The real facts of history differ from propaganda, but the feat of the defenders of Rostov in 1941 is indisputable! An expedition organized by the Rostov branch of the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments set off to the fields of the Myasnikovsky district near Rostov, whose task was to find the site of the last battle of the legendary battery of Oganov and Vavilov. EXPEDITION IN THE FIELD November 17 will mark exactly 75 years of the feat of the batteries who defended the borders of Rostov in the difficult year of 1941 from the advancing Nazi troops. In our city, streets are named after battalion commander Oganov and political officer Vavilov, and a monument to Oganov artillerymen was erected in the center of the Voenved microdistrict. Two more large memorials to the Oganov-Vavilov battery are located near Rostov: in the village of Bolshie Saly, where the artillerymen are buried, and on the famous “Artillery Mound” of Berber-both. In Soviet times, battery commander Sergei Oganov, political instructor Sergei Vavilov and Komsomol organizer Fyodor Balesta were posthumously awarded the titles of Heroes of the Soviet Union. Newspaper stories, books, poems and songs were dedicated to their feat. Schoolchildren were brought up using the example of Oganov's battery. The main postulates were as follows: - Oganov’s battery defended itself for three days, holding back the advancing avalanche of German tanks; - Sergei Oganov personally knocked out three enemy vehicles before he was mortally wounded by a shell fragment; - after Oganov’s death, Sergei Vavilov stood up to the gun, shot all the ammunition, and then, being wounded, threw himself under a German tank with a grenade; - the battery destroyed (according to various estimates) _ 20, 22, 30, _ but at least two dozen German tanks; - all battery soldiers died; - in this sector of defense, thanks to the actions of the Oganov-Vavilov battery, the enemy did not pass through. None of these points correspond to the truth: this was convincingly proven in his articles published in “Evening Rostov” by local historian Sergei Vladimirovich Shelobod. Another Rostov local historian, Eduard Vartanovich Vartanov, has been studying this topic in no less depth, for two decades. He proposed organizing a field expedition to the places where the fatal battle took place on November 17, 1941. AT THE MASSIVE GRAVE The best means of transportation on dirt roads between the fields of the Myasnikovsky district is a seven-seater UAZ minibus, which is called a “tabletka”. A simple and unpretentious vehicle was designed to transport the wounded from the battlefield. She has no sound insulation at all, so the interlocutors in the cabin have to scream. Its doors close with a strong blow. But the UAZ doesn’t care about off-road conditions. He confidently makes his way where a city dweller would not dare to go in his car. We make our first stop in the Armenian village of Bolshie Saly. Here, in a fenced area, stands a triangular obelisk, like a bayonet to a Mosin rifle. The multi-figure sculptural composition (the work of sculptor Evgeniy Vuchetich) tells about the feat of the Oganovites. They're all here. Here the mortally wounded Oganov dies in the arms of a soldier. Here political instructor Vavilov stood up to his full height with a grenade in his hand. But Lieutenant Vasily Puzyrev took the place of the battalion commander behind the gun sights. Everything is exactly as the official historiography of the feat tells... However, a person experienced in history immediately notices contradictions. Initially, all reports and reports spoke of 16 Komsomol heroes of Oganov’s battery who died a brave death. In 1962, Fyodor Balesta was excluded from their number (and deprived of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union). As it turned out, he survived that battle, was captured, escaped from the camp, returned to his farm in the Kuban (by that time occupied by the Germans) and voluntarily went to serve as a policeman. When the Red Army liberated Kuban, Balesta went west with the Germans, then, in the Odessa region, he again went over to our side. After inspection, he was again sent to the army as a combat squad commander. He fought bravely and was nominated for the Order of Glory, third degree, and the medal “For Courage.” He was killed in action during the liberation of Yugoslavia in November 1944. This became clear only in the early 60s, when military investigators became interested in the coincidence of the names of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the former policeman... And yet, on the memorial plaque there are not even 15 (we exclude Balesta), but 14 names of the soldiers buried here. The surname of the gun commander Stepan Lazarev is missing, who is listed as dead and buried in this very place in the military burial record card of the Military Memorial Center of the General Staff. Why?.. And if