DOT No. 420 is a long-term firing point that was part of the first line of defense of the Kiev fortified area .
Design
DOT No. 420 has one floor and only one small casemate for 1 machine gun embrasure for an machine gun. This is a type of construction, "MS", that is, a single-puncture bunker with a small resistance to shelling. Its resistance class is “M3” , that is, it is able to withstand 1 hit of a 122 mm howitzer. Accordingly, the thickness of its walls did not exceed 100 cm, and the ceilings - 60 - 75 cm. The structure was built in 1929 in the depths of the defense in the forest to cover approaches to the village of Petropavlovskaya Borshchagovka . This bunker is the only one of all “MS” bunkers in the territory of KiUR that was equipped with a crawling hole leading to the embrasure. The goal of such a manhole was the opportunity during the battle to free the embrasure from the collapsed disguise or to take the battle at close range with the enemy assault groups. Similar crawling manholes were built in other KiUR structures, for example, in the 2- hole casemate DOT No. 401/402 [1] .
In total, 20 structures of the “MS” type were built in KiUR , only 4 of them survived until the 2000s - 2010s. In the fortified area, only machine gun nests of the "Barbet" type were lighter in durability [1] .
Service
The fortification took part in the Patriotic War and was organizationally included in the 3rd battalion defense area (BRO) of the KiUR, covering the Belogorodka district (Kiev region) - Zhitomir highway (Brest-Litovske shose). The garrison of the construction consisted of 4 fighters of the 193rd separate machine gun battalion of KiUR [2] .
During the first general assault on KiUR , which was launched by the troops of the 29th Wehrmacht army corps on August 4, 1941, the bunker was in a quiet section of the front. During the second assault on KiUR , which began on September 16, 1941, the bunker No. 420 also had no combat contact with the enemy. On the afternoon of September 18, the troops of the 37th Army of the South-Western Front received an order-permit to leave the city of Kiev and KiUR . Garrisons of long-term structures were among the last to go to the left bank of the Dnieper River . Among them was the garrison of DOT No. 420. During the retreat, the garrison did not blow up the building. But it is possible that the machine gun and internal equipment were disabled. On the afternoon of September 19, the advanced units of 71 infantry divisions occupied the territory of the 3rd BRO without a fight, detaining only the Red Army soldiers - deserters and defectors . During stripping after September 19, German bunkers of the bunker also did not explode [2] .
The history of bunker No. 420, as well as the entire 3rd battalion defense area (BRO) of the KiUR, resembles the doctrine of “ Fleet in being ” in action. A large group of long-term and field defenses with artillery kept the Germans from a full-scale assault on the site. On the other hand, this forced the enemy to hold an unjustifiably large number of troops here, which could be deployed more effectively in other sectors of the front. After all, there was a risk that Soviet troops, hiding behind defensive structures, could go into a strong, prepared attack.
Present
The bunker is in good condition, inside there is a mini-museum dedicated to the defense of the city in 1941.
Gallery
Right view.
Mini-museum in the bunker No. 420.
See also
- DOT No. 409 (KiUR)
- DOT No. 417 (KiUR)
- Barbet type machine gun nests (KiUR)
- Defense of the Kiev fortified area (1941)
- Kiev strategic defensive operation
Links
- ↑ 1 2 A.V. Kainaran, A.L. Kreschanov, A.G. Kuzyak, M.V. Yushchenko Kiev fortified area 1928-1941. - PP Publishing House "Volyn", 2011. - 356 p. (Series “Fortification History”) ISBN 978-966-690-136-4
- ↑ 1 2 A.V. Kainaran, D. C. Muravov, M.V. Yushchenko Kiev fortified area. 1941 year. Chronicle of defense. - PP Volyn Publishing House, 2017. - 456 p. (Series "History of Fortification") ISBN 978-966-690-210-1