In the sky we flew alone!
People of the older generation, of course, remember the famous song performed by Mark Bernes “Memories of the Normandie-Niemen Squadron”. The chorus of this song goes like this:
In the sky we flew alone
We lost our fighting friends
Well, for those who happened to live,
We must remember them and be friends.
Of course, it is difficult for today's generation of young people to understand the beauty of those songs on military theme, especially, the manner of performance, but the poems that convey the atmosphere that prevailed in the air force units, where Russian and French pilots fought hand in hand, can be understood by people of any age in any nation. And the very fact of the mortal struggle of the Normandie-Niemen squadron for the liberation of our country from fascism can hardly leave anyone indifferent.
On January 18, a rally dedicated to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, among which one of the places of honor is occupied by the legendary aviation regiment"Normandie-Niemen". The rally was attended by veterans of the Great Patriotic War and home front workers, leaders of the Linen Factory village, representatives of the All-Russian Public Organization of Veterans "Combat Brotherhood", Moscow state university technologies and management. K.G. Razumovsky, the Kaluga departmental Cossack society of the Central Cossack army, schoolchildren and students, including students of the cadet class of the Polotnyano-Zavodsk school No. 1, many other guests, among whom the president of the association “In Memory of Normandy-Niemen” Guy Léger, whose initiative and whose efforts, with the direct participation of the linen factory workers, the stele was installed.
I get excited when I hear French speaking
I remember years gone by.
I was friends with a Frenchman, do not forget our meetings
Where the Neman carries its waters.
During the fascist occupation, the defeated France experienced the hardest times, but being under the yoke of Nazi German invaders, the French people did not want to put up with their situation. heroic struggle Soviet Union against Nazi Germany inspired the French to fight the fascists and intensified their actions - the forces of the resistance movement were consolidated under the leadership of the French National Committee, the growth of anti-fascist sentiments was felt more and more strongly in the army. After the shameful surrender and armistice, many French military pilots remained in units subordinate to the Petain government. But, finally convinced that the remnants of French aviation were gradually beginning to turn into an appendage of the Nazi military machine, many of them did not want to serve the traitors of the French people. Loyal to their homeland, they joined the ranks of fighters under the banner of Free France.
At the end of 1942 French volunteers- 15 pilots, 39 technicians and four staff officers - arrived in the Soviet Union to continue the fight against the enemies of their homeland together with the Red Army. The French volunteer squadron was named "Normandy", the name of the region of France most affected by Hitler's aggression. The first squadron commander, Major Jean Louis Tulian, said: “May this name always remind us of the tears of our mothers, the anguish and suffering of our wives and children. May it fill our hearts with hatred for the accursed enemy and become a constant call to a merciless struggle.
In the days preceding the Day of the Liberation of the Linen Factory from the Nazi invaders, the weather was gloomy, slushy, but on January 18 the real Russian winter came. Gradually, residents of the Linen Factory and guests who came to the village for the holiday began to gather at the monument to French pilots. The last to arrive were representatives of the All-Russian public organization "Combat Brotherhood", represented by participants in a motor rally organized for the purpose of visiting memorable places associated with high-profile events of the Great Patriotic War.
The rally was opened by the Head of the Board of the Linen Factory Natalya Leonidovna Gavrikova. In her speech, she greeted all those present, congratulated them on the holiday and said that the erection of the stele did not end the monument to the Normandie-Niemen regiment, it would continue with the installation of memorial plates on which the names of French pilots would be engraved and turn into a full-fledged monument. “On the eve of Victory Day,” said Natalya Leonidovna, “together, as it was when the stele was erected, we will install a pedestal on this place. In French and Russian, this pedestal will be engraved with the names of French pilots who not only brought victory over Nazi Germany closer, but also liberated our Motherland from the Nazis. This action is of great importance to us, since its purpose is to perpetuate, fix in our hearts the memory of those who fought and died for our Motherland. It is no coincidence that we always invite our youth to such events, they should know and remember these wonderful facts of our history. Because as long as human memory is alive, goodness lives in people, everything most reasonable and beneficial is preserved in society. And I hope that our younger generation will preserve and pass on such traditions to their children.
Unfortunately, time is inexorable, and from that guard of veterans who defended our country from fascist enslavers, only 15 people remained in the village. One of them, Viktor Ivanovich Gudovichev, is present at our rally. A low bow to you, Viktor Ivanovich, from all of us, from all generations of linen workers, from all Russians!
It is significant that at this rally we see young handsome faces - very young guys in military uniform, with flags, flowers! This fully confirms the proverb - memory has no boundaries! Our guests are representatives of the public organization “Combat Brotherhood”, who travel around the places of military glory, today they have already visited the worship cross erected near the road to Kondrovo, in the museum-estate of the Goncharovs, and now they have arrived here. Here we have our linen-factory cadet class and representatives of the Cossacks. It means that a great victory unites us all, brings us together, makes us involved in our common holiday. We all, regardless of age and social status, remember our wonderful, glorious history, and we can rightfully be proud of its resounding victories and heroes!”
We warmed ourselves from one flask in winter,
Protected each other in flight -
And then you returned home to Paris
On the plane I gave.
By order of the commander of the Red Army Air Force dated December 4, 1942, the Normandy squadron was included in the Soviet Air Force. After a short training in the city of Ivanovo in March 1943, under the command of Major Jean Louis Tyulian, she was sent to the front - to the field airfield Linen Plant, where she became part of the 1st Air Army, which united all the aviation of the Western Front. On April 5, 1943, the squadron began to take part in hostilities as part of the 204th bomber aviation division.
Started combat commonwealth French and Soviet aviators grew stronger every day. Constant communication and joint battles brought them closer and became close friends. Jean Louis Tulian said that in the place of General de Gaulle, he would have transferred more forces to Russia, because only here there is a real struggle against German fascism, it is here that the fate of the Second World War is decided. And this fate did not spare either French or Soviet pilots. Of the first group of 15 people, only three survived - Marcel Albert, Rolland de la Puap and Joseph Risso. In total, during the fighting, the regiment lost 42 pilots: 35 in air battles, seven - in the line of duty. official duties. The names of all the dead are engraved in gold on memorial plaque installed on house number 29 on Kropotkinskaya embankment in Moscow, where the French military mission was once located. This year, these names will appear on the memorial at the Linen Factory.
The speech at the rally at the monument to French pilots was continued by Guy Leger, President of the Normandy-Niemen Memory Association, who flew to the Linen Factory from Paris especially for this event: “I am very glad to meet you again today - with everyone who came to honor the memory of the French pilots of the Normandie-Neman aviation regiment and Soviet soldiers who liberated the world from fascism. It is especially joyful that today we are present at a significant holiday - the 70th anniversary of the liberation of your village, your land from the Nazi invaders.
I have known the village of Linen Factory for a long time, I am also familiar with its history. It is literally amazing that a huge number of amazing events took place in such a small village - you will not find such a rich history everywhere. It is very touching and worthy of the deepest respect that you know how to keep the memory of everything that happened on your land. And it was very important for me to install a memorial stele in memory of the French pilots, the Normandie-Niemen regiment, which began its military journey in the Linen Factory. It was very pleasant and joyful when a lot of different people gathered for the opening of this monument, from everywhere - from the Linen Factory, and from Kaluga, and from other cities and towns. And today we are here again, meeting with you again near the monument to the Normandie-Niemen squadron. Thank you all for remembering your heroes, you do not forget about my fellow countrymen - French pilots, who, together with Russian soldiers, forged the Great Victory! We are leaving, but our heart remains here with you!”
Then the head of the urban settlement, Vladimir Vasilievich Yemelyanov, took the floor: “70 years have passed since our settlement was liberated. There are no more trenches, no craters from explosions of bombs and grenades, no dugouts. And the airfield on which the French Normandy squadron was based is also missing. But the memory remains in our hearts, the hearts of our children and grandchildren, our great-grandchildren. We managed to preserve all the most valuable things that are dear to all generations of our people. We remember everyone who died, who gave their lives for the liberation of our Motherland, including French pilots who fought shoulder to shoulder with our soldiers. Eternal memory to them!
Chairman of the Council of Veterans of the Linen Factory Nina Egorovna Merkulova was one of the first to arrive at the meeting place, she met and greeted all the guests and also addressed the audience: “Today we have a significant event - the liberation of the village of Linen Factory from the fascist invaders. We are separated from those distant times for 70 years. Everything in our life has changed, everything has become different, only a memory remains, from which it is impossible to erase the events of 70 years ago. During this period of time, war veterans and home front workers have become elderly people, most of them are no longer with us. But for those who are alive, I would like to wish more sunny, joyful days. The Council of Veterans congratulates everyone on this bright wonderful holiday! We wish everyone health, longevity and a peaceful sky!”
I will come to Paris, I will go around all the houses,
Under the ground I will go around the whole city.
I'll find a pilot from the Normandy there,
We will continue our previous conversation.
The best Soviet-made aircraft were assigned to the Normandie squadron: Yak-1 fighters, later Yak-9 and Yak-3. French pilots said: “On the Yak-3, two can fight against four, and four against sixteen. Flying on such machines, you feel like a complete master in the air. The moments of farewell of the French pilots with these combat vehicles were very touching. Junior Lieutenant Jacques Andre knelt in front of his Yak-3 and, addressing him as if he were a living being, said: “You saved my life and made it possible for me to receive military merit. Thank you for everything".
The concern of the Soviet people for the brave sons of France was manifested always and everywhere. And apparently, this is why Major Pouillade, who later became the commander of the Normandy, wrote: “It seems to us that we are not in a foreign land, but in France, we are continuing the struggle that began in September 1939.”
On July 17, during the fourth sortie of the day, Major Tyulyan was killed, Senior Lieutenant Begen and graduate student Vermeil were shot down. Major Puyyad, as a senior in rank, had been appointed his deputy by Tulyan the day before, and assumed command of the squadron.
There were constant battles, pilots died, but the Great Victory was invariably approaching. On the morning of November 28, 1944, Moscow radio reported that the 1st Separate Fighter Aviation Regiment of fighting France, which distinguished itself in battles during the breakthrough of the German defenses on the Neman River, was given the name "Neman". In the press and in French documents since that time, it began to be called abbreviated as the Normandie-Niemen Aviation Regiment. The military history of this regiment is full of heroic events, which are told by numerous documents, memoirs of participants and eyewitnesses, works of art. The "Normans" went through the battle path from the Moscow region to the shores of the Baltic Sea, they participated in the liberation of Orel, Bryansk, Smolensk, Belarus and Lithuania, fought for Gumbinnen, Koenigsberg and other cities.
The deputy of the village assembly Anatoly Grigoryevich Pilshchikov, who spent a lot of time and effort searching for archival documents relating to the military exploits of linen workers, as well as the pilots of the Normandy-Neman regiment, made the following speech at the rally: “Today we celebrate the day of the liberation of our village from Nazi Germany. invaders. And next year we will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the entire Kaluga region from the Nazis. French pilots, who on March 22, 1943, landed on the airfield, located 400 meters from the meta where the stele is now installed, took a direct part in these liberations. Led by their commander, Major Jean-Louis Tulian, on April 5 they opened the combat account for their victories. And already on April 13, a tragedy happened - three lieutenants did not return from a sortie to the airfield - Yves Bezien, Du Pra and the youngest pilot of this unit Andrei Borisovich Poznansky. Apparently, such is the fate that a young pilot in a French uniform, who has Russian roots, died on our soil. This suggests that in those terrible years we were together - both Russians and French. All together they mined the Great Victory. Today we can be proud that our fathers and grandfathers saved the world from the brown plague, and our task is to preserve the memory of the cost of this Victory.”
Then the word was taken by ……… ……. ……..: “I represent the All-Russian public organization"Combat Brotherhood", participants in local wars and conflicts in modern time. Today, at this rally, we sincerely, with joy, convey our gratitude to our guests from France for their participation in preserving the memory of French and Soviet pilots who, in bloody battles, defended victory for Russia and France during the Great Patriotic War. It can be unmistakably stated that a nation that does not know its history does not deserve any respect, it has no future. But we never forgot all that the French and Soviet pilots did for us - the soldiers who defended the Kaluga land, managed to overcome the most terrible force of those years, deserved victory not only here, but throughout Europe. It is thanks to the initiative of such organizations and specific people, such as Guy Léger, that we can say with confidence that that victory was a great, historic victory, it gave birth to our future! Many thanks to all those who gathered, and I want to wish the children that they never know what the war years really are!
Sergei Ivanovich Boltunov, deputy chairman of the regional organization “Combat Brotherhood”, said: “In the past, I myself am a pilot, I know what the sky is, what the helm is. I have repeatedly examined our Kaluga land from a bird's eye view, I had to visit different airfields, and one day, in 1986, I came across a small sign that said that combat sorties of pilots of the Normandy-Neman squadron began to be made from this airfield . It was a discovery for me, joyful, heartbreaking. Addressing our friends from France, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to them for preserving the memory of these pilots. After what I saw, I learned a lot about the "Normans" and to this day, everything I learn, I convey to the guys in all the schools where we speak in the lessons of courage. On behalf of our "Combat Brotherhood", I ask you to convey greetings to your countrymen, families, relatives of the pilots who took part in the liberation of our Motherland. Pilots who returned to their native France and who remained lying on the battlefields. We remember them, low bow to them and eternal memory.
We fought for a just cause, comrade,
We hate another war.
Do not be deceived, French brother,
Remaining faithful to your oath.
