Konigsberg operation 1945. The assault on Konigsberg in numbers: They won not by numbers, but by skill

Another detail of the assault And my Zeiss binoculars are intact. And today I looked at it upside down, as if the spring of forty-four could appear at the other end of the earth... As if I could see the highway along which either past our Alushta house, or past

Exactly 70 years ago, on April 8, 1945, Soviet troops captured the Fifth Fort - the most serious fascist fortification on the route of the formations that stormed Koenigsberg. 70 years ago, my husband’s grandfather and my grandfather, both artillerymen, took part in this assault. Maybe they even knew each other, but we will never know about it. But we know for sure that among their other awards, both grandfathers especially valued the medals “For the Capture of Koenigsberg.” And it is no coincidence - because the battle for the fortified city on the “Royal Mountain” (as Königsberg is translated) was indeed terrible. On the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Victory, our whole family went there. In autumn it’s so beautiful there, as if there was no war...

For a long time, there was a whole system of fortifications around Königsberg - impregnable forts, ramparts and ditches. Despite the fact that their construction began back in the days of the Teutonic Order (1255), they were built so competently and intelligently that even during World War II, the Nazis were able to successfully use these ancient fortifications to defend Königsberg. Anticipating the assault, they modernized them and strengthened them as much as possible.

History is full of paradoxes: in the mid-18th century, when Prussia was part of the Russian Empire, Russian officers and soldiers took part in the restoration of dilapidated defensive structures. They could hardly have imagined then that in the middle of the 20th century all this would be stormed by their descendants - Soviet soldiers and officers.

At the end of the 19th century, a ring of forts was built around Königsberg, turning the city into one of the most powerful fortresses in the world. One of the experts on the construction of the fort ring was the Russian engineer Totleben. Having invented and applied a constructive innovation in the form of heavy artillery firing points on the flanks, he could hardly have guessed what kind of slow-motion pig he planted for his descendants in the Second World War.

The large fort ring, about 50 km long, consisted of 12 forts and three intermediate fortifications. At first the forts had serial numbers, and a little later they were named after Prussian kings and famous commanders. The most impregnable of them, the Fifth Fort, was named after King William Frederick the Third. The forts were used for their intended purpose for the first and last time in April 1945.

In anticipation of the assault on Königsberg, the Nazis managed to create 9 lines of defense in the Königsberg direction at a distance of 12-15 km from each other. Since January 1945, the forts began to be strengthened, which became the front line of defense. Machine-gun and mortar rifle nests were equipped on the crests of the ramparts, and additional long-term firing points, wire barriers and minefields were installed between the forts.

This is what a destroyed pillbox looks like near the 5th fort:

The belt of forts was closed with anti-tank ditches. The roads leading from the forts to Königsberg were equipped with anti-tank hedgehogs and mined. Don’t read abstractly - try to imagine all this, and you will have a completely different sense of the meaning of the phrase “here every centimeter of the earth is watered with blood,” which has become common in descriptions of the Battle of Königsberg.

The most powerful of all, the Fifth Fort is built in the form of a hexagon with a length of 215 m and a width of 105. The walls are made of especially durable ceramic bricks fired many times. The manufacturer was rightfully proud of his bricks, since he put his own mark on each one.

The thickness of the brick walls of the fort reaches 2 meters; the structure is covered with a protective four-meter layer of soil on top. Natural stone and concrete were also used in the construction of the fort. As it turned out during the shelling, it is possible to break through such a wall if you use particularly powerful guns - and only if the shell hits the same crater twice.

Inside the fort there were barracks, an infirmary, a mess hall and ammunition depots, occupying two floors. All this was heated by the boiler room and had ventilation.

The fort's premises were connected by wide underground corridors along which goods could be transported on carts. The fort had courtyards that were used as firing points and internal transport interchanges.

There were elevators for lifting and lowering cargo and ammunition. Here's what's left of one of them:

The fort was surrounded by a water ditch 25 m wide and 4 m deep. This ditch simultaneously served as an obstacle to the enemy and a drainage system for the lower tier of the fort.

The assault on the Fifth Fort began with artillery shelling on April 2, 1945. The fire at the fort was carried out from specially powerful guns of the 245th separate Gumbinnensky division of Lieutenant Colonel S.S. Maltsev.

