Book of memory and glory - Prague offensive operation. Liberation of Prague by Soviet troops. Liberation of Prague from Nazis Liberation of Prague 1945

In May 1945, one of the divisions of the army of General A.A. Vlasova liberated the Czech capital from the German garrison in a matter of days. Less than a day later, Soviet units entered the city, but there was no one to fight with.

Blitzkrieg in Vlasov style

In early May, members of the Prague underground organizations were preparing an uprising in order to finally expel the German occupation troops from the Czech capital. However, the rebel leadership was clear that they could not cope with the enemy on their own. Who could help the citizens of Prague?

The 3rd American Army was located 70 kilometers west of Prague, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front were stationed north of the Dresden-Gorlice line, 140 kilometers from the city; the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front - at Brunn, 160 kilometers, and the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front - at Olomouc, 200 kilometers from the Czech capital.

However, the only one who responded to the calls of the rebels was the 1st Infantry Division of the troops of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR) under the command of Major General Sergei Bunyachenko, which was part of the so-called Russian Liberation Army Vlasov (ROA).

On May 5, the forces of the 3rd Infantry Regiment of Lieutenant Colonel Ryabtsev blocked the Ruzyne airfield, then the 1st Infantry Regiment of Lieutenant Colonel Arkhipov, having captured the bridges across the Vltava River, entered the city and moved towards the center of Prague with battles. The artillery of Bunyachenko's division bombarded the SS gathering places and the headquarters of the German command, while the 2nd Infantry Regiment of Lieutenant Colonel Artemiev blocked the approach of the SS troops from the south.

Active battles in the southern quarters of Prague and the central regions adjacent to them were fought from the night of May 6 until the morning of May 8, until the resistance of the Wehrmacht and the SS troops was completely suppressed.

A member of the Czechoslovak National Council, Dr. Otakar Makhotka, years later recalled: “The Vlasovites fought courageously and selflessly, many, without hiding, went straight to the middle of the street and shot at the windows and hatches on the roofs from which the Germans fired. It seemed that they deliberately went to their death, just not to fall into the hands of the Red Army.

With minimal loss

It was the Vlasovites, and not the Soviet troops, that the Praguers considered their deliverers. “It is not surprising that the rebels treated the Russians as liberators and gratefully welcomed the participation of the ROA in the uprising. The attitude of the Czech population towards the soldiers of the ROA is everywhere described as “very good, fraternal”: “The population greeted them with enthusiasm,” noted German military historian Joachim Hoffmann.

Dr. Mahotka wrote that the intervention of the Vlasov army turned out to be "decisive", significantly changing the military situation in Prague in favor of the rebels and greatly encouraging the population. According to the colonel of the Czechoslovak People's Army, Dr. Stepanek-Shtemr, the main merit of the ROA soldiers was that the old historical part of the city was preserved. "Undoubtedly, it was thanks to the participation of the Vlasovites in the uprising on the side of the Czech patriots - even if it lasted only a few hours - that Prague was saved from destruction."

The uprising resulted in a large number of casualties among the local population. 1694 people died, including rebels and townspeople. About a thousand soldiers were killed from among the German garrison. The liberation of Prague cost Bunyachenko's division about 300 killed and almost 600 wounded soldiers, one tank and two artillery pieces were also shot down in the battle. The losses of the Soviet troops, who arrived on the night of May 9, amounted to 30 people.

There was no one to release

Eyewitnesses note that Prague was actually liberated from the Nazis on the morning of May 8 and Soviet troops entered the city cleared of the Germans. On this day, at dawn, Bunyachenko, making sure that the troops of the 3rd US Army would not occupy Prague, withdrew the division from the city and marched to the southwest.

Formally, the Prague garrison of the Wehrmacht continued to exist for another 8-10 hours after the departure of the Vlasovites. On May 8, at 4 p.m., German General Rudolf Toussaint signed a protocol on the surrender of all the forces of the garrison and handed it over to the Czechoslovak National Council. By 6 p.m., German resistance had finally ceased in the Czech capital.

Only 12 hours after the surrender of the Germans, the first Soviet armored vehicles of the 62nd, 63rd and 70th brigades of the tank army of the 1st Ukrainian Front appeared in Prague, as evidenced by the documents of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. But there was no longer anyone to liberate the city, except perhaps from the remnants of the German garrison.

It is curious that the Soviet command immediately imposed a categorical ban on the admission of American war correspondents to Prague, fearing that information about the participation in the liberation of the city of the Vlasovites would become available to everyone.

Soon, General Pavel Rybalko arrived in Prague "to learn about the meaning of the uprising, its course, the participation of the so-called Vlasov army in it and the surrender of the Germans." Having received the necessary information, he declared that all Vlasovites would be shot. But after "energetic and cordial" requests from representatives of the Czechoslovak National Council, Rybalko relented and promised not to shoot everyone.

What to do?

By mid-April 1945, all formations and units of the KONR troops were scattered across different countries– Germany, Italy, Croatia and Slovenia. The war was inexorably drawing to a close. On the agenda was the question: what to do?

Historian Kirill Alexandrov, who has been dealing with the topic of Russian liberation armies for many years, noted that Vlasov had been in correspondence for a long time with two Serbian military-political figures - General Dragoljub Mikhailovich and Lieutenant Colonel Dimitri Letich. They considered the possibility of concentrating all anti-communist forces in Slovenia, in the Ljubljana region, in order to actually divide Yugoslavia into two parts: the northern one - anti-communist, and the southern one - under the control of Marshal Josip Tito.

However, Mikhailovich and Letich together had no more than 40 thousand fighters, who could hardly realize a daring idea. They were interested in the Vlasovites. Apparently, Vlasov himself did not mind, as he expected to gather his forces in the north of Yugoslavia in order to unite with the Serbian monarchists and take a strong position in negotiations with the allies.

This explains the deployment of Bunyachenko's division, who led it south to join the group of General Trukhin. By April 29, the division reached the city of Louny, located 50-55 km northwest of Prague. From this moment, Bunyachenko's contacts with representatives of the military wing of the Czech Resistance begin, despite all the objections of the command of the Army Group Center. However, there was no talk of helping the rebels then.

Against the Center

On May 2, a Czech delegation came to Bunyachenko with a message in which the townspeople asked: “In the name of saving the heroic sons of Czechoslovakia, in the name of saving defenseless old people, our mothers, wives and children, help us. The Czech people will never forget your help in the difficult moment of their struggle for freedom.”

However, Bunyachenko was in no hurry to answer. On the same day, he received a sharp ultimatum from the commandant of the Prague garrison, General Rudolf Toussaint, in which he was required to proceed to the front near Brunn, following the order of the command of Army Group Center. In case of deviating from the prescribed route, Toussaint threatened to use armed force, including aviation, against the Vlasovites.

As eyewitnesses noted, such an ultimatum finally set up Bunyachenko to act in defiance of the German command. The general held a council at whichmost of the regimental commanders were in favor of helping the Prague Uprising.

Kirill Alexandrov notes that Vlasov and Bunyachenko were well aware of the responsibility that they would take upon themselves, giving their consent to support the uprising. At the same time, Vlasov himself was against intervention, because, firstly, he was afraid of German reprisals against other Vlasov units, worse armed than the 1st division, and secondly, he believed that the division would lose time and not have time to leave for the zone, controlled by the US Army. The last fear was later confirmed.

