The entry of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia refers to. Family archive
At two o'clock in the morning on August 21, 1968, the Soviet passenger plane An-24 requested emergency landing at the Prague airport Ruzyně. The controllers gave the go-ahead, the plane landed, servicemen of the 7th Guards Airborne Division stationed in Kaunas disembarked from it. The paratroopers, under the threat of using weapons, seized all the facilities of the airfield and began receiving An-12 transport aircraft with paratrooper units and military equipment. Transport An-12s landed on the runway every 30 seconds. Thus began the operation carefully designed by the USSR to occupy Czechoslovakia and ended with the so-called. The Prague Spring is a process of democratic reforms carried out by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia under the leadership of Alexander Dubcek.
The operation to capture Czechoslovakia, which was called the "Danube", was attended by the armies of four socialist countries: the USSR, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria. The GDR army was also supposed to enter the territory of Czechoslovakia, but at the last moment the Soviet leadership was afraid of the analogy with 1939 and the Germans did not cross the border. Basic strike force The grouping of troops of the Warsaw Pact countries became the Soviet Army - these were 18 motorized rifle, tank and airborne divisions, 22 aviation and helicopter regiments, with a total number, according to various sources, from 170 to 240 thousand people. About 5000 tanks alone were involved. Two fronts were created - the Carpathian and Central, and the number of the combined group of troops reached half a million military personnel. The invasion was, according to the usual Soviet habit, presented as help to the fraternal Czechoslovak people in the fight against counter-revolution.
No counter-revolution in Czechoslovakia, of course, and did not smell. The country fully supported communist party, since January 1968, which began political and economic reforms. In terms of the number of communists per 1,000 people, Czechoslovakia ranked first in the world. With the beginning of the reforms, censorship was significantly weakened, free discussions took place everywhere, and the creation of a multi-party system began. A desire was declared to ensure complete freedom of speech, assembly and movement, to establish strict control over the activities of security agencies, to facilitate the possibility of organizing private enterprises and to reduce state control over production. In addition, it was planned to federalize the state and expand the powers of the authorities of the subjects of Czechoslovakia - the Czech Republic and Slovakia. All this, of course, worried the leadership of the USSR, which pursued a policy of limited sovereignty in relation to its vassals in Europe (the so-called "Brezhnev doctrine"). The Dubcek team was repeatedly persuaded to stay on a short leash from Moscow and not strive to build socialism according to Western standards. Persuasions did not help. In addition, Czechoslovakia remained a country where the USSR was never able to place either its military bases or tactical nuclear weapon. And this moment was, perhaps, the main reason for such a military operation so disproportionate to the scale of the country - the Kremlin Politburo had to force the Czechoslovaks to obey themselves at any cost. The leadership of Czechoslovakia, in order to avoid bloodshed and the destruction of the country, took the army to the barracks and provided the Soviet troops with the opportunity to freely dispose of the fate of the Czechs and Slovaks. The only kind of resistance the occupiers faced was civil protest. This was especially evident in Prague, where unarmed residents of the city staged a real obstruction to the invaders.
At three in the morning on August 21 (it was also a Wednesday) Soviet soldiers Prime Minister Chernik was arrested. At 4:50 a.m., a column of tanks and armored personnel carriers headed for the building of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, where a twenty-year-old resident of Prague was shot dead. In Dubcek's office, the Soviet military arrested him and seven members of the Central Committee. At seven in the morning, the tanks headed for Winohradska 12, where Radio Prague was located. Residents managed to build barricades there, tanks began to break through, and shooting at people was opened. That morning, seventeen people were killed outside the Radio building, and another 52 were injured and taken to the hospital. After 14:00, the arrested leadership of the HRC was put on a plane and taken to Ukraine with the assistance of the President of the country, Ludwig Svoboda, who, as best he could, fought against the puppet government of Bilyak and Indra (thanks to Svoboda, Dubcek was saved and then transported to Moscow). A curfew was introduced in the city; in the dark, soldiers opened fire on any moving object.
01. In the evening, European time, the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting in New York, at which it adopted a resolution condemning the invasion. The USSR vetoed it.
02. Trucks with students holding national flags began to drive around the city. All key objects of the city were taken under the control of the Soviet troops.
03. At the National Museum. The military equipment was immediately surrounded by the inhabitants of the city and entered into conversations with the soldiers, often very sharp, tense. In some areas of the city, shooting was heard, and the wounded were constantly being taken to hospitals.
06. In the morning, the youth began to build barricades, attack tanks, threw stones at them, bottles of combustible mixture, tried to set fire to military equipment.
