Battle path 39 army map. Soviet troops in Mongolia

On November 19, 1941, units of the division began to arrive in the city of Gryazovets, Vologda Region. The division's command echelon and its headquarters units were also unloaded. The 39th Army was formed in Gryazovets. It was formed by Lieutenant General Bogdanov. The headquarters of the 39th Army was located in a mansion, a few kilometers from Gryazovets. Our division was stationed throughout this small town, occupying all the schools. We stayed in Gryazovets for about a week.

On November 27, 1941, the 373rd Infantry Division arrived in the town of Kukoboy Yaroslavl region. There are few weapons in the division. We received a Morse telegraph apparatus for communication with army headquarters. The lack of weapons and artillery material had a negative impact on the morale of the fighters. I knew from bitter experience what it meant to be under-armed. And then they were about to be sent into battle, and not all the soldiers even had rifles. In Kukoboi we were not detained for long either. On December 13, they were loaded into wagons and through Yaroslavl, Rybinsk and other cities, on December 17, they arrived in the city of Torzhok.

We weren't here long. The artillerymen were sent towards Bologoe for guns. On the march to Rzhev they began to receive boxes of small arms.

Finally we approached the front line, where direct contact with the enemy took place. We didn’t have to change anyone: no one gave us anything or even informed us. The road led us to Rzhev. The division's regiments have their weapons in full order haven't brought it yet, but artillery regiment and the batteries of 120-mm mortars did not take up positions and waited for the arrival of mines and shells.

And then an order was received to break through the German defense. On December 24, 1941, the 373rd Rifle Division entered into a heavy battle with the Germans, having the task of breaking through their fortified position, capturing the village of Vysokoye and advancing towards the city of Rzhev. The battle was very difficult all day. Parts of the division suffered losses. Our artillery and heavy mortars were silent, because some of the units had not yet arrived at the site. The first day of the battle was not successful. Everything remained in its place. The division was given the opportunity to put itself in order and prepare for the task. These three days should have been given immediately, rather than introducing the division into battle without absolutely any information about the enemy and his defense.

On December 26, the division again went on the offensive, broke through the German defenses, occupied a number of villages and reached the line to the village of Vysokoye. The Germans suffered heavy losses in manpower and equipment. Heavy guns were abandoned by the Germans on the road or left directly in their positions. But we also had great losses in people.

The division stopped a few kilometers from Rzhev. In one of the villages there was concentrated a large number of our troops, which was dangerous, because there could be heavy losses from German planes. I suggested to the division commander V.I. Khmylev that we take our division out of the village into the forest and wait there to receive an order. Commissioner Vetoshnikov agreed with this. The division went into the forest and stayed there for more than a week.

The division was ordered to advance in the direction of the village of Nozhkino, cross the Volga River along the ice in the direction of the village of Kokoshkino, and advance on Rzhev from the west through the linen factory. The offensive lasted for two days. But all attempts to gain a foothold on the outskirts of Rzhev were unsuccessful. On the third day, January 7, 1942, they launched an attack on Rzhev from the railway station

Chertolino, but on that day the Germans launched several tanks against the division regiments. Parts of the division began to retreat, and then all the division command officers had to come out and stop the alarmists with weapons in their hands. The retreat of our people was stopped, but the advance to Rzhev also no longer took place. Another order was received to move the division south, approach Sychevka from the west and immediately capture the city.

Our division carried out large-scale offensive operations against Sychevka three times during January and February 1942. But positive results didn't achieve it.

March 1942 was marked by offensive actions on Olenino, but the spring thaw made our offensive difficult.

And soon an order was received to send me to study at the Higher Military Academy. On June 19, I left my division with the rank of lieutenant colonel (I was awarded it in April).

After graduating from the Academy, in all subsequent years I remembered my division, my friends with whom I was connected during the fighting on the Kalinin Front.

M. P. Pavlychev,

division chief of staff, major

Southwest of Kalinin

To Rzhev and Sychevka. Behind enemy lines. Environment and exit from it

By December 20, 1941, the 39th Army was concentrated in the area of ​​​​the city of Torzhok, Kalinin region. Here the 373rd Infantry Division finally received the long-awaited guns, ammunition, transport (sleighs), all the necessary weapons and property required by wartime regulations.

The 39th Army, transferred by the Supreme High Command to the Kalinin Front, deployed between the 22nd and 29th, marched along the Torzhok - Rzhev highway. The vanguard of the 373rd Infantry Division approached the front line in the second half of December 21. Then intelligence reported that there were no units of the 22nd Army, which we were supposed to replace in this sector. They left on the orders of their command, without waiting for our approach. To our right was the 361st Division of Major General Mikhailov.

I. S. Konev ordered our army commander, General Maslennikov, while continuing to concentrate troops, with part of his forces to go on the offensive. This was required by the prevailing situation at that time.

On December 21, the commander of the 373rd division V.I. Khmylev, who by this time had become a colonel, received an order on the morning of December 22 to go on the offensive, capture several villages and move in the direction of the village of Vysokoye. The task was serious. The enemy had thoroughly fortified himself here, but the artillery regiment had not yet arrived.

The attack began before dawn under cover of darkness, supported only by regimental and battalion artillery. We went on the attack in deep snow. The battle continued all day, but the division was not successful. By order of the army commander, hostilities were stopped.

On December 22, an artillery regiment arrived, and the 26th Division again began an offensive, but not along the road, as before - “head-on”, but to the right, bypassing from the west, through the forest. With artillery support, the German defenses were suppressed. The 1235th and 1237th regiments captured the villages of Kopyryane and Dulovo and occupied the village of Vysokoye, which was advantageous because it was located on a high-rise. The 1239th joint venture was in the second echelon.

By January 1, the troops of the Kalinin Front reached the line Oreshki, Mologino, Staritsa, Letoshino, where the Nazis’ defense lay, which they called the “Schubert Line”.

Here, by order of the command, the defense was occupied. As a result of the fighting, the Schubert Line was broken. A lot of various military equipment was captured, a large number of enemy personnel were destroyed. There were few prisoners. The entire battlefield was littered with enemy corpses. Our losses were also great. But the commanders and soldiers were inspired and proudly recalled individual episodes of the battle.

The Germans fled to the Volga, abandoning brand new buses, trucks, heavy and long-range artillery and other property on snow-covered roads. The victory was complete.

Bid Supreme High Command At a meeting on January 5, 1942, with the participation of members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, it decided to launch a general offensive in the western strategic direction.

The Rzhev-Vyazemsk operation was carried out mainly by the forces of the 39th Army. The army included the II Cavalry Corps of Colonel, later - Lieutenant General S.V. Sokolov.

Having replenished ammunition and pulled up the rear, units of the 361st and 373rd divisions on January 7, as planned, reached the village of Nozhkino, which is 15 kilometers northwest of Rzhev on the left bank of the Volga. The enemy, who had recently occupied defenses on the right bank, fortified himself on the left, and met our troops with artillery fire. The regiments of both divisions deployed into battle formation and began a firefight.

During the night they prepared for the attack, hurry whether, in order to prevent the enemy from strengthening his position even more new border. In the morning, after artillery preparation, the regiments crossed the Volga across the ice and broke through the enemy’s defenses. So Thus, on the right bank of the river on January 8, 1942, in the area of ​​​​the village of Kokoshkino, a bridgehead was captured, which ensured the further execution of the operation, the beginning of which was scheduled for that very day. Through the breakthrough made by the 361st and 373rd divisions, other troops of the 39th Army began to hastily cross to the right bank of the Volga. The left-flank formations of the army, as well as the 31st and 30th, were detained by the enemy, who fortified himself on a line prepared in advance for defense (north of Rzhev and in Letoshino).

Having liberated the village of Bugrovo and cut the Rzhev-Velikie Luki railway at the Monchalovo and Muravyeve stations, the 373rd division broke through to Rzhev through the Polotnyany plant.

The 1235th and 1239th rifle regiments, supported by the artillery division of the 931st artillery regiment, straddled the railway, as well as the Chertolino-Rzhev highway, and were increasingly approaching the city. Having bypassed it, the 1237th reached the Rzhev - Vyazma railway and occupied the village of Domashino. Here, unexpectedly for our command, the Germans west side Rzhev threw infantry and up to a dozen tanks into a counterattack.

