139th Rifle Division (first formation)
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Formed in September 1939 in Kozelsk (Belarusian OVO) on the basis of the regiment of the 81st Infantry Division.
Upon completion of formation, the formation 09/17-28/1939 as part of the 3rd Rifle Corps of the 3rd Army of the Belorussian Front participated in the Polish Campaign of 1939.
After the end of the Polish campaign, the division was initially stationed in Vitebsk, and in November 1939 it was sent to Karelia (LVO). Here the formation as part of the 8th Army took part in the Soviet-Finnish War, operating in the Tolvajarvin direction (on the right flank of the army). The offensive of the 139th Infantry Division was unsuccessful - in the battle of December 8-12, 1939 against the Finnish group of General Talvela in the Tolvajärvi area, the division was defeated and was forced to retreat to the east more than 50 km, after which the front in this direction stabilized until the end of the war.
At the end of the Winter War, the division was sent to the Kiev Special Military District.
As of June 22, 1941, the formation was part of the 37th Rifle Corps of the 6th Army and, in accordance with the directive of the USSR NKO No. 504205 of June 13, 1941, was advancing to the border.
In June-August 1941, units of the division took part in combat operations in Ukraine against the troops of Army Group South. The division took part in the defensive operation in Western Ukraine (06.22-07.06.1941) and the Kyiv defensive operation (07.07 - early August 1941). During the latter, the division was surrounded near Uman and was destroyed. The unit was officially disbanded on September 19, 1941.
Full title
139th Infantry Division
Subordination
Southwestern Front, 6th Army, 37th Rifle Corps - from 06/22/1941 to 07/25/1941
Southern Front, 6th Army, 37th Rifle Corps - from July 25, 1941 to early August 1941
[edit] Composition
364th Infantry Regiment
609th Infantry Regiment
718th Infantry Regiment
354th Artillery Regiment
506th Howitzer Artillery Regiment (until 10/20/1941)
223rd separate anti-aircraft artillery division
162nd Reconnaissance Battalion
195th Engineer Battalion
271st separate communications battalion (799th separate communications company)
184th Degassing Platoon
120th Motor Transport Battalion
185th field bakery
190th Divisional Veterinary Hospital
465th Field Postal Station
405th field cash desk of the State Bank
[edit] Commanders
Loginov Nikolay Loginovich, colonel - from 22.03 to 08.08.1941
139th Rifle Division (second formation)
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Formed on September 26, 1941 by transforming the 9th Moscow Rifle Division of the People's Militia.
The newly formed formation became part of the 24th Army of the Reserve Front and from 10/02/1941 participated in the Vyazma defensive operation (the defensive phase of the Battle of Moscow). During these battles, the division was surrounded and destroyed. Officially disbanded on December 27, 1941.
[edit] Full name
139th Infantry Division
[edit] Submission
Reserve Front, 24th Army - from 09/26/1941 to October 1941
[edit] Composition
1300th Infantry Regiment
1302nd Infantry Regiment
1304th Infantry Regiment
976th Artillery Regiment
700th separate anti-aircraft artillery division
475th Reconnaissance Company
459th Engineer Battalion
864th separate communications battalion
498th Medical Battalion
342nd separate chemical defense company
310th Motor Transport Company
931st Field Postal Station
[edit] Commanders
Bobrov Boris Dmitrievich, major general - from 09/26 to 10/06/1941 (died 10/07/1941)
139th Rifle Division (third formation)
The formation of the division began on December 4, 1941 in Cheboksary. The division's personnel were more than 70% Chuvash, the 718th Infantry Regiment was formed in Kugesy, the 364th Infantry Regiment in Ishley, the 609th Infantry Regiment in Shemursha, the 354th Artillery Regiment in Ikkovo.
It began hostilities in August 1942, during the Rzhev-Sychevsk operation near the city of Rzhev.
In the spring of 1943, she took part in the Rzhev-Vyazemsk operation.
In the fall of 1943, during the Smolensk-Roslavl operation, she distinguished herself during the liberation of Roslavl and advanced on Chausy
She participated in the Belarusian strategic offensive operation, during which, as part of the Mogilev offensive operation, by the morning of June 23, 1944, she reached the concentration area, in the forests south of the village of Dednya, 3-5 km east of the Pronya River. During the night of June 24, 1944, the division, using pre-built bridges, crossed in full force to the western bank of the Pronya. By 3 p.m., units of the division, supported by tanks, artillery and aviation, entered into battle with the enemy, breaking his resistance, and by the end of the day they reached the Basya River and crossed it on the move. By the morning of June 27, 1944, the division with its main forces reached the Dnieper, captured Lupolovo and immediately began crossing the Dnieper using available means.
By 5 p.m., units of the division took up their starting position for the assault on Mogilev and began the assault, but only managed to capture the outskirts; the attack was repulsed. The assault began again at 21:00, and the division occupied the center of Mogilev. Conducted fierce street battles. Then, with an accelerated march, practically meeting no resistance, she reached the line of the Drut and Berezina rivers and took part in the Minsk offensive operation and the Bialystok offensive operation.
Subsequently, she participated in the liberation of Poland, the East Prussian operation, the East Pomeranian operation, and the Berlin strategic operation. Took part in the liberation of Danzig
Ended the war on the Elbe
In total, the division has 28 Heroes of the Soviet Union and 14 full holders of the Order of Glory.
Full title
139th Rifle Roslavl Red Banner Order of Suvorov Division
Subordination
Moscow Military District - on January 1, 1942
Reserve Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, 4th Reserve Army - on July 1, 1942
Western Front, 29th Army - on October 1, 1942.
Western Front, 31st Army - on January 1, 1943.
Western Front, 50th Army - on April 1, 1943.
Western Front, 10th Army - on July 1, 1943.
Western Front, 10th Army, 70th Rifle Corps - on October 1, 1943.
1st Belorussian Front, 10th Army, 38th Rifle Corps - on January 1, 1944.
2nd Belorussian Front, 50th Army, 121st Rifle Corps - on April 1, 1944.
2nd Belorussian Front, 49th Army, 70th Rifle Corps - on October 1, 1944.
[edit] Composition
364th Infantry Regiment
609th Infantry Regiment
718th Infantry Regiment
354th Artillery Regiment
237th separate anti-tank fighter division
162nd reconnaissance company
195th Engineer Battalion
271st separate communications battalion
220th Medical Battalion
493rd separate chemical defense company
356th Motor Transport Company
??-th Divisional Veterinary Infirmary
??-I field bakery
??-I field postal station
??-I field cash desk of the State Bank
Commanders
Mitropolsky Nikolai Vasilievich (December 5, 1941 - December 21, 1941), lieutenant colonel;
Antonov Boris Ivanovich (December 25, 1941 - January 5, 1942), lieutenant colonel;
Drobitsky Georgy Semyonovich (January 6, 1942 - January 25, 1942), major;
Kuznetsov Pavel Ionovich (January 26, 1942 - August 9, 1942), colonel;
Krasnoshtanov Ivan Danilovich (August 10, 1942 - August 24, 1942), colonel;
Barmotin Silverst Akimovich (August 25, 1942 - November 18, 1942), colonel;
Yaremenko Ivan Ivanovich (November 19, 1942 - November 24, 1942), lieutenant colonel;
Sukharev Nikolai Fedorovich (November 25, 1942 - March 25, 1943), lieutenant colonel, colonel from February 6, 1943;
Kirillov Iosif Konstantinovich (March 26, 1943 - March 30, 1945), colonel, since February 22, 1944, major general;
Ogienko Boris Pavlovich (March 31, 1945 - May 9, 1945), colonel.
Warriors of the division
Fatin, Valentin Vasilyevich (1921 - 1944), battalion commander of the 609th Infantry Regiment, captain. Hero of the Soviet Union; the title was awarded on March 24, 1945 for the battle on June 28, 1944 during the crossing of the Dnieper (the entrusted unit crossed to the right bank of the river and broke into the city of Mogilev. Repelling enemy counterattacks, the fighters fought hand-to-hand combat, captured 18 guns, about 200 vehicles, 8 warehouses, took the headquarters of the infantry division and over 500 Nazis were captured).
Volosatov, Viktor Aleksandrovich, commander of the reconnaissance department of the 609th Infantry Regiment, sergeant. Hero of the Soviet Union; the title was awarded on March 24, 1945 for the battle during the crossing of the Neman near the village of Kovshi (Grodno region) (with a reconnaissance platoon, he was the first to cross the river, assisted in the capture of a strong point and the crossing. He was wounded, but did not leave the battlefield).
Kirillov, Mikhail Semyonovich, commander of the reconnaissance department of the 364th Infantry Regiment, sergeant major. Hero of the Soviet Union; the title was awarded on March 24, 1945 for the battle on June 27, 1944 (with a group of 6 people, he crossed the Dnieper near the village of Buynichi (Mogilev region), captured a line, destroyed firing points with machine gun fire and grenades, and thereby ensured that the battalion crossed the river).
Shavkunov, Georgy Ivanovich (August 9, 1913 - August 23, 1944), sapper of the 195th engineer battalion, private. Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously); the title was awarded on March 24, 1945 for ensuring the crossing of the Dnieper on June 27, 1944.
Afanasyev, Viktor Mikhailovich, commander of the foot reconnaissance platoon of the 609th Infantry Regiment, sergeant. Hero of the Soviet Union; the title was awarded on March 24, 1945 for the battle on July 15, 1944 during the crossing of the Neman (swimmed the river and gained a foothold on the left bank. Being wounded, he participated in repelling enemy counterattacks and holding the bridgehead).
