The famous German plan "Barbarossa" can be briefly described something like this: it is practically unrealistic strategic plan Hitler to capture Russia as the main enemy on the path to world domination.

It is worth remembering that by the time of the attack on the Soviet Union, fascist Germany led by Adolf Hitler almost unhindered seized half of the European states. Only Britain and the United States resisted the aggressor.

The essence and objectives of Operation Barbarossa

The Soviet-German non-aggression pact signed shortly before the start of the Great Patriotic War, was for Hitler nothing more than a handicap. Why? Because the Soviet Union, not assuming a possible betrayal, carried out the aforementioned agreement.

And the leader of Germany thus gained time to carefully develop a strategy for capturing his main enemy.

Why did Hitler recognize Russia as the biggest obstacle in the implementation of the blitzkrieg? Because the perseverance of the USSR did not allow England and the United States to lose heart and, perhaps, surrender, like many European countries.

Also the fall Soviet Union would serve as a powerful impetus to strengthen Japan's position on the world stage. And Japan and the United States had extremely tense relations. Also, the non-aggression pact allowed Germany not to launch an offensive in unfavorable winter cold conditions.

The preliminary strategy for the Barbarossa plan was, point by point, something like this:

1. The powerful and well-trained army of the Reich invades Western Ukraine, instantly smashing the main forces of the disoriented enemy. After several decisive battles, German forces finish off the scattered detachments of the surviving Soviet soldiers.
2. From the territory of the captured Balkans, march victoriously to Moscow and Leningrad. Capture both paramount cities to achieve the intended outcome of the city. The task of capturing Moscow as the country's political and tactical center was especially prominent. Interesting: the Germans were sure that Moscow would flock to defend every single remnant of the USSR army - and it would be easier than ever to crush them completely.

Why was the German attack plan on the USSR called the "Barbarossa" plan

The strategic plan for the lightning-fast capture and conquest of the Soviet Union got its name in honor of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who ruled the Holy Roman Empire in the 12th century.

The designated leader went down in history thanks to his numerous and successful campaigns of conquest.

The name of the plan "Barbarossa" undoubtedly traced the symbolism inherent in almost all actions and decisions of the leadership of the Third Reich. The name of the plan was approved on January 31, 1941.

Hitler's goals in World War II

Like any totalitarian dictator, Hitler did not pursue any special tasks (at least, those that could be explained by applying the elementary logic of a sane mind).

Third Reich unleashed the Second World war with the sole purpose: to seize the world, establish domination, subjugate all countries and peoples to their perverted ideologues, impose their worldview on the entire population of the planet.

How much Hitler wanted to capture the USSR

In general, the Nazi strategists allotted only five months to capture the vast territory of the Soviet Union - one single summer.

Today, such arrogance may seem unfounded, if you do not remember that at the time of the development of the plan, the German army in just a few months, without much effort and loss, captured almost all of Europe.

What does blitzkrieg mean and what are its tactics

Blitzkrieg, or the tactics of lightning-fast capture of the enemy, is the brainchild of German military strategists of the early 20th century. The word Blitzkrieg comes from two German words: Blitz (lightning) and Krieg (war).

The blitzkrieg strategy was based on the possibility of capturing vast territories in record time (months or even weeks) before the opposing army came to its senses and mobilized the main forces.

The tactics of a lightning attack were based on the closest interaction of the infantry, aviation and tank formations of the German army. Tank crews supported by the infantry must break through to the rear of the enemy and surround the main fortified positions, important for establishing permanent control over the territory.

The enemy army, being cut off from all communication systems and all kinds of supplies, quickly begins to experience difficulties in solving the simplest issues (water, food, ammunition, clothing, etc.). The forces of the attacked country, weakened in this way, are soon surrendered or destroyed.

When did fascist Germany attack the USSR?

According to the results of the development of the Barbarossa plan, the Reich attack on the USSR was scheduled for May 15, 1941. The date of the invasion was shifted due to the conduct of the Greek and Yugoslavian operations in the Balkans by the Nazis.

In fact, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union without a declaration of war on June 22, 1941 at 4:00 am. This mournful date is considered the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.

Where did the Germans go during the war - map

Blitzkrieg tactics helped German troops in the first days and weeks of the Second World War to cover vast distances across the territory of the USSR without any particular problems. In 1942, a rather impressive part of the country was captured by the Nazis.

German forces almost reached Moscow. In the Caucasus, they advanced to the Volga, but after the battle of Stalingrad they were pushed back to Kursk. At this stage, the retreat of the German army began. By northern lands the invaders went as far as Arkhangelsk.

Reasons for the failure of the Barbarossa plan

If we look at the situation globally, the plan fell through due to the inaccuracy of German intelligence data. Wilhelm Canaris, who led it, may well have been a British double agent, as some historians today claim.

If we take these unconfirmed data on trust, it becomes clear why he “fed” Hitler with disinformation that the USSR has practically no secondary defense lines, but there are huge supply problems, and, besides, almost all the troops are on the border.

Conclusion

Many historians, poets, writers, as well as eyewitnesses of the events described, admit that a huge, almost decisive role in the victory of the USSR over fascist Germany was played by the fighting spirit of the Soviet people, the love of freedom of Slavic and other peoples who did not want to drag out a miserable existence under yoke world tyranny.

The Battle of Moscow (1941-1942) is one of the largest battles of the Second World War, both in terms of the number of participants in the parties and the territory in which it took place. The significance of the battle was enormous, it was on the verge of actual defeat, but thanks to the valor of the soldiers and the commanding talents of the generals, the battle for Moscow was won, and the myth of the invincibility of the German troops was destroyed. Where were the Germans stopped near Moscow? The course of the battle, the strength of the parties, as well as its results and consequences will be discussed further in the article.

Prehistory of the battle

According to the general plan of the German command, codenamed "Barbarossa", Moscow was supposed to be captured three to four months after the start of the war. However, Soviet troops offered heroic resistance. The battle for Smolensk alone delayed the German troops for two months.

The Nazi soldiers came to Moscow only at the end of September, that is, in the fourth month of the war. The operation to seize the capital of the USSR was codenamed "Typhoon", according to which German troops were supposed to capture Moscow from the north and south, then encircle and capture. The Moscow battle took place on a vast territory that stretched over a thousand kilometers.

Forces of the parties. Germany

The German command deployed huge forces for. 77 divisions with a total number of more than 2 million people took part in the battles. In addition, the Wehrmacht had at its disposal more than 1,700 tanks and self-propelled guns, 14 thousand guns and mortars, and about 800 aircraft. The commander of this huge army was Field Marshal F. von Bock.

the USSR

For the VKG Headquarters there were forces of five fronts with a total number of more than 1.25 million people. Also, Soviet troops had more than 1000 tanks, 10 thousand guns and mortars, and more than 500 aircraft. The defense of Moscow was in turn led by several outstanding strategists: A.M. Vasilevsky, I.S.Konev, G.K. Zhukov.

