Home Prevention 239th artillery regiment of the 28th division. Executing an order Rate

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239th artillery regiment of the 28th division. Executing an order Rate

The 239th Rifle Division became part of the 50th Army November 18, 1941, then was part of the 10th Army, 1st Guards Cavalry Corps and January 31, 1942 again part of the 50th Army.

4th Special Brigade: 232nd Regiment (the regiment was transferred to the Pacific Fleet - NKO No. 47/sh dated 05/31/39). For 1941: 162 joint ventures (Shkotovo), 299 joint ventures (Ekaterinivka), 400 tr (Suchan), 51 adn.

5th brigade: 250 joint venture (Slavyanka), 277 joint venture (Slavyanka), 181 ors.

Composed of 239 MD:

11th Vladivostok rifle regiment(162nd joint venture of the former 4th separate rifle brigade) received the numbering 813th motorized regiment; The 277th Mountain Rifle Regiment, a regiment from the former 5th Separate Rifle Brigade, was numbered the 817th Motorized Regiment;
The 112th Tank Regiment was formed from the former 42nd Separate Light Tank Brigade.

Started to form in the second half of March 1941 in the city of Voroshilov and by May 1 was formed as the 239th motorized division, which included: the 11th rifle regiment of the former 4th separate rifle brigade, which was numbered - the 313th motorized regiment, a regiment from the former 5th separate rifle brigade - 317th motorized regiment, 112th tank regiment, formed from the former 42nd separate tank brigade.

Before leaving for the Western Front, the division was stationed in the city of Voroshilov and was part of the troops of the 1st Red Banner Army of the Far Eastern Front.

In early August 1941 the division was reorganized into the 239th Infantry Division consisting of: the 817th Infantry Regiment (formerly motorized regiment), the 813th Motorized Regiment went to the 112th Tank Brigade, instead of which the 813th was formed from the reserves of the Novosibirsk Region and the Krasnoyarsk Territory rifle regiment, the 239th rifle regiment was formed from the same contingents. The 112th Tank Regiment was reorganized into the 112th Tank Division.

In the month of September the newly reformed division moved from the city of Voroshilov to Khorol (65-70 km) towards the state border, occupied the Khorol fortified sector (instead of the 26th that had left for the front rifle division), continuing combat training and work to strengthen the Khorol fortified sector.

October 22, 1941 The division departed for the Western Front, and on the way was landed in the city of Kuibyshev to participate in the parade.

November 11, 1941 left for Ryazan, part of the trains was sent to Uzlovaya station and on November 17-18 the division was completely concentrated in Uzlovaya, where it came under the command of the commander of the 3rd Army, and on November 18, 1941 it was reassigned to the commander of the 50th Army.

15th of November near Uzlovaya, the 239th Infantry Regiment was the first to enter the battle, arriving as the lead regiment, which for two days fought defensive battles to hold Uzlovaya. From November 17 The entire division entered the battle, defending the approaches to Uzlovaya, Stalinogorsk-1 and Stalinogorsk-2.

The enemy's attempts to break through to Uzlovaya from the south and Stalinogorsk-1 were unsuccessful; the division gained time and, while destroying the enemy, continued to hold its line. The division's connection with the 50th Army and headquarters was completely lost due to the lack of a radio (the platform with the radio was detached on the road and the radio did not approach the battle).

By the evening of November 22, 1941 approaches the defense line from Stalinogorsk-2, Uzlovaya, Smorodino, the division is again engaged in heavy fighting with the enemy.

Particularly intense fighting is being waged by the 813th Infantry Regiment on the right flank, where the enemy, having concentrated about two battalions of motorized infantry with tanks, tried to cut off the escape route to the northeast.

The 239th Rifle Regiment, with fire and frequent counterattacks, holds back the enemy trying to advance on Bobrik-Donskoy from the front.

November 23, 1941 Enemy pressure intensified on the right flank, in the center, and from Mikhailovka the enemy launched an offensive (on the left flank) to the rear on Bobriki, by the same time enemy motorized units appeared in Spasskoye, Petrovochka (operating from Epifan station north to Mikhailov). The division's rear and escape routes to the north were cut off.

The division continues to fight and hold the enemy near Stalinogorsk-1, Bobrik-Donsk from November 22 to the end of November 25, 1941. The division's flanks turned out to be completely open; the 41st Cavalry Division, under enemy attack, left the Epifan station to the north. The division has no communications. Enemy motorized units with tanks operate in the rear. On the night of November 26, 1941, continuing to hold the enemy from the front with part of its forces, the division, with a strike from the 817th Infantry Regiment, broke through the closed ring at Spasskoye and left the battle.

November 26, 1941 The division breaks out of encirclement at Olkhovets for the second time and retreats to the city of Pronsk in separate regiments along different routes. During the retreat, the 813th Infantry Regiment and the 688th artillery regiment. The 817th Infantry Regiment carried out a bold attack from Spasskoye and joined the division at Olkhovets.

From December 1 to December 7, 1941 The division put itself in order and defended the approaches to Pronsk, ensuring the concentration and deployment of the 10th Army.

Since December 7, 1941 The division as part of the 10th Army launched a counteroffensive in the direction of Gorlovo.

From December 17 to December 20, 1941 The division fought on the outskirts of the city of Plavsk and to capture it with units of the 326th Infantry Division.

December 23, 1941 The division, making an offensive march to the west, had successful battles near Arsenyevo, where large trophies were captured: 105 mm. guns - 3 pcs., 37 mm. guns - 1, 11 light machine guns, 5 machine guns, 31 carts, one walkie-talkie, etc.

From December 31, 1941 to January 5, 1942 The division is waging stubborn offensive battles to capture the approaches to the station. Sukhinichi (crossing point Khoten, Khoten, Boil).

January 3, 1942 units of the division destroy up to 300 people north of Sukhinichi (Levkovo). infantry with 40-50 carts moving from Meshchevsk to Sukhinichi to the enemy garrison besieged there.

Two tanks and two small-caliber guns were captured.

Having captured Belilovo and Belikovo (points directly near Sukhinichi station), the division January 5, 1942 reached the Meshchovsk, Serpeisk area and continued the march to the west.

Since January 10, 1942 The division from the 10th Army comes under the command of the commander of the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps, Lieutenant General Belov, and fights as part of the corps to capture the approaches to the Warsaw Highway (Novaya Roshcha, Staraya Roshcha, Savinki).

January 12, 1942 The division leaves the subordination of the commander of the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps and proceeds to the Maryino, Yakovlevka, Chumazovo area. From the same area, the division advances to the West (to Zanoznaya, Chiplyaevka) on the right flank of the 10th Army and after successful battles January 15, 1942 Yakovlevka and Loshikhino are captured.

January 17, 1942 again comes under the command of the commander of the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps and goes to the Savinka, Safronovo, Shishi area.

Being subordinate to the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps, the division fought successful battles and on January 20, 1942 captured Uzlomka, Makarovka, and the southern part of the Caucasus.

Since January 26, 1942 In connection with the breakthrough of the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps across the highway and its departure to the north, the division defends the Sapovo, Prokhody, Vyazichnya, Zanino, Staraya Roshcha, Shishi strip, influencing the enemy’s movement on the Warsaw Highway with fire until it is subjugated by the 50th Army.

Alexey MELIKHOV

THE DIVISION STANDED TO THE DEATH!

To the soldiers of the 239th Infantry Division, alive and fallen in November 1941

During the defense of the cities of Donskoy, Stalinogorsk, Uzlovaya

This documentary story is dedicated to

The soldiers - living and dead - managed in the most difficult military situation to subjugate their hearts with their unyielding determination and iron will, overcome fear and stand to the death.

To identify the names of more than 300 soldiers of the 239th Rifle Division who died during the defense of the Don region in November 1941, whose ashes were buried in the mass graves of Komsomolsky and Podlesny (formerly Kursk) villages, I had to read and study more than 13 thousand reports, reports, etc. documents. I leafed through the papers, scorched by the fire of '41, and before my mind's eye the events of the battles in which the Russian people defended literally every meter of their native land, abundantly watering it with their blood, were clearly visible.

Here is one of the reports from the commander of the 817th Infantry Regiment, Colonel Melnikov, to the division headquarters for No. 4836: “As a result of 3-day battles near the villages of Krutoy Verkh and Yegoryevskoye, the regiment lost more than half of its personnel.”

And one more thing, which served as the impetus for writing this documentary story: “Commander of the gun crew, Sergeant Leonid Rodionov, twice wounded, knocked out four German tanks and died in an unequal battle. The second number from his crew, Artem Bulavka, received 5 wounds and died on the way to the medical battalion.”

Having made the necessary extracts, I handed over the material for verification. The next day, the head of one of the departments, Lieutenant Colonel Lukashev, called me:

In your lists, the gun captain, Sergeant Leonid Nikitovich Rodionov, born in 1919, a native of the Novosibirsk region, from the village of Stogur, is recorded among the dead.

Yes. The report of irretrievable losses for the first battalion of the 817th regiment states that it died while repelling a tank attack on November 20, 1941 in the Donskoy area, near the village of Krutoy Verkh. Relatives have been notified of the death...

Rodionov remained alive. Shortly before the 40th anniversary of the Victory, he came to Moscow to receive the Order of the Red Banner for that battle.

My letter flew by airmail to distant Siberia. In response, two notebooks with memories came. Among them were the addresses of several former soldiers of the 239th division who took part in those fierce battles near the city of Donskoy. I wrote many letters to the Krasnoyarsk, Khabarovsk, Ussuri territories and other regions. Gray-haired veterans Viktor Petrovich Kozlov and Rakhmatul Azizov responded. Andrey Semenovich Kopytov and others. It is impossible to read these priceless testimonies and simple stories without emotion and tears.

From memories

MARSHAL OF THE SOVIET UNION G. K. ZHUKOV

Fierce battles, distinguished by the heroism of our troops, did not stop day or night. The fighters fought stubbornly and fought to the death, but on November 21, Donskoy, Uzlovaya and Stalinogorsk were occupied by the main forces of Guderian’s tank army.”

From memories

Baptism of fire

(FROM THE MEMORIES OF VIKTOR PAVLOVICH KOZLOV)

“It was just starting to get light, we began to equip the trenches and deepen them. Our regiment commander, Colonel Melnikov, walked along them and said:

Soldiers! Remember this day! Remember the name of this village. What a tender girl's name she has - Yulinka. Here we will take the first battle and show the fascists our Siberian character.

We remembered. But then they did not know that after almost ten days of fighting from the 1st battalion, after leaving the encirclement, only a platoon of us would be left alive, and then nine people from the platoon. Seeing and hearing our commander, we guessed: he was thinking about how the soldiers would lead when meeting the enemy face to face. Yes, we understood that at this point we would face our first exam. And he came...

Motorcyclists first followed in a column of two, then changed into four in a row. They walked at high speed. The soldiers from the forward guard were the first to open fire. Two motorcycles overturned. Immediately, rifle platoons of lieutenants Ivan Yakhnovsky and Mikhail Zharinov struck with targeted fire and volleys. Now more than a dozen have turned over. The remaining cars turned sharply and, desperately crackling their engines, rushed to their heels. But even here they were overtaken by the bullets of the Siberians - after all, we were regulars, served for the second year and were hardened on the Far Eastern border.

