Why Stalin evicted the Chechens and Ingush. Deportation

At 2 a.m. on February 23, 1944, the most famous ethnic deportation operation began - the resettlement of residents of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, formed ten years earlier by uniting the Chechen and Ingush Autonomous Regions.

There were deportations of “punished peoples” before this - Germans and Finns, Kalmyks and Karachais, and after - Balkars, Crimean Tatars and Greeks, Bulgarians and Armenians living in Crimea, as well as Meskhetian Turks from Georgia. But Operation Lentil to evict almost half a million Vainakhs - Chechens and Ingush - became the largest.

The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR motivated the decision to deport Chechens and Ingush by the fact that “during the Great Patriotic War, especially during the actions of the Nazi troops in the Caucasus, many Chechens and Ingush betrayed their Motherland, went over to the side of the fascist occupiers, and joined the ranks of saboteurs and intelligence officers , thrown by the Germans into the rear of the Red Army, created armed gangs at the behest of the Germans to fight against Soviet power, and also taking into account that many Chechens and Ingush for a number of years participated in armed uprisings against Soviet power and for a long time, being not engaged in honest labor, carry out bandit raids on collective farms in neighboring regions, rob and kill Soviet people.”

These two peoples had difficult relations with the authorities even before the war. Until 1938, there was not even a systematic conscription of Chechens and Ingush into the Red Army - no more than 300-400 people were conscripted annually.

Then the conscription was significantly increased, and in 1940-1941 it was carried out in full accordance with the law on universal conscription.

“The attitude of the Chechens and Ingush towards Soviet power was clearly expressed in desertion and evasion of conscription into the Red Army. During the first mobilization in August 1941, out of 8,000 people subject to conscription, 719 people deserted. In October 1941, out of 4,733 people, 362 evaded conscription. In January 1942, during the formation of the national division, only 50 percent of the personnel were recruited. In March 1942, out of 14,576 people, 13,560 deserted and evaded service, went underground, went to the mountains and joined gangs. In 1943, out of 3,000 volunteers, the number of deserters was 1,870,” wrote L.P. in a memo. Beria's deputy people's commissar, state security commissioner of the 2nd rank B.Z. Kobulov.

According to him, there were 38 sects in the republic, numbering over 20 thousand people. These were mainly hierarchical organized Muslim religious brotherhoods of murids.

“They are conducting active anti-Soviet work, sheltering bandits and German paratroopers. When the front line approached in August-September 1942, 80 members of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) quit their jobs and fled, including 16 leaders of district committees of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), 8 senior officials of district executive committees and 14 chairmen of collective farms,” wrote Bogdan Kobulov.

After the start of the war, the mobilization of the Chechens and Ingush was actually thwarted - “believing and hoping that the USSR would lose the war, many mullahs and teip authorities agitated for evasion of military service or desertion,” says the collection of documents prepared by the international foundation “Democracy” “Stalin's deportations. 1928-1953".

Due to mass desertion and evasion from service, in the spring of 1942, by order of the USSR NGO, the conscription of Chechens and Ingush into the army was canceled.

In 1943, the conscription of approximately 3 thousand volunteers was authorized, but two-thirds of them deserted.

Because of this, it was not possible to form the 114th Chechen-Ingush Cavalry Division - it had to be reorganized into a regiment, however, even after this, desertion was widespread.

According to data as of November 20, 1942, in the Northern group of the Transcaucasian Front there were all 90 Chechens and Ingush - 0.04%.

Heroes of War

At the same time, many Vainakhs who went to the front showed their best side and contributed to the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War in 1941-1945.

The names of three Chechens and one Ingush are immortalized in the Memorial Complex of the Defenders of the Brest Fortress. But, according to various sources, from 250 to 400 people from Checheno-Ingushetia took part in the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress, which became a symbol of fortitude and courage. Together with other units of the Red Army, the 255th Chechen-Ingush Regiment and a separate cavalry division fought in Brest.

One of the last and staunch defenders of the Brest Fortress was Magomed Uzuev, but only in 1996, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. Magomed’s brother Visa Uzuev also fought in Brest.

Two defenders of the Brest Fortress are still alive in Chechnya - Akhmed Khasiev and Adam Malaev

Sniper Abukhadzhi Idrisov destroyed 349 fascists - an entire battalion. Sergeant Idrisov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and the Red Star, and was given the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

Chechen sniper Akhmat Magomadov became famous in the battles near Leningrad, where he was called “the fighter of the German occupiers.” There are more than 90 Germans on his side.

Khanpasha Nuradilov destroyed 920 fascists at the fronts, captured 7 enemy machine guns and personally captured 12 fascists. For his military exploits, Nuradilov was awarded the Order of the Red Star and Red Banner. In April 1943, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

During the war years, 10 Vainakhs became Heroes of the Soviet Union. 2,300 Chechens and Ingush died in the war.

