“If tomorrow is a war,
If the hike is tomorrow…"
August 1939 ... The events in Spain, the capture of Czechoslovakia by Hitler, are still fresh in people's minds, and the world again smells of gunpowder. On Khalkhin Gol, there are battles with the Japanese, the Wehrmacht armies are pulling together to the borders of Poland. The non-aggression pact concluded between the USSR and Germany did not remove the threat of war. The Soviet government is making enormous efforts to strengthen the country's defense. Military factories are being built, designers are developing new types of weapons. In connection with the growing danger of war, the Law on General Military Obligation was adopted. The formation of dozens of new divisions began. So, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of August 9, 1939, the formation of the 137th rifle was started.
The division was born on the Nizhny Novgorod land. Her "mother" was the 17th Nizhny Novgorod named after the Central Executive Committee of the BSSR rifle division... The 17th regiments had military traditions since the civil war. The formation of the new division began on the basis of the 51st Ivanovo-Voznesensky Regiment of the 17th Infantry Regiment, which was stationed in Arzamas.
In early September 1939, the first commanders and political workers of the new unit began to arrive in Arzamas. Division commander was appointed division commander Danilov, chief of staff - Colonel Yamanov. Employees of the division headquarters and regimental commanders arrived with them in Arzamas.
It was necessary to form three rifle regiments, which received numbers: 771st, 624th, 409th, and two artillery regiments - 497th howitzer and 278th light. In addition, it was necessary to create several special units and subunits: anti-tank and anti-aircraft artillery battalions, communications battalions, sapper, reconnaissance, automobile, medical and sanitary battalions.
Aleksandrov A.A., political instructor of the company of the 624th rifle regiment, later party organizer of the regiment, retired lieutenant colonel:
- When the formation of the 624th regiment began, I worked as a head of the department and a member of the bureau of the Arzamas district committee of the Komsomol. The fact that a division would be formed in Arzamas became known in the regional party committee at the end of August 1939. Soon, the regional executive committee and the city military commissariat, together with the arrived representatives from the Moscow military district, began to implement the developed plan of measures. The tasks came to the fore: to ensure the deployment of units and their headquarters, to pick up command personnel from the reserve. It was necessary to provide a certain party-Komsomol stratum in the units being formed, and, finally, to provide housing for the families of the command staff. The district committee of the Komsomol was also involved in all this work. At the end of August, the premises of the railway technical school were vacated, in which the 278th light artillery regiment was then located, and the Red barracks, where the first battalion of the 624th rifle regiment was quartered. The hotel on Leninskaya Street was vacated for the apartments of the commanding officers' families. At that time, the district Komsomol committee had to work especially hard. At the direction of the district committee of the party, we were obliged to select three hundred Komsomol members from the assigned composition for the two regiments to be formed. The district committee of the Komsomol has successfully completed this task. More than three hundred Arzamas Komsomol members were called up to the 624th regiment alone, and about a hundred more to the 278th artillery regiment. The division's medical battalion was staffed with orderlies and nurses exclusively from the Arzamas Komsomol. In March 1940, I already served in the 624th regiment as a company political instructor. The regiment commander, Major Frolenkov, and the commissar Mikheev, greeted me very warmly, like an old acquaintance from work in the district committee. Could I then assume that I would have to go with the regiment all its combat path until the end of the war ...
On September 7, 1939, the first artillery division of the artillery regiment of the 17th rifle division arrived by train from Gorky to Arzamas. The first to get off the train was the battalion commissar Makarevich, who had been appointed commissar of the regiment. Senior Lieutenant Yelesin built a division on the platform and read out an order to form the 278th Light Artillery Regiment, which should be part of the 137th Infantry Division. Soon the village of Vyezdnoye near Arzamas began to turn into a military camp, noisy with neighing horses, commands and soldiers' songs. On September 15, the regiment's commander, Major Ryabkov, the chief of staff captain Polyantsev, the division commanders Lieutenant Lagoysky, Senior Lieutenant Khrushchev and Captain Yakushev arrived at the regiment's location. The regiment soon began to live a normal army life.
The 497th Howitzer Artillery Regiment was formed in the ancient village of Karacharovo near Murom. Major Malykh, appointed as the unit commander, battalion commissar Andreev, commissar of the regiment, and several middle commanders were the first to arrive at the premises of the Karacharovsky rest house, where the regiment's headquarters was supposed to be located ...
Sviridov V.V., commander of the headquarters battery of the 497th GAP, Komsomol organizer of the regiment, retired lieutenant colonel:
- In Murom, in the 497th howitzer artillery regiment, I was sent after graduating from the Kiev military school. Lieutenant Silkin and I arrived in the city at night, where the regiment was located, of course, we did not know. They asked the first soldier who came across, he turned out to be the commander of the regiment, Major Malykh. It turned out that the regiment did not exist yet, we arrived first. This is how our service began. But before starting combat training, an enormous amount of work had to be done: to overhaul the premises, build workshops, equip a canteen and a club, a stable, and prepare firewood for the winter. Soon the first four howitzers arrived, forty horses, then they brought tractors and ammunition. At first, there were only 25 of us in the regiment, then another 60 arrived, then a whole echelon came - with Ryazanians, Odessa residents, Siberians, Vinnytsia residents, Georgians. At the same time they settled down and studied the material part. Many of the fighters had never seen artillery pieces before ...
771st rifle regiment began to form at a school on Barrikad Street in Sormovo, then he was transferred to Arzamas. Colonel Malinov was appointed commander of the regiment. Malinov was transferred to the regiment from the post of chief of the regimental school of the 17th rifle division, and before that he commanded a battalion. Captain Shaposhnikov became the chief of staff of the 771st regiment. Battalion commissar Vasilchikov was appointed commissar of the regiment. Political instructor Naumov became the party organizer of the regiment.
Companies and battalions were immediately formed from the arriving personnel. Many young workers from Sormov, the Gorky Automobile Plant, and Murom enterprises came to serve in the 771st Rifle Regiment.
By October 1, the formation of the 409th Rifle Regiment was completed, and Major Kornienko was appointed its commander. Previously, he taught tactics at the military school named after the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, trained hundreds of commanders of the Red Army. Artyugin, commissar of the regiment, was with extensive service experience. He arrived in the regiment from the post of deputy chief of the political department of the 17th rifle division. At the same time, Artyugin was a member of the Mordovian Regional Committee and the Saransk City Party Committee. The 409th regiment was formed mainly from Cheboksary Komsomol members. After being formed, the regiment was to be redeployed from Cheboksary to Saransk, and the first test for it was a forced pedestrian passage to this city.
The party and economic bodies of Gorky, Arzamas and Murom rendered enormous assistance in the formation of the new unit. The formation of the 137th rifle division took place under the personal control of the first secretary of the Gorky regional party committee, Rodionov, and the chairman of the regional executive committee, Tretyakov. They knew well the needs of the connection, from the very first days they got acquainted with the command, with which they were subsequently bound by a strong male friendship.
From the end of September, all units and subdivisions of the division began combat training. Classes in tactics, political training began, military weapons were studied. The personnel became more and more involved in army life every day.
In December 1939, the division headquarters moved from Arzamas to Gorky, and the 278th light artillery regiment was also redeployed there. The 771st Rifle Regiment, after training camps with an assigned personnel, moved to Cheboksary, but soon returned to Gorky and settled in the Red Barracks under the Kremlin.
On February 23, 1940, the personnel of all regiments of the division took the Oath of Allegiance to the Motherland. And combat training went on its own course ...
V. Sviridov:
- Finally, live firing began and went into the field. The first results were pleasing. I remember how, after the shooting, they built huts, tired but satisfied, sang: "My fire shines in the fog ...". Major Malykh treated the commanders to good cigarettes. He and the regiment commissar Andreev knew how to cheer up and treated us, young commanders, in a fatherly way ...