At that time, I was a liaison officer at the battalion command post, located in a small dugout in the center of our positions.

“They acted correctly,” I heard the voice of the battalion commander, Captain I. A. Martynov, speaking with the commander of the third company, Lieutenant Vasily Khabarenko, on the phone. -Now hold on. The Nazis will try to retaliate. They will cover us with artillery fire, and then the tanks will move.

He contacted all the companies in turn, then the artillerymen. He gave orders in an even, calm voice. For the rest of my life I will remember this wonderful man, a stern and courageous warrior who devoted all his strength and knowledge to the combat training of his fighters. Now he led us into our first battle. He looked at us, the messengers, and said:

Go to your companies. Now you will be needed there more.

Nurse here!

To the left flank of the orderlies!

The platoon leader is wounded!

Brothers, help!

Bandage it quickly, for God's sake, you see, the Germans are being nasty!..

Comrade Lieutenant! Help me!

For the first time, everyone encountered death, and not just one, as happened in peaceful life. They carried out the wounded on stretchers, in greatcoats, some crawling, some hobbling themselves. And others were placed in a row that kept getting longer and longer... The platoon commanders’ commands brought us back to reality:

Take your fighting positions! Prepare the grenades!

There was no more silence. The second and third battalions were fighting not far away. And there the Nazis tried to cross the railway track. Through the yellow-black fog that had not yet dissipated, we saw the Nazis. At full height, without firing a shot, chains of machine gunners in horned helmets came towards us from the forest. And tanks with infantry on their armor appeared on the flanks. Company political instructor Nikolai Makin made his way through the trench without bending at all. Biting a blade of grass with his teeth, as if watching a tactical exercise that took place here in August, he loudly told us:

They want to take it with impudence. They want to test our nerves. They think we'll turn sour from just the sight of them...

“It looks like a mental disorder,” responded Pyotr Garin. - And now we will force them to bow to the Russian Mother Earth!

In the third company, where the platoon commander, Lieutenant Ivan Yakhnovsky, took command, instead of the deceased company commander, on the left and right, the soldiers crushed the earth that had crumbled to the bottom of the trenches from explosions, more conveniently placed grenades and bottles of incendiary liquid under their arms, attached bayonets, and changed clips to rifles. Outwardly, everyone is calm.

Our guns boomed behind us. Shells began to explode in the enemy lines. Their rare bursts formed small gaps in the ranks of the attackers, but they closed, and the gray-green waves continued to roll towards us. Five tanks with landing forces rushed ahead of the chains.

Don't shoot without a command! Hit the viewing slots of the tanks! Grenades only for tracks! - came the voice of battalion commander Martynov, who appeared in the most dangerous sector of the second company. The calmness of the commander returned to the soldiers the composure they had developed at the border.

The Nazis are already a hundred meters away or even less. And then the shot cracked dryly. This signal was given by Sasha Zobov, sergeant, squad commander. A friendly salvo followed. Unexpectedly, two company mortars struck, and the Germans were swept away from the tanks by close explosions like the wind. A German officer jumped out from behind one. He, waving a pistol, urged the soldiers on. Taiga hunter Alexey Rakhmatulin, taking careful aim, knocked him down.

Have you seen it? - he shouts to his friend Philip Porshnev, but he has no time for that. Pressing the butt of his long-barreled heavy anti-tank rifle to his shoulder, he sends bullet after bullet. After each shot he winces: the recoil is very strong. We received anti-tank rifles already on the train, just before arriving at the position. Previously, we knew nothing about this weapon; it was just being mastered by industry. And we had to master it in battle. And at first, not everything worked out. Loud shots are heard both to the right and to the left. It seems like you can hear the bullets piercing the armor. But the tanks - here they are!

They broke the beast's paw! - someone shouts joyfully, and another adds:

Finish it!

Our mortarmen Nikolai Ovirin, Stepan Petrov and Pavel Karasev distinguished themselves here. With one single salvo they covered the tank and probably hit the gas tank. It burst into flames inside, and shells began to explode. The last two tanks turned back. Our machine guns began to rattle more decisively, and rifle salvoes began to fire at the Nazis, who were left without armor support. The first attack was repulsed. But there is no time to rest, it is necessary to restore destroyed trenches, dig new ones, bury comrades; send the wounded to the rear. Although we killed a lot of enemies in front of our trenches, our losses were also considerable. Having barely come to their senses, the guys shouted from trench to trench:

Popov... Ushinsky... Sushakov... Berestnev... Ramazin... respond!

And if anyone responded, they rejoiced like children, but if not, they wiped away men’s tears with the sleeves of their greatcoats. After all, almost the entire regiment was made up of fellow countrymen, and during the year of service they became close. And so..."

Executing an order Rate

(FROM THE MEMORIES OF DIVISION COMMANDER G. O. MARTIROSYAN)

"Before arriving with Far East 239th Rifle Division (reinforced by tanks of the 125th separate tank battalion) Headquarters Supreme High Command set the task: to deploy and battle formation at the Akimovka - Krutoy Verkh line for an offensive, and then to come under the control of the 3rd Army of the Southwestern Front.

The division was unloaded on November 17 in echelon at Uzlovaya, Stalinogorsk and at Polunino station. But by this time, the enemy’s 53rd Army Corps rushed into the gap between the Western and Southwestern fronts and, cutting off communications, tried to capture Uzlova. We found ourselves cut off from the main forces. The Supreme Command Headquarters was forced to direct the combat operations of the 239th division through liaison officers.

On November 16, the division dealt a powerful blow to the Nazis and, giving the bloodless units of the 239th Infantry Division the opportunity to retreat, occupied an advantageous defensive position along the line settlements: Yulinka - Cheremkhovka - Fedorovka - Polunino station - Marinka - Egoryevskoye. Thus, a large section: Uzlovaya - Donskoy - Stalinogorsk was, it seems, covered.

But everything turned out differently. The Nazis realized that they had a fresh force in front of them, and the next day, having recovered, they struck back at the left flank of the division at its junction with the 41st Cavalry. The battle developed with varying degrees of success. Met by friendly flank machine-gun fire, the Germans retreated in disarray, but after a while, having regrouped, they again went on the attack. The 817th regiment did not flinch. Now, along with the machine gunners, the mortar men entered the battle, opening barrage fire. And yet, the Nazis, covering the field with the corpses of their soldiers, broke through the fire curtain.

The entire first battalion rushed into a counterattack. And the wave of enemies that threatened to overwhelm our trenches subsided. But ours also had to return to their positions, because German tanks rolled from the Bogoroditsky forest on the horizon. Behind them were armored personnel carriers with infantry.

However, a “surprise” awaited them. From a small fishing line, eight of our KVs from the 125th separate tank regiment. At top speed, despite their numerical superiority, the tankers hit battle formations fascists. For them, the tank attack was a complete surprise. At the same minutes, upon the call of the regiment commander, artillery battalions of the 688th Howitzer Regiment struck from the direction of Uzlova and Stalinogorsk. Finding themselves between two fires, leaving up to one and a half thousand dead and wounded, thirty-six tanks and armored vehicles on the battlefield, the Nazis retreated to the Bogoroditsk area. Enraged by the failure in front of the positions of the 239th Division, having gathered an armored fist from the thinned-out 47th Tank Corps near Bogoroditsky and putting infantry on vehicles, the Germans attacked the 41st Cavalry Division. The cavalry defended desperately, fearlessly threw grenades at the tanks, but could not resist steel and fire, and by the evening of November 18, units of the enemy's tenth and 29th motorized divisions occupied the villages of Lyutorichi and Dubovoe. From the south and southeast, from the Donskoy side, the 817th regiment found itself semi-encircled. In the evening of the same day, the commander of the 817th regiment, Major Melnikov, created a team of “night ghosts” from volunteers in order to clarify the fate of the cavalry soldiers. They reached the village of Nikolskoye, on the southern outskirts of Donskoye. Having surrounded the village, they fell on the sleeping Germans, destroyed the entire garrison, captured staff documents, six cannons, thirteen machine guns, and, having discovered three squadrons of the 41st Cavalry Division in the Luthorich forest, by morning they returned to the regiment's location. The enraged fascists decided to teach a lesson to the Siberians who did not want to retreat -Far Easterners, encircle and destroy the 239th division at the place of its concentration...

Early in the morning, a German spotter - a "frame" - appeared over the positions of this regiment. When the aerial reconnaissance aircraft, shelled by rifle and machine-gun fire, retreated, we knew: the Junkers would now fly in to bomb. And they were not mistaken. From the direction of Dubovka or Kireyevka an intermittent rumble was heard, and then the cutting howl of dive bombers. Explosions thundered in a landslide. Before the sky cleared after the raid, German tanks moved towards the regiment’s position. The machine gunners ran after them. Five combat vehicles separated from the general column and headed towards the bombed-out ground, lying as a black patch on the white snow. The lead tank opened fire on the move, but immediately jerked and stood up. The blow was struck by armor-piercing officer Sarkisyan. He then stood up and threw a bunch of grenades. There was a deafening explosion and thick smoke poured out of the tank.

Please peck from the heart! - the soldier managed to shout and fell under the machine gunners’ zeros.

The regimental artillery opened fire on the tanks, but they managed to overcome the fire barrier at high speed. By the end of the day, the Germans managed to capture the villages of Ilyinka and Cheremkhovka on the western outskirts of Uzlovaya, but not for long.

On the morning of November 20, a counterattack group consisting of the 813th regiment of the 106th battalion of the NKVD regiment and tanks of the 125th separate tank battalion struck the enemy in the direction of the Rossoshinskaya mine and restored the previous position.

On the same day, the 239th division came under the command of the 50th Army, but on the right flank of the 24th head tank corps The Germans broke through the defenses of units of this Army on the Bolokhov heights, and both flanks of the 239th were exposed. A favorable situation was created for the German Second Panzer Army to envelop and bypass the division's flanks, and it rushed into free space.

In this regard, the leadership of the combat operations of the 239th Infantry Division was taken over by the headquarters of the Western Front, and it, remaining in its previous positions, bristled against the enemy, deciding to fight to the end... On the night of November 21, an order to withdraw from the Uzlovaya-2 area , Mole and state farm “8th of March” on The New Frontier defense: the village of Kursk (Podlesny) - village. Vasilievna and Kamenka received the 813th regiment. A few hours ago, due to a direct hit by a shell on the headquarters, the regiment commander and many officers were out of action. The battalion commissar Skurlatov, who arrived as the military commissar of the division headquarters, ordered the commander of the second battalion, Captain Alexander Grigorievich Abakumov, to take command of the regiment.

“Your defense sector is very stretched,” said the commissioner. - From the Miner's village to the Uzlovaya - Stalinogorsk highway. It will be temporarily covered by the 3rd battalion of the 817th regiment. But the Germans are not fools - part of the tank forces, in all likelihood, will try to break through to Donskoy here and along the highway from Bogoroditsk, but the 299th Regiment will block their way there. Try to hold out for at least a day. We will supply ammunition, but no people are expected. Hourly communication with both regiments..."

