This year, the next, already the 305th, anniversary will be celebrated by one of the most famous branches of the Russian Armed Forces - the marines. Epochs changed, the state system in the country changed, the colors of banners, uniforms and weapons changed. One thing remained unchanged - the high skill and high moral and psychological level of our marine, who was the image of a true hero, capable of breaking the will of the enemy with just a formidable look. For more than three centuries of existence, the Marines, which covered themselves with unfading glory, took part in almost all major wars and armed conflicts that our state waged.

"Marine Regiment"

The first marine regiment in our country, called the "Marine Regiment" and formed under the command of General-Admiral Franz Lefort during the famous Azov expedition conducted by Peter I in 1696, consisted of 28 companies and provided invaluable assistance during the siege of an enemy fortress. The tsar was listed only as the captain (commander) of the 3rd company of the same regiment. The "Marine Regiment" was not a regular formation, it was formed only on a temporary basis, but the experience gained prompted Peter I to make the final decision on the need to "officially" form the Marine Corps units as part of the Russian Navy. So, already in September-October 1704 in the "Discourse on the starting fleet in the Baltic Sea" the Russian emperor pointed out: old soldiers for the sake of better training of order and order. "

However, the course of the military actions of the summer campaign of 1705 that followed soon forced Peter I to change his mind and, instead of scattered teams, form a single naval regiment intended for service in boarding teams on the warships of the Russian fleet. Moreover, given the complex nature of the tasks assigned to the "sea soldiers", it was decided to staff the regiment not only with recruits, but at the expense of already trained soldiers from the army regiments. This case was entrusted to General-Admiral Count Fyodor Golovin, who on November 16, 1705 gave the command of the Fleet Commander in the Baltic Sea to Vice-Admiral Cornelius Cruis: “I must, by the decree of His Majesty, have one naval regiment, and I ask you, if you please, to compose this, so that he consisted of 1200 soldiers, and what belongs to that, what kind of gun, and so on, if you please write off to me and you must not leave others; and how many of them are in number or a great decrease has been composed, then we will sweat to find recruits. " This date, November 16, old style, or November 27, new style, 1705, is considered the official birthday of the Russian marines.

Later, taking into account the experience of the Northern War, the marines were reorganized: instead of the regiment, several sea battalions were created - the "vice admiral's battalion" (the tasks of serving as part of the boarding and landing teams on the ships of the vanguard of the squadron were assigned); "Battalion of the admiral" (the same, but for the ships of the center of the squadron); "Rear admiral's battalion" (ships of the squadron's rearguard); "Galley battalion" (for the galley fleet), as well as the "admiralty battalion" (for guard duty and other tasks in the interests of the fleet command). By the way, during the Northern War, for the first time in the world in Russia, a large amphibious force was formed - a corps numbering more than 20 thousand people. So in this we are ahead of even the Americans, who took similar steps only during the Second World War.

From Corfu to Borodino

Since then, our marines have taken part in many battles and wars that have become fateful for Russia. She fought in the Black and Baltic Seas, stormed the fortresses of Corfu, considered impregnable, landed in Italy and the Balkans, fought even in battles for land areas hundreds and thousands of kilometers away from the sea coast. The commanders repeatedly used the battalions of the Marine Corps, famous for their swift onslaught and powerful bayonet strike, as assault troops in the directions of the main attack in many battles.

Marines took part in the famous assault on Izmail - three of the nine assault columns advancing on the fortress were made up of personnel from naval battalions and coastal grenadier regiments. Alexander Suvorov noted that the marines "showed amazing courage and zeal", and in his report he noted eight officers and one sergeant of the naval battalions and almost 70 officers and sergeants of the seaside grenadier regiments among the most distinguished.

During the famous Mediterranean campaign of Admiral Fyodor Ushakov, there were no field troops on his squadron at all - all the tasks of storming coastal structures were solved by the marines of the Black Sea Fleet. Including - she took by storm from the sea the previously considered impregnable fortress of Corfu. Having received the news of the capture of Corfu, Alexander Suvorov wrote the famous lines: "Why was I not at Corfu, although a midshipman!"

Even under the seemingly completely "land" village of Borodino, the marines managed to distinguish themselves and acquire the glory of formidable warriors - persistent in defense and swift in the offensive. On the land fronts of the Patriotic War of 1812, two brigades formed from the naval regiments fought, combined into the 25th Infantry Division. In the battle of Borodino, after Prince Bagration was wounded, the left flank of the Russian troops retreated to the village of Semenovskoye, the Life Guards Light Company No. 1 and the artillery team of the Guards Naval Crew moved here - for several hours the sailors with only two guns repelled powerful enemy attacks and fought a duel with the French artillerymen. For the battles at Borodino, the artillery sailors were awarded the Order of St. Anna, 3rd degree (Lieutenant A. I. List and Non-commissioned Lieutenant I. P. Kiselev) and insignia of the Military Order of St. George (six sailors).

Few people know that in the battle of Kulm in 1813, soldiers and officers of the Guards Naval Crew located in St. just a naval crew, but also an elite infantry battalion.

