Chronicle of Jewish Military Valor
Anti-Semite's Handbook|
The 5th edition of Mark Steinberg's book "Jews in the Wars of the Millennium" (essays on the military history of the Jewish people) has been published. This is what Mark Steinberg said in his interview with Russian Canadian INFO The announcement of the release of the 5th edition of your book is, in its own way, a double sensation. I simply don’t remember cases where five editions of the same book in Russian were published in the United States in 6 years. And secondly, its very content is sensational - the military history of the Jewish people. After all, many people are inclined to believe that Jews are, so to speak, unsuitable material not only for combat, but even for military service in peacetime. Unlike science, healing, commerce, music, literature. In Alexander Solzhenitsyn's last book, "200 Years Together", the military activities of Jews in the Russian Empire fit into several pages. They mainly depict how Jews evaded military service. Not a single significant Jewish military leader is named. A. Solzhenitsyn’s conclusion is clear - the Jews did not leave any positive trace in the military history of Tsarist Russia. Your book, Mark, states something completely different. Unfortunately, such a famous writer as Solzhenitsyn, in this assessment, takes the position of an ordinary anti-Semite, completely rejecting historical realities. In my book, more than 70 Jewish military personnel of Tsarist Russia are named - from ordinary soldiers to outstanding commanders and naval commanders. Among them: General-in-Chief Anton Divier, Artillery General Mikhail Arnoldi, Lieutenant Generals Vasily Geiman, Mikhail Grulev, Major Generals Alexander Khanukov, Semyon Tseil, Vice Admirals Joseph de Ribas, Pavel and Sergei Nakhimov, Rear Admirals Samuil Kaufman, Alexander Sapsay, Yakov Kefali and others. Many pages are devoted to the military service of ordinary Jews in the tsarist army, their valor and exploits on the battlefield. So, in this regard, my book is a direct refutation of what was written by A. Solzhenitsyn, who in one fell swoop classified Russian Jews as cowards and deserters. I hold the hefty volume of the 5th edition in my hands and am involuntarily amazed. More than 630 pages, about 500 portraits of Jewish heroes and commanders! How many years did it take you, Mark, to collect these materials? And in general, where did the idea of writing a brief military history of the Jewish people come from and how was it embodied in the chapters of this book? As you understand, such an idea could not have occurred to me in the Soviet Union, by definition. From the military school I went to Kushka - not the best army garrison. I got there in the midst of an anti-Semitic campaign - the fight against cosmopolitans, against members of the Anti-Fascist Committee, against “killer” doctors, etc. And in such terrible times, the Kushkinsky garrison was literally oversaturated with Jews - officers and soldiers. The commander of my unit, Lieutenant Colonel Arkady Goldin, the commander of the self-propelled tank regiment, Colonel Isaac Rubin, and the division commander, Hero of the Soviet Union, Major General Semyon Kremer, not to mention many other officers - senior and junior. As it turned out later, on the instructions of Beria, in the early 50s, Jewish military personnel were collected in certain garrisons, so that it would be more convenient to deport them to distant places when the appropriate signal was received. But such an abundance of Jewish front-line soldiers could not but surprise a person who had heard rumors about Jews hiding in the rear. Once during a training exercise, Divisional Commander General Kremer, a front-line friend of our battalion commander, stopped by the battalion. Without being embarrassed by me, they recalled the war, naming many names of Jews - generals, commanders of divisions, corps and even armies. As you can imagine, I was simply dumbfounded, if it weren’t for such people, I never would have believed that this was possible. Later, the incident brought him together with another Hero, Lieutenant General Mark Shevelev. I was even more amazed to learn from him about dozens of Heroes of the Soviet Union, Jewish pilots, commanders of aviation divisions and brigades, and Jews in the highest echelons of operational and even strategic leadership. This and other meetings, stories about Jews who fought in all branches of the Armed Forces, in all elements, completely refuted the popular opinions about the “soldiers of the 5th Ukrainian Front”, about the Tashkent “victors”, about those who served at the front only in the rear troops. All these offensive rumors and anecdotes did not fit in with what I learned about from very respected and knowledgeable people. And I decided to collect data, numbers, portraits, personalities of Jews, participants in the Great Patriotic War. Of course, I didn’t even think about writing about it then. He collected it for himself, and on occasion he could use it to refute slander. He started this difficult business in 1965. It was a difficult task and also unsafe. You can’t even find a mention then that the named Hero is a Jew, that a general or a partisan is a Jew. Although, say, there was plenty of such data about Uzbeks, Georgians or Chuvashs. For example, in the 8th volume of the Belarusian Soviet Encyclopedia, in the article on partisans, you can find information about Georgians, Armenians, Tatars, even Adygeis and Yakuts, although there were only a few of the latter among the partisans. And not a word about the fact that tens of thousands of Jewish partisans fought in Belarus. Then, however, when I became an officer of a higher rank and had a three-zero clearance due to the nature of my service, I spent several vacations working in the archives of the armed forces in Podolsk and Gatchino. He collected fairly complete information about Jewish commanders of units and formations, and copied their portraits. This information was literally shocking: the commanders of 130 regiments, 60 brigades, 43 divisions, 21 corps, 15 armies, you must agree - the figures are quite sensational. I also got information about Heroes, sailors, partisans, scouts, and weapon creators. Over the course of 25 years, I have collected 6 thick folders with such materials. In 1991, I emigrated to the USA and took these folders back safely. A happy accident brought me together in the spring of 1992 with the famous writer Anatoly Naumovich Rybakov, the author of “Children of the Arbat”, “Heavy Sand” and other books. Having become acquainted with the contents of my folders, he stated, firmly and categorically: “You must write about this.” But the folders contained materials only about the Great Patriotic War. Anatoly Naumovich suggested sending them a brief information about the military activities of Jews in previous times. And end with the wars of modern Israel. “Write,” said Rybakov, “I will make a preface for this book, although I have never written a preface.” And he really made such a preface. But before that I had to work a lot. The presence in New York of the Institute of Jewish Research with rich archival funds, the Jewish and Russian departments of the Public Library on 5th Avenue, and finally the Library of Congress in Washington helped. There were also many letters from war veterans and their family members. And in 1996 the book was ready. It had 9 parts, 48 chapters, about 500 pages and more than 300 portraits of Jews - heroes and commanders of different countries and times over 35 centuries of world history. The book aroused great interest and was quickly implemented. Its second edition was published in 1997, the third in 1998, and the fourth in 1999. The editions were mostly stereotypical, although each new one had some additions, changes and corrections. Agree, it is not so easy to write a book about the events of 35 centuries, name thousands of people who participated in these events and not make any mistakes. - By the way, about the errors in your book. I think what caused the most controversy was your statement that the famous admiral Pavel Nakhimov is an ethnic Jew. In 2000, a letter from a certain Alexander Nakhimov, our contemporary, who considers himself a descendant of the admiral, was published in the Russian press. In the letter, he categorically denies the Jewish origin of Pavel Nakhimov. What do you think of his statement? Alexander Nakhimov’s letter was prompted by the article “Nationalities of Russia” written by the famous scientist and public figure Gavriil Popov, which was published in Nezavisimaya Gazeta on April 16, 2000. In it he talks about the Jewish roots of Admiral Nakhimov. as a completely reliable fact. Refuting this, Alexander Nakhimov claims that the admiral belongs to the ancient noble family of the Nakhimovs, whose pedigree dates back to the 17th century and originates from the Cossack Timofey from the Sloboda Akhtyrsky Regiment. By the way, he does not support his statement with any references. Meanwhile, I found the Cossack Timofey on page 147, volume XI of the Russian Biographical Dictionary, published in 1901. He is indeed the ancestor of Nakhimov Akim Nikolaevich, a fairly prominent fabulist of the early 19th century, who has nothing to do with the family of Pavel Nakhimov. The admiral's pedigree begins with his father, Second