The city of Russa is in German hands. From our positions it is clearly visible: a recent fifty-kilometer throw across the frozen Lake Ilmen and its tributaries - a genuine ice trek through a blizzard, deep snow, under a fierce wind - our troops came close to the city, finding themselves right under its walls. Now our troops are busy with a kind of “cleansing” of the surrounding villages from the fascists - systematic, daily, tireless. Many officers and soldiers of the 290th and 30th German divisions“cleansed” from Soviet villages, so much so that they will never see the world again. There is also a division of SS thugs called “Totenkopf”. Dead - so much the better! They will bury her according to the first category.
Out of three hundred settlements More than half of the Starorussky district has already been liberated by our troops. Ski detachments, together with partisans, cut almost all the railway and highway feeder routes coming from the west to Staraya Russa. One of the ski detachments broke into a prisoner of war camp on the outskirts of the city and freed several hundred people at once. There were both military and civilian people here.
The liberated prisoners took with them a German camp gendarme. Here he sits in front of you - lanky, unshaven, covered from the top of his head to his boots with some kind of muddy, red ice crust.
What kind of crust is this?
And the cucumber pickle,” one of the prisoners volublely answers, “he hid from us in a barrel of brine... We pulled it out, and while we brought it in, it froze.
It turns out that after hearing machine gun fire ski battalion, the prisoners, without waiting for liberation, rebelled. They broke down the doors of the barracks and ran out. The gendarmes took off running. There was a quartermaster warehouse nearby, and the gendarmes were hiding in empty barrels and tubs of pickles. The prisoners found them here. Months of terrible life in captivity, beatings, torture, and abuse had their effect: having reached their tormentors, people began to exterminate the gendarmes. Only one slipped out. They pulled him out of the brine barrel and brought him to us: the one covered with an ice crust. Now he sits in the corner, servilely and fearfully staring at those around him.
Let him say thank you for not salting him,” the narrator ends under new explosion laughter.
The story of captivity follows the story - everyone wants to tell about their torment. Here is Nikita Voitov - a thin guy, with a hoarse voice, a long beard and mustache. He looks at least four decades old. This is a gross mistake: Voitov is a twenty-year-old boy. But everyone knows what it is German captivity. Every month ages you five years. It’s good if it just gets old: people die in the hundreds. Unheated dugouts, hunger...
Let's go. Well, from the frost and wind, of course, the people began to grow numb. They fall off their feet - some onto the platform, and some completely under the carriages. The guards shot such people.
The prisoners took full revenge on the gendarmes.
The supply routes for the Old Russian German garrison have been cut off by us from many sides. The Nazis here are getting harder and harder physically and mentally every day.
The partisans contribute a lot to this. From a small group - the core of the regional activists, operating in the Starorussky district from the first days of the German invasion, large detachments grew, among which famous squad"Ivan the Terrible". The Germans experience an almost mystical fear of him. In the last month alone, in the city and its suburbs, partisans exterminated 196 fascists, 23 vehicles with shells, one headquarters bus, one bomber was shot down, three railway bridges and two warehouses were blown up. The residents of Russa itself and the entire region are helping the partisans and the Red Army in every possible way.
In general, townspeople and collective farmers did not bow their heads to German occupiers. When the Nazis announced a call for volunteers to travel for six months to work in Germany, not a single person responded to the call. Then the heralds of “voluntariness” took up the whip. They forcibly rounded up people and put them under guard. Then the universal flight began: the “volunteers” ran away - as best they could and wherever they could. This “recruitment” gave many new fighters to the partisan detachments!
In the city, next to the commandant’s office, there is a city government headed by the White Guard Bykov.
So lanky, red-haired, snotty, thin, in a new, completely unworn suit - this is how residents who fled from the Germans draw the city’s head.
“I once came to him,” says citizen Filippov, “provide, they say, medical care, suffered from an explosion.
Where, from what explosion? - asks.
Yes, I say, gentlemen of the Germans, their nobles were walking in one place, fooling around, decided to joke, and threw a grenade from the window at passers-by. The fragment hit me...
What? - he says, - do you condemn the actions of gentlemen officers? Did you want criticism? Go, go, gentlemen are joking, you should not complain, but rejoice...
So I licked my wounds like a dog. Because in the whole city the Germans opened only one outpatient clinic, and even then it paid: ten marks for admission, and the largest salary in the city was 30 marks per month...
Not a single school in the city or region is open. The teachers were ordered, under threat of execution, to burn every single work of Russian classics. Then they added world and even German classics to the Russians - all into the fire! Why read books when there are other, more violent entertainments, for example, throwing grenades at passers-by?
The Germans announced with special posters: Staraya Russa is an original German city.
Apparently wanting to give the city a “German” appearance, the Nazis drove cattle into the beautiful ancient Russian cathedral, hung the corpses of the people they tortured at the intersections of the main streets, and opened brothels where women and teenage girls were dragged by force. Yes, after all this the city looked truly German!
However, even Hitler’s bigwigs apparently became somewhat stumped by such Germanization. It turned out that in the city for the time German occupation 20 percent of all women driven by the Germans under threat of execution into brothel houses fell ill with venereal diseases. The order announcing this does not deny that the disease was introduced by German officers and soldiers. The order strongly advises patients not to rape women. Caring for the population? No. “One sick soldier can make dozens of others sick”... What about unhappy women? I don’t care, here’s more tenderness!
