On the issue of scorched earth tactics. Massive scorched earth tactics What is scorched earth tactics
TO THE QUESTION ABOUT "Scorched Earth Tactics"
During the period of tense defensive battles near Moscow, the directive of the command of the Western Front of October 30, 1941 prescribed:
"Destroy all highways adjacent to the front line of defense, and highways that the enemy uses for his maneuver to a depth of 50 km. Maintain destruction continuously. Be sure to destroy all bridges. Minify all tank-hazardous directions with anti-tank mines and bottles with a combustible mixture. In possible directions infantry attacks, immediately place anti-personnel minefields, barbed wire, blockages, barricades and prepare fire barriers.
Similar demands are not hard to find among archival documents and other fronts. These are, one might say, classic methods of armed struggle. The war on transport communications and the mining of areas of terrain easily accessible to the enemy have their own history, rich in various examples. For these tactics, the armed forces of most states of the world have special troops.
During the Great Patriotic War, perhaps for the first time during the existence of the Russian and Soviet armies, other methods of destruction tactics were used - the total destruction during the retreat of everything that could be destroyed, including settlements. Residents of villages and villages located in the front line were subject to forcible eviction.
The damage caused by the German invaders to the national economy and citizens of the USSR has been carefully calculated. His summary indicators were previously announced at the Nuremberg trials. By 1959, the data was clarified. In the statistical collection "The National Economy of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945." (M., 1990) says the following:
"The Nazi invaders completely or partially destroyed and burned 1,710 cities and towns and more than 70,000 villages and villages; burned and destroyed over 6 million buildings and made about 25 million people homeless; destroyed 31,850 industrial enterprises, disabled metallurgical plants, where about 60% of steel was smelted before the war, mines, which provided over 60% of coal production in the country, destroyed 65 thousand km of railway track and 4100 railway stations, 36 thousand post and telegraph institutions, telephone exchanges and other communication enterprises destroyed and plundered tens of thousands of collective farms and state farms, slaughtered, seized or drove to Germany 7 million horses, 17 million cattle, 20 million pigs, 27 million sheep and goats. In addition, they destroyed and defeated 40 thousand hospitals and other medical institutions, 84 thousand schools, technical schools, higher educational institutions, research institutes, 43 thousand public libraries.
Will the damage inflicted on the national economy and population by the orders of the leading officials of our state and the army be so scrupulously calculated, and how can it be fairly correlated with the given statistics and the requirements of necessity?
Judging by the documents, ill-conceived prescriptions, from which their own citizens suffered first of all, entered practice at the very beginning of the war, and were legalized during the Battle of Moscow.
DECISION OF THE MILITARY COUNCIL OF THE WESTERN FRONT
ON ORGANIZATION OF HARVESTING AND ELIMINATION OF THE HARVEST OF AGRICULTURAL CROPS IN THE SMOLENSK REGION
№ 0012
Smolensk Regional Committee of the CPSU (b)
Smolensk Regional Council of Workers' Deputies
Copies: Military Councils of the armies and military commissars of groups on a special list
THE MILITARY COUNCIL OF THE WESTERN FRONT DECIDES: 1. To propose to the Smolensk Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Regional Council of People's Deputies to immediately organize the implementation of the directive of the State Defense Committee regarding the sowing of industrial, grain crops and potatoes in the front line to the border determined by the following settlements: Bely, Komary , railway [road] from st. Nikitinka to st. mountains Dorogobuzh, Podmoshye, Oselye, Pavlikovo, Spas-Demensk (exclusively), Dobroselye, Krapivna, Ekimovichi (exclusively), Roslavl, Ershichi.
2. Organize on the territory specified in paragraph 1 the immediate mowing of ripe and unripe grain crops and the digging of potatoes, beets and other crops by collective farms, state farms and other state organizations and the transfer of mowed and threshed grain and harvested potatoes to state organizations under the authority of the Smolensk Regional Council of Deputies The working people, as well as the military units of the Red Army, leaving at the disposal of each collective farmer one and a half - two hectares for farming grain crops and potatoes. All cleaning work to be completed by 15.8.41.
3. Destroy the crops of all other immature crops by mowing, feeding, trampling by livestock and in other ways until 15.8.41.
4. To oblige all local party and Soviet organizations to freely transfer fodder and potatoes to units and formations of the Red Army, both in processed form and on the vine, at their request, sealed by the signature and seal of the commander and commissar of the unit and formation.
5. To oblige the Military Councils of the armies and commanders - commissars of groups to give appropriate orders for the organization and implementation of this work to local party and Soviet organizations, military units within a precisely specified period, while at the same time establishing strict control over the implementation of this resolution.
TsAMO USSR. F. 208. Op. 2524. D. 2. L. 554
ON THE EVACUATION OF THE POPULATION FROM THE FRONT STRIP
№ 0507
Military Councils of the armies
By order of the Military Council of the Western Front dated August 12, 1941, No. 017, a 5-kilometer combat zone was established, from the territory of which the entire civilian population is to be evicted. Despite the clarity and necessity of this event, many commanders and commissars of units and formations did not understand the essence of this order and allow the population to remain in the combat zone, which, in essence, contributes to the penetration of spies and saboteurs into the environment of the local population, the recruitment of spies from part of the local population hostile to the Soviet regime.
For example:
a) in the villages closest to the location of the 316 rifle division, during an enemy air raid, part of the population came out with white flags and banners;
b) in the area of 1077th [rifle] regiment, a spy was detained with fascist leaflets distributed among the population and units of the Red Army;
c) in the area of the 1306th [rifle] regiment, among the inhabitants of the [village] of Novo-Petrovskoye, a local resident Kuznetsov was exposed as a spy;
d) counter-revolutionary handwritten leaflets were found in the area of the 4th tank brigade and were scattered among the units of the Red Army.
All these facts once again indicate the need for a clear implementation of the order of the Western Front dated August 12 of this year No. 017.
I ORDER: 1. To be strictly guided in the eviction of the civilian population from the 5-kilometer zone of hostilities by order of the Military Council of the Western Front No. 017 of August 12, 1941.
2. All citizens who resist eviction should be arrested and handed over to the NKVD.
3. To implement this order, involve local authorities and employees of special departments of associations and units.
4. The control over the implementation of the measures noted in the order is entrusted to the members of the Military Councils and the heads of the political departments of the armies.
Report to me about the implementation of order No. 017 in regular political reports.
TsAMO USSR. F. 325. Op. 5045. D. 4. L. 1-2
FROM THE ORDER OF THE STAFF OF THE SUPREME HIGH COMMAND
№ 0428
<...>I ORDER: 1. Destroy and burn to the ground all settlements in the rear of the German troops at a distance of 40-60 km in depth from the front line and 20-30 km to the right and left of the roads.
To destroy settlements within the indicated radius, immediately drop aircraft, make extensive use of artillery and mortar fire, teams of scouts, skiers and trained sabotage groups equipped with Molotov cocktails, grenades and explosives.
<...>
3. In the event of a forced withdrawal of our units in one sector or another, take the Soviet population with them and be sure to destroy all settlements without exception so that the enemy cannot use them.
TsAMO USSR. F. 353. Op. 5864. D. 1. L. 27
REPORT OF THE MILITARY COMMISSIONER OF THE 53rd CAVALRY DIVISION
Member of the Military Council of the 16th Army
divisional commissioner LOBACHEV
In your letter No. 018, you indicate that we are not fulfilling the order of the Headquarters of the Supreme Command of the Red Army to destroy everything that can be used by the enemy, and that we are showing unnecessary and harmful liberalism in this matter.
I must note that before receiving the order from the Headquarters on this issue, we really showed liberalism and the enemy was left bread, housing, etc.
Now in parts of our division this is not the case. On November 19 and 20 alone, we burned down four settlements:
The ridge - only a few unburned houses remained, Mal[oe] Nikolskoye - completely, the village of Lesodolgorukovo and Denkhovo - the result of the fire is not yet known to me, but I personally observed how these settlements were engulfed in flames.
For this purpose, we create special groups of fighters who prepare in advance and destroy [buildings] immediately upon leaving this settlement by our troops.
Your instructions in the future will be carried out with even greater perseverance. For patrols, during raids on the enemy by separate detachments, this will be given as a special task in order to destroy everything that could [could] remain [for the enemy].