we count the fighters on the multi-figure monument, we get the number 11! This is despite the fact that the battle scene, weapons, and even ammunition are reliably reproduced in the sculptural composition. The first on the list of those buried is Hero of the Soviet Union - Lieutenant S.A. Oganyan. According to registration documents, he goes by Sergei Andreevich Oganov. But in fact, the commander of the battery of the 606th regiment of the 317th “Baku” division was Sergei Mambreyevich Oganyan. Discrepancies in the spelling of his initials and surname are found everywhere. But the “inconsistencies” don’t end there either... THE STORY OF AUNT SIRANUSH - The “Artillery Mound”, where a huge memorial with a 76-mm gun now stands, is not at all the place where Oganov’s battery took its last battle! - says Eduard Vartanov. To substantiate his words, the local historian shows military maps that depict the position of units of the 56th Army on November 15 and 17, 1941. Oganov's battery defended the approaches to Bolshie Salam from the northern direction, from the villages of Nesvetai and Kamenny Brod. And the Berber-Oba mound is located ten kilometers away from this place. In addition, Berber-oba is just a slight elevation above a flat field, which does not provide any advantage in defense. And the deputy commander of the 56th Army, Major General G.S. Cariophylli, who built the defense line of Rostov in the fall of 1941, bet that fortified areas would be created on seven high mounds in the Myasnikovsky district, with artillery, minefields and deep ditches. Only they, according to the general’s plan, could stop the armored fist of the Wehrmacht raised over Rostov. The barely noticeable Berber oba is in no way suitable for constructing strategic fortifications. Why is the main memorial to Oganov’s battery installed on it? “Long after the war, when journalists who came from Moscow were reconstructing the picture of the last battle, a resident of Bolshiye Salov, Siranush Postanjiyan, gave them an interview,” says Eduard Vartanov. - It was believed that she carried food to the batteries while they were setting up their positions. For some reason, Aunt Siranush took the journalists to Berber-oba. They decided to erect a memorial there. There was a political moment: in the fall of 1941, the deputy head of the political department of the Southern Front was Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, the future General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. The memorial complex “To the Heroes of the Battle of Rostov” (author E. Kalaijan) was opened on the day of the 30th anniversary of the Great Victory (1975). On one of the four pylons lines from L.I.’s welcome letter were carved. Brezhnev. “And then they gave Aunt Siranush a gray Volga GAZ-24,” says Eduard Vartanov. - Many residents of Bolshiye Salov remember this car... KURGAN BABAI Directly from the artillerymen’s grave, our UAZ heads towards the village of Nesvetai. We are driving along the old, shortest road, which was laid by Armenian settlers from Crimea. It was along this route that German tanks entered Bolshiye Sal from the north on November 17, 1941. It was this direction that Oganov’s battery covered. Despite its advanced age, the road still has no asphalt. The UAZ bounces briskly over bumps. Every now and then we stop to reconnoiter the area. In Vartanov’s hands is an electronic tablet into which maps of the war years are downloaded. The map, dated 11/17/41, clearly shows the road we are traveling on. A black thread intersects two circles indicating artillery positions and the inscription: “Oganov Battery.” We're somewhere nearby. But where? We are unsuccessfully trying to compare the data of a modern navigator and a five-versa map from 1941. In front of the first courtyards of the Nesvetai village, our UAZ turns sharply to the right. The primer is getting worse. Once again we stop for reconnaissance near a quarry where shell rock was once mined, but has now been turned into a landfill. To our left rise heaps of earth. Eduard Vartanov climbs up through thickets of dry thistles. He looks at the area through binoculars and waves his hand: “Come up to me!” When we climb a small roadside hill, it is simply impossible to contain the exclamation of delight. Right under our feet there is a steep, steep descent into a green depression through which the Tuzlov River flows. A little to the left are the houses of the Nesvetay village and a destroyed Armenian temple on a hillock. This is an ideal location for a battery of 76mm cannons. An area of tens of square kilometers is under direct gunfire. As if to confirm this idea, on the edge of the cliff we see half-buried, overgrown with grass, but clearly visible communication passages and caponiers where the guns stood. There was clearly a battery here. And this point coincides on the military map with the location of Oganov’s positions. “This is the Babai