From March 22, 1943 to May 9, 1945, the pilots of the Normandie-Niemen regiment made a total of more than 5,000 combat sorties, conducted 869 air battles, in which they shot down 268 and knocked out 80 German aircraft. In addition, attacking ground targets, they destroyed a significant amount of manpower and military equipment of the enemy. During the period of the regiment's stay in the Soviet Union, 76 pilots who took part in the hostilities were awarded Soviet orders, and the regiment was awarded the Orders of the Red Banner and Alexander Nevsky. Marcel Albert, Roland de la Poip, Jacques Andre and Marcel Lefevre were awarded the high title of Heroes of the Soviet Union.
The Soviet government decided to transfer, as a gift from the USSR to France, aircraft and aviation weapons, which French pilots skillfully and successfully used on the Soviet-German front. In total, 41 Yak-3 aircraft were handed over to the Normans. On June 20, 1945, at about six o'clock in the evening, the Normandie-Niemen regiment completed its flight on these aircraft from the USSR to France, it lasted six days, and landed at the suburban Paris airfield Bourges.
Speeches at the rally were continued by the director of the branch of the Moscow State University of Technology and Management. K.G. Razumovsky Sergey Ivanovich Krivov (for reference, the University named after K.G. Razumovsky is the first Russian university, which was given the status of a Cossack university): “Dear friends, dear students, schoolchildren, residents of the village of Linen Factory, honored guests. Today is a very significant day for those who participated in our rally, we visited the battle site, as a result of which the village of Kondrovo was liberated, and honored the memory of our liberators who fell in this terrible battle. Today we are present at a ceremony where we remember the French pilots who voluntarily arrived in the Soviet Union to fight for its liberation.
It is probably no coincidence, and even symbolic, that this year in Russia has been declared the year of the French language. This is the time of additional rapprochement between Russia and France, knowing French Naturally, we will also know the history of this country better. People of my generation probably remember well the film "Normandy-Niemen", which shows the fragments that were discussed today at the rally. On the Kaluga land there are many more memorable places associated with the activities of this regiment. And I think that our today's meeting is very significant, and first of all for the youth, to whom we pass on the history we cherish. And, of course, we are very pleased that during this trip we were able to get to know our French friends, naturally, wish them success, health, and further strong friendship between our peoples.
The last speech was an appeal to the audience by the ataman of the Kaluga departmental Cossack society of the Central Cossack army, Cossack colonel Boris Vasilyevich Komisarenko: “I noticed that Russia and France have similar flags - we have colored canvases along, and they have them across. If the flags are combined, you get a cross. There are many examples in history when our and French soldiers repeatedly performed in a single formation, including during the Great Patriotic War. Thanks to this military unity, our Great Victory was won. A victory, the results of which are still being disputed. The world is still restless, there are hotheads who are trying to fan a new global fire. But remembering the losses that our peoples have suffered, we must make every effort to prevent what happened here 70 years ago. For this, every effort must be made not to allow any kind of spiteful critics to distort our history, but, on the contrary, to preserve and cherish its heroic pages in memory.
We started holding our actions on June 22 last year, dedicating them to each event of the Great Patriotic War, which turns 70 years old. This watch of memory will end on May 9, 2015. Its goal is to create a unified perception of all stages of that war, so that, first of all, the younger generation, have a deep understanding of past events, draw the right conclusions, because today the war is waged not only through the use of military weapons, but most actively in the information field . The war is being waged for the soul of each of you, our dear pupils and students. And your perception will depend on the knowledge that you will receive from those for whom memory is sacred, how correctly you can assess what is happening around you today. Only then can we prevent new war to keep the world strong.
From the bottom of my heart I would like to congratulate the linen workers on the Liberation Day of the village and the beginning of the operation to liberate our Motherland and all of Europe from the Nazi invaders. Happy holiday to you, dear guests and our countrymen!
The rally ended with a minute of silence, as always, touching, tense, sad. The silence was broken only by cars passing by. The drivers, of course, saw the people gathered at the stele, and, of course, joined them with their hearts, their souls, their memory of those who defended our world, French and Russian pilots who flew in the same skies.
Well, for those who happened to live,
We must remember them and be friends!
SCLAIM WITH SS MEMBERS UNDER THE LINEN PLANT
When the division had one and a half companies of active bayonets. How regiments were reduced to a battalion, and battalions to a detachment. Why the German company opposed the Soviet division on an equal footing. Everyone needs the Linen Factory. Master of sports in skiing from Novosibirsk. Reward for "language" - a glass of vodka. Lieutenant Orlov recalls. At the Goncharovs' estate. "Battle sheet" of political instructor Berestov. "Death to the German occupiers!"
The fighting in the area of Nedelny, Erdenev and the Old Kaluga Road bled the divisions and rifle brigades of the 49th Army. The regiments did not recruit even a company of active bayonets, the battalions were reduced to companies and platoons. On January 8, 1942, even before the breakthrough to the Linen Factory and Kondrov, Colonel Verkholovich reported to the headquarters of the Western Front: “173 SD.<...>In the division, by the end of 7.1.42, active bayonets remained: 1313 joint ventures - 80, 1315 joint ventures - 121; easel machine guns - 2, manual. machine guns - 7, anti-tank guns - 1. These were the Soviet divisions in the midst of the Moscow offensive. They burned in battles like gunpowder. Sometimes some modern publicists, building their own ideological combinations, in order to once again throw mud at the Russian people, at the Red Army, at Stalin and Zhukov, say: well, they say, a German company fought on equal terms with a Soviet division, and even counterattacked .. There were far more bayonets in a German company than in a Soviet division of the January 1942 model, battered in endless battles and exhausted by endless marches, frosts and snowstorms. Reading the reports carefully, you see that during the January battles the Germans were sitting in warm houses, in villages, and our divisions, barely up to two full-blooded companies in number, occupied their positions at best on the edge of the forest, or even in an open field, through blown by scorching winds. For comparison: in the German platoon there were 4 machine guns, a light mortar. Reinforced by the heavy armament of the battalion, the Wehrmacht company could independently solve tactical tasks.
So glory to our fathers and grandfathers, soldiers, commanders and political instructors, who defended Moscow in the winter of 1941/42, who pushed the enemy hundreds of kilometers away from the capital. They carried in their hearts love for the Motherland, for their families, and were burning with the desire to destroy the occupiers by spring and end the war with victory three years earlier than history predetermined.
On January 9, 1942, after a slight regrouping, the divisions and brigades of the 49th Army again went on the offensive, and in the operational reports for the 10th, references to the main direction appeared: “Units of the Army from 7.00 10.1. ". A day later, the advanced battalions drove the enemy out of the settlements encircling Kondrovo and the Linen Factory from the east and southeast.
“Operation report No. 22 by 5.00 12.1.42, Shtarm 49. Map 100,000.
1. Parts of the Army in the afternoon of 11.1.42 continued the offensive and by the end of the day reached the line: zap. edge of the forest east. MAKOVTSY, ZAZHOVO, FROLOV, LOPATINO, YUDINKI.
During the night they conducted combat reconnaissance in their offensive zones, pulled up battle formations and prepared for the offensive from the morning of 12.1.42.
2. 5 Guards. SD from the 30th and 34th Rifle Brigade, continuing the offensive in the direction of KONDROVO, at 19.00 fought for Makovtsy.
The position of the units by 24.00 11.1.42:
586 SP with 30 Rifle Brigade, advancing along the ZHELTYKOVO-ANDREEVKA road, went southwest. edge of the grove 1 km south-east. MAKOVTSY.
The position of the remaining parts is specified.
3. 19th Rifle Brigade at 18.00 captured ZAZHOVO, FROLOV, where it secured itself, conducting reconnaissance at CHUBAROVO-ROSINO.
4. 133 SD during the day occupied 11 settlements. By 15.30, parts of the division captured:
521 JV - GAVSHINO;
418 JV - GAMYSHEVO;
681 joint ventures - in the second tier for 521 joint ventures.
By 24.00 on 11.1.42, parts of the division were fighting with the avenue holding ZAPOLYE, GRIBANOVO. During the night they conducted combat reconnaissance in the direction of Kartsovo.
5. 173 SD by 21.00 was fighting for GRIBANOVO, REDKINO. During the night, she conducted reconnaissance in the direction of STARKI, MOUTH. Pr-k holds REDKINO, shelling parts of the division with intense machine-gun and mortar fire.
6. 238 SD during the second half of the day fought for YUDINKI. At 22.00 YUDINKI took possession, where she entrenched herself, conducting reconnaissance in the direction of the LINEN PLANT. The position of the parts is specified.
7. Communication with radio divisions, telephone, communications officers; with 19 SBR radio. With the headquarters of the front of radio, ST and telegraph through PORDKI.
Shtarm from 20.00 11.1.42 - PORDKI.
Deputy early opera. otd. lieutenant colonel LEDNEV "(23).
Both sides needed the Linen Factory. The Germans thoroughly fortified themselves in this stronghold and, of course, did not want to lose it either as an advantageous position and a key link in the defense system of this line along the Sukhodrev River, and as a comfortable winter hut. And ours had to follow the order of the Western Front. Zhukov hurried Zakharkin forward, to Yukhnov, to Myatlev, to the Warsaw highway. Even at the beginning of the offensive operation, when the 49th Army stood on the Oka and Protva, and the plans for the upcoming offensive were being developed at the headquarters, the Linen Factory was designated as "further frontiers" if the offensive was successful. The list of "further frontiers" included the cities of Kaluga, Medyn and the Linen Factory. Through the Linen Factory by rail from the direction of Vyazma, the Germans fed their Kaluga group. The railway went through Myatlevo. In Myatlev it intersected with Varshavka. In the event of the fall of Kondrov and the Linen Factory, a direct road to Myatlevo was opened. There the enemy held a large grouping of his troops, who had retreated from the borders near Moscow. There he led the regrouping. From there, reinforcements arrived at the strongholds and nodes of resistance and everything needed was brought up.
On January 14, during an attack on a German stronghold, skiers of the 121st separate battalion captured prisoners. And it was like that.
One of the companies of the ski battalion, on the orders of the battalion commander captain Berdnikov, came close to the southern outskirts of the Linen Factory. The company commander, Senior Lieutenant Petrishchev, ordered the platoons to disperse, covering a country road that led through the forest towards the nearest village. The village was occupied by the enemy. There was a small German garrison, up to a platoon, with three machine guns and an anti-tank gun installed in the garden of the last house. The skiers made reconnaissance of the strong point and did not touch it with a night attack. They circled the village through the forest and went to the village. Captain Berdnikov ordered to take the "tongue".
Senior Lieutenant Petrishchev decided to wait for the Germans on the country road. Surely, he decided, at night the Germans sent patrols or a small wagon train to their stronghold to plant food or ammunition on their own. An hour has passed. Nobody. Two. Quiet. And then Petrishchev called Senior Sergeant Antonov to him.
Ivan Antonov, master of sports in skiing, lived and worked at the Sports Palace in Novosibirsk before the war. He competed at regional and national competitions. Central newspapers wrote about him. In the battalion, he also worked, one might say, in his profession. The ski boat, which had heavy losses, was fed by reinforcements from the division. People came different. Some had to be taught to ski correctly and silently. And here senior sergeant Antonov was indispensable.
Antonych, - the company commander told him. - See where they have a machine gun?
I see, - breathing frost, answered Antonov.
Take your guys. Leave everything superfluous in the platoon. Machine guns, three grenades. We need to take machine gunners.
Anthony was silent. Thought.
You, Volodya, are right only in one thing, - he finally answered. - And if Hans is not pulling the rope, but is sitting at the machine gun, wrapped in blankets and women's fur coats?
That is why I entrust you with this task. As a fellow countryman and friend," said the company commander.
The section of skiers rounded the grove to the left of the houses overlooking the field, turned into a clean one. And at this time wet snow silently splashed into the faces of the scouts. Another night blizzard began. But what! It smelled of warmth.
We must wait. - And Antonov made a sign with his hand. All six went down. A minute later, the snow was already rustling everywhere.
Forward. - The senior sergeant of the team filed in a whisper.
Now the skis glided noiselessly over the loose snow. Antonov went first.
The machine gun rattled to the left, by the road. There was some movement there. Is it a sled? Antonov strained his eyes: for sure, on the country road above the cog of the snow dump, from time to time flashed the head and rump of a horse. Now the attention of the machine gunners on duty is riveted to their transport, which was leaving along the country road towards the forest. "Come back? After all, ours are now grabbing these guards for a sweet soul. And you don't have to take risks. Climb under the machine gun ... "
Well, commander? - as if reading his thoughts, the machine gunner Anichkin breathed into his ear.
Stay here. You will cover us if you have to leave noisily, ”Antonov ordered him.
Understood. - And the machine gunner began to settle in the snow. He quickly unfastened his skis, took out a sapper shovel from his case and began to tear off a trench in the snow.
When it was about eighty meters to the outskirts and the last house, from where the machine gun flames from time to time, Antonov ordered the skiers to stop and wait for him to break away by twenty steps.
Following me are Smirnov and Gavrilov. Then the rest, the interval is the same.
He flew to the outer yard, as once, in another life, in competitions a hundred meters from the finish line. He knew that he had only one advantage, and he decided to use it to the fullest.
The German machine gunner was not alone. Two dirty-white helmets stuck out of a snowdrift with a frozen parapet, which the Germans must have been watering and compacting with wet snow for a week. One moved and seemed to scream. But he managed to unfasten his skis and, intercepting the PPSh, hit her with the butt, aiming at the very top of the head with the corner of the metal lining. The second German rushed at him and, breathing the onion spirit, knocked Antonov over with a roar of victory. But two white shadows fell on him at once, tore off his helmet, clamped his mouth, and began to twist.
Let's go guys! Let's leave while it's quiet, - commanded Antonov.
