Scouts, stealthily penetrating the village at night, found that they were pupils of the Polotsk orphanage No. 1, which was displaced by the Nazis.
Orphanage No. 1 in Polotsk was opened before the war. And when at the end of June 1941, fighting broke out on the outskirts of the city, workers of the orphanage tried to evacuate the children to the East. However, the rapid advance of German troops, cutting all roads to the Soviet rear, did not allow this, and the orphanage was forced to return back to the city. During the war, the orphanage was constantly replenished with the children of executed underground workers and residents. As a result, the total number of Soviet people, children, and educators working there was about 200 people.
In the autumn of 1943, not wanting to feed the children in the city, the Nazis moved the orphanage to the village of Belchitsa near Polotsk, where they had to get their own food. The houses in that part of the village located near the forest, where the orphanage was located, were not specially guarded by the fascists, but the village was provided with general security by the numerous garrison stationed in it.
In the village, partisan scouts met with the teachers of the orphanage, who said that due to a lack of food in the city, the children were starving, often sick, and there were outbreaks of typhus. They lacked clothes. Teachers heard that the Germans could take their children to Germany for "Germanization" or make them donors for their wounded soldiers. But after the emergence of numerous diseases of children, the Nazis, angered by defeats at the fronts, could simply destroy them. In addition, many children went to the orphanage after the Nazis shot their parents for participating in the resistance movement.
In general, it was clear that the lives of Soviet children were in danger. The information received was reported to the commands of the Shchors detachment and the Chapaev partisan brigade, and then entered the headquarters and command of the Polotsk-Lepelsky partisan formation. The command of the compound instructed the Chapaev brigade, based on the forces and means available to it, to decide on the possibility of releasing the children and to develop an appropriate plan of operation.
The command of the brigade, in order to decide on the possible release of the children and their removal to the partisan-controlled area, instructed the Shchors detachment to conduct detailed and lengthy reconnaissance in Belchitsa, which was located on a large territory and consisted of four neighboring settlements and the surrounding area.
Based on the intelligence collected by the brigade command, it was then decided to conduct a military operation, which was called the Zvezdochka in the partisan documentation. The preparation and conduct of Operation Zvezdochka was entrusted to the Shchors unit.
From the memoirs of the former deputy commissar of the partisan detachment named after Schors Barminsky Vasily Vasilyevich, one of the direct developers and participants of the operation: “But it was not so simple to implement the plan. Firstly, the garrison in Belchitsy was greatly strengthened. Secondly, in the orphanage there were many young children who could not independently reach the forest on deep snow. We understood that if you openly start a fight, then the children may die. Therefore, they decided to carry out the operation, if possible, without a fight, secretly bring the children. [2]
The detachment carried out lengthy and painstaking preparations for the operation. The partisans made direct contact with the orphanage, the director of the orphanage and teachers agreed to assist the partisans in the release of children. Partisan intelligence obtained comprehensive information on the number, armament, deployment of firing points and posts of the German garrison. The partisan detachment was reinforced with weapons, and to transport a large number of children a luge train was formed from about fifty carts.
In accordance with the plan of the operation, on the evening of February 18, 1944, under cover of darkness, the Shchors detachment in almost full force made a difficult winter march of more than 20 kilometers from the place of deployment to the place of children in the village of Belchitsa near Polotsk.
At the edge of the forest in front of the village, the detachment organized a defensive line right in the snow, on which machine-gun units were stationed with the task of being ready to join the battle at any moment and providing cover for the detachment to leave with the children in case they were discovered by the Nazis. Then the detachment reconnaissance group that entered the village secretly led the children and employees of the orphanage to a designated place on the edge of the village. The main group of partisans, dressed in protective white camouflage robes, advanced to the edge of the village and, as soon as the children appeared, the partisans ensured the rapid movement of all of them through an open snowy field, the partisans in their arms were transferred by hand in deep snow to the forest. The whole operation was carried out by the partisans swiftly and without clash with the German garrison.
The children were seated on carts, and at night the sleigh train delivered them to the liberated partisan zone, to the location of the Shchors detachment. Children were housed in the homes of residents of the village of Emelyaniki. They were warmed, fed, washed in a bathhouse, dressed (the locals brought clothes) and provided first aid. Later, for greater safety, the rescued were transported to the deep partisan rear, the village of Slovenia.
In the spring of 1944, the German command decided to launch an intensified struggle against the partisan detachments of the Polotsk-Lepel partisan zone, their ultimate goal being their complete destruction. Why began to pull together additional forces around the partisan zone, in particular, units withdrawn from the front. Finding children in partisan territories became unsafe, at any time heavy battles with fascist German invaders could begin. Children must have been transported over the front line to the mainland.