08. The inscription on the bus: Soviet cultural center.
10. One of the soldiers wounded as a result of shooting at the crowd.
11. Mass sabotage actions began throughout Prague. In order to make it difficult for the military to navigate the city, the citizens of Prague began to destroy street signs, knock down signs with street names, house numbers.
13. Soviet soldiers broke into the Church of St. Martin in Bratislava. First they fired at the windows and the tower of the medieval church, then they broke the locks and got inside. The altar, the donation box were opened, the organ, church supplies were broken, paintings were destroyed, benches and the pulpit were broken. The soldiers climbed into the crypt with burials and broke several tombstones there. This church was robbed all day long different groups military personnel.
14. Divisions Soviet troops are located in Liberec
15. The dead and wounded after the military assault on the Prague Radio.
16. Unauthorized entry is strictly prohibited
19. The walls of houses, shop windows, fences have become a platform for merciless criticism of the invaders.
20. “Run home, Ivan, Natasha is waiting for you”, “Not a drop of water or a loaf of bread to the invaders”, “Bravo, guys! Hitler", "USSR, go home", "Twice occupied, twice taught", "1945 - liberators, 1968 - occupiers", "We were afraid of the West, we were attacked from the East", "Not hands up, but head up!" , “You have conquered space, but not us”, “The elephant cannot swallow a hedgehog”, “Do not call it hatred, call it knowledge”, “Long live democracy. Without Moscow” are just a few examples of such wall-mounted agitation.
21. “I had a soldier, I loved him. I had a watch - the Red Army took it."
22. On the Old Town Square.
25. I remember a contemporary interview with a Prague woman who, on the 21st, went out to the city with her university friends to see the Soviet military. “We thought there were some terrible invaders there, but in fact, very young guys with peasant faces were sitting on armored personnel carriers, a little scared, constantly grabbing their weapons, not understanding what they were doing here and why the crowd reacted so aggressively to them. The commanders told them that they had to go and save the Czech people from the counter-revolution.”
39. A homemade leaflet from those that they tried to distribute to Soviet soldiers.
40. Today, at the building of the Prague Radio, where on August 21, 1968 people who defended the radio station died, a memorial ceremony was held, wreaths were laid, that morning broadcast from 68 was broadcast, when the radio announced the attack on the country. The announcer reads the text, and shooting in the street is heard in the background.
49. At the site of the National Museum, where a monument to self-immolated student Jan Palach is erected, candles are burning.
51. An exhibition is arranged at the beginning of Wenceslas Square - they show on the big screen documentary about the events of the Prague Spring and August 1968, there is an infantry fighting vehicle with a characteristic white line, an ambulance of those years, there are stands with photographs and reproductions of Prague graffiti.
57. 1945: we kissed your fathers > 1968: you shed our blood and take away our freedom.
According to modern data, during the invasion, 108 citizens of Czechoslovakia were killed and more than 500 wounded, the vast majority of civilians. On the first day of the invasion alone, 58 people were killed or mortally wounded, including seven women and an eight-year-old child.
The result of the operation to remove the leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and the occupation of the country was the deployment of a Soviet military contingent in Czechoslovakia: five motorized rifle divisions, with a total number of up to 130 thousand people, 1412 tanks, 2563 armored personnel carriers and Temp-S tactical missile systems with nuclear warheads. A leadership loyal to Moscow was brought to power, and a purge was carried out in the party. The Prague Spring reforms were completed only after 1991.
Photos: Josef Koudelka, Libor Hajsky, CTK, Reuters, drugoi
With the onset Khrushchev thaw in the Soviet Union, a number of serious socio-political changes were outlined, which were supposed to overturn the established opinion about the USSR as a country with a totalitarian regime. Despite the fact that many of the innovations and reforms being introduced into the socio-political life of the country outwardly looked reformist and democratic, the essence of the Soviet system of government did not change. The foreign policy of the Soviet Union also remained unchanged, aimed at expanding spheres of influence and retaining the positions it had won. Preserved and methods outwardly political influence on the policy of satellite countries and political regimes in third world countries. Every means was used, from political blackmail to threats of military force.
In the late 60s of the XX century, Czechoslovakia fully felt all the charm of the love of the Soviet Union and the care of the brothers in the socialist camp. This country, despite the socialist path of development, made an attempt to follow its own path of development. The result of such courage was an acute political crisis that broke out in the country, which ended with an armed invasion - the entry of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia.
The beginning of Operation Danube - the end of fraternal friendship
August is one of the iconic months for history, especially in the turbulent 20th century. This month, with chronological accuracy, significant events take place that have an impact on the subsequent course of history, changing the fate of peoples. In 1968, the month of August was no exception. Late at night on August 21, 1968, one of the largest military operations since 1945 began in Europe, code-named "Danube".