A machine gun, a rapid-fire MG-34, having been removed from the machine, was carried away with them. The skiers also carried boxes of ribbons. They will not include it in the trophies, and the machine gun will remain in the platoon and will serve it until the very summer, until the platoon, included in the tank brigade, gets surrounded and dies entirely on the way out, running into a German barrier.
They dragged the Germans one by one. Luck gave strength. Only when they reached the edge of the forest, shots were heard behind. The Germans fired their rifles. Their fire was rare. The bullets shuffled somewhere above, in the pine branches. The skiers, having reached the cleared country road, collapsed exhaustedly on the trampled track and laughed.
Well, Antonych, - the company commander told him, - congratulations. You took good Germans. Difficult. SS men. Fourth Motorized Infantry Regiment "Fuhrer".
This is what, it turns out, we dragged the Fuhrer?
Two! Two, Antonych! All the guys get two hundred grams from my stocks! I already ordered!
What else did they say, our Fuhrers?
That they were ordered to hold the line from Adamovsky to the Linen Factory until twenty-four zero-zero on the nineteenth of January. Regardless of any loss.
“Operation report No. 35 by 17.00 on 18.1.42
Card 50,000 and 100,000.
1. Parts of the Army during the day 18.1.42 continued the offensive. Having success in the center, they mastered NOV. UTKINO, KURSK and by 14.00 - LINEN PLANT.
Pr-k continues to stubbornly hold: on the right flank - NIKOLSKOE, PRUDNOVO, KONDROVO, STAR. UTKINO, on the left flank - WHITE, MATTOVO, BOL. RUDNYA; in the center, hiding behind groups of machine gunners, retreats to SLOBODA, BELI along the railway line. on KONDROVO.
2. 5 Guards. During the first half of the day on January 18, 1942, SD from the 30th and 34th Rifle Brigade conducted a firefight at the previous line with the pr-com, stubbornly defending the NIKOLSKOE, OBUKHOVO, PRUDNOVO, KONDROVO line in front of the division front with a force of up to two PP, reinforced with artillery batteries and heavy machine guns .
At 13.00, the 34th Rifle Brigade went to the west with an energetic throw. bank of the river SHAN and took possession of the grove that east. PAINFUL.
The position of the remaining parts by 13.00 on 18.1.42 was unchanged.
Losses of the 34th Rifle Brigade on 16.1.42: 5 killed, 30 wounded.
Stadiv - MAKOVTSY.
Stabrigs 30 and 34 - ADAMOVSKOE.
3. 133 Rifle Division from 19 Rifle Brigade, continuing the offensive, by 13.00 reached the line:
418 SP with 19 SBR are fighting for STAR. UTKINO in 250 m north-east. sowing env. STAR. UTKINO;
521 SP at 2.00 mastered the sowing. part of the LINEN PLANT, is advancing in the direction of the village. them. KALININA with the task of cutting off the escape route from STAR. UTKINA and SLOBODA.
Losses of 133 SD for 17.1.42: killed and wounded - 295 people.
Trophies of 133 SD for 18.1.42: trucks - 5, cars - 2, tractor - 1, kitchens - 1, camp, machine guns - 7, light machine guns - 3, machine guns - 1, telephone sets - 1. Killed pr -ka during the offensive and reflection of counterattacks for 17.1.42: 240-250 people. without art. fire.
Stadiv 133 - REDKINO.
Stabrig 19 - JUINO.
4. 173 SD at 12.00 18.1.42 captured the east. part and center of the LINEN PLANT and by 14.00 came out:
1313 joint venture and 1315 joint venture on the west. env. LINEN PLANT.
Tidies itself up and shared with 122 skis. b-nome continues to advance in the direction of SLOBODA, bypassing it from the north. Pr-k, hiding behind groups of machine gunners, retreats to SLOBODA. The houses and streets of the eastern outskirts of the LINEN PLANT are mined.
Losses for 15.1.42: killed - 7, wounded - 25; for 16.1.42: killed - 55, wounded - 176, missing - 13.
Stadiv - REDKINO.
5. 238 SD, developing success in the direction of BELI, conducted an offensive throughout the day. At 10.00 843 joint venture took control of KURSK. At 14.00, part of the forces of the 843rd joint venture division captured the south. part of the LINEN PLANT; at 13.00, the main forces, flowing around BELI from the south, fought for BELI.
The position of the parts is specified.
Pr-k in BELI with a force of up to 500 people. at the machine machine guns stubbornly defends, in the district not high. 178.6 performs trench work.
Losses for 16.1.42: killed - 6, wounded - 31.
For 17.1.42: wounded - 80.
For 18.1.42: wounded - 21.
Stadiv - ZHILNEVO.
6. 12 Guards. The SD, continuing the offensive, by 13.00 on 18.1.42 was conducting stubborn battles at the turn:
405 joint venture - for MATOVO; 999 SP - for BOL. RUDNIA, bypassing from the north; 991 SP - for BOL. RUDNIA, bypassing it from the south.
Pr-to in the district of MATOVO, BOL. RUDNIA, with a strength of up to one PP, stubbornly defending, provides strong fire resistance.
Losses for 17.1.42: killed - 10, wounded - 66 people. Destroyed on 18.1.42 of the enemy: 2 machine guns, one anti-tank gun, up to 100 people. infantry. Stadiv - PALACES.
7. Neighbor on the left 413 SD on the night of 17.1.42 captured YARLYKOVO, SVINUKHOVO, continuing to advance in the given direction. The neighbor on the right, 415 SD, is fighting at the former line for BOGDANOVO.
8. Communication with divisions - telephone, radio, communications officers. With the headquarters of the front - radio, BODO, SG-35.
9. Weather: clear, visibility 10 km, southwest wind, 3 points. The temperature is minus 17 degrees. Roads, except for cleared and well-trodden highways, are impassable for vehicles.
Chief of Staff of the 49th Army, Colonel VERKHOLOVICH.
Military commissar of the headquarters of the Battalion Army. Commissioner STEPANOV.
Deputy early operas, department of headquarters lieutenant colonel LEDNEV "(24) .
The Linen Factory is a historical place. The fighters and commanders knew that they were attacking the factory settlement, in which the estate of the wife of the great Russian poet Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, Natalia Nikolaevna, nee Goncharova, is located. But before leaving, the Germans burned and main house, and other buildings. The museum that existed in the main house was looted. Until the mid-70s of the last century, residents of the village and rare tourists from among experts in their native history and admirers of Pushkin's poetry could only contemplate the ruins of the estate. Now she has been restored. The main house is again a museum.
And the history of the Linen Factory is as follows. In 1718, by order of Peter I, a sailing and linen factory was built by the Kaluga merchant T. Filatov-Karamshev. Two years later, A.A. Goncharov - paper factory. The great-granddaughter of the founder of the paper mill, Natalya Nikolaevna Goncharova, in 1831, would become Pushkin's wife.
In 1830, the poet came to the Linen Factory to get married. After his marriage, he came here in 1834. In 1812, after the Battle of Maloyaroslavets, the estate housed the main apartment of Field Marshal M.I. Kutuzov.
Now, 130 years later, both Maloyaroslavets and the Linen Factory were on fire. Maloyaroslavets was taken by the neighboring 43rd Army of General Golubev. And the Linen Factory had a chance to liberate the troops of General Zakharkin.
Carrying out an operation to storm the Linen Factory, the 49th Army, perhaps for the first time, tried to operate by enveloping the enemy grouping, which held a strong defense in a large stronghold. And this operation, after the first failures, was finally crowned with success. The enemy lost many soldiers, equipment, weapons and other army property and equipment. In addition, the capture of the Linen Factory violated many plans of the headquarters of the 4th field army of the Wehrmacht. The fact that the Germans did not want to leave the Linen Factory and the entire line from Nikolsky to Kondrov and further to Matov and Bolshaya Rudnya is evidenced by the fact that in the midst of the battles for the Linen Factory, when their defenses crackled, they urgently began to dig in, gain a foothold in the area heights south of the Linen Factory. In all likelihood, the units defending this line did not receive permission to withdraw.
On the night of January 17-18, 1942, the Linen Factory was attacked by several of our divisions at once: the 133rd - the 521st regiment, the 173rd - the 1313th and 1315th regiments and the 238th - the 843rd regiment, a week ago fought furiously at the turn of the Old Kaluga road for the village of Myzgi. The losses were huge. For example, the rifle regiment of the 133rd division, which attacked on the right flank of coverage, from the north, lost a full-blooded battalion killed and wounded, that is, a third of its composition. The 122nd ski battalion took part in the night battle along with the fighters of the 173rd rifle division, which attacked in the center.
And here it is appropriate to give the floor to the participant of the night battle for the Linen Factory V.Yu. Orlov. In his memoirs, which the former artillery lieutenant of the 238th Rifle Division was never able to publish during his lifetime, he details the actions of the units of his division:
“On January 14, the division approached the Linen Factory. The surrounding villages were on fire. The entire western side of the sky was enveloped in the glow of a fire. The forest was close to the village. Taking advantage of this, the 122nd separate ski battalion and the sledge detachment of Lieutenant R.P. Lachan secretly through the forest approached the outskirts of the village. The 830th and 843rd rifle regiments followed in the second echelon. They had to develop the success of the advance detachment. The 837th regiment was withdrawn for resupplying.
It was cloudy, it was snowing. It seemed that bad weather would favor a sudden attack: from the edge of the forest to the outermost houses no more than a kilometer. But as soon as the skiers left the forest and prepared to throw, the enemy discovered them. Strong machine-gun fire from the outskirts of the village forced the skiers to retreat, but in the forest they also came under fire from mortars. The ski battalion went on the attack twice, but failed to break into the village. The sledge detachment of Lieutenant R.P. was not successful either. Lachan, who tried to break into the Linen Factory through the adjacent village of Ustye. The Nazis had prepared defensive positions here, the approaches to them were kept under aimed fire from machine guns and mortar batteries.
The Linen Factory is a road junction connecting the positions of the 4th army of the enemy. From here to Kondrovo and further to Medyn, a highway ran along the front line. On it, the Nazis transferred their troops and military equipment from one defense sector to another. The railway to Vyazma provided communication with the supply bases located there. That is why the Nazi command created a strong defense on this line and demanded that its units keep the Linen Factory at any cost.
Having failed to achieve success with a frontal strike, the division commander decided to abandon further attempts to advance in this sector, and leave only the 830th rifle regiment here in order to tie down the enemy's actions. The main forces of the division were supposed to move 3-4 kilometers to the south, from where they could make a detour through the forest and suddenly break through to the Linen Factory from the rear.
Forces for the implementation of a deep breakthrough were not enough, it was necessary to return the 837th rifle regiment sent for resupply. The weakened units of the 843rd regiment were poured into it, and a consolidated battalion was created from two regiments under the command of the head of intelligence, Lieutenant M.T. Shcherbovsky. A ski detachment of 220 fighters was formed from the 122nd ski and 312th reconnaissance battalions. In previous battles, parts of the division had significant losses, their forces were dispersed. Now they were reduced to two enlarged detachments, their strike power was growing. It was not necessary to count on the approach of reserves or the receipt of replenishment. It was necessary to knock out the Nazis from the Linen Factory with the available forces.
On the afternoon of January 16, the strike group of the division moved to a new line, where it began to move through the forest to the canvas railway. Ahead, a detachment of skiers made their way through deep snow, followed by a sledge detachment of Lieutenant R.P. Lachan, and to build up the strike in combat readiness, the consolidated battalion of Lieutenant M.T. Shcherbovsky.
For two days the battle continued behind enemy lines. Having knocked out the Nazis from the strongholds of the defense at the turn of the railway line, the teams of skiers broke through to the village of Beli, where they reached the road connecting the Linen Factory with the village of Dorokhi and further with Yukhnov. Consolidated battalion of Lieutenant M.T. Shcherbovsky firmly entrenched on the intercepted road. The Nazis in the Linen Factory found themselves in a trap. Fearing to be completely cut off from their rear, the enemy began to withdraw his troops in the direction of the Warsaw highway. Pursuing the enemy, the sledge detachment of Lieutenant R.P. Lachana in one of the fights destroyed more than a dozen fascists. The village of Ustye and the Linen Factory were on fire. The 830th Infantry Regiment, left on the outskirts of the village, went on the offensive. Developing success, a detachment of M.T. burst into the opposite outskirts of the Linen Factory. Shcherbovsky.
By the morning of January 18, the village of Linen Factory was completely cleared of the enemy. After that, the Germans could not hold out in the nearby Kondrov. The enemy defenses built along the highway to Medyn collapsed.
The Goncharovs' house burned down, the roof and ceilings collapsed, only stone walls with sooty eye sockets of windows remained, the museum was destroyed, and the park was cut down, valuable objects, utensils and paintings were either trampled on or taken away by the Nazis. Most of the buildings in the village were also burned. Where only yesterday there were houses, now there were only sooty foundations or dilapidated stoves towering.
For two weeks, starting on January 3, the division had been fighting continuously, making its way forward without roads, through deep snow. The enemy burned the villages to the ground, the soldiers were around the clock in the cold, reaching up to 20-25 degrees. There was nowhere to rest, warm up, people were extremely tired. Now, in the Linen Factory, the combined detachments of the division were given a short rest. The soldiers settled in the surviving houses.
Machine gunners of the 830th Infantry Regiment were housed in one of the spacious houses. There were felt boots by the hot stove, and mittens were drying. Tomorrow we will fight again, we need to dry our clothes and icy felt boots. The soldiers rested, and the party organizer of the company G.N. Berestov, sitting at the table, was preparing a "Combat Leaflet". The kitchen will be coming soon. And before lunch, you should finish the design of the sheet. Trying to display letters larger and more legible, G.N. Berestov wrote:
“Today we liberated the Linen Factory, the Nazis burned the village. They did not spare the places dear to the Soviet people either. They plundered and destroyed the house-museum of the great Russian poet A.S. Pushkin.
