Soviet pilots next to the Luftwaffe pilots. "Ostfligers": what Soviet aces fought for Hitler. Worthy grandchildren of Baron Munchausen

Until recently, the participation of Soviet pilots on the side of Germany in the Great Patriotic War was classified information. All archives were classified, there was no public access to them. To date, this page of history has been very little studied, but some of the archival documents were still declassified.

Long before the declaration of World War II, some pilots of the Soviet Air Force used their own vehicles to escape abroad. So, the commander of the 17th squadron Klim and the senior mechanic Timashchuk flew to Poland on the same plane. The pilot of the Civil Air Fleet G. N. Kravets made a flight to the territory of Latvia. For its own purposes, it was used by the sabotage and reconnaissance "Enterprise" Zeppelin "as the head of the reconnaissance group. Their mission was to undermine infrastructure facilities in the Soviet rear - bridges on railroad across the Volga and Kama.

A powerful propaganda campaign carried out by the Germans pushed Soviet pilots to fly. Leaflets, issued in large editions, called for a desertion to the side of the "brothers in arms - the pilots of the Luftwaffe." Citing data from German military documents, 20 crews took advantage of the escape for the first time 3 months in 1944. The first such incident occurred during the bombing of Konigsberg. The navigator jumped off the plane with a parachute from his SB. In this situation, preference was given to desertion instead of returning to the same airfield. It was not possible to fight flights, even despite the measures taken against hidden desertion - section of the order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR No. 229 of 1941. This trend continued until 1945 [С-BLOCK]

The first instance of the German Armed Forces, who submitted offers to use Russian pilots from among the prisoners of war, was the Abwehr. 1942, led by Major Filatov, a training air group began to operate as part of the RNNA. It consisted of 22 people. But with a change in leadership, it was closed. The second successful attempt was realized in the first days of October 1943 in the city of Letzen (East Prussia) on the initiative of V.I. Maltsev.

A significant role in the ranks of the Russian Liberation Movement belongs to Viktor Ivanovich Maltsev (05.25.1895-1.08.1946). In the Red Army, he held a number of command and staff positions. In November 1941, he voluntarily went over to the side of the Germans, in order, in his words, "to fight against the Bolsheviks." In 1942 he took up the post of burgomaster of Yalta in 1942, but stayed for a short time due to his earlier membership in the Communist Party. He worked as a magistrate and was engaged in the formation of anti-Soviet military formations... In 1943 he began to work on the creation of the Russian Eastern Aviation Group. [C-BLOCK] The selected military aviators were sent to the Suwalki airbase, where they underwent a rigorous professional and medical selection. At the end of 1943, Russian pilots were sent to the Eastern Front, where they fought against their compatriots. The "Ostland auxiliary night assault group" was created, which was equipped with U-2, I-15, I-153, and other obsolete aircraft. The pilots - "Ostfligers" included 2 Heroes Soviet Union: fighter captain Bychkov S. T., senior lieutenant Antilevsky B. R. The squadron made 500 sorties, there is little data on the content of the tasks being performed. Her work was highly appreciated by the German command, some of the flight personnel were awarded "Iron Crosses".

Hundreds, if not thousands of books have been written about former Soviet generals and officers who went over to the side of the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War, not to mention newspaper articles. And about the Hitlerite military who fought under the banner of the Red Army - almost nothing.

But there were also very remarkable figures among them - which is only the great-grandson of Otto von Bismarck himself, Count Heinrich von Einsiedel. The Germans from the Union of German Officers fought shoulder to shoulder with the Red Army, and General Andrei Vlasov's collaborationist Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR) had a Soviet counterpart - the Free Germany National Committee, whose leadership included Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus. The Hitlerite military even took part in the partisan movement, and one of them was awarded the Golden Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, albeit posthumously.
Until now, historians argue, from which side there were more defectors - from the Soviet or from the German. As a rule, those who are of the opinion about the relatively small number of Hitlerites who went over to the Soviet side use the official statistics of the NKVD. And it is as follows: during the war years "recruited for subversive and intelligence activities from among the prisoners of war by the NKVD: 5341 Germans, 1266 Romanians, 943 Italians, 855 Hungarians, 106 Finns, 92 Austrians, 75 Spaniards, 24 Slovaks." But, firstly, we are talking only about those who were recruited by the NKVD officers, and besides them, several other departments were engaged in recruiting. And, secondly, only scouts and saboteurs were taken into account. Therefore, the statistics are incomplete - in it, for example, there is no data on the Red Army units of the Union of German Officers. By the way, these units distinguished themselves more than once in battles with the Nazis, in particular during the Seelow-Berlin operation. According to the testimony of the German memoirist Helmut Altner, "they went into battle in German uniforms, with German awards and differed from the Nazi troops only in a bandage on their sleeve, made in the colors of the flag of the Weimar Republic (the current flag of the FRG. - Ed.)". So the question of the exact number of defectors is still open.
The first German defector is considered to be Alfred Liskov, a Wehrmacht soldier who informed the Soviet military about the impending war the day before it began. Liskov served in the 15th Infantry Division, stationed in the Sokal region (present-day Lvov region of Ukraine) - this unit was to cross our border one of the first. Learning about the impending offensive, on June 21, Liskov fled from the unit, swam across the Bug and at about 9 pm surrendered to the Red Army border guards. All summer Liskov participated in the propaganda activities of the Comintern, and in the fall he had a fight with its leader Georgy Dimitrov. And he declared the defector "a fascist and an anti-Semite." Liskov was arrested, and in 1942 he was shot.
Upon learning that one of his favorites had gone over to the side of the enemy, Hitler announced a generous reward for being returned to the Reich alive or dead - as much as half a million Reichsmarks.
Two days after the start of the war, a German Junkers bomber unexpectedly landed in the vicinity of Kiev. His entire crew - consisting of Hans Hermann, Hans Kratz, Wilhelm Schmidt and Adolf Appel - voluntarily surrendered. As reported by "Sovinformburo", "not wanting to fight against the Soviet people, the pilots first dropped bombs into the Dnieper, and then landed near the city, where they surrendered to the local peasants." The example of the Junkers crew in just two summer months of the first year of the war was followed by at least two dozen other German pilots. But the most famous defector ace was undoubtedly Heinrich von Einsiedel. An aristocrat, great-grandson of the first chancellor of the German Empire, Bismarck, von Einsiedel, who was barely 20 years old by the beginning of World War II, enjoyed the patronage of Hitler himself. He served in the elite 3rd Fighter Squadron, named after the famous World War I ace pilot Ernst Udet. In the battles near Belgrade and Paris, Lieutenant von Einsiedel shot down two dozen planes, and in 1942 Hitler sent him to the East, admonishing: “Put order in the skies over Stalingrad, Count. I believe you will do it. " Bismarck's great-grandson was shot down over Sarepta, he was captured, and he was sent to an officer's camp near Moscow. There he met Friedrich Paulus, with whom they created, one might say, the collaborationist committee "Free Germany"., Incalculable for those times money. But fate smiled on the descendant of Bismarck: after the war, he left for Germany, where he lived to his advanced years.
The fate of Lieutenant General Walter von Seydlitz-Kurzbach was a little less dramatic than that of the odious leader of the KONR. The division he commanded took part in breaking through the Maginot Line and marched victoriously across Poland and Holland. For this, the Fuhrer awarded his heroic general with the Knight's Iron Cross. On the Eastern Front, von Seydlitz-Kurzbach ended up in the early days of the war, and in January 1943, the general was captured along with the headquarters of the corps entrusted to him shortly before. Seydlitz-Kurzbach was, as they say, a "military bone" and did not particularly favor the "upstart" of the Fuhrer. In the POW camp, he, together with Generals Otto Korfes, Martin Lattmann and Alexander von Daniels, decided to cooperate with the Soviet authorities in order to overthrow Hitler.
In the fall of 1943, at the founding conference in Lunevo, von Seydlitz-Kurzbach was elected chairman of the Union of German Officers, and then deputy chairman of the National Committee "Free Germany". Behind the eyes, Soviet generals began to call von Seydlitz-Kurzbach "German Vlasov." Meanwhile, the military court of Dresden sentenced the general to death in absentia. At the end of the war, the Union of German Officers was dissolved, and for the next five years of his life, the general worked in the military-historical department of the USSR General Staff. But after von Seydlitz-Kurzbach applied for repatriation to the Soviet zone of occupation, he was arrested. In 1950, the moratorium on the death penalty was lifted in the USSR and the general was again sentenced to death for the second time in his life. But then they replaced him with 25 years of imprisonment and sent him to Butyrka, where he was held for five years. He was released in 1955 and immediately returned to Germany.


