Mortar men in the battles for Stalingrad - Yaroslav Ognev. "the so-called Stalingrad cauldron

We continue to conduct a roll call of front-line soldiers. Today our story is about Dmitry Sysoevich Ershov, mortar man, participant Battle of Stalingrad.

I heard about him from a resident of Yekaterinburg, Altsiola Alekseevna Bezgodova. She called the editor after the publication of material about the sniper Nadezhda Minova and said:

- I know this woman very well. Together with Nadya we worked for many years at the hospital of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Another participant in the battles with the Germans lives in Yekaterinburg - Dmitry Sysoevich Ershov. Talk to him, you won't regret it.

Didn't get to the front right away

“I was drafted into the army in 1940 after completing ten years,” says the veteran. – In the summer of 1941 we were sent to camps north of Kuibyshev. One Sunday we got up, as usual, before dawn and went to the shooting range. We are working, hitting targets... We see a horseman galloping: “Order - urgently return to camp!” The commander lined us up and ordered us to “run.” We arrived at the place, and the tents where we lived were already assembled, fires were burning everywhere - they were burning straw from mattresses... They took us into the club and announced that the war had begun. "Who's ready for the front?" - they ask. There were 900 people in the hall, everyone raised their hands as one.

But the volunteers did not get to the front right away. Judging by the veteran’s story, there was terrible confusion in June 1941. First, the Red Army soldiers were taken to Ufa, and from there to Moscow. In the capital, an order was received to proceed to Leningradskoye border school. However, the soldiers did not reach the city on the Neva; beyond Velikiye Luki, the train was turned in the opposite direction. Again Moscow, then Ufa and again Moscow.

“The Leningrad Border School was already evacuated to the capital at the beginning of July,” recalls Dmitry Sysoevich. “While we were learning the basics of military wisdom, the Germans were advancing, and in the fall the cadets were evacuated to Alma-Ata. I ended up in a mortar company. Classes were conducted in firefighting, guard duty, and tactics. And of course, shooting, shooting, shooting... With the rank of junior lieutenant, I ended up in the 241st Infantry Regiment of the 95th Infantry Division. It was already 1942.

On Mamayev Kurgan

The division was urgently transferred to Stalingrad. Late in the evening we arrived at our destination, went to the banks of the Volga, and boarded a barge.

“It was night, but it was light as if it were day,” says the soldier. “The Germans threw flare bombs, shells exploded in front, behind, on the sides of the barge, but we safely reached the shore - no one was hit. We climbed Mamayev Kurgan and in the morning saw the city: it lay in front of us, clearly in full view, already thoroughly destroyed.

The mortar men held out, according to the former platoon commander, for two weeks. Then the ammunition ran out, the mortars were surrendered, and the soldiers took up defensive positions on the edge of the Banny Ravine. The fighting was fierce, the division suffered heavy losses. At the end of our conversation, Dmitry Sysoevich Ershov will say: “If you are on Mamayev Kurgan, then on the monument to the fallen, on the right, you will see the name Kotov. He served in my platoon, before the war he was a border guard on Far East. In Stalingrad, many of our people were killed, the first platoon was knocked out almost completely.”

According to the recollections of veterans, during the battles in Stalingrad, about 60 thousand people passed through the 95th Rifle Division, and when it was taken away for reorganization, only about 600 people were loaded onto the train...

In November the Germans went on the offensive. Dmitry Ershov was wounded in right hand and sent to the hospital. He lay there for a month and a half, and when he returned with other soldiers to the front line, he ran into the Nazis, who staged a sortie behind our lines. Ershov threw a grenade at the enemy, and he himself fell, but unsuccessfully - he received a double fracture of his arm. And he ended up in the hospital again.

Forward to the West

After treatment, Dmitry Sysoevich ended up in the 260th regiment of the 98th Infantry Division, which was later renamed the 86th Guards Red Banner Nikolaev. He was appointed commander of a mortar battery platoon.

“We were armed with 120-mm mortars,” says the veteran, “they were attached to the carts. But we carried 50 and 82 mm guns on ourselves, and we also laughed among ourselves that we worked as loaders.

And again fierce battles for the liberation of their native land. While crossing the river, Ershov was again wounded. He received treatment in Odessa.

“When I recovered a little,” says Dmitry Sysoevich, “I began to make forays into the city with my comrades. The head of the hospital, in order to limit our “hikes,” ordered that hospital gowns be taken away. But we found a way out: we threw cloth blankets over ourselves and tied ourselves with a belt. Once I was walking in this outfit, I saw a familiar captain standing by the car. I went to him, and he immediately recognized me. Then he laughed and called to our division, which by that time was stationed on the Dnieper. I heard a lot of things when I asked after the hospital to be sent to my native 260th regiment, but I got my way. He was assigned to the same position, to the same mortar battery.

He fought in Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Hungary. In the battles for Budapest, when they were pursuing the retreating enemy, he was blown up by mines with several soldiers, and again ended up in a hospital in the town of Dorok.

“They almost amputated my leg,” recalls the old soldier, “but I was conscious and categorically forbade them to do it.” The surgeon cursed, but saved my leg. While he was being treated, the war ended. I learned from a friend that my regiment would be returning through Dorok. I had to make a fuss to get me discharged early.

Meeting with the marshal

Dmitry Ershov returned to his native rifle regiment and proceeded first to the city of Ananyev, Odessa region, then to Floresti in Moldova, where he served until 1950. In Moldova, our hero came face to face with the legendary Marshal Georgy Zhukov.

“As I see it now: Major Kucherenko and I are rounding the corner of the dining room and running into Georgy Konstantinovich,” says Dmitry Sysoevich. “We saluted him, and when he walked forward, we positioned ourselves between him and the escort group. Before entering the building, the marshal turned to the officers and again found himself face to face with us. We saluted him again. This was in 1947.

