Panther Wotan line. Germany. East shaft. Weak German counteroffensive

Chapter 7. THE FRONT LINE STABILIZED Leningrad at the end of September. in Agalatov. The village of Rybatskoye and the gunboat "Red Banner". On the Nevsky "patch" Leningrad, 23rd, 55th armies and the Neva task force. September 27 - October 7, 1941 As a result of fierce fighting on the most dangerous

Realizing that they would have to retreat from Leningrad in order to avoid encirclement, the Germans began to rapidly build the Panther defensive line along the Idritsa-Ostrov-Pskov line. It passed along the heights of the Pskov Plain, along the roads and along the banks of the Pskov, Cherekha and Velikaya rivers. Huge minefields at Ostrov, Idritsa and Pustoshka alternated with four or six rows of barbed wire. In wetlands, earthen ramparts were piled up, in which bunkers with embrasures and retractable machine-gun platforms were equipped. Behind them stretched trenches, connected by passages of communication with command posts, which were patrolled around the clock by machine gunners. Reinforced concrete bunkers were built to accommodate the officers. This defensive line had an average of eight armored caps and about 12 bunkers per kilometer of front. Defense nodes were created, which had three or four lines of heavily fortified positions with a multi-kilometer network of full profile communication passages. The Panther's fortifications were built according to the rules of fortification with hundreds of pillboxes, structures made of stone, wood and concrete, as well as portable armor. The Nazis entangled this entire system of defensive structures with solid barriers: three or four rings of barbed wire, inconspicuous obstacles made of thin wire, painted in a protective color. All approaches to the front line were littered with mines, and in especially dangerous directions - with guided land mines and concentrated explosive charges. Ditches, gouges, and wolf pits were built in areas that were dangerous for tanks.

The Panther line seemed impregnable. Our troops gnawed through it on the territory of the Idritsa region at the turn of the villages of Staritsa - Baikino - Chaika from January to July 1944, having suffered heavy losses. In parallel with the construction of the Panther line in the fall of 1943, the Germans began to speed up the construction of one of its branches - the Reyer defensive line in depth. It passed along the dominant heights along the Opochka-Sebezh highway. At its intermediate boundaries between the lakes, several dozen pillboxes were built, the approaches to which were covered by a dense network of barbed wire. The Reyer line encircled the village of Idritsa, the cities of Sebezh and Opochka. It was built taking into account the difficult terrain, replete with lakes, swamps and forests, and was similar to the Panther defensive line. They complemented each other and in some areas even intersected. Preparing for a long defense, in the winter of 1943/44, the Germans hastily restored the Opochka-Idritsa-Polotsk railway, which was destroyed at the beginning of the war, running along the front line. In the spring, the movement of trains with manpower and equipment was opened along it.

In order to keep the location of the defensive lines a secret, the Germans began to forcibly evict the inhabitants of nearby villages and farms from the autumn of 1943. Another purpose of the eviction was to deprive the possibility of replenishing the advancing units of the Red Army with persons of military age. In addition, due to this, the problem of lack of work force in the territory of the Reich. Speaking on April 24, 1943, SS Reichsführer G. Himmler said: “We must wage war with the thought of how best to take away human resources from the Russians - dead or alive? We do this when we kill them or take them prisoner and make them really work, when we try to take possession of an occupied area and when we leave uninhabited territory to the enemy. Either they must be driven to Germany and become its labor force, or they must die in battle. And leave people to the enemy so that he again has a working and military force, by and large, absolutely wrong. This cannot be allowed. And if this line of extermination of people is consistently pursued in the war, as I am convinced, then the Russians will already lose their strength and bleed to death during this year and next winter ... ”Himmler’s soldiers in less than a year remaining before the liberation of the Idritsky and Sebezh regions , flooded them with the blood of civilians. At first, people were simply resettled in other villages further west, and then they began to be taken to Germany, Latvia and Lithuania for forced labor or placed in camps in the city of Sebezh and the village of Idritsa. They motivated this by the fact that they allegedly save the population from death during the battles that will unfold here, from Soviet bombs and shells.

At that time railway stations Idritsa and Sebezh worked in a tense regime and were busy transferring troops and equipment to the front. As a result of sabotage by partisans, railways sometimes went out of order for 3-4 days. There was a critical situation with the rolling stock. Therefore, the deportees were not taken according to railway. In the direction of Latvia, foot columns escorted by policemen and horse carts with civilians stretched.