Grishaev, Viktor Ivanovich, commander of the 609th Infantry Regiment, colonel. Hero of the Soviet Union; the title was awarded on March 24, 1945 for the battle on June 28, 1944 during the crossing of the Dnieper (for personal courage and skillful command of the regiment during the crossing of the Dnieper River and the liberation of the city of Mogilev).
Petrov, Mikhail Petrovich, commander of the 364th Infantry Regiment, lieutenant colonel. Hero of the Soviet Union; the title was awarded on March 24, 1945 for the battle on June 28, 1944 during the crossing of the Dnieper (for personal courage and skillful command of the regiment during the crossing of the Dnieper River and the liberation of the city of Mogilev).
Abdrakhmanov, Hanif Khazigaleevich - commander of the reconnaissance section of the 76-mm cannon battery of the 609th Infantry Regiment, captain, full holder of the Order of Glory; was awarded: June 28, 1944 with the Order of Glory, 3rd degree; April 12, 1945 Order of Glory, 2nd degree; February 27, 1958 Order of Glory, 1st degree;
Godunov, Ivan Grigorievich, commander of a foot reconnaissance platoon of the 718th Infantry Regiment, junior sergeant. Full Knight of the Order of Glory; was awarded: September 21, 1944, Order of the 3rd degree; December 23, 1944, Order of the 2nd degree; June 29, 1945, Order of the 1st degree.
Khodanovich, Lev Sergeevich, assistant commander of the foot reconnaissance platoon of the 718th Infantry Regiment, sergeant major. Full Knight of the Order of Glory; was awarded: on August 19, 1944, with an order of the 3rd degree for reconnaissance; on July 23, 1944, in the area of the settlement of Korobchitsa (southwest of the city of Grodno), on December 23, 1944, with an order of the 2nd degree for the battle on December 1, 1944, in the area of the settlement Montwica (northwest of the city of Lomza, Poland), February 13, 1945, Order of the 1st degree for the battle on October 21, 1944 near the village of Slawno (west of the city of Ostroleka, Poland).
[edit] Awards and titles
09/25/1943 - awarded the honorary name “Roslavl”
???.??.???? - awarded the Order of the Red Banner
???.??.???? - awarded the Order of Suvorov, 2nd degree
Interesting Facts
The widely known song “On a Nameless Height,” written for the film “Silence,” is dedicated to eighteen soldiers of the 718th Regiment of the 139th Infantry Division. They defended an inch of land “near an unfamiliar village” (more precisely, on the night of September 14, 1943, under the command of junior lieutenant E.I. Poroshin, they entered the battle for a fortified height with a mark on the map 224.1 near the village of Rubezhanki, Kuibyshevsky district of Kaluga region), fighting against 300 fascist soldiers. Only two returned alive from this battle. Monument 1 was unveiled there on September 15, 1966, and a memorial was opened there on May 9, 1980.
On December 12, 1987, a museum of the 139th Infantry Division was opened in Cheboksary Lyceum No. 3.
I strongly welcome you! Bair, good afternoon. Hello, Dmitry Yurievich. Good afternoon, dear viewers. About what today? As promised last time, today we will talk about the fighting in the Northern Ladoga region, which, unfortunately, from my point of view, became the most tragic page of the Soviet-Finnish war, despite the fact that it seemed to be the most famous battle, with our units surrounded , with the fact that they were cut into cauldrons and then gradually destroyed, all this was much further north, in the area of Suomussalmi and Raata, which we have already briefly discussed. But, from my point of view, the most difficult situation really happened in the area of the Northern Ladoga region, i.e. This is the current Republic of Karelia, this is the area of Pitkyaranta, the now defunct village of Lemetti, and, accordingly, the current village of Loymola. What happened there: well, if we go back to the Finnish pre-war plans, the Finns believed that serious military operations, where something needs to be planned, where there will be a large concentration of forces, this will be precisely the Karelian Isthmus, which we have already talked quite a lot about , and also Northern Ladoga region, just this area. And, therefore, picture 1, the plans of the parties for the campaign in the Northern Ladoga region. This means that our plan was such that 3 roads converge in the Pitkäranta area - one road goes from Lodeynoye Pole along the shore of Ladoga to Pitkäranta, the second, accordingly, goes from Petrozavodsk through Lemetti, and just a little north of Pitkäranta it connects with this main road Ladoga region And the third road, accordingly, goes along the railway to Loimola, and through Loimola also connects here. Those. 3 roads converge here, and, again, since our terrain is extremely difficult for an ordinary European army to attack, then, in fact, ours advanced along these 3 roads, the 8th Army. This means that the 56th Infantry Division was advancing on Loymola, the 18th Infantry Division and the 34th Light Tank Brigade supporting it were advancing along the road from Petrozavodsk, and from the south Bondarev’s 168th Infantry Division approached Pyatkiranta. It must be said right away that 56 never arrived. That is, again, the same situation repeated itself that we already had in the Suomossalmi area, that the Finns simply did not allow our forces to unite. Where should our troops move if everything really worked out? This means that our troops should have moved, in fact, bypassing Lake Ladoga, i.e., having united, move to Sortavala, further to Lakhdenpokhya, and actually go to the rear Finnish defense on the Karelian Isthmus, i.e. go to the rear of Mannerheim's line. But, in fact, everything stopped, unfortunately, right here, because, in general, the Finns, one might say, had a trap set here, which was worked out a long time ago at staff games in the 20s - 30s years, i.e. Indeed, they planned to stop ours somewhere in the Pitkäranta area and begin to strike from the north, cutting off communications, respectively, of the division that approached from Petrozavodsk, along the road through Lemetti. And in general, in exactly the same way, they first cut one road from the north, and then encircled the entire group right in the Pitkäranta area. And, unfortunately, just like in the Suomussalmi area, the situation was repeated here that the troops were placed on the road not entirely correctly, yes, back at the end of December, in general, they were conducting an offensive here, but the 168th division was already The Finns stopped here. The 18th Infantry Division with 2 regiments tried to fight its way north towards the 56th Infantry Division, but, in general, nothing much seemed to be working out, this is picture 2, the situation at the beginning of the Finnish counter-offensive. Already at the end of December, Finnish ski detachments began to take to the road from Petrozavodsk, and began to operate along the communications of the 18th Infantry Division, which was also stretched over many kilometers, and, accordingly, was placed in an unclear manner. Those. yes, 2 regiments in front, 1 regiment in the rear, which is trying to guard our communications. And, in fact, on January 6, the Finns assemble a large strike force and begin to actively attack our right flank. And at this time, changes are taking place in our camp, again, due to the unfortunate events in the Tolvajarvi area, due to the fact that the 56th division got stuck, in fact, in front of the Finnish defense in the area of the Kolla River, and cannot come here. And, in fact, the walk is about 50 km. Our commander is changing, Khabarov is removed, among other things, because of our defeat at Tolvajarvi, and G.M. becomes commander of the 8th Army. Stern, which, by the way, the Finns immediately noticed and issued a special leaflet dedicated specifically to G.M. Stern, in which they absolutely categorically hinted at his nationality - he was a Jew. Back in the late 90s - early 2000s, I had the honor of meeting with our veterans of the Finnish War, and one of the veterans said - I picked up a leaflet, and it said “a Jew, a traitor, a traitor, a brute - that’s who your new commander Stern is.” " Picture 04 – Finnish leaflet about Stern. But our veteran said - you know, I fought on the Karelian Isthmus, and this is all happening on the eastern shore of Ladoga, so I didn’t even know who Stern was, I didn’t even know where he was fighting, what was happening, but I remembered it very strongly I remember these very harsh, not politically correct words about Stern. Nazis, after all, what do you want from them? Then they weren’t quite Nazis yet, but, nevertheless, the words there really were like, wow. And when Grigory Mikhailovich arrived at the front, he, in fact, immediately began to take our troops into circulation very abruptly, i.e. threatened with executions, etc., etc., but, in general, this did not help the situation. This did not help the 139th division in any way, although Stern proposed almost decimation there, i.e. shoot every tenth person. Well, actually, gradually, again, using the fact that the main forces of the 168th division were to the west, i.e. they had already set their sights on Sortavala, the Finns, in general, had cut off the encirclement of the 168th Infantry Division by January 10 (picture 05), i.e. cut off the 168th Infantry Division from Pitkäranta. Those. everything, 168 sits in the cauldron, but, again, it is possible to supply 168 through the ice of the Pitkäranta Bay, but on January 15 and 19 the Finns occupy the islands that control the archipelago, in general. Therefore, it turns out that even this supply route across the ice from Pitkäranta, in general, ends up under fire from Finnish machine guns and mortars. The distances here are actually not very large. Well, of course, the question may immediately arise as to why an attempt was not immediately made to unblock the blockade, etc., this is due to the fact that, in general, as with Suomussalmi, there was somehow nothing to unblock, because, in fact, , all reinforcements walked, again, from Lodeynoye Pole to Pitkyaranta. Not bad. Those. there was the only road along Ladoga, this, excuse me, is about 150-200 km, the only road that is covered with snow, the road is bad. Therefore, the delivery of reinforcements was extremely, extremely difficult. And, accordingly, after the encirclement of the 168th Infantry Division, the same situation repeated itself on the road that went to Petrozavodsk. Those. The Finns surrounded the 18th Infantry Division and the 34th Light Tank Brigade, as a result of which we had several pockets, i.e. on the road from Lemetti to Petrozavodsk, 4 boilers were formed, which had a very... Sorry, even 6 boilers would be correct, if we take Lemetti as well. They had very different destinies. Those. This is how, in fact, the classical Finnish tactics, the column is cut into several parts by blows from the taiga, and, accordingly, after that it is broken up in parts. Again, creating local numerical superiority, the Finns are crushing these cauldrons one after another. Well, the easternmost pocket in the area of the village of Uomaa held out until the end of the war, and, in general, it held out to a large extent due to the fact that 1 company of the 4th NKVD border regiment was located there. Those. these were local border guards who were very familiar with local conditions, well equipped, and highly motivated. And, in fact, for these events, 6 of our border guards received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In general, I would like to tell you about one thing. Red Army soldier Vladimir Andreevich Samsonov, born 17, i.e. he is 22 years old, a candidate member of the CPSU (b), shooter of the 3rd company of the 4th regiment of the NKVD troops. This refers to the 4th border regiment, i.e. border guards. But, again, unfortunately, in modern Russia someone will see the 4th regiment of the NKVD troops, they probably shot Finnish peasants there, who were no longer there. Well, just like this, the nomination for the title of Hero sounds enough, it generally sounds like a Viking saga. “In one of the battles on