A long time ago, in honor of the brilliant victory of Russian weapons, a medal was minted with the inscription "The unprecedented happens". These words resounded with new force in the forties-the powder years of the XX century. Our people overcame the seemingly indestructible German militarism, saved the world from the Hitler plague. In terms of the scale of battles and battles, the Great Patriotic War has no equal in the dramatic epic of humanity. Following the centuries-old traditions of Russian military art, the native army very often did what was considered impossible before it...

Chronicle of the storming battalion

Legend has it that the Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC) was fought in which three hundred Spartans performed miracles of selflessness. And my heroes can rightly be said in the high-pitched style of the ancient chronicle:"They passed through the crucible and won immortality for themselves."

Let's open the 10th volume of "History of the Second World War of 1939-1945", p. 73.

"When breaking through the enemy's defenses, the soldiers of the 1st battalion of the 215th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 77th Guards Rifle Division showed massive heroism. Acting boldly and resourcefully, they were the first to break through four enemy defense trenches. The soldiers of the battalion (about 350 people) were awarded the Order of Glory... The Military Council of the 69th Army awarded the battalion the honorary name "Battalion of Glory".

How much depends on a tactical unit in a strategic offensive? We will find the answer to this question if we consider the largest in scope (from the Baltic to the Carpathians) and depth (up to 500 km). The Vistula-Oder operation. It was a battle from the bridgeheads and for the bridgeheads, because all the enemy lines were based on water barriers. The command of Army Group A has pulled together more than 60 percent of its forces to hold the main line of defense (6-8 km deep).

In order to break down the enemy's strongest defenses, the Soviets concentrated enormous forces and resources in narrow areas. For example, only one of the three Pryvislensk bridgeheads - Pulavsky pyatachok (30x10 km) - was occupied by 16 divisions (including the 77th) and 3324 artillery barrels (without anti-aircraft machine guns and Guards mortars). At the tip of the giant wedges were rifle battalions prepared for combat. They were required not just to "probe the ground", but, posing as the main forces, to lure the Germans out of their concrete burrows. After all, before it happened that with the beginning of our offensive, they quickly took up positions in the depths, and the artillery "hammered" at an empty place.

The 1st Belorussian Front sent 28 reinforced battalions to the front line. One of them was commanded by Major B. Yemelyanov of the Guards. His superiors, starting with the Guards of Colonel N. Bykov, co of the 215th Rifle Regiment (two-battalion due to lack of equipment), did not spare people and equipment for him. The newly formed reconnaissance battalion was reinforced with three artillery batteries and a tank of direct infantry support, as well as a sapper company.

On the night before the offensive, sappers of the platoon of the Guards of Lieutenant M. Sabenin neutralized more than l500 enemy mines and destroyed more than 20 Nazis, on January 14, 1945, an hour and a half before sunrise, a powerful fire raid was made. Next, the valiant infantrymen rushed to the attack on a front of 700 m with attached forces and means. The company of guards of senior Lieutenant I. Vasiliev reached the first line of trenches, while our shells were still exploding there, and, without stopping, stormed the second trench. Fire, bayonet, tracks suppressed the resistance of the Krauts. A company officer was wounded-he was replaced by the platoon commander of the Guards, Lieutenant M. Guryev. Paving the way for the infantry, an artillery division led by S. Davydov of the Guards fired at their requests. The officer accurately controlled the fire of 12 guns.

It was as if sergeants and Red Army soldiers were competing with each other in fearlessness. The team of the Dulatov platoon "with comrades" defeated the mortar crew in hand-to-hand combat. And V. Dobrovolsky threw grenades at the machine-gun point that hindered the advance. Artillery scout V. Zuev machine-gun bursts put to death eight Nazis and took four prisoners. Despite their injuries, they continued to lead the rifle divisions of I. Zaika and S. Belov in battle. Medic Lepeshko took 30 wounded comrades out of the battlefield under fire...