Bunyachenko also did not consider himself entitled to interfere in the internal affairs of Czechoslovakia, but it was not possible for him to remain indifferent and indifferent to the ongoing events. The soldiers and officers of his division did not react to this indifferently. They not only sympathized with the citizens of Prague, but also admired their courage in the fight against the superior forces of the German garrison in all respects.

According to Alexandrov, Bunyachenko decided to conclude a military-political agreement with the rebels, hoping to acquire not only allies in the inevitable clash with the Prague garrison, but also possible political dividends.

On May 5, the moment finally came when General Sergei Bunyachenko, the chief of staff of the division, Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Nikolaev, and the commander of the 4th regiment, Colonel Igor Sakharov, signed an agreement with representatives of the military wing of the Resistance "On the joint struggle against fascism and Bolshevism."

The battles for the liberation of Czechoslovakia began in September 1944. At that time, she entered the territory of the country. Let us further consider how the liberation of Czechoslovakia took place in 1945. Photos of the battles will also be shown in the article.

Historical information

The Soviet army has already liberated almost the entire territory of Slovakia. The Nazis were expelled from the capital of the country, Bratislava, large industrial centers of Brno and Moravsk-Ostrava. The Wehrmacht grouping was defeated, Berlin fell. All this led to the collapse of the German military machine. The fascist troops operating on the Italian and Western fronts ceased resistance. The German soldiers began to surrender. It was the spring of 1945. The liberation of Czechoslovakia was the next step towards the common goal - to destroy fascism. were still on its territory and continued stubborn defense.

Liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945: positions of the Germans

In early May, on the lines of the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts at the line of Sternberk, Krnov, Strigau, Kamenz, Wurzen, west of Stockerau, Glognitz, Brno, troops from the Center group held the defense. They were commanded by Field Marshal Scherner. Together with them, resistance was provided by part of the troops from the "Austria" group. They were led by General Rendulich. In total, the defense was held by 65 divisions, fifteen separate regiments and 3 brigades. The main enemy forces were in front of the left flank and center of the 1st Ukrainian Front. They acted, relying on a powerful defense, prepared in advance. In front of the right flank, the enemy's resistance was weaker, the line of contact between the armies was unstable. On the directions of the second and fourth Ukrainian fronts, enemy field-type fortifications were located, formed in tactical depth. Using powerful prepared positions, the Nazis continued stubborn resistance. In some areas, German forces even launched counterattacks.

General political situation in Germany

By the end of the war, the fascist leadership still had quite large forces at its disposal. Unwilling under any circumstances to recognize the hopelessness of the situation, the monopoly circles and the ruling elite continued to follow the political course outlined earlier. The German leadership tried to conclude a separate deal with Britain and the United States. Thus, it was supposed to separate the allies, gaining time to save their state. The Denitz government intended to delay the advance of the Soviet army into the western territories. This would open up an unhindered passage to the west, followed by the liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945 by the Americans and the British. In addition, US and British troops would be able to occupy most of the territory of Austria and Germany. In this regard, an order was given to the fascist armed forces. It said that since the struggle against the Western countries had become meaningless, it was necessary to lay down arms in Holland, Denmark and North-West Germany. At the same time, the fight on the eastern fronts was ordered to continue.

Meeting of the fascist leadership

In Moravia and the Czech Republic, it grew, which significantly complicated the position of the fascist army in these territories. Liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945 was accompanied by an active partisan struggle of the local population. So, by the beginning of March, there were 20 people's liberation associations, detachments and brigades in the country. More than 7700 volunteers participated in them. The fascist leadership repeatedly discussed the situation in Czechoslovakia. On May 3, another meeting was called. It, in addition to members of the Denitz government, was attended by Jodl, Keitel, Frank (governor of Moravia and the Czech Republic), as well as the chief of staff of the army association "Center" Natzmer. The position of the troops was hopeless. However, contrary to common sense, the fascist leadership considered that the surrender of troops on the eastern front was impossible. At the meeting, discussing the plight of Scherner's army, agreeing that the situation was forcing him to lay down his arms, they nevertheless decided to continue resistance. The German leadership understood that if the troops surrendered, then everyone would be at the mercy of the Russians. In this regard, the earlier decision to take a wait-and-see attitude was confirmed at the meeting. At the same time, it was supposed to begin preparations for Army Group Center to withdraw to the west and surrender to the US troops.

Liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945 (briefly)

The situation that developed in the military-political arena by the end of April - beginning of May required the adoption of urgent measures. The liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945 began even before the defeat of the enemy grouping in Berlin was completed. The Headquarters of the Supreme Command decided to start on May 1-2 in some cities of Czechoslovakia spontaneous demonstrations against the Nazis took place. Gradually they began to take on a more organized form. The liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945 was facilitated by the very advantageous position of the Soviet troops. The enemy group operating on the territory of the country was surrounded from the southeast, east and north. The armies of the 1st, 2nd and 4th Ukrainian fronts operated here. The troops of the First were on the 650-kilometer line between Krnov and Potsdam.

Right flank and center

They began to regroup and prepare for an offensive in the direction of Prague. The troops included the forces of the second 3rd and 4th tank, 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th guards, 7th mechanized corps, as well as the 52nd, 28th, 13th armies. At the same time, the forces of the left flank were holding defenses on the border north of Krnov, west of Levenberg. The Sixth Army continued blockading the garrison of the Breslau fortress. The ground forces were supported by the Second Air Army. It was commanded by Krasovsky. The main aviation forces were also redirected to the liberation of Czechoslovakia. In 1945, operating between Krnov and Vsetin in a strip of 220 kilometers, the 4th Ukrainian Front, consisting of the 31st Tank Corps, the 1st, 38th, 60th Guards Regiment and the 18th Army, completed the Moravian-Ostrava operation. On this line, ground forces were supported by the 8th Air Army. It included the 1st Mixed Czechoslovak Aviation Division.

From March 26, the troops of the front were under the command of Eremenko. In a strip 350 km wide, from Vsetin to Korneiburg, the liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945 was carried out by the army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front. The 6th, 53rd, 40th Guards Tank, 1st and 4th Romanian armies were present in the right wing under the command of Atanasiu and Descalescu. The army advanced towards Olomouc, towards the army of the 4th Ukrainian Front. The rest of the forces (1st Cavalry-Mechanized Guards Pliev Group, 46th Army and 7th Guards) were sent to the defense. In the reserve of the front was the 23rd Air Ground Forces, which carried out the liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945 on the right flank, supported by the 5th Aviation Army.

Completion of the operation

The liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945 was carried out on a 1220-kilometer strip. By the beginning of May, three Ukrainian fronts participated in the operation, consisting of 20 combined arms (including Romanian and two Polish), 3 air and 3 tank armies, 5 tank, cavalry and mechanized corps, as well as a cavalry-mechanized group. population Soviet soldiers exceeded the fascist more than twice. At the same time, the number of tanks was approximately the same. decisive advantage domestic army had in aviation and artillery. Here our superiority was threefold. Due to the favorable general military-political situation, thanks to favorable positions on the front line, the Soviet troops in a short time carried out the liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945.

Prague operation 1945 — offensive troops of the 1st, 2nd and 4th Ukrainian fronts, carried out on May 6-11, 1945 with the aim of destroying the German military group on the territory of Czechoslovakia during the Great Patriotic War.

