Transcript of talk of the Supreme Commander and the member of Stavka to the commanders of the Leningrad Front.

01.12.1941

Stalin, Molotov at the device.: Hello.

Khozin, Zhdanov.: Hello.

Stalin, Molotov.: It is very strange that in such a difficult time for Leningrad comrade Zhdanov does not feel the necessity to come to the device and call in any of us to share information. If we from Moscow wouldn’t call you to the device, then probably com. Zhdanov would forget about Moscow and muscovites, who could help Leningrad. It seems that Leningrad, headed by com. Zhdanov is not in the USSR but somewhere on an island in the Pacific ocean. Please let us know about what you are doing, how is it going and how you plan to get out of the current situation? Over. Stalin, Molotov.

Khozin, Zhdanov.: сom. Stalin, com. Molotov, we admit this our mistake, but we wanted to report only on something significant. For all this time we were busy transporting KV tanks to the left bank of Neva. We succeeded. 20 KV tanks, 10 T-34 and 16 light tanks have been transferred to the left bank of Neva during the last several nights. Yesterday (30.11) we started an offensive, supported by these tanks the first day of which has resulted in a significant success. On the front of the breakthrough, the first enemy entrenchment line has been taken. We are continuing the offensive and count on success. To exploit that success we are bringing in two fresh divisions and additional tanks. We wanted to report when there are more results.
During this time, we took to work the commanders of the armies that are in defensive positions: 42nd, 23rd armies and Seaside groups, for their insufficient activity. We took one division from each of them to reinforce the active region of the 55th and 8th armies. During this time we have formed two ski regiments and two separate ski battalions and are currently forming a third ski regiment.
We had in mind a very interesting operation which could bring us quick results, by using the 80th division with a ski regiment from the ice of Ladoga lake. The ski regiment had to operate in the rear of the 8th army on the left flank of Neva. This operation however was disrupted because of the cowardly-treacherous behaviour of the command of the 80th division. The division commander Frolov has refused to execute the operation three hours before the start of the operation. The operation therefore was re-scheduled to the next day but the surprise factor was lost. We have sent you a request to allow the trial of the commander of the 80th division and the commissioner of the division Ivanov and shoot them. The front council is forced to deal with traitors and panic mongers, most of whom are among the high command staff. We wholefully support the promotion of young personnel who want to fight.
Regarding the situation on the front of the 55th army there is nothing to boast of. On the front of the 54th army, the most threatened area is the direction of Voybokalo, Myary. Several measures were taken there: in the region of Serokaska a strike group was formed, containing the 80th rifle division, 6th naval brigade6th naval infantry brigade, two ski battalions, which is intended to counter strike the enemies flank and rear. The concentration will finish on 02.12.
To Fedyuninsky we send another 1000 reinforcements.
The situation in the Volkhov direction is stable. Transferring of the brigade with tanks is nearing completion with only two battalions remaining.
We will finish all the transferring together with tanks.

We ask to:

1. faster push of our forces towards Budogosh, Kirishy to deny the enemy of his supply routes.
2. 2- accelerate transferring of all the reinforcements planned by com. Shadenko for the 54th army.
3. 3- we lack the heavy shells (152mm), we ask to send those to Babaevo from where we will transfer them to us. Over.

S.,M.:

1. shoot Folov and Ivanov and declare that in the press.
2. we will try to supply the 152 shells for you
3. the reinforcements from Schadenko also
4. we will take Tikhvin soon and then pile up to Budogosh, Kirishy
5. where you lack the shells for 152mm, massively use 120mm mortars, those are very effective at defeating the enemy.

K.,Z.: Acknowledged, all will be done. We are sure that we can please you in the following days.

S.,M.: Do not waste time. Not only each day is important, but also each hour. The enemy has concentrated against Moscow all of his forces from almost all the fronts. All other fronts are in a good situation to strike the enemy, including your Front. Use this opportunity to strike the enemy before it is too late. I repeat, do not miss the chance. Over. Good bye, wish you luck. Stalin, Molotov.

K.,Z.: We will fight as beasts on all the regions of our front without delaying for even a minute. Good bye. Thank you. Zhdanov, Khozin.

ЦАМО. Ф. 96а. Оп. 2011. Д. 5. Л. 191-194.

Transcript of talks of the Supreme Commander and the Commander of the Joint Staff to the Commander of the 54th Army.

16.09.1941 ended at 23:30

Volkhovstroy.: Marshal Kulik at the device.

