118th Infantry Division. Small tragedies of the big war
AT THE BATTLE PLACES OF THE 118 RIFLE DIVISION: RESULTS OF SEARCH ARCHIVE AND FIELD WORK
On the way to achieving victory in the Great Patriotic War, Kostroma formed a number of units and divisions. One of them was the 118th Infantry Division. It was formed in 1940 in Kostroma and before the start of the Great Patriotic War it was stationed at the place of formation. A lot of time has passed since the fighting and battles died down. But the memory of those distant times remains in our memory to this day.
Due to the fact that information about the first days and initial period of the war still remains classified, due to political circumstances, and also due to the lack of special information about the division itself, about the fate of the soldiers, the places of their death and/or captivity, we introduced ourselves It is important to fill the lack of information based on the analysis of unpublished and published archival sources 1 and the results of the search work of the Kostroma search association "Charon" 2.
“The division included 398, 463, 527 rifle regiments, 604 artillery regiment, 621 howitzer artillery regiment, 191 separate anti-tank fighter division, 427 separate anti-aircraft artillery division, 282 separate engineer battalion, 260 separate chemical defense company, 663 automobile battalion, 422 field bakeries, 521 field postal stations. He formed the division and subsequently it was commanded by Major General Nikolai Mikhailovich Glovatsky 3. In May 1941, the division was mobilized and began combat training in the Pesochnoe camp. 4
From June 24, 1941 to June 28, 1941, the 118th Infantry Division was mobilized and sent to the front from Kostroma by rail through Yaroslavl, Rybinsk, Bologoe, Staraya Russa, Porkhov was transferred to Pskov, was bombed along the way, and was unloaded in Karamushevo. From June 30, 1941, it was supposed to deploy in the Pskov fortified area, but it was late in arriving, so by the evening of July 2, 1941, only 13 trains arrived, by the morning of July 4, 1941, 20 trains arrived, and 2 more were on the way. It took up positions near Pskov, along the Velikaya River and the Cherekha River, with its right flank adjacent to Lake Pskov, and its left flank to the mouth of the Keb River. On July 5, 1941, the division deployed to the Korly, Vasilyevo, Palkino station, Cherskaya station, Ogurtsovo, and had not yet completed its concentration. The first battle took place on July 5, 1941 with the 6th Panzer Division. 5
During July - September 1941, she fought heavy, bloody battles and constrained the advance of enemy troops near Pskov, Gdov, Kingisep, Narva, and Peterhof. 118 S.D. suffered heavy losses, defending every inch of Soviet land. In these battles, a significant part of the personnel was lost, there were many killed, wounded, and missing. On September 28, 1941, the division was disbanded.
In August 1942, the remnants of the division arrived on the Western Front near Rzhev. The division takes part in fierce battles for Zubtsovo, Rzhev, Vyazma, Dorogobuzh, Yelnya, Krasny, Slochka. Then it was merged with the 48th Infantry Division named after. Kalinina and got her number. In 1942, the Division was formed again and entered the history of the Great Patriotic War under the name of the 118th Infantry Division of the 2nd Formation. 1
The division was commanded by: Vedenin Andrey Yakovlevich(01/18/1942 - 09/13/1942), (11/02/1942 - 04/10/1943) lieutenant colonel, from 02/04/1942 colonel, and Sukharev Nikolay Fedorovich(09/14/1942 - 11/01/1942), lieutenant colonel. 2
From the memoirs of A.M. Gavrilova, resident of the Old Thomas farm, Gdovsky district: “After a strong battle, everyone was badly ragged, there were no weapons. Only the smallest soldier had a rifle, and it had no cartridges; they fought back as best they could. German machine gunners surrounded our soldiers. After some time, machine gun fire was heard. The Germans drove the soldiers out of the village and shot them. For a long time they were not allowed to bury them. Only a few days later they were buried there in the field by local residents” 3.
Subsequently, the search party found and buried the remains of 27 dead Soviet soldiers.
From the memoirs of V.V. Boykova, residents of the village of Ermakovo, Gdovsky district: “A major battle took place between the villages of Vyazka and Mga. The Germans began to press our troops, they had tanks. The soldiers often retreated without weapons. We walked mostly through the forest, asking for directions to Leningrad. Some soldiers shouted: “We have been betrayed, our commanders have fled!” The entire area, especially near the railway track and station, was strewn with dead soldiers and officers. On July 17, Gdov was occupied. A camp for prisoners of war was set up in the city" 1 .
Later, thanks to the work of the search team, the remains of soldiers were found, which confirms the memories of V.V. Boykova.
After many years, the information from the memories was confirmed by a search party that carried out field excavations in this area. He discovered the remains of the dead: personal medallions of soldiers, fragments of documents, things and objects that could help identify the remains. It can be said with some certainty that the remains belong to the dead soldiers of the 118th Infantry Division. 2
Filozafovich V. D.
KNOWN AND UNKNOWN FEAT OF THREE HEROES ON NOVGOROD LAND
In our city, Veliky Novgorod, there are many street names in honor of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, whose lives and exploits we should know about.
Gerasimenko, Cheremnov, Krasilov immediately received recognition after their feat, in particular, on February 6, 1942, a publication about the exploits of the heroes was published in the newspaper of the Volkhov Front “Front Newspaper”.
On February 21, 1944, all three were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the Order of Lenin posthumously. Streets in Veliky Novgorod, Novokuznetsk, in the Novomoskovsky district of the Dnepropetrovsk region are named after the heroes. At the Novokuznetsk “Wreath of Glory” memorial, among others, there is a sculptural relief depicting the feat of three Red Army soldiers. In Veliky Novgorod, at Yaroslav’s Court, a monument was erected in honor of Cheremny, Krasilov and Gerasimenko. In Barnaul, on the Glory Memorial, the name of A. Krasilov is indicated in the lists. All three are forever included in the lists of fighters of the second company of the 299th regiment. The 225th division itself was named Novgorod. There is a memorial at the site of the death in the vicinity of Veliky Novgorod. The names, dates and dedication of the three soldiers are carved on the plaque. At the opening of the memorial, three birch trees were planted nearby, which is symbolic: these trees will resemble the beauty, will, character, courage, and sincerity of the act they committed. The feat of the three heroes was sung by the poet Nikolai Tikhonov in the poem “The Ballad of Three Communists.”