Anti-Soviet protests

With the beginning of the war, gangs in the Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic became more active. In October 1941, two separate uprisings took place, covering the Shatoevsky, Itum-Kalinsky, Vedensky, Cheberloevsky and Galanchozhsky districts of the republic. At the beginning of 1942, the leaders of the uprisings, Khasan Israilov and Mairbek Sheripov, united, creating the “Provisional People's Revolutionary Government of Checheno-Ingushetia.” In its statements, this rebel "government" viewed Hitler as an ally in the fight against Stalin.

As the front line approached the border of the republic in 1942, anti-Soviet forces began to act more actively. In August-September 1942, collective farms were dissolved in almost all mountainous regions of Chechnya, and several thousand people, including dozens of Soviet functionaries, joined the uprising of Israilov and Sheripov.

After the appearance of German landing forces in Chechnya in the fall of 1942, the NKVD accused Israilov and Sheripov of creating pro-fascist parties, the National Socialist Party of the Caucasian Brothers and the Chechen-Mountain National Socialist Underground Organization.

In the eight teams of fascist paratroopers with a total number of 77 people dropped onto the territory of the republic, the majority were recruited Chechens and Ingush. But there was no widespread participation of Chechens and Ingush in anti-Soviet gangs. The NKVD registered 150-200 gangs of 2-3 thousand bandits on the territory of Checheno-Ingushetia. This is approximately 0.5% of the population of Chechnya. From the beginning of the war until January 1944, 55 gangs and 973 bandits were liquidated in the republic, 1901 bandits, fascists and their accomplices were arrested.

"Lentils"

Operation Lentil began preparations in October-November 1943. Initially, resettlement was planned in the Novosibirsk and Omsk regions, in the Altai and Krasnoyarsk territories. But then it was decided to resettle the Chechens and Ingush to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

On January 29, 1944, the head of the NKVD Lavrentiy Beria approved the “Instructions on the procedure for the eviction of Chechens and Ingush.” On February 1, the issue was discussed by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. Disagreements arose only over the timing of the start of the operation.

Beria personally led the operation. On February 17, 1944, he reported from Grozny that preparations were being completed and 459,486 people were to be evicted. The operation was designed to last eight days, and 19 thousand operatives of the NKVD, NKGB and SMERSH and about 100 thousand officers and soldiers of the NKVD troops were involved in it.

On February 22, Beria met with the republic’s top leadership and senior clergy and told them about the government’s decision and “the motives that formed the basis for this decision. After this message, Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars Mollaev “teared up, but promised to pull himself together and promised to fulfill all the tasks that would be given to him in connection with the eviction,” Beria reported to Stalin.

Beria suggested that the highest clergy of Checheno-Ingushetia “carry out the necessary work among the population through the mullahs and other local “authorities” associated with them.”

The influence of the mullahs was enormous. Their preaching, wrote the USSR Minister of Internal Affairs N.P. Dundorov in the mid-1950s, could improve labor discipline and even double labor productivity.

“Both the party-Soviet and clergy we employ have been promised some resettlement benefits (the norm of things allowed for export will be slightly increased),” Beria said.

The operation, according to his assessment, began successfully - 333,739 people were removed from populated areas within 24 hours, of which 176,950 were loaded onto trains. A faster eviction was prevented by heavy snow that fell on the afternoon of February 23.

Nevertheless, by February 29 (1944 was a leap year), 478,479 people were evicted and loaded into wagons, including 91,250 Ingush and 387,229 Chechens.

“177 trains have been loaded, of which 159 trains have already been sent to the place of the new settlement,” Beria reported the results of the operation.

During the operation, 2,016 “people of anti-Soviet element” were arrested, and more than 20 thousand firearms were confiscated.

“The population bordering Checheno-Ingushetia reacted favorably to the eviction of Chechens and Ingush,” said the head of the NKVD.

Residents of the republic were allowed to take with them 500 kilograms of cargo per family. The special settlers had to hand over livestock and grain - in exchange they received livestock and grain from local authorities at their new place of residence.

There were 45 people in each carriage (for comparison, the Germans were allowed to take a ton of property during deportation, and there were 40 people in each carriage without personal belongings). The party nomenclature and the Muslim elite traveled in the last echelon, which consisted of normal carriages.

And just months later, in the summer of 1944, several spiritual leaders of the Chechens were summoned to the republic to help persuade the gangs and Chechens who had evaded deportation to stop resisting.

Incidents

The deportation did not take place without incidents - according to various sources, from 27 to 780 people were killed, and 6,544 residents of the republic managed to evade deportation. The People's Commissariat of State Security reported "a number of ugly facts of violation of revolutionary legality, arbitrary executions of old Chechen women who remained after the resettlement, the sick, the crippled, who could not follow."