Major Stepan Nakhimov. And before him, no genealogical traces are mentioned in the past. This means that they did not exist, because this fundamental 26-volume “Biographical Dictionary” contains complete genealogies of all the aristocratic families of Russia. Naturally, except for those who did not have such a pedigree. Like Stepan Nakhimov, in this case. And where would it come from from a man who was named Samuil at birth and didn’t even have a last name, like all Russian Jews in those days. Like his wife, a Jewish woman, named Theodosia at baptism. By the way, the Jewish roots of Admiral Nakhimov are written in great detail in the book of Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor E.I. Solomonik "Jews of Crimea", published in 1992. There are the same data in the magazine "Voskhod", published in 1905 - 1914. in St. Petersburg in the "Sea Collection" for 1922. All these publications were published long before my book, I just took advantage of them. In conclusion, Mark, what prompted the creation and publication of the 5th edition of your book? As far as I know, previous editions were distributed relatively widely not only in the USA, but also in European countries, as well as in Israel, Canada, and Australia. Much less of them were purchased in Russia and the CIS countries, but this is already due to the purchasing power of local readers. The book, after all, was printed in America and is not nearly as cheap as those published in Russia for rubles, but sold here for dollars. So why did you decide to re-release it for the fifth time? There are two reasons. Firstly, all previous editions had a relatively small circulation, were sold out very quickly and were far from meeting the demand for a book that was one of a kind. But there were plenty of people willing, and 2 years after the implementation of the 4th edition, the number of calls and letters exceeded, so to speak, a critical mass. But in addition, during this time I have collected a lot of new, interesting materials, important information and figures. I collected another 150 portraits of Jewish soldiers. It publishes new information about Jews who led Soviet intelligence, about Jewish intelligence officers, about Jewish partisan commanders, about generals and military designers, about Israeli military operations. There is a whole chapter about Georgian Jews. The story is told about the famous partisan Dm. Medvedev, about Army General Vl. Kolpakchi, about the designer of heavy tanks J. Kotin. And even about General Secretary Yuri Andropov, whose childhood name was Efim Fainstein. In light of new data, some chapters have been revised and the quality of portraits has been improved. I hope this publication will provide readers with even more evidence of Jewish military prowess over 35 centuries. As we can see, at least from Solzhenitsyn’s book, such evidence has by no means lost its significance in our difficult times. 1. JEWS, PARTICIPANTS OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR, HEROES OF THE SOVIET UNION
2. JEWISH WARRIORS, AWARDED WITH THE HIGHEST BADGE OF SOLDIER'S VALOR, FULL CHAIRMAN OF THE ORDER OF GLORY. L. Blat, G. Bogorad, S. Burman, N. Gizis, L. Globus, B. Zamansky, E. Minkin, V. Peller, E. Roth, D. Sidler, S. Shapiro, S. Schilinger. 3. PARTICIPANTS OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR - HEROES OF SOCIALIST LABOR. Vannikov Boris Lvovich. - three times Vishnevsky Alexander Alexandrovich. Kotin Joseph Yakovlevich Barenboim Isaac Yulisovich. Bykhovsky Abram Isaevich. Weizmann Samuil Gdalyevich. Vishnevsky David Nikolaevich. Honor Lev Ruvimovich. Gurevich Mikhail Iosifovich. Zhezlov Mikhail Sergeevich. Zaltsman Isaac Moiseevich. Lavochkin Semyon Alekseevich. Rabinovich Isaac Moiseevich. 4. HEROES NOT AWARDED WITH THE HIGHEST AWARD. Bruskina Maria Borisovna - Hanged for organizing the escape of a group of military personnel. Volyansky Evgeniy Pavlovich (Korentsvit Efim Borisosvich) - Commander of a partisan brigade that destroyed a large number of enemy personnel and equipment. Levin Boris Shmuelevich - For courage and initiative, the command presented him with the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Marcus Tatyana Iosifovna - Personally destroyed many German officers, including the commandant of Kyiv. Pechersky Alexander Aronovich - Organized the uprising and escape of Jews from the Sabibor camp. Treper Leopold - Head of the Red Chapel intelligence network. Fomin Efim Moiseevich - Head of the defense of the Brest Fortress. Fortus Maria Alexandrovna - Participant in many intelligence operations, starting with Spain, who discovered secret military factories that produced V-1 and 2.s CULTURAL FIGURES - JEWS, PARTICIPANTS OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR
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The courage and heroism of Jewish soldiers is evidenced by the well-known fact that the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during World War II was awarded to 131 Jews, including 45 posthumously. Another 8 died after being awarded the title of Hero. Taking into account post-war awards, the number of Jews - Heroes of the Soviet Union was 157 people. Colonel General David Dragunsky and aviation commander Yakov Smushkevich were awarded the title of Hero twice. Tanker David Abramovich Dragunsky received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for crossing the Vistula River and holding the Sandomierz bridgehead. He received his second Gold Star for the storming of Berlin and the rapid advance to Prague. Eight siblings of General Dragunsky fought on the fronts of the war, four of them died. Yakov Vladimirovich Smushkevich received the first gold star of the Hero for participation in air battles in the skies of Spain. For the fighting on the Khalkhin Gol River in Mongolia in November 1939, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the second time. During the fighting in Spain, Hitler's Field Marshal Hermann Goering promised a reward of a million marks to the pilot who would shoot down General "Douglas" (Ya. Smushkevich). But the fascist aces could not do this, but I. Stalin killed him without a fight at the beginning of the war with the German Nazis. In terms of the number of Heroes, Jews are in third place among the peoples of Russia. In addition, twelve Jews were full holders of the Order of Glory. And the ratio of Jewish Heroes of the Soviet Union to the total number of Soviet Jews in those years was the highest among all nationalities of the USSR, not to mention the fact that because of the notorious “5th paragraph”, this title was not awarded for accomplished feats. And if it were not for the then existing state anti-Semitism, there would have been much more Jewish Heroes of the USSR. The title of Hero of the USSR was awarded to a Jewish woman bomber pilot, Polina Gelman. She flew 860 combat missions, spent 1,300 hours in the air, and dropped 113 tons of bombs on enemy territory. She made her last flight over Berlin. During the war, more than 20 thousand Jewish women served in the Red Army. Three orders of the Red Banner of Battle, five Czechoslovak military orders and the title of People's Hero of the Republic of Czechoslovakia were awarded to the legendary intelligence officer and partisan commander Efim Korenzvit. The Order of the People's Hero of Yugoslavia was received from the hands of Marshal Tito "Combat Perrot Rouseau" by Red Army captain Peter of Oransky. Four Jewish officers are forever included in the list of their military units, including the commander of the submarine Hero of the Soviet Union, Israel Fisanovich. 126 Soviet submarines took part in the fighting during World War II, 27 of them under Jewish command. They sunk 90 enemy ships. By the end of 1943, Lieutenant Commander Israel Fisanovich had 13 sunk enemy ships, but he himself died in battle. In the Bay of Danzig, a submarine commanded by Wulf Konovalov sank the Goya transport, which carried 7 thousand Nazi soldiers and officers. This was a kind of record of the Second World War. Thanks to the courage and skill of the commander, the boat itself avoided destruction. Soon, Konovalov’s boat managed to sink another enemy transport, the Robert Muller, off the coast of Poland. This was the 15th ship sunk by the valiant submariner. After the war, Hero of the Soviet Union Wulf Konovalov, continuing his service in the navy, became a rear admiral. The defense of the Brest Fortress was led by a 32-year-old Jewish regimental commissar, Major Efim Moiseevich Fomin. The fortress garrison resisted the superior forces of the Nazis for a month. Among the heroes defending the fortress there were also soldiers of Jewish nationality, almost all of them died. Efim Fomin was posthumously awarded the Order of Lenin. Nowadays, the flagship of the landing ships of the Black Sea Fleet plows the sea, bearing the name of the Jew, Hero of the Soviet Union, Caesar Kunikov, who led the amphibious assault on Malaya Zemlya near Novorossiysk. During the crossing of the Dnieper during the liberation of right-bank Ukraine, 31 representatives of the Jewish people were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, 9 Jews were awarded the Order of Lenin, 20 commander’s orders of Suvorov, Kutuzov and Bogdan Khmelnitsky, 19 were awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Battle. 