The strike of the left wing of Army Group Center (the 3rd Panzer Group of Colonel General Hermann Hoth was the main striking force there) at the junction of the Western and Baltic military districts did not hit the monolithic Soviet defense. It was inflicted on scattered units of the 126th, 128th, 188th and 23rd rifle divisions, mainly on rifle battalions that (mostly one from each regiment) worked on the construction of defensive lines. From north to south were located: from the 188th SD - the 2nd battalion of the 523rd, the 2nd and 3rd battalions of the 580th, the 3rd battalion of the 595th regiments; from the 126th division - 3rd battalion of the 550th, 2nd battalion of the 366th, 3rd battalion of the 690th regiments; from the 128th division - 2nd
battalion of the 374th regiment and all three battalions of the 741st regiment. Directly at the junction with ZapOVO there were two battalions of the 23rd division. There is evidence that the battalions were reinforced by regimental artillery batteries, and in the 30-kilometer zone of the 188th (from Virbalis to Lake Vishtynsn - the German name for Wischtiter See) infantrymen were assigned an artillery division.
The former commander of the fire platoon of the 106th OPTD of the 23rd SD, V.P. Lapaev, recalled that on June 17 the division was alerted and sent to the border, but by the evening of June 21 it only managed to reach Marijampole, where it met the war (Novozhilov I . V. Year of birth 21. - M., 2004).
The 6th and 26th infantry divisions of the 6th Army Corps deployed against the battalions of the 188th SD; the corps' line ran north of Alytus. Against the battalions of the 126th, 128th and 23rd SD, 8 German divisions reached their initial positions (directly in the Suwalki ledge): the 39th motorized corps, consisting of the 7th and 20th tank and 14th motorized divisions, the 57th motorized corps consisting of the 12th and 19th tank and 18th motorized divisions and the 5th Army Corps (commander - General of Infantry Richard Ruof) consisting of the 5th and 35th infantry divisions.
History has preserved the names of the commanders of the 188th, who were the first to take on the blow of two divisions of the 6th AK Wehrmacht. The infantry battalions were commanded by senior lieutenants S. M. Uperov, P. S. Gudkov and M. I. Dudov; division - V. M. Romanenko. With them were employees of the political department, senior political instructor N.P. Chaly and junior political instructor D.T. Sorokin [ibid., p. 6].
On June 20, the division commander, Colonel P.I. Ivanov, ordered the regiment commanders to study their areas and take over the construction battalions in their zones. The next day, the command of units and subunits carried out reconnaissance on the ground, but the main forces of the division still remained in the Kazlu-Ruda summer camps. The main forces of the 128th SD occupied the area of Lazdiyai, Seiriyai, Simnas, the headquarters was located in the forest 5 km west of Seiriyai. The 126th (commander - Major General M.A. Kuznetsov, deputy for HR - regimental commissar A. Ya. Ermakov) and 23rd (commander - Major General V.F. Pavlov) divisions were on the march deep into Lithuanian territory. Consequently, on the border, in addition to border guards and builders, there were only thirteen elongated
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a line of rifle units with a minimum amount of artillery. These were, of course, too small forces, in no way capable of stopping the enemy strike force.
From 4 o'clock in the morning, a stream of messages with the same content poured into all Morse and ST-35 devices of the communications center of the 11th Army headquarters (it was located in Fort No. 6 of the Kovno fortress): the enemy opened strong artillery fire, is shelling our front line with guns, artillery is leading fire on our positions, the enemy moved artillery shelling deeper, etc. Chief of Army Staff, Major General I.T. Shlemin immediately reported the situation to the district headquarters. Later, more alarming messages came: German tanks were attacking, we were repelling enemy infantry attacks. Then communication with the 128th Infantry Division was interrupted.
At 5 o'clock in the morning, the commander of Army 11, Lieutenant General V.I. Morozov, gave combat order No. 01, in which the right-flank 16th Rifle Corps was given the task of covering the Kaunas direction along the line of the fortified area and destroying the enemy in its main zone. The left flank formations were ordered: the 126th Infantry Division with the 429th GAP RGK to occupy the 1st and 2nd nodes of the Alytus UR at the line of Shilantse, Kaimele, Rymets and prevent the enemy from breaking through in the eastern direction (the task, as you can see, was initially an unrealistic one was set, because the connection was still on the way to the Neman); The 128th Infantry Division will occupy the 3rd and 4th nodes of the fortified area at the line of Merkine, Koptsevo, Kurvishki and prevent the Germans from breaking through to Alytus. But that's exactly what happened.
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128th Infantry Division
The four battalions of the 128th Division were attacked by two tank and two infantry divisions of the Wehrmacht. At the junction with ZapOVO, the battalion of the 23rd SD fought to leave the town of Koptsevo (in Lithuanian - Kapchamestis, 20 km north of Sopotskin); The German cavalry passed through the forests into the lake region on the way to Alytus. About three dozen completely concreted pillboxes of the Alytus UR, still standing in the Kapchamestis region and to the south of it, have not suffered any combat damage.
ut, therefore, no one used them.
Almost immediately, the border towns of Lazdiyai, Kalaria and Kibartai were taken by the aggressor; in Kibartai, the border commandant's office continued to fight, completely surrounded.
On the evening of June 22, the headquarters of the GA "Center" reported to Headquarters about the 9th Army and the 3rd Tank Group, and in a very original manner:
“On this side of the Neman, units of 8 divisions were installed, which were not fully prepared for defense and were literally dumbfounded by our offensive.” One of these “stunned” was the 128th SD.
In March 1941, the 128th Division was redeployed from Latvia to Lithuania: the headquarters, the 374th Infantry Regiment and the 212th Signal Battalion were located in Kalvaria, the 533rd Infantry and 292nd Light Artillery Regiments were located in Alytus and Simnas, the rest parts - in Lazdiyai, Seiriyay and other settlements. From spring until the start of hostilities, one battalion from the regiment participated in the construction of the Alytus UR.
If the missile defense had been built in time, it would have covered the Augustow-Alytus direction along a 57 km front. According to the project, it was divided into 10 strong points, in which 273 pillboxes, a command post and a fuel and lubricants storage facility were built. As of June 22, none of the fully completed pillboxes had weapons installed.
On June 19 and 20, the division began to occupy the 55-kilometer Kalwaria-Lazdijai line with all its forces and began to equip command and observation posts. The 533rd Infantry and 292nd Light Artillery Regiments were in summer camps for field exercises.
On the morning of June 22, after a combined artillery and bombing fire raid on the positions and locations of units of the 128th SD, it was struck by a blow of colossal force: armored wedges of the 7th and 20th tank divisions, supported by both divisions of the 5th, crashed into its location. AK of the 9th Field Army. The 5th Wehrmacht Infantry Division approached Lazdiyai before noon, but managed to capture the place only after several hours of heavy fighting. The advance detachment of the 56th Infantry Regiment, after taking the town, rushed to the Neman following the reconnaissance squadron of Captain Nimak (Haupt V. Battles of Army Group Center. - M.: Yauza, Eksmo, 2006. P. 19).
In the sector of the 741st Infantry Regiment (commander - Colonel I.A. Ilyichev), five German tanks were disabled during the 1st hour of the battle. Fierce resistance was provided by approx.
armed units of the division in the Ilalis swamps, in the villages of Krokilaukis and Toluichai.
The cadets of the regimental school of the 374th joint venture, led by platoon commander Vetoshkin, all died; Vetoshkin himself was killed in hand-to-hand combat.
The combined detachment of the 374th regiment fought in the area of Marijampole (after the war it was renamed Sniečkus, now Marijampole again). The 292nd light artillery regiment (commander - Major V.M. Shapenko) was alerted on the night of June 17 and took up defensive positions on the border: the 1st artillery division - in the Kalvaria area, the 2nd division - in the 2nd echelon divisions near the village of Krosna.
At 04:10 on June 22, the 1st Division was already fighting along with the border guards and soon used up all their ammunition. The personnel fought like infantry and took part in hand-to-hand combat, in which the division commander and political officer were killed. The remnants of the unit retreated to the position of the 2nd AD.