TsAMO USSR. F. 358. Op. 5914. D. 1. L. 13
REPORT ON THE PROGRESS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ORDER OF THE STATE NO. 0428 AS OF 25.11.41
№0324
| № pp |
Item names | By what means [destroyed] and the degree of destruction |
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 1. | GOROBOVO | Destroyed by artillery |
| 2. | ZAOVRAZHIE | --"-- |
| 3. | SHARAPOVKA | Burnt down by troops |
| 4. | VELKINO | --"-- |
| 5. | ELBOW | --"-- |
| 6. | Ignatievo | --"-- |
| 7. | Pos. them. KAGANOVICH | --"-- |
| 8. | SERGIEVO | --"-- |
| 9. | SPASSKOE | --"-- |
| 10. | ANASHKINO | --"-- |
| 11. | IVANEVO | --"-- |
| 12. | DYAKONOVO | --"-- |
| 13. | KAPANY | --"-- |
| 14. | HAMSTERS | --"-- |
| 15. | LYAHOHO | --"-- |
| 16. | BRYKINO | 5-6 houses left |
| 17. | YAKSHINO | Burnt down by troops |
| 18. | BOLDINO | Only stone buildings remain |
| 19. | YEREMINO | 7-8 houses left |
| 20. | KRYMSKOE and svh. DUBKI | Burnt down completely by the troops |
| 21. | NARO-OSANOVO | --"-- |
| 22. | Krivosheino | Partially burnt |
| 23. | ANALSHINO | --"-- |
| 24. | KOLYUBYAKINO | --"-- |
| 25. | TOMSHINO | --"-- |
| 26. | PICTURE | --"-- |
| 27. | MASEEVO | --"-- |
| 28. | KOZHINO | --"-- |
| 29. | MAXIHA | Partially burnt and destroyed |
| 30. | DUBROVKA | Partially burnt |
| 31. | SUKHAREVO | --"-- |
| 32. | MOLODEKOVO | --"-- |
| 33. | MAURINO | --"-- |
| 34. | State Farm GOLOVKOVO | --"-- |
| 35. | SKUGROVO | --"-- |
| 36. | LOOKING OUT | --"-- |
| 37. | TUCHKOVO | --"-- |
| 38. | MUKHINO | --"-- |
| 39. | MOUSE | --"-- |
| 40. | PETROVO | --"-- |
| 41. | TRUTEEVO | --"-- |
| 42. | MIKHAILOVSKOE | --"-- |
| 43. | LARGE SEEDS | Burnt down by troops |
| 44. | VASILEVSKOE | --"-- |
| 45. | GRIGOROVO | Partially burnt |
| 46. | HOTYAZHI | --"-- |
| 47. | APARINA MOUNTAIN | --"-- |
| 48. | BEREZHKI | --"-- |
| 49. | ULITINO | --"-- |
| 50. | POKROVSKOE | --"-- |
| 51. | KARINSKOE | --"-- |
| 52. | MOUTH | Partially burnt |
| 53. | KOLYUBAKOVO | --"-- |
In addition, 9 sabotage groups of 2-3 people were organized and sent to the rear of the enemy with the task of setting fire. Neither group has yet returned. The main means [of destruction] of these groups are bottles of KS and gasoline.
The bridges located on the MOZHAYSKY and MINSK highways from LYAKHOVO to KRUTITSA have been blown up.
Deputy chief of the operational department lieutenant colonel PEREVERTKIN TsAMO USSR. F. 326. Op. 5045. D. 1. L. 62-63
ORDER OF THE MILITARY COUNCIL OF THE WESTERN FRONT
ON THE ORGANIZATION OF DEFENSE IN SETTLEMENTS
№ 01126
The experience of past military operations shows that the troops of the front often left settlements without taking advantage of their positive properties for combat. Settlements, especially those with strong stone buildings and fences, in addition to camouflaging the troops, give them protection from bullets, shrapnel, tanks and armored vehicles of the enemy.
The commanders of formations and units, in a number of cases, not taking into account these properties and fearing "encirclement", did not take any measures to adapt settlements for stubborn battle and inflict the greatest damage on the enemy.
In the future, strongly demand from the personnel:
1. It is obligatory to use and adapt to the defense all settlements of operational or tactical importance as strongholds in the defense system.
2. Defended settlements are primarily adapted for anti-tank and anti-artillery defense<...>.
3. Barricade all streets adapted to the defense of the settlement, using local means and materials for barricades, regardless of damage <...>.
4. For the disposal of personnel and firing points in the defense, first of all, adapt strong stone buildings that allow longitudinal flanking fire<...>.
5. In the struggle for settlements, the role of the commander is especially responsible, as the organizer and head of defense, entrusted to the unit - part of the site or sector<...>.
6. Simultaneously with the adaptation of the settlement to the defense, draw up a plan and carry out preparatory measures for the destruction by destroying or burning all vital centers, buildings and stocks of food and materials in the event of a forced abandonment of the settlement.
TsAMO USSR. F. 326. Op. 5045. D4. L. 7-9
FROM A SPECIAL REPORT OF THE CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE 5th ARMY OF THE WESTERN FRONT
ON THE ACTIONS OF THE FLAME-THROWER UNIT
Head of the chemical troops of the Western Front
In addition, in a separate summary, I report the actual data on the work of the 26th company of the FOG, the firing shaft and the effectiveness of the bottles [KS] in the area of the 32nd [rifle] D[iviziya].<...>
The village of AKULOVO was burnt with bottles. CS has been used up. The arson was carried out by the fighters of the chemical platoon of the 17th [rifle] regiment, headed by the head of the chemical service, senior lieutenant EGOROV, and the commander of the department, comrade. KVASHIN.
<...>bottles burned 27 houses.
<...>
TsAMO USSR. F. 326. Op. 5045. D. 1. L. 101-102
REPORT OF THE HEAD OF THE MOZHAYSKY SECTOR OF THE NKVD
ON THE DESTRUCTION OF SETTLEMENTS IN THE REAR OF THE ENEMY
Member of the Military Council of the Western Front
comrade Bulganin
In accordance with your instructions for the destruction of settlements occupied by the enemy, the Mozhaisk sector [NKVD] did the following:
The sabotage groups of the NKVD, transferred over the front line, were set on fire: ROGATINO, ZABOLOTE, USATKOVO, ARKHANGELSKOYE, VOLCHENKI, KOVRIGINO, GORBOVO.
Agent groups of the sector set fire to: KRIVO-SHEINO, NOVAYA DEREVNYA, KHAUSTOVO, OGARKOVO and PAVLOVKA.
In addition, in the rear of the enemy, agents destroyed in the Smolensk region: in the village of RED LUCH, a school where the Germans were stationed, and near the city of KOZELSK, the former hostel of a glass factory, where the Germans were also housed.
The agents sent by us to destroy DOROHOVO, VEREY and some other points have not yet returned, and therefore the results of this task are unknown.
TsAMO USSR. F. 208. Op. 2524. D. 18. L. 88
What is a scorched earth policy?
A scorched earth policy is a military strategy that targets anything that could be of use to the enemy in passing or leaving an area. In particular, all assets that are used or can be used by the enemy are aimed at objects such as food sources, transportation, communications, industrial resources, and even people in the area.
This strategy can be used by the military in enemy territory or even on their own soil. It can overlap, but it is not the same as punitive destruction of enemy resources, which is done for purely strategic/political reasons and not for strategic/operational reasons.
Notable historical examples of scorched earth tactics include the strategy of the Russian army during Napoleon's failed invasion of Russia, William Tecumseh Sherman's March at sea during the American Civil War, Lord Kitchener's action against the Boers, the initial Soviet retreat under Joseph Stalin during the German army's invasion of The Soviet Union in World War II, and the subsequent retreat of Nazi Germany on the Eastern Front.
The strategy of destroying the food and water supply of the civilian population in the conflict zone was prohibited, in accordance with Article 54 of the First Protocol of the 1977 Geneva Conventions. The relevant passage says:
It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render unusable objects essential for the survival of the civilian population, such as food supplies, agricultural areas producing food, crops, livestock, drinking water facilities, and irrigation facilities, in order to prevent their use by civilians. the population or the enemy side, regardless of the motive, whether it be to starve the civilian population, force them to leave, or for any other reason.
Scorched earth tactics in ancient times
The Scythians used scorched earth techniques against the Persian king Darius the Great during his European Scythian campaign. The Scythians, who were nomadic pastoralists, retreated deep into the steppes, destroying food supplies and poisoning wells. Many of Darius' soldiers died from starvation or dehydration.
The Greek general Xenophon wrote in his book "Anabasis" that the Armenians burned their crops and food before they left, in connection with the advance of the ten thousandth army of the Greek hoplites.
The Greek mercenary general Memnon suggested to the Persian satraps that they use scorched earth tactics against Alexander as he marched into Asia Minor. As a result, Alexander retreated.
Roman scorched earth strategy
The system of punitive destruction of property and subjugation of people during a military campaign was known as vastatio. Two of the first recorded uses of the scorched earth tactic occurred during the Gallic Wars. The first time this tactic was used by the Celtic Helvetians due to the invasion of unfriendly Germanic tribes. They were forced to leave their homes in southern Germany and Switzerland. To add incentive to leave their lands, the Helvetii destroyed everything they could not take with them. After they were defeated by the Roman Gallic army, the Helvetii were forced to rebuild the destroyed German and Swiss plains, which they themselves had destroyed.
The second case demonstrates actual military value: during the Great Gallic War, the Gauls under Vercingetoric planned to lure the Roman armies into Gaul and then catch and destroy them. To this end, they ravaged the countryside of the Low Countries and France. This, indeed, created enormous problems for the Romans, but the Roman military triumphs over the Gallic alliance showed that this alone was not enough to save Gaul from Roman enslavement.
During the Second Punic War in 218-202. BC, the Carthaginians selectively used this method during their passage through Italy. After the end of the Third Punic War in 146 BC. the Roman Senate also decided to use this method to finally destroy the Carthaginian capital of Carthage (near present-day Tunisia). Buildings were demolished, stones were scattered, so that not even rubble remained, and fields were burned. However, the story that they soaked the earth with salt is apocryphal.