In the winter of 1940, the 1st and 6th batteries of the 497th GAP were at an all-army artillery training. The battery of Lieutenant Berezhnykh took first place there, for which the Marshal of the Soviet Union. Budyonny awarded him a personalized gold watch. The platoon commanders of this battery, Lieutenants Sakharov, Zhitkovsky and Frolov, were also awarded with personalized watches.
Zhukov S.N., company commander of the 3rd battalion of the 624th rifle regiment, retired captain:
- On February 6, 1940, we, graduates of the Ryazan Infantry School, arrived in Arzamas to replenish the regiment. The parts immediately joined in life, and it was interesting, exciting, as, indeed, all that time. In addition to combat training, the regiment did a lot of sports. For example, in honor of the anniversary of the Red Army, a ski run was organized along the Arzamas - Gorky route and back. We went on skis for about 250 kilometers, in a fierce cold. Then the cadets of the regimental school of the 624th regiment won ...
Makarevich Stanislav Matveyevich, son of the commissar of the 278th LAP:
- I was a boy then and, of course, I loved everything related to the army. We went after the formation of the Red Army soldiers, climbed into the dining room to taste army food. We were assistants in the stable, tried to get to the shooting range, loved to hold a saber, a carbine in our hands, and considered shooting at a shooting range for the highest happiness. I spent the day and slept in the regiment. The Red Army even hid me from my father, he swore that I was disappearing in the barracks all the time. I often heard the fighters respectfully talk about my father. He loved people, and the Red Army men reciprocated. And what amateur performances were in the regiment! It had its own theater, they staged Ostrovsky's plays ...
Did not forget in the division and public work, they knew how to culturally rest. Regimental bands and amateur performances were well known not only to the soldiers, but also to the local residents. It is characteristic that almost the entire command staff was elected as deputies of city and regional councils. The working people of the cities of Gorky, Arzamas, Murom, Saransk knew their deputies well, and they, in turn, found time to provide all possible assistance to their voters. Back in September 1939, a delegation of workers from the city of Gorky presented the personnel of the 771st regiment with the Red Banner, a testament to the unity of the army and the people. Thus began a strong friendship between the soldiers of the division and the workers of the Gorky region.
And on the Karelian Isthmus there were battles with the Finns. Groups of the most trained Red Army men and commanders were transferred there from the division to replenish the warring units several times. During this period, there were not enough people in the division, especially commanders, and those who remained had to work with maximum stress.
In the early summer of 1940, units of the division left for the Gorokhovets camps, where they continued to engage in combat training at training ranges and shooting ranges.
The summer exercises of 1940 were the real test for the division. These were demonstrative maneuvers for the entire high command of the Red Army. The exercises were personally conducted by the People's Commissar of Defense, Marshal of the Soviet Union Timoshenko. The exercises were also attended by Marshals Budyonny and Shaposhnikov, Chief of the General Staff General of the Army Meretskov, Chief of the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army Mehlis and a number of other top commanders.
Colonel Grishin, head of the combat training department of the Moscow military district, prepared the maneuvers. The exercises were as close as possible to the conditions of hostilities. After the report on readiness to Marshal Tymoshenko, the 771 rifle regiment went over to the offensive. The 409th and 624th regiments were the defending side. Personnel morale was exceptionally high at all stages of the exercise. The desire to do everything, as in a war, was imbued with everyone - from an ordinary soldier to a division commander. All units showed excellent combat skills during the exercises. The battalion of Captain Gusev from the 771st regiment was especially distinguished. At the analysis of the exercises by Marshal Timoshenko, the 1st and 3rd companies of senior lieutenants Ponomarev and Tsabut of this battalion were especially noted as skillfully conducting the maneuver. The machine gunners, who pleased the command with accurate shooting, also proved to be excellent. Marshal Tymoshenko was also pleased with the accurate shooting of the gunners. For a long time, the soldiers of the division remembered their meetings with marshals Timoshenko, Budyonny, Shaposhnikov.
After the exercises, they were analyzed in detail. The entire personnel of the compound was expressed gratitude from the People's Commissar of Defense, and the commander of the 624th Infantry Regiment, Major Frolenkov, was presented by Marshal Timoshenko with an honorary gift - a watch with a dedication. The People's Commissar also encouraged many other commanders and Red Army men of the division. The 497th GAP took first place among the 15 artillery regiments of the Moscow Military District at these exercises. No wonder the regiment was soon given the honor of becoming a training base for the Red Army Artillery Academy.
For successes in combat training, the division, among the 15 best formations of the Red Army, was awarded two challenge Red Banners - from the People's Commissariat of Defense and from the command of the Moscow Military District. Such a high assessment of combat training speaks volumes. In a short time, the division became one of the best formations not only in the district, but also in the Red Army.
Good traditions were laid in 137. Even then, the regular soldiers had a sense of superiority as the best unit of the Red Army, which later allowed them to have the same feeling over the enemy.
The division was completely put together as a unit, felt like a cohesive collective, received the necessary pre-battle experience and training.
After the exercises, Marshal Timoshenko decided that even for such a large city as Gorky it was too rich to have such a well-trained regiment as the 771st, and ordered his rank and file to be sent to form one of the parts of the Moscow garrison. For the formation of the new 771st regiment, only the unit commander, the political officer, the chief of staff and several middle and junior commanders were left ...
Shaposhnikov A.V., Chief of Staff of the 771st Infantry Regiment, retired colonel:
- It was a pity to part with such excellent soldiers. We were allowed to leave only rear and special units in Gorky. By hook or by crook, we transferred the best Red Army men and sergeants there in order to preserve the backbone of the unit. The new composition of the regiment was again recruited from Gorky residents, conscripts from Vyksa, Gorodets, Kulebak, Pavlov, Bogorodsk, Shakhunya. The guys were, as if on selection, almost all were Komsomol members ...
Soon the regiment again became the best in the division, it was considered the lead in the formation. No wonder, when in the spring of 1941 in the General Staff they planned to transfer the division to the airborne states, the 771st regiment was supposed to become a parachute regiment, as the best regiment of the formation.
Lyashko P.A., senior clerk of the 771st regiment, retired colonel:
- We were lucky to have commanders. Colonel Malinov knew his job perfectly, an experienced methodologist - educator, a very restrained, calm person. The chief of staff, Captain Shaposhnikov, enjoyed authority in the regiment. He never raised his voice, he would always figure it out, think over a decision, never threw words to the wind. Shaposhnikov knew the staff work very well, he knew how to organize any complex business well. Respected in the regiment and commissar Peter Alexandrovich Vasilchikov. A man of Bolshevik training, he was able to quickly win the authority and love of the regiment's personnel ...
Soon after the People's Commissar's exercises, Divisional Commander Danilov was recalled to Moscow for a new position. It was not easy for him to part with the union in which he had invested so much work and soul. A difficult fate awaited General Danilov in the first months of the war. Commanding another division, in one of the battles he was wounded and taken prisoner. But in captivity, he courageously performed his duty, and died true patriot Homeland.
Colonel Grishin was appointed the new commander of the 137th Infantry Rifle. Colonel Grishin came to the division with a solid experience of work as the head of the operations department of the 17th rifle division, head of the combat training department of the Moscow military district. He was awarded the Order of the Red Star for the perfectly planned and conducted People's Commissar's exercises.
