In the last days of March 1944, Soviet troops finally managed to oust Nazi Germany from the country. One of the most important issues requiring immediate solution was the restoration of the USSR border, which was destroyed during the war.
Organizational measures
The Defense Committee immediately decided to create the Border Guard Directorate and its subordinate units. To protect the western border, divided into ten districts, covering the territory from the Black Sea to Murmansk, 34 border detachments were formed, including 50 thousand personnel. At the time of the creation of the new structure, the NKVD border troops were to guard the western border. Thus began the restoration of the border of the USSR. The start date for the restoration measures, announced by the government, is April 8, 1944.
As the Fatherland was cleansed of the invading forces, measures were taken to restore the border. By the end of the year, the protection of its western section was fully established, and the coastal territories of the Black and Baltic Seas, the borders with Hungary, Poland, Norway, Romania, Finland, Czechoslovakia were reliably taken under control. An important role was played by strengthening the protection of ships recalled from the Black Sea troops. Together with the engineers of the General Staff of the army, border guards laid more than 800 km of the control strip, installed almost 200 km of barriers and more than 900 observation posts. The restoration of the border of the USSR was completed. The year 1944 passed in the works on its revival and strengthening of defense capability.
Changing the Soviet-Polish and Ukrainian borders
In April 1945, after the signing of a friendly treaty with Poland, the USSR border guard was given the additional task of developing measures to protect a new section of the border with Poland. In June, according to the results of an agreement jointly signed with Czechoslovakia on the annexation of Western Ukraine to Soviet Ukraine, a newly created site was included in the territories controlled by Soviet border guards. In August 1945, by decision of the two countries, the border with Poland was adjusted, and the city of Grodno became part of the USSR. Over the next two years, comprehensive measures were taken to determine the borders of the entire Soviet-Polish sector.
Joining Koenigsberg
At the Potsdam Conference of the Heads of Allied States (Russia, Great Britain, and the USA) held in July 1945, an agreement was reached on the transfer of Koenigsberg (today's Kaliningrad) and the surrounding area (Kaliningrad Oblast) to the Soviet Union. The NKVD immediately orders the border guards to take the newly acquired territory under their protection.
Adjustment of the Soviet-Finnish border
In February 1947, as a result of the signing of the Soviet-Finnish peace treaty, the border that existed at the beginning of 1941 was determined jointly. According to the requirements of representatives of the USSR, Finland gave us Pecheneg and for the sum of 700 million Finnish marks sold the area of the Paatso-Yoki River, including water intake facilities and a hydroelectric power station.
Over the next few years, there was repeated demarcation of the western part of the USSR border, the exact shape of which took shape only by the end of the 50s. Upon completion in mid-1953, a reorganization of the border troops was carried out.
Community engagement
One of the first tasks for security agencies was the restoration of the USSR border and the protection of its integrity, which fully affected the lives of residents of the border regions. Participation in its defense was actively introduced into the life of the population. The status of border security entities was acquired by public organizations, institutions, and even ordinary citizens. At the same time, special bodies were actively developing to protect the integrity of the USSR. The main actions of the state in this area were aimed at eliminating the sources of security threats.
The restoration of the USSR border and its protection were entrusted in addition to the created border detachments to assistance teams formed in the west and north-west of the country. In Ukraine alone, more than 200 brigades were created with a total number of nearly 2.5 thousand people.
Fight against gangs
For a long time after the displacement of Hitler’s troops from the territory of the country, the border zone still remained a frontal zone and saboteurs were periodically thrown into it. The actions of a large number of adherents of Nazi Germany who remained here greatly complicated the situation. A well-structured network has been formed and gone underground, managed by the leadership of Nazi Germany. The armed gangs equipped with information were actively fighting the Soviet regime. The security organs of the USSR carried out large-scale operations to eliminate them, and for this reason some of them sought to break out of Soviet territory. There are frequent cases of the reverse breakthrough of armed groups, as well as the abandonment of certain agents by Romania, Poland and Hungary.
The restoration of the western border of the USSR and the work to destroy armed nationalist formations in the territories of western Ukraine, western Belarus and the Baltic republics were extremely intense. The management of military activities was given to the state security organs. It will be worthwhile to note that in some individual cases, neighboring states, for example, Poland, allowed to pursue gangs that covered themselves with the slogan of the national liberation struggle in their border territories. As a result of a complex of local, as well as large-scale reconnaissance and military operations, by the end of 1945, about 250 gangs were destroyed. The total number of captured (more than 17,000) and exterminated (about 10,000) nationalists exceeded 27,000.
The remnants of large gangs went underground, and the entire period from 1946 to 1951, the main task of the Soviet state security agencies was the elimination of small groups controlled from abroad. Gradually, having lost ties with the foreign leadership and support of the local population, the remnants of these formations were completely defeated.
In total, the restoration of the state border of the USSR and measures to strengthen its integrity in the north and north-west of the country by destroying the gangs hiding behind the slogan of the national liberation movement, stretched until 1953 and claimed many lives both on one side and the other .