A daring reconnaissance battle turned into a general offensive. The decisive charge of the guards stunned the enemy, did not allow him to quickly make changes to the system of his fire. Already at the first captured position, Yemelyanov's subordinates got 57 guns as trophies.

The enemy was driven back more than 20 kilometers in one day by a blow from the Pulava bridgehead. In other places, the penetration into the tactical zone of enemy defense ranged from 5 to 12 km. Troops of the 69th Army and the 11th Tank Corps rushed into the gap, which was breached by the assault battalion and expanded to 30 km. During 15 days of continuous fighting, they cleared several Polish cities from the invaders. On January 29, the 1st Belorussian Front reached the border fortified areas of Germany in a storm wave - neither the fortress breakwaters nor the reserve supports helped it.

It is interesting to compare two authoritative assessments of those events. Marshal of the Soviet Union G. K. Zhukov: "The enemy could not stand the attack of the reconnaissance battalions and began to withdraw from the front edge into the depths?The breakthrough developed normally, and we saved many thousands of tons of shells, which were useful later." General of the Wehrmacht F.Mellenthin: "The Russian offensive developed with unprecedented strength and speed... It is impossible to remember everything that happened between the Vistula and the Oder in the first months of 1945. Europe has not known such a thing since the fall of the Roman Empire."

Vistula strike - the end of the "Watch on the Rhine"

With the operation "Watch on the Rhine", the Nazi leadership adventurously decided to " give the Anglo-Americans in the Ardennes (Belgian Upland - |If successful, Hitler was going to increase the pressure: in the West - political, in the East - military. At the same time, drive a wedge into the anti-fascist bloc. Despite the weak shock fist (the Russian front was draining the main forces of the Wehrmacht), the Nazis put the enemy to flight. And on the first day of 1945, the offensive in Alsace (in France). On New Year's Eve, a thousand Luftwaffe aircraft bombed airfields in Belgium and Holland.

On January 6, Churchill addressed the head of the Soviet government with a panicked message: "There are very heavy battles in the West... Can we count on a major Russian offensive on the Vistula front or somewhere else during January... " The next day, Stalin replied:

"You can rest assured that we will do everything possible to assist our glorious Allied forces." A moral duty (not an obligation) to the Allies prompted the High Command to start the winter campaign a full week ahead of schedule. The German formations on the Ar-denne salient (almost a third of the local combat forces) turned 180 degrees at once.

For some reason, I am annoyed that our formidable leader reported so briskly to the British Prime Minister. He expressed his willingness to lay down the bones, helping out overseas friends, by the way, who were punished for their own passivity (they did not fight, but "roped in without special high goals" - see H. Ritter "Criticism of the World War"). It was they who provoked Hitler by coming to a strange standstill near the Siegfried Line. Still, the leader of the USSR should have tormented London and Washington a little, even for a few days. They were the ones who saved us for two years, despite the agreement, opening the second front instead of 1942 in June 1944. Their calculation was insidious: it is easier to digest what remains after the German-Soviet meat grinder. It would be worth recalling that, for example, the Red Army suffered a major defeat near Kharkov (in May 1942) largely due to the fact that the Germans transferred more than 30 divisions from the West here. Stalin did not mention the old ones. On the contrary, he assured that a large-scale offensive will begin, regardless of the bad weather. Without realizing it, he did exactly what the Russian tsars had done before him.

It seems that in all ages Russia has succumbed to the selfish demands of its allies with considerable loss to itself. And they preferred someone else's blood. A lot of similar examples come to mind. They betrayed the Suvorov miracle heroes. For getting rid of the revolution of 1848, Emperor Franz Joseph publicly kissed the hand of Nicholas I, and a little later sent troops against him. Then the popular phrase "We will surprise the world with our ingratitude"came into use. In August 1914, for the sake of allied France, the tsarist headquarters sacrificed the 2nd army of General A. Samsonov (I advise you to reread V. Pikul's beautiful miniature "But Paris was Saved"). Two months later, helping the Entente countries, we lost a quarter of a million soldiers and twice as many in August 1916. Then it was with bitterness and sounded: "The Concord Powers intend to fight the war to the last drop of blood... a Russian soldier."

