Volzhskaya rokada - the road of Stalingrad victory
Any business starts from the road, and each person has his own way, his own way. But these roads are different: difficult and easy, near and far, victorious and shameful. But there are other roads - front. Does anyone know how many of these roads there were, while the Soviet soldiers went to victory? How long did they have to go through the entire war? The only thing that is known for sure is how many kilometers of railway tracks were laid under the bombs of the enemy, which in many ways ensured a brilliant victory for the Soviet army, in particular, at Stalingrad. Unfortunately, very little has been written about this, so most people do not even know about the role played by railway workers and railways, which became arteries for fronts, feeding them not only with human resources, but also with ammunition, food, military equipment ...
Midsummer 1942 of the year was a turning point in stories Great Patriotic War. The strategic situation in the south of the country began to change. In May, Soviet troops were defeated by the fascist troops, which allowed the Wehrmacht army to occupy a large area between the Volga and the Don in a short period of time, and to approach the minimum distance from Stalingrad. Therefore, for the enterprises of the Kuybyshev region, the priority task was to find ways to supply the Stalingrad Front with ammunition, weapons and food.
Back in January 1942, the State Committee for Defense of the Soviet Union decided on the need to build a railway along the right bank of the Volga. The steel highway from Ilovli (a station that was 80 kilometers from Stalingrad) to Sviyazhsk (a station that is located near Kazan) was to be built before December 1942. Mainly, the new road was intended to stabilize the supply of southern Soviet enterprises, including the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, which was transferred to production during the war period tanks. If in summer the equipment and parts were delivered from Kazan, Ulyanovsk and Kuibyshev along the Volga, then in the winter it was impossible to do this, which is why the construction of the railway in this case was the most optimal option.
This railway was called Volzhskaya Rokada, that is, the road running along the front line.
In March of the same 1942, all studies on the line of the future road were completed. Surveys were conducted by expeditions under the leadership of P. Tatarintsev and A. Smirnov. And already at the beginning of the month, the leaders of all the rural areas adjacent to the highway received orders about the need to send collective farmers and horse and horses to the construction.
The choice of the exact location and direction of the construction work was marked by a dispute between two main groups. The first group included the head of the NKDV regional department Voronin and the first secretary of the regional committee of the CPSU (b) and the head of the city defense committee A. Chuyanov. They were confident that the road should continue along the packed surface. In addition, due to the large number of beams and ravines in that area there were many bridges that were only proposed to be strengthened in accordance with the weight of the loaded echelons. Thus, the rocade, in their opinion, was supposed to start from the Gorodishchensky district and be sent to Kamyshin through Dubovka. The second group was represented by railway workers under the guidance of F. Gvozdevsky. They were able to prove that the cost of the most labor-intensive earthworks can be reduced and to ensure uninterrupted water supply of steam locomotives, if the pipeline is laid parallel to the Ilovlya River. 17 March approved the project of the mainline of the Gvozdevsky group.
Already the first stage of construction has become a time of big problems. Railway workers are faced with the problem of lack of materials, and in the first place, sleepers and rails. By that time period, most of the rail mills were transferred to the production of military equipment, and their conversion needed at least three months. Therefore, it was possible to realize only by the fall. And at that time there was no other way for the railroad workers, except for dismantling the 180-kilometer branch of the BAM-Tynda line, as well as the Izvestkovaya-Urgal line, by order of the State Defense Committee. But these rails were not enough, they were only enough to pave the way to Petrov Val. Therefore, the decree of the State Defense Committee has also imported 1200 kilometers of rails with American fixings.
Together with the BAM dismantled for the construction of the Volga Rokady, its builders - prisoners were redeployed. Thus, two large-scale labor camps were formed: Saratov, which was located in the village of Umet, and Stalingrad, stationed in the village of Olkhovka. These camps were combined into a single Volga strict-labor correctional labor camp. He operated from 11 September 1942 to December 1944. Led the camp as well as the construction of the Volga rakada F. Gvozdevsky, captain M. Filimonov became his deputy. Prisoners settled in the empty Volga villages, previously inhabited by the Germans. These settlements were the result of a secret decision of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union of 26 August 1941, according to which almost half a million Germans were resettled in the Altai and Krasnoyarsk regions, Novosibirsk and Omsk Regions and Kazakhstan. The resettlement was led by representatives of the NKVD. It was assumed that this procedure should be carried out in a short time - from 3 to 20 September 1941.
In July 1942, the Kamyshinsky filtration-filtration camp was organized to further speed up construction. All the servicemen of the Soviet army, who were in German captivity or surrounded, fell into it. More than 65 thousand people visited this point, most of whom in the future were directed to the construction of the Volga Rokada.
In addition to the lack of materials, there were other problems. In particular, the construction in the area between Ulyanovsk and Syzran already at the first stage of work was in jeopardy. And the problem was weather conditions. The fact is that the spring of 42 of the year was protracted and cold. The snow melted only in mid-April, which postponed the start of planting for a considerable time. This was the reason that the mobilization of collective farmers for the construction of the road became possible only in mid-June.
In addition, people still lacked. Thus, in the resolution of the Kuibyshev Regional Committee, it was said that instead of 15 thousands of workers in the construction of the highway only about 9 thousands worked, and out of 3 thousands there were only about 1700 necessary supplies. All the leaders of the areas where a shortage of human resources was identified were severely reprimanded. In addition, they received a warning that from August, 5 thousands more people and a 1300 supply should be sent to construction. If the task is not completed, the entire leadership will be sent to the penal battalions leading the battles in the most dangerous sectors of the front. It is clear that everything possible was done to fulfill the order. And the Sviyazhsk-Syzran branch was commissioned and started working at the beginning of October 1942.
If we talk about the southern part of the rockade, then since July 22 all the work was carried out under the continuous bombing of the Germans. A lot of effort was spent not only on construction, but also on the restoration of damaged sections of an already built road. It did not do without a huge number of victims among the builders. In addition, Ilovli’s shelling soon began.
Despite all this, already in the beginning of August 1942 of the year, the first echelon was sent from Stalingrad along the Ilovlya-Petrov Val line. September 24 this site was leased to the Southeast Railway.
The entire route was opened on 15 on October 1942 of the year, the maximum train speed before the end of ballasting was set at 30 kilometers per hour.
During the period of the operation of the line, more than two hundred trains, consisting of 480 locomotives and 23thousands of cars (to the north), and 154 of freight trains (to the south) proceeded along it. An annular traffic scheme was applied, thanks to which the capacity of the rocade increased from 16 to 22 trains per day. It was thanks to the railroad workers of the Volzhskaya Rokady, who were transferring huge army reserves, that the success in the operation called Uranus, aimed at the destruction of Paulus's army, and repelling the impact of Manstein’s troops was achieved.
Five hundred civilian employees were awarded the medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad" for heroic selfless performance of work.
The most bloody and brutal war in modern history has become an exam for strength, and especially for communications. And it is very unfortunate that the feat and dedication of the builders, branded as the “enemy of the people”, who made an enormous contribution to the victory at Stalingrad, still remain a blank spot in history.
Materials used:
http://tainy.info/technics/volzhskaya-rokada/
http://www.marshals-victory.senat.org/amvasilevsky/stalingrad-rokada.html
http://pogo-on-air.livejournal.com/774019.html
http://zdr.gudok.ru/pub/10/193350/
Information