Crimea. Hot August 1991 of the year
Since that hot August 1991 of the year spent in the Crimea, 27 years have passed, but such vivid impressions remained in my memory, as if everything was just the day before yesterday.
At the end of the military department of the Taganrog Radiotechnical Institute, after the 4 course, we were sent to Sevastopol by cadets for a month. By miniature train from Taganrog to Simferopol and further to Sevastopol by electric train. I remember how many electric orchards ended behind the windows, passed the mountains and opened the view of the Sevastopol Bay. Immediately, without transitions, warships and submarines appeared. We drove along the coast for a long time, and there was no end to the parade of moored ships. The gray sides of military boats replaced the black sloping sides of submarines of various types and in different degrees of preservation. There was also a constant movement of ships along the bay. Here it is, the legendary Sevastopol. Not only a hero-city, but a strategic naval base of the Soviet Union. A huge bay divides the city into parts. Between the banks ply the sea tram. Who has never been to Sevastopol, I recommend it to be included in the sightseeing program of the Crimea.
But back to the TTI students who arrived in Sevastopol. There were radio engineering and hydroacoustics, programmers and microelectronics. Depending on the specialization, we were all divided into active military units. Who was sent to military ships, someone to the submarine, and my specialization fell the road to the part of coastal rocket artillery. But we got there only after we were dressed up in one of the warehouses of the Navy in a very very well worn form from the "sailor's shoulder" and the same shoes. An inscription “Ivanov N.” was written on the burnt out soldiers' garter bag issued to me. Everything, now we are equipped and move on. We cross over to the north side of the bay in the “tram”, sit down in cars and shake to the side in army truck trucks another 7 km towards Lyubimovka.
For our accommodation, the army tents with folding beds have already been carefully set up. Our tent city is located behind the last rows of the barracks, close to the fleet, behind which was a low part fence. Our fathers-commanders were accommodated in the hotel of Sevastopol, and in the part they came in the morning by bus, held classes with us until lunch and left. Until the morning of the next day we were left to ourselves, as the officers of the unit were interested in us only in exceptional cases. As a rule, in the morning there were drill lessons until the commanders were bored to grill under the southern sun. Remembering the experience of my elder brother, who drew well and did quite well in the army, I immediately volunteered to arrange a stand at the headquarters of the unit. Sitting under the air conditioner, I neatly wrote ink with poster pens while my colleagues were chasing the parade ground. In the soldier's dining room fed terribly. Not only did we eat after the whole part and we did not get any salads or meat, so also the porridge with liquid gravy was either with a smell (the croup grew moldy) or with small worms. We did not see any fruits in the dining room, but around the part there were state-farm gardens with fragrant pears, apples, peaches. The gardens were guarded, but we were too hungry and young to stop us. Through the fence of the fleet we ran on AWOL, walked the road past the gardens and prickly bushes of wild blackberry to the sea. The “people's path” ran through the thickets, past the enclosed “thorn” of the legendary armored battery No. XXUMX, and went out to the beach near Lyubimovka.
I had to visit the beaches of the entire Black Sea coast later, but I did not see such a large and wide sandy beach as that beach in Lyubimovka. There was another wild beach, in Vesyolovka, with clean white sand, but after the bike festivals started there, the visitors spoiled everything there. And then, in Lyubimovka, our eyes came across a gorgeous, almost empty beach and clear sea with a smooth sandy bottom. After some time, far into the sea, on the roadstead of Sevastopol, we saw a heavy aircraft carrier cruiser (TAVKR) “Admiral Fleet Soviet Union Kuznetsov. " He was huge. For all its length of 306 meters, when he turned to the shore side, his dark silhouette occupied almost a third of the visible horizon.
In just three months, in November 1991 of the year, spacecraft commander Viktor Yarygin, leaving part of the crew and crew ashore, will make a decision and head for the Bosphorus. Having made a difficult transition around Europe, he will lead the ship to the Vidyaevo base in the Murmansk region. All this will happen later, but for now we enjoyed the sea and temporary freedom. In the neighboring Uchkuevka there was a trendy night disco bar, where you could buy the popular strong B-52 cocktail for our pennies and enjoy the life of the guests. The drink “bombed” notably, and we walked back in the dark along the coast and swam in the warm night sea along the way. Some fighters managed to make a romantic acquaintance and, returning to the location in the morning, boasted about their “hussar” adventures.