As it is written in the history of the 21st tank regiment of the 20th TD of the Wehrmacht,
"in Kalwaria, as the first target of the offensive, only minor fierce resistance was encountered, so that the regiment could continue the development of the attack on Alytus" (from the Lexikon-Der-Wchrmacht website - http:// www. lexikon- der- wehrmacht.de).
It is mentioned that advanced units of the 7th Panzer Division also took part in the capture of Kalvaria. At 04:05 in the morning, its vanguard crossed the state border of the USSR and by 08:00 entered Kalvaria, which was 10 km from the border.
As the commander of the 4th battery of the 292nd regiment, Lieutenant A.E. Naumov, recalled, the 4th, 5th and 6th batteries, which were part of the 2nd division, held the defense in the area of the village. Krosna. The ammunition consisted of 16 rounds per gun and 15 rounds per fighter. After the end of the shelling and the beginning of the movement of German tanks and motorcycles along the highway through Krosna to Alytus, the battery commanders arbitrarily opened fire, inflicting some losses on the Germans.
There was no one at the CP of the 128th Rifle Division, located not far from the position of the 2nd AD, only around noon the headquarters received an order to withdraw to Seiriyai, then to Alytus. But at noon the division no longer had command; the order to withdraw, most likely transmitted in writing, came from the no longer existing headquarters (chief of staff - Colonel F.I. Komarov). Communication with the 128th control was interrupted at 9 a.m.; the last message received at the 11th Army communications center was a four-word telegram.
nickname V.P. Agafonov (in June 1941 - major, deputy chief of army communications) recalled: “Captain Vasiliev runs in with a ribbon in his hand: - Comrade Major, from the 128th!” - He hands me the ribbon. “German tanks surrounded the headquarters,” I read and immediately rush to the chief of staff. “What about the 128th, Comrade Agafonov?” General Shlemin greets me with a question. “Is there any possibility of contact?” “There will be no more contact with the 128th. Here, Comrade General, is the last telegram from them." Deprived of command, the scattered units of the division began to roll back to the Neman.
The 481st howitzer artillery regiment (commander - Major Boyarintsev) on the morning of June 22, moved from Kalvaria with the 1st and 2nd divisions to positions 2-3 km to the north-west, towards the state border, where, most likely, they were defeated. The 3rd AD remained in the artillery park of the military town. Here at 09:10 the division was attacked by three enemy tanks, one of them was destroyed, the rest retreated. During an air raid he lost two howitzers. Then the 3rd division withdrew from its position by order of the division chief of staff F.I. Komarov and went northeast towards Prienai, where it entered the location of the 126th rifle division; On June 23, together with her, he crossed the bridge across the Neman, prepared for explosion. On June 24, the 3rd AD, consisting of nine guns, was included in the 74th artillery regiment of the 84th MD of the 3rd mechanized corps, and on July 1, almost all of it was destroyed at the crossing of the river. Vilija in the Kaisiadorys area.
The 533rd Infantry Regiment was stationed in Simnas. The town is located in a lake region - in the north-west it is adjacent to two small lakes, Simnas and Geluychay, to the south-east there are two larger lakes, Dus and Metelis. At this point the roads to Krosna, Seiriyai and Alytus converge.
On June 22, in a grove in the defile of lakes, the 2nd battalion of the 533rd joint venture and the regimental school fought with an enemy detachment trying to break into Simnas.
Thanks to the persistence of Muscovite E.I. Smirnova, who lost her son at the front and spent years searching for him, it was possible to identify another heroic episode. Junior Sergeant V.F. Smirnov served as a driver in the 292nd artillery regiment of the 128th Infantry Division and was listed as missing in action since June 1941. The Red Pathfinders of the Simnas secondary school (there was a time when there were Red Pathfinders in Lithuania) began a search. By surveying places
They found eyewitnesses of local residents; According to them, fourteen Red Army soldiers from the 533rd Infantry and 292nd Artillery Regiments, having retreated from Simnas, took up a perimeter defense at a commanding height. During the heavy battle, every single one of the defenders of the height died; there were no surrenderers or those who fled.
Collective farmer A. Janacek said:
“I remember that before the last battle, fourteen brave fighters walked through our village. They stopped at a neighboring yard. They drank water. They had two Maxims. When the battle ended, the Nazis rounded up all the adult residents and ordered them to bury the dead. One of them was still there alive. The SS finished him off."
The townspeople buried the last defender of Simnas separately and showed this place, schoolchildren dug up the grave on their own. On the decayed remains of the soldier they found buttonholes with car emblems and a plastic “suicide bomber” medallion. The paper form included inside was perfectly preserved and, most importantly, was filled out. "Smirnov Vladimir Fedorovich, junior sergeant, 1919...Moscow." They also found a half-decayed note, which we also managed to read. "June 22, 1941. We are dying. I am left - V. Smirnov and Voskovsky. Tell your mother. We will not give up."
The 119th reconnaissance battalion (commander - senior lieutenant Apanovich) moved out from Seiriyai to the border in the morning, with the task of strengthening the defense of the Lazdiyai border outpost (head of the outpost - captain Yurchenko). The 533rd joint venture also operated here. After retreating under enemy pressure, the 119th ORB, border guards, the 1st battalion and other units of the 533rd regiment, the main forces of the 292nd LAP and soldiers of the construction battalions gathered in the lake area northwest of Seiriyai. The entire group was headed by the commander of the 533rd joint venture, Colonel P. A. Bochkov. Having taken up a perimeter defense in the inter-lake defile, Soviet soldiers knocked out four tanks. From here Bochkov's group retreated to the southeast, to a new line.
In the afternoon, a major from the headquarters of the 11th Army brought an order to withdraw to the Alytus area and cover the crossings across the Neman. But the order was not carried out. The detachment of the 128th SD, which was based on the 292nd artillery regiment and soldiers of the 533rd joint venture, which suffered heavy losses, was blocked by the enemy in the area of the villages of Revai and Rajunai, not far from Seiriyai. Having straddled the road and taken up a perimeter defense, they fought surrounded until June 29-30
1941. As battalion commander 4 of the 292nd LAP Naumov recalled, on June 25, he, as the eldest survivor, took command of the 2nd division of the regiment. A few days later, a group of 11 artillerymen and a slightly larger number of infantrymen escaped from the encirclement to the bank of the Neman.
After the fighting in the Seiriyai area (they lasted more than a week), P. A. Bochkov’s group crossed the Neman and subsequently seemed to have united with the Red Army, but Bochkov himself is listed as missing.
The wives and children of the command staff of the 533rd regiment, who remained in the city of Simnas, were captured.
The defeat of the 128th Division, although meager, was reflected in the combat reports of the PribOVO headquarters:
“The 128th Infantry Division is fighting heavy battles in the area of Lake Dus, its flanks are being circumvented by tank units. In Alytus there are enemy airborne forces and his tanks.”
A little bit later:
“The 128th Infantry Division suffered heavy losses, the army headquarters has no connection with it” [ibid., p. 28].
From the recently full-blooded formation, only separate scattered groups remained, and the losses of the command staff were very large. In the first hours of the fighting, the commander of the 292nd artillery regiment, Major V. M. Shapenko, was killed, the commander of the 374th rifle regiment, Colonel Grebnev, and many other commanders and political workers were seriously wounded.
The remnants of the 128th SD units, which retreated to the Dvinsk area, became part of the Dvinsk OG and on June 26 took part in the battle with enemy airborne troops and tanks. The airborne force was destroyed, and two enemy tanks were knocked out by artillery fire from the 374th joint venture under the command of Captain Terentyev. In August 1941, based on the surviving units and individual military personnel, the reformation of the 128th Infantry Division began. On June 22, there were 9,820 personnel in it, on August 30 - only 206. Most of the facts were taken from the book “Pskov Red Banner” (L., 1984), some were sent by the Division Veterans Council and found in other sources.
In documents recording the irretrievable losses of NGOs, the division commander, Major General A. S. Zotov, is listed as missing in action in the summer of 1941. According to one version, having left the division headquarters for the border on the morning of June 22, he unexpectedly came across the Germans. The division commander's car was fired upon, the driver was killed, and Zotov himself, fighting back, shot all the cartridges, was captured and tied up.