Soldier Rating

(FROM A LETTER OF A FORMER SCOUT OF THE 813 REGIMENT

ANDREY SEMYONOVICH SNEGIREV FROM YENISEISK)

“The measure of all the cruel trials for our 239th division was this line: Velminka-Egoryevskoye - KrytoyVerkh-Vasilievka-Kamenka - Shirinsky forest - the villages of Spasskoye and Olkhovets.

Who then had Stalingrad, the Kursk Bulge, large and small cities and villages, but we have this. How the Germans wanted to immediately crush the defenders of these villages with an armored strike, crush them into a cake. But try, take us!..

The wounds healed in our native land, at the sources of our native river, but we, soldiers, will never forget the roads that were trodden under fire and death. We often gather under a peaceful roof and see the reflections of those fires. We sing our Siberian songs that we sang in '41. Wives, children, grandchildren listen to us in silence. And we, with our eyes fixed on the past, call on our comrades who have not returned from the war. Oh, oh, so many of them didn’t come. They died quietly and did not ask to perpetuate their memory in the fields near those villages. Using the dodder grass they made their way from the mass graves to the light, to people. There they were destined to fight to the death, there became their last home. And in the homeland, where the flowers turn blue in the field, in the forest, mothers, wives, children look at the blue sky and think their heavy thoughts about them...”

Fights with tanks

By nightfall, a cold wind blew, tearing drops from the trees above the trenches and splashing them. Disgustingly freezing, they fell behind the collar of the overcoat and did not allow one to warm up. By dawn, the battalions occupied and somehow equipped their positions: the soldiers were very tired from both the continuous tension and the transition. Besides, by morning it was freezing. Many had jaw pain, either from the cold or something else. And when the cooled pasta and crackers were distributed, the crackers could not be chewed from pain.

The soldiers were dressed like summer - in tunics and caps. They were saved by their overcoats - our Russian overcoats - which were both a home and a stove. On a gloomy morning, a wild dance of war began. From behind the hill came the glow of first tank gun shells. Then there was a mix of crackling, thunder and the fire of machine guns and mortars. Throughout the entire area occupied by the regiment, explosions were thrown up, clods of earth and brown fumes that were not cooling were flying. Explosive metal lashed across the trenches, kneading the earth and clay. He pulled out one person after another, even and odd. Then the Nazis came in loose chains. It was necessary to let him get closer: to shoot - that’s for sure. But they didn’t approach the shot - they lay down. This means that the tanks will move now.

Random shots fired from the trenches. The command was heard:

Stop shooting! Who are you shooting at? At random, you're wasting ammo.

How in vain? The enemy!

You rarely end up in bedridden ones. They get up, then go at full speed.

But there are a lot of them.

So shoot so that it becomes smaller. Choose any piece and hit without missing a beat...

Six tanks moved to the position of the eighth company at once. There were no armor-piercing rifles, but there were grenades and Molotov cocktails. The soldiers looked expectantly at the front trench, in which the company commander, Senior Lieutenant Sergei Filippovich Lobachev, was located. The commander realized that now the main thing is not to lose this spirit when the soldiers are waiting for a decisive command. It was necessary to set an example, and he did not wait for the creeping, clanging hulk to fall on his trench. The ground was sandy, and the tank would crush a person like a bug.

Guys! - he shouted at the top of his voice, “This box is mine,” and, falling over the parapet, he crawled like a lizard, without raising his head and without lifting his body from the ground. He was most worried about the bottle, afraid of breaking it or spilling the precious liquid. He moved the bottle with his left hand, and in his right hand he clutched an anti-tank grenade. The tank walked, spitting out machine-gun bursts, but the bullets flew over. The distance was inexorably decreasing... 60... 40... 30 meters.

I changed the grenade and the bottle with the mixture from hand to hand. He froze for a minute. Then the senior lieutenant jumped out to his full height and threw a bottle, a second later a grenade, he himself fell to the side and rolled. An explosion was heard. Raising his head slightly, he saw how the sticky fuel was spreading like tongues of flame across the armor. Now you can’t get rid of it and, even more so, you can’t put out the fire when it has already embraced half of the hull. For another minute the tank crawled, and its inhabitants seemed not to understand what had happened. Then he suddenly stood up and spun around on his axis, splashing the earth around him.

Lobachev stood up slightly, guarding the tankers. Will they jump out of the top hatch or from the bottom? With weapons or not? The top hatch lid clanged, and he fell out of it like a sack, shouting at the top of his voice: “Mein Goth!” Main goth!” - tankman. His helmet and overalls were on fire. He began to roll around on the ground like a fire, and the senior lieutenant calmed him down with a pistol shot. The rapidly burning tank never released a single person from its belly. Feeling the unbearable heat of the burning metal, the senior lieutenant crawled away. He ran past him, shouting: “Now it’s my turn!” - senior political instructor Ivan Naumkin. He had a bunch of grenades in his hands. The senior lieutenant tried to move further along the slope, but someone from behind held him by the hem of his overcoat. He looked around - the liaison Sergei Kozachenko.

Comrade commander, they are waiting for you at the command post.

Regiment commander Abakumov called:

Take command of the first battalion. Kornienko was killed.

Lobachev wiped cold sweat from the face, and it became striped from burning. He began to control the battle: he sent some fighters with grenades and bottles against tanks, others repelled infantry and motorcyclists.

The political instructor and with him two daredevils - Abzhan Zhusupov and Nikolai Veselkov - who lay down in the craters, set fire to two tanks, but were killed by machine gunners hiding behind them. The third tank was knocked out by Efim Kulaev, throwing a bunch of grenades under the track. He crawled several meters, leaving a long steel ribbon. And he pinned everyone to the ground, firing desperately from a cannon and machine gun. Its fire seemed omnipresent; As soon as someone moved or crawled, the place was instantly showered with a swarm of bullets or a shell explosion. His rear was protected by a dozen machine gunners.

Ivan Shaharev managed to throw a Molotov cocktail. So he quickly threw it over his head to throw it, and at the same second from a machine gun burst it burst above him. Already hit by bullets, he managed to throw a second bottle from his left hand to his right and hit the tank. He himself, flaring up like a torch, fell to the ground...

Shocked soldiers with hoarse screams, without a command, got up and in several jumps reached the tank and destroyed 12 machine gunners. The tankers who fell out of the lower hatch, except one, were finished off with bayonets...

In the presentation for the posthumous award of the Order of the Red Banner of Battle about the Siberian’s feat it is said: “Ivan Shaharev, a private of the 2nd platoon of the 8th company of the 3rd battalion of the 813th rifle regiment of the 239th infantry division, while repelling a tank attack, set fire to an enemy tank and burned himself out.”

Then there was a short respite.

And one more day

Another day was ending. The 817th regiment suffered heavy losses. The reason was that he occupied the trenches of the 229th division, and they were targeted by the enemy in past battles. But the change of units occurred at night, and there was no time to equip new positions.

The regiment commander, battalion commander 2 and battalion commander 3, and many officers were out of action. Command was taken over by battalion commander 1 - Captain Martynov. There was no contact with the division: both the regimental and battalion radios were broken. This means that we must hold on until the order is given. The scouts reported: there were Germans all around. It was possible to retreat in the direction of the village of Velmino, but the scouts sent there reported that they were met by machine gun fire. The Nazis struck from afar and could not cause much harm. Yes, they apparently did not count on the destructive power of machine guns. For them it was important to cause confusion and fear in our soldiers with a crash and noise.

And in front, to the left and behind, everything was buzzing and buzzing. Guderian's mechanized force continued its work. You can still hold out until the morning, but in the morning the enemy will try to finish you off. They checked again: yes, there are fascist troops on both the left and the right. From the noise you can hear German tanks rumbling in the rear. So the regiment is surrounded? The Germans would not dare to act at night. And the morning did not promise anything good. First, a reconnaissance “frame” will appear, then the explosions of artillery shells, the roar of crawling tanks, the chatter of motorcyclists. Ammunition is running low. And there are many wounded...

Martynov summoned lieutenants Khabarenko, Vinogradov, Yakhnovsky, Khokhlov, Kozin, two Bystrov Aleksandrovs - Mikhailovich and Ivanovich, political instructors Mamontov, Samsonov. All of them were former platoon leaders, now commanding battalions and companies. They gathered as if for a military council.

“We must admit that we are surrounded,” Lieutenant Khokhlov began.

“Leave aside the encirclement,” Martynov said quietly. - Forget this concept. Encirclement is one of the types of combat. Unfortunately, before the war we were not taught this type. And they did it badly - to their own detriment. We will learn now, now, being separated from the main forces. - The captain, speaking these words, drove them like nails into the hearts of his subordinates.

May I contact you? - Political instructor of the second battalion Samsonov stood up. -You can't retreat. Before your eyes, German tanks broke into our rear during the day. Listen, even now they don’t turn off the engines. There is no connection with either the left or right flanks.

Why not? There is a connection! - suddenly rang out hoarse voice. To the box on which stood the homemade

lamp made from an artillery shell, an officer in a dirty and wet raincoat approached with a heavy gait. Martynov recognized the deputy chief of staff of the division, Major Timofey Stepanovich Fedorenko.

Like this! - he beamed and, getting up from the box, impulsively hugged and kissed Fedorenko. Thank you, Major, you have lifted an unprecedented burden from us.

Here’s your order, captain,” the major took a package from his tablet. - And please, a nurse. - He began to pull off his tunic, which was blackened on the left side with blood. - Not far from you, some crazy animal stung, and the horse was on the spot.

Having read the order, the captain folded it in half and put it in the breast pocket of his tunic.

Now the situation is becoming clearer. Comrade commanders, please get your cards.

Twenty-year-old orderly Lenya Belomin approached the major:

Let me take a look at you. - He wiped the wound with cotton wool soaked in vodka. - Tangential wound. Lucky you. - Then he placed two individual bags around it.

Thank you, young nurse! - The major smiled painfully. -Now let's all get closer to the map. - He sat down in the captain’s place and took out a pencil. - Look here. - Fedorenko aimed it at one of the points. - This is Bogoroditsk. - Here is Donskoy, then Stalinogorsk. Found it?

Yes sir!

One battalion needs to block the Bogoroditsk-Donskoy road, in this area, - and he outlined the villages of Krutoy Verkh, Yegoryevskoye, Smorodino - Do not withdraw without an order. Clear?

It's clear.

Move two battalions towards the mining village, having on the right flank the position of the 813th regiment in the area of the villages of Vasilyevka, Kamenka and the railway crossing of the Ryazhsk - Uzlovaya - Tula highway. Its units will cover Stalinogorsk. The enemy, having cut the Bogoroditsk-Uzlovaya railway, is now seeking to take Donskoy and Stalinogorsk. With the capture of these cities, he will enter the operational space and move, no longer having any fortified lines in front of him, with one flank towards Venev, the other towards Mikhailov. Is that also clear?

Yes sir!

Then... read the order, captain.

