German cemeteries in the city center, Khlebnaya square and window frames made of grave crosses. The occupation of Kalinin through the eyes of a child

The Germans were in Kalinin for sixty-three days, from October 14 to December 16, 1941. This is one of the most tragic pages in the history of my hometown.

During my work as a journalist, I had to talk more than once or twice with older Kalinin residents.
The stories about the war, about the occupation, about the loss of relatives and friends remained the most significant events in the life of each of them. Is always. The only way. Everything else faded before the experience of the war.

The history of the occupation of the city has never been written. Of course, there are archives that you can look into in fifty years. Maybe even better - everything will be digitized and the researcher will not have to swallow archival dust.

But living witnesses of the era will gradually disappear. As some of my interlocutors have already left, about whom I once wrote in the framework of the large cycle "The Tver Saga".

I have no answer to these questions ...

Kalinin's liberation day is celebrated on December 16. Until this period, I will try to post materials about the war, about heroes and common people, about the occupation.
I hope they pique your interest.

For the residents of the city of Kalinin, October 14, 1941 is perhaps the most tragic day in the history of an already brutal twentieth century.

On this day, the Nazi troops, moving in the direction from the east, reached the outskirts of the city in the Migalov area and gradually occupied the entire city.

Thus began the occupation, which lasted 63 days.

Not much, some would say.

But the civilians who remained in the occupation could not know when it would end. They experienced hunger, cold, and most importantly - a mortal fear of the new government.

Some people did not survive the occupation, dying from unbearable living conditions or the new government. Gallows became part of Kalinin's landscape. Shootings and arrests are commonplace. It was forbidden to walk freely around the city, a pass was needed, at 16.00 the curfew began.

Everyone who survived the occupation or was evacuated consider this period to be the most significant in their life. All conversations of the inhabitants of Tver about the past sooner or later come down to this topic. But it was not always so. A long stay in the occupied city was considered a shameful spot in a person's biography. Now you can remember everything. But are there many people left in Tver who remember the occupation? A word to those who can tell about the tragic events of the end of 1941.

Inna Georgievna Bunina,
in 1941 - 9 years:

On June 22, 1941, my mother gave birth to twins, Vera and Kolya. Father almost on the same day went to the front, he was a surgeon.

In the second decade of October, the evacuation of city residents began.

At that time we lived in house no. 10 on Vagzhanov Street, in the so-called Krepza house, from the windows of our apartment the exodus of residents from the city was clearly visible. The commanding staff were allocated cars, onto which they loaded their things, furniture, up to tubs of figs.

Ordinary people left on foot, taking with them only their hand luggage, along the side of the street walked the wounded in bloody bandages, many on crutches, women with children, old people. It was a terrible picture.
By the evening of October 14, motorcycles with Germans appeared on the street, followed by tanks. They entered an almost empty city.

My mom refused to evacuate. There was nowhere to go, and how would you go? In addition to me and the tiny twins, there were grandparents in the family, already elderly people.

So we remained, as they said then, under the German. The shops were closed, there was nowhere to take food. Mom went to the field behind the current Gagarin Square, where one could find frozen cabbage, and to the elevator for burnt grain.

It was very cold, we all lived in the same room, stoked the only stove-stove.

So two long months of occupation passed.

It is bitter to remember that the liberation of the city by Soviet troops brought new troubles to our family.

Mom was accused of aiding the invaders and was arrested.
She was placed in the city prison number 1, which is not far from our house.
The twins were crying from hunger. Once a day, mothers were allowed to feed them; for this, the grandmother took the children to prison on a sled.

My grandmother wrote to her father about the arrest of my mother, he came from the front and achieved her release.
Mom was again admitted to KREPZ, where she was in charge of a chemical laboratory for many years.

But her stay in the occupation remained a black spot in her biography.

After the Victory, my father returned from the front unscathed, and my mother once again gave birth to twins, they were again a boy and a girl.

Elena Ivanovna Reshetova,
in 1941 - 16 years old:

On the afternoon of October 13, I was visiting my aunt on Mednikovskaya Street, in the very center of Kalinin.

When we were told that the enemy was already approaching the city, I went home, to the village of Andreevskoye, this is in the area of \u200b\u200bthe village of Sakharovo, beyond Tvertsa.

We tried not to leave home anywhere. Who knew that our village would be almost on the front lines?

Red Army units walked along the street every day. The Red Army soldiers spent the night in the huts, about twenty in each. They seemed to me like boys not much older than me. In some houses there was not enough space to lie down, sometimes there was nowhere to sit, and the soldiers stood all night like horses.

In the morning they went to the front line, to the banks of the Volga. The battles took place in the area of \u200b\u200bKonstantinovka, Savvatiev, Poddubye.

Our units stormed the high opposite bank. From a height, our soldiers were clearly visible, the Germans shot them almost point-blank.

Few returned back. The dead were buried in the mountain near Andreevsky.

New wounded were brought in every day. Until a hospital was opened in Sakharov, the soldiers lay in cold sheds and groaned.

We helped them as much as we could, tried not to cry and not think about our warring fathers, husbands, brothers.

Nina Ivanovna Kashtanova,
in 1941 - 15 years:

My father, Ivan Timofeevich Krutov, fought in the Finnish war and returned badly wounded. There were five children in the family, I am the oldest.

In October 1941, we went to the evacuation on foot, settled in Rameshkovsky district, in a Karelian family, from there my father was called to the front, we never saw him again, in March 1942 a funeral came from near Rzhev.

The owners treated us well, they gave us milk and cottage cheese. But still it was hungry.

My mother, Anna Arkhipovna, to feed us, walked around the courtyards, begging for alms. In the evening she returned, laying out bread rolls, boiled eggs, potatoes, and pieces of porridge from a canvas bag.

We have been looking forward to this moment all day. On December 16, the foreman ran into the hut and shouted: “Kalininskys, rejoice! The city was liberated! "

But we did not return to Kalinin soon. I was the first to return, at the end of January. I walked for three days, spending the night in the villages.

Our house on 1st Begovaya, fortunately, survived, although there were no glass in it, and stars were shining through the roof. But many of our acquaintances had housing in an even worse condition.

On the very first day after returning, I went in search of work, without which they would not give ration cards for bread.

But there was no work: the factories were standing still, workers were needed only to clear the rubble, where I, still 16 years old, were not taken.

I was lucky to get a job as a courier at the Proletarskiy regionalkomkhoz. This made it possible to obtain a card for 400 grams of bread per day. I always wanted to eat all the time.

Since those days, they have been imprisoned for fraud with cards without hesitation. In our house administration, several women paid the price, and they were given 10 years in the camps.

Galina Anatolyevna Nikolaeva,
in 1941 - 18 years old:

Before the war, my mother and my younger sister Avgusta lived at the Kulitskaya station, where my mother worked at school.

Six months before the start of the war, my mother died, and my 15-year-old sister and I were left alone.

In June 1941, I received a certificate of maturity and applied to the Pedagogical Institute. I was enrolled in students, but I did not have time to start classes.

The occupation began. All two months my sister and I spent in the teacher's hostel on Kulitskaya.

At the end of December I went on foot to the liberated Kalinin. The city was in ruins.

What scared me the most was the sight of the German cemetery on Revolution Square. Corpses were piled vertically into shallow graves. They froze and swayed in the wind, squeaking disgustingly.

I reached Mednikovskaya Street, where our relatives lived. There my aunt and sister met me, frightened but unharmed. They told about the terrible death of our father's sister, Nadia Akhmatova.
Before the war, Nadia was considered a family shame. She worked as a cashier in the city garden, then in the bath, met with different men.

With the outbreak of the war, Nadya became a scout for the 31st Army, crossing the front line many times. Once she was captured and ended up in the Gestapo, where she was tortured for a long time. Nadia's mutilated body was found after the liberation of the city.