Behind Colonel Grishin's shoulders was a solid and at the same time usual biography for a division commander. Ivan Tikhonovich Grishin was born in 1901 in a peasant family, in the village of Vnukovichi, Roslavl district, Smolensk province. In the Red Army since 1920, participated in the suppression of the Antonovschina, in the 20s graduated military academy named after Frunze. He went through all the steps of military service, starting from the platoon commander. The command appreciated him as a skillful methodologist-educator. Colonel Grishin commanded the 137th division during the most difficult period of its history, until March 1942. Then he worked as chief of staff of the army, until the end of the war he commanded the 49th army. For the crossing of the Dnieper and the capture of Mogilev, General Grishin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. One of the streets of Mogilev bears his name. After the end of the war, Colonel-General Grishin was in diplomatic work in Albania, then worked as the head of the combat training department of the Ground Forces. Ivan Tikhonovich's life was cut short in 1950.
After the people's commissar exercises, the division continued to intensively engage in combat training. There was a war going on in Europe, everyone understood that it was not far off for our country. The Red Army men and commanders studied intensively in military affairs, who often did not have time to be at home on weekends with their families ...
Pokhlebaev G.G., commander of the 76-mm guns battery of the 771st Infantry Regiment, retired colonel:
- The whole last year before the war remained in my memory as a period of constantly growing tension in my work. In September 40, they transferred to another part of the chief of artillery of the regiment, senior lieutenant Yegorychev. Without being relieved of my post as battery commander, they left me to work for him. In October 1940, the secretary of the regiment's party bureau, Naumov, left for courses. As a member of the bureau, I was assigned to carry out his duties. It's a good thing that my deputy for combatant Lieutenant Boris Tereshchenko helped me a lot. Colonel Malinov once said: "Comrade senior lieutenant, in the first half of the day you work with the artillerymen (the battery was located in the Tobolsk barracks), and the second - in the regiment's party bureau." I had to make five-kilometer marches every day along Sverdlov Street. In February 1941, Senior Lieutenant Merkulov arrived from artillery courses. He worked a little at the division's artillery headquarters, and then he was transferred to our unit for the position of the regiment's artillery chief, but I still had to teach the calculations. In May, Naumov returned from courses, this made my service easier, but it was too early to rejoice: Senior Lieutenant Tereshchenko was taken away from me and transferred to command the battery. And so there is no respite before the start of the war ...
The archive of the Russian Ministry of Defense contains the speech of Colonel Grishin at a meeting with the People's Commissar of Defense in January 1941. This document conveys a peculiar spirit of the pre-war period:
“Comrade People's Commissar of Defense! The observation exercises you conducted in our division and the awarding of a high award - the Red Banner of the Red Army - laid a solid foundation for the training of divisional units and created conditions for our fruitful work in the future. We are now firmly on this foundation. True, I have no experience in commanding this division in the past, as the commander of the 99th division said. But I have experience in preparing this division for the observation exercises of the People's Commissar of Defense. Therefore, I will talk about how our studies are going now. We have taken into account all the instructions that you gave during the analysis of the tactical exercises of our division, as well as other divisions, and are rebuilding the entire system of our work according to them.
We started perestroika with such questions. The question would seem very simple - to carry out studies in the field. It couldn't be easier. But it turned out to be a very difficult matter. This case did not work out for us right after the camp studies. What have we done to move this case? We took as a basis the instructions that you made during the tactical exercises of our division, as well as those of other divisions in other districts. Once again we worked them out with all the command staff - senior, middle and now we bring them to a new replenishment, to each fighter.
Second, we rearranged our internal routine in such a way that we study for two hours in the morning until breakfast, then we have breakfast and go out into the fields for the entire six hours. This gives us the opportunity to rationally use daylight hours and not keep soldiers near the barracks. What do we meet here? You cannot turn this case right away. We are facing great difficulties. The remnants of the past, the pattern, the conventions that existed in this matter are repeated now. Here it is necessary in some cases to resort to individual measures. This is especially true of those commanders who even now want to manage the issues of combat training from the chancellery, from the office. There are such cases.
I must emphasize that in our 137th division we have a large shortage and, mainly, of the main link - the company commander, the shortage is 12 people. In addition, in the entire division there is not a single company commander of higher rank, like a lieutenant. The bulk are junior lieutenants. We have to work very hard with this group to correct the shortcomings. This creates great difficulty for us.
We are now finishing solo training. A number of commanders have spoken here that it remains unfinished. Yes, it remains largely unfinished in our country. I would like to report on how we are doing. Replenishment in our division arrived in late October and early November. We were not able to carry out a single training of a fighter in a month and a half. We have a lot of work ahead of us to refine a single soldier during the preparation of a squad, platoon and company.
For today, training in the division has developed in all parts, but it is going unevenly. Where people have really understood perestroika, this business is progressing much faster. We have one such regiment, which fulfills all the tasks that are laid down according to the plan exactly in time. True, the quality is still lacking. We are working on this. We checked the tactical training of the young replenishment in one regiment for endurance. The result was great.
Along with the single training of a fighter, we adopted a system that is practiced by the commander of the 99th division. We conducted a 10-kilometer march with the platoon with the theme "Actions of the head marching outpost." Today, the company’s 15-kilometer march on the same topic ends, and December will end with a 25-kilometer march of a reinforced battalion. In January, we planned a five-seven-day march between the two garrisons with a detachment of parts by 50-60 kilometers. This will give us the opportunity to involve our troops, both in marches and in winter conditions.
Fire training. In terms of fire training, this regiment, which is moving ahead, has now completed the first initial exercises and proceeded to the second. On the rest of the shelves, the exercises are over. The results are as follows: excellent - 268 out of 647 people, good - 191, mediocre - 145, bad - 43 with a total percentage of 93.5. IN separate shelveswhere there is only talk about perestroika, they only think about it, this task has been completed by 50 percent.
In order to improve the quality of combat training - what are we doing. We are doing the following activities. Today we have set ourselves such a goal to identify individual commanders who are now teaching fighters by show. We found such a commander, but several days have passed - and in each regiment we have not one, but dozens of such commanders who teach by show. This is a positive development for the quality of learning. Then the best platoon of the division was identified, popularized, and now each platoon leader is trying to bring his platoon to the level of this exemplary platoon. The same work was launched in regimental schools.
Then the secretaries of the party bureaus after the 15th district party conference sharply reorganized their work. There are party bureau secretaries such as Comrades. Bashmakov and Kazakov, who have a definite plan, when, in which battery, in which company they will be in class. They are not only present in the classroom, but also actively involved in studies. Returning from the company, they report to the regiment commander and help to eliminate the shortcomings. The Komsomol organizations also found the Komsomol members who really restructured the work and, popularizing their samples, are doing the work. This pulls the rest forward.
Work with excellent students. This is an important part of the work, especially during the solo training period. At first, they abandoned this case, abandoned honors, who were awarded the People's Commissar with the badge "Excellent Worker of the Red Army" and awarded with valuable gifts for training, etc. Now we have collected this army of honors, carried out the appropriate work, showed young soldiers, company commanders and platoons. We have not yet fully conducted this event, but each of the company and platoon commanders have set certain tasks - to have plans to raise these excellent students. For example, each company commander must prepare 2-3 excellent students by a certain date, which in general will lead us to the opportunity to train excellent students in the future. Thus, we will raise the quality of combat and political training.
The Lieutenant General of the Armored Forces said that people who do not know Russian should not be sent to tank units. I must say that there are up to 32 nationalities in our division, so there is nowhere to put them. You cannot take into the infantry, but we need to put international education in the center of our attention. We decided to do this: in order to quickly teach the Russian language, we assigned no more than 2 nationals to departments. Then they trained the Komsomol members and attached them to these persons, raising the question that each fighter would memorize five words of the Russian language every day. In the communications battalion we had 5 people, in the ORB - 15 people. Some commanders put the question before me: "Remove these people." I said that we have many nationalities and there will be no translations. And what? Now signalmen work perfectly on the key and transmit several dozen words. Moreover, not a single battalion commander asks to take them off. This exercise is extremely helpful. A person sees an object, for example, a hand, which is called a hand until he learns.