mound,” says Eduard Vartnov. This is how we found the site of the last battle of the artillery heroes. We walked around the hill, studying the pattern of communication routes. A cold wind blew in gusts, dry grass crunched underfoot. This is roughly what happened 75 years ago, when the Oganovites took up positions on the outskirts of Rostov... WHERE WERE THE CADETS? And one more question: why did no one come to the aid of this battery, which took the brunt of the German tanks’ attack? After all, a few kilometers across the steppe, at a height near the Kamenny Brod farmstead, stood perhaps the most combat-ready unit - RAU cadets, armed with the same “divisions” - 76-mm guns? To answer this question, we go from the Babai mound to the Babich mound. Our UAZ, puffing heavily, climbs along a winding road to the top, where a cannon stands on a pedestal. It is believed that it was here that the Rostov cadets died in an unequal battle with the enemy. But there is no evidence of this on the monument! On the pedestal there is an evasive inscription: “To the artillery cadets who died in battles for the freedom and independence of our Motherland. 1941-1945". “There was no battle at this height, although it was indeed fortified, the approaches to it were mined, the cadets were preparing to hold the line,” Eduard Vartanov expresses his point of view on historical events. _ The tanks of the 14th Wehrmacht Division simply did not storm it, as General Cariofilli was counting on, but bypassed it, out of reach of the cadets’ guns, entered Kamenny Brod and destroyed the headquarters located there, headed by Commissar M.A. Zalkan. The Germans' goal was Rostov, not the steppe mound. On the way to it there was the village of Bolshie Saly, and this road was covered by Oganov’s battery. There the main battle of the tragic day of November 17 began, and the RAU cadets from their fortified mound could only watch through binoculars as the artillerymen of the 606th regiment of the 317th division died on the neighboring Babai mound. In the center of Kamenny Ford there is a large memorial at a mass grave. 17 people are buried here, including battalion commissar Mikhail Zalkan. The central square in the Kamenny Brod farmstead is named after him. “They were unable to provide serious resistance, they simply ran out to meet the tanks that suddenly appeared, and everyone died,” says Eduard Vartanov. - The remaining cadets who remained on the mound returned to Rostov, which had already been recaptured from the Germans by a counterattack by the 56th Army. A military tribunal meeting was held right within the walls of the RAU. The cadets were blamed for remaining in their fortified positions and making no attempt to go down the hill to help Oganov’s dying battery. Some of the cadets were shot. Documents about this are classified; for us this is still a closed page of history. TRUTH AND PROPAGANDA Judging by open documents, there was not even a three-day battle for Oganov’s battery. According to reports from both our and the German sides, by the evening of November 17, Bolshie Sal was occupied by the 17th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht. “Bolshie Sal was burning when the forces of the 606th joint venture gathered at night,” says the combat log of the 606th Infantry Regiment of the 317th Infantry Division, which is now stored in the Central Archive of the Russian Ministry of Defense. All the artillerymen of Oganov's battery (with the exception of Fyodor Balesta) were already dead by this hour. No one knows what happened at the battery, because Balesta himself, who died in 1944, did not tell anyone about it. The first essay about the feat of the Oganovites, entitled “At the Seven Kurgans,” was published in the Southern Front newspaper “Defender of the Motherland” on December 26, 1941. How the author of the essay, senior political instructor L. Botvinsky, learned the details of this battle is also unknown. After all, he was not on the Babai mound on November 17th. The last battle of the battery was used for propaganda purposes. It was necessary. “The situation with Oganov’s battery is exactly reminiscent of the description of the feat of 28 Panfilov men at the Dubosekovo crossing near Moscow on November 16, 1941,” says the chairman of the Rostov branch of the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments A.O. Kozhin. - They coincide in almost everything: both in date, and in the fact that an unequal battle was given to the advancing German tanks, and in the fact that propaganda distorted the real facts. But 28 Panfilov men are the personification of the feat of tens of thousands of fighters, known and unknown, who heroically resisted the advancing enemy. For us, Rostovites, the feat of Oganov’s battery became a memorial to the feat of all the defenders of Rostov in that terrible year of 1941. Alexander OLENEV. Publication - newspaper "Evening Rostov", October 14, 2016.