On the night of January 29, 1942, the search group of the 1st Infantry Battalion from the location of the 299th Infantry Regiment reached the southwestern outskirts of the city of Novgorod. At that moment, when the ensuing battle was almost crowned with success for the Soviet soldiers, three machine guns from bunkers that had not previously been discovered suddenly opened fire. Without wasting a minute, the squad commander, Sergeant Ivan Savvich Gerasimenko, rushed to the machine gun and covered it with his body, repeating the feat of A.K. Pankratov, the first in the history of the Great Patriotic War to cover an enemy machine gun with his body not far from that place, near the Kirillov Monastery. Behind the commander, his soldiers, privates Alexander Semenovich Krasilov and Leonty Aseevich Cheremnov, rushed to the remaining two machine guns. Thanks to their feat, the platoon completed its combat mission, destroying 6 bunkers and more than fifty Nazis 1 .
All three heroes were from Novokuznetsk. Alexander Semenovich Krasilov (1902 - 1942) and Leonty Aseevich Cheremnov (1913 - 1942) were born in the Altai region, and Ivan Savvich Gerasimenko was born in the Dnepropetrovsk region. Gerasimenko and Krasilov had been at the front since 1941, and Cheremnov did not even have time to fight for a year.
These people fought so that their comrades remained alive and continued to fight, so that we and our families and children prospered, our country defended its independence, and they achieved this. It should be noted that now we would hardly have overcome the enemy. Where has the sense of solidarity, the sense of patriotism, the brotherhood of the people gone, when will the nation finally unite and be united? Isn’t it why our heroes Krasilov, Cheremnov and Gerasimenko threw themselves under the bullets of enemy bunkers, so that the feeling of self-interest, cowardice, vileness would prevail in us, wasn’t it so that they did not spare themselves, so that we would use freedom not for the benefit of kindness and generosity, after all for the same?
They fought for freedom, for the life of another person, valuing it more than their own, they fought for us, so let’s be honest to these people and thank them for their exploits not in words, but in the actions that they would like to see from us.
This feat should forever remain in the memory of not only Novgorodians, the people should know and remember their heroes.
Chistyakova Marina Lvovna
INCREASING THE EFFICIENCY OF FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES OF THE STATE INSTITUTION “STATE ARCHIVES OF THE KOstroma REGION”
The relevance of the article is related to changes in economic and tax legislation that are relevant to budgetary organizations. Budgetary organizations are important subjects of production and financial-economic relations in any economic system and in any model of government. They are designed to ensure the satisfaction of socially significant needs.
The purpose of the article is to consider the features of the financial and economic activities of the State Institution “State Archive of the Kostroma Region” (hereinafter referred to as GAKO).
GAKO is a budgetary non-profit organization financed entirely from the regional budget. The founder of the archive is the Committee for Archives of the Kostroma Region. GAKO stores accounting documents, archival reference books, information databases, printed and illustrated materials that complement and reveal the composition of its funds. The number of archive employees in 2008 was 77 people: 7 managers, 44 specialists and 26 workers.
In addition to the main types of activities, GAKO has the right to carry out the following types of paid services that generate income, in accordance with the Nomenclature of Paid Services approved by the Federal Archival Agency of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation:
Table 1
Nomenclature of paid works and services provided by GAKO
Name of service | Unit |
|
Information Services | Archival information, lists of documents, copies of documents |
|
Examination of the value and organization of documents | Sheet, title, case, act position |
|
Drawing up normative and methodological documents on office work and archiving, providing methodological assistance | Instructions, articles, projects, passports, consultations, regulations, inventories |
|
Improving physical condition and document binding | Sheet, piece, square meter |
|
Acceptance of documents for storage | Storage unit |
Total amount of extrabudgetary funds from 2006 to 2008 increased by 864,951 thousand rubles.
Analysis of financing involves studying the provision of an institution with budgetary funds, as well as the completeness of their use. To do this, planned funding is compared with actual funding and a comparison is made of the received amounts of budget funds with the cash expenses of the institution. The main source of information in this case is the “Report on the implementation of the cost estimate, form No. 2.”
The largest share in the financing system of the State Institution “State Archive of the Kostroma Region” is occupied by current expenses. In this group, the largest amount of funding goes to payments for goods and services, including payments for communications, utilities, wages, and business trips.
The second group in terms of financing is other current expenses for the purchase of goods and services - this is payment for current repairs of buildings and structures and other expenses.
Capital expenditures have an insignificant weight in the total amount - 6.8%, of which the entire amount is undergoing major renovations. The negative point is the low amount of expenses allocated for capital needs. It is necessary to finance capital repairs more carefully, since this factor is very important both for employees of the State Institution “State Archives of the Kostroma Region” and for visitors.
An important problem that needs to be resolved in the near future is the unsettled issue of the powers of budgetary institutions to manage extra-budgetary income received from the provision of paid services.
The analysis of the indicators of the State Institution “State Archives of the Kostroma Region” as a recipient of regional budget funds made it possible to formulate a number of recommendations to improve the efficiency of its activities and reduce the cost of its maintenance. These include:
Alignment with the new division of spending powers between levels of the budget system;
Elimination of the practice of distributing budget funds of one level by authorities of another level;
Transferring archive institutions performing identical functions to a single subordination;
Deprivation of the status of managers of budgetary funds from organizations that manage less than 6 budgetary institutions, and transfer of the relevant institutions to direct subordination to the main manager;
Reducing the number of levels of the budget network;
Legislative delimitation of powers of the main managers and managers of budgetary funds in relation to budgetary institutions;
Liquidation or merger of archive institutions with a small number of consumers.
Shcherbakova K.A
Zinaeva L.Kh.
CONSUMER LOANING IN VELIKY NOVGOROD
A consumer loan is a type of loan that is issued to a borrower for the purchase of various household items (furniture, appliances). Often a situation arises when you need to buy some thing, but there is no money to buy it at the moment. However, by taking out a consumer loan, you have the opportunity to buy what you need right away and pay in full for the purchase later. Currently, loans for consumer purposes are issued for the purchase of real estate, property, and covering current expenses.
If the first two categories usually require some kind of collateral, guarantee or insurance of the purchased property, then the issuance of loans in the last category, the so-called. “lungs”, most often occurs directly at the place of purchase of the goods.
In Veliky Novgorod, as in any other region of the Russian Federation, the banking system is represented by the Main Directorate of the Central Bank of Russia for the Novgorod Region, two Novgorod credit organizations, a number of branches, divisions and credit and cash offices of other credit organizations, consumer cooperatives and one consumer society. The consumer lending market in Veliky Novgorod began to take shape in 2003-2004. It was at this time that most banks began to issue consumer loans, consumer cooperatives were created, and stores cooperated with banks to sell goods on credit.
In Veliky Novgorod, the most famous and active are the Novgorod branch of Sberbank of Russia, the credit and cash office of Russian Standard Bank, the Novgorod branches of VTB24 Bank, Bank of Moscow, Uralsib Bank, Rosbank, Promsvyazbank. From Table 1 it follows that during the period from 2005 to 2009 in Veliky Novgorod there was an increase in credit institutions in other regions from 14 to 16 units, but branches of credit institutions in Veliky Novgorod decreased from two to one. There are two credit organizations operating in Veliky Novgorod: OJSC UKB Novobank and OJSC UKB Slavyanbank. There are also currently about twenty credit institutions.