The marines did not stand aside in the Crimean War of 1854-1855, in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, in the Russian-Japanese war of 1904-1905 and, naturally, in the First World War, during which a number of subunits and units of the Marine Corps that took part in operations for the defense of naval bases and islands and solved the tasks assigned to them as part of the landing troops. Based on the experience of hostilities in 1916-1917 in the Black and Baltic Seas, the formation of two marine divisions began, which, however, for obvious reasons, they did not have time to implement.

At the same time, however, more than once, due to the short-sighted policy of the military-political leadership, especially the army command obsessed with the "land character of the country", the army command was subjected to destructive reorganization and even complete liquidation, with the transfer of its units to the ground forces. For example, despite the high efficiency of the combat use of the Marine Corps and the Guards Naval Crew during the wars with Napoleonic France, in 1813 the Marine Corps units were transferred to the army department and for the next almost 100 years the fleet did not have any large formations of the Marine Corps. ... Even the Crimean War and the defense of Sevastopol were unable to convince the Russian leadership of the need to recreate the marines as a separate branch of the military. It was only in 1911 that the General Naval Staff developed a project for the creation of permanent "infantry units" at the disposal of the command of the main naval bases - a regiment in the Baltic Fleet and a battalion - in the Black Sea Fleet and in the Far East, in Vladivostok. Moreover, the units of the Marine Corps were divided into two types - for operations on land and for operations in the maritime theater of operations.

Soviet marines

And what about the events that we usually call the Kronstadt mutiny? There, the marines and gunners of the coastal batteries, constituting the backbone of those dissatisfied with the anti-revolutionary, in their opinion, policy of the then leadership of the Soviet Republic, showed considerable resilience and courage, for a long time repelling the numerous and powerful attacks of a huge mass of troops thrown into suppression of the uprising. There is still no unequivocal assessment of those events: there are supporters of both. But no one doubts the fact that the sailors' detachments showed unbending will and did not show even a drop of cowardice and weakness even in the face of an enemy many times superior in strength.

The Armed Forces of the young Soviet Russia did not officially exist, although in 1920 the 1st Naval Expeditionary Division was formed on the Sea of ​​Azov, solving tasks inherent in the Marine Corps, taking an active part in eliminating the threat from the landing of General Ulagai and helping to squeeze out White Guard troops from the regions of the Kuban. Then, for almost two decades, there was no question of the Marine Corps, only on January 15, 1940 (according to other sources, it happened on April 25, 1940), according to the order of the People's Commissar of the Navy, a separate special rifle brigade created a year earlier was reorganized into the 1st Special Marine Brigade infantry of the Baltic Fleet, which took an active part in the Soviet-Finnish war: its personnel participated in landings on the islands of Gogland, Seskar, etc.

But most fully all the spiritual strength and military skill of our marines was revealed, of course, during the bloodiest war in the history of mankind - World War II. 105 formations of the Marine Corps (hereinafter referred to as the MP) fought on its fronts: one MP division, 19 MP brigades, 14 MP regiments and 36 separate MP battalions, as well as 35 naval rifle brigades. It was then that our marines earned the enemy the nickname "black death", although in the first weeks of the war German soldiers, faced with fearless Russian soldiers rushing into the attack in only vests, gave the marines the nickname "striped death". During the years of the war, which was predominantly overland for the USSR, the Soviet marines and naval rifle brigades landed 125 times as part of various assault forces, the total number of units taking part in which reached 240 thousand people. Acting independently, the marines - on a smaller scale - landed 159 times in the rear of the enemy during the war. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of the landing forces landed at night, so that by the onset of dawn all the subunits of the landing detachments would be disembarked and take up their assigned positions.

People's war

Already at the very beginning of the war, in the most difficult and difficult year for the Soviet Union in 1941, the USSR Navy allocated 146,899 people for operations on land, many of whom were qualified specialists in the fourth and fifth years of service, which, of course, damaged the combat readiness of the fleet itself. but such was the dire necessity. In November - December of the same year, the formation of separate naval rifle brigades began, which then formed 25 with a total strength of 39,052 people. The main difference between the naval rifle brigade and the marine brigade was that the former was intended for combat operations as part of land fronts, and the latter was intended for combat operations in coastal areas, mainly for the defense of naval bases, the solution of amphibious and anti-amphibious missions, etc. In addition, there were also formations and units of the ground forces, the names of which did not contain the word "sea", but which were staffed mainly by sailors. Such units can also, without any reservations, be attributed to the Marine Corps: during the war, on the basis of units and formations of the Marine Corps, a total of six Guards rifle and 15 rifle divisions, two Guards rifle divisions, two rifle and four mountain rifle brigades were formed. and a significant number of sailors also fought in the 19 Guards Rifle and 41 Rifle Divisions.

