To the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory. Front Road Alexander Krestovnikov
This year marks a significant date - 75 years of the Great Victory! A symbol of courage and glory of our military personnel in a victory over fascist Germany. The names of great heroes who, at the cost of their lives defended their homeland, will always remain in the memory of the people. Their feat will remain for centuries. Each soldier has contributed to history. Not to express in words, what a huge price the victory was forged. According to the calculations of military historians, in 1941 Germany possessed far greater military resources than the Soviet Union. And only great will, fortitude, selflessness, a sense of duty and high patriotism of the Russian people could break the enemy’s strength, allowed to reach Berlin and win the Great Victory!
In 1945, joining our army, 56 states, including the USA, Great Britain, France, Australia, Belgium, Greece, Turkey, etc., already joined the anti-fascist coalition against Hitler.
In this article I want to talk about the enormous feat of Soviet soldiers and the great victorious military path of the 46th Army, which played a huge role in the liberation of our homeland and European states.
While still working as a youth policy coordinator for the government of the Rostov Region, I often engaged in patriotic actions: “Victory canvas”, “To Berlin!”, “Collect bit by bit”, in the archives I found the military history of our Azov citizen, Alexander Ivanovich Krestovnikov, who served in The 46th Army, the chief clerk of the regiment and the front-line driver, delivered orders and packages with orders from his command in his car, and participated in intelligence operations. He owned secret information. In addition, in severe wartime, at the risk of his life, he delivered fighters, carried ammunition and fuel, under enemy shelling of the enemy, that is, at the same time he was also engaged in supplying the front. During the war it was necessary to be able to do everything and have time to complete many tasks. He went all the way from Astrakhan to Vienna, participated in the capture of Berlin. He served in the 46th Army, the 34th Guards Rifle Enakievo Division, the 84th Guards Artillery Red Banner Regiment, under the command of the 1st Division, the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Front.
June 22, 1941 began the Great Patriotic War. The Azov draft board immediately began to mobilize soldiers on the combat front. One of the first was called Krestovnikov Alexander Ivanovich. He was sent to defend his homeland in the 46th Army, which was included in the Transcaucasian Military Front with the combat mission of defending the southern territory of the borders and the Black Sea coast. At that time he was 22 years old. Alexander had an impeccable handwriting, exemplary command of a written letter. When firing positions were provided on the front line, he wrote orders of the commanders of the 46th Army under the dictation of the leadership and transported them to the departments.
There were fierce battles in the Caucasus: they defended the passes through the Main Caucasian Range (from Mamison and Belorechensky). Under heavy shelling and mine explosions of bloody battles, a narrow, dangerous and steep road stretched through deep gorges. Everyone knows that loving the mountains, even in peacetime, is not easy. They are changeable, demanding and rebellious, and even more so in the midst of hostilities. Not everyone was able to go through such tests. The enemy did not doze, shot on every road, altitude and crossing. But all this was only the beginning of the long, difficult and great battle path of the 46th Army!
February 2, 1943 was one of the most important battles of World War II - the victory at Stalingrad! The active liberation of the southern territories of the country began.
During the occupation of the Kuban, Nazi troops shot about 60 thousand Soviet civilians. From the letters of Krestovnikov in those terrible years:
... overcoming the stubborn resistance of the enemy, our army approached the city of Krasnodar. One attack followed another. The enemy was cruel and merciless. On his way, everything was burned, undermined and mined. Explosions thundered on every street in the city. But nothing could stop us, because the Motherland stood behind us! Finally, on the morning of February 12th, we won! Krasnodar offensive operation was a success!
We are tired, exhausted, all who survived this battle walked along the streets of a liberated and dilapidated city, dotted with smoke from recent fires. We were surrounded on all sides by grateful civilians. There were excited and joyful voices: “Ours in the city!” We hoisted a red banner over the liberated capital of the Kuban!
We are tired, exhausted, all who survived this battle walked along the streets of a liberated and dilapidated city, dotted with smoke from recent fires. We were surrounded on all sides by grateful civilians. There were excited and joyful voices: “Ours in the city!” We hoisted a red banner over the liberated capital of the Kuban!
In memory of that great event in Krasnodar, a 15-meter obelisk was erected, directed to the sky. It symbolizes the courage and courage of Soviet soldiers. The inscription is stamped on it: "From this frontier, units of the 46th Army dealt a crushing blow to the Nazi troops on the night of February 11-12, 1943 and liberated the city of Krasnodar."
