In the shadow of the pyramids

After World War II, our army participated in wars in more than 20 countries of the world, having lost 18 thousands of people. The names of the heroes are still a mystery.

Only the Middle East passed more than 30 thousands of Soviet soldiers. People served in extremely difficult conditions, according to eyewitnesses - sometimes just hellish. And they fought, dying in absolute obscurity. Since the end of 90's, the very fact of the participation of our military in Middle Eastern and other wars has ceased to be a secret. Sometimes journalists interview veterans, less often they publish their own memories in specialized publications. But the country of its heroes still does not know.

Bitter lake

Only the Middle East passed more than 30 thousands of Soviet soldiers. People served in extremely difficult conditions, according to eyewitnesses - sometimes just hellish. And they fought, dying in absolute obscurity. Since the end of 90's, the very fact of the participation of our military in Middle Eastern and other wars has ceased to be a secret. Sometimes journalists interview veterans, less often they publish their own memories in specialized publications. But the country of its heroes still does not know.

... Recently, on one of the most authoritative Israeli military sites - www.waronline.org - a discussion broke out. Participants tried to restore the mysterious episode of forty years ago: the death of the aircraft "Stratokruzer". Nothing but guesswork-assumptions were made.

So, what happened on 17 of September of 1971, such as is still remembered in Israel?

Aircraft of American production "Boeing-377 Stratocruiser" ("Stratosphere Cruiser") in aviation Israel was used for reconnaissance and electronic warfare. The scout was created on the basis of the military transport aircraft S-97, which in turn was a version of the notorious B-29 nuclear bomber.

60-ton "Stratospheric Cruiser" did not enter the zone of destruction of Egypt's anti-aircraft weapons. However, a ground-to-air missile destroyed an aircraft flying at 9-km altitude at 23 km east of the Suez Canal. Of the nine crew members survived alone. The wreckage fell in the area of ​​Big Gorky Lake. The intrigue was that the Kruiser was shot from where the Egyptians, in principle, could not have rocket launchers.

Author!

The tragedy was the background. A week before the incident, on September 11, Israelis from the ground shot an Egyptian fighter-bomber Su-7B. Flying on the shaving "Dry" shot down the infantry: tagged with a machine-gun burst. The pilot died.

The attack on the Straight Cruiser was actually a revenge for the downed Sukhoi. Anti-aircraft gunners organized an ambush: secretly pushed to the channel and deployed the C-75 Dvina complex. Experts are still amazed by the virtuosity of the plan and its execution: do not confuse those low-maneuverable old complexes with modern highly mobile ones. The rocketeers managed secretly to check the radar from the almighty Israeli intelligence, report back to headquarters, get the go-ahead.

The chief of the Egyptian General Staff, Saad Shazli, in his memoirs, recently translated into Russian, proudly describes the prowess of the Egyptian military, who carried out a risky operation.

We kept silent. And then, and later ...

Only recently, a group of veterans of the Egyptian war addressed the chairman of the Federation Council, Sergey Mironov, who told the true history. Finally, the name of the hero who led the impudent operation sounded. This is a Russian officer, Viktor Petrovich Kopylov. Unfortunately, he died two years ago.

That's what we managed to learn about him.

Kopylov - a graduate of the Riga Higher Red Banner Artillery School of Coastal Defense of the Navy (KAUBO). He served in the coastal defense units of the Baltic fleet, and then in the air defense forces of the country. In March 1970, he was sent to Egypt as an adviser to the commander of the S-75 Dvina anti-aircraft missile division. Already in the first battles in the sky over the Suez Canal, his division was shot down by an Israeli phantom bomber Phantom. According to the memoirs of his colleagues, he was known as a merry fellow, he loved to sing and play the accordion. Decisive, brave, inventive person, ready to enter into a dispute with the authorities, if this was necessary for the good of the case.

The story of "Stratocruiser" caused a mixed management reaction. After the conflict with the adviser to the commander of the Egyptian Air Defense Fighter Aviation, Kopylov was ordered to return to the Union ahead of schedule, but was eventually awarded the Order of the Red Star. After leaving the army he lived in Ulyanovsk.