A lousy strategist is one who, behind the arrows drawn on the map, does not see at all those whom he will send to the point of attack. In this sense, the Soviet tsar and god Joseph turned out to be a worthy successor to the hated Nicholas II. And our masters of driving troops did not dare to convince the Kremlin master that to start a front-line operation, it is wiser to wait for the weather to allow the use of combat aircraft, that in such a matter as breaking through a long-term defense, haste is harmful. Every extra day they decide: whether the replenishment will arrive in time, whether ammunition, fuel, food will be delivered to the positions, whether the repair and laying of roads will end, whether the medical units will be deployed to receive the wounded... The rear will fall behind - the offensive will choke. In the memoirs of our generals, only a dull murmur is heard. And if they did-you see, during the liberation of Poland, not 600 thousand Soviet soldiers would have died, but much less. Think about it: a meter of combat path - and there is no young guy. And in the last Berlin operation, finishing off the Fascist beast in its lair, every meter of progress was already worth several lives. A cruel score! Did the Anglo-Saxons win at such a price? Do the saved peoples remember with what sacrifices we uprooted Hitlerism? So not three hundred people, but millions of Soviet Spartans of the XX century saved the world from a terrible redistribution. It is bittersweet to realize that the "cordon sanitaire" around Russia is looming again. And where - on the same lands where the Russian knights chested the invaders, defending fair borders...

20 days after his tearful request, Churchill is already in awe of Stalin: "Please accept our warmest thanks and congratulations on the occasion of your historic exploits." And confessed: "It was an excellent act on the part of the Russians and their leaders to accelerate their broad offensive, undoubtedly at the cost of heavy human losses" (A. Werth "Russia in the War of 1941-1945").

Once at the center of history, politics, diplomacy, and actual combat operations, our first strike battalion has become a symbol of the entire active army, which is irresistibly rushing to Berlin. For the Vistula-Oder operation, the 77th Division rightfully earned the highest award of the USSR-the Order of Lenin. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to officers N. Bykov, B. Yemelyanov, S. Davydov and M. Guryev. All platoon commanders, without exception, were awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky. This award is higher than that of company commanders, whose feat is marked with a Red Star. Sergeants and enlisted personnel were solemnly awarded (to many in the hospital) the most honorable, emphasizing personal bravery, soldier's Order of Glory, reminiscent of the Order of Victory.

Under a leaden snowstorm

For a loud title somehow forgets that it was a battalion of very young guys. Eighteen-year-old fighters. Platoon commander M. Guryev was not even twenty years old. The 23 - year-old battalion commander B. Yemelyanov was regarded as a seasoned veteran who had been fighting since the first day of the war. It is a pity that after the terrible battles, no one set out to collect the memories of ordinary participants of the famous breakthrough. We impoverish our own history by adapting it to the official versions. To the general shame, no attempt has been made in any monograph to list the personnel of the Glory battalion by name. "Wonderful people disappear from our country without leaving a trace. We are lazy and inquisitive, " - the eternal reproach sounds well-known Pushkin's lines, by the way, written during a military campaign.

I also refer this reproach to myself. Moreover, the 77th Guards Moscow-Chernihiv three-time order-bearing rifle division is like my own. My father, who is now deceased, and my mother received front-line awards and injuries in its ranks. Deputy commander of a rifle regiment and a nurse. A long-time friend of our family, the chairman of the 77th Division Veterans ' Council, retired Lieutenant-General G. Tkachenko, provided me with publications and materials of interest. He presented the book "Under a leaden snowstorm", written by the former chief of staff of one of the regiments of the division F. Zgirovym. The book, which has pencil marks in the margins on almost every page, interested me doubly. The general seemed to have an invisible conversation with the late author-a fellow soldier: somewhere he agreed, and in many places he argued. Here is another confirmation that the story is not always unambiguous. There is the vision of a strategist and the point of view of a comfrey, there is the truth of an artilleryman and the truth of an infantryman... It is impossible to be impartial in what has been suffered and paid for in blood.

