Lieutenant Pavel Rak, Sergeant Alexey Danilov, Art. Sergeant Alexander Petryaev - the tank crew who was the first to break into Borisov on June 30, 1944 and fought an unequal battle with the enemy for about 5 p.m. Everyone died in this battle. Each of the crew members was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The name of each of them is immortalized in the names of the streets of Borisov.
On the night of June 30, 1944, the crew of the T-34 tank, consisting of the tank commander, party organizer of the guard company Lieutenant P.N. Rak, tank driver A.A. Petryaev and tank gunner-radio operator A.I. Danilov, broke through the Berezina River to the city of Borisov, Minsk Region, across a mined bridge, which immediately blew up. Cut off from their own, fearless warriors fought on the city streets for 16 hours, destroyed a lot of enemy manpower and equipment, caused panic among the enemy garrison, which contributed to the liberation of the city on July 1, 1944 by Soviet troops. The Nazis threw several tanks and self-propelled guns against the Soviet machine. In an unequal battle, the brave crew died.
Sixteen hours before immortality
At the end of June 1944, Soviet troops reached the Berezina River. On June 29, 1944, the 2nd battalion of the 3rd Guards Brigade of the 3rd Guards Tank Corps, which included the platoon of Guard Lieutenant Pavel Rak, reached the old part of Borisov. The battalion was tasked with capturing bridges across the Skha and Berezina rivers, preventing the Nazis from blowing them up and thereby ensuring the crossing of the main forces. Pavel Rak's platoon - the 4th tanks - was to go first.
In the evening, Guard Lieutenant Rak clarified the task for the crews. He escorted the tank of Guard Sergeant Major Kulakov, instructing him to go to the rear of an artillery battery camouflaged in the Borisov cemetery. An hour and a half before midnight, the head outpost set out, led by the battalion commander, Captain Silin. Behind her are motorcyclists and 2 vehicles of the Cancer platoon. The artillery began to speak in deafeningly ringing volleys from behind Scha. The Nazis had a good shot at the entrance to the bridge. All Soviet tanks were knocked out. All except one...
Pavel Rak “flew” over the Schu at great speed. With all its might, fire and tracks, the Cancer tank attacked the fascist battery, knocking out 2 of its vehicles. Having crushed it, the tank rushed to the crossing of the Berezina. When he reached the middle of the river, the earth shook and the bridge across the Skha collapsed. A few seconds later the Berezinsky one split into pieces. But Lieutenant Rak’s guard tank had already touched solid ground.
On the shore, “Ferdinand” was already waiting for him, lurking in ambush. For a fraction of a second, the fascist gunner was late with the shot, and the “thirty-four” managed to slip through a dangerous place and disappeared around the bend.
With its first shot, the Soviet tank hit an armored personnel carrier filled with Nazis. The surviving fascists, rained down by machine-gun fire, fled in horror in different directions. The burning armored car made them a good target.
Even before the battle, Lieutenant Rak, having thoroughly studied the intelligence data, knew that somewhere to the right of the bridge there was an enemy anti-aircraft battery, dangerous both for aircraft and for those who were soon to cross the Berezina. The fact that the lieutenant decided to destroy the anti-aircraft battery first of all characterizes him as a competent, experienced commander.
Without firing a single shot, a Soviet tank fell out of the darkness like a punishing monster, crushing every single weapon. After this act of retaliation, the tank rushed into the city.
Having left Magistralnaya on Sportivnaya Street, the tankers without hesitation rushed towards the oncoming convoy, which after some minutes was only reminded of by piles of wood, metal and the corpses of Nazis.
Of course, the crew needed a break to outline a further plan. They took refuge in the depths of the yard. The clock showed 24.00. Just 60 minutes ago they crossed the Berezina and began a battle with the enemy. During this time, the Nazis caused considerable damage and caused panic in his camp. You could go into the forest with a clear conscience and wait for your own people. No one would blame the crew for this.
But the fate of the brave souls at the moment was determined by the dictates of conscience: to continue to administer harsh justice to the hated enemy. Komsomol members Alexander Petryaev and Alexey Danilov unanimously agreed with their commander Pavel Rak to fight to the end. And they did the impossible...
The tankers acted calmly, boldly, and coolly. One refueling and one round of ammunition was enough for them for the entire 16 hours of battle! We came to the commandant's office by accident. They guessed its significance from the crowd of cars at the entrance. P. Rak sent a shrapnel shell into the trucks and pierced the windows with a machine gun. The fascists, feverishly chasing the “thirty-four,” did not expect it at their headquarters. The suddenness of the appearance of our crew decided the outcome of the short battle. A cannon shot shook the building and yellow flames splashed from the windows. Maddened officers jumped from the upper floors directly onto the asphalt to find death under machine-gun fire. The tank ironed the cars at the entrance, crushed the headquarters bus and disappeared unharmed into a nearby alley.
Panic reigned in the city. The Nazis did not want to believe that one Soviet tank was the cause of everything! And their command threw all means against the daring red star machine.
