Mikhail Yakovlevich Berezkin, a native of the village of Krutovo in the former Petushinsky district, fought thousands of kilometers. He liberated Toropets, Kovel, Vitebsk, and Latvia.
Three times wounded, Mikhail Berezkin reached East Prussia.
...There were fierce battles on the outskirts of Koenigsberg. Senior Sergeant Berezkin twice raised his rifle squad to attack the fortified German line. And each time the riflemen retreated under hurricane fire. The third attack launched overnight was also unsuccessful. Having lost several people killed and wounded, Berezkin’s squad withdrew.
He himself was wounded in left hand. And yet Mikhail Berezkin did not leave the battlefield. Having replaced the incapacitated platoon commander, at dawn he raised the soldiers to attack for the fourth time. Having made a roundabout maneuver, the rifle platoon cut railway and went to the rear of the Germans. This bold and daring raid by a small group of Soviet soldiers led by Berezkin alarmed the Germans, panic began in their ranks, and they, trembling, began to retreat into the forest. Berezkin pursued the enemy, dragging the shooters along with him. Few escaped; up to 20 enemy corpses lay on the battlefield, and 123 Germans, including three officers, surrendered.
As a result of the bold and swift actions of Berezkin’s platoon, the enemy, fleeing, abandoned a locomotive and 282 cars on the railway tracks. They contained a lot of military equipment, food, rifles, 2 cannons and 5 machine guns. Several hundred Vlasovites, traitors to the Motherland who had not managed to escape, were trembling in the carriages.
The wounded Berezkin did not go to the hospital after this battle. Pursuing the enemy on the way to Frisch Gaff Bay, he launched attacks three more times, in which he personally destroyed 15 Nazis.
Repelling fierce German counterattacks, he was the first to reach the shore of the bay. And it is not surprising that the battalion commander, Captain Gavrilov, began to hug and rock Berezkin: the exit of Soviet soldiers to the Frisch Gaff Bay foreshadowed the end of the Kurland group, the Germans.
“You are a real hero,” said Gavrilov, shaking Berezkin’s warm hand.
And the next morning, the warrior Berezkin, glorified in battle, was accepted into the ranks of the Communist Party.
The rest was short: heavy battles lay ahead to capture the German fortress of Koenigsberg.
Throughout the night from April 6 to April 7, 1945, Berezkin’s squad made their way through the peat field and bushes to Koenigsberg. When the first houses of the city appeared at dawn, Berezkin gave the riflemen the opportunity to rest, and he crawled to reconnaissance. Having returned with important data on the location of enemy firing points, Berezkin pointed out the targets to our artillery with four flares. At his signal, the artillerymen opened rapid fire on the Germans. As soon as our artillery fire stopped, Berezkin, dragging the squad with him, rushed forward. Having burst into the first house, he suddenly saw red material on the table. Having torn off a piece, Berezkin quickly attached it to a shaft found here and rushed to the attic. Holding a machine gun at the ready, he broke through the tiled roof and hoisted a red banner over the house.
When Berezkin, advancing, approached one of the enemy’s fortified forts, seven people remained in his squad. Ammunition was running low. And yet the brave commander led his soldiers into the attack. Bursting into the casemate covering the entrance to the fort, Berezkin.
He shouted at German“Hyunde hoch!”, inviting the twelve entrenched Nazis to surrender. The non-commissioned officer took aim and shot at Berezkin. Fortunately, the frightened Nazi missed, and Berezkin remained unharmed. He entered into an unequal battle. With a long burst from a machine gun, the hero killed four Germans and wounded two. Three fascists attacked Berezkin. And how many physical and mental strength so that, without flinching, without getting confused, you will emerge victorious in this fight. In an instant, Berezkin grabbed a knife from his belt and finished off two fascists with two blows. He jumped on the third and strangled him. The soldiers who arrived in time helped him completely take possession of the casemate and capture the remaining three Nazis.
A day later, Berezkin accomplished a new feat. Having received the task from the battalion commander: to attack and take the German estate in which the Germans had settled, senior sergeant Berezkin again rushed forward.
The resisting enemy fired heavily. Running from cover to cover, Berezkin was wounded in the head. Leaving a bloody trail on the grass, he persistently moved forward. Having crawled to one of the houses, Berezkin, already losing strength, threw several grenades out the window. The new leg wound turned out to be serious. Having squatted on the ground to cut the boot, Berezkin could no longer get up. He was picked up. Lying in the basement next to the wounded battalion commander, he complained to him that he could no longer defeat the hated Nazis.
The war ended, Mikhail Yakovlevich returned to the Vladimir region. Fellow countrymen joyfully greeted the brave warrior, on whose chest three medals “For Courage”, a medal “For Military Merit” and the Order of Glory III degrees.
A month later, Mikhail Yakovlevich was invited to Moscow. In the Kremlin in a solemn ceremony on January 8, 1946. former commander of the rifle squad, senior sergeant Mikhail Yakovlevich Berezkin was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Golden Star and a Hero’s Certificate Soviet Union. This high rank M. Ya-Berezkin was awarded by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council USSR dated June 29, 1945
Mikhail Yakovlevich Berezkin was born in 1909.
