The Red Army Shelled Their Own Troops

The Red Army Shelled Their Own Troops

A.Z. Akimenko described one incident of Red Army troops firing on other Russians who surrendered. Such accounts are used by US communist historians to deny the existence of NKVD Blocking Detachments: “The 395th Rifle Regiment stubbornly held on to its position and assisted the 875th Rifle Regiment with its fire. But a large group of German tanks (70-80) struck a blow from the direction of the railroad station, that is, north of the village of Kholopkovo, at the junction of the Red Army’s 535th and 395th Rifle Regiments. They wedged into and burst through the combat formations of both regiments, but the units defended stubbornly. But unexpected confusion and an extraordinary incident occurred in our combat formations. When the German tanks attacked communist positions and burst into the combat formation of our two regiments, a large number of replacement troops from Kursk, numbering about 900 men, committed treachery to the interests of our homeland. As if by command, this group rose up, threw away their rifles, and, with raised hands, they proceeded to the side of the enemy tanks. The enemy tanks quickly edged up the traitors and, under the cover of other tanks, began to take the traitors away. This circumstance created an exceptionally difficult and morally serious condition among our personnel. I saw this situation occur while I was at the observation post, but I lacked the forces and means required to remedy the situation and to take control of the traitors for future punishment before our Soviet organs. But a traitor is a traitor, and he deserved immediate punishment on the spot. I gave an order for two artillery battalions to open fire on the traitors and the enemy tanks. As a result, a considerable number of the traitors were killed and wounded, and the enemy tanks were scattered. I reported this extraordinary incident to the Stavka of the Supreme High Command by ciphered message.The group of traitors were received by the division from a reserve brigade in the city of Kursk. At that time, the 2d Guards Rifle Division received 5,000 men, who were poorly trained and even more badly prepared in an ideological sense. The Kursk oblast' party committee was informed about the treachery. The party obkom [oblast' committee] bore the responsibility for political training and ideological preparation of the population.”