In 363 AD Emperor Julian's invasion of Sasanian Persia was interrupted by the use of scorched earth tactics:
The vast region located between the Tigris River and the Median Mountains... was in a very advanced state of cultivation. Julian might have expected that a conqueror who wields two formidable tools of persuasion, steel and gold, could easily secure a rich existence out of the fear or greed of the local population. But, with the approach of the Romans, the rich and smiling prospect instantly vanished. Wherever they went...there was no cattle; grass and ripe grain were destroyed by fire; and as soon as the flames which had interrupted Julian's march had subsided, he saw the melancholy face of the smoking and naked desert. This desperate but effective method of defense can only be used by the enthusiasm of people who prefer the independence of their property; or the strictness of a headstrong ruler who takes public safety into account without giving the people freedom of choice.
The use of "scorched earth tactics" in the Middle Ages
Tactics of medieval battles
The British monk Gildas, in his sixth-century treatise On the Ruins of Britain, wrote of an earlier invasion "Because the fire of vengeance... spread from sea to sea... and did not stop until it had destroyed the neighboring cities and lands, and reached the other side of the island ".
During the great Viking invasion of England against Alfred the Great and other Saxon and Welsh rulers, the Viking leader Hastein, in the late summer of 893, sent his men to Chester to occupy the ruined Roman stronghold. The fortified fortress was supposed to be an excellent base for raiding northern Mercia, but it was attested that the Mercians took drastic measures to destroy all crops and livestock in the surrounding villages in order to wipe out the Danes. As a result, the invaders left Chester the following year for Wales.
Conquest of northern England
During the Invasion of the North campaign, William the Conqueror's decision to stop the rebellion in 1069 was a brutal conquest and subjugation of Northern England. Wilhelm's men burned entire villages from the Humber to Tees and killed all the inhabitants. Food stores and livestock were destroyed, so that any survivors of the massacre were soon forced to starve through the winter. The destruction is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry. The survivors were forced to resort to cannibalism. A message has been preserved that, since the skulls of the dead were broken and opened, their brains could be eaten. About 100 - 150 thousand people died, and it took centuries for the lands to recover from the damage.
Military tactics in the late Middle Ages
During the Hundred Years' War, both the British and the French carried out chevauchée raids into enemy territory to destroy infrastructure.
Robert I the Bruce advised using these operational methods to hold off the forces of King Edward of England when the English invaded Scotland, according to an anonymous 14th-century poem:
In 1336, the defenders of Pilėnai in Lithuania set fire to the castle and committed mass suicide to make it more costly for the attacking Teutonic Order to win.
This strategy was widely used in the Romanian principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia. Prince Mircea I of Wallachia used it against the Ottomans in 1395, and Prince Stefan III of Moldavia burned the land in his country when the Ottoman army advanced in 1475 and 1476.
"Level to the ground" is the deliberate, partial or total, destruction of fortifications without resistance. Sometimes, such as during the Wars of Scottish Independence and during the English Civil War, the goal was to render a structure unusable for further use. In England in the Middle Ages, adultery castles were usually destroyed if captured by the king. During the Wars of Scottish Independence, Robert I the Bruce adopted a strategy of destroying Scottish castles to prevent them from being occupied by the British. The strategy of destroying the castles in Palestine was used by the Mamluks in the wars with the crusaders.
Use of "scorched earth" tactics in the early modern era
Further British use of scorched earth in warfare was seen in the 16th century in Ireland, where it was used by English commanders such as Walter Devereux and Richard Bingham.
The Desmond uprisings are a famous example of the use of tactics in Ireland. Much of the province of Münster was devastated. The poet Edmund Spenser left a report on this:
At the end of these wars in Münster; despite the fact that this land had the richest and most fertile country, full of cereals and cattle, that you would think that this country would stand for a long time, but in just a year and a half, it was reduced to such wretchedness that the stone heart looked would be the same. From every corner of the forest and ravines crawled people on their hands, for their legs could no longer carry them; they looked like the anatomy of death, they spoke like ghosts, weeping over their graves; they ate rotten meat, happy that they could find it, yes, and soon each other, and every corpse they could scrape out of the graves; and if they found a patch of watercress or sour, they flocked from everywhere as if for a feast, yet unable to continue it for long; so that in a small space almost no one was left, and, once the most densely populated and rich country, was suddenly left without a man or beast.
In 1630, Field Marshal General Torquato Conti commanded the Imperial forces during the Thirty Years' War. Forced to retreat from the advancing Swedish army of King Gustavus Adolphus, Conti ordered his troops to burn down houses, destroy villages and, in general, cause as much damage as possible to property and people. His actions are remembered as follows:
In order to take revenge on the Duke of Pomerania, the imperial general allowed his troops, after his retreat, to exercise all sorts of barbarism on the unfortunate inhabitants of Pomerania, who were already suffering, but suffered even more from his greed. Under the pretext of depriving the Swedes of resources, the whole country was devastated and plundered; and often, when the imperialists could no longer maintain a place, they burned it to the ground to leave only ruins to the enemy.
During the Great Northern War, Russia burned the land in the path of the Swedish troops of King Charles XII.
Romanian-Ottoman Wars
In 1462, a massive Ottoman army led by Sultan Mehmed II entered Wallachia. Vlad Tepes retreated to Transylvania. During the retreat, he carried out a scorched-earth tactic to repel the advance of Sultan Mehmed II. As the Ottoman troops approached Tirgovist, they encountered over 20,000 impaled soldiers of Vlad Tepes, from whom a "forest" of the dead or dying was created. This brutal, agonizing sight caused Sultan Mehmed II to withdraw from the fight and instead send Rada, Vlad's brother, to fight Vlad the Impaler.
Great Siege of Malta
In early 1565, Master Jean Parriot de Valette ordered the harvest of all crops in Malta, including unripe grain, to deprive the Ottomans of any local food supplies, as spies had warned of an impending Ottoman attack. In addition, the knights poisoned all the wells with bitter herbs and dead animals. The Ottomans arrived on May 18 of that year, and it was then that the Great Siege of Malta began. The Ottomans managed to capture one fort, but were eventually defeated by the Knights, the Maltese military and Spanish naval support.
Deccan Wars
Shivaji Maharaj introduced the scorched earth tactic known as Ganimi Kawa. His forces plundered the merchants and entrepreneurs of the Mongol Emperor Auganzeb and burned the cities, but at the same time, the soldiers were strictly ordered not to rape or harm innocent civilians, nor to commit any disrespectful act towards any religious societies.
Shivaji's son, Sambhaji Maharaj, was hated by the entire Mongol Empire for his scorched earth tactics until he and his men were captured by Mukarrab Khan and his Mongol army of 25,000. On March 11, 1689, a group of Kadi Mongols indicted and sentenced Sambhaji to death for condoning random torture, arson, looting and massacre of imperial subjects, but most notably for providing shelter to Sultan Muhammad Akbar, the fourth son of Aurangzeb, who asked for Sambhaji's help, in order to win the Mongol throne from his father, the emperor. Despite all this, Sambhaji was condemned for the three days of devastation committed after the Battle of Burhanpur.
In 1747, the Marathas, led by Raggoji I Bhonsle, began raiding, plundering and annexing territories in Odisha that belonged to the Mongol Empire, and the Nawab of Bengal, Alivardi Khan. The Maratha cavalry numbered 40,000 horsemen, who sacked the city of Midnapore and burned the granaries and villages.
Military "scorched earth" tactics at the turn of the 19th century
Napoleonic Wars
During 1810, during the (third) Napoleonic invasion of Portugal, the Portuguese population retreated towards Lisbon, ordering the destruction of all food supplies that the French could capture, forage and shelter in a wide belt throughout the country. (Despite the fact that effective methods of food preservation had been invented recently, they were still not suitable for military use because a suitable strong container had not yet been invented.) The order was carried out due to French robbery and general mistreatment. with civilians in previous incursions. Poor, indignant people would rather destroy everything they could not take with them, if only not to leave anything to the French.
After Bussaco, Massena's army went to Coimbra, where most of the city's old university and library were destroyed, houses and furniture were destroyed, and a few civilians who did not seek refuge in the south were killed. Although there were instances of this behavior by British soldiers, given that Portugal was their ally, such crimes were usually investigated and those found guilty were punished. The sack of Coimbra made the population even more determined in the process of destroying property, and when the French troops reached the Torres Vedra line on their way to Lisbon, the French soldiers reported that the country "seemed empty before them". When Massena reached the city of Viseu, wanting to replenish the food supplies of his armies, not a single inhabitant remained in the city. The only foodstuffs were grapes and lemons, which, if eaten in large quantities, become a laxative rather than a source of calories. Low morale, hunger, disease, and indiscipline left the French army of Portugal much weaker and forced to retreat the following spring. This method was later recommended to Russia when Napoleon made his move.
