by Stalingrad- The City that Defeated the Third Reich (epub)
Captain Ivan Vasilievich Maksin (Chief of the divisional political section in charge of the Komsomol): As a Komsomol worker, and having earlier been an educator of secondary school students, I strove to make myself into a true frontline Komsomol worker. I used the examples of Arnold Meri,89 Ilya Kuzin,90 and Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya91—Komsomol members who proved themselves to be heroes of the Patriotic War—in order to bring out the very best in people. In this way I made myself into a true frontline soldier while at the same time teaching the model of these heroic Komsomol members during discussions with Komsomol subunits and organizations, discussions with female members. [ . . . ]
The situation we found ourselves in near Kotluban made it quite difficult to maintain order among the Komsomol members, and our leaders were not always active in our Komsomol organizations. Comrade Sheiko was the model of a true Komsomol organizer. Every day he knew when and how many of our members were out of action, whether they were wounded, killed, sick, and so on. Every evening the Komsomol would sum up the day’s work. They would gather at an appointed place, usually after heavy fighting, during a moment of relative calm, and determine the outcomes of the day’s fighting: how many casualties there were in which Komsomol organization, how many were left, which heroic deeds were carried out by whom in what organization. At this meeting we summarized the Komsomol members’ heroic deeds, and then we developed a plan for publicizing them, so that these heroes could be known throughout the Komsomol. Members of the regimental bureau went back to their units, to the lowest-level Komsomol organizations, and relayed the topics and outcomes of the meeting, and the heroic spirit of the Komsomol, to the masses, to the front. We gathered small groups of Komsomol members in trenches, on the front lines, sometimes at night, and we reported the outcomes of the meeting and told them about the heroic deeds of members from other Komsomol units. The very next day everyone in the Komsomol knew who among them was a hero of the day.
These gatherings where we announced the heroes of the day—both men and women—one good example would be one that Bureau Secretary Sheiko himself convened at a medical company after the death of Lyolya Novikova, who was a member of the Komsomol, a hero, and a posthumous recipient of the Order of the Red Banner.
Everyone knew Lyolya Novikova. She didn’t immediately inspire the confidence that she would later show herself worthy of at the front. She looked more like a ballerina. During combat training she wore high heels. She worked as a draftsman, but she was always so eager to go to the front lines. Because she didn’t want to pursue her main profession, many people thought that she lacked discipline. But she kept asking to serve in the battalion as a medic so she could carry the wounded back from the front line. Her lack of discipline ended up being the very reason she was sent to the front.
September 11, 1942 was the division’s heaviest day of fighting, especially for the 339th Rifle Regiment. For many hours of intense fighting Lyolya Novikova displayed exceptional heroism. She tended to the wounded and dragged them to back to cover while under heavy machine-gun and mortar fire, never considering which unit or company they were from. That day she used more than fifty packs of bandages, one pack for every wounded soldier, meaning that she dressed and recovered fifty wounded men and officers from the battlefield. That evening she came back from the field. I’d been in that regiment before, during combat training, and the two of us had a conversation: “Lyolya, you’re a good Komsomol member, you’re well educated, and you’ve got real talent for reciting poetry. If only you were more disciplined you would be able to join the party. We would recommend you. Show us you can do it.” She said that she couldn’t join the party because she hadn’t yet proved herself in battle. “I don’t know how I’ll do in really heavy combat,” she said. “If I do well at the front and prove myself, I’ll join the party, but first I’ve got to get to the front.” She got what she wanted.
Her sleeves were rolled up when she returned from the heavy fighting, and her forearms were plastered with dried blood clear up to her elbows, and there was nowhere to wash because of a problem with the water situation, not just for washing but for drinking as well. She came back to us at sunset, by which time I’d already got word of her display of heroism in battle. The men nearly had to drag her away from the heavy fighting. The first thing she said when she arrived was: “Now I can ask that you enroll me in the party. Now that I’ve proved myself, proved that I’ll never be afraid of heavy combat.” She was so delighted as she told us about the shells and bullets flying around her, and how the soldiers would yell: “Help me, sister!” And about how she dragged the wounded soldiers from the field. She was full of these impressions from that life at the front, and she begged so earnestly to be enrolled as a member of the party.