January 17, 1940, repelling an attack by the White Finns, comrade. Samsonov was wounded in the arm by a bullet and a mine fragment and was evacuated to a first-aid post. However, he refused to stay in the dugout and, voluntarily returning to the trenches, continued to heroically fight the enemy. Due to poor treatment, the entire left arm stopped working and began to fester. Having felt it and made sure that the hand was holding weakly, Comrade. Samsonov himself broke it at the site of the wound and, throwing it out of the trench, in the presence of all the soldiers, declared: “Now it doesn’t bother me, now it will be easier for me to beat the White Finns.” And in all subsequent battles, right up to the liberation of the garrison after the conclusion of peace, Comrade. Samsonov heroically repelled the onslaught of the White Finnish gangs, throwing grenades at them with one right hand. This is exceptionally heroic behavior of the candidate member of the Red Army party, Comrade. Samsonova played a colossal role in inspiring all the other fighters, in uniting them into a strong Bolshevik garrison impregnable to the enemy.” Here is a man who received a “Hero”, and, in fact, everyone who received “Heroes” for all this, for fighting surrounded by these little ones, were precisely the border guards, because indeed, apparently, they were the most highly motivated, the strongest. Because the really gigantic problem of these small cauldrons was that there were a lot of supplies there, there were rear forces, here, in fact, here is the next garrison in the area of the fork in the roads, there were 1200 people, of which 500 were wounded. And so the Finns surrounded them, and there were people from different regiments, from different units, and as you understand, some quarrels began there, like “you’re not from our unit, why are you coming here?” Then, as you understand, people began to starve, people began to hallucinate. There, by chance, someone was hallucinating and shot his own man. Those. people had already begun to see some illusions, some ghosts, and thought that it was only Finns around. But, despite this, the commanders managed to build everyone up, and this small garrison, excuse me, 1200 people, of which 500 were wounded, it held out until the end of the war, and, accordingly, as a result, those who held out there came out of encirclement. How long did you have to hold out? Well, they stayed, excuse me, from about the 20th of January to March 13th. This, by the way, was the tragedy of the encirclement, that if on the Raat road, everything was over there in a week, then here people, excuse me, spent the whole of February, and another 2 weeks in March, and it was also frosts of minus 30, there was no food. Those. you can imagine what was going on there in this taiga, in the middle of the forest, when there was nothing to eat. And, of course, the command understood that if they did not help, then the people there would all simply die of hunger. Therefore, all our aviation, simply all that was in this area, from Lodeynoye Pole, from Besovets in Petrozavodsk, they were all sent to supply our units, i.e. for food dumping. But the problem with these small boilers was that the discharge zone was very small, and therefore very often these packages, bags of food fell either into neutral, or even fell to the Finns. There are rumors that when the next package of food fell to the Finns, shouts were heard from there in Russian, “Thank you, Comrade Stalin, for the buckwheat porridge!” But, again, it’s not clear - rumors, not rumors. But, again, an interesting point is that in the log of combat operations of this garrison of ours, as it was called, in the area of the fork in the roads, it is directly written there that when food was being dropped, very often it actually happened that a bag or container , falling to the ground, it broke, and biscuits, cookies and everything else scattered, it is directly written there that as soon as some package of food fell on the forest, then the shooting simply stopped, ours and the Finns ran through the forest, collecting these biscuits without shooting at each other. Only when everything was collected, only after that did they return to their positions, take rifles, and start shooting at each other. Those. Did they also have nothing to eat? There is no other way to explain such peacefulness. In fact, there too, with the Finns, too, it was impossible to say that everything was very simple. If, excuse me, these garrisons held out, again, this is the 2nd garrison that managed to hold out. 3 in the area of Lake Suoyarvi was very small, there were a couple of hundred people there, and, in fact, the Finns crushed them at the end of February, i.e. It’s just that from the neighboring garrison, from the fork in the road, they simply said that radio communication had been lost, and we heard that the sounds of battle were fading. And after the end of hostilities, about 200 people were found killed there. The next garrison, in the west, in the area of the village of Lovajärvi, he sat and sat there, and, in fact, fortunately, on February 14 he already received permission to break through, and, in general, by and large, managed to get out of there. Those. Now, in fact, when they generalize everything and say that the Finns destroyed all the boilers, this is not entirely true. Those. There really were 2 boilers that survived, 1 small one died, 4 escaped. But here, closer to Pitkäranta, the situation was very, very difficult, because, unfortunately, if we look at picture 6, the encirclement of the 18th division of the 34th light tank brigade, there, again, it turned out very, very unsuccessfully. Those. The Finns cut off Bondarev's 68th Division from the 18th Infantry Division, and, again, those units of the 18th Infantry Division that were surrounded were placed incorrectly. And, of course, the worst thing is that the commander of the 18th Infantry Division, Brigade Commander Kondrashov, lost his nerve. He had a nervous breakdown, he withdrew from command, i.e. He simply stopped doing anything, did not organize a defense, i.e. how they stood on the road, how, accordingly, everything stood, and when, in fact, the Finns surrounded - well, they also dug some trenches near the road, did not even occupy the dominant heights, which were literally 500 meters from the road, and, well, Of course, the Finns occupied them and simply began to shoot through the entire encircled area. Well, the most important thing was that, indeed, it was obvious that Kondrashov made a mistake, because it was generally unclear what to do, i.e. if in December it was clear that yes, we are advancing, we have now united with the 168th division, 2 regiments are going to Loimola, trying to break through to meet 56, and 168 will now go to Sortavala, i.e. there is some kind of attack going on. But then the Finnish counter-offensive began, and, obviously, our command simply did not know what to do about it. As a result, I had the honor of communicating with 1 veteran from the 34th Light Tank Brigade, a Muscovite, he said that we were just sitting there and didn’t know what to do, i.e. It was not clear why we were here, what we were here, what would happen now. Those. This apathy, and indeed in the army, when it is not clear what to do, it does not have a very good effect on the morale of the troops, first of all. Yes, why is this comrade. Tverskoy, Arkady Tverskoy, may he rest in heaven, he died recently, why is he a Muscovite: because the 34th Light Tank Brigade was actually from Naro-Fominsk, it was an elite part of the Red Army, and on May 1, 1939, it was their BT tanks that paraded along Red Square, i.e. part was like this... Elite. The unit is elite, and, in fact, it has 105 BT tanks, and they arrived there in order to enter the breakthrough after the Finnish defense line was broken through, but, again, of course, this was an absolutely wrong decision, because everything - There is a forest there. And 105 BT tanks, they simply blocked the sides of the road, and when our units were surrounded, in fact, our tankers simply dug them into the ground and used them as stationary firing points. So, well, in fact, the situation is such that our units are indeed cut into separate cauldrons, and, well, the Finns, in fact, are gradually starting to cut it all into pieces. They succeeded in this with the 18th Infantry Division, again, because Kondrashov frankly blundered, and they did not succeed with the neighboring 168th Infantry Division, because Bondarev, the commander of this division, was a much more energetic commander. Those. he immediately said - okay, we are surrounded, which means we are narrowing the defense perimeter, i.e. We are retreating to more advantageous positions, which means that all regiments must stand together, which means we have placed tanks everywhere. Yes, they had T-37 and T-38 wedges, which were quite weak, but as if buried in the ground, with a machine gun, they performed well even when repelling Finnish attacks. And Bondarev said that... i.e. he made it so that the Finns couldn’t even do them, i.e. they tried to attack them a couple of times, but after that they realized that the commander was energetic, he realized that it was necessary to build a defensive perimeter and not allow his division to be cut into pieces. Those. The 168th division calmly held out until the end of the war, and their encirclement area was so large that they were there, in fact, on the ice of Pitkäranta Bay, they actually made a runway there, and the planes were encircled and landed near them. Those. They didn’t drop bags of food, but sat down directly, and heavy TB bombers also used them to supply them. Those. Everything was more or less normal for them, which, unfortunately, cannot be said about the 2 regiments of the 18th Infantry Division, because, obviously, they had already lost, in fact, leadership from Kondrashov, who was sitting, accordingly, surrounded in Lemetti. (let’s better move it here) Don’t forget about the picture numbers. And, accordingly, the Finns first began to put pressure on our units surrounded in the area of the fork in the roads, i.e. right here here. Accordingly, the area of the road fork is picture 07, the death of the boiler. And please look at picture 08, this is the Finns who photographed the area where the boiler was destroyed; unfortunately, the entire battlefield is littered with the bodies of our dead. And it is in this place, in the area of the death of the “fork in the road” cauldron, that the Cross of Sorrow stands, picture 09, this is a joint monument that Russia and Finland erected in the early 2000s. It was in these places that tanker V.A. died in February 1940. Tereshkov, father of V.V. Tereshkova, the world's first female cosmonaut. Those. she came there to lay flowers on her father’s grave. Those. he was from the Yaroslavl region, if I remember correctly, the Finnish war began, he was called up as a driver, and, accordingly, he died there in that place. Well, the next thing is the death of the so-called regimental cauldron. This, unfortunately, is a classic example of when there was no general leadership, it was not clear what to do, and as a result, in fact, the Finns managed to create such a huge cauldron, where, in general, there were 2 rifle regiments, a howitzer regiment, an artillery regiment , another separate tank battalion, managed to destroy it almost completely. Why did this happen - because Kondrashov from Lemetti contacted them on the radio and said - make your way to us. They say - no, let us make our way to the south, to the area of encirclement of the 168th Infantry Division. 168 tried to break through to meet them, tried to get them out of there. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. But, in fact, by February 18, the cauldron was completely destroyed; the Finns claimed trophies of 22 tanks and 36 guns. Wow. Again, we had a lot of tanks in those places, because there were also 2 separate tank battalions. Those. 