Even outwardly, Fritz Schmenkel was somewhat reminiscent of the gallant soldier Schweik, the hero of the novel by Jaroslav Hasek. A short, densely built guy clearly did not differ in special heroism: when in 1938 he was called up to serve in the Wehrmacht, he preferred to “cut him off”, citing poor health. Then there were hospitals and a bed in an insane asylum - everything was like Hasek's. And then the "refusenik" Shmenkel was put in prison. In general, I had to ask to go to war, so as not to rot in a cell with criminals. With the rank of corporal, Shmenkel ended up on the Eastern Front. But he did not have to fight for his native country for a long time - in the fall of 1941 he fled from the location of the unit and hid in the villages of the Smolensk region until he was caught by policemen. They put Shmenkel in a barn under lock and key. And here - the partisans.
The partisan detachment in which Shmenkel fell was called "Death to Fascism." At first, ours were going to shoot the prisoner. But by some miracle, the German managed to prove that he, in general, was also against Hitler. Okay, said the partisans, let's test you in battle. And in the very first skirmish with the Nazis, Shmenkel managed to distinguish himself: he shot a German sniper who was firing aimed fire at the partisans from an ambush. In August 1942, Shmenkel, dressed in a German uniform, captured 11 policemen without a fight and handed them over to the partisan court. Further more. Having procured somewhere the uniform of a German general, Shmenkel stopped a German convoy with food and ammunition and sent it into the forest, straight for a partisan ambush. In the end, the Nazis learned about the German soldier, partisan along with the Russians, appointed a large reward for his head. And the partisans by that time already held Shmenkel for their own and even called him not Fritz, but Ivan Ivanovich.
At the beginning of 1944, not far from Minsk, the brave Shmenkel was captured by the Nazis. On February 22, he was shot by a court-martial sentence ... In 1964, Fritz Schmenkel was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union - posthumously.

If you read books,
especially released in
recent years, and even
rummage on the internet
about aviation losses
in the second world
war, it will be revealed
somewhat more
popular topics. The first
theme - German aces. Already
how are they soviet
pilots were beaten in
tail and mane, but those in
in the end their meat
filled up. Another topic -
air comparison
wars in the West and
East. Say, English
americans cool
peppers, with them asam
the Luftwaffe was oh how
hard. But on
east front vanek
piled whole sheaves.
But they don't care
German air
knights "meat
filled up.
But, let's turn to figures and facts:
First digit from
of the reference book "Russia and
USSR in the wars of the XX century "
edited by G.F.
Krivosheeva. Directory
very authoritative and I
have not met yet
a person who would
seriously tried
challenge the numbers in it,
concerning the second
world war.
So, on page 517
the total number is indicated
irrevocable
lost USSR
aircraft over the years
The great Patriotic
war. Total number
lost aircraft
88.3 thousand pieces. Of them
43.1 thousand were
lost in battle. Those.
Germans and their allies
shot down less than half
all lost
The Soviet Union
aircraft. I am nowhere
met someone
reasoned these
the numbers were challenged.
Now let's look at
German losses.
Another figure from
of the history
Russia XX century "A.A.
Danilov. On page 230
the total number is indicated
aircraft losses
Luftwaffe East
front - over 70 thousand
things!
Comrades, what is this
does it work?
They beat the vanek on
sleeping airfields in
1941, they hunted
they are like a game for long
years of war, and in
as a result, it turned out
lost MORE than
Russians?
I write "more" because
that the Allied Air Force and
satellites in Germany:
Italy, Romania,
Finland, Hungary in
lost amount too
quite a few
aircraft. And if someone
will tell you that the Russians
on wooden planes
were suckers and filled up
cultural Europeans
meat and wood -
send everyone ... to teach
materiel.
Well, a few words about
comparisons of air
wars in the west and
eastern fronts. For
let's take comparisons again
same reference book
Krivosheev and a book
"Protracted
blitzkrieg "written
collective author under
leadership
field marshal background
Runstedt. In the end
books are hefty
number of pages,
concerning human
losses of the Luftwaffe.
According to one of the tables
Luftwaffe since September
1939 to April 1
1941 in the west
front lost 8256
aircraft.
Accordingly, losses
were 688 aircraft
per month. I draw
attention that this
period falls and
sung in the west
"Battle of Britain"
defeat of France,
Yugoslavia, Greece,
Poland, Netherlands,
Norway, Denmark,
Belgium ...
Impressive?
Now we look at another
number in the same book
German authors. WITH
06/29/1941 to 06/30/1942
the Luftwaffe lost
8529 aircraft. Those. 710
aircraft per month. How
notes the author - to this
time "strategic
air war "on
West was Germany
terminated.
And this despite the fact that
the Luftwaffe in the USSR had
air supremacy.
Further losses of the Luftwaffe
grow. In 1943
the Luftwaffe is already losing
1457 planes per month.
When in 1944
finally opens
second front, luftwaffe
begins to lose almost
3000 planes per month!
In my opinion, the numbers
more than
convincing ...

Reviews

You are absolutely right, the lot of unlucky commanders and aces is to write thick and very boring books, proving: "Eh, if it were not for this (this), then I would
defeated everyone! "

And in general, we would give them so if they caught up with us.

In this sense, German soldiers 'memoirs are more interesting than generals' memoirs, although they often touch me simply by the author's amazement: why are Russian soldiers shooting at them, and the population poisoning wells and derailing trains, because we Germans made them happy with our invasion.

Until recently, the topic related to the participation of Soviet air aces in the Great Patriotic War on the side of the Germans was one of the most closed. Even today it is called a little-studied page in our history. These issues are most fully set out in the works of J. Hoffmann ("History of the Vlasov Army". Paris, 1990. And "Vlasov against Stalin. Moscow. AST, 2005.) And K. M. Aleksandrov (" Army Officer Corps General - Lieutenant A. A. Vlasov 1944 - 1945 "- St. Petersburg, 2001;" Russian soldiers of the Wehrmacht. Heroes and traitors "- Yauza, 2005)

Russian aviation units of the Luftwaffe were formed from 3 categories of pilots: recruited in captivity, emigrants and voluntary defectors, or rather "pilots" to the side of the enemy. Their exact number is unknown. According to I. Hoffmann, who used German sources, quite a lot of Soviet pilots voluntarily flew over to Germany's side - in 1943 there were 66 of them, in the first quarter of 1944 another 20 were added.