The scene of action was the Central European state of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, which until that moment had been one of the main pillars of the socialist camp. As a result of the invasion of the troops of the countries of the Warsaw Pact, Czechoslovakia was occupied. The Prague Spring, a revolutionary period in the history of the country, was stifled through the use of brute military force. All the reforms that were carried out in the country and were of a revolutionary nature were curtailed. military intervention in Czechoslovakia became a serious crack that split the unity of the socialist camp.
It cannot be said that the socialist front was united in this impulse. Protest and disagreement with the current methods were expressed by those countries that tried to maintain a balanced foreign policy, distancing itself from the excessive patronage of the USSR. Rumania, Yugoslavia and Albania opposed the entry of troops of the ATS armies into Czechoslovakia. The leadership of Albania in general after these events took a course towards withdrawing from the membership of the Organization of the Warsaw Pact Countries.
From a technical point of view, the operation "Danube" can be considered a model of tactical and strategic planning. The territory of the country was occupied by large military contingents in just three days. Even taking into account the fact that the invasion troops did not meet organized resistance from the Czechoslovak People's Army, the losses during such a large-scale operation were extremely small. The Soviet units participating in the Danube operation lost 36 people killed and wounded, excluding non-combat losses. The occupation of Czechoslovakia for the civilian population was not so peaceful. 108 people became victims of direct armed clashes with the occupying forces, more than half a thousand were injured.
Didn't work out this case and without provocation. In addition to the fact that troops ready for the invasion were concentrated on the borders of Czechoslovakia, the beginning of the operation had to be carried out secretly and covertly. At the airport of the Czechoslovak capital, a Soviet passenger plane made an emergency landing at night, from the cabin of which, to the surprise of the personnel of the airfield service, armed paratroopers began to land. After the capture group captured all the main nodes and control points of the airport, Soviet transport aircraft began to land on the runway one after another. Soviet transport planes loaded with military equipment and soldiers arrived every 30 seconds. From that moment on, the fate of the Prague Spring was sealed.
At the same time, after receiving a signal about the successful start of the operation, Soviet troops, army units of the National People's Army of Germany, units and mechanized units of the Polish Army, the People's Army of Bulgaria and Hungary invaded the territory of Czechoslovakia. The invasion was carried out from three directions. Columns of the NPA and the Polish Army were coming from the North. Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia from the East through Transcarpathia. The troops of the Hungarian People's Army and parts of the Bulgarian army advanced from the southern flank. Thus the "rebellious republic" was gripped by dense steel tongs.
It is important to note that at the very last moment, the army units of the German Democratic Republic were excluded from participating in the invasion. The Soviet leadership did not want to have an analogy with the Wehrmacht invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938. German troops was ordered to stop at the border, being in constant combat readiness. The Polish, Hungarian and Bulgarian units performed an auxiliary function, controlling the peripheral regions of the country and a section of the border between Czechoslovakia and Austria. The main tasks in the course of Operation Danube were solved by Soviet troops, which were consolidated into two fronts - Carpathian and Central. The total number of Soviet troops involved in the invasion was about 200 thousand soldiers and officers.
In tactical terms, the Soviet Union allocated large forces to participate in Operation Danube. In total, 18 Soviet divisions took part in the operation, including tank, airborne and motorized rifle divisions. From the air, the troops had serious air support. There were 22 regiments of helicopter and aviation units of front-line aviation alone. Unprecedented was the number of Soviet tanks, approximately 5000 vehicles used for the operation! The total number of army units and subdivisions of the armed forces of the countries participating in Operation Danube amounted to about half a million people.
The motive that guided the leaders of the countries that took part in the invasion is interesting. The Prague Spring was declared an attempt by the counter-revolutionary forces to take revenge, the purpose of which was to eliminate the socialist gains of the Czechoslovak people. In this connection, the USSR and other countries of the socialist camp are compelled to come to the aid of the people of fraternal Czechoslovakia in defending their gains.
The true causes of the conflict
Since the end of the Second World War, Czechoslovakia has been the sphere of interests of the Soviet Union. To ensure the strength of the socialist camp, the Warsaw Treaty Organization and the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) were created. All this was supposed to keep the countries and states of a socialist orientation in the orbit of the political influence of the USSR. Based on this, any changes in political structure government controlled, changes in the foreign policy of the allied countries caused a sharp reaction in the Kremlin. The events in Hungary in 1956 are vivid confirmation of this. Even then, the Soviet Union had to use force to suppress the outbreak of popular unrest.
By 1968, Czechoslovakia found itself in a similar situation. By this time, a difficult domestic political situation had matured in the country, seriously shaking the hegemony of the ruling Czechoslovak Communist Party. Alexander Dubcek, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, A. Novotny, replaced the faithful Soviet course of development. His main political position was based on a radical renewal of party policy regarding the management of the socio-political life of the country and the economy.