Course of events

Before finding out where the Germans were stopped near Moscow, it is worth talking a little about the course of hostilities in this battle. It is usually divided into two stages: defensive (which lasted from September 30 to December 4, 1941) and offensive (from December 5, 1941 to April 20, 1942).

Defensive stage

September 30, 1941 is considered the start date of the battle for Moscow. On this day, the Nazis attacked the troops of the Bryansk Front.

On October 2, the Germans launched an offensive in the Vyazma direction. Despite stubborn resistance, the German units managed to cut the Soviet troops between the cities of Rzhev and Vyazma, as a result of which the troops of actually two fronts were in the cauldron. In total, more than 600 thousand Soviet soldiers were surrounded.

After the defeat at Bryansk, the defense line by the Soviet command was organized in the Mozhaisk direction. Residents of the city hastily prepared defensive structures: dug trenches and trenches, set up anti-tank hedgehogs.

In the course of a rapid offensive, German troops managed to capture cities such as Kaluga, Maloyaroslavets, Kalinin, Mozhaisk from 13 to 18 October and come close to the Soviet capital. On October 20, a state of siege was introduced in Moscow.

Moscow surrounded

Even before the actual introduction of a state of siege in Moscow, on October 15, the Civil Defense Committee was evacuated from the capital to Kuibyshev (modern Samara), the next day the evacuation of all government agencies, the General Staff, etc. began.

JV Stalin decided to stay in the city. On the same day, the residents of the capital were seized by panic, rumors spread about the abandonment of Moscow, several dozen residents of the city tried to urgently leave the capital. Only by October 20 was it possible to establish order. On this day, the city passed into a state of siege.

By the end of October 1941, battles were already underway near Moscow in Naro-Fominsk, Kubinka, Volokolamsk. Moscow was regularly raided by German aircraft, which did not cause much damage, since the most valuable buildings in the capital were carefully camouflaged, and besides, Soviet anti-aircraft gunners worked well. At the cost huge losses the October offensive of the German troops was stopped. But they almost reached Moscow.

Where did the Germans manage to get? This sad list includes the suburbs of Tula, Serpukhov, Naro-Fominsk, Kaluga, Kalinin, Mozhaisk.

Parade on Red Square

Taking advantage of the relative silence at the front, the Soviet command decided to hold a military parade on Red Square. The purpose of the parade was to raise the morale of Soviet soldiers. The date was set for November 7, 1941, the parade was hosted by S.M.Budyonny, the parade was commanded by General P.A.Artemiev. The parade was attended by rifle and motorized rifle units, Red Navy men, cavalrymen, as well as artillery and tank regiments. From the parade, the soldiers left almost immediately to the front line, leaving unconquered Moscow behind ...

Where did the Germans go? What cities were they able to get to? How did the Red Army manage to stop the orderly battle formations of the enemy? It's time to find out about it.

November offensive of the Nazis on the capital

On November 15, after a powerful artillery barrage, a new round of the German offensive near Moscow began. Stubborn battles unfolded in the Volokolamsk and Klin directions. So, in 20 days of the offensive, the Nazis managed to advance 100 km and capture cities such as Klin, Solnechnogorsk, Yakhroma. The closest settlement to Moscow, where the Germans reached during the offensive, was Yasnaya Polyana - the estate of the writer Leo Tolstoy.

To the borders of Moscow itself, the Germans had about 17 km, and to the walls of the Kremlin 29. By the beginning of December, as a result of a counterattack, Soviet units managed to dislodge the Germans from the previously occupied territories in the vicinity of the capital, including from Yasnaya Polyana.

Today we know where the Germans reached near Moscow - to the very walls of the capital! But they failed to take the city.

The onset of cold weather

As mentioned above, the "Barbarossa" plan provided for the capture of Moscow by German troops no later than October 1941. In this regard, the German command did not provide for winter uniforms for soldiers. The first night frosts began at the end of October, and for the first time the temperature dropped below zero on November 4. On this day, the thermometer showed -8 degrees. Subsequently, the temperature very rarely dropped below 0 ° C.

Not only were they not ready for the first cold weather German soldiers dressed in a light uniform, but also a technique that was not designed to work in subzero temperatures.

The cold weather caught the soldiers when they were actually several tens of kilometers from Belokamennaya, but their equipment did not start in the cold, and the frozen Germans near Moscow did not want to fight. "General Moroz" once again hastened to the rescue of the Russians ...

Where were the Germans stopped near Moscow? The last attempt of the Germans to capture Moscow was made during the offensive on Naro-Fominsk on December 1. In the course of several massive attacks, German units managed for a short time to drive a wedge into the areas of Zvenigorod for 5 km, Naro-Fominsk up to 10 km.

After the transfer of the reserve, the Soviet troops managed to push the enemy back to their original positions. The Naro-Fominsk operation is considered the last one carried out by the Soviet command at the defensive stage of the battle for Moscow.

Results of the defensive stage of the battle for Moscow

The Soviet Union defended its capital at a huge cost. Irrecoverable losses the personnel of the Red Army during the defensive stage amounted to more than 500 thousand people. at this stage, it lost about 145 thousand people. But in the course of its offensive on Moscow, the German command used virtually all of its free reserves, which by December 1941 were actually depleted, which allowed the Red Army to go on the offensive.

At the end of November, after it became known from intelligence sources that Japan was not with Of the Far East about 10 divisions and hundreds of tanks were transferred to Moscow. The troops of the Western, Kalinin and Southwestern fronts were staffed with new divisions, as a result of which, by the beginning of the offensive, the Soviet grouping in the Moscow direction consisted of more than 1.1 million soldiers, 7,700 guns and mortars, 750 tanks, and about 1,000 aircraft.

However, it was opposed by a group of German troops, not inferior, and even superior in number. The number of personnel reached 1.7 million people, tanks and aircraft were 1200 and 650, respectively.

On December 5 and 6, the troops of the three fronts launched a large-scale offensive, and already on December 8 Hitler gave the order for the German troops to go over to the defensive. 1941 Soviet troops liberated Istra and Solnechnogorsk. On December 15 and 16, the cities of Klin and Kalinin were liberated.

For ten days of the offensive of the Red Army, it was possible to push back the enemy in different sectors of the front by 80-100 km, and also to create a threat of collapse of the German front of Army Group Center.