Classes soon began at the pedagogical institute. I began my studies, but quickly realized that I could not stand the constant hunger.
Bread was given on ration cards, sour cabbage in the institute cafeteria. Old people would come up to the tables every now and then and beg the students to leave at least some food. In one of the beggars, I recognized with horror and shame my school teacher of German, Maria Vasilievna.

Soon I left the institute, at the school on Kulitskaya I was given a referral to Vyshny Volochek, for a 6-month course of teachers, after which I went to teach in the village of Pogoreloe Gorodishche.

At the same time, my sister Gutya entered the Likhoslavl Pedagogical School, but due to constant malnutrition, she contracted tuberculosis and died.

Father, who lived separately from us, in Staritsa, was arrested on a denunciation. His further fate is unknown to me.

Zoya Evgenievna Zimina,
1941 - 17 years old:

Before the war, my mother, Nadezhda Ivanovna Baranova, worked as a secretary in the Hospital Town, with the famous Tver doctor Uspensky.

We lived not far from the hospital, on the streets of Sofia Perovskaya.

When the Germans were already approaching Kalinin, my mother was preparing hospital documents, so we did not have time to evacuate.

It's not far from our house to the Old Bridge over the Volga, but when we came running to cross to the other side, it was already too late.

The city was heavily shelled, our house burned down from the fire. We only managed to pull out a few blankets.

Fortunately, before the Germans arrived, my mother put family photographs, which she valued very much, in a large can of candy cans, and buried them in the garden, so they survived.

During the occupation, we were sheltered by relatives living in Smolensky Lane. I remember hunger, cold and fear of the unknown.

My mother's sisters waited out the occupation in Kashin, but it was not much better there. She returned scary, exhausted, lousy. Aunt Masha soon died of illness.

Antonina Nikolaevna Bradis,
in 1941 - 16 years old:

On October 13, a high-explosive bomb fell near the house on the street of Volny Novgorod, where our family lived. She knocked out the windows in the windows, killed two neighbors and concussed me.

These were the days of the mass exodus of residents from the city. Those who survived them will never forget the panic that gripped the entire population of Kalinin. Tens of thousands of people fled wherever they looked from the advancing German troops.

Our family - father, mother, me and my younger sister walked more than one hundred kilometers to the city of Uglich.

There we managed to board a barge. Before our eyes, a German plane bombed another barge, and it sank with all the passengers. It was very scary, but we did not see any other way out but to sail into the unknown. The barge went along the Volga until the ice settled (in 1941, winter came very early, already in mid-October there were real winter frosts).

We settled in the Mari Republic. His father, a shoemaker by profession, quickly found a job. Mom in Kalinin worked as a store director, then as a manager of a cooperative insurance office, during the evacuation she managed to get a job in a vegetable storehouse to sort vegetables. I went to work too, they took me to a factory for the production of army skis.

We returned home only in the spring, on the same barge. Kalinin was found in ruins. Fortunately, my home has survived.

But I no longer saw many of my schoolmates and children from the yard. Zhenya Inzer, Zhenya Karpov, Yura Ivanov, Zhenya Logunov died, all of these were boys from our 22nd, now 16th school.

They remained in the occupied city, fought as best they could with the enemies, and died. They were given away by Zhenya Karpov's neighbor at home. He lived with his mother at house number 9 on the Stepan Razin embankment. The underground group had a meeting place there. The Germans took his wife's mother Maria Efimovna along with the children. They were tortured for a long time, and then all were killed, the bodies were found after the liberation of the city.

At the end of the war, I went to Moscow and entered VGIK, the All-Union state institute cinematography.

She lived in a hostel with Nonna Mordyukova, Inna Makarova, Sergey Bondarchuk, Evgeny Morgunov, Lyalya Shagalova. All of them played in the film by Sergei Gerasimov "Young Guard".

When the film was released on the screens of the country, deafening fame fell on my friends, letters were brought to the hostel in bags.

The audience identified the young actors with the dead heroes.

And the guys from my hometown were never recognized as heroes.

Their feat did not receive such fame as their peers from the Krasnodon Young Guard, but for me they are forever heroes.

From our 22nd school, dozens of children and girls fought. Many died.

Yura Mikhailov died in December 1941 near Volokolamsk.

Kolya Tumanov was a sniper, died in 1944.

Yura Shutkin, nurse, is missing.

Sasha Komkov was not taken to the army because of his age, he went to a partisan detachment, then he was mobilized, died in East Prussia.

Volodya Moshnin, a demolition saboteur, has gone missing.

Yura Pasteur, a clever poet, was killed in 1943.

Slava Urozhaev died near Leningrad.

Lev Belyaev served in the navy, died of wounds.

Lida Vasilieva spent the entire war in an evacuation train, often donated blood for the wounded, and died in 1950 from illness.

Rosa Ivchenko was a scout for a partisan detachment. I went to Kalinin many times across the front line to collect intelligence. After the war, she sold pies at the station, as in the film "Field-of-War". She got married and gave birth to two children.

Volodya Zaitsev, the youngest of us, also survived. At 13 he was already a scout. His sister Tonya served as a radio operator and died.

Of all our guys, only Volodya Zaitsev and I got a long life ...

During the liberation of the city, over 20 thousand soldiers of the Red Army were killed. During 63 days of occupation, 7714 buildings were destroyed in the city, 510 thousand square meters. meters of housing (more than half of the housing stock), more than 70 enterprises were put out of action.

Until March 3, 1943 (the day of the liberation of Rzhev), Kalinin remained a front-line city and was subjected to systematic raids by German aviation.

After the release of Kalinin, residents began to return to their destroyed homes.

But they had to solve not only everyday problems. The authorities, which had left the civilian population to fend for themselves in front of the approaching enemy, now decided who could live in the city and who was not worthy of it.

On January 7, 1942, a decision was made by the executive committee of the Kalinin Regional Council of Working People's Deputies "On the registration of the population in the city of Kalinin and the norm of living space."

This decision ordered to carry out a new registration of citizens in the period from January 15 to February 1, 1942.

Members of the families of traitors and traitors to the Motherland who had fled with the Germans were refused registration; those who have served imprisonment for crimes provided for by a number of articles of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, including the 58th; who worked during the occupation in institutions and in any work; had connections with the Germans, for example, attending meetings, parties, banquets, etc. The latter category includes mainly young women and girls.

Family members of persons arrested after December 15, 1941 were also not registered. For registration, a reduced living space rate of 4.5 sq. meters, so that you can resettle citizens who have lost their homes due to its destruction.

The history of the occupation of Kalinin during the Great Patriotic War has not yet been written.

The military part of this period has been studied to a greater extent - how the city was left to the enemy, how it was liberated.

Historians are still not very interested in what happened in the occupied city, how people lived who did not have a livelihood and did not have knowledge of their future.

I would like to believe that the true history of the occupation, based on the documents and memories of the people who survived it, will nevertheless be created and people who know the occupation firsthand will have time to read it.

To be continued

According to the pages of the newspaper "Pravda", Alexander Ognev, front-line soldier, professor, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation
2011-11-25 18:40

Falsification of history is an attempt to impudently substitute for Russia itself. The anti-Soviets chose the history of the heroic deed of the Soviet people, who liberated the world from German fascism, as one of the main objects of falsification. It is clear that sincere patriots do not accept this game of thimblers. Therefore, Pravda readers warmly approved the article published by the newspaper on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, an article by the front-line soldier, Doctor of Philology, Honorary Professor of Tver State University Alexander Ognev and persistently recommended the newspaper to continue publishing his revelations of history falsifiers. Fulfilling the wishes of the readers, the editorial board of Pravda decided to publish the chapters of the research of the Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation A.V. Ognev in the Friday issues of the newspaper.