Dawn was approaching. There was still the opportunity to go into the forest - it would be harder to act during the day. But the tank crews learned that the occupiers were holding sick and wounded Red Army soldiers in the Borisov hospital, and had set up a death camp on the outskirts of the city.
The brave crew made it to the hospital just at the moment when the Nazis were about to set fire to people locked in wooden barracks. About 200 prisoners, saved from martyrdom, went into the forest.
No matter how the brave warriors rushed to the death camp, they failed to prevent the bloody crime. Piles of human bodies, stitched with bursts, called for vengeance. And the tankers again decided to return to the city, although they had no doubt that this time a meeting with the Tigers, Panthers and Ferdinands was inevitable.
At the railway station, the crew saw trains ready to depart, in which the occupiers were in a hurry to remove factory equipment, raw materials, and products. Alexey Danilov fired a cannon at the locomotive boilers so that the mangled locomotives would reliably barricade the path.
The fatal battle with the “tigers” and “panthers” occurred at 15:30, when our tankers were crossing the Minsk highway, heading towards the Berezina, towards Soviet troops. Enemy cannons struck from an ambush with direct fire, at close range. The heroic crew fought an unequal battle until their last breath...
At the end of June 1941, Borisov was defended by cadets of the Borisov Tank School (chief - Corps Commissar Ivan Zakharovich Susaykov) and soldiers of the 1st Moscow Motorized Rifle Division (commander - Colonel Kreiser Yakov Grigorievich). The headquarters of the group of troops defending Borisov was headed by Colonel Alexander Ilyich Lizyukov. The advance of the German troops was delayed for two days, for which Colonels Kreiser and Lizyukov were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. But on July 2, the city was occupied and remained under the enemy’s boot for three years.
On July 1, 1944, Borisov was released by the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front (commander - Army General Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky). On the evening of the same day, Moscow saluted on this occasion with 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns.
The following most distinguished formations and units were given the honorary name Borisovsky by order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief:
62nd Rifle Division (Major General Borodkin Porfiry Grigorievich),
174th Rifle Division (Colonel Nikita Ivanovich Demin),
148th Engineer Tank Regiment (Major Sergei Ilyich Sotnikov),
66th anti-aircraft artillery division (Major General Sazonov Sergei Sergeevich),
103 dept. road maintenance battalion (Major Troyanov Efim Kondratyevich),
204 dept. engineer battalion (Major Kravchenko Andrey Andreevich),
1008th separate communications battalion (Major Bozhanov Alexander Semenovich),
47 dept. Guards reconnaissance air regiment (Colonel Tyurin Trofim Romanovich),
86th Guards fighter aviation regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Alekseevich Chistyakov),
125 guards bomber air regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Valentin Vasilievich Markov),
127 Guards bomber air regiment (Colonel Kalachikov Andrey Andreevich),
11th Guards engineering sapper battalion (Major Malakhov Mikhail Sergeevich),
4th Guards bombard. air division (Major General of Aviation Kotlyar Feodosii Porfirievich)
In addition, as follows from the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief dated July 1, 1944, “the troops of Colonel General Galitsky, Lieutenant General Glagolev, Lieutenant General Krylov, Major General Zavadovsky took part and distinguished themselves in the crossing of the Berezina on a front of 110 km and the liberation of Borisov , Lieutenant General Koshevoy, Major General Provalov, Major General Maslov, Major General Chernov, Major General Berestov, Major General Strizhenko, Major General Gladyshev, Major General Kazaryan, Major General Alekseenko, Colonel Volkov, Colonel Tolstikov, Colonel Kovalevsky, Colonel Polevik, Colonel Kovtunov, Colonel Klimakhin, Colonel Donets; cavalrymen of Lieutenant General Oslikovsky; artillerymen Major General of Artillery Semin, Lieutenant General of Artillery Salichko, Colonel Tsarkov, Colonel Glushkov, Colonel Mityurov, Colonel Demyanovsky, Colonel Kamisov, Colonel Tomilin, Colonel Botvinnik, Colonel Kiy, Colonel Fedotov, Colonel Khasin, Colonel Bazhutov, Colonel Cherkasov, Lieutenant Colonel Titov, Lieutenant Colonel Vyborov, Lieutenant Colonel Kozin, Lieutenant Colonel Moiseenko, Lieutenant Colonel Uvarov; tankers of Marshal of Armored Forces Rotmistrov, Lieutenant General of Tank Forces Obukhov, Major General of Tank Forces Vovchenko, Major General of Tank Forces Fominykh, Major General of Tank Forces Aslanov. Colonel Kremer; pilots of Lieutenant General of Aviation Beletsky, Lieutenant General of Aviation Ushakov, Lieutenant General of Aviation Andreev, Colonel Prutkov; sappers Major General Zverev, Colonel Khmyrov, Colonel Shelo, Colonel Pronevich, Lieutenant Colonel Chizh, Major Tanhilevich, Major Senchin, Major Semenov and signalmen Colonel Davidenko.”
The combat mission of directly capturing Borisov through street fighting was carried out by soldiers of the 5th Guards and 83rd Guards Rifle Divisions (commanders Nikolai Lvovich Volkov and Alexey Grigorievich Maslov). They were assisted by the 26th Guards Rifle Division (commander - Major General Grigory Ivanovich Chernov).