At the final stage of the war, both W. Churchill and the commander of British troops in Europe, B. Montgomery, seriously considered the option of capturing Berlin, Vienna and Prague by the Western allies before the Soviet armies. The resistance of the Germans on the western front actually collapsed, while by the beginning of May in Czechoslovakia and Northern Austria, the Soviet troops continued to resist the Army Group "Center" and part of the forces of the Army Group "Austria" - over 900 thousand people, about 10 thousand guns and mortars , over 2200 tanks and assault guns, about 1000 aircraft. After Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945, according to the plan of the new government Nazi Germany led by K. Doenitz, Army Group Center was supposed to hold the areas of western and central Bohemia in order to gain time and withdraw to the west to surrender to American troops. The Soviet command provided for several powerful strikes by the 1st, 2nd and 4th Ukrainian fronts (over 1 million people, over 23 thousand guns and mortars, about 1800 tanks and self-propelled guns and over 4 thousand aircraft) on converging directions to Prague with the aim of encircling and dismembering the main enemy forces.

On May 1, a popular uprising began in the Czech Republic, and on May 5 it also swept Prague. On the night of May 6, the Prague rebels turned on the radio to the Soviet command with a request for help. By the end of May 7, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front reached the slopes of the Ore Mountains and started fighting for Dresden. After that, the offensive of the armies of the 4th Ukrainian Front unfolded.

There is a myth that the retreating units of the 1st division of the so-called. The "Russian Liberation Army" of the traitor A. Vlasov, who had previously fought on the side of Germany, actively supported the Prague uprising on their way to Austria. Indeed, after the appeal of the insurgents of Prague on the radio with a request for help, the Vlasovites, who were then in the suburbs of the capital of Czechoslovakia, occupied a number of city blocks of Prague without a fight. Thus, the command of the ROA sought to attract the attention of the Western allies. The withdrawal of Vlasov units from the Czechoslovak capital (troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front were approaching it) was not so peaceful. Czechoslovak patriots saw them as direct accomplices of the Nazis. The Vlasovites had to fight off the rebels, using the fire support of the German SS units.

But the Vlasov collaborators failed to escape retribution for their betrayal. Part of the personnel of the ROA was captured by the Red Army on its way to Austria. Vlasov himself was captured on May 12, 1945 in Czechoslovakia by a reconnaissance group of the Soviet 25th tank corps. The former general was found in the cab of a passenger car, hiding between bags of clothes and provisions. After some time, A. Vlasov, along with other leaders of the so-called. The ROA was tried by a military tribunal and executed.

On May 8, the German command signed an act of unconditional surrender, but Army Group Center continued to resist. Rescuing the insurgents of Prague, the 3rd and 4th tank armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front on the night of May 9 made a swift 80-kilometer throw and entered Prague on the morning of May 9. On the same day, advanced units of the 2nd and 4th Ukrainian fronts approached Prague. On May 10-11, the main forces of the enemy troops began to surrender, and in total, 860 thousand Nazi soldiers and officers were captured during the operation. At the same time, our troops came into contact with the 3rd American Army, thus completing the battles to destroy the German troops on the territory of Czechoslovakia. In total, more than 140 thousand Soviet soldiers died for the liberation of this country. This was the last operation of the Soviet troops in Europe during the Second World War.

Kulkov E.N., Myagkov M.Yu., Rzheshevsky O.A. War 1941-1945. Facts and documents. M., 2004.

FROM THE MEMORIES OF FIELD MARSHAL MONTGOMERY

THE END OF THE WAR IN EUROPE

One day [in the spring of 1945], when our troops were on the Rhine, I began to discuss future operational plans with Eisenhower. We met with him several times. I have always considered taking Berlin a priority, because Berlin is a political center, and if we managed to get ahead of the Russians, it would be easier for us to talk to them in post-war years... In his letter to me, dated September 15, 1944, Eisenhower agreed with me that the German capital is of great importance, and wrote the following: “It is clear that Berlin is the main prize. There is no doubt that we must concentrate all our energy and resources on a rapid advance on Berlin." But now there was no agreement between us. His last point of view was expressed in a message he sent to me on March 31, 1945, which ended as follows: “... As for me, I believe that Berlin is becoming nothing more than a geographical name, and I no longer interested in it. My goal is to crush the enemy's forces and crush his ability to resist."

It was useless for me to insist on my own. We had so many arguments on the main issue, but anyway it was too late...

Consequently, our main task after the defeat of Germany was to establish a balance of power in Europe acceptable to us and the Western nations, which would help win peace. This meant that we must take possession of the political centers of Europe, especially Vienna, Prague and Berlin, before the Russians. If the political leaders of the West had given high directives properly and given suitable instructions to the High Command, we would have captured all these three capitals before the Russians. But what happened? We lost the opportunity to take Vienna when it was decided to land our forces in southern France (Operation Dragoon). The troops for this operation were taken from Field Marshal Alexander in Italy, and this slowed down his operation ...

As for Prague, the American Third Army was halted on the eastern front of Czechoslovakia at the end of April for reasons that are not entirely clear to me. When they were finally allowed to cross the front in early May, Bradley writes in his Notes of a Soldier, they were ordered not to advance beyond Pilsen, "because Czechoslovakia was already destined for the Red Army to liberate." He added that if Allied High Command Europe withdrew its order, Patton "maybe could be in Prague in 24 hours."

The Americans could not understand that it was of little use that we would win the war strategically if we lost it politically. Because of their strange position, we were damaged on the eve of Victory Day in Europe, and we still continue to suffer certain losses from this. War is a political tool...

Leaving the Rhine behind, we rushed to the Baltic. My goal was to be there before the Russians made every effort to enter Denmark, and thereby gain control of the Baltic coast ... As we moved east, the Prime Minister and Eisenhower became more and more concerned about whether I can prevent the Russians from invading Schleswig-Gostein and then occupying Denmark. They both sent me messages about it...

MontgomeryB.L. The Memoirs of Field-marshal the Vicount Montgomery of Alamein, K.G. L., 1958.

LELYUSHENKO'S REPORT TO THE FRONT COMMANDER

At 4.00 am on 9.5.45, the 10th Guards Tank Corps entered the city of Prague and reached its northeastern outskirts, eastern and southeastern outskirts. 6th Guards Mechanized Corps - to the southern and southwestern outskirts of Prague. 5th Guards Mechanized Corps - to the western outskirts. Many prisoners and trophies were captured. Those who resisted were destroyed. Communication with the rebels through Brigadier General Veder. There are no American troops. There are no neighbors. I am conducting reconnaissance in the northeastern part, in a southerly direction. I am tidying up. I'm with a task force on the western outskirts of Prague.

Lelyushenko

(D.D. Lelyushenko - commander of the 4th Guards Tank Army).

WHEN you look at the current behavior of our former European "allies" in the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Treaty Organization, the words of Emperor Alexander III involuntarily come to mind: "Russia has only two allies: its army and navy"...

True, to these two allies, Russia would do well to add historical memory and public reason, but this is so - by the way ...

Let's go back to 1945.

It has already been said about the Poles and more will be said, and now a little about the “brave” Czechs and some details of the “Prague” spring of 1945.

In terms of historical gratitude to Russia, the Czechs did not go far from the Poles. After the disruption by the Warsaw Pact troops of the pro-Western adventure - the "Prague Spring" of 1968 - the Czechs also began to talk about "Russian occupiers" and desecrate monuments to Soviet soldiers. Of course, in 1968 it was the “democratized” youths who did this, and not the gray-haired Praguers, who in 1945 met tankers Rybalko and Lelyushenko with songs as boys. But the youths of 1968 were the children and grandchildren of the Praguers of 1945!