According to a document published by the Democracy Foundation, in one of the villages three people were killed, including an eight-year-old boy, in another - “five old women”, in the third - “according to unspecified data” “arbitrary execution of the sick and crippled up to 60 people "

In recent years, there have been reports of the burning of from 200 to 600-700 people in the Galanchozhsky district. Two commissions were created to investigate the operation in this area - in 1956 and 1990, but the criminal case was never brought to an end. The official report of the 3rd rank State Security Commissioner M. Gvishiani, who led the operation in this area, spoke only of several dozen killed or died along the way.

As for the mortality of displaced persons, as the leadership of the NKVD convoy troops reported, 56 people were born on the way to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, “1,272 people died, which is 2.6 people per 1,000 transported. According to a certificate from the Statistical Directorate of the RSFSR, the mortality rate in the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1943 was 13.2 people per 1,000 inhabitants.” The causes of mortality were “the advanced and early age of those resettled,” the presence of chronic diseases among those resettled,” and the presence of physically weak people.

Toponymic repressions

On March 7, 1944, the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic itself was liquidated. In place of the areas inhabited by Chechens, the Grozny Okrug was created as part of the Stavropol Territory.

Part of the territory of the republic was divided between Georgia and North Ossetia. All Ingush place names were repressed - they were replaced with Russian and Ossetian names.

Opinion of historians

Despite a number of incidents, in general the eviction of the whole passed calmly and did not push the Chechens and Ingush into a terrorist war, although, according to historians, there were all the possibilities for this.

Some historians explain this by saying that the harsh punishment was at the same time gentle towards the people. According to the laws of war, desertion and evasion from military service deserved severe punishment. But the authorities did not shoot the men, “cut off the roots of the people,” but evicted everyone. At the same time, party and Komsomol organizations were not disbanded, and recruitment into the army was not stopped.

However, most historians consider it unacceptable to punish an entire people for the crime of some of its representatives. Deportations of peoples as repressions were extrajudicial in nature and were aimed not at a specific person, but at a whole group of people, and a very large one at that. Masses of people were torn out of their usual habitat, deprived of their homeland, and placed in a new environment, thousands of kilometers from the previous one. Representatives of these peoples were evicted not only from their historical homeland, but also from all other cities and regions, and demobilized from the army.

Rehabilitation and return

The ban on returning to their homeland for Chechens and Ingush was lifted on January 9, 1957 by decree of the Presidiums of the Supreme Soviets of the USSR and the RSFSR. These decrees restored Chechen-Ingush autonomy, and an Organizing Committee was created to organize repatriation.

Immediately after the decree, tens of thousands of Chechens and Ingush in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan quit their jobs, sold off their property and began to seek emigration to their previous place of residence. The authorities were forced in the summer of 1957 to temporarily suspend the return of Chechens and Ingush to their homeland.

One of the reasons was the tense situation developing in the North Caucasus - local authorities were not prepared for the massive return and conflicts between the Vainakhs and settlers from Central Russia and land-poor regions of the North Caucasus who occupied their homes and lands in 1944.

The restoration of autonomy provided for a new, complex redrawing of the administrative-territorial division of the region. Outside the Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was the Prigorodny district, which remained part of the North Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and at the end of the 1980s turned into a hotbed of the Ossetian-Ingush conflict.

The authorities planned to return 17 thousand families to the Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1957, but twice as many returned, and many sought to be placed in exactly the same villages and houses in which they lived before deportation. This led to ethnic confrontation. In particular, in August 1958, after a domestic murder, riots broke out, about a thousand people seized the regional party committee in Grozny and staged a pogrom there. 32 people were injured, including four employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, two civilians died and 10 were hospitalized, almost 60 people were arrested.

Most Chechens and Ingush returned to their homeland only in the spring of 1959.

The Chechens and Ingush were completely rehabilitated according to the RSFSR law of April 26, 1991 “On the rehabilitation of repressed peoples.” The law provided for “the recognition and implementation of their right to restore the territorial integrity that existed before the unconstitutional policy of forcibly redrawing borders, to restore the national-state entities that existed before their abolition, as well as to compensate for damage caused by the state.”

At the same time, the law provided that the rehabilitation process should not infringe on the rights and legitimate interests of citizens currently living in these territories.

Deportation of Chechens and Ingush (Operation Lentil) - deportation of Chechens and Ingush from the territory of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and adjacent areas to Central Asia and Kazakhstan in the period from February 23 to March 9, 1944.