27-year-old Colonel Yufa managed to transport several guards mortar units across the Dnieper in full force without losses. “Katyushas” then played almost a decisive role in the Kyiv offensive operation. The heroic Jewish 16th Lithuanian Division, which covered itself with glory on the battlefields against the Nazis, was formed in July 1942. Many probably do not know that in no army, with the exception of the Jewish Brigade in Great Britain, there was such a high percentage of Jews as in the 16th Lithuanian Division - 34.2%. It was a full-blooded division, which consisted of 10 thousand people. But this was the only division of the Red Army where most of the soldiers spoke Yiddish, and orders and roll calls were given only in Yiddish. Jewish warriors, refugees from Lithuania, observed religious traditions - a Jewish sergeant took them to prayer in the local synagogues where the division was stationed. When Jews died, Kaddish was sung at the funerals of fallen soldiers. All soldiers and officers of the division, and especially the Jews, took revenge on their enemies. They knew that the Lithuanian police and a significant part of the peasants, even before the arrival of Nazi troops, robbed and killed Jews. When Jewish soldiers went into battle, slogans were heard in Yiddish: “Forward to the attack! Let us avenge our fathers and mothers!” The German army, after a carefully prepared “Operation Citadel”, went on the offensive in early July 1943, but met fierce resistance. The 16th Lithuanian Division, after a grueling transfer to the Oryol region, took up defensive positions, and on July 23 itself joined the counteroffensive, broke through the enemy’s defenses and liberated 56 settlements, including the village of Lithuania. For courage and heroism in these battles, 1,817 soldiers of the division were awarded, among them more than 1,000 Jews. Ilya Erenburg, in his article “The Heart of Lithuania,” published in the Pravda newspaper, wrote about the heroism of medical instructor Sheinel. In two days, on her shoulders, she pulled 60 seriously wounded soldiers from the battlefield, and then she herself died under machine-gun fire. Even seriously wounded in the chest, she continued to save her comrades. For participation in this operation, 12 soldiers of the 16th Lithuanian Division were awarded the title of Heroes of the USSR, among whom were 4 Jews. There was not a single Jewish warrior who was not awarded orders and medals for courage and heroism on the battlefield. Many of them walked with their division about 400 km, liberating more than 600 cities and villages, destroying thousands of enemy soldiers and officers and capturing 12 thousand Nazis. In October 1943, the 16th Division fought stubborn battles in the Vitebsk area. In the winter of 1944, she took part in the liberation of Vilnius, and in the summer she marched 50 km in battle. In October 1944, the division was tasked with clearing the North-West of Lithuania from the Nazis. In bloody battles, the division approached East Prussia. For these operations in October 1944, 31 soldiers were awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Battle, 10 people received the high title of Heroes of the USSR, and among them 4 Jews. After the liquidation of the encircled Nazi troops in Klaipeda, the 16th Lithuanian Division was awarded the honorary title “Klaipeda”. Gentlemen, anti-Semites! This is how the Jews fought and won in bloody battles for their homeland. They did not sit deep in the rear and in the rear units. On April 1, 1946, the number of Jews awarded orders and medals was 122,822, and by 1963 - 160,722. Felix Lazovsky spoke about the amazing fate of the courageous Jewish warrior Joseph Rapoport in the journal “Notes on Jewish History”: On the first day of the war, Joseph volunteered for the front, returned from the war with two serious wounds, with the loss of an eye, after his family received three funerals. He graduated from the war with the rank of major, commander of an airborne battalion. During the war, I. Rapoport performed three heroic deeds, for which the military command was nominated three times for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. However, all three submissions were unsuccessful. For military merits, I. Rapoport was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner of Battle, the Order of Suvorov (!), three Orders of the Patriotic War of the 1st and 2nd degrees, the American Order of Military Merit and the Hungarian Order of the Red Star. After the war, Joseph began working at the institute, from which he went to the front. In 1962, I. Rapoport's candidacy was proposed to the Nobel Committee for scientific discoveries. In response to an appeal to the USSR government, the answer was received that it was premature to award the Nobel Prize to I. Rapoport. In the post-war years, I. Rapoport was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1979 he was awarded the Lenin Prize, and in 1990 he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor (!). In February 1942, Private Abram Levin rushed to the embrasure and covered it with his body. This happened a year before A. Matrosov’s feat. Levin was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War posthumously. But the award was signed only fifteen years later! Sergeant Tovier Royz accomplished the same feat, received 18 wounds and the Order of Glory, 3rd degree. In 1961, Marshal K. Zhukov was asked what feat he remembered most during the war years? G. Zhukov answered without hesitation - the feat of an ordinary gunner of the 694th artillery anti-tank regiment Efim Dyskin. An eighteen-year-old Jewish boy, a tenth-grader from Bryansk, who was the only one alive from the gun crew, set a World War II record - in one battle he knocked out 7 German tanks! Lenya Okun was the first and only 14-year-old holder of two Orders of Glory in the Red Army. Everything fell to the lot of this boy - torment and humiliation in the ghetto, the murder of his parents, severe injuries and daring partisan raids. In Belarus, an artillery division under the command of the Jew Boris Khirgin entered the battle against 40 German tanks. Having replaced the killed soldiers at the gun, B. Khirgin himself destroyed 6 enemy tanks. He died in this battle, but the enemy did not pass. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Naval pilot Mikhail Plotkin bombed Berlin twice on August 8 and 9, 1941. Having risen from the island of Saaremaa in the Baltic, with the maximum possible ammunition, we bombed and returned to base. In the following week, M. Plotkin’s crew bombed the German capital twice more. Each such flight was associated with mortal danger, so the pilots from their squadron were called “suicide bombers.” At the beginning of the war, Gold Stars were not thrown around. They gave it to Plotkin. Everyone knows the feat of Nikolai Gastello, who sent his downed plane to a concentration of enemy troops, for which he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Fifteen Jewish pilots accomplished the same feat, but only two of them were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The book “Living Memory” names the names of all these heroes, as well as the dates and places of their feats. First on this list is Isaac Preisen. He did not repeat the feat of N. Gastello, since he accomplished it a few hours after N. Gastello and could not have known about it. After completing a combat mission, Isaac was shot down; he could have jumped out with a parachute, but decided to inflict damage on the Nazis - he directed the plane towards a concentration of enemy tanks and motorized infantry. The commander of the air regiment where Isaac served, carefully checking the place and circumstances of the incident and, convinced of the heroic feat of I. Preisen, nominated him for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The submission was signed by the commander of the Western Front Air Force, General Kopets, and sent to Moscow. But it disappeared there. And only in 1991 (!) Isaac Preisen was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War. The feat of Viktor Talalikhin, who rammed an enemy plane in the skies of Moscow in August 1941, was appreciated - the next day he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. A similar heroic feat was accomplished by 14 Jewish pilots who rammed German bombers, fighters and reconnaissance aircraft in the air. But not one of them was awarded the title of Hero. In the article by Felix Lazovsky “On the participation of Jews in the Second World War,” published in the journal “Notes on Jewish History,” the names and surnames of all 14 pilots who carried out the ram and the dates of their feats are given. I will not give this list. I can’t help but remember two more outstanding pilots - Heroes of the USSR: radio operator-gunner of a dive bomber Nathan Stratievsky made his first flight on the second day of the war, and his last on April 16, 1945. By this time, he had 238 combat missions plus 10 downed enemy aircraft - a unique case for bombers! And the official norm for such aircraft is that in order to get a Hero, you had to make 150 sorties. Guard Senior Lieutenant Alexander Horowitz is the only pilot to shoot down 9 enemy aircraft in one battle. He received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously. A typical example of army anti-Semitism: during the Battle