As I already mentioned, the walls of the fort easily withstood a direct hit from 280 mm shells, and out of 73 direct hits there were only 2 through holes. Therefore, it was not possible to capture the fort right away. The siege and assault of the Fifth Fort was alternately led by assault detachments of the 801st and 806th Infantry Regiments of the 235th Infantry Division, the 1st Battalion of the 732nd Infantry Regiment of the 235th Infantry Division, and the 2nd Battalion of the 550th Infantry Regiment of the 126th Infantry Division.

The feat of the sappers helped move the situation forward. Under cover of darkness and continuous enemy fire, sappers Sergeant Major P.I. Merenkov, senior sergeant G.A. Malygin and Private V.K. The Polupanov crossed the ditch by boat, made passages in the minefield, laid charges and blew up the wall of the fort. Two of them were wounded at the very beginning of the sortie, but found the strength to complete what they started.

A gap appeared in the fortress wall, through which the assault troops entered the fort and entered into hand-to-hand combat with the Nazis. How old are you? Pyotr Merenkov was 31 years old, Grigory Malygin was 23, Vladimir Polupanov was 20.

Here is a surviving suitcase with a “gentleman’s kit” for a sapper of that time:

Throughout the night from April 7 to April 8, there was a battle inside the fort; on the morning of April 8, the fascist garrison capitulated. For the courage and bravery shown during the assault on the Fifth Fort, three sappers and 12 other distinguished fighters - riflemen and artillerymen - were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Here they are.

The fall of the Fifth Fort decided the outcome of the Koenigsberg operation.

On April 9, 1945, Soviet troops took the Königsberg fortress. It took 9 words to write about this in one sentence. To accomplish this, it took months of preparation, a week of continuous bloody battles and thousands of lives.

© Text and photos – Noory San.

10.04.2015 0 11697

« Fight for Konigsberg- this is an episode of the great battle with our Slavic neighbor, which had such a terrible impact on our fate and the fate of our children and whose influence will be felt in the future."- these words belong to the commander of the Koenigsberg garrison, General Otto von Lasch.

The name of the city that he defended is no longer on the geographical map. There is a city Kaliningrad- the center of the region of the same name of the Russian Federation, surrounded from the west, east and south by the countries of the European Union and washed from the north by the Baltic Sea; the only small but important territorial prize that the Soviet Union received after the defeat of Germany.

"The Cradle of PRUSSIAN MILITARISM"

Goebbels's diary entries, dating from early April 1945, contain an interesting admission concerning little-known contacts between Soviet and German representatives in Stockholm. Discussing the theoretical possibility of concluding a separate peace, Mr. Reich Minister was indignant that the Kremlin was demanding East Prussia, but “this, of course, is completely unacceptable.”

View of one of the Königsberg forts

In fact, the fascists should have grabbed such a proposal with their hands and feet, however, both Goebbels and his beloved Fuhrer in this (by no means the only case) attached a certain sacred significance to the East Prussian lands, as a kind of outpost of Germany in the east.

Let us again give the floor to General von Lyash: “Königsberg was founded in 1258 by the German order of chivalry in honor of King Ottokar of Bohemia, who participated in the order’s summer campaign to the East. The castle, the construction of which began during the founding of the city, was its first defensive structure. In the 17th century, the city was fortified with a rampart, ditches and bastions, thus becoming a fortress. These structures gradually deteriorated and did not serve much service either in the Seven Years' War or in the Napoleonic Wars.

In 1814, Koenigsberg was declared an open city, but in 1843 its fortification began again, and what was then called a fortress fence was erected, that is, a ring of fortifications around the city with a length of 11 kilometers. Their construction was completed in 1873. In 1874, construction began on a defensive belt of 15 forward forts, the construction of which was completed in 1882. To protect the mouth of the Pregel, a strong fortification was built on the right bank near the Holstein estate. The fortification of Friedrichsburg on the left bank of the mouth of the Pregel was even stronger.”