Nobody remembers where this version came from. I got used to it, although some sources said that the general was captured not in June, but in July, and not in Lithuania, but in Belarus, near Minsk. This was confirmed by a published excerpt from the interrogation protocol of A. S. Zotov:
“After I lost parts of my division, with a group of staff commanders I headed in a south-eastern direction, intending to cross the Neman and subsequently connect with the main forces of the Soviet troops... With me were: the division commissar - regimental commissar Berdnikov, the chief of artillery division Colonel Minin, lieutenants Balalykin, Popov and several other people... On July 29, 1941, we approached the Minsk-Radoshkovichi highway and tried to cross it for two days, but we were unable to do so, since German troops were constantly moving along the highway. Unable to take cover and given the aimlessness of resistance, I and my companions surrendered..." (A. Petrushin. Encirclement. Tyumen Courier, 2006, No. 6-12).
Despite this, Zotov passed the state inspection successfully and was reinstated to the rank of general. I think he was credited with leading the anti-fascist underground of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
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16th Rifle Corps
According to the same order for the 11th Army No. 01, the 16th Rifle Corps, which occupied the center and right flank, was to organize defense along the line of the 42nd fortified area with the task of covering the Kaunas direction: the 5th Rifle Division to defend 1, 2 and 3rd UR nodes at the line Shaudynya, Zykle, Shvarple; 33rd Infantry Division - 4th, 5th and 6th UR nodes at the Sliznovizna line, fl. Rumki, Voishvili, Dworkele; 188th Infantry Division - 7, 8 and 9th UR nodes at the line of Kunigishki, Kovnishki, Myalutsishki, Venkshnupe, allocating one battalion to cover the 10th UR node - Morga, Ivashki, Kalvaria area. By June 22, Kaunas UR had 599 unfinished long-term structures; Concrete work has already been completed on 31 structures. There were no armed pillboxes, but the district administration had already begun to take shape, headed by the commandant Colonel N. S. Davy, the former chief of staff of the 126th division; chief of staff
Major P.Ya. Baygot was appointed to the UR. And here, attempts to stop the enemy did not yield positive results due to his significant superiority. In the sector of the 5th SD, the attack was carried out by the 10th Army Corps of the 16th Field Army, which included the 30th and 26th infantry divisions. The 122nd and 123rd Infantry Divisions of the 28th Army Corps acted against the 33rd SD. Finally, the butt of the 188th and 33rd divisions (against the right flank of the 188th and the left - the 33rd) attacked the 2nd AK of the Wehrmacht (12th, 32nd and 121st infantry divisions). With the outbreak of hostilities, the personnel of the 210th ONS (headed by Colonel F. M. Savelov), who were constructing pillboxes in the Kaunas fortified area, curtailed all work on the border and began to retreat to the rear. The evacuation took place under the influence of enemy aircraft, as a result of which the builders suffered serious losses in personnel and property. In particular, in several raids the convoy of the 79th construction site was bombed and shot (chief - military engineer 2nd rank T.I. Ponimash, chief engineer - military engineer 3rd rank M.G. Grigorenko, deputy for political affairs senior battalion commissar M.N. Lebedev), except for cars, all concrete mixers, stone crushers and compressors were lost. At the beginning of July, the remnants of the site reached Orsha. The 78th construction site (chief - military engineer 2nd rank A.P. Glushko, chief engineer military engineer 1st rank V.A. Pautov), whose objects in the area of \u200b\u200bShaki (now Shakiai) were shelled by artillery, broke up into isolated groups during the retreat. V. A. Pautov recalled: “Having received the order to evacuate, we retreated to Kaunas, then further to the east. We had a truck at our disposal. We entered Vilnius when enemy tanks were already there. A Lithuanian, whose name is It remained unknown. When the roar of the German tank column died down, the driver of our car started moving again. Another half a kilometer - and we seemed to be outside the city limits. But then the unexpected happened again at the end of the street, with a Nazi man sitting on the turret. , directed in our direction. Realizing who we were, he dived into the tower and fired a machine gun. We jumped out of the car and took cover behind stacks of wood. Our small group covered the further distance of almost 400 kilometers on foot, often paving the way with a bayonet.
grenade. Only in Vitebsk did we find our unit." The UNS included five more sections (55, 58, 77, 107 and 109), their fate could not be established. Of the command staff, only the head of the 107th SU, military engineer 3rd rank G. V. Demin.
In reconnaissance report No. 03 of the headquarters of the North-Western Front, by noon on June 22 it was stated: “After artillery preparation, the enemy air forces violated the state border and, starting from 4.15.22.6.41, carried out raids and bombed a number of objects on our territory. From 5 hours 25 minutes, the enemy infantry and tanks went on the offensive... Kaunas-Vilnius direction: a) in the Yurburg, Vishtynets sector, by 9 o’clock the enemy reached the front: in the Shaki direction he advances to the infantry regiment Naumiestis, Kybarty, Virbalis occupy up to; two infantry regiments; in the Vishtynets area, infantry of unknown strength is advancing; b) on the Vishtynets, Koptsevo front, the enemy develops the main attack in the general direction of Alytus and by 9 o’clock occupies the following position: Vigrele and the area occupies up to an infantry regiment with tanks, in the Lyubovo area up to a cavalry regiment is advancing on Kalvaria; up to 500 tanks have broken through in the Lozdze area, developing an attack on Alytus; c) Augustow is occupied by enemy infantry" (SBD No. 34, p. 39).
According to the diagram of the location of the district units on the morning of June 22 published in VIZh, the 5th Infantry Division of Colonel F.P. Ozerov had only the 336th Infantry Regiment (commanded by Major P.K. Kozlov), the 2nd Battalion 190- th and 3rd battalion of the 142nd rifle regiments. Former deputy division commander for political affairs P.V. Sevastyanov recalled that by the time the enemy went on the offensive, not a unit, but the entire 142nd SP (commander - Lieutenant Colonel I.G. Shmakov) was in the covering sector of the 5th, and both divisional divisions were deployed in positions artillery regiment Consequently, of the main forces of the division, only the 190th regiment of Lieutenant Colonel P.S. Telkov and the 61st anti-tank division of Major Gevorkyan were absent. They were in the Kazlurud camps, were alerted and moved at an accelerated pace to the main forces of the division. This was probably the case, because one regiment and two battalions would not have been able to resist significantly
superior forces of the Wehrmacht. Sevastyanov wrote: “The battle unfolded rapidly. Not even a quarter of an hour had passed before both our rifle and artillery regiments were drawn into it...”. During the day, the division suffered heavy losses, but managed to repel twelve attacks.
The first to arrive from Kazlu-Ruda was the 61st OPTD. Former deputy Political instructor of the 2nd battery P.K. Toropov recalled that the Germans launched their first attacks with the support of artillery and mortars and brought armored vehicles into battle only in the afternoon. Toropov wrote that these were light vehicles, they were easily knocked out even with fragmentation shells, and armor-piercing shells pierced them through. But when, after a fierce air raid and artillery shelling, the German infantry, supported by tanks, went on the attack again, the division’s defense could not stand. “Already all the slopes of the hills, the banks of the river, our, now captured by the Germans, trenches of the first and second lines were littered with the bodies of the dead when the enemy finally managed to break through the defense.” The situation was saved by the arrival of a fresh 190th SP. The breakthrough was eliminated, and closer to night an order to withdraw came from corps headquarters: by telephone and in writing.
From reconnaissance report No. 04 of the headquarters of the North-Western Front at 18:00 on June 22: “Kaunas-Vilnius direction: a) at 13:30 the enemy, with the strength of an infantry regiment, broke through in the direction of Shaka and fought in the Shaki, Skarduna sector (10 km to the south Shaki). Over the infantry regiment, presumably, reached the line Kornishki (7334), Dydvizhe, Volkovyshki. At 14:20, over two infantry divisions, a cavalry regiment and up to a company of tanks advanced in the Virbalis, Kalvaria sector.”