By mid-autumn 1943, the intensity of the movement of troops along the railways and highways increased significantly. In just one month, 204 echelons (2,300 wagons) passed through Sebezh and Idritsa towards the front line. Several echelons were unloaded in Sebezh. 83 tanks unloaded from them, 38 self-propelled guns and dozens of vehicles headed on their own towards the city of Opochka. We moved very slowly, as we were afraid of mining the road. To protect their column, women, old people and children were allowed in front, dragging harrows with a load along the road.

By November 1943, our troops occupied Loknya, Nevel and came close to the city of Pustoshka, after which the front stabilized on the line Pustoshka - Nevel - Polotsk. In the southern part of the Idritsky district, units of the first and second echelons of the Wehrmacht were densely located. From there, some partisan formations were forced out by the punishers into the Rossony forests, others continued to operate in the western part of the Sebezh region. The German command was well aware that partisans active in the interests of the Soviet troops at the front were a knife planted in the back of their army. Therefore, the Nazis took all measures to destroy them, and at the same time the population, which actively assisted them and constantly replenished the ranks of the partisans.

The punitive expeditions were aimed at completely clearing the territory of all living things, which could interfere with the actions of the Wehrmacht units at the front. From the end of 1943 until the liberation of the Idritsky and Sebezhsky regions, the Germans and their accomplices in the person of the Latvian legionnaires, Vlasovites and policemen subjected the population to terrible repressions, during which the sadism of their organizers and participants was fully manifested. Punishers bursting into the villages burned everything to the ground, killed the elderly and children, raped women and underage girls, repaired massacre over all living things. They hunted people like animals. Cattle were driven and killed, food stocks were destroyed in order to doom the population hiding in the forests to starvation. Pits with potatoes harvested for the winter were filled with gasoline or kerosene. Most of the inhabitants were subjected to painful death under the pretext of a real or imaginary connection with the partisans, or simply because at an unkind hour they caught the eye of those whom it was difficult to call people. There are no number of examples of the atrocities of punishers in the territories of the Idritsky and Sebezhsky regions.

The partisans responded to cruelty with cruelty. Punishers who fell into their hands were sometimes severely tortured before being killed. The report of the head of the army Gestapo stated: “While carrying out attacks, the partisans act with unprecedented cruelty ... These inhuman tortures of opponents who fell into the hands of the partisans are explained, first of all, by the boundless persecution by the Jews and political commissars, who widely use the primitive instincts of the Russian population for their own purposes. Since they portrayed German soldiers fiend of hell; completely responsible for the outbreak of the war and the ensuing worsening of life, and it was said that poverty and disasters would worsen after the end of the war in favor of the Germans, then all the hatred of the people being set off was directed at their victims. The deprivations experienced by the partisans as a result of their activities, especially sensitive in winter, and the bad mood caused by this, are deftly directed by the leaders of the partisans to the German soldiers ... "

Documentary chronicle of the events of the liberation of the city of Pskov from the fascist invaders

Compiled according to the book of Nikolai Mikhailovich Ivanov "Irrevocable".

The liberation of their native Pskov is only one stage on the long road to the Great Victory, but even today veterans remember everything as if it were yesterday...

The Nazi command called Pskov "the key to the front doors of Leningrad." In addition, the ancient Russian city was the gateway to the Baltic. That is why, already in October 1942, the Germans began to build a defensive line - the Panther line. Construction continued until 1944. The Panther line passed through the heights and hills of the Pskov Plain. The strongholds of the Panther were the cities of Ostrov and Pskov.

To break through the Panthers, the troops of the 3rd Baltic Front were formed under the command of General I.I. Maslennikov. At the end of February 1944, Soviet troops reached the fortified area of ​​the enemy. For almost four months, our units were preparing to storm the Panther. The day of the liberation of Pskov was approaching.

The 42nd Army was preparing for decisive battles for the liberation of Pskov. On the eve of the offensive operation, battles of local importance began, in which Soviet soldiers showed courage and heroism. On June 26, a fighter of the 42nd separate engineer-sapper battalion N.V. Nikitchenko carried out an order to urgently mine a tank-hazardous area near the village of Pogostishche. We had to work under enemy artillery fire. Nikitchenko was wounded. Soon, the sounds of roaring engines and the clanging of caterpillars were woven into the roar of explosions. Climbing the hillock, the sapper saw: six "tigers" and two "Ferdinands" were crowding our units. Nikitchenko began to place anti-tank mines in the path of the enemy. One "tiger" was blown up. The turret gunner of another tank saw a sapper and wounded him a second time with a machine-gun burst. The work became even more difficult. But then the second “tiger” was blown up by a mine and this gave the brave fighter new strength. at the cost own life N. Nikitchenko blew up the enemy's third car.