During its course, according to various estimates, from 500 to 650 thousand Chechens and Ingush were evicted. During the eviction and the first years after it, approximately 100 thousand Chechens and 23 thousand Ingush died, that is, approximately one in four of both peoples. 100 thousand military personnel were directly involved in the deportation, and approximately the same number were put on alert in neighboring regions. 180 trainloads of deportees were sent. The Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was abolished, and the Grozny region was created on its territory, some of the regions became part of North Ossetia, Dagestan and Georgia.

The Kists and Batsbis living in the Georgian SSR, ethnically close to the Chechens and Ingush, were not subject to deportation.

The Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 7, 1944 on the liquidation of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and on the administrative structure of its territory stated

“Due to the fact that during the Patriotic War, especially during the actions of the Nazi troops in the Caucasus, many Chechens and Ingush betrayed their Motherland, went over to the side of the fascist occupiers, and joined the detachments of saboteurs and intelligence officers thrown by the Germans into the rear of the Red Army, created, at the behest of the Germans, armed gangs to fight against Soviet power, and also taking into account that many Chechens and Ingush for a number of years participated in armed uprisings against Soviet power and for a long time, not being engaged in honest labor, carried out bandit raids on neighboring collective farms regions, rob and kill Soviet people, - the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR decides:

1. All Chechens and Ingush living on the territory of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, as well as in adjacent areas, should be resettled to other regions of the USSR, and the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic liquidated.

Council of People's Commissars of the USSR to allocate land to the Chechens and Ingush in new places of settlement and provide them with the necessary state assistance for economic organization..."

The thesis about mass cooperation with the occupiers is untenable due to the absence of the very fact of occupation. The Wehrmacht occupied only a small part of the Malgobek region of Checheno-Ingushetia and the Nazis were driven out of there within a few days. The real reasons for the deportation have not been fully established and are still the subject of heated debate. In addition, the deportation of peoples, the liquidation of their statehood and changes in borders were illegal, since they were not provided for either by the Constitutions of the Chechen-Ingushetia, the RSFSR or the USSR, or by any other legal or by-laws.

According to official Soviet data, more than 496 thousand people were forcibly evicted from the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic - representatives of the Vainakh people, including 411 thousand people (85 thousand families) to the Kazakh SSR and 85.5 thousand people (20 thousand families) to the Kyrgyz SSR ). According to other sources, the number of deportees was more than 650 thousand people.

In order to reduce transportation costs, 45 people were loaded into two-axle plank carriages with a capacity of 28-32 people. At the same time, in a hurry, up to 100-150 people were crammed into some carriages. At the same time, the area of ​​the carriage was only 17.9 m². Many carriages had no bunks. For their equipment, 14 boards were issued per carriage, but no tools were issued.

The authorities provided medical and food support for the trains of displaced people. The main reasons for the death of the deportees were the weather, changes in everyday life, chronic diseases, and the physical weakness of the escorts due to their advanced or young age. According to official data, 56 people were born and 1,272 people died along the route of the trains.

However, these data contradict the testimony of witnesses:

“If at the Zakan station we could only be in the carriage by huddling close to each other, then... when we arrived at Kazalinska, the children, who had more or less retained their strength, could run around the train.”

Member of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation E. M. Ametistov recalled:

“I saw how they (Chechens) were brought in wagons - and half of them were unloaded as corpses. The living ones were thrown out into the 40-degree frost"

The head of the department of the North Ossetian Regional Committee of the CPSU, Ingush Kh. Arapiev, said:

“In “veal wagons” overcrowded to the limit, without light and water, we followed for almost a month to an unknown destination... Typhus went for a walk. There was no treatment, there was a war going on... During short stops, on remote deserted sidings near the train, the dead were buried in snow black from locomotive soot (going further than five meters from the carriage threatened death on the spot."

The typhus epidemic, which began on the road, broke out with renewed vigor in the places of deportation. In Kazakhstan, by April 1, 1944, there were 4,800 sick people among the Vainakhs, and in Kyrgyzstan - more than two thousand. At the same time, local medical institutions did not have a sufficient supply of medicines and disinfectants. Numerous cases of malaria, tuberulosis and other diseases were also noted among the special settlers. In the Jalalabad region of Kyrgyzstan alone, by August 1944, 863 special settlers had died.

The high mortality rate was explained not only by the epidemic, but also by malnutrition. When moving out, people did not have time to take with them a supply of food for a month’s journey, and there were practically no food points along the routes. Subsequently, People's Artist of the Chechen-Ingush SSR, Honored Artist of the RSFSR Zulay Sardalova recalled that during the journey hot meals were delivered to the carriage only once.

On March 20, 1944, after the arrival of 491,748 deportees, contrary to the instructions of the central government, the local population, collective farms and state farms did not provide or were unable to provide food, shelter and work to the settlers. The deportees were cut off from their traditional way of life and had difficulty adapting to life on collective farms.