On the eve of the war, the headquarters of the 188th Infantry Division moved to the southern edge of the forest 15 km south of the town of Vilkaviskis. Communication with the four battalions located on the border was carried out only by telephone; when the war began, it was immediately interrupted. Divisional signalmen sent to eliminate the damage discovered a gust 10 km west of the headquarters in the village of Lankaliskiai, not far from the church. Workers of the 3rd department, without thinking twice, arrested three priests (one local and two more who came to visit him on Saturday evening) and took them to
headquarters. Having tied them to trees in the forest, they zealously sought to obtain confessions; after severe torture, all three clergymen died. And later, one “eagle”, who ended up in the USA after the war, admitted that it was he who cut the connection in Lankaliskiai.
At 5 o'clock in the morning, the main forces of the 188th SD set out from the Kazlu-Ruda summer camp towards the border, but air attacks greatly slowed down their progress. In the middle of the day, in the area east of Vilkaviskis, they encountered the advanced units of the enemy’s 6th Army Corps. During a difficult, multi-hour oncoming battle, the formation suffered heavy losses, failed to stop the enemy and was forced to begin retreating across the river. Sheshupe, opening the way to the Neman for the enemy. The remnants of the battalion of the 523rd regiment fighting on the border, together with the regimental commander, Major I. I. Burlakin, joined the division only in the Jonava area. Burlakin said that at one in the morning a regimental engineer arrived to him with a directive from the district headquarters, which ordered the beginning of mining the forefield of the fortified area. The arrival of wagons with mines at Vilkaviskis station was expected. At about three o'clock the duty officer at the division headquarters called with a warning about the possibility of provocations, and at 03:45 the artillery shelling began.
The 33rd division had in the forefield of the 42nd fortified area the 3rd battalion of the 73rd joint venture, the 1st battalion of the 164th joint venture, the 2nd battalion of the 82nd joint venture and the 63rd reconnaissance battalion. On June 20, the division's artillery chief, Colonel G. A. Alexandrov, following the order of its commander, Major General K. A. Zhelsznikov, brought the 44th light artillery regiment, Major Shtepelev, closer to the border. The regiment deployed along the Kaunas highway, which ran parallel to the state border, and with the outbreak of hostilities supported the rifle battalions with fire. In the area of Kibartai, Battalion Commander-1 of the 164th Infantry Regiment, Captain I.D. Glonti, at the turning point of the battle, himself led the soldiers in a bayonet counterattack; the enemy was driven back (History of the Baltic Military District 1940-1967. - Riga, 1968, p. 92). The rifle units of the 1st line, despite the multiple superiority of the advancing enemy, managed, with the support of the artillery of the 44th LAP, tanks and armored vehicles of the 63rd ORB, to hold their positions and thereby made it possible for the main forces of the 33rd SD to approach and deploy. During the battle the 44th
LAP was actually destroyed without retreating from its positions, and its commander also died. The division's rifle units, with the support of the 92nd howitzer artillery regiment (commander - Major A. A. Sobolev) and the attached corps artillery regiment, held their defense sector for seventeen hours, the Vladislav - Vilkaviskis direction was defended by the 164th rifle regiment (regiment commander - Major V. V. Altukhov). In the evening, the 33rd retreated to the town of Pilvishkiai, where it took up defense along the Seshupe River.
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126th and 23rd Rifle Divisions
The main forces of the 126th Infantry Division - with the exception of three rifle battalions, the 265th Anti-Tank Division and the 230th Automobile Battalion, which were located on the border - were on the march approaching Prienai (Preny) at the beginning of the fighting. According to the plans of the district command, on the right bank of the Neman south of Prienai it was also planned to concentrate the 16th Ulyanovsk Infantry Division named after V.I. Kikvidze, transferred from Haapsalu (Estonia), named after V.I. June, as noted in operational report No. 01, this connection did not move anywhere due to the lack of wagons for loading. Prienai itself is located north of Alytus on the left bank of the Neman, directly adjacent to its southern and western outskirts is the dense coniferous forest Prenu-Šilas. The head 690th Infantry Regiment (commander - Colonel E.V. Bedin), while passing the town of Ezno (Eznas), which is 18 km from Prienay, was attacked by aircraft at 6 o'clock; by 11 o'clock the units concentrated in the Priene Forest. Having crossed the Neman over the bridge, they took up defense at the line Old Gutta - Ossa (now Uta Strega and Uosa) southwest and south of the city. There were no battles with ground forces during the day of June 22. On the morning of June 23, the commander of the 550th joint venture, Major B.S. Zarembovsky, sent a reconnaissance group to the west to clarify the situation. After some time, the group encountered the Germans and was fired upon; the commander of the foot reconnaissance platoon, Lieutenant Kuzmsnko, was killed. By 11 o'clock the enemy's vanguard approached Prienai, intending to capture the reinforced concrete bridge across the Neman. As it turned out later, these were parts of the 6th Army Corps of the Wehrmacht (commander - General of the Engineering Troops, Prince Otto-Wil-
Helm Foerster). The enemy was met with artillery fire and thought it prudent to retreat. At about 13 o'clock, a column of vehicles with enemy soldiers approached the north-eastern outskirts of Prienai from somewhere from the direction of Kaunas, who began a battle with units of the 690th regiment. It is unclear whether it was some kind of advanced detachment of field troops or a unit of the special regiment "Brandenburg-800", but their goal was very clear - to capture the bridge. It was possible to destroy the attackers only by introducing the 2nd echelon of the regiment. The documents list their number as 82, which is probably how many corpses were found at the battle site. Apparently, at the same time a small landing force was landed in the rear of the division. With the help of the regimental school of the 690th joint venture and the battery of the 358th light artillery regiment, the landing party was attacked at an altitude of 111.5 and destroyed. Not far from the height there was an airfield on which there were two German transport aircraft. The planes were burned, and the entire airfield was set on fire along with them. By 15 o'clock the enemy, having received reinforcements, began to surround the division, which was surrounded on three sides and pressed against the Neman in the area of the bridge. Holding back their advance with artillery fire and setting up a barrier from the 690th SP and a battalion of the 550th SP, the 126th SD began crossing back to the eastern bank of the Neman. An order was transmitted from the headquarters: Colonel Bedin and the head of the division's engineering service, Major Orlov, to destroy the bridge. The bridge to Prienai was mined by sappers and blown up at 17:55 after the last units of the division had passed. Fritz Behlke of the 58th Regiment, 6th Infantry Division, 6th AK, wrote in his diary that the explosions occurred when they were four hundred meters away from him. The undermining of the bridge delayed the enemy for the time required to establish a pontoon crossing. While the sappers were working on the river, the riflemen were fighting the forest fire without much success (it is possible that the forest was also set on fire by Soviet soldiers). The bridge was ready the next day, but the infantry of the 6th Corps began crossing only on June 25, as they were letting tankers through (from the website of the military archeology group "Iskatel" - http:// iskatel. people. ru). During this time, the 126th Division withdrew to Ezno, and then moved north along the free road. Its battalions, which fought on the border southwest of Kalwaria in the area of the villages of Lyubavas and Sangruda - are located on both sides of the Kaunas - Suwalki highway -
suffered very serious losses in the battle on June 22 (the 7th company from the 550th regiment died almost completely along with the commander, Lieutenant Herman). But they managed to break away from the enemy and retreat beyond the Neman. On June 25, they found their division in the area of \u200b\u200bthe town of Krona (Kruonis) and united with it. The division approached Krony on the night of June 25, with the task of delaying the enemy and allowing units of the 5th and 33rd Rifle Divisions of the 16th Corps of the 11th Army to retreat beyond the Neman. But in the morning, only abandoned materiel and convoys of the 5th SD were found on the left bank. As Major General P.V. Sevastyanov later wrote, in the Kaunas area, army sappers blew up bridges across the Neman, without waiting for its arriving units to cross. After rushing around for several hours in search of a crossing, the artillerymen sank the gun locks in the Neman, and all other equipment and equipment also had to be abandoned. On the night of June 22, the 23rd Infantry Division was on the march 20 km south of Ukmerge. By the morning of June 22, units of the division concentrated in the Karmelava area, 10 km northeast of Kaunas, where they were attacked by enemy aircraft. In view of the enemy's breakthrough of the defense of the 16th SC, Army Commander 11 included the division in the corps and set the following task: to defend the southwestern and northwestern outskirts of Kaunas and ensure the withdrawal of the 5th, 33rd and 188th divisions. On the night of June 23, the 225th and 89th rifle regiments with attached divisions of the 211th light artillery regiment took up defense along the right bank of the Nevyazhis River in the Yagintovichi, Vershi, mouth of the Nevyazhis River section. Also, by the end of the day, the 84th Motorized Division (commander - Major General P.I. Fomenko) began to deploy along the Nevyazhis River from Labunava to its confluence with the Neman, covering Kaunas from the north. On June 22, she, like the 5th Tank, was removed from the subordination of the commander of the 3rd Mechanized Corps and, following the order of the commander of the 11th Army, set out from the forests in the area of Kaisiadorys towards Kaunas.