In order to prepare a full-fledged corporal and provide our detached commander with an assistant, we held such an event - we collected a 45-day training camp from senior servicemen of the 2nd year of service, and by January 1 we will finish this training camp. This will provide approximately 50-60 instructors for each regiment. I personally attended every training camp. I must say that the quality of the classes is quite high, and we will get full-fledged corporals who will ensure the quality of the classes conducted in the department.
Of colossal importance are the measures that we are carrying out to retrain the command staff by order of the People's Commissar No. 0259. In short, I would like to note, as a drawback, one stroke. We get some overload of the division. The district conducts training - it takes leaders from the division, the corps conducts - it takes leaders from the divisions, or simply the training of battery commanders was transferred to me, and my division artillery chief with headquarters has been sitting at corps training for more than a month.
There is insufficient control on the part of the leadership of these gatherings, and the quality of the company commander's training turned out to be weaker than the quality of the battery commander's training. We are now gathering platoon leaders. There is still a lot to work with company commanders in order to train them as real masters. The company commander is the main person who trains the fighter, squad and platoon directly. This category turned out to be younger in age, less in knowledge, and the training camp was somewhat lower than the category of battalion commander and platoon commander.
This is how perestroika is proceeding, this is how we understand the instructions of the Comrade People's Commissar, which were given to us during the analysis of tactical exercises.
Our discipline is not entirely safe. We have not overcome such shameful phenomena as desertion - there was such a case in December. Self-absences take place, there are cases of drunkenness, and at the level of a junior lieutenant. What's the matter here? The fact is that we considered him to be a fully trained commander and quit working with him, but he had not yet developed as a commander, but we left him to himself. Now we have reviewed this case and outlined a number of measures in order for us to raise the category of junior lieutenants.
We understand the regulations of the disciplinary service in a division correctly and conduct disciplinary practice correctly, but some of the command staff have a simple administration. Let me name one such example. There is the deputy commander of the battery Ilchenko - in November and 10 days of December, he did not give a single encouragement, he gave 53 detachments and 15 days of arrest. We have now carried out a thorough examination of the state of discipline in this regiment and a number of other units and have given exhaustive instructions to correct this deficiency.
Now we have launched a broad socialist competition within ourselves, have called a number of our divisions of the Moscow Military District to compete with us for primacy. We set as our task at all costs to keep the banner of the People's Commissar, which the division received last year and we will fight for the primacy of our Moscow military district to make it the foremost district in the Red Army. "
Lukyanyuk F.M., commander of the communications battalion of the division, lieutenant colonel:
- In April 1941, I was at a big meeting at the headquarters of the Moscow Military District. The commander of the Moscow Military District, General Tyulenev, in his closing speech gave us a stern order: “The air smells like a thunderstorm, the war can break out unexpectedly, therefore, when you arrive at your units, make all the calculations for lifting and loading property and food into the wagons, including that appoint superiors for the carriages ...
The summer of 1941 was approaching. Due to the difficult international situation in May, a part of the assigned personnel was called up to the division. These were mainly participants in the Finnish campaign, fired on fighters. Immediately after the replenishment, the division moved to summer camps to continue combat training. In the evenings, returning from shooting ranges and ranges, the Red Army men sang: "If tomorrow is a war, if tomorrow is a campaign ...". The division was ready to fulfill its duty, but still the news of the war came unexpectedly.
Nizhny Novgorod. April 30. NTA-Volga region - the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation intends to take battle banner 624th rifle regiment from the Arzamas gymnasium (Nizhny Novgorod region) to the Central Museum of the Armed Forces.
The director of the gymnasium Nadezhda Gulyalova informed the agency "NTA-Volga region" about this.
"The Museum of the Armed Forces refers to the fact that battle banners should be kept in state museums, and we have a school museum, which, of course, does not have such protection. But those banners that are in the Museum of the Armed Forces" do not work. " this banner lives on for us. It lives with children, it brings up children. It is no coincidence that in the 80s a lot of our graduates passed through military schools - it is thanks to this banner, thanks to the great patriotic work that was carried out at the school, "said the director of the gymnasium ...
According to her, the veterans of the 624th regiment themselves once turned to the Museum of the Armed Forces with a request to leave the banner for eternal storage at the school.
"The answer to the last request for the return of the banner, which came from the Central Museum of the Armed Forces, I sent in mid-March. In my answer, in particular, it is said that the gymnasium is a municipal educational institution, and all property is assigned to it on the basis of operational management. therefore, I cannot make an independent decision on the return of the banner, especially on the procedure for its transfer, "N. Gulyalova said.
The director of the gymnasium explained that the final decision on the transfer of the banner will be made by the mayor of Arzamas, Anatoly Migunov.
"In this significant 2010 - the year of the 65th anniversary of Victory - we honor the banner of the 624th regiment, as in many previous years, starting in 1975. In the city, on the basis of the gymnasium, solemn honoring of the Great Patriotic War veterans, home front workers, In 2009, a solemn meeting dedicated to the Day of the Armed Forces was held, the city military sports game "Eaglet" with the participation of young people was held.
Perhaps in this regard, the mayor of our city has not yet made a final decision on the date of the return of the battle banner to the Central Museum of the Armed Forces, "N. Gulyalova said in her reply.
As the headmaster of the gymnasium said, under the banner of the 624th regiment, a lot of work is being done related to military-patriotic work throughout Arzamas.
"The combat path of the 624th Infantry Regiment began in Arzamas. In 1939, the 51st Infantry Regiment was transformed into the 624th Regiment, from the Gorokhovets camps it went straight to the front and went to the Polish city of Elbing. After the war, many veterans (of those who survived) returned to Arzamas. On the 30th anniversary of the Victory, at the request of the Party Committee, they brought this banner from the Museum of the Armed Forces to Arzamas, "N. Gulyalova said.
She also noted that the gymnasium has a copy of the regiment's banner, which has been used at ceremonial events for the past three years. "The banner of the 624th regiment is a relic not only of our school, but of the whole city. More than one generation of Arzamas people were brought up on it. The original is kept in a case in a showcase, we take great care of it. But if we give the banner now, we will not even have the right to make a copy, "N. Gulyalova stressed.
“Perhaps we are the only example in Russia that the battle banner of the times of the Great Patriotic War has been kept in the school for so many years. And we would like it to remain with us further,” added the director of the gymnasium.
The Museum of Military Glory has been operating at the Arzamas gymnasium since 1985. Most of the exhibition is devoted to the history of the 624th Rifle Regiment.
In 1939, the 137th Rifle Division was formed in the city of Arzamas. Before the start of the war, the division headquarters and its units were stationed in the Gorky region, and the 624th rifle regiment was in Arzamas. The personnel of the regiment consisted of Arzamas and residents of the surrounding areas.
The 624th Rifle Regiment of the Order of Kutuzov, as part of the 137th Red Banner Bobruisk Order of Suvorov Rifle Division, fought over 2 thousand km, crossed 25 rivers and 5 canals, liberated more than 400 settlements, including 10 cities. The regiment destroyed about 20 thousand soldiers and officers of Nazi Germany, 4 thousand were taken prisoner, destroyed and captured over a hundred tanks and self-propelled guns, about 150 armored personnel carriers, more than 2 thousand vehicles.
(photo from the school museum website)
1941 year.On June 29, the first echelons of the 771st Infantry Regiment arrived at the Orsha station, where they began the defense of the Dnieper. In the following days, units of the 137th rifle division continued to arrive.
On July 8, the division received an order to enter the army reserve in Sukhari, this is east of Mogilev. During the day, parts of the division covered about 70 kilometers on the Orsha-Gorki stretch.
On July 10, the enemy crossed the Dnieper in the Bykhov area. The division was ordered to destroy the enemy's bridgehead.
