Background
Germany began to show interest in the Northern Sea Route long before the start of the war with the Soviet Union. The Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy ("Kriegsmarine") twice reported to Adolf Hitler about the possibility of establishing a sea link between the Nazi Reich and Japan through the NSR. In 1940, the German auxiliary cruiser Komet passed the polar route. Despite the appearance of a cordial welcome, the German sailors and scouts did not receive enough reliable data on the state of the track, as well as on the ports and military facilities of the NSR.
For two years, the German leadership did not return to this topic. Only in May 1942, an order was issued to develop a plan for a military operation to establish control over the Northern Sea Route. The document was ready by July 1. In it, the Germans foresaw that the main obstacle would not be the Soviet Navy, but the climatic conditions of the Arctic. Therefore, they decided to rely on surprise and on the maximum use of reconnaissance means, including aviation. The main active force of the project was the heavy cruiser "Admiral Scheer".
The commander of the cruiser, Captain First Rank Wilhelm Meendsen-Bolken, was ordered to interrupt the movement of Soviet ships between the islands of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago and the Vilkitsky Strait, as well as to destroy the polar ports of the USSR. Thus, the Germans hoped to stop the delivery of goods along the NSR until at least 1943.
Another goal was suggested by Germany's ally - Japan. Information came from Tokyo that a caravan of 23 ships passed through the Bering Strait to the west along the Northern Sea Route, including four icebreakers. There really was such an Arctic convoy. It was called EON-18 (Special Purpose Expedition). In fact, it consisted of two icebreakers, six transport ships and warships of the Pacific Fleet - the leader "Baku", the destroyers "Razumny" and "Enraged". They were transferred to the Northern Fleet. According to the calculations of the Nazi command, EON-18 was supposed to approach the Vilkitsky Strait in the 20th of August.
The Nazi operation to paralyze traffic on the Northern Sea Route, at least until the end of navigation, received the beautiful name Wunderland ("Wonderland") and began on August 8. On this day, the German submarine U 601 crossed the Kara Sea, she was supposed to reconnoiter Soviet sea communications and ice conditions. About a week later, U 251 proceeded to the area of the Bely - Dikson Islands. Two more submarines - U 209 and U 456 - operated off the western shores of Novaya Zemlya and diverted the attention of the forces of the Soviet White Sea Flotilla (BVF) as much as possible.
For a successful operation, the Germans focused on its meteorological support. A party of meteorologists landed on the island of Svalbard, and reconnaissance aircraft were used. True, two of them were incapacitated - the engines broke down on one, and the other crashed off the coast of Norway.
Nevertheless, on August 15, the German submarine U 601, located at Novaya Zemlya, transmitted to the headquarters a report on the state of the ice. It turned out to be favorable, which allowed the cruiser "Admiral Scheer" to begin a cruise to the bases of the Northern Sea Route on August 16. In the area of Bear Island, a German ship met a single Soviet ship. The Sheer captain ordered a change of course so as not to ruin the operation.
By the evening of August 18, the Germans entered the Kara Sea. Here the cruiser met with the U 601 submarine, received the latest data on the state of the ice, and on the morning of August 19, continued on to Solitude Island. On the way, the German ship was waiting for serious tests - ice fields, which he could not overcome. As it turned out later, the Germans believed that in this area there was a route along the western coast of Novaya Zemlya, around Cape Zhelaniya in the direction of the Vilkitsky Strait. It took Sheer a day to understand this mistake. Throughout the day, the Arado seaplane was in the air, mainly solving ice reconnaissance tasks. On the evening of August 20, the cruiser sailed to the coast of Taimyr to reach the Vilkitsky Strait.
On August 21, when the Scheer was crossing the loose ice, a message was received from a reconnaissance aircraft about the discovery of a long-awaited caravan. According to the report, it included 9 steamers and a two-tube icebreaker. The ships were located just 100 kilometers from the cruiser, east of Mona Island, and were moving on a counter, supposedly southwestern, course. These were the ships of the 3rd Arctic convoy - eight dry cargo ships and two tankers sailing from Arkhangelsk to the Far East and the United States. The caravan did not have any protection in the Kara Sea and could become an easy prey for the Germans. However, "Scheer" missed its chance - the scout reported that the expedition was heading to the southeast, while in fact the ships were moving in an easterly direction. It was decided on the cruiser to wait for the caravan in the Ermak Banks area, but in vain - neither on August 21 nor on 22, Soviet ships did not appear there. The captain of the "Admiral Scheer" suspected something was wrong and ordered to continue the journey to the east. However, time was lost - the convoy managed to retire to a considerable distance. A dense stream of ice and fog prevented the cruiser from moving quickly, visibility did not exceed 100 meters. Thanks to radio interception, the Germans soon managed to establish the coordinates of the Soviet caravan, but ice saved it. On August 24, near the island, the Russian cruiser Sheer was captured by ice. “We didn’t know what to do, there was a white field all around, large pieces of ice pressed on the cruiser, we expected it to crack like a shell,” one of the German sailors recalled.