1923, Tiflis - November 18, 1941, Rostov-on-Don) - commander of the artillery battery of the 606th Infantry Regiment of the 317th Infantry Division of the 56th Army of the Southern Front. Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.Biography
She gave birth in 1921 in Tbilisi. Armenian by nationality. Member of the Komsomol. In 1939 he entered the Tbilisi art school. Successfully completed it. Soon he became a battery commander. In this position, he fought heroically in defensive battles near Rostov-on-Don in the fall of 1941. He is forever included in the list of personnel of the Tbilisi Higher Order of the Red Star Artillery Command Red Banner School named after the 26 Baku Commissars.
The battery had only four guns. Personnel - less than a third of the staff. Commander Sergei Oganov was not only a commander, but also a gunner, a carrier of shells, and a loader. In a matter of minutes, he set fire to three enemy vehicles. However, a shell fragment mortally wounded the brave warrior.
Lieutenant V.I. Puzyrev took command of the battery. Political instructor Vavilov stood at one of the guns. Having shot the entire stock of shells, he died a hero's death.
Three fierce enemy attacks were repulsed by brave artillerymen. 22 enemy tanks were knocked out and destroyed. The brave soldiers of the battery died heroically, but honorably carried out the combat orders of the command. Not a single enemy tank passed through the defense line they occupied on November 17-18, 1941.
The courageous batteries were posthumously awarded orders and medals. And the battery commander Sergei Mambreyevich Oganov and political instructor Sergei Vasilyevich Vavilov were posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The mound, which was guarded by Soviet soldiers, is called “Artillery”. A memorial to the heroes who courageously fought on the outskirts of Rostov was erected there.
In the city of Rostov-on-Don, streets are named after Oganov and Vavilov. They are part of the Taganrog Highway, which goes in the direction of the Artillery Mound, glorified by heroes. The pedestal at the intersection of Oganov streets and Taganrog highway is topped with a 78-mm gun with sculptures of heroes who, on November 17-18, 1941, in an unequal battle with fascist tanks, accomplished an immortal feat. Exhibits in school, folk, public, and state museums of the Don Territory tell about this.
Yesterday, the Gagarinsky Court in Moscow handed down the first verdict in a high-profile investigation into multibillion-dollar thefts of budget funds committed under the guise of VAT refunds. Former operatives of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Southwestern District of the capital Sergey Oganov and Dmitry Khristoforov, who drew up the necessary fake certificates for the organizers of the thefts, received four years, nine months and seven years in prison, respectively. The court found that the ex-policemen were involved in the theft of 3.2 billion rubles.
The sentence for Sergei Oganov turned out to be softer than the state prosecution had predicted during the debate - four years and nine months instead of six years. Mitigating circumstances were taken into account - poor health and the fact that the ex-policeman partially admitted guilt. Dmitry Khristoforov, who insisted on his innocence, received the sentence that the prosecutor insisted on - seven years in prison. The court fully agreed with the arguments of the investigation, finding the former operatives guilty of exceeding their official powers, which entailed causing grave consequences (clause “c” of Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). As the court found, both defendants were involved in the theft of budget funds in the amount of more than 3 billion rubles.