Together with the ground troops in the preparation of the offensive participated air force. By order of the command, the 958th Assault Regiment organized photographing of the enemy defenses in the sector of the impending breakthrough. Aircraft "IL-2", equipped with special photographic installations, suddenly appeared above the enemy's structures and captured them on film from an extremely low altitude. Lieutenant Nikolai Nikitenko performed this work with special brilliance.

by design Soviet command, the 42nd Army attacked the enemy in the east in the direction of the points of Gora, Chernyakovitsy, Klishevo. 128th Infantry Division Major General D.A. Lukyanova, having cleared the southeastern part of Pskov from the enemy, was supposed to cross the Great and seize a bridgehead on Zavelichye.

An auxiliary strike was planned to be delivered in the north of the enemy’s fortified area, bypassing the impregnable Vaulinsky heights, in the direction of Hotitsa, Upper Galkovichi, Ovsische.

The 376th division of Major General N.A. Polyakov was to capture Zapskovye, go to the Velikaya north of the Kremlin, cross the river and seize a bridgehead on its western bank.

The 128th Rifle Division was at the front from the first day of the Great Patriotic War. "June 22, exactly at four o'clock" she met the first blow with her chest Nazi German troops in Lithuania, on state border. In its history there were difficult days of retreat to the east under the onslaught of superior enemy forces, Active participation in the defense of Leningrad and the breakthrough of the blockade ring, the Leningrad-Novgorod offensive operation.

The division was among the most hardened, hard-fought formations of the Soviet Army. Regiments, battalions, companies were commanded by brave and skillful officers.

The 128th division deployed its battle formation eight kilometers east of Pskov. Its first echelon consisted of the right-flank 533rd Rifle Regiment (opposite the villages of Lazhnevo and Klishevo) and the left-flank 374th Rifle Regiment (opposite Gornevo and Berdovo). The 41st regiment (without the first battalion, the division commander's reserve withdrawn) was in the second echelon.

Anxious night from July 21 to 22, 1944, the commanders spent at their command and observation posts. Sappers worked silently in the neutral zone. Reconnaissance groups were sent to the location of the enemy.

The soldiers were preparing for an important military operation. The former commander of the 374th regiment of the 128th rifle division, K.A. Shestak, recalls: “We knew that we were going to move, in a short time, estimated at 2-3 hours, and at the first stage in minutes, to force the Velikaya River, therefore, according to the map and according to intelligence reports, they studied in detail possible crossing points, rear lines of the enemy, and reserves of improvised means. We did not count on regular transportation facilities, so from the very beginning we were guided by Russian ingenuity and resourcefulness: we learned to quickly and reliably build rafts using barrels, boxes, doors, window and door frames, gates, telephone poles .. Training attacks followed one after another , according to the wise soldier's commandment: "More sweat - less blood."

The German command demanded that their subordinates blow up and burn everything. In two weeks from July 8 to July 22, 1944, half of the city that had survived until that time was destroyed: bridges were blown up, a power plant, industrial buildings, historical monuments were destroyed, and the central part of the city was turned into ruins. One of the German officers at the same time said: "Pskov is no more and never will be."

In the Soviet units, everything was ready to deliver a decisive blow to the enemy: troops were concentrated at their starting positions, guns and mortars were shot at targets, sappers were widening passages in minefields, tanks, self-propelled guns, and aircraft were filled with fuel “under the cork”. An order from the command will come, and all this mighty force will rush forward, towards Victory!

At three in the morning on July 22, the Germans left the first trenches from the front line in the Lazhnevo sector. The commander of the 533rd regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Panin, gave the order to the assault group: to immediately occupy the free trenches and move on, imposing a battle on the enemy.

A battle began with the rearguards of the enemy for the villages of Lazhnevo and Klishovo. The so-called “Klishovsky pillbox”, from which the Germans fired flank machine-gun fire, was especially hampered. Brave scouts Vasily Zhukov and Roman Shaloboda crawled closer to the pillbox and, throwing grenades at it, silenced the Nazi machine gunners. However, the 533rd regiment, having captured Lazhnevo and Klishevo, then met with stubborn resistance from the enemy and its advance temporarily slowed down.

At the same time, the 374th Infantry Regiment, adjacent to the right of the 533rd Regiment, moved towards approaching the enemy. The former machine gunner A. Rozhalin recalls: “The sappers quickly passed through the trenches of the front edge to the neutral zone, crouching down - to remove mines on the aisles. The fighters of the rifle company began to pull up to the starting line. Everyone is tense.

