Cape Cross. Through sheer cliffs: the feat of Leonov's detachment
Petsamo... From the first days of the war, the name of this tiny town in the north, in the depths of the bay, flashed in reports, in newspapers. Through Petsamo and Kirkenes, the Nazi mountain rifle corps was supplied. Large and small ships sailed here from Germany and southern Norway with military cargo and manpower for the Jaeger divisions stuck at the front near the Zapadnaya Litsa River. The enemy tried to cover Petsamo from the sea, to seal the entrance to the bay for foreign ships. The Nazis installed long-range coastal batteries on both banks near its neck, blocked it with booms and anti-submarine nets.
The bay, about halfway from the mouth to Petsamo, is blocked by a granite hulk - Cape Cross. Acting as a large offshoot from the eastern shore, it seems to cross the fairing, forcing it to make a sharp turn to the west, forming Linakhamari Bay.
During the war years, the entire tip of Cape Krestovoy resembled a bristling hedgehog. At the very edge of the water was a coastal long-range battery. Halfway from the shore to the top of the cape, an anti-aircraft battery was located on a spacious flat area. In addition, small-caliber guns and machine guns were installed here and there in stone niches.
In the autumn of 1944, a big offensive was being prepared to liberate the Arctic. It was then that a daring, risky idea arose to capture Petsamo by landing from the sea. But for this it was necessary that not only the coastal batteries in the mouth of the bay, but also the guns of Cape Krestovoy, be silenced.
The task of capturing Cape Krestovoy was so difficult that it was ordered to solve it by the scouts of the Northern Defensive Region under the command of I.P.
The operation to capture Cape Cross was prepared in the strictest secrecy. Only a very few employees of the headquarters of the Northern Fleet and the Northern Defense Region and the commanders of the detachments knew about it.
We, the scouts, could only suspect that the detachment was being prepared for some extraordinary important business. We felt it by the intensity and complexity of the classes that were conducted with us.
One evening, from a great egg-shaped height, where the headquarters of the Northern Defensive Region had been walled up under a thick layer of stone and concrete, the commander of the detachment, Leonov, and his political officer, Lieutenant Guznenkov, returned. And immediately followed by the command to get ready for a military campaign.
We were not the only ones getting ready to go to sea. As soon as twilight deepened, along the entire southern coast of the Rybachy Peninsula, thousands of people crawled out from under camouflage nets and dugouts and set into motion. All of them were drawn to the shore, to the piers.
There was an offensive on many fronts. In particular, an assault was being prepared on the Musta-Tunturi ridge, captured by the enemy back in 1941, which separates the Sredny and Rybachy peninsulas from the mainland.
The regiments of the Northern defensive region were to land in the east of the ridge - on the coast of the Motovsky Bay, and the brigade marines- in the west - in Malaya Volokova Bay, on the flank of enemy fortifications.
The isthmus is small, only six kilometers, but it is difficult to take it. For three years, on the Musta-Tunturi ridge, the Nazis built, as they not without reason believed, an impregnable defense. The northern slopes of the ridge are especially inaccessible - from the Rybachy side - they are almost sheer. In some cells with firing points, enemies go down on duty by rope ladders. And only in one place, nature seemed to have blown up the granite slope and strewn it from top to bottom with large stones. You can storm Musta-Tunturi in the forehead only here. By striking the enemy in the flank, from the side of Malaya Volokova Bay, you can help the attackers by switching part of the enemy’s forces to yourself.
The detachment arrived at the pier, as usual, under the cover of darkness. We were escorted by a member of the military council of the Northern Fleet, Vice Admiral A. A. Nikolaev, who treated scouts in a paternal way, there is no other word for it.
The moorings and dugouts were left behind. This spring and autumn, the detachment lived in several dugouts and in two houses, miraculously preserved from the pre-war period. Before that, we lodged in a large mine depot located underground, but a misfortune happened and our dwelling burned to the ground with property and ammunition. Half-dressed paratroopers managed to take out only their weapons.
We are going through the Varangerfjord. We diligently hide from every other person's eyes and ears: the engines are switched to underwater exhaust, the signal lights are extinguished, there are no radio communications. The weather seemed to be at one with us: the blizzard put on an invisibility cap on the boats.
We approached the landing site - on the shore of the Malaya Volokova Bay between Petsamo Bay and the Musta-Tunturi Ridge. The sailors threw out the gangplank. Their ends did not reach the shore, they flopped into the water. We ran over them. Some were splashed by a rolling wave, some slipped on boulders, plunged into the water. Not without it.
Detachments landed close to each other, but did not go close, just in case they were divided, you never know what the unforeseen will meet on the way. It is prescribed to leave to the intended point at the same time tomorrow night.
Even on the shore they dressed in white camouflage robes. It is uncomfortable to walk in a dressing gown, it is icy, covered with a crust, puffs up, shakes, immediately becomes wide, awkward in it.
Sometime after midnight, the sky to our east suddenly lit up with a gigantic glow. Then came a rolling rumble, as if an inopportune, untimely thunderstorm broke out. That brought down their fire on the breakthrough site enemy defense on the Musta-Tunturi ridge there are more than two hundred coastal guns and mortars. They are supported by hundreds of bombers and attack aircraft, naval artillery.
We breathed a sigh of relief, the enemies are not up to us now, which of them would think to look for the Russians far behind them ...
They went on all night without a hitch. The path is completely unfamiliar to us, they have never landed in these places during the entire war.
The blizzard does not subside. We wander, drowning in knee-deep snow. No matter how slippery, we try to walk along the lower slopes of the hills - in the hollows there are not yet frozen swamps and lakes not covered with ice.
The thorny path that we leave behind us winds between boulders, goes around swamps, looks for isthmuses between lakes, and they are countless here, each one must be passed. Kilometers are measured and run unnoticed. You look at the map - the path seems almost straight, but in fact we pass almost twice as much.
