4th September 1944
To the Commander of the 1st Polish Army
From 05.09.1944 trnsfer the 1st infantry divisoin in its full staff under
the operative command of the commander of the 47th Army. Leave the supply
reponsibility under the jurisdiction of the Polish army.
Commander of the 47th Army shall use the 1st infantry division to attack the
Prague city according to my instructions.
Report when received.
ЦАМО РФ. Ф. 233. Оп. 2307. Д. 29. Л. 249.
15th August 1944
The Army has not achieved an objective set by me. The reason for this was that the offensive was poorly organized, the combat formations of corps adn armies was was not appropriate for the situation, too much forces were left in the reserve while not enough of them was dedicated to the offensive itself. As a result adversary could organize a defence at random unprepared spots and with small numbers hold back our advancing units.
I order:
Report when delivered. Report about the adopted decision via encrypted message at around 20:00 16.08.1944
ЦАМО РФ. Ф.233. Оп. 2307. Д. 33. Л. 68.
Beginning: 22:10 - 27.9.44
End: 23:05 - 27.09.44
General Lieutenant Schikin at the device. Hello com. Telegin. Please report.
Telegin at the
device. Hello.
Reporting.:
Today we have maintained a stable
connection with Northern, Central and Southern regions of the resistance
forces and I have received the following reports:
1st radiogram - To
the commander of the Prague area. Sent through lieutenant Mak. Nr. 12 from
27.09.44 at 4:00 “Monter”. Brigade general. Mokutov.
The enemy is
pushing us badly. Partial loss of the territory on the Southern side. I ask
for artillery support and bombing raids against the enemy lower from the
Nepodleglosty alley to the South from the line of Odinets - Pulavoka -
Vokolska.
There is a famine in the city and a bad mood. “Monter”.
2nd radiogram - Nr. 13 27.09.44 at 7:30 to the commander of the RA
Praga. “Mokotuv”. The situation is exceptionally bad. The only way is to
provide artillery support and air support. Target the line 1 - Lovitzka
street, 2 - Belviederskaya street, 3 - fort Mokotuv, 4 - Checheta street, 5
- Shorter street, Krulikarnya as well as the enemy artillery positions,
known to you. “Monter”.
3rd radiogram - from our officer in the region
Nr.1. “The rebels in fierce fighting have destroyed 33 enemy tanks, 6
armoured cars, 4 wooden bunkers within the last 7 days.
Famine and
powerful artillery shelling are ruining the spirit of the rebels. The
situation is becomming critical. Please provide artillery and aviation
support. 30000 civilians are starving, kids are dying, army is recieving
only 150 grams of crackers per day. Everyone is waiting for the RA to come.
We are starving here, please throw a sack of food, wrapped with a bandage
for us. Inform us about the drop.
Another one from him,
where he answers our questions regarding our yesterday telegram.
“There were people sent by the Germans who tried to kill us. We have
information that some of the Krayovy army supporters are hiding machineguns.
We didn’t get the barrel, the breech, the axis and spring for the cannon.”
Finally I got a
radiogram from my officer from the 3rd district which was sent unencrypted
because our radio operator has died when parachuting. Here are the contents
of that radiogram:
“There is panic and famine in the city. I ask to
provide artillery and aviation support. The uprising will fall within two
days. Send a radio operator urgently. Grisha has died. Throw the supplies in
the central part of the city. We are losing a lot of drops because of lack
of communications. Urgently drop a radio operator and supplies.”
As requested in these
readiograms starting at 15:30 today the artillery was shelling blocks Nr.
625, 629, 630. The anti-air artillery was on full alert but did not fire
because there were no targets, the fighters were airborne but did not
encounter the enemy.
I ask to report that to do air missions to
support the rebels we have no fuel. Our air forces would be capable of
fulfilling this task if comrade Semyonov would sign off additional fuel.
How much fuel is needed for this operation?
Answering. Depending on
the mission assigned to us and the specifics of a concrete task we will need
500 - 2000 tons.
The rebels from the region Nr.1 confirmed that they
have received our supply drop on 26.09 with communication equipment. We will
continue to drop food and supplies tonight, however 250 tons of B-70
gasoline signed off to us earlier have almost depleted and for further work…
Please repeat “gasoline P-70”.
Gasoline B-70 supply
has almost depleted and for further work we will need additional 300-400
tons. I ask you to report that.
We have a broadcast from London radio
regarding the true surname of General Bur, it is General-Lieutenant
Skomorovsky, who was commanding a cavalry brigade of the Polish army in
1939.
Regarding the situation at Prague. I have no information except
for the following short message.
During the 26-27th of September 30
AKs
[Army Karayovy soldiers]
arrived at the gathering points.
The commander of the AK Prague
district p/p
[sic] Zhurowsky -
“Andzhey”, has sent a message for Berling at night on 27.09. In this message
he states that his appeal was done under pressure and he himself remains
faithful to the London government and therefore cannot join the 1st PA
[Polish Army] and
is leaving to Warsaw.
I think that Zhurowsky has gone underground
again.
Zhurowsky has also reported that in the region of Kshivd (near
Prague) there is an organisational committee of AK which tries to disrupt
the mobilisation into the 1st PA.
According to Berling’s decision,
arriving AKs are used to form an infantry regiment and 1100 privates and
NCOs and 50 officers have been gathered. Berling thinks that since AKs have
come voluntarily, they will fight well and it is possible to form a separate
unit from them. I think that Berling as a very short-sighted politician is
making a huge mistake by blindly trusting AKs, especially the officer staff.
If lower ranks with small exceptions could be used, then officers must
undergo a thorough inspection and be separated.
I have data from the
head of the information department of the 1st PA that Rolya Zhimersky has
forbidden Berling to form an independent AKs regiment, however Berling does
not like that, purely formally that if he cancels his own order, then this
lowers his authority. In such a way by ignoring common sense he tries to
preserve his military honor.
In the region of Prague leaflets have
been found, printed in Polish and signed by the Central Committee of the
Polish communist party that agitated to create soviet power in Poland.
Without doubt these leaflets are German and are aimed at undermining the
authority of the Polish worker party.
Recently the Germans and
seemingly also Polish pro-fascist elements have made several leaflets with
provocative content that call for fight against the Lyublin government which
is as they say a cover for the soviet power. They call to not to trust the
measures of the soviet government and the Red Army aimed at strengthening
the friendship with the polish people.
Of 10000 tons of flour which is
being given for free by the soviet government to the inhabitants of Prague,
1000 tons will arrive tomorrow. The rest will be transferred by com.
Khrulyov. All from me.
No more questions from me today too. Com. Telegin, the questions you asked about yesterday have been reported to com. Scherbakov who has routed the information up. Regarding the medals, we will gather all we can and will send to you together with your representative. All from me.
I ask to forward my questions quickly because our further help to the rebels depends on their positive solution.
The questions you have asked today will be reported to comrade Scherbakov in half an hour today who will report them further up.
Good, inform me tomorrow at 22:00. Good bye.
Good. At 22:00 I will be waiting for you at the device. Good bye.
