Special Purpose Battery “A” (“Aurora”)

The gun positions of the batteries were chosen mainly on the back slopes of the hills ( on the side of the likely enemy offensive ), in the open. The main objective of the battery "A" was the destruction of the advancing armored forces of the enemy in close combat. ^[30] Also, the guns of battery “A” fired for a long time at invisible targets ( at the transmitted coordinates from Pulkovo ) in the Gatchina region. The firing range of the guns was about 30 kilometers. ^{[2] [27] [28] [31]}

The number of the first composition of battery “A” was 152 people and 12 people of the senior commissar ^[30] . The battery consisted of nine 130-mm B-7 guns, with a barrel length of 55 calibers. The frontal part of the turret-like shield of the gun had a 76 mm thick armor ^[32] , and in the summer of 1941 it was able to withstand a direct hit from most types of Wehrmacht tanks. The project and work on the installation of the battery was led by a 1st-rank military engineer G. I. Soskin ^[28] under the direction of military representative A. S. Voroshikhin ^{[33] [34]} . In some surviving photographs, and according to the results of expeditions of the 1980s under the leadership of A. G. Pavlushkina, it is clear that the guns stood on carriages , drawn to the special beds, which have survived to this day as part of memorials ^{[27] [35]} . A pit was dug under each gun, steel plates about 1.8 × 1.8 m in size were laid on its bottom, thick (40 mm.) Threaded rods were screwed into them in a circle, and around the perimeter, locked on nuts on both sides. On each plate, passing logs tightly between the studs located around the perimeter of the bed, a large cellular wooden log house about a meter high was laid . In its central cell the bed appeared. A second steel plate was laid on top of the blockhouse, studs passed through it, and the whole structure was pulled together in a bag. All this was done in order to compensate for the return of the gun, increasing the area of ​​the foundation support. Then the whole structure and the log cabin cells were covered with rocky Duderhof soil to the top, and boards were laid out on the log house, forming the floor of the artillery courtyard. The gun mounts of the battery guns were installed on the upper slabs of the bed, as if getting holes in the studs. The guns were located at a distance of several hundred meters to a kilometer, in gun courtyards, recessed into the ground by about 1-2 meters, sheathed with boards. According to other sources - concrete gunners were poured under the guns. The positions of the “A” batteries were prepared mainly by the forces of the Leningrad labor squads, and the installation and adjustment of the guns were carried out by specialists and sailors - Aurora men. The command post of the artillery division was located at Pulkovo Heights in the building of the observatory. From each courtyard for ten meters in different directions were communication paths (trenches) to the dugout and ammunition depot. At one of the positions (No. 7) they are still preserved. The total length of the battery on the line from the first to the ninth gun was about 15 kilometers, the front of the battery was in the form of a half ring. Each occupied a separate firing position with a circular firing sector. The battle crew of the gun consisted of 15-17 people. ^[8]

^{[27] [28] [31]} The only disguise was covering with frames covered with matting painted in the color of the area ^[30] . The observation post of battery “A” was located on the bell tower of the Lutheran church , standing at the highest point of Mount Kirchhoff ( 170 m from sea level to the base of the church ) ^{[28] [31]} . In addition to the cannons, according to surviving eyewitnesses, the gunners in close combat used their rifles and hand grenades, an easel machine gun ^{[26] [36]} .

The battery was the only military doctor - the captain of the medical service, Pavlushkina Antonina Grigoryevna, who graduated from the Leningrad Military Medical Academy that summer. Since the end of August, a volunteer, a Leningrad sandruznitsa Zoya, who has just graduated from medical courses, also worked on a battery. The emergency medical center was located in a wooden house near the local ( old building of the 289th Mozhaisk ) school. The main medical center was located in the area of ​​the 2nd - 3rd guns, in one of the empty rural houses. ^{[27] [28] [31] [36]} .

On the operational map of the Leningrad Front from 08.27.41 to 09.09.41, - in the west, on the line Krasnogvardeysk ( Gatchina ) - Ropsha there were 291 SDs, represented by the 265th, 268th OAPB, 104 APB ( without 2 divisions ) , 4 BN VET. To the southwest of them, 118 SD and 291 SD stood at the forefront. The Gatchina group was represented mainly by 2SD (126, 207, 276, 270 APB, etc.). In the east, on the Gatchina-Alexandrovka line, the front line was represented by 2 infantry regiments and 1 TA 1 TD. In the north, in Krasnoye Selo - there was a tank B-N T-26, in Koyrovo - a tank B-N "KV". Around the Duderhof - Kirchhoff heights and the Red Village, in the rear - two lines of defense were designated, but apart from tanks in the Red Village no more formations were indicated. The front forms a wedge directed towards Krasnogvardeisk. ^[37]

According to the operational map of the Leningrad Front since September 6, 1941 September 21, 1941 ^[38] , during the breakthrough of the Germans of KrUR , directly on and near Kirchhoff, there is the 282nd Special Operations Division of the 13th Infantry Division ( 1 newly arrived battalion was ordered to partially relocate to Nikolaevka, closer to Pushkin ^[39] ). In the list of the dead of the 282nd Separate machine gun and artillery battalion ( hereinafter referred to as the "OAPB", as a spelling variant ), the 13th Rifle Division does include several platoon commanders on the northern slope of Voronny Gora ( near Kirchhoff ) on September 11, 1941. ^[40] The battle of the Germans ( in the same numbers ) on the northern ridge of Voronny Gora with Red Army formations is also confirmed by historian Paul Karel in his book ^[41] . Other military units on the above operational map next to the battery within a radius of 1-3 km are not indicated. Closest to all, south of the Thais , were two OAPB and the 3rd joint venture.

However, there are references to the defense of Voronny Gora ( its northern ridge ) until September 10, 1941 and other military formations of the SA . According to the list of irretrievable losses of the 1st Panzer Red Banner Division , several of its soldiers died between September 10 and 12, 1941, in the region of villages adjacent to Voronya Gora. ^{[42] The} medical / service lieutenant Nikolai Baklanov, who served in 1 TD, also mentioned in his manuscript that part of it was located at the foot of Voronny Gora and fought in those positions until about September 11-12. ^[43]

There are also references that south-west of the battery ( on the path of the enemy’s likely attack ) was a fortified area, consisting of many reinforced concrete bunkers , with 76- and 45-mm, including anti-tank, guns. The number of OAPB-s reached 1000-1400 people each. The area was supported by KV-1 and KV-2 tanks. ^{[44] [45] The} Duderhof and Kirchhoff hills, at the foot of which the battery “A” was located, had steep southern slopes, difficult to overcome for armored vehicles, with the exception of the northwestern, sloping part of Mount Kirchhoff. In fact, the battery was inside the semicircle of the mountains. From July-August 1941, along with the construction of the battery, work began on the installation of an anti-tank ditch in the field in front of it. The work was carried out by volunteers, Leningrad women - comfrey. ^{[27] The} defense of the anti-tank ditch was to be provided by the arrivals on September 10, 1941, in connection with the breakthrough of the KrUR ^[46] , which had not yet participated in the hostilities of the 2nd battalion of the 500th rifle volunteer regiment , recruited from mountain volunteers. Leningrad. The command of this regiment, as well as the 1st and 3rd battalions were stationed in the area of ​​Thais and Alexandrovka. The 2nd and 3rd guards DNOs of the 42nd Army and the 1st Marine Corps ^[47] (in Krasnoye Selo, from 10.09.41) also participated in the defense of the region.

In the monograph of the German historian and diplomat Paul Karel (German: Paul Carell ), the fortified area in the immediate vicinity of the battery is described as follows:

“... powerful concrete bunkers with heavy weapons, escarp galleries with sea guns, machine-gun mutual support points and a deeply echeloned trench system with underground passages covered the approaches to all the dominant heights - height 143 and to the east of it“ Bald Mountain ”, marked on the map as height 167 ... " ^[41]

( For additional materials, see the General conclusions about the death of the battery "A" below ).

Before the Second World War, the cannons of the “A” battery were installed on the cruiser “Aurora”, but were not participants in the 1917 revolution . The previous guns ( 152 mm ) were transferred to the Volga Military Flotilla back in the Civil War . New ones appeared on the cruiser in 1923, after the overhaul of the ship (before that there were 152 mm guns) ^{[10] [11] [48]} . The cannons were removed from the cruiser when he was standing in Oranienbaum , loading with winches and a truck crane onto the platforms. The bow gun (B-13) remained on the cruiser, it was subsequently installed on the Baltiets armored train ^[9] . A tractor train drove guns to Voronny Gora ^{[8] [28]} . After the war, most of the guns disappeared, according to eyewitnesses, the Germans used their towers as experimental targets for assessing the quality of armor ^[31] . According to additional evidence, at least one of the guns survived to the end of the war in its place and disappeared afterwards, in peacetime ^[26] . Currently, the cruiser Aurora are completely different guns, 152 mm, mounted on the ship in the amount of 14 units in 1948 ^[11] .