Moscow.: Stalin and Shaposhnikov at the device. Hello. We got acquainted with your last order, where you plan to strike against the Schlisselburg enemy group first and then reach the Mga station.
We think that you must leave cover from the Schlisselburg direction and use your forces to strike at the direction to the station Mga, while covering your left flank from the direction of Shapka, Sologubovka and after that not to delay the preparations for the offence but lead it decisively in order to connect with Zhukov’s forces.
In conversation with you on 15.09 Zhukov has described his situation to you and that is why your operation cannot be delayed. Over.

Kulik.: Hello. My main strike with three divisions and a mountain rifle brigade is in the direction of the station Mga while covering from the right from the direction of Schlisselburg and from the left from the direction of Turyshkino.
The detailed order [with indication] of the limiting lines [between] the divisions will be given to you now. I repeat that the enemy has concentrated 21st infantry division and 12th tank division in the region of Slavyanka, Voronovo. These two divisions are concentrated, holding the road Slavyanka - Voronovo.
I set my main objective: to defeat these two divisions and only after that to capture the station Mga. Tomorrow at 10:00AM I will start my offensive. Today I just finished all the organization of the offensive. The units have taken their initial positions, the cooperation has been worked out in detail. Over.

Shaposhnikov.: Good. In the following days after staffing two additional combat divisions will be sent to you. Over.

K.: I have one more question for you.
This morning I found out from comrade Cvetaev that the enemy has crossed the river Svir in the region of Podporozhye and captured the railway bridge across the river Svir. I have immediately sent my aviation there, considering the seriousness of the situation.
The recon has discovered a big concentration of forces in the region of station Sviry and to the South in the forests. Also the enemy has built a bridge across Vyazhenka near its mouth. In the second half of the day the bombers and attack planes were operating against the concentration of the enemy forces and destroyed the ferry across the river Vazhenka near its mouth. Huge losses were inflicted upon enemy man force and vehicles.
Also, comrade Cvetaev has reported to me that the railway bridge was cleared {from the explosives} according to the order of the brigade kommissar Rumyantsev from Petrozavodsk. Our sappers have cleared it and the enemy has captured it.
I ordered my aviation to destroy it, but the special aviation link sent there between 16:00 and 17:00 didn’t reach it because of the fog.
I will not be able to allocate anything to this region tomorrow because my aviation will be occupied by another operation. While reporting, I consider it necessary to take serious measures and under no conditions not let the enemy to cross the river Sviry. Cvetaev has very limited forces. Over.

Shaposhnikov.: Good, we will tackle this. As for you, without delay you must attack and defeat the enemy tomorrow 17.09 in the direction of station Mga, capture that station and chase the enemy.
You have three artillery regiments of corps level and you can solve this task. Over.

K.: Everything is prepared and we will act. Will report with the results. Wish you well.

Stalin.: Hello again.
We are very happy that you have success. But take into account that if tomorrow you will strike hard towards Mga to break through or get around the Mga defences, then you will get two good personnel divisions and maybe even a tank brigade. But if you delay the strike tomorrow, then I swear that you will not get those new divisions nor the tank brigade.

K.: I’m hearing you comrade Stalin. Everything is aimed there, everyone is waiting for the morning and delay is out of the question. We will do our best to fulfill your instructions and to get your promised forces. I will speak now to comrade Zhukov about the coordination of our efforts.

Stalin.: Do not forget to put RS to action.

K.: Yes they do participate, but we have only three barrages left. I ask to deliver us at least ten barrages, because the enemy doesn’t like them.

Stalin.: ten barrages are sent to you. You will get them tomorrow or at least the day after tomorrow.

K.: Good.

Stalin.: I shake your hand, wish you well.

K.: Over. Good bye.

ЦАМО. Ф. 96а. Оп. 2011. Д. 5. Л. 104-107.

Transcript of talks of the Supreme Commander to the Commander of the Leningrad front

09.11.1941

Leningrad.: Zhdanov and Khozin at the device. Good day com. Stalin. Reporting about fulfillment of your orders. The following measures are taken:

• Forming three volunteer regiments of selected people. The formation will be finished by the end of today. By morning of 10.XI we hope to transfer them to the other side of Neva.
• Thanks to the shrinking rear we reinforced the divisions that are on the left bank of Neva.
• We gathered around 40 medium and light tanks which will be shipped to the left bank of Neva at night between 9th and 10th of November.
• Today we have listened to the combat plans, presented by the Military Council of the 8th army. We achieved that the Military council of the 8th army fully understands how to organize the operation of breakthrough and plan the breakthrough operation according to indications of comrade Stalin.
• Ready time for operation start is set to 10th - 11th of November. On the direction of a support blow of the 55th Army we started to form a volunteer regiment. The nearest objective for the army is to clear the Western bank of river Tosna; following with capturing the ferries on the river Tosna and advancing in the direction of Mga station to meet up with the 8th and 54th Armies.