Let us note several episodes not mentioned by von Lyash. It was based on Koenigsberg that the German knights waged their campaigns against the Prussians, which ended in the physical destruction or assimilation of this people, who gave their name to the region. In 1758, during the Seven Years' War, Koenigsberg was occupied by Russian troops, and its residents were sworn in to Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, and it is interesting that among those who took it was Emmanuel Kant, a professor at the local university. However, in 1762, the new Russian Emperor Peter III, with a sweeping gesture, returned East Prussia to his idol Frederick the Great.

In 1806-1807, the city was actually the capital of the Kingdom of Prussia, since it was here that Frederick William III, beaten by Napoleon, took refuge “beyond the friendly bayonets” of the Russian army.

In the First World War, Russian troops, targeting Königsberg, launched an offensive from Lithuania and Poland, but suffered a major defeat, which had a noticeable impact on the overall course of hostilities and elevated Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg to the heights of power of Hitler’s future “godfather”. Germany, however, lost the war as a whole, for which it also paid with territories. Restored Poland gained access to the sea with the city of Danzig (modern Gdansk), while East Prussia, on the contrary, was cut off from the rest of Germany.

It was the question of the “Danzig corridor” that served as the Fuhrer’s pretext for attacking Poland and starting World War II. But by the beginning of 1945, the time had come for the Reich to pay its bills. The Red Army, having cleared almost the entire Baltic region (with the exception of Courland, where a large enemy group still held out), aimed to capture the “cradle of Prussian militarism.”

A Soviet infantry unit passes through a destroyed village on the outskirts of Konigsberg. January 30, 1945

HELL OF FIRE

The grand battle began on January 13, 1945, simultaneously with the offensive in Poland, and the timing of the operation was postponed to an earlier date in order to help out the Allies, whom the Germans were beating in the Ardennes. The 3rd Belorussian Front of General Ivan Chernyakhovsky operated from the east. The troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front of Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky were moving from the southeast, who were to reach the Baltic Sea and cut off East Prussia from the rest of Germany.

In addition, the Headquarters brought into action the 43rd Army of the 1st Baltic Front of General Ivan Bagramyan. The forces of the Soviet troops numbered 1 million 670 thousand people, more than 25 thousand guns and mortars, about 4 thousand tanks and self-propelled guns and more than 3 thousand aircraft. They were opposed by Army Group Center of General Georg Reinhardt, numbering 580 thousand soldiers and officers, possessing eight thousand guns and mortars and 560 combat aircraft.

As we can see, the superiority of the attackers was very significant, but here it should be taken into account that not only the largest cities, but the whole of East Prussia literally became a real fortress. The depth of the defensive structures was as much as 200 kilometers, which is comparable to the length of a small European state. They had to chew through the German defenses, and the pace of the offensive was not high - sometimes 2-3 kilometers per day. In addition, the fascist Navy dominated the sea, while the Soviet Baltic Fleet was limited to rare local operations.

Soviet infantry passes through a German settlement on the outskirts of Konigsberg. January 25, 1945

Some historians generally believe that they should have simply blockaded East Prussia and concentrated forces in the Berlin direction, but a larger strategy must be taken into account here. The Germans could not have sat on the defensive, but, having united with the Courland group, delivered such blows that the whole plan of taking Berlin would have been in very big doubt. To prevent such a counterattack, the offensive began.

By January 19, the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front reached the approaches to Koenigsberg and, bypassing it from the north, cut off the garrison from the main forces taking up defense on the Zemland Peninsula. A week later, the fascist forces (already renamed Army Group North) were cut into three unequal parts: four divisions ended up in Zemland, five in Konigsberg and up to twenty divisions in the Heilsberg area, southwest of the East Prussian capital.

However, already on January 30, one infantry and one tank (“Greater Germany”) division rushed to the aid of the “encircled” from the west. Land communication with the territory of the Reich was restored, and the Germans were able to hold the resulting corridor until mid-March. This counterattack was glorified by German propaganda, although the Wehrmacht command made many mistakes in this case.

To begin with, the Gauleiter of East Prussia, Erich Koch, who swore that he himself would fight in the trenches, fell into a panic, which was transmitted down the chain to the population through the party organs. Tens of thousands of Königsbergers rushed on foot to the only ice-free port of Pillau (modern Baltiysk) in the hope of evacuating to the mainland. It is unknown how many of them died on the snow-covered roads. It is significant that at the same time, on January 30, the liner Wilhelm Gustloff, located to the west of the port of Gottenhafen (modern Gdynia), was sunk by the submarine S-31 under the command of Captain Alexander Marinesko.