The commander of the 1237th regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Kuzmin, with a group of officers and soldiers, fortified himself at the line where his command post was located, fought back, inflicting heavy damage on the enemy with machine-gun fire. The battlefield on the approaches to his line was littered with the corpses of counterattacking enemy infantry. But the forces were unequal. Enemy tanks played a decisive role in this battle. The entire group, led by Lieutenant Colonel Kuzmin, died heroically without retreating a single step.

The chief of artillery of the 1237th regiment, senior lieutenant P.V. Nekrasov, seeing the confusion in the battle formations, ran up to the 45-mm gun standing in position, took a place near the panorama and opened fire on the tanks. They stopped and began to move away. The infantry also ran after them. The situation was restored.

For three days (January 10, 11 and 12, 1942) the 373rd Rifle Division stormed Rzhev. On the last day, she led an attack on the city in cooperation with the 361st division from Chertolino, but this time she did not achieve success.

Our division received an order to move to Sychevka. Having reached this city, the 373rd Division, as well as the 11th Cavalry Corps and some other formations joined the battle. A detachment of partisans V. A. Andreev acted together with them.

On January 15, the cavalry corps was withdrawn from the attack on Sychevka and quickly went to Vyazma, destroying German garrisons along the way and freeing Soviet people from captivity.

At the same time, a number of rifle formations of the 39th Army advanced to Yartsevo, located near Smolensk. Like Rzhev, Sychevka had a strong all-round defense. This city stands in the spurs of the Sychev-Vyazemsky ridges on the Vazuza River (a tributary of the Volga). All around was a hilly, bare plain, skillfully adapted by the Nazis for defense. The 373rd Rifle Division, breaking the stubborn resistance of the Germans, although very slowly, moved forward. Having straddled the railway line and the Rzhev-Vyazma highway from the south in front of Sychevka, it captured the Shanikha station and the Vazuza platform. Some units of the division's units clung to a number of buildings on the outskirts of Sychevka. It seemed that they were about to burst into the city... Our infantry did everything they could, but then lay down in front of the pillboxes, suffering losses from enemy fire... Night fell. The soldiers crawled to the pillboxes, and on the morning of January 16, bomber aircraft attacked...

Tanks came out of the city, but there were no shells. The division dug in in the snow and met the Germans with fire. They, without accepting the battle, retreated to their defensive lines. By this time, there were 700-800 active bayonets left in the regiments.

Following the order of the army commander, the division again went on the offensive. The enemy is still pouring heavy fire on our infantry from pillboxes. Artillery and mortars make it impossible to launch an attack. Deep snow does not allow you to run or attack. You have to walk and lie down in the snow under heavy fire. Aviation appears again, and tanks emerge from the city... The Germans are slowly advancing behind their tanks. The division met them with fire, and they retreated again. By the end of the day, our regiments again approached Sychevka. But the strength was not enough to take her. So, with varying success, the battles for Sychevka continued.

At the beginning of February, the 373rd division from Sychevka was withdrawn to the right bank of the Dnieper to the wooded villages of Azarovo, Bekh-terevo, Ilyushino, Shibanovo, Bolypovo, Boltunovo. Here the personnel rested, the units received reinforcements, the units were staffed, and they put themselves in order.

In February, taking advantage of the strong expansion of the shock group of the Kalinin Front, the enemy’s 9th Army from Rzhev and Olenino launched a counteroffensive and closed the narrow passage near the villages of Nozhkino and Kokoshkino, through which the 39th Army and the II Cavalry Corps went behind enemy lines. The 29th Army was unable to maintain this passage. Communication with the front troops began to be maintained only through a narrow “neck” between the city of Bely and the village of Nelidovo, located in the zone of the 22nd Army.

The troops of the 39th Army began to feel more greater disadvantage in ammunition, food and other military supplies. Our soldiers used the horses of the cavalry corps to feed them. The local population came to the rescue, supplying the army with cows, goats, poultry, potatoes and other food.

The rested division was ordered to move towards Olenino to break through the German defense.

She moved to her destination along the route Gavrilovo, Pasino, Vasilyevo, Kostretsy. There are forests and swamps all around. This is the area where the rivers begin to flow Western Dvina, Dnepr, Volga.

The Dnieper is very narrow here. The division crossed it easily. The enemy is nowhere to be found, and the regiments are marching in columns. Only when approaching the railway station does the resistance of the fascist troops begin. The villages of Glukhovo and Spas-Bereza were taken in battle. Near Olenino the offensive slowed down. The area is well covered, there are pillboxes at the station and in Olenino itself, as well as near Sychevka.

The enemy opened heavy fire from guns and mortars, and there was nothing to respond to. There are still not enough shells. The artillery regiment takes up a firing position. The fighting became protracted. The division both attacks and defends.

During the bombing, the Germans burned down the forest villages around Olenino; the soldiers had nowhere to warm themselves. Residents rejoiced at the arrival of the 373rd division. The headquarters took refuge in the forests. The division was unable to recapture Olenino from the Germans, but occupied a large forest area and the populated areas located in it.

By February 17, the enemy managed to completely encircle the troops of the 29th Army, located southwest of Rzhev. Front commander I.S. Konev ordered her to break through to the 39th Army. The 373rd Division also took part in these battles, helping it, advancing from the village of Spas-Bereza to Olenino with the goal of breaking through a passage to the main forces of the front in the area of ​​the Molodoy Tud River. On February 28, a group of troops of the 29th Army, numbering 5,200 people, with the help of the 373rd Infantry Division, escaped from encirclement, but another group of troops, located west of Rzhev, died in unequal battles.

The formations of the 29th Army, which emerged from the encirclement of the 39th Army, soon, by order of the command, retreated through the passage between Nelidovo - Bely to the main forces of the Kalinin Front. By March, the 373rd Division transferred the area it held near Olenino to a neighboring division and again concentrated west of the city of Sychevka.

In these difficult, difficult conditions, party political work was of great importance. A new regimental commissar arrived in the 373rd division - Grigory Ivanovich Obydenny, who went through the entire war with it until disbandment. He immediately got energetically involved in the work. The communists were tasked with being an example of perseverance and courage. Since May 5, the 373rd Division occupied defense to the north-west of the regional village of Andreevskoye along the western bank of the Dnieper near the villages of Sleptsovo, Eremino, Makeevo, Neronovo on a line of about 20 kilometers in length. The division headquarters was located in the village of Vorontsovka.

At the beginning of July, the Headquarters of the High Command ordered the 39th Army to move out from behind enemy lines to the main forces of the front. In accordance with this, the army commander, General I.I. Maslennikov gave the order to his troops to concentrate in the southwest and south of the village of Nelidovo. The divisions of our army at that time occupied defenses over a large territory of the Kalinin and Smolensk regions, approximately 100-120 kilometers from north to south and the same amount from west to east.

Rifle divisions from Sychevka and cavalry from Vyazma, who had been fighting on foot for a long time, began retreating to the concentration site on July 4. The partisans reported that large enemy forces were unloading in Sychevka, and their advanced units had already crossed to the right bank of the Dnieper.

At the same time, fascist German troops, having brought up two new divisions (5th Infantry and 4th Tank), went on the offensive against the 39th Army from the north. They delivered the main blow to the passage between the city of Bely and the village of Nelidovo. The Nazis' intentions were clear: to deprive the 39th Army of its connection with the rear of the Kalinin Front and destroy it. Fierce fighting began. The army command demanded that the division speed up its march. In order to assist her, the 10th, 16th and 61st divisions of the Western Front went on the offensive, each in its own sector, distracting the fascist troops. The 41st and 22nd armies of the Kalinin Front launched counterattacks on enemy positions.

In the area between Bely and Nelidovo, the enemy brought a large number of tanks into battle. The divisions defending the 70-kilometer passage here could barely hold back their onslaught. Therefore, without waiting for all army formations to arrive, General Maslennikov gave the order to the already concentrated divisions to enter the corridor, ensure that it was held until all army troops arrived and partially reached the main forces of the front. By this time, the passage between Bely and Nelidovo was under fire from both sides by the enemy.

On July 5, soldiers of the II Cavalry Corps approached the concentration point and went to break through with the special units that joined it, in front of which the German pincers had closed the previous day. In a fierce battle, this group of troops broke through the barriers of the enemy and their own. for the most part reached the location of the main forces of the Kalinin Front.

