In general, it is terrible when you realise what pygmies and non-entities are at the top of the political pyramid. Even when it comes to Ukraine. The actual President of Ukraine stated: “We will never forget Igor Pobirchenko, the commander of a Т-34 tank, who together with his crew were the first to smash the gate of Auschwitz; all the soldiers of the shock battalion of the 100th Lvov Division who entered the camp under the leadership of the Poltava citizen of Jewish origin Anatoly Shapiro”.
And Zelensky is “educated” and “an economist” with a diploma! And this “economist” in the rank of president stands in front of microphones, in front of the camera, and lies impudently, despicably, and cynically! It was precisely Ukrainians who freed Auschwitz, no one else! Well, another Jew helped. Otherwise, how it is without his presence in Auschwitz? Next to the Polish master Duda nothing was said about the USSR and the Red Army! Only individual Ukrainians and individual Jews. Everyone heard okay? Everyone remembered?
And now onto the points:
The “100th Rifle Lvov Division” was formed on March 18th 1942 in Vologda in the Arkhangelsk Military District. The personnel of the division were staffed mainly by the conscripts of the Vologda and Arkhangelsk regions, as well as the Komi Republic.
As part of the 38th Army, the Division took part in the Proskurov-Chernovtsi Operation (March 4th – April 17th 1944). On July 27th 1944, during the Lvov-Sandomir strategic offensive, together with other units of the 1st Ukrainian Front, liberated Lvov, in honour of which on the same day the division received the honorary name “Lvov”. Well, i.e., thoroughly Russian! More precisely – Soviet!
Where were the other divisions involved in the liberation of the Auschwitz camp formed?
The 286th Rifle Division was formed in August 1941th in Cherepovets;
The 322nd Rifle Division was formed in August 1941 in Gorky;
The 107th Rifle Division of the 2nd Formation was formed in July 1942 from the 11th Rifle Brigade of the Transcaucasian Front.
We go further!
The death camp and most of its branches were in the offensive zone of the 60th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front, commanded by Colonel General Pavel Alekseyevich Kurochkin.
The front at this point was commanded by Marshal Ivan Stepanovich Konev.
On January 24th-25th 1945 the joint-formation of the 106th Rifle Corps of the 60th Army, commanded by Major General Pavel Fedoseyevich Ilinykh – 100th Division of Major General Fedor Mikhailovich Krasavin and the 322nd Division of Major General Vasily Trofimovich Maslov – liberated two eastern branches of the concentration camp, Monowitz being one.
On January 27th the 286th Rifle Division of Major General Mikhail Danilovich Grishin from the 115th Rifle Corps of Major General Sergey Borisovich Kozachek, part of the 59th Army of Lieutenant General Ivan Terentiyevich Korovnikov, liberated the Jaworzno branch of Auschwitz.
On the same day, General Fedor Mikhailovich Krasavin’s 100th Rifle Division liberated Auschwitz.
On January 28th the 107th Rifle Division of Colonel Vasily Yakovlevich Petrenko liberated Birkenau.
And now about those who were the first to break into the camp.
Archival documents of the Field Administration of the 60th Army indicate that between January 26th and 27th 1945, the 100th Rifle Division, in cooperation with 322nd and 148th Rifle Divisions, took possession of the city of Auschwitz (Central Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, archive 417, inventory 10564, case 1286, sheets 101-102; case 1253, sheet 29).
The war journal of the 100th Rifle Division for January 1945 records that by the end of the day on January 26th 1945, the 472nd Rifle Regiment had taken possession of the city of Auschwitz and during the day had taken possession of Babice, Brzezinka (Central Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, archive 1277, inventory 1, case 80, sheet 6).
The political report of the 100th Rifle Division states that in the battles for Auschwitz the soldiers of the 472nd Rifle Regiment were particularly distinguished: Junior Sergeant Vasily Efimovich Avdeev, Red Army soldiers Nikitsky (no initials) and Maksim Semenovich Bagarov, who were the first to break into the village of Auschwitz and fight the enemy. Subsequently, they were recommended for government awards: Avdeev – for the Order of the Patriotic War of the I degree, Nikitsky and Bagarov – for the Order of Glory of the III degree (Central Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, archive 1277, inventory 1, case 153, sheet 34).