More than 9 thousand people died, mostly children and women, and the responsibility for this tragedy lies with the German command, which ordered the former cruise liner to be painted in the camouflage colors of a warship.

And these were only the first of a series of disasters that befell the population of East Prussia. Thousands of refugees moved along the edge for almost three months, hoping to somehow jump out of the fiery hell and died from bullets and shells that both their “defenders” and the Russian “invaders” rained down on each other.

Soldiers from Captain V. Leskov's battery deliver artillery shells on the approaches to Koenigsberg

BLOW TO BLOW

However, let's return directly to the fighting.

In the last days of January, the fate of East Prussia hung in the balance thanks to the energetic actions of the 39th Army of General Ivan Lyudnikov, which, wedged between the key points of enemy defense, was able to cut the Koenigsberg-Pillau road. General von Lyash missed this daring maneuver and even almost ended up captured, like his subordinates who were a kilometer away from him and sleeping peacefully in their dugouts.

The situation was turned around by the chief of military engineers, General Mikos, who assembled an improvised detachment and recaptured the village of Metgeten with an underground shell factory. Later, Soviet troops had to take this settlement again, this time with heavy losses.

In these battles, the Red Army was often opposed by elderly Volkssturm soldiers and disabled people called up to arms. Although I had to deal with selected units. Thus, in the area of ​​the town of Neuhausen, German grenadiers managed to destroy about 30 Soviet tanks. They still took Neuhausen, but, realizing that they were already acting on the verge of a foul, they stopped in front of the next line, which included two forts and intermediate strong points with artillery and pillboxes.

Soviet soldier guardsman-artilleryman with a cannon shell on which is written: "Across Koenigsberg"

The Soviet offensive ran out of steam, but the Germans gradually came to their senses and launched several counterattacks between February 5 and 7, even managing to encircle the 91st Infantry Division (its main forces, however, were able to break through to their own).

In fact, East Prussia found itself in a blockade, and the narrow corridor connecting it with the Reich along the edge of the coast became a real road of death, since it was constantly attacked by Soviet troops. The results of these attacks were described by the commander of the 3rd Army, General Alexander Gorbatov: “What was happening on the shore of the bay! 3-4 kilometers from the water everything was littered with cars, carts loaded with military equipment, food, and household items. Between the cars and carts lay the corpses of German soldiers. Many horses, which the Germans tied to a hitching post, 200-300 heads each, were killed; they remained tied. Early in the morning I saw hundreds of bags of coffee on the shore, thousands of boxes of canned food lying on the parapet of the trenches..."

To expand the road, the Germans first decided to unite the forces located on the Land Peninsula and in Konigsberg, especially since they were also separated by a small corridor occupied by Soviet troops.

They made such an attempt on February 18, and fighting broke out in neighboring areas. In one of them, General Chernyakhovsky was killed by a stray shell.

Street fight on the outskirts of Königsberg 1945

The Germans broke through the corridor, but it was also narrow, and to protect it they had to use two divisions, which, as subsequent events showed, were not superfluous in Konigsberg.

If Headquarters were thinking about simply blockading East Prussia, they now firmly decided to focus on capturing the region. The operation was entrusted to man No. 2 in the Soviet military hierarchy - the Chief of the General Staff, Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky, who on this occasion was appointed commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front, at the same time replenishing this front with formations of the disbanded 1st Baltic Front.

Reconnaissance intensified, hundreds of saboteurs were sent behind enemy lines, among whom there were many German defectors and anti-fascists. The Germans were also preparing. Everyone who could hold a weapon in their hands was called into service. The deserters alone, who were spared from the gallows on this occasion, numbered about 30 thousand.

The search through the bottom of the barrel turned out to be so effective that many units were staffed beyond the regular staff. The number of the group directly defending Koenigsberg alone was 128 thousand.

On March 13, Vasilevsky went on the offensive, clearing the coast of Frisch Gaff Bay from the enemy. Of the 150 thousand soldiers and officers who were here, 93 thousand were destroyed, and 46 thousand were taken prisoner.