Fighter! Whoever you are - Russian, Ukrainian or Kazakh - the name of Pushkin is dear to you, his memory is sacred to you. You take revenge on the Germans not only for the lives of comrades, the desecrated honor of women, for the tears of children, but also for the desecration of our shrines.
The day will come when the fascists will answer for blood and tears, for this mockery.”
The Germans fought excellently. They knew how to retreat, effectively hiding behind the rearguards, as they are repeatedly mentioned in the operational reports of Colonel Verkholovich, "groups of submachine gunners", sometimes reinforced by machine-gun crews. They were able to counterattack unexpectedly. But the Red Army was stronger during this period. And above all, it was strong not in weapons and not in the number of divisions (Army Group Center in this period had a numerical superiority of about 1: 1.5), but in spirit. The slogan "Death to the German occupiers!", under which the December offensive near Moscow began, turned out to be a very successful slogan. Hate is a destructive force in itself. But hatred for the enemy in time liberation war- the force that gives birth to heroes and inspires thousands of ratis for a righteous battle in the name of life. When you read the editorials of the period of the battle for Moscow and the texts of the "Battle Sheets" of the first echelon units, you understand that their high style and pathos are not just political propaganda. The party raid and the gloss of polished slogans seemed to have fallen from familiar and familiar words, and they shone with the original meaning that the soul of a fighter put into it, striving for victory with all his tense being. At least in one small fight. At least in this field. In this forest. At least free one village. One city. Win. Defeat the enemy. Death to the German invaders! And so the German ability to fight suddenly turned out to be weaker than the Russian ability to hate the enemy and drive him out of his native land.
The Germans fought excellently. But the Red Army fought even more bravely and carried out its operations even more effectively and powerfully.
In the same place, in the snowy fields near Kremenki, Nedelny and Linen Factory, the ability to fight came. It was near Detchin, Kondrov and Linen Plant in the Yukhnovsky direction that the 49th Army, taking into account the mistakes and miscalculations of past battles, as well as following the instructions of Zhukov, began to successfully apply the tactics of detours, unexpected breakthroughs on the flanks. The tactics of frontal attacks gradually became a thing of the past.
These days, the headquarters of the 49th Army was directly in the troops. General Zakharkin, in fact, was on duty at the NP of the 5th Guards Rifle, at command post 194th Infantry Division. Colonel Verkholovich and Colonel Pastushikhin, meanwhile, were coordinating the joint actions of the 133rd and 138th rifle divisions and the ski battalions attached to them.
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CHRONICLE OF EVENTS OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR
ON THE TERRITORY OF THE KALUGA REGION
1941
In Kaluga, rallies were held at the machine-building and electromechanical plants, match and clothing factories. More than 9,000 people took part in them.
3 July- Young residents of the city went from Kaluga in the Komsomol echelon to build the Rzhev-Vyazemsky defensive fortifications.
July 15- In Kaluga, a people's militia was formed from 3884 volunteers from non-conscript ages.
July- In Kaluga and the regions, 44 fighter battalions were organized to fight against fascist saboteurs and paratroopers, to protect plants and factories, bridges, roads and warehouses.
July - September- Over 2,700 Komsomol members of Kaluga worked on the construction of the defensive line Olenino - Molodoy Trud - Rzhev, which covered Moscow from the northwest. 50 pillboxes and bunkers were built, 8 blockages were made on forest roads, tens of kilometers of ditches and trenches were dug.
5th of August- The first echelon with workers and equipment of the Lyudinovsky (now diesel locomotive building) plant went from Lyudinov to Syzran.
August 13- On this day, the Revolutsioner left the Dumin factory for Borisoglebsk Voronezh region the first echelon with some equipment and workers.
August 15- The Military Council of the Moscow Military District adopted a resolution on the creation of the Kaluga fortified region and its inclusion in the Mozhaisk line of defense.
August 17- In Kaluga, a mass Komsomol youth Sunday was held, in which 11,000 people took part.
August 31- In the Kirov region, not far from the villages of Dubrovo and Barsuki, two enemy paratroopers were thrown out. The fighters of the Kirov fighter battalion took part in the battle with them. Both enemy landings were destroyed.
Workers and equipment of the Dudorovsky (Ulyanovsk region) glass factory were evacuated to Sverdlovsk.
Aug. Sept- More than 90 thousand workers of the region worked on the construction of defensive fortifications for the Red Army.
September 7- Komsomol-youth resurrection took place in Kaluga. It was attended by 14 thousand people.
September 15th- 145 people, the best young production workers of Kaluga, were sent to the defense enterprises of Tula.
The Lyudinovsky District Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks decided to organize a workshop for the repair of tanks, self-propelled guns and other military equipment.
2 October- The enemy entered the territory of the modern Kaluga region. The Nazis captured the village of Betlitsa.
October 3- The enemy captured Kuzminichi, Zherelev, Semirev, Gaiduk (Kuibyshevsky district).
The Nazis captured the village of Baryatino, the cities of Kirov, Spas-Demensk and Lyudinovo.
October 4 - February 5, 1942- The Mosal partisan detachment operated behind enemy lines.
October 5- GKO (State Defense Committee) made a special decision to protect Moscow. Among the main lines of defense were the Maloyaroslavetsky and Kaluga fortified areas.
The Nazis captured the village of Duminichi and the cities of Yukhnov and Mosalsk.
The State Defense Committee adopted a resolution on the evacuation of Kaluga industry.
October 5 - December 21- The Ulyanovsk lead partisan detachment operated behind enemy lines.
October 5 - April 2, 1942- The Duminich partisan detachment "For the Motherland" was operating behind enemy lines.
October 5 - September 16, 1943- Lyudinovsky partisan detachment operated behind enemy lines.
October 6-17- The Gutovsky (Khvastovichi district) partisan detachment operated behind enemy lines.
October 6 - December 3- The Ktsyn partisan detachment operated in the Khvastovichi region.
October 6 - January 1942.- The Iznoskovsky partisan detachment operated behind enemy lines.
October 6 - February 4, 1943- The Khvastovichi partisan detachment "To fight for the Motherland" was operating behind enemy lines.
October 8- Army General G.K. Zhukov arrived at the headquarters of the Reserve Front, deployed in the forest near the village of Pyatkina across the Protva River (now - the territory of Obninsk). In addition, in Maloyaroslavets, he met with S.M. Budyonny.
The Nazis captured the village of Babynino and the city of Kozelsk.
Fighting began on the outskirts of Kaluga.
The Nazis captured the villages of Przemysl and Ulyanovo.
October 9 - December 21- The Ulyanovsk head, Vyazovensky, Dudorovsky and Yagodinsky partisan detachments operated on the territory of the Ulyanovsk region.
October 10 - January 19, 1942. - The Polotnyano-Zavodsky partisan detachment operated behind enemy lines.
October 11- Soviet troops left Tovarkovo, the village of Leo Tolstoy (Dzerzhinsky district), Pletenevka (now part of Kaluga).
The Nazis subjected Kaluga to artillery fire.
Burned by the Nazis city Library in Kozelsk. 13,000 copies of books burned down.
October 13 - January 4, 1942- The Borovsky (first) partisan detachment operated behind enemy lines.
The Nazis sank a tugboat and a self-propelled barge on the Oka, on which there were dozens of people.
17 October- Reconnaissance and sabotage group S.U. Simakova, together with the Ulyanovsk partisans, blew up the 135-meter wooden Ktsynsky bridge across the Resset. The movement of the Germans to Tula was delayed for several days.
October 18 - December 27- Vysokinichsky (first and second) partisan detachments operated behind enemy lines.
October 18 - end of November- The Ugodsko-Zavodsky partisan detachment operated behind enemy lines.
October 19- Khvastovichi partisans blew up three bridges: across the Lovatyanka River and on the highway Ktsyn (Ulyanovsky district) - Ressetinsky Yards (Khvastovichi district). German convoys were delayed for more than a month.
October 20 - end of November- The Borovsky (second) partisan detachment operated behind enemy lines.
October 21 - July 5, 1942.- The Butchinsky (Kuibyshevsky district) partisan detachment was operating behind enemy lines.
Our compatriot Migunov V.V., a native of the village of Krivskoye, Borovsky District, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
the 25th of October- The partisans attacked the Sudimir station and undermined the enemy train.
October 25 - August 3, 1942- In the Khvastovichi district, the Trosnyansky partisan detachment named after I.V. Stalin.
28 of October- Fighters of the Dudorovsky partisan detachment under the command of P.A. Velichutina attacked a German convoy. 42 Nazis were killed.
October December- More than 1,000 Soviet prisoners of war and civilians became victims of fascist terror and genocide in Kaluga.
The Dzerzhinsky and Ugodsko-Zavodskoy district committees of the CPSU (b) acted behind enemy lines.
October - December 21- The Debryansk partisan detachment operated on the territory of the Ulyanovsk region.
October - January 1942- Borovsky, Vysokinichsky and Iznoskovsky district committees of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks operated behind enemy lines.
October - January 1942.- The Kozelsky partisan detachment operated behind enemy lines. ,
October - March 1942.- Duminichsky and Ulyanovsk District Committees of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks operated behind enemy lines.
October - February 1942- the Mosalsky district committee of the CPSU (b) acted behind enemy lines.
October - September 1943. - Lyudinovsky District Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks acted behind enemy lines.
November 1 - 7- In the occupied Kaluga City Council conducted a population census. According to it, 51,764 people are registered in the city. Before the occupation, 98,632 inhabitants lived in Kaluga.
November 3 - January 1942- Izvolsky (Iznoskovsky district) partisan detachment operated behind enemy lines.
November 6- In Kaluga, on Market Square (now Teatralnaya), 20 Kaluga residents were shot by the Germans.
November 7- In the occupied Kirov, on the club building of the iron foundry, Soviet patriots M. Prokhorov and G. Sorokin raised the Red Flag.
In Lyudinovo, about 500 leaflets were distributed by underground workers.
Members of the partisan group raided Kaluga, attacking the headquarters of a German military unit.
November 9- Borovsk partisans ambushed the highway Borovsk - Tishinka. Destroyed 26 Nazis. At the same time, 6 km were cut. and filmed 1 km. telephone wires.
November 24- a partisan detachment under the command of V. Zhabot, V. Karasev and M. Guryanov carried out an operation to defeat the enemy headquarters in Ugodsky Zavod (now the city of Zhukov). Destroyed about 600 invaders.
November 28 - January 1942- On the territory of the Kirovsky, Lyudinovsky and Zhizdrinsky districts, a reconnaissance and sabotage detachment of the Special Group under the People's Commissar of the NKVD "Mitya" operated under the command of State Security Captain D.N. Medvedev.
November - 15 December.- A partisan detachment under the command of A.I. Burlakov operated in the Iznoskovsky district.
November - January 1942.- A partisan detachment under the command of F.V. Mogilny operated in the Iznoskovsky district.
December 16- The liberation of the Kaluga land from the Nazi invaders began (Tarussky and Zhukovsky regions).
December 17- Kaluga began offensive troops of the left wing of the Western Front.
December 21 - March 5, 1942- The Ulyanovsk united partisan detachment "Death to the German occupiers" operated behind enemy lines.
December 25- Partisans of the Zhizdrinsky district carried out an operation conditionally called "Christmas Night". In the course of it, a raid was made on Zhizdra.
Khvastovichi partisans held a rally in Khvastovichi, which was attended by more than 500 local residents.
December 28th - Soviet troops the city of Kozelsk, the village of Ugodsky-Zavod and the Balabanovo station were liberated.
31th of December- In the liberated Kaluga, workers have begun to restore the CHPP of the NKPS plant. .
December - February 1942- A partisan detachment under the command of G.P. Makarov.
December - September 1943- In the rear of the enemy, the Kosevatsky (Kuibyshevsky and Kirovsky regions) partisan detachment under the command of F.V. Vasiliev.
1942
The Kyiv water station has been restored in Kaluga.
The first issue of the Kommuna newspaper after the occupation was published in Kaluga.
Khvastovy partisans liberated Trosna, Resseta, Wet Yards, Tereben, Kudryavets from the invaders and restored Soviet power in them, created self-defense units.
The Nazis perpetrated a cruel massacre of the inhabitants of the village of Pobuzh (Kozelsky district). In total, 110 adult citizens and 50 children were stabbed and shot in the village. 42 people were seriously injured.
January 3-5- A plan for the restoration of industry and transport in the city of Kaluga has been developed.
5 January- The Kaluga offensive operation of the left wing of the Western Front was completed.
The fighters of the Ulyanovsk (joint) partisan detachment on the Sorokino-Ulyanovo road organized an ambush and fired at the German column. 28 Nazis were killed on the battlefield.
January 8- The counter-offensive of the Soviet troops near Moscow against the Army Group "Center" was completed.
January 8 to April 20 The Rzhev-Vyazemskaya operation began against Army Group Center.
January 11- Soviet troops liberated the village of Baryatino, the city of Kirov and the city of Lyudinovo.
At the Sudimir station, the invaders shot the underground members from the youth group, which was headed by the teacher Eremina-Rumyantseva N.I.
27 KGB skiers fought heroically against the Nazis near the village of Khludnevo in the Duminchi district.
January 26- The Kaluga City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks adopted a resolution on the restoration of the K.E. Tsiolkovsky.
January - September 1943. - The Kirov (Tyaglovsky) partisan detachment operated behind enemy lines.