Until morning, we were ten kilometers away from the landing site. As it dawned, they lay down, hid among the stones.
A wind warmed by the Atlantic blew from the sea, it got warmer, it drizzled with rain. The snow began to melt quickly, streams flowed in places. Lie damp and cold. In order to warm up and stretch at least a little, we do gymnastics while lying and half-sitting.
As soon as dusk approached - the autumn day in the north is short - again we went to our goal.
The weight on my shoulders is getting stronger. In each backpack behind his back - a five-day ration, full disks with cartridges, up to a dozen grenades, packs of cartridges, magazines for machine guns behind the tops. In addition, machine guns and machine guns are also on themselves. Despite all this burden, one must not lose mobility, quick reaction, one must monitor everything that is happening around, be ready at any second for a collision with the enemy.
The evening was running out when the detachments came close to Krestovoi. Now it was necessary to sneak as close as possible to the enemy batteries.
In total darkness they began to descend from a steep cliff. Slippery, wet stone wall. In some places they went down the rope. We passed through a narrow valley. We climbed an almost steep climb. They climbed it with a living ladder: one climbed onto the shoulders of the other, found some kind of ledge, climbed onto it, and then with the help of a rope helped a friend to climb up. We went to the crest of the last ridge. From here the bay was guessed. It remains to go down. Somewhere below and very close was the goal.
The western slope of the ridge turned out to be no easier and no more flatter than the one we had just climbed. We descended on the ropes, but there were not enough of them for everyone. So I had to use this method. The sailor, grabbing his hands on some ledge, hung over the cliff. Another slid down his back and, feeling for support with his feet, took his comrade in his arms. And not one of them fell, did not slam their weapons against stones, did not rattle with iron cans with cartridges.
They pressed close to the granite wall, which they had just descended. Before moving away from it, you need to look around. In the darkness, a vast, flat clearing was vaguely guessed. Its edges were hidden by the darkness of the night.
A command followed in a whisper, from ear to ear: you can lie down, whoever is unbearable - hiding in a tent, have a smoke, no talking. The commander of the platoons, assistants, the commander of the operational unit Fyodor Zmeev, the political officer Ivan Guznenkov, the commander of the detachment called to him. Covering themselves with raincoats, they unfolded the map and turned on the lantern. Oriented. It turned out that the detachment was at the target - under the very nose of the enemy.
After a rest, our detachment stretched out in a chain: Nikandrov's platoon went on the left, and Barinov on the right.
We took a hundred or two cautious steps forward when everything suddenly suddenly came to life and became alarmed .. This German sentry discovered the approach of the detachment, pressed the alarm button.
The first shots cracked, bursts of machine guns rumbled.
We skipped twenty or thirty steps - we stumbled upon a wire fence. Towards from the hillock, because of the iron web, a machine gun rattled fractionally.
The darkness of the night was lit up with flashes of flares. In their bright flashes one can see how our jerseys and tents are thrown onto the prickly spirals. The steel bristles rattled - the Nazis hung them with cans, some kind of rattles. Long-legged political officer Ivan Guznenkov overcame the obstacle faster than anyone on the flooring of jerseys and tents. Others follow him. We saw that Bruno's spiral was stretched between iron tripods, and they were placed without fastening on the granite firmament of the rock. A decision flashed through his mind like lightning: tear the tripod stand off the rock and lift it up. This was done by our strongman Ivan Lysenko. The scouts dive into the formed hole one by one. I got through too. Hitler's machine gunner saw Ivan in the flashes of rockets, turned the barrel of the machine gun in his direction, fired several bursts. Ivan sags, drops to one knee, but still holds his stance. His strength is diminishing, he hurries his comrades.
We do not look back at Ivan behind the wire, we hurry forward. A little to the left, from a stone cell, a machine gun is poured in bursts. We throw grenades there. The gun is silent.
With a run we jump out to the edge of the cliff. Below, on a flat large area in the gun yards, built of stone and concreted, we see four guns. Two of them have already been turned in our direction, servants are fussing around them, dragging shells, soldiers are running to the rest along the communication lines.
Just as I was about to fire a burst from my machine gun, the nearest gun burst into flames. Behind him came another. Shells exploded nearby.
Dashed to the right. The guns meanwhile shoot and shoot. The flames flash so close that it seemed as if it lashed at the eyes.
The hill where we ran back is not so sheer. He sat down and immediately rolled down. The rest of the guys from our platoon follow me in the same manner. Crawling and dashing, we begin to get close to the nearest gun of the anti-aircraft battery.
On the other side, a platoon of Nikandrov descended towards her along a gentle slope. Agafonov was the first to jump into the course of communication, threw a grenade forward at the turn, fired several bursts from a machine gun on the run, burst into the gun yard, where a cannon was installed on a concrete foundation. Three or four gunners jumped out of another trench, alerted to the alarm. Semyon struck them down with an automatic burst, jumped up to the gun. Following on the gun yard ran a few more sailors. One of the guns was captured.
In the meantime, about ten people from our platoon slipped into an impenetrable sector, where the shells did not hit, also broke into the communication passages, and along them, pouring automatic bursts in front of them, to the cannon. The gunners could not stand it, they rushed to their heels. We bombarded the gun yard with grenades and took the cannon. Then we rushed to the next one. Grenades flew forward, automatic bursts were heard. From the other side, Nikandrov's platoon was approaching us.
A jerk, another - and all the guns are captured, the anti-aircraft battery is in our hands. The Nazis rolled back down the slope, how many of them there - we do not know yet, but most likely - a lot. The killed enemies are almost invisible, the garrison was not destroyed, only guns were taken away from it. On the edge of the platform, from where the descent to the bay began, the gunners lay down, began to shoot back from carbines and machine guns. The scouts shot them down and drove them down.