At the beginning of 1943 they liberated the city of Zernograd, art. Cossack and opened the way to Bataysk. Subsequently, they participated in breaking through the enemy’s defensive lines, fought fiercely to eliminate the Nikopol bridgehead, and participated in the Donbass operation.
From his letters:
When the Dnieper was crossed in the region of Dnepropetrovsk in the autumn of 1943, the roads were viscous and blurry. In the early morning, they had to drive to the other side along the pontoon bridge. It was very difficult to get across the shaky and shaky crossing. The bridge swayed in the water in different directions. In front and behind was a convoy of vehicles with people and supplies. It was very necessary to concentrate in order to pass this terrible road. But we all overcame, liberated Dnepropetrovsk and Dneprodzerzhinsk.
For the exemplary fulfillment of the command assignments and the courage and heroism shown by the personnel in the battles for the liberation of the city of Enakievo, the 34th division of the 46th army was awarded the honorary name Enakievskaya.
In 1944, our army successfully fought on the territory of Right-Bank Ukraine, liberated many settlements, participated in the Nikopol-Krivorozh, Bereznegovato-Snigirev, and Odessa offensive operations. Driving a car during the fighting was extremely difficult, it was necessary to break through the shelling of artillery, where the wall of earth and smoke rose, and nothing was heard from the deafening roar of guns.
From archival sources:
April 18, 1944 Krestovnikov Alexander in the area south of the village. Under the artillery shelling of the enemy, Glinnoye restored the wrecked vehicle and, together with the gun, promptly transferred it to the firing position, thereby ensuring timely firing of the gun at the enemy firing points.
Everything happened in the very harsh conditions of the war. It was done due to dedication, perseverance and self-sacrifice. It was carried out during the most difficult battles under bombardments, artillery and mortar attacks. Very badly damaged cars. We had to quickly, on our own, eliminate the breakdown and follow on. Constantly risked flying into enemy erupted Tanks, air raids and bombing.
From August to September 1944, the army conducted the Iasi-Chisinau military operation, this allowed the liberation of Moldova, the withdrawal of Romania and Bulgaria from the war on the side of Germany, and also opened the way for the Soviet Army to Western Europe. Then came the Debrecen military operation, our troops delivered strikes, ensuring the fighting of the main front forces from the south. Bandits (Bandera) often wandered along forest roads, trying to stop the car and take them prisoner. I had to quickly break through under machine gun fire.
October 25, 1944 - February 13, 1945 battles took place in the Budapest offensive operation, which was carried out with the aim of defeating German troops in Hungary and blocking enemy troops in the Balkans. The advance of the combat front took place on the territory of Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary.
During the Budapest operation, the Soviet military command dealt the main blow by the forces of the 46th Army. On December 7, strong enemy counterattacks were successfully repelled, during which the Budapest group was surrounded by our troops from the north and southwest. January 18, Soviet troops captured the eastern part of the city - Pest. Fierce city battles were particularly persistent.
An important role was played by the organization of effective reconnaissance, which made it possible to deliver accurate strikes and timely focus main efforts on the main sectors.
The most important thing was to ensure timely transmission of important information and orders on the distribution of forces at the front. Alexander Krestovnikov performed an especially important, responsible combat mission. Deliver orders and important command information, as well as fuel and ammunition for guards mortars, as quickly as possible.
Routes often ran through difficult, impassable places, marshy areas. Not to mention the worst - minefield. Around the car exploded, a lot of military drivers died. Along the way, the equipment often got stuck in the rain-washed road, but thanks to incredible efforts, orders and shells were delivered on time. I often had to engage in mutual assistance, to help other front-line drivers in a difficult situation: to help change the wheel, repair equipment.
In archival sources it is reported:
Alexander Krestovnikov in the battle on November 13, 1944 in the mountains. Despite the strong artillery fire of the enemy, Sholt pulled out a damaged car in tow and fixed its malfunction, which saved the car and ensured the timely completion of the task, and there was not a single breakdown during the fighting.
This feat became significant during the liberation of Budapest. A machine followed by a commanding officer, a unit commander, and intelligence officers, and it also contained packages of documents, classified data with important information, a valuable load to ensure the operation of military equipment.
On February 13, the battle ended with the liquidation of enemy forces and the liberation of Budapest. The commander of the German defense along with the headquarters was captured.
Army soldiers who accomplished the feat were awarded orders and medals. Among them was also Azov citizen Alexander Krestovnikov.