In total, during 1941-1945, the command of the Soviet Navy formed and sent units and formations totaling 335,875 people (including 16,645 officers) to various sectors of the Soviet-German front, which amounted to almost 36 divisions in the army at that time. In addition, in the composition of the fleets and flotillas, there were units of the marines, numbering up to 100 thousand more people. Thus, on the coast alone, almost half a million sailors fought shoulder to shoulder with the soldiers and commanders of the Red Army. And how they fought! According to the recollections of many military leaders, the command always tried to use naval rifle brigades in the most critical sectors of the front, knowing that the sailors would steadfastly hold their positions, inflicting great damage on the enemy with fire and counterattacks. The attack of the sailors was always swift, they "literally rammed the German troops."

During the defense of Tallinn, units of the marines with a total number of more than 16 thousand people fought on the coast, which was more than half of the entire Tallinn group of Soviet troops, numbering 27 thousand people. All in all, the Baltic Fleet formed during the Second World War one division, nine brigades, four regiments and nine battalions of marines with a total strength of more than 120 thousand people. During the same period of time, the Northern Fleet formed and dispatched to various sectors of the Soviet-German front three brigades, two regiments and seven battalions of 33,480 marines. The Black Sea Fleet had about 70 thousand marines - six brigades, eight regiments and 22 separate battalions. One brigade and two battalions of marines, formed in the Pacific Fleet and taking part in the defeat of militaristic Japan, were transformed into guards.

It was the Marine Corps units that thwarted the attempt by the 11th Army of Colonel-General Manstein and the mechanized group of the 54th Army Corps to seize Sevastopol on the move at the end of October 1941 - by the time the German troops were under the city of Russian naval glory, the troops were retreating through the Crimean the mountains of the Primorsky army have not yet approached the naval base. At the same time, the formations of the Soviet marines often experienced a serious shortage of small arms and other weapons, ammunition and communications. So, the 8th Marine Brigade that took part in the defense of Sevastopol at the very beginning of that illustrious defense for 3,744 personnel consisted of 3,252 rifles, 16 easel and 20 light machine guns, as well as 42 mortars, and the newly formed and arrived at the front, the 1st Baltic The MP brigade was provided with a rifleman only 50% of the supply required according to the norms, having no artillery at all, no cartridges, no grenades, or even sapper blades!

The following record of the report of one of the defenders of the island of Gogland, dated March 1942, has survived: “The enemy stubbornly climbs into our points in columns, they filled a lot of his soldiers and officers, and they all climb ... There are still many enemies on the ice. Our machine gun had two cartridges left. We have a machine gun (in the bunker. - Author) there were three people left, the rest were killed. What would you like to do? " The order of the garrison commander to defend to the last was followed by a laconic answer: "Yes, we do not even think to retreat - the Balts do not retreat, but destroy the enemy to the last." People stood to death.

In the initial period of the battle for Moscow, the Germans managed to approach the Moscow-Volga canal and even force it north of the city. The 64th and 71st naval rifle brigades from the reserve were sent to the canal area, dropping the Germans into the water. Moreover, the first unit consisted mainly of Pacific sailors, who, like the Siberians of General Panfilov, helped to defend the capital of the country. In the area of ​​the village of Ivanovskoye, the Germans tried several times to undertake “psychic” attacks against the sailors of the 71st naval brigade, Colonel Y. Bezverkhov. The marines calmly admitted the Nazis who were walking at full height in dense chains and then shot them almost point-blank, finishing off those who did not have time to escape in hand-to-hand combat.
About 100 thousand sailors took part in the grandiose Battle of Stalingrad, of which only the 2nd Guards Army had up to 20 thousand sailors from the Pacific Fleet and the Amur Flotilla - that is, every fifth soldier in the army of Lieutenant General Rodion Malinovsky (the latter later recalled: “Sailors -The Pacific fought great. The army was fighting! Sailors - brave warriors, heroes! ").

Self-sacrifice is the highest degree of heroism

"When the tank approached it, freely and prudently lay under the track" - these are lines from the work of Andrei Platonov, and they are dedicated to one of those marines who stopped a column of German tanks near Sevastopol - a historical fact that formed the basis of the feature film.

The sailors stopped the German tanks with their bodies and grenades, of which there were exactly one per brother, and therefore each grenade had to hit a German tank. But how can you achieve 100% efficiency? A simple solution does not come from the mind, but from the heart, overflowing with love for your homeland and hatred for the enemy: you need to tie a grenade to your body and lie exactly under the track of a tank. An explosion - and the tank stood up. And after the political instructor Nikolai Filchenko, who commanded that battle screen, the second rushed under the tanks, and after him the third. And suddenly the unimaginable happens - the surviving Nazi tanks stood up and backed away. The German tank crews simply could not stand their nerves - they gave up in the face of such a terrible and incomprehensible heroism for them! It turned out that the armor is not the high-quality steel of German tanks, the armor is Soviet sailors dressed in thin vests. Therefore, I would like to recommend to those of our compatriots who admire the traditions and valor of the Japanese samurai to look at the history of their army and navy - there he can easily find all the qualities of professional fearless warriors in those officers, soldiers and sailors who for centuries have protected against various foes of our country. These, our own, traditions must be maintained and developed, and not bowed down to a life alien to us.