In 1950, Dmitry Ershov was sent to serve in Soviet group troops in Poland. There he stayed for nine whole years. His command valued him not only for his business qualities, but also for... his absolute sobriety.

“Even in Stalingrad, all the soldiers of our platoon refused the front-line hundred grams,” says Dmitry Sysoevich. “They were all young, not accustomed to drinking.” And this became a tradition: throughout the war we had prohibition. True, I didn’t drink even after the war - I had no interest in it.

Since Dmitry Sysoevich had a chance to visit Romania, Moldova and Poland, I asked how the population treated Soviet soldiers in those years?

“Only the Romanians showed hostility, and even then with restraint,” says the veteran. “We asked a resident in one village where he could get water, and he replied that he didn’t know. In Moldova, Hungary, Poland, I have never encountered any unfriendly attitude. On the contrary, everyone tried to help and treat us with something. One day, on the outskirts of the village, the car broke down, the kids came running, and snatched up all the stars and badges as souvenirs. It’s scary to see what’s happening in Poland now, how monuments are being destroyed there. This is not human...

I asked the front-line soldier about military life. The food for the fighters, he said, was always good. Only on the first day in Stalingrad the kitchen did not have time to cross the Volga, so the mortar men had to dine alone sauerkraut, which the locals brought. But the next day the food was restored. In general, he does not remember having to go hungry.

And the commanders were paid money for their positions. Dmitry Ershov, when he was released Smolensk region, where his parents remained under occupation, he began sending money transfers to the elderly. In Odessa and Hungary, while I was being treated in the hospital, I withdrew money from the bank to buy something and go to the movies.

But I never went on vacation during the war, I never had the chance. Only in 1947 did he briefly escape to his native village. There he learned that his father was almost shot by mistake instead of his namesake, who served as headman under the Germans. Thank God it worked out.

Way home

Dmitry Ershov was demobilized in 1960. He went from Poland to Sverdlovsk to visit his beloved girl, whom he met through fellow soldier Valentin Vlasov. The marriage with Evgenia Ilyinichna turned out to be strong and happy. The Ershov couple had two sons. Now both have families and children. Dmitry Sysoevich no longer only has grandchildren, but also great-grandchildren. They take care of their father and grandfather. But he lives alone and tries to do everything around the house himself.

“A person shouldn’t let loose and be lazy,” explains the front-line soldier. – I have always personally done physical training with my subordinates: they run cross-country, and I am with them. This strengthens both health and authority.

Dmitry Sysoevich met me in an excellent suit. But I asked him to take off his civilian jacket for a while and put on a tunic. It was not in vain that I asked. Take a look at the photo - how many worthy awards the artillery-mortarman has! Four Orders of the Red Star, two - Patriotic War, medals, including “For Military Merit”. And then there are stripes for wounds, because victories in the Battle of Stalingrad and other battles were paid for in blood.

The commander of the rifle platoon of the 260th Guards Rifle Regiment from March 14, 1944 to April 22, 1945 was the famous sculptor, our fellow countryman Ernst Neizvestny.

There are many letters in the mail of “Stalingradskaya Pravda” in which our readers ask us to tell about unusual types of weapons and military equipment The Red Army of the Great Patriotic War and, above all, the period of the Battle of Stalingrad.

So, Viktor Afanasyev from Dubovka asked: is it true that Soviet soldiers used a shovel mortar in battle? For an answer to this and other similar questions, we turned to the presenter researcher museum-reserve "Battle of Stalingrad", a specialist in the field of weapons, reserve lieutenant colonel Ivan Korotkov.

And he shot and he dug

“This is really so,” said Ivan Korotkov. – It's about about a 37 mm caliber mortar, from which it was possible not only to conduct non-targeted fire at a range from 60 to 250 meters, but also to be used as a small infantry shovel. Moreover, it was not developed by front-line craftsmen, as some of your colleagues wrote,” he emphasized

I.V. Korotkov, and the famous domestic weapons designer Mikhail Grigorievich Dyakonov in 1938.

The ammunition of the shovel mortar included fragmentation mines, which were carried by the shooter in a special bandoleer for 15 minutes with shoulder straps. Its first use occurred during the Soviet-Finnish (winter) war in 1939. Its effectiveness turned out to be very low due to the deep snow cover. Shovel mortars were withdrawn from service as ineffective

infantry weapon.

But stocks of shovels and mines had already been created and lay in arsenals.

In 1941, due to large losses in weapons in the Red Army and the need to increase the firepower of infantry units in defense, stocks of these shovel-mortars were in demand, and the GAU of the Red Army in 1942 even issued instructions on the design and use of a 37-mm mortar.

Sights were completely absent, which, of course, affected the effectiveness of the fire. We must also take into account that this shovel mortar is a defensive weapon. In 1943, when the Red Army launched a final offensive, the 37-mm mortar was finally removed from service - low shooting accuracy and low power of the mine affected it, and it was left with only the function of a blade. But until the end of the war, this mortar was used in airborne units and among partisans, where it was especially in demand.

Low ballistic mortar

It is quite difficult to define this type of weapon. It would be correct to consider it a capsule flamethrower, in which a capsule (ampule) with a fire mixture that does not have its own engine is delivered to the target using a propellant charge.

Ampulomets were used in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War, explains Ivan Korotkov. - Structurally, they were a small low-ballistic mortar, firing spherical ampoules with a self-igniting fire mixture.

The ampoule consisted of a barrel with a chamber, a bolt, sighting device and carriage. The projectile was thrown using a blank rifle hunting cartridge 12 gauge with 15 grams of black powder. Maximum range firing with a normal charge was 240-250 m, when firing along a mounted trajectory with a large elevation angle - 300-350 m; the rate of fire reached 6-8 rounds per minute.