1st of February- Rechitsa tragedy. On February 1, having launched a counterattack on the village of Budskie Vyselki, the Germans, under the threat of execution, forced the inhabitants of the village of Rechitsa to go ahead of their advancing units. When peaceful Soviet residents, mostly old people, women and children, approached our positions, the Soviet soldiers heard their cries: “Shoot, the Germans are behind us!” In response, the Germans opened fire on them from machine guns. This tragic episode of the war served as the basis for the film "The Son of a Fighter", filmed according to the script by Sergei Mikhalkov.
February 16- Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR M.A. Guryanov, one of the leaders of the partisan movement in the Ugodsko-Zavodsky district, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
February - April- The Prechistensky (Mosalsky district) partisan detachment operated behind enemy lines.
March, April- Akulovsky, Bogoroditsky and Dubrovsky partisan detachments operated behind enemy lines in the Mosalsky district.
March 8- During the shelling of Sukhinichi at his command post, commander K.K. was seriously wounded. Rokossovsky.
March - July- the Kuibyshev district committee of the CPSU (b) acted behind enemy lines.
March - March 1943.- The battle at Zaitsevaya Gora at an altitude of 269.8 meters on the Warsaw highway in the Baryatinsky district.
5th of April- In Vetmitsa (Kuibyshevsky district), 38 fighters of the Kosevat partisan detachment fought for 7 hours against several hundred German punishers and destroyed 108 fascists.
April 19- On this day in the battle northeast of Slobodka ( Smolensk region) a native of Tarusa, the commander of the 33rd Army, Lieutenant General Mikhail Grigoryevich Efremov, died. By decree of the President of the Russian Federation of December 31, 1996, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia.
July 13- In the battle for the height near the village of Agafyevo (Iznoskovsky district), a submachine gunner of 774 sp. 222 sd. 33 A.S.R. Suvorov. Being wounded seven times, he destroyed more than 20 Nazis.
July 17th- The fascist German occupiers drove into a barn and burned 22 inhabitants of the village of Yamnoye (Kuibyshev region) for communication with the partisans, and on the same day they shot eight more.
July 23- Famous Soviet writer A.N. Tolstoy met in Kaluga with soldiers and commanders of the 1st Guards. kk. Lieutenant General P.A. Belova.
July 27- The Smolensk Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks adopted a decision “On the resettlement of workers, employees of the iron foundry and faience factories in the city of Kirov and Art. Fayansova, their families to the rear regions of the country”, in which it was decided to evacuate 10 thousand Kirov residents to the frontline zones in the Novosibirsk and Sverdlovsk regions.
August, 26th- Partisans of the Khvastovskiy detachment, led by commander N.I. Buslovsky on the Polpinskaya branch derailed the echelon. The Nazis lost over 500 soldiers and officers.
11 September- The fighters of the Khvastovskiy partisan detachment blew up the enemy echelon. More than 80 Nazis were killed and wounded.
September 14- a group of 18 fighters of the 718th regiment of the 139th division fought heroically during the assault on the Nameless Height in the Kuibyshev region. About their feat, in the words of M.L. Matusovsky, composer V.E. Basner wrote the song "On the Nameless Height".
September 17- The territory of the Kaluga region was finally liberated from the fascist invaders.
September 28- Kaluzhanin, pilot A.T. Karpov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
1944
January 20th- For the successes achieved in the training of workers, the release of products for the front and rear, the Kaluga Railway School No. 1 was awarded the challenge Red Banner of the State Defense Committee and awarded honorary title"Best Railway School"
2. Vasin N. Komsomolsk echelon. - M.: Mol. guard, 1981. 159 p.
3. Lands of the Kaluga calendar: Military operations in November-December 1941 on the territory of the Kaluga region // Polit, agitation. - 1981. - No. 24. - S. 21 - 27.
4. Kaluga region: Documents and materials. Book four. - Tula: Prioksk. book. publishing house, 1987. - 239 p.
5. When thunderstorms rage: Kaluga region in the Great Patriotic War. - Tula: Prioksk. book. publishing house, 1969. - 343 p.
6. Kondratiev V.D. Chronicle of military operations on the territory of the Kaluga region during the Great Patriotic War // Book of Memory of the fallen during the Great Patriotic War 1941 - 1945: Russian Federation: Kaluga region / Administration of the Kaluga region, etc. - Kaluga RIO Administration of Kaluga. region T. 6 (Additional), 2000. - S. 585 - 732.
7. Pisarenko I.S. Rear of the Kaluga region during the Great Patriotic War: (Monographic study). - Kaluga, 1998. - 118 p.
8. Forever in the memory of the people: Partisan detachments, formed and operating in the Kaluga region // Political propaganda. - 1983. - No. 18. - S. 18-21.
Materials provided by Zyuzkov P.I., a former employee of the Department of Culture and Art of the region
January 19, 2017 marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Linen Factory from the Nazi invaders. This date was timed to coincide with the thematic evening "Only memory would not fade away" ..., prepared jointly by the employees of the museum-reserve and the model library. The event was attended by senior students of PZSOSH No. 1 and PZSOSH No. 2, as well as residents of the village, who remember the harsh years of the Great Patriotic War.
The guys approached the topic of the meeting very responsibly. They prepared presentation films about his countrymen: Hero of the Soviet Union B.D. Romanov (school No. 1) and full holder of the Order of Glory I.A. Budin (school No. 2), as well as interesting reports about how they see their native village in the future. Museum and library staff showed the scene “We are from the past”, where they appeared before the audience as women from the distant 1942, who learned about the long-awaited liberation of Polotnyany from the Nazis. Then a quiz with questions about the Great Patriotic War awaited those present. Boys and girls showed good knowledge of historical material. Museum employee O. Vorobieva sincerely sang songs of the war years. Andrey Dementyev's penetrating poem "Veteran" was sounded. Those present left the hall with a sense of involvement in the events of the distant heroic past of their native village, in the feat of soldiers and officers who fought for our freedom and independence.
Part one. A.S. Pushkin, Goncharovs, Linen factory. History of one painting
What village are we passing through? - Pushkin asked the rider when the carriage went downhill to the bridge across the picturesque rivulet, which snaked among the thick willows and cut the village in two.
Zherelo, father sir. Fifteen versts remain to Kaluga. We'll be there soon. First time here, or how?
No, honey. I drove by here almost a year ago. Places are indescribable!
Memories came flooding back. Pushkin again saw himself rushing through these places, recalled the scent of bird cherry, which then enveloped him and his sad experiences from a letter with a half-rejection from Natalya Ivanovna, the mother of his charming Tasha. How he then wanted to sit on a horse in Kaluga and rush to the village on horseback to his beloved! Thirty-five miles, what a road! But he had already decided to go to the Caucasus, visit General Yermolov along the way, and there - what God would give ... He remembered the transport through the Oka, the shaking road past the ancient Lyutikov Monastery, through the handsome Przemysl and proud Kozelsk. I remembered and was transported by thought to the present day.
Today is another matter! Today, he, an engaged fiancé and relative, is going to introduce himself to the head of the family, Afanasy Nikolayevich Goncharov, a seventy-year-old man who, as the bride said, squandered his great-great-grandfather's millions on the royal luxury of an estate in the village at Zavodakh. How will everything work out?
Later, Pushkin enthusiastically recalled this amazing trip to the Plants. And about how in Kaluga he was ambushed at the post station by two local booksellers, who from somewhere found out about his passage through Kaluga, probably from Goncharov's coachmen, who were waiting for him there. They asked for his permission to come to Zavody the next day to congratulate the “famous poet” on his birthday. Permission was granted with gratitude. And about how he entered the Goncharov Palace for the first time, where in December 1775 the bride’s great-great-grandfather received Empress Catherine the Great with dignity, and how he was shocked by the magnificent decoration of the rooms, elegant furniture and, finally, an incredible number of beautiful paintings by European old masters. He saw a wonderful portrait of Peter the Great by the Goncharov artist, and a counterpart portrait of the very founder of the noble family of the Goncharovs, adored by descendants, Afanasy Abramovich, and a charming portrait of Empress Catherine II with her own handwritten inscription: “You love her like that.”
He also remembered the sumptuous dinner that the hospitable Afanasy Nikolaevich gave in his honor to the music of the fortress orchestra, and the feast in his honor with fireworks on the occasion of his thirtieth birthday. He recalled long conversations with Afanasy Nikolaevich, in which he learned family stories and secrets, including the secret story of Afanasy Abramovich’s origin from Peter the Great, about which he promised to remain silent from now on, and the story of how Catherine the Great slept for two nights on a huge gilded bed and how Afanasy Abramovich received gold medal from the empress...
How can our house not be a palace worthy of the mercy of their Imperial Highnesses? Yes, and you, dearest eminent relative Alexander Sergeyevich, we receive in a royal way!, Grandpa concluded the conversation.
Pushkin recalled how happy he returned to Moscow, gathered friends at the hotel and enthusiastically described his stay at the bride's estate. After the departure of his friends, he could not fall asleep: either his own poems came to mind - “I can’t sleep, there is no fire”, then pictures of his three-day life at the Plants rose before my eyes: sweet secret kisses of Natalya Nikolaevna and warmer bantering of the future mother-in-law Natalya Ivanovna, sweet music of the Goncharovsky orchestra and a string of paintings by Flemish masters. My God, what pictures! One perishing Madonna with child until now stands before eyes!
It was impossible to sleep. Happiness filled him. The desired Natalya Nikolaevna was seen by him as his wife, the mother of his son. Pushkin got up, went to the table and wrote in one sitting thank you letter grandfather Afanasy Nikolaevich. He looked at his watch: a little before midnight. Put the date - June 7, 1830. Putting the letter aside, he took a blank sheet of paper, and lines flowed from his pen, as if by themselves, without his participation. "Pictures," he wrote, once more walking through the enfilade of the Goncharov's house with his mind's eye. “Sonnet,” he wrote, circling the bottom and sides of the inscription. Quickly, in draft, with the uneven flickering of a candle, making involuntary mistakes and corrections, Pushkin wrote:
Not many paintings by old masters
I have long wanted to decorate my abode,
So that the visitor marveled at them superstitiously,
Listening to the wise decision of experts.
Oh no! In my corner, in the midst of slow labors
One picture I wished to be an eternal spectator
One - so that on me from the canvas, as from the clouds,
Lady and Our Divine Savior
- She with a smile, He with reason in his eyes
They looked at the meek in glory and in crowns -
Seated in the shade under the palm tree of Zion.
My wishes have been fulfilled. Creator
He sent you down to me, you, my Madona,
The purest beauty, the purest specimen!
Pushkin excitedly re-read what he had written again and again, immediately made corrections: he crossed out “for a long time” and wrote “always” above it, instead of “decision” he wrote “judgment”, “Oh no!” replaced "in simple". He set the date: "June 8", and "n" and "b" merged, as it was before, into one character. Falling asleep in the morning, he mentally repeated with pleasure the line he loved, “The purest charm, the purest example”, believing that the sonnet would still need to be worked on, but the foundation was already there.
On August 30 of the same year, he will write in the album to his friend Yuri Nikolayevich Bartenev a modified version of the sonnet, already called “Madona”, in which the words “The Most Pure and the Savior playing with her”, “She is with greatness, He is with reason in his eyes”, and a few more months later, Pushkin's immortal hymn to the beauty of the bride, inspired by his first trip to the Linen Factory, will appear before readers and become an integral part of Russian and world literature.
Pushkin appeared at the Plants again for the name day of his wife and mother-in-law on August 26, 1834 (yes, for his wife's birthday on August 27), after many months of separation from his family, he was already the head of the family. Since April, Natalya Nikolaevna with her children Masha and Sasha (“red”) has been content with only letters from her husband with assurances of love and his imminent arrival, and, of course, she has been waiting.
It was ten days of their happiness! Pushkin traveled all around on foot and traveled on horseback, in the mornings he rode a boat along the mysterious river Sukhodrev, fled to the gazebo he loved, where he wrote a lot, and even went to the office of the new head of the family - the wife's brother Dmitry Nikolayevich - to choose books for work. From the office, he no-no, and passed through the dining room into the living room, where there were “a lot of paintings by old masters” and the one that predicted happiness for him. For help in the story of accidental swimming in the river, he presented the young watchman Mishka Kirpichnikov with a silver ruble of 1833, but he did not eat and drink this wealth, at the end of the century he gave it to his wife Aksinya before his death so that she would give it to an intelligent person. In 1910, she presented this ruble to Ivan Nikolaev, the first head of the Pushkin Library-Reading Room in the Linen Factory, and he, in his declining years, in 1979, transferred it through me to the Kaluga Regional Museum of Local Lore, where it is kept to this day and from where it would be time for him to return to Linen Factory.
Happy Pushkin then, in the 34th, of course, did not know what awaited him in January 1837, although he could believe some predictions. But even in his dying hours, he recalled the Factories, about which he wrote with hidden sadness in a letter to his wife in the summer: “My God! If the factories were mine, I would not have been lured to St. Petersburg and a Moscow roll. I would live like a master!” (Recall that the emperor's family ate Moscow rolls every morning, which were supplied to the imperial court by the famous baker Filippov, a native of the Tarusa district of the Kaluga province.) On his deathbed, Pushkin declares his wife not guilty of anything and sets out his last will to her: to go with the children to his brother Dmitry for two years at the Plants and wear mourning for him, and then get married, “yes, not for a fool,” which Natalya Nikolaevna did exactly.
Pushkin was very fond of his wife's brother Dmitry Nikolayevich (1808-1860) and when he became the head of the family in 1832, he received a lot of help from him - both financial and paper. In 1834, Dmitry Nikolaevich Goncharov married the Armenian princess Elizaveta Yegorovna Nazarova. Their son Dmitry is Pushkin's only lifetime nephew through his wife. It is with him and his wife Olga Karlovna, nee von Schlippe, that the story of one painting from the Linen Factory will be connected.