• Battery commander: senior lieutenant Dmitry Nikolaevich Ivanov (1913-30.09.1942) ur. Omsk region., Sargatsky district, der. Bazhenovo (taught artillery course at the Black Sea Higher Naval School, teacher A. V. Smagliya. ^[8] He was seriously wounded on a battery, survived. 09/28/42, with the rank of captain, chief of staff of the 302nd artillery division, while adjusting the division’s fire, he was seriously wounded in the battle near Shlisselburg , died of wounds on September 30, 1992, behaved bravely and steadily, was buried near the village of Martynovka on the right bank of the Neva River). ^{[8] [30] [49]}
• The commander of the art division: 1st-Class Captain Engineer Grigory Lazarevich Soskin (1901–30.08.1941) ^[50] (during a German air raid he died in his car on the highway near the village of Pustolovo (Pustilovo). He was killed by a fragment of an exploding fragment that hit the heart region near the shell). ^{[27] [51]}
• Commander of art division: Art. l Mikhail Alexandrovich Mikhailov (1913 - 07/27/1944) ur. Gorky ( after the death of battery "A" - the commander of an armored train , participated in breaking through and lifting the blockade of Leningrad . In July 1944, the commander of the 806th self-propelled artillery regiment of the Guard, Major M. A. Mikhailov, died in the battle for Pskov the brave ) ^{[8 ]} . He was buried at the Theological Cemetery in St. Petersburg. ^{[52] [53] [54]}
• The commissar of the art division: Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich Ivanov (1904-10.09.1941) (he died in a battle in Duderhof, was shot by the Germans together with a driver in a truck cabin, in the dark ) ^{[27] [55]}
• Military commissar : junior political officer Adrian Adrianovich Skulachev (1913 - September or October 1941) ur. Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Baltachevsky district , village of Baltachevo. (According to legend, he died in an explosion at the position of the second gun’s weapon “A”. According to the documents, the TsVMA was killed in October 1941 by a shell fragment during artillery shelling by the enemy of the battery in the Pulkovo Heights area ). ^[56]
• Military doctor: senior military paramedic captain of the medical service Pavlushkina Antonina G. (b. 1917) ur. Kalinin region., Molodotudsky district, the village of Messovo ( Myassovo ). ^[57] (Widow A. V. Smaglia. 09/11/41 and / about the commander of the 5th gun on the orders of the battery commander D. N. Ivanov, as the eldest in rank). ^{[8] [27]}
• Volunteer of the Zoya sanitary squad (? - 09/11/1941) (arrived at the battery with a telephone operator from Leningrad in the second half of August, executed at the position of the 1st gun) . ^{[8] [27]}
• The beginning households parts of the battery: 1st-rank quartermaster Grigory Kondratievich Shvaiko (1922-1941) (killed on the 1st gun during his capture on September 10-11, 1941). ^[thirty]
• The gunsmith: chief ship foreman Lobanov Semyon Alekseevich .
• 1st gun commander - ml.l. Skoromnikov Georgy Arkhipovich (1903-10.09.1941) (killed by a fragment on Parkovaya Street in Duderhof, during an airstrike, buried in the crater from the shell that killed him. Doctor after S. N. Petrov showed the place after the Second World War, witness of the death of G. A. Skoromnikov). ^[36]
• Commander of the 2nd gun - l. Antonov Alexander Alexandrovich (1914-1941) ur. Yaroslavl region, Tveratsky district, village Matrynino (Graduated from the Naval School named after M.V. Frunze in 1940. According to some reports, he died during an explosion at the position of gun No. 2 during his capture, officially in 1987. listed as "... missing in the fight against the Nazis ..") . ^[thirty]
• Commander of the 3rd gun - l. Dementiev Evgeny Nikolaevich (1914-1982) ur. mountains Tashkent .
• The commander of the 4th gun - l. Kuznetsov Nikolay Pavlovich (1914-1969) ur. mountains Leningrad .
• The commander of the 5th gun - l. Smagliy Alexey Vasilievich (1920-11.09.1941) ur. Ukrainian SSR, Kiev region, Cherkasy district, s. Mosny. (Executed at the position of the 1st gun, died in the fight against the Nazis). ^{[27] [58]}
• The commander of the 6th gun - l. Dotsenko Alexander Ivanovich (04/30/1919 - 01/13/2014, city of Sevastopol) ur. mountains Orel of the Stalingrad region ^[59] .
• The commander of the 7th gun - l. Ovchinnikov Ivan Fomich (b. 1917) (passed the Second World War).
• The commander of the 8th gun - Senior Lieutenant Golubov Alexander Illarionovich (12/03/1918 - 09/23/1944) ur. Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Dubossary (Killed in the Kara Sea as commander of the BCh-2 and BCh -3 SKr-29 of the 3rd division of the Skr of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Belomorsky Naval Infantry Battalion, together with the crew during a combat mission while torpedoing a ship with an enemy submarine. Body not found) ^{[60] [61]}
• The commander of the 9th gun - l. Zheludkov Leonid Vladimirovich (1919-1941) ur. Kirov Region (1919-1941) (dismissed from the Navy in October 1941) ^[30] According to other sources - Zholudov Leonid Vasilievich (1919-1941 / 42) (Sentenced by a military tribunal to be executed as battery commander of "A" Finally dismissed from the Navy 03/28/42) ^[62]
• Krasnoflotets - Konstantin (? - 09/10/1941) (chauffeur, shot along with commander div in Duderhof, in a truck) ^{[27] [28] [31] [36]}
• Red Navy - Peter Lebedev ^[27]
• Red Navy - Serikov Afanasy Fedorovich (1907 - 09.1941) ur. Voronezh region., Davydovsky district, Bodeevsky s / s. (Missing in Duderhof) . ^[63]
• Red Navy, loading 3 guns - Leo Shapiro (1910-1979)

In the 1960s and 1970s, the efforts of the "red rangers" from the Mozhaisk 289th school (the historic old building of the 289th Mozhaisk school "with a turret" is located on the slope of the Orekhovaya Mountain, slightly to the side above the 1st gun ) they found each other foreman 5th gun A. A. Kukushkin, gunner of the 2nd A.V. Popov, commander of the 6th A.I. Dotsenko, commander of the 3rd E.N. Dementyev, signalman I.F. Chistopyanov, sailors A. A. Tselobanov, N.V. Danilov, L.F. Smirnov ^[64] .

Cannon No. 1 was installed at the very bottom of Voronoi Gora. Its shelling sector included: Gatchina highway, fields, Kirgofsky heights and the villages of Variksolovo , Murelya, Perekyulya, Retselya - all the way to the Kiev highway. Geographical coordinates: 59 ° 41'33 '' s. w. 30 ° 07'26 '' c. d.

Gun number 2 was installed 1100 meters from gun number 1 on a low ridge in a hollow between the villages of Variksolovo and Murilovo . Geographic coordinates: 59 ° 41'39 '' s. w. 30 ° 08'35 '' c. d.

Gun number 3 was installed 970 meters from gun number 2, 50 meters southwest of the extreme houses of the village of Perekulia, on the edge of the slope facing Taitsy and Aleksandrovka. Geographic coordinates: 59 ° 41'19 '' s. w. 30 ° 09'23 '' c. d.

Gun number 4 was installed 1100 meters from gun number 3 on the southeast slope of Mount Kirchhoff, 50 meters north of the outer houses of Retsel’s village. The geographic coordinates of the remaining position: 59 ° 41'28 '' s. w. 30 ° 10'32 '' c. d.

Gun number 5 - in the center of the battery "A" on the slope of the Kirgof heights. It controlled the sector from Gatchinsky to Kiev Highway, including Krasnogvardeysk (now Gatchina), Duderhof, the railway, Krasnoe Selo and villages from Voronya Gora to Pelgaly and Kovrovo on Kiev Highway. Geographic coordinates: 59 ° 41'48 '' s. w. 30 ° 10'47 '' in. d.

Gun number 6 - 200 meters from the fifth on the southern slope of the hill, at the very bottom. Geographic coordinates: 59 ° 41'49 '' s. w. 30 ° 10'59 '' c. d.

Gun number 7 - one kilometer from the sixth near the village of Pelelya, at a distance of 3 kilometers from the Kiev highway. Geographic coordinates: 59 ° 41'56 '' s. w. 30 ° 11'13 '' c. d.

Guns No. 8 and 9 were installed behind the outskirts of Peleli, 500 meters from one another. Geographic coordinates: 59 ° 41'41 '' s. w. 30 ° 15'40 '' c. d.