Today, the youths of 1968 have already turned gray, and now they have their own grandchildren. And these grandchildren are also not very grateful to the Russians for their tank rush to Prague in 1945 ...

People who do not know history well or know it well, but prefer "bucks" to the truth, tell fables about poor "Czechoslovaks" (a nationality that never existed in nature), from whom the villain Hitler, as a result of the "Munich Pact" with the West, took away the Sudetenland ( completely inhabited in 1938 by Germans) ...

They also complain about the plight of the Czechs in the Reich, when the Czechs at the Skoda factories assembled tanks for the Eastern Front in black shirts - allegedly in protest ...

They also remember the village of Lidice, which was burned down after the agents of London, for the purpose of provocation, liquidated the SS chief Heydrich, who calmly drove around Prague in an open car without guards ....

But here is some "information for reflection" from the memorandum of the head of the 7th department of the political department of the 7th Guards Army, Major Kozlov, which he sent on June 7, 1945 to the head of the 7th department of the 1st Ukrainian Front:

“The population of Czechoslovakia curses the German nation and will never forget all the atrocities that the Germans inflicted...

However, along with the mostly friendly attitude of the population of Czechoslovakia towards the troops of the Red Army, there are some displeasures ... ".

However, further lines of the memorandum suggested that Major Kozlov used the word "separate" rather for reasons of political correctness. And here is what Major Kozlov wrote further:

“The population of the [western] regions of Czechoslovakia differs sharply in its behavior from the population of the previous regions. If hot battles raged in the eastern part of Czechoslovakia, as a result of which there was great destruction of villages and cities, and the population sat in basements until the arrival of the Red Army, then the western part did not experience this ... The population, therefore, did not experience all the horrors of the war .. .".

Strange - after all, the Czech Republic, as they say, was the subject of "Nazi atrocities" ?! And how did the "freedom-loving" Czechs react to these atrocities in the mountainous - that is, convenient for partisan actions and inconvenient for the actions of the regular army - the Czech Republic?

The Slovaks, although they were officially considered allies of the Reich, but as soon as the Soviet troops approached closer, they raised the Slovak National Uprising in the mountains.

Well, Major Kozlov wrote about this:

“In this territory there are various parties: communist, social democratic, people's socialist, people's.

None of the democratic parties carried out underground work directed against the Germans. Each party, including the communist one, throughout the entire period of the occupation of the Czech Republic was waiting for the arrival of the Red Army, but itself did not show any active actions directed against the German enslavers "...

ONE of the last battles in that war was the battles of the Red Army in the Czech Republic, which ended with the liberation of Prague. However, some argue that Prague, it turns out, was liberated not by the Ore Armada, but by the Vlasovites. If, they say, it wasn’t for them, only small heads would remain from the “Golden Prague”.

And this is also one of the anti-Soviet myths of the 45th year, although units of the Russian Liberation Army (ROA) Vlasov did indeed enter Prague in May 1945. And they even shot at the German units sent to suppress the Prague uprising.

However, everything is in order.

On the territory of the Czech Republic, both Soviet troops and American troops were conducting hostilities ... And, as in all other cases, for every drop of Yankee blood there was a bucket of Russian blood - and not because the Americans fought so skillfully, but because the Germans hardly resisted.

April 30, 1945 English Premier Churchill wrote to the new American President Truman:

“There can be little doubt that the liberation by your troops of Prague and as much of Western Czechoslovakia as possible can completely change the post-war situation in Czechoslovakia and may well also affect neighboring countries.”

True, it is not entirely clear what Churchill meant by Western Czechoslovakia? Then there was a separate imperial protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (or, if you like - the Czech Republic), and separately - the Slovak Republic.

There was no state with the name "Czechoslovakia" then, and it is not on the world map even today - without any Hitler and the "Munich Pact" ... The Czech Republic - separately, Slovakia - separately.

But if Churchill meant the Czech Republic, then the "neighboring countries" for her were - as they are now - Austria, Slovakia and Poland.

Germany then was, of course, not counted.

The situation in all three "neighboring countries" was not the best for the United States and England, and an allied presence in the Czech Republic, and even in Prague, would be a tasty option for Churchill (and not for him alone!)

Interfered with this, as always, the "tyrant" Stalin.

On May 4, 1945, General Eisenhower turned to the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, General A.I. Antonov with a proposal to develop the offensive of the US Army to the western banks of the Vltava and Elbe. This meant the occupation of Prague by the Americans, but contradicted the decisions of the Crimean (Yalta) Conference and did not correspond to the dividing line established there for Soviet and American troops.

Antonov categorically rejected the proposal, saying that a grouping of Soviet troops had already been created to solve these tasks, and this was indeed the case. Troops of the 1st, 4th, 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts fought against the German army groups "Center" and "Austria". And already in the course of the Berlin operation, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command decided to conduct the Prague operation.

The total number of the German grouping in the Czech Republic was more than 900 thousand people, armed with up to 10 thousand guns and mortars, over 2200 tanks and assault guns and about 1 thousand aircraft.

Three Soviet fronts were to advance along converging directions to Prague from the Dresden region and from the region south of Brno. The troops involved in the operation included more than 1 million people, more than 23 thousand guns and mortars, about 1800 tanks and self-propelled guns and more than 4 thousand aircraft.

On May 2, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command sent directives to the commanders of the fronts to organize the offensive. So, in the directive to Marshal Malinovsky - the commander of the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front - it was, in particular, said:

“In connection with the withdrawal of the enemy in front of the 4th Ukrainian Front, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command orders:

1. The main forces of the troops of the front should be deployed to the west and strike in the general direction on Jhlava, Prague with the task of capturing the line no later than May 12-14: Jhlava, Ulatinch, Gorn, and then reach the river. Vltava and take possession of Prague.

2. Part of the forces of the right wing of the front to continue the offensive in the direction of Olomouc ...

Headquarters of the Supreme High Command

I.Stalin

A.Antonov»

That is, the question of the occupation of Prague and the complete liberation of the Czech Republic was at the beginning of May 1945 a matter of a few days. And there could be no doubt about the complete success.

Strange, of course ... The Czechs sat like a quiet mouse in the imperial protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia from the spring of 1939 to the spring of 1945 under the presidency of the same Gakha, who was president of Czechoslovakia in 1939 ... And suddenly they flared up with such burning hatred for the invaders that they could not endure a maximum of one and a half weeks before their release Soviet troops!

And if you really wanted to rebel, you could at least wait until the moment when the units of the Red Army come closer to Prague, and this would have happened in any case in just a few days. In addition, there was no strong German garrison in the city itself at that moment, the Germans were not going to destroy Prague, they did not carry out mass repressions.

It would not be superfluous to notify the Soviet command of the plans of the rebels in advance, but for some reason this was not done.

One way or another, on the morning of May 5, the uprising began, and by the evening the radio building, the post office, the central telephone exchange, the most important bridges across the Vltava, almost all stations, the Skoda, Avia, and Walter factories were captured. On the night of May 6, up to 1600 barricades were built, and the number of rebels increased to 30 thousand people.

Radio Prague called: "Ore Armada - to help!", But to be precise, Prague then called for help from the Americans. And it's hard to say - who in Prague wanted to see more?

And here a natural question arises, which, for some reason, has not been asked in Russia to this day - is it not because Prague was so hastily raised to an uprising that some people wanted to repeat in May 1945 in Prague, but already - without collapse - "Warsaw" version of the August 1944 uprising?