Our artillery struck like thunder, transferring fire from the enemy's first line of defense farther into its depths. Here is the long-awaited flare. Following the scouts, we stepped in single file, one after the other, into the thickets of the swamp. From the enemy trenches, submachine guns fired, rockets shot up into the sky. Overcoming the last meters of the swamp, jumping from bump to bump, we finally reach solid ground.”

The artillery preparation was short, powerful, stunning. Guards mortars - the famous Katyushas - said their weighty word.

The former commander of the 374th Infantry Regiment, Colonel of the Reserve K.A. Shestak, says: “Our regiment launched an offensive on July 22 at 4 in the morning. The horizon was slowly clearing. From the swamp, which lay in front of the height of Berdovo, a gray plume of thick fog stretched upwards. How he was, by the way, this fog! He helped the regiment covertly reach the minefields and barbed wire of the enemy. During the day of the battle, sappers neutralized about a thousand mines and land mines, blew up several enemy firing points, made 12 passes in minefields and barriers. They opened the way and gave the signal to start artillery preparation... The enemy was taken by surprise. He did not even have time to take up firing positions and strengthen the line of defense.

Having risen to the height of Berdovo, the 374th regiment tore apart the Nazi defense system, attacking from the flank, and relatively easily captured the settlement of Gornevo.

Developing the offensive, the regiment attacked Beryozka station. The first battalion under the command of Captain N. Korotaev approached the Crosses at 6 o'clock in the morning. It was assumed that he would inflict only an auxiliary blow on the enemy, since a marshy section of the front extended in front of the regiment, excluding the support of tanks. However, using surprise, supported by powerful artillery fire and attacks from neighbors, the regiment developed a very successful offensive.

In the Krestov area, the 374th regiment met strong enemy resistance. Under destructive fire, the infantry lay down. From the left flank, the enemy was already preparing a counterattack with tanks, holding on to Kresty as an intermediate line of defense.

In addition, a POW camp was located in the area. The Nazis did not have time to eliminate everyone. The decisive actions of our troops prevented the Nazis from inflicting reprisals. Artillerymen in single combat with enemy tanks cleared the way for the infantry.

The 374th regiment, continuing the offensive, was the first to start fighting directly for Pskov. Despite the fact that both of its flanks, due to the lagging behind of its neighbors, turned out to be open, the battalions went deep into the outlying streets of the city, knocking out German machine gunners from houses and ruins.

The command of the 128th division, having supported the offensive impulse of the 374th regiment, took measures to secure its flanks. For this purpose, the 1st battalion of the 741st rifle regiment, which was in reserve, was placed at the disposal of the regiment commander. Battalion Commander Captain I.I. Baranov immediately deployed his units on the right flank of the 374th regiment and led them on the offensive.

At 6.30 on July 22, the 1252nd Infantry Regiment broke through the enemy defenses and went on the offensive, and 15 minutes after it, the 1248th Regiment, which occupied positions east of Lake Pskov, also went on the offensive.

Exactly at noon, the 1250th Infantry Regiment under the command of A.I. Glushkov started a battle on the northern outskirts of Pskov. And the first to cross the city limits here were the fighters of the reconnaissance platoon of Lieutenant Borisov. The battalions rushed to the Velikaya River, sweeping the resisting groups of fascists out of their way.

One of the rifle companies was led by Lieutenant Murashev. Four mortars and six machine guns are the first combat trophies of the fighters of his company. At the head of the company reconnaissance was the squad leader Trofimov. Having called fire upon himself, he revealed the location of the enemy's firing points and started a battle with the aim of breaking through to Velikaya. On the radio, the commander of the 1250th regiment, Lieutenant Colonel A.I. Glushkov, reported to the division commander that his battalions had reached the Velikaya coast north of the mouth of Pskov and were preparing improvised means for crossing to the western coast.

The 374th regiment, having passed the Krestovsky highway, lingered near the railway crossing. “From the ruins of the Vdvizhenets plant,” recalls I. Markov, a former sergeant in the army communications company, “machine guns were fired. The soldiers lay down. We tried to take a detour, but we were also met with fire from the left of the destroyed station building. Then the battalion went on the attack. A friendly “Hurrah!” burst out ... Enemy machine guns choked, the Nazis ran. And here I am already on the territory of the Vdvizhenets plant, in the first, albeit destroyed, but liberated building of my native city. And the neighboring battalion was knocking out the Nazis from the station building at that time.