I must say that escapes of Soviet pilots abroad happened before the war. So, in 1927, the commander of the 17th squadron Klim and the senior mechanic Timashchuk fled to Poland in the same plane. In 1934, G. N. Kravets flew from one of the airfields of the Leningrad Military District to Latvia. In 1938, the head of the Luga flying club, Senior Lieutenant V.O. Unishevsky, flew to Lithuania on a U-2 plane. And in the years of the Great Patriotic War under the influence of German propaganda and our failures at the front, such flights increased many times over. In the historical literature, among the Russian "pilots" are mentioned the career officers of the Red Army Air Force, Lieutenant Colonel B. A. Pivenstein, Captains K. Arzamastsev, A. Nikulin and others.

The bulk of those who joined the Luftwaffe were pilots shot down in air battles and recruited while in captivity.

The most famous "Stalinist falcons" who fought on the side of the Germans: Heroes of the Soviet Union Captain Bychkov Semyon Trofimovich, Senior Lieutenant Antilevsky Bronislav Romanovich, as well as their commander - Red Army Air Force Colonel Viktor Ivanovich Maltsev. Various sources also mention those who collaborated with the Germans: Acting Commander of the Air Force of the 20th Army of the Western Front, Colonel Vanyushin Alexander Fedorovich, who became Deputy and Chief of Staff at Maltsev, Chief of Communications of the 205th Fighter Air Division Major Sitnik Serafima Zakharovna, Squadron Commander of the 13th Aviation Regiment high-speed bombers Captain F. I. Ripushinsky, Captain A. P. Mettl (real name - Retivov), who served in the aviation of the Black Sea Fleet, and others. According to the calculations of the historian K. M. Aleksandrov, there were 38 of them in total.

Most of the captive air aces were convicted after the war. So, on July 25, 1946, the military tribunal of the Moscow military district sentenced Antilevsky to death under Art. 58-1 p. "B" of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. A month later, under the same article and to the same punishment, the district court convicted Bychkov.

In archival outfits, the author had a chance to study other sentences passed against Soviet pilots shot down during the war, who then served in aviation on the side of the Germans. For example, on April 24, 1948, the military tribunal of the Moscow Military District considered in a closed court hearing case No. 113 against the former pilot of the 35th high-speed bomber regiment Ivan (in the works of K. Alexandrov - Vasily) Vasilyevich Shiyan. According to the verdict, he was shot down while performing a combat mission on July 7, 1941, after which he was recruited by German intelligence agencies in a prisoner of war camp, after graduating from the espionage and sabotage school "for reconnaissance and sabotage purposes, he was thrown into the location of the troops of the 2nd Shock Army", in the fall 1943 and until the end of the war "served in the aviation units of the traitorous so-called Russian Liberation Army", first as deputy commander of the "1st Eastern Squadron, and then as its commander." Further in the verdict it was said that Shiyan bombed partisan bases in the region of the cities of Dvinsk and Lida, for active assistance to the Germans in the fight against partisans he was awarded three German medals, received the military rank "Captain", and after being detained and filtered, he tried to hide his treasonous activities , calling himself Snegov Vasily Nikolaevich. The tribunal sentenced him to 25 years in the camps.

The court also measured the same amount for Lieutenant I. G. Radionenkov, who was shot down on the Leningrad front in February 1942, who, to “disguise his personality, acted under the fictitious name and name of Mikhail Gerasimovich Schvets.

"At the end of 1944, Radionenkov betrayed his Motherland and voluntarily entered the service of the traitors' air unit, the so-called ROA, where he was awarded the rank of Lieutenant of the ROA Aviation ... he was part of a fighter squadron ... performed training flights on Messerschmitt-109."

Due to the paucity of archival sources, it cannot be categorically asserted that all the pilots repressed after the war really served in the German aviation, since the MGB investigators could force some of them to give "confessionary" testimonies using the well-known methods of that time.

Some of the pilots experienced these methods on themselves in the pre-war years. For V. I. Maltsev, staying in the basements of the NKVD was the main motive for going over to the side of the enemy. If historians still argue about the reasons that prompted General A.A. Vlasov to betray the Motherland, then with regard to the commander of the Air Force of his army V.I.Maltsev, everyone agrees that he really was an ideological anti-Soviet and pushed him to such a decision, the application of unreasonable reprisals against the former Colonel of the Red Army Air Force. The story of his transformation into an "enemy of the people" was typical of that time.

Viktor Ivanovich Maltsev, born in 1895, one of the first Soviet military flights. In 1918, he voluntarily joined the Red Army, the next year he graduated from the Yegoryevsk school of military pilots, in the years Civil war was wounded. Maltsev was one of V.P. Chkalov's instructors, during his training at the Yegorievsk Aviation School. In 1925, Maltsev was appointed head of the Central Aerodrome in Moscow, and 2 years later he became assistant to the head of the Air Force of the Siberian Military District. In 1931, he headed the district's aviation and held this position until 1937, when he was withdrawn to the reserve, receiving the post of head of the Turkmen Civil Aviation Directorate. For the successes achieved in his work, he was even nominated for the award of the Order of Lenin.

But on March 11, 1938, he was unexpectedly arrested as a participant in a "military - fascist conspiracy" and only on September 5 of the following year was released for lack of evidence of the charges. During his confinement in the basements of the Ashgabat NKVD department, Maltsev was repeatedly tortured, but he did not admit any of the trumped-up charges. After his release, Maltsev was reinstated in the party and in the ranks of the Red Army, having been appointed head of the Aeroflot sanatorium in Yalta. And on November 8, 1941, on the very first day of the occupation of Crimea by German troops, in the form of a Colonel of the Red Army Air Force, he appeared at the German military commandant's office and offered his services to create an anti-Soviet volunteer battalion.

The fascists appreciated Maltsev's zeal: they published his memoir "Conveyor of the GPU" in 50,000 copies for propaganda purposes, and then appointed him burgomaster of Yalta. More than once he spoke to the local population with calls for an active struggle against Bolshevism, and personally formed the 55th punitive battalion to fight the partisans for this purpose. For the diligence shown at the same time, he was awarded the bronze and silver badges for the eastern peoples "For Bravery" II class with swords.

A lot has been written about how Maltsev got along with Vlasov and began to create the ROA aviation. It is known that back in August 1942, in the area of ​​the city of Orsha, on the initiative and under the leadership of former Soviet officers Major Filatov and Captain Ripushinsky, a Russian air group was created under the so-called Russian National People's Army (RNNA). And in the fall of 1943, Lieutenant Colonel Holters came up with a similar initiative. By that time, Maltsev had already submitted a report on joining Vlasov's army, but since the formation of the ROA had not yet begun, he actively supported Holters' idea of ​​creating a Russian volunteer air group, which he was asked to lead.

During interrogations in SMERSH, he testified that at the end of September 1943, the Germans invited him to the town of Moritzfelde, where the camp of aviators recruited to serve Vlasov was located. There were by that time only 15 pilots - traitors. At the beginning of December of the same year, the German Air Force General Staff allowed the formation of Russian prisoners of war pilots who had betrayed their Motherland, an "eastern squadron", the commander of which was appointed the White emigrant Tarnovsky. On him, Maltsev, the Germans entrusted the leadership of the formation and selection of flight personnel. The squadron was formed, and in the first half of January 1944, he escorted it to the city of Dvinsk, where he handed it over to the command of the Air Force commander of one of the German Air Armies, after which this squadron took part in combat operations against the partisans. Upon his return from the city of Dvinsk, he began to form "ferry groups" from captured Soviet pilots to ferry aircraft from German aircraft factories to operating German military units. At the same time, he formed 3 such groups with a total number of 28 people. The pilots were handled personally, recruiting about 30 people. Then, until June 1944, he was engaged in anti-Soviet propaganda activities in a prisoner of war camp in the city of Moritzfeld.

