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The story of Submarine S13 and of her captain, Capt (Third Class)
Alexander Marinesko is one which rivals in interest with that of the actual
sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff and General Steuben. In fact, given new
information which recently came to light, it could well become the subject
of a feature all its own. And quite a captivating one at that!
One of the best books published on the subject is "The Cruelest Night" by authors Christopher Dobson, John Miller and Ronald Payne. In addition to giving a vivid description of the final hours of the Gustloff, it contains a good and detailed coverage on Capt Marinesko and submarine S13. A substantial amount of information contained in this feature was either obtained from this book or, as in many cases, confirmed by it. However, in light of this new information which I have received, some of the statements made in the book are now subject to re-evaluation or at the very least, amplification. These points will now be discussed at some length.
An ace submariner ends up in the Gulag.
How could an ace submarine captain, a recipient of the Order of Lenin and
of the Order of the Red Banner medals end up doing time at one of the worst
camps in Siberia one might ask? From all accounts, such a feat was quite
easily achieved during the reign of Soviet leader Stalin. When I first read
about Captain Marinesko's problems with the NKVD (KGB) in early January
1945 as described in "The cruelest night", I had some difficulty to understand
why, if the information obtained by the NKVD was accurate, Captain Marinesko
had been freed to carry on with his patrols. While reference was made to
Captain Marinesko's possible involvement with agents from a foreign power
during the period in question, no details of such action was provided in
the book. The details are provided below for the first time.
In their book, the authors state:
"At the end of 1944, the S 13 lay at the docks in the "Smolny" base at Turku, Finland's oldest city. The boat had been provisioned and fuelled. The submarine and her crew were ready. Unfortunately, Marinesko was not. He had been on a monumental bender which had lasted three days... He did not return to his boat and, as a result, the naval patrols began looking for him. It was not until January 3rd, after being dried out in a sauna, that he returned to the base.
While searching for Capt Marinesko, the authorities had feared the commander had defected or become a spy. But his immediate superior was sure there was no treachery behind Captain Marinesko's behaviour and, at that point, needing capable men to carry out Stalin's command to "use the submarine fleet to its full potential" decided to reprimand his wayward ace and get the S 13 to sea as quickly as possible."
Unfortunately, the NKVD was not of that opinion and they recommended he
be court martialled or at the very least, that he be returned, under escort,
to the Naval Headquarters in Kronstadt.
The NKVD may have had some well-founded reasons to at least suspect
Marinesko's possible intentions to cooperate with the ennemy.
The new information which follows will help clarify this point:
Of great significance here, it must be noted that, until December 31st,
1944, no remarks on discipline, reckless behaviour, misuse of alcohol
or of insubordination had been filed on Captain Marinesko for over 10
years of dedicated service in the USSR's Naval Force.
On the contrary - the man was known as a very able and reliable U-boat
Captain.
Is it likely, one might ask, that an officer with such a flawless record
would leave his ”ready-to-sail ship awaiting orders for immediate departure”
and slink off a heavily guarded port area and disappear to town in a former
enemy land for three days during a state-of- war? And all this just to
go on a drunken fling?
The only true answer to that is: NO - IT IS NOT LIKELY AT ALL.
The only explanation I can give, is that the Captain was made
an offer he could not resist
To better understand what transpired in the early part of 1945, I offer
the following information on persons and organisations involved.
The Swedish "T-Office
This Bureau of Investigation and Information (known as 'the T-Office") was established at the beginning of WW2. It was set up as a normal Import/Export firm with offices in Stockholm but it did not do any trading. The leader was a diplomat from the Swedish Embassy in Ankara, Mr af Petersčn. During the war the neutral capital Stockholm was a sort of Klondyke of information. Germans, English, Russians, all had their Embassy in Stockholm. The T-Office selected information from all for further process.
[ click for enlarged photograph ]
Carl Petersen, Head of the legendary C-Bureau
During the Red Army offensive in Estonia and Latvia in 1944 several
hundreds of boats of all kinds filled with refugees (German as well as
people from the Baltic countries) landed on the Swedish coast, especially
on the east coast of Gotland. In that process, many of them drowned in
stormy weather.
Very soon, Mr af Petersén recognized the contributions some of these refugees could bring the "T-Office" and some of the refugees were equipped with radio transmitters and boats and were sent back to Estonia. Their mission was to give an early warning to Sweden should the Soviet Force make any attempt to invade Sweden. The T-Office trained and equipped the new `Swedish agents' and assisted them to return to their home land.