1 of the 18th rifle division, plus the 34th light tank brigade, which had 105 BT tanks of various types. Well, having dealt with this large cauldron, the Finns begin to deal with the cauldrons in the Lemetti area, where it is divided into western and eastern Lemetti. This means that in western Lemetti there is one of our tank battalions from the 34th light tank brigade, a bakery of the 18th rifle division, and someone else. Those. It also turns out that somehow everything, i.e. non-combat units were brought together, and it was in western Lemetti that this tragic situation happened, which is well described that, in general, the battalion commander, Captain Ryazanov, began to prepare the battalion for a breakthrough, because perhaps everyone forgot, but the tanks have ammunition , and most importantly, there is fuel. If a tank doesn't have fuel, it won't go anywhere. When the battalion still had a sufficient supply of fuel so that the tanks could be withdrawn, so that there was enough ammunition, that, accordingly, it was possible to somehow conduct the battle, Captain Ryazanov said - that’s it, we’re getting ready, now we’ll break through to our own, accordingly, here. Literally between them there was... about 1 km, you just had to break through to connect with the encirclement area, where the brigade headquarters was sitting, and, by the way, where Kondrashov was sitting in a tent, having already virtually withdrawn himself from command. But, again, there was no order, sit and wait. But when Ryazanov began to give orders that we were packing up and leaving, the head of the battalion’s special department said that we had no order, so excuse me, we weren’t going anywhere. Ryazanov said that I am the commander here, I give orders, a quarrel broke out between them, and the head of the special department shot Ryazanov on the spot. Yes, and just in the regimental cauldron, there, too, the commanders all quarreled, because some say to go there, others say to go there, i.e. the lack of unified leadership led to chaos and the mass death of our military personnel. Well, as a result, literally 200 of our people came out of the Western cauldron, all the tanks were abandoned, everything was left to the Finns. Intelligent special officer. Yes, and, accordingly, Finnish trophies amounted to 32 tanks. But time passes, in fact, there is frankly nothing to eat, i.e. Indeed, the encirclement area is small, it is difficult to dump there, very little food falls there, and, accordingly, the head of the special department of the 34th light tank brigade, Doronkin, says that listen, that’s it, the end has come, because, excuse me, we are already eating bark from trees, that’s all the horses were eaten, that’s it, people were brought to the point of physical exhaustion. Because, again, they fell into the cauldron, excuse me, in the middle of January, in the 2nd half of January, it’s already the 20th of February. Those. people have been in -30 cold, with insufficient food for more than a month, and in a very crowded, small area. And all this is happening some, excuse me, 5 km from Pitkäranta, where ours are sitting, and where new troops are slowly beginning to arrive. And indeed, all these radiograms from the boiler that were sent, i.e. Radio communication was maintained, they really show that, probably, those who were in the cauldron took too passive a position, because they were told - please come, save us, we cannot believe that the enemy is so strong here. It’s not far at all, it’s 5 km in a straight line through the taiga to Pitkäranta, where Stern sits, where all our bosses sit. Well, and, accordingly, the headquarters of the 8th Army and the 15th Army, which began to concentrate here, is already new, and the 15th Army was actually a group that came entirely from the Belarusian Military District, i.e. The first commander of the 15th Army was Kovalev, commander of the Belarusian Special Military District. But, again, due to the fact that there was only one road, the concentration of units was very, very slow. And Stern kept pushing and pulling, and said that wait, help is coming, but by February 27 and 28, our people in the cauldron said that that’s it, we don’t have the strength, we are going for a breakthrough. Well, accordingly, indeed, please look at picture 12, the breakthrough from eastern Lemetti was divided into 2 columns, respectively, and, in general, one column was actually completely destroyed, this is the column, if I remember correctly, of Smirnov, and Most of the patients were sent there. One column was completely destroyed, the second somehow managed to reach the Pitkyaranta area, and, accordingly, the column that came out was led not by Kondrashov, but by the chief of staff of the 18th Infantry Division, Colonel Alekseev, because Kondrashov, according to unverified data, took off his commander's uniform, put on the usual Red Army uniform, and came out, in general, at the end of the column. Apparently, he was slightly wounded during the exit, but remained alive; again, he was actually immediately detained and placed under investigation. How did the investigation end? Again, here, the first is the commander of the 18th Infantry Division Kondrashov, and the commander of the 34th Light Tank Brigade Kondratyev, they were constantly confused, and both ours and the Finnish radio intelligence were simply constantly confused. So, it means that the commander of the 34th light tank brigade, the brigade commissar, the head of the special department, all shot themselves when leaving the encirclement when they realized that they were in a Finnish ambush, respectively. Those. the entire command of the 34th brigade was killed, but the command of the 18th rifle division managed to get out. During the breakout from the encirclement, the head of the political department died, and, in fact, it is not very clear where the banner went, because the division banner was wrapped around his body, and there is a version that the Finns have the battle banner of the division somewhere , but this is not the banner they display. If you go now to the central museum of the defensive forces of Finland, then in a place of honor hangs a beautiful, silver-embroidered, scarlet banner of the 18th Infantry Division, on which is written “18th Yaroslavl Infantry Division.” But researchers from Petrozavodsk claim that this is simply a division’s anniversary banner, which was issued to all divisions on the 20th anniversary of the Red Army, i.e. in 1938, and the battle flag disappeared somewhere. And supposedly, here it was on the body of the head of the political department, and allegedly, someone even saw a photograph of the body of the head of the political department, taken by the Finns, but the banner disappeared somewhere. Maybe a fighter, some kind of officer with him? Nothing is clear at all, absolutely nothing is clear, but the point is that indeed, as you can understand, the situation, in addition to the loss of the banner, the situation here was already extremely difficult, because, excuse me, the 18th Infantry Division was because of this sitting surrounded, due to ineffective leadership, and due to everything else, it suffered the highest losses, in general, among our divisions in the Finnish War. Those. at the beginning of the battle, when they were just surrounded, the division had about 10,000 people. But after all this, when Kondrashov had already been placed under investigation, and Colonel Alekseev was appointed acting division commander, who led everyone out of the encirclement, he calculated that the total losses of the division amounted to 8,754 people. This is out of 10,000 people, i.e. in fact, less than a fifth of them remain. Those. the losses were heavy, the banner was lost, the Finns got virtually all the equipment as trophies, plus BT tanks, so please look at pictures 13, 14, 15 - trophies. Cruel. Yes. Well, it is clear that all this is happening at the end of February 1940, and, again, Finnish propaganda trumpeted it again, of course, this is indeed a victory, this cannot be denied. Indeed, the defeat of one division and a light tank brigade, and, again, exactly the same, in parts, but, again, to great regret, if in the area of Suomussalmi and Raata everything was fast, then here our people sat in boilers Of course, people went through terrible trials, and just physical torment - hunger, cold, night blindness, illness, you name it. It is clear that Kondrashov was placed under investigation. There is a version that was voiced after the war by veterans who came out of encirclement. One of them said that I saw that Kondrashov was straight... the NKVD men came straight to the hospital, they arrested him in the hospital, took him out into the yard, and immediately shot him. But the documents tell a different story, i.e. this is most likely just a legend, because the documents say the following: he was really arrested, placed under investigation, taken to Moscow, the investigation went on for a long time, he was forced to write a long explanatory note as to why his division was defeated in this way. The sentence was announced to him - execution, he filed an appeal, and in it he wrote that I do not think that I am a complete man, I believe that I can still serve my homeland. But the investigation thought otherwise; he was shot only in August 1940, i.e. from March to August he was under investigation, there was actually a trial, and he even had the opportunity to file a petition for pardon, which did not help. But in this case, it’s probably understandable that such a defeat, again, someone had to be punished, and it was clear that there was a big fault here, that for some reason he was unable, like Bondarev, to organize the defense normally , why didn’t they occupy the heights right next to the road, where they could sit quietly, repelling Finnish attacks, thereby making the area large enough to make it easier for them to drop food, etc. Those. Indeed, this is a big failure on our part, big trophies, many dead and wounded were abandoned again. And all the wounded, apparently, were finished off by the Finns in dugouts. Again, this is something that, in general, the Finns don’t really like to remember, but, indeed, there are many sources that indicate that the wounded were abandoned in dugouts, and then, accordingly, the dugouts simply were either blown up by overhead charges, or were burned along with the wounded, or the wounded were finished off, respectively, with blows from rifle butts and bayonets. Those. It’s also a very ugly story, actually. Here, as you understand, this entire place of encirclement after the war remained on our territory, therefore... There is a top secret act on March 17, i.e. 4 days after the end of the war, this act was drawn up by a commission, the chairman of the commission, military commissar of the 56th Rifle Corps, brigade commissar Seryakov, acting. commander of the 18th division, Colonel Sokolov, acting military commissar of the 18th division, deputy. Head of the special department of the NKVD, and head of the 2nd department of the 56th Rifle Corps. What do they write? So... It's quite long, but I'll read the following. Lemetti south. Ours called it southern Lemetti, the Finns called it eastern Lemetti. “Lemetti South bears traces of fierce and stubborn battles, representing a continuous cemetery of corpses, broken combat and transport vehicles. The entire defense area of CP 18 SD is pitted with shell craters, 90% of the trees in the defense area have been mown down. shells. 10 dugouts destroyed by artillery were discovered. shells of 152 m/m artillery, with the people who were there. The remaining dugouts were mostly blown up by the Finns after they occupied Lemetti. 