Battery No.30
One day, we were given a tour of the previously unavailable armored battery No. XXUMX. Excursions are conducted there and now, and if you come to the sea in Lyubimovka, then you should definitely go to the battery. There is something to see. Inside the mountain there is a whole complex of facilities for autonomous conduct of hostilities. There is an underground water source, generators and much needed for the life of the two artillery batteries. Each of them is a huge ship tower with three powerful 30-mm guns. Through the optics from the battery, the coast with tourists and ships at sea in the roads of Sevastopol is clearly visible.
In the summer of 1942, the 30th armored battery, commanded by Grigory Alexandrovich Alexander, heroically defended Sevastopol. To suppress our 30th and 35th batteries, the Germans had to bring a large amount of heavy artillery to the Crimea. In addition to the 240-mm and 280-mm howitzers and the 305-mm mortar, two 600-mm self-propelled mortars “Karl” and the 807-mm unique super-heavy railway artillery “Dora” were delivered to Sevastopol. They fired at our batteries with concrete-piercing shells weighing from two ("Karl") to seven tons ("Dora"), in addition, aviation dropped 1000 kilogram bombs on battery positions. When the 30th battery opened fire direct fire at tanksthen they simply disappeared from the face of the earth. Having shot all the ammunition, the battery fired ammunition for training firing, which pierced through tanks. Hit one of these metal "blanks" to a German tank, firing at a position, tore off the tower. And when the German infantry came close to the gun turrets, the defenders fired on them with blank shots. The shock wave and a stream of powder gases, the temperature of which is about 3000 ° C, the German infantry "erased into dust."
After the war, the battery was restored, modernized, and now it was not 4 that counted, but 6 guns. She fired 305-mm shells weighing from 314 to 470 kg, and the maximum firing range was almost 28 kilometers. We were told that the last time the 30-i battery fired in the 60-ies, during the exercises. Then, in the villages closest to her, the shock wave knocked out all the windows in the houses. After complaints from local residents, the battery was banned from firing, and later it was mothballed.
Not far from our unit behind the hills was the military airfield Belbek, from which two-tailed multi-role fighters Su-27 took off, disrupting the serenity of the summer day with their roar. We took the oath and were able to see with our own eyes the mobile Redut missile system based on the P-35 anti-ship cruise missile (ASM), which we studied at the naval department of the institute. We have seen the rocket itself before, but the 8-wheeled all-terrain vehicle with a high cabin looked like a land ship among the southern vegetation.
Putsch
Everything went on as usual, and our part began to prepare for the exercises, at which we were to see the launch of cruise missiles. Our tents had already been folded and loaded onto the truck when the “Otstavit” team arrived. We stayed with our cots and strollers under the open sky. And on TV in the Leninist room, the State Emergency Committee was already shown, and someone with shaking hands read a message on a piece of paper. The country introduced a state of emergency. It was so strange for everyone and incomprehensible. Where is President Gorbachev? What kind of military is this, and why do they need to “take power into their own hands”? Then everyone was in complete confusion. Planes, however, also ceased to fly over us. Our commanders were also in shock and came to us only towards evening. Closer to the night the tents were returned to us, but no one was going anywhere. All the officers departed to Sevastopol, they didn’t care about the rank and file, and even more so than the cadets.
Later, communicating with our colleagues who were trained on warships, we learned that they were working to cover the Gorbachev dacha in Foros from the sea. My friend Boris told about those days: “I woke up at night from the hum of the engine. He rose from the cabin to the deck to smoke, and we go to the open sea, and the banks are not visible. While smoking, I heard that a plane was flying high in the sky. Suddenly I saw an anti-aircraft missile drive from the hatch that opened in the deck onto the launcher. The plane flew away, and the rocket went back to the hatch. Finished a quick and down sleep.
Anxious days stretched with their uncertainty, nobody was engaged in us, and we went AWOL to the sea or to Sevastopol.