1901-1951
Member of the CPSU(b) since 1919
1927-1929 - military commissar of the 45th rifle division
1930-1931 - military commissar of the rifle corps
1935-1937 - assistant to the head of the Red Army Air Force Directorate for political affairs, head of the political department of the Kharkov Military District
1937 - Commander of the Air Force of the North Caucasus Military District
Dismissed from the Red Army in October 1937.
Repressed 12/15/1937-02/15/1941.
Released, was in reserve until December 1943.
By order of the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet dated December 23, 1943, Berezkin was appointed acting head of the Azerbaijan Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet.
1944 - 1945 - Head of the Civil Air Fleet Department of Azerbaijan.
After Azerbaijan, he worked in the central office - first as deputy head of the Civil Air Fleet Capital Construction Department, and then in the same position in the Civil Air Fleet Materials and Technical Supply Department.
From mid-1947 until his death, Colonel Berezkin headed the Krasnoyarsk Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet.
M.F. died Berezkin in May 1951.
L. K. Korchagin. RESPONSIBLE TASK (excerpt)
In February 1936, after the end of the Irkutsk Regional Komsomol Conference, of which I was a delegate, I was offered to go with a group of comrades to Moscow for the first rally of the Stakhanovites of the Red Army Air Force.
In those now distant 30s, the Stakhanov movement covered not only sectors of the national economy, but also the country’s armed forces, including military aviation. Cadet competed with cadet, squad with squad, platoon with platoon, company with company, and the school as a whole competed with another school. Everyone strived to master knowledge faster and better and gain experience. The material part was prepared in a shorter time, many theoretical and practical issues were studied and solved beyond the program. Military discipline was strengthened. Stakhanovites of the Air Force appeared: in aviation schools - advanced cadets, in units - pilots, flight engineers, technicians, engine mechanics.For me, a Siberian boy, a trip to Moscow was the ultimate dream and seemed like an exceptional event. The rally was held in the club (now the House of Officers) of the Air Force Academy named after N. E. Zhukovsky. It was led by the head of the Air Force, commander of the 2nd rank, Ya. I. Alksnis. On the presidium were the Secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee A. V. Kosarev, the head of the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army Ya. B. Gamarnik, corps commissar M. F. Berezkin. One day, Marshals of the Soviet Union M.N. Tukhachevsky and S.M. Budyonny appeared at the presidium of the meeting and made a big speech to the aviators. The speech of one of the first Heroes of the Soviet Union, a student of the academy, Captain N.P. Kamanin, was especially memorable. All the performances sank deeply into the soul and obliged me to a lot.
Cherushev N.S. 1937: Red Army elite at Golgotha (excerpts)
1
The political composition of the Red Army represented the second largest group of military personnel, which fell under persecution and purges during the years of great terror. Commissars, political officers, political instructors - they all occupied a corresponding place in the system of organizational structure of units, formations and institutions of the Red Army.
In the structure of the political composition of the Red Army, a special place was occupied by military commissars - officials invested with great powers by the ruling party. The institute of military commissars was introduced into the Red Army in the spring of 1918 in connection with the massive recruitment of military specialists into the army and navy - former generals and officers of the old army, as well as the need to strengthen the political education of the large Red Army masses.
And the military commissars conscientiously fulfilled their difficult duties.
As a rule, the most politically and militarily prepared people were selected for the posts of military commissars, formations and units, who had actually shown their devotion and loyalty to the general line of the party, who fully supported the policies of the leadership of the RCP (b) - the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Soviet government. And now these people, of whom the army and the country were rightfully proud, were handed over in hundreds and thousands to the NKVD for slaughter, turning them into dust and camp dust.
By the beginning of June 1937, Army Commissar 2nd Rank Slavin (Bas) Joseph Eremeevich, head of the Directorate of Military Educational Institutions of the Red Army, and in the recent past, head of the political department of the Leningrad Military District, was besieged from all sides. Over the past two months (April - May) all he did was fight off various kinds of libels...
One of the first things he received was a statement from a member of the Soviet Control Commission, Kisis, written in early April addressed to the People's Commissar of Defense, Marshal Voroshilov.
The snowball, launched by Kisis along the slope, rapidly picked up speed, turning into a mighty avalanche, sweeping away everything in its path. New materials were soon added to the existing materials: investigators of the PURKKA Party Commission sent a number of requests to individuals who worked in Puarma-5 in 1923 - 1924. They were not slow to respond, and in August 1937, about a dozen such responses accumulated in the offices of PURKKA.
Of undoubted interest are the words of the head of the department of history of the CPSU (b) of the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze Brigade Commissar G.L. Barantsev, Slavin’s former deputy in the political department of the 5th Army. In a statement written on his own initiative in mid-August 1937, Barantsev wrote:
“I consider it necessary to report a number of facts about the anti-party behavior of Comrade I.E. Slavin. in 1923 - 24.... Comrade. Slavin was appointed chief at the end of 1923. puarm-5, I handed over the position to him, and then remained with him as his deputy. Soon after the arrival of Comrade Slavin, on his initiative, Schmidt, Berezkin and Lipelis... Schmidt, appointed head. Puarm's organizational department, was one of the Trotskyist leaders in Chita, right up to speaking as a Trotskyist co-rapporteur at a citywide party meeting. Berezkin and Lipelis stood in solidarity with him... Slavin maintained a double-dealing position, not directly advocating Trotskyism, but not criticizing it either...”
They interrogated him (Slavin) a lot and persistently. And only in Lefortovo prison in the period from October 9, 1937 to January 7, 1938 - 38 times...