18 corpses of Red Army soldiers were found, burned by the Finns in dugouts, one corpse was found in a dugout, tied with wires to bunks and shot, and one corpse with a rope tied around its neck. Cars, trees, iron pipes of dugout stoves and all local objects are riddled with bullets and shell fragments. All military-economic property and personal property were demolished and piled up by the Finns along the road.” Well, and, accordingly, regarding the fate of the columns: “In the area of the breakthrough of the enemy’s defense, the column of the chief of staff of the 18th SD, Colonel Alekseev, discovered 201 corpses, mainly in the area of the enemy’s defense and near wire barriers. In the area where the enemy’s defense was broken through, the column of the chief of staff of the 34th LTBR, Colonel Smirnov, discovered 150 corpses, and 120 corpses of the remaining seriously wounded were found in the hospital dugouts. No Finnish corpses were found, because these were removed by the Finns in the period from 29.2.40 to 17.3.40.” Yes, the actual column that died: “About 400 dead were found in the area of the Finnish camp, which is 2.5 km east of Lemetti, among whom were identified: Head of the Political Department of the 18th SD-Battalion Commissar Comrade. Razumov, Head. Artillery 56 SK - Colonel Bolotov, military commissar 97 OBS - senior political instructor Tyurin, Military Commissar 56 ORB - Art. Political instructor Suvorov, assistant head of the political department for the Komsomol - political instructor Samoznaev, instructor of the political department of the 18th SD - political instructor Smirnov with his wife, representative of the Air Force of the 8th Army, Lieutenant Permyakov, Head of the division's vehicle fleet and many others. In the area of the death of the Northern Column, the following was established: the trees mostly bear traces of a two-way firefight, which indicates armed resistance from the Northern group. Upon examination, it was established that, despite the presence of fatal wounds, a significant part of the dead bore traces of being shot in the head and finishing off with rifle butts. One of the dead, wearing Finnish pieksa boots, was placed upside down against a tree. The wife of the political department instructor of the 18th SD Smirnova (who worked as a partuchet in the political department) was naked and our hand grenade was inserted between her legs. Most of the command personnel had their buttonholes and sleeve insignia torn off. The orders that the command staff had were torn away by the Finns with the material.” Here is a document about what happened when leaving the encirclement. Again, it is clear that this should have been done much earlier, but still, an order is an order, so they really waited a long time. And there are also memories, it is written here that most of those who died were in the area of the wire; many people there could no longer even walk because they were hungry, and were simply already crawling out of the encirclement. Those. This is the tragic fate that befell the 18th Infantry Division and the 34th Light Tank Brigade in the Soviet-Finnish War. It’s clear that, I’ll say it again, Finnish propaganda trumpeted all this, of course. A huge number of photographs were taken, of jubilant Finns, and trophies, and, again, our frozen corpses by the road, and so on and so forth. But, at the same time, I really need to say - from my point of view, this played a cruel joke on the Finns, because all this happens on February 27-28, when on the Karelian Isthmus, if we remember the previous story, the intermediate line of defense of the Finns has already been broken through, and Ours, in general, are already moving towards Vyborg, and are aiming at the encirclement of Vyborg. Those. If our units are defeated here, then in the key theater of military operations, i.e. This is the Helsinki direction, the Finnish army is defeated. And, of course, the Finnish media and Finnish propaganda did not talk about what was happening near Vyborg, on the contrary, they told what was happening here. And therefore, when after 2 weeks peace was concluded on terms not favorable to Finland, they now say that Finland won because it retained its independence, etc., assessments always change. But then, excuse me, all the newspapers came out in a mourning frame, all the flags were lowered at half-mast... As a sign of victory, right? And, in fact, all foreign journalists too, they regarded this as a victory for Russia. And, in fact, for the Finns it was a huge shock that we were fighting so well, and it seemed like 1 more division was defeated, and a tank brigade was defeated, and the banner was captured, and in general everything was great, but then after 2 weeks it turns out, that we ended up losing. Those. Propaganda is good, but it can, in this way, really lure public opinion into a certain trap, this can simply come back as a huge shock for people. But this is what is happening in the Lemetti area, and further north, beyond Pitkäranta, the 168th Infantry Division is still holding out, and, accordingly, the new 15th Army is slowly concentrating, which arrives from the Belarusian Military District with the goal of breaking through the blockade ring of the 168th Infantry Division . But, again, please look, picture 17, communication of the 8th and 15th armies, this is the only road that runs along Ladoga. But the most interesting thing is that it is much further south, in the Salmi area, i.e. it is 50 kilometers to the south, near Ladoga there are the islands of Lunkulunsaari and Mantsisaari, where there are 2 Finnish cannons of 152 mm caliber, and a separate Finnish battalion sits there. And with their fire they periodically sweep this road. Comrade Stern did not think of taking these islands by storm, and thereby, in fact, removing this obstacle to his only communication. In April 40, when the commander-in-chief comrade. Stalin gathered all the commanders of the Red Army for a meeting in the Kremlin so that they could tell how they fought in the Soviet-Finnish War. Stern began to say that the Finns had a gigantic fort, absolutely impregnable, on this island, and therefore they did not go there. Stalin interrupted him and said that you know, there were 2 guns and 1 battalion, I don’t need to flood it. Those. Stalin was aware that the Finns did not have many people there. But, again, they were simply left there alone, they sat quietly until the truce, and until the truce they, accordingly, shelled this only road. And by the way, it must, of course, be emphasized that after the war at this conference, which we will talk about separately, our commanders greatly exaggerated the strength of the Finnish fortifications. Of course, I had to somehow justify my not very effective actions. So, our reinforcements are actually coming along this road, including the 204th Airborne Brigade from Boryspil, Ukraine, arriving on foot in mid-February. And, indeed, they arrive by train, on trains to Lodeynoye Pole, from Lodeynoye Pole they walk 200 km, after which they are immediately thrown into battle to take the islands in Pitkyaranta Bay. And the first battle ended in a complete fiasco for ours, because there was no reconnaissance, and all this only led to very high losses among our paratroopers. It must be said that there is also a stereotype that the Finns, they heard that there were some paratroopers there, and they directly thought that the paratroopers parachuted onto these islands at night, but this is absolutely not confirmed by our documents. Our documents confirm that the brigade went on a battalion-by-battalion attack in mid-February, and, in general, immediately lost more than half of its personnel on the ice in front of the islands. They were excellent commanders. I'm surprised that special departments didn't shoot everyone there, such handsome guys. How would they film there, i.e. when the command of the 15th Army, somehow their first attack in mid-February on the islands failed, the second attack failed on February 23, then Kovalev was removed. After this, Kurdyumov was appointed commander of the 15th Army. And please look at picture 18, breaking the blockade of the 168th Infantry Division and the battle for the islands. The situation there was gloomy, in general, for both sides, both for ours and for the Finns, because, therefore, the Finns occupied these islands, at first everything seemed to be fine with them there, they fired at our convoys, which were trying to break through at night across the ice of the Pitkyaranta Bay to the 168th Division, they were shot with machine guns and mortars. But when we started putting pressure on the islands, then, of course, things didn’t go well for them there, that’s for sure. And the second thing is, in general, when it became clear that now it would be very bad, it was clear that ours attacked once, attacked twice, the attack was unsuccessful twice, but the second time they somehow went with the tanks. It is clear that the third time will be even bigger and even stronger. In general, those Finns who were on the islands, they were simply abandoned there, in general, the officers abandoned them, the artillery reconnaissance left, and, in fact, the book that describes the battles for these 2 islands - Lunkulunsaari and Mantsisaari - in in Finnish it is called “Front of the Forgotten”, “Front of the Abandoned”. One might say, they were left there too... Commanders? Yes, like hold on as long as you can. But they could only hold out until March 6, because on March 6, in battle, both garrisons were actually completely destroyed by ours. And in previous attacks, as it was, our aircraft swoop in, start bombing the islands, and at the same time an artillery raid is launched on the islands, and the islands are completely rocky, and it’s clear that there... You can’t bury yourself. You can’t burrow there, and the rocks are a damaging factor - when a shell hits them, there are fragments, granite dust and everything, everything, everything flies. Well, what the Finns did - they simply ran away from the island and lay down on the ice. They are in white camouflage suits, they are not visible, then, when the attack begins, the Finns return to the island and open fire from the island. In the 3rd attack, ours, in fact, realized that, in general, the Finns do this, and already during the 3rd assault, in fact, it was agreed that our fighters were constantly patrolling around the island, and when they saw that there was someone there... then they run around in white camouflage coats, and they simply open fire on them. Those. you can’t hide on an island, and, accordingly, you can’t hide on ice either. Well, there are memories of just one of our paratroopers, who was in the first attack, in the second, in the third, i.e. he saw it all, that's it. And, in fact, there are very interesting memories of this third attack. “By 12 o’clock the battalion units had liberated a third of the island, but were stopped by heavy fire from the Finns. The battalion commander Solop reported the situation by telephone to the brigade commander I.I. Gubarevich and asked to move the artillery attack on the northern part of the island to 12 hours 50 minutes and attack the Finns at 13. Such a 10-minute artillery attack was carried out, and the soldiers shouted “Hurray!” attacked the enemy and went forward with the support of tanks. But here our aviation appeared and began to hinder the advance of the battalion by its actions, firing at its own.” Those. Well, yes, the aviation has an order, if there are some people in white running around, then they need to be shot. “...Captain Solop tried to contact the aviation by radio, but it was useless, he swore at them at all costs. At this time, a group of about 10 people in camouflage suits approached us. Solop continued to call the air force on the radio. One of the group asked: “Who is the commander here?” “Well, I, what do you want from me?” - Solop said angrily. “I, comrade commander, deputy people's commissar, Kulik. What is holding you back now?” - he asked. I see my battalion commander turned from pink to pale, he could not immediately report the situation. “Calm down,” said G.I. Kulik, “is aviation bothering you?” “Yes, Comrade Deputy People’s Commissar, the aviation is firing at its own people and preventing us from moving forward.” “Now, Comrade Solop, I will use my radio to instruct the aviation to fire on the northern part of the island.” His radio operator was able to quickly contact the aircraft, and it moved the attack to the northern part of the island of Maximan-Sari. After which the battalion went forward...” That is. You also see that there was no air controller of any kind