The order repeated the same thing that the major had said, but to carry it out it was necessary to begin action immediately, which was done. The second and third battalions, brought together under the command of senior lieutenant Ballo Vasily Mikhailovich, were ordered, leaving a covering platoon, to begin retreating towards the village of mines No. 23-24 and gain a foothold at the edge of the forest. In the middle, place a convoy with the wounded, the number of which exceeded two hundred people. Try to send them to Donskoy, where two field hospitals have been deployed.

The first battalion will move out in an hour in the direction of the village of Velminka, if possible, bypass it: no - knock out the Germans and by morning be at the Yegoryevskoye - Krutoy Verkh line. Be sure to dig into the ground.

The command is entrusted to Lieutenant Khabarenko Vasily Lukich. When the commanders dispersed, Fedorenko asked Martynov:

How many fighters are there in the first battalion?

There is no battalion, major. Its remnants were consolidated into a company. There are one hundred and eighty people in the company who are capable of fulfilling their soldier's duty...

Yeah, war...

What will you give to the company now? After all, she needs to be given time to burrow into the ground.

By dawn we will move forward a battery of forty-fives and a platoon of mortars.

What about machine guns?

Not much, of course.

And two wedges.

Any questions? - asked Major Fedorenko.

Of course there were questions. Will a company really be able to do today what a regiment and battalion could not do in two days? In addition, the soldiers had not rested for two days; they had not even warmed up properly. And the Germans are keeping their ears open! They will try to knock down this small barrier with their armored fist. And instead of asking a question, Captain Martynov said:

Fedorenko looked at him intently:

It will be difficult, Martynov. I say this directly. We need to hold out until tomorrow evening. But let this stay between us. You understood me?

The captain really understood the meaning of his words. The battalion, that is, the company, will have to fight alone, to the last. And none of the fighters should know that they won’t have to count on help until the very end. And he said, as if it had been decided long ago:

I'm staying with the company...

The major approached and squeezed his hands tightly.

I will report to division headquarters. And now I will move with your soldiers to the 813th regiment. My command post will be there. I'll send a walkie-talkie, but in the meantime, keep in touch by horse messenger. Agreed?

Poems by Misha Timoshechkin

Remember, at the beginning of the story I wrote that Sergeant Leonid Nikitovich Rodionov, the gun commander, who was listed as killed during the defense of Donskoy, turned out to be alive, was in Moscow this year, received an award - the Order of the Red Banner of Battle - which found him 44 years later. In response to my letter, he sent two thick notebooks with memories, on the basis of which the next chapter was written.

As I asked, he talked about the battle on November 20, 1941 near the village of Rodinka, which is located behind the Podlesny village near the 26th and 44th mines. This was his first and last battle, in which he destroyed 4 enemy tanks (killed Nazis no one counted), was wounded three times and picked up by orderlies of the neighboring 813th regiment. He also told about his fellow countrymen-artillerymen who died in the tomb. But he began the letter with poems that literally shocked me. I sent a telegram: “Who is the author?” and he replied: “Our regimental poet, who was in that battle, gunner Misha Timoshechkin.”

These are the verses:

These were all living people.

Without wanting to go back,

In brand new greatcoats at the guns

The men are lying dead.

They took them from the harvest to become soldiers,

There wasn't even a day to rest.

A little awkward and baggy,

As if they were to blame for someone.

They were on their way from the village councils.

Terrible autumn weeks.

The enemy is near the villages near Moscow.

The guns have gray overcoats.

We started a new workday.

The distance was drowned in smoke and noise.

The enemy has been driven back. He stepped back.

In brand new greatcoats at the guns

“New - brand new - overcoats... Warm soaks the blood...”

These words are so powerful that it seems that at the last minute before death a person’s entire young, short (twenty to twenty-two years) life is replayed in his consciousness. Men, soldiers, plowmen, grooms died defending us and everything to come. Their life, which did not have time to begin properly, was cut short by the war. And how many things awaited them!

Only memory has waited. Eternal memory...

“... We, those who have returned, those who have survived, value today’s life, its imperishable beauty differently, differently,” writes Leonid Nikitovich Rodionov. “That’s how my fellow artillerymen would value her if she were alive: battery commander Arkady Chazov, gunners Andrei Ballov, Luka Elkin, Sasha Neiman, Mitya Kolpashnikov, Vasily Kalinin and my fellow villager Artem Bulavka, who, in my opinion, accomplished a superhuman feat and in the last minutes of his life, having fulfilled his soldier’s duty...”

Feat of the artillerymen

By dawn on November 20, the battery's firing position was equipped. The guns were located about ten meters from each other. Ditches were dug to shelter crews and niches for shells. In front of the battery, moving forward, a platoon of riflemen under Lieutenant Mikhail Marinov with five anti-tank rifles dug in. In front of them, half a kilometer away, stood several stacks of either unthreshed bread or straw. And behind the battery, tens of meters away, there was one stack. Telephone operators Ivan Spirin and Alexey Tupitsyn settled down under it. In a long ditch, squeezing as far as possible into the walls, gunmen Alexander Savin, Semyon Bakhturov, Chuguev, Evdokimov, Litvyakov in clay-stained overcoats sat with hasty insatiability smoking thick cigarettes. There were also riders Gamayunov and Nikishin who did not have time to go to their horses.

A German “frame” appeared on the horizon. The plane was flying from the positions abandoned at night. I flew straight towards the battery at an altitude of 150-200 meters. And as it approached, machine-gun streams began to shoot out from it. After its flight, several were wounded, and a straw sweeper caught fire. This is of no use anymore. This is a reference point for enemies. The plane circled over Captain Martynov’s battalion, which had not yet dug in, and, after scribbling for order, turned to the right, flying back.

All! - said Sergeant Alexey Nekhoroshev. - Now wait for more impressive “guests”.

The battery commander, senior lieutenant Arkady Chazov, jumped into an uncomfortably small and narrow trench, where

Connection history:

Formed in March 1941 in the Far East as the 239th Motorized Division. In early August '41. The division was reorganized into the 239th Infantry Division. 817mp became rifle, 813mp and 112tp were transferred to the newly formed 112td, instead of 813mp, 813sp and 239sp were formed from recruits from the Krasnoyarsk Territory and Novosibirsk. region..

According to the recollections of the first division commander G. O. Martirosyan, with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the division replenished its staff from Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk and began to intensively engage in combat training. The officers were trained and experienced personnel.

On October 17, 1941, the division received an order to be transferred to the west. After five days of training, from October 22, the division's personnel and equipment departed by rail in 23 trains with loading at the Khorolsk station for the Western Front. On November 3, 1941, the division unloaded in the city of Kuibyshev (now Samara), where on November 7 it took part in the parade in honor of the 24th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. The parade was hosted by the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR M.I. Kalinin and Marshal Soviet Union K.E. Voroshilov, with whom the division leadership then met to receive further instructions. Their instructions and instructions boiled down to the following: a) organize a strong defense with anti-tank and anti-personnel barriers, making extensive use of engineering forces and means; b) uninterruptedly lead the troops (not move away from military units and formations); c) serve as a personal example for subordinates, inspiring them; d) resolutely fight against fear of tanks, organize special groups armed with grenades and Molotov cocktails to destroy enemy tanks; e) through active actions, counter-offensives and fire, destroy the enemy’s manpower and equipment; e) fighting carried out mainly at night; g) in the event of the predominance of enemy aviation, train troops to quickly disperse and use all firepower to shoot down enemy dive bombers.

She loaded again on November 11-13, 1941 and departed in 23 echelons at the disposal of the Western Front with unloading at the Zhdanka and Uzlovaya stations in the Tula region. On November 14, 1941, the division began unloading at the Uzlovaya station (southeast of Tula) and actually entered the battle on wheels. The division was tasked with defense on a wide front (30 km) to close the junction of the Western and Southwestern fronts and the direction to Ryazan. On November 15, the 239th Rifle Division was the first to enter the battle straight from the wheels as the lead one, and on November 17, the division fully entered the battle.

On November 18, German tank units from Guderian's 1TA went on the offensive at the junction of 413 and 299SD 50A. Until November 18, the division was part of the 3A Southwestern Front. After unloading, the division went on the offensive from Uzlovaya to Dedilovo, Kireyevka, Lunevka on the flank of Guderian’s advancing group, but on November 19, its neighbors on the right - the remnants of the 299th Rifle Division (withdrew to the north) and on the left 41kd (withdrew to Bogorodsa) abandoned their positions under enemy pressure.

According to the memoirs of the commander of the German 2nd Tank Army, G. Guderian, “On November 17, we received information about the unloading of Siberians at the Uzlovaya station, as well as about the unloading of other units in the Ryazan-Kolomna section. The 112th Infantry Division encountered fresh Siberian troops. Due to the fact that at the same time the division was attacked by Russian tanks from the Dedilovo direction, its weakened units were not able to withstand this onslaught... Things came to a panic that gripped the front sector to Bogoroditsk. This panic, which arose for the first time since the beginning of the Russian campaign, was a serious warning, indicating that our infantry had exhausted its combat effectiveness and was no longer capable of major efforts. The situation at the front of the 112th Infantry Division was corrected by the own efforts of the 53rd Army Corps, which turned the 167th Infantry Division to Uzlovaya."

On 11/21/1941, in connection with the breakthrough of German tank units in the defense zones of the 299th and 413th rifle divisions, it was transferred to the 50th Army and was sent directly to strengthen the defense of Uzlovaya station.

From 11/22/1941 to 11/25/1941, together with the 41st Cavalry Division, she fought for Stalinogorsk (now Novomoskovsk). November 21-22 German troops bypassing the division's defenses from the open flanks, they captured Uzlovaya, Mikhailov and Epifan. The division's flanks were exposed. Having bypassed the right flank of the division, the German 29th and 10th infantry divisions reached its rear. The 813th Infantry Regiment (Colonel G. A. Gogolitsyn) held the defense in the area of the village of Urvanka, modern Children's park, Birch Grove, the villages of the 26th and 27th mines, two divisions of the 688th howitzer artillery regiment of Colonel Minko repelled attacks in front of the recreation park, the 817th rifle regiment of Major Melnikov was located on the northwestern outskirts of the city, and the 239th Colonel Solovyov's regiment defended the city of Donskoy. On November 24, after fierce fighting, the remnants of the 239th Infantry Division retreated to the line along the left bank of the Don. The group covering the retreat was surrounded by the Germans in the village of Urvanka and destroyed after a two-hour battle. On November 25, Stalinogorsk was completely occupied by Wehrmacht units.

According to the memoirs of the commander of the 2nd Tank Army, G. Guderian, “On November 26, the 53rd Army Corps approached the Don, crossed it with the forces of the 167th Infantry Division at Ivan Lake and attacked the Siberians northeast of this settlement near Donskaya. The valiant division captured 42 guns, a number of vehicles and up to 4,000 prisoners. From the east, the 29th Motorized Division of the 47th Tank Corps attacked the Siberians, as a result of which the enemy was surrounded.”