The headquarters of the partisan formation decided to conduct the second phase of Operation Zvezdochka in late March - early April - by agreement with the command of the 1st Baltic Front, to evacuate children by air to the Soviet rear.
I. Kh. Baghramyan , commander of the 1st Baltic Front , in whose area this area was located, ordered the forces of the 3rd Air Army to take the children out. During the multi-day second phase of the operation, about 200 children were evacuated to the Soviet rear by air, with most teachers and several dozen wounded partisans.
In late March - early April 1944, the evacuation was carried out by pilots of the 105th separate guards air regiment of the Civil Air Fleet (this civil air fleet regiment was included in the army), based thn 2001, the task of creating public water transport was entrusted to the city authorities [3] . The first attempts to implement the water bus project were made back in 2004, but the project really did not work due to high prices. In 2008, the city government developed a concept for the development of passenger water transport to improve the transport accessibility of areas and reduce travel time [4] . Already during the navigation period of 2008, the route St. Petersburg – Kronshtadt was opened, on which Meteor- type vessels operated [3] . In August 2010, 2 new lines were launched - from TsPKiO to Arsenalnaya Embankment and from the Moscow Hotel to the Bronze Horseman [5] .
This is a very comfortable and sought-after mode of transport - from one end of the city to the other, from the pier at the entrance to the Central Park and the Smolny Embankment, the boat cruised in just 12 minutes. By public transport or car, it takes much longer. I am sure that we did the right thing. Not to use the advantages of the city, the water surface for the organization of public transport would be a big omission.
- Matvienko V.I. , Governor of St. Petersburg [3] [4]
In 2011, the Neva Line was opened - from Sverdlovskaya Embankment to Rybatsky [6] . Also in 2010–2011, the Lomonosov – Kronshtadt ferry was included in the Aquabus system as a Suburban line (carried out first by icebreaker ferries, later by Neva type vessels) and was canceled with the completion of the construction of a complex of protective structures and the start of traffic along the dam.
In 2010, a water taxi project was developed, which can be called by telephone through the central control room. It was assumed that based on the results of the first navigation of the water bus on the demand for routes, stops, on the profitability of transportation, tariffs will be calculated so that in the future it would be possible to significantly expand this program. As of 2011, the fate of the project is unknown.
There were also plans to integrate the aquabus into a single urban public transport system, including the ability to pay for travel with a single ticket. In 2011, it became possible to pay for travel with the Podorozhnik electronic ticket.
... there are a lot of those who get to work on water buses. In order to make such people more, you need to integrate river taxis into the public transport system. You should arrange the sale of travel documents, including a water bus. Passengers who regularly use water transport must pay for travel less than the fare currently set on city lines.
- A. Bakirey, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Transport and Transit Policy
As of 2012, there were 4 lines of aquabuses operating in the city: Primorskaya (from Arsenalnaya Embankment to Primorsky Ave. ), Central (from Universitetskaya Embankment to Sverdlovskaya Embankment ), Nevskaya (from Sverdlovskaya Embankment to Rybatsky Ave ) and Kurortnaya ( from Arsenalnaya Embankment to Zelenogorsk ). In 2012-2013, it was planned to launch 4 more routes [6] . Meanwhile, according to the results of navigation in 2011, water buses were declared unprofitable, which cast doubt on the further development of routes. In 2012, to increase the payback, the price for an aquabus was almost doubled [7] .
Since 2013, all lines except Primorskaya have been abolished.
English emb. (opposite the Bronze Horseman), descent No. 2 - Palace Embankment. (opposite the Summer Garden), descent No. 1 - Arsenalnaya emb. (opposite Lenin Square ) - Petrogradskaya Embankment (opposite House No. 18), descent No. 3 - Aptekarskaya Embankment (opposite House No. 5 on Akademika Pavlova St. ) - Primorsky Ave (opposite the metro station " Chernaya Rechka "), descent No. 2 - Seaside Ave. (south-east of the house number 22, letter A), descent No. 5 - Seaside ave. (Below the 3rd Elagin bridge).
| Type of vessel | Serviced Line | Passenger capacity | Top speed | Length | Width |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hitek 85C taxi 2 | Seaside | 12 people | 60 km / h | 8.58 m | 2.65 m |
| Marlin 830 | Seaside | 12 people | 60 km / h | 8.30 | 3.05 |
| Catamaran | Seaside | 30 people | 60 km / h | - | - |
All boats are equipped with GLONASS satellite navigators, the signal from which is sent to the control room. In the navigation of 2012, it became possible to monitor ship movements through the website and estimate the time of arrival of ships at all berths [8] .
Since the launch of water routes, the following shortcomings in the operation of water buses and the equipping of stopping points have been noted:
Hitek 85C vessel on the Primorsky line