In my opinion, the projectile that was fired from the ampulet is more interesting,” the specialist explained. - This is a glass or tin thin-walled ampoule. This, in fact, is where the name of the weapon comes from. The exposition of the museum-reserve presents the barrel of the ampoule and the ampoule.

During the war, ampoules were also produced by the Kamyshin glass container plant. Ampoules were supplied to the troops. For this purpose, there were filling stations, both towed on a single-axle trailer and self-propelled. It should be noted that ampoules were used not only on the ground, but also on airplanes, and also for scattering leaflets over the enemy’s front line.

The ampulomet was also a defensive weapon. Therefore, at the beginning of 1943, it was removed from service with the Red Army.

Ivan Korotkov also noted this fact. Non-ruptures of ampoules, especially glass ones, with a wall thickness of up to 10 mm, also occurred. And these were not just one-off incidents. At battle sites, such glass ampoules have been perfectly preserved during the post-war years and can fall into the hands of search engines or random passers-by. If the ampoule is intact, then it has not lost its combat potential. You have to be extremely careful with her. Tin ampoules are not preserved this way.

FOG shooting fire

Our readers were also interested in such an unusual type of weapon as the FOG-1 flamethrower.

This is a high-explosive flamethrower, or, as it was also called during the war, a fugothrower,” said Ivan Korotkov. - In it, the throwing of the fire mixture was carried out by the pressure of the powder gases of the expelling powder charge. This made it possible to increase the ejection range to 110 m and the power of the jet, but had to pay with bulkiness (52 kg) and the need to activate the flamethrower remotely.

Disposable, refillable

FOG-1 had a removable nozzle, a powder charge and an incendiary bomb with separate electric fuses. Charging the fire mixture was designed for one shot lasting about 2 seconds. At the position, the flamethrower was installed in a hole, fixed with pegs, camouflaged, and activated by supplying current from a demolition machine or battery.

The FOG-1 high-explosive flamethrower was adopted by the State Defense Committee on July 12, 1941. In August-September of the same year, special separate companies of high-explosive flamethrowers were formed and prepared for combat operations.

The FOG-2 flamethrower, adopted for service in 1942, was more compact, primarily due to the shortening of the fire nozzle, and gave a flamethrowing range from 25 to 100-110 m with a viscous mixture and up to 45-60 m with a liquid mixture, the expert explained. - By April 1942, their number reached, according to some sources, 143. The first mass use of flamethrower units was during the battle on the Volga. In February 1943, only in the Stalingrad Group of Forces, formed from the Don Front after the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, there were 10 separate high-explosive flamethrower companies.

According to Ivan Korotkov, quite a lot can be said about the unique defensive weapons that appeared in the Red Army in the first years of the Great Patriotic War: these are bottle throwers of various designs, including the Stalingrad design, and propaganda grenades, and the Stalingrad grenade, and cuirasses - steel breastplates, and company mortars of unusual design, and much more...

The project was prepared within the framework of the grant from the Volgograd region “Patriotic education of children and youth in the Volgograd region, preserving the memory of the history and heroes of the Great Patriotic War.”

“MORTORATERS IN THE BATTLES FOR STALINGRAD” October 10, 1942 (From the special correspondent of “Red Star”) For several days in a row the battle took place among the ruins. The streets have long lost their former appearance. It’s not that you can drive through them, but you couldn’t even walk along them. The pavement, pitted by bombs and shells, burnt and charred telegraph poles and trees, piles of bricks - all this impeded movement. At the same time, the ruins of the buildings turned out to be suitable for firing positions and the hidden accumulation of manpower of the parties. The enemy concentrated his forces on one of the streets. He held the intersections of streets on the right and left in his hands and guarded his flanks with machine gun fire. A block away, on another street, our troops were located. There was a rare gun battle. Neither our units nor the enemy launched any attacks. The commander of the mortar platoon, junior lieutenant Kruglov, received an order to knock the Germans out from behind their shelters, force them to go out onto unprotected sections of the streets and thereby make the work of the machine gunners and machine gunners easier. Kruglov placed his three mortars in firing positions behind the destroyed buildings. Together with the commander of the first crew, Sergeant Koreev and the liaison Red Army soldier Velikorodny, he began to make his way towards the enemy to find an observation post. This point turned out to be the roof of the barn. It was supported by only one wall and two or three pillars. One edge of it lay on the ground. The junior lieutenant climbed up it and began to give commands, which were transmitted to the firing positions by Sergeant Koreev and soldier Velikorodny. One mortar opened fire. The Nazis neglected his rare shooting. They remained in their places - among the rubble of buildings. The platoon commander ordered fire from three mortars simultaneously. The effect was different. The mines lay next to each other and began to hit enemy soldiers. The Germans began to jump out from behind cover. Then machine guns and machine guns were used. Our riflemen, machine gunners, machine gunners and mortar men killed up to a hundred Nazis here and took possession of the street. This incident of group mortar fire is not typical of street fighting. In the field, the mortarmen are massaging fire, often covering a group of targets at the same time. In the city they mainly use single mortars and targeted fire. Even, increased shooting across the area in locality does not give desired result. There are too many different shelters here that protect not only from fragments, but also from direct hits. Mortarmen in street battles most often shoot at a specific target that is difficult to reach with other types of weapons. Massive fire over an area, as a rule, is carried out only during enemy attacks in open areas, as well as against enemy concentrations. The crew commander, Junior Sergeant Bodin, positioned his mortar near the sawmill. There was a gap nearby that served as cover during enemy air attacks and artillery raids. This mortar was of great help to our infantry. The mortar men were required to support the counterattack. Lance Sergeant Bodin knew that the Germans were most firmly entrenched in a small wooden house. It was this house that he decided to break up. The target was 300-400 meters away, but it was completely invisible from the firing position. Bodin could not move forward, since he did not have a telephone connection to transmit commands to the crew. The crew commander decided to find an observation post in the immediate vicinity of the firing position. A few tens of meters ahead were broken stone houses. The wall of one of them survived up to the fourth floor. Bodin climbed to the third floor and positioned himself near the window on iron beams. The visibility from here was excellent. Bodine gave the commands from here. The crew smashed the wooden house in which the Germans were located, and thus disrupted their fire system. Our infantry took advantage of this, attacking and capturing a group of buildings. Positioning observation posts higher and better camouflaging them is what is especially important for mortar men in street battles. Anyone who is afraid to climb onto the roof or attic, or perch somewhere on a beam, on a dilapidated wall of a stone building, will not see the enemy and will not be able to effectively correct the shooting. Example the right choice The observation post was shown by the commander of the heavy mortar division, Captain Sarkisyan. At the most intense and critical moment of the battle, he boldly climbed onto the roof of one house, stood behind a chimney and adjusted the fire from there. This house was clearly visible from the enemy, so well that he did not expect the presence of an observation post here. Sargsyan took a risk, but this risk was justified by the situation. For correct use mortars, it is necessary to establish a supply of mines to the crews various actions. I had to observe cases when our mortars fired at ordinary wooden houses fragmentation mines with instantaneous fuses. The explosion occurred as soon as the mine touched the roof. The fragments sprinkled the house, but almost did not penetrate inside. In the end it was spent a large number of ammunition in order to first destroy the roof and ceiling and only then get to the enemy’s manpower. If these mortarmen had five to ten incendiary or high-explosive fragmentation mines, the result would have been different. After the first hit by an incendiary shell, the enemy would not have stayed in the house. Then he could be hit with a fragmentation mine with an instant fuse. A high-explosive fragmentation mine with a delayed fuse ensures an explosion not on the roof and attic, but in the very center of the building. The defeats in this case are very effective. Fighting on the streets, where every house is used as a defensive fortification, requires, first of all, a high-explosive fragmentation mine and an incendiary one. We cannot, of course, neglect ordinary fragmentation weapons. It may also be needed at any moment, especially when the enemy is attacking or the battle is taking place in a square, wasteland or sparsely developed outskirts. L. Vysokoostrovsky “Red Star”