In the battles for the liberation of Borisov, the commander of the 192nd Infantry Division, Colonel Kovalevsky Arkady Makarovich, died.
The troops who participated in the battles during the crossing of the Berezina and the liberation of Borisov were thanked by order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of July 1, 1944, and a salute was fired in Moscow with 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns.
Heroes of the battles for Borisov
For the courage and heroism shown during the crossing of the Berezina and the liberation of Borisov, they were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union:
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Squad commander Sergeant Anisimov Evstafiy Vasilievich |
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Squad commander Sergeant Bikbov Evgeniy Arkhipovich |
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Company commander Guards. Lieutenant Volkov Andrey Alekseevich |
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Platoon commander Lieutenant German Alexander Mironovich |
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Tank crew radio operator Alexey Ilyich Danilov |
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Commander of the rifle battalion, Captain Klepach Prokop Fedorovich |
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Platoon commander Sergeant Major Kudin Ivan Nazarovich |
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Squad commander Sergeant Kuznetsov Grigory Ilyich |
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Anti-tank gun gunner Sergeant Nargan Mikhail Nikolaevich |
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Corps commander Lieutenant General Obukhov Viktor Timofeevich |
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Company commander Art. Lieutenant Ovchinnikov Boris Vasilievich |
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Tank driver mechanic Art. Sergeant Petryaev Alexander Akimovich |
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Tank commander Guards. Lieutenant Rak Pavel Nikolaevich |
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Submachine gunner private Ryabov Alexander Alexandrovich |
Borisov is an ancient Belarusian city on the banks of the Berezina River. The Brest-Moscow road passes through it - a traditional route for invaders of different times who came to Rus' from the west. The summer of 1941 was another tragic test for the city residents.
Situation by June 30, 1941: on the 5th day of the war, the Germans took Minsk, encircling the main forces of the Western Front in the Grodno-Brest-Minsk triangle. A huge mass of Soviet troops had not yet been destroyed, but the troops were not trained to operate in such conditions. Before the war, according to the curriculum, offensive actions, attacks, marches were practiced; practicing defense, and even more so actions in the environment could well become the basis for reprisals against the developers of such plans. Soviet propaganda intensively introduced into the masses blatant slogans such as “We will fight on foreign territory and with little loss of life.” Although back in the early 30s, the Red Army had a well-established system for training military leaders to act in conditions of encirclement, and on the territory of Ukraine and Belarus, supplies, ammunition and food were stored in caches to supply troops in conditions of a deep enemy breakthrough. All these caches were destroyed by the NKVD, and many trained commanders of the Red Army and personnel of the Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army, who specialized in sabotage and partisan actions, were shot in 1937. Therefore, the surrounded troops of about 250 thousand personnel quickly stopped resisting. Only a small part managed to break through to the east to join their own people; most were taken prisoner; many military personnel settled in the surrounding villages. By the end of June, the Western Front had only a few divisions at its disposal, which had suffered significant losses, meanwhile, two German tank groups, the 2nd Guderian and the 3rd Gotha, had united in Minsk. The 47th Panzer Corps of Guderian's group was then supposed to advance as quickly as possible along the Brest-Moscow highway towards Borisov, Orsha, and Smolensk in order to prevent Soviet troops from organizing a strong defense.
From the memoirs of the famous Soviet writer and poet Konstantin Simonov:
“...On both sides of the highway, between the poles, all telephone and telegraph wires were torn. There were corpses lying near the road. Mostly civilian refugees. Bomb craters were most often located off the road, behind telegraph poles. People were making their way there, sideways, and the Germans, quickly adapting to this, bombed right there, on the sides of the road. There were relatively few craters on the road itself, only a few along the entire path from Borisov to the turn to Orsha. As I realized later, the Germans probably expected to pass this section quickly and unhindered and did not deliberately spoil the road...
Along the road walked from west to east women, children, old people, girls with small bundles, girls, young women, mostly Jews, judging by their clothes, from Western Belarus, in pathetic foreign coats that immediately turned into dusty rags with their shoulders raised high. It was a strange sight - these coats, knots in their hands, fashionable hairstyles thrown to one side. And from east to west along the road, civilian guys were walking towards them. They went to their recruiting stations, to the place where units were assembled, mobilized, not wanting to be late, not wanting to be considered deserters, and at the same time not really knowing anything, not understanding where they were going. They were driven forward by a sense of duty, complete uncertainty and disbelief that the Germans could be here, so close. It was one of the tragedies of those days. These people were shot from the air by the Germans, and they suddenly found themselves captured..."
