack against Germany to start the war. e Germans’ surprise attack established a significant
presence in the air, preventing the effective deployment of Soviet paratroops and glider as-
sault troops. Stalin’s airborne offensive was doomed. However, Stalin kept the paratroops in
reserve. When crisis situations arose, he gave these elite units the honored title of Guards and
26
sent them to fight German tanks as regular infantry soldiers.
at explains the “miracle.”