Hitler, not wanting to retreat, dismissed Generals Brauchitsch and Bock and appointed General G. von Kluge as the new commander of the army. However, the Soviet offensive was developing rapidly, and the German command was unable to stop it. In total, in December 1941, German troops in different sectors of the front were thrown back 100-250 km, which actually meant the elimination of the threat to the capital, the complete defeat of the Germans near Moscow.

In 1942, Soviet troops slowed down the pace of their advance and failed to actually destroy the front of Army Group Center, although they inflicted an extremely heavy defeat on the German troops.

The outcome of the battle for Moscow

The historical significance of the defeat of the Germans near Moscow is invaluable for the entire Second World War. More than 3 million people, over two thousand aircraft and three thousand tanks, took part in this battle on both sides, and the front stretched for more than 1000 km. For 7 months of the battle, Soviet troops lost more than 900 thousand people killed and missing, German troops lost more than 400 thousand people during the same period. Important results of the battle for Moscow (1941-1942) can be indicated:

• Destroyed the German plan "blitzkrieg" - a quick lightning victory, Germany had to prepare for a long exhausting war.
• The threat of the seizure of Moscow ceased to exist.
• The myth of the invincibility of the German army was dispelled.
• The German army suffered serious losses of its advanced and most efficient units, which had to be replenished with inexperienced recruits.
• The Soviet command acquired tremendous experience for successfully waging a war with the German army.
• After the victory in the Moscow battle, the anti-Hitler coalition began to take shape.

This is how the defense of Moscow proceeded, and such significant results were brought by its positive outcome.

In 1942, the map shows the maximum advance of the fascist troops into the depths of the Soviet Union. On the scale of the Soviet Union, this is a small part, but what were the victims in the occupied territories.

If you look closely, in the north the Germans stopped in the area of ​​the present Republic of Karelia, then Leningrad, Kalinin, Moscow, Voronezh, Stalingrad. In the south we reached the region of the city of Grozny. You cannot describe it in a nutshell.

From school course history we know that the fascists in the USSR reached such cities as Moscow, Leningrad, Stalingrad (now Volgograd), Grozny, Kalinin, Voronezh. After 1942, when the Nazis advanced as much as possible across the territory of the USSR, they began to retreat. You can see the progress of their promotion on the map in more detail:



The Germans advanced quite deep into the territory of the Soviet Union. But they did not manage to take strategically important cities: neither Moscow nor Leningrad submitted. In the Leningrad direction, they were stopped in the area of ​​the city of Tikhvin. In the Kalinin direction - near the village of Mednoe. At Stalingrad we reached the Volga, the last outpost - the village of Kuporosnoye. On the western front, near the city of Rzhev, the Germans were knocked out at the cost of incredible efforts (recall the famous poem by Tvardovsky I was killed near Rzhev). They also fought furiously for the Caucasus, which was of strategic importance - access to the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf. We stopped in the area of ​​the city of Maykop.



Where the Nazis reached, this is already a well-known business, and every historian can accurately tell everything in detail, about every point, about every city and village in which there were fierce battles, everything is especially well described and remained in memory in books that can be for many years just pick up and read.

And this is how the map looks like:



A lot of maps are shown, but I will say in words: during the Great Patriotic War, the Nazis came close to Moscow, they had only 30 km to Moscow, but they were stopped there. Naturally, I know everything about the blockade of Leningrad, Battle of Kursk, Rzhevskoe direction. Here is a map of the battle for Moscow.



http://dp60.narod.ru/image/maps/330.jpg

This is the line of maximum advancement of the Germans &; Co deep into Soviet territory.

There are many types of cards.

To be honest, I don't really trust the Internet, I trust history books more.

I myself live in Belarus and therefore the card may not be much different.

But here's a photo I took, just for you!



The Nazis went far, but, as you know, they failed to capture Moscow. Not so long ago I was interested in information when the Nazis began to retreat. We managed to find only a few facts of the events near Moscow. You can quote:

The map shows the territory of the USSR, which the Germans managed to pass before November 15, 1942 (after which they went a little further inland and began to retreat):



The German offensive on the USSR was in 1941, they almost achieved their goal, and the Nazis had only about thirty kilometers left to reach Moscow, but they still did not succeed, but here is a map where everything is described in detail



They were near Moscow - 30 km, and there they were defeated, you better read it in Wikipedia, everything is described in detail there and the dates are from the video, see here. And here is the map in the pictures below, everything is marked by black arrows.



During the Great Patriotic War, fascist Germany captured a significant territory of the former USSR.

The troops of the Third Reich occupied many of the republics of the then union. Among them are part of the RSFSR, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus, the Baltic republics.

Below on the map you can see the border (bold red line) where the Nazis entered during the hostilities:

The Germans in November 1941 did not enter Moscow because the dams of the reservoirs surrounding Moscow were blown up. On November 29, Zhukov reported on the flooding of 398 settlements, without warning the local population, in a 40-degree frost ... the water level rose to 6 meters ... no one counted people ...

Vitaly Dymarsky: Good evening, dear listeners. On air "Echo of Moscow" another program from the cycle "Price of Victory". Today I'm leading it, Vitaly Dymarsky. And I will immediately introduce you to our guest - journalist, historian Iskander Kuzeev. Hello Iskander.

Iskander Kuzeev: Hello.

And it was no coincidence that he was invited to us today, since it was precisely today that Iskander Kuzeev's article entitled “The Moscow Flood” was published in the Top Secret newspaper, which deals with the secret operation of the autumn of 1941. The author of the article himself will tell in more detail, and I will make one digression and just tell you that, you see, life has its own way, and I repeat, Dmitry Zakharov and I are trying to go to chronological order on the events of World War II, but when something interesting comes along, we go back, maybe we will even get ahead of ourselves. And today we are going back, in the autumn of 1941, when the events that were investigated and about which our guest Iskander Kuzeev wrote about. Iskander, what are you talking about? What kind of secret operation took place in the fall of 1941 and why are we talking about the flood?

Let me start with some preface. I have always been interested in the episode of November 1941, which I have become quite familiar with from memoirs, in particular, the recently published memoirs in Russian by Guderian, who fought south of Moscow. Guderian's troops, 2nd tank army, practically finished the encirclement of Moscow from the south. Tula was surrounded, the troops approached Kashira, moved in the direction of Kolomna and Ryazan. And at this time, Soviet troops, which were repelling Guderian's attacks, received reinforcements from the north of the Moscow region, where there were practically no clashes. In the north of the Moscow region and further along the Tver region, Kalinin was taken, the troops were stationed in the vicinity of Rogachevo and Konakovo, and clashes there took place practically only at two points: near the village of Kryukovo and on the Permilov heights between Yakhroma and Dmitrov, where the troops of the Army Group Center were opposed in fact, one NKVD armored train, which happened to be there - it was going from Zagorsk towards Krasnaya Gorka, where German artillery was already stationed. And there were no other clashes in this region. At the same time, already when I began to get acquainted with this topic, I became aware that individual, literally units of German military equipment penetrated the territory of Moscow.