Thus, six armies were freed, three of which were concentrated to take the city, and three headed towards Berlin. Now we had to deal with Koenigsberg itself.

A Soviet infantry unit is fighting on one of the streets of Koenigsberg

BATTLE AMONG THE RUINS

Let's give the floor to Vasilevsky: “By the beginning of the assault, the front had 5,000 guns and mortars, 47% of them were heavy guns, then large and special power ones - with a caliber from 203 to 305 mm. To fire at the most important targets, as well as to prevent the enemy from evacuating troops and equipment along the Koenigsberg Sea Canal, 5 naval railway batteries (11 - 130 mm and 4 - 180 mm guns, the latter with a firing range of up to 34 km).

The ground forces advancing on the city were assisted by large-caliber guns (152- and 203-mm) and 160-mm mortars allocated to the commanders of the rifle divisions. To destroy particularly durable buildings, structures and engineering structures, corps and divisional groups were created, to which rocket artillery was given special power. Assault military groups were also saturated with artillery to the limit: they had up to 70% of divisional artillery, and in some cases, heavy guns.”

And here are the impressions of his opponent von Lyash:

“On April 6, Russian troops launched a general offensive of such power that I have never experienced, despite rich experience in the east and west. About thirty divisions and two air fleets continuously bombarded the fortress with shells from guns of all calibers and “Stalinist organs” for several days. Wave after wave of enemy bombers appeared, dropping their deadly cargo on the burning city, which had turned into piles of ruins.

Our fortress artillery, weak and poor in shells, could not do anything against this fire, and not a single German fighter showed up in the sky. Anti-aircraft batteries were powerless against the cloud of enemy aircraft, and besides, they had difficulty defending against enemy tanks. All means of communication were immediately destroyed, and only foot messengers made their way by touch through the piles of ruins to their command posts or positions.”

The artillery unit of Lieutenant Sofronov's guard is fighting on one of the streets of Koenigsberg. April 9, 1945

The legendary U-2 bombers distinguished themselves here; thanks to their low speed, they fought at low altitudes both at night and in bad weather. They were mainly flown by female pilots, whom the Nazis nicknamed “night witches.”

In Königsberg the Germans had three rings of defense. The first - 6-8 kilometers from the city center - consisted of trenches, an anti-tank ditch, wire fences and minefields, as well as 15 forts with garrisons of 150-200 people with 12-15 guns. The second defense ring ran along the outskirts of the city and consisted of stone buildings, barricades, firing points and minefields. The third ring, in the city center, consisted of nine bastions, towers and ravelins.

The Red Army launched attacks in converging directions simultaneously from the north and south. Another pinning blow on Pillau was intended for the Zemland group.

To storm the fortifications, 26 assault detachments and 104 assault groups were created, which included flamethrowers who literally burned out enemy fortified points, as well as units of chemical troops.

Guardsman V. Surnin, the first to break into one of the buildings in Koenigsberg during the attack on the city, strengthens the flag with his name on the roof of the house

Here are the impressions of the direct participants in the assault.

Senior Sergeant Nikolai Batsev: “We were hunting for “cuckoos” - individual soldiers or groups of soldiers with radio stations that transmitted information about the movement and concentration of our troops. I caught such “cuckoos” twice: they were groups of three people. They hid in fields, in basements on farmsteads, in pits. And Il-2 planes constantly flew over our heads; the Germans called them “Black Death.” I have only seen so many planes when we took Vilnius!”

Lieutenant Nikolai Chernyshov: “The Katyushas began to play, the artillery began to sing, and our 11th Army went on the attack. I remember April 6th well, the moment we entered the city.

After the battle, we ran from the streets into empty apartments and, by inertia, smashed everything with machine guns: glass, mirrors, dishes. My hands were shaking, I had to throw out the energy. And they violated the regulations. The thirst was so tormenting that we, without fear of poisoning, opened jars of cherry and apple compotes and drank!”