There was virtually no one to defend the city of Borisov, located 80 km east of Minsk; only the Tank Technical School (TTU), in which about 500 cadets studied, was stationed there. The 1st Moscow Motorized Rifle Division, a fairly strong military unit with more than 200 BT-7 tanks and several T-34s, was moving from the Moscow region to Borisov, but would it make it in time? There was a catastrophic lack of time to organize defense along the Dnieper at the Vitebsk-Orsha-Mogilev-Gomel line, and it was vitally important to detain the enemy in Borisov, at the line of the Berezina River. Meanwhile, the head of the Borisov TTU, corps commissar Ivan Zakharovich Susaykov, organized the defense of the city with the help of his cadets: they dug trenches, communication passages, and rifle cells. From the west, across the large concrete bridge to Borisov, groups of Soviet soldiers walked one after another, left without control, confused, not understanding - what was happening? Walking heavily with dusty boots on the pavement, they wandered to the eastern bank of the Berezina, local residents looked at them gloomily. Everything changed overnight. Suddenly, loud, clear commands were heard coming from a smart, confident tank colonel, who appeared on the shore, accompanied by several commanders. The retreating soldiers involuntarily quickened their pace and adjusted their uniforms; here at the assembly point they were formed into temporary military units - squads, platoons, companies. The collection and accounting of weapons, the supply of food and ammunition, and entrenching tools were established. The tank colonel who organized this assembly point and the formation of a combined detachment of retreating military personnel was Alexander Ilyich Lizyukov.
Hero of the Soviet Union, Major General A.I. Lizyukov (center) with comrades at a meeting. The village of Bolshaya Vereyka, July 1942. The photograph was taken shortly before the death of A.I. Lizyukova
Lizyukov Alexander Ilyich Born on March 26, 1900 in the city of Gomel. Participated in the Civil War as a Red Army soldier, commander of an artillery platoon and battery. In 1923 Graduated from the Higher Armored School in Petrograd in 1927. Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze. From January 1933 - commander of the 3rd separate tank battalion, in 1934 he commanded a separate heavy tank regiment, and from March 1936, with the rank of colonel, the 6th separate heavy tank brigade named after. S. M. Kirov, which was armed with T-28 and T-35 tanks. In 1935 was sent to France as part of the Soviet delegation of military observers at the maneuvers of the French army. On February 8, 1938, he was arrested by officers of the Special Department of the Leningrad Military District on suspicion of participation in an anti-Soviet military conspiracy. During interrogations using torture, testimony was extracted from him that Lizyukov allegedly “was going to commit a terrorist act against People’s Commissar Voroshilov and other leaders of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the Soviet government by driving a tank into the Mausoleum during one of the parades.” He was kept in the prison of the State Security Directorate of the NKVD of the Leningrad Region for 22 months until December 3, 1939, when he was acquitted by the verdict of the military tribunal of the Leningrad Military District. On June 24, 1941, Colonel A.I. Lizyukov was appointed deputy commander of the 17th Mechanized Corps and left Moscow for the front to the corps headquarters...
June 27-29, 1941 The soldiers of Colonel Lizyukov’s combined detachment are strengthening themselves on the western and eastern banks of the Berezina, carrying out engineering equipment for positions. In the city itself, tank cadets took up positions. On the western bank of the Berezina, where the bridgehead fortification of the Soviet troops was located, the first skirmishes with the Nazis began. German aircraft daily bomb the city and the positions of our troops in the area of the bridge.
June 30, 1941 In the afternoon, units of the 1st Moscow Motorized Rifle Division of Colonel Yakov Grigorievich Kreiser approach Borisov from the east. At the same time, the advanced units of the 18th Panzer Division of the German General Nehring rush towards the city from the west. The concrete bridge across the Berezina is mined by a group of sappers; commands for detonation are not given, since the situation is unclear, and groups of retreating Soviet troops periodically pass through the bridge. In particular, the approach of the retreating units of the 20th and 44th corps of the Red Army was expected. On the morning of July 1, a massive Junkers raid took place, in which at least a hundred aircraft took part, on the positions of Soviet troops in the area of the bridge. Many German tanks appear on the western bank, they rush towards the bridge, completely destroying the bridgehead, which had already been destroyed by bombing. Despite the fierce resistance of the surviving defenders, the Germans manage to destroy their positions at the bridge, as well as the sappers who were supposed to blow up the bridge, and gain a foothold on the eastern bank. The bridge fell to the Germans intact, and it was very bad. However, at that time the Germans succeeded in capturing strategically important bridges quite often; for example, with the same sudden attacks in combination with the actions of saboteurs, they managed to capture bridges across the Western Dvina in Dvinsk in the area of operations of Army Group North, and the Berezina in Bobruisk to the south. In Borisov itself, fierce battles began to boil with the participation of Lizyukov’s combined detachment, tank cadets and units of the 1st motorized rifle division of Ya. Kreizer. One of the heroes of Borisov’s defense was Ruben Ibarruri, the son of the famous Spanish communist Dolores Ibarruri. He skillfully commanded a machine-gun platoon, fought desperately, and was seriously wounded. On July 1, the Germans launched an airborne assault north of Borisov, which was destroyed in a short battle by units of the 1st Moscow Division.
Returning the bridge or destroying it is very important. On July 2, Yakov Kreizer, who had concentrated a tank regiment from his division near Borisov, gave the order for a counterattack. Fast BT-7s and well-armored T-34s hit the flank of the 18th TD, which operated in the Borisov area.