The 373rd Division at this time continued its more than 60-kilometer march, not knowing anything about what had happened, fighting fierce rearguard battles. It was especially difficult for her when she began crossing the Obsha River near the village of Yegorye. Having used up the shells, its 931st artillery regiment was forced to blow up most of the guns, and disassemble the gun locks and throw them into the river.

On July 5 at 5 p.m., the division commander, Colonel Khmylev, gathered senior command and political personnel for a meeting. In his short message he characterized the current situation on the 39A front sector and gave the order for the division to withdraw from defensive lines to the Nelidovo area. From that time on, the 373rd Infantry Division, consisting of 39 A, was surrounded, from which it emerged in battle on July 22, 1942.

The division arrived at the place where the passage was forced on the evening of July 8. The surviving guns of the 931st artillery regiment were distributed throughout the column to strengthen its anti-tank defense. The shells were all in spades. Knowing that he will have to conduct close fire and hand-to-hand combat, fighters and commanders stocked up on ammunition and hand grenades.

The column was pulled into the passage, walking under enemy artillery and mortar fire. At first it was unsystematic and rare. Then it intensified. The column moved off-road, through swamps and bushes, where the Germans did not have trenches or firing points (they had mined the roads). The closer we came to the enemy barrier that blocked the path to Nelidov, the stronger the enemy fire became, including rifle and machine gun fire. The column suffered losses. The intensity of the battle increased.

Approaching the front edge of the barrier, the division, despite heavy fire, went on the attack. Hand-to-hand fighting ensued. Here the Nazis opened heavy fire from tanks, blocking the path with an almost solid wall. At the same time, infantry and tank units moved towards the column of the 373rd division from both sides. Cannons began firing at them from the column. The tanks burst into flames, but there were many of them.

The battle broke out throughout the entire column. The soldiers and commanders fought courageously, destroying the enemy with bayonets and grenades. Groups broke through between the screening tanks that blocked the path and also stood on both sides of the passage. The units and individual fighters that broke through crossed the front line or went into the surrounding forests. Each unit often acted independently.

In the battles when leaving the encirclement, the heroes of the division commander, Colonel V.I. Khmylev, the chief of staff of the division Shmakov, who replaced Pavlychev when he was sent to study, and many others, died. The secretary of the party bureau of the 1235th regiment, military doctor of the 3rd rank, Evdokimov, enticed the soldiers to attack. Most of them broke through the barriers, but he fell from an enemy bullet.

The main forces of the encircled 29th and 39th armies reached the main forces of the Kalinin Front on July 22.

But for a long time, until September, groups of soldiers and commanders emerged from the forest: senior sergeant V.I. Kochigin, senior lieutenant P.V. Nekrasov, senior lieutenant V.P. Shamota and others.

Many warriors joined partisan detachments and continued the sacred struggle against the enemy. Thus, about a hundred people joined the partisan detachment “People’s Avenger” of I.N. Petrakov, but did not break through to their own. Among them are 11 battles what from the 373rd Division, led by Divisional Headquarters Commissar Nikolaenko. Initiative commanders and political workers organized two detachments only from the “encirclement”. These are the detachments “For the Motherland” and “In the Name of Voroshilov” (senior political instructor N.I. Denisov). They fought the Nazis until March 1943, that is, until the liberation of the area from the German invaders by Soviet troops.

There were also many soldiers left in the territory occupied by the enemy who were unable to find a place in the fight against the Nazis. Quite a few of them died in skirmishes with the invaders or were captured by them. In prisoner of war camps they continued the sacred struggle until victory Soviet people over Hitler's Germany.

N. I. Denisov, senior political instructor at division headquarters

We did our duty

Upon arrival at the front in those distant December days of 1941, the medical battalion deployed in the village of Bogorodetskoye, a few kilometers from the village of Strashevichi, where our division was concentrated before the offensive. Within a few days medical workers We worked 18-20 hours a day: many were wounded in the head, since our soldiers did not have helmets.

After our division broke through the Nazi defense line and captured the village of Niva, the medical battalion was relocated there. In the battles for this village, the senior doctor of the artillery regiment, Abuev Akhmet, was seriously wounded. By the way, all the senior doctors of the regiments were distinguished by their ability to organize assistance to the wounded at the front line directly. The smart organizers were a military doctor of the third rank of the 1235th rifle regiment Vedernikov Alexander Semenovich, senior doctor of the 1237th Infantry Regiment Malkin. The senior doctor of the 1239th Infantry Regiment, Mikhail Vasilyevich Dvoryantsev, enjoyed great authority.

These days our division was rapidly moving forward. There were fierce battles in the Sychevka area, so the flow of wounded increased... There were no required lighting, there was not enough dressing material, the evacuation of the wounded to the rear stopped, as German units managed to cut off our communications. These are the conditions we worked in.

At the beginning of February 1942, the medical battalion was relocated to the village of Poteryalovka, where it remained for about three months. During this period, the division waged continuous offensive and defensive battles in the Olenino, Chertolino, and Tarkhanovka areas.

On May 3, 1942, our battalion received an order to move to the village of Tupichino. Apart from a few horses, the medical battalion did not have any other means of transportation, so a significant part of the property had to be carried by the personnel.

On July 6, following the division’s units retreating to the Yegoryevskaya crossing, the medical battalion also left Tupichino. To provide medical assistance to the wounded at the crossing, a group consisting of military doctor V.L. Popkov, senior operating nurse I. Kurdynkina and two orderlies was allocated. The group was supposed to be located in the village of Korovino.

During the movement to the gathering place, all units and units were mixed up. Control of the battalion was lost. Our division was surrounded.

Despite repeated attempts, I and some of my comrades in the medical battalion were unable to get out of the encirclement, and then we joined the partisan movement. In the enemy ring, as part of partisan detachment, I fulfilled my duty - the duty of a Soviet doctor.

A. S. Stolyarova, military doctor, resident of the 453rd medical battalion

With faith in victory

On the twentieth of December 1941, our 931st artillery regiment unloaded at Torzhok station and began moving towards the front line. It was difficult to move, as the roads were heavily covered with snow. But they found a way out: they created groups of soldiers to clear the road, and then in the evening and at night, to avoid attacks by enemy aircraft, they dragged the guns. Despite the difficulties in battle, we believed in our victory.

The events of those days cannot be forgotten.

The first battle in which the regiment's artillerymen took part took place near the village of Vysokoye. The organization of artillery support for the advancing units looked somewhat peculiar: the regiment did not have telephone communications, the data for firing was transmitted by voice, through messengers. Often the fire was carried out simply by direct fire. As soon as we drove the Germans away, we acquired a captured wired connection, telephone sets. Retreating in disarray, the Germans threw away their weapons and ammunition.

Our units advanced to Rzhev, and then to Sychevka. Particularly heavy fighting took place near the heavily fortified Sychevka. North-west of this city, our division fought in the area of ​​​​the village of Nikitye with the task of holding the highway-but-dirt road going to Rzhev.

The infantry battle formations were supported by our artillerymen, including a battery of 76-mm cannons of the young lieutenant Mishin, who graduated from the Kiev artillery school at the beginning of the war.

At the end of January, the Germans launched an attack on this small area along the front, concentrating here more than a dozen tanks and about a regiment of infantry. A heavy, bloody battle began, in the midst of which they handed me a note from the lieutenant, hastily written on a crumpled piece of paper, Mishin wrote: “Comrade Commissar! Please consider me a communist. We’ll die, but the tanks won’t get through here!”

The Nazis marched under the cover of their tanks, firing from machine guns. Our thinned infantry units began to retreat. When enemy tanks approached the outskirts of the village, they were met with direct fire from the batteries. Tanks were burning. People were falling. Reduce your calculations. The guns were destroyed. Left alone at the gun, Mishin knocked out two more tanks and died like a hero. He gave his life for our Motherland. For his feat he was posthumously awarded the Order of Lenin.

At the beginning of July, our new regiment commander, Major Pevzner, and I were called to division headquarters. We arrived there on horseback, accompanied by orderlies. We were met by division commander Khmylev and division commissar Vetoshnikov. They reported that our units were cut off from the front troops, and ordered to leave the encirclement in the direction of Yugorye, acting according to the situation. This was the last meeting with our immediate commanders.

We moved through the forests, taking advantage of the dark time of day. In accordance with the existing order, the guns were destroyed.

