officer of the Special Department shook his head, “he died when he broke through the German covering force near the village of Yemilovka. But I don't think that without the authorization of the Army Commander, the Major could take out reinforcements for your platoon from units that were not subordinate to him, could he?”
“I do not have this information, Comrade Battalion Commissar.”
“And think about it, Comrade Nagulin,” grinned the NKVD officer, “the regulations do not forbid it. Try to take a broader view of the situation, by going beyond the task in front of you. You are a junior commander, and your actions are quite understandable to me. You have an order, and as you yourself said, you are striving to carry it out in the best way possible, for which purpose you ask for anti-aircraft guns in your platoon, an armored car, trucks and a DShK machine gun. If you look at it from the platoon commander's point of view, it's reasonable and the right thing to do. Now let's look at these actions from a different perspective. The army is preparing to break through the encirclement. There is little serviceable equipment, ammunition and fuel left, but all the best is taken from the units to form a staff column. As a result, we get a mechanized battalion, overstaffed with equipment, generously supplied with fuel and ammunition. And on the other side of the scale is the enormous mass of troops left without the essentials of warfare. Even the breakout groups are less well supplied, although the staff column follows their backs.
And what was the result? And the result, Comrade Nagulin, is that of the whole army entrusted by the Motherland to Lieutenant General Muzychenko, only one battalion with the commander at the head breaks out of the pocket, and the whole 6th Army remains in the pocket without the means to continue effective resistance, and only scattered groups and solitary Red Army soldiers and commanders come out to our troops. Do you know how many people besides your battalion were able to get out of the pocket?”
“I can't know that, Comrade Battalion Commissar.”
“And I know! And this knowledge makes me very unhappy, Comrade Nagulin, and makes me wonder who is to blame for what happened.”
I could not deny the NKVD officer his logic. The thing is that explicitly blaming it all on Muzychenko was also wrong. To begin with, instead of holding Pervomaisk with all its forces, the 18th Army withdrew to the south, and the leadership of the Southern Front did not even warn the encircled troops about it. Not to mention the fact that at the most critical moments the armies in the pocket not only had no air support, but did not even receive any orders from the front commander.
The Commissar interpreted my silence in his own way.
“I see that you are beginning to understand the situation, Comrade Nagulin,” he said with satisfaction, “So you confirm that you received an order from Lieutenant General Muzychenko to form a reinforced air defense platoon without regard for the loss of combat effectiveness of the units from which equipment and ammunition will be removed for your unit?”
“I was not ordered to assess the combat effectiveness of the units from which the equipment was removed,” it was no longer possible to keep silent, “I didn't even know where it came from. Major Svirsky was in charge of these matters.”
“But you're not a stupid man, Nagulin,” the NKVD officer shook his head, holding back his irritation, “and you should have understood, that it was impossible to take equipment away from the units without reducing their combat effectiveness.”
The Commissar was actively pushing me to testify against Muzychenko. Of course, the junior lieutenant's words alone could not play a decisive role, but in combination with other 'facts' they were quite capable of 'drowning' the Army Commander. Well, forgive me, comrade Svirsky, who died in battle, I will have to use your name to protect General Muzychenko. Otherwise I have no way to explain how I got the information I received from the satellites as a result of the radio intercepts of talks between Muzychenko and Ponedelin.
“It's not a lieutenant's question, Comrade Battalion Commissar,” I answered after a short pause, “Nevertheless, Major Svirsky deemed it possible to briefly explain to me the reason for gathering the surviving equipment in the staff column.”
“That's very interesting, Comrade Nagulin,” the NKVD officer even leaned forward in his chair, “And what did your immediate superior tell you?”
“He said that Major General Ponedelin, commander of the 12th Army, was appointed commander of all the encircled forces, and that General Muzychenko was actually removed from the planning and organization of the operation to get out of the pocket.
However, according to him, General Muzychenko was given the task of ensuring the breakthrough of the 6th Army staff column to the Southern Front troops and to coordinate with them the efforts to hold the punctured corridor and the subsequent withdrawal of the remaining troops of the encircled armies from the pocket. There was no doubt in my mind that, to this end, the ‘special purpose convoy’ should concentrate the best of the equipment remaining in the line.”
The officer of the Special Department became gloomy. He pondered my words in silence for a while, and then said:
“That's enough for today, Comrade Nagulin. You will now put your testimony in writing, and you are free to go. Our conversation is not over yet, but we will continue it a little later.”
The special department of the NKVD of the Southern Front was located in Dnepropetrovsk. Battalion Commissar Kirillov did not take the risk of trusting the information he gathered to the telephone and went to his superiors in person. Comrade Sazykin's office was on the third floor of a pre-revolutionary building on Oktyabrskaya Square, where Kirillov arrived close to noon.
“Well, Battalion Commissar, any results?” The head of the Special Department came out from behind the desk and extended his hand to his subordinate.
“Yes, Comrade Commissioner of State Security 3rd Class,” Kirillov nodded, shaking Sazykin's hand, “but not exactly what we hoped for.”
“What have you dug up?”
“The testimony of Muzychenko and Sokolov is confirmed. Pfc. Nagulin, promoted to junior lieutenant by order of the commander of the 6th Army, states that his immediate superior Major Svirsky, while giving him a combat task, also told him the task of the entire 'special purpose convoy'. Why he did it, and how he himself got this information, remains unclear, and it is no longer possible to ask him, but Nagulin's words coincide with the testimony of the Lieutenant General and the Division Commander.”.
“Do you have the papers with you?”
“Yes, everything I collected is here,” Kirillov lightly slapped his palm on his leather briefcase.
“You leave them to me. An order came from Moscow. Muzychenko and Sokolov are being taken away from us. At 4 p.m. a plane will fly in to pick them up, so this case will now go to the top, to the Directorate, and our job is to pass on all the findings to the superiors.”
“Copy that!” Kirillov opened his briefcase and began to take out the cardboard folders, “What about the others who got out of the encirclement?”
“It's the same as usual,” Sazykin shrugged, “We'll interrogate them, and if we don't find any evidence of treason, we'll turn them over to the personnel service. We have divisions of 3,000 men each, so they'll find a place quickly.”
“Shall we send Nagulin to re-form too? Muzychenko, in his testimony, singled him out especially, and even wrote submissions for state awards on him and his men.”
“What rewards, battalion commissar? Two armies and a mech-corps perished in a pocket! Forget it. Let them