He also had the opportunity to write his own testimony.
In them, Joseph Eremeevich “admits” that he was recruited by Gamarnik into the anti-Soviet conspiracy in 1934, that both of them at one time defended the Trotskyist platform on trade unions, and the head of PURKKA knew him as a hidden Trotskyist...
Slavin named Ya.F. among the people he recruited into the military conspiracy. Genina - political officer of the Artillery Academy, M.I. Arsha - head of the political department of the 20th Infantry Division, Z.K. Tseitlina - division chief of the 10th Infantry, L.I. Idelson - chief of the 16th Infantry Division, I.M. Grinberg - his former deputy for aviation in the Leningrad Military District, N.F. Artemenko - deputy head of the UVUZ and M.F. Berezkina- Assistant Chief of the Red Army Air Force for Political Affairs. These persons, as Slavin testified, he involved in the conspiracy in 1935-1936.
On March 15, 1938, the trial took place. The brigade of the Military Collegium (Ulrich, Zhdan, Kandybin) sentenced Slavin to death with confiscation of property and deprivation of the military rank assigned to him.
The fate of other army and navy political workers was no less harsh and tragic.
2
"Moscow NGO
Marshal Timoshenko
Rostov DN 7/163 18 15 2227
Adopted 15/2 1941
Acquitted petition for the restoration of the Red Army My life belongs to the party of Lenin Stalin Former corps commissar Berezkin NR 7/163DL Gruzdeva at 23 20 "
“To the Chief of Chief. Polit. Red Army Directorate
corps commissar in reserve
Berezkin Mark FedorovichI ask you to reinstate me in the Red Army. I worked in the Red Army from May 1919 to October 1937 in various political positions from political instructor to the district political department (HVO).
For the last five years he has worked for the Air Force. In 1937 he was transferred to command work and appointed commander of the North Caucasian Military District Air Force.
For all 19 years of service in the Red Army, I have positive certifications. I have no disciplinary or party penalties.
Since December 15, 1937 until February 15, 1941 he was under investigation.
Acquitted by the court, reinstated in the party without penalty.
Now I am retired from an NGO for long service and am working on a business trip from the Kirov RK VKP (b), Moscow, in an industrial cooperation as the director of the Krasnaya Zvezda knitting factory, Moscow.
In party work, he is a propagandist and agitator of the Kirov Republic of Kazakhstan of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks).
In 1941, I filed a petition before the Chief. The Air Force Department asked me to assign me to command work in the Air Force, but my application was not granted, for reasons beyond my control.
I filed a petition in 1941 and before you. The resolution of the issue was postponed by your personnel department due to the loss of my party card.
The Party Board of the MK VKP(b) made a decision to issue me a party card and on February 3, 1942, I received a new party card No. 4250856 in the Kirov District Committee of the VKP(b) in Moscow.
There is a personal file on me in the Personnel Department of Ch. Polit. Management, in the Personnel Department Ch. Air Force Directorate and the Kirov District Military Commissariat of Moscow...
My whole life has been spent in Kr. Army. I grew up in the army, was raised by the army, I love and know, I believe, military affairs and political work in the Army. I have been a member of the CPSU(b) since April 1919, from the age of 17. My whole life belongs to the Lenin-Stalin party.
I want, in the ranks of the Red Army, at the front, where the Party Central Committee deems it necessary, to take part in the active struggle against fascism for the Motherland, for Stalin!
Corps Commissioner Mark Berezkin
3.3.1942
Moscow, Valovaya, 8, factory "Red Star"
Corps Commissioner M.F., completely acquitted by the court. Berezkin repeatedly appeals to various higher authorities with one single request - to quickly restore him to the ranks of the Red Army and provide him with the opportunity, in war conditions, to put into practice a rich supply of knowledge and skills in organizational and educational work.
He sent a letter of similar content: in 1941 - to the commander of the Red Army Air Force, General P.F. Zhigarev and the head of the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army, Army Commissar 1st Rank L.Z. Mehlis, in 1942 - to the secretaries of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks G.M. Malenkov and A.S. Shcherbakov, Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, Army Commissar 1st Rank E.A. Shchadenko; in 1943 - again to the head of GlavPUR (twice), secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) I.V. Stalin. But all to no avail!
Berezkin is perplexed: why is it taking so long for his applications to be considered when such a difficult situation has developed at the front and there is an acute shortage of command and political personnel? Why do they continue to distrust him when the Soviet court completely acquitted him of all charges? He was not destined to know the content of conversations in high Moscow offices regarding his letters and appeals about returning to the ranks of the Red Army. And the conversations there were very interesting.
For example, let's look at his letter addressed to E.A. Shchadenko, who, by the way, knew Berezkin well from his pre-war service, when the latter served as political officer in the Red Army Air Force Directorate from 1935 to 1937. This letter is similar in content to all of Berezkin’s previous appeals to the highest party and military authorities: the same request for reinstatement in the cadres of the Red Army and the opportunity to make a feasible contribution to the victory over the enemy who has encroached on the freedom and independence of the Motherland. We will give only some fragments from this document and the resolution of high officials from NGOs and PURKKA.
Berezkin writes:
“From 15.Kh.P. 1937 to 15.11.1941 he was under investigation and kept in custody. I did not know any guilt... After a 3-year investigation, I was acquitted by the court, released and reinstated in the CPSU (b). On the day of liberation, I filed a petition for reinstatement in the Red Army. However, for a year now, my requests have remained unanswered.