Consumer lending in Veliky Novgorod from 2005 to 2009. increased threefold from 149,964 to 455,027 thousand rubles, and overdue debt almost tenfold from 696 to 6,363 thousand rubles. In 2005, there was a decline in lending to individuals by 37,346 thousand rubles, over the same period overdue payments increased by 584 thousand rubles, and the share of overdue debt amounted to 0.46% as of 01.01.2005. In 2005, the share of overdue debt in banks' loan portfolio increased to 1.36%. Then, until 2009, there was a decline in the share of overdue payments to 0.31%. This occurred along with the growth of loans issued to the population. In 2006, the growth of loans issued amounted to 119,407 thousand rubles. Overdue payments increased by 152 thousand rubles. The consumer boom in Veliky Novgorod began in 2007. For the entire year, credit institutions increased consumer lending by 148,943 thousand rubles, while overdue payments decreased by 217 thousand rubles. This was influenced by the positive situation in the country, stabilization of the economy and the ruble exchange rate, and increased public confidence in the banking system. In 2008, 455,027 thousand rubles were issued to the population for consumer purposes. Overdue payments increased by RUB 5,148 thousand. This was influenced by the crisis: the banking system was forced to tighten the conditions for providing consumer loans. Since October 2008, interest rates have increased, even on previously issued loans. Also, many people were laid off, due to which the main source of income was lost, and therefore the source of loan repayment.
We calculated the cost of a consumer loan in 3 banks: 1) Bank of Moscow, 2) MoskomPrivatBank, 3) Sberbank. In the course of this study, we concluded that it is most profitable to take out a consumer loan from MoskomPrivatBank, since there, of all the banks listed above, there is the least overpayment for a loan.
According to experts, the consumer lending market in Veliky Novgorod will continue to be in demand. Unlike “long” mortgage or car loans (which are being reduced today), a loan “for needs” is most often taken out for a short period of time, and they also try to pay off ahead of schedule. But at present, banks are forced to select borrowers more carefully and take a more conservative approach to the loan products they offer.
Section 2. Russian economy: history, current state and development prospects.
T.V. Martynenko
E.V. Kotsubinskaya
PRINCIPLES OF A SPIRITUAL APPROACH TO MANAGING THE RUSSIAN ECONOMY
The concept of government must correspond to the socio-genetic code of civilization. The socio-genetic code is the stereotypes of social behavior of a society, which depend on the basic values prevailing in a given society. There is a relationship between a person who has a certain set of values and an economic system that is formed under the influence of fundamental values characteristic of a given society. 1 Based on the totality of personal worldviews, the state worldview is formed. Basic values are formed under the influence of religion and state ideology.
In Russia, until the beginning of the 20th century, there was an Orthodox civilization, which in the economic sphere was based on religious values. For a long time, the basis of the Russian state worldview was Orthodox anthropology, which proclaims the principle of theocentrism: “God is the measure of all things.” The basis of modern Western and Russian civilization is the opposite principle: “Man is the measure of all things.” This led to the destruction of many elements that formed the basis of Russian civilization. The secularization of society has led to serious distortions in all spheres of public life, including in the management of economic processes. Russia's exit from the economic crisis is possible only with a return to the spiritual values of its own civilization and the revival of a spiritual approach to the system of government and economic management.
The essence of the spiritual approach:
1. Everything in the world is ruled by God’s Providence, and the state of the economic system and government depends on God and the free will of man. The direction of the will towards good or evil, in turn, depends on the degree of a person’s union with God and his enlightenment with Divine Grace. 2. Personal, not collective responsibility for any decisions made (first of all before God, and then before people). 3. Wealth and material success are considered not as the goal of human activity and the development of society, but as a means to achieve the kingdom of God. 4. Hierarchical construction of the entire economic and management system according to the principle of the heavenly hierarchy. 5. Recognition of property and social inequality in the social order. 6. Consideration of the state as a spiritual community, reflecting the common interests of its members, but at the same time as a force restraining the spread of evil. 7. Recognition of the need to observe earthly law, if it does not contradict the Divine commandments, the pursuit of truth. 8. Understanding of human spirituality as holiness, in contrast to its philosophical understanding, as a system of cultural values. 9. The imperfection (sinfulness) of man himself, as well as the imperfection of all external factors of his activity (economic, political system, all institutions), as a result of his falling away from Divine Grace.
Creative economic activity is carried out with the assistance of God. This idea is confirmed in the Holy Scripture: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain; If the Lord does not guard the city, the watchman watches in vain. It is in vain that you rise early, sit up late, eat the bread of sorrow, while He gives sleep to His beloved. (Ps. 126:1-2).”
The meaning of human life on earth is the union of man with God. It is impossible to overcome sin on your own (and every person, even a baby, is born sinful) without church sacraments. In these sacraments, a person becomes involved in divine energies. By uniting with God, a person is enlightened, revived, and becomes a moral and responsible person. Only a moral and responsible person can be a co-creator of the historical process and have a positive influence on management processes.
In accordance with the Orthodox worldview, the supreme power in the state is the guardian of truth on earth. Analyzing the essence of the state, Saint Philaret (Drozdov) wrote that the state, being an element of the integral world order, the more consistent with its purpose and protected by God, the more divine laws, piety and virtues are observed in it. 1 The main goal of a state based on the Orthodox worldview is to organize life in accordance with the spiritual values of the New Testament.
Conclusions and offers
The principles of the spiritual approach we have considered allow us to formulate proposals for improving the management system in the Russian Federation.
Firstly, due to the fact that the structure of the economic system and forms of management depend on the worldview of the people, the socio-economic policy of the state should strive for the revival in Russia of its traditional Orthodox worldview. The greater the number of people who are carriers of the Orthodox worldview, the more perfect state power and the economy will be. This is also stated in the Proverbs of Solomon (8:15): “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
It should be recognized that there are two forces that create history - God and man. It is also necessary to realize that all the disorders in this world stem from sinful human nature. Therefore, the revival of Russia depends, first of all, on the will of God and the free will of people. The population should be explained that violation of the laws of the spiritual world (sin) leads to the destruction of the family, nature, state, and society. Our history tells us the ways out of the spiritual, economic and social crisis. The first step is awareness of your sins, the second step is repentance, and then correction of your life in accordance with spiritual and moral criteria.