This famous case, when some motorcyclists drove almost to the "Falcon"?

Yes, yes, they were stopped at the second bridge across the railway, which later became known as the Victory Bridge. There, two of our machine gunners were guarding this bridge, and they were guarding it from air raids. Motorcyclists passed the first bridge over the canal and in the area of ​​the current metro station "Rechnoy Vokzal", there was bad weather, and as the researchers who were working on this topic told me, they went down to the ice to kick a ball, at that time 30 motorcyclists passed, and they already stopped at the last bridge in front of the Sokol station. And there was one German tank between the present metro stations "Skhodnenskaya" and "Tushinskaya".

Volokolamsk direction.

Yes. This is the Western Bridge over the diversion canal in the Tushino area. And as the people who were doing this research told me, they told me this in the management of the Moscow-Volga channel, as it is now called, the FSUE Moscow Canal, the most high building on a hill between the 7th and 8th locks, and such a story was passed from generation to generation, it was clearly visible from there: some lost German tank came out, stopped on the bridge, looked out german officer, looked back and forth, wrote something down in a notebook and left somewhere in reverse direction towards the Aleshkinsky forest. And third, there was German large-caliber artillery on Krasnaya Gorka, which was already ready to shell the Kremlin, it was to this point that an armored train was moving from the north, and the locals crossed the canal and reported this to the leadership, to the Ministry of Defense, and after that the shelling of this point began where the large-caliber artillery was stationed. But there were no troops in this place. When I began to deal with this topic, I found out what was happening - exactly the event took place, which in this publication is called "The Moscow Flood".

So what was this flood? They just flooded a large area in order to prevent the advance of the German troops, do I understand correctly?

Yes. Exactly. In the Volokolamsk direction, the dam of the Istra hydroelectric complex was blown up, which is called the Kuibyshev Hydroelectric Complex. Moreover, drainages were blown up below the level of the so-called "dead mark", when the water descends to discharge the spring flood. Huge streams of water in the place where the German troops were advancing fell on the area of ​​the offensive and several villages were washed away, and the stream reached almost to the Moskva River. There, the level is 168 meters above sea level, the mark of the Istra reservoir, and below its mark is 143, that is, it turns out more than 25 meters. Imagine, this is such a waterfall of water that washes away everything in its path, floods houses and villages. Naturally, no one was warned about this, the operation was secret.

Who performed this operation? Troops or some civilian service?

On Istra it was a military operation, that is, an engineering department Western front... But there was also another operation, which was carried out jointly by the leadership of the Moscow-Volga canal, now called the Moscow Canal, and by the same engineering department of the Western Front, moreover ...

What other operation?

Another, in another place.

And, there was one more.

There was also a second, or rather, even two, since the second operation was carried out at two points. When the Germans occupied Kalinin and came close to the line of the Moscow-Volga canal and there were no forces to repel these attacks, the evacuation was already being prepared, Stalin was already preparing to evacuate to Kuibyshev, now Samara, a meeting was held at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, at which it was decided to drain water from all six reservoirs to the north of Moscow - Khimkinskoye, Ikshinskoye, Pyalovskoye, Pestovskoye, Pirogovskoye, Klyazminskoye, and to drain water from the Ivankovskoye reservoir, which was then called the Moscow Sea, from a dam near the city of Dubna. This was done in order to break the ice and thus the troops and heavy equipment would not be able to cross the Volga and the Moscow Sea and would not be able to cross this line of six reservoirs near Moscow.

The first operation on the Istra reservoir, is it November 1941?

Yes, the end of November.

And the others?

That is, all these operations were carried out one after another at the end of November. And what is the result, if I may say so? What did the Soviet command sacrifice in order to stop the German troops?

There were two options for draining water - from the Ivankovskoye reservoir downstream of the Volga, and draining water from the reservoirs towards Moscow. But a completely different option was adopted. To the west of the canal flows the Sestra River, it passes through Klin-Rogachevo and flows into the Volga below Dubna, where the canal runs high above the surrounding area. It passes in a tunnel under the canal. And the Yakhroma River flows into the Sestra River, which also flows much below the level of the canal. There is the so-called Emergency Yakhroma spillway, which, in case of any repair work, allows water to be discharged from the canal into the Yakhroma River. And where the Sestra river flows under the canal, there are emergency hatches, which are also provided for the repair of engineering structures, which allow water from the canal to be discharged into the Sestra river. And this decision was made: through the pumping stations that raise water to the Moscow reservoirs, they all stand at the same elevation of 162 meters above sea level, it was decided to start up these pumping stations in the opposite, so-called generator mode, when they rotate in the other direction and do not consume, but produce electricity, therefore, this is called the generator mode, and the water was released through these pumping stations, all the gate valves were opened and a huge stream of water rushed through this Yakhroma spillway, flooding villages, there are various villages at a very low level above the water, there are peat enterprises, experimental farms, a lot of irrigation canals in this triangle - a canal, the Yakhroma River and the Sestra River, and a lot of small villages that are located almost at the water level. And in the fall of 1941, frost of 40 degrees, ice broke, and streams of water flooded the entire surrounding area. All this was done in an atmosphere of secrecy, so people ...

No precautions were taken.

And at the third point, where the Sestra river passes under the canal, there were still built - there is a book by Valentin Barkovsky, a veteran of the Moscow-Volga canal, there is such a researcher Mikhail Arkhipov, he has a website on the Internet where he is in detail about this says - there were welded metal gates that did not allow water from the Sestra River to flow into the Volga, and all the water that was dumped, imagine, a huge body of water from the Ivankovskoye reservoir went into the Sestra River and flooded everything around. According to Arkhipov, the level of the Yakhroma River rose by 4 meters, the level of the Sestra River rose by 6 meters.

Explain, as you just said, according to all the testimonies - we did not see with our own eyes and did not feel with our skin - it was a very hard and cold winter, the frosts were terrible. This is the water that is in huge numbers poured out on earth surface, she had to turn to ice.

Almost yes. First, the ice broke ...

But then, in the cold, it all turned, probably, into ice?

But this does not happen immediately. I was interested in how a person can be saved in such a situation. And the professor of anesthesiology, with whom I spoke, told me that it is enough to stand for half an hour knee-deep in such water and the person simply dies.

How many villages were flooded in this way?

In all these operations, somewhere in the order of 30-40.

But if I am not mistaken, there was an order from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Comrade Stalin to flood, in my opinion, more than 300 villages around Moscow in order to stop the German offensive?

