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| How did the Battle of Rostov begin 80 years ago? |
| 2021-10-09 |
| This information is the first I have seen about the very start of the battle of Rostov. Most contemporary sources do not discuss resources in the Rostov region, save for those identified in STAVKA (Soviet Supreme Command) dispatches. Most English language treatments of the time of Operation Barbarossa generally gloss over how really critical matters were. And it doesn't help that even in contemporary Soviet accounts, units are often misidentified adding to the confusion of the era. What we do know, and the written historical record shows, is that Marshal Semeon Timoshenko was very much in charge, at first of the Soviet Southwestern Front then later in the supreme strategic layer, attempting to gather resources to defend the approaches to the Caucusus oilfield, Hitler's goal in southern Russia. [VK] On October 8, 1941, reconnaissance units of the SS Motorized Infantry Brigade "Leib-Standard" Adolf Hitler "under the command of Sturmbannführer Mayer entered the territory of the Fedorovsky District of the Rostov Region. SS Brigade "Leib-Standard" Adolf Hitler was a brigade in 1941,. then later it became a full on division. In historical accounts the SS unit was used as a covering party for the advance of the German 1st Panzer Army. The headquarters of the North Caucasian Military District learned about the enemy's breakthrough into the district's territory not from the military pilots and not from the command of the Southern Front. An unknown female, a collective farmer phoned Taganrog and reported about the military in the "frog" uniform, who "do not talk our way, shoot dogs and chickens, chase pigs on motorcycles." This message caused a shock in Rostov-on-Don, both in the regional party committee and in the district command. Both the secretary of the Rostov regional committee of the CPSU (b) B.A. Dvinsky and the commander of the North Caucasus Military District, Lieutenant General F.N. Remezov, believed that the front line passed two hundred kilometers west of the borders of the region and the district. Goes to show just how crappy Soviet tactical recon intelligence really was throughout much of WWII. Lt. General Fyodor Remezov was Soviet 13th Army commander during the Smolensk defensive operation in July, 1941. At an urgently convened meeting, the chief of staff of the North Caucasus Military District, Colonel L.M. Barmin, reported on the forces and means of district subordination in Rostov and its environs. These forces were extremely small: the 339th Rostov Rifle Division was still in the Persian camps, the Novocherkassk Cavalry Advanced Training Courses for command personnel (KUKS), three Rostov military schools - infantry, military-political and artillery - and even the Frunze Sevastopol Higher Naval School evacuated from Crimea. In Taganrog, there was a mortar company of the 10th mortar battalion, an airfield service battalion, plus units and subunits of the Rostov Air Defense Divisional District. In reality, only the consolidated regiments of military schools, which were armed only with rifles, and a mortar company in Taganrog were available Combat order number 001 \ op of the headquarters of the North Caucasus Military District of 8.10.41. All these forces were immediately alerted and sent to meet the enemy. By the same order, the commander of the artillery of the district, Major General of Artillery G.S. Kariofilli, was appointed the head of the Taganrog defense region. The head of the regional department of the NKVD Sergey Viktorovich Pokotilo for the defense of TAGANROG allocated several units of the 33rd motorized rifle and 59th security regiments of the NKVD from the 36th brigade of the NKVD, Colonel M. Mikryukov. Major General of Artillery G.S. Kariofilli was deputy artillery commander of the Soviet Western Front, June-August, 1941. Two armored trains of the NKVD - "Felix Dzerzhinsky" and armored train No. 59 under the command of Captain A.D. Kharebava were sent for actions on the section of the railway: This is how the Battle of Rostov began 80 years ago! |
| Posted by:badanov |