On July 13, the division entered into a meeting battle with units of the 4th tank division enemy in the area of \u200b\u200bthe villages of Chervony and Empty Osovets, south-west of the city of Chausy. This was the first battle of the 137th RD. After a day of fierce fighting, the division threw the enemy back 5-7 kilometers. The main result of the battle: the enemy could not get into the operational space south of the Chausy, suffered heavy losses and lost a whole day. And the 137th RD was unable to destroy the enemy's bridgehead, since it was inferior to the enemy in strength and means. By the evening of the same day, the division was surrounded.
July 19 - breakthrough to the Sozh River. Two days later, the main forces were on the other side.
July 24. The Nazis destroyed the 497th gang and the 2nd battalion of the 771st rifle division. As a result of the Nazi attack, only about 30 people survived, and all material support was destroyed.
At the end of July, the divisions were transferred to parts of the 132nd RD, which completely restored all rifle battalions.
In early August, the division was deployed to the right flank in order to cut the Varshavskoe highway in the Krichev-Roslavl section.
On August 7, near the village of Miloslavichi, the division launched an offensive against the 7th Infantry Division of the Nazis. The fighting went on for three days. Particularly fierce battles were fought for the cemetery of the village of Miloslavichi. It was led by the 771st Rifle Regiment. Parts of the division captured Kiseleva Buda and Kazkan, but did not fulfill the main task, since the enemy received large reinforcements.
On August 9, in the morning, the enemy launched an offensive. Because of this, the 624th and 409th bn were surrounded. The blow was in the direction of Rodnya - Kostyukovichi. The 771st joint venture, the 277th paw, the 497th gang got out of the blow in the direction of the village of Kostyukovichi. The enemy was resisted on advantageous lines.
On August 16, units of the 137th Rifle Division, which were not surrounded, crossed the Besed River near the town of Belinkovichi. From this city, parts began to move towards the city of Surazh.
Under Surazh, the units were again surrounded. The 278th leg was lost.
On August 28, the units emerged from the encirclement into the forests south of Trubchevsk. The units defended the city for several days.
By the end of the month, the division had restored its combat capability.
On September 30, the Germans launched an offensive against Moscow. As a result, the 137th rifle division was surrounded in the Trubchevsk area.
In November, units of the division were transferred from the town of Shchigrov to the town of Yelets. The number of troops was 806 people.
On November 5, the division was transferred to the city of Efremov. The task was to defend the river and the highway leading to Tula.
On November 20, the Germans managed to find a breach in the city's defenses. The 137th Rifle Division was forced to retreat to the east.
On December 12, units of the division went over to the offensive in order to capture the enemy stronghold in the village of Burelomy.
During the two-week battles, the units advanced more than 80 kilometers and reached the approaches to Mtsensk.
By the end of December, only 1,500 people remained in the division, and the division was operating on a front 30 kilometers wide.
By the New Year, the 491st joint venture did not reach Mtsensk, only 700 meters.
1942 year.
In early January, the division was transferred to the village of Kuznetsovo. During the first two weeks, the division received reinforcements, which restored its combat effectiveness.
On January 23, during an unsuccessful reconnaissance operation, the 771st joint venture suffered heavy losses, later, on January 30, for the same reason, the 409th joint venture suffered losses.
On February 4th, the third army launched an offensive against the city of Bolkhov. The offensive was carried out by the forces of five divisions and one tank brigade. The 137th Rifle Division suffered heavy losses at the very beginning of the battle. For four days of unsuccessful battles, the division lost about a thousand people.
At the end of April, the division was sent to capture Mtsensk, to directly storm the city. Due to the lack of weapons, only one consolidated regiment operated. This operation began on April 29.
The next day, the operation was terminated, as weapons and ammunition were not enough even for this one brought together regiment.
1943 year.
In January, the division was transferred to the 48th Army. This army was supposed to advance in the direction of Pokrovka - Zmievka - Oryol.
In 16 days, the division covered more than 80 kilometers, liberating 53 settlements on its way.
The division suffered heavy losses. About 560 people out of one and a half thousand.
In mid-March, the division tried to advance in the same direction, but these attempts were also unsuccessful.
After that, the division continued its journey northward up to the large enemy defensive point - Almazny.
By August 18, the forces of the Red Army approached the German defensive line "Hagen", but the offensive did not follow, as the Germans increased resistance, and the Red Army did not have enough forces.
The 137th Rifle Division made a significant contribution to the Kutuzov operation. Zmievka is a key stronghold on the southern approaches to Orel. The division covered more than ninety kilometers, while liberating more than seventy settlements.
On August 26, the 137th Rifle Division was deployed near Sevsk. The first battle began on September 1st. The division was tasked with seizing a foothold on the Desna.
In October, the division was transferred to the area southwest of Gomel. The division had an order to force the Sozh River and create a bridgehead for an attack on Gomel.
On October 10, the division crossed the Sozh and took a bridgehead near the village of Zherebnaya, but attempts to expand it did not lead to anything.
On October 16, the division was transferred to the 65th Army bridgehead near the town of Loev. The goal was to cross the Dnieper.
On December 4, units of the division took the village of Veliky Bor and reached the Zhlobin-Kalinkovichi railway at the Mormal station.
Until December 15, the division fought there, but it was not possible to cross the station and the offensive was stopped due to shortage and severe fatigue of personnel.
At the end of 1943, the division had four and a half thousand people in its composition.
1944 year.
On January 16, the division was sent into battle in the Parich direction. In 12 days, she advanced more than 20 kilometers.
On February 19, the division was reintroduced into battle. Grueling battles were fought. On February 22 alone, in the village of Veliky Bor, units of the division repulsed more than twenty enemy counterattacks.
From March 1 to 11, the division was in the second echelon of the 48th Army, then it was sent to the 50th Army, which was advancing on Mogilev. The division marched 60 kilometers, but due to the failure of the attack on Mogilev, it was not entered into battle and was sent back to the 48th Army.
On April 15, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, by order, went on the defensive. According to the Bagration plan, the 1st Belorussian Front was supposed to encircle and destroy the Bobruisk grouping of enemy forces with the forces of four armies. The 137th Rifle Division was part of the 48th Army and was stationed in the second echelon near Rogachev.
From June 23, from the beginning of the offensive, the division was in the second echelon of the armies, but on June 27, after a 20 kilometer march, it was put into action.
On June 29, at 5 o'clock in the morning, two battalions of the 771st Rifle Regiment and the entire 409th Rifle Regiment crossed the Berezina River and began fighting in Bobruisk, near the railway station. Heroism in these battles became widespread.
By July 1, the Bobruisk enemy grouping was completely destroyed. For this battle the division was given the honorary name "Bobruiskaya".
In four days, the division covered more than 30 kilometers and liberated 86 settlements.
On August 8, the offensive continued, and the division advanced at the spearhead of the 48th Army's main attack.
On August 21, the offensive was stopped, and the division was withdrawn to the second echelon for replenishment, but the next day the division was again put into action.
On August 28, the division reached the USSR State border in the area northeast of the town of Ostrow Mazowiecki.
On October 24, the division crossed the Pelta River near the village of Pshemyarovo with the support of two regiments of heavy artillery.
In four days, the division advanced only 10 kilometers.
In November, enemy activity in this sector decreased, so the division was sent to the second echelon for replenishment.
Alexander Petrushin
FROM THE ENVIRONMENT
June 22, 2011 marks 70 years since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. It so happened that in the formations of the Red Army, which were the first to take the enemy strike, there were many of our fellow countrymen who were called up for military service in 1939, 1940 and in the spring of 1941. Many served in the 137th Infantry Division.
The best of the best
This unit was formed in September 1939 in Arzamas on the basis of the 51st Ivanovo-Voznesensky regiment of the 17th Nizhny Novgorod named after the Central Executive Committee of the BSSR rifle division.