The railway station and station buildings were cleared from the Nazis by units of the 741st Infantry Regiment. The smoky ruins of the station looked at the high window openings advancing with gloomy failures. German submachine gunners sat behind them. But they had to either flee or stay there forever.

The fascist sappers mutilated the railroad subtly, using a special machine. She cut the wooden sleepers in the middle, pulling the crutches out of their nests. The entire structure was shifted from its place and became unsuitable for train traffic. Part of the railway embankment was blown up to such a depth that the funnels were filled with groundwater.

“Every step was given with a fight,” recalls I. Markov, “fascists settled in the ruins of houses. There is not a single whole house around, only ruins ... Here are the ruins of the Oktyabrskaya Hotel. I stopped at the Summer Garden and looked at my watch. Exactly 9 am. We are located in the center of our hometown.”

From the Summer Garden and the House of Soviets, the soldiers of the 374th Infantry Regiment and the first battalion of the 741st Regiment attached to it, pushing the enemy, advanced towards the Velikaya River, under the cover of the flagstone wall of the Round City and the ruins of houses on Sverdlov, Gogol, Nekrasov, Sovetskaya streets.

They went out to east coast rivers in the section from the Georgievsky vzvoz to the Pokrovskaya tower. Heavy fire from fascist machine guns, mortars and artillery fell on them from Zavelichie, but the thick walls erected by their ancestors reliably protected the fighters from bullets and shrapnel.

Departing, the fascists destroyed bridges and means of crossing, clearly hoping to delay the advance of our troops and gain time to regroup their units.

But the 374th regiment began to force the Velikaya River immediately. It consisted of a landing detachment of one hundred and fifty able-to-swim paratroopers. They were commanded by Senior Lieutenant I.D. Golovko. The detachment had at its disposal personnel means for crossing - inflatable vests. True, not everyone had enough of them. Most of the paratroopers had to make do with makeshift rafts and raincoats stuffed with straw.

The former commander of the 374th Infantry Regiment, K.A. Shestak, recalls: “On July 22, at 10 am, a caravan of home-made rafts and rafts headed for the Mirozhsky Monastery and the Church of Kliment. My control and observation post was set up on the top of a small hill next to the Pokrovskaya Tower. From here there was a good view of both banks of the river. To support the landing with fire and suppress enemy firepower, 36 artillery pieces were placed on the river bank. We had direct contact with the commander of the landing detachment - underwater telephone, radio and visual communications. Already by 11 am on July 22, the bridgehead on the opposite bank was conquered and firmly held by us.

The former machine gunner of the 374th Infantry Regiment A. Rozhalin recalls: “We cover our own from the hillock with Maxim fire. We hit the thickets of the opposite gently sloping shore. Fountains began to soar up on the water: enemy ambushes from the opposite shore launched a heavy bombardment with mines. I carry the fire of my machine gun into the depths of the opposite bank. From somewhere to the right, along the river, an enemy machine gun fired. Aral Get out of that ruined brick building. I deploy my machine gun there, I enter into a duel with him. The Nazi also spotted our machine gun: there was a clatter all around, bullets whistled. Hurry, ours would swim over!”

From the report of the headquarters of the 42nd Army of July 22, 1944: “Guskov’s machine-gun crew, which continuously ensured the crossing of the river, was especially distinguished. Artillerymen of the 76th mortar battery accurately hit enemy firing points. The gun crews of Chernov, Kuznetsov and Melnik with direct fire silenced enemy firing points. The machine-gun crew of the 1st Rifle Company perfectly covered the crossing. The fighters opened aimed fire as soon as the Germans tried to delay the advance of the unit.

From the report of the commander of the 128th Infantry Division, Major General D.A. Lukyanov to the command of the 3rd Baltic Front: “Pskov was turned by the enemy into a powerful center of resistance. Machine-gun points were installed in the buildings, bunkers and pillboxes were equipped in the foundations of the houses. The streets and most of the houses are mined. The divisions of the regiment immediately began to storm the city. Assault groups were put forward, which quickly and skillfully neutralized minefields ... The infantry followed the assault groups ... Artillerymen destroyed enemy firing points with direct fire. By 09:00 on July 22, the eastern part of Pskov was cleared of the enemy and our units reached the banks of the Velikaya River.

From the report of the head of the political department of the 128th Infantry Division, P.P. The fifth rifle company of the 374th regiment immediately rushed to swim, using logs, boards, sheaves of hay. Sergeant Baldakov, with a reel over his shoulders, crossed to the opposite bank and gave timely communication to the command.