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It was formed in Kostroma on July 6, 1940 on the basis of Resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR No. 1193-464ss dated July 6, 1940
On June 22, 1941 was in the city of Kostroma and was part of the 41SK (111,118 and 235 infantry divisions) of Major General Kosobutsky I.S.
From June 24, 1941 to June 28, 1941, it was loaded in Kostroma and by rail through Yaroslavl, Rybinsk, Bologoye, Staraya Russa, Porkhov was transferred to Pskov, was bombed along the way, unloaded in Karamyshevo From June 30, 1941 it was supposed to turn around at the Pskov fortified area, however, it was late in arrival, so by the evening of July 2, 1941, only 13 trains arrived, by the morning of July 4, 1941, 20 trains arrived, and 2 more were on the way. It took up positions near Pskov, along the Velikaya River and the Cherekha River, with its right flank adjacent to Lake Pskov, and its left flank to the mouth of the Keb River. On July 5, 1941, it was deployed in the Korly, Vasilyevo, Palkino area, Cherskaya station, Ogurtsovo, the concentration had not yet finished. The first battle took place on July 5, 1941 with the 6th Panzer Division.
Pskov Ostrovsky and Sebezhsky UR
Back on July 4, in the sector of the enemy’s left-flank 111st XXXXIMK RD, they managed to break through the line of fortified areas on the old border and capture the city of Ostrov and two bridges across the Velikaya River. Having repulsed the counterattacks of the 111st Rifle Division and 1MK units on July 7, the enemy began to develop an offensive from Ostrov to the northeast towards Porkhov. As a result of the night battle from July 7 to 8, the German 1st Division managed to break through along the highway and reach the southern outskirts of Pskov in the Krestov area. This created a real threat of encirclement of those units that were behind the Great. General N.M. Glovatsky appealed to corps headquarters with a request to allow the withdrawal of troops from across the river to the city, but was refused.
On the morning of July 8, 1941, the division remained at its previous lines, without an active enemy in front of it. However, seeing a hopeless situation, parts of the division, leaving the fortified area, began to retreat to the city, but did not have time to cross the bridges that were blown up. Crossing the Great Division using improvised means, they suffered significant losses in manpower and ammunition. Having passed the central part of the city, the division commanders decided to retreat along diverging lines: the 118th to Gdov, and the 111th to Luga. The capture of Pskov was delayed by one day only by the demolition of bridges on the Velikaya River.
In Pskov, control of the division was finally lost and from July 10, 1941, the division in disarray mostly retreated along the eastern shore of Lake Peipsi to Gdov, and with some divisions to Luga and Dno. Closer to Gdov, control was restored; from July 11, 1941 to July 18, 1941, the division fought heavy battles on the eastern shore of Lake Peipus, defending Gdov. (As of July 16, the division had two joint ventures that suffered losses of up to 35% of their strength. The artillery regiments had 7-76mm guns and 17-122mm guns). The enemy, meanwhile, also decided to occupy Gdov and the airfield in the city. Gdov was attacked from the east by units of the 36th Infantry Division, and the 58th Infantry Division approached from the south. By the evening of July 16, the 36th MD cut off the roads leading to the north-east. The 118th SD and two regiments from the Leningrad militia were surrounded in Gdov. At that moment the 58th Infantry Division arrived and broke into Gdov. The division commander Golovatsky left his division, the evacuation of which from Gdov was carried out by the rivermen of the Peipus military flotilla. On the evening of July 17, Golovatsky crossed to Vasknarva by boat. Together with the headquarters, the Chud flotilla was able to remove about a thousand personnel from Gdov. The rest had to fight their way out of encirclement along the highway and along the shore of the lake. The breakthrough was led by the chief of staff of the division, Colonel Mizitsky (on July 17 he was wounded and went out to his own in the Narva area). The remnants of the division left his encirclement to the Narva area by July 20, 1941. The Germans announced the capture of 1,200 prisoners in Gdov, 5 quadruple anti-aircraft machine guns, 22 anti-tank guns, 7 armored vehicles (damaged), 100 trucks, 800 horses.
On July 19, 1941, Major General Glovatsky, being arrested at the front on charges of withdrawing a division from the Pskov fortified area without written permission from the corps commander. The visiting session of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR at a court hearing in Leningrad on July 26, 1941 found Glovatsky guilty and sentenced him to capital punishment with confiscation of property and deprivation of his military rank. The sentence was carried out on August 3.
At the beginning of August, the replenished division, together with the fresh 268th Rifle Division, was transferred to the 11SK 8A fighting in Estonia. Units of the German XXVIAK moving northward sought to separate the forces of 10 and 11 SK. By the time the reserve Soviet divisions unloaded, the enemy was already approaching Tapa and threatening to cut off the Tallinn-Leningrad railway. August 2 first at the station. Kadrina unloaded 398sp, which received orders to immediately take up defensive positions. Having concentrated the main forces of the 294th Infantry Division in the Tapa area, the Germans occupied Tapa on August 4. The recently replenished 118SD, which was brought into battle on wheels, was not distinguished by its high combat effectiveness and, according to the 8A command, its units fled after the first shots from the enemy.
The 8A command developed a counterattack against a group of German troops in the Tapa area. The main striking force was to be played by the fresh 118 and 268 rifle divisions. The start of the offensive was planned for the morning of August 7. The German command forestalled our troops in the offensive. Having concentrated units of 254, 291 and 93rd Infantry Division in the Tapa area, the enemy went on the offensive in the morning of August 6, trying to encircle our troops in the Rakvere area. The regiments of the 118th Rifle Division were knocked down from their positions in the Kadrin area and retreated in disarray in a northerly direction. The head of the political department of 8A, Brig. Commissar Mareev tried to stop the fighters, but was shot. The division's regiments at this time did not exceed 200 people in number. each, 604 arms, consisted of 11 guns. The total strength of the division was about 1,500 people. On August 7, the division retreated to the river line. Kunda, and then on the river. Pada. But even here it was not possible to resist. On August 9, the division was transferred to reserve 8A. On August 12, it was re-entered into battle from the western station. Kohla. By this time, the enemy had somewhat weakened his pressure on troops 8A, sending his 254 Infantry Division to storm Tallinn. However, all formations 8A, having suffered heavy losses, numbered several thousand and even hundreds of people. By August 17, the division was withdrawn beyond the river. Narva, and then beyond the river. Meadows. It retreated to Koporye, then launched a counterattack, rolled back to the village of Iliki, and from there it was transferred to Kipen, where the enemy came closest to Leningrad on August 23.
On August 22, 1941, the division consisted of only 3,025 personnel, 17 guns and 54 machine guns. The division fought very stubbornly in the battle for Kipen. The village passed from hand to hand, but the enemy did not get through. On September 10, it was surrounded after the capture of Ropsha. On September 14, she emerged from encirclement and is fighting near Ropsha. On September 16, 1941, it attacked Gostilitsy, managed to advance 3-5 kilometers, but was cut off by the Germans south of Mikhailovsky.
