On November 18, this Siberian 239 Infantry Division attacked the 112 Infantry Corps so much that, according to the recollections of Colonel General Guderian, commander of 2 Tank Army, Colonel-General, “it came to panic that swept through the front to Bogoroditsk”. He noted that "this panic, which arose for the first time since the beginning of the Russian campaign, was a serious warning, indicating that our infantry had exhausted its combat capability and was no longer capable of major efforts." So it happened later: 112-I infantry left the front and remained in Stalinogorsk for licking wounds as rear occupying forces. And then, on November 18, the situation on the front of the 112 Infantry Division was rectified by "the efforts of the 53 Army Corps, which turned the 167 Infantry Division to Uzlovaya." In 112 itself, I had to pull up to the leading edge of all the rear men, sleds, cooks, clerks, all, all, all ...
The offensive was not going according to plan. Instead of a rapid breakthrough to Venev and Kashira, the 4-I tank part of the forces moved much east to Belokolodez, Ozerki, Savino, cutting off the rear lines and communications of Siberians from the north. From the east, the Stalinogorsk cauldron with the Siberians sealed the 29-i motorized infantry division of Major General Max Fremerey, which instead of an accelerated march on Silver Ponds and Zaraysk, now turned to the west, right in the back of the 239 rifle. All rear communications were cut off, carts with evacuated wounded Soviet soldiers were seized. The Siberian division of Colonel G. O. Martirosyan was left alone. In the ring. Against four German.
In the Stalinogorsk boiler. Fragment of the German military map of the 3 Tank Division for 26-27.11.1941.
However, in the operational reports the Germans will write about two surrounded Siberian divisions. After all, somehow it did not dock at all that the connections of the three corps (24, 47, and 53 of the army) could not cope with the division alone. Even full-blooded, with a skeleton of reservists who had passed through Hassan and Khalkhin Gol, fully armed, with 40 tanks, with a separate tank battlefield attached to 125. Yes, even if these Siberians passed 7 November in ceremonial boxes in front of foreign diplomatic representatives in Kuibyshev and swore to Kalinin and Voroshilov to defend their homeland! No, there are two Siberian divisions in the boiler. Point.
On the morning of November 25, the command post of the 29 th "falconry" division advanced to the station Epifan (now Kimovsk), and directly in the village of Dudkino regimental headquarters were stationed. Preparations for the environment and the stripping of the Stalinogorsk boiler unfolded in the building of the Dudkinsky school - it was then impractical to teach these Russian children. Yesterday, the 4-th Panzer Division’s intelligence reported that there was no enemy in the north (Holtobino, Shishlovo, Pododzhee), but reported on the destruction of two groups of partisans. The chairman of the Stalinogorsk city committee of Osoaviakhim, Grigory M. Kholodov, led a group of school teachers from the Zavodsky district of the city of Stalinogorsk from the combat zone to the east to the Ryazan region. But under Shishlovo they were overtaken by German intelligence. In the fleeting skirmish, Kholodov was killed. Women and men were separated, the latter were shot right in the field. “Each military unit is obliged to immediately after reconnaissance or rumors about guerrillas to carry out reconnaissance and destroy the guerrillas [...] No mercy for suspected subjects is provided.”