In 1939 the Estonian and Latvian governments had deposited their countries' gold reserves in the Swedish National bank. In 1940 Sweden, as the first country in the world to do so, accepted that the three Baltic countries were republics of the USSR and handed over the gold reserves to Stalin.
As a side note, it must be stated that, by the end of 1949, the Soviet authorities had rounded up every one of the ”Swedish agents” and had sent them to the camps where they were interned or shot.
[ click for enlarged photograph ]
OSS agents with US embassy car in downtown Stockolm - Spring 1945
By 1944 af Petersén recruited a well known Mr Algot Niska
to the organisation.
After the war Stalin demanded that all refugees who had arrived to Sweden
from Estonia and Latvia shall be delivered to Soviet ships Stalin intended
to send to Sweden. About 3.000 people were handed over to those ships.
About the same time the T-Office was renamed to the ”Information
Bureau” (IB) and furnished with a new leader Mr Birger Hellmér.
By 1965 very little was known about the I.B.'s activities which were
then unveiled in the press and the IB was said to be closed forever..
Then, after the Baltic countries were liberated in 1991, their new governments
demanded the Swedish to refund the value of the gold reserves. In the
beginning the demand was refused but later accepted and paid by the Swedish.
By 1993 the families and relatives of those who had disappeared as Swedish
agents presented claims to the Swedish government for compensation as
those people had been in Swedish service. It was first denied but later
accepted.
During 1998 more news came out on the IB affairs and a former agent
offered to make testimonial and it was a demand for a parliamentary truth
commission was made.
Enter Mr. Algot Niska
Niska was a Finnish sea captain who fluently spoke German, Swedish and Russian.
During 1933 and until 1937, he was a sort of Robin Hood type engaged in
smuggling spirituous beverages into Sweden from ships in the Baltic Sea.
He was very popular among the people who lived in the Swedish and Finnish
archipelago and they assisted and protected him. He held press conferences
from the Grand Hotel in Stockholm and his picture often made the front pages
of Stockholm's newspapers.
In 1937, Niska convinced one of his friends then working at a department
in Helsinki to supply him with blank Finnish passports. Niska then left
Sweden and the smuggling trade and moved to Berlin to offer his services
to the Jewish people in Germany. Niska could cross any border and fool
any one and save lives and wealth for his new Jewish friends. The Gestapo
was always after Niska but Niska was always one step ahead and seemed
to be equipped with 9 lives. He operated in Germany for years much in
the same manner as Roul Wallenberg did in Budapest but in a smaller scale.
Niska, by his own account, had rescued 3,800 Jews with his Finnish passports.
One day Niska read in a Finnish paper that his friend who had supplied
his passports had been arrested by the Finnish police. At about the same
time, he suffered severely from stomach pains and that was the end of
it - he had to return to Finland. Half dead he arrived in Tallinn and
made his way over the Gulf of Finland in a leaking rowing boat.
He then turned himself at the nearest Finnish police station and said
” I am Algot Niska !”. The policemen laughed and said ”Yes
we see you are Niska .- so what”. Niska then went over to Sweden where
he was arrested and Mr af Petersén picked him up as a very
able man for his T-Office.
Per Olof Ekman, Niska and Marinesko
During Finland’s war with Russia, Mr Ekman was an officer in the Finnish Navy and responsible for the Finnish Radio station within German Kriegsmarine's large Radio station MNO Reval in Tallinn.
After the peace document was signed between Russia and Finland on 19 Sept. 1944, the Finnish Navy was going to assist Soviet U-boats with safe passage through the archipelago and with new Soviet bases in Helsinki, Ĺbo and Hangö.
[ click for enlarged photograph ]
Police Station in Tallin 1944
Clandestine radio in bread basket
Mr Ekman's radio group was then transferred to the Ĺbo Base, on September 25th 1944, on a Soviet vessel with the brigade leader Admiral Verchovsky. Only 10 Russian U-boats were then ready to depart from Kronstadt. Four of them arrived at the Ĺbo Base via Lavansaari on September 28th 1944.
Shortly after came an additional four U-boats; the L-3 (Konovalov), D-2 (Lindenbergh), Lembit, a midgetsub (Matijesevit) and the S-13 (Marinesko).