of Stalingrad, pilot L. Osvischer was appointed as an air envoy - he had to descend over the enemy to a height of 200 meters, being at the same time an excellent target for enemies, and read out the terms of surrender to Paulus’s troops. General Galadzhiev, giving Osvischer such an order, said: “Get a Hero.” Officer L. Osvishchr made 24(!) “parliamentary” missions and did not receive any reward. It is clear that the pilot risked his life and could become easy prey for enemies. Later, when Gladzhiev and Osishcher met, Gladzhiev was surprised by the injustice and said: “But the commander of the Don Front, Rokossovsky, ordered Osvischer to be given a special reward.” Despite repeated representations from the military command to the 49 Jewish soldiers who performed feats of arms, the titles of Heroes of the Soviet Union were never awarded. Listing their names, surnames and titles will take up a lot of space in this article. The head of the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army, candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, deputy people's commissar of defense of the USSR, head of the Sovinformburo, Colonel General Alexander Shcherbakov, sent a directive to the troops that the peoples of the Soviet Union are showing courage and heroism in the war against Germany, and those who distinguished themselves should be widely awarded with orders and medals, “but Jews to a limited extent” (?!!). There is no doubt that the head of the political department could not have independently given the troops such an openly anti-Semitic order. He probably received instructions from the first person in the state. I would like to note that A. Shcherbakov did not directly participate in hostilities, but was awarded the military orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov, 1st degree, as well as a large number of other military orders and medals. In a remarkable article by Felix Lazinsky, published in the journal “Notes on Jewish History,” in addition to the names of Jewish soldiers mentioned above, others are given, and their heroic exploits are described: General Yakov Grigorievich Kreiser was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union a month after the start of the war. From August 1941 he commanded armies. He was wounded twice in battle. Night bomber navigator Boris Rapoport flew 592 combat missions. With personal bombing, he destroyed 63 enemy aircraft, 16 railway junctions, 8 bridges, and 1,100 enemy soldiers and officers on the ground. He was nominated three times for the title of Hero, but was never awarded. Scout Private Grigory Garfunkin saved his comrades during the crossing of the Dnieper, but he himself died from enemy machine gun fire. General Moskalenko highly appreciated the intelligence officer’s feat, thanks to which valuable information about the enemy’s defense was transmitted. At the suggestion of General Moskalenko, Grigory Solomonovich Garfunkin was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. After the war, Vladimir Peller, a full holder of the Soldier's Order of Glory, returned to Birobidzhan, where he then headed a collective farm for 33 years. For his valiant work he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. Colonel Naum Peysakhovsky was seriously wounded during the storming of the Reichstag - a mine exploded next to him, Naum went blind. This was his eighth wound. Marshal Zhukov personally nominated him for the title of Hero and allocated a plane to send Peysakhovsky to the Odessa Eye Hospital for treatment. Other outstanding Jewish warriors are described in the journal “Notes on Jewish History,” and photographs of the heroes are provided. Looking at their courageous faces, there is a feeling of pride in the Jewish people, whose best representatives stood up to defend their country from Hitler’s barbarians. A. Solzhenitsyn in the second volume of the book “Two Hundred Years Together” reports that in the political leadership of the Red Army the percentage of Jews was three times greater than the percentage of Jews among the population of the USSR, and among the Jewish generals the majority were doctors, veterinarians, and 33 generals served in the engineering troops. In fact, there were 305 Jews in the Red Army command with the rank of general. Seven Jews rose to the rank of colonel general. There were only eight general Jewish political workers in the entire Red Army - members of the military councils of the armies. Eight also served in the engineering troops, two of them commanded sapper armies, two assault brigades, and four were chiefs of the engineering troops of the fronts. At different times of the war there were fifteen Jewish commanders of combined arms armies, two sappers and one commander of the Azov flotilla. Why did Solzhenitsyn need this lie? This is understandable - in order to reduce the number of Jews among military generals, to remove them from the ranks of front-line soldiers. And his main goal is to lie and reduce the contribution of Jews to World War II. Armed struggle against Nazism behind enemy lines The partisan movement in the territory occupied by the Nazis made a great contribution to the victory over Nazism. During World War II, about a hundred partisan detachments were active in Europe, mainly in the eastern regions of Belarus and Poland, as well as in Ukraine and the occupied regions of Russia. Partisan detachments in Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, France and other European countries inflicted significant damage on the enemy. For a long time after World War II, the Soviet government carefully concealed the participation of Jews in the partisan movement in German-occupied territory. Kremlin propaganda claimed that the partisan movement was multinational, representatives of many nationalities of the USSR fought in its ranks, and even listed which nationalities, but did not name Jews. Deliberately forgetting about the Jews, the authors tried to create a false impression of the cowardice of the Jews, that “the Jews were like sheep going to the slaughter” without offering any resistance. But it was a vile lie! The President of the Republic of Belarus A. Lukashenko noted: “The Jews did not humbly go to the scaffold, but resisted. No country in the world knows such losses, but no country in the world has known such unprecedented resistance of the Jewish people...” In total, 30 thousand Jews took part in the partisan movement in Belarus. This is more than half of the Jewish partisans of the entire Soviet Union. The central headquarters of the partisan movement reported that “every tenth partisan in Belarus was a Jew.” Many of them died in battles with the Nazis. The Minsk underground was led by Isai Kazinets, who was executed by the occupiers in May 1941. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He was the only civilian of the Jewish Heroes. In the Minsk ghetto alone there were 22 underground groups with a total number of about 300 people. In October 1941, the Nazis staged the first public execution in Minsk. Ten people sentenced to death for connections with partisans were taken out of prison. Among them was young Masha Bruskina, who only finished school before the war. On instructions from the underground, she got a job in a hospital and helped wounded Soviet soldiers escape to the partisans. The girl was arrested following a denunciation from a traitor. In the wake of Soviet anti-Semitism, the memory of Masha Bruskina was kept silent in Belarus for many years. And only in 2009, near the plant where Masha worked, a memorial sign was installed mentioning her name. During the fighting, fighters of the Belarusian partisan detachment under the command of Tevye Finkelstein derailed 52 enemy military trains, destroyed more than 100 vehicles, burned 57 bridges, and killed about 5,000 Nazi soldiers and officers. For his military exploits, T. Finkelstein was nominated by the command for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union five times, but the award did not take place for obvious reasons. Another talented commander of the reconnaissance and sabotage detachment, Chaim Goldstein, should be mentioned. His detachment inflicted many sensitive blows on the Germans, including the capture of the German General Weidling and a large number of Nazis. Three echelons with a huge number of trophies were captured from the enemy - tanks, vehicles and other weapons. For the courage and heroism shown by H. Goldstein behind enemy lines, the corps commander, General Pleev, nominated him for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. But only 50 years (!) after the end of the second pestilence, H. Goldstein received the Golden Star of the Hero of the Russian Federation. In Ukraine, many Jews fought in the formations of S. Kovpak, A. Fedorov and other partisan commanders. Fifty Jewish partisans served in Naumov’s cavalry detachment. Together they fought through all of Ukraine. 