Romanov, Peter Ilyich

Peter Ilyich Romanov was born on February 21, 1919 in the village of Panskoe, now in the Alexinsky District of the Tula Region . Mother Romanova Alexandra Ignatyevna. Russian. Member of the CPSU (b) . In the Red Army from November 24, 1939.

In the Great Patriotic War participated since June 28, 1941 . July 4, 1941 near the town of Ostrov Island of the Pskov Region . Commander of the 1st Infantry Battalion of the 140th Infantry Regiment of the 182nd Infantry Division of the Dnovsky ^[2] .

During the East Prussian operation, the 182nd Infantry Division, in which Captain P.I. Romanov served, on February 7, 1945, was withdrawn from the area of ​​the settlement of Pobeten (now the settlement of Romanovo, Zelenogradsk District of the Kaliningrad Region ) on the de-blockade of the 91st Guards rifle division (commander Colonel V.I. Kozhanov ) in the area of Germau — Tirenberg ^[3] . Having made a 14-kilometer march, the 182nd Infantry Division concentrated in the vicinity of the village of Coyenen ^[4] . The height of the fierce battles was the height of 70.9 ^[5] (on the German maps 71.0), which occupied a very advantageous position, allowing complete control of the Kumenen- Germau road, along which surrounded the regiments of the 91st Guards Rifle Division began to emerge from the forest of Langerwald. At the same time, the 232rd Infantry Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Kuznetsov) of this division was attached to the troops attacking under Arissau ^[6] , and the 140th (Guards Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Ivanovich Rodionov), the 171st (Lieutenant Colonel Dyomin) rifle and 625th (Major Vasily Sergeevich Yermolin) the artillery regiments were intended to capture and hold a height of 70.9 before the exit of the circle.

On February 7, the avant-garde units of Lieutenant Yuri Isaenko, the staff battery of the 625th artillery regiment, a platoon of reconnaissance, the 108th separate reconnaissance guard, Lieutenant Alexei Fomichyov, and a company of machine gunners of the 140th rifle guard, Captain Ismail Gismatulin, captured the village and the Koijen railway platform. Soon, the avant-garde came to a height of 70.9, knocking out the German barriers of the 95th Infantry Division and entrenched on it. Part of the guns of the 625th artillery regiment and the 14th separate anti-tank battalion in the southern and southeastern environs of the height were put on direct fire.

German attempts to knock out units of the Red Army from the designated height began on February 8. At 11.00, after a strong artillery-mortar shelling, with two self-propelled guns StuG III from the 232nd brigade of assault guns (Sturmgeschutz-Brigade 232) and up to 60 infantry, the Germans launched an offensive. Approaching at a distance of about 300 meters to the gun batteries of the defenders, we received a fire strike from the latter. As a result, one self-propelled gun was hit by the calculation of sergeant Dmitry Kolosov. The fire of related units killed up to 20 Germans. The first attack was repelled. The second attack began at 14.00 by much larger forces. At this time, 4 self-propelled guns of the said brigade and up to 160 infantry were already thrown at the offensive. At the same time, the fire of some guns was hampered by uninterrupted fire by German submachine gunners, entrenched in a small hollow at a distance of 50 meters from the nearest guns. Nevertheless, another German self-propelled gun was able to knock out and slightly disperse the infantrymen. The crew began to jump out of the damaged self-propelled gun, but the gunner of the gunner junior sergeant Ivan Borodin did not lose his head and shot them from his machine gun. However, the Germans regrouped (three more self-propelled guns joined the attack) and hit the flank with all their forces on the defensive. This time the scales leaned toward the Germans. The self-propelled guns that climbed the ridge began methodically knocking out gun calculations. However, at the cost of their lives, the gunners destroyed another self-propelled gun. Three gun commanders were killed: corporal Pyotr Babenkov, sergeant Dzhumakul Dikanov and sergeant Dmitry Kolosov already mentioned.

After the defeat of artillery batteries, infantry units began to retreat from a height. The withdrawal covered a platoon of 120-mm mortars of Lieutenant Ivan Rodin, who cut off the infantry from self-propelled guns and delivered sensitive blows to the enemy. Serious losses suffered infantry and officers. The commander of the machine-gun platoon, senior lieutenant Andrei Gorodenko, commander of a fire platoon, lieutenant Zakhar Sokol, translator of the regimental headquarters, lieutenant Leiser Bregman, commander of a company of submachine gunners, captain Izmail Gismatulin, commander of a machine-gun company, senior lieutenant Alexander Zhigar, senior adj, died: According to documents of casualties, the majority of soldiers and officers are recorded with the phrase “remained on the battlefield in the Coyenen area”.

At the height remained only a handful of fighters (about 10 people), led by Captain Romanov, who had already received serious injuries. The battle was in close contact with fire, the German infantry approached the distance of a grenade throw. In conditions when the Germans rushed to the height and the defenders ran out of ammunition and grenades, Romanov took the only right decision, which allowed destroying the enemy that had broken through - to call on himself to fire divisional artillery. Artillery attack fell on the positions of the remainder of the battalion, when they were actually taken by the Germans. April 19, 1945 Peter Ilyich Romanov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously).