Finding himself surrounded without fuel and with a small amount of ammunition, and with up to 800 people wounded, the commander of the 239th Infantry Division, Colonel G. O. Martirosyan, decided to break out of the encirclement. On the night of November 25-26, the division struck the village of Spasskoye and, during a three-hour battle, destroyed the German regiment located there. A large number of trophies were captured, including the regimental banner. Meanwhile, German units again connected the encirclement ring near Olkhovets, cutting off the vanguard 817th Infantry Regiment from the main forces of the division. On the night of November 27, units of the division broke through the encirclement for the second time, destroying up to two infantry battalions, and in the Getmanovka area - the headquarters of the German 29th motorized division, where staff documents and maps were captured. In the area of the village of Olkhovchik, the division commander decided to leave all artillery, vehicles and convoys due to the lack of fuel. The picture of the defeat was witnessed by G. Guderian, who arrived on the morning of November 27 at the headquarters of the 47th Panzer Corps: “The main forces of the 239th Siberian Rifle Division, leaving their artillery and vehicles, broke out of the encirclement and went east. The extended encirclement line of units of the 29th Motorized Division was unable to contain the Russians who had broken through and suffered heavy losses... The reliability of the messages I received was evidenced by the numerous corpses of German soldiers who lay on the battlefield in full military uniform and with weapons in their hands... The Siberians eluded us, however, without our heavy weapons and vehicles, and we did not have the strength to detain them. This was the saddest event of that day. The pursuit of the escaping enemy, immediately undertaken by the motorcycle units of the 29th Motorized Division, did not yield any results.”

11/27/1941 successfully broke through the enemy encirclement in the Krasnoye Solntsevo area (east of Sokolniki) and left it in an eastern direction. The remnants of the division (about 9 thousand people without heavy weapons) reach Pronsk (Ryazan region) on November 27-30.

Here the division is assigned to the second echelon of Lieutenant General Golikov's 10A, which was advancing from the Ryazan region. By December 5, the deployment of 10A at the Zaraysk-Pronsk line was completed. In addition to the 239sd, the army also included: 322, 323, 324, 325, 326, 330sd and 57.75kd. From December 7, 41 10A went on the offensive in the sector from Serebryannye Prudy to Mikhailov. Initially, the division, together with the 325th Rifle Division, formed the reserve of the commander of 10A. Participated in the liberation of Gorlovo. On December 17-20, she fought for the village of Teploye, Upskoye, Bonyakovo. After our troops occupied Plavsk, units 10A continued their rapid offensive in the direction of Belev and Kozelsk. On December 23, the village takes over. Arsenyevo, and December 25 Odoevo. Having crossed the Oka, Kozelsk leaves by December 29. German aviation, taking advantage of the small number of anti-aircraft weapons our troops have and complete absence in the air, our fighter aircraft continuously bombed and fired at our advancing columns. Since it was possible to move only along roads, and there was nowhere to hide, this had a strong moral impact on our troops and somewhat delayed the advance, but naturally it could not completely stop the offensive. The enemy did not have his troops in the Kozelsk area. The divisions of the right wing 10A (239 and 324 SD), having encountered only railway and security units along the Belev-Kozelsk highway, quickly broke their resistance. In Kozelsk itself, enemy resistance was weak. To ref. On December 29, Kozelsk was completely cleared of the enemy. Large trophies were captured at the station, in particular 30 wagons with New Year's gifts for German soldiers. The enemy units retreating from Likhvin to Kozelsk were defeated by Belov’s cavalrymen.

Then the division set out in the direction of Sukhinichi, where it reached on the morning of January 2, 1942. The 323rd and 324th Rifle Division approached Sukhinichi from the southwest and southeast, surrounding the station garrison. January 3 sowing Sukhinichi destroyed a large enemy convoy of 40-50 carts moving from Meshchovsk. From January 1 to January 5, he fought unsuccessfully for Sukhinichi. Continuing the offensive to the north, she captured Belikovo by January 5 and reached Meshchovsk (two companies were left to block Sukhinichi), and on January 7 she captured Serpeisk. On January 10, he came under the command of the commander of the 1st GvKK, Lieutenant General Belov, and fought on the approaches to Varshavskoye Highway. in the area of Nov. Roshcha, Star. Grove, Savinki. On January 12, he leaves the subordination of Belov and, advancing to the west, takes possession of Chumazovo, Zamoshye and approaches Zanoznaya. On January 17, he went to the Savinka area, where he again came under the command of the commander of the 1st GvKK. On January 20, it reaches the highway in the Caucasus region, which facilitates the breakthrough of the GvKK cavalrymen across the highway. Since January 26, in connection with the breakthrough of the 1st GvKK through the Varshavskoe highway. defends the Sapovo, Zonino, Star strip. Grove fired at enemy columns moving along the highway. Occupies defense in a 32 km area at the junction of 10 and 50 armies with only 400-500 acts. bayonets. During February '42. conducts defensive battles in the Sapovo, Star sector. Grove.

On 02/05/1942 the division was subordinated to the 250th Airborne Regiment, from the 201st Airborne Brigade. From the end of February to May 1942, it waged heavy offensive battles on the approaches to the Warsaw Highway, so on March 16, 1942, the division unsuccessfully advanced on Chichkovo (25 kilometers west of Mosalsk), and on April 22, 1942, it fought together with the 112th Tank Brigade for the settlement Malinovsky. The division's losses in battles were: Dec. 41 6302 people, Jan. 42g. 1960 people, Feb. 42g. 773 people, March '42 2290 people. In February-March 42. received 4690 people. replenishment. In the summer of '42 was withdrawn for replenishment and transferred to Rzhev.

Participated in the Rzhev-Sychevsk operation of the Western Front as part of 31A. It was brought into battle on the second day of the operation on August 5, 42, advancing on Zubtsov. Having bypassed the town of Zubtsov from the south, by 08/08/1942 it reached the western bank of the Vazuza River. On the night of August 11, a bridgehead was captured in the area of the village of Krasnoe (south Zubtsova). However, the expansion of the bridgehead met fierce resistance from the enemy. Only on August 23, in connection with the general retreat of the enemy from the bridgehead to the north. the bank of the Volga and from Zubtsov itself, they managed to liberate the western part of the city. In further heavy battles, the regiment slowly advanced in battles until September 16, 1942 towards Rzhev and was stopped at the near approaches to Rzhev.

Since November 1942, it has been participating in the Rzhev-Vyazemsk operation; apparently it was in the second echelon of the army, since in December 1942 the condition of the division allowed it to be transferred to the Volkhov Front.

From January 14, 43 with the attached 16th Tank Brigade, participates in breaking the siege of Leningrad, advances south of Workers' Village No. 5, then, following the tank brigade, occupied Workers' Village No. 6, which it actively defended until the beginning of February 1943, then was transferred to the front reserve, and transferred to the Porechye region. In August 1943, it advanced from a bridgehead in the Porechye region during the Mginsk operation, but was unsuccessful.

During the Novgorod-Luga operation, having 6352 people, it advanced from the bridgehead north of Podberezye as part of an attack group; on the first day of the offensive, January 14, 1944, the adjacent flank, together with the 310th Infantry Division, broke through the first line of enemy defense, the 511th Infantry The regiment, brought in together with the 16th Tank Brigade from the second echelon, reached the rear of the enemy’s defensive line. On the left flank the division fought for Zapolye. Then units of the division cut the Finev Lug - Novgorod road, continued the offensive to the west, 01/28-29/1944 fought for Sable and Podborovye, advanced between Oredezh and Batetskaya, by February 1944 they reached the western bank of the Luga River, after which it was removed from the front line and sent for completion.

June 22-24 '44 A general offensive began in the central sector of the Soviet-German front with the goal of liberating Belarus. To pin down enemy units in the GRA North sector and improve the position of our troops on the left flank of 67A Romanovsky, the army command prepared a private offensive operation. It was supposed to break through the enemy's defenses from Islands forces 119 and 123SK in the direction of Skomorokhovka station. Before the offensive, the 239th Rifle Division spent several weeks in continuous training to overcome enemy defenses.

On the morning of June 23, after a powerful 1.5 hour artillery barrage, our troops went on the offensive. In breakthrough areas, the density of artillery fire reached 110 and even 150 guns per km of the breakthrough front. The breakthrough was supposed to be carried out by the forces of engineer. glanders. battalions and penal battalions. After which it was planned to introduce units of 326 and 239 SD into the breakthrough. Having gone on the offensive after the artillery barrage, our troops broke through the enemy’s first defensive line and, having captured the Utkino-Gorodets settlement, began to advance to the temporary storage facility. imm. Kirov. German troops launched continuous counterattacks using tanks. These counterattacks became especially fierce on June 24, when the enemy launched attacks up to 20 times, delaying the advance of our troops. On the evening of June 24, German troops launched a decisive counterattack. Strong reserves were brought to the breakthrough site - up to PD and 502tb with tiger tanks. Up to 50 tanks and self-propelled guns took part in the attack. Our forward battalions, lacking large-caliber artillery, under fire from heavy enemy tanks, lost the light anti-tank artillery operating in infantry combat formations and were unable to provide adequate resistance to the enemy. The tanks that broke through disrupted control in the battalion-regiment link. All commanders of regiments, battalions and companies were put out of action, and the infantry, lacking firm control and suffering heavy losses, began to withdraw. positions. The division's losses from June 23 to June 26 amounted to 1,916 people. The commander of the 817sp sub was killed. Golovin, commander of the 813sp, died of wounds, the commander of the 811sp, Major Timchenko, was wounded and evacuated. The artillery regiment commander also died. During the German counterattack on June 24, the division suffered heavy losses by the morning of June 25, 1944. The units of the 511th and 817th joint venture, which had lost control, mostly retreated to their original line. The captured German strongholds of Voshchinino-Zuyevo held the remnants of the 12th Special Operations Brigade with the support of the soldiers of the 511th and 817th joint ventures who did not panic, the only survivors of the 33rd Guards. TTP of the SU-152 self-propelled gun and the KV tank, as well as the SU-85 724 SAP, also the only one remaining combat-ready from the regiment for the day. Only 813 SP and 688 AP, which participated in the battles until the end of the operation, retained combat effectiveness in the division; the remaining two regiments were transferred to the army reserve on June 25. To ref. On June 26, the remnants of the division were withdrawn from the battle and transferred to the 14SK for reorganization.

Takes part in the Rezhitsko-Dvina offensive operation, (07/26/1944, for another failure to carry out combat missions, the culprit of the defeat that happened a month before, the division commander, Colonel A. Ya. Ordanovsky, was removed from his post) 07/27/1944 takes part in the liberation of Daugavpils, Polotsk offensive operation, 08/10/1944 liberates the city of Viesite, then participates in the Riga and Memel offensive operations. In January 1945, it was put into reserve, replenished, and in February 1945 it was transferred to Poland, where it took part in the Upper Silesian and Lower Silesian operations. Ended the war with participation in the Prague operation. Disbanded in the summer of 1945.

Commanders:

Martirosyan Gayk Oganesovich (03/10/1941 - 08/29/1942), colonel
Chernyshev Pyotr Nikolaevich (08/30/1942 - 01/21/1943), major general
Kozachek Sergei Borisovich (01/22/1943 - 12/11/1943), colonel, from 03/31/1943 major general

The division, having on the right flank parts of the 3rd and 4th tank divisions and up to a motorized infantry regiment, its own units gone far to the north, and behind them the enemy, is fighting heavy battles. At the same time, in front of the front, units of the 116th Infantry Division (partially defeated near Bogoroditsk) were advancing from the south against the division, and units of the fresh 263rd Infantry Division began to appear on the left flank.