For many years now I have been collecting interesting and unusual photos The Great Patriotic War and the Second World War. I find them on the Internet and put them in a special folder on my computer.

By the way, I would like to take this opportunity to recommend to all lovers of our history a resource called "War Album" . It contains a huge number of photographs, including quite rare ones, previously unknown and nowhere not yet published . It is noteworthy that this collection is constantly updated with new unique photographs.

Another good thing about this site is the detailed accompanying information about who is shown in the photograph and when. The names, surnames, ranks and positions of long-dead soldiers and officers are often published. It becomes clear to the reader what exactly military unit appears in the frame and on which front (or other theater of military operations) the event takes place.

Also (which is very important) the exact name of the military equipment is often indicated. That is, complete historical accuracy is guaranteed. So the resource "War Album" you can (and even need) to trust!

Sometimes during World Wide Web There are such shots... that break your soul and make your heart bleed...

One day I discovered this photo...

After I saw the photo, I froze in a daze... and looked at it for a very long time.

This is the outskirts of Stalingrad, August 1942. A group of German soldiers stands above a trench and examines the dead Soviet machine gunners. On the ground next to the Maxim heavy machine gun lies a bunch of spent cartridges. An empty ribbon hangs. At the fighting position there is an empty wooden ammunition box. That is, our soldiers stood until their last bullet, until their last breath, and did not surrender.

On many Internet resources, this stunning photo is accompanied by the memoirs of former Wehrmacht private Eduard Koch. Let me quote them to you. It’s very interesting, and most importantly, it’s written instructively. But I warn you right away that the events described may not have anything to do with real photo direct relationship. She is simply a vivid illustration of the heroism of our people. There were thousands of similar feats at the front.

So, the words of the German soldier Eduard Koch.

“I ended up on the Eastern Front with reinforcements, after the successful counter-offensive of our troops near Kharkov in the spring of 1942. Then this endless march to the Volga began... We hardly saw any Russians, there were only isolated skirmishes, there were very few prisoners, the Russians quickly retreated, almost fled, but without panic, in a fairly organized manner. We, young soldiers, rejoiced at this, because then it seemed to us that the enemy was completely broken and the end of the war was near. My friend and fellow countryman Heinz was worried that the war would end like this, but he had not even been in a serious battle.

But our old platoon sergeant-major did not share our enthusiasm; he was gloomy and constantly told us: “What are you idiots happy about? Since the Russians could not be surrounded and destroyed in this devilish steppe, then they will all go to Stalingrad and build a new Verdun for all of us there.” But we made fun of the old grump among ourselves.

However, he was right - all hell broke loose on the distant approaches to Stalingrad.

I remember some village and a small height in front of it, on the right there was a swampy river, on the left there was an open field that was stuffed with mines, we tried to get around it, but came under fire from camouflaged Russian tanks. This means there is only one way out - through this village, but Russians were holed up in houses there, and a Russian heavy machine gun was firing at us from a height,and we had losses. The heights were bombarded with mines, but as soon as the explosions subsided, the machine gun came to life and put us on the ground again. An hour later, the Russians left the village, the fire from there stopped, but the damn machine gun did not stop. Our mortar men could not silence him.

