Augustów Roundup In Top-Secret NKVD Documents

August 24, 1945 Report from Viktor Semyonovich Abakumov to Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria:

Decrypt [Decipher] and deliver immediately

Via Cipher:

[Seals: “Central FSB Archive of the Russian Federation”, “Declassified". Central FSB Archive of the Russian Federation]

I report that I have ordered the deputy head of the Main “Smersh” Directorate, Major General Gorgonov, and head of the Chief Counterintelligence Unit with the 3rd Byelarussian Front, Lt. General Zelenin, to personally inspect, in place, the arms, ammunition and explosive materials confiscated during the operation to liquidate gangs in the Augustow Forests, carried out by units of the Red Army. Today, Comrades Gorgonov and Zelenin reported that during the operation, units of the 50th Army of the 3rd Byelarussian Front confiscated the following arms, ammunition and explosive materials:
		See the original report

Grenade launchers - 11, among them 52mm - 1 [one] 55mm - 4 and 120mm - all German made; Machine guns - 31, among them heavy machine guns - 1 light [machine gun] German made - 28 and, light Russian made - 2; Automatic pistols - 31, among them German - 14, Russian - 17; Rifles - 89 and 1 [with] a sawed off [barrel], also German - 28 and 1 - [with]a sawed off [barrel], Polish - 17 and Russian - 44; Hand guns and revolvers - 4, including Belgian-made - 3, Russian - 1; Mines - 204, including German - 34, Russian 120mm - 110 and 80mm - 60; Projectiles - 76mm Russian type - 66;Grenades - 134, including German - 71, Russian - 63;Rifle bullets and [ammunition for] automatic weapons - 27,024, including German 7,279, and Russian 19,645; Ammunition for PTR [armor-piercing ] of Russian type - 250;TNT charges of German Type - 62; Explosive materials of Russian make - 78kg; Bottles containing incendiary mixture (KS) - 50; German radio-transmitters - 1; Bickford-type rope of German make - 73 meters;

The aforementioned weapons, ammunition, and explosives materials were confiscated during the arrests of the bandits, as well as stores and hiding places discovered in the forests during searches of [various] localities.

During the investigations it was determined, that the bandits gathered Russian type weapons on battlefields.

To that effect, the arrested gang-leader named S.N Krupinski, nom de guerre “Grom”, born in 1906 in Augustow, and of Polish nationality, who was apprehended along with his 50-men gang, revealed during  the subsequent interrogations, that members of his gang collected Russian-type weapons and ammunition in the Augustow Forests in the area(s) where the Red Army fought the Germans.

Aside from the German, Polish and Russian weapons and ammunition, no other foreign-made weapons, ammunition, or explosives were confiscated. During the combing operations carried out by the Red Army in the Augustow Forests, 52 bunkers were discovered and 15 concrete anti-artillery shelters, as well as 439 makeshift dugouts, and underground shelters; these, in the estimate of the command, were German, and were already built in 1939. Some of these structures were being used by the Home Army.

On orders from the military command, all bunkers, anti-artillery shelters, dugouts, and underground shelters, were blown up by our military units.

I am reporting in particular about the issue of the artillery. This issue was particularly thoroughly investigated by Comrades Gorgonow and Zelenin, who concluded that during the operations in the Augustow Forests, neither the units of the Red Army, nor “Smersh” confiscated any type of artillery pieces.

Based on the foregoing, we should emphasize that during the initial stages of the operation, the Military Command of the 50th Army had at its disposal unverified and preliminary information, suggesting that the gangs active in the Augustow Forests, had in fact at their disposal, artillery pieces; during the later stages these reports turned out to be inaccurate. At some point, the Military Command had reported about this to the General Staff of the 3rd Byelarussian Front.

Abakumov

August 24, 1945

Head of the Chief “Smersh” Counterintelligence Directorate Lt. General(Abakumov)

Also See:

"Unsolved Communist Crimes in Poland: The Augustów Roundup in July, 1945"

"Not Only Katyn" by Ireneusz Sewastianowicz and Stanisław Kulikowski

Chapter 1 - Before They Came
Chapter 2 - The Roundup Begins
Chapter 3 - Those Who Survived
Chapter 4 - Coincidence or Betrayal?
Chapter 5 - We Regret To Inform You
Chapter 6 - The Commotion Near Giby
Chapter 7 - We Will Not Be Silenced
Chapter 8 - Wrong Graves
Chapter 9 - Other Trails
Chapter 10 - The Missing
Chapter 11 - Notes and Bibliography