There was more heavy fighting the next day. The battalion commander, whose life Lyolya Novikova had saved when she dragged him out of harm’s way at night, gave her a pistol. She slung it over her shoulder and set off for her second day of heavy combat. Two hours into the fight she was shot by a German submachine gun: three bullets to the head. And Lyolya was dead.
So when comrade Sheiko came to the company’s Komsomol organization, the first item on the agenda was this, the heroic deeds of Lyolya Novikova. I should also mention that this was an exemplary meeting as far as the education of Komsomol members is concerned. Comrade Sheiko entered the room. All the Komsomol members stood up. He greeted them and said: “This meeting of the medical company Komsomol is now in session. There is one item for today’s agenda: the heroic deeds of Komsomol member Lyolya Novikova.” After bringing the meeting to order, he rose to speak, seeing as he knew what she had done and was able to tell the story. First he asked everyone to rise and honor the memory of Lyolya Novikova, a hero who was killed in action while fighting the German aggressors. Everyone stood up, many with tears in their eyes, and everyone felt bad for Lyolya. She’d been so cheerful and lively. Comrade Sheiko recounted her heroic deeds. Then some young women spoke, and they vowed to fight the Germans just as Lyolya had. After these oaths, the Komsomol meeting resolved that all its members would prove themselves worthy of the memory of Lyolya Novikova as they fought the German occupiers of their socialist motherland. The meeting likewise resolved to ask the party bureau to accept her application, to take her into the ranks of the Bolsheviks and count her among the members of the Communist party.
The heroic deeds of Lyolya Novikova immediately became the heritage of Komsomol members in all the regimental organizations. There were articles about Lyolya Novikova in our frontline and divisional newspapers, including one that I wrote. Afterward the Komsomol petitioned for her posthumous decoration. Lyolya Novikova was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Banner. We wrote her mother a heartfelt letter, but there was no reply because she had since been evacuated from Voronezh.
Lieutenant Colonel Afanasy Matveyevich Svirin (Deputy commander for political affairs, 308th Rifle Division): In Kotluban, on Hill 154.2, we encountered tanks for the first time. There were about forty of them. On September 17 my divisional commander and I were at the observation post. The tanks were moving toward the 351st and 347th Regiments. I called two instructors from the political section, told them to go provide moral support to the antitank units before they engaged the tanks, to help them stay firm. They accepted their orders and tried to convince everyone to fight to the death, to not let those tanks past. We opened fire as soon as the tanks came, gave them a heavy barrage of antitank fire. All of the regiment’s artillery was there on that hill, and we took out about a dozen tanks right then. The rest of them turned around and went back. The tanks were on fire for everyone to see, and every soldier could see for himself that tanks weren’t all that scary if you took the fight to them. While the soldiers were in their slit trenches, we told them that the guys in a tank can’t see someone in a trench, and within five meters they can’t even shoot at him. After that we began our assault of the hill.
Major Vasily Georgievich Belugin (Commissar in the 347th Rifle Regiment
): The 347th Rifle Regiment had been placed in reserve to support the divisional commander. The regimental commander and I had put in five long months of productive work getting this regiment well trained, and we could not agree to our assignment in this order of battle. We had a detailed plan of how the division could complete its objectives, and on September 10 we took these suggestions to the divisional commander. Our plan was accepted, the 351st Regiment was held back, and we became part of the main strike force. Our mission was to attack and defeat the enemy on Hill 154.2, take control of the hill, and then move on to Brovkin and Novaya Nadezhda. On September 18 we set about completing this mission. [ . . . ] We dug in under the cover of darkness, and despite the horrific amounts of enemy fire that morning of September 18—and with the men in exceptionally high spirts—we took Hill 154.2 in one strong push.
1st and 2nd Battalions went on to complete the regiment’s next tasks. They attacked Brovkin and Novaya Nadezhda, and by eleven o’clock they’d taken Brovkin and continued further, despite heavy losses. 3rd Battalion secured our gains by organizing a defensive perimeter of Hill 154.2. This Hill commanded a view of the entire area. You could see eight to ten kilometers away from there. From 10:00 A.M. there was enemy mortar and artillery fire that almost never stopped, and a whole fleet of low-flying aircraft coming in groups of ten to fifteen bombed us until dark without ever letting up. They dropped an incredible amount of deadly metal.