In 1812, Tsar Alexander I was able to render Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of Russia futile by using a scorched earth method similar to that used by the Portuguese. As the Russian troops retreated from the advancing French army, they burned the countryside (and presumably Moscow) through which they passed, leaving nothing of value for the pursuing French army. Faced with a desolate and useless land, Napoleon's Grand Army was unable to use the familiar teaching on how to live outside the lands it had conquered. Relentlessly advancing despite dwindling numbers of soldiers, the Grand Army met with disaster as the invasion continued. Napoleon's army arrived in a largely abandoned Moscow, which was a tormented, starving shell of its former form, thanks in large part to the use of scorched-earth tactics during the Russian retreat. In fact, having captured nothing, Napoleon's troops retreated, and again the scorched earth policy took effect, because, despite the fact that some large food depots were installed on the advance, the route between them was burned out and had already been used once, so the French the army was starving as it passed the depleted invasion route for the second time. Unfortunately, the consequences of this policy for the civilian population in the areas in which it was applied were equally, if not more, devastating than for the Grand Army.
South American War of Independence
In August 1812, the Argentine General Manuel Belgrano led the "Jujuy Withdrawal", a mass forced movement of people from the current provinces of Jujuy and Salta to the south. The "Jujuy withdrawal" was set in motion by the patriotic forces of the army of the North, which fought against the royal army.
Belgrano, faced with the prospect of total defeat and loss of territory, ordered all men to pack their essentials, including food and furniture, and follow him, in wagons or on foot, along with cattle and animals that might endure the journey. The rest (houses, crops, food supplies, and any iron items) were to be burned to deprive the loyalists of resources, following a strict scorched-earth tactic. On July 29, 1812, Belgrano asked the people of Jujuy to "show their heroism" and join the retreat of the army under his command "if, as you say, you want to be free". The punishment for ignoring the order was death and destruction of property. Belgrano worked to win the support of the population, and then reported that most of the people willingly followed him without the need to use force.
The withdrawal began on 23 August and gathered men from Jujuy and Salta; people walked south for about 250 km, and finally arrived on the banks of the Pasaji River, in the province of Tucuman, on the morning of August 29th. The Patriots adopted a scorched earth policy and the Spaniards invaded the wasteland. Belgrano's army destroyed everything that could provide shelter or be useful to the royalists.
Philippine–American War
U.S. attacks on the Philippine countryside often included scorched earth campaigns where entire villages were burned and destroyed, torture (drinking torture) was used, and civilians were congregated in "protected areas". Many civilian deaths were the result of disease and starvation.
While pursuing guerrilla general Emilio Aguinaldo, American troops also poisoned wells to try and drive out the Filipino rebels.
American Civil War
In the American Civil War, union forces under Sheridan and Sherman used this tactic extensively. General Sherman used it during his March to the Sea. In another Civil War event, the following occurred: in response to Quantril's raid on Lawrence, Kansas, and numerous civilian casualties, U.S. Army General Order No. 11 (1863) ordered the near total evacuation of three and a half counties in western Missouri. , south of Kansas City, which were subsequently looted and burned by US Army troops. The Allied commander who issued General Order No. 11 was Brigadier General Thomas Ewing Jr., Sherman's brother-in-law. Under the overall leadership of Sherman, General Sheridan followed this policy in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and later during the Indian Wars on the Great Plains.
When General Grant's forces broke through Richmond's defenses, Jefferson Davis ordered the destruction of all military installations in Richmond; much was destroyed in the fire—mostly commercial buildings and some southern warships docked in the James River. The civilian population in panic was forced to flee the fires started by the Confederates.
Indian Wars
During the Indian Wars of the American West, under the leadership of James Carlton, Kit Carson used a scorched-earth policy, burning the fields and homes of the Navajos and stealing or killing their livestock. He was assisted by other Indian tribes with whom the Navajo had been at enmity for a long time, mainly the Ute tribes. The Navajo were forced to surrender due to the destruction of their livestock and food. In the spring of 1864, 8,000 Navajo men, women and children were forced to walk the 300 miles to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. The Navajo call this path the Long Walk. Many died along the way or during the next four years of their internment.
A military expedition, commanded by US Colonel Ranald S. McKenzie, was sent to the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma, a territory in the Panhandle in 1874, to move Indians to reservations in Oklahoma. The Mackenzie expedition captured about 1200 Indian horses, took them to the Tula Canyon and shot them. Left without their main source of livelihood and demoralized, the Comanche and Kiowa fled the area (see Palo Duro Canyon).
Boer War
Lord Kitchener implemented a scorched earth policy at the end of the Second Boer War (1899-1902). The Boers, refusing to accept military defeat, adopted the modern form of what we know today as guerrilla warfare, despite the capture of their two capitals. As a result, the British ordered the destruction of civilian farms and homes in order to prevent food and supplies being provided to the military Boers. An eloquent description of these events comes from an army officer of the time. This destruction left women and children with no means of survival as crops and livestock were also destroyed.
The existence of the concentration camps was revealed by Emily Hobhouse, who visited many camps and began petitioning the British government to change its policy. In an attempt to counter Hobhouse's activism, the British called in the Fawcett Commission, which confirmed Hobhouse's findings. Later, the British perceived the concentration camps as a humanitarian measure taken to care for the displaced until the end of the war, in response to reports by Hobhouse and Fawcett. Negligence on the part of the British, lack of planning, supplies and overcrowding led to a large number of casualties. Ten years after the war, P. L. Goldman officially determined that an astonishingly large number of Boers died in concentration camps - 27,927 people: 26,251 women and children (of which more than 22,000 were under 16 years old), 1,676 people over 16 years old , of which 1421 were elderly.
Other examples of the use of "scorched earth" tactics
In 1868, the Tuoe tribe sheltered the Maori leader Te Kuti, and because of this they were subjected to a scorched earth policy, as a result of which their crops and buildings were destroyed, and people capable of holding weapons were captured.
Examples of the use of "scorched earth" tactics in the 20th century
World War I
In World War I, the imperial troops of the Russian army created a destruction zone using a wide-ranging scorched earth strategy during their retreat from the German army in the summer/autumn of 1915. The Russian troops, retreating more than 600 miles to the front, destroyed everything that could be useful to their enemy, including crops, houses, railways and entire cities. They also forcibly displaced huge numbers of people. By pushing the Russians back to their homeland, the German army received a large amount of territory from the Russian Empire (in the area that is today Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia and Lithuania).
On February 24, 1917, the German army used a scorched earth tactic during a strategic withdrawal from the battlefield of the Somme to the prepared fortifications of the Hindenburg Line, thus shortening the front line they had to occupy. Due to the fact that the scorched earth campaign requires that the war be fought on the move, during the First World War, in general, there were few opportunities for using this tactic, since the fighting, in this protracted war, took place in the same territories. .
Greco-Turkish War (1919-22)
During the Greco-Turkish War (1919-22), the retreating Greek army used a scorched-earth tactic in the final phase of the war, withdrawing from Anatolia. The historian of the Middle East, Sidney Nettleton Fisher, wrote that: "During the retreat, the Greek army used a scorched-earth tactic, and also carried out every possible outrage against the defenseless Turkish inhabitants who met on its way." Norman M. Naimark noted that "the Greek retreat was even more devastating to the local population than the occupation."
Second Sino-Japanese War
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Imperial Japanese Army used a scorched-earth tactic known as the "Three All" policy. The use of Japan's scorched earth policy has been documented to have caused massive damage to the environment and infrastructure. In addition, it contributed to the complete destruction of entire villages and the partial destruction of entire cities, such as Chongqing or Nanjing.
The Chinese National Revolutionary Army destroyed the dams in an attempt to flood the land to slow down the advance of the Japanese soldiers, further adding to the environmental impact. This policy led to the Huang He flood in 1938.
The Second World War
When Germany attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, many regional governments took the initiative to implement a "partial" scorched earth policy to deprive the invaders of electrical, telecommunications, railroad and industrial resources. Parts of the telegraph network were destroyed, some rail and road bridges were blown up, most electrical generators were sabotaged by the removal of key components, and many mines were destroyed. These actions were repeated later, in the war between the German troops of the Army Group North and the army group of Erich von Manstein "Don", which, during several military operations, stole crops, destroyed farms and settlements no less than a city in size and less. The rationale behind the annihilations was that these armies would slowly harass the Soviet forces, forcing them to rescue their own citizens. In Manstein's post-war memoirs, the policy was justified as a means of preventing the Soviets from stealing food and shelter from their own civilians. The most notorious victims of the German scorched earth policy were the people of the historic city of Novgorod, which was destroyed in the winter of 1944 to protect the retreat of Army Group North from Leningrad.
At the end of World War II, Finland, which had signed a separate peace with the Allies, had to evict German troops who were fighting against the Soviets along with Finnish troops in the northern part of the country. Finnish troops led by General Hjalmar Siilasvuo attacked aggressively in August 1944, landing at Tornio. This hastened the German retreat, and by November 1944 the Germans had abandoned most of northern Finland. The German forces, forced to retreat due to the general strategic situation, covered their retreat towards Norway, destroying large areas of northern Finland using a scorched earth strategy. More than a third of the dwellings in the area were destroyed, and the provincial capital of Rovaniemi was burned to the ground. All but two bridges in the province of Lapland were blown up and roads mined. In northern Norway, where at the same time the Soviets invaded in pursuit of the retreating German army in 1944, the Germans also used a scorched earth tactic, destroying every building that could offer shelter and thus creating a "scorched earth" belt. between themselves and allies.