The Red Army soldier Samoilov, having crossed to the western coast of the Great, stole a boat from under the nose of the enemy, on which many fighters and equipment were then transported.

The crossing of the soldiers of the 374th regiment across Velikaya was supported by powerful fire from 40 guns of the 122nd mortar and 292nd artillery regiments, a division of guards mortars, and anti-tank batteries.

A lot of dangerous work fell to the lot of sappers during the hot hours of the offensive. They neutralized thousands of mines and land mines on the streets of the city.

It was possible to start clearing the bank of the river from explosive objects only with the onset of twilight. During daylight hours, this was prevented by the furious fire of fascist machine gunners from Zavelichya.

Among the sappers who worked selflessly that day was senior sergeant Pyotr Pozdeev, awarded for the courage shown in the battle for the liberation of his native city, the order Glory III degree.

On July 22, when it began to get dark, units of the 128th Infantry Division crossed the Velikaya River in various places. The 374th Rifle Regiment, having completely completed the crossing, continued offensive operations on the western bank of the river. On the same day, the 741st regiment crossed Velikaya in the area of ​​​​Profsoyuznaya Street and the blown up bridge of the Red Army. The 533rd regiment on July 23 - crossed over the railway bridge and in the Korytov area.

Here is how G.I. Gerodnik describes the crossing of the 533rd regiment: “We went down the steep embankment down to the river. We look to the right: the bridges have been blown up, there are no pontoon crossings yet. The only way out remains: to use the soldier's ingenuity, to use improvised means. And we can’t hesitate for a minute: after us, soldiers of rifle battalions run down the steep slope and on the go pick up everything that can float on the water: boards, logs, doors, gates, empty fuel barrels ... Presumably, our little the flotilla looked very funny.

Fountains of water rose up all around us. It was the Germans who fired at the crossing with guns and large-caliber mortars. But they were shooting from a distance. And aimless shooting is ineffective! So our reconnaissance platoon crossed without loss.

At 15.00 on July 22, the regiments of the 376th Infantry Division also reached the right bank of the Velikaya River everywhere from Lake Pskov to the mouth of Pskov. Only Zavelichye remained in the hands of the enemy. The flanks of the advancing divisions closed to form a united front. On the first day of the offensive, our units moved forward 8-12 kilometers.

The 376th Rifle Division crossed Velikaya at the end of the night from 22 to 23 July. A. Mindlik recalls how this happened: “Dawn had not yet come when several makeshift rafts with scouts, sappers and rifle companies fighters silently sailed from our shore. All of them immediately set about clearing mines on the coast, still occupied by the enemy, and identifying his firing system. The machine gunner of the 3rd rifle company, Red Army soldier Khalilov, discovered the boats left by the Germans. Having fastened them one to the other, he returned back to ferry his platoon.

“At 4 o’clock in the morning on July 23, the 1250th regiment began crossing the Great. The flotilla in a deployed formation, under the cover of all types of fire, moved towards the machine-gun barrels directed in the face. Once on the shore, the battalions went to storm Zavelichya. And there was no force that could stop us then...

Part of the machine gunners was left on the right bank to cover our crossing. Among them - the commander of the calculation junior sergeant Pastukhov. It was he who, with one burst, silenced the enemy machine gun, which interfered with the crossing ...

Exploding in the water mines and shells Water fountains everywhere - and behind us, and on both sides, and in front. We pick up the wounded in the water ...

Not everyone then swam to the landing site. (From the memoirs of A. Mindlin).

Truly, the heroism of the soldiers of the 376th division was massive. Sergeant Major Balukov, who acted as a platoon commander of the 2nd machine-gun company, started a fight with the Nazis on the occupied bridgehead. Wounded in the right hand, he continued to command a platoon that suppressed two enemy firing points and destroyed twenty Germans.

Somewhere nearby, the Nazis of Ivan Goncharov and Viktor Morozov were being beaten. Yuri Zanonov, being a sapper by profession, neutralized about two dozen anti-personnel jumping mines, clearing the way for his fighters.

The sappers, returning to the shore with the released watercraft, transported the units of the regiment. It took only an hour and a half for the regimental artillery to be on the left bank of the Great River.

In the days of the battles for the liberation of Pskov, our attack aircraft, bombers, fighters dominated the air. The 305th Assault Division of the 14th Air Army performed well, the division was commanded by Colonel F. Polushin. The task of the division is to ensure a breakthrough of the enemy's defenses by bombing, assault strikes and accompany the offensive of our troops, destroying the firepower and manpower of the enemy. In the battles for Pskov, Captain V. Sidorenkov, a fighter pilot of the 254th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 269th Air Division, accomplished a feat.