Having received alarming letters about his father's illness, Dmitry Dmitrievich rushes from Paris to the Linen Factory, but seems to be in time for his coffin. Remaining the owner of the estate, Dmitry Dmitrievich soon, in 1863, experiences the death of his aunt Natalya Nikolaevna Pushkina, Lanskaya in her second marriage, and two years later his beloved uncle Sergei, whom he had recently met in Paris. The life of Dmitry Dmitrievich is brightened up by a beautiful maid, who soon gave birth to his daughter Katrin, named after Dmitry Dmitrievich's sister Ekaterina Dmitrievna (1841-1919), but who soon died. In 1871, Dmitry Dmitrievich was fond of the beautiful Olga von Schlippe, she reciprocated, and soon, in February 1872, first in Moscow, and then in the halls of the Great Goncharov Palace in the Linen Factory, a luxurious wedding thundered with the confluence of all relatives and guests.
Special mention should be made of Olga Karlovna's father, Karl Ivanovich Shlippe. He was born half a year earlier than Pushkin, on November 22, 1798, in the distant German town of Pegau, in Saxony, and became a prominent scientist in the field of chemistry. Karl Schlippe arrived in Moscow in 1826, and Russian nobility for many of his merits was granted to him in 1839. His merits to Russia were numerous, but perhaps one of them is that he and his wife Agnes gave Russia three sons and three daughters, who adopted the best features of the von Schlippe family - crystal honesty, hard work and diligence, which played a significant role in Russian history.
Dmitry Dmitrievich and Olga Karlovna had four sons and the same number of daughters. He was in love with a beautiful wife, their marriage was happy. Alas, trouble struck unexpectedly: in 1888, Dmitry Dmitrievich was paralyzed, and he long years was chained to a wheelchair. All worries about children, about housekeeping fell on the shoulders of Olga Karlovna.
Here is what her nephew Fyodor Vladimirovich von Schlippe writes about this period of her life in his memoirs (I publish for the first time an excerpt from his memoirs with the permission of descendants): “Uncle Dmitry Dmitrievich Goncharov, a man of high intelligence and great energy was not yet in his old years stricken with paralysis. He had three sons and three daughters. Olga Karlovna was faced with the responsible task of independently running a factory business and, in addition, raising a large family. She took on this task with exceptional energy. Dmitry Dmitrievich, as a very progressive person, at one time took all measures to put the factory on newest beginnings technology and spent a lot of money on the renewal of the machine park by purchasing the latest English cars. In his enthusiasm, he did not take into account the amount of cash and got into debt obligations. At this difficult moment, Aunt Olga had to take the reins of government. With amazing will and skill, for several years she managed not only to get out of a difficult financial situation, but also to accumulate large amounts of money. She placed them on new estates and meant to ensure the well-being of other children as well. One of these large estates was "Detchino" along the Moscow-Voronezh railway, where her son Boris later lived. About Olga Karlovna, people around said that there were only three real women in Rus' - Marfa Posadnitsa, Catherine the Great and Olga Karlovna.
Further, Fedor Vladimirovich writes briefly about the final period of the life of Olga Karlovna and Dmitry Dmitrievich: “Often our father went to his sister and loved to relax there. I remember two joint trips, one merry one, when their daughter Olga Dmitrievna married Leonid Nikolaevich Novosiltsev. Aunt Olga arranged a grand feast, which is called for the whole world. The huge halls of the house were full of guests. The animation and fun were exceptional. The second trip took place on a very sad occasion. Olga Karlovna, who enjoyed universal love and respect, became a victim of robbery. A long-term employee under the sick Dmitry Dmitrievich, a certain Rodion, whose conscience was unclean, since, as it turned out, by force and threats he wrested a signature from a paralyzed old man for a large amount in his favor, decided to disable the only person, which could destroy his criminal plans. He ended the life of a still relatively young, cheerful woman with a shot from a pistol in the temple ... Nothing was said to Dmitry Dmitrievich about what had happened. The funeral was over, there were a lot of people, and Uncle Dmitry was so isolated in a big house that he didn’t find out about anything. The children were afraid to tell him about what had happened, especially since his state of health caused worries and fears. Leaving the Linen Factory, I went to say goodbye to my uncle, and he mumbled affectionately looking at me, since his speech organs were also paralyzed. Returning to Tashirovo, I received a telegram in the morning from Mitya's cousin that his father had died suddenly. I returned to the Linen Factory again on the same day to pay my last debt to my late uncle....”
Pictures of the life of the Linen Factory! IN Soviet time the history of the Linen Factory was distorted for ideological reasons, the workers' and socialist movement was bulging out, the Goncharovs were said "either badly or nothing at all." Today, finally, it is possible to write “the truth and only the truth”, especially since life gives the seeker amazing discoveries and finds.
I was extremely lucky: in the family in which I grew up, despite all the difficulties and dangers of the time, not only the names of the Benkendorfs, as it turned out, my ancestors on my father's side, but also the Goncharovs, with one of whose representatives Kira Goncharova my mother - Tamara Pavlovna, then Tamara Zakharova, studied in the same class of the Kaluga Pushkin School in the 20s of the 20th century. In the early 70s, after the death of my father Vladimir Vladimirovich Solovyov, the name of my great-great-grandfather Alexander Ivanovich Benkendorf, the cousin of the famous count, began to sound more and more often in the house. Then, apparently dissolved, but still strong, the “Benckendorffian” gene jumped up in me, and I set off with might and main to study the history of the Goncharov family.
Already my first publications devoted to the history of the Linen Factory attracted the attention of readers of regional newspapers. I began to work a lot in the archives of Kaluga, devoting a large part of my free time to this, and the finds did not take long to appear. Step by step I became a “potter”…
For this reason, in 1974, the chief architect of the Kaluga restoration workshop, Alexander Sergeyevich Dneprovsky, introduced me to one of the representatives of the Goncharov family, a descendant of the brother of Pushkin's wife Sergey Nikolayevich Goncharov, Valentina Aleksandrovna Zhilina, whose friendship continues to this day. On July 2, 1975, he introduced me to Professor Gleb Dmitrievich Goncharov (1903-1980), who arrived in Kaluga after a half-century separation from her, the son of the last owner of the Linen Factory estate, Dmitry Dmitrievich Goncharov (1973-1908). In a small company, we then went to the Linen Factory, where I was more of a listener than a storyteller and learned so much new for myself that I decided to take up the “potter's theme” even more seriously.
By the way, it was Gleb Dmitrievich who, at my mother's request, found the telephone number and Leningrad address of her school friend Kira Goncharova, and their friendship resumed almost half a century later. Thanks to this, I not only soon personally met Kira Nikolaevna Goncharova (Kazanskaya), but also with her sisters Anastasia Nikolaevna Goncharova (Malkova) and Alexandra Nikolaevna Goncharova (Shvedova). We became friends, meetings with them filled me with new information from the history of the family. Gleb Dmitrievich, with whom we constantly corresponded, introduced me to his children Oleg, Igor, Natalya, Nina and Irina, to his nieces Olga Sergeevna and Ksenia Sergeevna, to my cousin Vera Leonidovna Novosiltseva-Tate, who came from the USA in September 1976, and other relatives , who not only willingly supplied me with wonderful stories from the history of the family and allowed me to look at and copy the rarest documents and photos, but patiently listened to my stories about the Goncharovs, built on the materials of the state and family Goncharov archives that I had read, which for obvious reasons they could not see before .
Goncharov's house in the Linen Factory burned down in October 1941, even before the arrival of the Germans. Then, for thirty-three years, the ruins of the house were further destroyed by bad weather and winds, until the native of those places, the legendary chairman of the regional executive committee, Alexandra Ivanovna Demidova (I mention this name with gratitude!) insisted on the beginning of the restoration of this unique monument of Russian history and culture. My modest attempts were intended not only to pay tribute to the glorious family of the Goncharovs, but also to accelerate the restoration of the monument. With the help of the regional local history museum, to which I brought all the "Goncharov" materials I collected, I created a slide film from rare photos and the lecture “Pushkin, the Goncharovs, the Linen Factory”.
Where I just did not perform with her! And at the Linen Factory itself and in Kaluga, in Moscow - in the House of Scientists, in the museum on Kropotkinskaya - in front of such famous Pushkinists as I.M. Obodovskaya and M.A. Dementiev, in Arkhangelsk - in front of Pushkin's great-great-granddaughter I.E. Gibshman, in Khabarovsk, on BAM, in Tynda and many other cities. Everywhere my listeners thanked me for opening the Linen Factory. The current Gnessin Academy of Music, which has given the world such an abundance of great musicians, originates from a small wooden house on the Dog Playground, which was presented to the Gnessins by its former owner Fyodor Vladimirovich Shlippe, nephew of Olga Karlovna Goncharova.
In the early 80s, I often visited the folk museum of Elena Fabianovna Gnesina in the new building. The exposition of the museum not only preserved documents about the former friendship of the Gnesins, Schlippe, Rau and Goncharovs, but even color images of the interiors of the Polotnyanovsky Goncharov House, painted by Olga Dmitrievna Goncharova-Lyubomirova, who had been friends with Elena Fabianovna all her life and revered her as mother. I re-shot these images on color film and presented the prints to the restorers of Polotnyany, which they were incredibly happy about: before that they had only black-and-white images of the interiors of the Big Goncharov's House.
Director of the museum Margarita Eduardovna Rittikh, to whom Russia and the whole world owe the salvation of the house-museum of P.I. Tchaikovsky in Klin, told me that she had Elena Fabianovna's memories of her stay at the Linen Factory. But she will let me read them and copy them only when I give a lecture at their institute, which she has already heard a lot about. I happily agreed. By that time, a lot had happened in my life. an important event: I first met Boris Nikolaevich Goncharov, brother of Kira Nikolaevna, who played a very important role in my life: he became my spiritual mentor. He also became my teacher in a unique field of human knowledge and activity - in the theory and practice of creating the so-called "eternal calendars".
My lecture that December evening was "doomed" to success. Margarita Eduardovna Rittikh read the memoirs of Elena Fabianovna Gnesina, published in No. 3 of the Soviet Music magazine (three months before her death). The magnificent pianist Natalya Mutli performed Chopin's pieces, which once, in the summer of 1901, Elena Fabianovna performed at the Linen Factory. Naturally, after such an introduction, I was in a good mood and conducted my lecture in such a way that many people came up to me and thanked me for what they heard and saw.
My friend, war veteran and theater historian Vera Petrovna Nazimova, whom I invited for the first time to my lecture, came up to me with a very beautiful young woman who suddenly said: “Vladimir Vladimirovich, you are the person I have been looking for for a long time! A friend of my mother, Nina Vladimirovna Zhitkova, Maria Ivanovna Yeletskaya lives in Kaluga and keeps two paintings from the Linen Factory in her house. Here is her address. Would you like to see them?"
The next day I was visiting Maria Ivanovna. In the semi-darkness of an old wooden priest's house near the former St. Basil's Cathedral, I saw two darkened paintings. One of them depicted the head of John the Baptist, the other depicted an old man reclining on pillows, and next to him was a kneeling fair-haired woman. I took a closer look and immediately recognized in her Olga Karlovna Goncharova, whose images I had seen earlier.
Yes Yes! You are right, - Maria Ivanovna confirmed my guess, - We know that this is Olga Karlovna since the 20s. Three houses from us, at the corner of the former Dvoryanskaya and Vasilyevskaya streets, the Goncharovs lived in the “Lopakhinsky” house, and one of them, Boris Nikolaevich, often visited our house, he was friends with the priest Sokolov, and as soon as he saw this picture, he said: "This is my grandmother Olga Karlovna." Our priest knew well the pre-revolutionary portraits of Elder Ambrose of Optina and immediately recognized him... And Maria Ivanovna told the story of the acquisition of these paintings.
“My father Ivan Petrovich Yeletsky was a well-known banker in Kaluga before the revolution. In the hungry year of 1918, at the Kaluga market, he saw two paintings that some peasant was selling. He bought both paintings without bargaining, and the peasant told him, in response to his question, that they were from the Linen Factory.”
That year, the “palace-like house of the Goncharovs” was plundered by local peasants and alien Bolsheviks. Unfortunately, the two daughters of the last owner of the estate, Dmitry Dmitrievich Goncharov, who once saved peasants and workers and their families during the flood of 1908, Olga and Tatiana remained in the house and were subject to execution. They were saved only by the fact that a convoy from Moscow of 19 carts arrived in Polotnyany, led by the Bolshevik sailor Igor Novikov, the son of Goncharov's nurse Tatyana Yegorovna Novikova (as his sister Tatyana Ivanovna Khaikina told). The wagon train arrived in order, under a mandate issued by the People's Commissar of Education Lunacharsky, to save what was left in the house and take out the most valuable Goncharov's archives to Moscow. Igor handed the girls a letter from their mother, Vera Konstantinovna Goncharova-Novitskaya, asking them to trust Uncle Igor, take the most valuable thing with them and go with him on a cart to Moscow. The recent performers of the roles of Tatyana and Olga Larin in "Eugene Onegin", which was staged under the lindens of Polotnyanovsky Park, did not find anything more valuable than jars of apricot jam....
The archive, saved thanks to a letter from Lunacharsky to Lenin, written by Ekaterina Dmitrievna Goncharova (1841-1919), sister of Dmitry Dmitrievich Sr., the first Russian woman who defended her doctorate in medicine at the Paris Sorbonne, became the basis of the famous fund No. 1265 in Central Archive ancient acts. Something managed to be saved from painting, but what the great Pushkin once saw here was no longer there. Those two paintings were also stolen, which then happily ended up in the Yeletskys' house.