Regimental commander Pevzner, deputy regimental commander Yanovsky and I led the unit’s exit from encirclement. Lieutenant Sementovsky controlled the route of movement of the units.

On July 22, at exactly 4:30 a.m., at a signal from a rocket, our units, concentrated at the starting line, rushed to attack, to break through. The Germans, stunned by the suddenness of our breakthrough, were unable for some time to do anything to oppose the united onslaught of our soldiers. The hurricane fire opened by the Germans could not stop the Soviet soldiers and commanders rushing forward.

We united with our own, although we suffered heavy losses. General Bogdanov was mortally wounded, regiment commander Pevzner, division commander Khmylev and our other comrades were killed.

Thus ended the first stage of the combat history of our rifle division.

M. 3. Lerner, battalion commissar, first commissar of the 931st artillery regiment of the 373rd rifle division.

Defending your homeland

On June 19, 1941, the last exam was passed at the Moscow Medical Institute. Celebrated the end of studies and the beginning working life, not knowing that all our plans and ideas will be rejected by a sudden attack of the black plague of fascism.

Having learned about the beginning of the war, all the graduates of our group gathered at the military registration and enlistment office with a collective statement to send us to the front. The Moscow City Military Commissariat did not satisfy our request at that time. They told us: “When the time comes, we will call.” And they advised us to work where we were assigned and gain experience in surgery.

I was sent to the railway clinic in the city of Ufalny, Chelyabinsk region. I worked there for three months and realized that I couldn’t be in the rear. And voluntarily, after numerous requests, I was sent to Che-barkul, where the 373rd Infantry Division was being formed. She was appointed to the position of junior doctor of the 931st artillery regiment.

The regiment was commanded by Major Filipp Grigorievich Evsyukov, the commissar was senior political instructor Mikhail Zinovievich Lerner, and the chief of staff was Captain Yuvenal Viktorovich Yanovsky.

The situation at the front was very difficult. Enemy aircraft literally did not allow us to raise our heads. But our artillerymen were full of optimism and faith in victory.

Around the twentieth of December, our division entered the battle, and by mid-January the fighting was already going on behind enemy lines - in the area of ​​the Muravyevo-Monchalovo station, towards Rzhev.

Our 931st artillery regiment was horse-drawn. The winter turned out to be snowy and cold. In such conditions, with heavy fighting and harsh weather, there could be many frostbitten and wounded. The medical unit promptly provided them medical care directly in departments. The soldiers and commanders worked with great stress. Life developed depending on the combat situation. All medical staff of the medical unit took an active part in preparing to receive the wounded and providing first aid.

A lot of preventive work was carried out among the personnel: blood transfusions, injections and other measures to prevent diseases. On our own, we deployed medical tents for operations and treatment. They worked regardless of time and fatigue. Caring for the wounded required from us, doctors, the full dedication of all physical and spiritual strength. Often we replaced commanders who were out of action.

I remember heavy battles in the Manturovo farmstead area. The regiment's medical unit was located in close proximity to the scene of hostilities.

Throughout the summer and in those days when the division was surrounded, the doctors conscientiously performed their duty.

After leaving the encirclement, we numbered about two hundred people.

We went out to the neighboring village of Adamova Gora, where there was a collection point. There we were placed in medical tents and provided with food and uniforms. They established strict medical control over us.

Has begun new period life of our artillery regiment: reorganization and preparation for new battles for the Motherland. The formation of the unit was carried out by the command led by the appointed regiment commander, Major Yanovsky and battalion commissar Lerner.

S. Yu. Vinnikova,

senior doctor of the 931st artillery regiment

Fire roads

War! This terrible word alone was enough to feel, albeit vaguely, that the sunny day was over. My military ID had an insert that stated that I was obliged to report to the assembly point within the first 24 hours after the announcement of mobilization. Hastily said goodbye to his family.

Marching companies were formed on the territory of the 18th reserve regiment. After short-term combat training, these units were sent to the active army. I was included in the list of machine gunners and anti-aircraft gunners. Intense studying began.

September 1941 was ending. One day the regiment was lined up on the parade ground. It was ordered to urgently collect personal belongings and proceed to the railway station. Two hours later we were already following the command: “On the car-on!” In the morning we arrived in Chelyabinsk, and then got to Chebarkul. I was enlisted as number one - gunner of an anti-aircraft machine gun installation.

A few days later our train rushed west to the front. On the last stretch before Gryazovets, German aircraft bombed our train. The first dead and wounded appeared. In Gryazovets we unloaded and moved to the front line. At one of the halts, it became known that political instructor Bykov had been appointed commissar of the artillery division. We said goodbye to him warmly.

The next morning, I was called to the headquarters of the regiment commissar, senior political instructor Gukalov. He informed me that I had been appointed political instructor of the company. Just a few months ago, could I have dreamed that I would become a commander?!

The division entered the front zone and on one of the December nights was supposed to replace the badly thinned forward units. Heavy, brutal fighting began. Vysokovo, Denezhnoe and other settlements were taken. The Germans retreat, but continue to resist: they bomb and fire from machine guns. We are considered anti-aircraft gunners, and anti-aircraft installations not in the regiment.

At dawn, our regiment took up its starting positions in a sparse forest. Ahead, on a hillock, a village was dimly visible. We are ordered to master it. Everyone went into battle. Our company had to go around the village from the rear, and from there strike the Nazis. A lead-hot rain raged over the field. Soldiers Senin and Voronov died.

The elderly Red Army soldier Boyarshinov acted skillfully. The company managed to break through the vegetable gardens into the village and capture several huts. Units operating on the right also achieved success. The Nazis, fearing encirclement, rushed to retreat. But it was too late, so they began to surrender.

Then the regiment rushed to the Volga. Having crossed the river, the regiment battled its way to the city of Rzhev. Here again heavy fighting ensued. The Germans bombed, low-level planes opened fire from cannons and machine guns at the line of attackers. Progress towards the goal was delayed. Soldier Mikhail Levchenko, who fired from light machine gun on German planes. He was shot down by an enemy sniper.

The battalion to which our company was attached was supposed to repeat the attack the next day in case of failure today. The company commander, Lieutenant Sokhranov, ordered me to lead the company into the attack, and he himself went to headquarters. And here we are again advancing without artillery preparation. I raise the fighters to attack. The Germans tried to lay barrage fire from mortars, but we overcame the fire barrier with a throw. The mines exploded one after another. I was wounded in the leg, and the second mine that exploded stunned me. The wounded, including me, were sent to the rear.

M. F. Vasev, company political instructor

In December it was regrouped in the Torzhok area and on December 22 it was included in the Kalinin Front.
During the Battle of Moscow, she participated in the front-line Kalinin offensive operation(October 10 - December 4), by the end of which it reached the area northwest of Rzhev. With a strike from this area during the Sychevsko-Vyazma operation (January 8 - April 20, 1942), she broke through the enemy’s defenses in a narrow area and, developing an attack on Sychevka, ensured the entry of 29 A and 11 kk into the breakthrough (Colonel S.V. Sokolov). By the end of January 1942, its troops reached the Vyazma-Smolensk railway north of Yartsevo, where they met stubborn resistance from enemy troops. In early February, the enemy stopped the offensive of the Soviet troops with counter strikes from the Rzhev and Olenino areas, forcing them to go on the defensive. As a result, the Kholm-Zhirkovsky ledge was formed, connected to the front by the Nelidovo-Bely corridor. In February-June 1942, army troops fought in a semi-encirclement northwest of Vyazma - Kholm-Zhirkovskaya defense.

During the winter campaign of 1941-1942, 39 A formed a “sack” in the defense of the 9th Army of Army Group Center, where, in addition to units of 39 A and the 11th Cavalry Corps, partisans operated. This ledge attracted enormous enemy forces, so he decided to cut the bag through Operation Seydlitz, the main executor of which was Walter Model's 9th Army. The operation began on July 2 against troops of 39 A, which occupied a ledge in the area of ​​​​the city of Kholm-Zhirkovsky. The Germans struck in the narrowest part of the corridor - 27-28 km, attacking in the direction of Bely and Olenino. On July 4 the enemy took locality Robbery, where the headquarters of 39 A. The troops were retreating. By July 6, the Germans “closed” the corridor, 39 A and 11 kk found themselves in a cauldron and cut into two encirclement groups. On July 8, 11 KK was subordinated to 39 A.