Than came the last 2 U-boats, SC 309 (Filov) and SC 307 (Kalinin) who where transfered to Hangö.
And to Ĺbo arrived the depot vessels Smolnyi and Poljarna Zwedzda.
Mr Ekman described the new situation as somewhat unusual,
living together in crowded quarters with formal enemies. He said that
language between Russian officers and men was most informal. But the discipline
was firm and he also noted there existed a noticeable difference in the
lifestyle enjoyed by officers and men. The food on officers table was
rich with nothing missing. The men's table on the other hand contained
mostly Stsji and Kasja mixed occasionally with American canned food. He
also noted they behaved most correctly in connection with the Finnish
people. However something was unpleasant, says Ekman. ”Those creatures
called Blatta dressed in brown - were found almost everywhere.” These
were the NKVD, I reccon.
How Ekman met Alexandr Marinesko
Following the peace treaty between Russia and Finland, Af Petersén
wasted no time to install Algot Niska in Ĺbo. Soon after Ekman
noticed that Niska and Marinesko shared the same table. No wonder - those
two persons had a lot in common. Ekman says that Marinesko admired Niska
and his life story but also stated that he, Ekman, had never been present
at the same table as those two.
Early in October 1944, the S-13 made course for the Danziger Bay. On
October 9th, the S-13 sighted the armoured German trawler s/s Siegfried
563 brt. In the attack, his torpedoes missed. He then surfaced and started
a duel with his 100 mm deck canon. Marinesko succeeded to hit the bridge
on Siegfried and cabled the victory to the base.
Of significance, after October 9th, nobody heard anything from S-13
over the radio until she turned up at Hangö base in December for refilling
of his torpedoes inventory. Just before Christmas 1944, the S-13 was escorted
by the Finnish Navy to Ĺbo to be moored alongside the depot vessel Smolnyi
to take on a supply of food water and diesel.
During the Christmas Season, Mr Ekman occasionally ran
into Algot Niska in Helsinki. On one such occasion, Algot
Niska mentioned a coming New Year's party to be held in Ĺbo with some
friends from Sweden and a Russian Naval officer. Ekman was invited but
unable to leave Helsinki at the time, he declined.
During a visit to the Swedish Club on January 5th, 1945, Ekman saw Niska
with a man who presented himself as Petersén. While Ekman was chatting
with Niska the other man (Petersén) asked Ekman if he knew of an officer
in Ĺbo named Marinesko. Ekman answered that he had not seen the fellow
in a month time and that he does not know him personally.
Thus, based on the above information, it is safe to assume that the
NKVD had also gathered that very same information and were privvy to it.
While it certainly cannot be stated without a doubt that Marinesko had
had any dealing of any sort with officers of the T-Office, the mere presumption
arrived at by the NKVD that he had had such dealing or even that he might
have entertained thoughts of such dealings was to be his doom.
Even if it was proven that Marinesko, had at one time during that fateful
period entertained thoughts of collaborating with foreign
powers, in most countries, that inever would have been considered a crime
as long as one does not go any further. But not in the USSR.
Lenin laws for instance never stipulates a maximum sentence as it does
in most countries but on the contrary, laws in USSR always stipulate the
minimum time to be served if found guilty of a crime. Also, in Soviet
laws, you find the same punishment for intentions to crime
against Rodina (Vaterland) as for a completed crime. No difference. In
1945, a person not only was certain to be shot if found to be working
as an agent for foreign power but also for simply considering or
merely thinking about doing so.
The NKVD surely found out about his connection with Niska and from that
moment Marinesco was a doomed man.
Not mentioned here but of some importance is the part the crew of S
13 played (or perhaps did not play) in the release of their captain. Indeed,
at great peril to their collective health, they had presented a signed
petition to the officer responsible for judging Marinesko's actions
demanding that their Captain be released and allowed to rejoin
the submarine. The crew of S13 must have thought very highly of their
commander as their action was very close to mutiny but they went along
with it. At this point, Capt Marinesko was ordered to proceed to Hango
and await further instructions. It was felt that by that time, a decision
would have been made as to whether he would be court marshalled or be
allowed to go on with his war patrols.
What saved his life I think and what made it possible for him to depart
with his U-boat from Finland was not so much the Admiral's nor the Navy's
intervention on his behalf , as the NKVD outranked them both. The NKVD
wanted, as always, to see how many more people were involved. The NKVD
waited a long time and, when they finaly were convinced no one else was
going to contact him - than he was sent on his way. But they kept the
file opened and Marinesko was to meet his fate shortly after the war ended.