Maltsev was unstoppable. He tirelessly rode through the camps, picking up and treating captured pilots. One of his addresses said:

"I have been a communist all my conscious life, and not in order to wear a party card as an additional food ration card, I sincerely and deeply believed that this way we will come to a happy life. But now we have passed best years, my head turned white, and with this came the worst thing - disappointment in everything that I believed and worshiped. The best ideals have been spat upon. But the most bitter thing was the realization that all my life I was a blind instrument of Stalin's political adventures ... Let it be hard to disappointment in my best ideals, even if the best part of my life was lost, but the rest of my days I will devote to the fight against the executioners of the Russian people, for a free, happy , great Russia ".

The recruited pilots were transported to a training camp specially created by the Germans in the Polish city of Suwalki. There, the "volunteers" were subjected to a comprehensive check and further psychological treatment, trained, sworn in, and then went to East Prussia, where an air group was formed in the Moritzfeld camp, which received the name of the Holters-Maltsev group in historical literature ...

J. Hoffmann wrote:

"In the fall of 1943, Lieutenant Colonel of the General Staff Holters, head of the Vostok intelligence processing point at the Luftwaffe Command Headquarters (OKL), who processed the results of interrogations of Soviet pilots, proposed to form a flight unit of prisoners ready to fight on the side of Germany. Holters enlisted the support of the former Colonel. Soviet aviation Maltsev, a man of rare charm ... "

In the nets of the "charming" Maltsev, the captured "Stalin's Falcons" - Heroes of the Soviet Union Captain S. T. Bychkov and Senior Lieutenant B. R. Antilevsky soon found themselves.

Antilevsky was born in 1917 in the village of Markovtsy

In September 1940, Antilevsky was enrolled as a cadet in the Kachin Red Banner Military Aviation School named after Comrade. Myasnikov, after which he received the military rank of "Junior Lieutenant" and from April 1942 participated in the Great Patriotic War as part of the 20th Fighter Aviation Regiment. He flew on "Yaks", showed himself well in the August battles of 1942 near Rzhev.

In 1943, the regiment was included in the 303rd Fighter Aviation Division, after which Antilevsky became deputy squadron commander.

Major General of Aviation G. N. Zakharov wrote:

“The 20th fighter specialized in escorting bombers and attack aircraft. The glory of the pilots of the 20th regiment is a low glory. seeks any fighter in open battle, could not throw the "Ily" or "Petlyakovs" and headlong rush at the enemy aircraft. due ... The regiment performed its tasks in an exemplary manner, and in this work it, perhaps, had no equal in the division. "

The summer of 1943 was going well for Senior Lieutenant BR Antilevsky. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and then, in the August battles, he shot down 3 enemy aircraft in 3 days. But on August 28, 1943, he himself was hit and ended up in German captivity, where at the end of 1943 he voluntarily entered the Russian Liberation Army, received the rank of Lieutenant ...

A particularly valuable acquisition of Maltsev was the Hero of the Soviet Union Captain S. T. Bychkov.

He was born on May 15, 1918 in the village of Petrovka, Khokholsky district, Voronezh province. In 1936 he graduated from the Voronezh flying club, after which he remained to work as an instructor. In September 1938, Bychkov graduated from the Tambov School of the Civil Air Fleet and began working as a pilot at the Voronezh airport. And in January 1939 he was drafted into the Red Army. He studied at the Borisoglebsk Aviation School. Served in the 12th Reserve Aviation Regiment, 42nd and 287th Fighter Aviation Regiments. In June 1941, Bychkov graduated from the courses for fighter pilots of the Konotop military school. He flew an I-16 fighter.

He fought well. During the first 1.5 months of the war, he shot down 4 Nazi aircraft. But in 1942, the deputy squadron commander, Lieutenant S. T. Bychkov, first appeared under the tribunal. He was found guilty of committing an aircraft accident and sentenced to 5 years in forced labor camps, but on the basis of note 2 to Art. 28 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, the sentence was postponed with the sending of the convicted person to the army. He himself was eager to fight and quickly atoned for his guilt. Soon, his criminal record was removed.

1943 was a good year for Bychkov, as well as for his future friend Antilevsky. He became a famous air ace, received two Orders of the Red Banner. His conviction was no longer remembered. As part of the fighter aviation regiments of the 322nd fighter division, he took part in 60 air battles, in which he destroyed 15 aircraft personally and 1 in a group. In the same year, Bychkov became deputy commander of the 482nd Fighter Regiment, on May 28, 1943, he was given the Captain, and on September 2, the Golden Star.

The submission for awarding him the title of Hero of the Soviet Union said:

"Participating in fierce air battles with superior enemy air forces from 12 Muehl to 10 August 1943, he proved himself to be an excellent fighter pilot, whose courage is combined with great skill. He enters the battle boldly and decisively, conducts it at a high pace, imposes his will to the enemy ... "

Luck changed Semyon Bychkov on December 10, 1943. By anti-aircraft artillery fire, his fighter was shot down in the Orsha region. Shrapnel also wounded Bychkov, but he jumped out with a parachute, and after landing was captured. The hero was placed in a camp for captured pilots in Suwalki. And then he was transferred to the Moritzfelde camp, where he joined the Holters-Maltsev aviation group.

Was this decision voluntary? There is no unequivocal answer to this question even today. It is known that in the court session of the military collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR in the case of Vlasov and other leaders of the ROA, Bychkov was interrogated as a witness. He told the court that in the Moritzfelde camp, Maltsev offered him to go to serve in the ROA aviation. After refusal, he was severely beaten by Maltsev's henchmen and spent 2 weeks in the infirmary. But Maltsev did not leave him alone there, continuing to intimidate that in his homeland he would still be "shot as a traitor" and that he had no choice, since in case of refusal to serve in the ROA, he would make sure that he, Bychkov, was sent to a concentration camp where no one comes out alive ...

Meanwhile, most researchers believe that no one actually beat Bychkov. And although the arguments are convincing, they still do not give grounds to unequivocally assert that after the capture Bychkov was not processed by Maltsev, including with the use of physical force.

Most of the captured Soviet pilots faced a difficult moral choice. Many agreed to cooperate with the Germans to avoid starvation. Someone hoped at the first opportunity to go over to their own. And such cases, contrary to I. Hoffmann's assertion, did take place.

Why did Bychkov and Antilevsky not do this, who, unlike Maltsev, were not ardent anti-Sovietists? After all, they certainly had such an opportunity. The answer is obvious - at first they, young 25-year-olds, were subjected to psychological treatment, convincing, including with specific examples, that there was no turning back, that they had already been sentenced in absentia and that upon returning to their homeland they would face execution or 25 years in camps. And then it was too late.