On July 17, part of the army under the command of Maslennikov, numbering about 8 thousand people, crossed the Obsha River to the north and settled north of the village of Shizderevo.
On July 18, by order of the command of the Kalinin Front, Military Council 39 A with a group of staff officers and the wounded were to be evacuated on nine U-2 aircraft to Andreapol. Three of them crashed during landing. The surrounded units were ordered to be commanded by Maslennikov's deputy, Lieutenant General Bogdanov and the deputy head of the political department of 39 A, divisional commissar Shabalin.
For three weeks the Germans carried out an operation to destroy the encircled units. There were continuous battles with groups of 39 A units breaking through. For the German troops, Operation Seydlitz officially ended on July 12 after a radio message from the Fuhrer’s main apartment: “Victory in the summer battle of Rzhev.”

At the end of July 1942, after individual units left the encirclement, 39 A was disbanded, since it actually did not exist.

Second formation

The 39th Army of the Second Formation was created on August 8, 1942 as part of the Kalinin Front on the basis of the 58th Army of the Second Formation.
Until November 1942, army troops defended the line northwest of Rzhev. In November-December they took part in the 2nd Rzhev-Sychevsk operation - offensive battles in the Rzhev direction, in March 1943 - in the offensive Rzhev-Vyazemsk operation (March 2-31). In (September 14 - October 2, 1943) its troops liberated Dukhovshchina (September 19), in cooperation with the 43rd Army of Rudnya (September 29) and then went on the defensive.
In the offensive Vitebsk-Orsha operation (June 23-28, 1944), army troops, in cooperation with troops of the 5th Army, broke through the enemy’s defenses in the Bogushev direction, and in cooperation with formations of the 43rd Army, they participated in the encirclement and defeat of the enemy’s Vitebsk group.
Participated in the strategic Belarusian and Baltic operations.
In the Kaunas operation (July 28 - August 28), army troops, in cooperation with the 5th Guards Tank Army, developed an offensive north of Kovno (Kaunas) and by the end of the operation reached the line east of Raseiniai - Raudonyany. In the Memel operation (October 5−22), the army, in cooperation with the 2nd Guards Tank Army, cleared the right bank of the Neman River (Nemunas) from the enemy from the mouth to Jurburg (Jurbarkas) in October. Subsequently, her troops defended the Sudargi-Pilkallen (Dobrovolsk) line.
In the winter and spring of 1945, the army fought in East Prussia in the Insterburg-Königsberg (January 13−27) and Königsberg (April 6−9) operations.
The army completed the fighting on the Soviet-German front by participating in the offensive Zemland operation (April 13-25).

Deputies

Chiefs of Staff

Compound

1941

• 357, 361, , 371, , 377, 381 SD; 76, 94 cd; a number of separate parts.

1942

• 21 Guards, 185, 252, , 262, 355, 357, 375, 381 SD; 46, 51 cd; 82, 250, 278, 279, 280, 281
• 336 dads; 360 gap; 102, 103, 202 ogv. mdn
• 148, 312 reps
• 521 iap; 688 lbap
• 39, 69 rev.

• 27 Guards, 158, 178, 348, 359 SD; 130 sbr
• 153 tbr
• a number of artillery and other formations and units.

• 158, 178, 380 sd; 130 sbr
• 421 aap; 1098 popes; 269, 712 iptap; 47 ogv. mdn
• 28, 81 tbr
• 17, 228 rib

1943

• , 158, 178, 186, sd; 101, 117, 130, 136 sbr; 89 opub
• 421 aap; 480, 827 gap; 545 dads; 787 oadn; 269, 587, 712 iptap; 555, 556 amnp; 170 minp; 99 Guards mp; 47 ogv mdn; 601 zenape
• 28, 81 tbr; 46 mbr
• 17, 114, 228 ob; 126 pmb

• 17th Guards , 93, 134, , 155, 158, 178, 185, sd; 114, 117, 124, 130, 136 sbr
• 10 Guards, 421 aap; 545, 1157 popes; 472, 480, 827 gap; 301, 587, 592, 610, 712 iptap; 555, 556 amnp; 553, 554 minp; 34th Guards mp; 109 ogv. mdn; 225, 601, 618, 621 zenap; 397, 490 back
• 28th Guards, 143rd Brigade
• 17, 20, 228, 251, 293 ob; 122, 125 pmb; 737 ominsb

• 134, 158, 178, 185, 234 SD; 124 sbr
• 106 guards, 545 popes; 472, 480 gap; 610 iptap; 554, 555 minp; 34th Guards mp; 621 zenap; 490 back; in September 21 adp (64 tpabr, 94 tgabr, 66 labr); 4 iptabr
• 28th Guards TBR
• 17, 228, 251, 293 ob; 122, 125 pmb; September 4th Shibr

• 5th Guards sk (9, , guards; 97 sd), 84 sk (134, 158, , 219 sd), 91 guards, sd; 124 sbr
• 103 gab BM (21 adp); 41st Guards cap; 545 dads; 472 gap; 4 iptabr; 587, 610 iptap; 552, 554, 555 minp; 326 Guards mp; 240 ogv. mdn; 621 zenap; 490 back
• 28 Guards, 60 TBR; 47 mbr; 27 otp; 1818 glanders
• 4 shisbr; 17, 228, 251 ob; 122 pmb

1944

• 5th Guards sk (9, 17, 19, 91 guards sd), 84 sk (134, 158, 262 sd), 124 sbr
• 8 pads (26, 28 guards pabr); 55 gab and 103 gab BM (21 adp); 41st Guards cap; 545 dads; 472 gap; 4 iptabr; 610 iptap; 558 minp (31 minbr); 408, 552, 554, 555 minp; 20th Guards mbr; 326 Guards mp; 39 zenads (1406, 1410, 1414, 1526 zenads); 225, 621 zenap; 490 back
• 28, 39 Guards. tbr; 47 mbr; 11th Guards otp
• 17, 228 ob; 122 pmb

• 5th Guards sk (, , 91 guards, 251 sd), 84 sk (158, 164, 262 sd)
• 139 apabr; 610 iptap; 555 minp; 54 Guards mp; 621 zenape
• 28th Guards tbr; 735, 957 sap
• 32 isbr

• 5th Guards sk (17, 19, 91 guards infantry division), 113 sk (192, 262, 338 infantry division), 152 ur
• 139 apabr; 83 Guards, 480 Gap; 610 iptap; 555 minp; 54, 307, 326 Guards. mp; 33 zenads (1378, 1710, 1715, 1718 zenads); 621, 1481 zenap; 64 back
• 28th Guards tbr; 735, 927 sap
• 32 isbr
• 185 orro

1945

• 5th Guards sk (17, 19, 91 guards sd), 94 sk (124, 221, sd), 113 sk (192, 262, 338 sd), 152 UR
• 139 apabr; 83 Guards, 480 Gap; 392, 570 cap; 610 iptap; 555 minp; 326 Guards mp; 20 zenadas (1333, 1339, 1345, 1351 zenadas); 621, 1275, 1481 zenap
• 28th Guards tbr; 76 Guards otp; 735, 927, 1197 glanders; 271 omb OSNAZ; 48 one brp
• 9 shisbr; 32 isbr
• 43 obv; 185 orro

• 5th Guards sk(17, 19, 91 Guards Infantry Division), 94 Infantry Division (124, 221, 358 Infantry Division), 113 sk(192, 262, 338) sd)
• 139 apabr; 64 gap; 610 iptap; 555 minp; 326 Guards mp; 67 zenadas (1982, 1986, 1990, 1994 zenadas); 621, 1481 zenap
• 28th Guards tbr; 378 Guards tsap; 735, 927, 1197 glanders; in January 1 tk(89 TBR, 117 TBR, 159 TBR, 44 MSBR)
• 32 isbr

Awards

Honorary titles

Artillery salutes

The troops who broke through the enemy's heavily fortified zone and defeated its long-term strongholds in Verdino, Lomonosov, Pankratov, Kulagin and others were thanked by order of the Supreme High Command dated September 19, 1943, and a salute was given in Moscow with 12 artillery salvoes from 124 guns.