There was an order. It was not talking about flooding, it was talking about destruction.

Villages. As a matter of fact, one story is very famous. This is where Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was caught, these sabotage groups ...

Yes, this is in accordance with this order 0428 of November 17 at the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. And in accordance with this order, all villages in the depths of the front at a distance of 40-60 kilometers were to be destroyed. Well, there is such a florid wording that this is an operation, as it were, against the German troops. And there was even such a formulation "to take away the Soviet population".

That is, sabotage groups had to take the Soviet population with them before burning the village?

No, the retreating troops had to withdraw. But since they had already retreated and since there was an order to burn exactly those villages that were behind the front line, this postscript was simply fiction. This postscript is now for those who defend Stalin. When certain excerpts from these materials were published in different blogs, a lot of Stalinists appeared in the comments, who quoted this phrase.

As an example of humanism.

Yes Yes. But this phrase means absolutely nothing, we know. And then, when the offensive began, there were a lot of newsreels about the burned down villages. Naturally, the question did not arise who burned them. The Germans were there, so the operators came and filmed the burned villages.

That is, wherever the Germans were, to this depth, as Comrade Stalin ordered, all these villages where the Germans stood had to be destroyed in one way or another.

Did they report to Stalin?

Yes. For two weeks, they reported that 398 settlements were destroyed. And so these 30-40 flooded villages are a drop in the ocean ...

One tenth, 10 percent.

Yes, and few people paid attention to this. And here in the report Zhukov and Shaposhnikov write that the artillery was allocated for this, and aviation, and the mass of these saboteurs, 100 thousand Molotov cocktails, and so on, and so on.

Is this a genuine document?

Yes, this is an absolutely authentic document, there is even data where, in what archive it is located, the fund, the inventory.

In full - no.

I have never met. Do you include it in the article?

We will have an addition in the next issue and we will talk about it, we will publish order 0428 and the report, the report of the Military Council of the Western Front to the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command on November 29, 1941. This immediately clarifies the whole picture.

You know what else interests me in this whole story. History, diplomatically speaking, is little known. And if more frankly, it is practically not known at all. Nowhere in our country, as I understand it, neither in military literature nor in memoirs has this story of flooding been told anywhere, or it was somewhere, but under some sort of heading "top secret", as the newspaper is actually called, where are you published?

The only thing that I managed to find from published in previous years is a book edited by Marshal Shaposhnikov, which was published in 1943, devoted to the defense of Moscow, and it came out with the stamp "secret" and already in last years The “secret” stamp was removed and the “chipboard” stamp was, and it was only declassified in 2006. And in this book it was said about the explosion of waterways in Istra. And nothing was said about the operation on the channel. I managed to find this only in the book that was published for the anniversary of the Moscow-Volga channel, last year the 70th anniversary was celebrated, and a book by Valentin Barkovsky was published with a circulation of only 500 copies. And there it is described in detail.

And this book, edited by Shaposhnikov, had all the stamps removed from it, but apparently it is just in the libraries.

Well, yes, it was no longer reprinted.

I knew, of course, that many documents were stamped, but in order to publish a book and immediately under the heading “secret”, what circulation could it have and for whom was it intended then?

The circulation is very small. Well, for the management team.

And then here's the question. Did the Germans know about this operation and was it described somewhere in German military literature?

Unfortunately, I couldn't find it. When I had doubts that everything was really flooded and people were dying there, I traveled all this territory in the Yakhroma-Rogachevo-Konakovo-Dubna square, and I met a lot of people there, well, not that a lot of people, it very elderly people who remembered this, who told, and this story was passed down from generation to generation. I was told by a resident of the village named after May 1, this is a working village right at the level of irrigation canals that flow into Yakhroma, and he told me how my grandmother survived all this, she survived. Many did not survive, and those who survived left memories. She said that they hid in a potato storage, and several soldiers who crossed Yakhroma and the irrigation canal, they simply rescued them. Firstly, there artillery hit from all sides. There were low, completely shield houses, even lower than peasant huts, and naturally, artillery hit what was visible, and could be seen with a high chimney potato storage. And so they say: “Why are you sitting here? They will kill you now. " And the water began to flow, they got out and managed to get out along the road that went along the embankment just above the canal and go in the direction of Dmitrov.

Iskander, tell me, is it known whether someone made such calculations how many people died as a result of the flooding of these villages?

I have not been able to find these calculations anywhere. And when they published on blogs, I gave my friends excerpts, there were a lot of objections from Stalinist people, it was clear from their blogs in Live Journal that they were ardent admirers of Stalin, they said that no one could die there, that at home stand high above the level of the river, and that there is still an attic, there is still a roof. But when I talked to the doctors, they said that there was little chance of being saved in such a situation.

Is it known at least what was the approximate population of these villages before the flood?

There are no such calculations for specific villages. It is known that out of 27 million, now this figure is considered, the staff of the Red Army accounts for only one third of this number.

Even less.

Two thirds are civilians. The military told me that there was no need to raise this topic at all, because any shelling would mean the death of civilians.

Iskander, I will interrupt you and interrupt our program for a few minutes while the news is broadcast, after which we will continue our conversation.

Good evening again, dear listeners. We continue the program "The Price of Victory", which I, Vitaly Dymarsky, lead today. Let me remind you that our guest is journalist, historian Iskander Kuzeev, author of the article "The Moscow Flood", published in today's issue of the newspaper "Top Secret". And we talk with our guest about the events of the fall of 1941 described by Iskander Kuzeev. So, we stopped at the fact that we tried to find out how many people lived and how many died in those 30-40 villages that were flooded by special order of the Supreme High Command by dumping water from the Istra and other reservoirs at the end of 1941. It is clear that such calculations are difficult, we are unlikely to find exact number... And you were not interested in how many of these villages were later revived? Do they exist now or nothing is left of them and everything was built in a new place?

Many villages, which stood almost at the water level, were rebuilt. Those villages that were more high place, they were flooded and survived. But there it is also difficult to say how much they were flooded. Here I must answer opponents who have already spoken out about the fact that there might not have been flooding at all, that the villages on the Sestra River are very low above the water level. This is due to the fact that there was no flood inundation. Here I must make a small historical digression. The Sestra River is located on the route of the old canal, which began to be built in the time of Catherine, there is such a village on the Istra River Catherine Ramparts, and the canal passes through the city of Solnechnogorsk, it was not completed due to the fact that there was no longer a need. Almost all structures were already ready. This canal is actually on the Moscow-Petersburg highway. And when the Nikolaev railway was built, the construction of the canal stopped, but all the hydraulic structures were built - locks, mills. And the river Sestra to Solnechnogorsk, it was all, as the river workers say, locked, there were a lot of locks and mills. And all these old hydraulic structures did not allow floods to spread, so the villages on this route are navigable. One village where I visited, for example, is called Ust-Pristan, this is at the place where Yakhroma flows into Istra, and the houses are very low, it is clear that if the rise was 6 meters, then all this could have been flooded.