Agafonov pursued one of the rangers to the very shore. He fired back, running from stone to stone, then hid behind a boulder - he ran out of ammunition. Semyon, swearing, as if tying intricate sea knots, shouted to the fascist to drop his weapon and surrender. The huntsman responded by throwing a grenade.
I’ll show you Kuz’kin’s mother, I’ll teach you how to bow,” Agafonov became even more angry and fired a bullet over the enemy’s head. He could not stand it, jumped up and rushed into the water. Semyon rushed after him. The huntsman brandished a grenade. Agafonov fired again. The first confusion among the Germans passed, they came to their senses, not far from the dugouts, on the descent, facing the bay, took up defensive positions. We also took cover behind the boulders and responded with grenades and fair bursts. On the other side, the fire died down.
When the firefight stopped, they gathered around the captured guns. The commander began to find out the losses. Only a few minutes passed, as we rushed to the assault, and seven scouts had already died. The commander of our platoon Anatoly Barinov was killed. He came to the detachment in the first days of the war, now we have very few of them left. I once served as a border guard. He is older than most of us, in his thirties. A year ago, I got my wife into the base, she came with two sons. Somehow we will bring her tragic news...
Leonov ordered me to take command of a platoon.
Ivan Lysenko, as he stood under machine-gun bursts with a rack raised in his hands, fell all riddled, not releasing it from his hands. The guys rescued him from under the wire. Now he lies in a clearing near the guns.
Sasha Manin, our Komsomol organizer, did not reach the guns a little, in the attack he was mowed down by a burst. The chubby and fair-haired Manin was so honest and straightforward that it seemed that he was even unfamiliar with such concepts as slyness and insincerity. He used to look with his gray-blue eyes so that the tongue of the most inveterate persecutor and deceiver would dry up to the larynx, he would not turn to fool this gullible as a baby guy.
Volodya Fatkin died. And the face was good, and the article was this cheerful and kind Ryazan guy. He is now lying on the ground, arms spread wide.
Covered by a close burst of a shell Pavel Smirnov. He went on this campaign, as if foreseeing imminent death. He did not respond to perky jokes at rest stops, he was sad, silent, sitting on the sidelines. Pavel left a widow with a little daughter in Polyarny.
A detachment paramedic lieutenant Luppov was killed. He served in the detachment for only a few months.
Death overtook the sailor Ivan Ryabchinsky.
And we haven't had so many wounded for a long time. Shot through the right hand of an officer of the operational unit Fyodor Zmeev. She is now in a sling, holding a machine gun in his left. He says that he will still hit the Nazis with his left. Dark-haired, of a gypsy type, cheerful, he does not give in to pain, he grins fervently with a white-toothed smile.
Party organizer Arkady Tarashnin was wounded. It's not his first injury. In the autumn of 1942, it was hardly carried out from a foreign shore; before that, it had lain in the snow near an enemy stronghold for more than half a day before that. His native Vyatka side endowed him with a strong, hardy nature, but now he is so seized that he lies with his eyes closed and his hands clasped in pain.
Friends Pavel Kolosov and Mikhail Kalagansky were running nearby in the attack. The machine-gun burst passed through them, stopped both of them on the run, fortunately, did not affect either the bones or the insides. They will still fight.
A bullet scratched Nikolai Maltsev's neck. He walks with a bandaged throat, refused to go to the bedridden wounded, asking to be left in the platoon.
By the time they were helping the wounded, it was completely dawn. On the other side of the bay, moorings, houses became visible, and on the outskirts - huge gas tanks.
Inspected the captured guns. They are in good order. Our gunners quickly figured out how to deal with them.
They loaded one cannon and launched a shell on the other side of the bay. An explosion was spotted near the fuel depots. Again they took aim and fired quickly across the bay from all guns. At the gas tanks, on the berths, in two or three more places, flames began to light up and began to increase. Fires started. They continued all the next day.
On the other side they realized that the anti-aircraft battery on Krestovoy had been captured, and soon they brought down their fire on us. Near the gun yards, large-caliber shells began to explode. The battery of heavy guns, hidden by the Nazis in the depths of the rock, fired. The cannons rolled forward along the rails, fired a salvo or two, and again disappeared into the tunnel. And several boats and boats with soldiers departed from the berths to help the Krestovoy garrison.
Leonov ordered two squads of scouts to go to the coast in order to either force the Nazis to turn back, or shoot them when they landed. The enemy, too, was not going to leave his landing to the mercy of fate - the shells on Krestovoy began to burst more and more often.
One squad completed its task - turned the boat and the boat back. But the other could not break through to the shore due to dense fire from the other side of the bay. Part of the fascist landing still landed. Here again Agafonov excelled. He managed to break through almost to the very shore, mowed down three more paratroopers.
Explosions of enemy shells drove the scouts into gun yards and other shelters. The Nazis drew up all their forces, crept closer and began to fire at the scouts with machine guns and machine guns.
It became dangerous to remain in the battery position. I had to remove the locks from the guns and leave the battery.
Where crawling, where dashes went up the slope. The main difficulty is to carry out the wounded. Enemy shells do not lag behind - they burst in a clearing, on a slope, pouring fragments.
After about twenty or thirty minutes they overcame the ridge, took refuge on its reverse slope. Neither shells nor bullets fly here. And the position of the battery is before our eyes, even machine guns reach it. Batteries will not get to the guns without hindrance.
The wounded were laid down in a small clearing.
I talked with Grisha Tikhonov, who delivered the wounded Mikhail Kalagansky. Michael is a big, heavy man. It was not easy to crawl him uphill, and even under fire. Grisha was sweating, barely taking a breath. Stopped to rest. He sees someone hiding behind rocks ahead. Left the wounded, crawled to the stones. It turned out that the Nazis were hiding. He fell on him from behind, crushed him under him, took away the carbine. Showed him to crawl with him. We returned to Kalagansky. Tikhonov put the prisoner on the back of the wounded man, he took two machine guns and a carbine, and again crawled up. Now each of them is in his place: Tikhonov - in his department, Kalagansky - along with other wounded, the prisoner - under guard.