26 Ukrainian Jews commanded partisan detachments. The total number of Jewish partisans in Ukraine was 4 thousand people. In the Bryansk forests, the partisan detachment named after Shchors was led by Lazar Blekhman. In Poland there were 27 Jewish partisan detachments and 13 mixed ones, in which Jews made up at least a third. A historical event was the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto. For almost a month, the rebels fought with regular SS units. The only successful uprising in the entire history of the war in the Sobibor death camp was led by Red Army lieutenant Alexander Pechersky and his deputy Leon Feldhanger, the son of a Polish rabbi. More than 5 thousand Jews fought in the Yugoslav partisan units of Marshal Tito’s army. In France, the commanders of large partisan formations - the "Maquis" - were Jews. Joseph Epstein, who went by the pseudonym “Colonel Gil,” was famous in the French Resistance. His group blew up more than 40 military echelons of the Nazis. US Armed Forces During World War II, 556 thousand Jews were drafted into the ranks of the American army (more than in the Red Army). Three of them, who performed outstanding feats in battle, were awarded the highest US award - the Medal of Honor. Sergeant Isidore Jasman during the German counterattack, when the entire personnel of his company was killed, one fought against enemy tanks, knocked out three of them, and was wounded twice. But he continued to fire until he died. The grandson of Russian immigrants, Lieutenant Raymond Zusman commanded a tank unit in France. In the battle, his tank was hit, he himself was wounded, but, changing to another vehicle, he continued the fight. R. Zusman's division broke through into the depths of the German defense and ensured the success of the offensive of the entire American division. A week after Raymond was awarded the Medal of Honor, he was killed in action. Another Jewish American, Captain Benjamin Salomon, earned the United States' highest award, the Medal of Honor. 11,500 American Jewish soldiers and officers died, more than 27 thousand were seriously wounded or captured. 61,567 soldiers and officers were awarded military awards. During the Second World War, there were many Jewish military leaders in the United States, including six major generals, thirteen brigadier generals, and three admirals. An outstanding US military leader was the Jewish commander of the 3rd Armored Division, Major General Maurice Rose, who died in the Ardennes in 1943. He is a national hero of the United States, streets and schools are named after him, and a monument was erected in the general’s homeland. One of the highest-ranking Jews in the US Army was the recipient of numerous American and foreign awards, the commander of the armies, and then the commander of all Allied ground forces in Italy, Lieutenant General Mark Wayne Clark. A bridge in Washington is named in his honor. The commander of the 318th Bomb Wing, General Edward Morris, has proven himself highly. Naval aviation pilot Leon Frenkel sank the Japanese cruiser Yahachi. For courage and heroism, ace pilots Walter Berlin, Yankel Rosenstein, Leonard Besman and many Jewish officers from other branches of the military received many awards. 311 military rabbis served in the US Army, of which 8 died in battle. After the end of World War II in September 1945, US President Harry Truman wrote: “The patriotism and heroism of our Jewish citizens, which we are proud of, is a blow to the bigots and haters.” It is appropriate here to compare the attitude of the American and Soviet leadership towards the participation of the Jews of their countries in the war against German Nazism. The Soviet government kept silent about the courage of Jews at the front, hid the active struggle of Jews in partisan detachments, and hid the truth about the Holocaust. It did not suppress the anti-Semitic sentiments existing at that time, but, on the contrary, incited hatred of Jews. Jews in the British Armed Forces The reports of the Chief Rabbi of the British Army, Israel Brode, report that more than 62 thousand Jews served in the British Army during the Second World War, which amounted to 13% of the country's Jews. 30 thousand Jews of Eretz Israel (about 6% of the population) joined the British army, 663 of them died in battle. In October 1944, a separate Jewish brigade was formed from Palestinian Jews in Great Britain, commanded by General Ernest Benjamin, a Canadian Jew. In the first baptism of fire, the brigade lost 50 people. killed, 200 were wounded. Five thousand Jewish military personnel were awarded the Victoria Cross and the Order of the British Empire. 62 Jewish officers received the Military Cross, and 411 soldiers received military medals. The Order of Distinguished Service was awarded to 7 Jewish officers - pilots, paratroopers, and among them Morton Mendel. Mendel's regiment was the first of the Allied units to enter German territory. 16 thousand of the 160 thousand Jews of Canada, 3 thousand of the 25 thousand Jews from Australia and New Zealand, and 10 thousand Jews from the Union of South Africa served in the Allied army. 6 Jews from Canada received the Military Cross, and 23 soldiers received the Order of the British Empire. In total, 178 Jewish Canadians were awarded the British Order. The Distinguished Flying Order was awarded to Major Benjamin Dunkelman and the Distinguished Flying Cross to Lieutenant Sidney Shulemson. High awards were awarded to 60 Jews from Australia, 14 officers and 222 Jewish soldiers from South Africa. Creation of a military industry in the east of the USSR In the first months of the war, the Germans occupied many of our regions with defense factories located in them. There was nothing to fight with. To wage war, it was necessary to create a powerful military industry in the east of the country as soon as possible. J. Stalin entrusted the renovation of the military industry to the Jew Boris Vannikov, who by the end of the war was three times awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor and awarded six Orders of Lenin. B. Vannikov coped with this task: he gathered talented managers and specialists; the workshop buildings of a colossal industrial complex were designed. Under the leadership of People's Commissar of Construction Semyon Ginzburg and his assistant Veniamin Dymshits, huge volumes of construction and installation work were completed in record time. The vast majority of directors and chief engineers of military factories and design organizations developing the latest weapons were Jews. I would like to say the first word about the tank king, general, Hero of Socialist Labor Isaac Zaltsman. Before the war, he was the director of the Kirov plant in Leningrad, the largest in the USSR, and at the beginning of the war he became the head of the Chelyabinsk tank plant, and then the plant in Nizhny Tagil, organizing the production of the best heavy and medium tanks in the world there, and brought their production to 100 tanks per day ! His contribution to achieving victory over fascism was one of the decisive ones. I can’t help but say about General Chaim Rubinchik, who managed to produce 10,000 T-34 tanks, the most successful in World War II, at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant on the Volga. Among the creators of the best tanks of World War II is the name of Colonel General Joseph Kotin, Hero of Socialist Labor, Deputy Minister of Defense Industry. During the war, he developed the IS and KV heavy tanks. Twice Hero of Socialist Labor, five-time winner of the Stalin Prize, designer Nudelman, creator of the famous N-31 cannon. The Yak, La, and Ily aircraft were armed with these guns. The Germans called planes armed with N-31 cannons “flying Ferdinands” and avoided skirmishes with them in the air. The famous weapon of Victory - the SU-122 self-propelled artillery mount - was designed under the leadership of Lev Izrailevich Gorlinsky. His self-propelled guns took part in breaking the blockade of Leningrad and reached Berlin. The 160 mm mortar was designed by Isaac Tevorovsky. The designer of the fastest fighters of World War II was Semyon Moiseevich Lavochkin. Of the 54 thousand fighters, 22 thousand wore the “La” prefix. A. Pokryshkin, I. Kozhedub and many other air aces flew on them. S. Lavochkin was awarded the rank of general, two gold stars of Hero of Socialist Labor and four Stalin Prizes. The creator of Soviet helicopters was a Jew - Hero of Socialist Labor, winner of several State Prizes, Mikhail Mil. One of the authors of the first Soviet MIG jet aircraft was Mikhail Gurevich - Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of the Lenin and five Stalin Prizes. Already by the beginning of 1944, the Soviet Army surpassed the Nazis in the quality of all types of weapons, and in quantity by one and a half times. It would be possible to continue the list of outstanding Jewish military production organizers and designers, but it is difficult to do this in the space of one article. For participation in the development of new types of weapons and military equipment and for the active organization of the work of enterprises and design bureaus for the needs of the front, 180 thousand Jewish scientists, engineers, managers and workers were awarded orders and medals of the USSR. Almost 300 Jews were awarded the title of laureate of the Stalin Prize in the field of science and technology. Jewish intelligence officers during the war. During the war with Nazi Germany, the Allies created a wide intelligence network in Europe. Well-known in those years was the journalist Leopold Trepper, who organized a large intelligence group in Europe, which included other talented illegal intelligence officers of Jewish nationality, including Anatoly