Until November 22, 1941, the division waged stubborn, grueling battles and launched frequent (day and night) enemy counterattacks on the right flank near Bolshaya Rassoshka and in the center near Polunino and Maryinka stations.

On November 22, 1941, the enemy, with up to 60 tanks and two motorized regiments, captured Uzlovaya with a blow from the north-west and resumed attacks along the entire front. By this time, a large movement of enemy vehicles with tanks to the east towards Epifani and the appearance of enemy motorized infantry on the extreme left flank had been established. divisions (the 41st Cavalry Division retreated to the Bobrik-Donskoy area, complicating the division’s position). The division began to have both flanks open, on which they hung: on the right - units of the 3rd and 4th tank divisions with motorized infantry, in Uzlovaya, in the center - units of the 116th and 263rd infantry divisions, and on the left flank - units of 10 1st motorized infantry division.

On the night of November 22, 1941, the division retreated to Bobrik-Donskoy, where it again went on the defensive.

On November 22, the division moves to the defense of the strip: Urvanka, Stalinogorsk-1, Bobrik-Donskoy station, Nikolskoye.

By the evening of November 22, 1941, the division was approaching the defense line from Stalinogorsk-2, Uzlovaya, Smorodino, and was again engaged in heavy battles with the enemy.

The 239th Rifle Regiment, with fire and frequent counterattacks, holds back the enemy trying to advance on Bobrik-Donskoy from the front.

On November 23, 1941, enemy pressure intensified on the right flank, in the center, and from Mikhailovka the enemy launched an offensive (on the left flank) to the rear on Bobriki, by the same time enemy motorized units appeared in Spasskoye, Petrovochka (operating from Epifan station north to Mikhailov ). The division's rear and escape routes to the north were cut off.

The division continues to fight and hold the enemy near Stalinogorsk-1, Bobrik-Donsk from November 22 until the end of November 25, 1941. The division's flanks turned out to be completely open; the 41st Cavalry Division, under enemy attack, left the Epifan station to the north. The division has no communications. Enemy motorized units with tanks operate in the rear.

Alexey MELIKHOV
THE DIVISION STANDED TO THE DEATH!
To the soldiers of the 239th Infantry Division, alive and fallen in November 1941
during the defense of the cities of Donskoy, Stalinogorsk, Uzlovaya
This documentary story is dedicated to
From the author

This story is based on real events that occurred from November 17 to 27, 1941. There is not a single fictitious person in it. Documents from the Central Archive of the USSR Ministry of Defense, memories of eyewitnesses and participants in those bitter, tragic battles when the fate of Moscow and the Motherland were decided were used here.
The soldiers - living and dead - managed in the most difficult military situation to subjugate their hearts with their unyielding determination and iron will, overcome fear and stand to the death.
To identify the names of more than 300 soldiers of the 239th Rifle Division who died during the defense of the Don region in November 1941, whose ashes were buried in the mass graves of Komsomolsky and Podlesny (formerly Kursk) villages, I had to read and study more than 13 thousand reports, reports, etc. documents. I leafed through the papers, scorched by the fire of '41, and before my mind's eye the events of the battles in which the Russian people defended literally every meter of their native land, abundantly watering it with their blood, were clearly visible.
Here is one of the reports from the commander of the 817th Infantry Regiment, Colonel Melnikov, to the division headquarters for No. 4836: “As a result of 3-day battles near the villages of Krutoy Verkh and Yegoryevskoye, the regiment lost more than half of its personnel.”
And one more thing, which served as the impetus for writing this documentary story: “The commander of the gun crew, Sergeant Leonid Rodionov, twice wounded, knocked out four German tanks and died in an unequal battle. The second number from his crew, Artem Bulavka, received 5 wounds and died on the way to the medical battalion.”
Having made the necessary extracts, I handed over the material for verification. The next day, the head of one of the departments, Lieutenant Colonel Lukashev, called me:
— In your lists, the gun captain, Sergeant Leonid Nikitovich Rodionov, born in 1919, a native of the Novosibirsk region, from the village of Stogur, is listed among the dead.
- Yes. The report of irretrievable losses for the first battalion of the 817th regiment states that it died while repelling a tank attack on November 20, 1941 in the Donskoy area, near the village of Krutoy Verkh. Relatives have been notified of the death...
— Rodionov remained alive. Shortly before the 40th anniversary of the Victory, he came to Moscow to receive the Order of the Red Banner for that battle.

Alexey Vasilievich Melikhov

... My letter flew by airmail to distant Siberia. In response, two notebooks with memories came. Among them were the addresses of several former soldiers of the 239th division who took part in those fierce battles near the city of Donskoy. I wrote many letters to the Krasnoyarsk, Khabarovsk, Ussuri territories and other regions. Gray-haired veterans Viktor Petrovich Kozlov and Rakhmatul Azizov responded. Andrey Semenovich Kopytov and others. It is impossible to read these priceless testimonies and simple stories without emotion and tears.

From memories
MARSHAL OF THE SOVIET UNION G. K. ZHUKOV

“... In the Tula-Venevsky direction, where the 229th and 413th rifle divisions of the 50th Army were defending, on November 18, 1941, enemy troops consisting of the third, fourth and seventeenth tank divisions, breaking through the defenses, captured the Bolokhovo-Dedilovo-Uzlovaya area. To counter them in the Uzlovaya-Donskoy-Stalinogorsk area, we urgently sent the 239th Siberian Rifle Division and the units attached to it.
Fierce battles, distinguished by the heroism of our troops, did not stop day or night. The fighters fought stubbornly and fought to the death, but on November 21, Donskoy, Uzlovaya and Stalinogorsk were occupied by the main forces of Guderian’s tank army.”

From memories
FORMER DIVISION COMMANDER 239 RIFLE DIVISION COLONEL, LATER LIEUTENANT GENERAL, GAIK OGANESOVICH MARTIROSYAN

“... On November 13, 1941, in the city of Orsha, the Chief of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces, Colonel General Halder, held a meeting with the commanders of the armies of the Center group, at which Hitler’s order for a “general” attack on Moscow was announced. At the same time, the commander of the 2nd Panzer Army, Colonel General Guderian, was given an additional task: to deeply bypass Moscow from the southeast, and, having captured the city of Gorky, cut it off from the Volga and Ural rear.
For this purpose, Guderian was assigned the 53rd Army Corps and the 18th Panzer Division, which operated in the territory Tula region against the troops of the Southwestern Front: the 3rd Army of Major General A.G. Kreyer and the 13th Army of Major General A.T. Gorodnyansky. At the same meeting, the commander of Army Group Center, Field Marshal von Bock, approved the plan for the attack of the Second Tank Army on Moscow and Gorky. The main blow was delivered to Donskoy, Stalinogorsk, Uzlovaya - at the junction of the Western and Southwestern fronts to bypass the left flank of the 50th Army of General Boldin with further development attacks on Kashira and Ryazan. After capturing the crossings across the Oka River, it was planned to meet with the 3rd and 4th tank groups, which would close the “pincers” around Moscow. However, without the capture of Tula, it was impossible to count on the development of the offensive.
The 24th head tank corps of General von Geyr operated directly near Tula, and the third and fourth tank divisions, having cut the Tula-Venev highway, reached the Voronezh-Moscow highway and covered Tula from the northeast and east. Fresh units of the 25th Motorized Division and the 296th Infantry Division (“Deer Head”) arrived from the Orel area near Tula.
The 167th Infantry Division advanced on Venev through the Zavodskoy district of northern Stalinogorsk, and the 112th German Infantry Division through the Gorodskoy district of southern Stalinogorsk. The 47th Panzer Corps of General von Lemelsen had the task of capturing Donskoy with the 29th Motorized Division and rushing to Spassky and Gremyache. To the south, the tenth motorized division should capture the city of Mikhailov through Bogoroditsk and Epifan.
Due to the concentration of enemy troops on the approaches to Donskoy and Stalinogorsk, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command sent the 239th Infantry and 41st Cavalry Divisions to this area to close the gap between the Western and Southwestern Fronts. The 239th division was commanded by me, the 41st cavalry division by Colonel M.V. Tumashev.
By the beginning of the German offensive, our defensive lines and units were located in the following order: on the line Bogoroditsk - Epifan - 41st Cavalry Division, on the line of settlements Yulinka - Cheremkhovka - Marinka - Polunino station - Yegoryevskoye - Krugoy Verkh - Kamenka - ours, 239- me, with the artillery division of the 702nd artillery anti-tank regiment attached to it and several tanks from the 125th separate tank battalion.

Hero of the Soviet Union Alexey Dmitrievich Tereshkov

The approaches to Stalinogorsk on the Bolokhov Heights were defended by the 413th Infantry Division of Hero of the Soviet Union A.D. Tereshkov with the 32nd Tank Brigade of Colonel I.I. Yushuk and the Katyusha mortar division attached to it. The 299th Infantry Division of Colonel I.F. Seregin fought in the Dedilov area. In Uzlovaya, forming the second echelon, two battalions of the 180th NKVD regiment and a detachment of tankers (250 people without vehicles) from the 11th Tank Brigade of Major Toloko took positions.
In front of the chemical plant, along the line of settlements Ilyinka - Vasilyevka - Maklets station - Shakhovskoye, the 108th tank division of Colonel S. A. Ivanov, as well as the battalion of the 180th NKVD regiment and the 336th separate anti-aircraft artillery division, defended.
On the approaches to Donskoy, Stalinogorsk, and Uzlovaya, the enemy created a fourfold superiority in personnel and a sixfold superiority in tanks and artillery. As a result, an extremely complex and difficult situation was created on the left flank of the Western Front...”

The division occupies the defensive line

The 239th Infantry Division unloaded at night, hidden from the enemy, observing all sorts of elements of silence and blackout on a fairly large section of the front, almost thirty kilometers long, as seen from Venev. The 239th Infantry Regiment first took up positions at the Dedilovo station, turning its front to Bolokhovo, touching the left flank with units of the 43rd Cavalry Division. The battalions of the 813th regiment occupied a line along the railway in front of the Uzlovaya-3, Uzlovaya-1 and Uzlovaya-2 stations. The 817th Regiment came into contact with the enemy in the area of the villages of Yulinka - Fedorovka - Pritony - Art. Polunino is the northern edge of the Bogoroditsky forest. The city of Bogoroditsk was already in the hands of the Nazis.