Chechens and Ingush were evicted not only from their historical homeland, but also from all other cities and regions who were in the ranks of the army, demobilized and also exiled.

12 years after the resettlement in 1956, 315 thousand Chechens and Ingush lived in Kazakhstan, and about 80 thousand people in Kyrgyzstan. After Stalin's death, restrictions on movement were lifted from them, but they were not allowed to return to their homeland. Despite this, in the spring of 1957, 140 thousand forcibly deported returned to the restored Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. At the same time, several mountainous regions were closed to their residence, and the former inhabitants of these territories began to be settled in lowland auls and Cossack villages. Mountaineers were forbidden to settle in the Cheberloyevsky, Sharoysky, Galanchozhsky, most of the Itum-Kalinsky and Shatoysky mountain regions. Their houses were blown up and burned, bridges and trails were destroyed. Representatives of the KGB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs forcibly expelled those who returned to their native villages. Before the eviction, up to 120 thousand people lived in these areas.

Initially, the territory of the republic was planned to be divided between neighboring republics and the Stavropol Territory. Grozny and the lowland areas were to be transferred to the Stavropol Territory with the rights of a district. However, given the strategic importance of Grozny, its oil production and oil refining complexes, the country's leadership decided to create a new region in this territory, which was assigned to the south-eastern regions of the Stavropol Territory up to the Caspian Sea.

The Grozny region was formed on March 22, 1944 by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR after the abolition of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on March 7. On June 25, 1946, the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR excluded the mention of the Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic from Article 14 of the Constitution of the RSFSR.

On February 25, 1947, instead of mentioning the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR introduced a mention of the Grozny region into Article 22 of the USSR Constitution.

The region's territory comprised most of the former Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. When the Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was disbanded, Vedensky, Nozhai-Yurtovsky, Sayasanovsky, Cheberloevsky, Kurchaloevsky, Sharoevsky, and the eastern part of the Gudermes region were transferred to the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. As part of the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, they were renamed: Nozhai-Yurtovsky - to Andalalsky, Sayasanovsky - to Ritlyabsky, Kurchaloevsky - to Shuragatsky. At the same time, the Cheberloevsky and Sharoevsky districts were liquidated, with the transfer of their territories to the Botlikh and Tsumadinsky districts of the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

The city of Malgobek, Achaluksky, Nazranovsky, Psedakhsky, Prigorodny districts of the former Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic were transferred to the North Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The Itum-Kalinsky district, which became part of the Georgian SSR, was liquidated by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and its territory was included in the Akhalkhevsky district.

The region also included the Naursky district with a predominantly Cossack population, which was previously part of the Stavropol Territory, the city of Kizlyar, Kizlyarsky, Achikulaksky, Karanogaysky, Kayasulinsky and Shelkovsky districts of the former Kizlyar district

Almost everyone knows about the fact of the deportation of Chechens and Ingush, but few know the true reason for this relocation.

The fact is that since January 1940, the underground organization of Khasan Israilov operated in the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, whose goal was to separate the North Caucasus from the USSR and create on its territory a federation of a state of all the mountain peoples of the Caucasus, except the Ossetians. The latter, as well as the Russians living in the region, according to Israilov and his associates, should have been completely destroyed. Khasan Israilov himself was a member of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and at one time graduated from the Communist University of the Working People of the East named after I.V. Stalin.

Israilov began his political activity in 1937 with a denunciation of the leadership of the Chechen-Ingush Republic. Initially, Israilov and eight of his associates themselves went to prison for libel, but soon the local leadership of the NKVD changed, Israilov, Avtorkhanov, Mamakaev and his other like-minded people were released, and in their place were imprisoned those against whom they had written a denunciation.

Khasan Israilov

However, British agents demanded that Israilov begin independent actions even before the British attack on the USSR. On instructions from London, Israilov and his gang were to attack the Grozny oil fields and disable them in order to create a shortage of fuel in the Red Army units fighting in Finland. The operation was scheduled for January 28, 1940. Now in Chechen mythology this bandit raid has been elevated to the rank of a national uprising.

In fact, there was only an attempt to set fire to the oil storage facility, which was repulsed by the facility’s security. Israilov, with the remnants of his gang, switched to an illegal situation - holed up in mountain villages, the bandits, for the purpose of self-supply, from time to time attacked food stores.

However, with the beginning of the war, Israilov’s foreign policy orientation changed dramatically - now he began to hope for help from the Germans. Israilov’s representatives crossed the front line and handed the German intelligence representative a letter from their leader. On the German side, Israilov began to be supervised by military intelligence. The curator was Colonel Osman Gube.