Considering the experience of previous battles, we have given instructions about carrying out the offensive towards a dug-in enemy. Our forces have shown their weakness in performing such operations, especially on company, battalion and regiment levels. Considering this, instructions have been given to reform the work of artillery.

Stalin.: Pause the transmission. Tikhvin is occupied by the enemy. We are clearing the situation. If it will be possible, we will connect to you by the wire. This wire goes through Tikhvin. Over. Stand by the device.

Z.: All clear, standing by.

Zhdanov and Khozin by the device.: Continuing the report. Instructions to reform the work of artillery were given, according to your indications. We now got information from the 54th Army that the enemy has occupied Tikhvin but in the Volkhov direction the enemy is 15-18km away from Volkhov. The commander of the 54th Army asks for a division to be transferred to cover Volkhov. We think that it is better to take that division from the 54th Army, because transferring from us is difficult because of the transport issues. Over. Waiting for indications.

Stalin at the device.: Sorry, I was late. To eliminate the enemy forces we have transferred Meretskov with some units of the 7th army to Tikhvino region. We are sending tanks and one full division there. I think that the 54th army could move one of its divisions to cover its rear. As you see, the enemy wants to create the second line of encirclement around Leningrad and completely cut it off from the rest of the country. It is very dangerous to wait any longer. Be hurry to create a large group of forces, concentrate all the fire: artillery, aviation, 120mm mortars and RS on a large he said “narrow” as it is evident from the reply, but the document has a typo areas and punch through and create a road to the East until it’s not too late. We will eliminate the Tikhvino enemy group by ourselves I suppose.
Could you ship disassembled KVs across the Neva or handle large amounts of KV to your Tosno groups and let them go along the Southern bank of Neva to the enemy rears? Over.

Z.: Comrade Stalin! Reporting: your instructions are being implemented. We have considered an offensive plan and we are creating quite a powerful artillery group in the 1km wide breakthrough region which consists of 600 guns and mortars as well as three RS batteries. All the aviation will operate there as well. Shipping KV tanks across Neva is a very difficult and very lengthy task. We have already transferred one brigade to the region of the 55th army and will transfer one more brigade there. We are doing as you said - forming one motorised regiment for these brigades. We will be setting them the following objective: as soon as we capture the ferries across Tosna river, they will strike the enemy rear towards station Mga. Over.

Comrade Stalin, we have a request. Due to unreliability of supply across the Ladoga lake, we ask to give us 30 additional “Douglas” aircrafts and 10 TB-3 for evacuating the war materials from Leningrad and bringing in food concentrates and other provisions. Additionally they will need a regiment of fighters to support their actions. We ask for your instructions on what to do with the 69 regimental artillery pieces you have ordered us to transfer. Those are at Volkhov. Over.

S.: We will do our best to provide “Douglas” and TB-3 for you. As for the 69 regiment cannons, let the 54th army take them for storage.

Over. Good bye.

Z.: Over. Good bye.

ЦАМО. Ф.96а. Оп. 2011. Д. 5. Л. 156-159.

Transcript of talk of the Supreme Commander to the Commander of the Air Force of the Red Army

26.09.1941

Zhigarev.: at the device.

Stalin.: Comrade Zhigarev, I beg you to go to Kholzakov to the region of Volkhovstroy and help him to organize massed airstrikes upon the German forces. I suppose you could leave the North West front for two or three days, leaving Kucevalov as your replacement and who probably already has learned how to command the aviation. Your help is very needed by the 54th Army which is moving towards Mga station to establish connection with the Leningrad front. You must know that Kholzakov’s group supports this army. It would be good to go there today. We will try to send fresh air forces there. I wait for your answer.

Zhigarev.: Good. All clear. I will depart from Morozov from Semenovshina, Valdai and after I brief Kucevalov I will leave for the airfield Khotilovo from where I will fly on a “Douglas” to Kholzakov. Kucevalov has learned how to concentrate the aviation forces on the battlefield and so did the commanders of aviation divisions. From Valdai, if you allow, I will call you via phone “VCh”. I will be at Valdai in one and a half or two hours.

S.: Good, call me from there.

Z.: Good bye, I have departed to Valdai.

S.: Good bye.

ЦАМО. Ф. 96а. Оп. 2011. Д. 5. Л. 124.