And then, finally, the machine gun fell silent. We climbed to this high-rise building and what we saw there shocked us. In a half-filled trench, next to a broken machine gun, two Russians lay. One, apparently, had been killed earlier and his comrade put him at the bottom of the trench, covering him with his overcoat, while he continued to shoot. The worst thing is that his legs were severely wounded, but the Russian tied the stumps with some pieces of fabric to stop the bleeding, and continued to shoot until he was finished off by fragments of a mine that exploded nearby...

Everyone fell silent. Our old sergeant major lit his pipe and asked us: “Well, now do you understand that everything is just beginning?” And if we manage to get away from here, consider ourselves very lucky...

We buried those Russians there, in the trench, installing their broken machine gun instead of a tombstone. Probably, since then, many of us have thought hard about the future...”

These were the memories of the German soldier Eduard Koch about the feat of unknown Soviet soldiers in August 1942 on the outskirts of Stalingrad.

P.S.

A few more lines on the topic. Fragment from the story “Alien Thermopylae” by Gleb Bobrov. Memories of a front-line father

“Don steppes, stuffy summer of '42. The forces of the Steppe and Voronezh fronts roll back to Stalingrad. A complete retreat. Escape. My father is the commander of a sapper platoon, and together with his unit he is at the rear of the troops. Mining the waste. The stragglers, the most exhausted, pass by. He remembered that little guy then, as he said.

A hunted guy is sitting by the rubble, smoking. Look at your feet. There is no cap, no belt either. Near "Maxim". There is no second number either. He smoked, stood up, picked up the machine gun, and drove on. A duffel bag on a white back, reaching to the ground. My father said that even then he thought that the soldier would not make it. The old one is already over forty. The man is broken, he says. It's immediately obvious...

The sappers also retreated. Before they had time to retreat, they heard a battle in the village. Rearguard units stood up. The order is back. The Germans surrender the village without a fight. They come in. On central square lies an infantry battalion. As the Krauts walked in formation, they lay down in a row. A man of one and a half hundred. Something unprecedented. Then, in 1942, there were no weapons yet mass destruction. Many are still showing signs of life. They finished it off right away...

Start at No. 114, 117, 120, 128, 131, 134, 137, 140, 143, 146.

Calibrated like a clock

In a note entitled “Multi-station operator” sent to the army newspaper, Major M.Ya. A spevak from a separate mortar battalion of the 124th Infantry Brigade described the combat work of the mortarmen this way: “The work of a heavy mortar gunner requires the precision of a surgeon and the speed of a juggler. In those seconds, while they are rolling from the telephone across the firing position short phrases commands, you need to have time to turn the handles of the turning and lifting mechanisms several times, tighten the nut of the balancing mechanism, and often rearrange the carriage legs or rotate the base plate. ...The mortar must be accurate and calibrated like a clock before firing...

This happened during a strong German offensive. The fire had to be fired almost continuously, with the barrel turning now to the south, now to the west, now to the north - the enemy was advancing from three sides. The battery's firing position had long been spotted by the Germans, and now shells were constantly ricocheting here, mines were falling with a howl, the German "vanyusha" was loudly drumming, and "musicians" were diving. The fire station was in smoke. The fragments whistled continuously, the air was hot and dry, the earth trembled under our feet..."

Dmitry Fedorovich Malkov, military commissar of a battery of heavy 120-mm mortars, recalled how boxes with mines caught fire at Captain Medvedev’s firing position due to incendiary bombing. He wrote: “It was dangerous to even approach the burning boxes of ammunition. If they had exploded, there would have been nothing alive left nearby. Each mine falling on the heads of the Fritz weighed 16 kilograms. Each such ammunition was then worth its weight in gold: leave the food, "Save the ammunition - that was the motto for us in Stalingrad. Filonenko was the first to rush to the burning boxes, followed by other soldiers. They began to drag the burning boxes to the sides and extinguish them. For courage and courage, Private Filonenko was one of the first in the mortar division to be awarded a medal “For courage,” and a month later he was accepted as a candidate for the party.”

Somehow it happened that in the defense area of ​​the 4th Infantry Battalion, the crews of the 2nd Mortar Company fought off the enemy alone all day. Our infantry retreated. The commissar of the mortar battalion, Pavel Leontyevich Ryabov, called Lieutenant Shatsovsky in the evening: “Our crew is alive and firing. We definitely need to feed the guys.” At night, Shatsovsky and a cook with a thermos made their way to the firing position and saw: the mortar men, led by a sergeant, were indeed holding their positions. Nearby is our broken and overturned anti-tank gun. His entire crew was killed. The mortar men had only their machine guns, light machine gun, anti-tank rifle. The Germans tried to capture this position up to a dozen times, but could not do anything. The sergeant and his entire crew applied for admission to the party that night.

It must be said that in the units of the brigade on the right bank, along with 82-mm and some heavy 120-mm mortars (most of them were stationed on the islands in October), 50-mm mortars continued to be active. At that time, it had already been decided to remove them from service, but Gorokhov’s brigade did not part with them until almost the end of November 1942. There were also sufficient quantities of ammunition for them. In the 3rd Rifle Battalion, battalion commander Grafchikov organized a group of 18-20 barrels of such mortars. She successfully participated in repelling the fierce attacks of the Nazis. This “pocket artillery” greatly helped our infantry and inflicted enormous damage on the enemy. Repeated daily attacks by the Germans were successfully repulsed both by mortars of more solid calibers and by these 50-mm mortars - company Katyushas. The concentrated fire of our "little ones" was very effective and struck fear into the enemy infantry.