Gurevich, who, having been arrested by the Gestapo, was able to recruit the German counterintelligence officer Heinz Pannwitz and flee with him to the USSR . Soviet Colonel Lev Manevich operated on Italian territory. After his arrest, he headed an anti-fascist underground organization. He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union only in 1965. The legendary Soviet intelligence officer Yan (Yankel) Chernyak was born into a Jewish family. Having lost his parents in early childhood, he was brought up in an orphanage. Graduated with honors from the Prague Higher Technical School. At the age of 20, he mastered 7 (!) foreign languages and knew German brilliantly. In 1930, he was recruited by Soviet intelligence, after training by the famous security officer A. Artuzov, he was sent abroad and began creating an agent network in the intelligence services of Nazi Germany. His contemporaries recall that Chernyak had a phenomenal memory - from the first reading he memorized 10 pages of text in any language and had a hypnotic gift. On June 12, 1941, Jan Chernyak, before the message from R. Sorge and L. Trepper, obtained and transmitted to Moscow a secret order on the timing and objectives of the attack on the USSR as part of the Barbarossa plan. Jan Cherniak sent valuable technical information to the USSR about German tanks, artillery and rocket weapons, chemical weapons and more. Before the Battle of Kursk, he sent to Moscow a complete set of technical documentation for the latest German Tiger and Panther tanks.” Secret information, delivered by Yan Chernyak, about the Nazis’ plans on the “Kursk Salient” was placed on the table of the Soviet command. The goal of these plans was to encircle a group of Soviet troops with its subsequent destruction. The intelligence center in Moscow systematically received from Ya. Chernyak information of enormous national importance and which had a great influence on the course of the war. In 11 years of intelligence activity, he did not have a single case of failure. Ya. Chernyak did not receive a single Soviet award. The title of Hero of the Russian Federation was awarded to him in 1995, when he was dying and unconscious. His wife received the Hero's Gold Star. After 10 days, the outstanding intelligence officer Yankel Pinkhusovich Chernyak passed away. The sabotage operations behind enemy lines were led by General Naum Eitingon and Colonels Yakov Serebryansky and Yona Goldstein. *** What conclusion can be drawn after reading the above facts? The assertion of anti-Semites, including Nobel laureate A. Solzhenitsyn (“Two Hundred Years Together”) that Jews avoided fighting on the front line and hid in the rear of the front, is a lie and an insult to the Jewish people. More than half a million Jews - generals, officers, sergeants and soldiers - fought directly against the Nazis on the Soviet-German front; about 200 thousand of them died. According to official information about the losses of personnel of the armed forces of the USSR: out of 25 nationalities, only Russians, Ukrainians and Tatars died more than Jews, in absolute terms. (Let's remember the number of Jews compared to these three nationalities). Having accused Jews of cowardice and resourcefulness, Solzhenitsyn showed himself to be an anti-Semite, but what is surprising is that none of the Russian readers protested this lie, and Jewish “intellectuals” generally swallowed this “pill” without a single sound! After reading the two-volume book “Two Hundred Years Together,” I worried a lot and thought: can’t we, the Jews, find worthy, literate people who could expose this anti-Semite? And such a person showed up, he turned out to be the writer Semyon Reznik. In the book “Together or Apart? The fate of the Jews in Russia. Notes on the margins of Solzhenitsyn’s dilogy” “he left no stone unturned against Solzhenitsyn’s slanderous fabrications, provided irrefutable evidence and caught him in a lie. By manipulating facts, Solzhenitsyn took individual anti-Semitic information out of context and used it where it suited him. Solzhenitsyn himself never fought on the front line; he served in the rear front line, in sound artillery. In the book “200 Years Together” A. Solzhenitsyn does not mention the large number of Russians and Ukrainians who voluntarily fought on the side of the Nazis. World War II participant Sh. Tsalyuk testifies that when their group of 600 conscripts reached Stalino (Donetsk), it turned out that more than half of the Russian and Ukrainian recruits returned back to Kyiv. Later, when Sh. Tsalyuk attended training for Katyusha commanders, there were more than 200 Jews in their group. They all then fought bravely at the front. During 1941-1944, the number of deserters in the Red Army was 1 million 600 thousand people. Then they fought as part of the German troops and joined the numerous ranks of policemen, elders, escorts and guards in death camps, members of execution brigades and other trash. In all occupied territories, traitors from the local population brutally killed and robbed Jews. Here are just a few examples of the betrayals they committed: · 53 thousand people voluntarily offered their services to fight as part of the Ukrainian SS division “Galitchina”; · Khatyn was burned not by the Germans, but by the 118th Ukrainian police battalion; · In Babi Yar, a battalion of Ukrainian nationalists from the Bukovina Kuren shot about 100 thousand Kyiv Jews; · Bandera’s men killed in the forests near Kiev the commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, Hero of the Soviet Union, General N. Vatutina; · The army of General Vlasov fought against the Soviet Army. I think there is no point in continuing the list of betrayals and crimes, they are known. But A. Solzhenitsyn did not mention this in his book. Obviously, he also believed that only Jews could be humiliated and denigrated with impunity. In no way do I want to cast a shadow on the Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and other peoples of the former Soviet Union, who in a fierce struggle defeated Hitler's Germany and freed the world from the fascist plague at the cost of huge losses. The multinational people of the Soviet Union and its armed forces made a decisive contribution to the defeat of Nazism. US President Franklin Roosevelt, speaking on this topic, noted: “It is difficult to escape the obvious fact that the Russians destroyed more enemy soldiers and weapons than all the other 25 countries combined.” Despite the vicious slanderous fabrications of anti-Semites, it is clear that the contribution of Jews to the victory over Nazism is significant. Devotion to the homeland was one of the reasons that prompted Jews to actively fight at the front, the second was the desire to take revenge on the Nazis for the execution of the Jewish civilian population in the occupied territories. In civilized countries, among large nations, a sense of justice must prevail over anger and disrespect for small nations. During the war, state anti-Semitism flourished in the USSR government and army. It was the reason for discrimination against Soviet Jews, despite their active participation in hostilities and the creation of large military potential in the east of the country, which decided the outcome of the war. Alexey Persion http://www.berkovich-zametki.com/2012/Zametki/Nomer8/Persion1.php
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Catalog number: 09156200
The year of publishing: 2005
Pages: 587
ISBN: 5-93273-154-0
Weight: 0.82 kgs
Language: Russian
Cover: hard
Format: 16x4x22
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Description
Bestseller of recent years! A popular account of the exploits and heroism of Jewish soldiers in the greatest battles of three millennia.
Mark Steinberg is a political scientist and military journalist living in the United States. His book “Jews in the Millennium Wars” was first published in Russian in New York in 1996. Then it was republished there four more times. Finally, this book was published in Moscow by the Israeli-Russian publishing house “Bridges of Culture” in February 2004.
Considering that nothing better can be said about its content, let me quote a few fragments from the preface to the first edition, written by one of the greatest writers of our time, Anatoly Rybakov.
“Military history of the Jewish people” - such a phrase will cause confusion among many. It is generally accepted that the military history of the Jewish people ended with the defeat of the Bar Kokhba revolt. And in the remaining centuries AD. Jews were not involved in military affairs: constant humiliation, expulsion, extermination turned them into non-resisters, defeatists and cowards; people with such a mentality could not fight with weapons in their hands, serve in the army, perform heroic deeds and command troops.
However, the history of the last nineteen centuries refutes this idea of the Jews. There is reliable evidence of the existence of Jewish states in Asia and Africa, the population of which bravely defended their independence. Numerous and powerful Jewish communities and clans fought hard for their freedom for centuries. Finally, Jews in some states of the first millennium AD. constituted the ruling oligarchy, including the military one, elite military units were formed from them, and in battles they demonstrated courage and military skill.
