Battles for Lake Peipus
Along the Russian-Estonian border from north to south stretches a chain of interconnected lakes - Peipus, Teploe and Pskov. In terms of area (3555 km²), they occupy fourth place in Europe. Lake Peipus itself is 73 km long and 33 to 47 km wide. The average depth is 7,1 m, and in Teploe Lake it reaches 15 m. About 30 rivers flow into the lake, and only one flows out - Narva (Narova), flowing into the Gulf of Finland. There are 35 islands on the lake. From the end of November to the beginning of May, the lakes freeze, and the thickness of the ice can be 50-60 centimeters.
Modern map of Lakes Peipus, Teploe and Pskov
Over the centuries, the shores and the lake itself have been the scene of brutal battles. Everyone knows about the "Battle on the Ice" of 1242, and Russian (based in Pskov) and Swedish (sailing from today's Tartu) warships fought repeatedly in the vast expanses of Lake Peipus and Lake Teploe during the Northern War of 1700-1721.
1915-1920 years.
In connection with the approach of the German army, the Military Department of the Russian Empire in September 1915 began to create the Chud Military Flotilla from mobilized civilian ships. By August of the following year, the flotilla consisted of six steamships with a displacement of 90-200 tons, armed with two 75- or 47-mm cannons and machine guns, as well as eight steam and motor launches. At the end of 1916, the personnel numbered 320 people.
The flotilla's base was located in Raskopel Bay. Five coastal batteries with 3-4 guns of 107-mm or 76-mm caliber each were installed to cover it. The flotilla was commanded by Rear Admiral N.N. Kolomeitsev. After the October Revolution, the flotilla became part of the Red Navy, and D.D. Nelidov was appointed its commander, and the anarchist D.K. Morozov was appointed its commissar.
On October 28, 1918, three ships of the flotilla under the command of Nelidov left Raskopel for Pskov, where they went over to the side of the White Guards of the Northern Corps. The three ships remaining in Raskopel were commanded by A. N. Afanasyev, and at the end of November 1918 they supported the Red Navy offensive on Narva.
Officers of the Chudskaya Flotilla who went over to the Whites, 1918
The steamships that went over to the Whites took part in battles with the Red Army, and during the winter in Yuryev (now Tartu) they ended up in the hands of Estonia, and the “Chudsky Division” was formed from them.
In early May 1919, the Northwestern Army of the Whites and the Estonian Chudsky Division began shelling and blockading Raskopel. By order of the Soviet command, part of the flotilla was sunk, and the ships Olga and Ermak were to break through to Lake Pskov. However, on May 20, under the leadership of Commissar Morozov, these steamships went over to the Whites, and were later handed over to the Estonians. On August 4, the Soviet flotilla was disbanded.
According to the Yuryev Peace Treaty of 1920, Estonia and the RSFSR could have only small customs vessels on Lakes Peipus, Teploe and Pskov, no more than five, with armament of no more than two 47-mm cannons and two machine guns on each.
Summer 1941 years
The Chudskaya Naval Flotilla found its new life on July 3, 1941, by order of the Senior Naval Commander in Leningrad, Rear Admiral K.I. Samoilov, in connection with the approach of the German army.
The flotilla was created on the basis of the training ship division of the Higher Naval Order of Lenin Engineering School named after Dzerzhinsky, based in the port of Tartu on the Emajõgi River. It included three steamships, reclassified in the flotilla as gunboats:
"Narova" (displacement 145 tons, speed 9 knots, built in 1897) is the former Estonian gunboat "Tartu", previously the service steamship of the Ministry of Railways of the Russian Empire "Yuryev".
"Issa" (175 t, 9 knots, 1914). Former Estonian gunboat "Vanemuine", previously the cargo and passenger steamship "Emperor".
"Embach" (140 t, 9 knots, 1908). Former Estonian gunboat "Ahti", previously the tug and passenger steamer "Ganza".
In addition, the flotilla included the Plussa (230 t, 1857) as a non-self-propelled floating base (the main steam engine was out of order). The steamship Uku (110 t, 9 knots, 1912), a former Estonian gunboat and previously the tugboat Delfin, was used as a dispatch vessel. The steamship Varrak, renamed Neptune, became a hospital ship.