How this came about will be described later.
His Trial After The War
Coming soon...
His Sentence
Coming soon...
Release from the Gulag
Coming soon...
His Re-Habilitation
Coming soon...
One of the best books published on the subject is "The Cruelest Night" by authors Christopher Dobson, John Miller and Ronald Payne. In addition to giving a vivid description of the final hours of the Gustloff, it contains a good and detailed coverage on Capt Marinesko and submarine S13. A substantial amount of information contained in this feature was either obtained from this book or, as in many cases, confirmed by it. However, in light of this new information which I have received, some of the statements made in the book are now subject to re-evaluation or at the very least, amplification. These points will now be discussed at some length.
An ace submariner ends up in the Gulag.
How could an ace submarine captain, a recipient of the Order of Lenin and of the Order of the Red Banner medals end up doing time at one of the worst camps in Siberia one might ask? From all accounts, such a feat was quite easily achieved during the reign of Soviet leader Stalin. When I first read about Captain Marinesko's problems with the NKVD (KGB) in early January 1945 as described in "The cruelest night", I had some difficulty to understand why, if the information obtained by the NKVD was accurate, Captain Marinesko had been freed to carry on with his patrols. While reference was made to Captain Marinesko's possible involvement with agents from a foreign power during the period in question, no details of such action was provided in the book. The details are provided below for the first time.In their book, the authors state:
"At the end of 1944, the S 13 lay at the docks in the "Smolny" base at Turku, Finland's oldest city. The boat had been provisioned and fuelled. The submarine and her crew were ready. Unfortunately, Marinesko was not. He had been on a monumental bender which had lasted three days... He did not return to his boat and, as a result, the naval patrols began looking for him. It was not until January 3rd, after being dried out in a sauna, that he returned to the base.Unfortunately, the NKVD was not of that opinion and they recommended he be court martialled or at the very least, that he be returned, under escort, to the Naval Headquarters in Kronstadt.While searching for Capt Marinesko, the authorities had feared the commander had defected or become a spy. But his immediate superior was sure there was no treachery behind Captain Marinesko's behaviour and, at that point, needing capable men to carry out Stalin's command to "use the submarine fleet to its full potential" decided to reprimand his wayward ace and get the S 13 to sea as quickly as possible."
The NKVD may have had some well-founded reasons to at least suspect Marinesko's possible intentions to cooperate with the ennemy.
The new information which follows will help clarify this point:
Of great significance here, it must be noted that, until December 31st, 1944, no remarks on discipline, reckless behaviour, misuse of alcohol or of insubordination had been filed on Captain Marinesko for over 10 years of dedicated service in the USSR's Naval Force.
On the contrary - the man was known as a very able and reliable U-boat Captain.
Is it likely, one might ask, that an officer with such a flawless record would leave his ”ready-to-sail ship awaiting orders for immediate departure” and slink off a heavily guarded port area and disappear to town in a former enemy land for three days during a state-of- war? And all this just to go on a drunken fling?
The only true answer to that is: NO - IT IS NOT LIKELY AT ALL.
The only explanation I can give, is that the Captain was made an offer he could not resist
To better understand what transpired in the early part of 1945, I offer the following information on persons and organisations involved.
The Swedish "T-Office
This Bureau of Investigation and Information (known as 'the T-Office") was established at the beginning of WW2. It was set up as a normal Import/Export firm with offices in Stockholm but it did not do any trading. The leader was a diplomat from the Swedish Embassy in Ankara, Mr af Petersčn. During the war the neutral capital Stockholm was a sort of Klondyke of information. Germans, English, Russians, all had their Embassy in Stockholm. The T-Office selected information from all for further process.
|
Carl Petersen, Head of the legendary C-Bureau
During the Red Army offensive in Estonia and Latvia in 1944 several hundreds of boats of all kinds filled with refugees (German as well as people from the Baltic countries) landed on the Swedish coast, especially on the east coast of Gotland. In that process, many of them drowned in stormy weather.
Very soon, Mr af Petersén recognized the contributions some of these refugees could bring the "T-Office" and some of the refugees were equipped with radio transmitters and boats and were sent back to Estonia. Their mission was to give an early warning to Sweden should the Soviet Force make any attempt to invade Sweden. The T-Office trained and equipped the new `Swedish agents' and assisted them to return to their home land.