The first steps in this direction looked optimistic. Censorship was weakened, the policy of doing business in the country was simplified. The country stood on the threshold of cardinal economic reforms. At first glance, the declared position looked progressive and modern, however, according to the curators from Moscow, such steps could cause a gradual departure of Czechoslovakia from the socialist path of development. In the intentions of the Czechoslovak communists, the Soviet leaders saw a desire to follow a rapprochement with the West. They were not going to silently contemplate what was happening in the Soviet Union, so a long diplomatic game began. The leaders of the GDR and Poland supported the unrest and feelings of the Soviet leadership regarding the events in Czechoslovakia. Against interference in internal affairs sovereign state, as well as in the future against the introduction of troops into Czechoslovakia, the leaders of Yugoslavia, Albania and the Socialist Republic of Romania, Josif Broz Tito, Enver Hoxha and Nicolae Ceausescu spoke out.
By the way: The last two leaders later became dictators and managed to stay in power for a significant period. Enver Hoxha died a natural death in 1985. Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was convicted by a military tribunal and shot as a result of the 1989 revolution.
The events that took place in Czechoslovakia in those days could have an extremely negative impact on the socio-political life of neighboring countries. The situation in Poland was restless. Hungary has not yet forgotten the events of 12 years ago. The slogan declared by the Czechoslovak communists is “Let's build socialism with human face undermined the basic foundations of the socialist system. The liberal policy pursued by the party leadership of Czechoslovakia, in its goals and objectives, diverged from the line of the Central Committee of the CPSU. The Czechoslovak experiment could become a detonator that could provoke a subsequent chain reaction in the socialist camp. This could not be allowed either in the Kremlin or in other capitals of the Eastern European socialist states.
Goals and methods of pressure on Czechoslovakia
The Soviet leadership, having fresh memories of the events in Hungary in 1956, made every effort to resolve the Czechoslovak crisis in a peaceful manner. Initially there was a game of giveaway. The Soviets were willing to make significant political concessions to the new Czechoslovak leadership in exchange for adherence to the ideals of socialist internationalism and a restrained policy towards the West. The military aspect was not considered at first. Czechoslovakia was an important element of the united strategy of the Warsaw Pact, an active participant in the CMEA, and a major economic partner of the USSR. According to the party leadership of the USSR, the use of military force against their main ally was unacceptable. This option was considered as the most extreme case, when all the mechanisms and means of a peaceful political settlement would be exhausted.
Despite the fact that most members of the Politburo spoke out against the introduction of troops into Czechoslovakia, the military received clear directions for the development of a strategic operation for the invasion of the armed forces of the Warsaw Pact countries into the territory of Czechoslovakia. The subsequent information that Czechoslovakia was not going to make concessions in its position only convinced the Soviet leadership of the timeliness of preparatory operations. An extraordinary congress of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia is scheduled for September 9. On August 16, the Politburo decided by a majority vote to use the armed forces to suppress the counter-revolutionary rebellion in the fraternal republic.
In order to whitewash itself in the eyes of the socialist community and distribute responsibility to other political players, the Soviet leadership deliberately held a meeting of the countries participating in the Warsaw Pact in Moscow on August 18. The leaders of the Eastern European countries present at the meeting supported the initiative of the Soviet leadership.
The official version for the provision of military assistance was the appeal of a group of public and party leaders of the Communist Party to the Central Committee of the CPSU to other fraternal parties with a request for military-political international assistance. The appeal hinted at the counter-revolutionary activities of the current party leadership of Czechoslovakia and the need to urgently change the leadership of the country by any means. For the Czechoslovak side, preparations for the introduction of troops did not come as a surprise. The Ministry of Defense of Czechoslovakia, other party leaders of the country were informed that a large-scale military-police action was planned.
Finally
Naturally, 50 years after the well-known events, we can say with confidence that there was no counter-revolutionary rebellion in Czechoslovakia. Communists were in power in the country civil society was loyal to the leading role of the party in the development of the state. The only thing to focus on is different approaches to achieve the goal. The course of reforms declared by the Czechoslovak leadership in its content is very reminiscent of the events that took place in the Soviet Union 20 years later, during Perestroika.
About the coup organized with the help of Italy in the "red" republic of San Marino, I wanted to recall the role of NATO countries in the events in Czechoslovakia in 1968 and the first an attempt at a color revolution.
In this regard, I am posting a fragment from Sergei Lutsenko's scientific publication "From failure to failure" (Odessa, "Mayak", 1985), which tells about the participation of NATO countries in organizing events in Czechoslovakia.
I ask you to make allowances for the period of writing the book and not to troll about some lexical turns and terms like "socialist commonwealth".