There is an announcement: “At the birth of their ninth living child or seventh son, parents have the right to choose Adolf Hitler or Imperial Marshal Hermann Goering as godparents.”
And nearby on the street two pregnant women - Nilova and Boytsova - were hanged. There is a third woman hanging right there - Prokofieva, after whom there are four little guys left. Why were these women hanged? Yes, just for fun.
So, as a warning, they shot citizen Smelov. And his two-year-old son was left in the cold to die. The partisans picked up the boy, wiped his arms and legs with snow, and took him in as their foster child.
There is no end to the executions and bullying. In the streets and squares there are corpses of hanged men, swaying on winter wind. Who are these unfortunate people? What crimes did they commit?
IN OCCUPIED OLD RUSSIA. Civilians of the city hanged by fascist executioners. Photographs were found in the possession of a murdered man in the Staraya Russa area German non-commissioned officer Gerhard Walonk.
One, defending his wife from a German officer, punched him in the chest. To the gallows! Another was considered a partisan because he happened to be nearby when the partisans fired on a German patrol. To the gallows!
This is how the population of Russa lives. It hates invaders. It passionately awaits the hour when the red banner rises over the city again, when traitors, torturers, and executioners get what they deserve and retribution comes for every tear shed, for every drop of innocent blood.
The city was completely impoverished and starved by German robbers. There are no shops or markets in sight. 200 grams of bread for several days is the ration. Diseases have become more frequent among the population. The Germans shoot people with typhus or force them to walk across the front line: they say they bring the infection to the Soviet troops!
Acts of sabotage and sabotage are destroying the German rear. As a result of popular sabotage on the railways and at the city station, not a day goes by without a catastrophe or accident. Endless! arson of barracks inhabited by Germans. Recently, a four-story house of the secret field police caught fire - on all four sides at once. All the documents were burned, and by the way, four dozen seasoned fascists were fried
The Germans changed the location of their airfield in Staraya Russa three times, and each time it was destroyed by our aircraft: the target was indicated by friends from below. Three fuel warehouses and one ammunition warehouse were destroyed using the same method.
Walk the streets. You will see a group of people near a German advertisement. Come closer. Next to the German order is pasted the underground newspaper of the old Russian district party committee “Tribuna”. This is what the townspeople read. When a policeman approaches, they will turn their eyes to the advertisement. So catch them reading illegal literature! “We are reading the German order!”...
The Germans were so exhausted in the fight against the tricks of the "Tribune" posters that they even began to print their own advertisements on sheets of paper with the "Tribune" stamp. Maybe, they say, this will attract readers to the advertisements? Not attractive!
Things are getting tighter and tighter every day for the Germans in Russe. The earth is burning under their feet, they are being hit from the air and from the ground, from the front and from the rear. Under the influence of our shells, they begin to gradually roll back to the west, closer to Lake Peipsi.
On Ilmen and around Ilmen, the Nazis received many blows. Well, history sometimes repeats itself. They poured it on Ilmen, they will get it on Lake Peipsi, just as the great-great-grandfathers, the dog knights, once received from the Russian commander Alexander Nevsky.
Battalion Commissar
A. POLYAKOV.
NORTHWESTERN FRONT.
The city of Staraya Russa arose on the Great Waterway “from the Varangians to the Greeks” in 1167; its inhabitants are called affectionately: “Rushan”, “Rushanin”, “Rushanka”. Not far from the city, the waters of the famous Ilmen Lake, sung by Sadko, splash.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated February 16, 1984, for the courage and fortitude shown by the working people of the city during the Great Patriotic War, the city of Staraya Russa was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.
On April 6, 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree giving the city the status of “City military glory»
According to the elder research fellow museum Northwestern Front Asya Ivanova, archival information indisputably testifies: Staraya Russa is worthy of glory.
Over its thousand-year history, our ancient city has experienced many tragic upheavals,” says Asya Ivanova. - This is the fight against the Lithuanians, and the Swedish occupation. The Rushans have always highly valued their independence and have always distinguished themselves in the struggle for freedom not only of their region, but of all of Russia. But the city endured especially terrible trials during the Great Patriotic War. It is no coincidence that front-line correspondent Yuri Korolkov wrote in one of the central newspapers: “Of all the long-suffering Russian cities overwhelmed by the war, Staraya Russa suffered a particularly bitter fate.” On July 5, 1941, the first bombs were dropped on the city. In August, protracted bloody battles began on the approaches to Staraya Russa. On August 9, 1941, the Germans captured the city and turned it into a real fortress. On the approaches were organized strong points with pillboxes and bunkers that can still be seen on city streets.
According to historians, Hitler personally controlled the position of the German troops of the Staraya Russa garrison and attached special significance to this bridgehead, since Staraya Russa was strategic transport hub. When our troops went on the offensive in January 1942, a direct order came from Hitler “Stand knee-deep in blood, but don’t surrender to Russia!” The scene of the most protracted battles was the famous “Ramushevsky Corridor” - the road that connected Starorusskaya German group with a group in Demyansk, surrounded by troops of the Northwestern Front. The fascists called this group “a gun pointed at the heart of Russia.” In a year and a half, the Germans lost over 90 thousand of their soldiers there, our losses amounted to about 120 thousand people.
