Joint Soviet-German parade in Brest

Summary of the myth
On September 22, 1939, the troops of the USSR and Germany held a joint military parade in Brest. The myth is mainly used to prove the special relationship of the USSR with Germany in 1939-1941.

Example of use
"On September 22, the Soviet troops reached Brest. The next day, a joint Soviet-German parade of "winners"took place in Brest").

Reality
Documentary evidence
On September 14, the city, and on September 17, the fortress of Brest were occupied by the 19th motorized corps of the Wehrmacht under the command of General Guderian. On September 20, parts of the 29th tank brigade of commander Krivoshein approached Brest and negotiations began on the transfer of Brest and the Brest fortress. Negotiations continued the next day, and at 10 a.m. on September 22, the German military flag, which had been flying over the fortress for exactly five days, was lowered to the sound of a German band, and units of the 76th infantry regiment of the Wehrmacht left the Brest fortress. In the afternoon of September 22, the Germans left Brest in the same organized manner and without excesses, ceding the city to the Soviet troops.
  Guderian really wanted to hold a full-fledged joint parade, but then agreed to the procedure proposed by the commander of the 29th tank brigade, S. M. Krivoshein: "at 16 o'clock, parts of your corps in a marching column, with standards in front, leave the city, my units, also in a marching column, enter the city, stop on the streets where German regiments pass, and salute the passing units with their banners. Bands perform military marches").
   The order for the 20th German division for September 21 reads: "1. On the occasion of the adoption of Brest-Litovsk by the Soviet troops on 22.9.1939, in the afternoon, between 15.00 and 16.00, a March will take place at the headquarters of the 19th army corps in front of the commander of the 19th AK Guderian and the commander of the Soviet troops... German and Soviet units participate in the March").
   As you can see, the language used is very streamlined. "Marching", "in a marching column", etc. such reservations can not be accidental, the fact is that for the military of any country, participation in parades, the order of passage of troops, who and how takes the parade, and other points of this ritual are strictly prescribed in the Charter.) and practically none of the requirements of the Charter in this case is not sustained. Strictly speaking, the wording of the orders makes it clear that what happened cannot be called a parade. In the best case - a joint procession. But was there such a procession? We will return to this issue when discussing films and photographic materials.

Agreement with Soviet officers on the transfer of Brest-Litovsk

The Bundesarchiv contains the document "Vereinbarung mit sowjetischen Offizieren über die Überlassung von Brest-Litovsk"("Agreement with Soviet officers on the transfer of Brest-Litovsk").

Translation of the text of the 1st page of the document/

Copy

Brest-Litovsk, 21.9.1939.

Agreement on the transfer of the city of Brest-Litovsk and further promotion of Russ.[key] troops.

1.) German troops leave Brest-Litovsk on 22.9 at 14: 00.

In particular:

8: 00 Approach of the Russian battalion to take the fortress and land property of the city of Brest.

10: 00 session of the mixed Commission consisting of:

from the Russian side: captain Gubanov

clod.[issar] bat.[Alona] Panov /Panoff/

from the German side: podp.[olkovnik] Golm / Holm/ (komend.[city ant]

signature.[olkovnik] Sommer / Sommer/ (interpreter)

14: 00 Start of the passage of the solemn March of Russian and German troops in front of the commanders on both sides with a change of flag in the conclusion. During the flag change, national anthem music is played.

2.) non-transportable German wounded are transferred to the supervision of the Russian army and when they reach transportability are sent.

3.) Currently, non-transportable German devices weapons and ammunition are temporarily left by German units (Nachkommando)and transported as far as possible.

4.) All remaining reserves after 21.9, 24:00 hours are transferred to the Russian troops.

5.) vehicles that have become damaged on the way out follow after repair to the German military units. The pick-up groups must notify the liaison officer at the headquarters of the Russian troops in Brest.

6.) The transfer of all prisoners and trophies is carried out upon presentation of a certificate of receipt.

/mark-copy of the Bundesarchiv /

/Translation of the text of the 2nd page of the document/

7.) collapse of the field telephone network is carried out 24.9 by divisions (Nachkommando), only during the day.

8.) The above-mentioned mixed Commission remains in place to resolve all outstanding issues.