However, these are all assumptions. We do not know how long and how Maltsev Heroes was processed. The established fact is only that they not only agreed to cooperate, but also became his active assistants. Meanwhile, other Heroes of the Soviet Union from among the Soviet air aces who were in German captivity, refused to go over to the side of the enemy, showed examples of unparalleled fortitude and unbending will. They were not broken by the sophisticated torture and even death sentences passed by the Nazi tribunals for organizing the escapes from the concentration camps. These little-known pages of history deserve a separate detailed story. Here we will name only a few names. Heroes of the Soviet Union passed through the Buchenwald concentration camp: deputy squadron commander of the 148th Guards Special Purpose Fighter Regiment Senior Lieutenant N.L. Chasnyk, long-range bomber pilots Senior Lieutenant G.V. Lepekhin and Captain V. Ye. Sitnov. The latter also visited Auschwitz. For escaping from the camp near Lodz, he and the captain - attack aircraft Viktor Ivanov were sentenced to be hanged, but then replaced by Auschwitz.

In captivity were 2 Soviet aviation Generals M. A. Beleshev and G. I. Tkhor. The third - the legendary I.S.Polbin, shot down on February 11, 1945 in the sky over Breslau, is officially considered dead as a result of a direct hit by an anti-aircraft shell on his Pe-2 attack aircraft. But according to one of the versions, he was also taken prisoner in a grave condition and killed by the Nazis, who only later established his identity. So, M.A.Beleshev, who commanded the aviation of the 2nd Shock Army before his capture, was without sufficient grounds found guilty of cooperation with the Nazis and convicted after the war, and the deputy commander of the 62nd Bomber Aviation Division, Major General of Aviation G. I. Tkhor, whom both the Nazis and the Vlasovites repeatedly persuaded to go to serve in the Nazi army, was thrown into the Hammelsburg camp for refusing to serve the enemy. There he headed an underground organization and, for preparing an escape, was transferred to the Gestapo prison in Nuremberg, and then to the Flossenburg concentration camp, where he was shot in January 1943. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union G.I. Tkhor was awarded posthumously only on July 26, 1991.

Major A. N. Karasev was held in Mauthausen. In the same concentration camp, the prisoners of the 20th penalty officer's block - the "death block" - were Heroes of the Soviet Union Colonel A. N. Koblikov and Lieutenant Colonel N. I. Vlasov, who, together with former aviation commanders Colonels A. F. Isupov and K. M. Chubchenkov in January 1945 became the organizers of the uprising. A few days before it began, they were captured by the Nazis and destroyed, but on the night of February 2 to 3, 1945, the prisoners still rebelled and some of them managed to escape.

They behaved with dignity in captivity and did not cooperate with the enemy Heroes of the Soviet Union, pilots I. I. Babak, G. U. Dolnikov, V. D. Lavrinenkov, A. I. Razgonin, N. V. Pysin and others. Many of them managed to escape from captivity and after that they continued to smash the enemy as part of their air units.

As for Antilevsky and Bychkov, they eventually became close associates of Maltsev. At first, planes were ferried from factories to field airfields of the Eastern Front. Then they were entrusted to speak in prisoner of war camps with anti-Soviet propaganda speeches. Here is what, for example, wrote Antilevsky and Bychkov in the newspaper "Volunteer" published by the ROA since the beginning of 1943:

"Shot down in a fair battle, we were captured by the Germans. Not only did no one torture us or torture us, on the contrary, we met from the German officers and soldiers the warmest and comradely attitude and respect for our epaulettes, orders and military merits." ...

In the investigative and judicial documents in the case of B. Antilevsky it was noted:

"At the end of 1943, he voluntarily entered the Russian Liberation Army (ROA), was appointed commander of an air squadron and was engaged in ferrying aircraft from German aircraft factories to the front line, and also trained ROA pilots in piloting techniques on German fighters. For this service, he was awarded two medals, personalized watches. and the appropriation military rank Captain. In addition, he signed an "appeal" to Soviet prisoners of war and Soviet citizens, in which he slandered the Soviet reality and the leaders of the state. His portraits with the text of the "appeal" by the Germans were distributed both in Germany and in the occupied territory of the Soviet Union. He also spoke on the radio and in print several times with calls for Soviet citizens to fight against Soviet power and go over to the side of the German - fascist troops ... "

The Holters-Maltsev air group was disbanded in September 1944, after which Bychkov and Antilevsky arrived in the city of Eger, where, under the leadership of Maltsev, they took an active part in the creation of the 1st KONR aviation regiment.

The formation of the ROA aviation was authorized by G. Goering on December 19, 1944. The headquarters is located in Marienbad. Aschenbrenner was appointed as the representative of the German side. Maltsev became commander of the Air Force and was promoted to Major General. He appointed Colonel A. Vanyushin as the chief of his staff, and Major A. Mettl as the chief of the operational department. General Popov was also at the headquarters with a group of cadets of the 1st Russian Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of the cadet corps, evacuated from Yugoslavia.

Maltsev again developed a vigorous activity, began to publish his own newspaper "Our Wings", attracted many officers of the Imperial and White armies, in particular General V. Tkachev, who commanded the aviation of Baron Wrangel during the Civil War. Soon the number of the Vlasov army's air force, according to Hoffmann, reached about 5,000 people.

The first aviation regiment of the ROA Air Force, formed in Eger, was headed by Colonel L. Baidak. Major S. Bychkov became the commander of the 5th Colonel A. Kazakov Fighter Squadron. The 2nd Assault Squadron, later renamed the Night Bomber Squadron, was led by Captain B. Antilevsky. The 3rd reconnaissance squadron was commanded by Captain S. Artemiev, the 5th training squadron was commanded by Captain M. Tarnovsky.

On February 4, 1945, during the first review of aviation units, Vlasov presented military awards to his "falcons", including Antilevsky and Bychkov.

In the publication of M. Antilevsky about the pilots of the Vlasov army, you can read:

“In the spring of 1945, several weeks before the end of the war, fierce air battles were raging over Germany and Czechoslovakia. could be heard from both sides - in the sky over the center of Europe, the Russians fought for life and death in fierce battles. "

In fact, the "falcons" of Vlasov did not have time to fight in full force. It is only known for certain that on April 13, 1945, the planes of the antilevsky bomber squadron entered the battle with the units of the Red Army. They supported the advance of the 1st Division of the ROAN with fire, the Soviet bridgehead Erlengof, south of Fürstenberg. And on April 20, 1945, by order of Vlasov, Maltsev's aviation units had already moved to the city of Neyern, where, after a meeting with Aschenbrenner, they decided to start negotiations with the Americans about surrender. Maltsev and Aschenbrenner arrived at the location of the headquarters of the 12th American Corps for negotiations. The corps commander, General Kenya, explained to them that the issue of granting political asylum was not within his competence and offered to surrender weapons. At the same time, he gave guarantees that he would not give the Vlasov "falcons" to the Soviet side until the end of the war. They decided to surrender, which they did on April 27 in the Langdorf area.

An officer group of about 200 people, which included Bychkov, was sent to a prisoner of war camp in the vicinity of the French city of Cherbourg. All of them were transferred to the Soviet side in September 1945.

Major General Maltsev was taken to a prisoner of war camp near Frankfurt am Main by soldiers of the 3rd American Army, and then also transported to the city of Cherbourg. It is known that the Soviet side repeatedly and persistently demanded his extradition. Finally, the Vlasov General was nevertheless handed over to the employees of the NKVD, who, under escort, took him to their camp, located not far from Paris.