Staraya Russa is a symbol of the battles of the Northwestern Front, formed on the first day of the war and in September 1941, stopping the enemy in the territory from south coast Lake Ilmen to Lake Seliger. It was here that German units aimed at Moscow and Leningrad were ground up. From August 8, 1941 to February 18, 1944, the city was under occupation. And if before the start of the war there were about 40 thousand people in the city, then at the time of liberation there was not a single resident in Staraya Russa. The city lay in smoking ruins. On postcards with views of Staraya Russa, the fascists wrote: “Staraya Russa - dead city, a city that will never be reborn." They were signing the death warrant for our city! But this smug prediction was not destined to come true.
The battles for the liberation of Staraya Russa began already at the beginning of 1942. At this time, the 11th Army advanced in two directions at once - Old Russian and Demyansk. Slowly but surely, day after day, the soldiers covered kilometers of roads, then advancing, then retreating again. The village of Parfino was liberated with heavy losses, then other nearby villages. However, at this point, the forward movement of Soviet troops slowed down significantly. German troops they didn’t want to give up the city. The suburbs passed from hand to hand - to enemies, to “ours”. And this went on for almost 2 years.
The winter of 1944 turned out to be difficult for our troops. The mild weather with frequent thaws was largely to blame. At this time, the swamps of Staraya Russa did not want to freeze and did not give Soviet artillery, tanks and vehicles the opportunity to advance further. But even these difficulties did not interfere with our troops’ offensive and desire to liberate the ancient city at any cost.
During these months, a turning point occurred in the war. The fascists also understood this. Sensing the moment of reckoning, the Nazis hurried to take away everything valuable from Staraya Russa and destroy the rest. These days the famous icon of the Old Russian Mother of God, church utensils. Even the trams were dismantled and taken away by the occupiers. Everything that was not taken out was destroyed immediately.
By 1944, no more than 30 residents remained in the city. They hid from the raging fascists and tried not to leave their houses and basements. Of the 3,000 houses, only 10 remained relatively intact. All the city's enterprises were completely destroyed. Hospitals, clubs, libraries, shops were razed to the ground. Ancient city Staraya Russa 1941-1945, one might say, was destroyed as a historical monument.
When Soviet troops finally entered the city, they saw gallows and fires at every turn. Staraya Russa was liberated on February 18, 1944 by units of the First Shock Army. More than 60 people received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the battles near Staraya Russa. Many - posthumously.
Staraya Russa is a city in the Novgorod region, the administrative center of Starorussky municipal district. From August 9, 1941 to February 18, 1944 it was occupied by Nazi troops.
The city of Staraya Russa became one of the symbols of the battles of the North-Western Front. In order to liberate it in 1942–1943, two strategic and several private front-line and army offensive operations were undertaken, involving heavy losses. personnel and didn't bring desired results due to lack of preparedness.
First Demyansk offensive operation
It was carried out by troops of the North-Western Front (Lieutenant General P. A. Kurochkin) from January 7 to May 20, 1942 with the aim of encircling and destroying the enemy group in the area of the village of Demyansk (between lakes Ilmen and Seliger). The first target of the operation was the city of Staraya Russa, but due to its strong fortification it was not possible to take it on the move. As a result, the advance of Soviet troops in this sector was stopped. Advancing with great difficulty through wooded and swampy terrain, Soviet troops initially semi-surrounded the enemy in the Demyansk area from the north and south. Full environment German troops managed to complete it on February 25, encircling seven divisions of the 16th German Army (about 100 thousand people). However, it was not possible to maintain the blockade - the enemy, at the cost of heavy losses, broke the encirclement ring on April 23, forming the so-called Ramushevsky (after the name of the village of Ramushevo) corridor 6–8 km wide by the end of April. There were continuous battles here for a month. Attempts by troops of the Northwestern Front to close the corridor and eliminate the enemy group in Demyansk from May 3 to May 20 were unsuccessful. Protracted positional battles in this area continued until the end of the year.
Second Demyansk offensive operation
Carried out by troops of the Northwestern Front (Marshal S.K. Timoshenko) on February 15–28, 1943, it was part of Operation Polar Star to defeat the German Army Group North (Field Marshal Georg von Küchler). The fighting broke out again on the Demyansk ledge. By February 19, the fascist German leadership, fearing complete encirclement and defeat, began the active withdrawal of its troops from the Demyansk area, while strengthening the defense of the Ramushevsky corridor. By the end of February 28, he managed to withdraw his group from the Demyansk bridgehead. The Red Army, having liberated 302 settlements and reached the Lovat River, interrupted its further offensive due to early mud. Although Soviet troops failed to completely destroy this enemy group, the liquidation of the Demyansk bridgehead neutralized the threat of a German attack in the Moscow direction and created an excellent opportunity for a decisive offensive in the Pskov direction.
Introduction
The further the events of the past Great Patriotic War go, hidden in the passing years, the more they are illuminated by the unfading glory of the military and labor exploits of the Russian people. The years of the Great Patriotic War are the years of the difficult heroic path of the Russian people, a difficult path covered with numerous deaths and difficult trials, but at the same time with the unfading glory of the heroes of these years.