[ . . . ] A report from the observation post said that more than twenty enemy vehicles had arrived and were unloading infantry. Enemy infantry units were getting into battle formations before our eyes. The first enemy counterattack had begun. This is where our commander’s plan was revealed. Regimental commander Barkovsky threw everything he had at the enemy column: all of 3rd Battalion’s firepower, including the reserves. The regiment’s mortar company on Hill 154.2 had already shot the last shells from their third ammunition reserve. Vasily Boltenko brought up his 45mm guns to the firing line and started to set the enemy vehicles on fire.
Junior Lieutenant Vasily Yakovlevich Boltenko (Platoon commander and deputy battalion commander for combat units of the 347th Rifle Regiment): The fighting moved to a hill that was of great significance: Hill 154.2. The 347th Rifle Regiment was tasked with fighting for this hill from the 17th to the 18th. The situation was grim, and there was a large concentration of enemy forces. I was with 1st Battalion during these fights. Heavy enemy fire was coming from our right flank. As soon as the gunner fired at the bunker, the breach man was killed. Our battery commander was killed two hundred meters away from me. My helmet was hit by a projectile.
Our guns didn’t retreat after the infantry had taken the hill. I had two Kazakhs drag the guns. Regimental commander Barkovsky was near the hill when eight German tanks came on the counterattack. I disabled two of them, and some antitank riflemen got the rest. They were all ours. The one tank I shot three times, and two shots stopped the other one dead in its tracks.
Senior Sergeant Vasily Boltenko, recipient of the Order of the Patriotic War, First Class
Major Vasily Georgievich Belugin (Commissar in the 347th Rifle Regiment): A new threat was moving in from the left flank: a formation of thirty enemy tanks was slowly advancing on Hill 154.2. Enemy infantry were following close behind. Submachine gunners were on top of the tanks. The regimental commander decided to use everything we had on that hill. With weapon in hand, he had us take the firing positions of the neighboring division’s mortar company. I got about ten antitank rifles. Major Barkovsky, the regimental commander, wanted to set up some powerful close-range machine-gun fire.92 He gathered all the antitank guns, checked them over himself, indicated the targets, and right at that moment he was mortally wounded. He wanted to tell us something but couldn’t finish what he was saying. [ . . . ]
The tanks were getting closer. I called Igor Mirokhin, the chief of staff and regiment favorite: “Well, my friend, the regiment’s yours. Remember back in Cheremushka when you said, ‘I’ll be on staff for a year or two, and then they’ll trust me with a regiment.’ It’s only been two months!” “I hereby take command of the regiment.” Igor Mirokhin checked the firing positions and then used his antitank rifle to shoot at the tanks from the foxhole next to mine.
Dive-bombers and low-flying planes attacked our hill like ravens. But that wasn’t the most important thing. The most important thing was to stop that first tank. Then everything else would fall into place. Igor Mirokhin was an excellent shot. He was the first one in our division to shoot down a Messerschmitt with an antitank rifle. And now he shot at the tank on the right and stopped it with his first shot, and with the second shot he set the middle tank on fire. It’s a shame the cartridges for antitank guns aren’t lubricated. Getting them out of the magazine can be difficult. “You need a shovel.” And Igor Mirokhin used his entrenching tool to open the lock, fired, and then a third enemy tank burst into flames. Two hundred meters. At 150 meters the enemy changed his battle formations. The flanking tanks came into the main line and began moving right up to the front line. Igor Mirokhin stopped a fourth tank. “Come on, let’s see some fire!” The tank caught fire. And on his sixth shot at the fifth tank, the two shots converged: Mirokhin’s and that of the enemy tank. And that was it for Mirokhin. It hit him right in the head. This excellent man, this brave warrior, this soldier with nerves of steel, was decapitated instantly. His brains were all over me.