The troops who broke through the enemy's defenses on the roads to Smolensk and participated in the battles for Dukhovshchina and Yartsevo were thanked by order of the Supreme High Command of September 19, 1943, and a salute was given in Moscow with 12 artillery salvoes from 124 guns.

By order of the Supreme High Command of June 26, 1944, the troops who participated in the liberation of Vitebsk were thanked and a salute was given in Moscow with 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns.

The troops who participated in the capture of the city. Pilkallen, Lazdenen and other cities, by order of the Supreme High Command of January 19, 1945, expressed gratitude and a salute was given in Moscow with 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns.

The troops who participated in the capture of the cities of Tilsit, Gross-Skaisgirren, Aulovenen, Gillen and Kaukemen were thanked by order of the Supreme High Command dated January 20, 1945, and a salute was given in Moscow with 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns.

The troops who participated in the capture of Tapiau and other cities were thanked by order of the Supreme High Command on January 26, 1945, and a salute was given in Moscow with 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns.

The troops that completed the defeat of the Königsberg group of fascist German troops and captured the city and fortress of Königsberg were thanked by order of the Supreme High Command dated April 9, 1945, and a salute was given in Moscow with 24 artillery salvoes from 324 guns.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated June 9, 1945, the medal “For the Capture of Koenigsberg” was established.

Liberated cities

List of cities liberated by units of 39 A, as well as in cooperation with other armies. Verdino- released on July 30, 1943 during a private operation:
part of the 134th SD forces 84 sk.

Lomonosovo- released on August 1, 1943 during a private operation:
part of the forces of 234 SD 84 sk.

Pankratovo- released on August 13, 1943 during a private operation:
part of the 185 sd forces 83 sk.

Kulagino- released on September 16, 1943 during the Dukhovshchinsko-Demidov operation:
83 sk(178 Infantry Division, part of the forces of the 9th Guards Infantry Division).

Spirituality- released on September 19, 1943 during the Dukhovshchinsko-Demidov operation:
2nd Guards sk(91st Guards Infantry Division, part of the 97th Infantry Division forces), 5th Guards sk(17 Guards SD, 19 Guards SD), 21 adp (64 tpabr, 94 tgabr, part of the forces 66 labr, 25 mitzbr), 4 shisbr.

Rudnya- released on September 29, 1943 during the Dukhovshchinsko-Demidov operation:
5th Guards sk(17 Guards SD, 19 Guards SD, part of the forces of 97 SD).

Liozno- liberated on October 8, 1943 during the offensive in the Vitebsk direction:
84 sk(134 SD, 158 SD), 4 iptabr.

Vitebsk- liberated on June 26, 1944 during the Vitebsk-Orsha operation:
84 sk(158 RD, 164 RD, 262 RD), 957 SAF, 139 APABR.

Ukmerge- released on July 24, 1944 during the Belarusian operation:
84 sk(158 sd, 262 sd).

Jonava (Janovo)- released on July 29, 1944 during the Kaunas operation:
251 sd 5th Guards sk, 28th Guards. tbr.

Kėdainiai (Keydany)- released on August 2, 1944 during the Kaunas operation:
158 sd 84 sk.

Raseiniai- released on 08/09/1944 during the Kaunas operation:
158 sd 84 sk.

Taurage- liberated on September 10, 1944 during the Memel operation:
5th Guards sk(17 Guards SD, 91 Guards SD), 28 Guards TBR, 735 Sap, 139 APABR, 1st Guards. iptabr.

Raseiniai- liberated on October 7, 1944 during the Memel operation:
113 sk(part of the forces of 192 SD, part of the forces of 338 SD, part of the forces of 152 UR), 927 SAF.

Schmaleningken-Witkemen (Smalininkai)
262 sd 113 sk.

Jurbarkas- liberated on October 9, 1944 during the Memel operation:
262 sd 113 sk.

39th Army     Formed on November 15, 1941 in the Arkhangelsk Military District on the basis of the directive of the Supreme High Command Headquarters of November 2, 1941, it was directly subordinate to the Supreme High Command Headquarters. The army initially included the 357th, 361st, 369th, 371st, 373rd, 377th and 381st rifle divisions, 76th and 94th cavalry divisions, a number of separate units.
   From December 1, 1941, the army was entrusted with the construction of defensive lines along the eastern bank of the Sheksna River. In December it was regrouped in the Torzhok area, on December 22 it was included in the Kalinin Front and participated in the Battle of Moscow with it.
   Participated in the Kalinin front-line offensive operation (October 10 - December 4), by the end of which it reached the area northwest of Rzhev. A strike from this area during the Rzhev-Vyazemsk strategic operation (January 8 - April 20) broke through the enemy’s defenses in a narrow area and, developing an attack on Sychevka, ensured the entry of the 11th Cavalry Corps into the breakthrough. By the end of January 1942, its troops reached the Vyazma-Smolensk railway north of Yartsevo, where they met stubborn resistance from enemy troops. In early February, the enemy, with counter strikes from the Rzhev and Olenino areas, cut the narrow corridor formed by army troops in its defense west of Rzhev. In February - June 1942, army troops fought in a semi-encirclement northwest of Vyazma, and in July - in complete encirclement. At the end of July, after individual units and subunits left the encirclement, the army was disbanded.
  Commanders:
Bogdanov I. A. (11.1941 - 12.1941), Lieutenant General
Maslennikov I. I. (12.12.1941 - 11.06.1942), Lieutenant General
  Member of the Military Council:
Fominykh A. Ya. (12.1941 - 08.1942), corps commissar
  Chiefs of Staff:
Korkodinov P. D. (11.1941-12.1941), brigade commander
Miroshnichenko P. P. (12.1941 - 07.1942), colonel, since May 1942 major general    The 39th Army was formed again on August 8, 1942 as part of the Kalinin Front on the basis of the 58th Army (2nd formation). Initially, it included the 27th Guards, 158th, 178th, 348th and 359th rifle divisions, 130th rifle and 153rd tank brigades, a number of artillery and other formations and units.
   Until November 1942, army troops defended the line northwest of Rzhev. In November - December they took part in offensive battles in the Rzhev direction, in March 1943 - in the Rzhev-Vyazemsk offensive operation (March 2-31). In the Dukhovshchina-Demidov operation (September 14 - October 2, 1943), its troops liberated Dukhovshchina (September 19), in cooperation with the 43rd Army of the city of Rudnya (September 29) and then went on the defensive.
   From October 20, 1943, as part of the 1st Baltic Front, from January 20, 1944 to the Western Front, from April 24, 1944 to the 3rd Belorussian Front. In the Vitebsk-Orsha offensive operation (June 23-28, 1944), army troops, in cooperation with the troops of the 5th Army, broke through the enemy’s defenses in the Bogushevsky direction, in cooperation with formations of the 43rd Army, they participated in the encirclement and defeat of the Vitebsk enemy group.
   From July 3 to July 15, 1944, the army fought as part of the 1st Baltic Front; On July 16, it was again transferred to the 3rd Belorussian Front. Participated in the Belarusian, Kaunas, and Memel operations. In the Kaunas operation (July 28 - August 28), army troops, in cooperation with the 5th Guards Tank Army, developed an offensive north of Kovno (Kaunas) and by the end of the operation reached the line east of Raseiniai - Raudonyany. In the Memel operation (October 5-22), the army, in cooperation with the 2nd Guards Tank Army, cleared the right bank of the Neman River (Nemunas) from the enemy from the mouth to Jurburg (Jurbarkas) in October. Subsequently, her troops defended the Sudargi-Pilkallen (Dobrovolsk) line.
   In the winter and spring of 1945, the army fought in East Prussia during the Insterburg-Königsberg (January 13-27) and Königsberg (April 6-9) operations as part of the 3rd Belorussian Front, from February 6 - the 1st Baltic Front and from February 25 - again the 3rd Belorussian Front.
   The army completed the fighting on the Soviet-German front by participating in the Zemland offensive operation (April 13-25).
   On May 1, 1945, the army was withdrawn to the reserve of the Supreme Command Headquarters. In May - June 1945, it was redeployed to Mongolia and on June 20 was included in the Trans-Baikal Front. It participated in the Soviet-Japanese War of 1945.
   During the Khingan-Mukden frontal offensive operation (August 9-September 2, 1945), army troops struck from the Tamtsag-Bulag ledge against the troops of the 30th and the left flank of the 4th separate Japanese armies. Having defeated the enemy troops covering the approaches to the passes of the Greater Khingan, the army captured the Khalun-Arshan fortified area. Developing the attack on Changchun, she advanced 350-400 km with battles and by August 14 reached central part Manchuria.
Commanders:
Zygin A.I. (08.1942 - 09.1943), major general, from the end of January 1943 lieutenant general
Berzarin N. E. (09.1943 - 05.1944), Lieutenant General
Lyudnikov I. I. (05.1944 - until the end of the war with Japan), lieutenant general, from May 1945 colonel general
  Member of the Military Council:
Boyko V. R. (08.1942 - until the end of the war with Japan), Major General
  Chiefs of Staff:
Ilyinykh P.F. (08.1942 - 10.1942), Major General
Siminovsky M.I. (October 1943 - until the end of the war with Japan), Major General
   Composition as of 01/19/1944:
(at the time of the transfer of the army from the 1st Baltic to the Western Front):
- army field control with all communications units, service institutions and army rear services;