However, almost nothing is known about the 4,000-year military history of the Jewish people. Occasionally, separate publications were published dedicated to Jewish warriors of Western countries. They were published in insignificant editions, were, as a rule, not translated into other languages, and became a bibliographic rarity. But not a single country has yet published a book in which the military history of the Jewish people would be examined in general, throughout its entire almost 4,000-year history.
And this is the book in front of you - the first book in which an attempt is made to illuminate the military history of the Jewish people at all times and in all states.”
PART ONE
ANCIENT ISRAEL
Chapter 1. Biblical battles
Chapter 2. The Hasmonean Dynasty in Struggle
for the revival of Israel
Chapter 3. Jewish War
Chapter 4. Bar Kochba's Revolt
PART TWO
THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE BEGINNING OF MODERN TIMES Chapter 5. Mar Zutra, Du-Nuvas, Queen Kagina and others
Jewish commanders in the battles of the 1st millennium AD. uh
Chapter 6. Jews in the wars of the XI-XVIII centuries
PART THREE
JEWS IN THE ARMIES OF EUROPE AND ASIA IN THE 19TH CENTURY
Chapter 7. France
Chapter 8. Austria-Hungary
Chapter 9. Great Britain
Chapter 10. Italy
Chapter 11. Prussia
Chapter 12. Poland
Chapter 13. Holland
Romania, Türkiye
Chapter 14. Jews in the United States Army
Chapter 15. Jews in the army of the Russian Empire
PART FOUR
JEWS ON THE FRONTS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR
Chapter 16. Russian Empire
Chapter 17. France
Chapter 18. Great Britain
Chapter 19. Jewish Legion
Chapter 20. Belgium
Chapter 21. Italy
Chapter 22. United States of America
Chapter 23. Germany
Chapter 24. Austria-Hungary
Chapter 25. Türkiye
PART FIVE
JEWS ON THE FRONTS OF THE CIVIL WAR IN RUSSIA
Chapter 26. Leon Trotsky - an outstanding commander
XX century
Chapter 27. Jewish military leaders of the Civil War
PART SIX
JEWS IN THE ARMIES OF THE WORLD AND ARMED CONFLICTS IN THE PERIOD BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS
Chapter 28. Western Europe and the United States of America
Chapter 29. Soviet Union
Spanish Civil War
War with Finland
General Grigory Stern
PART SEVEN
JEWS OF WESTERN COUNTRIES ON THE FRONTS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR
Chapter 30. United States of America
Chapter 31. Great Britain
Chapter 32. Jewish Brigade
Chapter 33. British Dominions
Union of South Africa
Australia and New Zealand
Chapter 34. France
Chapter 35. Poland
Chapter 36. Jewish partisans of Western and Eastern Europe... The Last Maran
PART EIGHT
JEWS OF THE SOVIET UNION ON THE FRONTS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR
Chapter 37. Heroes
Chapter 38. Commanders
Infantry and cavalry
Tankers
Artillerymen
Sappers
Pilots
I'm going to ram!
Sailors
Chapter 39. Generals
Frame
Army
Front
Marshal Malinovsky
Senior military leadership
The fate of the highest Jewish military commanders after the war
Chapter 40. Soviet Jewish partisans
Chapter 41. Blacksmiths of the weapon of victory
Construction
Ammunition
Tanks
Armament
Artillery
Jet weapons
Weapon
Optical instruments
Aviation industry
Aircraft armament
Chapter 42. Jews in the intelligence services of the Soviet Union...
Jews - heads of Soviet intelligence services
State Security Intelligence
What blood is he?
Andropov's career
Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff
Jews in Soviet intelligence
Chapter 43. Healers
Chapter 44. Mountain, Bukharian and Georgian Jews at the fronts
PART NINE
MODERN ISRAEL
Chapter 45. History of the creation of the Israel Defense Forces
Chapter 46. War of Independence
Chapter 47. Sinai Campaign
Chapter 48. The legendary six days in June
Chapter 49. Yom Kippur War
Chapter 50. Israel's anti-terrorist operations
Operation Entebbe
Operation Peace to Galilee
Chapter 51. Israeli special forces
Chapter 52. MOSSAD - legend and reality
Chapter 53. Secrets of the Israeli bomb
Chapter 54. Strategic mistake?
APPLICATIONS
Appendix No. 1. American Jewish military leaders
in the second half of the 20th century
Appendix No. 2. Jews on space routes
Appendix No. 3. But we made rockets
Appendix No. 4. List of Jewish military leaders,
served in the Red Army, on June 30, 1936
Appendix No. 5. Jews - National Heroes of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation
Conclusion
In the northwest, Kievan Rus, ruled by newcomers from Scandinavia, the Varangian tribes of the Rus, bordered the Khazars. Jewish leaders more than once attracted the squads of these warlike princes to fight the Deilemites, a Persian tribe that inhabited the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and interfered with the trade conducted by the Khazar Jews. However, many of the Rus' campaigns to the south ended in failure. And in 913 the Rus were completely defeated by these Muslims.
The following decades were significant for the almost continuous wars waged by the Jewish government of Khazaria with the tribal formations of the Rus and the Slavs subject to them, who formed the strengthened Principality of Kiev. The stronghold of the Khazar army in these wars was the powerful Sarkel fortress, built in the lower reaches of the Volga back in 834. The Kiev prince Igor in 939 gathered a large Slavic-Russian army and during one summer campaign managed to capture the Khazarian fortress of Samkerts (now Taman), the surrounding lands and some settlements on the southern coast of Crimea.
The Khazar Kagan Joseph Obadiah II ordered the preparation of a large army in order to finally deprive the Kyiv aggressors of the opportunity to carry out such raids in the future. The Jewish commander he appointed, whom the chronicle calls “the venerable Pesach,” in a short time gathered more than 40 thousand soldiers, mainly from Gurgan. These were regiments of lightly armed cavalry. The main striking force of the Pesach army were four Jewish regiments, each with a thousand soldiers, who were, at that time, well armed and had the best horses.
By the way, against heavy Russian swords and spears, the Jews and Gurganians were equipped with light and very sharp sabers, which in the Jewish cavalry were, as a rule, made of Damascus steel. The sabers of the Khazar army successfully resisted heavy swords in duels, which at that time, in fact, consisted of battle. The Pesach army with a short blow knocked out the Rus from Samkerets, crossed the Kerch Strait on boats and rafts and moved along the southern coast of Crimea. One after another, almost all the fortresses built by the Greeks fell under the attacks of the Jews.
Only the powerful, fortified Chersonesus survived, because Pesach decided not to delay the troops for a siege and not to risk storming this citadel, but moved north. Having crossed Perekop, the Khazar army went straight through the Principality of Kyiv, smashing passing fortresses and destroying their garrisons and enemy units trying to resist. Pesach arrived unexpectedly for the Russians in time for Kiev and, without waiting for the main forces, stormed the city on the move and took it with his vanguard, and, as the chronicler says, “Pesach himself was ahead of everyone, like an eagle soaring onto the walls.”
However, the Jewish commander did not destroy the inhabitants or capture them. He demanded and received a large indemnity and concluded an agreement with the Russians, according to which they surrendered all their swords to the Khazars and could receive them only if the Khazar government wanted to send Russian squads against their enemies.
In 943, the Jewish ruler of Khazaria actually ordered the Russians to march on Eastern Transcaucasia and the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. However, the campaign ended in heavy defeat, and most of the Russian soldiers were exterminated.
So, thanks to the skillful and energetic military-political leadership of the Jews in the 9th–10th centuries, Khazaria turned into one of the most powerful and rich countries in Eurasia. However, in 964, a young and talented commander, Prince of Kiev Svyatoslav, having gathered a large army and inviting the old enemies of the Khazars - the Pechenegs and Guz - to the campaign, went to war against Khazaria. Svyatoslav himself descended along the Volga to the capital of Khazaria, the city of Itil, and his allies joined him as they approached the delta. The Pechenegs also arrived from the Don, and the Guzes also arrived from the Yaik River.
