Crime 19/03/20 Operation “Masquerade”: how beetles saved Odessa from bandits
In the early summer of 1946 he came to Odessa Marshal Zhukov. For him the appointment of commander of the district was equivalent to the link. Odessa remembers Marshall. Still everybody is talking about how bugs fought with the Odessa crime.
In June 1946, an investigation was initiated “trophy case” Georgy Zhukov. Marshall was accused that he, using the power and their connections, brought from Germany a lot of values. Zhukov was removed from the post of Commander of the land forces and was appointed Commander of the Odessa district.
the Climate of postwar Odessa, by definition Isaiah Bondarev, who worked at the time the military commander, reminded the “second NEP”, a life focused on bringing where everything was, but not for all. Food prices were very high. It is therefore not surprising that at night Odessa was shaking from looting.
the Situation with crime in the city was critical, therefore, measures (primarily administrative) required extraordinary. In other words, “on parole” with the bandits Marshal to negotiate did not want to. Zhukov launched operation “Masquerade”. For catching criminals officers dressed in civilian clothes and used the technique of “catching on live bait”, on the site of cracking down on bandits.
Zhukov was first and foremost a military man, and accustomed to act decisively, so the popular rumor that he attributed to the merits of the Odessa criminal investigation in the fight against post-war banditry. Supposedly Zhukov personal orders almost gave the right to shoot any suspicious person on the spot. Such order, however, is not in any files. And it could not be.
the Disgraced Marshal in a letter to Stalin himself wrote: “At a meeting of the Supreme military Council, I gave You my word in the shortest possible time to eliminate my mistakes, and I have his word fulfilled. RAbot in the area and with great desire. Please, comrade Stalin, to give me full confidence I will justify Your trust”.
it is Doubtful that after such a letter Zhukov ordered to carry out “cleansing” the population of Odessa on the mere suspicion of involvement in criminal gangs. Did the operatives of Odessa in accordance with the criminal code.
there were, of course, and “excesses on the ground”, but they were because the police came the people with front-line experience, during the arrest of gangster groups, they did not reflect, and act, shoot to kill. Isai Bondarev remembered that the military helped the law enforcement authorities of Odessa in the searches, arrests, escorting. It was in order.
However, it is without the influence of Zhukov is still not done. After the war, the city began returning veterans. Many of them, those who went to war straight from school, was not a family nor a civil profession. People with difficulty returning to civilian life, hence the abuse of power, understanding “the right weapons and chase”. It is important that these processes occurred not only in Odessa, but it was the events that took place in the Odessa military district have attracted the most attention.
Affected by the activity of the local population. Seeing the lawlessness, the Odessans were not silent even on the ballot they requested to clean up and deal with the criminal element and those who, under the guise of epaulets and military experience, does not allow the city to sleep.
the influence of the military by and large determines the role of Zhukov in Odessa. He was able to take control of the situation, to establish cooperation between military and law enforcement. His word meant a lot.
Effective service of Zhukov to the Odessa military district, but was unable to completely “whitewash”. January 20, 1948 the Politburo also accused the Marshal in the assignment of the captured values. There was a decision about sending Zhukov in the Ural military district.
However, Zhukov was in 1970x Honored worker of the interior Ministry. It is believed that for the Odessa operation, dubbed “Masquerade” the Minister of internal Affairs Shchelokov and awarded Georgy.
Russian Seven
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