In 1945, Adolf Hitler ordered his armaments minister, Albert Speer, to implement a nationwide scorched earth policy, which became known as the Nero Plan. Speer, who looked to the future, actively resisted the order, just as he had previously refused Hitler's order to destroy French industry when the Wehrmacht was expelled from France, and managed to continue to do so even after Hitler learned of his actions.
During World War II, the railway plow was used in Germany, Czechoslovakia and other countries to prevent enemy use of the railways by partially destroying them in the process of retreat.
Malayan State of Emergency
Britain was the first country to use herbicides and defoliants (mainly Agent Orange) to destroy the crops and bushes of communist insurgents in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency in the 1950s. The aim was to prevent the rebels from using them as cover to ambush a passing convoy of British troops and to destroy the ability of the peasants to provide support to the rebels.
Indian annexation of Goa
In response to the Indian invasion of the 451-year-old Portuguese colony of Goa in December 1961, during the annexation of the Portuguese India, the President of Portugal called for a scorched earth policy - Goa was to be destroyed before it was handed over to India.
However, despite an order from Lisbon, Governor-General Manuel Antonio Vassalo y Silva took stock of the numerical superiority of the Indian forces, as well as the food and ammunition supplies available to his troops, and decided to surrender. He later described the order to destroy Goa as "um sacrifício inútil" (a useless sacrifice).
Vietnam War
The US used Agent Orange as part of its herbicide warfare program during the Vietnam War, Operation Ranch Hand, whose goal was to destroy crops and foliage in order to detect possible enemy hideouts. Agent Blue was used in the rice fields to eliminate Viet Cong food stocks.
Gulf War
During the Gulf War in 1990, when Iraqi forces were expelled from Kuwait, they set fire to oil wells as they retreated. Possible reasons for this are discussed in more detail in the article on the Kuwaiti oil fires. These fires were caused by the Iraqi military, which set fire to more than 600 oil wells as part of a scorched earth policy during their retreat from Kuwait in 1991, after invading the country, but they were subsequently forced to leave the country due to coalition military forces ( see Gulf War). The fires began in January-February 1991, and the last one was extinguished by November of that year.
The political regime of Ríos Montt
Efrain Ríos Montt used this method in the Guatemalan highlands in 1981-1982, although the scorched-earth tactic was first used under the previous president, Romeo Lucas Garcia. Upon taking office, Ríos Montt implemented a new counterinsurgency strategy calling for the use of scorched earth tactics to combat the uprising of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity, known as Plan Victoria 82 or, more commonly, nicknamed the pacification strategy of the local population. - Fusiles y Frijoles (Bullets and beans). The policies of Ríos Montt led to the deaths of thousands (most of them were native Mayans).
Indonesian National Revolution
The Indonesian military and pro-Indonesian militias used this method in their Timor-Leste scorched earth campaign, around the time of the 1999 East Timorese independence referendum. Prior to this, during the Indonesian National Revolution, various cities and strategic locations in Indonesia were also subjected to this tactic in order to prevent the Allied forces (especially the British) and then the Dutch forces from using the same strategy. Notably, in 1946, the Indonesian military and militias burned the West Java town of Bandung to the ground for the same purpose.
Use of scorched earth tactics in modern history
Darfur conflict in Sudan
The Sudanese government has used a scorched earth strategy as a military strategy in Darfur.
Civil War in Sri Lanka
During the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009, the United Nations Regional Information Center (UNRIC) accused the Sri Lankan government of using scorched earth tactics.
Libyan civil war
During the Libyan Civil War in 2011, forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi deployed a large number of landmines in the oil port of Brega to prevent the port facilities from being used as the rebel forces advanced. In addition, Libyan rebel forces practiced a scorched earth policy where they completely destroyed and refused to rebuild critical infrastructure in cities formerly loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, such as Sirte and Tawarga.
Syrian civil war
During the Syrian civil war, forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad located in northern Syria burned large areas of trees and forests that were used as cover by Free Syrian Army fighters who hid among the trees when not taking part in the fighting. Forests were mostly burned in the northern regions of the provinces of Aleppo, Idlib and Latakia, with the fires occasionally spreading across the border into Turkey. The first time the forests were burned deliberately, but as soon as Assad's loyalists moved out of these areas, they used artillery fire to burn the forests. It is said that it takes about 80 years to completely restore the environment from the damage done.
On the night of November 27-28, 1941, in the village of Petrishchevo, a fighter of the Soviet sabotage and reconnaissance group of Arthur Sprogis - Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, set fire to a peasant residential building where German soldiers and a stable were located .. She was captured by local peasants and handed over to the Germans, who her then hung up..
ORDER OF THE STATE OF THE SUPREME HIGH COMMAND No. 0428
Moscow city.
The experience of the last month of the war showed that the German army was poorly adapted to war in winter conditions, did not have warm clothes and, experiencing enormous difficulties from the onset of frost, huddled in the front line in populated areas. The enemy, arrogant to the point of insolence, was going to spend the winter in the warm houses of Moscow and Leningrad, but this was prevented by the actions of our troops. On vast sectors of the front, the German troops, having met stubborn resistance from our units, were forced to go on the defensive and deployed in settlements along the roads for 2.0 - 30 km on both sides. German soldiers live, as a rule, in cities, towns, villages, in peasant huts, sheds, rigs, baths near the front, and the headquarters of the German units are located in larger settlements and cities, hiding in basements, using them as shelter from our aircraft and artillery.
To deprive the German army of the opportunity to deploy in villages and cities, drive the German invaders out of all settlements into the cold in the field, smoke them out of all premises and warm shelters and make them freeze in the open air - such is an urgent task, the solution of which largely depends on the acceleration of the defeat of the enemy and the disintegration of his army.
The Headquarters of the Supreme High Command ORDERS:
1. Destroy and burn to the ground all settlements in the rear of the German troops at a distance of 40-60 km in depth from the front line and 20-30 km to the right and left of the roads. To destroy settlements within the indicated radius of action, immediately drop aircraft, make extensive use of artillery and mortar fire, teams of scouts, skiers and partisan sabotage groups equipped with Molotov cocktails, grenades and explosives.
2. In each regiment, create teams of hunters of 20-30 people each to blow up and burn settlements in which enemy troops are stationed. To select the most courageous and politically and morally strong fighters, commanders and political workers in the hunting teams, carefully explaining to them the tasks and significance of this event for the defeat of the German army. Outstanding daredevils for courageous actions to destroy the settlements in which the German troops are located, to present to the government award.
3. In the event of a forced withdrawal of our units in one sector or another, take the Soviet population with them and be sure to destroy all settlements without exception so that the enemy cannot use them. First of all, for this purpose, use the teams of hunters allocated in the regiments.
4. The Military Councils of the fronts and individual armies systematically check how the tasks for the destruction of settlements in the radius indicated above from the front line are being carried out. Headquarters every 3 days to report in a separate summary how many and which settlements have been destroyed over the past days and by what means these results have been achieved.
Headquarters of the Supreme High Command
I. STALIN
Scorched earth tactics- complete large-scale destruction of any industrial, agricultural, civilian facilities during the retreat, so that they do not go to the enemy.Story
The term "scorched earth" applies only to combat operations, during which retreating troops destroy objects of paramount importance to the enemy. In this case, the population of the other side can be exterminated, as the retreating German troops and their allies did during the Second World War.
One of the largest and most famous cases of the use of "scorched earth" tactics is Operation Ranch Hand, which was carried out by the US Army during the Vietnam War to destroy the jungle in Laos and South Vietnam.
Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions of 1977 prohibits the destruction of supplies and sources of food and drinking water for the civilian population in the course of hostilities.
Cases of the use of "scorched earth" tactics are still noted.
Among the countries that have not yet ratified Protocol I are the USA, Israel, Iran, Pakistan.
see also
Write a review on the article "Scorched Earth Tactics"
Notes
An excerpt characterizing the Scorched Earth Tactics
“Dirty,” said Prince Andrei, grimacing.We'll clean it up for you. - And Timokhin, not yet dressed, ran to clean.
The prince wants.
- Which? Our prince? - voices began to speak, and everyone hurried so that Prince Andrei managed to calm them down. He thought it better to pour himself in the barn.
“Meat, body, chair a canon [cannon fodder]! - he thought, looking at his naked body, and shuddering not so much from the cold, but from disgust and horror, incomprehensible to him, at the sight of this huge number of bodies rinsing in a dirty pond.
On August 7, Prince Bagration wrote the following in his camp at Mikhailovka on the Smolensk road:
“Dear sir, Count Alexei Andreevich.
(He wrote to Arakcheev, but he knew that his letter would be read by the sovereign, and therefore, as far as he was capable of doing so, he considered his every word.)
I think that the Minister has already reported on leaving Smolensk to the enemy. It hurts, sadly, and the whole army is in despair that the most important place was abandoned in vain. I, for my part, asked him personally in the most convincing way, and finally wrote; but nothing agreed with him. I swear to you on my honor that Napoleon was in such a bag as never before, and he could lose half the army, but not take Smolensk. Our troops have fought and are fighting like never before. I held on with 15,000 for over 35 hours and beat them; but he did not want to stay even 14 hours. It's a shame and a stain on our army; and he himself, it seems to me, should not live in the world. If he conveys that the loss is great, it is not true; maybe about 4 thousand, no more, but not even that. At least ten, how to be, war! But the enemy lost the abyss ...