By order of the People's Commissar of the USSR Navy on July 25, 1942, the Northern Defense Region of 32 thousand people was formed in the Soviet Arctic, the core of which was made up of three Marine brigades and three separate machine-gun battalions of the Marine Corps and which for more than two years ensured the stability of the right flank of the Soviet of the German front. Moreover, in complete isolation from the main forces, the supply was carried out only by air and by sea. Not to mention that a war in the harsh conditions of the Far North, when it is impossible to dig a trench in the rocks or hide from aircraft or artillery fire, is a very difficult test. It is not for nothing that a proverb was born in the North: "Where the reindeer will pass, the Marine will pass, but where the reindeer will not pass, the Marine will still pass". The first Hero of the Soviet Union in the Northern Fleet was Senior Sergeant of the Marine Corps V.P. Kislyakov, who remained alone at an important altitude and held back the enemy's onslaught of more than a company for more than an hour.

Major Caesar Kunikov, well-known at the front, became the commander of the combined amphibious assault detachment in January 1943. He wrote to his sister about his subordinates: “I am in command of the sailors, if you could only see what kind of people they are! I know that the rear sometimes doubts the accuracy of newspaper colors, but these colors are too pale to describe our people. " A detachment of only 277 people, having landed in the Stanichka area (the future Malaya Zemlya), scared the German command so much (especially when Kunikov in plain text transmitted a false radiogram: "The regiment has landed successfully. We are moving forward. Waiting for reinforcements") that it hastily transferred units there. two divisions!

In March 1944, a detachment under the command of Senior Lieutenant Konstantin Olshansky distinguished itself, consisting of 55 marines from the 384th Marine battalion and 12 soldiers from one of the neighboring units. For two days, this "landing into immortality", as it was called later, chained the enemy in the port of Nikolaev with distracting actions, repelled 18 attacks of an enemy combat group of three infantry battalions supported by half a company of tanks and an artillery battery, destroying up to 700 soldiers and officers, as well as two tanks and the entire artillery battery. Only 12 people survived. All 67 soldiers of the detachment were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union - a unique case even for the Great Patriotic War!

During the period of the Soviet offensive in Hungary, the boats of the Danube Flotilla constantly provided fire support to the advancing troops, landed troops, including as part of the units and units of the Marine Corps. So, for example, the Marine Corps battalion, which landed on March 19, 1945 in the Tata region, distinguished itself and cut off the enemy's escape routes along the right bank of the Danube. Realizing this, the Germans threw large forces against a not very large landing, but the enemy did not manage to throw the paratroopers into the Danube.

For their heroism and courage, 200 marines were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and the famous scout Viktor Leonov, who fought in the Northern Fleet and then stood at the origins of the creation of the naval reconnaissance and sabotage units of the Pacific Fleet, was awarded this award twice. And, for example, the landing personnel of Senior Lieutenant Konstantin Olshansky, whose name is today named one of the large landing ships of the Russian Navy, who landed in the port of Nikolaev in March 1944 and fulfilled the task assigned to him at the cost of his life, was awarded this high award in full. It is less known that of the full holders of the Order of Glory - and there are only 2,562 of them, there are also four Heroes of the Soviet Union, and one of these four is Marine Sergeant Major P. Kh.Dubinda, who fought in the 8th Marine Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet ...

Individual parts and connections were also noted. Thus, the 13th, 66th, 71st, 75th and 154th Marine Brigades and Marine Rifle Brigades, as well as the 355th and 365th Marine battalions were transformed into Guards units, many units and formations became Red Banner, and the 83rd and the 255th brigade - even twice with the Red Banner. The great contribution of the marines to the achievement of a general victory over the enemy was reflected in the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief No. 371 of July 22, 1945: “During the defense and offensive of the Red Army, our fleet reliably covered the fleet and shipping of the enemy and ensured the uninterrupted operation of their communications. The combat activity of Soviet sailors was distinguished by selfless staunchness and courage, high combat activity and military skill. "

It remains to be noted that many famous heroes of the Great Patriotic War and future commanders fought in the marines and naval rifle brigades. Thus, the creator of the airborne troops, Hero of the Soviet Union, General of the Army V.F.Margelov during the war years was one of the best commanders of the marine regiments - he commanded the 1st Special Ski Regiment of the Marine Corps of the Leningrad Front. The commander of the 7th Airborne Division, Major General T.M. Parafilo, who at one time commanded the 1st Special (separate) Marine Corps Brigade of the Baltic Fleet, also left the Marine Corps. At different times, such famous military leaders as Marshal of the Soviet Union N.V. Ogarkov (in 1942 - brigadier engineer of the 61st separate naval rifle brigade of the Karelian Front), Marshal of the Soviet Union S. F. Akhromeev (in 1941 - first-year cadet of the MVMU named after M.V. Frunze - fighter of the 3rd separate marine brigade), General of the Army N.G. Lyashchenko (in 1943 - commander of the 73rd separate marine rifle brigade Volkhov Front), Colonel-General I. M. Chistyakov (in 1941-1942 - commander of the 64th Marine Rifle Brigade).

During the Great Patriotic War, the Germans called the Tuvinians "Der Schwarze Tod" - "Black Death". The Tuvans fought to the death even with the obvious superiority of the enemy, they did not take prisoners.