in battle formations on the ground. And the personal presence of the marshal is required in order to reorient it all. Yes, Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, i.e. 2 people in the People's Commissariat. But this means that when the islands were taken, our official archival documents record that the commanders lost control over the fighters, and, in fact, the fighters were so embittered by the previous unsuccessful assaults on these islands that simply everyone was captured, i.e. Even those who tried to surrender, the Finns simply killed everyone on the spot. Plus, again, such a powerful artillery attack was carried out on the islands that when our people entered the island, they saw that many Finnish soldiers were simply torn to pieces by shell hits. The Finns had something like a dressing station behind one rock, and so, a bomb hit the rock, and the rock just collapsed, burying everyone there alive. And, in general, virtually no Finns escaped from these islands. Literally several wounded were saved, who realized that there was probably no need to surrender, they simply crawled away at dusk, in the afternoon, again, in their camouflage suits, onto the ice, and then crawled for a long time to their own people, respectively, to the north. Well, just like in other places, the Finns in these units had a territorial principle of forming regiments, there were just from 2 neighboring villages, from Rantasalmi... no, sorry, not from the neighboring ones, there from the Savolaksa region, from Rantasalmi and from Nilse, from 2 villages, almost everyone died there. Therefore, in the 2000s, they went to these islands and erected monuments there from 2 of their villages. (picture 19, monument on the islands). Those. This is how, in general, the Soviet-Finnish war in the Ladoga region ended. Initial success, then the Finns stop ours, launch a planned counterattack long before, cut off communications, one of our commanders suffers a nervous breakdown and withdraws from command. I've never heard this before. The second commander, on the contrary, gathers his division into a very dense defensive perimeter, arranges supplies, builds a runway on the ice there, and holds out until the end of the war. The 18th Infantry Division is almost completely destroyed, the 34th Light Tank Brigade loses half of its personnel and all its tanks. Well, everything ends with the concentration of our new army, and on the third attempt the capture of the islands of the Pitkäranta Bay, heavy losses for the Finns, heavy losses for ours, but the 168th division was released. And, of course, the question may immediately arise: well, the Red Army soldiers seem to be a humane army, all people are brothers... Komsomol members. Komsomol members, yes. We are not fighting against the Finnish people, we are fighting against white Finnish gangs, we generally wanted to liberate Finland. Why such cruelty, why prisoners, i.e. those who tried to surrender, why were they finished off? Why did they finish off the wounded? From childhood I remember that they were always called lakhtars, i.e. butchers, these same Finns. You know, by the way, in this document, where it is stated that they were finishing off, it is directly stated that when they ran on skis to the island to attack, they ran on skis over the bodies of their comrades who died in previous attacks, and you can Imagine how they felt when in mid-February they didn’t take, but put away a certain number of their own - young, 20-year-olds, fellow Komsomol members, paratroopers, the elite. On February 23rd the same thing. And only on March 6, on the third attempt, we reached these islands, and it was really all over, they gave no quarter. And this is really reflected in our official archival documents, it’s written down exactly like that. These are the sad places, i.e. no success. Yes, it seems that it was planned to attack, i.e. when 168 is released, advance on Sortavala, etc. But, again, the end of hostilities put an end to all these plans. Although the Finns also have a legend there that in Sortavala, there are Finnish reservists sitting there, and they hear that, accordingly, the Russians have, excuse me, a whole army there, there are a lot of fresh troops who have arrived in Pitkyaranta, and now they will rush across the ice to Sortavala, and supposedly everyone there just staged a gigantic drinking party in Sortavala, so that the city would not be able to be held. Those. already complete superiority of the enemy. But these are also legends and stories, of which there are many on both sides. But I wouldn’t like to end there, because nearby, literally 50 km away, there is the 56th Infantry Division, which, from the side of Loimala and from the side of Solvayarvi, is trying to break into these same places. And this is another theater of military operations on the river. The so-called colla. Picture 20, the battle on the Kolla River, in December, in fact, everything happens there as follows. The 56th Infantry Division is advancing, one Finnish regiment is defending, and just on the Kolla River, relying on the commanding heights, the Finns stop ours. That is, again, no encirclement happened there simply because neither ours nor the Finns had the strength to do it. Those. both sides tried to make detours, repulsed each other, after which the front stood still. And he stood up, in fact, until March 1940. Why are we even talking about this - simply because it was there that the Finnish sniper Simo Hyauhä fought (picture 22). Simo Hyauhä is one of the symbols of the Soviet-Finnish War, and, accordingly, he is probably more famous in Finland than Vasily Zaitsev and other Soviet snipers. And as I said in the last program, in fact, a legend was made from him already during the Finnish War, and only enlarged after the war (picture 21, sniper Simo Hyauhä in mid-February 1940). There is already a positional war going on, nothing seems to be happening, the Swedish delegation arrives, gives Häuhä a Swedish rifle, Colonel Svensson gives him a certificate, i.e. there is such a beautiful ceremony that everyone takes pictures of, and, accordingly, he is standing, smiling, in picture 21 with the Swedish rifle given to him, if I’m not mistaken. And really, from mid-December to March, nothing much happens there. Different sources indicate a completely different number of his victories, let’s put it that way. Up to 700 people are attributed to him, but let me doubt this number a little, as some sources cite, especially Internet sources. The fact is that, again, the front came up somewhere in the 20th of December, and Simo Hyauhä was seriously wounded by being hit in the jaw by either an explosive bullet or a shrapnel on March 5, 1940. Those. It turns out that he has January, February, 2 more weeks, i.e. it turns out to be about 70 days... 10 per day. Yes, 10 people per day. Seven days a week. Yes, seven days a week. It’s interesting that he was the first, he showed his position, he returned to these places in 1941, and the place where he was is known. Indeed, the position chosen is wonderful, picture 22, Simo Hyauha shows his firing position, it is a rock, and the rock is such that he is covered by rocks on the right and left, and on the left in front he is also covered by a rock. Simo Hyauhä was very short in stature, he was a peasant himself, obviously not from a very rich family, i.e. was malnourished, so he was 1.55 tall. He was very short, you can see his uniform in the central museum of the Finnish Defense Forces, you can see that he was small. Further, he shot from a rifle without a sniper scope, i.e. its maximum range of action was 400-450 meters. And now there are estimates that he may have reached 200 victories as a sniper, but you know, if we know where his firing position was, he crawled to neutral, i.e. he was not sitting in the Finnish trenches. He crawled into neutral, even went beyond the Finnish grooves. Here at this position. If we know the radius of destruction of his rifle approximately, and we know the number of the regiment that was stationed there, then if we try to estimate his victories, his real sniper score, we just need to take the losses of this regiment and see how many were killed there during this time. The whole regiment, apparently, right? To be honest, I have... Or they still had to adjust it to satisfy the bloodthirsty. You know, in fact, they say that we have all sorts of legends here and all that, but there... It’s unacceptable. Only truth. No, no, listen. Finnish tourists, here they are, for them this is really a national hero, i.e. as for us Vasily Zaitsev, or whoever else is there, Kozhedub, one of the greatest military heroes. And, accordingly, the Finns told me that you know, they called him “white death”... Russians? Yes, our people called it “white death”. I haven't seen it anywhere at all. Frost was more likely to be called the white death. Those. This raises serious doubts in me, as a researcher. The second thing they sent was that Stalin almost personally brought in an entire army of snipers to hunt him. The most important thing, he said, the Finns said that they sent 5 female snipers. White tights. Yes, white tights. That they were very cool, but still Hyauhya killed them all, because their optics seemed to sparkle, but mine didn’t shine. And he didn't have optics. Finnish trick. Finnish trick, but he also said that he explained after the war, i.e. he died in 2002, excuse me, he lived a very long life, and there was a whole pilgrimage to him from Finns, Americans, and everyone else. They went to him, recorded an interview with him, and asked why it was like this, why without a sniper scope, etc. He said, first, in winter the optics can fog up, that’s it. Secondly, from his point of view, through a sniper scope, through an optical sight, you need to aim longer. Well, thirdly, if there is a sniper scope, it glares, that’s it, and number 2 is that you still need to raise your head literally 2-3 cm higher, because the sniper scope is located higher than a regular scope on the barrel of a rifle. Those. this is his explanation. Sorry, I'll interrupt, I very much doubt that you can hit something at 400 meters without a scope. Well, supposedly he is a Finnish hunter, etc. Not everyone gets within 400 meters with a scope. I don’t believe it, as Stanislavsky said. Again, if someone would really like to do a normal, calm, neutral study, exactly how much, i.e. try to estimate the losses in our units... Is it possible to somehow get this data? So, I’m saying that you just need to take the data on the losses of the regiment that stood against Hyaukh, and generally see what their total losses were for December, January, February. What actually happened there? Maybe it will even turn out that 40 people were killed there and 100 were wounded. How did they evaluate it anyway? Well, Hyauhya came in the evening and said how many he allegedly killed there. But, nevertheless, no matter how many he killed, for the Finns this is one of the symbols of the Soviet-Finnish War. It is clear that now they say that 700 is probably an exaggeration, because just like in the photograph on February 17, he stands like a hero, he is given a rifle, a certificate, and so on and so forth. Most likely, 200... Still a lot. A lot, still outstanding, one of the greatest snipers. But the most important thing that is interesting is that an ordinary Finnish resident, a simple Finnish man in the street, he will not even bother and question this number. Legend and legend, now the Finns are starting, in my opinion, filming a film about Simo Hyauha, about the white death, and no one will count, like with 28 Panfilov men, how many there were, how many tanks they knocked out, everything is one way or another, it doesn’t matter - a national hero, a legend, we’re filming, and there are no protests among... Let’s look for documents, let’s shoot a video about Simo Hyauh. Interesting. But, in fact, how it all ended on the Kolla River. The calm ended at the beginning of March, because at the beginning of the Finnish War there was only one of our divisions, but by March ours brought in 4 more. That