Osman Gube

German paratroopers were sent to Chechnya, including Gube himself, and a German radio transmitter began operating in the forests of the Shali region, communicating between the Germans and the rebels. The first action of the rebels was an attempt to disrupt mobilization in Checheno-Ingushetia. During the second half of 1941, the number of deserters amounted to 12 thousand 365 people, evading conscription - 1093. During the first mobilization of Chechens and Ingush into the Red Army in 1941, it was planned to form a cavalry division from their composition, but when it was recruited, only 50% (4247) were recruited people) from the existing conscript contingent, and 850 people from those already recruited upon arrival at the front immediately went over to the enemy.

Chechen volunteer from the eastern battalions of the Wehrmacht.

Two years after his first raid, on January 28, 1942, Israilov organized the OPKB - “Special Party of Caucasian Brothers,” which aims to “create in the Caucasus a free fraternal Federative Republic of the states of the fraternal peoples of the Caucasus under the mandate of the German Empire.” He later renamed this party the “National Socialist Party of the Caucasian Brothers.” In February 1942, when the Nazis occupied Taganrog, an associate of Israilov, the former chairman of the Forestry Council of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Mairbek Sheripov, raised an uprising in the villages of Shatoi and Itum-Kale. The villages were soon liberated, but some of the rebels went to the mountains, from where they carried out partisan attacks. So, on June 6, 1942, at about 17:00 in the Shatoi region, a group of armed bandits on the way to the mountains fired at a truck with traveling Red Army soldiers in one gulp. Of the 14 people traveling in the car, three were killed and two were wounded. The bandits disappeared into the mountains. On August 17, Mairbek Sheripov’s gang actually destroyed the regional center of the Sharoevsky district.

However, it took a long time to catch and neutralize the gangs - the bandits, warned by someone, avoided ambushes and withdrew their units from the attacks. Conversely, targets that were attacked were often left unguarded. So, just before the attack on the regional center of the Sharoevsky district, an operational group and a military unit of the NKVD, which were intended to protect the regional center, were withdrawn from the regional center. Subsequently, it turned out that the bandits were protected by the head of the department for combating banditry of the Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Lieutenant Colonel GB Aliyev. And later, among the things of the murdered Israilov, a letter from the People’s Commissar of Internal Affairs of Checheno-Ingushetia, Sultan Albogachiev, was found. It was then that it became clear that all Chechens and Ingush (and Albogachiev was Ingush), regardless of their position, were dreaming of how to harm the Russians. and they did harm very actively.

However, on November 7, 1942, on the 504th day of the war, when Hitler’s troops in Stalingrad tried to break through our defenses in the Glubokaya Balka area between the Red October and Barrikady factories, in Checheno-Ingushetia, by the forces of the NKVD troops with the support of individual units of the 4th Kuban Cavalry Corps carried out a special operation to eliminate gangs. Mairbek Sheripov was killed in the battle, and Gube was captured on the night of January 12, 1943 near the village of Akki-Yurt.

However, bandit attacks continued. They continued thanks to the support of the bandits by the local population and local authorities. Despite the fact that from June 22, 1941 to February 23, 1944, 3,078 gang members were killed and 1,715 people were captured in Checheno-Ingushtia, it was clear that as long as someone gave the bandits food and shelter, it would be impossible to defeat banditry. That is why on January 31, 1944, the USSR State Defense Committee Resolution No. 5073 was adopted on the abolition of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the deportation of its population to Central Asia and Kazakhstan.

On February 23, 1944, Operation Lentil began, during which 180 trains of 65 wagons each were sent from Checheno-Ingushenia with a total of 493,269 people resettled. 20,072 firearms were seized. While resisting, 780 Chechens and Ingush were killed, and 2016 were arrested for possession of weapons and anti-Soviet literature.

6,544 people managed to hide in the mountains. But many of them soon descended from the mountains and surrendered. Israilov himself was mortally wounded in battle on December 15, 1944.

In 1944, a decision was made on mass deportation of the population of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The reasons that prompted the government to take such harsh measures were that the Chechens and Ingush were unfairly accused of collaborating with fascist troops, and representatives of these nationalities were practically equated with enemies of the people.

Take it to yourself:

Not only residents of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic were subject to deportation, but also representatives of these nationalities living in other republics and regions of the Soviet Union.

"Memory of Ages"

We will never be able to forget those years,
That morning came like thunder.
For forty-four we will not be able to forgive,
The expulsion of our peoples.

Bloody wounds have remained since then,
In the hearts of hundreds of people,
They endured almost two weeks in the carriages,
To yourself the relationship of animals!

We have known grief, suffering and tears,
Many years have been tormented,
But we've been through a tough time
And we continue to live our lives!