The usual thing. German generals, officers and soldiers saw a lot of boilers in France, in Poland; but the endless columns of Soviet prisoners of war along dusty roads in the summer and autumn of 1941, especially hit the memory. And in the last Bryansk cauldron, in October, Fremerey's “falcons” also prevented the Russians from breaking through. 25 November in 11: 15 (13: 15 Moscow) the decision was again pedantically recorded: “Based on the development of events, the division headquarters is approaching the moment when the ring of the environment is tightly closed by the large forces of the 15 infantry regiment, and gives the order by the forces of the Eger battalion on the move to take Ivankovo [6 km west of Dudkino]].The first bell rang in Ivankovo, the second - in Shirino. The 3 Battalion of the 15 Infantry Regiment of the 29 Motorized Division was called “Jäger” in memory of the Hessian 11 Jäger Battalion of the Reichswehr 1920. Him story It originates from the royal Prussian army. In a bloody head-on battle in Ivankovo, German Jaegers were attacked by Siberians from three sides and defeated. The second attempt to take Ivan'kovo brought the number of those killed to 34, and the wounded to 83. For the first time during the military campaign in Russia, the missing persons appeared in the division - the battalion who had departed to Sokolniki in the evening did not count the 15 rangers ... However, the 2 rank officer Mikhail Tikhonovich Lyadov in his diary specifically explains what happened to them: “The enemy was surrounded by machine-gun fire on the northwestern outskirts of the village [Ivankovo]. Our mortar prepared an attack, and a company kicked the enemy out of the village, inflicting casualties on the 52 man killed; our lost killed 31 people., 8 injured. "
On the same day, a German attempt to “clean up” the village of Shirino by the forces of the reconnaissance patrol of the 1 battalion of the 15 infantry regiment also failed. "Apparently we are talking about significant forces" - recorded in the journal of hostilities. A defeated Soviet officer of the 817 Infantry Regiment of the 239 Infantry Division in the 2 Battalion of the 15 Infantry Regiment in the village of Granki reported that his regiment in Donskoy was alerted in 24: 00 last night in 2: 00 and his 15: 239 regiment was alerted and in 47: XNUMX in the direction of Ivankovo. Immediately, his testimony was sent to the headquarters of the XNUMX Infantry Regiment in Dudkino that the enemy found in Ivankovo and Shirino was the advanced units of the XNUMX Infantry Division. Akhtung, Siberians went for a breakthrough! Further, the head of the operations department transfers this information to the headquarters of the XNUMX Army Corps.
In a trench somewhere near Tula, November 1941 of the year. From the photo album of a German soldier.
At the headquarters of the German 47 Army Corps, Siberians had long been awaited. Well, finally, we will tear this "splinter"! According to the intercepted order of the Russian 50 Army, the 239 Rifle Division must break into the night from 26 to 27 or early November 27 north to Silver Ponds. And so, the 29 Motorcycle Division is making all the preparations to meet a possible night attempt to break through. Despite the severe frosts, even at night, German infantrymen occupied solid defensive positions, as they believed in the headquarters. However, there were no solid defense lines: the German infantry sat in the village houses from frost and lack of winter uniforms, and only the outposts recalled with a shudder: “We were outside in the security at 30 – 32 degrees of cold. We thought we would die, as some froze their fingers and part of the leg. ” Well, there was also hope that the Siberians would nevertheless go north through the positions of the neighboring 4 Panzer Division.
The offensive has long gone not according to plan, but now with the environment of the Siberians somehow did not work out. Ivankovo, Shirino, Spassky ... Spassky? The 1 th battalion of the 15 Infantry Regiment in the afternoon of 25 November proceeded through Spasskoye to the southwest, but unexpectedly near 17: 00 (19: 00 in Moscow) was attacked by large enemy forces from both flanks and was temporarily cut off. The battalion suffered heavy losses. Among others, battalion commander Captain Lise, adjutant of the 3 Battalion of the 29 Artillery Regiment, Senior Lieutenant Hübner, Commander of the 6 Battery of the 29 Artillery Regiment, Senior Lieutenant Fettig and many of their soldiers at the hands of Siberians died ...
However, the real gap pattern occurred in the village of Novo-Yakovlevka. Scattered remnants of the 15 Infantry Regiment slipped here and were included in the 2 Battalion of the 71 Infantry Regiment. But the Siberians also broke here the following night. Very hard and. about. The commander of the 1 battalion of the 15 Infantry Regiment, Senior Lieutenant Betge, described in his report a picture of the complete defeat: “Suddenly, a shootout began on the main line of defense. At the same time, a roar arose, more animal than human ... The entire Siberian division attacked the right wing of the 2 battalion of the 71 infantry regiment and precisely in the south-east direction, i.e. diagonally in relation to our front. We could not distinguish between Russians, but only heard. Finally, we saw flashes of their machine guns and machine guns. They shot on the run from the hip. Gradually, the sounds of shooting spread all the way to the left wing of the 1 battalion of the 15 infantry regiment, from which I finally received the message that he was surrounded. At the same time, the adjutant returned and reported to me that he had failed to reach the 2 Battalion of the 71 Infantry Regiment; in the northern part of Novo-Yakovlevka, he met only with the Russians. Now it became clear that we were trapped. [...] The order to withdraw from Novo-Yakovlevka was not required. [...] Now it was only that the withdrawal from the village did not turn into a real flight ... The situation with the collection and organization of units was already desperate. Only with the help of merciless measures could complete disaster be avoided. Persuading in a good way there no longer helped. "
It means that only with the help of merciless measures it was possible to avoid a complete catastrophe - to run away from these Siberians, who were shooting at the run from the hip, with an animal roar. Frightened German officer very clearly describes his feelings from the Russian battle cry "hurray", which later became a symbol of the Great Patriotic War.