Why during Patriotic War, when loyal party and comrades are so needed. Stalin cadres of the Red Army, I, having almost 20 years of experience and known knowledge, should remain outside the ranks of the Army? What is my fault?
...I work in Moscow, since 1941 I have been the director of the Krasnaya Zvezda factory in the Kirovsky district... The Kirov Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) can provide information about my work. But I'm dissatisfied with my job. My whole life was spent in the ranks of the Red Army. I know and love the army and want to work in the army. Especially now, in a war situation, when the Motherland is devoting all its personnel and strength to strengthening the army to defeat the fascist beast.
I am ready to work in the army in any job where you deem it necessary to assign..."
The letter, written on March 20, 1942, is registered a week later (March 27) with the corresponding number in the secretariat of the deputy NPO for personnel. On the same day, Shchadenko, having read it, sent this letter to the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army, making a very characteristic resolution on it. Or rather, not a resolution, but a note to the deputy head of GlavPUR F.F. Kuznetsov: “It turns out that you still have a lot of personnel in stock, seasoned personnel at that, and you keep complaining about the lack of people. My God, my God!” Shadenko specifically highlighted the words “hardened” and “my God” in the text with underlining, and he underlined the word “hardened” with two bold lines.
However, despite Berezkin’s tearful requests, Shchadenko did not decide his fate himself, but forwarded his letter to GlavPUR. He did not even express his opinion on the essence of the issue presented in it, did not express the slightest desire to give at least some characteristics to the petitioner, whom he knew well, which would be very important for a positive resolution of Berezkin’s request. Shchadenko simply, like the most ordinary official, forwarded the letter to GlavPur and after that was not at all interested in this matter.
During the war, the passage of documents in the central office of the NPO was clearly organized. Just two days later, Mehlis’s deputy, Army Commissar 2nd Rank F.F. Kuznetsov, having received Berezkin’s letter with Shchadenko’s resume, makes an equally remarkable resolution on it: “Let him sit in reserve”. This resolution, mandatory for execution, was addressed to Divisional Commissioner N.V. Pupyshev - Head of the Personnel Department of the Main Political Department Red Army.
No, this was not the decision Mark Fedorovich Berezkin expected! That's it - let him continue to sit in reserve! Let him sit, even if there is an acute shortage of qualified political personnel at all levels at the front without exception. Let him sit in the rear, heading the artel in the system of the People's Commissariat of Local Industry, an experienced military man with three diamonds on his buttonholes, who has gained extensive experience in organizational and ideological work at all levels of military service without exception - from regiment to district.
Without placing particularly high hopes on the leadership of the People's Commissariat of Defense, Berezkin, having sent a letter addressed to E.A. Shchadenko, sends a similar statement to G.M. Malenkov - Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, supervising personnel highest nomenclature. The essence of the statement is in its last lines:
“As a business executive and party worker, I do everything I can to help the front defeat the hated occupiers. But he is not satisfied with his work. Could have been more useful in the army. I want to join the Red Army for any job where the Central Committee or NGOs send me. I personally ask to be sent to the active army..."
As in the first case (with E.A. Shchadenko), this letter also reached the addressee. Malenkov instructed the Personnel Directorate of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks to deal with the Berezkin case. From there the letter was forwarded to GlavPUR. So, everything is back to normal - we already know the position of GlavPUR.
In the response to the head of the military personnel department of the Personnel Directorate of the Central Committee of the Party, signed by the above-mentioned divisional commissar N.V. Pupyshev, the main argument is the following: “GlavPURK-KA believes that at present it is not possible to use him (Berezkin. - N. Ch.) for political work in the Army, in accordance with his military rank.”
. The formal reason for such a refusal in the Mehlis-Shcherbakov department was that Berezkin had not been in party political work for over five years. And why this happened and who is to blame for this - there, as can be seen from the documents of the personal file and the correspondence of GlavPURKKA with the disgraced corps commissar, no one cared about it.
3
Berezkin received all negative responses from official authorities to his letters. But he does not give up, continuing to remind I.V. of himself and his request. Stalin, secretaries of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks A.A. Andreev and G.M. Malenkov, People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR L.P. Beria and other leaders of the party and government, with whom before the war he had to meet more than once at ceremonial events dedicated to the triumph of Soviet aviation. But everything was in vain, especially when at the helm of GlavPURKKA there was a well-known fighter in the army and the country against the enemies of the people, L.Z. Mehlis.
When Mekhlis was removed from the post of head of GlavPURKKA and his place was taken by the secretary of the MGK A.S. Shcherbakov, Berezkin again began to have hope for changing his fate for the better. One after another, he sends several letters of complaint to Shcherbakov with the same request - to send him to the front, reasonably asking him a question to which he wants to receive the same definite answer:
“Why now, in the conditions of the Patriotic War, should I remain outside the ranks of the army and work in an artel, when the army so needs experienced personnel?.. In the army, at the front, I can be used much more expediently...”