Captain Peter Chagin: “On April 7, I and my soldiers went to the German artillery factory, which was located on what is now Dzerzhinsky Street. We went inside: the workshops were intact, the equipment was there, only the windows were broken. And we see - in the middle of the workshop there is a bunch of bicycles. Well, we think the Germans left the ride! It must have been mined. And they checked: they tied a rope, walked around the corner and pulled. It exploded! After all, the Germans laid a couple of infantry mines!”

Senior lieutenant of the medical service Anna Saikina: “I was part of the ORMU - this is a separate company of medical reinforcement, we were thrown into the hottest spots. In East Prussia, unusual Gothic architecture was striking. Despite the fact that the city was destroyed, the sterile cleanliness and neatness of the Germans could be seen everywhere in the surviving places. This surprised us very much then. Our headquarters was located five kilometers from Koenigsberg, somewhere on the road to present-day Svetlogorsk. A medical hospital was set up in the forest.

During the fierce battles for the capture of Koenigsberg, wounded came to us in an endless stream. I remember there was a case where a healthy German Luftwaffe pilot with hard eyes and a dissatisfied face was lying in the ward. Everything felt wrong and wrong for him, as if he had arrived at a resort. So, taking a syringe to give an injection, I chose the thickest needle. He winced and said “schlecht schwesser”, which means “bad nurse”... But we never divided the soldiers into friends and foes, we bandaged, operated on, treated and hid the wounded from the bombings.”

The corpses of German soldiers on the side of the Primorskoye Highway southwest of Koenigsberg, left after the battle. Movement of carts with Soviet soldiers of the 3rd Belorussian Front

PAY

During the assault on one of the forts, the ISU-152 self-propelled gun, commanded by Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya’s brother Alexander, distinguished itself. On the side of his car was written “For Zoya!” Having fired a volley at the thick brick walls of the fort, the self-propelled gun broke through them and immediately burst into the fortification. The garrison of 350 people capitulated. 9 tanks, 200 vehicles and a fuel warehouse were captured. The battery commander was presented with the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, which was awarded to him posthumously. Senior Lieutenant Alexander Kosmodemyansky died there, in East Prussia, on April 13 during the assault on the village of Vierbrüderkrug...

On April 8, the garrison was asked to surrender. Some units tried to break through to the west, but were intercepted by the 43rd Army. Some detachments surrendered on their own, without orders, sometimes killing their officers. Lyash himself gave the order to surrender on April 9, while already in captivity. The bunker where he was captured is now a branch of the regional museum of local history. He returned to Germany only in 1955, lived for another 16 years, writing the book “So Konigsberg Fell.” Together with him, up to 90 thousand soldiers and officers were captured.

Soviet sappers clear mines from the streets of Koenigsberg

The irretrievable losses of the 3rd Belorussian Front directly during the assault, according to official data, amounted to 3,700 people, so, considering the city they had to take, the price turned out to be relatively low. Another thing is that in total in East Prussia, again according to official data, 126,640 soldiers and officers of the Red Army died. A terrible, but understandable price for victory in the centuries-old confrontation between Germany and the Slavs.

In total, about 760 thousand people were awarded the medal “For the Capture of Koenigsberg” (which, however, was given to participants in the entire East Prussian operation).

According to the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, as of April 7, 2009, 283 veterans who participated in the assault remained alive in Kaliningrad. Now, of course, even less.

Group of Heroes of the Soviet Union of the 5th Army, awarded this title for battles in East Prussia.
From left to right: Guards ml Lieutenant Nezdoliy K., Guards. Captain Filosofov A., Major General Gorodovikov B.B., Guards Captain Kotin F., Sergeant Major Voinshin F.

Dmitry MITYURIN, journalist (St. Petersburg)
Photos from the website victory.rusarchives.ru

I apologize for the long quote, but we must somehow fight fascism! We took Koenigsberg, but it’s a shame to give Pandora to the Nazis! Read, you caring people, think about how many signs are there around you?

“Eternal Fascism” is a report given by Umberto Eco at a symposium held by the Italian and French departments of Columbia University (New York) on April 25, 1995, the anniversary of the liberation of Europe. Published under the title "Eternal Fascism" in the New York Review of Books, June 22, 1995.

In my adolescence there were two such years, when there were SS men, fascists and partisans around, everyone was firing at each other, I learned to dodge the shots. A useful skill.