9.) The agreement is valid only for the territory where the army units are located in the North-Eastern part of the country.[advance] to bug.

10.) The further advance of the Russian troops is coordinated by a mixed Commission based on the directives of the command on both sides.

For correct copy: / illegible, handwritten entry/

Rittmeister

/mark-copy of the Bundesarchiv/

Note the use of the term "Vorbeimarsch"in the document text. "Vorbeimarsch "(solemn procession) and" Parade " (parade) are different words and are not synonymous. A solemn procession is one of the components of a parade, but it can be performed without any ceremonial context.

   Film and photo materials

September 27, 1939, the story about the transfer of the city of Brest appeared in the next issue of the movie review "Ton-Woche" # 473) it is from here and from the official German edition of 1939." the Great German campaign against Poland "used photos of this "parade", which are so fond of referring to.

What was discussed in this issue and how?

- After 18 days of war, the high command of the Wehrmacht was able to report: "military operations in Poland are over." Generals marked (with handshakes) especially distinguished soldiers.

- - On the 18th day, German troops met Soviet-Russian units moving from the East in Brest-Litovsk.

- , (room) here, after short negotiations, the demarcation line was discussed in detail.

- After these important negotiations ... the commanders and generals of the German and Soviet-Russian troops took part in the March of troops together.

- - A small percentage of Polish troops tried to defend themselves, the submerged ships had to prevent access, with the help of the (German) artillery and the Navy, the resistance was eliminated.

- The Fuhrer arrived unexpectedly to take over the port.

- On his arrival in the "Hanseatic" city of Danzig, the people were very happy about the liberators.

As you can see, this also refers to a March, but not a parade.

Let's take a closer look at these photos. We will immediately expect a number of surprises.

Passage of German troops

On the German side, the passage was made by two divisions of artillery, a reinforced regiment of the 20th motorized division, and as a rear reconnaissance battalion.

German troops pass solemnly, they hold a line on the platform, where there are German and Soviet officers, salute them.

Attention is drawn to the presence of numerous observers of the passage.

Passage of Soviet troops

With the passage of the Soviet forces in the frame are only separate stronie observers. Where the crowd watching the German March went is not clear.

It is extremely strange that the newsreels did not include a single frame where Soviet tanks were filmed against the background of the podium with Guderian and Krivoshein. This makes you look more closely at those frames where the Soviet troops simultaneously with the German fall into the frame.

There are such pictures.

Here is one t-26 tank going past a column of German motorcyclists.

But what is it? When passing German troops, that is, at the beginning of the parade, the flagpole had a small platform on which officers stood. Now it's gone. And this is clearly not the event after the "parade", when the platform could have already been removed.

After all, the completion of the German passage of troops, at 16: 45, was the solemn lowering of this flag. Then Krivosheev uttered a few phrases, and the band, which was a platoon of traffic police trained to play brass instruments, played the Soviet anthem, and a red flag was raised on the same flagpole. If the frame with the passage of the T-26 got a flagpole with a German flag, this is a clear proof that the picture was taken before the "parade"

And here is a column of T-26S walking along the same square, past the same column of German motorcyclists. Again, there is no parade of officers or platform on which they should stand. Please note that the shadows of passing German vehicles are cast forward and to the left, and those of Soviet vehicles are cast forward and to the right.

Parades in other cities

It is often suggested that in addition to Brest, parades were also held in Bialystok, Grodno, and Lviv. However, after the events near Lviv, when the German and Soviet armies had a number of military clashes, and the German withdrawal from the city was accompanied by constant artillery skirmishes, " Soviet and German units after the Lviv incident generally tried not to give the opportunity to approach at a distance of more than half a day's March, that is, they were not allowed to 20 km."9) there could Not be a parade in Lviv itself, since "on September 21, 1939, on the day of the surrender of the Polish garrison to the red Army, there was not a single German unit in the city. They were withdrawn 10 km West of Lviv and were preparing to withdraw to the border of the San river."Ten)

Conclusions

German documentaries skillfully mixed footage of the German parade with footage of passing Soviet tanks, relating to a time that does not coincide with the time of the "parade". They also "diluted" their reportage with shots of Soviet troops standing on side streets, waiting for the Germans to withdraw their troops.