Staraya Russa played an important role in the battles of the Great Patriotic War. The battles here were bloody and took many lives on both sides.
After the end of the war, the joy of the Rushans did not last long. From the places where their houses stood, ruins and ruins looked down at them - everything that the invaders left behind. But this was not the first time for the Russian people to overcome the difficulties presented by fate. And soon Staraya Russa was rebuilt, and life began to boil there again.
The purpose of this work is to trace the events that unfolded in Staraya Russa with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, to see how the city survived the occupation, and to observe the subsequent restoration of the city, freed from the power of the invaders.
Staraya Russa during the Great Patriotic War
1941 Grew up on the banks of Polist and Porusya modern city with plants and factories, with two cinemas, the House of the Red Army and the House of Education, five factory clubs, a children's House of Culture and a Theater for Young Spectators, a flying club and technical station, museum and libraries... Russa was buried in the greenery of countless squares and front gardens. In the evenings, residents of Rush walked in the resort park and Somrova Grove, along the embankments of Polist, Porusya and Pererytitsa. Vyazinin I.N. Staraya Russa in the history of Russia. Novgorod, 1994.S. 208.
But all this beautiful splendor was interrupted by the war.
On June 22, 1941, a message was broadcast about a German attack. Peaceful life Staraya Russa immediately interrupted. Industry of the city and Agriculture The area was rebuilt on a military scale. The Germans, regardless of losses, tried to capture Leningrad with Army Group North. IN in general terms In this offensive, place was also given to the capture of Staraya Russa, which the Nazis called “little Berlin,” since its location was a very advantageous springboard for the German troops to blockade Leningrad.
Fortifications were hastily erected near Staraya Russa, property was removed, and part of the population was resettled in eastern part Novgorod region.
On July 5, 1941, the first fascist bombs fell on the city, and from that day the raids did not stop. On July 11, the bombings followed one after another. Residents fled to the nearest villages, saving their acquired property. On July 14, the German motorized corps entered the Shimsk area. Units of the 11th Army defending here under Lieutenant General V.I. Morozov launched a bilateral counterattack behind enemy lines from the Utorgoshi and Dno areas to Soltsy, as a result of which German command gave the order to stop the attack on Leningrad in this direction until the main forces of the North group reached the Luga River. Right there.
The most terrible bombing for Staraya Russa was on July 29, 1941, when from early morning until late at night High-explosive and incendiary bombs and heavy artillery shells rained down on the city. Vyazinin I.N. Starorussky region. Novgorod., 1958.S. 132. On this day, the last refugees left the city.
On July 31, unable to withstand the pressure of enemy forces, the Red Army troops retreat to the western outskirts of Staraya Russa.
The fighting for the city intensified on August 5, when troops of the 16th Field Army of the Wehrmacht began the battle on the outskirts of Staraya Russa. There were battles in the streets for five days. Cinematographer Roman Karmen kept a diary, here is part of his notes: “August 5. Staraya Russa is burning. We couldn’t get through some streets, we had to go back and, going around dangerous places blazing with a continuous fire, go to the northern outskirts. August 6. The fierce battle for Staraya Russa continues. Two German regiments advancing? tanks and massive artillery. By evening the enemy had penetrated into Dubovitsy? northern outskirts of the city. August 7. The Germans are infiltrating across the river on the right flank and on the left. Russa is burning. The whole sky is glowing. Mortars fire in volleys. Enemy planes are furiously bombing our defense line, fascist tanks and the artillery does not spare shells." Quoted from: Russia is on fire // Novgorod Gazette. 2000. No. 6. July 11.
According to the recollections of eyewitnesses, the following picture is drawn: “We met the first raid of German planes on our city while standing in line for bread. It was July 5, they began to bomb the airfield in the air town. So German planes began to visit us. On July 10, they bombed the station where people were waiting for carriages for evacuation, they were all thrown to the ground; there was no one to bury.
We had to stay in the trenches all this time. We sat and thought that this would all end soon. But that was only the beginning. Planes began to arrive every day, and we had to leave the city. We thought of finding salvation in the village of Mirogoschi, but in vain - the planes found us there too. And on July 29 we had to return to the city.
And what we saw was very scary: the whole city was burning, it was very hot. In one day there were 29 German raids. It was some kind of nightmare: the army was retreating, civilians, parents were losing their children, there was screaming and crying everywhere. When we ran out beyond Mednikovo, we accidentally met our neighbors, and together with them we continued our journey, which was 230 km long." Memoirs of Sergieva K.G. // Staraya Russa. 2003. No. 24. February 17.
In the defense of the city, the troops were assisted by four detachments of partisans and several separate sabotage groups. These detachments and groups, led by the secretary of the district party committee S.M. Glebov, was called the 4th brigade. On August 9, German troops break through to the city center and gain a foothold there for several days. On August 17, Russian troops recaptured most cities, but were never able to completely take possession of it. From that moment on, Staraya Russa actually belonged to the Germans. The last detachments of Red Army soldiers gradually left under pressure from enemy forces, but not all residents of the city mourned this...