From the opposite shore of the bay, after a short pause, shells again flew in our direction. Under their cover, the Nazis began to approach us. Now they are no longer rushing about in disorder, as at night, but are trying to envelop us from both flanks. But they do not have enough strength, for the "ticks" is clearly not enough.
From the left edge, the lookouts reported that about two enemy platoons intended to cross the ridge and go to our rear. We got carried away with holding the position from the side of the battery and lost sight of the fact that from the side of the mainland we were completely uncovered. Jaegers can come up from behind and surround us. To prevent this from happening, Leonov ordered me to take half a platoon and block the entrances and exits from Krestovoy from the mainland.
So that not a single mouse enters the cape and not a single one slips out of it, the commander warned me.
We ran to the extreme high-rise and stretched out in a semicircle on the top of our head. And just in time. We saw that the Nazis were climbing on it. They started firing at them with machine guns. The enemies could not stand it, rolled back down, lay down. We also took cover behind the rocks, trying not to raise our heads. We shoot only if we notice some movement in the enemy.
There are fewer and fewer cartridges left. He ordered that the machine guns be switched to single shots and that they only shoot accurately. The time is still light, almost noon, it is not so easy to stealthily get close to us. But such a shootout is not beneficial for us, since there is nowhere else to get cartridges, and the Nazis probably have at least heaps of them. Something must be done, somehow to force the enemies to retreat.
Leonov, by radio, requested the command to support us from the air. Six Ilyushins flew in, fired and bombarded the slopes on which the Nazis had taken refuge. Just out of sight, another appeared and ironed the enemy position again. Our hearts were happy. And then a couple of "Bostons" emerged from behind the hills and parachuted ammunition and food. We are completely alive. Fingers ran as if over the keys, placing cartridges in empty discs and magazines. The pouches on the waist belts are full again. The anti-aircraft gunners hid, fell silent, trying not to reveal themselves, in places they rolled down the slope, closer to the water.
Leonov decided that the moment had come for the good - the Nazis were at a loss, preoccupied with how to hold on and survive, now they could try to recapture the position of the anti-aircraft battery.
Having carefully calculated the throw, on command they rushed down to the guns and captured them. The Nazis did not particularly cling to the position, firing back so as not to let us close to them, retreated down.
The day was drawing to a close and it was getting dark. The commander of the detachment said that we would not climb lower, there was nothing to lose people, we had done our job - the batteries would not fire, and the Nazis were hardly up to us and guns, I suppose, they were thinking how to get out of Krestovoy in one piece.
From the darkness below came a call for help. Someone is shouting in Russian. They rushed to run to the voice, but then came to their senses - they would not have been ambushed. At first they listened to see if a voice was calling from one place. Only after that I sent a group of guys in search. Warned to proceed with caution.
The group returned half an hour later. In the bushes on the slope leading to the water, I found Mikhail Kolosov. He was wounded in the morning, when they repelled the landing from the other side of the bay. The bullet hit him in the left eye. When he came to his senses, none of his people were around. From the loss of blood, he was exhausted, he could not crawl. He lay until dark, trying not to moan. Only when it got dark did he call his own.
Later, at night, Sergei Voronin was dragged out of the same hollow on a tent. In the morning, after the capture of the battery, when in excitement they hurried to overtake the confused enemies and in places almost drove them into the water, Sergei broke his leg. The bullet shattered the bone. The sailor remained on the strip between his own and others. I tried to crawl, but I didn't have enough strength. When the Nazis hit the detachment, located in an artillery position, and went on the attack, several rangers were not far from Voronin. Sergei fired at them with a machine gun. The fugitives lay down, fired automatic bursts in his direction, threw a grenade. Sergei was wounded again. The sailor lost consciousness, calmed down. Only in the evening, having gathered the last of his strength, he called for help.
There was total darkness. Even the tops of the hills are not visible against the background of the sky. Not a spark, not an asterisk, not a bright spot. The Germans hid - they would not move, not a sound, not a shot. On the other side of the bay, too, it is quiet and dark. From there, they don’t even probe the entrance to the bay with searchlights. We also try not to reveal ourselves.
The scouts of the I.P. Barchenko-Emelyanov detachment crept up to the coastal long-range battery along the eastern bank of the Krestovoi during the day and now, at night, as soon as it was quiet all around, they crawled up to the guns at a distance of one throw, went on the attack and seized the guns. By nightfall, the scouts had become full masters of Krestovoi.
Fatigue fills the body with lead weight. The legs became naughty, with an effort you tear them off the ground and rearrange them, they cling to deadwood, stones and roots. Drowsiness closes the eyelids. With difficulty we force ourselves to peer into the darkness, to listen to the slightest rustle. We invigorate ourselves with a smoke, every now and then we suck on our pipes.
Somewhere around midnight, Petsamo Bay suddenly came to life. Bluish flashes of searchlights swept across the water. Here and there their light snatches out of the darkness of the boat. From the shore, machine-gun tracers and shrapnel shells rush towards them, which, when burst, scatter sparkling fragments. From the water to the shore, the tracks of large-caliber machine guns also hung in arcs.
Two boats walked along the coast and stretched a smoke screen behind them. The others entered it and rushed to the landings of Linahamari. A few more moments, and a landing force landed on them, we opened the way for them, capturing the Krestovy batteries.
The Germans around us have completely quieted down, not only are they not firing, but it is as if they are not walking or moving. However, the detachment commander warned us through a messenger that the Nazis might try to make a breakthrough, they would look for a way to their troops on the mainland. Therefore, he ordered to guard the exit from Krestovoi unrelentingly.