At the end of August 1941, Nazi German forces began to build up forces around Gatchina, for a breakthrough at a new frontier, being beyond the reach of land artillery shells ^[8] .

08/30/1941 a shell fragment during an air raid killed the commander of the artillery battalion G. L. Soskin, which included battery "A". ^[fifty]

On September 3, 1941, Battery “A” (“Aurora”) began active combat operations as part of a separate artillery battalion of special purpose with a dual-battery composition, starting to strike at enemy clusters in Yam-Izhora . During September 3–7, attacks were carried out on enemy clusters in the settlements of Kipen , Skvoritsy , Vysotskoye , Lempelovo, and Pelesi ^[2] .

On September 4, 1941, on the Leningrad Front, temporary norms for the average consumption of ammunition were introduced when firing naval artillery at land targets. ^[65] Based on this, it followed that, taking into account the calibers ( according to appendix to order No. 0013 ):

“... Firing of sea artillery with full rate of fire in order to save ammunition can be conducted continuously for no more than two minutes. If a long target fire is required, the following rate of fire is allowed: 130 mm ... guns ... one two-gun volley with ... (battery) of 15 minutes ... the total duration of firing of an individual ... (battery) should not exceed 3-4 per day ... ” ^[66]

On September 6, a mechanized convoy of Germans on the Gatchina Highway was attacked and defeated by battery fire ^[67] . In response, enemy aircraft began to regularly bomb Raven Mountain, Kirchhoff and Pulkovo, while not knowing exactly the location of the camouflaged battery positions ^[28] .

On September 8, the battery witnessed a cruel air raid on Leningrad, and itself was also bombed from the air ^{[26] [67]} .

On the morning of September 9, 1941, five infantry, two tank, and one motorized divisions of the 4th Panzer Group and the 18th Army, after artillery and aviation training, began a wide front breakthrough from the area northwest of Krasnogvardeisk (Gatchina) to Krasnoye Selo and Leningrad. ^{[68] [69]} . From the operational report of the Headquarters of the Central Sector of KrUR:

“... Throughout the day, even more than 9.9.41 years, the enemy intensified the continuous use of aviation and artillery throughout the defense sector of the Sector, trying to suppress manpower, nodes of resistance, disrupt transport and communications ...” ^[70]

Battery “A” continued to strike at enemy formations attacking areas in front of Krasnoye Selo, regularly bombing itself. ^{[6] [27] [31] [71]}

On September 10, the Germans, in fierce battles, with heavy losses, having crushed the defenses of the Krasnogvardeisky fortified area, attempt to storm the Crow Mountain with infantry. ^{[68] [72]} These actions seriously complicated the operation of the “A” battery, since the main ammunition depot for sea guns was located in Krasnoye Selo. Battery ammunition has become limited. ^[73] At the same time, mortar shelling of battery positions from the forest one kilometer from the battery positions began ( aux. Room 6 op. Dementiev ). ^[31] On the morning of September 10, infantrymen and sappers of German assault battalions from the southwest reached the Duderhof Heights - the main bastion of the last line of defense of Leningrad ^{[74] [75]} . The infantrymen of the 36th MPD were given the task of mastering the heights near the village of Duderhof ( now Mozhaysky ). The battery responded with a counterattack, as did the KV tanks, and the enemy retreated for a short while ^[76] . According to the recollection of the duderhof doctor S.N. Petrova, the commander of the 1st gun G.A. Skoromnikov was killed in her eyes that day with a crazy fragment of an enemy shell. ^[36] Instead of G. A. Skoromnikov, the command of the 1st gun was taken over by the head of the agricultural unit G. K. Shvaiko. According to the memoirs of the commander of the 3rd gun l. E. N. Dementieva, - the battery was mortar bombarded from the forest, at a distance of 1 km ^{[73] [77]} .

Attacks on Voronaya Gora, carried out by the 118th Infantry Regiment with the support of divisional artillery and the 73rd artillery regiment, lasted until 20.45 on 10 September. After 9 p.m., the 4th company of the 118th motorized infantry regiment managed to reach the trenches on the northern slope. By evening, the height of 143 ( approx. The height and location of this is Voronny Gora ) was captured, while the Germans suffered heavy losses in manpower ^[76] . All this time, the battery did not see what was happening on the other side of the mountain due to the location of the guns at the foot of the back of the mountains, but heard the sound of battle. ^[27] On the evening of September 10, a group of armed wounded Red Army men managed to break out from Voronny Gora in the village of Nikolaevka ( distance ~ 3 km. ), Confirming that the Germans were in the morning of September 10, 1941. Crow Mountain was fired from all types of weapons ( aircraft, mortars, etc. ), and then the remaining soldiers were knocked out of it ^[39] .

At 21.40 min, the Lenfront Front, on behalf of K. Voroshilov , issued combat order No. 0029 to the commander of the 42nd Army ^[46] , which ordered the liquidation of the front breakthrough. In particular, the order stated that for these purposes:

... I ( approx. - K. Voroshilov ) concentrated at the disposal of the commander of the 42nd Army - 500 joint ventures, a separate naval brigade and two battalions of tanks. .. I order: by the combined efforts of this group of troops, aviation, tanks to defeat and destroy the enemy’s Vysotsky-Skvoritsky erupted group. The offensive should begin at 12:00 on September 11, delivering a concentric strike in the directions of Thais, Tikhvinka, Skvoritsa and Alakyul, Vysotsky ... to ensure the offensive from the flanks with the allocation of infantry cover and barrage artillery fire ... by assigning heavy and naval artillery for this .... allow the consumption of the two-day ammunition rate on the gun ... ^[46]

Based on the report on the death of the battery "A" ^[30] signed by the commander art. of the division of M. A. Mikhailov ( replacing V. A. Ivanov, who was killed ), it follows that at eleven o’clock ( evening ) on September 10, learning about the death of the commander of the 1st gun and surrounding him with the Germans, in a Pickup car from headquarters to Commissioner art. Division V. A. Ivanov, taking with him the driver of the Red Navy. Upon arrival at the battery command post ( in the area of ​​the 5th gun ^[27] ), the commissar of the Ivanov division, together with the battery commander, Art. l D.N. Ivanov, leaving the “Pickup” at the position of gun number 7, taking the lorry and the driver ( also tanks with porridge, obviously for the soldiers on the right flank of the battery ) ^[36] , went to the position of gun number 1. On the way to the village Duderhof ( now Mozhaisk ), at the house number 50 on the street. Soviet ( according to the numbering of 1989, when N.N. Grigoryev’s testimony was taken ^[36] ) in the dark, an unidentified group of people attacked the vehicle, presumably German intelligence, about 2 kilometers from the position of the first gun. The driver and division commissioner V. A. Ivanov were killed ^[30] . From the testimony of the battalion commander D.N. Ivanov, he was riding in the back of a truck. At night, in Duderhof, those traveling in a truck saw a group of people in front of the car, they called out. In response, they were shelled. When shelling the enemy, he (the battalion commander ) was able to jump into the ditch, where he opened fire from the gun, but was seriously wounded in the leg by a German submachine gunner. The driver Kostya and Kom.div remaining in the cab. they also shot back, but the machine gunners riddled the cabin, killing them. Having managed to escape from the pursuers in the dark, the battalion commander went to the position of the 1st gun ^[36] , where he was assisted by Sandruin Zoya in the dugout of Lieutenant Skoromnikov. Combat periodically lost consciousness ^[31] . The tablet with the battery card and the positions of the stationary firing points, which was in the possession of the commissioner, remained in the car ^{[8] [73]} and could be captured by the enemy. Kombat Ivanov was worried about the loss of the tablet. Div.a with a card, and, assessing the situation, refused to evacuate to the hospital. Allegedly, with extensive blood loss and a deep wound, he walked to the emergency command post ^[31] at the 5th gun, where he was operated by the doctor A. G. Pavlushkina ^{[27] [28]} . On the night of September 11, D. N. Ivanov reported the incident by telephone to the headquarters of the artillery division, Mikhailov. From there followed an order to assemble a reconnaissance group and comb through the forest in search of the enemy and the seized car with the commissar of the division. After that, the connection with the battery “A” was interrupted, and no one contacted the battery from Pulkovo by telephone anymore. ^{[27] [30]} Based on the order received, D. N. Ivanov sent to the position of the 1st gun the commander of the 5th gun, Smagliy A.V. as more experienced, to replace the temporarily acting commander of the gun, head of the agricultural department G. K. Shvaiko, having ordered Smaglia to be taken with him, 3 people from each gun, to strengthen the calculation of the 1st. The commander of the 5th gun, the battalion commander, was appointed 24-year-old military doctor Pavlushkina A.G., as the senior in rank, in military affairs she was assisted by foreman Aleksei Kukushkin ^{[8] [31] [73] [78]} . At 6:00 a.m. on September 11, 1941, a reconnaissance group led by A.V. Smagliya, consisting of 15 people, entered the Duderhof district. Throughout the journey, she entered into battles with the enemy. The group reached the 1st gun. It is alleged that, having not found anyone there, she blew up ammunition and a cannon. ^[30] From the testimonies of Pyotr Lebedev and the seriously wounded Red Navy sailor, who went with the Smagli group and managed to get out of the battle on the 1st gun, - on the way to Duderhof, they were suddenly subjected to frequent shelling of the evacuated nearby villages, but the commander (Smagliy) in the battle didn’t allow, they went straight to the gun. On Voronya (Orekhova) mountain, when fired, not far from the firing position of the 1st gun, Lebedev was concussed, his friend was injured, and they took refuge in the bushes. There were many fascists, on motorcycles and tanks. We saw how the Smaglia group reached the cannon and fired at the tanks. Then they began to surround the mountain, and Peter and the wounded man managed to get out of the battle. The mountain was seen all in the smoke from the explosions. When breaking through from the environment, they heard shouts of "cheers." According to the wounded Red Navy, who was brought by Peter - “... there was a terrible battle. From which they don’t come back alive ... ”According to the radio operator’s testimonies of 8 and 9 guns given to them by Pavlushkina A. G. on the evening of September 11, 1941, there was a radio station on the 1st gun ( there was a spare KP ), and he kept it during the day unstable connection with her. From the intermittent communication with the girl-radio operator of the 1st gun, he realized that the Smaglia group reached the 1st gun and was shooting direct fire at the tanks. The last word he heard on the radio was “Germans.” After that, no one else got in touch. ^[27]