The Gold Star cavalier M. Guryev, who lives in Maykop, did not hide his dislike for the victory reports in a conversation with me on the phone. He considered it necessary to remind that there were two unfortunate battalions in the division, One of which lost almost half of its composition, falling into the "fire bag". The other one was cut out by saboteurs during sleep at night, after which, even if they were in the rear area at night, they began to give out one hundred rounds of ammunition to the shooters.

Hero of the Soviet Union F. Zhgirov writes: "I must note the reliability of our small arms. Rifles, PPSH and PPD submachine guns, hand and machine guns operated, as a rule, flawlessly in the most unfavorable conditions." And his fellow soldier-hero Guryev speaks very unflatteringly about the same samples: "a piece of iron, in the hands", "a capricious mechanism-it boils in the summer, freezes in the winter","a little something - sticking the cartridge". According to the platoon veteran, the shooters preferred the German captured machine gun more than the regular Degtyarevsky with the same caliber of 7.6 mm. Guryev himself did not part with the 9-mm parabellum. Only squad leaders had submachine guns, and the rest were given self-loading rifles. "To aim, you have to stop. And the Germans fired in bursts, on the move."

Guryev readily recalls the details of the battle that made the name of the battalion:

- On the eve of the offensive, a regimental Banner was carried along the trenches, and we kissed it. Some of the officers were drinking heavily. I, among others, abstained. You can't fool yourself with alcohol. We felt like suicide bombers. They knew how the Germans were entrenched here. They made all sorts of message moves, shot every bump. I had to wade through terrible barriers. Yes, even on loose snow, in the fog. We would not have reached the level of 160.8 if not for the detailed map. Usually it was issued only to company commanders and above, and this time platoon leaders were not spared.

During the attack, "Hurrah!" no one shouted, physically it is simply impossible, all the strength is given to the throw. The first trench was almost leveled to the ground by our gunners - only heaped corpses. The other companies lay down on the second trench, and we and her whole ones got through. They broke forward and helped their neighbors-with fire from the flank. While the officer goes to attack, and the soldiers go. He'll start wobbling, dodging bullets , and it's all gone. Once someone backed away, dragging the faint-hearted with him, and they ran into mines.

Mikhail Nikolaevich answered the question of which of his subordinates was particularly memorable.:

- On the Dnieper-Senior Sergeant Kashchuk. After forcing a platoon of 17 people, four were left alive. On the spot we fought off the Germans, and they shouted to us: "Rus, be-be!" Kashchuk hacked down two reptiles with a sapper shovel and lay down next to him, mowed down by a burst... And on the Vistula - platoon commander Andrey Safronov and the commander of machine gunners Mamat Saidov. Without them, we would be a pipe. Safronov is a handsome, burly man, a favorite of the company. In the last battle, when the Germans suddenly appeared behind us, he resolutely turned the squad. The sight is terrible, the eye is covered with blood, the left hand-a whip, in the right-a grenade. If he hadn't gone for the machine guns, we'd all have died there. Another counterattack was repulsed thanks to Saidov. Under such rifle and machine - gun fire got!.. The guys are falling in the snow and mud-you don't understand: who is killed, who is wounded, who digs in, who crawls away. Once the soldiers lay low under fire, it is difficult to raise them again. In the open field, we are defenseless, there is nothing to seriously respond with-single bullets. Near me is a heavy machine gun. Sergeant Saidov remained from the crew in the singular: the gunner was killed, the stretcher bearer was bandaged by an orderly. Suddenly Saidov gets up and - a deafening machine-gun chirp! I still don't understand how he single-handedly managed to hold a machine with a massive barrel weighing 65 kg. Like a light machine gun operated. I gave the Krauts a hard time! They say that in the highest nervous tension, superhuman forces awaken...