A tank battle began, in which hundreds of combat vehicles took part. From a letter from a German sergeant-major who was traveling in the column of the 18th TD:
“...Suddenly they appeared. We heard the roar of engines from a distance, but we were still late. Soviet T-26 and T-34 tanks, firing continuously, advanced parallel to our column. Within a few seconds, all hell broke loose. Three trucks with ammunition traveling in the center of the column were blown up. A terrible explosion scattered their debris in all directions..."
German units suffered heavy losses in the battles on July 2; they first met the Soviet T-34s, whose armor was very difficult to penetrate. The commander of the German 2nd Panzer Group, Colonel General G. Guderian, wrote in his memoirs:
“...The 18th Panzer Division received a fairly complete picture of the strength of the Russians, because they used their T-34 tanks for the first time, against which our guns at that time were too weak...”
However, it was still not possible to knock the Germans off the bridgehead captured on the eastern bank of the Berezina, mainly due to the actions of German aviation, which literally raged over the battlefield. On July 1st and 2nd, fierce fighting took place in Borisov and its environs; the Germans were forced to storm house after house, trench after trench. The enormous numerical superiority of the German strike force could not but affect the outcome of these battles, and by the end of July 2, Borisov was abandoned by Soviet units. The surviving tank cadets and soldiers of Colonel Lizyukov’s combined detachment became part of Ya. Kreiser’s division. Together with her, they went through a glorious battle path from Borisov to Orsha, giving the Germans a brutal beating at every line convenient for defense. Even if it was a retreat, but given the balance of forces, these were truly heroic actions, and, no less important, a vivid manifestation of the military leadership talent of Soviet military leaders: Alexander Lizyukov, Yakov Kreiser, and others.
Results of Borisov's defense:
The skillful actions of the fighters and commanders of the Borisov Tank Technical School, the combined detachment of Colonel Lizyukov, the 1st Moscow Division made it possible to delay the advance of the Wehrmacht strike units in the Moscow direction for several days and made it possible to organize the defense of the second strategic echelon of the Red Army along the Dnieper and Western Dvina rivers, on border of the cities of Vitebsk-Orsha-Mogilev. The enemy suffered heavy losses. The commander of the 18th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht, Major General V. Nehring, wrote in his order based on the results of the battles:
“... The losses in equipment, weapons and vehicles are unusually large... This situation is intolerable, otherwise we will be defeated to the point of our own destruction...” According to various estimates, the 18th TD lost at least half of its military equipment on the way from Borisov to Orsha.”
P.S:
After being wounded near Borisov, corps commissar Ivan Susaykov returned to political work and ended the war as a colonel general of tank forces, a member of the Military Council of the Second Ukrainian Front and chairman of the Allied Control Commission in Romania.
On July 11, the commander of the 1st Moscow Motorized Rifle Division, Colonel Ya. 3rd Army of the Bryansk Front, which took part in the Battle of Smolensk and the defense of Moscow. In 1962, Yakov Grigorievich was awarded the rank of army general.
Colonel A.I. Lizyukov was nominated for the Order of the Red Banner for the defense of Borisov, but the submission was revised, and he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. July 23, 1942 Major General Lizyukov, commander of the 5th Tank Army, died during a heavy battle in the Voronezh region under unclear circumstances; his exact burial place is in doubt, since the general’s corpse was severely disfigured and was not properly identified. However, in the memory of all patriots of the Fatherland, he will forever remain a model of fidelity to duty, a courageous man and a talented military leader.
Information sources:
1. “The Great Patriotic War. 1941-1945. Encyclopedia" M., Soviet Encyclopedia, 1985.
2. Simonov K.M. "Different days of the war."
http://militera.lib.ru/db/simonov_km/1_01.html/index.html
3. Kreizer Ya.G. "In the battles between the Berezina and the Dnieper."
http://www.rkka.ru/oper/1msd/main.htm
4. G. Guderian “Memoirs of a Soldier”
http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/GERM/guderian.txt
This year Belarus celebrates the 70th anniversary of liberation from German occupation. Today we offer you to look at photographs, maps, diagrams and paintings that depict the turning point events of September 1943 - July 1944. Some of the photographic documents are widely known, while others have not previously been published in the media.
Main sources of photos and documents presented here:
Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War.
Belarusian State Archive of Film, Photo and Sound Documents.
Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents.
National Archives of the Republic of Belarus.
The beginning of the liberation of Belarus in the fall of 1943: Soviet soldiers install a road sign to Loev, a town in the extreme southeast of the republic.
Photo by Natalia Bode.
In October 1943, there was hope that the Smolensk Operation Suvorov would lead to the complete liberation of Belarus.
Scheme of the Smolensk operation "Suvorov".
Front-line press about the events of the autumn of 1943 in the Mogilev direction. Clipping from the newspaper of the 49th Army “For the Soviet Motherland.”
Partisans of detachment No. 7 of the brigade named after. Parkhomenko on the A-20 Komsomolets artillery tractor. Polesie region, 1943
Guerrilla tactics in the summer. Drawings by A.F. Pochebutov - commissar of the detachment named after. Kirov brigade named after. Ponomarenko, Brest region.
Report map-scheme of the Belarusian headquarters of the partisan movement with data on railway sabotage in August - November 1943.