It's clear. In front of me is your article and I want to read the dialogue between Zhukov and Stalin. When Stalin says that everything should be ready in two days, Zhukov objects to him: "Comrade Stalin, we must evacuate the population from the flooded zone." To which follows the following answer of the Supreme Commander: “So that information leaks out to the Germans and that they send their reconnaissance company to you? This is a war, comrade Zhukov, we are fighting for victory at any cost. I have already given the order to blow up the Istra Dam. He didn’t even regret his dacha in Zubatovo. It could have been covered with a wave, too. " Well, as I understand it, this is not a real dialogue? Not fictional, but reconstructed?

This is a reconstruction, yes.

Reconstruction based on some separate evidence, apparently?

Yes. After all, the flow from the Istra reservoir practically reached the Moskva River and could flood all these summer cottages, summer cottages in Zubatovo, which are on Rublevka and up to the Rublevskaya dam. The level there is 124 meters, and the level of Istra ...

And, tell me, Iskander, have you talked with any military leaders, our strategists, specialists in military affairs? Victims, the cost of Victory is a question that we are constantly discussing. As for purely military effectiveness, was it an effective measure to stop the Germans?

In general, yes. After all, the front line from Kalinin to Moscow was actually reduced to two points - the village of Kryukovo, known even from songs, and Permilovskie heights, where there is a monument, by the way, the only monument in Russia to General Vlasov.

Is it still worth it?

Yes. His name is engraved there, he commanded the 20th Army there.

And, well, as one of, not a separate monument to him.

Yes. There then appeared shock army Kuznetsov, when the offensive began, an armored train of the 73rd NKVD, some other military units, including the 20th Army.

But the same operation can be presented in a different way, that there was no other way out?

Well, yes, and this operation was not the only one of its kind. After all, there was another dictator on the other side ...

We will talk about this later, I'm just interested in this situation. You can also say so, this is how those Stalinists who object to you, well, they dispute the very fact, but why should they dispute the fact itself, because we can say that there was no other way out, yes, it was difficult, it was fraught with huge victims, but it nevertheless proved to be effective.

At the same time, yes, there was a risk that the war would end in 1941, Guderian had already received an order to move towards Gorky. Troops from the north and south were supposed to close up somewhere in the Petushki area ...

Well, yes, it is a well-known thing that Hitler had already decided that Moscow had actually fallen and that it was possible to transfer troops to other directions.

I want to come back to the question of the number of victims once again. I will once again refer to your article, where you write that when they tried to find out the flood zone and at least the approximate number of victims, the villagers drew your attention to something else. I will quote again, in this case the quote is accurate, since you yourself heard it: “Do you see that hill? There are just skeletons in bulk. " And they pointed to a small mound on the banks of the Sestra River. "There are Canal Army soldiers." Apparently, these are the people, the Gulag people, who built this channel. I’m asking this. Apparently, there, in addition to villages, in addition to living souls, there were some graves, cemeteries and so on, which were also all flooded?

Most likely, the cemeteries were on the right side. In the village of Karmanovo, where I was told about the canal army, I still thought that I had misheard, I asked: "Red Army men?" - "No, the canal army." There, after all, the canal became a fortification and, in fact, all the builders of the canal can also be considered people who became victims of this war, the defense of Moscow. According to various sources, in the city of Dmitrov, scientists in the local museum counted, there, according to their calculations, from 700 thousand to 1.5 million people died.

Killed or were employed in construction?

Died on construction, there mass graves... I was told in the village of Test Pilot, on the banks of the Ikshinskoye reservoir, where some structures have occupied the last collective farm field, they began to build cottages on a small mound, and there they stumbled upon mass graves. Recently, builders have reconstructed Volokolamskoe highway, the third string of the tunnel and an interchange at the intersection of Svoboda and Volokolamskoe highway, under each support there was a mass of skeletons, there was a cemetery, and there was a mass of skeletons in bulk already under the canals themselves. There, if a person fell, he simply stumbled, there was an order not to stop any concrete work, everything at a continuous pace, and people simply died. Described in the literature is such a case at the construction of the 3rd sluice, when just in front of everyone's eyes, a man fell into the concrete.

Iskander, one more question. There is a version that when the Soviet leadership was preparing to evacuate from Moscow and when it was believed that Moscow would have to be surrendered to the Germans, was there a plan to actually flood the city of Moscow itself?

Yes, I was also told about this by researchers who are associated with this topic. There is such a Khimki dam between the Leningradskoye Highway and the current Pokrovskoye-Glebovo cottage village in the Pokrovskoye-Glebovo park. This dam holds the entire cascade of reservoirs north of Moscow - Khimkinskoye, Pirogovskoye, Klyazminskoye, Pestovskoye, Uchinskoye and Ikshinskoye, is located at 162 meters, like all reservoirs, the water in the Moscow River is located in the city center at 120 meters, that is a drop of 42 meters, and there, as I was told, a ton of explosives was laid, including this dam and its dead volume, which is already below the discharge of flood waters, below the discharge of that Khimka river, which flows out of it, and this stream could simply collapse on the capital. I spoke with the veteran, the former head of the canal, we were sitting on the third floor of the building next to the 7th gateway at the intersection of Volokolamskoye Highway and Svoboda Street, he says: “Here, we are sitting on the third floor, the flow is just, according to our calculations , it was up to this level that I could rise. " And then the mass of even high-rise buildings would practically be flooded.

But there is no documentary evidence of these plans, as I understand it? Is there only such oral testimony of people?

Yes. And they told me there, when they dismantled the old bridge across the Klyazminskoye reservoir, now a new bridge has been built there on the Dmitrovskoye highway, and there already in the 80s they found explosives in huge quantities.

Which, apparently, was intended precisely for the explosion.

To blow up the bridge. And here this territory is closed, back in the 80s it was possible to drive along this dam, and there was a “brick” and it was written from “20.00 to 8.00”, that is, the road was only closed in the evening, but now it is completely closed, it is surrounded by a fence, barbed wire and this area is absolutely inaccessible.

Actually, when we say that there is no documentary evidence, documentary evidence, one can also assume that we simply do not have access to all documents, because, as you know, our archives are being opened, but very lazily, I would say.