Neither Major Shapiro nor tank crew member Igor Pobirchenko are mentioned in the above documents.
The political report of the 106th Rifle Corps for January 1945 contains information about the liberation of prisoners of the concentration camp in Auschwitz and their testimony. There is no information about who broke down the gate of the concentration camp in the political report. Operational documents of the 106th Rifle Corps also do not contain such information.
There is no information about the existence of a shock unit (battalion) within the 106th Rifle Corps of the Central Army of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation.
According to archival documents, it was established that Major Anatoly Pavlovich Shapiro, born in 1913, a Jew, a native of Krasnograd, Kharkov region (as per the text) as of January 1945 served in the 106th Rifle Corps as Assistant Head of the Operational Department. There is no information that he was the commander of the assault unit of the 106th Rifle Corps and was directly involved in the liberation of prisoners of the concentration camp (Central Department of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, file register of officer personnel; archive 998, inventory 2, case 17, sheet 74). Moreover, to imagine that an officer of the operational department of the corps suddenly will go to one of the divisions of the corps to head a certain “shock unit” is the same nonsense as to imagine that the chief of food supply of the regiment will be sent to serve in the operational department of the corps…
In the file register of the awarded it is indicated that Shapiro A.P. by order of the Commander of the 60th Army from April 30th 1945 No. 068/n was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the I degree. On the award sheet for the order does not contain information about the direct participation of Shapiro A.P. in the liberation of prisoners from the concentration camp Auschwitz.
According to archival documents, it was established that Igor Gavrilovich Pobirchenko, born in 1923, a native of Kiev, in 1945 served in the 1448th self-propelled artillery regiment of the 1st Ukrainian Front as the commander of the self-propelled unit Su-76, in the military rank of “Guard Sergeant Major”. Between January 26th and 27th 1945, the 1448th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment fought to ensure crossing of the Przemsza in the area of Podzagórnie (Central Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, archive 1448 self-propelled artillery regiment, inventory 445097С, case 1, sheet 29-30).
There is no information about the participation of Pobirchenko I.G. in the liberation of prisoners from the Auschwitz concentration camp in the archival documents of the 1448th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment.
Pobirchenko I.G. by order of the 1448 self-propelled artillery regiment from February 27th 1945 No. 03/n was awarded the medal “For bravery”, and by order of the same regiment from June 4th 1945 No. 08/n – a medal “For combat merit”. The participation of Pobirchenko I.G. in fights for Auschwitz is not reflected in the above-mentioned orders.
It is necessary to ask the veteran himself how he turned out to be a Lieutenant and Commander of a Т-34 at the gate of Auschwitz, but he, unfortunately, died in 2012. It is also strange that Igor Gavrilovich first remembered about his personal first-place victory in the liberation of the camp only in 2005, when he was brought to Poland as part of the official Ukrainian delegation.
But we will not reproach the veteran for inconsistencies. It is quite possible that everything was exactly as he describes in his memories. This is about something else: the unscrupulousness and baseness of Ukraine’s new president, who is well aware that Auschwitz, Poland, Ukraine, and all of Eastern Europe were liberated by the Soviet Army. The army of the Soviet Union was international and devoted to its leader – Stalin, under red banners and stars! And the national “Ukrainian” army, the one for which Zelensky is now bowing to, was already hiding in the forests, shooting liberators in the back, and engaged in mass terror against its own Ukrainians on the liberated lands of western Ukraine. Or retreated with Hitler’s Nazis further west, wearing on their collars the symbols of the SS and the guards of death camps, where they largely succeeded in destroying the compatriots and relatives of this same Zelensky.
And that’s why he’s just pathetic and insignificant!
Vladislav Shurygin
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