The commander of the Army Group "Center" Scherner ordered to suppress the uprising in Prague by all means. Troops moved towards Prague from three sides: from the north - the Reich Panzer Division, from the east - the Viking Panzer Division, from the south - a reinforced regiment of the Reich Division.

But the Soviet tank armies were already moving towards Prague...

On May 6, after conducting reconnaissance in force, the commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, Marshal Konev, launched an offensive with the main forces.

On May 7, the 2nd Ukrainian Front of Marshal Malinovsky began to attack, as well as the 4th Ukrainian Front of Army General Eremenko.

At dawn on May 9, tankers of the 4th and 3rd tank armies of Generals Lelyushenko and Rybalko started fighting on the streets of Prague.

At about 10 o'clock on May 9, a mobile group of the 4th Ukrainian Front entered Prague: the 302nd division in vehicles and the 1st Czechoslovak tank brigade.

At 1 p.m. on May 9, the 6th Guards Tank Army and the infantry of the 24th Guards Corps of the 2nd Ukrainian Front entered Prague, and later the 7th Mechanized Corps from the cavalry-mechanized group of General Issa Pliev.

Air support was provided by the 5th Air Army and part of the forces of the 17th Air Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front.

In hot pursuit, the commander of the armored and mechanized troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front reported on the actions of his troops in the Prague operation. Here is an excerpt from this extensive and dynamic report:

"4 Guards. TA(Guards Tank Army, - S.K.) - 10 Guards. tk(tank corps, - S.K.), developing the offensive in the direction of Premsdorf, Olderish, overcoming mountain passes in the Nikolub region, went to the region of Dukhtsov, Ledvice and at 3.00 9.5.45 advanced units reached the sowing. -zap. outskirts of Prague.

At 14.00 09.5.45, the main forces of the PO entered Prague(forward detachments, - S.K.) corps and fought to clear the city from individual enemy groups.

6th and 5th Guards. mk(mechanized corps, - S.K.), having broken the resistance of the enemy, they overcame the pass with battles. On the night of 9.5.45 guards. mk 16 and 15 guards. mbr(motorized rifle brigade, - S.K.) from 22 Sabr(self-propelled artillery brigade, - S.K.) in the region of heights 757.0, 689.0, 414.0, southeast. Yanov in the region of heights 265.0, 259.0 continued to develop the offensive in the direction of Yanov, Most, Launy, Prague and at 12.30 9.5.45 entered Prague, occupying the southern and south-western. outskirts. 5 Guards MK successively took possession of Saida, Postoloprty, Most, at 9.00 9.5.45 entered Prague and, together with units of the 10th Guards. because he fought with the enemy ... ".

On May 9, 1945, the commander of the 3rd Guards Tank Army, Rybalko, reported to the commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, Marshal Konev:

“[At] 6.00 9.5.45 [in] the afternoon(so in the text, - S.K.) in the capital of Czechoslovakia, Prague, the first to enter the city were 69 MSB, the commander of the brigade guards. Colonel Vaganov, 50th MCP(motorcycle regiment, - S.K.), commander of the regiment lieutenant colonel Kalinin, 16 Sabr, commander of the brigade guards. Colonel Popov.

On May 9, 1945, by March 17, the city was completely occupied, contacted the military and civil authorities.

Power in the city belongs to the National Rada, Professor Albert Prazhak.

The military staff of the uprising is the commander of the uprising, Captain Georgy Nezhansky. Order has been restored in the city.

The task force of the army (headquarters of the army, - S.K.) - sowing. outskirts of Prague.

P. Rybalko, Melnikov, Bakhmetiev.

On the same day, the commander of the 4th Guards Tank Army, Lelyushenko, also reported to Marshal Konev:

“At 4.00 9.5.45, the 10th Guards. shopping mall entered the city of Prague and went out to its northeastern outskirts, eastern and southwestern outskirts.

6 Guards mk - to the southern and southwestern outskirts of Prague.

5 Guards mk - to the western outskirts.

Many prisoners and trophies were captured.

Those who resisted were destroyed.

Communication with the rebels - through Brigadier General Vedravba. There are no American troops. There are no neighbors. I conduct reconnaissance in the north-eastern part, south direction. I am tidying up. I'm with the task force - on the western outskirts of Prague.

D. Lelyushenko.

After the elimination of pockets of resistance in the Prague region, the troops of the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts continued their offensive in order to join the Americans and on May 11, 1945, met with them at the line of Chemnitz, Karlovy Vary, Pilsen.

WHERE a horse with a hoof goes, there is a cancer with a claw ... In the same days, the 1st division of the ROA under the command of "General" Bunyachenko, a former colonel of the Red Army, was in a hurry to Prague. Its number reached 20 thousand people. At the same time, it would be more correct to call the First Division of the ROA the first and last division of the "Russian" "Liberation" "Army". In any case, the first and last relatively combat-ready.

ROA Vlasov is also largely a myth, since only on September 16, 1944, Vlasov met with Himmler and received the latter's consent to the formation of two divisions.

Just!

In the middle of September 1944!

It is believed that Vlasov was dissatisfied with the number "two", because he allegedly counted on ten divisions. However, the point was not only that a compact military formation at the army level, consisting of traitors, but Russians, in the situation of the end of 1944 - beginning of 1945, the Germans did not need anything. The fact was that Vlasov, even in the best of times, would not have been able to recruit decent personnel for ten divisions, and even at the turn of 1944 and 1945 ...

But the former commander of the 389th Rifle Division of the Red Army Bunyachenko, who went over to the Germans on December 17, 1942, managed to form one full-blooded (in terms of numbers) division.

(In 1942, Bunyachenko was sentenced to death by a tribunal of the Northern Group of Forces of the Transcaucasian Front for creating a threat of encirclement for the 9th Army and the entire group - with a replacement of 10 years in prison and the opportunity to serve his sentence in the Army. However, he preferred direct betrayal to atonement ).

The 1st division of the ROA (600th "Panzer Grenadier Division") began to form in Musing in November 1944. Vlasov with the 2nd division (650th according to German numbering) was located 60 kilometers to the south-west - in Heuberg. After a short, unsuccessful and chaotic participation in hostilities against our troops, the 1st division of the ROA reached Dresden and came under the command of Field Marshal Scherner, commander of the Center Forces Group.

Bunyachenko did not get along with Sherner, and on April 27, 1945, the 1st division moved towards the Czech Republic.

But why?

To strengthen Scherner's group?

What a Sherner!

To help Prague?

There was no question of any altruistic motives, from any point of view. In addition, at the end of April 1945, everything was calm in Prague, and not only an anti-German uprising, but no unrest was expected - they began on the morning of May 1, 1945.

What could Bunyachenko's "division" do - twenty thousand people, starting to decompose as a military community and quickly turning into ten thousand? And - against the background of the mighty tank "skating rinks" Rybalko and Lelyushenko, ready to throw!

Even if not a demoralized "division" but a cohort of heroes was moving towards Prague, it would not have survived against Scherner's tanks and Waffen-SS grenadiers and would not have helped the Prague residents. But Bunyachenko's "eagles" did not fly high. They would have to get to the troops of General Eisenhower - and then good luck.

Actually, that's why Bunyachenko went to the combat zone, because the path to the places of deployment of units of the 3rd American Army ran through it. The Vlasovites did not liberate Prague - they went into American captivity, fearing Soviet captivity!