This city, according to the writer Arkady Gaidar, who was born in it, “was quiet, all in gardens enclosed by dilapidated fences. In those gardens there were a great variety of cherries, early-ripening apples, blackthorns and red peonies. The gardens, adjoining one another, formed continuous green massifs, restlessly ringing with the whistling of tits, goldfinches, bullfinches and robins ... Quiet flowering ponds stretched across the city, past the gardens. The Tesha river flowed under the mountain. "
The division consisted of three rifle regiments (771st, 624th, 409th) and two artillery regiments - 497th howitzer and 278th light, as well as special units: anti-tank and anti-aircraft artillery battalions, communications battalions , sapper, reconnaissance, automobile, medical and sanitary.
All units were staffed with conscripts - Volzhans and Siberians.
The division distinguished itself in the summer maneuvers of 1940, indicative of the high command of the Red Army: Marshals Timoshenko, Budyonny, Shaposhnikov, General of the Army Meretskiy, Army Commissar of the 1st rank Mehlis.
The commander of the 137th Rifle Division, Colonel Grishin, was awarded the Order of the Red Star for the well-planned and conducted People's Commissar exercises. *
The archive of the Russian Ministry of Defense contains Colonel Grishin's speech at a meeting with the People's Commissar of Defense Timoshenko in December 1941:
“... The observation exercises carried out by you in our division laid a solid foundation for the training of units and created conditions for our fruitful work in the future. True, I have no experience in commanding a division, as the commander of the 99th division said ... "
Colonel Vlasov commanded the 99th Rifle Division, the leading one in the Red Army. The one who, on July 12, 1942, already in the rank of lieutenant general, commanding the 2nd Shock Army surrounded in the Novgorod forests and swamps, surrendered and began to cooperate with the invaders "to conduct an armed struggle against Soviet power."
Raised on alarm
The peaceful life of the Gorokhovets camp, where the 137th rifle division was located in the summer of 1941, was interrupted by the war. Former chief of the operations department of the headquarters of the 20th rifle corps, which included the 137th, I.A. Suetin recalled: “On the night of June 22, I was on duty at the corps headquarters. Early in the morning, a message came from the Moscow Military District that Nazi Germany had attacked our country. So in Gorky I was the first to learn that the war had begun. The commanders were immediately alerted. We just finished the meeting and opened the mobilization package. Molotov is speaking on the radio. "
Signal officer of the 771st Infantry Regiment A.M. Samoylenko: “... On the morning of June 22, the general formation of the regiment was appointed. We all stood in a line of two, awaiting a drill inspection by some big commander. More than an hour passed, but not a single commander, not even a junior lieutenant, showed up. I volunteered to find out what was the matter. “Run,” said someone in the ranks, “you are the winner of regimental and divisional competitions. Indeed, I was ranked first in the regiment and second in the division in running. I quickly ran to the headquarters of the regiment and I see how silent, anxious commanders come out of it and turn their heads to the loudspeaker plate. I listened to Molotov's speech and ran to the battalion. All the fighters remained in the ranks: discipline was then strict. But when people listened to my confused retelling of what they heard on the radio, where did the discipline go. Everyone began to disperse, and soon small fires appeared near the tents - they burned letters, papers, some things that they could not take to the war, even suitcases. "
The telephone operator of the 246th separate communications battalion of the division A.A. Korobkov: “At twelve o'clock we were in the dining room. As soon as they heard that there was a war, we got spoons ... "
After meetings, rallies, party and Komsomol meetings, an order came from the corps headquarters - to return to the place of permanent deployment.
Signal officer of the 771st Infantry Regiment A.M. Samoilenko: “On the evening of June 22, our regiment from the Gorokhovets camps went on foot to Gorky, to the Red barracks. At first they walked in an organized manner with the whole regiment, but gradually they stretched out. The commanders hurried, but no one reacted: everyone withdrew into himself, thinking about the outbreak of war.
Hour after hour go slowly, fatigue builds up along the way. Some fell asleep on the move, others fell anywhere during short rests, and still others began to invent diseases. There were other guys among us - hardy, strong, burning with the desire to get to the front as soon as possible. A village appeared, on its outskirts there was a well. One or two Red Army men rushed to the water, but they were stopped: "Comrades, have restraint, the people are looking at us." Indeed, half of the village gathered at the last house - women with children. Lagging fellow soldiers appeared in the distance. The closer they got, the more unattractive the picture: many hardly trudged, and such good fellows! Someone had rubbed his legs and was now kicking up dust with bare heels. And as they rushed to the well - the whole crowd, climb their heads into the trough. Others come up behind, the crowd even more. The first signs of war, with its difficulties and falling morals. "
From June 26, 1941, echelon after echelon from Gorky, Arzamas, Murom and Saransk went to the west of the regiments of the 137th rifle division.
Veterinarian of the 624th rifle regiment N.A. Nabe: “The tension of sending was building up every hour. When loading into the wagons, most of the soldiers and commanders said goodbye to their relatives and friends. They cried and lamented everywhere. To the command "On the wagons!" not everyone reacted. The locomotive puffed and whistled, calling for a landing, but the farewell continued. Finally, the echelon started and went forward. Women run to the carriages, many cry bitterly. I have never heard such a general cry, it seemed to hang in the air for a long time. "
The 137th Rifle Division then numbered over 14 thousand people, about three thousand horses, up to 200 guns and mortars, hundreds of cars, tractors, and carts. To transfer this formation to the front, it took 36 echelons.
First fight
At rare stops, everyone eagerly listened to the reports of the Sovinformburo, and they were all more alarming. Grodno, Baranovichi, Minsk were left. More and more ambulances were coming towards them. The front is getting closer.
ON. Nabe: “Six o'clock in the morning, a fine summer morning, almost everyone is still asleep. Suddenly a sharp roar shook the train. I jumped out of the car, and, falling to the ground, I noticed two German planes in the sky. One bomb hit the carriage, where seventy-five people were traveling, the second - into the hothouse with horses, the third hit the rail of the second track, so much so that a piece of the rail tore out, and the ends bent like a sled. Fighters jump out of the echelon, scatter into the forest. When the planes took off, I went to the head of the train, where the bombs fell. In the carriage with people, the bomb pierced the roof and the floor, mutilated corpses all around. The horse carriage is a mess of meat and bones. One horse was thrown onto the rails by the explosion, it has no front leg and its stomach is torn apart. I have to shoot the poor fellow, but I can't. The lieutenant approaches: "Well, what are you looking at, shoot!" - "Why, the gun stuck!" Finally fired. The eyes of this horse, full of tears, are still in my memory. "
On the evening of June 29, the first echelons with units of the 137th Infantry Division began to arrive at the Orsha station.