"In the preparation of the counter-revolutionary coup in the country, the right-wing forces felt the full assistance of international imperialism. Its intelligence services and subversive centers launched feverish activities outside Czechoslovakia, expanding the scope of intervention in the internal affairs of the country. The NATO military bloc acted as the coordinating center for subversive anti-Czechoslovak operations. For several more Months before the August events, the Council of the bloc developed a special program for Czechoslovakia, code-named "Zefir. It provided for the active use of the actions of right-wing revisionists in the interests of the West. A special group was created at NATO headquarters. The task was the "Czechoslovak problem." Beginning in July 1968 In Regensburg (Germany), the "headquarters of the strike group" began to operate, at the disposal of which more than 300 intelligence officers and NATO political advisers were allocated. A native of Czechoslovakia, a citizen of the Federal Republic of Germany was appointed head of the "headquarters". reports on the situation in Czechoslovakia, collected by the "headquarters of the shock group." As it was established later, at that time there were more than 200 specialists from the NATO army and more than 300 people from spy centers in the country. In order to coordinate psychological operations” against Czechoslovakia, the USIA also created its own “operational headquarters”, which was headed by P. Spivak, an intelligence officer from the State Department.
In July 1968, the "operational plan" of the CIA and the Pentagon was made public in the press of the socialist countries. In it, despite the change in political doctrines, military actions against the Eastern European socialist states, including subversive actions against Czechoslovakia, still occupied a special place. CIA agents, for example, were charged with establishing contacts with "insurgent elements" in the respective countries and providing them with support to organize "sabotage and uprisings." They were supposed to find out the results of NATO allies conducting special and psychological operations, to find out the presence of any organized underground resistance groups to the existing regime, to determine the degree of penetration of opposition forces into the Communist Party and the ability to counteract it. In the section concerning Czechoslovakia, it was explicitly stated that in the near future coup d'état. At the same time, special attention was paid to the infiltration of opposition forces into the state security agencies, military counterintelligence or intelligence services of Czechoslovakia and the creation of an opportunity to counteract the operations of these agencies.
In order to put the mentioned plan into practice, the American command deployed a separate group of troops to the borders of Czechoslovakia special purpose, which included operational detachments. According to the estimates of the CIA and the Pentagon, they were able to provide leadership for the activities of 75,000 "rebels". Under the guidance of American experts in espionage and sabotage, thousands of agents were trained at bases in Bad Toelz (Germany) and Salzburg (Austria), who were then sent to Czechoslovakia under the guise of "tourists". According to the US State Department, the number of American citizens in the summer of 1968 in Czechoslovakia was about 1,500 people. By August 21, 1968, their number had grown to 3,000. According to the American press itself, most of them were CIA agents. Noteworthy is the fact that already on July 26 government bodies The United States restored the payment of pensions to Czech emigrants who left Czechoslovakia in their time, thus creating an incentive for them to return to their homeland in order to carry out subversive actions.
Along with the development of large-scale subversive work against Czechoslovakia, its foreign inspirers, the ruling circles of the USA and the FRG, were concerned that the inflammatory tone of the Western press and its praises of anti-socialist forces threatened to prematurely reveal the true plans of the reaction. At a meeting of the NATO Council in June 1968 in Reykjavik (Iceland), special attention was drawn to the fact that the noisy tone of the Western press could make it difficult to carry out a "quiet" counter-revolution in Czechoslovakia. Since that time, there has been a clear tendency to slow down the wide coverage in the organs mass media capitalist countries events in Czechoslovakia. The Bonn Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommended that the FRG press, radio, and television refrain from too openly supporting the counter-revolutionaries.7 At the same time, under pressure from American diplomats, the FRG government shifted the place and time of large-scale provocative maneuvers by the Bundeswehr and American troops from the borders of Czechoslovakia to the interior of the country.
The American ruling circles themselves were extremely cautious about making any public statements about the events in Czechoslovakia. Back in May 1968, in response to reports from the American press that Washington was considering the "Czechoslovak problem," White House officials said that "no change has taken place in the position of the United States in relation to Czechoslovakia." Later, Secretary of State D. Rusk publicly denied any US involvement in the situation in Czechoslovakia4. At a signal from the highest echelons of power, the tone of the provocative comments of the American bourgeois press was muted. There were statements by some venerable journalists that, they say, in government circles the issue of supporting Czechoslovakia (ie, counter-revolutionaries) "is not seriously discussed." Another remark by D. Rask to his assistants, “leaked” in the press, met the same goal: “whatever happens, the USA will remain on the sidelines.” 9 their participation in subversive activities against Czechoslovakia.