Mortar Oath

A note from a Red Army front-line newspaper spoke about a small combat episode that characterized the work of the mortar men: “The morning of October 4 turned out to be gloomy and cloudy. Bullets whistled all around, enemy mines and shells exploded. The enemy was continuously bombing from the air. The German attack began with a force of up to two infantry companies. The mortar battery is ready to fire. Having received the go-ahead, the mortarmen open hurricane fire from three barrels at the advancing infantry and its firing points. Soon the spotter reports: “Machine gun barrels are flying upward, and after the precise explosions of our mines in the advancing chains, dozens of Krauts do not rise from the ground . Result of the battle: Sergeant Bronskikh's crew completed the task perfectly. The attacking firing points have been destroyed. The infantry thinned out and lay down. Her advance has been stopped. Our soldiers shouted: “Thank you, mortar men!”

A truly key role in the actions of the battery was played by its commander, senior lieutenant Nikolai Andreevich Kaloshin. According to the estimates of the chief of artillery of the 124th brigade: A.M. Motsaka, in Kaloshin, unlike other artillery commanders, there was not observed “that elusive planning in work and organization that is traditionally characteristic of commanders of artillery units. But he followed the example of the work of Captain Churilov, and the latter, being more prepared in these matters, undoubtedly ", helped him. Kaloshin ensured that his units became trained in shooting no worse than a mortar division. He was simple in his dealings with others, loved to joke, and did not find fault with his subordinates over trifles. The unit loved him as a good and combat commander."

And here is what Nikolai Andreevich himself said: “We all - the commanders and soldiers of the Min-Bat - agreed in advance so that not a single person would leave his place without an order, would not hang around in difficult times anywhere, so that he would always be in place, otherwise - death. This most difficult moment could come to us at any time, and therefore I only left my place once during the entire Stalingrad battles, when I received a party card at the brigade headquarters and at the same time washed myself in the bathhouse “in the rear.”

The mortarmen's agreement to never move from their position under any circumstances - otherwise death - arose during training. “I often talked with them during formation about the beginning of the war, about the difficulties of retreat,” wrote Kaloshin. “During the battles, we realized that the most terrible things in war are our own fear, panic and flight from the battlefield. In difficult times, a few alarmists in order to destroy the entire defense. Therefore, we agreed not to allow such alarmists to appear in our ranks, and if they do appear, to remove them mercilessly from the road before they infect others with this disease.

In Stalingrad, first in Antonov’s company, then in other companies, the voices of the mortar men themselves were heard: “No matter what happens, we will not leave the place, otherwise it will be death.” For my part, I also swore and added that any fighter who suspected me of cowardice must put an end to this."

Having plunged into the war from its first days and suffered the bitterness of defeat, waste, and flight, Kaloshin knew firsthand how difficult it was to keep people from panic, which was often provoked by the departure of commanders from their observation posts. He wrote: “...I started the war from the first days, from the border, and experienced a depressing mood when, in difficult times, I did not know and did not see where my commander was. This unknown, uncertainty pushed me and others to bad thoughts and assumptions ". And I promised myself that wherever I am, I must be visible to all subordinates. So that they can see and know that I am right here. I know when a difficult moment comes, everyone looks at the commander.

As soon as I occupied my OP in Stalingrad, all the mortar men knew and saw where my OP was, where I was. Every day I let all the mortar men know about myself, that I was at the outpost, by telephone. I called and said: “The battalion commander is correcting the shooting.” Or I call the firing position, and my voice is heard by everyone: “The battalion commander asks if everyone has eaten, or how they are feeling, or who had what dream,” etc.

I observed that the mortar men liked it. They looked at the NP willy-nilly, smiled and always, day or night, knew that I was really on my NP. They knew that we would not be taken by surprise, and they felt more confident. And when it was time to sleep, they slept more peacefully. And when they woke up, they looked towards the NP, from where periodically at night a light would illuminate for them. And during the day they looked at each other through binoculars and greeted each other by waving their hands.

But before occupying my OP, I checked every day all the OP and the readiness of the mortar men for action. When I had to direct the fire of a company or battalion, everyone knew and heard my admiration, joy or sorrow."

There is in the memoirs of N.A. Kaloshin and other episodes, almost lyrical: “While at the NP during the day during quiet hours, I often and for a long time looked at the Trans-Volga distance, where everything was ours, dear, close to the heart, Soviet. Sometimes you get so daydreamed that you even forget about the war, about surrounded. And when you wake up, you look at the Tractor Plant, ahead at the heights - there are ruins all around, some kind of emptiness, the smell of burning and decaying corpses - war."

According to the memoirs of the Commissar of the Ministry of Battalion, Pavel Leontyevich Ryabov, “there were times when Nikolai Andreevich did not leave the attic of the house where his NP was for days or more. Kilmata (driver Kilmatov), ​​a signalman, and one of the other soldiers were always with him. Kilmata rolled cigarettes for him. The signalman handed him telephone receivers, and there were 23 of them! And one signalman ran for hot strong tea and crackers. Then the chief of staff Lepsky began to assign one of the assistant company commanders to help him in order to give him at least the opportunity sleep for an hour or two."

P.L. Ryabov notices in his memoirs about the commander his special way of talking with people: “They say that Kaloshin talked a lot with soldiers. Not quite so. Nikolai Andreevich did not speak more than five words in a row to anyone at that time. He usually had such dialogues with soldiers : “Well, okay?” He responded in chorus or personally: “Okay, comrade senior lieutenant!” Kaloshin: “Well, then, okay!” And everyone around immediately became more cheerful, more confident. These “ladies” had a far greater effect on the soldiers stronger than my ranting."

Battalion Commander Kaloshin

Nikolai Andreevich Kaloshin, commander of the mortar battalion, was only twenty-three years old. He managed to smell gunpowder at the front. He turned out to be a brave, hard-working, smart officer. That is why age did not become an obstacle to his appointment to command a separate military unit.

April 1942. Units and subunits of the 124th Brigade were being put together. The mortar battalion of Senior Lieutenant Kaloshin received real material. The commander was ordered to take part in tactical exercises in turn with each rifle battalion: let the infantry look with their own eyes and touch the combat weapons with their hands.