And further:
“I am ashamed now to be outside the ranks of the army, along with the elderly and disabled. I, a corps commissar, with the Order of Lenin on my chest, feel ashamed during the Patriotic War Soviet people sit out in the artel. The workers of the artel ask me why I was not in the army during the war, since I worked in the army for so many years before. What can I answer them? Should I say that they won't hire me? Why? Maybe my high military rank is an obstacle? Having trouble finding the right job? If I am now being used as the chairman of the artel, then it is obvious that in the army I will unconditionally take any job, as long as it is within my capabilities, regardless of my high rank...”
Exhausted to the limit by waiting for a decision on his fate, Berezkin in September 1943, in his next appeal to A.S. Shcherbakova quite consciously writes:
“...If I cannot serve in the army in command and political work, I ask you to allow me to be accepted as an ordinary soldier. I’m 42 years old, conscription age...”
In particular, Mark Fedorovich did not insist so much on political work. He reminded several times that he also had experience in command activities in the troops, that at one time he passed the driving course for BT, T-26 and T-27 tanks with “excellent” marks.
Of course, no one would have sent him to the front as an ordinary soldier - it was no longer 1941. people's militia has sunk into oblivion. However, they were in no hurry to appoint him to the positions of senior and senior command staff.
And only at the end of 1943, when more than two years had passed after the start of the war, Berezkin finally “patched” the high authorities, although he was never allowed to go to the front, to join the active army. But I had to be content with little - service in the Civil Air Fleet, the main forces of which during the war years were part of the Long-Range Aviation (LRA) of the Red Army. In a word, Berezkin did receive some moral satisfaction from this appointment.
I had to be content with little, both in office and in military rank.
Regarding the position, by order of the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet dated December 23, 1943, Berezkin was appointed acting head of the Azerbaijan Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet. In 1944, he was already the absolute head of this department, which he led until August 1945.
As for military rank, we should say a little more about this. And that's why.
When the political composition of the Red Army was re-certified at the end of 1942 and the system was assigned to it military ranks, similar to the command staff, the majority of political workers, including those in the active army, suffered seriously in this regard, receiving, at a minimum, insignia one step lower than would be expected based on the number of diamonds or “sleepers” on their buttonholes.
For example, not all corps commissars received the rank of lieutenant general due to them - many became only major generals. Divisional commissars who were in the corresponding political positions received the same title. With the exception of a few cases, all brigade commissars who belonged to the “general” level of the political staff became just colonels (the example of L.I. Brezhnev).
Berezkin had every reason to receive a purely general rank - the three diamonds on his buttonholes made it possible to do this without any doubt and without any delay, besides, the previous command and political positions he occupied in the Red Army spoke for the fact that he was a general - he could safely aspire to major. However, this was not the case...
What kind of negotiations were held there and what kind of correspondence was conducted on this issue is still unknown to us, but the undoubted fact remains that the position of acting. the head of the Azerbaijan Civil Air Fleet Directorate at the end of 1943 was received by none other than Lieutenant Colonel M.F. Berezkin. Yes, yes, Lieutenant Colonel Berezkin!..
Apparently, Mark Fedorovich had no choice but to agree to this option for resolving the issue of his return to the ranks of the Red Army. But a lieutenant colonel!.. Two senior officer stars on his shoulder straps instead of the previous three “general” diamonds!.. So Berezkin went down four steps...
4
Berezkin served in the Civil Air Fleet for about ten years.
After Azerbaijan, he worked in the central office - first as deputy head of the Civil Air Fleet Capital Construction Department, and then in the same position in the Logistics and Technical Supply Department. From mid-1947 until his death in May 1951, Colonel Berezkin headed the Krasnoyarsk Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet.
All these years he did not give up his intention to return to the ranks of the Air Force. Evidence of this is Berezkin’s repeated appeals with such a request to the Minister of the Armed Forces of the USSR, the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force and the leadership of the Civil Air Fleet.
In his personal file on this topic there is an interesting document dated October 10, 1948 and addressed to the head of the Krasnoyarsk Civil Air Fleet Directorate, Lieutenant Colonel M.F. Berezkin. This is the official response from the Main Directorate of Civil Air Fleet to his letter to N.A. Bulganin.
“I inform you of the resolution of the head of the Civil Air Fleet Main Directorate, Lieutenant General Comrade. Baidukov on your personal letter sent to the Minister of the Armed Forces of the USSR, Marshal of the Soviet Union Comrade Bulganin on October 1, 1948:
"T. Berezkin. Your letter, addressed to Comrade. Bulganin, I read and think:
1. That the issue with the officers in the Civil Air Fleet has already been resolved by the Government and I told you about this on the phone.
2. The transition to the Army directly to a command position in the Air Force is inappropriate, bearing in mind the urgent need to retain senior personnel in the Civil Air Fleet. Baidukov. 10/19/48"
But for M.F. Berezkina, time seemed to have stopped or, moreover, moved back. For all these years there was no progress in his work, position or rank. Hence the general dissatisfaction with oneself, one’s work, one’s life. All this taken together certainly had a very serious impact on his health - after all, Berezkin died relatively young, when he was only forty-nine years old.
Well-known philanthropist and public figure, advisor to the Deputy Secretary General of the IPA CIS Council, reserve officer Hrachya Poghosyan together with the Chairman of the Council of Representatives of the National Association of Reserve Officers of the Armed Forces (MEGAPIR) in the North-Western Federal and Western Military Districts, reserve colonel Yuri Klenov (Grachya Misakovich is a member of the Council), visited a wonderful person, front-line soldier, former intelligence chief of the Leningrad military district of retired Major General Mikhail Vasilyevich Berezkin. This is a man of amazing purity, clear mind and faithful service to the Motherland. “In any circumstances, preserve human dignity, do not betray your calling” is the motto that he carried throughout his life. But Mikhail Vasilyevich, holder of nine military orders, is already 95 years old.