"This is our war!"

The Tuvan People's Republic became part of the Soviet Union already during the war, on August 17, 1944. In the summer of 1941, Tuva was de jure an independent state. In August 1921, the White Guard detachments of Kolchak and Ungern were expelled from there. The capital of the republic was the former Belotsarsk, renamed Kyzyl (Red City). Soviet troops were withdrawn from Tuva by 1923, but the USSR continued to provide Tuva with all possible assistance, without claiming its independence. It is customary to say that Great Britain was the first to support the USSR in the war, but this is not the case. Tuva declared war on Germany and its allies on June 22, 1941, 11 hours before Churchill's historic radio announcement. Mobilization immediately began in Tuva, the republic announced its readiness to send its army to the front. 38 thousand Tuvan arats in a letter to Joseph Stalin said: “We are together. This is our war too. " Regarding Tuva's declaration of war on Germany, there is a historical legend that when Hitler found out about it, he was amused, he did not even bother to find this republic on the map. But in vain.

Everything for the front!

Immediately after the start of the war, Tuva transferred to Moscow the gold reserve (about 30 million rubles) and the entire production of Tuvan gold (10-11 million rubles annually). Tuvans really accepted the war as their own. This is evidenced by the amount of assistance that the poor republic provided the front. From June 1941 to October 1944 Tuva supplied 50,000 war horses and 750,000 head of cattle for the needs of the Red Army. Each Tuvan family gave the front from 10 to 100 head of cattle. The Tuvans literally put the Red Army on skis, putting 52,000 pairs of skis on the front. The Prime Minister of Tuva, Saryk-Dongak Chimba, wrote in his diary: “they have exhausted all the birch forest near Kyzyl”. In addition, the Tuvans sent 12,000 sheepskin coats, 19,000 pairs of mittens, 16,000 pairs of felt boots, 70,000 tons of sheep wool, 400 tons of meat, ghee and flour, carts, sleighs, harnesses and other goods for a total of about 66.5 million rubles. To help the USSR, the arats collected 5 echelons of gifts worth more than 10 million Tuvan aksha (rate of 1 aksha - 3 rubles 50 kopecks), food products for hospitals for 200,000 aksha. According to Soviet expert estimates, presented, for example, in the book "The USSR and Foreign States in 1941-1945", the total supplies of Mongolia and Tuva to the USSR in 1941-1942 were only 35% less than the total volume of Western allied supplies to those years in the USSR - that is, from the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, the South African Union, Australia and New Zealand combined.

"Black Death"

The first Tuvan volunteers (about 200 people) joined the ranks of the Red Army in May 1943. After a short training, they were enlisted in the 25th separate tank regiment (from February 1944 it was part of the 52nd Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front). This regiment fought on the territory of Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. In September 1943, the second group of volunteer cavalrymen (206 people) was enrolled, after training in the Vladimir region, in the 8th Cavalry Division. The cavalry division took part in raids on the rear of the enemy in western Ukraine. After the battle at Durazhno in January 1944, the Germans began to call the Tuvans "Der Schwarze Tod" - "Black Death". During interrogation, the captured German officer G. Remke said that the soldiers entrusted to him "subconsciously perceived these barbarians (Tuvans) as the hordes of Attila" and lost all combat capability ... were dressed in national costumes, wore amulets. Only at the beginning of 1944 did the Soviet command ask the Tuvan soldiers to send their "items of Buddhist and shamanic worship" to their homeland. Tuvans fought bravely. The command of the 8th Guards Cavalry Division wrote to the Tuvan government: “… with the obvious superiority of the enemy, the Tuvans fought to the death. So in the battles near the village of Surmich, 10 machine gunners led by the squad leader Dongur-Kyzyl and the crew of anti-tank rifles led by Dazhy-Seren died in this battle, but did not retreat a step, fighting to the last bullet. Over 100 enemy corpses were counted in front of a handful of brave men who died the death of heroes. They died, but where the sons of your Motherland stood, the enemy did not pass ... ”. A squadron of Tuvan volunteers liberated 80 Western Ukrainian settlements.

Tuvan heroes

Of the 80,000-thousandth population of the Tuvan Republic, about 8,000 Tuvan warriors took part in the Great Patriotic War. 67 soldiers and commanders were awarded orders and medals of the USSR. About 20 of them became holders of the Order of Glory, up to 5500 Tuvan soldiers were awarded other orders and medals of the Soviet Union and the Tuvan Republic. Two Tuvans were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union - Khomushku Churgui-ool and Tyulyush Kechil-ool.

Tuva squadron

Tuvans not only helped the front financially and fought bravely in tank and cavalry divisions, but also provided the Red Army with the construction of 10 Yak-7B aircraft. On March 16, 1943, at the Chkalovsky airfield near Moscow, the delegation of Tuva solemnly handed over the aircraft to the 133rd Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Red Army Air Force. The fighters were transferred to the commander of the 3rd Aviation Fighter Squadron, Novikov, and assigned to the crews. On each was written in white paint "From the Tuvinian people." Unfortunately, not a single Tuvan squadron aircraft survived until the end of the war. Of the 20 servicemen of the 133rd Aviation Fighter Regiment, who were the crews of the Yak-7B fighters, only three survived the war.