Secondary school with in-depth study

foreign language at the Russian Embassy in the USA

My great-grandfather's battle path

Viktor Mikhailovich Venevtsev
Author of the work: Karpukhin Mikhail,

5th grade student

Head: primary teacher

Ageeva L.A.
Washington DC 2010

My great-grandfather Viktor Mikhailovich Venevtsev was called up to the front on November 1, 1941. He went through the entire war as part of the 39th Army. During the Battle of Moscow, the 39th army took part in the Kalinin offensive operation and reached the area of ​​the city of Rzhev. These were very difficult, stubborn battles with heavy losses. It was severely frosty. My great-grandfather recalled how he went to storm a village that stood on a hill. The Germans doused the slope with water. Our soldiers had to climb up a smooth ice slope under continuous fire. Almost all of the attackers died. Great-grandfather was able to stay in a small depression on the slope and lay there under fire until dark. Miraculously, he survived.

Map of military operations for January 1942
In January 1942, troops of the 39th Army reached the Vyazma-Smolensk railway and met stubborn enemy resistance there. The enemy stopped the advance of our troops with counter blows from Rzhev and forced them to go on the defensive. By the summer of 1942, the 39th Army found itself semi-encircled in the area of ​​the cities of Vyazma and Rzhev. In July, the Germans began an operation to completely close the encirclement.

Map of military operations at the end of July 1942. Closing the encirclement ring of the 39th Army

At this time, my great-grandfather received the task of going behind enemy lines: with a small detachment of soldiers, he had to conduct reconnaissance of the territory, collect data on the area and rescue vehicles left behind by the retreating Soviet troops. Great-grandfather successfully carried out the operation: some of the cars were removed under their own power, the rest were destroyed. The great-grandfather himself was shell-shocked and ended up in the hospital.

For the successful completion of the task, Viktor Mikhailovich Venevtsev was awarded the medal “For Courage”.

Great-grandfather with military awards near the car

With comrades in arms

While my great-grandfather was in the hospital, the 39th Army was surrounded by the Germans and completely destroyed. After the hospital, my great-grandfather returned to the newly formed 39th Army. Old army no longer existed. In the new 39th Army, my great-grandfather became a staff member.

Great-grandfather near the company car

Great-grandfather in a company car

Since November 1942, troops of the 39th Army took part in the offensive battles of the Rzhev-Sychevsk operation, and in March 1943, the Rzhev-Vyazemsk operation. As a result, both cities were liberated. The Battle of Rzhev, which is now recognized as the bloodiest battle of the Great Patriotic War, has ended. This was a battle not for the small town of Rzhev, but for the approach to Moscow from the west: Rzhev is located only 217 kilometers from Moscow. This battle lasted two and a half years.

Map of military operations of the Baltic and Belorussian fronts for 1944-1945.

The German population, fearing the revenge of our troops, hid from the soldiers in the forests. My great-grandfather recalled how troops entered abandoned cities and villages, and valuables were abandoned in houses. Milked cows followed the soldiers and chickens ran around.

The battle for the city of Königsberg was bloody. Our troops took the city on April 9, 1945. Next came the offensive Zemland operation.

My great-grandfather celebrated Victory Day on May 9 in Königsberg. But there were still many months left until the end of the great-grandfather’s war.

My great-grandfather’s wife, my great-grandmother Anfisa Nikolaevna, received a call and was told that my great-grandfather would be passing through Moscow at a certain time. My great-grandmother and great-grandfather’s daughter Galya, my grandmother, who was six years old at the time, ran to meet the train. The train stopped for a very short time. Great-grandmother and Galya were climbing a steep slope. The soldiers picked up little Galya in their arms, placed her on the train platform, gave her food and cried with joy. Galya didn’t recognize her great-grandfather, her dad: she hadn’t seen him for four years; he went to the front when she was only two years old. Then everyone went to the commander. Galya herself asked: “Uncle, comrade general, let my daddy go home!” And the great-grandfather was allowed to go home for a few hours. Then he returned to the train and went to war in Mongolia.

In August 1945 During the Khingan-Mukden Operation 39, the army defeated the troops of the Japanese Kwantung Army, crossed the Greater Khingan Mountains, liberated Manchuria, East China and at the end of August took the city of Port Arthur on the coast of the Yellow Sea.

F. Usypenko. Crossing of Soviet troops through Khingan

Map of military operations of the Transbaikal and Far Eastern fronts - 1945.

Tracing my great-grandfather's path to the Great Patriotic War: from Russia through Belarus and the Baltic states to Germany, and then again across all of Russia - to Mongolia, to the Far East, I began to look at military maps in a new way. Now cities as close to Moscow as Rzhev, Vyazma, Koenigsberg, and the most distant ones - Port Arthur, Mukden, have acquired special significance for me: after all, my great-grandfather fought there. And looking at F. Usypenko’s painting “The Crossing of Soviet Troops through the Khingan,” I imagine how my great-grandfather rode through these mountains. Now paintings, works of art, and films about the war have become more interesting to me.
The military path of my great-grandfather Viktor Mikhailovich Venevtsev is noted in orders of gratitude, orders and medals, which are carefully kept in our family. My great-grandfather raised his daughter, my grandmother Galya, and his granddaughter, my mother, and always talked a lot about the war.

Material from the Mongolian Wiki Encyclopedia

In the 20th century, Soviet troops entered Mongolia in 1921, 1939, 1945. The movements of troops were associated with the need to repel external aggression against the Mongolian state and carry out tasks to defend the country from a potential military threat from the outside. Soviet troops stationed on the territory of Mongolia, unlike other allied countries, did not form the so-called. “group of forces”, but were directly part of the Trans-Baikal Military District.

In March 1925, after the liquidation of the White Guard detachments, the Soviet Union withdrew its troops from the Mongolian People's Republic.

International treaties

On March 12, 1936, it was signed in Moscow Protocol on Mutual Assistance between Mongolia and the USSR(the protocol was signed both with sovereign state, although according to the Soviet-Chinese agreement of 1924 Mongolia was recognized as part of China):

Governments of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Mongolian People's Republic decided to formalize in the form of this Protocol the gentlemen's agreement that has existed between them since November 27, 1934, providing for mutual support by all means in preventing and averting the threat of a military attack, as well as providing each other with assistance and support in the event of an attack by any third party on the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Mongolian People's Republic, for which purpose they signed this Protocol. Article I. In the event of a threat of attack on the territory of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Mongolian People's Republic from a third state, the Governments of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Mongolian People's Republic undertake to immediately discuss the jointly created situation and take all those measures that could would be needed to protect the security of their territory. Article II. The governments of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Mongolian People's Republic undertake, in the event of a military attack on one of the Contracting Parties, to provide each other with all kinds of assistance, including military assistance. Article III. The Governments of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Mongolian People's Republic take it for granted that the troops of one of the parties located by mutual agreement on the territory of the other party, in fulfillment of the obligations set forth in Articles I or II, will be withdrawn from the relevant territory immediately after the passage of this is necessary, just as it was in 1925 with regard to the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the territory of the Mongolian People's Republic.

Since 1937, in accordance with this protocol, units of the Red Army were deployed on the territory of Mongolia. In particular, according to the 3rd five-year plan for the development and reconstruction of the Red Army for 1938-42, adopted in 1937, they were formed in the Western Military District for operations in desert-steppe conditions and redeployed to Mongolia mbbr with bases (in 1939): 7th infantry brigade - Dzamyn-Uud, 8th - Bayan-Tumen, 9th - Undurkhan.