In 1939 the Estonian and Latvian governments had deposited their countries' gold reserves in the Swedish National bank. In 1940 Sweden, as the first country in the world to do so, accepted that the three Baltic countries were republics of the USSR and handed over the gold reserves to Stalin.
As a side note, it must be stated that, by the end of 1949, the Soviet authorities had rounded up every one of the ”Swedish agents” and had sent them to the camps where they were interned or shot.
|
OSS agents with US embassy car in downtown Stockolm - Spring 1945
By 1944 af Petersén recruited a well known Mr Algot Niska to the organisation.
After the war Stalin demanded that all refugees who had arrived to Sweden from Estonia and Latvia shall be delivered to Soviet ships Stalin intended to send to Sweden. About 3.000 people were handed over to those ships.
About the same time the T-Office was renamed to the ”Information Bureau” (IB) and furnished with a new leader Mr Birger Hellmér.
By 1965 very little was known about the I.B.'s activities which were then unveiled in the press and the IB was said to be closed forever..
Then, after the Baltic countries were liberated in 1991, their new governments demanded the Swedish to refund the value of the gold reserves. In the beginning the demand was refused but later accepted and paid by the Swedish.
By 1993 the families and relatives of those who had disappeared as Swedish agents presented claims to the Swedish government for compensation as those people had been in Swedish service. It was first denied but later accepted.
During 1998 more news came out on the IB affairs and a former agent offered to make testimonial and it was a demand for a parliamentary truth commission was made.
Enter Mr. Algot Niska
Niska was a Finnish sea captain who fluently spoke German, Swedish and Russian. During 1933 and until 1937, he was a sort of Robin Hood type engaged in smuggling spirituous beverages into Sweden from ships in the Baltic Sea. He was very popular among the people who lived in the Swedish and Finnish archipelago and they assisted and protected him. He held press conferences from the Grand Hotel in Stockholm and his picture often made the front pages of Stockholm's newspapers.In 1937, Niska convinced one of his friends then working at a department in Helsinki to supply him with blank Finnish passports. Niska then left Sweden and the smuggling trade and moved to Berlin to offer his services to the Jewish people in Germany. Niska could cross any border and fool any one and save lives and wealth for his new Jewish friends. The Gestapo was always after Niska but Niska was always one step ahead and seemed to be equipped with 9 lives. He operated in Germany for years much in the same manner as Roul Wallenberg did in Budapest but in a smaller scale. Niska, by his own account, had rescued 3,800 Jews with his Finnish passports.
One day Niska read in a Finnish paper that his friend who had supplied his passports had been arrested by the Finnish police. At about the same time, he suffered severely from stomach pains and that was the end of it - he had to return to Finland. Half dead he arrived in Tallinn and made his way over the Gulf of Finland in a leaking rowing boat.
He then turned himself at the nearest Finnish police station and said ” I am Algot Niska !”. The policemen laughed and said ”Yes we see you are Niska .- so what”. Niska then went over to Sweden where he was arrested and Mr af Petersén picked him up as a very able man for his T-Office.
Per Olof Ekman, Niska and Marinesko
During Finland’s war with Russia, Mr Ekman was an officer in the Finnish Navy and responsible for the Finnish Radio station within German Kriegsmarine's large Radio station MNO Reval in Tallinn.After the peace document was signed between Russia and Finland on 19 Sept. 1944, the Finnish Navy was going to assist Soviet U-boats with safe passage through the archipelago and with new Soviet bases in Helsinki, Ĺbo and Hangö.
|
Police Station in Tallin 1944
Clandestine radio in bread basket
Mr Ekman's radio group was then transferred to the Ĺbo Base, on September 25th 1944, on a Soviet vessel with the brigade leader Admiral Verchovsky. Only 10 Russian U-boats were then ready to depart from Kronstadt. Four of them arrived at the Ĺbo Base via Lavansaari on September 28th 1944.
Shortly after came an additional four U-boats; the L-3 (Konovalov), D-2 (Lindenbergh), Lembit, a midgetsub (Matijesevit) and the S-13 (Marinesko).
Than came the last 2 U-boats, SC 309 (Filov) and SC 307 (Kalinin) who where transfered to Hangö.
And to Ĺbo arrived the depot vessels Smolnyi and Poljarna Zwedzda.