In the course of a heavy hand-to-hand combat at night on November 27, with large losses for the Germans, Siberians managed to break through to the east by significant forces ... And yes, instead of Silver Ponds, as indicated in the intercepted order of the 50 Army, the 239-Infantry Division also did not go plan, and to the east - in Pronsk (Ryazan region). One could guess that the Siberians simply did not receive it and acted independently according to the situation, keeping in touch with the higher headquarters of the front and the General Headquarters.
The gap in the encirclement ring was soon sealed, and the subsequent stripping of prisoners and large trophies remaining in the Stalinogorsk boiler brought 1530: all of their tanks, as well as heavy weapons, the commander of the 239 rifle division, Colonel G.O. Martirosyan was forced to leave to break through . But the rest of the 9000 man came out!
"Nicht ordnung". On the reprisal ... with the inspection of the Siberians night breakthrough on 11: 35 27 November, the commander of the 2 tank army, Colonel-General Heinz Guderian arrives at the command post of the 29 motorized infantry division. Then in 12: 30 from there he headed to Dudkino. One can imagine what kind of perfect German warfare was in the former class of Russian language and literature of the Dudkin school! .. In the combat magazine of the 29 motorized infantry, this meeting was devoted to exciting lines: “Guderian expresses to the division commander his special gratitude for the successes achieved by the division in the last difficult battles. With a satisfied face, after a short stay in Dudkino, the commander goes to Novo-Yakovlevka, where he receives a report from the surviving German infantrymen and makes a short speech to the personnel. “Well, it's really a pity that the Russians broke through. But it can happen, ”found Guderian. But instead of dragging out the battalion commander heard encouraging words: “Do not hang your head. Pass it on to your people. ” And the “high-speed Heinz” rushed further north to the location of the 4-th tank division. He clearly still had more important plans - somewhere near Moscow.
So, to save his battalion from destruction, Senior Lieutenant Betge temporarily left the village. The combat log says about "our heavy losses" when going north. When the next morning, together with infantry from the 2 Battalion of the 71 Infantry Regiment, managed to capture Novo-Yakovlevka again, Betge appeared “terrible spectacle”. “Our fallen comrades and the fallen Russians lay alternately, partly on each other. The whole village was just a smoldering pile of ruins. Between them lay the cores of burnt cars [...] "
73 killed, 89 injured and 19 missing in one day, or more precisely in one night 27 November 1941 of the year. Total 120 killed, 210 injured and 34 missing during the period of November 20-29 - in the dry residue of the division, which was on the edge of the Siberian breakthrough.
Similarly, Lemelsen, the commander of the 47 Army Corps, did not attempt to somehow embellish a defeat from the very beginning. On this occasion, he noted in the history of the division: “[The 1] battalion [of the 15 infantry regiment] suffered the heaviest losses [to Spasskoe]. Among others, battalion commander Captain Lise, adjutant of the 3 Battalion of the 29 Artillery Regiment, Senior Lieutenant Hübner, and Commander of the 6 Battery of the 29 Artillery Regiment, Senior Lieutenant Fettig, and many of the brave fighters who have already been killed by the men, as well as out of their hands, have been killed by the men, as well as out of their hands, and the men of the X-rayon battled out of their hands. 50 people; their bodies, brutally mutilated, were subsequently found and solemnly buried in the military cemetery in Dudkino. Only conscious inflammatory propaganda could overshadow the minds of Siberians to commit such acts that despise all the laws of war. Immense anger and indignation engulfed all the comrades who witnessed this. ”
What a twist! Black suddenly became white ... He was echoed by the German lieutenant colonel Nietzsche, who once again described the course of the battle in Novo-Yakovlevka and confirming the heavy losses, emphasizes: "For many bodies it can be established that the enemy with brutal cruelty mutilated and killed the wounded who fell for him in hand.