What was it worth to stay two more days? At least they would have left; for they had no water to drink for men and horses. He gave me his word that he would not retreat, but suddenly sent a disposition that he was leaving into the night. Thus, it is impossible to fight, and we can soon bring the enemy to Moscow ...
Rumor has it that you think about the world. To reconcile, God forbid! After all the donations and after such extravagant retreats, make up your mind: you will turn the whole of Russia against you, and each of us, out of shame, will make him wear a uniform. If it has already gone like this, we must fight while Russia can and while people are on their feet ...
You have to lead one, not two. Your minister may be good in the ministry; but the general is not only bad, but trashy, and he was given the fate of our entire Fatherland ... I, really, go crazy with annoyance; Forgive me for writing boldly. It can be seen that he does not love the sovereign and wishes the death of all of us who advise to make peace and command the army to the minister. So, I am writing you the truth: prepare the militia. For the minister in the most skillful way leads the guest to the capital. Adjutant Wolzogen is giving the whole army a big suspicion. He, they say, is more Napoleonic than ours, and he advises everything to the minister. I am not only courteous against him, but I obey like a corporal, although older than him. It hurts; but, loving my benefactor and sovereign, I obey. It’s only a pity for the sovereign that he entrusts such a glorious army. Imagine that with our retreat we lost people from fatigue and more than 15 thousand in hospitals; and if they had attacked, it would not have happened. Say for God's sake that our Russia - our mother - will say that we are so afraid and why we give such a good and zealous Fatherland to bastards and instill hatred and shame in every subject. What to be afraid of and who to be afraid of?. It's not my fault that the minister is indecisive, a coward, stupid, slow and everything has bad qualities. The whole army is crying completely and scolding him to death ... "
Soviet scorched earth tactics include many aspects: military, economic, demographic, and many others. In "The Dissolution of Eastern European Jewry" I touched only briefly on the subject of the demographic changes of Eastern European Jews. Here I want to focus on the economic side of the Second World War.
The German-Soviet non-aggression treaty of August 23, 1939 provided for the following territorial redistribution: Estonia and Latvia were transferred to the Soviet sphere of interests, and Lithuania fell into the German one./1 After the defeat of Poland, the Soviet government immediately began to put strong pressure on Germany to revise the treaty . In order to keep the peace, Hitler agreed to a second treaty, the so-called friendship and border treaty of September 28, 1939, Germany gave up its interests in most of Lithuania in exchange for the area between the Vistula and the Bug with a population of about 3.5 million people, including more than 300,000 Jews./2 This zone was occupied by the Soviets for a very short time, but the Red Army destroyed almost the entire agricultural system, taking livestock and agricultural equipment before retreating. As a result, the Germans had to bring food in large quantities to prevent starvation in this agricultural area. / 3 This episode was supposed to be a lesson for Germany, but, unfortunately, it did not.
While Germany was participating in the Western Campaign from May 10 to June 24, 1940, the Soviet Union occupied almost all of Lithuania between June 16 and 22 after the June 15 ultimatum - that is, including even the territory that was supposed to remain within the German borders. areas of interest according to the contract. This occupation is not only a gross violation of two Soviet-German treaties, but also of the Soviet-Lithuanian mutual assistance treaty (October 10, 1939). The German government was not notified of this action./4 Northern Bukovina, one of the areas of Romania that was outside the Soviet interests agreed upon in the treaty, was similarly appropriated by the Soviets, although in this case the Soviets pressed Germany to give their "consent "in the ultimatum period of 24 hours before the start of the occupation. I mention these events only because they demonstrate the determination with which the USSR destroyed the German strategic advantage while acquiring their own. They also show that Germany had no definite military goals with regard to the Soviet Union, because otherwise it is impossible to imagine that she would have to put up with the Soviet usurpation of the strategically priceless Lithuanian route to Leningrad and Moscow.
Scorched earth
Faced with a massive build-up of Soviet military power along the border, and alerted by new Soviet demands for unrealistic territorial concessions in Europe, Germany attacked the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. The Soviets immediately began to kill German prisoners of war immediately after being captured or after a short interrogation. Even seriously wounded soldiers were not spared. Ample evidence exists to this effect at the West German Research Institute of Military History (Militaergeschichtliche Forschungsamt), which is known for its not at all pro-German bias, it estimates the percentage of captured German soldiers who died in Soviet captivity in 1941-1942 at 90-95 percent. / 5A Within a few days of the outbreak of hostilities, the Central Committee issued an order in the Kremlin that the troops should leave only scorched earth to the enemy. All valuable property was ordered to be destroyed, regardless of the needs of the remaining civilian population. For this, specially created detachments for the destruction of property were used. The aforementioned military research institute commented: “From the very beginning of the war, Stalin and the leadership of the Soviet Union showed through these measures how much they were worried about this armed conflict with Germany, which for them was of a completely different character than just a “European war”. / 5 B
The measures taken by the Soviet Union in the period from 1940 to 1942 are aimed not only at further developing the Soviet war economy, but also at hurting the Germans, even at the cost of huge losses among Soviet citizens. The Soviet scorched earth strategy included the deportation of millions of men, women and children; relocation of thousands of factories; destruction of almost all railway rolling stock; the destruction of most of the agricultural machinery, livestock and grain stocks; systematic destruction, burning and undermining of immovable infrastructure, stocks of all kinds, factory buildings, mines, residential areas, public buildings, government archives, and even cultural monuments; deliberate starvation among the civilian population who remained in the occupied territories. This policy shamelessly used the civilian population as a pawn. This policy is confirmed by so many sources that there can be no different opinions. It is strange that this topic has not yet been covered in the scientific literature. So far, this scorched earth policy has not been explored to the extent it deserves.
Long before the outbreak of the German-Soviet conflict, Stalin began to prepare for a future war in Europe, developing heavy industry in the Urals and Western Siberia, starting with the first five-year plan in 1928. His plans were long term. In the early 1930s, he had already announced his intention to overtake the most industrialized countries no later than June 1941 - the year when, according to numerous testimonies and statements by Soviet leaders, including Stalin's son, the Red Army will hit Germany in late summer./7 With the help of thousands of engineers and experts from Europe and North America, the core of the Soviet military industry was created in the region where Europe meets Asia. Millions of Soviet citizens were ruthlessly sacrificed in the quest to achieve military superiority of the USSR over Germany. The Ural industrial region was covered by an extensive network of power lines. In 1940, it was a rather sparsely populated area with only four percent of the Soviet population and produced 4 billion kWh of electricity, but the existing capacity was soon greatly enhanced./8 In other words, on a per capita basis, the electric capacity in the Ural region became four times more. In preparation for the coming conflict, munitions factories were built all along the southern Urals and western Siberia. The railway network in this once sparsely populated area was greatly expanded by the start of the war./9
As soon as the Germans crossed the border, the Soviet Union set about implementing an economic mobilization plan. This plan also included the possibility that the enemy could occupy large areas of the country - as happened during the First World War. For this reason, detailed plans were made for where the dismantled plants were to be transported, and sequential instructions were made to destroy what could not be transported. The relationships between individual plants and their dependence on each other were also carefully considered./10 A carefully implemented plan included the dismantling and evacuation of equipment and people 8-10 days before the retreat of the Red Army from the territory where the plant or factory was located, then 24 hours were allotted for the destruction of the remaining valuable property with the help of special detachments. If necessary, the Soviet troops put up fierce resistance in order to provide sufficient time for the performance of their tasks by special detachments for the destruction of property.
Enterprises almost always moved towards the Ural industrial region, in particular to the area of Sverdlovsk, Molotov, Ufa, Chkalov, and Magnitogorsk. This is a region where plants and factories were built a few years before the war and where dismantled and transported enterprises from the western regions of the Soviet Union began their work again./11
In just the first three months after the start of the war, more than 1,360 large industrial enterprises were moved to their new locations. Due to tight control, the evacuated enterprises began to work again in an incredibly short time: only three to four weeks passed before large factories and enterprises again began to provide the Red Army with products. Workers had to work 12-14 hours a day, seven days a week. Within three to four months, Soviet production again reached pre-war levels./12
The Soviet feat was only possible because millions of skilled workers, managers, engineers and specialists were brought to these areas along with their factories. As early as February 1940, German intelligence agents were reporting systematic deportations of Polish, Ukrainian and Jewish populations from Western Ukraine./13 In June 1940, up to one million Jewish refugees from German-occupied Poland, as well as many hundreds of thousands of Poles, were deported to Siberia. Then, in the weeks leading up to June 22, 1941, mass deportations of the civilian population took place along the entire border with Germany, Hungary and Romania. The Soviets, informed by spies, Allied intelligence, and German traitors, lost no time in deporting those civilians most needed in the Ural industrial region./14
Soviet historians admitted several years ago that the Soviet Union had plans to rebuild the entire railway system long before the war for military purposes in a very short time. The goal was to prevent the Germans from getting hold of strategically important equipment. The Soviet success in this endeavor was almost complete: despite the huge number of railway cars, locomotives, and special equipment, transport in the border areas, intended for the deployment of troops in preparation for an attack on Europe, most of the rolling stock was withdrawn before the Germans struck his lightning strike on June 22, 1941. During the first five weeks, when the German troops pushed the Soviet troops inland, only 577 locomotives, 270 passenger cars and 21,947 railway freight wagons fell to the Germans. In percentage terms, this amounted to only 2.3. 0.8 and 2.5 percent of the total./15
During the first few months of the war, one million railroad cars loaded with industrial equipment, raw materials, and people withdrew from the front line./16 I will not go into the specifics of the scope of the Soviet civilian deportation program. This is what I did in detail in "The Dissolution". Suffice it to note here that before the war, more than 90 million people lived in the areas conquered by Germany during the Second World War. The Soviets deported about 25-30 million of them. They concentrated their efforts on the deportation of individual groups. A large percentage of the deportees were from cities located in Ukraine or Belarus, especially if they were located closer to the western border./17
The scorched earth policy was extremely well prepared by the Soviets. An extensive armaments program was launched 13 years before 1941, long before Adolf Hitler was a real contender for the leadership of Germany. Significant investments have been made in rather sparsely populated and underdeveloped areas in order to develop its transport networks, power plants and heavy industry. However, there was a particular lack of social infrastructure, such as housing and hospitals, to provide for the millions of civilians who were deported here between 1940 and 1941. As a result, 15-20 million civilians died from epidemics, starvation, overwork, lack of shelter, lack of clothing and the harsh Siberian winter.