The ship was only helped by a change in wind - Captain Meendsen-Bolken was able to take it out onto loose ice and even continued pursuing the Soviet convoy. However, it was not possible to achieve any significant speed - sometimes a heavy ship covered only two kilometers in an hour.
On the morning of August 25, "Admiral Scheer" lost "far sight" - the seaplane "Arado" returning from reconnaissance unsuccessfully landed on the water and was destroyed. He had to be shot literally in chips from an anti-aircraft gun. The incident with the plane convinced the German captain that there was no point in continuing the pursuit, Meendsen-Bolken turned the cruiser in the opposite direction - to the west, towards Dixon.
The “Gates of the Arctic” is what sailors call the port of Dixon. Even before the war, when coal was the main fuel, Dixon served as a reliable shelter for ships, as a link in the system of the Northern Sea Route - an irreplaceable transport route of the future. Icebreakers and transports certainly came here to replenish fuel and fresh water supplies, reliably sheltering from storms and drifting ice. During the war, Dixon acquired a strategic importance: convoys of ships with important cargo passed through it. And in 1943, the Norilsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine, which supplied nickel for the armor of T-34 tanks, reached full capacity. The famous thirty-four instilled fear in the German soldiers. Therefore, the first priority for the German submarines was the isolation of Norilsk. The Nazis 'plans included "plugging the Yenisei with an invisible plug, which would reliably block the Bolsheviks' access to allied warehouses."
Few could have imagined that war would come here too: this small village was too far from the front line … The weather in the Arctic is capricious and unpredictable. A clear sky, a pale summer night, sometimes haze creeps in from the sea in the form of almost intangible suspended particles of moisture settling on the face and clothes, covering the horizon with a light veil. Such was the weather before the fatal August 27, 1942.
SKR-19
For the defense of Dixon, the commander of the SKR-19 Gidulyanov and his assistant Krotov were awarded the Order of the Patriotic War. SKR-19 after repairs joined the Northern Fleet and until the end of the war carried out combat service, guarding the northern convoys of the allies. And the monument to its defenders, heroes of the North, sailors who remained forever in the harsh Taimyr land reminds of the cruel unequal in Dixon Bay. Just think, such a giant, armed with six 280-mm, eight 150-mm, six 105-mm and eight 37-mm cannons, eight torpedo tubes and two aircraft, practically could not do anything with two 152-mm guns, which were openly standing on berth about. Dixon, and four 76-mm guns on the TFR "Dezhnev".
In fact, what could the commander of the fascist raider think about the Soviet sailors when the crew of the icebreaking steamer Alexander Sibiryakov, armed with two 76-mm and two 45-mm cannons, without a second hesitation, enters into battle with a giant with 28 cannons and armor? Kacharava, who commanded the Sibiryakov, did not even think about surrender. Garrison about. Dixon, sailors of the TFR "Dezhnev" and the steamer "Revolutionary" also entered the battle. Having lost 7 people killed and 21 wounded, having received four direct hits, the sailors of "Dezhnev" continued to fight. The commissar of the Northern Ships Detachment, Regimental Commissar V. V. Babintsev, who was then in Dikson, who then carried out the general leadership of the battle, trained a detachment of the people's militia, armed with rifles, light machine guns, grenades and a battery of 37-mm Polish captured cannons.
The heroism of Dixon's defenders forced the Germans to abandon the planned operation in the autumn of 1942 in the Western Arctic of two of their cruisers, codenamed "Doppelschlag" ("Doublet" or "Double Strike"). Few people know that the Nazis planned to deliver selected sabotage units from northern Norway to the mouth of the Yenisei, which would climb up the river on special barges, capturing Siberian cities, including Krasnoyarsk, and blocking the Trans-Siberian railway.
During the navigation of 1943, the Germans created a tense mine situation on the approaches to the straits, the mouths of Siberian rivers, and ports. Up to six German submarines were simultaneously in the Kara Sea. They deployed 342 bottom non-contact mines. At the end of August, the submarine U-636 placed 24 such mines in the Yenisei Gulf, the multiplicity of which was set to 8. And on September 6, one of them blew up the steamer Tbilisi, which was sailing with a cargo of coal from Dudinka to Arkhangelsk, and sank. It was very difficult and dangerous to destroy such mines.
FIRSIN Fedosiy Gerasimovich
The story of the former sailor Firsin F. G. about the SKR-19 duel with the heavy German cruiser "Admiral Scheer", recorded by the veteran of the Great Patriotic War Fyodor Andreevich Rubtsov.