Satirical poster “Neither here nor here,” dedicated to the rail war. Text by Kondrat Krapiva, artist Heinrich Valk. 1943
Soviet tanks with a landing of machine gunners occupy Rechitsa. 1943
Street fighting in the suburbs of Gomel. 1943
Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel Emelyan Barykin, chief of staff of the Gomel partisan unit. Photo by Yakov Davidzon. 1943
Crossing the Sozh River. 1943
Evacuation of a wounded man from the front line. Vitebsk direction. January 1944
Photo by Mikhail Savin.
Guerrilla bombers on a mission. 1943
Tanks are leaving for a combat operation. Vitebsk direction, 1943
A group of mortar men at a firing position. Vitebsk direction, 1943
Lieutenant General Pavel Batov presents the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal to the commander of the anti-tank gun, Sergeant Ivan Spitsyn. Belorussian Front, Mozyr direction. January 1944
Battle of guards-submachine gunners in Rogachev. February 1944
Rocket mortars (Katyushas) of the 65th Army fire near Mozyr. 1944
Guardsmen advance under the cover of a smoke screen. Rogachevsky district. February 1944
The commanders of the 65th Army receive combat missions on the eve of the Kalinkovichi-Mozyr operation
Red Army units enter Kalinkovichi. 1944
Meeting on the rock road. 1944
"Spring 1944". Artist S. Romanov, war veteran.
A column of people liberated from the Ozarichi concentration camp by the troops of the 65th Army is heading to their native places. March 1944
A child next to his dead mother in the Ozarichi concentration camp. March 1944. Photo taken by E. Podshivalov.
Defense scheme of the Polotsk-Lepel partisan zone. April–May 1944
Soldiers from the formation of Hero of the Soviet Union, Major General Kazaryan, are fighting on the outskirts of Bogushevsk. June 23, 1944. Photo by Vasily Arkashev.
The position of the parties in Belarus by June 1, 1944 (a fragment of the original diagram).
Source: Collection of materials on the study of war experience No. 18. Military publishing house of the People's Commissariat of Defense. Moscow - 1945.
(On this diagram, in a copy of collection No. 1640, which is stored in the collections of the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, there is a handwritten note: “6 Guards A and 4 Ud.A swap places.”)
The commander of the guard attack aircraft unit, Lieutenant Colonel Georgy Starodumov, assigns a combat mission to the pilots. 3rd Belorussian Front, 1944
German troop disposition on the eve of the Soviet summer offensive. 1944
The Zamostochye station near Vitebsk was prepared by the invaders for long-term defense. 1944
Soviet soldiers on the streets of liberated Vitebsk. 1944
Photo by L. Velikzhanin.
Broken German tanks near the Krinka station southeast of Vitebsk.
1944. Photo by Vasily Arkashev.
German prisoners of war on the streets of Vitebsk. 1944
Meeting of liberators in Vitebsk. 1944
Second Belorussian Front, Mogilev direction: Captain Shlygin’s battery is firing. 1944
Soviet infantry on the banks of the Dnieper. 1944
Soldiers of the 199th Infantry Division broke into Mogilev. 1944
According to the recaptured Bobruisk. 1944
Soviet tanks and infantry in the battle near Orsha. 1944
A group of German prisoners captured in the battles for Orsha. 1944
Soldiers of the 90th Guards Rifle Division in Polotsk. 1944
Fighting on the streets of Polotsk, 1944
Red Army soldiers in liberated Polotsk. July 1944
Meeting of soldiers-liberators in Polotsk. 1944
In liberated Zhlobin.
The bridge over the Dnieper, blown up by the Germans. 1944
The soldiers read the list of heroes who were the first to break into Zhlobin. 1944
In liberated Zhlobin. Houses are burning near the railway station. 1944
A column of self-propelled guns in the center of liberated Minsk. 1944
Pay attention to the tanker with a cigarette-cigarette on the barrel - he’s cool, right?
In the battles for Belarus. 1944
Photo by Mikhail Savin
Infantry in battles near Minsk. 1944
Partisans of the Minsk formation enter the liberated capital of the BSSR. 1944
Meeting in Minsk. 1944
Meeting in Minsk. 1944
Aerial photograph of Volodarsky Street in Minsk. 1944
The gun crew of Lieutenant Boris Rukhadze near the building of the Opera House in Minsk. 1944
Aerial photograph of the Government House in Minsk. 1944
Destroyed PzKpfw V "Panther" tank.
On the side of the tank there is an inscription in German: “Ludwig is so brave.
Won 50 out of 60 encounters.”
July 1944
The author of the photo is Mikhail Savin.
German aerial photography
German planes bomb Minsk. June 25, 1941. Both photographs show the Komarovskaya fork and the bends of the river.
trophy photos
Houses are burning along Bobruiskaya Street
St. Sovetskaya (current Prospekt)
Minsk 1941
These two Wehrmacht soldiers pose in front of the Church of St. Roch, standing on a bunker. Nowadays, the entrance to this bunker (if it has survived) is completely invisible.
Two photos from the Trinity Suburb, taken one after the other.