According to the recollections of the sentry charging the third gun of Lev Shapiro, at night ( “it was barely getting light” ), while standing at the post, he observed fires in Duderhof and heard the noise of battle from the side of the 1st gun. The explosions of grenades, the crackle of machine guns, including the "characteristic sound" of the easel, which the group of A. V. Smagliya took from the position of 6 guns, and the cries of "Hurray." The battle lasted about 15 minutes ^[31] . ( Hereinafter, in the Literature, note about the statement on documentary evidence in the book)

According to the recollections of the gunner of the 2nd gun A. Popov (he survived, was held captive, returned to his homeland ), reconnaissance ^[31] returned on the night of September 11 ( after the departure of the Smaglia group ) reported two companies of fascists at the 1st gun occupied by Duderhof and Voronya sorrow ( at that time the Crow Mountain was called the entire Duderhof Upland ). After which the calculation of the 2nd gun fired at least 10 shells on the current Mount Orekhovaya. ^[31] According to the memoirs of the doctor S. N. Petrova, she and “ several sailors” were captured during the last battle at the 1st gun, in the house that belonged to the battery, where they took refuge ( time is not given ). ^[36] This house could be the battery first-aid post, which was located at the 1st gun in a separate building ^[8] . According to the recollections of the foreman of the 5th gun A. Kukushkin, two wounded sailors who returned to the 5th gun reported that Duderhof was full of Germans ^[31] . By the morning of September 11, according to the memory of a resident of the village of Cavelakhta, the battle at the position of the 1st gun was no longer taking place, and people who sheltered from the battle began to be expelled from the cellars ^{[8] [36]} . The first gun was captured.

On September 11, in the early morning, without getting involved in a night battle , bypassing Orekhovaya Gora and going to the town of Kirchhoff ( the Germans have “Bald Mountain”, altitude 167) ^[75] , the assault on altitude 167 began on armored personnel carriers of the 1st battalion of 113th rifle regiment, 6th company of the 1st tank regiment, and one platoon of the 37th tank engineering battalion, with the support of the 2nd division of the 73rd artillery regiment. ^{[75] [76] [79] [80]} . By this time, communication with the division headquarters in Pulkovo was damaged, as well as between guns ^{[8] [30]} . The attack on the Aurora battery was carried out mainly by the 1st Panzer Division (the group was formed by the 1st battalion of the 113th Infantry Regiment and the 6th battalion of the 1st Tank Regiment ) and the 36th Wehrmacht Infantry Division ( 118th Motorized Regiment ) under the command of Major Dr. Eckinger ^{[41] [79]} . After another artillery bombardment, the mechanized mechanized units of the Nazis launched an offensive along the right flank of the battery ( where 1 and 2 guns were located ) ^[26] , through Kavelakhta . The 113th rifle regiment on armored personnel carriers, with the support of aviation of the 8th air corps, outnumbered the suppression of the 2nd battalion in an anti-tank ditch on the field in front of the battery. The sapper group of non-commissioned officer Fritch seized the technical bridge across the moat and held it until the main forces arrived ^[76] . According to other sources, a group of sappers independently erected a jumper from logs and boards ^[75] . Around the same time, gunner of the 2nd gun A. Popov saw the enemy’s moving tanks on the road from the side of Krasnoye Selo, in the hollow between the modern Orekhovaya and Kirchhoff mountains, and not from the 1st gun and Kavelakhta, where they were expected. The calculation of the 2nd gun destroyed one tank, after which the enemy vehicles took cover behind the sheds and folds of the terrain and continued shelling the 2nd gun. Soon the shells on the gun came to an end, and it itself received damage to the rotary mechanism, wounded appeared. The position of the battery and the village was bombed and fired by aircraft ^{[8] [31]} . the remaining calculation of the gun was not possible to retreat and took refuge in the dugouts at the 2nd gun. Two battery men, political instructor A. A. Skulachev and presumably gun commander A. A. Antonov ( according to other sources, sailor L. F. Smirnov ^[36] ), during the assault, the positions took refuge in an artillery cellar. When the Germans attempted to enter the cellar, they shot one of them with a shot from a firearm ^[8] , and then blew themselves up with a grenade when a smoke bomb was thrown into the cellar's ventilation pipe ( according to L.F. Smirnov, it only blew itself up A. A. Skulachev ^[31] ) ^[73] . Surviving gunners were captured. At the same time, there is also a version that only political instructor A. A. Skulachev blew himself up in the cellar, including according to witness L. F. Smirnov, who was next to him and left the cellar before the explosion ^{[36] [67]} . The second gun was captured, the battle ended at 12:00 on September 11, 1941. The fate of the gun itself and the gun crew of 15 people, with the exception of several prisoners in 1987, was not established in view of the destruction of the connection between the guns "... heavy bombardment, mortar shelling , and the environment of the guns by German motorcyclists - machine gunners ... " during the Second World War. ^[thirty]

Presumably, the 1st and 2nd guns were specifically attacked by the tank half-platoon of Lieutenant Koch from the 8th company of the 1st tank regiment, who allegedly attacked the guns “to the left and right of the road” using hand grenades and flamethrowers , engaging in hand-to-hand combat with gun calculations ^[75] .

According to the recollections of the commander of the 3rd gun, Lieutenant E. N. Dementyev, on the morning of September 11, German tanks and armored personnel carriers appeared in the zone of his visibility, not far from the 1st gun, under Mount Orekhovaya. The 3rd gun fired at them directly, Dementiev personally saw through binoculars how they burn and explode. By the middle of the day on September 11, enemy tanks and infantry broke through the right flank of the battery. He did not see the 1st and 2nd and 4th guns due to the folds of the terrain, but he did not hear the sound of the battle as well. The third gun fought until 2:30 p.m. on September 11, 1941. ^[30] By this time he had seen German equipment 200-300 meters from his gun ^[31] . From the endless artillery and mortar shelling, 8 surviving guns took refuge in a dugout, which was soon fired by German machine gunners, who occupied a nearby village. Commander 3 op. Dementyev and the radio operator managed to break out of the encirclement with the battle, taking with them the “ shooting device ” and spoiling the “ aiming device ” of the gun. The fate of the remaining 6 Red Navy sailors for 1987 has not been established. ^[30] The commander of the 3rd gun survived and went through the entire Second World War. ^[26]

Gun number 4 fought until 13:30, was surrounded by German machine gunners, 7-8 Red Navy soldiers were killed, 7 people were captured. The calculation of the gun did not manage to spoil the cannon in a combat situation, and capturing the gun, the Germans opened fire on it with 8 and 9 guns. At 17:00 on September 11, 1941, German mortars at positions 4 of the guns, in volleys of 8 and 9 guns, were suppressed, as it was. ^[30] In the 1980s, in a crater near the 4th gun, a military burial place from WWII was found among 5 people identified as Red Navy. Their remains were buried at the memorial at the Nut Mountain. ^{[26] [27]}