From 1975 to 1978 he served in the 75th Guards Red Banner Motorized Rifle Order of Suvorov Regiment. The regiment commander at that time was Lieutenant Colonel Gavrilov. The story began with 1 regiment of the Kazan poor. (The beginning of our legendary division was laid by the founder of the Soviet state, Vladimir Lenin. By his decree, in 1919, in Kazan, “the first regiment of the poor was formed for fighting Kolchakites, White Guards and foreign invaders.” In Irkutsk, it was renamed the 51st Infantry Regiment.) Krasnoe The regiment received the banner of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (orders had not yet been awarded to military units) for the liberation of the city of Petropavlovsk (Kazakhstan) from the White Guards. In 1977, the regiment went to the parade with four banners: the battle banner, the Red Banner of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the commemorative banner of the PribVO, and the challenge banner of the PribVO for high performance in combat and political training.
| 75th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment (abbr. 75th Guards MSP) |
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|---|---|
| Guards Battle Banner. |
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| Years of existence | - |
| A country | USSR |
| Subordination | from 1936 to 1946 Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, from 1946 to 1991 Armed forces of the USSR, since 1991 Armed Forces of the Russian Federation |
| Included in | 26th Guards SD, 40th Guards Tank Division, 11th Guards. army Gusev PribVO |
| Type | Ground troops |
| Includes | battalions, divisions, individual companies and platoons. |
| Function | Defense of the Fatherland. Conducting large-scale military operations. |
| Number | 1000 - 2400 personnel. |
| Part | consists of a directorate (headquarters), battalions, divisions and subunits. |
| Dislocation | Chita ZabVO Koenigsberg Special Military District Gusev PribVO |
| Equipment | small arms, tank, artillery, anti-aircraft, and other weapons |
| Participation in |
Battles at Khalkhin Gol Soviet-Finnish War The Great Patriotic War |
| Marks of Excellence | |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Guard Major Ryazanov Ivan Kharitonovich (killed in battle) |
Story [ | ]
Formation [ | ]
The 75th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment was formed as part of the 93rd Rifle Division in May 1936 in Chita, ZabVO on the basis of the 106th Siberian Rifle Regiment of the 35th Infantry Division, as 51st Infantry Regiment
During the war years [ | ]
75th Guards joint venture [ | ]
- On April 20, 1942 the regiment was reorganized into 75th Guards Rifle Regiment, and the division into the 26th Guards Rifle Division.
- From 06/11/1944 to 08/10/1944, the division took part in the Orsha operation and reached the state border with the Suwalki region.
- For the liberation of Belarus, she was awarded five commendations from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. The division was among the first to reach the borders of East Prussia.
- In the summer of 1944, throughout the Orsha direction of the 3rd Belorussian Front, Soviet troops began offensive combat operations (Operation Bagration plan). Providing fierce resistance, under the onslaught of the Soviet army, the enemy retreated. The task of the Soviet command was to break through the “impregnable bastion,” as Hitler himself called impassable swamps, minefields and 17 lines of trenches with barbed wire, which was defended by the 78th Assault Division under the command of Lieutenant General Hans Traut, and to capture the Moscow-Minsk highway north of Orsha . The regiment, as part of the division, successfully completed its tasks. The vaunted assault division was defeated and its commander captured.
- From April 3 to April 9, 1945, the regiment as part of the division took part in the assault on the city and fortress of Königsberg. From April 22, 1945 to April 26, 1945, he fought to capture the city of Pillau.
- By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 19, 1945, the 75th Guards Rifle Regiment was awarded for the capture of the city of Pillau Order of Suvorov, III degree.
After the war [ | ]
Soldiers awarded the orders of Suvorov, Kutuzov, Bogdan Khmelnitsky and Alexander Nevsky
Order of Kutuzov III degree:
Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky III degree:
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Order of Alexander Nevsky:
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The 128th Rifle Division deployed its battle formation eight kilometers east of Pskov. The first echelon consisted of the right-flank 533rd Infantry Regiment (opposite the villages of Lazhnevo and Klishevo) and the left-flank 374th Infantry Regiment (opposite the villages of Gornevo and Berdovo). The 741st Regiment (without the first battalion allocated to the division commander's reserve) was in the second echelon.
At three o'clock in the morning on July 22, seeing that the Germans had left the first trenches, the commander of the 533rd regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Panin, gave the order to the assault group to immediately occupy them and move on, imposing battle on the enemy.
The battle begins with the enemy rearguards for the villages of Lazhnevo and Klishevo. The so-called “Klishevsky pillbox”, from which the Germans fired flanking machine-gun fire, was especially hindering during the offensive. Brave scouts Vasily Zhukov and Roman Shaloboda crawled closer to the pillbox and threw grenades at it, silencing the fascist machine gunners. However, having captured Lazhnevo, the 533rd Regiment met stubborn enemy resistance and its forward progress temporarily slowed down.
At the same time, the 374th Infantry Regiment, adjacent to the right of the 533rd Regiment, moved to approach the enemy.
Our artillery began shelling enemy fortifications from the first line and beyond. The artillery preparation was short, powerful, stunning. The guards' mortars - the famous Katyushas - had their say.
Rising to the heights of Berdovo, the 374th regiment broke the German defense system and, attacking from the flank, easily captured the village of Gornevo. Developing the offensive, the regiment attacked the Berezka station. The first battalion under the command of Captain N. Korotaev approached the crosses at 6 o’clock in the morning. It was assumed that he would deliver only an auxiliary strike, since a swampy section of the front stretched in front of the regiment, which excluded tank support. However, using surprise, powerful artillery support and attacks from neighbors, the regiment developed a very successful offensive.
In the Krestov area, the 374th Regiment encountered strong enemy resistance. The infantry lay down under destructive fire. From the left flank, the enemy was ready to counterattack with tanks, holding onto the Crosses as an intermediate point of defense. In addition, a prisoner of war camp was located in this area. The Nazis did not have time to liquidate them all. The decisive actions of our troops and the support of artillery prevented the Nazis from inflicting reprisals on the survivors.
The 374th Regiment continued the offensive and was the first to start fighting directly for Pskov. Despite the fact that both of its flanks, due to the lag of their neighbors, were exposed, the battalions went deeper into the outlying streets of the city, knocking out German machine gunners from houses and ruins.
The command of the 128th division, supporting the offensive impulse of the 374th regiment, took measures to cover its flanks. For this purpose, the 1st battalion of the 741st Infantry Regiment, which was in reserve, was placed at the disposal of the regiment commander.
At 6.30 on July 22, the 1252nd Infantry Regiment broke through the enemy defenses and went on the offensive, and 15 minutes after it, the 1248th Regiment, which occupied positions east of Lake Pskov, also went on the offensive. At exactly noon, the 1250th Infantry Regiment under the command of A.I. Glushkova started a battle on the northern outskirts of Pskov.
The 374th Regiment passed Krestovskoe Highway and stopped near the railway crossing. “From the ruins of the “Vydvizhenets” plant,” recalls I. Markov, a former soldier of the army communications company, “machine guns began to fire. The soldiers lay down. We tried to go around, but we were also met with fire from the destroyed station building on the left. Then the battalion went on the attack. A unanimous “Hurray!” rang out... The enemy machine guns choked, the Nazis ran. And now I’m already on the territory of the “Vydvizhenets” plant, in the first, albeit destroyed, but liberated building of my hometown.”
The railway station and station buildings are from the Nazi units of the 741st Infantry Regiment.