The term "fascism" is used everywhere because even if one or more aspects of the Italian fascist regime are removed, it is still recognizable as fascist.

To overcome this confusion, in my opinion, it is necessary to identify a list of typical characteristics of Eternal Fascism (ur-fascism); in fact, the presence of even one of them is enough for the fascist nebula to begin to condense.

1) The first characteristic of ur-fascism is the cult of tradition. Traditionalism is older than fascism. It has dominated counter-revolutionary Catholic thought since the French Revolution, but it originated in the late Hellenistic period as a reaction to the rationalism of classical Greece.

It follows from this that there is no place for the development of knowledge. The truth has already been proclaimed once and for all; All that remains is to interpret her dark words. Just look at the “clips” of any fascist cultures: they include only traditionalist thinkers. German-fascist gnosis was fed from traditionalist, syncretistic, occult sources. The most important theoretical source of the new Italian right, Julius Evola, confuses the Grail with the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, alchemy with the Holy Roman Empire. The very fact that, in order to enrich their horizons, some of the Italian right has now expanded its scope to include De Maistre, Guenon and Gramsci is a brilliant demonstration of syncretism.

2) Traditionalism inevitably leads to rejection of modernism. Both Italian fascists and German Nazis seemed to adore technology, while traditionalist thinkers usually stigmatized technology, seeing it as a negation of traditional spiritual values. But, in fact, Nazism enjoyed only the external aspect of its industrialization. In the depths of his ideology, the theory of Blut und Boden - “Blood and Soil” - dominated. The denial of the modern world was carried out under the sign of the denial of capitalist modernity. This is, in essence, a denial of the spirit of 1789 (and also, of course, 1776) - the spirit of the Enlightenment. The Age of Rationalism is seen as the beginning of modern depravity. Therefore, ur-fascism can be defined as irrationalism.

3) Irrationalism is closely associated with the cult of action for the sake of action. The action is beautiful in itself and therefore is carried out outside and without reflection. Thinking is an unmanly thing. Culture is seen with suspicion, being a potential carrier of a critical attitude. It’s all here: Goebbels’s statement “When I hear the word “culture”, I grab a gun,” and nice commonplaces about intellectual scum, egg-headed intellectuals, radical snobbery and universities - breeding grounds for the communist infection. Suspicion of the intellectual world always signals the presence of Ur-fascism. Official fascist thinkers were mainly engaged in accusing contemporary culture and the liberal intelligentsia of departing from eternal values.

4) No form of syncretism can bear criticism. The critical approach operates with distinctions, and distinctions are an attribute of modernity. In modern culture, the scientific community respects disagreement as the basis for the development of science. In the eyes of ur-fascism, disagreement is betrayal.

5) Disagreement is also a sign of otherness. Ur-fascism is growing and seeking consensus, exploiting the innate fear of the foreign. The first slogans of the fascist or pre-fascist movement are directed against foreigners. Ur-fascism is thus, by definition, implicated in racism.

6) Ur-fascism is born out of individual or social frustration. Therefore, all historical fascisms were based on frustrated middle classes, suffering from some kind of economic or political crisis and fearing a threat from the irritated lower classes. In our time, when the former “proletarians” are turning into the petty bourgeoisie, and the lumpen are withdrawing from political life, fascism will find an excellent audience in this new majority.

7) For those who are generally socially disadvantaged, ur-fascism says that the only guarantee of their privileges is the fact of birth in a certain country. This is how nationalism is forged. And the only thing that can unite a nation is its enemies. Therefore, at the heart of ur-fascist psychology is an obsession with the idea of ​​a conspiracy, if possible international. People must feel besieged. The best way to focus the audience on a conspiracy is to use xenophobic springs. However, an internal conspiracy is also suitable; Jews are well suited for this, because they are both inside and outside at the same time.

8) Members should feel insulted by the fact that enemies flaunt wealth and flaunt strength. When I was little, I was taught that the British were “a nation of five meals a day.”

The British eat more intensively than the poor but honest Italians. Jews are also rich, and besides, they help their own people and have a secret network of mutual assistance. This is on the one hand; at the same time, the members are convinced that they will be able to defeat any enemy. Thus, thanks to the vibration of rhetorical strings, enemies are depicted at the same time as both too strong and too weak. For this reason, fascisms are doomed to always lose wars: they are not able to objectively assess the combat effectiveness of the enemy.