German soldiers march east past the Government House.
Soon the SS flag will be hoisted over the coat of arms.
Barber shop on the porch of the Government House. The photo was taken by Walter Frentz (Hitler's official photographer) in August 1941, while accompanying Himmler.
Then the Soviet coat of arms on the building was covered with canvas, and then replaced with a new coat of arms. Note that the SS flag either flies on a flagpole or simply hangs on top of the old Soviet coat of arms. Rumor has it that it was hung up for Himmler's arrival, but it is still unclear why it is either on the flagpole or just like that.
Soon after the invasion (but before the coat of arms is replaced), the monument to Lenin will be cut down and his remains will be photographed. Here Ilyich is still standing.
But he has already fallen. The exact date of the monument's demolition is unknown. But, judging by the fact that the swastika has not yet been hung on the Government House, this happened in July. At least, during Himmler’s visit to Minsk on August 15, 1941, Lenin was no longer standing in the square. Curious Krauts examine the deposed leader.
The Fritz are looking for the party's gold in the depths of Lenin's grandfather.
The area where the current Independence Avenue and Yanka Kupala Street intersect was razed to the ground in the first days of the war.
Poster of the first days of liberation. 1944
The final scheme of the Belarusian operation of 1944
In liberated Smorgon. 1944
Platoon commander P. Reshetnikov with fellow soldiers and residents of liberated Grodno. 1944
German prisoners of war. 1944
Member of the military council of the 1st Belorussian Front Konstantin Telegin (left) and front commander Konstantin Rokossovsky. 1944
Commander of the 2nd Belorussian Front Georgy Zakharov (center). 1944
Soviet commanders Alexander Vasilevsky (left) and Ivan Bagramyan. 1944
The planning coordinator for the Belarusian operation is First Deputy Chief of the General Staff Alexey Antonov.
Chief of the Belarusian headquarters of the partisan movement Pyotr Kalinin. 1944
Commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front Ivan Chernyakhovsky.
1944. Photo by Mikhail Savin.
Commander of the 1st Belorussian Front Konstantin Rokossovsky (center) and senior officers inspect the trenches of Soviet soldiers. 1944
Hero of the Soviet Union, commander of the 35th Guards Tank Brigade of the 3rd Mechanized Corps of the 3rd Belorussian Front, Major General Azi Ahad ogly Aslanov (in the front row in the center) and brigade officers. The photo was taken on June 23, 1944 before the offensive in the Orsha-Vitebsk area.
Belarusian leader Panteleimon Ponomarenko. 1944
Low bow to our ancestors who achieved victory in the Great Patriotic War!
We, living today, have every reason to be proud of our Motherland!
Special thanks to the archive workers for the historical photographs.
Happy Victory Day everyone!
Defense of Borisov 1941 |
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Borisov, Belarus |
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Delay in the Wehrmacht's advance to the east |
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Opponents |
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Opponents |
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G. Guderian |
I. Z. Susaykov |
Strengths of the parties |
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18th Panzer Division |
1st Moscow Division |
Defense of Borisov- combat operations of the 1st Moscow Division of the Red Army along the Minsk-Moscow highway from June 30 to July 10, 1941. It is an example of successful mobile defense in the first period of the Great Patriotic War. The successful actions of the division made it possible to delay the advance of the Wehrmacht strike units towards Moscow and made it possible to deploy the defense of the second strategic echelon of the Red Army in the upper reaches of the Dnieper.
Previous Events
By the end of June 1941, the main forces of the Western Front were surrounded near Bialystok and Minsk. Only 16 divisions remained of the front forces, of which only eight retained from 30% to 50% of their combat strength. The rest were scattered detachments of several hundred people without vehicles or heavy weapons.
Thus, the path to Smolensk along the Minsk-Moscow highway was opened for the Wehrmacht shock units. The closest water barrier in this direction was the Berezina River, with a bridge crossing at Borisov. The Germans' crossing of the Berezina would have jeopardized plans to deploy forces of the second strategic echelon of the Red Army at the Orsha-Mogilev line.
Borisov and the bridgehead fortification were defended by a consolidated unit made up of retreating units of the Western Front troops and cadets of the Borisov Tank Technical School (the head of the school and the commandant of Novo-Borisov was the corps commissar I.Z. Susaykov, the chief of staff was Colonel A.I. Lizyukov).
To contain the enemy, the commander of the Western Front, on June 30, Army General D. G. Pavlov (probably one of his last orders) ordered the elite 1st Moscow Motorized Rifle Division under the command of Colonel Ya. G. Kreiser to be transferred to the Borisov area. The division, formed in 1927, was reorganized into a motorized one in January 1940 (in May 1940 it was renamed motorized rifle, but actually remained motorized) consisting of two motorized rifle, one tank and one artillery regiments, as well as reconnaissance and engineering battalions, anti-aircraft and anti-tank artillery divisions and communications battalion.
According to the recollections of the division commander, the division was staffed according to military standards and had 225 of the latest high-speed light tanks BT-7M; there were also several medium T-34 and heavy KV tanks).