is. There were already 2 of our corps there, overwhelming superiority in infantry, in everything. And, accordingly, just on March 4-5, ours simply begin to put pressure on the Finns from all sides, i.e. They are attacking not only along the front right on the Kolla River, but they are starting to make detours, now there are more forces, much more forces. And just on March 5-6, on March 5, Simo Hyauha was seriously wounded. According to the official version, it was just a duel with our sniper, who hit him in the lower jaw, and because of this, his entire lower jaw was crushed, so his face was very deformed, i.e. His jaw was pieced together in the hospital. This is one version. Another version is that it was hit by a shell fragment, because the fighting became very, very intense again, but despite the overwhelming superiority, the Finns still managed to hold out there until March 13. Although, indeed, their situation was becoming difficult again, i.e. both flanks are already covered, somehow there are no reserves anymore, i.e. It’s unclear how it would all end. But, nevertheless, picture 23, the situation on the Kolla River at the end of the war, which completes our today's intelligence survey. All the same, the Kolla River and Simo Häuhä for the Finns became a symbol of the steadfastness of the Finnish army in the Soviet-Finnish War, that in Summa they broke through the Mannerheim Line, but Kolla survived. In fact, right after the war, they published a book by one of the Finnish army servicemen who fought there. He called the book that “Kolla survived,” the front held. Therefore, for them this is also a certain symbol of their courage and perseverance, which indeed was high during the Soviet-Finnish War, this cannot be denied. Well, and, accordingly, if anyone travels there, unfortunately, the road from Pitkäranta to Loimala and Suojärvi is in terrible condition. Those. if it were repaired, then in general it would give an impetus to tourism in these places, but now you’re just shaking 40 km on some kind of bus at a speed of 40 km/h. If anyone is there, the Finns brought the monument, its top is broken off, please do not think about the local vandals, it was the Finns themselves who brought it and broke it during transportation. Therefore, there should have been a tall obelisk, but it turns out that it was broken in half. But now everyone thinks that everything is so special, that the sculptor specially planned it this way. But there, in fact, this Finnish obelisk stands on the Finnish positions, and on the other side of the river there is a large, very common grave of our soldiers and commanders who died there. And, by the way, on one side of the road is the grave of our soldiers and commanders, and on the other side of the road, 100 meters away, is Hyauhya’s position. Those. he really crawled forward, into neutral, and indeed, probably, the fact that he was very short was a big plus in this regard. Plus, indeed, on one side, on the left side it was completely covered by a rock. It's strange in general. Those. It’s a violation of all rules to sit in one place. Do you really think that no one will notice you? They will notice, and sooner or later they will arrive. Well, roughly speaking, the Finnish version is that he was so much cooler than all our snipers that yes, he killed them almost one by one. And so on for 2 months. But, again, this is about the question that any war, if it is a patriotic war, and for the Finns the Soviet-Finnish war is considered precisely as a patriotic war, this is exactly what Mannerheim proclaimed it on the very first day of the war, that we are fighting for faith, home , and the fatherland. Those. not for faith, king, and fatherland, but for faith, home, and fatherland. This is actually a declaration of patriotic war, i.e. we will fight to the end. In any such war, in general, legends always appear, and, of course, Hyauhya is one of them, and, in general, is known all over the world. Why, in fact, there was such a pilgrimage to him after the war, already in the 90s and 2000s they came and met with him. He was buried, in fact, in his native place, in the cemetery of the village of Ruokolahti. If you pass there, you can stop by; it’s a very small, modest grave. But there on it is just the silhouette of a Finnish soldier in a white camouflage suit, and there are actually always flowers there. Those. for them he is a hero. Yes, now you can argue, study, etc., but they will still make a film where he is there, probably like 300 Spartans, only he will be there alone. And, indeed, if not 700... 800. 800 at least he will probably put our Red Army soldiers there. In queues. Yes. There, our people will obviously climb like orcs, but there will be no discussion on this matter, that “maybe he didn’t kill as much?”, “maybe everything was wrong?” in Finnish society absolutely not. And if someone starts to raise their voice, then they will probably immediately start receiving threats to hack them to death with an ax on the street, or to kill them with a Finnish knife, because there they... in this regard, they are much more touchy than ours, from my point of view. Lost, huh? Of course it's a shame. A good example of this is just when 2 young masters of history, 30 years old, decided to delve a little into the biography of Lauri Törni, who is another Finnish hero, he needs to be discussed separately in stories about the second war of 41-44. So they, in general, found documents, and in the book they wrote that he is considered the greatest Finnish warrior, but in fact he was a Nazi, because he, yes, he fought in the Lemetti area in 40 Jaeger, then in 1941 he went to fight in the SS in the Donbass and Chechnya, because that’s where the 5th SS Viking Division was located, in those parts. Then, in 1943, he returned to Finland, became a Finnish saboteur, left in 1944 after concluding a truce with the Soviet Union, left Finland for Sweden, from Sweden to the USA, entered the US Army, and only in Vietnam was he pacified. Only in 1965 his helicopter was shot down, it crashed somewhere in the jungle, and was found only in the early 2000s. Well, also in the central museum of the defensive forces of Finland you will see “Soldiers of 3 armies” - in Finnish uniform, in SS uniform, in American uniform. There is something to be proud of. There is something to be proud of. By the way, he was born in the city of Vyborg, a Vyborg resident, although Finnish. So, these two young people said - do you know that he was actually a Nazi, you know that he was categorically against the truce between Finland and the Soviet Union, he almost planned a military coup in Finland, so as not to made peace with the USSR and continued to fight for the Germans. So, these 2 young men began to receive threats to their life and health, and were forced to hire security guards for themselves. Not bad. Democracy, yes. 2 years ago, and the book was published at the book fair in Helsinki, this is the premiere, when all the new, most important books come out in Finland, this, of course, became a big scandal, that we thought he was good, but he... He, it turns out , look what! Yes. But this, again, is a completely separate story. There is a feeling that a certain revision is also beginning in Finland. In general, I see that only while the Soviet Union was alive, was it somehow possible to keep all this scum in check, that everyone was forced to agree that Nazism was bad, that it was impossible to serve in the SS, that these were scum, that collaboration with the Nazi regime is not good. And now, it turns out, everything was fine. Those. There is no one to hit the table with their muzzle, and our handsome guys support all this with all their might, so why be shy now. During Soviet times there was enormous self-censorship in Finland, i.e. yes, there were books, yes, there were studies, but it was more likely for the very right and for veterans. And now it has become mainstream, I would say. It won't do any good. Well, alas, I'm afraid it won't work out. Yes, we should write a study about Simo Hyauh someday, because he is a legendary person and an interesting topic for research. To summarize our conversation today, I would like to say that, oddly enough, it was about the tragic events in the Lemetti area that one of the few fiction books about the Soviet-Finnish War was written. It is called “Death of the Division”, it was written by Petrozavodsk researcher, writer, journalist A.A. Gordienko, who, unfortunately, died in 2010. This is a new posthumous edition. Before the war, the 18th Infantry Division was based in Petrozavodsk, in fact, from there it went to its, unfortunately, death in the Lemetti area. But those who returned all returned to Petrozavodsk, and all relatives remained in Petrozavodsk, so this book was written as if it was a diary of one of the employees of the political department of the 18th Infantry Division, i.e. This is a story in the form of a diary, based on documents and interviews. Yes, maybe it has some excesses, but nothing better has been written about the Finnish war in our works of fiction at all. Can personnel be purchased somewhere? Yes, in fact, under the video there is a link to the opershop, so this book can be purchased at the opershop... Is this this cross? Yes, this is precisely the cross of sorrow, very neutral, i.e. there is such a cross and 2 mothers hug it on both sides. Those. one mother is Russia, the second is Finland. Those. The monument was erected in 2000, and at the moment it is the largest monument to the Soviet-Finnish War that we have. It is located in exactly the same place where our cauldron was destroyed at the Lemetti fork in the roads, so if you ever travel to those parts, stop by and take a look. Unfortunately, there are not a large number of information signs there, but there are a huge number of mass graves and monuments reminding us of this battle of 1940, i.e. they literally walk along the road every 500 meters, which shows what happens when the commander gives up. Despite everything, the commander is the captain of the ship; he must try to do something even in a hopeless situation, because the situation, most likely, was not hopeless, as the situation in Bondarev’s neighboring division shows. Creepy. Yes. But, of course, it must also be said that in order to raise morale in Finland, to maintain general normal public opinion in Finland, of course, this played a role. And for the Finns, this is probably such an important and glorious page in military history. For us, this is a very sad and tragic page in our military history, which was forgotten for a very long time simply that such a thing even happened. But, fortunately, at least this book was published in the early 2000s, it became a bestseller in Karelia, i.e. This is already the 3rd edition. It has not been published in paper for a long time, so please, you can purchase it at the opershop. But I would like to emphasize once again that in general, on these same days, when, in general, the entire command of the 34th light tank brigade shot themselves while leaving the encirclement, on these same days, when our soldiers surrounded at night simply did not see anything, because they began to experience night blindness due to malnutrition, and the Finns simply approached and threw grenades at them, at the same time the intermediate line of Finnish defense was broken through near Vyborg, and the situation on the Karelian Isthmus west of Lake Ladoga for the Finns was already close to critical. Every day the situation of the Finnish army is only getting worse. Therefore, our next story is the end of hostilities in the Soviet-Finnish War. There was already a request to tell us about the locks of the Saimaa Canal, what happened to them - were they actually blown up or not blown up, and what actually happened there near Vyborg. How the fighting ended, where our units stood at 12 noon on March 13, when the truce officially came into force, and what lessons the Red Army, the Finnish Army, and all our Western partners learned from this. Thank you. Looking forward to the next one. Thank you. That's all for today. Until next time.