The rushing Vlasov, who joined up with Bunyachenko, also rushed to the Yankees. But even the Americans, who were beginning to pick up the German anti-Soviet cadres remaining idle, did not need Vlasov - he was very odious even for the Yankees. In addition, there were interstate agreements between the USSR and the allies regarding the extradition of this kind of public.

Another thing is the Czechs ...

The Czechs, having seen on their territory a military formation in German uniform but with Russian speech, at first were delighted. Czech partisan detachments made contact with the Vlasovites. On May 2, 1945, the 1st division of the ROA stopped 50 kilometers from Prague, and a delegation of officers of the Czech army arrived at its location from the capital ...

The delegation - an interesting moment - asked Bunyachenko to support the uprising. On May 5, 1945, the uprising began, and the rebels made a radio appeal for help to everyone at once, including the Americans.

On the evening of May 5, Bunyachenko was in the suburbs of Prague, and on May 6, the Vlasovites took part in a clash with SS units sent to suppress the uprising.

Why did the Vlasovites decide to support the Czechs? It is not difficult to understand this - the ROA division entered Prague in the expectation that the Yankees would come there ... After all, by May 5, 1945, units of the American army were much closer to Prague than the Soviet units ... The main thing was to surrender to the Allies or settle in some other way with them, and not with the Soviet command. It was this that predetermined the decision of Vlasov, who was at the location of the division, and Bunyachenko to join the rebels.

The forces in the Czech Republic were also clearly counting on the arrival of the Americans, who brewed "porridge" with a premature uprising, without agreeing on its timing with the Soviet command.

However, by the evening of May 6, 1945, the situation for Vlasov and for the non-communist initiators of the Prague uprising had changed fundamentally. Apparently, the Prague uprising was not initiated by the communists, but the Czech communists were able to quickly seize the initiative from the pro-American Czech leaders and lead the uprising - since it had begun.

In the negotiations between representatives of the Vlasov KONR (Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia) with representatives of the leadership of the uprising, the latter stated that the Czechs of Vlasov did not ask for help, that the rebels who had previously turned to Vlasov for help were not representatives of either the Czech people or the government ... Two-thirds of the newly formed The Czech government was made up of communists, and they advised Bunyachenko to surrender to the advancing Ruda Armada, that is, the Red Army.

The very fact that the communist leadership refused the services of the “Vlasovites” also speaks of their “combat capability”, and that they did not have the strength to influence the situation in a serious way. And the Central Committee of the Czech Communist Party, of course, contacted the command of the Soviet armies by radio and knew that the Lelyushenko and Rybalko tanks were on their way ...

On the way, it turned out that part of the Vlasov command: "Major General" Trukhin, "Major General" Boyarsky, "Major General" Shapovalov and "General" Blagoveshchensky, were captured by Czech Red partisans. Boyarsky was shot, Shapovalov was hanged. Trukhin and Blagoveshchensky - transferred to the Red Army.

The agony of ROA, KONR and their "tops" began.

On May 12, 1945, Vlasov was captured in the zone of location of the 25th tank corps of Major General Fomin. One can cite the full report of General Fomin to the Military Council of the 1st Ukrainian Front about how this happened, but is it worth it?

It is more interesting to return to the allies and to the Prague Uprising.

AFTER the demarche of the Soviet General Staff, insisting on compliance with the agreements reached at the Crimean (Yalta) Conference in February 1945, the 3rd American Army was forced to stop at the Karlovy Vary, Plzen, Ceske Budejovice line.

A simple glance at the map of the Czech Republic and Central Europe shows that by the time the Prague Uprising began, the Americans were closest to Prague. At that moment we were further away - in the area of ​​Dresden and Brno.

The Americans, of course, even without Churchill's hints, understood all the strategic benefits of occupying Prague, but it was not out of hand for Washington to flagrantly violate the agreements reached earlier with Moscow. The Russians were needed as allies in the war against Japan, and how it would turn out with the atomic bomb was still unclear - it was first tested only on July 16, 1945 at the Alamogordo test site in the desert state of New Mexico.

Therefore, the Americans limited themselves to probing - an armored reconnaissance column was sent to the Prague area, and the American captain who commanded it even met with the commander of the First Regiment of the First Division of the ROA "Colonel" Arkhipov. The captain explained that he was not the vanguard of the advancing troops, but only had to assess the situation - and was not at all going to enter Prague.

However, it can be assumed that on May 6, 1945, the question of the possible occupation of Prague by American troops was still open to the Yankees - if the Prague uprising was choking in blood. But since the rebels were doing well, the captain and his scouts went home.

As a result, only the Red Army units occupied Prague.

But not everything here is completely clear.

Soviet sources give the initiative to prepare an uprising, nevertheless, Communist Party Czechoslovakia. Like, on April 29, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia discussed the issue of the uprising and distributed among the members of the Central Committee the responsibilities for leading it, after which a detailed plan of the uprising was developed.

All this, most likely, was the case. But the communist plan for the Prague uprising does not exclude the existence of a non-communist (and even anti-communist, as in Warsaw in 1944) plan for the Prague uprising...

And since the anti-communists had to work "preemptively", they hurried to revolt. Well, in fact, if the Prague uprising, which began on May 5, 1945, was prepared by the communists, then why did it come as a complete surprise to Moscow? After all, the tankers of the armies of Rybalko and Lelyushenko had to urgently break through to Prague without the cover required by the charters - at the maximum possible speed! And all this haste was the result of a strange, not coordinated with us initiative of the citizens of Prague.

Without a doubt, the communists were really preparing an uprising, hoping to set it up by the time the Soviet troops reached the approaches to Prague, that is, somewhere by May 10-11, 1945. But it seems that the pro-American forces in the Czech Republic forced the deadlines, and forced them by agreement with Washington ...

It would be quite logical to assume at the same time that the Yankees authorized the uprising in the expectation that the Russians in an acute situation would falter and agree to the advance of the 3rd American army to the Vltava and Prague. Even if later they had to return to the former line of demarcation, the Yankees would have received a political profit on a trip to Prague.

Firstly, the return of Prague would be a concession to Russia - albeit a prearranged one, but a concession.

And concessions must be paid for with concessions.

Secondly, by entering Prague first, the Americans could influence the development of the situation in the Czech Republic in a more favorable direction for them, since by that time it had developed in the opposite direction.

Finally, an American entry into Prague would have disrupted the huge political, propaganda and agitation effect that Soviet Union received by liberating Prague alone. After all, Soviet troops were advancing through the liberated city in a sea of ​​people and flowers! In no Slavic capital we were met like in Prague.

Did America need it?

THEREFORE, there is no doubt that the Americans took some covert actions in early May 1945 in Czechoslovakia. Let me remind you: on May 4, Eisenhower - certainly with the sanction of Washington - carried out a sounding of the Soviet position, suggesting that Antonov, the chief of our General Staff, agree with the advance of American troops to the western banks of the Vltava and Prague.

Moscow firmly refused Washington, and the very next day Prague revolted, and on May 6, The New York Times reported an uprising in Prague.

The Americans ask us again, we again refuse. And the situation develops as it develops, gradually naturally “turning to the left” and “blushing”. However, there are still a lot of ambiguities.

Here, for example, is what our tank commanders reported...

General Rybalko: “The power in the city belongs to the National Rada, Professor Albert Prazhak. The military staff of the uprising is the commander of the uprising, Captain Georgy Nezhansky ... ".

General Lelyushenko: "Communication with the rebels - through Brigadier General Vedravba."