Maltsev twice tried to commit suicide - at the end of 1945 and in May 1946. While in a Soviet hospital in Paris, he opened the veins in his arms and cut his neck. But he could not avoid retribution for the betrayal. On a specially flown "Douglas", he took off for the last time and was taken to Moscow, where on August 1, 1946, he was sentenced to death and soon hanged along with Vlasov and other leaders of the ROA. Maltsev was the only one of them who did not ask for mercy and pardon. He only reminded the judges of the military collegium in last word about his unfounded conviction in 1938, which undermined his faith in Soviet power. In 1946, Colonel A. F. Vanyushin, who served as chief of staff of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of the KONR, was also shot by the verdict of the military collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR.

S. Bychkova, as we have already said, "saved" the main trial over the leadership as a witness. They promised that if they were given the necessary testimony, they would save their lives. But soon, on August 24 of the same year, the military tribunal of the Moscow military district sentenced him to death. The verdict was carried out on November 4, 1946. And the decree depriving him of the title of Hero took place 5 months later - on March 23, 1947.

As for B. Antilevsky, almost all researchers of this topic claim that he managed to avoid extradition by hiding in Spain under the protection of Generalissimo Franco, and that he was sentenced to death in absentia. For example, M. Antilevsky wrote:

“Traces of the regiment commander Baidak and two officers of his staff, Major Klimov and Albov, were never found. and was sentenced to death in absentia by a court decision of the Moscow Military District immediately after the war, for another 5 years he retained the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and only in the summer of 1950 the authorities that came to his senses deprived him of this award in absentia. "

The materials of the criminal case against BR Antilevsky do not provide grounds for such allegations. It is difficult to say where the "Spanish trace" of B. Antilevsky originates from. Perhaps for the reason that his plane Fi-156 "Storch" was prepared for departure to Spain, but he was not among the officers captured by the Americans. According to the materials of the case, after the surrender of Germany, he was in Czechoslovakia, where he joined the "pseudo-partisan" detachment "Krasnaya Iskra" and received the documents of a participant in the anti-fascist movement in the name of Berezovsky. With this certificate in hand, he was arrested by the NKVD on June 12, 1945 while trying to get into the territory of the USSR. Antilevsky - Berezovsky was repeatedly interrogated, fully exposed of treason and on July 25, 1946, was convicted by a military tribunal of the Moscow Military District under Art. 58-1 p. "B" of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to capital punishment - execution - with confiscation of personally owned property. According to the archival books of the military court of the Moscow Military District, the sentence against Antilevsky was approved by the military board on November 22, 1946, and on November 29 of the same year was carried out. The decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on depriving Antilevsky of all awards and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union took place much later - on July 12, 1950.

To what has been said, it remains only to add that, by a strange irony of fate, according to the certificate confiscated from Antilevsky during a search, a member of partisan detachment Berezovsky's "Krasnaya Spark" was also called Boris.

Continuing the story about the Soviet air aces, who, according to available information, while in captivity, collaborated with the Nazis, it is worth mentioning two more pilots: V.Z. Pivenstein.

The fate of each of them is unique in its own way and is of undoubted interest for researchers. But information about these people, including because of the "black fad" written in their profiles and track records, is extremely stingy and contradictory. Therefore, this chapter was given to the author the most difficult and it should be immediately noted that the information given on the pages of the book needs further clarification.

There are many mysteries in the fate of the fighter pilot Vladimir Zakharovich Baido. After the war, one of the Norillag prisoners cut a five-pointed star out of yellow metal for him, and he always wore it on his chest, proving to those around him that he was a Hero of the Soviet Union and that he was among the first to be awarded the Golden Star, having received it for No. 72 ...

For the first time the surname of this man came across to the author in the memoirs of the former "prisoner" of the Norilsk resident S.G. Golovko - "Days of the Victory of the Cossack", recorded by V. Tolstov and published in the newspaper "Zapolyarnaya Pravda". Golovko claimed that in 1945, when he got to the camp point at the 102nd kilometer, where the Nadezhdinsky airport was being built and became a foreman there, in the brigade he "had Sasha Kuznetsov and two pilots, Heroes of the Soviet Union: Volodya Baida, who was the first after Talalikhin made a night ram, and Nikolai Gaivoronsky, ace fighter. "

A more detailed story about the prisoner of the 4th department of the Gorlag, Vladimir Baido, can be found in the book of another former "prisoner" G.S.Klimovich:

“... Vladimir Baida, in the past was a pilot - an aircraft designer. Baida was the first Hero of the Soviet Union in Belarus. hometown of Mogilev, when he arrived there, the streets were strewn with flowers and crowded with jubilant people of all ages and positions. the best side... But soon the war began. She found him in one of the aviation formations of the Leningrad Military District, where he served under the command of the future Air Marshal Novikov, and on the second day of the war, Baida was a direct participant in the war. Once he and his squadron bombed Helsinki and was attacked by Messerschmitts. There was no cover for the fighters, I had to defend myself myself, the forces were unequal. Baida's plane was shot down, he himself was captured. In an open car with the inscription "Soviet vulture" on the board, he was taken through the streets of the Finnish capital, and then sent to a prisoner of war camp - first in Finland, and in the winter of 1941 - in Poland, near Lublin.

For more than 2 years he strengthened himself, endured all the hardships of the fascist concentration camp, waited for the allies to open a second front and the end of the torment would come. But the allies hesitated, they did not open a second front. He got angry and asked to fight in the Luftwaffe on the condition that he would not be sent to the Eastern Front. His request was granted, and he began to beat the allies over the English Channel. He, as it seemed to him, took revenge on them. For his courage, Hitler personally at his residence presented him with the Knight's Cross with diamonds. He capitulated to the Americans, and those, taking away from him the "Gold Star" and the Knight's Cross, handed over to the Soviet authorities. Here he was tried for treason to the Motherland and, having been sentenced to 10 years in prison, was convoyed to Gorlag ...

Such a verdict was perceived by Baida as an insulting injustice; he did not feel guilty, believed that it was not he who had betrayed his Motherland, but she had betrayed him; that if at the time when he, outcast and forgotten, languished in a fascist concentration camp, the Motherland showed even the slightest care about him, there would be no talk of any betrayal, he would not have had anger towards the allies, and he would not to sell myself to the Luftwaffe. He shouted about this truth to everyone and everywhere, wrote to all authorities, and so that his voice would not get lost in the Taimyr tundra, he refused to obey the administration. Attempts to call him to order by force met with due resistance. Baida was decisive and had very trained hands - with a direct blow of his fingers he could pierce a human body in self-defense, and with the edge of his palm he could break a 50-mm board. Unable to deal with him in Gorlag, the MGB delivered him to Tsemstroy. "

This is such an incredible story. It is based, apparently, on the stories of Baido himself and, perhaps, somewhat embellished by the author of the book. It is far from easy to figure out what was true and what is fiction in this story. For example, how can one assess the statement that V. Baido was the first Belarusian to receive the title of Hero of the Soviet Union? After all, they officially list the brave tanker P. Z. Kupriyanov, who in the battle near Madrid destroyed 2 enemy vehicles and 8 guns. And the "Gold Star" number 72, as it is easy to establish, was awarded on March 14, 1938 not to Captain V.Z. Baido, but to another tanker - Senior Lieutenant Pavel Afanasyevich Semyonov. In Spain, he fought as a mechanic - the driver of a T-26 tank as part of the 1st separate international tank regiment, and during the Great Patriotic War he was deputy battalion commander of the 169th tank brigade and died a heroic death at Stalingrad ...

In general, there were many unanswered questions. And today there are still a lot of them. But we will still answer some of them. First of all, it was possible to establish that V. Baido was indeed a fighter pilot. He served in the 7th Fighter Aviation Regiment, heroically showed himself in air battles with the Finns and Germans, was awarded two military orders, and on August 31, 1941, while performing a combat mission, he was shot down over the territory of Finland.