Until the morning they held out without worry. Only occasionally did one of ours shoot, when it seemed that someone had moved. On the other side, sometimes they also responded with a burst.
At dawn, where Krestovy was rooted to the mainland, marines approached: the head company of the Marine Corps brigade broke through to join us.
They did not stay long on Krestovoi. They got on the approached boats and crossed to the other side of the bay, to help the landing force, which landed at night. Together with them, he went to Linakhamari and Leonov with a platoon of Nikandrov and half of mine. The commander of the fleet, who arrived there, requested the scouts to reinforce the landing battalion.
I was ordered to hold Krestovy with two squads. In addition, Leonov ordered to comb the peninsula, to smoke out of all the cracks and shelters of the lurking Nazis. As soon as the combing began, enemy gunners, downcast, with their heads down, began to crawl out from everywhere and surrender. There were about ninety of them. The prisoners said that the commander of the anti-aircraft battery was killed in yesterday's morning battle.
There were not enough people to guard the prisoners, to serve near the batteries and to monitor the entrance to the cape. It was necessary for those who were lightly wounded to entrust the observation of enemy soldiers.
Around noon, the boat delivered Admiral A. G. Golovko, Commander of the Fleet, to Krestovoy. He was in a sailor's pea jacket, in a cap, on his shoulders - a cape, trousers tucked into high boots. I walked around the place of the recent battle, the positions of the batteries. Thanking us for capturing Krestovoye, he said:
Well done, did a good job, clean job. Everyone should be rewarded. This is the feat of not one, not many, here the feat of everyone, the entire detachment.
For many years, traces of the battles that took place here were preserved at Cape Krestovoy. The skeletons of dugouts and dugouts stuck out, the turrets of machine-gun nests rose. Barbed wire lay in balls on granite, under it three-legged racks rusted ... Now the military fortifications are partly torn down, partly destroyed by time. Only the concrete courtyards of the anti-aircraft battery passed the test. If you look at them from above, it seems that someone marked out a place for them on the site with a huge compass. Each one is about two dozen meters in diameter. In four there were once guns, in the fifth - Central, there was a command post.
Just below this platform is a white monument: two warriors bowed their heads over the fallen. On the pedestal are the names of the reconnaissance sailors buried here.
The white monument, like a beacon, points out the place of the glorious battle to the passing ships and ships, disturbs the memory, not letting them forget about the feat accomplished here.
20 dead (at Cape Cross)
Landing in Liinakhamari October 12 - 14, 1944- tactical amphibious assault, landed by the Northern Fleet during the Petsamo-Kirkines operation of the Great Patriotic War.
landing operation was held on high level and was crowned with complete success: on October 14, the vicinity of the port and important roads along the coast were cleared of the enemy, and the next day the city of Petsamo (Pechenga) was taken by storm.
Operation plan and preparation
The occupation of the port of Linahamari deprived the enemy of the possibility of evacuation by sea and was of great importance for ensuring the further advance of the troops of the front and the actions of the fleet. The port was turned into the main supply point for the army, the fleet received an important base in the Varangerfjord.
The landing operation was carried out at a high level and was a complete success. The key to success was a daring plan, the high skill of the boat commanders and their detachments, and the mass heroism of the personnel. During the daring breakthrough, the losses in the ships amounted to - 1 torpedo boat and 1 patrol boat were damaged by artillery fire, but they were able to land and safely leave the port. Patrol boat SKA-428 ran aground in the port, under enemy fire, the crew, on the orders of the commander, left the boat and joined the landing force.
Awards
A large number of landing participants were awarded orders and medals. Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Shabalin was awarded the title of twice Hero Soviet Union, the commanders of the detachments of boats S. G. Korshunovich and S. D. Zyuzin were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. From the participants in the assault on Cape Krestovy, the commander of the detachment, Major I.P. Barchenko-Emelyanov, lieutenant was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union
Landing in Liinakhamari October 12 - 14, 1944- tactical amphibious assault, landed by the Northern Fleet during the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation of the Great Patriotic War.
The landing operation was carried out at a high level and was crowned with complete success: on October 14, the vicinity of the port and important roads along the coast were cleared of the enemy, and the next day the city of Petsamo (Pechenga) was taken by storm.
Operation plan and preparation
The port of Linahamari was the main base for the export of nickel from deposits of strategic importance for Germany in the area of the city of Petsamo, as well as one of the most important naval bases of the Kriegsmarine on the coast of the Barents Sea. This base played a huge role in the fight against the Soviet Northern Fleet and the Arctic convoys of the allies in the USSR, and was also at the forefront of the defense of German-occupied Norway from the advancing Soviet army. The port and harbor of Linahamari was turned into a powerful defensive area in the Petsamovouono fjord. The narrow and deep-water entrance to the fjord was surrounded by high rocky shores, at the entrance to which the Germans created a three-layer density of artillery and machine-gun fire, and in the depths of the bay - a five-layer one. From the entrance to the fjord to the port, the distance was 18 miles, which had to be overcome in such conditions. In general, the defense system of Linahamari and the Gulf consisted of 4 coastal batteries of 150 and 210 mm guns, 20 batteries of 88 mm anti-aircraft defense guns equipped for firing at ground and sea targets. The key to the position was a battery of 150-millimeter guns (4 guns) at Cape Krestovy (Ristiniemi), which kept the entire Petsamovuono Bay and the harbor of the port of Linakhamari under fire. A 4-gun battery of 88 guns was placed nearby. In the port, on the berths, reinforced concrete pillboxes with armored caps were equipped.