A strange discrepancy - either the captain leads the uprising, or the general. And Professor Albert Prazhak does not look like an ally of the communist Klement Gottwald. And where are the members of the underground Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, the leaders of the supposedly communist - according to Soviet sources - uprising? They should have been in contact with the Soviet communist generals in the first place ...

From a historical distance, and in the light of everything we know today about that war, it can be assumed that the Yankees provoked a premature uprising in Prague in the same way that the British provoked a premature uprising in Warsaw in the summer of 1944. And the motives in both cases were similar - the fear of a final seizure of power in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia by leftist forces, and even - God forbid! - communists.

But 1945 is not 1944! If eight months earlier the Warsaw Uprising was drowned in a sea of ​​blood, then the Prague Uprising was drowned in a sea of ​​flowers and smiles. It is characteristic that on May 9, 1945, Marshal Konev and a member of the Military Council Krainyukov were forced to give the following combat order to the commander of the 4th Guards Tank Army Lelyushenko:

“I order to immediately take Benesov (20 km southeast of Prague). Prevent the Germans from withdrawing to join the Allies. Stop celebrating in Prague.

Report on performance.

KONEV

KRAINYUKOV.

In its originality and meaning, this is, in a way, the most remarkable document of 1945. And in it, in the happiest way, the last military concerns of Konev’s soldiers were mixed up, and their already peaceful fun.

In Warsaw in the summer of 1944, this could not have been the case, but it was not the fault of the Russians - the Poles fell victim to their own provocation. Now times have changed dramatically, and this determined the completely different fates of the two uprisings in the two Slavic capitals.

Sergei Kremlev (Brezkun), especially for the "Ambassadorial order"

Image copyright RIA Novosti Image caption Soviet troops on the streets of Prague

Second World War in Europe ended not in Berlin, but in Prague, which became the last capital on the continent liberated from Nazi occupation.

The final point was set after the signing of the Act of unconditional surrender of the German armed forces.

Big politics intervened in military operations. Until now, disputes continue as to who, in fact, liberated Prague, and whether it should be this case talk about liberation.

Three competing forces were striving for one thing - to invite the Americans to Prague. They did not accept the gift, paying Stalin for participation in the war with Japan.

deep rear

Most of Slovakia was occupied by the Soviet army in January 1945. It was separated from the Czech Republic by the low Tatras, which were difficult for tanks to pass.

The main goal of the further offensive was, of course, Berlin. Due to objective political and geographical reasons, the main events in the spring of 1945 unfolded to the north, and the front stabilized on the territory of Czechoslovakia.

In Central and Northern Germany, the German troops were completely defeated and capitulated. In the south, starting from Dresden and further to the east and southeast, the German armies under the command of Field Marshal Schörner, with a total strength of about a million people, retained their combat capability, organization, management and continued to offer stubborn resistance From the speech of Marshal Konev in Prague on the first anniversary of the liberation

By the beginning of May, there were 900 thousand Wehrmacht troops, 1900 tanks, about a thousand aircraft and 9700 guns in the Czech Republic under the command of 52-year-old Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner, the only top military leader of the Third Reich who did not graduate from a military school, but began serving during the First World War as a private soldier.

He was not a politician, but a military one, gave paramount importance to the future participation of the USSR in the battles in the Pacific Ocean and found the establishment of Soviet control over Eastern Europe fair.

On April 24, he received a telegram from the Chief of the Soviet General Staff, Alexei Antonov, about his intention to occupy Prague and informed the Chief of Staff of the American Army, George Marshall, that he had taken note of it.

Marshall agreed with Eisenhower, writing to him on April 28: "I would not like to risk American lives for purely political purposes. Czechoslovakia must be cleared of German units, and in doing so we must cooperate with the Russians."

"I will not attempt to take a single step that I consider unwise from a military point of view, only to achieve some political advantage, unless I receive a specific order in this sense," Eisenhower replied the next day.

On April 25, Churchill informed the British Chiefs of Staff that Eisenhower "never planned to go to Czechoslovakia" and "never considered Prague as a military, much less a political target."

Pushing as far east as possible was demanded by two men: Churchill, who cared much more about the post-war future of Europe than the war with Japan, and George Patton, an unstoppable dashing warrior.

Churchill, who had earlier proposed to Roosevelt to occupy Berlin, on April 30 spoke about Prague as well.

I ordered my forces not to cross the České Budějovice - Pilsen - Karlovy Vary line. I believe that the Soviet troops will be able to quickly go on the offensive and defeat the enemy in the center of the country Dwight Eisenhower's telegram to Alexei Antonov on May 6, 1945

"There is no doubt that the liberation of Prague and most of western Czechoslovakia by your forces could change the post-war situation in this country and have an impact on other countries. On the contrary, if the Western allies do not play a significant role in the liberation of Czechoslovakia, this country can go the same way as and Yugoslavia," he wrote to Truman.

Patton was the first among American politicians and high-ranking military men to publicly speak about the Soviet threat and became famous for the words spoken shortly after the surrender of Germany that, they say, since we tore our guys off the spot and sent them to fight across the ocean, it was necessary to take Moscow at the same time.

However, little attention was paid to Churchill in Washington, while Patton had higher authorities.

On May 5, he advanced in the direction of Prague, occupying Pilsen, but Eisenhower, having received a telegram from Antonov, again ordered his subordinate to stop. Patton's troops were separated from the Czech capital at that moment by 70 kilometers.

unexpected help

Thus, the insurgent Prague found itself without support and under the threat of reprisal. Schörner's group survived in any case last days, but the clock decided.

Under these conditions, another force declared itself: the 1st division of the Russian Liberation Army, General Sergei Bunyachenko, located in the area of ​​​​the village of Rokycany southwest of Prague.

Hitler, with his pathological disgust for the Slavs, authorized the creation of the ROA only on November 23, 1944. By the time the war ended, it numbered about 45 thousand personnel and consisted of three divisions, but the 3rd existed only on paper, and the 2nd was in the process of formation.

According to reports, the Vlasovites were invited to Prague to fight the Germans by a member of the ChNS, the head of the organization of former Czechoslovak military personnel "Bartosh", General Kutlvashr, who, before the capture of Czechoslovakia by the Nazis, commanded a division, and then served as a civil official in the Prague magistrate. The envoy of Kutlwashr, Captain Rendl, met with Bunyachenko on May 3.

Andrei Vlasov no longer believed in salvation and was in a severe depression, but Bunyachenko caught fire with the idea.

"General Bunyachenko wanted to provide the allies with a service that could then increase the chances of the Vlasovites to stay in the West," Czech historian Stanislav Kokoshka wrote in the book Prague in May 1945.

Taking into account the mood of the soldiers and officers of the division, General Bunyachenko was sure that, being in the center of the events developing in Czechoslovakia, it would be impossible for the division to remain indifferent. If the command does not organize it into battle on the side of the Czechs, then the people themselves will spontaneously join this fight Vyacheslav Artemiev, commander of the 2nd regiment of the 1st division of the ROA

“Bunyachenko was guided by the desire to save the lives of his subordinates. An alliance with the Czech anti-fascist rebels, the joint expulsion of the Germans from Prague with them could open a way out of a tragic and deadly dead end,” notes Russian researcher Kirill Alexandrov.

At 05:30 on May 6, Czech Radio broadcast in plain text: "Officers and soldiers of the Vlasov army! We believe that you, at the last stage of the struggle against the German invaders, as Russian people and Soviet citizens, will support the rebellious Prague."

Bunyachenko's division, numbering about 16 thousand people, entered the city in three columns and attacked the German batteries, which were preparing to shell the center of Prague.