German tank and motorized units, having cut the Voronezh-Moscow highway, crushing the thinned units of the 229th and 82nd rifle divisions, rushed from the settlements of Kireevka, Aleksandrovka, Dubovka, Bykovka and others to the exit to the steel highway. And the command of the Western Front needed to hold this area for at least a few days in order to have time to remove valuable equipment from the Stalinogorsk chemical plant, miners’ families and, most importantly, to prepare the Ryazan bridgehead for the planned counterattack on the entire front near Moscow. The soldiers of the 239th division, who were preparing for battle with the enemy, did not know that there were no more troops behind them for almost a hundred kilometers right up to the borders with the Ryazan region. The 817th Regiment replaced the remnants of the 113th Regiment of the 229th Infantry Division, exhausted and thinned out in bloody battles, but managed to hold its sector for several days, keeping the enemy away from the railway. There were only a few tired soldiers left around the battalion, their wet greatcoats smelling of sweat and gunpowder fumes. In the predawn darkness, making room for the Siberians in the trenches, they briefly introduced themselves and, saying goodbye, tried to joke:
- We wish you guys to work hard. In the morning you will see our work here, nearby. So don’t be bored, we’ll take a little break and come back.
In a shallow dugout, a young lieutenant, who replaced the battalion commander who was out of action, leisurely marked on the map of the commander of the battalion that replaced them, Captain Martynov, the enemy firing points spotted yesterday, and outlined the situation in detail. Then, in last time looking around the dugout, he put his hands on the captain’s shoulders and said:
- Well, goodbye, captain! I sincerely wish to fulfill the military order and kill more reptiles to fertilize our land.
- Thank you, Lieutenant. I think we won’t disgrace ourselves, we’ll survive...

Newspaper "Red Star" No. 299 dated December 20, 1941

The regiment had two batteries of forty-fives, a mortar company and four light tanks, unloaded from the train with which the regiment arrived, at its disposal. The first battalion occupied trenches on the outskirts of the village of Yulinka, half a kilometer from the forest. The second is in front of the village of Pritony, the third is behind the Polunino station building. Gun and mortar positions could only be selected at dawn. And he advanced slowly, slowly.
There was a time in nature when autumn was at the junction with winter. She did not want to give in to either the snow or the frost. On the plain there is a layer of snow as thick as a pancake, and in some places there is none at all. Here and there one could see the furrows of black arable land and completely bare hillocks.
...As soon as the edge of the sun appeared, German motorcyclists poured out of the forest. Not knowing about the change of units, they immediately decided to break through the defense here, and, widening the breakthrough, rush with one wing along railway to UZLOVAYA, and through Velminka to Donskoy.

Baptism of fire
(FROM THE MEMORIES OF VIKTOR PAVLOVICH KOZLOV)

“It was just starting to get light, we began to equip the trenches and deepen them. Our regiment commander, Colonel Melnikov, walked along them and said:
- Soldiers! Remember this day! Remember the name of this village. What a tender girl's name she has - Yulinka. Here we will take the first battle and show the fascists our Siberian character.
We remembered. But then they did not know that after almost ten days of fighting from the 1st battalion, after leaving the encirclement, only a platoon of us would be left alive, and then nine people from the platoon. Seeing and hearing our commander, we guessed: he was thinking about how the soldiers would lead when meeting the enemy face to face. Yes, we understood that at this point we would face our first exam. And he came...
Motorcyclists first followed in a column of two, then changed into four in a row. They walked at high speed. The soldiers from the forward guard were the first to open fire. Two motorcycles overturned. Immediately, rifle platoons of lieutenants Ivan Yakhnovsky and Mikhail Zharinov struck with targeted fire and volleys. Now more than a dozen have turned over. The remaining cars turned sharply and, desperately crackling their engines, rushed to their heels. But even here they were overtaken by the bullets of the Siberians - after all, we were regulars, served for the second year and were hardened on the Far Eastern border.
At that time, I was a liaison officer at the battalion command post, located in a small dugout in the center of our positions.
“They acted correctly,” I heard the voice of the battalion commander, Captain I. A. Martynov, speaking with the commander of the third company, Lieutenant Vasily Khabarenko, on the phone. - Now hold on. The Nazis will try to retaliate. They will cover us with artillery fire, and then the tanks will move.
He contacted all the companies in turn, then the artillerymen. He gave orders in an even, calm voice. For the rest of my life I will remember this wonderful man, a stern and courageous warrior who devoted all his strength and knowledge to the combat training of fighters. Now he was leading us into our first battle. He looked at us, the messengers, and said:
- Go to your companies. Now you will be needed there more.

Position of German 100 mm guns near Bolokhov

And so it began. The Nazis realized that they had fresh forces in front of them and did not spare shells. The ground beneath us began to shake. Howling, whistling, roaring, grinding, clanging, thunder... Although the sun was rising, it became dark from the smoke and dust. The stench took my breath away. The soldiers stood stunned in the trenches, and lumps of earth, stones, pieces of trees and it was not clear what else fell on their heads. I don’t know how long this hell lasted. And suddenly everything became quiet. The silence that followed was so unexpected that everyone leaned out of the trenches. But in this silence, something broke through from all sides:
- The orderly is here!
- To the left flank of the orderlies!
- The platoon leader is wounded!
- Brothers, help!
- Bandage it quickly, for God’s sake, you see, the Germans are being nasty!..
- Comrade Lieutenant! Help me!
For the first time, everyone encountered death, and not just one, as happened in peaceful life. They carried out the wounded on stretchers, in greatcoats, some crawling, some hobbling themselves. And others were placed in a row that kept getting longer and longer... The platoon commanders’ commands brought us back to reality:
- Take your fighting positions! Prepare the grenades!
There was no more silence. The second and third battalions were fighting not far away. And there the Nazis tried to cross the railway track. Through the yellow-black fog that had not yet dissipated, we saw the Nazis. At full height, without firing a shot, chains of machine gunners in horned helmets came towards us from the forest. And tanks with infantry on their armor appeared on the flanks. Company political instructor Nikolai Makin made his way through the trench without bending at all. Biting a blade of grass with his teeth, as if watching a tactical exercise that took place here in August, he loudly told us:
- They want to take it with impudence. They want to test our nerves. They think we'll turn sour from just the sight of them...
“It looks like a mental illness,” responded Pyotr Garin. “And now we’ll force them to bow to Russian Mother Earth!”
In the third company, where the platoon commander, Lieutenant Ivan Yakhnovsky, took command, instead of the deceased company commander, on the left and right, the soldiers crushed the earth that had crumbled to the bottom of the trenches from explosions, more conveniently placed grenades and bottles of incendiary liquid under their arms, attached bayonets, and changed clips to rifles. Outwardly, everyone is calm.
Our guns boomed behind us. Shells began to explode in the enemy lines. Their rare bursts formed small gaps in the ranks of the attackers, but they closed, and the gray-green waves continued to roll towards us. Five tanks with landing forces rushed ahead of the chains.
- Don't shoot without a command! Hit the viewing slots of the tanks! Grenades only for tracks! - came the voice of battalion commander Martynov, who appeared in the most dangerous sector of the second company. The calmness of the commander returned to the soldiers the composure they had developed at the border.
The Nazis are already a hundred meters away or even less. And then the shot cracked dryly. This signal was given by Sasha Zobov, sergeant, squad commander. A friendly salvo followed. Unexpectedly, two company mortars struck, and the Germans were swept away from the tanks by close explosions like the wind. A German officer jumped out from behind one. He, waving a pistol, urged the soldiers on. Taiga hunter Alexey Rakhmatulin, taking careful aim, knocked him down.
- Have you seen it? - he shouts to his friend Philip Porshnev, but he has no time for that. Pressing the butt of his long-barreled heavy anti-tank rifle to his shoulder, he sends bullet after bullet. After each shot he winces: the recoil is very strong. We received anti-tank rifles already on the train, just before arriving at the position. Previously, we knew nothing about this weapon; it was just being mastered by industry. And we had to master it in battle. And at first, not everything worked out. Loud shots are heard both to the right and to the left. It seems like you can hear the bullets piercing the armor. But the tanks - here they are!

Mass grave with. Dubovoe

Behind us, next to us, two 37-mm cannons hit and two tanks stopped, not reaching the trenches 50 meters. The mortars barked with mounted fire, cutting off the Fritz and forcing them to lie down. The third tank slowed down - a large boulder appeared in its path. He turned just for a moment to go around the boulder, but that was enough for Philip Porshnev to fire several armor-piercing bullets into him one after another. The tank shuddered and spun around like a top.
- They broke the beast's paw! - someone shouts joyfully, and another adds:
- Finish him!
Our mortarmen, Nikolai Ovirin, Stepan Petrov and Pavel Karasev, distinguished themselves here. With one single salvo they covered the tank and probably hit the gas tank. It burst into flames inside, and shells began to explode. The last two tanks turned back. Our machine guns began to rattle more decisively, and rifle salvoes began to fire at the Nazis, who were left without armor support. The first attack was repulsed. But there is no time to rest, it is necessary to restore destroyed trenches, dig new ones, bury comrades; send the wounded to the rear. Although we killed a lot of enemies in front of our trenches, our losses were also considerable. Having barely come to their senses, the guys shouted from trench to trench:
- Popov... Ushinsky... Sushakov... Berestnev... Ramazin... respond!
And if anyone responded, they rejoiced like children, but if not, they wiped away men’s tears with the sleeves of their greatcoats. After all, almost the entire regiment was made up of fellow countrymen, and during the year of service they became close. And so..."

Executing an order Rate
(FROM THE MEMORIES OF DIVISION COMMANDER G. O. MARTIROSYAN)

“Before the 239th Infantry Division arrived from the Far East (it was reinforced with tanks from the 125th separate tank battalion), the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command set the task: to deploy and battle formation at the Akimovka-Krutoy Verkh line for an offensive, and then to come under the control of the 3rd Army of the South. Western Front.
The division was unloaded on November 17 in echelon at Uzlovaya, Stalinogorsk and at Polunino station. But by this time, the enemy’s 53rd Army Corps rushed into the gap between the Western and Southwestern fronts and, cutting off communications, tried to capture Uzlova. We found ourselves cut off from the main forces. The Supreme Command Headquarters was forced to direct the combat operations of the 239th division through liaison officers.
On November 16, the division dealt a powerful blow to the Nazis and, giving the bloodless units of the 239th Infantry Division the opportunity to retreat, occupied an advantageous defensive line along the line of settlements: Yulinka - Cheremkhovka - Fedorovka - Polunino station - Maryinka - Yegoryevskoye. Thus, a large section: Uzlovaya - Donskoy - Stalinogorsk was, it seems, covered.
But everything turned out differently. The Nazis realized that they had a fresh force in front of them, and the next day, having recovered, they struck back at the left flank of the division at its junction with the 41st Cavalry. The battle progressed with varying degrees of success. Met by friendly flank machine-gun fire, the Germans retreated in disarray, but after a while, having regrouped, they again went on the attack. The 817th regiment did not flinch. Now, along with the machine gunners, the mortar men entered the battle, opening barrage fire. And yet, the Nazis, covering the field with the corpses of their soldiers, broke through the fire curtain.
- Grenades! - the voice of regimental commissar Kurenkov was heard and, rising to his full height on the parapet of the trench, he went forward. - Behind me!
The entire first battalion rushed into a counterattack. And the wave of enemies that threatened to overwhelm our trenches subsided. But ours also had to return to their positions, because German tanks rolled from the Bogoroditsky forest on the horizon. Behind them were armored personnel carriers with infantry.
However, a “surprise” awaited them. From a small fishing line, eight of our KVs from the 125th separate tank regiment came across and into the flank. At top speed, despite their numerical superiority, the tankers cut into the fascist battle formations. For them, the tank attack was a complete surprise. At the same minutes, at the call of the regiment commander, artillery battalions of the 688th Howitzer Regiment struck from the direction of Uzlova and Stalinogorsk. Finding themselves between two fires, leaving up to one and a half thousand dead and wounded, thirty-six tanks and armored vehicles on the battlefield, the Nazis retreated to the Bogoroditsk area. Enraged by the failure in front of the positions of the 239th Division, having gathered an armored fist from the thinned-out 47th Tank Corps near Bogoroditsky and putting infantry on vehicles, the Germans attacked the 41st Cavalry Division. The cavalry defended desperately, fearlessly threw grenades at the tanks, but could not resist steel and fire, and by the evening of November 18, units of the enemy's tenth and 29th motorized divisions occupied the villages of Lyutorichi and Dubovoe. From the south and southeast, from the Donskoy side, the 817th regiment found itself semi-encircled. In the evening of the same day, the commander of the 817th regiment, Major Melnikov, created a team of “night ghosts” from volunteers in order to clarify the fate of the cavalry soldiers. They reached the village of Nikolskoye, on the southern outskirts of Donskoye. Having surrounded the village, they fell on the sleeping Germans, destroyed the entire garrison, captured staff documents, six cannons, thirteen machine guns, and, having discovered three squadrons of the 41st Cavalry Division in the Luthorich forest, returned to the regiment's location in the morning. The enraged fascists decided to teach a lesson to the Far Eastern Siberians who did not want to retreat, to encircle and destroy the 239th division at the place of its concentration...