Strategic outpost

The German command attached special importance to the area of \u200b\u200bthe city of Kalinin (present-day Tver). Back in the second half of July 1941, it ordered ("Top secret! Only for command!") Army Group Center to allocate a 3rd tank group "with the task of advancing in the direction of Kalinin, cutting off communications connecting Moscow and Leningrad ..." September 16 1941, a directive from the command of Army Group Center on the preparation of Operation Typhoon said: “9A must use all opportunities to break through the wooded area in front of the northern flank of the army and move the troops in the direction of Rzhev.” The order for the continuation of the operation "in the direction of Moscow" of October 7, 1941 set the task for the 9th Army, together with the 3rd Panzer Group, to reach the Gzhatsk - Sychevka line in order to further advance on Kalinin and Rzhev.

The headquarters of the German army group on October 8 asserted: “The enemy does not have large forces at his disposal that he could oppose to the further advance of the army group to Moscow ... have already been put into battle, and are also among the surrounded troops. " This underestimation of the state of the Soviet troops contributed to the German command's decision to turn significant forces in the direction of Kalinin.

Halder wrote in his diary on October 9, 1941: “The 9th Army is concentrating its forces on the northern flank to strike at the Rzhev area ... A telephone conversation with von Bock ... I asked to strengthen the left flank of the army group and send it to Kalinin ... North of the boiler near Vyazma, our the troops regroup for a further flank attack on Kalinin. " The book On the Right Flank of the Battle of Moscow (1991) states: “Under the onslaught of superior enemy forces, the troops of the 22nd, 29th, 30th and 31st armies retreated to the Ostashkov - Rzhev line. In the defense of our troops in the Kalinin operational direction, a gap up to 80 kilometers wide was formed. The German-fascist command sent the 3rd tank group into this gap ... Significant forces of the 9th Army were also aimed at the Kalinin operational direction. In total, up to 20 percent of the German fascist troops intended to seize Moscow operated here. "

On October 10, German troops, as noted in the IV volume of the "History of World War II 1939-1945", went to the Sychevka area. The 3rd Panzer Group turned to the Kalinin direction in order to "capture the city of Kalinin on the move, bypass Moscow from the north-west, and also launch an offensive northward to the rear of the North-Western Front, and, under favorable conditions, strike at Yaroslavl and Rybinsk." ...

However, on the move, the German troops, despite their great superiority, did not manage to break into Kalinin. Only after three days of fighting did they capture the city on October 14. It seemed that this would allow them to develop a further offensive, using the highways to Moscow, Bezhetsk and Leningrad. But the troops of the Red Army repulsed the attempts of the Germans to advance along the Bezhetskoe highway immediately after the capture of Kalinin. The fifth battery of the 531st artillery regiment under the command of Lieutenant A. Katsitadze played a role in this. When the Nazi tanks approached the Tveretsky Bridge and began to cross the river along it, 4 cannons of the battery, hidden behind a blank fence with a gate, opened accurate fire on them. For three days the battery and a group of infantrymen did not allow the enemy to cross the bridge, and on October 17 regiments of the 256th division approached. The German offensive in the direction of Bezhetsk was thwarted.

In early October, the Soviet military command did not expect that the Kalinin operational direction would appear. One must sin against the facts in order to suppose: "Maybe Kalinin was simply sacrificed for the sake of Moscow?" And to ask: “Why was the bridge across Tvertsa covered with anti-tank guns, and the bridge across the Volga, which, we note, was guarded by the NKVD officers, remained unharmed? As if to drive a tank fist across two rivers. " This was the result of miscalculations, confusion, shortcomings in the management of our troops. Supreme Commander-in-Chief I. Stalin immediately demanded that Konev, who headed Kalinin front: "To destroy the railway and highway bridges in the city of Kalinin by means of aviation." But many attempts to destroy them from the air have failed.

Colonel-General I. Konev, who arrived in Kalinin, was able to restore the front of the Soviet strategic defense in the area of \u200b\u200bthe city under the most difficult conditions, which was of great importance for the successful battle near Moscow. Arriving in Rzhev, where the headquarters of the 29th army of General I. Maslennikov was located, he ordered him to regroup his troops and strike from the west into the rear of the enemy advancing on Kalinin. “The idea,” Konev explained later, “boiled down to the following: castle the 29th Army from the north to the south bank of the Volga and, advancing along the coast to the east in cooperation with the group of General Vatutin and the 256th rifle division, strike at the rear of the enemy group, breaking through to Kalinin. A quick and precise execution of this maneuver would, in my opinion, inevitably stop the enemy advancing on Kalinin from the south. But Maslennikov, apparently not understanding the situation, did not fulfill the task, secretly appealing my decision to Beria who had a connection with him ... Contrary to my orders, he moved the army along the northern coast, deciding to cross to the southern coast near Kalinin, and he referred to the permission of Army General G. .TO. Zhukov, but the front commander could hardly have canceled my order without informing me, who was in the immediate area. One way or another, the intended and actually possible strike was not carried out. "

The battles for Kalinin are directly related to the battles for our capital. Subsequently, the former chief of staff of the 4th Panzer Group, General Charles de Baulo, claimed that "the Moscow battle was lost on October 7th." In his opinion, all formations of his troops and the 3rd Panzer Group should have been sent to Moscow. He wrote: "By October 5, excellent prospects had been created for an offensive on Moscow" - and considered the turn of the 3rd Panzer Group on Kalinin a terrible mistake in Operation Typhoon.

However, the command of the Center, not without reason, did not take advantage of this tempting but risky prospect: if strong German formations had not turned to Kalinin, then the traffic on the Bologoye-Kalinin-Moscow railway would not have been disrupted. Those divisions of the North-Western Front that fought fierce battles for Kalinin would have been immediately thrown to the aid of the troops of the Moscow sector.

Task Force of General Vatutin

The capture and retention of Kalinin made it possible for the Germans to bypass Moscow from the north. On October 17, 1941, the Kalinin Front was created with a length of 220 kilometers. It was headed by Colonel General I. Konev. It included the 22nd, 29th and 30th armies transferred from the Western Front, 183rd, 185th and 246th rifle divisions, 46th and 54th cavalry divisions, 46th motorcycle regiment and 8th tank brigade... An important task for the front was to occupy the Kalinin area. Fierce battles raged around him. As a result of almost daily attacks by Soviet troops, the commander of Army Group Center, von Bock, issued a directive on October 23 to halt the offensive through Kalinin.

The command of the "Center" group on October 14 gave the order: "3rd Panzer Group ... holding Kalinin, reaches the Torzhok area as soon as possible and advances from here without delay in the direction of Vyshny Volochek in order to prevent the main enemy forces from crossing the river. Tvertsa and the upper course of the river. Msta to the east. It is necessary to conduct enhanced reconnaissance to the Kashin-Bezhetsk-Pestovo line. It is also necessary to hold the Kalinin-Staritsa line and further south until the 9th Army units approach. The 9th Army, in cooperation with the right flank of the 3rd Panzer Group, destroys the enemy in the Staritsa, Rzhev, Zubtsov area, which is still offering resistance ... The main direction of the further strike is on Vyshny Volochek. On October 18, the headquarters of Army Group Center sent a telegram to the 9th Army: "The command of the Army Group considers it necessary to remind once again that the retention of Kalinin is of great importance."

By the end of October 16, the Germans reached the Mednoye area, but on October 19-21, as a result of successful counterattacks by our army, the regional center was liberated from the enemy. Copper was for a short time the center of the fighting because it blocked the way for the Germans to Torzhok and Vyshny Volochek. While advancing north, the Germans planned to create another "cauldron", encircling the Red Army troops in the upper Volga.

Following the instructions of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, the commander of the North-Western Front created an operational group under the command of the chief of staff of the front, Lieutenant General N.F. Vatutin. It included the 183rd and 185th rifle divisions, the 8th tank brigade of Colonel P. Rotmistrov, the 46th and 54th cavalry divisions and the 22nd and 29th armies that were retreating to Kalinin. In total, this group included more than 20 thousand people, 200 guns and mortars, and 20 tanks. It was supported by 20 aircraft allocated by the North-Western Front.