At a meeting in a relaxed home atmosphere, the veteran told Hrachya Misakovich about his meetings with wonderful people. Among them were Armenian military leaders and generals. Mikhail Vasilyevich spoke especially warmly about the chief marshal of the armored forces Amazasp Khachaturovich Babajanyan, with whom military fate and army service brought him together more than once. It is noteworthy that Hrachya Poghosyan once graduated from the Yerevan Republican Specialized School with a military focus named after A.Kh. Babajanyan.
At the end of the meeting, Berezkin presented a publication of his memoirs, “The Fate of a Scout.” Having become acquainted with the book, Hrachya Misakovich offered to finance a new, already supplemented and expanded edition, which received the support of the intelligence leadership of the now Western Military District. Pogosyan will be assisted in selecting material by Yuri Klenov, Honored Worker of Culture of Russia and former assistant Commander of the Leningrad Military District. The book will be supplemented by memories of little-known episodes of the Great Patriotic War, as well as the confrontation between the USSR and Western countries during the Cold War. A large block of modern photo illustrations about combat training military intelligence officers ZVO will also attract the attention of readers, especially young people. Mikhail Vasilyevich found very warm words to describe his colleagues, military leaders and people he met in life, including very famous ones - Lyubov Orlova, Mark Bernes, Edita Piekha.
General Berezkin remains in service to this day, being the standard-bearer of the veteran movement. He believes in the young generation and the prosperity of Russia. Thanks to Hrachya Poghosyan’s initiative to reprint the book, the new edition of the intelligence officer’s memoirs will find many new readers.
Berezkin Viktor Semenovich - Army Lieutenant General, born April 30, 1908 in Moscow. Since childhood, he lived in the village of Bakagurt, Pychassky (now Mozhginsky) district (Udmurtia). Colonel.Awards: Order of the Red Banner (Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces of November 3, 1944). Other military awards: Order of the Red Banner, Order of the Patriotic War 1st degree, Red Star, front-line medals. He had the Chinese Order of the Red Banner. 3a length of service awarded with orders Lenin, Red Banner.
Victor's father, Semyon Frolovich, returning from active service, stopped to live in Moscow, where he received a diploma and education. He taught his son reading and arithmetic at the age of five. And at the age of six, Victor was accepted into a Moscow two-year elementary school. Teachers and class teachers Anton Pavlovich Chekhov's brother, Ivan Pavlovich, and his wife Sofya Vladimirovna were in this school. He studied successfully. But, with transfer to the second grade, he no longer had to study in Moscow, since his father decided to move to his homeland in the village of Bakagurt. Soon the father became a teacher in local school.
In 1918, Victor graduated from a two-year school in the village of Mozhga and in the fall of the same year he entered the Elabuga Pedagogical College. Was walking Civil War. Studies at the technical school were interrupted. Berezkin came to the village of Mozhga and entered the second-level school in the sixth grade. Here in 1923 he joined the Komsomol. In 1925, after graduating from school, Viktor Berezkin was sent to military school- Nizhny Novgorod Infantry School. This is where it started military career Berezkina. After graduating from college, he served in Rybinsk, Tula, Kaluga, and Minsk. In 1934 he entered the Military Academy chemical protection. In 1939 he became a chemical engineer and received the rank of major. Viktor Semenovich continues his studies, now at the Military Academy named after M. V. Frunze. In May 1941, he graduated from the academy, and a month later the Nazis attacked our Motherland. From the first days of the war, V.S. Berezkin fought on the front lines near Moscow, on the Leningrad Front. In heavy bloody battles on the Leningrad Front, he received a concussion and a wound to the head. Hospital, then the front again. Fierce fighting near Moscow and a new wound in the leg. Then there was work in the department of the People's Commissariat of Defense, Viktor Semenovich headed a special reserve unit of the Supreme High Command. Berezkin took part in fierce battles on various fronts of the Great Patriotic War.
At the end of the war he headed a special unit of the RVG. Viktor Semenovich finished the war with the rank of colonel and was appointed head of the educational department of the Military Academy. Then - responsible positions in General Staff Ministry of Defense of the USSR, in the Central Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union, in the southern group of forces in Hungary. Returning from Hungary, Viktor Semenovich Berezkin becomes deputy head of the S.K. Timoshenko Military Academy.
After being transferred to the reserve, he worked as a senior teacher at the academy.
Age and war wounds were taking their toll. In 1968, he became seriously ill and was forced to retire. But sitting idle was not in the character of Viktor Semenovich, and until 1986 he taught military disciplines at the academy as a senior lecturer.
V. S. Berezkin actively maintained contact with his native land, and in Mozhginsky local history museum and the national museum “Alarm of Memory” houses the relics of the famous fellow countryman, the fearless general.
The entire life of Viktor Semenovich Berezkin, lieutenant general of the army, is an example of selfless service to the Fatherland.
– The USA and England developed a plan for an attack on the USSR, which, not without cynicism, was called Operation Unthinkable. In fact, who would have thought that the allies of the USSR in the war against Hitler actually, even before the end of hostilities against fascist Germany Have you already drawn up a plan for sudden aggression against our country? Moreover, they were going to attack us more than once in those years...
