Organization and Activity of Surveillance and Reconnaissance Groups of the NKVD Rear Protection Troops of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War
Epifanov A.E. Organization and activity of surveillance and reconnaissance groups of the NKVD rear protection troops of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War. Penitentiary Science, 2025, vol. 19, no. 1 (69), pp. 4–12. doi 10.46741/2686-9764.2025.69.1.001
The article analyzes problems related to the organization and activities of surveillance and reconnaissance groups of the NKVD rear protection troops of the USSR in 1941–1945. The chronological framework of the study covers the period of the Great Patriotic War, which marks an active phase of tactical activities of the NKVD troops of the USSR to protect front lines of the Red Army. Purpose: by generalizing the experience of organizing surveillance and reconnaissance groups of the NKVD rear protection troops of the USSR during the period under study, to supplement and correct ideas about the history of internal affairs agencies during the Great Patriotic War. Methods: general scientific and historical research methods, as well as methods of materialistic dialectics, chronological, comparative, system analysis, statistical, etc. The author uses materials from the Russian State Military Archive (RGVA) to summarize the experience of organizing surveillance and reconnaissance groups of the NKVD rear protection troops of the USSR, many of which are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. Results: the analysis of the regulation of surveillance and reconnaissance groups of the NKVD rear protection troops of the USSR shows improvements in the activities of these units in the period under study. In turn, this ensured the fulfilment of the most important tasks of protecting the rear of the Red Army. The activities of surveillance and reconnaissance groups aimed at ensuring victory over the enemy, public order and the fight against crime in the immediate battle area were of great importance. Conclusion: focused on the protection of the military rear, surveillance and reconnaissance groups in the period under study combined intelligence and operational search activities. Thus, they ensured the effective and uninterrupted conduct of military operations by units and formations of the Red Army. The primary tasks of surveillance and reconnaissance groups were to detect, detain, or destroy spies, saboteurs, paratroopers, and other enemy agents, as well as various criminals, in case of resistance.
Keywords: Surveillance and reconnaissance groups; NKVD rear protection troops of the USSR of the active Red Army; Great Patriotic War
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