Battle of Khalkhin Gol

In April-September 1939, Soviet troops (57th Special Corps, reorganized into the 1st Army Group) took part in an armed conflict near the Khalkhin Gol River with the Kwantung Army in eastern Mongolia, on the border with Manchuria (the puppet state of Manchukuo) . By August 31, the territory of the Mongolian People's Republic was completely cleared of Japanese troops. On September 15, 1939, an agreement was signed between Soviet Union, MPR and Japan on the cessation of hostilities in the Khalkhin Gol River area

17th Army. Formed in July 1940 on the basis of the 1st Army Group and was located on the territory of the Mongolian People's Republic. From September 15, 1941 it was part of the Trans-Baikal Front. Commanders: 1940-1941 - P.A. Kurochkin, 1941-1942 - P.L. Romanenko, 1942-1943 - A.I. Gastilovich, 1943 - 1945 - A.I. Danilov.

39th Army

1942-45

The 39th Army of the Second Formation was created on August 8, 1942 as part of the Kalinin Front on the basis of the 58th Army of the 2nd Formation. It included the 27th Guards, 158th, 178th, 348th and 359th Rifle Divisions, the 130th Rifle and 153rd Tank Brigades, and a number of artillery and other units. Until November it defended the line northwest of Rzhev. In November-December she took part in offensive battles in the Rzhev direction, and in March 1943 in the Rzhev-Vyazemsk offensive operation. In the Dukhovshchinsko-Demidov operation, its troops liberated the city of Dukhovshchina (September 19), in cooperation with the 43rd Army, the city of Rudnya (September 29) and then went on the defensive. From October 20, the army was part of the 1st Baltic Front, from January 20, 1944 - to the Western Front, and from April 24 - to the 3rd Belorussian Front.

In the Vitebsk-Orsha offensive operation, army troops, in cooperation with the 5th Army, broke through the enemy’s defenses in the Bogushev direction, and in cooperation with formations of the 43rd Army, they participated in the encirclement and defeat of the Vitebsk enemy group. From July 3 to July 15, the 39th Army fought as part of the 1st Baltic Front; On July 16, it was again transferred to the 3rd Belorussian Front. In the Kaunas operation, army troops, in cooperation with the 5th Guards Tank Army, developed an offensive north of Kovno (Kaunas) and by the end of the operation reached the line east of Raseiniai, Raudonian. In the Memel operation, the army, in cooperation with the 2nd Guards Tank Army, cleared the right bank of the river from the enemy in October. Neman (Nemunas) from the mouth to Yurburg (Yurbarkas). Subsequently, it defended the line of Sudargi, Pilkallen (Dobrovolsk).

In the winter and spring of 1945, as part of the 3rd Belorussian Front, from February 6 to the 1st Baltic Front and from February 25 again to the 3rd Belorussian Front, it fought in East Prussia during the Insterburg-Königsberg and Königsberg operations. The army completed its military operations on the Soviet-German front by participating in the Zemland offensive operation.

On May 1, the 39th Army was withdrawn to the reserve of the Supreme Command Headquarters, then redeployed to Mongolia and on June 20 included in the Transbaikal Front. It participated in the Soviet-Japanese War of 1945. During the Khingan-Mukden frontal offensive operation, army troops struck from the Tamtsag-Bulag ledge against the troops of the 30th and the left flank of the 4th separate Japanese armies. Having defeated the enemy troops covering the approaches to the passes of the Greater Khingan, the army captured the Khalun-Arshan fortified area. Developing the attack on Changchun, it advanced 350-400 km in battles and by August 14 reached the central part of Manchuria.

60s

By the end of the 60s, the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA) created a powerful northern group, which by the end of the 1960s included nine combined arms armies (44 divisions, of which 33 were field and 11 were mechanized). They included more than 4.3 thousand tanks and 10 thousand guns and rocket launchers. The group's reserve included formations people's militia numbering up to 30 infantry divisions, in training and combat readiness practically not inferior to regular troops, not to mention the ability to make up for losses using truly incalculable human resources. This grouping allowed the PLA to deploy troops along the entire border with a density of up to a company for every 200-300 m of the front.

The forces of DalVO and ZabVO opposing the Chinese army did not look so impressive, or rather, incomparable. Yet, until recently, China was considered a reliable ally, for whose support considerable funds were allocated. And it was no consolation at all that the combat potential of the PLA looming over our border consisted almost exclusively of military equipment and weapons of Soviet design. By this time, Transbaikalia had long been considered a rear region and was supplied on a “residual” basis. The fortifications and defensive lines that existed on the border were built and equipped in the pre-war years, when Karbyshev (then still with the rank of engineer-colonel) led the work here. In addition, the region was not spared the famous Khrushchev “solutions to the disarmament problem,” and during the reduction of the army, even these few forces were subjected to a fair “cut” (needless to say, these measures were carried out unilaterally). Motorized rifle regiments were reduced to battalions, artillery divisions to divisions, three tank divisions (13th, 111th, and 5th Guards) were completely disbanded, and the management of the 6th Guards. Tank Army transferred to the Urals. As a result, the district had only the Borzinsky Army Corps, and by the beginning of 1964 the previously quite powerful Air Army was reduced to the Aviation Department of the ZabVO. It was also obvious that the Chinese military had a good idea of ​​the state of the troops and the military infrastructure of Transbaikalia. According to experts from the GRU and the Operations Directorate of the General Staff, in the event of full-scale hostilities, the advancing Chinese fronts will be able to reach their operational lines in a matter of days, moving forward at a pace of 15-20 km/h and up to 200-250 km per day. The steppe nature of the terrain was to the advantage of the enemy - sparse copses and a small number of rivers and other natural obstacles made it possible after breaking through the border to develop an offensive in any direction.

Quick and decisive measures were required to correct the situation (according to Clausewitz: “wars are won in advance”). Without much publicity (Damansky was still ahead), the Government and the USSR Ministry of Defense took a number of measures to restore the defense capability of the areas bordering on their troubled neighbor.

In the summer of 1967, the redeployment of troops from central districts to the Far East and Transbaikalia, primarily tank and motorized rifle formations. The 21st Guards arrived from the Baltic States to the Far Eastern District. TD, from the Leningrad Military District to the ZabVO - 2nd Guards. etc. The 5th Guards were stationed here. td, 32 td, 66 td, 49 and 111 td. By the early 1970s in ZabVO army corps was deployed in 39th Combined Arms Army, simultaneously on the territory of Mongolia formed an advanced group of 39 A. Total number There were seven tank formations on the border with China (including one training division), each of which had more than 330 tanks.

In accordance with the directive of the USSR Ministry of Defense dated July 22, 1967, two dozen air regiments were assembled in the Western Military District and formed into the 23rd Air Army. The predominance of strike bomber and fighter-bomber aircraft in them to a fair extent made it possible to compensate for the numerical superiority of the opposing group, fortunately in “ wild steppes Transbaikalia" they became relatively easy prey for aviation. and separate reconnaissance brigades, two anti-aircraft missile brigades, an army rocket artillery regiment, a radio engineering brigade, separate regiment communications, a railway brigade, two engineering regiments, an air assault battalion, an electronic warfare battalion, a separate helicopter regiment, a separate radio battalion, an engineering barriers brigade.

The 39th combined arms army was reinforced with powerful, fully equipped tank divisions after a military incident with the Chinese army on Domansky Island. (Until this time, a rifle corps was deployed in Mongolia under the command of General G.P. Yashkin, consisting of two incomplete divisions).

Withdrawal of the military group from the territory of Mongolia

The withdrawal of troops from Mongolia took 28 months. On February 4, 1989, a Soviet-Chinese agreement was signed to reduce the number of troops on the border. On May 15, 1989, the Soviet leadership announced the partial and then complete withdrawal of the 39th Army of the Trans-Baikal Military District from Mongolia. The army included two tank and three motorized rifle divisions - more than 50 thousand military personnel, 1816 tanks, 2531 armored vehicles, 1461 artillery systems, 190 aircraft and 130 helicopters. On September 25, 1992, the completion of the troop withdrawal was officially announced. Latest Russian soldiers left Mongolia in December 1992