At about the same time ( on the morning of September 11 ), Major Ecker, going further and north from Duderhof in the Voronya Gora area , turned his battalion south, then east again, and attacked Lysy Gora ( Mount Kirchhoff, height 167 on it. Diagrams ) ^[81] . In the memoirs of the commander of the 6th gun, A. I. Dotsenko, this happened at about 8.00 in the morning ^[31] . The Nazi maneuver allowed their tank company, and the company of armored vehicles, to penetrate the "dead zone" of cannons ^[81] , climbing to the top of the mountain, and hit the guns in the back and from above, hiding behind the crest of the mountain, while simultaneously placing the Lutheran then existing on the bell tower church at the top of Kirchhoff machine-gun calculation, and next to it mortars ^{[31] [31]} . From there, the Germans fired on the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th guns ^[31] . According to the recollections of the wife of the commander of the artillery division of Art. l Mikhailova N. Kasyanova, who arrived from Pulkovo on a motorcycle “A” instead of a wounded messenger — the whole mountain was shrouded in smoke, shells and mines were torn everywhere, the remaining guns were bombed by the aircraft, and she couldn’t get through to the 5th - 7 -m guns ^[73] . According to the recollections of the commander of the 3rd gun, E. N. Dementyev, the machine-gun crew on the bell tower was destroyed by his order with 130 mm gun fire. Also, according to enemy calculations, guns 5 and 7 were fired on the bell tower ^{[27] [31]} . According to the memoirs of A. G. Pavlushkina, at that time the commander of the 5th gun, the Germans nonetheless continued the offensive and shelling of the remaining 5, 6 and 7 guns. Guns 5, 6, 7, under massive, continuous fire, fought with the enemy until 15:00 on September 11, 1941, firing all their ammunition (there were still 30 “shots” left, but there were no more shells for them). ^{[30] The} 5th gun settled and became defective. The Germans began to surround the gun, in connection with which the gun was blown up by stuffing the barrel with sand and detonating a “ shot ”, the remaining “ shots ” were also blown up along with the artillery cellar, ^{[27] [30]} and A. G. Pavlushkin and 9 sailors from the calculation of the guns began in a Plastunian manner ^[78] to move to the remaining and still firing guns ( 8–9 ) under continuous enemy fire, beyond Kievskoye Shosse ^{[31] [73]} .

At 11:30 on September 11, the enemy radiographed from Mount Kirchhoff about the observation of Leningrad and the Gulf of Finland ^{[41] [79]} .

According to the memoirs of gun commander 6 guns A. I. Dotsenko, until about one o’clock on September 11, he and the seventh gun continued to fire at the forest on the slope of Kirchhoff, in the area of ​​4 guns captured ( 4 guns, the surviving coherent one, reported to them about the capture of this gun; he also reported about the presence of Germans in the forest on the mountain ). At about one in the afternoon the ammunition of the 6th gun was exhausted, and a decision was made to retreat. Severely injured battery commander art. l D.N. Ivanov all this time was at the position of the 7th gun and gave instructions ^{[27] [31]} . Despite the wound, he commanded the battery until its last day ^{[2] [27]} . During the retreat, the firing points and the dugout of the sixth and nearby guns were set on fire, the remaining guns were blown up ^[8] . Surviving sailors also moved to 8 and 9 guns, where they were met by the calculation of the 5th ^[27] . Even the soldiers of the 282nd Special Detachment Detachment in the village of Nikolaevka, 3 km from it, observed smoke from the battle at Duderhof Heights. ^[39]

8 and 9 guns of battery “A”, located at a distance (near the village of Pelyalya, behind the Kiev highway, from the very beginning existed “separately” from the rest of the battery in terms of life ^[27] ), on September 11, continued to strike at the enemy’s front, holding back his breakthrough from the city of Kirchhoff on the Kiev highway. ^[27]

By the end of September 11, 1941, reconnaissance of the 281st Special Infantry Battalion Detected 10 seriously wounded Red Navy men, the capture of the enemy by Kirchhoff with the support of 5 tanks was confirmed. ^[82]

At this time, along the Kiev highway under the cover of the last guns of the Aurora battery, many people managed to get out of Leningrad from neighboring villages and villages captured after the breakthrough of KrUR . According to the memoirs of A.G. Pavlushkina, who was on guns 8 and 9 at that time, until the dead of night on September 11, 1941, she observed endless human flows moving from the place where the front broke through the highway to Leningrad. These were also women - comforters who worked on the construction of the KrUR, the civilian population, and individual broken military formations. The crowd of Pavlushkina was appreciated by the crowd of thousands, with carts and knots. The civilian population did not go to the cries and cries of the children, but literally fled, scared. To the question of Pavlushkina, people answered that they were fleeing from the Germans, who were advancing from behind and destroying their houses. ^[27]

On the night of September 12, at positions 8 and 9, two Red Navy men from the group of A.V. Smagliya were able to leave the 1st gun. A seriously injured unknown, and his comrade Peter Lebedev. ^[27]

On the morning of September 13, 1941, the calculations of the 8th and 9th guns, having completely shot the ammunition, detonating the guns, arrived on the B battery. At that moment, all the shells also ended on the artillery battery “B”, and to intimidate the advancing guns, they launched an attack with blank shots, which the enemy took for real and stopped. This allowed to gain time for the delivery of new ones. ^{[27] [73]}

According to the memoirs of Reino Nikolaevich Vogelainen, on September 11, in the late afternoon, he and his neighbor Andrei Petrovich Loikonen found the bodies of 5-6 killed sailors at the position of the 1st gun, as well as a dead girl and buried them, the battle on nearby guns was over ^[36] .

In the course of the entire battle, on September 9–13, at least 11–12 enemy tanks were destroyed ^[67] .

By the end of the fighting, the Aurora battery (September 13, 1941), according to the memoirs of A. G. Pavlushkina, out of almost 200 people, 25 were left alive ( perhaps in her calculations it was the surviving warriors of 1-7 guns, as part of the battery that took over yourself the most bloody battles ). Also, according to the memoirs of the commander of the 6th gun A. Dotsenko, about 10% of the personnel of the battery remained alive. ^[27] According to the official extract from the TsAMO archive - as a result of the hostilities, as of September 12, 1941, the artillerymen of the Aurora artillery battery remained operational: 6 out of 12 com. beg. composition; personnel - 90 out of 152. ^[30] As of the mid-1990s, a complete list of the battery’s combat composition has not been established. ^[27]

Verbal and printed evidence.

According to eyewitnesses, in the period from 0.00 to midday on September 11, the Nazis allegedly brutally intentionally murdered at least 5 wounded SA soldiers who had engaged in battle with them in the artillery courtyard of guns No. 1; they also killed a sand-war girl. The testimonies of some eyewitnesses, including those who saw burnt bodies, as well as the statement of the fact of execution, appeared in several newspapers ^{[28] [36]} , magazines ^[26] and the fiction and documentary book ^{[31] of the} Soviet period. ( See in literature a note on the statement of documentary evidence in a book). Witnesses who buried the bodies alleged that the dead were dressed in a Soviet-style marine uniform, with the exception of a sandwicher, dressed in the clothes of a physician ^[36] . In connection with these special circumstances of the murder that appeared in various print media, the term “execution” was probably chosen.

• One of the witnesses to “Evening Leningrad” ( 1989 ), L. N. Sinelnikova, who claimed to have seen the bodies of 5-6 killed at the 1st gun on the morning of September 11, does not mention the signs of burning, but does not deny them either . The journalist who wrote the article, on the basis of this, tends to deny the fact of burning. Sinelnikova, in the article, says that after September 11 in her village (Kavelakhta) there were talks about the burning of sailors. One of the inhabitants of Cavelakhta ( her name was not given in the newspaper ), which Sinelnikova knew, spoke directly about this. And Sinelnikova wonders where she could see it, " ... if we were hiding together in the pit all the time ." ^[36]
• The Smena newspaper ( 1965 ) provides evidence of A. Medvedeva-Mandrek, who worked in the trenches near Duderhof in the summer of 1941 and knew sailors, helped mask the 1st gun. The author of the article, G. Grischinsky, in the town of Smena, searched for her for a long time, and found in Poland, Wenceslas, ul. C. Skolodovskaya. From a published letter by Alexandra Medvedeva:

... When the battle on the battery began, we were hiding not far from the first gun. One of our women saw the Nazis rush to the cannon. The sailors had a handful. Almost all of them were injured. And the nurse did not have time to bandage them. When the Nazis rushed to the cannon, the sailors began to throw grenades at them. Then they fought in hand-to-hand combat. But there were few of them. And there are many Germans. They took the gunners, wring their hands, twisted their belts. They trampled on with boots, beaten with butts, broke ribs, knocked out teeth ... Our women somehow became bolder, ran out of their refuge, wanted to come to the rescue of the sailors. But we were met by German machine gunners ... Then the sailors began to tie guns to the barrel and doused with gasoline. And with them they ruined the nurse. We all cried. And they sang "The International" ... They burned them. And none of the inhabitants was allowed to this smoked gun ... ^[28]