It was possible to learn the name of this person thanks to Igor Smirnov, the son of a participant in the war in Egypt, Lieutenant Colonel P.M. Smirnov, commander of the anti-aircraft missile division. Igor created his website on the Internet "Kubar. Rus", dedicated to the Egyptian war, collecting bits and pieces of its participants.

Egyptian Passion

More famous are the feats of our pilots. Especially the flights of the MiG-25 over Israel, one of which entered the Guinness Book of Records, made noises. The unofficial speed record in 3395 km / h was set with the original wording: "According to Israeli radar." One of the aces - test pilot Hero of the Soviet Union Vladimir Gordienko - not without humor comments on those achievements:

- Pilots Yuri Marchenko, Alexander Bezhevets and I worked out the flight profile first over our territory and only then moved to the Suez Canal zone. We had a limitation: the speed is not more than 2.83 speed of sound. Nevertheless, Sasha Bezhevets in one of the flights jumped out for 3 sound. When we asked him: "What are you, Alexander Savvich, violating the instructions?" - pressed by objective control, he admitted: "What to do when they fire a rocket at you!"

The Israeli “Phantoms” of MiG rockets allowed a lot. None of the MiG-25 failed to bring down.

But the service of our sailors - the secret, covered with darkness. Meanwhile, the commanders of the Egyptian destroyers, submarines, missile and torpedo boats were also Soviet advisers. “Rus Habir” (Russian specialist), as well as the position of “adviser”, does not cause any heroic associations. Meanwhile, these officers actually commanded the ships, planned operations, went to the attacks.

“We came straight to Haifa on the raid,” recalls retired rank 2 captain Vladimir Kryshtob, now a pensioner from Riga. - We looked through the periscope at the night city: beauty, all in lights. On unloading at the terminal are civilian tankers. Well, where to shoot! ..

The combat mission read as follows: torpedo the oil terminal, put mines in the raid. And for the country they were peaceful 70 ...

One day, "Mr. Volodya" saved the peaceful Greek ocean liner from destruction. The boat for ten hours shied away from the attacks of the Israeli Saar boats, the Egyptian commander was wound up. And suddenly he gave the order: to torpedo a surface ship detected by the noise of propellers. He personally declared the target "Jewish destroyer".

“There is terrible pressure in the compartments, it’s hot,” writes Krashtob in his memoirs. “An Arab medical orderly wanders through the compartments and stabs everyone with a syringe. they drink. They are bad. Everything is at the limit. Bagir (the Egyptian commander) is yelling into the first compartment: they are preparing six torpedo tubes.

Already a torpedo attack announced. I'm flying to the first bay. And there all the knobs are twisted, the data are entered, six torpedoes are ready. I'm back: "Stop! Pop up." - "No, - shouts Bagir, - from the underwater position will shoot! We will not float!" - "Bitch! - yell. - Easy life wanted?"

Podspyshli, looked. My mom, such a handsome liner goes Greek, it's nice to see. And the whole cars made, on the decks of the people, as in the house of officers at the dance. I rolled down, walked up to Bagheera: "Well, you see?" He frowned: "I see." - "What do you see? What would we do with you now, your mother ?!"

In addition to our officers and warrant officers, conscript soldiers were sent on secret missions to the war. According to Western data, in Egypt, between 1967 and 1973 for years, there were up to 50 thousands of Soviet soldiers. According to our data, less, but 30 thousands of bayonets - a huge figure. After all, they also served in Korea, Syria, Angola, Yemen, and Afghanistan — altogether in more than two dozen countries. As for Egypt, when the new president, Anwar Sadat, decided to actually expel ours, the group of Soviet troops and advisers was about 15 thousand people.

The history of our participation in the Arab-Israeli wars still has a lot of blank pages. The easiest and most effective way to erase the "white spots": veterans send their memories and documents to the site www.hubara-rus.ru.

And the sooner the better, because the majority of participants in the Egyptian wars today are already behind 60.

The headquarters of the Council of Egypt Veterans of the War in Egypt is located at the address: ul. Krzhizhanovskogo, 13 / 2, office 1B (metro station "Profsoyuznaya"). Chairman - Hero of the Soviet Union Konstantin Popovich.

Hotline for Disabled War in Egypt (works on Wednesdays from 11.00 to 13.00): (495) 719 09 05.