On June 23, 1945, the Soviet government announced the demobilization of its army. Germany was defeated, why continue to keep millions of soldiers under arms? It was necessary to urgently restore the cities destroyed by Hitler’s invasion, to restore National economy, workers were urgently needed in the country. However, on July 1, again, as most recently in June, “early in the morning at dawn, when the children were sleeping peacefully...”, 47 British and American divisions, without any declaration of war, were to deal a crushing blow to our troops in Europe.
At the same time, four air armies of heavy bombers - huge "flying fortresses" - were preparing to bring down their deadly cargo and turn it into dust Largest cities USSR, as they just did with Dresden. The Anglo-American attack was supposed to be supported by 10–12 German divisions, which the “allies” kept undisbanded in Schleswig-Holstein and Southern Denmark, where British instructors prepared them for the war against the USSR.
New plan "Barbarossa"
Subsequent plans, as historians have already established, were the following: to occupy those areas of internal Russia, without which the country would lose the material capabilities of waging war and further resistance, and also “to inflict such a decisive defeat on the Russian armed forces that it would deprive the USSR of the opportunity to continue the war.”
Operation "Unthinkable" ( Operation Unthinkable- the code name of the plan, or rather two plans at once (offensive and defensive) in the event of a military conflict, was developed on the instructions of Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The work (it began when Nazi Germany was not defeated) was carried out by the Joint Planning Staff of the British War Cabinet, in the deepest secrecy. Final goal consisted of the complete defeat and surrender of the USSR. It was supposed to end the war in the same place where Hitler planned to end it according to the Barbarossa plan - at the Arkhangelsk-Stalingrad line. Documents related to these plans are stored in the National Archives of Great Britain and have not yet been fully declassified.
Churchill had already given the order to stockpile captured German weapons with an eye to their possible use against the USSR, placing, as already mentioned, surrendered soldiers and the Wehrmacht on Schleswig-Holstein and in Southern Denmark.
Massive propaganda support for aggression was also being prepared under the beautiful humanitarian slogans of the fight against the “totalitarian regime” and “liberation of the peoples of the USSR from the yoke of dictatorship.” That is, almost the same thing that they did later" democratic states“When they bombed Belgrade, destroyed Iraq, invaded Libya and fought a war in Afghanistan, and today they are preparing for operations against Syria and Iran.
Why did we storm Berlin?
However, the day before the planned start of the war Soviet army unexpectedly changed its location. This was the weight that shifted the scales of history - the order for the invasion was not given. In addition, as historians note, the successful assault played a decisive role in changing the plans of the “allies” for a treacherous attack. Soviet troops Berlin, which was considered an impregnable fortress. He showed the enormous power of the Red Army and military experts convinced politicians that war with such an enemy would be very difficult.
This, by the way, deals a crushing blow to the fabrications of liberal “experts” who claim that this assault was “unnecessary”, that the capital of the Third Reich, surrounded on all sides, “would have capitulated on its own,” etc.
The threat of a surprise attack was very real. The naval forces of Great Britain and the USA, for example, then had an absolute superiority over the USSR Navy: 19 times in destroyers, 9 times in battleships and large cruisers, 2 times in submarines. They had over a hundred aircraft carriers, while our country did not have a single aircraft carrier. The Soviet ground forces were exhausted by a long and grueling war, their equipment was worn out, and the Americans already had an atomic bomb ready, which they soon dropped on Japanese cities. There was another important reason why the insidious blow to the USSR was postponed; the United States needed the USSR to crush the Japanese Kwantung Army in the Far East; they themselves were unable to defeat the Japanese.
Occupy and divide
From 1945 to the early 1960s, the United States developed a total of about 10 plans to attack the USSR: Pincher, Broiler, Shakedown, “Dropshot” “Instant blow”) and others. So, for example, according to the Doublestar plan, it was planned to drop 120 atomic bombs, after which, as the aggressor hoped, the USSR would capitulate, and the occupying forces would have to establish a new government within 5–8 years. According to the Dropshot plan, it was planned to drop 300 atomic bombs on 200 cities of the USSR within a month, and if the USSR did not surrender, continue bombing with conventional charges in the amount of 250 thousand tons, which should lead to the destruction of 85% of Soviet industry. Simultaneously with the bombing, in the second stage, ground forces in the amount of 164 NATO divisions, of which 69 US divisions, occupy the starting positions for the offensive.
After the occupation, the territory of our country was planned to be divided first into occupation zones, and then fragmented into more than 20 states, including “Northern Russia”, the Volga Tatar-Finno-Ugric formation “Idel-Ural”, the Republic of “Cossacks”, etc. d. Far East was supposed to fall under US protection.
General Berezkin's story
Another attempt to attack the USSR and the real plan of the Americans in this regard, which is not often remembered today, was told to the author of this book in St. Petersburg by Mikhail Vasilyevich Berezkin, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, who was better known under his cover name as Major General Bystrov . For many years he trained foreign agents, fought, and worked as an illegal intelligence officer. Berezkin believes that in 1956 it was he who prevented the Third World War.
Mikhail Vasilyevich - he is already 90 years old and sometimes wears a ceremonial general's jacket with a full set of orders. Among them are four Orders of the Red Star. The number of full recipients of this award in St. Petersburg can now be counted on one hand. But the general does not like to talk about his exploits - this is due to the intelligence officer’s ingrained habit of secrecy and his natural modesty.