On October 15, 16 and 17, the 8th Tank Brigade fought intense battles in the Kalinin and Mednoye area along the Leningradskoye Highway. The main role in thwarting these far-reaching plans belongs to the decisive counterattacks by the troops of the operational group of the North-Western Front under the command of Lieutenant General N. Vatutin. As a result of the offensive operations of N. Vatutin's group, unexpected for the enemy, the 1st Panzer Division and the 90th Motorized Brigade of the enemy were defeated. Enemy attempts to encircle the 22nd and 29th armies and isolate the troops of the North-Western Front were thwarted.

German troops broke through to Maryino, captured the crossing of the Logovezh River, intending to take Torzhok. In this critical situation, Rotmistrov made the wrong decision to withdraw the brigade to the Likhoslavl region. Konev in a telegram to Vatutin demanded: "Rotmistrov should be arrested and brought to trial by a military tribunal for failure to comply with a combat order and unauthorized departure from the battlefield with a brigade." Vatutin, having analyzed the situation, ordered Rotmistrov: “Immediately, without wasting a single hour of time, return to Likhoslavl, from where, together with units of the 185th Rifle Division, swiftly strike on Mednoe, destroy the enemy groups that had broken through, and capture Mednoe. It's time to end with cowardice! " This order was carried out. Later P. Rotmistrov did not allow such "unauthorized departures", brilliantly commanded the units entrusted to him and became the Chief Marshal of the armored forces.

Pavel Alekseevich Rotmistrov was born in the village of Skovorovo, Selizharovsky district, Tver province, his parents are peasants. In 1916, he graduated from primary school. In 1919, Rotmistrov voluntarily joined the Red Army, in March 1921 he participated in the suppression of the uprising in Kronstadt, was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. In 1931 he graduated from the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze, in 1937 he became the regiment commander, and in May 1941 - the chief of staff of the 3rd mechanized corps.

At the beginning of the war, this corps was surrounded. Professor of the Academy of Military Sciences A.S. Malgin in the brochure “Outstanding military leader of the tank forces, Honorary Citizen of Tver, Hero of the Soviet Union, Chief Marshal of the Armored Forces P.A. Rotmistrov "said:" Part of the personnel of the control and headquarters of the corps, being surrounded, tried to break through to their troops, moving on foot all the time towards the front line. For more than two months, they made their way along the enemy rear through the forests of Lithuania, Belarus and northern Bryansk, bypassing settlements and destroying individual enemy units. Only on August 28, 1941, officers of the corps headquarters and personnel from other units went across the front line to their troops with personal weapons and in military uniform. "

At the end of August 1941, Colonel P. Rotmistrov was appointed commander of the 8th Tank Brigade. On September 23, she arrived at the North-Western Front in the Valdai region. There, the brigade led successful fighting against the Germans.

It should be admitted that “the command of the Kalinin Front made a mistake, undertaking, at a crucial moment in the defensive operation, the disbandment of the operational group of General Vatutin. It was a real force of five connections. The possibility of immediate action to liberate the city of Kalinin was missed "- this is how Marshal of the Soviet Union, I.S. Konev. General N. Vatutin pointed out the same in his report on the operations of the operational group: “At the most crucial moment, the troops of the operational group were transferred to the 31st Army, which could not quickly establish contact with the troops. In the following days, new orders from the Kalinin Front for the army follow, according to which the entire grouping of forces of the operational group is distributed among the armies and part of the divisions is withdrawn to the reserve. Thus, the troops of the operational group as a single organism are gone. The only striking force in the Kalinin area was dispersed among the armies. It was a mistake of the command of the Kalinin Front ... "

This serious mistake prevented the release of Kalinin earlier, back in October. Soviet troops at the end of October were unable to achieve victory, but at the same time managed to stabilize the front. The Germans could not continue the offensive and were forced to go on the defensive.

Strategic Heroic Raid

An important role in turning the general situation in the Kalinin area was played by the heroic raid of the 21st Tank Brigade on the German rear. Arriving by rail at the Zavidovo and Reshetnikovo stations, concentrating in Turginov, the brigade received an order from the commander of the 30th Army to move along the Volokolamskoe highway, destroying the enemy's reserves, and, together with the 5th Infantry Division, capture Kalinin. On the morning of October 17, 27 T-34 tanks and 8 T-60 tanks headed for Kalinin, but met heavy fire from anti-tank guns and were continuously bombarded from the air. Only 8 tanks reached the southern outskirts of Kalinin, and only the T-34 tank under the command of senior sergeant S. Gorobets broke into the city and made the legendary raid around the city. He appeared from the direction of the "Proletarka", passed through the city, fired at the commandant's office, caused a stir among the Germans and went off to his troops.

On October 25, 1941, the Izvestia newspaper reported on the feat of the tank crew of senior political instructor Gmyri, who burst into the German airfield (now the Yuzhny residential area is located here): “The appearance of a Soviet tank caused an incredible commotion here. One by one, bombers began to take off. One bomber never got off the ground: Gmyri's tank crushed its tail. The second plane was shot down by a cannon on takeoff. The rest still managed to get into the air ... Enemy bombers bombarded the brave tankers with bombs. But the wrecked car made its way to their own.

The command of the German 3rd Panzer Group was forced to withdraw the 1st Panzer Division, which was advancing on Vyshny Volochek, in order to support the 36th Motorized Division, which was defending in Kalinin. The 3rd Panzer Group was unable to complete the main task for which it was turned north from Moscow. Military researchers note: “The enemy was unable to develop an offensive on Torzhok, Likhoslavl and Bezhetsk, the threat of encirclement of the 22nd and 29th armies, isolation of the troops of the North-Western Front, ensured uninterrupted operation of the Rybinsk-Bologoye railway line ... German-fascist command it was forced to transfer the 6th, 36th, 161st infantry and 14th motorized divisions to the Kalinin area, removing them from other directions. " A significant part of the German troops got involved in stubborn battles around Kalinin and could not participate in the offensive on Moscow.

“The results of the battles for Kalinin,” noted the historian A. Isaev, “for the 3rd tank group were truly catastrophic. Its 1st Panzer Division on September 28, 1941, had 111 combat-ready tanks. On October 31, 1941, the number of combat-ready vehicles dropped to 36 vehicles. The 6th Panzer Division on September 10 had 171 combat-ready tanks. On October 16, she had at her disposal only 60 tanks ready for use in battle. "

Kalinin front and its commander

The Kalinin Front pulled back 13 divisions of the German Army Group Center, as a result of which they were not used against the Western Front. Their attempts to break through to Torzhok - Vyshny Volochek and encircle the troops of the North-Western Front were repulsed. “However, in the command and control of the troops on the part of the command and staff of the Kalinin Front,” noted in the study “On the Right Flank of the Moscow Battle,” “mistakes were made in assessing the capabilities of the enemy and their troops. This led to the failure of the front troops to fulfill the plan of the High Command. The front failed to either encircle the enemy's grouping in Kalinin in October, or to cover the Moscow direction in mid-November 1941. In his decisions, the front commander did not always take into account the specific situation in the zone of operations of each army. Therefore, his orders often did not correspond to the real situation and could not be carried out or were carried out by the army troops, as a rule, with a delay. "

The defense zone of the 30th Army was not strong enough, in mid-November it included a rifle and motorized rifle division, a tank brigade and a motorized regiment. The defense was focal in nature, there were no reserves. At the end of October, the commander of the 30th Army reported to Konev that "the army does not have a sufficient number of combat personnel and equipment, there are few mining equipment ... The left flank of the army is a particularly weak point." This became all the more acute in that it became more and more clear that the German command was preparing for a new offensive in the 30th Army's defense zone in order to break through to Moscow from the northwest. But the front command, having made a serious miscalculation, did not take the necessary measures in time to strengthen the defense of the 30th Army.