In all centuries, heroism, the courage of Russian soldiers, the power and glory of Russian weapons have been an integral part of the greatness of the Russian state. The long-term independence of the Russian people once again allows us to think about the unfading glory and power of our soldiers. The more time passes from significant events, the more majestic the feat of the people who defended their precious freedom seems. The memory of the people who defended our country is not subject to time: it lives in the memories of all those who survived the war, in archaeological and documentary materials, and works of art. We, the people of the present generation, must not consign to oblivion the military feat of our compatriots, we must remember and preserve it for posterity.
Any state strives to ensure that events significant for the country are not forgotten and remain forever in the people's memory. The Government of the Russian Federation has established days of military glory (victory days) of Russia to commemorate the glorious victories of Russian troops, which played a decisive role in the history of Russia, and memorable dates in the history of the Fatherland associated with the most important historical events in the life of the state.
December 9 in our country is the Day of Heroes of the Fatherland. This day gives us the opportunity to once again remember the heroism of our people during trials over many centuries. This memorable day is especially significant on the eve of the celebration of the 65th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
Knowing that every minute could be the last, the soldiers of the Great Patriotic War went into battle, performed their feats of arms for the sake of life on earth. Each participant in the military events of 1941-1945. for courage, perseverance and bravery shown in battles, one can rightfully be called a hero, despite the fact that not everyone was awarded honorary titles and awards.
More than half a century has passed since the end of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, but the memories of the contribution of every person in our country to achieving the Great Victory are still fresh. The Chuvash people, together with other peoples, “forged” victory in different parts of our planet. The sons and daughters of Chuvashia fought as part of various military units and formations formed on the territory of various republics, territories and regions, not sparing their lives, losing relatives, friends and fellow soldiers, walked half of Europe, and defended the independence of the country.
From the first days of the war, the residents of our republic, following the calls of the country and a sense of duty to the Fatherland, volunteered to go to the front. The desire to help the country in this difficult time was so great that separate divisions were formed on the territory of the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. One of these formations was the 139th Infantry Division, whose history began at the end of 1941.
The headquarters of the 139th Infantry Division was concentrated in Cheboksary. Major G.S. was appointed chief of staff of the division. Drobitsky. Subordinate to him were the heads of departments: operational - Major K.A. Alekseev, reconnaissance - captain V.I. Grishaev, communications – V.M. Maslovsky, combatant - V.A. Churmeev, in the rear - Ignatov.
The 139th Infantry Division included: the 364th, 609th and 718th Infantry Regiments, the 354th Artillery Regiment, the 237th Separate Anti-Tank Fighter Division, engineering, medical services and other special units. The division was mainly staffed by conscripts from Alatyr, Alikovsky, Ibresinsky, Ishleysky, Kalininsky, Kozlovsky, Mariinsko-Posadsky, Morgaushsky, Pervomaisky, Chkalovsky and some other districts. Replenishment also came from the Ivanovo, Kalinin, Moscow regions, and the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
In the spring of 1942, the completed units and subunits of the division were sent to the front in echelons. It was hard for the soldiers to see the tears of their relatives and friends, but in their souls there was hope for a quick return home with victory.
The first baptism of fire of the division occurred on July 31, 1942 at the Rzhev line of the Kalinin Front. The first battle was difficult for our soldiers, the division suffered heavy losses, but the soldiers passed the first test with dignity. Fierce battles were fought for every settlement and every house. The division's soldiers learned combat skills from the experience of the best fighters and commanders: machine gunner I. Kulikov, sapper E.I. Shevkunov, scouts M.S. Kirillova, M.I. Gladysheva, A.D. Artemov, artilleryman P.P. Parfenov, junior commanders P.E. Vorobyova, I.N. Romashkina, T.V. Lugutkin, snipers N.A. Gurchnoy, O.S. Zheltyakova, medical instructors A.S. Kublitskaya, A.A. Alekseeva, V.S. Dovzhenko and many others.
On August 22, 1942, during bloody battles in the Gorchakovo-Varyushino area, the 139th Infantry Division reached the river line. Volga. Here the division began an offensive at the Uvarovsky junction, which was heavily fortified by the Germans. For fourteen days the fighting for this line did not stop. Under a shower of fire and exploding shells, orderlies and nurses fearlessly carried wounded soldiers from the battlefield. Thanks to the tenacity and endurance of our guys, on September 9, 1942, the Uvarovsky junction was liberated from German troops. Many soldiers and commanders showed courage and bravery, for which they were awarded numerous orders and medals.
The divisional newspaper “Stalinsky Call”, the editorial office of which was located on the street, reported about the courage and courage of the soldiers of the 139th Infantry Division on the lines of fire. Volodarsky, Cheboksary. War correspondents, in difficult conditions, obtained materials about the fighting at the front, promptly talked about the heroism of the division’s soldiers, and at the same time raised the morale of the soldiers.
In August 1943, the 139th Rifle Division went on the offensive in the Smolensk direction. The enemy suffered heavy losses during the attack by our troops and retreated. In September, units of the division resumed the offensive and successfully crossed the river. Desenka and R. Shedding. But the division was faced with a difficult and risky task: to seize a particularly important height of 224.1 m, which opens the way to Roslavl. In the course of careful calculations by the command and fierce, bloody battles, the division completed its combat mission, then, crossing the western bank of the river. Desna continued its journey in a westerly direction and reached the outskirts of Roslavl, which is of strategic importance for our troops.
On September 25, 1943, after intense fighting, the fighters of the formation managed to liberate the ancient city and large administrative and economic center of Roslavl from the Germans. For the liberation of this city, the 139th Infantry Division received the honorary name “Roslavl”; all personnel were thanked on behalf of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. In Moscow, in honor of the victory, a salute of 224 artillery pieces was arranged.
In the spring of 1944, the 139th Infantry Division was sent to liberate Belarus from the Nazis. During the offensive battles, units of the division liberated settlements in the Mogilev and Minsk regions and crossed the Pronya, Basya, Resta and Dnieper rivers. On July 14, 1944, the division reached the river line. Neman south of the regional center Skidel, Grodno region. Despite strong resistance from German troops, units of the division managed to capture the enemy's bridgehead. During a successful reconnaissance operation, the 139th Infantry Division managed to gain a foothold on the opposite bank of the river. Neman.
From July 22, 1944, the rifle division took part in the liberation of Poland. With its active military operations, by January 24, 1945, the formation found itself on the approaches to East Prussia. The first settlements through which the soldiers of the 139th Infantry Division passed were Fürstenwalde, Suchorowitz, Luka, Klein Radzinen, Gross Radzinen and Lipowitz. During the offensive battles, on March 30, 1945, the division captured the city and fortress of Gdansk (Danzig), a major port and the most important military base on the Baltic Sea.
By April 6, 1945, the 139th Infantry Division was located near the town of Schwedt on the river. Oder. On April 19, units of the formation approached the river bank where the enemy was based. For more than six days, fierce battles were fought to capture the dam and the crossing of the Western Oder. The Germans were well armed and fortified in this position. The advance of our troops was supported by attack aircraft and artillery. After a long struggle, parts of the division were able to take the enemy position. The capture of the Western Oder contributed to the advance of our troops into Germany. Pursuing German troops, the 139th Infantry Division reached Berlin itself and met the long-awaited Victory there.
During the war years, the 139th Rifle Division went through a difficult and long battle path: from the banks of the Volga to the Elbe. Participating in the assault on many heavily fortified defensive positions and liberating large cities and towns, the division's soldiers showed massive heroism. More than 10,500 orders and medals were awarded to soldiers and commanders of the unit, 28 soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The division itself received the honorary name “Roslavl” and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and Order of Suvorov, II degree.
The feat accomplished by the soldiers of the 139th Infantry Division and other military formations will live for centuries. The memory of their heroism will forever remain an example of courage, bravery and patriotism for subsequent generations.