Mr Ekman described the new situation as somewhat unusual, living together in crowded quarters with formal enemies. He said that language between Russian officers and men was most informal. But the discipline was firm and he also noted there existed a noticeable difference in the lifestyle enjoyed by officers and men. The food on officers table was rich with nothing missing. The men's table on the other hand contained mostly Stsji and Kasja mixed occasionally with American canned food. He also noted they behaved most correctly in connection with the Finnish people. However something was unpleasant, says Ekman. ”Those creatures called Blatta dressed in brown - were found almost everywhere.” These were the NKVD, I reccon.
How Ekman met Alexandr Marinesko
Following the peace treaty between Russia and Finland, Af Petersén wasted no time to install Algot Niska in Ĺbo. Soon after Ekman noticed that Niska and Marinesko shared the same table. No wonder - those two persons had a lot in common. Ekman says that Marinesko admired Niska and his life story but also stated that he, Ekman, had never been present at the same table as those two.Early in October 1944, the S-13 made course for the Danziger Bay. On October 9th, the S-13 sighted the armoured German trawler s/s Siegfried 563 brt. In the attack, his torpedoes missed. He then surfaced and started a duel with his 100 mm deck canon. Marinesko succeeded to hit the bridge on Siegfried and cabled the victory to the base.
Of significance, after October 9th, nobody heard anything from S-13 over the radio until she turned up at Hangö base in December for refilling of his torpedoes inventory. Just before Christmas 1944, the S-13 was escorted by the Finnish Navy to Ĺbo to be moored alongside the depot vessel Smolnyi to take on a supply of food water and diesel.
During the Christmas Season, Mr Ekman occasionally ran into Algot Niska in Helsinki. On one such occasion, Algot Niska mentioned a coming New Year's party to be held in Ĺbo with some friends from Sweden and a Russian Naval officer. Ekman was invited but unable to leave Helsinki at the time, he declined.
During a visit to the Swedish Club on January 5th, 1945, Ekman saw Niska with a man who presented himself as Petersén. While Ekman was chatting with Niska the other man (Petersén) asked Ekman if he knew of an officer in Ĺbo named Marinesko. Ekman answered that he had not seen the fellow in a month time and that he does not know him personally.
Thus, based on the above information, it is safe to assume that the NKVD had also gathered that very same information and were privvy to it. While it certainly cannot be stated without a doubt that Marinesko had had any dealing of any sort with officers of the T-Office, the mere presumption arrived at by the NKVD that he had had such dealing or even that he might have entertained thoughts of such dealings was to be his doom.
Even if it was proven that Marinesko, had at one time during that fateful period entertained thoughts of collaborating with foreign powers, in most countries, that inever would have been considered a crime as long as one does not go any further. But not in the USSR.
Lenin laws for instance never stipulates a maximum sentence as it does in most countries but on the contrary, laws in USSR always stipulate the minimum time to be served if found guilty of a crime. Also, in Soviet laws, you find the same punishment for intentions to crime against Rodina (Vaterland) as for a completed crime. No difference. In 1945, a person not only was certain to be shot if found to be working as an agent for foreign power but also for simply considering or merely thinking about doing so.
The NKVD surely found out about his connection with Niska and from that moment Marinesco was a doomed man.
Not mentioned here but of some importance is the part the crew of S 13 played (or perhaps did not play) in the release of their captain. Indeed, at great peril to their collective health, they had presented a signed petition to the officer responsible for judging Marinesko's actions demanding that their Captain be released and allowed to rejoin the submarine. The crew of S13 must have thought very highly of their commander as their action was very close to mutiny but they went along with it. At this point, Capt Marinesko was ordered to proceed to Hango and await further instructions. It was felt that by that time, a decision would have been made as to whether he would be court marshalled or be allowed to go on with his war patrols.
What saved his life I think and what made it possible for him to depart with his U-boat from Finland was not so much the Admiral's nor the Navy's intervention on his behalf , as the NKVD outranked them both. The NKVD wanted, as always, to see how many more people were involved. The NKVD waited a long time and, when they finaly were convinced no one else was going to contact him - than he was sent on his way. But they kept the file opened and Marinesko was to meet his fate shortly after the war ended. How this came about will be described later.
His Trial After The War
Coming soon...
His Sentence
Coming soon...
Release from the Gulag
Coming soon...
His Re-Habilitation
Coming soon...