The feat of the legendary N. Gastello was repeated by the flight commander of the 807th air regiment, Lieutenant Ya. Lyakhov.

Hero of the Soviet Union pilot A. Karpov, fighter pilot A. Kobelyatsky and his wingman V. Tormyshev distinguished themselves.

On July 22, when the soldiers of the 128th and 376th rifle divisions broke into Pskov, the commander, Lieutenant General V.P. Sviridov, ordered the headquarters to be prepared for moving to the west. At the same time, he ordered Major A. Gusko, who was appointed military commander of Pskov, to immediately take up his duties.

The major, with a group of machine gunners and sappers, entered Pskov, shrouded in bitter smoke, in the afternoon. At that time, the enemy, mostly driven back to Zavelichye, still held the Kremlin. From the height of the bell tower of the Trinity Cathedral, machine guns were firing, pressing our fighters against the cobblestones of the market square. In the center and on the outskirts of the city, with thunder and crackling, individual buildings flew up into the air every now and then, this was triggered by explosive devices planted by the Nazis before the retreat.

One of the fighters, following along with Major A. Gusko, often stopped and posted leaflets. Those who followed read the words on paper: "Order No. 1." dated July 22, 1944.

Today the city of Pskov is liberated by the Red Army. German fascist invaders forever expelled from the city and this put an end to the arbitrariness, violence and atrocities committed by them for three years. The city of Pskov, like hundreds of other cities of the Soviet Union, became Soviet again.

From now on, all orders, instructions and procedures established by the Nazi authorities are cancelled.

The city is recovering Soviet authority. In order to establish order in the city, I order:

Due to the proximity of the front, the city of Pskov is declared under martial law.

The following order is established in the city, which is mandatory for all civilians and military personnel:

a) strict observance of all blackout rules;

b) city traffic civilian population I allow only from 8 to 20 hours, the rest of the time I categorically forbid the appearance on the street.

Civilians and military personnel should immediately take measures to extinguish fires, prevent the destruction of buildings and theft of state and private property ...

I call on the population of the city to observe the strictest vigilance, order, organization and fulfill the requirements of this order.

Commandant of the city of Pskov Major Gusko.

Major Gusko occupied a two-story house on Grazhdanskaya Street under the commandant's office. Chopped from logs, covered inside and out with a thick layer of plaster, covered with tiles, it was saved from a fire that turned many city buildings into ashes. The commandant ordered that the sappers be engaged primarily in the clearance of Proletarsky Boulevard and Oktyabrskaya Street. The main movement of troops went along them. Inscriptions soon appeared on the walls of the houses: “The house has been cleared of mines. Lt Korneev.

In different parts of the city, automatic bursts were still heard, grenades were exploding. The last groups of Germans were destroyed or surrendered. S. Pavlov brought an officer who not only surrendered, but also provided valuable information about the fascist defense in Zavelichye. An alarming night came from 22 to 23 July.

“From 2.00 on July 23, under pressure from our units that crossed to the left bank of the river, the enemy rearguards began to retreat to the west. By 04:00 on July 23, Pskov and the left bank of the Velikaya River were completely cleared of the enemy, ”it was reported at 21:00 on July 23 in a report to the front headquarters on the hostilities of the 42 Army.

On July 23, along with the dawn, the dawn of liberation rose over the ruins of Pskov. The morning was quiet and sunny. Machine guns and machine guns did not fire, the rumble of artillery salvos ceased. Mines exploded less often. The conflagrations were no longer blazing, but smoky with the last acrid smoke. In the bright rays of the sun, a red flag solemnly fluttered over the city. The voice of Levitan sounded on the radio, announcing the Order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

On the evening of July 23, 1944, Moscow, on behalf of the Motherland, saluted the valiant units and formations that liberated the ancient Russian city on the Velikaya River with twenty artillery volleys from two hundred and twenty-four guns.

The Pskov-Ostrov offensive operation lasted 15 days (from July 17 to July 31, 1944).

defensive line The Panther, on which the Nazi command had high hopes, was crushed along its entire length. The troops of the 3rd Baltic Front inflicted a serious defeat on the 18th german army, having defeated 11 infantry divisions, many special units and advanced west from 50 to 130 kilometers, freeing about 4,000 settlements, including the ancient Russian cities of Pskov and Ostrov.

Russian soldiers said goodbye to Pskov. The ancient city, lying in ruins, while remaining beautiful and majestic, resembled a seriously wounded knight. The liberators were sure that the healing people would give the hero a drink of living water and soon put him on his feet.

