OMSBON - Independent Special Purpose Motorized Brigade

During the November fascist offensive on Moscow, the Shperov detachment blew up the Leningrad Highway from Zavidov to Yamuga, the bridge across the Moscow Sea, and then from Yamuga to Solnechnogorsk. "This was a total surprise for the advancing enemy. The fascists slowed down their movement and turned off the road." Redeployed to the area of the Moscow-Volga Canal, the special detachments erected engineer fortifications on its eastern bank under enemy fire. German tank units attempting to break through to Kashira also came up against minefields set up by OMSBON troops. In the winter of 1941-1942, OMSBON troops created passages in the minefields for our advancing tanks and infantry and cleared obstacles. OMSBON ski troops in the Sukhinichi area-the special detachments of Captains N. A. Vasin, N. S. Gorbachev, and Senior Lieutenants K. Z. Laznyuk and M. K. Bazhanov, totaling 315 men, fought alongside other Red Army units at the front and conducted reconnaissance in the enemy rear.

On 21 January, the Laznyuk detachment received the mission to drive the enemy out of the village Khludnevo (Kaluga area). The detachment soldiers dislodged the fascists from a dominating hill, but were not supported by army units in a timely manner. At night, the superior enemy forces, supported by tanks, attacked the hill. The ski troops occupied an all-round defense and accepted an unequal battle that lasted more than four hours. The wounded continued to fight to the end. When only L. Kh. Papernik remained alive, he pulled the pin from a grenade and blew up both himself and the fascists. The Vosin detachment was defending the settlement Popkovo (Sukhinichi district).On 23 February, its soldiers destroyed five fascist tanks and nearly 150 Germans. In this battle, the courageous detachment commander and the famous athlete G. D. Pul'nov both fell mortally wounded. The Gorbachev detachment was then blocking at the neighboring settlements Chvanovo and Sorochki. The detachment commander perished in battles with the fascists. But the enemy did not break through. The Bazhanov detachment had the mission to destroy a section of rail line in the enemy's immediate rear, along with bridges and communications lines. Having accomplished this, the detachment went into the enemy's deep rear for carrying out its primary special task. "The missions assigned by the commander of 10th Army were skillfully, resolutely, and courageously carried out by the soldiers of the detachments, in spite of every difficulty and deprivation," declared M. F. Orlov. "All the detachments several times engaged a numerically superior enemy." They destroyed as many as 600 enemy soldiers and officers. The brigade suffered its first significant losses in these battles: the military commissar of the brigade, A. A. Maksimov, was mortally wounded; the deputy brigade commander, V. I. Tret'yakov, was killed; fifty-eight men and officers were killed, thirty-five were wounded, and thirty-seven were missing in action. Twenty-two soldiers from the Laznyuk and Gorbachev detachments were awarded the Order of Lenin, and L. Kh. Papernik became the first OMSBON soldier to be named a Hero of the Soviet Union.

The front-line traditions of OMSBON were first established around Moscow. Subsequently, front commanders repeatedly turned to the NKVD and directly to the brigade headquarters with requests to send special detachments and special groups to them. Their activities were highly appreciated. Here is what G. K. Zhukov wrote about V. A. Karasev's detachment: "It conducted bold raids on headquarters, rear facilities, and separate subunits of German troops. In one such night raid, a large rear area German corps headquarters was destroyed." This occurred during the Battle of Moscow. At the end of November 1941, in the district center of Ugodskiy Zavod (present day Zhukovo), eight partisan groups burst into and destroyed the headquarters of the XII German Army Corps, 4th Field Army. The Karasev detachment killed more than 600 Germans, set nearly 100 motor vehicles and four tanks on fire, and captured documents containing valuable information. This operation was reported in Sovinformburo summaries. In the summer of 1942, a composite detachment (1,000 men) was sent to the Western Front for construction of minefields and obstacles. "The precision and outstanding organization which was displayed during the fulfillment of the front mission," the order for the front engineer troops noted, "was especially characteristic of OMSBON. The work of OMSBON was of great assistance to the front."

In the summer and fall of 1942, the brigade operated on the Transcaucasus Front. "In connection with the unfolding situation in the northern Caucasus," wrote Major General V. V. Gridnev, "in August 1942, army formations had to have specialists, most of all mountain climbers, capable of operating in mountainous terrain and of training the soldiers in this... Brigade commander Colonel M. Orlov was sent to this 'hot' sector with a group of our soldiers." OMSBON special detachments proved their worth in Ordzhonikidze, Groznyy, and Makhachkalin fortified regions, and in the passes of the Main Caucasus range. Brigade mountaineers supervised the training of men for operations in mountainous conditions. In early 1943, nearly 1,000 brigade men and officers were sent to the 70th Army around Kursk. Later, OMSBON accomplished the task of clearing mines and demolitions from cities liberated by the Red Army, among them Kiev, Khar'kov, and Gomel'.

However, as early as January 1942, the brigade redirected its primary attention to the formation and insertion of special detachments, special groups, and individual agents into the enemy rear. Several of them operated there for over two and one-half years. On 23 February 1942, the "Glorious" detachment of Captain A. P. Shestakov crossed the front line, and returned twenty-eight months later. Only after many years did the detachment doctor, I. Yu. Davidov, tell about the combat deeds of his comrades. In March 1942, P. G. Lopatin's detachment ("Uncle Kolya") was sent into Minsk area. It laid down the beginning of the partisan formation in the Borisov region (1942-44). In April of the same year, the special detachment of Major S. A. Vaupshasov (Gradov), which also became the nucleus of a partisan formation, began carrying out its mission in the Logoysk region of Minsk area. In two years, this formation, which included ten detachments and a brigade, derailed 186 trains of men and enemy equipment, killed more than 14,000 fascists, destroyed 32 fuel storage tanks, 11 motor vehicles, 69 tanks, 28 guns, and 6 armored cars, and killed 16 police officers, and 31 rural district and 1 city administrator. The partisan formations practically reinstated Soviet authority in the enemy rear.

Комментарии 

 

0 #3 Maximilian Bruno Von Hoffmann 23.07.2013 02:04

Fascinating to read about the special service detachments OMSBON} who were responsible for sabotage operations behind Axis lines . The Soviet Army from what i heard from my Opa who was German and served with the 11th Waffen SS Totenkopf i do believe Polizei from his pictures of him at the seige of Leningrad said the Russian soldier was so brave fearless and tough that they seemed like they were wolves he said at 98 yrs old i recalled ! Yes wolves he repeated he said they were relentless and were experts in the coldest worst conditions he said the Russians would capture German sentries cut them from throat to groin and leave their corpses as a warning to the sleeping Germans who awoke to find their sentry,s dead and in pieces like wolves ? My Opa said before he died that the Germans had no business there no business at all many German soldiers hated being there dying by the scores . Thankyou

 

 

0 #2 Валерий Потапов 18.06.2011 12:02

Можно. Все никак не доведу работу до конца, ибо источник - мятый нечеткий ксерокс, программа распознавания дает огромное число опечаток.

 

 

0 #1 Сибиряк 17.06.2011 22:58

Sorry, а по-русски можно?

 

Обновить список комментариев

Пожалуйста, зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы получить возможность оставлять комментарии.