Today is the holiday of the marines, this branch of the coastal troops of the Navy is rightfully considered part of the elite of the Armed Forces - along with the paratroopers and special forces. In their more than 310-year history, the Marines have fought hundreds of battles, performed many feats, and repeatedly put the enemy to flight by their appearance.

The Great Patriotic War only confirmed the indestructible heroism of the marines.

One of the first heroic pages in the history of the Soviet marines was the famous Evpatoria landing in January 1942. The operation was preceded by a successful sortie of Soviet sailors from besieged Sevastopol, made a month earlier.

A detachment of 56 marines under the command of Captain Vasily Topchiev landed from two boats in the Crimean Yevpatoria, defeated the gendarmerie and the police department, destroyed a German aircraft at the airport, and several enemy ships and boats in the port. In addition, the soldiers managed to free 120 prisoners of war and return to Sevastopol without loss.

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The Soviet leadership assessed the results of the sortie and decided to arrange a new operation, on a larger scale. On January 5, 1942, the second group under the command of the same captain Topchiev landed in the Yevpatoriya port.

Having disembarked the troops and unloaded the ammunition, the minesweeper and the tug, firing back, went to sea.

From the rooftops of hotels "Crimea" and "Beau Rivage" the paratroopers were beaten by heavy machine guns. A fierce battle went outside the hotel "Crimea", the absence of heavy weapons affected. The Marines rushed deeper into the city.

Capturing the area of ​​modern street. The revolution, both churches on which there were German searchlights, and the building of a labor school (now gymnasium No. 4), the main forces of the landing moved to the area of ​​the old city, from where the uprising of the townspeople was supposed to begin.

The sailors broke into the city hospital, where the German hospital was located at that time. The charge of hatred for the invaders was so high that the Germans were killed even with their bare hands.

From the memoirs of A. Kornienko: "We broke into the hospital ... with knives, bayonets and rifle butts, we destroyed the Germans, threw them through the windows into the street ...".

A good knowledge of the quarters by the Yevpatorian sailors ensured success at the first stage of the operation. The police station (now the Makarenko library) was occupied by employees of the Yevpatoria city department of the NKVD, who sent a safe, documents and photographs from the police department and a photo studio to the ships.

While the battle was flaring up in the center of the city, the group of scouts who had landed earlier, Lieutenant-Commander Litovchuk, moved forward, practically meeting no resistance. They threw grenades at the coastal battery located at Cape Karantinniy and captured the power plant located there.

Having secured themselves, the sailors began to move along the sea along the street. Gorky towards the new city. Here, behind the Udarnik sanatorium, a detachment of scouts engaged the enemy's unit and forced it to retreat to the Gestapo building (the building of the Udarnik health resort clinic).

In the courtyard of the building where the Gestapo was located, hand-to-hand combat ensued. The Gestapo building was mainly defended by local accomplices of the invaders, who defended themselves desperately, realizing what awaited them in case of captivity. The paratroopers could not occupy the Gestapo building, there were too few scouts.

The sailors who landed at the grain pier were also successful at first. Having shot the Romanian horse patrol on the street. Revolution, they, practically without resistance, took possession of warehouses "Zagotzerno" and a POW camp located near the cemetery. Up to five hundred servicemen were released from captivity.

The civilian population provided unusually active support to the paratroopers. Of the prisoners of war released from the camp near warehouses "Zagotzerno", the sailors formed a detachment with the name "All for Hitler" numbering up to 200 people, the rest were so exhausted that they practically could not move and hold weapons in their hands.

By morning, almost the entire old city had been cleared of the Germans. The front line ran along the modern streets of Dm. Ulyanov - International - Matveev - Revolution. The entire new city and resort area remained in the hands of the Nazis. Fierce battle for the building of the hotel "Crimea" ended only by 7 in the morning. The battalion headquarters is located here.

Unfortunately, she failed to repeat the success of the first one. The Germans, taught by bitter experience, pulled large forces into the city and quickly surrounded the detachment, and after two days of continuous fighting it was defeated.

From the memoirs of the commander of the 70th engineer battalion Hubert Ritter von Haigl: “The Russians fired mercilessly at the attackers. Our forces were drying up, but with the arrival of the reconnaissance battalion of the 22nd Division and the 70th Sapper Battalion, the army regiments were quickly replenished. By 14 o'clock we were taking house by house. The offensive continued with the effective introduction of fighters into battle. .. From around every corner and barely fortified shelters, someone showed up and fired. Sappers took over the protection of the units, with their own means of fighting. They attacked the resistance with flamethrowers, explosive ammunition and gasoline. "

The fierce battle lasted up to 4 hours. The sailors were sorely lacking ammunition. Ammunition for the 100th gun " was also coming to an end.

Taking into account the battalion's situation, Lieutenant Commander K.V. Buzinov gave the order for a general withdrawal to the sea in order to hold at least the embankment until the second echelon arrived. However, the communication of the headquarters with many divisions was absent. Essentially, the fight broke up into a series of street fights. The hospital story repeated itself, but now the roles have changed.