On the morning of November 15, superior enemy forces launched a surprise offensive. By the end of the day they reached the Volga. And only after that I. Konev decided to reinforce the 30th army with the 185th rifle, 46th cavalry divisions, the 8th tank brigade and the motorcycle regiment. If this had been done earlier, then the 30th Army probably would not have found itself in such a critical situation, when it was forced to operate by already three dismembered groupings. On November 17, the 30th Army was transferred to the Western Front. “As a result of mistakes made in command and control of the troops by the command of the Kalinin Front, and the unsuccessful actions of the troops of the 30th Army of the front,” it was noted in the same work “On the Right Flank of the Moscow Battle”, this time the task of covering the Moscow direction from the northwest they could not. The center of gravity has completely moved to the zone of the Western Front. "

On November 27-29, the commander of the Kalinin Front, I. Konev, conducted several scattered strikes with small forces in certain directions, but they did not have the desired success. According to Zhukov, Konev “was clearly cautious at the moment of his front's transition to a counteroffensive”, he misjudged the current operational-strategic situation and, instead of an operation to defeat the right wing of Army Group Center, planned to carry out an operation only to capture the city of Kalinin.

The headquarters of the Supreme Command, signed by Stalin and Vasilevsky, stressed: "Private attacks in different directions by the troops of the Kalinin Front on November 27-29 are ineffective." On December 1, 1941, she ordered: “1. On the Kalinin front, concentrating within the next two or three days a strike group of at least five or six divisions, strike from the front (claim) Kalinin, (claim) Sudimirka in the direction of Mikulino Gorodishche and Turginovo. Objective: by reaching the rear of the enemy's Klin grouping to assist in the destruction of the latter by the troops of the Western Front. " On the morning of December 1, at the direction of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Deputy Chief of the General Staff Vasilevsky and Konev talked about this directive. Konev referred to his lack of tanks and a lack of forces, and suggested that instead of providing assistance to the Western Front, conduct a local operation to capture the city of Kalinin. Such an operation pursued local interests and, in fact, did not take into account the general goal.

Vasilevsky told Konev: “It is possible to disrupt the German offensive against Moscow and thereby not only save Moscow, but also initiate a serious defeat of the enemy, only by active actions with a decisive goal. If we don't do this in the coming days, it will be too late. The Kalinin Front, occupying an exceptionally advantageous operational position for this purpose, cannot be aloof from this. You must collect literally everything in order to hit the enemy, and he is weak against you. ... Comrade Stalin gave permission to immediately transfer to you for this purpose one more, the 262nd Infantry Division of the North-Western Front. She starts loading today at 18.00. The division has over 9 thousand people and is well armed. The headquarters of the Supreme High Command considers it not only possible, but also necessary to remove from the front and concentrate the divisions indicated by me for this strike. I do not understand your statement that all these divisions have in their composition only 2-3 thousand people. Before me is a report from your headquarters, received on November 24, 1941, according to which the 246th Infantry Division has 6 thousand 800 people, the 119th - 7200, the 252nd - 5800, 256th - 6000 people, etc. If in these divisions, as you said, the artillery is really weak, then you can strengthen them at the expense of artillery regiments of the Reserve of the High Command, which you have 9 ". After convincing instructions from A. Vasilevsky, I. Konev, asking to nevertheless strengthen his front, promised to act as the General Headquarters ordered: he would deliver the main blow to Turginovo, he would do everything to "be sure to break through the defenses and go behind enemy lines."

The headquarters was very concerned about ensuring the exact execution of this order. Vasilevsky recalled in his book “The Work of a Lifetime”: “On the afternoon of December 4, while attending another report in the Kremlin with Stalin, I received instructions on the night of December 5 to go to the headquarters of the Kalinin Front to personally convey to the front commander a directive to launch a counteroffensive to him all the requirements for it ... December 12, 1941, when B.M. Shaposhnikov has already recovered, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief in our presence conveyed to the commander of the Kalinin Front by direct wire: “The actions of your left group do not satisfy us. Instead of throwing all your might on the enemy and creating a decisive advantage for yourself, you ... bring in separate units, letting the enemy exhaust them. We demand from you that you replace the trivial tactics with the tactics of a real offensive. " The commander tried to refer to the thaw, the difficulties of crossing the Volga, the receipt of reinforcements by the Germans, etc., but in conclusion he said: "Understood, everything is clear, accepted for execution, I press with might and main."

Offensive

The troops of the Kalinin Front launched a decisive offensive on December 5, 1941. On that day, Halder wrote in his diary: "The enemy broke through our front in the area east of Kalinin ... Some confusion arose in Army Group Center."

December 6: "As a result of the enemy's offensive on the northern flank of the 3rd Panzer Group, it became necessary to withdraw the troops located south of the Volga reservoir, they must be withdrawn to Klin."

December 7: “The enemy made a breakthrough from the north to Klin. In the region east of Kalinin, the enemy also wedged into our front in a number of sectors, but these penetrations have so far been localized. "

December 8: “In the area east of Kalinin, seven enemy divisions went over to the offensive. The situation here is still tense. I consider this section of the front to be the most dangerous, since here we have no troops in the second line. "

December 9: "The extremely strong onslaught of the enemy southeast of Kalinin, apparently, will allow him to re-capture the city."

As a result of heavy fighting, the 31st Army entered the Volokolamskoe highway. Parts of the 29th Army were breaking through to the operationally important Kalinin-Staritsa road. This really threatened to encircle the German group in Kalinin. On December 16, 1941, the city was liberated from the enemy. In 2010, Tver was awarded the honorary title "City of Military Glory".

Corporal of the 161st German Infantry Division Didrich Bosch wrote to his wife: “Kalinin, morning 12/15/1941 My dear Gezina! We must leave this city. It will all be blown up and set on fire at noon. The German corporal Hans Lex wrote on October 19, 1941: “We already stood 5 kilometers from Leningrad, today we stand 150 kilometers from Moscow and now we are advancing on Moscow ... October 16, 1941 we had a very difficult battle near the city of Kalinin ... You write, that the censorship opened my letter. But this does not bother me, because it is better to go to prison for 10 years than to stay one month in Russia. "

In the essay "The Soldier" Fadeev noted the feat of the Red Army soldier posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union: moral uplift closed the embrasure of the bunker with his body. "

The main personnel department of the Red Army reported: “Political instructor of 190 joint ventures. Tsanov Kamen Kostovich on October 15, 1941 heroically died in street battles for Kalinin. Tsanov is a Bulgarian political émigré, sentenced in absentia by an anti-popular court in Bulgaria to death for his struggle for his free democratic Motherland, he was included in the lists of active “reds”. After the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR, on the third day of the war, he volunteered for the front. One of the streets of Tver is named in his honor ”. On October 17, 1941, the commander of the regiment, Hero of the Soviet Union, Major M.A. Lukin.

Can't be forgotten

B. Polevoy wrote about the struggle of the Soviet people against the invaders in Kalinin: “From the very first day an underground organization began to operate in the city ... In the Vagzhanovka area, large commissary warehouses burned down. For three days they burned, a lot of German goods perished ... Workshops where the Germans repaired damaged equipment were set on fire ... A bomb was thrown into the officers' casino located in the Tekstilshchik club. Well, two policemen were somehow hanged at night in the city garden ... Subsequently, the commandant ordered twenty-five hostages to be shot. "

The consequences of the occupation of Kalinin by German troops were extremely difficult. The Germans burned and destroyed more than 50 enterprises, 7700 buildings, bridges across the Volga and Tmaka, a drama theater, a philharmonic theater, a theater for young spectators, a cinema "Hermitage", burned down the Gorky library, many schools, kindergartens. With anger and pain, A. Fadeev, in the article “Fiends-destroyers and people-creators”, published in “Pravda” on January 14, 1942, told about what the Nazis had done in Kalinin: “Twelve corpses of young people were found in one of the city cellars ; two of them were sixteen years old. All were killed with a blunt object: some had their eyes gouged out, some were tortured by hanging them by their legs. Four girls were first raped, then killed ... A stable was set up in the building of an excellent surgical hospital in Kalinin. "