In the book “Special Purpose Battery” by the author of the same article, Medvedev’s testimonies are as follows:

... I don’t remember how long we hid, but suddenly we hear through the fire and roar: the batterymen are singing “The Internationale”. I immediately wanted to run to them, but some two women did not let me in. And then, nevertheless, I broke free and ran. At that moment, the German shell hit the wall, and I fell under the stairs, stunned. I don’t remember anything further - I lost consciousness. And then we went to see the dead. The burned sailors lay by the gun. Not far from the house I noticed the corpse of the killed commander. The girl-sandwarden was also shot. Her hair was torn out and her teeth were knocked out ... ^[8]

• In terms of the circumstances of the execution, the testimonies of the Duderhof resident ( physical education teacher of the 289th Mozhaisk school ) Mikhail Ivanovich Tsvetkov from the 1970s from the book “The Fate of the High Aurora”, which largely coincide with the recently appeared German photographs showing the position of the bodies, look the most comprehensive. From his testimony ( at the time he saw he was 13 years old ^[26] ):

... At the very gun - people. Two on their backs are lying, one on their side, fingers are twisted, and he is all twisted, he must have writhed in agony. The fourth barbed wire to the barrel of the gun is truncated. And all burnt. And the jackets were sometimes charred ... The lieutenant was more mutilated than others ... Later, one comrade’s comrade lieutenant, tied to a cannon, identified ... The left cheek was completely black and the bone sticked out, and the right one, pressed to the trunk, was almost not burned ... The comfrey was forced to give her last name, recalled: “ Swarthy, Swarthy. " And she corrected herself: “No, he told me that he looked like Dark-skinned. So, he said, it’s easier to remember ... "

^[31]

Photographic Documents

There are various kinds of photographs taken by soldiers of Nazi Germany since September 11, 1941, after the capture of battery guns ^[83] . The appearance of the guns is: similar to the description of their Pavlushkina A. G. ^[27] , similar to the box-shaped form of armored turrets ^[84] guns of a series of 130 mm / 55 type BS-13-1C , similarity to the characteristic hilly terrain of that area. The position, conditional gender, determined external damage and the number of bodies of the dead in some German photographs are in many respects similar to the descriptions (see below) given by physical education teacher M. I. Tsvetkov ^[26] , who did not see German photographs at all in Soviet times, when he gave the first testimonies ^[31] . The shots of the first gun also closely resemble a fragment of a German film ^[85] , shot in 1941 presumably from the position of the Aurora battery ( the German description of the film refers to the 36th Infantry Division , which took part in the capture of the battery ).

Complementary facts.

There is an opinion that during the assault on the battery, soldiers of the Wehrmacht used flamethrowers and hand grenades in battle. ^{[41] [76]} Despite the fact that according to the CVMA certificate in 1987, the fate of A. V. Smagliy and 13 Red Navy men was not established ^[30] , in the lists of the dead of the KBF ( storage - TsVMA ) A. V. Smagliy was listed as dead near Duderhof in September 1941 ^[86]

The bodies were buried “ in the late afternoon ” on September 11 by local residents ( witness R. N. Vogelainen ). ^[36]

When the second gun was surrounded on the morning of September 11, 1941, several people remained on it, many were injured. ^{[28] [31] The} Nazis sent one of the inhabitants of the village to a gun to convey to the soldiers the demand to surrender. ^[36] According to Alexander Vasilievich Popov, gunner of the 2nd gun, some of them at that moment took refuge in a dugout, some in an artillery cellar several meters apart. ^[31] Those who took refuge in the dugout saw that L. F. Smirnov came out of the art cellar to the Germans ( this fact is confirmed in the journalism of M. Yu. Chernov and in an interview with the surviving sailor in 1989 ). ^[36] Further, the evidence diverges - the book “The Fate of Aurora High” says that Alexey Smirnov told the Nazis about the presence in the cellar of political instructor A. A. Skulachev and second gun commander A. A. Antonov, and in an interview for “Evening Leningrad ”in 1989, he was named L. F. Smirnov and claims that in the dark cellar he saw only A. A. Skulachev. But at the same time, he is definitely not sure of the absence of A. A. Antonov there.

When the invaders tried to enter the cellar, they were shot at from the inside, one of the Germans was killed. Then, in response, the Nazis threw a smoke bomb into the chimney of the cellar, in order to drive people out of there. ^{[8] [28] [31]} Under these circumstances, an alleged explosion occurred inside, after which the Germans carried the bodies of two people out of the cellar ( from the books of M. Yu. Chernov and Grishchinsky K. K. ).

In the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda ( 1978 ), in the article Aurora Defends Leningrad, only one A. A. Skulachev, who blew himself up, is mentioned. ^[67] In his testimony to “Evening Leningrad” ( 1989 ), M. M. Ivanova, a resident of the village of Pikkolovo, speaks of the preservation of the artillery cellar after a possible grenade explosion inside it, which is issued by journalist L. Lukina for denying himself the fact of the explosion. M. M. Ivanova herself only says that her sister subsequently spent the night with her children in an artillery cellar on shelves during bombing. At the end, M. M. Ivanova says that she saw how prisoners were led from the gun, and after the battle, together with her sister, she saw the body of a Soviet soldier 10 meters from the gun. Ivanova and her sister did not know who he was, but everyone around, according to her, claimed that it was a “ commander ”. After that, M. M. Ivanov and his sister buried him there, and always brought flowers to this place. However, she does not know the reasons for the death of this man, just as she did not see the body of the second possible gunner who blew herself up in the art cellar. Ivanova admits that she learned all the well-known details about the explosion from a resident of the village of Murilovo - Ekaterina Ospiovna Mustonen, who saw how the Nazis sent the girl to the gun. ^[36]

The rest of the sailors were captured , and A.V. Popov, who was seriously wounded in the leg, was taken, in his words, in a cart taken at Duderhof. Passing by the captured anti-tank ditch on the field in front of the battery, he observed in it such a detail as a lot of killed Soviet women-comfrey ( in the book - “window-frames” ). ^[31]

According to the CVMA certificate in 1987, the fate of Lieutenant A. A. Antonov and another 15 Red Navy men was not established. ^[30] In relation to political instructor A. A. Skulachev (military commissar of the special-purpose battery MOLiOR), there is an entry in TsVMA:

“He was killed in the month of October 1941 with a fragment of a shell at art. enemy shelling of the battery in the area of Pulkovo heights " ^[56]

The battalion arrived at the fighting positions of the anti-tank ditch on September 10, 1941. ^[47] It is known that until 06:15 a.m. on September 11, 1941, the 2nd battalion of the 500th SP had already entered into battle with the enemy, and after a number of counterattacks continued to maintain the line at the foot height 175.2 ( Walnut Mountain ). ^[87]

On the morning of September 11, German tanks and motorized infantry launched an offensive from Tikhvinka -Novopurskaya, bypassing the marshes south of the Thais, to Leningrad. One of their groupings is the combat group of Major Josef-Franz Eckinger ( German fascist major, commander of the 1st battalion of the 113th st. ), Consisting of a battalion of armored personnel carriers , reinforced by a sapper company and a dozen tanks , crossed the Gatchina highway in the section between the Thais and Kavelakhta and moved across the field along the foot of the Duderhof Upland to the narrow hollow between it and the city of Kirchhoff. ^[76] On its way there was an anti-tank moat dug by the Leningrad female comfrey ^[8] , and the 2nd battalion of the 500th rifle regiment defending it ^[88] .

By superior forces, on armored personnel carriers, with the support of German aviation, which maintained radio communication with the gunners, the enemy captured a moat, brutally crushing the battalion with fire. ^{[76] [88]} . Suffering heavy losses, armed only with small arms, not having any possible support from other infantry formations nearby, the battalion was defeated and retreated to Pulkovo. ^{[47] The} enemy’s sapper groups brought in crossings, along which armored vehicles were able to go inside the semicircle of the mountains of the Duderhof-Kirkhoff hill, directly to battery “A”.