However, not everyone who was hit by their own artillery died. For example, Private Ivan Sysoev, who was next to Captain Romanov, was wounded, but was able to reach the location of his troops. For courage and bravery, he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, I degree. In the battles at an altitude of 70.9 there were numerous facts of courage and courage in actions sometimes in critical situations. The regimental engineer captain Alexander Goncharov, together with the sappers attached to him, provided protection for the NP of the 140th rifle regiment. When the erupted German self-propelled guns began to fire NP, he took up the machine gun and began to cut off the infantry from self-propelled guns. The officers who were on the NP were quickly evacuated, but the captain Goncharov was seriously wounded and was taken to the rear only deep in the evening, where he died on February 9. The commander of the sanitary platoon, Lieutenant Medical Service Samson Rubinov, despite the fire impact of the Germans, managed to take out about 100 wounded soldiers to the regiment first-aid post, which undoubtedly saved their lives. The number of privates and sergeants killed on February 8 was approximately 37, and if it were not for the skillful actions of Lieutenant Rubinov, their number could have increased many times. The sergeant of the medical service Sergey Morgasov, in addition to his main duties (pulled 15 people from the battlefield and 8 did the dressing), served as a gunner on one of the guns, where there were already losses in the calculation. Under the fire of the enemy, it was necessary to “cure” the materiel. The gunsmith of the 5th battery of the 625th artillery regiment, sergeant Viktor Yakovlev, during the first attack, restored the damaged handle of the lock, which prevented the opening. During the second attack, he corrected the castle's spell on one of the guns and immediately stood up for him loader, since by that time only the gunner was operating on this gun.

During the German attacks, the provision of communication between commanders and final units was also of no small importance. The head of the radio station Sergeant Peter Glushenkov (9th Separate Communication Battalion of the 182nd Infantry Division), being at the location of the 171st Infantry Regiment, provided communication with the division headquarters for two days. The wired telephone connection traditional for that time was often violated due to shelling. And to restore control in the "regiment-battalion-company" or "regiment-division-battery" link, it was necessary to put all the efforts of the telephonists. The commander of the communications department of the 625th artillery regiment, sergeant Alexander Chebelev, recovered about 60 gusts of telephone wire in a day. Telephone operator Elizaveta Fedorova eliminated about 100 damage, in addition to this, when there was a critical situation after the second German attack, she performed the duties of carrying a projectile on one of the guns. Also performed the ligation of three seriously wounded soldiers. As a result of the explosion, the projectile received a concussion, fell into the crater and lay there until darkness, which allowed her to sneak into her unit. By the evening of February 8, 1945, the height of 70.9 was completely under the control of the Germans ^[7] .

For a long time in the Kaliningrad local history literature and in publications of the Soviet period about the captain P.I. Romanov the vicinities of the village of the same name Romanovo (former Poboten) were considered the canonical place of his death. In many ways, this view is supported up to the present day ^{[8] [9] [10] [11] [12]} . The question of his real burial is still open, since the body of P. I. Romanov and the corpses of the soldiers and officers of his battalion, scattered at the height after the shelling, remained in the territory occupied by the Germans. Apparently, after the battle, all the corpses were collected by the funeral units of the Germans and buried in a sanitary burial somewhere in the vicinity of a height of 70.9 (for example, it could be funnels, which were at a height everywhere). The height remained occupied by the Germans for two months, until mid-April 1945, therefore it is rather difficult to determine the real burial place of P. I. Romanov and the men of his battalion.

The city of Pobetten is named after captain P.I. Romanov. Here Peter Ilyich Romanov, the battalion commander of the 182nd rifle division, fought to the last drop of blood.

- Twice Hero of the Soviet Union Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasilevsky A.M. A matter of a lifetime. - M: Politizdat, 1975.- P.513.

• Gold Star Medal ;
• Order of Lenin ;
• Order of the Patriotic War, 1 degree;
• Order of the Patriotic War, 2 degrees;
• Order of the Red Star .
• By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR of July 25, 1947, Pobeten was renamed in honor of Peter Ilyich Romanov.

• Heroes of the Soviet Union: A Brief Biographical Dictionary / Prev. ed. College I. Shkadov . - M .: Military Publishing , 1988. - T. 2 / Lyubov - Yashchuk /. - 863 s. - 100 000 copies - ISBN 5-203-00536-2 .
• Romanov Peter Ilyich // Drigo S. V. Over the feat - a feat. Kaliningrad, 1984.
• Strokin V.N. The feat of the officer Romanov // Strokin V.N. Monuments of the military past. - Kaliningrad, 1995.
• Evseev M. The last battle of Captain Romanov // Wave [Zelenogradsk]. - 1995.

• Romanov, Peter Ilyich (Rus.) . The site " Heroes of the country ."
• Photo captain Romanov .
• Photo of the monument to P. I. Romanov (inaccessible link) .