In the meantime, NATO headquarters seriously considered the issue of a military conflict as a variant of resolving the "Czechoslovak problem." Of course, the leadership of the North Atlantic Pact could not but take into account the military power of the Warsaw Pact states, led by Soviet Union. It served as a reliable deterrent against any Western aggression and, in the end, did not allow the NATO military to bring things to an armed clash in the center of Europe. However, this did not rule out attempts on the part of the United States and its NATO allies to use the bloc's military force as a tool for blackmailing the socialist states. In July 1968, NATO forces were put on partial alert. Special armored units of the American army were advanced to the borders of Czechoslovakia in Bavaria. On the night of August 20-21, General Parker, who was on duty at NATO headquarters, gave the order to hang atomic bombs. The commanders of aviation units received orders in sealed envelopes, which were to be opened on a special signal. They indicated targets for bombing in the socialist states. So the policy of "building bridges" had to give way military force- the traditional method of action for imperialism. The "building of bridges" developed into the next, more dangerous phase. Inside Czechoslovakia, the counter-revolution was also preparing to throw off the mask of the "guardians" of socialism and unleash white terror against the communists.
By August 1968, the organized nature of the offensive of the right-wing forces, which were inspired and supported by the imperialist secret services, was clearly manifested. There was no more time to lose. On the night of August 21, the troops of five states - members of the Warsaw Pact were brought into Czechoslovakia. They came to the aid of the Czechoslovak people at one of the most difficult moments national history at the call of a number of party and statesmen Czechoslovakia and in response to the numerous appeals of the Czechoslovak workers themselves with a request for help to the party and Soviet bodies of the USSR and other fraternal countries. It was an act of international solidarity that met the interests of the socialist community, the international communist and workers' movement, the interests of the Czechs and Slovaks. The presence of the Warsaw Pact forces made it possible to close the country's borders from the penetration of enemy agents.
However, the counter-revolution resorted to the tactics of an underground struggle against the socialist system, poisoning the minds of the Czechoslovak working people with chauvinist and nationalist slogans through its mass media. Literally a few hours after the internationalist action of the Warsaw Pact countries, an extensive network of underground radio broadcasting began to operate. About a dozen and a half underground radio stations went on the air, which pretentiously appropriated the title of "free", "legal Czechoslovak radio broadcasting". On some days up to 30-35 radio sockets worked.
The "radio war" on Czechoslovak air is one of the most shameful pages of the subversive activities of imperialism against Czechoslovakia. It was a direct result of the work of the special services and was being prepared long before the August events. In the very first days after August 21, this open secret was blurted out by the Western mass media. According to the Washington Post, headquarters were set up in advance in the underground, and transmitters were installed. The trained personnel left for the underground radio studios immediately after the entry of the Warsaw Pact troops. Studios and equipment for secret radio stations had to be prepared in advance, thousands of journalists and technicians had to be instructed what to do and where to go...” p. Where did the counter-revolutionary underground get the technical means for equipping underground radio stations? The answer to the question is given by the direction from which the instructions and instructions came from - from abroad, from the organizers of the "psychological warfare", who for many years honed their poisoned weapons in the fight against socialism.
Particularly active during the Czechoslovak events were units of the West German Bundeswehr, specializing in conducting "psychological operations". By their actions they sought to bring disorganization into public life Czechoslovakia. The executor of these operations was the so-called "Andernach battalion of psychological warfare." As early as the beginning of 1968, the so-called "courses to improve the knowledge of the Czech language" were organized on the basis of the battalion in Euskirchen. Along with staff officers, paratroopers from the school in Aldenstadt-Schongau were trained. Special attention applied for the selection of military personnel from families who had previously lived in Czechoslovakia. Already August 21 special units Bundeswehr, including the "Andernach Battalion", took up positions along the Czechoslovak borders. They began to transmit "statements" and "appeals" to the population of Czechoslovakia on various bands. These broadcasts were received by Bonn radio and television stations and were presented as "intercepted messages" from "underground radio transmitters" allegedly located on the territory of Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovak counter-revolution, of course, also had its own underground mass media - radio and television studios, secret printing houses, which were run by experienced counter-revolutionaries. In addition to them, back in July-August, 22 mobile radio stations manufactured by the FRG were secretly transferred across the Czechoslovak-Austrian border. It was they who were used to fabricate the myth of "popular resistance" in Czechoslovakia. The subversive ideological centers counted on this provocation to kill two birds with one stone: to incite the Czechs and Slovaks to "resistance" and at the same time to indoctrinate the population of the West in an anti-communist spirit, referring to the "evidence" slipped by the saboteurs.
