801th Separate Cable Pole Company

The 801th cable-pole company with the outbreak of war was under formation near Ternopol . The main task of cable-pole companies was to create and maintain a cable network that provides communication between units and units of the army. An air cable was laid using metal (sometimes wooden) poles 2 meters high. At the bottom of the pole was a tip that stuck into the ground and secured the pole to be fixed perpendicular to the surface. In the upper part was an insulator on which the cable was attached. During the Great Patriotic War, the most widely used cables were PTG-19 (field telegraph, communication range up to 40–55 km) and PTF-7 (field telephone, communication range up to 15–25 km) ^[1] . The company employees ensured the installation of poles and maintained the cables in working condition ^[2] .

On June 27, 1941, the company departed for Lviv , where it was to provide communications between the army headquarters and the divisions. From July 5, 1941 to May 11, 1945 (with a break from May 31 to August 5, 1944), the 801st army was part of the army ^[3] . However, at the initial stage of the war, the company had to take part in the battles as an ordinary rifle unit. During the retreat through Zhytomyr to Kiev, the company lost more than half of its personnel. From July 11 to September 15, the company took part in the battle for Kiev ^[4] . In September 1941, the company, having received an order, broke out of the Kiev boiler in the direction of the city of Lubny ^[5] .

In May 1942, participating in the 6th Army in the Second Kharkov Operation , the company again had to retreat. The situation was especially complicated in the area of ​​the Seversky Donets River , where the company commander, Captain M. A. Kovtun, during the battle was able to organize a company crossing the river. The company commander himself destroyed the German mortar crew in this battle. For this battle, captain M. A. Kovtun was presented for the award, but the performance was lost at the headquarters of the 6th Army ^[6] .

Participation in the Battle of Stalingrad

During the Battle of Stalingrad, the main task of the 801st army was to provide telephone communications for the headquarters of the Southeast and Stalingrad Fronts, command posts of the fronts with command posts of the armies and divisions and regiments subordinate to them. On August 25, 1942, the company was placed at the disposal of the headquarters of the Southeast Front. The company’s first combat mission was to find a route for a sixth line of communication connecting the front headquarters (mouth of the Pionerka river) and the front command post ( Peschanka village). Subsequently, the company served the communication line between the front headquarters and the 64th and 57th armies, located on the southern front of the Battle of Stalingrad. Since August 31, when the front headquarters was moved to the left bank of the Volga, the company supported the operability of the cable line across the river. A characteristic feature of the underwater cable line was the use of a conventional PTF-7 cable, which, due to poor insulation, quickly failed. To ensure the uninterrupted operation of cable communication through the Volga, the width of which reached 1200 meters, a special team of five signalmen-boatmen was created ^[7] . Work on replacing a failed cable took place under the blows of the enemy. During the first half of September, four boats sank, providing the laying of cable routes. In his memoirs, Marshal A. I. Eremenko wrote:

The company served the line exemplary: the case was set up so that communication breaks did not exceed 10-15 minutes.

- Eremenko A.I. Chapter XII. Some results of the defensive period of the battle // Stalingrad. - M .: Military Publishing House, 1961 .-- S. 283-284. - 504 s. - 100,000 copies.

On October 30, 1942, Colonel S. N. Kokorin, communications chief of the Stalingrad Front, indicated that the company was the best among the front-line communications units ^[6] .

On November 12, a special eight-core cable was laid across the Volga, which connected the front headquarters and the headquarters of the 62nd Army. The cable laying operation took place under artillery fire, but ended successfully, providing reliable communication between the staffs ^[8] .

In total, there were two separate communications regiments, three linear communications battalions, seven cable-pole, five telegraph-building, five telegraph-operational companies and one communications squadron directly subordinate to the communications chief of the Stalingrad Front ^[1] . Of all the individual communication units for military merit, only one was awarded the Order - on March 31, 1943, the 801st separate cable-pole company was awarded the Order of the Red Star ^[7] .

Further participation in the war

In April 1944, the 801st Okshr, as part of the 4th Ukrainian Front , took part in the Crimean offensive operation . Providing a link between the front headquarters and the 51st Army , company soldiers repeatedly crossed the Sivash . For example, on April 2, signalmen in a blizzard in 14 hours crossed the Chongar Strait four times, transferring coils with cable. During a two-hour artillery shelling of the crossing, the enemy damaged the cable and the company soldiers found damage in ice water and repaired it ^[9] . The team under the command of Lieutenant Yakov Andreyevich Bogdanov completed the task of forcing Sivash ^[10] . Forcing line 6 km long. passed two kilometers from the main crossing, and the depth of ice water reached the belt. All fighters of the team were awarded medals "For Military Merit" , and Bogdanov was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War II degree ^[11] .

In the fall of 1944, the 801st detachment as part of the 4th Ukrainian Front participated in the East Carpathian strategic offensive operation . The company provided communication between the command post of the front and the remote control point of the headquarters of the front with subordinate formations. Despite the difficult situation and the mountainous and wooded area, in a weather rich in rain and fog, the company performed its tasks. During the offensive, with access to the territory of Czechoslovakia, the company provided communications on the heavy cable line Baligrud - Cisna . For the successful creation of a cable-pole line with a length of 25 kilometers, Corporal N. A. Tsurkanov, with two fighters, repaired 31 coils of four-wire wire in one night ^[12] . In the Drohobych – Turk – Mukachevo region, the company successfully served the underground cable line ^[13] . The area in which the communication line was organized and maintained was mountainous and did not allow the use of technical means and all the work had to be done manually. For example, Senior Overseer Corporal V. S. Nekrasov manually unwound 30 cable reels of 80 kg each ^[14] . For success in providing communications in the offensive, the company commander Major M. A. Kovtun was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War II degree ^[15] .

• Battle of Stalingrad. July 1942 - February 1943: Encyclopedia / Ed. M.M. Zagorulko . - 5th ed., Rev. and add. - Volgograd: Publisher, 2012 .-- S. 134. - 800 p.
• Eremenko A.I. Chapter XII. Some results of the defensive period of the battle // Stalingrad. - M .: Military Publishing House, 1961 .-- S. 283-284. - 504 s. - 100,000 copies.
• Sturov D. “With the greatest pride I remember the courage of our soldiers” // Altai Polytechnic: newspaper. - 2013. - May ( No. 5 (2403) ). - S. 2 . Archived on May 8, 2017.