Initially, when planning an offensive in the Arctic, the landing operation was not planned, but the fleet forces carried out a thorough reconnaissance of the area. Therefore, having received a message from the commander of the Karelian Front, Marshal of the Soviet Union K. A. Meretskov, during the operation that had begun, about the hasty retreat of the German 20th Mountain Army under the command of Colonel General Lothar von Rendulich and the desirability of the participation of the fleet in disrupting its planned retreat, the fleet commander proposed to carry out landing in the most fortified and important, but at the same time the most explored port of Linahamari. The idea of the operation consisted of capturing 2 batteries at Cape Krestovy, after which amphibious assaults landed at Linahamari at night. Particular attention was paid to the training of landing boat commanders. Thus, the commander of the Northern Fleet, Admiral A. G. Golovko, personally held special meetings with the commanders of the boats. He personally carried out the overall management of the operation.
Capture of batteries at Cape Krestovy
The operation to seize the batteries at Cape Krestovy was carried out by the reconnaissance detachment of the Northern Defensive Region (commander Major I.P. Barchenko-Emelyanov) and the 181st Special Purpose Detachment of the Northern Fleet (commander Lieutenant V.N. Leonov) - a total of 195 people. In view of the continuous observation of the sea by the enemy, the detachments were landed by three torpedo boats as early as October 9, 1944 in the Punainen Lacht Bay, a few tens of kilometers from the target, and in compliance with careful camouflage, made a covert foot transition to the target.
After a short battle on the afternoon of October 12, the 181st Special Purpose Detachment captured the 88-mm battery, and the reconnaissance detachment of the Northern Fleet blocked the 150-mm battery and entered into battle with its gunners. This battle was extremely stubborn and dramatic, but as a result, this battery could not open fire during the breakthrough of boats with landing troops into the port, and then its guns were blown up by the Germans themselves. On the morning of October 13, a reinforced reconnaissance company from the 63rd Marine Rifle Brigade was delivered to the cape, after which the surviving battery garrison (78 people) capitulated. The losses of the sabotage detachment amounted to 53 people killed and wounded.
Breakthrough of boats with landing in the port
The breakthrough of boats with landing troops began on the evening of October 12, 1944. The starting point for the landing force was the Rybachy Peninsula. The personnel of the landing force was staffed from the personnel of the 349th separate machine-gun battalion, the 125th Marine Regiment, volunteers from the ships of the fleet, totaled 660 people (the landing commander was the commander of the machine-gun battalion, Major I. A. Timofeev). The advance detachment of the breakthrough included 2 torpedo boats (commander of the detachment Hero of the Soviet Union, commander of the detachment of boats of the 1st division of torpedo boats of the torpedo boat brigade of the Northern Fleet, Lieutenant Commander A. O. Shabalin), the first echelon of the landing - 5 torpedo boats (commander captain of the 2nd rank S. G. Korshunovich), the second echelon - 1 torpedo boat and 6 patrol boats (commander captain of the 3rd rank S. D. Zyuzin). Each detachment moved at intervals of 7 minutes after the previous one. For the secrecy of the transition, the engines of all boats were equipped with an underwater gas exhaust (the noise of the engine was significantly reduced).
The enemy detected the approach of boats at a distance of 20-30 cables from the entrance to the bay, immediately turning on the searchlights and opening a powerful barrage. The boats at the "full" speed with the installation of smoke screens quickly overcame the barrage zone and broke into the fjord. Without slowing down, the boats overcame the fjord (had the nickname "corridor of death") and broke into the harbor. Under heavy machine-gun and mortar fire, the boats approached the berths and landed their groups of paratroopers in the designated places (only two boats, due to loss of orientation, landed away from the intended points, due to which these groups of paratroopers could not take part in the battle). In total, 552 people were landed by three echelons from 23:00 to 24:00 on October 12. The heavy artillery fire of the enemy excluded the support of the landed troops by the fire of boats, so after landing they immediately left the harbor. The main landing forces landed on the berths, part - on the shores of the fjord to capture coastal batteries.
Landing operations on the coast
In a fierce night battle, often turning into hand-to-hand combat, by dawn on October 13, the port of Linahamari was cleared of the enemy. However, the enemy managed to hold some of the important points in its vicinity and relying on them, throughout the day of October 13, put up stubborn resistance and even repeatedly counterattacked. The long-range artillery of the fleet from the Sredniy Peninsula fired to help the landing force, and aviation was also involved. During the day of the battle, it was possible to suppress the resistance of a number of enemy defensive points, which made it possible to go on the offensive on the evening of October 13. On the night of October 14 and in the morning, significant reinforcements of units of the Northern Fleet and ground forces. During this day, the surroundings of the port and important roads along the coast were cleared of the enemy. On October 15, the city of Petsamo (Pechenga) was taken by storm.
The occupation of the port of Linahamari deprived the enemy of the possibility of evacuation by sea and was of great importance for ensuring the further advance of the troops of the front and the actions of the fleet. The port was turned into the main supply point for the army, the fleet received an important base in the Varanger Fjord.
The landing operation was carried out at a high level and was a complete success. The key to success was a daring plan, the high skill of the boat commanders and their detachments, and the mass heroism of the personnel. During the daring breakthrough, the losses in the ships amounted to - 1 torpedo boat and 1 patrol boat were damaged by artillery fire, but they were able to land and safely leave the port. Patrol boat SKA-428 ran aground in the port, under enemy fire, the crew, on the orders of the commander, left the boat and joined the landing force.
Awards
A large number of landing participants were awarded orders and medals. Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Shabalin was awarded the title twice Hero of the Soviet Union, the commanders of the detachments of boats S. G. Korshunovich and S. D. Zyuzin were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Among the participants in the assault on Cape Krestovy, the commander of the detachment, Major I. P. Barchenko-Emelyanov, Lieutenant V. N. Leonov, scouts S. M. Agafonov and A. P. Pshenichnykh, were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Lothar RendulicLanding in Liinakhamari October 12 - 14, 1944- tactical amphibious assault, landed Northern Fleet during Petsamo-Kirkenes operation Great Patriotic War.