Then he continued: “In the village of Rubtsovo, Morkino-Gorodishchensky village council of the Kalinin region, the Germans drove out the entire population, women and children, and shot them with machine guns ... The population of the villages of Danilovsky, Nekrasovsky and Borisovsky village councils, up to 2000 people in total, were driven out by the river Tmaka and began to shoot from machine guns and machine guns ... The ancient Russian city of Staritsa, the birthplace of the first Russian traveler, merchant Afanasy Nikitin, a city famous for its monastery - a monument of Russian architecture, a city located on both sides of the upper Volga, extraordinary in its beauty, - destroyed and burned almost entirely by the Germans. "

Not only the famous writer testified about the atrocities of the occupiers. Colonel N. Deyev said: “Many Kalinin villages were plundered and destroyed. The Germans took away all the horses, cows, sheep and ruined the apiary on the Krasnoye Zveno collective farm in the Kalinin district. They took all the collective farm bread and vegetables. The collective farmers were deprived of their personal livestock, warm clothes, footwear. " N. Krotov, a native of the village of Petryankha in the Shatura district of the Moscow region, a soldier of a sapper battalion, wrote about the Germans who were “driven far beyond Kalinin”: “They ruined the collective farmers clean, they ate everything, took all their clothes, shoes, burned their houses, took off their felt boots from their feet, even in children, and many women were killed; not even that good, but also cups, spoons, cast-iron lamps - they took everything with them. "

Having familiarized yourself with such disgusting behavior of the occupiers, one can concretely imagine in what incredibly difficult conditions the Soviet people had to revive more or less normal daily life after their liberation from the "delights" of the new German order.

In early October 1941, the martial law of the Soviet Union came very close to the state of the catastrophe.

Despite the fact that the blitzkrieg according to the Barbarossa scenario ran into stubborn resistance from the Red Army, Hitler's Germany was close to achieving one of its main goals: the capture of Moscow.

Strategic city

The breakthrough of the Nazis in the Vyazma region, followed by the encirclement of the Soviet armies, created a situation in which there were practically no units left on the way to Moscow that could resist.

On October 12, 1941, the advanced units of the Nazis approached Kalinin (Tver). The city with a population of 216 thousand people was not just a large industrial center. The largest transport arteries converged here: the Moscow-Leningrad highway, the waterway along the Volga and the Oktyabrskaya railway.

The Nazis planned to use Kalinin not only as a foothold for a further offensive against Moscow. In the future, from here, the Wehrmacht strategists intended to strike in the direction of Leningrad, Yaroslavl, Rybinsk.

In theory, defense lines were prepared on the approaches to Kalinin. But the advancing Germans passed them without a fight: there were physically no troops to defend them.

German pointer to the city of Kalinin, 1941 Photo: RIA Novosti / Pavel Kasatkin

"I arrived in Kalinin and found myself in a very difficult situation"

Future marshal of Victory Ivan Konevended up in Kalinin under dramatic circumstances: he was threatened with a tribunal after the disaster at Vyazma, but intervened Zhukov saved Konev, making him his deputy and sending him to restore order in the Kalinin direction.

“On October 12, as commander of a group of forces, I arrived in Kalinin and immediately found myself in a very difficult situation,” Konev wrote in his memoirs.

"Difficult situation" - that's putting it mildly. German hordes were moving towards the city, and the Soviet grouping existed only in theory. In Kalinin itself, only cadets and extermination detachments made up of workers remained.

The Headquarters understood that the situation was deplorable, and urgently threw everything they could collect. At that moment, the Germans approached the city from one side, and echelons with units of the 5th Infantry Division on the other lieutenant Colonel Telkov.

To say that the division was weakened is to say nothing. In the three rifle regiments, there were an average of 430 soldiers armed with rifles, plus 7 heavy and 11 light machine guns. The artillery consisted of 14 guns of 76 and 122 mm caliber, as well as six anti-tank "forty-five" guns.

Artillerymen are firing near the town of Kalinin, 1941. Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexander Kapustyansky

Defense nodes were hacked with flamethrower tanks

Parts of the division were ordered to take up defenses and hold out at all costs together with the cadets and militias. It was necessary to gain time for the arrival of new reinforcements.

On the morning of October 13, fighting began. The Germans threw aircraft and tanks into battle, trying to crush the centers of the Soviet defense.

It was not possible to shoot down the Red Army men from their positions on the move. On the night of October 14, the 256th Infantry Division arrived in the city general Goryachev.

But all the same, these forces were extremely small. By the morning of October 14, the Nazis aimed at Kalinin a grouping of the 1st Panzer Division, the 900th Motorized Brigade and parts of the 36th Motorized Division. In total, this striking fist numbered about 20,000 people.

According to some estimates, the attackers outnumbered the defenders by eight times, which, it would seem, did not leave the Soviet units any chance.

Nevertheless, the battles on the approaches and in Kalinin itself were stubborn and fierce. German officers who participated in the battles recalled that the Russians fought for every strong point and, in order to take them, they had to use flamethrowers and flamethrower tanks.

By the morning of October 15, the 5th Rifle Division, having lost about 400 people from its more than modest composition in killed and wounded, was forced to retreat to the outskirts of Kalinin, to the line of the Konstantinovka - M. Peremerki - Kotovo stations.

The 256th rifle division, after fierce fighting, also retreated to new lines, however, together with the advanced units of the 8th tank brigade that came to the rescue colonel Rotmistrov and the 16th border regiment did not allow the Germans to break through to Torzhok.

Soviet soldiers in Kalinin, 1941 Photo: RIA Novosti

Going to death: how a tank brigade raid horrified the Nazis

The Nazis captured Kalinin, but big problems arose with plans for further advance. Hastily formed task force general Vatutin with a total strength of 20,000 people, supported by 200 guns and mortars and 20 tanks, cut off the German grouping that had escaped forward and defeated it by 21 October.

By this time, by the decision of the Headquarters, the Kalinin Front was formed, to which four armies of the Western Front were transferred. Ivan Konev was appointed commander of the front.

The raid of the 21st Tank Brigade went down in history. A hastily formed unit in Vladimir was tasked with entering the rear of the Kalinin group of Germans, facilitating the operation to liberate the city.

It was a desperate dash. Tankers marched without cover from enemy air strikes, breaking through areas equipped with anti-tank guns.

Of the 27 T-34 tanks and 8 T-60 tanks that moved to Kalinin on the morning of October 17, only 8 reached the city itself. Tank Senior Sergeant Stepan Gorobetspassed through Kalinin from west to east, spreading panic among the fascists. The T-34 crew managed to destroy one enemy tank, up to 20 vehicles and several dozen Nazis.

In total, during the raid, the 21st brigade destroyed 38 enemy tanks, up to 200 vehicles, 82 motorcycles, about 70 guns and mortars, at least 16 aircraft at airfields, 12 fuel tanks, a large number of soldiers and officers.

The losses of the brigade were also very heavy: 25 tanks and 450 personnel. In this raid they died the death of the brave Heroes of the Soviet Union Mikhail Agibalov and Mikhail Lukinawarded a high rank for the battles on Khalkhin Gol.

Broken German tanks near Moscow. Photo: RIA Novosti / Samariy Gurari

"The chances of bypassing Moscow simultaneously from the north and south were very slim."

The fierce resistance of the Soviet troops and the counterstrikes inflicted forced commander of Army Group Center von Bock On October 23, decide to suspend offensive operations in the Kalinin area.

Remaining in the hands of the Germans, the city was so close to the front line that the Nazis could not use all its advantages.

Commander of the German 3rd Panzer Group Hermann Goth He wrote in his memoirs: “Due to lack of fuel, the 3rd Panzer Group stretched out between Vyazma and Kalinin and got stuck in this area, getting involved in heavy battles near Kalinin, and was already experiencing a shortage of ammunition. The enemy's large combat-ready forces, concentrated along the left bank of the Volga and north-west of Rzhev, hung over its flank. Thus, the chances of bypassing Moscow from the north and south at the same time were very slim. "

The front in the Kalinin direction has stabilized at the line Selizharovo - the Bolshaya Kosh river - the T'ma river - the northern and eastern outskirts of Kalinin - the western coast of the Volga reservoir.