Ivan Petrovich Yeletsky died in 1920, after he was severely beaten by bandits, his widow Maria Alekseevna and daughter Masha kept the paintings as a precious memory of him. Later, already during the Patriotic War, during the occupation, the Nazis raided them and wanted to take the paintings, but the mother's brother, who spoke German, somehow persuaded them to come later. While the uninvited guests were away, he hid the paintings in the attic. When the Germans discovered the deception, they stripped Maria Ivanovna's uncle naked and threw him out into the cold...
But how to determine who created these paintings? I couldn't find any autographs on the paintings. How to be? I turned for help to a well-known connoisseur of painting in Kaluga, the grandson of K.E. Tsiolkovsky Vladimir Efimovich Kiselev. The next day we examined the paintings, and the experienced Vladimir Efimovich rather quickly read the inscription on the spine of the Bible depicted lying under the Elder’s pillow: “D. M. Bolotov. 1899". The inscription, opened on another painting, read: "Maria Uglich." Of course, I was more interested in the picture of D.M. Bolotov. I wanted to learn as much as possible about the artist, about Olga Karlovna, about the Optina Elder Ambrose. I started searching, and this is what I managed to find out about these amazing people then and later.
Optina Elder Hieroschemamonk Ambrose, in the world Alexander Mikhailovich Grenkov, was born into the family of a sexton in the village of Bolshaya Lipovitsa, Tambov Province, on November 23, 1812. (It is interesting that not far from this place in the village of Karian, three months earlier on August 27, the future wife of A.S. Pushkin, Natalya Goncharova, was born). He brilliantly completed his studies at the Tambov Theological School and at the age of 18 entered the Tambov Theological Seminary. After graduating from the seminary, in March 1838 he entered the Lipetsk Theological School as a teacher, but, obeying an inner call, he made a pilgrimage to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and in the fall of that year, having received the parting word of Father Illarion Troekurovsky: “Go to Optina - and you will be experienced!”, comes to Optina Pustyn and stays there until the end of his days. Here his spiritual growth takes place under the guidance of the elders Fr. Leonid and Fr. Macarius, and on November 29, 1842, he was “tonsured in the mantle” and received the new name “Ambrose”, in honor of St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, and two months later he was ordained a hierodeacon.
In September 1846, he became seriously ill, but after a year and a half, to the surprise of many, he recovered from his illness and soon became one of the most famous elders in Russia. It is visited by many famous figures of Russia: F.M. Dostoevsky, K.N. Leontiev, V.S. Solovyov. In 1887 he was visited Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, who later treated him with love. Three times, starting from 1874, Count L.N. Tolstoy visited him. Dostoevsky admitted that he wrote his elder Zosima from Father Ambrose, but he could not fully approach the exact depiction of the fullness and greatness of the spirit of the Optina Elder. The wisdom and insight of the Elder attracts to him a huge number of spiritual children from all classes. Many testimonies have been preserved about his providence. The words of L.N. Tolstoy, which he said in 1881 after the first meeting with the Elder: “This Father Ambrose is a completely holy man. I talked with him, and somehow it became easy and gratifying in my soul, When you talk with such a person, you feel the closeness of God.
One of recent exploits the love of an old man Ambrose to his neighbors was the establishment of the Shamorda Kazan women's community, which later became a convent. In a beautiful corner of nature near the Serena River, on the site of the former estate of Kalygin, which was bought by his spiritual daughter Klyuchareva, in July 1876, the elder Fr. Ambrose said: “We will have a monastery here!” On October 1, 1884, the consecration of the temple and the opening of the community in Shamordin took place, the ruler of which and assistant, Fr. Ambrose became mother Sophia, but her reign did not last long: on January 24, 1888, she died. Elder Fr. Ambrose lamented over her death, and then he himself died on October 10, 1891. He was buried honorably with the confluence of a huge number of people and the participation of the highest clergy in the necropolis of Optina Pustyn. But even after his death, his fame grew, miracles associated with his name multiplied.
We have already talked about Olga Karlovna Goncharova depicted in the picture and will talk about her again. Doubts, whether she is depicted in the picture or not, did not arise already at the first examination of this unique canvas. In the same year, I received permission from Maria Ivanovna Yeletskaya to photograph the picture, and then I presented slides and photo prints to the numerous descendants of Olga Karlovna, who were extremely happy to see the ancestor next to the holy man.
In the autumn of 1983 in Moscow, I finally personally met Boris Nikolaevich Goncharov, whom I had heard a lot of good things about and dreamed of meeting. Fortunately for me, in January 1985, fate prepared for me a business trip to Perm on matters related to my research activities. Boris Nikolaevich, having learned that I was in Perm, invited me to stay with him. Just before my departure, Boris Nikolaevich handed me a letter, which I was to deliver in Moscow to his friend, rector of the Church of John the Baptist Nikolai Aleksandrovich Sitnikov. Then he presented me with an old book “Description of the Life of the Blessed Memory of the Optina Elder Hieroschemamonk Ambrose”, compiled by Archpriest S. Chetverikov and published in 1912 by the printing house of the Kazan Amvrosievskaya Shamorda Women's Hermitage of the Kaluga province. This book, as he explained, accompanied him everywhere, even in prison and exile. I was blown away by this gift! During our first meeting, N.A. Sitnikov, having learned that I was not baptized, on the same evening of January 30, 1985, baptized me into Orthodoxy. But the miraculous influence of the Optina Elder on my life did not end there, and again and again I experienced his closeness to my affairs.
Here is just one example, which should be written in more detail separately. I, who did not have any invitations, was literally miraculously lucky on a hot day on June 6, 1988, despite the obstacles, to get to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and attend the opening of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Rus'. In the second part of the celebration, the canonization of new Orthodox saints took place. Among them, the name of the Monk Optina Elder Ambrose also shone. Like all those gathered, I listened with excitement to the wonderful choir of the Moscow Theological Academy, glorifying the saints, and looked at the icon of St. Ambrose of Optina, who also entered my life.
But back to the creator of the aforementioned painting, D.M. Bolotov. Autograph "D.M. Bolotov "turned out to be the signature of a well-known artist in the 19th century, an active member of the Russian Academy artist, who received this title for a magnificent portrait of the famous Aivazovsky, Dmitry Mikhailovich Bolotov (1837-1907), the last twenty years of his life better known in Russia under the name of Father Daniil-Optinsky artist and monk. Here is what I learned from the literature about him, then difficult to access, and meetings with his descendants. Dmitry Mikhailovich, born in the year of Pushkin's death, came from an old Russian noble family of the Bolotovs, whose famous representative during the time of Catherine the Great became famous in many ways and left behind the famous Bolotov's Notes. From childhood, two of his main qualities appeared in him: high spirituality and religiosity and an extraordinary gift of the artist, which determined him life path. Fortunately for us, his stories about the most important episodes of his life, recorded in the late 90s of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century by his student and friend S. A. Nilus, have been preserved.
At the Academy, Bolotov was a friend of Repin and Vasnetsov, his fame as a portrait painter was not so noisy, but constant. Years of artistic work flowed in St. Petersburg. Let's not forget that the family of Dmitry Mikhailovich was religious, from which came his brother schemamonk, and the sisters abbess-schema and schema-nun (we are talking here about his sisters - Sofya Mikhailovna and Maria Mikhailovna, who connected their lives with the Shamordinsky Amvrosievsky convent). D.M. himself ended up in Optina Hermitage. Bolotov, who wrote about it this way: “And here I am in the skete, which came in handy with the talent given to me by God; I paint the holy temples of Optina and Shamordina to the glory of God, and I already feel that longed-for shore behind that already flown half of my path, to which, having removed me from the stump and put me back in the basket, I will be carried in a great and terrible flight to my God, still invisible , Guardian Angel ... "So in 1887, Dmitry Mikhailovich Bolotov became the father of Daniel (The murals of the interior of the Refectory in Optina Pustyn, made by him, have been preserved, thank God, to this day. - V.S.)
It is not without interest for us, in connection with the question of what could connect Olga Karlovna Goncharova with the Elder of Optina Ambrose and Father Daniel, the story of S.A. Nilus about the activities of Father Daniel in Optina in the very first years of his stay there: “Under the late great Elder, Fr. Ambrose of Optina, who rarely left his cell because of his pain, on about. Daniel had, with the blessing of the Elder, the duty to lead to faith and truth those of the intellectuals, confused in spirit, who were drawn to Optina to the Elders by a conscience that had not yet fallen asleep forever, groaning and crying about the loss of God. Burdened with illness, hundreds of visitors of all ranks and spiritual dispositions, spiritual nourishment of many monasteries and his Optina Monastery, the great Elder could not always devote enough time to sort out the doubts and philosophies of an intelligent soul, and he often entrusted such a soul to the processing of the ardently eloquent and believing Fr. Daniel…”
In 1888, after the paralysis of her husband, all the worries of raising children and maintaining a huge household fell on the shoulders of Olga Karlovna Gocharova. Being from the birth of the Lutheran religion, she, having connected her life with an Orthodox person, could not but accept Orthodoxy. This is also evidenced by the fact that, after her death, she was buried and robbed according to the Orthodox rite. Despite the fact that there has not yet been written confirmation of her meetings and conversations with the Elder Ambrose of Optina and Father Daniel, the very fact that the painting was created several years after the death of the Elder and precisely by Father Daniel suggests that such meetings and conversations took place. Probably, it was after the blessing of the Elder and his good advice that Olga Karlovna was able not only to cope with misfortunes, but also to correct neglected affairs and achieve prosperity in the Goncharovs' estate.
There is no doubt that the basis of the painting was the lifetime image of the elder Ambrose, made by Father Daniel. We see such an image in a book compiled by Archpriest S. Chetverikov. Comparing our picture with the prototype, we see that the image of the Elder in both cases is identical: the great Elder is looking at us inseparably - the location of his eyes is like this - with an affectionate wise chuckle. But in our case, Olga Karlovna falls to his left hand for a blessing with an expression of repentance and deep sorrow on her face, and the right hand of the Elder rests on her head. Instead of the bottom pillow, Father Daniel in our picture depicted a Bible, on the spine of which we find both his secular name and the date of completion of the picture.
The picture became a kind of monument to the great Elder, who blessed his spiritual daughter and through her her descendants, who later had to go through many temptations and trials, she became a monument to Olga Karlovna, who left a good mark on herself on earth, a monument to her creator Dmitry Mikhailovich Bolotov - father Daniel , a wonderful Russian man and Christian.
In 1890, as follows from the surviving diaries of Olga Karlovna's niece, a tragedy occurred - her murder described above and the death of her loving husband Dmitry Dmitrievich, who last days life stood idle in agonizing suffering in front of a large portrait of Olga Karlovna hanging in the living room. Was it our picture? If not, then it would be good to look for the “large portrait” that disappeared from the house, like many paintings, during the looting of the potter’s house in the Linen Factory after the “revolution”. Miraculously, the surviving paintings migrated to Kaluga museums, some of which, along with other items from the Linen Factory, went to museums in Russia and, probably, other countries ...
How did the further fate of "our" picture?
In 1987, during one of my meetings with Maria Ivanovna Eletskaya, I learned that she was going to give this picture to a relative in Chelyabinsk, "who asked her very much about it." She herself dreamed that this picture would someday return to the Linen Factory. (In those years, the restoration of the Goncharov's house in Polotnyanoy was in full swing, but another 13 years passed before it was completed and the museum-estate was opened in 1999 - V.S.) I asked Maria Ivanovna to transfer this painting to the bosom of the Russian Orthodox Church, with hope that it will be preserved there. In the autumn of the same year, Maria Ivanovna met with the then abbot of the St. Danilov Monastery, Tikhon, and, as she said, handed over the painting to him and expressed a request to transfer it to the Linen Factory in the future. He paid her a certain amount, which was perceived by her as a payment from the Russian side. Orthodox Church for the painting rescued and preserved by her and her family.
The 200th anniversary of A.S. Pushkin. In September 1997, according to a letter from the great-grandson of the poet Grigory Grigoryevich Pushkin, I was included in the State Jubilee Commission. In it, I, together with the Governor of the Kaluga Region, Chairman of the Committee of the Federation Council on Culture Valery Vasilievich Sudarenkov, contributed to the speedy commissioning of the museum-estate “Linen Factory”. The meetings of the commission usually took place in the government house, and it was interesting for me to visit the apartments in which I once wandered. The meetings themselves seemed too overorganized to me.
Naturally, I was interested in the fate of the painting from the Linen Factory. Where is she? According to the new governor of the St. Danilov Monastery, this painting was not in the monastery in 1997. The former abbot of the monastery Tikhon became the head of the publishing house of the Moscow Patriarchate, Bishop of Bronnitsky (since April 2000 he has been Archbishop of Bronnitsky, for which we heartily congratulate His Eminence). In 1998, I contacted him by phone and learned from him that he gave it to priest Vitaly Nikolaevich Bolotov, who was leaving to serve in Optina Pustyn. When I called there, they told me that they did not have any priest Bolotov ... Traces of the painting were lost! It seemed to me - forever! I kept searching.