From his letters from the front:
In bloody battles, suffering countless losses of our Soviet soldiers, overcoming difficult difficulties, we stubbornly moved to the goal, liberated one city after another. The population greeted us with boundless joy, talking about the experienced horrors of the occupation. The fascist leadership planned to completely blow up Vienna and Prague during the retreat, so they had to hurry in order to preserve these beautiful cities.
March 16 - April 15 was the Vienna strategic operation. This allowed to reduce the counterattack impulse of the German troops. On April 7, the assault on Vienna began.
In bloody fierce battles for the liberation of Vienna, the military unit in which Alexander Krestovnikov was located fell under the fierce and heavy fire of the enemy on the front line. When one of the bombs broke, there were a lot of dead and wounded, he was also wounded, received a shrapnel wound, a concussion, bleeding, loaded the wounded soldiers and took them out of fire. Our fighters held steady until the arrival of the main forces. On April 13, Vienna was liberated by joint efforts.
Further, hostilities of the 46th Army continued in the Prague Strategic Operation (May 6–11). The 34th Guards Rifle Division of the 46th Army fought on the Itta River on the night of May 9, 1945. During the fighting on May 11, the 46th Army reached the border of the Czech Republic.
After a perfect feat during the liberation of Vienna, Alexander Krestovnikov ended up in a military hospital. After recovery, he was sent to organize assistance in the evacuation of Soviet women, children and adolescents stolen to Germany. When one of the small cities was liberated, he met the girl Tatyana and invited Azov to his city. At the end of the war, they created a family.
During the war years, more than 9 thousand soldiers of the illustrious 34th division of the 46th army were awarded orders and medals. Among them is our Azov resident - Alexander Krestovnikov.
The Azov Museum contains documents on the glorious military campaigns of the front-line soldiers. There is a lot of material about the valiant Azov warriors, about their participation in the battles, awards are presented, among which documents, orders, medals and thanks - diploma to Krestovnikov Alexander Ivanovich from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief I. Stalin.
In the minutes of calm between the battles on the front line of the front line, Alexander sang songs, and the soldiers picked up amicably. They sang Katyushu, Ogonyok and others. L. Utesov at a joint concert dedicated to him the song "The company simple sang." Before the war, Alexander Krestovnikov worked at DOSAAF, as well as at the 1st school. After the war, he restored the ruined city in the construction department, built factories and factories, as well as the House of Culture. Ilyich.
At the celebration in honor of Victory, all fellow soldiers gathered in his house: an artist at the Oktyabr movie theater, a war invalid who lost his leg A. Kosenko, L. Sologub, I. Ivanov, Hero of the Soviet Union B. Narbut, M. Polkovnitsky, A. Goncharov. They sang the songs “May Waltz”, “Where are you, fellow soldiers?”, “Song of front-line drivers”, remembered fellow soldiers, told youth about military exploits.
In gratitude for the listed feats of the Azovites, their children organized and planted a garden in the regional youth camp in honor of each veteran on the day of the 70th anniversary of Victory. The city administration actively supported this idea. When planting trees, youth organizations of the city, the chairman of sports veterans Viktor Vaganov, the society of sports veterans, the youth organization of young paratroopers took part. On a straight line with President V.V. In addition to the All-Russian patriotic action “Immortal Regiment”, Putin was proposed to plant 27 million trees in honor of each veteran. The President supported this proposal.
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Fighting Path of the 46th Army:
Krasnodar offensive operation.
Donbass offensive operation.
Dnepropetrovsk operation.
Nikopol-Kryvyi Rih offensive operation.
Bereznegovato-Snigirev offensive operation.
Odessa offensive operation.
Iasi-Chisinau operation.
Belgrade operation.
Debrecen operation.
Budapest operation.
Vienna offensive operation.
Prague operation.
The composition of the combat fronts:
Transcaucasian Front.
Caucasian front.
Reserve front.
South-Western Front.
Steppe front.
2nd Ukrainian Front.
3nd Ukrainian Front.
Composition data:
4 Rifle Division.
9th Mountain Division.
47th Mountain Division.
388 Rifle Division.
31 Rifle Division.
34th Guards Rifle Division.
236 Rifle Division.
40th Rifle Brigade.
51st fortified area.
457th, 547th and 647th artillery regiments.
105th Guards Rifle Regiment.
22nd Separate Army Reserve Regiment.
7th separate division of armored trains.
- Olga Dobroslava
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