“I was born on February 10, 1913 in the village. Seeds of Trubchevsky district, Bryansk region in a peasant family. In 1930, our family joined the collective farm. After graduating from the courses of tractor drivers, I worked at the MTS. On May 24, 1936, he was drafted into the ranks of the Red Army and served in a separate communications squadron in the 24th Cavalry Division in Lipel, Belorussian Military District. On December 1, 1937 he was demobilized and came to work in Murmansk. From January 1, 1938 until the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he served as a sailor on a fishing trawler.
On June 23, 1941, he arrived at the assembly point in Murmansk and was enrolled in the SKR-19 - the icebreaking steamer "Dezhnev", the crew of which was recruited from sailors of the military and trawl fleets. After combat training, he performed combat missions of the command. In August 1942, an order was received to go to the area of about. Dixon of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and pick up the heavy guns at the port. There, on August 27, 1942, at about one in the morning, and there was a meeting of our ship with a German cruiser.
The battle did not last long, but it was hard and brutal. The enemy was formidable. The cruiser's crew consisted of 926 people, ours - only 123. The cruiser was armed with six 280-mm, eight 150-mm guns.
When I ran out to the upper deck on alert, there were no shots yet, but everyone was alarmed. Soon I saw: a huge ship was going from behind the island towards the port. It was the German cruiser "Admiral Scheer", which sank our steamer "Alexander Sibiryakov" on August 25, 1942, east of Dixon.
The sinking of the icebreaker ship "A. Sibiryakov"
The crew of the 76-millimeter cannon, in which I served, prepared for battle. When the distance between the port and the cruiser was reduced to four kilometers, the enemy opened fire on the "Revolutionary" transport standing in the roadstead, which had come from Igarka with a forest and moored at the pier not far from us. The transport caught fire. When the cruiser moved out from behind the island, our ship fell into the field of view of the Germans, and all the fire was transferred to us.
The deputy commander of the ship, Lieutenant Krotov gave the command to move away from the berth for better maneuvering and less vulnerability of the crew and the ship. As soon as we pulled back, four Russian guns opened concentrated fire. Rangefinder posts observed a hit on the stern, central and bow parts of the enemy ship. The machine gunners also began shelling the cruiser, but machine gun fire was ineffective due to the long distance, so it was soon stopped.
Simultaneously with us, the 152-millimeter cannon of the Kornyakov coastal battery fired at the cruiser. The other two guns of this battery had already been dismantled - they were being prepared for dispatch.
Near the Dezhnev's sides, on the deck, enemy shells exploded, fragments scattered around the ship. Lieutenant Krotov was wounded, but continued to command and control the ship until the end of the battle.
One of the enemy shells, piercing the port side above the waterline, pierced the hold and exited through the starboard side.
The enemy ship began to retreat beyond the island and ceased fire, but they did not announce the end of the battle alert: the enemy could again take some action, and we had to remain ready for any surprises.
The enemy cruiser bypassed the island and from behind the northeastern end again opened fire on the port and the building of the Dikson radio station.
The cruiser was not visible to us, and the Dezhnev's artillery did not fire at that time. But the 152-mm cannon of the coastal battery turned around and opened fire. Later, the "Admiral Scheer" quickly left Dixon.
In this battle, the crew of our gun had a hard time. Only one person remained in the ranks. The commander of the crew A. M. Karagaev was mortally wounded by fragments of an enemy shell in the stomach, shrapnel tore F. Kh. Khairullin in half, M. Kurushin and machine gunner N. Volchek were seriously wounded. My right leg and right arm were broken.
It was not necessary to count on an ambulance - everyone was busy at the gun, firing at the enemy. Losing my last strength, I crawled to the starboard side of the cannon. They saw me, provided first aid and took me to the infirmary. Although I lost a lot of blood, I remember everything well. All around was a terrible roar from the explosions of enemy shells and our cannons.
In this battle, our ship, having received 542 holes, two of them measuring one and a half by two meters, remained in service. In total, our cannons fired 38 76-mm and 78 45-mm rounds at the enemy.
The battle ended, a boat approached from the shore, and the wounded were transferred to it. Some of the lightly wounded were left to be treated in the ship's infirmary. The boat moored at the pier, we were loaded onto a car and taken to the hospital. In the hospital, I immediately lost consciousness, woke up in a day."
The seriously wounded needed blood and an experienced surgeon. The command of the ship on the radio contacted the Dikson doctors, appealed to the district party committee in Dudinka with a request for urgent help. On the fourth day, a seaplane brought the famous surgeon V. E. Rodionov and the nurse D. I. Makukhina from Norilsk.
SKR-19 left for Dudinka, where the ship was repaired in record time.
After being discharged from the Norilsk hospital, where the wounded Dikson sailors were undergoing treatment, 27-year-old Fedosiy Gerasimovich received a disability - his leg wounded in battle had to be amputated. He worked in Norilsk until 1949. From 1956 he lived in Krasnoyarsk-45.