The collapse of the economy in the occupied eastern territories
The picture for the advancing German troops was extremely unfavorable. The railroad system is destroyed. There was no rolling stock. Water pipes and power plants were destroyed. In order to organize the production of raw materials and petroleum products, the Germans created the so-called economic headquarters "Vostok".
The Soviet scorched earth strategy very quickly forced the economic headquarters to intensify work on the production of any type of product. Even the production of consumer goods was included in the program, because the industry in the occupied territories was unable to resume production after the almost complete destruction and dismantling by the Soviets and the deportation of most of the management personnel and technicians.
Electricity production amounted to 2.57 million kW in the occupied territories - about one-fourth of all pre-war Soviet production in these territories - less than one-eighth (300,000 kW) remained intact. Soviet destruction efforts were so meticulous that by the end of March 1943, production had been increased to no more than 630,000 kW, which was still only a quarter of the pre-war level. /18 (See Table 1.)
However, differences across regions were significant. In the Reichskommissariat (RK) Ostland (the Baltic states and Belarus), about half of the original capacity of 270,000 kW survived, and by the end of March 1943 almost 90 percent of the pre-war capacity had been returned to service. But in Ukraine, only 7 percent (145,000 kW) of electricity, with a capacity of 2.2 million kW, was still functioning. The thoroughness of the efforts of the Bolsheviks is evidenced by the fact that by the end of March 1943, it was possible to return to operation capacities of no more than 350,000 kW. This is only 16 percent of pre-war capacities. In practice, even these capacities rarely worked at full capacity due to the guerrilla threat and the almost complete lack of coal supplies. It is obvious that industrial production has been dealt a mortal blow. As already mentioned, electricity production before the war amounted to 10 billion kW / h annually in the occupied eastern territories. The German administration succeeded in generating only 750 million kWh of electricity from the time of the occupation until the end of 1942. For 1943, it was planned to increase them to 1.4 billion kW / h - which was still 86 percent below the pre-war level - which was never reached, since only 1 billion kW. hours were actually produced./19 It is significant that the planned increase in production and extraction of products for 1943 was realized only in isolated cases. Actual production of basic raw materials or energy supplies fell far short of the stated targets, despite the increased focus on retooling the economy.
The consequences of the planned destruction of industrial production by the Soviet army are shown in Table 2.
The main productions of coal, iron ore, steel, electricity, cement and other important ones were almost completely destroyed. Compared to pre-war levels, coal production averaged 2.4%, iron ore production 1.2%, steel production was non-existent, electricity production was 8.8%, and cement production was 11.6%!
Another indication of the deplorable state of the economy in the territory of occupied Russia was the amount of labor. In 1940, Soviet specialists and workers numbered 31.2 million./20 At the end of 1942, employment in industry (excluding the food industry) was only 750,000 people. If only employment in industrial enterprises is considered, i.e. excluding handicrafts, the number of employees was only 600,000 (Table 3)
Six hundred thousand in an area where 75 million lived before the war is impossible! Even if we add an unknown number of people employed in the food industry, it is clear that industrial employment under the German administration was equivalent to one-tenth of the pre-war level. Worst of all, the productivity of this labor force was well below the pre-war norm. It is noteworthy that in the Baltic countries (the largest of which, Lithuania, had very little industry), only 8 percent of the population remained from the pre-war level, they nevertheless made up a quarter of the entire industrial workforce under German administration.
The Soviet deportations of skilled personnel led to such forced measures as the "posting" of about 10,000 civilian specialists from the Reich in order to overcome the severe shortage of personnel. / 21 Based on the available statistics, it can be argued that the Soviets deported at least 70 percent of workers before the German occupation. This means that the number of workers employed under the German administration (generally less skilled than the deported workers) was between 2 and 3 million. Not more than a million people were employed in production, despite the huge need for workers, unemployment reached enormous proportions (50-70 percent) in the midst of gigantic demand for literally any kind of product.
According to Soviet data, before the start of the war, in the areas occupied by the Germans by November 1941, 63% of coal, 68% of iron, 58% of steel, 60% of aluminum, 38% of grain and 84% of sugar were produced from all production in the Soviet Union. / 22 The documents of the German economic headquarters "Vostok" show, in fact, very similar figures. The Soviets, through aid, fires, destruction, sabotage and deportation of workers and population, made it impossible to use these industrial capacities. Instead of increasing German military and economic power, these areas became a huge burden and added cost to the German economy.
Hunger
The following secret report of the German Economic Headquarters for the period October 1-10, 1941, describes the situation:
Some food has been found... it appears that virtually all supplies and raw materials have either been systematically removed from these areas or rendered unusable. Thus, raw materials are still found in small quantities, slightly easing the needs of the Reich .... Raw materials have not been supplied to factories for some time now. / 23
The same situation is in the case of food, especially grains. Reading the same report:
Our experience shows that the Russians systematically remove or destroy all food supplies. The urban population of the conquered cities would thus have to be fed by the Wehrmacht or starve. Obviously, by forcing us to provide additional food for the population, the Soviet leadership intends to aggravate the already difficult situation with the food of the German Reich. As a matter of fact, the current food situation allows us to feed the Russian population from our own stocks only if we reduce the supply to the army or reduce the rations of our own population./24
At the very beginning of the war, all efforts to destroy property were carried out in the agricultural sector and were timed to coincide with the destruction of machine and tractor stations. As a rule, these stations were found empty or with equipment unusable. At first, the number of cattle remained untouched. But over the following weeks, things took a turn for the worse. As the German army moved from west to east, there was practically no livestock, no grain, no fuel. The Luftwaffe and POWs reported that the Soviets were harvesting crops from the fields before retreating. After the occupation of Ukraine, it became obvious that the food situation would be getting worse. In many cases, even the seeds needed for sowing were distributed to help starving Ukrainians. This, in turn, further reduced the area under crops. It is estimated that 43 million tons of grain were produced in the occupied eastern territories under Soviet rule in 1940. Under the German administration, it was possible to harvest in 1941 about 13 million tons. One reason was that the German offensive in Russia was most rapid in the northern and central sectors, thus giving the Soviets time to destroy or evacuate much of the harvest in Ukraine. In 1942, even less was harvested, only 11.7 million tons. According to Dallin, the German administration succeeded in sowing about three-quarters of the pre-war acreage. Fertilizer was virtually non-existent, and yields per acre were lower in 1942 than in previous years. Compared to an average yield per hectare of approximately 2,200 pounds (14 bushels/acre) in Ukraine in the late 1930s, the Germans managed to produce only 1,500 pounds (10 bushels/acre). : The use of seed grain to alleviate the difficult food situation in the cities, the growing guerrilla threat and the shortage of workers and equipment greatly reduced the yield.
German specialists were too dispersed to effectively ensure the supply of agricultural products. Of course, the Germans periodically tried to "comb" the area in order to find the accumulated supplies, but their efforts were not crowned with much success. In retreat, the Red Army also destroyed the entire agricultural distribution system, and the German administration was forced to create its own - not an easy task, given the wartime conditions. Not only too little time and difficult conditions did not allow to organize the distribution more successfully, but also the actions of the Bolsheviks who were putting up resistance in the occupied territories. All these difficulties arose not because of the "German mentality" or "German politics", which - contrary to the propaganda of the Soviets and the Allies, was aimed at finding an understanding with the liberated Slavic peoples.