The landing operation was carried out at a high level and was crowned with complete success: on October 14, the vicinity of the port and important roads along the coast were cleared of the enemy, and the next day the city was taken by storm Petsamo (Pechenga).
Operation plan and preparation
The occupation of the port of Linahamari deprived the enemy of the possibility of evacuation by sea and was of great importance for ensuring the further advance of the troops of the front and the actions of the fleet. The port was turned into the main supply point for the army, the fleet received an important base in Varangerfjorden.
The landing operation was carried out at a high level and was a complete success. The key to success was a daring plan, the high skill of the boat commanders and their detachments, and the mass heroism of the personnel. During the daring breakthrough, the losses in the ships amounted to - 1 torpedo boat and 1 patrol boat were damaged by artillery fire, but they were able to land and safely leave the port. Patrol boat SKA-428 ran aground in the port, under enemy fire, the crew, on the orders of the commander, left the boat and joined the landing force.
Awards
A large number of landing participants were awarded orders and medals. Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Shabalin awarded the title of twice Hero of the Soviet Union, commanders of boat detachments S. G. Korshunovich and S. D. Zyuzin awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. From the participants in the assault on Cape Krestovy, the commander of the detachment, Major I.P. Barchenko-Emelyanov, lieutenant was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union V. N. Leonov, scouts S. M. Agafonov and A. P. Pshenichnykh.
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Notes
Literature
- Golovko A. G. «»
- The Navy of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. M., 2005. Volume 1: "Northern Fleet".
- Weiner B. A."The Northern Fleet in the Great patriotic war". M.: Military Publishing House, 1964. Pp. 331-343.
- Fokeev K. F. Landing in Linahamari. M .: Military Publishing, 1968.
- The Great Patriotic War. Day after day. "Marine Collection", 1994, No. 10.
- Babikov M. A. // They were not named in the bulletins. M .: DOSAAF 1987. 160 p.
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An excerpt characterizing the Landing in Liinakhamari
"That's what it means to be able to make acquaintances, thought Berg, that's what it means to be able to behave!"“Just please, when I am entertaining guests,” Vera said, “you don’t interrupt me, because I know what to do with everyone, and in what society what to say.
Berg smiled too.
“It’s impossible: sometimes a man’s conversation should be with men,” he said.
Pierre was received in a brand new living room, in which it was impossible to sit down anywhere without violating symmetry, cleanliness and order, and therefore it was very understandable and not strange that Berg generously offered to destroy the symmetry of an armchair or sofa for a dear guest, and apparently being himself in in this regard, in painful indecision, offered a solution to this issue to the choice of the guest. Pierre upset the symmetry by pulling out a chair for himself, and immediately Berg and Vera began the evening, interrupting one another and entertaining the guest.
Vera, deciding in her mind that Pierre should be occupied with a conversation about the French embassy, immediately began this conversation. Berg, deciding that a man's conversation was also necessary, interrupted his wife's speech, touching on the question of the war with Austria and involuntarily jumped from the general conversation to personal considerations about the proposals that were made to him to participate in the Austrian campaign, and about the reasons why he did not accept them. Despite the fact that the conversation was very awkward, and that Vera was angry at the intervention of the male element, both spouses felt with pleasure that, despite the fact that there was only one guest, the evening had started very well, and that the evening was like two drops of water are like any other evening with conversations, tea and candles lit.
Boris, Berg's old comrade, soon arrived. He treated Berg and Vera with a certain tinge of superiority and patronage. A lady came for Boris with a colonel, then the general himself, then the Rostovs, and the evening was completely, undoubtedly, similar to all evenings. Berg and Vera could not help smiling at the sight of this movement around the living room, at the sound of this incoherent conversation, the rustling of dresses and bows. Everything was, like everyone else, especially the general, who praised the apartment, patted Berg on the shoulder, and with fatherly arbitrariness ordered the setting up of the Boston table. The general sat down with Count Ilya Andreich, as if he were the most distinguished guest after himself. Old men with old men, young with young, the hostess at the tea table, on which were exactly the same cookies in a silver basket that the Panins had at the evening, everything was exactly the same as the others.
Pierre, as one of the most honored guests, was to sit in Boston with Ilya Andreevich, a general and a colonel. Pierre had to sit opposite Natasha at the Boston table, and the strange change that had taken place in her since the day of the ball struck him. Natasha was silent, and not only was she not as good as she was at the ball, but she would be bad if she did not have such a meek and indifferent look to everything.
"What with her?" thought Pierre, looking at her. She was sitting next to her sister at the tea table and reluctantly, without looking at him, answered something to Boris, who had sat down next to her. Departing the whole suit and taking five bribes to the pleasure of his partner, Pierre, who heard the greetings and the sound of someone's steps entering the room during the collection of bribes, looked at her again.
"What happened to her?" even more surprised he said to himself.
Prince Andrei, with a thrifty tender expression, stood before her and said something to her. She, raising her head, blushing and apparently trying to hold her breath, looked at him. And the bright light of some kind of inner, previously extinguished fire, again burned in her. She has completely changed. From the bad girl she again became the same as she was at the ball.
Prince Andrei went up to Pierre and Pierre noticed a new, youthful expression in the face of his friend.
Pierre changed seats several times during the game, now with his back, then facing Natasha, and for the entire duration of 6 roberts he made observations of her and his friend.
“Something very important is happening between them,” thought Pierre, and a joyful and at the same time bitter feeling made him worry and forget about the game.