The division took up positions on a 50 km front along the eastern bank of the Berezina, it was subordinated to the headquarters of the 44th Rifle Corps of Divisional Commander V. A. Yushkevich.
Actions of the parties
On June 30, the advanced units of the 18th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht (commander Major General V. Nehring) reached the outskirts of Novo-Borisov. The concrete bridge across the Berezina was prepared for explosion, but the Soviet command hesitated, since retreating Red Army units were constantly crossing the bridge. On July 1, German tank crews captured the bridge on the move.
Attack on the Borisov bridgehead
The commander of the German 2nd Panzer Group, Colonel General G. Guderian, wrote in his memoirs:
However, it was not possible to dislodge the enemy from the Borisov bridgehead, including due to the actions of German aviation. The next day, the Soviet division went on the defensive, retreating under enemy pressure.
Mobile defense
On July 4, the 1st Motorized Rifle Division carried out a counterattack near Loshnitsa. The commander of the Soviet division, Ya. G. Kreiser, recalled after the war:
The Commander-in-Chief of the German Ground Forces, Field Marshal W. von Brauchitsch, expressed concern about the large losses of the 18th Panzer Division in the forest battle (entry in the military diary of the Chief of the German General Staff F. Halder dated July 5).
This tactic became the basis of the division’s actions for the entire period of the battle: in the first half of the day, operating on a front up to 20 kilometers wide and occupying convenient lines, the division’s forces, using all available firepower, restrained the advance of enemy tanks, forcing them to deploy into battle formations and slow down moving forward. By evening, under the cover of darkness, the main forces of the division, using vehicles, retreated 10-12 km to a new convenient defense line. This tactic made it possible to avoid irreparable losses that were inevitable on permanent defense lines when enemy aviation dominated the air. In addition, rapid and unexpected maneuvers misled the enemy, preventing him from bypassing the division's formations, which was a favorite tactic of German tank commanders in the initial period of the war.
On July 5, the 1st Motorized Rifle Division, under pressure from the German 18th Panzer Division, left the line along the river. Started, went to the river. Beaver left Krupki by the end of the day.
But already on July 6, the Soviet division, having received reinforcements (115th Tank Regiment from the 57th Tank Division, more than a hundred light tanks, mainly T-26, as well as 30 T-34 medium tanks and 10 heavy KB), again attacked the enemy, supporting the offensive of the Soviet 20th Army in the Lepel direction.
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On July 8, the attack of the division began, occupying the enveloping position of this point with its battle formation... Our attack was unexpected for the enemy. As a result of a short fierce battle, the enemy was driven out of Tolochin (in this battle, 800 soldiers and officers were captured, 350 vehicles and the banner of the 47th Berlin Tank Corps were captured). The division held the city for 24 hours. And then, having brought up fresh forces, the enemy unleashed powerful air and artillery strikes on the defending units of the division. During July 8 and 9, there was a struggle for Tolochin, which changed hands twice. By 20:00 on July 9, the 1st Motorized Rifle Division was forced to retreat to the next line of defense - Kokhanovo. It should be noted that it retreated here with significant losses in personnel and equipment. And if before this the division could conduct defensive battles on a fairly wide front, reaching 35 km, now its combat capabilities were reduced to organizing defense with the available forces and means only in the main direction, along the Minsk-Moscow highway. However, the enemy operating against the division, due to the lack of other roads suitable for maneuver in this area, did not have the opportunity to make a deep detour or cover its flanks... |
Results of the battle
Tactical success
Thus, being at a considerable distance from its troops, the 1st Moscow Division not only avoided encirclement, which was the usual fate of Soviet formations during this period of the war, but also completed its task by detaining the enemy. The advance from Borisov to Orsha took the Germans more than a week, while the advancing 18th TD lost half of its tanks.
In stubborn battles, the 1st Moscow Division also suffered significant losses and on July 10 was withdrawn to the reserve of the 20th Army in the Orsha region.
High mark
The division's actions were highly praised by the high command: on July 11, the division commander, Colonel Ya. and on August 25 he was appointed commander of the 3rd Army of the Bryansk Front, which participated in the Battle of Smolensk and the defense of Moscow.
Colonel A.I. Lizyukov was nominated for the Order of the Red Banner for the defense of Borisov (however, the submission was revised, and he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union).
The fate of the 1st Moscow
- 12 - 07/14/1941 - fights with the enemy in the Orsha area, by 07/14/1941 he is completely surrounded
- 14 - 07/25/1941 - fights behind enemy lines, reaching with the remnants of the division by the end of 07/25/1941 parts of the 61st Infantry Corps in the Mogilev area
- 25 - 07/30/1941 - covers the retreat of the 61st Infantry Corps, continues to try to get out of the encirclement, by 07/30/1941 almost everyone dies in the Mogilev area
Strategic Implications
The skillful actions of the soldiers and commanders of the 1st Moscow Division made it possible to delay the advance of the Wehrmacht strike units in the Moscow direction and made it possible to deploy the defense of the second strategic echelon of the Red Army on the Dnieper. Despite the retreat, the enemy suffered high damage. The commander of the 18th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht, Major General V. Nehring, wrote in his order based on the results of the battles.