And there is something to tell Mikhail Vasilyevich about. He was taken into reconnaissance immediately after graduation artillery school, he went through the entire war, personally communicated with Marshal Rokossovsky, and then fought on the “invisible front” for many more years. But Berezkin considers the main thing in his biography of an intelligence officer to be two “political level” operations, which he told me about during our meeting. When the rebellion began in Hungary in 1956, Berezkin, under the name Bystrov, served in Germany as assistant commandant of Leipzig. But this was a cover; in fact, he headed reconnaissance point No. 4 of the GRU and conducted reconnaissance regarding American troops in the western zone of Germany, and the commandant of Leipzig was subordinate to him.
Where will they hit from?
“We knew then,” recalls Berezkin, “that the Americans were going to intervene in the Hungarian events and were preparing a strike on our troops. This was to be done by the US 7th Field Army stationed in Germany, consisting of the 5th and 7th Corps, armored forces and aviation. In total - about 100 thousand soldiers and. But where will they strike from? From the Eisenach area in the north, or from the south - from the Hof direction?
Then Grechko calls me (he was then the commander-in-chief of our troops in Germany) and says:
“The Americans are preparing a strike, and if you figure out where they are going to strike it, you will do a great thing.” If you don’t do it, you will become a lieutenant colonel! I'll give you a few days...
And I was just recently promoted to colonel. But I wasn’t worried about my rank; I understood that if the Americans struck, it would start big war. But the Great Patriotic War recently ended, so many people died, and new war no one wanted to.
And so the hot days began for me. There was little hope for our illegal immigrants in the American zone. They didn’t have transmitters (they show in the movies that we have radio operators everywhere), the resident in Munich sat until he reported - it would be too late! Therefore, the main hope was placed on route agents. This is what we called those who were sent on a mission behind enemy lines for a short time. I did it and back! Then I sent about 25 people. They worked day and night. And they established that the Americans were preparing a strike from the Eisenach area. I personally reported this to Grechko via HF. But then Ivan Yakubovsky, the commander of our tank army, calls me and asks:
- Where to go? Where will the Americans strike from?
I answer: “From Eisenach!”
And Yakubovsky was a hot-tempered, decisive commander. If the Americans had moved their troops, he would have hit them! And this is definitely a big war! The tension was terrible...
Gun as a gift
But soon our Foreign Ministry made a statement, exposed the American plans, and they refused the strike, realizing that we would meet them with dignity. I think that my actions then prevented a possible conflict, and probably World War III.
Then Yakubovsky calls me. He says: “I want to see what kind of person you are! After all, he did such a great job!” And when he saw me, he was very disappointed: “So you’re a very simple guy!”
And I really was young then, and I wasn’t tall enough. And Yakubovsky was huge, two meters tall!
Then Grechko personally congratulated me: “Comrade Berezkin,” he says, “you have done a great job and deserve a high reward!” And... he gave me a Sauer hunting rifle.
We had a lot of different things to do then, Mikhail Vasilyevich continues to recall. They stole the latest machine gun and a new model gas mask from the Americans. But this is all just intelligence trifles. But one day Commander-in-Chief Grechko gathered a meeting of intelligence officers and said:
- Well, how will you work it out? You must get documents! Get me documents about US troops!
Patriotism is the main thing
Are you wondering how to do this? In the Stuttgart area, in the town of Weinhingen, the headquarters of the 7th US Field Army was located. They began to look for an approach to him. And they found it! Through our agent, a German named Clem. He said that the Americans periodically send large batches of documents for destruction. We decided to replace them! On the way, when documents were taken for destruction, they were replaced with waste paper. This waste paper was then taken to be burned, and the real documents were sent to our headquarters. So we stole tons of valuable American documents. Tons! There was not only data on the troops, but also drawings of new secret weapons and much more.
The operation required a lot of money - bribing whoever needed to buy a car, etc., but they gave it to me. Grechko personally gave it. I think this was the largest kidnapping operation secret documents in the history of intelligence. In order not to fail, we overloaded the bags with documents ourselves, and then I had to work as a loader!
– In my long life I have been lucky to meet famous people, says Mikhail Vasilievich. – I met Mark Bernes, Dudinskaya, Kirill Lavrov – he was an amazing person. But most of all I remember my meetings with Lyubov Orlova. I met her in Vienna. There I worked as the head of an intelligence post in Austria, lived in the Imperial Hotel in the very center of the city. Orlova came with director Alexandrov, her husband. I took them to the film studio. We became friends, I even drank with her at the Brudershaft. I have never met such a wonderful woman - so smart and modest in my life. Although in Vienna he even knew Hitler’s favorite actress, the beautiful Marina Rokk. But where is she compared to our Orlova! In a word, I have seen a lot in my life, General Berezkin ends his story.
– What, Mikhail Vasilyevich, is the most important thing in life? What is the main thing in intelligence?
- Main? This is patriotism! – without a moment’s hesitation, the old scout answers. “That’s how my parents raised me.” When I was presented with one of the orders in the Kremlin, I said there: “We are patriots of our country!” I spent my whole life in intelligence - 70 years! I had nothing else. Patriotism and intelligence are the main things for me...
V. Malyshev
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