Chief of Staff of the 771st Infantry Regiment A.V. Shaposhnikov: “Orsha was on fire. German planes appeared in the air every now and then. It was necessary to unload the train. With difficulty I found the commandant of the station. He did not know the situation, where the front was - it is not known. The commandant was completely exhausted by the military and civilians who surrounded him. He just waved his hand at me: "Unload as you wish." He returned to the echelon, reported the situation to the regiment commander. Colonel Malinov ordered to unload. "
Assistant Chief of the Operations Department of the Staff of the 137th Rifle Division V.K. Reutov: “The stress and stress were terrible. Imagine the situation of Colonel Grishin: the unknown, the front is approaching, you need to gather the division into a fist, and its echelons stretched for hundreds of kilometers - the head was in Orsha, and the tail had just left Saransk. "
Furnishings on Western front was very hard. On the Orsha-Mogilev sector, General Guderian's 2nd Panzer Group, consisting of eight armored and motorized divisions, operated. After completing operations in the Minsk region on July 3, these formations crossed the Berezina and in five days covered the distance to the Dnieper, about 90 kilometers. Here they were opposed by the divisions of the 13th Army, which was commanded by Lieutenant General Pyotr Filatov, retreating from Minsk and suffering heavy losses. He died under enemy air bombs on July 8, when Guderian's tanks had already reached the Dnieper. Lieutenant General Fyodor Remezov took command of the 13th Army. On his order, the 137th Rifle Division was to withdraw from its positions near Orsha, to march on foot to the area of \u200b\u200bthe village of Sukhari, east of Mogilev, and take up defenses along the Resta River. Lieutenant Skvortsov, commander of the communications platoon of the 771st Infantry Regiment, wrote in his diary about this transition: “Terrible heat, dust, airplanes. Despite the two days of sleeplessness, the fighters feel cheerful. Oh, and a Russian soldier! "
At 5 o'clock in the morning on July 10, the Germans began crossing the Dnieper in the Bykhov area - the countdown of the Smolensk battle began. The headquarters of the 13th Army was not ready to repel the enemy's crossing. The counterattack of our troops was scheduled for the morning of 12 July. Colonel Grishin received the order to march from Sukhari only on the evening of 11 July. More than 30 kilometers had to be covered. Sleds drove horse teams with implements. The infantry kept running. All unnecessary property and equipment, even greatcoats and duffel bags were left in the Rusks. There were only a few hours left before the fighting began, and the division was never assembled into a full-fledged combat unit. Part of batteries of artillery regiments and rifle battalions, unloaded on the Krichev-Orsha stretch, were subordinated to the commanders of other divisions. A separate anti-aircraft artillery battalion came under the bombing of German aviation and suffered such losses that it actually ceased to exist. Even before the war, the sapper battalion was taken for training in Maloyaroslavets, and never arrived in the 137th rifle division. On the way to the front, the medical battalion "got lost" - he only reached Roslavl, where he ended up in another army. The disruption of the precise work of the railways and the raids of enemy aircraft - all this led to confusion and mixing of military units.
For personal leadership of the counterstrike, Army-13 Remezov left for the troops. At dawn on July 13, German motorcyclists fired on his car. The wounded general was sent to the rear. Lieutenant General Vasily Gerasimenko, the third commander in a week, took command of the 13th Army.
At the same time, battalions of the 1st 37th Infantry Division reached the starting line for the attack. Only the enemy was ahead.
The squad leader of the 624th rifle regiment A.K. Kuchinsky:
“We went to get closer to the enemy. Through the grove along the road, we ran further, and suddenly machine guns hit us. One shell exploded, then another. We lay down, trying to observe, but we couldn't see anything, and the German machine gun was scribbling so that we couldn't raise our heads. We decided to change our position and moved to the rye field. We dug in. And so the day passed - running, shooting. I still have a notebook: “First battle. Of the 53 people in our platoon, 19 survived ... "
Marshal Biryuzov, who commanded the 132nd Infantry Division in those battles, recalled: “It was much harder then for the left neighbor, the 137th Infantry Division, at the junction with which the enemy was delivering the main blow. Here the battle reached its highest tension. The entire area seemed to be covered in blood and flames. Everything burned: villages set on fire by the Germans, destroyed tanks, cars ... "
On the day of its first battle - July 13, 1941 - the division repulsed all enemy attacks and did not retreat a single step.
Then the enemy increased the pressure on the flanks, on the neighbors on the right and left. By nightfall, the rumble of tank engines and the roar of guns could be heard in the rear. Having broken through the defenses of the 13th Army, Guderian's tanks rushed along the dusty roads to Propoisk (now Slavgorod) and Chausy. So the 137th Rifle Division was surrounded.
Missing
There was no order to withdraw, and the division continued to occupy its positions. It was getting dark when our soldiers seized a German vehicle, which drove right into the battle formations. The Nazis either lost their way, or considered that there could no longer be Soviet troops here. The important passengers had valuable documents.
A.V. Shaposhnikov: “In the portfolio there was also a map indicating the boundaries on which the Germans were to be, and even dates, up to Gorky. And, I must say, the Germans adhered to the schedule of movement to the east. "
The historiographer of the 137th Bobruisk Order of Suvorov Infantry Division Valery Kiselev visited in July 1976 that place of the first battle near the village of Chervonny Osovets: “... Everything was overgrown with weeds. On the outskirts of the village there is a monument: a bronze figure of a soldier, a fence, inside there are four wide mass graves. How many of our soldiers lie here? Old-timers believe: “There are two hundred people. But not everyone is here, there are many graves in the forest. They lay like sheaves in the field, like sheaves. " How many times then did I have to hear on long way divisions from old women this expression - "like sheaves."
On the night of July 14, the 137th Rifle Division received an order to withdraw in four columns in the general direction of Chausy.
The Hitlerite command hoped that the Soviet troops encircled south of Chaus would begin to quickly disintegrate, and transferred their main forces to the Krichev area, where the reserve units of the Red Army were hastily defended along the Sozh River.
Gunner of the 45-mm gun battery of the 409th rifle regiment F.E. Petrov: “When we approached Krichev, the battalion commander ordered to take up defenses here. Our crew took up a position on the central street, on the right side of the carriageway, the second gun was installed on another street, as tanks were waiting on the road from Chausy station. A few minutes passed, the shelling began, a lorry rushed by, an unfamiliar commander standing on the bandwagon shouted that German tanks were following him. I saw how the shells hit the guns that were in front, how the soldiers fell down there. Our platoon leader, seeing this, ordered to retreat. They fired the last round and ran down the street to the whistle of bullets. There were three of us, we ran into the yard, from there through the garden into the ravine. I did not see the gun commander and platoon commander again, what happened to the second gun - I don’t know either.
We passed the gardens, in the holes in the ravine we met and raised several more soldiers. There were seven or eight of us. The sun was setting. We were lying under a linden tree, a woman came up and asked her about the situation in the city. She said that Krichev was full of German cars. Early in the morning one of us went to look for somewhere in the ravine to drink, and he was stopped by a German with a machine gun. We also had to get up. He led us all through the hostess's yard, she still managed to give us a mug of milk. There were about twenty of us, they took us to the river, forced to build a pontoon bridge across the river. At first we were kept in the yard of the general store, then we were driven to the territory of the cement plant. In early August they drove to Mogilev. Before the start of the movement, the Germans announced that there were five thousand of us here. It took several days from Krichev to Mogilev. Those who erased their legs and could not walk were shot by the Germans. In Mogilev we were held near the House of the Red Army near the Dnieper. The officers who were captured in uniform were kept separately. Some junior commanders disguised themselves as privates. After Mogilev - Orsha, Novo-Borisov, then Germany. At the beginning of October we were taken to the south of Germany, to the Black Forest. We worked under the mountain, made a tunnel. Here I was severely beaten, miraculously survived. In February 1942, when I was swollen, they sent me to the infirmary. In May, after a correctional camp, he was sent to agricultural work, then ended up in Lorraine, in the coal mines. The Americans released us on April 14, 1945 ... "
Medical instructor of the 497th GAP V.P. Gaev:
“Before the breakthrough from the encirclement, we had a lot of wounded. It was impossible to evacuate them, so they placed everyone in the forest village of Kamenka, north of Varshavskoe highway, six kilometers from Veremeyki station. With the wounded, they left me and medical instructor Grigory Malichev. The regiment went to the breakout, and we ... hid in the school. Local residents helped us in every way they could. In three months, 107 people recovered and went into the forest. Only one political worker died. And on October 14, 41, 23 people were seriously wounded and we, doctors, were captured by the Germans. First there was a camp in Krichev, on the territory of a cement plant. Horrors and nightmares began. Then the camp in Mogilev, and then the 326th penalty camp in Alsace-Lorraine. In December 1944, the Americans liberated us ... "
The division continued on its way east: crossed the Pronya river north of the city of Propoisk and on July 18 reached the Warsaw highway. In anticipation of the remnants of the 132nd, 137th and 160th rifle divisions that broke through from the encirclement, enemy ambushes were already located there.