After 6 robers, the general got up, saying that it was impossible to play like that, and Pierre got his freedom. Natasha was talking to Sonya and Boris in one direction, Vera was talking about something with a thin smile with Prince Andrei. Pierre went up to his friend and, asking if what was being said was a secret, sat down beside them. Vera, noticing Prince Andrei's attention to Natasha, found that at the evening, at a real evening, it was necessary that there be subtle hints of feelings, and seizing the time when Prince Andrei was alone, she began a conversation with him about feelings in general and about her sister . With such an intelligent (as she considered Prince Andrei) guest, she needed to apply her diplomatic skills to the matter.
When Pierre approached them, he noticed that Vera was in the self-satisfied enthusiasm of the conversation, Prince Andrei (which rarely happened to him) seemed embarrassed.
- What do you think? Vera said with a thin smile. - You, prince, are so insightful and understand the character of people at once. What do you think of Natalie, can she be constant in her affections, can she, like other women (Vera understood herself), love a person once and remain faithful to him forever? This is what I believe true love. What do you think, prince?
“I know your sister too little,” answered Prince Andrei with a mocking smile, under which he wanted to hide his embarrassment, “to solve such a delicate question; and then I noticed that the less a woman likes, the more constant she is, ”he added and looked at Pierre, who had approached them at that time.
- Yes, it's true, prince; in our time, Vera continued (referring to our time, as limited people generally like to mention, believing that they have found and appreciated the features of our time and that the properties of people change with time), in our time the girl has so much freedom that le plaisir d "etre courtisee [the pleasure of having fans] often drowns out the true feeling in her. Et Nathalie, il faut l" avouer, y est tres sensible. [And Natalya, it must be confessed, is very sensitive to this.] The return to Natalya again made Prince Andrei frown unpleasantly; he wanted to get up, but Vera continued with an even more refined smile.
“I don’t think anyone was as courtisee [object of courtship] as she was,” Vera said; - but never, until very recently, did she seriously like anyone. You know, count, - she turned to Pierre, - even our dear cousin Boris, who was, entre nous [between us], very, very dans le pays du tendre ... [in the land of tenderness ...]
Prince Andrei frowned silently.
Are you friends with Boris? Vera told him.
- Yes, I know him…
- Did he tell you right about his childhood love for Natasha?
Was there childhood love? - suddenly suddenly blushing, asked Prince Andrei.
- Yes. Vous savez entre cousin et cousine cette intimate mene quelquefois a l "amour: le cousinage est un dangereux voisinage, N" est ce pas? [You know, between cousin and sister, this closeness sometimes leads to love. Such kinship is a dangerous neighborhood. Is not it?]
“Oh, without a doubt,” said Prince Andrei, and suddenly, unnaturally animated, he began to joke with Pierre about how careful he should be in his treatment of his 50-year-old Moscow cousins, and in the middle of a joking conversation, he got up and, taking under the arm of Pierre, took him aside.
- Well? - said Pierre, looking with surprise at the strange animation of his friend and noticing the look that he threw at Natasha getting up.
“I need, I need to talk to you,” said Prince Andrei. - You know our women's gloves (he talked about those Masonic gloves that were given to the newly elected brother to present to his beloved woman). - I ... But no, I'll talk to you later ... - And with a strange gleam in his eyes and restlessness in his movements, Prince Andrei went up to Natasha and sat down beside her. Pierre saw how Prince Andrei asked her something, and she, flushing, answered him.
But at this time, Berg approached Pierre, urging him to take part in a dispute between the general and the colonel about Spanish affairs.
Berg was pleased and happy. The smile of joy never left his face. The evening was very good and exactly like the other evenings he had seen. Everything was similar. And ladies' subtle conversations, and cards, and behind the cards the general raising his voice, and the samovar, and cookies; but one thing was still missing, that which he always saw at parties, which he wished to imitate.
There was a lack of loud conversation between men and an argument about something important and clever. The general started this conversation and Berg brought Pierre to it.
The next day, Prince Andrei went to the Rostovs for dinner, as Count Ilya Andreich called him, and spent the whole day with them.
Everyone in the house felt for whom Prince Andrei went, and he, without hiding, tried all day to be with Natasha. Not only in the soul of Natasha, frightened, but happy and enthusiastic, but in the whole house, fear was felt before something important that had to happen. The Countess looked at Prince Andrei with sad and seriously stern eyes when he spoke with Natasha, and timidly and feignedly began some kind of insignificant conversation, as soon as he looked back at her. Sonya was afraid to leave Natasha and was afraid to be a hindrance when she was with them. Natasha turned pale with fear of anticipation when she remained face to face with him for minutes. Prince Andrei struck her with his timidity. She felt that he needed to tell her something, but that he could not bring himself to do so.
When Prince Andrei left in the evening, the countess went up to Natasha and said in a whisper:
- Well?
- Mom, for God's sake don't ask me anything now. You can’t say that,” Natasha said.
But despite the fact that that evening Natasha, now agitated, now frightened, with stopping eyes, lay for a long time in her mother's bed. Now she told her how he praised her, then how he said that he would go abroad, then how he asked where they would live this summer, then how he asked her about Boris.
“But this, this… has never happened to me!” she said. “Only I’m scared around him, I’m always scared around him, what does that mean?” So it's real, right? Mom, are you sleeping?
“No, my soul, I myself am afraid,” answered the mother. - Go.
“I won’t sleep anyway. What's wrong with sleeping? Mommy, mommy, this has never happened to me! she said with astonishment and fear before the feeling that she was aware of in herself. - And could we think! ...
It seemed to Natasha that even when she first saw Prince Andrei in Otradnoye, she fell in love with him. She seemed to be frightened by this strange, unexpected happiness that the one whom she had chosen back then (she was firmly convinced of this), that the same one had now met her again, and, as it seems, was not indifferent to her. “And it was necessary for him, now that we are here, to come to Petersburg on purpose. And we should have met at this ball. All this is fate. It is clear that this is fate, that all this was led to this. Even then, as soon as I saw him, I felt something special.