Newspaper "Red Star" No. 287 dated December 6, 1941

On November 19, having reinforced the 167th Infantry Division with a strike group from the motorized regiment of the 3rd Tank Division with 40 tanks, the enemy struck the right flank of the 239th Division, now in the sector of the 813th Regiment.
Early in the morning a German spotter, a “frame,” appeared above the positions of this regiment. When the aerial reconnaissance aircraft, shelled by rifle and machine-gun fire, retreated, we knew: the Junkers would now fly in to bomb. And they were not mistaken. From the direction of Dubovka or Kireyevka an intermittent rumble was heard, and then the cutting howl of dive bombers. Explosions thundered in a landslide. Before the sky cleared after the raid, German tanks moved towards the regiment’s position. The machine gunners ran after them. Five combat vehicles separated from the general column and headed towards the bombed-out ground, lying as a black patch on the white snow. The lead tank opened fire on the move, but immediately jerked and stood up. The blow was struck by armor-piercing officer Sarkisyan. He then stood up and threw a bunch of grenades. There was a deafening explosion and thick smoke poured out of the tank.
- Please peck from the heart! — the soldier managed to shout and fell under the machine gunners’ zeros.
The regimental artillery opened fire on the tanks, but they managed to overcome the fire barrier at high speed. By the end of the day, the Germans managed to capture the villages of Ilyinka and Cheremkhovka on the western outskirts of Uzlovaya, but not for long.
On the morning of November 20, a counterattack group consisting of the 813th regiment of the 106th battalion of the NKVD regiment and tanks of the 125th separate tank battalion struck the enemy in the direction of the Rossoshinskaya mine and restored the previous position.
On the same day, the 239th Division came under the command of the 50th Army, but on the right flank the 24th Head Tank Corps of the Germans broke through the defenses of the units of this Army on the Bolokhov Heights, and both flanks of the 239th were exposed. A favorable situation was created for the German Second Panzer Army to envelop and bypass the division's flanks, and it rushed into free space.
In this regard, the leadership of the combat operations of the 239th Infantry Division was taken over by the headquarters of the Western Front, and it, remaining in its previous positions, bristled against the enemy, deciding to fight to the end... On the night of November 21, an order to withdraw from the Uzlovaya-2 area , Mole and the state farm “8th of March” to a new line of defense: the village of Kursky (Podlesny) - village. Vasilievna and Kamenka received the 813th regiment. A few hours ago, due to a direct hit by a shell on the headquarters, the regiment commander and many officers were out of action. The battalion commissar Skurlatov, who arrived as the military commissar of the division headquarters, ordered the commander of the second battalion, Captain Alexander Grigorievich Abakumov, to take command of the regiment.
“Your defense sector is very stretched,” said the commissar. — From the Miner’s village to the Uzlovaya — Stalinogorsk highway. It will be temporarily covered by the 3rd battalion of the 817th regiment. But the Germans are not fools - part of the tank forces, in all likelihood, will try to break through to Donskoy here and along the highway from Bogoroditsk, but the 299th Regiment will block their way there. Try to hold out for at least a day. We will supply ammunition, but no people are expected. Hourly communication with both regiments..."

Soldier Rating
(FROM A LETTER OF A FORMER SCOUT OF THE 813 REGIMENT
ANDREY SEMYONOVICH SNEGIREV FROM YENISEISK)

“The measure of all the cruel trials for our 239th division was this line: Velminka - Yegoryevskoye - Krytoy Verkh - Vasilievka - Kamenka - Shirinsky forest - the villages of Spasskoye and Olkhovets.
Who then had Stalingrad, the Kursk Bulge, large and small cities and villages, but we have this. How the Germans wanted to immediately crush the defenders of these villages with an armored strike, crush them into a cake. But try, take us!..

Mass grave in the village of Krutoy Verkh

... The wounds healed in our native land, at the sources of our native river, but we, soldiers, will never forget the roads that were trodden under fire and death. We often gather under a peaceful roof and see the reflections of those fires. We sing our Siberian songs that we sang in '41. Wives, children, grandchildren listen to us in silence. And we, with our eyes fixed on the past, call on our comrades who have not returned from the war. Oh, oh, so many of them didn’t come. They died quietly and did not ask to perpetuate their memory in the fields near those villages. Using the dodder grass they made their way from the mass graves to the light, to people. There they were destined to fight to the death, there became their last home. And in the homeland, where the flowers turn blue in the field, in the forest, mothers, wives, children look at the blue sky and think their heavy thoughts about them...”

Fights with tanks

Even tanks could not save the situation. The enemy strengthened and winter came.
Photo from the book “The German 3rd Panzer Division in World War II”

The soldiers were dressed like summer - in tunics and caps. What saved us were our greatcoats—our Russian greatcoats—which were both a home and a stove. On a gloomy morning, a wild dance of war began. From behind the hill came the glow of first tank gun shells. Then there was a mix of crackling, thunder and the fire of machine guns and mortars. Throughout the entire area occupied by the regiment, explosions were thrown up, clods of earth and brown fumes that were not cooling were flying. Explosive metal lashed across the trenches, kneading the earth and clay. He pulled out one person after another, even and odd. Then the Nazis came in loose chains. It was necessary to let him get closer: to shoot - that’s for sure. But they didn’t approach the shot - they lay down. This means that the tanks will move now.
Random shots fired from the trenches. The command was heard:
- Stop shooting! Who are you shooting at? At random, you're wasting ammo.
- How in vain? The enemy!
— You rarely end up in a bedridden situation. They get up, then go at full speed.
- But there are a lot of them.
- So shoot so that it becomes smaller. Choose any piece and hit without missing a beat...
Six tanks moved to the position of the eighth company at once. There were no armor-piercing rifles, but there were grenades and Molotov cocktails. The soldiers looked expectantly at the front trench, in which the company commander, Senior Lieutenant Sergei Filippovich Lobachev, was located. The commander realized that now the main thing is not to lose this spirit when the soldiers are waiting for a decisive command. It was necessary to set an example, and he did not wait for the creeping, clanging hulk to fall on his trench. The ground was sandy, and the tank would crush a person like a bug.
- Guys! - he shouted at the top of his voice, “This box is mine,” and, falling over the parapet, he crawled like a lizard, without raising his head and without lifting his body from the ground. He was most worried about the bottle, afraid of breaking it or spilling the precious liquid. He moved the bottle with his left hand, and in his right hand he clutched an anti-tank grenade. The tank walked, spitting out machine-gun bursts, but the bullets flew over. The distance was inexorably decreasing... 60... 40... 30 meters.
I changed the grenade and the bottle with the mixture from hand to hand. He froze for a minute. Then the senior lieutenant jumped out to his full height and threw a bottle, a second later a grenade, he himself fell to the side and rolled. An explosion was heard. Raising his head slightly, he saw how the sticky fuel was spreading like tongues of flame across the armor. Now you can’t get rid of it and, even more so, you can’t put out the fire when it has already hugged half of the body. The tank crawled for another minute, and its occupants did not seem to understand what had happened. Then he suddenly stood up and spun around on his axis, splashing the earth around him.
Lobachev stood up slightly, guarding the tankers. Will they jump out of the top hatch or from the bottom? With weapons or not? The top hatch lid clanged, and he fell out of it like a sack, shouting at the top of his voice: “Mein Goth!” Main goth!” - tankman. His helmet and overalls were on fire. He began to roll around on the ground like a fire, and the senior lieutenant calmed him down with a pistol shot. The rapidly burning tank never released a single person from its belly. Feeling the unbearable heat of the burning metal, the senior lieutenant crawled away. He ran past him, shouting: “Now it’s my turn!” - senior political instructor Ivan Naumkin. He had a bunch of grenades in his hands. The senior lieutenant tried to move further along the slope, but someone from behind held him by the hem of his overcoat. I looked around and saw the liaison Sergei Kozachenko.
- Comrade commander, they are waiting for you at the command post.
Regiment commander Abakumov called:
- Take command of the first battalion. Kornienko was killed.

Mass grave in the village of Kamenka

Lobachev wiped the cold sweat from his face, and it became streaky with burning. He began to control the battle: he sent some fighters with grenades and bottles against tanks, others repelled infantry and motorcyclists.
The political instructor and with him two daredevils - Abzhan Zhusupov and Nikolai Veselkov - who lay down in the craters, set fire to two tanks, but were killed by machine gunners hiding behind them. The third tank was knocked out by Efim Kulaev, throwing a bunch of grenades under the track. He crawled several meters, leaving a long steel ribbon. And he pinned everyone to the ground, firing desperately from a cannon and machine gun. Its fire seemed omnipresent; As soon as someone moved or crawled, the place was instantly showered with a swarm of bullets or a shell explosion. His rear was protected by a dozen machine gunners.
Ivan Shaharev managed to throw a Molotov cocktail. So he quickly threw it over his head to throw it, and at the same second from a machine gun burst it burst above him. Already hit by bullets, he managed to throw a second bottle from his left hand to his right and hit the tank. He himself, flaring up like a torch, fell to the ground...
Shocked soldiers with hoarse screams, without a command, got up and in several jumps reached the tank and destroyed 12 machine gunners. The tankers who fell out of the lower hatch, except one, were finished off with bayonets...
The submission for the posthumous award of the Order of the Red Banner about the Siberian’s feat says: “Ivan Shaharev, a private of the 2nd platoon of the 8th company of the 3rd battalion of the 813th rifle regiment of the 239th infantry division, while repelling a tank attack, he set fire to an enemy tank and burned himself out.”
Then there was a short respite.