As Kommersant has previously reported more than once, in 2009-2010, senior detectives of the 3rd operational-investigative unit of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the South-Western Administrative District, Sergei Oganov and Dmitry Khristoforov, having received a request and the necessary documents from capital tax inspectorate N28, which was led by Olga Stepanova, had to check several companies that had submitted applications for a VAT refund. In particular, the convicts were required to make sure that the applicant companies were conducting financial and economic activities, had the quantity of goods in warehouses corresponding to the documents, and also interview their employees. However, instead, as stated in the case materials, the police, using data from the Internet, cooked up fake inspection reports without leaving their office. In particular, according to the investigation, reports on surveys of employees (their names were also fictitious), certificates of availability of goods, etc., prepared by operatives, were false. The first to formalize in this way was a check of the validity of the requirements of Business Consult LLC, which In December 2009, it demanded a refund of VAT in the amount of 509 million rubles. A month later, thanks to documents falsified by detectives, as well as the help of unidentified officials from the Federal Tax Service Inspectorate N28, this money was transferred to the applicant’s accounts. According to a similar scheme, inspections were then carried out at Russian Park LLC, Lucia LLC, Express Finance LLC, Atlantis LLC and Krona LLC. Through these companies, which, according to investigators, were one-day events, 3.2 billion rubles were stolen from the budget. The fraudsters, according to investigators, received approximately a third of this amount thanks to Oganov’s certificates and reports, the rest - from Khristoforov’s forgeries.
During the investigation, Oganov tried to conclude a pre-trial agreement to cooperate with the investigation, but was refused by law enforcement officers. He partially admitted his guilt, but, like his accomplice, he categorically disagreed with the qualifications of his actions. According to the former policeman, we could only talk about negligence (Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), which provides for a much more lenient punishment.
The defendants' lawyers said they would appeal their clients' sentences.
It should be noted that the facts that formed the basis of the case of the former police officers are only an episode of a large-scale investigation into multibillion-dollar thefts under the guise of VAT refunds (it began after suspicious payments were identified during Federal Tax Service inspections). It was within its framework that at the beginning of May there was Former senator and owner of Vyborg Cellulose OJSC Alexander Sabadash was arrested. Moreover, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation believes that this arrest may not be the last in the investigation.
Vladislav Trifonov
SERGEY MAMBREEVICH OGANOV. Born in 1921 in the city of Tiflis (Tbilisi). Armenian. Member of the Komsomol. Hero of the Soviet Union (22.2.1943). Awarded the Order of Lenin.
At the Tbilisi Higher Artillery Command School named after 26 Baku Commissars, one of the batteries is called Oganovskaya; Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant Sergei Oganov, is forever included in its lists.
While still in the 9th grade, Sergo submitted an application to the Tbilisi Mining Artillery School: “I want to study at your artillery school and be in the ranks of our glorious Red Army. Please do not refuse my request."
Having become a cadet, Sergei Oganov mastered the military profession with great diligence. Having graduated from college ahead of schedule, Lieutenant Oganov arrived at the front in a rifle regiment and was appointed commander of an artillery battery, the composition of which personified the true brotherhood of the peoples of our country: there were Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Uzbeks, Ossetians.
The battery received its baptism of fire on the Dnieper: in a battle with enemy tanks, artillerymen knocked out three vehicles. The battle account was opened. And the battery accomplished an exceptional feat in the fall of 1941, when the tank hordes of the fascist General Kleist rushed to Rostov-on-Don.
This happened on November 17-18, 1941, near the village of Bolshie Saly, now Myasnikovsky district, Rostov region. The commander of the 606th Infantry Regiment of the 317th Infantry Division of the 56th Army of the Southern Front ordered Lieutenant Oganov to take a position on the Berber-Oba mound near the village. The lieutenant placed three guns on the slopes of the mound, from where the entire plain was well covered, along which enemy tanks would certainly break through. The fourth gun took up a position near the outskirts of the village.