The resettled peoples were amnestied in 1957 and most of the deported Chechens and Ingush took advantage of the opportunity provided and returned to their native land as soon as possible. About the deportation of Ingush and Chechens, which the European Parliament assessed as “genocide of the Ingush and Chechen people,” watch the video:

Reasons for the deportation of Chechens and Ingush

In accordance with the decision of the USSR government, the population of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was subject to deportation. The authorities were afraid of the inhabitants of these territories. In addition, many falsely reported that various gangs were being formed in the territory.

During the first three years of the Second World War, more than fifty different formations were liquidated in these places. About a thousand people were killed, and about two thousand were arrested. But this was only the tip of the iceberg, since it was reported according to preliminary estimates that there were about 200 such associations on the territory of the republic, and each consisted of 2-3 thousand people.

The operation of mass resettlement of Chechens and Ingush was called “lentils”. Presumably, the deportation received this name due to its similarity with the name of the Chechen nation.

According to historians, the main reason for taking such harsh measures was that the leadership of the Soviet Union considered the inhabitants of these territories unreliable and could not allow them to continue to occupy the area located on the border of the state, since this was quite dangerous. In addition, among the Chechen population there were many families with relatives abroad, which was also not encouraged in Soviet times.

At the same time, it should be noted here that despite the presence of gang formations in the territory of residence of the Vainakh people, many Chechens and Ingush, like other residents of the Soviet Union, heroically fought against the German invaders. That is, this nation experienced all the pain and misfortune of the war, losing more than two thousand people on the battlefields. Chechens and Ingush took part in many iconic battles, for example, the battle for the Brest Fortress. Many of them received awards for their bravery, including posthumous ones.

Memorial "Nine Towers" in Nazran. Opened on February 23, 1997, on the next anniversary of the deportation of Ingush and Chechens to Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

Also in the Red Army there were literally legends about the 255th Chechen-Ingush cavalry regiment, which took part in the Battle of Stalingrad. This combat unit, like others, suffered huge losses then. It was impossible to supplement it with Chechens and Ingush (for territorial reasons), and the army leadership decided to form two reconnaissance divisions from the remaining soldiers.

It is worth mentioning here the fact that Chechen and Ingush soldiers were very highly valued. Apparently, living in a harsh mountainous area, where fathers from an early age taught boys to handle weapons, ride horses and defend the interests of their nation and their family with weapons in their hands, played a big role in shaping the character of the Chechens and Ingush. And considering that life in the mountains from childhood accustomed such men to hard work, almost all of them were very hardy and strong.

Chechen and Ingush soldiers, despite physical overload, cold and hunger, retained their physical strength, while remaining extremely dangerous combat opponents. If we talk about the moral qualities of representatives of the Vainakh people, many noted that they were distinguished by cruelty, courage, cunning and, at the same time, composure and the ability not to give free rein to emotions, even in the most critical situations.

At the same time, given the “combat” history of this people, it is not surprising that the highlanders easily took up arms if they believed that their loved ones or their land were in danger.

How did the deportation proceed?

The decision to resettle the Chechens and Ingush was made at the end of January 1944 and was initially kept in the strictest confidence.

The Soviet authorities were well aware that the local population could resist. Therefore, by decree of Beria, about 100 thousand military personnel were sent to the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, under the guise of conducting military mountain exercises. The operation also involved employees of the NKGB, NKVD and independent counterintelligence organizations “Smersh” (the name stands for “death to spies”). The authorities of the Soviet Union were preparing for resistance, but, nevertheless, they tried to do everything possible to ensure that the resettlement took place with a minimum number of casualties for them, and the people died during the move...

They informed their party workers about the operation in advance, whose task was to select a couple of respected people in each village, so that when the time came, they would convince their fellow villagers not to run away and not engage in battle with the Soviet troops. At the same time, the operation itself was kept secret from the population.

The deportation began on February 23 at 2 o'clock local time. The signal for active action was the code word “Panther”, heard on the waves of the local radio.

At the same time, information was later announced about violations of the law and unauthorized execution of residents of the republic, including elderly and sick citizens. Also, according to the testimony of one of the local residents, the village of Khaibakh was burned along with 700 civilians. Despite all the efforts of the authorities and the suddenness of the start of the deportation, about 7 thousand local residents were still able to avoid departure and hid in the mountains. These people united in about a hundred disparate groups and created a kind of insurgent movement.

During the operation, in about two weeks, nearly 200 trains containing about 500 thousand people were taken out of the republic. Tens of thousands of Chechens and Ingush died on the way. The main causes of death were poor conditions, food, and cold.

At the same time, according to eyewitnesses, the road was scary. People were transported in overcrowded carriages and frosts, as well as lack of food, caused outbreaks of a typhoid epidemic. The dead had to be buried on the way, at best, right next to the rails, since those who moved far from the carriage could be killed on the spot.