“Every step was fought,” recalls I. Markov, “the Nazis settled in the ruins of houses. There is not a single whole house around, only ruins... Now the ruins of the Oktyabrskaya Hotel. I stopped at the Summer Garden and looked at my watch. Exactly 9 am. We are located in the center of our hometown."
From the summer garden and the House of Soviets, the soldiers of the 374th Infantry Regiment and the first battalion of the 741st Regiment attached to it, pushing back the enemy, advanced to the Velikaya River, under the cover of the flagstone wall of the Okolny City and the ruins of houses on the streets of Sverdlov, Gogol, Nekrasov, Sovetskaya.
They reached the eastern bank of the river in the area from St. George's import to the Pokrovskaya tower. From Zavelichye they were hit by heavy fire from fascist machine guns, mortars and artillery pieces, but the thick walls built by their ancestors reliably protected the soldiers from bullets and shrapnel.
While retreating, the Nazis destroyed bridges and transportation facilities, clearly hoping to delay the advance of our troops and gain time to redeploy and put their units in order.
But the 374th Regiment began crossing the river immediately. But not everyone had enough equipment for the crossing.
This is how the commander of the 374th Infantry Regiment K.A. describes the crossing. Shestak: “On June 22 at 10 o’clock in the morning, a caravan of homemade rafts and rafts headed for the Mirozhsky monastery and the Church of Clement. ... By 11 o’clock in the morning the bridgehead on the opposite bank had been conquered and was firmly held by us.”
From the report of the head of the political department of the 128th Infantry Division P.P. Kazmina: “The soldiers of our units showed exceptional examples of courage and bravery in hot battles during the crossing of the Velikaya River. The fifth rifle company of the 374th regiment rushed to swim, using logs, boards, and sheaves of hay. Sergeant Baldakov with a reel over his shoulders melted to the opposite bank and gave timely communication to the command...
The Red Army soldier Samoilov, having crossed to the western bank of the Velikaya River, stole a boat from under the enemy’s nose, on which many soldiers and equipment were later transported.”
The crossing of the soldiers of the 374th regiment across the Velikaya was supported by powerful fire from 40 guns of the 122nd mortar and 292nd artillery regiments, a division of guards mortars, and tank destroyer batteries.
On July 22, when it began to get dark, units of the 128th Infantry Division crossed the Velikaya River in different places. The 374th Infantry Regiment, having completely completed the crossing, continued offensive operations on the western bank. On the same day, the 741st Regiment crossed the Velikaya in the area of Profsoyuznaya Street and the blown up Red Army Bridge. On July 23, the 533rd Regiment crossed above the railway bridge and in the Korytov area.
At 1500 on July 22, the regiments of the 376th Infantry Division also reached the right bank of the Velikaya River everywhere from Lake Pskov to the mouth of the Pskova. On the night of July 22-23, they crossed it. Only Greatness remained in the hands of the enemy. The flanks of the advancing divisions closed, forming a united front. On the first day of the offensive, our units advanced 8-10 kilometers.
At 4 a.m. on July 23, the 1250th Regiment also began the crossing. The flotilla moved in deployed formation to liberate Zavelichye.
After stubborn fighting, the Germans could not stand it and retreated. The glorious city of the Russian land was liberated. And on the evening of July 23, 1944, Moscow, on behalf of the Motherland, saluted the valiant units and formations that liberated the ancient city on the Velikaya River with twenty artillery salvoes from two hundred and twenty-four guns.
Comments:
On August 28, 1941, the Germans approached the Mga station. By this time, only the last railway line to Volkhovstroy, connecting Leningrad with the country, had not fallen into enemy hands. On August 30, the battle for Mgu began. On this day, the Germans reached the left bank of the Neva near the village of Ivanovskoye, cutting off the Leningrad-Volkhovstroy railway connection in the area between the railway bridge on the Tosna River and the railway fork three kilometers east of the Mga station.
In August 1941
The defense and circumstances of the surrender of the village and the Mga railway station at the end of August 1941 still require additional documentary study. From domestic and German documents it is known that MGU was defended by units of the 1st mountain rifle brigade of Colonel Gribov and the 152nd NKVD regiment of Major Petrenko, as well as anti-aircraft gunners. Units of the 152nd Regiment for the Protection of Particularly Important Industrial Enterprises were met by the Germans later near Nevdubstroy, and later retreated to Shlisselburg. The units of the 1st Mountain Rifle Brigade, knocked out of Mga on August 31, 1941, retreated to Kelkolovo and the village of Mikhailovsky and subsequently took part in attempts to recapture the Mga station area.
Order No. 007
On August 30, the commander of the Leningrad Front, M. M. Popov, signed combat order No. 007 on the transfer of the 1st NKVD Division, Colonel S. I. Donskov, to the Mgi area. On August 31, 1941, the division crossed the new Kuzminsky railway bridge to the left bank of the Neva. Colonel Donskov was ordered to knock out the enemy from the Mga station area, go to the Voitolovo, Sologubovka, Turyshkino, Voronovo, Lake Sinyavinskoye areas, where to take up a strong defense, thereby ensuring the uninterrupted operation of the railway.
On September 1, 1941, at 6:30 a.m., units of the 1st NKVD Division, reinforced by seven KV tanks, three T-50s and nine T-26s, with the support of the artillery of the Neva River Security Ship Detachment, went on the offensive, in accordance with the assigned task, in two opposite directions. It was necessary to break through to Mga and take control of the railway. To do this, first of all, it was necessary to protect your right flank from the village of Petrushino, the village of Otradnoye, Art. Pella, junction and villages of the Mountain. The 1st Rifle Regiment of Major A.I. Tarashkevich moved along the left bank of the Neva to Otradnoe and entered the battle. The 3rd Infantry Regiment under Lieutenant Colonel V.T. Andriyanenko led an offensive with the goal of taking control of the area of the village of Gory. The 2nd regiment of Major V.V. Zherebtsov advanced in the direction of the Mga station and the village of Pogorelushka. A battalion of the 3rd regiment was allocated for the defense of the Kuzminsky bridge and the bridgehead.
In three days of fighting, the 1st NKVD Division managed to reliably cover itself from the direction of the village of Otradnoye and the Gory junction, encircle the enemy in the village of Gory, and oust the enemy’s motorized reconnaissance from the villages of Lobanovo and Kelkolovo. But units of the 2nd Infantry Regiment and two battalions of the 1st Mountain Rifle Brigade failed to recapture the station and the village of Mga from the Germans. The fighting took place on the outskirts of the village. On September 4, the Nazis managed to break through our ring around the village of Gory. Aviation was used massively against the defenders of Leningrad. On September 5, 1941, the 1st NKVD Division, having suffered significant losses from the bombing, was no longer able to conduct offensive operations.
Shlisselburg
After the loss of the last railway communication of Leningrad, according to the resolution of the Military Council of the Leningrad Front dated September 3 No. 214, the movement of goods to and from Leningrad through Shlisselburg was organized. There was no longer any hope of quickly expelling the enemy from the Mga station area. Shlisselburg was the last hope to maintain land connections with the country.
Back in August, the rear base and headquarters of the Ladoga military flotilla were evacuated from the islands of Lake Ladoga to Shlisselburg. On September 3, 1941, two companies of the 4th battalion of the 4th Marine Brigade were transferred here from the island of Valaam to protect the city by flotilla ships. In just four days, he alone will have to defend the border of the village of Sinyavino from an enemy superior in every sense. The 3rd company of the battalion arrived in Shlisselburg from Konevets Island only on September 7, 1941, after 18:05.
It so happened that the key Sinyavinskaya height, dominating the much-needed Leningrad after the loss of the Mga station area on the shore of Lake Ladoga, for which our units fought with the Germans for almost three years, was defended in the tragic September 1941 only by an incomplete rifle battalion. How did he end up alone in the face of the enemy?