Sevastopol
In this city itself, where everything is connected with history, there are many interesting things to see. The famous panorama “Defense of Sevastopol 1854 – 1855” and diorama “Storm of Sapun Mountain 7 in May 1944”. We also liked the Military History Museum of the Black Sea Fleet and the old Vladimir Cathedral with the tomb of Lazarev, Nakhimov, Kornilov and Istomin, admirals, naval commanders, from fragments and bullets.
The whole city is located on the hills, and sometimes, to get to the parallel street along the shortest path, you need to overcome the hill height with a three-story house. The sea washes the city from all sides, but there are practically no beaches. Instead, there are special concreted small areas with steep metal stairs, descending which you immediately get to the depth. In addition, the sea at this urban "bath" is rich in floating debris. There are many warships at the berths, and sailors in the city. While we were sitting in the city park, the wedding processions drove up, and every second groom was a sailor. Traveling through Sevastopol, we intuitively walked to the sea and suddenly went to Chersonese - the ruined ancient city-museum under the open sky, in which Prince Vladimir was baptized. It was an impressive sight.
Sunny day and picturesque fragments of columns against the blue sky and the sea. I had to linger and inspect all the finds, despite the midday heat. Then we walked along the embankment and were photographed against the backdrop of the Konstantinovskaya battery and the Monument to the flooded ships. Soviet Sevastopol 1991, left in my memory a lot of positive emotions. So our military camps successfully turned into an unplanned resort vacation, but he also came to an end. Having handed over all the form issued to us at the warehouse, we returned to our native Taganrog, where lieutenant stars were waiting for us.
24 August 1991 The Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR adopted the Act of Independence of Ukraine, which, “on the basis of mortal danger looming over Ukraine in connection with the coup in the USSR 19 August 1991,” was declared the creation of an independent Ukrainian state. And 26 December 1991, the mighty Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the country to which we pledged allegiance, ceased to exist. The country collapsed into independent republics, and Sevastopol found itself on the territory of a neighboring state. But that's another story.
At the end of the military department of the Taganrog Radiotechnical Institute, after the 4 course, we were sent to Sevastopol by cadets for a month. By miniature train from Taganrog to Simferopol and further to Sevastopol by electric train. I remember how many electric orchards ended behind the windows, passed the mountains and opened the view of the Sevastopol Bay. Immediately, without transitions, warships and submarines appeared. We drove along the coast for a long time, and there was no end to the parade of moored ships. The gray sides of military boats replaced the black sloping sides of submarines of various types and in different degrees of preservation. There was also a constant movement of ships along the bay. Here it is, the legendary Sevastopol. Not only a hero-city, but a strategic naval base of the Soviet Union. A huge bay divides the city into parts. Between the banks ply the sea tram. Who has never been to Sevastopol, I recommend it to be included in the sightseeing program of the Crimea. But back to the TTI students who arrived in Sevastopol. There were radio engineering and hydroacoustics, programmers and microelectronics. Depending on the specialization, we were all divided into active military units. Who was sent to military ships, someone to the submarine, and my specialization fell the road to the part of coastal rocket artillery. But we got there only after we were dressed up in one of the warehouses of the Navy in a very very well worn form from the "sailor's shoulder" and the same shoes. An inscription “Ivanov N.” was written on the burnt out soldiers' garter bag issued to me. Everything, now we are equipped and move on. We cross over to the north side of the bay in the “tram”, sit down in cars and shake to the side in army truck trucks another 7 km towards Lyubimovka.For our accommodation, the army tents with folding beds have already been carefully set up. Our tent city is located behind the last rows of the barracks, close to the fleet, behind which was a low part fence. Our fathers-commanders were accommodated in the hotel of Sevastopol, and in the part they came in the morning by bus, held classes with us until lunch and left. Until the morning of the next day we were left to ourselves, as the officers of the unit were interested in us only in exceptional cases. As a rule, in the morning there were drill lessons until the commanders were bored to grill under the southern sun. Remembering the experience of my elder brother, who drew well and did quite well in the army, I immediately volunteered to arrange a stand at the headquarters of the unit. Sitting under the air conditioner, I neatly wrote ink with poster pens while my colleagues were chasing the parade ground. In the soldier's dining room fed terribly. Not only did we eat after the whole part and we did not get any salads or meat, so also the porridge with liquid gravy was either with a smell (the croup grew moldy) or with small worms. We did not see any fruits in the dining room, but around the part there were state-farm gardens with fragrant pears, apples, peaches. The gardens were guarded, but we were too hungry and young to stop us. Through the fence of the fleet we ran on AWOL, walked the road past the gardens and prickly bushes of wild blackberry to the sea. The “people's path” ran through the thickets, past the enclosed “thorn” of the legendary armored battery No. XXUMX, and went out to the beach near Lyubimovka.