About fifty seriously wounded were in the hands of angry Germans. They were shot at point-blank range. All the sailors took enemy bullets in the face, not one turned away. Together with them, doctors Glytsos and Balakhchi (both by nationality Greek), as well as one of the orderlies, died.

By about five o'clock in the evening at the hotel "Crimea" the surviving paratroopers gathered. Of the seven hundred and forty of them, only 123 people remained, many were wounded, along with them there were about two hundred fighters from among the released prisoners and local residents, but there were few weapons, there were almost no cartridges.

It became clear that the shore could not be held. Therefore, Buzinov decided to split into groups and make his way through the city to the steppe. We broke through Krasnoarmeyskaya Street to Internatsionalnaya Street, then went through Slobodka.

Some of the paratroopers managed to escape from the city. 48 people went to the Mamai quarries (according to another version - they hid for a day in a house on Russkaya Street, 4 near Praskovya Perekrestenko and Maria Glushko), and from there, they scattered in fives across the surrounding villages, many later fought in partisan detachments. Some of the fighters tried to hide in the city. The last hotbed of resistance in the city was a group of paratroopers, entrenched on the upper floors of the "Crimea" hotel. Here the battle went on until the morning of January 6th.

From the memoirs of the commander of the 70th engineer battalion H.R. von Heigl: “Before the day came, we were so close to the last hotbed of resistance ... that the withdrawal of the Russian infantry became impossible. Together with my strike group with flamethrowers, explosive charges and 4 cans of gasoline, I managed to capture the basement of the main building ... The Russians defended the last bastion before their total annihilation is incredibly courageous ... "

17 paratroopers led by Buzinov were surrounded by the Nazis near the village of Oraz (now Koloski). They took up defenses at the top of an ancient mound. During the battle, all the paratroopers were killed. In 1977, during archaeological excavations, at the top of the mound, the remains of naval belts, ribbons from peakless caps, spent cartridges, a naval badge, and a field bag were found. All this is in the trench, where the sailors of the battalion commander Buzinov took the last battle.

Soon, the M-33 submarine landed 13 scouts to search for the missing group. The Germans pressed them to the sea. A hopeless situation arose - it was not possible to evacuate the detachment because of the storm. A week later, the commander of the group, Commissar Ulyan Latyshev, transmitted the last radiogram - "We are blown up on our grenades. Goodbye!"

Later, the enemy repeatedly noted the open contempt of the Soviet marines for captivity and their willingness to die, but not leave their positions. It is not for nothing that the Germans respectfully nicknamed the Marines "Black Death".

Image source: Russian Seven

Today, very little is mentioned about the role of the very first ally of the USSR in the fight against Nazi Germany. The Tuvan People's Republic became this ally.

The rewritten modern history mercilessly erases the faces and fates of those who stood to the end in one of the bloodiest wars of the past century. During the Great Patriotic War, the Germans called Tuvans "Der Schwarze Tod" - "Black Death". The Tuvans fought to the death even with the obvious superiority of the enemy, they did not take prisoners. They received such a nickname in the very first battle.

On January 31, 1944, in a battle near Derazhno (Ukraine), Tuvan cavalrymen jumped out on small shaggy horses with sabers to the advanced German units. A little later, the captured German officer recalled that the spectacle had a demoralizing effect on his soldiers, who at a subconscious level perceived "these barbarians" as the hordes of Attila. After this battle, the Germans gave the Tuvans the name "Der Schwarze Tod" - "Black Death".

In his memoirs, General Sergei Bryulov explained:

“The horror of the Germans was also connected with the fact that the Tuvans, adhering to their own ideas about military rules, did not take the enemy prisoner in principle. And the command of the General Staff of the USSR could not interfere in their military affairs, after all, they are our allies, foreign volunteers, and in war all means are good. "

From the report of Marshal Zhukov comrade. Stalin:

“Our foreign soldiers, cavalrymen are too brave, do not know the tactics, strategy of modern warfare, military discipline, despite the preliminary training, they do not know the Russian language. If they continue to fight like this, by the end of the war none of them will be alive. "

To which Stalin replied:

“To take care, not to be the first to attack, to return the wounded in a delicate manner with honors to their homeland. Living soldiers from TNR, witnesses, will tell their people about the Soviet Union and their role in the Great Patriotic War. "

“THIS IS OUR WAR!»

The Tuvan People's Republic became part of the Soviet Union already during the war, on August 17, 1944. In the summer of 1941, Tuva was de jure an independent state. In August 1921, the White Guard detachments of Kolchak and Ungern were expelled from there. The capital of the republic was the former Belotsarsk, renamed Kyzyl (Red City).

Soviet troops were withdrawn from Tuva by 1923, but the USSR continued to provide Tuva with all possible assistance, without claiming its independence.

It is customary to say that Great Britain was the first to support the USSR in the war, but this is not the case. Tuva declared war on Germany and its allies on June 22, 1941, 11 hours before Churchill's historic radio announcement. Mobilization immediately began in Tuva, the republic announced its readiness to send its army to the front.