The other two battalions of the 500th regiment, which were not deployed near Orekhova Gora, reached the Pulkovo Heights by September 14 under the command of the captains of the Czernedski and Pavinic ^[89] . In the future, the regiment was formed several times, taking part in the battles for the motherland, and ended the battle on May 9, 1945 in the city of Wort, in Germany. ^[47] There are few post-war references to this regiment. In 1963, in the book of the Head of the Engineering Department of the Leningrad Front B.V. Bychevsky, a message appeared on behalf of the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Leningrad Front N.V. Gorodetsky about events in the Voronezh Hill region: ^{[44] [45]}

“The 500th rifle reserve regiment sent here didn’t manage to take up defense on Voronya Gora and, under the blows of aircraft, it goes into disorder to Pulkovo Heights ^[90] . The highway from Duderhof to Krasnogvardeisk was intercepted by enemy tanks ” ^{[91] [92]}

The main objective of the battery, with a radius of destruction of its guns up to 30 km, was the destruction of enemy armored forces, both in the coordinates of targets transmitted from the CP to Pulkovo and direct fire. For example - during a breakthrough from the only Kiev highway open for viewing. However, the Germans' quick and extensive breakthrough of the front in the Krasnoselsky fortified area in the immediate vicinity of the battery along its right flank ( based on operational maps of the front ^{[37] [38]} ) threatened its safety. The folds of the terrain ( Voronya and Orekhovaya mountains , the shelters of Mount Kirchhoff ) did not allow the commanders of the battery guns located at the foot, inside the semicircle of the mountains, or the observers at the bell tower of the church on the town of Kirchhoff to completely observe the enemy’s movements, even when he captured most of the village. Duderhof, in which the guns were located. The enemy also intercepted a car connection between the battery "A" and the ammunition depot in Krasnoye Selo, as a result of which the ammunition was limited on the battery and it was not possible to quickly deliver a new one. At the same time, massive German artillery and aerial bombardment of the battery began, which disabled its personnel.

According to the operational map ^[38] and the references in the lists of those killed in these places in those days ( see Defense and battery cover above ), 282 OAPB were deployed in Kirchhoff. The unspecified parts of 1 TD also held the defense at the foot of Voronny Gora. One newly arrived battalion of the 282nd OAPB was withdrawn the day before the attack on the battery in Nikolaevka, to Pushkin . ^[39] No other connections on the map nearby were indicated, which is indirectly confirmed in the manuscript of the battery physician A. G. Pavlushkina. The quote concerns her personal vision of the combat situation:

... For the entire period of long and short-range military operations, - from the day the enemy forces broke through the southern Lenfront and attacked the city’s last defensive line, as well as the stationary artillery battery position "A," when the sailors of the garrison stood to death, bleeding, they continued to conduct military operations direct aiming to the last artillery shell on the armada of tanks and motorized infantry of the enemy, engaging in hand-to-hand combat with superior enemy forces, from the Staff of the Lenfront did not provide the necessary and necessary military assistance, throughout the 15-kilometer near the battle line, neither ground, nor air, nor even air defense forces. It remains to be believed that in the Headquarters of the Len Front these days, from September 8 to September 14, the high command did not control the military situation in general on the Southern Leningrad Front! And, obviously , this continued until the very adoption of Lenfront by General G.K. Zhukov. ^[27]

A.G. Pavlushkina repeated this position in a milder form in her manuscript, asserting that closer to September 10 they were alone in the area, there weren’t “no troops, no infantry, no anti-aircraft guns, only our guns ” (p. 117 “Memories”). ^[27] However, there are references to the defense of Voronny Gora ( on the right flank near the battery, from where the Germans broke through ) until September 10, 1941, in units of 282 OAPB and in units of the 1st Panzer Division, which testifies to the subjective view of A. G. Pavlushkina on battery defense. However, she personally did not see these units, and, having no access to the lists of the dead, she obviously formed her opinion as a result of assessing the combat situation at the local positions of the battery.

According to the results of the attack on Voronoi Gora on September 10, ( from where the capture of the battery on the 11th began ) - the enemy had an advantage in armament, which the defenders of the mountain could not be compensated for. To some extent, the Germans' breakthrough to the 1st gun was accelerated by the crushing German attack on the 2nd baht. 500 good Art. shelf in the anti-tank ditch in front of the battery. During the battle, the battalion retreated under the onslaught of the enemy, thereby allowing the Germans to go to the 1st gun and to part of Duderhof, and then, hiding behind houses in Cavelahti, to the second.

The battery’s guns, having lost their cover, cut off from the main forces of the KrUR, having the number of armed fighters on each gun no more than 20, in close combat became independent firing points that were not able to deter many times superior enemy units, and were attacked and captured one at a time . The folds of the terrain complicated the defense of the battery’s guns during close combat, preventing them from quickly observing the combat situation on guns spaced up to 1 kilometer. The mountains around formed for some of the guns a kind of fortress with open gates, in the courtyard of which they were located, as a result of which the quality of the external defense for this fortification was decisive.

When choosing a location, installation, and until September 30, 1941, battery "A" as part of a separate artillery battalion was subordinate to Rear Admiral K. I. Samoilov, commander of the MOLIOR, who ordered it to be created. On September 30, 1941, "posthumously", the battery was transferred to the Krasnogvardeisky fortified area of ​​the Leningrad Front, and reported directly to it. ^[29]

Also, based on the operational maps of the front ^{[37] [38],} it can be seen that the battery “A” was in the middle of a deep wedge of the front, which was formed during the German attack on Leningrad. Directly between the occupied territory and the battery in this place were only a few OAPB of the 291st Infantry Division, and deeply echeloned sections of the front were on its sides. It is possible that the calculation in this place was made just for the operation of the battery "A", but the weakening of this section of the front led to its capture and death.

In general, during the last battle, at least part of the battery personnel had the opportunity to retreat to Pulkovo along the current Kiev highway, but did not do so. The guns of the battery fought until the moment when the shells ran out and they were not captured, in connection with which the battery fully completed the combat mission assigned to it within the framework of the possible.

A.G. Pavlushkina for a long time was the only medical worker of the Aurora battery with about 200 people. According to her memoirs, she took a responsible attitude to work, strictly monitored sanitary conditions and the state of health of soldiers. Her responsibilities included everything from monitoring the sanitary condition of a well, kitchen and latrine, to diagnosing and treating soldiers, as well as conducting dressings and surgical interventions in the field if necessary. Only shortly before the last battle of battery "A" a volunteer was sent to help her from Leningrad, a girl Zoya, who had just graduated from school (10 classes). ^[27] For the short fate of the unit on the Aurora battery, there was only one wedding - military doctor Pavlushkina A.G. and commander of the 5 guns Smagliy A.V. got married ^[93] . We met there. ^[94] The celebration was met modestly, militarily, in the village of Pelgola (according to other sources - in Kavelakhti), before the battery started active hostilities ^[26] . This event subsequently became a landmark - it was the widow of A.V. Smaglia who, in the distant post-war years, was the main initiator of the construction of all memorials in memory of the Aurorians, overcoming the long-standing indifference of the authorities, rallying schoolchildren and the leadership of the 289th Mozhaisk school around the memory, finding an architect to carry out the monuments ^[26] , There was a museum exposition at the school dedicated to the Aurora battery.

In addition, Antonina Grigoryevna Pavlushkina is the only female commander of one of the gun crews of the Aurora battery, while she does not have a special military education other than medical. She took command of the fifth gun with the rank of captain of the medical service on September 10, 1941 by order of the battery commander D.N. Ivanov, as the senior in rank, replacing his wife - Smaglia A.V. She was then 24 years old. According to the memoirs, it was difficult, but held steady, tried to rally the calculation of the gun ^[78] . Purely in military matters, she was assisted by foreman Aleksey Kukushkin, according to the battalion commander Ivanov, “an experienced gunner” ^[8] . After the death of the battery, she continued to serve as a doctor in other CA compounds ^[28] .

Until the 1960s, no proper monuments were installed at the site of the death of the Aurora battery. In the photo album of Pavlushkina A. G., stored in the Museum of Defense and Siege of Leningrad , you can find pictures of those years. The pins of the bed of the first gun are recessed in a hole overgrown with weeds; on them lies indefinite household garbage ^[27] . In those years, A. G. Pavlushkina began to visit Duderhof often, attended the 289th school, talked with her students, and told them about the heroic fate of battery "A". As a result, the first memorial sign at the position of the 1st gun of the battery “A” appeared in 1963. It was created by students of the 289th Mozhaisk school, and they also carried out the first clearing of the area. The memorial sign was a plywood stela, subsequently made in metal and preserved to this day as part of the Aurora sailors memorial at Orekhova Gora ^[26] . For twenty years, from 1964 to 1984, A. G. Pavlushkina twice and unsuccessfully attempted to obtain from the executive branch of the USSR, Leningrad and the Leningrad Region the construction of at least one monument on the battlefield of battery "A" ( see the detailed description of the circumstances the construction of the memorial in the article Memorial complex "Sailors - Aurora" ). ^[27] The rest of the time, she carried out military-patriotic work with students from Leningrad schools, visited the “Lessons of Courage”, and looked for surviving fellow soldiers. Since the beginning of the 1960s, through the efforts of the Soviet newspapers, she began writing essays and notes about battery “A” almost annually, which she described in a large bibliographic reference, placing it in her manuscript ^[27] . In 1984, a resolution was issued by the Party and Government of the USSR stating that on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Victory over Nazi Germany, it was necessary to equip and bring to the proper state the burial place of all soldiers who died in World War II . This served as a great help to the initiatives of A. G. Pavlushkina, and she, with great difficulties, managed to defend the right to build a memorial at the site of the battlefield of the 1st gun of battery “A”, at the foot of the Orekhova (Voronya) mountain. Following this, on her initiative, with the support of the public, 3 more monuments were built ( see below the Images and memory of the deceased Auroraites ). She was the main inspirer and public initiator of the construction; with her efforts to carry out the memorials to the Auroraites and the Explosion, all the necessary materials donated by philanthropists — the construction organizations of Leningrad — were found. ^{[26] [27]}

The commander of the 5th gun, Smagliy Alexey Vasilyevich (1920-1941): a bust was installed in Cherkassy , Ukraine , on the territory of school number 26, where he studied. Streets in St. Petersburg, Russia, and in the city of Cherkasy, Ukraine are also named after him. The bed of the 5th gun, which Alexey commanded and from where he left for his last battle, is stored in military unit 14108 as part of the memorial. A.V. Smagliy with executed comrades are a symbol of courage and endurance of the battery.