A short trip with the director of Opochetsky local history museum Alexander Kondratenei on the German fortifications of the Pskov defensive bypass was planned back in February as an "alaverda" for the kindly conducted tour of the defensive bypass of Opochka. And then the appointed day arrived.
The morning started with a pleasant surprise. When examining the shelter at the bus station, it turned out that the entrance to it was opened, and inside it was relatively clean and dry. Personally, I have never been there. The vault is notable for its strange design with an observation tower. Which, in principle, is fully justified due to the presence of a railway junction. We just don't have any analogues. Whose construction it is: German during the occupation or Soviet, it is impossible to say for sure. Conventionally, we still consider it German.
This is what it looked like in March 2007

And this is how it is now

A staircase with concrete steps led down. The entrance was designed as a dead end. The front door is metal, most likely post-war with four bolts. Not as massive as on anti-nuclear defense shelters. the door has already been taken off its hinges by scrap metal lovers. Behind the first door is a small corridor and a second door to the interior of the bunker. Behind it you can see a dilapidated rack and a ventilation valve.

Passing to the right through the second door we find ourselves in the first room of the shelter. It is small in size. Approximately 15 sq. m area. There is an almost completely rotten bench in it, the remains of another one are lying on the floor. From the room, there is an open doorway leading to an adjacent room, similar in size, next to the opening of the manhole into the emergency exit shaft.

The manhole shaft is covered with a round steel hatch

In the next room there is a foundation for the installation of some kind of air supply unit and a wonderful fresh inscription on the wall.

In general, the object is interesting for osomtra and attractive due to the lack of dirt. We did not understand how to get into the sentinel tower. Most likely the entrance was outside and is now filled up. After inspecting the shelter, colleagues from the Pskov 4x4 club joined us and we went to the facilities of the German defensive bypass of the Panther Line.
First of all, we visited a local landmark - an artillery station in the village of Ambrosovo. We had to walk to him knee-deep in snow. This typical German structure was disguised as a house. I know only two so far: one is with us, the second is in the Smolensk region.

Only now I noticed that the ceiling rails were not cut neatly, but were torn apart by an explosion. Not otherwise from Gdovka?

At the nearest height in the village of Gory, information was received about five German bunkers dismantled for building materials after the war. It was possible to realize an old dream - to climb a triangulation tower to explore the surroundings. Difficult, but interesting!

From the tower on the horizon you can see Pskov and the entire territory of the Pskov defensive bypass, which our troops had to storm in 1944. It is now, after reclamation, there are overgrown fields. And then there were swampy and overgrown lowlands.

When we went down from the tower, we were met by the local horse Gingerbread. A very active animal;-0

Then the sightseers went to see the abandoned Golubovo estate with a park. We arrived in the village, but there was no manor house. It was taken apart for firewood this winter. Only the foundation remained. So drive after this excursion - show the manor of the beauty of the Pskov region. You can read about the estate separately.

After the Golubovo estate, we went to see other German buildings in the vicinity of the city. One of them, a typical concrete block shelter, is located in the village of Panino on private territory. But with the owners we have an agreement with the right to view. I already wrote about this shelter in the fall.

The second building - the original design of a cast machine-gun bunker (or NP?) is located in the village of Pavshino, also on private territory. I had to go to him through snowdrifts and burdocks, periodically falling through waist-deep snow.

The bunker itself is hidden among the outbuildings and littered with scrap metal. Did you see him in the photo?

Having shaken out the snow from the boots, we returned to the city - to see the notorious "tank" repair plant of the Wehrmacht at the Flax Mill. about his visit with numerous photos I took in October 2010. It was flooded and it was possible to inspect the gigantic room only from the edge. Now the weather is favorable. The water below froze, though the hole had to be dug out of the snow. There was an absolutely wonderful picture when six people get out of the cars, walk along a snow-covered field, and then disappear into a barely noticeable hole in the center of it. The photo is downhill. Inside view.

As I said, the inner underground space was flooded. In winter, the water froze and it became possible to move freely there. Large spaces turned into a skating rink. In some places, the ice formed bizarre crystals, shimmering in the beams of lanterns. Large heaps of rubbish dumped into the openings of the ceiling froze slightly and did not cause disgust, the air was fresh. We completely walked around all the spaces of the former workshop. Inside there were several concrete "booths" in varying degrees of preservation.

The purpose of these "booths" we did not exactly understand. Each of them has several small doors.

And next to each of the bottoms there is an industrial fan box of varying degrees of preservation.