38 thousand Tuvan arats in a letter to Joseph Stalin said: "We are together. This is our war too. "

Regarding Tuva's declaration of war on Germany, there is a historical legend that when Hitler found out about it, he was amused, he did not even bother to find this republic on the map. But in vain.

At the time of entering the war with Germany, there were 489 people in the ranks of the army of the Tuvan People's Republic. But it was not the army of the Tuvan Republic that became a formidable force, but its assistance to the USSR.

ALL FOR THE FRONT!

Immediately after the declaration of war on fascist Germany, Tuva transferred to the Soviet Union not only the entire gold reserve of the republic, but also the extraction of Tuvan gold - for a total of 35 million rubles of that time (the purchasing power of which is ten times higher than that of today's Russian ones).

Tuvans accepted the war as their own. This is evidenced by the amount of assistance that the poor republic provided to the front.

From June 1941 to October 1944, Tuva supplied 50,000 war horses and 750,000 head of cattle for the needs of the Red Army. Each Tuvan family gave the front from 10 to 100 head of cattle. The Tuvans literally put the Red Army on skis, putting 52,000 pairs of skis on the front.

The Prime Minister of Tuva Saryk-Dongak Chimba wrote in his diary:"They have removed all the birch forest near Kyzyl."

In addition, Tuvans sent 12,000 sheepskin coats, 19,000 pairs of mittens, 16,000 pairs of felt boots, 70,000 tons of sheep wool, 400 tons of meat, ghee and flour, carts, sleighs, harness and other goods for a total of about 66.5 million rubles.

To help the USSR, the arats collected five echelons of gifts worth more than 10 million Tuvan aksha (rate of 1 aksha - 3 rubles 50 kopecks), and food products for hospitals for 200,000 aksha.

Almost all of this is free of charge, not to mention honey, canned fruits and berries and concentrates, bandages, medicinal herbs and medicines of national medicine, wax, resin ...

From this stock, Ukraine in 1944 was donated 30 thousand cows. It was with this livestock that the post-war revival of Ukrainian animal husbandry began.

FIRST VOLUNTEERS

In the fall of 1942, the Soviet government allowed the admission of volunteers from Tuva and Mongolia to military service. The first Tuvan volunteers - about 200 people - entered the ranks of the Red Army in May 1943 and were enlisted in the 25th separate tank regiment (from February 1944 it was part of the 52nd Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front). The regiment fought on the territory of Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

And in September 1943, the second group of volunteers - 206 people - was enlisted in the 8th cavalry division, which participated, in particular, in raids on the fascist rear and Bandera (nationalist) groups in western Ukraine.

The first Tuvan volunteers were a typical national part, they were dressed in national costumes and wore amulets.

Only at the beginning of 1944 did the Soviet command ask the Tuvan soldiers to send their "items of Buddhist and shamanic cult" to their homeland.

Many other combat episodes can be cited that characterize the courage of the Tuvans. Here is just one such case:

The command of the 8th Guards Cavalry Division wrote to the Tuvan government: “… with the obvious superiority of the enemy, the Tuvans fought to the death. So, in the battles near the village of Surmich, 10 machine gunners led by the squad leader Dongur-Kyzyl and the calculation of anti-tank rifles led by Dazhy-Seren died in this battle, but did not retreat a step, fighting to the last bullet. Over 100 enemy corpses were counted in front of a handful of brave men who died the death of heroes. They died, but where the sons of your Motherland stood, the enemy did not pass ... ”.

The first Tuvan volunteers (about 200 people) joined the ranks of the Red Army in May 1943. After a short training, they were enlisted in the 25th separate tank regiment (from February 1944 it was part of the 52nd Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front). This regiment fought on the territory of Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

In September 1943, the second group of volunteer cavalrymen (206 people) was enrolled, after training in the Vladimir region, in the 8th Cavalry Division.

The cavalry division took part in raids on the rear of the enemy in western Ukraine. After the battle at Durazhno in January 1944, the Germans began to call the Tuvinians "der schwarze Tod" - "Black Death".

During interrogation, the captured German officer Hans Remke said that the soldiers entrusted to him "subconsciously perceived these barbarians (Tuvans) as the hordes of Attila" and lost all combat capability.

It should be said here that the first Tuvan volunteers were a typical national part, they were dressed in national costumes and wore amulets. Only at the beginning of 1944 did the Soviet command ask the Tuvan soldiers to send their "items of Buddhist and shamanic worship" to their homeland.

Tuvans fought bravely. The command of the 8th Guards Cavalry Division wrote to the Tuvan government:

“With the obvious superiority of the enemy, the Tuvans fought to the death. So in the battles near the village of Surmich, 10 machine gunners led by the squad leader Dongur-Kyzyl and the crew of anti-tank rifles led by Dazhy-Seren died in this battle, but did not retreat a step, fighting to the last bullet. Over 100 enemy corpses were counted in front of a handful of brave men who died the death of heroes. They died, but where the sons of your Motherland stood, the enemy did not pass. "

A squadron of Tuvan volunteers liberated 80 Western Ukrainian settlements.