On August 22, the commander of the West German 2nd Corps, Lieutenant General Tilo, at the direction of the Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, ordered the creation of a special headquarters to coordinate "psychological warfare" against Czechoslovakia. Its official task was to "maintain technical communications" with Czechoslovakia. In fact, it was the center of the "radio war". Colonel I. Trench, a leading West German specialist in "psychological" sabotage, led the activities of the headquarters. He gained experience in subversive ideological actions during the counter-revolutionary uprising in Hungary. Almost all members of the headquarters managed to visit Czechoslovakia under the guise of "journalists" in order to reconnoiter the upcoming "psychological operations". At this time, in Czechoslovakia itself, a radio bacchanalia of lies, disinformation and slander began, emanating from underground radios and the press. Propagating the false thesis about the "occupation" of Czechoslovakia, planted by the secret services, numerous stations filled the air with calls for "resistance", organizing strikes, etc. In addition to solving propaganda tasks, their functions consisted in transmitting instructions to the counter-revolutionary underground. The presence of the troops of the fraternal countries of socialism fettered the actions of the anti-socialist forces, so the radio was the fastest and most effective tool transmission of encrypted and clear messages, as well as encrypted intelligence to the West. An atmosphere of moral terror, nationalist frenzy, chauvinism and anti-Sovietism was escalated. There were cases of attacks on soldiers of fraternal armies. There were acts of vandalism. All this was conducted by one experienced hand. This is also evidenced by professional work networks of underground radio stations united in complex system: large transmitters acted as the main centers that determined the timing, order and content of transmissions.
Well, on topic - photo essay about input ATS troops to Czechoslovakia in 1968.
The entry of troops into Czechoslovakia in 1968 is the most tragic event in the history of the socialist bloc.
The consequence of this event was the crisis of the world socialist and communist movement and world disappointment, which replaced enthusiasm and participation.
Prerequisites
The sixties were a time of general prosperity. In Africa, many colonies gained independence, in Western countries there was an economic and cultural upsurge, the democratic movement reached its apogee.
In Western society, there has been a certain turn towards socialism: the states launched social programs, limited the power of large enterprises, influential social groups became workers and members of the middle class. Liberalization also took place in the countries of the Eastern bloc.
In the USSR, this was the era of Kosygin, the result of which was a sharp rise in labor productivity, the economy and the standard of living of citizens. Separate elements of capitalism were introduced into the economy (self-supporting, economic independence of enterprises, monetary incentives for workers), the state abandoned total ideological control over society.
The symbol of the general upsurge in the USSR was the space program. The Czechoslovak leader Alexander Dubcek went furthest. He set about building a completely democratic regime, focusing on the West. Dubcek's program included such items as:
- Providing citizens with democratic rights - freedom of speech, press, movement;
- Weakening of state control over the media;
- Facilitating the procedure for opening private enterprises;
- Permission to open political clubs and create new ones political parties;
- General democratization of life and decentralization of power.
The reforms of Dubcek and his associates, despite their external radicalism, did not aim at a complete departure from the previous course, in contrast to the demands of the Hungarian revolutionaries in 1956. The country remained in the socialist bloc. However, in Moscow they were perceived as a betrayal.
The Soviet rulers declared that Dubcek was "returning the country to a bourgeois republic." The leaders of Poland, the GDR, and Bulgaria were not happy with the behavior of the reformers either. It seemed to zealous communists that the events in Czechoslovakia would lead to the collapse of the entire socialist bloc. An entire empire will collapse, especially since Czechoslovakia in this "empire" was one of the most western regions - a kind of defensive outpost in the Cold War.
At first, they tried to resolve conflict issues peacefully, by negotiations, or by imposing sanctions against Czechoslovakia. In the USSR, they were afraid that such "riots" could be in other social networks. countries. And the exit of the Czechs from the Warsaw Pact is generally a disaster. But the Czechoslovak leadership in every possible way avoided and ignored the proposal for negotiations. The USSR decided to use force against this country as a last resort, and the leadership of Czechoslovakia was informed about this.
The Western capitalist countries were also on the alert, offering their services and assistance to the Czechs, supporting their "rebellion". The Federal Republic of Germany and the United States especially tried.
Operation Danube
The introduction of tank troops began on the night of August 20-21, 1968. Czechoslovakia was invaded by 300,000 soldiers and officers and 7,000 tanks. Then Soviet planes landed in Prague. The Czechoslovak army did not put up any resistance to the troops, obeying the order of the new leader of the country, Ludwik Svoboda.
Under the supervision of Soviet representatives, a new Czechoslovak government was formed, consisting of conservatives. At first, it was decided to arrest all the reformers, but fearing general civil disobedience, it was decided to negotiate with them. Many reform officials remained in government but were moved to lower positions; Dubcek himself, for example, served as ambassador to Turkey.
On August 20, 1968, the Danube military operation began. International (mostly Soviet) troops "took" Prague in record time, capturing all strategically important facilities.