Gunboat "Issa"
Gunboat "Narova"
Gunboat "Embach"
Floating base "Plyussa"
The flotilla commander was appointed the head of the department of marine practice of the Dzerzhinsky Higher Naval Military School, Captain 1st Rank Nikolai Yuryevich Avraamov (1892-1949), a participant in the First World War and the Civil War, and a member of the Centrobalt. The gunboat division was commanded by Captain-Lieutenant N. V. Bandovsky.
N.Yu. Avraamov
N.Yu. Avraamov, post-war photo
The flotilla personnel consisted mainly of first-year cadets from the steam power, electrical engineering and shipbuilding departments of the VVMIU, who arrived for their practical training on June 1 and 23. The regular crews of the training ships consisted of junior commanders and sailors from the former Estonian flotilla on Lake Peipus who expressed a desire to continue serving in the USSR Navy (24 people in total). Such important specialists as signalmen, artillerymen, radio operators, etc. were completely absent. The ships had no weapons, except for four heavy machine guns and rifles for the personnel.
During the first days of the planned practice, the cadets had to solve completely unusual tasks - guard important objects in the city of Tartu and fight armed groups of Estonian nationalists in the rear of our troops.
On July 3, the flotilla was ordered to confiscate all watercraft, “even skiffs,” from local owners and move them to the eastern shore of the lake so that the enemy could not use them to cross the lake.
In connection with the enemy approaching Tartu, on July 6, the flotilla, together with the Red Army sapper battalion, was engaged in mining bridges and artificially raising the water level in the river by sinking a barge loaded with stones across it. On the same day, the evacuation of the flotilla to the new Gdov base on the eastern shore of Lake Peipus began. To guard the base, a coastal company armed with rifles was created from the crews, including 80 cadets. weapons.
In Tartu, 12,7-mm Vickers machine guns, used as anti-aircraft weapons, were transferred from the local arsenal to arm the flotilla ships. And on July 10, two 76,2-mm Lender guns, taken from the cruiser Aurora, nine 45-mm 21-K guns with ammunition and gun crews, river mines, machine guns and other weapons and ammunition were delivered from Leningrad to Gdov.
Of the 18 vehicles involved in transporting this cargo, the enemy aviation destroyed three and seriously damaged two, killing three Red Navy sailors and five civilian drivers, and injuring eight people.
The resulting weapons were used as follows:
"Embach", "Plussa" - 2 x 45 mm
"Narova" - 3 x 45 mm
“Issa” - 2 x 76,2 mm, 1 x 45 mm
"Uku" - 1 x 45 mm
In addition, each ship was equipped with a 1 mm M-7,62 machine gun.
In connection with the cessation of the Chudskoye Lake Shipping Company's activities, six steamships, including three small tugboats from its composition, were transferred to the flotilla. In addition, the flotilla included 13 motorboats, including former border boats, as well as several barges, one of which was loaded with gasoline.
On July 14-17, the flotilla's ships transported 1000 fighters of the 118th Rifle Division, which was pinned down by the enemy against the lake, from the eastern (Gdov) to the northern coast (Vasknarva). At the same time, the gunboats carried out artillery fire on the enemy, covering the loading of troops. On July 19, the flotilla was relocated to the roadstead of the village of Mustvee on the northwestern shore of the lake.
The flotilla ships carried out fire reconnaissance of enemy positions, fired at an enemy column moving along the coastal road (three carts and one truck were destroyed), and delivered weapons and food for the partisans to the island of Piirissaar.
From 22 to 24 July, the flotilla ships were subjected to fierce air raids by enemy aircraft. On the first day of the raids alone, the flotilla lost 17 people killed and about 100 wounded. On the gunboat Issa, after two days, only seven of the 48 crew members remained in service. Although the Germans managed to sink only one barge with food and a fishing trawler, some ships and boats were seriously damaged, and the losses of personnel were horrific. Due to this, especially due to the loss of a significant, and sometimes complete, command staff of the ships, the flotilla became less than combat-ready. On 23 July, the gunboat Narova was disarmed and sunk at Mustvee Roadstead, as well as most of the barges, auxiliary vessels, boats and motorboats. The remaining watercraft moved to the mouth of the Rannapungerja River on the northern shore, since almost the entire rest of the coast was already in enemy hands.