On the stele at the memorial "Sailors-Aurora" near the first gun, dead batteries were marked: Art. l Dmitry Nikolaevich Ivanov (1913-1942); com div Vyacheslav Alexandrovich Ivanov (1904-10.09.1941), com. div 1st-Class Captain Engineer Grigory Lazarevich Soskin (1901–30.08.1941), st. l Dmitry Nikolaevich Ivanov (1913-1942), military. com political instructor Adrian Adrianovich Skulachev (? - 1941), 2nd-rank technician-quartermaster Shvaiko Grigory Kondratievich (1922-1941), commander of art division: Art. l Mikhail Alexandrovich Mikhailov (? - 07.1941), commander of the 1st gun - ml. l Skoromnikov Georgy Arkhipovich (1903-1941). According to the memoirs of relatives of G. Skoromnikov, in the Soviet years his name was forgotten, which is why they even stopped going to mourning rallies in Duderhof. ^[36]

Commander of the 2nd gun Antonov Alexander Alexandrovich (1914-1941), and the military commissar, political instructor Adrian Adrianovich Skulachev (? - 1941), according to an established legend, blew themselves up on the 2nd gun surrounded by the Nazis when trying to storm it. In their honor, a separate memorial “Explosion” was erected.

In memory of the battery "A" 4 memorials were created, are included in the complex of monuments "The line of defense of the Soviet troops."

• The memorial complex "Sailors - Aurora" , located at the foot of the southern slope of Orekhovaya, on the border of the village. Kavelakhta, at the site of the combat position of the 1st gun of battery “A”. ^[95]
• The artillery battery memorial “A” - the “Explosion” monument , which includes the grave of the 2nd gun commander, A. A. Antonov, is located at the end of the branching road in the middle of the section between the villages of Pikkolovo and Perekul, in front of the village of Muriel. ^[96]
• The “A” artillery memorial is a monument to “Military Glory” in the territory of military unit 14108 outside the city of Kirchhoff. On the territory is on the parade ground opposite the club. To visit requires permission from the command of the unit. The monument includes a bed of the 5th gun, two ZIS guns and memorial plates. ^{[97] [98]}
• Monument to the Aurora Gunners , located on the 30th kilometer of the Kiev highway, near the Doni gardening. Not far from those places were 8 and 9 guns, the last line of battery “A”, in the village of Pelelya. ^[99]

Moved from the slope of Kirchhoff on 10/03/15. ^{[100] [101] the} stand of the 4th gun of battery “A” as of September 2016 was installed at the entrance to the ski resort Tuutari Park on a pedestal, is under protection. ^[102]

On the position of the 6th gun of the “A” battery, on August 24, 2016, a resident of St. Petersburg voluntarily installed a porcelain memorial plate and a memorial sign, and restored the visible parts of the bed. ^[103] With the participation of Tuutari Park, the position was cleared. The Committee on Culture of the Leningrad Region recognized the bed as an object with signs of cultural heritage . ^{[104] [105]}

The Soviet poet, participant in the Great Patriotic War, Volt Nikolayevich Suslov 02/19/1988 dedicated to the fallen Aurorians the poem "Instruments of Aurora." ^[27]

Poetry and poem of the Great Patriotic War veterans A.G. Pavlushkina (room 5 orth. Artbat. "A") and V.P. Turkin are devoted to the Aurorians. ^[27]

Even during the Second World War, almost all artillery courtyards clad in planks were dismantled, the fate of the guns is unknown. There are separate references to local residents that 1 gun was seen in position after the end of the war. ^[36]

Below is the status of positions for 2016. The previous state can be judged by taking photographs during the examination of positions at different times ^{[106] [107]} A full report on the examination of positions, which in particular relies on this description, was also created by St. Petersburg regional historians ^[108] .

• P. 1st gun - created and maintained a memorial to “Sailors - Auroraites”. There is a historical bed of guns. ^[109]
• P. 2nd gun - the “Explosion” memorial was created and maintained. There is a historical bed of guns. ^[109]
• P. 3rd gun - the historical bed of the gun disappeared during the construction of the road in the era of the USSR, passing through the position of the gun. In its place, commemorative poplars grew, planted by students of the 289th school, but they did not survive, as N. I. Hämäläinen, an employee of the school recalls in 1898 ^[36] .
• P. 4th gun - the historical bed of the gun was lost in a hollow between the hills, in the ground, subsequently moved during the construction of the stadium in the era of the USSR at the site of the position of the gun. At the same time, the bodies of 4 sailors and youngsters were found nearby in the funnel. Re-buried with military honors. The bed was crushed by a bulldozer and dragged 400 meters higher up the mountainside, where it rusted for 30 years. ^[110] October 8, 2015 moved to a place of honor at the entrance to Tuutari Park. ^[111]
• Point 5 of the gun - the historical bed of the gun (commander A.V. Smagliy) was buried by the mechanics of the collective farm. Found in the 1960s. February 22, 1988 was solemnly transferred to military unit 14108 (outside the city of Kirchhoff), where a memorial was created ^[36] .
• P. 6th gun - the historical bed was kept in very good condition, until recently it was littered with earth. In 2016, it was found again and cleared by volunteers, memorial plates were installed. ^{[112] The} Committee on Culture of the Leningrad Region recognized it as an object that is not an object of cultural heritage, but “undoubtedly possessing signs of cultural heritage” ^{[104] [105]} .
• Item 7 of the gun - the historical bed of the gun was severely damaged, presumably in 2014, it was finally plundered by scrap by unknown persons. However, the only genuine artillery courtyard and passages to the dugout and art warehouse were preserved. The depth of the courtyard is 2 m. In spring and autumn it is heavily flooded. ^[110]
• Items of the 8th and 9th guns - both historical beds of guns disappeared during the plowing of fields in the era of the USSR. Perhaps they are in the ground, in the fields. ^[108]

• Grischinsky K. K. The guns leave Aurora. // A story about your father. M .: DOSAAF, 1970 .-- S. 36-47.
• Kozlov I. A. , Shlomin V. S. The Red Banner Baltic Fleet in the heroic defense of Leningrad. L .: Lenizdat, 1976 .-- S. 105, 122.
• Grischinsky K.K. Special Purpose Battery. // Heroes next to us. L .: Lenizdat, 1982.- S. 70-84.
• Polenov L. L. The cruiser Aurora. L .: Shipbuilding, 1987. - S. 214-215.
• Polenov L. L. The Second Birth of Aurora. L .: Lenizdat, 1987 .-- pp. 116-119.
• Chernov Yu. M. Fate high "Aurora." M .: Politizdat, 1987 .-- S. 172–236. (Note on the statement on documentary evidence in the book. For an objective and comprehensive assessment of a number of evidence, it should be borne in mind that the book by M. Yu. Chernov “Fate is high“ Aurora ”, from which this (Lev Shapiro) is given, and some other evidence, - by the genre it is a work of art and is not an authoritative source. However, in the Museum of Defense and Siege of Leningrad , in the manuscript of A. G. Pavlushkina signed on 02/09/1999, - in the annex to the photo album there is an unpublished attachment to the 3rd edition of the book M. Yu. Chern where A.G. Pavlushkina gives a list of documentary evidence used in the book, in particular, among other things, it is stated (with pref. No. No. pages) that the testimonies of Lev Shapiro, A. Popov, M. Tsvetkov, A Kukushkina, E. N. Dementieva (in particular, cited in this article) - were documented ^[27] )
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• Vorobyov N.N. Baptism of fire of the 500th (296th) Rifle Regiment of the 13th Rifle Division on the outskirts of Krasnoye Selo. // Let the connection of times not be interrupted: materials of the conference of local history. - SPb., 2010 .-- S. 27-33.
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