This version does not stand up to criticism: in night battles, which grew into fierce hand-to-hand combat, the Soviet fighters had no time for reprisals against the enemy. But in the bayonet attack, and even the night one, the fighters do not choose where to carefully submerge their bayonet or small infantry shovel into the enemy. 2 rank medical officer Mikhail Tikhonovich Lyadov is extremely brief: “The enemy constantly lights up missiles, judging by the missiles — we are in a ring. An order is given - to break the ring. [...] Company commander, senior lieutenant Skvortsov and lieutenant Kazakov led the fighters to attack. I was walking in the third chain, ahead of Bautin, Ivanov, Ruchkoseyev, behind Petrov, Rodin. Everyone fought desperately. Especially the Germans beat Ruchkoseyev - he pinned 4 with fascists with a bayonet, shot 3 and captured 4's. In this attack, I destroyed the Nazis 3. The ring is broken, we are out of the environment. ”
But not all came out of the encirclement. In the hands of the Germans there were more than 1500 prisoners, many wounded. The reaction of the 29 infantry division of the infantry was monstrous. The local resident of the village of Novo-Yakovlevka, Vasily Timofeevich Kortukov, being a summer boy at 15, still clearly remembers those events: “After the battle, the Germans literally became brutalized. We went home, finished off the wounded Red Army men. A soldier was killed in my house. Many of our wounded Red Army men were laid in the house to the Korolev, they laid straw on it. The Germans went with a stake and killed the wounded. One soldier, wounded in his hand, hid, changed into a cloak and went to Solntsevo [now does not exist in 4 km south of Novo-Yakovlevka]. And the rest, man 12, smash everyone. I thought maybe someone will survive, but no, all the soldiers were crushed by him [German] ... They also gathered hidden soldiers, who perhaps did not want to fight or were wounded — they were taken to a pond (in the northern part of the village) 30-35 shot. Healthy guys were from the Altai Territory ... ”According to archival data (Archival department of the administration of Kimovsk and Kimovsk districts, f.3, op.1, unit x.3, l.74), 50 fighters were shot in the Spassky village council The Red Army captured, including, 20 people wounded, 1 lieutenant and 1 captain. And the thin / weak German psyche has nothing to do with it.
German officers, as best they could, justified the atrocities of their own soldiers, but they have no excuse. As the German researcher Henning Stühring notes, “just on the prisoners, whether they are guilty or not, accumulated rage with unrestrained cruelty often spills out. Especially on a hostile for life, ideologically charged on both sides of the eastern front [in the USSR]. ” He emphasizes: “In all studies, this aspect is analyzed very briefly, often almost not at all. Instead, the indisputable participation of the Wehrmacht in the Holocaust is invariably shown. But the main storyline, namely the war and its countless battles, recedes into the background. You need to hold before your eyes a long list of losses of the division to find out the truth. Ordinary soldiers 29 th [motorized infantry division] killed the Red Army, and not all the civilians. After five months on the eastern front, more than one in three soldiers of the division itself was killed, wounded or went missing. On the eastern front, along with war crimes, above all, there was just an ordinary war. Of course, on both sides fought with inexorable cruelty. However, not the execution of commissars or even Jews, but the destruction of prisoners of war immediately after heavy fighting with heavy losses - the most numerous crimes of the German infantry! ”
But wait, who cares about these crimes now? Our “Heinz” is ketchup, and the Holocaust is wallpaper glue, others have renamed the streets of the name of Soviet officers long ago and erected monuments to the Bandera killers. Black became white, white — black — keep it up! The fact that the Germans did not succeed in the Great Patriotic War was perfectly realized in 1990 — the historical memory of the people was erased. Or? ... Wolfram Wette, professor of modern history at the University of Freiburg, co-founder of the working group on the study of peacetime history and adviser to the Association for Relations with the Countries of the Former Soviet Union, recalls:
“The criminal actions of the Wehrmacht against Russian prisoners of war in 1941-1945 remain an indelible disgrace lying on the Wehrmacht and the German people. The third rule in the ID card of the German military was: "The enemy, who surrendered to captivity, can not be killed." This rule, which was to guide every German soldier, was broken by the Wehrmacht three million three hundred thousand times! Knowledge of this must finally be extracted from the secret corners of our memory. And let it be unpleasant for us - honesty in relation to history will only benefit the relations between Germany and Russia. ”
Well, then we continue our difficult story. to be continued.