On August 1, it was established that the enemy had motorboats on the lake. On August 7, a group of officers and sailors arrived from Leningrad to replenish the loss of personnel to the flotilla.
On the night of August 12-13, Embach and four motor boats landed 60 scouts in the Gdov area to search for enemy airfields. After the group landed, one of the boats collided with an enemy patrol boat. In a short battle, the enemy boat was sunk. This was the flotilla's last operation on Lake Peipus.
By the morning of August 13, only about 10 km of the coast remained under the control of the Red Army, so by order of the flotilla commander, weapons, ammunition and a number of mechanisms were brought to the shore and buried in the ground, ships and boats were sunk or thrown aground.
The personnel, led by the commander and commissar of the flotilla, fought their way through Narva and Kingisepp to Old Peterhof on August 20, and then arrived in Leningrad. According to various sources, 139, 142 or 189 people left with N. Yu. Avraamov.
On August 27, the Chudskaya military flotilla was disbanded by order of the commander of the naval defense of Leningrad and the Ozerny region.
1941-1944 years old
On Lake Pskov the first Germanfleet" appeared in July 1941, and then on Chudskoye. From August 27 to September 2, 9 tugs, 15 barges and three boats were transferred to the WSP-Station Peipussee with headquarters in Tartu, which was under the control of the ground forces of Army Group North. The main task of this flotilla was transport between Tartu and Gdov in the interests of the 18th Army of the Wehrmacht. The task of protecting these ships was carried out by two naval boats armed with anti-tank guns and machine guns.
In August, 2793 tons of cargo were transported along this route, including 1215 tons of ammunition, 1325 tons of fuel, 432 tons of food, as well as 500 wounded and 600 prisoners of war. The Germans did not encounter any resistance from the enemy.
In September 1941, the Germans raised and commissioned the Issa (renamed Vanemuine), Narova (Haimat), Plussa (Ilmatar), Embach (Baltenland) and Uku.
In 1942–1943, transportation on the lake continued, involving up to 18 self-propelled and 39 non-self-propelled vessels subordinated to the army Feld-Wasserstrassen Abteilung 4. In 1943, 114 people, 850 tons of timber and 78 tons of other cargo were transported.
In connection with the advance of the Soviet troops, the German command began to create the Panther defensive line (“Pantherlinie”) in the northwest in advance, which also ran along the Peipus-Pskov lakes. In connection with this, from the end of 1943, the Kriegsmarine began to transfer combat boats of the V type (42 units), KM and KS (14 units in total) from the Baltic to Tartu, and in January 1944 the Peipus military flotilla, or rather the 4th gunboat flotilla (4. Artillerie-Trägerflotille), was created. The main base of these forces was located in the village of Kastre at the mouth of the Emajõgi River.
German boat type KM
The flotilla's main striking force was 12 sea-going artillery barges (MAL 13 - MAL 24) of the MAL Ia type, which entered service in May - July. With a displacement of 146 tons, they were armed with two 88-mm guns and a 37-mm anti-aircraft semi-automatic gun (according to some sources, also a quadruple 20-mm automatic gun), the wheelhouse was armored. The MAL's speed reached 8 knots, the crew consisted of 28 people.
The modular design allowed the barges to be transported by rail and road in disassembled form, and reassembly took only 6-8 hours. Within 24-30 hours of arrival, the ship was ready for combat use.
Artillery barge MAL Ia
In July 1944, two "dismountable combat police boats" (Zerlegbares Polizei Kampfboot) ZPK-2 and ZPK-3 arrived in Tartu from Germany. The boats were armed with a 40 mm Bofors cannon and had partial bulletproof armor.
Police boat ZPK-3
In the spring of 1944, the ground forces also acquired their own “fleet” on the lake – the 772nd Engineer Landing Battalion (Pi. Lndg. Btl. 772) was transferred from Denmark. The battalion was initially armed with 9 Siebel ferries and 77 assault and landing boats.