"Together with his battalion, Comrade. Guryev failed more than 400 km and 30.1.45 g. crossed the German border... During the battles, the soldiers of tov. Guryev destroyed a bunker, 3 machine-gun points, calculations of two 37-mm cannons and exterminated up to a hundred Hitlerite invaders." (From the award list for submission to the title of the Soviet Union.)

I am glad to hear the cheerful commanding voice on the other end of the phone:

- I was twice marked with lead on the Oder. And a hell of a dozen injuries before that. For my vitality, they called me Roly-Poly. I didn't stay in hospitals: I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to get back to my native division. It happened more than once that I went into battle as a platoon commander, and ended up as a company commander.

Artillery-God of Breakthrough

Now I turn to the plenipotentiary of another glorious branch of the armed forces-the former chief of artillery intelligence of the 77th Rifle Division G. Tkachenko, who was awarded the Order of the Red Banner in that memorable January of the 45th. And the first question for him: how were they preparing to storm the barriers between the Vistula and the Oder?

"The enemy was monitored around the clock," he says. - I have fully used all divisional means of artillery reconnaissance. We also went up in a balloon-of course, not for the sake of admiring the landscape from above. The front line was a few kilometers away, and the Germans were trying to hit us with shrapnel. Every two or three days, our U-2 aircraft conducted aerial photography at low altitudes to record changes in the defense system. After decoding, large-scale aerial images formed the basis of topographic maps. These maps, "stuffed" with invaluable information, made it easier to plan fire to suppress objects. Moreover, because of the fog, air support for the offensive was excluded, so the load on the gunners increased.

The division itself was moved to the nearest army rear in November 1944. I went there to take part in tactical exercises and saw how hard the guards were working. It is noteworthy that the commander of the b9 Army, General V. Kolpakchi, rejected the original plan of the "dress rehearsal". He forced to tighten security measures at the stage of live firing. Yes, you need to learn in conditions that are as close to combat as possible. But God forbid, if we shoot over the heads of trainees, we will hit someone. Should the infantry lose faith in the reliability of artillery support - and for a decisive assault, this infantry is not suitable. She herself will be demoralized, what is the demoralization of the enemy here? Our unyielding Division Commander of the Guards, Major General V. Askalepov, recognized the commander's correctness. We have carefully verified the safe shooting sectors. And the batteries showed the highest class of training, so that they would not be doubted. Rifle units have acquired the practice of following the barrage of fire.

- Gleb Nikolaevich, did you know anyone from the Slava battalion?

"I didn't just know. We were close together in battle formations. I led a group of scouts and signalmen with the task of ensuring stable control of the division's artillery fire. The forward battalion advanced under the cover of a continuous curtain of fire.

And we worked out the issues of interaction in advance. During the two preceding months of the Guards, Major B. Yemelyanov and the battalion officers often visited me at the" visit " - the forward observation post. I saw Major Yemelyanov in various combat situations and, frankly, I envied him his composure, self-control, and personal bravery. I also liked the way he treated his subordinates, knew how to rely on those who had already smelled gunpowder. Despite his youth, Boris commanded a rifle battalion from Stalingrad and brought it to Berlin. Although, of course, during this time the composition of the battalion was updated several times.

- They usually try not to talk about losses. From one of the veterans I heard that after that reconnaissance in battle, out of more than three hundred fighters, only one in ten remained in the ranks, " I ask.

"Well, that's a gross exaggeration! - responds. - Of course, there were dead, many wounded. Nevertheless, to present the shock battalion as a "body ram" is at least not serious. Eight artillery regiments helped the infantry" master the road " in the offensive zone of the division! About 250 guns accounted for 1 km of the front. With such a density of artillery fire, the enemy was simply crushed, and to a depth of 6-10 km.