During the day, the Vlasovites drove the Germans out of most of the quarters and occupied the Ruzyne airfield, where, in their opinion, the planes with the American landing force were to land. About five hundred Germans surrendered to them in the area of ​​​​Lobrovitsovskaya Square.

Bunyachenko had a hope: if the Americans occupied Prague, then all the military personnel of the Vlasov troops would be able to receive political asylum in Czechoslovakia Kirill Aleksandrov, Russian historian

At the request of Bunyachenko, Czech Radio broadcast a message that the "heroic army of Vlasov" was liberating the city from the Germans. On the tanks and trucks of the ROA were inscriptions: "Death to Hitler! Death to Stalin!".

At the request of the communists, the ChNS issued a new appeal: "Soldiers of the so-called Vlasov army! You were organized to fight against your Soviet power. You decided in time to turn your weapon against the Nazis, against the enemies of your homeland. We welcome your decision. Beat the Nazis like the citizens of Prague, as they were beaten by the glorious Red Army!

The inhabitants greeted the "Russian liberators" with flowers and applause: as they later wrote in the USSR and Czechoslovakia, they did not understand what was happening.

In fact, everyone understood everything perfectly. "Both the Germans, and the Vlasovites, and the Czechs - everyone wanted the Americans to occupy Prague," writes Russian historian Vladimir Beshanov.

Retreat

However, on the morning of May 8, American envoys arrived at Schörner's headquarters and announced that their army would not liberate Prague. They also met with Vlasov representatives, who were given the same thing.

Bunyachenko ordered his men to urgently advance to the west. The Germans, who had fought with them a few hours ago, also ran there.

Schörner presented the CHNS with an ultimatum: let his troops out of the city without a fight. The request was accepted. The corresponding agreement was signed by Kutlvarsh and the German commandant of Prague, General Toussen, at 16:00 on May 8.

“This agreement, unlike unconditional surrender, was previously assessed as a “military and political mistake.” But it must be borne in mind that the citizens of Prague had almost no weapons, and the Germans were well armed and ready to fight to the last. The rebels also did not have accurate data on the movement of units Soviet army. Therefore, from the point of view of common sense, the desire to avoid unnecessary bloodshed and the destruction of Prague is quite understandable," writes Russian historian Valentina Maryina.

We have seen how the communists use the favor and patronage of the Soviet troops in order to be in the liberated cities earlier than other politicians. Their goal was to gain an advantage over the rest in organizing a new political life Prokop Drtina, Minister of Justice in the government of Eduard Beneš

In 1949, the communist authorities of Czechoslovakia declared the leaders of the National Council to be traitors. The "commander of the uprising" Jaromir Nekhansky was shot, the deputy chairman of the council, the prominent communist Josef Smrkovsky and General Kutlvarsh received long prison terms, and were released only in 1960.

For some time Kutlvarsh was kept in the same camp with General Toussen, later he lived a century, working as a watchman at a brewery. In the new Czech Republic, he was posthumously awarded the rank of army general.

Smrkovsky was reinstated in the party, and he became a prominent figure in the "Prague Spring" of 1968.

The chairman of the council, 69-year-old professor Albert Prazhak, was not touched, but was deprived of the opportunity to engage in science and social activities.

The final

By the morning of May 9, Rybalko's and Lelyushenko's tanks approached Prague from the northwest, three times the rate of movement specified in Konev's order. The Prague operation is considered in military history a classic example of the successful use of large mechanized formations. Following from the south and east, units of the 2nd and 4th Ukrainian fronts arrived in time, including the 1st separate Czechoslovak tank brigade.

Our city was saved from death and destruction and wrested from the clutches of the Nazis primarily by the heroic Red Army. Dear brothers-Slavs! The unparalleled heroism and incomparable self-sacrifice of Soviet soldiers in this terrible world war have gone down in history. But not only in history - they also entered the hearts of all the inhabitants of Prague and the entire Czechoslovak people From the speech of the mayor of Prague, Petr Zenkl, in May 1945

The first to enter the city was the head patrol of the 63rd Guards Chelyabinsk Tank Brigade of the 1st Ukrainian Front of three tanks under the command of Junior Lieutenant Leonid Burakov.

Marshal Konev became an honorary citizen of Prague. A street was named after the commander of the tank, Lieutenant Ivan Goncharenko, who died from the explosion of a faustpatron near the Manesov Bridge.

The total losses of the Soviet army during the Prague operation amounted to 11997 killed and 40501 wounded, as well as 373 tanks, 1006 guns and 80 aircraft.

About 500 soldiers and officers who were buried at the Olshansky cemetery fell directly in the city.

During the Prague uprising on May 5-8, more than 1,500 Czechs, about a thousand Germans and about 300 Vlasovites died.

On the morning of May 9, the German retreat turned into a disorderly rout. About 860 thousand soldiers and officers of the Schörner group were captured by the Soviets, as the Americans closed the front in front of them.

On May 9, Schörner left the army, got on a plane and landed on the territory controlled by the Americans, but after interrogation he was extradited to the USSR. A special meeting at the MGB sentenced him to 25 years in the camps. In January 1955, Schörner was released to Germany, where he served time for brutality against German soldiers, and died in 1973, the last of the Nazi field marshals.

On the evening of May 9, the remnants of the elite divisions of the SS Reich and Wallenstein under the command of Obergruppenführer Friedrich von Pückler-Burghaus approached the dividing line between Soviet and American troops near the village of Slivice.

After the Americans refused to accept their surrender, the SS dug in.

They first went to the hospital where Vlasov's soldiers were. Some were shot right in their beds, the rest were brought here, they dug a hole, those who could not walk were thrown there and shot. And those wounded who could walk were brought to that wall, shot, and then their bodies were thrown into a common grave Jan Billik, caretaker of the Olshansky cemetery

On May 12, the last battle of World War II in Europe took place there, in which the attacking Soviet units were supported by American artillery. About a thousand SS men were killed, over six thousand surrendered, Pückler-Burghaus shot himself.

187 wounded Vlasovites left in Prague hospitals were immediately killed. In total, according to the German historian Josef Hofmann, the winners shot about 600 ROA servicemen in Prague and its environs without trial or investigation within a few days.

Generals Zhilenkov, Malyshkin, Bunyachenko and Maltsev reached the Americans, but were handed over to the USSR and on August 1, 1946, they were hanged in the courtyard of the Butyrka prison along with Vlasov and Trukhin.

At first, it was planned to hold a public trial on them in the House of Unions. But on April 26, 1946, Minister of State Security Viktor Abakumov and Chairman of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court Vasily Ulrikh turned to Stalin with a request "to hear the case of traitors in a closed court session in connection with the possibility of the defendants presenting anti-Soviet views in an open trial, which objectively may coincide with the moods of a certain part of the population".

Yesterday I was in Prague. The city is in good condition and has almost no destruction From the report of Marshal Konev to Stalin on May 12, 1945

The retreat of the Wehrmacht was accompanied by spontaneous reprisals of the Czechs against the unarmed Sudeten Germans. About 200,000 civilians fled to Germany and Austria, the rest were soon organized and evicted to the American and British occupation zones at the direction of President Beneš.

The classical version of events, adopted in the USSR and Czechoslovakia, says that the Soviet army, having carried out a brilliant operation, saved Prague from destruction by Schörner's troops. Many modern Czech historians claim that by the time it appeared, the Germans were already leaving the city, so there was no one to save and free.