Ferry "Siebel"
Pioneer-Landunsboot Type 41 of the engineer battalion 772
To counter the enemy flotilla on Lakes Peipus, Teploe and Pskov and to ensure the landing of troops on their western coast, on February 18, 1944, the General Staff of the Navy requested the headquarters of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet about the possibility of transferring combat boats to Lake Peipus. The new unit was supposed to be formed on the basis of the 25th separate boat division withdrawn from Lake Ilmen.
The final decision to create a group on the lakes was made by the People's Commissar of the Navy on March 18. The boats were supposed to be sent first by water along the Ilmen-Ladoga-Leningrad route, and then by rail to Gdov. On April 6, 1944, by order of the People's Commissar of the Navy, the 25th separate division of boats was transferred to the Red Banner Baltic Fleet with operational subordination to the commander of the Leningrad Front.
The transfer of forces of the 25th UEC began on May 3, and on May 18 the first boats arrived in Gdov. On May 13, the 1st detachment of armored boats from the Brigade of skerry ships of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, consisting of five Project 1125 boats, was transferred to the division. On June 7, they were joined by an armored boat of Project 1124.
Soviet armored boats on Lake Peipus
On June 18, the boat division was reformed into a Separate Brigade of River Ships of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet on Lake Peipus. Captain 3rd Rank (from September 1944 – Captain 2nd Rank) Aleksandr Fyodorovich Arzhavkin was appointed brigade commander.
Arzhavkin Alexander Fedorovich, 1943
Arzhavkin Alexander Fedorovich, post-war photo
On July 19, 1944, the brigade's naval composition was as follows:
Armored boat detachment - four Project 1124 armored boats and eight Project 1125;
A detachment of mine boats - five Ya-5 type boats armed with NURS;
A detachment of patrol boats - five BMK-70 type boats and six KM type boats;
A detachment of semi-gliders - four semi-gliders of the NKL-27 type;
Self-propelled tender;
Coastal base and other coastal services.
Mine boat Ya-5
Boat BMK-70
The brigade's ships were based at the mouth of the Gdovka River and in Raskopel Bay. Six Yak-6 fighters were redeployed there on June 7-1 to provide air cover. In addition, to reinforce the brigade's Defense The 42nd Army allocated one 45mm and one 37mm anti-aircraft battery.
The unit was tasked with patrol duty along the eastern shore of Lake Peipus to prevent enemy landings on our coast, lay minefields, restrict enemy navigation in the lake, reconnaissance of the locations of their floating craft, and assistance in the advance of the 8th Army of the Leningrad Front. In addition, in connection with the preparation of the landing on the western shore of the lake, it was ordered to destroy enemy floating craft using boats from the 25th Brigade and front-line aviation.
In turn, the German forces on the lake took up a mainly defensive position. Their ships and boats were to carry out patrol duty at a distance of 1-2 kilometers from the western coast and, in the event of enemy ships appearing, to report this to the ground troops.
During their first patrol (May 28), our armored boats encountered enemy aircraft. Four Focke-Wulfs attacked two patrol boats, and BKA-214 was seriously damaged.
On the night of June 12-13, in the area of the village of Zapolye on the eastern shore of Lake Peipus, a battle took place between four Soviet patrol armored boats and four German KM boats. Thanks to the superiority of the Soviet boats in armament and armor, they managed to achieve victory: KM 8 was sunk by a ramming strike from BKA-213 (commander - Lieutenant A. A. Smirnov), and KM 19 was damaged and taken away by the Germans in tow. Two sailors from the sunken boat were captured. The armored boat BKA-213 also received a number of damages, two members of its crew were wounded.
Lieutenant Smirnov with his crew
In total, seven artillery battles between opposing ships were recorded from June 13 to July 18. In almost all cases, the reports of the parties about the losses incurred do not match.