In the face of the enemy
On September 5, 1941, at a meeting, Adolf Hitler pointed out the extremely important importance of Shlisselburg. The German offensive was planned for September 6. Its progress is described in detail in the “History of the Rhine-Westphalian 126th Infantry Division” by Gerhart Lohse, published in Germany in 1957. On the morning of September 6, 1941, battle groups of the German 20th Motorized Division moved to Lobanovo and Kelkolovo. The blow against the units of the 1st NKVD division that had retreated from the village of Gory to the holiday village of TsNIGRI was delivered by the “combat group Schwerin”. The main blow on the right flank of the 20th Motorized Division in the direction of the village of Kelkolovo was delivered by the “Battle Group Hoppe”. It was to be supported by tanks of the 12th Panzer Division.
The first attack of the Hoppe battle group was repelled shortly after crossing the railway line. The battalions of the 424th Infantry Regiment, 126th Infantry Division, temporarily assigned to the 20th Motorized Division, suffered unexpectedly heavy losses. Lieutenants Dahlmanns, Frick and Hoyving were killed. The tanks were immediately transferred to the “battle group Schwerin”, where there was success. But soon the Germans found a gap in our defense in the direction of Kelkolovo. The blow was struck at the junction between the remnants of the 1st NKVD Division and the 1st Mountain Rifle Brigade. The latter, by the end of the day, retreated to the Moika River and took up defense from the village of Mikhailovsky to Lake Sinyavinskoye. Meanwhile, the “Schwerin battle group” broke through to Lobanov. The 1st NKVD Division was torn into pieces, defeated and virtually dispersed. The commanders tried to stop the disorganized withdrawal of scattered groups. Significant losses were suffered. According to the headquarters of the 1st division of the NKVD, given in the works of O. A. Sukhodymtsev, the total losses of the division for September 1-8 amounted to 4,020 people (and only for September 6-7 - 3,225 people), of which 3,346 were irrevocable .
On September 6, 1941, at about two o'clock in the afternoon, the 3rd battalion of the 424th infantry regiment occupied Kelkolovo. At eight o'clock in the evening, the 3rd Battalion of the 76th Infantry Regiment occupied Annenskoye and Mustolovo. Setting up barriers to the northeast, the 424th Regiment reached the railway bridge over the Moika River. Reconnaissance was sent to the 9th km junction. By evening, two battalions of the 424th regiment concentrated in front of the so-called turning triangle. At night they repulsed our counterattack. By ten o'clock in the morning, tanks from the 12th Tank Division and the 1st Battalion of the 76th Regiment of the 20th Motorized Division arrived along the road through Mustolovo. Everything was ready for the attack on the village of Sinyavino.
The first battle for Sinyavino
In the second half of July 1941, the 4th Separate Special Purpose Marine Brigade was formed from the personnel of ships, training detachments and coastal defense units. The brigade consisted, according to the memoirs of retired Major General V.M. Rzhanov, of five battalions, a tank battalion, an artillery battalion, an engineer company and a communications company. The battalions, numbering up to 1 thousand people each, had special units: a battery of 76-mm guns, units of sappers, chemists and signalmen. Major General B.N. Nenashev was appointed commander of the brigade. The brigade was sent to the islands of Lake Ladoga.
According to archival data, the 4th battalion of the brigade was formed from reserve sailors, consisting of three rifle companies, one machine gun company and an artillery platoon. The rifle companies had mortar platoons. In addition to automatic, semi-automatic and three-line rifles, the battalion had 17 machine guns, 9 battalion mortars, 3 anti-tank guns with wedges, hand grenades, a large amount of ammunition, ammonal, food and medicine. The battalion was commanded by Colonel Moiseenko.
On September 2, 1941, the command and personnel of the 4th battalion were transferred to the command of the Ladoga military flotilla for the defense of Shlisselburg.
September 3, 1941 at 7:35 a.m. the battalion was delivered to Shlisselburg from the island of Valaam. By order of the commander of the Ladoga Military Flotilla, the battalion left Shlisselburg to the area of the village of Sinyavino to occupy the defense, as a second echelon in the presence of active units of the 1st NKVD Division and the 1st Mountain Rifle Brigade in front, at the line: the right flank - the intersection of highways with a branching railway track southwest of Rabochiy settlement No. 6, the middle is Sinyavino, the left flank is along the road to the village of Gontovaya Lipka.
On September 4, 1941, the battalion, consisting of two rifle companies, a machine gun company and an artillery platoon, took up defensive positions for 14 km, expecting the enemy from the south, east and west. Moreover, between the 1st and 2nd companies and the separate detachment that took up defense in the Gontovaya Lipka area, the gap was 7 km. The machine gun company was dispersed by platoon, and the artillery platoon was also dispersed by one gun. In addition to the line at Sinyavino, the 3rd platoon of the 1st company occupied a security position from the village of Lipki between the canals to Rabochy settlement No. 4.
On September 5, 1941, the situation for the command of the 4th battalion was still unclear. By the end of the day, the headquarters of the Ladoga Military Flotilla received a report from the commander of the 4th Marine Battalion, Colonel Moiseenko: “As a result of a day of continuous bombing, 100 bombers and 80 enemy fighters from Donskoy are leaving, our aviation is gone.”
The next day the situation changed dramatically. On September 6, after fierce bombing by enemy aircraft and pressure from the advancing Germans, the 1st NKVD Division and 1st Mountain Rifle Brigade retreated to the right and left. The first echelon of Shlisselburg's defense seemed to give way, and the 4th battalion of the 4th separate marine brigade suddenly came into contact with the enemy.
On September 6, the enemy began an attack on Sinyavino with bombing. From morning to evening, as follows from the documents of the 4th battalion, up to 90 aircraft bombed the battalion’s defense area. The battalion suffered its first losses. Platoon commander Lebedev, Red Navy soldier Zhigalin and others were killed by a direct hit from bombs.
On the night of September 6-7, battalion commissar Gorshkov visited the chief of staff of the Ladoga military flotilla in Shlisselburg and asked, on behalf of the command of the 4th battalion, for aviation and artillery support. That same night, taking advantage of the presence of the head of the Special Department of the 48th Army in Shlisselburg, he managed to contact army headquarters. Support was promised from the headquarters of the 48th Army, but it did not arrive on time, and the 4th Battalion had to defend itself against superior enemy forces. The battalion was transferred under the command of Colonel Donskov, whose losses by this time, according to the flotilla headquarters, amounted to 70% of the personnel.
On September 7, 1941, the enemy approached the battalion’s defense line from the southwest of Workers’ Village No. 6, while the main forces of the battalion were concentrated from the south. The battalion's battle formations were not reorganized in time - the mortars ended up in front of the infantry. Stubborn fighting began, according to the documents of the 4th battalion, at 13:00 and continued until 17:00. As a result of the battle, the battalion lost a significant part of its soldiers and commanders, including three company commanders (Medvedev, Filippov and Solodkov). Three political commissars (Mikheev, Kurilo and Shayan) went missing. Dispersed in defense into small units, the battalion was split by the enemy into two parts and defeated. Separate groups of fighters retreated in different directions.
The left group of the dismembered battalion, under the leadership of battalion commissar K.R. Georgadze, fought back to the Gontovaya Lipka area and took up defense there. By order of the battalion commissar Georgadze, a sapper platoon of the 533rd regiment of the 128th division arrived in time and mined the bridge over the Black River. A little later, a group of Red Navy men of the 2nd company under the command of the company’s political instructor, Mironov, joined the 120-150 soldiers of various military units who had gathered at Gontovaya Lipka. Along the way, Mironov added fighters from other units to the 18 Red Navy men of his group, and by the time he arrived at Gontovaya Lipka, his group consisted of 62 fighters. Junior political instructor M.M. Timofeev testified that a group of Red Navy men of 50-60 people retreated to the Gontovaya Lipka area from Sinyavin. Here, from the remnants of the NKVD division, the commanders of the 4th battalion formed two rifle companies.
The right group of the dismembered 4th battalion, mainly the 1st company and the chemical platoon, retreated in the direction of Shlisselburg. The battalion commander, Colonel Moiseenko, joined the remnants of the battalion in Gontovaya Lipka three days later.
Missing
As a result of the battle for Sinyavino, the 4th battalion lost almost all machine guns, mortars, artillery, ammunition, food and medicine. Despite the loss of an important defensive line, the loss of all property and a significant part of the personnel, due to the numerical and material superiority of the enemy in this battle, battalion commissar K.R. Georgadze assessed the results of the defense of Sinyavin on September 7, 1941: “The Red Navy fought bravely. The battalion basically coped with its task.” Junior political instructor M.M. Timofeev echoes his commander in a memo: “The fighters held firm and courageous, defending the defense area.”