Before the war, the 7th IAP was based at the airfield in Maisniemi, near Vyborg. On the second day of the war, the commander of the 193rd air regiment, Major G.M. Galitsin, was instructed to form an operational group from the remnants of the defeated air units, for which the number of the 7th IAP was retained. On June 30, the updated regiment began to carry out combat missions. In the first months of the war, it was based at the airfields of the Karelian Isthmus, then at the suburban airfields of Leningrad, protecting it from the north and northwest. By the time of his capture, Baido was one of the most experienced pilots, and his regiment became one of the advanced units of the Leningrad Front Air Force. The pilots performed up to 60 combat missions daily, many of them were awarded orders and medals.

V. 3. Baido was awarded the military orders of the Red Star and the Red Banner. But there was no information about awarding him the "Golden Star". The materials of the archival investigative and judicial case, or at least the supervisory proceedings, could bring some clarity. But neither in The Supreme Court Russia, or the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, failed to find any traces of this case.

But the missing information from V. Z. Baido's personal file No. B-29250, which is kept in the departmental archive of the Norilsk Combine, was reported to the author in her letter by Alla Borisovna Makarova. She wrote:

"Vladimir Zakharovich Baida (Baido), born in 1918, on July 12, native of the city of Mogilev, Belarusian, higher education, design engineer at TsAGI, non-partisan. Contained in places of confinement from July 31, 1945 to April 27, 1956 in two cases , according to one of which he was rehabilitated, and according to the other he was sentenced to 10 years in prison ... Released "for the termination of the case by the decision of the Commission of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on April 25, 1956 in connection with the groundlessness of the conviction ..."

It followed from the letter that after his release Baido remained in Norilsk, worked as a turner in an underground mine, as a design engineer, head of an assembly site ... From 1963 until his retirement in 1977, he worked in the laboratory of the Mining and Metallurgical Experimental Research Center ... Then he moved with his wife Vera Ivanovna to Donetsk, where he died.

About the awarding of Baido with the "Golden Star" A. B. Makarova wrote that few people in Norilsk believed in it. Meanwhile, his wife confirmed this fact in a letter that she sent to the museum of the Norilsk Combine ...

The mountain camp in Norilsk, in which Baido was kept, was one of the Special Camps (Special Camps) created after the war. Especially dangerous criminals were sent to these camps, convicted of "espionage", "treason", "sabotage", "terror", for participation in "anti-Soviet organizations and groups." The majority were former prisoners of war and members of national rebel movements in Ukraine and the Baltic states. Baido was also convicted of "treason". It happened on August 31, 1945, when a military tribunal sentenced him under Art. 58-1 p. "B" of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR for 10 years in the camps.

For the prisoners of the Gorlag, a particularly strict hard labor regime was established, the institution of early release for shock work did not function, there were restrictions on correspondence with relatives. The names of the prisoners were abolished. They were listed under the numbers indicated on the clothes: on the back and above the knee. The duration of the working day was at least 12 hours. And this is in conditions when the air temperature sometimes reached minus 50 degrees.

After Stalin's death, a wave of strikes and uprisings swept through several Special Camps. It is believed that one of the reasons for this was the amnesty of March 27, 1953. After its announcement, more than 1 million people were released from the camps. But it practically did not affect the prisoners of the Special Camp, since it did not apply to the most serious clauses of Article 58.

In Norillag, the immediate cause of the uprising was the killing of several prisoners by the guards. This caused an explosion of indignation, fermentation began, resulting in a strike. As a sign of protest, the "convicts" refused to go to work, mourning flags were hung on the barracks, a strike committee was created, and they began to demand the commission's arrival from Moscow.

The uprising in Norilsk in May - August 1953 was the largest. Riots engulfed all 6 camp departments of the Gorlag and 2 departments of the Norillag. The number of rebels exceeded 16,000. Baido was a member of the insurgent committee of the 5th branch of the Gorlag.

The demands in Norillag, as in other camps, were similar: to abolish hard labor, to stop the arbitrariness of the administration, to reconsider the cases of the unreasonably repressed ... S.G. Golovko wrote:

“During the uprising in Norillag, I was the head of security and defense of the 3rd Gorlag, I formed a regiment of 3,000 people, and when Prosecutor General Rudenko came to negotiate, I told him:“ There is no riot in the camp, the discipline is perfect, you can check. ”Rudenko walked with the head of the camp, twisted his head - indeed, the discipline was perfect.In the evening Rudenko lined up all the convicts and solemnly promised that he would personally convey all our demands to the Soviet government, that Beria was no longer there, he would not allow the law to be violated, and that with his power he gave us 3 day to rest, and then offers to go to work. I wished all the best and left. "

But no one was going to fulfill the demands of the prisoners. The next morning after the departure of the attorney general, the camp was cordoned off by soldiers and the assault began. The uprising was brutally suppressed. The exact death toll is still unknown. The researcher of this topic A. B. Makarova wrote that in the cemetery book of Norilsk for 1953 there is an entry about 150 nameless dead people buried in a common grave. The clerk of the Schmidtiha cemetery told her that this particular record refers to the victims of the massacre of the rebels.

New cases were opened against 45 of the most active rioters, 365 people were transferred to prisons in a number of cities, 1500 people were transferred to the Kolyma.

By the time the uprising took place in the camp, one of its participants - V. Z. Baido - already had 2 convictions behind him. In February 1950, the camp court sentenced him under Art. 58-10 of the RSFSR Criminal Code for 10 years in prison for slanderous statements "against one of the leaders of the Soviet government, against Soviet reality and military equipment, for praising life, military equipment of capitalist countries and the existing system there."

Having information that V. Z. Baido had been rehabilitated in this case by the Krasnoyarsk Regional Prosecutor's Office, the author turned for help to Sergey Pavlovich Kharin, who works in this Prosecutor's Office, his colleague and longtime friend. And soon he sent a certificate, which was compiled on the basis of the materials of the archival criminal case No. P-22644. It said:

"Baido Vladimir Zakharovich, born in 1918, a native of Mogilev. In the Red Army since 1936. On August 31, 1941, as an assistant squadron commander of the 7th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Captain V.Z. the territory of Finland and captured by the Finns.

Until September 1943, he was held in the 1st officer's camp at the station. Peinochia, after which he was handed over to the Germans and transferred to a prisoner of war camp in Poland. In December 1943, he was recruited as a German intelligence agent under the pseudonym "Mikhailov". He gave appropriate subscriptions on cooperation with the Germans and was sent to study at an intelligence school.

In April 1945, he voluntarily joined the ROA and was enlisted in the personal guard of the traitor to the Motherland Maltsev, where he was awarded the military rank of Captain.

On April 30, 1945, he was captured by the US troops and subsequently transferred to the Soviet side. On August 31 of the same year, by a military tribunal of the 47th Army, he was convicted under Art. 58-1 p. "B2 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to 10 years in a labor camp with a loss of rights for 3 years without confiscation of property.

He served his sentence in the Mountain camp of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs in the city of Norilsk, worked as a labor engineer, head of the 1st column in the 2nd camp department, a dental technician in the 4th camp department (1948 - 1949).

Arrested on December 30, 1949 for carrying out anti-Soviet activities. On February 27, 1950, a special camp court of the Mountain Camp of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs was convicted under Art. 58-10 h. 1 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to 10 years of imprisonment with serving in a correctional labor camp with deprivation of rights for 5 years. Unserved punishment on the basis of Art. 49 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR absorbed.

