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deValcourt · 08-22-2010, 04:07 AM

I am looking for information about the activities/duties of the MGB's 88 Rifle Regiment. I have recently acquired a stunning award flag for this regiment and want to print some information to hang next to the flag. However, just from a cursory search of the Internet, I think I'm in for a much more laborious task than Google is going to accommodate.:(

Is there a resource available to the general public about security service armies? Does anyone know of a person who can access this kind of information?

I understand that the VV NKVD and VV MGB were assigned some very controversial tasks during and for a number of years after the GPW and it is likely that any information would be sanitized for Western or any public consumption, but I'll even take that. I also understand that I discover unpleasant things about this particular regiment (and the 57 VV NKVD Rifle Regiment that I'm also looking into), but that is the chance one takes with security service research. I wouldn't be in the least surprised to find that this MGB regiment was one of the ones responsible for "relocating" much of the population of the Baltic states in the late 1940s-early 1950s. I'm not saying I like what was done, but it is a part of history that I wish to know more about - from an historical point of view.

I also have some anecdotal information about the MGB 88 and their involvement in eliminating Stepan Bandera supporters and other "subversive separatists" in Ukraine. But that is all I know and am making guesses at this point based on Wikipedia of all so-called sources, which makes my stomach uneasy.:)

Any guiding lights on this subject would be sincerely appreciated.

Phillip

Norm Braddock · 08-22-2010, 03:40 PM

Monsur Phil, if this is related to the 88th NKVD Border Regiment theeeeeeeeeeeen

-Formed in summer of 41.
-assigned to Kalinin Front in in Oct. of 41
-possibly shifted south early in 44
-in early 45 became a border guard unit with 88 and was then in the Uke military district.

deValcourt · 08-22-2010, 05:11 PM

Merci Norm. Only thing is I'm trying to track down the 88 RR of the MGB and the 57 RR of the NKVD (both "VV" regiments).:)

You make a good point though. One of the hardest things to figure out is who became what with all the agency name changes. If the 88 RR was under the NKVD VV during and immediately after the war, then presumably they were not disbanded because the official name of their main HQ changed. I would guess they simply became the 88 VV MGB Rifle Regiment. Plus, the Ukraine location works with what little I do know.

Man, keeping up with the security service name changes and chain of command was difficult enough to finally get my head around; trying to get a good time-line on all the military divisions from the 1930s to the 1950s is promising to be a real challenge.:yow

Phillip