Four and a half hours of this infernal attack! Four and a half hours of such superhuman effort! I took command of the regiment. Our 45mm guns and the antitank rifle platoon had completely routed the enemy. The tank attack had been repelled.
It was getting dark. I started to bring together the commanders. It was quiet on the hill. A handful of submachine gunners, ten men, two antitank rifles, and fourteen mortars, only one of which was working. I decided to report our situation to divisional command immediately. A representative of the 1st Guards Army, a battalion commissar whose name I can’t remember, was sent to division as a messenger for the 347th Rifle Regiment.
Tanks were burning all around like giant candles. We had to assist the wounded right away. We had to get help from division right away.
The fight continued at the same level of intensity until the 19th. Division brought its reserves into battle. The antitank battalion and the training battalion got into combat formations. Heads of departments, a chemical platoon, a sapper platoon, artillery horsemen—everyone fought directly as soldiers on the front line.
On the 19th Colonel Gurtyev, the divisional commander, came over to my command post. He was directly leading the battle together with Svirin, the divisional commissar. They give the preliminary signal to attack. What was going on? There was no indication that the commander of the training battalion had got the order. Did it get to him in time? Get him on the line right now! There’s no connection. Despite their best efforts the signalmen were unable to reestablish communication. Again and again the communication line was cut off by enemy fire.
“Belugin, have you got someone you can count on?” asked Gurtyev. “We’re attacking in five minutes. The training battalion is located over there.” He pointed to the northwest. “We’ve got to find the training battalion and get them my message.”
I called Seligeyev. A long-distance runner, a member of Spartak.93 He’d also been known to repeatedly cover a hundred kilometers a day during combat training. His mission was to get the order to the commander of the training battalion, and also to report back to say whether the order had been carried out.
Seligeyev crawled off in that direction to carry out the divisional commander’s order. I still don’t know how he covered that kilometer and a half so quickly, but he got back in time to report to the commander with written confirmation that the training battalion commander had received the orders and would begin attacking as planned.
A red flare shot up into the sky. The artillery extended its fire in depth. The attack began. The special units hung back. They were pushed forward. The
attack was successful. We had finally secured the hills.
I was wounded during the attack, and on September 19 at five o’clock my daughter Maya pulled me into a tent. She told me joyfully that the order had been carried out, and she whispered to me: “You’ll get better and be back here in no time.”
I ended up in a field hospital.
Senior Sergeant Nina Mikhailovna Kokorina (Nurse, assistant deputy for political affairs, 347th Rifle Regiment): On September 1 [sic] we took up defensive positions. We did this at night, and apparently we’d come quite close to the German positions. It was me, Zina Reshetova, Anya Shuvanova, and two other girls, Roshina and Arkhatova, and were on guard duty, protecting our commanders. At dawn we heard a shout from the German side: Halt! It turned out that we were surrounded on three sides. The ravine we were in had only one narrow way out, and it was being covered by a tank and was occupied by German submachine gunners. We were almost surrounded, with no chance of help. There were maybe sixteen of us left, no more. We stayed there until September 18. Didn’t get food or water for two days. There were a lot of wounded. It was impossible to get them out. We dressed their wounds. There were canteens with water rations. We gave this water to the wounded, looked after them, dug a little trench. The Germans were closing in. On September 17 we asked for reinforcements but none came. The regimental commander ordered our battalion to hold our positions. The whole battalion stayed and did not leave.
We had to do a lot of work with the soldiers. Many of the soldiers were doubting themselves, unsure whether we could take it. We talked with them. You’d crawl into a trench and start telling them about the heroic deeds of soldiers and officers. We’d tell them about Private Kosykh,94 who was part of a group of six Komsomol members that held back an assault of sixty Germans. That was in our own battalion. He let the Germans come within ten meters, and then started throwing grenades. Meanwhile a machine gun was shooting at them from their flank. He took a soldier, Yefimov, and sneaked over to the trench where the shooting was coming from. When he got there he chucked in a few grenades and yelled: “Battalion, after me!” Six men (the supposed battalion) followed him. He brought back two German machine guns, a lot of rifles, and thirty prisoners. Now he’s on a course for senior lieutenants. He was given the Order of the Red Star. Those are the kinds of things we talked about.