Our tent camp on the part of the gibberboard
I had to visit the beaches of the entire Black Sea coast later, but I did not see such a large and wide sandy beach as that beach in Lyubimovka. There was another wild beach, in Vesyolovka, with clean white sand, but after the bike festivals started there, the visitors spoiled everything there. And then, in Lyubimovka, our eyes came across a gorgeous, almost empty beach and clear sea with a smooth sandy bottom. After some time, far into the sea, on the roadstead of Sevastopol, we saw a heavy aircraft carrier cruiser (TAVKR) “Admiral Fleet Soviet Union Kuznetsov. " He was huge. For all its length of 306 meters, when he turned to the shore side, his dark silhouette occupied almost a third of the visible horizon.
Heavy aircraft carrier cruiser (TAVKR) "Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov"
In just three months, in November 1991 of the year, spacecraft commander Viktor Yarygin, leaving part of the crew and crew ashore, will make a decision and head for the Bosphorus. Having made a difficult transition around Europe, he will lead the ship to the Vidyaevo base in the Murmansk region. All this will happen later, but for now we enjoyed the sea and temporary freedom. In the neighboring Uchkuevka there was a trendy night disco bar, where you could buy the popular strong B-52 cocktail for our pennies and enjoy the life of the guests. The drink “bombed” notably, and we walked back in the dark along the coast and swam in the warm night sea along the way. Some fighters managed to make a romantic acquaintance and, returning to the location in the morning, boasted about their “hussar” adventures.
Battery No.30
One day, we were given a tour of the previously unavailable armored battery No. XXUMX. Excursions are conducted there and now, and if you come to the sea in Lyubimovka, then you should definitely go to the battery. There is something to see. Inside the mountain there is a whole complex of facilities for autonomous conduct of hostilities. There is an underground water source, generators and much needed for the life of the two artillery batteries. Each of them is a huge ship tower with three powerful 30-mm guns. Through the optics from the battery, the coast with tourists and ships at sea in the roads of Sevastopol is clearly visible.
View from the side of the tower of the battery №30. Sevastopol is visible on the left
In the summer of 1942, the 30th armored battery, commanded by Grigory Alexandrovich Alexander, heroically defended Sevastopol. To suppress our 30th and 35th batteries, the Germans had to bring a large amount of heavy artillery to the Crimea. In addition to the 240-mm and 280-mm howitzers and the 305-mm mortar, two 600-mm self-propelled mortars “Karl” and the 807-mm unique super-heavy railway artillery “Dora” were delivered to Sevastopol. They fired at our batteries with concrete-piercing shells weighing from two ("Karl") to seven tons ("Dora"), in addition, aviation dropped 1000 kilogram bombs on battery positions. When the 30th battery opened fire direct fire at tanksthen they simply disappeared from the face of the earth. Having shot all the ammunition, the battery fired ammunition for training firing, which pierced through tanks. Hit one of these metal "blanks" to a German tank, firing at a position, tore off the tower. And when the German infantry came close to the gun turrets, the defenders fired on them with blank shots. The shock wave and a stream of powder gases, the temperature of which is about 3000 ° C, the German infantry "erased into dust."
So now it looks like a restored armored battery №30
After the war, the battery was restored, modernized, and now it was not 4 that counted, but 6 guns. She fired 305-mm shells weighing from 314 to 470 kg, and the maximum firing range was almost 28 kilometers. We were told that the last time the 30-i battery fired in the 60-ies, during the exercises. Then, in the villages closest to her, the shock wave knocked out all the windows in the houses. After complaints from local residents, the battery was banned from firing, and later it was mothballed.
"I am a citizen of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ..."