Red Army soldiers demonstrate the first German banners captured in the battles for the liberation of the city of Kalinin. Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexander Glichev

Liberation

The attempts of the Soviet command to recapture Kalinin were unsuccessful. On the other hand, the activity of our troops pinned down 13 infantry divisions of Army Group Center, which the Nazis failed to use in the direction of the main attack during the November offensive against Moscow.

On December 5, 1941, units of the Kalinin Front launched a counteroffensive. By the end of December 9, units of the 31st Army major General Yushkevich, having broken through the enemy defenses, advanced 15 km and created a threat to the rear of the enemy grouping in the Kalinin area.

The threat of encirclement hung over the German group. Despite the strategic importance of Kalinin, the Nazis decided to retreat. By 13 o'clock on December 16, 1941, the city of Kalinin was completely cleared of enemy troops.

On May 9, 2012, our country celebrated the 67th anniversary of the Great Victory. On this day, it is customary to bow to the veterans of the Great Patriotic War, who provided us with a bright future without wars and losses of their loved ones, without destruction and suffering. It was a time that now many do not understand and feel.

On October 13, 1941, the advanced units of German troops approached the city of Kalinin. The hastily assembled fighter squads and militia could not withstand the 2nd armies and the Wehrmacht mechanized corps. Fascist tanks did not meet worthy resistance from Soviet troops, battalions of fascists crossed the Volga and came close to Kalinin.

Street fighting began, and by the morning of October 15, Soviet troops had left the city. Capturing Kalinin, the Army Group Center partially solved the problem, thereby creating a dangerous situation for further advance to Moscow. Fierce fighting continued around the city, but Soviet units were forced to retreat. Occupied Kalinin the whole was at the mercy of the German fascist invaders.

A very difficult life was going on in Kalinin during the occupation. A curfew was imposed from 8 am to 4 pm. The burgomaster of the city ordered all specialists and workers of the city to appear for registration at the city council. The administration was located on Krasnoarmeyskaya street (now street). Crossing the Volga and Tvertsa rivers on ice was strictly prohibited. An order from the commandant's office was also issued, to carry out public executions of all suspected of having links with the partisans, to shoot without distinction of sex, those who had weapons found, teenagers detained without passes, were ordered to flog.

The population of the occupied city had no information about the actual state of affairs at the fronts, rumors were spread that Moscow was surrounded by the Germans, the Red Army had nothing to fight with, there was no weapons and food.

In October it was frosty and cold in Kalinin. During the day, when it was warmer, the Germans appeared in the streets and walked the streets in only tunics, without greatcoats. Some of them rode bicycles with unusual red tires.

As eyewitnesses recall, the Nazis had a clear organization for conducting air defense. Our aviation raids and shelling continued regularly. Attempts to knock out the fascists from the first days of the occupation of the city did not stop. Once our troops managed to take possession of a railway bridge across the Volga, but failed to keep an important strategic object.

The Germans tried to advance north, even reached, but were driven back by our troops. There was practically not a single day or night without shots, explosions, fires. During the days of bombing and shelling, residents waited in shelters. While repelling the raids of our aviation, the Germans organized a clearly coordinated defense.

Only a group of our aircraft that appeared in the sky approached a certain line, the city, as if on a single command, seemed to explode, spewing fiery trails of bullets and shells towards the aircraft. Some planes left, dropping bombs anywhere, others lay on the opposite course, many of them were shot down. One of our bomber fell into the area of \u200b\u200bKhlebnaya Square (now Tverskaya) and did not explode.

In the suburbs of Kalinin, the villages of Old and New Kalikino were destroyed. In the surviving houses of Old Kalikino, the Germans settled down, roasting chickens, slaughtering pigs, drinking alcohol. The remaining villagers are forced to cook food, heat the stoves, and local residents were not allowed to go to the forest. Residents, as best they could, hid their property and remnants of food from the Nazis.

In the city, on the Revolution Square, the monuments of Lenin and Stalin were thrown from their pedestals, in the park on the graves of German soldiers there are many birch crosses. On the pedestal, instead of the statue of the leader, there is a huge swastika. The Germans did not touch the monument to Pushkin and the bust of Karl Marx.

Soon by December 1941, the movement of Germans began to increase in the city. The columns reached for Proletarka, it became clear that the Nazis were leaving the city in an organized manner. By the evening of December 15, the Germans blew up bridges in the city, set fire to many buildings, and Malye Peremerki burned.

The fighting continued at night. By 3 o'clock in the morning, the 243rd Infantry Division liberated the northern part of Kalinin, and by morning it had broken through to the station. By 11 o'clock, on December 16, 1941, the city was occupied by our troops.

The city lay in ruins, industrial enterprises were destroyed, bridges were blown up, the railway station was badly damaged, the Youth Theater, cinemas, schools, 7700 residential buildings were destroyed, the water supply and sewerage network, tram lines, and the radio telephone network were damaged. At the hands of the fascists in occupied Kalinin more than 2,000 citizens died.

By the end of December 1941, the city began to revive, a bakery and a bathhouse started working, electricity was supplied to the houses of residents, and on December 30, orders and medals were presented to the soldiers of the Red Army, c.

The local authorities returned to the city. A canteen on Belyakovsky lane and a hairdresser's were opened. Films began to be shown in the miraculously survived Zvezda cinema.

By February 1942, tram traffic was restored, and schools began to open. Life in Kalinin gradually began to improve.

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10 october
The Kalinin defensive operation of the troops of the right wing of the Western Front against the German fascist troops began.

12 october
A deep breakthrough of the formations of the 3rd German tank group between Sychevka and Vyazma and the exit of one motorized corps to the rear of the armies of the right wing of the Western Front forced the Soviet command to withdraw the 29th Army from the front and deploy it along the left bank of the Volga to cover the Rzhev group from the southeast ... By order of the Headquarters, seven rifle divisions were withdrawn from the army of the front's right wing for their transfer to the Mozhaisk line of defense and to the Kalinin area.

October 14
The troops of the Western Front left the city of Kalinin. The formations of the 3rd German tank group immediately after the capture of the city tried to develop an offensive on Torzhok, go to the rear of the troops of the North-Western Front, but were rebuffed by the operational group of the North-Western Front N.F. Vatutin.

17 October
The Kalinin Front was created from the troops of the right wing of the Western Front (22nd, 29th and 30th armies) and the group of Lieutenant General N.F. Vatutin, headed by Colonel-General I.S. Konev. Corps commissar D.S. was appointed a member of the Front Military Council. Leonov, chief of staff I.I. Ivanov.
At the direction of Stavka, the troops of the Kalinin Front launched a counterattack on the enemy's 41st motorized corps, which was trying to break through from the Kalinin area to Torzhok, to the rear of the troops of the North-Western Front, and threw it back to its starting position. The 8th tank brigade of Colonel P.A. Rotmistrova, staffed by Leningrad volunteer workers.
The 21st separate tank brigade made a heroic raid from the area of \u200b\u200bthe village of Turginovo in the direction of Kalinin. 27 T-34 tanks and 8 T-60 tanks headed for Kalinin, but met heavy fire from anti-tank guns and were bombarded continuously from the air. Only 8 tanks reached the southern outskirts of Kalinin, and only the T-34 tank under the command of senior sergeant S. Gorobets broke into the city and made the legendary raid around the city. He appeared from the direction of the "Proletarka", passed through the city, fired at the commandant's office, caused a stir among the Germans and went off to his troops.
The brigade destroyed up to 38 tanks, about 70 guns and mortars, 170 vehicles, and up to 500 enemy soldiers and officers during the day of the battle.