And this story in the form of a legend has been circulating for a long time and it was attributed that it was Hitler's idea to flood Moscow after the arrival of the Germans. Andrei Vishnevsky had a play like this "Moscau zee", "Moscow Sea". Such a reconstruction, when after the victory of Hitler they walk on boats ...

It was, as it were, a purely propaganda move that Hitler was going to flood.

Or maybe it was some kind of preparation for what they themselves could flood.

Yes, transformation of real events.

By the way, Comrade Hitler himself also started a similar operation in Berlin.

Yes, here, according to these operations, it is clear that there is very little difference between two such dictators, when it comes to saving his own life, the dictator is ready to sacrifice the lives of his own people. In the movie "Liberation" there was such an episode when the sluices on the Spree River and the flaps were opened ...

Yes, and the actor Olyalin, who played Captain Tsvetaev there.

Who died there heroically. You can relate differently to this film, which is also largely propaganda, but there was an amazing scene when the Germans, who were just five minutes ago, were opponents, they carried out the wounded together, together they held the cordon line so that women and children could be the first to come out, this is on station "Unter den Linden", right next to the Reichstag.

By the way, about the film "Liberation" I could say that, yes, it is indeed perceived and quite, probably, rightly, as a first and foremost propaganda film, but there are quite a lot of real events of the war, from which every unbiased person can draw their own conclusions. ... I remember, for example, a lot of episodes from the movie "Liberation", which suggested to me completely, maybe not the ones that the filmmakers were counting on. And about how Comrade Stalin gave orders to take certain cities at any cost, and so on. Therefore, this also has its own, so to speak, perhaps, even historical value, this film. By the way, in my opinion, the flooding was being prepared not only in Berlin. It seems to me that somewhere else, in my opinion, in Poland there was an option of flooding the city? No, there was an explosion there, I think they wanted to blow up Krakow completely.

As for Krakow, I think it's more likely also from the realm of legend, because Krakow is very high ...

There really was no flooding there. Firstly, thank you for opening, although perhaps not completely yet, but opening yet another page of the history of the war. To what extent did it seem to you that you opened it a little, and how much else is closed in this page?

Oh, a lot of closed ones. Generally, very interesting topic the relationship of the military leadership to the civilian population. Just the other day, the memoirs of the director of the Meyerhold theater Alexander Nesterov were published. This is such a titanic feat of the Moscow poet German Lukomnikov, who had decayed, literally collected in scraps, diary entries from the times of the war, 1941-42, in Taganrog. And when I read these diary entries of Nesterov, my hair just stood on end. It seemed to me that I was reading excerpts from Orwell's 1984, when bombs were systematically dropped on the city of London, people were killed in shelling. Russian people were killed, fired on throughout the winter of 1941 and in the summer of 1942, the city and its residential quarters were shelled, people were killed, bombs were shelled and dropped on residential buildings. The front-line city of Rostov surrendered several times and was again occupied by Soviet troops. And from these diary entries you can see the attitude of people to this: "The Bolsheviks dropped bombs, the Bolsheviks shelled the city."

That is, both sides who fought with the civilian population did not take into account, we can draw the following conclusion, I think. By the way, if you look at the losses in World War II, not only of the Soviet Union, but also of all the participants on both sides, both the anti-Hitler coalition and Germany's supporters, then you can see that purely military losses are the ratio, of course, in each country its own, it all depends on the degree of participation in the war - but civilians died much more than on the battlefields.

Yes. At the same time, I did not hear that, for example, the Germans bombed Konigsberg, which was occupied by Soviet troops. This was not the case.

Well, there are, of course, examples of such human saving. You can probably treat them differently too. Many, for example, believe that the same French, having yielded to Hitler quickly enough, we know that there was practically no resistance there, that by doing so they simply saved people's lives and saved cities, the same Paris, relatively speaking, occupied by the Germans, it remained that way as it was. And there are still many discussions about the blockade of Leningrad. This is a difficult topic. There is an insane amount of people there. First, that this blockade could have been avoided if they had pursued a wiser, perhaps, more rational policy in relations with Finland, on the one hand.

Well, yes, there is a complicated story.

And none of the occupied cities had such a situation as in Leningrad. In Guderian's memoirs, I read his notes, where he talked about the supply of food, that there were advertisements that there was enough food so that the population would not be worried in Oryol, for example.

So people were sacrificed without looking back, without any, without counting. And I really do, maybe even answering indirectly to many of our listeners, who often write to us why we are about this, about this, about this, I want to remind once again that we have a program about the price of Victory. The price of Victory, I emphasize the word “price”, could have been different, in our opinion. And the price of Victory, which is primarily expressed by the number of those killed, the number of human lives given and laid on the altar of this Victory. And just to figure it out, because a victory at any cost is very often, it seems to me, a Pyrrhic victory. In any case, you need to be able to critically look at your past and somehow understand it. Iskander, as we say in interviews with writers, what are your creative plans? Will you continue this theme? Will you still be engaged in it, some kind of investigation, research?

In the next issue, we plan to continue this topic in the Moscow region. I think that those memoirs of Nesterov, which were just recently published on the Internet, they deserve to be discussed separately. It is very interesting. It is a miracle that such records have survived. It was dangerous to keep them. There is, for example, the following entry: "Residents of Taganrog celebrate the anniversary of the liberation of the city from the Bolsheviks." It is a miracle that such records have survived.

It is a miracle that they have survived in the hands of private individuals, because I think that there is a lot of such evidence. Another thing is that they all got there, as they once said “where they should”. I think that many listeners will probably remember that I have now conducted several programs with a researcher from Veliky Novgorod who is engaged in collaboration during the war. And there are a lot of documents. I even went to Veliky Novgorod and saw that there are a lot of documents that have survived from that time, where there is a lot of evidence of how all this happened. Occupation is also a very difficult topic. So there are some documents, evidence.

After all, Novgorod is a city that has been occupied for almost four years.

Smaller, there Pskov, in my opinion, was under German occupation the longest. Well, okay, I thank Iskander Kuzeev for our conversation today. And with you, dear listeners, we say goodbye to our next program. Goodbye, goodbye.
Original taken from

In the second half of November, the fascist troops entered the territory Ryazan region, occupied Skopin, Mikhailov, Miloslavskoe, many other villages and towns. Before their arrival, the Soviet government destroyed everything that could not be evacuated so that the Germans would not get it.
Until the last day, residents of Ryazan did not know whether the enemy would enter the city or not. There were almost no troops to defend: a working regiment of volunteers, a few cadets from Vladimir, motorists, sappers, girls from the anti-aircraft battalion and the Ryazan police. Only on November 26 railway station Shilovo arrived the commander of the 10th army, recently formed near Penza - Philip Golikov (pictured). And on December 1, rifle and cavalry divisions his armies began to disembark from echelons in Ryazan and the surrounding area.