On September 25, the division consisted of 2279 people. 7 76mm guns, 1 45mm, 1 122mm, 3 mortars, and 104 vehicles.
On September 29, 1941, the division was disbanded without the knowledge of the People's Commissar of Defense, the remnants of the personnel were transferred to the 48th Infantry Division.
Alexey Nikolaevich Seleznev
A small tragedy of a big war.
Not far from the Crow Stone, where Prince Alexander Nevsky drowned the “dog knights” in Lake Peipsi, on the banks of the Gdovka River is the small Pskov town of Gdov. What can connect him and Kostroma? As it turned out, they are connected by events that took place in the summer of 1941. It is Gdov who will be destined to play an ominous role in the history of the 118th Infantry Division, formed on Kostroma soil.
July forty-first. The war has been going on for three weeks now. After heavy fighting near Pskov, along the eastern shore of Lake Peipus, the battered, but not yet incapacitated 118th Division rolls back to Gdov.
Tired soldiers, blackened by the sun and dust, passed through small villages and towns. As local residents recall, when they responded: “Where are you guys from?”, they were answered: “From Kostroma!” The Germans were literally on the heels of our retreating units. For mobility, the German command included “scooters” on bicycles in the vanguard pursuing the division.
No, our people didn’t run, they didn’t skid, as it’s fashionable to say now. They retreated, periodically counterattacking and arranging “bloodletting” for the Germans. The German soldiers themselves, those who were lucky enough to survive this war, wrote in their memoirs that they then encountered such fierce resistance as had never been seen in either France or Poland.
By July 14, units of the Kostroma division took up defense from the south and east of Gdov. In the east, near the village of Chernevo, the 132nd reconnaissance battalion of the division dug in. On one side of the road there is a reconnaissance battalion, on the other there is a company of naval school cadets and soldiers of the local fighter battalion.
Early in the morning a German reconnaissance plane appeared over their positions. After circling for several minutes, he left and almost immediately the artillery shelling began. The shells fell on the trenches with a terrible howl, plowing up the ground meter by meter. It seemed that no one should be left alive, but our fighters used cunning. During the shelling, they retreated back to reserve positions, and as soon as the shelling stopped, they returned, meeting the advancing Germans with a barrage of rifle and machine-gun fire. The German infantrymen lay down, but did not even think about retreating. Then the reconnaissance battalion soldiers, militias and sailors rushed to attack. They forced them to flee with bayonets and grenades, leaving behind several dozen corpses. But that was only the beginning. During the day, eight enemy attacks were repulsed by joint efforts.
In this battle, Kostroma medical orderly Vasily Kachalov will carry more than a dozen wounded from the battlefield under heavy fire. For this feat, he will be awarded the Order of Lenin. But he will not live to see victory in the war. He would die in battle later in the autumn of 1944, on Latvian soil.
By evening, the survivors went to Gdov. The next day the fighting moved to the immediate surroundings of the city. A German infantry division was approaching from the south, overcoming the resistance of two regiments of the 118th division, and a motorized division from the east.
Even when fully equipped, the Soviet rifle division had little chance of holding out against two German ones. Understanding this perfectly well, divisional commander Nikolai Glovatsky asks the command for help, replenishment and cover with fighter aircraft, but is refused.
Then, on the evening of July 16, he decides to begin a retreat northward to Narva. And everything would be fine if not for one circumstance - the Germans. By this time, they had already intercepted the highway and railway leading from the city to the north, thereby cutting off the only route to escape. The defenders of Gdov were surrounded.
From this moment the denouement of this tragedy begins. Obeying the order of its commander, the division leaves Gdov in two columns, but runs into German barriers. The decision follows: go for a breakthrough. The attackers are exposed to devastating enemy mortar and artillery fire. At the same time, German aircraft bombard them. The Germans positioned themselves along the railway and methodically shot the Red Army soldiers. There was no place to hide - the area was open, fields all around. Almost every bullet fired from a German weapon found a target. The ground was covered with hundreds of corpses.
The tension of the battle increased. At its height, a tank under the command of Kostroma political instructor Konstantin Kovalev was hit and caught fire. Having got out of the burning car, he raised and led the infantry and militia into the attack by personal example. Unfortunately he was injured. He and several hundred other soldiers and commanders managed to escape. Konstantin Nikolaevich will go through the entire war, and after its end he will return to Kostroma and for many years will work in the newspaper Severnaya Pravda.
But not everyone is so lucky. Several more times groups of Soviet fighters tried to break through. Each time they ran into concentrated fire and retreated. Throughout the next day, attempts to break out of the encirclement continued. In these attacks, the commander of the 463rd Infantry Regiment was killed, the commander of the 527th Regiment was wounded and miraculously escaped capture, the division commissar and the commanders of both artillery regiments of the division were killed. The body of Kostroma resident, commander of the 621st howitzer artillery regiment, Major Lavrentiy Popelyukh, will later be found and buried by local residents. The commanders of the autobat and the anti-tank fighter division and hundreds of ordinary Red Army soldiers were killed. In total, the Germans reported 1,200 killed and 2,000 captured.
Gradually the attacks became less and less organized. The agony began. The division's horse convoy was locked in the port of Gdov. He rushed several times at high speed, first in one direction and then in another along the shore in the hope of breaking through, but each time he returned. In desperation, the riders, seeing the hopeless situation, began to shoot the horses.
Even at night, its commander Glowatsky also left the dying division. Realizing hopelessness, he and his staff boarded ships and crossed to the safe northern shore of Lake Peipsi. His future fate is not enviable. Two days later he will be arrested and, according to the verdict of the military collegium of the supreme court, shot.
By the evening of July 17 it was all over.
These battles left a deep imprint in the memory of the residents of Gdov. One of them recalls that the retreaters, in order to break away from the Germans, left a barrier. The retreat was covered by a Red Army machine gunner who was wounded in the legs. He took a position on a hill and it was very difficult to get around him.
The Germans rose to attack several times, but were pinned to the ground by his accurate shooting. Many German soldiers ended the war here. Only when the machine gunner was killed was the enemy able to pass along the road.
A resident of a farm near Gdov recalled another episode. After a strong battle, several of our soldiers approached her house. All in tatters, there were no weapons. Only the smallest soldier had a rifle in his hands, and it was without ammunition. They asked for a drink and, when asked about their appearance, replied that they had just emerged from hand-to-hand combat. Immediately, German machine gunners rode up to the house on motorcycles and surrounded the soldiers. They approached the soldier with the rifle and began to pull it out. He didn't give it up for a long time. Then they took off the soldiers’ belts and drove them out of the village. After some time, machine gun fire was heard. The Germans drove the soldiers out of the village into the field and shot them.