9) For ur-fascism there is no struggle for life, but there is life for the sake of struggle. If so, pacifism means fraternization with the enemy. Pacifism is reprehensible because life is an eternal struggle. At the same time, there is also a Last Judgment complex. Since the enemy must be - and will be - destroyed, it means that the final battle will take place, as a result of which this movement will gain complete control over the world. In the light of such a “total solution”, the advent of an era of universal peace, a Golden Age, is expected.

However, this contradicts the thesis of permanent war, and not a single fascist leader has yet managed to resolve the resulting contradiction.

10) For all reactionary ideologies, elitism is typical, due to its deep aristocracy. Throughout history, all aristocratic and militaristic elitisms have been based on contempt for the weak.

Ur-fascism professes populist elitism. Ordinary citizens are the best people in the world. The party is composed of the best ordinary citizens. An ordinary citizen can (or is obliged) to become a party member.

However, there cannot be patricians without plebeians. The leader, who knows that he received power not through delegation, but seized it by force, also understands that his strength is based on the weakness of the masses, and this mass is weak enough to need and deserve a Driver.

Therefore, in such societies, organized hierarchically (according to the militaristic model), each individual leader despises, on the one hand, his superiors, and on the other, his subordinates.
This strengthens mass elitism.

11) Anyone and everyone is raised to become a hero. In myth, the hero embodies a rare, extraordinary being; however, in the ideology of ur-fascism, heroism is the norm. The cult of heroism is directly related to the cult of death. It is no coincidence that the Falangists' motto was Viva la muerte! Normal people are told that death is sad, but they must face it with dignity. Believers are told that death is a painful method of achieving supernatural bliss. The hero of ur-fascism longs for death, which was prescribed to him as the best compensation for his heroic life. The hero of ur-fascism cannot bear to die. In heroic impatience, we note in parentheses, he much more often happens to kill others.

12) Since both permanent war and heroism are quite difficult games, ur-fascism transfers its desire for power to the sexual sphere. The cult of masculinity is based on this (that is, disdain for women and the merciless persecution of any non-conformist sexual habits: from chastity to homosexuality). Since sex is a rather difficult game, the hero of ur-fascism is played with a pistol, that is, an ersatz phallus. Constant war games are based on the inescapable invidia penis.

13) Ur-fascism is built on qualitative (qualitative) populism. In a democracy, citizens enjoy individual rights; the totality of citizens exercises their political rights only if there is a quantitative basis: the decisions of the majority are executed. In the eyes of ur-fascism, the individual does not have personal rights, and the People appear as a quality, as a monolithic unity expressing the collective will. Since no number of human beings can actually have a combined will, the Chief claims to represent all. Having lost the right to delegate, ordinary citizens do not act, they are only called upon - part for the whole - to play the role of the People. The people, therefore, exist as a purely theatrical phenomenon.

For an example of quality populism, one need not look to Nuremberg Stadium or Rome's crowded square in front of Mussolini's balcony. In our near future, the prospect of quality populism is television or the Internet, which are able to present the emotional reaction of a selected group of citizens as the “judgment of the people.”

Standing firmly on its qualitative populism, ur-fascism takes up arms against “rotten parliamentary democracies.” The first thing Mussolini said at his speech in the Italian parliament was: “I would like to turn this dull, gray hall into a gym for my children.” He, of course, quickly found a much better refuge for “his kids,” but nevertheless dispersed the parliament.

Every time a politician questions the legitimacy of parliament because it allegedly no longer reflects the “judgment of the people,” the stench of Eternal Fascism is clearly smelt.

14) Ur-fascism speaks Newspeak. Newspeak was invented by Orwell in 1984 as the official language of Ingsoc, English socialism, but elements of ur-fascism are characteristic of a variety of dictatorships. Both Nazi and fascist textbooks were distinguished by poor vocabulary and primitive syntax, wanting to limit as much as possible the set of tools for complex critical thinking for the student. But we must be able to identify other forms of Newspeak, even when they have the innocent appearance of a popular television talk show.