It was only in the spring of 2000, during my new call to Optina, that I remembered that His Eminence had mentioned in our telephone conversation the village of Nizhnie Pryski, where, according to him, “there were Bolotov’s relatives.” Then I asked: “Do you have any telephone in Nizhny Prysky?” The secretary of the Viceroy of Optina Pustyn, Venedikta, gave me the phone number of Father Leonty, the rector of the church in Nizhniye Prysk. When I told Father Leonty the above story briefly on the phone, he replied: “I think I know who they are talking about. This is Archimandrite Macarius, in the world of Bolotov. He lives here across the street from me. He once began to serve in Optina, but something did not work out for him there. You have to hurry, he is very ill, he has been ill for more than a year, and the doctors say that he can die at any moment ... "
I arrived in Nizhnie Pryski at noon on March 9th. Father Leonty, somehow accompanied me to the house of Archimandrite Macarius. Makariy's assistant Petya conveyed to me his request to wait five minutes, "until they prepare him for the meeting," Petya himself added that the doctors ask everyone that the meetings should not be long ...
When I entered the room, on the left side of the bed was sitting a man of about 60 years of age, a burning brunette, without a single gray hair. Only the pained expression on his face betrayed in him a seriously ill patient. He smiled kindly at me. I greeted him, gave him a color photocopy of the painting. With trembling hands he took it and in an unsteady, broken voice said: “Unfortunately, I can't see well. I have been in bed for a year and a half, there were eight paralysis. The severe trials that had been endured some time ago had an effect. I'll probably die soon, I'm not afraid of death, I'm ready for death. There is also a coffin (at the opposite wall I saw a coffin upholstered in green velvet). I had already distributed everything that was mine, and I was waiting for someone to come for the picture. So I have been waiting for you and am ready to hand it over to you. Dispose of it as you see fit, just tell Bishop Tikhon that I handed it over to you. Petya, - he turned to the assistant, - bring from above “Amvrosy recumbent”, that one, you know.
When an assistant brought into the room a painting that I had not seen for 13 years and considered lost, I was overcome with excitement. The picture is intact, thank God! Father Archimandrite Macarius ordered the painting to be “properly” packed, and while this was happening, we had time to talk with him. I told Father Macarius the history of the painting and everything I know about the Bolotovs. He listened attentively, his face brightened, and he added to my story what I could not know:
I am 67 years old and have been through a lot. Dmitry Mikhailovich Bolotov is my cousin great-grandfather. My grandfather was the governor of Ekaterinodar Bolotov-Brilliantov. This prefix to his surname was given by Alexander the Third himself for his heroic appearance. In Soviet times, almost all of my relatives were shot. I was not allowed to study, I learned only in church to write in Church Slavonic. How much did I have to endure! And by the way, - he added, - we are now in the very cell in which Elder Ambrose once lived! It seemed that the Elder was invisibly present in his former cell and rejoiced with us at our meeting.
They brought a picture. It's time to say goodbye. Archimandrite Macarius gave me his photograph as a memento and, with great effort, wrote his name and his blessing to me on it.
Arriving in Moscow, I informed Vladyka Tikhon by telephone through my secretary about the meeting with Macarius, that he had given the painting to me, and that it was temporarily with me and in need of restoration, and that I would very much like to meet him. Alas, our meeting with Archbishop Tikhon took place only three months later. Before her, I made several high-quality computer copies of the painting, which I presented to the descendants of the Goncharovs. At our meeting, which took place in June, Archbishop Tikhon, after listening carefully to the story of the painting I had outlined, expressed the wish that it be transferred to Optina Pustyn.
Even today I believe that the Museum of the Linen Factory is no less worthy to own a copy of the painting, especially since it was once the property of the Goncharov's house. And also because for many years this work of an outstanding Russian artist undeservedly had no audience, and its history was unknown ...
Part two. New story. Liberator of the Linen Factory Turchaninov Konstantin Aleksandrovich
In the early 1970s, when under the influence of her mother Tamara Pavlovna Solovieva, who told me that in the mid-20s she studied, sitting on the same desk with the beautiful Kira Goncharova, and years later, she would like to find her friend, I studied all the literature on the Linen Factory and made several trips to this village and I wrote down the results of these trips. In 1974, I was lucky: with the help of the great local historians of Kaluga, Henrietta Mikhailovna Morozova and Alexander Sergeevich Dneprovsky, I found a representative of the Goncharov family and a qualified restorer of the Linen Factory, Valentina Aleksandrovna Zhilina. We went to this village on the "Zaporozhets", and I heard great stories about the past of this cultural monument, and we became friends. We went into the dilapidated building of the Goncharovs' house and by force got out of there: unburned pieces literally fell from the roof on us.
In July 1975, a discovery awaited me: A.S. Dneprovsky conveyed an invitation from the grandson of Dmitry Dmitrievich and Natalya Nikolaevna Goncharova, Professor Gleb Dmitrievich Goncharov, to accompany them with their son Igor to the Linen Factory. We arrived at the cultural monument in the evening, and I saw how tears of mourning flowed from the eyes of Gleb Dmitrievich over the destroyed home. From Gleb Dmitrievich I learned the addresses of his children Igor, Oleg, Natalya and, of course, the address and telephone number of my mother's school friend Kira Nikolaevna Goncharova. On the same evening, I connected them by phone and the community of the descendants of Nikolai Dmitrievich Goncharov and the addresses of Kira Nikolaevna, Boris Nikolaevich, Anastasia Nikolaevna and Alexander Nikolaevich were opened to me.
Anastasia Nikolaevna Goncharova was the first of the Goncharovs to come from Moscow in 1976, she had a meeting with my mother and a trip with me to the Kaluga Museum of Local Lore and to the Linen Factory, where she met her childhood friend Tatyana, daughter of Tatyana Ivanovna, the chief butler and keepers of the secrets of the Linen Factory . Immediately I begged for papers and photos that were intended for burning in the stove, and today these are exhibits of the local history museums in Kaluga and in the Linen Factory. I was flooded with information about the Goncharovs, about the secrets of their lives. I made small slides and accompanied them with my lecture on the topic "Pushkin, Goncharovs, Linen Factory"
Among my first listeners was the famous cultural figure Irakli Luarsabovich Andronikov. It was he who offered me to give my lecture, which brought the opening day of the museum closer, wherever I was. And I did it!
In 1983 I ended up in the sanatorium "Dmitriadovka" on the shores of the Sea of Azov, and, of course, delivered my lecture. The audience was ecstatic! They asked questions. I also asked the question: "Does anyone have anything to do with the Linen Factory? Maybe someone liberated it from the Nazis forty years ago?" In response, a brave man with a military bearing stood up and said quietly: "I liberated the Linen Factory!"
I just couldn't believe it! And after the end of the lecture, we got to know him: Konstantin Alexandrovich Turchaninov from Rostov. It seemed to me that the expression of another face of my friend People's Artist of the USSR Alexei Dmitrievich Popov flashed across his face, the same profile, the same sly smile. They turned out to be very similar. We agreed to meet and talk. It turned out that I not only wrote down his story in my incomprehensible handwriting, but upon arrival home in Kaluga, I began to correspond with him and prepared an article for the Kaluga newspaper Znamya, I wanted to make a book about him, it was very interesting to me. I involved the director of the local history museum D.P. Dundukov, who sent inquiries to Rostov.And now I remembered that I had materials for that article, began searching and found it! Fortunately, I have preserved Turchaninov's archive since 1983! I leaf through the lines of his letters to me, beautiful letters of the hero! I read the lines so familiar to me and can’t believe my eyes: in these lines there is a name that is well known to me “Vera Petrovna Nazimova”! These are the terms: “Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich! I am sending you a letter! I hasten to write at the reception to send more! Sincerely, K. Turchaninov." And on fragments of the letter there are lines: "116 separate marine brigade, formed from a sailor Pacific Fleet in the city of Kaluga In February 1942, an offensive began with the forces of 116 OMB near the village of Gorodishche, command in an old building" On the back: "432012 Ulyanovsk, Klubnaya street, house 6, apt. 27. Neyuvko Vasily Alexandrovich from the 110th s.d. 1289 Marine Regiment. "And further lines: We met with Vera Petrovna Nazimova in Moscow after a meeting in the village of Bykhovo, Mogilev Region, in honor of the 40th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus"
So, they Konstantin Alexandrovich Turchaninov and Vera Petrovna Nazimova knew each other! This is Vera Petrovna, who lived next to the apartment of my cousin Konstantin Alekseevich Solovyov in a 13-story building on Alexei Tolstoy Street, where I met Papanov. I was visiting her, and she told me about the origin of Afanasy Abramovich Goncharov, information gleaned from the stories of her great-grandmother Nazimova in 1939. I visited her several times, and even shortly before my death, on February 20, 2008, I interviewed her by phone, and she told me about the service in Kaluga in 1942. This is a female hero who lost her leg in battles, but remained in the ranks. By the way, it was Shvydkoi himself who had an internship in the Theater magazine! And I already knew her because she told me in 1983 the Kaluga address of paintings from the Linen Factory, and by incredible adventures and close contact with Schema-Archimandrite Macarius, who is also the great-nephew of the famous artist D.M. Bolotov, I now have these pictures. I will describe the feat of Vera Petrovna Nazimova later. Such miracles. And now back to the respected K.A. Turchaninov.
Today he may not be alive, he was born in Rostov on December 25, 1909, and today he would be almost 104 years old, but I have his exact address on Lenin Street. And then, 20 years ago, he told me the following.
“My father died on the battlefield of the First World War on May 1, 1915, my mother a little later, I was left an orphan, picked potatoes, tried to sew boots, and finally ended up in an orphanage. I ended up at the Spartak plant, I was a regular worker, in 1929 I was sent to the workers' faculty, in 1932 to special training in Odessa, and then I was sent to the 138th artillery regiment in Rostov. In 1941, our regiment was reorganized into the 440th Artillery Regiment, and I became a battalion commander. We were armed with heavy guns of special power, caliber 203 mm. When we arrived almost at the front line in the Unechi region, the cavalry general to whom we were subordinate, seeing our clumsy guns on the railway platforms, ordered: "To the wagons! Before the German intercepts you, immediately to Moscow, march!" Near Gorky we were reorganized and rearmed. Our regiment received powerful long-range howitzers with a range of 17 km. 250 m., and after a while we took up defensive positions in the Serpukhov area.
It just so happened that apart from our regiment there was no one to defend the city. After some time, units of the 49th army of General Zakharchenko began to approach Serpukhov and began to take up defense together with us, 12 km from the city. We settled well, shot all available targets. I had good intelligence. As soon as the German approached, we took the "tongue", and he showed that in the area of \u200b\u200bone forest in our zone, 10 kilometers from us, a division of fascists was concentrated. We aimed all our howitzers at this target and opened fire! The next "language" - the officer said that the German division was completely destroyed by a sudden and accurate artillery shelling, and the command german army concluded that it was impossible to go to Moscow from this direction: a strong artillery barrier.
I must say that we were really strong: shells were transported directly from Moscow and held our line all October and November steadfastly. And on December 6, the counter-offensive operation began. The Germans were not ready for this! And the frost helped! The Nazis abandoned their equipment in the forests, they abandoned tanks. The Germans are dead! And Comrade Stalin managed to dress the army, feed it and complete the combat mission. We had goals: to take Tarusa, Aleksin, Vysokinichi, Detchino, Linen Factory and Kondrovo. It's hard for me to remember everything fighting, I will focus on individual ones.
Vysokinichi. Our attack on this locality was so swift that the Germans did not have time to evacuate their hospital. we entered the barn where he was, an ominous picture appeared: corpses were lying everywhere German soldiers with hoods on their heads. They were shot by their own people. Under the Linen Factory, I was wounded in the leg. It was like this. I walked to my full height, and the scouts pulled through the snow. My calculation was simple: bullets whistle over the snow, if they hurt, then only in the leg, and standing, I can determine the target more accurately. Just had time to think, and immediately hurt. My Tatar orderly Mikhail Borodulin covered me with his body, put me in a funnel and bandaged me. We scouted pillboxes and they were destroyed. For this fight I was awarded the order Red Banner.
Under the Linen Factory, our regiment destroyed a large number of enemy manpower and equipment. When we entered the village, this village was not in front of us, the Germans almost destroyed it. And here is a fact worthy of attention. In the Linen Factory, it turns out that during the occupation period our Soviet hospital operated, which did not have time to evacuate before the arrival of the Germans. A middle-aged doctor (I don’t remember his name), with a beard, as I saw him, decided to save our soldiers and wrote a shield on the hospital that there was typhus. The population fed the soldiers. However, before leaving, the Germans broke into the hospital and shot almost everyone who was there. The doctor and several soldiers who accompanied him to the basement for some reason miraculously escaped.
And the next day we liberated Kondrovo, it was almost not destroyed, and our units settled down in it for a short rest. And then a Mongolian government delegation headed by Marshal Choibalsan arrives in Kondrovo. He read to us Stalin's order to rename our regiment to the 1st Guards Artillery Regiment - the first in the history of the Great Patriotic War and to award it with the Order of the Red Banner, handed us a guards banner with a portrait of Lenin and a Mongolian banner, made a welcoming speech, congratulated all of us and presented the entire staff with gifts from the Mongolian workers. And sniper Kalashnikov Choibalsan presented the military order of Mongolia.
Then there were battles for Yukhnov, defense on the Ugra, Zaitseva Gora. Then our regiment was transferred to the Sukhinichi region. There were preparations for Battle of Kursk. And then an order came that I was being transferred as commander of the 144th artillery brigade. It was my howitzers that struck the first blows on East Prussia July 31, 1944, as written in the army newspapers. I ended the war in May 1945 in Konigsberg, and my military service in 1955. I was pleased that you, a representative of the Kaluga land, are so interested in the events of the Great Patriotic War ... "
On behalf of myself, as the author of the article, I say eternal thanks to Konstantin Aleksandrovich Turchaninov and many of his associates, among whom was Vera Petrovna Nazimova, whom he mentioned. Perhaps a further search will clearly lead to new results ...
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Solovyov Vladimir Vladimirovich