19 october
From the evening message of the Sovinformburo; “In all districts of the Kalinin region, captured by the Germans, partisan detachments are active. Their number is growing every day. Tens and hundreds of workers and employees of enterprises and institutions, hundreds of collective farmers join partisan detachments and, not sparing their lives, fight the fascist invaders. "

The 20th of October
From the morning message of the Sovinformburo: “Our unit operating in one of the sectors of the Kalinin direction, in one day on October 18, destroyed 17 German tanks, 30 vehicles with ammunition and 15 vehicles with fascist infantry. In another section of the Kalinin direction, on October 18, about three hundred German vehicles were destroyed, of which more than 200 vehicles with infantry and about 100 vehicles with fuel and ammunition. "

October 30
From the morning message of the Soviet Information Bureau: “In the battles in the region of Kalinin, our units captured a large group of German soldiers. The extensive correspondence found among the prisoners speaks of the ever-growing dissatisfaction of the German masses with the war against the Soviet Union "

October 31
From the morning message of the Sovinformburo: "In one of the sectors of the Kalinin direction, a long-range battery under the command of Lieutenant Belikov defeated an enemy airfield, destroying 14 enemy aircraft."

Nov. 1
By this day, 56 partisan detachments with a total of 1724 people were operating in the occupied districts of the region.

November 5
From the morning message of the Sovinformburo: "One of our units operating on the Kalinin Front, in one day of battles destroyed 15 German tanks, 10 armored vehicles, 13 guns, several mortar batteries and about 600 enemy soldiers and officers."

7 November
The Military Council of the Kalinin Front awarded 88 tank crews of the 8th Tank Brigade with military orders and medals.

17 november
From the evening message of the Sovinformburo: "... Particularly fierce battles took place on the Kalininsky and one of the sectors of the Southwestern Front."
“In one of the sectors of the Kalinin front line, our scouts found 20 corpses of German soldiers in the enemy's rear. As it turned out from the testimony of the prisoners, these German soldiers were shot for refusing to go on the offensive. The captured Nazis report that over 280 soldiers deserted from the 253rd and 102nd Infantry Divisions within a month. Recently, an order from the German command was read to all units. The order stated that every soldier who lagged behind his unit for whatever reason would be considered a deserter and would be shot when caught ... "

November 25
From the evening message of the Soviet Information Bureau: “Part of Comrade. Maslennikov in 10 days of fighting. Destroyed 38 enemy tanks, 19 guns, 19 mortars, 230 motorcycles and captured 5 tanks, 10 guns, 32 vehicles, 116 motorcycles and 53 enemy machine guns. "

4 december
The Kalinin defensive operation of the troops of the Kalinin and Western Fronts against the German troops of the 9th Army and the 3rd Panzer Group ended. By the end of the operation, the enemy was stopped at the line north of the settlements of Selizharovo, Chernogubovo, Mishutino, Moshki, Volyntsevo, the northern outskirts of Kalinin, Yurievskoye.

5th of December
The Kalinin offensive operation (5.12.1941-7.01.1942) of the troops of the Kalinin Front began against the troops of the left wing of the Army Group "Center", which marked the beginning of the counteroffensive of the Soviet troops in the battle of Moscow. The front was supposed to strike at the 9th enemy army, free Kalinin and go to the rear of the troops operating against the Western Front.

7 december
The 29th Army of the Kalinin Front, attacking the enemy southwest of Kalinin, crossed the Volga here on the ice and wedged into the enemy defenses.

9th December
The 31st army of the Kalinin Front, after three days of stubborn fighting, broke through the enemy defenses on the Volga south of Kalinin, entered the Koltsovo, Mozzharino, Chupriyanovka, Koromyslovo line, and cut the Kalinin-Turginovo road.

December 13th
The formations of the 29th Army (commanded by Major General V.I.Shvetsov) and the 31st Army (commanded by Major General V.A.Yushkevich) entered the path of withdrawal of the Kalinin group of Germans. The Nazi garrison in Kalinin was asked to surrender.

December 16
At dawn, forces of the 31st Army struck the retreating enemy from the Negotino area, the 252nd Division of the 29th Army attacked the enemy north of the village of Danilovskoye. By three o'clock the 243rd division of the 29th army occupied the northern part of Kalinin. By 11 o'clock the right-flank units of the 256th division broke into the city. By 13 o'clock the city was completely liberated from German troops. This was the first liberated regional center.
“AT THE LAST HOUR. ANOTHER BLOW ON THE Enemy's Troops. After fierce battles, the troops of the Kalinin Front captured the city of Kalinin. In the battles near the city of Kalinin, our troops inflicted a major defeat on the 9th German army of Colonel-General Strauss, defeating the 86, 110, 129, 161 and 251 infantry divisions that were part of this army. The remnants of the defeated enemy divisions are retreating to the west. The troops of Lieutenant General Comrade Maslennikov and Major General Comrade Yushkevich distinguished themselves in the battles for the city of Kalinin. Large trophies are captured and are being counted. Our troops pursue and destroy the retreating enemy. SOVINFORMBURO ".

December 17
“TROPHIES OF OUR TROOPS AT THE TAKE OF THE CITY OF KALININA. When the city of Kalinin was captured, according to preliminary and incomplete data, the troops of the Kalinin Front captured the following trophy from the Germans: guns of various calibers - 190, including 4 heavy 12-inch, tanks - 31, aircraft - 9, cars - about 1,000, mortars - 160, machine guns - 303, machine guns - 292, bicycles - 1,300, motorcycles - 47, rifles - 4,500, shells - 21,000, mines - 12,500, cartridges - over 500,000, radio stations - 18, battle flags - 4. In addition, two ammunition depots, a warehouse with uniforms, carts, cables and many other military equipment. The counting of trophies continues. In the battles in the Kalinin area, the Germans lost more than 10,000 soldiers and officers only in killed. SOVINFORMBURO ".

December 18
A red flag was solemnly raised on Lenin Square in Kalinin.
The first meeting of the city committee of the CPSU after the liberation of the regional center took place.

27th of December
“TROPHIES OF THE KALININSKY FRONT FORCES FOR THE PERIOD FROM 17 DECEMBER 27 TO 27 DECEMBER. In battles with the German invaders, the troops of the Kalinin Front from 17 to 27 December captured the following trophies: tanks and tankettes - 103, armored vehicles - 6, guns of various caliber - 180, machine guns \u003d 267, automatic rifles - 135, mortars - 86, flame throwers, rifles - 659, cars - 1323, motorcycles - 348, bicycles - 213, planes - 8, radio stations - 6, carts - 115, horses - 130, shells - 12,200, mines of various calibers - over 8300, rifle cartridges - 778 480, grenades - 1270 and other military equipment.
During the same period, 38 tanks, up to 20 guns, 75 machine guns, 400 cars, 23 motorcycles, 295 wagons with cargo and other military equipment were destroyed. "
In the city of Kalinin, a bathhouse was opened

December 30th
In the Kalinin House of the Red Army, orders and medals were presented to the soldiers and commanders who distinguished themselves in the battles for Kalinin.

Bibliography

Messages from the Soviet Information Bureau. Vol.1: June-December 1941 - M .: [Type. gas "Pravda" them. Stalin], 1944. - 456 p.

Chronological information about the military operations of the Red Army for the defense and liberation of the city of Kalinin in 1941 / comp. P.F. Anisimov. - Tver: TSTU, 2000 .-- 208 p.

Boshnyak Yu.M. Kalinin operational direction in the battle of Moscow: military-ist. essay / Yu.M. Boshnyak, D.D. Slezkin, N.A. Yakimansky // On the right flank of the Moscow battle. - M .: Mosk. worker, 1991. - S. 7-60.

Brief Chronicle of Events // Pages of People's Feat. - M., 1974 .-- S. 287-293.

Chronicle of the battles for Kalinin // Political agitation. - 1981. - No. 21-22. - S. 28, 31, 34, 39, 41, 54, 57-58.

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Khetchikov M.D. Military glory of the Kalinin battles of 1941. - Tver: Pyramid XXI century, 2009 .-- 54 p .: maps.

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