Long before the start of the war, a modest photographer named Bykov lived and worked in Staraya Russa. Naturally, almost every townsman knew him. Weddings, birthdays, anniversaries - all these events dear to the human heart require being imprinted on the “tablets” of family photo albums. Have you contacted him for more prosaic reasons? registration of personal identification cards, passes, party and Komsomol tickets.
Everyone knew Bykov. Didn't you know the main thing about him? For many years now, a quiet and inconspicuous little man, working in the modest position of a city photographer, has been an agent of German intelligence, and in his hiding place are kept negatives of photographs from all the party and Komsomol cards of the townspeople. And even the vigilant NKVD was not aware that during his legal activities, a distant relative of the Starorussian hereditary merchants had collected a unique card index of all the famous party and Soviet workers of the Starorussky district. The presence of this card index allowed the occupiers to almost completely decapitate the local underground organization in the first days after occupying the city. The central streets of the ancient city were covered with gallows containing the bodies of underground fighters and members of their families. Among them? women and small children. For “special services to the Reich,” photographer Bykov received the “grain” position of city burgomaster. But all this happened later. In the meantime, he systematized his terrible archive, listened to the sounds of the growing cannonade and waited for the Germans. Bykov never doubted that the Germans would come. Burgomaster Bykov // Novgorod Gazette. 2004 No. 60. 30 Oct.
Bykov was not alone in his joy at meeting the long-awaited “liberators.” In the 24 years that have passed since the October Revolution, the Soviet government managed to embitter a fairly significant part of the population of the Novgorod region against itself. The horrors of the civil war, surplus appropriation, forced collectivization - all this lay a heavy burden on people's memories. A significant part of the pro-Soviet population left with the Red Army or was forced to remain silent and disguise itself.
An important factor that predetermined further development events, it became that the Novgorod region for two decades served as a place of administrative expulsion of enemies Soviet power, or even just a “quiet corner” where former White Guards, Socialist Revolutionaries and others hoped to hide from the horrors of Stalin’s terror.
Several dozen farmers expelled from Latvia readily and immediately made contact with the Germans, expressing a desire to fight with arms in their hands against the “Russian occupiers.” Already in the first days of the occupation, the Polish nationalist Shchegelsky and the former White Guard officer Danchuk also offered their services to the new government.
The case of the latter is quite indicative. A participant in the First World War, an old Denikin officer, he belonged to that unit white movement, for whom hatred of the Bolsheviks turned out to be higher than loyalty to the Motherland. Many of them sincerely believed in Hitler's readiness to promote the revival of traditional Russian state. These illusions were soon dispelled like smoke. Right there.
Thus, German troops at the end of August became the rightful masters of Staraya Russa. The city had great importance for them, being, in their words, “little Berlin”, since the location of Russa was a favorable springboard for blocking Leningrad on its distant approaches.
As soon as German troops entered the city, gallows appeared on the balcony of the Peasant House and the 1st Secondary School. On September 7, 25 people were hanged at once on Volodarsky Street. Vyazinin I.N. Staraya Russa in the history of Russia. Novgorod. 1994. P. 210.
The executioners first twisted the arms of all those executed and broke their bones under the leadership of Sergeant Major Johann Fesbel.
The terrible and harsh echo of the Holocaust also reached the city. From the moment of the occupation of Staraya Russa, the Jews were attacked whole line the most severe orders: wearing a white bandage on the sleeve with yellow star David, confiscation of property, depriving Jews of sources of income, placing them in special settling tanks. Such a settling basin in Russa was the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery. When about fifty people accumulated, they were lined up and shot.
The massacres were carried out according to a specific plan: a ditch was dug in a designated place, often carried out by those doomed to death themselves. They lined up the Jews on the edge of that ditch, forced them to carefully undress, and shot them with a machine-gun burst. This was the case in Staraya Russa, on Beethoven Street above the moat near the Polist River, at the Resurrection Cathedral, in Soltsy in Molochkovsky Forest.
The mechanism for exterminating Jews was launched in all cities of the Leningrad region. The places of residence of Jews were placed under strict registration by the local police. And to carry out reprisals, units of the SS, SD, as well as punitive detachments and battalions rushed to her aid. Looking through the investigative files on the punitive battalions "Shelon-667", East Jaeger 668, 607, 608, 448, GFP-520 detachments, 38 Yagd-teams, we can conclude that they all contain information that the destruction of Jewish and Gypsy the population was charged with the duties of a punisher. Memory and pain of the Holocaust // Novgorod Gazette 2003. No. 45. September 27.
“There is a large crowd of Jews and Gypsies in Staraya Russa”? This is exactly the description that was given at one time by the city military commandant Mosbach. Right there.
Among the accomplices of the German army were not only Russians, but Ukrainians, Latvians, Germans and even the Jews themselves. For example, elevator worker Vanshtein and accountant Goldt themselves volunteered to the police to identify people of Jewish nationality. Their further fate is unknown. Their names do not appear among the convicted traitors and accomplices of the German government.
Prisoners of war held in the dilapidated "Arakcheevsky" barracks were subjected to cruel torture and abuse. They were starved, and in severe frosts they were forced to harness themselves to sleighs and carry water from Polisti. Those who fell from fatigue were shot without delay.
Survive. That's what happened main goal those who were in the occupied Soviet territory. Different methods of survival were chosen. Some joined the partisans, others joined the police or became elders and burgomasters, and worked in hospitals and schools opened by the invaders.