Brezhnev Doctrine
In the late 60's world system socialism" was testing its strength. Relations with the fraternal peoples were not easy, but in relations with the West there was a stalemate "detente". One could breathe easy and pay attention to Eastern Europe. The battle for the "correct" understanding of the Union of allied countries on the sidelines of NATO was called the "Brezhnev doctrine." The doctrine became the right to invade the guilty Czechoslovakia. Who else will defend socialism warped by independence and dispel the spring dissent in Prague?
Dubcek and reforms
In December 1967, Alexander Dubcek came to the leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. He came, entered into a struggle with the "canned" neo-Stalinists, tried to draw a new socialism "with a human face." "Socialism with a human face" is the freedom of the press, speech and the repressed - echoes of the social democracy of the West. Ironically, one of the released, Gustav Husak, would later replace the innovator Dubcek as first secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia under Moscow's patronage. But this is later, but for now Dubcek, together with the President of Czechoslovakia, proposed to the country a "Program of Action" - reforms. The innovations were supported by the people and the intelligentsia (signed by 70 under the article “Two thousand words”). The USSR, recalling Yugoslavia, did not support such innovations. Dubcek was sent a collective letter from the Warsaw Pact countries with a call to stop creative activity, but the first secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia did not want to give in.
warning conference
On July 29, 1968, in the city of Chienra nad Tisou, Brezhnev, together with Dubcek, nevertheless agreed. The USSR undertook to withdraw allied troops from the territory of Czechoslovakia (there were such - they were introduced for training and joint maneuvers) and to stop attacks in the press. In turn, Dubcek promised not to flirt with the "human face" - to pursue domestic policy, not forgetting the USSR.
Warsaw Pact on the offensive
"The Soviet Union and other socialist countries, true to international duty and Warsaw Pact, must send their troops to assist the Czechoslovak People's Army in defending the Motherland from the danger looming over it. Such a directive was received by the commander of the airborne troops, General Margelov. And this was back in April 1968, in other words, before the conclusion of the Bratislava Agreement on July 29, 1968. And on August 18, 1968, at a joint conference of the USSR, the GDR, Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria read a letter from the "true socialists" of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia with a request for military assistance. military operation"Danube" has become not an idea, but a reality.
"Danube"
The specificity of the USSR military campaign against Czechoslovakia was the choice of strike force. The main role was played airborne troops Soviet army. air defense troops, Navy and rocket troops strategic purposes were brought to an increased combat readiness. The actions of the international army were carried out on three fronts - the Carpathian, Central and Southern fronts were created. Considering the role assigned to air force, on each of the fronts, the participation of air armies was provided. At 23:00 on August 20, a combat alarm sounded, one of the five sealed packages with the operation plan was opened. Here was the plan for Operation Danube.
On the night of 20 to 21 August
A passenger plane flying up to the Czech airport "Ruzyna" requested an emergency landing and received it. From that moment, from two in the morning, the airport was captured by the 7th Airborne Division. While in the building of the Central Committee, Dubcek addressed the people by radio with an appeal to prevent bloodshed. Less than two hours later, Dubcek and the Presidium of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia assembled by him in the amount of eleven people were arrested. The capture of the airport and the opposition was the main objective of Operation Danube, but Dubcek's reforms were contagious. At 5 am on August 21, landed on the territory of Czechoslovakia reconnaissance company 350th Guards Airborne Regiment and reconnaissance company of the 103rd Airborne Division. Within ten minutes, a continuous stream of soldiers disembarking from planes managed to capture two airports. Troops with equipment marked with white stripes moved inland. Four hours later, Prague was occupied - the Allied troops seized the telegraph, military headquarters, railway stations. All ideologically important objects - the buildings of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, the government, the Ministry of Defense and general staff were captured. At 10 am, KGB officers took Alexander Dubcek and others like him out of the Central Committee building.
Results
Two days after the actual end of the campaign, negotiations between the interested parties took place in Moscow. Dubcek and his comrades signed the Moscow Protocol, which, as a result, allowed the USSR not to withdraw its troops. The protectorate of the USSR extended for an indefinite time, until the normal situation in Czechoslovakia was settled. This position was supported by the new First Secretary Husak and the President of Czechoslovakia, L. Svoboda. Theoretically, the withdrawal of troops from the territory of Czechoslovakia was completed in mid-November 1968, in practice, the presence of the military forces of the Soviet army lasted until 1991. Operation Danube stirred up the public, dividing the socialist camp into those who agreed and disagreed. Dissatisfied marches took place in Moscow and Finland, but in general, Operation Danube showed the strength and seriousness of the USSR and, importantly, the full combat readiness of our army.