The water in Lake Peipus near the shore was completely filled with bodies for several tens of meters. After just a couple of days, the smell of those killed in Gdov quickly decomposing in the summer heat made it impossible to breathe. Local residents took the dead in carts to craters and pits, dumped them and hastily covered them with earth.
And the 118th Rifle Division, having received reinforcements, continued to fight on the Leningrad Front until the end of September 1941, after which it was disbanded.
The unburied remains of soldiers who died in the summer of 1941 are still found in the vicinity of Gdov.
Kachalov Vasily Alekseevich, born in 1912, Red Army soldier, orderly. Native: Kostroma region, Sudaysky district, village. Grudevo. Called up on June 24, 1941 by the Kostroma GVK. Then he served in the 48th SD. Awards: Order of Lenin (March 1942), medal “For the Defense of Leningrad” (April 1943), Order of Glory 3rd degree (March 1944) and 2nd degree (September 1944). Killed on September 20, 1944. Buried: Kalnine village, Latvian SSR. Book of Memory of the Kostroma Region - T.1, P.146 - buried: Erglskoe brotherly cemetery, Madonsky district, Latvia.
Kovalev Konstantin Nikolaevich, born in 1904, political instructor of a tank company. Native: Kostroma. Called up on May 4, 1941 by the Sverdlovsk Military Military Committee of Kostroma (participant in the battles on the Khalkhin Gol River, 1939). Demobilized in May 1945. After the war he lived in Kostroma. Since 1946 he worked for the regional newspaper Severnaya Pravda. Awards: Order of the Red Star, Order of the Patriotic War, 1st and 2nd degree, medal “For the Defense of Leningrad”, “For Victory over Germany”, “For the Capture of Koenigsberg”.
Glovatsky Nikolai Mikhailovich, born in 1895, major general, commander of the 118th rifle division July 16, 1940 - July 19, 1941 Born: Grodno, Belarus. Arrested on July 19, 1941. By decision of the All-Russian Military Commission on July 26, 1941, he was sentenced to military service. Shot on August 3, 1941 in Leningrad. The burial place is unknown.
Chronicle of the tragedy
In July, our city received guests from Kostroma. The visit was associated with a mournful date - the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War and the past of the Gdov region, on the territory of which in July of the forty-first year the 118th Infantry Division took part in bloody battles and found itself surrounded by the enemy. It was formed before the war in Kostroma, and there were many natives of this region. Thousands of soldiers of the 118th Infantry Division laid down their lives on Gdov soil. This is not the first time that Kostroma search engines come to us in memory of their fellow countrymen. Today they brought a memorial plaque to the obelisk installed near the Grove of Memory and the village of Verkholyan. At a meeting dedicated to this event, the commanders of two search teams met - Sergei Shiyanov from Kostroma and Marat Falyakhiev from Gdov. They know a lot about the tragic events of 70 years ago, and they have prepared an article for readers of Gdovskaya Zarya about how it happened. Based on historical documents and memories of witnesses and participants. The directive of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR dated July 8, 1940, numbered 0/1/104591, stated: to form the 118th Infantry Division of 3,000 people (Yaroslavl, Kostroma) by August 15, 1940. Thus the 118th Infantry Division was born. It included: three rifle regiments - 398th (military unit 40327), 463rd (military unit 34453), 527th (military unit 44158); two artillery (604th light artillery and 621st howitzer artillery regiments), 191st separate anti-tank fighter division; 132nd separate reconnaissance battalion; 283rd separate communications battalion (military unit 11880); 282nd separate engineer battalion (military unit 19665); 472nd separate anti-aircraft artillery division; 259th separate medical battalion; 260th separate chemical defense company; 663rd Motor Transport Battalion; 442nd field bakery; 581st Field Postal Station; 439th field cash desk of the State Bank. Until the spring of 1941, the division was maintained according to peacetime standards. By the time they were sent to the front, there were more than 14 thousand people. The division had three T-38 tanks and 13 armored vehicles. The division was stationed in Kostroma and was staffed in wartime. The 527th regiment received teams of conscripts mainly from the Arkhangelsk district and Ukraine, the 463rd - from the Kostroma region, the 398th - from the Ivanovo, Tula, Kaluga and Vladimir regions. And the 621st and 604th regiments are from Kostroma and the Kostroma region. The division was repeatedly replenished in the future, already during military operations, by natives of the Arkhangelsk, Leningrad, Pskov, Vologda regions, and the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Units of the division began to go to the front on June 26, 1941. One by one, the battalions were sent for loading. The trains unloaded 25 km from Pskov at Karamyshevo station. The division, consisting of 14 thousand people, took up positions in the Pskov fortified area, on the border of the region with Estonia. At the end of June 1941, the German army, with the forces of the 4th Tank Group, 16th and 18th Field Armies, crossed the Western Dvina and from July 1 began to develop a rapid offensive in the direction of Rezekne and Ostrov. On July 6, the 118th Division with two regiments (463, 527) took up defense in the Staro-Pskov fortified area in a strip 26 km wide. The defense fronts were overextended; the division occupied a larger line of defense than it should have. The norm was a frontal strip of no more than 4-5 km. Between the 118th and 111th divisions, a battalion of the 62nd Infantry Regiment took up defense. Opposing the forces of the Red Army were three divisions of the 41st German motorized corps - the 1st and 6th tank and the 36th motorized. Units of the enemy's first tank division broke through the defenses of the Soviet troops and by the evening of July 4 captured the Island. Commander of the Northwestern Front, General P.P. Sobennikov set the division commanders the task of destroying the enemy who had broken into Ostrov and capturing the city. At 16.00 on July 5, the allocated units went on the offensive and, after a fierce battle, captured the Island, throwing the enemy behind the Velikaya River. However, the Germans, having brought up the sixth tank, pushed our units to the northern outskirts of the city by the morning of July 6th. On the afternoon of July 6, the enemy, after a strong artillery fire attack and a bomber strike, resumed the offensive. The first German tank division began to quickly move to Pskov, and the sixth - to Porkhov. The combat log of Army Group North noted: “The enemy tried to delay the advance of the 4th Panzer Group with strong rearguards. The fighting was fierce. During July 5 and 6, the first tank division destroyed over 140 tanks in the bridgehead fortification of Ostrov.” On July 8, the commander of the Northwestern Front ordered the troops to move to a stubborn defense at the line Pskov fortified area - the Velikaya River - the Cheryokha River and further along the eastern bank of the Velikaya to Opochka and south. But it was no longer possible to carry out this order. The Pskov fortified area was abandoned by units of the 118th Rifle Division by the end of July 8. The premature explosion of the Pskov bridge across the Velikaya River led to a disorderly retreat using improvised means of units of the 118th and 111th Infantry Divisions remaining on the western bank of the river, as well as to large losses in people and