The majority of civilians strived for one thing: not to fall under bullets, no matter whether German or partisan, to get bread, potatoes and other products for themselves and their family, so as not to die of hunger, to get at least a little firewood or coal, to save warm clothes, so that don't die from the cold. The interests of all these people collided, and they had to fight for the rather limited resources of the non-black earth territory, from which, in addition, tens and hundreds of German units were supplied.
Fascist propaganda tried to convince the population that the excesses associated with the introduction of the new order were just temporary difficulties caused by war conditions. But the harsh reality of the occupation forced the most loyal representatives of the local population to doubt them.
For example, the promised abolition of collective farms was long in coming, and the peasants themselves began to divide the collective farms, but by order of the German authorities this was suspended. As a result of increased slaughter and frequent requisitions, the number of livestock has decreased so much that rural population It turned out to be unable to fulfill the supply plan for the army, the failure of which almost certainly threatened with execution. The elders, friendly towards the Germans, stated regarding the requisitions: “A cow forcibly and illegally taken from a peasant means two more partisans in the forest.” Ordered to survive // Novgorod Gazette. 2004. No. 60. 30 Oct.
The residents were stripped to the skin and huddled in miserable, hastily made dugouts. Stone buildings were undermined to use stones and iron to build fortifications. Wooden houses dismantled for heating soldiers' barracks and dugouts. Most of the schools were destroyed, and those that survived were closed. Instead, German schools were opened and special courses for learning German. There was a ban on performing music by Russian composers. “We become landowners, acquire Slavic slaves and do whatever we want with them,” the chief lieutenant wrote enthusiastically from near Staraya Russa to Germany, describing the public flogging of peasants. Vyazinin I.N. Staraya Russa in the history of Russia. Novgorod., 1994. p. 211
Several concentration camps were created in the city: in the red barracks, at the hay depot, in the Assumption Church. The camps were not heated; in winter, prisoners of war were kept in dilapidated brick buildings surrounded by barbed wire.
In January 1942, the Germans took 200 prisoners of war from the 104th base and shot everyone on the way to Velikoye Selo. The continuous looting by Wehrmacht soldiers also had a depressing effect on the residents of the occupied Starorussky district. Partisan Zhelvakov, who was in the German rear for a long time, testifies: “The Germans’ diet consisted of a small stale loaf of bread for three days, two times unsweetened coffee, once soup, which they eat without bread. The Germans were given sweets in small doses, they forced the collective farmers to cook potatoes for them , which the dogs greedily devoured." It is not surprising that hungry Wehrmacht soldiers stole everything from the peasants: poultry and other living creatures. Of course, such behavior of the newly-minted “liberators” did not add to their sympathy from the local population.
Despite the strict measures of the German command, drunkenness became widespread in Wehrmacht units (especially the rear ones). Real tragedies have happened due to alcohol abuse. So, on November 9, 1941, the order for the 416th German infantry regiment stated mass poisoning methyl alcohol:
“Having drunk alcohol from a captured Soviet tank, 95 soldiers became seriously ill and 10 died. Among the civilian population who were given this alcohol in exchange for food, 31 deaths occurred. Captured alcohol can be given to troops only after it has been examined by a chemical testing laboratory located in Staraya Rousse".
At the end of 1943, the commander of the battalion guarding the old Russian airfield, Captain Lemke, even issued a special order of a moralizing nature on this matter: “The schnapps expelled by the Russians contains many toxic impurities that make it very harmful to health. Therefore, it is prohibited for military personnel and civilian employees to use it. Failure to comply with this order will be considered disobedience in wartime." Quote from: Features of Russian schnapps // Novgorod Gazette. 2004. No. 60. 30 Oct.
Wild in its cruelty is the fact that 29 men and one woman were immured in the oil and oil storage building at the flax plant. The investigation showed that they were first tortured and then walled up alive.
The eerie picture is reminiscent of a deep ditch at the end of Mineralnaya Street, where more than two and a half thousand victims of fascist tyranny over civilians and unarmed prisoners of war. Vyazinin I.N. Starorussky region. Novgorod. 1958. P. 136.
But the Rushans were not abandoned to their fate. Soviet troops were preparing a powerful counterattack. As a result severe frosts The swamps were frozen well, in some places even able to withstand the weight of tanks. One of the regiments, unexpectedly for the enemy, walked along river beds to Staraya Russa and started a battle. Such battles of “local” significance were harbingers of upcoming operations. On January 11, 1942, a telegram was received from front commander P.A. Kurochkina: “Comrade Stalin just called and instructed me to convey to you personally that Staraya Russa must be taken today, and this is a matter of honor for the 11th Army.” Quote By: Vyazinin I.N. Staraya Russa in the history of Russia. Novgorod. 1994. P. 216. However, this attack was not successful. The enemy very skillfully divided the Russian troops and defeated them, after which, the next day, they launched a counter-offensive.
On January 19, 1942, one of those heroes whose names are not forgotten died. We are talking about Timur Frunze. When the war began, Timur, who by that time had graduated from Kachinskoe flight school, began to persistently ask to go to the front. At the end of December 1941, thanks to the influence of his adoptive father, Kliment Voroshilov, he was assigned to a unit that covered Moscow from the air in the northern direction. During his short front-line biography, Timur made 9 sorties and shot down two enemy aircraft. And on February 9, 1942, Voroshilov received a secret dispatch reporting the death of T.M. Frunze. At an altitude of 900 meters, he met 4 enemy fighters and entered into battle with them.
