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212 y e Chief Culprit

Marshal of the Soviet Union K. A. Meretskov (at that time general, and the Deputy
People’s Commissar of Defense) said: “According to my orders, training exercises of the
mechanized corps were conducted. e corps was brought out, as part of the training, to
the border zone and left there. Later I told Zakharov that the corps of Major General R. I.
Malinovsky was also in the area, and must also be brought to the border zone as part of train-
25
ing excercises.” Marshal of the Soviet Union R. I. Malinovsky (at that time major general,
commander of the 48th Rifle Corps of the Odessa military district) confirmed that the order
was executed: “ e corps left the Kirovograd region for Beltsy on June 7, and on June 14 it
was in its place. is move was disguised as extensive training excercises.” Marshal of the
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Soviet Union M. V. Zakharov (at the time major general, and chief of staff of the Odessa
military district) recounted: “On June 15, the command of the 48th Rifle Corps, the 74th
and 30th Rifle Divisions concentrated, under the guise of training, in the forests several
kilometers to the east of the city of Beltsy.” e marshal noted that the commands of the
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corps, the units, and the 74th Rifle Division were on high alert. He said that the 16th Tank
Division also participated in the “training.” Marshal of the Soviet Union A. I. Eremenko (at
that time commander of the 1st Army) said: “On June 20, the staff of the 13th Army received
an order from the command of the Western military district to relocate from Mogilev to
Novogrudok.” 28
Not only armies, corps, and divisions were transferred to the borders. We have hun-
dreds of testimonies of much smaller units being transferred as well. Lieutenant General V.
F. Zotov (at the time a major general, and chief of the engineer troops of the Baltic special
military district) remembered: “ e sapper battalions were mobilized according to wartime
regulations . . . ten battalions, which arrived from the Far East, were completely armed.” 29
Colonel S. F. Khvaley (at the time deputy commander of the 202nd Motorized Division
of the 12th Mechanized Corps of the 8th Army) recounted: “During the night of June 18,
1941, our division left for field training.” As the colonel put it, “it so happened” that the
30
units found themselves right at the border before the war began, in the immediate vicinity of
the state frontiers.
A small fragment is known from the military order received on that same day by
Colonel I. D. Cherniakhovsky, commander of a tank division in that same 12th Mechanized
Corps: “Upon the receipt of this order, commander of the 28th Tank Division Colonel
Cherniakhovsky is to bring all units to battle condition in accordance with plans of high
alert, but without declaring a state of alert. All work is to be conducted quickly, but without
noise, without panic and talk; have the necessary norms of portable and transportable re-
serves needed for life and battle.” 31
Trophy German documents indicate that the Germans’ first encounter with the 28th
Tank Division occurred near Siauliai. However, as Marshal P. P. Poluboyarov testified,
the division was supposed to come out of Riga to the Soviet-German boder. e German
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invasion found this division, like so many others, still on its way, because it simply did not
have enough time to reach the border. e memoirs of Major I. A. Khizenko begin with the
chapter “Marching toward the Border.” He wrote about the 80th Rifle Division of the 37th
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Rifle Corps: “In the evening of June 16, General Prokhorov gathered all staff personnel for
a conference. He declared an order from the commander of the Kiev special military district
to move the divisions to a new region of concentration. . . . ere are talks that the impend-
ing march will be an unusual one.” 34