On July 19, in anticipation of the future landing, the commander of the Leningrad Front, Marshal L.A. Govorov, ordered air strikes on the bases of German ships. The command of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet allocated the 9th Ropshinskaya assault aviation division from the naval air force for this purpose, consisting of four regiments: the 7th Guards assault regiment, the 35th assault regiment, the 12th fighter regiment and the 13th Red Banner fighter regiment. The appearance on the lakes of a powerful (154 attack aircraft and fighters) aviation unit aimed exclusively at solving "marine" tasks immediately changed the situation in our favor. As a result, on September 1, the flotilla consisted of only MAL-14, MAL-21 and about one and a half dozen patrol boats, which by September 19 were sunk by their crews.
At 04:30 on August 16, 1944, the first echelon of troops began landing from boats of the Separate River Ship Brigade on the western shore of Teploe Lake, with fire support from armored boats and field artillery from the eastern shore.
Launching of the landing tender
Enemy aviation provided serious resistance to the landing: from 10 am, German aircraft in groups of 18-25 aircraft carried out continuous attacks on Soviet ships transporting the second and third echelons of the landing force, the points of troop concentration and their boarding on ships on the eastern shore.
As a result, in two days of air raids, an armored boat, three landing tenders, two minesweepers and two minesweepers were sunk, seven of the 14 ferries sank, and six of the 21 landing tenders remained operational. The landing force personnel also suffered serious losses. Despite its complete superiority in forces in the landing area, Soviet aviation was unable to provide air cover.
According to German data, on the evening of August 16, four MAL barges fired at the loading area of the Soviet landing force, numerous explosions and fires were observed. There is no mention of these attacks in Soviet documents, and it was possibly attributed to air force actions.
Landing troops
Despite serious losses in landing craft, by August 18, 1944, units of both rifle divisions involved had been transported across Teploe Lake: about 7000 fighters, 170 guns and mortars, over 300 tons of ammunition and other cargo. In addition, the 159th separate motorized pontoon-bridge battalion transported over 1000 fighters, 34 tons of cargo and 65 guns and mortars.
Landing across Lake Teploe
On August 18, a combined company was formed from the personnel of the 4th AT-Flotille, which took part in the battles for Tartu. On August 28, the flotilla commander, Corvette Captain Paul Kahle, died in them.
From September 5 to 19, boats and ships of the Separate Brigade of River Ships carried out the operational transportation of troops of the 2nd Shock Army of the Leningrad Front across Lake Peipus: the command of the 2nd Shock Army, the 8th, 30th Guards and 108th Rifle Corps, 100 thousand people, a thousand guns, 4 thousand vehicles, 13,2 thousand horses, 14 thousand tons of ammunition, 67 thousand tons of food were transported.
On September 20, the brigade carried out the transfer of a rifle regiment of the 109th rifle division to the north of Lake Peipus, suppressing the enemy's coastal battery. This was the brigade's last combat operation.
On September 18, she fought her last battle and 4 AT-Flotille - MAL 14 and MAL 21 repelled an attempt by Soviet troops to land at the mouth of the Omeda River.
By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of October 22, 1944, the Separate Brigade of River Ships of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet on Lake Peipus was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
On November 14, 1944, the Separate Red Banner Brigade of River Ships of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet on Lake Peipus was disbanded.
Sources of
1. Chronicle of military operations on Lake Peipus and Lake Ilmen during the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union in 1941, 1943 and 1944 / People's Commissariat of the USSR Navy. Historical Department of the Navy. - Moscow; Leningrad: Administration of the Military-Naval Publishing House of the NKVMF USSR, 1945.
2. Chronicle of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union on the Baltic Sea, Lake Ladoga and Lake Peipus. Issues 6 and 7 — Moscow, 1951
3. Meister Jurg. Eastern Front. War at Sea, 1941-1945. Eksmo, 2005
4. Soviet river transport during the Great Patriotic War. Moscow: Voenizdat, 1981
5. Dotsenko V.D., Getmanets G.M. Fleet in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Moscow, 2005
6. Chudskaya Military Flotilla. Year 1941. Gdovskaya Zarya, 04.05.2012
7. Arvo Lennart Vercamer. Pole bitwy Jezioro Pejpus od 5000 lat przed nasza erą do 1945 roku. Okręty Wojenne Nr 123 (1/2014)
8. www.historisches-marinearchiv.de
9. Internet
Information