Assistant Chief of Logistics of the 20th Rifle Corps I.I. Zwick: *** “According to the plan to break through the highway, the 137th Infantry Division was put in the vanguard of the main forces, the 132nd was on the right, and the 160th on the left. I was sent to Colonel Grishin for observation and assistance. Personally, Grishin looked better than other division commanders. It was evident that this man - with an iron will ... "
A.V. Shaposhnikov:
“At that moment, the corps commander's car drove up to us. Major General Eremin came to personally verify the implementation of the breakthrough plan. He was all dusty, unshaven, dead tired, so it was difficult to recognize him. I reported the situation. He: “We need to straddle the highway, make a gap to the Sozh and take up defenses on the other side of the river. Do it - well done, do not do it - I will shoot you. " He sighed and left. I never saw him again. "
The entire 771st Infantry Regiment, part of the 278th LAP, the battalion of the 409th Infantry Regiment, and the division's command led by Colonel Grishin reached the Sozh River. Other divisions failed to cross the Varshavskoe highway. The commander of the 20th Rifle Corps, Major General Sergei Illarionovich Eremin, and many staff workers were killed.
The commander of the auto-armored company of the reconnaissance battalion of the 137th rifle division V.G. Bakinovsky: “Before the war, our battalion was a serious force: about five hundred people, twenty motorcycles, ten armored vehicles, a company of amphibious tanks. During the first week of the war, they practically did not engage in intelligence, having no connection with the chief of intelligence, Major Zaitsev. We crossed the Varshavskoe highway first, there were no regiments yet. We went there in a passenger car, came under machine-gun fire, the car with the entire crew was shot, and we had to return alone. I returned to the battalion - everything was on fire: cars, tanks. "What's the matter?" - I ask. "Combat Solomin ordered to destroy everything and leave." He himself did not leave the encirclement. A sleek officer, he was a cavalryman, he did not understand anything in technology. Yes, and did not love his horse: he kicks first, and then sits down.
The commander of the 238th OITD, Major Makov, also disappeared, but they said that when a German column was walking along the highway, he jumped out and got into their tank. After breaking through from the encirclement, our reconnaissance battalion was disbanded, and I was transferred to the 771st regiment. "
The commander of the communications battalion of the 137th rifle division F.M. Lukyanuk: “The commissar and the chief of staff of the intelligence battalion were demoted to the rank and file by the decision of the tribunal. These were not the only cases of cowardice and betrayal. Then there was talk in the division that the chief of the division's artillery, the deputy chief of the political department for the Komsomol, turned out to be traitors. The division commander had many complaints about reconnaissance. Its chief, Major Zaitsev, in peacetime showed himself to be a competent and trained commander, but at the front - as a coward and alarmist. On reconnaissance, he did not carry out a single order of Colonel Grishin, moreover, he misled him with his lies. Zaitsev was tried by the tribunal, he was crawling on his knees, asking for forgiveness. "
When we crossed the Sozh, it turned out that the headquarters of our corps was almost completely destroyed. The division was left without a superior leadership. Then we went to the nearest village council and achieved direct communication with Moscow. Colonel Grishin spoke, as far as I know, with one of his comrades in the General Staff, reported on the situation and received an order, together with the airborne corps, to recapture Propoisk from the Germans. I was instructed to find the commander of this corps and agree with him on joint actions. When I found him, he told me: "I can't help you with anything, I have nothing but people ..."
Covering the crossing of the division's units across the Sozh, the 2nd battalion of the 771st infantry regiment was killed.
A.V. Shaposhnikov:
“All the following days, as soon as the wind blew from the Germans, it became impossible to breathe from the stench. Nobody removed the corpses, but it was hot.
Signal officer of the 771st Infantry Regiment A.M. Samoylenko:
“I, wounded, were sent from the battalion's command post to the regimental first-aid post. Moving 20-30 meters away, I heard that the shooting suddenly stopped. I looked around, and then I was seized by such shame and horror that I involuntarily shouted: 15-20 men from the second company - I could see - stood tall in their cells with their hands up. This is the last thing I saw in the battalion. "
All the Red Army soldiers who died in that battle and were captured are still missing. The remains of those who remained forever in the place of the breakthrough from the encirclement for decades lay unburied next to the Varshavskoe highway, where the "Victory" and "Zhiguli" that swept past had replaced Mercedes and Audi.
The fate of the commander of the 771st Rifle Regiment, Colonel Ivan Malinin, remained unclear. Either he died, or was he taken prisoner? .. The answer from the archives of the Russian Ministry of Defense is short: "He disappeared on July 19, 1941." That is, on the day of the breakthrough of the 137th rifleman from the encirclement. In the "Book of Memory" of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, there is another date of "disappearance" - "September 1942".
Divisional veterans considered the relationship between Malinin and Grishin not only difficult, but hostile. The regiment commander was much older than the division commander, in the same rank, considered himself worthy to command a division. Why did Colonel Grishin appoint Captain Shaposhnikov as the interim commander of the 771st Infantry Regiment on the afternoon of July 19, when Malinin was still at the unit's location? Shaposhnikov himself did not believe that Malinin had gone over to the side of the enemy: “He was very afraid of captivity, because in the First World War he was a prisoner of the Germans. Returning from captivity, Warrant Officer Malinin went to serve in the Red Army. They also said that Malinin was somehow connected with the NKVD: he quickly climbed the career ladder, in 1937 he avoided reprisals. "
F.M. Lukyanuk recalled another very strange case: “In the spring of 1941, the division moved to new states, which were considered secret. And suddenly, these documents disappeared after one of the meetings at the division headquarters. And they found it from Malinin, who, according to his explanation, took them by mistake ... "
After the mysterious disappearance of the commander of the 771st Infantry Regiment, the chiefs of the special departments of the NKVD and the division, and the regiment Gorshkov and Potekhin, lost their posts as "not providing operational supervision in the units assigned to them."
Ten battalion commanders (out of twelve who left for the front from Gorky), many company and platoon commanders, two regiment commanders - 624th and 771st, chiefs of artillery and the operations department of the division headquarters ... In August-September 1941, German patrols and local police officers overfished the encircled people who had lagged behind the main breakthrough forces. The names of Tyumen residents born in 1919-1921 who were drafted into the 137th Infantry Division before the war and who survived German captivity can be found in the book "Forbidden Soldiers". All of them were also reported missing.
The 137th units that made their way from the encirclement received reinforcements from the Tyumen residents mobilized for the war, born from 1885 to 1918. Then they did not yet know that they would find themselves in a different environment. Larger and more violent.
The essay uses documentary materials from the book of V.K. Kiseleva "Fellow soldiers".
* Grishin Ivan Tikhonovich was born in 1901 into a peasant family in the village of Vnukovichi, Roslavl district, Smolensk province. In the Red Army since 1920, he participated in the suppression of the Antonov movement. Graduated from the Frunze Military Academy. He commanded the 137th Infantry Division during the most difficult period of its history, until March 1942. Then, until the end of the war, he headed the 49th Army. For the crossing of the Dnieper and the capture of Mogilev, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. After the war, Colonel-General Grishin was on diplomatic work in Albania. His life ended in 1950.
** In the post of commander of the 99th Infantry Division (it was stationed in the Kiev Special Military District), Vlasov spent only one year. On January 17, 1941, he was appointed commander of the 4th Mechanized Corps.
*** Before the war, the 20th Rifle Corps included the Gorky 137th and 160th and the Vladimir 144th Rifle Divisions. But on the way to the front, the 144th got to another sector of the defense. Instead, Major General Biryuzov's Poltava 132nd Infantry Division arrived in Chausy.