The capital of Khazaria freely spreads out on a large - 18 kilometers wide - island in the Volga delta. Almost the entire city consisted of adobe and wooden buildings. Only the Kagan's palace, synagogues and mosques were made of stone. There were no solid defensive fortifications, no towers, no ditches; they relied on the power of the army and the island location of the capital.
Meanwhile, when Svyatoslav’s huge army approached (and he walked very quickly, not burdened by convoys), which attacked by surprise, when most of the Khazarian troops were distracted in other parts of the country, the remaining small detachments of mercenaries chose to flee to their own borders. Many residents of Itil also fled, mostly Muslims and faint-hearted Khazars. Only Jews remained in the city, and their regiments, together with civilians, decided to fight their way through Svyatoslav’s army.
The military leaders were aware that most of the soldiers would die in an unequal battle, but they counted on the audacity and surprise of the ramming strike of the best, selected Jewish regiments, under the cover of which families would leave the city. Led by the kagan, at night the Jews in battle formation crashed into the enemy camp, which tightly surrounded Itil. Svyatoslav's army was many times larger than the Jews, and they fought, sensibly understanding that in this situation there was no hope for victory, but at the cost of self-sacrifice they hoped to ensure the salvation of their families. By a deceptive maneuver they caused an attack on themselves, distracting the main forces of Svyatoslav, they were able to partially fulfill their plan, to save some of the families who had gone to the Terek.
However, the overwhelming majority of Jewish soldiers were cut down in an unequal battle, although both the Russians and their allies suffered considerable losses. The Jews fought selflessly, with the determination of the doomed. About a fifth of the Jewish population of Itil managed to break through to the Terek. Svyatoslav did not immediately move in pursuit. Having recovered from his losses, he only went to the Terek on the third day. There he besieged and took by storm the second most important city of the Khazar Jews - Semender, located between the current villages of Grebenskaya and Chervlennaya. The Jewish warriors, locked in the citadel of Semender, defended themselves to the last opportunity, but were completely killed in an unequal battle.
From Semender, Svyatoslav moved to the last stronghold of the Jews - the Sarkel fortress, which at that time was located in the area of \u200b\u200bthe current village of Tsimlyanskaya. Sarkel also fell after fierce resistance. This campaign of the Russian commander finally undermined the power of the Khazar Khaganate.
Jewish communities retained their presence and even leadership for a long time in some areas of the Kuban, in Northern Crimea, as well as in the city of Tmutarakan, opposite the Kerch Peninsula. In this city in 1022 there was a small squad of the Varangian prince Mstislav, expelled from his inheritance. Countless crowds of Kasogs approached the city and surrounded it from all sides.
Then the Jewish detachments and the squad of Rus left the city and formed a battle formation in front of the Kasozh regiments. According to the customs of that time, everything had to be decided by a duel between the leaders, and in this duel Mstislav defeated the Kasozh hero Rededya and killed him. The Kasogs fled, and Mstislav and his retinue began to reign in Tmutarakan. From here, at the head of a combined army of Russians and Jews, he made many campaigns, including to Kyiv, and defeated the Varangian squad of Yaroslav in the Battle of Listven in 1024.
After this victory, Mstislav began to reign in Chernigov, and the Jews strengthened themselves even more in Tmutarakan. This situation persisted until the events of 1078, when the squads of the rogue princes Oleg and Roman Svyatoslavich, invited by them, set out on a campaign against Rus', but were defeated and captured. Having been released from captivity, Oleg agreed with the Kasogs and Yases about a joint campaign against Tmutarakan. At this time, the Jewish prince David ruled there, who organized the defense of the city.
And again, Jewish warriors courageously entered into battle with the armies of Slavs and nomads that far outnumbered them. The Jews fought to the death and were exterminated almost completely. Having entered Tmutarakan, Oleg ordered to kill everyone except the women, who were turned into slaves. This ended the more than two hundred year history of Jewish rule in the Khazar state and its provinces. The descendants of the Jews of Khazaria survived only in Crimea, where they then lived for about 900 years, until the German invasion in 1941, when they were almost completely exterminated as Jews.
An even longer surge of Jewish power took place in medieval Ethiopia. A large community of Jews has lived in this country since ancient times, even from biblical times. There are different assumptions about their arrival in Ethiopia. According to some, the Jews arrived there during the reign of Solomon in Israel; according to other sources, these Jews are descendants of a tribe that at one time came out of Upper Egypt.
In Ethiopia, the country of early Christianity, these Jews (they are also called the Falasha people) lived in a large isolated community, strictly observing Jewish rituals. According to written sources of the Early Middle Ages, the Falashas in Ethiopia created their own state. This happened in the 10th century, when the leader of one of the Jewish tribes, Princess Judita, raised the Jews to fight for separation from the Ethiopian state. The armed units of the Jews were united under a single command. It is very significant that Judita herself became the military leader of this united army. And she led quite successfully, because all the actions of the Ethiopian army aimed at suppressing the rebels were repulsed with heavy losses, and the Christian Negus stopped trying to eliminate the Jewish state.
This state existed in the very center of Ethiopia for almost 250 years, and during all this time it was ruled by the Zagwe dynasty. One should not think that for such a long time the Falashas did not have to defend their independence in battle. Unfortunately, history has not preserved for us any details of such a long existence of an independent state. However, it is known that in the 14th century Negus Iekuno Amlak managed to defeat the Jewish army commanded by Prince Gideon in a number of battles. In the last battle, the Jewish commander himself fell, and this defeat put an end to the independence of the Falasha.
Mark Steinberg
From the book “Jews in the Wars of Millennia”
The title of this book sounds very pretentious, and, nevertheless, it fully justifies itself, since the work of the former colonel of the Soviet army, and now a US citizen and military observer for a number of foreign Russian publications Mark Steinberg, in fact, is an attempt to present in one books of almost four thousand years of "military history" of the Jewish people.
Naturally, the very thesis about the existence of such a history in the last 19 centuries is controversial, since it is generally accepted that military Jewish history was interrupted with the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt in the second century AD. right up to the emergence of the State of Israel in the 20th century. The consequences of the last uprising of the Jewish diaspora against Roman rule in Egypt, Libya, Cyrenaica, Cyprus and Mesopotamia were terrible, and in the year 135 the last regular army of ancient Judea, led by Bar Kochba, sank into oblivion.But what then? The author believes that in the subsequent 19 centuries it still makes sense to talk about “military history,” if only because there is evidence of the armed struggle of large Jewish communities in Asia and Africa for their own independence, that in some states of the first millennium Jews constituted the ruling oligarchy , including military, and military units were formed among them.
In medieval Europe and Asia, Jews were indeed not allowed into the armed forces, but there were exceptions. During the Jewish emancipation that began in the 18th century in Europe and North America, Jews already widely participated in military operations. This book tells, of course, most of all about the wars of the twentieth century and about the Israel Defense Forces, but if with the latter everything is more or less clear, then with the Jewish soldiers on the fronts of both World Wars and the Civil War in Russia the situation is somewhat more complicated. Did they fight for a Jewish state? No. They defended the Motherland-Russia or the Motherland-France. Showed courage and heroism? But can't you say the same about representatives of any nation?
The uniqueness of the work done by Steinberg lies elsewhere - in the care with which he found and systematized scattered historical data on military personnel of Jewish nationality, regardless of which state they served. Many facts can even be called sensational.
Among other things, Steinberg’s book contains a very voluminous special illustrative insert, which is a real portrait gallery of Jewish military personnel - from participants in the American Civil War (on the side of the northerners, of course) to military leaders and engineers of the Soviet army. The senior command staff of the Israel Defense Forces is presented separately.
The book is provided by Polaris. Polaris stores are located:
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