On March 30, 1955, the appeal for re-examination of the case was denied. On May 23, 1997, he was rehabilitated by the Krasnoyarsk Prosecutor's Office. "

S.P. Kharin also said that, judging by the materials of the case, the reason for its termination and the rehabilitation of Baido for anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda was the fact that, expressing critical remarks, he did not call anyone to overthrow the existing system and weaken Soviet power. But for treason to his homeland, he was not rehabilitated. From this verdict it followed that the military tribunal in 1945 filed a petition to deprive V. Z. Baido of the Orders of the Red Banner and the Red Star. There was no information in the materials of the criminal case that Baido was a Hero of the Soviet Union.

A negative response to the author's inquiry came from the Office of Personnel Affairs and State Awards of the Presidential Administration of Russia. The conclusion is unambiguous: V. 3. Baido was never awarded and, accordingly, was not deprived of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. It can be assumed that he was only nominated for the Golden Star award. And, having learned about this from the command, he considered himself an already accomplished Hero of the Soviet Union. But this idea was not realized for some reason.

No less interesting is the fate of the hero of the Chelyuskin epic, Lieutenant Colonel Boris Abramovich Pivenstein, who was born in 1909 in the city of Odessa. In 1934, he took part in the rescue of the crew of the Chelyuskin steamer on the R-5 aircraft. Then 7 pilots became the first Heroes of the Soviet Union. Pivenstein, for sure, would have also become a Hero, if not for the squadron commander N. Kamanin, who after the breakdown of his plane, expropriated the plane from him and, having reached the Chelyuskin ice camp, received his Golden Star. And Pivenstein, together with the mechanic Anisimov, remained to repair the command plane and in the end was awarded only the Order of the Red Star. Then Pivenstein took part in the search for the missing plane of S. Levanevsky, arriving in November 1937 on Rudolf Island to replace Vodopyanov's detachment on the ANT-6 plane as a pilot and secretary of the party committee of the squadron.

Before the war, B. Pivenstein lived in a notorious house on the Embankment. There is a museum in this house, where he is listed as dead at the front.

At the beginning of the war, Lieutenant Colonel B.A. According to some information that needs clarification, in April 1943, the Nazis shot down his Il-2 attack aircraft in the sky of Donbass. Lieutenant Colonel Pivenstein and air gunner foreman A. M. Kruglov were captured. At the time of his capture, Pivenstein was wounded and tried to shoot himself. Kruglov died while trying to escape from the German camp.

According to other sources, as already mentioned, Pivenstein voluntarily flew to the side of the Nazis. The historian K. Aleksandrov calls him among the active employees of Lieutenant Colonel G. Holters, the head of one of the reconnaissance units at the headquarters of the Luftwaffe.

The author was able to find in the archives the materials of the court proceedings in the case of B.A. But soon the state security bodies established that Pivenstein, "until June 1951, living in the American zone of occupation of Germany in the city of Wiesbaden, being a member of the NTS, served as secretary of the Wiesbaden émigré committee and was the head of the temple, and in June 1951 he left for America ".

On April 4, 1952 B.A.Pivenstein was convicted in absentia by the military collegium under Art. 58-1 p. "B" and 58-6 h. 1 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR and sentenced to death with confiscation of property and deprivation of military rank. The verdict stated:

"Pivenstein in 1932 - 1933, while on military service in the Far East, had a criminal relationship with the resident of German intelligence Waldmann. In 1943, being the commander of an air squadron, he flew on a combat mission to the rear of the Germans, from where he did not return to his unit ...

While in the POW camp of pilots in Moritzfeld, Pivenstein worked in the Vostok counterintelligence department, where he interviewed Soviet pilots who were captured by the Germans, processed them in an anti-Soviet spirit and persuaded them to treason.

In January 1944, Pivenstein was sent by the German command to the counterintelligence department stationed in the mountains. Königsberg ... "

Further in the verdict it was noted that Pivenstein's guilt in treason and cooperation with the German counterintelligence was proved by the testimony of arrested traitors to the Motherland V.S. Moskalts, M.V. Tarnovsky, I.I.

The author does not know how B.A.Pivenstein's further fate developed after his departure to America.

Captured equipment in the Second World War was used everywhere. The entire propaganda machine of the Third Reich was broadcasting about the absolute superiority of German technology over the "crafts of eastern barbarians", but Soviet self-loading rifles were widely used in the Wehrmacht, captured guns, tanks and aircraft were adopted. The "barbarians" themselves also often used the enemy's weapons. In daring raids, "Tigers" and "Panthers" were captured, abandoned armored personnel carriers were repaired, pistols were especially popular. Naturally, the silhouette of the allied trophy could easily be confused with the enemy, but the application of standard identification marks was usually quite enough. Imagine the surprise of the Luftwaffe aces when they collided with German planes with red crosses on their wings. The first mention of the strange "co-workers" dates back to the beginning of 1945. In the skies over Riga, German pilots noticed the familiar Go.145 and Fw44 aircraft. On their wings one could see the familiar Balkenkreuts (Balkan crosses), but only in red, and the fuselages were decorated with stars.

In February, Red Cross pilots change to more serious cars and more and more often start to notice Fw190 and Bf109 in the skies over German cities. It was noted that at first these unusual aircraft behaved quite peacefully and limited themselves to scattering leaflets. However, in March there are so many of them that the German command proposes to amend the identification marks of the Luftwaffe, and the Wehrmacht pilots begin to engage with them. In response, the mysterious pilots go out on a free hunt and begin to attack the gaping Germans everywhere. Pilots report surprise attacks from their own. Some of the attackers were adorned with red crosses, others had no identification marks at all.

The only possible explanation was the so-called Seydlitz-Armee. In 1943, units of the Red Army suppressed the last centers of resistance of the army of Field Marshal Paulus. A huge number of both ordinary soldiers and officers were captured. Among them were those who went to war under duress or simply realized the whole pointlessness of their Fuhrer's adventure. The latter included the famous German general Walter von Seydlitz-Kurzbach.

During the war, he showed himself as a talented general, and when Paulus' 6th Army was surrounded at Stalingrad, the general developed a plan to break through the ring and rescue the remaining German soldiers. But none of his colleagues, including Paulus, supported his proposal, citing Hitler's insane order to wait for salvation. It was at that moment that Seydlitz realized that he was fighting not for Germany and the people, but for the Fuhrer. After that, he ordered all his soldiers and officers to lay down their arms.

Once captured, the general made contact with the Soviet command and proposed to create a Union of German officers, which included his associates. Back in 1943, Seydlitz proposed to create special battalions from captured German soldiers, which he would lead to liberate his homeland from the tyrant. Naturally, the USSR appreciated such a proposal, but it was too dangerous to agree to it. Instead, he was asked to do campaign work.

But Seydlitz's stubbornness knew no bounds, and his idea at the end of the war was nevertheless brought to life - German soldiers were also going to liberate Germany from Hitler. They were dressed in the usual German uniform, but with the flags of the Weimar Republic tied on their sleeves. Well, the seidliv pilots went into battle in their usual machines. They were regarded as German soldiers, so they went into battle with German symbols, awards and insignia.

No data on the exact size of Seydlitz's army has survived. It is not known how many soldiers went into battle and how many pilots fought for the skies of Berlin. Data on "Stalin's falcons" Seydlitz survived only in the reports of the Luftwaffe pilots.