- Can you give some amazing fact that is not included in the book about the division?

"Please." On February 3, 1945, units of the division approached the ancient fortress of Frankfurt an der Oder. The river barely broke free of ice. However, the offensive impulse was so high that we dared to move to the other side. Major V. Remizov's Guards battalion, assigned to the vanguard, began crossing by boat and ferry under continuous enemy artillery and mortar fire. Pitch-black hell resembled what was happening on the coastal strip (2. 5x1.5 km). The Nazis were driven out of their fortifications - counterattacks of tanks and assault guns followed. Everything would have ended badly for the Guards, if not for the well-aimed shooting of the attached batteries, reinforced by the fire of the "zarechnaya" artillery. Aviation also helped. Convinced that it was impossible to push our brave men into the water, the Germans went to the extreme measure: they opened the locks of hydraulic structures in the upper Oder River and partially flooded the bridgehead. The flood poured into the lowlands where the mortar positions were located, flooded the trenches of 76-mm guns and rifle cells, and reached observation posts. Once in the icy font, the soldiers and commanders did not leave their positions. They stood on shell boxes, climbed trees, stood waist-deep in water, and still continued to fight. So it lasted for several hours, even at night the fierce struggle did not subside. The bridgehead was uderdan. Berlin was only a few kilometers away?

Not born for parades

My interlocutor from Maykop told me about some kind of spell: twice without his participation, two famous holidays were held on Red Square. The first time was on June 24, 1945, when the ceremonial march of the combined victorious regiments representing the fronts took place. I. Guryev was listed as the plenipotentiary of the 1st Belorussian.

The selection process was strict, and we were scrutinized both in our uniforms, with all our regalia, and naked. There were no complaints about the quality or quantity of awards. And yet they rejected my candidacy. Everyone was suitable for fighting - even those who were not tall enough. And for the parade, you see, we weren't up to it. Instead, I was taken by a more statuesque guy. And to make it look better, they hurriedly added an extra Order of Glory to it... I also didn't guess at the military parade on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Great Victory. We were delayed in processing our travel documents. In addition, they didn't meet me in Moscow. We didn't make it to the celebrations - there are barriers everywhere. They didn't even want to look at the Hero's star and the veteran's book, so give them a special pass. So we stayed with a fellow countryman in the hotel...

Veterans never cease to worry about the fate of the battle-hardened 77th Division. Truly, it was not born for parades. In January 1946, the regiments were pulled out of their cozy garrisons in German cities, loaded into cold freight trains-and straight to the Arctic. To the place where the Arkhangelsk Military District was being revived. The Guards had to build another "dig-town" in the swampy tundra, near Molotovsk (now Severodvinsk).

The fortified area was created just in case-suddenly dear friends in the anti-Hitler coalition again want to surprise the world with their ingratitude. Over time, motorized rifle regiments were transformed into coastal units without effort. And recently they were put under the great reduction, as well as the entire invincible and legendary." The trumpet called - and they changed the northern latitudes to the southern ones. White Sea - to the Caspian Sea.

Since this year, the successor of the 77th Shock Division has been the Marine Infantry battalion, which is commanded by the Guards Lieutenant Colonel A. Parsenov. A small division inherited a considerable number of awards. For example, on the Battle Banner of the 215th regiment shone the Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov, the other regiments-Alexander Nevsky, Bohdan Khmelnitsky... Four parts of the compound from 1945 were proudly called Brandenburg... It is difficult to remember who the battle distinctions belonged to. It's sad, of course, if the titles are lost. It is unforgivable if the names and deeds of the guardsmen of the war years are forgotten. I want the warriors, like their glorious predecessors, to be overshadowed by the spirit of courageous service to the Motherland. And may the military fortune be kind to them.