Operation Priboi - Planning

Planning

Due to the immense scale Operation Priboi, which spanned three Soviet republics, considerable resources were involved. The following command staff were assigned with the task of deporting 30,000 families from the Baltic states:

1. Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Burmak (head of the USSR MGB Interior Forces Chief Administration);
2. Lieutenant-General Golovko (head of Interior Forces Baltic District);
3. Major-General Leont'ev (commander of Interior Forces stationed in Riga);
4. Head of Communications Lieutenant-Colonel Kotov;
5. Head of Transportation Lieutenant-Colonel Spektor;
6. Quartermaster Colonel Sakharov;
7. Colonel Rizhov (special representative of the USSR MGB Interior Forces Chief Administration).

In addition to the troops already stationed in Latvia and Estonia, an additional 8850 soldiers were deployed to Estonia and Latvia from other parts of the Soviet Union to take part in the operation, 4350 to Estonia:

Telecommunications was a vital component to ensure smooth running of the operation, thus the MGB commandeered all civilian telephone exchanges for the duration. Due to the scope of the operation an extra 2,210 MGB communications personnel were brought in. A total of 8,422 trucks were organised. 5,010 civilian trucks were commandeered and the remaining vehicles were military origin, including 1,202 imported from the Leningrad Military District, 210 from the Byelorussian Military District and 700 from MGB Interior Forces. Some 1,250 tons of fuel was stockpiled for use in the operation. These additional vehicles were stationed just outside the border of the Baltic Republics in advance so as not to raise suspicion and sent in at the start of the operation.