Not far from our unit behind the hills was the military airfield Belbek, from which two-tailed multi-role fighters Su-27 took off, disrupting the serenity of the summer day with their roar. We took the oath and were able to see with our own eyes the mobile Redut missile system based on the P-35 anti-ship cruise missile (ASM), which we studied at the naval department of the institute. We have seen the rocket itself before, but the 8-wheeled all-terrain vehicle with a high cabin looked like a land ship among the southern vegetation.
Mobile rocket complex "Redoubt" produced the launch of anti-ship missiles P-35
Putsch
Everything went on as usual, and our part began to prepare for the exercises, at which we were to see the launch of cruise missiles. Our tents had already been folded and loaded onto the truck when the “Otstavit” team arrived. We stayed with our cots and strollers under the open sky. And on TV in the Leninist room, the State Emergency Committee was already shown, and someone with shaking hands read a message on a piece of paper. The country introduced a state of emergency. It was so strange for everyone and incomprehensible. Where is President Gorbachev? What kind of military is this, and why do they need to “take power into their own hands”? Then everyone was in complete confusion. Planes, however, also ceased to fly over us. Our commanders were also in shock and came to us only towards evening. Closer to the night the tents were returned to us, but no one was going anywhere. All the officers departed to Sevastopol, they didn’t care about the rank and file, and even more so than the cadets.
19 August 1991 of the year. The state of emergency has been introduced
Later, communicating with our colleagues who were trained on warships, we learned that they were working to cover the Gorbachev dacha in Foros from the sea. My friend Boris told about those days: “I woke up at night from the hum of the engine. He rose from the cabin to the deck to smoke, and we go to the open sea, and the banks are not visible. While smoking, I heard that a plane was flying high in the sky. Suddenly I saw an anti-aircraft missile drive from the hatch that opened in the deck onto the launcher. The plane flew away, and the rocket went back to the hatch. Finished a quick and down sleep.
Anxious days stretched with their uncertainty, nobody was engaged in us, and we went AWOL to the sea or to Sevastopol.
Sevastopol
In this city itself, where everything is connected with history, there are many interesting things to see. The famous panorama “Defense of Sevastopol 1854 – 1855” and diorama “Storm of Sapun Mountain 7 in May 1944”. We also liked the Military History Museum of the Black Sea Fleet and the old Vladimir Cathedral with the tomb of Lazarev, Nakhimov, Kornilov and Istomin, admirals, naval commanders, from fragments and bullets.
Cathedral of St. Vladimir Equal-to-the-Apostles in Sevastopol
The whole city is located on the hills, and sometimes, to get to the parallel street along the shortest path, you need to overcome the hill height with a three-story house. The sea washes the city from all sides, but there are practically no beaches. Instead, there are special concreted small areas with steep metal stairs, descending which you immediately get to the depth. In addition, the sea at this urban "bath" is rich in floating debris. There are many warships at the berths, and sailors in the city. While we were sitting in the city park, the wedding processions drove up, and every second groom was a sailor. Traveling through Sevastopol, we intuitively walked to the sea and suddenly went to Chersonese - the ruined ancient city-museum under the open sky, in which Prince Vladimir was baptized. It was an impressive sight.
Chersonese - an antique city-museum under the open sky
Sunny day and picturesque fragments of columns against the blue sky and the sea. I had to linger and inspect all the finds, despite the midday heat. Then we walked along the embankment and were photographed against the backdrop of the Konstantinovskaya battery and the Monument to the flooded ships. Soviet Sevastopol 1991, left in my memory a lot of positive emotions. So our military camps successfully turned into an unplanned resort vacation, but he also came to an end. Having handed over all the form issued to us at the warehouse, we returned to our native Taganrog, where lieutenant stars were waiting for us.
Anti-ship cruise missile (RCC) P-35 in the Museum of Sevastopol
24 August 1991 The Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR adopted the Act of Independence of Ukraine, which, “on the basis of mortal danger looming over Ukraine in connection with the coup in the USSR 19 August 1991,” was declared the creation of an independent Ukrainian state. And 26 December 1991, the mighty Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the country to which we pledged allegiance, ceased to exist. The country collapsed into independent republics, and Sevastopol found itself on the territory of a neighboring state. But that's another story.
- Kantemirov Victor
- From the personal archive, social networks, bastion-opk.ru and golos.io sites
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