Senior Lieutenant Kaloshin approached the observation post of the commander of the first rifle battalion, Captain Tsybulin, in compliance with the rules of camouflage: he left the horse handler and the control cell in the shelter. He is below average height. Dressed in a well-tailored sheepskin coat trimmed with fur. On the legs are white burkas lined with leather. A dashing forelock of reddish hair emerges from under the kubanka. A neat mustache, a careless patter with the addition of “saltness,” a playful whipping of a whip on the boot - all this was intended to convince others that this was not a green youth, but a combat commander who had seen everything. His red stallion of the Oryol breed is slender, to match a rider who loves horse riding. He introduced himself to Captain Tsybulin politely and with dignity. In a few sentences he reported on the combat and numerical strength of the battalion’s mortarmen, and on their fire capabilities.

The commander of the machine gun company of the rifle battalion, Lieutenant Stepan Chuprov, is also here. He had never seen Kaloshin before. At first glance I thought: this is a guy, he looks dapper.

The reconnaissance has ended. The order was given: advance. Chuprov's attention was again drawn to the mortar battalion commander. “During this exercise, I looked closely at the work of the mortar men,” recalled Chuprov. “I remember that Kaloshin tried to use the battalion’s fire concentratedly, on specific targets, in areas where the imaginary enemy was concentrated. He and the computers quickly, habitually worked on a tablet, at a stereo tube and compass , prepared data for shooting, gave commands to open fire. I liked the lively and specific work of Captain Kaloshin.

In early August, an order came to appoint me deputy commander of a mortar battalion. Captain Kaloshin, Commissar Ryabov, Chief of Staff Senior Lieutenant Lepsky met and received me cordially. But the company commanders are cold. They knew me as an infantryman, but here I was a mortarman, and even a commander over them. I sat down in the evenings to repeat the mortar task. I wanted to learn how to work like a Kaloshin and control mortar fire in battle. On the tenth day of my stay in the battalion, an order was received to load me onto a railway train. We decided to use long stops for training. We went out with compasses and tablets for fire training 2-3 times a day. The entire officer corps was involved. Kaloshin had an excellent memory. He ensured that every commander knew the preparation of data by heart."

In order to better prepare to repel German attacks, Kaloshin decided to shoot in advance his main and reserve OP, the main and reserve OP of each of the mortar companies located in the brigade’s defense area, each company in turn. Kaloshin taught this to his company commanders back in Ryazan.

All data was recorded from both the battalion commander and each company commander. In addition, the most likely places where Germans would gather for an attack and other lines and areas of terrain where the enemy might appear were targeted. And this shooting was not in vain; it was of great use to the Gorokhovo residents. “If this shooting had not been done,” N.A. Kaloshin emphasized in his memoirs, “we would not have withstood any of those later critical battles with the Germans.” The shooting saved the lives of many mortar men and was a great help to our infantry.

Not people, but gold!

“How friendly we were all! This friendship arose in the days of formation in Bashkiria and near Ryazan and was cemented in Stalingrad,” wrote Nikolai Andreevich. The fact that the mortarmen were “friendly in a way that cannot be described” was confirmed in the most difficult moments for the brigade - in the second half of October and November 17, during the German breakthrough in the Market. It was as if the mortar men didn’t do anything special. They are so used to doing this “special” that they stopped noticing. The commanders and fighters in the mortar battalion were not people, but gold!

November 2, 1942. By noon, the Germans suspiciously increased their artillery and mortar fire, aviation appeared, and there was a continuous roar of planes, bombs and shells exploding. A solid wall of dust, pieces of earth, and debris rose into the air. There are reports of a concentration of Germans on the left flank of the battalion and in the rear. The mortar men opened rapid fire, but the Germans continued to accumulate for an attack in front of the OP and OP of the mortar platoon. Our infantry was not in the trenches, and the Germans spread unhindered along the trenches to the firing positions of the mortar company.

“According to the report, I feel that the platoon will not survive,” recalls Kaloshin, “I give them the order to retreat to the OP of Antonov’s mortar company, and I myself concentrate the fire of all mortar companies to cover the retreat.

The Germans walked halfway around my OP and began throwing grenades at it. There was nothing left to do but concentrate the fire of all the minor companies on your OP. A hail of mines rained down on the Germans and my OP, and the enemy, unable to stand it, hastily began to retreat.

At this time, Antonov reports that the platoon retreated with losses, but after it came the Germans, who were 40-50 meters from the firing position. We cannot fire mortars on them. I order to cover people and mortars. I am concentrating the fire of other mine companies on Antonov’s position. The Germans paused the onslaught and stopped encircling the company.

But now there is no connection with Antonov and Yumashev’s military company. Four signalmen were sent to restore it. Everyone is killed. There is still no communication, which can cause panic and unnecessary withdrawal of the company. I order the commander of the communications platoon, Vedeneev, personally and part of his fighters to establish contact with Antonov along the chain - by voice and whistle signals. And duplicate my every signal with a voice. The signalmen are crawling away from the OP. I see one of them has stopped. I give the signal - “one whistle”. He duplicates. You can hear that the signal is being duplicated further. After some time, a report came through the chain: “Contact with Antonov has been established - we’re glad.”

This is how the initial connection with Antonov’s company was established, and this chain began to simultaneously mark the line of our defense. So that the Germans could hear this line, we began to transmit different signals along it. So for some time we “terrified” the Germans with the “front line” of our defense. At the same time, they continued to use fire from another small company to destroy the Germans lying in front of our OP and Antonov’s company.