military equipment and was the main reason for the abandonment of Pskov and subsequent withdrawal troops in the directions to Gdov. As a result of premature explosions of bridges, part of the forces of the 118th and 111th rifle divisions did not have time to cross the Velikaya River. After retreating across the river, the divisional commander of the 118th division, General Glovatsky, took some measures to organize the defense, but large losses in personnel, his demoralization and the final loss of contact with the headquarters of the 41st Rifle Corps made the defense unstable. The withdrawal of the remnants of the 23rd Tank Division and the 3rd Motorized Rifle Regiment from the southern outskirts of Pskov on the evening of July 8th put the division's left flank in danger of being encircled and pressed against Lake Pskov. All this forced the division command to withdraw units to Gdov. The fighting on the line of fortified areas along the Velikaya River did not produce the expected results. The first defensive operation of the North-Western Front ended in failure, and a real threat was created of a breakthrough of the formations of Army Group North towards Leningrad. After the loss of Pskov, parts of the division rolled back in the eastern and northeastern directions. True, these were really parts, or rather, fragments of the formidable force that the division was a few days ago. Regiments, battalions, companies and just individual fighters scattered, uncontrolled by anyone. As soon as the command learned of the loss of Pskov, the scattered remnants of the units were given the task of immediately launching a decisive offensive and liberating the city. But the units moved away from the city. By July 12, units of the division took up defensive positions in the south and east. From the memoirs of N.M. Lazarev (a fighter of a combined marine battalion formed from cadets of the Leningrad Engineering School): July 12, 1941. ...Twice we crossed the artillery positions of the 118th Infantry Division, located near the road. The Red Army soldiers were preparing to meet the enemy. The company's vehicles passed through the settlements of Lipyagi, Vyazka, Mazikha, Afonosovo. We did not meet any more units of the 118th Infantry Division on our way (Lazarev N.M. “1941 from June 22 to September 17.” M., 2000, p. 63). To understand how everything happened, it is necessary to consider the dynamics of the battles according to the location of the division’s units. We must start from Chernev, because it was along this road, precisely from the east, that the 36th Motorized German Division struck. Near the village of Zalyubovye, our positions were located at a dominant height, which is crossed by the road to Gdov, approaching the city from the east. It was the road that was closed by parts of the division. They were not preparing for serious battles. As a result of the fleeting battle, they abandoned their positions and retreated to Chernev, although here we are talking about a battle with a German landing force. According to information published in the Book of Memory of the Pskov Region, a German landing force was dropped in the Chernev area and was soon destroyed (“Book of Memory of the Pskov Region”, vol. 1, p. 250). To destroy the landing force, not only destroyer battalions, but also division units could be involved. Throughout all positions from the villages of Mazikha and Vyazka, crossing the road to Gdov, there are no signs of battle. It is possible that Chernev had a combat guard of a division or separate units, and Mazikha and Vyazka had the main artillery forces; this assumption is confirmed by the memoirs of N.M. Lazarev. On July 14, the first and second special purpose fighter regiments (militia from Leningrad) arrived at the Zamogilye station. They established contact with the command of the 118th Infantry Division, which was conducting defensive battles in this direction (“Militia”, Lenizdat, 1975. People's Militia in the battle for Leningrad). The 527th regiment of the division operated in a southerly direction from Gdov, along the eastern shore of Lake Peipsi. Here he, together with two regiments of militia, opposed the 58th German Infantry Division. On July 15, the struggle moved directly to the outskirts of Gdov. Here units of the 118th Division came into action. German troops, with the help of their forces as part of a motorized division from the east and an infantry division from the south, took Gdov in a pincer movement and cut the Gdov-Narva and Gdov-Pskov roads. By the evening of July 17, units of the 118th Division made several attempts to get out of the ring, but all roads were blocked. The division's horse convoy was blocked in the port. He rushed several times at high speed, either north or south along the shore of the lake in the hope of breaking out of the port and city, but each time he returned to his original lines. At the very last moment, in desperation, the riding soldiers and convoy commanders, seeing the hopeless situation, began to shoot the horses. The division is dying, there is panic all around, incomprehensible movements turning into throwing. And the commander of the 118th division, Major General Nikolai Mikhailovich Glovatsky, at this time evacuates himself on an armored boat to the northern, safe shore, where there are no Germans yet. In Vasknarva on the evening of July 17, the division headquarters, led by division commander Glowacki, went ashore and headed towards Kingisepp. But ordinary soldiers performed a feat, showed courage and courage. Here is one example that search engine Igor Fedorovich Ivanov from the village of Trutnevo learned: “The retreating units, in order to break away from the Germans, left a barrier. The retreat was covered by a Red Army machine gunner who was wounded in both legs. He took up a very favorable defensive position on the hill, and it was very difficult to get around him. The Germans rose to attack many times, but were pinned to the ground by the accurate shooting of our soldier. Many enemy fighters ended the war under this hill. When the machine gunner died and the height was captured, a German general arrived there and ordered our soldier to be buried with full military honors.” Describing the battle for Gdov, the German author Haupt does not speak very flatteringly about the division. Citing as an example the self-sacrifice and courage of the soldiers of the second division of the people's militia and the cadets of the Leningrad Infantry School, he calls the resistance of the units of the 118th division only energetic and nothing more. However, when describing the battles, it is stipulated that the forces of the 58th German Infantry Division were not enough to capture the city. “...A reinforced forward detachment broke into the city on July 17. The 118th Rifle Division energetically defended the city neighborhoods and left only after units of the 36th Motorized Division, which had captured the airfield the day before, got involved in street fighting" (W. Haupt, Army Group North. Battles for Leningrad. 1941 -1944").
Search team commanders
Kostroma Sergey Shiyanov,
Gdovsky district
Marat Falyakhiev
According to one of the previous publications of this project, the reader could already see how units of the German 58th Infantry Division proceeded through Pskov. Today I want to return again to the photographs of this division. This time it is an album by the company commander of the 158th Anti-Tank Battalion (PanzerJäger Abteilung 158), Oberleutnant Detlef Lippold (who was born on February 4, 1916 in Wilhelmshaven, was wounded near Leningrad in December 1942. Died on December 27, 1942 in 608- m military hospital in Riga).
