Библия Времени. Найди свое. Лим Ворд
very widespread thesis at the beginning of the war: «the Germans – the cultural nation» comes completely to nothing. And the attitude to the newcomers is also such as to harmful insects – they need to be insensibly destroyed.
The German Luftwaffe dominates the sky. In the afternoon, the ships of the Black Sea flotilla are dispersed far into the sea, approaching the shore usually at night or in inclement weather. Nevertheless, the bombers of 8 Von Richthofen air corps (300 aircraft) in addition to the forces of the 4th Air Fleet (one IV air corps, about 350 units of all kinds) collect their abundant harvest. Covered in concrete caponiers, Soviet planes enter air battles and attack ground targets rarely; their main meaning now, it seems – is the expenditure of German shells on the destruction of shelters.
Instead of assistance, the Crimean front as a whole seems to only distract the forces and supplies of ammunition from the besieged Sevastopol. Wehrmacht draws to the city 1,100 only large-caliber guns. The largest of them – installed on railroad tracks in the mountain tunnel «Dora», the diameter of the trunk is 800 mm., From a distance of 30 km. produces 53 unsuccessful malorezultativnyh shot (4-ton shell): and on that, her work ends. Two more 150-ton self-propelled tracked mortars «Karl», caliber of 600 mm, are more effective. They produce hundreds of 2-ton shells, smash the multi-meter walls of strategically important forts. It also shoots 420mm howitzer Gamma Mörser (projectile 1 ton), which has survived since the First World War. In addition, many hundreds of guns, 210 mm, 300 mm, contribute to the destruction of the city. and 350 mm.
On January 15, Manstein’s forces strike at the junction of two Soviet armies near the village of Vladislavovka, and capture Feodosia. Instead of a swift advance towards Sevastopol and Perekop, the Red Army is now following a viscous positional struggle; dozens of unproductive attacks on pre-prepared positions. Since the beginning of the landing, Soviet troops are losing 100,000 people. The front stabilizes on the Ak-Monai Isthmus (from the base of the Arbat arrow to the south, Primorsky, the former frontier of the Bosporus kingdom). The supply of three armies with a total strength of 420 thousand men, each with 250 T-34 tanks, 300 aircraft, is now carried along the ice of the Kerch Strait.
The gun «Dora»
Mortar «Carl»
The Tower of the 30th Battery
On December 5, the Soviet command decides on a counter-offensive near Moscow, which, even with the numerical superiority of German troops in technology and people, is generally successful. Irrevocable losses of the parties since the beginning of the offensive against Moscow from Smolensk: the Soviet Union – 940 000 people (including 200 thousand people’s militia recruited in the capital), the Wehrmacht – 120 000.
As the next stage, from January 8 to April 20, 1942, the Rzhev-Vyazma operation is carried out. The general plan is, with a shortage of artillery and, in general, heavy equipment, to cut and destroy enemy troops advancing through forests and ravines with infantry units. He failed, in particular, because of Stalin’s personal decision to attack immediately on all fronts, without concentrating forces on certain directions, with a clear goal. The result: the losses of the Red Army about 320,000 people killed and captured, the Wehrmacht is unknown, according to some sources, 90,000. Further, on July 30, the offensive continued as a Rzhev-Sychevskaya operation, now with massive use of tanks, and ended on October 1, approximately the same the number of losses from the Soviet side – 300 000 people, as well as 1,100 armored cars; the losses of the Wehrmacht are unknown.
From January 7 to April 30, 1942, the Luban offensive operation is conducted. The goal is the lifting of the siege of Leningrad, the liberation of Novgorod, the collapse of the entire German front in the North. Soviet armies have incomplete personnel, a quarter of the ammunition, inadequate supplies; they enter the breakthrough section two kilometers wide and spray the blow in different directions. Practically there are no radio stations, telephone cable, even sights for guns. At all levels of government – an amazing inconsistency of action. Four armies exhaust forces in attacks, the fifth, the 2nd Shock falls into the encirclement. When an order is issued to retreat, there remains 500—800 meters for the exit, which is permanently guarded by only six to eight tanks KV and T-34. For three days with interruptions, 12 thousand people pass through it, almost all the wounded and sick. Losses of the Soviet troops – 300 000 people, German – is unknown.
Unfortunately, not many songs are composed about this, there are almost no films and books «in the bull’s eye». About exploits and losses speak little, except for, say, speeches, such, it turns out, an intelligent historian on the «Echo of Moscow», accompanied by the giggles of his interlocutors. It corresponds to the spirit of the times «Leningradskaya zastolnaya», verses of the front-line correspondent P. Shubin:
…Let’s drink to those who commanded the companies,
Who was dying in the snow,
Who in Leningrad made his way through the swamps,
Throat breaking enemy
Of the relatively modern songs, you can recall, perhaps, only the works of the folk singer V. Vysotsky. Total war is a mixture of smells, sounds, memories; feelings, which can hardly be expressed in a logical order of words:
Kolos in the color of amber – will we have time?
No, it turns out that we sow
What is the color of amber shone there?
It’s in the field the fire is rushing
Dispersed all of the troubles in the parties
Songbirds are no more – crows
The forest rustles as always, with crowns
And the earth and water – are moaning
Even the clatter of hoofs – a tramp
If someone screams – in a whisper
…And love is not for us, it’s true
What is needed now is hatred
(Storks, Аисты)
It should be noted that the author of this book tries to distance himself from those fans of discussions at historical forums that emanate saliva, evil snickers-spit and bile, when it comes to the losses of the USSR in the first years of the war. For them, everything is initially bad – tanks, planes, people, in the humiliation of heroes or simply confused soldiers, they seem to see the greatness of their own personality. No arguments on them do not work, and you do not want to spend mental energy on those who can not be corrected. This text is intended for those who are able to deeply experience History, possesses the mind and heart, and wants to make a better future by breaking the past into small details.
…Simultaneously, on January 7, 1942, on the northern front, the offensive of Soviet troops begins in the vicinity of the city of Demyansk. On February 8, a cauldron with 6 German divisions, including Tottenkopf, with a total strength of 100,000 people, is being formed. The German Air Force is organizing an air bridge, which delivers up to 265 tons of cargo per day. (Approximately the same number in the air was received by the Second Shock Army in three weeks.) Here, in particular, they shoot down the Yak-1 with the legendary man Alexei Maresiev, the one who will later destroy 7 Luftwaffe aircraft flying with foot prostheses. On May 5, the blockade was lifted. Losses of the parties – the Red Army – 245,000, including 9,000 people who participated in the whole, failed Demian landing operation. Wehrmacht – 55 000 troops.
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