OMSBON - Independent Special Purpose Motorized Brigade

On the night of 30 July 1943, the residents of the town Osipovichi were awakened by an explosion of extraordinary force, followed soon after by a second detonation. Liquid fuel storage tanks were burning and exploding at the railroad station. The flames were spreading to neighboring trains carrying Tiger tanks and aircraft bombs. A gigantic fire storm hurled the barrels of fuel and bombs skyward. The fire spread over to the station building. Soon, only blackened walls remained. In panic, the fascists mistook the conflagration for an air attack, and reported to Berlin that the Russians were bombing the station intensely. Only later did the Germans determine that the station and trains with tanks, petroleum products, and aircraft bombs had been destroyed as a result of sabotage. The Nazi command especially felt this significant blow at that time, during the days of the terrible battles for the Kursk bulge. The operation had one unforeseen result: on the night of the explosions, the security force of a concentration camp located near Osipovichi ran away in fright during the bombing, while its prisoners- the Russians, Byelorussians, Poles, Hungarians, Czechs, and Bulgarians- found themselves set free, and linked up with the partisans. This is only one of the countless examples of the skillful activities of the fighting men of the Independent Special Purpose Motorized Rifle Brigade [otdel'naya motostrel'kovaya brigada osobogo naznacheniya- OMSBON] of the NKVD, a special formation of the Soviet Armed Forces, which made its own contribution to the victory over fascist Germany. The existing literature about OMSBON and its men, as a rule, is devoted either to the combat actions of a certain detachment or special group, or to one of the heroes of the brigade. To date, there has not been a sufficiently complete investigation of its story as a whole. This outline is an attempt briefly to generalize the brigade's history.

On 29 June 1941, the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Sovnarkom of the USSR issued a directive to party and soviet organs concerning the development of the countrywide struggle against the fascist invaders. The directive contained a program for the organization and conduct of partisan and underground activities in temporarily occupied territories. But the formation of a special group of NKVD detachments designated primarily for reconnaissance and diversionary activities in fascist rear areas had already begun in Moscow on 27 June 1941. In September 1941, two brigades were created from the personnel of the group. These brigades were later reformed into two regiments, and subsequently were brought together in OMSBON. The brigade operated throughout the entire war under this designation (with the exception of the period from the fall of 1943 to the beginning of 1944, when it was called the Independent Special Purpose Detachment [Otdel'nyy otryad osobogo naznacheniya]). The brigade had the following missions:assistance in the development of the mass partisan movement; aid to the party-soviet underground; thorough reconnaissance; discovery of the plans of the fascist command; aid to the Red Army by means of reconnaissance, diversionary, and combat activities; spreading of disorganization in the fascist rear; counterintelligence operations; and acts of retribution against Nazi executioners or traitors to the Soviet Motherland.

The formation of the brigade was begun at the end of June 1941, at the Dynamo stadium in Moscow. Brigade commander P. M. Bogdanov exercised immediate supervision of this matter. The special designation of the brigade implied increased demands on personnel. The commanders had to have experience in military and Chekist work, including the partisan struggle and the underground. People absolutely devoted to the Motherland, steadfast, courageous, resolute, capable of independent action in complex situations, physically hardened and tough, were included in the brigade. Workers of the NKVD central apparatus and instructors and students of the NKVD Central School and Higher Border Troops School became the core of the brigade. In 1941–42, more than 1,500 communists, many of whom were veterans of the October Revolution and civil war, were sent to the brigade by party-political workers. In June 1941, the Central Committee of the Komsomol adopted the resolution «Concerning mobilization of Komsomol members into the forces of the special group under the auspices of the NKVD of the USSR». Workers of the 1st Moscow Clock, Moscow Automobile, and 1st State Bearing Factories, and of other enterprises of the capital city, and approximately 800 Komsomol members from fourteen areas of the RSFSR also joined OMSBON. The currently well-known writer Z. I. Voskresenskaya aided the Central Committee of the Komsomol in the formation of the brigade.

More than 800 athletes, selected by the central councils of the volunteer sports societies «Dynamo», «Spartak», «Lokomotiv», and others joined the brigade. Among them were merited masters and masters of sports, trainers, USSR champions, European champions, and world champions: track and field brothers S. I. and G. I. Znamenskiy, skater A. K. Kapchinskiy, boxers N. F. Korolev and S. S. Shcherbakov, wrestler G. D. Pyl'nov, skier L. V. Kulakova, rower A. M. Dolgushin, members of the «Minsk Dynamo» soccer team, 150 students and instructors of the Central State Institute of Physical Culture, as well as students of Moscow Historical-Archival, Leather Processing, Mining, Machine Tool, and Medical Institutes, and the Institute of History, Philosophy, and Literature (MIFLI). Political maturity distinguished the soldiers of the «company of philosophers», as the subunit where the men of the philosophy institute served was named in jest. They were a reliable support to commanders and political workers at the front and during the accomplishment of special tasks. More than 300 women, who became agents, radio operators, and nurses entered into OMSBON, as did several hundred volunteers from the ranks of anti-fascist political emigres: the Spaniards, Bulgarians, Germans, Austrians, Poles, Czechs, Serbs, French, Yugoslavs, and Hungarians, who made up the international battalion of the brigade.

The brigade was reinforced with personnel throughout the course of the war. Its total strength exceeded 10,500. From October 1941, its commander was Colonel M. F. Orlov; its first commissar was Major A. A. Maksimov, later A. S. Maysuradze, who was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR; the chief of the political department was Lt. Col. L. A. Studnikov. OMSBON consisted of a headquarters, two motorized rifle regiments, medical and parachute service, schools (junior leadership, radio operator, and demolitions instructor), and an aviation section. Independent detachments were formed from its personnel for operations at the front (up to 1000–1200 soldiers), and as well special detachments (from 30 to 100 soldiers) and special groups (from 3 to 10 men) for activities in the enemy rear.