The 58th Infantry Division was part of the 18th Army (XXXVIII Army Corps) and by the beginning of July 1941 was on the right flank of the army. After the capture of Riga, the 18th Army, with its right wing along the Riga-Pskov highway, with the forces of two corps, rushed towards the city on Velikaya. Despite the efforts made, the infantry of the 18th Army did not make it in time for the battles that unfolded near Pskov. However, the 58th Infantry Division managed to take part in the battle for Gdov with the help of a reconnaissance battalion reinforced with anti-tank artillery.
The Germans' goal in Gdov was the airfield, without which the Luftwaffe was forced to fly to the Luga bridgehead area a couple of hundred kilometers away. Gdov was defended by the battered 118th Rifle Division, which was leaving Pskov for replenishment in the Luga area. It was Golovatsky’s division that became an obstacle on the way to the Gdov airfield, which was so necessary for the Germans. The Germans attacked Gdov on July 14 from two sides, from the southeast with the forces of the 36th Motorized Division and from the south, along the Pskov-Gdov highway with the forces of the 58th Infantry Division.
On the evening of July 16, the 36th Motorized Division managed to cut the roads northeast of Gdov, and the 118th Infantry Division was surrounded.
From the combat report of the commander of the 118th Infantry Division, Major General N.M. Glovatsky. 07/18/1941: "Period 21.00-23.00 16.7.41 the pr-ku managed to bypass and partially destroy the advanced barriers, using a mass of small-caliber artillery, mortars and mechanized artillery. Occupied firing lines northeast of GDOV 3-5 km. and took it under heavy fire, sweeping away everything along the way, all exits from GDOV."
It should be noted that the battles for Gdov had their heroes and their anti-heroes. The anti-hero became the division commander, Major General Glowatsky, who essentially abandoned the encircled division and sailed away from Gdov on a boat with part of the headquarters (in Vasknarva on the evening of July 17, the division headquarters, led by division commander Glowatsky, went ashore and headed towards Kingisepp). On July 19, Major General Glowacki was arrested, put on trial and then convicted under Art. 193-20. Sentenced to capital punishment.
Together with the headquarters, the Chud flotilla was able to remove about a thousand personnel from Gdov. The rest had to fight their way out of encirclement along the highway and along the shore of the lake. The breakthrough was led by the chief of staff of the division, Colonel Mizitsky (on July 17 he was wounded and went out to his own in the Narva area).
This is how Trubetskoy A. V. describes him, in July 1941 - a Red Army soldier of the 527 SP 118 SD. (Trubetskoy A.V. Paths are inscrutable: (Memories of 1939-1955). - M.: Kontur, 1997. - 413 pp.: portrait, ill.):
“We quickly go to Gdov. On the road there are traces of a recent bombing: the corpses of horses dumped on the side of the road (they say that among them is the same “Strelka”, the battalion commander’s horse, on which I learned to ride), broken carts, fresh mounds - the graves of the dead. It’s getting dark. In the distance, there are clumps of trees and the houses of Gdov. At night, many troops entered the city: our division, two regiments of Leningrad militias and someone else. In the center of the city, near the fence of the ancient church, under the huge spreading trees, the divisional commanders are cheering on the approaching soldiers. , but one feels that the authorities are puzzled and even, perhaps, scared and confused. And the soldiers are walking hungry, tired and somehow indifferent. Rumors spread: we are surrounded, we need to break through. From afar, we can hear rare long bursts of machine guns - German ones. do not hit) and quieter machine gun fire.
We reach the northern outskirts of the city. Our artillery is already there. Early morning. A short stop, we change lanes and begin to move forward. On the right along the road is the first battalion, led by commander Captain Kravchenko. He has a revolver in his hand. He walks cheerfully, confidently, but, one feels, with great tension. On the left side of the road is our second battalion. Trucks with soldiers with bayonets mounted just like in revolutionary photographs drove forward. There are light machine guns on the cabs. The impression is strange - a good target for the Germans. They're shooting up ahead. I took the bayonet of a self-loading rifle from its sheath and attached it. For some reason I've never done this before. The seriousness of what is happening is felt in the air. The shooting is getting louder and louder ahead. Sometimes they are ordered to stop and shoot, but where and at whom is not visible. We passed an empty village, and I noticed that there seemed to be no losses, but there was also no construction anymore and there were fewer and fewer people. There are about twenty of us left.
And then I felt that something terrible was about to happen to me. It was some strange, previously unknown to me, heavy feeling of something inevitable, fatal. The feeling that there is no way you can avoid what is about to happen.
The fire intensified all around, and we walked along the ditch along the road, crouching down. There was no longer any general unified leadership. There was only a general desire to escape from the encirclement. An unfamiliar soldier came running from somewhere out of the rye with a request to help the seriously wounded commander. Bending down, we followed him into the rye. The major is lying wounded in both legs and bandaged. Silently looks at us. What to do? We stood and stood and, without looking at him, left... Bending down, we walk along the ditch forward again. Somehow it happened that I was going first. There is a terrible heaviness in my soul. Heavy fire all around. The Germans shoot with tracer bullets: their white threads pierce everything around, and it paralyzes. The ditch ends up in some kind of hillock. You have to climb through it, but the white threads stop you. There is a pipe under the road to drain water. We decide to climb it to the other side. There are very few of us, about ten people. Nobody wants to be first, and everyone just says to each other: “come on, well, come on,” but no one moves. I climbed in. The pipe is narrow, I could barely get through it. Everyone else gets out too. We're sitting in a ditch again. “Well, let’s go ahead,” and again no one moves. All around there is terrible chatter and a web of white threads. Along the ditch, bending down, an unfamiliar lieutenant runs towards him with a German machine gun in his hands and shouts: “Come on, forward! Our people are breaking through!” - and runs on. Bending low, I went forward first. Our fighter lies dead in a ditch, his face buried in the ground. We need to walk along it. And for some reason it was very unpleasant for me to do this. I thought: “Let me jump out onto the road, pass him in one jump and jump into the ditch again.”
And as soon as I jumped out onto the road, bent double, and took one step, ahead, a little to the left, a bright spot, thunder, and a blow instantly appeared on the road surface. All this was perceived not by individual senses, but somehow by all of me, and, falling into the ditch, I said loudly to myself, or perhaps shouted: “ALL-E-E!” And immediately there was silence..."
According to a report from the 36th motorized division, they captured 1,700-2,000 prisoners in the Gdov area. They estimated the losses of the Soviet side at approximately 1,200 people. In addition, the following were captured: 2 aircraft at the airfield, 7 heavy and 13 light anti-aircraft guns, 5 quad anti-aircraft machine guns, 22 anti-tank guns, 7 armored vehicles (damaged), 100 trucks, 800 horses.
In the battles for Gdov, the 36th Motorized Division lost 77 people killed and 117 wounded. We do not yet have data on the losses of the 58th Infantry Division.
Mikhail Tukh, specially for the Pskov Information Agency
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