The Ryazan newspaper Stalinskoe Znamya published practically no local bulletins. But people saw how many soldiers and horses were walking through the city.

Back in October, the population of Ryazan began selling clothes, watches, gold and silver items in large quantities in order to buy foodstuffs that had become terribly expensive at the bazaar. At enterprises issued cards to receive 800 grams of bread a day. Those who did not work received cards for 400 grams of bread. There were also “sugar” cards, which were used to give out gingerbread or caramel. Fish cards were seldom purchased. Vegetables and meat could only be bought on the market; there were practically none in stores.
Ryazan was bombed throughout November. German planes tried to damage the railroad tracks, get to the station, to the woodworking (today instrument) plant that worked for aviation, to Ryazselmash (they made shells there). The sky of the city was covered by the 269th Anti-Aircraft Battalion, almost entirely composed of girls. The most powerful bombing was on November 6. The first bombs exploded at the Ryazan-1 station, damaging the wooden building of the station and the rails (despite the dark, the damage to the rails was repaired in one hour, and the station was repaired only in the spring of 1942). Two bombs hit the station market on Maly Highway, which, fortunately, was not crowded at that time. An explosion thundered in kindergarten on the street of Professor Kudryavtsev, where many children died. One bomb landed in a hospital on Kalyaev Street (now a railway technical school). A land mine dropped from an aircraft exploded in the courtyard of the NKVD administration: there, two horses were killed by shrapnel, and several employees were injured. In addition, the former house of Saltykov-Shchedrin was damaged by the bombs.
November 7 in Ryazan there was no demonstration in honor of the anniversary of the revolution: The authorities did not risk it, and the people who were busy with the funeral of those killed the day before had no time for celebration.
From November 8 in Ryazan a curfew was imposed- from 10 pm to 7 am. Any movement at this time was allowed only with the passes of the city commandant.
The newspapers claimed that the Germans suffered such terrible losses that they could no longer do anything with the USSR. Incredible figures of enemy losses were named, which were difficult to believe.

Frost hit. On November 14 it was minus 22 degrees.
In spite of everything, the enemy's offensive to the east continued.
“10th Motorized Division of the 47th tank corps , - recalled the German general Guderian, - Reaching the city of Mikhailov on November 27, she sent a group of demolition men to blow up the railway in the Ryazan-Kolomna section. However, these groups could not fulfill their task: the Russian defense was too strong. On November 29, the superior enemy forces put strong pressure on the 10th Motorized Infantry Division for the first time. Therefore, our troops were forced to leave Skopin ...”
In fact, there was no "Russian defense". Railroad defended extermination detachments from the inhabitants of Rybny, Lukhovitsy, etc. Armed with anything (hunting rifles, 19th century carbines, pistols), they caught or killed saboteurs, not allowing them to get to the rails.
Head of the Mikhailovsky office of the State Bank of the USSR by the name of Gavrilin Not having time to evacuate by car or cart, he collected all the money and valuables in two sacks, loaded them on his shoulders and left the city on foot on the evening of November 24. He walked 60 kilometers to Ryazan for five days, spending the night in nearby villages. Gavrilin arrived in Ryazan on November 29, carrying sacks whole and unharmed. However, after a while he was taken into custody, and then sentenced to 10 years in the camps "for admitted monetary losses": in comparison with the documents, there were not enough pieces of paper in the sacks brought.
On November 25, the Germans expelled for the first time reconnaissance towards Ryazan... Near the Stenkino station, the police saw two German motorcyclists. One was killed, and the other, while trying to turn around, turned the motorcycle over. He was taken prisoner. Another German reconnaissance detachment on motorcycles, sent to the Zakharovsky district, arrived to the village of Popadino... The car of the head of the Zakharovsky police station Andrian Usachev was driving towards them. He was carrying a policeman and a woman doctor. The Germans killed all three and shot the car.
In the village of Plakhino German motorcyclists tore off the red flag from the village council and fired several shots into the air, and then drove back.
In Zakharov at this time there lived an old pious woman - “poor Polyushka” (revered today by many believers). She predicted that the Germans would not enter Zakharovo, and many local residents, confident in her words, did not evacuate. The German tankette nevertheless appeared in the village, but it turned out that it was just intelligence. The old women said that in a couple of hours the Nazis only killed a Soviet worker who was trying to throw a bottle of gasoline at them from around the corner.

On November 26, the head of the Ryazan garrison, Murat, and the commandant of the city of Samokhin, announced state of siege... In case of an enemy invasion, an order was issued to all workers' battalions, militia and other services. It detailed where to hide in the woods to start a guerrilla war. On the same days, dozens of cars drove across the ice of the Oka towards Solotcha. In Shumashi, they were loaded onto sledges and transported secret cargo to the forest corners. Secret depots of weapons and ammunition, food supplies, warm clothes for the partisans were created.
Meanwhile, when equipping possible partisan bases, many deserters hiding in Meshchera... By December 1, the NKVD had compiled lists of 11 "bandit groups" in the region with an approximate number of 62 people. The Chekists seriously feared that these "enemies Soviet power"can go over to the side of the Germans. But catching them began much later, in March 1942.
November 27 a brigade of marines arrived at Ryazhsk station, which was supposed to keep the defense here. From Skopin, they received a call from a telephone operator from a government communications center disguised in an ordinary house. She said that there are only about 70 Nazis in the city. Intelligence has confirmed this information. The marines set out on foot from Ryazhsk and broke into Skopin on November 28. The sailors were helped by the fighters of the Skopinsky fighter battalion, who left their hometown a few days ago. After a two-hour battle, the enemies, firing back, ran along the road to Pavelets.
However, for the Germans, the Ryazan direction was also not the main one. They attacked Tula and Moscow, and here was only the flank of Guderian's army. There were several hundred Germans in Serebryanye Prudy and Mikhailovo, and even fewer in Pavelets and Chernava. Between these settlements motorcyclists and single armored personnel carriers drove. The Germans had some artillery here, but all the tanks fought near Tula.
Soviet troops were preparing to attack against them much more - tens of thousands of people. But they were less armed. Philip Golikov, whose soldiers unloaded in Ryazan and turned from Poyarkov to Pronsk, December 1 sent a report to the headquarters of the Supreme Command about the terrible condition of the units of his army: “ The 326th Infantry, 57th and 75th Cavalry Divisions, he wrote, have no weapons at all, the rest must go into battle without machine guns, mortars, vehicles, communications equipment ...“There was only one communications company for the entire army, and communications between divisional headquarters and army headquarters were maintained by horsemen who galloped from village to village.
And yet, on December 5, the 10th Army was to launch an offensive.