The duel lasted for several hours, but all the enemy’s attempts to break through to the mound were defeated by the unbending courage of the artillerymen. Having lost about 10 tanks during the day, the Nazis stopped their attacks. But the battery also suffered losses - three of its soldiers were killed and several people were injured. At night, by order of the commander, the soldiers installed guns in new positions. Intelligence reported that the Nazis had occupied part of the village. At dawn the tanks appeared again. There were 15 of them. And the hot duel began again. Fewer and fewer batteries could fire. Only Oganov remained with one gun. Three tanks were heading towards him. The seriously wounded lieutenant continued the battle until his last breath.
Lieutenant Oganov's entire battery was destroyed, destroying 30 fascist tanks in two days. Its commander was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Streets in the city of Rostov-on-Don and in the village of Bolshie Saly are named after the Hero.
A monument was erected at the site of the battle of the Oganov battery.
Sergey Mambreevich Oganov(1921-1941) - participant in the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union, commander of the artillery battery of the 606th Infantry Regiment of the 317th Infantry Division of the 56th Army of the Southern Front, lieutenant.
Biography
Born on February 23, 1921 in the city of Tiflis (now Tbilisi) in a working-class family. Armenian. Graduated from 9th grade of high school. Member of the Komsomol. While still in 9th grade, Sergei applied to the Tbilisi Mining and Artillery School.
In the Red Army since 1939. In 1941 he graduated from the Tbilisi Artillery School. Participant of the Great Patriotic War since July 1941. He fought on the Southern Front. He took part in the battles on the Dnieper near the city of Kherson, in the defense of Melitopol, Mariupol and Rostov-on-Don.
The battery commander of the 606th Infantry Regiment, Lieutenant Sergei Oganov, controlling the battery fire on the small Berber-Oba mound near the village of Bolshie Saly (Myasnikovsky district of the Rostov region), on November 17-18, 1941, repelled 3 counterattacks of enemy tanks and infantry, destroying them in 2 days of fighting 22 fascist tanks. All the battery soldiers, led by the commander, died, but did not let the enemy through.
He was buried in a mass grave on the Berber-Oba mound. After the war, the mass grave was moved to the center of the village of Bolshie Saly.
Feat
As a battery commander, Sergei Oganov fought heroically in defensive battles near Rostov-on-Don in the fall of 1941. The battery had only four guns. Personnel - less than a third of the staff. Commander Sergei Oganov was not only a commander, but also a gunner, a carrier of shells, and a loader. In a matter of minutes, he set fire to three enemy vehicles. However, a shell fragment mortally wounded the brave warrior.
Lieutenant V.I. Puzyrev took command of the battery. Political instructor S. Vavilov stood at one of the guns. Having shot the entire supply of shells, he also died a hero’s death.
Three fierce enemy attacks were repulsed by brave artillerymen. 22 enemy tanks were destroyed. The brave soldiers of the battery died heroically, but honorably carried out the combat orders of the command. Not a single enemy tank penetrated the defense line they occupied.
The courageous batteries were posthumously awarded orders and medals. And battery commander Sergei Mambreyevich Oganov and political instructor Sergei Vasilyevich Vavilov were posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Awards
- By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated February 22, 1943, for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders and the courage and heroism displayed, Lieutenant Sergei Mambreevich Oganov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously).
- Awarded the Order of Lenin.
Memory
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| Photo of the monument on the Panaramio website. |
- By order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR S. M. Oganov was forever included in the lists of the battery of the Tbilisi Higher Artillery Command School named after 26 Baku Commissars.
- In 1972, on the mound where the artillerymen accomplished their feat (and called by the people “Artillery Mound”), a monument was erected (the author of the monument is the architect E. Kalaijan).
- In 1983, a monument dedicated to the battery artillerymen - commander S. Oganov and political instructor S. Vavilov, was erected in Rostov-on-Don at the intersection of Taganrog Avenue and Oganov Street (architect - S. Khasabov, sculptors - P. Kochetkov and E. Kochetkova).
- A separate monument to the “Oganovites” was erected in Bolshiye Salah itself.
- Streets in the city of Rostov-on-Don and in the village of Bolshie Saly are named after the Hero.