Far from the ruthlessness that allegedly characterizes the German occupation of Russia, it is worth saying that the Germans had never before encountered the inhuman concept of total war applied by the USSR. Even the Jewish historian Alexander Dallin admits: "The Soviet harvest was, in practice, much more efficient (italics added) than the German one. As a result, German peasants were often able to keep larger stocks than before the war. In all likelihood, hidden stocks remained quite significant. .."/26
Between 1941 and 1943, fifteen thousand railway wagons with agricultural equipment and machinery were sent from Germany to the occupied eastern territories under the so-called Ostackerprogramm ("Eastern Agricultural Program"). It included 7,000 thousand tractors, 20,000 thousand generators, 250,000 thousand steel plows, and 3,000,000 million scythes. In addition, thousands of bulls, cows, pigs, and stallions were sent to these areas for breeding purposes. Available statistics indicate that German agricultural assistance between July 1941 and 1943 amounted to 445 million RM (Reichsmark) "/27
The pre-war Soviet harvest in 1940 amounted to 82 million tons of grain, of which about 30% was allocated for seeds and fodder purposes. Theoretically, the population of the USSR thus had access to 57 million tons, or slightly less than 800 grams per day per person. In practice, of course, this amount was less, since part of this amount was reserved in anticipation of the coming war with Germany./28 Of the thirteen million tons under the German administration in 1941, only 9 million tons were left for the indigenous population. Of this amount, 2 million tons were taken by the German troops. The amount requisitioned by the German army was indeed quite moderate. This is also evidenced by the fact that the Red Army used only 31.4 million tons of grain in 1940, the last year of peace! While another 350,000 tons were transferred to Germany to provide for their civilian population./29 About 7 million tons remained for the population of the occupied territories.
On a per capita basis, this amounted to less than 400 grams per day (less than one pound) - two times lower than in 1940. Meat and fats were rarely available. But this average figure does not reflect the full picture. On the one hand, we noted that the yields were probably much higher than the German statistics show. This means that at least the rural population, which was in the majority, ate much better than the urban population. Also, many city dwellers were able to obtain food from peasants illegally, as it is difficult to control the black market. In this way, the cities received food from the peasants, which the German authorities were unable to trace, on the other hand, transport is often an insurmountable problem, so that even the minimum supply of food arrived in the cities either late or there was not enough for everyone. In addition, the guerrillas destroyed or confiscated large portions of the harvested grain. Finally, the German authorities often tried to give additional rations to factory workers. Of course, this was possible only at the expense of the rest of the population. The fact that the German authorities were unable to succeed in obtaining special rations for workers in important industries or for those engaged in heavy manual labor shows how serious the situation was./30 Those urban dwellers who were unemployed or had no property to trade the peasants were really in trouble: famine was their fate.
The desperate situation with food in the cities is shown by regular secret reports of the East Economic Headquarters sent to Berlin:
November 11, 1941: Lack of food and lack of even the most necessary consumer goods are the main reason why the morale of the Russian and Ukrainian population is becoming more and more depressed... Kyiv has not received any grain since its occupation on September 19, 1941. .. The guerrillas steal food from the civilian population at night. Food supplies are also burned by the partisans. Especially great difficulties exist in the area of Army Group South, where it is impossible to feed all the prisoners of war because of their huge numbers.... The authorities are constantly trying to find enough food for the prisoners, although even buckwheat porridge is available only in limited quantities.... We are very concerned our ability to feed the urban population in the south. /31
December 8, 1941: The food situation in the city of Kharkov is extremely critical. There is practically no food for the population. There is almost no bread. /32
January 22, 1942: The regular distribution of food to the urban civilian population in the "South" zone is limited more and more, and the situation will not change for the foreseeable future. /33
February 23, 1942: Food supplies for the civilian population of large cities are so small as to cause serious concern. /33
March 1, 1942: The mood of the population is low due to food problems .... In the densely populated Donetsk region, there is not enough food for the entire population. As a result, several thousand people died of starvation. In some cases, even highly qualified specialists and teachers were among the victims. /33
March 5, 1942: The food situation continues to be very serious and some cities are actually starving. In Pushkin, it was discovered that there was a sale of human flesh, passing it off as pork./33
March 16, 1942 (report of the commander of the military rear Central regions): in large cities (food situation) continues to be unsatisfactory, and in Kharkov it is catastrophic. Over time, all this becomes more and more difficult to feed the urban population... /33
June 3, 1942: The food situation in the cities is getting worse and worse, because part of the food stocks collected for the population and sowing are destroyed by the partisans. /33
The constant efforts of the German authorities to ensure a sufficient supply of food for the civilian population were discounted by horrendously poor harvests, disastrous transportation, guerrilla attacks, destruction of food supplies by the Soviets, and the inability to conduct regular exchanges of goods between major cities and the countryside. While the food supply of the rural population and small towns was relatively sufficient, the civilian population from large cities and millions of prisoners were starving. Thus, the German reputation suffered for the actions of the Soviets.
German economic recovery efforts
Equipment worth one billion RM was imported from the Reich for the mining, energy and manufacturing industries in the occupied territories. To this must be added the significant costs for the transport sector, as well as for road construction equipment, which is estimated at more than one billion Reichsmarks. After deliveries of a significant amount of coal, which was used as fuel for civilian rail freight transport, German assistance for the reconstruction of industry and infrastructure amounted to over 2.5 billion RM./34 This amount does not include agricultural assistance in the amount of about half a billion Reichsmarks. The scale of German assistance in the civilian sector can be better appreciated if one realizes that the total volume of industrial production in these areas from the beginning of the occupation until the end of 1943 amounted to approximately 5 billion RM. (This figure includes finished products, repairs, etc.) / 35 Although the exact figure is unknown, it can be assumed that the total assistance amounted to just over 2 billion RM. / 36 In other words, the amount of German economic assistance (except for agriculture) was more than than the value of all industrial output during the occupation! The annual output per employee was RM 1,000 per year. For comparison: in Germany, a worker produced products worth 4,000 RM in 1936./37
Most of the production was absorbed by the German occupation army. Thus, the Soviet scorched earth strategy reduced the supply of consumer goods for its own population of about 50 million to negligible levels. The production of consumer goods was practically zero, because the destruction and evacuation of all industrial enterprises and raw materials, the deportation of personnel by the Soviets, as well as the impossibility of quickly correcting the situation, thanks to the actions of the partisans. Thus, the urban population could offer nothing to the peasants in exchange for their products. And since the peasant was not able to buy anything with the money he received, he did not want to part with his products, and the exchange was disrupted.
German economic assistance to the occupied Soviet territories amounted to approximately one percent of Germany's gross national product of those years./38 Even today, this figure is more than the assistance of industrialized countries to developing countries. West Germany, for example, has been helping about half a percent of GNP since 1960, a period of relative prosperity and low defense spending.
Indeed, the economic assistance of about 3 billion RM (including in the industrial and agricultural sector) to the occupied eastern territories is also equivalent to one fourth of the total gross capital investments in Germany in 1942 and 1943 (12 billion RM)./39
A comparison of traffic volumes between the Reich and the occupied eastern territories provides additional information.
If we take only the tonnage, then the Reich received about 20 percent more cargo from the eastern territories than from Germany to the East. Considering also about 2 million tons of grain delivered in 1943, /40 the exchange for Germany was more profitable at first glance. However, deliveries from the Eastern Territories were mainly various raw materials and raw ore of rather low value in terms of money, while products from Germany were of very high value and quality (with the exception of coal for railway transport). Since the finished product is worth much more than the various raw materials, on the other hand, this exchange was much more profitable for the occupied eastern territories, although, of course, the scarcity of available data does not allow us to make calculations over a longer period, even within a large error. The Eastern Territories delivered agricultural products worth 1.6 billion Reichsmarks./41 The cost of supplies of German cars, tractors, generators, equipment of all kinds for industry and agriculture amounted to approximately 3 billion Reichsmarks. From this sum we must subtract the supplies of raw materials and ore produced during the period of occupation, as well as the various services rendered to the German army. It is not known what values should be used for these calculations. However, in view of the very small amount of raw materials and the extremely low level of industrial production, this figure should be about 25 percent of the relatively small amount of 2 billion dollars.
Thus, the occupied eastern territories, as such, gave practically nothing in economic terms in the struggle against Bolshevism. In fact, they received incredibly generous rebuilding assistance. This assistance was hardly made out of purely altruistic motives. However, this was a unique period in the history of relations between the occupying power and the conquered territories of the country. It would be wrong to attribute the German economic collapse in the eastern territories to the efforts of the Soviets alone. All the factors mentioned here are undoubtedly very important. However, there is another, no less important aspect. When Germany launched a preemptive strike against the USSR, it did so with an almost complete absence of data on the real Soviet military power, the size of Soviet weapons production and on the preparation of the USSR for total war. Worse, Germany was completely unprepared to overcome rough terrain, had no plans to manage the economy in the occupied territories, which could not work on its own, as it depended on directives and decrees from Moscow, since enterprises could not show private initiative, from where all administrative, managerial and technical personnel were deported. These additional problems made it impossible to establish an economy in the eastern territories. Chaos brought hunger, and starvation brought guerrilla support.
Thus various aid measures such as the Ostackerprogramm and the gigantic investment in agriculture in the occupied eastern territories were indeed doomed to failure because they did not address the cause of the problem.
Article Soviet Scorched-Earth Warfare: Facts And Consequences by Walter N. Sanning. Published with minor edits
Soviet men and women carry their modest possessions from burning houses on the outskirts of Leningrad, October 21, 1941. The Soviet people used scorched earth tactics, setting their own houses on fire. (AP Photo)