On September 7, 1941, the 4th Battalion suffered heavy losses. But it is not yet possible to clarify them due to the incompleteness of archival data. According to the “Lists of irretrievable losses of personnel of the 4th separate naval rifle battalion of the 4th naval brigade,” reflecting the losses of junior commanders and enlisted personnel, in September 1941, the battalion, which continued fighting in September and October, lost about 600 people. Opposite all names, with the exception of a few, there is a short phrase: “missing in September 1941.” No date or place that would indicate the circumstances of the disposal. At the same time, it must be recognized that many wounded Red Navy men could have fallen into the hands of the enemy after the battalion left Sinyavin. Of the 1,129 people captured on September 7-8, 1941 by units of the German 20th Motorized Division, according to documents of the German 39th Army Corps, 160 prisoners were marines. German researcher Gerhart Lohse indicates in his book that during the capture of the village of Sinyavino, the 424th Infantry Regiment captured 400 prisoners.
“People lie, deceive each other...”
On the night of September 7, 1941, the commander of the Ladoga military flotilla, captain 1st rank B.V. Khoroshkin, gave the order for the direct defense of Shlisselburg. However, in addition to the 4th battalion, the flotilla had only a rifle platoon for the flotilla rear control and a combined command of anti-aircraft battery No. 176 (without guns). The 4th battalion was reassigned to Donskov, but the latter had no contact either with his regiments, or, probably, with his headquarters, or with the 48th Army. September 7, 1941 at 19:40 Donskov asked the command of the Ladoga military flotilla to take over the defense of Shlisselburg. At this time, the battle was already taking place in the area of the city cemetery and coal pier. Donskov's division no longer represented a real force, which was probably obvious to the flotilla command. Scattered units of the division passed through the city and were freely transported by means of a flotilla, along with a mountain of ammunition stored in Shlisselburg, to the right bank.
In this situation, hope was only for the 48th Army. The possibilities of the Ladoga military flotilla to strengthen the Shlisselburg garrison with its own forces are not considered in this article. According to researcher O.A. Sukhodymtsev, the commander of the 48th Army, Lieutenant General M.A. Antonyuk, no later than 23:45. On September 6, 1941, he gave the order to advance the 741st Regiment of the 128th Infantry Division to Rabochy Poselok No. 6 and Sinyavino. The regiment was supposed to take up the defense of the designated area at 5:00 am. September 7, 1941.
September 6, 1941 at 11:45 p.m. Lieutenant General M.A. Antonyuk, by order of the headquarters of the 48th Army No. 027, ordered the commander of the 122nd Tank Brigade to “allocate the 743rd Infantry Regiment to the command of the commander (in the document the 741st Regiment is mistakenly called the 743rd Regiment - approx. author ) 5 cannon tanks, which should be sent to Sinyavino by 5.30 7.9.41.” The report of the head of the operational department of the 48th Army, Lieutenant Colonel Belov, contains information that on September 7, 1941 at 1:00 am. the army commander “decided to send the 741st rifle regiment of the 128th infantry division from the Voronovo area to workers’ village No. 6, Sinyavino, with the task of preventing the enemy from reaching Shlisselburg.”
However, the 741st Infantry Regiment did not end up in Sinyavino on September 7, 1941. Combat order of the headquarters of the 48th Army No. 028 dated 15:40. On September 7, 1941, Lieutenant General M.A. Antonyuk orders the 128th Infantry Division during September 7, handing over the defense area at Voronov to the 286th Infantry Division and setting out at nightfall, to concentrate in the area of Apraksin Gorodok and others by dawn on September 8, 1941, where to replenish and be ready for the attack on MGU. At the same time, this order gives instructions to the 374th joint venture of the 128th rifle division. It was this regiment, and not the 741st Regiment, that was now supposed to “defend the front of workers’ village No. 6, (claim) lake. Sinyavinskoye, firmly occupying the highway near Sinyavino and the forest northwest of the lake. Sinyavinskoe".
In the combat report of the headquarters of the 128th Infantry Division No. 29 dated 11:00. On September 8, 1941, it was reported that the 741st rifle division began to surrender the defense line of the 286th rifle division in the Voronovo area only at 5.00 on September 8th. It follows from the report that the reason for the delay in the surrender of the defense area was the untimely movement by the commander of the 286th Infantry Division to the sectors of the 128th Infantry Division. It is noteworthy that the report does not contain a word about attempts by the 374th Infantry Division to carry out the order to occupy Sinyavino. 374 joint venture, according to the report, from 2.00 on September 8 began to concentrate from the Voronovo area to the Upper Nazia area. Further, the text of the report reads: “The 533rd regiment, according to your order of 7.9.41, should occupy Sinyavino by 6.00, but not reaching 4 km east of Sinyavino, it met with superior enemy forces (report of the regiment commander, - approx. auto ) went on the defensive, straddling the Putilovo-Sinyavino road in the area 2 km north-west of Gontovaya Lipka.”
Finally, operational report No. 60 of the headquarters of the 48th Army dated September 8, 1941 at 14.00 reads: “The 533rd infantry regiment reached the Sinyavino line, (excl.) lake from 4.00. Sinyavinskoe. At the time of compiling the summary, no reports had been received. Until the regiment arrives, the line is held by a detachment of marines.” Thus, none of the three regiments of the 128th Infantry Division, sent by orders of the 48th Army for the defense of Sinyavin, ever arrived there. Shlisselburg turned out to be absolutely open. By the evening of September 7, Sinyavino was lost. The German attack on Shlisselburg followed only on the morning of September 8. But no one came to Shlisselburg’s aid. At two o'clock in the afternoon on September 8, 1941, the headquarters of the 48th Army did not yet know about the capture of Sinyavin by the enemy. In the days following this, the 128th Infantry Division nevertheless launched an attack on Sinyavino, fought for Workers' Village No. 5, advanced to Workers' Settlement No. 6, even temporarily encircled the 424th German Regiment of Colonel Hoppe, but it failed to recapture the Sinyavino area . Time was lost.
On September 2, 1941, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command advanced the 54th Army to the Mga direction. However, she was not destined to participate in the defense of Shlisselburg. The commander of the 54th Army, Marshal of the Soviet Union G.I. Kulik, in a conversation with Marshal of the Soviet Union K.E. Voroshilov on September 13, 1941, assessed the situation that had developed near Shlisselburg by September 8, 1941: “Two words about the former 48th Army. (...) People lie, deceive each other. (...) Therefore, the capture of Shlisselburg must be attributed to general lies and ignorance of the affairs of the highest commanders, how things stand on the ground. And they reassured me that everything was going well in this area, but just at the time when the army was concentrating, I could not go to the place and trusted the headquarters of the 48th Army and its commander that they would not allow the enemy in the direction of Shlisselburg. I was entirely occupied with organizing a regrouping to capture the Mga station. During this period, I could have thrown one rifle division, which would have prevented the capture of Shlisselburg. True, this is an unpleasant story, but I wanted to tell you the exact truth.”
Fatal errors
The fall of Shlisselburg deprived the Ladoga military flotilla of its last equipped base with repair facilities. But a much greater loss for the Leningraders was the surrender of Shlisselburg. If it were possible to hold Shlisselburg and the Sinyavinsky Heights, a railway could be built on the Ladoga lowland, as was done in January-February 1943 after the blockade was broken. And the Germans would not have seen it from the Sinyavinsky Heights, they would not have been able to adjust the artillery fire on the trains, since the Sinyavinsky Heights would have remained behind us.
D O horns of error in war. There is a great responsibility for them. In September 1941, major mistakes were made by the military command, civilian and party leadership. And for these fatal mistakes, the soldiers of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, the martyrs of Leningrad and the unfortunate residents of the occupied villages and cities of the Leningrad region paid with their lives during 900 endlessly long days of siege.
Pavel Apel,
Senior Researcher
Museum-Reserve "Breaking the Siege of Leningrad"
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