After some time, communication with the companies was restored, but with the brigade it was broken. I had to report to the brigade commander on the radio. His order followed: Antonov’s company and I should retreat and occupy an opportunistic position in the center of Spartanovka, closer to the ravine. I reported that it was impossible to break away from the Germans during the day; if we began to retreat now, there would be great casualties and we would bring the Germans with us. I asked to be allowed to withdraw after dark and to give a company of infantry to cover our retreat. The brigade commander approved the request.

Without allowing the Germans to raise their heads, we began to prepare to retreat. The Germans became more active and tried to attack the NP. But the same mortar fire from our other miner companies were again pinned to the ground. And they continued to lie there until our departure. A small reinforcement of infantrymen arrived at the OP. He was brought by our former battalion chief of staff, and now brigade intelligence officer, Georgy Aleksandrovich Lepsky. We were very happy with them. We withdrew in an orderly manner under cover of darkness."

Here is another characteristic episode of the combat work of the Minbat and its commander, according to the memoirs of Kaloshin himself: “In the attic of a collapsed house on the northern outskirts of Spartanovka, I watch the Germans. Kilmata rolls my cigarettes. When it’s “hot,” I smoke a lot. We got bombed german planes. They were replaced by two “frames”. Suddenly I see right in front of me, 300-400 meters away, across the railway embankment, along the defense of the rifle battalions, along the ravine, six tanks with Germans on their sides slowly and cautiously crawl out, and behind the tanks another 40-60 people on foot. It looks somehow unnatural. Usually they attack at a fast pace, but here for some reason it’s very slow, like at a parade. I can’t even believe that these are Germans. It is surprising that no one is firing at them - neither riflemen nor artillery.

The place where the Germans appeared was well targeted by all mortar companies. I decided to destroy them with mortar fire and then change the OP. We had 2-4 firing positions prepared. All mortar fire fell on the enemy's head. The Nazis found themselves in a thresher. They stopped moving, dismounted, and lay down. And the tanks began to take cover behind the ruins. One of the tanks caught fire: a mine successfully covered it. I even shouted “Hurray!” with joy! Then another tank caught fire. It turned out that he was set on fire by one of the commanders of 50-millimeter mortars who were on combat duty. He took the anti-tank rifle from the riflemen and set the tank on fire. In the darkness, two burning tanks illuminated the entire area, which prevented the surviving Germans from leaving the battlefield. Taking advantage of the confusion, a soldier from a platoon of 50-mm mortars crawled up to the third tank and blew it up with a bunch of grenades. The remaining tanks went back to their place late at night, dragging away the third tank that we had knocked out in the battle.

Colonel Gorokhov later kept asking Military Commissar Ryabov where did so many mines come from in the Ministry of Battalion? In that battle, mortar companies used 1,200 mines, hidden for a “rainy day,” in salvos against the enemy. Such a battle was worth a lot: it inspired our fighters and greatly demoralized the Germans. The Krauts were now advancing with increasing caution."

On November 16, Pavel Leontyevich Ryabov went on a night round to talk with people. Usually by morning he returned to the checkpoint, but here he warned the commander that he would probably remain in Yumashev’s minority for the day. The commander did not object. Ryabov left. The night, judging by the shooting, was bearable, but dark, and by the morning of November 17 a very dense fog had descended. The Germans quietly and unexpectedly attacked the riflemen of Tkalenko’s battalion, and the infantry could not stand it. The enemy found himself in the firing position of Yumashev's minor company. But the mortar men were not at a loss. Hand-to-hand combat began.

“Yumashev, observing the hand-to-hand combat, was worried, believing that the mortars might not be able to withstand it,” Kaloshin recalled, “asked me to fire on him. The fire of other miner companies was immediately opened on Yumashev’s company. It was corrected by Yumashev himself. And the Germans could not stand it, they started to leave. By that time, with their headlights on, they approached German tanks, but the enemy infantry was no longer able to rise for a second attack. Our mortar fire did its job."

The firing positions of the 1st mortar company were located near the Volga, near the ravine where the kitchens of the 2nd Rifle Battalion of the OSB were located. Ryabov took command of the mortar men. He sent his orderly Anatoly Koshkarev to take anti-tank grenades, get close to the tank and knock it out. He crawled up and successfully threw a grenade. One of the tanks spun in place, and the other two ran away. Kaverin, political instructor of Yumashev’s company, captured two Germans. “We sent him with them to Gorokhov,” recalled P.L. Ryabov. “The brigade commander was delighted. I remember how he said: “It’s not the personnel in the brigade, but the gold!” - and immediately treated him to a glass of vodka, saying: “You’re dear my..."

Kaloshin and his comrades did not consider themselves heroes. But how they appreciated the joy of jointly defeating the enemy, which they experienced in Stalingrad! Here are a few lines from a letter from Nikolai Andreevich Kaloshin to the former commissar of the brigade V.A. Grekov: “I rejoice at everything that remains in my memory associated with your name, our brigade and brigade comrades. I am glad for the fate that connected me with you and the brigade. I have not had more joyful days than the days associated with the brigade , Stalingrad and our friendly team. I am so glad to see you that it even crushes my soul... In our brigade and Stalingrad, in the most difficult, hot time, I was accepted into the party, and you were the first to congratulate me. I was the most sincere and ready for any feat".

Battalion Commander Kaloshin recalled his decision to join the party as follows: “I decided, in order to give myself more strength, to join the party, and other mortar men followed me. I tried to cut off my path to cowardice or retreat. When the fighting began, the entire battalion there were 7-8 party members. Then there were 50 people."

Thank you, mortar men! Along with machine gunners and tank destroyers, you were located in the rear and at the junctions of rifle companies, creating the depth and strength of the defense. "They won't get through us!" Everyone in Gorokhov’s brigade knew: for the mortar men, this was an oath to which they remained faithful until the victory in Stalingrad.

To be continued.