During the first attack, one enemy plane was shot down, but Frunze died in an unequal battle. His plane crashed 500 meters from the village of Otvidno, Starorussky district. The lieutenant was buried with military honors in the village of Kresttsy, Novgorod region. And on March 16 of the same year T.M. Frunze was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. After the war, the hero’s ashes were transferred to one of the Moscow cemeteries. Last Stand Timur Frunze // Novgorod Time. 2002. No. 6. 7 Feb.
It is impossible not to mention an important moment in the history of Staraya Russa, the Demyansk operation of 1942. The purpose of this operation was to encircle and destroy German troops in the Demyansk area, which was an important strategic point for the enemy, from which it had to be knocked out. On April 23, the enemy managed to break through the encirclement front and form the so-called Ramushevsky corridor. Further attempts by Soviet troops to eliminate the Demyan group were unsuccessful. In the summer, troops of the Northwestern Front tried to destroy the Demyansk group by organizing offensive actions in the area of the so-called Ramushevsky corridor, which connected this group with the main forces of the 16th German Army. Due to insufficient preparation of the operation and the stubborn resistance of the enemy, it was not possible to eliminate his group on the Demyansk bridgehead (the length of the front line inside it was 150 km). The German command transferred significant reinforcements from other sections of the Demyansk ledge to the corridor area, but left only about five divisions inside it. Nevertheless, the offensive actions of the Northwestern Front in the Demyansk area had a significant impact on general progress struggle in the northwestern direction and weakened the enemy. The enemy command was unable to launch the planned attack on Ostashkov to meet its other group, which had the task of attacking from the Rzhev area.
As a result of the active actions of the Soviet troops on the Demyansk bridgehead, not only were large forces of the 16th German Army pinned down, but also serious losses were inflicted on many of its formations.
To repel attacks by Soviet troops, the enemy transferred part of the formations of the 18th Army to the Demyansk area, and also used a large number of transport aircraft to supply the 16th Army to the detriment of the interests of its main group advancing in the south Eastern Front. Fighter Air Force 6th air army, commanded by General D.F. Kondratyuk, took an active part in the fight against the German transport aviation and shot down several dozen aircraft.
The actions of Soviet troops near Leningrad and in the Demyansk region in the spring of 1942 deprived the German command of the opportunity to transfer the forces of Army Group North from these areas to the south. Moreover, the enemy was forced to replenish his group on the Leningrad sector of the front in order to resume the assault on Leningrad, planned for the autumn of the same year. Thus, the Ramushevsky corridor, which went down in the history of the Great Patriotic War, became Hitler's troops“a corridor of death,” as the German soldiers themselves admitted. K. I Dementiev, M.A. Dementieva. The printed word about Staraya Russa. 1980. P. 133.
In January 1943, fighting for the city broke out with new strength. Many soldiers and commanders showed examples of courage and heroism, such as the commander of the mortar company P.I. Shlyuykov, who with his unit was the first to break into enemy trenches and incapacitate about 40 Germans. Only in the hospital did he learn that he had been awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. I.N. Vyazinin, A.M. Tenmo. The roads of national feat. L., 1981. P. 85.
In February 1943, the troops of the Northwestern Front under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union Timoshenko launched a decisive offensive against the German army in the Staraya Russa region. Having broken through the enemy fortifications, our troops created real threat environment. The "Demyansk Fortress", on which the Germans had high hopes, fell. Along the way, captured villages and villages were liberated, which forced German troops to pull their forces to the southwest.
On March 31, April 26, May 10, the Nazis tried to launch retaliatory counterattacks, but to no avail. New ones appeared near Staraya Russa German tanks"tigers" and self-propelled guns "Ferdinand". The Germans continued to stubbornly hold the city. “The loss of Russa will lead to the abandonment of Leningrad and may decide the fate of the entire northern group of our troops,”? the prisoners said German officers. Vyazinin I.N. Starorussky region. Novgorod., 1958. P. 149.
Nevertheless, the Nazis understood that the city would have to be surrendered and took away everything that could be taken out and destroyed the rest.
On January 14-20, 1944, crushing blows were dealt to the enemy, during which the blockade of Leningrad was lifted and Novgorod was liberated.
On February 18, Soviet units allocated for the liberation of Staraya Russa were sent around the city to intercept the enemy. On the same day, about 40 settlements were liberated. The enemy tried to hold on to heavily fortified defense centers, but to no avail. On February 21, with a swift blow, our units liberated regional centers Volot and Poddorye.
Here is an extract from the history of the 336th separate machine-gun and artillery battalion of the Old Russian Battalion in 1941? 1944 about the liberation of Staraya Russa.
Supreme Commander-in-Chief on February 20, 1944 No. 037. Moscow, the 336th separate machine-gun and artillery battalion, which distinguished itself in battles with the German invaders for the liberation of the city of Staraya Russa, is given the name "Old-Russian" and henceforth called the 336th separate machine-gun-artillery Staro- Russian battalion.
Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Marshal of the Soviet Union I. Stalin.
Staraya Russa? Vorontsovo. On February 11, 1944, the 336th separate machine gun and artillery battalion arrived near the city of Staraya Russa and, replacing the 171st joint venture, took up defense at the line B. Uchno - Medvedno - Bryashnaya Gora - Mednikovo, being part of the 1st Shock Army.
During the period from February 11 to 17, the enemy conducted rare rifle and machine-gun fire and carried out raids on Mednikovo and Medvedno, spending up to 300 shells per day. The effect of manpower was not noted.
On the night of February 17-18, a large number of fires and explosions were noted in the area of the city of Staraya Russa and in the depths of the enemy’s defenses. All this undoubtedly indicated that the enemy was preparing to withdraw its units from Staraya Russa. However, the battalion had no information about this from the high command. Without orders from above, the battalion commander, Major Vlasenko, gave the order to prepare to pursue the enemy. He understood that the lack of an order from above could not be an excuse for inaction. The situation required an immediate solution. The battalion already had experience in the offensive near Sosninskaya Pristan, and therefore everyone, from the battalion commander to the ordinary soldier, believed in the success of the operations.
On February 18 at 7 o'clock all three companies moved forward. The battle formation at the beginning of the offensive was in line. To the right of B. Was the 1st company marching forward, in the area between the railroad and the highway? 3rd company and on the left? 2nd. Nothing was known for sure about the situation in the city, so the company began its movement with great caution. Small groups of machine gunners were sent ahead, followed by an assault group and followed by groups of light and heavy machine guns and direct fire guns. All these groups moved in riffles. Having overcome minefields and wire fences, assault groups burst into trenches and bunkers. The garrisons left by the Germans for cover in several bunkers were destroyed. At 11.30 the third company in full force was on eastern outskirts cities. At 12.30 a congratulatory radiogram was received from the commander of the 1st Shock Army on the occasion of the advance to Staraya Russa. At 14.00 the 3rd and 1st companies linked up on the western outskirts of the city. OLD RUSSIA BECAME SOVIET AGAIN! Another ancient Russian city has been wrested from the fascist bloody clutches. Order for the release of Staraya Russa // Staraya Russa. 2003. No. 24. 17 February.
Russa! Russa! How much torment and grief
You have endured these days of anxiety...”
Great Patriotic War brought a lot of grief to Russia. was among the cities that suffered the greatest damage from the war.
On July 5, 1941, the first fascist bombs fell on the city, and on July 31, the enemies came close to the city’s borders. The forces of the 16th Nazi Army, commanded by General von Busch, were sent to capture Staraya Russa.
Fierce battles took place for every block, house, for every inch of Old Russian land. However, initially the forces were not equal. On August 9, the Nazis broke through to the city center. At this time, the Soviet troops still had hope of recapturing the city and driving the Nazis out of this land. Bloody battles did not stop either night or day. The townspeople helped the soldiers as best they could, but their strength was running out, and the Nazis were constantly receiving reinforcements with fresh forces. On the night of August 22, 1941, the completely exsanguinated and oppressed remnants of the Soviet troops were forced to leave the city. They had to surrender to the enemy first the resort areas, then the airfield, and then the Germans captured the adjacent villages: Kocherenevo, Sobolevo, Nekhotitsko, Kozona.
Every resident of Staraya Russa drank the cup of grief at a time when the city was under enemy occupation. Many troubles had to be experienced, losses were daily, and there seemed to be no hope of salvation.
The battles for the liberation of Staraya Russa began already at the beginning of 1942. At this time, the 11th Army advanced in two directions at once - Old Russian and Demyansk. Slowly but surely, day after day, the soldiers covered kilometers of roads, then advancing, then retreating again. The village of Parfino was liberated with heavy losses, then other nearby villages. However, at this point, the forward movement of Soviet troops slowed down significantly. German troops did not want to give up the city. The suburbs passed from hand to hand - to enemies, to “ours”. And this went on for almost 2 years.
The winter of 1944 turned out to be difficult for our troops. The mild weather with frequent thaws was largely to blame. At this time, the swamps of Staraya Russa did not want to freeze and did not give Soviet artillery, tanks and vehicles the opportunity to advance further. But even these difficulties did not interfere with our troops’ offensive and desire to liberate the ancient city at any cost.
During these months, a turning point occurred in the war. The fascists also understood this. Sensing the moment of reckoning, the Nazis hurried to take away everything valuable from Staraya Russa and destroy the rest. During these days, the famous icon of the Old Russian Mother of God and church utensils were stolen. Even the trams were dismantled and taken away by the occupiers. Everything that was not taken out was destroyed immediately.
By 1944, no more than 30 residents remained in the city. They hid from the raging fascists and tried not to leave their houses and basements. Of the 3,000 houses, only 10 remained relatively intact. All the city's enterprises were completely destroyed. Hospitals, clubs, libraries, shops were razed to the ground. Ancient city Staraya Russa 1941-1945 years, one might say, it was destroyed as a historical monument.
When Soviet troops finally entered the city, they saw gallows and fires at every turn. Staraya Russa was liberated on February 18, 1944 by units of the First Shock Army. More than 60 people received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the battles near Staraya Russa. Many are posthumous.