According to the authorities, the deportees were to be provided with shelter, a minimum set of food, and jobs at their destinations. However, contrary to all instructions, this order was not carried out. People were dropped off with nothing, where it was necessary to start everything from scratch without shelter or food.

The Chechens and Ingush themselves were also completely demoralized and not adapted to living and working on collective farms, since their way of life and traditions were very different from those that were imposed on them. In addition, the Vainakhs are a very sedentary population and the forced departure from their homes and change of environment became a real tragedy for them. And this is not to mention the fact that many deportees were separated from relatives.

The situation was complicated by the fact that most people were illiterate and could not work, since they had been engaged in agriculture all their adult lives. Therefore, life in exile was extremely difficult and full of hardships for them. This is a huge tragedy for the Chechen-Ingush people, when they openly killed and exterminated the people, their traditions and customs... and the traces of these events still speak about themselves..

I have long wanted to write my vision of such an event as the forced eviction (deportation) of some peoples of the North Caucasus. Moreover, tomorrow will be the next 72nd anniversary of the deportation of the Chechen people.

Almost everyone knows about the fact of resettlement of Chechens, Crimean Tatars, Kalmyks, Karachais and Ingush, but the true reason for this deportation is practically unknown. But everyone has seen similar pictures...

So, why in 1943-44. Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Karachais, Crimean Tatars and Kalmyks were deported and taken from their homes. And why did this not affect the Ossetians and the peoples of Dagestan?

Why Stalin evicted the Chechens

It’s strange, but there is often an opinion that the bloodthirsty tyrant Stalin decided to take revenge on the highlanders for their hospitable meeting of the Germans and after the liberation of the Caucasus from the Nazi troops, he gave the order to forcibly evict the Caucasians and Kalmyks.

Oral stories persist about how Chechen elders allegedly gave Hitler a handsome white stallion. As a child, I myself heard a lot of stories about how the Chechens rejoiced at the arrival of the Germans, for which they paid with eviction.

They say that the bloodthirsty despot Stalin ordered his no less bloodthirsty henchman Larentiy Beria to drive everyone into cattle cars and take them to Siberia and Kazakhstan.

And these mythical justifications are quite suitable for contemporaries who did not live in that era and do not understand the situation, as well as people with a broken cause-and-effect part.

Those who have not forgotten how to think with their own heads and know at least a little the history and situation of those years will not argue that Stalin was a very practical statesman.

And he wanted to end the war as quickly as possible, not only because he was tired of it, but because... that at any moment the balance of power could change, he knew 100% that the Germans were one step (!!) away from creating an atomic bomb (just like the Americans), Germany had already begun production of jet fighters...

In 1943 - 1944 There were persistent bloody battles on the territory of Ukraine and Belarus... every soldier counted! Every wagon that brought reinforcements and ammunition to the front, is it really possible that Stalin, out of personal revenge, pulled an army of 100,000 people, including 19,000 SMERshevites, from the fronts, put them in wagons and sent them to the North Caucasus to amuse his vanity and "take revenge" on the Chechens and Karachais?!

This can only be invented by the children and grandchildren of the Trotskyists, whom Stalin destroyed without pity in the 30s and who still take revenge on him when he was dead and invent tall tales about his illiteracy and incompetence!

By the way, can you imagine how many carriages were required for so many soldiers with all the weapons?! And then it took about two hundred trains with deported citizens, who were transported not 100 kilometers, but thousands of kilometers to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Komi!!

And this is just for the sake of revenge? Bullshit!

And this nonsense was believed by fooled citizens who were subjected to massive processing by liberal writers and historians, those who, since the time of the scoundrel Khrushchev, destroyed and falsified documents in the archives in order to accuse Stalin of all mortal sins.

Yes. He was no angel. But he really wanted to win that terrible war as quickly as possible, so sending 100,000 soldiers and officers to the Caucasus should be considered solely from this logic.

Deportation of the Chechen people

So why was it necessary to disrupt the army, not only with rifles and machine guns, but also with machine guns and cannons... was there a logical basis for such a special operation called “Lentil”?

Yes. Unfortunately, there were good reasons for such forced relocation of peoples.

Not even just weighty, but reinforced concrete!

After all, in the rear, an operation was being planned to destroy the Grozny oil fields, and if lucky, also the Baku ones, as a result of which the army would be completely deprived of fuel, which means the tanks and aircraft would be immobilized! There was nowhere to get gasoline and diesel fuel from then!

And how, for their part, our British “allies” deprived us of the oil fields of Romania by bombing Ploiesti as soon as the Red Army approached it, this is generally a classic of cynicism and betrayal.
How the operation for the anti-Soviet uprising and destruction of oil production was prepared, as well as about German saboteurs and gangs in Chechnya here
How Chechen gangs collaborated with the Nazis